wolc123

It is nice that the moderators have placed no limit on the amount on Jesus Christ that can be brought up here. Also, it is a very a very target-rich environment for locating those, such as yourself and FSW, who could use a little more convincing. How many deer have you fellas hit and lost, or failed to hit when you shot at, over the last ten years ? I have asked that question to several doubters, but none has offered up a reply. My number is zero, unless you count my first two shots on one three years ago, (you gotta hate those unseen, bullet-deflecting branches). I did manage to drop him dead in his tracks with my third shot. Also, one of two doe that I killed last season required a second finishing shot. Those three "non-fatal" errors by me did not prevent the meat from getting into our freezer because The guy in charge decided that He wanted them there. The good news is that Jesus Christ paid for all of us sinner's mistakes up on that cross long ago. If you are able to find a Bible (or google it) you can look up that He knows where every sparrow falls, so you best believe that He knows where the deer end up. I lost several deer in my younger days, before I connected the dots and realized who was running the show. I would feel guilty keeping that a secret when we are all blessed with such an abundant source of fine protein right here in NY state.

I have not but I did hear about it. Maybe I will check it out if I can find it.

I watched this movie (starring Jennifer Garner) with our two girls last night. I encourage anyone, who may be questioning their own faith and the existence of Jesus Christ, to give it a shot. It was not too hard for me to accept Jesus and the miracles that He puts out, because I was blessed with two "world record class ones" myself. That includes fully recovering from the most severe snowmobile wreck (about 28 years ago) and brain tumor (3 years ago) that any human has been known to experience (at least in Western NY). I understand why others, who have not been as fortunate as myself and Annabell Beam (the little girl in the movie), might struggle with their faith. It was a 50 year struggle for me, and it took the second miracle for me to buy the whole deal "lock stock and barrel". The good news is that it is never too late. The movie is based on a true story, which you can easily research and verify on "Youtube" or other internet sources. It is a first-class, Hollywood production with good acting. My wife and teenage daughters loved it. I would have liked to have taken them to see it at the theater, but watching it for the first time with them in the living room was cool. It held their attention better than Star Wars. One little dividend that accepting Jesus Christ can pay is how much better your hunting can get. Missing or loosing deer can easily become a thing of the past. No amount of practice or "magic bullets/arrows" can do that for you, but it is a piece of cake for Christ. I can say with absolute assurance that it is impossible for anyone to prove that Jesus Christ is not the truth. Hopefully this movie will help Him prove to a lot of skeptics that He is. What have you got to loose if He can make your hunting better in the process ? As important as that is to all of us here, it is near the least of what you stand to gain.

I am leaning towards an 8 x 30 Leupold BX-1 for Adirondack still-hunting. Amazon has them for under $ 100. I have not heard of many bad reviews on these. Is anyone using them ?

That is another good suggestion and I also have a surplus of WW (it was only $ 8 a bag at Rineharts in Middleport), so I will definitely have to give that one a try. The good thing about the brassicas or the wheat is that anything above ground that is not eaten off by the deer thru hunting season and winter can be mowed down in the late spring with a bushog. The nitrogen that it sucks out of the ground in the meantime will make it tougher on the grass competition to the clover next year.

I tried it when I was a lot younger with my first archery kill (a button buck of about 85 pounds field dressed). It was no problem the first hundred or so yards (going down hill or on level ground), but as soon as I had to go uphill, it was a no-go and I switched to dragging the normal way, with a rope with a stick for a handle.

I think we have evolved past the peak of antler worship, and more folks are again getting into hunting for meat. I am glad to see that fad finally passing. Last fall, one of the "big two" outdoor mags (Field & Stream or Outdoor life) ran an article on all the different extra meats you can get from deer and I think a few covers in the fall did not even show a huge-racked deer. Now, if only we can get over this hoppy and/or fruity "craft" beer phase, then all might be right with the world again.

I think growalot overseeds brassica in situations like that. I never tried it but might this year because I have a surplus of purple-top turnip seed and lots of old weedy clover acreage. Brassicas are very tasty to deer after a hard frost, when clover looses most of its attraction. That might make for some good late season kill-plots. The brassicas should do well with all the nitrogen that is banked in the ground from the clover.

It wont be too long until he is ready to start shooting it with some light target loads. Make sure he holds the stock close to his shoulder and leans into it a bit. Is the Ruger 10/22 his also? He don't look as happy with that one, but would probably enjoy shooting it sooner. He definitely looks happy with the Bear compound.

It gives you a pretty good point of aim for an arrow with a quartering away deer, but I am not sure that I would want to eat that one. Since gathering food is my primary reason for hunting, I would probably give him a pass, unless it was near the end of the season and I still had my buck tag. I would just trim around the warts and eat the rest in that case.

Sorry I left off the biological explanation for the drag on previous post. Maybe you will "get it" now.

It sounds like you might have missed this part, which sums up my "other" reason for that drag. Did you ever here the saying "kill two birds with one stone" That there was saving a fish, and getting a picture with one rope.

Taking a large fish on light tackle puts considerable stress on them. In this case, the lake was dead calm, so an immediate release would have probably lowered her odds of survival. Have you ever saw any video footage of folks "reviving" big muskies or pike by pushing them back and forth to move oxygenated water across their gills ? A slow drag across a calm lake does the same thing. In this case, that big old bass just floated on her side at first, but by the time I reached the opposite shore, she was strong enough to pull that canoe around in circles. The fact that my wife was able to catch a "live action" photo of the release was just an added bonus. I definitely appreciate you fella's concern for the fish, which I consider to be food gifts from God. I always go to great lengths to insure the survival of released fish and would encourage others to do likewise. That includes wetting my hands before touching them, handling them and removing hooks gently, and running my boat's livewell pump often. I will sometimes hold a larger than optimum fish or two in my livewell and only release them if I am not able to catch a smaller one in the time available. I did keep a 20 inch smallmouth out on Lake Erie last week, but that fish looked to be relatively young and was very healthy looking. The growth rate on bass out there is as good as I have ever saw it. 15 years ago, before all those round-gobies, a bass of that age would probably have been less than 15 inches long. The best way to insure the health of the fishery is to not catch them in the first place. I no longer fish the "special early season" for bass on Lake Erie, since they changed the rules to only allow the keeping of bass over 20". Those fellas that often brag of dragging 50-100 bass a day up off the spawning beds are doing a lot more harm than I am by dragging a single bass across a small inland lake in the middle of the summer.

It was actually a short length of braided line, not a rope and her odds of making it were pretty good. I never was one for catch and release fishing though, and the only legal fish I usually release are those that are too big to eat. All of that "senseless maiming" of a fine food source never made much sense to me.

It is definitely easier for them to run down mature deer in the deep snow than it is without. Those big padded paws are almost like snowshoes, while the narrow hoofs on a deer sink right thru, wasting tons of energy and making for an easy run-down. Nothing is easier for them to catch than an old rutted-out buck in the deep snow. While the fat does and yearlings leave him behind in the loose powder, he quickly becomes coyote food. After spring fawning season, that is the second "happy time" each year for the coyotes up in the north country.

I use a big, old GE household fridge that is from the 1950's. They don't seem to build them to last like that now days. It does use a little more electricity than the new ones, but I only plug it in when it is warm out and I have deer carcasses to hang. With all the racks and drawers removed, it will hold two average-sized deer, cut in half behind the rib cage. I hang the rear halfs from hooks on the top and rest the fronts on the necks on the bottom. It gets a little tight with two in there, but normally I only need to worry about one at a time. Aging those deer at 35 degrees (that's where the old fridge holds them) for about a week (longer for older deer) allows the rigor mortis to work its way out, making the steaks, chops, and roasts a lot more palatable. Keeping the door closed over that time allows the skinned carcasses to stay fairly moist. I prefer to hang and age the carcasses with the skins on (that insulates and keeps them from drying out to much on the outside) in our insulated garage, but "climate change" is forcing me to use that old fridge more and more it seems, especially early in the season. Hopefully I can get another 50 or so years out of it. It would be cool to age deer in a hundred year old fridge.

I also fish from 4 boats, which include my 17 ft deep-v, 12 foot rowboat, 17 foot canoe, and my father in law's 14 foot rowboat. There has been a few memorable times with the canoe. I always stay off the beer until I have my limit though. The first thing I loose, when I take a sip, is the ability to detect a strike. That is where downriggers and bobbers come in handy - they detect the strike for you. I remember taking my canoe up to Long lake in the Adirondacks, about 10 years ago, for a week long summer family vacation. There were guys in bass boats pounding the shorelines every morning, and I did not have much luck there, so I paddled up wind, and out to the middle of the lake. Using a 5-gallon bucket as a sea-anchor to slow my drift, it did not take long to get a limit of good-eating sized smallies each morning on 1/4 oz jigs. About 5 years ago, out on Cuba lake, in the south-western part of the state, I caught a big smallmouth from the canoe. She was on the edge of a weedbed that was near the opposite shore from our friend's cottage. I did not have a camera, so I used a small rope stringer, thru the lower jaw, to hold her to the back of the vessel as I paddled back across the lake. She kept pulling the back of the canoe off coarse, making for an interesting ride. That 21" long bass was way too big to be good eating, but with some extra effort, I got back across, got a picture, and released her relatively unharmed.

I am surprised to see and hear about all the electric winches. Those don't seem like they would be worth it to me, especially the 12 volt models. Batteries are a pain to mess around with. I just use cheap little multiple pulley block and tackles that were about $15 ea from Northern or Harbor Freight. It takes less than 30 pounds of force to lift a 150 pound deer with those. Skinning an average of 5-6 a year, for a long time, has been a piece of cake with those. The electric winch would probably be better for ripping the hide off, but I don't think I will attempt that again. I tried it on one last year, using a tractor and a pulley, and it did not work out so well. I will probably stick with the old-fashioned method, using the block and tackle and a sharp knife, from now on.

I think year-round open season for trapping and hunting coyotes would be good here in NY state. Unfortunately, it will probably take the loss of a toddler, and the resulting lawsuits for that to occur. Under the current restrictions, it is not so much a matter of "if", but "when" this will happen. Also, what makes things difficult in areas like where the OP dog-attack occurred, is the urban sprawl and the difficulties for hunters and trappers to gain access to the problem areas. I live just a few miles to the north, in a more agricultural area, and the coyotes are much less of a problem here. They would be virtually non-existent here if we could target them year-round. At no time are they easier to kill than they are out in the hay fields, after it is fresh cut and they are less than a year old. With current regs, they are "safe" at that time, except for the few strays that get struck by lightning or fall ill for some other mysterious cause.

When the water temperature of Lake Erie gets up into the 70's (almost always after mid-July), the smallmouth move towards deep water. The farther south you go in NY state, the closer to shore you can find that deep water. If I were to target them any more this summer, I would trailer the boat down to Dunkirk and head south towards Vanburen point, or maybe even Barcelona, looking for structure at 40-45 feet. You might still find some smaller bass holding near the bottom, but the bigger ones will often suspend in the top 15 feet over those depths. They are spooky and don't respond well to trolling with a gas engine. I make long casts with light (1-8 - 1/4 oz jigs, and try and feel them pick it up on the fall). With so much water to cover, finding them can get pretty difficult. I am very thankful that we have plenty of bass in the freezer now, so it is time to head to Lake Ontario for kings and steelhead. Fortunately, that fishing gets easy just about the time the smallmouth fishing gets tough on Erie. How great it is to live within 1/2 hour of Erie and Ontario. I am also hoping to bring back an Olcott or Wilson harbor largemouth or two and a bucket full of bluegills to throw in our pond that I deepened after it dried up last summer. With all the rain we have had, It is at least 8 foot deep right now and full of frogs, bugs and crayfish for them to eat.

Was there any smallmouth action out there today ? We were out on Seneca shoal Saturday and also got a few sheephead like that, with the largest one about 12 pounds. There were bass out there but they were few and far between. We ended up with (4) that were all from 16 - 20 inches. The smaller ones were a little shallower at 22 ft, while the 20" hog was down at 38 ft on the outer edge of the shoal. There did not seem to be any left at the harbor gaps or in closer to shore, but we did not give it much time in there. The wind was not good, starting out about 10 mph NE at daybreak, but increasing to around 40 mph by 10 am. We were getting pounded pretty good out there on the shoal in 3-4 foot waves. I had to go up to 5/16 oz jigs and run the big sea anchor on our drifts to hold them near the bottom. The bass were hitting very light, in fact I did not feel any of them strike. They were just "there" all of sudden, just as the jig hit the bottom. A neighbor kid (who convinced me to fish Seneca shoal) recorded the fights Saturday of the biggest sheephead and bass on his go-pro camera. The video of the big bass fight lasted about about 5 minutes, while the sheephead, that probably weighted about 2X, was just under 3 minutes. The big sheephead pulled hard for a little bit, then gave up easily. The bass just kept pulling towards bottom. That just proves to me again that no freshwater, warm-water fish outfights the smallmouth bass pound per pound. That is the main reason they are my favorite. They also taste pretty good, but I give a slight edge to the largemouth in that department. I also noticed many years ago (when my fiance and I had to fillet a few sheephead, because we had no other food down at hunting camp and the bass were not biting that day), that there is a lot less meat on sheephead that there is on bass. It was a good thing that the guys at camp turned up their noses when they heard that it was sheephead that we had on the grill. There would not have been enough for us otherwise. Honestly though, they tasted about the same as the bass always did, grilled fresh. Sheephead may even be a bit like oysters in one respect, as I seem to recall the my old truck camper rocking most of the night that time.

I can relate to wheels falling off small JD's. The first tractor on our farm was a JD M that my grandad bought new in 1951 (before that, all they used was "real" horsepower). That was the only tractor here for many years and it accumulated a lot of hours. Eventually the axle splines wore out on both rear wheels. The last time a wheel came off, it was while grandpa was cultivating corn in the late seventies. He was probably not moving very fast at the time, because the steering was so badly worn that high speed cultivating would have cost him a lot of corn. It still must have been scary when that wheel came off, but at least the mounted front and rear cultivators held the tractor up and prevented a roll-over. In later years, I cultivated many acres of corn with nothing but welds holding the rear wheels on. Needless to say, I feel a lot safer on the lower-riding, low-hour Ford 8n that I used for cultivating this year. An added plus is that it does two rows at a time instead of just one like that JD M, or the crappy little Farmall cub that I used for the previous 14 years. Man I hated that thing with it's offset "cultivision". That forced me to look down at the corn, and gave me a stiff neck. The first time I used it, I wanted that old JD M back, but dad took it with him when my folks moved onto my grandparents (on my mom's side) larger farm. With the JD, you could keep your head up and just sight the row down the ridge on the hood. How great it was this spring, when I found a deal on craigslist, to trade a Farmall cub snowplow that I had, for a mint-condition Ford/Ferguson 2-row 3-point cultivator. I sold the cub tractor and cultivators cheap to a co-worker, basically at "parts-tractor" price. It feels very good to be rid of that maintenance nightmare. I will never again buy a used, high-hour tractor, especially a red one.

I bush-hogged about 10 acres of over-ripe timothy hay today. I was leaving it for my neighbor, in case he ran short for his livestock due to all the rain, but he has enough now. I just finished disking a 1/4 acre plot that will get fertilized, dragged, and planted with purple top turnips later today or tomorrow. I also disked another 1-1/2 acre plot that will get planted with wheat/soybean/clover mix in mid August. That was corn last year. I bush hogged it in the spring a sprayed it with gly 2 weeks ago. I am going to skip the spray and plow and disk another acre that was also corn last year, seed the same thing, and see which one does better. As fuel gets cheaper (I paid $1.95/gallon for off-road diesel the last time) I prefer to use more plow and less herbicide on my plots. We spent most of the day out on Lake Erie yesterday, and now have enough fish to last thru the year, so now it is time to work on the foodplots. The deer hunting at home is probably going to be a little tougher this year, because the local farmers are really hammering them with their nuisance permits. I am going to need all the food-plot draw that I can get. My corn is looking spectacular, so that should help.

I like a lot of the older country, but some of the new artists are not too bad. Luke Bryant and Florida Georgia Line sound pretty good to me. Some of the old ones are also still coming up with good new stuff, like Willy Nelson's "I woke up not yet dead again today". Personally, I only recognize three types of music: Country, Church music, and Disco. I consider anything that is not country or Church music, to be disco, and I don't care for that.

How is that worse than fat, well fed coyotes and buzzards? Also, they will still be limited by the number of permits they are issued. If they can sell the meat, their "aim" should improve considerably.