wolc123

I was cutting clover with the bush-hog this afternoon, and got it about half done. There is a lot of timothy hay in the last big field. I saw a "horse" farmer neighbor at church this morning and I told him that I would leave that for last. He said he would cut it and bale it for his horses if some of his own hay gets rained on before he can bale it. I would say the odds of that is pretty good considering all the rain we have been getting. Horses do a lot better on timothy than they do on clover. If you keep taking the hay off a field every year, without adding fertilizer or manure, it keeps getting thinner. This field has not been baled in about 5 years, so it is pretty thick right now. I would not mind him cutting it, as it would save me about 10 gallons of diesel and thus lower my input costs a bit this season. The deer don't like that timothy much anyhow, compared to the clover in the smaller fields.

I skipped the sweet corn this year, after about 4 straight seasons of dismal results. It was too dry last year, too wet the year prior. This year looks like it is shaping up pretty good for that but my ground will benefit from the extra year in clover, so next years crop should be good. I usually like to get in a little sweetcorn because it makes it easy to eradicate the coons before they can get to the field corn.

I have not been out there since fathers day and it was very windy that day. We launched out of small boat harbor and got (6) "keepers" (five smallies and one LM) inside the black-rock canal along the outer wall (the wind was not so bad there). I usually fish jigs if the wind is not too bad, or troll large hot-n-tots if it picks up a bit. We spent a day in the Adirondacks and most of the first week on the St Lawrence, getting mostly smallies on jigs and LM on wacky rigged plastic worms and spinnerbaits. As a man over 50, the state advisory allows me to eat one meal per month of fish from up there, so I am definitely set for the year. Women and children are not supposed to have any however (I suppose it has something to do with mercury or lead). That is why I am hoping to secure a few more packs of Lake Erie bass, which the rest of the family is "allowed" to eat. They all love fish. It gives them a nice change from all the venison I suppose.

If you do or if you ever do, would you have any sympathy for them if they got hooked on drugs ? Also, thanks for "bumping" Jesus back up again. That is always a sure fire way to get a "like" out of me. You sure can't have too much of Him when people are looking for answers to the drug epidemic. He is the "secret weapon" that can help folks kick that habit.

We did ok the last few weeks, but could use about (3) more quart packages of bass fillets in the freezer. Hopefully the wind and rain stay down Monday morning out on lake Erie. My older daughter was on the fence, but I talked her into going with an offer of $5 per hour as first mate, with a bonus of $1 per "keeper sized" (12-18") bass. She jumped right on that deal.

I usually aim for "knee high by the fourth of July". Today was one of them rare days when, if you look close enough, you can actually see it grow. It takes warm weather, lots of moisture in the ground, nitrogen, and plenty of sunshine to make that happen. At about 3:00 pm this afternoon, after grilling the girls some deer-burgers for lunch, I stood on the edge of my 2-1/2 acre plot and watched as it grew past my knees.

Another advantage of having that "CSI" stuff available, is that it makes it easier to give deer that are hit with an arrow in the late afternoon a little more time before you start tracking. They say that the bloodglow works best when it is good and dark. Just about everyone agrees that it is usually best to give them some time before tracking, regardless of what tracking tools you use. In the late afternoons, I would often cut that wait time down to 15 minutes or so, to take advantage of the remaining daylight. I can still remember finding my first archery season antlered buck, only by catching a glimpse of his white belly in the last minutes of daylight. He was lying dead on his side in a patch of bushes about 100 yards from where he was struck. He was 15 yards from my tree stand when I arrowed him. The arrow pierced his heart, but entered the boiler room high and there was no exit wound. With the pump out, there was also no flow, so not one drop of blood to follow.entered high and did not exit. I might have lost him without that last minute of daylight, had I not started tracking when I did. Now, if I don't see them go down or hear the crash, it will be 1/2 hour wait minimum no matter what time of day they were hit. The only reason I would speed that up otherwise, is if the coyotes reestablish a foothold in the area. Fortunately, there are real good trappers to the east and west of our place, and they are doing a fine job of keeping them controlled.

Do you have any kids?

There are lots of lost folks like you out there. Don't worry about it too much because there is room for everyone in His kingdom. Fortunately we live in a country that still identifies as 75% Christian. There may or may not be other cures for drug addiction but many folks have found that this one really does work.

I will give you a clue, you can find your answer in the Bible. Here it is for those with little time: Faith in Jesus Christ will eliminate anyone's need for drugs. It really is that simple.

I know what one I am going for (see Texas heart shot thread) if I have my scoped 30/06 and a good rest. Placing a bullet within 1/8" of a pinpoint is a piece of cake for me with that in that situation. Hit that spot and the deer dies instantly and all you loose is a neck roast (been there and done that). I can't tell the difference in meat quality between a 3-1/2 year old and a 1-1/2 year old. The controlled aging time required before processing is about two weeks with a 3-1/2 but a week will do it on a 1-1/2. The 3-1/2 will normally provide about 2X the meat so that is worth the wait and a much better use of my buck tag.

I think it includes three packets that you open and mix with water or windshield wiper fluid in freezing weather and spray on the trail with a pump sprayer. Each packet is sized for an "average" track job. If it turned out to be a real long one, you could use all 3 and/or dilute it a little more. It is advertised as working even better in rainy conditions. I would not expect it would help recover a deer struck in the shoulder blade with an arrow but those usually heal up anyhow. It should find most that die within 8 hours including single lung, liver, and gut hits. It is supposed to show tiny drops of blood that you can not see with the naked eye in broad daylight. It sounds almost too good to be true but I am not willing to try a bad hit on a deer to find out. I hope I never need it on a deer I shoot. I know that I am not perfect though so I may need it someday, or better yet, might use it to help someone else find one.

I bought a product called "bloodglow" a few years back, to assist in blood tracking after dark. $ 20 bought enough to track three deer. They say it makes the blood glow bright green under the moon and star light, and it was developed for CSI work. It has been just about worthless for me because every deer I have shot since getting it has dropped dead in it's tracks or close enough that I could see or hear fall. On one hand, I would love to try this stuff, but on the other, I am thankful to have not needed it. I wonder if the stuff has a shelf life ? If nothing else, it gives me the confidence to stay in the stand until sunset. Before getting it, I would usually pack it in a half hour early during archery season, to allow some daylight tracking time. I guess that makes it good for something. The only piece of hunting gear I bought that was truly worthless, was a Hastings Paradox rifled 12 ga. barrel with a cantilever scope mount that I bought for my Remington 870 about 20 years ago, That setup would stack slugs vertically more than a foot as the barrel warmed or cooled, either from shooting or from freezing weather. I traded it, plus a little cash, on a T/C Omega ML. That rifle, using the same scope, has always put the bullets right where I wanted them, regardless of the temperature. That, and the fact that I never failed to kill a deer I shot at with the 870 with it's factory, short, open-sight smoothbore barrell, proved to me that the problem was not the gun, the scope, or the shooter.

I just finished a can of Genny cream-ale and cut the empty in half, hanging from wire on the clip at 15 yards, with 40 BB's from my daughter's Daisy red-ryder. That was my best score yet, but it was from a seated position and using a rest. After many years of mostly using scopes on my deer rifles, I am trying to get back into form with open sights in preperation for Adirondack deer hunting with my new Marlin 336 BL. I fitted the Daisy with an aftermarket "big loop" and an adult-sized stock to make it almost dimensionally identical to the Marlin. It still weighs much less, but that big iron loop gets it closer than it was with the little plastic one that it came with. It was taking me about 100 shots to do that when we first started this new "shooting game". It gets a little harder when the bottom half of the can is hanging from the last narrow shard of aluminum, requiring "pin-point" accuracy. A little wind, or the can swinging from the previous hits also adds to the difficulty. Off-hand is bit tougher, but when I start cutting them cans in half consistently with less than 50 shots from that position, I will be almost ready to take on the deer in the fall with the Marlin. A final step prior to that will be making sure I can pop milk jugs filled with water consistently with the 30/30 from about 50 yards. I went 2/3 on those the week I picked up the new rifle and got to get better before deer season. In the mean time, the BB-gun / beer-can game is a good economical way to practice shooting and it also ties this beer thread in with the hunting theme. I wonder how long the deposit on cans will remain at 5 cents. If they every raise it, I will have to invent a different shooting game to keep my venison input costs under control.

I don't have a problem with others who wish to challenge themselves by using primitive weapons, but I do have a problem with myself doing that. I always seek to minimize the challenge, which I believe shows more respect for the deer. I am not comfortable with using deer "for sport", the same as I am not comfortable with "catch and release" fishing. I believe that God gave us all these creatures for food, not as toys to play with. I find it a lot more fun and often cheaper, gathering meat from the wild, than it is to farm raise or get it from a store. That makes me wonder why more folks don't take up hunting and fishing. Could it be because they are looked down upon by "trophy hunters" ?

My 13 year old girls are not all that into it. Certainly not like I was at that age. They were into it a bit more before they got their smart phones. Their mother was more into it while we were dating. We were married on opening day of bass season and spent our honeymoon on a two week long bass fishing trip split between a remote off-the grid cabin on a small lake on the Indian river and up on the St Lawrence with my boat and truck camper. We have been repeating the last half of that trip every year since then. The kids usually fish off the dock a little at least but they did not even do that this year. They are way more into swimming and riding their bikes. I also fished for bullheads, suckers, rock bass, and northern pike, maybe in that same stream when I was young, but upstream a little on the other side of Transit. There was also a local pond with real good largemouth bass action. I never really lost interest in fishing, but the kids and deer hunting have put a dent in the time I spend doing it. I am hoping maybe my older "Irish twin" will have a little time to go fishing with me next Monday when we get an extra day off work for the 4th. Hopefully the wind and rain hold off and the lake Erie boat launches won't be that crowded. If she gets too bored, she can get on her smart phone in the boat.

I remember catching carp on two consecutive casts, in Dunkirk harbor on lake Erie about 20 years ago, on light spinning tackle and a 1/4 oz chartruse Mr twister jig. The first one was about a 5 pounder. Had I not just caught that smaller one, I would have wondered what I had on for a long time after hooking the next, much larger one (about 25-30 pounds). There was about 20 minutes of tug-o-war before it tired enough against my 6 pound line, so that I could get a look at it. I remember chasing it around the harbor with my electric trolling motor to keep from getting spooled. It was not real fast like a king salmon or a musky, just strong, so I could keep up with it with that. Those were the only ones that I ever caught on lures. I caught a few on worms, when I was a kid, in the creek behind our house.

Prayers sent for Christopher and family.

I also respect your opinion. A man has to know his limitations. I know mine pretty well and I don't exceed them. That has resulted in all the deer that I have shot at, over the last 10 years, being killed and recovered cleanly. I am not perfect though and I try and learn a little bit from every "less than perfect" shot. I had to take a second finishing shot on a doe last year, with my slug gun, and I have made corrections already due to that. The fact that you won't take some shots that I do is ok, and shows that you also know your limitations. That is definitely a good thing. The target range is a good place to start establishing the upper limit on your range limitations but we all know that shooting at "live" targets is a lot different. In the case of that 59 yard crossbow shot, I have admitted that was beyond the effective range of that crossbow. I did not have a range-finder at the time, and I underestimated the range. That resulted in the bolt striking low (thru the heart), rather that high-lung where it would have struck at the 50 yard range I estimated. Range is but one of many variables when it comes to killing a "live" target. All of the other variables were stacked strongly in my favor on that shot. The buck was standing still, broadside, and distracted by a couple hot does. There was no wind, I had a good rest, and a telescopic sight. I am an experienced rifle shooter. It sounds like the OP is an experienced rifle shooter also. As long as those other variables are in his favor, then I have no problem recommending a 50 yard shot with a 300 fps minimum crossbow.

A compound bow will get you all of archery season, but is a far less effective weapon for killing deer in the hands of an inexperienced shooter than a crossbow. The crossbow does give you the best two weeks of archery season in the southern zone, which includes all of the rut. You also get 3 days a month earlier, up in the northern zone, before ML season opens up. They call it a 10 day crossbow season up there, but a ML has a big range advantage so why would anyone use a crossbow over the last 7 days if they also have a ML ? When it comes to range, 30 yards is about the max range of a compound bow for an average hunter. I used an entry level. 300 fps crossbow to put an a bolt 8" into a buck on my first year using it, from a 59 yard range. I was not satisfied with that penetration so have imposed a 50 yard limit on that one. I now use a laser rangefinder to make sure it is not exceeded. Fortunately that 8" took the 125 gr mechanical broadhead all the way thru the heart and the buck died quickly. A higher speed crossbow, such as the Centerpoint sniper 370, should be a legit 60 yard weapon on deer, with enough energy for full penetration at that range. If NY would have passed full inclusion of the crossbow this season, I would have purchased one of those. The three biggest advantages of the crossbow, in order of importance are: not needing to draw with deer in close, the ability to shoot from a rest, and the use of telescopic sights. All that adds up to make it a far more effective deer-killing weapon in the hands of less experienced hunters. The smaller, entry-level one that I use is very compact and right at the state minimum width, so the unwieldy, front-heavy drawbacks are minimized. Some folks like the challenge of archery season. I am not part of that group. I think it shows some disrespect for the animal. I always seek to kill those deer cleanly using the best, legal and affordable means to do it. Some are willing to accept a little "collateral damage" which includes the occasional wounded deer. It has been more than 10 years since I failed to cleanly kill one cleanly that I shot at with any weapon, and the crossbow has played a big part in that since it was legalized three years ago. Some of the "challenge seeking" bowhunters always ask, why not use a gun? The huge advantage of the crossbow over that is it's silence. A gun may be less of a challenge for the first deer, but it will broadcast your intent to the others for miles around, making them harder to kill. One deer won't fill a freezer.

Two items that I have not seen mentioned, and that helped me with the two bucks I killed last season are a laser range finder and a pedestal/hammock tree seat. I used the range finder to sight some objects around my stand and that allowed me to know the exact range and to put the arrow in the right spot on the buck that I killed on our farm with my crossbow last fall. The tree seat is light weight, easy to carry, and cost less than $ 20. It allows comfortable shooting 360 degrees around and is simple to use. Last season I made the best 50 yard shot of my life from that seat to kill my late-season Adirondack buck. I can't complain about my Barnett Recruit crossbow. I like it's low cost, small size, and ease of handling. I think it is the perfect crossbow for the 13 days that NY state allows it's use. It has got the job done for me each time I used it, dropping the bucks dead in sight or close enough to hear crash. I have also had good service from the previously mentioned muff with handwarmer, and mostly good (3 out of 5) with the Butt-out II last year. There is lot's of good stuff out there, but the most worthwhile is the large-print NIV Bible that I carry in my pack most of the time and read a couple pages from nearly every morning. That was about the best $ 5 that I have spent, and has directly contributed to all of the deer that ended up in our freezer over the last 5 years or so.

1) Give God thanks and all of the credit for allowing me to cleanly kill enough deer to provide my family with enough meat to last until the 2018 season. We are going to have a tough time eating all the vacuum-sealed venison in the freezer that He blessed us with last season, so two average-sized deer will probably be enough this fall. 2) Practice sufficiently and select shots such that every one gets the job done and minimizes meat-damage. 3) Fill a DMP tag with a mature doe and donate it to a "feed the hungry" program thru a local processor. 4) Help a friend from work get his first antlered buck with his crossbow. 5) Help someone recover a poorly hit deer using the blood-glow tracking agent that I purchased a few years ago. I have heard great things about this stuff and would like to see it work. Every deer I have shot at since having it has dropped dead in it's tracks or close enough to hear crash, so I have not had a chance to try it. 6) Kill a 2-1/2 yr old or older Adirondack buck while still hunting with my new lever action rifle using open sights. 7) Kill an antlered buck during the late ML season.

I went thru a stage where big antlers were my top priority. I still appreciate the antlers and would prefer killing a small spike buck over any mature doe, and certainly a button buck over a doe fawn. I never have any remorse after killing a buck, but I usually have a little after killing a doe. I do my part, knowing that killing does is necessary to keep populations in check, and because a legal limit of two bucks is not enough to feed my family. The selfish part in me is always a little sad after killing a doe, when I think of the loss of chances at the future bucks she may have produced. I would love to see NY state allow a third antlered buck for those of us who purchase archery, gun, and ML licenses. It is mostly about the meat for me, and while does and bucks taste the same, the bucks are faster and easier for me to process , usually having less fat to trim away. The antlers provide a quick way to rough-age the deer on the hoof, especially the 1-1/2 year olds. I try and avoid those early in the seasons. I don't pass them to get larger antlers, but rather to get the additional meat that usually comes with those larger antlers. Still, some meat is better than none, so late in the seasons the 1-1/2's move onto my hit-list. To me, a 2-1/2 year buck provides just about the optimum combination of quantity and quality meat. I do appreciate the trophy hunters, even when they belittle me as a meat-hunter, or for taking smaller bucks. My family has grown dependent on venison and we do live off the land and the waters of NY state when it comes to filling our protein needs. Those little bucks and small fish the trophy folks pass on may be what keeps my family fed on a lean year.

That reminds me of something that happened many years ago when I first started fishing for Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon. At that time, you could only keep lake trout that were less than 25" or over 30" long. One day I caught one that was well over 30", but I had no camera on the boat. I put it in the livewell (which it nearly filled) and brought it home alive to show my folks and so my mom could take a picture. After she got the picture, I put it in a cooler and took it down to the small stream behind our house. It was early spring, and the stream was flowing about 6" deep at the time. The fat laker was well over a foot from belly to dorsal fin. That stream connected downstream with Tonawanda creek, which connects with the upper Niagara river. The trout swam away downstream and may or may not have made it to the river. I would imagine that if anyone else saw it or caught it, on it's way back to the river, they would have quite a tale to tell. Incidentally, we did release a few spring lake Ontario cohos, browns and rainbows in that same pond where we put the Erie smallmouths and Ontario Largemouths. None of them survived the summer. I think the cohos floated up first, then the rainbows, followed by the browns.

Pygmy is right about the smallmouths not doing do well in ponds. Around 20 years ago, we released some lake Erie smallmouth in a buddies 1/2 acre, 15 feet deep pond. We also stocked it with bluegills from another local pond, and largemouth from a nearby harbor on lake Ontario. The largemouths and bluegills did quite well, establishing breeding populations, but the smallmouths kept getting thinner and few survived until the following year. They did not reproduce. We tried to help them by catching crayfish from a local stream, but it was a loosing battle. As thin as they were, they still out fought the fat largemouth for as long as they survived. I think you would need more than 40 surface acres of water, and a maximum depth of more than 40 feet, for smallmouth to do well in a pond. There is a pretty healthy population in the 100 acre, 100+ foot deep natural Adirondack lake where my in-laws built their retirement home. In shallow, weedy water, smallmouth and perch get little white worms in the meat that resembles maggots. Largemouth and bluegill seem impervious to that affliction. I don't blame you for wanting smallmouths in your pond, because they are my favorite fish to catch by a wide margin.