Daveboone

We moved to Cortland last May. I have been trying to find a shooting club in the area without much success. I have found a few, but most seem to be very skeet and trap centered, and both of those also have a lot of shooting time restrictions due to an agreement with the Cortland Police Department for training. I can appreciate it, but at the same time, the times they have reserved are the times I would be wanting to shoot...mainly weekdays. i bench rest /sight in centerfires, but do a lot of black powder/muzzleloading (traditional cap and ball/flintlock) too...more than anything else, with some handgunning (target) work also. Can anyone make any recommendations? Oxford is a nice club I have shot black powder at, but they are an hour away...

Great season! I was able to get a big bodied 2 1/2 year old up in the NT ML opener. It was very warm with not much moving, but I hunted the oncoming cold front and caught him at about 30 yards, dropped him clean. I held off going out most of the rest of the season, having the last week of NT off...but wouldnt ya know...3 feet of snow in the week before! I got to the camp, but it really wasnt practical to get out...I would have had to drag anything back through 3 foot of light snow! Well, that is hunting, glad I put venison away early.

I didnt see one big enough...I only shoot 14 points or better.

how long do they work for? Sound like a good idea, but when they go dead...how long to charge back up?

Sure isnt any two year old. One heck of a lot of venison walking around there.

You were in my neck of the woods....I spent most of the fall tromping Happy Valley and surrounding areas. I headed up to my camp further north (East of Mannsville, Winona State forest area), for a long awaited week of deer hunting...I always take the last week of the season. I had to walk in to my cabin...about a 1/2 mile, as it is on an unplowed road. And my snow shoes were at the camp. GRRRR There were recent deer track, but they had to plow through the snow. I went out on stand, but called it quits this a.m.. I was concerned about leaving my vehicle out on the main road (there is a wide plowed area for parking), but the snow was still coming down, and if I shot something....how the hell am I getting it out through 3 feet of light fluffy snow? I was lucky enough to get a deer up there during ML season, so I am ok with that. I am always happy to see the small game hunters. I used to be one of them, and hope to do more again. They may just move a deer around for me. It used to be that there was no sunday deer hunting to allow the small game hunters a chance, but there are darn few out anymore.

Hunting is my ...mental therapy. I dont think about anything except being out in the woods, what the critters, weather, whatever are doing....It is about the only time I can really clear my mind. I particularly love hunting the slop. I tend to shoot more deer during fronts, or when it is really nasty...short of a gail. I love being out in the force of nature....but then love even more getting back to the nice warm cabin to enjoy ..not being out in it! I sure as hell though am not very happy about the storm just hitting up north, where I want to be come sunday night after I get out of work!

I remember wearing two pairs of jeans over cotton Kmart long underwear, two pairs of socks in Kmart rubber boots...with bread bags over my socks to help me slide my feet in and keep dry...Wearing dads thoroughly worn out wool coat and Filson style hat....a bandolier of slugs (always lost half of them by the end of the day).

Remember the days of seemingly bumper to bumper traffic , cars and trucks filled with orange clad hunters on 81 and the thruway? Opening morning, I didnt see any, and darn few vehicles in all the old road side parking places. When either northern tier or southern tier opening day came around, those were the days by far most hunters got out. Now, i know few hunters who arent multi season hunters...Bow, ML, regular season....Bow season for most now means crossbow, ML is modern inline. Effectively, people start hunting in september. I was very surprised last week end to go through a DEC traffic stop in the north country, southern Jefferson county. First game stop I had seen in probably 30 years. I was glad to see them, but at the same time I wanted to know why they didnt have it a month earlier, when the camps were way more full. Darn few hunters out at that time (last week end).

BS. When they catch poachers red handed on feeders at night with multiple deer shot from a car, they get a slap on the hand. Myself, I believe game law penalties are woefully ineffective....when you read about the "cuffs and collars", most are repeat offenders.

I am a total hot dog snob....Hoffmans or nothing! I ate way too many weiners as a kid.... That said....the only venison hot dogs I ever had that were worth comparing to a Hoffmans were from Costanzas in Webster NY. But all thier sausage products are a huge step up from the normal venison butcher sausage.

I have used both Williams and Lyman apertures quite a bit and love them ( I sometimes forget without looking which rifles I have wear which...I have used them on Mausers, 94s, Krags, and on my Lyman Great Plains caplock, which I shoot in league with. If you arent used to open sights, they take getting used to, but much greater accuracy potential than with just open buck horns....Hey, Just ask Quigley!

94s were top eject until their last run, when angle eject came out..that is, under the long time ownership before they went bellyup in the nineties. Before then, you could use an off set scope mount, but they were alwasy very clumsy. I had never heard of the AR...is that the angle eject? My own thoughts...I dearly love my 94s (I have owned four), but to me ...a scope kills its easy natural handling. I have a Williams aperture on mine, and it is amazing the improvement in accuracy. They used to be all pre drilled for them.

For a lot of folks, hunting is all about the toys they can buy. I enjoy one game camera in a popular area, just to know what is in the area, as well as the other wild life that is around. I know some guys who use them so ...scientifically, they will not hunt at all unless critters are showing at those times. Thus, some years they almost dont hunt at all...instead of just putting on the boots and ....Hunting!

I have shot quite a few with neck shots...but only when I can place it from behind at the base of the skull/neck, from a rest, when a good broad side shot was not available. Not much margin of error.. No meat wasted, drops them in their tracks. BUT>>>>Given preferences, give me a broad side boilermaker shot every time. Larger margin of error with quite a large kill area. I am not proud....I have goofed "gimme" shots trying for the fancy shot. Go for the sure thing, every time.

I think .243 is fine for smaller southern deer...but big bodied northern deer...big plus with a .30 caliber bullet (or bigger). No substitute for putting the bullet in the right place, but on marginal shots...fat and heavy bullets break more bone, penetrate deeper...less deflection....There is a reason the good old 30-30, 30-06, etc. have been favorites for well over a hundred years.

I have always tried to be in stand well before sun up, and often stay well after...just so as to not spook critters as bad. Even with the old times, I often stopped officially hunting...but may still be on stand....well before legal stopping. With snow on the ground...big game changer. Overall, I dont think it has changed how I hunt.

63 here. I have always been up bright and early, so getting up and into my stand still doesnt bother me. What does, is that all my hunting buddies are scattered, so I hunt mostly alone. I really miss the company/talking about the day, etc. I bagged a buck with my ML early, which I am happy for the meat. I have the last week of the season of which is when i usually see the most deer, and more bucks, but I really dont have much drive to get out in the woods now.

I may be too old school....but even though I enjoy checking out a few different forums, really....I do not consider it "socializing" like so many do. I may get annoyed with on line silliness but cant take it personally. I doubt anyone misses me if I am not participating for a while, and it isnt like I (no offence anyone) miss a "pseudonym" relationship from online.

I have a ring eye to a beam extension on my porch, which a block and tackle hooks to. The winch on my atv does the rest of the work.

Good go! NIce buck! I had last week off for NT ML season...strictly traditional cap and ball for me that week. It was so warm it was only worth going out a few mornings early on, but I made sure i was up there for the end of the week when the warm weather broke and the temps dropped very nicely. I was able to take a nice heavy bodied 3 ptr with my .54 Lyman. North woods, shots are close which is a great equalizer. I wont be out much over the next few weeks, I take the last week of the season off ...usually have snow by then and more deer move into the area...and fewer hunters.

BAck in the seventies when I started hunting, the Buck 110 was the accepted standard. Tough, held a good edge, good quality. I carried mine for decades, reserved exclusively for hunting, and still have it. It has been retired for quite a few years as I realized it really was clumsy to hold onto, and the blade design really was lacking for gutting. I have used a number of different blades over the years but a vintage Sharpfinger is my go to now. The smaller blade is much more maneuverable, it holds an edge as good as a 110 and the overall design is much more ergonomick....sometimes smaller is better...and to boot...it has a lanyard which means you can let go of the knife to change a grip/whatever without dropping/misplacing the knife.

I have used a call when I know there is an actively rutting buck in the area...known by sight/activity. In some areas, calls are way overused, and the bucks get used to them/ignore them....( I am sure it is the same as them recognizing a friends voice, as telling the difference form someone trying to imitate a voice). I have used bleets to call does in closer, but seldom use them anymore. With a rifle/muzzleloader, generally if you can see them, they are in range, no reason to entice them closer. (I generally hunt north wood, where 75 yards is a looong shot.

Neck shots can be very decieving as far as placement, much more so than the good old boiler maker shot that gives actually quite a large margin of error. I have made them plenty of times with a rifle, but only from a steady rest...and I myself prefer to take only the back of the neck, base of the head from behind, obviously. Not a good shot at all for a bow. At the same time, I have seen quite a few deer where neck shots missed the bone, and after initially dropping the deer from the shot, they get back up and run. Generally with a bow, few folks go for a "bone" shot, leaving the narrow window for the jugular/etc. which is very easy to miss if you really dont know your anatomy. A shot not taken is never to be regreted. Dont pressure yourself into thinking you should have taken it. There is never wrong in not taking a shot.

I have actually seen quite a few of these, in different forms. They were quite common for manufacturers, armorers, etc. to check the quality of the powder.