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Daveboone

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Posts posted by Daveboone

  1. You can have your pick of thousands of knives more suitable for actual use than what you see on that website....

    Not answering what you want  to hear, but a quality most useful knife with handbuilt quality behind them? for general camping use, tough to beat a Camillus made Camp or Boy Scout knife. a zillion are available on line used (as the original Camillus is out of business for about 20 years).  Then add a quality hatchet for your fire wood. And I am not talking a "cool looking custom" . If you want to look like you know what you are doing, learn to sharpen and use those tools, and you will look much more competent in camp than the guy that is all flash with no idea how to use them.

  2. I never have enough to pressure can, so I just hot pack it and let it cool, cap and put in the fridge. I have eaten it six months old...just fine. I still have most of a jar in the back from december, which I forgot about...I will check it out, if not funky...eat a chunk....and go from there. I really dont like to go quite this long with a cold pack though. Likely as it is in almost strait vinegar, it should be fine.

  3. My preferences run to well researched historic novels....Schaara, Obrien, McDonald...But am currently reading some Stephen King for the first time in years. Currently a collection of short stories, "Some Like it Darker". I forget what a great writer he is, but a fair number of the short stories  he seems not to know how to end. I am amazed at this imagination and productivity. 

  4. A bit late to this post....We recently moved near the fingerlakes, so new fishing waters to explore. I think probably hiring a guide is the easiest...and possibly in the long run cheapest...way to learn new techniques, know how. Last year when we were driving around, I spent a very pleasant half hour chatting with a guide who had just finished up for the day on Cayuga. He was very friendly, outgoing, excited about his job and sharing information. What I look for. I have met many guides who hardly wanted to say a word unless you had money in your hand. I hope we can get out with him.

  5. It may very well be just well rubbed. Spring bear hunting in Canada, it wasnt unusual to see rubbed bears...which look very much like this guy, sometimes very close. As best as can be seen on this one, and the ones I have seen (sometimes at about 3 foot!!) although the hair is rubbed off, his skin doesnt look irritated/ mangy. My first bear, shot at last light....I was very dissapointed to find he was rubbed just like this one...mainly on the back hams, butt and sides. I was hoping for a rug, settled for a head mount. 

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  6. Underhammers were actually relatively common...not as much as regular side hammers, but the nipple fired directly down to the charge...not deflected in the drum like most sidehammers, so more reliable ignition. I always wondered if there was a problem with the primers falling off though.

  7. Lifer in the upstate NY area...mainly Syracuse and the Tug Hill, for the past 33 years. This year was what an average year used to be like...granted, the Tug did get a memorable hit a couple times, but overall the season totals were barely a historic average. The past twenty five years have been pretty wimpy. That said, I got snowed out from my last week of Northern TIer deer hunting. I couldnt get to the camp! I was just glad to see the deer herd overall came through in good shape. A year ago though, we moved to Cortland, and as we expected, a mild winter compared to what we were used to. 

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  8. I love reading classic books from the 1800s from the pioneers....If I recall the title correctly, 44 years of a life of a Hunter...the biography of a gentleman originally from New Jersey if I recall correctly, but moves inland over time...He tells of the deer and bear hunts of the time (he was a market hunter) particularly in the fall, where game gathered especially in the chestnut forests to feast. He describes bears literalyt juts rolling on the ground, dragging themselves from one area to another to feast, ,and it was common to shoot multiple bears and deer from a stand (a stand meaning where the hunter chose to shoot from after a stalk). Certainly the native population also took advantage of the same opportunities.  Just the same also, the indians took advantage of salmon/ trout/ sucker/pike /eel runs that occured over known areas, to stock their larders. 

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  9. Granted, I do understand the only reason they have deer in numbers such as they are is because of the supplemental feeding and water...but I agree with you just the same. Different neighborhood...different games.

     

  10. On 2/17/2025 at 1:19 PM, Doc said:

    Yeah, baiting is one of the many things that cross over the line for me. That feeling goes above and beyond the constraints of the law. One of the things that I am not into, is anything that attempts to condition the deer to make my hunting easier. I like my prey to be as natural and "untrained" as possible. Part of hunting for me is finding and understanding currently used food resources......Not creating them. However, I know that that is just one of my own unique personal requirements.

    I remember once reading about a Texas deer hunt with an automatic feeder where the guy claimed that the sound of the timed feeder dispensing bait triggered the deer to come in to the feeder. He knew where the deer would be coming in and even knew when. His feeders had literally trained the deer to assist his harvest. That sort of thing is not anything that I really want to be involved with in my hunting. That is not a knock against those that do use such tactics where legal. It is just the sort of thing that my personal "fair chase" limitations will not allow me to take advantage of.

    One of my best friends has hunted Texas a fair number of times. Most of Texas is private land, and feeders are allowed. they were enjoying an afternoon preparing to go out for the evening, and he asked about when..."The feeders go off at six". They were put on stand at five thirty, at six the feeders went off and it was like a call for "last call" in a beer bar. The deer came literally running to the feeder. Not much hunt there.

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  11. We moved from town of Constantia to Cortland last spring...smaller, easier to maintain house, better weather. Same commute to work, but boy what a change for weather. No snow that wasnt easily removed with a shovel, and this week end /past couple weeks really shows all that we are not missing. We sure know it is winter still, but we dont worry about it.

  12. Muzzlebreaks are a mixed blessing...they are quite pricey to have installed, I hate the increased bark. Semi autos also go for a lot more than a bolt and will be a longer action/wt, proportionatly. Some loss of accuracy as its lock up simply isnt as tight as a bolt...but for practical hunting accuracy probably no concern. I highly doubt anyone of average size would have any problem with recoil from a .270....dont shoot off a bench with a T shirt only. Wear your hunting clothes and dont be afraid to pad your shoulder. I routinely do no matter what I shoot...I am a bit boney, and even light calibers can start to bruise after a while. 

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  13. Felt recoil from a bench will be much more than off hand...be sure to wear your hunting coat, etc.. For that matter, I allways pad with a folded towel also. My main rifles have always been 8x 57 Mauser and .308...bullet wt and felt recoil very similar. I picked up a .270 several years ago and was delighted with its light recoil and wonderful accuracy. The .270 certainly has much more capability than the .243 (my opinion is the .243 is totally inadequate for consistent results on northern white tails and larger big game), and is capable of taking any thing short of the great bears...and has been used for that! Of course, the exact bullet wt you shoot and rifle set up makes a big difference.

     

  14. Sorry, no pic. First week of NT muzzleloading season started off real slow as hot as it was, but for thursday a cold front moved in with rain forecast for the pm. I was in my stand at the camp, and about an hour before sun down heard the lovely prancing sound of hooves coming up from behind. A nice three point (2 1/2 year old...they dont get much for antlers up there) wandered into my food plot. Of all things, wouldnt ya know... mis fire with my cap! I shoot league every week with that rifle, and all year never had one! Luckily the silly deer couldnt figure out where I was, and I was able to get another cap on, and boom. I dropped him where he was with my .54 cal. Lyman Great Plains rifle, about 35 yards. 

    I was glad to get the meat early, and really didnt have a chance to get out much until my planned for last week of the season after Thanksgiving....and then wouldnt ya know, heavy snow kept me from driving to the camp. I did walk in, but the snow was deep enough they deer werent moving, and I didnt know how I would get one out anyway, so i bagged it for the season, being grateful for my black powder buck.

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  15. We had a very busy last year, selling our old house and moving in/getting established in our new (to us) home. Time is opening up now, so I am working on completing a flintlock rifle I have been building, catching up on some reloading needs, similar projects. I have to make time to get up to our camp buried in the Tug Hill to check on things...I have to hike in, so it will be at least an overnight. I want to heat the place up well to melt the snow off the roof.

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  16. When we are up to camp, any deer seen in the yard/neighbors yard are off limits. They are visitors. When I was hunting in Georgia a bunch of years ago, some of the guys there talked about using dogs (legally). They hunted huge tracks of swamp land, which was pretty much inaccessible, so dogs were allowed to move them out. Ok, I get it. But they had one hell of a lot of deer down there, with amazing bag limits. Not my game, but it is thier neighborhood so ok by me.

    High fence/pay hunts. Nope. Not a hunt. Its a shoot. I have no need to have an engineered freak on my wall. I will be happy with what nature intended them to be. It may take more time given the size of the area, but if you are paying, you are shooting

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  17. On 12/23/2024 at 12:41 PM, Four Seasons said:

    You have probably hunted more than most people during the season but yet another week will get it done for you?  Late season when antlers are dropping and deer are starting to yard up. Again. If a Hunter can’t fill tags in this state it’s pretty much on them. Can’t keep hunting spots day after day and week after week when your not seeing anything. 

    ? New York has an overabundance of deer with declining hunter numbers, so the length of the season is moot. I start hunting the first week of NT muzzleloading,  but dont get serious until snow is on the ground. the past few years it has been so warm early on I didnt hunt much at all...then, right before my last week of NT that I always take off, we got 3 feet of snow which effectively put an end to my hunting. I was delighted at the chance to get out with the late season in the southern tier. My problem is, I am new to the ST and am still working on access sites that are worthwhile.  I dont know how any one would critique an increase in hunting opportunity. 

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  18. I used to enjoy "The Last Alaskans". The first few seasons they were real sourdoughs who knew what they were doing, Really though, even they didnt live year round off the land. They had summer jobs and homes. The show only showed the fall/winter lifestyle on their trapline. they brought staples, but depended on caribou/moose for meat, and several seasons some of them didnt get a moose and ended up needing to go out for the winter. Very tough to even come close to living off the land. Granted, living above the arctic circle is the harshest environment imaginable in my line of thought. Probably the most limiting factor in the lower 48 is living within game laws. 

    On 12/19/2024 at 7:41 AM, nyantler said:

    I often think of how different it was when you didn't have the safety net of being able to return to civilization if the life got too hard. There was no one to call to come save you if you got into trouble. No planes flying in provisions or carrying you to a hospital if you got sick. Much different when it is a choice and not the reality of life. Still an impressive feat if you can do it.

    I love reading of early pioneer/ settlers in Alaska, or most anywhere. I have read quite a few times that a lot more wanna be sourdoughs and just plain old sourdoughs just disappeared over the winter, starving in thier cabin or freezing to a stump. illness, injuries, etc. with little doubt that contrary to Disney line of though, more than a few burials were inside a wolfs scat pile. 

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  19. On 12/19/2024 at 1:23 PM, Doc said:

    I wonder if there are farm raised bucks that have surpassed that score?

    Unfortunately, zillions. All it takes is a dollar   and a dream.  And in the same sense, many a business man boasts of his trophys on the wall, which are only resin replicas of another buck. 

  20. On 12/23/2024 at 7:33 AM, escpen said:

    Not too far away from you, but a little bit of a hike - Pompey Rod & Gun Club is where I go for muzzleloader, centerfire, and pistol shooting. 

    Looking on line, actually they look to be one of the more varied clubs, with a decent rifle range. Many in this area are almost exclusively geared to shotgun sports with the rifle ranges (if there is one) minimal. I actually spend most of my time with traditional ML, and spend a lot of time with the bench with them. I am going to check them out my next w/e off. 

    • Like 1
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