Five Seasons

in 2014 we bought a 13.7 upright. frost free and door alarm. It spent 2 years in a mississippi garage in both hot as balls and cold as sh!t conditions and did well. I personally value the door/power alarm, but for an unattended cabin not sure it's needed. I also value the frost free and upright for convenience. At this size, it still gets pretty full even with 2 deer and some fish, turkey and occasional stuff the wife prepares and freezes.

i just do outer and socks. I don't think doing other layers would hurt, but i don't know how much it helps. We should all remember that this is kinda nasty stuff and not for direct skin exposure. So that's something to consider. I also might avoid carbon products like scent-lok. I have nothing to back that up, just my intuition.

went out yesterday morning in 8F. rain on the way in, but generally a pleasant sit until 10am when I got down. More rain, which is nice to wash away the scent. Wont do a lot of early hunting on our small piece of land as I don't want to burn any stands out. Didn't see anything and i think i know why. Around 8:45 I'm taking a leak and hear some yotes way off in the distance, which is kind of rare for this time of day on our property. Then at about 50 yards I hear this. He later zipped by at about 35 yards. no shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA_MTiNf4tg

I think some of you are misinterpreting my comment. I was only stating, that we should try to not shoot bb's. As far as the state being happy? Maybe you're right, but I have to imagine their campaign cost some money. So why do it?

I will still continue to blame land access. The rural road I grew up on in the 80's was once a free roaming area with fields and farms. Now the remaining farms are posted tight and the fields have homes in them. The world continues to urbanize, so fewer and fewer kids start out with a bb gun at 8 shooting barn swallows and transitioning to small and big game as they grow. If your first exposure to hunting is in your late teens, you might be too late. For sure many people start later in life, but my guess is most hunters start as kids. And as a busy adult, putting in the time and money to find and pay for a lease could be all the demotivation one needs to pursue another pastime.

so the guy who shoots deer in the ass and relies on jesus to guide his arrow is going to lecture me on his skilled precision shooting thank you for reminding me why I left this place for a while. I really don't care what you shoot and how you shoot it. If you think killing button bucks is good for the sport and the herd. have at it. good grief.

Do your part and pass it on. If you don't have kids of your own, volunteer to mentor. It's the only way we can keep the tradition alive.

i think you and I are mostly in agreement. And I don't think you would deny, that the 10%, which is skilled enough to shoot a running deer, should have better, more efficient meat generating opportunities than the button buck; which despite it's genitalia, is still a small deer.

i agree that it's not easy to tell and mistakes happen. Hopefully we're trying our best not to shoot at running deer right? Consciously shooting a bb was my point. I didn't think this was complicated. shoot enough bb's and you'll get less 1.5, 2.5's etc. Guys will complain. And those wmu's with ARs (you're not breaking anything to me) will just expand update. So like I said, you can practice good QDM and we can keep our freedoms of shooting what we want, or we can brown it's down until the state takes action. Right now it's in all of our hands.

shows and expos are a dying breed in general. you can get so much information online now. videos from outfitters, testimony, reviews etc. The only benefit now is hands on and even that is more and more unnecessary. What knowledge on a product or outfitter would you get at an expo that you couldn't get online? besides a pushy salesman.

so is a yearling doe. Go ahead and shoot bb's . That attitude will eventually get ARs passed statewide, which btw I'm against, because yeah I've had a tough season or 2 and shot a yearling. As a kid I even shot a bb not knowing it was a bb. The DEC has already started their education campaign. What do you think is next on their agenda if that doesn't work?

i don't spray the morning of. I spray and let dry per the instructions and have never had a tick on me since doing so. Just following the instructions on the bottle.

I agree with this, with the exception of button bucks. Unless you're a first time hunter or a kid... for god's sakes leave the dumbest animal in the woods alone.

just know that there is no labeling on the snakes, so keep the packages and be cautious when doing multiple guns. Yeah there's a big difference between 12 gauge and .22, but it's harder to tell for a .30 and .40. seems like such an easy fix to just stamp the brass ends, but they don't.

very situational for me too. I understand those that say "if you let it walk on 10/10, let it walk on 11/10" and I disagree with that. Especially if you're after meat.

"archery" equipment "

1st, it's not the biggest cause, but it doesn't help. Baiting was illegal long before CWD. It's a sporting rule. 2nd, baiting spreads CWD and it's rare to non-existent in NY. It's like going on an airplane without any sick people. You'll be fine when you get off. But if you're surrounded by hacking sneezing people it'll spread a lot quicker on the airplane then if you weren't in contact with it.

I think there's 2 reasons why people bait. 1. They're lazy or have such little time in the woods that they are doing what they can for success. And yes I group these together, because if you really wanted to hunt that bad, you could make time. I know I do. 2. Low deer pop. I will honestly and openly admit that while hunting vast public land in Mississippi that I was really considering doing some baiting. I had gone weeks without even a sighting and was picking something up when I walked by some mineral licks and a product called dirt bag. Which is designed specifically to be undetectable. I was really tempted. But I knew any success I had wouldn't feel right. And in MS you can bait so long as you don't hunt over it... which is a weird freaking rule. Also for what its worth, getting caught on public land where baiting is probably "needed" the most is a heck of a lot more likely than being caught on your own land where there's little to no chance of being caught. You just live with what you did when you brag about that buck.

I didn't give you consent to post my picture

the viper is a little nicer than the snake. Thicker oil section and better bristles. worth the extra few bucks and i think all they make now?

yes i have about 5 for various chamberings. They're great. I use them with hopes foaming bore cleaner. Spray down the barrel, and in the chamber. Let it soak. Run the snake through twice. Then add oil to the orange part and run it through twice more. Also good to use a little brush in the chamber/action as this really just gets your barrel (most important part though). It's all you really need after a rainy or single shot hunting session. It should not replace your cleaning kit that you use for a deep clean or extended range session, although I use it after pistol range sessions and every other trip or so I'll do a deeper clean.

I use sawyers on my clothes during turkey as I'm always on the ground, in a field, tall grass etc. My gillie suit is dual purpose so there is for sure some residual odor but I'm not overly worried. To grampy's point, I think it's nearly impossible to be odor free, but I'll disagree a little in that we still shouldn't try our best. I think I've rested on the fact that reducing odor as much as possible may not eliminate it, but may diminish enough so that the deer may think you were here once, but the scent is faint and now you're gone. I do find it odd that you've soaked your gear in the stuff though. I just spray sawyers and let dry per instructions. Never on interior layers, always exterior.

not impossible no, just less likely as crops are spread out and living. Not dumped into a concentrated pile that rots which also promotes bacteria.

I carry my kimber 1911 .45 while bear hunting, otherwise I do not carry one in the deer woods. Never saw the point. Be advised that it's also illegal during archery season, your constitutional rights be dammed.

this is exactly the case. crops that are actively growing are browsed on and picked from, where a pile just sits for multiple deer to exchange their dna in. I do believe this is helping keep NY from having the CWD issues some other states have. I think if baiting were legal I wouldn't do it anyhow, maybe a lick for a trail cam and that's it.