wolc123

I have only had one anywhere else, and that was on a cruise ship to Cozumel. I don’t know why my father in law likes them, but he couldn’t find any within 50 miles lately. We brought up a case from Wegmans in WNY. I like the negras but don’t really care for the especials.

You shouldn’t be drinking ruby reds during a cold front, that’s a summer beer. I had my last one a couple weeks ago and will probably have to wait until June 22 for another.

I went back to the house for a bowl of soup and a short nap. Now I am back out in my pop up blind for the evening sit. I asked the gang not to eat up all the smoked brisket they are cooking in the big green egg because I will be back for some at about 6:30. I have seen lots of antlerless deer in this spot, but never a buck and never before Thanksgiving. I am hoping the cold front brings one in a little early this year when they are legal to kill. It is still raining steady, but only an occasional drip makes it in.

They taste similar to horse but a little sweeter. Not sure if they can be legally eaten in the US though, but our northern border is now open for the fully vaccinated. You could sneak it over there if you want to try it.

It is raining hard now. I can only see and shoot downwind from inside the lean-two, so I think I will pull the plug on the morning hunt and take a slow, wet walk back to camp. The only game this morning was 2 red squirrels sighted and a grouse flushed on the way in. If it is not raining too hard, I will do the evening sit in my pop up blind, back near camp. This is the first opening morning of ML, in 9 years up here, that I did not hear any shots. It is a little on the warm side (about 70) to deal with a carcass. Two skeeters got thier last meals from my left hand, but I got them with my right.

Not much rain yet this morning, but there is 1.73 inches predicted for today. I hung out at the campfire last night and did not get my pop up blind up until first light this morning. I left that in a good spot, close to camp, and headed out to some old lean-two’s in a good spot about a mile away. This is the spot where I have seen the most deer activity over the last 8 years up here. Ordinarily, I don’t hit it in the first hunt but I figured all that rain would wash away any of my scent. I am wearing my full rain gear and can back into a lean-two if the rain gets too intense. I have not seen any deer sign yet but I did hear some coyotes howling last night. My father in law put up an axe throwing target and I was able to get my edc knife to stick close to the bull last night on my 10th attempt.

I have played a few rounds thru the years, but never developed much like for it. If just seems liked too much wasted energy and money, with no free food, if you are successful. My favorite thing about it, is that it keeps folks off the waterways and away from the boat launches.

One last summer campfire. Cold front hits tonight, just in time for opening day of ML. Foliage was just about peak, south of Watertown, but the leaves are mostly down here a little to the north east.

I definitely prefer venison and beef rare to medium rare but I will likely slow cook the bear a long time in the crock pot to ward off triconisis. Got to get one first though. Maybe hot apple cider attracts bears. I have had pretty good luck with that attracting deer at home in WNY. I picked up a couple of gallons today and will soon be giving it a try up there. It didn’t work for me last year, but I was not on the “bear side” of route 3 at all. Does were off limits there, during ML week I last year, but they are legal this year. My primary goal on this trip is always to get me a mature doe. I never waste hunting time where they can’t be killed. Bears are mostly just a target of opportunity, but my father in law really wants a rug and I would really like to try some of that meat again, when I know it is properly handled.

That’s about all I made before clicking on here with my phone.

Good rain gear was the first thing I packed for hunting next week up north. Maybe I will put on my new chest waders, goretex jacket, electric tape over the muzzle of my stainless steel inline, and still hunt in the morning Saturday. Back to the house for some hot soup with the inlaws, then out to the pop up blind until 1/2 hour past sunset. Sounds like a good plan for this meathunter.

I did couple of times in the past, but will probably hit it a little harder this year, because doe will be legal with the ML on that side of rt 3 this year. Rumor has it, that is a preferred spot for the DEC to release “problem” bears that they have trapped. Have you hunted there much ?

Thanks for the the reminder. I will be sure to slip that on before the 1/4 mile walk to the pop up blind Saturday morning.

They are about an hour, almost straight to the south on good roads, from where I will be. I doubt I will be using them again because one of my mother in laws new friends in town (Harrisvlle) does deer processing. I think they are a little more expensive than Nolts, and I am not sure if they have a cooler. The 15 minute drive saves me an hour and a half and the temperatures don’t look too warm over the next week. Her friends in town do bears also, but after reading Dave’s posts, I think I will just cut one of those up myself if need be. Hopefully, they won’t have ticks as bad as that buck I cut up from up there a few years ago. Do bears get them as bad as deer ? I never heard of a bear tick, so I will take my chances. I will wear one of the three pairs of camouflaged pants that I treated with Sawyers a couple nights ago.

Damn, they are calling for almost an inch of rain on opening day of ML in the town up north where I am headed tomorrow. I sure hope I find my pop up blind in my in-laws attic when I get up there. I should have a couple hours of legal hunting time tomorrow afternoon. I will take a short walk then, with my crossbow, and get that blind set up. I should be able to keep my powder dry in that blind on Saturday. The rest of the week looks pretty good up there. Under a tenth of an inch of rain is predicted for Sunday, and none for Monday.

Same here, I am heading up to the nz tomorrow for early ML week thru opening weekend of gun. I can’t wait, and I am just finishing up my packing. Work has been particularly hectic lately. I will definitely get in some fishing too (catch and release for brook trout and for a “trophy” smallmouth bass). The only thing I can’t locate is my pop up blind. I think I may have left it up there, in my in-laws garage attic, on Memorial Day weekend. I have a spot in mind to set it up, in case of heavy rains. We had a lot of that up there on that week last year. There will be a little work, helping my in-laws get stuff ready for winter, but mostly “play”. My mother in law is the best cook that I have encountered, so I’d make that 4 hour trip, even if I couldn’t fish and hunt every day.

Our older daughter was home from college last weekend and she really likes it. I sat thru about 45 minutes of the first episode with her and I did not care for it.

That makes sense. Similarly, I bet 90% or more of the complaints of venison being “gamely” or tough is due to how it is handled after it is killed. How big were those good tasting bears, and have you noted that the smaller ones taste any better ? My buddy shot a very large one, up in Newfoundland on a combo moose hunt a few years ago, and the outfitters recommended leaving the whole carcass in the bush. They said that it would not even be fit for dog food. If I get one of any size, I will take a quick picture, then skin it asap. Even a big one has so little lean meat on it, that it should all fit easily in my in-laws beer fridge, and a medium sized cooler to take home. is aging the bear meat important like it is with red meat like venison ? I would probably chunk it up and keep it in the fridge thru the week, then grind the scraps and vacuum seal that and the roasts when I get home. I will try a roast before freezing it. If I don’t like it, maybe the coyotes will. There is always room on my butcher waste pile. Worst case, more coyote bait and father in law gets his rug. I was am particularly looking forward to some bearburgers.

I have had it twice. The first time was at a game dinner and it was not spectacular, reminding me of dry, semi-tasteless pork. The second time was a roast in the crockpot from a smaller bear (175 pound field dressed) and it was pretty good. My father in law really wants a rug, so I am going to shoot one if I get a chance. If it is a tough spot to recover and big, I will take the hide and head on my first trip and go back for some hind quarter roasts and the back straps only. The last time I got a doe up there during early ML season at daybreak, the temperature reached 80 degrees in the afternoon. I ran the carcass down to Nolts on Lowville for processing. I will never forget the sight of a belly up bear there, next to a pile of deer, and lots of flies. They did a great job on that doe, getting it packaged and ready for pickup in 5 days for $ 48. For that price, it ain’t worth bringing it home and dealing with the tics. The buck I brought home from there, after Thanksgiving that year, was loaded with those.

I have also heard that they are not really worth eating, if they are much over 200 pounds field-dressed. Hopefully, I can find a little one. They also have a terrible percentage of usable meat, with most of their weight made up of fat, hide, bone, and guts. A 400 pound live weight bear would only have about 40 pounds of edible on it.

Get yourself a crossbow and head to Darien lake state park on or after Nov 6, just in time for the best deer hunting of the year, at peak rut time. You ain’t missing much now in the “October lull”. That gives you a few weeks to get one and get it sighted in. A decent crossbow package can be had for about $ 250. I don’t think that park gets too crowded until after gun season opens up. Crossbows work well from ground blinds but some models are front heavy and work a lot better with a rest or shooting sticks. I have one like that (Center point sniper 370). My Barnett Recruit, by contrast, handles as easily as my Ruger 10/22, but has a shorter effective range (about 40 yards compared to about 50 for the sniper). Each of these was under $ 250. I did kill my first of 5 bucks with the Recruit at 59 yards, but the bolt only penetrated 8” into that 6 pointer. Fortunately that made it all the way thru his heart. I’d have been in trouble with any other shot placement.

That ones not maple, maybe cherry.

Same as Dirt Time is using for me. I will be using 240 gr Hornady XTP bullets in my (2) 50 cals with 100 grains (2 pellets) of triple 7 powder and a 209 primer in my inline and 75 grains (1 pellet and 25 grains loose) of triple 7 and a #11 cap with my sidelock. My crossbow will be used only in real rainy conditions during ML week with 100 gr NAP spitfire broadheads. Opening weekend of gun, it will be 150 gr Winchester XX 30/30 soft points. I have yet to kill a deer with my sidelock ML or 30/30 but have taken quite a few at home with the inline ML (two up in the Adirondacks) and 5 at home with the crossbow. I will have (3) tags that I could use in those 9 days up there, including an archery/ML either or, a archery/ML antlerless, and a regular season antlered (last 2 days only). It sure would be nice to fill one with the sidelock or the 30/30. My standards are significantly lower in the Adirondacks, where the deer gain much more value to me because of the beautiful scenery and the solitude of the surroundings. For that reason alone, if I get a good chance at a 4-point, 1-1/2 year old buck, even in the first hour of my first hunt on ML week, I am probably going to take it. A spike will be safe though, as will a 4 pointer on opening day of gun up there. I would be very thankful for a mature doe during ML week.

My wife and I did a couple shopping trips this afternoon, and I think we got everything that I will need for 9-1/2 days up north starting Friday. The in-laws haven’t been able to find any Modelo Negras up there, but she scored (2) 12’s at Wegmans in Amherst. I did ok at Runnings in Lockport, finding a nice soft gun case for my shotgun and light weight camo pants on sale. I also picked up some scent free body wash/shampoo and deodorant. My in-laws have a great shower and a tankless water heater, which I use every other day up there. Hopefully, that and some Evercalm on my boots will get me closer to deer that might be downwind. Two years ago up there, I used that method of scent control and it fooled the heck out of a big coyote. I was walking up a steep ridge on a deer trail and the damn thing nearly pounced on me. I was wearing full camo and had applied Evercalm on my boots. I first saw the yote about 30 yards away and it was headed right for me. I raised my ML and it bolted away as fast as I have ever seen one move. I was not able to get a shot off. I am quite sure that it thought I was a deer, because of that Evercalm, and it was hoping for a big meal. I have also had good results with Evercalm and deer at home, taking 3.5 year old bucks on three consecutive years while using it. I did without it last year, and had to settle for a 2.5.

Maple