wolc123

Prayers sent for Greg.

I'll take that bet and your gonna regret, cause it's the best there's ever been. There is a very well known Bible parable where the father kills a "fatted calf" for a big party, to welcome home his "prodigal son". Surely you have heard of that one. In payment for your lost bet, why don't you consider giving your soul to Jesus. I would consider that payment in full and then some. I do have a fondness for button buck venison, and my heavenly Father has blessed me with some just about every other year since I started hunting, some 36 years ago. I targeted about half of them myself (only if there was not a larger antlerless deer available). The other half were gifts from friends. I am always thankful when that happens. Do you consider button bucks and 1-1/2 year olds both "baby bucks" ? I know that you are against killing them. What about the unborn bucks that are killed, more often than not, when mature does are harvested after the rut ?

Last week Monday, the smallmouth were hitting pretty good, straight out from the gap between the windmills at the old steel plant, where the bottom dropped from 15 to 30 feet. We were catching them between 22 and 25 feet They tend to move out deeper as the lake warms up. The winds were light and variable, and 1/4 oz jigs, bounced along the bottom, were doing the trick. There were 4-5 other boats out there drifting bait, but I did not see any of them connecting.

For many years I was a pretty clueless hunter. I had some early successes, but I also made my share of mistakes. I am sure that most of those mistakes would have been eliminated, had I made the connection between Jesus, and a successful hunt a little earlier. A friend, and former coworker, who retired a few years ago, pointed out that connection to me (5) years ago, after I told him the story of how I had killed a mature buck, with a wide 8-point rack. He is a man of strong faith, who rarely misses a Sunday at church (other than opening weekend of deer season). I killed that buck on opening day, in the last minutes of legal daylight, from the ground, below a tree stand that was deep in the woods across from our house. The only reason I got down from that tree early, was because the Bible that I had been reading up in the stand, mysteriously slipped out of my hands and fell to the ground. As soon as I hit the ground, a flock of turkeys landed right on my position, in the little patch of brush below my stand. The big buck was with them, and took my 16 gauge slug to the neck from about 15 yards, dropping him dead in his tracks. I was wearing blaze orange camo. Had I been up in that tree, those turkeys would have spotted me from a mile away. Deer in those woods often hang with turkeys. I suppose that allows the deer to capitalize on the turkey's superior vision, and the turkeys to benefit from the deer's better nose. My friend told me that maybe it was not a coincidence that the Bible fell when it did, and that I must be "alright with the Lord". I believed him, especially after I remembered that it had been about 5 years before that when I started reading the Bible regularly, and I had not lost any deer that I had shot at since that time. Deer hunting has been getting better for me since then, culminating in the infamous "perfect shot" that I made on an Adirondack 6 point last Thanksgiving weekend. It has been easy to see the role that Jesus has played in all of my deer kills, since that guy pointed out the connection 5 years ago. Maybe it's all luck, but the better I keep my relationship with Jesus, the luckier I get. I would feel very guilty keeping that information to myself when I hear of so many who struggle here.

Spaghetti with venison meat sauce, and fresh green salad. It was awesome, and one of our kid's favorites for sure. It is time to start hitting that venison hard, to make room for the fresh stuff this year.

I am sorry that I did not put in any sweet corn this year, now that I see how good the field corn is doing. With a complete loss of my sweet corn crop last season, from the worst summer drought ever, and with a few other big projects going on this year, I did not have the desire or time to put any in. The few squash, cucumber, and tomato plants that I have up near the house are doing very well however. It should not be too long before we start seeing a little bit of fresh produce.

I have cleanly killed every deer that I shot at over the last 10 years, and none has taken more than an hour for me to recover. Some of the shots were not quite perfect. A few were, including the only one that was taken at a range farther than I had practiced (remember the picture of the 6-point heart with the broadhead x thru the center, if not I can post again for you). The best part of giving Jesus all the credit (which I do), is that the kind of "luck" He provides never runs out. I hope you have a good deer season this year, and that He blesses you with some clean kills. Thanks for the "bump" by bringing up His name again. It is impossible to have too much of Him on a hunting website. It is real good to have some help from others like you.

You sound like part of that group that will trade a little "collateral damage" (ie the occasional wounded and non-recovered deer) for more personal challenge. I am obviously not part of that group, but I am ok with you and many others who are. Deer are a renewable resource, and there are more than enough to go around, at least in most areas of NY state. The fact that you may have to fire 26 or so arrows to recover 25 deer is perfectly acceptable to me. I am not so happy with those who loose one or two deer for every one they recover though. Reading the bow-hunting section during hunting season shows all of us that may be the case with some. How many tales have we heard of endless searches for deer that were never recovered, or only found later after rotting or being half-eaten by coyotes? I give those folks who help others recover their mistakes using dogs and such a lot of credit, but I hope they don't get too many repeat customers. Those threads are always highly entertaining but often a little sad at the same time. What has been your recovery percentage over the last 10 years? As stated, I have cleanly killed and recovered 100 % over that period. A few initial shots were clean misses, or less than perfectly placed requiring a followup. All of the deer I shot at were recovered by me and relatively cleanly killed. On average, I take shots when I am 90% sure of a clean kill and recovery, with some minor adjustment based on point of the season and our venison supply at the time. I am well-aware of the reason 100 % of the deer have been recovered, as I have previously explained (it has to do with my standing with The Guy calling the shots in case you missed that part). This sure is a "target rich environment" when it comes to the number of folks who have no clue who is calling the shots. To answer the specific question you asked whether it was "sarcastic" or not: My family depends deer as our primary food source. Hunting them with only a scoped rifle would be ok, if I was the only hunter out there. I seek no "special" prilvledge, that is not open to all regardless of their physical abilities. (The Guy calling the shots would never condone that, for it is all about putting Him first and others ahead of yourself ). Less importantly, from a scientific/biological standpoint, the deer where I live go nocturnal, soon after the first sounds of gunfire in the woods when gun season opens. That is why there will always be a time and place for archery hunting. It would be considerably more difficult keeping my family fed, if only guns were allowed for deer hunting. Even if I were the only one using a rifle, that rifle would alert other deer in the area of my intent before I was able to get a sufficient quantity of them to "deer heaven" - mankind's food supply.

Nothing bothered me more in the sport of hunting, than loosing a deer I have shot at and hit, regardless of the weapon I used. Thankfully, it has been more than 10 years since it happened, and the last time was with my ML. In my early years of bowhunting, I lost a few. I remember everything about those lost deer far more clearly than I do those that I have recovered, and the changes I have made as a result will hopefully keep that from happening again. The single biggest change I have made, and the one that has prevented any "lost" deer, is the acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Savior. The Bible says's that "He knows where every sparrow falls". Certainly that also applies to deer. Why anyone would not stay on good terms with the Entity that determines the fate of all life is beyond me. It has taken me 36 years to get where I want to be as a deer hunter, and I was finally able to make a "perfect" shot (using my scoped rifle) on my last deer last season. I know that don't mean all of my future shots will be perfect, but that is what I will always aim for, using a ML, crossbow, scoped slug gun, open sight slug gun, scoped rifle, or open sight rifle. That last one will be new to me this year, so I am putting in lots of time practicing. Since NY allowed the crossbow (for a short time anyhow), I have stopped using a bow, but I have lots of respect for those who can consistently get the job done with those. I have accepted the fact that I will never get to that level with a bow, and now there is no need for me to try. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity I now have for the best 14 days of archery season in the southern zone, and 3 additional days in the northern zone. With my crossbow, I have gone 2 for 2, delivering "near-perfect" strikes each time. I can not over state how much easier it is to hit a deer where you want to, when it is in the same place when the arrow arrives as when it was released. That is much easier to do with a crossbow than with a bow, where deer are often moved to a state of high alert, as a result of glimpsing the draw motion. By eliminating the need to draw with a deer in close, you can eliminate the need to ever shoot at an alert deer. The carnage that the bowhunters leave behind does bother me a bit, and I also have seen far more of that from them, than I have from gun hunters.

I am sure you did not mean that comment and you might just be having a bad day. As a gun-hunter primarily, I forgive you of your transgression.

That may go for some, but not for all of us. I have been passing the smaller 1-1/2's early in the seasons for the last 5 years or so. More often than not, that has resulted in a larger antlered deer later, that also had a significantly larger body, and more meat for the freezer. For example, last archery season, I held off on a small-racked, small-body, 1-1/2 year old 3 point, and less than 5 minutes later, a much larger-bodied, 2-1/2 year old, busted up 5 point (was an 8 before the rut) presented me a nice shot, which I did not pass. That buck put about double the pounds of boneless venison in the freezer than the little guy would have added. I recognize the importance of killing does, and have killed about the same number of them as I have bucks. I always have some regret when I do it, thinking about the loss of the bucks she may have produced. In 36 years of deer hunting, I have not had any regret after killing a buck, regardless of how big it's antlers were. I will admit to not hunting as hard, after my buck tag is filled, but I still get out there if I have antlerless tags. Each time I have filled a buck tag, I have not seen a larger one later while hunting (antlers or body size). If and when it happens, I probably would regret the taking of the smaller buck. I have not shot a button buck in 5 years, which is my longest streak without doing that. Fortunately, my buddy shot one for us last season. We just enjoyed an awesome roast from it. Man, does that stuff just about melt in your mouth. It had the texture of the finest kobe fillet-mignon, and excellent flavor to go along with it. If I see a doe with a button buck this fall, I might just break from tradition and shoot the button buck first. If the doe don't stay around for the second shot, no big deal, for she can go make more of those tasty treats. Also, it is going to be very unlikely that we will have finished up all of the vacuum sealed venison leftover in the freezer from last season, so the lack of "quantity" should be a non-issue.

Kind of like the guy who puts a nice fat nightcrawler on a hook, watches his bobber goes down and reels in a trout on his spinning tackle compared the fella with the classic split-bamboo flyrod who takes one on a hand-tied "match the hatch" dry fly.

My grandfather, on my mom's side, was really into hunting. Unfortunately, he suffered a stroke and was bed-ridden before I was old enough for him to take me hunting. He also loved fishing and was able to get me started on that. I think I inherited my love for hunting and fishing from him. He left me his modest collection of gun's and fishing equipment in his will. He passed away the year before I got my first hunting license. I killed a lot of deer with his old Ithaca 16 ga, including my largest antlered buck. I also killed my second largest antlered buck, about 5 years ago, with that gun. My dad was never that into hunting, but took me out rabbit hunting a few times. I don't remember getting any with him. My first kills were squirrels, on my own, after school, in the woods across the street, with my .22. My dad's side of the family always did an opening weekend deer hunting trip to Allegheny state park. When I turned 16, I went with him for the first time. I did not see any deer, but he said that a bear ran right between us (about 50 yards apart). I did not see it either. I don't think you were allowed to shoot them the first week in the park back then. The following year on that trip, I killed my first deer (a button buck naturally), with gandad's 16 ga, while hunting with my dad's brother, who is also my God-father.

Would you consider yourself a trophy hunter ? As a meat hunter, it is hard for me to imagine better deer hunting than we have here in NY state. There is no place I would rather hunt. I am sorry but I find all of your posts nearly impossible to understand. It seems like you turn everything backwards. For example, in this case I said I was ok with 3 pt per side AR's but not 4 pts. What gives?

I was never a fan of turkey, even the farm raised stuff. That is the main reason I did not go after them when I was up there this last Memorial day weekend. My wife and kids love it though, so I would have went after one for them but I was scared of ticks, and I did not hear any gobbling around the lake at daybreak like I did a few years ago when we were up there at that time. Up on the NW corner of the park, where my in-laws live, there is some Ag including corn. That might explain why the venison from up there tastes as good as it does at home in WNY. It might also make the turkeys taste better than they do down on the SE corner of the park, where you hunt. Didn't you say that the deer don't taste too good down there also ? I guess the only way for me to find out if the turkeys are good, from up there, is to shoot one in the fall with my crossbow. I think the fall Turkey season ends the Friday before ML season, which should give me up to 3 days to get one with my crossbow. Maybe I will be blessed with such a "target of opportunity" while I am deer hunting. The only bird I ever liked the tasted of was ruffed grouse, and the ones from the NW corner of the Adirondacks are every bit as good as those from WNY.

I have never had venison that tasted bad, including several bucks that were 3-1/2 or a bit older. If the meat is properly aged (that means 1 week minimum for a 1-1/2 year old, 10 days minimum for a 2-1/2 year old, and 2 weeks for a 3-1/2 or older, at 33-43 degrees temperature, then they all taste about the same and have similar texture. 6 month old deer are in a class by themselves, and are tender and great tasting even without aging. Even they are a little better after 3-4 days of controlled temp aging however. The livers are another matter however, and the 6 month old ones are all that I keep. 1-1/2 year old deer livers are a little to tough for me to enjoy, and the 2-1/2's are worse yet. By contrast, beef liver stays pretty tender up to 3 years of age. The poor taste that others have experienced can probably be explained my improper aging after the kill, A sloppy kill that caused the deer to suffer before expiring, or deer from remote areas that don't get any quality feed. I am always amazed by the volume of hunters who have absolutely no clue how to properly age venison, and then wonder why their wives and girlfriends turn up their noses at the meat. Here is a tip for you: Learn how to make that venison taste good and she will encourage you to spend more time (and money) on hunting. Whats wrong with that ?

AR restrictions of 3 points on a side, for the first two weeks of archery and gun seasons, might be a good compromise. I would still only be for it if it can be shown, by looking at data from PA, that AR's improve hunter safety. I could see where slowing folks down a bit and forcing them to identify their target might improve safety. Without proof of that, I would prefer no AR's. 4 points on a side AR's for the whole season (as was proposed for my home zone of 9F in the subject bill) is a definite no-go for me, so I am glad it fell thru.

What do you use ? I spent a few hours this afternoon beefing mine up a little. It has served me well for about 25 years, but was in need of a little reinforcement. I made it to help get ready for a hunt out west. A few years before that, my uncle, who lives next-door, had his nephew (on my aunt's side) drop off a big truckload of stumps, behind our barn. He thought he was getting "free firewood", but it was just a big pile of unsplittable garbage. I dragged them back to the far corner of our longest hayfield and heaped them up in a pile with my grandad's loader tractor. I added a few buckets full of dirt a few times over the years, as they rotted down. At one time, I had marked stakes every 50 yards out to 500 yards, but I have been mostly shooting just out to 100 yards lately, now that all of my hunting is in NY. I still check the 300 yard performance of my rifle, every other year or so. Getting my hair parted one time, by a slug fired by a neighbor at a deer, convinced me of the importance of a good backstop for target shooting on our farm that is as flat as a pancake. That backstop has stopped thousands of bullets over the years. I know for sure that it did it's job at least one time, and that alone was well worth the time and effort it took to construct. I was on my 50 yard bench with my scoped 16 gauge slug gun. Just as I was squeezing the trigger, I caught the red color of an atv in the scope, behind and approaching the backstop. It was too late to stop the bullet, for the sear had already released, and it was on it's way. The lead would have been just about perfect. I had on earmuffs, so I never heard the machine approaching. Me and a friend, who was in a hedgerow behind me cutting firewood with his chainsaw, both heard the yell of the rider. We ran back there to check for blood or worse, but found nothing. The rider had escaped with just a good scare, thanks to that backstop. Another memorable incident that happened back on the range, was when I was checking the zero of my deer rifle in the early fall, prior to archery season. I was alone back there at the time (or so I thought). The rifle was resting on a shooting stand, on my 100 yard bench, and I walked downrange to change targets. I looked back up-range and saw a young buck walk out of the adjacent brush field. He walked right up to the rifle (that was pointed my way) and placed his nose next to the muzzle. I was quite sure there was not a round in the chamber, but the thought went through my mind of the headline in the newspaper "Deer shoots hunter with his own rifle". Last October, my 1/4 acre pond, which had held water for more than 25 years, dried up completely after the worst drought we have had in my 52 years. I took advantage of that opportunity to clean out all the sediment that had built up over the years, and also made it a few feet deeper using my 4wd, loader tractor. I ended up with a big pile of dirt next to the pond. Today was a great day to move all that dirt back to my backstop with that tractor. It has a nice canopy, which made it very comfortable under the blazing sun. Now my backstop would probably stop an armored piercing artillery round, for many years to come.

That is the probably the one I will buy when and if NY allows full inclusion of the crossbow. It looks significantly more front-heavy than the Barnett recruit I have been using the last (3) seasons. That should not be a problem for me because all of my stands and blinds are equiped with nice rests. I will probably continue to use the recruit for stillhunting thru cornfields, after getting the sniper. My 300 fps recruit has plenty of punch inside 20 yards. I also killed a heavy, 2-1/2 year old, busted up 5 point (was an 8 point before the rut) with it last season at about that range. The bolt penetrated diagonally, all the way thru his body, striking behind the front shoulder and exiting the ham on the opposite side, then burying a few inches into the dirt. The accuracy is certainly there, but I was not real happy with the energy performance of the recruit at longer range. That extra 70 fps of the sniper should correct that issue.

My older (13 year old) daughter is the exact same way. She wanted to stop at Subway today on the way home from lake Erie. She does ok fishing when the fish are shallow. The bass were hitting at about 25 feet today and that was a little too deep for her and her Zebco 33. She did do a fine job netting the (3) I hooked into. She was on the fence about going today, but I coaxed her into it by offering her $5 per hour plus a $1.00 bonus for every"keeper" bass (12-18"). She said that it was more fun making money that way than it is from babysitting. Maybe I will try and break her in on driving the boat for a little salmon trolling out on lake Ontario later this summer. It only takes me about 30 minutes to drive there. It was very nice out on lake Erie today, with moderate temperature, light variable winds, and just enough sunshine. I would have liked to get have gotten out a little earlier (she slept in until 8:00 am) but at least we hit the boat launch when it was not too crowded, both launching at 8:45, and retrieving at 11:45. The drive to lake Ontario is much more enjoyable because I can take back roads all the way. The highways around Buffalo are busy and in very rough shape. I would much prefer to eat the fish out of lake Erie however. We have enough fish to eat in the freezer now, so I will go for the sport of the lake Ontario salmon for the rest of the summer. The kings and steelhead usually start putting on a pretty good show by the end of July.

Cool looking fish. My older daughter and I were out on Erie for a couple hours, just before lunch (she got up late and I had to get in early). The smallies were hitting ok on the shoals in front of the Lakawana windmills. We got enough for one quart-sized pack of fillets (2) 17", and (1) 16". That is probably the last time I will be able to get out there this year, so that will probably be it for the "cleaner" fish. They sure were healthy looking, fat and fiesty fighters. All the rest of my bass are going to be the pcb/mercury/lead-laden ones from the Adirondacks this fall, unless maybe we can squeeze in a late summer / early fall trip or two down to Findley or Silver lake.

A few years ago, we were going thru the toll stop where rt 81 exits the 90. My wife and two daughters were back in the truck camper where they liked to ride, and because we would not all fit in the standard cab pickup I had then. The girls waved at the woman taking the tolls from the window of the upper bunk, She yelled loudly and angry at me: "Hey you can't have kids riding back there". As I pulled away, I replied "You got your rules and I got mine". I am sure that she meant well, but I asked my brother in law (a State trooper) when we reached camp, if I was breaking the law. He said, as long as there is an adult over 18 back there (my wife qualified), then it was ok. Now days, all of the "happy campers" get to ride in an extended cab pickup. We all liked it better when they rode in the back, but I suppose they are a little safer now.

My brother in law gave me an old John Deere LT150 a few years ago. It had a similar issue with a safety switch and I was able to by-pass it, I think I ended up clamping the sensor down. I like this mower a lot better than my other cheap gear-drive one because it is much easier cutting around all the trees and such with the hydro transmission. Before we left for vacation a few weeks ago, I thought that transmission had failed or the drive belt needed replacement (a major job) because the wheels would not turn when I stepped on the pedal. It turned out that 3 of 4 motor mount bolts had fallen out and the motor was pulling away from the belt when I hit the drive pedal. I was able to get one in on the opposite diagonal relatively easy, and it works pretty good like that for now. The other two are harder to get at, but I will try and replace them when I find the time. Too much fishing to do right now however. Good luck with it.

If you can keep some pods, it will be a good gun season and ML spot. Usually they steer clear of soybeans during the "yellowing" stage that lasts most of archery season. They always hit them the hardest right after they sprout, which is why I like adding some to my late-summer planted wheat/clover mix plots. Also, it is always easy finding "free" left-over soybean seed at that time. That way you get some of that "prime attraction" in early archery season, and then the wheat comes in to hold them, with the clover kicking in the following year. Unless your deer density is very low, you will probably need an electric fence on two acres to allow some pods to make it until archery season. Another less-expensive, easier option that may work is a couple strands of 20 pound test fishing line, one about 15" high and the other about 30", ran between "t" posts, around the plots. I did a lot of salmon fishing years ago and that was a good use for my old line. That worked for me for quite a few years to keep deer out of my pumpkin patch. Eventually they wised up to it and got in, effectively putting me out of that business. My kids have to buy their pumpkins now.

I was in a bad snowmobile wreck (involving a head on collision with a pickup truck) when I was a little younger than that. Full leathers protected me pretty good, but I dislocated a hip. The doc told me that there was a 9 out of 10 chance that I would need a hip replacement within 5 years. I guess that the blood flow to the ball joint usually gets severed during a disconnect. That was more than 25 years ago, and I have not had any trouble with it after they poped it back in at the Olean hospital, so long ago. I will say another prayer that he will be ok and I am glad to hear that he is doing a lot better. Keep us posted.