wolc123

The last few years, the oldest trick in the book (actually The Book itself ) has helped me more than any new gadget ever has when it comes to gathering venison (and fish). Get yourself a small Bible that fits in your pocket or pack. My 51 year old eyes do better now, especially in poor light conditions, with a large print version. There are also plenty of aps for that for the smart phone folks, or so I hear (I still use a flip-phone). Happy hunting

WNYBH: "Baloney. Id put my fresh cut and frozen venison up against your aged (incorrectly with that much of a temp range btw) meat any day of the week. You wont be able to tell the difference toughness wise, and you wont get the runs after you eat it. BTW, I wont eat yours, we would need a non-biased 3rd party to be the guinea pig." Why not try it yourself to see what you are missing? Do you have an old beer fridge out in the garage? That is an easy way to age them at the right temp. Just pull out the racks and hang the skinned halfs in there so the air can get around them. One week will usually do the trick, maybe rotate them every couple days. I usually get to compare at least one "fresh froze" one every year for one reason or another (usually because I am going away from home on another hunt). Except for those under a year old, which don't need any aging, the aged ones have always been more tender. My wife and kids really prefer the aged ones and no one has ever got the runs or even an upset stomach. Let some women and kids in on the comparison also. I have quite a few buddies who's wives and girlfriends don't like their venison, which puts a bit of a damper on their hobby if you know what I mean. It might have been different, had it been aged (most of them use processors or cut them up fast themselves). It sure is nice when your wife encourages you to hunt more because she wants some more great food. Archery season is coming up fast, so good luck and hopefully you will let us know how that turns out real soon.

I never noticed any difference in the flavor of summer nuisance permit deer. Due to warm temps, I always put them in the fridge for aging though, so that makes dealing with them and early archery season deer a bit more trouble than during gun season, when outside hanging temps are usually better. Last season was so darn warm throughout, that I had to cut up two right away during gun season so we ended up with lots of hamburg. My kids love that however, with their favorite meals being venison tacos and spaghetti with meat sauce.

I like cutting up my own because I know I can make whitetail taste better than most beef. The secret is to age it properly, especially with older deer (6 month olds don't require any aging for great taste and texture). I age the 1-1/2 year olds for a week, 2-1/2's for 10 days and older deer up to two weeks at 33 - 50 deg F, prior to processing. If it is too warm for that in my insulated garage, I can hang the front and rear halfs in an old refrigerator with the shelves removed. When deer are cut up and frozen too soon after killing, rigermortice is locked in, causing the meat to be tough. Lack of control of aging temperature accounts for most "gamey" flavor in venison (usually when it gets too warm). I remove the hide from those that hang in the refrigerator, but leave it on for the rest to insulate against daily temperature swings and to keep the outer meat from drying out too much. If I can not age the carcasses properly, I cut them up right away and grind most of it into burger (that breaks up the rigermortice). The backstraps and tenderloins are usually pretty tender, even without aging, so I never grind them. Processing them up is easy and requires minimal equipment. A sharp knife, and cutting board is all you need. Getting most of the fat off is important, which makes bucks easier to process than does, especially later in the season. A grinder is nice (we usually grind about half and make the rest into small roasts, chops, and steaks). A vacuum sealer is great if you will freeze it longer than 6 months. I always put the first one every year into zip-lock bags and vacuum seal the rest. The vacuum sealed stuff tastes fresh-killed for up to 5 years in the freezer. A vacuum sealer is a waste of time and money if you eat it in less than 6 months.

If you go out early in the morning, I would start in about 40 ft of water and troll large, chartruse, rattling j-plugs near the bottom on a downriggger and/or on a large dipsy diver. They will move a little deeper later in the day (100 ft or so), but come back into the shallows, especially at creek mouths, towards evening. Heavy overcast skies may keep them shallow all day long. The whole schedule seems to be pushed back about a month this year due to record high water temperature, so we are looking at normal late August/early September patterns right now. I would not expect to find many up the creeks or at the piers until the water temp drops into the mid to lower 60's. Make sure your line is fresh (I would go with 14 - 20 lb test) and your drag is not too tight. Most guy's are already done for the season, so you won't have much interference out there. Good luck.

I have an old set of "real" rattling horns, from a 2.5 year old 7-point, that have been effective during archery season and during late ML season in the Southern zone. I misplaced them for a few years, but found them again this summer. While they were lost, I bought a Knight & Hale rattle bag at Walmart. I tried it about 6 times, but never had any luck with it. It did not sound quite right to me either, so I traded it to a friend for an iron frying pan two years ago. I did like the ease of carrying that small bag compared to them bulky antlers however. Last week, I picked up a larger, Primos rattle bag for $5.00 at a flea-market. That one sounds more like my real antlers. That is what I will try first this season. I used those real antlers on about a dozen hunts, bringing bucks within shooting range on 4 of them (3 during archery and 1 during ML). I never tried rattling during gun season in the Southern zone, but I do plan on trying it in the early ML season and the start of gun season in the Northern zone this fall (Oct 15-23). That should be pre-rut when it has been most effective for me in the past. I am a lot more comfortable doing it with a gun than a bow because the bucks are guaranteed to be on "high alert", greatly increasing the chances of "string jump". I learned that lesson the hard way the last year time I used my "real" antlers. It was a rainy afternoon in late October and I rattled in a heavy 10 point. He came in on full alert, with the hair standing up on the back of his neck like an angry cat. At 25 yards, I loosed an arrow at him broadside and he dropped fast on the release, taking the hit square in the shoulder blade. There was no penetration, nor a drop of blood on his trail. 4 weeks later, a friend harvested him with a gun, healed up pretty good, with just a nice scar over his shoulder. The great thing about the gun is that the bullet does it's job before the shot is heard. I would have to be pretty hard up for venison before I would consider using rattling horns or a grunt tube during archery season again. It is so much better when they never have a clue what hits them. Fortunately, the Good Lord has provided plenty every year since I learned that lesson.

I don't even like head shots on squirrels. A .22 LR thru their ribs does not take out much if any usable meat. It don't make much sense not to allow the maximum room for error, and the center lung shot gives you that. I did go for and make a head shot on a squirrel one time while deer hunting during the late ML season. It was right at dusk on the last day and the gun needed unloading anyhow. Poor Mr. bushytail just happened to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. The .50 cal round ball neatly removed his head without damaging any meat. Other than livestock we butcher or furbearers caught in traps, that was my only head shot on an animal. If deer need finishing, I use a neck shot with a gun or a jugular throat slit with a knife. It is good to see that most folks here are in agreement in their dislike of the head shot.

I did not have a scale up there, but I am 5'-11" tall and weight 200 lbs. With a rope thru a pulley, I was able to lift my feet off the ground while this 8-point's rear-end was still planted on the ground in the shed. We had to hook my father-in-law's 4-wheeler on the rope to pull him up. I killed him 2 years ago, midway thru rifle season, on private land just off the NW edge of the Adirondack park. Assuming a bit for friction on the pulley, I would guess his dressed weight at around 210 lbs. He had to be considerably heavier than the heaviest one I ever killed in the southern zone (weighed 178 lbs on the scale), based on the amount of freezer space the boned out meat took up.

The spikes on that first one might not make 3", so you will need to take him during archery season in the Adirondacks (if that's where he is).

It sounds like you are referring to me on that last post LJC . If so, it was actually a 300 fps crossbow. I would imagine that a 360 would get pretty close to full penetration at 59 yards. That was also an expanding broadhead which are not great for long range penetration. The warthog dude was probably using cut on contact fixed blade heads that were well tuned to his setup.

Hopefully it will be enough that they don't start using lake Ontario water. We are heading out there right now to try tangling with some kings.

One time two bucks arrived on the scene 2 minutes after I killed a big doe. The larger one stood right next to the carcass about 75 yards away. A shot to the shoulder blade flopped him down right there. Does that count? It made recovery easy as I only had to drive the tractor to one spot to pick them up. Since then I have been in no big hurry to get down from the stand and started on the gutting job after killing a doe, and I always aim for their shoulder (with a gun), to keep the "decoy" around for a while. This is also a lot easier than carrying a plastic decoy around, with the added attraction of "real" scent.

I also don't like bugs which is a primary reason that I spend more early fall time fishing out on the lakes and rivers than hunting in the woods until we have a few hard frosts. Hopefully we will get some prior to October 15 or all my squirrel hunting will happen after deer season. That is also a big reason why I don't do much spring turkey hunting.

140 yards standing target (and distracted by drinking) is many times easier, with any weapon, than 130 yards running. That guy is certainly good. I would be willing to bet that his hit and kill percentage is well above 75%. There always has been and always will be folks who are jealous of those who are more successful than themselves. Jealousy is always bad and demonstrates weakness. The best thing those folks can do is get over it because it does not do them any good, and only serves to hold them back. There is an easy way to get over it: Develop some faith in Jesus and everything will work out.

I also like it when opening day falls on Saturday. It was great when they moved the Southern zone gun-season opener to Saturday. There is always a group who complain about that however.

I have plans for as many as (5) openers in NY this year, but I am skipping the early part of archery due to not having enough time to practice with my compound. I have a few spots picked out on the ground for different wind directions and will stillhunt between therm up in the Northern zone for opening of ML on October 15. The area I hunt up there is a large chunk of private land bordering the Adirondack park, most of which is in a zone where antlerless deer will still be legal during early ML. We have a little more than one vacuum-sealed deer left over from last season in the freezer now, so If I can get a decent sized one early (buck or doe), I may head home. That will provide plenty of meat to get us thru until Southern zone crossbow opens. If not, I will likely stay up there thru opening of Rifle the following week on October 22, and hit a couple other spots in the adjacent zone, where antlerless is illegal this year during early ML (again dependent on wind), holding out for a 2-1/2 year or older buck. I have 5 stands and groundblinds on my folks farm in the Southern zone and the wind will tell me which of them to occupy for opening of crossbow. I will give our home farm a rest for the last week of crossbow and hit one of another 5 stands and blinds there, again, depending on the weather, for opening of gun season. I have two DMP's now for the zone that covers these two farms and will probably have two more after NOV 1. If I have a regular tag left after all that, I have an invite from a friend with a camp in the Southern Tier for the late ML season. I scouted a few areas down there while squirrel hunting this Feb, so I should be covered for any wind direction. If I am able to fill two of as many as seven available tags, our family will be well set on venison until next year's seasons. I am really looking forward to the openers this year for many reasons, not the least of which is I would like to give the new "butt out 2" I purchased for $6.99 a try. Some tenderloins, lightly seared in a frying pan with olive oil, would be good also. Those never make it to the freezer at our house.

I certainly had his help with all of them. If he knows where every sparrow falls then he surely knows what deer are destined for deer heaven (my family's food supply). I was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time a hundred or so times to help him carry out his will.

Wow that is really low. I am somewhat of a beer snob and Genesee is all that I will buy (I don't turn down most other brands if someone is giving it away). I don't care for any of that foreign or out of state beer. "Pure Hemlock Lake water makes it best". I don't know what I will do if it dries up. Fortunately, it has been raining cats and dogs most of the day today.

16 ga Ithaca 37, 12 ga Rem 870, 12 ga Marlin M512, Bear polar LTD compound, Jennings compound, Alpine Compound, T/C Omega 50 cal ML, Ruger M77 .30/06, Barnett Recruit x-bow, Buck 110 lock folder knife, Buck mini lock folder knife. (The last two were used on deer that were initially struck by cars. The one with the small 1-1/4" blade was wide awake and nearly back to 100% when I slit it's Jugular.). That makes 11 total, but it should be an even dozen. Back when in-lines were illegal during ML season, I shot at a buck with a traditions Fox-River 50, sidelock ML, but the charge did not ignite and he escaped. The inline T/C solved that issue and killed every deer I shot at with it. The Bear compound broke and I lost the little knife, but I still have the rest and still use them except for the other compounds (I don't have time to get into shape with those any more). I am also thankful to have never killed one with a vehicle, but I was a passenger twice in vehicles which killed them and I have been the lucky recipient of many that others have struck, two of which I dispatched with the knifes. I have got pretty good at dodging them myself, which is not too difficult with my newer car because it almost stops on a dime. It is a little trickier with my old 3/4 ton pickup. Thankfully I only drive that when it snows and that is not too often lately. I have to drive thru an infested area every weekday to and from work,

We all take some chances. I am not certain how many deer I have killed over the last 35 years, but it has got to be getting close to 100. There was only one shot I attempted where I was 100% sure of making it. Luckily for that doe, my gun did not go off when I pulled the trigger. She was only 10 yards away. My bolt froze up in the extreme cold weather that day after I had hunted in the rain the day prior. I blame myself for that due to poor cleaning and storage. Chit happens to all of us eventually. If I think I have a 90% or better chance of a clean kill, I am taking the shot. I would raise that number a bit if I had more opportunities, but currently that 10% risk is what it takes to keep my family fed. Everything happens for a reason, and it is very likely that doe I missed gave birth to a buck I took a few years later. It was a probably a good thing that she got away. I much prefer killing, butchering, and eating bucks. There is too much fat to trim off them does and they don't come with grab handles to drag them to the tractor, or reminders of successful hunts years ago.

They sure are good eating. Hopefully it did not go to waste. Stroganoff made from canned moose meat is about as good as it gets. Only pickled moose tongue is better.

Here is a 3-1/2 and a 2-1/2 year euro. Note that the nose usually gets a good bit longer during that span. Just like people though, there is variation. That is a cool looking mount in the sneak pose. My guess is 2-1/2 year. Did the taxi save the teeth?

The 59 yard heart-shot bolt had a red-head blackout 3-blade, 125 gr, expandable broadhead on it. It did not strike any bone. I also have fixed muzzy 125's, but I prefer the expanders at longer range to reduce the planing effect and better cross-wind resistance. I would still be ok with a 50 yard shot from that $250 x-bow, using those expandables, now that I know exactly what the penetration is into a live deer at longer range with the combination. There would have to be no obstructions, a good rest, and the deer would need to be non-alert and broadside with little or no crosswind for me to take it however, just like that one two years ago. That combination holds a 2" group at that range under those conditions, so as long as I aim for the right hair, and keep on good terms with the Man upstairs, there are no worries. Those of you who forget that last part are in for some trouble no matter how much you practice or spend on equipment.

I would have liked to see them move to Toronto and then they could call them the Canadian Dollar Bills. At least the name would make sense and a short trip over the border would let the die-hard fans still see them a few times a season. Marv Levy had no "killer-instinct" and was/is a card-carrying PETA member. That cost them at least one superbowl. Had he capitalized on the Giant's weaknesses as Bill Parcells did on his, it would have been a different story on that first one. A killer instinct is what gives one the ability to identify weakness in his opponent and capitalize on it. Many hunters have it (the meat-hunters anyhow). The biggest mistake the Bills made is letting Wade Phillips go. Bum's kid is a much better coach than Buddy's.

Nothing has made folk's stupider faster than the smart phone. The radio was bad, the television a little worse, the computer stepped it up. Now we got Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump running for president. They never would have gotten where they are now without the smart phone.