Outdoorsman Thread

[TripleF]

It's amazing how kids act if you teach them properly.

We had a recap of gun rules before starting.....they were off a smidgen but still on point with:
Make sure the safe is always on.....I replied good, but I think what you wanted to say was, always treat the gun if it's loaded.
Yup.

After each shot, before heading down to the target to see the results they set the gun down and turned the safe on!
All you have to do is educate....very simple.

[CheckSix]

That's great Garry and Scott! Happy to see youth learning the fun of shooting.

[Quick Steel]

Scott, very much appreciate the photos. Maybe it is a trick of the camera but the distance to the target appears enormous. Can you estimate the distance? Its been too many years to recall the range of a Red Ryder. Thanks.

[Mumbleypeg]

More fishing in the near term...

I'm going to Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks in June. It's near Branson, MO. I'll be taking the motorhome and parking it there at an RV park on the water and already have my fishing booked with 2 different guide services for the week. TRL is one of the top 10 Bass fishing lakes in the USA. Can't wait!

I've fished Table Rock Lake several times, and also in the river below the dam. You're wise to hire the guide, which is what I've done when fishing there. It's a large lake and very deep in most places so unless you have sophisticated sonar or an experienced guide it's near impossible to find underwater structure (and therefore the fish). But when you find them the bass fishing is great! As you know, a good guide service will know where they're biting and on what. The times I've been there it was night crawlers in structure submerged 30-40 feet deep.

The lake being so deep makes the water released from the dam very cold and ideal for trout. The river below the dam is called Lake Tanneycomo, due to it's actually being a stretch of water in the old White River channel, between Table Rock and Bull Shoals lakes. Live bait fishing is prohibited for the first couple of miles below the Table Rock dam. If you're into fly fishing it's full of nice size rainbows and browns. Get a schedule for when they're opening the spillway daily - you don't want to be wade-fishing when the floodgates open! Again, a guide is worthwhile as they'll know the right time, right flies and equipment.

Good luck!

Ken

[Black Lion]

Scott, very much appreciate the photos. Maybe it is a trick of the camera but the distance to the target appears enormous. Can you estimate the distance? Its been too many years to recall the range of a Red Ryder. Thanks.

Effective range for the Red Ryder BB gun (per Daisy) is about 30 feet. Target shooting for smooth bore BB guns is done at a distance of 5 meters. For rifled bore pellet guns it's done at 10 meters. Those are NRA set distances. I'm not sure how Daisy determines the effective range but I know for fact that my old Daisy model 25 will still take out a gopher at 30 feet so there's no reason to think that a Red Ryder couldn't achieve the same feat.

[carrmillus]

More fishing in the near term...

I'm going to Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks in June. It's near Branson, MO. I'll be taking the motorhome and parking it there at an RV park on the water and already have my fishing booked with 2 different guide services for the week. TRL is one of the top 10 Bass fishing lakes in the USA. Can't wait!

I've fished Table Rock Lake several times, and also in the river below the dam. You're wise to hire the guide, which is what I've done when fishing there. It's a large lake and very deep in most places so unless you have sophisticated sonar or an experienced guide it's near impossible to find underwater structure (and therefore the fish). But when you find them the bass fishing is great! As you know, a good guide service will know where they're biting and on what. The times I've been there it was night crawlers in structure submerged 30-40 feet deep.

The lake being so deep makes the water released from the dam very cold and ideal for trout. The river below the dam is called Lake Tanneycomo, due to it's actually being a stretch of water in the old White River channel, between Table Rock and Bull Shoals lakes. Live bait fishing is prohibited for the first couple of miles below the Table Rock dam. If you're into fly fishing it's full of nice size rainbows and browns. Get a schedule for when they're opening the spillway daily - you don't want to be wade-fishing when the floodgates open! Again, a guide is worthwhile as they'll know the right time, right flies and equipment.

Good luck!

Ken

..ken, I had an aunt and uncle who had a houseboat on Tanneycomo, they both fished for rainbow trout all the time!!, worst mistake I ever made was swapping him some filleted, skinned bluegills for trout!!....we couldn't eat the trout, they were full of tiny bones!!................. ...................

[CheckSix]

More fishing in the near term...

I'm going to Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks in June. It's near Branson, MO. I'll be taking the motorhome and parking it there at an RV park on the water and already have my fishing booked with 2 different guide services for the week. TRL is one of the top 10 Bass fishing lakes in the USA. Can't wait!

I've fished Table Rock Lake several times, and also in the river below the dam. You're wise to hire the guide, which is what I've done when fishing there. It's a large lake and very deep in most places so unless you have sophisticated sonar or an experienced guide it's near impossible to find underwater structure (and therefore the fish). But when you find them the bass fishing is great! As you know, a good guide service will know where they're biting and on what. The times I've been there it was night crawlers in structure submerged 30-40 feet deep.

The lake being so deep makes the water released from the dam very cold and ideal for trout. The river below the dam is called Lake Tanneycomo, due to it's actually being a stretch of water in the old White River channel, between Table Rock and Bull Shoals lakes. Live bait fishing is prohibited for the first couple of miles below the Table Rock dam. If you're into fly fishing it's full of nice size rainbows and browns. Get a schedule for when they're opening the spillway daily - you don't want to be wade-fishing when the floodgates open! Again, a guide is worthwhile as they'll know the right time, right flies and equipment.

Good luck!

Ken

Thanks Ken!
Good to know. The conversation with the guides on Monday discussed fishing top water in the morning and then switching to the drop shot technique in deeper water in the afternoon.

I'm a real noobie to fly fishing. Got a 6wt rod last year and am barely able to cast with it. I took it to the Boundary Waters last year and did try it. But because of so many trees and bushes around me, all I could do effectively was roll cast it. As it happened, the Mayfly hatch was in full progress and my fly was lost in the billions of them in the water. Needless to say, I didn't get any bites. Haven't had it out yet this year, I need to find a good place with minimal obstructions to really try it. I think once I start catching fish with it, my outlook will brighten.

Long story longer, I won't be taking it with me. The other issue is, I have no car with me. So, the good news is, the guide will pick me up by boat at the RV park. Very convenient.

[TripleF]

Scott, very much appreciate the photos. Maybe it is a trick of the camera but the distance to the target appears enormous. Can you estimate the distance? Its been too many years to recall the range of a Red Ryder. Thanks.

About 12 paces so I'm guessing around 35 feet.....

I think we did purty good for first timers. I'll move it in a little next time!!

[Quick Steel]

Using the chair as a bench rest was excellent.

[jmh58]

Scott, very much appreciate the photos. Maybe it is a trick of the camera but the distance to the target appears enormous. Can you estimate the distance? Its been too many years to recall the range of a Red Ryder. Thanks.

About 12 paces so I'm guessing around 35 feet.....

I think we did purty good for first timers. I'll move it in a little next time!!

KUDOS.. And I think yinz did REAL WELL!!! John

[TripleF]

Thanks fellas!!!!

[Black Lion]

About 12 paces so I'm guessing around 35 feet.....

I think we did purty good for first timers. I'll move it in a little next time!!

Some really good shooting at that distance for the first time out. Especially when you consider that sometimes the BB's come out of that barrel like a knuckle ball. Punching paper is fun but if you want to increase the difficulty a tad get yourself some alligator clips or clothespins, attach them to a board or hang them with string from a tree branch then put crackers in them for targets. Cleanup is easy afterwards...just let the critters feed off the crumbs.

If you're interested or curious here's a link to the NRA BB gun rules and regs:

http://www.nrahq.org/compete/RuleBooks/ ... b-book.pdf

[zp4ja]

Good on you Scott. Good intro to firearms if that is intent.

Nice fishing trip Dave. Doesn't get much better than that!

Jerry

[TripleF]

Good on you Scott. Good intro to firearms if that is intent.

Jerry

Thanks Jerry. My intent is to share outdoor experiences I loved as a boy growing up, and to instill those in them. As I see that arena is quickly disappearing IMO.

I don't have the gun knowledge I wish I did, but I share what I have with them and any of their friends who'll show interest

[Old Hunter]

Good work on the marksmanship training of the boys Scott - BB guns are great for learning the fundamentals. OH

[orvet]

..ken, I had an aunt and uncle who had a houseboat on Tanneycomo, they both fished for rainbow trout all the time!!, worst mistake I ever made was swapping him some filleted, skinned bluegills for trout!!....we couldn't eat the trout, they were full of tiny bones!!................. ...................

There is an art to eating trout, it they are properly cooked you can just flake the meat off the bone with the fork leaving the skeleton intact in the plate!
It is much simpler, easier, and faster than filleting any a bluegill, crappie or bass!

[zp4ja]

Good on you Scott. Good intro to firearms if that is intent.

Jerry

Thanks Jerry. My intent is to share outdoor experiences I loved as a boy growing up, and to instill those in them. As I see that arena is quickly disappearing IMO.

I don't have the gun knowledge I wish I did, but I share what I have with them and any of their friends who'll show interest

That's what men do my friend. And I agree, the world has changed and change is not always good!

Yea Dale, good idea. I had a trout bone caught in my throat for a month years ago before I was finally able to hack it out.

Jerry

[Colonel26]

I checked on the ladies today and boy were they a buzz.

Everything here has been about two weeks early this year with plenty of rain. So the honey flow has been in full swing for a couple of weeks now.

In the pic, the bottom two deep boxes are brood, honey, and pollen for the bees. The third deep box is a honey super. It's already full of honey and they've started capping it off. When why're done it'll weigh about 80lbs! I added the fourth box today, a medium. Lord willing we'll have honey soon.

IMG_0335.JPG (28.29 KiB) Viewed 2451 times

[treefarmer]

Lookin' good, Wade! Our bee keeper friend didn't bring any hives to our place this year. I really enjoyed keepin' up with them in the years past, always interesting to watch.
Treefarmer

[Colonel26]

Lookin' good, Wade! Our bee keeper friend didn't bring any hives to our place this year. I really enjoyed keepin' up with them in the years past, always interesting to watch.
Treefarmer

Philip here's a little back story on this bunch. Last year I lost both of the hives I had. It was a bad year and weather related I think as lots of us in these parts lost hives about the same time. On the day I discovered the second hive had died out, this bunch showed up.

It was in late July, which is very, very late for a swarm. I actually got to watch the swarm forming. They came out of the holler behind my property. They made about a 30 foot across tornado of bees and they lit on about a 2 inch limb on one of my trees. Here they are on the limb, and as I was putting them in a deep hive body. The pic of them on the tarp, the box is already chocked full and I had to put a second box on them. It was a HUGE swarm.

They did well and drew out comb and laid in some honey and pollen for the winter. The only problem with late swarms is that most of the bees are old field bees. A bee only lives about 44 days, so even though it started out as a HUGE swarm, by fall all I had was the few bees that the Queen was able to raise between July and about late October. So by late fall I only had a very small colony. Just barely enough to fill one box.

I had to break the hive down to just the bottom box and pray for the best. Thankfully, we didn't have a very cold winter. If we had, they'd have frozen to death. You see the bees cluster in an ball around the queen and if it gets real cold the outer layer of bees will freeze to death protecting the queen. By spring I expected this bunch to be gone.

I checked them late March and low and behold they were surviving. And that box was FULL! That queen started raising young bees in Janurary and she had been going at it. I put a second hive body on, and in two weeks they had brood, honey and pollen in it. Three weeks ago they had the second hive body full and I put a deep super of drawn comb on. Today I found it full of honey and they've started capping it.

I don't know if these are native wild bees or a swarm off someone's hive. But whatever strain they are, they are survivors, and this queen is some kind of awesome. A real testament to her creator.

[TripleF]

WOW.....that's info I had no knowledge of. Very informative Wade! Thanks!

[Old Hunter]

Isn't that the truth - great info Wade - you're teaching brother! OH

[Quick Steel]

Highly interesting. Thank you for sharing.

[Colonel26]

Thanks guys. You can fit what I know about them in a thimble and have room left over. But they fascinate me.

[CheckSix]

Wade, that is just fascinating! Thanks!

A few years ago, here in my neighborhood, a bee swarm formed on a small tree in front of someone's house. The owner was ignorant and wanted to kill them all, because she had small children. I explained to her that these are protected and you can't kill them. And... if you leave them alone, they won't bother you. I went over to my place and Googled local beekeepers, I called a few and had one come over and capture the swarm. It was really cool! I felt a little bit happy that I was able to stop someone from doing harm to them and getting them to a good place to do their magic.