WNYBuckHunter

He cant answer because hes on a time out

I agree with dbHunterNY, that first one is hard to judge, but Id say 2 1/2. The second buck is really almost impossible to judge from that picture.

Look, you can babble on all you like, but as long as the meat is cared for from field to freezer, packing and freezing it right away is fine. Aging is not necessary, and the vast majority of people out there (including yourself from the sounds of it) lack the knowledge and equipment to properly age it (which doesnt make it any better anyhow). Theres more to proper aging than just letting it sit and start to rot.

Just checking lol

Ive been a skeptic in the past, and have been to quite a few deer farms over the years. The quality of the "hunting" ranches varies widely. My girlfriends uncle owns a deer farm and hunting ranch, and the way that he runs it and raises his bucks is alot different than any others Ive seen before. When Ive been there, the bucks are literally jumping out of their skins to get away from anyone that comes within 200 yards of them. I have seen no difference in the way they act toward people than any deer in the wild. Their breeding deer are a different story, they will come up to you and let you pet them. The ranch is a couple of miles away from the farm, and the deer that are "hunted" live there, not at the farm. The fenced property is hundreds of acres, and other than when they are "hunting" or maintaining something, people dont go in there. Now Im not saying that I think it is hunting, and I probably wouldnt go "hunting" at one as its not my cup of tea, but its far different from how some other places are run.

You do realize that is all sarcasm, right?

I will not eat meat that has been aged incorrectly. You are talking about leaving it in temps up to 50 degrees, so I just wont take the chance. That is not how you age meat. The meat that I fresh freeze each year has changed many minds on whether or not they will eat venison. In fact, my girlfriend has been around deer and deer hunting all of her life. He uncle owns a deer farm, her family hunts, her ex husband hunts, and she rarely enjoyed eating venison. I have gotten her to the point where she enjoys eating it and actually asks for me to make it. In my experience, aging the meat makes no real difference unless it is aged incorrectly, and then you are running too many risks of it going bad.

20,30,40,50,60 I will target shoot at any of those, hunting, I keep it under 40

Baloney. Id put my fresh cut and frozen venison up against your aged (incorrectly with that much of a temp range btw) meat any day of the week. You wont be able to tell the difference toughness wise, and you wont get the runs after you eat it. BTW, I wont eat yours, we would need a non-biased 3rd party to be the guinea pig.

Im a bit closer than Culver, right down in Bristol, but my setup isnt nearly as nice as his. In fact, mine is kind of in flux right now, but later on in the season when I have everything set, youre more than welcome to come by. If you get something during gun season (ill be all set by then), let me know and Im sure we can find a few hours for you to bring it over and I can help you through it.

Not all Vortex are Chinese, only the low end models.

Due Process

You can build them pretty easy if you use a regular drill to start with. Basically just need to change the discs from single to double to open the ground, and add a packer to the rear. Ive seen some converted ones and they work very well. If you can find one that will do multiple size seeds at the same time, even better.

These guys make awesome maps. You can get big ones to hang up at camp and foldable ones to take with you. Great quality stuff. http://www.hunterra.com/

2010 Hoyt Maxxis 35. 60x strings, Copper John Dead Nutz 2 5 pin sight, Easton Carbon Stabilizer, Whisker Biscuit, Treelimb Premium quiver

Yep. Im glad I let it go to seed because now its growing again in the plots along side the brassicas. The stalks that were chopped up also helped keep some moisture in the ground during the drought, so the plot did better than some of the others. I think for next year Im actually going to look into a no till drill and start doing the plots that way rather than burn all kinds of time and diesel tilling them up.

I used to, but dont anymore. Im usually pretty scruffy anymore anyway.

LOL, yeah I made the mistake of buying cheap rope in the past. One of my friends pointed it out and explained why they wouldnt work as I expected. I got rid of them immediately and have replaced most of them since. The least expensive way to go is to buy double braid dock lines that are 20 feet long. Like these http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|2276108|2226888|2226894&id=1410868 Then get a spool of smaller diameter prussik rope. http://www.ems.com/sterling-accessory-cord-6-mm/26974300019.html?emssrcid=PPC%3AgooPLAs%3A149598009405_custom_label_0_climb_custom_label_1_climbing&adpos=1o1&creative=107003693565&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CjwKEAjw34i_BRDH9fbylbDJw1gSJAAvIFqUhQZOM6UklQzSk2IYWuTAqWb1VzEn21TCe7hehJnqHRoCh-Dw_wcB

I make my own as well. If you are using the correct type of rope with sufficient shock strength, they are only $2-5 less than the HSS ropes. If you are not using the right rope, you are throwing your money and time away.

I had just short of 600 pics on my one cam in a week on the one brassica plot. 3 different shooters and a bunch of other smaller bucks. I got a bunch of pics with sparring going on, etc. Best pull of the year so far.

Exactly. The DEC saw how many of us didnt participate and they rescinded it. BTW, I killed 5 does last year and zero bucks. I did my part without participating in that nonsensical 2 weeks.

Thank you. She was strapped in in the first pic, but was practicing climbing in the second. That stand doesnt have a lifeline in it though. All of our stands have safety straps up top, but we have way too many to have gone with lifelines in all of them at this point. I add as many as I can each year.

I actually dont have a plot larger than 3/4 of an acre. If you add them all up its still under 5 acres right now. We didnt have as much time to get the new ones in as I thought we would. Oh well, lost less money in seed this way with the drought.

Over the last month, I have been working on getting food plots all set, stands moved and shooting lanes trimmed. My plots are growing, but the drought has severely stunted them. All brassica plots with the exception of the new one have been overseeded in Winter Rye. Trail cameras are showing more shooter bucks between the two farms than I have ever seen in one season. I will be primarily after the buck that my daughter filmed last year on our first bow hunt of the year. He has another year and a bunch more inches on him, but he has still kept his habit of being very visible. I have a plethora of pictures of him in one of our plots during daylight hours every day last week. Yesterday I hung a set just for him. Hopefully after last years encounters, I can put him on the ground. Heres a few pics from the last few weeks... This plot was overseeded with WR and is coming along better since we have had a few rains recently This plot was overseeded in WR this past weekend This plot is the brand new one, and has turned out the best of all of them so far. Its still pretty pathetic compared to what I get on non-drought years, but no Winter Rye needed here Pics of us hanging stands and Haley practicing climbing ladder sticks

I have 3 different tan lines. My T shirt line about midway down my bicep, then my sleeveless line at the top of my shoulders, then my beater line. Most of the time I spend in the outdoors is working on stuff, and no shirt just means more skin to get torn up by thorns and insects. Im not much of a chill by the pool kinda guy.