Daveboone

New Brunswick moose is strictly draw, and be prepared to be a number of years...but can be very affordable (I have an outfitter for bear I have a long relationship with who does moose too). Newfoundland is awesome...I have been twice, the last time last year. Very high (high nineties) success rate, and the Newfies are wonderful. Long drive though...figure three days from central NY. We went with Patey and Sons, and would happily go again, but time for something else now. Patey is a full week hunting one on one guide, fly in. Awesome, and you likely could have a chance a some great bears too. I passed on a monster last year. I already have 5, and would have been shot myself if brought this one home....It was well in excess of 400 lbs., likely 5-6!

Wolc123, I am with you with what you say about big slow bullets. The deer I shot with my patch and ball ML dropped as quick as any other deer, with very minimal meat damage. The first bear I shot (year old, dinkydinkydinky) last light on my last day, I shot with a typical behind the shoulder shot, with a 180 grain 300 Win Mag I was told I had to have. I blew out a four inch long chunk of three ribs, both its lungs and guts, and it STILL ran about 30 yards. I was so horrified I swore ...and never did...shoot that gun again. The next 4 bears....all healthy adults, I shot with a 45-70. Knocked em over on the spot, minimal tissue damage. I keep wanting to use my 30-30 for deer (usually use my 8x57) but havent because of the sights in low light. I really want to see how it will work, which I believe will be just fine.

I dont normally tell anyone right off...If I am staying at my camp I always let the wife know everything is ok once I am back at the cabin and would mention it, or if I was planning on being home that evening if I was running late. I guess I kind of expect to shoot one and they expect me to, so....? If asked I tell.

November 2019 for november 2020

My favorite rack is a nice symmetrical 8-10 point, don't care the score. I have a 4 1/2 year old non typical 11 that is my favorite, and whatever nature provides I can appreciate. I hate and have no use for the farm breed mutants that are so popular in some circles. They re not what nature intended and wouldn't occur if not for our meddling (and no insult intended to those who are able to make a profit off of those who will pay for them), and are grotesque in my opinion.

I used to keep a lidded bucket in the woods in a handy location. I kept some plastic bags, gloves, a few hand warmers, etc. in it. I kind of got out of the habit of keeping it up, I need to start doing so again.

If he is there everyday, he came from somewhere and will be going somewhere. My guess is that figuring where he is going from the field is the best bet...wait him out for when he leave the field, give him some time and check out his route. Then plan your ambush.

I shoot to prepare to break the shoulder if necessary, but by choice aim for the crease. When things go wrong or I misread the angle, I want that bullet to hold together. Not important to me if it goes through, but my 8mm and .308 always have. Once it makes it through any bone on the near side and the organs, who cares if it lodges inside the muscle/ etc. under the skin? Holding behind the leg, I am taking out both lungs and have quite a bit of room for error. I rarely drop them in their tracks, but they are dead on their feet and seldom go more than 20 yards, usually ten or twenty feet (again, I routinely will NOT aim at the shoulder). I like the heart, so I aim above it (besides, most heart shot deer still run a hundred feet like a lit banshee!). I damn sure don't want to break up those shoulders and the accompanying meat. Hell, that's what I want in the first place. You hit the shoulder and you kiss the flatirons good bye. A lot of southern hunters use .27 and .25 caliber rounds, the .243 is very popular. But at the same time, the further south you go the smaller the deer are. When I hunted Georgia, I was loving the (then) 5deer limit, but my boned deer didn't equal two decent Finger Lakes deer. You don't need as much gun. It is funny when you are hunting, because when you are looking at the deer, the proportions are the same. ONce they are down on the ground its....WTF? A Three year old buck is fawn sized. My friends .270 quite literally blew a doe in half.

Unfortunately no matter what we think when we pull the trigger, what happens down range isn't always what we want...that is when we don't want excuses, but we need the bullet to hold together and/ or penetrate through what bone it hits to disable the deer and provide as much shock a possible...and here is the tricky part.... without blowing the poor darn animal to mincemeat and wasting a lot of meat. That is where historically 30 cal. bullets have enough mass to ballistic coefficient for stability, delivering foot lbs of energy and holding together. Of course, there is a tremendous wide range of weights available at a very wide range of speeds, for ones preference of range and power: thus we have the modest but capable 30-30 right up to 300 win mag. Of course, the 7 mm is very close, and the 8mm rds .32 cal/ 8mm, are right there. It is pretty easy to come up with an individual study (like any other statistic ) that will prove a point for an ideal cartridge/ financial plan or whatever, but I myself have no faith in lighter weight bullets holding together to do the job I want. I have long preferred for deer /mediumsized game 165 grain range in .308, or 175 grain range in 8x57. 150 grain should be fine, but I don't like the shorter projectile profile for stability. Moreover than anything...knowing what your round does at varying ranges, (NO ROUND shoots...flat) and knowing when to shoot/ when not to.

I seldom get a pass through out of my ML with basically the same ammo combo. How far to shoot is based on how far you practice. Heavy slugs moving relatively slow drop quick, no matter the inline folks bragging rights about shooting as flat as a rifle. I sight for 75 yards, (with a scope) really don't hunt where I would ever have a 100, and just know for myself I wont take a shot that far. By far most of my shots are 40-60 in the woods.

I thought Charcuterie was an evolution Spock had to go to to meat Vulcan perfection.....

I haven't shot slugs in years, but I remember well that it was not uncommon for slugs to rattle a bit in their shell. Ya gotta remember slug shells certainly are not built to brass /rifle cartridge specs, the plastic casings are designed to be more flexible, and the cast slugs certainly aren't needed to be the precision of a jacketed bullet. Not only that, slugs were designed to be safe to fire through any shotgun choke- including full. That said, I remember measuring a number of brands of slugs with machinist calipers, and Remingtons had the smallest diameter, Winchester the largest...and generally, the Winchester pumpkin balls shot the most accurate for me. Thus better quality slug guns had an undersized slug barrel...of which esp. the Ithaca Deerslayers were famous for.

That looks very good, but a bit out of my normal menu.... Could you explain for my simple self the process and end result/ a bit more in depth?

Not as many as I would like! I tagged out (one doe, one buck) as of last Monday and had all week off through today to hunt. Spent about 3 days on and off processing and packaging. Successful year, but I love being out there too much to shorten my time out. Due to a hip injury I am not able to sit comfortably as long as I like, usually 2-3 hrs pushing it. Probably around 30-36 hrs on stand max for the season. How much of that time did I see deer?maybe 20 minutes. Blink or look the wrong way, snooze, get on stand five minutes to late or leave one minute too early...diff. of not seeing any at all

Thick pines/cover, or... I am right on the edge of the Tug (west side). As the snow deepens, they move out of our area down to the lowlands where there is less. If that happens, deer hunting is like fishing in a toilet. I can look all I want but aint gonna like what I see.

Whats been said....BUt….you mention a lot of brush between....70 yards in the woods can be a VERY long shot with the brush in the way....don't get over excited, tempted to take a shot where you don't have a clear shot....looking through the scope, depending on lighting etc. you often can see the brown /silhouette of the deer, and cant see all the obstacles in between, which are likely to deflect you shot. Be wise, and often the smart shot...is no shot. Once the bullet flies, there is no getting it back. Grouse hunters count their success in the number of flushes a day. I have many a day where I am very happy to just spot deer. It means you are getting closer....

I have a Colt 1911 on layaway, with several guns up for auction to pay for it. Hopefully I will be able to pay it off with the proceeds, but if not I am hoping for a little contribution to help with that. I have always wanted a genuine Colt 1911 (blued, 45 acp of course), but never justified it. I am thinning the gun closet of underperformers, seldom used uns without much value to close the gap. If I can pay it off clean, I have a small list of some accessories: a holster, some extra mags, a few boxes of ammo...

I enjoy baseball, but don't follow it much. Back in the eighties though, I closely followed the Mets, and they had a great team of personalities. I stopped watching regularly with the younger crowd moving in (post Hernandez, Mookie Wilson, Gary Carter era), and just got too busy to watch. Last year though, with the Mets owning the Syracuse team I watched more local ball then ever, and the team did great. I am really looking forward to the 2020 team, and am hoping to get a ticket package to make it a bit easier to get to more games with my buddies.

The darn in line thing.... Ya know, I have a T/c inline, and have been using one for about 10 years now. Basically I went to it for the scope use. I have never been as satisfied (and I do more than the average amount of shooting) with my groups/ performance/ maintenance as when I was using my 100% faithful and reliable Lyman Great Plains Rifle with black powder and patched ball. I think that with that I allways KNEW the absolute necessity of my cleaning/ regimen routine, and with the inline we like to think it is just a step away from cartridge rifle shooting. I think next year, I go back to my Lyman. I am a relatively close range woods hunter, so my scope given advantage really doesn't mean much.

At the time, once we figured it out, we were a bit addled to add it up. But then I realized we acted the same way as I had seen deer act when shot at damn close range. the other deer are kind of ….overawed by the close shot, not knowing how to react (even though we both instinctively bit the dirt). The shooter, who I remember as being maybe late teens, was in a low tree stand just inside the woods. Between us was a screen of overgrown brush/saplings, undoubtedly breaking us up. I am thinking that with the bright sun and snow, we were silhouetted against the snow. pee poor excuse/ no excuse, but that is my theory. Did he intentionally shoot at us, hell yes. Did he mean to shoot at us, humans? no, but it could have been just as sad a story regardless. Nowadays, I seldom wear orange like that. I hunt my own land and surrounding seldom hunted land. Invariably though, I will be wearing an orange hat, and I carry an orange foam pad on a bright yellow lanyard on my shoulder.

I agree that it makes you more visible and is wise to wear, but... When we spent a lot more time hunting the southern tier, there was no question of wearing plenty of orange. One well remembered day though, bright sun shiney, with several inches of fresh snow on the ground my buddy and I were walking in line below a woods. We were both as orange as you could dress us, from orange bibs and parkas to hats and gloves. A shot rang out, close. Ed went face first into the snow, I went backwards. It happened so fast I was staring at the sky wondering why I was staring at the sky. We got up, not quite sure what happened, when we realized a guy was getting out of a tree about thirty yards away. We asked him if he shot....we were...rattled. He said yes, pointing in front of us to a corn field. Did you hit it? He didn't know. We said better check, and started walking where he pointed. Next thing we knew he was high tailing it in the opposite direction. We dumbly looked at each other, and realized the sob had shot at us, with the shot apparently going between us. Yes orange is a good idea. No it isn't fail safe. Be sure of your target and where your buddies are.

which direction is the prevailing wind for the gully, and where is the stand situated in regards to that? Where do the deer normally appear from? Myself, I prefer to get off the ground. As well as having an actual seat on most stands, I almost always have better visibility. If the wnd, etc. are in your favor, I would stick it out...I often go the whole season only to tag out at the end, persistence paid, but your scenario is a bit trickier with the gully. I would make sure you are watching from the down wind side (wind in your face). Easy to try to see/ think too much into it.

For a couple years, I have been scratching at fiddling. My only goal is to entertain myself, but the fiddle has a very high learning curve, especially if you don't read music. I have an acoustic guitar, which I am hoping to start strumming...again, I will be happy simply learning a few chords and singing some Johnny Cash to myself, but I really would like to get some lessons in to keep focused. I already reload, am an avid fisherman as time allows, and nothing makes me happier than having an old gizmo of some sort to repair and make functional again: clocks, lanterns, especially old firearms. I am in heaven if I have an old rifle or shotgun I am given or buy on the cheap to repair and get shooting. Seasonally, I love riding my motorcycle, but don't have the time to put into it like I used to. I am an all day gone type of guy, and am in heaven if I can take off overnight or for a week (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, etc...I tend to go where there aren't other people).

Last I knew it was quite clear in the regulations you could not have in possession bird shot/ buckshot while deer hunting. Besides, as mentioned previously, carrying two guns would be unwieldy, to say the least. Better to concentrate on one thing. Then if you get a deer, the last thing you will want is to have to carry out two long guns as well as a deer. Generally, as tempted as we are to blast annoying critters, etc. if you are deer hunting. keep things in your favor (and stay in your fellow hunters favors) and skip the small game while deer hunting. Now again, if you are bowhunting, most all of us carry small game blunts just for that purpose.

Not at all unusual for boaters to tie up to a dock for motor problems, inclement weather, etc. I always thought boaters were some of the more considerate folks...there isn't any question of helping someone in a fix, etc. Probably just ran out of gas, or something similar.