wolc123

It would be interesting to see what happens behind the high fences. I would guess that if FSW chimes in, he would say his bucks are heavier on December 22 than they are on October 25, similar to what I see in the free range ones up in wmu 6c. Give them plenty of food, freedom from competition, and they keep packing on the pounds. The only years that dont happen in 6c are those when they get heavy, early snows. Climate change has curtailed that for quite a while now.

I am hoping things get straightened out at the DMV this winter so that I can get the 12 ft rowboat that I picked up this summer registered. Then it won't be such a rush to get the bigger boat out in the spring. I keep my little outboards down in the basement and they are ready to go year round.

I wonder if the ny hunting liberal foursome (versatile, lefty, chef, and bm) are upset with the Trump RBG replacement situation. It seems odd none of them have chimed in on this yet. It has to be painful for them to watch Trump get more done in 4 years than Obama ever thought of in 8.

Well I have killed 2 fat post-rut NW Adirondack bucks on Thanksgiving weekend (2014 & 2016). Both had full stomachs (one of nuts the other of corn). They don't have to chase up there, with so many does to pick from, nor do they need to fight. Neither had the slightest bit of fight damage to rack or body. As long as there is plenty of food around (and there was on those years), there is little reason for them to lose weight thru the rut. That contrasts sharply with the late season bucks I have killed around home in WNY. Those definitely reach their peak weight pre-rut, and the majority taken post-rut have scarred bodies, busted up antlers from fights, and very little fat, compared to those stout NW Adirondack bucks. It sounds like the areas you have hunted have good buck doe ratios. It is not until you get to places like the NW corner of the Adirondack park, where there are 5 or more does for every buck, that you might see the peak buck weights post- rut.

I have had a Halo for the last 3 years. It has been very accurate when I checked it on my range with a tape measure. I use it a lot when target practicing with my crossbow, ML, slug guns, and rifles. I am still mad that I did not bring it along on my last ML hunt last year, when I shot under a doe. I won't be making that mistake again.

I winterized my 17 footer last Saturday also. Depending on the weather, I will be smallmouth fishing in the Adirondacks from a 12 footer until the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I missed out on that last year, because the lake froze over.

Read it again to find out ( I edited to provide the reason).

I think it depends more on buck to doe ratio than anything else. That is out of whack in both zones where I hunt. In 9f, I have been seeing an average of 4 antlered deer per every antlerless one over the last 6 years. Farmers hit the antlerless deer real hard prior to October 1 in this zone. With serious competition, our bucks lose a lot of weight thru the rut. In 6c that ratio is on the opposite extreme, where I saw an average of 6 antlerless deer per each antlered one over the same 6 years. There are very few doe permits awarded up there. With little to no competition for does, the bucks up there pack on the pounds thru the rut.

It is awesome that Trump is going to get to seat RBG's replacement before the election. That is going to be a serious set back for the pro-choicers and the anti-2nd amendment crowd. We ought to see some serious unhingement over the next few weeks.

On what day of the year, during open hunting seasons, do you see bucks reach their maximum body weight (or chest girth measured behind the front legs) in the area(s) where you hunt ? For the two wmu's where I have hunted and killed the most, these are my estimates: Wmu 9f: October 25 Wmu 6c: December 22

I won't be hunting the southern zone until November for many reasons: First, that is the only time the crossbow is legal and I no longer use my vertical. Second, I like it colder, because it makes it easier to properly care for the meat and holds the ticks at bay. Third, I dont like burning out my spots. Fourth, I like using October for other stuff like fishing, small game hunting, and ML and rifle deer and bear in the northern zone. 5th, the rut is my favorite time to deer hunt.

Could be, things did not go so well for the guy I knew that killed one, rest his soul. I miss his deer hunting stories. He once traded me his old, 8 ft cultipacker for a case of Genny cream ale. I have killed a pile of deer off the food plots I planted with the aid of that cultipacker:

Thanks for providing a clear, concise answer. If only the three other Biden supporters could be so cooperative. We dont know if they are real, because I have never seen any pictures.

Do you have any candles laying around the house ? Wax is also good for your string.

There is lots of good in global warming and melting polar ice caps. I like not needing to waste money on expensive, heavy, high-maintenance, fuel-wasting 4 wheel drive vehicles to deal with deep snow. High water levels help me get over shoals and into good fishing spots easier on the St Lawrence river with my boat. Later fall frost is great for food plots and gardening and lower heating bills is nice. Bring it on I say. To think it is caused by mankind seems clueless to me. There has been climate cycles as long as there has been a universe.

G's looks like a 2.5 and a shooter for sure. i would still hold off on the 1.5 for the first half of the season's anyhow. I need to make the most out of my buck tags. Meat quantity is more important to me than a color oddity and they all taste the same. A local legend of a hunter, who passed away a few years ago, killed a slightly larger 1.5 year old piebald buck about 15 years ago. He took some flack about that from a neighbor who had been watching it that year in his hay fields. I dont know that the dispute that resulted was worth the unique little shoulder mount or the 45 pounds of meat. I have only ever seen one, which was antlerless, while I was out back picking sweetcorn about 20 years ago. I always have plenty of antlerless tags, so one of those is a shooter for me at any time and no matter what size it is. I would get the hide tanned and hang it on the wall.

There are a few around my place this year. I am startling to appreciate them a bit more. They are doing a very good job of keeping the coons out of my corn. I trapped (4) male coon earlier, when my first batch of sweetcorn was getting ripe. I lost half that batch to the coons and all of my second. I saw a large black coyote a couple of times while I was checking the coon traps, and a smaller reddish one a week ago. They dug up the three large coons that I burried 2 ft under, leaving only a small one that I suppose did not give off enough scent in decomposition for them to locate. It seems like the coyotes have taken most of the female and young coons, because I have not got any of those in traps this year. Thanks to the coyotes, I did not lose a single ear of sweetcorn to coons from my last batch. That provided lots of meals for my extended family, friends and coworkers and enough to stock our freezers. It was also silver queen, my favorite variety. Just for kicks, I tried to raise my gun on the big black one a couple weeks ago, and he was very quick to avoid a shot. I may or may not have pulled the trigger had I been able to get the cross-hairs on his chest. A few years ago, it would have been sss for sure, but now I appreciate them a little more. I also like how they keep the deer population in check in the nearby town of Amherst. That is a silly-ass place that allows no deer hunting and that I need to drive thru every weekday to get to and from work. It is nice not to have to worry about hitting a deer with my vehicle, thanks to the coyotes. We are also entertained by their night time lyrics while we are around the campfire. My only problem with them this year is that they stole one of my expensive dog-proof coon traps, along with the coon that must have been held in it. No coon could have sheared off the number 10 bolt that held it to the stake on it's own. I do know the location of a den. Hopefully, I can find that trap on the bone pile next to it.

I agree. He has a cool looking coat, but a small 1.4 year old rack and body. He will be a shooter next season. You are looking at about 40 pounds of useable meat this year, but around 80 if you can hold off another year.

I don't have that many, but I am mostly in agreement with you. My only exception would be a Browning sweet sixteen semi auto. I borrowed my dad's once and went 2 for 2 on grouse with it. They still talk about those shots, more than 30 years later, at my buddy's hunting camp. My all time favorite shotgun is my Ithaca model 37 featherlight deerslayer pump (also a 16 gauge). I could never hit grouse with the modified barrel on it. I have not missed a deer with the cylinder bore barrel on it since I put a Weaver 1.5X scope on the reciever 37 years ago. I have a couple of doubles (my old Ithaca 12 ga is now a mantle piece, since breaking during a round of trap 20 years ago), but a J Stevens Springfield 16 is my go to rabbit and grouse gun. Most of my trap shooting was with a Remington 870 pump, with a 30 in full choke barrel. I still use that on occasion for deer with a short open-sight smoothbore barrel and for turkey with a 28 in extra full choke bird barrel. I have just one Ruger 10/22 (my only semi auto), and it is a real tack-driver. It is all-stock with a Simmons .22 mag scope.

Sounds like your already pretty well fried.

It is definitely a handy thing to have and you never know when you will need it. My brother in law gave me that one when he moved out of his apartment, 30 some years ago. They don't make them like that any more. It can sit unplugged more than a year, get plugged in, and runs like it did when new. Sometimes, I use it for beverages when we have a big party, but usually it just sits there unplugged. Those old ones used more juice, but they were very dependable. The time it worked the best for me was about 20 years ago, when the temperature got up in the eighties on opening day of gun season. I shot a large-bodied spike buck, shortly after sunup, skinned it, cut it in half, and put it in the fridge by 9:00 am. There was not room for another in the fridge, so I squirrel hunted that afternoon. That was the best squirrel hunting I ever saw, prior or since. Every deer hunter can relate to being pestered by squirrels. It is almost like they somehow know that you are there for deer, not squirrels. I turned the tables on them that warm November afternoon, armed with my Ruger 10/22 (aparently they thought it was a deer gun). As they made their feerlessly up to my tree, they got quite the surprise. I ended up with a limit of greys that day, and few bonus reds.

It depends on how old the deer is. You can skip that step with 6 month olds. 1.5's should age 5 days, 2.5's a week, and 3.5's 10 days. As long as the temperature is kept in the 33 - 45 F range, it don't hurt to err on the longer side. Sometimes it is tough to guess the age of a doe. Most years, it has not been difficult to keep the meat of a skin-on carcass in that range, for those times, hanging in my insulated garage. I cover all the windows, to keep out the sunlight by day, and open a window at night, to let in the cool air. The concrete floor helps hold a cooler temperature and the hide insulates against temperature rise. A probe thermometer can be used to measure the meat temperature if you are nervous or afraid of spoilage. In 35 years of doing this, I have never had one spoil. I always check the long range forecast, prior to starting the aging process, to determine if the deer fridge will be needed. I no longer hunt early bow, so it seldom is. If it is going to be too warm, then I skin the deer, cut the rear off and hang in the fridge as described in my earlier post. I have always used an antique, non-frost free fridge, and the skinned carcasses don't dry out too bad in there. The hide keeps those hung in the garage from drying out too much. Except for the tenderloins , which should be removed prior to aging so they dont dry out too much. They also get more tender, if you leave them in the fridge a couple days before eating. You can tell when the rigor motis has passed by feeling the meat. When first killed, the meat will feel soft. As rigor motis takes hold (starts immediately at death and peaks about 8 hours after, depending on temp), it will get harder, like a pencil eraser. The meat is ready to process and freeze after it gets soft again, similar to when it was fresh killed. Last year, it was cool enough after November 2 to hang this 3.5 year old 10 days with the hide on. Note the insulated wall, cardboard covered window behind and the antique GE non-frost free "deer fridge". We still have a roast or two left from that one and they have been as tender as those from any 1.5 year old buck that I can recall. That was my first deer last year, so the grind is long gone (I always zip-lock) the grind from the first deer of the year (used first), then vacuum seal the rest.

He said "anyone but Trump". Why would he lie ?

After getting the birds under control in my new pole barn, and lots of beer can cutting practice, I am running low on bb's. I don't suppose the hoarders are hitting them too bad. Time to get another can of 6000. The last one I bought cost me $ 5.00 at walmart.

I scored a box of Winchester XX 150 gr 30/30 at Runnings in Lockport a couple weeks ago. They were only letting folks get one box of any type ammo including .22 rimfire. The guy said I was lucky, because they just got a couple boxes in. I only used one of them to check my zero, and it hit right where the Fedetals I used last season did. I still have (5) of those left, along with (10) 170 gr Remington core-locts. I should be good for early bear in a couple weeks and my annual Thanksgiving weekend Adirondack deer hunt. No store in Lockport had any ML bullets/sabots either but I did not have any trouble finding them on-line in unlimited quantities. Apparently, the hoarders are not into muzzleloaders.