erussell

Iv'e got 2 snake stories from Louisiana to. First one was gun hunting with a buddy, I was walking down this trail and it was really windy and you really couldn't hear anything. I heard what sounded like a leaf blowing in the wind and looked down just in time to see a rattlesnake strike at my boot. I jumped back and leveled the 300wm I had borrowed from my friend at the snake and blew him into a thousand pcs. My friend got a good laugh out of it but it scared the crap out of me. And then bow hunting one time I was walking down this trail to my stand and a tree had been blown down across the trail. I had to straddle the tree to get over it and when I put my foot over I felt something wack the bottom of my boot. I yanked my legs up and looked on the other side of the tree and there was a copper head sitting under the tree. I climbed up onto the tree and made my way down the trunk to the roots and after looking on the ground to make sure everything was clear I went over and looked at the snake from a distance. Had to be a 4 footer. Another time I was scouting with a friend and it was an unusually cold morning. We were walking down a deer trail checking things out and looked ahead where the sun was on the trail and there were 2 copperheads curled up on the trail getting warm, so we went back the other way. I jumped down in a small creek and up the other side. I looked back and my friend is standing there white as a ghost and he say's are you crazy and points down into the creek and there inches from my foot print is a huge water-moccasin curled up. luckily it was to cold for him to move.

Got probably 6 to 8 inches of the wet snow. Im not happy, one day out looking for sheds on open ground the next there's 6to8 come on !!!!Cool corlocks are all ive ever used in rifle and have had good luck with them.

I know I kind of chuckled and said how the heck, oh never mind I know people who are capable of doing that.

Would really like to but everytime I have some free time it snows and I cant get into the range at my cousins land. Starting to get ticked at the snow.

I think it really depends on where you hunt in NY and the hunters that hunt it. I hunt several areas where there is thousands of acreas of continous forest and only a few hunters. ( No I won't tell you where ) And we seem to do pretty well with the nice bucks. We got a few in the 120 and 130's with several in the 150 and possibly 160's seen that escaped to the posted non hunting land unscathed again. : I personally had atleast a 140 10 point within 50 yrds of my bow stand and my buddy had a massive 10 point that he fimed from his bow stand ( yes I saw the video)and had run right under his stand chasing a doe. Funny story on that one. He is pretty much def and has hearing aids. He was looking the other way and the deer ran right under his stand before he saw it. By the time he stood up and grabbed his bow they were gone. So NY has the possibility of growing some monsters as seen by all the nice deer taken this yr. We just have to back off that trigger when there young and get some age on them.

http://outdoornews.com/new_york/news/article_56441526-4030-11e0-bd2e-001cc4c002e0.html http://outdoornews.com/new_york/news/article_2aa12c50-027e-11e0-ba04-001cc4c002e0.html

So what do you think? http://outdoornews.com/new_york/article_eaf27a7f-7074-54dc-9079-58e3f85c62ec.html

I plan on using the cheap Remington corelock ammo in 150 0r 165 grain. ANyone have any problems with these?

I was stalking throught the woods with my bow and to make a long storie short came upon a black bear who ran off. As I didn't want to go in the same direction as him I went another only to turn around and see the bear following me. I kept an eye on him. He decided to charge and I pulled my bow back and pointed it at him and yelled which made him stop. Since there was no season at the time I didn't shoot, we just stood there looking eachother over. He turned and walked back the other way clapping his jaws and I let down and headed for the car with this bear in tow at 30 yrds the whole way. I tell you he's lucky I was very close a couple of times to punching the trigger while we were staring each other down. If he had taken a couple of more steps I would have stuck him. I dozed off one time and awoke to the sound of brush breaking to my right and snapped right awake and raised my muzzleoader and looked to the right and there was a massive bear standing there at 15 yrds looking at me. I just placed the cross hairs right between his eye's and asked in a loud voice what he wanted and he turned inside out getting out of there Nearly shat myself both times. Another time I was on a Doe day hunt on Fort Polk in LA. Well apparently every hill billy in the state came out for it to. And since appernently you can hunt with semi auto with 30 round clips down there it sounded like WWII. I had a doe come through doing a hundred miles an hour ,presenting no shot, and left to my right. All of the sudden about a 100yrds to my right someone let loose with a 30 rnder. I could hear the bullets burning through the woods in front of me. I hit the ground and started yelling and the shooting stopped. And I left the wood's in a hurry. ??? Another time I was in my stand and heard a hell of a raucous right next to my head and whipped my head around to see a red tail hawk back peddling in my face. Glad he didnt land on me and sink his talons in

It's a wonder we even get bucks with decent antler's in NY. This study was done in Texas with a warm climate. I find it amazing Deer survive the winter at all. But I guess the Texas summer could be compareable to our winters. I find it interesting the amount of bucks that die from the brain infection just from rubbing there antlers. I have shot some bucks with nasty wounds on there heads before, I wounder if they would have died anyhow if I hadn't shot them? How many 6.5 or for that matter 5.5 yr old Bucks can there be in NY? I'm assuming Pat Rockets didn't read the end of the storie or we would never hear the end of it. Just picking Pat!

He's probably the best in the area. Does nice work.

It still boggles my mind to hear people still don't shoot doe. It's like they think they are doing them a favor. Shoot them!! Give your bucks a rest for a few yrs and shoot the doe. Your bucks you have are probably rutting themselves to death trying to breed all the doe's.

Plus recycling is not eco friendly. It takes more power than its worth to recycle plastic. But it means less plastic in the land fill so your damned if you do or don't.

Very good read on reaserch done on Texas Bucks and Mortality. This study was done on a Texas ranch but they do mention some studies done in Maryland also. http://www.whitetaildomains.com/Articles/ShowArticle.aspx/184/Death+in+the+Brush+Country WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS RESEARCH MEAN? First, managing for mature, trophy bucks is not very efficient because many bucks will die each year of natural causes. To illustrate this, let’s start with a population of 100 six-month-old buck fawns. Our buck mortality research indicates that an average of 46% of buck fawns will die of natural causes from December-May, reducing the buck population to only 54 1.5-year-old bucks. Our data shows that an average of 37% of 1.5-year-old bucks will die of natural causes so, after the second year the buck population has decreased to only 34 2.5-year-old bucks. Our research indicates that an average of 7% of 2.5-year-old bucks die each year, knocking the population down to 32 3.5-year-old bucks. We found that 20% of 3.5-year-old bucks die of natural causes, so we are now left with 26 4.5-year-old bucks. Natural mortality in 4.5-year-old bucks is the lowest of any age class (1%) and all 26 bucks survive to age 5.5. Of the 26 5.5-year-old bucks, 6% will die before reaching age 6.5. Therefore, only 24 bucks, out of the original 100 buck fawns, will survive to age 6.5, the age at which antler growth peaks. This shockingly high rate of natural mortality means that without any hunting at all, 76 of 100 buck fawns will die before age 6.5! Ranch owners, managers, and hunters interested in managing for mature, trophy bucks need to realize that in south Texas the majority of bucks will die of natural causes before reaching maturity.

Feeders would mean more deer make it through the winter and that is not what the DEC want's. We just spent the last 10 yrs murdering the Doe population in the southern zone to get the numbers down I don't think they are going to turn around and try to increase the population again to the late 90's numbers. But I will say feeding would probably help the northern zone deer during the spring and summer to help them fatten up for the harsh winters. Southern zone deer don't need the extra feed, even after all the snow we got here this winter there still fat and happy.

I read an interesting theory today in and article. It said that if you are not finding sheds in a certain area it could be because the area is seriously mineral deficient and the deer are eating thier own antlers or they are being gobbled up by everything else to get the minerals. Anyone else ever hear of deer eating thier own antlers? That would explain alot since I have been out looking for antlers the last 10 yrs and have found only one shed. And it was fresh like it had dropped off that day. I have never found an antler from a previous season in NY also. I have found old ones in LA that were badly chewed but never in NY. What do you think?

Where I have my plots its mostly fist size rocks or flat shale. Would a tiller have a problem with that?

From QDMA web page article Quality Deer Management helps correct this imbalance by protecting young bucks and allowing them to survive into the older age classes. Quality Deer Management isn’t about protecting bucks until they are 5.5yrs old – that’s trophy management. Quality Deer Management, in simplest terms is about protecting yearling bucks. Yearling bucks are the easiest adult deer to harvest, but if hunters pass them and allow them to reach 2.5yrs, they become a little smarter and some will avoid hunters and reach 3.5yrs. Some of those will then avoid hunters and reach 4.5yrs, etc. Pretty soon you end up with a deer population that has bucks in multiple age classes even while allowing bucks 2.5yrs and older to be harvested. A complete age structure is good for deer and great for hunters There seems to be some misinformation going around as to what QDM entails. What most people seem to have a problem with is really Trophy management and NOT QDM. Would suggest going to the QDMA web page and reading up about what true QDM really is. (Notice the even while allowing 2.5 yr old bucks to be harvested) good article on the difference between the three http://www.whitetailstewards.com/articlesonsite/deerpopulationmanage/deermanagementstrategies.htm

What is your herd size? You could be beyond carrying capacity if they can wipe out a plot that big. Lower the population and go from there. Interesting article on Carrying capacity http://www.whitetaildomains.com/Articles/ShowArticle.aspx/192/WebResource.axd?d=CQEX1C3l0ojt5tPeOw889e0Ym3F4v-m2smz2ock8yN3s5MjzKcC_y5PZK6XaKiaJF-0zELmofkPie4L4lol98agg56f2dohHCXH4jtqmKkA1&t=633778879020000000

Actually I think Im going to go with the earthquake mini tiller. Cheaper, more powerfull and better reviews for breaking new ground than the mantis. Or rent one from Agway. You can rent a full size tiller from Agway for 40 bucks for the day. Should be able to till 4 plots in a few hours.

That's what i'm trying to find out, if it will work on semi rocky soil. Don't need to go to deep for a deep woods plot really, just 4 inch's has worked well for me. They also make a 4 cyl one also with a 16 inch path. There commercial says good for compact clay but doesn't say anything about rocks. http://mantis.com/mantis-xp-tiller.asp

Gander Mnt here in Binghamton is hit or miss. Some days I go in there and they are greeting you at the door other days you can't find anyone to help you at all. I guess it just depends on who is working. They should try and mix the slugs in with some of the better employees and not put them all on the same shift. I find Ganders prices a tad high also and dont go there unless I absolutely have to. I have never had any problems with The original Dicks sporting goods on Court street. They are a small store and limited stock but they have great customer service and knowlegable staff. The Dicks sporting goods in the Town Square Mall is another story. That store is filled with arrogante douche bags who couldn't find there ass with both hands.

Anyone use a Mantis to do your plots? I plan on picking one up this spring.

Why would you put your house as a waypoint?

Walked the woods for 3 hrs today and nothing. But found a rub line on leg size trees. Now if I can only find the sheds. Only 100 more acres to crisscross.