wolc123

It has been about average, to slightly below, as far as deer sightings, for me this year. No past years for comparison, but they were plentiful on the afternoons, during the early sz antlerless gun season, but completely lacking in the mornings. I filled one of my 4 dmp’s then. Kind of tough dealing with the carcasses in the warm weather, and only room for one in my deer fridge. Sightings were down during early nz ML season, but I did manage to fill my antlerless tag up there, unlike last year when I saw more deer but couldn’t close a deal. Didn’t see any on opening weekend of gun up there this year, while I blew a chance at a mega buck up there last opening day - thanks to this smart phone. I lost most of the 2 week sz crossbow season thanks to our younger daughter’s high school field hockey playoff run, but I saw just one small buck, the 3 times I got out. I saw more deer than usual ,on opening day of sz gun, passing the same little buck I saw during crossbow twice, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. I couldn’t get a clean shot at two antlerless deer that I saw twice in the morning. I was being selective with my buck tag, mostly because I wanted to hit the nz after Thanksgiving, and you can only kill bucks up there during gun season. Our normal Thanksgiving trip, to my wife’s parents in the nz, got delayed a week this year, because it was our turn to host my extended family this year. A stout 3.5 year buck, that showed up 5 minutes after sunset the day after Thanksgiving at my parents house, eliminated any more nz gun season deer hunting for me last weekend. I did see two antlerless deer while I was up there grouse and bear hunting last weekend, and tons of deer sign (absolutely zero grouse or bear sign). I probably have a years and a half’s worth of meat in the freezer now, with the three deer I killed so far, but I am going to keep at it. I still have 3 dmp’s and my ML buck tag. From now until Jan 1, I will give away most of the meat from any mature doe or buck I might kill, but will keep a button buck or doe fawn. I am going to do my best to fill those last 4 tags. Sightings have been enough to keep me in it. I need to make up for missing most of crossbow season this year. The DEC is also depending on us hunters to fill those tags, and there are plenty of hungry folks who could use the meat.

I caught one close to that size ,thru the ice on a tip up on Brantingham lake, about 20 years ago. It came up like an old boot. The hardest part was squeezing it thru the ice hole, and back down for the release. Warm water species ain’t much fun thru the ice. No pics and the only witness was a little girl out there skating. largemouth bass are my favorite fish to eat and second favorite fish overall. Smallmouth bass hold the top spot for me, because they taste almost as good, but fight twice as hard, pound for pound. They are also tougher and live longer in a live well, with diminishing oxygen and warming water. I find largemouth a little faster to fillet, which is another contributing factor for them being my favorite to eat. I am in the minority, who prefers bass over perch and walleye, on the table. Those are too dry for my preferred cooking methods of baking, broiling, or grilling. Bass has just the perfect amount of oil in it, to remain moist thru those healthier cooking methods. I will admit that perch and walleye are better fried. This was my last open water fish of the year, caught and released on my last Adirondack outing of early NZ ML week. I was going to try again last weekend, when I was up grouse and bear hunting, but the lake froze over.

Yes, it must have been caused by the chunks of rib forced thru the hide by the slug. The slug did not make it all the way thru itself and fell out under the hoist when I hung it in the garage last Friday night. The stomach on this one was full of corn.

Happy birthday. Go get a birthday buck.

Glad this is done, I will finish the Euro tomorrow with my power washer (temp supposed to hit 50), then try for an antlerless deer or three next weekend. This sucker made about 90 pounds of boneless, most of which was ground. He had relatively little fat on him, which made the process go quicker than usual. I made two neck roasts and two small roasts from the rears, plus the back straps, should be more than a years worth of taco meat from the grind. The 16 ga slug hit low enough that it didn’t mess up the back straps at all. It struck a rib and exit, but the busted up rib broke thru the hide on the exit side.

He’s got a pretty good pile of does going though. They taste just as good but are more of a pain to process with all that fat to trim. The buck I am working on now has very little of that on him so I should be done long before midnight.

Those quite often attract poachers. They interpret “posted” as “good hunting”. He probably drove past miles of state land to get there. The only time I found an aborigin (person I don’t know) in one of my stands was a year I had posted signs up. I went many years after that without them and with no tresspassing issues. My wife talked me into putting them back up again when our girls made some forts out back and wanted to use them during hunting season. That year a new neighbor thought those signs meant “public park” and I had to shoot at their free ranging German Sheppard as it was barking, drooling and getting ready to hop into my blind on this very weekend about 10 years ago. No signs for me at home after that and no more tresspassing troubles. Apparently, word spread from that near miss and powder burnt dog.

That’s what is was like where I just left up on the nw corner of the Adirondack park, but they only had about 3”. Sure would have been nice to have a buck tag.

Brassicas are a heavy nitrogen user so clover or soybeans would be best next. Sounds like you ruled out the soybeans. I would seed it with a wheat / white clover mix in late August. Wheat provides good late fall attraction. Mow it down the next spring, and the clover should last you a few years, until you are ready for brassicas again. You will be able to get by with less nitrogen then, thanks to the clover. That is a good reason to plant clover even if your deer don’t like it (I have not heard of any that didn’t). If you get the ground worked up in the spring, then buckwheat (planted after mid June) would be a good cover until the late August wheat/clover planting.

You got to do better than that. I am still seeing troll or lazy , scared of the cold Econ officer. Only way we will know for sure is if you post a picture with your face and both deer in it. wonder if we will see that ace ?

Well how about making a good public example of yourself and turn yourself in then. That way, both deer would not be wasted but would go towards feeding the needy.

There is no difference because the springs used on all firing pins are designed within the elastic limits throughout their installed travel limits.

I think people who post foul language should get a time out, but being an experienced thresher, trolls have never bothered me, because they are simple to identify. In this case, I think the most likely scenario is a young DEC officer who is more comfortable inside out of the cold.

It does sound like this was driven more by anti hunters than snowmobilers. I am very thankful that the snowmobile clubs in Erie county have rallied in support of the Holiday ML season. That is very significant, because I don’t know if there is a county in the state with more registered snowmobiles than Erie county.

If I didn’t have close to couple hundred pounds of work waiting for me at home in the garage, I would be tempted to go out and look for some of those this morning. The tracking conditions are perfect, but adding another 400 pounds or so of work is unappealing right now.

If you are looking for maximum long range performance in a shotgun zone, then I would recommend the 12 gauge bolt gun, unless you are recoil sensitive. In that case, opt for the 20 gauge. The accuracy improvement you gain by eliminating the recoil anticipation flinch will trump the energy gain of the 12. Put a good 2-7 power scope on that gun. If money is no object, then my real answer to your question is “both”. I would also recommend that you get an 870 smoothbore with a short iron sight barrel, in 12 ga (20 if you are recoil sensitive). Feeding that is much cheaper, and it is better in sleet, rain, wet snow, and when hunting in and around heavy cover, where long shots are not expected.

Trip summary

Good luck, I am doing the opposite today (heading south). We are currently up near the nw corner of the Adirondack park, just east of Harrisville. My wife talked me into staying in this morning, and having breakfast with her folks before heading home. I hunted for bear and grouse pretty hard yesterday, with no signs of either, but did see some deer. Those are off limits for me, because my buck tag is on one hanging at home in our garage. It is supposed to get warm tomorrow, so we are heading back to WNY early, to get it processed and into the freezer. It was a short, but enjoyable trip. The local deer population certainly looks healthy. We brought up some barn wood for my father-in-law’s winter projects and I got a snowplow working on his new tractor. My wife helped her mom at craft sale in Star Lake yesterday. I would love to come back up here next weekend and try for an Adirondack buck or doe with my ML (I still have that either/or tag) but I will be stuck at home, chasing 3 antlerless deer with my shotgun and my last 3 9F dmp tags. This picture is a scrape I found yesterday, along a heavily used deer trail, prior to 3” of fresh snowfall. There was bushels of deer scat on about 50 yards of that trail. It might be tougher to come back without a buck than to come back with one, with the conditions out there today.

I come from a family of threshers and have never had a problem separating the wheat from the chaff.

I think what we have here is a troll and an imagined set of circumstances. Pictures (showing face) or it didn’t happen.

Buckmaster has got to be loving these conditions: 2” of fresh powder snow and steady sw wind. I am sitting here waiting on a bear

I hope you find him and I just sent up a prayer for you. I am heading out for bear myself right now, after spending most of the morning and mid day looking for bear or grouse and not finding any signs of any. Good to hear the bear are still active. I don’t have a deer tag and I was worried that they would all be hibernated. I just modified my father in law’s Marlin 30/30 with a hammer extension, so I can get off a faster shot. My side by side has had its last bear hunt of the year early this morning. I learned where there are lots of deer this morning and I know where the last bear sighting was up here. I am going to try and get between those spots for the evening bear sit:

If it is the same deal as raccoons, then you don’t need to bury them after the regular trapping season is open. Vermin and birds will usually make short work of them, if you just toss them out in an open field. It doesn’t seem to matter how deep I burry the coons, the coyotes usually dig them up within a few days. Pre trapping season carcass burning is another legal option that I have yet to try. With all the fat on a coon, I would think they would burn quite easily and complete.