wooly

Congrats on a great buck and nice job on the skull. ..... would have liked to seen a pic of the hooker, but as long as she does as good a job as everyone says she does, who cares what she looks like,lol

1-17-14 It's been awfully quiet in my neck of the woods. The snow piled up deep, and hiking is not much fun or productive when it gets like this but I had to get out there to have a look around anyhow. Still haven't found any antlers, but I did find my first dead buck of the season. He's the one I knew had a broken off side that I've been looking for from the start but I haven't located yet. I'm gonna keep this skull in one piece and see if that snapped off side turns up. He lost it at some point late during archery season, so I'm sure it's not far and I'll find it. Off to a VERY slow start this year! I could really use a meltdown right about now, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Antlers- 1 Sets- 0 Dead doe- 1 Dead bucks- 1

Geeze Pygmy, when I read the title of your post I got worried you took that pic I sent you WAY too seriously! This isn't really ME! Maybe a trip to Alaska would be good for you to cool off a bit!

You know it's the off season when all the religious posts start showing up!

When in doubt...., "spray and pray"..

Sounds like you caught it in time. I heard you could use a pencil eraser to.... well, erase light rust spots. I tried it on a few of my old gun barrels in the past and it worked pretty well. A good wipe down with the silicone cloth and they shined up like new.

I ain't going in them woods! You're on your own grow!

Don't mind me..... I'm just trying to fit in! I like a good smooth bowl of cotton candy blended with watermelon and a drop of black cherry out of my Nautilus,lol

I'm not a huge fan of the cold, but my tolerance increases it if I'm involved in an activity I really enjoy... ex. shed hunting, hiking, hunting, photg...etc. I think by adding some separation between my "seasons", my expectations change as to what I look forward to getting out of them. I'm sure others have found a way to blend all their options together, but for me it seems distracting from my main focus of whatever it is I'm trying to accomplish at the moment. I try to put 100% into all my recreational pursuits, butI can't find a way to do that if I'm trying to juggle more than one thing at a time.

I know for a fact that my level of dedication would drop off immensely...... if not completely. Even with my first passion being nature photography, and still holding possession of an antlerless tag, I found out this year after opening day that it alone wasn't enough to keep my motivation levels high. After burning my buck tag on opening day I thought it would be real easy to dedicate the rest of the season to "hunting" bucks with my camera, and doe with the gun, but that never happened the way I had thought it would. I sure love to take pictures, but that's an entirely different season that takes a whole different level of preparation and dedication for me. I can't explain why the drive goes away once I don't have a buck tag. I was kind of surprised by this myself.

Just curious, why do you cigar smokers take pictures of yourself smoking cigars? Do you think nobody will believe you? Seems strange to me.

As a kid I dreamed of being a Dallas Cowboy some day...

It's not as bad as it sounds. Seriously think he was the best choice given the candidates they were considering since Jesus wasn't available to talk to.

I'm sure glad someone in this thread has a funny bone! This is some serious stuff that needs to be sorted out before next season, so I'll leave you all to get back to business without any further interruptions.

Booooooooo.... I found this picture of Henrik Lundqvist and his new girlfriend. She looks like a dude,lol

Sooooo.... a Pollock came home one day from work, hung up his coat, took off his hat and walked into his bedroom shouting "honey I'm home!" What should he see but his best friend in bed with his wife. Infuriated, he rushed to the cupboard, pulled out his gun and put it to his head. His wife started laughing. "Don't laugh!" he screams. "You're next!"

Full time shed hunter.

The foot stomp is two things from my experiences.... an audio warning to any other deer in the immediate area that may hear that dull thump, and a scent warning deposited by the interdigital glands in the hooves to warn any other deer that approach that spot to potential danger in the immediate area. That's why sometimes even if the deer that stomps eventually calms down and walks away, the next deer down that path will often turn inside out and make a quick retreat back the way it came from when it hits that spot or comes close to it even when the wind is clearly in your favor. I think it also may serve to startle a potential predator into movement as you described, but I don't believe that's the main reason for that reaction. As always, JMO.

This one's good too. Before he became a big name hunting celebrity, he spent his days devouring dandelions and crab grass as the "Weed Eater",lol

I don't think one stimulus alone (aside from an injury) will play much of a role determining when antlers start to drop. While I believe weather plays a part in it, there are many other variables that need to be taken into consideration for any given area.... and then it still sometimes seems random or specific to individual bucks shedding habits even under the worst, or best conditions. One things for sure is sometime between December and April they will all hit the ground!

Perhaps next year the majority of our meat will be 2.5 years or older BEFORE it goes in the freezer.

Damn, looks AWESOME bud! Do you have the ATL's from those antlers. That had to really be something to walk up on! Glad to see you finally got them put up the way you wanted them, and congrats on that super set again!

Haha- what the hecks an Iowa-onian doing on a NY site. You must have heard of our new antler restrictions for the upcoming season and wanted to get in on the action,lol Good luck to you this season ten, and can't wait to see how ol' Crazy Horns turned out!

Finger Lakes Trail system? I have a good stretch of that trail to hike here. Those "closed" signs unfortunately don't always work the way they're supposed to during hunting season. Most of that system around here passes through privately owned properties where permission is a narrow sliver of trail to the public with established entry points at road crossings and parking areas. I don't think that would work effectively in a park environment where accessing a trail could be accomplished from any random point over the one mile area within the park.

Throw in one visit on your holiday spa pass, a 40oz of Genny, and one of those old dry rotted collectors edition Trojan's you still carry in your wallet from high school and we'll talk,lol I'll just use my imagination for the rest.