wolc123

I am going to try a little of that this year also, but not as my “primary” objective. I will bring my open sighted .177 cal Marksman pellet gun along with my shotgun, during the early antlerless deer season in September, turkey season in October, crossbow deer season in November, and maybe even with my ML, during the December Holiday deer season. The advantages of the pellet gun, in those situations, would be the relatively silent report, will not spook as much of the “primary” objectives (deer and turkeys). It will also relieve some boredom, and hopefully provide some tasty food.

Thanks for your blessing Larry. Lots of the fish from “your” River recently made it to “fish heaven”, including this beauty:

Happy birthday Lary.

Reunited: I checked by the utility sink downstairs first. That’s where I always wash it after use. It wasn’t there, so I went back out to the garage where I use it for skinning. When not in use, I keep it on top of my old GE “deer fridge”. The last time I used it, was for skinning my New Year’s Day ML bb, around January 5th. Apparently, it had fallen down next to the fridge. An aluminum ladder was jammed into that space, so I couldn’t see it for the last 7 months. I pulled out the ladder, and there it was. I guess I really need to thank Nomad for loosing his shoes. Without that and your helpful tip, I’d have been stuck hunting Wmu 9F does, with the much less preferred Buck 110, in a couple more weeks.

Larry, I lost the leather sheath for my favorite hunting knife (Schrade sharpfinger) after my New Year’s Day deer hunt. Any idea where it might be ? If I can’t locate it by September 10, then I’ll need carry the old Buck 110 folder that my father in law gave me. Normally, I only use that when I hunt his place. At least I will still be able to use the sheathless sharpfinger for skinning in the garage.

Nothing in the traps again today. I saw the bachelor group of three gobblers when I drove back to check them. They had moved from the neighbor’s hay field, where I seen them yesterday morning, to about the center of our place. This one, in the middle of the gas line, looked to have a pretty big beard. Maybe I will try to squeeze in a little fall turkey hunting back there, between Northern zone big-game opening weekend, and the southern zone crossbow deer season. I picked up (3) turkey tags, along with (5) deer tags, when I got my license last week. Only one is good on the fall. I will need to use my 12 ga 870, with extra full choke 28” bead sight barrel, because I put the smooth bore deerslayer barrel back on my scoped 16 ga Ithaca model 37. If I can’t get my Marlin 512 dialed in where I want it, with my limited supply of 2-3/4” Hornady SST sabots, then that old Ithaca will need to be my primary September doe killer. The young fall hen, that I shot back there a few years ago, was pretty good. I imagine that even the old toms would be a lot better eating in the fall than they are in the spring. I bet that the three today were after grasshoppers. They were all over back there this afternoon.

I might be able to swing by during the Holiday ML season, if I have (2) buck tags left, and give you a 2 for one deal. That way you’d be rid of both of them and greatly improve your herd genetics.

if you decide that you want him removed from the gene pool, I would be willing to volunteer my services the last week of gun season, if I still have my buck tag.

Same here. That looks like a solid 3.5 year old and a perfect candidate for a “free” power-washer euro mount.

The same thing happened to one of my old hydrostatic transmission lawnmowers (JD LT-150). The problem was caused by the drive belt stretching, or the motor shaft moving out of position. It wouldn’t even make it up a slight incline after that. I pulled the mower deck and used it for fetching sweetcorn last year, but it was a bit of a struggle. I don’t imagine your tractor has a drive belt, but it sounds like the hydraulic drive is not properly engaging. Hydrostatic tractors (aka “lawnmowers”) are best left on the lawn. Too bad the drought, weeds and coons have got all my sweetcorn so far this year, as my new Durango field car would otherwise work ok for fetching it. It too has a hydrostatic transmission, so I don’t dare use it for any ground engaging work. It did a decent job of hauling my cultipacker way out back though.

I have a good supply of spare poles, leftover from an old 10-man dome tent that I had . It used two different sizes poles. I was able to modify the smaller ones, to use in the $ 29 Aldis pop/up. It’s still a little big diameter, to fit in the pop-up’s holding pocket easily, but I can make it work. The canvas of my old 10-man tent flew away somewhere around Watertown, on Highway 81. I saw it starting to lift up out of my boat, and I put the hammer down. I really hated that tent, and the sight of it billowing out and flying across a valley in my rear view mirror, was most welcome.

I have one just like that, and I am going to set it up and stake it down next week. I want to give the deer a couple weeks to get used to it, prior to the September 10th opener of shotgun antlerless deer season, here in wmu 9F. I got mine at Aldis for $ 29, about (5) years ago. I killed a monster bb (35” chest girth) out of it the first year with my crossbow, so it has already paid for itself in tender meat. A week later, I suffered a brown recluse spider bite on my hand, while I was hunting in it, so I didn’t hunt much out of it after that. 0ne of the poles got busted by the snow load later that first winter. I replaced that broken pole with one from an old tent that I had, and I used it on a few rainy days up in the nz early ML week, the last couple years. No action up there from it yet, but I’ll probably try again this year if it’s rainy. I need to pick up some shooting sticks first (no good gun rest in those), but I hope I can get a mature doe out of it, during this year’s early September shotgun antlerless season.

I caught this one in my sweetcorn last week, a female with a pouch full of wee ones.

I identified the source of the limited damage that I have been seeing in my 2 acre RR corn plot this morning, on my way back to check the dog-proof trap, that I set in it a week ago. There was a bachelor group of (3) bucks back there. The largest one, on the far right in the picture, looked like a 2.4 yr old 8-point. He was standing next to the ditch, a 1.4 yr old 4 or 6-point was about half way between him and the corn, and another 1.4 year old was deep in the corn, when I first drove up in the Durango. Most of the corn in this plot is fairly well developed, but still has a way to go, before it reaches the “full-dent” stage. I have never seen deer damage in field corn this early in the season. I am guessing that the drought has dried up most of their preferred food sources. This plot is a hybrid seed that sets deep roots and it is relatively weed free, making it extremely drought resistant. Unlike my early sweetcorn, which really suffered from the drought and was finished off by the coons, while I was away on summer vacation. Deer are very efficient users of corn. Even so, if they keep up the pressure on this small plot, then it is unlikely that it will last until January 1 as I had hoped that it would. Part of the problem is that there is very little corn around close by this year. Usually there is hundreds of acres within a few miles. High fertilizer, fuel, and seed prices took a huge bite out of that this spring. The larger buck would be a “shooter” for me, starting the last two weeks of archery - peak rut / crossbow time. Hopefully, I can take out a couple of mature does with my shotgun between September 10 and 18. That will help, but I still doubt there will be any corn left back there by the start of ML season, in December. There were also some turkeys out in the adjacent hay field, when I drove back there this morning. Turkeys don’t bother field corn at all, as long as the coons don’t first nock it down for them. I am staying well ahead of that issue, with my sweetcorn, traps, .22, and shovel.

My September 10, opening day of early gun season, target doe made an appearance as I was clearing shooting lanes. She looks like a good healthy momma. Her fawn is almost 1/2 her size. Plenty big enough to make it on its own, after the 10th, if she makes it to deer heaven (my freezer). I cleared a dead ash tree that fell last winter, blocking the view from the upper deck of my 2-story blind, along with some other brush that was obstructing shooting lanes at a few locations. If we get the rain they are predicting next week, I will cut the clover in front of that double decker, and in a few other spots. Then it will be nice and tender on September 10. I will need the bush hog on back for ballast, to move another truck cap blind with the tractor, but it is too dusty to mow clover until after we get a good rain (plus it’s not good to cut it when it is real dry). Here is how that stand looked before. I also replaced the missing sideboard up top. I will be ready to hunt on the 10th, after I finish a few more small tasks: 1) plant (2) more fresh wheat/clover plots, 2) set up my pop up blind, 3) move the truck cap blind, 4) purchase shooting sticks, 5) A little more target practice with my 12 ga bolt action shotgun and my crossbows.

There was nothing in the traps again this morning. I must have crossed one of the ditches a little too fast and I broke the muffler and tailpipe off the back of the cat on the Durango. I heard it dragging across the concrete bridge over the creek on my way back. I couldn’t extract it over the rear axle without lifting the back up a little. All better now. It’s just a little louder than it was before. The cat has a pretty good rear support and hanger, so I should be good to go.

I aim to use about 11 vacation days for hunting this year. That will include Monday thru Friday of early ML week, up in the northern zone, The Friday closest to Veteran’s day, for southern zone crossbow hunting, a Friday for the late northern zone ML weekend (if I still have a buck tag), the last Monday of Southern zone Late ML season (if I still have a buck tag), and (3) days during the Holiday ML season (I will save at least one dmp tag for that). I am planning on being more selective than usual with my buck tags (holding out for 3.5 year olds, or a minimum of (4) points on a side), so the odds of me holding on to at least one buck tag till the end, and using all 11 of those days, are pretty good. That also depends somewhat on my being able to fill at least one dmp tag, during the early southern zone gun season. If I can’t do that, I will probably revert to my usual “at least 3 on a side” rule for filling my buck tags. We need at least (2) average sized deer in the freezer for basic survival, but I hope to fill all (7) tags. I get (20) vacation days all together, but the other (9) are used for summer vacation and taking our girls to college and bringing them home. My “hunting” vacations, up north, also include lots of fishing in October, and helping the in-laws get their place ready for winter. We also go up there for Thanksgiving weekend, when I have a couple paid Holidays, in addition to the two of those that I get to hunt at home down south, during the new Holiday ML season. For me, there is no better day to hunt than a weekday, when I get paid from work, but don’t need to use a vacation day. That is why the new Holiday season is now my favorite deer hunting time, along with the fact that I should have plenty of deer around home, thanks to decent looking corn, turnip, wheat, and clover plots. I use to like Veteran’s day weekend, peak-rut, crossbow time the best, but those work —paid hunting weekdays in the snow, near the corn and the turnips now trump that.

It has been a tough year for sweetcorn. Last year, my earliest planting was the best. I tried the same variety this this year (cappuccino) and if was a complete loss. Between the weeds, the drought, and the coons and possums, I didn’t get a single ear. Hopefully, my later planting will do better. It would be nice to get some for fresh eating and for the freezer. The last planting was the (4) rows in the foreground, (2) rows of 83 day “Kandy corn” and (2) rows of 92 day “Silver queen”. The Kandy corn is starting to put on some ears, I am getting the coons and possums under control, and the weeds in it are not nearly as bad. As long as we get a little rain, over the next few weeks, it should do ok.

Praying for healing for you and others who are hurting.

It’s mostly about the meat for me. I would like to put (3) mature deer in our freezer this year. We used to go thru (4), but my wife and I will be empty nesters after Aug 26. I would be very thankful, if the first two were early antlerless gun-season does, killed between September 10 and September 18. Most years, I look for antlered bucks with at least (3) points on a side. It has been more than 10 years, since I “settled” for less. If I can manage even one of those early does, then I will be upping that to at least (4) points on a side. I would make an exception for a buck with less points, if I could clearly tell it was a 3.5 yr old or older (not sure if I have ever killed one older than that). Both of my deer hunting spots in the Southern zone, and my spot in the Northern zone, have current deer populations that are considerably above optimum. For that reason, combined with my enjoyment of deer hunting, I will not stop after killing those first (3). There are lots of folks out there who really appreciate any venison that I can give them. I have a next-door neighbor, who has more than a half dozen kids, and has been out of work almost a year, due to illness. They love venison. I will be hunting until all (7) of my tags are filled, or 1/2 hour past sunset on January 1, 2023, whichever comes first.

The traps were all untouched last night. I did see a couple young bucks (looked like 1.3 year 4-points) run into the tall grass on my drive back. Hopefully, there will be some does back there for the September 10th antlerless gun opener. It’s weird seeing them young bucks, because I also had a pair like that, the same age, here last year at this time. I never saw them after hunting season opened. I picked out a spot to put my pop up blind, near the food plots, and to move my truck cap blind to. I need to get shooting sticks, to use with my Marlin 512 from that pop up. A 200 yard shot, down the gas line, is a definite possibility from that location. I need a very good rest for that. I hope to get those two blinds into position, over the next couple weeks, so the deer become accustomed to them. If the weather and mosquitos cooperate, I hope do some practice with my Marlin 512 shotgun and crossbows this weekend. The battery was dead in my rangefinder, but 2 new ones arrived today.

This female possum got the last of my marshmallow the night before last. Our kids used up all the rest, at a campfire with their friends. Now I get to see how stale bread with a little peanut butter works for bait. This was the first opossum for me in a few years. I was going to release them, to eat ticks, but some of our resident experts said that was a suburban myth. Instead, more fertilizer for the next foodplot.

I used to go snowmobiling up to Brantingham every year on Super Bowl weekend, 20-30 years ago. At that time, there were some folks around the lake who would feed the deer corn, drawing in dozens each night. It was post-hunting season, and if there were any buck’s, they were hornless. I never hunted real close to town, but we did go up one early ML weekend (maybe 22 years ago) and we hunted some state land on the west side of Rt 12, near the Timberview resort. We saw lots of antlerless deer, but none with horns. None of us was willing to part with our archery/ml tag, on an antlerless deer, but killing a doe would not have been much tougher that shooting a duck in a barrel. I like Brantingham a lot, and I hope to get back there some day. My buddy’s still go up with their atv’s each summer, and they just got back from this year’s trip. Global warming has just about killed the snowmobiling up there, but most of the trails are open year round for atv’s. The town has one of my favorite restaurants in the state (The Coachlight). It burned to the ground a few years ago, but they rebuilt better and bigger than it was. Say hi to owners Bob and Shelly, if you go. Ask Bob about his first job, driving the Sesame Street bus. I caught my biggest largemouth bass ever, thru the ice, on that lake. I didn’t have a camera, but there was one witness to the catch: A young girl on ice skates, up on the ne corner. We used to rent a big house up there. Bass season was closed, so I had to force it back thru the ice hole. I was after whitefish, which are no good fried, but are awesome when smoked with apple wood. I don’t think you would have to hunt too hard to fill your antlerless archery/ML tag up there. Getting a buck will be a lot tougher. A part-time bartender at the Coachlight, who was a Ft. Drum soldier for his day job, killed a real big bear up there during the early September gun season. That happened the same year that we went up for the October ML weekend. We didn’t see any bears, but we did kill a snowshoe hare and a ruffed grouse, when we went out after small game one afternoon with our shotguns. We hit the jackpot on the squares, at the Coachlight’s Super Bowl party 3 or 4 years in a row, including the year of the “wardrobe malfunction” involving Janet Jackson.

St Lawrence Largemouth bass, with wife’s homemade tarter sauce, and fresh garden veggies, out of the air fryer.

Same here, so if I do manage to fill all (7) tags as I hope to, I’ll probably be giving most of (4) deer away. That is, except for the back straps and neck roasts, of those that I process myself. In this area at least (wmu 9F), filling them tags does a lot more people more good, than not filling them.