wolc123

A 44 mag might have ruined half of one hind quarter, but the .243 ruined nearly all of both. Meat damage is directly proportional to bullet velocity but not so dependant on bullet weight. That little .243 bullet is screaming fast compared to the .44 mag or a 12 gauge sabot slug. The meat damage from the .44 would be much closer to that minimal loss that I saw on my 8 point that same year with those slugs. You really get a good feel for the meat loss situation, when you butcher a few that were killed with different types, on consecutive days, like I did that year. All the talks of shot placement is meaningless for most short range, heavy cover type hunting situations. A deer rifle should be able to drop a deer from any angle with minimal meat damage if I am going to lug it around. If you don’t mind eating meat that looks like grape jello, then the .243 would be a fine choice in a deer rifle.

Very little, but they don’t alway get hit there. A few years ago my neighbor, who raises beef cattle and don’t like venison, gave me two deer that he had killed with his .243. I had the pleasure of processing and eating both of those deer. One was a doe fawn that field dressed about 70 pounds, and the other was a 2.5 year old 8 point that field dressed about 140 pounds. Each deer yielded roughly the same amount of usable meat (about 35 pounds each). The doe fawn was struck broadside, center lung. The buck was struck twice, with the first one broadside on the hip joint. That shot turned most of both hind quarters into something resembling grape jello, and not at all fit for consumption. He ran over to the buck, and finished it with a second broadside shot to the front of the shoulder blade, at the base of the neck. That shot resulted in a grape jello neck roast, along with the front half of the back straps. That experience moved the .243 way down the list of anything that I would consider for a deer rifle. I almost bought one the year before, but am very thankful to have gone with a 30/30 instead. I don’t get a lot of chances at deer, and sometimes need to shoot them from other than perfectly broadside angles. Most of mine are taken at well under 100 yards so I would certainly go with the .44 between those 2 from a less meat damage standpoint alone. The same year that I butchered that shot up 8 point, I cut up one of my own that was struck 3 times by 12 ga sabots, which are very similar in performance to the .44 mag. The first 2 shots were too far back with one passed thru just under the spine on center, and the second passing right thru, paralyzing the deer. My finisher was to the same place, the base of the neck. The neck roast was still good on that one and I only lost a chop or two where the other two slugs passed thru. That buck yielded more then 90 pounds of meat so we didn’t need to buy much store bought chicken that year even though we got very little meat from those other two.

I would go with the 44 mag because it will destroy less meat and meat is the primary reason why I hunt. Most folks who only give a crap about the antlers would go for the .243, especially if longer range shots are expected.

I have the fiber optics on my Marlin 30/30 and Traditions FoxRiver50 ML and I like them. They seem to be considerably faster to use than the stock iron sights. That speed gain is worth the cost of slightly reduced durability to me. I probably ought to put a set on my short-barreled, smooth-bore Remington 870 12 ga. That is my go to gun, during foul weather conditions at home in wmu 9f, which is shotgun only. I will probably wait for the Republicans to get back into power, and a corresponding return to normal ammo cost and availability, prior to doing that however.

You may want to revise that pick since I won’t be hunting any more until opening day of gun season due to a “scheduling conflict”. Sorry about that.

I did not see anything tonight at home. Looks like I will still have an either/or tag for the 3 late ML seasons. Tonight was my last archery season hunt of the year. I will be driving across the state and watching the high school field hockey champs (I hope) next weekend. I think I will try at least two more hunts with my crossbows during the late ML seasons. My trailer-park stand is too close to a row of double-wides to fire a ML from. I tried that stand at midday today, but saw only two grey squirrels. There were lots of deer tracks on that back side of the swamp though. I need to try it in the early morning and late afternoon when deer may actually be moving. That 10-2 stuff has been almost a complete waste of time, as deer movement, in my 40 years of hunting them. At the moment, I can only think of one doe that I killed during that slot, in all those years.

I am in my favorite stand at home for my last hunt of the 2021 archery season. I have not been back here in over a month. It looks like the adjacent white oak is stripped clean of acorns, but the clover and winter wheat plots to my south are looking good. There are two freshened scrapes within 15 yards and I rubbed a bit of evercalm on each licking branch. Hopefully, the goofy looking crab claw 8 point, that taunted me back here a couple times in September, or the little spike and fork horn that I saw a few times, will show up before a half hour past sunset. If not, I will have to try and fill that tag during the late ML season. There will be three “openers” for that this year: NZ (a week prior to SZ), SZ, and Holliday. I should be able to hit all three of those.

I am going to pack it in in about 15 minutes. No mid day deer action behind the trailer park so far. Just one fat grey squirrel came thru. I should have brought a Judo point.

I shot a pike once in murder creek (what is the statute of limitations on that crime).

Maybe the local herd is evolving around you. You could try upending your techniques and do things almost the opposite of the way that you have been doing them. I noticed the same was thing with fish. For a year or two, guys were killing the smallmouth bass with Ned rigs. That bite started going flat, as the fish evolved and learned to avoid those. On my home farm, which is made up mostly of small fields separated by hedgerows, the deer seemed to learn how to avoid me after many years of doing basically the same thing during gun season. I had a banner year, when I first started using a gun with enough range to get them in the next field. Now, the hedgerows are mostly grown up too thick to shoot thru, so I had to come up with a new plan. The last few years, that has been hunting my parents place more, which never was as productive, but now is much more so. You might try hunting some different ground or hunting different times and approaching stands from different directions than you have been doing.

I didn’t expect any deer action where I started out this morning, after bumping a couple on my way in. I left there, and fixed my dads tractor tire, back up in their barn. A rear valve stem got busted, when I was putting the chains on it yesterday. Alden NAPA said they had none and they were on back order, due to all the container vessels stuck offshore. I had a spare in my shop at home, so I brought it with me, when I came over to hunt this morning. Now, I am back in the woods in my “trailer park” blind. This is in the direction that the two deer that I saw this morning moved to and I have the wind in my favor from this side. Hopefully, there will be some action, during the lucrative 10-2 time period, up here on the north edge of the swamp. I met the guy that parks his car and owns the last mobile home, on the dead end road that leads to the back of my parents woods. He was ok with me parking my wife’s mini-van there. Hopefully, I can put the cargo carrier to use today.

About 10 years ago, when our girls were small, my wife coerced me into putting up some posted some signs at our place. Our girls had some forts back in the woods and she was worried they would get shot during hunting season. Apparently, one of our new neighbors interpreted “posted” as “public dog walking park” I was back in a ground blind near the center of our farm on a Sunday afternoon and I watched two women approaching on foot. They passed between two posted signs on their way towards me. They had a small yip dig on a leash and a big free ranging German Shepard. As they got closer, the Shepard caught my scent and charged towards my blind, drooling and barking up a storm. It looked like it was going to jump into the open back of my blind, so I held my 12 gauge muzzle an inch or two from its ear and pulled the trigger. The dog may have suffered some powder burns and hearing loss from the “near miss” . It let out a wail and turned and ran back to its owner with its tail between its legs. Their only coments were “that shut him up“ and “we didn’t think you were back here”. That was the last year I put up posted signs and the last year that I had any trespassing problems.

Good idea chef. You can never have too much data. Don’t forget to measure the chest girth and use plenty of pepper when you fry up the oysters. Keep me posted if you might be able to make a GTG at the Eldorado next Friday or Saturday. I am planning on being there for dinner both nights.

It is pretty confusing. During most of our regular season games, it seems that there was almost constant whistles and stoppages of play. Thru the playoffs, the refs have kept their whistles in their pockets mostly, which keeps the game flowing much better. The girls will be on some new ground in Long Island next weekend. Our high school field hockey team has not won our section championship since 2013, and none of the previous teams has made it past the first regional round. It’s going to cost me more than half my crossbow season, but I am looking forward to see them play against the usually dominant downstate teams. I am also looking forward to some good food and service at my favorite downstate food joint, the Eldorado diner. I may be forced into eating more store bought chicken this winter, due to a lack of venison, but at least I will be eating good next weekend.

I think the coyotes do more good than bad for the turkeys, by controlling the coon and fox population somewhat.

I bumped a couple that were bedded in the brush just beyond my stand when I walked in 1/2 hour before sunrise. Maybe it was the fork horn and button buck that I watched feed out in this clover for over an hour yesterday. Thanks to an unexpected win yesterday, I will be downstate for the state field hockey tournament next weekend. That means this will be my second last archery hunt, so I am in full “anything goes” mode, as far as using my buck tag.

Thanks, we will do our best to represent WNY well. Not much playoff experience out here.

Possibly, if you all can make it to the El Dorada diner Elmsford next Friday or Saturday night.

No idea, but it looks like we are headed to Long Island next weekend. We might meet up with them there. I guess my being there did the trick, because she scored the game winning goal tonight.

Yea, we win 2:0:

My opening day ended early, but not with any meat for the freezer. It did yield a couple good prospect for that though. I passed a fork horn about an hour after sunrise from my center woods stand. I made no attempt to grunt him in , because he was clearly a 1.5 year. I am looking for a 3.5 for my buck tag , during the first half of the season. I only saw the near side antler when he passed at 50 yards. I got a good look long, binocular- assisted look at him, feeding out in a clover plot, when I went into my parents house for lunch. The plot is straight behind their kitchen table. He had perfectly matched forks on each side. As he was feeding, a button buck (likely the twin to one that I killed during the early antlerless season on the same plot), charged him a couple times, but he drove him off. The forky fed out there about 30 minutes, went back into the woods, then the button came back out and fed for about 30 minutes. The twin brother was about 60 pounds field dressed in September. This one looks like he will dress out over 80 right now. Currently, my wife is driving us out to our daughters regional playoff field hockey game and I am skipping the afternoon hunt. Next Friday morning, I hope to be up in my new comfy stand, on the edge of that clover plot. If all goes well, I will be able to reunite that meated-up button buck with his brother. That hunt will also mark the half way point of my archery season. The first 3” spike unicorn will earn my buck tag after that.

It sounds to me like you maybe did not loop the rope over the back, prior to putting the clips on the string. I tried that once while I was learning. Not only would the rope be way too long if used that way, but you would also loose the mechanical advantage of the pulleys, requiring double the pull force. In the excitement after killing a very hefty buck (43” chest girth) a few years ago, I lost the rope pulley for my Barnett Recruit. The next day, I went out after does with it but I had to cock it by hand. It is fairly low draw weight so wasn’t too bad, but a little tough on the fingers. I made up a couple little “T” handles with short length of chain and hooks. They work very well for direct-pull cocking of that low draw weight crossbow. They are much faster than the rope pulley and might even allow for a fast follow up shot, if it was ever needed.

It could be worse. I am just thankful that the negotiated NYB / NY DEC settlement gave the best two weeks of southern zone archery season to us cross-gun guys. It’s too bad that those up north got shafted, getting just 3 days during the October lull. NYB must have a little more pull up there.

The fork horn that just strolled by me appeared to have had his butt kicked recently. I could clearly see the fork on my side but it looked like the opposite side had been broken off. Hopefully, the bully that did the damage will show up here before noon when I got to break from lunch. The young buck crossed the trail that I took (with evercalm treated boots) with his nose to the ground and did not slow down at all. I did not try grunting him in for a closer look. If I still have a buck tag after noon next Friday, that little 2 or 3 point will make my hit list. Right now, I still need one with at least 4 points on a side or a clear 3.5 plus. Last time I passed a scrub on opening day of crossbow, 2 seasons ago, I was rewarded with a nice 3.5 yr 8 point about 15 minutes later. The bully is running late today.