Daveboone

If walking a lot, Ruger .308 ultralight. If sitting more, Savage 99 in .308. either way, I only care about the first shot. I don't take it if I cant make it.

I have a 20" .308, which I handload for. Yes, it chronys less than my 24" (.308/ .270 use many of the same powders, similar in vel, energys etc. to compare), but it is highly doubtful the critter will know the diff. My 20"er though def. is much touchier to sight in with ...most shorter barrels also have a lighter barrel. Once again, for a one shot rule, the deer don't know the diff. If I am shooting groups, my 24" .308 rules. By a lot. (20" + Ruger bolt, glass bedded, Timney trigger and competition spring and firing pin, 24" Savage 99, totally stock.)

No avoiding going to the town offices and asking what land status is. Despite it being posted or not, zoneing will be the first limiting factor. Our town has a large wooded area in a rural area, posted. It is the public drinking water well site, and non public access is allowed. All answers have to come from the word of the town itself, and will be in the zonging, public use laws. Don't go by word of moutn...local traditions of access aren't the same as legal access.

I enjoy butchering a deer now and then, but if it is unseasonally warm, I am happy to take it to my butcher, He certainly gets more useable meat out of it than I do, and I don't have a vacuum wrapper, which helps it keep longer. Personally, I put the neck meat into sausage....It has way too much fat in it for my taste (it isn't marbling like beef, it is tallow). You will do fine...takes me alone about 4 hrs from start of skinning to packages. One last tip, you probably know....after I quarter the critter ,I put the 1/4s in the freezer to firm up the meat. It makes separting and slicing a lot easier.

pics?

own a camp and support the local losers. We and my neighbors at my camp, have the same problems. I have grates on the windows, deadbolts and extra locks on the doors. I have a steel shipping container for a shed, with the best cast iron lock I could find, with a 2nd security bar on the lever bars. Make good friends with the neighbors, and I encourage family/ friends to visit and use the camp....the more activity, the less problem. It is very difficult if you are there infrequently.Be sure to report any and all incidences, and photo document all property there. My neighbors have game cameras up(and I mean UP....20-30 feet off the ground) so they aren't easily gotten to., but I am not sure what good that does if you don't ultimately catch them in the act.

I want a good sized doe, so I will wait until an appropriate one comes along . sometimes that is in the first 5 minutes of the season, sometimes the last 5 minutes. If there aren't a lot of does around though, I will wait( I am in the woods year round, and run game cameras year round so I have a good idea of the population)...bucks follow does, so I will leave them to increase my likelihood of seeing a buck.

I believe in redundancy: extra cartridges in the car and at the camp, spare knife both places. A long time ago I realized that if I don't distract with the extras, I pay more attention to what I need: knife, cord, cartridges compass (ball pin on already on each hunting coat), matches and firestarter already in each coat.) The night before I put my knife, wallet and cartridges in my hunting cap so I don't forget them. NOW...over the years, I have forgotten my arrows, hat, license. My hat was the most irreplaceable (I went home for the arrows, but didn't see anything to nock them for).

I eat them quite regularly...probably once a week, actually tonight for dinner! I have to say I haven't noticed any change. I got weaned on them when I lived in Liverpool and my brother in law worked at Heids. All I had to do was show up at the back door and he would have a box of em (and usually a cold beer) for me. Livin it up at 15! My guess is you just had a bad batch...maybe got warm, etc. I think they would probably want to know about it. They are very quality oriented.

My belief is that media/ TV shows, magazines, etc. have turned deer hunting from a respected family learned tradition into a competition. When I started hunting in the mid 70s, shooting a deer was almost rare. The animals were treated with respect. Now, liberal bag limits (remember back then it was sometimes 4 hunters to a doe tag, no extra muzzleloader or bow tags...)allow potentially up to 3 bucks, and however many doe tags you can get signed over to you. How many of us know hunters who expect to shoot 4-5 or more deer a year? We used to hope to do as well rabbit or squirrel hunting....

In the past I have spent a lot of time in Happy Valley- Big woods hunting, gonna work for your deer, but they are there, and generally low pressure. Now I have a camp situated in the middle of state land on the western edge of the Tug, just above the Oswego / Jefferson line where I spend most of my time.

I have lived on the western fringe of Constantia for 23 years, and hunted multiple parcels all over, generally with very good success. My wifes family sold their piece of land which was my primary hunting land. I still had permission to hunt it, but don't ..just isn't the same as when it was almost my own private preserve. I have a camp an hour north now where I do my hunting now. The Town of Constantia is mostly private land, so access is the concern. There is a lot of state land as you move north that isn't as heavy hunted, but the deer are more scarce. I think the deer population is heavier in the southern end of 6k, but better than most of the Tug Hill in general.

back in the 70s we were hunting the Great Bear Swamp,near New Hope, when we came upon a area littered with cow skeletons. the were green and moldering, soft to touch, and all appeared to be intact- that is, not butchered, as if the animals were led there and shot. Spooky. I used to have a cock pheasant follow me to my hunting stand every afternoon I hunted. Probably the strangest / most exciting happened as I was getting out of a stand, (Canadian spring bear hunt). It was about pitch black, and as I was just starting down the ladder a bear rushed the stand through the brush, gnashing its teeth and wumphing to beat the band. I was up in that stand with my gun reloaded faster than you can blink! It never came into view although it was quite close, and was tearing up the brush and continuing to growl and chomp, eventually slowly walking away, making the world miserable as it went. Although it seemed a lot longer, after about 10 minutes it had moved out of earshot, and I boogied out of there! My guide was convinced that in the dark it thought I was a competing bear, thus all the show. He insisted I go back the next a.m. very early to catch it feeding at first light. I didn't sleep at all that night...that was one walk in the dark I didn't want to make! I never did see it.

a key with sighting hard recoiling rounds is to only shoot a few shots at a time...sometimes tough with limited range time/access. With my 45/70, as someone else mentioned, fold a towel and lay it on your shoulder for extra padding...not too much, or it can throw you off. Then I fire one, maybe two groups. it is a lot easier to concentrate also if you know you only are touching off a few rounds. Remember, in the field youwill probably be wearing heavier clothes that will pad you.

Where the girls are, the boys will be. How long has your cameras been up? don't judge by just a month or so... What are the does doinig? feeding? moving from beds to feed areas? pieces of the puzzle. I certainly agree that if you are getting a lot of coyote shots, something is wrong...maybe a den nearby?

Jim Shockey I like. He seems realistic and like a genuinely nice guy. Other than out of desperation in deep winter, I cant bring myself to watch any of the shows anymore. They overemphasize the kill, and how you can expect to tag out in fifteen minutes w/o any effort. I like Alaska, the Last Frontier. While not really a hunting show, they do enough hunting/ fishing to enjoy watching, and it certainly isn't scripted....(from how often they get screwed up).

extractor on an 870 is an easy repair. I had my Wingmasters extractor break a few years back. I ordered up two more ( if it broke once, it could again) , found a good schematic and replaced it myself quite quickly. the spare was well greased, wrapped in wax paper and inserted in the butt stock screw hole. I only paid about 5 bucks each for the extractor at the time.

Moose London Broil, rolls, garden salad, Guinness.

somehow I don't think this is a real example of one. on closer look, the lock doesn't look real...the people holding it look like kids, (the one on the right is wearing his hat down over his eyes). I think this particular gun is just a display of some sort in reality. From what I have read though, those punts were massive, and weren't designed looking anything like a real shoulder gun....quite literally a big pipe mounted on a stock squared to match against a sandbagded transom, fired by a pull string.

Even with a couple good books to pass the time, that little tent must have grown old after the first day! More power to you for sticking it out as long as you did.

Google your area for gun shows and sportsmans clubs, sportsmans field days or open houses. Many clubs have membership booths, information booths at events. Many newspapers have sportsman/ outdoors columns with calendars of events. It is a great way to find out about potential clubs. Most are very welcoming to newbies, and can open a lot of doors. A .22 rimfire is inexpensive (and inexpensive to shoot) and a great way to work on your shooting skills, which perfectly overlap with any othr shooting. Good luck! It can seem like hunting is somewhat "closed" to outsiders who aren't raised into it, but with a bit of effort you will.

my first one was a northern deer, stronger meat, but I was also new to hunting and certainly didn't care for the meat like I do now. The 2nd one (southern tier near Cazenovia crops) was as tender and good eating as any I have had. First was rutting, charging all over the hill, the 2nd was post rut, just lazing in the morning sun.

Jeremy K and Steve, I concede on this and take back that statement.... I must have been tired and grumpy when I entered it...having had plenty of trouble with locals ( identified) at my camp..More to the point I was trying to make, is that I have never known any one (farmers, land owners, etc. ) who felt it was needed to fence land, as it was never questioned that a neighbor may need access (for many reasons...lost dog, live stock, short cut, visiting, or just wandering...etc... And I guess I should also apologize for contributing to getting the thread off track....

I still prefer to carry my Lyman Great Plains rifle, though my TC sees more woods time due to better optics.... Although I usually carry a scoped rifle when I am seriously hunting, I prefer my peep sight rigged Winchester 94 when I am wandering the woods....It (like the Plains rifle) just feel right.

Throughout northern new York, the zillions of stone fences are strictly there for one reason....a place to put rocks, which also help keep livestock in. The further from cities you go, and more trusting folks become, the fewer fences. It is a city attitude to fence in. Devious: