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Congratulations to Josepmrtn in the youth and Adkbuck and Lawdwaz in the senior. Wow, one point difference. Nice job people! Enjoy. I would like to personally thank WNYBuckHunter for his donations, time, and effort for putting this all together for a very successful contest. Thank you to those that donated prizes for the contest. Thanks for all that entered and I wish you much success in future hunts. Everyone wins when they have a chance to get out and enjoy the great outdoors.

We've been pretty lucky so far. Maybe 7, 8 inches of snow, total. Eleven more weeks till the first day of spring. That means in 7 weeks or so, the maples should start running. I can't wait to start boiling and smelling the aroma of fresh maple steam once again. That tasty syrup is soooooo good.

Took a little walk this afternoon and snapped a few pics... the wind made it almost impossible not to get my shots blurry, im thinking next time I'll just have to take my tripod along

Haven't had one since April 10th of 2013. I quit the day I found out one of the guys at work had lung cancer. Never looked back. Good job guys!!!!!!!

Keep telling yourself that.

Trust me, arsenic is only one of only many things that make commercial, mass-produced poultry depressing and scary. Raise some, or if you can't due to space/laws/time/etc, find a local farmer that does right by his or her birds and support them. Investing in your local farmers not only supports their livelihood, it supports ethical treatment of livestock, and gets you healthier food to you and your family. Win/Win. It is sometimes a bit more expensive, because you are paying for quality and the real time that goes into raising such animals.

Often a politicians influence can be seen after they leave office. The argument could be made for him. I'm sure he did some stuff well. However as a conservative I'll never agree with the taxes. Look at the exodus of the states population and business and jobs as the only proof you need. To be clear, this state hasn't had a good governor in quite some time.

As the everly brothers sang dream dream dream

I didn't care for the mans politics, but I won't speak ill of him in his passing.

hey good for you. stick with it. i just turned over 9 yrs this week.

Hey thanks buddy, and same to you! This has really turned into more of a hobby for me than a habit. If I knew quitting the stink sticks would be so easy by going this route, I probably would have done it years ago.... who am I kidding, I got lucky and never intended to quit, but... I can honestly say, I don't miss the ciggs one bit, and I already feel like my lungs are recovering under load rather nicely! I've got 3 e-ciggs at the ready now at all times (probably a few more on the way soon) and about 20 bottles of juice of assorted flavors on my desk so no shortage to be concerned with there,lol. Great to hear it's working out for you as well! It feels good to finally be free from those nasty things!

To both of you, good job, don't look back, only straight ahead. For me just had my 10 year smoke free re-birthday

Congrats to the winners! Adkbuck takes 1st, Lawdwaz came in 2nd and Josepmrtn took the youth division! Shoot me a PM with your addresses guys, we will get your prizes out to you!

I use a keilbasi recipe, the only difference being I use 32-35mm /Italian sausage style casings. It can be either heated up or eaten cold, it's already cured, cooked, & smoked. Recipe: 4 lbs venison 1lb pork backfat 5 lbs pork butt (neck/shoulder) Grind 1 time through the fine plate on your grinder. Mix with: 1/2 cup cold water 4 oz non-iodized salt 1/2 cup soy protein powder 2 teaspoons Prague Powder #1/ sodium nitrate Pinch of sugar Good shot of garlic powder, cracked black pepper, and marjoram (I never measure, just eyeball) Mix well, Stuff as tightly as possible into casings as possible, and tie into a ring. Pop any air pockets with a pin or knife tip. Cook in smoker with light smoke at 160 degrees until desired color is acheived and internal temperature is over 150, usually 12-15 hours.

Here ya go..........

Every year about this time, I give some of the neighbors & co-workers jerky & smoked sausage; this time I took pictures. My good deed for the year.

I'm too excited to not share with someone and my husband is supremely uninterested... I finally got (well...ordered) my camo for next year (turkey)!! I was waiting for who knows what, but Cabela's has all women's Browning Hells Belles apparel on sale up to 50% off so it was a smokin' deal that I couldn't pass up. Won't be here til after New Years but holy smokes I'm excited! No idea how I'm gonna last 4.5 more months!

+1 on that!! Your time and effort are very much appreciated. All of the moderators here deserve a thanks so THANKS!! Congrats to Joe and adkbuck!!

and if I'm not mistaken, having a pistol license revoked also causes you to lose your "right" to own long guns..........

Are you accepting orders?????

Not to highjack your post Joe, but I thought this may be a helpful example of what Elmo was saying and give you a few more things to think about before your next outing with your cam. I took this shot this past fall on an early overcast morning at ISO 3200. My camera has two more levels of adjustment at ISO 6400 and 128000 but I haven't had the need to mess with them too much other than a few test shots. I almost didn't bring the camera this day since conditions really sucked for photos with a light misty rain if I recall, but I'm really liking the way this camera compares to my old one at high ISO. This was straight out of the camera with no post processing noise removal. ISO- 3200 SS- 1/640 F-5.3 240mm Matrix metering Light crop to cut out tree trunk in bottom left corner. Those long range shots like you posted will magnify any camera shake especially at the maximum focal length the same way your rifle scope will when you max out its power. That's where getting closer becomes more important to me. I honestly think those deer in your pics are a bit too far for any real good pics, but they could serve as a good long range scouting tool for summer recon field edge sits. I'm just trying to offer some constructive criticism and in NO WAY am I trying to be overly critical of your photos. In the pic below I opened up to 240mm on the 300mm so I could open the aperture from 5.6 @ 300mm to a quicker 5.3 @ 240mm to get that extra little shutter speed that results in a sharper image... or at least less noticeable motion blurr and softness. Sometimes you'll get better results by backing off your lens max zoom a little bit for extra performance benefits. Pay attention to all that EXIF data now, and when you find yourself shooting under the same conditions in the future, you'll be able to adjust your settings accordingly before you start shooting for pre determined best results. There's also several noise removal programs available if you're still not happy with the way your camera handles it on its own. I've been using Noise Ninja since I got into this stuff, but I find I haven't been using it nearly as much with the new gear.

these days, I rent a splitter from Home Depot.........cut everything to desired length and when I'm ready to split I rent the splitter for 24 hours and pretty much run it nonstop till I'm done..........let someone else worry about the maintenance and storage, and if it blows up it's not my problem.

I'd prefer high 20's and some snow (not tons of it) over the sub zero temps. That kind of cold just plain sucks.

Looks like it's going to get real cold real fast....suppose to be -4 here on Wednesday...I hope it doesn't continue like that the rest of winter...cold fine...below zero...let Canada keep it!

The older I get, the less I enjoy the cold.Oddly enough I really despise the cold in Jan/Feb/Mar. Cold in Nov/Dec doesn't bother me as much...probably because of the holidays, hunting, etc. Once the body can't hang with hunting....I'm on a full court press on the wife to move south to an island or somewhere warm. Hunting and family are the only major barriers to making the move now.

I can take a lot of cold, but let's keep the snow levels down. I don't have to plow "cold", and cold is not likely to make me get stuck .... lol. However, sometimes the cold gets that darn lake effect machine working, and we get the snow along with it.

Welcome !! As far as the stands go, I guess first thing is where are you going to place them? If you know that, a few weeks before the season is plenty of time. I've hung stands in the morning and hunted them in the evening, no sweat. Do you hunt public land or private? Big woods, scrub brush or field edges? You fish too? What the heck is a "soileauj" anyway?

I'm with you but I just had to say "You realize he served 3 full terms? Had no scandals and left the state with a budget surplus? Additionally in 10 years brought NY's credit rating to its highest level" Maybe no one sings his praises here because they don't want to be beat down by a shit storm of hate, which is what happens here to liberals.

The buck did have a limp... he looked like he was still rutting, sniffing and looking at the doe with his nose towards the ground. I thought that if he was sniffing and thinking about a little wango tango with a doe, he will most likely be fine, especially since he was putting weight on that leg... if he was injured by a shot, the young doe taste just as good, let the bucks grow!

Happy 6 month vaperversary to you! My calendar ticked over to 6 months smoke-free today.

I'm on balanced billing with National Fuel. 1650 sqft house, gas dryer,gas hot water tank and 90% efficient furnace. My monthly bill is $111.00 4 occupants........... Not too shabby I'd say. The only thing is I really enjoy all aspects of wood. If I had access to handy wood and a wood stove/fireplace I'd be burning it. I do have a fireplace but I don't trust it also it surely wouldn't be very efficient for a heat source.

Congrats guys keep up the good work and stick with it

Never mind not worth even one more second of my time on this thread.

It gets a little trickier when you're at the mercy of the environment Joe, but you did good to get out there and experience it for yourself! I keep my tripod strapped to my pack at ALL times just in case I need it. Your gonna want to keep that sucker (or at least a monopod) close by especially with no "IS" on that lens. Gloomy days are always tougher to keep things sharp shooting free hand at slower SS, so you gotta go to the extra mile carrying the extra gear if you want to bring some keeper shots home. Looks like you have plenty of cooperative targets around to give you some steady action behind the cam! Keep it up!

Thanks guys..never expected a rack as usual...let alone both still attached to the skull plate...thinking someone didn't close a garage door...Lol...too bad such a young 7 nearly 8 point was taken though...it looks like an almost perfect pygmy 8(no reference inferred there)'''lol

Growie....Probably fell out of Wooly's RACKSACK when he was sneaking around your property in his shorts..<<grin>>....

We we what we did not get rid of.

If they want them, They will take them...All you guys that drink? Guns can be gone.Those that smoke with the left hand? Guns could be gone.Any persciption drugs...Gone! Bitch about it all you want and write pages of right or wrong but at the end of the day. You are screwed in Ny unless you have deep pockets and file a lawsuit. Go ahead and tell me i dont know about Ny laws and lawsuits. Your rights as a citizen means nothing! As is being shown!!!

There are a lot of things they can use against you too take your guns, Did you know that Chantix the quit smoking aid is an anti depressant, How many people do you know want to quit smoking, Some thing as simple as that could remove your right to own firearms, So when i see an article like this it is something to care about, All it takes is one nurse or Dr. to right the wrong thing on your chart,

There's been enough threads on here where people have posted studies, articles, etc. and every time you discredit them as being biased or driven by a hidden agenda. There's no point in beating a dead horse. You're as stubborn as they come and to you the only correct side of the argument is yours. I just keep replying for fun; I know I'm not going to change your opinion. I would've thought you would have blisters on your fingers by now from all that typing...

I heat 100% with a wood stove in my 800 sq ft house using wood that I cut and process myself. I enjoy most every part of it, from the harvesting and stocking up throughout the summer to the daily ritual of burning during the winter. And nothing beats a cranking wood stove to warm the old bones after spending a cold day outdoors. For the most part, I just enjoy the independence of it. If I had to buy the wood or travel anything more than a few miles to get it maybe things would be different because of the costs involved. Then again, maybe not. It's hard to put a price tag on the independence part of the equation. As a side note: anyone looking to purchase a wood burning appliance should do so in the very near future. Prices will skyrocket if/when the new EPA regulations take effect.

Show dogs and hunting dogs are tattooed for security/ retrieval purposes ....in order to show rabbits and Cavies they have to have their ears tattooed....other animals need ear tags which are pierced....most people do this them selves...having to have a vet would be a cost burden.....the man is a tool

Would like it if climbers fold up even further and more compact so that they're easier to carry into the woods. Better should straps and lumbar support would help too. The weight isn't the problem as much as having a huge cumbersome metal on your back that keeps getting snagged on branches, etc.

Snow camo is definitely an advantage... I've gotten so close to deer with it that both the deer and I were startled... if you're in a treestand it may not be worth the additional expense over any good camp.. but, on the ground in snow... I never wear anything else... I am sure it is the reason I've been able to get close enough to some of the deer I've taken while tracking.

Sure looks good! Any of your neighbors selling their property? LOL.

That sausage looks much better than the stuff we made, ours was bad! I guess we need a lot more practice! We did some Bodine Which turned out ok, but our regular (polish) was flat tasting (not enough seasonings I guess). I'll take 5# please!

deer view mirror...one of the most joked products ever.

looks awesome. Was the jerky done in a smoker or a dehydrator?

If you hear really bad calling in the woods it's almost ALWAYS a real hen