wolc123

Ithaca 16 ga model 37 featherlight, about 40 yards, 4/5 oz Remington slugger. It passed almost all the way thru his rib cage but did not exit. It fell out intact, while I was skinning it. I pressed it back into the spent case and used as as an antler ornament, along with the lower jaw:

It feels like about 35 up here on the nw corner of the adk park. Nothing moving but red squirrels so far. I just finished a quart of hot cider, put on a face mask, and opened up a hand warmer. Going try try and hold out here till about 11:00. Wind is about 5 mph from the south.

Sounds like you are doing it right. I only ever processed one deer that had been left out overnight with the guts in it (outside temp was in lower 40’s). I threw away the tenderloins and made all the rest into grind. It was not as tasty as those that I have gutted right away, but fine for tacos or spicy chile. That was a big doe that a neighbor gave me. There is no way in hell that I would leave a deer that I shot out overnight with the guts in it no matter where it was shot or how cold it was. I’d be out with a lantern if need be.

That’s true, but often that rain stops quickly, and the deer activity picks up immediately, to make up for the lost time. It’s great being in position when that happens, and that umbrella lets you be there right then. That was the case for me on New Year’s Day. It had been pouring for about my whole second hour in the stand that day. Fortunately it was clear when I walked in so I could get set up without getting wet. It let up a little bit towards sunset, and the buck came out for an evening bite of clover. It was still raining when he came out, but not pounding on the canvas like a snare drum, as it was 1 minute before he stepped out of the heavy cover, almost right below my stand. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. Why not be dry, warm, and comfortable while you wait ?

One thing I don’t like about them, is that it is very loud under it when the rain is falling hard. I’d have never believed a deer would approach when that was happening, had not one walked almost right under me on New Year’s Day this year. Also not the best when the wind is intense and the rain comes in sideways.

The one that I use has a single telescoping metal front leg, and you strap the back around a tree that can be between about 6” and 30” diameter. The strap goes around at about shoulder height. The one in the video above looks like it would be tough to get around a larger tree, with the strap up that high. The plastic clip on the strap on mine broke last year, on one side. Now I need to make sure to face the broken side down, or the damn thing will let go when I sit in it. I pile up leaves underneath, to cushion my fall if that happens. Clearing the leaves under my feet also makes for a silent turn, when deer sneak up from behind.

Yes, that was a decent 2fur (deer that makes about 2 times the average amount of meat) that I shot over at my parent’s place last year during opening week of gun season. The 3.5 year olds over there, where they are almost surrounded by corn fields, average 80-100 pounds of boneless meat. I am surprised to see such a thin-butted deer out of Illinois as that posted up above. Especially pre-rut like right now, when they should be at their maximum body weights. That’s a major corn-growing state. It looks like there’s a good neck roast on him anyhow, and he sure looks bloated in the mid-section. He looks extremely light on the steaks and rump roasts though. That back right leg looks atrophied, like it maybe got hit by car or something and withered away. I killed a buck at home like that once. It had broke the main tendon on the back leg the year before. An odd thing about it, was that it made the opposite side antler messed up, and formed a drop tine. Actually, it was the end of the beam that pointed down. Maybe it’s just the camera angle that makes that Illinois buck’s butt look tiny in the pictures. Certainly there is nothing wrong with his rack.

Sure, you can never have too many pictures of racks anyhow:

Nice rack, but looks kind of thin in the hind quarters. Not a whole lot of meat there. Since no one ever figured out a good recipe for antlers, I’d rather stay in WNY where the bucks have heavy hind ends:

That chair is only good for shooting in one direction, but it is extremely comfortable. I was sitting in a bright red one, just like it, when I killed my first Adirondack buck (an 8-pointer) back in 2014. The spot I hunted tonight was overlooking some grassy browse, which concentrates the deer in one location, so one-way shooting was not an issue. The chair I used today is a moose-camo pattern. I am not planning to try and match that, but my bibs and “scent factor” jacket do match that Realtree umbrella pattern. I did kill a deer already this year (on January 1), from under that umbrella while it was raining, with the same ML that I hunted with today. I am probably in violation of the NY state orange hat law by placing it on top of the umbrella, but that beats getting shot by some guy shooting at movement on the next ridge, who can’t see it underneath. Common sense trumps the law for me, in cases like this, where my life is on the line. Tag soup does suck and I do hate not being able to shoot all the way around. That’s why I love my tree hammock chair, which lets you silently swivel all the way around, just like a turret on a tank. The problems with it are time-consuming, noisy setup and take down and it is no good in the rain. Extreme comfort, ease of carry, and 360 degree shooting more than make up for those faults however. I killed my last Adirondack buck, in 2016, from my tree hammock chair after he snuck up behind me, and last year’s ML doe (that I killed one year ago tomorrow), required rotating it about 90 degrees.

It’s not bad at all. Gun on sling, on shoulder, umbrella slides into pouch and clips in belt, and chair don’t weigh much over a pound. Way faster setup than a pop up blind or even my tree hammock chair. That said, I would have preferred to have a small 3 legged stool, that clips to my belt, so I could carry the gun without the sling when walking in. Those stools are not nearly as comfortable as this camp chair, but go thru thick cover when walking, a lot easier. I had one of those, but I lost it somewhere. I think it cost $ 15 at Aldis a few years ago, the same year they sold the $ 30 pop up blinds.

I was snug as a bug in a rug out there in this setup, till 30 minutes past sunset. Didn’t see any deer though.

Sorry to hear about you mother Brian and sorry that you had to deal with a road rage ding bat on such a somber occasion. Prayers sent for you and your family. Thinking about you and your tent camp, as I am under a tree umbrella, in the pouring down rain with my ML, up here in the Adirondacks. Hopefully it lets up before dark, so I can get back to my in-laws house, without getting soaked. I chopped a finger off of one of my gutting gloves to help keep my powder dry.

TSC has 1500 watt infared (electric) heaters for $ 99 ea. They are rated for 1000 square ft. I’d put a couple of those down there and set the thermostats at 55. They probably need to be plugged into 20 amp outlets. It sounds like the Democrats want to get everyone on electric heat anyhow, so you will be ahead of the game.

The shopping trip went ok. We found a bait/tackle/hunting shack, 11 miles away that had grunt calls for $ 11. They had a decent selection of guns and ammo (no 30/30 or .410 which is all that we wanted). They were also out of hunting stools. The market in that town (Edwards) only had one item on our shopping list (milk) and it was a couple days past the expiration date. I left it there, and we drove another 12 miles North to Governour. Price chopper there had that and everything else on our grocery list at a very reasonable cost. We couldn’t find a hunting stool there either though, trying Tractor Supply and the big 3-story hardware store. I found a little folding camp chair in my in-laws attic, and I am rigged for rain in it now, under my tree umbrella. The rain just started falling hard and it’s working well. I am up on a stone ramp, that was made back in the early part of the last century, for loading barrels of maple sap on wagons. Other years, I set my pop up blind up here, but I left that home this year. This is the only decent location, that I have found up here, for evening hunts with a south wind. As long as the wind is light, and the rain comes straight down, this setup seems like it will work ok. Visibility in this open setup is way better than in the pop up blind. I have seen many antlerless deer from this spot, but never a buck and never a doe when there was no snow. Hopefully, one or both of those will happen tonight.

I haven’t been there in a few years, but we use to hammer the northern pike there in May. We also caught a few walleyes, at that time, and did ok on largemouth bass in the summer. We took many limits of northerns, but maybe only one or two of bass. I can only remember catching one smallmouth bass in that lake, but it was a real good one (maybe 5 pounds), more than 40 years ago, the first time that my uncle took me pike fishing there in May. Of course, the season was not open yet, so we had to let it go. I did get a picture of it. It hit a big pike shiner, below a bobber, up near the NE corner. My daughter and I got skunked the last time that we went there on the second Saturday in May, about 4 years ago (trying for pike). I have not heard many good reports from there in recent years. My sister lives 5 minutes from the lake, and my next door neighbors growing up had a cottage there, so I spent many days on that Lake, probably more than any other water in the state. I bought my boat from the big marina down on the sw corner of the lake 33 years ago, and fished the spring tournament that they had for customers for several years.

Speaking of corn, it’s crazy how fast the deer wiped out mine this year. I put in less than half of my normal acreage this year, due to high fertilizer and fuel costs, and the neighbors didn’t plant any. I had high hopes for it, during the Holiday ML season, but I think it’s probably all gone right now. I do have quite a bit of good heavy cover back there, a decent looking brassica plot (whitetail institute tall tine tubers), and plenty of winter wheat and clover, so hopefully that will be enough to hold some deer around till January 1. Standing corn is like money in the bank, when it comes to holding deer in late December.

Must have been a night for blowing does. Several blasted me up in the Adirondacks. I too am thankful that I made it back to the house, for the last 15 minutes of the game, to see the Bills crush the Chiefs. This is the Bill’s year. Think 85 Bears. They will win out and have a perfect record except for a single fish glitch. 90% humidity and 100 deg field temp are what caused that one.

It varies a lot by region. Generally speaking, folks in wny seem to be pretty courteous drivers. I rarely have any problems there, while driving back and forth to work, but I take backroads most of the way. Different story up here in the NW part of the Adirondacks. Rt 3 attracts tailgating dipshits like flies on crap. Not looking forward to the drive back and forth to town this afternoon, for supplies. I noticed downstate was pretty rough also. I’m glad that our oldest daughter decided to pull the plug on that hell hole, after a semester and a half. The driving around Rochester, where our youngest goes, is a piece of cake in comparison.

Accuweather got the wind direction right this morning but they missed the velocity. Forecast said 10 mph sse, and it’s closer to 20. I doubt the deer will move much in this. I think maybe I’ll catch a nap in the tree hammock. If a deer or bear gets close enough to wake me up I’ll try and shoot it.

I like a 50/50 mix of Frank’s and Hunts ketchup on my scrambled eggs and tater tots or home fries.

Tailgaters suck. That’s real popular up here near my in-laws. Rarely do I pull into their driveway, off the main highway, when there’s not someone right up close behind me. It almost seems like they make sport of seeing how close they can get to me, before I turn into the driveway. Their driveway was never very well marked, and it is around a curve, so I always need to slow down and even missed it a few times. They put up a big yellow “driveway ahead” sign this summer, and that makes it a lot better. There was still a dork right on me, when I pulled in Friday night though. Another even worse one (he was about 20 feet behind me while I was going 9 mph over the speed limit) passed me a few miles before, then got hung up behind some slower traffic ahead. I thought I’d give that one a little taste of his own medicine, so I got right up as close as I dared with my big 3/4 ton Silverado, for a mile or so. He was driving a big black Ford pickup. He seemed to take the hint and backed off a little from the car he was right on. There sure is no shortage of tailgating dip-shits up in this area.