wolc123

I can relate to that one. Getting to feel the pressure wave of a slug against the side of your face, before hearing the gunshot, is something that is hard to forget.

Are hunting and fishing sports? It depends on the participant. I do not consider them "sports", because my primary reason for participating is to gather food to eat. The fact that those activities are fun is merely a pleasant side-benefit. The lack of food makes it nearly impossible for me to justify any time or money spent on "sports" like golf, football, baseball, basketball, or hockey. I understand why those who's primary reasons for hunting and fishing are for "the challenge" or for "the competition" consider those activities "sports". I am very thankful for those "sportsmen". The younger animals they pass, or the smaller fish that they release, just might provide me with some fine eating.

Prayers sent.

Fortunately, I have not lost anything for good that I valued, but I have temporarily lost a few things. The time that scared me the most was when, as a senior in high school (a long time ago), I almost lost my grandad's model 37, Ithaca 16-gauge. It was about an hour before sunrise on opening day of deer season, and I was heading thru some hardwoods (not on a trail), carrying the shotgun in my left hand, and a climbing treestand, that I had made in metal shop, slung over my right shoulder. I stopped mid-way through the big, rectangular woodlot (aprox 200 acres), got out my flashlight and got a compass bearing towards a scrub-brush field on the other side. That was where I intended to put up the stand, near a well used deer trail. I leaned the gun against a tree. After getting my bearings, I tucked my thumb under the strap of the stand (as if it was a gun), and continued on my way. When I reached the edge of the woods, after zigzagging around various blow-downs, briar patches, and wet spots, I realized that the gun was still back in the middle of the woods leaning on that tree. Without panic, I said a short prayer and laid the stand against the tree that I intended to climb. I backtracked directly to the gun, in the pitch black darkness, only loosing about a half hour, and was still up the tree a few minutes before sunrise. It would have been easier with snow but there was not any that year. I missed a nice buck later that morning, but I was very thankful that I still had the gun. I blame that miss on "buck-fever" and not getting a good sight picture, probably shooting over his back. I put a 1-1/2 X Weaver on it the next year and have killed every deer I have shot at with it since then. The latest "temporary loss" happened this weekend. We were up my in-laws place in the Adirondacks, doing a little ice fishing. My father in law had one hole thru about 12" of ice when we got there, but I had 3 tip-ups and needed a few more. I don't have a power-auger, and it is a lot faster for me to make a hole with my hand-auger if I chisel a little bit when the auger stops cutting. I have an antique, heavy iron chisel with a 4 foot wood handle that works real good for that. I was expecting the ice to be a little thicker, and I lost it, in about 20 feet of water, as I was making my first hole. I figured I would eventually get it back, but probably not until summer. The fishing was fast and furious yesterday morning, but the action stopped completely about 9:30 am. When I pulled the tip-up, just before sunset, from the hole where I had lost the chisel, it felt like the bait was snagged on the bottom. There is an underwater brush-pile near that spot and I had caught a few perch there in the morning. I gently pulled the line and it pulled free, but a steady, heavy tug remained on the line. I had snagged the wooden handle of the chisel and I guided it back up thru the hole. No lake trout on this trip, but getting that chisel back was an even bigger prize. No one believed me when I told them I caught it, util they saw me carry it up to the house.

It is very interesting, watching the main-stream media self-destruct as Trump feeds them just enough tinder to to keep them burning. The best part is, they still think they have the majority of Americans on their side.

Ya gotta like goat season. I followed up a cream ale with one of those for lunch (only had to work half a day today). I also tried a sample of their new brew-house IPA. t was not that into that but I am sure that those folks like TF, who love that hoppy flavor, would like it. At least it is made with pure Hemlock lake water.

I agree with the importance of mast trees and cover. It is not all about foodplots. In addition to growing corn, two improvements I have been working towards on our home farm are more brushy cover (by removing some less productive ground from crop production) and more acorns. The mature woodlot at the back is only 5 acres and it is currently about 50% ash, 25% maple and 25% oak. We heat our house with wood and have been cutting only ash for the last 5 years, since the emerald ash borer scare started. I would like to have 50% oaks in the woods and the borer and continued ash harvest should help us get there within the next 5 years. Outside the woodlot, there is also many smaller oaks in the old hedge rows between the small (2-5 acre) fields and I am trying to free them up from ash, poplar, and maple competition. It seems like the only thing the deer like better than standing corn is white oak acorns when they are falling. My parents farm is about double the acreage (mostly hardwoods but few oaks). It is 15 miles away, which makes it a lot tougher for me to get improvements done on. We have not planted corn there in quire a few years. The last time I planted it there the grey squirrels got most of it (I kill 10 of those there for every 1 at home) . All the foodplots over there lately have been clover, wheat, soybeans and brassicas. I hunt deer there as much as at home, but over the last 10 years, I have killed 4 times as many at home. The reason for that comes primarily down to one thing, the availability of standing corn.

I would like to extend my sympathy to the confused, confederate battle-flag flying OP, who may have been shut-down on this site. If so, I won't miss seeing that flag on here because it is associated with racism. Donald Trump has already done more to heal race relations, in a few weeks, than our last President did in two full terms. I am willing to forgive and forget all the BS that those on the left have been spewing since the election. The days are getting longer now, and the increasing sunlight will soon give their suffering bodies the vitamin D they need to get into a better mood. Short days, coupled with a "major political upset" has got to be especially tough for them to take. How good it is to see America getting great again in real time. God and guns are in, and political correctiveness and runaway health care costs are out.

We are heading up to our in-laws place in the NW Adirondacks this weekend for some ice-fishing. My father in law drilled a hole today and said there was about 12" of solid ice on the lake, under a couple feet of snow. That sounds good to me, plenty to support us and even his snowmobile if we need to venture out a bit. I am thankful that there will not be the 3-4 feet of solid ice that they usually get by this time. It should not take much effort to drill plenty of holes with my manual auger. This weekend's forecast of sunshine and daytime highs in the lower 40's sounds good compared to the cold, wind, clouds and snow that we have often seen in past years.

My wife really hit it out of the park tonight for Valentines day. She made my favorite venison dish - lazy style stuffed cabbage. Man did that ever taste good with a Genny Bock to wash it down. She also pickled (4) deer hearts to make my favorite Valentines day appetizer. The smoked Lakers look good. I hope the ice is good this weekend up in zone 6C. I manged to get one up there last year at that time, thru about a foot of ice on a jigging Rap tipped with a minnow head.

My family raised beef cattle on our farm since the Civil war days. I had a lot of the equipment (and cleared land) left over from that. Tractors are necessary for property maintenance, and I do not include their costs in my calculations. We use 6 tractors on roughly 100 acres, which includes our farm and my parents. I will admit that my largest tractor cost more than our house, but my wife made me spend more on her engagement ring than the cultivator tractor that I bought while we were dating. The best thing about "farming" for deer, compared to for domestic livestock, is that the deer take care of themselves when I am not around. No vets, no fighting the weather to get in a harvest, no frozen water in the winter. A close second would be that the wild "organic" meat is healthier than the domestic stuff. If you treat it right and cook it right, it can also taste as good or better.

Cheap easy corn tips: Having 3-5 acres of clover for every acre of corn is a good place to start. The clover comes back strong on its own in the nitrogen-depleted soil, the year after the corn, if you only apply roundup (and fertilizer) on the rows of corn. I use cultivators to take out most of the weeds between the corn rows. I have a spot sprayer mounted on the side of my one-row cultivator tractor (to spray the rows) so the cultivating and roundup spraying gets done in a single pass. Getting free corn seed is easy if you make friends with farmers and offer to clean out their big planters at the end of planting season. Properly stored, I have noticed no drop in germination of corn seed up to 5 years old (don't try that with soybeans). The row planter with fertilizer applicators is definitely a big key to keeping input costs down. I paid $175 for my JD 246 corn planter about 20 years ago and it has paid for itself many times over. The guy's who are broadcasting seed and/or fertilizer , or boom-spraying herbicide are at a big disadvantage for sure. For quite a few years, fuel was my biggest input cost, but off-road diesel was way down last year. My meat cost approached .50 cents per pound, chiefly as a result of that, and some very effective raccoon eradication. We were able to take 6 deer, which included (2) 2-1/2 year old bucks, a 1-1/2 year old buck, a 6 month old buck, and (2) mature does, in and around 4 acres of corn. If fuel prices reach the stratosphere again, a no-till planter might be effective. Shallow tillage (4-6" deep) and a conventional planter works very well at today's fuel prices.

A big problem with spring-planted soybeans is that their attractiveness to deer is usually the lowest during hunting season, especially the early-archery part. After gun season, when there are not many other options, the deer will definitely eat them. I have discovered a good use for soybeans though. I add some to a late-summer planted mix of winter wheat and white clover. Soybean seeds don't store well, and it is always easy to score free leftovers at the end of normal spring planting season. Get the ground worked up, broadcast the wheat and the soybeans, then cultipack. Next, broadcast the clover, then cultipack again, 90 degrees from the first direction. There is not much that draws deer better than green, sprouting soybeans, so this gives you that attraction at the start of archery season. That is the best time to kill the deer, bucks in particular, before they loose body-mass by stress thru the rut. Those soybeans get the deer into the plots, and the wheat holds them there thru the winter and early spring. The wheat can be mowed off the next year, before it goes to seed, and the white clover will give 3-5 more years of good attraction with just a mowing or two per season. I don't care where the deer are before hunting season, and I always like 4-5 of them to be in my freezer after. Nothing keeps them around by day during hunting season and makes that happen like standing corn (carbs + cover = daytime action). Having that soybean-wheat mix, clover, and brassicas around keeps them from running off at night. As far as corn being expensive, that is only if you try and force it. You can get high yield year after year, on the same ground, by constantly upping your nitrogen which acidifies the soil requiring more and more lime. Chasing your tail like that can definitely get expensive and is tough on the soil. The way around that is to get most of the nitrogen you need, for moderate yield, by rotating the corn with clover (3-5 years clover followed by a year of corn). If you do that, you can get by with just a light application of starter fertilizer, applied with a row-planter. A row planter also minimizes seed and herbicide usage, further reducing input cost. One other factor to consider is that moderately yielding corn, with some weeds, is cheaper to grow and better yet, is more attractive to deer than clean, high-yielding corn. Deer like some variety, and the "weeds" provide that. I let grassy areas develop in my corn plots by going "wide" with the planter in some areas, and by spraying the roundup only on the rows. Remember those spots, and still-hunt into the wind to them during late archery season. I measure the effectiveness of foodplots by determining the cost of boneless venison per pound after subtracting input costs (fuel, fertilizer, herbicide, seed). I aim to keep it under $1.00 per pound and am almost always able to do that when I have good corn plots. I only count the deer taken in or adjacent to the foodplots in making that calculation.

Wow, 5 shots at the same buck with a ML, and it sounds like 4 of them connected. Getting that much lead into a deer with a ML is quite a feat compared to doing it with a repeating rifle. I got a second shot into the neck of a big, double-lunged Adirondack doe one time, when she tried to get back up after her initial fall. A dozen or so other deer that I killed with my ML only required one shot. I thought I was ok with just 2 loaded speedloaders for backup. That story has convinced me to add a tube of bullets/sabots and a small pack of powder pellets to my pack. I was already leaning that way, because a friend at work recently ran out of ammo down in PA during the late flintlock season, and it cost him a big buck. Has anyone ever needed more than 5 shots on a ML hunt? I will be packing (8) from now on, because things don't always go according to the plan after contact is made with a deer. That style of hunting has got to hurt marksmanship quite a bit compared to "sit and ambush", making a less-than lethal first shot far more likely. Imagine trying to get off a quick shot offhand, when you are half out of breath and your heart rate is elevated. It is easy to see why follow up shots are sometimes needed, especially when you throw some big antlers into the mix. It might be a good idea for those who want to hunt that way to practice that in the off-season, with a BB-gun and some pop cans. Keeping yourself in top physical condition would help a lot also. It is a fun way to hunt, especially when there is snow on the ground.

I just got back from walking the whole perimeter of the farm on my cross-country skis (had the Ruger 10/22 on a sling in case of a "target of opportunity"). There was a single set of fox tracks (small - looked like a grey) up close to the barn and a set of mink tracks near the bridge over the creek. Two sets of medium-sized coyote tracks crossed the first field. It was the first time back there, in the daylight, that I did not see any deer tracks in the snow. There were loads of rabbit tracks on a strip of clover way out back, near the big set of coyote tracks that I saw last night. I probably should have dropped the skis and jumped some brush piles back there, but the running bunnies are tough to hit with a .22. Maybe I will walk back with my 16 gauge side by side and try it later this afternoon. A little rabbit or squirrel would be a nice change of pace after all the venison we have been eating lately. The ice on the pond looked pretty good, but I got enough exercise for today on the skis and was not able to talk the girls out of leaving the warm house and their smart-phones.

It is interesting to hear what works for other folks. I tried spring-planted soybeans two years ago, and they did not work out so well. When they first sprouted, they attracted lots of does, prior to and during fawning season, which in turn attracted coyotes. A momma coyote made a den in a topsoil pile on the edge of the soybean field, leaving a nice little pile of fawn skulls at the entrance. By the time soybeans ripened and browned up thru hunting season, I ended up with a deer-free zone. They seemed to loose all attraction to the deer at that time but I am sure that the coyotes moving in did not help with that either. The primary reason I hunt deer is to provide meat for my family, and when it comes to that, nothing comes close to the effectiveness of corn. We had our best year in a long time last season, with the cost of boneless venison, taken from and near 4 acres of corn plots, coming in at less than $1.00 per pound, after subtracting all input costs. The "secret-weapon" that the corn provides is the cover, in addition to all them carbs, just when the deer need them most. Nothing holds deer on my land during the daylight hours of hunting season, like standing corn. The key to getting the most bang for the buck out of limited acreage of corn is getting rid of all the coons. Fortunately, they are about the easiest furbearer there is to trap. If they are causing damage (including to food-plots), NY state regs allow them to be killed before the opening of trapping season, by landowners without a permit. It is recommended that the carcasses be burried or burned at that time. They make great fertilizer for apple trees. After trapping season opens, I just toss them out in the fields to feed the buzzards. The furs are just about worthless in today's market. I also obtain free corn seed from local farmers, plant mostly just on old clover plots (saves nitrogen), and use a modern 4wd, turbocharged tier-3 diesel tractor for most of the tillage. The planting is done with a row planter, which allows minimal usage of fertilizer and herbicide. All that adds up to keep costs low, to obtain high-yielding corn plots. Deer by themselves are very efficient users of corn, always consuming a whole ear before moving on to the next one. Without trapping, the combination of coons and wild turkey will wipe out small plots in short order, leaving nothing left by hunting season. Turkeys don't bother the corn too much without the coons first bringing the ears down to the ground. The coons will bring down a bunch every night, eating just the small tender stuff on the end of one ear before bringing down the next one. A little cat food in the bottom of beer-can style "dog-proof" traps, or box traps, baited with a peanut butter coated marshmellow, will allow for the effective eradication of the coons and allow a small corn plot to keep pulling in deer throughout hunting season. I can understand why soybeans would be good if antlers were your primary motivation. They provide protein, which is good for antler growth. I am far more concerned with providing protein for my family, than I am with providing it for deer (or coyotes), which is why I will stick with corn as my primary spring-planted foodplot.

There are ton's of great eateries out there. My favorite fancy joint in the gaslamp district is the Greystone. They have some excellent wild-game dishes, including elk chops, and a huge selection of wine and beer. A little pricey though, and I probably would not eat there if I had to spend my own money to do so. For more reasonable fare, If you get down to OB, you can try out the worlds greatest hamburg (it puts the Transit road Grover burger to shame) at Hodad's, just a block or two inland from the beach on Newport. My favorite eatery in old town San Diego is Fred's, and they also have a good selection of beers. There is a cool museum and good shopping in walking distance from there. I have never eaten off the base on Coronado island, but the Hotel Del is a sight to see for sure if you get time. Up North a bit, in La Jolla, there is a good Gorden Bierch brewery restaurant with a big selection of beers, including a few made on-site.

If you can find the time on your trip, head over to the The South Beach bar over at OB. They have the best fish tacos around and a huge selection of beers. Try and get there around 6:00 pm, which is about when the girls behind the bar change shifts. The mahi-mahi and the fried oyster tacos are about tied for my favorites. None of the beers stood out for me (I don't care much for foreign or out of state stuff). I recall something called "green flash" being popular. I always miss the genny cream-ale back home when I am out there.

I just got back in. I started calling from the upper deck of my two-story blind that is about 500 yards behind our house. I did my best imitation of a dying rabbit for about 2 minutes with an old wooden, Falk predator call. About 5 minutes later, I heard something upwind in heavy cover. I waited about 1/2 hour but nothing came out (there was an open field downwind). After that, I walked towards where I heard the noise on my way to a tree-blind that is on the edge of a 5-acre woodlot, near the back of our farm. On the edge of the woods, I cut a set of tracks in the fresh snow that at first looked like deer, but on closer examination (with my flashlight) turned out to be a very large set of coyote tracks. I got up in the blind, at the edge of the woods, and repeated the same call and wait sequence, with no response. On the walk out, as I was crossing the bridge over a creek about 100 yards behind the house, I heard a bunch of yips and howls coming from way out back, on the neighbors land. It sounded like a group of coyotes, but a little bit too large of a group to be real, and may have been someone else hunting with an electronic caller. I walked back towards the howling a short distance, and it stopped. I gave it another 15 minutes or so, without hearing another yip, then walked back to the house. About 2" of snow had fell between 4:00 and 6:00 pm and the only other tracks I saw was a single set of rabbit tracks. I hunted from 9:45 - 11:15 pm Visibility was as bright as I have ever seen at night, you could almost make out colors.

Friday night, full-moon, fresh blanket of snow, looks just about perfect tonight. It's almost time to load up the 12 gauge with some #4's, grab the predator call, and put on the snow camo.

The farther you get from the big cities, the cheaper you can get it done. I paid $47 last fall at Nolt's, up in Lowville NY, to get a medium-sized doe cut and wrapped with the loins vacuum-sealed and the rest ground and tubed. The temperature was supposed to get up in the 80's on the afternoon of that kill, and I was far from home, so I had to get it to a processor with a cooler ASAP. They did a great job of trimming out all the fat, silver skin and tendons. The only glitch there is that it usually takes them 10 days to do it. Fortunately, they were not super busy during the early ML season up there last fall, and got this one done in 5 days, so I could pick up the meat on my drive back home. My in-laws are moving up there now, so the 10 day delay will not be a problem for me in the future. If I could get them done that cheap and well at home, I would probably not do any more myself. If it is going to cost me over $60, it tips the scale to where I prefer to do it myself. That also brings the additional benefits of full control over the aging process, and knowing for sure I get my own meat back. It has been about 10 years since I used Buck & Doe on Sheridan, but I was also happy with the results of their work. The pepper sticks were especially good, and the quantity of meat they gave me back was considerably more than I expected from a rutted out, thin-bodied 10-point buck. I remember wondering a little bit, if it was all from my deer.

I don't work for them, but I never cared for any of that foreign or out of state stuff. "Pure Hemlock lake water makes the difference".

The bock is very good. It usually sells out pretty fast. Anyone I know who has tried it, likes it better than Shiner. I don't think I could drink it year round like cream ale, red eye's or light, but I always look forward to it at this time of year. It sure tasted good with the venison stroganoff my wife made for dinner on Friday. It is dark colored and I like to pour it out of the green "goat" can, into a glass mug so I can enjoy the color and the different flavor. Soon it will be time to pour one for kickoff.

Whats up with the reb flag on your avitar?. Are you upset that the southern confederacy lost the Civil war? Do you think slavery was good? Do you think race relations in America will get better under Trump than they were under Obama? How about the violence in black neighborhoods in our inner cities, especially Chicago?

The tag is easier to spot than the antlers on this little 6-point that I killed at the tail end (in more ways than one) of rifle season up in the Adirondacks last year. I always attach the tag to the rear tendon (on bucks and does) and I wrap it with duct tape if transporting on the outside of a vehicle. I leave it there until I finish processing the meat, then move it to the antlers if it is a larger buck that I take to the taxidermist. I usually stick the tag on the back of a board with smaller racks that I saw off with the scull plate or do a Euro-mount on medium-sized ones. That makes it easy to remember what year and where the buck was killed many years later. I never consider a hunting season completely successful unless I fill both of my buck tags. An unfilled tag does not provide any food so my patience and self-control always evaporate around Thanksgiving.