wolc123

It is good to hear that about the NAP Spitfires. That is what I am using this year. Do you use the 100 grain and what is your launch speed. I am launching the 100's at 280ish and 370 fps.

Not quite, especially from a crossbow. The scientific study that was done on a military base, which Culver posted last year, showed a very significant advantage of the crossbow with mechanical broadheads over all other combinations. I can't be the only one here who bought that data can I ? That also agrees with my own experiences over 37 archery seasons, although I have yet to try a fixed broadhead on a deer with my crossbow. Since my recovery rate with that and mechanicals stands at 100 % (5 for 5), the only way I would try a fixed broadhead would be if I ran out of mechanicals or at gun-point.

Didn't your dad have a issue with a fixed broadhead from his crossbow last season ?

So would I.

Old tractors like that are not bringing much money. If everything works and the tires are ok on a TO 30 Ferguson, you might get $ 2k. That said, they are a great tractor for food plotting. I do most of mine with a nearly identical Ford 8n. The Fergusons were not made in quite the number, so would be a bit tougher to find parts for. Those 5 foot Bush-Hog squealers are awesome. I used one on my 8n a few years and it worked great. It made a much neater cut than the Rhino SE-6 that I replaced it with on my bigger tractor. I went back to a "real" Bushog when I wore that Rhino out this summer.

Musky make much more slime and stink especially in the summer.

Use the blood for the rinse. It is right there for quick use and will not promote bacteria growth like water. I am guessing that the main reason you dont care for venison filet mignon (aka tenderloins) is because you have eaten them when they were tough from rigor-mortis. Try leaving them in the fridge a week or so. Folks would not pay so much for beef filet mignon if it was not aged. Venison (also red meat) likewise benefits from that aging process, which allows enzymes to break down the rigor-mortis. Another option is to eat those tenderloins quick (within 5 hours of the kill) to get ahead of the rigor-mortis. I did that with one from a 3.5 year old buck last year and it was quite tender.

You don't, Nomad is thinking regular bow.

As I mentioned on your other thread, the 125 grain mechanicals that I used up last season flew identical to 125 grain field tips. I tested a few different brands of 125 grain fixed broadheads last year from my 300 fps Barnett Recruit crossbow. 3 blade, muzzys and wasps flew almost identical to the field points. Allen's were way off, striking very low. I should probably check their weights on a postal scale. Maybe the far-eastern manufacturer did not include the weight of the blades or messed up a metric conversion.

I never had tenderloins that were not awesome tasting but I have always gave them that quick wash with blood. That includes those from an 2.5 year old 8-point, in 2016, that took my mechanical broadhead behind the shoulder and exited the butt cheek on the opposite side. That one did some nasty gut cutting on it's way through. Your guess us as good as mine why a few on this thread don't care for tenderloins.

The recently concluded Democratic convention was the first on record by eitherer party where there was no bounce I'm the polls. I blame that on Bidens horrible VP pick which happened just prior to the convention.

100 grain is the easiest size to find. That must mean they work best. I always used 125 grains before, but they can be tough to find these days. If you don't know what size, you can weigh them on a postal scale. Your practice field tips should be the same weight. Mechanicals will usually fly identical to field tips, but fixed may not. I wasted a mechanical on a target proving that and I won't do that again, especially with those costly NAP"s I bought this year.

I would reccomend mechanicals, based on my own experience (5 for 5) 100 % recovery on deer with them using my crossbow, and 6 fo 6 if I throw in my last bow kill. I never approached that level using fixed 3 blade muzzy's and and wasps from my bow. I used my last 125 grain, 3 -blade o-ring style "blackout" mechanical last season. 6 of those accounted for lots of venison. This year I am going with 100 grain, 3-blade NAP spitfire mechanicals. They were not cheap but are supposed to be among the best from high speed crossbows. Several here have recommended fixed. You might want search this site for an old thread which Culver posted on this site, about a scientific study of recovery percentage on a military base. The crossbow with mechanical broadhead came out on top by a significant margin.

I bought Centerpoint Sniper this year because of the good reviews it had. So far, I like my Barnett Recruit (speed = 300 fps) a little better, due to ease of handling. The Sniper is much heavier and quite front-heavy. Offhand shots would be tough with it. Most of my stands have good shooting rails, so the front-heavy issue may not cause me problems. The extra 70 fps speed should give the Sniper an edge over the Recruit on longer shots. I will probably hunt with both this fall, matching the best crossbow to the conditions. As far as fit and finish, there is not much difference between the two entry-level models. The Sniper is a little quieter, but the Recruit has a better trigger. Both factory sights are ok. The scope on the Sniper is clear and the crosshairs are right on at 20, 30, 40, and 50 yards. I am not sure how it would do in low-light conditions. The illuminated dot sight on the Recruit is very good in low light conditions, but needs a battery that might fail at the wrong time.

The archery course is not required for deer hunting with a crossbow, however if you take it, you can purchase an additional antler less tag that may be used in all but a few Adirondack dmu's. That tag is very valuable in some zones that don't give out dmp's, or where they are real tough to get. Now would be a great time to take that archery course, because as long as the covid pandemic goes on, you can do it on-line. I would love to see 3 antleted buck tags for NY hunters who purchase bow, ml, and regular season tags but the trophy hunting lobby has prevented that. Taking up to 7 antlerless bucks is ok however.

When I had to do it myself, I use to remove the meat from pike in three pieces. The first piece was the top, above the spine, then each side, staying outside of the y-bones. Usually, I was careful, and there were few bones. Lots of meat was wasted in the process however. Ever since the accident in A-bay, my wife makes me release them all. I never drank a beer , until i had a limit of fish (alcohol eliminates my ability to detect the strike). The number of bones left in the meat was directly proportional to the number of beers I had before cleaning. Bass are so much easier to clean , and better tasting, if properly cared for. I can clean them with a 6-pack in me and still not miss any bones.

I recall them being pretty good, especially when the water is cool. There is a guy up in Goose bay that would clean them for me, removing all the meat in one big boneless slab, in exchange for the y-bones. He cut them out with a straight razor. Pickled y bone are a delicacy up there.

Here are the two st Lawrence "accidents", along with an upper Niagara 48" musky "accident" (they had to be 44" to keep that year but now 54"). All hang above the bar in our billiard room. I copied that from George Boldt.

That is where we usually stay. We always did good in June on the smallies, straight out from Kring point. Bass are very good if you keep them alive and remove the meat while it is still twitching. Not so hot if you let them pass in a cooler however. I like the largemouth a bit better but the smallies fight a lot better and are usually easier for me to find. My wife won't let me keep pike since my brother in law got a y bone stuck in his throat up there a few years ago. They were not able to help with that at the A-bay hospital but he coughed it up the next morning while eating an Orio cookie for breakfast. My biggest pike up there was 38", and I got that one mounted. My biggest walleye(29") was also from up there. Both caught by accident while I was bass fishing.

Here is the fattest Goose bay largemouth from our july trip this year. My brother in law got that one on a purple wacky worm.

My family has a camp just down-river from there, on Goose bay. I have been making at least one fishing trip up there a year for about the last 30 years. The smallmouth growth rate has been way up there, the last few years, thanks to all the gobys. We don't always get as many as we used to, but those we get are real big for their age. I have been doing better on largemouth the last couple years. Last year, we killed them in lake of the Isles, but this year we did better in Goose bay. The northern pike action was significantly better in both those spots this year than it was last year. I am about due for a walleye, because it has been a few years since I caught any there. We used to go up the last week in June however, when there were more of them in the shallows. The last two years, our trip was at the end of July. That is supposed to be a musky hot-spot, but have also yet to hook one of those up there. Maybe those musky's are a different strain than we have closer to he on the upper niagara. Out there, one used to grab my bait every other outing or so.

Best of luck to you on your Idaho otc elk bow-hunt this fall. Your odds of some good action should be very good at that time, when the bulls should be responding to calls. Are crossbows legal to use in that season ? I know that feeling which you described, having lost several deer myself over 35 seasons of bow-hunting. All of my bad hits resulted at least in part to "string-jump". My last deer kill with a bow was in 2012, and fortunately that buck's "back and down" duck, put my arrow right thru his jugular. He bled out 40 yards from where he took the unplanned neck shot. I put down my bow after that kill, and have not hunted with it since crossbows were legalized in NY in 2014. Since then, my archery season deer kill percentage has been 100 %, with 5 bolts, tipped with mechanical broadhead, shot at bucks, and all 5 ending up in my freezer. 4 of those died within 40 yards of taking the bolts. Similar to my own personal experience, a scientific study of deer recovery percentage (posted here by culver), showed a significant advantage of the crossbow with mechanical broadhead, compared to crossbows with fixed, or vertical bows with either type broadhead. If it turns out that crossbows are not legal on Idaho elk hunts, I would be inclined to go with a vertical. Elk are not nearly as jumpy as whitetails and they have considerably larger kill zones. They are also very tasty.

I have not had much caribou, but moose is my favorite wild game. The best I had was from an old Newfoundland one, out of a jar. The taxidermist aged that one at 8.5 years. The roasts from the freezer were almost too tough to chew. My buddy thawed them all out, then canned them with a pressure-cooker. That made it to die for. The worst wild game I had was a Colorado, sage-eating, high-desert mule deer. You could taste the sage brush in that meat. That was also the most punishing drag I have done. 5 miles thru the Rockies was no cakewalk. I have no desire to kill another one of them. I would rate 6 month old whitetail as a close second to moose, and a tie with elk. I.5 - 3.5 whitetail makes up the bulk of our families protein and is very good so long as the carcasses are properly aged before processing. You can skip that step with the buttons.

I am starting to like it the way it is now in the southern zone also. Having the best to weeks to use the best deer weapon has worked out ok for me. It would be nice if the folks up in the northern zone got more than just 3 days prior to early ML however. I would be happy with just 7 days up there, which would at least include another weekend. That would especially help us non-retired crossbow hunters, and provide a badly needed boost for the economy up there.

Accidents happen and might explain some of the dislikes that have been mentioned. Who don't like fillet mignon ? You got a better explanation?