greybeard

Thank you Paula, that was kind of you to say. I wasn't sure if I was clear, and I am kinda out of touch with some things. I live in my own world a bit, which is jokingly referred to as "Bob's World" to some of my old hunting/fishing friends. My first hunting dog was a beagle and I'll never forget the first time she opened on a rabbit. As you know, unless someone has been there, and heard the "song of a hound", they can never understand the thrill... I'm glad you got it on video...I wish they had them back then..I have kept logs/journals of most of my hunts since the mid 60's, but videos would be so much better... Old Man story (we do that)... When I was going with my wife, maybe 17, or 18 years old,on New Year's Eve, I took her to my little woodlot and let my beagle out to show her "a run" and the little hound ran three rabbits. It was at night, with snow on the ground, and visibility was good for night time. My wife doesn't hunt, but she never forgot the run and seeing the cottontails run so close to us... She still talks about it.. That night we listened to Hound Music, instead of a band. !!! Great New Year's Eve date.. I always was romantic... Good luck with your beagle, they're really great little dogs..

Dom. These are my opinions, all from OLD memories as a coonhunter and I am NOT a trainer, and never had a super dog..mine were ok, However, for years I hunted with some REALLY good coon dogs that friends owned..and I mean GOOD !!!. These were the guys that taught me.. The hound that I'm describing below was a great trail dog, a really good cold trailer,It could strike a coon track ,at times, from an open window in a vehicle, but she was weak at the tree so I liked hunting her with a good tree dog.. I had a friend with a good tree dog, but not as good a track dog as mine.. teamwork.. My experience... Many years ago I had a similar situation, but with a Black and Tan(house/hunting dog). In MY opinion you can train your hound, even if it's a house dog, if she has it in her to hunt. When I got mine she showed no indication of a desire to hunt and I took her to the woods a lot, until one day I tied a fresh killed squirrel skin on a rope and played with her and that did it... She went wild and after that with some woods time she became a hunting fool , as we used to say. She really came into her own after a coon held her underwater in a bay and chewed her up a bit.. Then it was war. she HATED them and wanted to kill every one she saw, or smelled..(she was an inside dog, and when I brought her home after that fight she was bleeding and shook blood on the wall..My wife was less than pleased and I was in the dog house for a while... Coondogs will get bitten) I was advised not to use scents in a bottle to train her because it would teach her to trail backwards. . An animal's scent get's stronger as you get closer, a bottled scent is stronger at the start and get's weaker as you drag it.... It made sense to me . There's quite a bit to training esp. with coon hounds because they run and hunt way out of sight and it's at night and are independent hunters...If you can find local coon hunters, it's the best way to go.. There might be coonhound clubs near you(there was one in Blue Stores, Coumbia County.. not sure if that's close to you, of if they're still around). Also there was a Black and Tan Association (probably still is), so see if there's a Bluetick Association.. Also Coonhunter magazines. (youtube and internet coon hound sites) They also have schools where you send your dog to be trained for a price... You'd have to check them out, I knew some guys that did that, but I didn't so I have no first hand knowledge of these schools. As far as hunting multiple animals..Think this out carefully.. Guys do have them.. cat/bear... squirrel/coon.. ..possom/ coon... etc. and i guess it works for them, and if that's what you're looking to do then know that it is done. However, IF you want to be a coonhunter, and you don't have a straight cooner, many if not most coon hunters, probably won't want to hunt with your dog because it may pull their dogs from a coon track to go to your hound and what they would consider trash ( like possoms,deer/fox, etc. Imagine, deer are trash !!) .. Coonhounds, many times, honor another dog so when a dog opens and runs a track, the pack may go to that dog, and if that dog is runnin' trash no one will be too happy).. Remember coon hunters often compete in competions and earn "titles" for their hounds.. "Night Champion", "Grand Night Champion"..A dog with a "title" can bring more $ for pups that they sell from these hounds.. Also if they want to sell their adult hound and get a good price, they want to advertise "STRAIGHT COONHIOUND".. no trash.. so they want to hunt with other straight coon dogs.. My other one didn't do it, but the one I'm telling you about was a really good pheasant dog(also at times grouse and quail) and actually hunted close to me in the day.. I could never figure that out...BUT you have to be careful because if you don't have a straight cooner, as I reported above, it'll run other game that you don't want. I lost a different hound for almost a week because she ran a fox and disappeared.(again, I was in the doghouse at home).. I got a name/address/phone number tag for their collars after that) Also you MUST break it from running deer..Deer are a big problem and I had to spend time breaking mine.. I used a shock collar. I did it and then never had a problem.. We lost a beagle(not mine) once for a few days because he chased a deer.. I had a friend who used his hound on turkey, in addition to coons.. I don't remember if it was to locate and break up flocks in the fall, but I guess that was it.. I never asked... (check legality, these were different times).. I wouldn't want my dogs runnin' turkey, or they'd be barking treed at night on roosting birds(My old hound treed pheasants one night that the State must had just stocked,because the 3 were together . So I ran through the woods and briars at night for treed pheasants that I couldn't shoot. Wasted time. It was something different though(not appreciated by some in the group) I guess these days with so many coyotes you'd have to break your dog from chasing those, unless that's why you got the hound..I NEVER would have wanted my dogs to run coyotes(none down here anyway).. I would have surely lost one, but that, again, are my thoughts. I have some great memories of that old hound.. I think she could read my mind...Hunting was never the same after she died.. I'm glad you posted because it brought me back to some really fun times. Wait'll you hear the first time it opens with a loud ball on a track, it'll be tattooed in your brain forever. Watch for ticks, especially if it lives inside.. There were no rabies on L.I. back then so I guess that has to be a thought.. Also think about adding a Flourescent slip on color so cars MIGHT see it...I also trained her to know my whistle(store bought) and although I could never call her off a coon track, it worked pretty good when she was just out there hunting for scent and I wanted her in. "Many" coon dogs will venture out to night hunt and when nothing's doing, at some point in time, come back, and "check in" , but that takes time so I used the whistle too.It was GREAT in the day and she always responded to that whistle when I was in the woods, with her, in the day. If you're going to night hunt, think about safety issues. At times, I hunted at night alone, and in my opinion "DON"T DO IT"... ALWAYS go with someone.. things can go wrong when hunting ,and at night , if you are alone they can be much worse and your dog "ain't Lassie" and isn't going to bring back help to you. I hope I gave you SOME help even though the above was from the early 80's,and may be dated( I know that I'm getting obsolete.).. There's a lot to it, but it's great fun to learn and do.. Good luck.. be safe

Woofer..I know some liberals who disagree with your view, but that's life isn't it..We all have a different take on things..

Are you only interested in big game ? If not.. In addition to what others wrote.. N.Y. has a pheasant stocking program (even on L.I.), There's turkey.. Fall and Spring hunt upstate and short L.I. fall season Then there are waterfowl,..small game.,. other game birds(including crows),.. predators and other furbearers like coon and possom There's a whole lot to choose from and fun learning... Ask questions.. be sure of the laws and legal locations to hunt...Watch some hunting videos for specific game..youtube has some good ones You can also call the DEC in Stoneybrook and ask questions about L.I... I used to do that a lot and they were very helpful.. Try wildlife division. I've even called DEC upstate areas before I hunted at times to get an idea for hunting locations.. It's always worth a try.. Ticks are a problem in some areas.. so check it out. Be safe..

Woofer.. Newsday was considered very liberal until this year when they backed Gov. Romney for President

Although I do enjoy 2nd amendment discussions and argue from either side depending on who I want to p$#@ off, I thought I'd only give MY point of view on the issue of taxes. When I started smoking non filters were 20 cents a pack and you could smoke anywhere including supermarkets (we even stamped the butts out on the floor and it was o.k.) NO ONE would ever think that anyone would attack smoking.. look at old movies..( side note :we also bought army surplus guns from barrels in some Dept. stores and I never thought that would change.) Well over the years the taxes were added and now cigarettes are up to $10 a pack in some places. I smoked about 3 packs a day and although I knew I had to quit because I had enough tar in my lungs to tar a road, it was the price that got me, so I quit.. The States lost a fortune in taxes as everyone quit and got a bunch of grumpy people. I'd love to figure how much they lost, but no one addresses it....The more who quit, the more they lost... So the Federal Gov't can raise taxes and the States can also raise them on ammo, and many citizens will agree to it because it doesn't effect them. . ammo prices can become prohibitive and I'm sorry to say no one will pay attention to biking and hiking trails etc... Tax it an additional $3 a round and a 20 rounds and who can shoot.. ??? In reality, though I don't think it'll happen, it COULD.... Just a thought !!

Thanx... that answers my question.that they can be active in winter..Now I have to decide if I want to give up on pickerel,and occasional big Largemouth that ARE hitting to fish for a carp that MIGHT hit. I saw one again today come out of the water near the same spot as yesterday .. It's been pretty mild for winter so maybe they're even more active.. Guess I should be pretty happy because currently this is my biggest stress..."Pickerel, or Carp".

I haven't targeted carp in years... I used to use dough, corn, or mulberries.. even got a couple on flys that I tied to look like corn and got some on deer hair flys rubbed with mulberries that I'd cast under a mulberry tree....On a couple of them the initial run went down to the backing.. Many years ago, I shot some with my recurve bow with a reel attached(but that's ancient history). There are lots carp where I fish and some guys get them in the spring where I was today. In the spring they rise up all over, Also, they thrash around during mating time... I just never saw them in January break water until today..I might give it a try if I thought I'd have a good chance, but don't know if it's worth my time to catch and release them, but maybe it could fill in some winter days IF they're active.... In the spring I don't try for carp because there's too many other species I want to target. We don't have pike down here on Long Island unfortunately, so pickerel is the best I can do when it comes to Esox, and I love catching pickerel.I use spinnerbaits, jigs and soft plastics.. How big are the pike up there ? .They did put some tiger muskys in some lakes, but I'm not sure if they survived.

The water down here is ice free, in fact I'm fishing in waders that I use in warmer weather.. This morning I was wading and casting for pickerel(got 1 ) and saw a pretty big carp come out of the water like they do in spring. Someone once asked me about winter carp fishing and I had no ideas about it.and never recall seeing them until March. does anyone here target them in winter ?

That's a lot, years back I'd find pheasants now and again, but they were shot and not recovered, but never anything loke what you found.... do you think poison is a possibility ?

Thanx.... Felonious.. that sounds REALLY good... I can do that.... I'm gonna save your recipe... I always make it differently and loved them, but due to my inability to be a creative cook, or plan a meal I have legs left over so that's why I thought the boiling and sautee thing would be ok for such a small amount Elmo and Shawn.. I did soak them in cold saltwater, I do that for game and birds (not deer for some reason)..But I may not have soaked them enough..

I got a new Coleman propane 2 burner grill and going to try it out..I am a terrible cook and have no cooking ability at all. I want to boil some squirrel legs until cooked to tenderize them , then just brown them in a pan with a little olive oil and garlic.. I think that's sauteed I always baked them in a low heat oven and loved them, and even I could do it., but want to try this.The slow cooking in the oven at low heat also tenderized them, and I'm hoping the boiling will tenderize them also. My question... How long( time wise) do you think that I have to boil squirrel legs before they are fully cooked and edible even if I didn't do more to them. ( My wife is a great cook,and would cook them for me, but I don't want to ask her....I'll let her think I did it on my own)

I fish some shallow ponds.. no more then about 5 to 6 feet in the deepest parts, so I'm not sure if my experience will help you. Last week, I fished 3 times in freshwater. I caught 3 Chain Pickerel up to 23 inches. I managed only one Largemouth and it was 16 inches and FAT. I dropped two nice fish, one I saw and it was a big pickerel. I lost them because they got down into the weeds and I couldn't budge them..All the fish were in the same area, which is weedy. I was using a Black/red 1/4 oz. Laser Eye Bass Pro Double Colorado Spinnerbait with a 4 inch black twister tail for all fish.I slow roll the spinnerbait and usually add an occasional hop, and stop during the retrieve. The Bass hit it on the drop. For ME the 1/4 ounce seems good in these shallow ponds, I use a lot of unweighted soft plastics, Texas Rigged weedless on a 5/0 Xtra Wide Gap Worm Hook and usually do really well on those, but haven't connected with them YET this year. I generally end freshwater soon( except for trout)and continue in the beginning of March(my favorite time where legal), but last winter was sooooo good, So I'm gonna fish throughout the winter until the lake freezes unless I decide to go south for a while. Last year was the first year in a lifetime of fishing that I caught Largemouth in the heart of winter, and I got some real "HAWGS" (for L.I.).. I get Pickerel, but not Bass at that time of year. BUT last year WAS exceptionally warm. Good luck.. hope ya get some big 'uns

Thanx .. Shawn.. I was pretty sure that "YOU" had told me that the domes and hollow points were actually the same pellet with one being drilled....I wasn't sure if I remembered it correctly... Since I'm shooting CLOSE range I'll pick up some hollow points today in the .22

Thanx for the info... Felonious ... I had a different experience with the .177 destroyer in my 1377.. It actually shot pretty good, which is why I wanted to try the .22...(I also read bad reviews in the .22 from some air gunners.) I know that I haven't shot enough destroyers from the 1377 to really judge, but so far so good.. Also, since I'm not hunting with these guns, and my target shooting area is really close range I couldn't really give an accurate assessment regarding accuracy. You and Shawn are better judges of true performance .I'm actually using them to shoot clam shells with the 1377 and soon with the 1322. I intend to shoot quite a few pellets at targets so I wanted to test a few different types. If I decide to hunt with my air rifle, I will try the other pellets as you and Shawn recommend. Shawn is the Crosman Hollowpoint basically the same pellet as the Crosman Premier Domed, but the hollowpoint has the cavity ?

Thanks Shawn, I appreciate the offer.. BUT... this morning I tried again online and Walmart WILL send me the Destroyer .22 Pellets, so I got the main ones that I wanted to try ( I have them in .177) Here's the kicker.. They won't send me the .22 domed pellets because of State Law...How do you figure that..It sounds like pellet discrimination to me.. haha I can get some Benjamin Domes here in an assortment pack, so that'll do... I was going to email Walmart about their crazy system, but the Customer service person can't change the policy so I think that I'm not going to bother. Thank you again for the offer

waterweasle...Thanx.. I know that they will ship to me because that's where I got my last airgun and pellets, and got them in the past month... I tried Walmart because I only wanted 1 tin, of one type and 1 tin of another and I was lookin' to get away cheap with the shipping..

I just found out that the Walmart site states that sales , or shipment is prohibited to California, Connecticut, District of Columbia,Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusettes, N.J., N.Y., North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Canada..It doesn't say why. So that ends that

DTG3K..... I remember asking that question.. but that was about an airgun. The airgun restriction was because they "thought" it was a firearm, but I couldn't understand any logic for pellets. I figured maybe some airgun guys here may have tried to order pellets from Walmart since the shipping is so cheap and delivery for pickup at a local store is free.In some cases shipping is almost as much as the merchandise. I hadn't thought about lead restrictions, but I can buy pellets from many different out of state places .

I tried to order .22 caliber Crosman airgun pellets online from Walmart and was notified that because of State Law that they could not ship PELLETS to me on Long Island. They wouldn't even ship them to a Long Island Walmart for me to pick up there because of this State Law.even though that Walmart sells pellets in their sporting goods section. I emailed them and asked them.... WHAT STATE LAW ?? I tried to order an airgun from them last month and advised me that they couldn't because of Federal Firearms Laws.( I know they were wrong) I know that NYC has restrictions, but not Long Island. I was wondering if anyone here ever ordered airguns, or pellets on line from Walmart.. I should just drop it and order from someone else, but ???? (not sure why, but I want to pursue it.)

Blur... What brand and model call do you have ? I probably have 25 to 30 predator calls...some sound alike and others are very different. I prefer open reeds because they are more versatile. You can even coyote howl on some of the same open reed calls that you use for distress sounds. You can also do birds, rodent squeaks,coon squalls and other distress sounds on them.. However, open reeds take more practice, but worth the time.. Closed reeds are great and easy to use but, closed reeds sometimes freeze,and you CAN wear out the metal reeds..I always carry a few calls.. Make the call sound like a small animal screaming for it's life.. You can do a lot of calling with 0 results on many days and at other times you'll feel like the Pied Piper. It's just the way it is.. I 've done a lot of calling, but mostly for red fox since there are no coyotes, or bobcats on L.I. I get to see quite a few feral cats and hawks in addition to the fox. A Predator call at times are a fantastic crow call, crows come in to the distress sound and sometimes angrily. I even had some deer come in, but I think I made the call too drawn out and it sounded more like a fawn on those occasions. It is an absolute rush when a fox comes charging straight to you and sometimes stops just feet away. I even had to poke one with a long stick once because he was almost on me(neither one of us was happy about that). I can't even imagine the thrill of a coyote coming right to you. The information above is right on target, youtube is great. You can go to youtube for general predator calling, and can even type in the brand of predator call that you have and sometimes hear and see it used. Primos goes thru a lot of his calls with great explanations on youtube Also some manufacturers have the sounds on their websites. I know Haydel's does and I think Carraway Calls does. If you listen and watch enough on line you can many times imitate another manufacturers calls with yours.. There was also a radio show on line and you can listen to past shows to learn about predator calling and hunting ... I think you type in Talkshoe. Predator Talk ..The host is a guy from Massachusettes named Brian Downs. He covers a lot of topics.. I think his show was GREAT..He has different guests who share their predator hunting expertise...... If I put in the wrong site and you are interested in his shows PM me and I'll try to figure out where it is.. I think if you go to the Predator Talk website you can find it thru there. good luck

This brought back two memories.. 1. I used to boil coon skulls all the time, I'd take them out when meat was soft then pick them clean, bleach and put them on a "SKULL BOARD"...My daughter used to come down and watch as I made with what we called "coon head soup" ( we didn't eat it)..I just turned the vent fan on, but I actually didn't mind the smell (smell of success).... I don't think that my wife was happy about it, but she always put up with my nonsense so she never complained.. 2. The first buck I ever shot I skinned the head to learn taxidermy and we carved meat off the face and neck in small pieces , put it in a metal bowl and boiled it, on what I remember as an alcohol burner, in water with orange juice.,salt and pepper and ate it on bread while I worked on the head..It smelled heavenly !!

GROWALOT...Not too far from where I live I used to practice my turkey calling. It was a great spot with lotsa birds, but a no firearms area, so NO hunting.....One spring I set up and called in 4 toms and noticed one looked like it had a chunk of feathers bit off his tail... I asked a local who was familiar with the area who told me that it was probably done by a red fox, because the fox had killed off most of the turkey in that area, (a local official verified the story about the fox killing off the turkey.). I tried calling the following spring and there were 0 turkey.. I'm into game calling with mouth calls and I call in a number of red fox every year, but I don't shoot them. However, when I was into turkey hunting if fox were killing too many turkey in the area where I hunted I would have shot some to reduce the fox population. I believe that predator control is a necessity, I was a coon hunter for a number of years and hunted coons with hounds in some areas where the land owners asked us to control the population because of the predation that they did.... . By the way, if you fish... I used fox and coyote fur, esp. from the tails for some flies that I tied, and they also work good wrapped on lead heads tied similar to a bucktail Was it a gray, or a red fox ?

I've been fishing for my whole life. and got my first hunting license I (think) for the 1965/1966 season Trout fishing checked quite a few times Brackish water checked once( there were lotsa small stripers in the area) Saltwater fishing checked once on a pier, once getting off a party boat, and once stopped while fishing in the kayak. Never at the surf Deer hunting checked once at a checkpoint on rt 17.. never in the woods Small game checked a few times in the woods Night (coon) hunting once checked by law enforcement (not DEC) Waterfowl checked constantly in different areas on L.I...... In one area I was checked so often that I got to know a couple of the Conservation officers.. They were very professional and really good people.

Congrats. I loved the pictures and the story.. Very impressive...