wolc123

I started working on this plot today. The first step was Bush-hogging the buckwheat and sweetcorn that was holding the spot. I picked about 2 dozen ears of sweetcorn from that patch today. We got about 3 more dozen off it earlier. The coons got at least that much, but I got 3-1/2 of them. I count the one as 1/2, because it escaped with one of my Duke dog-proof traps. Most likely it was "freed" by a coyote because I don't think any coon would be strong enough to shear a no 10 grade 5 bolt. I saw a big coyote run out of the corn one day while I was checking traps. At least they did not dig up any of the coon carcasses this year so far. After Bush-hogging, I went over the plot a couple times with a serrated blade disk. I will hit it once more with that, after a good rain. Hopefully, I will get it planted in early September.

Certainly this should put the emphasis back on meat where God intended it to be. Maybe they will do away with antler restrictions and let us tag bucks with dmp's again.

That is a sure way to stop trespassers. Signs do just two things: nothing and sh1t. Sometimes someone else can do the dirty work for you. I depend on a highly motivated neighbor for that over at my folks place. Over there, we were plagued by trespassers, and piss-poor hunting, in spite of posted signs, until an energetic guy bought the over-grown field that provided the easy access from the trailer park. Since he laid down the law, it has almost been like hunting a high-fence game preserve. I have not scene a trespassers in 3 years. Prior to that, it was rare to complete a hunt without seeing at least one. My family has paid the taxes on that land for almost a hundred years, but I have acquired more venison on it in the last 3 years than the total of the previous 97. That included big-bodied mature bucks on 2 of the last 3 years. My biggest buck over there prior was a scrawny 1.5 year old 4-point.

Based on the poll numbers I just saw on CNN, Bidens lead has dropped since the Harris pick. Could it be that the dem's grossly underestimated the intelligence of black voters and women ? Can they honestly believe more would vote for Biden because of this ? Back in 2016, I remember thinking that Trump might pick a black woman as a running mate. Instead, he picked someone with a proven track record in Pence, one of the most succesful Governers in modern history. Should a person get a job based on color or qualifications ?

Happy b-day Larry.

To post or not to post depends on location. At my place, I have had more trespassing issues on the years that I posted. To your average simple-minded poacher, "posted" means "good hunting". The more signs, the better the hunting. Putting up those signs is a foolish waste of time for me. About 15 miles away, at my folks place, they seem to work ok however. My sister lives on the edge of "the homestead", and she feels more comfortable walking her dog when I put up signs over there during hunting season, so I do it for her. There is a trailer park adjacent to that property and lots of aborigins (strangers) around there which may have some effect.

The smallmouth bite was a bit off on the upper Niagara river this morning. I think the musky were spooking them out of my favorite drift. We broke off a big musky and landed this 40ish inch one. Just 3 keeper smallies (14,16,17 in), and 4 shorts.

I am waiting for a good rain before clipping mine again. It looks like they are predicting some for sat, sun, and mon in wmu 9f. The turnips I planted in July sure could use some. Also, it is much nicer mowing the clover after rain because that keeps the dust down.

And Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest President ever at 42 (a record that still stands), up at an Adirondack hunting camp, when Filmore got shot in Buffalo.

I prefer to use my dmp's on the button bucks in that situation. Leaving the doe increases my odds at a mature buck later. More importantly, there is no better eating buck than a 6 month old. I am not a big fan of doe meat because the fat takes a lot of time to trim out. If you miss some, it sticks to the roof of my mouth, putting a damper on my appetite for more.

This pick will certainly make it tougher for him in some of the toss-up states like PA. She is considered the farthest-left Senator. That means pro-abortion (anti-Christian), anti-gun, unrestricted immigration, universal health care, and green new deal. Had he picked a conservative leaning choice (not sure there are any of those left in the Democratic party), he would have had a better chance at the toss-ups. Now, his only "sure-things" are NY and CA. Covid gave him a shot, but he really blew it with this pick.

I spent a bit of range time today with my Centerpoint Sniper and Barnett Recruit. I got them both dialed in good with 100 grain field points and I will be hunting deer with each of them this fall. I had been using 125 grain tips with the Recruit and it cost me a bolt today when I fired the first 100-grain tipped one over the top of my backstop. It is definitely shooting a lot flatter with the lighter heads. So far, the Recruit is my favorite. It's primary advantage is it's lighter weight, better balance and much easier handling. A close-range, offhand shot would be iffy with the Sniper, but a piece of cake with the Recruit. Other advantages of the Recruit are: crisper trigger, eaiser loading (can do it bare-handed without a pulley device in a pinch), and illuminated dot-site (better for low-light conditions). It was a bit too windy for shots over 40 yards today, which I certainly would not take at a deer anyhow with the Recruit. The Sniper should have the advantage there, because it was holding tighter groups at 40 yards and really burying the bolts in the backstop, compared to the Sniper, which was only doing about half the penetration into the "block". I will have to see how that factory Centerpoint scope does in low-light conditions of the deep woods, but not needing a battery is an advantage in well-lit situations. I really like having (2) cheap crossbows, compared to one mid-priced one, mostly because I should always have a backup, if something goes wrong with one of them during the 2-week season. It is also nice to have ones with different strenghts: The Sniper should be great from stands with good rests and where 40-50 yard shots might be expected. The Recruit will shine for close range work in low-light conditions, or for still-hunting deer in standing corn (something I have always wanted to try but have yet to do). That is all about close-range off-hand shots. This might be the year for that, because my corn is looking as good as it ever has. I Besides the Sniper, my other big crossbow-season purchase this year was (3) new 100 grain NAP spitfire mechanical broadheads. Hopefully, one of them can fill my buck tag and the other two a couple of my (5) antlerless tags this fall. I was able to take (6) bucks with my last (6) mechanical broadheads, which included one used and destroyed to check the zero compared to field tips, and one resharpened and mixed and matched from the best "used" parts, to take a second buck (last fall's big 8-point). Those were older o-ring style mechanicals designed for slower vertical bows (that is what I used on the first kill with them). Then I went 5/5 using them with my 300 fps Recruit. They are all gone now, but probably would not work as well with the 370 fps Sniper. The NAP's are supposed to be top-of-the-line and designed to work with the fastest crossbows. We shall see this fall. For the price of the NAP's, I ain't going to waste one checking the zero. The research I have done indicates that they impact identical to field tips.

Outhouse ?

The purple tops are up a few inches and the distribution looks ok. They were seeded on the light side with plenty of fertilizer. If we get some decent rain over the next couple weeks, they ought to do good. The buckwheat to the east (white flowered) is about 4 ft tall and will get Bush-hoged in about a week. I use that for weed suppression and to build up the topsoil. I will disk that up and broadcast a soybean, wheat, white clover mix in early September. The sweetcorn beyond that buckwheat is just starting to ripen. We had some for lunch yesterday. I lost about a dozen ears to coons and have trapped and buried 3 of them over the last few days. The rr fielcorn to the west is now fully tasked and making ears. It is almost weed free, unlike the non-RR sweetcorn which I was too lazy to hoe.

Do you run ethanol free gas ? 10 % corn liquor gas is murder on old outboards. I don't mind spending the extra 50 cents a gallon on the good stuff to keep all my old, seldom used little engines starting and running good. That includes chainsaws, splitter, power washer, snowmobile, etc.. I do run the cheap ethanol crap in our automobiles, lawnmowers, and old tractors however, but they usually don't sit idle for long periods.

It would be about a 2.5 hour drive from Syracuse, but Johnson's in Lockport is still in business. They mounted a Weaver 1.5 X on my Ithaca 37, 16 gauge in 1983 and it has held up very well. I used it last season on this doe in fact. It has never needed any major adjustments, since it was mounted, and that is definitely the hardest kicking gun that I own. This "featherlight" 16 gauge pounds the heck out of your shoulder because it is built on a 20 gauge action but packs a 12 gauge wallup. The scope mount, that Johnson's used, is bolted to the thick curved section on the top side of the receiver. This is a decent short range gun, but certainly no "tackdriver". It holds a 6" group at 75 yards with Remington sluggers.

We picked up a bit of freezer meat up on the St Lawrence last weekend. (17) largemouth bass ranging from 12-1/8 to 17" long, and a 14" and 16" smallmouth. The bite on Lake of the Isles was slower than last year but Goose bay was better. Both smallmouth and one largemouth on bucktail jig, rest on spinnerbaits and purple wacky worms. Also caught and released about a dozen 22" plus (legal) northern pike and another dozen shorts, with just one bite-off on the spinnerbaits. My wife does not let me keep them since a little bone-choke incident up there a few years ago.

Praying for your family FL.

There were lots of big frogs on Goose bay up on the St Lawrence river this weekend. I was casting a yellow weedless frog along the shoreline for bass and the big bullfrogs were going nuts over it. I hooked a few. They would come from more than 10 feet away to chase that little yellow fake frog. I don't know if they wanted to eat it, screw it, or if they were just defending their turf. It would not have taken much effort to catch a bushel of them up there. I had frog legs once down in Charleston SC and they were pretty good. How do you cook them ?

I would like a 3 to 4 footer, behind a quad, because it fits thru trails and transports easier. Also, the narrower ones traverse changing contours better resulting in better compactions over the uneven spots like furrows and ditches. I use a 7 footer on my tractor now (cut down from 8 ft because of two broken wheels). It seems to work better for that same reason, after the slight "narrowing". Coincidentally, I recently found anther "two-busted-wheel" 8 foot, single-roller cultipacker at a neighbors. I will be reworking that one this winter for tractor use at my folks place. I paid $ 40 for that one (she was asking $ 50). With steel scrap prices so low now, you can score some good deals. She also has an 8 foot double-roller Brillion cultipacker over there, that is in rougher shape, with more broken wheels. If it is still out there in another week or so, I will see if she will take $ 20 for it and try and make a couple 3 to 4 foot single-roller, ATV models out of it. Making new wood bearings for them, and welding up the frames is a great winter project. My dad and father in law both have ATV's at their places, that I could use them on.

Allowing antlerless with the bow/ML tags in all but a few Adirondack DMU/s works out well for me, so I hope they keep it like it is. My in-laws place is in 6C, up on the NW corner of the park. It is nearly impossible to draw a DMP tag up there, so I don't ever try. I see around (6) antlerless deer per every antlered one on hunts up there. Being able to use that second "antlerless only" tag up there, greatly increases my odds of bringing home some meat during those "special" 10 days, prior to gun season, with my crossbow or ML. Meat is the primary reason I hunt, but I am very selective on bucks up there then with my either/or tag, because I dot want to miss out on chances at a big one at home in western NY in November. That "either or" tag is quite valuable to me at home where I rarely see antlerless deer after October 1st . The local farmers hammer them hard prior to that on their nuisance permits. The ratio I see here during hunting season is almost the opposite of up North at about 6 antlered bucks per antlerless deer (nuisance permits are for antlerless deer only and the local farmers stick to that requirement pretty good). If they put all the antlerless permits into the lottery, as you advocate, it would make it more difficult for me to obtain an adequate meat supply for my family, and I would certainly be forced into more store-bought chicken. That is definitely not something I would prefer.

This man gave a spectacular performance today. Those poor Democratic congressman must really be licking their wounds tonight.

As many here know, I am not into scales. My longest smallmouth was a 23 in about 20 years ago on lake Erie. If I ever get one that size again I hope I would mount it. I usually get one or two just over 20 inches each year but never keep them. My father in law is still complaining about my releasing a 22 incher up at his place a few Octobers ago. He wants to decorate his Adirondack retirememt home with mounts of local species. I set him up with a buck in 2015, but I am still trying for the smallmouth, lake trout, and bear rug. I hope to spend over a week up there this October so maybe I can work on those last 3. I have yet to see a bear up there, my only laker (taken thru the ice), was too small to mount, and. no smallmouth over 20 inches for me up there since 2016.

Did you use a cultipacker ? That usually pushes the seeds in enough to keep heavy rain from moving them. I use these 3 seed spreaders. The little plastic Scott on the left is my favorite for small stuff like clover or turnips. The old cyclone bag spreader in the middle works well for larger stuff like wheat, rye, and soybeans. The new Chapin bag spreader on the right I have only used for fertilizer and it worked wonderful for that. The trick for even distribution, aside from cultipacking, is to set the rate on the low side. Make multiple passes from alternating directions until the correct poundage per acre is spread.

I have 2 of those and 4 box traps. The nice thing about the box type is that you can check them from far away, but the coons usually mess them up pretty bad when caught. Also, sometimes a smart one will figure out how to swipe the bait. I always use peanut butter coated marshmallows. When I get robbed by a smart one like that, I put one of those dog proof types by that spot with some cat food and it usually gets them every time. I don't know of any fur bearers that are easier to trap than coons. Hopefully I will be able to start taking some out in about a week and a half. My sweetcorn will be ripe by then so they should be coming from miles around. I aim to have the local area reatitivly coon free by the time the field corn gets ripe. I only got in 3 acres of corn this year and the only way it will last thru ML season is if I take out lots of coons.