Daveboone

No matter what, hunt the wind. I am not any more concerned with scent in wet weather than dry, but the dripping,/ mist does help cover my clumsy maneuvering, and the darker days encourage more movement, as well as the dampness softening footsteps. wet days generally are cooler, which also encourage movement. I will take wet day hunting over dry any day, and have allways done much better on them.

Depends on where I still hunt.... in true big woods setting where I may be gone all day and have the potential of truly being out all night if I goof up, I carry a day pack with some extras...small light tarp, extra food( high energy type), spare socks.... If I am still hunting a more local area I know well, I doubt I will carry anything outside my pockets: knife, fire source, cord, compass, a couple snickers and water bottle. I am not so concerned about profile as I am the pack affecting my mobility and flexibility.

Huh? I don't remember ever replying about grouse at all....please quote me. Grouse taste fine, and don't eat worms, they eat buds, specifically poplar, apple, and berries. What outdated beliefs? I believed only that the only Woodcock I ate tasted like dog doo. strange!

Needless to say, regardless of legality, be sure your shooting don't go in a potentially harmful direction and you have an appropriate backstop. We have a woods behind our house which is frequented by kids. You never know when they are there, and because of it I wont shoot or allow any shooting in that direction.

You can not fire a gun across open water,...check the regs for the details. I think deep woods deer are at least as alert as "civilized " deer....they haven't been able to acclimate to human smell and activity. I would first identify the seasons food availability for the areas you are going to ...any mast, late season berries, new growth, perhaps new logged areas. In the Moose Area I have found many water crossing / shore sites of repeated activity. Expect to put much more time in. Hunting the north country is as much about being there as hoping to get a deer.

they like marshy ground for their probing. they do migrate, but will linger if they like the pickings. Beautiful little birds. Sometimes I run into quite a few of them grouse hunting, but stopped hunting them after trying to eat a few....taste as much like a dog ....dropping.... as I can imagine a dog ....dropping ....would taste like.

Even better, look for crops: corn, apples, etc. Get out early (summer,) to scout. Most bears in NY are stumble upons. Keep in mind mast trees aren't allways productive. If you don't find a source, or active signs, move along. Slowly moving along fruit/ nut bearing ridges or hills, especialy scouting the trees themselves: not unusual for bears to nest up in a productive tree, gorging themselves. We have frequently found the scratch marks from the bears shimmying up mature beech nut trees. plan ahead for how to get one out of the wooods....they are miserable to drag, twisting, turning and catching on everything in sight.

A few years back (4-5) I bought a shooter, 1957 production at the Syracuuse Gun Show for about 425. Typical worn bluing and stock dings, but otherwise clean as a whistle. I bought another in Maine about the same time for 379, about the same condition but with a Redfield aperture sight on it.

When he was up and coming, he was not my style...or close! In the years since, I have grown to really like a lot of his stuff, He always had a reputation for clean living, so I will be very interested to see the results from the autopsy.

No quick answer: depends on the weather, type of hunting (back woods, still hunting, tree stand 100 foot from the road, experience,etc.) usually dress in layers, lighter when moving, with a fleece/ cover to put on when I stop. If you leave the toys behind (gps, tablet, keep it to one thought out knife, a few extra rounds of ammo, etc. you can travel pretty light. Where my main hunting is done, I can walk back to the camp for rope/ tarp, bulkier items if I need them, as opposed to clumsily carrying them. Learn how to use the essentials, and quite quickly you leave the rest behind.

Interesting, but not much help without a reloading book.. regardless of similarity it has no bearing on interchangeability

Keep in mind the tens of thousands of unmarked or registered graves from the times when relatives, etc. were just buried in small local cemeteries, or with wooden / or no headstones. Many newborns, infants were buried with very little ceremony.

Heading up to the camp today....It is a good opportunity to clean up wind falls, wander the deer trails, and just see what the melting snow can reveal. I hope soon to get to the gun club to test fire a vintage Krag Jorgenson I got at an auction a year ago...if it has any accuracy, I would love to use it next fall. I also need to open up the boat and get it primped for the season. We have a new depth finder, and want to rearrange the seating .

Any Wrby round goes pretty premium. Best accept that when you find it, better buy it.

For more fair weather hunting, I love my wool. It is the quietest material still. My Johnson parka still is great regardless of how cold it is, but I don't wear it if I know I am going to get soaked, though they sell Goretex versions now.

I have been reloading for about 40 years, about 12 diff. calibers. My opinion is the most important piece of equipment is a current reloading manual (my preference is Speer), which will explain a lot of the "whys" as well as "hows". It is difficult to be a safe reloader without paying attention to reloading science and theory. 2nd, a good quality scale: I have both a bar scale and a digital. Their quality is the quality of your ammo, and safety. Next : a set of quality calipers. Case lengths, overall lengths, all are critical in reloading. Lastly: be sure you aren't rushed...EVER, when loading. It is a great hobby, but it isn't for anyone who doesn't have patience, or for those who want to trim corners.

More to the point I am just saying....I knew the deer were there, just not seeing them. Another phenomenon though, which is possible,,,I am right on the edge of the Tug Hill (west). As snow accumulates up north the deer move to the edges, I have seen that in the past, but normally it happens a month to 6 weeks earlier. I am just glad to see them.

I have always seen considerably more deer in wet or cool weather. If our home gets 3-4 degrees warmer than normal, I certainly feel the difference. When it is warmer, hunters also aren't as active. Regardless, after watching the area all spring/ summer and into the fall, and knowing that few deer were taken or sighted, I knew the deer were there. I was still finding the tracks, scrapes and rubs. Hving hunted Georgia, I know no one goes out after the first few hrs of the morning or before the last couple of the evening. Sorry guys, I stink at moving pictures around....maybe this w/e I will be able to. No big racks, but a number of 6 pts including 2 twins playing around.

I had a beagle x blue tick, no more difficult to house train than any other dog, Any beagle on a run after a rabbit is very tough to call off...it is what their whole existence is for. If you want the dog primarily for rabbit, I would stay with a beagle...blue ticks can out run a rabbit over a distance (at least my x could....much more blue tick than beagle sized). I ended up finding an appreciative family for her ....simply couldn't find any rabbits any more due to predation.

As many others experienced, sightings were slow this past season. I was happy to fill my freezer with a nice mature doe though. Even though I didn't see many deer, I was confident they were around, and the warm weather was putting them off. I have cameras up year round for quite a few years now, and have a good idea of what critters are about. Yesterday I pulled my game camera from my back corner (overgrown apples) and was delighted to find quite an assortment of deer, including at least 5 different bucks over a 4 week season, starting the w/e after northern tier closed. Just nice to know I perception was at least partially correct. With the mild winter so far (the relatively heavy snow fall over the past couple weeks really isn't anything much there) I am looking forward to next season already.

I have gotten quite fond of bourbon in recent years. The Clayton Distillery makes a fine smooth bourbon that I love, Adirondack Distillers 601 Bourbon is also fine. Small batch productions with great prices....a bit steep if you guzzle it though.

Being new to hunting, worry about keeping yourself and clothes as scent free as possible, and hunt (sit, move) into the wind... thousands of years of hunters agree.

I used to share this thought....until I spent more time in the Adirondacks along popular trails. The top of Blue Mountain, trails along canoe routes, etc. are disgusting with toilet refuse.The top of Blue Mountain actually stinks of it, and due to the amount of it, it takes a long time. Many wilderness areas to require you to take out even toilet paper. I got into the babit of lighting it . 90 % of it is gone in seconds, Actually, most of the time I just grab a hand full of ferns/ leaves anyway. That is even less noticeable.

could have been a heron also (dropping it).

Awesome. Last year at a local estate auction I bought a sporterized Krag. I wasn't expecting to , but I got it for only 240.00. Yours is in much nicer condition than mine...mine was a commercial sporterizing job, utilizing the original stock. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but I would love to take it out. What is especially cool is that the auction was from the estate of one of the original settlers of the area. I love to think of the times it had in the woods here over a hundred yeasrs ago (family settled the area in 1780s).