wolc123

Burried treasure: I am liking these chestnut roofing boards even better. Those on the east side are pretty solid, because I can’t ever recall the roof leaking on that side. Those on the west side are probably all rotted bad, because I remember that side leaking twice in my 57 years, and there is no telling his many times it leaked prior.

A few guys are interested in some of the big hand-hewn beams. Those that I can’t unload before fall, I will cut into 10 ft lengths and stack up under the back pole barn porch . They can’t be left outside uncovered over the winter or they absorb water and turn to powder from the freeze / thaws. I used a lot of the big beams, from the first one that I tore down, to frame a loft and shops inside the new pole barn. I had those stacked outside and tarped over one winter. Those tarps were a pain and are not something I am going to deal with again. I cleared off about 1/6 of the 4 layers of ash-fault shingles today, and there is still a layer of cedar shingles below that. I am trying to get down to the big set of hay forks and the trolley that was hanging from an iron crane rail under the roof. I hope it didn’t get busted up too bad in the fall. I don’t care for heights, and there was no way I was going to try and get that down while the barn was still standing. I also hope to save some of the sawed oak rafters, to use for framing in the back porch of my new barn. I am going to save some of the longer post and beams for building a woodshed on the back of that porch. I saved a decent amount of the siding and granery wood, and it is now stacked neatly in the loft of the new barn, for future project. Besides the wood, I saved all of the iron “1880’s”square nails that were still in good shape.

Although it missed the new barn porch by a little over an inch when it went down last Saturday, it must have caught grandpa’s little 8 point rack, that I had nailed to the corner post : Oh well, Looks like I’ll have to break out the bondo this winter and patch that up.

It was always the same prior years. They throttled back the wants a bit this year, with the 55 plus and 16 and under age restrictions. I think there is a good chance for it to pass this year, considering all those other positive changes that NY made for us deer hunters last year. It seems that they are listening to the majority of hunters, and unshackling us, so they can get a little better handle on the deer population. If any of the anti crossbow (8) here get too upset over passage, I think Oregon is the last holdout in the lower 48 that still allows no crossbow usage for big game.

I have not had time to do any additional shotgun patterning, as I take on the somewhat daunting task of cleaning up the wreckage from this old barn, in my “spare” time. I was out shoveling shingles since sunrise and didn’t hear any gobbles out back. I am still going to give it a shot (with my 12 ga and extra full choke, 3” lead # 5 shot) tomorrow morning.

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.