2022 Wolc Journal

[wolc123]

I put a couple Duke dog-proof traps out tonight, one next to the three box traps, where marshmallows have been getting swiped.  Hopefully, a little cat food, in the bottom of a dog-proof, will catch the culprit that has been swiping marshmallows.  
 

I put the other one way out back, on the far corner of my 2 acre RR corn plot.  A few ears have been damaged back there, and I am not sure if it was from coons or deer.  Hopefully, I will find out in the morning.  I plan on cutting the hay in the front and side of that field tomorrow.  

[wolc123]

Scratch one bait bandit.  Apparently, he liked cat food more than marshmallows.  Last night was the first night, since I put three box traps in the sweet corn, that there were no marshmallow baits swiped out any of them.

This was another big male coon.  Just like last year, I think the local coyotes are keeping the females and juveniles in check.  Similar to General Custer, the coyotes don’t struggle much with the females and  the immature, but they have a tough time with the adult males.  
 

Edited August 6, 2022 by wolc123

[Lawdwaz]

They were dropping the coon rabies bait via helicopter this week.   Thursday I think it was….flying east then west progressing south with each pass.  Saw them over our office then more passes going south. 

[wolc123]

20 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

They were dropping the coon rabies bait via helicopter this week.   Thursday I think it was….flying east then west progressing south with each pass.  Saw them over our office then more passes going south. 

I heard they were going to be doing that.   This one seemed very healthy. It took a couple extra .22 lead pills to put him down.  

[wolc123]

No action in the coon traps this morning.  I finally finished the last of the bush-hogging yesterday afternoon.  I still have a couple acres of wheat/clover/alfalfa mix plots that I want to get in after September 1, then I should be set for the season as far as food plots.

There are still a few tasks remaining out back, prior to the early September antlerless gun season.  I need to clear away a dead ash that fell near my two story blind, blocking the view from the upper deck.
 

 I am going to move a truck cap blind to a new location where I just bush-hogged some nice shooting lanes.  After that, I will set up a pop up blind, with a nice comfy chair that I just garbage picked, near the intersection of corn, turnip, old clover, and fresh wheat/clover plots.  I will only be able to hunt that one with NE winds. 
 

I also need to finish dialing in my Marlin 512, for longer range shots,  and check the zeros on my crossbows.  I have one stand location over at my parents place, on the opposite corner of wmu 9F that is too close to buildings owned by others for firearms, but ok for crossbow (250 ft setback required while guns are 500 ft).  That stand is 400 ft from the nearest double-wide mobile home.  
 

It’s supposed to be a scorcher this afternoon, so I think I will run into town and pick up my license, doe-tags, and do a little more shopping in the air conditioned stores.  
 

The water level in the pond our back is looking low.  There is rain predicted over the next two days.  That should help the plots and the pond.  
 

[wolc123]

I did ok shopping at Runnings in Lockport this afternoon.  They had everything that I was looking for, except bullets (30/30 and Hornady 2-3/4” 12 ga SST sabots).  I might have to use my 16 ga, crossbow, and ML a little more than I intended to this year.  
 

I picked up my Hunting Licence with (2) wmu 9F dmp tags, bow/ml buck tag, regular buck tag, bow/ml antlerless tag, bear tag, and (3) turkey tags for $ 72.  They threw in a free blaze orange ball cap with the deal.  I bet you “lifetime guys” don’t get that.  
 

I also picked up a new battery for my tractor or truck (it’s got top and side posts). It’s got a few more CCA than the NAPA legend battery that I picked up last year for that purpose.  That one cranked my 4wd diesel tractor pretty slow, when it was real cold last winter, (now it’s a backup battery in my summer Silverado).

 It will be interesting to see if this one does any better in the tractor this winter.  Our new next door neighbor wants me to plow his driveway, so I will have about twice as much plowing to do.  
 

I am working on trying to get another snowplow tractor for backup.  If that deal don’t pan out, I’ll set up my antique Ford 8n for that “backup” service.  I used it the first few years we were here, for snow plowing,  and it worked pretty good with a rear blade.  It’s only 2wd, but the rears were both loaded (now only one is), and I have chains for them.  
 

I also bought a neutral post knife switch for the Durango field car.  Taking the 3/8 wrench off the keychain will make it easier to carry anyhow, and it should speed up my starts.  That will be handy for working the coon/corn trap line every day until mid October.  
 

Other items in the Runnings cart included cowhide work gloves.  I hope they hold up longer than the Buffalo hide ones that I bought there many months ago and wore out on my barn demolition projects.  I also got a Gallon of pink rv antifreeze, which will be needed with the new camper (old one lacked plumbing and didn’t need it), and filters for the two furnaces in our house.
 

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

Could
Have used some help at Marvins last night. I drank as much of their beer as I could


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[Lawdwaz]

I would think both you guys could just about hear the whoopin' & hollerin' up on Heise Rd last night.

 

[wolc123]

Scratch one more bait/corn  snatcher.  Another adult male coon today.  This one swiped the marshmallow, out of one box traps, before he went for the cat food in the dog proof.  

 

The new negative post knife switch on the Durango worked good.  I don’t even need to prop open the hood to use it.  

[wolc123]

The Whitetail Institute “Tall Tine Tubers”, that I planted last Wednesday, look like they germinated pretty good.  It was at least 3 year old seed, so I wasn’t sure how they would do.  

This plot is about it 1/2 acre and I seeded it at about half the recommended rate.  It is on the end of a good looking 2 acre RR corn plot.  I plan on planting an adjacent 2 acre wheat/clover plot after September 1.  I have 50 lbs of wheat leftover from last year and a couple pounds of Whitetail Institute Imperial Whitetail clover, that should work good for that spot.  
 

I am going to set up a pop up blind, with a comfortable padded chair, in the middle of a small old clover plot, that is on the inside corner of the corn, TT tuber, and new wheat/clover plots.
 

 As long as the wind is from the NE, that should be a good spot.  With that wind,  I will need to drive the Durango to the west property line, and park on the north end, in order to avoid spooking the deer on the walk back to that blind. 

The tires it came with look like they have some decent tread, but I am going to put some chains on all four, as soon as it starts getting muddy or cold, so it will be good to go in all weather conditions.  The drainage is very good along that route, because it is all right along the creek bank.  

I also think I will put my hitch reciever cargo carrier on the back, so I don’t mess up the carpet, if I need to haul out a deer carcass.

[wolc123]

 

This female possum got the last of my marshmallow the night before last.  Our kids used up all the rest, at a campfire with their friends.  Now I get to see how stale bread with a little peanut butter works for bait. 
 

This was the first opossum for me in a few years.  I was going to release them, to eat ticks, but some of our resident experts said that was a suburban myth.  Instead, more fertilizer for the next foodplot.  

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

The traps were all untouched last night.  I did see a couple young bucks (looked like 1.3 year 4-points) run into the tall grass on my drive back.  Hopefully, there will be some does back there for the September 10th antlerless gun opener.  

It’s weird seeing them young bucks, because I also had a pair like that, the same age,  here last year at this time.  I never saw them after hunting season opened.  
 
I picked out a spot to put my pop up blind, near the food plots, and to move my truck cap blind to.  I need to get shooting sticks, to use with my Marlin 512 from that pop up.  A 200 yard shot, down the gas line, is a definite possibility from that location.  I need a very good rest for that.  I hope to get those two blinds into position, over the next couple weeks, so the deer become accustomed to them.   

If the weather and mosquitos cooperate, I hope do some practice with my Marlin 512 shotgun and crossbows this weekend.  The battery was dead in my rangefinder, but 2 new ones arrived today.  

[wolc123]

There was nothing in the traps again this morning.  I must have crossed one of the ditches a little too fast and I broke the muffler and tailpipe off the back of the cat on the Durango.  
 

I heard it dragging across the concrete bridge over the creek on my way back.  I couldn’t extract it over the rear axle without lifting the back up a little.  
 

 

All better now.  It’s just a little louder than it was before.  The cat has a pretty good rear support and hanger, so I should be good to go.  

Edited August 13, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

My September 10, opening day of early gun season, target doe made an appearance as I was clearing shooting lanes.  She looks like a good healthy momma.  Her fawn is almost 1/2 her size.  Plenty big enough to make it on its own, after the 10th, if she makes it to deer heaven (my freezer).  
 

I cleared a dead ash tree that fell last winter, blocking the view from the upper deck of my 2-story blind, along with some other brush that was obstructing shooting lanes at a few locations.  
 

If we get the rain they are predicting next week, I will cut the clover in front of that double decker, and in a few other spots.  Then it will be nice and tender on September 10.  
 

I will need the bush hog on back for ballast, to move another truck cap blind with the tractor, but it is too dusty to mow clover until after we get a good rain (plus it’s not good to cut it when it is real dry).  

Here is how that stand looked before.  I also replaced the missing sideboard up top.

 

 I will be ready to hunt on the 10th, after I finish a few more small tasks: 1) plant (2) more fresh wheat/clover plots, 2) set up my pop up blind, 3) move the truck cap blind, 4) purchase shooting sticks, 5) A little more target practice with my 12 ga bolt action shotgun and my crossbows.  

[wolc123]

I identified the source of the limited damage that I have been seeing in my 2 acre RR corn plot this morning, on my way back to check the dog-proof trap, that I set in it a week ago.  
 

There was a bachelor group of (3) bucks back there.  The largest one, on the far right in the picture, looked like a 2.4 yr old 8-point.  He was standing next to the ditch, a 1.4 yr old 4 or 6-point was about half way between him and the corn, and another 1.4 year old was deep in the corn, when I first drove up in the Durango. 
 

Most of the corn in this plot is fairly well developed, but still has a way to go, before it reaches the “full-dent” stage.  I have never seen deer damage in field corn this early in the season.
 

 I am guessing that the drought has dried up most of their preferred food sources.  This plot is a hybrid seed that sets deep roots and it is relatively weed free, making it extremely drought resistant. Unlike my early sweetcorn, which really suffered from the drought and was finished off by the coons, while I was away on summer vacation.  
 

Deer are very efficient users of corn.  Even so, if they keep up the pressure on this small plot, then it is unlikely that it will last until January 1 as I had hoped that it would.  
 

Part of the problem is that there is very little corn around close by this year.  Usually there is hundreds of acres within a few miles.  High fertilizer, fuel, and seed prices took a huge bite out of that this spring.  

The larger buck would be a “shooter” for me, starting the last two weeks of archery - peak rut / crossbow time.  Hopefully, I can take out a couple of mature does with my shotgun between September 10 and 18.  That will help, but I still doubt there will be any corn left back there by the start of ML season, in December.  

There were also some turkeys out in the adjacent hay field, when I drove back there this morning.  Turkeys don’t bother field corn at all, as long as the coons don’t first nock it down for them.  I am staying well ahead of that issue, with my sweetcorn, traps,  .22, and shovel.  

Edited August 14, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

Nothing in the traps again today.  I saw the bachelor group of three gobblers when I drove back to check them. They had moved from the neighbor’s hay field, where I seen them yesterday morning, to about the center of our place.  This one, in the middle of the gas line, looked to have a pretty big beard. 

Maybe I will try to squeeze in a little fall turkey hunting back there, between Northern zone big-game opening weekend, and the southern zone crossbow deer season.  I picked up (3) turkey tags, along with (5) deer tags, when I got my license last week.  Only one is good on the fall.

I will need to use my 12 ga 870, with extra full choke 28” bead sight barrel, because I put the smooth bore deerslayer barrel back on my scoped 16 ga Ithaca model 37.  
 

If I can’t get my Marlin 512 dialed in where I want it, with my limited supply of 2-3/4” Hornady SST sabots, then that old Ithaca will need to be my primary September doe killer.  
 

The young fall hen, that I shot back there a few years ago, was pretty good.  I imagine that even the old toms would be a lot better eating in the fall than they are in the spring.  I bet that the three today were after grasshoppers.  They were all over back there this afternoon.  
 

[wolc123]

I ran over to Runnings this morning and picked up shooting sticks.  They still don’t have any 12 ga Hornady SST slugs, nor does Lockport Walmart.   Those have always grouped ok out of my rifled Marlin 512, except for the last time, on the range in adverse conditions (real hot, lots of mosquitoes).  I have less than 20 left.  
 

Hopefully, I can get that gun hitting right where I want it, using less than half of those.  I would like to try a few from the shooting sticks, at a 150 yard range.   That is about double the range, where I am comfortable with my smoothbore Ithaca 16 gauge.  I have plenty of ammo for that one.  
 

I plan on simultaneous squirrel hunting, during many deer and turkey hunts this year (especially the September antlerless ones).  I will bring along my open-sighted pellet gun for that, and limit shots to under 15 yards, when there is no deer around.

 I got that Marksman dialed in with (6) .177 pellets this morning, off the back porch.  Hopefully, I will need less SST’s than that, to dial in the Marlin 12 ga deer gun, back on the range.  If not, I will be using the Ithaca 16 ga, and keeping shots well under 100 yards.

I guess I could break out my in-line T/C Omega ML, if the September does won’t get in close enough for the Ithaca 16 shotgun.  I also have plenty of bullets, powder, and primers for that.  It was right in the mark on a deer I used it on last year and one on New Year’s Day this year (as was the Marlin 12 and the Ithaca 16 on the other (2) last year).
 
It’s a little more of a pain to clean that ML though, and I am not crazy about the one shot limitation.  I will throw it in the Durango, and confirm the 100 yard zero, on my next trip back to the range.  I have no intention on going for a double on deer in September anyhow, because I only have room for one in my deer fridge. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

The Imperial Whitetail tall tine tube tubers are starting to pop pretty good from the morning dew and the few brief showers we have had over the last couple weeks.  I sure hope we get the rain they are calling for early next week though, so I can start cutting some old clover plots.    

 

I have seen droughts a lot worse than we are in right now.  My little pond is still holding some water (it dried up completely about 5 years ago), and even the creek bed still has a little water in it.

[wolc123]

The vermin must have really been out last night.  I noticed a coon got hit on the the road at the end of my driveway, on my way to work this morning.  I found another adult male in a box trap just now.  
 

I didn’t even see any bait left in it when I checked it yesterday.    I am now out of marshmallows, bread, and peanut butter, so I just baited the other two box traps with a little cat food, poured thru the bottom of the grate.

The coons make a mess of the box-traps, so I had to take the full one back to the shop for cleanup.

Two of those, that I caught earlier,  had been exhumed by coyotes.  As usual, those are doing a fine job of keeping the area cleared of live female and juvenile coons.  To top it off, there was a dead mouse in a trap in my woodshop.

 

[JJJWNY]

On 8/17/2022 at 3:49 PM, wolc123 said:

I ran over to Runnings this morning and picked up shooting sticks.  They still don’t have any 12 ga Hornady SST slugs, nor does Lockport Walmart.   Those have always grouped ok out of my rifled Marlin 512, except for the last time, on the range in adverse conditions (real hot, lots of mosquitoes).  I have less than 20 left.  
 

Hopefully, I can get that gun hitting right where I want it, using less than half of those.  I would like to try a few from the shooting sticks, at a 150 yard range.   That is about double the range, where I am comfortable with my smoothbore Ithaca 16 gauge.  I have plenty of ammo for that one.  
 

I plan on simultaneous squirrel hunting, during many deer and turkey hunts this year (especially the September antlerless ones).  I will bring along my open-sighted pellet gun for that, and limit shots to under 15 yards, when there is no deer around.

 I got that Marksman dialed in with (6) .177 pellets this morning, off the back porch.  Hopefully, I will need less SST’s than that, to dial in the Marlin 12 ga deer gun, back on the range.  If not, I will be using the Ithaca 16 ga, and keeping shots well under 100 yards.

I guess I could break out my in-line T/C Omega ML, if the September does won’t get in close enough for the Ithaca 16 shotgun.  I also have plenty of bullets, powder, and primers for that.  It was right in the mark on a deer I used it on last year and one on New Year’s Day this year (as was the Marlin 12 and the Ithaca 16 on the other (2) last year).
 
It’s a little more of a pain to clean that ML though, and I am not crazy about the one shot limitation.  I will throw it in the Durango, and confirm the 100 yard zero, on my next trip back to the range.  I have no intention on going for a double on deer in September anyhow, because I only have room for one in my deer fridge. 

I just got some Hornady SST 12 gauge delivered this week from Bud's  $13.25/box... Didn't think that was too awful bad in today's day and age.

[wolc123]

50 minutes ago, JJJWNY said:

I just got some Hornady SST 12 gauge delivered this week from Bud's  $13.25/box... Didn't think that was too awful bad in today's day and age.

I think that’s what I paid each ,for a two box limit, at Runnings  a couple months ago when they had them.  

[Otto]

12 hours ago, JJJWNY said:

I just got some Hornady SST 12 gauge delivered this week from Bud's  $13.25/box... Didn't think that was too awful bad in today's day and age.

I found Remington AccuTips 12 gauge at a local gun shop but they were $25 a box!  They had SSTs there too at $20.  You got a great deal! 

I was at Runnings yesterday and shelves were pretty full, no limit on boxes and 9mm Winchester FMJ was $20 for 50.  I wonder if they are selling off all their ammo before the change in law on Sept 1??

[wolc123]

Busy morning today.  I put the bush hog on, as a counterweight, then cut the shooting range nice and low.  I used my medium fork extensions on the loader to reposition a truck cap blind.  It took my a while to get the floor within half a bubble of perfectly level, but it turned out ok.    

I will look for a north wind to hunt this spot.  Hopefully, we get one between September 10 and 18th, and the old doe that I saw here last week shows up again in the same spot.  
 

Besides a shot that way (to the south), I can get a hundred yard shot to the east, from the back door, and a hundred yard shot to the east, from the front slider.   I doubt I will open the south side slider, because there is thick brush that way and the property line is only about 15 yards away,  

 

After placing that stand, I drove back to the house and filled the Durango’s cargo hold with guns, shooting supplies, a big swivel chair, and my pop up   blind. 

When I got back to the range, the only thing I forgot was my hearing protection.  No big deal, as the great suspension on that Durango made for a quick trip back to get it.  I won’t even shoot a .22 on the range without hearing protection.  

That’s my recoil pad lying next to the ear plugs on the 50 yard bench.  I always keep that in my shooting box.  It tames the crap out of the hard kickers like my Ithaca 16 featherlight and the 870 12 gauge.  The Marlin 512 is heavy enough, that it don’t kick too bad, as is the T/C Omega, which kicks about the same as the Ruger 10/22. 

The shooting conditions were a lot better this morning, than last time I tried.  It was quite hot, but there was no wind and no mosquitoes.  I started with my Marlin 512 and used (3) SST’s to get it dialed in .  It is now adjusted to 2” high at 100 yards, and 3” high at 50.  I have (18) SST’s left.  
 

Next, I checked my T/C Omega ML at 50 yards and found that it was about 3” low.  A quick adjustment brought 1” high (where I wanted it at 50), so 2 shots and done with that one.

I changed targets and fired a 3 shot burst with my Ruger 10/22 and hollow point Rem Yellow jackets .  The 2” diameter group was centered 1/2 “ to the left and 1” above the bull, and I made no adjustment.

I ended the range session with a “one and done” 50 yards shot with my short 12 gauge open-sighted Remington 870.  The Federal classic foster slug punched thru 3/4” high and 2” to the right. 

As far as the guns go, I am all set for the September 10 opener now.  I will probably flip a coin between the Marlin 512 and the ML at home.  I have lots of ammo for the ML, but it is more of a pain to clean.  The barrel is soaking now, with Traditions foaming bore cleaner.  I won’t clean the other guns until September 18.
 

 I will go with my Ithaca 16, over at my parents place.  I also have lots of slugs for that and it always shoots very well on my grandfather’s old farm. Maybe that’s because he was the original owner of the gun. I would like to take one mature doe from there and another at home, a week apart.  
 

When I finished shooting, I placed the pop up blind, put the padded swivel chair in it, and staked it down.  From that position, I can get a 200 yard shot down the gas line or down my range, a 15 yard shot to the turnip plot, or 20 yard shot to the corn.  I will need an east or north east wind to hunt it.

After that, I trimmed some brush around a “natural” blind near the center, that can be hunted in almost any wind.  Some of that brush was poison ivy, so I sped back to the house, threw my clothes in the wash , put on shorts, and jumped in the pool to wash off all that nasty oil.  I’ll know tomorrow if I got it all. 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

It was too damn muggy in the house last night, so I slept out in the camper, which is in the pole barn (it has an air-conditioner which works ok on the 20 amp outlet that I have it plugged into out here).  
 

Right now, I have that ac turned off, and a window cranked open, so that I can listen to the pleasant sound of rain on the tin barn roof.  That rain arrived just in the nick of time.  Now I can bush-hog my old clover plots, so that they will be super tasty and attractive to the deer, for the September 10th antlerless gun season opener.  

Edited August 21, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

After lunch with my parents at their place, I cut a big locust branch that they wanted down in the back yard.  I used the remaining gas in my saw to clear a downed dead ash from one of the woods trails that my dad wanted to get thru with his bush hog.  I brought that wood home and loaded it on my “to be split” trailer, out behind the barn.  

I hope to get over there one more time, before the September 10 antlerless gun opener, and cut up another truckload of dead ash (for our winter heating supply), and get my $ 8 padded swivel chair (from which I killed (3) deer in the past year) back up in the clover plot / woods edge stand, that’s right behind their house.

My parents are my “trail cameras” over there.  Dad mentioned seeing two does regularly on that plot, one with a large fawn (she’s the one I want), and another with a small one.  I could only hunt one weekend of the early antlerless gun season last year, and that’s where I killed my deer.  
 

I jumped in the pool when I got home after I unloaded the wood  (I use it more for bathing after hot dirty work, than for swimming) .  It beats the heck out of dirtying up the shower in the house.  Pool filter cartridges are cheap and easily replaced.  
 

We have had a nice, light steady rain at home over the last hour or two.  I took the opportunity to bush hog (3) old clover plots, and the banks of my pond.  I like to try to catch that at the low water level for the year and I think this is it from the looks of the weather forecast for this week.  My home-made tractor canopy works great for sun and rain.  Not so well for bees though. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by wolc123