wolc123

After they quit hitting on the Zara puppy surface bait this morning, I trolled along the shoreline and hooked one, that looked to be about 16”, on a small silver hotntot. It dove deep and broke my line right next to the boat. Now I am down to my last small silver hotntot again. The temperature was about 68 this morning, it was overcast, and the wind was from the north at about 5 mph. I went back out after lunch and it was up to about 10 mph, still overcast, and the temp was down to 62, where it stayed the rest of the day. The colder air temperature finally brought some bigger bass in to the shoreline. I landed (4) that were between 14 and 17” on a 1/8 oz jig, and lost another that looked to be about 16”, right next to the boat. That one jumped 2 or 3 times. The early morning surface action ought to be real good tomorrow. This 17 incher was the biggest of the trip so far, but a 16 incher that I landed, and the two that I lost next to the boat, fought harder. You can always count on the best fight of the year from smallmouth bass around Labor Day weekend, and no freshwater fish fights harder, pound for pound.

My favorite spot was not to far from there, at a friend’s camp in Centerville. It’s been about 25 years, since I hunted for grouse in the old overgrown apple orchard down there. That’s where I had the 2/2 hunt with my dad’s sweet 16, and where I killed the most grouse overall. That 2/2 hunt, back in 1989, got dad and I thrown out of that camp for opening day of deer season. That was back when the season opened on Monday. A couple of my buddies (the camp owner’s sons) and myself had went back Sunday afternoon to check on our stands. I carried my dad’s sweet 16 , just in case a grouse showed up and the two did, because my Ithaca had a scope on it. Nobody saw any deer the following morning, for the first time on opening day, since they had the camp. One of the old “regulars” said it was because of “those kids shooting those grouse back there” the day before, driving away all the deer. Ironically, that was the same year that I killed my PB whitetail buck (as far as antlers go) on Thanksgiving morning, on our farm in Clarence Ctr. The camp owner and the crotchety, complaining old regular were about a mile down the road, standing in front of his barn, that day. I made a point of stopping in with that big 3.5 year old 9-point in the bed of my truck. I have deer hunted from home, or at my folks place in Akron, every gun season opening day since then. I have not killed one, or even shot at a grouse yet, here at the in-laws place, right on the NW corner of Adirondack park. Before they built here, they rented a place, about 20 miles off the corner, farther to the NW. I killed my last 5 or 6 there, including the two with rifles. I have seen two, and killed one in Clarence Center, about 35 years ago. I was rabbit hunting with my side by side 16 gauge, and one exploded out of some thick cover, almost at my feet. I shot quickly, from the hip, and it caught the full pattern, wad and all, from less than 10 yards. When I walked over to get it, dejavou, “it” exploded out again, which turned out to be a second bird. I never got a shot off at that one. About half the breast was blown off of the first one, but what was left was lead tenderized and still very tasty. I have not seen another one around home after that. That’s my fault for taking out half of the only mating pair in town, before they established a featherhold.

Yes, and that’s what I am leaning towards, unless it’s raining. I just scored 7 boxes of 12 gauge foster slugs, so if there is so much as a drizzle, any of those 9 days, then that’s what’s I am using. It has been a while, since I killed one with my open sighted 870, but it has never failed me on a deer. Now that I got plenty of ammo for it, I am itching to try it again.

I started 0/14, on my very first hunt for them, when I was 14 years old. I was using the 16 ga Ithaca model 37, that my grandad left me when he passed, with a modified choke barrel. I have yet to kill anything with that combination. I mounted a scope on the receiver, a few years later, so it will never see any more grouse action. It has not failed me once on a deer, using the smooth bore , no/choke deerslayer barrel, since I put the 1.5x Weaver on the receiver. My other grouse hunts been with 16 gauges also, most with a Stevens Springfield side by side choked I/C and mod. I have killed about 25 with that and missed about 5. I took my dads Browning sweet 16 with mod choke on just one hunt, where I shot twice and killed two. I also may have taken a couple with rifles, one with a .22, while I was squirrel hunting, and another with a 150 gr Federal Classic 30/06, while I was deer hunting. There wasn’t much left to eat from that one, so I won’t be trying that again.

I got out before sunrise this morning but only the little ones are in shallow. I landed 3 so far on the Zara pooch, but only this one was over 12”, and by just 1/8”.

We are having a campfire up at the in-laws now and I can see Jake up on the wall in the house. That’s what I named my first Adirondack buck, after the young real estate agent who sold them the land up here, and who became a good friend. He showed me the hot spots to hunt and fish. Unfortunately, he passed away, shortly after I killed that buck, and never got to see the mount.

One thing nice about all the scarty cats moving out state is that it cuts down on the traffic.

This ones pretty good. No bitter hoppy flavor whatsoever .

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.