Meat Manager

That is a great buck! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My 2010 Dodge Dakota Quad-cab Bighorn 4x4...had more than a dozen hauled home in the bed of this beauty over the past 4 years. Obviously still runs great (only 45,000 on it). Great for the kid and dogs...Good in snow pretty easy on gas...first truck of my own! Oh and I hit a turkey last year with it, dented the hood so I took the breasts in trade! I think that literally makes it a hunting vehicle. That said I stuffed my first 8 pt into the trunk of my friends Mazda 323 outside state college, pa about 15 years ago. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

None seen today...yeah well until tomorrow morning then! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Back at it 25 and calm...gorgeous! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Really a diverse selection of bird species here... 5 squirrels as close together and quiet as I've ever observed, they are hunkered about 20ft up in a hollow between two big oak limbs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In my tree...gonna sit to 12:30 take a lunch/warmup break and then back by 2:30 for the pm sit. Hopin for some NJ whitetail action! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Still only 4F but there are criss crossing fresh tracks everywhere: I'm not the only one out here 1 truck in the lot and 2 sets of boot tracks veered off further into the woods. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Currently still -1F so I'm holding off another half hour before I head into the woods...supposed to be 25 by noon, hope so! There's a cut corn field out the window, been watching a while but no movement...it sure is bright but cold. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not that its any of your business but i dont mind bragging about my wife. My wife has a lucrative career which involves 20% international travel, 80% in-home office...I watch my kid and dogs for a living since my career in land management pays far less...and I hunt primarily short 3-4 hour sessions whenever I can. I am actually doing my wife a favor this weekend by getting myself and son out of her hair. Hotel was free thanks to her work travel. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My wife needed the weekend to catch up on work so I dropped my Son off at my moms in PA and I'm bow hunting either sex in NJ for the next two days. Just pulled into the Hampton inn, got two free nights from my wife's travel rewards...I'm 5 minutes from my fav public WMA, not bad temporary free hunting camp: Frigid with a good snow cover...temps are supposed to climb into the mid20's tomorrow and upper 30's Sunday. Prolly head into the woods at first light with the climber and sit a few hours before setting up a little deeper in the woods for the pm and Sunday sits. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hunted .243 savage with 3x9 scope all my teens and twenties in PA...often had difficulty locating vitals on close range deer even in the 3x. Moved to NY 6 yrs ago and all 10 of my gun harvests are smooth bore improved cylinder sluggers with a fiber optic single bead...I'm dead on to 80 yds...enough for me I don't take running shots tho. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A little drier and a little saltier than I like...but still real good: Happy New Year! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Marinated about 20 hrs, placed on racks and let dry 1 hr: Preheated smoker w/alder for 15 minutes...put it on the back porch with sliding door sized windows. Placed racks in smoker and put on my insulated cover: 12-16 hours and another 2 pans of chips from now I should have some jerky! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for confirmation! I was thinking about doing it in the same shed I hang em in. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ha! Thanks I did make 15 lbs of dehydrator/jerky gun Jerky and gave that away along with 10lbs of sausage and 5lbs of steaks to family for Xmas. I also gave over 1.5 deer to family over the course of the season. Sorry none for the members tho...If I get a couple more dmfa or in jersey before Feb 15th maybe I'll reconsider! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes...fixed temp (they say about 160 I'll check with my IR Thermometer when I get it going). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Filled the freezer this season so I asked for some new processing toys for xmas...got a slicer and a smoker among other things so I thought i'd document my first whole muscle smoked jerky experience. Made my own brine/marinade with some salt, cider, general tzo, worcester, and some other stuff. Pulled out about 5.5 lbs of front shoulder roast cuts from 3 different deer. I butchered them in this manner for this specific purpose: Sliced partially frozen roasts about 3/16" thick and layered them in a Pyrex baking dish I have a nice lid for: Poured on the brine and then stuck in the fridge: Tomorrow it goes in here with some Alder chips for 12-16 hours...I built this insulated cover quickly today to help maintain heat as per many reviews of this smoker: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because bucks are not the breeding limiters...does are the breeders, if a buck dies another will breed a hot doe...if a doe is killed that breeding line is dead. Doe harvests are the only method for population control. Sorry for hijacking I just really believe hunters should consider pop management part of a hunting mindset...it certainly is taught at hunter Ed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

From the dec deer management plan, note the first goal: The plan describes six primary goals that encompass the current priorities for deer management and the values and issues expressed by the public: Manage deer populations at levels that are appropriate for human and ecological concerns; Promote and enhance deer hunting as an important recreational activity, tradition, and population management tool in New York; Reduce negative impacts caused by deer; Foster public understanding and communication about deer ecology, deer management, economic aspects and recreational opportunities; Manage deer to promote healthy and sustainable forests and enhance habitat conservation efforts to benefit deer and other species; and Ensure that the necessary resources are available to support sound management of white-tailed deer in New York. From dec page on AR's: In recent years, buck harvest strategies have been a divisive issue among deer hunters across the state. During development of the 2012-2016 deer management plan for New York, some hunters expressed strong interest in modifying hunting rules/regulations to allow more bucks to live to older ages and develop heavier bodies with larger antlers. As a result of that input, one of the objectives in DEC's current deer management plan is to "Encourage various strategies to reduce harvest of young (1.5 year old) bucks in accordance with hunter desires." Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Every single states management and hunting plans are based on population control...ask Doc about the CTF and why permits are made available. It's got very little to do with hunting heritage. I'd also point to the DEC's new stance on pigs...hunters are doing more harm then good in terms of controlling pops so now it's getting contracted out and hunters don't get to shoot pigs. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You may not have gotten into for that reason and neither did I, but if you want to be able to continue hunting then you should see that society in general only condones hunting in modern times for that purpose. Again if you would prefer that farmers with red tags shoot your trophy bucks bald or budding in May or June at 3 am legally then keep passing on breeders. I do like to protect yearling bucks because I believe that a full spectrum age structure is vital to herd health, but this notion that guys filling tags legal are slobs is the opposite of true. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Every hunter who has taken a hunter safety course in the past 25 years has been educated about harvesting breeders as the method of population control and the correlation of doe permits to herd population. Again, as a whitetail hunter in 3 densely populated northeastern states (NY, PA, NJ) I view myself in 3 ways: -Doe/population manager -Yearling buck protector -Mature buck hunter Congrats to Maryland and nice shooting...as long as there is no waste, fill them tags. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I must be an unfit non-hunter...that makes alot of sense since I often hike my climber in and then actually climb the tree...that's one step further then just walking around like Elmer Fudd. I guess owls, lions, bobcats and anything else that ambushes from an elevated position aren't hunting either... By the way early...from live from the stand and harvest threads it looks like I spend a lot more time out there unhunting then most of you armchair deer stewards do hunting. In fact if you see me posting on this site chances are I either hunted that day (as i did today and yesterday in NJ) or am planning on it the next morning...I like actually doing it alot more than pontificating about it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree with that sentiment...I'd put myself in a 3rd category: Doe population manager, yearling buck protector, mature (age not rack) buck hunter. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know that...you scored quite a few yourself! Also I harvested mine in 3 wmu's and a dmfa...I'm not depleting any herds that is for sure. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk