Hoss315er

Many caliber options for deer with Thompson Contender or Encore. I have a Contender in .35 Rem too, does a great job on deer. Bonus buying a Thompson is you can swap barrels. You can have as many caliber options you want....or need for all types of game. Just do a lot of reading and good luck!

The bickering never ceases on here. Can't we all just get along? Anyways.... here is some useful reading on the subject if you are interested. First one is out of Maine...I think they have experinced severe winters. http://www.maine.gov/ifw/hunting_trapping/pdfs/deer_winter_feeding.pdf Some tough love from Montana....another cold and snowy place. http://animalrangeextension.montana.edu/articles/wildlife/deer_tough_love.htm And one more that I was reading last week. I'll paste one of the posts that I found informative. Keep in mind that corn is a supplement food source...they need woody browse / fiber in their natural diet to be able to handle digesting the corn. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=277708&page=all The post by Gflo: I went to Cal poly to study animal science; and large part of my curriculum and interest was in animal nutrition and diet formulation. I am also currently a 2nd year veterinary student, which means i don't know a whole lot, but I will write some gibberish for you guys to justify my vet school tuition. It makes me sleep better at night. I'll give you the short story on feeding concentrates to ruminants (deer, goats, and cows are pretty damn similar concerning their digestive tracts and how they react to feeds)... With ruminants (deer and cows) never think that you are directly feeding the animal. You are indirectly feeding the animal no matter what food you give it. This is because you are directly feeding the microbes which call first dibs on everything the ruminant eats. The problem with feeding a diet consisting largely in part of concentrates (Corn in this case) is that it can and will cause a dramatic shift in the bacterial population in the ruminant's stomach. The stomach will over a relatively short duration of time become much much more acidic. As humans, we think of acidic stomachs as being normal, but deer and cows (ruminants) have special parts of their stomach that are supposed to be free of acid. So in the case of feeding primarily concentrates, the bacteria and protozoans that thrive on eating concentrates (corn) rise in numbers, and their biproducts are acid. This acid will kill / displace the other types of bacteria and protozoa that would normally break down grass (cellulose). The problem here is that the bacteria and protozoa that break down grass (cellulose) are the ones that contribute the most to the energy supply of ruminants. Grass is broken down into Volatile Fatty Acids known as VFA's. These VFA's (volatile fatty acids) are then converted in the liver into glucose, which is the energy source that animals use to fuel their bodies. So now lets talk about the bad stuff that happens as a result of the "grass bacteria" dying, and the "corn bacteria" proliferating. The acidic environment makes the deer produce a lot more buffer (bicarbonate) than it normally would, and eventually it runs out of buffer. The animal's blood then becomes too acidic --> Bad stuff (death). At the same time, the deer isn't getting the VFA's (volatile fatty acids that "grass bacteria" produce) that are turned into glucose (the bodies main energy source). As a result, the body panics and goes into an emergency survival mode and begins producing ketone bodies (a really shitty, alternate energy source for emergencies only that increases blood acid concentration... It isn't mean to operate for a long time). Too many ketone bodies build up, and the deer's enzymes that make life possible stop working. The acidity of the deer's blood increases at the same time (and we talked earlier about how there isn't any buffer left to keep this from happening). So again... Ketoacidosis happens... Acidity of blood increases --> Death (if this happens for a short, but somewhat extended period of time). So feeding too much concentrate = Bad It would be better, but also more of a pain in the ass, to feed a mix that didn't consist of just concentrates. But if the deer seem to be living long enough to harvested, then why mess with it? If you start finding dead deer in and around your property that don't have bullet holes in them, then maybe i would think about changing things up a bit. As a quick side note; try not to waste money buying high protein feed (soybean meal); It sounds like a great idea, but the deer won't use the protein. They get their protein source by eating the dead bacteria and protozoans that wash out of the top compartments of their stomach into the rest of their digestive tract. The microbes (bacteria and protozoans) get the first shot at everything you feed; so the protein would essentially be wasted (never get to the deer's main absorption mechanism).

Brush piles, Planted pines, Hinged cut trees, grow some corn...I'd create something the would screen his view from seeing into my property from his blind. Maybe re-direct the deer around an obstacle and hang a new stand.

Tater, love the Draht pic. I have a female that is trained for blood tracking. Been working on shed antlers, too. Looking forward to shed hunting with her this year.

Yeah, few weeks ago we had the drone that crashed into lake Ontario. Don't forget the NSA spying on us all.

Thought about doing more waterfowl hunting but not wanting to eat them has been the main reason not to hunt them. Does anyone just feed them to your dogs/retrievers?

I went out coyote hunting on New Years eve a couple years ago. It was about 8* outside and snow on the ground. I headed up a power line right-away and started up this hill. At the top is a radio tower. Funny, I noticed the tower had a light that was out. I happen to glance again in the direction of the tower and the access road and see headlights in the treetops. I turn off my headlamp and am standing in a field silouhetted by the snow and moon light. I'm roughly the size of bigfoot and might as well left my headlamp on. A truck pulls up in front of the tower about 40yds from me. I can hear guys talking in the cab. I was wondering if they were out calling, too. Then, I thought about the tower access road having a locked gate at the main road. Maybe they were there to replace the light on the tower. The driver stuck a spotlight out the window and started scanning the field. I thought about calling out to them as the light almost fell on me a few different times. If he scanned any further left out his window, he would have cast it on me. But they really did not need the light to see my figure standing there. The light went off and 2 guys got out of the truck. They walked up to the fence that surroned the tower. They turned on a flshlight and I could hear them shaking the lock on the fence enclosure. They walked the entire perimter of the fence line; shining their light into the enclosure. I believe they were "scrappers" looking for wire and metal to steal. Now I think I'm going to have to call 911 and I can't even recall the name of the road to direct the police to find the access road. I thought about sneaking closer to get a plate number. I had my 222 rem. bolt action and wished I had wore my pistol...how had they not seen me yet? They finally returned to the truck and drove away. I approached the fence and saw that there was nothing for them in that pen to steal. After my hunt, I drove over to the road where the locked gate was and could see where they drove through a field to bypass the gate. That was probably the most unsettling experience I've encountered while hunting. Just trying to assess the situation as it was unfolding once I realized they were not there to service the tower or to hunt.

Good luck...marriage is the leading cause of divorce....or at least the cause if you start hunting less!

Every damn thread????

True that, the cameras are crap and it is sad that they took the big payout to endorse them. I personally avoid buying anything made by Wildgame Innovations. Back to Lee and Tiff...they scraped together just enough to make the move to Iowa...and start chasing big bucks. Having a cute wife bow hunting & videoing hunts with you helped too. I think it is what got Bill Jordan's attention....they started out under the Realtree umbrella.

http://www.nationalhuntingleases.com/hflListings/display.asp?ListingID=2280 This is one lease...been listed for awhile now.

This is the one I would recommend http://www.knittingdaily.com/forums/

New Holland is one of their sponsors. They were with John Deere before that. I remember a press release about the switch. That tells me that they are trading or getting a discount on the equipment. Hey, their living one hell of a dream....I would enjoy a life like this. One thing that gets me sore is when he has Wildgame Innovations send a case of trail cameras to him. Then he opens that big box on the show and starts prepping cameras for the woods. Just find it slightly insensitive to average Joe hunter that scrapes cash together to buy 1 or 2 cameras from season to season. Now, your going to open a new case in front of me? http://thecrush.tv/gear-and-sponsors

ooopps