wolc123

I hung mine up in 2014, when the crossbow was first legalized, for the peak two weeks of the rut in the southern zone. I still have my last (2) compounds, but haven’t touched them since. Way more efficient for me for sure. I’ve killed more deer, hunting just those (2) weeks of the season, the first (5) of those last (10), than I did the previous 30 years with my vertical compounds, hunting the whole seasons. It’s almost all about the meat for me though, and I haven’t killed any with my crossbow, since they opened and early antlerless gun season in my home zone, (5) years ago. I stopped fighting so hard for “full inclusion” when they gave us that early gun season. Im actually thankful now that we didn’t get full inclusion, because that might have prevented that early gun season. I haven’t had any significant struggle to get enough venison since then. Antlers mean very little to me. The peak two weaks of the rut is still one of my favorite times to deer hunt though, so I’m very thankful that I can use my crossbows then. it provided some excitement last year, when I missed this stout 3.5 yr old 8-pointer on the last Sunday of that 2week crossbow season. (26) I could not locate my bolt after the errant shot (probably deflected due to predeployment of mechanical broadhead against popup blind window mesh), and I prayed to Jesus, that “His will be done” regarding carcass recovery. Not only did He answer my prayer, just like He always has, He did better than allowing an immediate recovery. It would have been tough dealing with that carcass on that 70 some degree Sunday morning, and still make it to church. He guided my bolt safety away from the buck, not even nicking a hair. I didn’t see that buck again until the last minute of daylight on the last day of ML season, when he offered me a broadside shot. The temperature was just right in late December, for hide-on carcass aging, in our insulated garage. By that time, there was a lot less fat on the carcass, so processing went significantly faster than it would have, had my bolt struck where I intended, over a month before.

Same here. I just found out that my wife is heading down to her brothers place in VA that weekend, so our trip to her parents place up north is off. I’m not sure if we’ll get back up there before Memorial Day weekend.

No but he had a pretty cool hairdo.

No boiling, I just skin the raw head and power wash it. The skulls get too yellowish for my liking, if they are boiled.

It takes me 45 minutes and 2/3 of a gallon of gas to do one from a raw head. 15 minutes to skin and 30 minutes to blow out all the soft tissue with a 3100 psi pressure washer. I like the natural bone color, from the raw method, more than the slightly yellow look that results when heat is used, or bleached white or various dips. Cleanup is the best. Just blow the offal to the edge of the concrete pad and the vermin and birds take care of it overnight. Another big plus is no smell and less nagging. I’m surprised that my mother and wife didn’t run me off, after the ones that I did on their stoves.

Happy birthday.

It’s just crazy to me, how fast they adapt to changes. Our home farm consists mostly of small 3-4 acre fields, separated by hedgerows. The first year I doubled my effective range, with a bolt action rifled shotgun, I killed (2) does one field away. They never knew what hit them. That action went away the very next year. The extra half hours we got (4) years ago is another good example of that. The first year it went into effect, the deer action was great in those extra 1/2’s. Not so any longer. Now they don’t come out into the fields until at least 2 hours past sunset, and they vacate at least that long before sunrise. I don’t think there is another creature on the face of the earth, that adapts better to survival around humans, than the whitetail deer.

I’ve got a bunch of unsplit rounds in my splitter shed that I’d like to get split up and moved into my woodshed. Also maybe drag up a few firewood logs, and some rabbit and squirrel hunting.

This old Adirondack doe was the smartest deer that I’ve ever hunted. Certainly way ahead of most of the mature bucks that I’ve taken. I pursued her for several years. Im guessing that she was 4-1/2 years old, when I finally managed to bring her down. Our first encounter was during the late ML season, when she was probably 2-1/2 years old and had a single fawn. I should have had her that time, when she offered me a 40 yard broadside shot. A hidden branch deflected my ML bullet, and saved her. She had (2) fawns the next year, when she managed to thwart me on every attempt during the early ML week. She usually fed in the shooting range meadow, near my in-laws lake house, every evening. She seemed to recognize the danger and patterned me, getting the best of me 2 or 3 times that week. She did the same on our first encounter the following year. I had learned that she always went up to a ridge to feed on nuts, after she left the meadow. I got up there before her, about a full hour before sunrise, the last time. I had a favorable wind and I was able to get into position up there completely undetected. She usually always monitored the lake house door, just before sunrise. My extra early rise tricked her. As the sun started to light up the woods up on the ridge, I caught some flash of her white tail. She held her tail out, then moved about 50 yards, then repeated the process, getting closer and closer. I was downwind of the best mast trees up there. She eventually offered an easy, broadside 30 yard shot and I was able to connect with her shoulder blade. It was only after she was down, that I saw the two fawns which she had been signalling with her tail and masterfully leading up the ridge to the food. I may have started the whole process over again last year, on what was probably one of those fawns. I missed her with the same ML, in almost the same place where I missed her mother, due to the same cause -probable branch strike. This time, it was during the early ML week, and again the doe had just one fawn with her. It’s pretty cool how history repeats itself. Only one, of the dozen or so mature bucks that I’ve killed, has particularly impressed me with his smarts. Most of the rest were easily outwitted during the peak two weeks of the rut. That one smartie was hanging with a flock of turkeys, likely taking advantage of their superior vision, to help evade hunters. God Himself assisted me on that one causing me to drop the Bible I had been reading up on my stand. I climbed down from my tree stand (leaving my 16 ga slug gun loaded) to pick it up, with 5 minutes of legal light remaining. I was wearing my orange camo jacket which that flock of turkeys could have seen from a mile away had I still been exposed up in that stand. They didn’t do this cagey old 8-pointer any good, when they and he stepped into the little patch of brush under my tree.

My 3.5 yr buck from big blinds ticked up by one on December 17, 2024 with this one, which was also the first one that I killed from a big blind, outside of the peak two weeks of the rut: (23) That was also my first kill from this poplar tree blind, from which I had missed a doe a couple weeks prior and a 2.5 year old buck the year before, due to what I believe was a shotgun/sabot slug/cold weather malfunction. A dead ash tree had fallen against it and I dropped and processed it into firewood the day before I missed the doe. She was the only deer that I seen, thru all of shotgun season last year. I think the chainsaw noise and tractor ruckus the day before coaxed her out of the heavy cover. That didn’t do me any good though, because I missed her clean. The buck wasn’t so fortunate though, when he stepped out in the exact same place a couple weeks later. Fortunately, I had my ML that time.

I once killed a button buck from my bedroom window, 2 minutes from the end of ML season. That didn’t feel much different to me than the 8-pointer, that I killed from a tree stand out back, at almost the exact same time last year. He had just stepped into a food plot but was not eating when I shot him. I did have a little (33 minutes) more time until the end last year (thanks to the recent rule change on start/stop time) and a little more cushion on the setback distance from buildings owned by others.

That mini-spike’s liver is very tasty and it’s all I can do to not go get the rest microwaved and have an early lunch right now. I’m not sure how my older buck’s from 12/17/24 will be. I cut that one in half and each half filled a quart sized freezer bag to capacity. That’s probably close to (6) meals worth. I hadn’t been saving them from older deer due to toughness, but that one died quick, and I aged it for a week prior to freezing. I’m hoping it will be tender. He also had an extra big heart. Good thing there, because I’ve only got two deer hearts in the freezer from last year for my wife to pickle for me this Valentine’s Day (that’s been our tradition for many years), so I’m going to have to get her to do a beef tongue or two along with them. My September doe’s heart was about average sized. I really love that stuff pickled. The September doe’s liver was reasonably tender, after a week in the fridge, but not quite as tasty as that from the December mini-spike buck. I think I still have half of her liver in the freezer. I’m guessing that she was also about 3-1/2 years old. Just about (4) meals worth from her liver as the half’s didn’t fill the quart bags to capacity.

And you can’t always depend on good ice in March. These Rueben’s are definitely worth a 2 hour drive:

I see there nothing in there about not shooting button bucks (something by the way that I did not do thru all of 2024). I’m just a little disappointed, that I didn’t get to enjoy any of that “milk fed” liver lately, especially after my buddy told me that he got one for me on New Year’s Day with his ML. That turned out to be a 1.5 yr old 1.5” “dmp mini-spike”. The liver was still pretty good though and twice as big as the usual bb liver. Just not quite as tender. I did age it in the fridge for (9) days prior to frying though, and that helped with the tenderness. I had the first serving for dinner last night, and I will probably have the rest for lunch tomorrow. Certainly it put a very fine capstone on that last Holiday ML season for me, even if I wasn’t able to harvest a deer myself during it. My buddy also now has plenty of grind to make the sausage that he had been craving, something that wouldn’t have happened, without that awesome new season.

My buddy just dropped off the liver from the button buck that he killed on New Years evening, one hour before sunset. Wild game don’t get any better than that. It definitely makes this past Holiday season a success in my book, even if I wasn’t able to harvest one myself, during that week. 2024 was the first year, in the last (5), that I wasn’t able to kill a button buck myself. Not sure if that was a step forward or backward for me. I’ll decide after liver and onion lunch on Saturday.

I just learned of a schedule conflict for Feb 16. Can we change it to the backup date of Sunday February 23, at the Brewer Union Cafe at 11:00 am ? Thanks, Wolc 123

That’s a beauty Eddie. It took me about 45 minutes and 2/3 gallon of ethanol free gas to finish up my raw one on Monday. I’m glad we had a little thaw. The birds and other vermin had the mess around the concrete pad completely cleaned up in less than 24 hours. I usually leave them hang out in the barn for a few months, just in case there are any lingering odors. 3100 psi seems to work out just right, to blast everything out, and not cause any extra bone damage.

Sounds good to me, if the weather cooperates. I’ll roll it in with an ice fishing trip to my in-laws. Things are looking good now for good ice. I don’t see any warm temps in the long range forecast.

Sunday would be best for me also. B.U.C. Is open 7am-3pm Sunday and 7am-8pm Saturday. Presidents weekend would be good as would most others after Feb 1.

I can think of a good central location for upstate NY. They also have the best Reuben sandwiches that I’ve ever had. That would be the Brewer Union Cafe on Bartel rd in Brewerton NY. It is about 15 minutes north of the I-90, just off I-81. I can be there in two hours from home in WNY, and about the same from my in-laws up in the Dacks.

My mom chops up some smoked polish sausage for on top when she bakes it in the oven. My wife uses the same recipe, but substitutes the venison for the beef. Most often she takes a shortcut, and just mixes everything else together underneath, rather that rolling up the stuffing into the cabbage. Not only is that easier to make that way, but it’s also easier to eat, and my preference. My mom never takes that shortcut, nor would I ever suggest that she does. She’s pretty set in her ways, and it’s always very good.

You seem kind of snippy. Are you feeling poorly on this wonderful Christmas Day about that shed 1-1/2 year old buck you killed ? Cheer up, they are renewable resource and one buck can service many does. Did that one look healthy, other than the missing antlers ? I read an article by Kip Adam’s, that claimed that early drop was usually caused be injury. I’ve only got one antlerless tag that I can use at my buddys place down near Letchworth this weekend. I will also use my binoculars, to try and identify a dropped buck and not target that, in order to up your odds a bit down there in future years. I’m not going to hold off on the dropped ones at home though, nor will I hold off on the buttons. We average about 4 antlered sightings per each antlerless around my two spots in wmu 9F, after October 1 every year, so we could certainly use a higher buck harvest during all of the legal hunting seasons. As you are well aware, I did mistake a tiny (dmp legal) spike for a doe a couple years ago, so I can understand how you feel about your recent mishap. I really was thankful for your kind words of consolation for me back then. That remains one of the worst times of my life, when I was stranded out in southern CA for the only one ever of what had long been my favorite day of the year in WNY (opening day of gun season), because of the first Buffalo blizzard of 22. I very nearly also got stranded out there for the second one. It was only by the brave action and volunteering of a coworker, that I avoided that trial (being stranded out there again for Christmas and my birthday by the second Buffalo blizzard of 22), that I am still here today. Do you usually check does out with your binoculars before shooting ? Our old eyes aren’t what they were in our 20’s $ 40’s. I had a pretty good run on avoiding killing 1-1/2 year old bucks. My last one, prior to that 2-3/4” spike in 2022, was this infamous (8 or 10 page on this site) Texas heart shot Adirondack 6-point back on Thanksgiving weekend back in 2016. Who can forget that one ? That was the only bullet, that I know of, that I ever perfectly placed. This years 3.6 year old 8-pointer was pretty close, passing thru about about 1/4” below the shoulder blade that I intended to hit:

Thanks folks, it’s going well so far. Santa was pretty generous with us. The girls are about half way thru their pile and I just opened a box of hand warmers. That was the only thing that I asked for. The Good Lord provided well also, with 4” of fresh snow (perfect amount for my Farmall Cub), and two extra pairs of gloves. My mother is making my favorite dish for dinner tonight (stuffed cabbage). She uses ground beef, which is not quite as tasty or healthy as the venison version that my wife makes with mom’s recipe, but still is real good. Im really looking forward to my first all day deer hunting sit of the year tomorrow, for the Holliday deer season opener, up in my poplar tree blind. There were loads of tracks in the fresh snow, in range of it, yesterday morning. I’d really like to punch another 9F dmp or two (I have (3) of those left). A buck will need at least three points on a side or be clearly 2.6 yrs old plus to get my last buck tag. I want to save that until January 1 if possible because my neighbor wants to do some drives that day.

I hadn’t been carry my binoculars thru the late ML season at home, because I was pretty much in full brown-down mode, with (2) buck tags and (4) doe tags at my disposal. Now that I’m down to my last buck tag, I’ll start toting them again. It sounds like my neighbor wants to do some drives on January 1, so I’d like to save my last buck tag until then. I’ll need to be in the lookout for little, hidden spikes. The binoculars work great for checking those out. My buddy’s place is only about 15 miles from the SE corner of Letchworth. You don’t have to worry about me shooting any buck less than 2.6 years old down there. Hopefully, we are able to take out plenty of does down there.

I saw a few. I finally killed that one, the third time that I saw him. I didn’t see him at all during the September early antlerless gun season or the regular SZ gun season. I stopped hunting the early part of the SZ archery season, back in 2014, when they legalized crossbows for the last two weeks. I’m sure I could get a modified crossbow permit, and hunt the early part with that if I wanted to, but I have not pursued that option because of the access I have to the NZ. I hunted the whole early ML week thru opening weekend of gun up there (maybe 50 miles from your place) but was unable to close the deal on my two target bucks up there. I did cast eyes on one of them, but that was about 5 minutes past legal shooting time. Back home for opening day of crossbow season, I passed a scrawny 3 pointer in the morning at 15 yards. I’d have shot him then, if he looked 10 pounds heavier (as you know, I am a pure meat hunter), or if I didn’t need to be at my nephews wedding in 2 hours. I had my first encounter with my “baseball” 8-pointer, 5 minutes after the 3 pointer departed. He cruised thru the hayfield beyond the wheat/awp plot that the 3-pointer had been feeding in, at about a 75 yards range. Clearly, he was a shooter. Now that I’ve got his scull skinned, I can tell he’s 3-1/2 by comparison with other heads of known origin. He had his head up high as he crossed, and my grunt call did not even get his attention, nor did it slow him down. I didn’t take any vacation time for crossbow. Our second encounter was the following Sunday morning. I tried to squeeze in a quick hunt before church (big mistake) from my new popup blind ($49 from TSC in Govenour) that was anchored in a patch of seeetcorn in my front field. This time my grunt call stopped him and brought him into 30 yards, when I loosed a bolt thru the mesh window. Apparently, I had not trimmed enough of that corn from my shooting lane, and a corn stalk or the mesh window must have deflected the shot. He bolted off a ways at the shot, with his tail straight out, then turned 90 degrees and stopped just short of the back hedgerow. He hung up there, about 75 yards away, for a few seconds as I reloaded, then walked slowly out of view with his tail up at about a 45 deg angle. I spent about an hour looking for my bolt, blood or hair or any signs of a hit, finding nothing. I was not 100 percent sure of a miss, until I killed him last Tuesday. I call him the “baseball 8” because he was out on my third sighting. He only had two extra holes in him (where my 240 gr XTP entered and exited). Will I or will I not regret passing that little 3 pointer on opening day of SZ crossbow is the main question here. I’ll let you know on January 2, 2025. One things for sure: There’s not much nurishment for this pure meat guy in that paper tag. I could give a crap less about antlers.