wolc123

117-5/8”

This was my first opening day of gun season, in the last 40, that I didn’t hear a single shot. Could be because I was too far away: Otherwise, Overall deer numbers are as high as I’ve ever seen in both areas where I hunt (wmu 9F and 6C). Antlered buck to doe ratio, after October 1, has been the same 4:1 in wmu 9F this year, as it has been about the last 25 years. Big change in that up in wmu 6C though. I had been seeing 4-5 antlerless deer per each antlered one up there the previous 10 years, but it was about 1:1 this year. Most of the bucks I saw up there were very small though (spikes and 4 points).

I think it’s a plain brown deer that jumped into a bunch of fresh powdery snow during last weeks blizzard. Show me a picture of it on some green grass and I’ll believe it’s really a white deer. Notice how the part above the snow line (between the antlers) is normal colored.

Not as much as I missed you all. As far as the canning goes, I haven’t had canned venison in many years, but my mom used to do it when I was a kid and it was really good. The last canned meat I had was from an old (est 8.5 yr) moose, down at my friend’s camp, about 4 years ago. He had initially froze all the meat from that, but it was so tough, you could hardly chew it. He thawed it all out, then canned it with a pressure cooker. That stuff was delicious, and unbelievably tender after that. We just opened a jar, heated it on the stove, and poured it over noodles. I do worry about my freezer (it’s about 40 years old and has been almost completely submerged several times when our basement flooded), so I’d like to get into canning someday. Probably won’t be till after I retire and have a little more spare time.

That thing is probably over a hundred years old, I think my great grandfather made it. Him and my grandfather put lots of beef cattle and hogs thru it. Years ago, you could find places to sharpen the knife and screen. Now, I just buy new ones (#12) when it starts plugging. I think the 3/16” screen and a knife cost around $30 from Amazon last year. I put about 75 deer thru the prior set, before it started plugging. I don’t freeze the meat first, but I do remove as much of the fat and tendons as I can. It will grind the meat almost as fast as I drop it in. Most of my butchering time is spent trimming the meat off the bones and trimming out the fat. It also takes a little longer to vacuum seal the packs than it does to grind. Fortunately, my wife takes care of that part for me.

I didn’t see anything today either. I hunted my food plot court at home this morning and the clover plot over at my parents this evening. I’d say we are definitely in the post opening gun week slow period now. They are all dead or in the thick cover by day and only come out at night. I’ll be hunting my stands in or on the edge of the thick stuff the next couple weekends. They might be coming back out in the daylight by the last weekend of gun, but certainly by late ML and Holiday ML. I think I have plenty of meat now, because the tiny-tined dmp tag buck from Thanksgiving morning had a more on him than I expected. Maybe 35 pounds of grind plus 9 small roasts and (4) one quart packs of back straps, and that was after trimming off a lot of fat. There’s probably room for one more average sized deer in our big freezer, but anything after that, I will be giving away.

Yes it is. He looked like a doe, ate like a doe, and was fat like a doe. It took me a while, after skinning him last night, to trim off all the external fat. Hopefully, there’s not so much inside. I’m cutting him up and grinding tonight. I wasn’t sure we had enough vacuum bags left, but it looks like we do. I always just zip lock the first deer each year, because we go thru it so fast, vacuum sealing would be a big waste of time and money. This one (#2) needs to get vacuum sealed and won’t get eaten until after we finish up what’s left from that big one last year. All except for certain “special parts” some of which I am enjoying for lunch right now. I can’t recall having any that were tastier. Maybe that Whitetail Instute “tiny tine turnips” he had for his last meal are worth what they charge for them.

Wolcottsburg surf and turf for lunch: Damn good eating right there.

It was a successful hunt for me nonetheless: I fixed my blown over blind and recovered my shooting sticks.

No deer were dumb enough to come out in the open this morning. It sure was nice in the pop up blind in the rain. It let up now, so time for me to go get lunch. Maybe I can find my shooting sticks on the walk back. Only action back here this morning were crows on Thursday’s cut pile. Time for me to go have some “parts” that were not in that pile for lunch.

It turned out to be an action-packed Thanksgiving weekend, up in the Northern zone. I saw a total of (5) deer, and at least (2) of them were legal bucks. One of those was a small spike, probably the same one that I passed on the second day of rifle up here. I passed him again, even closer on Sunday morning. I saved my best spot up there for Sunday morning, the day we drove home. The snow was melted down to under a foot by then, so getting back there wasn’t too bad. I saw an unidentified deer up on a hilltop, just before sunrise, and the little buck came by about 15 minutes after. A big doe came by, heading the opposite direction, just after the spike walked away. About (10) minutes after she disappeared behind me, I heard sticks breaking in that direction. That turned out to be a buck with one side antler broken off and 2 or 3 points on the other side. He looked like a 2.5 year old, based on body size. He was too close for me to lift my gun, so I waited until he made a move, before I did. He bolted off after recognizing me at about 15 yard range. My first shot hit outside of his vitals and I was not able to get off another, because my Marlin 336BL did not cycle the next round smoothly. I lost the blood after about 4 hours of following. I hope he is going to be ok. I think he might be, because he went up a very steep hill, at least 400 yards into the blood trail. It was slowing to a trickle , and the blood had stopped completely beyond that. I also saw a doe, closer to my in-laws house, on my hunt the evening before. It was only on my first hunt up there Friday morning, in the rain under the shooting range shelter, that I didn’t see any deer. Doe close to house Friday evening: Start of buck’s (lost) blood trail: I’d still be searching up there, if I didn’t have to get my wife and kids home, for obligations back home last night. I am thankful to have not killed the big buck with our suv on the drive up Thursday night, but it would have been nice to have got that one Sunday morning, with my 30/30. I suppose I was due to loose one, after killing the first (3) deer that I had shot at with center fire rifles. Maybe I’ll ditch the Marlin lever, and go back to my 3/0 Ruger 30/06. That will definitely be the case, if I can’t find ammo for the 30/30, and correct the follow up shot cycling issue prior to next season. I’m also not impressed with the fiber optic sights that I put on the Marlin. They are not at all visible before sunrise or after sunset. That would have been ok 2 years ago. Now that NY state gave us those extra half hours, before and after sun, I think I’ll put a low power scope on that lever. If I could have got crosshairs on that buck yesterday for that shot, he’d be at the processors right now for sure. Two lessons that I learned the hard way are: I won’t hunt deer with that gun again until it cycles a second and third shot smoothly, and it has a scope on it. I’ll bring along my 16 gauge side by side shotgun, and some slugs, to use up north for deer in the rain next time. I know that will put two quick shots right where I want them, inside of 40 yards. That will also let me do some grouse hunting, if my buck tag gets filled. Those seem to be making a comeback up there.

That’s a nice looking knife. I love the belly hook. Reminds me of my favorite factory deer hunting knife, the Schrade Sharpfinger. I always feel compelled to use an old Buck 110, while I’m up in the Northern zone, because my father in law gave it to me as a Christmas gift. Using that up there sure gives me an appreciation for my Sharpfinger, which I always use at home. A one piece design is light years ahead of a folder, when it comes to cleanup after use. My belly hook was starting to get a little dull, but I sharpened it up good, using the little white stone that came in the sheath of another, larger Schrade knife. It worked great again after that, for “unzipping” the hide from a little buck that I skinned last night.

Sorry in advance for the short illustrated novel, but its very slow out in the open fields during late gun season today, waiting on a deer: Our place is similar, but I only let about 1/3 of the fields (the less fertile ground areas) overgrow, and left the the rest open for foodplots. I also have a few acres of hardwoods on the back corner. That was mostly ash, which is all dead or dying now, but there is some red oak, white oak, and maple in there. There’s also quite a bit of oak in the hedgerows, which are mostly thick brush. The fields are small, mostly 3-5 acres in size, and broken up by the hedgerows and brush patches. After the first few days of gun, the daylight activity always winds down, outside of those brush patches. I only go in them to recover carcasses. I’m hoping for a straggler this morning, but not expecting much. I finally have the right wind (east) for my pop up blind. It should be nice in here during the rain that they are calling for later today. It’s very slow right now though, and I’m already looking forward to “wolcottsburg whitetail surf-and turf” for lunch, in a couple hours. That will consist of fillet mignon and oysters from Thanksgiving morning’s turnip plot dmp buck harvest, killed just 15 yards from my current location. My parents place, on the opposite diagonal corner of wmu 9F, is a much different layout. That’s mostly a big L-shaped chunk of mature hardwoods. They have about 60 acres total over there, and we have about 40 here. There is an overgrown brush patch, on the inside of the “L”, that is owned by a friendly neighbor. He allows no one else to hunt his land, but he has given me carcass recovery rights, and my parents have granted that to him also. In front of the long side of the L, is a big open hayfield, that another neighbor rents from my folks. At the end of the long side, is a long narrow clover plot, that is visible from my parent’s dinner table. In the middle of the short side of the “L”, is a brushy swamp. I have this little hang-on stand in the woods, near the inside edge of that swamp. That’s where I am going this afternoon (with my tree umbrella). The swamp is entirely in my parents woods, and they have a narrow strip of mature hardwoods beyond that, along the short side of the “L”. I have another little uncomfortable ladder stand, on that outside edge of the swamp, but that ones too close to a trailer park to use a gun in. I’ll know I made the wrong move, if my parents call me while I’m up in the inside edge swamp stand this evening, and say that there are deer feeding out on the clover plot. That has happened during late gun-season on several occasions, but is way more common during archery, and late ML seasons. Most years, I only hunt that uncomfortable little stand for a couple hours, on opening day of gun season. I missed that this year, thanks to the Buffalo blizzard of November 22. I think my odds of getting a shot at something from there this afternoon are greater than 50/50. I’ll give myself about a 2 percent chance of that happening before 11:00 am quitting time, from this pop-up blind that I’m in right now. My enclosed cab, 4-door side by side is parked in the barn now, but is ready for action, if a carcass needs to be hauled: That jobs going to be a lot wetter, if I need to use my dad’s open-cab Ranger, over there this evening:

I finally have the East wind I have been waiting for to hunt my pop-up blind at home. The only glitch is, I seem to have misplaced my shooting sticks. The last time I saw them was Thanksgiving morning. I did not use them for the 50 yard shot on the “dmp spike” buck that morning, but I may have left them in my natural blind on the other side of my “tiny tine” turnip plot. I’ll check on my walk out at lunch time. After my bad shot on a half-rack probable 2.5 yr old buck up north yesterday morning, I’m going to need a damn steady sight picture to fire on any deer today. I can see 500 yards down the gas line from one window, and 200 down my range from another. Resting on my elbow, I can hold pretty steady at about 150, so hopefully a deer shows up closer than that. It must have been very windy the last couple days because I found the blind on its side when I got back here. I got it straightened out and held down with 3 stakes. Rain is supposed to start around 10. The last day I hunted this blind was during the September early Antlerless season. If I had my Marlin scoped bolt action shotgun or my scoped T /C ML that day, I’d have had a nice 175 yard shot at a doe, down the gas-line. This wide 8-point walked down my shooting range that day, after locking horns for a bit with a smaller buck, and licked that side of my blind. I opened the window and took this picture as he turned and walked away. It would be nice if he tried that again today. My guess is that he is already dead, or shell-shocked and hunkered down somewhere until dark.

There was quite a bit of deer action this morning up on the NW corner of the adk park. I heard one snorting upwind about 15 minutes before sunrise on my walk in. I got settled into a spot in a blowdown, and a spike walked by at 30 yards, about 15 minutes after sunrise. I gave him a pass. About a minute later, a big doe ran down hill straight towards me. She got within 20 yards, then walked slowly away, feeding as she went. About 15 minutes later, I saw something approaching in the thick cover, from the direction she went, behind the blowdown I was seated on. As it got closer, I could see that it was a buck with 2 or 3 points on one side and the other side broken off. It looked like a 2.5 year old, so I decided to shoot, if I could. My gun was in my lap and he was too close to lift it. He got past the cover, about 15 yards away, and was looking right at me. I waited till he made the first move. When he bolted, I lifted my gun, aimed for the shoulder and fired. My Marlin 336 didn’t cycle the next round properly, and I wasn’t able to get off another shot. He never slowed down, and disappeared into the heavy cover. I found a little blood on the tracks in the snow, about 20 yards out, but that stopped after about 50 yards. There was many different sets of tracks in those pines and I lost his trail. Making a wide circle around, I picked it back up about 100 yards away. I followed decent blood for another couple hundred yards, over the next three hours. Near the end of the blood trail, he went up a steep hill. I could not advance the trail beyond that point. I’m thinking a high back or shoulder hit. Hopefully, heals up. I think odds are fair, because he probably would not have gone up that very steep hill, about 400 yards from the hit site, If he was hurt real bad.

Well it would be neat to kill an “out of state” whitetail anyhow. The only deer that I ever killed, out of NY, was a mule deer and I would certainly never again pay to do that. I don’t like meat that tastes like sage brush. They are also very ugly, compared to whitetails, and a hell of a lot stupider.

I think, much more than going deeper or nocturnal, most of them are already killed. My buck tag usually gets punched by Thanksgiving weekend. Just (3) more of those hunts left for me, so this could get interesting. I’ll still be looking for a half-way decent sized buck, thru Sunday afternoon. After that, I’ll settle for one with a single 3” spike. In 40 years of deer hunting, I can’t recall ever killing an antlered buck after Thanksgiving weekend. I did pass on one (a basket racked 6 pointer) about 5 years ago, but only because he was very close to the property line. Thankfully, I was blessed with a fat doe the very next day, so we didn’t starve. I also had a misfire on a single horned 4-point, on late ML weekend, about 30 years ago. That one walked right under my tree stand. Back then, in-lines and scopes were not legal during ML season. The bottom line is, if you “need” to kill a buck in NY, then you best do it early, while the getting is good. I’m not complaining, because I could easily be out of buck tags right now, had I been willing to settle for a spike with my rifle and a 4-pointer with my crossbow. Although the odds are long, thanks to a fat doe and “dmp” buck kill earlier, I’d still prefer buck-tag soup and a chance at a bigger one later, than to have those other two wee-tads in my freezer right now.

That would be a tough pill for me to swallow for sure. I always try to keep my venison under $ 1 per pound, after subtracting all input costs. I’d be inclined to leave my gun at home; and tag along with just my smart phone, if that were possible. You could record the “live action”.

This single doe walked past at 60 yards, 15 minutes before sunset tonight. I stayed out till 10 minutes past sunset, but no buck followed. The fiber optic sights on my Marlin 336BL were only visible until sunset, so a buck would have to have been at point blank range, for those last 10 minutes. I won’t be using that gun for another evening hunt unless I have to. It was drizzling rain most of the time, so I didn’t use my father in laws scoped 336. The Marlin scope on that, three of my Redfields, and my Weaver 1.5x are all still functional 20 minutes past sunset, especially with snow. I’m heading to my northern zone (wmu 6c) buck hotspot tomorrow morning, for a couple hours, then we are driving back to wny. Our meat supply is pretty good right now, so an Adirondack buck will need at least 2 points on a side to trip my trigger (they count double to me up here). Back home on the flatland, I’ll need at least 3 points on a side, to punch my buck tag. I’ll be thankful if I can get a 3rd deer this year. I have two more dmp’s for home, so hopefully that happens yet during gun season.

It finally stopped raining and I am in a spot, up in wmu 6c, where I have seen many antlerless deer on Thanksgiving weekend evenings, but never one with horns. That means I must be due for one here right ?

That’s right up there with: “if God wanted man to shoot over and under shotguns, He’d have put your eyes like that”. That’s what I would always tell my buddies, on the trap team, as they used their fancy Browning over an unders, and I had my Grandpa’s old Ithaca side by side.

This little stretchy camo one rides in my pack most of the time. It stretchyness seems to take pounds off the weight of the weapon. I use it with all my guns and crossbows except for my grandad’s old Ithaca model 37 16 gauge featherlight. That thing is so that light I wouldn’t know it was on my shoulder with the stretchy sling. That light weight also makes it the hardest kicking deer gun, that I have ever fired. Ithaca built the 16 gauge, with almost the same receiver as the 20 gauge, yet it packs a powder load, almost equal to the 12 gauge. I like 16 gauge shotguns the best, because they look the best proportioned . 20 gauges look too small and skinny and 12 gauges look too big and fat. I especially like this one, because it hasn’t failed to put a deer in my freezer, since I put that 1.5 Weaver on it about 39 years ago. I made that sling in 4-H leather class when I was 14.

I was thankful for my smart phone yesterday, because I couldn’t remember if the “legal buck” tine length was 1” or 3”. It’s a bit confusing because the regs define antlers points as “longer than 1”. However, a “legal buck” must have at least one antler longer than 3”. This little guy had an inch on the right and 2-3/4 on the left, so legally, I was compelled to tag him, with one of the (3) remaining wmu 9F dmp’s, that I carried in my wallet. I was very thankful that I didn’t need to use my buck tag or I would be bear hunting up in the Dacks right now. It’s way too cold and snowy up here now for that, as I’m sure they are hibernated. After verifying on-line, what tag to use, I filled it out before I gutted him. I then walked back for my field car, to haul him to our garage. I put the filled out dmp tag back in my wallet for that trip, and didn’t attach it until he was hanging in the garage. I think that was “legal” because, although he was loaded onto a motor-vehicle, he was not transported on the road. I always try my best to follow all the rules but sometimes they get confusing.

These days, I generally keep my sling in my pack, until I need to drag a carcass. I started doing that, after missing out on a shot opportunity on a deer, because my gun was hanging on my shoulder and not in my hands. My father in law’s scoped Marlin 336 has a non-detachable sling, and that’s about the only thing I don’t like about it. Someday, I’m going to sneak a set of detachable sling mounts on it, while he’s not looking. What he don’t know won’t hurt him. I did that with a hammer stud extension (makes it a lot easier to cock the trigger with the scope), and he never picked up on it. Yesterday morning, while following the blood trail of a tiny spike buck (I mistook it for a big doe) that I thought I hit good at home, I did attach the sling. Then I hung my Marlin 512 12 gauge slug gun on my shoulder. I only did that, so that I could easily (using two hands) mark the red blood drops, as they started to peter out, with orange surveyor ribbon. That was the only deer, that I have ever double-lunged with any weapon, which made a sharp 90 degree turn, mid-death-run. He ran into a thick jungle-like 1/2 acre patch of cover. It took me almost 1/2 hour to find him, because of that crazy maneuver. As far a shooting with slings, we used them from prone, kneeling, and off-hand positions, on the singe shot .22 LR’s, when I was on the high school rifle team. They helped the most from the offhand position. I’ve never used one for added support while hunting, but most of my stands and blinds have very good rests. I’ve used lots of trees to steady my shots also, and I just picked up a set of shooting sticks this year. If we get an east wind before January 1, I hope to try those from my pop-up blind.

I am up on the nw corner of the Adirondack park this morning (wmu 6c), seated under a shooting range shelter where my father in law stores tractor implements, on the edge of a 100 yard x 50 yard meadow. There is a light drizzel, it’s about 40 degrees, and the wind is from the south west at 10-15 mph. There was about 3 ft of snow in the woods last night, when we arrived. I’m hoping the warm temps today and the rain, will settle it down and put a frozen crust on top overnight. That will allow me to comfortably walk back to my favorite “big buck” hot-spot, tomorrow morning. Right now, I’m hoping that a 4-pointer or better, crosses on the 50 yard hoof trail that I see up-wind. I passed a spike buck on that trail from here on the second morning of nz gun season, a month ago. The hundred yard trail, that crosses at the far edge of the meadow, would be stretching it with my open-sighted Marlin 336BL. I don’t like taking my father in law’s scoped 336 out in the rain, but I’d much prefer that, if a buck crosses on that far trail. The in-laws have been seeing a group of 6-7 deer crossing almost every morning lately, between 7:30 and 9:30, but didn’t notice antlers on any of them, so I don’t expect much. Does are not legal here until late ML opens up in December.