Salmon_Run

Just a thought, if it would be supported, asking the moderators to create a separate "memorial page" within this forum to honor those in our lives who are lost. It is sad to lose a deep friend and family member with whom we shared such great sporting memories. I think it would be great to have a forum page dedicated to their memories. Thank you for the consideration.

Please accept my deepest condolences, I too lost a hunting and lifelong friend yesterday. Enjoy the memories that abound and know they are in a better place and again comfortable. Loss is sad and it lightens my heart to have the support of all here and I truly wish you all the best. Dan

Thank you all for the kind words and prayers; they have true meaning to me and his family. Mark passed tonight peacefully and may he have straight shots, tight lines and level fields abundant with game in the hereafter. Dan

My thoughts and prayers to all involved.....

My friend since elementary school and deer hunting buddy is about to pass after a 6 months courageous battle with mouth and throat cancer. We have harvested many deer together on his family farm in Livingston County, and shared many laughs, and a few beers and chicken wings over the years. He will be only 59 upon his passing and has been critically ill for the last 2 months. Please honor him by enjoying your time afield this fall with a friend and help me wish him a speedy and peaceful passing. May God bless you buddy and may you rest in quiet peace... Dan

Definitely looks like just behind the lungs and before the stomach and intestines and right into the liver. Sounds like it bled like crazy internally and dropped right after your shot. I am glad you recovered her in short time. Thanks for sharing....

Congrats....definitely a liver shot...

LOL

It's crap that the stores sell those products in New York...

I absolutely love my Kimber 84M in .308; it weights only 5.5 lbs and has a beautiful oil finished walnut stock. It falls right in your price range. Been hunting with it for about five years now in the Adirondack deep woods and western New York farm lands. Always performed as expected, I own several Remington's, Browning's and this seems to be my "go to" mostly because of the light weight. Enjoy shopping, that's about half the fun of getting a new rifle.

That's a fox.....

I know it's a distance away in Saratoga County, but you can try Ted McEachron, Baconhill Kennels at (518) 695-6135.

Nice grab, and good luck this fall..

Yep, physical yearly and I used to get my prostate check almost daily at work, or at least it felt that way. True story, one time at the office I entered the locker room to see one guy with his waist band pulled slightly down and another with two fingers pushing just below his belly button. Yikes, no worries..... just a little friendly hernia check...You simply can't make that up!!! And....no I din't work at a medical facility...

About four years someone had a stuck breech plug and took their M/L to a local "gun smith" who dumped water down the barrel and stood it in the corner for a couple of days. Guess he figured the water would saturate the powder and render it useless. Next smart move to unscrew the plug was to clamp the rifle in a vise and heat the breech with a propane torch. Well, guess what happened next? Yep; gun fired and blew a .50 caliber hole through the side of his shop and then into the neighbors house and law enforcement became involved. Thankfully no one was injured. We as a hunting community need to be continually smart and safe. It's never good to be one the nightly news.

I worked with a guy that has a nice circular scar from double loading his M/L and the scope knocked him out. Be safe and be sure of what one is doing....

Yep, this entire episode has left us fuming mad in the area of our camps. First it was a different ENCON Officer than the one we all know that handles that area. There is thousands of acres of state land, marked trails in the area and old stone walls from an abandoned farm. Last year the wild apple crop was crazy and my neighbor and I placed multiple trail cameras in the area and got hundreds of bear pics. This summer a camp was sold on our town road and a clearly "anti" moved in. She called that my dogs were running deer, my dogs are labs and AKC Master title hunting dogs and would never give a minutes attention to a bear or deer. They are very obedient and always in sight. I was given a "warning" to keep my dogs under control. I run and exercise them on the old road and ponds on state land. Then my neighbor set about to place his trail cameras out a little earlier than last year and I wasn't with him. He set them out surrounding the old orchard and near the stone wall as they were heavily traveled last year by bear. He puts an address label inside the battery box with his address and name. About two weeks later he checks on his cameras and one was missing with a business card in a sandwich bag there where it hung. He called the ENCON and was told he needed to meet him to get his camera back. He met with ENCON who told him he was sick of this woman calling him about us and wrote him a ticket for littering on state land. The officer told him he left property(trail cam) unlawfully abandoned on state land and he wrote the ticket to "placate" the caller and he should answer the ticker personally in town court. My neighbor was livid to say the very least and hasn't had his court date yet. Last week my daughter had her hunters ED class and I asked the ECON Officer teaching about any such law, his reply was it was a far stretch for littering and there are no laws prohibiting trail cams being used or left on state land. We all feel like we are being harassed by this "anti" that moved into an area where hunting camp are. We pulled all the cameras and I placed mine on private property to be safe. Total crap !!!!

Last fall I placed several on state land and never had an issue. This late summer my neighbor placed his ahead of my schedule and he went about a week later to check his and found a business card from a state ENCON officer in place of one of his cameras. Seems an anti saw the camera and contacted the ENCON about our cameras being on state land. My neighbor contacted the officer who arranged to meet him to "give his camera back" Well, when my neighbor meet the officer he was ticketed for "littering" and issued a summons for local town court by the officer. So this year I didn't place any of my cameras on state land and my private land is very remote. It sucks that others can't leave property alone and one is out a piece of equipment.

How many of us out there are thinking, big woods, solitude, snow cover and temps in the teens ? I personally can't wait for this weather to change and get ready for deer season....

Any success stories? I spent a few sweaty days, swatting mosquitoes, and wandering around my area. There are several bears in my area but seriously doubt a one of them would ever reach 400 pounds based upon their limited natural food availability. Lots of sign but their movement has become pretty nocturnal with the heat and change of season. I hope to get back at it very soon and get some cooler weather. After wandering around all day I found that this guy had walked between my cabin and woodshed overnight.....

There are a lot of guys here with more experience than I have and all will help. Theses are all suggestions I have, by no means use them as gospel and experiment your self and match your terrain. 1. Learn and utilize some very basic and generic water sets for mink and muskrat. 2. Scent posts along trails are a great idea; not sure I would not introduce a burnt log into the set however. I try and use only natural materials at hand. I would use urine and bait to attract them. Again, everyone has a bait type or brand they are comfortable using. Experiment or talk with local trappers. 3. Body grip traps, I use 160 in cubby sets and like dense evergreen areas for fisher and bobcat. I make some bubby boxes (check NYS regs closely) and also some natural sets with logs or rocks. Where I trap early snowfall can hamper a foothold set overnight. Cubby are still functional even if an animal has to dig it reach the cubby. 4. Bears. Where I trap there are many bears and they can get a fancy for cubby sets and tip them over and smash them up. I plan to lose a few each fall. 5. Lures and scents, I would talk with local guys and any info from a local shop. Again use local products or those most common to your area. I have never seen or smelled a skunk where I trap and would't use that as a attractant. Hope this helps and enjoy yourself...

Yes, Savage Striker in .308 with a 4x12 scope.....

Good luck this fall. There are many great ideas here and some of the others have years of experience. I feel it comes down to some experimentation to see what works best for you and how your budget goes. You'll find the guys here will never steer you wrong and offer up help when asked.

I would say some I've used 2-3 years and I normally pull them up before the ground freezes, inspect them for rust and tears in the cable. If they're good looking use them again. At seasons end I take a long rod and simple apply steady pressure and pull them up. Last fall my season was cut short by a blizzard and I marked them well, left them there and will use them this fall. Glad I can help you, I've only been back trapping myself recently and learned a bunch from here and videos. I'm also lucky there is a trapping store about an hour away and the owner has been great.

There are several different companies making them now; the only downside I see is more gear to haul through the woods. The steel rod used to drive them into the ground is heavy when added to all the other gear. I trap some pretty nasty rocky soil and have had to move them a couple of times to get between the rocks but they worked good for me.