DirtTime

I enjoyed my couple of bow hunts up north a couple weeks ago greatly. Full on fair chase, me against the woods and the deer. I did notice one thing I didn't like though, trying to get through some of the brush I had to maneuver through had my bow and the arrows catching up on everything. Seeing my arrows bend like that wasn't reassuring in some ways. I did a flex tests on each arrow once I was in areas that I could see little ways. Some may say I was over thinking, but I have seen what a shattered carbon arrow can do, so I was just trying to be safe for me and any deer I may have got a shot at. Enter the past few days..... We are going back up next year for the same time frame, meaning it will be the first week of the ML season up there. I can maneuver a firearm a bit easier through brush then I can my bow. So, I think it's actually time I bought a ML'er.

I love squirrel! On the grill, wrap it in some bacon. I prefer stew myself, or just pan fry it in cast iron. Another way I like it is ram a stick through it after is gutted and skinned and cook it over a fire in the woods. Not much meat on them, and my wife won't even try it, so when I hunt them I'll take one, maybe two if I'm lucky and just fry them up for myself for lunch.

You out with the crossbow? I hear they are good out to 100 yards. Send it. LOL

You probably won't care much for the Mississippi Mud. I remember Paula trying it and not liking it. I like the stuff, when I have the cash it's in my personal top 5. I love it with a nice cigar sitting at a fire in the yard. Let me know what you think if you try it.

Just wanted to say congrats to Biz, Nomad, Jerry, and all the others who got it done today. Well done gentlemen.

Deleted, he figured out the video thing. LOL

Only area near me that has leftovers is 4J, but they hand them out like lint at a laundry mat over there.

Clocks go back tonight. YAY! Grrrr.. In a week at this time it will be almost dark outside and past legal shooting time.

Congrats on the dandy buck and Happy B-Day.

Congrats on a great buck Biz! Sound like you had some showtime going on just before the kill.

Most of the time I try to keep my bow in hand. If I hang it, i try to use a branch because most of the land I hunt is public land and I cannot screw anything into the trees. I have about 6 of the actual bow hangers in the pic below left, I have only used few over the years. They will hold my rifles fine, and hold my bow just the same. I will also set my bow on a log or a brush blind front if it's stable.

Love that stuff! The sardines in mustard sauce, hot sauce, olive oil, just about all of them. I don't mind 'kipper snacks' either. They both made for a lightweight backpacking meal when I used to haul cans in the pack. Either one with some ramen on the trail for supper was great. This brings back some memories. I still buy them here and there to keep around as a snack.

rachunter, not sure if or when you will be going up next year, but perhaps if the times match up and we are both up there at the same time frame, and you want to travel a bit further north, we can get a morning hunt in.

^^^^^ This! This right here!

Thanks for the heads up. Next year, I will head North more. There are a ton of back roads up there that will put you in "No Man's Land". No houses, light poles, and at times the paved roads turn to dirt roads. Just need to look at maps and make sure your $#!ts on point. If you really want to get away from the masses, you go where the masses won't go. I won't lie here, I can no longer head out to the most remote areas, but I was able to locate a few areas of interest for next season that I'm pretty sure most of the people who head up for the thrill won't go to. Yeah, two of my three hunts were with my bow. I know what I was getting into, and I still had great hunts even though I didn't kill a deer. It's the vibe from up there, the challenge! Full on fair chase.

I only had a few hours on Saturday to be hunting. There were a bunch of guys/gals waiting to head in, and I passed one driving in as I was backing out to hunt a different area on the same land. In the afternoon we drove down to North Creek and there were a ton of cars and trucks parked along the road and in parking areas for the public lands. I was a little shocked myself. It had been years since hunting up that far north, and years ago I would hit the back roads and not see a soul. We are going back next year, and I might not even bother taking a rifle unless I can save a bit more for added gas to maybe head back down towards Piseco.

We drove back into Chimney and planned to try and hike it, but it was $5 to park to hike public land. With so many other trails we were pretty much like blank that. We went back out the road and hiked Crotched Pond instead. That's where I took the pic of the sandy road. We gave John Pond - Cedar Pond a go, trails were flooded out pretty bad though, so we didn't make the whole loop.

Hate to double post, but that 4th pic from last was West Canada Lake Wilderness. That was tough walking, still hunting through that was like sitting on an ice pick and wondering why you $$$ hurts.

Took time to sift through a lot of pictures, and these are the only ones I have that are hunting related. Like I said, I hunted and didn't worry much about taking pics or filming. The few short clips I have for hunting will get edited together, and end with the video I shot of "The Spirit Of Hunting" video I filmed. The woods road pic and the guardrail pic are in jest, just joking with Bill and stormy. So I hope the both of them take in stride that I am not insulting, just joking around. On the way back from a hunt, I had to wait for a flock of turkey to cross the road. I took the best pic I had time to and only have a few in the pic, but there were at least 20 of them buggers. The tree that looks like a rub has be a bit puzzled. I honestly don't think it was a rub, but was a cool pic none the less.

Had a great week. Only got three hunts in because weather people suck! Said rain for Tuesday morning, but not a drop until late afternoon/evening, so I made no plan to hunt and slept in, I was stewing hard on that one. Hunted West Canada Lake Wednesday morning. The area I was in was thick, and I mean thick. Walked for a few hours on a loop a little North of Lewey Lake, maybe I covered a mile and a half. Heard something bug out ahead of me, but saw nothing. Headed back to the cabin around 10AM for breakfast and hiking for the afternoon. We hiked a trail in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness near Chimney mountain. I did some off trail recon during the hike and located a few spots I could see far enough to get a sit or two in. Found a nice little bowl with a couple down trees that made a perfect blind. We also hiked two other trails that afternoon. Thursday morning I got in the area I found the day before just at first light and sat for a couple hours. Stayed until my a** was almost frostbit from sitting on a cold wet moss covered log. No deer seen. Back to camp to warm my backside and wait for my buddy to get there. Wifey wanted to get some scenic pics so we did some driving and walking for that. Friday was calling for crappy weather, so I did not hunt. Instead, we hiked Watch Hill in the rain. I made the top, but where the trail gets narrow up top, my fear of heights went crazy and I had a full blown panic attack up there. I made the top, but not to the over look off the rock face, 50 yards to go and I was shaking and felt like I was having a heart attack. The decent was nothing less then miserable. At least I did make the top, and for being a short fat out of shape dude I was still happy I made the hike. Saturday morning. Regular season opener. I was stoked. Decided to go back to the bowl I sat with my bow. Get to the secondary trail head, and there's 8 guys getting ready to head in. I back out a little to let them have the area thinking they were local guys and knew the area better then me, and I didn't want to impede on their hunt. So I found another spot and just stood next to a tree for an hour until I heard someone walking through just over a small ridge in front of me. I waited a little to see if he/she kicked anything back my way, then headed out. I did not want to hunt off any trail heads, but did anyways. Saturday was at the request of my wife to stay close to camp after having issues on Friday. Over all I had a great time up there. We ate great, got a lot of dirt time in, played board games at night, smokes a couple nice cigars, sipped some brandy, drank a few beers, and just enjoyed being in the Dacks. I have to sort through a ton of photos, and video clips, to see what came out good. I did not take a lot of pics or shoot much video on my hunts though, I kept my focus on the hunt. But I will try to at least get some pics up here. I did make sure to take a pic of a guardrail and a woods road though LOL!

Almost everything's packed up and ready to load into the truck in the morning. We have to grab some ice in the morning to keep the meat we are taking from home frozen, couldn't see buying that when we have it here. I hope we can get up to the cabin early enough so I can get a little boots on the ground scouting/still hunting in before supper. Tuesday looks like some rain, so I shall see what it looks like that morning. Don't much see a point in going in the woods before close to first light, Not sitting behind any kind of blind and not hunting from a tree stand. Super slow still hunting, so I don't want be jumping deer I can't see by going in to early. Go time is close. Bitter pill for me to sort out, but have decided, for this trip, I am only going after a buck. The reasons for that decision, doing it for the memory of a lost family member who was the only one who never thought I was crazy for driving hours out and back, to hunt areas that are off the beaten path, just because I love the Adirondacks and hunting up there. I hope you all have a great week hunting where ever you hunt.

Bills 5-1. That onside try return was nothing less then awesome!

Congrats. Now you have to live a new life in the outdoors, study up on "It's A Jeep Thing".

Opened the 16th for NZ. Ends the day before the regular season for the NZ on the 25th. https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28605.html

Nice pup. I got a kick out of the shopping cart pic. Classic!