wolc123

I was also up north this past weekend for my brothers wedding. They had the ceremony on this little island out on the St Lawrence. My hunting spot is about 40 miles south, as the crow flies, but about an hour and a half by bad roads. The leaves are already starting to turn and I am certainly ready for some Northern zone deer hunting after slugging it out with the skeeters for the past 9 days for the southern zone early antlerless season.

I ate a pretty good wild Alaskan salmon dinner at Denny’s, along with half of my wife’s honey roasted chicken sandwich. It looks like the Bill’s have the fish under control, so I am back out in position ahead of schedule. I am in my front woods stand, near an old gas well. I have everything I need to be comfortable. I will give momma doe until 7:46 or so to show up here. There are lots of nuts on ground. Hopefully she is hungry for some of those.

I think you are going to love carrying that new rifle up there Vinny, and I hope to hear of you getting a buck with it this year. I also think it was a good move, sticking with a 30/06. I have only killed 2 Adirondack bucks, but both were DRT, using Federal classic 150 grain from my old Ruger M77 30/06. What ammo will you be using ? As I am getting older, my old, full-sized Ruger has gotten too difficult to carry up there. It is more the bulk and long barrel than the weight that make it a problem for me. My big, heavy T/C omega 50 cal ML has those same issues, but has taken a couple nice Adirondack doe for me during the early ML weeks. I am very thankful that a few more wmu’s in the park will be open for those again this year. I will be bringing along my old Traditions fox river 50, sidelock carbine ML this year. I hope to break it in with a kill. It weighs less than half of what my T/C omega does, and is about 2/3 as long, so it should be much easier to carry. I will be up there though opening weekend of gun and I think I will leave the big Ruger 30/06. That is the only caliber that I have ever killed a deer with (the 2 Adirondack white tails and a Rocky Mountain muley). I have yet to try my 30/30 on one, but hope to on that weekend. I have a Marlin 336BL, with fiber optic sights, for rainy or snow conditions. I will use my father in law’s scoped standard version in fair weather conditions. We have plenty of 150 gr ammo for those, but I d add m down to less than two boxes for my 30/06.

I am relaxing my hotel room, up in Alexandria bay right now (up here for my brothers second wedding yesterday), thinking about my next and last early antlerless season southern zone hunt this afternoon. I will probably hit the truck stop on my way home and be up in my stand , over at my folks place, around 4 pm. No deer action at all on my last 3 hunts. I left the deer fridge plugged in at home, just in case it picks up this afternoon. I am more looking forward to getting back up north in a few weeks for early ML season and opening weekend of gun.

I have been spending a fair amount of my “free time” on ladders the last few years, working on dismantling a couple of old barns. I still have a ways to go on the last one, but most of the “real high” work is now completed. Being up there, on a 24 ft extension ladder, was much scarier than hunting from a tree stand, 8 ft in the air.

The only action for me tonight was mosquitoes (not as bad as last night), and a gray squirrel climbing up my tree. A couple things I have noticed, is that I have not seen a deer when there has not been any wind, nor have I seen any after the first hunt from a particular stand. I am thinking scent buildup might be the problem. I am going to hope for a little wind, for my last early antlerless hunt on Sunday afternoon, and try a new stand.

The older I get, the less I like heights. Two of my coworkers were seriously injured in falls from ladders while doing home repairs. One hit his head and suffered a concussion a couple years ago, and the other fell just a couple months ago, breaking a rib and his ankle. An elderly neighbor (in his 90's), died as a result of injuries he suffered after falling off a ladder while cleaning his gutters last year. Fortunately, while I have lots of friends who hunt from tree stands, I have not heard of any who were injured in a fall. Everyone talks about safety straps and harnesses, etc, but few mention an even better way to reduce or eliminate the risk of a fall injury, and that is - hunt closer to the ground. I know it is hard for some to believe, but deer can actually be killed right from the ground. Personally, I am most comfortable hunting 6- 8 ft up, on flat lands. That puts me safely above the line of fire from other hunters, and allows me to throw lead at deer, without risk to others, with the ground acting as a backstop. I am much more worried about getting shot on the ground, than I am of falling from a tree. It almost happened to me once, and that was more than enough of that. A fall from 8 ft may still cause injuries, but generally not to the degree of higher falls. That is why all but one of my stands now have 3 ft safety rail/gun rests. The non-railed one is about 7 ft up, and I only use it for one or two short hunts a year. I am reluctant to change anything on that one, because it has produced for me on opening day, the last three years. Although I have not in the past, I may use a safety strap in it this year. Next season, I will probably replace that little uncomfortable hang-on with a big comfortable, railed ladder platform. I have been hunting recently (early antlerless gun season) from a couple of those, that I started last winter and put up this summer. One is now "christened" with a kill. They are super awesome, when it comes to comfort and safety. I think I have the design fully optimized - 42' x 48" synthetic lumber deck, 8 ft above the ground, lag bolted to tree, with two 8 ft pressure landscape timber front legs ($5 ea at Home Depot), pressure treated frame, barnwood sided 3 ft wall. They have cushioned swivel chairs in them (the best one is adjustable height with arm rests), and a tree umbrella works good for the rain. I had a good supply of "free" lumber (except for the landscape timbers) and barnwood, so besides being the best, most comfortable stands that I have ever hunted from, these were also the cheapest.

Where are all these supposed illegals going after they get in ? Why are they not filling some of the vacant jobs nobody seems to want to do. I can not recall any time in my 56 years when it was this tough to find people willing to work.

That is our girls favorite food joint.

I had one that I really liked, it is legal in NY, and I was very tempted to try it. A little pre-hunt research indicated that there may not be a worse choice for deer in a center fire rifle. Deer are thin skinned big game and are often killed by poachers with a .22 rimfire, so the .22/250 is certainly adequate to kill them, provided it strikes the right place. The problems begin when the bullet hits the deer anywhere else. The bullet is way too fast and way too light to be seriously considered for deer, especially if you want to eat them. Meat damage is directly proportional to bullet velocity and not many shoot faster than a .22/250. Light bullets perform very poorly when bone is struck, and few are lighter than those in most .22/250 rounds. Can you use it : Yes, should you use it: see turkeyfeathers post.

Sure beats corn dodgers:

Worked 9 hours, drove home, cut lawn, whipped up best dinner I ever ate, in position at 6:25, for last early season antlerless shotgun hunt at home.

Full weeks off work are awesome for sure, because they include 9 hunting days, counting the weekends at both ends. My favorite is certainly the early ML week up in the northern zone, which includes opening weekend of gun season. It should be especially good this year, with additional wmu’s opened for antlerless deer during early ML. Since my venison supply is ok right now (thanks to an early sz antlerless season bb and a little help from my friends), I plan on being somewhat selective with my 3 remaining tags, that will be good up north, this year (my regular gun tag will be good the last Sat and Sun). An antlerless deer will need to be a mature (1.5 yr min) doe for sure and a buck at least a 4 point (that is the equivalent of a southern-zone, flat-land 8 point to me).

Yes, it is a K 1.5 that I bought used and had mounted in 1984. I imagine it was made in the late 60’s to early 70’s, around the same time as grandpa’s model 37 Ithaca 16 gauge deerslayer. I have a matching serial number modified choke barrel, in addition to the cylinder bore deerslayer smoothbore barrel for that gun. I only used that one time, on a grouse hunt with my uncle, when I was 14. I shot about 14 times on that hunt, at about a dozen grouse, but never so much as knocked a feather off one of them. That is why I did not mind having the receiver drilled for the scope mount, which pretty much rendered my modified choke barrel useless to me, and it hasn’t been back on the gun in more than 40 years. I killed the first deer I shot at with that gun with the open sights (a party permit button buck in Allegheny state park) when I was 16, but missed a mature antlered buck at home with it later that season. I think buck fever prevented me from bringing up my back sight. I got the Weaver 1.5 mounted the following summer and that combo has got the job done on every deer I have shot it at since that day. I mostly stick within its effective range of about 100 yards though, but most have been much closer. That scope and gun are durable and dependable. I have hunted with it in all weather conditions including lots of freezing rain. One time, I dropped it from a stand about 15 feet up, into a couple feet of near freezing water in a ditch. I wiped it off, cleaned it and oiled, and it never gave me any problems after.

I did not see any deer tonight over at my parents . I will try it again at home tomorrow, then back at their place Sunday evening. I don’t think COVID got any of the grey squirrels there, because I certainly heard lots of them tonight. I did not see any thru all those green leaves though. I am hoping that most of the leaves will be dow, before my next hunt over there during crossbow season, in early November. My new blind is quite roomy, so I plan on bringing my pellet gun in addition to my crossbow, to deal with the squirrels.

I am keeping the deer fridge plugged in until Sunday night, “just in case” momma doe shows up in the warm weather.

I am in position, no wind, 73 degrees, a few skeeters. Time for some bug spray. Come on out mamma doe.

I think the blaze orange deal was put in there only due to the added half hour of hunting before sunrise and after sunset. I feel that we hunters have benefited from that compromise, and it will be worth the price we paid, in the long run. Last Sunday, I am fairly certain that I got busted by a deer because of my orange hat. Tomorrow, I am going back to that same stand, with a camo hat and an orange vest. I think I can fool the deer, that busted me last time, if I do that. My vest will be mostly hidden from its view by the 3 ft barnwood wall that wraps around the stand. I will keep my shoulders and the vest down low, by adjusting my chair as low as it will go. I am picturing that deer approaching the clover patch from the woods at about 6:30 pm like it did last time. It will likely glance up at my stand, and check for that big, bright orange light bulb, before leaving the cover of the woods. Hopefully, it is a mature doe. Would I prefer that the blaze orange requirement was not there ?, most certainly. I think I can figure out how to adapt to it, and so ought to the winers out there.

Good points about the ammo replacement and honoring your grandfather. I still have a decent supply of 16 gauge slugs. I am going to try and honor my grandfather, by using his old Ithaca model 37 to kill a doe on his old farm tomorrow and Sunday, during the special early antlerless season. The last time I used that gun over there was opening day in 2019 and it worked well on a mature doe then. There are still 5 vacuum-sealed packs from that one in our freezer. Hopefully, it will get the job done again on one of those next two hunts.

No deer showed up back in the fields. Some showed up in my freezer when I got back to the house though. One of my friends, who raises beef, dropped off about 40 pounds of mostly vacuum sealed venison (about half grind and the rest steaks) , along with a fresh frozen beef tongue, heart, and liver. His family prefers beef to venison, but not the “good parts”. His youngest son loves deer hunting and is pretty good at it. They must be looking to free up some freezer space for the rest of the Hereford steer they just butchered.

No wind at all tonight and no signs of deer yet. I am only sticking it out till sunset at 7:30. If nothing shows by then, it will be my first early season afternoon without a deer sighting. I would stick it out for the last 20 minutes of useful daylight if I saw something or if my Repel tick defense held off the skeeters a little better. I am up in the cupola of my 2-story blind. The next time I hunt it will be opening day of x-bow in November. There is no corn near here but the adjacent white clover patch by looks good. Also, the big white oak next to it has more acorns than I have ever seen on it. They ought to be good and ripe by peak rut time.

I am going to try and do my part for the DEC and fill my second DMP. I just finished processing my bb from Sunday (it yielded about 30 pounds of meat, mostly boneless except for the neck roast). The deer fridge is ready for a mature doe now. I am going to hold out for one of those with my last tag. I had two of those in range on my 3 afternoon hunts so far, but neither offered me a clear shot. A nice 2.5 year old 8 point buck taunted me with multiple "chip shot" opportunities on my other afternoon hunt. I did not see a deer of any kind on the two mornings I was out. I plan to be out there for 4 of the last 5 afternoons. Hopefully, a mature doe will show up in range on one of them. I could use some grind because our kids love deer tacos (I made the button buck all into roasts, chops, and stew meat). I am a little concerned that the mature buck action will drop off later, if I take a doe away, but not so much to refrain from helping the DEC achieve their management goals. Not taking advantage of this early antlerless season is a somewhat selfish move by trophy hunters and I don't want to be associated with that, being about as pure of a "meat guy" as could be imagined. I have been using Repel mosquito and tick repellant and it has done the trick on the bugs, and does not seem offensive to the deer. I was happy to not find any ticks on the wmu 9f bb that I skinned Sunday night. It was too hot to hunt tonight (85 F at my house), but ok for butchering in our insulated garage with the AC cranked up. I am liking this early antlerless gun season, and I hope to see it continue in future years. It beats the hell out of letting the farmers feed the coyotes with "nussance deer" as has been the fate of most antlerless deer around here for the last 20 some years.

What I saw showed September 11 - September 19 (special 9 day early antlerless season). If it ended Saturday evening, it would have said September 11 - September 18 (special 8 day early antlerless season). I will give it until 20 minutes past sunset on Sunday the 19th if necessary (those last 10 minutes are too dark to make 100 % ID of the quarry anyhow). I am probably going to hit my folks house on Thursday evening and I will leave the old Ithaca 16 gauge over there (if I don't fill the tag Thursday). Their place is on my way home from where I got to go Saturday morning thru Sunday morning,. I just got to remember to bring the damn blaze orange hat. Being able to stop on my way home will give me about 30 more minutes for my last early antlerless season hunt. One thing I really like about this September early antlerless season is that I have seen deer on every day that I hunted (just none before 6:00 pm). I did not have a single good shot opportunity at an antlerless deer during all of southern zone crossbow and gun season last year and didn't fill a single dmp. If the DEC wanted filled dmps, then the early gun season seems to be a good move. Maybe there were several versions of the rules circulated. Belo thought he had to wear a blaze orange or pink hat AND vest, whereas what I read said "OR" not "AND". What I saw was very clearly written on both the ending date and the blaze orange requirements.

I have been stopped on the water in my boat, 5 or 6 times. They wrote me a ticket for not enough life preservers on Chataqua lake once. A CO made my wife return her first walleye on Silver lake (it might have needed to be stretched about 1/64" to make 15"). The other times, they just asked to see our fishing licences. I have never seen one while hunting,

I moved out of the cap to a nearby open topped blind at 6:40 pm. I Saw what looked like an antlerless deer, near the edge of some brush, about 5 minutes later. It was just over 100 yards away. It hung out there a couple minutes, then moved back in the brush, never offering a good clear shot or positive identification. Could have been a mature doe, or small spike but definitely not a mature buck. I am holding out for a mature doe with my last dmp. I have a little quality meat now, but I could use some more quantity (and some taco meat). Yesterday's bb is still aging in the deer fridge. Young ones like that don't need much of that, so I will probably skip the hunt tommorow after work (sounds a little on the warm side), and cut it up. I don't think I am going to grind any of it, seeing how there is so little to spare. With the shot damage to the front shoulder, I will be lucky to get 30 pounds of meat out of it. Some of that will definitely be a bone in neck roast, 2-4 small boneless roasts from the hind quarters, and maybe another small one from the non shot-up front shoulder. The backstraps look good, probably enough for a meal for the wife, youngest daughter, and me, sliced up for a stir-fry. The tenderloins will make a good appetizer before supper, but no where near enough for a meal. I will cut everything else up for some real tender stew meat. I will probably hunt out back here again Wednsday evening and back at my folks Thursday. I don't think my odds are good form the new field-edge tree blind where I spooked the deer and killed the bb. I will probably go for the mid-woods two-story blind and bring my old Ithaca 16 gauge. Shots will be short in there, with all the leaves still on the trees. That is the gun that got my last mature doe on that farm, back in 19. There is just something nice about using grandpa's old gun on his old farm. Depending on the weather, I might hunt Friday afternoon at home, and I have other obligations all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon is a possibility, for one last early-season antlerless hunt, with the location TBD. This early hunting is ok, as far as deer sightings, but the warm temps and skeeters are making me look forward to October ML season up in the northern zone, crossbow, regular and ML season at and maybe most of all, Holiday ML season at home. Snow and frozen bugs would be great right now.