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Hey I got my first with the Muzzleloader today!!!! We did 4 different drives. First three did not produce any deer. Last drive was on my property. I was a driver and started to walk in from the road. About 30 yards in I see a big doe cross in front of me about 50 yards. She knows something is up and trots a few yards and stops. Shot was right through the neck. She was done in minutes. A matter of inches and a miss. I have to put a scope on that gun for next year. Maybe it deflected, don't know. I'm very happy! Right after I shot two more crossed my swail. Buddies Flintlock misfired, would of been nice he had his 12 year old with him. Kid was great never complained once! She's a biggen!

I stayed in my clover plot edge stand, on the south edge of my parents woods, until 1/2 hour past sunset last night and didn’t see any deer. I drove into the trailer park around the corner at 1/2 hour before sunrise this morning. I am now in my small, very uncomfortable ladder stand that is in the high part of their woods, north of the swamp. This stand is only 300 ft from the nearest “double wide”. I don’t know the owner of that, and about 4 others, that are less than 500 ft away, so I am armed with my crossbow this morning (250 ft setback per NY DEC). I did meet the guy from the last trailer on the dead end road where I park (I’ll call him “Julian”), and the trailer park supervisor (I’ll call him “Mr Leahy”) is an old school buddy of mine and he gave me the ok to park on the end of the road that buts up to my parents woods. He did a nice job of plowing a good wide space for me there after the blizzard. Usually, Julian has his suv parked there but it’s up next to his trailer now. It’s been over a year since I hunted this stand and it took me a while to find it in the dark. This end of the woods is high and dry and I am surrounded by the heaviest concentration of deer tracks I have seen yet this Holiday season. There are lots of oaks back here and it looks like the deer have been foraging on the acorns that the squirrels have burried under the snow and leaves. I have only hunted this location about 6 times and have only seen one deer from it. That was a big 3.5 year old 8-point, during crossbow season in 2018. I blew my chance on him that day, when he busted me at 15 yards with my shiny chrome cider cup in my hand. He got busted up by a bigger buck later that week, loosing (2) of his points. That saved me the expense of a shoulder mount, when I killed him the following Saturday (opening day of gun) with my slug gun from my stand on the other side of the swamp (600 ft from the nearest trailer). One nice thing about no firearm this morning is no orange hat needed. Now if only a deer or two would show up looking for acorns.

I couldn’t remember if I locked my wife’s minivan this morning. My ML, which I plan on using tonight from my stand on the other side of the swamp, is in it locked in a plastic case. I just got done still-hunting to “remote-range” of it and back, so that I could make sure it was locked. The heaviest concentration of deer tracks is about 100 ft of where I parked. I’d need a vertical bow to hunt that spot. Im hoping that if I can see a buck at long range, maybe I can draw it in close to my stand with my grunt call. I called in a 2.5 year old buck in these woods with it and killed it on opening day of gun in 2020, so I know it works. The weather conditions are the most comfortable so far of this season, but my stand is the least. I’m going to try my best to hold out here until 11:45 or so. Deer tracks as far as I can see in almost every direction will help with that.

Found this on youtube Some really awesome bucks out there

I held out in my trailer park stand, behind the swamp, until 11:45 and didn’t see any deer. That must be another one of them spots, where all the deer action is pm or the very early am. I stopped at McDonalds after, and brought lunch over to my parents place. I had planned on hunting my little hang-on stand, on the south side of the swamp this evening, but my legs said no. They are too sore from 3 days straight of snowshoeing and trudging thru deep snow. I won’t hunt that little swamp/edge hang-on again until opening day of southern -zone gun season 2023. Right now, the little trailer park ladder stand, on the other side, is the leading contender for my last Holiday Hunt on the afternoon of January 1. I got one on that day this year, with my ML, but it looks like it will be the crossbow this Sunday, next year. I only made it back as far as my two-story truck cap blind, near the front of their woods. It’s over 300 more yards back to the swamp and my legs just don’t have that in them, let alone if I killed something back there, and had to drag that far. Also, after more than (4) hours in that uncomfortable single ladder stand this morning, I was not yet ready for (2) hours in a marginally more comfortable tiny little hang-on stand. Its an almost perfect hunting temperature, at about 50 degrees, cloudy sky with a light sw wind. It don’t seem like late December weather. Too warm for hot cider, so staying hydrated with bottled water.

Absolutely... the idea of managing for big bucks was how QDM was sold to the hunting public... back then the idea of antler restrictions and killing does was hotly contested by the hunting community... but hunting shows loved the idea because it brought about a plethora of new hunting related products... food plot products, blinds, treestands, cameras, calls, scents, scent eliminating products, etc. etc. New fodder for their hunting shows... and yes, hunters bought in hook , line and sinker

I am planning my last (5) 2022 and first 2023 Holiday hunts right now, as I sit in the upper deck of my comfortable 2-story blind, over at my parents place. I don’t expect to see anything tonight, because this is my 4th consecutive hunt, in their 60ish acres of woods over here. I have been staying out of the center though, working just the edges, so something might still show up in the half hour after the sun sets. I have not seen a deer during daylight hours, in the southern zone, since Thanksgiving morning. Who said that hunting pressure don’t make deer go nocturnal ? I thought maybe the week off around Christmas might get some back out in the daylight. It ain’t happening on the three days that I have been out so far. Here is the plan I came up with for my next (6) hunts: Friday morning: Home front Poplar tree stand. It’s the closest stand to where my kids saw (3) deer including (1) with antlers, (2) nights ago. If the sw wind continues, hunting that stand will have the least impact on my other home spots. Friday evening: My tree hammock chair, set up on buddies land adjacent to my brother and sister in laws place up north of me in wmu 9A. The deer concentration has always been heavy in that area, where I was kicked out of (by my sister in law) about 15 years ago. I’m bringing my buddy a van load of barnwood and he said I could hunt his woods. There is light rain in the forecast Friday, so I’ll bring my tree umbrella. I’ll bring that out with me in the morning at home also. It works real well in my poplar tree stand. Saturday morning: My two-story truck cap blind at home. There is more rain in the forecast Saturday. I’ll stay upstairs if it stops, and hunt the bottom when/if it rains. Saturday evening: My natural blind on the west of my turnip plot and best wheat/clover plot. That’s where I missed the doe, 15 minutes after sunset on Holiday hunt 2022, day 1. This spot is probably still my best bet for filling a tag. As long as the winds stay south or west, my earlier hunts shouldn’t impact it much. I’ll bring along the tree umbrella for the rain. Sunday morning “hangover” hunt” (My wife said she’d be the DD for the New Years party, so I anticipate a “slight one” for me that horning): My bedroom window. I have not hunted that yet this year, but did take a nice button buck from there durning the regular ML season, about 10 years ago. I’ll bring my uncapped but loaded ML in the house from the barn the night before, without worrying about condensation. If that saves a deer, then it just wasn’t meant to be. If no deer shows by sunrise, I’ll fire a shot into a topsoil pile from the window, to help wake up our kids for church (no deer move now when the sun is up anyhow). Shooting a deer with my ML from that window is legal, because I have good relationships “and shooting permission” from all neighbors with buildings within 500 ft. Sunday evening: Trailer park stand at the back of my parents place. ML will be unloaded and illegal there, so my crossbow is all I got. Also, I seen more deer sign back there this morning, than any of the other spots where I have hunted this Holiday season. My Barnett Recruit has a geen/red dot sight that should work well for that full last half-hour after sunset. I’ll be very thankful, if I can fill just (1) more tag, but I’m still going for (5).

Another camera there

It's very informative....I took it during covid and really enjoyed the reading material. Sent from my SM-A716V using Tapatalk

The squirrels are getting active, hopefully the bigger stuff gets going soon:

This is the time of year I start doing deep cleaning and any seasonal maintenance on my firearms, also gives me a chance to play around with and inspect them. Did all of my lever action rifles this week, the lever rifles are some of my favorites and I have done quite a bit of hunting with them with good success. Had a friend of mine here while I was playing with the lever rifles and he asked me which one was my favorite, it is a very hard choice but if I had to pick one it would be the 99 Savage, it is a timeless proven design, What puts it over the top is it offers cartridges that have a bit more range in open country which gives it a bit more versatility, it is a rifle in my opinion that should still be in production today. Marlin 45-70 model 95 Marling 44 mag model 94 Marlin 357 mag model 94 Winchester 284 model 88 Savage 250-3000 model 99A Marlin Levermatic 256 Winchester mag Al

The politicians may have influenced this UPS decision, but UPS is the one making it hard for legal gun owners in this case. Any business that folds to pressure to violate citizen's Constitutional rights should be held responsible for their actions and not allowed to claim they were afraid of the government.

The main concern for these azzhat politicans is making it extremely hard for the legal gun owner.

2100 sq ft,nyseg-averages about $80,nfg-averages about $125.Coal stoker stove in basement has helped out up until this winter,I refused to pay $425 a ton for coal.Also have a high tech wood burning fireplace that helps out when real cold.

Highly doubt any criminals will be using the carrier.Its just another hurdle and cost factor for the legal gun owner to work with.

.25-06 is a nice round. Like Lawd asked…what gun? In many bolt guns, I really prefer a short action. Some, (Tikka is one that comes to mind) do not use a different length action for your typical short and long actions. So, in short, if it’s a Tikka, .25-06 is a no brainer over a short action quarter bore or something close to it. Just my $.02 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nephew and I killed 36 crows Sunday morning. Had we been able to start shooting before legal sunrise we could have doubled that. Then we went to a dairy and climbed on top if the corn bunker. Killed 30 pigeons and 6 more crows. All morning crows killed with new custom hand calls my wife bought me for Christmas. Never turned in the Foxpro.

I don't know, the kids we have at my camp and my neighbors are as excited as I was the night before opening day. In fact they get a charge out of prepping shooting lanes and tending to food plots. The kids around us are super busy with school and sports. We have to carve out time to get them to camp. Throw in a travel sport team and it's really hard. When you do get them to camp hunting is all they think about!

I average $100 a month on electric for the year. No gas. Outdoor wood boiler heats house and hot water during the winter months. Oil back up along with a couple of heat pumps which mainly run A/C in summer and some heat during fall and spring.

Didn’t she also say that she wants everyone on electric heat in a few more years. I wonder how that’s going to work out with winter power outages. Maybe she’s anticipating some type of miraculous end to global warming and “climate change” storms like the (2) recent blizzards. Sure glad I have a wood stove. Thanks to that, the colder it is outside in the winter, the less gas I burn. It gets too hot in the house, with it going, when the outside temps are above 30 degrees:

When it comes to hunting conditions you always have to deal with the hand you are dealt. Personally I can not walk through the woods in dry crunchy conditions silently, so I am traveling shorter distances and doing more and longer sits scanning with my binoculars. I aways have my Hot Seat clipped to my belt and can make a comfortable sit just about anywhere before I pick up and move on. So yes I basically still hunt all of the time but modify my technique some according to the conditions. Going into the wind in drizzly wet conditions have been the best for me moving undetected and not getting busted. Another tip I picked up recently was to have a diaphragm Turkey call in your mouth while still hunting in nosier conditions, if you make a misstep and make a loud crunch let out a couple of soft yelps, may put any Deer within earshot back at ease. Just started using that one and do not have a concrete opinion but it was given by an old time expert still hunter who took a lot of Deer and to me it sounds good in principle. Al

I have sold many firearms over the years online and always shipped them via UPS from one of their hubs. They had to be sent to an FFL, but I was never stopped from shipping one. All they wanted to see was my valid drivers license. UPS now wants anyone shipping a firearm to have an account listing an FFL you have. So now we have to pay an FFL to ship a firearm for us. Just more cost for the firearm owner that does nothing to reduce crime.