wolc123

I also was wondering how that turned out, aside from the breast. I have always been a dark meat guy, when it comes to domestic turkey. I once tried some drumsticks in the crockpot, from a wild spring tom, and they were barely edible. Even after cooking on low for 8 hours, they were tough, stringy and poorly flavored. Those that I did from a young wild hen last fall, that same way, were much better.

A couple of 1/2 pound burgers (made from doe fawn grind) grilled rare, on fresh wheat buns and a Genny light. Those were some of tastiest burgers that I can remember. Light winds this afternoon made for some easy grilling out on the deck for the first time this year.

The wedding sequence was very good. Hollywood has lots of experience with those. I liked when the sergeant crashed the wedding and they bought him a drink. His reply, when they asked him how it was "over there", was interesting. The scenes in the steel mill were also very realistic, and were probably the most technically correct part of the film. The combat scenes and special effects were better than average. Had they not botched the hunting scenes so badly (can you say: no deer ?), I might rank that movie as one of my favorite 5.

I will have to watch it again, but the animal that died in that first "clumsy" deer death scene certainly did not appear to be a whitetail. Since the title of the movie is "The Deerhunter", I can understand why the director would be unhappy with the hunting scenes. I would imagine that the writer was also furious that they substituted what appears to be a European stag (in the first "clumsy death" scene), and a Western elk, in the later "did not shoot" scene. There are not many states where whitetail deer hunting is more popular than PA, and It is almost inexcusable that no "live" ones made it into the movie (I did see a few "real" whitetail shoulder mounts). At the very least, they should have retitled the movie "The Staghunter" or "The Elkhunter", if they could not find any live deer while filming. I would have scored the movie an 8 out of 10 had they done that. Back in 1979, when that movie came out and there were a lot higher percentage of deer-hunting moviegoers, I bet many from north-eastern states walked out of the theaters wondering why there were no actual deer in the movie.

Same here. My grandpa, on my mother's side, left me his guns when he passed and that was the first one I used. It has a modified barrel and a long "deerslayer" barrel. The modified barrel still sits in the back of my gun cabinet. I only used it one time: on my very first, when I was 14 and my uncle took me grouse hunting. I fired 14 shots at 10 grouse and never even took a feather off from one. After that hunt, I used the other 16 gauge that grandpa left me ( J Stevens side by side choked imp cyl and mod), and finally managed to bring down a few grouse with that. All of the grouse that I have killed with shotguns have been with 16 gauges, including going 2/2 the only time I hunted them with my dad's Browning sweet 16. I still use that Model 37 for deer now and then, and it only failed me once, on the second year I hunted with it, and before I put a 1-1/2 power Weaver scope on it. I missed a big buck, at almost point blank range, with the open sights. I think that "buck-fever" may have prevented me from bringing up the rear sight properly. I killed my first deer (a button buck) with it, earlier that same year, using those open sights (no buck fever on that one, that I thought was a doe). The family still talks about that shot. In truth, I might have been aiming at the leader of a pair of twins, as they ran full-tilt down a mountain in Allegheny state park. It may have been the following twin that was struck perfectly thru the front shoulders. I am still kicking myself for not toting that Ithaca on a late-season hunt on my grandfather's old farm last fall, when the gun I used instead misfired on a doe that a couple little bucks had chased directly under my stand. Because of that misfire, I took a farther running shot, that I probably should not have, just to see if it would go off, when they chased her around my stand a second time, about a half hour later. I am 95 % sure that shot missed because I spent several hours following tracks and looking for blood on the snow, finding no signs of any. That was the first deer I shot at, with any weapon, and did not recover in more than 10 years. Now I have missed two in a row, including another doe that I shot at with my ML a few weeks later, striking a branch instead. Maybe it is time to bring out that old Ithaca again to end my current "miss" streak. Were it not for the generosity of a neighbor who gave us a badly shot up 2.5 year old buck, and a wonderfully tasty (just finished her last pack of grind) doe fawn, we would be hurting for venison right now, due to those two mishaps.

I will be adding this wretched soul to my prayer list, but it would be sweet if you fellas could stop quoting him because I do need a break.

I could, but it would not do me much good on the two old tv's down there now (one in the gym and one in the workshop). Each had a VCR and DVD player, but one of the VCR's just crapped out. Hopefully, the other one lasts thru the couple of hundred VHS movies that I have now (about 150 left to watch). If and when one or both of those tv's craps out, we could replace them with smart tv's and go from there. That may be several years away however. "Deerhunter" lost another point for me in the second hunting scene when they substituted a big 6 x 6 Western Elk for a PA whitetail. I don't suppose Hollywood ever had any real eastern hunting knowledge and they are always good at turning good books into mediocre movies, like they also did with American Sniper. Fredo, killing the doe in the middle of the river, was a little lame also. The ending was good though, gaining back a point, for a final score of 7 out of 10 in my book. I would call it a very good movie, but not quite a great one. Ben Hur is up next. Time for some grilled doe burgers now, and an Empire Strikes Bock.

It is still too wet to accomplish much outside, so I am watching this movie today. A buddy at work gave me several big crates of VHS tapes on Friday. We no longer have cable TV in the downstairs gym, since switching to dish upstairs, so I am limited to VHS tapes or DVD's during workouts down there. I should have enough of those for a few years now anyhow. This looked about the most interesting, so I popped it in the old VCR. The picture quality is pretty good. I finished the first 1.5 hour tape, and am now almost ready to start the second. At 3 hour run time, it is a long one. During "intermission", I bore-sighted the new Redfield Revolution scope on my slug gun. Now, as soon as the lane back to the range dries up, I can get it sighted in. It sure is a nice clear scope, with good eye relief and focus at all ranges out to about 400 yards. So far, I would give the movie a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I would have given it an 8, if Diniro had shot a real PA whitetail, rather than a skinny European red stag. It was cool watching them drive to the bar with it strapped across the hood of his Pontiac. Hopefully, it gets even better in the second half. Good luck to all the turkey hunters. I am too scared of ticks and too uninterested in "white meat" to try that. Time now to make a couple of doe-fawn burger patties (from my last pack), mix with an egg, and put them back in the fridge so they will stay bound together when I grill them for dinner after the movie.

All: Please refrain from quoting Storm. You would have more success arguing with a brick wall. If nobody quotes him then nobody HAS to read his nonsense.

Storm is blocked now. That is a cool feature.

PB & J

That might be true in the southern zone, but the crossbow hunters (and area merchants who depend on tourism dollars) are really getting screwed up in the northern zone. Since 2014, They only get (3) days before the guns come in with early ML season. Up there, there has not been a single weekend when crossbows can be used and guns can't. If I owned a motel, store, or gas station up there I would be pushing pretty hard to add at least one weekend of crossbow to the early archery season. Also, the three days they have now are a few weeks prior to the rut. I am ok with the way things are now in the southern zone, and very thankful for those two weeks. I have done more than twice as well during archery season, since picking up the crossbow in 2014 (hunting only 2 weeks) as I did in all the years prior with a vertical and hunting the full seasons. Better yet, At four for four, I have yet to send a bolt from a crossbow that did not put the deer down dead within 40 yards. edit, I think Larry was on to something blocking Storm. How does one go about doing that ?

I have been wanting to try a neck roast for several years, but it never worked out. I always forget about it, on the first deer or two every year. The late season ones often got shot in the neck, destroying the roast. Everyone says they are so good. I finally managed to save one from a big button buck that I killed with my crossbow last fall, so I might have to try it this weekend. My wife did not seem to excited about it when I asked her to cook it. She will be out of state on a big shopping trip this weekend, so it might be a perfect chance for me to give it a try. I ain't much of a cook, but I can manage the crock-pot.

That is very similar to what I do with regarding shoulder mounts. I only mount the ones that are "extra special" in some way, but not all of them are "firsts". The first one that I had mounted is still my largest-racked buck. That 3-1/2 year old 9-pointer was a couple pounds lighter than the buck I killed last year. Last year's rack would have probably out-scored him, were it not for the two busted off tines. The rack is narrower, but heavier and higher, and would have been almost perfectly symmetric. I also had my first bow kill mounted (a 7-pointer), and a 10-point gun kill that I took that same year. The taxidermist cut me good deal on the two. I had to have my first Adirondack buck (a decent 8-point ) mounted, still my largest up there, under pressure from my father in law. He is always looking for nice wall decorations for their place up there. Back before the wife and kids, when I had a bit more money to burn, I even had a road-kill mounted. That heavy-bodied, non-typical 12-pointer had antlers that look like heavy pieces of driftwood. It seemed a shame not to get it mounted. I tried, but could not find the broken off 12th point at the scene of the violent crash (totaled a car). The taxidermist did almost as good of job as your guy on the "restoration". The first antlered buck that I killed (my first deer was a button buck), was a 6-pointer. I mounted that rack myself, in another cape that a buddy gave me. He had an old shoulder mount, that was his grandfather's, redone on a larger cape. He gave me the old one. It fit my little 6-pointer a lot better than his grandfather's big 10. For me to have another mounted, it would have to be an 11-pointer (I already have one each, of the numbers 6-12, purely by coincidence), or my largest rack ever. One exception might be my first ML season antlered buck, if it ever happens. I have taken quite a few bucks with my ML, but all during the regular gun season. A big 11-pointer with it this year would be sweet.

Looks like a young puma to me. Probably on its way north to Canada. The photo was probably taken within 50 mi of Watertown NY.

I think current production (since Leupold took over in 2008) is limited to the Revolution line made in Oregon). My two older Redfield (Low-Profile widefields) were also made in USA.

I just pulled the Bushnell Banner off my Marlin and was surprised to find out it was actually a fixed 4X (I always thought it was 3X), made in Korea. It was on the gun when I bought it, about 15 years ago, and never gave me any trouble until last fall. It really don't owe me anything (except maybe a little bit for the doe I missed with it last fall). I can not really blame it for that one because I should have rechecked the zero after dropping the gun while dragging out my buck. The first year I hunted with it, I was able to kill deer on three consecutive hunts. The second one was my longest shot at a deer at home (163 yards). I have lost count of the does and button bucks that it has accounted for since then, and I was very thankful to finally kill an antlered buck with it last fall. Ironically, that will be the last deer before it gets trashed. Besides being made in USA, when and if the new Redfield goes south, I can turn it in for a new one, thanks to the Leupold-backed lifetime warranty. I also like that it comes with the "illuminator" glass. That will be nice in the dense woods, where I often find myself hunting lately, early and late in the day. One thing I won't do is buy foreign when I can buy American for a similar price with a better warranty. Kind of like the John Deere tractor I bought a few years ago rather than a Kubota or New Holland. That one has not let me down either.

What country do they make them in ?

I was a little relieved that the "warrior" I killed last fall had a couple points broken off. That saved me the expense of a shoulder mount and let me get away with a "free" power-washer euro. If I was going to fork over the cash for a shoulder mount, then I would also have the points restored, as did the OP. It looks like it turned out great.

That was the second Bushnell Banner scope that took a crap on me, in addition to a pair of their binoculars. That, and the fact that they are made overseas, took them out of the running.

I like shooting trap with my 410. It is a great challenge. The secret is to acquire the target and shoot real fast, before it gets beyond the effective range of the pattern. I would not use it in the spring for turkeys but I may try it in the fall. Killing a turkey with my 12 gauge last fall seemed a little too easy. Squirrel is also open at that time. They are much more abundant than turkeys and the 410 is better for them than the 12 gauge because the sound is less and it takes less time for the woods to quiet down so that more come out. Being light and easier to carry is another bonus. In addition to limited range, an additional downside of the 410 is that the ammo is much more expensive. On those fall hunts, grey squirrels will likely be my primary objective, but a turkey inside of 15 yards might be a good "target of opportunity". I usually use #6's in the 410 for squirrels, and I suppose they would also be good for a turkey at less than 15 yards. I also have a couple old boxes of #4's, which would probably be a little better on the turkeys. So the bottom line for me is that I will probably go for it in the fall, but definitely a no-go in the spring.

I expect that you will be right about that. In reading the reviews of this model online, I did see one that mentioned a point of impact shift. I am thinking that was more than likely the fault of the shooter, the ammo, or just pure nonsense as is often posted on the internet by disgruntled supporters of competitor's products. As I mentioned in previous posts, my other Redfields have been flawless. I have also heard few if any complaints about Leupold, the new parent company. I am really liking the lifetime warranty of this American-made product. The price seems pretty good also. I am looking forward to the variable power scope, especially when it comes to sighting in this slug gun. I live in a shotgun-only zone and I don't think that I was seeing the real capability of my Marlin 512 at long range with the fixed 3X scope that it had on it. I am hoping this new scope will give it an effective range of 200 yards. I know that it has plenty of energy to get the job done at that range, unlike my 50 cal ML, which also wears an older Redfield 2-7X scope. I was never able to quite match the accuracy of that ML, on the range at 200 yards, with the old 3X scope on this Marlin bolt-action 12 gauge. ML's are also legal here, during regular gun season, but I don't like to be limited to a single shot at that time. Several of the button bucks, that I have been blessed with thru the years, have fallen to a second slug after their mother took the first. After seeing what it can do at 200 yards with the new scope, which will hopefully happen in the next couple weeks, my next step will be disassembling and cleaning the bolt so that I don't get any more of those pesky mis-fires. Those have saved the lives of a couple of does, on real cold days, over the last ten years. There is a pretty good youtube video of a guy disassembling and cleaning a bolt on an old Marlin goose gun (same basic parts) and it looks pretty easy. After the snow melted, I did locate the Hornady SST slug that I ejected after my mis-fire last fall. I will be sure to see if I can land it on the bulls-eye, after getting the new scope dialed in. I certainly have a good amount of range work to do, so hopefully the weather will improve and dry up soon. I also replaced the factory iron sights, on my short-range Marlin 336BL 30/30, with fiber-optics. I could not get that one to hit quite as low as I wanted, at 50 yards, with 150 grain ammo and the factory sights. The new fiber-optics have much more vertical adjustment. This is the deer gun I use up in the northern zone when it is raining or sleeting.

I just ordered the Redfield Revolution 2-7 with 4-plex reticle from Optics Planet (Running did not show it in stock). $ 171 with tax seemed like a good deal. Now I just need it to get here and for the lane, back to my range, to dry up enough so I can get back there and try it out. One thing I need to verify is that the point of impact does not shift between 2X and 7X. With variable power scopes, I usually fine-tune and sight in at the highest magnification, but most shots while hunting are at the lowest. This gun always had a fixed 3X on it, so that was never a concern. The old (pre-Leupold) Redfield variables on my ML and 30/06 have always held the same point of impact throughout the 2X-7X and 3X-9X magnification range, and I hope this one will do likewise. Although I ain't from Missouri, this scope will still have to "show me", on the range.

You should send some of that to Belo so he can try cooking them with his hero Steve Rinella's "Meateater" method (uses olive oil and lots of pepper). No time, too tasty to slow down for a picture.

My wife made stuffed peppers with our second last pack of doe-fawn grind tonight. That was some fine eating for sure, possibly the best I have had. She is going to make chili tomorrow with the last pack. I suppose the quality of our eating is going to drop off a bit after that, at least when it comes to the ground meat. All of that remaining in our freezer after tomorrow will be from mature bucks. Fortunately, we are still pretty well stocked with button-buck and doe-fawn roasts and backstrap.