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Another canoe recovery...my brothers this time!

I just received permission to hunt a prime 60 acre bow only property, on the western edge of the Pine Bush! It's five minutes from my door, and loaded with deer! Only other person that hunts it, is an old friend of mine, who is a retired teacher, and fellow NYS Hunting Instructor. Steve is getting up there in age, and can't get back there much anymore. He called me a week or so and asked if I was interested. Took me all of two seconds to say YES! Knowing where it was, and the bucks I'd seen from the area driving through. He took me in tonight to just look around. I was pretty impressed. Plenty of deer sign. And some big buck sign as well! And didn't really even leave the trails. It reminds me alot of moogs property in Mendon, terrain wise. I can only hope that it's half as good hunting wise. I also have permission to take anyone I want in with me. But to tell anyone trespassing to leave. I'm not sure how I lucked into this, but I'm very grateful I did. I guess it pays to be nice to people? Going to give it a try sometime this weekend. There are a couple of stands up, but I'll find a spot on the ground. Will do a little sneakin and peekin to learn more of the lay of the land. So exciting to hunt a new property. And gives me a challenge to see what I can pull out of there. Anyone who knows the Pine Bush, knows what I mean.

Live from the woods . Going to try some duck hunting

ruby had my back lolol. I was sitting on a log she was sitting on it behind me lolol

3S - quick cam check today. Does each afternoon (450-530pm). This nice buck Monday night. I think the browless 8pt? Also some turkeys. I need to try a PM hunt here next. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Last night (after helping my brother track and recover his deer with my canoe), I attached the fletching to the arrow shaft with a little hide glue and set the arrow off to the side to dry. This morning before work I processed my deer sinew in preparation for wrapping the stone point, fletching, and nock. Regarding sinew, there are two types I use as mentioned in an earlier post…backstrap and leg sinew. In the photo below I’m holding the backstrap sinew from my recent deer and a hank of leg sinew (both processed and unprocessed). I “process” the leg sinew by loosening the fibers with a wood mallet on a wood block…dry leg sinew is very hard and extremely fibrous (and intertwined). I use leg sinew to back my selfbows. I separate the fibers and wrap in small bundles (there is a bunch of processed sinew in the vacuum sealed bag in the photo ready to back another bow). Also, in the photo is back sinew from an elk…I know a butcher in MT that supplies me with elk sinew…its very long and in turn is much easier to sew with. Now that my deer sinew is dry, I bend it to separate the long fibers, remove any non-sinew membranes, and pull off what I need. I then rehydrate the long fibers in water (I like to line a frisbee with paper towels, add water, carefully lay out my sinew strands, and cover with paper towel so the entire fiber is in contact with water). I learned that if I simply put the sinew strands in the frisbee with water, they float around and then tangle with each other and are very difficult to separate. Later I’ll continue to process the sinew so it is ready to use for wrapping my stone point, fletching, and nock. Stay tuned!

This guy was a late arrival to the shop this spring. Apparently, he had been in the freezer for several years. I had to dig up a new cape for the mount...but everything came together beautifully and he is now ready to get the attention he deserves for years to come!

The sinew dried according to plan so I'll have that ready when I need it. I previously picked out a few turkey feathers so the next step is to process the feathers so I can use them as fletching for my new arrow. As an aside regarding feathers, turkey and goose are the main type of feathers that are used for fletching arrows. There are "right wing" and "Left wing" feathers and there are "primary" and "secondary" wing feathers. There are many debates regarding using right or left wing feathers but they all fly fine to me...maybe if I was using beveled broadheads, the rotation of the arrow might matter. Regarding primary and secondary feathers, primary are much stiffer and in my opinion, make better fletching. There are about five primary feathers on each side of a turkey wing. I use secondary feathers for my flu-flus. Goose feathers are nice because they are waterproof. Pict below shows primary right and left wing feathers and a secondary feather. There are a few ways to process feathers for an arrow...the two methods I use include "stripping" and "cutting/grinding" (picts below). To "strip" a feather, simply grab a few barbs from the tip of the rachis (center shaft of the feather) and slowly peel toward the calamus (the part of the feather that is connected to the bird). The final product is a fletching with the barbs connected to a very thin other layer of the rachis...this is a great way to make arrows that would be shot off your hand (I.e., no arrow shelf on the bow). The other method I use involves cutting the rachis lengthwise down the feather with scissors or a razor blade and then putting the feather in a clamp and grinding the inner part of the rachis with sandpaper to the desired thickness. PLEASE NOTE, THE DUST GENERATED DURING THE FEATHER GRINDING PROCESS IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH! The proteins in the feather rachis is undigestible and causes issues in your lungs...furthermore, feather dust gives off naphthalene, the same chemical that is in moth balls. I know of several people who are in very rough shape as a result of commercially grinding feathers for many years (also, avoid breathing in antler or bone dust). Once the feathers are processed, they need to be cut to length and potentially trimmed. I used untrimmed fletching for my flu-flus because of the extra drag they generate. Note a nicely tuned arrow doesn't need fletching...I tune my arrows without fletching, adjust the shaft length and point weight as needed, and then add fletching. The fletching will help stabilize the arrow in flight to make up for potential irregularities. I have trimmed the feather barbs with scissors, red-hot stick from the fire (burnt feathers smell terrible) or a feather burner (electricity is used to heat up an element (thin wire) that is bent to the desired fletching shape...the hot element cuts through the barbs like a hot knife through butter). I also have an assortment of feather choppers that I typically use. Now that I finished processing my fletching, I will next be attaching them to the arrow shaft. Again, many ways to do this...various glues, fletch tape, sinew, silk thread, etc. On my non-primitive arrows I like to use fletch tape (double sided tape) with a small dab of Duco cement added to either end of the fletching...much quicker than waiting for glue to dry. For my primitive arrow, I think I will use hide glue and tie the ends of the fletching to the shaft with sinew. Stay tuned!

I hope not. I have an AR14. Angry Joe Edition.

Venison cheeseburger soup Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I'm in... Using last night intel to hopefully ambush a fat doe Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Just goes to show how dumb he really is. There are probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of AR's out there they do not even know about and how could they possibly have a clue on how many or what kind of magazines a person owns. Maybe he will concentrate his efforts on the AR-14 he spoke about and all of us will be safe from his tax plan.

My philosophy of Trumps boisterous personality and demeaner is quite simple, "DOES IT ACTUALLY AFFECT MY LIFE IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY?" NO IT DOES NOT!!! Supreme Court and Federal Judges, Lower Taxes, Pro Gun-Hunting, Fishing and Trapping, Pro Traditional Ammunition, Secure Borders and Legal Immigration, Pro Police, Law and Order, pro Strong Military to name a few are important to my way of life so it is very easy for me to vote Trump and against Democrats whose party is against most of the above and a lot more!!. For me and how I live my life this election between Trump's personality and the Democrat's agenda is not even debatable! Al

Hello everyone! I’ve been reading this thread for years now and just decided to make an account. I live in both northern Saratoga County and Old Forge, NY. If anyone has ever been to Old Forge you’d know town is basically a deer sanctuary. They are everywhere and you can pretty much walk up and pet them. Makes it easy to watch for activity changes during the season. Just had 4 does in the yard for 20 minutes or so and a little 4 pointer ran in and harassed one for a few minutes before chasing her off. Makes it tempting to hit the hills after work today and see if there are any other early bloomers out there. Good luck everyone!

When I make arrows, I handle them with extreme TLC (like I'm making fine furniture)....then I go outside and stump shoot with them ;-)..I like to think that the scratches and dirt give the arrows character!

According to the DEC only 5% of hunters take two bucks ,not sure reducing it to one would go a long way . Where I hunt the age structure has increased very well over the years with just a volunteer change in attitudes of hunters .

These stories against Biden's son are only selling on FOX to rile up those who'd never vote for Biden anyway. They aren't even getting coverage anywhere else. People have made up their minds and these stories won't persuade a living soul to change their vote. Trump could murder his family and many would still vote for him, so exactly what is the point here? What I find amazing is that there are so many Trump supporters out there who think he will win by a landslide. He didn't win by a landslide last time, nor will he win by one this time if he wins at all. Being 9-10 points behind Biden on most every poll at this point in time isn't exactly great news for Trump. Statistics are generally quite accurate. They were last election contrary to what many think. Clinton was ahead by 3 or so % just before election day and she won the popular vote by about 2%. 3 or 4 percentage points is usually the margin of error. Trump being behind 9-10 points right now is well beyond this margin so this is not good news for him. He is also polling behind in all those states that put him over the top on the electoral vote side last time, so that isn't helping him either. If you want to see what a landslide looks like check out the 1980 and 1984 elections results where Reagan trounced Carter and Mondale. Reagan even won NYS in both elections as hard to believe as that may be. That ain't happening this election. Many think Trump is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I can assure you he is NO Ronald Reagan. Even those who did not agree with Reagan's politics had respect for him. That surely isn't the case with Trump where even those who are voting for him think he's an A-hole. Enough said.

I am not voting in a Mr Congeniality Contest, I vote for a platform and policy that support my lifestyle!!! Al

I had a great evening... I saw two groups emerge and now know the travel paths...the second group, 2 nice does and the big boy. He's still around. Second group was two nice sized does. Gonna cut off the does next overcast evening Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Eggplant parm, and fresh basil

One point for Team 1. Doe taken on 10/18/20 with dmp, since dmps count now. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

And this is EXACTLY why I am such a fan of Donald Trump. Irregardless of his Twitter antics or his behavior at the debates. I'm not naive enough to believe that he has no skeletons somewhere either. But his wealth was accumulated while a businessman, not while a politician. And the fact that both the career Democrats AND Republicans are scared of him draining the swamp speaks volumes to someone like me. He is proof that you don't need to be a career politician to run for office & be an effective president.

Figured I’d throw this up, even though I was just over the PA border, that’s my exit hole, and she still went 250 yards or so with a high double lung that hit the bottom of the spine. As least I found out there’s no such thing as a “no mans zone” below the spine.

Those of you who know me, know I enjoy making and hunting with primitive and traditional archery equipment. As a “mountain man” and naturalist, I enjoy testing my primitive skills and using as much of my harvests as possible. And as a Geologist, I like rocks and have been learning how to knap stone tools and points. I thought some of you would like to follow as I construct and hunt with a primitive arrow (using one of my selfbows). The arrow shaft: I cut red dogwood or ash shoots for my primitive arrow shafts. I sort them based on diameter and flaws (knots, etc.), bundle them tightly, and let them air dry. Each day or so during the drying process I hand straighten the shafts and rebundle. Once dry, I scrap the bark off with a piece of sharp chert and carefully harden the shafts in a fire. I’ll then pick out a few of the best shafts for my arrows (based on spine weight and straightness). As I am currently low on shafts, I’m going to use a cedar shaft for this arrow. The arrow point: I typically hunt with 2 blade (or 3 blade) fixed broadheads as my bows are not fast enough to open mechanical broadheads...plus I like to keep things as primitive or traditional as possible. I have not yet harvested a deer with a stone point although I have had a couple clean misses over the past several years. As an aside, when I say primitive and traditional; I define primitive as using a selfbow or stick bow and wood arrows with selfnocks (nocks cut into the arrow shaft and typically wrapped with sinew to prevent splitting). The points can be made of steel, rock, bone. Traditional refers to a laminated (typically with glass and wood veneers) long bow or recurve bow and wood, aluminum, or carbon arrows with plastic nocks and a steel points. I have been learning how to knap stone points and tools for several years and am nowhere close as skilled as others I have mentored under. With that said, I will be using a stone point for this arrow that was knapped by one of my friends (much more symmetrical than some of my own that I currently have). Fact: stone points can be sharper than surgical steel as when you knap a flake, the stone fractures along its concoidal cleavage plane (in the case of chert (quartz)) leaving an edge at the molecular scale. Stay tuned!

After 4 consecutive "big woods" afternoon sits with zero deer sightings, I decided to stay on the water and concentrate on the smallmouth bass this afternoon. I didn't find the 22 incher I was after. The 1/8 oz bucktail jig came out on top today, landing (11) 12-16 inch bass. Trolling between drifts with the little shad rap yielded (3) more. On Tacs recommendation, I finished up with the ned rig. Ned came back to life a little today and two 13 inch smallies hooked themselves on it. Only one was hooked good enough to land however and the other flopped off before I could lip it. Final tally of (15 ) "keeper" sized smallies (all released) in three hours was not too bad. I will probably only try for a 22 incher for an hour or so at midday, over the next (4) days, because I need to concentrate on filling a deer tag.

My friends and family tell me that the producers of Alone would love to have me as a contestant as I would never come out of the woods to claim my prize!

? Is it a rusted cheap ladder stand that looks like it has held more weight than it should?

This is the one I bought.... It has two remote sensors, so I put one in the chest freezer and one in the fridge freezer. The third display is the room temp. The two remote sensor displays allow you to put a min value and a max value for each remote for the alarm. The chest freezer I set up for -20 min, and +20 Max... I forget what I set the fridge freezer at. If it goes out of range for 10 minutes, an audible sounds until you silence it. I tested it and it works. I think it worth the 28 bucks for some piece of mind. Each remote uses 2 AAA's and the base unit uses three of the same, all alkaline batteries. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RR1XC3H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

sitting here tomorrow - hoping to see this happen by this scrapetree/licking branch

Should of turkey hunted scared a bunch

Don’t pay any attention to that, it will be! Honestly for this year I would go back to a scope. Too close to go time not to have complete confidence in your abilities and gear! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's your property to hunt hunt it.

I hate being that guy too. You shouldn't let them dictate where you can hunt though.. You never know when they are going to be there. It looks like you guys will have the upper hand for afternoon/evening hunts..

I'm predicting it's not going to be all that close, now is the chance to expose the Biden cartel for what it really is, I'm not hearing much at all from my liberal acquaintances in the last few days, I'm imagining some of those on the fence or reluctant to vote for Trump may be doing some soul searching. Seems to me the doctors on his team have their own agenda, I haven't trusted anything that came out of Fauci's mouth since March...for someone who is supposed to be an expert, he seems to contradict himself & change his policies every other week. But I do agree that the Democrats will likely contest the election when they do lose. The best thing Trump can do in the next debate is to stay calm, and give Biden more rope to hang himself with.

I may have missed something in this conversation, but I did not see anyone mention the most important part of using aperture sights,,, Your eye will automatically center the bead or the blade in the the rear sight aperture....Just ignore the rear sight, LOOK THROUGH IT, and place the front sight where you want the shot to hit...if you start trying to consciously center the front sight in the rear aperture, you are just chasing your tail...

Stuffed Venison Backstrap, with gorgonzola, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and spinach. I was cleaning up the freezer and was surprised to find this piece in there! Plate presentation is a hot mess, but it was very tasty! Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

This is my current location. If the wind on opening day of gun season, this Saturday, is from any direction other than NE, then this is probably where I will be sitting that morning. I will be hoping someone pushes something across the road from the big chunk of state land on the other side. I am really wanting to see how a 30/30 performs on a whitetail. I took my last one up here in 2016, from this exact spot, with my 30/06. That heavy thing is no fun lugging around these hills, nor is my 50 cal ML. The two little Marlin 336's that I have to pick from handle like a dream in comparison. Got to go, just heard a twig snap in the gully.

Did you mix the paint setup yourself or go with the paint sheets? Dunno why I am asking this to you- hell you prob made the paint from fauna you gathered in the forest. Lol.

The photo below is a pressure flaker I made with a piece of copper rod and one of the spikes from the other day. I’ll carry this into the field in the event I need to fix an edge on my point. (The sinew is drying nicely...Laying it out flat on the counter will help it dry nice and straight...it will peel right off...glad my wife is so tolerant of me!)

Thanks! Just finished processing my deer...I saved the sinew and it’s currently drying. I have a small stockpile of dry sinew but want to use the sinew from my recent deer...will need to wait until at least tomorrow before it is ready to use. Too much rain for an afternoon hunt...contemplating making a small pressure flaker from one of the spikes from my recent deer...and maybe a pick for my flintlock with the other. Stay tuned!

Thanks! Fresh sap is too sticky to be used as is and needs a temper added to increase its strength and make it harden properly...rabbit droppings have partially digested vegetable fibers and makes an ideal tempering agent. Charcoal is also used as a tempering agent. Hopefully I can harvest with this arrow...it would be my first stone point harvested deer! Airedale, please reach out to me if you have specific questions hafting your stone points...I would be happy to help! Wolc123, my neighbor texted me the other day...he found a stone point while he was tillering his garden...doesn't look like mine LOL!

I apologize because this is not live form the woods, but my phone sucks and i haven't had access to the internet since Friday. I got very lucky yesterday in Chautauqua Co after not seeing a deer from the stand so far this year, I had 3 doe come in feeding on hickory nuts about 8:30, I had shot yardage from several spots and the biggest doe walked right next to a tree that i knew was 37 yds. Broadside stops and puts her head down feeding so i took the shot. It looked good but I'll be honest at that distance I couldn't see where or if i hit her? I waited an hour climbed down and started looking for my arrow, can't find it, i did get blood but only small drops and I could smell stomach! SOB, I had watched to see where she ran and it helped with the track but, only found small drops of blood and after 2 hours we called it because she went into some real thick stuff and I didn't want to jump her. We waited 6 hours and called Deer Search, guy came out and man that dog wasted no time. She covered what took us 2 hours to track in seconds. she went right into the thick stuff and in about 15 minutes we were standing next to a dead doe! I couldn't be happier! I know for a fact that I would never have found that deer w/o the dog! It looks like the doe must have jumped just as my arrow got to her as the entry hole is low but there's an exit hole higher and further forward on the opposite side. I cut the top of the liver and 1 lung after going through the stomach. Plus the arrow was still in her! it was only in her about 6" and pulled right out? I thought how is that possible? It looks like she must have tried to pull it out before she died? The chew marks on her butt are from the dog! But he deserves a snack after a great days work! T

Found him about 50 yards from where we left him last night.

Yeah .... I remember the " Party Permit's " funny thing was I had little to no seniority back then and opening day was Monday so naturally the older guys at work talked me into signing up with their " Party Permit" and by the time I could go hunting - usually the first Saturday - the permit was already filled ! Nobody bothered back then to offer a steak or two ! Life is always filled with lessons , some good some bad !

Missing a lot of birds . I’d say I’m rusty and Coop not happy

I got an invite to go duck hunting with some friends yesterday. While I was in the duck blind my son bagged this big doe. valoroutdoors.com

Buck selfie ! And fence jump.