Pygmy

In my area there seems to be a bumper crop of both squirrels and rabbits this year, despite the presence of plenty of predators.... I suspect that the numbers of small game animals and birds depends more on population cycles and cover issues than on predators... Upland game birds are a different story..Most pheasant hunting here in the southern tier is put and take, and has been for MANY years, due to modern farming practices and much of the cover reverting back to woodland rather than brush.. Grouse and woodcock populations aren't very high either... Plenty of TURKEYS, tho....

I use a Remington 1187 with a 21" 12 gauge 3" Mag barrel..My choke tube is a Kick's Gobblin' Thunder .665".... This combo works well with either Federal Premium or Winchester XX 2 oz. turkey loads and # 4, 5 or 6 shot...I get sure kill patterns past 40 yards, which is my personal limit for shots on turkeys... I have never bothered trying the Nitros, or the hevishot super dense patterning loads..Never felt the need to kill turkeys past 40 yards, and my gun does just fine at that range with the much cheaper buffered, plated lead turkey loads such as Federals or Win XX...

It's hard to beat a .270 as a deer rifle, especially if you do not reload, due to the wide selection of factory loads available... You can nearly always find a load that it shoots well.. Actually, I've never seen a .270 that did not provide good hunting accuracy with factory loads.. The only real advantage of a 30-06 over a .270 is it's ability to handle heavier bullets, and for deer sized game that is not an issue.... Should he ever get the opportunity to hunt elk or moose, the .270 will also do a good job on them with appropriate bullets...

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Yes.. I think I am pretty well aware of modern military weaponry... I supose that was not an apporiate analogy...Hope I did not offend you...

Calling sure does work... The last 3 or 4 bucks I killed with my bow came into calls.. I have friends who are much better bow hunters than myself, who won't even HUNT unless conditions are right for calling,,, I have rattled several bucks in, but have had much better success just "tickling" the antlers, rather than making all that racket that the TV guys do... I have had much more success with a grunt call.... I have done best with a low steady grunt, but some of my buddies have done well with more aggressive grunting.... I have had much more success calling in pre-rut..During rut, most bucks are pre-occupied with does and much less responsible to calls, IMHO... Still, it is another tool to try.. It can work at any time.. As far as calling during gun season, I have not done it much... I spend most of my time during gun season hunting escape routes or food sources..

I am a big fan of the 7MM08 myself.... Great performance on game and the recoil is noticeably lighter than the 270/308/30-06... Another good choice would be the .243....

I'm a Leupold fan.... I like thier lifetime guarantee, which applies to each scope no matter how many times it has changed hands... However, I have never had to use it..Never had a problem with a Leupold... I have a couple Burris scopes, and they seem like good scopes also, as do my ancient ( 60s vintage) El Paso Weavers... Never had a Zeiss, but if they are as good as thier binocs they are probably excellent.. German optics are great.. I love my Leica binoculars.. Actually, the only scope I ever had a real issue with was a 70s vintage Redfield... It was a POS... I have looked through many cheaper scopes that belonged to friends, and optically, Few seemed as clear as my fixed power Leupolds... Hard to beat an M8 Leupy 4x or 6x for a pure HUNTING rifle...I never could understand the appeal of the popular 3x9 ( or larger) variables on a HUNTING rifle., unless one was involved in ultra long range shooting, say 400 yards and over... The only variables I own are a 2x7 Burris and a 1x4 Leupold...

My fiance owns about 100 acres, half wooded and half old hayfield.. I put in 2.5 acres of clover along the back of the field, along the woods... My friends and I take from 4 to 6 deer annually from the property.. . We hunt stands in the woods adjacent to the clover plot, but nobody has actually hunted over the plot.. . It's not that I have any problem hunting over the plot, but so far we have done well hunting travel routes between bedding areas and the food plot...Also, the woods are mixed oak/hemlock, and often the deer prfer the acorns over the clover, especially during daylight hours.. I have entertained the idea of building a Texas type tower stand to hunt the clover plot, but it hasn't happened yet... Maybe next year...

Tags...??.... You guy use TAGS...??....

Because they can climb trees and coyotes can't.. Or perhaps they just don't TASTE good... ..... Actually, I have heard lots of tales regarding coyote depredation on red foxes... When coyotes first became common here, rumor was that the red fox population would plummet... They may eat them if they catch them, but I don't think foxes are very easy to catch... It seems that in the last 20 years or so, since coyotes have become more numerous here in the southern tier, red foxes have also become more numerous.. A friend of mine who traps typically catches about 30 coyotes and about 80 red foxes per year.. Doesn't sound like the 'yotes are putting much of a dent in the fox population.. The animal that HAS become more scarce is the woodchuck, at least the ones that den in hayfields...There are still woodchucks around, but most of them are living in road ditches or people's yards..I think that coyotes are more efficient at catching woodchucks that den in open fields than at catching foxes..

God info, Jim... I heartily agree that it is important to keep a log..I certainly could not function without mine... I also mark evrything as well as I can..I label each box of handloads with load info.. Trust nothing to memory...

"Relative speaking, CARNAGE may not be too strong a word".. ;D ... ;D ... ;D ..??... Hehehehehe... Ok Doc... You are TRULY a piece of work... Are you a real doctor...?? Are you a PHD...??... Until your last post I was figuring that you were maybe 16 years old... I'll give you a little...Believe it or not, I am not a REAL Pygmy... I'm not a short little black fellow with a spear in my hand and a bone in my nose.. So when are you going to stop making outlandlish statements so that we can start to take YOU seriously...??... CARNAGE..!!??..Stop it... You're KILLING me... Hehehehehehe.. ;D .. ;D .. ;D ..

It's hard to go wrong with a Rock Chucker...That's what I use and it's the press that other presses are compared to... Most of my dies are RCBS, but I have a few Lyman..Never had any issues with either brand... My powder scale is a Herter's...Just a simple beam balance type scale that I have had for nearly 40 years, but it still gets the job done..I'm sure that most of the scales made by RCBS, Lyman, Redding and others work fine..A lot of guys like digital scales, but I have never owned one myself.. Maybe someone else can elaborate about them... I don't do a lot of case trimming, but when I do I use Lee case trimmers..If I were doing a lot of it I might look into one of the more expensive rotary types.. RCBS makes a handy little inside/outside chamfering tool...It's inexpensive and works well...

I agree with Fasteddie that a single stage press is the way to go, unless you plan to load large amounts of ammo... There are some pretty good starter kits out there by RCBS and other manufacturers... When you get your dies and press and are ready to start, many of us will be available to suggest powder, appx. charges and projectiles

" I would hate to see what the carnage would be like if we didn't already have the voluntary compliance when it comes to B/O. JUST IMAGINE THAT ! There are some that would try to convince us that there would be no difference, but don't you believe it for a minute..." What a bunch of alarmist BS THAT statement is..!!... Evidently your memory is not too good... Remember the 50's and 60s when B/O had not even been invented yet....??.. Some fellows wore bright red, but the black/red checked Woolrich was kind of STANDARD hunting garb....Most hunting land was owned by local farmers rather than out of the area flatlanders or yuppies ( as it is today) and nearly all of it was accessible to hunting.. People drove deer... The woods were full of hunters and pumpkin balls were flying every which way.. However, as today.. A responsible hunter was a responsible hunter, and an idiot was an idiot.. Sure, there were a few hunting accidents, but they were relatively rare as they are today... Blaze orange was rare until the early 70s...I bought my first blaze orange hat around 1973 or 1974 when Pennsylvania mandated it.... To say that CARNAGE would result if less people wore blaze orange is a gross exaggeration... I spent enough time in the woods in both NY and PA before blaze orange was in common use, with LOTS of hunters in the woods (probably more than today) and I never witnessed any carnage.. The local newpapers didn't report any either, and hunting accidents were big news back then, just as they were today....

Apertureguy... If you are using a front bead..That's a good point.. ... Lots of deer have been killed with just a bead sight over the years... As Harry Callahan once said " A man just has to know his limitations "... Now your handle might suggest that you use a peep rear sight.. That would make things more precise..

Absolutely...I have smelled deer a number of times before I have seen the.. I have also smelled foxes and coyotes, but usually they had vacated the premises just before I smelled them.I saw the evidence in the snow.. One animal that you can REALLY use your nose on is elk.. I have smelled elk 100 yards upwind on several occasions.. Get a nosefull and hunt very slowly and carefully upwind...They smell like a rutting whitetail, only about ten times stronger..

Until my recent divorce, I owned property that was included in a local hunting co-op that practiced QDM, to some extent.. For the last ten years or so the minimum size buck allowed has been an 8 point with a ~ 15" spread.. It really didn't make much difference, since we had neighbors all around that shot anything with antlers as soon as the deer crossed the property lines... As far as I knew, the members supported the AR because they hoped to see some bucks with bigger antlers.. What I have never understood is what does AR do to improve the herd... I have seen the result of it in PA ( BIGGER, but many less bucks taken) but I have never heard good explanation of it benefits, other than growing bigger antlers.. Many of us, for various reasons, really don't CARE about bigger antlers, but all hunters should be concerned about the health of the herd.. Can anyone give me a good explanation of how AR benefits the overall health of the deer herd..??...

Geeze, Doc... A conservative...??.. I never would have guessed it.. The point does not involve inconveniencing anybody.... The point involves denying a citizen of his right to decide whether or not to wear a certain color clothing... PERIOD... AND one other downside of mandating blaze orange BESIDES denying a citizen of his right of choice concerning his personal welfare IS.... If B/O is mandated, many of those inferior beings that you obviously feel so superior to are going to ASSUME that everybody in the deer woods will be dressed like a pumpkin... So what happens when Joe Shmuck and his wife Shirley decide to take thier golden retrievers for a walk during deer season...??.. Perhaps ol "doesn't have the mental where with all to know the difference".... ( your words) might assume that since there is no blaze orange , it may be a legit target...

Good point, Culvercreek... Perhaps soon we can all live in nice, hermetically sealed, cushioned , indestructable bubbles where we can't POSSIBLY get hurt.... Certainly THAT can be legislated by the liberals that are in charge of the country now... I'm glad that I'm getting old.....

I always wear blaze orange during deer gun season, or when hunting upland birds or rabbits...It makes sense.. I know some people who hunt deer during gun season in full camo, and nearly to a man, they are morons.. HOWEVER, it is SUPPOSED TO BE a free country, and I resent being told that I MUST wear blaze orange FOR MY OWN GOOD, just as I resent being told that I MUST WEAR A SEATBELT FOR MY OWN GOOD.... I DO wear blaze orange by choice...I would also wear a seatbelt in my vehicle by my own choice ( even if it were not legally mandated), but as an adult citizen of a free country it is just plain WRONG for the government to force me to do that...

Lawdwaz... Mine too.... I compensate for it as well as I can, but it's always a factor... When it goes away, I'll know it's time to stop hunting and take up needlepoint... : ......

Something to consider while we are discussing this topic... A person may very honestly say that he has hunted deer for 30 years and never lost one... Nothing wrong with that... But some hunters, for whatever reason, like limited time to hunt, being very selective, etc. shoot at fewer deer than other hunters... If someone hunts for 30 years and shoots at 20 deer and never loses one, that's different than someone hunting for 30 years and shooting at 100 deer and never losing one , even more so if bowhunting is included in the equation... I am certainly NOT knocking bowhunting, but there are many variables involved in that game, such as an unseen twig to deflect an arrow, etc. etc.. that can turn a perfect shot into a bad shot through no blatant fault of the hunter.. Such things happen with bullets, also, but there is more margin for error, and more opportunity to correct the situation with a quick follow up shot. Either way, most of us mere mortals lose a game animal now and then, if we hunt a lot and shoot at several animals per season.. Everybody would rather have a clean miss rather than a wounded animal, but think about it... A clean miss is FARTHER off your intended target than a gut shot or a broken leg....A clean miss is just a LUCKY shot, and a blessing, because your marksmanship was even farther off than a marginal hit, which could result in a wounded, lost game animal....

I have heard reliable reports of local bucks ( Steuben County) that weighed 200 pounds or more dressed, but I have never seen one.. However, I've been hunting since the early 60's and have seen a lot of deer pulled up on the scales...The heaviest I ever laid eyeballs on weighed 185... He was shot early in bow season and was larded up with fat... The heaviest buck I have personally shot dressed out at 175.. Funny thing..He was dogging a doe with his nose right to the ground when I shot him..I really didn't think he was that big a deer until I walked up to him... The drag, about a mile uphill..damn near killed ME..!!... ....