wolc123

Taco Tuesday at South Beach (my favorite West coast bar). Half capacity seating, but seemed to be double the meat. I had all I could do to put down (2) mahi, a swordfish, and a fried oyster taco.

Stylin:

There seems to be a lot of that around here. There was an F-150 with a beat up camper on back and a surf board strapped to the top, when I left the hotel parking lot, before work this morning. The door was open and a bunch of stuff was laying around outside including a big glass water jug. There was an old bedroom window air conditioner hanging off the side of the camper. I bet the dude wishes he had a furnas instead, because the temps were down in the high 40's before sunrise.

I am at San Diego for work all week. It rained most of the afternoon here, but cleared up the last 1/2 hour of daylight. The rest of the week forecast looks good. I tried a little fishing from the pier tonight, with no action. I thought the the rain might turn the spotted bass on. If the job goes ok, I might get time for some more fishing Friday morning. The temps were in the low 50's today, but supposed to get close to 70 later in the week.

There was a bit of big pond action for me today. I caught the sun just starting to rise from the Atlantic this morning, and drop down into the Pacific this evening:

Friuty and hoppy. All I can say about it, is that I miss Genny. That is hard to find out here on the West coast, where I am stuck all week. I thought this might taste like Ruby red kolsch, but no dice.

I found a few old photos of Joe, and the "confirmation" message of his new place:

Normally, I only buy Genny. The Guinness came with a St Patrick's day package that I won at a meat raffle last night. My wife likes it. Her dad used to have a tap setup, back when they lived in WNY. I had one with dinner tonight. It was ok, but I prefer the Spring Bock.

All stocked up now for the big holiday this week: Guinness up top and light and dark green Genny in the middle.

Maybe a barter thread would work: "ammo for syrup". I am keeping my bullets, because I prefer "aunt Jimima" over the real stuff, but I am sure there are many who would be willing to trade.

Two Joe's passed away peacefully, late in the morning, on November 21st of last year. One was a long time hunting and fishing buddy of mine. He was a year younger than me, and we had been friends since grade school. He died in a hospital, after a short and sudden illness. I know for certain, that he is in a better place now, because the big Guy himself sent me a confirmation message (I had sent up a prayer request, after hearing the news). Since this six-pointer may have drawn it's last breath, at exactly the same instant that my buddy Joe did, I decided to name it in his honor. Joe is not my biggest buck, but he now occupies the top spot on my trophy wall. I moved him in from out in the barn today.

I think the lower Niagara is open and ice free now, if you want to head west.

I see a lot more up there walking, but have killed more sitting. The keys are knowing where to sit and seeing them before they see you. I have never really even had a good chance at a buck that I saw while walking. I did kill a doe that way, during the early ML season (in one of the few areas where they are legal up there then). I have also passed many other does up there while walking, most because they are not legal during gun season, and one last year with my ML, because her head was hidden. I did not want to risk punching my buck tag on a little spike on the first day. Snow makes it much easier to kill deer up there. I only killed two bucks in the Adirondacks, and I had good snow each time. Not only does it show you where they have been, but it also makes them a lot easier to see. If you keep going the same place each year, and remember where you saw tracks in the snow, it will improve your odds on the snow-less hunts. Picking the right place to sit gets easier with each hunt. I was a split second late on the draw on a big Adirondack buck on a damp, snowless opening day of gun last year. Had it not been for this damn smart phone, I would not have ignored the stick that I heard break, a split second before he popped out of a gully, 15 yards away. My NY state regular season buck tag would have been punched on a big Adirondack 10 point, rather than the flat-land 6 point, that I killed on the Southern zone opener a month later.

My neighbor is pretty good at trapping them. I have not talked to him lately, but judging by the lack of coyote tracks on the snow and night-time yipping the last few weeks, he must have them knocked their local numbers down pretty good. I have also been seeing a lot more deer lately, on the close edge of the adjacent town. They don't allow any hunting there, but I got to drive thru it twice each weekday, to get to and from work. When the local coyote population is up, they control the deer population pretty good over there.

They love them in wmu 9F. I had a pair watching me most of the summer. Early on, they would dig up the carcasses within a couple days of my burying. Mid summer, I assume one took a live coon out of one of my Dukes, shearing a #10 bolt and taking the trap. By fall, I didn't have to trap any more coons and the yotes were keeping them cleared on thier own.

They do bring some good side benefits. One of those is coon control. I was able to get some pretty good late harvests of sweetcorn last year, thanks to the coyotes. I dont dislike them as much as I used to.

Quite a few are coming for me: 1) I will not ignore the sound of a stick breaking, when the leaves are damp. 2) I am going to replace two small, uncomfortable stands that lack good rests, with larger ones that will have them. A good rest always helps with a gun and is much more important with my new front-heavy crossbow, than it was with my old one. I have already completed the platforms. 3) I will take those old, small stands to a couple new locations, in heavy cover, where a rest is not needed because ranges are short. Having a couple more options for different winds will be good. 4) I am going to get my old sidelock, caplock, carbine ML set up with some new fiber optic sights. I will use 2 pellets (100 grains) of 777 with that and my T/C Omega this year. Last year, I used 3 pellets which was wastefull. 5) I am going to use straight prescription glasses with my scoped guns this year, rather than progressive bifocals. I blame those for shooting under a buck and a doe with my ML last year, and for missing the shoulder blade by an inch, on the buck that I killed with my slug gun. 6) Hopefully, I will hunt a couple days at my buddy's souther tier camp, during the Holiday ML season, and have more time during the earlier part for hunting around home. 7) I will put in a fresh acre of wheat/soybean/white clover, and a little patch of turnip/radish, over at my folks place at the end of the summer (right next to one of those new platforms). Two things that I will not change: 1) My stand for opening day morning of SZ gun season. It has produced for me on the last three years, so it don't need fixing. 2) My self imposed, 3 or more points on a side antler restriction, during the first half of the seasons. I have not killed an legally antlered buck, without at least 3 on one side, since 2012.

We didn't get a whole lot of snow this winter, but there was plenty of melt to fill my pond to full capacity (second photo). It was getting pretty low by the end of the summer last year (when first photo was taken), and the water depth was not much over a foot by December 1 of last year. I imagine that the herons got all the fish when it was down low. I will need to restock it this spring, with some fresh lake Ontario bluegills, to keep the skeeters under control. The creek that runs thru our place dries up every summer and this pond usually draws in some deer then.

In general, crossbows provide much more penetration. Those two are lined up for a perfect "double". Center punch double lung on doe and heart on buck.

Its not just a problem up in the ADK's. The four legged poopers have been leaving plenty of deposits around my turnip plots in WNY.

I got out to my back plot of purple tops today. The deer finally have these basket ball sized turnips whittled down a bit. It looks like most of the bulbs are about half eaten.

Is this her also ?

Like to, can't.

Kind of like I dont have much interest in spring tom turkeys. Tough, dry, and stringy and way too many bugs in May. The young fall hen that I killed was pretty tasty however, even the drum-sticks.

Last year, I spent mid-days of early ML week out on a lake fishing for smallmouth bass, and only hunted early and late. This year, I will be in the creek bottoms at mid-day with that little side-lock and my fly rod. I only drink Dos Equis especial or Modelo negras when I am up there lately, because that is what my in-laws keep in stock for me. Either of those goes well with surf and turf, which I hope I can provide.