wolc123

I have not seen a turkey on our place, near the nw corner of wmu 9F, in a couple years. I don’t expect much out there tomorrow morning, in the couple of hours that I have to spare before church, but I will give it a shot. My folks saw a flock over at their place, near the se corner of 9F, several times over the last week. Dad said there was 3 or 4 fanned out toms in the group. Hopefully, they will still be around next Saturday, when I can get my first crack at them. If I can remove a tom or two from the “deer woods” this year, then the corn I plant might last a little longer, hopefully till the end of Holliday ML deer season. That won’t make much difference, because turkeys really don’t eat much corn, if the coons don’t first nock it down off the stalks for them. I plan on trapping the “damaging” coons heavy, starting in August. Besides saving loads of corn, that coon eradication is also highly beneficial to the turkeys.

Ground 9-point stroganoff tonight.

Your math was close. If my count is correct, it looks like we are now up to 7 forum members who are opposed to full inclusion, so you were only off by one. Like I said prior, I really don’t have a bird in this hunt anymore. My family’s meat supply is secure, since they gave us that September sz antlerless gun season, ML antlerless deer up in the Adirondacks, the extra half hours of hunting time, and the Holiday ML season last year. As far as the crossbow goes, I am extremely thankful that we have the best two weeks of sz archery season. Prior to all those “special bonuses” that NY state gave us deer hunters last season, each of which added one to my freezer, I’d have pushed a lot harder for crossbow full inclusion. I am going to use my 12 gauge at home, if I go out Sunday morning. It got the job done there a few years ago, on the only turkey I ever shot at. I am still going to go with my 16 gauge next Saturday, over at my parents place. I know that will limit my range, to about 25 yards, but I have a good blind over there. I certainly ain’t into turkeys for the meat, but it would be cool to kill one with my grandpa’s old gun, in his woods, from the same chair that I killed a big buck (remember those pictures) from last year.

More deflection I see. We could also tally up the misses from those using tight patterned 12 gauges, but what has that to do with crossbow fill inclusion ?

Maybe so, but I would like to keep my 1/1 record intact, when shooting turkeys. I think I will use my 12 gauge 870, with 3” lead # 5’s on opening day behind our house this year. That got the job done, just not as cleanly as I would have preferred, because it took a second shot to finish my bird. I am still going to use my scoped 16 gauge over at my parents next Saturday.

I would check the weights and go with whichever is lighter. My father in law has a 9.9 Honda long shaft, with electric start on his party boat (lake has a 10 hp max limit). It is ridiculously heavy, compared to the little two-stroke outboards that I am used to carrying up and down the stairs from the lake. We ended up building a shack for it down on the dock and started leaving it in there for the winter, because it was such a back-breaking chore hauling it up those stairs every fall. That said, it has been 100% reliable, over three years of service, and runs with very little noise.

Ok, just two more and it means Belo’s numbers are correct. Personally, I don’t care if it passes or not. I am thankful that we can use it in the best two weeks of sz archery, and that some of us can get out after antlerless deer with guns in September.

Maybe it’s time for another crossbow full inclusion pole, or can I take Belos numbers, that we are now down to just 6 forum members who opposed. I think it’s just 3 (him, doc, and Jeremy).

I wouldn’t mind seeing them keep the minimum width and draw weight restrictions. Maybe drop the minimum age for crossbow allowance starting Oct 1 to 45. That way, more folks could switch to the crossbow before they permanently harm their shoulders with a bow. An archery course should definitely be required for a crossbow.

When your only argument against is centered on selfish elitism, it is time for “deflection”. He will probably bring up the Nazis next.

Looks like I got another internet stalker.

Thanks, that’s good to know. One of the primary reasons that I opted for a 30/30 over a .35 Rem, when I was rifle shopping a few years ago, was to assure future ammo availability. The .35 Rem might be a tad better deer cartridge, but not if you don’t have ammo for it.

I disagree with your “lazy” theory. A problem with the bow, long term, is the asymmetric loading to the shoulders and other joints. That’s not such a big deal when you are younger, but contributes to arthritis at old age. There are tricks that can minimize that, such as alternating drawing left and right, but few do that. Eventually, it will catch up to you. A crossbow eliminates that issue, by uniform 2-handed draws, every time. I am very thankful to have dropped the bow, before I turned 50, on the year crossbows were legalized for the best two weeks of southern zone archery season . Just in the nick of time for me. At almost 58, both of my shoulders still feel almost as good as they did when I was in my 20’s. I feel sorry for the poor bastards who have shot bows into their 60’s. Hopefully this new crossbow legislation will lead to a little less pain killer dependency of future generations of aging hunters. Sleep well partner.

It sounds like this is probably going to happen this year, and I am trying to figure out how I will roll it into my plans for the upcoming seasons. Most likely, I will get a lot more selective in what deer that I kill. Having killed two button bucks, in less than a year, I have had my “fix” of them for a while, and should have plenty of that “choicest of meats” vacuum-sealed for a few years of “special occasions”. I will hold out for mature does this year, in the early antlerless gun season, if they have it again. Hopefully, that will reduce the stress on FSW and Belo a bit. Starting October 1, I will continue targeting mature does, and bucks with 4 points minimum on a side, with my crossbows in the southern zone. I will head to the northern zone as usual, for early ML weekend, targeting mature does and bucks with 3 points on a side minimum (a northern zone buck is twice as valuable to me as a southern zone one, so they don’t need as many points). I will stay up there thru opening weekend of gun, looking for a buck with more than 3 on a side. Back down south, for the rest of archery thru end of Holliday ML season, I will again be after mature does and bucks with 4 or more points on a side. Until New Year’s Day afternoon, when a single 3” antler is all that I will need, if I still have a buck tag. If all goes well, I could end up with (7) deer, probably keeping just (3) for my family (2 bucks and a northern zone doe), and donating any more to others (venison donation coalition and/or friends/extended family in need). I have been giving them money for a few years now, and it’s about time to give them some meat. I have no desire to butcher a doe, because it takes me way too long to trim out all the fat. I am not set up to butcher up north, so I don’t mind bringing one home from up there, that had been processed for me (plus they can deal with the ticks). A northern zone doe is worth the same as a southern zone 8 point buck to me. Being able to hunt with a crossbow, starting October 1, should easily add 2 or 3 deer to my usual take. If that’s what the DEC wants, then by golly, why should anyone oppose it ? I mostly only hunt a grossly overpopulated area of the southern zone (wmu 9F), and a slightly overpopulated area of the northern zone (6c&f).

Was there a lot of 30/30 ammo available ? What kind and how much money per box ? I haven’t seen any at Runnings in over a year.

Exactly what I think. Throw the cupcakes (compound users who oppose the crossbow) in with the crossbows and give the real bow hunters a break.

No rush, I got till mid-August to get that done.

Are you against the proposed crossbow changes ?

I hope it passes. That will give me a great shot at filling all (7) of my tags this year. I managed to fill (4) last season and each of those was a result of the new changes NY state made last year (early September gun season, restored Adirondack antlerless ML season, extra half hour past sunset of hunting time, and Holliday ML season). There are still way too many deer in my area (9f) and lots of hungry folks that could really use the “free meat”, especially with the hyper inflation with food prices that we are seeing right now. It is great to see NY state “unshackling” us hunters so that we can help fix these problems (hungry people and too many deer).

How about some model 37 style fillet mignon, cooked rare with a Genny 12 horse ? It don’t get much finer than that in NY.

I will take a bag if you have one to spare. I like to add some to my early September clover/wheat plots, for a little added early attraction, but I have not been able to find seed for a few years. They don't keep real good, from one year to the next like corn does, because there is more oil in soybean seed. If they have that early antlerless season again this year in wmu 9F, some fresh sprouting soybeans would be just the ticket to get the deer using the plots early. They are like candy to them when they first sprout. I might even go with some mid-August planted soybean/white clover/wheat plots, if they have that season and I get that bag.

I had to break out the prime stock for the “special occasion”:

I am not sure how long it took the pilgrims to raise this hand-hewn post and beam barn frame for my great great grandfather 139 years ago, but it took me a little under a minute to bring it down. I put my largest tractor (43 hp) in the lowest “creeper” gear and used a snatch block and 1/2” wire rope to double my pull force and cut my speed in half. I hoped to pull it down to the south, away from our house, new barn, and big maple shade tree. The frame wasn’t strong enough to hold together and the main center beam busted during the pull, allowing the bulk of the barn to fall to the north. Fortunately, the damage was minimal. It missed our house by 8 ft, and missed the porch on the west side of the new barn by 1-1/2”. Had that old barn not been so close, I would have made that porch the whole 50 ft length of the new pole barn. The maple tree lost a couple more branches, so I will have to tie up the kids tire swing to another one. It didn’t loose as many branches this time, as it did when another twin “1882” barn frame fell on it on 2018, while I was at work. We didn’t get a video of that one going down, but my wife got a good one this time. Here is what it looked like this morning: I will take my time on the cleanup, and hopefully have grass seeded by the end of August.

I agree with most of that, but I am hoping for Mike Pence. I think he would win by a landslide. You are right, that Trump’s ship has sailed, and I believe he would loose big-time if he runs in 24. I do give him credit for great policy and a good job done in his four years. I think America’s future would be much brighter, with Mike Pence at the helm. He is more conservative than Trump, and doesn’t have any of the bad baggage. First we got to get thru the next couple of years though. That might be tough, if the poor fella that’s in there now keeps accusing Putin of war crimes.

How is this for a tilted barn ? I thought I would drink one last beer under it prior to yanking it down this weekend (hopefully) NY’s oldest (and greatest) brewery was just 5 years old when this barn went up.