I thought I'd start this to consolidate any hunting or trapping experiences for this year. Let's hear 'em!

Rumor has it that Nate and Justin put this up:

http://home.windstream.net/tomf42344/

Bing

While I can't take credit for that one, I do have similar plans! As soon as Mae turns 6, I am for sure building an elevated deer condo.

I will get the pics started for this thread and surely James and others will follow suit even though we have seen a couple pics already, I like the idea of putting em all under one roof for the future.

Opening Day of Waterfowl 2009:

No signs of deer life this evening. There was a bat still flying around near dusk tho. I think I'll pound those Woodies tomorrow evening before they leave for greener pastures. N8LY: How'd you do today on the waterfowl?

I wish we could hunt on Sundays!

CJ, where can't you hunt on Sundays, VA. or PA.?

Both states...

I guess we're a bunch of heathens up here.

You should hear the battles that go on between those who want Sunday hunting and those who don't on the hunting forums for PA and VA. It can get ugly... I am sorta glad you can't hunt Sundays here. Gives me one day to get things done. Gotta get to bed here, the alarm clock is ringing at 0430 hours...

Mine is set an hour later than yours, but that's only because I'm a mile and a half into Central Time. This week should be iteresting! Just in the past few days the number of deer killed on the highway have more than doubled. I put my nephew in a different stand tonight and he said he had a 3 point moseying around his stand for 45 minutes, at times <10 Yds. We can only shoot one buck per year, and this one was a 6 point that had one half of the rack broke off. So, he wisely passed for a bigger one. 17 yr old, and hasn't shot a buck with a bow yet. He's learning!!!

Gotta give him credit... I have told myself if I aint mounting it I aint shooting it this year. I've passed up a couple bucks I probably would have shot in years past. PA you can only shoot 1 buck. VA you can shoot 3. I am gonna be patient and wait for a nicer one.

My buck criteria is its got to be either a) bigger than what's on the wall now or b)a nice non-typical or c) 2nd to the last day or the last day in the season and I haven't done well that season. I did shoot a big "doe" a couple of years ago that was a buck with a broken leg that dropped it's antlers.




Here's how much the leg bone was overlapped and it started to fuse together.




He's a pretty good kid. He's got to drag a ladder to the back of the woods tho before the snow flies. I found one of his arrows about 15' off the ground in a tree - he tried to shoot a squirrel from the deer tree stand and missed.....

I took my Grandson, his friend and friends dad yesterday for Youth Hunting Weekend here. Trevor and I only saw a couple of does and he is looking for a whopper buck. The other Kid and his Dad saw 3 scrub bucks that are now illegal to shoot here. The rack has to be 13.5 inches wide or outside the ears. The other Kid shot a pretty nice doe yesterday afternoon. Heck, I still have venison from last year.

I'm inspecting/cleaning the moose, wilest my hunter is looking, he is taking good care of my game,for no.
205 kilos is a pretty good zise around here

Now that's the way to handle moose! My biggest concern about Elk hunting is getting the animal out of the woods. There are areas here that don't allow any vehicles, so you have to debone the animal and pack it out on your back. Not an easy task when you live down near sea level and are out of shape and you shoot the animal up in the mountains!

Good news/bad news. My nephew shot his first deer with a bow @ 5:00 p.m. today. I watched the deer jump, then run for 20 yds, then walk for a short way. I lost him in the woods shortly after that. My nephew was in a tree stand 150 or so yds away from me, so I didn't really know if he hit it or not until right after 6:00 p.m. when I saw the flashlight. He thinks he hit a bit far back (no nasties in the blood trail tho, which is good), and we tracked it for slmost 200 Yds by flashlight until the blood pretty well petered out. I'll be out there at first light to see if I can finish the tracking job. Hope the coyotes leave it alone tonight. It was a 35 yd shot, I think it was a 4 point, or a 6 point buck. The arrow had blood 24" past the broadhead, and I thought I could see blood on the opposite side of the deer right after the shot, so I think it's down, I just have to find it.

I'll have an update tomorrow, hopefully with pictures.

Good luck! Probably best to let it go tonight if you are unsure of the shot. Hopefully it's a good liver shot and you'll recover him. I've been having dismal luck the last couple days. Tomorrow I go to the dentist to finish up a root canal... Then headed to PA afterward for Friday and Saturday hunting. Hopefully a little more peaceful hunting in the mountains. I am fed up with listening to leaf blowers and construction noises in the suburbs.

The same kind of rules you find in a lot of places around here.
But luckely horses are havng a renesance, wich means there are horses available to pull out the game for us, in a lot of such places.
but every so often we have to carrie it or pull it out.

Well, bad news. No deer. I tracked the deer for just under a quarter mile according to google earth and lost he blood trail. I was able to find a couple of friends that had the day off and we grid searched the surrounding area that the deer was headed (approx. 10 acres) and couldn't find anything except a hind leg from a deer that the coyotes had for dinner about a week ago, and the jawbone from a fawn that was probably a few months old. There is a cornfield in the direction that the deer was headed, and I'll be heading back out in a bit to see if there is any sign that the deer made it to the corn. 3 3/4 hr of searching so far, not including the 1.5 hr spent last night. Unfortunately, the day is getting warm and I don't know if the deer will be good to eat in a few hours.

Any luck Scott? I have lost my share of deer and I know how disappointing it is. I am pulling for him.

No deer. I could find where a bunch of deer were entering the corn in a bunch of places, but no sign of blood. AARRRGGGGG!!!!!!

Backtracking the blood trail, removing all the pieces of survey tape once I reached my property I found the other part of the arrow. I don't know what caused the carbon arrow to break 2" in front of the fletching (there was blood 3" up on the fletching). He is shooting either 50# or 55# draw weight, the broadhead is a 100 grain G5 Montec.

Sorry to hear that.

His setup is more than needed to take deer all day long. I have started using the Rage 2 blade broadheads this year. I shot a buck Saturday night. He went further than I expected, but the trail was the best I have ever seen. From the time I shot him until the time recovered him only 15 minutes passed. The entry and exit wounds were huge! I love these broadheads.

Anybody else use them too? Do you have more experience with them than I have?

This is opening morning of Texas deer season and here I am sitting on my butt looking at PB. My 11 year old Grandson has a football game at 10:30. First opening morning I remember missing. I'll be there this afternoon.

Our firearms season opens a week from today. Good luck this afternoon!

I use the Montec G5 100 gr and have killed several deer with them. This year I switched to the newer G5 CS as the blades seemed much sharper. Yet to use it on a deer as I am having some bad luck getting a shooter buck in front of me.

My neighbor shot a doe yesterday morning with the Rage 2 blade. His first with that broadhead. BIG HOLE. He is going to by another pack of them. I really like them so far.

On a 2G connection so not blazing fast interent but this is pictures of my 14 pointer I shot on Monday night. It is a main frame 8 with lots of junk. It gross scored 124 7/8 as an 8 pointer and with 23 2/8 inches of junk ends up a 148 1/8 inch deer. I has two points that are not scoreable and one that he broke off so almost a 17 pointer.

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll243/lassig/14%20pointer/?albumview=slideshow

Good lookin deer.

Very nice buck...

I'd be happy with that one!

I love the character bucks. The more junk the better.

Awesome deer! Congrats.

I like 'em trashy as well!

In response to the question about the rage 2 blade...I haven't used them, but I've heard multiple stories of the blade not expanding on impact. At that point, you might as well be shooting a field tip.

I've also heard they make blood trails Ray Charles could've followed, so who knows...

I have seen 2 deer hit with the Rage 2 blade. A 9 point I killed on Halloween and my neighbor's doe this past weekend. The entry hole was 2 1/2 inches wide. So in those 2 cases it worked as advertised. I got my daughter the 2 blade for lower poundage bows. Basically just a smaller hole (1 1/2 inches). I would like to harvest a few more to have more to go on, but so far they are devestating. And yes, the blood trail looked like someone poured it out of a bucket.

Wow! Awesome deer, Lassig! How far was the shot?

OK i home now so I have a better and more reliable connection.

Monday afternoon I pulled into my buddies farm in Adams County about 1:30 to hunt with him and another friend for a couple of days. I had been hunting my farm in Schuyler county and had just come for another firends farm in Greene county trying to find some deer movement. I went out to a stand on the east side of the property (north wind calm to 5) and hunted a stand on a creek bottom. This stand is good to hunt on an west, north, or east wind and faces north. We just moved this stand in this area this July. About 4 O'clock I saw rapid movement and heard a lot of noise of 2 does running full out about 80 yards to my north. I stood up, grabbed my bow and stared at the creek bottom waiting for the buck that was pushing them. It took forever (mostly likely 30 to 60 seconds) and he appeared in the creek bottom and moved to the edge where I could not see him. At first he didn't look that big but I decided to go ahead and give him a couple of doe bleats, nothing so I runted a couple of times and he finally came up out of the creek bottom. He was kind of funny here, in trying to get out of the creek bottom he fell flat on his face. What was funny is the way he got up, shuck himself off, and looked around to see if anyone saw him. After this he came straight down the trail that passes the stand at 15 yards. He didn't stop along the way but once at 50 yards. This is where I decided he was a shooter. When he passed behind a tree at 35 yards I drew on he. He just kept coming at a slow pace, so at 15 yards I let the arrow fly, right through the heart. He ran 50 yards, stopped and fell to the ground done. It was then that I started to shake and get excited. The one bitter sweet thing about this is I cannot shot another buck in IL for this year. The rule here is 2 bucks a year by all means regardless the number of tags you have. So looks like I get to hang out in camp and not hunt the rest of the year. Oh well I don't have to worry about getting up early or being cold in the stand either.

Great story and great buck, lassig!

Great story!

We can only shoot 1 here in Indiana by any method. I took an 8 pointer Halloween evening. Not a giant, but respectable. After I shot him, I realized it was the 2nd biggest I had killed.

I saw a 4 point 1 1/2 before dark. About 1/2 hour later I saw a big 10. Grunted and rattled and he got nervous and trotted off. 15 minutes later I saw the 8. Grunted and snort wheezed. He crossed the creek and came right to me. 15 yards and turned to look back over his shoulder. More than I could take. Double lung and easy tracking.

Of course, the next weekend my neighbor saw a main frame 14 pointer! So, if I see him I need to let him walk.

But my daughter doesn't! She has never shot a deer. What a first deer that would be..............

Nice buck lassig! Very unique coloring too. A couple shots almost make it look like it is wearing a toupe' with that fluffy red fur.

Thought I would add a photo here, this is my favorite one

Got my doe this morning.

Did you shoot it or hang it?

Been a lot of deer around here lately. Time to change things up a little:

Pic from a mostly unsuccessful Minnesota ruffed grouse hunt:


More scenery:


Run in with a porcupine turned into an hour of picking quills:


Kansas waterfowl hunt. Lesser canada goose on the left and a mature blue-phase snow goose on the right.


Nebraska sandhills prairie chicken/sharptailed grouse hunt


The 5 on the left and 1 on the far right are sharptailed grouse, the other two with the long feathers coming out their necks (pinnae)are male prairie chickens. We shot them in the same spot. We also shot bobwhite quail in the same areas and saw some pheasants. We were really hoping for a 4 species upland day.


Iowa farm pond goose hunt. Three of us each dropped one bird out of a flock of 3 and two of them were banded. This was Billy's first goose and first band all in one! Its going on the wall.


Bands up close. They were nearly sequential, one ended in 14, the other 16.


Shot of the decoys/pond

Both. Sunil, you know how thorough Theo can be.

I'll bet if we looked at the photos under a magnifying glass we'd see stab & strangulation marks as well.

Can't you pick on the guy who catches birds with his teeth?

That is a pretty large doe seeing as you are 7'4" tall.

Ok, now I’m envious csteffen. Boy how I would love to take my dog out there!

I was thinking the same Sunil.

cstefen:

How's the dog faring after looking like a pincushion? You get them all out?

esshup,

yep, we got all but about 3 that broke off too deep. The last 75 out of 500+ took pliars to pull out. The couple we didn't get haven't been a problem and this happened almost a month ago. Took him to the vet and they put him on some antibiotics and told us to watch him.

The bad part is I think it only made him hate porcupines more. He picked this one up 3 or 4 times. If we run into another one we will have to clean him up all over again. Its only a matter of time as the places we hunt in nebraska also have porcupines.

Good thing he's a well behaved dog, I don't think most dogs would lay still for an hour while 3 people poke around inside their mouth with a needle nose pliars. I guess all that practice unhooking fish has another use

Yikes! That's a LOT of quills. I heard that cutting the quill helps "deflate" it and makes it easier to pull out. Having a couple people along makes the job easier as well, it would be a bi**h to do it all alone!

Springer, right? Can you control him so he works closer? (i.e. within sight) I don't know that much about the habits of porkies - as in how much time they spend on the ground.

Yep we run springers - gods gift to the upland game hunter (we run ours for waterfowl too though) . Within sight and ruffed grouse hunting is quite a conundrum. The dogs don't range farther than 20-25 yards (closer for grouse and quail) unless given the "dead bird" command.

From what I've read, porcupines spend most of their time in trees and are nocturnal. Its only common to encounter them on the gound in daylight hours during mating season, which unfortunately is in the fall. On the ground they aren't alarmed when a dog approaches them because they aren't used to being messed with. Which means they don't run to a tree like a coon, so it gives the dog plenty of time to catch them.

I'm not sure about the whole deflating the quills idea. Some of the quills were hard enough to get a hold of as it was. If he was allowed even a little movement you could watch the quills get sucked further in to his face. Pretty scary to watch. Some of the quills were just barely sticking out and would appear to be smaller quills. Then when you pulled them out you would find that it was a 1/2" quill almost entirely buried under the skin. His lower jaw pretty much looked like hamburger by the time we were done. He even had quills in his ears from giving the porcupine the ol' "death shake."

Things turned out alright, but not an experience I would like to repeat. Luckily the other dogs do not quite have the kill mentality that this one does.

I thought I remembered the pics of the Springers. I'm glad that he's doing fine.

Does anyone PERSONALLY know Rusty Baker?

I ask, because Rusty and Budweiser are putting me in a TV segment and hunt in South Texas this January http://www.rustybakeroutdoors.com/new/index.htm












I WON THE SWEEPSTAKES BAAAAABY!!!!

Are you serious, Rex?? You'll be a celebrity superstar!!

I'm serious! They notified me today.

But how do I push my tilapia??

Congratulations Rex! Thats a sweet deal.

Force them to let you hunt out of a stand near the most algae/duckweed covered waterhole on the property. Also, I would use your truck to get to and from said stand, or just hunt from one of the tanks on the back

Congrats Rex !

"But how do I push my tilapia??" - Let us ponder that one.

u need an agent. I nominate TJ.

That's simple, ware a Tilapia costume. Sooner or later Rusty is bound to ask you why you are dressed like a fish and then....

BAM

you whip out your business card and proceed with a sales presentation.

Congrats Rex!!

I got dibs on being your "friend" for the hunt!

If not, and you need a rifle, I think I have one that might reach out and touch them for ya. Seriously. (the rifle)

I'll bet you could find someone to make a hunter orange "tilapia stockers" shirt with your logo large enough to read on camera.

About 10 days ago, 7:30 in the morning. Sun at my back, no wind, 30-06, 10 power scope (Leupy VIII-X), about 175 yards out; had gone to the range for the previous 2 days. The rifles is dead on. I rechecked the scope screws before and after the shot.

Was watching a 10 point buck, probably 4.5 years old, and he finally turned sideways. I squeezed the trigger and missed. I saw the bullet throw up dust behind him and over his back. He lit out and, just in case, I spent about 45 minutes checking for a blood trail. Nada.

I've passed up a lot of shots that I didn't like but I don't ever recall missing when I decide to take one. Oh well, we are in a one buck County so that didn't end my hunting season.

Dang it Dave! I wonder why? Have you re-shot the gun to see if it's still on?

No, I haven't shot it yet. Got some Great Grandkids visiting that are keeping me pretty close to home.

But, I'm certainly going to TRY to get to the range this week. I would have shot it there but, due to the fact that I have neighbors hunting, I don't target practice or even pull a trigger unless I am hunting.

This is the customized 1917 Eddystone that I have been using since 1967. I have about 40 other guns but this one is my go to hunting rifle.

DD1:

You probably know this, but if you are using a rifle rest, and sight it in with the forend on the rest everything will be great. Then if in the woods, you rest the barrel on something to shoot instead of the forend, then the shot usually will go high. I'm interested to see what you find out.

I moved the trail cam 2 days ago, and I have pics of deer from 8:00 p.m. 'till 5:30 a.m. No wonder why I'm not seeing any deer during the day!

Scott, I was resting on the forend both times.

Yeah, I see a lot more nocturnal pics.

O.K., I'm stumped!

Bad day Dave. But could have been worse .. at least you missed clean. Sounds like my luck. Just have to figure it out.
I had a scope go bad on me once. Cross hairs began rotating inside the scope. I kept re-zeroing until it became obvious the cross canted. Sent it back to Redfield.

Here is the ranch that I will be hunting in January, thanks to being the winner of the Budweiser/Rusty Baker Outdoors sweepstakes.

http://www.jjtexasranch.com/index.html

Rusty Baker called me yesterday to let me know the hunt will most likely be at the Castorville Ranch. Rusty sounds like a helluva nice guy on the phone. We have not set the exact date for the hunt yet, due to Rusty's and the film crew commitments. Although there are no guarantees on bagging a deer since this won't be a "canned" hunt, Rusty felt very confident we'll get a trophy deer. On a side note, and not part of what I won, one of Rusty's Camo sponsors wanted to know my measurments for some custom camo. I just said "short and fat"!

I'm getting more stoked about this the more I learn the details and maybe I can get my logo on the custom camo!

You're not that fat.

Rex, that's great. I'm sure you'll enjoy the week. Keep us updated!

Supersized Sunil?

No trophy. No camo. But just perfect for more kritter recipes. Probably about 100 lbs. dressed out like this. The weather couldn't be better for aging her for a week in the barn. Still steaming when I took this picture. A little snow predicted for tonight, and highs in the low 40s all week.

Nice doe. I'm still waiting for a good one to walk by.

Rainman, have a good time on your hunt... I still think you should have an advertising firm write a brochure on the pros and cons of having talipia introduced into pond waters.

Anyway I'll try to post a little progress report on Mason.

Good luck!!!

I was able to harvest this buck last Saturday afternoon on my 37 acre farm in N.E. Texas. I was very proud since it's the first deer I have ever taken on my own property. It was nearly dark by the time I recovered him, so I field dressed the buck and left him on the meat pole to hang overnight. It was cold weather for us being in the 30's. My plan the next morning was to take some pictures then process the deer. When I got there one of the neighbor's dogs (I saw the rascal) that run loose year 'round, had chewed his nose off and was working on a shoulder. Needless to say I was disappointed and the pictures didn't turn out like I had hoped. I was able to save everything but the one bad shoulder (and the pictures). I'll either need to raise my meat pole or discourage the dogs from visiting. I'll still have a nice European mount.

That's a nice buck. Congrats! I still have to see my first deer in person since 11-25. That one was just a little forkhorn and I let him walk. Season is winding down, the closer it is to the end, the less picky I'll be.

FR great deer. Josh my employee got his best buck ever off my land in KY last Sunday. I have yet to take a buck off it in 5 yrs. I'm too picky I guess but enjoy others getting good ones. Anyway we left it out by the cabin the first night he killed it (27 degrees) Josh and I qtr deer and capped it out next morning and we left it out the last night before packing up to bring it home. Same thing dogs came and had drug it away. I was hunting and he thought I was playing pratical joke. He finally found where they drug it. The cape was pretty bad but thinks taxidermist might be able to fix it- your not alone

Pretty buck! Congrats...

This is from our goose/duck hunt last Sunday



The guys where out this morning and limited out by 8AM. Plan on hitting it hard the next 2 days

lassig can I come play, offically jealous.

This year has been slow compared to the last couple of years. Last weekend was the first time that we shoot limits on geese. Usually we shot limits or near limits every day we hunt. The mallards are a bonus very seldom do we get into them. Now with duck season closed they will be landing in the decoys tomorrow.

The only good thing to come from the building slow down is that we aren't losing our hunting spots as fast as we used to. This may get us 5 to 10 more years on our current fields.

Just an FYI, most taxidermists can aquire a cape to replace a bad one for your mount.
BTW, Happy B Day Greg!

Frank, nice deer. I've had to discourage more than one dog. I don't like doing it, but...

Quick 4 man limit of geese this morning. Was done before 8AM. There are tens of thousands of Canada Geese in the western burgs of Chicago right now. We still have 3 weeks to the season so time to get plenty more.

Are pictures of non-dead deer ok? All the ones around my place are nocturnal, so all I can get are pics. The second one has figured out the feeder thing. I guess he used to wait on the raccoons to turn the spinner, but my carpet tack strips wired to the upper poles have got the raccoons scratching their heads(see 3rd pic)

David u: non-dead is just fine! :-) Great pics.

Non-dead is probably even cooler, but if you could post a non-dead and a dead pic of the same animal, I think that would pretty much be the ultimate!

OK how about this

I've killed a couple bucks that I also got on camera... It is pretty cool, non nearly as nice as lassig's though!

Lassig, thats the ultimate!!
CJ, it doesnt count unless you can show the pics.

My 3yr old daughter went with me for the first time. When the deer came out, she asked me to shoot it so we can make jerky. My response "Cover your ears".

That's the best reply that I've heard yet! Nice deer and great kid! Congrats.

I'm just kinda wondering here, is this anything like an undead deer? Those things are, frankly, pretty freaky.

Shawn you dawg! That is so cool. Mae will be coming deer hunting next season, i just figured that 5 years old was plenty young enough. Now you have me wondering if I have already missed out on 2 seasons!!!

Nate,

I wasn't going to take her but she begged me. Plus, I splurged this year and bought a Texas Hunter enclosed blind just so we could do some wildlife watching. It worked out great to conceal her movements. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the deer to come out. I'm guessing she will get to pull the trigger when she's around 14. I'm new to the parenting thing so I really don't know when a child is old enough to shoot a deer. I suppose it will depend on the level of maturity of each child. I think they can get their Hunter Safety card when they are 11.

By the time she's ready to hunt, she probably won't even like me, will have a boyfriend, and I'll be hunting him.

Enjoy all of this time you can get. My oldest girl fished with me a lot until she turned 12 and found boys. She hasn't been with me since and she is now 21 and on her own. I am thinking after she gets settled in her new life she may come back to it.

Good advice. I'm spending all the time I can with mine while they're young because what you've experienced is probably inevitable. I think, though, that the time invested in a quality relationship doing things like fishing and just spending outdoors time in general, will all come back to them when they're ready and that foundation you've invested in them will pay off.

This seemed the most appropriate place to post my 4 year old son, AJ's, first buck. I know, some of you are thinking, 4 is pretty young to let a kid kill a deer, and still others are thinking, "yeah, right, dad killed it and checked it in on his son's tag." But I assure you, using his brand new hand carved deer bow and arrows, he bagged this puppy from clear across the living room this morning (in his underwear, no less!), just a few minutes after opening the present!

[img][/img]

He drilled his arrow right through the vitals - it's the slightly lighter brown dowel sticking out of the deer in the bottom of the pic! Just too cool and had to share!

Merry Christmas to all!

That's a picture to frame and give back to him in about 20 years!

Looks like he shows some pretty good potential in this crowd.

Maybe at a wedding rehearsal dinner!

More than I've got - it took me longer to hit the darn thing than it took him!

Love it Todd. Wyatt got a little bow as well. We went in the yard and too cold for long but he kinda got the hang of it with some help.

It's pretty awesome to see them pick things up, isn't it?! I just love the fact that I can kinda redo childhood all over with my son!

I still have one anterless deer tag left, so went deer hunting this afternoon. Snow is too darn deep to chase pheasants, anyhow. So, I saw 22 deer this evening. Did I shoot one? Of corse not! It was -10 F!

Why not? That'd be a way to warm up your hands (while you field dress it).

I was out yesterday afternoon and had 2 does about 80 Yds away (late archery season). They were working their way towards me, but before they got any closer a neighbor about 1/2 mile away decided to see if his left-over fireworks still worked. The firecrackers didn't bother the deer much, but the aerial bombs did!

2 more days left in the season here.

To change the subject a little. Here is a video of our last goose hunt of 2009. This hunt didn't last an hour and we had a 5 man limit. The dog in the video is only 1.5 years old and his first year hunting. Best dog I have ever hunted over. Here is the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsmP9Ik3F9s

Hunted today on our field with a group of guys working on a hunting show sponored by drake waterfowl. Shot 24 geese and just about enough video for a show. Doing it again tomorrow to finish the show up hopefully. It is really a production doing this and takes most of the fun out of hunting. Definitely not my future job.

I was wondering how you did. The weather sure changed from 2 days ago!

I couldn't watch the video, got the message: The URL contained a malformed video ID.

Try it now, I think I fixed it. Really cold out there today but what geese did fly worked us pretty good. Hope tomorrow is as good and I can sleep in on Sunday.

Looks like you had a good shoot. Whack some for me tomorrow!

Lassig - talk some more about why the video-ing took fun out of the hunt? I'm not questioning; just curious.

Great job by the pup on those big birds!

OK, that looks like very close to houses and traffic. What are the regulations there?
Funny seeing that pooch wrestle with the big bird. He needs to learn the choke hold.

The dog is a British Lab and only about 50 pounds. A lot of these geese are 9 to 12 pounds and just about too big for his mouth to get around.

The rules in Illinois is 100 yards from houses, 50 yards for the center of a roadway and you cannot shot over a roadway. The houses are over a half mile away and the roadway is 500+ yards away. A lot of the footage was shot on 10 to 15x zoom making them appear much closer than they are.

Its not the videoing that takes the fun out of the hunt. We video with our group of 4 to 6 all the time. What isn't fun is the extra production of shooting a hunting show that takes the fun out of it. They brought/invited a lot more guys than we like to hunt with to make sure they could get enough footage. We only hunted 6 guys at a time to keep it safe/manageable and I am not use to rotating in and out. I am used to sitting in the decoys calling and having fun with the guys. For most of the shot we where sitting on the sidelines and not hunting. Maybe it was this situation that didn't sit well with me and if I was more involved I would of felt different.

If its your field, I definitely wouldnt bother with letting a hunting show and film crew in there. Many, Many of them guys take advantage of that situation and you typically get nothing in return.

It is one of our fields, the one we hold off on till this time of year since it is right next to the river. With everything else frozen the birds roost and fly the river alot so it puts us right in their path.

Wasn't looking for anything in return just wasn't looking for an army to show up. Glad we got enough footage yesterday for a show since only one flock worked us today (as of 2:30 when I quit) and we shot 3. Very Very few geese flying, I think they all went south to the nukes

Thanks for the video, Love the dog work and the live decoy. Ben really slow for me, three ducks all year on 6 hunts. Busted several hundred ducks (lots of GA)out this morning trying to get setup to shot when they leave roost. Cold for us 22 and that way next several days this hole will be frozen over.

Some of the ducks were working back in and I got a hooded merganser and idiot starts yelling at us. We are close to apartments but have permission from landowner. He says if you do not have permission Im calling cops. Friend says we do so go ahead and call. I stayed with dog and dekes but told to come on out later. You could hear yelling DNR came and so did 4 cops. Basically guy accussed us of waving guns in his face, etc etc. All lies of course. Cops and DNr wildlife ranger gave it to him. TOld him he was the one trespassing, he was not to bang pots and pans that would be harrrasing wildlife etc. He claimed propected wetland and we had no rights to kill the poor defensless animals. Gotta Love metro ATL hunting, if not for the high number of ducks it is not worth it. Just glad our rangers and cops were behind us, glad to see them wokring so hard for the hunter. I just worry what will be left for Wyatt to hunt without traveling to remote locations.

Drake is a wonderful young lab, I have never seen a dog work and mind so well. If my kids behaved half that well I wouldn't have any gray hairs.

I hear you about the metro hunting. You can see we are doing the same. The houses in the video are on the field that we originally started hunting on in the area. When the houses started coming in on the field next door, they would call the cops. The cops would explain that we where within our legal rights to hunt there and tried to smooth it over. They where not happy about it. But after a summer of the local geese eating and crapping in their yards they changed their minds and would cheer when we shot them the next year.

Went duck hunting on a friends pond this morning.

Here is my dad with his first duck ever.


My retriever.

LSHIFIMP!

Classic, Chris, absolutely classic.

Chris:

Are those 2 drakes and one hen Ring-billed Ducks? If so, I've never seen them before.

He does good with ducks but has a little trouble with those huge resident canada geese.



From left to right: Drake Ringneck, Drake Ringneck, Hen Ringneck, Hen Gadwall, Hen Ringneck. They finally showed up at this pond last week. You may have a good chance at shooting one when you are down here.

Chris awesome thanks for sharing. Congrats on your Dad's "gray duck". I love shooting ringers they are little jets.

Thanks Chris. It'll be interesting to see what ducks are brought to bag. I'll be down there the weekend of the 16th-17th.

Well, the deer season for Indiana closed today. I thought I'd give it one last try, I wasn't about to let this year be the first year in a long time that I didn't take a deer.

As I walked out to the stand this afternoon, I spooked a yearling from the woods. I thought I was toast for the rest of the day, but with the storm and cool weather the deer were moving. About 20 minutes later, I had 3 yearlings, an adult doe and another yearling walk by at 25-30 Yds, and the doe was looking at me the whole time. She let her guard down for a minute, and I had 90% of the creep taken out of the trigger in the crossbow before she had enough and turned to leave. She turned the wrong way, so I couldn't take the shot. The sear had moved enough that I couldn't engage the safety. If she would have stood there for another second, I would have had time to get the shot off. Oh well.

Not 15 minutes later a single doe ambled past, occasionally stopping to scrape at acorns. She stopped in one shooting lane, but every time I moved to get the crossbow in position, she heard the snow that had fallen on me creak, and she'd look at me. I had a good inch covering me and the crossbow. We played this game for a couple of minutes before she gave up on the acorns and walked away. It was getting close to the end of shooting time before I noticed two more deer coming down the trail that I have the Cuddy Trail Cam on. I was able to get in position while they were still 100+ Yds away and couldn't hear me. The doe paused in front of the Cuddy and I think she was in range for a pic. I thought "at least I'll have a good look at what could have been." She walked another 30 feet and stopped, just clear of a couple of trees. I barely touched the trigger, and I heard the bolt hit what sounded like a hollow watermelon. Both deer jumped and stopped behind a group of trees. I heard one deer snort, (I couldn't see them) and then all was quiet. I didn't see or hear a deer after that. After waiting about 15 minutes I decided to get down and look because the snow was still coming down really hard, and I didn't want any sign to be covered up. After a bit of searching I found the bolt stuck in the ground, missing one fletching and a few flecks of blood were on the snow next to it.

I followed the trail that the deer made in the snow, and came upon the doe not 50 feet further away. She died really quick (double lung), and the other deer must have snorted when she dropped. This is the 2nd deer that I've taken with these HyperShock mechanical 100g broadheads, and I'm really pleased with how fast they kill the deer. Neither of them travelled more than 20 yds.

Pics to follow tomorrow, maybe a "before" pic too, if I'm lucky.

Congrats on the kill... All I did was freeze my butt off yesterday on VA's last day of deer season. It was so cold this morning that the saltwater creek my dad on that has a fairly strong tidal flow had frozen completely over! There was just a few open spots and the number of ducks that were using those openings was impressive! Looking forward to some late season waterfowl hunting over the next few weeks...

Congrats on the deer. At first when you mentioned the snow strom I was confused since the sky was clear here yesterday and I am only 100 miles west of you. Then I remembered a little thing call lake effect snow that we bearly ever see here on the west side of the lake. How much snow did you end up with?

I can't give you an answer yet because it's still coming down, and the weatherman said we'd be stuck in this pattern all week. It's a light and fluffy snow, and it seems to pack down all by itself. I can tell you that I've shoveled 4 or 5 times, each time I've shoveled about 4". Where the snow is laying on the ground and undisturbed, there is about a foot now.

It's snowed on and off since Friday evening. On Saturday, I talked with a person that lives in Berrien Springs, about 45 miles to the North and closer to the lake. She said they had 18" on the ground just between Friday mid-day and Saturday evening. It's coming down in bands, depending on how the wind blows. If a band parks over you, some are producing 3"-4" of snow per hour.

Whew Scott now that is cutting it close. COngrats! I got my 4 does pretty early so not really been hunting meat for awhille. I only have does and yearling bucks on camera anymore. WHere do the big bucks go??? I might try and get one more doe for second batch of jerky for sunil. THe metro ATL season is longer than anywhere around goes thru end of Jan, if anyone needs a late season doe hunt let me know.

Most lakes frozen today so I will be in a lake in the am in 1 degree wind chill (that is cold for my southern blood) in a lake that has 6 mill gallon spring water going thru it daily. There should be lots of ducks since it does not freeze. I'm due a good one.

Post the pics of success Greg!

It was a bit close, the pictures on the trail cam of the deer were taken 9 minutes before close of season.

I checked the trail cam and only had a pic of a nose, then another pic of the other end of the deer.

It's hanging in the garage now with the thermostat set on 50*F to try and get it thawed enough so I can start skinning. It was the 997th deer checked at this station for the year, and very likely will be one of the last ones, if not THE last deer checked this year.

I doubt that I'll post a pic, it's sort of wadded up and froze stiff, with the abdomen wide open to cool down.

I've got a picture of an 8 point that's a couple inches wider than his ears, and the tines are about 8" tall that made it thru the season. If nobody takes him illegally, and he dodges the cars & coyotes, he'll be really nice next year.

Greg our late season doe hunting outside Washington DC runs til the end of March! They are desperate for us to kill does... I can't keep up. Somehow the idea of sitting in a treestand in 20 degree weather with wind chills in the negatives to shoot a doe doesn't get me going though.

CJ:

Are there any food banks there that take venison donations?

One year hunting during the regular rifle season in Wi. we had to alternate driving and standing just to stay warm. The trees were freezing and popping it was so cold out. IIRC the thermometer was durn close to -30*F at night and it only warmed up to -teens during the day and that's without windchill.

Dad and I stayed in his cousins hunting camp. The guest lodges had a crawlspace under them for the plumbing, and were heated by an oil furnace - no forced air. In the morning, the snow that melted off of the boots was froze in a puddle on the floor. We slept in sleeping bags under the covers in the bed, with knit caps on our heads just to stay warm at night. The oil furnace wouldn't keep the place warm, even tho it was turned up all the way.

Yeah, we have a program called "Hunters for the Hungry". I only keep 2 deer a year. The rest go to friends or the program. The meat processor I take my deer to doesn't charge a penny if you donate the deer. Some guys abuse it but I always donate at least a $100 cause I normally donate at least 3 or 4 deer.

Whoa huting deer in March- crazy. The does would be huge with twins by then.

Dang I have the worst luck. Just as I thought over 200 geese and 80 mallards in there this am. Only open pond around. Legal light came and they just sat there looking at us only 60-120 yds away from them. Mallards started coming in but just out of good range and landing with their friends. They got up and flew a loop around us, could have killed tons on the water. It would have made great video just with them swimming aroudn. Anyway we had a lone goose come in hour later and then 30 geese and we only dropped one. Picked up headed down the lake to the dam and lookup 30 mallards pitch in our spot. Ten mintues more hunting and would have decoyed in. Oh well out of town on business so no hunting them for awhile.

FWIW, I weighed the doe before I started cutting her up. While she wasn't a large doe for the area, she still weighed 110# field dressed.

Yeah, some of the deer fetuses are very large it makes you feel a bit guilty. Especially when you can sex them.

My dad and I went on a guided duck hunt this morning. We ended up getting 16 ducks between us and the guide. The spot we hunted was probably the only open water for miles around. We stopped hunting by 9:30. If it weren't for our bad shooting we would have been done a lot sooner.

Dang, now I'm really jealous. I had to postpone the trip.
1)The turbo in the car is acting up (It really isn't supposed to make 30+ PSI and live for long) so I have to drive with one eye on the road and one eye on the boost gauge, modulating the boost with my right foot 'till parts come in. It's normal mode of operation is spike to 22 psi, then settle down at 18 psi. I'll cruise down the road @ 2-3 psi. If I can't get the variable vanes freed up, then I'll just have to slap another turbo on it. (slightly bigger, and I'll increase the exhaust size as well )
2) My buddy was hunting in Lousiana and had to break thru quite a bit of ice to open up the water for the ducks. He is due for a knee replacement on the 27th, and the cold water & ice really affected it.

I'm postponing the trip 'till warmer weather, when the fishing is good down there. He'll be back up and around by then and hopefully feeling better.

Chris awesome is all I can say. Frustratign year for me. I haev seen ducks but they leave ealry from roost spot. I have shot 3 waterfowl but gunner brought back none on 6 trips. Hope to try couple more times.

Got to go on my sweepstakes hunt and had a great time even though the hunt was not nearly as valuable as advertised.






Me and Rusty Baker

Rex the results speak for themselves. Awesome deer.

We got 5 geese, 2 widegon a hen gadwall and hen mallard this morning, finally good day in GA swamp.

Rex, you're right, that is an OLD deer. Did anyone age it for you? The rack looks pretty good.

Thanks for the pictures, Rex!!

My first limit

It's the last day of the season, isn't it? I see the weather has warmed up too.

Nice limit! Congrats.

No, it doesn't end until the 24th. I don't have school tomorrow or Tuesday so I should be able to get a few more.

Just got back from the Braidwood area and my first hunt at Migrators Unlimited hunt club. Not many geese on the lake 10,000 if lucky. Very foggy visibility 1/4 to 1/2 mile and the cieling was 60 to 100 yards. No geese flying until 10:30 AM and by 11:30 AM we had our 2 man limit. Couldn't see the geese coming had to listen for them. They would just appear out of the fog and almost be in range. A nice first hunt at this club

Chris go get em. I painted some dekes this weekend with Wyatt. My attempt to make them look like ringnecks.

Lassig, reminds me of my 1st hunt as a teen with my BIL and dad in marsh around Cameron, La. Couldn't see much of anything. First thing that came in sight, I let the hammer down. Folded up, long skinny legs, long neck. Ended the hunt early for the day.
Next wk. my BIL reported one less whooping crane(in 1964) there were only about 50 or so then.

I did not type this Mr. game warden.

Youngblood, was this at your pond or in Arkansas?

It was at a friends pond that is 3 miles from my place here in Texas.

Today only 10 ducks came in to the pond. I don't know what the deal was.

They're coming back up North to get out of the warm weather.

Well they haven't quite made it all the way back north yet. I hunted my club around Braidwood, IL yesterday in the fog. Very few geese in the area but we did manage to get one. Only one week left in the season. The rain over night took care of the snow except of piles. This and colder weather should bring more geese to the Braidwood are that have move to the rivers that have opened up.

Insult to injury, I just had a flock of 12+ geese fly right past my front windown at about 15 yards. They love to tease me this way

I know the feeling. During the summer, I will have geese landing on the pond, and in August, a good sized flock will fly over the pond and house from a neighbor's property on their way to a large local lake. They will disappear from the face of the earth a couple of days before nusance goose season rolls around (Sept. 1), and show up back around a week after the season closes (Sept 15).

Do you have access to any Snow Goose flyways in the Spring?

Not around here (NE IL) but by my farm (Schuyler County) they migrate though the end of Feb and early March. Really hard to hunt and have never really tried.

I heard that they need lots of decoys, but they don't have to be full bodied. I heard rags work as well, but like anything, the more times they are shot at, the harder they are to fool. At least electronic calls are legal to make it sound like there are a lot of birds there.

We have over 1500 rags (used to snow goose hunt in Arkansas and North Dakota). It does take a lot of decoys and a lot of work. I haven't tried the spring hunt yet.

Just a few days left.

Wow, Chris. Sure cool to see all those colors. That is one pretty gadwall. When we shoot them in early October, they are pretty darn bland.

Chris nice duck and nice pose. Yes Dave caleld gray duck for a reason. We got 9 geese yesterday and FINALLY got a kill shot on the video glasses. When I find time I will edit and post on you tube. I plan to go once more in the am for my final hunt. Good luck to all the waterfowlers who still have this weekend left.

Greg, can't wait to see the video.

I may go this afternoon if the sleet stops. I don't feel like driving across the lake while getting pelted in the face.

Ironic Chris sleet here today also. 32 and rain in the morning. Good luck CHris on final outings.I will get it out as soon as I can. WIsh I had glasses all season to video, it is too dark when the ducks fly out to video.

Canada Goose ends this weekend for us. Right now not enough geese around to make it worth getting out of bed. So looks like my season is done.

Greg I would love to see the video, as you know I am interested in a pair of the glasses

Got a 1/4 mile down the road before I decided to turn back. Roads are to slick.

It is snowing really hard right now.

I have some deer pics and got them on photobucket but don't know how to copy them here? Anyone able to explain this to an idiot?

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...ite_id=1#import

I'm sure this is wrong, but i told you I am a computer idiot


s914.photobucket.com/albums/ac341/raherman/?action=view¤t=PB240087.jpg&newest=1

s914.photobucket.com/albums/ac341/raherman/deer/?action=view¤t=P1010153.jpg&newest=1

s914.photobucket.com/albums/ac341/raherman/deer/?action=view¤t=P1010151.jpg&newest=1

s914.photobucket.com/albums/ac341/raherman/deer/?action=view¤t=PC130115.jpg&newest=1

My dad made me do this, this is his daughter.

Hi daughter! Tell your Dad that those are some really nice deer.

Thank goodness for smart kids!!!!

Black Bear Burger.

Just don't tell my mom that this was about 15 miles away. She is somewhat worried with all the Coyotes and Feral hogs hanging around and the grandkid's safety. Not to mention the resident Bobcat.

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2009/11/kent_city_hunter_drops_500-pou.html

JKB - I did not know there were feral hog in Michigan. We don't have them in Indiana and the DNR wants to keep it that way. The bear is amazing. Wish we had black bears in central Indiana; might keep the woods a little less crowded. I took the larger deer above with a bow late in early-archery of 2008 inside of 5 yards (from a tree stand). I almost had the the smaller one the same way in 2009 but could not take the shot. I took him at about 60 yards with a 44 rifle late in the 2009 gun season from my kids tree-house. He does not have much mass or tine length except for the 8-inch drop, but has good inside spread (19.5 inches). I had never seen a living deer with a drop tine, so I took him. When I first saw him, I thought that he had a corn leaf hanging from his antlers. The deer on the post are from 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 from top to bottom. I stopped taking little ones in about 2003 and it has paid off.

Neither did I until I read this report.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/04/hogzilla_local_couple_slays_fo.html

Doing some research, we have quite a few. A heard of about 40 animals was reported on the other side of a wetland area behind my house. I have not seen any, yet!

Those are some nice deer. This year was a bust for all of us. Seen a lot of small bucks and does. We won't shoot the small ones.

A trouble maker neighbor shot a 3 point from his deck in my garden We filed a report but I don't know if anything came of it. You need to be 150 yards from a residence to hunt. At best, he has 103 yards from his house to my property line, based on GIS information, so he dose not have a legal shot. I hope they move soon.

I want to get a .44mag carbine. I have a Ruger .44mag Super Redhawk with a 9.5" barrel and a Dillion reloader which I have never used. A good brush gun would be ideal for some thick areas out back. With the .300mag I usually get posted in the more open areas where the deer never roam

I traded my Marlin 30/30 for I believe a Winchester 30/30 so my nephew could have a rifle. Something about the scope they were using wouldn't work, so I said ok. I think I will go to the gun shop and trade it in for a .44

In Indiana we cannot use real rifles, just shotguns and pistol-cartrige rifles. I have an all-weather stainless bolt-action Ruger. I have no complaints except that I am glad it brought down the buck (and a doe) inside of 25 yards, because there was no blood trail. Its a 100-yd gun, while my muzzle-loader is twice that. I saw a bigger buck out 150 yards earlier that hung around for the better part of an hour tearing up some pines, and I was really wishing I had the muzzle-loader that day. Any day in the woods is a good day.

I keep hoping Ohio will add the latter. I'd love to use my 77/44.

Theo:

What's the rules regarding pistols? The same guy that built my last rifle builds some pretty accurate pistols. They've taken antelope with them out around 1k.

I am going to have to add a few coins to trading in the 30/30. MSRP is 777.00, then a decent scope.

Ruger 77/44


I should have purchased one when they were in the 400.00 range. Of the two gun dealers I use, both closed. One after he was robbed (he was retired) and the other just closed up shop. A new shop just opened up down the road, I'll stop in and check it out. A good gun guy is just as important as a good pond guy.

Any good recommendations on a scope? , also a scope for my Super Redhawk.

Leupold FXII 4x28. It's fixed....but how close to that cannon do you want to stick your eyeball anyway?

Look at the Lovell scope mount, much more compact and elegant than the factory Ruger rings.

JKB:

General rule of thumb is spend as much or more on glass than the gun cost......

I don't know how old you are, but the older you are, the bigger objective you'll need during low light conditions, providing you are keeping the tube size and magnification the same. Unfortunately, a bigger obj. means that the scope has to be mounted higher from bore centerline, and getting a good cheekweld is harder unless you have a high cheekpiece on the rifle. That Ruger doesn't have one.

Personally, I can do with a higher magnification than a lot of people. I'd throw a 3x9-40 on it, Leupold VX-3 or so. There's nothing wrong with the VX-III either. Depending on the distance of your shots, you could go even less magnification, or even a red-dot type sight if in thick stuff and need to get a really quick shot off. I have a 3.5x10-50 illuminated VX-III Mil-Dot scope on one of my slug guns, and I really like it. Unfortunately, Leupy doesn't make it anymore. When illuminated, only the very center "X" hair is illuminated.

At least one of those sold on Gunbroker for $570.00

"Straight walled cartridges of .357 or larger bullet diameter with a case length of 1" or longer"

Thanks. In Indiana, as long as it shoots a .243 or bigger bullet, and the case is over 1.062 long, you are good to go. No straight walled restriction. If you have the cajones, you can use a .50 bmg.

OTOH, our CF rifle regs are .357" bullet minimim, case must be 1.062 - 1.625. No straight wall restriction. Both pistol and CF rifle can only be used in our "gun" season.

We have to be north of 46 to use a rifle, which is in northern Muskegon county. I think it is under 200 miles to the Indiana border. We also have a caliber restriction for deer, not sure what the current spec is, but I do know someone who got busted with a Mini 14 .223 South of 46 taking a deer. Not a happy camper he was after that. Another dude down the road, maybe 5 or 6 years ago was poaching turkeys. One of them was tagged and had a transmitter, he got a year in jail because of the extent of his poaching activities.

Here is another stupid people should not breed story: The Sunday before Christmas a neighbor, about a quarter mile away was playing with his muzzle loader at about 11PM. He had his buddy over as well as his kid. Now, he doesn't have enough property to even shoot on but they were whacking rounds off, probably shooting over the road into a corn field. (his property is shaped like a triangle at about a 60 degree included angle, maybe 200 feet at the widest point)

Yep, as you can imagine, they were all quite heavily under the influence. According to the fire department, the kid threw a fair amount of black powder into the wood stove. About 10 minutes or so later their propane tank blew, they no longer had a garage and part of their mobile home was missing. No one got hurt except for some minor burns. New years, about 1AM the muzzle loader was making noise again.

Quick one: Take a 16yo kid who probably could not pass a drug test (at the time), even though he never did drugs. (it was in his system from birth, parents) A gallon glass jar full of some vintage gun powder, poured on the ground in a neat pile. And a match. He did get hurt. Serious third degree burns and lost his hair in a second. He turned out really good. Building contractor, and respected for his masonry work.

I haven't done any reloading yet for the .44, but I am sure with some testing I could come up with a combination for both my Redhawk and a 77/44 that would be pretty sweet.

Thanks Yolk, I'll check into your recommendations. I was considering a Leupold, but wanted more opinions.

It's not that bad to shoot. You have to hold it correctly, which takes a few more than six rounds to figure out. First time out of the box, six 240 grain rounds convinced me to just clean it and put it in it's nice neat case. I am pretty use to it now, and nothing hurts after a good session, which after about 24 rounds, you kinda had enough.

Big NO NO is shooting with congested sinuses. You can feel your brain move around.

Thanks esshup,

49, and I am going to have to go to the eye man and get some shooting glasses. These 7 level progressive bifocals don't work with scopes. At least they don't have lines in them, but if you move your head too much looking at something at a close distance, you can get dizzy.

All top notch info., and I really appreciate it.

Not too much worried about a good cheekweld with this caliber in a carbine. The .300winmag is quite a different animal. Ya need to be connected pretty good with that one, especially if your BIL is making up some hot loads. Shoulder Burger in 4 rounds. First one is the tenderizer, after that, it all depends on how long you want the black and blue to last.

Take a look at http://www.4scopes.com They rate scopes by several factors.

I wound up with a 300 Win Mag when my Brother passed away. I haven't shot it and don't figure to. Actually, I think I'm going to sell it. My 30-06 has been plenty of gun for me on Whitetail, Mule deer, elk and antelope at a distance.

I have an all original 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser. Reading up on both that gun and caliber is intriguing.

I recently bought my Grandson a Weatherby Vanguard in .243. We went through the 2 box break in routine and now I have to start building some loads. It came with a target showing a 3 shot group that you could cover with a dime. Since I have no personal experience with a 1 in 10 twist, I called the Gunsmiths at Sierra bullets and got some recommendations. Those guys are pretty good without the condescending attitude that I have often found in that world.

The 77/44 all-weather is what I bought for the 2009 gun season. I could not find one locally, but a friend found one for me. I mounted a 40mm Leopold variable VXIII using the stock rings. I also wrapped the SS barrel with some cammo tape (acually like the stff you wrap up a sprain with, so its removable and re-usable). I like Leopold scopes for their brightness. I added Butler Creek lense covers for nasty weather. If you site in the gun with a coat on your OK, but a tee-shirt limits the number of rounds that I want to shoot. I plan to test the Hornady Lever Evoloution rounds for improved acurracy when the weather breaks. I really like the gun. It just feels comfortable, like my 10/22, but with a lot more wallap. My single-shot rifled-barrel shotgun won't get used again.

PS. The gun cost me $600 with tax new.

jkb, feel free to email me what scope you decide you want I can probably save you quite a bti of money. Just got a nikon for fish clietn and saved him $285 over BPS price.

Well ended watefowl on good note for fun. I shot poorly but me and two buddies shot at same mallard. Banded get in Ontario and get this august 2000. I think it has got to be a mistake. He was big but never heard of one that old. Anyway Justen does not have band so we agreed he killed. Beside he can fork over the $185 to mount it and I can go view anytime i want. Went yesterday eve and had good groups of geese in and missed also. I think I got footage of miss and buddies kill. I will view later son got very sick with virus so not much time to download but promise to edit and youtube the glasses video footage since talked about so much.

+1 for Greg. A buddy of mine got a scope from him, best price around and great service. I've heard some good things about the Nikon Scopes.

Greg, a 10 year old Mallard? Wow! Take care of the kids, the video can wait.

My buddy has a .44 Mag wheelgun, I'll ask him what scope he's got on it. He just had to buy a Tarus Raging Bull in .480 Ruger. He ran about 40 rounds thru it and put it away, saying that the recoil was too bad. I shot it, and bought it. While I wouldn't want to shoot it all day long, I don't think it's too bad. If I'm using my Muzzleloader and chasing after hogs, that .480 is going along for the ride as well.

For load development work, I have a gun rest that is very similar to the Lead Sled, except that I chain the front end down to the shooting bench. That really saves the shoulder! A buddy really appreciated it when he was playing around with his .375 H&H.

I was kicking around the idea of building up a rifle for deer here in Indiana, but now I'm thinking of building a Striker with a magazine instead. I want something that will reach out 300 yd. or so, and that seems the most cost effective way to do it.

Dave, the guys at Sierra really helped me figure out what my Vanguard would like. Did they tell you about checking it to see if it prefers Flat Based bullets or Boattails? I've got a .243 Browning A-bolt that likes the 85g Barnes TSX bullets shoved by IMR-4831.

Well look what I found :

Aaawwwww..., he's smiling at you!

That's a fat one! Was it going in or coming out??

Trying to kill trees by blocking a culvert 100 yards behind the dam.

Now you gotta find the den.....

Quick and painless...

Scott, the guy gave me 3 loads using 3 different bullets. However, I've been to 3 gun shops and Cabelas and haven't found the right bullets. I'm going to have to order them.

Dave:

My selection of .243 bullets is small. I have: Barnes TSX BT 85g, Sierra GameKing 100g Spitzer BT, Speer Grand Slam 100g FB and Hornady A-Max 100g BT. If you need any of them to try, LMK.

Esshup you like the Hornady A-Max? I just ordered a case of those for a client in .270.

Greg:

I haven't used them on game, just paper and they shoot great. I just ordered a variety of bullets for the .243 when I got it, and the TSX worked. They are more of a match bullet vs. a hunting bullet, and Hornady says that they aren't intended for use on medium and large game. I think it all depends on the impact velocity. The .243 was purchased for Whitetails, and since I didn't know if the shots would be 30' or 300 Yds I started with the TSX's. The one deer that I shot with it was probably 40' away, and I put the bullet in one ear and out the other, so any bullet would have worked. I wasn't happy with the 100g Nosler Ballistic Tip in .257 Wby. I shot a doe @ 80 yds., and I probably wouldn't have recovered her if I didn't watch her run and die. No blood trail 'cept 10 yds before she tipped over, and she ran for 80 Yds. That's when I switched to the TSX for any "big" game that would see impact speeds over 3000 fps.

he got a-max for accuracy shooting not hunting. thanks

ewest, I would be ashamed to post a pic like that.




You should take better care of your traps .. look at all that rust!

Nice job on the flat tail!!!!!!

That trap is old - owned by my 60 year old relative's father. The trap may be 50-60 years old and much used. Still works though.

Nice tree cutter. I use a .22. I just received great news. I will get to be the mitigation site for a 2 acre forested wetland. I talked to the folks who will design the wetland and they are great. They really want to produce good wildlife habitat. The next step is a survey. I'll post as things progress.

RAH, who designed the wetland? My sister works at such a company.

ewest, if it's a 330, they were introduced in the mid to late 60's. You could boil them in walnut husks, or dip them in speed dip. That will help limit the rust. Whatever you do DON'T wax 'em. I did that to a bunch of 110's after I dipped them, and had to get the wax off of the dog and the trigger. They wanted to go off by themselves, or with any slight jar, usually snapping shut before I could get them in place.

You're right on the wax esshup. I always dipped mine while set holding them by the trigger side. They're faster when they're waxed. I like to take care of my traps & the rust dammaged hides.

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Who is your sister?

Sandi. She works for J.F. New.

RW Armstrong will be the company designing this wetland. I did purchase plants from J.F. New for another project that I funded out of my own pocket. They provided high quality plants but made last-minute substitutions. I ordered my last batch of plants from Spence. The plants were not as big, but they provided evrything that they said they would, and the plant survival was excellent.

I bought plants from J.F. New, and seeds from Spencer. I'll know for sure this year which ones had the best survival rate. I know that J.F. New buys some of it's seeds that it resells from Spencer.