Bolt action

My best guestimate is about 60 hours in the stand this year so far. That's not including time spent driving, walking in or out, scouting, moving stands or cameras, reviewing cam pix, dragging deer, butchering, etc... So I think I've 'hunted' around 60 hours, but the total time spent on this (hobby, obsession, addiction..) is probably closer to 250 to 300 hours this season..

Just got a call from my father in law.. real nice guy.. right off the boat Italian.. would do anything to help you, if he likes you.. but not the kind of hunter I want to be.. says he was out yesterday and saw 4 or 5 deer and started shooting at them.. unloaded and reloaded a few times. 15 shots is my estimate.. he recovered 2 of them. Hit each of them twice in hind quarters, then a few other random hits on each.. neck, side, head, etc.. I saw a pic and these deer were like swiss cheese.. then, after he recovers them, he gave both away because he doesn't know how to cook it properly and doesn't care for the meat..

Today felt good and there were plenty of you in the woods.. in waiting to see who scored??

I do love me a good Beaver..

Cynthia I'll hunt with you any day! Good luck to everyone who is out. I'm still laid up but chomping at the bit to break in my ml.

Would love to get the smoke pole out this weekend but this cold is kicking me in the balls. Wife thinks it might be bronchitis.. so I'm likely laid up for another few days..

I have a carbon express xbow. It's not top of the line, but it gets the job done. I think there are two things to consider here.. how much do you dislike your current model, and how much would you pay to not have to deal with these pain points? And also keep in mind that there is always the aftermarket where your can sell the unit and recoup some of your money.

Down for the count today. Running a fever and just achy and groggy overall. I'll get back to this tomorrow.

Brain is a bit of a challenge. I tried sticking a wire have in there and scrambling them out but it wasn't as effective as I'd hoped. I may just hack saw the back tomorrow.

Best way I've found so far...

So I boiled it at a low simmer for awhile today. Most of the soft tissue turned to yuck and just fell off. What I noticed is that the nose area was down in the water the longest. Because of evaporation and the water boiling over, the back of the skull was in the water the least. As a result the nose area seems brittle and the back of the head still has lots of gray matter sticking to it. I'll scrape again tomorrow and see what happens.

Last sit of regular season this morning.. had thick bedding behind me and standing beans in front of me. Saw a doe at 100 yds around 745 but let her pass. I may still get out with the ml...

I am and she came home on lunch.. luckily I was able to keep her inside!

First boil started about 30 minutes ago. I added the soap and oxi as suggested.

Sweet Jesus

He's a stud. Hope you get him. Imagine what the deer that whooped him must look like!

Man it's cold this morning. Hopefully this sun warms things up a bit.

Here's my gun Buck. Decent, but not shoulder mount worthy so I'm going with a euro. I reached out to a few local taxi shops but didn't hear back. Based on that I figured I'd give it a shot. All it takes is a little elbow grease, right? I'll boil in the next day or two and then apply the peroxide. I'll update pix as I go.

If I were on public land for gun, I would go out and get as much orange as possible. I'm on private land though and in a tree most of the time, so feel pretty safe in regular camo...

Need Little help on this one @PREDATE. Found lots of these growing along a trail this morning. Last year's chanterelles maybe? They had a thin ice crust this morning..

Safe? Found a bunch when walking this morning. Thinking chanterelles but don't want to be wrong...

Mountain Feist.. apparently not at all common up here, but more so down in the Appalachians. Awesome dog all around.

Good morning and happy Thanksgiving! Good luck to all who are out. My buddy backed out because of the wind so I took the pup for a walk. Squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, frog, butterfly, and tumbling leaves should be on the lookout!

I should've popped some popcorn before getting caught up on this thread. Tomorrow looks like good weather. I still have a bunch of doe tags to fill but no room in the freezer. Might take a buddy out to help him get one. He's older and hasn't had any luck yet. Have to be home by 10 though.

Biz if you were anywhere near me I'd take it off your hands. I'm pushing a similar model Craftsman, but without a bag.