wolc123

That was a memorable hunt for sure. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which we had spent with the in-laws at their Adirondack retirement home, on a little lake up there. After Turkey leftovers for lunch that day, our two daughters and my niece and nephew and me burned thru a couple boxes of .22 ammo on the rifle range, which is next to their house. With all that shooting, I wanted to be as far as I could from there, for the afternoon hunt. I walked down the main camp road, almost all the way to the paved road, over a mile away. That took me over a little creek, that winds thru a valley, and up a ridge, where there is a mature pine forrest. I knew that there was a group of antlerless deer bedded down in the thicket around the creek, but they were all “off-limits” during gun season. I was positioned well downwind of and above them, where I had a good view of a trail that ran along the upper part of the ridge, along the edge of the pines. I was hoping that I might catch a buck walking that trail, scent checking on the does, down below. I was expecting one to come from the west, and I had my “tree-hammock” chair, positioned for a shot from that direction. I was armed with my heavy Ruger M77 30/06 and I had the 3-9x scope dialed downs to 3. There was about 6” of powdery snow on the ground, and the view from that spot was spectacular, with the pines behind, mountains in the background, and creek down below. About 15 minutes after I got comfortable in that chair, and was enjoying the view, I heard a stick break along the trail to the east. Twisting my neck around, I could see the buck about 60 yards away, and walking towards me. I began a slow turn, shuffling my feet and turning the pedestal like a turret in a tank. At the same time, the buck turned around, and was pointed back to where he had come from, when I got into position to shoot that way. He was now 50 yards away, standing still like a statue, and facing directly away from me. I had heard of this shot, but had never attempted it. I was very confident in my rifle (it always held a group of under an inch at 100 yards from a rest). I had a super steady rest with my elbows against my knees. I settled the crosshairs on “the spot with no hair”, and pulled the trigger, sending a 150 gr Federal Classic right up his poop shoot. The buck flattened out as was if he had been struck with a sledge hammer. I walked up to him, and noted a flow of blood from the front of his neck. I was dreading the gut job. A few others on the site have taken that shot and complained of a horrible mess when gutting. Surprisingly, it was about the cleanest of any that I have ever done. Even the butt-our functioned perfectly, doubling as a bore gauge to verify the accuracy of the shot. The only internal organ damage was a groove across the edge of the heart. I did loose the neck roast from the exit wound. There was no entry wound. I guess those other guy’s attempted Texas heart shots must have been near misses, or maybe the animal (a few were caribou) must not have been quite so perfectly aligned. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, He wants you to get a little dirt on your hands. My father in law suggested that I move that little 6-point rack to the “popped out eye” cape. He likes to decorate his place with mounts from up there. Right now, my first Adirondack buck is the only one on his wall. I’ll be up there trying for another (and a bear and a big smallmouth bass) in less than 2 weeks. I can’t wait.

I fell asleep and didn’t make it out until sunrise. I blew a chance at a “target of opportunity” on the walk back, when I practically stepped on a bunny. It appears that the coyotes have driven off or eaten all the foxes back here which are far more effective rabbit predators. I don’t remember ever seeing as many rabbits around back here as I have this year. Not a very nice morning to be in the stand with a steady 25-30 mph north wind. I give the coyotes about another 1/2 hour max. At least their noses won’t be able to pick me up in this wind.

The reason I took the coyote drive yesterday evening, was that they must be very hungry back there. They already dug up and ate the skunk that I burried back there the other day. How hungry does one need to be to eat a skunk ? Maybe I’ll go back this morning before church, sit in my front stand with my .22, and try for one.

That dark red rack on your buck is very cool. In 40 deer seasons, I have only killed (2) that were that color. I think both of mine were 1.5 year olds. They were both 6-pointers, when I killed them, but the first one had busted off his 7th post (brow tine). This busted up 7 was my first antlered buck, taken on opening day of gun season in 1986, at home on our farm in wmu 9F. I originally had the rack on the dark board that the second one is now on. My buddy gave me that crappy mounted cape (that he was going to throw out) when he had his grandpa’s big buck re-mounted onto a new cape. My dad made the dark walnut board for the back. This next one is my last Adirondack buck, and the second buck of my last “2-buck” year (not counting bb’s), back in 2016. To me, an Adirondack buck is worth at least double what a flat-land WNY deer is, because of the scenery up there. This one is worth triple to me, because of the color of the rack, and because it was the best shot that I have ever made on a deer. It was the only time, that I know for sure, that my shot hit the exact spot (within 1/32”) of where I aimed. It also has that cool little bulge on the end of the right antler. Some day, I am going to switch positions of those two racks, putting the Adirondack one into the crappy cape, and the WNY one back onto its original board. The bulging eyes on the crappy cape are appropriate for my shot location, on the Adirondack buck, at the instant of bullet entry.

Old boss doe tacos. This is the first time we have had tacos since the girls both went off to college. It seems like we have them every other meal when they are home. I won’t be needing as much venison this year.

After zeroing my ML and 30/30 this afternoon, I drove around back to look for coyotes (that season opened today) and I saw the 1.5 year old “scout” doe that was with the old boss for that I shot a couple weeks ago. I wondered if she would hang around. Hopefully, she stays around till crossbow opens and I can reunite her with her boss/mother in the freezer. I should have (3) more wmu 9F dmp tags by then. I doubt I’ll have any corn left by then. I checked my 2 acre plot out today and it is about 3/4 wiped out. The adjacent old clover, tall tine tubers, and fresh wheat/clover/alfalfa plots are looking very good though.

Sounds like a gut hit, I would call deer search and get a dog on it. Gut hits give out a ton of scent and are the easiest type of hit for dogs to find.

Congrats, on the kill. Bucks are always considerably faster for me to butcher than does, no matter how big their racks are, because there is always a lot less fat to be trimmed from the meat. I’ll bet that one is going to taste great. You should be healed up enough to to get back out after another one by the end of gun season and for sure by late and Holiday ML seasons, and now you have plenty of meat to last till then.

I got my ML and 30/30 zeroed this afternoon. Each needed a little tweaking, and (2) shots. The ML is now hitting exactly where I want it (1/2” high at 50 yards). My last shot with the open-sighted 30/30 was 1/2” to the left, which is close enough for me. That impact with the basement floor rug, nocked the ML off about 1-3/4 “ to the right and 1-1/2” low. I don’t know how the 30/30 got off a little farther than that. I don’t think I checked it last year, due to the ammo shortage. Had I not rechecked the ML, I probably wouldn’t have checked the 30/30 this year, so I am thankful that I dropped the ML, even though it cost me two 30/30 bullets and two more ML. I like to know that I can hit close to the hair that I aim at. I am down to just (4) 150 gr Federal 30/30, but I have a full box of (20) Winchester Super X 150’s, and I think my father in law has a box and a half or so of Federal 150’s. I gave him a box of .410 # 6’s for squirrels, so I am sure he won’t mind giving me some 30/30 ammo. I’ll use his scoped Marlin up there if it’s not raining. Adjusting the scope on the ML was east (2 clicks left and two up) using the ground down 1” blade on my edc knife as a screwdriver. The open fiber optic sights on the 30/30 was a little trickier. Fortunately, a little multi tool on the Durango key chain had a screwdriver just barely small enough to fit the tiny screws in the rear sight, and my first guess at how far up and how far left to move that was good.

I hope I don’t piss any bow hunters off too bad checking the zero on my ML and 30/30 after supper. If only I wouldn’t have dropped the ML on the carpet last time I cleaned it, I could skip that step. Hopefully, one shot each from my 50 yard bench, and I’ll be good to go. Normally, I try to complete all sighting in prior to Labor Day.

Wow, that is one the best looking bucks that I ever saw posted on this forum. Awesome colored rack, super clean cape and not dinged up at all. That’s one of the best things about getting them early . Good, solid 2.5 year old at least and definitely worthy of the “red wall” treatment. Make sure to cape it out, starting from well behind the shoulder, if you decide to get a mount. Not to often that a taxidermist gets as nice of a cape to work with as that one has.

I saw that yesterday afternoon at our place. The town came thru and bush-hogged the creek banks, about 25 yards back on each side, in the morning. There were (3) bucks together checking out the mowing job. One of them was this nice “shooter” 2.5 year old, which I have now seen back there at least a half a dozen times. Here he is, lined up with a window of my pop up blind at 20 yards, for a perfect Texas heart shot the last time I hunted back there during the early antlerless gun season: That almost makes me want to pick up my bow again (which I haven’t touched since 2013). Good luck to all the bow hunters out there. That “hay” is mostly cattails and weeds in the creek bed itself, but nice clover and Timothy on each side.

The town finally bush-hogged my creek banks today. It seems like they push that job back just a little later every year. When I walked back to check it out, at 6:45 pm, I saw that the 3 buck bachelor group was back together, consisting of a “just shooter” 2.5 yr 8-point, and (2) 1.5 yr olds. I was surprised to see that the half-rack 1.5 was back in the group. They must be playing nice now. They were in the old mowed clover plot, just to the left of the creek. They dissapeared into the tall hay, further to the left, before I could get a picture. They must have wanted to check out the town’s mowing job also. Hopefully, that 8-point hangs around till crossbow opens for the last two weeks (if I don’t fill that tag up north during early ML first). The odds are good that he will, because the old boss doe is in my freezer now, She won’t be giving him the boot.

Don’t forget your drag handle (aka butt-out):

Pretty good in fresh Cortland apples:

You just need to cook up a little medium-rare, free-range, “organic” fillet-mignon with it if you want fancy.

This big guy preferred smooth for his last meal:

I decided to tote my ML for the early September antlerless gun season this year. My target doe’s luck ran out on Tuesday the 13th, when I ambushed her from behind a patch of poison ivy, on her way to dinner in my 2 acre rr corn plot. Her prior year’s fawn came by first, prompting me to shoulder my T/C Omega 50 cal, so that I could deliver a quick, broadside, 15-yard heart shot, when she popped out from behind the cover. She spent the next (4) days in my deer fridge, and I stayed up till Midnight processing her on Saturday night. She must have lost this year’s fawn(s) to coyotes, because she didn’t have any milk in her, and lots of fat. It took me a lot of extra time, trimming as much of that out of the meat as I could, before grinding. Her tenderloins were very good and much more tender than those from the older doe that I killed last year in the NZ early ML season. I am guessing that she was 3.4 years old. Her burger is spectacular. My wife made meat sauce for spaghetti squash from the 1st of (17) quart-sized zip-lock bags of that last week. This doe was #1 on my hit-list, because she did considerable damage to my sweetcorn this year, taking out much of the early plantings, soon after it sprouted. She also had the best developed back straps that I ever seen on a doe.

My mother in law just sent me a picture of the decent 6 or 8 pointer across the lake from their house. He looks like a solid 2.5 year old. Hopefully, he crosses over to our side in a couple weeks. He’s a shooter for me up there for sure either with my ML the first week or with my 30/30 the following weekend. I’ve got to recheck the zero on my ML this weekend, because I dropped it while cleaning it, after using it on a doe during the early SZ antlerless season a couple weeks ago. I’ll check my 30/30 also (hopefully one and done with that because I need to conserve ammo).

2.5

As long as I wash up, soon after touching it, it don’t bother me. I was going to spray that patch with roundup to kill it but maybe I won’t it the deer eat it.

That’s what I was hiding behind when I shot a doe a couple weeks ago.

I’d say that is at least the 6th skunk that got that treatment and the first that got out any spray. I actually watched it roll over and discharge. Nasty looking stream went up about 5ft. It looked clear, like water, maybe 6 - 10 fluid oz. Good thing for the steady wind.

Maybe “he” is really not a “he” but an antlered doe. They say that they do exist. Good way to save on pepper.

Bad to worse: I hit it with a 1950’s or 60’s Remington Express Kleenbore 16 gauge load to the head, from 10 yards upwind, and it sprayed anyways. First time that has happened. I suppose that load may have lost a little of its oomph, after 70 or so years in that paper shell. Good thing there was a steady west wind. I let it blow the plume away for about 20 minutes before I opened the trap and rolled the dead skunk into a pre-dug hole and threw a few shovelfuls of dirt over it. I’ll wait a few days before I clean out that trap though. My wife could smell it on me, when I walked into the house.