wolc123

It has been about 20 years, since I hunted that area, but I had my first encounter with Adirondack deer there (in a little patch of thick brush about a hundred yards off the main highway, across the road from Galusha's camp on Lewey lake). I knew there were deer in the area, because I found some hair on a barbed-wire fence at the back of an old pasture. I got down wind of the area where I figured they were holed up. When they busted out of the cover, the three that I got my crosshairs on all lacked headgear. Another one (left a much bigger set of tracks), ran off in another direction, and I was quite certain it was a buck, based on the size of the tracks that it left in the mud.

Are you going for the early ML season ? What areas are you looking at ? I will be up there (on the North-West corner of the Adirondack park) in October, for a couple days of crossbow and the first three days of the early ML season. Does are legal then in zone 6C, but not across the road in zone 6F, so I will spend most of my time in 6C. If I do manage to fill my "antlerless only" tag, I will cross over to 6F, because there are more bears on that side of the road. I have taken a few does up there at that time of year, but never had a good chance at a buck at that time. They are a lot easier to find after the first good snow (I have killed a couple up there over the long Thanksgiving weekend). This has been a much colder than average year so far though, so maybe we will see some snow up there in mid-October It sounds like you will be near water. If there is a distinct browse line, on the pines around the lake, then you will know you are in an area with a good deer population. If there are green pine branches hanging down to the water, it would be best to move on to a different spot. I also look forward to the fishing at that time of year, especially when it is a little warmer. A few years ago, I caught my biggest smallmouth in a long time up there in mid October (on a bucktail jig). A day or two later, I killed one of the does that was keeping the "snags" trimmed all around the lake shore for me. I usually hunt the mornings and late afternoons and fish mid-day. I can't think of any place on the face of the earth where I would rather be at that time. Certainly there is no finer scenery anywhere else. It is a toss-up, as to which is better up there - peak fall foliage and spectacular fishing, or first good snow-cover in the mountains and great buck hunting.

Those are some very nice looking flies you have made. I am also looking forward to tying some more this winter after my "free-time" schedule opens up a little. A bass-fishing buddy called me the other day and said his dad retired and is moving out of state and he wondered if I wanted his old fly-tying equipment. I have not done trout flies in many years, but it might be time to try that again. Back when I was a kid in 4-H, showing livestock at the Erie county fair, there was often an older gentleman from Trout unlimited tying trout flies in the conservation building. I would head over there every day, after feeding the animals, sometimes bringing him fancy hackle feathers that I found in the chicken barn. He taught me how to tie and I would spend hours up there every day. His favorite pattern was the "Royal Wulf" which he said worked wonderfully down on the Wiscoy creek. I think that pattern, a slight variation of the "Royal Coachmen", used calf's tail hair for the wing. We stayed very close to the launch, probably burning less than 3 gallons, so the cost per pound of fish was kept to a minimum. I had to run some stabilized gas thru the boat anyhow, to get it ready for winter, so I thought a short jaunt out on the river would be better than running it with muffs and a garden hose in the driveway. I don't waste much cash on modern equipment either. Notice the Eagle silenty-sixty on the dash next to my box of bucktail jigs. I paid about $ 80 for that back in 1981 and it is still going strong.

I tie bucktail jigs, mostly for smallmouth bass fishing. That saves me lots of cash (don't need to buy bait or much tackle and family gets to eat "free fish" throughout the year. The deer tails are "free" (If I cant shoot enough, I pick some off road kills) and I pour my own heads. I only need to buy the hooks and I get a couple years out of a $ 5.00 hundred-pack. On Labor day, I used a few of those jigs to finish securing our winter's fish supply, with a limit of smallmouths from the Upper Niagara. I did loose one jig out there on a snag and almost lost another on a 40 inch musky. Fortunately, he was hooked on the outer lip and I got him into the boat to remove it with the needle-nose pliers.

I use those cheap hand-held Earthway bag/broadcast spreaders for fertilizer on plots under an acre in size, and for seeding wheat and soybeans, even on larger plots (up to 3 acres). For broadcasting fertilizer, on larger plots, I use an old 3-point Cyclone spreader that holds a couple hundred pounds. I paid $ 25 for that at the Alexander Steam show about 15 years ago. The Earthway slipped off the hood of my tractor and got crushed by a loaded rear tire on Tuesday night, just as I was getting ready to sow wheat and soybeans. No big deal, because it was on its third season anyhow and ready for replacement (fertilizer is kind of tough on them). Fortunately, I had an old Cyclone bag/broadcast spreader in the barn (I think I got it for $ 5.00 at the Alexander steam show a couple years ago), that had never been used on fertilizer. After patching a couple holes in the bag with duct-tape, and re-tying the broken strap, it worked very well on the soybeans and wheat. For tiny seed like clover and turnips, I like those little plastic Scotts hand seeders the best, regardless of plot size. It seems to me that many foodplotters go way overboard with their seeder/spreaders, when a $ 19 , hand-held Earthway would get the job done just fine. I can't believe all the ATV mounted spreaders out there. By the time they get that out and hooked up, they could have the job done with the Earthway.

Wheat costs $ 8.00 for a 50 pound bag at Rinehart's in Middleport and is significantly more attractive to deer than cerial rye. With some difficulty (broke and "farmer fixed" a drag and wrecked a cheap broadcast seeder), I was able to get a couple acres planted last night, finishing up just before 9:00 pm. September 10 is the earliest date recommended for planting winter wheat in NY, to reduce Hessian fly damage. That wheat was seeded light at 30 pounds per acre, but I also broadcast 20 pounds per acre of soybeans and 5 pounds per acre of white clover. Normally, I cultipack after spreading the wheat and soybeans, then again after the clover, but I seeded all prior to cultipacking just once last night to save some time. Cultipacking by moonlight with no lights on tractor was not overly difficult. If I had more daylight available, I would have done it twice, because I have always had great germination results on the clover and the wheat and beans when doing it that way. I am a little worried that the clover seed might have got pushed in a little too deep, but I won't find out about that until spring. Frost-seeding another 5 pounds/acre into the wheat then might be a good idea. Big rain (about 3/4 inch) that came in after midnight should get all that was planted going now. I spread 50 pounds/acre of triple 15 fertilizer (leftover from no corn planting this spring) prior to last pass with disk on those plots yesterday afternoon. That should give the wheat a boost. The small areas of purple-top turnips that I planted at the end of both plots in late July are over a foot tall now and I hit them with a bit more fertilizer last night before the rain. The deer by me never touch them until the first hard frost.

There is quite a variation in the size of button bucks. I rarely shoot the little ones. The one that I killed last year with my crossbow yielded more boneless meat than many of the mature does that I have processed during gun season. Very little fat, and no gun shot damage conserves meat. That was the first one I shot since 2012, and I actually thought it was a mature doe at the time. I was happy to find out that it was not, because, like I said earlier, I do not enjoy all the extra time it takes to trim the fat from doe during processing. Do you enjoy the flavor of doe fat ? Do you like it sticking to the roof of your mouth ? I would like it if I never had to process another doe, but that is not likely unless NY allows three bucks for those who purchase ML, archery, and gun hunting permits. Another big advantage of killing button bucks is that they can be processed much sooner after killing because the younger the red-meat bearing animal, the faster rigor mortis releases. If I allow the carcasses the proper time to age, then I can not tell the difference in the meat from a 1-1/2 thru a 3-12 year old deer (I have killed few if any older than that). 6 month old venison is definitely in a class by itself however, literally a meal fit for a king (or a prodigal son who has returned). It is too bad that you and many others have such little appreciation for such "fine dining". I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity of enjoying at least one every other year for the past 36 seasons that I have been hunting (In 2014 a buddy killed on for me and in 2016 I finished off one that a car hit at the end of our driveway with my knife). I cherish the memory of all the button bucks I have killed as much or more than many of the antlered bucks and more than all but two of the does (Adirondack ML kills). They include my first gun deer, my first bow deer, my last crossbow deer, my only late ML kill, and a fair number that got to make that short trip to "deer heaven" (my family's food supply), as part of a "double" along side of their mommas.

I have caught about a dozen thru the years, in box traps that I set in the corn which are intended for coons. I have heard about the blanket/drown trick, and a buddy from work used it with 100 % success, in an urban area where discharge of firearms was prohibited. I never tried that for three reasons 1) Gunfire is legal at my place, 2) I have no interest in skinning a skunk and selling it's hide, 3) I am scared to get that close to a live skunk. My method has also been 100 % successful. I normally carry my Ruger 10/22 when checking the traps. If I find a coon in one, I go back for a shotgun (12 or 16 gauge). I stand about 15 yards upwind and aim for the center of the head of the skunk in the trap. At that range, the pattern (from a modified or I/C choke) is dense enough to put the lights out, prior to spray release, but not tight enough to damage the trap. Each species gets a unique "dispatch". Coons are the easiest, with a single .22 shot, to an x formed between the eyes and the ears. Possums get that and a second shot thru the lungs as they often "play possum", without that second shot (they have a tiny pea-sized brain).

I see quite a variation in WNY. In my home WMU (9F), almost half are black like that. I use the tails for tying bucktail jigs. The smallmouth bass seem to prefer the brown ones - they must look more like "real" crayfish. I use the black tails for a minnow pattern jig that works a little better on walleyes and northern pike, but I seldom target those.

If the rain hold off, I am going to mix a little bit of soybeans in with the winter wheat and white clover that I will plant tomorrow. I know of nothing that is more attractive to deer than young, green, sprouting soybeans. They will probably walk past white oak acorns to get them. If we get a late frost, that might be "dynamite" after October 1. I don't care about "pods", and neither do the deer, from what I have observed. The only time they really hit the soybeans hard are when they are young and green, way before the pods start to form. Why not time that to when you can actually kill them ?

If this guy lives on the land adjacent to your lease, then it would be a lot better for both of you to get things "smoothed" out. There does not have to be a "looser" in the situation. Maybe try inviting the guy over for a beer and see if you can get things resolved peacefully. I had a similar situation over at my folks place a couple years ago. No guns were involved, and the roles were somewhat reversed. Their farm is about 1/2 open fields in the front, and an "L" shaped hardwoods in back. There is a big overgrown field, inside of the "L", that had been "no-mans-land" for about 10 years. The original owner passed away, and the kids never paid the taxes. Literally everybody and their brother hunted that field over that time, many of them coming from a trailer park that is on the other side of the base of my folks "L" shaped woods. I had two tree stands close to that field, both of which I thought were in my folk's woods. A new neighbor, on the next road, bought that field in a tax-auction two years ago. Shortly thereafter, my dad called and reported that there were "nasty" notes, threatening litigation, etc. on those two tree stands. The fella had the land surveyed, and it turned out that one of the stands was 10 feet on my folk's side of the line, but the other was about 30 feet on his side. The guy had plastered posted signs about every 50 feet along the line. My dad was a little upset over the deal, and asked that I call the guy, who had written his number on the notes. I called him immediately, and arranged a meeting the following weekend (one weekend before opening day of gun season). He turned out to be alright, especially after he learned that those stands belonged to the son of the owner of woods on two sides of his new purchase. He let me move the one stand off his land, and I also moved the other a little farther from the line. He gave me permission to follow wounded deer onto his land, and my dad reciprocated, but he asked that I call him first. I took him deep into my dad's woods, to the two story blind from which I had killed what might be my heaviest ever buck the weekend prior, with my crossbow. He showed me some trail camera photos of that buck on his smart phone. Later on into gun season, I watched a young buck walk out of my dad's woods. across his field, but I held my fire and ate my buck tag that gun season. Fortunately, I got a doe later at home and my crossbow buck was HUGE, so we ended up with enough venison. The first year that guy moved in was good for me but last year was better yet. His energetic posting and pursuit of tresspassers has completely eliminated all of that from my folk's woods. I would always haphazerdly put up a few signs every year, but I do not remember a weekend hunt over there during gun season when I did not see at least one tresspasser. The new guy cut them off entirely. Now all I see is deer when I hunt over there. I killed a slightly lighter (per the PA chest girth chart), but larger-racked 3.5 year old buck over there on opening day of gun season. I called the guy (who was down at his dad's southern tier camp) and asked if I could drag it across the corner of his field (to get around a swamp). He gave me the ok and asked for a picture of the buck. I sent him one and he sent me back some trail cam photos of it. I had never killed a mature buck on that property, before this new guy moved in, and not even an immature "antlered" one over the 10 years that field was a "free for all". Now, it has been a 3.5 year old buck for me on two consecutive years, and an added bonus for me last year was what might be my largest ever button buck.

I also prefer to kill bucks because they are a lot easier and faster for me to process. Does always contain a much higher percentage of body fat. That is responsible for much of the "gamey" flavor that folks complain about with venison. It takes a lot more time and effort for me to trim that away on a doe. Unfortunately, NY state only allows two bucks per hunter (one bow one gun) and my family of (4) consumes (4) average sized deer per year. Since I am the only hunter in the family, that usually means one or two of them needs to be a doe (I am very thankful that dmp tags are good on button bucks). I would really love to see NY offer three buck tags, to those who purchase archery, gun, and ML licences. I never feel real good about killing a doe, because I know it will keep me from killing any future male offspring, and because I know it will cost me hours of lost time trimming fat. I know that it is necessary to kill does, to keep numbers in check, so I make that sacrifice and put in the time. By contrast, every buck killed is a joyous event with no bad feelings whatsoever, regardless of antler size. A button buck is a specially valued "prize" because it does not cost me a buck tag and it has eating quality second to none.

During the rut, I only took the Friday before Veteran's day. More often than not, that is all it takes to get the job done with the crossbow.

I toss them in a crockpot with some cream of mushroom soup. Sometimes mixed with a rabbit or two. The squirrel is always the best tasting and very tender after about 6 hours on "low". For prep, all I do is skin, gut and cut off the head, feet and tail. The remains goes into the crockpot as one big piece. Easy prep, easy cook, and great tasting "almost free" meal. The squirrel tastes so good that I never mind spending the time to pick every last bit of meat off the bones.

Sounds like a good time. I hope to find some time to get out there with my "Marksman" .177 cal pellet gun over the next few weeks. It has the worst trigger that I have ever felt on a gun, but for $ 49 with scope, I guess I should not expect much. If I keep my shots under 20 yards, I might do ok. After turkey season opens up, I will be carrying my 870 12 gauge with 3" # 5 shot loads until my turkey tag is punched. That got the job done on a squirrel "target of opportunity" last year, and that tasted very good in the crock-pot along with a couple of wild hen turkey drumsticks. If the pellet gun works out alright, I may never hunt them tree rats with a .22 again.

I am looking forward to hunting season, mostly for a little relaxation. Work schedule has been hectic, and after work "work" schedule even more hectic. Most years, it is all about the "free meat", but my wife has also been busy, and has not had time to cook many meals at home. It looks like we will have about half of our normal year's supply left-over in the freezer from last season, on October 16 (first day I will deer hunt the northern zone crossbow season). Tons of work remains to be done between now and October 16, but jobs are dropping fast now that the weather is finally starting to cooperate. I plan on jumping the gun just a little and getting some winter wheat planted this Sunday (not normally recommended before September 10 in WNY). I knocked off most of our firewood supply last weekend, but did not have time to check the zero on a few of my deer guns like I usually try to accomplish by Labor day. A few things "different" this hunting season that would be nice: 1) Killing a deer at home with no standing corn nearby 2) Killing an antlered buck in the early northern zone ML season, or the late southern zone ML season (just button bucks for me there so far). 3) Killing a buck up north with my new Marlin lever action 30/30, hopefully while wearing the 1950's Woolrich red-checkered hunting pants that my wife recently found in my size. I killed my first antlered buck wearing a pair of those that were my grandfather's when I was 17, but outgrew them before I turned 20.

All I got is Wolcottsburg NY Happy birthday Tacks

Of (6) deer that I killed with 55 and 65 pound compound bows, (3) were pass-thru and all those were with fixed broadheads. I only used a mechanical on (1) of them, and it did not pass thru, but it did put the deer down within 40 yards. (3) of (4) that I killed with my 150 pound / 300 fps entry-level crossbow were pass-thru and all of those were with mechanical broadheads. All of crossbow deer expired within 40 yards from where they took the bolts. That adds up to 60 % pass-thru. The only one that did not pass thru with the crossbow was a bit beyond the effective range of that "junior" model (59 yards). I underestimated the range a bit and I only got 8" of penetration with the bolt (fortunately in a good spot). The penetration achieved at a 17 yard range was incredible however, once passing diagonally thru the body of a 2.5 year old "quartering to" buck, entering just behind the shoulder blade on the inboard side, and exiting the ham on the outboard side, then burying a few inches into the dirt. That was the only one that I saw drop dead, but the mechanical made a bit of a mess of the gutting job.

The "Especials" are ok, but I like The "Negras" a lot better. A bit pricey for me, but my father in law always has his fridge stocked with them, at his lakeside retirement home up in the Adirondacks. October 16 and the opening of Northern zone crossbow season can't get here fast enough. Until then, I will be getting by ok at home with Genny Octoberfests.

When I was 16, I missed the first antlered buck that I ever shot at with iron-sights. The next season, I put a 1-1/2 power Weaver scope on that old Ithaca 16 gauge slug gun and have mostly used scopes since then. Over the years, since that first iron-sight mishap, I have shot at (3) more deer with them, using my Remington 870 smoothbore slug gun with. Two of those were clean (1) shot kills at about 50 yards, which is the range that I always sight that gun in at. The third was also a clean kill, but took (2) shots. Hunting at home, I only use the slug gun with iron sights on extremely rainy days. A button buck stepped out of the cover, as soon as the pouring rain stopped, and was feeding on clover about 100 yards away. My first shot was clearly high, as indicated by the patch of dirt that flew up behind him. He was not bothered much by that shot, just raised his head briefly and went back to feeding. I aimed a tad lower and brought him down in his tracks with my second shot, striking the spine at the shoulder. I have several enclosed blinds around home now, so I may not use the iron sights anymore around here. When hunting up in the northern zone with my Marlin 336BL, I will use fiber-optic iron sights on rainy days. Those seem to work real well in low light situations. If you are real concerned about low-light situations it would likely be simple to mount some of those on your garand. If I had one, I would definitely want to try it on a deer and I would use the factory sights, but I would only take the shot if I was comfortable with the sight picture. That might mean sleeping in a little later, or packing it up early. I am very comfortable with iron sight, because I take thousands of practice shots with them every year. Most of those involve cutting suspended beer cans in half, with an adult-stocked Daisy red-ryder bb-gun, off the back deck. 5000 bb's costs just $ 5.00. The only "real" bullets that I fire are at "real" deer and to check the zero on my weapons each season.

Spot on there for sure. I remember making trips, up the the Indian Lake area in the Adirondacks on two consecutive years, about 20 years ago. The first year I studied the maps and trecked deep into the 7 million acre Adirondack park, finding no sign of deer anywhere. The next year, I said "screw that" and concentrated on the thick brushy cover areas, just a stones throw from the main highway. That is where they were, and I finally got my first look at some Adirondack deer when I had a gun in my hand. Unfortunately, the three that I got my crosshairs on when they busted out of the cover were all antlerless, but a much bigger set of tracks went off in the other direction, and I am fairly certain they belonged to a mature buck. Some may have success trecking deep into the woods, but I fear that most of them are quite clueless and believe too much of what is printed in magazine articles. That is the best thing about these internet forums - the truth can get out. It took me another 10 years, before I finally broke the ice and killed my first Adirondack deer (initial shot fired with my ML about 50 yards from the lane to our rented cabin and the old "boss" doe actually expired right on the lane). Two of the three that I have killed up there since then were also within a mile of a main highway (another ML doe, and a 1-1/2 year old 6-point). My only mature buck up there was taken just a little bit further in (maybe 1-1/4 mile off the main highway). Sometimes, I think your odds of killing a mature deer would be improved if you do just the opposite of what is printed in the magazines. Those deer did not reach maturity by accident or by being predictable.

Don't forget the nuts. You are really not a true Steve Rinella fan until you fry up some of those in butter with lots of pepper. tip: cut a little slit in them first so they do not "explode" in the frying pan.

The Navy base study on recovery rates that Culver posted, for mechanical vs fixed broadheads, finally shed some non-biased light on that subject. I was not at all surprised to see that crossbows with mechanical broadheads came out on top, when it comes to recovery percentage, compared to crossbows with fixed, or vertical bows with fixed or mechanical broadheads. That study agreed with my own personal experience, which has been 100 % recovery with crossbow/mechanical (4 for 4), but significantly less with vertical bow fixed and mechanical. I have yet to try a fixed broadhead on a deer with my crossbow, and probably will not after reading that study. There is no question for me, that the crossbow is less likely to result in a non-recovered deer. There is no limit to the pre-concieved notions floating around on the internet, but seldom do we see such a scientific, non-biased, fact-based study results posted.

The 1.5 year old spike that I shot was killed on October 22, The other two were killed 4 and 5 days earlier (a very wide rack, est 4.5 year old 5 x 5 and a medium sized rack, est 2.5 year old 4 x 4). We butchered them out there, hauled the boned-out meat home in coolers, and split it up equally when we got home. It all tasted bad according to the other guys. The brother-in-law of one of my buddy's, who is a CO resident and set us up out there, loves to come up to WNY, because our whitetails "taste so much better". He actually prefers that over Colorado elk (I think they are about equal) but I don't know if he has ever tried a pre-rut mule deer. He did not want anything to do with the meat from the mule deer that we killed out there and could not seem to get it into our coolers and out of his butcher shop fast enough.

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