Issue #2 OF 2002


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!!!  COUPON FUN SAVINGS INSIDE!!

Bills 2nd Newsletter of 2002..  Here we go again as summer starts up. As this is being assembled in May, we have March weather. What will be the reading conditions? Only the shadow knows.

  New Gun News...... Perhaps by the time your reading this the new 17 caliber rifles will be here in good numbers.  This is by far the hottest new gun to show up in a long time. When the first new Magnum showed up a few years ago, it was fun and exciting, but now, Its like Magnum of the Month Club. I think that one of the secrets to the 17, is, its here for the fun of it. It does these neat things but doesn’t take itself too seriously.  Refreshing!

     Over and Unders each year hold more and more choices.  And now there are companies building full featured guns at prices that the ‘stripped’ guns used to sell for. Browning is still the benchmark by which all are measured. Savage now too has a .17 rifle. Taurus will be showing up with a couple of .17 revolvers. Verona over under target models on the shelf, look good, good price. Just unpacked a 405 Winchester lever. Is this the Roosevelt Rifle?

  Chronic Wasting Disease..... Here is one heck of a confusing issue. Lots of articles and news coverage. Here is a first thing to please keep in mind. You aren’t hearing about this from your usual outdoor writers. The headlines and accompanying articles are written by reporters and editors who have little if any knowledge of deer, or hunting.

      CWD, as this is shortened to, is new to us but not to many other states, primarily in the West. No one knows how it is spread, where it comes from, or much of anything.  What I have tried to do here is put together a bunch of points about what is known. Keep in mind that here in Wisconsin; CWD was something other people had to worry about far far away. Now it is in our back 40.

       After every round of meetings it seemed as though the news media whipped up a bunch of hysterical reactions. Stories about people emptying their freezers of venison and taking the steaks to the dump. Hey, lets get a handle on things here.

         There are at least 1,500,000 deer in Wisconsin. There are few natural predators really affecting this bunch. Unnatural predators would include gunshots and carshots.  So if a deer misses the wolf, the 06, and the Z71 pickup, all that's left to take it down are natural causes. And CWD is one of several natural causes.  Deer have a number of diseases that they can get.. CWD is one.              

       Anyone reading this that has hunted game of any kind, has probably run into the situation where an animal they have killed looks funny when picked up. Aside from the damage from the kill. You shoot a sick animal. What do you do? What did you do? A CWD animal is a sick animal.  If the deer has CWD, but is not yet sick from it, then the spine and brain are the parts with the infection. So avoid the spine and brain. A visibly sick animal means that the  infection is active throughout the carcass.  For that you call the DNR

        Can you get this from the deer? There is no indication that humans can get it. Cows, sheep, pigs, and even humans each have their very own strain of CWD. It does not jump from species to species.

        One thing that is known is that deer in areas crowded by deer, get the disease more. That is the reason for the desire to have people stop feeding them. Maybe CWD has been around for 1000 years and is one of nature’s ways of controlling populations.

        To conclude (at least for now): don’t change your hunting  plans or desires. If you shoot a sickly looking deer, like any other time, ask the DNR to look at it. Other states have gotten this under control. We will too. What we really have to do is get used to this as an issue of our own.

  The Almighty huntin license machine..

Its well into its 4th year for the electronic marvel of making you hunt legal. So whats new? Costs of license unchanged.  No extra charge for Sturgeon as many think.  Of course we will have to see what kind of fall confusion the deer issues will bring. But the machines, that issue the license, frankly, these are working rather well. Bugs are gone and things get done pretty quickly. And the typed form is much neater than our writin.

  Rebates and Rollllbacks  a reminder that the Benelli Nova Pump price rollback is still in effect for this year. And Browning still has  $100 dollars back on all their Gold Autos. And $75 back on 3.5 inch 12 pumps. As said previously, Remington has rebates but you have to find the coupons in mags. Winchester has a $25 License rebate on their semi SX2.

  Black Powder... we are going to speak first of powder now because its getting confusing. Ready?  REAL Black Powder is still available tho the price rose a bit due to production costs.  Pyrodex is still around in granular as well as pellets. Clean shot powder is available in granular or pellet form. But legal problems may make the pellets unavailable. The Clear Shot powder from Goex is soon to be gone due to  problems in  production.  And the new 777 powder  from Hodgon.  New guns from Winchester that are pretty slick. The new Knights and Thompson Center guns will hopefully be here  by the time your reading this. We have instituted a new system in this department to have more of the necessary odds and ends on hand .Happy Hunting!!!!!!!!!!

  Concealed Carry Re Revisited.....  It’s a little beyond us. All those civics and history classes apparently didn’t stick real well. As the story seems to go, one part of State government passed the ‘Right to Carry’ law. Then the bill had to go to the Senate and ultimately to the Governor. It seems as though the Senate never had an opportunity to even consider the bill much less vote on the issue. (Preliminary estimates were that said bill would have passed in the senate) Apparently Senator Chvala would not even let the bill be considered. That is the part that is so hard to understand. And that is where things seem to stand for the year 2002, which is exactly nowhere.

  Business Hours... 

We are open from

9am until 9pm - Monday to Friday,

 From 9am until 5pm on Saturday.

 Closed Sundays and Holidays.

 These hours are year round.

Fishin Hole...... Who’d a thunk it, ice fishin in May, maybe even in June. This year we picked up a bunch of great rod reel combs that will catch fishermen, fisherwomen, as well as fish. Great deals on Rapala Lures, of which we bought a bunch.

Get Hip(boots) get fishin. Have fun. Don’t worry, be happy!!!!!!!!

  Sportswear-A.K.A. huntin clothes

Our great discount sale continues even as you are reading this. T shirts of all sizes and colors. Caps and hats of every shape. Vests of various hues and hefts. Shirts of many cuts and sizes and purposes. A ton of jackets and coats for a myriad of seasons and reasons. Pants for brush or bramble. Heck, even socks. Be hip, be camoed, be fashionable, be CHEAP!!

  Boots  Boots  Boots...and more Boots.

Frankly campers there isn’t much that is revolutionary here. The new models are trickling in. BUT the incredible prices on last year’s models are still in effect and can make your tootsies very happy. (see coupon)

  Crow News......  you’d think that this is a dormant issue right now. The season is closed and the little buggers are out there right now breeding and cawing and generally enjoying diplomatic immunity. But lets think for a second about whether ‘Hevi-Shot’ is worth spending money on for crows. Legal? probably. And maybe we can blame Crows for CWD.

  When we get busy....  And we have gotten a lot busier in the last 4 years. Your happiness is what keeps you coming in and coming back.. We realize that. We have worked to get more parking places. We have plugged away at getting the place spiffier inside and out. And when we have busy days or busy times of the day we schedule ourselves heavy. We like you stopping in and its fun being busy. Plus, it pays the bills!

  Knives.......  This is one sharp department that we keep an edge on. Puns may abound but like firearms, knives represent a level of craftsmanship that is a joy to behold. From a pocketknife, to a filet tool, a skinner or Bowie to a Broadsword. (Am still holding off on getting suits of armor.)

  Armory  Guns...... Sort of like mood swings, this department goes from a bunch of historical bolts, to a batch of ‘important’ semi-autos. And they show up in an absolutely unpredictable order. Probably the most endless things to go after are Mauser Rifles. There are hundreds of variations. And the difference in quality between and early Japanese rifles and the same gun produced near Wars end. Wow.

  Bowhunting/Archery.... Starting to get Crossbows in sufficient numbers. And as usual the ‘regular’ compound bows for this season are all new and improved. Your old bow is great , but these are just a little more efficient. Enough to tempt you into making the leap??? You decide!

  Gun  Safes.. Will try and do this paragraph without any bad puns or herniated humor. Received another batch of these and have special prices on these plus the ones in stock. 

  Ducks Unlimited.....  We look forward to again being with the great folks from PMC/Verona up at the big show in Oshkosh this August. Hope to see you there . Look for the HUGE red white and black truck. If you have never gone to this, it is absolutely huge, with more to see and so much for everyone to do.  Shoot almost any gun ever made. Listen to the best sales pitches in the world on the latest in revolutionary squirrel decoys.

  Website...... have some fun and go visit this thing. Its come a long way since we began it. It’s got some good information and some fun entertainment on it. www.billssport.com

  Reloading.......  This is really a huge area and we’ll try to touch upon a bunch of facets. Then you can come in and argue about em . In the olden days we used to call em ‘loads’. Now everybody refers to them as recipes. MEC still makes the loader that the world measures loaders by. If you’re bored by your red black and chrome machine, Get Maaco. Tho RCBS has a gem of a shotshell machine in the new Grand, it has yet to show up in any numbers. Forster Products. a premier maker of metallic case care products, has evolved even further this year. More user friendly product line. And the number of powders you have available is just endless. Problem is that some of the ones you read ads about can’t be had to to a lack of distribution. Bullet variations continue to expand. Primers are kind of fun because they, like pistons remain relatively constant. And Shot: Shot now has at least 27 variations if you include size, hardness and content. (This is starting to turn into reloading trivia) Insofar as reloading manuals, it seems as tho everyone except Hornady is out of print until fall. Ye olde Hodgon Powder company is also showing incredible commitment and energy to the reloader and blackpowder shooter.

  Calendar of Events...

  July 20 - Hunter’s Choice Apps. Deadline
Aug. 10 - Deadline for Goose, Fall Turkey, Grouse Apps.
Sept. 1 - Dove Season Opens
Sept 3 - Early Goose Season Opens
Sept 14 - Deer Archery/Squirrel Opens
Oct. 19 - Noon - Pheasant Season Opens
Oct 24 - T Zone Opens
Oct 27 - T Zone Ends
Nov 17 - Deer Archery Closes
Nov 23 - Deer Gun Opens
Dec 2 - Muzzleloader Deer Opens
Jan 17 - Bear Apps. Deadline

  Politics....  This is something that we touched upon in the chronic wasting part, and in the concealed carry section, but now we want to talk about this on a State of Wisconsin level. We have an appointed Governor running for election soon.               

A Governor who is under the gun from an economic angle. Governor McCallum walked into that job literally on the day that the economy took a fall.  Economic problems that we  face, on all levels, are not of his  making. This is a man who is Governing the State of Wisconsin. Key word, GOVERN.  He is not working his own political agenda.

 Governor McCallum has picked up the reins and is working honestly  to keep things on an even keel and going in an upward direction.  We think he comes from an old fashioned place where political office was a responsibility to the citizenry first and foremost.  Not a pork barrel free for all.

     Look at  how he has gone to bat for the hunters of Wisconsin insofar as finding some sensible answers for the deer dilemma. We think he is going to provide a stable environment for all of us.   What he has done is show that he has respect for positive traditions and the rights of all. 

Last  Round..... A word about this newsletter and the used guns herein. It takes about 2 weeks to put this together. At the last minute it gets the current used gun list added in. It goes to the printer for about 10 days. Then spends about 4 days here getting sorted for mailing. And then mailed which takes various numbers of days, 2 to 6. So by the time you read it the used gun list is as much as 21 days old. Many of them have gone in that period. BUT, many have come also. And of course when we get real busy  we can’t update the web list as often. But goal dang it we do try.

   Til next time .... Thanks for your patronage and we look forward to seeing you again here on the hill. We are constantly trying to figure how to make things run better to serve you better.

Thanks

Ken, Paul, Dan, Joe, Richard,

Richard, Al, Kathy and Mike


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