Daveboone

Yup.

I prefer to hunt a light rain or drizzle. or sleet. The critters are also uncomfortable and frequently move at all hours, keeps the scent down and the deer tend to keep their eyes lower too. Needless to say it makes still hunting quieter and more effective.

We finished a long week end up at our camp on the Tug Hill. The weather was perfect, bugs few, and only a few showers in the evening Sunday. For the first time since we have had it, a bunch of family was up for an overnight. we roasted beef in the coals, picked blackberries until we saw spots in front of our eyes, and were up late around the campfire doing the good old family bsing. Thick french toast for breakfast, camp fire weenies for lunch, and coyotes in the hills for music. Life doesnt get much better.

I am, and have been for about 5 years. It is a very well run club. They have a number of leagues throughout the year, including a .22 rimfire rifle indoor league. No magnums or rifles other than rimfire are allowed. I do not belong to any leagues due to time constraints. I mainly shoot for my own recreation on the week ends that I am working down near there. They have open houses several times a year, normally the week following the Syracuse Gun Show. They have a pretty good web site, if you check it out.

Ya ya to what Doc says. No matter what region, (Alleghany, Catskill or Adirondack), not being able to bait or hound bears, almost all taken are stumbled onto by luck. Some folks live in areas with native neighborhood bears, of course, but they usually arent going to tell you about them. Many Adirondack campsites though, are frequented by bears, and if you could figure out regular routes of bears to the parks, I would think it would be an edge.

I find 777 much more reliable in ignition than Pyrodex, especially in very damp conditions. As well, I always found Pyrodex to be little better than BP in line of clean up. It does buy you some time, but you still can have a hell of a mess if you dont clean up promptly.777 is almost carefree for clean up, and in very damp (or wet) conditions have never had a fail to fire.

I have been a long time fan of the Deerslayer, and own two Model 37s. I hope the new Ithaca co. does well, but I have a tough time seeing where slug guns as such fit into things today. Here in NY almost all counties are switching to rifles, and most any centerfire deer rifle will have much less recoil and much better accuracy than a rifled slug gun can.

Each gun after each use, and they are sprayed with a storage protectant when put away for the season. About once a year I go through the safe and give everything a good cleaning and a bore patch of hoppes.

An awful lot depends on where you are. And lets face it, for most people any bear is going to be a splendid trophy, especiallly one out of NY. The average NY bear as I recall is between 175-200lbs. That is probably a 3 year old bear, or so. Where I have bear hunted in Canada, the avg. bears taken are in the 175-200 range also. There are always more smaller bears than big ones. Even NY has BIG bears, with bears well over 500 taken. They are also very hard to find. It will be alot easier to find a pretty average bear with a very nice hide than a big bear with a so so hide.

I love black powder for its sure ignition, but have you tried 777? Amazing. Simplest clean up, much more forgiving than black powder(well, totally forgiving!), and none of the bad habits of pyrodex. I switched about 5 years ago and never looked back.

I have never understoood boresighting. Within 5 shots I will be centered on paper, with a few more shots to zero. I know way too many people who consider bore sighting the same as sighting in. baaaad thinking.

Big does can leave big tracks, just like big women. I tend to look for a lone track (of course, an adult track with fawn track + does), and older bucks dont usually use the same trails. Of course, rub marks along the trails tend to be a clue. So I usually look for a large lone track, and try to follow it until I find more identifying features.

Yup. A turkey. I had a couple very similar shots on mine, but they revealed just a tad more.

I wanted to simplify and return to the real hunt. I also love the slow process of preparing each shot. I may use my NEF inline for hunting, but my heart and pride is with my Lyman Great Plains rifle.

although my gun safe and closet and room corners overflow, I primarily hunt with my Ruger .308 and a NEF inline.

I carry a cell phone only for emergencies, I wouldnt dare interrupt any of my hunting buddies hunts with texting.

I have a Honda Rubicon. I dont have a chance to do much trail riding, it is mainly used for hauling and camp work. Generally, no ATV riding is allowed on NY state land. It may be allowed on town or county roads through it though, depending on local agreement. Check with the counties ATV clubs to clarify.

Butcher and freeze asap. I have read a number of times and been told by a butcher that two months in the freezer gives the same affect to the meat as control temperature ageing=which is very difficult to do on a household scale maintiant consistent temperature and clean environment.

If I am planning on walking in the dark, I make sure I have walked the path several times previously and cleared potential eye pokers, etc. out of the way. Then I use a headlamp-it keeps the hands clear and will provide enough light to find the way.

They are primarily found in large stretches of woods like are found in the Adks, Tug Hill, the Catskills,- not really border country, or hedgerow farm country.

Orthopedic RN. It is nice in that I get to meet alot of folks from different backgrounds, and alot of other hunters and fishermen. Luckily it enables me to usually take whatever time I want off during my preferred seasons.

I watched one for about 10 minutes pre-turkey season a couple years ago. He was investigating a creek edge and just prowling around. Very neat. About 10 days ago I had another run across the road about 30 feet in front of my car. They are a beautiful animal. Was it in condition for you to try to save the hide?

A week ago just about dusk, I had a fisher cat run across the road about 30 feet in front of me. At a dead run, as it was, I can easily see how the inexperienced observer may mistake them for a (black) cat...or panther, depending on how mush ...I mean much tape measure you have blin blinjkiinig.

I keep a running journal of my outdoors trips, and what I did.. Frequently no more than a paragraph or so, unless something memorable happened. I keep a separate journal for my camp. Each visit I document the weather, who was there, what we did and saw, etc.

I have gone on a number of spring baited bear hunts, and still get the willies coming out at night. Bears have phenomenal hearing and sense of smell. They know you are around if you are shuflfling around in the woods, even at your quietest. Black bears are actually very timid, and terrified of man. As I said, I still get the willies, even knowing I dont have to worry...it is part of the fun. Then again, at scout camp (almost 30 years ago) a counselor friend of mine actually fell over a bear! Both were so scared witless they didnt know what to do! Carry a penlight. It is all the comfort and protection you need. He didnt have one.