wolc123

I think it could be a 3.5, because the head looks pretty big. They don’t all grow huge racks. I always use the size of the skull, after power washing them, to get a rough estimate of the age. It is easy to tell a .5, 1.5, 2.5, or 3.5 from that type of comparison, with others of known age. When they get older than that, tooth wear, etc would work better I suppose. My experience is rather limited with bucks over 3.5, maybe even entirely lacking. I don’t see the point in letting them get older than that, since that is the estimated age of the World record free range whitetail. Looks like another “shirt pocket” shot. Congrats on the fine buck and nice shot.

Just got tempted by a beautiful red fox but not quite enough for one of my last 14 Hornady sst’s. Had it been a coyote, I’d have used one.

Whoever said they move more at mid-day during a full moon is full of bs. I have not seen a deer since 9:00 today (5 before that). The longest I have sat in this stand, the last 3 years on opening day, before I had one on the ground was 10:30 last year. I always wondered what I was missing later. I guess not too much. I will give it until 12:10 or so, then lunch with my parents. They will worry that I fell out of my tree if I wait much longer than that. My afternoon stand is way more comfortable at least.

Saw 5 antlerless so far. Had safety off twice, crosshairs on front shoulders but not sure they were mature doe so held off. Had I not already filled two tags in earlier seasons this year I would have shot each time.

Marlin M512 Slugmaster, Redfield Revolution 2-7 Scope, Hornady 2-3/4" SST's. I only have (14) of those left and (4) tags available for gun season, so I should be fine for this year, and hopefully a few more. I always carry a few extra, assorted-brand 12 ga sabot slugs, in case a point-blank finishing shot is required. Hopefully, those (14) SST's will last me until ammo becomes a bit easier to locate for reasonable cost. When and if I start running low, I will switch over to my Ithaca 37 16 gauge, for which I have an abundant supply of foster slugs, but my effective range drops from over 150 yards to about 75 yards.

I would be thankful for a mature doe, on opening weekend in wny. The weather looks perfect for hanging one in the garage next week, and that would give us plenty of grind for another year. I will have a tough decision to make on an antlered buck. He will need to be at least a solid 2.5 year old. It is a lot nicer, hunting up in the northern zone after Thanksgiving with a buck tag, than it is without one and trying to find a bear that forgot to hibernate.

That’s my plan also. I will probably start into the woods about 40 minutes before sunrise . It should be light enough to see then, with the nearly full moon and most of the leaves down. If all goes well, it should take me about 10 minutes to get to my stand. I hope it is in decent shape still. It has been a full year since I was in it. A chain holds it to the tree, so I don’t have to worry about straps getting cut or chewed thru. I have no plans of shooting at a deer until I am up in it. Two of the last three years, I was done within a half hour of sunrise. Last year took almost 3 hours, until I was back on the ground gutting one. I will sit till 1:00, if no antlerless deer or buck with more than three points on a side shows up in range before that. I can’t be much later than that, for lunch with Pa and Ma.

I noticed the same issue with my CP 370. I much prefer my old Barnett recruit from my hang on stands or for offhand shooting. It is very light and well balanced and handles as easily as my Ruger 10/22 carbine. It’s unlocked width measures 17-1/8” with a new string 17-1/4” after a few years of stretch. The CP 370 is nice from my stands that have a shooting rail all around and has a longer effective range (50 yards vs 40 for the 300 FPS recruit).

I rarely do all day sits but if it’s cold I always have a quart thermos of hot cider and I usually have some candy bars.

A Hastings paradox, rifled 12 gauge cantilever scope mount barrel for my Remington 870. That thing would stack the slugs vertically as it heated up. A local gun dealer took it in as partial trade on my T/C Omega 50 cal muzzleloader. Now, I will only use a bolt-action rifled slug gun with a receiver mounted scope after that misfortune. The 870 still works good with its original, short smoothbore barrel with rifle sights, as long as I keep the range under 75 yards. I carried it for backup during gun season for a few years, and scored a few doubles with it, after dropping the first with my Omega. These days, my 3-shot bolt-action, rifled, 12-gauge Marlin 512 has eliminated the need to carry 2 guns at home during gun season where rifles are not legal. It is just as accurate as the Omega at 150 yards but packs about double the energy and two “extra” shots.

So, are we down to just two lefties for the next week ?

How far are you from Queens ?

I will be in the deep woods, swamp-edge stand that has produced for me the last three opening days. Hopefully, the ladder is still there and it is structurally sound. I didn’t get a chance to check it out during archery season this year. I did secure permission to remove carcasses, from the adjacent landowner on the back side of the swamp, so hopefully I can keep my feet dry this year. The swamp is quite full with all the recent rains we have had. An antlered buck will need to have at least 4 points on a side or clearly be at least 2.5 years old for me to punch my buck tag before Thansgiving because I want a crack at an Adirondack buck after. Southern zone bucks are worth less than half to me.

That is a cool one. I think I will try a tent deer hunt next September, if they do the early antlerless season again at home in wmu 9F. I found a perfect campsite. I will have to use my crossbow because my stand is only 400 ft from the closest mobile home.

Probably higher than the odds of me driving thru there, but I did it twice last Saturday.

I have butchered about 10 that were killed with rifles and close to a hundred that were killed with shotguns. The one you are referring to, that my neighbor hip shot with his .243, had a good order of magnitude more meat damage than any of the shotgun kills that I have cut up. The Bushnell Banner scope on my Marlin 512 went bad on me a few years ago, resulting in two hits about 15” to the left of my intended point of impact, one just under and the other thru the spine above the guts. Those Hornady Sst’s hit from a hundred yards away. They bloodied up a chop or two. I honestly can’t think of any that I butchered, and were killed with shotguns, where there was extensive meat damage. I will try to take some pictures for you this year, because you sound a little skeptical. When was the last time you butchered one that was killed with a shotgun ?

I only use shotguns, because the law won’t allow rifles in the wmu where I live and hunt the most. I cant think of any other reason why I would deliberately choose a shotgun for deer. Rifle ammo is cheaper, range and accuracy is better, and recoil is less. None of the deer that I killed with my rifle was able to take even a single step after the bullets struck. I can’t say that about my shotguns. The one thing I do appreciate about shotguns, is that they don’t destroy too much meat, if your shot don’t hit exactly where you want it go.

I have been hunting the edge of a swamp on that day for the last three years. On all three, my deer dropped dead in the swamp. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so that’s the stand I will be again this year. Rain won’t affect my recovery at all, but I will pack my tree umbrella if there is some in the forecast. I have done quite a bit of hunting the last few years under that umbrella (mostly in October in the Northern zone). I have yet to see a deer when it is deployed. It seems that they often show up when the rain stops and I take it down though. I tried for the shoulder blade when the buck was on dry ground last year, but missed it my an inch.

Fork horn with big hoofs ?

I have never tried non pickled heart. Might have to this year. I think I have 3 beef hearts in the freezer now so I will let my wife pickle those instead next Valentine’s Day.

If you are going to eat it fresh, you may want to refrigerate it a week or so first. The liver, from a deer more than 6 months old, is a lot better if you leave it in the fridge a week before cooking. I would think that a heart would be also. That allows the rigor mortis to break down, making it much more tender.

What my wife makes on Valentine’s Day, never makes it past Presidents’ Day weekend. We take all we got left up to the in-laws in the Adirondacks when we go up for our annual ice fishing trip. Her parents love it and we can easily put away 5 or six deer hearts or two beef hearts and a tongue or two over that long weekend.

My wife pickled them for me every Valentines day. She boils them, then slices them and pours hot brine over them. The brine is basically vinegar, water, sugar, and mixed pickling spices. The containers of sliced heart and brine are left in the fridge for a few days. The longer it soaks in the brine the more it gets flavored. It is ok to eat after a few hours, and keeps up to 3 weeks in the fridge. I usually adds some beef tongue (deer tongue are too small to bother with). She usually complains a bit more about slicing up the tongues than the hearts. I should have two deer hearts right now, but I forgot a plastic bag and lost the larger of the two. Hopefully, I will end up with a few more deer hearts by January 1st, or she will need to use a beef heart or two. The hearts all taste the same when pickled, but I assume those from free ranging deer are better for my own heart. I slightly prefer the tongue, but the rest of the family likes the heart best.

Thanks for the hot cider cdbing , and it was nice meeting you. I am trying a little with that special new scent tonight:

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