wolc123

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I do some jig-tying, and it definitely seems like certain colors are more prevalent in some areas when it comes to the hair on the front side of deer tails. I prefer "brown" for a crawfish pattern jig, for use on my favorite fish, the smallmouth bass. Most of the deer in my neck of the woods have more black than brown. I make a minnow pattern jig from those, using the black for the top and white for the bottom. Those work well on walleyes, northern pike, and lake trout, especially when tipped with a live minnow. I have never noticed any difference in the coloration of the white hair on the back of the tails, I suspect the yellow ones might just be piss-stained. I also plan to tie up a few squirrel-tail versions of my minnow pattern, for use on lake trout up at my in-laws Adirondack camp. The trout up there are mighty finicky, not falling for the bucktail version, which works well up on lake Ontario. After years of trying on the open water, the only one I even had a bite from up there was a 12 pounder pulled thru a hole in 12" of ice a few weeks ago, on a jigging rapala tipped with a minnow head. I am thinking the softer squirrel hair might fool those lakers in that gin-clear water when the ice is gone. As far as the tail position of deer, I have noted three primary ones: Straight up means they are scared, down means relaxed, straight back means horny and ready for some action. In between positions occur when they have not yet made up their minds between those three. They use the tail as a flag to communicate with others of their kind. The tail up is their primary visual signal of danger, while the snort is their primary audio signal. The fawns learn pretty quick what those mean: time to "high tail" it to safety. I usually see buck fawns with does for about 6 months, but doe fawns stick around for another year or more, until they have fawns of their own.

My wife cooked a squirrel and a couple moose steaks in her new programmable crockpot, along with potatoes, onions and cream of mushroom soup. The combination was pretty good, and better the rabbit/squirrel mix we have often had. I always like the squirrel better in that mix but the moose was about equal. Our youngest daughter liked it so much that there is not a whole lot left for my lunch at work tomorrow.

We also did Applebee's tonight. I thought the cedar salmon was great. My daughter was quite pleased with her kid's meal (macaroni/cheese/chicken), especially the Oreo Sunday. The wife had some type of taco combo deal that was pretty good also. I might have been a little short on the calorie count with just the salmon & vedgies, but ended up ok with a tall draft beer and after cleaning up their leftovers. The food quality and service were good and the prices fair.

Congrats to your son on his first buck and that is a fine looking mount. I always regretted not getting my first one mounted, a busted up 7-point. I didn't have the cash to do it back when I was still in school and my dad was not all that into hunting. He is a skilled woodworker and he made me a nice little plaque to attach the antlers to. Many years later, my friend had large buck mounted by a taxidermist who did a poor job, using a form that was much too small and looked way out of proportion with the huge antlers. A few seasons later, he killed another large-bodied buck with a smaller rack. This time, he took that, and the larger racked mount to another taxidermist. That guy made him a great shoulder mount from the fresh cape and the big antlers, and a European mount from the smaller antlers and the fresh skull. I ended up with the left-over mounted cape, to which I attached my first buck's rack. My dad made me a beautiful walnut plaque for the back, and it turned out pretty good. There is nothing wrong having shoulder mounts made from smaller antlered deer. To me, it is more about "special" antlers than it is big antlers. Obviously the first one is special, probably more so than the one with the largest "score". For me, the first one with a bow was worthy (coincidentally another 7-point), as was the one with the most points, and the first one at camp. It is important that the cape/form size be in proportion to the antlers and your son's buck looks just right in that respect.

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Sorry, triplicate (computer must need lubrication).

We had tacos with ground venison last night. That is definitely our girl's favorite. Hopefully they will be able to start helping me fill the freezer in a few years as they sure are good at emptying it.

Exercises are probably the most important thing you can do. I have kept two bows around for quite a few years. I usually start drawing the older one about 6 months before hunting season. I start with about 10 reps right hand, and left to maintain symmetry (I only shoot right). I do that every other day or so, and a month prior to hunting season, I am usually up to about 40 reps. My older compound has a slightly lighter peak draw weight but significantly less let-off than the newer one that I use for hunting. By the time hunting season rolls around, pulling and shooting the new one is a piece of cake. I start shooting that one on the range about a month before hunting, and scale back the exercise reps a bit. I do not stop the exercises when hunting season begins, nor do I stop the range work with the bow. Using a real bow to condition your shoulders is the most effective way to target the right muscles. An old bow will save wear and tear on your hunting bow and are easy to find cheap at garage sales and such, if you don't already have one. Another good idea when you are out hunting in the cold is to stretch your arms on occasion, just be sure to scan the area carefully first so you don't end up spooking a deer while doing it. Finally, you can switch to a crossbow when that gets legal at the end of the season. Not only will can that completely eliminate shoulder issues but it does that at just the right time, in the colder part of the season, when shoulder injuries are more likely. As far as the proper way to draw a bow, I have always locked the opposite elbow before drawing. If you only do this right handed, you are asking for shoulder, spine, and neck issues, as your muscles will develop asymmetrically. Getting into shape, alternating with left and right draws can help minimize that. Obviously you don't want to "dry-fire" your bow during these exercise draws. That means you more than double the workout on every draw, as the restrained limb extensions during the controlled release build up your shoulders more effectively than the compressions during the draw. Thanks for the reminder as it is almost time for me to get the old bow out and get to work.

Welcome to the site. No doubt you have experienced some of the best hunting and fishing in the country here in NY. Thanks to liberal DMP tags and some great fishing, it does not take much in the way of skill or knowledge to keep your family fed off the fat of the land up here. After watching many of those Alaska shows on the TV, it looks like they struggle more up there with that than we do here. Also, our scenery is nearly as good or better, especially up in the Adirondacks. PA is not bad either as far as the scenery goes. We travel across that fine state for a few nights in Gettysburg on our way down to Virginia each year. Now there is a state that is fine to visit, but where I would never want to live. The same holds true for Florida, California, Alabama, the Carolinas, Oregon, Colorado or many of the other states I have spent some time in the last few years.

When it comes to getting a shoulder mount, one way you can get fast, cheap, and good, is if you learn how to do it yourself. Otherwise you will most likely need have to sacrifice at least one of the three. Most of us would choose to sacrifice the "fast", and that is the boat you find yourself in now. I have had 5 professionally done, by 4 different taxidermists. The guy that did my last one, two years ago, was the fastest at 5 months, with very good quality work, but also the most expensive. The previous guy (retired) did two for me, each taking 11 months to deliver. The quality was a bit lower, but so was the cost. The guy before that (retired) was much cheaper, about the same quality, and took 9 months to deliver. If you have family or a good friend in the business, you might be able to use that connection to get fast, cheap, and good. I was fortunate on my first one with that. My great-uncle, who was a "museum-quality" taxidermist, retired a few years after that. Not everyone has the same "likes" when it comes to judging a mount. Up close, the one my uncle did does not have the "details" of some of the others when it comes to the eyelashes, colors inside the nose, teeth, gums and such. From a distance however, it is the most life-like of any I have seen. He had a real talent for setting the eyes at just the right depth, and the ears at the right angle. That buck almost looks as alive today as he did when he really was, about 30 years ago.

Saturday was too windy, but Sunday morning was ok in the squirrel woods. The snow and ice was loud and crunchy while walking. After taking a seat in an area with lots of tracks, a grey walked by after about a half hour, and I got him thru the lungs with the .22. Nothing more, so I will need to throw a few venison steaks in the crockpot with him to make a meal for our family of four. At least my daughters will get to taste some squirrel if they want to. He had a real nice long tail and I am looking forward to making some jigs from it. The prior weekend, I caught a fine Laker thru 12" of ice, on a jigging Rapala tipped with a minnow head, up at the in-laws Adirondack camp, finally verifying that they do exist there. I have tried spoons and bucktail jigs up there on the open water for the last several years, with zero trout action. Hopefully that softer squirrel hair will be just the ticket to entice some strikes when the lake thaws out.

Nothing eats coyote carcasses at my place either, not even crows. Anything else is usually gone in a day or two, including deer, coons, foxes, squirrels, rabbits, possums, and even skunks. I just plow the dehydrated coyote carcasses under in the spring. I did see a guy trying coyote meat on a youtube video and he did not look very happy about it. It must be exceptionally bad tasting.

I have killed all the deer I shot at with my ML (50 cal T/C Omega loaded with 100 gr of pyrodex or 777 and a 240 gr bullet), totaling about a dozen. For several years, that is all I carried, even during the regular gun season. I stopped carrying it during regular season after I failed to recover one of those kills. That single un-recovered deer, which I found more than a week later, almost completely eaten by coyotes, put me in search of a more potent weapon for the regular season. The ill-fated shot was at a range of 175 yards, from a good rest, at a standing-still, quartering-away buck. I had practiced at up to 200 yards and was confident in the shot. There was about 4" of fresh tracking snow which gave me even more confidence in taking it. At the shot, the buck showed no reaction of a hit, but jumped into creek he had paused at, while in pursuit of a doe. I watched him climb up the opposite bank and run across a field and a road, showing no signs of distress. I walked to where he stood at the shot, finding no blood on the snow, or hair. I still assumed a hit and followed his tracks on the opposite side for several hundred yards before loosing them in some heavy cover, then I spent a few hours circling and grid-searching to no avail. Only then, after finding not a drop of blood, did I assume a miss and give up the search. A week later, I ran into a neighbor who was hunting across the road who told me: "I saw that doe you missed come running by my stand". When he said nothing about the buck on her trail, I knew he was dead, and I found him with the help of the crows a short time later, about 50 yards past my widest circle and about 400 yards from where he was struck. Most likely the bullet had struck near my point of aim (the odds of it hitting there are greater than anywhere else right?), traveling diagonally thru his chest, and damaging one lung. That distance is also consistent with a single-lung hit. The accuracy was there, but the energy was sadly lacking at that range. I learned two lessons from that loss, First, 175 yards is beyond the effective range of that weapon from an energy standpoint. Had there been a bit more available on impact, that buck would have at least shown some signs of a hit, or left a little blood on the fresh snow. Now I use a rifled, bolt-action, 12-gauge shotgun that is just as accurate at 200 yards, but packs more than double the energy, along with 2 extra shots (our zone is still shotgun or ML only during gun season). I also assume every deer is hit, even if I cant find blood or hair. Even if I run out of daylight, I will get back on the trail in the dark with "bloodglow". My longest recovered kill with that ML was about 75 yards, and except for that single mishap, it has never given me trouble. The only way I would consider a shot over 125 yards now, with a ML, would be if it were powered with smokeless powder. There is no significant advantage with more than 100 grains of powder using black-powder or a black powder substitute. With smokeless powder, there is no such limits, and longer range shooting should not be an issue. Personally, I would not consider the purchase of a smokeless ML however. No sooner than I did, the state would likely close that "loophole". I am content with keeping my shots at under 100 yards and only using it during ML season. If you do decide to shoot at a deer much over 100 yards with a black-powder or black-powder substitute ML, you would be well advised to make sure it is standing broadside, and your aim is behind the shoulder.

The post-rut mule deer buck I shot in the high desert of Colorado was awful. You could taste the sage flavor in the meat. A very far cry from the corn and acorn fed whitetails we have here in NY. Oddly enough, post-rut bull elk that we have taken in the same general area have always tasted very good, maybe even a bit better than your average whitetail. I suppose a mule deer buck taken earlier, or a doe might not be as bad, especially if they had access to better feed. Our outfitter out there loves to come over to NY for whitetail because they are so much tastier. In fact, I don't know anyone who would choose mule deer meat over whitetail. I also prefer the coloring, the antler shape, and the challenge, of whitetails over mule deer. I am thankful that the mule deer does not inhabit our state. The other side of the Mississippi is a fine place for them. I would welcome elk and a few more moose however as there is nothing wrong with that meat.

I am looking forward to a little grouse hunting next weekend up in the Adirondacks. Time to get the old J Stevens side by side 16 gauge, and the # 7-1/2's packed up. I saw a lot more up there on deer hunts last fall during the ML and Thanksgiving weeks than the year before. With the mild winter we are having, the population should still be in good shape. They are fun to hunt and I cant think of anything better to eat. My wife and kid's are starting to get sick of venison and fish, and a couple grouse would be a welcome change. I can't stand turkey or chicken, but even I would take a grouse over a another venison backstrap right about now.

I am pretty stoked with the cold. Hopefully we will get a little snow along with it. The family and I are really looking forward to some ice-fishing and other winter sports up at the in-laws Adirondack camp next weekend. We got more than we needed last winter but at least a bit this year would be nice. Without this latest cold snap, I would have been a little apprehensive about heading out on the ice.

I took a bag of venison guts out of the freezer on Saturday and put it in the fridge. Tonight, I fried up half a liver with onions and it was very good. My wife is going to pickle the heart for Valentine's day. She is definitely a keeper.

I don't know much about the newer pellet rifles, but I do know that a Ruger 10/22 carbine, firing a Remington Yellowjacket High speed 22 LR hollowpoint bullet, will kill them cleanly, when struck behind the shoulder at ranges up to 100 yards. That is my go-to combination for night shooting from my bedroom window over a bait pile. It still has a crack, being supersonic, but not loud enough to wake the kids sleeping down the hall or the neighbor's. The last one I killed that way was a 53 pound male. He ran about 40 yards after impact, with the bullet entering the rib-cage but not exiting. As long as you keep your shots broadside and behind the shoulder, I don't see an issue with a modern pellet rifle. Coyotes are relatively thin-skinned.

When it comes to deer, there is very good reason that the 30/06 comes out on top of most polls. That is due to it's wide range of ammo availability. At remote outposts from South Africa to Alaska, there is nothing you can find easier. There is a big gap between the "also-rans", with the .270 and .308 tied for second in my book at least. I would never consider using below a .24 caliber for deer, but I am guilty of killing more coyotes with a .22 rimfire than any other round. The main reason for that is most were very late at night, from my bedroom window. I would rather risk wounding a coyote than waking up my kids sleeping down the hall. My .22/250, which I use during daylight hours, literally shakes the house to the foundation, waking not only my kids, but also neighbors 1/2 mile down the road. Coyotes are thin skinned and drop easy with a high velocity .22 rimfire (I like Remington yellow-jackets) behind the shoulder.

First off, I would not be concerned with the venison even though it is a "red" meat. Venison is about as "organic" as you can get, and you can see for yourself, just by the way it fries up in a pan, that it lacks most of the artery-clogging fat that beef is packed with. Even though it is red, it is likely better for your heart than store-bought chicken. Do substitute olive oil for bacon grease when you fry up your backstraps however. Since the deer population expanded sufficiently for the state to loosen up on the antlerless tags about 15 years ago, about 50% of our family's protein comes from venison, and no more beef is purchased from the store. We also eat a lot of fish (baked or broiled, not fried), all of which is also "free", thanks to liberal bag-limits and abundant supply, and fun to collect just like the venison. Another easy thing that you can do for your cholesterol is to start taking a couple garlic pills every day. They are available over the counter, cheap at the drug store and are coated to eliminate any "garlic-breath" or taste. Diet is the most important thing you can do for cholesterol, but exercise ranks nearly as high. It does not take a whole lot of effort, and you don't have to go to a gym. I do 20 minutes of light resistance training each weekday morning at home before work, mixing up the routines a bit every month to avoid the "plateau effect". That can be as simple as changing from incline to decline bench press or grip position on curls, etc. I do 20 minutes of cardio (alternating between bike and treadmill every other day) each weekday evening. I also use the stairs, rather than elevators and walk several times during each work day. I look forward to calls from the shop-floor downstairs, to take care of the frequent issues which develop down there. On weekends, I take advantage of any fun physical activity I can depending on the season, still-hunting the mountains for deer and bear, small game hunting, fishing, rowing, canoeing, swimming, snowshoeing, or skiing. As far as the blood pressure, the exercise will help a bit also, as will reducing salt in your diet. I never use a salt shaker at the table but use plenty of pepper. I keep a shaker of ground black pepper and another of cayenne at the table at all times. Stress is probably the biggest driver of high blood pressure. Getting outside and enjoying some fun activities can help with reducing it. Finally, developing a strong faith in Jesus Christ can get rid of all of it. There is no reason to stress for this short time on Earth when forever in Paradise awaits.

Corn has always been my most effective food plot. The cover and carbs it provides, right when deer need them most, make for a lethal combination during late fall hunting season. If you want to keep deer on your ground during daylight hours then, it is tough to do better. I check out the stomach contents of every deer I kill, and all those from around home have been loaded with corn. Many folks don't do corn because of cost, but there are ways of minimizing that. With much of my extended family in the dairy industry I always manage to acquire plenty of free seed. Those folks usually appreciate offers to clean out their big planters at the end of the season and that corn keeps well for many years, without significant loss of germination. It is pretty much all Roundup-Ready these days, which further reduces cost. Last year I even did a little experiment to see if corn which had passed most way thru a deer's digestive tract would still germinate (a little pile of corn was all that remained of my buck's gut pile after a few days and I pocketed a handful for test). I was also interested to see if it would retain the RR trait. Unfortunately, it was 0/10 on germination after the "passage". If you do go with old seed, a germination test is always a good idea prior to planting. On normal (non-consumed) corn, that was stored in a dry place without big temperature swings (a high shelf in the basement works good for me), I have not seen any significant reduction in germination on seed up to 4 years old. A big key to save money is to row-plant the corn rather than broadcast. That will allow for the most efficient use of fuel, fertilizer, seed, and herbicide. I always seek to minimize all of those input costs. Fertilizer usually follows fuel in cost, so that should not be so important in these days falling oil prices. Growing corn for food plots is looking better than ever this spring. I keep 3/4 of my plot ground in white clover, not so much to feed deer directly, but to minimize supplemental nitrogen requirement for corn plots. The fact that the deer like to come out at night and eat my nitrogen-producing clover is just a nice side benefit, plus it makes effective hunting plots during early archery season. Using a row-planter with a fertilizer applicator, and planting on old clover plots, produces some decent corn yield with just a light application of 15-15-15 starter fertilizer, and no additional nitrogen. Applying Roundup only on the rows using a sprayer attached to my cultivating tractor minimizes herbicide costs. This takes out all the weeds in the rows, where they would otherwise grow the most because that is where all the fertilizer is. The cultivator shovels remove most of the weeds between the rows. There are two plusses of removing "most" but not "all" of the weeds: First, greater attraction to deer of a slightly lower yielding, slightly weedy plot over a "clean" high-yield plot. Second, lots of money saved, not just on herbicide, but also on clover seed the year after the corn. It always comes back good on its own without reseeding, if you don't kill all of it with heavy, full Roundup application on the corn plots. The corn takes so much nitrogen out of the soil that the clover has a big competitive advantage over most of the weeds and very little seed is needed if done this way. To maximize the nitrogen production from white clover plots, they should be mowed a few times per season. When your clover starts loosing the battle to grass, you will know that the nitrogen level is getting high and it is time to take advantage of that "free" stuff, plow it under, and get in a corn plot. I have always done conventional tillage, involving a moldboard plow for primary, then a disk. It would take a long time, at today's fuel prices, to save enough to pay for a no-till planter, but I was almost ready to take the plunge when fuel got so high a while ago. A turbo-charged 4 wheel drive tractor minimizes fuel costs (pushing a "dead axle thru soft ground wastes a lot of fuel). A pull-type disk is far more efficient on fuel than a 3-point because of the improved soil contact.

In a good many years of hunting, I have long lost count of the deer I have killed, but only (2) were on public land. My first was a young buck on Allegheny state park, and the other was a year or so older mule deer buck on a Federal park in Colorado. Most of the rest were taken on our family's land in the flat portion of North-Western NY. The last few years, I have been spending more time hunting in the Adirondacks and that awesome scenery sure does have a powerful draw. I fully understand your situation. My in-laws have been building a camp, and plan on retiring up there. That has given me access to a plot of private land adjacent to the 6 million acre Adirondack park. Two years ago, I killed my oldest, and largest-bodied buck up there with a rifle, and big doe with a ML a few years before that. Although the deer may be fewer and further between up in the mountains, the quality of the experience more than makes up for it. I have taken a few larger racks at home, but the odds of killing an older deer are better up there due to the almost complete absence of hunting pressure.

I keep the hearts from all of them for pickling (hopefully my wife will do a couple for me for valentines day again this year). I keep the livers from 1-1/2 and 1/2 year old deer (those tender morsels are the best, fried medium rare, with olive oil and onions, a meal fit for a king, better even than tenderloins). The livers from older deer are tough and not worth bringing out of the woods. My mother in law even cooked up some "Adirondack mountain oysters" from a 4-1/2 + year old buck, a couple Thanksgivings ago, and they were ok. If you give that a try, I would recommend slitting them with a knife a bit before frying to reduce the mess in the frying pan when they "explode".

That's right, I forgot about that extra antlerless tag the bow permit could get him. If only they could figure out a way to keep the antlerless deer out in the daytime after they start detecting all the extra human scent in woods, one could really rack them up with a crossbow during them two weeks.