phade

The KS decision is very much different than western states banning them for use on waterholes in a challenging environment. This one makes almost no sense IMO.

Solid!

Apparently I now have the upside down posting bug here. Lol.

We use rest stops often during our out of state travels. Can’t say a ton of them are awesome. One in PA just past the line on 90 is good for a restroom break. A few in Ohio are newer and nice looking but equally poorly designed as these new NY ones. Once we get past Ohio most of our stops are pull offs for Love’s or the similar. Then Casey’s when you know you’ve truly hit the Midwest lol. We do have this one spot just east of the Mississippi River where there is not a ton of places. We end up pulling off the off ramp and whizzing right on the side of the on ramp again lol. We’ve hit that spot 3 years in a row.

I’ll admit that I just do not like wood stocks and glossy blues finishes. Maybe a generational thing but I highly prefer the flat/matte, coating styles of today. The only wood stock I’ll run would be a Boyd’s type and probably thumbhole. I’ve always been told to spend more on the glass than the rifle. I have not lived up to that. Most of my glass is Bushnell, Sig, and Burris, Vortex. Not a fan of Vortex as I used to be. Sig is new and OK. I almost always fall into the trap of a $1-300 scope. My Weatherby has a $140 retail scope on it. Shoots great. Hard to walk away from it being dialed in and I may need to learn before doing something about it.

Tough settle, lol. If you were not settling what were you going to get?!?!? I’ve been an Elite user for 15-16 years. What I appreciate the most about them is that they nearly eliminated my desire to get a new bow often.

Sorry to hear of that. It sounds like a real tough situation. Although I haven’t endured a home fire, our family had a house that flooded and it was a nightmare to deal with. I can only imagine what you are going through. You and I are probably within 30 minutes of each other in 8H. I know you said your focus isn’t on hunting and that gear storage could be a challenge. I have tons of gear and storage and I’m sure you getting away for a few hours here and there may refresh your soul during such a time. I have rifles and bows that are quality and high end that I’ll likely never take out of the safe again and you’re welcome to have them for good. Plus clothing and the whole 9 yards. The offer is there should you want to consider it.

Nice people who run it. Cameras are OK. Pic quality is good. App is great and bad at the same time. It offers a lot of data mining but you’re limited in some settings controls. I find the app to be user intensive. I’ve had a mini for two deer seasons now. It senses OK but I think at times the trigger is either slow or the FOV isn’t lined up great. Battery life is not good. I’ve not picked up a dealership because I am not convinced they’re the best fit between Reveal and Spartan in cell cam lineup. Plan costs need work too.

We’re a K-Cup family due to convenience factor. I prefer French press when I have time. One thing that is no fun with K-Cups is the lack of ability to smell the coffee pre-use. Something to be said for that!

You should start a frequent flyer membership or something. Maybe name the kid’s college fund after us? LOL

Some of the best days in MZ are driven by weather and pressure. MZ pressure is much much less IMO. I find that the Thursday and Friday PMs of MZ week are very good. As is the final Tuesday. Pressure is even less during the work week. We haven’t hunted a single PM M-W following regular season close ever. We use that time to let deer acclimate to lower pressure and scout from afar in the evenings with glass. Once we figure out where they prefer to feed we look at hunting Thursday or Friday PM. Late season IMO is similar in approach to early season where quality sits matter more than seat time. It gets hard again to find a solid AM scenario, too. It happens but it’s a needle in the haystack. A few days of next to no or no pressure can really open the door to a pattern to go after. Scout twice as much as you hunt late season.

I’m dead on at 50 yards for my Wolf. I see about a 1” drop at 100 yards with my setup. I don’t hunt in too many places where I’m shooting 100+ yards late season. I don’t know what it’d do beyond that. My Vortek UL is 1” high at 50 yards and I’m capable of deer accuracy out to 140-150 yards without accounting for holdover. I lose a lot of height after 150 however as my load is not hot. Runs out of steam fast. With MZ you do need to test each scenario to know limits.

Bears are not cheap IMO. Great bear mounts are even less cheap. Rugs are shockingly expensive. Because people may never get one again or choose to mount another, I’d probably be willing to pay the premium for the right guy/gal to do the work once. I have a full mount Turkey. Love it. But I likely will never get another one mounted so I paid a premium for a really good job.

Photos were taken last night. Work beckons. Once they are back to me I’ll post. I don’t think I got a single “good” photo of it in the field Sunday. Too much of a rush to get dressed and out of the woods across an ag field we had major issues crossing with the truck. Ugh. So bad we called the farmer to let him know before he saw it. Short of a hand drag the ground was that soft mud. Thankfully farmer is cool and knows we take away mouths that feed out of his pocket.

Sure, I would agree. But with a gun on snow, very little blood is concerning. Even with a through and through gut/intestine or a one holer. We’re not talking about a bow shot here.

That seems odd. Track dragging or lopsided? Blood in snow is hugely exaggerated too. A teaspoon looks like a 1/4 cup worth in snow. Bedding twice with minimal blood is tough. Hard to make a decision and have high confidence in it. Maybe try letting it rest for a few hours? Two beds jumped is not a great sign, objectively speaking.

Agreed in my house too. I can push it and get away with some BS. My wife would hunt me down in a bad way if I did that, however.

You did that inside? Brave man! Looks good!

I think 23. I can fit inside this guys spread when we hung him. In a rush since Sunday evening. But I wear 38-40” waist jeans and I could fit inside his spread without a prob. Got a couple busted times but still a stud. Let us know when freezer gets room lol. Weighed 185 field dressed. Better pics tomorrow after work.

Mine is on too. One shot and it was dead nuts. But I did something I haven’t done in a long time. Let the gun butt up too far down my arm due to the height/angle of the rest. (We were rushing to get to the stand - turns out for good reason). When that thing went off I regretted it. I’m bruised bad lol. Dumbass.

Dude, this one is going on the wall for sure! Lol. It may rival David’s wide one for spread…

Alright. Got him.

Will be heading out here to the range to do a confirmatory shot (hopefully) on the muzzleloader. Should be still on from summer shooting session. Hoping that is the case as I want to get out for the PM immediately after that. Supposed to be wet rainy/melty snow. Hate those conditions but so be it.

Got our for the PM. Had hopes of encountering our busted up 4 or 5 year old buck. He showed up on cam yesterday with an hour of light left and usually sticks around for 2-3 days before disappearing again for 4 ish days. I suspect I will get pics of him overnight south of where I set up150 yards in our other plot. 50-50 guess on the stand selection and I believe he will show at the one I wasn’t at since I covered 1 of the 2 bedding spots. Did have three bucks come out and hang in our brassica plot for 45 minutes. One a really nice 8 that will be worthy of a look next year. Certainly checked him in the scope before I figured out who he was. I had the perfect wind too so my hopes were exceptionally high that tonight be the night. Close, no cigar. I REALLY want to get out in the AM if it snows. Even if just for the first hour. Now it’s forecasted transitioning to rain, which kills that. I was going to just go to sit and get out to an easy spot and we what shakes out. Rain just above freezing and no leads on a buck in the AM is a bad combo for me lol. PM more of the same but I’ll sit through that for a shot at this busted up buck.

I don’t mess with scents much nowadays. Partner likes Nosejammer products but honestly I think it’s because he likes the smell. He will also use doe in estrous urine a few times a year. He can tie a few bucks on the wall that interacted positively to a scent wick or trail he did. His Missouri buck was almost nose to a wick at the shot. Granted we saw several bucks that day, so who is to say that got him killed but he for sure was into that scent. I’ve also killed a a few that way but I don’t think big picture it’s a “game changer” because I believe it just introduces more risk into your setup. Entry/exit and understanding your setup is really the key. Ozone is interesting. Similar experience to the above. We use it a lot more on the road out of state to ozone wash clothing and gear. Seems to do well IMO.