I did all my hunting with an old and trusted Winchester model 94 30/30 with iron sights. A good gun in close quarters but a real challenge in the open areas of California. When hunting season became to over populated I switched to a bow. Not one of these fancy ones you get now but a simple 75 pound draw re-curve type. They had a special bow season then.
Didn't always fill my tag but had plenty of fun.
Back in those days if you knew where to hunt in Cal. you could get some pretty good deer.

Tried bear hunting once but they were using dogs and it didn't seem like much of a challenge, never went again.
Also bear isn't all that great to eat.

Magic

Full of trichinosis if you don't cook it carefully enough. I'll pass, thank you.

I love it!! :yeah::yeah::yeah:

This was one way to keep his sanity in the ER!

Ice fishing is big up in Maine. There must be a couple dozen huts towed out onto the ice on nearby Saponac pond every winter.

Ice hunting in Russia is funny, especially when it gets towards spring. Always several ice fisherman who end up on a lump of ice that floats away into the Gulf of Finland and they have to be rescued.

Still have my 12 gauge pump, but stopped hunting small game years back because of the lack of game. Forget about going to the state reserves to hunt, too many fools with a gun in one area.

Also with the introduction of red-tail hawks in the area to get rid of the pigeon population, when they ran out of pigeons to eat they went after rabbits and pheasants.

It been about 10 years so I don't know how it is now, but I enjoyed the hunt and always ate what I shot. I keep saying I'm going to pick back up on fishing but never do. :cry:

In my opinion, cold clear weather is the best time for star gazing. It really clears up the sky. During the summer, a light haze forms. You don't really notice it, but when your telescope is magnifying something 100x, you really notice it.
When it's cold out, and you let your scope temperature adjust, you get nice, clear, and crisp views as long as your shivering doesn't blur it back up.