Pygmy

Geeze, Pat... I'll have to put you in touch with some of the people who hang out at my local Legion post... They seem to see 'em on an almost daily basis.. Steuben County is apparently INFESTED with the critters... As many as are reported around here, you shouldn't have any trouble shooting one.. Give me a call... As soon as I see a carcass I will become LESS of a skeptic, and as soon as it is determined to be a truly wild cat rather than an escaped pet I will become a believer... ...

Especially the BEARDED ones... ... Sorry..Just couldn't resist... ... ... ...

Hmmmmm... I was not aware that cougars took thier kills up into trees...I know that leaopards do that in Africa and Asia, so that other predators such as lions and hyenas can't get them... Perhaps the DEC is stocking LEAOPARDS....It would explain the black ones as well as the skeletons in trees.... Unlike black cougars, that have never documented, I think that there have some black leaopards that have been taken... Let's check up on the cougars in states where they actually EXIST and see if it is common behavior for them to take thier deer and elk kills into trees.. I'm kinda guessing that they usually leave them on the ground and cover them with debris when they leave... Just a wild guess...

Tell ya what, Fantail... Why don't you buy me TWO and then I can wear them in shoulder rigs and dress up like Bruce Willis in " Last Man Standing "...... ;D ....

I was thinking maybe Valiant also.. I don't remember the Savoy..Was that Dodge's version of the Valiant..?? Could it be a Dodge Dart..??..

Do you know what the car is, 132..??.. Looks like a Dodge or a Plymouth.....

Great pictures, 132...Kodacolor, no less.. .. I had a hat just like that..It was red...Somewhere I have a picture of myself wearing it and holding my first red fox, which I trapped in 1960 or 1961...

Sure thing, Dinsdale.. My Momma didn't raise no foolish child... ....

Sounds pretty rich for my blood, especially as well as the Noexcuses perform in my rifle for considerably less $$$... Especially of you are shooting critters made of flesh, blood and bones, such as deer, elk and moose.. ...

I have eaten crow MANY times, but it was figuratively, rather than literally.... : .... I've seen what THEY eat....I feel the same way about possum... ??? ....

Larry..Sorry to hear about your health problems... I wouldn't be making so light of it if I knew you were having issues.. :-[ ... On the other hand, I can certainly identify with your feeling "used" by doctors... On my last visit to my urologist, I told him that next time he'd better KISS me first... ??? ....

JASON...!!... I just spotted you here...Welcome to the forum...

Thanks...!!... Mind if I stop by tomorrow and help you out in the shop..??.. You haven't been having DIZZY spells lately have you..??..

Do you mind leaving them to me in your will..?? I mean just in case you expire prematurely from tripping over a laundry bin or something... ....

Very true, Joe... tastes vary... I have never shot a bear myself, and some of the meat that has been given to me may not have been taken care of properly... I have tried samples from several bears, and would rate it from poor to fair.. I cooked the backstraps from a black bear one of my buddies shot when we were hunting Alaska in September..It was feeding heavily on blueberries..It was OK, but nothing I'd walk across the street for..Especially when we had moose, caribou and fresh grayling , dolly vardens and rainbows to eat... ONE time I was given a standing rib roast from a bear that had been living and feeding in a cornfield in Pa....I must admit it was as good a piece of game meat that I have ever had...

A buddy of mine in Ontario used to hunt spring bear every year.. He took 13 of them, 11 with his bow...He claimed that spring bear meat was the best, much better in his opinion than fall bears that were larded up with fat... His opinion, not mine...The few times I have tried bear meat I was not overly impressed..

Great morning, Larry... Is that a pair of Swaros hanging around your neck..??..

I love all kinds of fishing....I guess I would have to say that I like open water fishing better than ice fishing mostly because there is such a variety of methods involved and species available.. I like stream fishing for trout, with either dry flies, nymphs, bait or hardware/lures... I like light tackle spinning, especially with my homemade hair jigs..I fish them in the local rivers and The Finger Lakes, as well as other lakes, and I catch lots of fish them, from panfish to pike... I like lake trout fishing, especially vertical jigging, but I also enjoy trolling... I like panfishing for bluegills, sunfish, perch, and crappies , both using small artificials and using bait... I like sitting on the riverbank or pond dike and soaking nitecrawlers for bullheads... Ice fishing has it's own appeal also..Nothing TASTES better than frim filets of perch or bluegills taken from that ice cold water... Did I say I love FISHING...??... ;D ... ;D ... ;D ...

This a tough one..There have been so many... I'll give it a whirl.... # 1... My first wilderness hunt in Alaska....The float plane dropped us off with our gear and a raft... We made plans to meet the plane 100 air miles downriver, two weeks later... The float plane took off and disappeared in the distance, and I realized my partner and I were alone, in the Alaska wilderness, for the next two weeks.. # 2 My one and only triple on ducks.... I was watching a small beaver pond, hoping some ducks would come in... Three mallards, two drakes and a hen, came in from my right and crossed in front of me... I dropped a drake, and the hen kept going the same way, but the other drake did an about face and went back the way he came... I reversed the gun and swung on him and folded him, then reversed the gun back to my left and folded the hen just as she was clearing the beaver dam....It happened in MUCH less time than it took me to type this....Bang,bang, BANG...3 ducks dead on the water.... # 3... My biggest lake trout..Caught him from Keuka Lake in 1975 trolling a Seth green rig the old way....Dacron line coiled in a wooden box, 5 spoons, no rod.... It took me a half hour from the time he struck until I netted him with an old antique willow net.. He was 37 inches long, 19 inches in girth and weighed 16 pounds 12 ounces.. He is still the biggest laker that I have personally ever laid eyes on, although I know they take much bigger ones nowadays from lake Erie and Ontario..

Dinsdale..You hit the nail right on the head.... I hunted NWT in '94... Awesome numbers of big Central barren ground bulls.. As I understand it, the numbers have declined enough so they are no longer issuing NR tags... I hunted the Mulchatna herd in AK in the late 90s..Another awesome herd that is no longer huntable for nonresidents.. I hunted northern Quebec in 98, 2006 and 2008...My last time there I could see the decline..They are now talking about limiting NR tags up there due to descreased numbers.. About the only caribou herd that is currently thriving is the Alaska western Arctic herd, and to a lesser extent, the 40 mile and Porcupine herds.. Good hunting still remains for mountain caribou in NWT, northern BC and the Yukon, but that has become a rich man's sport, like sheep hunting... Hunts start around 10 K... Caribou are and have always been cyclic..Sport hunting really affects them very little, but there are political concerns involving native peoples and of course, the Fish & Wildlife people have to put the consevation of the resource above all else..

Gotta LOVE Texas.... The whackos that do such horrific crimes are going to get thier guns regardless of legislation... Anti gun legislation only keeps the GOOD GUYS ( 99% of us) from having the means to defend ourselves... So many of these crimes would have resulted in less casualties if only there had been an armed citizen present... In my opinion, if you do not want to have the means to defend yourself, that is your perogative, but it should be a CRIME and a TRAVESTY to deny the means of self defense to law abiding citizens... The fact that these horrible crimes are committed is a social issue ... I certainly don't know what causes it, but it does exist in this country and in other countries also... The remedy, however, is NOT to deny our law abiding citizens thier rights under the 2nd amendment, or deny us the God given right to possess the means to defend ourselves... God BLESS Texas...!!...

A buddy of mine has one and it is a fun little gun to plink with... It would probably keep the riff raff off the front lawn in a pinch, too, but I would prefer something more potent than a 9MM for that, like a shotgun.... ..... My buddie loves his..I have never seen it malfunction and it seems quite accurate for a gun of it's type..I've seen him ding metal targets at 100 yards with it ....

Congrats on your NH moose.. ANY moose is a big animal... I have been in on 4 moose kills.. 3 were big Alaskan bulls, and they are huge..It's a monumental task taking care of one... The other one was a young New Brunswick bull, probably only a little more than half the size of a big Alaska bull...STILL a big hunk of meat lying on the ground... I shot him in the middle of a hellhole clearcut..Fortunately my guide ( who is a dairy farmer in NB) owned a huge 4WD tractor..His hired man drove it right to the moose, over deadfalls, stumps and brush, hooked a chain to the beast and dragged him out....Then he loaded it whole into the bed of a truck with his front end loader.. Now THAT is the way to take care of a moose.. In Alaska you have no choice but to cut them into pieces small enough to carry on a packframe and carry them on your back to where a boat or an airplane can get to them... In Newfoundland helicopters are allowed to transport hunters, which is strictly forbidden in Alaska...Many of the outfits simply quarter the moose, bag it, and call in the chopper to airlift it out to civilization..

I am probably done caribou hunting, as much as I love it...I've killed a dozen or so of them and have nice specimens of 3 different subspecies mounted...Caribou hunts are getting pricey, also... Being on a fixed income, my bankroll can't support the hunts I once took...I'm doing the Newfie moose hunt this year, and hope to do another elk hunt and maybe another muley hunt sometime in the future...I have a pile of Colorado preference points to burn up.. Breaks my heart, but I suspect I have seen the Alaska tundra for the last time.. If I get back up there, it will probably be a fishing trip..I have a buddy in Juneau who does a lot of halibut and salmon fishing... BUT from what my buddies tell me, the Newfoundland Wilderness is pretty nice, also... ;D .....

Ok, Blhunter..here's a brief synopsis of my 9 caribou hunts... 1... 1989... DIY Alaska float hunt....My partner and I were seeing good numbers of nice bulls , but on day 3 of the hunt, we ran into two bull moose and had the bad luck of killing them both.. ??? ...By the time we got them back to the river ( a week) most of the caribou had cleared out..My Buddy ended up killing a nice bull caribou but I did not.. We had ENOUGH meat to deal with.. 2...1991... DIY Alaska drop hunt.... 5 of us us killed 3 bull caribou and a black bear...I did not shoot anything..Passed on a few small bulls and cows.. Caribou were scattered... 3...1994... NWT guided hunt at Little Marten Lake.... First class guided hunt about 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle in NWT north of yellowknife.. My first guided hunt ( 2x1).. I saw from 200 to 1000 caribou per day.. 10 of us limited out on big bulls, including a couple of B&C heads.. Great fishing, also, for lake trout, northern pike and grayling..We had Inuit guides, who were a real HOOT... ;D .. 4...1996... DIY Alaska drop hunt.. 5 of us killed a 55"moose, two cow caribou, one bull caribou and a black bear..I shot a cow caribou for meat... 5 ...1998... Quebec fly in guided hunt out of Kuujjuac ( sp..?..) 11 of us hunted with Silak Adventures.... They split us into two camps... One camp killed only 2 bulls.. The camp I was in only killed 1 bull in 3 days ,,They moved us the last day and dropped us into a huge concentration of caribou... We limited out in 24 hours and had some real big bulls.. Ended up with 13 caribou for 11 hunters.. 6 ....1999... DIY Super Cub drop out of Dillingham, Alaska... 4 guys hunted 10 days .. Saw appx 1000 caribou per day.. We all killed trophy bulls, but saw a couple of B&C monsters after we had tagged out.. Incredible hunt.. 8 nice bulls for 4 hunters.. Saw 13 grizzlies on that hunt... ??? ... ??? ... ??? .. Seeing one of those hairy Volkswagons makes you doubt that you are carrying a big enough gun... 7 ...2001... DIY Super cub drop out of Post Alsworth, Alaska... 4 hunters..saw from 100 to 200 animals per day, but practically no big bulls..We filled 7 of our 8 tags, but they were not wallhangers, just young meat bulls.. 8... 2006... Northern Quebec... Hunted with Jack Hume Adventures out of Schefferville...Outfitted..Semi guided..We had a camp manager to help with the animals, ferry hunters round, etc. but basically hunted on our own.. Six of us saw probably 50-300 animals per day, but a good percentage were adult bulls..We all killed 2 trophy bulls apiece, and one of our guys killed both of his with a bow.. 9 ... 2008 ... Northern Quebec, again with Jack Hume.. Saw from 20 to 50 animals per day, but most were small bulls and cows.. Most of us filled our tags for meat.. No real trophies shot on that trip, except one young fellow shot a HUGE black bear.. SO .. That is how it goes..Hunting is hunting..Sometimes you get into them BIG TIME and other times the pickings are slim... I truly DO love the spot and stalk caribou hunting, however..I also consider caribou the BEST big game meat I have ever eaten.. Wish I could afford to hunt them every year..