You win page 47 too..
Our wabbits stay brown all year but in Scotland we have Mountain Hares ( sometimes called Blue Hares) that turn white in Winter. The wabbits here have died out and we only have a few Brown Hares which I don't shoot anymore.
Another Chinese virus is what killed off our Rabbits a few years ago, just as they were making a good comeback from myxomatosis that was spread by farmers after WW2. there a few places that still have a healthy Rabbit population, unfortunately I don't live near one. Due to a lack of Rabbits I don't often see Stoats or Weasels but way too many Badgers, they too are of the Weasel family.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
We don't have badgers. In the weasel family, we have weasel, mink, pine marten, otter, and fisher. Fisher are a nasty piece of business.
We have snowshoe hare up here. I hear the southern end of the state have a few cottontails too. I've never seen one.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
As well as the Stoats and Weasels we also have Pine Martin, Mink and Otter but no Fisher, I have read about them critters and yes they sound nasty.
The Mink over here escaped from fur farms or were released my the anti fur brigade, my son has recently started a job as a Mink trapper as they are destroying our native wildlife mainly Water Voles. When Otter hunting with hounds was stopped the Otter hound packs converted to Mink hunting, that was the best fun I ever had following hounds.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
5am- 70 degrees F and 90% humidity- I am NOT looking forward to today!
We had quite a few mink farms here, seems like the anti's and farmers giving up they just released mink all over. Had a friend years ago that was a professional trapper. His favorite mink trap was a piece of stove pipe. He would put a few drops of chicken blood inside the pipe. The mink would willingly enter, lick the blood and the tongue would freeze to the pipe, just like putting your tongue on a flag pole. Of course this only works when it is COLD.
Very few wabbits around, too many Red Tail hawks,fox and coyotes.
I just told my son about the stove pipe & chicken blood trap, he said he will raise it at the next team meeting..
Because he is working for a conservation group he is very restricted on how he can catch Mink, even the humane cage traps have radio transmitters to indicate when a trap is sprung, mustn't let the little buggers suffer before they are shot. I told him the first Mink I trapped made more noise than a wounded leopard, he had to catch a few before he caught a really vocal one and he said it didn't seem possible for such a small animal to make so much noise.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
What can we say, it doesn't take much to entertain us!
I really hate August, seems like every August my sinuses just fill up with pollen and I am stuffed up until October. Even with a daily allergy med. when I was about 5 or 6 the doctors decided I should have my sinus cavities vacuumed out. Want to talk about traumatic experience! That was the worst thing ever & I swear that's why I have these issues now.
How ya feeling John, Are you over your self inflicted food poisoning?
Yes, I am definitely feeling more like my old self and staying away from the cooker for a while ...
August is not my favourite month either I'm always happier when the leaves start turning.
I can't begin to imagine what having your sinus cavities vacuumed out would feel like it sound like what cannibals would do before shrinking your head...
As for talking about Mink freezing parts of their anatomy and their vocal volume, it is strictly scientific and should be taken seriously....
Where's you bin anyway????
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Gunny, that's sounds like something I'd recommend to a few folks that are always in the news....
I knew a woman who said it was a good idea to rinse your nasel passages with warm salty water to relieve a stuffy head, tried it once and it felt like I was drowning..
Found a photo of my son's first Mink, only a little fella and never made a sound.
IMG-20210525-WA0000.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Yeah no neddy pot for me!! To this day I'm resistant if a doc wants to look up my nose, eye doctor has a heck of a time getting drops in my eyes. Hmm that would be a good experiment to do one congressman- see if their heads collapse!
Awww what a cute little guy( after he was skinned, tanned and turned into the inside lining of a buffalo coat!
Gunny I have a question about the Ranger job, I presume that you would be expected to put down sick or injured critters both large and small, what firearms do they issue and would you have a choice...
My son's two jobs as a trapper have both only issued airguns for Squirrels and Mink "understandable in the UK " but he can use his own shotguns and rifles if he wants.
As a full time gamekeeper I had to use my own guns as I did when working for Local Government pest control although they too issued me with airguns.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Actually the Ranger office is an arm of the Sheriff office but they are not issued a side arm or shotgun/carbine. As for dispatching animals that are sick or injured I never thought to ask. I have used my Gerber hatchet to dispatch a few deer over the years that were the unlucky recipients of drivers going too fast. One kid I read the riot act to, he was going too fast, on wrong side of the road- I watched him hit the deer, Just a fawn .
Gunny, I was surprised by your answer, I would think the very nature of the Ranger job would require some sort of firearm as mandatory. Can you still carry your own
Speeding and Deer is a bad combination, the first deer I hit was on a highway with a 70mph limit, DRT ,the second Deer hit me rather than me hitting it, I had come to a almost complete stop and the Deer lost it's footing and skidded under my truck, I expected it to be unharmed but it was stone cold dead with just a small bump on its head.
I regularly see Deer running across the road where I live, mostly small Roe Deer but where I used to live Red Deer were common and about the size of a young Elk.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
The rangers here aren't issued sidearm either. But the rangers here don't deal much with wildlife. They check out logging operations for compliance, that off highway equipment has spark arrestors and things like that.
Here, it's the warden service that deals with wildlife and game laws. They are issued sidearm and rifles. Strangely enough, AR-15s.
My grandfather was a Maine warden back in the 40s up in the Allagash. He carried a 6" Colt Army special, a 6" High Standard model B ( both of which, I have ), and a model 64 Winchester.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Jay what your grandfather carried is kinda what imagined would be very reasonable for the time. I think that any job that takes you off grid would have risks that could make a firearm a necessity. I'd hate to see Gunny eaten by a Bear....
forest-rangers.jpeg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
gamekeeper wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 7:12 am
Jay what your grandfather carried is kinda what imagined would be very reasonable for the time. I think that any job that takes you off grid would have risks that could make a firearm a necessity. I'd hate to see Gunny eaten by a Bear....
forest-rangers.jpeg
I was always fascinated by his choice of rifle. Gramp had to hump a lot of supplies over unbelievable distances, on snowshoes for several months a year, through mighty tough country. A 64 seemed a strange choice. My mom's uncle Gilley was with him until he went to serve in Patton's 3rd Army during the war. He packed a 92 src in 44, which seemed more reasonable.
Gramp always preferred 6" barrels on his handguns. He was an incredible pistol shot, was ambidextrous with both pistol and bow (he took 3rd in state with a bow), and a legendary woodsman. During the war when ammo was scarce and pricey, he shot everything with the High Standard .22.
I did I story and pictures of Gramp and Gilley's adventures a few years ago here on the forum. I will see if I can link it.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Thank you Jay, excellent pictures of a bygone age, you certainly come from good stock. I can remember page one but somehow must have missed page two
I'm sure a lot of our old timers and the newbies would appreciate a chance to see that thread again on the general forum...
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
The rangers are issued pepper spray for both 2 & 4 legged vermin. The largest peice of property the county owns is about 500 acres, not much need to survive off the land for long!
Ill have to read that thread, I dont remember seeing it before?
I just read the post about your gramps, good stuff.
My mothers dad was a justice of the peace, I never met him. He immigrated from England to Canada then down to Lake Tahoe. He was older by then, he married my grandmother, a full blooded Washoe Indian. That got her off the reservation. He had a general store as well. Few pictures that remained disappeared after grandma died. One of which was a washtub of poached trout dumped on the living room floor so they could be counted. Mom remembers all kinds of poached game coming through the house, deer, bear, mountain lions. Gramma Franks guns are in the Carson City museum.
Cool story Gunny! Too bad the pictures were lost.
I thank God Gramp took all those pictures. It was pretty rare back then. Especially when he was humping so much gear.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
What is it with Grandparents They always seem to have done the exciting stuff . . . I suppose today's kids will be saying the same in the future unless video game scores are "still" so important..
Gunny, I'm disappointed that you have to go forth armed with pepper spray, I imagined that we would all be singing " Big Iron" by Marty Robbins. Still I wish you luck and am just a little bit envious..
I tried to get my son interested in that line of work but he's determined to emigrate to NZ maybe when he gets there a similar Job may come up. Too late for me though.
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
GunnyMack wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 12:55 pm
Oh by the way the rangers wear a vest with ceramic plates ALL THE TIME.
That would tell me that pepper spray ain't fittin'... I hope you've got a good selection of hideout pistols.
I got out my Gallyon 12 bore muzzleloader today and found that some of my old percussion caps were not very good but I took it to the orchard and had a couple of shots.
No gunshops around here have any muzzleloading stuff so I'll have to travel a bit further afield and stock up on powder, wads and caps, I have enough shot but need a ball mold to increase the fun level..
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Just thought I'd take a step away from from my new fun duties to add some spice to this otherwise boring place...(except OUR PRIVATE thread)......see you boys when I get back to the states....---006
Even coffee mugs...
1st. Gen. Colt SAA’s, 1878 D.A.45 and a 38-55 Marlin TD
GunnyMack wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 4:23 am
Just remember to ROLL when ya hit the ground!
So you are comparing Jezails to Rossi's? I have neither so I'm objectively questioning your junk remark?
I handled quite a few Jezails when I worked for Westley Richards, believe me they are JUNK. WR imported tons of antique weapons from India back in those days. I would happily fire any beat up and neglected old Rossi any day, ( hey I even had one) but those Jezails were something else...plus most of 'em were still loaded..
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
HEY BOYS! Somebody you know got a few new bullets sent to him this week. These are from the old RCBS 50-515 FN and weigh in at a svelt 540 grains with a round nose flat point design. Hey I gotta give them a try, right? Put them on top of a mild to moderate dose of my mentors favorite 5744. Gonna send em downrange Friday evening after work.Glad to see ya back at the forum Jack.
a Pennsylvanian who has been accused of clinging to my religion and my guns......Good assessment skills.
Holy smokes.
So, my oldest kid has this huge deck......DECK!
It has two levels and stairs, railings.......
He needs to refinish it, so I headed over this morning with the pressure washer to strip it.
I JUST got home.
I ran 3 gallons of gas through it. In case you're wondering, yeah, that's a lot of gas through a pressure washer boys.
I'm beat.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Yes and now he needs to wait 6 weeks for it to dry out before he can top coat it ! Always a mistake people make with a new deck is not waiting long enough for the treated lumber to dry out.
We have done 2 decks this summer, one was supposed to be Trex but at 3 times the cost and needing to wait 6 months to get the homeowner decided to go treated for the surface.
Ain't nothing going to dry here after Fred's remains came through overnight, boy did it rain, woke me up. I don't wake easily ( two things will wake me, a phone ringing or a dog puking) . It's wet, just saw a squirrel swimming up a tree.
AAAAANNNNDDDD a buddy called me yesterday that I needed to go see him. He has a gun shop a half hour away. He bought out another shop that had gone out of business. He got 47 guns including a Ruger new model Blackhawk in 357 and a Hawes western six shooter shopkeepers model. I had never seen one before and of course they came home with me for less than I would expect to pay for the Ruger alone. I think the Ruger( or the other NM Blackhawk 357) will be going to the smiff and becoming a 44 special.
a Pennsylvanian who has been accused of clinging to my religion and my guns......Good assessment skills.
GK I have a few of the Hawes, one in 44, 2 in 357 with one being a target version(haha), and two 22's now. Gunny it actually has the original jigged bone plastic grips with no cracks!
a Pennsylvanian who has been accused of clinging to my religion and my guns......Good assessment skills.
there a few places that still have a healthy Rabbit population, unfortunately I don't live near one. Due to a lack of Rabbits I don't often see Stoats or Weasels but way too many Badgers, they too are of the Weasel family.
it sound like what cannibals would do before shrinking your head... 
)