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The third dog I dropped at a beef farm in Orange county. Dropped the male dog two weeks ago and figured the female would be hanging around looking for a mate or calve. It was howling the whole way to the field so much that I thought it was someone playing a joke on us. She didn't need anymore shots after the first, but being it was the last days of the season we let the bullets fly. SJC https://youtu.be/qW7_nZPdM58

There is the annual bullhead derby April 4-6 in Wilson and I remember eating them when I was kid, catching them at family summer cottage on Lake Ontario.

I started getting ready last weekend. With the help of my brother in law and nephew, we got the docks in and lined up at the in laws place, up in the Dacks. The lake had finally thawed out the previous week. We had 4 hours daylight and just above freezing temperature and no rain on Saturday. I also got thru the break in procedure on the new Mercury 4 stroke 5 hp outboard, that he picked up to replace his old Johnson 2 stroke 5.5 hp, which I had sieved up last October. It took a lot of pulls to get that new Mercury to fire up the first time, but after that, it started with the first pull every time. To kill time breaking it in, under half throttle for the first hour, I trolled a diving crankbait around the lake several times. Lake trout haven’t been stocked there in over 20 years and I haven’t seen any in 10, but you never know if a holdover survived. No hits though. After that, I tried casting a bucktail jig a little for perch, but no hits there either. They’ve always been few and far between on that lake. Most of the hard spring work is done up there now, so I’ll be able to focus more on fishing and turkey hunting, the next run we visit in May. I plan to start working on my bigger boat at home in WNY next weekend, and maybe have it ready for some shoreline trout trolling out on Lake Ontario, the weekend after that.

I am chopping at the bit, going to clean some fish the way I did when I was a kid, no filleting, just gutting and scaling. Picked up an cordless electric scaler, hope it works as well as the old corded job I used many years ago. Al

Two good scores Wolc.

You guys all have your tackle boxes and fishing gear all organized and ready to go. Guys have been trying for the crappies down in the old West River Marina down by Naples. And the bullhead will be biting pretty darn soon. And of course we are right on the eve of trout season. I'm all set.

The second dog was part of a pair that was chasing deer on a ridge. After an hour snow/sleet/rain delay where I hunkered down under a pine tree with my tactical stealth scooter I was able to call them into range and lucky enough for the male to stop in a sparsely wooded spot where I could get a quick shot. Tried to coax the female back into range, but no luck as the rain moved in and soaked me. SJC

Ended the dismal 2024/2025 Predator season dropping three coyote. I took off Thursday + Friday being the weekend was called to be a washout. First stop was at a buddy's camp I've been trying to get to, but the deep snow had the seasonal road closed. This strawberry blonde female came in silent and ran right by me into the food plot, but it didn't run fast enough. SJC

The population dwindles because they bait and shoot all the deer looking for the harmless crap. The Wisconsin herd has rebounded after the kill off and with CWD to having more animals and they are still positive.

Didn't Wisconsin's Deer population dwindle when CWD hit the herd? They are still reporting that it is hurting the population in 2025. I guess I would take a few more precautions and have the deer tested.

Exactly. If there were even remotely proof that the stuff killed animals it would be one thing. The Prions are the same exact Prions found in Scrapies in sheep and we have been living with that for the last 60 years without all the banter. The white coats found a way to get funding to get their paycheck and then the DNR of some states found an opening to try and use it against high fence. Didn’t Work. Just like anything else, if there is no demand then the product will fail. Well high fence grows yearly with people making great $$$. Now my other question is where is all the studies done on EHD that 100% kills 1000’s of deer yearly and they can be found littered across the countryside by the 100’s yet no testing or no white coat funding for that. That’s in part because they can’t come back at all on high fence for it so it stays silent. Just open your eyes, use common sense the good lord gave ya and you will come up with the answers on just what CWD isn’t !!

I think it’s because about 47 % of the American people are very easily duped. Look at how they gobble up all the fake news on CNN & MSNBC.

Ever wonder if CWD is as devastating as is popularly believed, why are the woods not littered with dead deer bodies everywhere. I do not know why the scare stories are so popular to pass on, but a little common sense goes a long way toward calming all the panic.

My wife and I stopped at a little antique shop on our drive back from her parent’s place today. I picked up a slim single blade backup knife, for the little two bladed Imperial that I usually carry. I have been impressed with the quality and longevity of that one, which I found for $ 1 at a flea market, about 17 years ago. I thought this one was also an Imperial, but closer examination shows that it is made by “The Ideal”. The proprietor of the shop had it marked $ 8, but she took about $ 6 for it, along with a package deal on a few other items including a Taylor pin on compass, a couple pieces of jewelry for my wife, and about 15 dvd’s & vhs’s. “The Ideal” knife doesn’t exhibit quite the quality of workmanship, as my old Inperial, but at least it’s made in USA. I think both companies were/are in Providence RI.

I would be carrying on doing the same as I always have. Al

So if that’s your line of thinking what’s your answer to all the states that have no deer behind fence yet have it in the wild in the last 60 years? Or the states that have had fenced deer for years and years and have never had a case but have had it in the wild for just as many years? You do realize the first cases of it were wild deer? Not fenced. Regardless CWD is now and has always been a political money grab. CWD has done no harm to any herds in any states ever. You don’t see mass die off of animals like you do the real deer killer in EHD. Ever. CWD will go by the way of Covid here very soon when the federal government stops handing out money for these white coats to keep researching the same thing over and over and coming up with nothing. You want to see some info. Google how much money goes to states for CWD issues and then ask yourself where that kind of money goes. An easy look of the stupidity is the state of Wisconsin. When they found it and went absolutely nuts and they killed off almost the whole herd because of a couple cases. Saying that CWD would be the end all of their herds. Well don’t ya know. The herds rebounded in a matter of 5 years to twice as many animals then they had at kill off time. And with CWD. Go on a hunting site in that state and read how many hunters never ever got their deer tested. And they are not walking zombies. Maybe look at the state of Oklahoma that now allow private land owners to buy and release farmed deer onto their no fence property to improve their deer size and genetics. After 60 plus years and what CWD itself has shown people exactly what it’s not doing to deer anywhere I’m amazed it’s ever even talked about anymore anywhere. I believe when those leading our government today see they wasted money going on there CWD will be a thing of the past pretty soon. Go Trump!!!

I use one similar to it around the farm also. The only difference would be two different cutting angles on the one blade on mine. Tracker.

A flock of nine showed up this morning roaming in my pastures, glad to see they made it through a pretty rough winter, they are tough birds for sure. Al

In the real world, their really isn't anything free.

Know one that I know has stopped eating beef even though some cattle test positive for mad cow disease. People have not stopped eating chicken just because of bird flu. The risk are real for all types of meat wild or other wise. I believe when business start penning these animals up in close quarters, thy lies the problem, and big trouble starts. Deer are free range, which in my boat, make them much safer.

I think it is blown way out of proportion and wouldn’t change a thing for me. I’d still get most of my families protein from “free” venison and wouldn’t be overly careful about using gloves while processing.

So I've read a few stories about CWD. Ohio had 24 cases last year. What would you do if your county became a hot spot for DWD? I guess you would be allowed to hunt but any game taken would have to be tested? Even if it tested negative would you still eat it? Would field dressing change for you? I don't wear gloves most of the time that could change. I know there is no known cases of CWD spreading to humans. It sure would put a damper on things big time. Thoughts?