BellR

It depends for me. I have some places I hunt up at my father's house that are 1-2 miles in. For those ones, I'll take the wheeler to about 1/4 mi away and then park it and hike in the last bit. For anything less than a mile I'll usually walk, but I just don't like having to get up an extra half hour early for those ones way back in. Lazy I know, but that extra bit of seep does seem to keep me from... resting my eyes shall we say while I'm hunting.

So the wife and I went down to the Florida Keys last week for our first anniversary. Not sure if you were aware, but there is a sub species of weight tailed deer that live down there called "Key Deer". I thought I would share some pictures of a nice buck that we saw while we were down there. And yes, that is a normal sized sign next to it. They are the smallest sub species of deer. I have some better pics on the actual camera, but the phone ones were easier to upload. You can't hunt them, but I'm thinking about going down and trying to find some sheds from this boy. Would make nice compact rattling antlers. ????

I once had a lady drive through some state land I was hunting on opening day banging pots and pans and yelling to try to scare off deer. After driving through two more times every hour or so, the DEC officer I called the first time stopped her and proceeded to give her a ticket. Watched it all from where I was set up in the woods. Didn't get a deer that year, but I think I had just as much satisfaction from seeing her get the ticket as I would have taking a nice buck.

If you are around there and only have state land to hunt, I would recommend you look at the other side of the river and check out Rural Grove State forest. A lot more greys over there and a pretty nice patch of woods for small game hunting in general.

Ehh, not really. I grew up a few miles from there, and I think I saw one grey squirrel in the whole area through my childhood. There are lots of reds if that is what you are after, but they aren't much good for eating.

Umm, it needs to be standing somewhere that it is legal for me to shoot it. I know you keep claiming that it is easy for a hunter to kill a deer, and maybe that is the case when you have 900 acres of your own to hunt. For those of us who ONLY hunt state land, it is a lot more of a challenge. I have killed deer 2 of the past 5 years, which to me is a good success when you are hunting either: 1) Overcrowded small patches of state land where people will walk 10 yards away and sit down or 2) Big woods up north were the deer are much more scarce and unpredictable. Personally, I have moved onto #2 and ANY deer is a good deer as long as its legal and ethical.

Yeah, I have done it for frogs in the past as well, but down here in FL at least it is legal for some fish as well. Basically anything other than the sportfish (Snook, bonefish, tarpon, redfish, ect.) is fair game. We just spent the night idiling around the back bays and looking down from the front of the boat for fish laying on the bottom or swimming by.

Haha, nope, we cleaned them at the fish station a few feet further back. It has a nice fillet table around the outside with some wash down nozzles and a giant grinder in the middle to get rid of the bodies.

Have you ever tried to do "creative accounting" on a federal grant? It would not be an easy thing to do, especially if you happen to be doing that for an institution that 1/2 of the government hates and wants to prove is doing something wrong. Even on grants that aren't under such scrutiny you still have to justify the expenditures. They don't just hand them a big suitcase full of money and say, "Now don't spend this on abortions!". They meet the goverment's burden of proof that they don't spend the money on abortions. You know what doesn't meet ANY burden of proof? Your accusations that they do. Until you can find some proof from an independent agency that they do indeed use the funds as you claim, you have no basis to your claims at all. And the answer to your question is pretty simple, they charge for them the same way you would pay for anything anywhere.

You do realize that $0.00 of federal funds that go to planned parenthood pay for abortions right? It's against the law. So when A-Holes talk about defunding it, they are talking about taking away the funding for healthcare, contraception and other women's services. That's it. Nothing to do with abortion at all. Let me say that again so it might sink in... your tax dollars don't support abortions at planned parenthood. The only pay for women's health services and contraception.

Went gigging for the first time last night with the wife and done friends. Spent about 2 hours actually fishing, and the first hour or so was mostly learning how to hit them. Ended up with 10 fish: 8 sheepshead, 1 sand perch and 1 spadefish.

Sounds like someone might be doing some data mining.

Guessed right on your first try. Lasselsville. There are some nice deer up there, but I can hunt it any time I want without a camp there since my father lives 10 min away so I'm pretty set on selling it at the moment. On the plus side, if it doesn't sell for what I'm asking then I can always keep it.

The wife and I just got our tags for Sambar Deer on St. Vincent Island NWR in N. Fl. Should be an interesting hunt, even if we don't get anything.

I'm doing a bit of research on the idea temp for this mix of metals, but a friend built a small propane forge so I can get it up to critical, then an oil quench and tempering in the oven. The small forge is basically a propane torch (weed killer type deal) fixed into a small firebrick oven, but it works fine for that part. I usually quench in used motor oil since I have spoken to some people who know far more about this than me and they recommended it for the higher carbon content. Not sure if it really makes a difference or it's just something that they believe, but I have it around already so it works. I am debating doing a cryo treatment on it (My wife has access to liquid nitrogen at work) but I'm not sure if its worth the extra effort.

Just take away. Not set up at my apartment to forge and the billet has already been forged and folded to get that pattern.

So I got the steel in today. Looks beautiful in person. I should be able to get 2-4 knives out of it depending on size. Drew out the outline to get it cut out tomorrow using a plasma cutter. Close-up of what the steel looks like where the blade will be.

Those are some nice calls. It would be sweet to win one! Thanks for doing this. 10

I haven't gotten to forging my own steel yet. Kind of intimidating and I need to get a good bit of more equipment. How did it go?

So I'm not crazy. For some reason if I go back and look at my old posts I cant seem to find it. Oh well. The steel should be here shortly and I'll finally be able to update with some pictures.

That's terrible. In the past my dogs have had run ins with coyotes and one time had to run in the house to grab the 30-30 to "deter" a pack that had one of our dogs cornered. It took two shots before the three that were left took off. I couldn't imagine the same situation with a bear. I know if I was the owner, trapping the bear wouldn't be my choice of action.

It's easy to get a replacement sheath. Look on sites like http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=49_1004. You just have to measure your knife and figure out which one works best.

Yes. What most people forget is there is a difference between "invasive" and "non-native". There are MANY species that people think of as common that are non-native. Apples are a good example. Invasive is something like a snakehead that destroys or takes over the ecosystem that it inhabits.

Ended up winning the auction. Steel should be here this week, as well as the copper for the bolsters. Need to order the pins still and find a conch shell that will work while we are down in the Keys for our anniversary in August. I'm hoping I can find one with a nice thick, well colored lip that will give me lots of material to work with, but the old ones can be hard to find in good condition in the water. May have to end up buying one on the way out of the Keys, but that will be almost as difficult since I'm trying to keep the knife a surprise and she may want to know why we are stopping to buy a conch shell.

I use a GoPro for diving and other underwater activities. I would bring it along on a hunt, just haven't had it long enough yet. I will be mounting mine on a branch or something nearby, and then using the wireless remote to turn it on if I get a shot.