wolc123

Do you use a .243 ? My only experience with that rifle was butchering those two deer that I described in detail above. Great round on deer for a center lung shot, but not so hot when it hits solid bone. The shot that hit right where I wanted to mentioned above was well rested not offhand. I meant “at this time” when I said “offhand” in that earlier post.

Bad in Wmu 6c, up on the nw corner of the Adirondack park. I wiped a non-attached tick off the back of my neck a few weeks ago up there. I was in my truck on the drive back from drooping my early ML doe off at the butchers in Harrisville. I pinched off it’s head, so that it couldn’t get anybody else (my mother in law was also in the cab). I learned, back in 2016, to never bring another deer home whole again from up there. I found hundreds of them little suckers on one then, while I was skinning it at home in WMU 9F. I have never found a tick on a deer that I killed around home. After that, any deer I kill up there gets butchered up there (by someone else). I also always treat my bibs and pants with Sawyers, when I am hunting up there, and so far I have not had any of them little suckers stuck to me. My father in law (who lives in wmu 6c, had one stuck on him this summer.

Several years ago, when I was looking for a new Adirondack deer rifle, I had narrowed the choice to a Ruger American .243 and a Remlin 336BL. I have yet to get a shot a deer up there, with the 30/30 that I opted for. I am hoping to break it in on one this Thanksgiving weekend.”””

I am sorry, and I have made more than my share of mistakes myself. Offhand, I can only think of one shot where I hit exactly where I intended. I have lost several with a bow, and guns m, so I know well how you feel. Good luck on the rest of your season. I am in the sidelines until gun opens up.

Check the pa chest girth chart for the estimated edible yield for a 182 pound (on certified scale) field-dressed buck. G-man can get you a copy of that chart.

Says the Indian still looking for a buck hit with an arrow last week ?

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.