wolc123
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Posts posted by wolc123
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42 minutes ago, luberhill said:
Sorry just saw this ..
For the last 7 yrs I’ve done the same , or should I say my butcher has .
He has a huge walk-in that he leaves skinned deer hanging in for 7 days or more.
This deer was done the same as I’ve been going to him as I said , for 7 years .
Ive for sure shot bigger deer than this one but NEVER had the backstraps be tough like this one .
And I cook them rare …
Unless you do it yourself, you really don’t know for certain how long it was aged before it was froze. My money is still on, that it wasn’t long enough to get past rigor mortis.
Maybe the guy lost track of how long it was in there, or grabbed one from the wrong end of the rail by mistake. Maybe the temperature regulation got messed up and everything in the cooler froze solid.
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6 minutes ago, phantom said:
I think Kentucky Ohio Minnesota we're considering it. Some areas have single shot shotgun seasons where you can use a muzzle loader . There are so many different regs out there even with in a state .
I like the single-shot smoothbore shotgun in ML season idea. It might have put an extra deer in my freezer last year, during the Holliday ML season.
I caught the tail end of the Christmas blizzard on the first day of that last year. A considerable amount of wind driven snow must have made it into my muzzle that morning, then melted down into the powder charge, when I brought the gun in the house at lunch time.
That was the second mistake I made that day. I should have left the gun out in my unheated barn. I also should have covered the muzzle, when hunting in the wind driven snow, that morning.
That evening, I suffered my first misfire with my in-line ML, saving the life of a nice sized broadside doe at 50 yards. My old, NY-arms 12 ga single shot smoothbore would have had no trouble getting the job done that day with a plastic-cased smokeless-powder slug.
If such a law passes (and I don’t believe it ever will), I would only use that shotgun on rainy or snowy days.
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It’s probably tough because it was frozen before it got past rigor-mortis. That’s a very common mistake with deer hunters, and a critical part of the process if you like your red meat tender.
Several ways to fix that now:
1) Take the frozen meat to a processor and have them grind it for sausage , hot-dogs, etc.
2) Get a pressure cooker, thaw it out, chunk it up, and can it.
To prevent future occurrence, age the carcasses before processing at 33 - 43 F for 5 days if 1.5 yr old, 7 days if 2.5 yr old, 10 days if older. An old refrigerator with the racks removed works perfect for that, if the outside temperature is too warm.
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That may have been an issue 20 years ago, but no problem these days, thanks to cell phones (unless you are hunting a spot that don’t have reception). I only hunt by myself up at my in-laws place but my phone is always with me. My father in law can be in most places I hunt up there in minutes with his loader tractor or atv. I think his new tractor has a lift capacity of over 2000 pounds. He had to upgrade a couple years ago, to handle his new snowplow.
If I was way back, where it was difficult to get an atv close for the drag, I would skin the bear first and drag just the hide out, leaving the head and paws attached. That would be the toughest (and most important) haul.
Next, I would go back for the 20-40 pounds of edible meat on my second trip (assuming the bear weighs 200-400 pounds live).
That will likely be my plan anyhow, unless the temperature is predicted to be below 40 degrees at the time of the kill and for the next several days. With bear in warm weather, it is very important to get the hide off fast and get the meat cool.
I know for sure that my best chance of getting a bear will be as a “target of opportunity” while I am deer hunting during the northern zone early northern zone ML week. Global warming has made that week very warm, the last 10 years at least. That is surely not going to change anytime soon. Keep your knife sharp and you have nothing to worry about.-
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Certainly it is true that the vast majority of bears taken in NY are "targets of opportunity" that are harvested by deer hunters, who happen to be in the right place at the right time. The reasons for that are: #1) bears are mostly nocturnal. #2) baiting is not allowed in NY.
I am a pure meat hunter, and that is the main reason that I never had much desire to hunt bears. The problem with bear meat is: #1) Less than 10% of their body weight is edible. All of the rest is non-edible guts, hide, bone, and fat. #2) Meat from bears that weigh much over 200 pounds field-dressed tastes bad. The math here just doesn't work out for me (as a pure meat hunter). Why should I waste much time and money in pursuit of less than 20 pounds of ok-tasting meat, or a little more bad-tasting meat ?
The answer that question, is that my father in law would really like a bear rug. For that reason only, I have devoted some time and energy, over the last 20 years since marrying his daughter, in pursuit of one. The bear population is definitely on the rise where my in-laws live, up on the NW corner of the Adirondack park, not too far from fort Drum. While I have yet to see one, I had a close call up there last October, during the early ML week. We found fresh tracks that were made (at night) while I was there. They have also captured a few daytime trail cam photos, and neighbors have seen several out in the daylight.
Bears have been my primary target up there, about every other year, over the long Thanksgiving weekend. On the "in-between" years, when I still have a buck tag because I haven't filled it at home in the southern zone on opening weekend, bucks are my primary target. If I ever do manage to get a bear up there, it might be killed with my 16 gauge side-by side shotgun, and a Remington "slugger". Grouse, are my "secondary" target on those "every other years", so I bring along some # 7-1/2 shot for those. I have patterned that double with the slugs, and it groups pretty good, out to about 60 yards. Shots further than that, in the the heavy cover up there, are unlikely anyhow.
This was a couple years ago up there on Thanksgiving weekend. I had a couple slugs in the double and was watching a spot at sunrise “buck-tagless”, and hoping to see a bear.
We had to come home a day early that year, because it got warm and there was a big “opening week” buck carcass hanging in our garage that I had to process before it spoiled (the victim of another 16 ga Remington slugger from a different gun):
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The lack of any frozen ground this winter took out my winter firewood gathering. With my spare “free-time”, I’ve already exhausted my supply of bucktails, making jigs for bass fishing. I’m not sure if they will like coyote tail jigs, but that’s all I that I got left, so I’m going to give it a try:
Maybe I can get a few more of those before that season closes at the end of March.
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I never shot a sucker, but I really enjoyed spearing them, back when it was legal on the local streams. Murder creek in the town of Newstead was my favorite spot. The first warm rain in the spring would always bring them up.
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I went out after small game with my neighbor the last 2 Sunday afternoons. Two weeks ago we saw (3) rabbits and a squirrel and killed (2) of the rabbits. Last Sunday, we didn’t see any small game whatsoever.
I think I’ll skip next Sunday.
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2 hours ago, Nytracker said:
Yup great weather minus the 25mph winds . Problem is my apple trees are pushing buds and will probably get frosted again this year. With no real snow pack and warm weather I see another hot dry summer . We could really use a decent spring with some rain. We are still way off the water table norms . Have been thinking about putting in a big patch of sweet corn but I don't want to have to water it all summer long .
I’m going to plow our front yard for my early sweetcorn this year. My wife has already given my the ok on that plan. That will make it easy to water. It will also make it easy to harvest, and to control the raccoons. They, and the deer got almost all of my early sweetcorn plantings way out back, last year.
Other benefits will be a lot less wasted time mowing our lawn this summer. My front yard has gotten so rough the last few years, that I have had to run the riding mowers very slow. The early corn will be done for, just in time to disk it up smooth and reseed the grass, at the optimum time of late August.
My front yard drains very good. I could probably plow it now if I wanted to. I’ll wait until mid March or so, let the sod rot a couple months, then disk it and get it ready for planting early sweetcorn in mid May.
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It takes me about a half hour and 2 quarts of gas to blast everything out/off from a raw, skinned head using my 3100 psi power washer.
That also beats the heck out boiling them in the house, especially when it comes to the cleanup, and keeping my wife happy. I just leave the mess outside overnight, and the birds and vermin have it all completely cleaned up by the next morning.
I like the natural bone color on my euros, and you would also likely get that with the beetles. When you boil them, they sometimes turn an ugly yellow.
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As long as there is not too much wind, the tree umbrella works ok for me. I’ve now managed to kill (2) deer from under it, when it was falling pretty good. I wouldn’t have believed that was possible before that, because the rain makes so much noise hitting it (sounds like a snare drum).
I also use an old 10x gor-Tex jacket on occasion, if walking in the rain can’t be avoided.
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Don’t use them. Get a tree umbrella and use that to keep the rain off your scope after you get to your spot. Your crossbow is too front heavy for accurate offhand shots anyhow, so I wouldn’t be concerned at what happens on your walk to and from your spots when it’s raining.
That said, I’d consider putting covers on the illuminated dot sight on my Barnett Recruit because that handles as well as my Ruger 10/22 so a close range offhand shot would be no issue.
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1 hour ago, luberhill said:
Well I was going to but seems like it’s all over the place. I’ve seen several complaining the stock scope is garbage .
I bought the best bolts I could , field points and broad heads .. you get it dialed in and two shots later it’s out again.
Shooting from a rest
That’s odd. I have the same crossbow with the scope, bolts and field tips that came with it, and the cheapest bolts they had at Walmart. It has always been very consistent on targets, but I have yet to shoot it any game animal. It holds a 2” group at 60 yards.
I bought it mostly for backup. If my Barnett Recruit were ever to break, or fail me on a game animal, I’d probably use the Sniper 370 more. I much prefer hunting with the Recruit, because it handles much easier. It is so light in the front, that it shoots well offhand.
I’ve only hunted with the Sniper a few times, from stands that had very good rests, all the way around. I’d not wan’t to try an offhand shot with that front-heavy basterd. I suppose it’s 370 FPS would extend my effective range to about 60 yards. My longest of (5) buck kills with the Recruit (300 FPS) was a 59 yards “unintentional” heart shot.
I had aimed center/lung, but underestimated the yardage at 50. I now carry a laser range-finder, so that I don’t repeat that mistake. Penetration was less than 8” at that range. 50 yards is as far as I would shoot at one now. That would have been a single-lunger, had it hit where I intended. Fortunately, that was enough to drive my mechanical broadhead all the way thru the heart.
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I recommend sticking with your oem scope until it fails you, then upgrade if you wish. In the worlds of general George Patton “The best is the enemy of the good”.
If you are looking for a place to put an extra $200, throw it in the collection plate at Church.
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57 minutes ago, First-light said:
I have the perfect setup to get a few cows but I'm scared to death I wouldn't be able to send them to the Processor when the time comes.
I never felt right about that, back when we used to raise beef cattle. That might be the main reason why I like venison so much more than beef. There’s no “deceitfullness” with the venison. Those deer know that I’m out to get then from the get go. I don’t ever pretend to be their care-giver or provider.
It also helps, that I can still get my venison for close to $ 1.00 per pound, after subtracting input costs. We never got close to that for beef, 40 years ago, when that dollar went a lot further. I think it would be tough to produce small quantities of beef these days, for much less than $ 5.00 per pound.
Today, with very high deer populations, liberal tag allowance, and relatively few hunters, I couldn’t imagine raising beef for food . My wife gets grossed out whenever she fries up ground beef, after being “spoiled” for so many years, by lean corn-fed venison.
If deer are properly fed (clover and corn) and handled well after killing (gut quick and age carcass) then that meat tastes as good or better than the finest beef, in my family’s opinion anyhow.
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43 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:
One of the greatest places in the state. We are lucky to have this jewel to be able to run around on.
My sister and brother in law’s farm is 10 minutes off the nw corner and (3) of my best friends have camps that are located within 15 minutes of the se corner of that park. The deer (body size and antlers) seem significantly bigger on average, on the nw corner. That’s got to be because there is way more ag (mostly corn) up that way.
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I had a little bit of deer action on my last Holliday hunt tonight. My seat cushion fell down to the ground right around sunset. Right after that happened, I heard twigs snapping behind me.
Two antlerless deer were moving along the edge of the swamp, about 75 yards away and headed my direction. They turned into the swamp about 50 yards out.
I could not have gotten a clear shot at them, even if I had my scoped ML, because there was thick cover in between us. No chance at all with my crossbow.
I am not sure if they heard my cushion fall, picked up my scent, or were just not going to pass me close by for another reason. I stayed up in the stand until about 20 minutes past sunset, when it got too dark to see in the woods. No other deer showed up.
That’s a wrap for the 22/23 season. We have slightly more than (3) average-sized deer in the freezer right now, which should be just enough to last us until next September, when I hope they do the early antlerless season again. I definitely don’t have enough meat to make it until next early NZ ML season, in mid-October.
I would have liked to have added one more, because I always like to have at least one in reserve. Vacuum-sealed pure venison lasts at least (4) years in the freezer, with no loss of flavor.
The only bright spot of not getting one the last few days, is that the outside temps are supposed to get into the 60’s. That would have forced me to fire up my deer fridge. It would have sucked to have to do that in January, to avoid spoilage.
That also leaves plenty of room for fish in our big freezer this summer. I should have a lot more time for fishing this year than I did last, since my barn dismantling project is just about done.
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I’m settled in, for the last (2) hours of the 22/23 Holiday season with my crossbow, at my trailer park stand. There’s a row of double-wides, 300 ft off to my right, and a swamp to my left.
Several mornings ago, I saw the highest concentration of deer tracks that I have noted this year, back here on the snow. That’s all melted now, so it should be easier for them to get at the acorns that are burried here under the oak leaves.
I’d be very thankful if just one shows up before 5:19 this evening.
Merry
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20 minutes ago, DoubleDose said:
Has anyone ever experienced deer blowing and then settling down; not bolting? I never have. Foot stomping and head bobbing alone, I have had them settle down again, provided I remained motionless; but blowing they always end up bolting.
My experiences have been the same as that. Blowing is like an alarm, to warn other deer in the area to get alway fast. It is almost always the last thing I want to hear while hunting.
I heard it once, while I was fishing a small Adirondack lake in the fall though, and I used that sound to locate a prime feeding spot (oak trees up on a ridge) to kill a deer up there, the following season.
I never would have found that spot, had my scent not drifted up onto that ridge the year before, and alerted the deer that were feeding on acorns up there.
That was my first and most memorable Adirondack deer kill. I’ll never forget waiting until the wind was right, then sneaking up onto that ridge with my ML, before sunrise.
I’ve never seen a more completely surprised look on a deer, as the lead doe gave me after taking my 50 cal ML sabot thru both lungs. She just stood there staring at me, until her knees buckled, and she toppled over the edge of the steep part of the ridge. The 4 or 5 smaller antlerless deer behind her did not disperse, until after she fell, about a full minute after taking the shot.
This spot was very remote and it was almost like those deer had no clue what a hunter was.
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1 minute ago, DoubleDose said:
Wow, that the best/fanciest box blind I have ever seen!
Almost 2000 sq ft, with (2) full bathrooms, (2) gas furnaces, a wood stove, and bar-room, with regulation-sized billiard table.
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Nothing yet:
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24 minutes ago, bruno1 said:
I appreciate the feedback. You and @DoubleDosejust sold me on these. Would you recommend getting one size large to allow for air circulation with heavy socks?
I wouldn’t get too carried away with over sizing. Maybe a half size larger. These boots are so warm, that I have never “doubled up” on socks with them. A single, standard weight pair of wool-blend socks works best for me most of the time and a heavier weight pair on real cold days.
The only thing I don’t like about them, is that they are only good for about 10” of water. If you do go in deeper than that, and have an extra, dry pair of socks with you at the time, you could dump out the water, put those on, and probably be good to go (if the socks are wool or wool-blend).
I have also found that if they are laced fairly tight, and your bibs are not “tucked in”, you can take a quick step into deep water and not soak one. I got into trouble that one time after repeated steps into a deep ditch with loosened laces.
I like the regular black ones for hunting or ice fishing, but bulkier white ones are available for even colder conditions. My father in law has some of those. He spent his whole career working thru the winter on cold concrete dairy barn floors all day long, and he liked the white ones, when it was real cold.
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48 minutes ago, bruno1 said:
You’re the 3rd person this week that I’ve heard mention about Mickey Mouse boots. Are they warm or what’s special about them? I’m only asking because I’m in the market for new boots. TIA
I really like them. My father in law gave me a pair, that is stamped “1989”, as a Christmas gift, about 20 years ago. I’ve used them on most cold weather hunts the last 15 years. My feet have never got cold in them, except for a time when I submerged one several times.
Mine are showing no signs of wear, and I expect they will last quite a few more years. I have not heard of any non-military style boot, they can equal their performance at any price, and I think they only cost around $ 40, back when he bought them.
They work very well with the snowshoes since I cut the openings in the rubber bindings 1/4” wider all the way around. My feet got real cold wearing those Sorrel packs, the first morning of Holiday ML season. No trouble with that the other cold days in the Mickey Mouse boots.
I think the folks who spend big bucks on fancy cold weather boots are nuts.
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No luck at home, trying for a last minute 2022 buzzer-beater. I stayed in my stand until the last minute of legal light, seeing only a rabbit crossing my shooting lane at sunset.
My neighbor saw me walking back and texted that there were at least 5 out there before dark yesterday. I am guessing that they scent check the plot from downwind before they leave the surrounding heavy cover. He killed a big doe in his woods yesterday and saw the herd on my plot ad he was hauling it out on his wheeler.
Our creek is at flood stage and fully navigatable now. I could use a motorboat or canoe up the far drainage ditch, to haul a carcass back from my turnip plot, if I needed to. I wore a pair of black rubber knee-high boots for the walk back and forth this evening.
The coyote I killed back there during crossbow season, well over a month ago, is still laying untouched next to the bridge.
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Asking a favor for a new Cadet.
in General Chit Chat
Posted
That’s awesome, and it’s great to hear that she is thriving there. Thank her for her service. It’s looking like she might have some opportunities to put those Russian language skills to use in the not too distant future.
We stopped at West Point, with our youngest daughter, on the way home from dropping our oldest off at a downstate college. It certainly was an impressive place, and a very scenic location on the river.
We saw that they had some women’s sports programs, but no field-hockey (our youngest’s favorite). She got recruited by several colleges that had that, including St .John Fisher, where she ended up. No serving of her Country for her, so far anyhow. It’s nice to have her, just about an hour from home.
Our eldest had enough of the downstate college, 6 hours away from home, after a semester and a half (thank goodness). She came back home, got a decent-paying job, and is contemplating the Navy. We were only “empty nesters” for 1/2 of a semester. Both of them are in Florida on spring break right now.