wolc123

I’d say stupidity mostly.

I don’t know about the 12 volt ones. My buddy, who is a building contractor, swears by the 18 volt Ryobi ones that run on drill batteries. He outfits his crew with only Ryobi cordless tools, and he says that the little portable compressor is about his favorite of those.

Corn-fed, Wmu 9F, 9-point neck roast cooked 9 hours in crockpot on low, with potatoes, onion and a Ruby-red : I am glad that I saved my second last kolsch for this, because the taste was a 10. I can’t wait for leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow.

Maybe after he craps, but he looks full of it in the picture, so I would go 311-1/2.

I love my Ithaca 37, mainly because it has put every deer that I have shot it at, in my freezer, since I put this Weaver 1.5 scope on it 38 years ago. The bottom eject did scare me a little bit on my first antlered deer. I had killed the first deer that I ever shot it at two years prior (a button buck naturally) with the open sights. I got “buck fever” the next year, and I forgot to get a good sight picture on a big antlered one. I missed him clean (I think) from about 40 yards. Mounting that scope on the received cured me of that issue. When a 6-point buck stepped out of the brush, under my tree-stand the following year, a couple seconds after sunrise, the Ithaca was not yet loaded. I always strictly interpreted the rules and I never loaded up until sunrise. I wouldn’t have worried so much with a Remington 870, because I would have seen the slug enter the chamber (there’s plenty of light at the edge of a hayfield at sunrise). It was strictly poke and hope with the Ithaca. Fortunately, the slug went into the chamber and dropped that buck dead right there. I have lost count of all of them in between that one and the one from last season. I got my slug back from that last one. The 16 gauge Remington slugger was just a tad short on energy, to make it all the way diagonally thru the rib cage, from 40 yards away. At least some chunks of rib blew thru the hide on the exit side. I had a very good 50 yard blood trail to the carcass, in the snow 7 minutes after sunset (good thing they changed the rules last year because he appeared 5 minutes after sunset). Had he been a year earlier, my gun would have been unloaded.

Yes

Yes, but not until October 1. That has been pretty consistent at my place and my parents, for the last 20 or so years. That made filling dmp’s difficult, until they started that special early antlerless season, last year. It also forced me to be more selective with my buck tags, in order get enough venison to last a full year. Another thing it has done, is greatly increased the fighting among the bucks. There is lots of competition for the few does that manage to survive those nuisance permits. It’s tough to find a buck without busted off points, by the time of the rut. The 9 pointer that I killed at my parents the day after Thanksgiving last year would have been a fine 11 pointer (and a definite shoulder mount for me), had I killed him (2) weeks earlier.

I tried frost seeding White clover, for the first time ever over at my parent’s place on the opposite corner of wmu 9F, this year. I had about 5 pounds of seed leftover from last year. I haven’t really checked out how it has done yet. It must be ok, because they have been watching steady turkey and deer action on that plot all year. I’ll have to check it out when I go over there to hunt antlerless deer on the afternoon of September 11 (assuming I don’t get one at home that morning or the day before). It’s funny that I have spent about 90% of my food plotting time and money at home over the last (5) years, but have killed about 90% of my deer over that same period, at their place. All I have over there is about 3 acres of clover. There is lots of corn grown by neighbors near their place, which is mostly mature hardwoods and thick, brushy swamp. The hunting used to suck over there, until a new neighbor bought the overgrown field behind my their woods, and stopped all the tresspassing that had been coming in from that side. The herd makeup and buck to doe ratio is very similar over there to what I have at home. We each have neighboring farms with nussance permits, who hit the antlerless deer quite hard, prior to October 1. The net result of that, is a ratio of around 4 antlered bucks observed per every antlerless deer, by October 1. That is why I am loving this early antlerless season. It makes filling those dmp tags many times easier, than it would be if I had to wait until after October 1.

My favorite lunch beer, with leftover venison goulash.

I finished up the last of my food plots yesterday morning, getting in about (3) acres of wheat/clover mix. I usually wait until September, to plant that, but I had the time and the soil moisture content was nearly perfect yesterday morning, so I “jumped the gun” by a week this year. It will be interesting to see if the deer prefer “Imperial Whitetail” clover, or “Spot-on” clover/alphalfa blend. I don’t have any experience with the “buck on the bag” stuff, but the price was right (free) this time, so I went with it. The free Whitetail Institute “Tall Tine tubers” that I planted a few weeks ago (behind the corn in 1st photo) germinated pretty good, so hopefully the clover does too. The “free “ seed was all 3-4 years old. The wheat “nurse crop” was leftover from last season. I also seed that on the light side (25 lbs/acre) when planting in combination with clover (3 pounds/acre).

I finished up almost everything I need to do on the back 30, prior to the September 10 antlerless gun opener. I want to let everything back there rest a couple of weeks, so that I can Pearl Harbor “back strap moma” on the 10th. I forgot to pick up a hammer and a water bottle that I set down next to my pop-up blind, as I was finishing up my last wheat/clover plot back there. I will have to swing by with the Durango tomorrow, when I fire it up to check the traps in the sweetcorn in the front field. Tasks completed were: Chairs placed in two stands, Trimming some brush for easier access to one stand. New 1.5 acre wheat/clover/alphalfa plot planted out back and another acre up front. The soil moisture content was perfect for working up this morning, but this is the earliest that I have ever planted wheat. I went over the plots twice with the drag, which worked the ground into a fine powder. Then I broadcast the wheat, cultipacked, broadcast the clover/alphalfa mix, then cuktipacked again. All of the seed I planted today was free (thanks goosifer) or left over from last season, so it will be interesting to see how it does. I am not used to planting the fancy “buck on the bag” stuff. I now have Whitetail Institute “tall tine tubers” growing in one side of my pop-up, corn off the corner (getting hit hard by bucks and does right now), and “imperial whitetail” clover now planted off the other side. It will be interesting to see what the deer like better: the “imperial whitetail” clover, or the “spot on” clover/alphalfa mix. It will also be interesting to see if the clover germinates better when broadcast after cultipacking, than it does when broadcast directly onto powdery “fluffed up” soil. I did it that way in just a 20 ft wide strip next to the oak tree in the above picture, to see what happens. All the rest got cultipacked before and after broadcasting.

I used to bring my grandpa’s old Ithaca side by side trap shooting from time time, back when I shot on a league. I would tell the guys with the over/unders: “If God wanted you to shoot a gun like that, He would have put your eyes that way”.

This afternoon, I drove back and checked out the ground that I want to plant this weekend with wheat and clover. Both spots look dry enough to work up and plant tomorrow. I had hoped to get some soybeans to add to the mix. I didn’t get any, so I’ll have to do without. The deer are hitting the corn back there pretty good. They have eaten about 10% of the ears already. The ears are not even fully developed yet, which is good, because the recent rains are adding to the yield faster than the deer are reducing it. That rain also bumped up the Imperial Whitetail “Tall Tine Tubers” quite a bit. Those are some type of turnip/brassica mix. I brushed in my pop up blind back there a little bit, but I will only hunt that, if we get an east or north east wind, between September 10 and 18. I will take it down on the evening of the 18th, so I can bring it up north for early ML in mid October. I will bring it home after that, and set it back up where it is now, for fall Turkey and crossbow deer season. It will probably remain there until the January 1st end of Holiday ML season. I also have a natural blind on the other side, that I can use to hunt those plots in a west, south, or southwest wind. Some of the “cover” on that natural blind is poison ivy. Jumping in the pool, right after triming that last week, stopped any infection. I will take that pool down Sunday. The night time lows are going to be in the 50’s next week and the kids are off to college. I used it more than they did this summer.

True, but the solid fabric skirt might be more effective up in a stand than just leafy branches. A combination of both would probably be best. I remember what a pain those leafy branches were, the year or two that I used them, woven thru the snow fence. Down on the ground, I can see how leafy branches alone would be more effective. I used some to break up and blend in the edges of a cheap popup blind recently. I’ll let you know how that works after September 10.

Prior to the barnwood siding on the 3 ft walls around my blinds, I used old wood snow-fence. I would weave leafy branches thru that each seasons. They definitely held them leaves longer when cut green. It looked good but was labor intensive and never produced a deer for me. It also had to be redone every year. One of the issues with the leafy branches is that it takes a lot of leaves to block out everything behind them. When a deer looks up and catches light and shadows moving behind the leaves, it puts them into a state of high alert. Not a huge deal with a gun, but very likely leading to string-jump / wounding with an arrow.

My primary target doe was in the corn plot two days ago, 3 hours before sunset, along with her half-grown fawn. I brushed in my pop-up blind, 20 yards off the corner of that, a few days prior. Hopefully, we will have an east wind after September 9, so I can hunt from that. If the adjacent ground is dry enough this weekend, I am going to try to plant a couple acres of wheat/clover by that 2 acres of corn. There is no doubt that the corn is the preferred browse right now though. The only thing that might top that, is if I can find about 10 pounds of soybean to throw in with that wheat/clover mix. Hopefully, I can find some between Tarrytown and Wolcottsburg, on my drive home across the state today. Deer will walk thru white oak acorns to get at fresh sprouting soybeans. My plan is to stay out of that area completely after planting that, until we get an east wind, between September 10 and 18.

There was a bachelor group of (3), including a decent 2.4 yr 8-point, feeding in my 2 acre RR corn plot 2 hours before sunset 2 weeks ago. I hope they clear out of there until around November 2. If you zoom in, you can see two of them in the first pic. Maybe they already have. There was no sign of them, when I drove back there yesterday, at about the same time. I did kick out big “moma” back-strap, and her half-grown fawn. I hope she keeps up that pattern until September 10.

I like solid weathered barnwood “skirts”, nailed to pt 2x4 frame the best. I have experienced an increase in mature buck kills, since I started using them. They make a great gun / crossbow rest, safety enclosure, wind break, and hide my fidgeting motion (especially with the smartphone) from the deer. I killed (3) 3.5 old bucks from behind those, over the last (5) years, all from decks less than 8 ft high. None of them had a clue that I was there. The closest two were about 15 yards away when arrowed. Last year’s took my 16 ga slug from about 40. When it comes to mature bucks, hiding your motion is very important, unless your deck is up real high. That’s ok for the young single guys, but I am a lot more comfortable down low. I can’t imagine hunting behind a fabric skirt, flapping in the breeze. It seems to me, that it would focus the deer’s attention on you.

Looks like she’s ready for a little warm weather hunting in that outfit. Might be for some September antlerless deer hunting. I might try a little of that myself this year, with a crossbow. I have one stand that is 405 feet from the nearest building owned by others. That puts it out of play for a gun, per NY setback rules, but right in the sweet spot for the crossbow (250 ft setback required). Thanks for posting the reminder. That will also save me some ammo.

I am looking forward trying it with the shooting sticks. I have a couple of guns that are also front-heavy and my hope is that it will work well on those also. I will probably break out the Sniper this weekend and give it a try on that first. I finished sighting in the two front-heavy guns left weekend (Marlin 512 and T/C Omega. My next shot with either of those might be from those shooting sticks at a doe, two weeks from Saturday.

I will use my 300 FPS Barnett Recruit and my Centerpoint Sniper 370, depending on what blind I am hunting. The sniper is considerably faster, but is very front-heavy and needs a good rest. The Recruit handles as easily as my my Ruger 10/22 carbine and can easily be shot offhand. Hopefully, I will punch my archery/ML buck tag up in the Northern zone in October with my ML, and I’ll be after antlerless deer only with my 3rd and 4th dmp tags (available after November 1). It would be nice to kill a buck with the Sniper though. The Recruit worked very well on the 5 or 6 that I killed with it, including the largest bodied antlered buck that I ever measured (43” chest girth). I imagine that the Sniper will be the one that I pick for most hunts this year for that reason, and because the original 2014 string is getting pretty stretched on the Recruit. Plus, almost all of my blinds have real nice rests. Also, I just picked up some shooting sticks which should work well with the Sniper.

Sounds like a lot of extra time, effort, and money. I just figured out how to make the food that I kill in the wild, taste better than what she can buy in the stores. My wife begs me to spend more time hunting and fishing.

For the September 10 early antlerless season gun opener, I will go with my T/C Omega 50 cal ML with old Redfield wide field 2-7X scope, and 240 XTP bullet, driven by (2) 50 gr T7 pellets. That combo has already yielded one DRT antlerless deer on New Year’s Day of this year. I’ll be trying my best to fill (7) tags this year, which could make a record of (8) for me in one calendar year. Both areas I hunt are grossly overpopulated with deer (wmu 9F and 6C) and there are lots of folks out there who would love some venison. I got her all dialed in on the range last Saturday, cleaned good, and she’s right on where I want her. I only have room for one deer at a time in my deer fridge, so there is no point in using repeating weapons in September, when it will be warm. That makes deciding what gun to carry on opening day a very simple decision.

I caught adult male coon number (5) in a box trap that was baited with stale bread wiped with peanut butter. The bait was gone out of the other box trap and the door was down, but it was empty. Nothing in the dog-proof either. Unfortunately, they wiped out about 1/3 of my 3rd planting of sweetcorn last night, and it was about a week away from being ripe enough to pick. I put fresh bait in three traps back there, hoping to get a few more before they take out the remainder of my sweetcorn. It sure would be nice to get to eat a little of that sweetcorn this year. My 4th and last planting (silver queen) looks like it is about 3 weeks away from being ripe enough to pick. My rain gauge is showing that we got more than an inch since Sunday, which should really help fill out that late corn. It should also add some bushels to my RR fieldcorn out back. Hopefully, enough to make up for what the deer have been eating, starting about a week ago. If the ground dries out enough by this weekend, I think I am going to jump the gun a little bit and get in a couple of wheat/clover plots. I usually wait until after September 1 for that.

Between the drought, the weeds, and the coons, I lost my first two plantings. Last year, my first (cappuccino) was very good, and the second (bodacious) sucked. I am anxiously awaiting my 3rd (kandy corn) and 4th (silver queen) plantings this year. Those later varieties were always my favorites.