Dinsdale

Get a little confident by picking up a few nice doubles..... And those "easy" ones will humble you every time. Good shooting.

Lots of good .323 bullets being made and available for loading. 300WSM quite popular in other places around the world thanks to affordable (relative) rifles.

Sorry for the loss of your friend. Good advice given here no matter which way you choose.

I check outfitters through "The Hunting Report". Its a member driven data base and most folks reviewing hunts give contact info for follow up. Been on both ends, talked about my hunts or asked about details of others. Poor reviews give the outfitter a chance for rebuttal. Its not free.....either you can pay a buck for an individual review or subscribe.

I should upgrade too but I hate changing tech stuff and learning new. Stuff I'm using is ancient.... The debate is simple; pay for a future hunt or a computer. Hunt wins every time.

There are a few places that specialize in just selling mounts especially for collections that are more then N. American game. Standard stuff can often be liquidated through a taxidermist, local guy here often gets calls for standard stuff like deer/moose/bear for interior designers. Won't be even close to mounting costs, but its something. After seeing a few posts about this I am in the process of putting a picture and a 3x5 card of the story where all my stuff has come from on the back or bottom of each mount. Hoping someone will maybe have an interest in the mounts someday. But I have no family and my closest relatives are non hunters, pretty sure just looking at all of it would creep them out, so in the end I guess they will end up in a dumpster. I'm OK with that; they are here to remind me of some damn good times spent around the world.

Couple rattle cans of Krylon and you can touch it up of change anytime you want. They make flat camo colors just for that purpose. Just sayin'

Been chilly up this way and damn wet all week. Stay dry and hope you get a chance at a bird.

Well..... If you go to Inkulu's website they show a pic of accommodations they don't own; so they must be cover hunting on that estate.... Here's the actual property that I have heard of....Ibamba; noted high end lodging. http://www.jansenville.co.za/listing/ibamba_private_game_reserve_9985d Cover hunting is not always bad per se, but you have to trust the outfitter is able to take top animals and not pass culls off as trophies. Rather have a outfitter where some of his own management is in the game or maybe has an exclusive arrangement for a property. Those day rates are crazy expensive for Eastern Cape hunting and reflect the accomodations most likely. JMO

At one point I was doing quite a bit of work in the Catskills and they sure could make a mess of a job site. Open brand new cans of paint, chew on hydraulic lines for the lift......could be a real PIA sometimes. Had a good sized Black Bear waddle through one job and he had a face full of quills all swollen up, jeeze that looked painful.

Just shot an African version caught in a snare a few weeks ago. 300 WBY made a mess, plucked a bunch of quills for a souvenir, some close to 16" long. Skinner said he tasted fine. I had some roasted a few years ago by digging a hole and filling it with coals and burying it whole and ungutted, lets just say that was interesting.

I'd guess its a fungus or bacteria in the sap flow feeding on the sugars.

I'm guessing I care about as much as anyone posting on this board, as I care more about hunting in Africa then NY, and I take no offence......its a good question why and maybe I can help that a little. The context of the debate is framed around the "Cecil" the lion hunt debacle. The basic premise is does the money spent by hunters actually protect wildlife abroad and at home; but the "pro" lady on the panel is based in Africa and its her expertise, so her answers are more to that point. Why do I think this will effect you? This is a war of attrition and as hunters we will get nibbled on around the edges til' one day you may just find yourself and way of hunting being the last one standing. Its easy and emotional using all the Disneyfication of African animals to be able to target a small group, often with some wealth and public image to uphold and have our Gov't make it difficult enough to go hunting to effectively shut it down. Its fashionable now to attack 1%'ers and public figures who need to be image conscience for their shareholders and who do a large majority of BIG 5 hunting, I just play around the edges. Anti poaching patrols have taken a huge hit this year with the revenue of incoming hunter dollars to finance year round work for a 4 month hunting season with US citizens booking few hunts due to import regulations. US hunters make up roughly 50-60% of all revenues for African hunting, and number about 5,000 a year or so on average. USF&W have already shut down Lion, Elephant in many cases, and have made effective closures on a list of animals I cannot hunt, not based on the country where the animal lives and THEIR law, but our USF&W service won't allow import under OUR laws. I personally see this as another huge over reach of "we know better than you" mentality Americans in general are so well known for now worldwide. In Africa this as its a simple economic tenant.....if it pays it stays. I cannot emphasize enough how I see this directly with every trip. I have been 4 times as recent as a few weeks ago, and have spent several months hunting and several sightseeing some of the more less tourist picturesque places in SA,Namibia, and to a lesser degree Zimbabwe. (in 2005 I hunted in close proximity to Hwange Park and where Cecil originated) OK, so we are still talking about Africa? Well the arguments being brought before the courts to stop "safari" hunting by US citizens on foreign soil are EXACTLY the arguments that will be used to undermine the hunting here at home. Its why the Wyoming Wolf delisting is still held up in the courts. USF&W argument is that the science isn't good enough to base hunting as a benefit. That is setting a precedent both in the public(Congress) and courts eyes. Well guess what? The science on setting game seasons is all based on this same science of game management and its going to be incrementally challenged. (and that science is pitiful in NY by the way with basically a dart board due to a handcuffed game dept that has a broad spectrum of responsibilities and getting hunters to shut up is one of them) HSUS and similar groups have stated so in internal literature as one of the chief goals and ways to achieve their belief that ALL hunting must end. They have no time table, they will keep steering and framing the message to their skew as long as it takes. And that's why it matters.....

Followed this from another hunting forum..... I'm not surprised by the outcome; hunters lost again in voting. Until as a group we find a suitable spokesperson to articulate with the same passion as the anti's, the message will never persuade the neutral majority of the public.

I'm the worst of all.... An evil trophy hunter who likes to travel internationally. Our numbers are minuscule compared to the overall hunting population and issues that concern me are of little to zero interest to most. NJ just passed some damn scary legislation that would have several of my mounts requiring registration! That a$$wipe Christie only did a partial veto and the legislature there is expected to pass a lightly modified version of the law. Why does that matter to me in NY? Because we are linked by the Port Authority and importing regulations and some of the language will be taken up by the NY legislature to get both sides on the same page. Act as a unified force? Hunters are so stupid we can't agree on the simple topics.... We're screwed.

That used to be true, but now I notice they have some better pricing and the last few things ordered were either free shipping or an email special code for shipping or discounts.

Enjoyed the pics.....

Always cool to see a good dog working a trail. Hope you post some pics and training updates if you get involved again.

Ha....ask Lawdwaz, its getting me to shut up that's the hard part when Africa is the subject, best to leave that topic alone. As I'm a bit of a species collector, the hunting often involves animals that are lesser known to most, there is a brief hunt report for that portion of my trip here for those inclined to see some additional pics. http://www.africahunting.com/threads/south-africa-kmg-hunting-safaris-april-2016.28549/

Geeze, I'd take those over a gun......good stuff.

I did a set on a friends rifle but that was some years ago.... Ask over on AR, lots of threads there on Conetrol rings, someone in gunsmithing forum should have a set of instructions around.

Thought this might be interesting to some;going through some pics from a recent vacation/hunting trip. Was fortunate enough to get a look into the life of a female Leopard and her 2 cubs this past week during a visit to the Sabi Sands game reserve in South Africa. Sabi is a associated private park ( termed "APNR" land)attached to Kruger National Park designed to expand the park and give the animals free movement. These private areas effectively double the park boundaries, but being private allow for off track use of vehicles to spot big 5 game in the bush. There are several lodges to stay at both in Kruger and on APNR land..... This is this females second litter; she successfully raised two female cubs on her first litter ,very unusual for a young cat. These two male cubs are roughly 6 mos old and they lost a female sibling a short time ago, most likely to a Hyena. Being able to track the cats off road has the private rangers able to keep good tabs in her home range without the use of radio collars (collars are now hacked by poachers and extra precautions are taken on voice radio chatter not to pin point Rhino and other animals prized by illegal smugglers) We came to the scene with cub 1 in the a tree gnawing on the leg of a Impala kill taken a full night prior, 24-30 hrs maybe..... Mom was patiently calling to her second cub somewhere hidden in the thick bush; Cub 2 pops up in the thick; After sometime the second cub got a warm greeting from mom who was always glancing back to keep an eye on the first cub; Roughly 1/2 hr later it was cub 2's turn to feed, so mom called cub 1 down and he waited by the base of the tree; The female then escorted cub 2 up and returned to take a nap when we left them alone; The beginnings of a top predator in Africa; This was my 4th trip to Africa; I have baited Leopards for other hunters and seen countless feeding signs, kills, pugs marks, and trail cam pics.....never in my life would I have told you it was possible to see 4 different Leopard relaxed in daylight over several days, best i have done is a tail or a glimpse in poor light. To see a set of cubs was an unreal thrill.

Damn, I seen him a couple times live. When Mack did his big comeback album with SRV's help, he played with keyboardist Stan Szelest of "Stan and the Ravens". Szelest played regular in Buffalo when I was living there and later moved to Woodstock where one would see him regular when he played with The Band's members locally. Mack showed up at one of those impromptu jam sessions I happen to catch and played a hell of a set. Szelest died years ago in his late 40's in Woodstock area. Lots of interwoven connections between all those talented musicians back then.....

Good for page views and post counts. That's what makes a successful web site. LOL

I was off work all of week after coming back from a trip, I would have met up with you there and bought you lunch or dinner. Good luck in the morning!