wolc123

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

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

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

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

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

I was very Thankful for this Thanksgiving morning dmp-tag buck this morning, after missing my first opening weekend of sz gun season, in 40 years. The wind was from the south, about 5 mph, when I headed out back, 1/2 hour before sunrise. I had showered with scent free soap and wiped my boots with Evercalm. As I walked back, to the south, along the hedgerow that my natural blind is in, I noted a dark shape up ahead about 150 yards away. It saw me at the same time, lifted its tail, and ran to the far side of the field. I continued to the blind. At about 15 minutes sunrise, deer began converging on my position from three different directions. I didn’t see antlers on any of them. The first “loner” that came out looked a little smaller than another, that was also closer. I swing around to the bigger one, which was in the middle of my turnip plot, about 50 yards away. I didn’t have a good rest in that direction (or I would have gone for a shoulder blade shot), so I held center lung offhand, and squeezed the trigger. The “buck” mule-kicked and bolted into a half-acre patch of brush. I had a shooting lane behind that, in the direction he went, which he never crossed. The doe that I heart shot, from the same stand, had ran into the same brush patch and dropped dead in that shooting lane, about 75 yards from where she took the 240 gr xtp from my .50 cal ml. This buck, that was double-lunged with a 12 ga Hornady sst, only made it about 50 yards, but was a lot tougher to find. Those damn things don’t make very big holes, and the blood trail, on the little bit of remaining snow, just about petered out after about 25 yards. After loosing that, I circled that little patch of brush and found no blood trails leading out of it. Going back to the last drop, I made a half circle and found that he had turned 90 degrees. He made it almost to the edge, where I found him, sprawled out. It took me almost a half hour to find him. Tale of the tape: left spike: 2-3/4”, right spike: 1”, chest girth: 37-1/4”. My favorite things about this deer are: 1) legal to tag with a dmp. 2) bucks are much faster for me to process than does, because they always have a lot less fat to trim out of the meat. 3) (2) Oysters (yum yum). 4) Get to keep the antlers.

You ain’t kidding there. I never have seen this much snow up here. My father in law had some snowshoes that he says I can use. They have been seeing quite a few deer the last few days, but none with antlers. I came real close to taking out a big buck with our suv, on rt 81 in Sandy creek about an hour ago. It was standing broadside in the right lane. I was doing 75 when I saw it. I breaked hard and swerved at the last minute, probably getting within an inch of it. Looked like a solid 3.5 yr plus 8 or 10 point.

I picked up a second deer heart this morning, and this one is in good shape. My 12 ga sst slug passed thru a few inches above it. I blew the top off of my other one this year, on an early antlerless-season doe, with my ML. Hopefully, I’ll end up with a few more hearts before the end of the Holiday ML season. If not, my brother in law says he has (4) beef tongues for me. Pickled tongue is very good also. Those on whitetails are just too small to bother with. The recipe is the same, and I almost always supplement my deer heart supply, with some beef tongue.

I was very thankful that the spike on his left was not 1/4” longer. Hunting for grouse and bear up north, later this weekend, just wouldn’t have been as fun, as hunting for bucks. I had to do that last year, after punching my buck tag at home, and I didn’t see one of either.

I got out for the last hour of daylight on Monday and seen one deer about 10 minutes after sunset. If it had antlers, they were tiny, and it was just a little too far for a shot at that hour. This morning (Thanksgiving), was the first I have been able to hunt, of sz gun season. I saw a single deer on my walk back to my natural blind, 1/2 hour before sunrise. I showered with scent free soap, and deployed Evercalm, when I got to the blind, plus wiped some on my boots. At 7:30, deer started converging on my position from three directions, all of them antlerless. I shot, what looked to be the largest, as it stood in the middle of my “tall tine tubers” patch. Whitetail Institute ought to call those “tiny tine turnips”. It turned out that deer was a spike, with 2-3/4” on the left and 1” on the right. Oh well, that’s another filled dmp tag and now I got oysters. He had a big enough liver in him for (2) meals, and a 37-1/4” chest girth. Best part is, I can still hunt for a big one, up north later this weekend. The Good Lord always comes thru when I need Him. It would be hard to imagine a better deer than this one this blessed Thanksgiving morning.

Jesus Christ blessed me with an almost perfect “dmp” tag buck today. 2-3/4” spike on the left and 1” on the right. Now, I can still hunt for the big one later this weekend, up in the nz. He has always come thru in spades, when I am in need. We now have enough meat for our oldest daughter, who is moving back home in December. 37-1/4” chest girth. Oysters and fillet mignons are in the fridge, liver and heart are in the freezer, and carcass is hanging in garage, in near perfect hanging temps. I don’t feel so bad now, about missing my first opening weekend in 40 years, due to the Buffalo November blizzard of 22. Three antlerless deer came out in my turnip patch at 7:30 and I shot what I thought was the largest doe. So much for “tall tine tubers” . They ought to call them “tiny tine turnips”.

My father in law has had this pitboss pro series a couple years and he likes it. It’s easy to use and has been trouble free. He’s done a few racks of ribs, when we were up there, and they turned out great.

I haven’t had trouble with cold feet, since I started wearing the goofy looking army surplus’s Mickey Mouse boots that my father in law gave me, as a Christmas present, about 20 years ago. The only time they failed me was after I soaked one in a ditch, about my third time across, to retrieve a December doe carcass from the other side. Normally, if the laces are tight, you can make s a quick step into deep water with them and still come out pretty dry and warm. My father in law sprr E my most of his time working in a cold concrete fairy barn floor and he swears by those boots. The black ones are plenty warm for me. He has a few pairs of the white ones which are supposedly good when it’s even colder. My only trouble with the Micky’s is that they are a little too big to fit the foot holder of my crossbow.

I guess I did, with a spotted bay bass consolation prize. I’m still a little bent about missing my first opening day weekend of gun season in WNY in 40 years due to the Buffalo November Blizzard of 22. The temperature got down into 50’s, at sunrise here on the south end of SanDiego bay yesterday, and I was glad I had my jacket. Spent most of the rest of the day trying to stay hydrated out by the hotel pool, as it got up into to 70’s, before noon.

The November Buffalo blizzard of 22 cost me my first opening day of deer season in WNY in 40 years, but at least I caught this 14” (est) spotted bay bass out in SanDiego bay, as a consolation prize yesterday morning. It went for a hand-tied, 1/4 oz WNY bucktail jig, tipped with a black & white rubber swim bait:

Salmon and coleslaw, chips and salsa, and a Modelo negra draft at a place I could walk to from my hotel, south of SanDiego, last night. One more “free” dinner at Midway in Chicago tonight, then it’s back to reality:

I wondered who parked their boat in my fishing spot, out here in San Diego bay. Turns out, it is the 350 foot long seized asset, motor yacht “Amadea”, which formerly belonged to a Russian oligarch. It sounds like it will be going up for public auction soon. It has a 60 ft beam. I couldn’t quite reach it, casting my 1/4 oz jig, but it looked like the hull was very well polished. One of my favorite techniques for bass, is to bounce the jig off the hull of big shiny boats, and let it flutter down in front of those that are hiding in the shade underneath. There was a guy up next to it with a pedal boat that looked to be trying that this afternoon. I tried fishing the last two hours of daylight from the pier this afternoon, but didn’t have a bite, nor did I see anything landed by a pretty good crowd on the pier. I guess all the action is in the morning out there. It sure was more comfortable in the afternoon though.

I was pretty close to the exit of the long term lot, aisle 11. I picked up a folding camp shovel the other day, and stuck that in my tool bag, which will go in checked luggage on the planes. Last I checked, the Buffalo airport had 2 ft. I hope I can dig my wife’s minivan out in under an hour Sunday night / Monday morning, with that shovel. It has sliding side doors, so getting into it shouldn’t be a problem. They didn’t have much of a glove selection at National City Walmart, here in southern CA. I got some thin wool ones for liners and extra large leather work gloves for outer protection. They had a pretty good “Arctic” hat though.

It was chilly out on the Pepper Park pier in National City CA this morning, maybe 50 degrees. I was thankful that I had my jacket in the car. The only deer I saw this morning, was the bucktail that I had tied to the jig that I was using. The Spanish mackerel were biting ok, and I saw about a dozen of those landed by the natives at the other end of the pier. They looked to be about 12” long on average. They were using multi hooked live bait rigs. I saw at least one “double” come in. They were keeping them in plastic 5 gallon buckets. I narrowly averted the skunk myself (2 times). One of them mackerel hit my jig and I hooked it. Not much fight from them as it just basically wiggled in place. That one manage to wiggle off though, before I got him half way up to the pier. After maybe an hour, with no other bites on my jig, I finally felt a light tap and set the hook. This fish had some heft to it, and it pulled out a little drag. It was a decent, slightly above average sized spotted bay bass, maybe 14”. After a few runs, I was able to haul it up on the pier. I released it, relatively unharmed. The other skunk I avoided was hiding behind a trash can, ready for ambush, on the sidewalk to the pier. Fortunately, a guy walking his dog warned me before I got blasted. One of the natives must not have been so lucky however, and it smelled like he got sprayed pretty good. There was also another, feline hunter, working the park this morning. I always see them when I am there.

Maybe so, I narrowly avoided a skunk literally and figuratively this morning. I hooked a Spanish mackerel, maybe 13” long, but it flopped off before I could hoist it up to the pier. The natives down at the other end landed about a dozen of those, while I was out there this morning, putting them in 5 gallon buckets. At about 7:15, I finally hooked and landed a decent spotted bay bass, maybe 14”, a bit above average size. Very good fight, pound per pound nearly the equal of our freshwater smallmouth bass, back in NY. That was the best fish I saw landed on the little Pepper Park pier this morning. On my walk in, a dude walking his dog warned me of a skunk ,laying in ambush, behind a trash can. It smelled like one of the aborigins, down in the other end of the pier wasn’t so fortunate, and must have taken a full load of spray. My wife just texted that they got another foot of snow overnight. I’m going to run over to Walmart and pick up some gloves and a warm hat, for my car dig out at the Buffalo airport tomorrow night. I’ll also get some spf 15 suntan lotion, for out at the pool today. I got just a little burnt yesterday. I was going to go to the beach today, but I don’t feel like dealing with the weekend crowds and traffic. It was nice out there yesterday afternoon. I had my best meal of the week at my favorite west coast bar & grill. Mahi tacos and seared ahi. It was chilly out there this morning and I was thankful that I had my jacket in the car. It’s warming up very fast though and supposed to hit upper 70’s this afternoon. Good day for the hotel pool. I’m still looking forward to getting back home for some Thanksgiving deer hunting, in the snow.

Thanks to the blizzard, I am stuck out in sunny southern CA and missing my first opening day in 40 years. My cousin is hunting our farm today. Hopefully, he gets a crack at that big buck I saw back there last Sunday morning. That would save me a taxidermy fee and lots of freezer space. There’s no bear tracks on the beach volleyball courts out here, just pay loader, seagull and people. They must be scraping up the beach sand to raise funds and/or to lower the sea level and try to compensate for global warming ice cap meltage. The high is supposed to be in the upper 70’s here today. Hopefully, the spotted bay bass will be biting at sunrise in about an hour.

Live from sunny southern CA and Double down here. This is my first opener missed in 40 years, because my flight home from a work trip got delayed from yesterday until Sunday: I was going to go to the beach today, but I don’t feel like dealing with the weekend crowds. I think it will be breakfast at Denny’s, fishing for spotted bay bass at sunrise (still two hours away), then hang out by the hotel pool. I picked up a folding camp shovel at Walmart here and stuck it in my tool bag for the trip home. I imagine there will be 3 ft of snow on my vehicle in long/term parking at Buffalo airport when I get back at midnight tomorrow. Good luck to all the deer hunters out there today.

(2) grilled mahi tacos and a seared ahi steak at my favorite west coast bar & grill::

My first southern zone gun season deer hunt will be Thanksgiving morning, at home. Then it’s off to the in-laws place, in the Adirondacks for a few days. I’ll be deer hunting up there, unless a buck with three or more points on a side shows up at home on Thanksgiving morning. Im looking forward to the Holiday ML season more than any other this year. I’m on a hot streak with my ML and that’s my new favorite deer killer. That, plus having that whole week off from work, means that December 26 just can’t get here fast enough. Screw this damn California sunshine, I’m ready for some snow and to smell some powder burning. After getting shellacked on my last two out of state work trips (spent a night in Charlotte airport due to a missed connection, and I will be missing opening day of gun tomorrow, due to the Buffalo November blizzard of 22) I just informed my boss, in no uncertain terms, that there will be no more out of town work from me until after January 1. This ain’t baseball, and it’s two strikes and your out with me and air travel.

Stuck out here in sunny southern CA till Sunday. I’ll be running this telescoping travel rod trying for spotted bay bass at daybreak tomorrow, for the NY opener. It will be the first one of those I’ve missed in 40 years. My cousin at home is excited about his chances of getting the big buck that I seen back there last Sunday morning. Besides sticking me in CA, the blizzard is keeping him from the normal extended family hunt at Allegheny state park. That’s where I killed my first deer (a button buck of course) while hunting with his dad and my Godfather 40 years ago from tomorrow. Sadly, we lost his dad last summer. It’s only upper 60’s here right now at the hotel pool, as I am waiting patiently to come home, but it’s supposed to hit 75 tomorrow. I’ll be spending most of the opener on Ocean Beach.