wolc123

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?

Makes a lot of sense west of the Mississippi, not so much to the east.

All I am saying is that many folks would appreciate tenderloins a lot more if they were not marinated in piss and gut juice, and near the max rigor-mortis stage when consumed. Several on this thread have expressed their distaste for tenderloins. I am just tossing out a couple easy tricks to take care of that issue.

I am in from region 9 (team 4). I hope at least one of my entries will be from region 6. Those are worth more than double of what region 9 deer are to me, even if they are not for this contest. They probably should count double, along with region 7, to make it a bit more fair for those who do all their hunting up there. Otherwise, I like the point structure and the 3 deer rule. I am hoping for 3 this year, which would be just about right, as far as the meat goes. Hopefully, all 3 will be bucks (my wife's favorite will be the one without legal points).

Same here. The only issue I have with them is that they are not real tall, in case you need to cross deep standing water. When it comes to cold, the standard black ones have worked for me on even the coldest days for all day sits. The white ones are good for even colder conditions but weigh more and are bulkier. The blacks are just right for me for deer hunting. Anything much heavier would not be as good for stillhunting, which I like to do between hot-spots, up in the Adirondacks. When I get to such spots, in freezing conditions, those Mickey mouse boots have always kept my feet warm for as long as I cared to sit there in my tree-hammock chair. They also seem pretty durable. I have 6 seasons on my current pair and they are showing no signs of wear. I also use them for ice-fishing, where it is usually colder than hunting season. No issues with cold feet there either.

Are you for full inclusion ?

Not a marinade, just a quick rinse to remove any traces of the bad tasting liquids.

Three things can make tenderloins not so hot: 1) Rigor-mortis 2) Gut juice 3) Piss. Leaving them in the fridge a week or so before eating takes care of the rigor-mortis. I always rinse them off good, with blood from forward of the diaphram, to take care of the piss and gut juice. Those two steps always make them the best tasting, easiest chewing part of the deer.

Prayers sent for your son's speedy recovery.

Your regular buck tag is good for doe in the late ML season.

My wife would be thrilled if that happens. Last year was my off year for one of those, so this should be an on year, if my going on 40 year pattern holds.

In near-laborotory conditions (like my insulated garage) it is not too difficult to recover most off the useable meat. It seems like that would be much tougher in field conditions, without LED lighting, climate control, work benches, a hoist, or sharpening equipment. After strikes one and two (no liver or heart), less usable meat makes the out for gutless in NY state. CO is another story however. My back still aches from dragging a mule deer carcass 5 miles thru the Rockies when I was in my 30's.

It has been a while since I caught any coons in the 6 traps that I have around this plot. I moved the traps over to the fieldcorn, after I Bush-hogged the sweetcorn. I think I learned why yesterday, while I was checking the traps. Grave-robbing coyotes had swiped two of the coon carcasses that I had burried 2 ft deep. Burying them seemed easier than burning them, but I may give burning a try if I catch any more.

September 1 - 20, I get the ground worked up good, then broadcast wheat at about 75 pounds per acre, then cultipack. After cultipacking, I broadcast tall ladino (white) clover at 7 pounds per acre, then cultipack again, 90 degrees from the first direction. If I can score some free leftover soybeans, I add those to the mix, up to 50 pounds per acre, prior to the first cultipack. When those start to sprout, they will draw deer away from white oak acorns like nothing else will. One of the many benfits of climate change, is late frosts, which has let those late planted soybeans last well into bow season in WNY.

It sounds like you ate those right near the peak time for rigor-mortis. Any red meat goes thru that. The older the deer, the longer it takes the meat to go thru that stage. Was that an older deer ? 6 month deer are not affected much by rm. I learned last season, that the livers from mature (3.5 yrs old) are very tender after a week in the fridge, but tougher than hell, the evening of the kill. It bothers me a bit when I think of how many of those I left I'm gut-piles thru the years. Liver and heart recovery seems like it would be difficult without gutting the deer and that is reason enough for me to never consider skipping that step.

Try googling it. That is what I did minutes ago to verify my recollection.

How so ? If you look up the PA chart, you will find that 35 in (clear on my photo) equals 99 pounds field dressed. Also, WNY deer have always weighed more than that chart predicts when checked on a scale, so 100 pounds seems conservative for that one.

I grow them big. Lots of clover and wheat went into that one.

I think most folks are smart enough to realize that, which explains why Biden's lead in the polls has fallen since he made that pick. Ms Harris as VP is the best thing to happen to Trump yet, when it comes to his chances of re-election.