2022 Wolc Journal

[wolc123]

2 hours ago, blackbeltbill said:

Nice pic of the Field. There must be RACK MONSTERS close by ready to eat.

I know there is at least one 3.1 yr old buck (1st pic) around because he walked back there earlier this week while I was putting our pool up in the back yard.  I won’t be able to target him till crossbow opens up in November.  
 

I am after the mature doe (2nd pic), that I have seen back there multiple times, in September.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

My wife and I had a decent Holiday weekend up at the her parents Adirondack home.  The smallmouth bass were fairly cooperative.  I landed (15) over 12” and (3) shorts  ((5) “legal sized” each day, all released).  The last one I caught this morning was the largest (18”).  All but one were very healthy looking and fought well.  
 

Most of them went for a 1/8 oz brown bucktail jig, tossed to bass that were chasing minnows up onto the surface, over deep water far from shore.  That’s a fun way to fish and very efficient.  I used just one jig, all three days, and never retied.  No fish threw the hook, even though I pinched the barb to simplify release and to increase their odds of survival.  I caught (2) “keepers” and a short on a trolled silver hotntot.  That usually works much better in October.  I burned 2 gallons of 16:1 oil mixed gas in the 5.5 Johnson over all three days.
 

I usually don’t keep any bass up there, until the fall, when it is easier to keep the meat fresh.  NY state health advisory says women and children shouldn’t eat any bass from the Adirondacks, but ok for men over 50, same as the St Lawrence River.  I keep enough bass each year for (12) vacuum packs for me, from the Adirondacks and the St Lawrence, and (12) packs for my wife and kids, from the Upper Niagara River and Lake Erie (fish from those waters are ok for women and children.  
 

That gives us all enough fish for the recommended amount of 1 meal per month from NY waters.  We all like bass.  I give any perch that I catch to my mother in law.  
 

It looks like the deer population is good up there, based on the distinct browse line on the Hemlocks around the lake.  There has also been an increase in bear sightings this year.  That, and the best of the year smallmouth bass fishing, really has me looking forward to the early October ML week this year.  I might go up early,  and catch a day or two of crossbow, the week prior.

 

 

browse line:

Notice how the branches all stop about 6 ft short of the water line.  That “trimming” was not done by professional landscapers.  It makes it nice for casting the shoreline with top water baits, etc.  That top water action usually peaks around Labor Day.  One Labor Day morning, a year or two ago, I took (5) keeper smallmouth on (7) casts with a top water bait, without leaving the dock.

I almost hit that catch rate with the 1/8 oz jig, just below the surface this morning, getting (3) keepers on my first 5 casts, at the hotspot.  

[wolc123]

It looks like my 2 acre rr corn plot out back made a little better than “knee high by the 4th of July”.   After almost (2) weeks without rain, we finally got a decent shot of that  today.  That probably added 6” to the height of this corn, and helped out my 1/2 acre sweetcorn planting.  The 2 oz per gallon of gly that I sprayed on the rows of rr corn while cultivating on June 25 gave me a very good kill on the weeds.

It looks like the deer trimmed off a lot of the last couple rows of late silver queen corn that I put in a couple weeks ago.   My earliest planting of 72 day cappuccino sweetcorn looks like it is still a few weeks away from making ears.  
 

I will start trapping that for coons as soon as it does.  If I can keep most of them eradicated from the area, that 2 acres of rr corn out back just might make it all the way thru the Holiday ML season this year.  It sounds like NY has already approved that again and I should be able to hunt every day if it this year.

Another nice thing about today’s rain, is that it kept down the dust, so I was able to cut the lawn for the first time in a couple weeks, and work up the adjacent wheat/clover plots, without creating a big dust storm that makes it hard to breath and plugs the tractors air filters. 

 

[wolc123]

Out with the old, in with the “new”.

My wife drove by a truck camper that was for sale this week and took down the number.  We picked it up this morning.  The last few years, we have only been doing one camping trip a year (up to the St Lawrence River), and that’s coming up at the end of this month. 
 

This camper is a little bigger than our old one (10” wider).  It has a built in toilet and water tank, air conditioning, and an oven, all of which our old one lacked.  Everything seems to work on it, so hopefully her and the kids will be a little more comfortable this year.

I still get to sleep out on a tent,  so I don’t disturb them when I get up early to go fishing.  That was a lot better since I got a cot last year.  Air mattresses and sleeping on the ground sucks.  
 

I will miss this old camper.  My favorite part about it was the heater with a thermostat.  It was great for hunting in cold weather.  It was so much better than my first truck camper, which had a propane heater, but no thermostat.  You had to guess how cold it would get, and set the dial on a number, one thru five.  I was always way too hot or way too cold in the morning.  I never got a deer, the day after sleeping in my first camper.  

I killed my first one, in the Adirondacks, after sleeping in the second one.  It’s a lot easier to outwit a deer,

if your brain hasn’t been fried or froze the night before.

 

 

[Lawdwaz]

Going to a campground I assume?  Tow the boat too??

[wolc123]

4 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

Going to a campground I assume?  Tow the boat too??

Yes on both counts.  Kring point State park on Goose Bay.  My brother and sisters have a cottage across the bay from there.   I pick up my brother in law at their dock each morning.  I get a slip for the boat at the state park. I can also pull it right up to our campsite, on a secluded cove.   Originally, we were on an interior site this year, but a recent cancellation gave us a waterfront site for all (4) nights.  
 

The kids love the state park.  There is a nice beach, a good swimming cove, and an ice cream shop that they can ride bikes or skateboard to.  The He/She state park bathrooms were great two years ago, but maintenance was lacking last year.  It will be interesting to see the status of those this year. I usually shower over at my siblings place (after I finish cleaning fish), so I am not as affected by the manual labor disarray at the state park.  
 

We seldom if ever go camping without the boat, and the truck camper works good with that.  My wife did say that she would like to do a little more camping, with the new camper.  Maybe we will hit Gettysburg next summer, if gas prices come down.  

[wolc123]

First night in the new camper.  Beautiful temperature tonight, windows and roof vents all open.  I just heard a group of coyotes yipping like crazy out back, must be a bunch of young ones.

 

This thing is very roomy inside compared to our old one, but it has considerably less storage space.  We need to cut back on a lot of the unnecessary items that were cluttering up the old one.  
 

Winnie and piglet get to stay.  

Edited July 17, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

The only things that I have not tried yet in the “new” camper is the propane powered stuff: stove/oven, heater, and fridge. It has two onboard 20 lb propane tanks,  which show 1/2 full and full on the gauges.  We normally don’t use any of that stuff on our summer camping trip.  The kids like riding their bikes to the camp store each morning, to pick up a bag of ice for the coolers, and coffee for my wife. 
 

We will not be able to use the AC up there, because our site lacks electric.  I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to use it at home either, because I don’t have a 30 amp, 110 volt hookup.  I stopped at Home Depot on the way home with it, but they lacked the proper breaker.

 I will order one thru Amazon and wire 30 amp/110 volt hookups for it inside and outside the barn. I have a 30 amp 220 volt service out there, and all the 110 volt outlets have 20 amp breakers.  The little Carrier roof-top AC unit seems to work fine plugged into one of those, with an adapter and a 12 ga extension cord, thru the camper’s inverter .  For now,  I make sure to keep the AC on low, and don’t dare try the fridge on electric, while running the AC.  

The new camper has about (6) little 12 volt fans inside, all of which are plugged into cigarette lighter plugs.  They power off the inverter, when plugged into AC, and the two batteries in our “camper special” truck, when plugged into that.
 

 Hopefully, those fans and the shaded campsite, will keep us cool enough on our upcoming trip.  It is usually not ever too hot up there, on a little peninsula on the St Lawrence.  

I was a little worried about the camper’s water tank.  I put about 10 gallons in it yesterday, to try out the 12 volt pump, sink, and toilet.  My wife saw water dripping from underneath, shortly thereafter.  It turned out that there was a drain valve on the bottom of that tank, and I didn’t have it all the way closed .  

The previous owner only had it for one season and never used the water system.  He said the prior owner (original) was a freak about maintenance and had winterized it the year before. The “new” camper was manufactured in 1989 and the original owner had always stored it inside.  It only sat outside when he used it, the first 22 seasons, and all of last year.  

 I must have bumped the valve slightly open when I was messing around down there.  Pink RV antifreeze flowed from the sink and toilet when I first turned on the pump.  Everything seems ok now, with clear water flow and no more leakage (with the drain valve all the way closed).  
 

The guy was originally asking $ 3200 for the camper, and said he would take  $ 3000 as we were looking it over.  I was a reluctant to part with the cash. Another interested buyer  showed up, while we were there, so I went for it.  If the heater, stove/oven and fridge turn out to work ok, then I would say that we got a very good deal.  New truck campers, comparably equipped, are around 50k.  

This thing seems very well made and has all top-quality appliances.  I like the big “picture” windows, compared to the little ones in our prior (1986ish) truck camper.  
 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

I made a quick survey of the back 30 while my wife was getting dinner ready.  My 2 acre rr corn plot looks a lot better after the 1-1/4” of rain we got Sunday night.  It shot up at least a foot since then and is now over shoulder high. Should make for some good Holiday ML hunting if I can keep the coons out of it.

 

Somebody mowed the gas line good and wide this year.  That will save me some diesel fuel when I cut the rest of the tall weeds.  

 

My little pond came up about a foot from the rain.

 

I got to cut the fallen ash, blocking my view to the clover plot from the upper deck and patch the floor on the lower deck of my 2-story blind.  It looks like there is lots of acorns  started on the big white oak next to that. 

[land 1]

u do have some nice corn but it did not grow 12 in ,,,,, in 48 hrs that not possible just sayin but either way good job

[wolc123]

A buddy dropped of my new field suv today.  It’s been a long time since I had a Chrysler product on the farm.  22 years ago, my first field car was a Plymouth Volari, with a slant-six. This Durango is pretty smooth in comparison.  The all-wheel drive and long suspension travel seems to take the ditches pretty well. 

I didn’t see any coon damage yet in the corn, but the early sweetcorn and the rr fieldcorn is making ears, so it won’t be long now.  The rr stuff is over my head now.  I can’t wait for Holiday ML season.  
 

Hopefully, the city folks who have been moving in on our road lately, won’t complain about the “unlicensed vehicle”. The color blends well with my pole barn, so maybe they won’t notice it.  

I like to use enclosed vehicles,  to get downwind of the deer, when I start my hunts. That works a lot better than an atv for that.  I use my old Silverado plow truck, up at the in-laws place in the northern zone, for the same purpose on the logging roads. 

 

Edited July 23, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

I took my wife for a ride in the  Durango, when she got home from work.  As we entered the field by the pond, a couple young bucks in velvet ran out of the tall grass.  They looked like 4 or 6 pointers (1.25 yr olds).   

Most years, I would have all that tall grass cut by now.  I did get one small field cut today and it was loaded with deer beds.  Maybe I will leave that tall grass the pond field.  I am also leaving a strip of even taller grass in my front, because I didn’t get any fieldcorn planted in that this year.  
 

The deer tend to come out into that field earlier in the afternoon, when you can’t see them from the house or the road.  Usually, I have corn for cover, but the tall grass will have that job this year.  
 

 

[BizCT]

Nice. I learned to drive at 13-14 years old in a Nissan Pathfinder in old farm fields.


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[wolc123]

After about a half hour of range time, I have one gun ready to go, for the early September antlerless season.  The skeeters were bad back there, so I didn’t have time to finish my Marlin 512, but the old Ithaca model 37, 16 ga is ok.  
 

The Durango worked well for hauling stuff back there.  I need a new battery for my range finder (I think I got 5 seasons out of the first one).  I didn’t bring the spotting scope, but the suv worked ok for checking targets. 
 

If I don’t get time to finish sighting in the Marlin, prior to mid-September, I will keep shots under 100 yards and stick with the Ithaca 16.  I was surprised that it held its zero, after taking the barrel on and off the reciever, to which the scope is mounted.  

[wolc123]

By by old camper.  My friend, who traded me his wife’s old Durango for it, just pulled out with it:

[wolc123]

Loaded for bass:

[wolc123]

The bad:

I had some trouble on the drive up, blowing a trailer tire on the construction zone on 90.  No stopping there, with no shoulders, so I had to yank it a few miles on the rim to the next exit.  I put my old 1989 spare on as soon as I got off, and nursed it a few more miles to the Walmart in Brewerton, where they had mounted tires on rims for about $ 150 with tax.  

Right after I changed out the old spare in their parking lot, a real gully washer of a thunderstorm hit.  I pulled the plug out of the boat, so that it didn’t fill up on the drive North on rt 81.  That extra weight probably would have popped another tire.

 

The good:

There was a nice west wind blowing this morning and it took less than 2 hours to get a limit of 12-1/64” to 16” largemouth bass.  

At least I will be eating good now, thanks to the “free” meat. They are all filleted and vacuum sealed now.  Largemouth bass are my favorite fish to eat and second favorite to catch.  
 

Right after smallmouth bass, which are my favorite fish to catch and my second favorite to eat, only because largemouth are just a little easier to fillet.  Usually, they only pull about half as hard as the smallmouth do.  
 

The two biggest ones put up a pretty good tussle this morning however.  The water temperature must be near their “optimum fight” level.  I actually used the net on the 16 incher, but I hoisted the others into the boat, with my heavy-action rod, baitcaster “winch” reel, and 10 lb mono.  

The best thing about this mornings outing was the bass:pike ratio on spinnerbaits.   I caught one short bass, in addition to the 5 keepers, and lost just 1 pike right next to the boat.  It only made off with the chartreuse skirt from my spinnerbait.  
 

There have been times when that ratio has been reversed with more than 6 pike per bass.  That can get pretty costly, when they start tearing off spinnerbaits.  

Edited July 29, 2022 by wolc123

[mlammerhirt]

Well done Wolc....but hate to break the bubble....the tire and rim added a price per lb to those bass.

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[wolc123]

20 minutes ago, mlammerhirt said:

Well done Wolc....but hate to break the bubble....the tire and rim added a price per lb to those bass.

Sent from my SM-A716V using Tapatalk
 

Had I not been in a shoulderless construction zone  when it happpend, I wouldn’t have lost the rim.  I felt it happen right away.  I had those tires inflated properly before I left, so my guess is that the tire got cut on something.  
 

The old rim came in handy at the campsite however.  It is pretty much solid rock , so there is no way to stake down my tent.  It would have blown away in the 30 mph west wind we got right now were it not tied to that rim.  

Edited July 29, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

Looks like I am going to be needing a new tent.  The $ 20 garage sale special, that I have been using for the last 5 years, has just about had it.  A little duct tape on it should get me thru a couple more nights, but this will be the last year for it.  
 

High winds yesterday afternoon flattened it, while I was eating dinner over at my siblings cottage, on the other side of the bay.  It had a few minor rips prior, but now it is well beyond repair.  
 
I have another, small dome tent, but I can’t stand up in it and I don’t think my cot will fit in it.

At least my old boat trailer rim kept this one from blowing across the River into Canada.  This campsite is way too rocky for tent stakes. 

 

[wolc123]

Not as good of a wind today (straight from the north 15-25 mph), and not as many keeper sized bass this morning.  We kept two 14” and a 12-1/2” largemouth and released (6) that were 10-1/2 to 11-3/4”.  We also caught about. (6) pike this morning, one 24” legal keeper and the others just under the 22” limit.
 

Both of the 14”  bass had plastic tags on them (one orange and one green) so they had been caught previously.   They are now filleted, vacuum sealed and in the freezer.

My brother in law and I are going to try for our last (7) after supper.  He got up here late yesterday afternoon and caught (2) keepers after supper.  

[wolc123]

Just (2) more keeper largemouth bass this evening (13”  & 14-1/2”), which made another small vacuum pack for the freezer.  We also got 4 or 5 short ones, 2 short pike and three “legal sized” pike (over 22”). 

 

The two largest pike were 26” & 28”.  I don’t keep them because they are a pia to clean.  We use double 8 lb flourocarbon leaders to keep them from breaking off.  They still end up tearing the skirts off spinnerbaits once in a while.  The biggest one went for a silver rattletrap cast over the weeds in 6 ft of water.  

[wolc123]

They were biting better this morning, with a light west wind.  We tried for smallmouth, in 45 - 66 ft, on a shoal out in the River,  for 1/2 hour with no bites.  The wind picked up a little, so we went back in the bay for largemouth.  
 

We landed (7) keepers (12-1/8” - 17”) there, over the next (2) hours, along with 4 or 5 short bass and 5 or 6 pike.   We might try for our last (3) bass this evening.  This morning’s catch added (3) more packs to the freezer.  

[wolc123]

We never got around to trying for more bass yesterday afternoon.  I stayed up late last night, polishing off the remaining beers, over at my siblings cottage on the other side of the bay, across from where we camped.  
 

They set me up in a spare room over there, as my tent wasn’t quite up to another night. 

 My brother in law and I got out  fishing for a couple hours this morning, before I had to go help my wife and our girls break camp in the State park.  We landed (4) keepers and about (6) short largemouth.  He got (3) of them, but I managed to edge out his 17 incher from yesterday, with a 17-1/2 incher this morning. 
 

Today’s catch added (2) more quart-sized freezer packs to the tally, which I left there for him.  I brought home (8), meaning I need to come up with (4) more packs of smallmouth bass, up at the in-laws Adirondack home, over Labor Day weekend and early ML week.  Shouldn’t be a problem.

 

 

Finally, there is more packs of bass in our freezer than there are venison backstrap.  I still need to get out on the upper Niagara and add (9) more packs of smallmouth bass for my wife and girls, in addition to those (4) for me. 
 

The boat ran good and all the equipment on it worked well.  The only trouble was the live well pump acted up a little and I had to back the boat up to get it primed a couple times.  Also, it was weedy and shallow at my siblings dock, so I had to clear the intakes on the Johnson 70 a few times.
Running it in reverse caused trouble, but spinning it around with ropes at the dock, and running it out in forward was ok.  

Some years, they apply herbicide to the bay, to kill all the weeds, but that adversely affects the fishing and turns the bass an ugly fluorescent greenish yellow color.  I much prefer dealing with the weeds. 

  The ride home was quick and uneventful, compared to the ride up, when we blew a trailer tire in the construction on rt 90.  
 

 

[wolc123]

Some “multitasking” with the Durango this afternoon.  On my way back from fertilizing a new turnip plot, and delivering the cutipacker way out back, I noted a “flag down” on one of the box traps in my sweetcorn.
 

The night before, the marshmallows got swiped out of all three box traps, but none of the doors were down.  Today, there was a big boar coon in one, an open door and no bait left in another, and the third still had a marshmellow in it, with the door open.   
 

Suprisingly, he was still alive in the trap, despite being out in the hot sun all day.  I went back for my .22, but the Durango made short work of that.  
 

The coons wiped out my earliest corn, over the 4 days that I was out of town fishing.  Hopefully, I can whittle their numbers down, before they get the next three batches of sweetcorn.  Or worse yet, get into my 2 acre rr field corn plot, that I am depending on for the Holiday ML season.  I can’t rely on rabies to kill them, because vaccine pods were recently air-dropped in the area.  
 

I will target the bait-snatchers this weekend, with some dog/proof traps baited with cat food.  I only like using those on the weekends, because it takes longer to check them.  I can spot a sprung box-trap from 200 yards away.