wolc123

Forgot about that. I need to save those for my wife to pickle on Valentine’s Day. I am only keeping the livers, if I get one that is 1.4 years old. Those are too tough on older deer. I am also running low on 1/8 oz jigs, so I will use the tails to make some more, prior to the nz early ML week. That’s when I go they the most of them because the bass are all along shore where there is lots of snags.

The girls offered to fetch me a beer, if I took out the big spider under the table on the drinking barge. Choosing a weapon was tricky. I felt like Bruce Willis in Pulp fiction.

Glad to see that’s out. I will pick up a 12 at my stop at Niagara County Produce.

Did you go up to the beer tent last night ? How was the band. I liked it a lot better when they had Genny beer, but they switched over to Labatts about 25 years ago. At least the blue light lime, that has been available the last 5 years, had been tolerable. That, like Genny, is made from pure Hemlock lake water. Any other, of that Labbats crap that I drink, gives me a headache shortly after the first sip. No matter for me this year, half way across the state, where it’s all Yuengling and Fat tire.

I am wondering the same thing. I planted a clover/alfalfa mix for the first time ever one week ago today. I planted that right next to some Imperial Whitetail clover. It will be very interesting to see which one they prefer and for how long.

The bad thing about a warm lake on Labor-day weekend, is that the bass have not moved to shore yet, so the top-water action is not good yet. A few years ago, when it was considerably colder, I had my 5 fish limit of bass in 7 casts with a Zara pooch, without even leaving the dock. No such luck this year. The good thing is, I can take a bath and wash up in the lake after jumping off the swimming/drinking barge, and not listen to my father in law complain of running the hot water too long in the shower in the house. Good thing Ivory soap floats.

I hope I get to try out these Bog Havoc shooting sticks, on a big doe with my T/C Omega ML, in less than a week: They are very light, and seem like they would be very way to use. I will post back in a week or so, to report on how they work. i will need an east or a north-east wind for that, so that I can use my pre-positioned and “brushed in” pop-up blind. Otherwise, I will be hunting from a “natural” blind platform, where I have a tree to rest against, if the doe comes out onto my corn, turnip, old clover, or new wheat/clover food plots. They all intersect right behind that cultipacker, 30 yards from the blind:

I love the warm weather deer hunting. To say that I am looking forward to it would be an understatement. Being set up to handle the carcasses is an important part of it. For me, that means a deer fridge and an insulated, air-conditioned processing area - my garage. I am looking forward to next Saturday more than any of the other (6) opening days that I plan on hunting in NY this year (early nz ML, nz rifle, sz crossbow, sz gun, late nz ML, and Holiday ML), mainly because it comes first. I miss deer hunting, having now went over 8 months since my last one on January 1, of this year: I am going thru some very serious withdrawal. I can’t wait to smell that powder burning again, and to start dropping chunks of red meat into my great great grandfathers old grinder. I only put one 3.5 year old buck thru it last year, after replacing the knife and screen (I had an old doe processed up north and it would have been a sin to grind the two button bucks). It worked better than ever on that big 9-point buck: Antlers mean very little to me. It is ALL about the delicious red MEAT. Warm weather hunting is great, you just have to dress appropriately. I do need to pick up one of them thermocell gizmos, because I recall the skeeters being an issue on a few hunts last year. I don’t think they will be as bad this year, because it has been very dry.

It looks like we will be having smoked ribs for dinner tonight:

I will only have a couple hours at home to hunt, on the morning of September 10, and the last hour of daylight, plus the extra half hour after. If I don’t have one in the fridge after that, I will squeeze in a couple more hours at home, in the morning before church, then I will hit my parents place that afternoon. I will probably hunt the weeknight evenings at home also, if I don’t have one in the fridge. If I do get one the first weekend, I will take it out of the fridge and process it on Friday night, to clear space for another one taken the second weekend. That one will also stay in the fridge a week and get cut up the following weekend. Ideally, I will end up with (2) doe in the freezer, all of which will be ground, except for the tenderloins, back straps, and neck roasts.

I love it. Putting does in my freezer in September beats the hell out of farmers whacking them with their nuisance permits and feeding coyotes with the carcasses. I’ll be out every chance I get until both of my wmu 9F tags are filled. I am going to use my ML because I have lots of ammo for it and there is only room for one deer at a time on my deer fridge . The September 10 opener can’t get here soon enough. I am down to just 7 packs of grind left from last year.

Maybe my first “open container” bass. The home made rod holder didn’t have any trouble detecting the strike. This one thought it was a steelhead, lots of air.

Not a big fan of this one. Too much hoppy bitterness for a lager. I definitely see why Vitto Mortgenson asked for a Genny cream, as he was looking at a Yeungling sign in Philly, in the movie History of Violence.

Celebrating the return of the prodigal hotntot. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere and it is important to stay hydrated.

I just had a prayer answered. That bass must have twisted up my line and/or rubbed it on some rocks. I drifted a bit, with a jig on my other rod, after releasing the bass. Then, when I cast that lure back out, to start trolling again, it broke off and went flying. I silently asked God if He would let me get it back. About 10 minutes later, after I had already tied on my last one, I caught a flash of light off of it, floating about 30 yards off my bow on the port side. Now I have two of them again. He answers all of me prayers in one of three ways: “Yes”, “No” (only if it’s for the best), or “wait a bit” (like just happened). I am going to refrain from praying for that elusive 22 incher and just have fun with those that I catch while trying. Someone’s got to educate these fish.

No, I don’t touch the stuff till I’m done fishing because the first thing alcohol takes from me is my ability to detect a strike. I suppose it would be fine for trolling though, so maybe I bring out a cooler this afternoon. It won’t be Genny though because my in-laws don’t stock that. It looks like they are a little light on the usual Modelo Negras and Dos Equis Especials also. It will probably have to be Yuengling, Fat Tire, or Tsing Tau.

I got a late start fishing this morning and I just landed my first bass (14” smallmouth). One lame hit on a surface bait earlier and a couple light taps on jigs but this was the first hookup. The sky was clear and no wind early, so conditions were tough to sneak in on the smallmouth with bucktail jigs, in this little NW Adirondack lake. A light sw wind picked up, to chop up the surface a little, so I started trolling a silver hotntot . Very healthy looking fish and good fighter. I am only keeping one over 22” on this trip. I will keep a pack or two of “eaters” this size when I come back up in mid October.

Smart move, as there is no better eating bird that I know of. It’s been a few years since I killed one, but there seems to be a decent population on the NW corner of the Adirondack park. I am up there for some smallmouth bass fishing right now. Thanks for the reminder, because I’ll be sure to bring along my shotgun, next time I come up for early ML deer season on October 15. I have always seen the most in and around brushy cover, creek edges, or best of all, abandoned and overgrown apple orchards.

Not sure if you are into fishing, but fly tying and jig making is another good way to kill time. Smallmouth bass love bucktail jigs in 1/8 oz to 5/16 oz sizes. In most clear water situations, they will outcatch soft shell crabs at a fraction of the cost (I get buck tails for free). I’ll be using some tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday.

I will guess that the relative lack of buck pics, that some folks are getting lately, is a direct result of this summer’s drought. No animal will spend extra energy, so they hang out where they can get what they need, for the smallest expenditure. Where that is for a deer in the summer, in most of central and western NY, is in green, standing cornfields. Those provide cover, food, and hydration. Where else can they find all that right now ? Field corn puts roots down up to 10 feet, and that scavenges lots of moisture out of the drought-stricken ground. That moisture is stored in the ears of corn “free for the taking”. It sounds like not too many of you are running cameras in cornfields. I have never seen as much early deer usage of my standing corn as I have this year. We (my family) has grown corn on this ground since before the Civil war. Here are some pictures of 2 of a 3-buck group, that I kicked out of there a couple weeks ago, the largest of which had antlers well beyond his ear width. I didn’t get a picture of the last one that bolted out across the adjacent tilled field, but he looked to be the smallest of the group. That said, I don’t mind the deer using the corn. They are the primary reason that I still plant it. My grandfather would have been pissed, back when we had cattle. Deer are extremely efficient consumers of corn, usually consuming a whole ear, before moving on to the next one, and taking no more than they need. Contrast that to the raccoons, which are about as inefficient consumer of corn that there is, because of their “sweet tooth” . They nock down a bunch, just taking a nibble from each ear, looking for a sweeter one. Luckily, that makes them easy to trap, by using a little bit of “sacrificial” sweetcorn planted near the field corn. I removed # 7 for the year, two nights ago. “Damaging” coons may be legally trapped and killed in NY without a permit, but the carcasses need to be burried or burned, prior to the opening of regular trapping season. Hopefully, that local “coon eradication” will be enough to stretch my 2 acres of field corn until the January 1 ending of the holiday ML season, as I intended. 4 acres made it until March 1 last year, but we didn’t have such a bad drought, and the deer didn’t get on it until it was fully mature in Late October.

Someone called me, while I was driving home last week, trying to sell me car insurance. They had a very strong Indian accent, and they were very difficult to understand. I have a half hour commute, and a hands free phone, so I tied them up for about 25 minutes. I figured I was keeping them from aggravating someone else, and that was more entertaining than listening to the radio. I kept feeding them just enough info to keep them on. They asked my address, which I did not give them. I asked where they were located and they said NY. I asked what city, and they said Dallas. My opinion on such foreign unsolicited calls, is there is nothing that can be done to stop them. Rather than just hang up or not answering, I give them nothing, but tie them up as long as possible, so they can’t use that time to bother others. Usually, they want money and often ask for just a minimal amount. One of my favorite reply’s is to ask if there is any upper limit on what I could invest. That’s always good for another 5 or 10 minutes.

He’s always taken pretty good care of me, hunting and fishing, as long as I keep Him in that top spot. Nothing else matters.

This is all I got. From left is my Gerber folding saw. I always cut the pelvis so I can open things up and makes sure everything (piss and poop especially) is cleaned out very good in that area, because I love the tenderloins. Those who say they don’t like them are likely skipping this step. Next is a cheap, Asian-made (I assume) Gerber fixed blade, that I bought in case I lost a primary, but I have yet to use. Third is a classic “made in USA” Schrade 153UH, which I bought for bear hunting (figured I could use it as a sidearm if my gun jammed) but I only carried once or twice. I like that it comes with a sharpening stone in the sheath. Fourth is by far my favorite, “made in USA” Schrade 1580T sharpfinger. Works great for gutting and skinning. Holds a good edge, and easy to clean. I use that for all of my southern zone deer hunting. I thought I lost the sheath this year, but Larry helped me find it. Fifth is another classic, an old “made in USA” Buck 110. Doesn’t hold an edge worth a sh..t, and a bitch to clean, but I carry it on all of my northern zone deer (and most bear) hunts because it was a gift from my father in law and he would not like seeing me use another knife. Last, is an old original Leatherman tool, that is always in my pack. It comes in handy now and then, and would work to gut a deer, if I lost my primary.

I caught coons in the sweetcorn, in box-traps baited with peanut butter coated marshmallows, two days in a row. Yesterday’s was my first young one of the year. I didn’t look to see if it was a male or female. The coyotes must have moved off, because they had been keeping the young ones and the adult females under control, up to this point. I have a dog-proof trap, baited with cat food, right in between those two box traps. Nothing had gone for that in a couple weeks now. The peanut butter coated marshmallows were missing out of the other (unsprung) box trap, the last two days. Today’s was the 7th for the year, and the 6th adult male. It was a box-filler, maybe the biggest one of the year, so far. I still haven’t got an ear of sweetcorn for the table, but maybe I can take out enough coons with it, so that my 2 acres of RR field corn makes it until January 1. So far, only the deer are eating that, and they are way more efficient consumers of corn than coons are. I am also hoping to get a little sweetcorn for eating fresh and for freezing from my last two batches. I thought the coons got all of the second last batch. It turned out that it was only a little bit of early corn, that must have been stuck in the planter, before the later stuff went down. All is not yet lost to the coons. I am only trapping them in the sweetcorn in my front field now. I finished all the required work out back. I am going to stay out of there, until the September 10 early antlerless gun opener.