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Finally picked up my once in a lifetime NY buck. Highlight of the trip was watching my little guy walk into a taxidermist shop and lose his mind .Absolutely thrilled with how this guy turned out! Really happy that I went with a floor pedestal as a wall pedestal wouldn't have worked very well in my basement. Still trying to figure out what direction to face him, and if he should even stay on that wall. He dwarfs my other two bucks something terrible. Lab came back and said he was a 5.5 year old which seems about right given the cinder block he had for a skull.

Long post. Last October we got a letter in the mail for my oldest daught for an Ambassador leaders program. She was nominated by her music teacher. This program takes some of the top students in the world you have to be great in the class room,volunteer and extras for the school. Her grades do not come easy to her and has busted her butt to be top of her class has won numerous top state awards, 3 sport athlete,in the hs drama club since 5th grade her achievements just keep going. She had a choice to go to 4 top schools in the country for a week to study and interact with some people from around the world along with lectures from some politicians,professors, entrepreneurs Her choices were Ucla,yale,harvard and john hopkins. So she is currently at yale for the week,goes to NYC for a tour today along with some lectures and a broadway show, its a pretty busy week. Her goal is to become a doctor in marine biology. She is also on pace going into 9th grade to grauduate with a hs diploma and a 2 yr college degree. And plans on getting worlking papers in the fall so she can save for her first car. Couldnt be any happier for her and the work she has done. Thanks for reading.

My 40th high school reunion was last night but unofficially started Thursday night and ended at 5pm tonight. A small gathering Thursday night with a little bigger one Friday night got things going nicely. Lots of buddies came in town for the weekend and we had a blast. A couple brought their wives but more came solo. Understandably it can be very tedious for the spouse who didn't attend the same school but fortunately my wife and others locally know each other well. The main event was last night at a local restaurant but that included a couple hours of "warm ups" at a friends house prior to our grand entrance. We had almost 500 in our graduating class and were thrilled to have almost 200 attend, including significant others. It was great to see everyone and catch up. Today I took a couple friends down to see the Buffalo waterfront and we met up with another bunch then went to eat on Allen Street, downtown after walking around Canalside for a bit. I dropped one of the guys off at the airport for his trip back to Boulder CO around 5pm then came home and CRASHED. All told it was a great weekend but I'm ready to get back to normal hours, eating and LESS drinking. Here is a picture from Friday night.....

Aye Capt! Hell of a day on the water on Erie with Pygmy and Treeguy. Andrew you are the real deal all day out there. Started off the am with some serious waves 4-5 footers so we fished inside the wall and still got into a couple including one big one that I managed to lose. Andrew wouldn't give and the wind switched and away we went on the big lake. Got out and first rod out just got into holder and Fish on! A nice 7+#er . Best walleye I've gotten in 25 years and my first lake Erie eye! Made a pass and hooked a couple more. Wind picked right back up and made another pass and we had a double. I sent a text to my GF telling her that when they make " the Perfect Storm 2" based on our day on Erie I wanted " The Rock" to play me. Lol. So we came back in. But really wasn't worried Andrew can handle that boat! Impressive! Thanks Andrew for a great day on the water and Dan for getting together for another great fishing day! Had a blast.

Bedding down in my grass clippings. Sent from my ASUS_A002A using Tapatalk

Our daughter stopped by today, she just received another “ Strong Star “ award ( Strong memorial hospital ) she’s an RN there, her Pt was suicidal , and stated that she was always positive, caring and smiling, and she “ Truly reached him .” We are very proud of her , and I hope the PT, turns the corner for good . Ive had many calls for suicides mostly after the fact and a couple we were able to stop, but to be able to reach a person before ,that stage is truly awesome . My last one was a young gal threatening to jump off an overpass onto 490 , I saw her a few weeks later at a “ children’s center “ ( they always pull the fire alarm ) and she was still messed up, to be able to reach someone before that stage can be life changing . Just a proud dad, she’s not a paycheck nurse ,she truly cares about the PTs and their families . She must get that from her Mom .

I just walked in the house....Stopped and got a bite to eat on the way home... Rob and I had a great adventure with Treeguy this morning..We didn't exactly fill the box, due to rough water ( as in 4 footers), but Andrew put us on fish and we did better than many of the other fishermen, including at least one charter...Rob caught a fat hog of walleye( over 7 pounds) which is the second lake Erie walleye he has ever caught AND the biggest walleye he has caught in 25 years.... I caught a sheepie that would make Turkeyfeathers envious... Andrew is a good guide and superb boat handler...It was testy out there to day, but he did an exemplary job handling the boat as well as doing the bear's share of the rigging..I mostly sat still, drank beer and cranked in some fish...Although I once spent two years living on a ship and have spent many thousands of hours on boats since then, my sea legs are a thing of the past..I did not dare move anywhere on the boat without hanging onto something, being that rough... I just wish he hadn't insisting on TEASING me by bending over in front of me so many times....Hehehehe..

Took me 12 years to kill my first buck in PA, a little five point. Went through another long dry spell and then I just started getting obnoxiously luck. The 8 point in the upper left was 2016. I shot a busted up 9 point in 2017 (I did a European mount). 2019 was an expensive year. I shot the 10 in the upper right in the ADKs in November, and then I shot this monster in muzzleloader season. Went out looking for a doe for the freezer, and he came trotting through at about 10 am. I about shook myself out of the tree when I saw him.

At least he's got the sense to tell his mother the mackerel aroma is from his job. Lord knows what it actually is. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Weekend update. Friday 19th. Limit of eyes by 8am. 39 fow . Then out with GF to tin rooster for dinner and to Reba concert. Sat out to WNY for beers and wings at the Goat with Pygmy, Moho and Turkey feathers. Some damn great company right there. Sunday morn on Erie with Capt Treeguy and Pygmy for my first Erie eye, my best walleye in 20 years and a great day of fishing with some great guys. Weekend of the year!

I've had 2 Ram 3500 SEW CC. 6.4 hemi. Love the trucks. But if I bought a third, it just wouldn't "feel" like a new truck. I needed a change. My choices were obviously, Chevy or ford. The 6.0 Chevy is underpowered. The new 6.6 GM gasser has some impressive numbers, better then the 6.4 hemi, but it's a new platform, just released, and I'm very hesitant to buy a unproven platform. So, that left ford.... F350 SRW SCLB. 6.2.

Bizzy......IIRC a few pages back you were talking about a ramp to slide your deer up into your new rig. This is a picture from a few years ago of a Pennsylvania buck I killed getting yerked up the slide. I have a small pulley system in the back of my truck and it stays in there, ready to roll. Unfortunately this "slide" wasn't much help as the deer kept going off each side as they were pulled up. My solution was to scrap that one and use a 2"x12"x71" (so as to give me an inch or so wiggle room with shutting the tailgate) with 1"x4" boards screwed to the side of it to keep the deer from sliding off and giving me a much more rigid setup. I don't have a picture of that ramp handy as I keep it at my buddies place. All told, it's a decent set up for those bigger deer that when freshly killed are not the easiest thing to toss in the bed of the truck anymore. Here is the old set up.......

Not a big beast but it's more than a lawn mower ... and yup it's got a mowing deck

Great weekend for the team and personally my two. 106 real feel and my kid threw a complete (6 inning game) to his brother who caught all 6-caught two more stealing today. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Anyone that doesn’t love this great Country should get the F*** out!

Venison burger and Mom's potato salad. Dropped her off some walleye fillets and she sent me home with tater salad. Hope I didn't bring it off the rails with the Rochester guys by putting the zweigles hot dog sauce on a burger. It was good and I will do it again!

Trying something new tonight, grilled meatloaf.

I remember a lot of folks was interested in the DIY trail cam mounts, but a lot of those people wanted to use them on public land, or lived in areas where it was not allowed to put screws in trees. This includes a variation for those people and some demonstrations as to why a mount is better than straps. https://youtu.be/d2cD-v13134

I am not a smart man, Jen-nay.

I believe it . I never knew beer snob was a real thing until I watched you force that cup of draft labatt up to your mouth when we went to the gun raffle at the southtown yellow pike club. The look on your face was priceless.

Up with the sun tryin to get some bait. Not goin so well but hes tryin.

Part of the reason this thing erupted is that 3 of the 4 "jihad squad" were born in this country. I don't know if the President meant to tell them that they should go back to Cleveland, Detroit, and the Bronx to do a little work before they try D.C. politics. I suspect that's a part of it. Ilhan Omar, on the other hand, will likely be facing some serious repercussions for tax and immigration fraud as well as perjury, according to some real reporting that's coming out. She came into the country with a false name, married her brother to get him into the country, used the 'marriage' for tax and educational benefits, then lied repeatedly to immigration officials about the 'marriage'. Not some I want to see in Congress. Especially if she's going to be such an a**hole about her hatred for the U.S.

How dare you leave out the most memorable fish of the day...... Pygmys singing really kept us in the zone. Glad you fellas enjoyed the day, just wish the big E would have thrown you a better welcome party than that. As we rolled off I swear I heard her say....farewell Rob, here's a few 6'rs to remember me by. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

I've cpme home smelling like mackerel a few times, but not recently...<<sigh>>….

I hit the beach with wife and younger son to cool off. My older son helped a boat weigh this in at his job at the local marina. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Hand feeding some tarpon at Bud n Marys on islamorada.

Pygmy, robhuntfish, Moho and myself at the yelling goat. Sloop disco blastoff transitioning into Threes I hate myself IPA. Berbere wings around. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

About time she helped out around here Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cool neck hair on the one!

I’ll start the thread off with what I’ll be planting- ive got a little bit of everything planned to go in this fall- two larger plots (totaling about 2 acres) is a mix of 45lbs biologic’s deer food plot plus (wheat, oats, radish, turnips), 50lbs frostmaster peas, 50lbs buck forage oats, 5lbs trophy radish, 5lbs green globe turnips, and 5lbs clover blend of jumbo ladino & renegade red set to go In the first heavy rain in August. Towards the end of August, I’ll go back and topseed with 50lbs rye, 50lbs triticale. In the smaller staging/kill plots I plan on trying something new (for me), sucraseed’s northern sweet spot (mix of Aber variety high sugar ryegrass, fixation Balansa clover, frosty berseem, domino white clover, ptt, and chicory. Going to cut that seed blend with some additional clover- left over bad of wti imperial clover and a bag of evolved harvest provide clover (barblanca white, freedom red). The red and white clovers won’t do much this fall, so I’m mainly counting on the high sugar ryegrass, annual clovers, and the little bit of brassica to provide fall attraction in the kill plots- If it’s not filled in by September, I’ll topseed with a little cereal rye and forage oats to play it safe! Next year we are planning to put in a much larger destination plot that will be planted in real world beans but With only 3-3.5 acres of total food plot coverage on 120 acre lease this year and little ag nearby, I’m relying on lots of variety and a healthy dose of cereal grains to keep the herd on the property through the winter. The clover and rye should provide early green-up forage in the spring and decent poulting cover for turkeys. For everyone out there with less than 5 acres of food plots, consider layer your cereal grains to provide a constant source of attractive new growth this fall and winter. It may seem excessive, but 50lbs of oats/50lbs of wheat in August followed by two additional plantings of 50lbs rye and/or triticale in early September and against in mid September will ensure there is always something green and nutritious growing in your plots. A 150lb dose of urea or heavy nitrogen foliar feeding that contains some iron and micros applied in early September will keep that new growth coming and make it more palatable (I.e. attractive) to your herd come hunting season. Even if you don’t plan on turkey hunting next spring, including 5-10lbs of red and white clover seed in your fall mix will extend the life of your food plots and provide crucial early spring nutrition at a time when native forage is lacking. You can also frost seed the clover in late February/early March to fill in any bare spots, but fall planted clover with a nurse crop of rye will guarantee an established clover plot come spring- from there simply mow the rye before it goes to seed and enjoy the lush perennial clover plot your left with, or plow it under before a June planting of soybeans to provide rich organic material and nutrients to your summer nutrition plots! No matter what your food plotting goals are, fall planted clover and cereal rye will help you achieve them while providing your deer and turkey with up to 10 months of nutritious forage from a single planting! Please share your fall food plot seed blends and tips here. Good luck and happy plotting!

Just droped my daughter off at a 4 day ID soccer camp at West Point. Been a while since I have been there. We have a few family members that are graduates. Place is beautiful! she will be a Sophomore in HS this year but knows she wants to work in the field of international security. This would be a good fit. Mom is not to keen on the military service but is getting used to the idea.

100% agree. They people are also a bit odd. They like carpet in the beds of their trucks???

Sure, after you kill our only good buck! lol Congrats!

Go with hybrid poplar, Aspen, if not needed over 10 ft hazelnut grows very fast.

Im hoping this draws @growalot out of retirement, she is a wealth of knowledge on trees and plants

Thanks Bob, for putting on this wonderful program again this year. This was one of the best threads on here, and it was really cool to follow along. With both the students as they progressed and the mentors. The smiles at the end, says it all. I can't think of a better way to bring new hunters, both male and female into our ranks. The dedication of the mentors in this program is truly commendable. As the time and effort put in to this is monumental. Any student signing up for this, will have the full benefit of decades of experience, to help them reach their goal, and cut the learning curve way down. There should be more of this!

If only they grew vertically...

Its in my back yard. We noticed fawns and does bedding in the mulch sometimes all day. So I stuck the camera there. Sent from my ASUS_A002A using Tapatalk

That I actually haven't done , I seem to remember someone else doing it recently.

Awesome truck! Good job choosing Ford over GM (Government Motors).

Them blades let me mow trees too

Luck? Yeah probably Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Now you're learning, Val ;-) Buy what you need and spend a reasonable amount on it. If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. The Kubota B7500 in my avatar took an awful beating from my father for ten years while he was working on a church building, and he bought it used. He's not a maintenance guy, BTW. I've had it for ten years and other than replacing the battery there hasn't been a hiccup. Other than not being able to get into really tight spaces to mow it does exactly what i need it to do.

There are three major factors in grouse, pheasant and rabbit populations....Cover, cover, and cover.... Given favorable nesting and escape cover, they can hold their own against predators... In my area of southwestern NY in the 50s and 60s, there were tons of former small farms that were abandoned and growing up tp brush and scrub....Most of that is either developed or ( more likely) matured into forest land....Not good for small game, other than squirrels, and to a lesser extent turkeys....We certainly have no shortage of squirrels..

Ya'll got nothin' on this 2 year old.... https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/police-rescue-2-yearold-who-drove-batterypowered-toy-tractor-to-county-fair-174420782.html

Venison Carnitas, carmelized onion, fresh made salsa, avocado on toasted tortilla. Killed it. Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

RIBS and bacon wrapped doe leg loins Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Crazy how the people who SEEM to be the happiest (They always smile.) are the ones fighting the biggest battles. First responders including nurses and Doctors and Police go through and deal with some of the worst issues in society yet some try to handle things on there own when they really need help or sometimes just someone to talk through the issues. Wish I had the opportunity to help some of my closest friends before they choose this path! Remember someone is always here to help and listen, you are not alone. World needs more like her! Thanks you for all you do! National Suicide Prevention Lifeline We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. 1-800-273-8255

Congrats and kudos to your daughter. My daughter starts over there on the 6th of August.

This will be the journal in which Ill document my experiences with scouting, food plotting, making habitat improvements, and hunting a newly acquired lease in Ulster county NY. I hope to update the thread regularly with photos from the cellular trail cams and visits to the property. The lease: 120 acres on the Ulster/Sullivan border. Mostly mountainous mature forest with a mix of white pine, hemlock, cedars, yellow birch, sugar and swamp maples, ash, and a few clusters of red and white oaks. Property is bordered by an abandoned Christmas tree farm (110 acres with no hunting, about 40% of the bordering land) and to the southwest there is a large swamp complex with beaver ponds, marshes, and a shallow lake. Wildlife: During the initial walkthrough we saw lots of sign of deer, turkey, bear, and coyote. Property is loaded with song birds, reptiles & amphibians, small game, and appears to be a very healthy ecosystem. Predator control will need to be a big part of the management plan for this lease- the large number of bears and coyotes will need to be addressed to improve fawn survival and all around deer density. Plan for year one: given the relatively poor soil and difficulty accessing the property with farm equipment, we’ve chosen to focus our first year efforts on timber management. Eventually I hope to hit or exceed 10% of the acreage in food plots, but this year we will only be planting about 3 acres. However, with the increases sunlight on the forest floor, freshly sprouting tree stumps, tree tops on ground level, clearing around large oaks, and the native production along trails and logging decks, we expect to produce significantly more forage on the parcel this year than was previously there. Food plots: the three acres planted this year will consist of a “main plot” shaped like a stretched out and lopsided dumbbell. It’s basically a 1 acre plot and a 1/2 acre plot connect by about 120 yard long 15 yard wide food plot. This plot complex is currently planted in summer legumes (beans, lablab, peas, annual clovers), spring small grains, chicory, and a small amount of turnips and radish. The connecting strip was just added and will be planted in sucraseed “northern sweet spot” (blend of high sugar grasses, perennial and annual clovers, chicory, and turnips. Next year we’ll frost seed in more clovers and keep it as a perennial plot. We’re in in the process of adding about a half dozen small kill plots (all under 1/4 acre) that will be connected by the system of logging trails. These will be planted in a mix of clovers, with a nurse crop of small grains and radishes the first year. The spots we’ve identified along the trail system each have a unique secondary feature to the food we’re planting that should improve deer traffic- natural springs which are being excavated to provide consistent water sources, natural funnels that direct deer movement, sites with a stand of large oak trees, and/or easily accessible spots with good proximity to bedding areas were selected for kill/staging plots. Trail cameras were just mounted so pics of wildlife to come shortly, but for now here are some shots of the food plots (before and after planting), some of the predator and deer sign we’ve observed, and some shots from blinds: