wolc123

About 6 hours in the crock pot on low tenderizes squirrels very well. I have had mixed bags of rabbit and squirrel done that way and the squirrel is always a little better tasting and equally tender. It just takes a few more of them to make a meal. No free time for me this weekend, but hopefully the weather will cooperate next weekend, as this thread is making me hungry for some squirrel stew.

Prayers sent for your son Eddie.

I used to eat more of it, but for the last 10 years or so, I limit it to button bucks only. I have been blessed with one of those, about every other year, since I started hunting. The flavor is excellent and it is very tender, probably my second favorite wild game. The only thing better is pickled moose tongue. Liver from older deer is chewier and not as tasty, so I leave it in the woods. I prefer button buck liver over beef liver (of which I have access to an almost limitless supply), but not that from 1-1/2 yr or older deer, which is why the coyotes get all of that now. As far as cooking methods, I just fry up the fresh button buck liver in a pan with some olive oil and mix in a few onions. It and the tenderloins never make it to the freezer and the liver is just a bit better. I brought some Angus beef liver up to my in-laws last year and my father in law grilled it after marinating in BBQ sauce. It was very good that way.

A slow, painful death like that hurts the flavor, best leave it for the coyotes. I would be interested in the tail though. Button buck tails make the best bass jigs.

This might be the year to get one with the crossbow !! Maybe on October 1, if full inclusion happens. I am not getting my hopes up for that though, and already planning on (3) vacation days up in the Northern zone a couple weeks later, assuming things will stay as they have been the last (4) years.

With the early thaw that it looks like we are going to get per the long term forecast, winter kill should be minimal for the third consecutive year.

How old are you and do you have any dependents ? If so, you may want to think about some life insurance to take care of them after you are gone.

When I was about 15, our parents took the family to Walt Disney world, where we stayed for a week in at Fort Wilderness campground. I was more into the Florida Largemouth bass fishing than the rides at Magic Kingdom, so one morning I rented a canoe at the trading post. I paddled up small canal, to a wide area with a weed bed across the back. I had read in magazines to watch for birds to show you where the fish were, and there was a great blue heron perched there at the edge of the weeds. I was not real good then with my new Garcia Ambassador 5500 reel, loaded with 20 pound test, and my first cast sort of got away from me, clear over the heron. I tried to stop it with thumb pressure, but could only watch as the big purple plastic worm looped a few times around the big bird's neck. Disturbed by the situation, the heron took flight, and an "aerial battle" began. It got up pretty high, before taking all the slack out of the line, then came crashing down. A tram passed by. loaded with kids. There was some yells and possibly pictures taken, as they noted the unorthodox wildlife activity. I took off my windbreaker and attempted to cover the bird and remove the hook. The line broke and it took of again with the worm and a few feet of line still attached. Looking back, it is kind of funny, but not so much at the time. I never did catch any bass there.

Lots of good memories have accumulated over 39 years of hunting. My favorite one occurred on opening day of NY southern zone deer season, in 2012. That morning hunt was especially good for my wife. She had a big smile on her face when I brought up a fat button buck that I shot about 15 minutes after sunrise. I gutted it quick, then got back up in my stand until lunch time. I heard about 30 other shots nearby that morning, on our side of the road, but did not see any more deer. As she was preparing lunch, the phone rang. It was an older friend in the adjacent town, asking if she wanted a deer that she had shot. I wanted to get back out hunting, but I gave in to my wife's request, and drove over to pick up that deer. It turned out to be another fat button buck, nearly identical to the one already hanging in our garage. Seldom have I seen her happier than she was at the sight of those two hanging in the garage. She loves button bucks more than any other, because they are so tender and tasty and do not require giving up any wall space. After lunch, she and our equally happy girls (they also love button bucks), got in the mini-van and headed over to her parents house, not knowing yet that they would be giving up some wall-space later that afternoon. Having only seen one deer all morning and hearing all those close by shots, I thought an afternoon hunt on our side of the road would be pointless. I did not hear any shots across the road however, so I decided to head over there for the afternoon. I had a tree-stand deep in the woods over there that I mainly just used during archery season. It was warm and peaceful up in that tree, and I passed the time reading. The hours passed and all I saw was another hunter sneaking slowly across the far side of the woods. Towards evening, I looked at my watch and noted there was 5 minutes of legal daylight left. At that moment, the book dislodged from my hand and fell to the ground. I decided to pack it in a touch early, and carefully climbed down with my loaded shotgun (shame on me, but it paid off this time). There was some thick cover below my stand and as soon as I got to the ground, I heard crashing all around me. A flock of turkeys had just landed, some just 10 feet away. Suddenly, the big head, neck, and antlers of a mature buck appeared, at point blank range. I raised my gun quick, centered the cross-hairs at the base of his neck, and dropped him there in his tracks, with just two minutes of legal daylight to go. I had just enough fading light to get his guts out and drag his heavy carcass to the edge of the woods. That was my favorite hunting memory for two reasons. The lesser, is that I am a meat hunter first, and never had a single day produce more venison in terms of quality (in the morning) and quantity (in the afternoon). The biggest reason, is that the afternoon hunt was the one that removed any doubt of what it takes for a hunt to be successful, and of Who determines if it will be. Had the book I dropped been any other, I would still be wondering. It happened to be the World's number one all-time best seller. Had I not dropped that book when I did, those turkeys would have spotted my blaze orange camo from a mile away, and that buck they were protecting would have met a different fate.

Thanks for providing that evidence. It is good to see "obtaining meat" up top and "obtaining a trophy" on the bottom for motivation to hunt. Hopefully the DEC reads this and stops bringing up talk about mandatory AR's. It would be interesting to see if anyone can come up with any contradictory evidence (ie: that obtaining a trophy is the top motivator).

I did Quebec moose/bear hunts and Colorado elk/mule deer hunts in my younger days. They were fun, but I would not want to go again. Quebec is too flat and bushy, and the Colorado high-desert is not all that pretty. Moose and elk are good eating, but mule deer not so much. These days, my dream hunt happens a few times every fall, chasing whitetails up in NY's Adirondack mountains. I have not seen finer scenery and the whitetail deer up there are just as tasty as the corn-fed ones from around home.

Can I be "Baby Buck Blaster" ?

fsw/rwh is simply going off the deep end, because he realizes that the big antler craze has started to slow down and more and more folks are "settling" for smaller bucks to get some meat and put a little enjoyment back in the hunt. There were a minimum of three instances of that by prolific posters on this site alone last fall. It is hard to ignore the evidence when it is all right there for all of us to see. He has exactly zero evidence from this site to back his claim that it is ALL antlers for 99 % of hunters. It is getting to be more and more about the meat these days. It is no wonder fsw/rwh is now behaving irrationally with the name change, etc. He has made it very clear how his livelihood is dependent on the antler craze, and it has to be sad seeing that start to go away. I for one am very thankful that we still have him and a few other "real" trophy hunters toughing it out here in NY, rather than heading off to greener pastures in states which cater to horn-hunters. I am sure that there have been and will be times when those "baby-bucks" they pass on are all that prevents me from eating more store-bought chicken. Thanks again folks.

That was also my first shotgun, left to me by my grandpa about 40 years ago. I rarely use it anymore, because it is only effective under 75 yards, but I usually tote it a time or two each season in spots where long shots are not expected. I was sorely tempted to shoot that buck because I was on my grandpas old farm and it would have been the largest antlered buck that I killed on his farm with his old gun. The hunting has been poor there for many years, due to heavy tresspassing, but the new, high-strung owner of that brushy field out back has turned that situation around with his heavy-handed tactics. I really did not want to start out on the wrong foot with him. I did kill a fine 8-point with that old Ithaca 7 years ago, which got me in a little hot water with another neighbor who bought the woods across the road from our house. He did not mind me taking a smaller buck over there with my bow, but got a little testy when that big one went down to my shotgun. He may have been ok with it, had his trouble-making cousin not sent him a new years card (supposidly from me) with a picture of that buck's euro mount (on the left) on it. Needless to say, I do not hunt there anymore, but I think he got over it.

That nearly happened to me last fall. It was a 4 or 6 point and about 10 feet over the line. It would have been a 40 yard broadside shot with my Ithaca 16 gauge slug gun. I settled the crosshairs of the 1.5X Weaver scope behind his shoulder, patiently waiting for him to take a couple more steps. He did not, but walked away parallel with the line, and I did not shoot. I am not an antler guy and our meat supply was not yet secure at the time. It was past the mid-point of the season, so I was in full brown-down mode. If he would have stepped over the line, I would have shot regardless of the antlers he carried. I was wishing I had a grunt call, but I did not. Fortunately, a nice doe offered me a good shot the next afternoon, so I was able end the season with enough venison to last until this fall.

I would call the landowner and ask if I could take the tail (they work good for making fishing lures). If I could not get permission, I would not go near it. What would you do ?

It looks like we are up to 6 pages now. I am mostly just a weekend hunter myself. I have been very blessed that it has been easy to recognize the "Miracles from Heaven" that have enabled me to cleanly kill and recover all of the deer that I have shot at over the last 12 years. I do not get a lot of chances, and I am willing to accept about a 10% chance of loss when I pull the trigger. There is only one way to explain that long stretch of 100% recovery, and I could not be more thankful that I know what it is. I am also very thankful for all of the real super hunters, like four seasons, because the "baby bucks" they let go have often saved us from having to buy more chicken. Actually, my wife and daughters like that but I don't care for it. They do like venison a little better, which I am also very thankful for. It is very nice when your wife and kids encourage you to spend more time hunting. It sure beats standing in line at the grocery store.

Charlie may have struggled with a touch of antler idolatry, but he got over it before it was too late, as is illustrated so plainly in the OP. Hopefully FSW will also. As a meat guy, I appreciate him and all the trophy hunters for selfish reasons. The "baby-bucks" they pass, just might be what keeps me from having to eat chicken or pork at some point. At least he eats the meat from those big bucks and the does that he kills. When filling DMP's, I always have a touch of regret when killing a doe, thinking about the future bucks that she may have produced. It is not all about me though, and I never hesitate to do my part when our venison supply is not secure and an opportunity presents itself, always targeting the largest-bodied deer first from a group. I breath a sigh of relief if "she" turns out to have buttons and balls. I have yet to regret punching a buck tag, no matter how small it's antlers were. Some day that may cause me to miss out on a chance at a larger one, while out trying to fill doe tags, but that has not happened in 36 seasons of hunting. I will admit that most of my drive to hunt goes away after my buck tags are punched, so I probably suffer from a touch of antler idolatry myself. I have also passed on all of those with less than 3 points on a side for the last 10 years, but only to get a chance on one that has more meat on it. I do not see that part as antler idolatry, but just a case of hoping for a little more meat.

Have you ever tasted a 6 month old one ?

The advantage of the open sights in the rain/snow comes in the time it takes to get those lens covers off or opened. I have also killed a lot more with a scope, but I am much more comfortable spending $ 500 on a compact, open-sight brush gun, than I am with throwing away $ 24 on lens caps (or a scale). It is a lot easier to get close to a deer in the brush, when the wind is blowing hard and it is raining or snowing or the brush is covered with snow. Getting shot(s) off fast, at close range, in those conditions, should be easier with open sights. Especially if you have practiced thousands of shots in the off-season (gotta love those Daisy red-ryders). That said though, I am still using a scoped rifle in fair to moderate weather conditions for the reasons you say. I have not heard from anyone else who has perfectly executed a Texas Heart shot, but I know I would not have had a prayer with open sights on that one. Don't jump on me there, until you go back and edit out where you said you would "fire an 80 grain bullet at a deer from ANY angle". I used 150 grains from 50 yards there with a variable power scope set at 3X. Happy Hunting

It is nice to see a few guys waking up this year on this site. Antler idolatry seems to be on the decline.

It sounds like he had his priorities right. He learned that the "joy of the journey" comes from faith in Jesus Christ, and was not afraid to share that with others. That alone will make sure that his "journey" will continue forever. It is hard to overstate how much better the Earthly part that journey gets after making that connection.

Two counter arguments to the light bullet better in brush theory: 1) One reason that more areas have opened up for rifles recently is that shotgun slugs have been shown to cause more injuries. The theory on that is that higher speed, lighter weight rifle bullets fragment upon striking brush, whereas the heavier, slower slugs push thru. 2) When the army switched from .30 cal to .223, the enemy was a little safer behind trees. That said, I agree that using good glass to find a clear path for a light fast bullet thru the branches is a good option in fair weather, but futile in the rain.

Who is using 9 and 10 pounders ? Both of the ones I listed are under 7 pounds with the Ithaca 37 "featherlight" 16 gauge closer to 6 pounds with 5 slugs in it. The Marlin 512 Slugmaster that I use for most stand hunting is a close to 10 pounds and is definitely not a good brush gun.

1.) To end up with more than 200 pounds of venison so that we do not have to buy that much chicken and pork (not a big fan of white meat). 2.) Fill both buck tags. 3.) Improve a few stands to make them more comfortable. 4.) Break in my new Marlin 336BL 30/30 on an Adirondack buck. 5.) Kill my first antlerless deer with my crossbow (ideally a button buck). 6.) Kill my first late ML season antlered buck. I will be very thankful to stay healthy and end up with just #1.