dbHunterNY

with 1 acre much if not all could be within range. doe will fawn in there before season and bucks could use it for midday bedding cover. I wouldn't do anything to it other than weed whack a very narrow trail down to dirt to encourage deer to walk where you want through it along a relatively straight path. other than that trying to restrict movement of a deer will just make them skirt the area where they feel less confined/have more options for escape at any given point. mowed fields don't have much draw as anything close to a primary food source unless it's a hay/ag field with say alfalfa. park like woods sounds like bigger trees that can make 6' high over head cover. figure out access both when and where that works first. it all sounds pretty close.

maybe I need that. earlier in the month I cut my finger open while prepping for a euro mount. not good. ...killed my whole late season.

even the worms I feel like I'd try but it has more to do with what they're eating. sorry but crow sounds disgusting, because around here all i see them eating is a dead rotting carcass. to me it'd be no different than eating a turkey vulture / buzzard.

it's important to give a little distance to hinge cut bedding. you treat it just like a bedding area but it's just more defined. it also depends on how well you can get in and out without alerting deer. back off them and hunt preferred ways out the deer already use and where the wind is more predictable. don't layout something on paper without mapping out where the deer are traveling and using spots first. also you'd need to look into what's around for timber to harvest, hinge, or drop to fit that layout. best to improve on what's already working for the deer. pick some spots and try things first versus hit every spot the deer like. that way if you're doing something off it won't screw with every good location you've got.

sounds like he very well might come up with another one down the road. your stature it's a bit odd being fond of such a short bow. I've only shot a few custom bows. A Bruin, a widow, and another I don't know the name of. I had a Bear Super Kodiak made memories with. then it delaminated for some reason. Bear sent me a new one. was going to tune it but never got to it this season. definitely will probably make it a point to get it ready for next season. 60" amo and i'm 6' tall. isn't as nice shooting as two of the three custom bows I shot but it's still a good bow. finally tossed my glove and tabs in a box. got a Damascus glove and it feels better of the box than any other glove that's been to hell and back. kind of disappointed season is over now. should've took it out. ...meant to say Widow not window.

I'm horrible at score. I know some can judge the biggest bucks people get on trail cameras put up on forums because they shoot them all the time. definitely not me though.

being the bucks you know in the area, your trail cam, your background, and seeing the whole first two pictures as a young deer, I feel better with royally screwing up the age. 2nd picture had me second and 3rd pictures had me second guessing. 3rd pic we hard to truly tell if the legs were really that short and he was really that big. goes to show it takes lots of practice and/or more ideal pictures. I know we say don't go by antlers but if he didn't grow a black box on his head I wouldn't have said 2.5 still.

these are some wise words. every experienced enough bowhunter should figure out.

pass thru on all deer taken this year, including some mature 5.5+ doe and a 176lb dressed buck. I was using a Rage 2 blade titanium broadhead. ...all completely easily recovered deer.

yea it doesn't have a grain to the meat really like the rest of deer. don't need to soak it really but submerge it in cold water. while under, use your fingers to get into the chambers to rinse it out well and "pump" it by squeezing. butterfly it open and separate the sections. as you open it up cut away the white hard pericardial fat and inside connective tissue. some will be thicker and others a little thinner. I dry rub the thinner ones, let them stand in a fridge for a day, and then sauté in a pan with avocado oil to medium rare. I've breaded them with one of the favored variety of Triscuits. the larger section can be cut more steak/medallion sized. cook it medium at most however you want or make jerky out of it.

direction matters in some cases and in some areas you don't want to make it thick at all. I've tried to pull some videos without typing a book. I still have more a lot more to learn. in some cases if you've got the space it helps to leave wide open patches of timber especially near that gully for access in and out clean or to simply get deer to travel from one defined spot to the other and not decide somewhere in between is good enough and camp out to watch for you coming or going. also if you drop a path of those poplar in a particular direction in open timber deer will use it as a travel corridor. even though it's cover nicer prime bedding setups are not far away so they'll just use it as travel cover. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAEu6RQQEbE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS3AyWkZvMw

I've used that type of stuff. problem is some just base it off caliber and load with some velocity printed on a box. it gets you close probably enough to shoot out to 300 yards with anything close to 30-06 trajectory but not close enough in my opinion. I've done this both ways with success. first being to use a chrono'd velocity for them to make the CDS, reticle, or for you to put into software. the other is not having access to a chrono and using at least 2 points of impact. further the better for at least one of them. if you did either of these you're good in my book... on a calm day.

where did you hear that they are? never even heard of that before in any conversations about that Adirondacks. not to sound like an idiot either but it's the first I've heard of that treaty.

me too... don't know if i'll get to the actual cutting this winter on the farm. different property (my house) is ready to do right after hunting season. that's been continuously worked on. farm hasn't had much of any habitat management or logging done to it. have to plan things out well first before we touch a tree to also maximize how it can be hunted.

if it's really cold I've had trees pop and break. I do prefer to hinge cut when the trees are dormant and so it's there when the deer need it which will be January into spring green up. still learning with this but there's preferred browse versus non-preferred browse. also trees that say as a log split easily don't do well as they break completely. you want to have at least a 1/3 or more of the tree at the cut still attached so it will continue to grow. stuff like ash and poplar will be difficult. also your preferred trees will be red and soft/sugar maples and oaks. moderately preferred trees will be hemlocks, cherry, and some apple. then there's much less desired trees like beech. deer will eat what's available and they need. obviously some are more of a preferred $ tree for logging and fire wood but many times you can find some that aren't straight to make a nice lumber/logged tree in the future. also if you make it a point to cut a mixture of trees based on preference you can tell just how much it was needed and/or that you have too many deer for the habitat to support well. if say the lesser number of beech don't get browsed then you're looking good habitat wise. if they still get hammered than that should be a red flag. disregarding hunting layout and strategy, try to hinge near ideal winter yarding or bedding so the deer don't have to relocate or travel more than needed.

wild venison can't be sold legally but farm raised definitely can. doesn't matter if or how it's processed. it's dependent on the source of which the deer came from. I'd think they'd reimburse you the $300 but not the cost to actually replace it as it can't be determined. they probably won't reimburse for the cost for purchasable farm raised venison at $23+/lb for anything other than ground because it's not the same.

I've got a 742 woodsmaster in 30-06 but I'd likely carry the win 94 30-30 or my browning abolt 30-06 with a short throw bolt. if I had a choice it'd be a 7600 with a custom fluted 19.5" BBL and custom trigger job. their stock triggers suck. 30-06 loaded with 210gr accubond lr bullets. it'd have a 3-9x40mm trijicon scope with adjustable illuminated green post reticle. wood stock and blued finish would be fine.

yea the 21 days and right into the peak activity of the rut. it looks like he might be have some depth in the front but I'm still going with 2.5 with the photos being all I've got and cautiously judging to the younger side of things.

those pictures sure do make it difficult. I'd go with 2.5 yr old for those. depth of body too much for yearling but still seems even enough from front to back to be consistent with a 2.5 yr old. jacked up rear end and long legs typical of a 2.5 yr old. base of the neck doesn't appear to be hitting that low on the chest. I agree the last photo looks like a beefed up deer but it's a difficult photo. can't see neck, legs blend in to forest floor, and can't see overall broadsided profile to tell mass and depth of body from front to back. not the best photos for judging without knowing more to the story.

i slow down a bit when trimming and packaging. probably more because i can. 5 hours is probably about right. maybe a little less if i "hurry" things along and don't do as much roasts and stew meat versus ground. also i don't have much to "setup" knives are already sharp and equipment ready to use. I've learned to just keep things moving versus actually hurrying though when using things like grinders and knives. well being included but you do less of a hack job to fix when trimming and packaging.

congrats! despite you're just starting I'd say you're a good hunter. good hunters capitalize on a little luck to make things happen. there's a lot more to learn but might or might not be necessary to get the job done depending on your situation. what you did is definitely an accomplishment. you can now safely say that when it really comes down to it your family will never grow hungry. death sucks. nobody in their right mind should like it. it's something that needs to happen though during this whole process and is out weighed by all the rest of the experiences and act of sustaining life.

DEC can't touch the dacks without federal approval and a whole lot of BS. it's not really state land. it's a national park. i wish they could do something it'd help the wildlife a little more. there's some that don't care about holding capacity though and would rather it remain untouched. i think a happy medium would be nice.

if the meat was still very cool but not frozen then it's probably ok. the stuff in the center is probably colder than the stuff on top and out in the open. it can be 40 or less and still be fine. if you're unsure then you should toss it.

I've processed deer since before I could legally hunt them myself. many ways to do it. depends on your setup and what you've got. I've learned for me it's a lot quicker to skin, debone, and have it sit in a climate controlled fridge right away then to let it hang. hide pulls off easier, less hair slippage to get all over, and everything is less stiff and frozen. if i wait it'll take me at least twice as long and be twice as messy. I've seen the job some have done and am not a fan. i don't take off quarters then debone them. debone the whole thing with it hanging. it takes me longer to dispose of remains and get the deer hanging then the actual processing. skinning and deboning takes me about an hour to get it into the fridge to "age" . trimming and packaging takes me a while, but I'm crazy meticulous and i can do that when i have time as it's sitting in the fridge. I'm with the few who think 3 hrs to process a whole deer along with the associated setup and clean up is quick.

around $70 seems to be the going rate if you have it cut up around here. add a little more to have bulk sausage made and then quite a bit more to have venison smoked products made.