reeltime

all I can say is...... WOW!!! Code of ethics while the list is long and is interpreted differently for a variety of reasons the main issue here involves tracking a wounded animal. - once you wound an animal not only are you "ethically" responsible to try and recover said animal you are also required by DEC LAW to try and recover that animal,, read the book its called wanton waste. - just because its an "ethical" issue and the law doesn't mean you break laws to recover (trespassing) I don't know you from a hill of beans and reading words on a screen leaves a lot of what you read up to the reader to interpret, what I mean is you can not hear voice tone, see facial expressions, so its hard to tell how a person feels or what they truly meant. I don't know how much hunting experience you have but I can tell you in 35 years of bow hunting I have only ever had this happen ONCE, its not an every day occurrence in bow hunting. When gun season rolls around that is a whole different story! just stop and think about how many hunters had their "hunt" ruined by a fellow hunter tracking a deer they hit through "their" spot. I can tell you it happens far more often in gun season than archery season. While I can understand you being upset with their timing I think you are a little dramatic about it. I do not know where this happened or how much acreage is there, not that it really matters because those guys trying to recover a deer is a more important issue at that time both ethically and legally. Being self employed I fully understand taking a day off and not making money! here is something to think about. "A Hunter who fails to bag a deer can leave the woods with excuses or memories. Its all a matter of perspective."

with just getting back from 3 weeks of hard hunting in Pa. I took yesterday as a rest day and worked on some paperwork today figuring with the wind why push it. about 3:15 the winds layed down some and I just couldn't take it. took a quick scent free soap shower, grabbed my gear and off to the woods. figured 40 minutes was better spent in the woods than finishing up a little paperwork. I get just about to my stand and I see a doe running back and forth across the field, she was in and out of a depression so I could only see her occasionally but I knew with what she was doing she was not alone. finally I see antlers bouncing along as he was in the small depression. once she stopped I bleated to her and here she comes, I am standing next to a huge basswood tree with 2 little beech trees that still had some brown leaves on them so I felt confident that I would blend in well enough if she didn't walk through slowly. As luck would have it she trotted right by me and stopped about 60 yards behind me. Here he comes trotting along, when he hit the woods I drew, when he trotted by at a mere 6 yards it was over before he knew what happened, he never even changed speed just kept trotting for 40 yards and fell over! Just like that my season is done.

law, yeah I know but its the only picture without a background ( it was posted on the pa site also) there are a ton of internet scouters out there and I have found out the hard way that people can figure out where pictures are taken. I work tooo hard on our properties to have some scumbag come in and reap the benefits of our hard work and the hard earned $ we spent.

well with tagging out on a good buck here in NY early in Oct. it set into motion plans of getting as much work done as I could so I could head to the family farm for more than my standard last week of archery hunt. The one issue for me was our duck season opened the last saturday of Oct. and with a young lab that is more passionate about ducks than me. I didn't want to disappoint her so I decided to stay and hunt the first 4 days of our duck season then head south. That was a good decision as we were in the right spots on each of those days and did very well. Off to the farm on the 30th with the wife departing for the farm the next day. of course the 31st it poured rain and as luck would have it the tranny cooler in her car blew on her way so it was back to belmont NY to get her and leave the car to be fixed, and 5 days later another round trip to get her car. The weather for the last 2 weeks was unreal, from windy conditions almost every day to snow, cold, warm, etc. but I saw deer on every sit but 1. saw allot of bucks, a couple real hogs, some that we pretty small. all in all I passed up 11 legal bucks, I missed a good 8 point at 5 yards when I hit a grapevine, very thankful the arrow completely missed the deer. The first wednesday morning I was there I had a very close encounter with a not so happy 300lb make black bear I laid a scent trail from the edge of a cornfield down the tractor path and then a reversed J to 10 yards from the stand. Hook up the bow and climbed 26 foot up the climbing stick onto the stand and then just as I started bringing up the bow I hear foot steps coming towards me. My first thought was here comes that dopey 4 point again ( he literally followed me in there one day) its 6am and pitch black out. when it gets to about 10 yards I see that its a bear and I know which one it is as I have seen him a number of times this year. I get the bow up knock an arrow and hang the bow on the hanger. the bear is just snooping around and I figure he is just going to go out into the corn and feed. All of a sudden he starts jaw popping and huffing and he circles the tree I am in 2 times, now I am getting a little nervous so I get the bow in my hands as I am watching him. He comes over and is standing at the climbing sticks smelling them, then he puts his front feet on the sticks, I clip the release on the string..... The next few seconds will be forever engraved in my memory banks!! He made a 20 foot climb faster than I could draw the bow! lucky for both of us he stopped before he got to the last section! I was surprisingly calm for being face to face at 6 feet with him. As I am at full draw and we are looking each other eye to eye I said in a very clear and loud voice "hey there aint room for both of us up here" he looked at me with wide eyes, looked at the ground and then slowly started climbing back down. The one thing that I can vividly recall is that he never touched the tree! he came up and went down the climbing stick just like I did. he hung around for the next 30 minutes, of course it was still too dark for a cell phone picture but i did manage one crappy picture at 6:31 am, just before he went out into the cornfield to feed. Once the metal taste in my mouth ended and I got calmed down I reflected back on what had just happened. I realized that no matter how fast you think your reflexes are you are NO match for a bear! you can not believe how fast a bear can climb! I told dad that my biggest fear was that he was going to knock me off the stand and being strapped to the tree he would just bat me around like a pinyatta. But it all worked out in the end and ever saw a few deer that morning and passed on a nice 1.5 yr old 7 point. So the whole time we are there my wife is watching bucks go back and forth through our horse pasture. last thursday she said a 2.5 and 3.5 yr old were out there doggin does and there are 5-8 does there every evening. I was still on a good buck but when I got back late friday moring she said the same 2.5 & 3.5 yr olds were there again and a couple 1.5's. So I take a stand out along the fence to the only decent sized tree, but its crookeder than a dogs hind leg but I manage to get a stand up about 18 feet too low for my liking but gotta work with what I had. saw 1 buck friday evening that I passed on. So Saturday morning I said I am setting there dark to dark, finally a morning with very little wind. I laid a scent trail along the fence from the corner up in front of the stand and did my reverse J climbed up and waited for the sunrise. I saw a few deer crossing our hayfield headed into the bottom, listened to the ringnecks yelling back and forth to each other it was a nice morning. just before 8am our youngest son texts me and he had just shot a buck in ny ( it was the first day of firearm season) I had just texted him back when I hear a deer running through the brush coming towards me. grab the bow and watch as a young doe walks right under me and stops to smell the climbing sticks, then moves east up the hill. A couple minutes later I hear another deer walking towards me, then he starts grunting. its thick behind me and I can just see a big bodied deer and a flash of antler here and there and one spot I caught sight of a decent length G2 he is now at 8 yards in heavy brush he takes a step I come to full draw he is at 5 yards I can see him pretty good but no clear shot or conformation that it ws not a 1.5 yr old, but he was certainly legal. he stood there for about 45 seconds which gave me a little time to try and judge him, That is by far the toughest angle to try and judge a deer! I went with what I could see and was certain that he was at least a 2.5 he took about 5 steps and was now at 3 yards with a perfect openeing into his right shoulder. When the arrow hit him he wheeled around and crashed back the direction he came from, I saw the back half of the arrow break off and then I heard nothing, couldn't hear him running, nothing. so I let the bow down got my gear together climbed down and crawled through the brush to check the part of the arrow I could see. There was a little blood on it where the arow broke and no sign on the ground. I marked the spot and backed out. walked back to the house and sprayed the end of the arrow with peroxide and got a decent amount of foam. Dad wanted to go pull a couple stands but said we can go look for your buck before we go, I said nope he won't be any deader in 2 hours than he is now but if he isn't dead now he might be in 2 hours. The lack of blood on the ground and really visible blood on the arrow had me a little concerned, I knew where the arrow went and was confident he was dead but wanted to wait just to make sure. we get back around 10:15 and I have dad walk the road edge below the pasture just to see if he maybe crossed the road. I start crawling through the multifloral rose and autumn olive and about 20 yards past where I found the arrow I find my first little spot of blood. just another few yards and now there is good blood. call dad on the phone and tell him he is going down hill towards the well road. I can see where he is really scuffing the leaves and leaving lots of sign. Then I get to his bed,,,,he aint laying in it! there is blood everywhere! Then I see where he got drug down the hill!! I about puked! I thought you gotta be kidding me someone came along saw him laying there and took him! you talk about instant rage! I follow the drag marks down the hill about 25 yards and see blood smeared on the trees, the blackberry bushes laid over.....I am about sick!! I get to the well road where the drag ends... I look to the right of me and there is my buck stashed under the blackberry bushes!! how he got there I don't know, I know it wasn't him that got himself there, don't know if it was a person that moved him and planned to come back or if it was one of the bears that did it, the ground was too hard to see any fresh tracks.

this is going to take longer to type than the actual hunt lasted. hunted the first day morning and evening with plenty of sightings but none of the decent bucks showed up. second day I skipped the morning hunt because of bad winds for all my morning stands and having some work i needed to get done. the evening hunt I had 2 of the decent bucks at 20 yards all out battling for 15 minutes and no shot at either of them. last thursday am i went in to move that particular stand up another 10 feet, it was at 20 feet and just seemed to be too low for my liking. seeing as we were leaving for pa that afternoon I figured get in move the stand up, spray it all down and get out of there and be gone for a few days. wanted to hunt last evening but we didn't get back in time. this morning with the impending rains I didn't dare hunt and the wind again was iffy for my morning spots. as the day wore on and the rains moved out and the temps dropped to 50 and the winds picked up from the west south west it was game on.... but there seemed to be a persistant little disturbance to the west and I was watching it on the radar and finally I decided that it was going to move out over the lake and be good to go with no rain. My concern over the rain made me later than I wanted to be to get to the stand I moved but I figured if I hustled I would be ok. I have been watching this buck for 3 months from long range almost on a daily basis in the evenings and any mornings I didn't have to work. i parked the truck at 4:45 changed clothes and sprayed down with scent shield. I litterally jogged the 300 yards to my stand. hooked up the harness and bow and up the tree. I pulled the bow up knocked an arrow and hung the bow on the hanger and then hung my fanny pack on the tree. I turn around and start to zip my jacket when I look up and see him coming towards me! I pik up the bow and he is now just about under me and he walks behind me as I ease to full draw he stops at 7 yards broadside he raises his head and tests the wind. It was too late the green pin was burning a hole through the top of his right shoulder, almost like a laser guide for the wasp tipped xx78. at the shot he lunged forward and sprinted 35 yards before I heard him crash... I was in disbelief on what had just transpired, I was not in the stand 3 minutes before I shot him... I knew it wsa going to be close on time but I didn't realise it was going to be that close. im done till I head back to pa to hunt there.

this is going to take longer to type than the actual hunt lasted. hunted the first day morning and evening with plenty of sightings but none of the decent bucks showed up. second day I skipped the morning hunt because of bad winds for all my morning stands and having some work i needed to get done. the evening hunt I had 2 of the decent bucks at 20 yards all out battling for 15 minutes and no shot at either of them. last thursday am i went in to move that particular stand up another 10 feet, it was at 20 feet and just seemed to be too low for my liking. seeing as we were leaving for pa that afternoon I figured get in move the stand up, spray it all down and get out of there and be gone for a few days. wanted to hunt last evening but we didn't get back in time. this morning with the impending rains I didn't dare hunt and the wind again was iffy for my morning spots. as the day wore on and the rains moved out and the temps dropped to 50 and the winds picked up from the west south west it was game on.... but there seemed to be a persistant little disturbance to the west and I was watching it on the radar and finally I decided that it was going to move out over the lake and be good to go with no rain. My concern over the rain made me later than I wanted to be to get to the stand I moved but I figured if I hustled I would be ok. I have been watching this buck for 3 months from long range almost on a daily basis in the evenings and any mornings I didn't have to work. i parked the truck at 4:45 changed clothes and sprayed down with scent shield. I litterally jogged the 300 yards to my stand. hooked up the harness and bow and up the tree. I pulled the bow up knocked an arrow and hung the bow on the hanger and then hung my fanny pack on the tree. I turn around and start to zip my jacket when I look up and see him coming towards me! I pik up the bow and he is now just about under me and he walks behind me as I ease to full draw he stops at 7 yards broadside he raises his head and tests the wind. It was too late the green pin was burning a hole through the top of his right shoulder, almost like a laser guide for the wasp tipped xx78. at the shot he lunged forward and sprinted 35 yards before I heard him crash... I was in disbelief on what had just transpired, I was not in the stand 3 minutes before I shot him... I knew it wsa going to be close on time but I didn't realise it was going to be that close. im done till I head back to pa to hunt there.

sure did feel like a perfect night, and it turned out to be perfect as well..

a little sparrow thought dads safety strap rope was a good place to build a nest... ziva had a hard week at camp

found this in the yard right next to the house. found this guy on our gas well road,,,,almost 7' long!

this is the only picture I could get of momma. some fox pups at the den

some other notables from this seasons hunts... first day in pa. after having 2 birds absolutely going ballistic and then shutting up we decided to make a move only to find out the reason why they shut up so quick...

the last hunt will have to be a combined daily hunt report. a couple years ago when I killed the cow pasture king I mentioned the power line monarch. I think that was the spring of 2011. well last year with building the camp I never really got a chance to hunt the power line monarch. I hadn't looked for him this year as of yet either. memorial day's hunt was a tough one, it was a VERY long night the night before,,, only got an hours sleep and it was going to be a long walk to the power line. got set up well before light and was surprised to hear so much gobbling, 10 birds within a half mile of me, another 10-15 as far as I could hear in the distance. But one had my interest peaked. finally I see a gobbler going up the power line.. could it be???? he is walking up the same path as before. I make a call he gobbles back and here he comes..... to the second rise in the field and he stops, struts, gobbles, struts, gobbles.... then back to the power line and up over the top! Just like the other years! I can not believe he is still alive! as near as I can figure he is roughly 7 years old now. I ended up calling in a 2 year old later that morning and passed on him. It was time for a nap and then more work on the pole barn, that night though I went over my book and read up on the notes I had on the power line bird and he did everything to a T just as before... tuesday morning I left camp at 3:30 am. a slight drizzle and when I looked at the radar it didn't look good to the west of us, so I only took a glass call and composite striker. I gotta say I felt nekid without my assortment of calls and certainly not having the bomber with me! About a mile and a half into the walk it starts raining pretty good, by the time I got set up it was like standing under a fire hose! by the time it was daylight it was still pouring and I was completely soaked clear through to my socks and I had rubber boots on! I did see him again just too far and not worth the risk in the rain, but I stuck it out till 10 am, by then I was beyond cold and certainly beyond wet! Wed. morning I awoke to clear skies and no wind, I was gone shortly after 3 am... I just had that feeling since the day before! I get to my spot I had found the day before and just before daylight he triple gobbles behind me to the left about 200 yards away.... what the heck is he doing over there????? finally well after the crows are flying and hens out in front of me have pitched into the field he gobbles again on the ground in the same area. I give him a nice series of clucks and yelps on the bomber and he kinda half heartedly throws a gobble at me.. I know that less will be more today, about 20 minutes later I do another series only reversed yelps into clucks... about 10 minutes goes by and he blasts a gobble not 10 yards behind me. I never moved to face the gobbling cause I knew what he was going to do and the route he was going to take to get to his favorite vantage point and there was no shot looking that way but for him to be able to look for the hen he heard was going to put him at under 30 yards right in front of me. after a few minutes I see a fan just over the crest of the hill coming across the power line, and here he is where he has met up with many a hens over the years, a spot he felt comfortable being in. A spot that that put almost 100% of the advantage in my favor because if he believed it was a hen he heard and he was coming in to investigate I would be able to see him before he could see the area where he thought the hen was, and by then it was going to be too late. he bought it hook line and sinker and it couldn't of happened any more perfect if he followed the script I had played out when I set it all up.. once I saw the hooks I took the shot at the first clean chance I had, he hardly moved. when I got to him I knew something was wrong with him just from the looks of him. I've killed a ton of birds late season and killing lightweights is not uncommon, but this one looked bad.. both spurs were broke at 1 1/2" hadn't even started to really hook yet, he had severe beard rot. but when I picked him up is when I really knew something was terribly wrong...not only from the smell but he only weighed about 10 lbs.!!! Come to find out when I opened him up that he had been shot at before at some point this year, he was full of # 4 lead There were over 30 pellets in his chest and legs. and 3 tail fan feathers were shot off on the left side of his fan.

wow its hard to believe its over already! didn't miss a daybreak in the woods from april till the end of may. did ok for what I had to work with for bird numbers here in our area of NY. passed up a few 2 year olds and a bunch of jakes and even a couple jobbler's. on to the kill hunts...... 5/2/13 first and second spots were basically a bust with only 1 gobble heard at first light a mile away. so I scooted off to the third spot and knew I had to be close to the east end of the field by 8 am. I eased up the logging road that parallels the east side of the field and gave out a seductive series of clucks and yelps on the Burrville Bomber and he hammered back from the north west corner of the field. I slipped up to my favorite beech tree and settled in and made another series of yelps and clucks and he hammered it again. finally I start seeing heads in the grass moving through the field, 6 grey ones then a red head and then a bright white and blue one. took them about 10 minutes to march across the field to my side and the 2 year old walked by me at less than 5 yards and never even so much as looked at me. the strutter was busy corralling his hens and finally they all separated enough to ensure that he was the only one to get hit. at the shot he just dropped to the ground and didn't move, the hens jumped up in the air but then just stood around purring and looking at the one laying on the ground. I sat still until the hens lost interest and moved off. fast forward to my work/hunt week in pa..... actually did alot more working than hunting all season! 5/24/13 we arrived late on the 23rd. so it was off in the morning for the cornpicker bird, when I walked outside at 4am it was windy and COLD everything was covered in frost. it was a mile and a half walk to my hunting spot. daylight brought silence except for the wind howling through the trees and at least low to mid 20's wind chills. tried some trolling but it was futile as the wind was steady out of the n nw 20-30mph. figured that with the winds and temps I would just head back to the house and get busy putting the metal on the shop ceiling. I get out of my hunting gear and get my carharts on to get ready to work and as Judy and I are on the porch I am lacing up my boots when we both looked at each other and said was that a gobble???? brushed it off and as I am lacing up the other boot he rips another gobble only this time its no issue telling its a gobble. needless to say from the direction and current temps I knew who it was and I was out of my carhart jacket and work boots and into my leafy wear suit and rubber turkey boots. I told Judy to take me up and drop me off at the intersection. I knew where he was and where he would not hesitate to come into if he was interested in the hen talk. I slipped into the woods and got along the old tram road and got all set up against a big old cherry tree. my first series of yelps on the bomber were cut off with a thunderous gobble from across the field. over the next 5 minutes he cut off every call I made and was now at 70 yards at the edge of the field. we had a bit of a stalemate as he just stood there blasting gobbles to my calls. finally I gave him one last series of cluck/cuts and yelps on the bomber and set the call down picked up the gun and gave him a good dose of silence. over the next 15 minutes or so he gobbled once to some crows that were scolding him.... it sounded like he was in the woods now. as I scanned the woods for movement all of a sudden GGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLEEEEEEE at like 1:00 of to my right and just down the hill and CLOSE! under 20 yards! I strain to look that far to the right and I see him in the brush, he is trying to circle me and walks behind a big clump of multifloral rose and autumn olive. That gave me my opening to spin to my right and get ready, when he stepped out I had nothing but air between us and could clearly see the decent spurs through the scope just as he blasts a gobble at me I eased off the safety and settled the crosshairs on the side of his head and it was over. was not disappointed when I picked him up and was pleasantly surprised to see that the ole ridgerunner was actually a double beard.

had to make a trip to the farm last weekend to do prep work for a cement job so I took advantage of my time there and got the last of the kitchen cabinets finished and installed. even managed to get some work done on the old 1929 mccormick-deering 10-20 we have been restoring the last 2 years. its almost ready to try to fire up. one of the gag gifts from #1 daughter in law [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/034-2_zpsf744ca31.jpg[/image] another gift from the kids for the "camp" the metal screen print above the toilet [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/032-1_zps04803988.jpg[/image] one of the pictures we buit a new frame for. [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/031-1_zps74dcc609.jpg[/image] couple more gifts for the camp from the kids [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/030-1_zps19bffabd.jpg[/image] also finished the TV stand while I was there [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/029-1_zps5a159308.jpg[/image] more pictures with our replacement frames. [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/028-2_zpsbb617c07.jpg[/image] [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/027-2_zpsaa98c6a1.jpg[/image] the stove cabinet I finished while there.....and the drawers are full of utensils already. [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/025-2_zpsc20bd98c.jpg[/image] our baby just rolled out of the shop to work on it outside. it can double for a potato planter with those wheels. [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/022-4_zps6d6dec6f.jpg[/image] just got the rocker arms on and the new oil drippers put on [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/014-2_zpsf946231d.jpg[/image] double checking rocker clearances and putting on the oil filter assembly. [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/015-2_zpsff473b67.jpg[/image] some things require a closer inspection :-) [image]http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/reeltime/016-4_zps6658872f.jpg[/image]

if I was closer and not so burried with work I would do it. I was down to our place in Pa last weekend finished one last kitchen cabinet, but was there to do prep work on a cement job. I think I put pictures on here of the place we built last summer.

thanks for the comments, yes it was alot of work but pre planning and prep work saved tons of time in the building process. We went from pillars to framed, wired, insulated and plumbed in 6 days. 4 more long weekends and it was just about done. I finished alot of the finish work the week i was there to bowhunt in nov. ( after I killed my buck ) and then finished most of the rest over thanksgiving when we were there. some of the prep work that I did in spare time here included. -getting 14' wall studs and setting a jig up to cut them all at 7' -pre cutting all jack studs & cripples for doors and windows ( I had all the windows so knew the rough opening sizes) -set up a jig to drill 1" holes at 22 1/2" ( which when adding the bottom plate gave me a wire height of 24" off the floor so I know where my wires are run) all studs, jacks, and cripples were drilled. -built all the headers and sills for the windows and doors. everything was marked, hauled down there and it was literally like putting a puzzle together! everyone thought I was nuts for predrilling the holes for the electric, of all the wires I have pulled in my life this was by far the easiest! completely rough wired the whole place in under 3 hours including all the home runs to the panel, drilling ceiling joists for lights and smoke and c/o detectors. I would say that the prep work saved probably at least 2 days of onsite time during the construction process. Judy wanted us to have Thanksgiving in the new place, we had our grandson with us and figured it would be us 3 and mom and dad,,,,,, well it ended up we had 14 of us there in the new place, killed a turkey there this fall so we had a wild gobbler and a domestic bird with all the trimmins. was a good time for everyone. 2 things left to do for the camp, skirting and trim the hardwood to carpet transition. the place is insulated to the hilt, floors are fiberglass insulated and underside is sheeted. walls are fiberglass insulated and foamed around all outlet and switch boxes, outside is wrapped with tyvek and all windows are sealed with rubber flashing seal tape. attic has 14" of fiberglass insulation and all inside sheeting corners and jointes are caulked to ensure they are sealed. all appliances are natural gas since we have free gas from our wells. the gas fireplace on the lowest setting keeps it 57-60 degrees no matter what the outside temps are ( at least down to 5 degrees this winter) The floors are not cold at all, even when we were there when it was down to upper teens at night you could walk on the floor bare foot. the place is tight, probably too tight, you cant swing the door shut unless you really give it a heave, open a window and it closes like it should. I could probably heat it with 4 candles, I will probably put some vents in this year to help it breath some. one things for sure no more waking up in the morning and seeing your breath in camp for us!

our new "camp" we built this summer, turned into a small house. master bedroom livingroom dining room/kitchen . hickory hardwood flooring, cherry cabinets we built ourselves along with our own countertops. master bath better picture of kitchen cabinets just after finish coat being done, prior to backsplash being done.

rumor has it that this has passed.. as I have said before nothing more than these jamokes trying to save their careers, hopefully the sportsman in this state end them all next election!

long box for me, might give a few soft calls one a diaphram for the last little distance but generally once I get them coming I let them come find me they know where I am.

I fully agree this is nothing more than a smoke screen, these poloticians know that if the sportsman in this state band together and vote next election their careers are over. this states goverment is out of control as a whole, from the gun issues to putting on a hospital tax of 10% for any hospital visit. nothing these idiots do surprises me anymore.

thats why I have 2 of them and if they don't like the bomber.......yeah right, then they get the glass.

welcome aboard Tim, hey if you need any one to field test them bombers let me know. my one bomber has so many notches on it its about whittled down to a mini box

as others have stated doing log work with a tractor is a very dangerous proposition. tractors will flip very easily whether its a narrow or wide front end. have been doing firewood and woods work for years and have seen first hand through ems work what happens when people use the wrong equipment for a job. a few tips and or suggestion; - don't work alone if at all possible. - cut logs into smaller sections, yes its more trips in and out but it less dangerous. - make sure the logs are trimmed clean so there is nothing to get hung up. - if your going to buy a tractor for this get one that is a lower profile, like a 504 utility, thats what we use. - if its got a 3pt hitch on it like ours we built a log arch where we can get the log up off the ground so that the nose of the log can not catch a stump or dig into the ground. - use the lowest gear possible and dont ever take your foot off the clutch pedal! if the log catches something the front end comes up in a hurry. - NEVER pull a log up hill with any kind of a tractor, that is a recipe for disaster. what about picking up an old 4wd truck or jeep cj ? would probably be cheaper than a tractor, certainly safer, and maintainance would be cheaper. taking a tractor in the woods is a high cost risk, with the associated dangers and repairs, small stumps are not friendly to tires. tractor tires are NOT cheap and unless you are equiped its costly to get them changed. If your running calcium in the tires its even more $. to be honest a 2 wd tractor really isn't that good in the mud and they are horendous on ice! I would say that a 4wd truck or jeep with decent tires and chains on all 4 would be a safer option for you.

pa no longer has a 4 point zone. there is a 3 point zone which is 3 points per side. the rest of the state has a 3 up rule. the 3 up rule means 3 points up on the main beam NOT including the brow tine, the main beam counts as a point. jr. license holders (16 and under) , mentored youth hunters (up to age 11) , disabled hunters ( with a disability permit), and active military personel can go by the old antler requirements 2 points to a side or a spike at least 3" long. senior hunters must follow the current antler restrictions in place.

luckily the snow rate backed off but we still ended up with about 14-15" of snow overnight. started snowblowing at 4 am and finished about 8:30. time to shower, change into dry clothes and then off to the farm to get on the tractor to plow.