Holiday Season

[wolc123]

Of all the changes that NY DEC made this year (3 of which have already put deer in our freezer), this one is my favorite.  Never has it been better for a meat hunter in this state. 
 

I have a plan in place for opening day on Sunday.  This is the first year that I will be able to hunt 7 “opening days” in NY (early antlerless gun, NZ early ML, NZ gun, SZ early crossbow, SZ gun, SZ ML, SZ Holliday ML).  That’s like getting to be like a kid again at Christmas 7 times in one year.

I am going to start the morning in my new “trailer park” stand with my crossbow for 3 reasons: First, that has been my favorite deer weapon since it was legalized in 2014.  Second,  I don’t have a deer yet In the crossbow harvest thread this year.  Third, I have only met the owner of one of the dozen or so “double wides” that are between 300 and 500 feet of that stand so my ML is a “no go”.  That is because it is a firearm, which may not be used within 500 feet of a building without permission.  The setback for a crossbow is 250 feet.

After the morning hunt, I am going to my parents house (just around the corner from the trailer park) for lunch.  I will bring my chainsaw, and open  up a bunch of trails, that were blocked by the recent 70mph wind storm. 
 

Hopefully, my chainsaw will stir up a deer or two over there, and I can get one on the evening sit behind their house with my ML, from my new stand on the edge of a clover plot. I spent $ 20 on materials for that stand this year. It has put about 120 pounds of meat in our freezer so far.  It would be nice to get another one or two deer from it, and bring the cost per pound down a little more.  I like my meat to come in at under $ 1 per pound, after subtracting all input costs, and I have a legit shot at that this year. Name me another state where a guy can do that.
 

Trailer park stand:

Clover plot stand:

Edited December 23, 2021 by wolc123

[chrisw]

Food for thought: if you're totaling up all costs to see what your "cost per lb" is, the first step is using a scale...

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk

[Four Seasons]

25 minutes ago, chrisw said:

Food for thought: if you're totaling up all costs to see what your "cost per lb" is, the first step is using a scale...

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk
 

Food for thought.  7 so called opening days and a guy that aims all his “Skills” trying to kill the smallest and dumbest deer in the woods tells the true story of this so called “Hunter”

[Lawdwaz]

And like sand flies to a light, bam!

 

[Larry]

I plan on hunting Sunday. I planed on going down to camp to bring some stuff home so I'm just going to go down a couple of hours early. I'll be back in time for the Bill's game.

[wolc123]

57 minutes ago, chrisw said:

Food for thought: if you're totaling up all costs to see what your "cost per lb" is, the first step is using a scale...

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk
 

There are many reasons why I don’t like scales: 

1.) Waste of time and effort, after a chest girth chart becomes available and is calibrated, with a local conversion factor:

- to calibrate your chart, weigh your deer then measure it’s chest girth.  Divide the weight you measure with the scale by the weight indicated by the chart.  Use the resulting “scale factor” as a multiplier to determine the weight of the deer the next time that you need to.

Based on measurements taken by myself and 4 or 5 other members of this site, back in fall of 2018, the PA chest girth chart is rather conservative for estimating the field-dressed weight of a wny deer.  

There could be various reasons for that.  Maybe, the farther north you go, the heavier the deer are.  Also, while my deer was weighed on a “certified for trade” butcher’s beam-balance scale, I can’t speak for the other members, who likely used those cheap foreign-made spring models like you most likely use, and that several have offered me for free several times in the past.

2.) The field dressed weight of a deer is not that important to me, since roughly 75 % of that weight is made up of water, which has no nutritional value.  I am more interested in volume of edible meat, and the chest girth method provides for a more direct estimate of that.  
 

Volume is more important to me because I know how many quart-sized packs of boneless meat that I require. A “quart” is a unit of volume, not of weight.

Because of that high water content, the field-dressed weight is highly dependent on how fast the deer is weighed after it is killed.  The chest girth does not vary so much with time, and hanging conditions.  I weighed my “chart calibration buck”, after it hung outside in the breeze for 9 hours at 34 - 43 degrees F.

The calibrated-corrected numbers on this years “photogenic” buck, for edible meat, looked pretty close at about 90 pounds, when I finished processing.

He was quite lean with very little edible lost to trimming fat.  Also, the center rib cage broadside shot with a slow moving foster 16 turned very little edible meat into grape jello. 

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by wolc123

[Lawdwaz]

2 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

The field dressed weight of a deer is not that important to me, since roughly 75 % of that weight is made up of water, which has no nutritional value.

Ahhhh, I’d check the math on that little tidbit.   These guys might have been born at night, but not last night.  

 

[grampy]

26 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:

Food for thought.  7 so called opening days and a guy that aims all his “Skills” trying to kill the smallest and dumbest deer in the woods tells the true story of this so called “Hunter”

I don't understand why you feel the need to follow members around to inject your venom? 

The image of ourselves, is sometimes, not as others see us.

[wolc123]

5 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

Ahhhh, I’d check the math on that little tidbit.   These guys might have been born at night, but not last night.  

 

The math and water percentages might also depend on wether or not the heart and lungs are removed before the deer goes up on the scale.

[Steuben Jerry]

51 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:

Food for thought.  7 so called opening days and a guy that aims all his “Skills” trying to kill the smallest and dumbest deer in the woods tells the true story of this so called “Hunter”

So Wolc shoots a legal deer with a legal implement, in a legal season as set forth by the DEC, and because it’s just not something you do, you denigrate him by implying he’s just a “so called hunter”? with questionable “skills”?

You bring a lot to the site, but certainly not humility, tolerance, or camaraderie. 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Steuben Jerry

[wolc123]

56 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:

Food for thought.  7 so called opening days and a guy that aims all his “Skills” trying to kill the smallest and dumbest deer in the woods tells the true story of this so called “Hunter”

After I retire, maybe I will try for 11 NY openers, and add in the early SZ and NZ archery, early NZ crossbow, and late NZ ML.  
 

Right now, I am leaning towards retiring up past your neck of the woods, in about 10 years.  I will try and maintain my 2 wny spots as long as I can, just so that I can hit those SZ openers and come back for those fine wny corn-fed bb’s and BB’s, from time to time.  
 

I will have to have you over for a bb roast, if you are still around and able to make it a little past Harrisville at that time.  Best of luck on your Holiday hunt for your sw target if you head back out this way yet this winter, and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
 

Edited December 23, 2021 by wolc123

[Robhuntandfish]

wolc do you also use the PA fish scale?  https://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/Documents/weightlength3.pdf

[Four Seasons]

1 hour ago, Steuben Jerry said:

So Wolc shoots a legal deer with a legal implement, in a legal season as set forth by the DEC, and because it’s just not something you do, you denigrate him by implying he’s just a “so called hunter”? with questionable “skills”?

You bring a lot to the site, but certainly not humility, tolerance, or camaraderie. 

Yeah well my friend when one casts stones at me I can promise you I will throw rocks back. Regardless of who you are or where you are.    Some idiot throws remarks at me for being a so called “Trophy” hunter because I choose to only kill mature bucks…When it in fact shows said idiot has no idea what trophy hunting means… and then run their mouth that their claim to fame is killing baby deer!                                  Yeah give me a Fing break!

[crappyice]

Yeah well my friend when one casts stones at me I can promise you I will throw rocks back. Regardless of who you are or where you are.    Some idiot throws remarks at me for being a so called “Trophy” hunter because I choose to only kill mature bucks…When it in fact shows said idiot has no idea what trophy hunting means… and then run their mouth that their claim to fame is killing baby deer!                                  Yeah give me a Fing break!

It’s a good thing you ain’t a bass. Wolc has baited, caught and released you countless times now all for his (and our!) amusement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Four Seasons]

1 minute ago, crappyice said:

It’s a good thing you ain’t a bass. Wolc has baited, caught and released you countless times now all for his (and our!) amusement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lol. Yeah and then when I shit on him we have some whineasses that complain to me about it.   Sorry. Won’t work that way in these parts. 

[wolc123]

7 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:

Yeah well my friend when one casts stones at me I can promise you I will throw rocks back. Regardless of who you are or where you are.    Some idiot throws remarks at me for being a so called “Trophy” hunter because I choose to only kill mature bucks…When it in fact shows said idiot has no idea what trophy hunting means… and then run their mouth that their claim to fame is killing baby deer!                                  Yeah give me a Fing break!

I will admit that these BB tenderloins tasted as good as any of the bb ones that I remember.  Maybe you are onto something and there is more to them big antlers than meets the eye, but it also might have something to do with the high corn diet.

It’s nice to have a few old pros like you around, to civilly talk the finer points of deer hunting with, while I am off work on a paid holiday, and can’t legally hunt deer.    

 

[Otto]

1 hour ago, Robhuntandfish said:

wolc do you also use the PA fish scale?  https://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/Documents/weightlength3.pdf

I have one of those on my boat! 

[wolc123]

2 minutes ago, Otto said:

I have one of those on my boat! 

I have one in the transom of my boat but it is a walleye model.  I probably should calibrate it for bass, which I would expect to be a bit heavier per unit length, just like wny deer are heavier than PA deer.  
 

That would require a certified fish scale, which I am also lacking.  I do think there are a few of those old “de-liar” spring scales around here somewhere, maybe even ones made in the USA back in the 1970’s.

My biggest problem would be messing around with the potentially excellent meat, long enough to get it’s weight.  I like them as healthy as possible, when I wack them over the head with my shillelagh, and remove the fillets while they are still twitching.

[mlammerhirt]

Yeah well my friend when one casts stones at me I can promise you I will throw rocks back. Regardless of who you are or where you are.    Some idiot throws remarks at me for being a so called “Trophy” hunter because I choose to only kill mature bucks…When it in fact shows said idiot has no idea what trophy hunting means… and then run their mouth that their claim to fame is killing baby deer!                                  Yeah give me a Fing break!

I am confused.... what's a "Fing Break"?

Sent from my SM-A716V using Tapatalk

[Otto]

It is not shown in this picture, but the three lines are for Bass, Walleye and Pike.  I do have a printed out chart from Ontario Department of Ministries taped to the side of my fridge at the cottage.  

[wolc123]

11 minutes ago, mlammerhirt said:

I am confused.... what's a "Fing Break"?

Sent from my SM-A716V using Tapatalk
 

I need one of those myself.  In a few more minutes of “block heater” time, the engine on a Deere outside ought to be warm enough to start smoothly .  My Fing break will involve leveling off a pile of stone that my brother dropped off for me this week. 
 

As I side bonus, I’ll get to say hello to my “ little” friend when I go out there:

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by wolc123

[Robhuntandfish]

13 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

I have one in the transom of my boat but it is a walleye model.  I probably should calibrate it for bass, which I would expect to be a bit heavier per unit length, just like wny deer are heavier than PA deer.  
 

That would require a certified fish scale, which I am also lacking.  I do think there are a few of those old “de-liar” spring scales around here somewhere, maybe even ones made in the USA back in the 1970’s.

My biggest problem would be messing around with the potentially excellent meat, long enough to get it’s weight.  I like them as healthy as possible, when I wack them over the head with my shillelagh, and remove the fillets while they are still twitching.

 

1 hour ago, Robhuntandfish said:

wolc do you also use the PA fish scale?  https://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/PennsylvaniaFishes/Documents/weightlength3.pdf

Provided by the PA Dept of fisheries...

[wolc123]

2 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

 

Provided by the PA Dept of fisheries...

Their bass must run thin down there just like their deer.  This upper Niagara 20 incher felt like a lot more than 4.1 pounds.  The numbers on that chart might also be pre-round goby.

 

[Four Seasons]

39 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

I will admit that these BB tenderloins tasted as good as any of the bb ones that I remember.  Maybe you are onto something and there is more to them big antlers than meets the eye, but it also might have something to do with the high corn diet.

It’s nice to have a few old pros like you around, to civilly talk the finer points of deer hunting with, while I am off work on a paid holiday, and can’t legally hunt deer.    

 

Man I have to give you prop’s. You are good. In the post above your loving that little baby deer and in the other shot your loving up on that so called big one ya got.   And you have the meat of the two arranged just perfectly in that pan both times around. That about says it all. Can’t wait to see where the next one pop’s up  

[Enigma]

4 hours ago, chrisw said:

Food for thought . . . 

Considering who you were responding to, there's just some very weird juxtaposed irony in that phrase. Can't wrap my head around it yet this morning but I'm sure it'll come to me lol.