philoshop

Not sure of your situation, but could it be underground rather than overhead?

My climber currently gets used as a platform for target practice in my back yard, with a regular ladder for access. In defense of the climber, it was foreign to me and I never gave it much of a chance, even though I did shoot a few deer from it. With a little practice, light-weight climbing sticks and a light-weight hang-on are very quiet, quick, and versatile. Like everything else though, preseason practice is the key. Ya gotta know your tools inside and out.

Ya' got that right! Funny how the dozens of deer I get on my cams all summer just magically disappear an hour before sunrise on opening day. Freezer is getting a little lean, but it needs a good cleaning anyway. Squirrel season opens in a little more than a week!

NAP Thunderhead 3-blade for the last 25 years. Tough, inexpensive and very effective. Before that, 3-blade Sattelites (very similar to the thunderheads). Before that, 2-blade Bear glue-ons. Yikes I'm gettin' old.

In a lot of countries, dash cams running all the time is pretty common. It's about the only thing one has to prove innocence in an accident. Looked real to me.

The gunk is called cosmoline, a mixture of vaseline and grease. Military stuff is covered with it to prevent rust during storage and shipping. Like Lurking said, mineral spirits will remove it pretty quickly and is a lot cheaper than the gun stuff for the first cleaning. Just make sure you get a little high quality gun lube on the metal parts right after you remove the gunk, then re-oil daily for the next several days to allow the oil to penetrate a bit. Nice looking gun btw.

Welcome to the site! I'll repeat what Doc said. In a way, the right bow will sort of find you. Get together with some folks at a local shooting range or pro shop and make some friends. You'll probably get a lot of good advice and get to shoot a bit. Then pick what you're comfortable with. Best of luck!

I'm cold just looking at it, but it fits the mood mode.

I remember when the Yellow Jackets first came out. Way too expensive for me! Almost a dollar a box!! Everything else was less than half that, and they didn't shoot very well anyway.

You won't know if you like it 'til you try it and work with it. Borrow one from somebody and give it a try. I've had a wrist-strap design for hunting for about twenty years now, but I liked the t-handle (non back-tension) when I shot indoor competition many years ago. Before all of that it was just finger tabs/gloves. Confidence is everything when you're about to take the shot. Try everything, but use what you become comfortable with. Good luck this year!

Great pic!

Depends too on how you hunt. I spend a lot of time stillhunting and sometimes crawling on the ground, and my fingers are frequently pretty cold and stiff when the shot comes. I prefer to feel a little bit of the trigger before it makes its clean break, under these circumstances OTOH, my go-to squirrel gun has a trigger at about 1 1/4# because of the precision required, and the fact that I'm able to keep the ol' digits up to temp and still feel it. The target guns are lighter yet. A crunchy, jumpy creep in the trigger can blow a shot at the biggest of targets, but as long as the break is clean and crisp, I can't imagine much difference between 1.5 and 3# in a typical deer hunting scenario in NYS. To each his own though. Let us know how it works out.

Have a great day, and a great season!

If you're confident that you can hit and kill with it, whatever you're carrying is the best caliber ever made. I've lobbed a few 44-40 rounds over the years myself, Pygmy. Nice to hear somebody mention that deer were actually taken on a pretty regular basis before the word 'magnum' was even coined.

My point was that the best caliber to use is the one that you shoot the most and are the most familiar with. I use the .243 for just about everything around here except squirrels and birds. I've been using it since I was a kid and it works for me. I see it works for you as well. No argument. Nice buck, by the way!

Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters doing their unscripted routines together on Carson. Pretty sure I've never seen anything funnier than those skits. Probably never will.

I think another way to look at it is like a donation to the State's conservation fund, and getting something in return besides a thank-you note. Whether or not you think those funds are being used wisely enough for that donation is up to you. I still buy a duck stamp almost every year and I haven't hunted ducks or geese since the mid 80's.

I own a .243 and shoot it regularly 11 months of the year. Not much hunting in April. Deer, fox, coyotes, woodchucks. Not the best for any of those, but I shoot it a lot and it's what I like, and I can hit with it. I have lots of others in various calibers, but that's my easy-carry, sure-thing, go-to gun around here. It wouldn't be my recommendation to anyone if they asked, just what I use. FWIW, I have a friend in Montana who has been guiding people on elk and mulie hunts for about 40 years. He carries a .243 almost exclusively. He also shoots prairie dogs and coyotes with it as a local pest-control guy. Again it's not the best caliber for any of them, but he shoots something like 10k rnds a year with it. I sure wouldn't want him shooting at me with it.

'Likes' to everyone! The pepper recipes look and sound awesome. Leftovers are gone for me finally. Maybe a new concoction for tomorrow.? Hmmm, I'm feeling pork-deprived...

Just bring a camera. Then you're completely legit. If people ask, tell 'em you're with the government and they'll leave ya alone. Works for me.

Bubba, the deer in the scope comment from me has to do with tracking your sights on a moving target that you've already identified. Usually just waiting for an opening in the brush or whatnot, and usually at pretty close range. Never to verify whether or not I will shoot, just to look for a better opportunity for the shot. Even with both eyes open, which is how I look through a scope until the last second, I've caught orange in the line of sight beyond the target that I had missed in the excitement or was maybe behind a tree out of view until a last second shift or whatever. I'd hate for you to think I'm out there glassing with a scope. That's not me at all. You see a deer you want to shoot at moving through thick brush 65 or 70 yards away but angling towards you and there'll be a clearer shot in a couple of seconds. You shift a little to the right to get a branch out of your way and bring the gun up on target, and see a patch of orange 150 yards beyond the deer but in your line of fire. Not a chance in hell you'd ever hit the guy, but you hold fire. Without the orange someone would be making up stories about how some guy took a shot at him. Best to not have that happen. Just sayin'.

Like a kid on Christmas morning!! I know the feeling well. lol Good luck!

I don't worry too much about being mistaken for a deer and directly shot at, but I do worry about being in the line of fire and not being seen during gun season. I've missed a few heartbeats myself over the years when all of a sudden there's orange in my scope just past the deer I'm aiming at. I'm pretty good in the woods, but I'm not perfect. During bow season I don't even want the little birdies to know I'm around, but a reversible hat and/or an orange hankie to show someone who's getting too close is a good thing. Same with turkey, squirrel, varmint and carrying a camera. The orange is there if I need it. Reverse the hat or put the hanky on my head when I'm moving. Basically, if there's a chance that someone with a firearm will see me before I see them, I really want to make sure that they see that it's me.

Bond's does an awesome job with venison!! Leftovers for me tonight from yesterday's party. An annual get-together at a friend's house. I cooked 96 cheeseburgers and 125 hotdogs in three hours on three grills. And everyone brought a dish to pass. And there was beer! Great party! I could use a little roughage right now.

With a little paint, you'll fit in. We won't tell. Go zebras!