Doc

I understand.

Yes, a great hunt is measured differently by all of us. Hunting is an individual activity, and we all do it for our own reasons. I understand those that measure the greatness of their hunt by the numerical score of a deer's rack. I happen to come from a time when nobody knew what the heck you were talking about if you started talking about score. We measured the size of a buck simply by the number of points. First of all it was something if you simply got a buck......any buck. Then it was the number of points that counted. It could be a scraggly little, tiny rack, but if it had enough points, it was worth bragging about. Now we have people dragging out their tape measures and following carefully dictated procedures to prove to the world what kind of buck they got. Yeah, we are all different. A great hunt can be all kinds of different things to each of us. Heck, it can even be a squirrel or rabbit hunt that turns out to be a "great hunt". We simply have to appreciate the entire experience and the fact that we can even get out to hunt at all. But above all, we have to resist the thought that we all have to be out there for a single reason, a single goal, and MUST take only a specific gender size and aged animal. We do not. We simply must hunt and enjoy it for whatever internal reasons that we each have.

So, is that a hunting cabin, or your main residence, or both? To me it makes a difference. If it is a camp, I am a big fan of wood interiors. If it is a general residence in a residential setting, I don't have a huge bias. But, as has been stated, it is all up to your personal taste, and it sounds like you have made up your mind, and you know what you like.

What a nice place you have there. I understand the need to brighten things up a bit. But you are right. Once the paint goes on there's no going back.

I understand the goal for some to only shoot trophy animals......I really do. But I also understand the need for hunters to harvest deer occasionally if they intend to stay in the sport. I also understand that not everybody has the option of letting deer after deer go by and finishing season after season without a score of any sort because they don't happen to have the kind of land where big deer reside. Many hunters are reliant on public land for their hunting. Others hunt big wood-land where maybe the deer are pretty scarce. Today, there are a lot of hunters who are pressed for time in this damned busy world and don't have the time to devote to targeting specific deer. There are all kinds of hunting situations and conditions where hunters may not even have the option of collecting only trophies. Imagine the level of frustration that they may feel if they think that the only allowable deer that they are expected to take are trophy class animals and anything less is failure. Those are the guys who will be short-timers in the sport if they are made to feel bad about what they have chosen to harvest. I'm afraid that all this emphasis on trophy-ism may be one of the contributors to the declining hunter populations. I think it is possible that many are being driven out through frustration because the current messages from all sides of deer hunting demand that hunters take only trophy sized deer. That is not really good for the political realities of what it takes to retain our rights as hunters.

This picture is of my current shooting range. There's a shooting bench under the blue tarp. You can picture what it is like when the temperature gets cold and the snow is flying, and the wind is adding to the wind-chill. I need to either come up with an enclosure (preferably with some heat) that keeps the snow off me and my stuff or give up shooting for the whole winter. But I like to shoot year around. I think $550 plus a bit for modifications using the Tractor Supply blind is a reasonable price for extending my shooting through the winter months. I could shoot out of the kitchen window, but that might cause some problems with wife.....lol.

I kind of like the idea of "shoot what makes you happy as long as it keeps you hunting". We keep on telling people that if they don't shoot the biggest buck in the woods, they just aren't really hunters. That message is pushed on to us by the hunting media from every direction. And every year we see our numbers declining. I understand that declining hunter numbers have many different reasons, but I have to believe that this constant drumbeat of "If you don't place all kinds of limits on your goals, you aren't doing it right" is also losing us numbers of hunters. I do not tell people what to shoot. I will be the first to shake the hand of a guy who just got a spike if he is proud of it, and I will congratulate him on his accomplishment. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a big buck like this one as much as anyone, but I refuse to tell other people what they should be shooting. It just isn't any of my business. Hunting is an individual activity, and I am not one to push my standards onto others. That is one quick way to turn a hunter into an ex-hunter.

You know, that plastic thing could work. I'll have to check that out. I don't think I could stick-build that for that price. A few modifications here and there, and I think it would work if the dimensions are right (and I'll bet they are). Thanks for the tip. looks pretty promising.

I checked out Google, and they had a jillion pictures, but they all are open air summer designs with open sides. Basically just a roof. And most are huge commercial range kinds of things. I am thinking more of something about 6' x 6' with a bench inside and just a front window to shoot out of. I would like to put some kind of space heater in there so ventilation is a consideration. Perhaps removable sides for summer shooting. I am starting to work on the design. I thought of buying some kind of storage shed and then modify as needed, but the prices on those are a bit more than I want to put into it. Plus, the idea of removable sides is kind of a must. I don't want to shoot when the sweat is dripping off my nose in the summer. Another major concern is the noise level inside an enclosed small shelter. Of course I would have ear protection, but I'm not sure what that would sound like with some of my deer rifles even with the ear protection on. I will probably design it with the tip of the barrel outside the shelter. That may help. So anyway, I am in the very beginning stages of planning this thing out. I have the rest of the winter to figure it all out. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

That poor hickory must have been bent over by another fallen tree or something. Maybe it was a bowhunter that was trying to clear a shooting lane.

These trees just simply have no shame.......lol.

How do you get a great horned owl out of a trap without getting pecked to death?

You know, if you wander around the woods enough, you get to see some of nature's accidents and strange looking things. Here is some I came across. A couple of "kissing trees" amd a unicorn. Anybody else have any weird natural things that you have photographed?

Wow! That is the ultimate shooting shack. I am thinking of something scaled back a little. I do my reloading in the shop in the basement. I am thinking of something a bit smaller that can accommodate maybe two shooters and maybe a small space heater of some sort. However, the idea of using a shed "kit" is an interesting thought. It used to be that Lowes sold sheds as a pile of selected lumber. I don't know if they still do that. The place that I have to put it is not accessible for a pre-built shed. It is on a steep side-hill and full of trees. I think it will be a fun project.

Welcome back! These things don't usually fix themselves, especially after that much time.

Thanks. I tend to add in safety factors on things like that. I remember when they used to have winter carnivals on the ice at Honeoye Lake (one of the Finger Lakes). Huge crowds gathered out on the lake with motorcycles. I don't know how thick the ice was then, but it was holding up an unbelievable amount of weight. They did discontinue it after just a couple of years. Thinking back on it, it does sound like a rather foolish kind of event.

Yeah, once the rut is done, they go back to being best buddies.....lol.

I would love to see what some of you people have come up with for winter shooting shacks, if anyone has built any. Next summer I will be putting one together and I could use some ideas on what you guys have come up with. Any pictures or descriptions of designs?

It's interesting to see the time of year some of the boys begin to drop their antlers. I have seen bucks with antlers in March, but that is pretty rare.

I have a collection of stones of all sizes and shape and grits, and I couldn't tell you what material is in them. The ones that work the best were white at one time. I use 3-in-1 oil, and they put a scary edge on all my knives and axes. I went to a guy over in the Avon flea market and he had some kind of machine with a rotating wheel of some sort. In 15-20 minutes, he put an edge on my pocket knife that was about as sharp as any that I have ever seen. Unfortunately I was kind of on-the-run and didn't have time to chat with him about his equipment. I would like to know what was on that wheel. What I saw could have been a leather strop glued onto a wheel.

Ok......One little side-story I have to tell you all about our Canadian moose hunt. This almost got me thrown into the lake. We used to have a dog that loved to have a tug-of-war with us if you had an old towel or rag of some sort. and while she did this, she would growl and snarl like some kind of rabid, wild, crazed, animal. Well, being the a-hole that I am, this sparked an idea in my evil brain. I had a portable tape player, and I put a 20-minute empty leader on the tape and then I started to tape all the growling and snarling of our dog while I had a tug-of-war match with her. It was beautiful.....That sound that she was making sounded like some unknown variety of insane wild animal. So, the first night at camp as soon as it got completely dark, we were all sitting around the campfire, talking and I declared that I was going to go take a leak, and I walked out into the pitch-black night away from the campfire and set the tape player down and turned it on.....Full volume. I had that 20 minutes of blank tape so everyone would forget that I had even been out there. All of a sudden, all that loud growling and snarling started to come out of the darkness. It was absolutely terrifying. I mean, here we were deep in the Canadian wilderness sitting in the dead quiet darkness, and we hear this supposed unidentified wild animal threatening the camp, growling and snarling. It was pretty horrifying. Everyone grabbed knives and whatever they thought would save them from this menacing wild beast and like the brave savior, I grabbed a flashlight and started out to confront the beast. They all trailed after me. When I finally got to the tape player, I dove on it and lifted it up proclaiming that I had killed the critter and started laughing at the joke I had played on them. I thought I was going to wind up in the lake, but we all had a great laugh, and still do today. Yeah, it was a mean trick, but I've always been a bit of a ball-buster.

What is the recommended minimum thickness that they recommend as being safe to ice fish on? I know 1" is not it!

Walleyes and northerns, but mostly they were supper.

Sardines are a great bait for coons, skunks, possums, and a lot of other critters. Strong scent and a fishy smell. Works good. The best time for success is usually the first day or two. You are probably right to relocate the traps. Look around for sign....Scat, trails, tracks, etc. With this cold weather that has just set in, the critters are not going to be super active, and in some cases not active at all. However, foxes and coyotes will be on the prowl. Any stolen bait?

Yes.......I'll bet that what it is. The camera's reaction to motion. That looks real weird.