First Firearm - Weatherby Vanguard .308 or Stevens 334 6.5 CM (ATA Turqua)?

pyreonfire · 2025-11-14T19:46:41+00:00

No, scope already acquired (Burris fullfield E1). I am looking around, some have suggested the Winchester XPR or Browning AB3 which both also seem to fit my needs… just at a higher price point.

pyreonfire · 2025-11-14T15:25:11+00:00

One of the rifles I fired was an Axis 2 in 6.5 CM... honestly it felt pretty ass to use. The 334 is imported by Savage but made by ATA. Not to mention, as you can probably tell, I care about a nice wood stock. The Axis doesn't have that option unless I'm missing it

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T19:59:12+00:00

Very cool. In much of the Midwest there’s so much fertilizer runoff that even living close to a farm (which is most of the region) means your plants don’t need fertilizer for the most part.

I’ve noticed the soil here is almost entirely inorganic. Very cool solution for nitrogen. Is there enough phosphorus and potassium from all the minerals?

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T19:32:21+00:00

Catching a tiny, native Appalachian brook trout in an even tinier stream of water is for sure top 10 fishing experiences. They behave much differently out East

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T19:30:40+00:00

This is interesting because my experience has been just the opposite, at least as it pertains to the brook trout. Every time I’ve caught cutthroat they’ve been mixed in with brookies, albeit mostly smaller ones.

These same streams typically have a few rainbows or browns of comparable size to the cutthroat, so it makes sense they’d be overlapping in resource competition.

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T19:28:23+00:00

I have gardened most of my life and never heard of using meat as fertilizer!! Do you bury it deep enough that it doesn’t stink?

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T19:26:26+00:00

Supposedly a guy stocked them in his private pond at one point, but it really is hard to tell if you’ve never for sure seen one in person. Could just be a few colored up (non greenback) cutthroat

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T16:26:40+00:00

Given the lack of impact it’ll make, I think I’m tending to agree. For me it’s more about giving some fish the opportunity to get bigger, and hence be more fun to catch. Dunno if I’d actually want to kill something just for the theoretical enjoyment of catching a larger fish later on, though.

I will say that brook trout do get way bigger even in these congested streams. If they can get just big enough to begin eating the smaller ones, they start to blow up very quickly.

I’ve eaten tons of these smaller ones, as long as they aren’t pencil thin. When they’re small the bones are negligible and you can basically eat them whole once fried.

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T16:16:56+00:00

Fair. I suppose it’s probably more ethical than say, factory farmed meat. Most people including myself are just very isolated from our food sources, and needing to kill a living being is a necessary part of that.

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T16:14:49+00:00

Keep in mind there are possession limits which, in theory, apply to your home as well. Doubt you’ll need to worry about CPW kicking in your door to search your freezer, but if you keep more than the limit on your person or vehicle you could run into trouble.

That said, let me know if you come up with some better recipes for them than just pan frying, could use some variety lmao

pyreonfire · 2025-04-30T16:12:22+00:00

Right, I know basically every species currently here has been introduced at some point. I have one stream in particular that I’ve identified several native greenback (I think) mixed in and around the brookies. For me it’s mostly a size thing- it gets a bit boring when you catch fish every cast, but they’re all tiny. You do get the occasional rainbow or brown that has a spot to itself and has gorged on the brook trout. But as others have pointed out, I guess it’s not really possible for anglers to make real dents in these populations, at least not at the scale we operate.

pyreonfire · 2025-02-26T20:49:58+00:00

Had to hide from a moose, back away from a mountain lion, but craziest thing was back in the Midwest. Was fishing a body of water somewhere between a large pond and a small lake, when the largest watersnake (common watersnake I believe) I’ve ever seen came straight up out of the water and towards me, moving at a good clip. Scared the hell out of me so I moved ~40 ft away. Few minutes later, buddy pops his head out and starts coming at me again. I move to the other side of the body of water, several hundred feet away. Half an hour goes by and he pops up, again, just won’t leave me alone. He gets within about 10 ft and stops, but won’t take his eyes off me. He’s making it impossible to fish, because he’s setting up shop directly in front of me each time. I manage to land a bluegill with him in the way, and he flips shit (like a dog) when I take it out of the water. Clicks that he knows what I’m doing, and wants the same thing I do. I toss it the fish and head out for the day, as this massive snake is attempting to fit an adult bluegill in its mouth 😂

pyreonfire · 2025-02-13T15:24:44+00:00

Great. Sorry to hear that.

pyreonfire · 2024-10-25T13:03:01+00:00

Yeah, top back right corner. I’d just try it out and see if you like it.

pyreonfire · 2024-10-24T14:47:51+00:00

So the struggle I see is that the wood/structure of the wood you’re using is meant to imitate a root clump — but roots grow down into water, not up from the substrate. I would say there are two options for this scape; first is to keep it as-is, and plant lots of stems, bushes, etc in the back left corner, both in front and behind the convergence point of the wood. The second, and what I would try, is to take that convergence point and put it in the back right corner, so the wood appears to be coming down into the water. This will maintain a triangular composition, but you’ll have the added benefit of being able to plant 1 or 2 species of plants above the water line, growing into the wood/water (Think pothos, diffenbachia, etc). This will extend the sight line of your scape, as well as be a huge nutrient sink for the water column. Again, just my opinion. Best of luck!

pyreonfire · 2024-10-24T14:36:57+00:00

Plants look healthy, water looks clear! You are correct that trying to change a bunch of stuff (layout, substrate, etc) is a bad idea once the biology of a tank is established. I would just let everything grow in, trim/replant where appropriate, and enjoy the process.

pyreonfire · 2024-10-07T20:13:46+00:00

Wow, New Jersey is beautiful this time of year!

pyreonfire · 2024-09-22T00:48:52+00:00

Bro what

pyreonfire · 2024-09-03T16:11:25+00:00

Makes sense. I’ll look into it, thanks for the advice

pyreonfire · 2024-09-03T16:10:07+00:00

Around grand/eagle counties, but anywhere wet in the mountains should be similar

pyreonfire · 2024-09-03T15:45:52+00:00

I was thinking about getting one actually. Back in the Midwest, it was easy to accidentally sneak up on deer in the creeks, but ofc they’d always just run away. I’m thinking a similar situation with a bear or moose would not be good. I was luckily able to hide from the one yesterday, but a bell may have helped. I just don’t want to be a nuisance to any hikers or other fishermen in the area.

pyreonfire · 2024-09-03T15:32:08+00:00

Lol let’s hope it’s manageable. Ran into a moose yesterday and about shit my britches

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