Bolt action

Wondering if anyone on here has any experience hunting the Camden area in or around Fall Brook State Forest? I've never hunted out that way so don't know what to expect for deer density, hunting traffic on public, etc.

I read about this.. up until now I thought DEC had pigs under control. I know they are bad for lots of things.. habitat, agriculture, wildlife.. but if they're going to be here whether we like it or not, I won't mind having something else to chase in the woods. Assuming the DEC lets us..

Sounds like a ... crappy ... situation!

Just went to HD and picked up an Everbilt 1/2 hp cast iron unit. It's rated for 5100 gph, so I'm hoping that if I set it up tonight that the majority of the water should be out by tomorrow so I can get to cleaning up the mess. The original had a 1 1/2" discharge, and so does the new one. The PVC should swap right over without much fabrication needed. I like the idea of a redundant pump, but that will take some figuring out as far as the configuration goes. A project for another day. In the short term, I hope to get this running in the crock tonight, and my brother is going to bring over another unit to use at the other end of the basement tomorrow. Hopefully there's not much standing water left at that point.

I shared on here that my mom passed back in September. Since then, my siblings and I have been going to the house periodically to check on it and work on cleaning it out. When I went out Sunday, the basement was flooded.. probably 12" of standing water. The sump pump that was there was old, but still worked. I think that the water got deep enough that the sump fell over, pulling the cord out of the wall. once that was unplugged, there was nothing keeping the water level in check. The house is older and keeping the basement dry was always a challenge. Anyway on Sunday, I plugged the sump back in and reconnected the output pvc pipe to the sewer line. I went back to check on it on Tuesday, and the same thing had happened where the pump was tipped over, the pvc disconnected, and the power cord unplugged. I tried to reconnect it again, but this time it wouldn't pump. I bought a similar pedestal style sump and installed it that night thinking I'd be in good shape. I went back to check on it again yesterday, and the pump was off. plugged in, but not on. It turns out that pedestal sump pumps are not submersible. So now i'm going to get a submersible unit. I'm guesstimating that there's about 10-12,000 gallons that need to be pumped out. I'm looking at 1/3 hp units, but have no experience with this. Does anyone have any experience with submersible units that they could share? Things to look for, stay away from, etc... Any suggestions are appreciated.

Cool scary story. Glad you're ok.

I use a Remington 887 nitro mag for all things small game. It's a 12ga pump and takes 2 3/4 to 3 1/2 shells. It's been in all sorts of weather, but the barrel is wrapped, so it's essentially weather proof. It's was less than $350 new, but that was probably 6 or 7 years ago. Never had an issue with it and have used it on squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, duck, goose, turkey.

I think you win for biggest balls on the forum..

Honestly I think you'd have a better chance of picking a perfect bracket if you just threw darts at a board to pick the teams...

I usually take 'Cuse to go the distance, but....

Relateable.. it took me and 2 helpers to move a safe that weighs about as much as your bigger ball. What exactly do you do with a 340 lb atlas ball? Also, PM me your number for next time I move..

Sounds fantastic. I usually cook my steaks on the stovetop in a cast iron pan. I use butter with garlic in it, and spoon it over the steak as it's searing. Comes out delicious.

My primary hunting location is roughly 90 miles roundtrip. That's roughly 6 gallons in my truck. At a conservative $4.00/gal, that's $24 per trip. If I'm going out 2 or 3 times per week for a few months, that adds up real quick. To be fair, even at $18/gal I'd still be paying $15 per trip. If prices spike to $5/gal, it's roughly $12 more per trip. If anything, I might consolidate. I may take 2 full day trips in a week rather than 3 half days.

The nose trumps the other two, hands down.

In my experience, the eyes are better than the ears. I recall reading an article years ago that discussed the anatomy of the deer eye. They're setup in such a way that deer can see movement along the same horizontal plane better than we can, but not as well above that plane. They're also better adapted to seeing at night or in general low light conditions. Both of these adaptations likely developed over time as a natural evolution of the species as they would help the deer be alerted to predators. As for the hearing, my understanding is that their ears are nothing special.

When I built my AR last year, I looked at ammo availability, cost, and effectiveness as a hunting caliber. I looked at .223, .300, .350L, .450, 6.5, 6.8 etc.. Ultimately I ended up building in the .350L. Ballistically it's nearly the same as 30-30 and effective out to about 200 yds or so. Not many guys around here are using that caliber (yet) so ammo hasn't been hard to find, and it doesn't break the bank to shoot it. I topped it with the Firefield RapidStrike 1-6 optic. I chose that over Vortex at the same price point. The glass was just as nice, better features, and I preferred the reticle along with stellar online reviews. It's zero'd about an inch low at 75 yds and I was shooting about 2 inch groups (off hand) with Winch. 180gr. Unfortunately I lost it in a boating accident in the fall. Sank straight to the bottom. It's too bad because I really did like that gun.

I'd love to get after the, but don't have any of the gear. It's my understanding that very large decoy spreads are required to pull them in. I may look into an outfitter. Could be a lot of fun with a couple friends.

I'm left handed and right eye dominant. Without realizing I was doing it, I trained myself to use my left eye when using the scope. With practice, i'm a decent shot at normal hunting distances. I'm sure your friend will figure out what works best for her, but may have a nasty flinch after getting scoped. What @Daveboone said is spot on. Get her some rifle practice with a .22 to work through the mechanics, and then look into getting her a mild recoil hunting option. .243 or 7mm-08 would be great options.

I grabbed 8, but they still had about 20 on the shelf.

I just stopped over to the Walmart near me in Greece. Archery end of season clearance is happening now. I spent $232 where I would have spent $713 at full retail. Roughly 70% off. I picked up a few packs of NAP Kill Zone broadheads for $10/pack; a few packs of lighted crossbow nocks for $9/pack, a couple of Bone Collector targets for $10/ea, along with a few other items. 16GB memory cards were marked down to $2! They had some other broadheads, arrows, sights, etc... all on sale. If you need any of this stuff, it probably won't last long. I don't know that I needed any of it, but at these prices...

Last year I only had a very few opportunities to take deer. I missed one, and got the other. And that was with me being in the woods for nearly 200 hours between October and December. Been that, and that I'm a meat hunter before I'm a horn Hunter (within reason), and I'm not likely to pass on much. Little bucks get a pass. It's hard to say what the economy and fuel prices will do to others in the area. A lot could change between now and then. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I think @Belo and @Splitear are both accurate in your respective points. I support the convoy's right to protest, although at this point I'm not sure what's being protested. This feels disorganized when compared to what we saw over the border recently.

Cool thread, thanks for sharing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this might be a bad idea..

I've been watching the prices climb steadily for the past few days. As of this morning, I saw prices ranging from 3.99-4.99 for a gallon of regular on my drive to work (Monroe County). I filled up my truck and and the wife's van this morning. The gas station limited the sale to $75 per sale, so I had to slide it 4 times to fell them up.