Parker

Well done and well said. Thank you.

Good video. Some ranchers out West think differently about the wolf though. It's a touchy subject there. http://ricklamplugh.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-cash-cascade-do-wolves-hurt-ranchers.html When it comes to New Jersey, proper foresting is needed here, but the tree-huggers battle it every time it's broached. With more than two million acres of forest available in this state, only 87,000 acres (0-20 years in age growth) are suitable as undergrowth cover for birds and smaller game species like grouse, woodcock, rabbit and non-game species like small birds. A State-supported effort to clear-cut small swaths to create habitats for the golden-winged warbler, grouse and woodcock has been underway in a number of areas for years now. Deer have pretty much stripped the forest floor of appropriate ground cover, and sustain themselves today on mast crop, low-hanging evergreens, farmland crops, and convenient shrubbery around encroaching homes. This year's deep snow should have made more than a few deer easy-pickings for the coyote population.

The Super has been around for 85 years now. I'll wager the GAP never lasts that long.

The Win. M70 Super Grade is a nice looking rifle, with some custom touches, but it's not inexpensive. (The pre-64 M70's continue to escalate in price.)

Ohio National Guard, Kent State Univ., May 4,1970.

+1 on the 700 [The 700 Classic & 700 Mountain Rifle can be pretty.] +1 on the 760/7600/6 pump. [unconventional compared to a bolt, cool in a utilitarian way, surprisingly accurate thanks to a free-floating barrel, light and handy to carry, can be found in carbine or rifle barrel lengths, after-market kits are available like a drop-in Timney trigger enhancement for the trigger group for $90 (or buy the Remington Competition Sping to reduce the pull to 3.5-4# for $8 and deal with the creep) and after-market stocks of all styles available.] Used-models for both are plentiful. .30-06 is plenty of cartridge for hunting most North American game if bullet choice is selected properly for the game at hand and range is not preposterous.

+1 I'm clicking my L.L. Bean MHS's in anticipation of departure down the road.

I don't know about NJ, but they have been underway in NY for a while now. http://biathlon.nyssranordic.org/

{quote]The whole O/U shotgun thing is a relatively new phenomenon. Some history: Merkel was the first to produce an over & under shotgun in the late 1800's. Their current O/U line (latest is the 2000 series) is still in production today, and highly regarded. John M. Browning introduced the Superposed in 1931, Remington followed quickly with their Model 32 in 1932. Both American O/U's set highwater marks for popularity, quality and reliability and they are still in production today. (Remington doesn't make the 32 anymore, but someone who acquired the patent does.) English maker's (Lancaster, Boss) followed the European stackbarrel craze and made O/U's well before before Browning. Small gunmaker's in the Liege area of Belgium also turned out O/U's in the pre-war years. Beretta introduced their first O/U, the S1, in 1933. As for being a "new phenomenon," the O/U's absence or lack of popularity in the U.S. can be attributed to the war putting a crimp on imports (including the Browning) by 1939 and the fact that they cost more than a good pump or semi-auto at the time. (Who wanted a gun that had only two rounds available when you could have five or six?) Migratory game laws in the 30's on a Federal level changed magazine capacity to a limit of three for hunting which put all shotguns of different action types at an almost equal advantage. It was after the war that all those lovely O/U guns made their way to the U.S. in droves to be enjoyed. I would agree with others, buy a quality pump if your budget is tight and save your pennies for a good O/U as your interest in the clays game grows.

Hope this helps you. Pellet speed over 1,000fps works well on squirrels in .177 caliber.

They'll work. Others favor #7 1/2's, #6's or even #5's.

You've been able to use AR's for woodchuck on private land for a while here in New Jersey. Copied from the F&W Digest, to answer your questions: Rifles, Modern A valid rifle permit must be in possession while hunting with a modern rifle. Rifles for small game hunting are allowed using limited types of .22 caliber rimfire ammo and are legal only for taking woodchuck (ammo restrictions, page 66), raccoon and opossum with hounds (.22 shorts only) plus coyote and fox (ammo restrictions, page 62). NO rifle woodchuck hunting on wildlife management areas or state parks, forests and recreation areas. Small game hunting with centerfire rifles is limited to not larger than .25 caliber for coyote and fox (see page 62) and .25 caliber or larger for woodchuck (see page 66). See also Firearms and Missiles, page 25. A modern rifle need not be plugged, but may be loaded with no more than three cartridges. Rifle permit holders of all ages may hunt with all rifle types as allowed by New Jersey laws. See chart on page 66 for details on small caliber rifle ammunition legal for hunting woodchucks and page 62 for the special permit coyote/fox season.

Yes. Check Pg. 64 in the Digest, and you'll note that as long as you keep your payload at 100 grs. or less, you're fine to use whatever you like for a centerfire rifle. (You just may have difficulty finding a 100 gr. bullet for your .416 Rigby.) Can I explain the logic of why it's okay to use up to 100 grs. for a woodchuck yet I'm limited to a maximum of 80 grs. for the larger fox & coyote? Nope.

Use of pellet rifles in .177 thru & .22 caliber for small game is new this year. .32 & .36 caliber in muzzleloaders have been legal for squirrel-only for decades, but only in certain areas denoted in the Digest. The Digest is the single and easiest source for information I know of to get all the game laws. We can't hunt small game (rabbit or squirrel) today with .22 rimfire in New Jersey. Cross the border into New York, and Orange County is a rifle zone, and you can hunt all the squirrels and rabbits you want with a .22.

Newtonian, Use the Digest from the F&W website, and start on Pg. 26, then Pg. 62 & Pg. 66 should cover your questions. .22 rimfire still has limited use but is now legal for fox & coyote this year during the special season dates. Excerpt: Rifles, Modern A valid rifle permit must be in possession while hunting with a modern rifle. Rifles for small game hunting are allowed using limited types of .22 caliber rimfire ammo and are legal only for taking woodchuck (ammo restrictions, page 66), raccoon and opossum with hounds (.22 shorts only) plus coyote and fox (ammo restrictions, page 62). NO rifle woodchuck hunting on wildlife management areas or state parks, forests and recreation areas. Small game hunting with centerfire rifles is limited to not larger than .25 caliber for coyote and fox (see page 62) and .25 caliber or larger for woodchuck (see page 66). See also Firearms and Missiles, page 25. A modern rifle need not be plugged, but may be loaded with no more than three cartridges. Rife permit holders of all ages may hunt with all rifle types as allowed by New Jersey laws. http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2013/dighnt13.pdf

There was a time only buckshot was legal for deer hunting in New Jersey. And deer hunting with a firearm was only for "6-day," with "doe day" always the first Wednesday following the regular 6-day firearm season. When slugs were allowed for deer, we also saw varmint hunting (woodchuck) allow rifles on private land, with a maximum on bullet weight, 100 grs. Now, we've come a long way, allowing muzzleloaders into the mix, then in-line muzzleloaders that can reach out to 200 yards, .22 rifles for trappers, .22 rifles at WMA ranges, and .22 cal. up to .25 cal. for fox and coyote with bullet weights up to 80 grs., even on WMA properties. We've come a long way baby. But, to answer your original question, it appears NJ was never a progressive state when it came to embracing a firearms culture, even when it came to hunting. Give someone credit that we are at least making some progress here.

I don't think they'd make good table fare.

It would also stand to reason that since the state implemented the Automated Harvest Report System back in 2012, this honor system would force C.O.'s to scrutinize things a bit more. No, a cell phone is not necessary, nor is wireless web access from your tree stand needed in order to hunt. You do know that if you don't have your Deer Harvest Stub you can duplicate the same information on a plain piece of paper? And nothing says that you can't partially fill out the harvest stub prior to hunting. Having the deer management zone & unit # already entered probably would have saved someone some grief. I've hunted in nine other states over almost five decades. It behooves one to know the law before venturing forth.

Good question.

In that context, then I think the golf cart is a wise choice. Someday I'd like to try Lehigh, I hear a lot of good things about it. I've shot a course upstate NY where the layout (designed by Jon Kruger) is a grouse hunter's dream or nightmare, since you are traipsing along the sidehills. You walk the course through the woods and you are poking shots through pines at simulated field presentations, which is pretty humbling. At least after you've finished the course they have a John Deere Gator that comes to pick you up and take you back to the main lodge.

The 11-87 has been made in an array of models over the years, and were offered in skeet and trap models in their Premier line and there was also a special Sporting Clays model with shorter forend for better weight distribution and all included their light contour (LC) barrel, which shaved off some necessary ounces. The Sporting Clays was offered as one time with barrel lengths of 26", 28" and 30"; and the Premier Trap were offered with a factory over-bored 30" barrel and special choke tubes. They are around still on the used market and can be picked up for a good price. Remington has made the 11-87 their workhorse field gun now, and no longer offers them in target models. That role has gone back to the parent model, their 1100 series, although they have dropped many models and only a handful can be found in their 2014 catalog.

A Krieghoff K-80 weighs anywhere from 8.5 to 9.5 lbs. They have weight for a reason. An 11-87 is not a fun gun to carry all day afield, but it will be fine on the clay fields.

Many suggestions are good here. Putting the cart before the horse, my fast and simple answer to your question would be to get a nice used semi-auto with a 28" barrel or a nice used O/U with a 28" or 30" barrel, and you can shoot every discipline mentioned with either. You could buy a nice pump today, and shoot most events, progress your talents, and have fun; but when you get serious you will want a gun best suited for your game. If you're in Mahwah, and shooting at Thunder Mountain, they are more than accomodating there and will help you. They have loaner guns and lots of folks who offer good advice. When skeet got boring I went low-gun long ago, mounting the gun only when the bird emerges from the house window, and that's how I still shoot it today. If I go to Thunder Mountain with a group of like-minded individuals out for a day of ribbing, we will get a skeet field to ourselves and ask the puller to set the houses up for International speeds and he/she will launch birds accordingly. Trap can be boring, doubles-trap not so much. If you're really bored with trap, shoot trap low gun. I've shot sporting clays on courses where you walk the course (which was how it was originally designed, since it was to duplicate hunting situations and presentations,) just haven't tried it with a golf cart yet. I suspect that like golf, the carts are meant to speed up the game.

Coyote hunting can a big social event in other areas not too far from New Jersey. PA & NY each hold contests every year. More than 700 people participated in this event last year in New York. http://www.sullivancountysportsmensfederationny.com/pdf%27s/2014_Coyote_Hunt.pdf

.22 is not allowed for small game in NJ. (only if you are trapping.) For fox & coyote (during daylight hours): Centerfire rifles: From .17 to maximum of .25 caliber with soft point or hollow point bullets and maximum of 80 grains. Rimfire rifles: From .17 to maximum of .22 caliber with soft point or hollow point bullets and maximum of 50 grains.