wolc123

What kind of trajectory could be expected from a 240 gr bullet? The 150 gr bullets I used were Federal Classic Hi-Shok Soft Points. It don't look like they make them anymore however based on what I see on-line. I still have 3 or 4 boxes and will probably go with the new Power-Shok soft points in 150 gr when I run out. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" they say, and I hope these replacements are an improvement.

I like to hunt them from a tree stand myself (not a real high one however) with the .22 rimfire rifle. That makes it easier to get a down angle on most shots, the ground becoming a good backstop. Knowing your target and what lies beyond is one of the cardinal rules of firearms safety with a rifle especially. For ground hunting, I use a little .410 shotgun with #6's. That is what I like best when they are working the treetops for nuts in the fall.

There is nothing he could plant on fresh cleared ground, that I know of, that will be more attractive to deer next fall, than the fresh browse that sprouts up when all that sunlight starts hitting the old forest floor. Ripping things up with dozers and such might just send the deer into the next county. Clearing the trees is definitely a step in the right direction, but I am not so sure about ripping out the stumps. Some folks have to learn stuff the hard way I guess.

You could probably just cut the stumps off low, and let them, rot out. Ash is all I have been burning the last 4 years to try and stay ahead of the borers. Personally, I will not be sad to see them all go as I prefer oak, cherry, hickory, maple, and walnut for firewood anyhow (less ashes to clean out - I see where the ash tree got it's name). I think I would just clear, like you did, and maybe add some lime after getting the soil tests back next spring. All the "natural" browse that pops up in the new sunlight should be very attractive to the deer next fall, so why not take advantage of that "free attraction" for a year or two as your stumps are rotting. In 3 years you should have some thick, nasty cover in there, again, very attractive to deer when they start getting pressured, so I would leave a little of that, but roundup the rest to clear the way for a late summer planting of rye grain. That grows in almost any soil conditions and is quite attractive to deer from fall thru spring. You could probably just broadcast the inexpensive seed heavy into the dead, untilled thatch prior to a rain and have it sprout pretty good in the untilled, old forest soil. Maybe repeat that one more year, until your stumps are rotted well enough to plow right thru them, you have your soil ph where you want it, and can plant anything you want. White clover and brassicas come to mind as two plots that provide a lot of tonnage per acre and can stand heavy pressure from deer while suffering minimally from other species (coons, turkeys, bears, squirrels etc.).

I never was a big golfer (I prefer the sports of hunting and fishing which are cheaper, funner, and often provide free meals when finished). I did play the company tournament this past summer, just to see what the fuss was all about, and because they offered lots of nice prizes and a good dinner at reasonable cost. A friend gave me one of them cheap little golf range-finders prior to the tournament. My plan next Memorial day weekend is to take a couple hikes with our girls (they will be 11 and 12 then), up at grandpa's cabin in the NW Adirondacks where I shot that buck. For the first hike, on the far shore of the creek, we will try and recover a glass gallon jug of water that Grandpa abandoned over there (he brought it and a roll of paper towels so I could clean myself up after the "bloody mess" he was anticipating, when I called him on the cell phone to bring his ATV as close as he could). He is very particular about keeping his cabin clean (note the newspapers under the carcass in the first photo). He could only get the ATV within a half mile or so of the site, and he carried my gun and gear out that far as I dragged the deer. Snaking it out of the thick brush in the creek-bottom was tough, but it pulled easily on the snow up in the timber. It was all he and I could do to lift it up onto the rear rack of his wheeler, when we reached it. I don't know the exact weight, but I know I am 200 lbs, and I could only lift the front of the deer, before my own feet came off the ground, hanging from the pulley shown in the photo. Grandpa's wheeler came in handy again there. If we cant find the jug (I hate to litter), we are at least going to set a stick under that pine tree, with marks painted at the height of a golf flag (I assume they are standard). Then our second hike will be up the ridge to find that "rest-tree", where we should be able to determine the range to the stick. Maybe I can hint to the girls and their mother for one of them fancy laser rangefinders next Christmas. Any recommendations on a good one?

My scope is an older Redfield 3 x 9, low-profile, widefield with a duplex reticle. I was cranked up to 9 power on that shot. I saw the buck approaching along a creek-bed from great distance, more than a mile for sure. I attempted to position myself for a shot when his path would put him at the closest distance, and I guessed that to be about 300 yards. I was positioned high above on a mountain ridge. I would call it more "lucky" than good as far as the shooting goes. When I checked zero on the rifle prior to hunting this fall, it hit centered above the bull, 1-1/2". That was the only practice shot I took with that gun (Ruger M77). The morning I killed the buck pictured on my previous post, on the Saturday after thanksgiving, it started out in the upper 20's at daybreak, but warmed rapidly, reaching about 35 degrees by 9:30, when I took my first shot. By the time I saw that buck, the noise of crashing ice, caused by the rising sun, sounded like thunder from down in the valley below. For my first shot, I was seated, and held firm, centered behind his shoulder. When he stopped briefly, I squeezed off the shot. He never even looked up, just continued ahead at his previous pace. That "boom" from above must have been covered pretty good by all the crashing ice. I then got up from my comfortable chair, and followed along the ridge. When he reached another opening, I took a second, hurried shot off-hand. Again he continued on, but this time he must have noticed the "boom" because he stopped and looked up in my direction. Just as he stopped, I came to a solid tree, up on the ridge, which I rested the rifle on, while standing. This time I held about an inch below the top of his back, behind the shoulder. My thought at the time was that the range was farther than my initial estimate, so I held high. After that final shot, he "disappeared". Just like baseball however, three strikes and he was out, as I found him after a long, round-about hike, right under the big pine tree he stood near at that last shot. I was lucky that good rest came along when it did, lucky that my rifle fed the second and third rounds smoothly, lucky that crashing ice covered the shots, and lucky to find that buck after the miles of heavy timber, and thick brush-covered creek-bottom I walked thru to get to him. The ridge was too steep to descend without climbing gear, and the creek too deep to cross, forcing me to take "the long way around". In all the excitement there, I wasn't even sure how many times I had shot, until I counted out my remaining bullets when I got back to the cabin. I took 8 in, and brought 5 out. Two of them bullets are stuck in the ground up there now I suppose, while one lays mushroomed, on a shelf out in our garage. That wasn't my first "lucky" shot on this lucky season. I shot at one other, much smaller buck near the end of archery season, back home in the Southern zone, with my crossbow. Again, I underestimated the range somewhat at 50 yards (turned out to be 60). Check out where that arrow struck. I aimed upper lung on that shot. One thing I noticed this year, is that the more I pray to Jesus Christ, and try and do right by him, the luckier I get.

I used what YFK uses on this old boy. Next spring I will hike up and get an exact range, but it looks to be between 300 and 400 yards based on "google maps". The buck was quartering away. The 150 gr Federal bullet struck centered on second last rib and traveled diagonally thru chest, lodging inside lower shoulder on opposite side. Both lungs were destroyed. The bullet mushroomed good and remained intact. The, old 8-point buck field dressed over 200 lbs and fell dead about where he stood when hit. I did not see him fall, but found him lying under the tree he stood near when I fired. When I found him, laying on about 6" of fresh snow, there was not a mark, or a drop of blood on him or the snow. It reminded me of lots of Woodchucks I have shot with my 22/250 using those "ballistic" plastic tipped bullets. No marks on the outside but big mess on the inside. After skinning, the entry hole thru the hide looked just a little over .30" dia. On a Western trip a few years ago, I bumped it up to Hornady "light magnums" in 165 gr, which were new at the time. Elk was our primary target, but I never saw a bull on the self-guided hunt. The performance on a mule deer buck was very impressive however, as the bullet literally knocked him off his feet from a range of approximately 100 yards. I would say those are a bit overkill for deer of either variety.

If you plant that three acres with field corn, trap the coons heavy to irradicate them, and somehow keep the bears away, then you might be able to hold one of them big-ones on your 20 acres during the day. It is really the does that control the territory however, especially when the food is good compared to the surroundings, so it will not be easy. A second option, that may work better for holding a big buck there, would be to knock off all the food-plotting, and let the whole 20 revert to thick, nasty cover. Hinge cut, plant some fast growing evergreens, etc.. The does will move off if you cut off their food supply, creating an opening for a buck to move in.

I can relate to the "miracle" part of that story. I had it happen myself this year on a fat pig of a buck up in the NW Adirondacks. I also said a short prayer, if I could only see a buck, as they are quite rare in this area. Not 10 minutes later, this old boy came cruising along down the creek-bank I was watching from a ridge, high above. I said another short prayer, that my shot would be true. The distance was far. My rough estimate at the time was 300 yards, amd it looks to be at least that based on "Google Maps" My first shot missed (taken from a rested seated position, probably due to range underestimation), so did the second (hurried offhand). Then the Lord provided a perfect tree for a rest, in just the right spot, as I followed him from up on the ridge. He paused in an opening, just when I found the rest and that third shot hit perfectly, diagonally, thru the rib cage. I did not see him go down, but he disappeared after that final shot. I scanned the area all around where he stood with my scope on 9X, but nothing moved. There was a large pine tree right near where he had stood, and I thought maybe, he had turned 90 degrees away, and ran up the next hill, keeping that tree between me and him, after a third miss. Had he continued forward, I would have seen him, as I would have if he backtracked. There was only one other possibility. I gave out a third prayer, that he would be laying there under that tree. It was a long hike around. I left my bright red camp-chair up on the ridge, to mark my shooting location. The creek below was too deep and wide for me to cross, and the ridge to steep to descend direct without climbing gear. I carefully studied that pine tree on the creek-bank below, so that I could identify it when I did get back over to its general location. It took me almost an hour to reach a location on the far bank of the creek, where I could finally see my red chair up on the ridge. It looked like a tiny spec with the nakid eye. Shortly after I saw the chair. The brush was so thick on the far bank of the creek, that it took another half hour or so before I saw a familiar looking, lone pine tree down on the creek. My plan was to locate the buck's tracks in the fresh snow near the tree, and try to catch the buck by following his trail. That is a very popular technique in this area. I knew the trail would be fresh, and the sounds of my three shots were probably mixed right in with the crashing of ice that morning along the creek-bank, caused by the rising, warming sun. The buck likely had no idea he was being shot at (like Steve Martin in the Jerk with the oil cans). As fate would have it, the Lord had other plans. There at the base of the tree, lay the old buck. He was on his side, eyes wide open. There was no mark on him, and no blood or hair on the fresh snow. I stuck the muzzle of my loaded rife (safety off) in his eye and he did not blink. I rolled him over and there was no mark or blood on the other side either. Upon gutting him, I noted a hole centered on the second last rib, and two jagged, similar sized holes, adjacent to that rib, looking inside of the cage. At first I thought maybe all three bullets hit, but it turned out just one did, and the other holes must have been caused by bone fragments. I called my Father in law on the cell-phone, but he could only get within a half mile or so with his ATV because the brush was so thick down on that side of the creek. That is definitely the heaviest deer and the most difficult drag I have ever had to do. I suspect this buck may be quite old because his stomach was full of acorns and most were not even chewed. It was not the biggest rack that I have taken, but surely my oldest buck. Since I turned 50 on Christmas this year, my wife let me get him mounted as a present. Plus it was the first one taken at her folks new camp up there.

It seems that there are some folks who get a little hung up on range alone, when it comes to "ethics" of taking a shot at "live" targets. With a "dead" target, as long as the shot is safe, pretty much anything goes. I would hope that guy would not take a 100 yard shot at a deer with that setup. You can see and hear in the video that he falls a little short on at least two of the requirements. Besides range, here are the other variables, listed in order of importance, that I see when it comes to go or no-go for a long shot at a deer with a x-bow: #1 What is the accuracy of the shooter x-bow combination? He looks ok there. #2 What is the condition of the deer? Still, Alert, Distracted. Feeding, etc. #3 What is the wind velocity and direction? #4 How clear is the shot? #5 How good is the rest? #6 How loud is the x-bow? #7 How good is the scope/sight? #8 How does the broadhead perform at impact velocity? #9 How good is the lighting? #10 How is the retained energy & arrow penetration (should be thru)? #5 and #6 takes him out of the running on a deer based on what I see and hear on that video. I believe I could do that easily to a pumpkin at 100 yards with my current setup (135 lb draw, 300 fps, horizontal x-bow) if I shot from a rest, but I know I come up short on #10, based on a 60 yard shot I took this year (see photo). Fortunately, the 8" or so of penetration I got was enough to get thru the heart. In the future I will think twice about taking a shot over 50 yards with that setup for that reason. With his longer, heavier arrows, I am sure he has that one covered. His failure on #6 makes it unlikely that a deer will be within 5 feet of where it was when his arrow is released at 100 yards however.

Some type of swivel seat that would make it easier to move around slow without big movements, good rests all the way around for gun/crossbow, removable canvas lower blind-covering / wind-break, and rain cover.

I use an old "Enterprize #12" grinder that likely started out as a hand-crank model, but which my grandfather added a 1/3 hp electric motor and gear/pulley reduction back in the 1950's. I cant even guess how much beef and pork he ground with it, over 30 or so years, and I know I have close to a hundred deer thru it myself over the last 30. It takes standard blades and knives available at Bass Pro, etc. I replaced those about 10 years ago, for about $20 total, when it started to plug occasionally on sinews & such. It hasn't plugged since then, and it will swallow good size chunks of meat as fast as you can feed it. The time required to grind an average deer is about 20 minutes. Cleanup is a breeze, as all the inner workings slide right out after loosening a set screw and turning out a ring nut on the front. You can move those to the sink for a quick cleanup, or put all the parts in the dishwasher. The main housing can be scrubbed out in minutes, still mounted to the stand. Converted, motorized grinders such as this were quite common back in the day, and it should not be overly difficult to locate on craigslist, garage sales, farm auctions, etc.. The knives and screens are really the only wear part, and they are usually all made to the same standard, that still is used on today's electric grinders. All you need to specify when ordering for your "antique" is the grinder size (#10, #12, #22, etc.). Other than the knife and screen, the only other problem we had with ours was a burned up motor in a house fire, and another corroded and shorted when the basement flooded. Used, 1/4 to 1/2 hp, 1750 rpm motors are easy to find for $10 or less. (I never actually paid for one, as my dad and father-in-law both have good stockpiles they have scavenged from various old machines. Grinding with that old machine is definitely my favorite part of the butchering job. Skinning is a pain, as is cutting the meat off the bones, trimming off the fat, and vacuum sealing (at least my wife usually does that part). It just seems like magic, quickly turning all those rough and ragged chunks of meat into fine-looking, lean grind. I have looked at a few modern stainless grinders, and have not been too impressed. It does not appear that "you get what you pay for" there anyhow. I have $20 and almost a hundred deer in mine, so I know I got what I paid for many times over. I would be quite surprised to see any of them cheap looking units sold by Bass-Pro, Cabelas, Gander, Dicks, etc, hold up like that.

To me, every deer is a precious gift from God. I can think of no finer food than whitetail venison, and how awesome it was to be able to pursue it this season on some of the most beautiful land I have ever scene, or even after a short walk out my own back door. The Dr's told me this spring that I should have never saw 50, but Lord willing, I'll make that on Thursday. Right now, the only worry I have is to keep things right with someone else who was born on that day about 2014 years ago. Merry Christmas everyone and happy hunting however or why-ever you do it.

I too wish you luck getting the crossbow into NY. I think allowing it only during gun season is some kind of cruel joke. It was tough for us in NY to get them into the early archery season at all, and we only got the week prior to the opening of gun season. Fortunately, that included the peak of the rut, which allowed me to fill my buck tag without too much trouble. What I would really like to do with the crossbow is to fill some antlerless tags, and getting the other 3 weeks of early archery season would help a lot with that. Here also, a small, but extremely well politically connected group of archers has fought ferociously against the x-bow. They may be on the ropes now, but are definitely not finished. Only when the crossbow is allowed throughout archery season, as is the case in most states now, will they be down for the count. Or, when they individually get too old to pull back their vertical bows.

Surprised that no one mentioned the biggest disadvantage of the tree stand. Every season, falls from those causes more serious injuries and deaths to hunters than from any other cause. With a vertical bow, they definitely have an advantage when it comes to fooling a deer in close. Not so much with a crossbow or gun however. I wouldn't be suprised at all to see hunter injuries drop significantly since NY allowed the x-bow this year. I just wish they would give us the rest of archery season. That would pretty much eliminate my need to ever hunt from an elevated stand. Where I rifle hunt in the Adirondack mountains, up in the northern zone, there is no need for tree stands or blinds, as a chair set up on a high ridge, looking down on a valley provides an ideal vantage point, often several hundred feet above the deer, just due to the topography.

I would like to see the crossbow allowed throughout the early archery season, not just the last week like they did this year. Gun season can stay the same, but a couple more weeks on the end of late ML, to extend a ways into January would be good. Working full time, it would be nice to a few of those vacation days around Christmas and New years to fill a few tags with the smoke-pole or crossbow. I filled both of my buck tags this season, but had no antlerless deer within range throughout our X-bow, regular gun, and ML seasons. I don't think I would have had to much trouble filling them 3 antlerless tags with a couple weeks added to the start and finish. It seems to me that the 10% or so of the hunters who take 90% or so of the deer each year, are those who hunt all three seasons (early archery, gun, and late ML). Give us a little more time and I guarantee we will fill more tags, especially on antlerless deer.

I have never heard of as many of those as this year. It is just amazing what a bumper crop of acorns like we had will do to push deer nocturnal. I cant wait to see what the harvest numbers are this year when they come out. We usually don't get acorn numbers like that on consecutive years, and with such a low kill this year, and mild winter (so far anyhow), next season should be spectacular.

I have hunted up there about 12 years and only ever saw 3 different bucks. I did manage to get a nice one this season in the town of Fine. My taxidermist also has a camp near there, and has never seen a buck in the area. The other bucks I saw were a pair of small 1-1/2 year olds in September, a few years ago, when they ran across the front yard of our old camp near Theresa. I did get a nice doe there once with the ML. Very pretty country up there but the hunting is not easy. Food plots would probably help out a lot. This year, with so many acorns around, they probably wouldn't do too much however. Acorns are the real key for me up there and have factored into any deer siting I had up there. Both stomachs were loaded with them. Kind of like corn, back home in the Southern region. I would think you will be looking at pretty acidic soil up there and rye grain, planted mid august, might be your best bet as a food-plot.

If restrictions on fracking were lifted throughout US and Canada: 1) What would be the estimated North American reserve of NG in terms of years, based on current consumption? 2) What would that drop to if all oil and coal-fired electric generation were changed to NG? 3) What if all transportation power, currently using oil, was changed to CNG. My rough order of magnitude guess on the answers would be something like : 1) 2500 years 2) 2000 years 3) 1000 years. One would think that 1000 years would be sufficient to fully develop even cleaner sources of energy. It seems that we are shooting ourselves, and future generations, in the foot by burning so much of the dirty stuff now when there is no need to. It might not be a bad idea to do everything possible, in an environmentally safe way, to hasten the conversion from coal and oil to NG. With all the current push on reducing carbon emissions and such, throwing up road blocks against a cleaner burning fuel seems outright silly to me, or may indicate some political corruption fueled by the big oil companies. I think the cat is out of the bag now on this whole deal anyhow, and that is the real reason why we are seeing the collapse in oil prices. I cant see anything bringing them back up to where they were. I am looking forward to the $1.50 a gallon gasoline that may even hit NY within the next year or two.

The shoulder blade will put them down on the spot but wreck lots of meat in doing so, therefore I always avoid that unless hunting up along posted land or near other hunters. They will go down in their tracks with a shot behind the shoulder, and in front of the diaphragm, if the bullet impacts when the heart is on the compression stroke (about 1/3 of the time). The cardio-vascular system can not handle the pressure spike and the lights go out immediately. The caliber, etc. is somewhat irrelavent, but the increased shock of a good bullet and better energy transfer does up your odds of the put-down.

As a hunter, you will never stop learning. Nothing will teach you like your own experience will. Mistakes will teach you a lot more than successes will. I have been hunting a few years more than you have been breathing, and I still make some. My biggest this season was staying out too late one night during late archery season and falling asleep in my blind. I also had seen very few deer throughout the season this year, so I was not expecting much. Naturally, I was awakened by the soft footsteps of a nice young fork-horn buck as he approached to within 15 yards of my blind. My crossbow was on the floor, and our eyes locked as soon as I woke up. Very slowly I lifted the bow, but as soon as it cleared the rest, he bolted off never to be seen again. Sometimes mistakes are really blessings however. A couple days later, I did get the jump on a slightly larger buck, seeing him before he saw me. The range was far, but everything else was perfect, and he rests peacefully in our freezer now. I was also extremely blessed to harvest my largest ever buck this fall wit my rifle, up on a ridge in the Adirondacks in an area that sounds similar to where you were (zone 6C). I was very high up and had a good view of the buck sneaking along the creek below. The ice along the bank was crashing hard at the time and that was probably what kept the buck from bolting off after my first two shots. Fortunately, I was able to find a good branch to rest the rifle, for the third shot. The buck paused in an opening just long enough for me to concentrate on hitting a tiny spot, high behind his shoulder. I made two mistakes on that buck, underestimating the range and missing low on the first, well rested shot, and rushing the second shot offhand. Just like baseball, he was out on the third strike however, and now rests peacefully in the freezer also. My wife even let me get a mount for the big 50 birthday I will hit in a few more days. Over all those years, I have made almost every mistake that I thought was possible, but the good news is that they do diminish a bit with time. Be thankful if your are one of the fortunate few who can learn from others mistakes. Across NY state, this was one of the toughest years on record for deer sightings due to record acorn production. All the deer had to do was find the nearest oaks, and get into some heavy cover downwind, waiting for the coast to clear. They remained nocturnal for the most part, from the time those acorns began to fall. Don't be surprised to see way more deer next season, as I know that the numbers are still high, and the puny harvest numbers this season will also lead to a lot more chances next year. So will the mild winter that we are getting again. In the Western part of the state, they are calling for temps in the mid 50's next week and the ground is not even frozen yet. If this keeps up, we are going to have to deal with hogs soon, like those poor folks down south have to deal with. Some folks on internet sites like this just love to criticize folks by telling them that they were just lucky and stuff like that. That is usually the bunch that still has their tags when the season ends. Two things they don't have good recipes for are tags and antlers. Generally, you will find that the more experience you gain, the more "luck" you will have. Good luck next season.

I was one, and Dad was up at fort Drum then. I will have to make a copy of that add for him to check out. I am sure he was out having some fun with his Browning Sweet 16 whenever he got the chance. I remember always looking forward to that "army food" that he brought back, along with the pheasants, squirrels, rabbits and such.

My wife is getting a couple hundred pounds of boneless venison, topped off with some from a fine button-buck, which to her is like the icing on the cake. What more could a woman ask for?

Recently, I drove Newark NJ from Buffalo NY. On the way out, my rout kept me in NY most of the way. On the way back, I stayed in PA most of the way, where fracking is allowed. I was amazed at how much better the roads were in PA. Where did all that money come from? In PA, the thru-way "text-stops" had bathrooms with flush toilets. In NY, you had to go behind a bush. I don't think I even saw a pothole on the PA stretch. Good thing, because I think I wore out the shocks on my rental F-150 on the way out on the NY roads. No shocks were needed on them smooth PA roads. I also have to thank those PA folks and their fracking money for letting us keep our Football team in Buffalo NY. We be just poor folks here, and would have surely lost our team otherwise. Now it looks like we will be getting poorer, but money aint nothing but the source of all evil, so we are doing well.

One nice thing about getting them late like that, post-rut, is there is a lot less fat to trim off. My buddy gave me a heavy 2-1/2 year 8-point he shot in early archery season and I probably spent an hour trimming the fat off the rear after I skinned it. Congrats on the fine buck.