Daveboone

hmmm, what was the name of the old Robert Mitchum movie where he runs out of the cave raving in the middle of the storm? Track of the Cat, or something similar?

I think a lot of folks, in comparing more agricultural states with NY forget the true massive amount of forest land we have, compared to states that are almost forestless, with unlimited tracts of agricultural lands to hold and feed deer.

I have never stayed there, but the cabins below Chimney Mtn. are in a bea utiful quiet area, and the mountain is a great afternoon hike. Just north of Old Forge is Limekiln state park, should be reasonable that time of year. Just an alternative, not in the Adirondacks but in my opinion the most beautiful of NY state parks...Wellesley Island State Park, in the thousand islands. It can get crowded in season. the furnished cabins on Eel Bay are great. Just bring your clothes. It might be tricky getting a cabin that time of year. Best part is thousand island fishing or boating! Anywhere in the ADKS, be aware and prepared for black flies! they will be worse than what you can imagine that time of year: full coverage, head nets, gloves and repellent.

Impossible to rank by number. New York only has two big game species, deer and bear, whereas many western states have also antelope, moose, elk, mtn, lion, etc. That said, many or more likely most require permit draws/lotteries for many of them. No draw, no hunt. We have our tags (multiple) available over the counter. NY has a very long deer season. Even though I am happy to take only one deer a year nowadays, I still want to be out every day I can, as long the season as I can. Longer seasons equal the hunters are spread out more. New York has GOBS of land hunting opportunities outside of private lands, which it seems as time goes by gets used less and less. Although not the subject of the post, NY has absolutely amazing fishing opportunities, seldom really appreciated. I read/ hear about a lot of hunters talking up the hunting opportunities elsewhere, but as is often the case, the grass isn't always greener. A relation in Nevada hasn't hunted in years...cant get a drawn tag where he can hunt. another good friend in Colorado usually gets an elk tag, but seldom can put the time together to make it worthwhile to pursue them.

I am religious about filling my gas cans strictly with non ethanol, and then using some Startron additive in them. The ethanol gas is horrible on small engines, and for the relatively small cost of the non ethanol (usually premium) gas it is well worth it. I have used Sea Foam carb/ engine additive a number of times to rectify ethanol related sludge/ build up, I wouldn't be without a can now. Essentially you drain the tank/ carburetor, use a big syringe to fill the gas line/ carb float, put a bit of gas in the tank , a squirt in the spark plug hole and start it up, after letting it sit a few. I also have a Honda ef 3000, love it, worth every penny. Protect your investment and stay with the good gas. easy insurance.

Keep in mind that deer are always on the move, on a daily basis and steer themselves according to their stomachs. in the finger lakes near Seneca lake, generally very mild winters, the deer had a lot of varying food, they never wandered very far. Up at my camp on the Tug Hill, I came to recognize the same core group of deer year round on my game cameras, but with a heavy snowfall and accumulation, they moved just off the area a couple miles away whre the terrain dropped closer to Lake Ontario and less snow. Come snow melt, the deer would reappear on the camera. Just a few miles away to the east, the deer would move to yarding areas to wait out the weather.

I have somewhat casually been looking for a .32 single/ double action for a while, more as a toy and for the fun of reloading for it, but also it would make a great casual woods kit gun.

I have to go along with a lot of the others...the Ruger Super Blackhawk, single action, is a bombproof great pointing, accurate handgun, probably the best bang for the buck. John Wayne styling. If you shoot it at all, the short barrel .44s are truly brutal, but the Super Blackhawk I feel has very reasonable recoil...but I also loaded a lighter bullet than the standard 240 gr. ON the other hand, as others have said....the S&W model 29 is THE .44 mag, first commercially made, impeccable craftsmanship and as accurate or more so than most anything out there. A good handful of bucks still, but a lot less dough than the Anaconda.

Thank you, and I appreciate it. My wife and I after looking into a number of outfitters and following quite a few references recommendations, have been talking quite a bit with Jono at Kingsview safaris, just outside Port Elizabeth and are just finalizing a planned trip in late may 2020. We are splitting 10 days there with a rather modest hunt (Kudu, Zebra, Impala, wart hog...with consideration for Blue Wildebeest and Nyala, but our house has definite limits on what we can fill it with. The balance we are planning wildlife viewing, Addo, want to see some of the Xhosa (hope I got that right) culture, maybe some salt water fishing. We have never been away on a big trip like this (usually road trips to NE USA and the Canadian Maritimes. Any suggestions for must do / don't miss activities would be really appreciated, as many of the details are still in development and wide open.

FYI...having been the route trying to get onto land... No one is going to talk to you sight unseen. Knock on doors, I recommend asking EARLY (early spring) if you could do some woodchuck shooting on some of their property, and ask where they would prefer. Most farmers are more than happy to let someone take out some nuisance wood chucks....just be sure you ONLY shoot at woodchucks, aim for one shot kills with no other random shooting. Let them get used to seeing you and how you behave (and do NOT bring friends who do not have their permission) . Every visit starting with your first, ask if there is anything you could help with (anything means anything) and jump at the opportunity to help. That will open doors potentially for the fall.

We are anticipating late may 2020, and are just getting ready to put our tax return down for our down payment. What you say sounds very true, Africa gets into your blood. Once we started seriously looking at it we were very surprised at what we could do for the money. Originally we were planning on Alaska, but for the cost of what we wanted to do in Alaska sightseeing I can include a hunt for multiple species in SA. What part of SA are you in ? We are headed in the direction of Prince Elizabeth, kind of a compromise for my wifes more civilized tastes and my hunting opportunities.

As I watched the deer walking toward me last fall, I was excited. But I get excited every time I see a white tail in the woods, and hope I always do. After I decided to shoot it, followed it in the scope, timed my shot and followed through, no excitement. It was just mechanical. I have killed enough (god only knows how many) deer, that I no longer get excited with shooting one. It is just part of the process I have to go through to get the venison, which I wont go without. I have always felt some remorse and need to spend a moment or more with the animal giving thanks, but that is respect for the fallen animal.

Did you have a chance to get out at all last fall?

So how much snow do you have there today? Welcome! How did you find your way to our corner of the world? My wife and I are actually starting to roll with a trip to SA a couple years from now, and getting quite excited about it. First trip of the sort for us ( I am the only hunter, but she is going to tag along, and after the hunt see what we can of that corner of SA).

I don't remember Cabelas catalog as a kid, but I do Gander Mountain. I tied trout flies, so I drooled over the Orvis catalog and several other fishing supply catalogs....names long forgotten. Dixie Gun Works though, wow.....that was and still is a love affair.

My wife and I were planning on it, even had hotel rooms nearby for a few night. The plan was to check out African outfitters and discuss opportunities for a trip in a few years. We would have enjoyed going just to get away, but we were able to find and contact quite a few outfitters and past clients before hand. We realized the money we spent down there would be about 1/2 of our required down payment, so am staying at home instead.

My wife and I love the show. I read Heimo's (sic?)book years ago, and can really appreciate where he came from. My wife has asked me many times why I never tried to live like that. Reality and dreams splat in life. When I was younger I had the strength and endurance, but was delusional about my ability. Would've been dead in a month. Now I have the knowledge, but don't have the strength or endurance, would be dead in a month. That said, under carefully planned location and situation, I would still love to be alone in an appropriate wilderness setting....but certainly not arctic Alaska! Doc asked what happens when you become old and feeble...it is clearly shown over several seasons with one elderly gentleman who spent his life in the bush (Bob, if I remember correctly?) One year he has to leave for civilization after being unable to get a moose for meat, then is unable to care for his trapline, eventually dies in town of cancer. It was very sad to watch his decline.

keep in mind, the further in you go, the further out you have to pack something.... I would consider a close alternative, canoeing in. As was previously mentioned, there are a lot of good access points, either to and from the same launch point, or dropping a car off at a pick up point. Lots of maps of canoe routes are available, you can scout from the canoe, most canoe routes are through public lands, and best of all you can more easily bring your deer out. Different areas: Cranberry Lake, the Fulton Chain of lakes....usually starting somewhere around Old forge, but going all the way up to Tupper Lake and beyond, with access points plenty in between, Lake Lila, St. Regis Canoe Area, on and on...

I used to find vintage cars....sometimes 1920s, 30s vintage...way back in the woods. Of cours only the bodies and frames were left. Two old cross cut saws, an axe (pretty new). Up in the ADKs, I used to find a lot of old logging skids an wagon parts. I guess I didn't really find it so much as track it down, but in the southern part of the "daks" I had a lot of fun exploring the remains/ ruins of an old iron mine. On a canoe trip in the ADKs we found an old Chris Craft runabout still tied up to the dock at an old camp ruin...rotted out, very sad. I could have cried.. Using a very old map, we tracked down an early 20th century logging camp site off of Lows Lake. We had a great time excavating the camp dump, finding lots of old relics...axe heads, black powder cartridge shells, gin bottles, etc. We were kids, and didn't know better than to leave em. I think it was state land.

Lord only knows how many pocket knives I have lost. the only thing I can really think of that I lost and really miss is a cheap folding fishing knife with imitation pearl handles on it. Dad and I were fishing the thousand island region and had stopped at the Clayton docks for bait. I was admiring the fishing knife, and dad bought it for me. It has been long gone for probably forty years, but we had a great day fishing, and I was proud of that knife.

GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO! Remember, most of the accidents are early morning/ evening, and just like deer, many are in the fall when rutting. Newfie is BEAUTIFUL and the folks are great. Combine it with a trip to Nova Scotia, esp. Cape Breton where you would depart the ferry from....My wife and I did an off the cuff road trip through NS 10 years ago, and had the most fun ever on a trip.Amazing undeveloped sea shores, wonderful sea food. great people, miles of coast to explore.... Newfie is similar except with the feel of a new country, a very rocky primitive landscape. I want to take the bike back for a separate trip now.

Check out Patey and Sons at the NYS fair outdoorsman show the last week of February. That is the outfitter we used, and are using again. It is a heck of a drive there, overnight ferry to the island, then 5 more hours, but then you are flown in by seaplane (Dehavilland Beaver if I remember correctly), which made our trip even before it started. One on one guides, plenty of food, great country and Newfies got the highest success rate for moose anywhere....avg. 97%! There is fishing of course in Newfie, but of all the zillions of lakes where we were, there wasn't anything bigger than a minnow. It is all post glacier country, scraped clean in the ancient past. Pure, clean water, but nowhere for the fish to come from and not enough population to warrant stocking. the tidal rivers/ creeks have good runs of salmon, etc. but we didn't look into that at all.

two hundred yards , or just being out of sight from camp is plenty far to be disoriented at times. there was a small area where I used to hunt that had a number of steep small hills very close together, thick with pines. If the sun wasn't out it was very easy to get turned around there, and I knew that area like the back of my hand. Usually I just stood still to wait for the sound of traffic on the nearby road to orient myself. I have a GPS, (several actually), and although they have their purpose, for hunting the compass still reigns supreme. GPS still can be sensitive to weather/ overcast and tree coverage. Batteries die, electronics malfunction. Nowadays you can get maps of any area to orient yourself to landmarks, and a quick glance at the compass bearing before leaving the car/ cabin gives you your direction. No fumbling with gloves, punching anything in, stone cold reliable and a basic outdoor skill everyone should know. No place I hunt has cell phone reception, and of course they are prone to the same battery foibles of everything else.

Keep the dream! Hunting Newfoundland for moose was also my dream, and three years ago I went. As far as moose hunts go, it is about as reasonable as you can get, ours was fly in, we both got one. Wonderful country, lots of moose....It is surprising where you can scavenge and save money from if you have a goal. We are returning in September. I never dreamed Africa could happen, until I talked with a few folks who went....you can hunt Africa plains game for about the same cost (or less...quite a bit less...) than a Newfie moose hunt. Airfare ads to it, and getting the trophies home, but by including my wife in the trip and planning, we are now planning to go to South Africa in 2020. Make it happen. We Americans throw gobs of money away. Pay attention to that, and it is amazing how much you can save up.

I think brush gun is kind of defined by where you live. Most all my deer hunting is in northern woodland, where a true 100yard shot through the woods is an exception, 50 yards frequently stretching it. I used to hunt southern tier hedgerows a lot, where deer frequently could be seen at 25 yards or less, but very thick brush, goldenrod, etc. covered most of them. We used to brag up our slug guns for down south, but now that we can use rifles with scopes and pick our shots better, we have much better success. No substitute for picking your clear shot. That said, I prefer my .308 savage lever for most any conditions. I will not be shooting through brush to make a shot.