wolc123

Which cuts down on traffic, making things nicer for those of us who are strong enough to “tough it out”.

Are you guys saving the castors ? I heard that they are worth $ 40 but the hides are only fetching $ 4 this year.

Find any up around Harrisville lately ?

There is a doe about 100 yards down hill and upwind of me. Something has her panties in a bunch. A few times she has snorted and pranced around down there. I don’t know what is bothering her. All I can think of is she may have crossed my non evercalm treated boot prints on the way over there.

I wonder what was after the scared doe that just ran by me. I am hoping a bear, but more more likely a coyote or a buck trying for the second rut. She was upwind of me, and passed by at 30 yards, tail down at a full tilt run, so I know I didn’t spook her.

I also have a half way decent supply of red win 16 ‘s, which I preferred back in the day when the Ithaca smoothbore was my primary gun. They consistently grouped under 6” from a bench at 100 yards, while the rems usually came in at just under 12”. I also have a few boxes of purple Federals and white/gray brenekes. My Ithaca likes the red wins the best, but it’s last half dozen kills have been with the 20 cent green Remington sluggers. That is purely a cost and supply issue and all have been from under 50 yards.

I am actually not hunting deer (no more tag for up here during gun season), but bear with it right now. Double rifles are/were very popular in Afrika for dangerous game. I carried it a few times for deer, but never shot at one with it. It has always been shotgun only in Wmu 9F where I live and hunt the most. I put a scope on my Ithaca 37 39 years ago but I hated using it after that in the rain and sleet. That’s when I carried the double and that’s why I tested it on paper with slugs. I bought a smoothbore, short Remington 870 12 ga with iron sights for that duty about 30 years ago and have taken a pile of deer with that. Trouble now is my limited inventory of 12 gauge slugs. As I was typing a doe ran by at 30 yards. If I didn’t have responsibilities at church next weekend (“live nativity” show in Wolcottsburg”), I would come back up here for late ML when I will have a tag.

Inside of 50 yards it works ok. They fly a bit better out of the right (improved cylinder choke) barrel. The left is modified and would likely only be used if “finisher” is needed. I am a little concerned with penetration on a bear since one of these didn’t even make it all the way thru a buck from 50 yards away last week. It must have broke a rib to cause that blood on his left side. My shot struck his right side. The slug never exited and hardly expanded. It fell out almost intact, under the hoist later. I have checked the zero with slugs from this double on paper but never fired it at a deer. The buck was killed from a slug from the same box with my scoped Ithaca model 37 16 gauge. I bought a case of those for $ 1.00 a box about 20 years ago when a sporting goods store in Brewerton was having a going out of business sale. I still have a pretty good supply. I am pretty confident to use them on a bear as long as it’s closer than about 30 yards.

18 degrees up on the ridge east of Harrisville. I am loaded for bear. Hopefully one ain’t quite ready for its winters nap yet. The old Remington sluggers worked ok on a buck last week so they might do the trick on a bear, as long as it’s close enough. Last time up here in October, I was hunting for them over a gut pile with no success. Maybe the hot cider will draw one with a sweet tooth:

X2 + 1

After reading everyone’s accounts, I am leaning towards just applying it on my boot heels, and not wiping any near or on my permanent stands and blinds henseforth. An easy “compromise”, will be to simply remove the top cover from the stick, and place it nearby, while I am hunting the location. That way, I can cover it back up, and take it with me when I leave, not leaving any waxy residue behind that nocturnal visitors may later correlate with human scent. Even if it don’t work, an added bonus is that the stick will last longer, saving me some cash. With that new trick, the third of a stick that I still have should last me until the end of the holiday ML season. That may be up to 26 more hunts total, including the last weekend of SZ gun, normal SZ ML weekend, and Holiday ML week. I still have a ML buck tag and 3 dmp’s for home. The Evercalm on my boot heels was without question the key to this year’s 3.5 year old buck’s trip to “deer Heaven”, just as my grunt call was for a 2.5 year old last season.

NYS allows the transfer of up to two dmp’s. I assume they need to be given away, and can not be sold or traded. Is it against this website rules to sollicit folks to give them away to or to seek folks who might have some that they are willing to give away ?

Get yourself a muzzleloader and try the Holiday season. That is the best thing to come along for deer hunters in NY since they gave the crossbow the rut in the southern zone.

Our youngest (17) tried a piece of the tenderloins I fried last night. She said she liked it but I am glad she didn’t want more of it:

I guess 2.6

I am headed back up to the nw corner of the Adirondack park this weekend for a couple nights. Usually that trip is over the long Thanksgiving weekend, but that didn’t pan out this year for various reasons. I ended up filling my buck tag at home then, so there will be no deer hunting for me on this trip. My plan is to stay up late visiting with the in-laws Friday night, then sleep in until it warms up to about 32 outside. I am bringing my 16 gauge J Stevens Springfield side by side, a box of 7-1/2 shot, and a few Remington sluggers (in case I run into any bear sign but I expect them to be hibernated). After it warms up, I am going to walk up to the ridge top where I killed a doe in mid October. There were lots of grouse there then. One was drumming about 15 yards away and I contemplated a head shot with my ML. Hopefully, I will run into that one, or it’s friends, this weekend when I am a little more appropriately armed. It has been about 10 years since I have been blessed with a grouse, and they are by far my favorite bird to eat.

I am pleased to hear that the Erie county federation on snowmobile clubs decided to stay closed until January 2. Thanks for that information ddk68. Now I don't have to sweat it until Christmas. What I like best about that 7 day Holiday season, is that it includes (2) paid work holiday days for me. I think this will be the first time ever, that I got paid to hunt on a week day, without having to take a vacation day. I used my last one of those for this year for December 30th (I plan on hunting that day, and the two included weekend days, for a total of 5 of the 7 days). This is even better than the early antlerless season that they gave us this September, in most of Erie county, because antlered deer will be in play. I missed out on most of crossbow season this year, due to our daughter's playoff run in field hockey, so I still have a buck tag that I now think I have a good chance of using. Currently, there are no club snowmobile trails crossing our farm, but I would gladly let them open a spur, along a mowed gas line right of way that crosses it, mostly because the snowmobilers have been so considerate of us Muzzleloader hunters. Back before global warming, I did a lot of snowmobiling myself.

I think that is most folks problem with tenderloins. Generally, the older the deer, the longer it takes to get past that. My best guess on this does age is 4.5. One of her tenderloins was tough as hell, the day after she died, maybe the toughest I ever had. The other one was considerably more tender, but still tougher than average, after 5 days in the fridge. My best guess on this buck’s age is 3.5. After 6 days in the fridge, his tenderloins may have been the most tender I have ever had. He was certainly corn fed though (see gut pile), so that may have had an effect. Besides the time in the fridge, the age of the deer, and the diet of the deer, some say how fast they die has an effect on tenderness. The doe was DRT from a shoulder blade shot, which also penetrated thru both lungs. The buck trotted off about 60 yards after taking a slug thru both lungs, centered on the second last rib.

I cant recall ever killing a deer in its bed, so I can’t help much with this one. My preferred technique is to ambush them, after they leave their day or night beds, and are on their hoofs and out looking for some lovin. I believe this old boy’s day bed was in a swamp last Friday, so I’d have needed hip boots to catch him there: damned good eating though.

Not sure how many food groups are represented here but I can’t recall a better tasting dinner:

I wonder if there is a way to find local processors who take deer carcass donations using the internet ? That seems like the type of thing a smart phone or computer might be good for. How would you feel if you ended your season with unfilled tags, passed on multiple good opportunities, and ended up hitting one with your car on your last trip home from camp ? Or worse yet, someone you love does, right by your hunting location ? I only passed on one good opportunity this year, and that was only because that little antlered buck didn’t look like it had enough meat on its bones to feed my family for a year. I have a heck of a time filling dmp’s, so I need to be somewhat careful with my buck tag. That said, I definitely would have felt some regret at the end of the season, had not a much larger bodied buck showed up 6 days later. At times like that there is an excuse for passing bucks but I don’t see any for antlerless deer and dmp tags. Those are passed out for a reason and that is population reduction.

It was a fun way to hunt when I was young, but I lost any interest in doing it after my hair got parted by a shotgun slug one time.

This is a great example of why it is very selfish of us hunters, not to try to kill all of the deer that we legally can, every season. Deer numbers are higher than they should be in many areas. If you can’t use the meat, many processors will take it, at no cost to you, and donate it to the needy. I am no saint myself, and I usually let up a bit, after I have enough meat in my own freezer. Thanks for posting this, as it will make me try a little harder, to fill the last (4) of (7) tags, that I was issued this year. Unfortunatly, I used up most of my vacation days, but I am really looking forward to the Holiday ML season this year. It will be great to be able to hunt deer on paid Holidays. As far as not wanting to shoot does because “there is not enough around” etc., those decisions ought to be left to the professionals (DEC). If they don’t think there is enough in an area, then they will issue fewer tags the following season. The Christmas season should be a time to put the needs of others ahead of your own. Please do your part.

I think we are pretty safe in Erie county, at least the northern portion, where the snowmobile club is very well represented by hunters who know better than to risk trail closures by opposing the Holiday ML season.

Three of my stands were in ash trees, including that which I had killed my first antlered buck from, the one I killed my largest racked buck from, and the one I killed the most deer out of. Lots of memories from those, but it definitely was not worth the risk of trying to keep them. I replaced two of them in nearby poplar and maple trees. There were no other species of trees close enough to the other one that were big enough yet to support a stand, but I now have stands on either side, that can cover that spot fairly well. It was tough on my chainsaw, cutting up those trees with more than 40 years of nails in them. My older cousin had built the first one before I was old enough to hunt. I added many nails thru the decades, as steps and supports rotted and needed replacement. One good thing is that everything is replaced with treated lumber and galvenized lag bolts, so annual maintenance is much less.