wolc123

Did you do the euro yourself ? If so, what was the process, and how long did it take ? I do my own, by skinning the head (takes me about 10 minutes), then blowing everything else off with a 3100 psi power washer (takes 30 minutes and a tank and a half of gas). I get suited up in rain gear and do it out on a concrete pad. The vermin always clean up all the mess overnight. The easy cleanup is nice, but I also like that the job is done, start to finish, in under an hour. Best of all, the final product always turns out better than those I have done the using the old fashioned, "simmer and scrape" way. This method would not have worked so well 25 years ago, when the outside temperature seldom rose above freezing after opening day of gun season. Just another side benefit of global warming I guess.

Just the opposite for me last season. I don't own a trail camera, but saw quite a few bucks in the woods. I am thankful that I did not see a larger one, after punching my tag at home in WNY. I thought for sure that was going to happen to me for the first time ever last year. I "settled" for one on opening day of the southern zone, that just barely met my harvest ctiteria. There would be about 60 more pounds of store-bought chicken consumed in this household over the next year, had I passed that buck, and I am no fan of that. The oddest thing about last season, was that I saw antlered bucks on my last two Adirondack hunts, but no antlerless. I usually see 3 or 4 bucks per doe at home, but not up there. I can't wait for early ML season up there this year. I am due to see a dozen antlerless deer then, to square my usual sighting ratio, back up to what it has always been up there.

The new Starweld, for $10k more, seems like a better deal. That Lowe is underpowered, with a 75 hp four stroke. It would be tough to pull up a skier, with more than 2 adults onboard, with so little power. It would also struggle to get on plane with more than 3 adults onboard. A 75 hp four stroke outboard would give that 17 footer about the same push as a 60 hp 2 stroke. That was what my 17 footer had on it when new. It was fine for two guys on the boat, but significantly underpowered for any more than that. I upgraded to a 70 hp 2 stroke, which has plenty of power in all scenarios. You would need at least a 90 hp, to get the same push from a 4 stroke, due to its crap power/weight ratio, compared to a 2 stroke. The 115, should be very ample.

73-7/8" net.

It sounds like you are on the right track. In my opinion, a 17-18 ft aluminum deep v is the perfect boat for NY state freshwater fishing. If 2-strokes were still made, a 70 hp would have been good, but you will need 90 hp min to handle the extra weight of a 4 stroke. As far as motor brands go, it looks like you are stuck with Merc or Yamaha, since it sounds like OMC has quit the business. As far as the hulls go, Crestlner and Lund are a step up from Starcraft and Smoker/Sylvan, but any of those will give you good service. No experience here with Tracker but they sound comparable. Dual council is definitely the way to go in NY. Center councils are best left to the warm states, and bass boats are just stupid on the great lakes. Freeboard is where its at out there and they have very little. Good luck in your purchase.

I know the feeling. It has happened to me 2 or 3 times, in my 39 deer seasons. I dont run trail cameras, so I am reliant upon pre season observations of "shooters" . In 1986, I saw a nice 8 point one night, out in my grandparents garden, at night with my flashlight in August. It was eating sweetcorn out of their garden. I Hunted hard for it, starting on opening day of bow season (Oct 15). I saw it once thru bow season, but too far to shoot. I heard it grunt and watched it walk away with a doe. On opening day of gun season that year, I heard what sounded like someone dragging a picnick table thru the thick brush, adjacent to my tree stand, just before sunrise. The buck stepped out under my stand, right at legal sunrise. I pushed a 16 ga slug up into the reciever of my m37 Ithaca, and slammed the action closed. I centered the crosshairs of my 1.5x Weaver scope on his shoulder, and sent him to the promised land. Fast forward to 2016. We were over at my parents place for dinner in September, when I noted a bachelor group of bucks out in a clover plot behind their house. There were 6 bucks in the group, most 1.5's and 2.5's. One had a tall rack and a body that dwarfed all the others. On Veteran's day that year, I was over there with my crossbow. I started out in a ground blind overlooking the clover plot, but it just didn't feel right. I moved to my 2-story blind, in the adjacent woods. I found the upper deck half full of fallen leaves. My parents saw the high tined, huge bodied buck come out and feed in the clover, shortly after I moved. Suddenly, it lifted its head, looking at the woods where it heard what it thought was a rival buck clearing leaves from a scrape. When it arrived at the intruders location, it was double lunged with my bolt. This season, once again we were over at my folks place for dinner in September. Just before dark, we saw a buck walking across the back yard. My criteria is 3 or more points on a side, and I only saw 2, so I was not too excited. I had success on opening day of gun over there 2 years in a row, so I was there again this year. Sure enough, he showed up at 10:15 am.. I only saw the 2 points on the left at first, so I gave him a pass. A grunt call brought him in for a closet look. The rest is history. Here is Joe:

No

I think we passed that point three or four years ago, based mostly on folks voluntarily passing 1.5's. I have not personally harvested an antlered buck, with less than three points on a side, since 2012. The real problem is that too many hunters have too narrow of a focus, thinking it is all about the harvest of big antlered bucks. That "trophy" mindset does not sit well with the non-hunting majority. They are much more supportive with folks hunting for the meat, and even more so, for helping to keep the population under control, reducing auto collisions and landscape/crop damage. Personally, I would like to see NY go to 3 bucks, for those who purchase gun, bow, and ML privledge, and I think the non-hunting public would concur. Bucks cause more car accidents than does, and more landscape damage, especially when it comes to pine trees.

The number one lesson for me last season was that squirrels dont snap twigs. Not paying enough attention to that sound, on a rainy morning on opening day of gun season, up in the northern zone, cost me a golden opportunity on a big Adirondack buck. I was in the right place at the right time, with the right gun. Ignoring that sound, about 2 seconds before the big buck popped up from this gully, 15 yards away, cost me a shot. I have never seen a deer move as fast as he did, when he saw me lift the rifle from my lap. The only small consolation, was that I was able to punch my buck tag on opening day in the Southetn zone, a month later.

Happy birthday Turkeyfeather.

That reminds me of the ditch that runs near the back of our place. It usually runs about 2 ft deep, during deer season, and about 8 ft wide. I have a productive stand about 20 yards from it, and have killed severel deer (and one fall hen turkey) that were on the other side when shot. All but one of the deer dropped dead across the water. Getting them over to my side often involved at least one wet foot. I dont want to build a bridge across it, because that invites tresspassers. The year after my last soaker, on a freezing cold day in 2017, I propped up a 16" wide, 12' long, white oak plank against a tree near the stand. Now, I can just lay that plank across the dich, and walk high and dry over to the "kill", no matter how high the water is in the ditch. I have not tried it yet on a deer however. I didn't need it on the turkey either. She flew up into a tree on my side, after taking my load of #5's. A couple pellets must have caught her lungs, because she soon splashed down near shore on my side where I finished her with a point-blank head shot.

If you use oak, white will last longer than red. Old telephone poles work even better for the main beams, if you can find some. I would use 3, one under each side, and one under the center. We made a few snowmobile crossings this way, and they lasted quite a few years. I even drove my Ford 8n with loaded rear tires across the three pole one several times.

Was it a 1951 ?

I have had several come in from downwind, as I was sipping hot apple cider from my thermos cup. That includes one 182 pound field-dressed 3.5 year old buck that must have liked the smell so much that he came in to it on two consecutive weeks.

It looks like one deer found some turnip greens way out back last night. By the looks of the tracks, three or four must have been feeding in the front patch, where there is still some corn left on the adjacent stalks. They were also going for the wheat in front of the turnips. It appears that the turnip greens were the preferred forage last night anyhow. I was encouraged to find more deer tracks than coyote tracks when I cross-country ski'd around the plots today. My neighbor has been doing well trapping the coyotes. I think he is up to 5 or 6 so far this season.

Happy birthday wooly.

IH made standards (farmalls), and automatics (cub cadets). Other than tractors, it has been a long time since I drove a standard. The last one I had was a 5-liter Ford mustang, that my brother in law gave me for a field car, about 10 years ago. My mother in law has a newer, standard Jeep 2-door, that I would like to drive. I wouldn't want one as my daily driver, but they are fun for occasional use.

Smooth, refreshing, no bitter aftertaste, and goes great with leftover stuffed cabbage for lunch:

Not sure about a whitetail done like that, but a muley, elk, or caribou would be cool. How is the material cost, and time required compared to a standard shoulder mount ?

Rarely, but when I feel a sinus headache coming on (usually at night), the prompt use of a nettie pot completely eliminates it. That happens to me once or twice a month, and is no more frequent during wood heating season. Oddly enough, one hit me last night, which sucked because I accidentally left my nettie pot up at the in-laws Adirondack retirement home when I was up there a couple weeks ago. It took me a few minutes to fabricate one from an old cider jug, but it worked great and headache is gone, just like with the store bought one. We do have a big humidifier that uses about 2 gallons of water a day, when the woodstove is going. It uses less than a quart a day, when only the two forced air furnaces are running. Does your buddy have a humidifier ?

It sounds like you found the problem, and I think the zip tie would be a good idea to help prevent a repeat. We have had furnaces issues thru the years, but seem to be past that now. Our main furnace was an inefficient 1980 model, that started having ignition issues around 2010. It had a pilot, that was always going out, especially when it was real windy outside. We nearly doubled the size of the house, and added a second high-efficiency, electronic-ignition furnace, for the addition, in 2001. That one has always been completely trouble free. We had the old, 1980 one replaced with a similar new one, in 2014, and have had no trouble since then. The real key to making NY winters enjoyable, when it comes to home- heating, is a wood stove. Neither of our modern furnaces have to work very hard when it is real cold out. We added a woodstove in 2002, and that heats the whole house very well, as long as the outside temperature is below the mid 30's. It gets too hot inside, using it when it is warmer than that out. Thanks to the woodstove, the colder it gets, the lower our gas bill. Nothing feels better, when it is below zero outside, than sitting in front of a wood fire with a cold beer.

I am the same way. I do most of my ice fishing in the Adirondacks, on President's day weekend, when the ice is usually at it's thickest. I am really looking forward to the next one. They stocked the lake with brook trout, up at my in-laws place. Normally, we only catch smallmouth bass thru the ice up there, and the occasional perch. Those warm water species don't put up much fight in cold water. Trout are a lot more fun then, and I hear that the brookies are very good eating. It has been about 50 years since I tried one. I fell thru the ice with a snowmobile one time, when I was in my teens, working on a trap line in early-winter. That was enough of that for me. There is no way I am taking a chance of a repeat. The fishing might be better at early ice, but for me, it ain't worth the risk.

Sounds awesome, can't wait to see the pics. I have a couple 16's that were my grandfathers. The Ithaca model 37 is my favorite smoothbore for deer. An old J Steven's side by side, choked improved cylinder and modified, is my favorite rabbit and grouse gun. Hopefully, my dad will pass his Browning sweet sixteen to me some day. About 35 years ago, he let me borrow it, the Sunday prior to deer season, and I went 2 for 2 on grouse with it. Those were the only two shots that I ever took with that gun. 16's have always been my favorite shotguns. 12's are fat and ugly and 20's are too spindly and pencil-like. I have definitely killed more game with 16's, than with all other gauges combined. I am glad to see that they are making a comeback.

Merry Christmas huntingNY friends. My favorite part was "Silent Night", in German at our old village church yesterday. Our daughters and mousers had fun opening presents this morning:

Ralphie needs a big loop: