wolc123

I’m in for the last 20 minutes of sun, plus 30. I noticed lots of deer scat on this little clover plot, on my walk back Sunday evening, so I’m trying to catch one out for an early bite tonight. I’m not going to be fussy and I am in pure “brown-down” mode. I have two dmp tags and my buck tag left in my wallet. It looks like we are having a stretch of perfect carcass-hanging weather, over the next week, and it would be a shame to let an open hook in our insulated garage go unused thru that. I think my odds of a little deer action tonight are ok, because I had to get on the brakes hard to miss a doe just up the road a bit, on my drive home from work just moments ago. Also, a fresh stick of Evercalm arrived in the mail today, so hopefully having that open next to me covers up my scent from those approaching from downwind. I also treated my rubber boots with a little, prior to my 350 yard walk to this stand. Now, if I can just get one of these 2-3/4” 12 ga Hornady SST’s thru a shoulder blade or (3), all will be well. I don’t have much time for tracking.

“Quick draw” handles made from chain links, hinge pins, hooks, and duct tape:

Another vote for an entry-level Barnett here. I paid about $ 250 for my 300 fps Recruit, back in the spring of 2014, after they were first legalized in NY for deer hunting. It has held up very well for the last 8 years. It certainly is not the fastest, but there is something to be said for “not pushing the envelope” when it comes to durability, longevity, and ease of use. Other than the ends of the serving loosening up a little on the string (I was able to repair that in under 5 minutes, with a little loop of fishing line, used to pull the ends back under), it has been completely trouble free. I bought it for hunting, and it’s performance has been nearly flawless. All but one of the (5) whitetail bucks, that I shot it at, died within hearing or seeing distance of taking the bolt. The (5th) one probably would have also, had I not used the same mechanical broadhead on a second deer without resharpening the blades. I found that one about an hour after the shot, after a somewhat lousy 100 yard blood trail. While it has got the job done every time on deer (and this coyote a few weeks ago), it did let me down on it’s first shot at wild game, in October of 2014. I missed a grouse, on an overhead shot at close range, during the 3-day northern zone crossbow deer season that year. I thought about having it restrung a few years ago, but opted to purchase a second entry-level crossbow instead (Centerpoint sniper 370). That one is ok also, but I prefer the light-weight and easy-handling Barnett Recruit most of the time. When it comes to hunting, I definitely prefer having two decent entry-level crossbows over one expensive high-performance model. I lost the rope-pulley device for the Recruit, in the excitement after killing my largest-ever bodied antlered buck with it, back in 2017. On my next few dmp hunts that year, I was able to draw it by hand, but it was tough on the fingers. I made up a couple hooks, using small pieces of chain, and they work great for a fast draw, maybe even enabling a quick second shot, if it was ever needed.

The rain has let up. But the wind has picked up to about 60 mph. Lots of widow/makers are coming down, so I’m going to break early for lunch.

I could only hold out for the first two hours after sunrise, in my swamp-edge hang-on stand this morning. That little thing is not made for sits longer than 2 hours in good weather. No action at all there early this morning, not even a squirrel. The wind was gusting close to 30 mph from the SW, and the light scattered rain started getting heavier around 9:30. At that time, I made the 400 yard move, to my two story truck-cap blind. I’ve never killed anything from downstairs of this one, but did take what was likely my largest-ever bodied buck (43” chest girth) from the upstairs with my crossbow, about 6 years ago.lol I shot my gun-season buck last year from another blind, here at my parents place. He ran past and died within 50 yards of this one, after taking this 20 cent, 16 ga Remington slugger from my old Ithaca. That slug never exited his rib-cage. It fell out from under the hide, when I skinned him. It knocked chunks of busted rib all the way through, so that there was a decent, 75 yard long blood trail on the snow, spraying from both sides. I’d be happy if my old Ithaca 16 gauge could get it done on a unicorn with a single 3-1/4” spike today. I’ve gone thru a quart of cider and my last snicker bar this morning and I am now completely out of provisions. I guess that I should have rationed my supply better. Hopefully, the rain lets up soon, so I can make it to lunch with my parents, without getting too wet. This blind has the solid end facing the prevailing wind direction (SW), and is super comfortable on horizontal-rain days, like today. My tree umbrella is nearly useless in those type of conditions. What’s best about these two-story models, is the instant that the rain stops I can go upstairs, where there are no “blind spots”. I still need to break in the first floor of this one, with a deer kill. So far, I have only killed squirrels from down here. There’s been about a dozen deer and a coyote killed from the upstairs of the similar one, that I have at home, and about half of that from it’s lower deck.

175 lbs 14 oz field dressed if harvested the day of that picture. Hind quarters look thin, typical of a late post-rut buck. Would have been about 193 lbs field-dressed on October 30.

I didn’t make it to my swamp edge stand last Sunday afternoon, as I had planned. My parents heard (4) shots back in that area in the morning, so I thought my stand on the other side of their woods might be better. I didn’t see anything there though. The swamp edge stand has always been a better morning spot for me. It’s been quite a few years, since I still had a buck tag this deep into the season, but I am thinking that I might have a good chance of punching that this Saturday morning, from that swamp edge stand. It will be 1 year and two weeks since the last time I hunted it. Three years ago, on the Third Saturday morning of gun season, two bucks chased a doe twice by that stand, the second time around, passing directly under it. My buck tag was long gone, and my Marlin 512 froze up, allowing that doe to escape unharmed. I’m hoping that the bucks do go deep. I don’t have a deeper spot, than that stand. I can’t ever recall taking an antlered buck after Thanksgiving weekend, but I like my odds this Saturday. I’ll be packing my old Ithaca 37 16 gauge. That thing never fails to get the job done, no matter how cold it is.

Gross maybe, but lots of asymmetric reductions there, which would reduce the net.

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.