RangerClay

Dick's Sporting Goods in Watertown has 12 boxes of LeveRevolution .35 Rem. for $37.97 and 20% off. If you own one like I do, you know how hard it is to find. Thought I would share my discovery.

Too funny, I was thinking about this very topic earlier this morning. I remember my first opening day in 1981. It was central Madison County and my dad had to wait what felt like forever to cross Rte. 20 because the stream of cars and trucks full of hunter was so long. When daylight broke, the gunfire was constant. Now I'm lucky if I even see a car. Lower deer numbers mostly to blame for the lack of hunters nowadays. They can say records kills all they want and it's B.S. There are less deer and less hunters.

I got lucky and a little 3 point buck made a scrape right in front of my camera. Then fast forward a couple weeks and Mr. Big (the name we have for the biggest buck on camera) decides that he is going to make his presence known and declare that this scrape is his now. I caught a nice set of step by step of him freshening the scrape. Even got one picture I didn't expect. Look at #8 and you tell me, is he rubbing his dink in the dirt? I have never seen a deer do that before. Enjoy!

Read the very next paragraph. Exactly what I just typed an hour ago. Use the proper bullet and it is a fine deer rifle.

I have Browning BLR in .243 that bought for my daughter. To make it a deer rifle you have to buy ammo for whitetails. Just because it says an 80-95 gr. bullet does not mean it suitable for deer. Look carefully at the type of bullet in the cartridge. Much of the ammo out there for the 243 is for varmints with ballistic tip ammo and it's not made for penetration. The ballistic tips break up if it hits bone. I bought Hornady American Whitetail 100 gr. ammo. We have pulled the trigger 6 times and not one deer has gone more than 20 yards. I see the trail cam picture of the wounded deer on page one of this thread and I would bet money that they used the wrong ammo.

Are you using sabot cleaner? I have bottle of this stuff made by CVA that cleans the melted plastic residue from the walls of your barrel. If I'm sighting in, I use with every 5-6 shots.

Don't be afraid to use loose powder in your inline. When I got mine a couple years ago I continued to use my 348 gr. Powerbelts and Pyrodex. I was getting a lousy pattern with my old combination, then I added 10 more grains of powder and it zeroed in. You can't do that with pellets.

About an hour after sun up I noticed this guy trotting up the hill behind me. He stopped only once and I guessed his range at 35 yards. I had to squat down a little to shoot under a branch. I let the arrow fly and heard a thwack. I let him go lay down for a couple hours before I picked up the trail. He went about 50 yards and left a good blood trail. Unlike a deer he ran through the thickest cover. I finally found him under a huckleberry bush. My first coyote with a crossbow. One less fawn killer on the hill.

I'm going on year 6 or 7 with my Centerpoint Sniper 370. I hate the trigger but it is a tack driver.

I tell ya buddy I never in my 41 years of deer hunting have I seen anything like this. The bolts in the package were different sizes than in the directions. I was banging parts together with a hammer. It was nuts. If I hadn't had my background in teaching Technology Edu. I would have struggled bad.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I went over to Runnings and bought a Big Game Hunter 1.5 HD. I do not recommend. Like most of the reviews said, it is a SOB to put together.

I am shopping for a new ladder stand for the first time in about 10 years. I am noticing that almost every stand company is using this cheap plastic mesh for the seats and back now (like the one pictured). My last purchase had a metal grate seat with a foam pad. My question is this. How are these seats holding up long term for those who own one? I know how the sun rots away plastic, I have to change out my plastic ratchet straps every few years. Plus my old pop up blind material is faded and brittle. I would hate to invest in a new stand and have the seat become brittle and fail in 5 or so years.

The NYS Republican Party gave this years election to Hochul. Get ready for more fun and games over the next 4 years.

Thanks guys! I will give it a try.