wolc123

Reading a couple of pages from the Bible, prior to leaving the house for the morning, or even while up in the stand while "on the hunt" hunt has helped me on several occasions, including this one from last fall: Keeping on good terms with He who controls the fate of all living things is the only "trick" that I depend on to keep my family very well provided with venison.

That was a bit further back (last year I got down to the last pack of grind). The bb last year was 100 pounds minimum field-dressed, per the PA chest girth chart, especially after adding the NY correction factor. Remember that in all 5 or 6 cases where members in addition to myself weighed and measured a deer, the PA chart came up short on the weight prediction. I have not carefully checked the edible meat prediction. I only personally killed two last year but I was given a couple by a neighbor. Those he gave me did not yield much meat (a doe fawn and a badly shot-up 2.5 year old buck) but I did have a few left-over roasts from 2017 last year (the vacuum sealed stuff keeps very well), and the two I killed were "massive" for their age class (6 months and 3.5 years). How is your supply holding out ? If you would like a few packs of vacuum sealed stuff (grind or roasts), send me a pm. I still have a few fawn roasts left for "special occasions". Cleaning out the freezer is a great motivator for the coming season. Don't be afraid to "send one" this bow season. It would be cool if you get another chance at that "goiter" buck. It looks like he has put on a few pounds this year.

This has been the busiest year I can remember, when it comes to non-hunting projects. I am thankful to have a couple extra weeks for planing, since I no longer bow-hunt (northern zone crossbow season opens October 16). Currently my plans are to hunt the last couple days of archery season (with my crossbow), and the first three days of muzzleloader, up in the northern zone. I burned 2-1/2 vacation days for that. I hope to get a little more "deer hunting practice" on squirrels at home with my pellet gun, on the next two weekends before that at home in the southern zone. I just removed the scope from that, and now it wears fiber-optic sights similar to those un my yet-untested Remlin 336BL, 30/30 deer gun. Killing a few squirrels with that pellet gun will boost my confidence for using those sights on deer later. After my northern zone crossbow/ML hunt, there will be a little break from deer, with some more squirrel hunting, but armed with a shotgun in case a fall turkey "target of opportunity" shows up as happened for me last year. I am still working on plans for the two week southern zone crossbow season, which starts in early November. I may try to place one more hang-on stand prior to that, but I am in pretty good shape with those that are ready now. Where I hunt on opening day of southern zone gun season will depending on what I observe while deer-hunting (5) of the (14) days of the southern zone crossbow season. I burned another vacation day for that crossbow season, plus have the two Saturdays and Sundays. I will have to be selective with my buck-tag on opening weekend and the next, to make room for what "might" happen next.... Thanksgiving morning deer hunt will be at home in a shotgun-only zone, then it will be back up north for a few days of northern zone rifle hunting. Those "paid Holidays" are sweet, and I am hoping for snow up there then. Almost every year that we have had it (and I still have a buck-tag), I have scored on an Adirondack buck. I took one last deer hunting vacation day - for "stretching" the last weekend of southern zone muzzleloading season. My buddies have a great camp, down in the southern tier. If I have a tag left for down there, that is where I will go. Otherwise I will be hunting at home with one or all of my (4) DMP tags (I have never been able to punch all of those). It looks like we will still have almost a hundred pounds of vacuum-sealed venison left in the freezer from last year on October 16. We go thru about 200 pounds per year. I don't think it will be too much trouble coming up with another 100 pounds before December 16 (my last deer hunting vacation day this year). Deer hunting is primarily about the meat for me.

"send it". There will only be one "first blood" on the NY Hunting forum.

I just watched that video on youtube. It brought me back about 30 years to my first archery kill. I had made a scent trail to my stand with doe in heat scent and a young buck came in on it, nose to the ground. My shot was low, resulting a a high front leg hit, much like the "clean track" dude in the video describes. My old Bear polar LTD compound was a little light on the poundage, and the three-blade 125 gr. Wasp broadhead did not penetrate very far, lodging high in the muscle of the opposite side upper leg. It broke a bone in the near side leg. Fortunately, it was a dry fall day and tracking conditions were good with all the dry fallen leaves. My buddy and I got on the trail, about a half hour after the hit. One of us always stayed with the last blood, while the other advanced. We "leap-frogged" the trail in this way for what seemed like a very long time. It seemed that the broadhead was continuing to cut up the deer and we would find stretches with good blood flow, and others where it was tough to find a drop. This went on until the late afternoon, when we eventually lost the trail near a grassy meadow on the top of a hill. My buddy walked the brushy area on one side of that meadow and I started around the other side. About half way around to where he was, I gave up and cut straight across the center, taking a short-cut to where he was. It had been quite a while since we had found even a single drop of blood, and we were about 2 miles from where the shot was taken, early in the morning. At that point, right there in the middle of that meadow, I almost tripped over the buck as it tried to lift itself up from it's second last bed. My buddy did not see the deer, only me fumbling to get an arrow knocked. I managed to get one thru its vitals. It was very worn down from our 1/2 day pursuit, and must have been low on blood, such that it only stumbled off another 30 yards or so, to its deathbed. On that deer, waiting would probably have been a mistake, because no "vitals" were struck. That would have allowed the wound to clot up and the deer probably would have recovered somewhat (other than the broken leg). Similarly, The dude in the video might have been better off getting a friend to help with an immediate pursuit, rather than backing out and waiting for the guy with the dog. That is especially true if he did not find his arrow.

It shouldn't be a problem as long as you got an old fridge in your garage that you could get a carcass into after skinning and cutting in half. Just be sure to prepare for the increased tick activity (Saywers , etc.).

It is always about the meat for me. I hope to get an antlerless deer up north (October 17-21), to replenish our supply of ground venison. We will be getting low by then (kids love venison tacos). An antlered buck on that hunt would have to be a 2.5 year old or older (only because they have more meat than 1.5's). My next hunt will not be until crossbow opens in the southern zone, when I will take any antlerless deer that presents a shot, but hold out for a 2-1/2 year old or older antlered (if I still have that tag), until noon on the first Friday of SZ crossbow season (the mid-point for me), after which, a 1.5 year old, 3" unicorn will be enough to earn my archery buck tag. When southern zone gun opens, once again it will be anything goes for antlerless deer, but I will hold out until Thanksgiving for a 2.5 year or older antlered one. There will be two reasons for that then, the main one being that I want to be able to hunt deer up North over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I missed that last year, having punched my tag on a big swamp buck at home on opening day. Of course there is also the fact that 2.5's or older bucks have a lot more meat on them than 1.5's which makes holding out for an older one a smart move for a meat hunter. After Thanksgiving weekend, the 1.5 year old, 3" unicorn will once again be in trouble, if I still have a buck tag, unless the freezer is already full of antlerless deer and an archery buck.

Thanks for your service and thanks for posting all those great videos of your canoe/camping/deer hunting trips. Watching them is the next best thing to going up there. Your videos help us all see that the real wonder of that area, is the beauty and scerentity of it.

I knocked a red squirrel out of a tree last Sunday with my pellet gun, but I could not find the carcass. No big deal, since they are too small to eat anyhow. I don't like them noisy little bastards and they seem to chase the greys away (which I do like to eat). The cheap scope on my $39 Dick's sale price Chinese Marksman .177 cal pellet gun has got to go. Horrible light gathering in the woods (it looked ok in the bright sunlight of the yard when I was sighting it in). The fiber-optic sights on that gun look pretty good, and those are what I will use on my next hunt. The view thru the scope was so bad, in the dark woods, that my only option was to aim for center of mass of the squirrel (at a 15 yard range) and hope for the best. The scope is going in the garbage. I was surprised that it seems to hold a decent group, in the bright sunlight, because it is mounted to the receiver and the barrel has to be tilted down and cocked to load the cylinder. The sights are both mounted to the barrel, which should result in better accuracy.

The last few years, I have been using (2) 8 foot, camo-painted ladders to access (4) stands over at my folks place. They are kind of noisy to carry around the woods. I am going to paint up a couple more and get them out there by the time Southern zone crossbow season opens. I completed my last stand move over there last Sunday, finding a cherry tree that was about 12" diameter, in just the right location. It is about 5 yards from the spot where I killed a big button buck last year, from a pop-up blind, with my crossbow. The shooting lanes I made for that are still opened up and will work good from the stand. The tree has good cover behind it and even had a burl in just the right spot to support the bottom of the stand, so that it does not sag and wobble on the strap. That one is on the edge of a clover plot where several nice bucks have been feeding regularly. It is going to be tough deciding if that is going to be my opening day of gun spot this year, or if I will go back to the one deep in the woods by the swamp, where I killed a nice 3.5 year old buck last year. I suppose that I will let the wind and weather make the call. At home, I still have to get the shooting lanes bush-hogged around a few stands. Maybe I can knock that off this Sunday afternoon if it is dry enough. All of my deer weapons except my crossbow are sighted in. That has never taken more than a half-hour, but I will try to get it done soon, just to make sure it is still in good shape. There is still time to get it repaired or replaced if necessary, prior to the October 16 northern zone opener. Until it breaks, or full inclusion happens, I am just going to see how many deer I can kill with that cheap, entry-level crossbow. If I keep my practice shots to a minimum, it might be good for another 5 or 10 years. Not bad for a $ 250 investment. It has produced nearly half of my family's venison since 2014 and has yet to let me down on a shot, or make me track more than 40 yards to find a carcass.

Coon hides are now worthless, but NY state allows landowners to trap "damaging" coons without a permit with no limits on number and no closed season. Outside of the normal trapping season (starts October 25), the carcasses have to be buried or burned. After October 25, you can just chuck them out in the fields for the buzzards. "Damage" is not clearly defined, but as long as you can show a nibbled kernal of corn and or a few downed stalks with coon tracks nearby, you should be ok.. They are not real fussy about enforcing that "damaging" definition, since the collapse of fur prices and the resulting demise of most trapping. If you don't bury them deep, the coyotes will dig them up. They burn good, because they are always loaded with fat.

I no longer hunt with a vertical bow, but since a crossbow is often considered "archery equipment", my first day might be October 17, up in the northern zone. If it is too close to dusk, by the time I get up there, my first day will be Friday, October 18, then it will be three more days of ML hunting before I drive home (no sense hunting with a 50 yard single-shot weapon when one good for 150 yards is legal). My second (or third) day of "archery" hunting will not be until around November 5 , when crossbow opens up in the southern zone. In between, I may head up north for a few days of rifle deer hunting, and I will definitely try to punch that fall turkey tag, at home with the shotgun, on a nice young tender hen. Those drumsticks were delicious in the crock pot last October.

I don't keep the livers from deer that are more than 7 months old, because I have nearly unlimited access to baby beef liver. Those from older deer are always a little on the tough side for my liking. Button bucks livers, on the other hand, are definitely in a class by themselves. They are so tender that they almost melt in your mouth (if cooked medium-rare or rare) and have better flavor than the finest baby beef liver. If my "free" supply of baby beef liver ever runs out, then I might keep and try a few from 1-1/2 year old deer again. I am thinking that those livers just might be tough because, like other red meat, they are subject to rigor-mortis. A week or so in the fridge, prior to freezing, might let that rigor-mortis work its way out, much like it does for the rest of the carcasses. I am changing my expectations just a bit, to hopefully include a 1-1/2 year old deer, so I can give that a try. The secret to the cojones (per Steve Rinella) is frying them in butter, and lots of pepper. Remember to cut a small slit in them prior to frying, or they will explode, making a mess of the Mermaid's stovetop.

I have struggled with that a bit over at my folks place the last few years. My dad is too worn down to help much and he does not have a loader tractor. This porker from 2017 had to be more that 190 pounds field-dressed (per the PA chest girth chart) and it was not too difficult to get it up on that rack without any help. It was a bit easier for me to get a 182 pounder on that rack last year (weighed on a "legal for trade" scale to shut up the PA chart nay-sayers). Throw the rear end up first, then the front or vise-versa. (It is only about a 10" lift). Those two were considerably easier than quite a few smaller deer, that I pulled a lot higher up into the bed of my pickup truck by myself, using the removed tailgate as a ramp. Loading deer at home or up at my in-laws by myself is much easier, thanks to having tractors with front loaders at both of those locations.

Lots of movies have mistakes that make the final cut, but no other that I know of, rose to the degree of naming the movie "The Deerhunter" and not showing any deer. Had I forked over the cash to see that one at the theater, I would have felt like I got robbed. I think that the mountain hunting scene, that Steve posted above, was filmed out on the West coast in the Cascade mountains. I suppose that was a lot easier on the budget than traveling east to PA would have been. Times were tough back then. These days, they can afford to travel east and almost shut down a whole WNY town for a month to make a movie.

Given the title of the film, it would have been nice if a "real" deer (aka: a PA whitetail, as the author of the book surely intended) at least made an appearance, don't you think ? At least they found a few old shoulder mounts to display in a few scenes, but a live whitetail or two would have moved the movie up a few notches for me. I also did not care for the Russian roulette stuff. The movie had some good stuff, but almost as much bad. The single biggest strike against it for me was the absence of any "live" whitetails. I am sure that went unnoticed by most of the non-hunting general public. The title was the only reason I watched the film. The only consolation for me was that I watched it on a free VCR tape and did not have to pay for a movie ticket or sit thru any commercials. At least one was apparently not bothered by the missing "deer".

Plus, you will be saving some Christmas trees. They do a lot of damage to those, starting their second year when they sprout horns..

I was disappointed with that one. Too bad they substituted European stags and Western elk for PA whitetails. Clearly, the Hollywood types have not got a clue when it comes to real hunting. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate that movie about a 6. At least the steel-mill scenes were realistic and the acting was good. I will go along with that and rate that movie a 10. The acting and directing was about as good as it gets. That is probably the movie that turns more people off from hunting than any other and has likely caused many to go vegan.

That is always my goal also. Other than with my crossbow, I did not do so good at that last season. The buck I killed with my shotgun took three shots (fortunately those three hits did not wreck too much meat). The bad hits there, and what I am 98 % sure was a clean miss later on a doe, were caused by a bad scope which I have now replaced. A branch, that I did not see, saved another doe from my ML later. I really feel the need to get back on track.

Our venison supply is still pretty good, for this time of year, so I could probably get by with one large deer or a couple of average sized ones this season. I have not seen many around home, but a "border-line" buck showed up here in fog behind the creek this morning, right at sunrise. His antlers were fairly thick and extended kind of far forward, but were not quite as wide as his ears. It was definitely a unique looking rack, that would make a nice euro. I could not quite make out if there were 3 points on a side in the fog, but if there was then he would be a shooter for me. The body looked to be a big 1.5 or possibly even a 2.5 year old. In the first half of crossbow and gun seasons, he might get a pass, but he would be a shooter for sure in the second half. I am planning to get out after squirrels with my pellet gun, over at my folks place tomorrow, on the other side of WMU 9F. They have been seeing quite a few deer over there, where I still need to reposition one hang-on stand. It is currently in a good squirrel spot, but before dark, I am going to move it to a better deer spot. My first hunts this season will be 1 day of crossbow, followed by 3 days of ML up in the northern zone. I am hoping for a doe or button buck up there for my antlerless tag. A buck would have to be a 2-1/2 year old or older, because I do not want to miss out on a chance at a bigger one with my crossbow at home. Fortunately, there is a fair amount of Ag around my in-laws place up there, so the deer are just as tasty as those killed around the crop fields back home. Punching that antlerless tag early up there would be great for our food supply. If I have to choose between a mature doe and a button buck up there, I will go with the doe, because there is still a clear browse line around the lake which tells me that the local deer population is above optimum. It is a different story at home though, where does seem to be few and far between probably caused by relentless "nuisance" permit hammering by local farmers. Since my venison supply is ok now, I will go for quality over quantity and give the button buck the first shot at home for a DMP tag, if an opportunity for an "either/or" pops up. I will be a happy camper with one 2.5 year old or older buck and one avg doe or button buck this season. I would be a bit happier with one more so I could give it to my brother-in-law. He raises beef cattle and makes the best jerky from half ground venison and half ground beef. He does not hunt and I let him down last year by blowing a couple of chances at does.

I killed my first antlered buck when I was 17, wearing a pair of those that were my grandfathers, and using his old Ithaca 16 gauge deerslayer. They just barely fit me then, and I outgrew them by the next season. My wife found a pair in in my size at an antique shop a few weeks ago. I am really looking forward to wearing them this season. If it is cold up north, during the early ML season (starts October 19), that will be my first chance to try them. I sighted in my ML last Sunday, along with that old 16 gauge Ithaca. I hope to get out at least once during gun season at home in the southern zone, with that old Ithaca, on my grandad's old farm, while wearing those Woolrich pants. I remember them being very warm, even if they got wet. She got the matching jacket also (size 44), but that is a little tight and I don't think I will keep it. Send me a pm if interested in the jacket ( $ 20 local pickup in WMU 9F)

5 low ladder stands (4-8 ft high), 3 low hang-ons (6-8 ft high), 1 "slightly" elevated box blind (5 ft high) and 3 "almost" ground blinds (2 ft high), on 100 acres of land in the southern zone that is almost as flat as a pancake. I am more comfortable hunting closer to the ground (never use a safety harness but have 3 ft safety rails all the way around most of the "higher" stands - except for the hang-ons), and staying low makes a "double-lunger" a lot easier. Last archery season, I killed one from a pop-up blind, right on the ground. I don't think I will ever try that again, because a spider (possibly a brown recluse) got me in there on my next hunt, and the snow load busted one of the poles during gun season. In the mountains up north, it is all on the ground, either still-hunting or seated in a "tree-hammock" chair. I find that the older I get, the less comfortable I am high up in a tree, and the easier it seems to be to kill deer from close to the ground.

I agree, and it was. It is also good to assume that every gun is loaded. That was the thought on my mind, when I looked at that little buck messing around with my rifle, as I stood down range. The gun was pointed in a safe direction (at the target backstop which consists of a huge mound of topsoil). There was no one else around, but the little buck was the "wildcard". I had killed lots of deer by the time that incident happened (maybe even that little buck's mother and/or brother) so I do not feel very comfortable downrange while it was standing next to my rifle. As far as your little agitator goes, I would shoot it with a paint-ball gun. Invite some kids over on youth weekend or crossbow season and see if they can take it out for you. That way, they will know for sure that they got the right one ("look for the big orange mark on the center"). Maybe offer a cash or prize reward if they get the job done.

I did not put a tape on it but it looked to be pretty close to that. I could only get the head into my 24" diameter rubber net and it seemed like close to half of it's length was hanging out of that as I held the tail with my other hand while lifting it into the boat. It was pretty well played out, using a light action spinning outfit with 8 pound line. I did not want to mess around with it any longer than necessary in the boat, to give it a better chance of survival, so I did not put a tape measure on it. I wet my hands before touching it, and it swam right down to the bottom when I tossed it back so I think it probably made it. They have to be 54 inches to keep out there now, and it was certainly no where near that. I just put a tape measure on the one that is up on the wall in our billiard room (I got that idea from George Bolt from the one at his place on Heart island up on the St Lawrence). I caught it in the same same spot, on the upper Niagara about 20 years ago (when they only had to be 44 inches long). It measures 47" dried out and mounted (I think its "live" length was 48"). The one from labor day was definitely shorter (and lighter) than that one. My best guess would be 39-1/2 inches or so. That particular spot (just a little upstream of the South Grand Island bridge, near the island shore) must be a real hot-spot for them. Last year, during a bass tournament, one about the same size came up and pulled a decent sized smallmouth right off my jig up on the surface before I could get it in the boat. That bass looked to be at least 15 inches long. In my younger days, I fished for musky's a lot but these days they are all "accidental" catches. They really do love those little 1/4 oz bucktail jigs though, probably seeing them as an "after dinner mint". Musky's are a smelly, not particularly good eating fish (I ate a few back in the day when thye only had to be 30" long to keep), but they are fun to catch. I don't think there are any smarter fish, when it comes to knowing how to get away after they are hooked.

I had a doe charge me multiple times, coming within about 5 feet before veering off, snorting the whole time. That also happened in early September, back by my pond. I was wearing some old camo coveralls, that had been hanging for about a year out in the barn, so they were pretty scent-free. It was early goose season, so I had a shotgun in one hand and my fishing rod in the other when I walked back to the pond. I don't think the doe had any clue what I was. It was very hot that afternoon, and she was cooling off in the water with a fawn. She charged, when I got within about 50 yards. I tried to ignore her and sat down on the bank and made a few casts. She kept up her bluff charges, until I hooked a bass and it began flopping and splashing around. That got her attention and scared her. She and the fawn promptly high-tailed it into the brush. She did not scare me one iota (maybe because I was very well armed with my 12 gauge pump, loaded with 3" steel # 2's). I was just a little scared of a little buck back there one time however. Not scared of being charged but scared of being shot by my own rifle. It also happened in early September, on Labor day weekend. I was back at the range, sighting in my 30/06. It was up on a shooting cradle, pointed down-range, and I was at the backstop changing targets, 100 yards away. I saw the little buck (spike or fork-horn) walk out of the brush. He walked right up to the shooting bench. He must have liked the smell of burnt powder, because his muzzle was right next to that of my rifle. I hoped it was unloaded, and that he did not knock it off the cradle, resulting in an "accidental discharge".