Leaderboard

Ok so getting ready to head out, I just did a pack dump of exactly what was in it from my last day of hunting the big woods. Here’s my list. Folding saw Life straw Spare batteries AA&AAA Spare wool socks and gloves Compass Zip ties Head lamp Electrical tape Candy bar Cliff bar 20’ of 550 cord Lighter Matches Medical kit “the basics, bandaids, bandages, burn cream, antibiotic ointment, iodine, water germicidal tablets, medical tape,etc” Fire starters 2 50gal trash bags Foam ass pad Pens 2 sandwich baggies Small folding knife in pocket Outdoor edge folding knife Small flashlight Head lamp I usually have a leatherman multitool but I must have lost it this deer season. For clothes I’ll be wearing my normal wool pants and wool shirts, Merino wool base layer, smart wool socks, neck gater, merino wool gloves and lacrosse burly boots, my pack is a mystery ranch pop up 18, I doubt I’ll use this pack again next year but it’s what I used this year so I’ll use it today. I’m going to carry a 22lr Henry carbine instead of a deer rifle for obvious reasons, I considered a shotgun but thought the 22 would be a lot more realistic, should I find some small game. I don’t carry a pistol when gun hunting but will for this quick trip, it’s a Taurus TX22. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm in my 60's, slightly overweight (sounds better than plain overweight), and I smoked cigs until I was 50. I'm in good health at this point and I am trying to keep it that way. As soon as the vaccine is available for my age group, I'll be there with my sleeve rolled up. I got every required vaccine in my childhood, and I've been getting the flu shot every year since I was in my 40's. Besides being so new, this is no different to me. I do not want that damn Covid in my system if I can do anything about it. Hopefully it's a cute girl that jabs me. I'm going to look her in the eye and say "send it".

Jack couldn’t let this button buck walk. Can’t eat antlers, right?

Well as it turns out the fox that abandoned it's buddy at the first catch site just couldn't resist the open field set where we remade it from the coyote catch he other day. That is about 100 yards from this initial catch site. We went to the edge of the catch circle and reinstalled the pipe and left the catch circle. Made kind of a combination hay set / pipe dream set. Zero for coyotes today.

Haven't seen this buck before. Must have finally come out of his groundhog hole! LOL Interesting how many new bucks I've gotten pics of post season! I didn't expect them to be venturing out of their core area right now.

My buddy got a cow tag in PA this year. He shot this one two days ago. I was suppose to go as help but life got in the way. This was state land no outfitter.

Sounds crazy but you can go cheap and with a little work, get started. Garage in a box. We used it as a base camp for our out of state trip and it was perfect. Open floor, similar to alot of wall texts and cheaper. It withstood not one but two massive windstorms. We added ground anchors and ratchets, but in large it worked well. Way better than any tent set-up (short of an actual wall tent). You can set up a floor off the ground with pallets and rubber mats, etc. We had an electric hook up and ran one of those little fireplace heaters and also had a propane space heater to warm things up in the AM or evening and then the electric heater did fine. I wouldn't have a concern with rigging up a stove, with some ingenuity. Will it be your long-term solution? Probably not, but heck, you could cost justify buying a new one every year and be money ahead. I think we spent $250 all in on LED lights, the garage, the tie downs and ratchets, etc. That is cheap...

You've got a good point, but with this dysfunctional government, they'd tax American drinkers more and give all the money to other countries.

On January 1st I put all my whiskey in the basement cabinet so I'm not too worried about this one. Seems I indulged a bit more than usual the last 6 months of 2020 and just had to tell myself that I didn't have an issue with it. On February 1 I'll pull it out and get blasted......... Sorry for the sidetrack to this epic thread.

Went out for my last long island shotgun hunt took a [very]small doe.It was nice to check out the area for one last time before I leave this island for good. All the places I've hunted in 30+ years none compare to the east end of long island even if the hunting isn't the same the woods will always be beautiful.This time next year I'll be starting a new chapter in my life in the ADK's looking forward to learning how to hunt the big woods.

Prepped for dinner, venison backstraps butterflied, stuffed with cream cheese, Asiago cheese, fresh garlic, red pepper, scallions, sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto then wrapped in bacon.

Well, I went up to my friends house Friday PM to deliver his TM384 thermal and give him a tutorial on how to use it. I stopped at my local range along the way, mounted the Thermion on my semi auto 35 Gunner, checked Zero at 50 and 100 yards, all set. It was crappy weather outside when I arrived, so we decided to hunt Saturday night if the weather was better. It was a little breezy, but I don't think any type of weather was going to stop him from getting some field time with his new toy. After getting busted by a Yote on the first set because of the swirling wind, we decided to head down into the low lands and try our luck. We got to our second set and didn't have to wait 5 seconds into the first call, before my friend says he see's something at the edge of the field. I look over there and it's a freaking Yote, 60 yards away. My friend didn't have his rifle loaded, so he racks a round and of course the Yote starts moving. He's new to night hunting, so I give him a pass this time. I start recording, stop it with a bark and the rest is history. How my PIP was set a 6x is beyond me, but a miss is a miss x2. To top it all off, I got a stove pipe after the second round fired. A lot of cursing was going on after the 35 second mark, when I realized I had a jam. I was going to take another shot as it stop's about 300 yards away to give us the Paw, but it was in the line of sight of the neighbors house up the hill. Why did I change rifle's before this hunt ? I guess I was bored with the rifle that already dropped 8 Yotes this season so far. On the way home Sunday I stopped at the range, mounted the thermion on the 20 practical and it was dead on from 50 to 200 yards. Next time !!!! We ended up seeing a coyote at each set and my friend is totally hooked on coyote hunting now. Thermal is addictive.

Id eat both bars in the truck on the way out there and be SOL

Well last night we had a little action. We had a camera on this set so you'll see what looks like a good sized coyote come onto the set but stay back and not approach. then about an hour later 2 fox come in and only one gets to leave. Also the pic of the big male from yesterday after the skinning.

If you're putting it on someone else's land I would go with the canvas tent and a good wood stove. Even just on here you can read some horror stories of people losing land that was even being leased. If something were to go wrong you can use/move a tent elsewhere a lot easier then a building. Then you have to look at how a building will effect the owners taxes. Unless it's on wheels like a travel trailer and considered readily moveable there's going to be taxes.

20-40' shipping contaners are cheap. Check out youtube.

If you can get it back to the spot and can swing it I would go the amish shed route. Some come with a loft and porch all ready to go.

Kimchi again. Imitation really, just cabbage, onions, carrots and Korean spices. My son eats it by the gallon. Going legit next time though with radish, dashima and raw shrimp. Gotta man up sometime lol.

Just a tip, I found when I was trying to line the wraps up on my mouse pad a x-acto knife or any blade tip helps tremendously in moving / lining the warps up straight with out it sticking to a finger.

You are more likely to win the lottery for 12 million or so, than to draw a PA elk tag, especially if you are a non-resident......... If you want to hunt elk, you should hunt elk in the rocky mountains.....I realize that in colonial times there were elk here in the east, but since the mid 1800s most elk hunting has been done west of the great plains.. lots of good elk hunting out west, and in my opinion, a big part of the hunting is experiencing The Rockies... I'd rather shoot a raghorn bull in the west than shoot a monster 6X6 in somebody's backyard in Benezet, PA...

Got fire and a “shelter.” Got snow melting in the bag to drink. Didn’t kill anything so will be hungry by morning. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

New grinder and some spices to try for next season. Looking forward to trying the moonshine breakfast sausage.

Half lobster and Tiger shrimp over fettuccine and red sauce. From Dubrovnik in New Rochelle Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Quitter Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Wife and I both signed it. Eff that guy.

Still waiting for that to happen!

Paid a guy at 7-11 $100 bucks to do it! Never liked that neighborhood! lol

Right over his back. Still sounds like a fun night.

Done a fair bit of lightweight back packing, much of the gear crosses over well into staying out a night when hunting and have done so in the past. Have an e vent bivy that's a terrific piece of kit to carry along. 12 oz., wind /waterproof and best it breathes. Size of a water bottle and folded fits in a coat pocket. That and a 600ml ti cup that has travelled all over the world with me are go to items. A few cotton balls with vaseline to start a fire and good to go. Its fun to be able to stop as late as you want, and not work back to a camp/car/trail head at end of day.

I haven't done this specifically in a long time. Not since my late 20's. I do run a lot of things like practice fire making, shelter building, and a few other tasks a few times a year to keep skills sharp. Over the past few years I spend a lot of time in my yard dialing things in so in the event I get turned around I don't flip out. Panic is the #1 killer when people get lost. I do have a plan for this Summer or Fall to only put a few things in a small pouch and tin, and go out for a full day and sleep out there with only what's in my pouch on a patrol harness. No pack, no water, and probably no food. Small fire kit of flint and steel, a good size tin like an Esee to be able to boil water for consumption, and a small amount of fishing gear. 24 hours isn't too hard, even in the cold as long as you have a way to make a fire. A water source is great but not always possible. I have no advice to offer as you were in the military, so I'm certain you know how to set up your pack for the trip. Good luck and make the best of it.

I’ll definitely take some pics for you guys. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As soon as I think I have a bird coming to my calls I move 20yds left or right of where I called from. I always try not to call again unless I think I he’s lost interest. Too many times I’ve gotten spotted by birds before I see them. It would be unbelievable to think a turkey can know what tree you were at when you called from a couple hundred yards but I’ve saw it too many times to not be a believer! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Honestly, it's not so much the call as the caller. You have to experiment a little with every call you buy to get the best sound.

My son has one too. My little guy is 17 days old...

29 from a BB doesn't seem out of the ordinary unless it was a really big BB.

My seasons haven't stopped..... finished with the going out the last 4 days of muzzle.....took at short break for xmas and then was after dang geese last weekend! You don't even wanna see my muddy truck after that adventure. Sunday gonna stomp around on some state land for tree rats.....and if my buddy can locate birds we'll make a last ditch effort Sat morning before the Bills destroy the Colts! Also gotta mix in a little yote hunting! The seasons don't stop.....they just roll! Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

You sure as hell cant trust any news papers written in this country

Agree, but cuomo said $100K fines. why not just open it to the public since some people want it. Not me personally, but others.

I had my first turkey dream last night which is not a good sign considering the nearly 5 months we have to go. I had a nice tom come in at like 5 yards and of course no matter how hard I tried my gun wouldn't fire. At first I couldn't find the trigger, then when I did it required too much effort to pull and go boom. Finally I get up and the tom doesn't spook 5 yards from me and I blast one at him hip fire style. Suddenly I realize my son is with me and he's concerned that the tom is still alive so I have to pull out my knife and try and dispatch the wounded bird. I stab a few times in the neck to no avail and finally end up sawing away at the neck. He's still alive with just windpipe attached at this point so I cut that too and the head falls off. My son's first question is how am I going to take pics with a turkey and no head. haha anyhow, this was mostly a good read and thanks to those that shared insight and to those who seemed more interested in picking a fight... why?

@The_Real_TCIII here's an illustration. Camera date and time is correct. you can see me luring the set. It's a gap in a rock wall with a game trail using the opening. Nice tight pinch point. ....AAAAAAAAND the coyote walks the wall and doesn't go near the trap. If you can picture this, the trap is about a foot to the left of my left knee as I am positioned.

I don’t use anything. I don’t store my muzzleloaders with the breech plug in them unless it’s loaded. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I watched the videos as well. The issue wasn’t getting them to actually mount, it was getting them to mount in a way that the sticks wouldn’t be digging into my legs or keeping the whole setup from folding flat. I ended up ditching that mounting block and strapping them onto the stand two on each side of the main support. They “stick out” a lot with a block of 4 of them too. I think the sticks with only 2 steps would be completely different as they’re so much shorter. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fair enough, My Friend...I have been killing gobblers since 1975, and there is still a lot of stuff that I don, 't know....

Just made it home. Today didn’t turn out as anticipated. I never have any luck hunting before an incoming rain storm. I’m not sure why. The falling barometric pressure? The smell of the coming rain? Who knows? Not me. I saw the 2 bucks as i got there and then 2 doe and that’s it. The guy that gave me permission to hunt there was surprised that I didn’t see a dozen by 8am in that spot! Oh well. Better luck next weekend I hope.

6 deer in our freezer, I didnt have to pull the trigger once, And Only had to get bloody and messy on the first one.. I got two youths some experience and trigger use, as well as trigger discipline! A complete success in my book.