Jdubs

My Arcteryx shell is both the best foul weather jacket I ever purchased and easily the most expensive. Rain and snow beads up and rolls right off. Definitely recommend. This pic was taken on the summit of Rocky Peak Ridge, one of the ADK 46ers. Temp with wind chill was about -5 degrees, but this shell totally stonewalls the wind and holds in body heat. I only wore a heavyweight poloypro base layer with a moisture wicking shirt underneath.

As much as I believe in "Buy once, cry once", I will relentlessly bargain shop for the gear I want. Perfect example, I picked up a $370 Cabela's MT050 jacket for $130 total in the Bargain Cave. That jacket is absolutely weather-proof and may be my favorite piece of gear. Staying warm and dry means hunting longer. A close second would be my Lone Wolf Alpha hang on stand and climbing sticks. Now I can move around my hunting area into any tree I want. Hanging multiple ladder stands isn't an option so having mobility with a lightweight and quiet stand system was a total game changer for me last year.

FWIW, I'm using a Muzzy Trocar 3-blade 100gr on a Carbon Express 20" PileDriver bolt. I hope to edit this post in about 2 weeks with a field report on how it performed on a deer.

Hot pumpkin oatmeal to take the chill off from this morning's observation sit.

Probably just your shoulder or a nerve like you said, but when is the last time you saw the doc for a routine workup? Might not be a bad idea to have him do a checkup to confirm your thoughts and rule out any bad stuff.

I like your style.

I'm sure your Dad is with you there in spirit. I said a quick prayer asking that you'd be blessed with a successful hunt. Of course, you'd be on your own for the drag.

There is one potential problem with clever tipping his hand this way: Mr. Knucklehead may go to the Law first with a bs accusation about clever's hunting methods. He could even say clever threatened him. He could make up any number of things to jam him up. Unreasonable people can be rather unpredictable and clever already tried to resolve the matter amicably. In my experience, you usually want to be the first person to make a complaint. Maybe there's more to the story, but I'd let the DEC handle this and focus on hunting that 10 pt instead. They could offer the clown a verbal warning and put him on notice to knock off the harassment or face charges.

He is angry that you are hunting on your own private land?! Wow. Some people go out of their way to stupidly bring The Man into their miserable life. He's one of them. If you already made a bona fide attempt to resolve this like a gentleman, then unfortunately the next step is to call the DEC to speak to him. Who knows what he will escalate his behavior to next if you don't.

So a friend of a co-worker friend asks for your help, but tries to dump the kill on you?! Wow...I'd have some choice words too. That's ridiculous.

I'm over 300 yo in dog years.

Buddy's cam, woods behind the house.

Congrats!

70's this weekend...yep, I'll be mowing.

The last Governor's race had the worst turnout ever so it becomes a self-fufilling prophecy for non-Democrat party line voters to stay home and say, "My vote won't matter anyway". It's sad to hear such people freely sacrifice one of their most important Rights. There is no doubt that the local races are very dependent on each and every vote. Our last Town Supervisor literally won by one single vote. I'd encourage every eligible person to cast their vote. It matters.

I'm not in love with my Stealthcam G42NG, but the low light/night time shots aren't bad. The deer don't seem bothered at all.

Define "able bodied". It is not as easy as you make it sound. The devil is always in the details.

Where? I didn't notice one. That guy was perched there still and just minding his business. In fact, it's the same one that I've had waddle up and down a tree about 10' away while night hunting yotes and foxes. There are fishers in the exact same area and yet this guy is still around. I should probably name him. Lol

For my area, yes. No doubt. It's taken me a couple years, but I think I have their movement figured out. We'll see. Actually, I should give you some credit for mentioning in some post somewhere that you go looking for your ADK brutes in the swampy type areas. That helped me to focus on a couple spots and connect the dots on travel routes.

Checked the creek cam while doing some stand work yesterday. Nice wide 6 strolled by plus good activity overall. Also spotted my porcupine buddy in his tree stand!

I'm about 50/50 on yesterday's pull. Their coats are changing/have changed and that's reflected in the movement. Didn't see any bucks for a stretch until morning temps finally dipped down to 39 on 10/3. Of course today was 80 and muggy so...

The xbow was a gift for my stepson who expressed an interest in learning to hunt. I offered him the choice of a bow or xbow, explained the pros/cons and he chose the xbow. He dragged his feet on taking the hunter safety course so I am hunting with this xbow and offered to give him cash towards a car instead. I'm well aware that prices can run the gamut, but ultimately one usually gets what they pay for. Seems like a bow should be fit to the hunter in the same way a golfer is fit for clubs. Add in accessories, training and such and I think a grand is a safe estimate. Or I can climb a tree now with the xbow I already own and be hunting.

Speaking only to my own situation, I don't want to spend another $1k+ on yet another hunting tool when the one I already have (an xbow) is perfectly capable of harvesting a deer. Bow/xbow are both archery tools and the skills needed to successfully put yourself in position to make a kill shot (5-50 yards) are essentially the same. The main difference I can think of would be the hunter forced to hold draw whereas the xbow hunter only holds a sight picture. Is that worth keeping two separate seasons? To me, no.

Potatoes, diapers and water? I don't know what else was in his cart, but that strikes me as someone having tough times. If so, I'd probably pull a, "Hey buddy, you dropped this..." and hand him a couple twenties so he could pay for the items and keep his dignity.

Live pic from the kitchen table. The downpour scratched my morning plans to work on stand locations ahead of xbow opener.