wolc123

Of all the changes that NY DEC made this year (3 of which have already put deer in our freezer), this one is my favorite. Never has it been better for a meat hunter in this state. I have a plan in place for opening day on Sunday. This is the first year that I will be able to hunt 7 “opening days” in NY (early antlerless gun, NZ early ML, NZ gun, SZ early crossbow, SZ gun, SZ ML, SZ Holliday ML). That’s like getting to be like a kid again at Christmas 7 times in one year. I am going to start the morning in my new “trailer park” stand with my crossbow for 3 reasons: First, that has been my favorite deer weapon since it was legalized in 2014. Second, I don’t have a deer yet In the crossbow harvest thread this year. Third, I have only met the owner of one of the dozen or so “double wides” that are between 300 and 500 feet of that stand so my ML is a “no go”. That is because it is a firearm, which may not be used within 500 feet of a building without permission. The setback for a crossbow is 250 feet. After the morning hunt, I am going to my parents house (just around the corner from the trailer park) for lunch. I will bring my chainsaw, and open up a bunch of trails, that were blocked by the recent 70mph wind storm. Hopefully, my chainsaw will stir up a deer or two over there, and I can get one on the evening sit behind their house with my ML, from my new stand on the edge of a clover plot. I spent $ 20 on materials for that stand this year. It has put about 120 pounds of meat in our freezer so far. It would be nice to get another one or two deer from it, and bring the cost per pound down a little more. I like my meat to come in at under $ 1 per pound, after subtracting all input costs, and I have a legit shot at that this year. Name me another state where a guy can do that. Trailer park stand: Clover plot stand:

I have a legit shot at that this year, with two down now (just one with protruding antlers), and three remaining dmp’s tags in addition to my bow/ml either/or tag. I may have had ten two buck years in the past, and maybe two or three with three (including one button). I fully expect little “forky” here to tempt me one more time, during the Holliday ML season, and it is going to be difficult for me to hold off. He seems to have taken up permanent residence at one of my spots, along with the twin brother of a button buck that I killed there in September. He first showed up on opening day of crossbow season, when I still had high hopes of grandure later, only to have that season truncated by our daughter’s field hockey playoff run. I made no attempt to call him in for a shot that day. The reason that I am in the fence about taking him, is that his rack is tiny but very symmetric. If he survives, he would likely be a beautiful 2.5 next season. My fear is that he might run across a road, or chase a doe across, and get somebody hurt or at the very least do some serious damage to a vehicle. He will also consume cosiderable amounts of corn from a couple neighbors, slightly driving up the cost of “Egglands best”, milk, and ethanol for many. If he lives another year or more , someone might get a crack at a “nicer” trophy, up on their wall. If he dies, someone will surely get a bit of high quality meat, and a car, lots of corn, and maybe even a human life could be saved. If he stands in front of me again, like he did for this photo on opening day of gun season, I am leaning towards the pass. That is right up until my January 1, 2022 pm hunt. I was rewarded with the “photogenic” 3.5 year old, 4 days after that last pass, on opening day of gun. History could repeat, if I passed him again prior to January 1. I will likely do it purely for that “selfish” reason. Screw the corn farmers and the motorists. I won’t hesitate at all if his little brother, without the protruding antlers, shows up prior to January 1. I am planning on being in that stand this coming Sunday afternoon. In the end, God will decide how many bucks that I end up killing this year, just as He has for my last 40 years. No matter what happens, between now and January 1, His will will be done, and I will thank Him for what has already been one of my best years of deer hunting. I also need to thank the NY state DEC, for the changes they made this year, without which our freezer would be in mighty sad shape right now. There would not be a 4-month “fatted calf” in there, without that early September antlerless season. There would not be a mature Adirondack doe in there, if they had not opened that back up during the early October ML season. Most significantly of all: the photogenic big one right there on the end of my buttout, would still be out there driving up the cost of eggs, without that extra half hour of hunting time after sunset that they gave us this year. Some of our resident Antler worshipers seem to think that they have taken it on the chin by those changes, and even more so by the upcoming Holiday ML season. Hopefully, they, and the VAST MAJORITY of us, who value meat MORE THAN antlers, will be blessed with a very merry Christmas.

No affect on me because I mostly just fish for and eat bass.

He was that lean. Processing went fast, because there was so little fat to trim. He must not have eaten much thru the rut, but his stomach was full of corn the evening when I shot him. There were also a few kernels of corn stuck around the edges of the exit hole that chunks of rib pushed thru the hide. I thought he came out of the swamp but apparently he had been in corn field. The 16 gauge foster slug didn’t make it thru and dropped out of the cavity while I had him on the hoist. It was relatively intact as you can see in the photo of it:

Would it make someone a hypocrite if they opposed the Holliday season yet still hunted it ? (Asking for a couple friends).

Looks like another classic case of sunlight deprived vitamin D deficiency. That happens to lots of folks in NY at this time of year. TLR is in need of a sunny vacation.

Congrats, looks like a solid 2.6 year old. Those extra points bump it up by 3 in Rob’s contest. He will need to recalculate.

I think the value of whitetail deer meat, compared to antlers, would go way up if more hunters figured that “aging” thing out. It always amazes me that some folks here, including one supposedly educated chef, do not seem to understand that venison is red meat and subject to rigor mortis, just like beef. Many of them are eating their deer meat, right near the stage of maximum toughness, because of that. Inadequate temperature control, during the aging process, is a lame excuse. How hard is it to find an old refrigerator ? Thats mine (probably from the 1950’s in the background). I didn’t need it on that particular buck, which hung hide-on for 9 days in our insulated garage, because the outside temp was nearly ideal thru that stretch. Leaving the hide on thru the aging process helps insulate the meat against temperature extremes and keeps it from drying out too much. I pulled the tenderloins from that 3.5 year old buck, the day that it was killed, and put them in a ziplock bag in a newer fridge in the house for 6 days (photos #118 &119). Those are located on the inside of the carcass and are totally unprotected by the hide. They definitely would have dried up thru that 9 day aging process. They practically melted in my mouth after frying them up in olive oil.

Picture #117 shows the only measurement on that buck that matters much to me: Merry Christmas FSW. Are you heading down to Letchworth after to try for your southern target ? If so, I hope you get him.

I am really looking forward to it. I probably wouldn’t be, if I hadn’t finally broken a long slump with my in-line ML, during the early ML season up north this year. Also, I still have a buck tag. Antlerless deer get pretty sparse in my two local spots after October 1. I am planning on hitting it pretty hard, because I have 5 of those 7 days off of work and I only had to use one vacation day. I don’t know if I will do an all day sit, but there is a good chance that I could make 10 morning and evening hunts. The January 1st hunt(s) excite me the most. This is a great excuse to take it easy at this years New Years party (unless by some miracle I can punch all 4 of my remaining tags prior to that). I would be very thankful for just one more deer. We have enough meat in the freezers for about a year and a half now, but I have some extended family members and friends who I would like to give some more to. My grandpa’s old grinder kicked az, on the one deer that I put thru it after replacing the knife and screen with new ones this year. I’d rather not wait 10 months to use it again.

I only drink the negras up in the Northern zone where my FIL is buying. This is my favorite make and model at home in WNY:

What about the two broken off points on the right and the extra sticker on the left. He’d be lucky to net 70 points as a typical. Thanks for your generosity.

Good to hear. Is mountain lion and mountain goat good eating ? I have tried most of that other stuff, but not those. I would put moose ahead of corn-fed white tails (especially the tongue), and elk and caribou about equal. The only wild game that I didn’t care for at all was mule deer, antelope, fish eating duck, and spring Tom turkey. I also like squirrel a lot better than rabbit and hope to get a few of those yet, before the season closes in February. No warm weather vacations planned for me this winter, but work might send me to Southern CA. I am sorry if you felt that I attacked you. My intent is to help you into a better course. It really isn’t ALL about the antlers. I will admit that it isn’t ALL about the meat either (just mostly for me).

I don’t mind the personal attacks directed at myself, but not all are blessed with such thick skin. You may want to take a vacation in the sun some where, or at least take some vitamin D supplement. That may help you not to be so inclined to switch to attack mode, at this time of year. No worries though, and I hope you have a good Holiday season, even if you choose not to hunt.

Merry Christmas, any other requests ?

Why is that, do they taste different after they shed ? You and the other two ought to spend a little more time worshipping God and a little less worshiping antlers .

I love the trophy hunters because the “cute little” deer they pass up sometimes end up in Heaven over at our place.

That’s 90 pounds of meat in our freezer and I put it up again just for you , Chris, and FSW because they just love seeing it.

I am loving the changes they made this year and have been able to capitalize on three of them: 1) early antlerless season 2) early ML antlerless reopened in Adirondacks 3) extra half hour before and after Daylight. So, I wish to offer you a sincere “thank you” if your complaints helped contribute to those positive changes which have contributed greatly towards my own sending of 3 deer to Heaven so far this year. Hopefully, I will get to send at least one more there during the upcoming Holiday ML season. Another big Thankyou to my friends with the Northern Erie Snowseekers for doing what they have to make sure that special season takes place. May you all have the merriest of Christmasses , and thanks so much for your contributions to those three early gifts which the Good Lord had already blessed our family with.

What is you’re address there ?

They are trophy hunters and that’s what they do. I am thankful that God made me a meat hunter and I can’t think of any state that treats my kind better than NY. My advice to the complainers would be : pack your bags and move, if you don’t love it leave it.

I get about a year out of the big (54) pack of Hot hands. I usually use just one in my muff. It has a separate, inner pocket, that holds one. They last 10 hours. I usually add a second, fresh one to the muff on real cold days at lunch time, if I am doing an afternoon hunt. I am getting low on them now, and just picked up 10 of another brand at Runnings. Most of the Hot hands brand that I have used so far this year were purchased mid-winter last year, and they have still been lasting 10 hours.

I’d go with the rubber mats.

I see them as mostly nocturnal year round, but much more so after gun season opens in the southern zone. This is due to hunting pressure, gunshots, and most of the breeding having been concluded. There is always exceptions, but a quick look at the gun harvest thread's dates and numbers on this site, proves this to be true each season. There is always a significant uptick in daylight activity, for a two-week period centered on Veteran's day, corresponding to the rut. That ends right around opening day of gun, a double whammy that almost stops all daylight activity, unless the deer are pushed from cover. The extra half hour, before and after sunrise/sunset, probably resulted in a significant increase in gun harvest this year. I know that it enabled my only gun season kill after opening day in several years. Fewer daylight hours, fewer hunters, and the need to feed before winter, will soon cause another uptick in daylight activity, but it sure as hell hasn't happened yet. The only deer that I saw all weekend was holed up in the standing corn and didn't bolt out until I got within 30 yards. I am expecting good daylight movement during the Holiday ML season next week. The week off should do a world of good as far as getting them deer out in the daylight again. I still have (4) tags to fill, hungry folks to feed, plenty of powder, bullets, and primers, multiple paid days off of work in that stretch, and I can't wait for it. This is the best thing to come along since the early antlerless season and the hour of night-time hunting.

I don’t use much roundup, and hopefully I can stretch my current supply of that until things get back under control. I can also stretch the nitrogen pretty far, by growing all of my corn on old clover ground. I will probably skip the brassicas next year, because the deer haven’t touched then much this year and it takes a lot of nitrogen to make decent yields.