wolc123

Clearly there are lots of folks, myself included, who take little things like game laws, politics and food gathering a lot more seriously than they should from time to time. None of it matters in the long run. The purpose of life is to gain entrance to heaven and there is but one way to do that - belief in Jesus Christ. Life gets a lot easier once you realize that is the only thing you need to worry about. Go ahead and keep barking up the wrong trees if you wish, but always remember that there is a "better way".

I just got number two, same place, same gun, same range as the male 3 days ago. The 40 gr Federal 22/250 did better this time, striking forward of the diaphragm and putting the fat female's lights out right away. I suppose the young ones will crawl out tomorrow as they start to get dehydrated and hungry. From the looks of the teats, she must have 5 or 6. The 10/.22 Ruger will get some more work then. I buried this one under a blue-spruce that wasn't looking so good. Hopefully that will perk it up like it usually does for the apple trees. There were lots of bugs on that chuck and I wouldn't want to get any closer to it than the length of the shovel handle. I'll stick with eating fish killed in the warmer months.

You can spray the RR corn for a long time yet. I have sprayed corn up to 2 ft tall without a problem. Once it starts to tassle, you might want to stop. I usually spray my RR corn one time when it is about 12" tall. I use a 15 gallon spot sprayer with a 12-volt pump which is mounted on my Farmall cub, one-row cultivating tractor. In a single pass, that tractor mechanically removes most of the weeds between the corn rows, with shovels mounted ahead and behind the rear tires. While doing that, the stream of roundup is directed on the rows to chemically take out all the weeds there. I save some spray that way, using about 1 quart of roundup per acre. With a boom sprayer, which I assume you will use, you will need about 2 quarts per acre of Roundup. With my spot sprayer I mix 2 fl oz of roundup per gallon of water. The amount you mix depends on your sprayer flow and your ground speed but 2 oz/gallon is a good starting point. The Roundup is deactivated upon hitting the dirt, and only kills by direct contact with growing plants. There is no residual carryover like there is with most selective herbicides. As long as it dries on the plant (no rain for 1/2 hour or so), it will kill just about anything in about 7-14 days. I am running a little RR corn experiment right now. Last year I killed a buck with a stomach full of RR corn and all that remained of the gut pile after a couple days was a little pile of corn. I planted 10 kernals of that in a tomato pack last week but it has not sprouted yet. It will be interesting to see if it does, and if it retains the RR trait after passing half way thru a deer.

Since you asked, here's the "Bible Buck" story: It was opening day afternoon of gun season a few years ago. I am a meat hunter primarily and had taken a button-buck in the morning (my wife really loves those), plus a friend had given us another. They were both decent sized (about 75 lbs field dressed), and now hanging in our garage. Our family of four's meat supply was very secure with those and a couple "nuisance permit" does, a neighbor had provided earlier. It was very warm that afternoon and I really didn't want to deal with more meat, but I wasn't going to skip the afternoon hunt. It had sounded like WW 3 behind our house that morning. with all the other shots I heard besides the one of my own, but I didn't hear any across the road. I thought I could spend a quiet afternoon in the middle of the big woods over there, reading the Bible up in my stand. The stand was in a pine tree above a thick patch of brush. As the minutes of legal daylight ticked away, I saw nothing but another hunter sneak by at the far edge of the woods. Then, when there was 5 minutes left, the Bible fell out of my hands. I made a "safety-mistake", and climbed down the tree with my loaded slug-gun in my right hand. Just as I reached for the Bible with my left hand, a flock of turkeys landed, some only feet away. I was wearing bright blaze orange cammo. I glanced at my watch (stickler for the "rules") and there were still 2 minutes of legal daylight. Suddenly the buck's antlers, head and neck appeared from behind a bush, just 10 yards away. I fired a slug at the base of his neck, dropping him there in his tracks. Certainly that hunt was not "by the book", but you might say it was "with the book". Had I not dropped it when I did, them turkeys would have spotted my blaze-cammo from a mile away. The buck was wise enough to travel with them and capitalize on their keen eyesight, while they tolerated him for his nose. Together they enjoyed a nearly impregnable defense. He was finished after his line of turkeys was breached however. That was the most venison we ever had up to this year, when I got some more of that "Holy-help" filling the freezer. Practice, Smactrice, I'll just try and keep things right with the man upstairs and let him worry about how things turn out. It definitely works for me. You cant loose with him on your side.

I'll say a prayer for you JJB, it sounds like you could use it. P.S., no offense taken here by the name-calling.

The muleys have big antlers but bad meat. Not even close to a NY whitetail in flavor. I would give it away and just bring the cape and antlers back if I ever took another. If you have dogs at home, they would be ok for feeding them I suppose. The elk out there are another story entirely however, quite tasty and it is hard to believe they come from similar habitats. What rifle/ammo will you be using? I used a Ruger, M77 & 165 gr Hornady light magnums. I would go with 150 gr were I not on a combo elk/mule deer hunt however. Decent scenery out there, but not as nice as our Adirondack region (unless you are into "high-desert").

Take it up in the stand with you this fall, you may be surprised at what happens. I definitely would not have taken my most symmetric and second largest racked buck ever were it not for reading mine up in the stand a couple years ago. I just wish I could remember the passage I was reading when it fell from my hands, leading to the big bucks untimely demise, after I climbed down to pick it up. Happy reading and hunting JJB.

Step one is to believe in Jesus. Step two is to be like him, the one and only man who ever walked the earth without making a mistake. The shot was clearly a mistake so he would not have taken it. The kid and father both did wrong, but it sure looks like they were forgiven based on the successful outcome. Funny how that often happens after you make it to step one. Now they can get on to step two and do better the next time. Amazing is what I call it.

That's just misinformation pushed by the "anti-crossbow" bow-hunting minority. That fact is, as you are quickly learning, the x-bow is about 5X as effective on stationary targets and 10X as effective on live targets compared to a conventional compound bow. The reason it is an order of magnitude more effective on live targets is the elimination of the need to draw with the animal in close. That pretty much eliminates the need to get way up high in a tree, and should greatly decrease the number one cause of hunting accidents (falls from tree-stands). The lower shot angles also increase the odds of "double lung" hits, thereby significantly reducing the number of unrecovered, single-lung hits. The crossbow is much closer in effectiveness on deer to a modern in-line ML than it is to a conventional compound bow, which may be why the state has categorized it more that way.

The kid and the father made a mistake by taking and advising the shot, but the prayer the kid said right after sealed the deal for them, and led to a happy ending to the story. All of our mistakes were paid for by a man on a cross long ago. I feel sorry for all those who don't accept that fact.

You are not kidding that prayers work. Some folks like to chastise me for praying for "trivial" things like getting a deer, when folks are dying of cancer and stuff like that. They don't realize that God knows no limits and has plenty of good stuff to go around for those that love and believe in him. That's the real beauty of being a Christian, reaping all the blessings he wants to shower us with. Were it not for the power of prayer, I would be sitting on an empty freezer right now instead of one that is still about half full of tasty venison. Now hopefully he comes up with a few limits of bass next weekend for the kids, the wife and myself so we can start filling the other half. I am not afraid to ask.

There are lots of folks into animal rights, but why isn't anyone concerned about vegetable's rights. After all, they are totally helpless in most cases, and unable to run or defend themselves. Morally, eating wild animals is actually the "higher ground", certainly higher than eating domestic livestock. I know I could survive on an all-venison diet. The Inuit people up in the far North easily go for months on nothing but reindeer meat, and have for centuries. To them and me, vegetables are "what food eats".

The second rifle was handy and it was a pitiful sight watching it crawl away those "split seconds" using only its front legs and trailing the pile of guts. I don't like to see any animal suffer. This was my first shot from a box of new bullets (40 gr Federal premium sierra varminter HP) and I wasn't overly impressed with the 30 yard performance. My last box of 55 gr plastic-tip Hornady's always exploded internally when struck mid-body at short range, putting the lights out instantly every time and seldom leaving any external marks on the chuck. I don't like disrupting the neighborhood more than necessary hence the "little gun" for the second shot. Also, the ammo is orders of magnitude cheaper. I usually get as many chucks as I fire 22/250 rounds, rarely shooting over 100 yards. It has been several years since I missed one with that rifle.

I eat them indirectly. They make great fertilizer when I bury them under my apple trees. I just took my first of the season 15 minutes ago. A fat one I have been after for a couple weeks crawled out from under my barn as I was doing dishes. A rushed shot from our bedroom window with my .22/250 hit a little far back, leaving the entrails piled next to it. A second, well-aimed .22 rim-fire shot to the center of the head quickly ended the suffering of the eviscerated chuck. Hopefully it will be good for a half bushel or so of delicious Cortland apples this fall. I only like to directly eat animals taken during the cooler months when I don't have to deal with the bugs. Fish are the way to go in the warm summer months. In the fall, I have often thought about tossing a young coon in the crockpot but haven't tried it yet. Thanks for the tip about removing as much fat as possible, I will be sure to do that if I do decide to try it this fall. They also make great fertilizer.

The outdoor writer spoke the truth. There are many examples in the Bible where God points to the fact that it is ok to kill and eat animals, birds, and fish. Heck, one time Jesus even helps a couple of his buddies fill their nets with fish when they were down on their luck. Then there's his parable of the prodigal son, where the father kills the "fatted calf" to honor the return of his "lost son". Rather than trying to take God out of the sport of hunting, I applaud that writer for having the courage to put more of him in it. Anyone can "preach to the coir", but it takes guts to stand up for God in front of a hostile crowd. I can tell you from first hand experience that God is more important to my own hunting success, or lack thereof, than anything else. He knows when and where every sparrow falls, so I know of no better way to personally get animals and fish into my family's food supply, than to lean on him.

I put in 2.5 acres of soybeans yesterday in zone 9F. I had to skip some low spots because they were still wet from the 3" of rain we had last Sunday. I like to "sweeten up" my early August wheat/clover mix plantings with some soybeans so now I have plenty of extra seed for that. You can almost see the corn growing now after all that rain last week and a little warm-up. I don't think we ever had another year where almost all of May's rain came down in one day.

I live in one of those areas that is overrun with deer. The problem here is that the deer are natural born "survivors" and have adapted such that even the folks hunting them at night with nuisance permits have a tough time killing them. The real key in getting the population down to a proper level is killing mature does and they are definitely the most elusive targets around. Trying to take them out with a vertical bow in the daylight is about the least effective method imaginable. They always travel in groups, so the only way to draw a bow with all those eyes in close is to get dangerously high in a tree. Shots from such an angle are often non-lethal. As soon as any significant hunting pressure is detected, these deer go nocturnal, completely so after the first few daytime gun-shots are heard. I see the crossbow, used early, as the real key to taking out more of these wise, older does. Getting in early and without noise, before hunting pressure gets intense would help a ton. Just like a ML, a crossbow does not require that draw movement in close like a regular bow, so it can slowly be moved into position for a shot without spooking a group of deer. It also has the huge advantage over a ML of a silent report. To only allow crossbows at the end of the bow season defeats the advantage, when many of the does are already nocturnal due to pressure. In areas that need a reduction in population, they should open crossbow, for antlerless deer only, at least two weeks ahead of the current regular bow season. They also should allow folks to use a regular bow during that special pre-season if they wish. I don't like the idea of easing restrictions on the nuisance permits. The biggest problem with those is all the wasted venison. It would be a lot better to give sportsman who use the meat better tools (crossbow) and more time to get the job done.

I don't care for the practice of "catch and release" any time, in or out of season. To me, that is just the senseless maiming of a fine food source. People who feel inclined to do that should stick to Wi fishing games and such. Catch, photograph, and release is even worse, because it prolongs the fishes suffering and reduces its chance of survival. If a non-target, out of season, specie is caught "accidentally", it should never even be taken out of the water, and should be released ASAP. Playing games with live things just isn't cool to me. Killing them, legally and in season, and eating them, is what I am made for. I think the state does a pretty good job of managing the resource, and I support them going after folks who intentionally go for fish out of season, using any means possible. At least this law should make folks think twice before posting pictures of out of season catches, which is certainly not a very bright idea.

Now that oil and gas prices are low, it probably makes sense to keep the fracking ban in place in NY. Look at it as money in the bank. It makes more sense to withdraw it when prices come back up. Its not going anywhere. Let PA and Ohio sell theirs when its cheap.

I think the best thing to do about tresspassers is to eliminate the need to "post" your property and make it a crime to hunt any private property without written permission of the landowner. Tresspassing with a weapon should be a felony. Just getting rid of all those ugly signs polluting the countryside would make that worthwhile. That is the way it is done in most states West of the Mississipi and it seems very effective.

The Bible works good for me, on my last 3 bucks anyhow. 2 seasons ago it slipped out of my hand for some strange reason, with 5 minutes of legal shooting light left. I decided to pack it in early then since I had already filled an antlerless tag in the morning and had a couple other "nuisance permit deer in the freezer. When I climbed down to pick it up, a flock of turkeys and a nice big 8-point buck immediately landed on my position in the patch of brush under my tree stand. It was an easy 10 yard neck shot on the buck with one minute of daylight remaining. I would have stood out like a lite bulb to them turkeys had I still been up that tree in my blaze orange cammo. My cross-bow buck last year showed up right after I took my eyes off an "old rugged cross" that I set up behind our house. Finally my steer-bodied, rifle-season, Adirondack 8-point showed up last season right after I prayed that God just let me see a buck. All we had ever seen, even on trail cameras, at my in-laws new camp up there were antlerless deer. Practice, scouting, reading about hunting techniques and all that may help some folks I am sure, but keeping myself in good with the man upstairs works best for me. After all, He is the one who has the final say where all deer end up.

Thanks for the Amazon link. I just ordered one. I cant wait to use it this cross-bow season up at my in-laws Adirondack camp. The light weight and easy to carry feature should make it great for packing into the mountains. It's going to be hard giving up my "lucky", red , $19.99 camping chair, but the ability to swivel, and ease of carry of the new seat will help with that. I just picked up the mount today of the buck I shot up there last gun season using the old cheap but bulky red chair. I hope to do even better off the DR from Amazon this season. It does look comfortable and it should allow me to go deeper into the woods if need be.

Kind of gross looking antlers, but I really liked the song, definitely one of my all time favorites and delivered by one of my favorite singers. I will have to put some lily pads in my pond. They also make great cover for bass.

Where would we be without smartphones? More "clean" money might get added to our countries GNP, which includes proceeds from lawsuits. That makes it easier to keep up with China and India where lawyers are fewer and further between. Their money is mostly "dirty" over there, coming from actual manufacturing products which generates environmental pollution. Luckily for her, there are lots of lawyers available here in NY to take cases like this. Not a whole lot of folks going into engineering or manufacturing over here anymore. Good luck to her and her law career.

It would have taken about 2 more weeks of winter to do serious damage to the herd where I live and do most of my hunting in zone 9F. I don't see any signs of winter kill even on last years fawns. In fact, there are two large, pregnant looking does, each with two of last years fawns with them, almost every time I take the mountain bike around our "back 40". They are keeping the wheat, which I put in with some clover on a little 1/2 food-plot last fall, eaten right down to the clover. Usually I have to mow the wheat down with a bush-hog around this time so the clover can take off. With the record numbers of acorns we had last fall, the deer went into that tough winter in exceptionally good shape. I wasn't able to take any does or fawns last fall, but our freezer is still pretty much stuffed from the 2 bucks I used my tags on, a road-kill button-buck, and we finally finished a big, 2-1/2 yr, 8-point that a friend gave us during bow season. As far as I can see, it will be easier than ever to fill that freezer back up this fall. I have not been up to zone 6C yet this spring, where I took my largest buck last fall, but the in-laws have been seeing plenty of does up there. I hope to check it out on Memorial day weekend myself.