Enigma

C'mon @fasteddie. Rat's humor was eclectic. Irreverent. Rat's humor was poignant. Nuff said. He's missed.

Where's @Water Rat when we need him?

Thats a dead deer. Kudos to you for backing out and letting him lay down and die. Smart move. He shouldn't be far. The last thing I would ever do is push a deer after a suspect bow shot. Been there. Done that. The people telling you otherwise have never trailed one too quick, watched it pop up and run to the next county. Never to be seen again. Gun shot deer are a different story.

A 243 was the first rifle I bought. 35 yrs ago. Bought it mostly to hunt woodchucks. Killed some deer with it with some 100gr handloads. Most didn't go far. Its my backup now to a 308. I'll give up a couple pounds of shoulder meat for a short tracking job. Crush a front shoulder and get two holes. End of story regardless of caliber. Someone told me that once . . . Know your rifle and ammo. Know their limitations. And know your's.

Franks. But Texas Pete's is my go to for a commercial sauce. That being said the homemade sauce from Walt's Diner in Old Forge is the real deal. I usually buy 2 quarts when I pass through.

Just take him for a walk in the woods, maybe a short sit with some snacks and a chat and call it good. Quality time is the best. I took my oldest for a one time deer hunting hedge row sit when he was 5. Showed him the grunt call and told him to try and be still and have at it. Sounded like a deer party for 30min lol. Lo and behold a he calls up a small buck that I dutifully shot. He wasn't impressed but it's still my best hunting memory 15 yrs later.

Best hunting hat ever!

Ya gotta know your anatomy. You can slice and cube a sirloin tip into a steak but you still end up with dental floss mixed in with your now mushed steak. Sirloin tips get made into pastrami here. The loins go to roasts. Sliced top and bottom rounds make nice steaks if you like small boneless venison steaks. Filet off the silverskin first and heed the muscle grain when slicing. No real need to cube them. I usually end up slicing those into jerky myself or making them into pastrami. Eye of round gets crossgrain sliced for stir fry etc. Shanks get canned. My personal motto is "they're all the best at one thing". If I want a great steak I'm going for a beef cut. If I want great sausage or kielbasa I'm going for pork. Chickens are made for grilling. Venison to me is great pastrami and great jerky, a couple great roasts, a couple small steaks, some ground and a couple canned pints. And for the record I like canned vegetables. Frozen peas suck.

Close but no. He might have overloaded a new circuit or two to spotlight that new buck mount on the wall. 1000W easy. But I don't think it was quite that bad. Sorry Bucks lol.

I do $112 a month on a budget plan with National Grid on 1,000 sqft. All electric, heat as well. Something's funky Bucks . . .

This topic is going national today. An ingenious capitalist with a point to make makes a wilfully ignorant state agency look silly. Love it.

What's drawing all the juice in the house Bucks? Do you have a gas hookup from them as well?

Perhaps passe'. But 1B f'in views. " . . . hear my Uzi goin' rat ta ta tat taha . . . "

So more to the story. Buddy #1 sends me this crappy pic today. Says he doesn't think he killed the biggest bear there. Sent the pic to buddy #2 and he said "Holy shit." The people I hunt with are touched in the head.

Yes. Ty.

The thin, smooth piece of muscle from behind the last rib back to the pelvis. Holds the guts in. I guess I could have called it something else lol.

". . . but you don't have to worry, 'cause takin' care of business is his name"

For @Belo. Squirrel belly meat coated in Louisiana Fish Fry seasoning. Fried nice n crisp. Homemade bleu cheese dressing for dipping. Ahhhhh yup lol.

Bear burger bein made.

So here's an update. My buddy with whom I stayed with on this trip actually killed this bear. He broke it down yesterday. I asked him today if he weighed it. His response . . . "Just the front arm. 75lbs. He had to be 500+. I could "bearly" lift the torso after I took the meat off. The cooler with the hide and head almost threw my back out. They had to be 100lbs each. 300 in meat. Plus the guts? Ass to tip of snout was 6'6"." So there you have it lol. I hope y'all understand I'm not claiming it was a 500 lb'der. I'll let him do that. Said friend is a type "A" personality. Go big or go home type of guy. All I can say was it was a big bear.

They've been chopping corn in CNY for at least a week. Rte 12S from Utica to Waterville and south. Lots of other places.

I hunted 3M last Sat 9.17 and Sun 9.18. I didn't see a bear. The sweet corn they were in two weeks ago dried up and died. Very, very dry there. Walked some cow corn but never put eyes on one. Fun nonetheless. And then last night I get the pics. Killed last night. In the cow corn where I walked. Close range gun kill. I don't have all the details and I doubt it was weighed, but what say you? Put a weight on it.

Thoughts? Does he run it like he stole it and win? Or fall flat like Rossi to Ducati? Reddick can wheel it. I think he thinks he can too. But better. Was the #1 shoe at Toyota. Jumped in the ring to be #1 at Chevy. Rowdy vs. Kyle Larson. How many more championships does he win?

Obligatory beer pic. Guinness.

She was brought up Catholic. But says she's 49% Irish. Double agent lol.