Five Seasons

I have lots of eyes on the property. It's being approached from the neighbors. I just don't know which one yet and of course as others have found, even with picture evidence, the authorities rarely seem to do shit about it.

so maybe saving from starvation isn't where I intended it, but more about filling some voids in the pantry. One deer is going to last a lot longer and be more efficient than all that fish (assuming they're in season too). I also wouldn't dumpster dive in place of venison either. Also I think that's illegal. Finally, and this was the point of the thread to some degree. Quite a few people out there do not want to or like to rely on uncle sam for their handouts. So while yes that's a better legal path, it's a tough one for some and maybe the cheap groceries food stamps will buy are not the good quality protein you want. food for thought

exactly. sometimes a dead buck is worse than a trail cam and even more so if you're consistent. I've already had issues with trespassers, I don't need any more.

man that's a sexy looking tractor. i'm jealous!

that tractor looks like it's worth more than the shack. I'd love a grapple bucket for after trimming fruit tree. Such a pain clearing brush piles.

On a previous piece of land I hunted there is a new hunter, and on the current piece of land I hunt there was a hunter. There were some posts this past season that could very well have been a member busting my balls, or it could very well have been one of them. If they know who I am, there's no amount of blurring that would change anything. At the end of the day, I'm not secretive to who I am. I've shared pictures of my home, my mug and my kid's mugs many times. This is a public forum that doesn't even require a registration to view. I don't gain anything by sharing big buck pics, but I do run the risk of negative impacts from doing so. It's why I generally don't even share trailcam pics as there's nothing to gain except cred from internet strangers... and I don't hunt for respect from others, I hunt for me. There are a few trolls who brag about shooting button bucks that think me not sharing pics is because I don't have success and again that's fine with me, in fact I'd almost prefer that you guys think I suck at hunting. They can do them, and I'll do me.

some throw n grow wouldn't hurt. If you can rake a little though it'll help a ton. I did a real small plot like this once. The idea wasn't to feed them, but to get them to stop there on their travel between corn fields. They mowed it down before the season began lol.

How the hell did I miss this pile of garbage? Prime and Bowtech? GTFO. You're shooting a Matthews or your're shooting something that belongs on the shelves of walmart! I'm out

spot on where I'm at Rob. I enjoy pre-season work and land improvement almost more than hunting itself. On most public land you're not even legally allowed to cut a branch lol.

or even social media

nothing, many of us do just that. But it's hard to ignore the fact that "free access" to private land has greatly diminished over the last 30 years. I know I hunted Darien when I lived in Buffalo and a national forest when I lived in MS. Had good success in MS, but it was a LOT more work than private NY. Darien was pretty crowded, bud I did have some action. Again, if I had a choice between public or not at all, I'm hunting public for sure.

yeah that's a good point, I guess I didn't think about it that way. I wonder if that's ever been done though. Hunt for 8 or 9 weeks without killing a buck, and then kill 2 in 10 days lol. I would almost feel bad that they survived that long.

that's how i gun hunt. with my family. Archery for me is a lone wolf deal though... unless i need help dragging haha. beers back in the garage always!

also if you use your archery tag on a buck, don't kill a buck during gun with your regular season AND you bought your MZ privilege, you can use your regular season buck tag during MZ. (please double check LI, not as familiar with that part of the state). The way I like to look at it is this. There are 3 season in NY. Archery, Regular season (most guys use a gun and call this gun season), then Muzzleloader (archery also allowed). In those 3 season, if you buy the right tags you can kill 2 bucks in any of the 3 seasons, but you CANNOT kill 2 bucks in the same season. Archery & Regular Archery & MZ Reg & MZ Another interesting point is that it's never illegal to bowhunt and you can also use a mz during regular but not a mz during archery, only the late archery/mz season. lol

that's a very good point indeed. I think the modern hunter views hunting as a hobby (I know I do). But it wasn't that long ago that it wasn't really a hobby and a lot cheaper in the 70's to go deer hunting a few weekends vs souping up your camaro. Cars and golf have always been expensive. Hunting is a newly expensive thing and the most expensive part is the land. The north american model was meant to allow access to game for all (not the kings deer) and that has slipped some in the last 20-30 years.

who the heck wants to share? What is this kindergarten? but yeah I get it haha.

I agree but then think about some of these leases. You're spending thousands to literally just deer hunt and gaining no equity while doing it.

oh yeah def did not buy weed and feed. That would be funny. This is what i got https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/groundwork-lawn-food-24-0-4

good advice thanks. The WTI specified which fert for the seed that I picked and planted. I did use granular, not liquid. Basically it was lawn fert. It called for 34-0-0, but I found some 24-0-2 and just used more than recommended.

jesus man, i've been driving 20+ years and only had a buck start to run across as I was driving and he headbutted my passenger door at like 50 mph and made a small scratch. I know I'm lucky, but 26 is crazy.

it's a funny thing right. If it's just land an investment it's not much at all. But if you're like, I'm paying $2500 to just deer hunt? That part is hard for some to swallow, especially those in their 60's who grew up basically hunting wherever for free. I think that's the point of the post. But maybe if you're riding snowmobiles, dirtbikes, turkey hunting etc on the land, that helps justify the cost. And of course for some, $2500 is nothing to them. It's the principal of it though I think.

you've hit 26 deer with your car?

The price of the 1/2 acre bags jumped $10 in just a few weeks. Money hasn't been a big barrier for me and I'm blessed there, but if I'm not including the equipment, I'll have $70 in seed, $200 in fertilizer, $80 in round-up, hours of my time (priceless haha), lots of gas too. The extra $90 is just rubbing me wrong. If Include similar cost for my clover plot I'm closing in on $800 in just variable costs. So then I factor in lease cost, new treestands and hell the fixed cost of buying all new equipment that came in at just under $8k (including the mower) and damn this venison becomes expensive. I did a soil sample and spread the recommended amount as I planted. I didn't see anything about doing more fertilizing in the planting instructions. I was lucky that my pH was good and really just needed to add nitrogen. Do you recommend more fertilizer and why?

yeah same here. I had too much prep work for my clover plot. Had literal saplings starting to grow in the neglected field, but next year I'm going to frost "overseed" and as I understand it, clover gets better with time.

who would pick a fight with a one armed man? smh...