I'm 61 and staring a birthday square in the eye. I think that this is going to be fun.

I shoot off the stops and never let the cams relax forward. This makes the shot absolutely consistent. I tell myself as I pull the bow to "be strong" and push forward as I pull to the rear. I never am conscious of pulling the trigger on the release only of the constant pressure.

I believe that if one of these pellets contacted a deers heart at close range the deer would die. The question is can you guarantee that the pellet would hit exactly as prescribed to a vital area? I've shot 6 deer with a 22 mag. all one shot kills with virtually no travel. The energy with the 40 gr. bullet is app.150 foot pounds and I can place the bullet from my tree stands at 30-40 yards with precision. I've been rounded chastised for using my little rifle, I can't imagine using #3 buckshot in a 20 Ga.

My father shot 3 coyote in 6 night sitting over the same dead deer. I have one of the old pictures. I have hunted over bait many times and have gotten a few animals but not enough to consider it a good method. I've had better luck calling but that is not a slam dunk either. Coyote are difficult to fool and you had better be alert and pay attention to the wind or you will have zero success.

I run a small construction/carpentry company and for us the cell phone is superior. The problem with cell phones is that you can never seem to get away! I do take mine with me when I hunt, but I shut the thing off to enjoy my time.

Colt 38 Detective Special for over 35 years!

To my knowledge there is no such thing as cheap 410 shells. The .410 is a pretty expensive firearm to shoot. Handloading is the only way to go with this shotgun. I can usually by two boxes of 12 ga field loads for the cost of one box of .410 field loads but handloads for this gun are very inexpensive to produce and perform as well as factory. You can load them very well with a simple Lee Loader.

I've never had any problems with my water proof matches and Vaseline strips, but I've had a few occasions where I couldn't get the plastic butane lighters to do anything. I do think that I'll look into the flint and steel and the stuff that COONER talks about.

My policy for all of my life has been the same "if my 38 doesn't go -I don't go". I don't care what anyone calls me. I have "lived" with this decision.

Small ax-a good method for starting fires-a metal cup.

This question has been asked and answered many times before here but I think that it should be discussed every so often because it's an important issue. It really is about you and your expectations and abilities with a rifle. If you know that you can kill a running deer than obviously taking a running shot is acceptable for you. If you start to fling lead and hope and pray while you're doing it than you should reconsider,honestly, your ability to executing a humane shot. I don't shoot at running deer simply because I know that I have a very good chance of wounding one and not being able to recover. That to me is unacceptable. My brother, slightly younger and not as handsome as me, can hit and kill deer with easy while they are on the move so for him taking the running shot makes good sense. Know your own honest limitations and you be o.k. Killing one out of every four running animals that you fire at and thinking that your doing well is not evaluating your ability with any degree of intellect. Being fair with yourself and respectful of the animals that you hunt will lead you to the proper decision. Good hunting to you.

I do believe that you have little to fear and usually it's a great experience to see a black bear in the wild. That being said, I believe that I would carry an adequate rifle if I were walking or working in the area. 007 said it pretty good-always better to have it!!

I like to be in my stand well before sun up. I like to have about an hour for things to settle down.

In my opinion there is no practical difference between these two fine calibers. You will be well served by either one.

I agree with the guys above me. Use a rifled slug and find out which barrel shots them the best and where you should hold the bead. Limit your shots to no more than 50-60 yards and you'll do well.

For Pete's sake put on your big boy pants and lets put this bickering away! If you get - marks for something that you say, why would you care? Someone simply doesn't agree. If the - marks are such an issue you should probably evaluate your remarks and see why you get them. The fault typically lies with the man making the posting not with the person reacting to it. None of us will ever agree all the time, it's not human nature, but it is a great opportunity to learn and we should look at the minus as constructive criticism.

I certainly believe that the 22 lr will kill a coyote but the range had better be very short for consistent kills. I have personally never shot or shot at a coyote with the 22 rimfire although I believe that some of the newer rounds like the Velocitor, 40 gr. bullet at 1400 fps, make this a better game getter.

Peep sight do not easily fall out. In most case where a sight falls out the bow limbs have been backed out to the point where tension is no longer able to hold the sight in place. You should also have quite a few twists in your string make it round to the touch, this helps with holding the peep in place as well. If you have a peep with a tube, the tube could be to short and stretching out to much at full draw. Either way you have a person doing the work that doesn't know enough to help you. I'd look for a competent technician to help you and then learn to do the work yourself.

Accuracy, savings, satisfaction, pride and lastly relaxation.Great lifetime hobby.

I prefer simple and the whisker biscuit is just that. As to accuracy, I installed a whisker biscuit on my indoor target bow and shot the 8 week league and averaged 300-57x exactly the same as my average with my very expensive indoor custom metal launcher rest. The only issue that I have ever had with the whisker biscuit is a noise and that was corrected by using a liquid wax lubricant on my arrows. I haven't used the drop a way's enough to say that they are either better or worse than a biscuit. I've heard very good reports.

I have been the most successful hunting crows with a owl decoy and a Johnny Stewart crow and owl fight tape. I put the volume up quite high but not as high as it will go. I always dress in full camo,with face mask as well, and plan my shooting so that I don't have to jump out to fire if possible. I use a Winchester Model 12 12 ga. with full choke and 1 1/8 oz of #6 shot. This has proven to be an excellent load for this style of hunting. At times you will have as many as 15-20 crows all screaming around you and buzzing the decoy. If you shot some crows, leave them alone and continue the calling. Many times the others will return with a vengeance and ready for action!

I've sure got one of these moments. I was sitting in a tree stand that gets little use on the back side of a swamp. The reason that the stand get so little use is the amount of time involved in walking to it. I finally got there and settled in for a long wait. For three hours there was not as much as a squirrel kicking up leaves. Absolutely nothing! I was getting uncomfortable but tried as hard as I could to hold my position with no movements. I knew that I wouldn't last much longer and decided to stand and stretch for a minute or two. I took the arrow from the whisker biscuit and hung the bow on a shorten branch and then stood up as slowly as I could. I bent slightly to each side to limber up and then turned my head slowly to the left. Out of my peripheral vision I saw a deer and from what I could see he looked good! I turned very slowly and saw a beautiful 8 point with his neck close to the ground, perfectly motionless, looking directly at me!I knew that I didn't have a prayer so I continued to remain as motionless as I could until he twisted around and disappeared into the falling darkness. I waited until total darkness settled and then as quietly as I could left the area. I always think about that deer when I'm getting uncomfortable in my stand and want to move just a little.

I'm sure that either rifle will suffice for your use. Pick a good spot and squeeze the trigger. Good hunting to you!

The 20 gauge shotgun will handle just about any job that you ask of it. It's not to small for deer with the rifled slug, it will handle all sizes of lead shot well and I personally know of a hound man that uses his with handloaded #2 shot for Fox with great results, it's a tremendous upland bird gun and it's not to small for home protection. Great all around choice.

We have the same stories about cougars or Mountain Lions here in Maine. Every years someone has a photo or a sighting or a track that they swear is a lion. The facts don't bear out lion sightings. Every year hundreds of experienced dog hunters drive the back roads of Maine looking for tracks so that they can release their dogs. Bobcats are common here and the Lynx are coming around more often. I have been following this Cougar thing for many years now and can tell you that even though the sightings continue there has never been a Cougar treeing or confirmed sighting in this state for the 40 years I have been interested in this particular wildlife story. If there were Mountains Lions in my state, with all of the Bobcat dogs out there in the winter snow, there definitely would be a treeing by now. OK now bring on bigfoot!

I don't believe that you could buy a 32 acp adapter for a 30 caliber bbl. but I do have a small amount of information that you may find helpful. A young man came into my shop one day and said that he had a 30 cal. carbine adapter stuck in his 30-06 rifle. This device had been shot in place for approximately 150 rounds and the owner said that the accuracy was quite good, but the thing would come out. eventually I was able to free the chamber but the cost was substantial. my advice would be to stick to the factory chamber and handload.

In my opinion the bowline. I seem to use in all the time. It did take me a while initially to learn to tie, but after you get it, it's there forever. I agree with "country road" that half hitches are very useful. Knowing how to tie knots properly is a great skill and one you will appreciate throughout your life.

The day in the woods is the reward for me . If you're with friends it's only a bonus. The days I have hunting pull all of the stress of the job and the daily grind out of me as if I'd passed through a magnet of some sort. A doctor couldn't prescribe better medication.

It is you responsibility to know the people that you hunt with and that they are well trained and careful hunters. Hunting is one of the safest of the major outdoor activities. Most of the accidents happen within your own hunting party. For me to observe poor gun handling or a reckless motion only once is cause for concern and certainly I would not hunt with the offending person again.

Buy a 22 mag. and you will never be sorry. This is a rifle round that I have used all of my life and I have one of these rifles in my truck everyday. I've shoot deer, coyote, bobcat, fox and tons of other critters with this round and have always been pleased with the results. The 22 mag is not a long range round. You can use it successfully at 100 yards but beyond that I really don't believe that it will get the job done with regularity and consistency. I mentioned that I've shot deer with this round but I certainly don't consider it a deer rifle, stick to a larger round for good results. I believe that the slower 40 gr hp is the bullet for this round. The lighter bullets are faster and one in particular(Win 34 gr hp) is the most accurate round I've ever shot in a 22 Mag. but they don't seem to have the same penetration. The last 5 coyote I've shot with the 22 Mag. have been taken with the Win. 40 gr hp and all have been completely pass through shots. All have been within 80 yards. Good luck to you!

I have shot more animals with the 100 gr Thunderhead than any other on the market. They have never failed me. Excellent cost and availability.

I don't care. As long as the stock is stable and of good quality I'll be happy with it. Over the years I've had as many problems with synthetics as I've had with wood. I will admit that the synthetics have come a long ways since the inception. The rifle that rides in my truck every day is a two piece wooden and the rifle shoots great and the wood is in good shape after 50 years of use.

I really like the idea of a primitive season where either longbows and recurves or flintlocks and regular percussion rifles would be allowed. I really believe that inline muzzle loaders are in a totally separate class. I don't shot these guns but have many friends that do and some can make 200 yard groups that will rub up against the average centerfire rifle.

I've been kicked around on this one before!

He should have killed the fly with a gun and then he could have offended two vile organizations at the same time. PETA and the Brady bunch.

There are no sound reasons not to keep the wolves under reasonable control. All species that have controlled hunting seasons do well and live comfortably along side humans and their activities. To let this particular animals population grow beyond it's ability to comfortably co-exist would be wrong and ultimately harmful to the wolves simply because drastic measures would then have to be taken. The controlled hunts are an excellent example of proper game management techniques and will be successful.

I don't think that you can buy a better auto than the rem. 1100. I know that there are newer designs but this is one shotgun that has stood the test of time.

Congratulations hjohn! What a great buck. Looks like you're definitely heading in the right direction!

I've seen quite few dogs on my property over the years and I've never felt that I had to shoot one. Most of the one's I see are either beagles or hounds, hunting dogs, and most of them are simply lost or separated from their owners. If I can catch the dog, I will, and then notify the local hunters I know, pretty soon the owner will show up. We don't have feral dogs in Maine or at least I've never been involved with any. Probably the cold winters and heavy snow would kill off all but the toughest of them. If I had a problem with dogs that ran loose on my property regularly and the owner would not respond, I would dispatch them as humanly as possible.

I shot a nice buck with my bow two years ago in a fenced area. My farmer neighbors cow pasture. The pay as you go stuff in high fences is not for me.

It depends on your comfort level around firearms. Do you know how to properly mount your own scope and to sight the rifle in? Do you know all the pertinent features of the rifle? Do you understand the options with ammo? If your are fully experienced with guns you with be happy with the Wal-Mart purchase. If you need assistance with a lot of these things you will be far better off with the pro shop.

Long thin strips, marinated over night in A1 New York Steak house and olive oil. Drain and cook in a hot fry pan with a little fresh olive oil-not too much. My families favorite meal! My teen son can get enough and neither can his friends. You can get away with a lot of different deer meat with this style, but cut away all fat.

Clay Cooper is absolute right about handloading a autoloader. I has seen more than 30-no scratch that number-I'd say 40 Rem. 742 and 7400 that have had the bolt rotate into the side rails of the receiver and all from handloads and when I got the whole story it's almost always very slow burning powder that is the culprit. With factory or with handloads that were assembled by a knowledgeable loader I've never seen a problem.I have an old Rem. 740 that will consistently shoot 3 shots into 1 1/4" at 100 Yards with a load that it likes. I think that when you have a autoloader in your hands you have the tendency to shoot more and more quickly; can't prove it just what I think. With powerful rifles I always reach for a bolt gun.

There is no sound argument for limiting the days that you can hunt. This is purely a emotional argument that doesn't hold water. The sportsmen, with the fees that they pay provide maintenance of the trails that snowmobiles and atv use as well as cross country skiers and hikers, bird watchers and various other groups. They don't pay for the trails the hunters do and hunters are acquitted the least use in states that ban sunday hunting. Hunters are typically the working class person and they are at work virtual every day except possibly the weekend when they would like to hunt. Of course in some states they can only have the one day. You buy the license and ammo and everything that goes with hunting and you may, if lucky get in four days!! There is on sound reason for this horribly misguided law.

Why over the top and inappropriate for the occasion. While legal this type of display does nothing for our cause.

I usually use a 30-30 for deer hunting and I'll probably stay with this rifle. I've never wounded a deer with any rifle and I'm very proud of this fact. I believe that shot placement and not the caliber is the key to successful hunting

God bless your grandfather for his selfless service to me and my family and for each and every citizens of this country. No amount of praise is adequate. Congratulations to him on the acquittal. It is good indeed to hear of a judge with a brain.

I really do like accurate rifles and want all of mine to be able to touch bullets with the right load, but for deer season I am only interested where my rifle will put the first bullet from a cold clean barrel!

Cooner No one could have said it better! Terrific posting.

I'm with everyone else ,I've never worn ear plugs while hunting and really can't imagine anyone wearing them. If you shoot a shoot at a game animal you probably won't even be aware of the gun going off. use the ear plugs at the shooting range.

I've never shot at a running deer. I know my own limitations with a rifle. My brother can kill every deer that he sees running through the woods. You have to intelligently access your own ability honestly and proceed with that in mind.

I'm from Maine and I love it here except for the ever increasing crowd of liberals!

There has never been a sighting that has been varified or proven in my life time in my state of Maine. There are hundreds that claim to see a lion every year but none can produce tracks or any other evidence. Maine has a huge Bobcat population and every year hunters with very good hounds come to my state to hunt Bobcats. None of these hunters have ever treed a cougar or even cut a Cougar track let alone see such an animal. This is over the last 60 years that I've been interested in this animal. I believe that it's safe to say that there are none here.

Up here in Maine that type of thing is illegal so I'd call the warden and tell them where they can find the body!

I'd take the jeep and never doubt my decision. My old neighbor has a jeep that has to be as old as he is and all that he has ever used this poor machine for is to pull logs for firewood out from his wood lot. This is one tough machine!

My nephew lives in Alaska and loves it enough to spend his life there. I miss him but I know that the hunting opportunities are great. He hunts a lot with a bunch of natives and they all use the .223 Rem. He uses a .270 with 130 gr. at 3100 fps and all of his friends consider him crazy over-gunned. Another female friend works at a remote fly in only hunting camp and she says that the .300 Win. Mag. is the rifle shes hears about the most. She will be home in another month and I'll ask her a few more questions about calibers.

I would pass on the doe with fawns. In my experience the fawns will become easy prey for virtually any type of predator including man. I will tell you this from experience as well, if you do kill a doe that has a young buck fawn, that young buck will not leave the area for a considerable amount of time. Right now I have a young buck that is as close to being tame as you can get that hangs around my work shop. His mother was hit by a tractor/trailer this spring and he has adopted the area where she was killed. He will not survive the opening day of gun season which is Nov. 1. I've tried to scare him away but he simply doesn't want to go. The larger the crowd of people the more interest he seems to show.

sgaredneck has got it right. It's the land that surrounds you that is always interesting. If you have good sign on your hunting spot you probably will see deer and get opportunities to bring home an animal. I once shot 6 deer in 2 days in a culling operation, with my bow, sitting in a tree stand in a 90 ft x 90 ft back yard. Look for trails or food source and you have as good of a chance as anyone else.

Easy one. Get into the woods and hunt! You'll never get the big one sitting on the sofa!

BioGuy gives good and sound advice. A professional forester is invaluable in your effort. I struggled for a long time with my land and really never had a good plan. Like you my area was small (120 acres) and I never thought that this property could be a dependable producer of quality whitetails. The forester looked over my land and made what was to me stupid and childlike comments. He suggested that I clear cut a big section and burn off another section and dig in water features. Careful consideration was given to fruit and berry trees as well as Oak and Beech trees. I did as he desired and the results have been nothing short of tremendous. All wildlife species have thrived here and every year we take very nice bucks from this small piece of land. I hope that my son will be a good steward of this property and enjoy it as much as I have. Good luck with your project.

If you hunt with a rimfire or a bow the rangefinder is a very good idea. With a high power flat shooting rifle the need for a rangefinder is certainly not as great. With a flat shooting rifle you can sight in to be in the kill zone easily from 50 yards to 300 yards. How can the range finder help with that? Buy more ammo and practice at the various yardages you plan to shoot.

I don't believe that sport hunting is based on the premise that animals can see,hear,smell etc. before you see them. It simply pits your stalking and planning skill against their collective survival instincts. You win one round and fill your freezer if you plan to be unseen and can successfully execute a perfect long range shot. The shot would not be happenstance and would require long and costly time at the bench to prepare for the moment in question and you would still have to carefully evaluate the terrain and choose the best place to make the shot happen to your advantage. Causal and unprepared hunters will rarely make this scenario play out to their advantage. I don't hunt this way preferring the in your face situations but have absolutely no issues with the professional grade hunters who can set up to make long range hunting a successful and humane activity.

From what I have read the game department shut down one particular area temporarily because the hunters had already taken 9 of the allotted 12 permits and wanted to make sure there was interest in this area later on in the season.

I have not used the Rage but everything that I read leads me to think that this has the potential to be one of the great hunting designs. I normally shoot 100 gr Thunderheads with perfect flight and hair cutting accuracy. I have never lost a deer hit with a Thunderhead.

Beautiful big buck! Congratulations to your nephew and thank him for all of us for his service!

All the time!

Congratulations on your buck! Take good care of the meat. Lots of good eating!

BioGuy and hunt3r are correct in saying to practice with the heads that you are going to use. Use a broadhead specific target and get a diamond hone to sharpen your heads like new or better after practice. Make sure not to try to use the heads that you've been shooting on targets without sharpening. They will not kill game and you will lose the animal with even a good shot. It's easy to learn to sharpen the blades. Pull the blade edge into the hone like you were trying to cut a slice of the hone off. Flip the blade and do the same on the other side. After you sharpen slowly drag the blade edge across your finger nail. If the blade doesn't bite into the nail it's simply not sharp enough to use on game and you will have to repeat the process. Good hunting to you.

I agree with mcdlacross9 that L.L.Bean has the best warranty and return policy. I don't care what the issue is, L.L.Bean will take care of it quickly.

Fisher Girl-I would have to say no. Slugs from shotguns are notorious for inaccuracy and this is an underpowered round to begin with. I really thing that you would have better results with a larger gun. A 30-30 rifle has excellent power for close range deer,doesn't kick and ammo is as cheap as anything that you can buy today. If you decide to use the 410 I think that you should practice quite a lot to get the proper feel for where to hold the bead and to limit the shots to standing deer at very close range. Good luck to you.

Jamus,There are many reasons why animals are shot. The first is the obvious one and that is for food. The second are the trophy hunters and I have many friends that are willing to spend countless hours and countless dollars pursuing that particular trophy animal. There are hunters that hunt certain game for their living. There are hunters that shoot rodents to keep them from destroying land and domestic stock and there are hunters that simply hunt for the trill of being in the great outdoors. You can never say that any of these groups of hunters are wrong to pursue wildlife in their chosen manner, it is personal choice. The taking of game and varmint animals under rules of various game departments is ultimately the best way for most species to survive. But I think I know what your getting at, there are some hunting styles that just don't seem to fit in with the way that you perceive hunting to be. I caution you not to judge others but to follow your own instincts and develop your own standards for this most wonderful of natures pursuits. Good hunting!

You only need a rifled bbl. if you plan on using slugs designed for a that type of specialty barrel. You can use a regular smoothbore for all kinds of hunting including regular foster style rifled slugs, birdshot and buckshot. The smoothbore is the most versatile choice.

The ventilated rib is a flat sighting plane typically on a shotgun bbl. The ribs are usually silver soldered in place and this type of solder is very strong. I've never done in but you could probably find some one to mount a scope on there for you. Aluminum receivers are used on shotguns today and scopes are routinely mounted on drilled and tapped holes in the receiver top. The metal vent rib is potentially stronger. You would of course, have to have a long eye relief scope.

Typically the Model 12 was designed around the 2 3/4" shotshell but there were a few made for the 3" shell. I personally have never seen a model 12 12 Ga. that was designed for a shorter cartridge and don't believe that they exist. The same is not true for the 20 ga Model 12 that came with the shorter chamber. You have an excellent shotgun.

I'm a Rem. man and have nothing bad to say about the 1100. Excellent service and light recoil.

This is a very interesting question. In my youth the farmers of this area would catch river run sucker fish and put them around fruit trees. I was a very young man and I never did know this reason for this activity, but all of the local farmers did it. Back to the question, I have seen deer feed on these decaying fish and on many occasions.

I've always put the trash where a dog doesn't have access but Beekeepers idea sound as if it would work. I've never heard of doing this mouse trap thing before.

I don't fish but I do use tackle boxes and a lot of them for guns that are disassembled and for storage of small tooling. I really like the Plano line for their toughness and reasonable price.

Truly one of the very best med. bore rifles around. It has fallen out of favor for some foolish reason but no fault to the cartridge. I believe that this is an excellent deer/black bear rifle.

This situation happened to me when I still ran my gun shop. An older man came into my store after shooting his Rem. with the choke out. He had shot about 14-15 #8 shot cartridges. The threads were full of the plastic from the shot cups. I had a Rem. choke tap and carefully run the tap into the threads to clear them out. There was no permanent damage to the threads and the choke when back in place easily. I believe that steel shot or big buckshot would have been a different story and probably would have ruined the choke. This is definitely not a good practice.

If you are a novice at this, you will much better of at a pro shop. Regardless of brand I strongly suggest that you choose a single cam model. A single cam is much easier to deal with and just as fast. Good hunting to you.

Good luck finding him. Don't give up, he's just around the next tree.

I can't hunt yet but I did see a doe with three fawns and they were fun to watch.

The answer,in the list you presented, would be raccoon. ishawooa-terrific posting, interesting information!

I don't use any of modern technology in my hunting efforts. Maybe because I'm old and don't want to change what I know or maybe because I think it detracts from the adventure of it all or just maybe a mixture of both.

My father grew up in a very rural area during the Depression and my grandmother told me, and I have read the same in her daily journals, that my father as a young man literally keep the family in meat with his 22 rifle. My dad didn't go to school and spent his days in the woods. If he didn't get game the family didn't eat meat. They had a huge work horse,a Holstein milking cow for milk and butter, tremendous huge gardens. My grandmother canned all types of foods for the winter as well as huge quantities of venison. They had literally no money and my father told me many times that each shell from his rifle had to account for game. I believe that the amount of game that my dad shot and the absolutely essential role that the game played in the survival of my family, gave him his undying respect for wildlife until the very day that he passed away. He never stopped preaching the one killing shot rule throughout his long life. He also taught everyone of his offspring of the killing potential of the 22 rimfire and never to take this round lightly!

I'm gonna go over to the house of one of my neighbors. He's a screaming liberal and maybe he will be able to negotiate with these armed invaders. He's been itching for the chance to show me what a little good faith, face to face will accomplish.

I really can't answer your question because I rarely hunt outside of my home state of Maine but I can tell you that some very heavy bodied bucks come out of Maine. Every year there are a lot of deer 300+lbs tagged here and quite a few in the 320-330 range. We seldom have deer hit the 350lb mark. It's interesting that many of these huge bodied deer have antlers that 150-170lb deer in Texas have. Got to be minerals of some sort.

If you are an experienced tracker on land that is not much disturbed you will be able to find this deer with patient tracking. Definitely use surveyor tape and carefully scan each inch of the soil around the tape until you pick up the trail again. If your not confident you can find the deer get a tracking dog, don't let the animal go to waste. Good luck in your task.

Assuming that you have a spark method and nothing else I have always used the fine birch bark fiber rolled together loosely. They will catch any spark and make a good fire. You will certainly have to be ready with other very dry and burnable material to maintain the fire after you get the bark burning. Dry weeds and dry pine branches are good material for this. I never go into the woods without my waterproof matches and several Vaseline soaked strips of cloth in a plastic bag. Very good insurance.

There is no shortage here in Maine. I've been seeing and shooting a lot. The hound hunters say that they hit them everytime out. I agree with ranger2, too bad there isn't a fur market anymore.

Very versatile cartridge. Good for any of the game in the lower 48. Black Bear will be no problem if you can shoot well. Good hunting.

When you are around these losers always keep your head screwed down tight. They have the media on their side and a wrong word will be blown up, expanded and made to seem like you are scum from hell! Talk facts and be straight forward and truth full. I like the idea of bringing financial pressure on advertisers that support these radical and absurd ideas about wildlife management.

I do keep a journal but it definitely is not a very scientific type of thing. I write the date and the obvious weather conditions and the prevailing wind. The rest is all my observations of the day. I sometimes note the squirrel that's so darn busy or the size or lack of in the apple crop. I often squawk on the pages about the wandering overwhelming flocks of turkeys and how much food they devour. It's always interesting to go back a few years and relive a few days that you've spent in the forest, the journal helps to bring the details to the light of day once again.

Nice shot! Your my hero! I could try that shot for a week and never make it.

I suggest a 30-30 Winchester. There are so many people that write this cartridge off and for no good reason. Many of them have never shot the 30-30 on game and only repeat what they have heard. If you keep your shots to reasonable yardages you will have tremendous success with this round. I've shot many deer with the 30-30 and a few black bear and they have all collapsed on the shot. I have also seen one moose shot at 60 yards with the 170 gr 30-30 round and he took one step and tumbled over. Ammo is cheap and the rifles that shoot this round are light weight and a real joy to carry. Also the rapid rate of fire from a experienced lever action used has to be seen to be believed. I don't believe that a better walking and carrying rifle exists than the 94 Win. in 30-30.

I agree with the 22-250 crowd. I believe that if any rifle was designed for one critter it would have to be the 22-250 and the coyote. I can easily hit water filled balloons at 400 yards with my rifle on a calm day. The 22-250 is the ultimate in an accurate long range rifle and I don't think any coyote would walk away from a solid hit from near or far.

At fifty yards, if you can shoot well, I think that it is enough gun. Beyond this yardage I wouldn't try it. Many years ago I did some testing with the 357 Mag to determine penetration and I was very disappointed with the results.

I was gonna complain about the new $5.00 fee but it looks like we've been getting away pretty cheap!

My research shows that Mr. Cass Sunstein to be thoroughly anti-hunting. Rest assured that he will not support or promote any form of favorable advancement for hunters. Call, e-mail or write your senators today!

Lot better pursuit than pot, booze and long term video gaming.

We hunted one fall day with the the girl friend of one of the guys we knew very well. She was supposed to be a good hunter and careful according to her boyfriend. She discharged the lever action she was using while she was loading it, pointed the barrel in the direction of a man to her left and was so consistently careless with her carry and pointing that my brother and I left. I do not believe in taking any chances with firearms.

The penetration issue is not as well defined as it once was. Light weight bows and stick bows will benefit the most from the older style cut on contact models and that is why the cut on contact two blade is still very popular. Actually a very light weight bow with a cut on contact head will penetrate as well as many heavier bows with poorly designed conical heads or slightly dull replaceable tips. As the performance standard has risen on modern compound bows the penetration between sharp replaceable tips and sharp cut on contact heads seems to be virtually the same. My mind was made up in favor of cut on contact heads when we did some test with Muzzys, Thunderheads and Bear razor heads all with a 64 lb compound. In huge blocks of foam the penetration was, for all practical terms the same. With a light weight 38Lb compound bow the penetration with the cut on contact was almost one third more than that of the replaceable tip models.

I have been a archer for more than 45 years and I hunt small game as much or more than large game. I believe realistically that I've probably lost more than 100 shot arrows in my life time. I don't believe that I've lost more than 3-5 equipped with broadheads. Most have been lost with judo heads or blunts used for squirrel.

Wolves will be everyplace within 20-30 years. I hate to be a kill joy but I believe that we are better off without them.

A driving rain will make it very difficult to track but damp for me has never been any kind of an issue. I have recovered lots of deer in a light rain. I think that your hunting partner is nuts. Good luck this fall!

I've always thought that if the wildlife service has the data to support the longer season than who are we to disagree. Most of the season length data is hard evidence and not simply conjecture on the part of some bureaucrat. The people who disagree with wildlife scientists and their suggestions about season time tables and bag limits are usually anti-hunting zealots with no concern for wildlife.

In my opinion deer do not like moving in the heavy wind. I've never had any success hunting in the hard wind and it's especially difficult to make a good archery shoot in the wind. I'd stay home.

I have had the best luck with beagles and the walker is a close second. The English is not a rabbit dog.

For most of us it's not practical to shoot the 410 very much unless we hand load. Hand loading this cartridge is extremely practical and inexpensive. I don't volume load this cartridge and use the same Lee Loader I had 45 years ago. Still works as good as it ever did. This really is a tremendous rabbit gun behind beagles! My shotgun is a single bbl. Winchester model 37.

I'm going to assume that the difference in accuracy has to do with either the spline or the diameter of the arrows. If both the aluminum and the carbon had the same spline, the aluminum would be weaker because of the longer shaft and the aluminum would sit higher on your rest(because of the diameter) making a different point of impact. Not many bows will mix arrows and shoot both perfectly. Go with accuracy this year and next year tune for the particular arrow that you prefer.

turk gives good advice. I would add that two of the most important aspects of archery are to always shoot your number. This means that when you have a distance to the target animal in your mind don't vary the shot at the last second. Hold the pin as steady as possible and shoot for the exact yardage you believe is correct. The second is the control of the release. Do not get in the habit of punching the trigger! Pull back to the stops( up against the cam stops) and hold there as you aim. Don't let the string creep forward. Keep aiming and squeezing the trigger slowly as you pull back on the stops. You won't even be aware of the arrow release if you do this correctly and you will be amazed at the accuracy potential. Good hunting to you!

I have had to pull the same Colt Detective Special twice in my life and one time the situation was very serious indeed. I was facing a young man with a Rossi double bbl that was fully loaded. While I held the Colt steady on the man with the shotgun my partner got behind him and wrestled the gun out of his hands and defused the situation. As my partner walked back by me he asked if I was o.k. I said yes and as I lowered the hammer on the Colt I started to shake violently. I've never experienced that shaking before or since. In my opinion it is always better to have a gun and not need it than to need it and not have it.

The best advice ever given to me about deer hunting was "hunt with your eyes not your feet". If you still hunt never take more than 2 steps with out thoroughly searching every inch of land around you. If you stand hunt be absolutely quiet and as motionless as you can possibly be.

I can't hunt with my bow this year because of an injury to my shoulder so I have to wait for gun season which doesn't start until the 1st of November. I can't shoulder my rifle and work the bolt and I'm having trouble with my lever actions as well so I'm going to use an old auto loader Rem. 740 in 30-06. I've got my eye on a nice buck. I've seen him for the last few weeks in the same area and I know the land here pretty well. I can't wait.

I truly love hunting in the cold. I don't care what the species is I like the cold. I was always taught that animals will move more in the cold and I believe that is true. I've shot my best bucks at +20 to -5 degrees. Throw in a fresh tracking snow and it doesn't get any better.

I'm with jlfreeborn. Good work editors!

I have used Ivory soap for along time and I don't believe that it is a deterrent to shooting deer. It is the most scent free non-specialized soap that I know of. The bottom line is that your body odor is much more alarming than Ivory soap is to any deer.

Perfectly honest? My hunting friends don't break any laws. We all decided long ago that we have a very enjoyable activity why mess it up. We're all very careful with firearms and all are dedicated to wildlife and all obey the game laws that apply. It's the only way to go.

I would because I have a good working relationship with all but one of my neighbors, but if the property were posted or you had been told to stay off I'd let the buck walk. In Maine shooting that deer would be perfectly legal if you wanted to do it. All you would have to do is call the local warden to go and get your deer.

Igore them. Their condemnation of us is the only life that they have.

I too prefer the fixed blade heads. I've used Thunderheads most of the time and find no fault with them.

Lots of moose have been shot with the 150 gr Remington core-lokt bullets. Pretty inexpensive and highly effective.

Either they are extremely difficult to hunt or hunters are not interested in harvesting these animals. I hope that it's the former.

I don't know much about muzzle loaders but It sure seems like you've got a bunch of deer around where you hunt!I hear a lot of talk about the Optima, must be a pretty good rifle. Good hunting this fall!

What is there to say Del? You made a difference in a life. How many of us can say that we've done that. You're a credit to the hunting fraternity. Great job!

The inside will never be as clean as the outside of the case.

Good work F&S. Glad to see them gone!

Many times when I was a young boy. My father was a meat hunter and laws meant nothing to him at all. He was raised to provide food for his large family and he did that the most efficient way possible. My brother and I knew nothing different and did as we were told. He would always have us sit by a berry tree or a fruit tree very quietly with a single bbl 12 ga. As grouse would come to the tree to feed we were no allowed to shoot until at least two were sure to be taken. Many times three would be the take. We would be in for a serious lesson if we came home with only one and could not convince our father that one is all that was present that evening. That was 50+ years ago and my philosophy about hunting and game laws are considerably different now but to be honest I do not regret those times. I saw a lot and learned a lot, both about game animals and myself.

You simply can't beat the bacon wrap! I don't think that there is a better recipe. Woks equally as well with woodcock and grouse.

Clay is right. The tracker is probably not allowed to kill the deer. The hunter has to be with the tracker in most states and I can't imagine why not in all states. The tracking dog is a good decision for many situations.The deer would belong to the hunter.

If I came across a young cat Bobcat, lynx, Cougar etc. I'd enjoy the look and then go about my business. When I was a very young man I shot a Fox kitten, maybe a month old, and I've never forgotten what I did. I can tell you the details of this event more than any of the 20 odd nice bucks that I've shot. I shot a completely defenseless animal that had not developed any of the survival skill necessary to make him fair play. Probably not the way that everyone will feel but to me it wasn't right.

I sure agree about still hunting in a light rain. The noise is way down and your scent is easier to deal with. I've shot my 8 of my best bucks in a light rain.

In my opinion just another misguided loser with absolutely no concern for wildlife.

I would load a 150 Nosler at about 2900 fps and never look back. I normally use H4895 in my 308 and can get more than that velocity with no signs of pressure and excellent accuracy. For some reason people seem to write off the 308 Winchester. Bad mistake.

Every small store in Maine seems to have a buck contest going on. I've never entered one but the pots get pretty big. Most achieve the $1000.-2000. mark. There was one a few years ago that had newspaper headlines because he left the nuts on the bucks and he won the contest by less than 1 lb.

I've had the best luck calling fox with a tape by Johnny Stewart "woodpecker distress" or something like that name. Two of us hunt together and use 6 lb monofilament line to attach a feather or two to a tree branch and then walk away about 30 yards. The guy with the string does the calling and the other takes up a stand away from the caller to do the shooting. Make sure the wind is in your face. This method has worked for us very well on fox and not as good with coyote.

Judo points work the best and I'd have to say that "shockers"are next in line. The cheapest head that I've had good luck with is a stamped steel ring that fits behind a field point, I can't remember the name to save my life, but it works great. As a kid, before all the sophisticated gear came around, we used to glue 38 special cases to our arrows to shot squirrels and rabbits and they did the job to perfection.

The seventeen is the most accurate rimfire that I have ever shot. It most rifles this round will perform very well. It is not a round that you should use on coyote or any other animal that large. Most of the guys that use this round limit it to long range on very small game. We now have 4 in my group of close knit hunters who own this round and all love it to shoot woodchucks and crows but all agree that this is a disaster on larger game. I have used the 22 Mag.all of my life and have shot many game animals with the most outstanding results and I can recommend it wholehearted. This last winter I shot 4 coyote with the 22 Mag. and all were one shot kills and no travel. I would use the 17 if you wanted a very small game gun that has range ,velocity and accuracy, but when you throw in the coyote I believe that you are over the capability of the round. One of the hunters I'm speaking about has had rounds from the seventeen explode on impact and leave even small animals wounded but certainly not dead. The 22 Mag. will not shoot as accurately as the 17 but it is a giant leap forward as a killer.

kobster Are you talking about the 17 Hmr or the 17 Rem.?

I've had the Johnny Stewart electronic call for many years and it still works to perfection although it doesn't look all that good any more. I have never had any luck at all with rabbit in distress calls. Nothing-nada. I do however have a call by Johnny Stewart that is a dying woodpecker and my friends and I have shot many fox with this call along with a smaller amount of coyote. We have also called in raccoon, bobcat and the occasion house cat with this same call. Good hunting to you!

In the late fall and winter I skin and sell the fur. It's certainly not the market that it used to be but better than simply tossing them away. The very light colored hair bring more money than the darker ones or at least I've done better with those. Skinning, if you have done it, is a difficult and time consuming job.

There are certainly different styles of hunting and we all use our preferred or locally accepted method. Hunting with dogs, driven deer, fruit trees, tree stands or food plots. It really makes no difference as long as it's legal and we conduct ourselves in a professional manner.

The soldiers are treated or diagnosed by a military hospital doctor, how could you expect anything different that the outcome that they now have? Our soldiers deserve the very best and they receive the very worst. Military hospitals are the epitome of what is wrong with anything run by the government. It seems apparent that there is a problem with the water supply at Camp Lejeune. A private investigation here is the answer, the government will never come clean without a push from the outside.

Good luck to you. I respect your service. Do the very best that you can, I know that you will. I'll look forward to hearing from you.

The choice of available bullets is the deciding factor if you handload in favor of the 280. If you don't handload the 270 is the better choice. Less expensive ammo and availability in every backwater shop in the world.

Isn't there something that we can do about this lowlife. Posting by "Visitor" are becoming common and have nothing to do with our site and could be dangerous. I'm simply trying to get to the report button.

I'm with hunterkid94. I'm interested as well. Please,some of you computer people help.

I've always hunted with receiver sights and believe to this day that they are the best short range sight in the woods. Sadly I can not longer see this type of sight so I have to use a scope.

Lucy is a very disturbed and truly an ignorant woman. She will drift through life with no direction and she will fall for every deceitful lie and deception that she hears. Some people in this world are destined to be incapable sheep, never seeing or comprehending reality. Lucy is one of those very sad stories. The very best that you can do is feel sorry for her. She has nothing inside of her, she will never participate in life.

The Savage actions have always been very capable to build on. I once had a Savage 112 that would shoot 1/2" easily straight from the box.

I was able to buy one box of CCI 40 GR. HP 22 mag. today for $10.85 . It's the least that I've paid for awhile but I'm not reading anything good into that because it was the only box that had been shipped to the dealer. He told me that he couldn't get any primers and only a few types of powder, virtually no bullets. His ammo shelves were bare. I think that was because he wasn't capitalizing(or gouging) like most dealers up here. My son found some standard velocity 22 rimfires for $3.99 per box yesterday and he bought both. This was from a different source. $30.00 for 22 mag. is simply theft! I wouldn't buy, you'll get a better deal.

Pretty impressive set of chompers! Hate to have that baby clamp on to my arm!

I agree totally with country road, your efforts on behalf of Wes has been inspiring. God bless you for what you've done! It's gotten to the point where if I don't see mention of your on going adventure with Wes I'm disappointed! I also thing that Cabelas is a class outfit.

I have the best luck with this project using a liquid spray called "blaster". Spray with the blaster and let set for 20 minutes or so and then use the proper wrench. If the wrench slip, go with another shot of blaster and wait again and then use an American made vise grip. If this fail you should see a gunsmith and have him drill the nipple out careful and then resharpen the threads with the proper tap. Make sure that there is not a charge in the breech if the smith has to use a drill. Good luck to you.

I'm not crazy about rapidly expanding bullets. I've always prefered a controlled expansion. I know that this sound off base for a game bullet but that is my preference from long years of use. The Sierra's, Noslers, and most of the Speer's have all had controlled expansion and exhibit tremendous result on game animals with very rapid kills and solid blood trails. I used to shoot some Berger's at the bench with good results but never at game.

My portable blind is only netting and I always take it with me.

We pay fish and game departments to manage wildlife. They say that its time to control the wolf population through a limited hunting season. Everyone benefits here. There are no losers. Ranchers and farmers will have a slightly easier time raising livestock. Hunters will have a chance at a magnificent trophy. Wolf populations will become more wary of man and will continue to thrive. State coffers will be infused with needed cash. Campers and hikers will be safer doing their thing. Where is the negative in this deal?

I've said this on many occasions before that I feel that Remington has the best customer service around. I've never had a problem with this fine American company.Just recently I had multiple issues with one of their rifles and the problem was solved immediately with a couple of phone conversations.

I gut my deer as soon as he's shot and get the hide off as soon as I get him hung up. I usually cut the meat the following day. When I was a kid my dad would let the deer hang with the hide off all winter and we would cut the meat off as we needed it.

On both my Rem. 22-250 and my Custom Mauser 25-06 I have 3-9 Leupold scopes. I have fixed power scopes on the other rifles. I think you can get great use out of either one if you simply get used to what is on a particular rifle.

I feel that the 410 is an expert tool and not typically the best shotgun to start a young person with but there are certainly exceptions like the kids that MLH mentioned.

These are weak brain dead people who have no life and have serious envy issues. Low lives!

Make sure the bow fits you well and use a cut on contact broadhead. Shoot a lot and make each shot in your practice sessions count. Tuning is very important. If you don't know how to set up and manage a bow seek out a professional shop. You'll do fine with this bow.

I too believe that this is anti-hunter crap. Low lifes!

I'm with the posters above me. Never heard of the tool your talking about but would certainly give it the once over if I could find one. As a side note I truly love my Supertool and it's got to be 10-11 years old.

I use a 22 rifle(any will do as long as it's accurate)with a low power scope. I found out many years ago to use the sub-sonic 40 gr. loads. These loads are very accurate and extremely quiet as well as being very efficient. I've shot squirrel's and held very still and many times the woods will come alive with more tree climbers in just a few minutes. I've shot 3 from the same seated position before. Good luck to you. Never stop hunting small game or you will miss some of the best that life has to offer.

There are no benefits to buy or using this ammo. I have never seen any that shoot well. Stick with the proper sized bullet for the bore you choose.

Best tool would be a curved adz if you can find one. This tool is like a curved ax and the blade sits horizontal not vertical. They work great for the type of work your talking about. Probably very hard to find in good shape. Cooner as always has good advise, the proper chainsaw will do very good work if you have the skill and desire to undertake this job.

I've never seen the need for a 10 yard pin. I'll go with the 20-50. Even if you don't care to shoot deer at 50 yards it's still good to shoot on targets and you'll learn to hold better by practice at this yardage.

A bow 's poundage is always listed at the max. A 70# bow will drop to 60#.

In my neck of the woods it's to late to plant anything but in the spring I always plant clover. The deer here will dig through 1 1/2 ft of snow to get at the clover.

If the blood supply to the tumor is stopped or reduced doesn't it also bear the rise of stopping blood flow to other non-cancer organs or tissue?

Your effort in finding this animal, in my opinion, is what separates a man from a boy. Don't give up and exhaust every avenue to recover this magnificent elk. Get into the woods and get help if you need it but don't give up! Good luck.

Country road-you're cracking me up!

Nationwide the lead shot bans on waterfowl began in 90-91. There were a few states that came in earlier. I fear that the waterfowl lead ban may be soon expanded to include all bullets even though there has never been a study that can prove the supposed harmful effect from ingestion. I've shot a ton of game and have never bitten into a bullet except for the rare pellet in a rabbit or grouse.

Ke=MxV2/450,240. Take the arrow weight time times velocity of the arrow(squared)and divide that amount by 450,240.

The Accelerator is a very bad idea for a rifle round. None that I shot when I still had my gun shop would shoot accurately and that includes a lot of ammo.

Absolutely full camo for coyote. These are alert and cautious animals and I consider them a trophy. I think for the use you will get that buckshot is the better choice than a slug. Your best bet in the Northeast would be calling although I've had luck lately by simply walking slowly and pausing and paying carefully attention to the winds. We seem to have more coyote here in Maine than I have ever seen. They will always circle and come in toward your call with the wind in their face. I have never seen even one come to a call without adjusting their track for the wind.You can play this to your advantage if you're carefull with your setup when calling. You will never be able to disguise your human scent but you can sometime confuse a coyote by using a mixture of skunk and fox urine in a spray bottle and misting all around your stand site. Good luck to you.

I'm with you Hunt_Hard. I sure hope that he found his elk.

Shoot any animal as close as you can. Your rifle is certainly capable of long range accuracy and power but the shooters ability is almost always the limiting factor.

I'm with the other guys. I don't mind hunting in the rain unless it's a downpour.

22 rimfire,22 mag. 223,22-250,243,25-06,7-08,7mm Mag,30-30, 308, 30-06, 300 WM, 338, 375 h&h, 458. These rifle cartridges will be around as long as there are hunting rifles.

Black Bear in the 400 lb range are shot and killed instantly every year and in pretty big numbers in Maine and the #1 rifle used, according to the guides I know, is the old 30-06 with 180 bullets. This certainly isn't a glamor rifle, but one that will do the job in almost every circumstance. Every major manufacture of firearms offers a light weight rifle in this caliber and virtually every back water store in the U.S. and Canada carries 30-06 ammo.

I replace my string every year and the cables every other year if I'm shooting alot. You certainly can go longer intervals of change if you shoot heavier arrows. For instance, a 7 gr. per lb. arrow will not tax the string nearly as much as will a 5 gr. per lb. arrow. A heavier combination of arrow and hunting head is typically much easier on the entire bow. I have always preferred the lighter weight arrow combination's and have shot app. 5.5 gr. per lb. for many years.

I hope that you're a young man! Oak trees don't start to produce acorns until they are 20+ years old and many won't produce that early. We have primarily Red Oak here in Maine and the deer prefer the White Oak so if you do decide to plant go with the white. If you find a tree that really produces the acorns you should cherish it. All types of wildlife love acorns!

Ask him how that "dialing it" has been working for him lately. That one of the better ones I've heard in a while. Get the stuffed crust from Pizza hut!

In my opinion 1" with factory ammo is very good shooting. To do better you will probably have to handload. I like the Core Lokt bullet an awful lot. I've seen lots of deer, moose and black bear that have been taken with this bullet. I have no experience with the Federal Fusion.

I simply don't like the progressive presses and don't use the ones I currently have. My million year old Rockchucker does about 85% of the work and the very simple Lee Loaders do the rest. Actually I enjoy loading more with the hand loading tools than any thing else. I never shoot hundreds of rounds at a time so quality not quantity are the standard with me.

Keep your chin up and keep quiet, they'll show up eventually. I've gone weeks at a time and not seen deer and then will see 35 in three or four days. Deer don't always operate on your schedule.

Excellent interview. You handled this just the way that you should have. You're a credit to the hunting community.

I'm in the process of buying a muzzle loader and this has been a very interesting posting.

Whitetail deer are pretty much the same where ever they are found. Their habits in Maine will probably be the same as the habits they have in Michigan of Mississippi. The only differences will be the terrain that they frequent. Knowing the area that you plan on hunting, from intense scouting, is the most important aspect to putting deer meat on the table.

Mr Wilson told the truth, he did lie! It is difficult for anyone to have to listen to one lie on top of another lie and not comment. You would probably be chastised for lying on this site by the rest of the crowd, shouldn't we hold our president to at least as tough a standard?

This is good news for hunters and just the way that it should be. There is nothing wrong with game management. This tool is used successfully in all civilized societies and has maintained our wildlife at healthy levels for sustainable populations.

Keep up the good work Del. Got a lot of respect for you.

The average price for 20 rounds of Remington Core-lokt, either 270 or 308, at Wal-Mart last year was $12.95. I don't know what they will be this year because there is no ammo up here in Maine. This Remington ammo is very good(some will say it is not good ammo and they are wrong)and I have seen more deer, bear and moose shot with Remington "Green Box" than any other.

If you trying to catch a deer going from a feeding to a bedding area you will have to be in place very early in my opinion. If you don't know the direction of deer travel you could have a problem with your scent drifting in the wrong direction. I would advise you to get in early and make sure your scent is going away from the way you think the deer will come.

i would keep the gun that travels with me everyday and sets by my bed post every night. Its a Winchester Model 61 22 Mag. I rarely have need for a bigger rifle. I may actually retire this rifle soon, after 40 + years and use my Rem. 597 more. I don't mine taking the Rem. out in the bad weather as much.

I have one made by Sterns and it is very comfortable and close fitting. I don't have a kayak, but I do paddle my canoe with this jacket on and I simply don't notice it at all.

I use fiberglass electric fence posts. They don't cost much and are very durable. White was the only color I could get so I painted them dark green. I grind the ends of the bottoms to a reasonable point and then bolt them together and adjust for a sitting position. Mine are over twenty years old and are in perfect condition. I always use them in my ground blind.

For noisy bows I've always thought that string puffs are the best. They will slow a bow down slightly but not enough to make an impact on the terminal performance.

I think that a better sight setting would be 20-30-40-50-60. You have your pins to close together to be effective. You will probably get confused with pins set like your if the big one actually does step out in front of you. Try the 20 thru 60 setting and you will be pleased with the results. Good hunting this fall!

I have been an archer for my entire life. I always loved the flight of an arrow. That certainly is not to say that I do not enjoy rifle hunting. I hunt exactly the same way with a rifle as I do with a bow. I enjoy close hunting with any hunting tool that I have at the time. Hunting at long range with an accurate scoped rifle is a method that many tremendous hunters have used forever, but I never got into that. Bow, rifle or handgun, up close and personal is my preference.

This is the best posting I've read on this site. Excellent job! I guess the question is, and I hate to use the term, have we allowed ourselves to become politically correct! Have we lost the edge associated with hunting and killing? Have we become lesser men in our approach to killing for fear of offending a person who believes that all meat is only available in plastic? I'm guilt of this crap myself, but I truly try no to be. A few years ago I stopped on the way home from a successful rabbit hunt with my bow to buy a coffee. There were a few men I knew in the store and they asked how the hunt had gone. I told them that I had shot three rabbits and they went to the back of the truck body to look. One of the young guy picked up one of the rabbits by its hind legs and was looking at the wound. I proceeded to get the coffee when I heard" you heartless ass, how can you kill those poor beautiful animals". I looked over my shoulder and saw a woman that would probably field dress at least 325lbs slobbering over a greasy hamburger. I am a pretty mild mannered man, but on this occasion I was simply not going to back down. I was a proud hunter and proud of my ability and proud that I brought home wild game for the pot and proud that I did'nt have blood and grease from a slaughtered animal dripping down over my double chin. Don't apologize for what we are ever. Don't apologize for what we do ever.

My dad always used a ice chisel. His was two pieces that screw together. The bottom was much heavier than the top. The edge of the chisel was razor sharp and he could open up a hole of any size in a few heavy blows. I still have that old chisel and the leather sheath that he made for the edge. You have to have a metal ring welded to the top of the chisel to hold a rope strap that goes around your wrist in case the chisel gets away as you first break through the ice.

I typically use my rifles as is from the factory.

I once watched a big deer tearing a cedar tree all to shreds and all the while he was grunting like a pig. I actually thought that the grunts were exertion sounds like the sounds some tennis players make when they hit the ball. I've also heard a different sound made by a good sized buck when he was interested in a doe. This was a deeper and shorter grunt and he made the sound with his nose close to the ground as he walked along. When he stopped walking he didn't make the grunt sound, only when he was on the move.

There are a lot of good products out there. I prefer Mathews but that a personal thing, you may like the feel and performance of another bow. What ever you buy I would suggest that you stay with a single cam model. Over the long haul they are much easier to maintain and shoot.

Doughnuts with molasses poured over the top. Pastries are the best bait that we have ever used. Highly successful once you get them to show up the first time.

I had the opportunity to shoot a Guardian last year and thought that this was an extremely fine shooting bow and very fast. There was no noticeable hand shock and the bow shooting at 5.5 gr per lb was whisper quiet. The accuracy was excellent and I shot a very nice 20 yard target, if memory serves me, 300-58x. I would not hesitate to recommend this bow to you.

Keep your nose in the books. Be focused. Your education is more important than you think. Good luck to you at school and hunting this fall!

I have never considered weather when I'm going hunting. The only day that I typically don't hunt is high winds or extremely hard rain.

Kids should be taught by their parents to hunt and the state government should mind their own business.

If it were the end of the season and I had not shot meat for the freezer she would go down. There is no guilt associated with shooting a doe and I encourage it on my property. I try to keep a good balance and it's not that easy to do but it is the proper management tool. I do have a hard time shooting a fawn that has not developed survival skills. Sometimes you will see one that is so very helpless that you simply can't pull the trigger. Every man has to make that decision for himself.

I once shot a nice buck that was seriously wounded by a rifle hunter at 72 yards. The range finders were in their infancy then and I had just purchased this one the week before. I knew that this animal had been hurt by looking through the binoculars I use in my tripod stand. There was no wind, no brush and I was using an adjustable sight that had been carefully sighted in at distances to 80 yards. The Thunderhead flew beautifully and the result was a very dead deer. He had been shot with a rifle just in front of the rear hind quarters and would have suffer badly for a while longer. I'm glad I took this shot, but I do not advocate this type of long range shooting with a bow to anyone. The deer was in good enough condition to eat but the meat did not taste good at all. I have never though the a deer that has been wounded and then chased or has been wounded for a while and then recovered will ever taste right.

There is always some new method to tune your bow but until someone can actually show the advantage from the paper tuning method I'm there to stay. I can't give you an exact amount but I've tried about 12-15 over the years and all received rave reviews, but all were a waste of time and energy compared to the paper tune. I can do a paper tune at various ranges and then simply screw on a Thunderhead and shoot the tightest groups that you can imagine. I don't believe that there can possibly be anything better than perfect.

Carter Target 4. This release was suggested to me by a very serious shooter when my fingers became way to overused. Reluctantly I made the switch and the transition was immediate. This is a thumb release that you grasp with your entire hand. I've build a wrist sling onto mine for when I'm walking or stump shooting and simply lock it and leave in locked onto my string loop when I'm in the tree or ground blind. This is a high end release and a life time purchase. Do not be afraid of the sound of locking the device onto your string. I have never lost any animal because of this sound.

I shot most of my life with my fingers and a compound bow. I could shoot with excellent accuracy and simply enjoyed archery more without the added problems of using a release. As I got older with arthritic fingers I had to change to a release and aside from the initial getting used to period I can't really tell the difference. The release is more accurate but not to the degree that most people would have you believe. Either one will get the job done if you spend the time and learn to use each properly.

The only Johnny Stewart tape that has worked on coyote for me is the dying woodpecker. We hang a feather or piece of fur on a branch and use monofilament to make it jump around a bit. We've been very successful on fox with this setup and to a lesser amount successful on coyote. I've never had a single coyote answer the rabbit distress that I have. I once called a coyote in with the little crying mechanism from a broken toy doll.That one was one of my many unsuccessful attempts to shoot a coyote with a bow

Don't collapse before during or after the shot. When you are at full draw and your front arm used as a post continue to keep the cams up against the stops. You will be able to feel the tension in your shoulder blades if the draw length is correct. This is important; don't let the string collapse forward here, keep pulling back and easily squeezing the trigger until you release the arrow. You should not be conscious of pulling the trigger. Your only effort is pulling and holding on target, the actual shot should take you by surprise. If you practice this method you can become a tremendous shot with a bow. Clay gives good advise about using a release. I used my fingers for many years and traveled all over the east coast shooting in tournaments. I now can hardly pull a youth bow with my fingers but can easily pull and shoot a release. Modern bows are to short and the string angle is too acute to use fingers, you will only damage them in the long run. If you do want to shoot with your fingers I would suggest that you shoot no bow shorter than 41" axle to axle and a bow this long is getting harder and harder to find.

If your bow is slow you can set the pins in 5 yard increments. A more modern faster bow will probably be better off with 10 yard increments. It will not be hard to learn to split pins. Simply hold your 30 yd pin at the top and your 40 yd at the bottom to hammer the target you believe is 35 yd. away. I used to shoot 3-D with a pin shooter and he was very good at the game. I always was amazed by how close together all of his five pins were. He laughed and said if he could get all five in the kill area he was a happy man.

I have always shot a stabilizer and have always considered them as essential to my 3D bows as well as my hunting bows. With the advent of the parallel limbs that are so common today the line between necessary and unnessary is not quite so clear. I can't tell the difference with or without a stabilizer on my Mathews. It groups the same, there is no difference in sound and there is no hand shock either way.

I would not let them hang. I would dress them off as soon as I got home.

Tongue in cheek I know but pretty astute! Another excellent posting.

With the exception of my Ford dump truck(you can't hunt with this one) all of my trucks have been Chevrolet. I've never had a single bad truck. Dependable, easy to work on and made by an American company. Now that the government has a big stake in Chevrolet I may have to turn my attention elsewhere. I'm not into public money and ownership of for profit private enterprise.

I think that most trap guns are Improved modified, or full. Most are on the tight side.

I believe the answer is no. When you buy a Rem. 700 at Wal-Mart it is the same rifle that you would be buying in my gunshop. The only difference is the customer service. If you buy your rifle from me and you have a problem I would work hours for no pay simply to give you the rifle you paid me for. When you have a problem with a rifle from Wal-Mart they have to get me to fix your rifle and I'm usually to busy with my customers, so your rifle will be sent back to the company and maybe you will have it for next deer season.

You need a new string! If you bow this this old you probably have a dacron string and it will need to be replaced before you shoot it.

I have never used and never will use the 3-3 1/2" shells. It's a great example of the term overkill. You can find a perfect round for every use under the sun with the 2 3/4" 12 Ga. load. I believe the 2 3/4" shotshell is the most versatile ever developed.

My brother and I shine all summer long. It's always been legal her in Maine and its a great way for guys to get together and have a good time looking at deer. You can't have any weapons at all in the vehicle, even if you have a weapons permit, and I agree with this rule. You have to be careful where you shine. Make sure that there are no houses where you could wake someone with a careless beam. I have seen the best bucks of my life this way.

This is a great way to save on ammo and I've been around long enough to know that it works. You never actually tap on the scope, but on the rings just to seat the adjustments. I have always used my knuckles for this task.

Looks like you've been in my day pack. Always home made venison jerky and trail mix and always a soft side water bag.

I don't know how short your draw length has become for you. I assume that you have physically grown in stature. Remember that it is quite easy to shoot a bow that is slightly short, especially from a tree stand, but extremely difficult to shoot a bow well that is even a small amount to long. This has to do with keep the cams or cam up against the stops throughout the shot. Any pro shop can make minute adjustment in draw with simple adjustments to your cables. If you have synthetic buss cables(nor steel) you can give each one a twist to length your draw. The shorter your cables the longer your draw will be.

Good to have you back but it's probably a brief visit. Hope your paying attention in school. Muzzy's are great heads and I like them a lot but don't rule out Thunderheads. I love the way that they tune and fly and nothing comes out the the box sharper.

It really depends on where you hunt and what style of hunting you do. I hunt usually from close range in treestands and for this hunting I like my 30-30. I also like the 30-30 rifle for close range in the evergreen forests of Maine. This really is a question that can't be answered. It's simply a matter of personal choice.

For light rust you can usually remove most with WD-40 and some hard rubbing with your hand. Let the WD soak for awhile, maybe 20 minutes, and then simply rub.

Good news for the good guys!

I've had very good success with both the mechanical and the fixed blade heads. The Thunderhead 100 is a head that I've used an awful lot and I've never had any problems with them. I've never had an arrow with a Thunderhead stay in the deer, they have all gone straight through. The biggest buck that I've ever tagged with a bow was shot with a thunderhead and that particular head had been used on three deer. One of the great features of this head is that it's very easy to sharpen with a diamond hone.

We've had the best luck training young beagles by running them with an older patient dog. If the older dog is not available we will hunt with the pup until we kick out a rabbit and put him on the track. If he see the rabbit usually the deal is done. After a few times like this you usually will have pretty good success. My family hunts rabbits all winter long and we have had very good luck with this method.

When I still had a 30 yard indoor range and ran leagues we had this stabilizer argument and decided to shoot an entire week long league without any stabilizers. I can't remember the exact results but the overall performance was down slightly, not enough to be any factor at all in hunting. For instance, the guy who would normally shoot 295-40X might wind up with 294-38x. Remember that this is on very small dot targets. On a hunting bow I really don't think that a stabilizer is of a whole lot of value. If your bow is not properly silenced they could make a difference in noise level and that alone might be a help. I think that a stabilizer might help a novice shooter more than a long term confident shooter.

like most archers I have always shot with a multi- pin sight but now that my eyes are failing the single pin is much easier to use. If I had the choice I would use the multi-pin with 5 pins set 20-60 yards

I hunted with and sold PSE bows for many years and found them to be great bows that rarely had issues. Pete Shepley always stood behind every bow that he ever sold. I won 4 individual state championships with a Pse Infinity model and retired the bow. I shoot a Mathews now but would always consider a PSE if I were shopping for a new bow.

I've always found that hunting transition areas work the best for me. Where hardwood turns to softwood in a clearly defined way has produced the best for me over the years. If I'm hunting from a portable this is usually where I would set up. I certainly believe that KYLE is right about funnels as well.

I hunt for small game as much as for deer. I've been a small game hunter for my whole life both with a bow and rifle. The shot that stands out in my mind as the best I've ever made is on a Woodcock! Certainly not flying but tucked away in the alders. I had flushed him and I saw where he landed took careful aim and made the shot about 30 yards away. Strange how things stand out as important to me.

You certainly can use this old bow for deer and you may be very successful but I really think that you would be much happier with a modern bow. I shoot a Mathews Q2Xl and this is an older model in the Mathews line. It shoots excellent groups and has no recoil and has all of the modern features like center shot, synthetic cables and a no stretch string. This bow at 29" draw shoots carbon arrows at 265-70 fps with a 100 gr Thunderhead. Excellent performance for a bow that almost 10 years old. I see them advertised often, with case, arrows, release,rest etc for around $200. You would probably have to replace your cables and string on the old Whitetail and even then you're dealing with a dacron string that will stretch and change you point of impact just when you less desire it. With the Whitetail, if you are serious about accuracy, you would be far better off to fletch your arrows with feathers because of the close center of the riser, and I personally have had nothing but trouble with feathers and much prefer vanes. I would suggest you look around for a good used bow.

Any poundage between the 50-70 lb is certainly adequate for whitetail deer. Shoot what you are comfortable holding. Don't overbow your self. Hunting with a bow is not a macho sport. My brother is exactly my size and shots a bow 15lbs under mine. He shoots as much game as me. I can't tell the difference at all. Tuning is the key to killing power with a bow. If you have perfect flight with a 40 lb bow you will penetrate better than a 70 lb bow that shoot a wobbling arrow. I am not trying to be critical of Skeeb here. I've read his postings and respect his comments, but I believe and teach all of my students never to dry draw a bow. You should always draw a bow with an arrow in place pointed at a target or a safe area. If you draw a bow dry and slip off the string you probably have a broken and seriously damaged bow. Many times you can be seriously hurt.

Beekeeper-excellent response! +1 gman- you have obviously been lucky with your long range buckshot exploits. This will not continue to happen and you will wound many animals with buckshot at the 80 yard range. I have witness on many occasions the festering wounds and broken legs caused by the careless use of buckshot on the magnificent deer that you and I both love to hunt. I would urge you to consider what happens to the animals that you do not recover and I assume that for every one you do kill you have an equal number run off to die a lingering death. Is this why we chose to be hunters? I'm not trying to judge you I'm only telling you what I know to be fact.

Mr. Obama is the legitimate President of the United States because a majority of the voters of this country voted for him. I, like the others, really want to keep the answer section of this web site for hunting, fishing etc. The "backlash and blowback" part of the message board is the place where political comment is welcomed.

You've already have the answer to getting bucks. If you have does on your hunting area you will have and probably do have bucks. If you consistently see does the bucks will be around.

The answer is no. Simply shooting with your fingers can't cause the arrow to drift. You can plunk the string and that will cause erratic flight as mention by cooner. The oscillation of your arrow will be to the riser and then back in a violent motion if you have a good release with fingers. I've shot with the best in the Northeast and the finger shooters will shoot with all but the very best of the release shooters. If you learn to push the bow forward and pull continually through the shot you will be amazed at the accuracy you can achieve with your fingers.The biggest cause of "drift" is collapse before the release, meaning that you pull up to the stops and then you relax a little and let the cams move slightly forward. Typically the arrow will slide to the right a lot for a right handed shooter. You can eliminate this slide by holding hard against the stops and keep mentally telling yourself to"be strong". Try what I suggest and you won't be disappointed.

It is illegal here in Maine but I personally don't see much wrong with this method. We hunt apple trees and acorn stands and clover patches all the time, what is this but a form of baiting?

I can't see where this is a bad idea but there is a potential downside. Law abiding trained people with guns has never been a problem for me, but law abiding untrained people I don't know all that well with guns is another story. We have an event up here every year and it's as much fun as you'll ever have with friends and firearms. You can only go to this event by approval from the group. Two years ago a guy showed up, with approval from the group, and was a total disaster with his deer rifle. At one point he had the rifle pointed at another shooter with a round in the chamber. I took the rifle carefully from his hands and extracted the live round and told him he could no longer shoot with us that day. I explained why and to his credit he fully understood my concerns. He was simply untrained and it could have been a disaster. He was a terrific learner and now is a regular at the annual "pumkin smash". Proper and safe gun handling is not a right of birth. It has to be learned.

Yes. I'm surrounded by very liberal people and listening is never wrong. Their talk may reinforce what you believe or could cause you to rethink a stance. I listen to what Bella has to say.

Finding time to hunt is always a problem for me because it seems that everyone waits for fall to do all of the things to their homes that we could do easily in the summer time. That being said, my policy has been the same for as long as I've been in business, if your my employee you had better get used to shutting down for the first two weeks of November!! If you've been with me for two or more years it paid for.

Don't beat yourself up over this mistake. It's a good lesson and I know that you will make sure of your target from here on out. You show character in your concern.

Depends on how you hunt and the ranges you plan to shoot. But long or short and everything in between the 22-250 is probably the premier varmint rifle around.

None of my senators even knew what a gun show is!

Never having shot a muzzleloader with the exception of my friends flintlock my comment is not taken from a wealth of information. My very serious muzzle loader friend who shoots the flintlock is into the loading process immediately after the shot with the precise movements of a brain surgeon. He has practiced the loading sequence extensively and leave no motion unused. He is very capable with this Hatfield rifle and uses it for all species that he hunts.

I've never advocated long range shooting simply because I don't like the idea of it. I like the look in the eyes kind of experience. That being said I can find no fault with a man like CLAY who knows what it all about at distance. I can't do it and I'm smart enough to know that I can't. I believe that he can and has.

I posted this here before but I had a mentor much older than me and I lived or died on very word of every hunting story. He took me out hunting when ever he could and all the things that he told me ring true to this day. Just before he died he gave me his hunting knife. Not a fancy expensive knife at all but the knife that he wore constantly on every out door adventure. It is one of the most precious of my possessions. I think of my friend every time I strap on this knife for a day in the woods.

Certainly not the end of the species I've been reading about. These self proclaimed environmental saviors of all things living virtually have nothing on their side except emotions. Reality doesn't mean anything to them only their perception of harmony with all things wild. What was the harvest goal 220? I bet that we don't make it.

oo7 makes a solid point! Look it over carefully before you buy. Look to see if the limbs are crack free. If yo do decide on the bow , put in some serious shooting time and get to know it well-the season is almost here!!

Good pictures! I've seen does really going for it before and they don't play around. I saw one doe swing her neck fast enough and hard enough to stagger both her and the doe she was fighting with. Can you imagine what she could have done to a human opponent?

I'm a big fan of "stump" shooting with a group of friends. Unknown distance and awkward positions and money on the line as well as the scorn and ridicule of the group will make you concentrate like no other method I've ever tried. We all use judo points for this style of shooting. We have to pick hole through brush,shoot steep down hill angles and shoot from our knees with a hard lean to the left, etc. This type of shooting is the single best practice for any type of game shooting.

Great photos of your family. Keep it up and maybe your children will enjoy shooting through out their lives.

PETA is simply a group of very radical left wing nut jobs. Most of these people could not light a campfire, pitch a tent or paddle a canoe. They are inadequate in every way so they have to have a cause to make them feel as though they have a reason to be alive and this is the cause they have chosen. They don't care about the animals, they care about the cause.

I've used electrical tape for years in the deep snow and have never had any sort of problem. I believe that we should all do this hunting in snow or mud. Both of these things in a bbl. is a potential disaster.

In Maine your gun would probably bring $90-125.00 but I think that if my grandfather gave me a gun it would belong to my son or daughter some day. I have many ,many guns but my dads old model 12 with no finish and scratched wood always gets the call when I'm in the woods. I still have my great uncles old single barrel that has to be very close to 100 years old. Don't sell your family guns, someday they will be very important to you.

I'm having wicked problems with my eyes and the receiver sight on my favorite deer rifle. I've been researching battery operated dot sights that will mount forward of the receiver on my 94 Winchester and can be shot with both eyes fully open. There are a bunch of them available and I'm just now studying all of the specs. to make a wise choice. Because of the top eject feature of the 94 you will have to have the barrel drilled and tapped to take care of the mounting. This is a relatively easy job because of the flat receiver. You can expect to pay $10-15.00 per hole and you will need four. Be careful about value on some of the older rifles. Good pre64 94s are bringing very good money today. Good hunting this fall.

I've been posting comments in more papers than I ever knew existed. The western papers seem to support the shooting of the wolf in general, but the liberal eastern papers are less generous and some of the LA Times comments are absurd. As a personal note idahooudoors, that wolf is the pretty one in your picture!

Muzzle brakes are one of the most useless inventions in the firearm industry. Loud, huge flash and does nothing for accuracy. A gimmick.

I would notify the game wardens and then stay out of it. I few years ago there was an entire family shooting deer year round to sell and a man who had knowledge of their activities got involved and turned them in to the authorities. The family members were convicted and huge fines and lose of guns and vehicles and some jail time was involved. The informers tires were slashed on three different occasions, sugar was poured into his gas tank on another occasion ruining his engine, one of his sheep was shot and there was an attempt(not successful) to burn his barn. Things have seemed to settle down now but I guess my advice, if these are violent ignorant people, is to make sure that you remain anonymous.

I'm not a muzzleloader shooter, but I believe that DEL is correct that you should shoot only straight lead in black powder muzzle loaders. Digging into the bank will product unknown results in the lead pot and if you did find a good shooting bullet you could probably never duplicate the composition again.

In order to be comfortable with a release you have to have a comfortable and solid anchor that is usually much lower on your face than a traditional string bow anchor. An anchor that is used a great deal by target release shooters is to turn the knuckles up and split the first and second fingers with the jaw bone and the two rear knuckles will drop into place at the rear of the jaw bone line. You may have to turn your palm outward to get the proper feel of this anchor. Don't give up it works very well. As for the the tuning, if the bow doesn't fit you, you will never shoot it well.

The problem is bluing salts and the issue is improper after bath sequence or duration. After the receiver and barrel is removed from the salts the gun is immersed in a cold water bath and then into a hot water bath and then into a water displacing oil bath. If you have a gunsmith that blues guns he will have both the cold and hot water tanks and can give them the proper bath in short order. The salts are creeping from the toughest place on the firearm to stop the action. Typically they are deactivated at this point and will cause no harm but can linger for a long time and continue to leach out and to be unsightly.

For a shotgun that will be used moderately I believe that they are OK. Under heavy use I would make another choice. When I ran my gun shop the sears were a issue with either the shotguns or the lever rifles. I have no experience with the handguns.

Clay gives you good advice. Shoot buckshot through a choke with less restriction. The turkey chokes are designed to use small shot that won't bridge in the choke. The best chokes I believe for buckshot is usually Imp. Modified or full.

berky is right on. Rest the forestock on the bags and never the barrel. If you use sand bags and your right handed use your left hand to hold the rear bag in place ans wiggle the bag just a bit to adjust.

I have seen bucks bed in the same area for multiple years if they have not been driven out. A quality bedding area will be used by another animal if the previous user has been killed. We have a particular spot on our land that over the years has produced probably 30 nice bucks. This spot has everything that they consider necessary to survival. Food, water, cover,comfort, sun and multiple escape routes are what bucks will typically be drawn too.

There are very few days in my neck of the woods where spot and stalk would be successful. The cover is very thick and the ground is fully covered with leaves. You would have to carefully choose your days for this sort of adventure. I done it and it's very rewarding but not at all easy.

Rifled slugs are designed for a smooth bore shotgun. Shoot all you want. Good hunting this fall!

I'd like to know the weight of the animal. Judging by the rifle appearance I'd guess in the 70-75 lb range. Great job! I wish I could have been with you.

Don't let the sniveling worms of society get to you. These people are so far removed from life and the realities of it that I have to hide my disrespect whenever I have to deal with one. I envy you for your successful hunt. I saw the pictures and can only offer my congratulations once again. Keep your chin high, you're the good guy here.

More than likely you have taught your self to shoot a bow at a cant. Your bow needs to be perfectly plumb in order to shoot pins. The best way to teach you to hold the bow plumb is with a properly installed level set into your sight. Not all shops know how to set a level.An easy way to do this for you would be a plumb and level door jamb. Make sure the door jamb is plumb by using a level and then hold the limbs of your bow against the jamb and adjust your new level while someone is holding the bow firmly in place. Simply learn to look quickly at the level as you place your pin on the target and all of your arrows will fall in a straight line. Good hunting to you.

I'm old so I'm more comfortable with what's been around all my life and that's wood. I do prefer a smooth well made wooden handle. I have a few Cold Steel knives with a rubber grip that's pretty comfortable to use. cold Steel

Clay I sure think that you have your finger on the pulse of this administrations policies.

I do not know or have not heard of non-lead ammo in this caliber. I would have to say that it is not available.

No. The guy behind the counter doesn't know enough to tie his shoes. A 50 lb compound bow will kill as many deer as you can manage to find and make good shots on. One of my friends has a rare but horrible disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. He has a hard time doing a lot of tasks that are simple for the rest of us. One is holding a bow. He shoots about 44Lbs and has managed to shoot about 20 now as well as a very good black bear. He is also one of the premier tournament archers in New England with even a lighter bow. A carefully chosen broadhead and perfect tuning will get you where you want to go. And lastly, find a shop where the clerk has some knowledge.

I have hunted with archery equipment for my whole life and ran a gun and bow shop for many years. I truly believe that the greatest development in archery since the advent of the compound bow is single cam technology. Mathews pioneered this technology and they make, in my opinion, the finest bow in the world. There are certainly many fine bows and opinions will vary as to their effectiveness but none are better than the Mathews and none stand behind their bows any better than this fine company. You can find many fine Mathews products, used, in the $300.-400. range. No matter what brand you choose, you will be wise to choose a single cam model.

I really prefer standing to all other shooting positions. I've probably shot as many deer from the sitting position though.

Albino deer are legal game here in Maine and If one presents a good killing shot within my comfort range I'm taking that shot.

I find it hard to believe that any bullets will out shoot Sierra's. My 223,22-250 and 25-06 will all shoot sub 1/2" at 100 yards with Sierra.

It's typical to assume that the full choke would be the way to go but this can be a bad assumption. I have seen some loads in a modified choke out perform the fulls and extra fulls by a considerable margin. You really have to match the choke to the load that you will be using. I suggest that you buy a few five round boxes of buckshot and shoot them at a 12"x12" target at forty yards to see what they will do. You may be surprised by what happens.

I'm on hold too! Our season starts the 1st of October. Congratulations on your buck!

To an alert deer, I believe that an arrow arrives about the same speed as a slow pitch softball and they can move very fast to avoid it. Easy cure-don't shoot at alert deer. Feeding relaxed deer are very unlikely to jump string unless you have been neglectful with your silencers. You virtually have no chance to shoot any deer with a noisy bow.

Learning from someone who has done it for many years and has taken the time to get the bugs out of the process will save you a lot of time if your willing to listen. Remember the old saying about "not reinventing the wheel"?

I love the whisker biscuit. They can be a bit noisy at times. I've always got around that by polishing my arrows. They slide through with no sound at all. It is the most fool proof rest that I've ever used.

I believe that your shotgun simply doesn't like this particular slug. I would try others makers. I know that you earlier said that everything is tight and solid but I would check that over again. Do you have another scope available that you can use as a check against the one on the shotgun. If you do it's very simple to make the change and will rule out one variable. Keep trying and keep posting. Good luck.

I truly weep for this poor young woman. Her life has been stolen from her. As God as my judge, if they needed a firing squad I'd have my hand up high.

You should lightly sand the shafts and clean with denatured alcohol. The base of each vane should be cleaned as well. Make sure when you seat the base of the vane onto the arrow that it is flat This method has worked for me for a long time successfully.

If the court acts on the evidence and statistics from fish and wildlife authority you will have the limited hunting. If they act on emotions probably not. Good luck with this one.

Congratulations on your new press. The Rockchucker is an excellent product and will last for a life time. MLH left no stone unturned and his response was well though out. I would urge you to have as many manuals as you can afford and to cross reference them to find what you are looking for. They will vary a tremendous amount in the information that they provide. Start with a reasonable powder charge and work your way up, always being alert to pressure signs. A flatten primer is a sure sign of excessive pressure. Another serious indicator of pressure is a hard bolt lift. Remember also that the hottest load is not always the load that will perform the best accuracy wise from the rifles. Keep your work bench clean and be very consistent with each step of the loading process. Reloading your own ammo is very rewarding and an excellent way to shoot more for less.

We're a long way apart but up here in Maine that gun would bring $225-250 in good average condition. I've been listening, you're doing a good thing with that young man.

My hunting knife is older than me by quite a few years. It was given to me by a man who was many years my senior. He worn the knife throughout most of his life and I've had it now for 39 years. It was hand made in Germany of high carbon steel with a leather handle. The blade is getting slightly worn now and the steel is no longer shiny. It holds a wonderful edge and God willing will one day belong to my son. Lesson here is- always buy the very best that you can afford and take good care of it and it will probably serve you very well.

I have the 597 Magnum and initially had many problem with this rifle. I decided to stick with this gun and it is now a extremely accurate and dependable shooting tool. I have never seen an unmodified 10/22 that would shot with an unmodified 597. That being said the dependability of the 10/22 is legendary and well deserved. I really like the look of the new 597 VTR!

I always start by bore sighting and then on to the 25 yard targets. Once the groups are centered at 25 I move right out to 100 yards and zero them dead on at this range. I don't shoot long range so a 100 yard zero is perfect for me. I do have two rifles that I zero at 250 and those are the 25-06 and 22-250. I rarely use either of these rifles for hunting anymore but love to shoot long range with then.

In Maine we count all the points. Four points on a side you have a eight point buck.

Once my customers had shot their bow enough to stretch the new string, usually 50-100 shots, I would always reset the peep sight and tie the peep in place. Depending on the quality of the string and the material used in the manufacture this might be enough to work with out a return to the shop. With factory strings, on most bows, this 50-100 arrows would not be enough and the peep would have to be reset. With a high grade custom string, and all talk of custom strings start with Shooter Choice, or a quality 8125 or 452 synthetic made by a professional shop and pre-stretched before attachment, you will have no issues with unwanted peep rotation or movement. If you don't know how to take care of some of these minor issues you really have to find someone who is qualified and close enough to help you. I believe the most qualified archery shops are those that cater to target shooters either 3-D or indoor paper punchers. They will typically see more string and cable issues in a month than a hunting shop will see in a year. Remember that a properly made and twisted string will be round and will require very little tying to hold the peep in place.

I was a gunsmith for a long time and I've never seen this happen. I would send the gun back to Remington promptly and you will have it back for hunting season.

Have you considered the carbon style hand and body warmers that you simply rub together to activate. I use them and have a lot of confidence in their ability to keep me comfortable after long hours spent in elevated stands. I believe that they are the same things that mattreney is speaking about. The ones that I use are multiple use items.

megrahi was convicted in 2001 of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 that killed 270 innocent people. He was sentenced to life. This animal killed without feelings and for no reason. He should either be killed or die in prison. MERCY!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Another liberty judge ignoring the rule of law for feelings. I guess we know what the Scotsmen don't have under those kilts!!

The simple answer is that it's not always that easy to make the perfect head shot. I've seen quite a lot of deer with parts of there faces shot away and their still making tracks away from the shooter. It is a deadly shot, there is no question, but I feel that the better shot is just behind the forward shoulder. I've never lost a deer and this is the shot I always try to make.

I've never heard of this one. tony167n may have the answer about resting the barrel and not the forestock on the bench.

That new target is terrible! Is the fore end nut that holds barrel and receiver together tight? Can you feel any play where the barrel sets in the receiver? Your shotgun should definitely shoot much better than this. I assume that the new target is at 40 yards also.

Yes. What kind of bow are you talking about?

Jack O'connor hunted all over the world with a .270 Winchester and was constantly singing it's praises in Outdoor Life magazine. He was the driving force behind the tremendous acceptance of this round by the hunting crowds in America. The .270 is a terrific performer on all games animals on this continent with the exception of the enormous Brown Bears of the far north. And Cooner says it very well, will probably do the job but a bigger gun is the better choice.

I have shot more deer in the evening than any other time of the day. The last 1/2 hr of sunlight is the magic hour for me.

Beekeeper is exactly right. Claims against rightful owners have been made on particular guns and I know of one case where the longtime owner actually lost his rifle when he carelessly advertised his rifle for sale. I wouldn't take the chance and post the whole number.

You included the weight of you field point in your estimate didn't you? With the set up you describe with est. for the gear you have on your string, you're pretty close to 5.5 gpi and 304 is simply excellent performance. Most of us with high performance bows are typically close to 30 fps under your bow. Your going to love this thing! Good hunting!

I have been fortunate enough to actually see a black coyote or possibly a wolf. My crew and I were in a company truck heading to work a 5:15 one fall morning. There were three men in the front seat when this animal leaped into the dirt road. It was absolutely magnificent! We all got a great look before this"coyote" spun and went back into the woods on the same side as he had come from. I believe that this animal would weight somewhere around the 55-60 lb mark and that would be a very big coyote here in Maine. I will never forget this sighting and it truly ranks as one of the most memorable wildlife encounters of my long lifetime.

On the surface I would say that I don't like them at all, but my experience is nil and to pass judgment on something that I have no first hand knowledge of is not intelligent. I believe that there is a vast difference between some fenced hunting operations. Personally I would op for the solution that Cgull puts out there.

Apple trees, berry bushes and the thickest undergrowth you can find. I also have pretty good luck in Alder growth. My favorite bird to hunt here in Maine. Good luck!

A yound man was showing me his new bow the other day and I was quite impressed, both with his new ability and the performance of the bow. It was called the "Showdown" by Bear archery. The bow was quite fast and very smooth to draw and best of all his was whisper quite with no silencers on the string. He said that he paid less than $300.00 for this bow. There are a lot of great deals out there on archery gear right now so spend a little time and search for a good buy.

I don't believe that you could ever find a better head than the Thunderhead. I've shot all kind of game with the thunderhead and have never been disappointed with the performance. There are equal heads out there but there are not better heads.

I've been in a lot of moose kills and the common bullet is 180 gr. not the heavier 220. A solid well made 180 gr. will drop and moose with any type of solid hit. Good hunting to you!

It surprises me that there is so much from the anti's about this particular species. The wolf has become their poster child and will probably remain that way for some time. I've always believed that a states fish and wildlife dept. is potentially the best source of solid information about a particular animal and their voice should be the voice of reason. If the F&W dept. of either of these states say go it should weigh heavily in any judges decision.

I have seen huge deer from my area of Maine and the current Maine record was taken very close to where I live. There are some huge bodied bucks in Maine. The rack are another story. A rack on a 275lb Maine deer is common on 175 lb Texas deer. I don't know the reason for this phenomenon but it certainly exists. If you want a deer with a big rack in Maine I'd say stay close to the coast line.

This is probably the only fishing question I'll ever answer but here goes. When I was much younger my grand father gave me a fly rod made of bamboo. There was four sections and an extra tip section. The rod was so light and tiny that it's hard to describe. I knew nothing of fishing and didn't have any flies so I would walk along the stream banks very quietly and drop a worm in and let the long pole stick out over the water. Even a small trout would battle like a monster with this tiny little rod and every so often you would latch on to a 15-16" brookie and all hell would break loose! What a great time that was and what a fun activity for a young man. I still have that rod tucked away some place. I'll have to look around and see where it is and maybe even take a trip to a local stream bank. To answer your question I loved that little rod!

DakotaMan uses the same method that I do and I've had great success doing it. My call is made by Johnny Stewart and over all the years I've never had any problems at all. I dress in full camo and continue to call and shoot until they stop coming. Many times they will make three or more passes. When they see you the jig is up!

Democrats have drifted to the left, Republicans have drifted to the middle or beyond, and all of the Libertarian people I know(damn few in number)seem more like Moderate Democrats than anything else.

Study hard and make the most out of your school days. Education is never a mistake. Come back on when you have the chance-after homework of course-we'll all miss you. I know you be around if you get something during hunting season.

I haven't heard much about that. I hope that he got caught and got the book thrown at him. What a creep! Anyone have information!

I've never been on an Elk hunt but I have been in on the shooting of many Moose and I can't imagine that there is a significant difference between the two animals. The 30-06 will anchor a moose easily.

I'm just going to join the crowd here and say Mathews. My bows are getting quite old now and are still excellent hunting tools. I've said this many times but I believe whatever bow you buy it should be a single cam model.

I have used core lokts for years and have never had any problems. I've always considered them a very good inexpensive bullet.

Ammo is hard to find and pretty expensive for this rifle round. Factory rounds don't seem to shoot all that well and I find this a reasonable tough cartridge to load for. I gave up my Hornet for a 22 Mag. a long time ago and I'm very happy with my decision.

I've hunted for a lot of years with the same ground blind. Mine is nothing but mosquito netting that I can roll up into a small package. I use 1/4 aluminum rods that I stick into the ground to hold it up. I usually try to have it in front of a tree that I can sit against. I've shot many deer, fox and some coyote with this same piece of equipment that is as old as some of the dirt that I sit it on. I think that everything cost me about 40.00 when I bought it. I usually shoot right through the netting either with the bow or rifle.

This is an issue that doesn't deserve to be laughed away. Some people simply don't want to accept that meat comes from a living, breathing creature. They will eat meat with no remorse as though it were an apple and then remind you of the cruelty of your ability to harvest game for the table. I can't stand this type of person and refuse to show them any form of respect. I have a friend that has this very attitude about meat and I can no longer tolerate what he has to say about hunters. Because of our long term friendship I've held my tongue but not any more. If he is so naive that he can't grasp the natural part of what I do as a hunter our long friendship is finished. No more chances for these people.

Every box that I've found have been $6.50 per 100. It's crazy! I've still got about five hundred lg. standard left and then I don't know what's going to happen. You can't find any small rifle or pistol primers, or at least I can't, here in Maine.

I always used co2. Fast and efficient. Make sure to have the rifle pointed in a safe direction. Some can come out very fast.

I would have to go with the clover. I plant two four acre plots and rotate them every other year. The clover is not all that common here and the deer love it. I also saw a wild honey bee swarm in a tree close to one plot a year ago(it could also have been a lost commercial hive). I agree that it's not common to see wild honey bees anymore.

Make sure that you properly sight in your shotgun. Most shotguns only have a single bead and determining where they hit is sometimes a chore. Try different brands of ammo. You may be surprised by the difference between them. I never go into the woods without a good method of starting fire, a reliable compass and a bota bag. Good hunting to you!

Thank you charie elk for sharing this story of compassion for a brave soldier. The effort that went into the saving of this boys life is remarkable and the ability to cut through the red tape to get the job done shows resolve in crisis. The British have fought for right along side of us for as long as I can remember and to treat him as a brother is only appropriate. I couldn't finish your story with the water starting to flow. I don't get emotional very often except for the tremendous efforts of our brave troops. I have never hear of "soldier angels" I won't forget them now.

Is the cartridge the 257 Weatherby Mag. or is this gun available in the Roberts Cartridge? If it is the Weatherby Mag. cartridge I would personally prefer the 25-06 round. I simply feel that the Weatherby rounds are too damn expensive and hard to find.

muskiemaster I really appreciate what you just said"I didn't feel comfortable shooting". In my opinion you have an adult attitude that a lot of people don't even want to consider. Know what you can do with a bow and don't press it beyond that self imposed limit. You'll get comfortable with the 40 yard mark eventually. Learn the basics and then practice what you have learned. Shooting at 40 is no tougher than shooting at 20. Anyone can make the shot if you know the yardage. Become comfortable in your ability to recognize distance and be confident in that number when you shoot it.

Old timers would quickly get the hide off and let the animal cool. They would quarter the animal or cut to pieces that they could handle and cover each piece with black pepper by rubbing it into the flesh. Then each piece would be put into a cheesecloth bag with a draw top to keep the flies off. My old friend, that I have written about before on the site, used to shoot fresh meat for the road crews that would basically build roads by hand. He told me many times that the meat would last in warm weather for about four days with this method if kept as cool as possible. He also told me that a deer would last for just about one day on these huge crews.

Live in the wild for young fawns is filled with danger. There is no way to know what happened and it happens all the time. Nature never plays out the way Walt Disney depicts it.

The law in New York is stupid. Burris had a weapons permit from Florida, in most states it would be at least acknowledged, but not in the nut house that is New York. Burris should have known better than to play with a loaded gun in his pocket but is that a 2 year jail term? I say no.

I used rags for my commercial indoor targets. We would put chicken wire across the face of the wooden box to hold the rags in place( the wire won't damage arrows) and then put a piece of ethrofoam on top of the wire to keep the arrows straight. Good for shooting score. This target is not for broadheads.

I've seen the caps on John's postings but never really thought about it much. Now that you've mentioned it, it will bug the hell out of me!!

While I feel that this is the most inept administration of my life time a Civil war seems to be carrying our frustration a bit far. We have to act with our vote. We can rally the troops at election booths not at bonfires. Please remember that more than half of the people of this country voted for this man and we have our freedoms in part because we have adhered to the rule of law that says majority rules. I don't like it but I'll do my fighting with my mind and my vote. Midterms are our chance! Rally to get out the vote!

I watch so few Hollywood movies and this one will not be an exception I'm afraid. It's just to hard to separate the actor from the character. I can't stand the Hollywood crowd.

If everything is tight and solid I would try another brand of slug designed for a rifled bbl. before I'd panic. I want to hear of your results.

I'm a life member and still buy the yearly membership because when I bought the life membership I think that it was only $225.00(don't quote that) and that money has been gone a long time. STEVE182 makes a great point about the political victory fund. This arm of the NRA needs as much as we all can muster even if it's a few dollars at a time.

The Muzzy line of broadheads is excellent and you will have no problem with them. When you say that you can hit a pie plate at 60 yards-is this with broadheads on or field points?

I'm an old man and I've been fighting all of my life to keep the right, and don't be confused here it is a constitutional right, to have firearms. If any of you give up this right you will never get it back. We will continue to battle forever or we will lose. The NRA is the difference! Please make sure that you join this wonderful patriotic organization to insure that you young guys out there will have the same firearm freedoms that I've had.

I live in the sticks so I always have a place to shoot. I shoot just about everyday for at least a few rounds just to keep my eye in the game.

I agree with all the posters