Grouse

My buddy got a nice 5 point on my land on the opener and I go a nice 8 the 24th. I still have a doe permit and have let a lot of does walk because they weren't big enough to give me the meat I expect for the amount of work I will have to do. I'm now only hunting for a big doe. Still got muzzleloader to hunt too.

Took the buck to my processor yesterday. They charge $100 to do it, but I like the way they do it. This year though, they are charging an extra $25 to give you the cape and head back to be mounted. That rubs me wrong, because it's not like I can bring it to them without the head and cape on it, so they're charging to give the head back to me. I've gotten the head and cape back from them at no cost in the past. Don't know why they decided to charge for it this year.

It is, but sitting on stand won't work when there is little hunting pressure. Now you have to go after the deer. You have to scout their locations and habits and be able to track, stalk and shoot them on the ground. Few hunters hunt on the ground anymore.

1910

How well do they work in the big woods going uphill? I can't see adding more to what I carry into the woods now, unless it has some major advantage for me. Besides, I don't always take a stand when I hunt, preferring to have the option to move if I need to.

When I was young the woods were full of hunters and the deer were small. I used to long to find woods to hunt that weren't filled with every neon orange wearing nimrod on God's green earth. And they wore that full body orange suit to avoid getting shot by one of those other orange clad guys who was as dangerous as a lit stick of dynamite. To see a good-sized buck while hunting was as rare as seeing an alien space craft landing. Every spike buck in the woods was killed by the end of opening day. Big bucks only survived on land that was not open to hunting and they fled to that land the minute the first shot was fired, only to stay there for the rest of the open season. The old days weren't as good as most guys seem to think they were in my opinion. Today there are far fewer hunters and I also notice far fewer shots, but I also believe the shots fired now are coming from hunters actually shooting at a deer and only taking one shot most of the time. Maybe the price of ammo has something to do with that. Today I can find lots of land to hunt, and lots of 6 and 8 point bucks to hunt for. Less pressure from hunters means more opportunity to really hunt the way I want to hunt, utilizing hunting skills that won't get ruined by some guy in the woods wandering into the area without a clue, smoking a cigar, suffering from a hangover and smelling like his car's air freshener. Fewer hunters in the woods is also the main reason we hear of fewer hunting accidents every year. There are many drawbacks to fewer hunters in the woods, but there are also many positives for the guy who is a real hunter, one of the 1% who really takes the sport seriously and goes about it professionally. There are advantages and disadvantages to everything, but I prefer to look at the advantages and make them work for me. I for one, am having more success each year, and bagging bigger bucks now than ever in my life, and I'm doing it with real hunting skills, not so much with dumb luck like it used to be when that's all you could hope for. Sure I worry about the sport dying, but it won't die for me and if others choose not to do it anymore, that will be just one more poor choice younger generations make. I'm just glad hunting was something I could do my entire life because it has truly enhanced the quality of my life all along.

A good rifle and 53 years of deer hunting experience pays off.

Saw something about it online as well but no details of who, where or when.

It took a while, but I finally put my tag on a buck this year. My buddy bagged a nice 5 point on the opener, but I saw nothing but a squirrel. I did spend a few hours in the morning on the opener helping him with his deer, when I should've been in my stand, but I don't know if I missed anything when I wasn't there. Anyway, the day after Thanksgiving I went to my friend's nearby property to hunt. He was out of town for Thanksgiving and asked if I would hunt his 100 acres and make sure no one else was hunting there. I had exclusive hunting privileges Weds through Friday. I drove my truck into a back field and parked to wait for the sun to rise. I took a seat at one end of the field where I could see the whole field, as well as the wood line around it. Soon after legal shooting time, I saw a doe at the far end of the field just inside the brush of the woods bordering the field. It was 200 yards away. Scanning the woods behind her, I spotted this nice 8-point buck. The brush was obscuring his body, and I could only see his head and neck. The doe spotted me and blew a warning. She did it again a few seconds later. When she ran into the woods the buck was still there looking at her. I knew he was going to run, so I set my crosshairs on his neck and steadied my aim. The Kimber 84M in 7mm08 roared and the buck staggered, as he tried to run away. I lost sight of him after that. I drove the truck over to where he stood and found him not far from where he was when I shot. I was a 200 yard off hand neck shot, and the longest shot I've taken on a buck in the Catskills. I had to call my friend Chuck to help me lift it onto the tailgate of my pickup, as it was too heavy for me to do it alone. The buck weighed 140 lbs field dressed and has a nice symmetrical 8-point rack. It also has two little bumps where it was growing 2 more points that would have made it a 10-pointer, but they're too small to count. I took some time to fill my tag, but it was worth the wait.

It's been 60 years and the govt still has a clamp on the records and evidece it has in the Top Secret files. What does that tell you?

Emphasis on the Empire State: Every people gets the government they deserve, and New Yorkers — who had a chance last year to oust their Big Government leftist governor, Kathy Hochul, for a popular and highly regarded small government conservative, Lee Zeldin — are getting theirs good and hard. As the New York Post reports, "New York once again has the dubious distinction of being labeled 'the least free state' in America, according to a report issued by libertarian-leaning think tank The Cato Institute. The Empire State ranked dead last — 50th — for policies impacting economic, social and personal freedoms in 2022, the report claims." In contrast, the Free State of Florida ranked second in the report, perhaps fittingly behind only the "Live Free or Die" state of New Hampshire as the most free state in the union. "It is little wonder," said the report's authors, "that New Yorkers are fleeing the state in droves. New Yorkers have been voting with their feet for years." And who can blame them? Makes me wonder if the election was legitimate.

Too warm for deer hunting today, so I went to Plan B and took the Harley out for a ride. Middle of November, 60 degrees and sunny. Now I think the Breakout is done for the winter.