HUNT6246

I saw another website for Western NYS not long ago and everything was $15 per acre to lease. So, $10 might not be too bad. Depends on what you want to pay and the potential of the property.

Looked seriously at the premade/ prefab (2 story) sheds and heard tales from friends about the wood flooring rotting out. Decided to go with a wood frame, steel covered pole barn. Ours totals 36 x 36ft. The enclosed portion is 24x 36 with an open 12 x 36 ft. covered porch. 12 x 12 OH door in one end, 8 x 8 OH door in the other, two mandoors and 4 windows. Concrete floor under it all. Firewood goes under the porch along with a small boat. Lawn tractor, ATV, lawn trailers, work bench etc. go inside. No regrets whatsoever. Wish we'd done it years ago. Price was only sightly higher than the prefab stuff and everything is on the ground floor. Clearing the wooded site was the biggest job for our family. Wish though that I'd followed advice of others and put water to the shed when we did the electrical. BTW run 240 volts to your building while you're at it. If you ever want a welder or other toys, it will come in helpful.

Pretty much the same here. If I'm away from home, I'll at least skin and quarter a deer and if it's cool enough I'll cover the sections with cheese cloth and hang them in a shed overnight. If not or for the ride home, they'll go in a cooler with ice below. If I'm home, I do the same as you, skin, quarter and put in a spare refrigerator until it can be cut, trimmed, ground etc. and packaged. I can't see that the 'frig' method is much different than 'aging' the meat outdoors. It's more controlled and has always been good for us without any problems.

Here's an update. I own about 7-1/2 acres. My food plot is about 60 X 150 ft. Since the area was planted with alfalfa and high clover it has never got more than 1 1/2 inches high, due to grazing by deer and turkeys. We do have two does, each with a fawn around our property. One big buck was hanging around last season and is probably still there. Over the last few years, I've never seen more than 2 deer per year near my food plot during gun season and didn't get a shot at any of them. Although one of my son's did shoot a doe near it during archery season last year. No, the food plot is no slam dunk to getting a deer. I'd like to give the plants a chance to grow more though. I hope to get more of the maples cut near it and leave the beech and oaks with the idea of getting more sunlight through to ground level. Then perhaps we can get some better growing results. I did add apple trees to the area this year and plan to hang Irish Spring soap on them to possibly help them from getting pruned by the deer.

I don't have any experience with them. But, you might investigate some of the reduced recoil loads available from the ammo manufacturers. You may be able to select a larger caliber, then your son could move up to full power loads as he grows (if he wants too). If you reload, you may be able to do the same thing yourself. I had a 6 mm Rem. (similar to a .243) when I was a kid - good choice. My son is now in his mid-twenties and has used his on two deer. His did run a short distance - he used 100 grain loads. He has been wondering about loads in the 85-87 gr. range but hasn't tried them yet.

My food plot is in a woods clearing between a bedding area and a large corn field. The idea is to give the deer a place to stop on their way between the two places, early morning and just before sunset. I planted clover earlier this summer and the heat and dry weather killed it all out. I re-planted about 3 weeks ago with white clover and alfalfa and a few turnips a short distance away. Everything is up about 1-1/2 inches. It's only a small food plot measuring about 120 x 60 ft.. I'd like to give the new plants a chance to grow but there's deer tracks all through it; they're in there eating already. I'd like to have something left for at least archery season. Any suggestions on how to keep them and the turkeys out for about another month?

I prefer a hang on stand because I like to keep the background cover (limbs) on a tree and I'm not cutting limbs off the tree. This helps me hide and keep my stand sites hidden from others. A little mud on any cut limb stubs helps camo things up too. I like to get up in a pine tree if possible or in a large hardwood. Ladder stands would be the second choice because I can leave limbs intact on most trees. Climbers are my least favorite. I took a ride down a tree one time in an old Baker style stand when I accidentally set the stand on the nub of a limb that I'd cut off. I was VERY lucky that I didn't end up hanging upside down. The slip down the tree pretty much shredded my clothes as I hugged the tree and I got pretty skinned up. That's about when I switched to hang ons. Been using a ground blind more and more the last few years.

Try going to the NYS trappers website. http://nytrappers.proboards.com Several good trappers there. Someone should be able to help.

Lots of good information on these two websites. Thanks for the response to my post.

I've had a pistol permit since the 70's. Back then there were no requirements for classes before you got a permit. I don't recall ever getting anything that told me where, when, how etc. I could carry a handgun. I'm looking for information that tells me how, when and where I can carry my handgun. One guy told me about a book that I could get for $50 or so and I don't want to pay for a class to get material. AND I'd prefer not to have to go through and digest multiple pages of 'legaleeze' talk. My primary use at this time is for trapping and hunting. But, I'm considering carrying in other places as well and taking the Florida/ Utah classes for other states with reciprocity. Does anyone know where I can get a (preferable) summary of the NYS carry regulation for little or no cost?

Excellent photos - Seriously, you should contact one of the fly tying/ fly fishing magazines; you might be able to sell those photos.

I have a set of Cabela's Revolution Fleece with Dry-Plus -Insulated and the Uninsulated version. They're not noiseless but they're not bad. I also have a set of their packable rainwear. I'd say it's much quieter but I don't believe it will give much warmth. I haven't had any of it out in a downpour. I wore the packable suit through turkey season this year and was very happy with it.

Had a '97 Suburban; it was the finest tow vehicle I've ever used. It would smoothly hold speed with our trailer even on hills on Rt. 90 or 81 and on through the Adirondacks. No problems in wind or foul weather. I didn't feel I could justify the additional cost vs. a crew cab pick-up when I got a new vehicle. But, my 2005 GMC Sierra can't hold a candle to the quality and towing ability of the Suburban. In retrospect, I may have had fewer problems with the old vehicle than I have had with my newer truck.

I've used various commercial calls and voice for probably close to 30 years. I've had success during archery and gun seasons. My best luck has been with the Woodswise or Quaker Boy grunt tubes. Many times I blind call because I only hunt some areas on weekends so overcalling at the location isn't an issue. I haven't had the success in recent years though like I used to have. I sometimes wonder if the deer are getting conditioned to every hunter in the woods blowing on a call or rattling. While I have had some success in open woods and have turned deer from 150+ yds into archery range, I've probably had much better luck calling in thicker cover where visibility is more limited to shorter distances. I just got a can last year but have nothing to report. Best results have probably been from Halloween through the first week of southern zone slug season. I've had some success rattling too but no where near what I've done with the grunt calls. It's amazing when it all comes together, they'll come in like they're on a string. I've even had two bucks come in at the same time and then had to decide which one to take home! Good luck with whatever you choose.

If you can get your hands on the latest 'Handloader' magazine, there are two very interesting articles about .260/ 6.5 mm caliber guns with very high ballistic coefficients. Other than the .260 Rem though it sounds like strictly a handloading proposition. I don't have any experience with these calibers, but it's good reading. The articles do mention the 7mm-08. If you already have a .222, and are serious about long range work and possibly hunting applications, I'd think you'd want to look at one of the calibers great than .22. I have a 7mm Rem. which I am very fond of but recoil (and cost) can become an issue for casual shooting.

Our local Agway has a lawn seed that in our case they call a Niagara County shady Lawn mix. I don't remember what's in it. But, it does quite well around our house which is in the woods also. One thing we do notice though is that some of the seed that we've used for re-seeding produces grass that is a MUCH darker green than what ever was used in our lawn by the original owner. I'd suggest sticking with grass from one supplier to avoid different color patches.

First, I feel it's important to realize that you're not going to get every turkey out there. That said, sometimes decoys work and sometimes they don't. I've had better luck when I've added some motion to my decoys. Some I've rigged up with a string so that when I pull it, I can get the decoy to bob and move slightly. On others, with wooden dowel type stakes, I've cut the stakes in two and put a spring over the dowel sections. With the right spring and by adjusting the distance between the dowel ends (amount of unsupported spring) you can get your decoys to move very nicely in about any type of wind. Good luck!

Fulldraw - No big secrets! It's been a few years since I played with them but due to the increasing ammo costs and where I hunt, I plan to get back into it again. I've just followed the recipes from the Lyman Shotgun reloading handbooks. I used whatever lead I could get at the time, (hard or soft lead didn't seem to matter) and weighed all of the cast slugs and discarded any that were off from the others by a few percent. Best luck was with the pink WWAA12F114 pink wads, star crimp and low brass 2 3/4" Remington ribbed hulls if I recall correctly. I tried different powders and hulls but was able to get groups under 2" from my Hastings barrel at 75 yds. off of a benchrest. I didn't check my notes but believe that Blue Dot was one of the better performers accuracy wise. But some powders did seem to kick more than others. One fellow I used to work with had used these slugs on deer for many years and was very happy with their performance. As far as I know, he never did get into these high priced slugs like many of us are being faced with these days.

I am assuming that you're using a rifled barrel. If so, I have a friend who used the Hornaday's and had similar problems shooting deer and not getting the expansion he wanted. I used to use Winchester sabot and liked the fact that they were very accurate in my Rem 870 but when I shot a deer at less than 20 yds and the slug didn't penetrate the shoulder bone I looked for something else. Since then, my sons and I have been using the Federal/ Barnes hollowpoint expanders in our 12 gauges. We've had excellent results with accuracy and performance. Most deer drop where they stand. I've not had one go more than 20-30 yds. after being hit. I'd recommend them very highly. If you want to save cost, you might try casting your own with the Lyman sabot mold. I've had very promising results with them so far in testing for accuracy. But, haven't shot a deer with one yet. Good Luck!

I'd suggest that you get your soil tested for PH before you spend money on seeds. You may want to add lime or fertilize depending upon the outcome of the soil test. I've planted Whitetail Institute's Secret Spot in my woods the last two seasons. Results were mixed - poor germination the first year. Much better germination the second year but once the deer had eaten all the clover, they had no interest in the grasses that remained. With Secret Spot, I worked the soil up with a small disk, broadcast the seed and then disked again. This year I'm going to see what I can find for seed at Agway or Tractor Supply first. Hopefully it will be cheaper and work as well. If not, I can once again plant Secret Spot in late July. By the way - I used the lime powder and it formed 'rat holes' in my spreader and wouldn't feed at all well. Next time I use lime, I'm going to try getting the pellets, even if they cost more.

If you decide to plant fruit trees, you might want to cover up the area around the base of the newly planted trees with loose leaves or grass. When I planted fruit trees in my woods, the coyotes/ foxes seemed to think that some other critter had buried something there. When I checked my trees, some had been dug around and damaged. A little camo with loose leaves solved the problem.

You might try some other varieties of apples that ripen at different times and hang onto the tree longer before dropping That way you'd have a draw to the area at different times of the season. Hint!!! - the deer will generally eat the sweetest one's first. I've used Secret Spot in my woods which is much more dense than what you show. I've had mixed results on germination. I disked the area before and after seeding. Used lime and fertilizer too. You might do better with more sunlight you seem to have. Once the clover was all eaten the deer quit coming into the grass. This year I'm going to try different clovers, grasses from Agway, Tractor Supply etc. and see if I can get something to work out better. Also, we have an Amish run nursery nearby and they offer wildlife apple variety packs of several apple tree types. I'm going to see if I can get some of them growing.

Try the NY Trapping Pro-boards (see below). You shouldn't have any problems finding someone looking for an area to trap. http://nytrappers.proboards.com/index.cgi?

I agree that all WMU's are not the same and that there can even be variations within a given WMU. I believe there are several key points about the NYS deer management system and problems with it; 1) I believe we as hunters have grown to be much more efficient in our hunting methods than we were prior to say the 1970's. The advent of rifled shotguns, use of handguns with rifle calibers, expanded areas where rifles can be used, new developments in archery equipment, improved quality of muzzleloaders and the more widespread use of tree stands are a few examples. 2) The DEC figures on only a small percentage of deer kills actually being reported. I believe the actual count of those reporting in is higher. Thus the DEC reports of the actual deer take are incorrect. 3) The DEC is severely strapped for money and the number of employees has been and will be cut further. But, how often do you see a DEC biologist or ECO, out of their car off the road and back in the woods? They don't have time! How can they accurately know what's going on without doing that? Road kills aren't a 100% accurate measure of what's going on. 4) I look back in the 60's and 70's when I started deer hunting where you could hunt in areas such as Allegheny State Park and expect to see 20-30 deer a day during archery season and sometimes as many as 80-100 deer a day in gun season. Most were antlerless deer. Obviously, some were probably the same deer, just running around the hill, but seeing deer made the day so much more interesting. As a young hunter then, it was fun going. Now days when hunters (young and old) only see a few deer in a day, no wonder people get discouraged about taking up hunting. I also hunted ASP in the spring for turkeys and we didn't find starved deer due to the herd size exceeding the capacity of the area and its' browse. I hunted the Moose River Area in about 1969 when the DEC issued many, many antlerless permits for I believe a $5 fee. The area was supposedly a wintering yard and severely overpopulated with deer. As I recall, out of the many (maybe 100's) of hunters that participated in that 'event' only something like 13 deer were taken during the opening weekend. Most hunters never saw a deer. I believe we're getting told a LOAD about the deer herd, its' size, numbers and (grossly inflated) annual take. In many case by people without a lot of field experience. I live in Niagara county. I have limited mobility and limited access on land to hunt. I'll be lucky to see a deer this season, let alone being able to take one. Consider now that posted property and lack of access may sustain the deer herd by creating sanctuaries that preserve a breeding population. I think we're getting sold down the drain by NYS and the DEC as a way to generate funds with the DMP's. I don't have a great deal of faith in the ability of our DEC to manage the deer herd to optimize it for all parties - homeowners, hunters etc. I could probably go on - but enough said.

Your deer will be much better if it is allowed to cool on your trunk rather than placing it in your trunk as you travel. Your trunk lid should have two hinge type support arms linking it to the vehicle. Get two pieces of rope about 5-6 feet long. With your trunk open, tie one rope (in the middle) around each of the trunk hinges. Then close the trunk with the two free ends of each rope hanging outside and on top of the trunk. Then lay your deer on top of the trunk and tie it on tightly with the two ropes. Hinge spacing will usually let you tie one rope around the deer's abdomen near the hip area and another around the chest behind the front legs. I suggest you either clean all stones and debris off of the deer before putting it on the trunk or place the opposite clean side (the side you weren't dragging it on) on the vehicle to avoid damage. Garbage bags may not protect your vehicle against sticks and stones in the deer hide. Any blood etc. will wash off the vehicle. If your deer is a buck, you may want to have the head at the right side of the vehicle to avoid road damage; ice or slush from damaging it. This worked for us for years before trucks. It should work for you too - good luck!