wolc123

Sorry to hear about that. We would be forced to eat a lot more chicken if that ever happened to us. I usually check on our basement freezer every day when I am home. It is a 1981 Montgomery-Ward upright that has survived two floods where the motor and condenser was completely submerged. The new ones might use less electricty but I don't think they would be that durable.

I get most of my fertilizer from Rinehart's in Middleport. 15-15-15 starter was about $10 per 50 pound bag this year. Urea may be similar in cost there. I only sprung for (3) bags of starter this year, which was just enough for the 3 acres of corn that I planted today. I had (4) acres worked up and plenty of corn seed, but it looks like I will need to plant that last acre with turnips at the end of the summer. I will broadcast it with buckwheat in a couple weeks, to keep the weeds under control until then. Standing corn and turnips makes for a killer combination during late ML season. I don't use any Urea on foodplots, because I only plant the stuff that needs a lot of nitrogen (like corn and turnips), on ground that had been in white clover for at least 4 years. That way, most of the nitrogen is "free", having been "fixed" by the clover. The clover has the additional benefit of providing food for the deer at night when they do not need the cover that the corn provides. A problem with heavy application of Urea is that it acidifies the soil, forcing you to start chasing your tail with heavy lime application. A clover/corn rotation is a far more economical way to get your nitrogen, providing you have about (4-5) acres of white clover for every acre of corn or turnips. That usually works out ok for foodplots, but not so for agricultural production, which is why there will always be a good market for Urea and lime.

What about some quieter shoes or no shoes ? Crocks are pretty quiet against an aluminum hull. That is what I use all summer on the 12 and 14 foot aluminum boats up at my in-laws place. I think your biggest problem with attached foam or rubber mats will be finding something that holds up out in the sun. Cutting pieces of indoor/outdoor carpeting and just laying them down between the seats when you go fishing might work ok and would make cleanup and replacement easy.

As a pure meat hunter/fisher, it would be very tough to top NY. With liberal bag limits and plentiful game and fish, we have it very good. There has never been a year that the Good Lord has not blessed me with plenty of "free" protein, to supply my family of four. Based on some of the reality shows I watch, that are filmed up in Alaska, it looks like they struggle more to live a subsistance lifestyle up there. I can't imagine any of the lower 48 where it could be much easier. I even appreciate our somewhat disfuntional politics and high taxes, because it limits the crowds and keeps our "secret" safe from too much hunting and fishing pressure. Also, sharing the wealth with the less fortunate is not always such a bad thing. If someone forced me to move at gunpoint, I would probably head for PA because that is about as close to NY as you can get. It would be a very big step backward from the way things are currently however. NY may not keep all the trophy hunters real happy, but it sure is good for us meat guys.

Depending on what zone you are in, early bear season may open on September 8 or September 15. After you take one out, the rest will vacate the area. If it is on a foodplot, you should have easy access to the carcass with an atv. Bears less than 200 pounds are very good eating, but they only yield about 15 % of body weight in edible meat, the rest consisting of fat, bone, hide, and guts.

My ground finally got dry enough to plow this afternoon. I just finished about an acre and a half and hope to get another two and a half done tomorrow. Four acres of corn lasted until mid-February last year, so I could probably cut back a little. As long as it lasts through the end of ML season I am happy. Too much is better than not enough though. Hopefully, I can get the planting done over the next couple weeks. I also picked up some buckwheat, which I am going to plant on the four acres that was corn last year. It is good for weed control and building organic matter in the soil. It also has cool looking white flowers and the turkeys like it.

Happy Birthday

At least it will be a tasty 25 pounds.

Did you get a chest girth measurement ? That is a good sized bear because I have heard that those over 200 pounds are not worth eating.

I saw an episode of her camping in a pop-up trailer a few years ago. It was pretty entertaining. Her and George Clooney also attended the wedding. I wonder if they know that Harry is big into hunting. There is a lot of good video on-line of Harry's buddy, prince Franz-... from Bavaria, pulling off some incredible broadside running shots on wild boars. That type of skill is not so common on this type of the pond. I have tried to develop it with a lot of off-season target range practice last summer. I was very thankful to drop a single, broadside running doe in my woods with a shot thru the shoulder blade last fall. It was cool watching the video of that guy do it to about 6 wild boars on six shots. I like the way the "royalty" hunts over there in Europe, take a stand and let the "beaters" push the game past them.

I would say the odds of him getting her to accept hunting is pretty good. It looks like he is really into it. This could be a great way to show the world that hunting does more good than bad for both mankind and wildlife.

Seafood for me also tonight. I just thawed out some vacuum-sealed steelhead fillets from last fall and just put them in the oven. I will have to see how that compares with fresh brown trout from this spring, that I made a couple weeks ago. None of that stuff (from Lake Ontario) for the wife and kids, due to the health advisories. They will be getting leftover venison backstrap stir-fry for dinner tonight.

I chose to stay home and watch it with the wife (who never gets up that early), rather than go fishing or turkey hunting in the rain. I thought the black-American preacher gave an excellent sermon - totally focused on Love. It was a very impressive event that should have many positives from a world-wide perspective. Certainly, it will strengthen US/Great-Britain relations. Also, it was great to see all the attention focused on a Christian marriage. That should deal an impressive setback to other religions and to the secular forces that are still trying to minimize the importance of Jesus Christ, despite the shellacking they took in the last US presidential election. Finally, the Royalties acceptance of the bi-racial American bride should help quench the racial tensions that continue to flare up from time to time. Lots of good stuff here. Turkey sucks and we still have plenty of fish in the freezer anyhow.

Thanks Wooly, That reminds me of this one from my Favorite movie

One of the best trades I ever made, was when an older hunting buddy gave me a Griswold No 6 Erie Pa iron frying pan in exchange for a rattle bag. I had that bag for a number of years, and it never worked for me. The pan is very well seasoned and I fry my eggs in it every Saturday and Sunday. The trick is, pour a little olive oil in it, let it heat up, then break the eggs. They never stick. Cleanup is easy, just a quick wipe with a paper towel. The best use of it for sure though, is fresh button buck liver, lightly seared, in olive oil with some onions. None of that for me last year, but I hope to get it done this fall.

I did a fall Quebec Moose/Bear trip a long time ago. The licences we bought included "other species". One of those on the list was porcupines. There were (6) of us on that one week trip and each evening we took turns watching the dump at night. One of the experienced guys said that if the bear is above the second rung of the bait barrel, while on all four feet, then it is a shooter. No one saw any all week and I had the watch on the last night. They all heard my shot ring out, as they were sitting around the table playing cards. As I dragged the carcass back to cabin, they were all out on the front porch in anticipation. I heard one of them say: "He must have shot a cub". I told them that what I thought was a 55 gallon bait barrel, with a huge bear towering over it, turned out to be a Folgers coffee can and a fat porky. We did a little pike and walleye fishing on that trip and the walleyes tasted the same as the ones I have caught in NY. No one saw any moose or bears, thru the week. The thing I remember the most, was how itchy my hair (I had a lot more then) got after so many days without a shower. Eventually, I walked out to the end of the dock with a bar of soap and lathered it up. I will never forget the "numb" feeling of sticking my head under that 35 degree water. If they don't have hot running water up there, I would recommend taking some of that "dry-rinse" shampoo that they make these days. Also, I have heard that bears under 200 pounds are good eating, but those over, not so much. The bigger ones make nicer rugs though. Either way, it sounds like a fun trip and I wish you the best of luck on it.

Here is a better send off for Dick/Belo. He said he was happy there.

The DEC might frown on using a bush hog to put corn on the ground for bringing in deer or Turkey. I just brush hogged a corn plot from last fall this week. I turkey hunted back there a couple morning before cutting it. It did not look like there was any corn left on it anyhow, but I am not taking any chances. I am not very much into turkeys, but I will save my tags for up in the Adirondacks over Memorial day weekend. There were a few springs, when I had really good corn plots, and they drew in lots of turkeys when I bush hogged them in the spring. I never hunted them, but the neighbors may have taken advantage of the situation.

I think everyone's bucket list should include an Adirondack Whitetail hunt. The time of year is a toss-up. Peak fall-foliage is awesome and usually hits around the start of ML season in early October. It is tough to beat the first good snow, and that has the added bonus of making the hunting easier (the deer show up better and you can see and follow their tracks). That usually occurs around Thanksgiving. I have killed a total of four deer up there, two in each of those conditions, and that makes it impossible for me to pick my favorite. There are no words that can describe how much the stunning scenery adds to the experience. It is something you have to try yourself. Experiencing some success up there has caused hunting in other places, of lesser natural beauty, to loose some of its luster. There may be more deer in the flatlands of Western NY, but sometimes I find myself thinking of being up in the mountains when I hunt around here. Even the thought of another Rocky mountain mule deer hunt is unappealing to me now. The Adirondacks are prettier (unless you are into high-desert scenery) and the whitetails are a lot tastier. Speaking of taste, as long as the Adirondack deer are taken from the edges, near some ag country or oak forests, they taste just as good as the ones from around home in WNY. We just started eating the grind from an Adirondack buck this week, after finishing up the last from one from WNY last week. The taste is virtually identical. Probably no coincidence considering each had a belly full of corn.

Give me your address there.

Belo is ok with me. He is the only one, of the "anti-crossbow" minority here, with the balls to say he is against them for "selfish, elitist" reasons. I also think the moderation is very well done. If your skin gets thin you can always take a break.

How about a toy crossbow ?

I usually plant corn around Memorial day and spray it around the Fourth of July, when it is about knee high (20"). If you are using a boom sprayer, you might want to get on it a little earlier (about a foot high) for better coverage. The recommended rate is 32 oz per acre, so you would need a little less than a gallon. The amount to add per gallon of water depends on your speed and nozzle flow rate. I always get a real good kill with three oz. of roundup per gallon of water, but I only spray directly on the rows of corn. I use a cultivator to take out most of the weeds between the rows. I have two spray nozzles on my two-row cultivator tractor, and I also use a 2-row planter with 36" row spacing. Weed growth is sparse between the rows anyhow, because I only apply fertilizer on the rows with my planter. Weeds don't do well without fertilizer. There are several advantages to only spraying the Roundup on the rows, and allowing some weeds to grow in between. Most important is the cost savings. Using fertilizer and spray, only on the rows, lets you stretch the foodplot budget a lot farther. Roundup (and knock-offs) has fallen in cost since Monsanto's patent expired, but fertilizer is still costly. A close second is: weedy corn is more attractive to deer. Going "wide" with the planter in some areas, deep inside the plot, will allow grassy bedding areas to form. There is a big difference in growing corn to kill deer and growing it to sell. Most folks don't know the difference and think it is all about yield. I always get roundup-ready seed for free by using farmer friend's leftovers from the prior year(s). It keeps very well and I have noticed no drop in germination when stored up to 5 years, down in my basement. One other tip, if you want to see your corn last thru late ML season: You may have to get rid of some coons. They start the chain of destruction, by taking down the stalks when the corn is young and tender. Turkeys, doves and squirrels will move in and clean it up when it is down. I usually start taking out the coons in late August. The earlier you take them out, the less corn you will loose. Coons which are causing destruction (such as eating corn intended for "other" purposes) may be legally killed by landowners, as long as the carcasses are burned or burried. After regular coon trapping/hunting season opens, they can be thrown out for the buzzards. Since the crash in fur prices, coon overpopulation has been an issue. I carry a shovel and a .22 when I am checking traps, which makes compliance with the letter of the law relatively painless, and provides a little more "free" fertilizer. Coons are about the easiest furbearer there is to trap. Dog-proof traps, baited with cat food or box traps baited with marshmellows and peanut butter, will get them under control in short order. The coons can also help you though, because the deer also prefer to feed in corn that has been knocked down for them by the coons. If you are looking for good fall turkey hunting around your corn plot, you definitely want to keep some coons around. Turkeys will not touch corn if it has not been knocked down for them by the coons. It is all a trade-off. Ideally, you will have a little bit of corn left on the last day of ML season.

Now we know

Back on track: How do you catch a unique coyote ? A: You neek up on it. How do you catch a tame coyote ? A: Tame way.