growalot

Last three nights: Cubed venison steak,baked yams,roasted Brussels Baked cod fish ,oven seasoned steak fries,coleslaw in a vinegar dressing Baked lemon chicken chef salad.

I average 30 ft wide..They will bed in it

It got to six foot and had a very slow start due to the drought but once the rains came shot up and fast! The first pic hemp and beans next to turnips second is a close up...last pic, hemp and beans in the background. Sun flowers just rarely makes it here...I suppose if I planted a solid field of them they might but even the long strips I do ,the deer just hammer them from sprouting on through. Which they did with the hemp in the lower plot the first time I planted and this year as well...That tells me I have a bit higher concentration of deer movement in that lower plot than the upper one. This even though the cams seem busier up here than down there..go figure, I can't..lol

So I'm cutting up the last leg of the doe and the dang phones been ringing off the wall. I answer..... Chris speaking may I help you?...Yes that is how I answer my personal phone,a throw over from work and it makes telemarketers hang up...calling businesses is a no no... This woman says, I'm calling on the behalf of such and such, no kill shelter..Do you have a moment?....Well.... " No actually,I'm in the middle of cutting up a deer in my kitchen at the moment"....Oh Boy! ...and she hung up....hahahaha .....So you may have had to been there, but every time I think about it, it makes me laugh..

Well that is what I had in my plots this year the deer loved it and I have to say...first year with cow peas...I'm thinking I liked them better than the soybeans.....they didn't have a long enough season to produce pods ...but they handled browsing well and the deer ate them. They also handle the drought very well and they seed delayed in areas. their sprouting then came in beautifully as well as the hemp. Then we had a lot of rain and the field flooded...they held up to the standing water as well... very impressed with that plot and even though the deer thinned it out and the frost killed it back...the deer have a super highway through it to get to the turnips and have beds in it..

I have to say, that above was more to the sights. I actually think there is a bit of a difference in the release verses fingers. At least for me but then again it could have been a difference between a finger tab and finger gloves...I used a tab...I think going to the release made me have to readjust because I didn't have my shots pulling to the rt as much even though I'm a rt hand shooter. Which normally, if I would have a side pull ,should have been to the lft. due to hand my bow is in...I may be wrong,but....

Not everyone see's things the same. I would put to you, why would you use a sight when you don't have to? Now that was rhetorical...for I have heard the ,because it's more accurate. That may be so for the people using them...but for the ones that do not and have trained and who's body and eye coordination has developed to the non use of one, they are not more accurate.

So I have no idea how that was underlined and obviously not exactly what I typed...I can't even remember what I typed to cause "unreported" to appear...but you got it so... Yes grain sorghum can get 12 ft tall but if planted too close will not develop a thick enough stalk not to lodge in the wind and heavy snows. This is from my experience...I broad cast seed. the stuff I did this year in a Max attract plot(add in) has stayed up very well and helped hide the deer as they fed on clover and turnips I laid over the top after planting the sorghum.

Happy birthday and Thanks John...May 2017 hold nothing but the best for you.

Oh please! now I've really had enough...That flys with me about as much as a lead weighted balloon!...I own properties in a few areas of the state...lets talk camp 8X do I need to tell you what the DMP allotment for that area over the years has been? Yet our camp property which by the way has been in the family for ever...the family actually started out owning the entire Valley 100 yrs ago... Selling off .. We bought our small 68 acres 38 yrs ago but the family hunted it since they were kids. That said it has filled in with buckthorn...do not blame the deer for that..anyone that deals with buckthorn would say the same thing. Want to talk about wild garlic...Here at home we had no wild garlic...then the neighbor brought in loggers it took just one year for it to go from their place to ours after the loggers equipment brought in the seed. Absolutely nothing to do with deer...and if you do not want a woods filled with ,hay scented fern, Then maintain PROPER logging management. you can't have a "English Woods " canopy with wide spaced trees with wider tree canopies, blocking the sun from hitting the ground and expect under story growth. Is there nothing some people wont blame deer for.. The state loves blaming deer and so do foresters. The state hates "dealing " with forest management. They have been drag into it over the last few years practically kicking and screaming...foresters want nice straight large caliper trees to harvest Selectively. Taking out the best leaving the younger good ones and scrub to fill in. Funny how I live in 8N where ppl are seeing 70 deer in fields bordering me ,yet my neighbor allowed 50 acres to go fallow and has areas of solid maple slashings that have ZERO ground growth due no to light...I have shown pics of the new growth slashings I have and areas of bramble and elderberry an acre in size... Just stop!

Doc you hit it with the ecological necessity...Gosh what it the world did mother nature do here in NYS BEFORE the arrival of coyotes? Oh...that's right, she had great fox populations...go figure..but granted you don't see too many fox running off carrying deer fawns in their mouths. What you did see were fields of deer and fox feeding together...deer on forbs and fox "mousing".. I know there is someone(s) in our area taking out the coyotes now...more power to them. For when we were seeing them during the day, we weren't seeing our fox and rabbits. When we stopped seeing them, the fox sightings went way up...my garden produce also doubled because the rodents eating them went away...we see more rabbits. Yes guys I know fox eat rabbits..just stating the facts for here...The rodent population seems to keep the fox fed better than the coyotes.... So I believe like most eco systems, take away one thing and if you have a similar species around...it will take up the slack. I give fox a pass...coyotes in season will never get a pass from me.

For me it's terrible..I tried it once and lost, to a poor shot, a deer I just may have had mounted...knowing me, you know that was a big deer to say that...Think the neighbor that picked him up did...Any ways great during practice...but on a live deer once the arrow left the bow...I couldn't see where it hit,just the sight. I never get that shooting instinctive...I can see everything...the arrow flight the impact. it only took once and never again...I'll probably never really get over that day..it's there in the back of my mind, like an unwanted mole. Forgotten most of the time and then you notice it...

Wolc123...Do me a favor and pull up and post that NYS DEC regulation that states you can trap out of season and bury raccoon for food plots "crops"..you do know deer food plots aren't considered "agricultural" crops don't you? If they were, how many guys do you think would try to get nuisance permits to shoot deer all summer off their food plots..BTW I believe a big tado was in the paper a couple of years ago where a guy did that ,the DEC issued them and if I recall dung hit the fan over it. Agricultural crops are those that produce an income or contribute towards an income as far as feeding livestock. Deer in NYS aren't considered free roaming livestock. So I may have missed this regulation or perhaps they changed it..post it for me and I will check it out...Thanks in advance.

I have to say ...that looks like a deer magnet area from the pics. So that leads me to, is this the only fallow field on the place and are you planning on leveling all of it? ?Next here's a link for skid steer attachments that can be rented,as an idea. http://empireequipmentrental.http://empireequipmentrental.com/portfolio-item/earth-auger/com/portfolio-item/utility-soil-conditioner/ Depending on your answer, you could just go in there with a chain saw and cut to ground level the bushes and the trees. Then treat the stumps with brush killer. Then mow wide winding strips through out it...perhaps leaving a good tree or two for a future stand...or brush as a backdrop to a ground blind. install one or even two watering holes. Now I know we all want things yesterday...but slow and steady can work out well too. See if those mowed trails produce good forb grasses and natural clover..if not then spray them, drag them up and lime and plant a clover in them with a WW grain and or turnips set up a ground blind or a good ladder stand that will be high enough to cover the area with a rifle. Remember my talking all season of the neighbors sanctuary..you know where all the deer were all season during the day. Well I told her to do the exact same thing to her field and trim around all the wild apple and crab apple growing..though besides the trails she allowed trees and pines to grow...but those wide winding trails with good golden rod and natural brows on either side...keep the deer there. When I told her to do this they were hunting it and driving it with their gator. This I knew would push at least some to me...unfortunately the guys she hates set up on her back line and it pushed deer to them as well...now she won't go in and hunt it any more..lol So I'm stuck watching herds walking up and down our property line on those trails... If you want the plots ...then look at the rentals but first go in and get soil tests...find out EXACTLY what the ground needs and you put your cash into doing the liming that's needed ..Still put in watering holes what ever you do.

Thanks S1VT...When I started looking for the new bow the archery shops all said that shooting fingers with the new bows would put,as memory serves, too much torque on the string and cause issues with the cams. Now it was a few years ago but I think that was the consensus. I had a very difficult time going to a release...went through three before I bought a rather expensive true-ball buckles strapped on. They set me up perfect with it for my draw and now just love it.

OMG...knock me over with a turkey feather!..So surprised as to how this thread played out...hahahahaha

Use to fingers no sights...Now it's a release and still no sights... I started with a Kodiak recurve then went to a Hoyt compound..Back then you could still get away with shooting no release with a compound...not on the newer bows and I bought up the a Mission a few years ago....It was a tab and 3 under...my anchor point was the locking of my shoulder blade still is. This makes sure I always keep my form. The no sights....If it ain't broken don't fix it...I'm rt handed in bow with lft eye dominance.

I use feed corn..of grain sorghum...grain because it's taller...unreported well for me...pines.and crab Apple's.for permanent

It's a game, I say that a lot during the year. That's my thoughts on it...This year they bested me at this game. I did get a couple, but on the whole ,for all my prep and strategy they won this years match...So I'm in the planning mode again reviewing what I did or didn't do,considering what they did or didn't do. Hoping I can surpass or enhance the changing game board to work in my favor. So, I don't like computer games, but real life ones that are completely unpredictable I enjoy...That's why I do it.

Wooly Happy Birthday Enjoy and have a fantastic 2017. You gift us all with your talent through out the year and deserve the very best, Thanks

This makes me laugh...I wish we had a "dog chasing it's tail " emoticon. I was against them until I actually picked one up...I have hunted with one for 3 years now..I've taken 2 deer. Do I want full inclusion No, why? Because the DEC so screwed it up when they allowed a insignificant read and sign piece of paper to allow anyone to use one. It should always been a bow course requirement. But they had a need to "test" the waters so had to treat it as a "gun " type of weapon to do so quickly. Personally I think some of these brain storms develop at the local watering hole in Albany well past 5pm. Want to know what the real effect will be...no deer and by gun season ,some seriously pizzed off gun hunters. Why? Because the deer are learning folks. So are the illegal hunters(want to talk St Lawrence county? The DEC did) ..like it or not The deer have started to go nocturnal way earlier than they ever have. It's been a progression, the more people hitting the woods with bow in hand the later they hit travel routes and the earlier they leave feeding to bed. They are changing...The local Farmer who has guys hunting talked about it...no more flagging alerts,less snorting being heard. So I started talking to guys around different areas and the guys from camp...They didn't realize it until asked but, yes no flagging...guys I know that do drives said the same. They bolt without raising their tails in alert. Now I don't participate in drives but a bright white tail makes for a faster acquired target on a brown landscape...Nearly every one around here ,even those that got deer, said they saw fewer in legal hours. You won't catch a significant # of bow hunters doing stalks. YES, some do but not a significant number...with a crossbow...one is much more mobile..no drawing and acquiring the proper pin...it's raise and look through the scope...Like it or not it IS easier...and there you have it more guys "sneaking " around the woods ,into safety zones looking for that shot. Want to ask me how many deer I walked within feet of while leaving the woods. Not seeing them and they not moving until I was past them...I can tell you, many more then ever in past years. Lets talk about your beloved buck...You think all these guys wanting cross bow in bow season are looking for "Just a deer" NO!, lets try just for a second, to be honest. They want a GOOD BUCK. So considering doe are smarter than buck..yes even your prized older ones...what do you think will be shot off? Young ones as well..It wasn't doe walking around sniffing my ladder rungs in day light this season it was 5 and 6pt's. So deer will be shot and early ,then the woods will settle a bit the rest of bow,but damage done,as it were. So early gun or cross bow inclusion...really makes no difference the deer have already got the memo and started changing some time ago. So inclusion will just shift what everyone is beoutching about. It will be DEC about doe numbers and hunters about buck and no deer sightings...OH wait...That sounds familiar...hhhmmmmm

Ground blind

Oh no,LOL..... we won't have Teflon in the house...These are the 3ply professional all stainless pots....I freaked at the price...So he gives me a pot a year. Just sauce pans for all frying pans are cast iron,the original "Teflon" if you know how to keep them seasoned properly.... http://www.all-clad.com/Cookware/Sauce-Pans-%26-Sauciers/Stainless-4-Qt-Sauce-Pan-/p/8701004418

That's funny...Jameson and coke, she nursed it most of the night..lol

Mr B did great this year...he always does but I wanted a basic 15' ladder stand with a metal seat...he ordered it ..they ran out 3x's and it's due at the end of January. I also got the Caldwell Dead Shot shooting rest...Been wanting one for ever...can't wait until turkey season! Lots of scratch offs and I won 73.00 and a 4 qt. All Clad sauce pan to add to my collection. Such great cook ware. Kids were very generous as well. I collect Snow babies and he got me several big retired pieces. Our Daughter got me a Kitchen Aid hand held mixer..,a really nice and powerful one...dang whipped up the mash taters quick as can be. The big kitchen Aid is great but too big for smaller stuff... Hope you all got what you wished for and great surprises you didn't think of.....Have a wonderful day and hug your loved ones tight...