wolc123

Canadian bacon is a little better. Ain't that ham ? Corned beef is similar to ham but I like it more. Something about all that fat in the bacon, that just turns my stomach. Also, it is usually way too salty for me.

I just don't care for the taste of pork. I would rate it a notch below chicken and two below turkey. I can handle it about once a month, but that is about it. I don't even like bacon. I don't know squat about Islam, but the Bibles old Testament clearly puts pork on the "do not eat" list. Of course Jesus took away all those rules, leaving just one, so there is no religious argument against my eating pork now. I simply would pick almost any other meat first, if given the choice. If my deer-meat supply were ever cut off, I would be ok with eating beef and baked or broiled fish every other day. Fish is the only white meat that I really like, especially bass. Whenever I go to a pig-roast, I always try talking the host into putting a hind quarter of venison inside the pig before it goes on the spit. That is way better to me than the roasted pig. During a Bill's game party, on the last weekend of ML season, our host took a plate full of rare button buck chops off the grill for me, before he wrapped the rest with bacon for the other guests. They were awesome, and it was a meal that I will never forget. I tried one of the leftover charred ones with the bacon later, and it sucked in comparison.

18 years is pretty good. We had to put down a pair of cats that were brothers at 12 and 13 years of age, over the last year. Our 15 and 16 year old daughters got them when they were kittens and they really took it hard. The vet gave them little boxes with the ashes inside and their names on brass plates on the outside. I think there is truth in the "Rainbow bridge" deal but the best cure for our girls was new kittens. Now we have (2) female cats, one 12 months old and the other 2 months old, and everyone is happy again. I always preferred dogs, but the good thing about cats is that they are self-sufficient, and can be left in the house for long weekends with no issues, with plenty of water, and automatic feeder, and a big litter-box. You cant get away like that with a dog.

What if the steel was badly rusted ? Here is some advice for you: Think before you type.

Treated lumber can be safer than metal, because it will not corrode. What if the deer show up on your right side (assuming you are right handed)? It dont look like that seat swivels. I had that issue in a hang-on with a fixed seat last opening day. If I had a swivel seat, I would have been able to take a button buck to my right with a chip shot at 40 yards. Instead, I had to wait for the group of (3) antlerless deer to come back around to my left. They only closed to within 80 yards and switched positions (unnoticed by me), resulting in my killing of the mature doe (by accident). That mistake put an end to my deer sighting during gun season on that property last year. U-bolts are in the shape of a "U" with a piece of metal spanning the gap.

What I have done in that situation is to remove the lower section (usually about 8 ft long). That makes a nice camoflaged ladder to use somewhere else (actually is what I now use to get up to the second deck of the two-story blind that I killed my crossbow buck out of last season). Removing 8 ft, left the metal ladder stand platform a little too low at about 5 ft. The situation was easily corrected with a ladder extension made from treated wood 2x4's, and attached to the bottom with (4) metal u-clamps. Now the ladder stand is at the near-perfect (for me) 8 ft height. The wood extension can be made to any height necessary. Another option would be to cut a part off the lower section with a hacksaw or torch.

In areas of low hunter density (like most of the northern zone), this is my favorite hunting seat. It is super comfortable and you can shoot 360 degrees around relatively easy (biggest drawback to the one Jay posted that I see is that you can not do that). The only problem I found with the "tree hammock" is that it is bad in the rain because it fills up with water that runs off the tree, leaving you with a wet behind. The "tree hammock" seat is light and stows very compact, making it easy to carry. It is also quick to set up and take down. There are several manufacturers and cost is about $ 30.

With a bow, you make a good point. A gun or crossbow is a whole different deal however, because no sudden "draw" motion is necessary. This year's crossbow buck had me dead to rights for sure. He seemed to have some concern over that blind that had been there so many years. I am sure that he saw my head and shoulders, sticking out over the 3 ft wall, before I saw him. My feet were 7 ft off the ground on the upper deck. He was about 60 yards away and staring right at me, across an open field. We had locked eye-contact and I was literally afraid to blink. The stare-down lasted what seemed like a half hour. I blinked and he kept staring. Finally, he lowered his head and started walking closer. As he did that, I started moving my head down towards my scope in super slow motion. The crossbow was already up on the 3 foot wall and pointed in the right direction. I got my head down to it just as he entered the scopes field of view. He was now broadside, less than 20 yards away and the only thing I needed to move was my trigger finger. He never had a clue what hit him.

I no longer have any stands higher than 8 ft. Lots of rookies and inexperienced hunters tend to go up real high, to make up for the lack of experience and know-how. You will find that the longer you hunt, the easier it gets to kill deer from the ground, or at least closer to it. Both of my southern-zone locations are as flat as a pancake. In that situation, I am most comfortable hunting, when I am 6 to 8 feet above ground level. That is high enough to get me out of the crossfire, from shots by neighbors, and to let the ground act as a back-stop for my own shots. Comfort and safety are the primary concerns with keeping the stands that low. Like yourself, I am not comfortable hunting from the ground in areas high hunter density due to a few "close-calls", when I was on the receiving end of some bad shots by neighbors. I am even more concerned with where my own shots end up and getting a bit off the ground eliminates those concerns. Slightly more than half of my kills have been "one-shot" deals, but I am not afraid to empty the magazine if need be. Bullets or arrows are cheap compared to the value of venison. Except for a couple of hang-on stands, all of my ladder types and raised blinds have three foot high walls that are sided with weathered barn wood. That three foot high wall does three things. The most important is cover, so that I can get away with some movement. That is very important down low. Secondary functions are: gun or crossbow rest, and acts as a safety rail. You are mistaken in your belief that mature bucks can not be taken from permanent stands that have been in place for a long time. Check out the first buck in last season's crossbow harvest thread, for some proof of that. That particular 3.5 year old 8-point was killed from the 7 ft high upper deck (with a 3-ft barn wood wall) of a big 2-story blind, that had been in place for 15 seasons. A 2.5 year old buck was taken from the same spot 3 years before that, and another 3.5 (probably my heaviest buck ever) was taken from a similar two-story upper deck at another location in 2017. That blind had been in place 10 seasons. I

I think I was bitten by a brown-recluse spider in my western NY pop-up blind in 2018. I have not hunted out of that since. Snakes don't scare me much. Hogs are the biggest reason I like the deer hunting better up north. I have little use for pork on the table, but I love venison. I am thankful that those hogs don't make out very well in the cold. They are very easy to keep under control when the climate limits them to one litter a year. That is why we do not see much of them up here.

If they would go for that, it seems like a fair offer. My guess is that they would not, and that a bidding war will start. If someone else wins that, your situation may worsen. If you win it, your venison is going to get a a lot more expensive. A better option might be to work directly with the tenant. Maybe you could reach some type of mutually beneficial understanding whereby you and him would post the sons property, cutting off the "road-hunters". He would gain a bit more access your property (recovery rights with a phone call, etc.). That way, you really are not loosing much, but stand to gain something.

Whichever crossbow you choose, I would hunt deer only with a mechanical broad head. Culver recently posted a non-biased study that showed a significant advantage, in carcass recovery percentage, with a crossbow and mechanical broad head, compared to a crossbow with a fixed broad head or any type of broad head with a vertical bow. My own personal recovery percentage with a crossbow on deer has been 100 % (5 for 5) so I certainly can not dispute the results of that study. I have never tried a fixed broad head for deer in my crossbow (Barnett Recruit), and it is not likely that I ever will. Good luck with your crossbow. I have heard good things about the Centerpoints and I will probably buy one myself if and when full inclusion occurs, I fail to recover a deer with my Barnett, or if it breaks. Hopefully, I can get another season or two out of it anyhow.

HNY

Finally, someone has captured a photo of Stormy. Congrats .

It is possible to go overboard on the spending, practice, studying, etc., and many are guilty of that (I certainly was at one time). Hopefully, Next season I will not regret not taking a practice shot with my new 100 grain NAP mechanical broad heads, rather than trusting that they will fly the same as field tips that I will have verified to have weighed the same. If that does happen, at least Buckmaster will be able to say "I told you so". I really would like to maintain my 100% success rate with my crossbow, but I am not willing to spend $12 more dollars to help make sure of it. I can think of a many better uses for that "extra" cash.

The (6) mechanicals that I used look almost identical to that, but only use one o-ring. I killed (6) bucks with them (1 with my compound and (5) with my 300 fps crossbow), and every one opened on contact. I suspect two things contributed to the delayed opening in your case: Two o-rings, and the higher speed of you crossbow (you are probably close to 400 fps with that 10-point). I am going with 100 grain NAPs next year. They do not have o-rings but are made specifically for crossbows. I hope they perform as well as my last (6) o-ring style ones did. the results and performance of that broad head on your buck looks good to me. If you want better, a crossbow specific one (like a NAP) may do the trick.

Happy Birthday

I am not at all surprised that it was Allen fixed broadheads. Like I mentioned earlier, my guess is that they weigh a lot more than 125 grains. I should probably throw one of them on a postal scale to verify that. I will definitely make sure that my new 100 grain NAPS weigh the same as 100 grain field points but I will be damned if I will use a $ 12 mechanical broad head on a target (they did not come with a practice point). I always try and keep my cost of venison at less than $ 1.00 a pound. If and when I ever do upgrade my Barnett Recruit, I will likely go with a Centerpoint. I have not heard anything bad about them (other than the trigger and sight). For a 2-week season (and I don't ever expect that to change), I am very reluctant to part with any extra cash however, and the Recruit has got it done for me every time so far. I am hoping that changing to 100 grain broad heads next year will flatten it out a bit compared to the 125 grain that I had been using. When it was new, I could use the top dot out to 40 yards, but last season I needed the top one at 20, the middle at 30, and the bottom at 40. Before I put a new string/cables on it, I will buy a Centerpoint, and just keep the Barnett Recruit as a spare. That will not happen until the Barnett fails me on a deer, or breaks however.

Hopefully, you can find a nearby maple, oak, or poplar in an even better location. It was a little sad cutting down the group of ash trees that I killed my first antlered buck out of. My older cousin had put that one up more than 40 years ago. A few of the white-oak boards, that he used for steps, were from the original build and were still in half-way decent condition. I had rebuilt the main platform with treated lumber about 25 years ago. His original stand was just an old wooden pallet that he nailed between three different trees. There were so many old nails and lags in those trees that I needed to change the chain on my saw a couple of times while reducing them all to firewood. I tried to cut between the nails but some were so in-grown that I could not see them. I learned from that one that building a stand in a group of trees is a bad idea. It required re-work every year due to wind movement. There were no non-ash trees near that location, but my two story blind on the next hedge-row has been more productive anyhow (including my 8-pointer this year), and is way more comfortable in any type of weather conditions. When I was in that old "pallet" stand, I would often see deer walking by, just out of foster slug range, on the next hedgerow. Now they come by withing bow range.

Honestly, I will not miss the ash trees. Other that providing supports for tree stands, I have little use for them. I am really getting sick of burning ash firewood, because it lives up to its name and makes lots of ash, needing far more frequent cleaning than the oak, cherry, maple, and walnut that I fondly remember from the old days. Ash always had appeal to the folks, who did not want to season their firewood before burning it however, and was nice to have around on the years that were real cold, and I underestimated my firewood supply. It is the only wood I know of that burns quite well with no time for seasoning. The big-leaugers are going to need to figure out how to hit home runs with aluminum bats I suppose.

More than 3/4 of the deer that I have killed were from fence and ditch rows. Most of our farm was fields for many generations. After my grandad died, and we got rid of the livestock back in the early eighties, some of them are now largely overgrown. These fields were small, in the European tradition of the original settlers - mostly 3 - 5 acres in size. They are surrounded by thick hedge-rows like the ones that gave the GI's so much trouble in France after D-day. To this day, most of the large trees here are still in those old hedge-rows. Unfortunately, most of those trees were ash, which are now succumbing to the dreaded emerald ash borer. Just last year, I cut down the last of those, which supported an old tree stand. I was very thankful when that tree came down, that I had never taken a fall from one (I never used a safety harness), but sad at the same time when I though of all the "free meat" that tree has accounted for. All of my stands and blinds are now self-supporting, on treated-lumber posts, or attached to oak, maple or poplar trees. They are all still in the old hedge-rows however, and they are still producing deer. This one met his fate from one on November 2 of this year : After taking my arrow thru both lungs, he made it 150 yards across one of those little fields, and this is how I found him, just inside one of those hedge rows.