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bshadle

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Everything posted by bshadle

  1. bshadle
    Not with a dog, but... Fishing for bluefish from a jetty in Florida. Cigar minnow rigged on a 6-0 multi-hook set. Cast it out, and a seagull swooped down and snatched it out of the air in its bill. Got to the end of the line, and when it pulled tight the hook set in the skin at the base of its bill. Never played a seagull on a line before (or since), but managed to reel it in, then hold it down while I got the hook out of its bill. The thing near beat me to death with its wings until I got 'em folded up and a good hold on it. Hope I never catch another one.
  2. bshadle
    With a beagle and a 12 ga SxS. 20 ga if I'm feeling more sporting than hungry. Seriously though, here in Pennsylvania it's illegal to trap rabbits except as pests, and then you need a "wildlife pest control license" or be the actually owner of the property. Can't speak to the laws of the other states.
  3. bshadle
    Welcome, John. You wouldn't be from Pa.? Our spring turkey season opens in May as well.
  4. bshadle
    Just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit over the next few weeks, and it'll be time to start hunting groundhogs here again. Have two young dogs and myself, a rookie, to train. Permissions are lined up and a few invitations from experienced diggers to coordinate. Wish us luck.
  5. bshadle
    Ditch, Pine martins over here are far more likely to be on dry land or even in trees than mucking around in the water. Don't know how your pine martins act over there. Here's some instructions and an illustration for a pocket set for mink. The illustration shows a Victor, but it wouldn't be hard to make a minor modification for a Coni. Another good mink set is the “pocket set†using bait (Fig. 5). This set is made by digging a 3-inch (7.6-cm) diameter hole horizontally back into a bank at the water level. The bottom of the hole should contain about 2 inches (5 cm) of water, and i
  6. bshadle
    Naah... I'd just use a 110 Conibear or No. 11 Victor and be done with it. Pocket set or blind set, either option works. :thumbs-up:
  7. bshadle
    Darn, Ditch... You got my hopes up. I thought I was going to see if our UK/USA Mink Snare (patent pending) worked as well in practice as it seemed in theory. You want me to mail you that purple mink from the prototype?
  8. bshadle
    Lordy! I'm glad I'm not buying ammunition there. I just checked my cabinet, and I paid under $4 USD for 12 ga Remington Game Loads, box of 25. What's that, about £2? The most expensive ones I have, 12 ga 3" mag, steel shot, that we have to use here for waterfowl, were only $10 USD, about £5. I imagine some things there are less expensive than here, though, so it probably balances out. I just paid $15 USD each for foxnets here.
  9. bshadle
    Can't comment much about using it on fox, I don't shoot 'em here. But I shoot a lot of groundhogs in the summer, sometimes out to 400+ yards. Most shots are in the 200 - 300 yard range, but my longest last summer was a laser-ranged 425. My money's on the .223, I'm shooting it from a Savage 12BVSS. Not a lot of experience with the .222, but the .22-250 is notorious for being real particular about the ammunition you feed it. Find the right stuff, and it'll drive tacks at 350 yards. The wrong stuff, and it'll break your heart. The .223, in contrast, seems to digest just about anything
  10. bshadle
    Medical Technologist - I run lab tests in a hospital lab. Get to wear a white labcoat, play with toxic chemicals and deadly infectious agents, AND get paid for it. It's better than getting a chemistry set for Christmas.
  11. bshadle
    Bourbon and water, no ice, when I drink for serious. A good rye is also a suitable substitute for the bourbon. Guiness extra stout when drinking for fun, preferably on tap, but it's harder to find that way over here. The first one makes me happy, the second horny. The third one puts me to sleep.
  12. bshadle
    Congratulations. That's good looking terrain as well.
  13. bshadle
    Got up Saturday morning, and found out the weatherman was a bit off. (What a shock.) Instead of the 20F and 30 – 35 mph winds originally called for, it was all the way up to 26F and the wind was only 20 – 25 mph. Bright sunshine, blue skies, a few white clouds, a perfect bluebird day. Of course, the bluebirds were walking and wearing parkas, but you can’t have everything. I reluctantly traded my favorite canvas boonies hat and leather gloves for wool, layered a fleece sweater under my jacket, loaded up the truck and set out with Dot and high expectations of finally finding something home
  14. bshadle
    “If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.†-- Catherine Aird
  15. bshadle
    Very true just dont breed from it . Wouldn't want the hassle of breeding if they were not only good enough to hunt to ground, but could drive the truck and ask for their own permissions. They're both spayed/neutered anyway.
  16. bshadle
    I'll have to throw in my $0.02 as well. My dogs are my companions first, and anything else they may do is a bonus as far as I'm concerned. The person who feeds 'em is the one who decides what's important.
  17. bshadle
    I've never had a problem ordering from America.
  18. bshadle
    Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a day in the field with the dogs whether it ends up with quarry or not, and a bad day hunting beats a good day at work. But... I think I'd happily trade an easy time posting six pictures of nothing for a hard time posting one picture of game.
  19. bshadle
    Finally got a few hours away from the responsibilities of work and home and was able to get out this morning. Been hearing from a nearby farmer whose land I hunt that he’d been seeing a pair of fox in his fields, and asked me to take a look. Day dawned at 24 degrees F with a 10 mph wind to lower the chill even more, thought it might be a good morning to find something home. Didn’t take us long to find this one. If this isn’t a fox den, then I don’t know what is. Dot was anxious to check it out, but unfortunately no one was home We found a few more holes that lo
  20. bshadle
    Yeah, good read. Just warn me in adbance so I'm not drinking coffee when I read the post. The screen got all messy!
  21. bshadle
    DS, Just got an idea that'd make the design much easier. Bet you could slide a foot or so of flexible snare wire inside the casing of para cord on the loop end to hold your loop open. Wouldn't have to go all the way to the pulling end, so you'd still have the flexibility on that end to wrap on the cleat. Whataya think?
  22. bshadle
    Know what you mean about Trixie. I don't like the larger ones myself for anything other than a water set for beaver, and then with the trigger slid to the side to make it less likely to bycatch. Snares of any type just recently became legal here for a few species, and then you need a special course and certificate to use 'em. Go figure.
  23. bshadle
    If you wanted to do the job right, you'd use the pistol on the antis and a 3" conibear on the mink! http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Body-Gripping-Trap...8QQcmdZViewItem I think body-gripping traps are illegal there, aren't they?
  24. bshadle
    The hole in the noose end is to secure one end of the line. That way you don't have to run a double line back through the handle. Less clutter inside. This is the end of my longer snare pole for illustration. ............... On the prototype, the hole where the cord comes out in front of the cleat is an elongated oval, about 1/2" long. Tried to take a picture of IT, but the d**n camera battery died. The cord comes out at a pretty shallow angle. With the edges of the hole smoothed, not much friction and wear. Certainly no more than regularly bending the line 180 degrees back over
  25. bshadle
    Here you go, DS. A prototype: .................. I just taped it together for show. For real use, I'd drill a hole all the way through the working end, feed the cord through, and secure it with a big ol' knot. I'd pop-rivet the cleat fast, maybe bed it in epoxy for extra strength (I tend to over-engineer). It doesn't show in the picture, but the cord comes out through a slot just in front of the cleat. Drilled three side-by-side holes then reamed into a slot. The pipe is about 20" long, but that's just because that's what I had sitting around. Here it is in use: ...
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