coonhunter

Ha Ha Ha! What a day!!!

The car I have now is the first one that wasn't a standard. It's not horrible like they used to be, but I still lift my foot to push in the clutch quite often.

It is amazing how old some of the country singers can get, and still sing just as well as when they were in their 20's.

I saw and talked with him at the Courtland Country Music Park years ago. I enjoyed listening to him perform.

I stopped at the farm that the lease guys let me bowhunt on. The first Sunday they had 20 bullets between 6 of them. I gave the two guys six .270 shells, which was all I had on me. That got them up to five a piece.

William W Johnstone has a series called The First Mountain Man that is pretty good too.

There are people around me that are scrambling and begging for shells of all calibers. Store shelves are bare and stay that way from the looks. I can't imagine all the city people coming up that usually buy their license and shells tomorrow night.It is usually a huge line at walmart and they have nothing for deer rifle or shotgun shells.

Since I will have a non climbing lady guest, we will be in a portable blind. We will set up in a tried and true spot that is on a saddle overlooking some medium thick thorn apples on one side. The good side is a large finger of hemlocks that leads into some thick, bedding area brush and trees. It is about 80 yards to the hemlocks, and the deer like to travel right up the edge or just inside the trees. Lots of easy shooting before they get to the thick stuff. The other side with the thorn apples has some open spots for shooting as long as they stop. Then it is semi open hardwoods with enough open spots that you can usually get a good shot. The woman has a buck and a doe tag, and I already told her she can shoot what she wants. She will be using my rifle because she likes it and has scored with it before. Pretty low odds of me even picking the gun up because I plan on dragging one or two deer out of the woods because she has shot at two deer with my gun, and both dropped in a heap. Good luck to everyone and enjoy yourselves. Hunt how you like and shoot whatever the hell you want. Don't let other peoples' standards take the enjoyment away from shooting a nice , young buck or a nice fat doe. For me, rifle season is helping others get there deer. It's been years since I shot a buck with a gun. I usually just fill a doe tag and maybe a D-Map if the landowner has a bunch left. I enjoy the excitement and fun, and even the work of helping out friends that struggle to get a deer.

Dark Passage by Richard S Wheeler. It is a book in the Barnaby Skye series set in the days of the beaver trapping times in the beginning of the settling of this country It's not bad and I will probably read a couple more.

Northcountryman, I have used baking soda for over 30 years. Most of my shooting is inside 50 yards whether it is with a bow or a rifle because I hunt in a lot of thick areas that others don't like. It has always seemed to work well for me.

I use a climber almost all the time whether I am bow hunting or gun hunting. I carry my climber, a small back pack, and a fanny pack with me when I go in. Most of my spots are quite a ways in too, so I had to figure it out by trial and error until I found a system and arrangement that worked for me. Now, the setting up in the dark. Even though I have used climbers for years, the first time I go in every year, I imagine it sounds like Santa's Workshop with all the fumbling around that I do. But, the funny thing is, when the sun comes up, the woods come to life just like every other morning. My best advice is to just get good at setting up and using your climber, and use a harness from the time you step on til the time you step off. Anymore, I just wait until there is a little grey light to see by, and hook up and climb up the tree. Much easier than doing it in the dark.

I will be sitting with a young lady letting her do the shooting with my Mossberg .270 that she killed a couple bucks with during the youth weekends years ago. She has gone deerless for a few years now and asked for my help, and I gladly offered up my spot and gun. We will have a good time and should be able to fill a couple tags( buck and doe) just to rile up her hubby.

I wash my clothes in baking soda and keep them in a garbage bag with another box of baking soda. I do use a spray on my boots and hat if it isn't froze solid in my car. I try to use height and a prevailing wind direction to my advantage because I always have coffee and food when in stand.

I carry a Lohman original deer grunt call. It does not sound aggressive or loud, but for whatever reason, I have had a lot of success with older bucks late in the early bow season with it.

I just save mine for gun season and let the kids and women get some shooting in. I have killed enough deer not to feel any pressure about killing one. But the beginners like, and I think need to kill some deer and enjoy the success to keep them interested and in the yearly game. If I haven't killed a buck , I usually stick a doe the last couple days of bow season to get our yearly supply of venison.

I'm with you on that one water rat. I didn't even know it started last night until I saw the stories today. For the most part I have been a diehard fan forever. I would only hunt or ice fish in the morning just to be sure I was home in time to shower and get sat down for football on Sundays. Once they put bullshit politics and social agendas in my face instead of football, I was done. I forgave them once, but am now done. The only sports I watch now are fighting, PBR, and motorcycle racing. I see all this crap all week long, and when I sit down to watch a sport, I do not want to see it, PERIOD. I can't do anything I want to at work, and I feel the owners ought to be able to tell them to do their job just like my owner. They have all week to attend to all their causes and agendas. Come gameday, it is time to do your job.

I love watching the deer staring at stands 15 feet in the air, before moving through or going around. A lot of hunters are horrible at sitting still and their stands get pegged early by the old does, and it spreads to any deer around her.

That's a fact for sure. I have found seven in almost 40 years on my hunting grounds. I'm sure there are more around somewhere, but they sure are rare.

I'm right in the middle of lots of the off campus college students. Not much has changed Town is still busy, stores packed, kids still outside partying around me. There's pictures of the kids in quarantine with no masks partying away that pissed people off. I don't care and I have a kid in the house that attends there, but never even got the chance to go on campus before they shut down. Supposedly hundreds of positives, but ZERO in the hospital. It's nothing but a circus. Hell, there are kids starting school today in person 20 miles away. There may even be schools closer. All that matters is that I still have to go to work every week just like normal, and bowling starts tomorrow night.

Yes G-Man, last year was crazy with the acorns. The best bet was to find a couple white oak mixed in with a bunch of red oak. It's not always possible, but I have a couple spots with a lone white or two that I usually set my brother on in the early season.

I love the years the beech nuts cling to the trees late and drop late in the season. When it is freezing cold and beech nuts are sitting on the frozen ground or snow, you will see deer. I would say at least half of my nice bucks have come from two different stands of beech. Early in the bow season it is tough to beat the oaks that are dropping acorns.

He is literally the only person I ever asked for and received an autograph from. It's on a picture of him pitching for the Reds. I have never been an autograph seeker or collector, but it was the perfect storm of just getting the picture, and then seeing him and Jonny Bench relaxing when I was a youngster. They were both very cordial to me and talked a few minutes before I took my leave. It's not a prized possession by any means, but I do enjoy seeing it and remembering talking to him for a few minutes when I was a kid.

Keep hunting fun. I don't care if you sit an hour and go home, sit all day, drive the woods with your buddies, or still hunt. Whatever you enjoy, do it. It's your fun and don't let others' opinions ruin it. I don't put nearly the time in that i used to. Instead of killing a nice buck every two or three years, I get one every 4-5 years now. Doesn't change my life or change the fact that others want my opinion and/or help when they have a nice one they are hunting. I just relax and enjoy myself.

Over 100 new cases in Oneonta where I live. SUNY College just started last week and it is already shut back down for two weeks. Best part is ZERO in the hospital! They say a few parties last weekend started it all. Who knows, I just keep going to work every week because I just don't care or fear it.I'll be saying it right up until it kills me

Chef, you should be on the phone tomorrow to the company. Be polite, but firm about needing a better replacement, plus a new harness. Be prepared to email the pictures and ask someone who knows, what you can do to prevent the same thing happening again. Most companies will make it right, especially if you are not threatening to sue them. Treestand falls are scary stuff. Glad you came out okay, and stuff like this is why I always have my harness hooked up from the bottom of the tree all the way to the top with my climbers.