2022 Wolc Journal

[wolc123]

Too late to edit the typos above, but I meant to say “fresh king salmon”, not “long”salmon up above.  That last 17” smallmouth had the reel smoking on its first run. 
 

Also, as far the line goes, I think the main trouble was the abrasiveness of the weeds.  I put new line on both of those reels at the beginning of the season this year.   That was the issue on the first couple breaks anyhow.  
 

The last one, which cost me a properly-painted Zara puppy, was my own fault for not re-tying the fluorocarbon leader after close to 50 smallmouth  bass pulled on it with all they had.  That one broke right at the improved surgeons knot, which I used to attach the 24”, 8 lb test fluorocarbon leader to the 8 lb test mono backing.  
 

The water on this lake is gin-clear, so that leader adds a lot more strikes, than I would get if I run mono to the lure.  I run all 8 lb fluorocarbon on my jigging rod/reel, and only use the mono on my casting & trolling rod/reel. 

I had another LDR this morning on a 1/8 oz bucktail jig, on what might have been a 20 plus incher.  That one lightly ticked the Zara puppy.  I grabbed the jig rod and cast to that spot and it picked it up immediately.  As I tried to get it to the boat, it dove to the weeds and pulled free.  I used that jig trick on a 20 incher last year on Labor Day weekend.  This one felt very heavy, and there was no stopping it from diving to the weeds.  At least it didn’t take my 3 cent bucktail jig.  All I lost this weekend for tackle was a $9 hotntot and a $9 Zara puppy. I still have one of each of those left for my October trip.

I am thinking of setting up the in/laws to make some wooden Zara puppy copies  for me over the winter.  My father in law loves woodcarving and and my mother in law loves painting.  I will look for some hooks and hardware, and bring that, along with some seasoned poplar lumber (I have lots of that in barn) when we go up for Thanksgiving.  Maybe the wooden ones will work better than the hollow plastic ones.

Edited September 5, 2022 by wolc123

[wolc123]

I drove back to set coon box traps, and to check the plots in the front field behind creek this afternoon, after we got home from the Dacks.  I found two small ears of ripe early sweetcorn, from my last planting, that the coons missed.  There was a little of that stuck in one hopper of the planter (the coons got all the rest of it) when I did my last planting. 

 I added those to the traps, in addition to a peanut butter coated marshmallow.  Those have been getting swiped from the traps on most of the nights that I didn’t catch coons. My last two varieties of sweetcorn (kandy corn and silver queen), from the last planting, still look to be at least a week from ripe. 

It looks like the old wheat and clover/alfalfa seed mix, that I planted 9 days ago, has germinated very well.  I don’t think that will have much draw for the early antlerless season opener in (5) days, but it cant hurt.  We got a good rain today, so that should add a little more height to it by the weekend.

 

[wolc123]

I didn’t get to hunt as much as I had planned on the early antlerless gun-season home opener this year.  We drove East to Rochester, for our daughter’s, in college field hockey.   I hunted just the first two hours before we left, from a truck cap blind in our back yard, and didn’t see a deer.  

While we were in Rochester, I learned that a good friend was having a birthday bash, which started at 4:00 pm.  We drove home, after a post game lunch with the team.  I walked out back and I brought along my ML to check my coon traps in the sweetcorn.  
 

I walked back to my natural blind, on the downwind side of my back foodplots, and spent about 1/2 hour of mid afternoon there, seeing nothing but a few skeeters.  They were not too bad.

At the birthday party, I was informed of some every day early morning deer presence, in the field next to my house.  This morning before church, I hunted my closest stand to that field, for the first two “legal” hours.  I may have heard a deer, but did not see any.  A fat grey squirrel climed up to my poplar tree blind, but I didn’t have my pellet gun.  
 

After church, my wife made us a real good lunch of eggplant Parmesan, then I loaded the truck with gear and drove over to my parents. Over here, I cut a half truckload of downed ash to clear a trail in the woods for dad, helped ma move some boxes in the basement, took a short nap (late night at party/early rises caught up with me), and ate dinner with them.

I got set up in my cherry tree blind, in the woods on the edge of a clover plot, for the last (2) hours of legal.  I am well armed with my ML and pellet gun, waiting on a big doe  or a grey squirrel.

 Nothing seen yet, but I just heard a branch snap behind me.  My parents saw a big doe, with a decent sized fawn, on this plot two evenings ago.  I was hoping that my earlier chainsaw work might stir up some deer curiosity.  One hour of legal deer hunting left this weekend and all is well.
 

 

 

[wolc123]

I finally saw a few deer on my 6th early antlerless hunt, on The afternoon of Tuesday September 13.  It was about 60 degrees, when I walked out back at 6:00 and there was a steady 10 mph west wind blowing.  
 

I have been wanting to hunt my deer foodplot court, on the west edge, but the wind hasn’t been right (east would have been best).  I couldn’t wait any longer, so I headed to my “natural blind” located about 75 yards to the east of those plots.  
 

On my walk back, there was a unicorn fork horn buck standing in the clover plot along the east side,  that I had hunted the evening prior.  He moved into cover as I passed, then came back out to feed, 10 minutes after I settled into my blind, 175 yards directly upwind of him.  Evercalm works well for 1.4 year old bucks apparently, because he fed there for at least 15 minutes. 
 

At 7:00, I caught movement in close,upwind to my west.  A young doe passed 5 yards away.  I slowly moved my gun towards her and she bolted off after catching that motion.  I nearly fired, but caught more movement behind her.  
 

That was a much larger doe and she stopped, slightly quartering away, at 15 yards, allowing for a quick heart-shot, with my 50 cal T/C Omega ML, with 24O gr black sleeved bullet and 100 gr of T7 powder.  
She bolted off, swinging thru a little patch of cover, and emerging in a shooting lane 50 yards to my NW.  I saw her flop down dead there.  

She is the same “back strap momma” that I have seen and photographed several times.  The smaller doe with her must have been her last year’s fawn.  The coyotes probably got this year’s.  She didn’t have any milk in her, and she was very fat.  
 

[hunter]

Well done.

[Fletch]

Congratz!


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[LET EM GROW]

Good job. 

What lake are you fishing on at the in laws? 

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, LET EM GROW said:

Good job. 

What lake are you fishing on at the in laws? 

Not a public one.

[wolc123]

I wasn’t planning on hunting again until Sunday afternoon, over at my parents place, because my deer fridge won’t be available until Saturday evening, when I finish processing doe # 1.  
 

Now, I am thinking of getting out here at home on Saturday morning.  Hopefully, the Buck and Doe shop could take doe # 2 for the Venison Donation program.  If not, I’ll crank up the AC in the garage (it’s supposed to be 80 degrees outside on Saturday), and leave it hang in there till I process the other one. 
 

They were not able to take a cash donation for that at a Lockport Runnings when I picked up my first two dmp tags this year.  I’ll try again at Walmart, when I go back for the other (2) on November 1.  Maybe I can give them some meat before then.  
 

The reason I want to go out is that the local deer population seems to be way too high.  I base that on the distinct browse lines that I see on all of my hedgerows, and the super heavy usage I saw on my wheat plots in the late winter and spring.  
 

I think the local farmers eased way up on their nuisance permits here on the NW corner of wmu 9F.  Not so on the SE corner at my parents place.  I have heard that they hit them extra hard out there this year, and that lines up with my observations.  Also, my food plots out there don’t look so hot.  
 

I have been itching to check out my “deer Foodplot court” in a morning prime time hunt, to hunt from the pop up blind that I brushed in back there, and to try my new shooting sticks.  
 

The only glitch is that I dropped my ML on the carpeted basement floor, when the sling pulled out as I was cleaning it Tuesday night.  I don’t trust that it is still zeroed without testing it first.  I need to do that prior to my October NZ early ML week hunt, but not until after early September antlerless gun season is over. 
 

 For that reason, I am going to run my short, open-sighted 12 ga 870, which will also handle better in the blind, on Saturday.  No change in my plans for my parents place on Sunday (if I still have my last tag).  I was going to use my Ithaca 16 ga on that hunt anyhow.  I have a very good supply of slugs for both of those shotguns.  

Edited September 16, 2022 by wolc123

[Arcade Hunter]

@wolc123 Is the Buck and Doe shop open for the early doe hunt?  I know MJ Acres in Bennington is taking deer now .

Good luck with the rest of your season!

[wolc123]

2 hours ago, Arcade Hunter said:

@wolc123 Is the Buck and Doe shop open for the early doe hunt?  I know MJ Acres in Bennington is taking deer now .

Good luck with the rest of your season!

Not sure, but maybe I’ll call them Saturday and find out.

[The_Real_TCIII]

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[wolc123]

3 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

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Thanks for posting that Tacs.   It looks like if I get another one in the morning, I will need to crank up the AC and hang it in the garage till I grind and zip lock the first one and free up the deer fridge.  
 

I always put the grind from the first deer each season in zip lock bags.  It will be gone in a few months,  so vacuum sealing would be a waste of time and money.  I’ll use that all up before I finish the last (7) packs of vacuum sealed grind from last season’s 9-point.  Frozen vacuum-sealed venison is good for at least (4) years with no freezer burn.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Thanks for posting that Tacs.   It looks like if I get another one in the morning, I will need to crank up the AC and hang it in the garage till I grind and zip lock the first one and free up the deer fridge.  
 
I always put the grind from the first deer each season in zip lock bags.  It will be gone in a few months,  so vacuum sealing would be a waste of time and money.  I’ll use that all up before I finish the last (7) packs of vacuum sealed grind from last season’s 9-point.  Frozen vacuum-sealed venison is good for at least (4) years with no freezer burn.

I am having second thoughts about it. I will be scrambling if I kill one


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[Chromeslayer]

Chopped lovin in wilson is open for any Niagara co peeps

[The_Real_TCIII]

Chopped lovin in wilson is open for any Niagara co peeps

Good to know!


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[Otto]

8 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Good to know!


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Bring it to Wolcs.  He’s got an air conditioned barn! 

[wolc123]

3 minutes ago, Otto said:

Bring it to Wolcs.  He’s got an air conditioned barn! 

The barns not air conditioned, just the small one-car garage that’s attached to our house.  I insulated that a few years ago. I can probably only get it down to about 60, with the house central AC cranked down all the way.  I’ll see tonight, when I pull that doe out of the deer fridge, and start processing.

Our “new to me” truck camper, that is stored in the barn right now, has a roof-top AC unit that seems to run pretty good on the 20 amp outlet that I plug it into out there.  I suppose that I could crank that AC unit down all the way, and use the camper for a meat locker for a short time, as long as my wife don’t find out about it.  

 

I might just have to do that, if the pair of mature doe, that I have been watching on and off for the last half hour, get a lot closer this morning.  Right now, they are out about 300 yards.  I need one under 100, to earn my last dmp tag.
 

 I didn’t notice any ticks on the doe from back here, that I skinned on Tuesday night.  It would be tough hanging one in that camper, because the ceiling is pretty low.  If necessary,  I’ll stick with plan A, and hang it in the garage, until I finish processing the first one, and can then get it into the vacated deer fridge.  

[The_Real_TCIII]

The barns not air conditioned, just the small one-car garage that’s attached to our house.  I insulated that a few years ago. I can probably only get it down to about 60, with the house central AC cranked down all the way.  I’ll see tonight, when I pull that doe out of the deer fridge, and start processing.
Our “new to me” truck camper, that is stored in the barn right now, has a roof-top AC unit that seems to run pretty good on the 20 amp outlet that I plug it into out there.  I suppose that I could crank that AC unit down all the way, and use the camper for a meat locker for a short time, as long as my wife don’t find out about it.  

 
I might just have to do that, if the pair of mature doe, that I have been watching on and off for the last half hour, get a lot closer this morning.  Right now, they are out about 300 yards.  I need one under 100, to earn my last dmp tag.
 
 I didn’t notice any ticks on the doe from back here, that I skinned on Tuesday night.  It would be tough hanging one in that camper, because the ceiling is pretty low.  If necessary,  I’ll stick with plan A, and hang it in the garage, until I finish processing the first one, and can then get it into the vacated deer fridge.  

Just passed you on my way to Wilson I hope this guy is there the phone number doesn't work. Also there are a bunch of does on that landing strip across the street from you


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[Lawdwaz]

A “CoolBot” in the neighborhood would be comforting.   
 

Google it and give me your thoughts.   

[wolc123]

35 or so years ago, I hung one in the cooler at my uncle’s then little produce market, up on the corner of Millersport.  Not so  sure if I could get away with that today, as that place has got pretty big and fancy now.  
 

Good luck at Wilson.  Their website claimed that they were taking them till 9pm tomorrow I think.  

44 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Just passed you on my way to Wilson I hope this guy is there the phone number doesn't work. Also there are a bunch of does on that landing strip across the street from you


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I saw two does well out of range here earlier, and had two bucks, including one 8 pointer practically licking my blind, about 8:00. 

Edited September 17, 2022 by wolc123

[The_Real_TCIII]

Chopped lovin in wilson is open for any Niagara co peeps

They are open it is a drop off system. It looks like a nice clean place. $115 but that is a small price to pay for my wife not to kill me today we have a lot to do lol, no way I could butcher


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[wolc123]

18 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

They are open it is a drop off system. It looks like a nice clean place. $115 but that is a small price to pay for my wife not to kill me today we have a lot to do lol, no way I could butcher


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Congrats, and thanks for doing your part to help our local resident homeowners, motorists and farmers.

[Chromeslayer]

3 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

They are open it is a drop off system. It looks like a nice clean place. $115 but that is a small price to pay for my wife not to kill me today we have a lot to do lol, no way I could butcher


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Yep very clean shop.. my buddy and his wife own the place.. i usually cut my own but with temps like this i dont even bother

[The_Real_TCIII]

Assuming it comes back nice he will be my new spot for warm weather deer. Im always skeeved out by my other options


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