wolc123

I started butchering them myself in the early 90's, after a trusted neighbor retired from the practice. Since then, I have averaged about 3 per year. I do it my self for many reasons, most importantly, to insure that I get my own meat back. It also teaches me where the best spots to place shots are, from various angles, in order to minimize meat damage. Cost savings is an added bonus. No one has ever complained about "gameiness", or toughness from venison that I have butchered. Most had no clue that they were not eating beef. I do my best to properly age the meat before processing and freezing. That is the key to making it tender. Like any red meat, it is critical that rigor mortis is past, before freezing the meat. Even the burger will be tough if you skip that step. As far as packaging goes, I always put the grind from the first deer in zip lock bags. Vacuum sealing that would be a waste of time and money , because it is usually consumed in a couple of months. Subsequent deer are vacuum sealed, because that keeps them fresh up to 4 years. I debone the deer, except for an occasional neck roast, which I really enjoy out of the crock pot. We use grind the most, so I often grind all but the back-straps and tenderloins, especially older deer. Button bucks are in a class by themselves, when it comes to tenderness and flavor, so I make less grind and more roasts from them. I will not butcher any more deer from the northern zone myself for two reasons: #1 ticks, #2 it is much cheaper to have them processed up there than it is in WNY.

I changed out my two least comfortable stands (a cheap hang-on, and a tiny ladder stand) with roomy elevated box blinds. Each is equipped with a 3 ft high, weathered barnwood sided wall that serves as a safety rail, gun/crossbow rest, wind break, and cover. The platforms are made from weatherproof composite decking and all of the structural supports are pressure treated. I have a nice chair for one (shown in the tent), still looking for one for the other, but may use an old plastic swivel chair that I now use on my range if nothing else comes along before early November. I dont plan any southern zone deer hunting until crossbow opens for the peak 2 weeks of the rut in early November. I still have a little trimming to do and hope to have that accomplished by Labor day, as well as a couple of wheat/clover plots that I hope to have in by September 10. I also hope to have the zeros checked on my deer ML's, crossbows, rifles, and shotguns (2 each) by September 10. My first planned deer hunt will be in mid October on the last Friday of the 3 day northern zone crossbow season, followed by the early ML week, then opening weekend of gun up there. I have a little time left to finish all the prep.

Both of my spots in wmu 9f are pretty damn flat. I prefer the mountains and have been spoiled by getting a taste of some pretty good Adirondack hunting. Flat land hunting now bores me a bit (but still beats work). After I retire, I will most likely head for the hills. Screw that up above, this is how I like it:

We did well on the upper Niagara this morning, landing approximately 30 smallmouth bass and loosing about 6. Half of them were "keepers" from 12-1/8" to 18", averaging about 15". We fished from 7:00 am until 10:30 am, catching them all on the bottom in 26 to 28 ft. About 3/4 were on bucktail jigs and the others on ned rigs. My wife and girls will have enough fish for the winter now (those from the upper Niagara river are safe for women and children to eat). My buddies were kind enough to "donate" their 10 (ain't friends like that wonderfull). They were happy just reeling them in and netting. I need a few more packs of Adirondack smallies for myself (only ok for men over 50 to eat). It shouldn't be a problem securing that on Labor day weekend and during the early ML week this October.

The only wood I have bought since the Biden inflation is those (4) $5 landscape timbers from Home Depot. All of the other lumber I have been using was "free".

It is still a bit early for wheat. I always aim for around Sept 10. Speaking of which, I need to coax my dad into picking up a few bushels of that, along with some white clover. The seed place is always closed by the time I get out of work during the week and all of my Saturday mornings are booked until then.

Home depot was charging $40 for 8 ft pt 4x4s, so I went with the $5 landscape timbers. They feel pretty solid and I did tie them together on the bottom with 2x4 pt braces.

The 2 small turnip radish plots that I put in a couple weeks ago are looking ok. I caught a doe with a big fawn feeding in a white clover plot next to the back one this afternoon. It looked like the fawn was already 2/3 the size of the doe, likely a button buck that I will be targeting during the last 2 weeks of archery season, for one of my 4 9f dmp tags. No tracks in the turnip radish plots yet. I pulled a few weeds out of the front one, and dragged the adjacent 1.5 acres which will be planted with a wheat medium white clover mix in a couple weeks. I boxed in a new blind in the big poplar tree in the background this morning, using weathered barn siding. That front turnip radish plot is about dead center between that blind and my bedroom window. Depending on which I am in, I will be shooting about 100 yards north or south to reach it during the Holiday ML season this year. That little plot of turnips between standing corn ought to work wonders then.

I like the Saturday opener a lot better. It sucked having to burn a vacation day or skip school when it was on a Monday. Sure there is less oortunity for pre season drinking and partying now, but it is supposed to be about hunting.

I sort of over did it on the meat at my buddy's kid's wedding last night, so went with a vegetarian lunch today. Here's a "Ravishing Ruby" to Tom T. Hall:

I bet you can guess what one of his songs was my favorite.

Sad to hear that, he was one of the good ones. I had a few too many beers last night, but I will have to go for another today in his honor. I will go for a Genny cream ale pounder with lunch. What a talented songwriter. I will miss the old storyteller.

The reasons for the special seasons is that it allows for a greater deer harvest while satisfying the desires of more hunters. Both of these are important. Maybe you have not noticed the effect of the noise of a gun, coupled with hunting pressure in the areas you hunt. I always see that make the bulk of the local deer herd switch to basically full nocturnal activity. Elimination of those early "silent seasons" would greatly reduce the chances for hunters to even see deer, let alone kill them. The crossbow, being silent like the vertical bow, would not alter the current situation, as far as the gunfire effect on deer daylight/nocturnal behavior. I believe that those who put forth the added effort to develop proficiency in traditional archery do deserve some extra early time, but that should certainly not apply to the compound bow. Would you be ok with a 99.9999 % letoff compound bow ? A good archery deer season would be: "Traditional" (recurve/longbow) October 1 thru October 14, "Modern" (compound/crossbow) October 15 thru opening of gun season.

The shit must be starting to hit the fan now because the garbage truck didnt show yesterday on our side of town.

For the next week or two, I would go with brassicas (turnips, rape, radish). If you can hold off until September, I would go with a winter wheat, medium white clover, soybean mix.

I think your odds of getting dmp's are exactly even from the day they go on sale, thru the end of September. During October, they do some math and figure out how many leftovers to hand out, beginning November 1st. At that time, they go on a first come, first served basis. There is no advantage to early dmp acquisition in August, but there is in November. When going back for those extra dmp's in November, there is no additional $10 charge, but I always try to make a $10 donation towards the venison for the hungry program. The guy at the counter at Walmart couldn't figure out how to do that for me last year, but the girl there last week was able to when I got my first two wmu 9f dmp's.

If you want to see things get back to normal, you got to get all the Democrats (aka Communists) out of power. The midterms ought to be interesting.

I never had much luck with "trailer" tires on my boat. When they blow out, I replace them with cheap car tires, which have never let me down. I just run them at slightly higher pressure than recommended for a car. What has always happened with the trailer tires, is that the tread blows off. Most often, I catch that in my rear view mirror, and am able to get off the highway on the next exit and change to the spare before the tire blows completely. One time, near the rt 81 exit on the 90, I heard a trucker say "give that camper pulling a boat a wide birth, he has a tire about to go", on the cb. Sure enough, I noticed a slight wobble on the passenger side. I put on my 4 ways, dropped my speed to 55, and replaced the failing tire at the next exit. That was about 10 years ago. On my way home, I stopped at the Watertown Walmart and had them mount their cheapest car tire on the trailer rim. I will never buy another "trailer" tire, since I have now had 3 fail the same way. The first one I replaced with another trailer tire, having not yet learned that lesson, which makes the math work out.

I would get yourself a rototiller for the tractor. Put the garden fairly close to your house (so you can reach it with a hose for watering) in an area with good southern sun exposure. I have had good luck with seeds and plants from Niagara County Produce on Transit, near Millersport. They also have fertilizer. Sounds like your kids are a bit young for weeding, etc, but should provide a good labor source in the coming years, and it is never too early to get them out there and interested in it, as long as you keep it "fun".

I bought a break-action Marksman .177 caliber a few years ago at Dick's when they had them on sale for $ 39. I think it fires a pellet at more than 1000 fps, so it should work for squirrels, but I have yet to try it on one. The trigger is also very hard. It came with a 1" tube 4x scope that is attached to the receiver. I dont trust that with the break action and the hard trigger pull. It also has real nice fiber optic sights front and back attached to the barrel. I had it sighted in ok with the scope, but was not too happy with the groups, so I took that off. When I get time, I am going to see what my effective range is with the open sights and use it on squirrels under that range. My plan is to carry that with me, along with my crossbow or deer gun, on a few hunts, starting the last two weeks of archery season. It looks like that would be legal, and the squirrel action would eliminate some boredom, if the deer action is slow. The .22 rimfire would probably not be legal in that situation. I am unlikely to do any squirrel hunting, prior to deer season, because I don't want to burn out my deer spots. It sure will be nice to be able to deal with those pesky squirrels during deer season, even if it is only the ones that are within 15 yards (that's my guess at what my hard trigger open sight effective range will be).

Remember when all this nonsense use to be kept in the political section. What in hell has happened to the moderation on this site ?

Sounds like a lot of work, and expense. Why not just suspend a beer can by the tab from a tree limb with a length of wire and cut it in half with an adult-stocked Daisy red Ryder ? Wind and previous bb impacts provide plenty of motion for the can. The target gets smaller and more challenging as the bottom half of the can hangs from a small remaining shard of aluminum. Cutting off the tab with bb's, and dropping the upper half, is an even greater challenge. Aside from the trouble, time and money savings, other advantages of this method is that it is silent, so you can do it off your back porch and not disturb neighbors, family in the house, or bow hunters out in the woods. Folks who practice during archery season with real live ammo are not only needlessly wasting lots of money, but they are also demonstrating a lack of respect for those folks. How would you like it you were up in a stand waiting on that elusive trophy and your neighbors were out popping balloons with thier rifles and slug guns ? "Legal live targets" is another option:

My very first deer was taken at a full tilt downhill run, at Allhegheny state park, when I was 17. My uncle (who just recently passed away) was with me. He, myself, and my dad had a "party permit" for an antlerless deer. I remember hearing a distant shot, near the top of a mountain, then seeing two deer come barreling down towards us, running as fast as they could. My uncle pointed, I raised my granddad's old Ithaca 16 gauge, and fired one shot. After almost 40 years, the rest of the extended family (who still hunt the park every opening weekend) continue to mention that shot now and then. One of a pair of "button bucks" folded up like a pheasant, sliding to a stop against a tree. It was struck neatly thru both front shoulders. In truth, I was likely aiming at the lead fawn, while my slug struck the following of the pair. It was a few more years before I shot at another running deer, using that same gun. That time, I was out back on our farm, hunting alone on opening day. Most of the rest of the family was down at the park. I heard a shot next door, then the unmistakable sound of a fast approaching deer. There was good tracking snow on the ground. The plump 6-point buck ran a tightening semi-circle around the chair I was sitting in. I unloaded that old model 37, as fast as I could pull the trigger and work the slide. He was less than 20 yards away when I fired my last shot. I was wishing for a few more. I remember some surprise, that he did not just fold up like the last couple, at each trigger pull. I had killed one other buck between those two, a 7 pointer that was standing directly beneath my tree stand. Once again, he had dropped at the shot, down thru his back at the base of the neck. Now I had fired 5 more slugs, at almost point blank range, with nothing to show ? This one (old ironsides maybe) continued on without breaking stride, into the jungle-like brush next door. I followed red painted spray, on both sides of his tracks about 50 yards in, to where he piled up. He was hit by only one of my 5 shots, thru the hams and the femoral artery. It was quite a few years after that before I tried another running shot. Some will say "I would rather be lucky that good", but the truth is, luck has nothing to do with it. There is not a living thing that does not end up just exactly where the Man upstairs wants it to go. That includes us and and the sparrows. Look that up in the good Book, if you can't take my word for it. Those who choose to ignore that, do so at their peril, and often empty freezer I suppose. That said, lots of practice is still a good way to get better at running shots. Many years of experience, and some bunnies and grouse, have taught me that lesson.

Oh well, one more year with a tape measure and the PA chest girth chart.

I finally finished up the new platform stand in the small cherry tree over at my parents place today. I also got to help them out with a little yard work and eat lunch with them. Ma made my favorite (stuffed cabbage). When I got home, I put up the platform for the second one, in abog polar tree. That one is replacing an old ladder stand that was not very comfortable and lacked a good rest. The 3 ft high wall/rest/safety rail is sided with barnwood. I picked up a comfy swivel office chair for the one over at my parents, and I need to find another for the one at home.