The Hunting & Fishing Thread

Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs/Sox, & general discussion

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The Marshall Plan
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mmmc_35 wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:21 am
The Marshall Plan wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:02 pm
I've always wanted a lever gun. Mine are more various handguns (wheel and magazine) and rifles of assorted calibers mainly 7.62 and 5.56. Couple shotguns.
I've never owned a revolver, shot a few. You ever use a red dot on a pistol? Recently purchased one for mine. Once you get use to it, its amazing. Expensive, and it takes practice, but its impressive. It actually has helped me with my non red dot pistols. You literally can see your fuck ups in the sight.
Not on a pistol. I use night sights on mine and I have a flashlight on a couple.

I've put red dots on some of my rifles though.
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wab
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mmmc_35 wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:21 am
The Marshall Plan wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:02 pm
I've always wanted a lever gun. Mine are more various handguns (wheel and magazine) and rifles of assorted calibers mainly 7.62 and 5.56. Couple shotguns.
I've never owned a revolver, shot a few. You ever use a red dot on a pistol? Recently purchased one for mine. Once you get use to it, its amazing. Expensive, and it takes practice, but its impressive. It actually has helped me with my non red dot pistols. You literally can see your fuck ups in the sight.
Every handgun I own has one on it. It's basically a cheat code.
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wab
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Even though I haven't been fishing in a long time, I very much enjoy hunting.

I don't hunt deer very often. I don't know why, but I don't have it in me, and I don't really love the taste so there's no need for me to do it. My hunting typically revolves around turkey and hog. Some coyotes and occasionally dove.
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Bears Whiskey Nut
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wab wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:17 am Even though I haven't been fishing in a long time, I very much enjoy hunting.

I don't hunt deer very often. I don't know why, but I don't have it in me, and I don't really love the taste so there's no need for me to do it. My hunting typically revolves around turkey and hog. Some coyotes and occasionally dove.
How are wild pigs to eat? I assume that is the same as Boar.
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wab
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Bears Whiskey Nut wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:15 pm
wab wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:17 am Even though I haven't been fishing in a long time, I very much enjoy hunting.

I don't hunt deer very often. I don't know why, but I don't have it in me, and I don't really love the taste so there's no need for me to do it. My hunting typically revolves around turkey and hog. Some coyotes and occasionally dove.
How are wild pigs to eat? I assume that is the same as Boar.
I usually only make sticks or jerky out of it. If you want any ground meat out of it you have to add ground beef and/or beef fat. Otherwise it's just too lean.

Some people will take the loin and make chops out of it, but you have to soak them in an icewater bath for a couple of days for them to taste like your average store-bought chops. The shoulders are ok...I've braised them and made carnitas before.

But really, it's best for jerky. A. Lot. Of. Jerky.

For most back yard bbq folks the saying is "fat is flavor". Not in wild hogs...the fat tastes weird. And you can't really eat the old ones at all. The meat smells like a dumpster. When you take those, it's generally to cull the population or prevent damage to farms and ranches.
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I'm eating some deer tacos right now. The freezer is packed. Life is good.
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Just had elk burger tonight.
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wab wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:14 am Every handgun I own has one on it. It's basically a cheat code.
They really are.
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southdakbearfan
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Well, we got a couple does this week as all we had for rifle season was doe tags. Of course the last two nights we had 6 different bucks come up within 15 yards, go figure.

Muzzleloader season starts next weekend and I have a buck tag for that.
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Vero the half-trained wonderspaniel and I got in a couple hours this morning.
Flushed two, killed one.
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On the way in this morning, an old man running beagles stopped me to say "There ain't no birds in here anymore. Well, there are 3, but they're the ones printed on the sign."

Ended up with 4 snipe, one Woodcock and a bonus rabbit. Hiked a little over 7 miles. Vero does not like to retrieve scolopaceous birds but she at least flushes and helps me locate them. I'd be lost without her.  

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Burl living the good life.

We got skunked during gun season. Buck only, saw some does. Seemed like a war zone on every surrounding property. Had a great time with my boys, always good to take a break from the girls.

Next is ice fishing season, to which I'm not a fan.
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mmmc_35 wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:00 am Burl living the good life.

We got skunked during gun season. Buck only, saw some does. Seemed like a war zone on every surrounding property. Had a great time with my boys, always good to take a break from the girls.

Next is ice fishing season, to which I'm not a fan.
I remember loving ice fishing as a kid. I can't stand it as an adult.
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Love ice fishing, but mostly fish 1 mile from the house in the winter.

Blue gills and perch on the local lake with the occasional walleye, northern or channel cat.
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southdakbearfan wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 11:11 pm Love ice fishing, but mostly fish 1 mile from the house in the winter.

Blue gills and perch on the local lake with the occasional walleye, northern or channel cat.
When I was a kid I was being stupid on a frozen pond and had one leg go through the ice.

By the Grace Of God, my best friend was standing right there when it happened and he immediately pulled me out.

I'd love to try ice fishing, but I just don't think I could do it.

A guy I know went ice fishing last winter. On crappie tackle he hooked a northern. Took ten minutes for him to get it to the hole, but it was too big to get up through the ice. He had to reach down and unhook it.
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I just smoked a whole hind deer leg. First time with a new pellet smoker and this thing makes it almost idiot proof. I kept saying that I was going to build a smoker from scratch using some materials I have at hand, but watching some friends use their pellet smoker sold me on just having something that my wife could conceivably use.
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Atkins&Rebel wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 5:11 pm I just smoked a whole hind deer leg. First time with a new pellet smoker and this thing makes it almost idiot proof. I kept saying that I was going to build a smoker from scratch using some materials I have at hand, but watching some friends use their pellet smoker sold me on just having something that my wife could conceivably use.
I've got a stick burner and a pellet smoker. I haven't used the stick burner in 4 years...
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The Marshall Plan wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 6:18 am
When I was a kid I was being stupid on a frozen pond and had one leg go through the ice.

By the Grace Of God, my best friend was standing right there when it happened and he immediately pulled me out.

I'd love to try ice fishing, but I just don't think I could do it.
I do not have that issue but I get it. Fears of frozen lakes, rivers are justified.

When I was 10 I jumped in to save my 4 year old brother, who had fallen in. I was in for what seemed like forever, but was probably less then 5 min. I remeber feeling like an ekg without any rhythm. Bee ‐‐------------------------ eeeep. Its pretty fucked up because I came to the conclusion I couldn't save both of us, so at 10 I accepted my fate. Thank fully mom came to my rescue. My brother hated water after that for the longest time. The way he smells I still think he hates water.

As an adult I signed up for one of those polar plunges with friends. They cut out a strip of ice along the shore. You jump into about 6 feet of water and swim to the shore. I was kind of excited to see if the internal feeling was the same. Everyone jumped in, and I had the same feeling. Like indescribably the same feeling. The adrenaline, time displacement, rytthmless ekg, etc. I even felt the panic as everyone around me splashed and flailed to the exit. I waited until they exited. i hate the cold but that experience is super unique. Maybe I'll have to do another one someday.
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mmmc_35 wrote: Sat Dec 11, 2021 9:06 pm
The Marshall Plan wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 6:18 am
When I was a kid I was being stupid on a frozen pond and had one leg go through the ice.

By the Grace Of God, my best friend was standing right there when it happened and he immediately pulled me out.

I'd love to try ice fishing, but I just don't think I could do it.
I do not have that issue but I get it. Fears of frozen lakes, rivers are justified.

When I was 10 I jumped in to save my 4 year old brother, who had fallen in. I was in for what seemed like forever, but was probably less then 5 min. I remeber feeling like an ekg without any rhythm. Bee ‐‐------------------------ eeeep. Its pretty fucked up because I came to the conclusion I couldn't save both of us, so at 10 I accepted my fate. Thank fully mom came to my rescue. My brother hated water after that for the longest time. The way he smells I still think he hates water.

As an adult I signed up for one of those polar plunges with friends. They cut out a strip of ice along the shore. You jump into about 6 feet of water and swim to the shore. I was kind of excited to see if the internal feeling was the same. Everyone jumped in, and I had the same feeling. Like indescribably the same feeling. The adrenaline, time displacement, rytthmless ekg, etc. I even felt the panic as everyone around me splashed and flailed to the exit. I waited until they exited. i hate the cold but that experience is super unique. Maybe I'll have to do another one someday.
I fell through trapping muskrats with a buddy in high school. End of season and ice was terrible next to the houses. We both went through, crawled up the rat house and ran off all the way back to the pickup then into town. It was the coldest I have ever been in my life. That water hits you and it's like you can't even take a breath.
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southdakbearfan wrote: Sat Dec 11, 2021 11:07 pm I fell through trapping muskrats with a buddy in high school. End of season and ice was terrible next to the houses. We both went through, crawled up the rat house and ran off all the way back to the pickup then into town. It was the coldest I have ever been in my life. That water hits you and it's like you can't even take a breath.
It's like you can feel switches turning off. Then you watch a mother fucker like Wim Hof.

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First ice trip of the year yesterday afternoon.

Success = I didn’t forget anything and everything worked well.

Fish = well the good thing about electronics is you know if fish are there, the bad thing about electronics is you know fish are there and looking at your bait for 2 hours, but they are not biting. Vexilar is a blessing and a curse on those days. If we had been earlier in the day I would have put my camera down to see what was going on, but it was towards dark and on this lake the camera won’t work well after dark(too murky).

Tried a new shack out, hub style, and not really impressed. I can see it will be a no wind day type of deal as it is way more difficult to setup vs my flip over.

Got to try my Christmas gift out, Milwaukee M18 brushless hammer drill paired with the Eskimo pistol bit 8” auger. Gotta say I will never use a gas/propane auger again. Ate 8” of ice almost instantly. Cut about 20 holes and still had 3/4 of the 6ah battery left.
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Just got back from the taxidermist.
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Dang. 6x6!

SD, how has yall's duck season been?

It's just now getting cold enough to push some ducks down here from the midwest. I've killed exactly ONE merganser so far this year.

As a result, just been working with the pup more. She's a freaking nut on the water.

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Burl wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:40 am Dang. 6x6!

SD, how has yall's duck season been?

It's just now getting cold enough to push some ducks down here from the midwest. I've killed exactly ONE merganser so far this year.

As a result, just been working with the pup more. She's a freaking nut on the water.

It was a 19 year wait for that tag, filled it the evening of the first day. Now I get to wait 9 years before I can apply again and then start to build up preference points.

Duck hunting was a little slow here this year (pretty significant drought all over drying up the potholes) but the snow goose hunting was fantastic, we probably had the longest run of snow goose hunting this fall I have ever seen. Usually, like the past 15 years, our goose hunting in the fall is pretty short up here in northeast SD. Typically it is all wrapped up by thanksgiving at the latest and usually the week before. This year we ran well into december before ice up so we had a long stretch of good hunting. We got into quite a few mallards as well as a bonus goose hunting and had more specklebellies than I have ever seen.

Finally made enough ice by new years to start ice fishing. And I still may head down to the Missouri River in Pierre to get in some late season canadian goose hunting the end of the month.
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I'm hoping to test out my new NVG setup on some hogs this weekend if I can get away.
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Opening of trout season today in Pennsylvania. Made it to my favorite local creek, must have been a lull in the action because I had a spot immediately. Unfortunately no catches, one good strike but he got away. Air temp was 39, the water is frigid so I'm sure the fish are taking things slow. Trying to find local spots (ponds or streams) for smallmouth fishing. A couple of really good trout waters about an hour away. I'll bite the bullet and make the drive, great rainbow and brown trout can be had.
Drafts are like snowflakes, no two are alike.
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Still too early (cold) in my neck of the woods. Struck out again yesterday. Going again today.

All the species are still at the bottom pretty lethargic. I'm hitting the spots too with the suckers and shiners. At this time last year it was Walleye City. 6 to 10 walleye every time going out.

The thing when they start biting it gets nuts so I don't want miss the start of it so I'm going to just keep going until they wake up.
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Still nothing.

Although I did see a solid three foot muskie the other day. Beautiful colors.

Had a smorgasbord of stuff out there in its area in about 10 feet of water. Nada.
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First limit of walleye on open water for the year Friday right at dark. 15-17” eaters casting from shore about a mile from the house that took about 45 minutes to get. Weeded through a lot of dinks to do it but was fun.
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Been a good spring so far. Two gobblers down. One more and I'm tagged out.


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