wolc123
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Posts posted by wolc123
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16 hours ago, airedale said:
A pretty good video on the history of American made scopes from their early days to the present, having lived in that era been around used and still use vintage stuff I found this fellow's observations to be spot on. Some good information here for those interested in such things.
Al
Very good video. I agree with the guy’s grandpa: Weavers are for putting meat in the freezer, and Leupolds made sure that a guy couldn’t afford a freezer to put the meat in.
That’s why it’s mostly been Weavers or Redfields for me.
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5 minutes ago, suburbanfarmer said:
Not to derail the thread, no way a Canada moose hunt is only $3k. I would be happy to go if true
Right you are, I was using the pre-Bidenflation cost. It looks like a 6 day, guided, est 85% success, Newfoundland moose hunt is up to $ 6k now.
Even with that inflated cost, Luber would still be ahead, when it comes to cost per pound. ($ 6k for 500 lbs of moose meat compared to $3k for 100 lbs of whitetail meat.).
He’d be getting 5x the (better) meat at just double the cost.
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My mother in law sent me text, saying that she fried up the (4) perch that I caught for her last week for dinner tonight. She said they were very good.
I’m hoping that all of the nearby corn will be harvested, and that there will be some snow on the ground, next time we go up there on Thanksgiving weekend. That will greatly improve my odds of getting a buck up there.
Back here in WNY, Im taking this weekend off from hunting. I’m trying to get everything ready for winter. I got most of the leaves swept up off the lawn and piled up yesterday. I did the roof work today, sweeping out the chimney for the wood stove and cleaning the leaves out of the gutters.
If the weather cooperates next week, I might try to cut the lawn one last time. I took the deck off my primary mower, to give more clearance for pulling the leaf sweeper, so I’ll need to use my backup mower for the last cut.
I put the snowplow on my Farmall Cub. That works good for pushing up the leaf piles from the area where I dump them with the leaf sweeper. Before the snow flies, I got to get the rear chains on that Cub, and try to get the lights working again.
I had to straighten out the plow frame before I mounted it because I bent it up a little in a failed attempt to use it for a front hitch to move my boat. Apparently, that was a little too much tongue weight for it. My 22 ton vertical hydraulic press (log splitter) made short work getting it straightened out.
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8 minutes ago, luberhill said:
Would 3k be too much to pay for a lease to him ? That’s the property tax amount
Yes. For that amount you could take a guided moose hunt to Canada and come back with 4x the (slightly better) meat than you might get, if you tagged out on whitetails, on his 60 acres.
My recommendation would be: offer $150 to lease the 15 acres of woods. See if you can find a farmer, who would pay $2850, to lease the 45 acres of tillable.
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5 hours ago, cas said:
Good grief. I sighted in the new Leupold the other day. The first adjustment of the windage knob, I genuinely thought the scope was broken. A gritty , gravel road feel turning the knob, with barely perceptible "clicks". I've never felt a scope adjust like this, not even garbage Chinese stuff. The "toy grade" scope with horrible lenses, that came free with my cheap @ss crossbow feels better than this. What a shame what's happened to that company.
Ive always avoided Leupold scopes, because they were too expensive, however I did buy a new Redfield Revolution that was manufactured during the brief period when they were the “parent company”.
The quality of that seems ok but not quite up to par with my older “made in USA” Redfield scopes. Hopefully, I’ll never need another new scope, because I don’t know where I could get one now, not being into the foreign stuff. I’d probably take my chances on a used one.
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That looks good. Ive got to wait until Valentine’s Day to eat any myself, because my wife only makes it once a year. Hopefully, I will have a few more hearts, to add to the two in the freezer now, by then.
I wasn’t able to get any more during my last (9) days of ML and rifle deer hunting up north. I Hope to be able to add up to (5) more to the batch between November 4 and January 1.
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I had a very comfortable spot to sit in the rain for my 9th morning in the north woods, but no deer seen.
The drive home went well and i am all unpacked. No more deer hunting for me until sz crossbow opens on November 4th.
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2 hours ago, airedale said:
I belonged to the Outdoor Life Book Cub way back when, I have a couple of books by Clyde Ormond, he was mildly famous for the Ormond swing, a homemade device made to rest a firearm. I learned a lot about hunting from all those club books, (which I Still Have).
Al
I like his writing style, very blunt and to the point, and not the least bit “politically correct”. Way different and better than most of the stuff in print these days.
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I have been in position, down in the steam bottom hot-spot, since 15 minutes before sunrise. I drove the plow truck down to the trail-head in the rain to save a little time and stay a little drier.
There are a couple old, falling-down lean-to’s nearby, one of which held a soft-topped, swivel-based chair with arm rests and full lumbar back support. My father in law uses that for hunting beavers in the stream.
I dragged it out a short distance, propped it up level next to a pine tree, and rigged my tree umbrella above. The rain had been falling steady, but I have been relatively dry and comfortable so far.
Two problems I had in the rain yesterday, in my camp chair under the umbrella were wet knees on my bibs, from moccasional drops that struck them, and inability to swivel for 360 degree shot capability.
This chair lets me shoot all around, and I’m wearing my insulated chest waders today, so no problem there. Today’s issues are it’s about 10 degrees colder (36 F), and the wader rubber boots are not as warm as the Timberland-pro insulated leather, composite-toe loggers boots that I had worn on my prior hunts. My knees are staying dry though.
I’m going to try and hold out here until around 11:00, then head back for lunch with the in-laws, then pack up for the 4.5 hour drive home. Maybe I’ll make that 4 hours, to my parents house, and have supper with them.
Only the appearance of a buck, with 3 or more points on a side or a bear in the next (2) hours, could throw a wrench in my plans.
Our buddy, from down at the end of the lake, left his Cat #12 road grader parked blocking the trail so I’d have to drag any carcass out by hand.
At least that makes for a nice, smooth drive back to my in-laws house, with no potholes. -
Here is an oldy (written in 1962) but a goodie, that I am about 1/4 thru:
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Just saw this. Is it’s too late to start now ?
Ive never held any political office, but I did visit my favorite President’s house and farm this summer, during the barley harvest.
On 8/15/2023 at 8:40 PM, GreenDrake said:I think Wolc needs to be on the presidential ticket in ‘24. I’ll be his campaign manager. Any other volunteers?????
It does seem like we could use a little Barnyard Diplomacy right about now.
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I made it thru another day with no deer sightings, making 8 straight. Just one more hunt to go, in the morning. I’ll be going to the stream-bottom spot, which is where I’ve seen the most deer here over the last 10 seasons, but never killed one.
I have been doing this (9) day hunt/fish-cation up here for the last 5 or so years and have never made it all the way thru without seeing any deer. One year I made it up on Friday, with enough daylight left to catch the last hour of crossbow season. I saw (3) antlerless deer, standing on the main camp driveway, on my walk in and that was it for that trip.
Last year I saw the most, stumbling into a herd of 10-12 on my walk in one morning, about 45 minutes before sunrise. 3 days later, on my last Sunday morning, I went back to that spot and again spooked (2) out, before legal light. I sat there anyhow, and a “just barely legal” spike buck came in and tempted me with a 30 yards broadside shot (I passed).
i would put my odds of seeing a deer tomorrow at about 20 %, and my odds of killing a buck, with 3 or more points on a side, at about 5%. It’s too far of a walk to carry my camp chair. It’s supposed to rain again tomorrow, so I’ll have to suffer a wet butt, with my tree hammock chair under my tree umbrella. It catches runoff from the tree.
Since it’s my last day for hunting up here, I don’t mind if my bibs get wet. I won’t be needing them again until crossbow season opens at home on November 4. I’ll hang them out in my hunting room when I get home and they will be dry by then.
It stopped raining here at about 10:00 today. I hunted till noon, went back for lunch, then helped my father in law with some pre-winter projects. We went over to see our buddy, at the far end of lake, about the incident at the gate the other day. A big old overhead structure almost came down on my father-in-law.
I bruised my left upper arm a little, while up on an extension ladder, holding it back. I held it, until he got his tractor bucket against it, then I screwed down a support brace. We were very fortunate that no one got seriously injured or killed.
Our buddy said that he had a new blade on his chainsaw, and why don’t we just go cut it all down. We went back with my father in laws loader tractor, chains, a long rope, and the plow truck. It took us about an hour to cut down the old structure and clean up the mess. We even yanked out the offending new pole, which was improperly on the disgruntled neighbor's property.
That little dispute turned out to be a “blessing in disguise” because without that new pole holding up the old rotted overhead gate structure, it may have fallen and killed someone. Had the new pole not been on the neighbor’s property, we never would have known how rotted the old structure was.
Even though we got all the work done, I skipped the evening hunt for 5 reasons: 1) my freezers pretty full at home 2) It started raining again 3) The local deer have been missing in action 4) It’s shower night 5) I wanted to clean my ML.
All this stuff is gone now ^, except for the rock gate post bases. My father in law and his buddy are already planning an elaborate new gate structure, none of which will be on the disgruntled neighbor’s property.
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11 minutes ago, SportsmanNH said:
Wolc what happened to your Hammock Seat ? They are great ! i bought a couple of the Dead Ringer back 5 years ago . I liked it so much I wanted to get a few more, but they were no longer available. So I ended up buying a few of a different brand that are also very good . Love these seats. Being able to swivel to get the shot is a game changer. One of the brands I bought came with a cam buckle strap instead of a plastic buckle. When I find a hot ambush spot I set one up and leave it there. I will never sit on the ground or logs again ! LOL
I still have it and have been using it all week. It’s no good in heavy rain though, because it collects the runoff from the tree and gives me a wet butt.
I do miss the swivel feature with the camp chair though.
The camp chair is just as comfortable, after I get it blocked up and level. Definitely a pain to carry, compared to the hammock seat, but quieter and faster to take down.
One of the plastic teeth on the clip on my tree hammock has been broke off for about the last (5) years. I always need to made sure I buckle it with the good tooth on top, or it lets go when I sit in it I always pile up the leaves under it, just in case the other tooth breaks off.
Clearing then leaves under my feet also makes for a quiet turn, when the deer shows up behind me. I definitely like the full 360 degree shooting from the tree hammock. All of my raised blinds have swivel office chairs on them, for the same reason.
The only time I can’t shoot, in any direction, is when it’s raining and I’m in that camp chair, or in one of my two ladder stands or my two hang-ons.
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1 hour ago, New York Hillbilly said:
Frustrating! Weather was beautiful all week when I was out of town.
Then I wake up this morning to an absolute downpour. There was no way I was going to go sit in that and risk getting sick. Plus, in my past, shooting a deer in that sort of rain is almost guaranteeing a nightmare scenario with trying to track. I don't need that sort of aggravation and heartache, and the woods don't need another wounded and lost deer.
By the way. Is anyone with cameras out there seeing any uptick in middle of the day activity?
I’m out up north for opening day with the bang stick today. Already have a freezer full of venison, thanks to early antlerless gun season back home, so I’ll definitely be looking to ruin a little meat with a shoulder blade shot today, if I get a chance for one .
I also don’t like trying to follow a blood trail in the rain. It’s nice and dry, here under my tree umbrella, but the rain is showing no signs of letup.
I brought along plenty of hot cider and candy bars. I may hang out here till past noon. I’m not really looking forward to the heavy lifting that my father in law has planned for me later in the barn, getting the back ring chains on his snow plow tractor.
I also might be able to catch some “lunch push” action, from folks hunting the state land and the big hunting camp, just across the main road, from where I am right now.
My wounds (cut my finger a little on a wood screw) are almost healed from one of the prior big jobs that I helped him with. My biggest problem, so far today, was building up the drink holder in my chair with enough broken sticks to hold up my cider cup.
Now, if only a big buck don’t show up and spoil the peace and quiet.
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It’s over a hour past sunset and I’m in my camp chair, under my tree umbrella, on the north edge of the south ridge. I’m about 150 yards from a main highway and there is a big block of state forrest, and a huge hunting camp, on the other side of that.
There is a steady rain falling and the wind is steady from the sw at about 10 mph. I haven’t seen a deer up here thru all of ML week, but a small one got flattened on the road, within 200 yards of where I am now.
My plan is to sit here until 11:30 or so. My odds of seeing a buck from this spot are probably better than anyplace else I can think of. (3) years ago today, I blew a chance at the biggest antlered buck I ever seen up here, about 200 yards to my east, along this ridge.
I am also very close to the spot where I lost the trail of a one-antlered 2.5 year old buck, that I got a bad (high back) hit on last December. I also tracked a big doe and her fawn to this same spot, a few years before, after I missed her in the snow with my ML during the late season.
So this seems to be the spot where they go when they are shot at, hit, or pressured. I’m in no condition to pressure any deer today myself, after a week of walking these hills and lots of “bull work” for my in laws, getting their place ready for winter. Hopefully, somebody else pushes one to me today. I have not heard any shots yet.
I put my orange hat on top of my umbrella to hopefully keep anyone from “shooting at movement” from the taller ridge to my north. Not sure if that’s legal, but you can’t see the hat under the umbrella, so common sense trumped the law. I do wear the hat when walking in and out.
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28 minutes ago, New York Hillbilly said:
Very good guess in my opinion.
I have never run across moose in NY yet, but almost daily in Alaska. Most of our property there (much of Alaska same way) is pine, and they are loaded with dead, dry branches (big time fire hazard), and so close together it is almost impenetrable. When moving through more open areas they are ghost like quiet and can startle you when the just appear in front of you. But, when bulls move through the thick stuff, the snapping, breaking, and clacking of there racks against the branches sounds like a tank going through. And, when they are in rut they are vocal like a whitetail buck making tending grunts. The sound bulls make as my ears hear it is sort of a cross between a low guttural "whooof, whooof, whooof", "errahhhha, errahhha, errahhha".
Ive never seen a moose in NY, but they have been reported all around the spot where I am hunting today, on opening day of rifle big game season, near the border of wmu 6C & 6F.
I have hunted them in the pines up in Northern Quebec though. We used cone shaped calls made of birch bark to make a sound similar to what FL describes.
I still have one of those moose calls somewhere. I can’t remember if that was supposed to represent the sound made by a rutting bull or a cow on heat.
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Today was the last day of early ML season and I managed to get thru the whole week without seeing a single deer. I hunted the morning up on the north end of the east ridge (red sky in morning - what’s that mean ?), and the last hour at a spot close to the house.
One glimmer of hope for opening day of rifle tomorrow though. My mother in law saw a small deer, that appeared to be flattened by a semi truck, just to the left of the driveway into camp.
Maybe that means they are moving in. I’ll be hunting down that way tomorrow morning for opening day of rifle season. It sounds like it’s going to be a wet one, so I’m thankful I’ll have my rifle and not my ML. Keeping the powder dry would not be easy with that.
Im sure that my tree umbrella is going to get plenty of use. I’ll probably carry in my camp chair also, because my tree hammock seat tends to collect runoff from the tree it’s attached to, during heavy rains. I’ll be hunting pretty close to where I’m parking the plow truck on the logging road, so it will be no big deal carrying in the chair.
Hopefully, some “opening day” hunting pressure across the highway, on a big block of state forrest, will push a buck over onto our side. I’ll be looking for one with at least 3 points on its side, or clearly at least 2.5 years old. No need to “settle” for a smaller one, because our deer meat situation is ok at home, right now.
Aside from hunting, we did finish up the last of the outside work, to get the place ready for winter. Fishing was tougher today than yesterday, but I did add one more smaller perch to the bucket, so I had (4) to fillet for my MIL.
I also got (3) smallmouth 12-1/4” , 14”, 15”, all on the same 1/8oz bucktail jig that I used yesterday. High winds made the fishing tougher today. I caught them all anchored near the spot on the south end where they were hitting best yesterday. I tried trolling, once around the lake with a diving plug but no hits doing that.
No more fishing for me on this trip. The 5-1/2 Johnson ran very well and is now stored in the shed, along with the other gear. The 14 ft rowboat is hauled up and flipped over for the winter, and the last docks are pulled up.
The only heavy work that remains is getting the chains on my father in laws snowplow tractor. We can do that in the barn, so the rain shouldn’t be an issue.
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9 minutes ago, DirtTime said:
Last morning to hunt for me up here. Still be at the cabin through Monday, but 90% rain tomorrow and 80% Sunday.
Almost positive I just saw my third bear in the dacks.
Is it windy where you are at ? It’s blowing about 25 mph from the south, up here on the nw corner of the park. I’m going to still hunt my way up to the top of the ridge just to have a look around. If there’s anything up there, they will never hear me coming in this wind.
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27 minutes ago, GreeneHunter said:
I'll take Does every chance I get , I hunt for Meat not Antlers !
Same here. I know a lot of guys who hold off in the does because they expect a buck to be following. One time I shot a doe early on opening day of gun. Two bucks showed up 10 minutes after I discharged my ML on the doe.
I dropped the bigger one right next to her carcass, with my backup gun (open sighted, short barreled Remington 870 smoothbore). That was the last deer that I killed with open sights.
I’m going to try and do it again tomorrow, on Northern zone opening day of Rifle season, with my Remlin 336BL. I got to use that, because it’s supposed to rain all day, and my father in law don’t like me getting his scoped Marlin 336 wet.
Today is my last chance to get a doe up here with my ML. It’s not looking too good, because I have not seen any sign of a deer all week, not even a track.
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Yesterday was my best fishing day of the year. About a dozen smallmouth total, from 12-20” including this fat 19 incher that put up the “fight of the year”. I was surprised that the water is still warm enough, for them to pull like that.
The smallmouth bass population is down a bit, in this small Adirondack lake, since I started fishing it about 10 years ago. There were too many bass in here back then. They are looking much healthier these days.
I let all the smallies go yesterday, because the lake population seems just about perfect now, and we have plenty of fish at home in the freezer.
Another good thing about yesterday is that I caught them all, plus three “bonus”, 10”-12-1/2” perch on the same 1/8 oz hand tied bucktail jig. A day or two prior, I lost (9) jigs to catch (10) bass. I kept the perch to fillet for my mother in law. She’s been feeding me good all week and she really likes those.
Im now down to about 1/2 dozen 1/8 oz jigs. Good thing today is looking like my last day of fishing and I already have two deer tails at home to make some more over the winter. I’ll also have (5) more deer tags, that I may or may not punch yet this year.
I caught a few bass on coyote tail jigs this week, but they didn’t seem to work quite as good as the buck tails.
The second best fishing day up here this year was an overcast day, over the Fourth of July weekend, when they were hitting all day long on a topwater bait (Zara puppy). None of the long, strong fatties like yesterday though. They were all thin and under 15”:
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I’m in position up on the north end of the east ridge 19 minutes before sunrise this morning. This is the last day with my ML on this trip to wmu 6c.
There is a steady sse 15-20mph wind, sky’s are partly cloudy and it’s about 55 degrees.
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What is your practice on that ?
I have personally taken any opportunity I get to shoot them as early as possible, if I have a legal tag (not my (2) buck tags though).
If a group of them comes into range, I always try and start with the largest one, then work my way down in size, if I still have tag(s) and they hang around. I have taken several doubles that way, through the years, but never more than that, in a single hunt.
Roughly 1/3 of those “does” has turned out to be button bucks, over the last 42 seasons. I have averaged about one of them, every other year, or so. Ive yet to kill more than one bb in a single year.
I’m on a bit of a streak lately though, with one on each of the last (4) years, including one already this year. I guess I’m making up for lost time, as it had been 2 or 3 years, since the previous one.
My first gun, bow, and ML deer were bb’s. My third or fourth crossbow buck was a bb but Ive never killed one with my rifles. Ive shot one from my bedroom window with my ML, and finished a few off with my knife, after they had been struck by cars.They all taste the same, definitely in a class by themselves, compared to other deer. I did eat a doe fawn once, that was given to me by a neighbor, and that was equally as good. They just tend to be smaller and smarter, which is most likely why I’ve never personally killed one.
Big brother always catches my first shot and doe fawns must be born smart enough, to run away from their downed mothers, while buck fawns are not.
Ive taken lots of heat, but if I held off, it would certainty have resulted in unfilled tags. Like it or not, bucks are the direct and indirect cause of the vast majority of car-deer collisions.
My home area (wmu 9F) is grossly overpopulated with deer. Unfilled antlerless tags is worse for all parties involved, than an occasional or biannual bb kill. Besides that, they are extremely tastey, especially their livers.
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Bull moose probably
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Today was the best of my 9 day hunt/fishcation so far. A little hunting action down in the stream bottom this morning, when a grouse landed 15 yards from me. I missed the head shot with my .50 cal. Should have went for a center shot. Oh well, it lives and I learn.
The sun came out before lunch and the southwest wind was blowing, so I spent a little extra time fishing. They were biting very good. I caught more than a dozen smallmouth including 18, 19, and 20 inchers that I used the net on. I also needed that for my hat when it blew off. The fat 19 incher in the first picture was the “fight of the year”. The 20” in the second is my longest of the year.
I released all the bass. I’m only going to keep one over 22” to mount if I get one. I caught (3) perch by accident (everything on the same 1/8 oz bucktail jig) that I kept for my mother in law. Two were 10” and one was 12-1/2”.
They are in the fish cage now, which I tied to the dock. I’ll clean them tomorrow, along with any more that I might catch. We got the barge into its winter spot and pulled in the small dock.
Tomorrow is the last day I’m fishing, so I’ll bring up the 5-1/2 Johnson and put it in the shed, haul up the 14 ft rowboat, and pull up the last dock after I finish. It’s supposed to rain Saturday and Sunday. I don’t mind hunting in the rain but I don’t care for fishing in it.
Im skipping the evening hunt. I was going to go to a spot along the lane to the neighbors place, who is currently involved in a property dispute. He’s down at his place on the south end of the lake now and I don’t want to escalate the situation. I let him know that the pie he baked for my father in law was very good. If he’s gone tomorrow night, I’ll hit the spot along his lane then.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be back on the spot that is almost as far from his place as I can get, the north end of the east ridge. He’s into hunting and hasn’t seen much on his trail cameras lately. I explained my “their all in the standing corn” theory to him. My only hope is to catch a buck traveling back and forth between the corn fields to the east and to the west.
NFA-ADK
in Introductions
Posted
Fairly well stocked, thanks to the Good Lord and Redfields and Weavers: