Leaderboard

What are you using to carve this brute? Great job tackling such an intimidating project! Here's one I did last summer for a customer who let me do whatever I wanted artistically as long as I had a buck carved in time for her husband for Fathers day! 48" tall x 22" at base

A little more done today stopped early to go fishing

Another early season WNY bow buck...

I have been wanting to do this for a few years now and when I took down a large ash tree leaning over my shop I decided it was a good use for it as it os 14 inches wide

Prior to a couple nights in the central Adirondacks last fall, it had been about 10 years since I spent a night in the truck, prior to a morning hunt. The temperature outside dropped down to the twenties those nights. Much to my surprise, the furnas fired right up and held it to a perfect 67 degrees inside. The most important thing to have in your truck, is a furnas with a thermostat, if you need to sleep in it when it is cold out. The furnas in my previous camper lacked a thermostat, and I can't recall a single comfortable night in that during the fall. It was always too hot or too cold inside, when I woke up in the morning. Getting a good night's sleep, is the first ingredient in a successful hunt. I did not kill my first Aditondack deer until about 11 years ago, when I bought this camper. I stopped using it for a stretch, after my in-laws built a house up there (with a good furnas).

Sure the wife was out of control so I left and slept in the truck in a nearby parking lot .

Wolly so far just chainsaw and a hammer and chisel i rasped the tips a little i am waiting on attachments for geinder I ordered to do a lot of finishing on body I got a little more done today

Quick story on that deer :I got in the stand ,20 minutes later I caught movement ,waited for a good shot and let it go .Text my buddy(his land )that I just shot one .He not a hunter so he got excited .Next thing I know he’s driving the tractor across the creek and into the woods .He shuts the tractor off ,all the sudden he starts yelling “I hear it ,it’s trying to run away “I’m like WTF to myself .I told him we need to leave and get out of there .I found him 120 yards the next day from where he bed down immediately after 30 yards from the shot .this is how I found it .Needless to say I won’t message him anymore until I have the deer in my hands lol.

Thanks! I told her I'd do it for 350 since it was my first crack at one like this, but she insisted on giving me 450 when she saw it in person.., so now I ask 500 for these,lol

A few pics of that buck .didn’t know at the time I was going to get it mounted ,or else I wouldn’t have hung it up by the neck.

Liquid gold!

Yup, The Rodeo Song. Who remembers THAT??

Pozole rojo Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My father and i did it a bunch back in the day when we hunted state land in angelica . I did it once this past season just for old time sake . I'm glad i did that , it brought back some great memories .

Legislators just stripped his emergency powers.

Not as fancy, efficient, and good looking as Mowin’s setup but I got her done. I collected a messily 160 gallons of sap and boiled it down yesterday. I did “cheat” and use my new RO bucket (RB-10)...the day before my boil I sent my 160 gallons of 2% sap through the RO and ended up with 80 gallons of 4+% sap...at an average rate of 10 gallons of sap per 40 minutes. using the rule of 86, I would have needed to boil 43 gallons of sap to get 1 gallon of syrup...with the RO, I only needed about 20 gallons. At an evaporation rate of 10 gph, I saved a ton of boiling time! And with the new revisions to my arch, I used less than a 1/4 cord of wood (over 8 hours). I’m very pleased ! Looking forward to next weeks warm weather! I have just under 500 gallons of sap capacity between my two ice-insulated storage areas. Good luck to all the sugarmakers out there!!

Today’s progress

Usually, I prefer outside winter sports on weekends in February, but mud season has arrived a bit early this year. Too rainy and windy for squirrel hunting. I may get out, on the last day tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. Today, I am making a couple larger platform stands to replace a small hang-on, over at my folks place, and a small metal ladder stand, out back here at home. I had enough leftover pressure treated framing lumber and maintenance free decking, up on my hay loft, to make them each 42" square. Each will get 3 foot barnwood sided walls, after I get them up about 7 feet. They will get lag bolted to the trees, and a couple pressure treated 4 × 4's for front support. Those won't become available, until I use up a little more firewood, which is stacked up outside on them. Each of the stands I am replacing is too small for comfort and lack good shooting rails. These new stands should greatly improve my range capability, thanks to the 3 ft wall/rest, and make for a more comfortable, longer lasting hunt.

Had to do we just rescue Cooper from real dog rescue in New Jersey.

As a straight white guy I'm trying to think of the bad things that have been done to me. Kind of struggling with this.

Just received first Moderna Vaccine this morning. Yep, just gonna roll with it.

And you could get more than that easy, with the work you do!! So nice to see ya here Matt!

March 26 for me. Counting down the days. I know and respect people for their views as to the impact of this virus. I'm no health professional but I've seen enough of those who got the crap kicked out of them that I'm willing to get the vaccine and roll with it. Such is life.

was talking about this the other day - dont know anyone that has gotten a regular cold all year. So either the masks and the disinfecting and the social distancing work for colds and flu or the covid test actually tests postive if someone has the cold or flu as well.

It's antlered only as of last year - on public anyhow. Private it is both. There is more pressure than one would imagine on public for that season. Mostly because other nearby states are closed and its "something to do" if you will. Don't let that deter you. Going out of state is liberating. We have good hunting in WNY no doubt, but its hard to describe once you get into even better ground. Ohio a producer but alot more competition due to proximity to eastern states. Admittedly, I'm wore out hunting here. Small parcels, tons of hunting pressure, and a TON of work just to maybe get a crack at a 130" once a year or a 4.5 yo and sometimes that one encounter doesn't come. It really gives you perspective when you hit those states and people are absolutely underwhelmed with 120s and 130s gets a mild reaction if its more than an 8. A 120" typical with a bow is our standard for NYSBBC. Literal Meh reactions. And then you hunt it and understand. Inches and big deer are not the end all be all, but the experience is much much better. hard to put words to it, even when you come home empty handed.

I hate wearing the mask and I hate the idea of having to wear the mask. However, I gotta say, I haven't had so much as a cold since this thing started. I always get a cold or two a year, usually in the spring and again in the fall. No colds in the spring or fall of 2020, and no cold so far yet this year. If I go the rest of this year without one, I think it'll be the longest stretch in my life. Can't be a coincidence, right?

Spent a few nights in the parking lot at Oak Orchard Waterport Dam in the early nineties and quite a few nights asleep in the vehicle at the various pools of the Salmon River in Pulaski and Altmar. Remember waking up once freezing in Naples for opening day of trout. Had some good times doing that when I was younger but haven’t done it in over 15 yrs. Never spent a night in the truck to go hunting as I always had spots close by to hit up with gun or bow.

A friend gave me 8 buckets,so i am getting in on the fun. I always wanted to do syrup but never got around to it,so i am glad he gave me a nudge. I will tap today so i am ready for next weeks warmer temps.

“Poor kids are just as bright as white kids” joe is about as racist as it gets. He picked a “black” VP because of her color, that in itself is absolutely racist! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

By forcing everyone to use AOL again? #ThankYouForLessOverzealousModding #WeDemandUnlimitedLikes #WeDemandADislikeButton

‘Got a heater in the truck and I don’t gaf. Isn’t that a song?

Flounder Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Never had to and very thank full for it. Hunting land is only 35-40 min away and I can sleep there is I want.

March to March insane in my 401k thx to pandemic lows Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Grandma Crappy just got her second shot!!! Feeling good and fired up! Hoping it make her feel comfortable enough to go back to church, out to lunch with her friends and dare I say fly down to see her brothers in Florida. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I cut the ice blocks with an ax...well I tried at first just to see what I was up against...with 8 plus inches of ice, I brought the chainsaw out. After I figured out how much ice I needed, I shoveled and gridded the area out and then screwed wood handles I fabricated into the ice with long screws...if I tried using nails the ice would shatter. I worked from down stream to upstream so if I fell in pulling ice I would have a chance to get out before going under the ice...I also took other precautions like standing on a long board to spread out my weight, rope, wore wool, and had a nice fire going. The ice was surprisingly heavy but I was able to “pop” it out by pushing the ice into the water and heaving it out when it floated up. I have a light blue tarp that I used to cover the top of the drum storage...and built it in the shadow of a very steep bank (north side). Somehow I managed a day two and cut more ice and built mini igloos around 20 of my 5-gallon buckets...with the buckets on the before mentioned steep hill being the most challenging (and back-breaking)!

Doesn't really apply to me as I work mostly for myself, but I appreciate what you're saying. Is it fair? Probably not. Were the last 100 years fair or women or blacks? Definitely not. Are race or sex quotas perfect? No. But that doesn't make them invaluable or unnecessary. What I'm not going to do is lose my mind or consider my identity under attack because I lost a gig to someone whose skin colour gave them an extra leg up. I'll just move on.

When I had a truck, I slept in it a few times. Piece of old carpet and a foam pad to keep the ribs of the bed liner from making it painful. Backseat of a car a few times, as well as the back of a station wagon. Ah, the good old days...... I prefer a tent and a cot these days and planning things out better. Been thinking of a hunting trip to VT for maybe 2022 or 23. A couple places I'm looking at have lean-to's which would give a dry place to sit and keep items like coolers under in bad weather, but the plan is to sleep in a tent. There was a thought of renting a van but, it would be a waste of money when I have perfectly good tents and sleeping gear.

I'm no expert in that space that is for sure. There are several here that have much more experience at it than me. That trip started the night we were texting back and forth though with that late night recovery and realizing we had time and no buck tags left!

That is awesome, what did you charge for that one if you dont mind me asking?

Of course not. I'm like you - always catch a cold. Last year at this time, I mentioned that if nothing else comes out of this, the hand washing and masks will stave off colds and flus, and so far, I've been good. I think we may see a change in how people deal with colds and flus in the future. That is, mask wearing when you're sick much like they do in Asia.

the syrup or the Ball jars? lol. Ball jars are about like ammo right now

The new wood does not have the same "feel". I sold a bit of the "excess", but I prefer to reuse most of it. I had a couple of stands, that I had never killed deer from, untill I wrapped them with 3 ft high, 1881 & 1883 barnwood walls. I am also much more comfortable working in a shop made from that 200 year old American Chestnut, than I would be in one made from modern plywood and 2 x 4's. I am looking forward to enclosing the back portch on the new pole barn with some more of that old wood. That will include a couple big swinging doors with some big old iron strap hinges, that I picked up at a local garage sale. I also saved many of the original, old iron square nails, and I plan on using those on the "new" old doors. Those that were inside and in weather protected areas are still in "like new" condition.

It’s my 401k so choices are limited. But CISGX is a big part of my 401k. I believe it for 65-70% in 2020. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Yeah its been nuts and I think that trend will continue for the year. I wish i had more to invest there are so many opportunities still.

I was riding the canal trails one day with my son in the pull behind seat . I was pedaling my ass off to get up a hill and maintain some speed and a woman about 65 years just blew past us LOL. Even my son asked out loud as we were being passed " dad why is that lady going so much faster then us "

I thought you were talking about Randy Savage Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Country fried venison.

Backyard lunch appetizers. Squirrel hot legs with garlic parmesan and Korean chili coated Venison flank steaks. Creamy chili dipping sauce