Scooter

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Sock it or use a commercially produced arm guard to reduce the puffy sleeve.

Matte Black.

It sure does!!! Thanks AH, I think I'm sliding over to the Ringer Hen side of this gradually...

Great discussion guys! I still don't know how a lion tag ends up being a "qualifier" for doing this, and someone mentioned earlier that glassing wasn't "actively pursuing" the game animal so I believe I'm good to go...

Nice rifle, if it's in Globe then I'm out. Nice rifle- somebody is very lucky to own it.

Yup, shorter than what I posted... But that's the point!

Coues Kid that duck would have been pretty hard to nail down 100% correct anyway. We've been at it for a whole day and still nobody is 100% sure. I agree that if you go waterfowl hunting you need to be extra careful with bird ID and bag limits for specific species. It takes a lot more work and experience than Duck Dynasty shows on TV... Shoot drakes- you don't have to worry!

And is it truly an L57 or the L579 Forester?

My next question would be... What makes a lion tag more of a valid reason than any other???

Elkhunter, that was pretty much how I am thinking. But it would be different if I was hunting alone, as I am obviously a licensed hunter engaging in legal predator hunting. Where does all this fit into being allowed to carry a gun for protection? Is it limited to a handgun with a barrel of 4" or less just like during the archery seasons?

Nice! Hand calls or e caller???

My Ft Huachuca hunt starts on the 13th... Great looking deer!!!

Scope and bases with it???

Griz, Ringers get that white patch too- yep... and they pretty much fly together a lot of times so that's a tough ID on the wing for sure.

picture #11 shows what I mean by the bill coloration... Notice the light bluish gray towards the tip... http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id/lesser-scaup#ad-image-10 And pic #7 of a ringer's bill. Fatter and reversed colors from the duck in question http://www.ducks.org/hunting/waterfowl-id/ring-necked-duck#ad-image-6

Compelling evidence Avid Hunter, and based solely off of the wing colorations I would tend to agree. But the bill is still looking wrong for a ringer. Hard to 100% nail this particular bird down. I do see what you're saying though.

The other day I shot a beautiful full winter plumage Drake Ringer that was right alongside a hen Bufflehead. No other ducks around. That buffy hen went slummin' I guess... haha!

In the late season, dusk/dawn periods near water are your best bet. The pond where I was duck hunting the other day and 5 minutes before legal had over 100 doves come drink and leave before legal. They only went about 50 yards from the trees down to the water then right back up into the trees and brush around the pond. It was awesome... I wasn't hunting them, but if I had been it would have been a 3 shot limit they were stacked so tight!

Ranchers can lease land from the government to graze cattle on. Don't they? I'm sure they're not paying much. I wonder what the process is for maybe getting a group together and leasing shooting areas from BLM and USFS and setting up established safe shooting ranges where you wouldn't have to worry about hikers, dog walkers, hunters, etc... An accidental shooting incident is just so terribly inevitable given that we've seen over the past year there are literally millions of new gun owners and gun sales increased by the tens of millions since Dec 2012. There's more people recreationally shooting out there, more guns, more ammo being spent, and the amount of public lands and shooting ranges hasn't changed. The litter at popular shooting areas (to include common dove hunting spots) is absolutely atrocious. It is everywhere. Go walk around a tank and tell me how many folks are using Wal Mart Winchester Universal bulk pack shotgun ammo. It's ridiculous. I'm surprised that there are still open gates to some of these areas. Old trees getting shot up, hulls and brass all over the ground, old electronics that have been shot up and jagged pieces everywhere, glass bottles broken, cardboard boxes, YOU NAME IT!!! Guys, I know it's not you- but it's somebody you've come across for sure. Step up and start saying something. we're going to lose this battle, trust me.

This ain't backdoor gun control. COL West is one of the "good guys" but I think stirring up the 2A crowd about this is kinda hackish. I sure as heck wouldn't wanna live anywhere near a lead smelting plant... no matter what the restrictions on air quality were. Lead dust and particles in the air is very bad stuff. This has nothing to do with the 2A, although it might indirectly cause some more of the same increased panic-buying and ammo hoarding/private seller price gouging on top of what we'll see after next Saturday's Sandy Hook anniversary and all the hoopla they'll roll out for that.

Classic Arms has one or two in stock...

That's not an eye ring, it's the eyelids closed... That's at least a 95% hen scaup. It doesn't appear to have the prominent colors of a ringneck on the bill. On all ringers, theres a bluish gray part separated with a white (or very faded white) line from the darker almost black tip and generally a "fatter" bill than a scaup. Trust me, in Texas I have shot quite a few of both species and this one is for sure a hen scaup or "bluebill" as they are known back east. I think when it comes to the smaller divers like Ringers and Scaup- LOTS of folks get the hens confused in the early season when the drakes aren't all pretty yet. The way we used to tell them apart was how readily they decoyed! If they dropped right in... Ringneck. If you could call them back around after a few misses... Ringneck. If they zoomed by at 400mph right over the water they were scaup. Heck, have you ever done a side-by-side of a redhead hen and a ringer hen??? That ain't always an easy answer either!

It's a hen scaup. I've determined this by the white patches of feathers around the plain bluish gray bill. Squared off tail and general diver duck appearance... I can tell by this pic that the bill does not have the colors to be a ringer hen. What color were the eyes???

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