wolc123

The ssw wind wasn’t quite right for the spot that I hunted last night. Accuweather said sse, I should have used my milkweed pods because it was ssw. The group of deer that I saw there the night before looked like they had come from the north, so I thought it would be ok where I was. Ad it turned out, there was a little draw thru the small finger ridge at that location, and twice I heard deer approaching that, from directly downwind. The first was a single, around 5:50 pm. I couldn’t see it thru the heavy cover, but it sounded maybe 50 yards away when it must have caught my scent and snorted. I remained there, in my tree hammock chair, until 15 minutes past sunset, as the light was fading fast. I could still see pretty good thru my old Redfield scope. As I started folding up my chair, making a little noise, multiple deer snorted from about the same direction, but a little farther away than I had heard the single earlier. They must have smelled me and hung up out there, until they heard the chair rattling, then snorted and retreated back where they came from. I am on my “shower every other day” vacation schedule, and I took one last night (after the hunt) with scent free soap and shampoo. I should be able to get a little closer to downwind deer today. I will wait for an easterly wind, before I try that spot again in the evening, and verify it with milkweed before I strap on the chair. Depending on today’s wind, I’ll probably hunt the north end of the ridge where I did the last two mornings. That’s where I killed my last deer up here, and I really want the grouse that I saw up there yesterday. It’s supposed to rain this afternoon, so I am going to run into town for supplies. I want to get a cheap grunt call (I left my good one at home by mistake), and a small hunting stool (the tree hammock chair collects water off the tree while under the tree unbrella). I also need another gallon of cider. I am mostly after a doe this early ML week, so I haven’t tried any rattling (I did remember my rattle bag) or grunting. I’d like to try it this Saturday, when gun opens up and doe season closes. I think that the single deer that I heard early last night was probably a buck.

It’s my favorite time of the year, up at my in-laws place in the Adirondacks (early ML week). I am deer hunting each morning and evening, and fishing at mid day, for 9 days including all of this week plus opening weekend of gun. Our fish supply at home in the freezer is adequate, so I am strictly trophy fishing now, all catch and release, unless I get one over 22”, which I will keep for my father in law, to decorate his wall (he likes to decorate with native species). I caught and released one that size here on this week in 2016 (because it was not my largest ever (I got a 23 incher about 20 years ago on Lake Erie). He still gives me a hard time about that, so I told him I would keep another, if I ever get one that long. In the years since, I have just broke 20” here a few times. I thought I had the 22” yesterday, but came up about 3/4” short, with this solid 21-1/8” behemoth. Like most I get here, it went for a 1/8 oz bucktail jig. The fight it put up was intense. One nice jump, soon after hook-set, then lots of digging for the bottom, for at least 10 minutes on 6 pound line. That’s my second longest bass here. I hope it survives as it was hooked deep and bleeding a bit. I carefully removed the jig, and it seemed ok when I let it go.

A couple more calamity’s this morning. I only held out until 11:00 up on the ridge because the wind picked up and I was getting hungry. No deer, and no more grouse showed up. As I was packing up, I forgot that I had unzipped my pack. When I swung the belt around back of me, everything dumped out. Fortunately, I had cleared the area at my feet of leaves, so that I could swing the hammock chair silently, in case a deer snuck up behind me. That made it easy to find everything. There were a couple milkweed pods that I didn’t realize I still had. I will be able to test the wind direction tonight. Back at the in-laws house, no one was home. No note, but still some cold pizza in the fridge. I knew my mother in law wasn’t feeling too good the nigh before, so I suspected the worst. I saw the neighbor out and I almost walked over there but I called my wife (who is back home in wny). She is a certified medical assistant and her mother had texted her earlier. After explaining her symptoms, she advised her mother to go to an urgent care facility in the nearest town. As it turned out, she fainted as my father in law was getting ready to take her. He got the neighbor to help get her up, revived her and took her to a little hospital out in the Adirondack boondocks. They pumped her up with some saline solution, gave her some meds, tested her positive for covid, and sent her home. She looks a lot better now than she did last night. Hopefully, she won’t have too much trouble getting dinner ready for us around 7:00 when I get back from hunting, and see how the Bills/Chiefs game went. While waiting for them to get back from the hospital, I removed the heavy Honda 4-stroke outboard from the party barge and put it in its winter storage box down on the dock. That damn thing is way too heavy to carry up those 22 stairs. When they got home, after seeing that she was ok, I went out fishing a bit, trying for that elusive 22 inch smallmouth. I caught (4), (3) on bucktail jigs and one trolling a silver shad rap. The largest was close but no cigar at a solid 21”. It still had lots of fight in it for the cool water temp, and is the second largest bass I have ever caught in this lake. I’m up at the spot where I saw the group of deer last night. It’s real close to the house, so I’ll give them until 6:40 to show up (5 minutes left of legal shooting time).

Last Monday, I got a ride in a fancy car down to Lynchburg VA for work. We went to Dick’s down there, and stocked up on ammo. My driver/coworker got all kinds of pistol ammo, and a couple of boxes of 160 gr Hornady Lever Revolution 30/30. I have been trying to get 30/30 ammo in NY for over a year, but was unwilling to pay $ 47 per box for that fancy stuff down there. My guns are sighted in with 150 gr Federals. I have (4) of those left and my father in law has about (30). I also have (19) Winchester 150 gr super-X’s. I did pick up (4) boxes of Hornady 12 ga SST 2-3/4” slugs, which I have been unable to find lately in NY. They had those for $17 per box. Unfortunately, I got called back for an important meeting Friday. I had to leave my ammo down there with my driver, since I couldn’t bring it back on the plane. As it turned out, I missed a connection in CLT airport, so I had to spend a Thursday night in that airport and missed the meeting at work Friday morning. I did get back in time for the lunch pizza party there, which I mostly financed with a recent “silent auction” tractor purchase. I also made it up to the Northern zone, for my planned (9) day early ML week / opening weekend of gun season hunt. Hopefully, those (4) Federal 30/30 bullets I have left will be enough to get me a buck up here. I don’t know when or if i will get my 12 gauge slugs back from my driver. He’s also got my Little EDC knife, in the Dick’s bag of slugs.

I made it up at sunset Friday, but I didn’t sleep too well. Probably because I needed 28 fluid oz of Coca-Cola to keep me awake on the thruway for the drive up after no sleep the night before. I didn’t see any deer Saturday morning up on the ridge top where I killed the old doe last year. The south East wind was blowing a little too hard for much natural movement. I carried my binoculars up with me in the morning, but they seemed to be more of a pain to carry than they were worth. Had I not left them back at my in-laws lake house, they might have helped me get a deer on the afternoon hunt. I still-hunted my way back from that, at sunset. About halfway back (15 minutes after sunset), it was still light enough to see and legal to shoot. A group of 2-3 deer spotted me before I spotted them, about 100 yards thru the young hardwoods, and high-tailed it over the ridge. Had I been walking and scanning with binoculars, as one should while still hunting, I might have seen them first. That’s the secret to getting one that way. I blame that mistake on my lack of sleep. My hope is that that group of deer don’t know that they are being hunted. Lots of people walk the trail I was one. Hopefully, those deer just think I was someone walking out to the mailbox, or something. The wind looks like it will be right tonight, so I am going to get setup on the spot where I seen them. A side benefit is, that spot is close to the house, so I can stay longer in the “ambush” location. I got a good nights sleep last night, so my odds are better of knocking one of them deer’s lights out tonight.

Wow, you talk about violation of the German “purity law”. The only thing that should be in beer is water, barley, hops, and yeast.

I got buzzed by a couple of combat choppers, at treetop level, while I was out on the lake fishing yesterday. It also looked like an A-10, or some other jet, dropped a flare up high. Its much nicer out in the woods this morning, than it was yesterday. I am back on top of the north end of the ridge where I killed the old doe last year. Light winds and thermals should carry my scent away. There is nut producing trees nearby. I am going to stick it out here until 11:30 (it’s about a half hour still/hunt back to the in-laws lake house).

Your both wrong. It’s not about inches of antlers and its not about age. Think Arby’s : “WE HAVE THE MEAT” If God wanted man to eat vegetables, He’d have put our eyes on the sides of our heads.

A grouse just flew past 20 yards behind me. If one lands nearby, and I can get a clear head-shot with my .50 cal, I am taking it. I have a decent supply of venison in the freezer now, but it’s been over 10 years since I have eaten a delicious ruffed grouse. Taking that shot is well worth the risk of scaring off any nearby deer. Ideally, one will land at about 50 yards, where I dialed in my T/C Omega ML to hit 1/2” high. My mother in law is a little under the weather and not quite up to her usual par in the kitchen. I would like to cook up a fat-breasted grouse for lunch, and then get back out after the deer in the afternoon. If the current SE wind holds, I know just where to sit, on the other side of the ridge that I am on right now, to get a crack at a herd I saw on my walk back to their house last night.

First chance I get, after deer season ends on January 2023, I am going to drop this one. It is supporting a 4 ft high platform on one end (two 3” steel pipes hold up the other end), from which I killed a big doe in September. That was the first deer that I killed from that stand, which was up for about 5 years. I was going to take it down, but now I want to keep it. My plan is to cut the dead ash tree, about 3 ft above the platform. I think a plastic 5 gallon bucket will fit over the end of the stump. That should slow down the water absorption from that end and hopefully make it last a little longer. I’d like to get 20 or 30 more years out of that stand, or until I am ready for a wheelchair. That upturned bucket will make a great gun/crossbow rest for shooting towards my best foodplots. Much of the bushes, that I need to trim up each year, around that “natural blind” are poison ivy. Some say that poison ivy is is a preferred forage for deer. Maybe so, because that doe was only a 10 yards shot and her smaller “scout” got to within 5 yards. Maybe they stopped by for an appetizer on their way to the corn plot. Back strap momma got more than she expected, with 240 gr of lead thru the heart.

Sunset was at 6:17, and I stayed at my spot, until 6:15. I still-hunted my way back. About half way, I saw at least two deer around 100 yards away, thru some young hardwoods. They must have seen or smelled me first, because they took off with their tails up. The main trail/driveway, that I was on when I saw them gets year-round pedestrian traffic. I hope those deer didn’t realize that I was after them. Hopefully, I will get a more favorable wind to hunt the spot where I saw them, before next week Sunday. It will be nice to have an evening spot, a little closer to the house, so that I can stay there a little longer.

I had to change up my fishing plans a little due to a couple minor calamity’s. First, I couldn’t find the mooring line for my 12 ft rowboat, so I decided to take out the 14 footer with the Johnson on it. Before I finished draining all the water out of that, I located the mooring line (my nephew had borrowed it for his kayak and left it up on the porch under it). I was already committed to using the other boat by that time though. There was still about 10 gallons of rainwater in it, when I stepped inside, to speed the process along with a bucket. The drain hole always plugs with leaves and it takes a long time to clear them and drain it using just that. When I stepped in, the boat tipped on its supports which we’re holding it up out of the lake. I planted one foot into the water that was still inside, to keep from falling out, drenching that shoe. I took off the wet shoe and sock, wrung out the sock, and left them them on the party barge. Luckily, the sun was out and it was pretty warm. I went out fishing barefoot. I don’t think I caught a bass barefoot all summer, but I got three that way here in mid October, all on 1/8 oz jigs. Now , I am back out waiting on a deer. I don’t expect much with the crazy swirling wind this evening but maybe the open stick of EverCalm will cover my scent. The smallest one was a little over a foot and the biggest was about 16”, all on 1/8 oz bucktail jigs (I lost one of those jigs on a snag).

I hit a busted up 2-1/2 year old 8-pointer just like that in 2016 with my crossbow and a mechanical broadhead. I wondered what the heck had happened, when he hobbled off dragging a back leg on the opposite side of my shot. I think that my bolt deflected back off the shoulder blade. He was also slightly quartering to at the shot. After the hit, I watched him walk about 70 yards, right towards my pond. He keeled over about 10 yards short of it. How was the gut job on yours ? The one that I hit like that was definitely the messiest one that I have ever killed with an arrow or gun. A wide open mechanical broadhead, diagonal thru the lungs, liver, stomach, intestines , and ham works wonders. I was glad that pond was so close for cleanup. Are you going to cut that one up yourself or take it to a processor ? I’d be interested to know how that meat tastes, especially the tenderloins, if you try them. The one that I killed like that was pretty good, but at least 2 years younger and I had the guts all out of it and the cavity washed within 20 minutes of crashdown. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t think cutting it up yourself would be worth the risk, when there are so many good processor/sausage makers out there. Every so often, it’s good to use one that does not guarantee your own meat back.

I didn’t see any deer this morning, up on the north end of the ridge. That’s where I killed an old doe last year at this time. The SE wind was good for it this morning. I got up there 15 minutes before sunrise and sat until 9:50, when the wind really picked up. I still-hunted, into the wind, along the upper, back side of the ridge, on my way back. I saw a 2 ft long snake up near the north end of the ridge, and I flushed a grouse form near the bottom. After lunch, I am going to try and squeeze in a little fishing before the rain. I brought up my old, early 1950’s Mercury K-5 outboard, which hasn’t been ran in about a year and a half. Hopefully, it will start today, because it’s going to be tough rowing in this wind. I mixed up some fresh 40:1 for it, which I will use the leftover in my chainsaws. I need to drag one of the (2) little 12 ft row boats down to the water for that. That will be faster than bailing the water out of the 14 footer, which has my father in laws Johnson 5 hp on it. That one has already had plenty of run time this year. It takes a 16:1 mix, just like my 1956 Evinrude. I use that as a kicker on my 17 footer at home ever since I brought the little bit newer Johnson up for him. I brought up my leftover gas for that, which I will burn up in his Johnson, over the next week. My old Evinrude trolls just a little better. Probably because it has the old style, two line “unsafe” pressurized fuel tank, while the newer Johnson has the modern single hose setup. It’s good to run all those little outboards at least once per season. Otherwise, it seems like the carbs get gummed up and they don’t start. I use only stabilized, ethanol free gas in all of them.

Good tip. I am hunting from the ground today, but just about ready for my third cup of hot cider, so I’ll need to watch where I aim pretty soon.

Wow, she must be related. My wife won’t buy ground beef, because she says that that all the fat that comes out of it, while she is frying it up, grosses her out. She gets nervous when our supply of ground venison gets low. Our kids love tacos. I thought were finally rid of them, but the oldest got sick of college after a semester and a half, so now I got to get me another deer or two. I am waiting on one right now in fact.

How is it to carry thru thick cover and can you turn quietly in it to shoot at deer that come in from behind ? This tree hammock seat is also very comfortable, carry’s easy thru thick stuff, and can be turned silently. Drawbacks are that it is a bit of a pain to set up and take down, and it catches water from the tree in the rain.

I know how that works. My wife sends me up to her parents place in the Adirondacks for 9 days each October to help them get things ready for winter. Good thing my mother in law is a good cook and there are plenty of other “fun” things up here to keep me occupied.

You might be on to something there. Why else would they park that many choppers and trucks right next to the main public road that so many Adirondack weekend leaf-gazers use ? Usually, they keep all that stuff far away from public view. The same tactics were used in Britain against the Germans in WW2, using foam and cardboard tanks and trucks. Maybe some of those choppers and trucks are fake. I have taken that route (3A) hundreds of times and rarely seen a single HUMV out there in those open fields.

Trying to bring one in from downwind by deploying scent countermeasures (hot apple cider and open stick of EverCalm deer herd scent). The cider also keeps me warm, hydrated, and energized. There is a strong, cool wind blowing. I really don’t want to burn out too much of my area for the week, on the first day, but a still hunt into it on the way back might work well. The wind is up to about 25 mph now, so that will blow away most of my scent. I will keep touching up my boots with EverCalm every hundred yards or so.

Nothing moving where I am in 6c either. I like the wind direction at this spot, but it’s blowing a bit too hard at about 15 mph, steady from the se. I don’t think they are going to move much in that but we shall see. I just heard a shot from your direction.

Congrats on the nice buck. If I were you, I’d gut it and drop up it off at a processor, who makes good sausage, pepper sticks, and hot-dogs. You probably won’t get your own meat back that way, which might work out to your advantage after the overnight full of hot guts. Looks like you got some pretty good poundage there. You definitely get to keep your cape and antlers however. That one will make a great shoulder mount.

Settled in here also, right at the scene of last year’s “crime” (surgical strike on the old boss doe). 15 minutes till sunrise, nothing bumped on the 15 minute still-hunt in.

I forgot my grunt call this weekend, but I have a rattle bag. I will throw that in my pack and maybe give it a try later this morning. Last time that I rattled up here, I only fooled another hunter. The neighbor thought it was a real buck fight, and tried sneaking in on me. Good thing that he was wearing a bright yellow hat. When I first seen his tall dark form, coming up out of the swamp, I thought that maybe it was a bear on its back legs.

Never say never when there's way too many out there, or one old dominant doe that is keeping others away. That was the case at my spot up here last year. It seemed that many more deer (does and bucks) moved in, after I took her out. I also had both issues going on at home earlier this year. The doe that I killed back there this September had been caught “yellow/green” mouthed several times in my sweetcorn. I saw more deer than ever on my next September antlerless hunt, after taking her out. The does were very skittish, but the bucks were clueless (and sadly off/limits in September). I can’t wait to see what the deer situation is here up North later this morning and the rest of this week thru next weekend. I’ll be very thankful if I can bring a decent sized doe home, processed and in a cooler, like I did last year. A decent buck, during early ML week, could be a bonus. It’s going to be extra tough for me to hold off, on any antlered buck with my gun tag next weekend, because I am really itching to see how the 30/30 works on a deer. I already know how my 50 cal ML works on them, and I want to save my ML/bow buck tag for a good one that I have been watching at home, when crossbow opens in early November.