Pygmy

Lawdwaz... I agree ... I don't worry about odors either.. If they get downwind of you, they will smell you regardless, IMHO.. Personally, I never leave home without a quart of pickled woodcock gizzards in my pack... ....

Maine has a moose population numbering in the tens of thousands, but many residents have applied for years and never drawn a tag..Chances to draw are much lower for non-residents...I applied for years and finally gave up...I also applied for several years in Vermont and New Hampshire..Last I knew odds of a NR drawing there were better than Maine, but still pretty long.. The one moose application I do apply for annually is New Brunswick..I have applied for about ten years and drawn one tag...The odds of drawing is generally between 1 /15 and 1/20 for nonresidents... As Blur said, if you really want to go moose hunting with a good chance of killing a moose, Newfoundland is the way to go...If you really want a BIG bull, save lots of $$$ and go to western Canada or Alaska...

Moose numbers in NY are not high enough to warrant a hunt..There are only a few hundred animals in the state.. Perhaps in a few years, if the population keeps growing, there will be enough for a limited hunt... I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a chance to hunt moose in NY, however... ....

Wildcats... I am certainly not trying to talk you OUT of a 30-06.... That cartridge is NEVER a bad choice for North American game... Just saying that arguing the difference between a 30-06 and a .308 is basically a moot point.. Shoot 150 to 180 grain bullets in either chambering and the game will never know the difference.. There are lots of suitable factory loads available for both.. Some folks think there advantages to short actions...I shoot calibers with both standard and short actions and really have no preference..

The .308 is adequate for any moose or elk that ever walked, as, of course ,is the 30-06... On paper the 30-06 has some ballistic advantage, especially with heavier bullets, but in the field, at ranges that most of us shoot ( say 300-400 yards max) , it's not enough to argue about.. With proper bullets, the .270 is adequate also , but some folks consider it marginal for the big stuff, just as some folks consider the .243 marginal for deer...

The 22-250 shoots the same bullets as the .223.... I don't know what is available in factory loads, but both rounds use .224" bullets... There are 22 cal bullets vailable that are designed with deer in mind, such as Nosler partitions, Barnes X and others.. The bullets to avoid would be those designed for varmints, like Nosler BTs, Hornady Vmax, etc. 22 cal centerfires will always be controversial for deer sized game.. However, many thousands of deer are taken nationwide with them every season... Use a suitable bullet put it in the boiler room and you'll have no problems..

All Canadian Provinces require nonresident aliens to hire a guide or at least hire the services of an outfitter... Ontario and Quebec offer unguided outfitted hunts, but success rates are not very high.. Generally less than 20%.....New Brunswick requires a guide and you have to draw a tag, about one chance in 15 for NR.... The western provinces have over the counter tags and fairly high success rates in many areas, but prices are much higher than the eastern provinces.... Newfoundland is your best bet for a meat moose.. Don't expect a big rack there, but tags are mostly over the counter and success rates in many camps are over 90%...

If the Canadian Govt. would issue me a free moose tag and pay the outfitter's fees for me to go up moose hunting, I'd GLADLY drive up and help them out... ;D ...

Culvercreek..Thanks for the info...

Steve McD... I'll tell you what sportsman needs a 20 rd mag.... He's the one defending himself against some sleazebag who will have a 20 rd mag whether it is legal or not... Why is it so difficult to understand that passing legislation to ban certain weapons or accessories only affects LAW ABIDING citizens, and actually AIDS those who pay no attention to the laws...??...

G-man....I don't NEED a bear, since I don't care for the meat and have no desire for a rug or a mount... But I am considering shooting one ( given a legal situation) simply because they are begining to be such a pain in the butt.. Too damn many of them around, IMHO.. I just need to find someone who likes bearmeat because I would not want the animal to go to waste.. Birds... I LOVE them and have fed them for years..I have also become sort of an amateur "birder" from watching them while hunting.. I have never taken the time to do a "life list" of birds I have identified, but perhaps that should go on my "bucket list"...

I think it is YOU-GLEE....!!!!... And that big box magazine is an abomination..!!.. I can see it doing nothing but getting in the way in a hunting situation... Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder....It's a good thing we don't all like the same things...

Tough to police your property if you live several hours away.. As has been suggested, your best option is to get some local neighbors to watch over it for you...

Helluva buck.. Congrats ..!!!!.. ..... Most of us will hunt a lifetime and never even SEE a buck like that....

This guy most be trolling...He can't be serious... .....

Smokeless powder used for reloading is flammable, but not explosive... There are probably other materials in your home, such as various flammable liquids, that are a greater or at least an equal hazard....Some may be under your kitchen sink.. I keep mine on a shelf in my gunroom, at normal room temperatures.. As an aside... About years ago I had the misfortune of a having a house fire..The firemen asked me if I had anything flammable in the house, and I told them I had 15-20 pounds of smokeless powder, a couple pounds of black powder, and several thousand rounds of loaded ammo in my gun room..The only thing they seemed concerned about was the black powder.. Fortunately the fire was contained before it reached my gun room...

This thread makes me hungry... Gotta go.. I have a quart of woodcock gizzards on the stove as we speak.. .... SERIOUSLY though, in my prior ( married) life I had 3 springers and used to have lots of fun with grouse and woodcock... My second springer was 6 months old when I shot the first limit of woodcock ( which was 5 birds at that time) over him... One bird dropped 20 yards out over a beaver pond and he made the retrieve.. Wish I had a camera THAT day.. The last few years, I am lucky to shoot a grouse or two a year when hunting rabbits with my buddie's beagles.. BTW... The owner of a lodge in Maine where I have hunted a few times tells me that there is a difference between grouse and partridge... If you shoot them on the wing they are GROUSE... If you shoot them on the ground or off a limb they are PARTRIDGE... ...

Back in the 60s, I hunted foxes with hounds..Great fun.. Do you use shotguns with heavy shot, or rifles..??.. Near where I live, in Steuben Co. there is such a patchwork of inaccessible private land, it would be hard to hunt with hounds effectively..

When I first read the title of your thread I thought.... " The lucky b**tard.."... ....

If you are having problems at 50 yards on 9 power it's because the power is set too high and you have too small of a field of view.. At 50 yards the scope should be set on 3 or 4 power MAX, and if the deer is moving, 2 power would be better.. That's a big disadvantage to variable scopes...People turn up to max power to look at something far away and forget to turn them back down, and then a deer jumps up right in front of them and they can't get it in the scope... In the woods most hunters would be much better served by a fixed 2.5, 3 or 4 power scope... The only variable I use on a hunting rifle is a 2x7, and if I am hunting somewhere that I expect a shot within 100 yards, I leave it set on 2 power... My other rifles all have fixed power 4 or 6 power Leupolds, and I only use the 6 power ( on a .280 Rem) if I am hunting open areas and anticipate the chance of a shot between 200 and 400 yards..

As others have said, you won't regret buying the best qaulity scope you can afford.. Rather than buying a cheap scope new, you may be able to purchase a quality scope used... I have 4 Leupolds, all in perfect condition, and the most I paid for any of them was $160.... Gunshows are a good place to look for them, as are online auctions such as gunbroker.com... Don't get too hung up on high magnification, either...I see so many hunters ruin the lines and balance of a fine hunting rifle by adding some long, heavy, high magnification abomination of a scope to it when they would be much better served by a high quality fixed power scope such as the Leupold M8 4X...... That scope is light, optically excellent and absolutely dependable.. Why hunters think they need a 9X scope (or higher) to shoot deer sized game at normal ranges is beyond me.... I'm not just talking woods hunting ranges, either, but ranges out to 300 yards...

SteveB.. I think I remember the quote... " Never argue with an idiot....He will bring you down to his level and then beat you with experience...".... ....

So, do you think she really WAS a dyke..???.. <<Not that there is anything wrong with that>>...

I'm sure that there was not a moose season in NY in the 50s.... Probably never... I suspect that moose were pretty much eradicated in NY before hunting seasons were even established, probably before 1900... Very cool picture, but I suspect that the moose was shot in Canada, or perhaps one of the New England states, if they even had moose seasons in the 50s... The vehicles in the background appear to be late 40s or early 50s.. I took my road test for my NYS driver's license in a 1953 Ford pickup... The deer appear to be typical Adirondack bucks.. Nice ones, indeed, but remember that they are being displayed in a big buck contest..

All my rabbit hunting is with beagles....I have used mostly .410s for the last few years, but probably the most effective rabbit gun I have is an Ithaca SKB 20 gauge side by side choked IC/Mod... Rabbits are easy to kill..I have never seen any need for heavy loads in the 20 gauge..The cheaper low brass game loads in #6 shot work fine.. In the .410, with it's lighter shot charge, I use 3" shells, also in #6.. I have used 7 1/2s and they kill bunnies just fine, but sometimes they put more shot pellets in the meat than I like, so I stick to 6s...