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I trapped this guy this morning in a coyote set. Beautiful prime pelt.

Cool......Back in the 1970s a buddy and I killed a bunch calling at night with an electronic caller that used 45 RPM records... Best night we ever had we shot 8....Rarely called a red into shotgun range, they seemed to be more wary than the greys....They would come to where we could see thier eyes and squall, but seldom came within shotgun range...Greys were bringing $50 a pelt and reds were bringing $75....We killed a lot with a 20 gauge side by side and #4 shot, which was effective out to about 35 yards, but when the prices went higher we used my Browning A-5 3" mag to take advantage of those 40 and 50 yard shots...

This!! And the real fact is is that any deer that live in farm country and eat corn and alfalfa during the year can be fed the same all winter. Their systems do change to break down the woods browse they eat but do not lose the ability to do the same with corn and alfalfa. Now say deer up in the Adirondacks that have never seen a corn field would definitely be affected if not started out feeding them slowly. The important part is to start slow and do not stop until winter is over and they can get around again out of their yarding areas.

Consequences of feeding deer in winter Now that white-tailed deer hunting seasons have ended throughout most of New York State, it may be tempting to begin feeding deer to “help” them through the winter. However, feeding deer during the winter or other times of the year is unnecessary, prohibited in New York, and can have very negative consequences for deer, your neighbors, and surrounding wildlife habitat. During the winter, deer primarily rely on woody and evergreen vegetation (collectively known as woody browse) for their daily nutritional and metabolic needs. The digestive enzymes in a deer’s stomach change in the winter to better digest this browse. If deer are provided with unnatural food sources such as corn or hay after this change in diet has occurred it can result in deer becoming ill or even their death. Deer will attempt to utilize the unnatural food source, but can develop acidosis (i.e., grain overload disease) or enterotoxemia (i.e., Clostridium overgrowth) disease because they can’t digest the food properly. Both diseases occur acutely and can result in the rapid illness and death of deer in winter even though their stomachs are full. Deer also congregate around food sources in winter which can increase the risk for disease transmission. For example, if a deer infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD) visits an artificial deer feeding site it will shed CWD prions in its saliva directly on the food, which can infect any other deer that feed from the same site. Congregations of deer around artificial feeding sites can also increase the risk for deer-vehicle collisions and deer related damage to landscape plantings, orchards, and tree farms. Inflated deer densities resulting from deer feeding can also exceed the carrying capacity of the surrounding habitat, resulting in wildlife habitat degradation. Habitat improvement, especially the creation and promotion of early successional habitat, is the best way to ensure that deer and other species of wildlife have plenty to eat all year and avoids the negative consequences of deer feeding. Anyone interested in improving wildlife habitat on their property can contact their regional DEC deer or wildlife habitat management biologist. For a list of tree and shrub species that deer prefer to eat in winter and that you can promote on your property, visit DEC’s winter deer foods webpage.

You kids should be more careful! Robby

I've got plans in the works to build 2 8ft platforms that I'll mount hub blinds to, plus steps leading up with handrails. It's mostly about comfort.

It takes me about a half hour and 2 quarts of gas to blast everything out/off from a raw, skinned head using my 3100 psi power washer. That also beats the heck out boiling them in the house, especially when it comes to the cleanup, and keeping my wife happy. I just leave the mess outside overnight, and the birds and vermin have it all completely cleaned up by the next morning. I like the natural bone color on my euros, and you would also likely get that with the beetles. When you boil them, they sometimes turn an ugly yellow.

Happened to see this video of a girl playing a harp near a wooded area, as one can see a Deer was very interested in the sound and came quite close to the girl who was in plain sight. Got me thinking on what would happen if one got a harp recording put on to an electronic caller like a foxpro. Al

Picked this guy up from the taxidermist recently. I think he did a good job.

Maine circa 1900

A few from back in the day. Sure seemed like a lot more turkeys back then.

A really nice autoloader in small gauges is the Tristar Viper especially the bronze model. A buddy of mine picked up a 410 a few years ago, he brought it over and we shot a bunch of clays birds, it functioned flawlessly, weighed under 6 lbs and the fit and finish was outstanding and the wood was beautiful also, looked as good as the stock photo below. Best part is they can be bought for seven or eight hundred bucks, plain jane models sell for a whole lot less.

New Hampshire 1947

Although "illegal", you can still feed them these things and not kill a single deer, but you have to offer it in small quantity at first, and slowly add to the amount as weeks go by.. too much of a new harsh food at once is what kills them. But most deer know when too much is too much and make themselves stop.. The absolute best way to feed deer in the winter time (a legal way) Is cut a soft maple or poplar down, every week or so, they will strip every bud off until they're gone. This Creates cover for wildlife too. When flush cut, the stump will turn into a "Mineral stump" and the younger lower ground vegetation in summer, will be a food source for a couple years.

Good safety info !

I’m 63

This thread is beating a dead horse