wolc123

Thanks for the reply. My wife just stuffed peppers with a pack of venison grind for a crock-pot recipe. I won't be able to enjoy the leftovers, until tomorrow, because I "volunteered" for 2nd shift duty at work this week. Our supply is dwindling fast (especially grind), so I hope to fill a tag early. I probably will not be too selective. A 3-pointer got hit by a car right at the end of our driveway, the night before last. If it hadn't appeared to take so much road damage (had a busted leg, guts hanging out, and tip broke of of its only brow-tine), I probably would have got a tag from the police and cut it up for grind. It had an average-sized body, but a very narrow rack. The beams curved inward, instead of outward, a possible record for the narrowest spread 1-1/2 year old. It is a good thing that a car got it instead of me. It would not have done me much good in the 2018 whitetail challenge. Three pointers seem to be in the gene pool around here. I killed a few when I was younger, and my next-door neighbor's nephew killed one, that I had passed with my crossbow a few weeks earlier, on Thanksgiving morning 2016. I heard his shot, less than 50 yards from the edge on one of my corn plots. That one had a tiny body, not bigger than a few of the buttons that I have taken thru the years. Fortunately, it's big brother showed up for me about 2 minutes after I passed it. I know there are some folks who regret passing deer, especially when they end up with "tag-soup". I could probably count the number of legal bucks that I have passed, in 35 years of hunting, on both hands. There has not been a single time when I was not rewarded with a larger one later. I had to say "legal", because last season I passed the only buck I saw during gun season, and I ended up with tag-soup. The glitch there, was that the buck was on posted land, during the whole time when he offered me a shot. Fortunately, that happened on a Saturday morning and my "rough luck" convinced me that a change of some type was needed. I decided to skip the morning hunt the next day and take the family to Church instead. Guess what happened about 2 hours after the Lutheran Church service, when I walked out back for a "mid-day" hunt: - many folks will call that just a "coincidence". One thing is for sure: Our family would have been forced to eat a lot more chicken, were it not for a constant stream of "coincidences", over the last 15 years or so. I use to only consider a season as completely successful, if I filled both of my buck tags. Now, I have changed my tune a little. The grind from that 1-1/2 year old doe was a lot more tender than that from the older buck that I took with my crossbow. Now, I will consider a season a complete success if we end up with enough meat to last until the next year, even if all of it comes from does. p.s.: if you blow up the picture and look real close, you can see that is not a bullet hole in the side of the rump. A full tilt running shot at 50 yards, forward on the shoulder blade, dropped her dead in her tracks. A little disappointment was that the shot cost me a neck-roast, which I had been looking forward to all year. Hopefully, I will remember to make one this year. Good luck to you deer hunting this season, whichever weapon you do it with.

I know that horses eat a lot. Back in the 1940's, when they provided the primary power on our farm, several acres of land were required for each in order to feed them. If a wild population were ever established, here in WMU 9F, I would not have to travel to hunt them. I would hunt them, even if they tasted bad, in order to save my food-plots for the deer. Much like I kill raccoons (for fertilizer) right now. I can not imagine any situation where I would spend any money to travel and hunt horses, unless they turned out to be really good eating and we ran out of whitetails. At this point, 3.5 whitetail deer per year provide the majority of the protein that our family of (4) requires. We didn't need that much, when it was just my wife and I, but our daughters are consuming a little more every year. It must be doing them some good based on how well they are doing in high-school sports. I also supplement that with "free" fish from NY waters. I limit that severely because of health advisories and try to keep within the guidelines that are printed in the back of the DEC handout that they give you when you buy your license. It is too bad that lake Ontario salmon and Adirondack smallmouth bass are so "toxic", or I could probably get by with one or two less deer every year. Our whole family loves fish. My folks raise laying hens, over in the adjacent town, and they provide us with all the eggs that we can eat. We do grow some fruits and vegetables on our farm, as do my folks. We do get most of those from the store, along with some chicken and pork on rare occasion. The kids had a couple of rabbits as pets, and now they have two cats and a guinea pig. I would love to try eating a guinea pig, and I hear they are very popular in Peru. As far as dogs go, I think they are on the Biblical "do not eat" list. Also, I have noted that even crows will not eat coyote carcasses, so I can only imagine that a dog would not taste so good. How is your crossbow situation going ? I am a little concerned with mine because I had to make a big adjustment when sighting it in last week. I will make sure to try it again a few more times prior to my first hunt up north on October 12. My muzzleloader was right on the mark however so I am good to go up there on October 13th and 14th. We are in half-way decent shape right now with venison (five packs of grind, about dozen roasts and two packs of backstrap) left in the freezer. It won't be the end of the world, if my crossbow will not perform to my satisfaction, and I have to fish all day on the 12th.

Keep with it, you will catch on in a few more years mountain man.

I am currently dismantling a couple big old barns that my great-great grandad built back in the 1880's, that were made from American chestnut. (That was the most common wood in these parts back then). I "wood" have liked to save them, but the roofs and foundations are shot. I am using some of the interior (grainery) wood, roofing and smaller hand-hewn posts and beams for interior walls in the new barn. I am also trying to save the larger hand-hewn posts and beams, some of which I might use for a "log" style ground blind some day. A new metal pole-barn is several times less expensive than repairing and roofing those old structures. The old, unpainted, weathered siding makes great cover around blinds and stands. It blends in very good with the fall woods. I fooled a 3-1/2 year old buck out of one last year, and a 2-1/2 the year prior, along with several mature does. The deck on those stands are only 6-8 feet above the ground. Those unfortunate deer had no clue what was hiding behind that old chestnut. I suppose a little "evercalm" may have also helped a bit on the older buck last fall.

I would not rule it out if it was legal. Even in America, armies have been sustained by eating their horses when times got tough in days gone by. Horse meat remains popular in some countries today. I have no particular love for horses myself, and have witnessed them break up several of my good friends marriages. One of my divorced buddies refers to horses as: Hay-burning-(starts with "s")-makers.

Don't get caught hunting horses. Killing them for food has been illegal in the US for many years. I think Canada and Mexico may still allow it however.

That looks a lot like the ridge that ran along-side of the dirt lane to the old off-the-grid cabin that my in-laws use to rent for a long-weekend every October, near the NW edge of Adirondack park. The incline angle and height looks nearly identical. Usually, the weekend they rented fell on opening weekend of ML season, although a few years it was a week later, on opening week of rifle. About 6 years ago (a ML year), I hiked into the woods parallel with the lake, to an oak ridge where I had heard deer snorting while I was out fishing the year before. Shortly after sun-up, a big doe led a group of 5 or 6 other antlerless deer up onto that ridge. She stood broadside, about 25 yards away, and I shot her behind the shoulder. She walked a few steps closer, standing right at the edge of the cliff. The other deer just stood and watched. It almost seemed like none of them had any clue what was happening. Her knees started to wobble and she fell over and down the cliff. I reloaded, except for the cap, an butt-slid down the cliff after her. I had not known at the time that the lane to the cabin was right at the bottom. The doe was laying right in the middle of it, and starting to lift her head. I put a second shot into it to finish her, and gutted her right where she laid. My sister in law still gives me a little crap about that (she jogged past the pile a little later that morning). She was a little turned off when I carried the warm heart and liver into the cabin, as they were all sitting around the table eating breakfast. My father in law was also a little concerned, fearing the the owners of the place would not want to rent it to him again if they saw the mess. No worries for me, by the following morning there was not a trace of that gut-pile left. The vermin and birds cleaned up every last scrap. I did make sure that I placed a bucket under the carcass, out in the boathouse, and cleaned up every last drop of blood.

Nolt's in Lowville is also very good. I think they charge around $ 48 to cut and wrap an average sized deer. They have a big cooler. They are closed on Sundays, but open the rest of the week. If they were closer to western NY, I would never process another deer myself. All the joints around here get at least $ 75 for the job. I will certainly never bring another one back unprocessed from up north, after all the tics I had to deal with on the last buck I brought home and processed myself. My in-laws live up there now, so dropping off a deer at Nolt's, or picking up the processed meat is no big deal for them, whenever I kill it. I could not take that last buck to Nolt's, because we were driving home on a Sunday, and that was before they had moved up there. It usually takes them 10 days to complete your processing, after rifle season opens, (they are quicker and less busy during archery and ML). My in-laws live about 45 minutes north-east of them, and it is well worth the drive. There is a very good supply store with the same name next door, so they are always looking for an excuse to drive down there. They also do bears at a reasonable rate. There was a fat one next to a pile of deer in the skinning shed, on a very warm late morning during ML season, when I dropped a doe off there a couple years ago. I dropped her off on Monday and they had her done and packaged (all ground except the backstraps and tenderloins) (5) days later on Saturday, so I could pick up the meat on my drive home.

I don't see too any tooth marks. Which one did you get that one on in the harbor the other night ? During a bass-tournament in late-August, a big one came up from under the South GI bridge and pulled a 16" or so smallmouth bass off my line, right next to our boat. A large smallmouth bass pattern plug would probably work well on them.

Glad to hear you got released. Maybe you could sit in a blind for a while, if your doctors think it would be ok. Northern zone crossbow opens on October 10 and one of those with a hand-crank might work out well for you.

All of my stands are now low enough that I can hang the bow/gun on a hook near the base, from ground level. In the years that I was up higher, I had a few tow ropes break like that, and it was always on ones that had been left out all year. About 10 years ago, the one that I was lowering my bolt-action shotgun with, parted about 15 feet up. The gun landed on the scope, breaking it off and shearing the # 10 base screws. Those old Bushnell Banner scopes are pretty tough. I drilled out the # 10 thread holes in the base and re-tapped with 1/4", put in some bigger screws, and it has worked ok ever since. The only trouble now is: if I drop it like that again, the scope will probably get wrecked instead of just the screws.

Remember the Saturday Night Live sketches back during the Clarence Thomas hearings ? The current Brett K hearings should provide even richer fodder for them. Too bad they are in the off-season and still playing re-runs. I can't wait to see the high-school scenes that they will probably come up with. This woman's accusations are far to ludicrous to be taken seriously and belong on a comedy show.

I am much closer, now that I finished checking the zero on (5) of my deer guns. I decided to skip #6, since I rarely use it any more, and it has never failed to kill a deer that I fired it at. I had the other (5) "close enough" with a total of (11) shots fired. Oddly enough, the only two weapons that needed adjustment this year, for "good enough to hunt with performance" were the two that I killed deer with last season (crossbow and bolt-action shotgun). The crossbow needed half a turn up on the red-dot site, and the shotgun needed 12 clicks to the right on the 3X scope. My first shot with that shotgun was 6" to the left at 100 yards. I moved in to 50 yards, checked that all the attachment hardware was tight, did a quick bore site that looked ok, then hit 2-3/4" left and 2" high with my second shot. According to the label on the adjustment, it should have taken about 24 clicks to the right, but that put it the same distance off to the right and 3/4" high. One more adjustment, 12 clicks to the left, put the 4th shot 1" high, centered above the bull. Taking the two adjustments into consideration, indicates a 3 shot group of 1-1/4" diameter at 50 yards, centered about 1-1/4" above the bull. That was good enough for me. Not wanting to waste any more of that pricey ammo (Hornady 2-3/4" SST 12 ga) I decided to skip trying it again at 100 yards. The first shot with my T/C 50 cal ML, with 2-7X scope set at 7, hit 1-3/8" directly above the bull at 50 yards. That was also good enough for me, so I put it back in the case, with just one shot fired. That shot was with a clean and lubed barrel. After I do that again, it will be ready to go up north for deer on October 13. With 150 grain bullets, my open-sited Marlin 336 BL 30/30, put two shots 1-1/4" apart, with the "group" centered 4-1/2" above the bull and 2" to the right at 50 yards. There is no more lower elevation adjustment on the rear site, so I let it go where it was. I will switch that one to 170 grain ammo after I use up the two boxes of 150's that the dealer gave me with the gun. I would like it to be about 2" high at 50 yards and the 170's should get me closer to that. My old Ithaca 37 16 gauge placed two 4/5 oz Rem sluggers touching each other at 50 yards, with the "group" centered 2-3/4 above and 1-3/4 to the left at 50 yards. Back out at 100 yards, My Ruger 30/06 with 3-9X scope at 9, placed (2) 150 gr Federal classics 3/4" inch apart with the "group" centered 1/2" above and 3/4" to the right of the bull. If the weather is good next weekend, I will do a little squirrel hunting over at my folks place, and take care of the posted signs and stand work / moves. After that I will be good to go.

That is very important step. One brand of 125 grain fixed broadheads (Allens), that I tried last weekend hit over a foot low, at both 20 and 40 yards, while 125 grain Muzzy's and Wasps struck right on or very close to the same point as my 125 gr field tips. That was with my 300 fps crossbow, but I imagine that a vertical bow of similar speed would be comparable.

I thought maybe the flying squirrels had taken revenge.

Both is always best: morning hunt / afternoon fish, like this fine, warm mid-October stretch up in the north-west Adirondacks a few years ago. There is a very good processor in Lowville (Nolts) where they can get your deer in the cooler right away so that you can enjoy the afternoon out on the water.

That is a very good point. I think that the 3000 or so innocent human fetuses, who are currently being aborted every day in the USA, should also be counted as "real victims" of this woman's current media assault and delay of the Senate confirmation of Brett K.

I looked for that blind today, but I could not find it. Hopefully, I left it up at the in-laws place up north (I think I did because I was going to try and use it as an ice-fishing hut up there last winter). I have not hunted out of it, but I did set it up along a trail up there last fall, to use in case of rain (which we did not get while I was there). I will be up there in a few weeks for crossbow/ML hunting, so I will bring it back home then. My cousin, who has now moved down south, used to bow-hunt row-planted corn pretty effectively. The crossbow does not work as well for that. Otis "the Toad" Smith made some good videos, back in the 80's or 90's, of how to do it that are still available on youtube. His technique would probably be a bit more difficult in broadcast corn, but might still work, since it was all based on the wind (the windier the better).

I am not as ready as I usually am by this time, due to a big demolition/construction project that I took on this year. Because of that, I am very thankful that I gave up bow-hunting in 2014, when the crossbow got legal. My first deer hunt won't be until October 12, up north with my crossbow. Hopefully, the weather will be good tomorrow and I can verify the zero on my (6) deer guns. Usually, I finish that by Labor day. I don't like to shoot guns, when archery season is open, because I know that it aggravates me when I hear my neighbors doing it while I am archery hunting. I did get my crossbow dialed in last weekend. I will only hunt with that one day in October, followed by two days with my ML, so that is the next most important one to check. To save time, I will place all (6) deer guns (ML, (2) rifles, (3) shotguns) in soft cases or wrap in blankets, load them and ammo in the back of my pickup, drive back to the range, and get them all done at once. Hopefully, two or three shots each, is all it will take. The ML and rifles are tame puppies to shoot, but I use a clip on recoil-pad while target-shooting with the hard-kicking shotguns. 99% of my "practice" shooting happens on the back deck with a bb-gun. That eliminates all the noise and shoulder pounding. I also cut back a bit on that this year, with only about 2000 shots taken, compared to the 4000-5000 that I had been doing. I hope that don't cost me any meat. The food-plots at home are in decent shape and most of the stands are ready here, but I still want to get a pop-up blind out. Right now, I am not exactly sure where that is. I am hoping that I left it up at the Northern zone camp, and I will be able to bring it home after my crossbow/ML trip up there in a couple weeks. I would really like to get it in position at least a week prior to hunting from it. I still need to get posted signs up, repair a big double-decker blind, and move a couple stands out at my folks place. I did not have time for any foodplot work over there this year, but a neighbor did mow the 2 acre clover plot a couple weeks ago. I managed to kill a nice buck out of the big blind over there last fall, but the floor is so crooked that I will not hunt out of it again without at least trying to level it first. The stand moves are optional, but I think I can improve my odds a bit if I make them.

Thanks for the tip. My larger corn plot, up near the house, is 2 acres and has not been touched yet by the coons. I should be able to hide a pop-up in there, to take advantage of the prevailing SW wind. I spent about $ 20 on one of them at Aldis last year, and have not found a good application for it yet. This could be perfect. I will leave a spare swivel chair in it, so that it will be all set for the crossbow-opener. I have a smaller corn plot way out back that is well covered by permanent blinds, but it has already sustained a little coon damage, and may not last until November 3. The deer usually start hitting the standing corn real hard, after all the white oak acorns are cleaned up. It will be very nice to have that extra "back-up" spot.

I have heard that if Kavanaugh gets in, the Supreme Court balance of power will tip firmly in favor of overturning Roe vs Wade. There are currently an average of 3000 abortions performed daily in the US. Basically, it is being used as a form of birth control. If my math is correct, Mrs Ford's lawyers have effectively secured the "termination" of 9000 living human fetuses, by delaying the Senate hearing from Monday to Thursday of this week. They must be very proud of themselves.

My buddy, who owns a service station, just informed me that NY state will allow a dealer to affix a 1 year inspection sticker on the vehicle if they are not able to correct a "check engine" problem. I will ask for one of those, if the car has to go back a 4th time. With 4 miles on it since their 3rd repair attempt, the light has not come back on. I just made my appointment for an inspection, at my buddies shop, next week Tuesday. I should be able to get over a hundred miles on it by then.

Thanks a lot, you hit sore spot with me there TF. My car is on it's third trip back to the dealer for that issue right now. They have been trying to fix it since mid-August, when the inspection was due. They say it takes 40-50 miles to "clear the code" before it can be inspected. It has not made that yet, after replacing the cat, and several other components. We will see how they do this time. I hate breaking the (driving an unexpected vehicle) but GM and NY state have forced my hand. Oh well, at least this nonsense is not necessary with my 3/4 ton pickup, but I don't like burning all the extra gas and dealing with the stiff ride when hauling nothing but myself. I would smash that pumpkin if I ever saw it, and I am almost ready to take the drill to that little light on my dashboard.