Recycling

Remember the poachers last deer season? The guys who shot the buck in the rump and shoulder after dusk, on our posted property, right next to the boys in the driveway?

Well, Alan found that buck a good while later, injured, full of rot and death, and put him out of the misery the not-so-good hunters inflicted.

He could have called DEC...we had already been in touch with them over the incident..and gotten the animal, which was not edible, picked up and had a new tag issued to him. However, we already had venison enough for winter, and he wanted to mount the antlers, so he kept him.

As suggested by the DEC officers, and as we have done in the past, we put the carcass out for the scavengers. Usually coyotes and crows fill that niche, but sometimes we get Bald Eagles.

The bones, long since picked clean, lie in the thick grass of the field behind the house. I had been thinking maybe I should move them down in the woods for the mice to chew, but hadn't...

Then this morning I thought I saw a turkey out there. Something thick and black and clunky was hunkering down there....I got the binoculars and, no, it was not a turkey, but a Turkey Vulture, picking away. Now there are several. I can't imagine what they are finding to eat, but they seem to be enjoying their bony breakfast.

Bones

Coyotes dragged this set of vertebrae and ribs out in the field, whence I removed them, so they wouldn't end up in the hay machinery. This was a large doe, the one Jade got last fall....and yet all these bones only took two fingers to pick up. It was a surprise to find them to be so light.

The same critters found this Mountain Dew bottle somewhere and played with it
 just like Mack does and then left it in the middle of the hay field too.

Firearms Related Post

Alan got his dad a thirty-thirty for his birthday. He has always wanted one. He got downright choked up with the boy brought it home.

It is a pretty gun....and deer season is coming.

Sighting In

The four shots near the center are the final ones from the back bench when he was getting the Win Mag sighted in at the range. He doesn't know how many yards it is as he just joined the club a little bit ago. I don't know much about target shooting, having been of the ilk that plinked cans in the back yard with my .22, but it looked pretty decent to me.

You Hear Stories

Of gun shop owners refusing service to those who voted for the folks in charge of gun control. You know the party that never lets a good crisis go to waste?

Well, yesterday Alan was trying to talk a second box of shells for his new rifle out of the owner of a gun shop, which will remain anonymous. The man was willing to sell him one, but wanted to keep the second.

The boy was polite, but asked if there was any way the man could see fit to sell him the second. He likes to target shoot...has been to the range a lot this week, sighting in that rifle....and shells are hard to come by.

So, the fellow asked him. "Who did you vote for?'

After some clarification on what election was under scrutiny, our young man...who does in fact vote faithfully, said, "Expletive, no, I didn't vote for that guy!"

And he immediately got the second set of shells and a smile from the shop owner.

Later when the sun comes up, I will take a pic of the target he brought home yesterday. Shot that beastly 300 Win Mag from the back bench and got a nice grouping. I guess he bought this gun because the ammo is fairly available. He has a smaller rifle that is very hard to use to target shoot as shells are so hard to find, although it is very good for hunting. Deer season impends......

Got Hops?

Why, yes, we do!

Got squash as big as doggies?

Yep, those too!

Alan and I went spelunking among the garden regions yesterday. We found all kinds of goodies. There are lots of hops, mostly from just one of the plants, although the other two did okay,

And there are some dinosaur-type zucchettas out there too. I am not sure what I am going to do with the former. For the latter guess I will freeze the necks, while the bodies will go up in the field for target practice with his new rifle. Since it is a big rifle, I suspect there will be some squash puree involved.

Daisy is utterly fascinated by these squashes

Thank You

Global Warming. Not too bad here so far, although it is supposed to chill later in the week. I will take every passing warm day we get and rejoice!

Been reading in the local paper about all the hooligans being arrested for assorted crimes against wildlife and private property.

Imagine what would happen if they really got out there after them. They could balance the state budget in a wink. The boys caught two trespassers in one hunting trip here, both in full cammo, and there are more every day...just can't chase them all due to the whole having to work thing.

Wish the DEC would catch our band of outlaws for us. Alan went up in the field to have a look around yesterday and found that some yahoo with a pick up truck rutted a couple of new seeding hay fields all to heck...big fixit job there I guess.

They had to drive over rocks and trees and through a whole darned hedgerow to get in, right past a posted sign. Guess they poached a deer off us and were too lazy to drag it out.

Outlaws

Yesterday while the bird was browning and the women were working on the side dishes, the younger men folk went a-hunting.

While perched in the pasture tree stand, Bubba had a close encounter of the turkey poo kind. See, Alan spooked them up and they flew right over him...they had been eating grapes by the way. Guess you could call it the purple badge or courage...or really badges plural.

They did see some deer, but mostly they saw poachers. One guy had innocently wandered across the property line so Bubba just guided him back out to where he actually had permission to hunt.

The other one saw Alan and took off running.

Uphill.

We are quite well supplied with uphill.

However, Alan's new job entails thousands of critters rather than a few dozen and he sees a lot of action every day.

What makes a forty-something guy think he can outrun a rake-skinny farm boy who wrestles beeves and calves and bulls and dairy cows for a living ?

He couldn't. He didn't. After the kid chased him up hill and down dale for a while, and hiding in the bushes didn't work out well for him, (he was in full cammo..clever lad) he finally stopped.

Then he claimed to be an officer of the law and thus had a right to sneak around our posted farm in cammo and run away from rightful landowners and all. Or so he thought. Our former student of the laws of fisheries and wildlife explained the realities of the game and trespass laws and escorted him to a convenient boundary line.

Th two of them flat messed up the hunting for the boys so they came home and ate turkey. Don't know where the "cop" went, but as long as it wasn't on our land it will be okay.

First

Doe permit=filled

Fox Hunting

All the excitement of riding to the hounds, minus the foxes. Guess all the fun of fox hunting wasn't about being blood thirsty and evil after all....the accompanying video is great fun and well worth the watching....almost like being there only you don't have to personally get wet.

Birds and Deers

Alan's best friend is home from college on break, so they have been doing some hunting together. Today they hunted here and the friend got his first buck and a skipper (antler-less deer). We were really happy for him.

Wednesday they were hunting here and, although they didn't get a deer that day, they had an amazing experience. They were sitting in Alan's two-man tree stand watching a flock of turkeys when suddenly the birds alerted. Alan thought he spooked them and asked his friend what he had done to scare them. His friend didn't think he had moved at all. The turkeys hurried over to the T-field, which is adjacent to the cow pasture where the tree stand is. Both boys were watching them through their rifle scopes, just taking pleasure in observing them, when suddenly, from out of nowhere, came the real cause of the spooking incident.

Dunno what the attraction is with the dog house,

but the hens crowd into it all the time. There are four hens and a rooster in there at one point.

A bald eagle on locked wings hit the flock from behind, scattering them in every direction. The point of potential impact was out of sight behind a knoll, so they didn't actually see the eagle hit the turkeys. However, it didn't fly up while they were there, so it probably got one. Not what I would have expected to be its normal prey, but what an opportunity for the boys. Eagles are still not very common here...still an event to see one, let alone one hunting right here on the farm.

****Speaking of eagles, big birds and all, here is a really interesting story courtesy of my friend, Elaine Shein. Years ago, when the boss's mom was still with us, we saw the most staggering flight of geese imaginable. They went over the barn from east to west, a wide band of them that filled the sky overhead, maybe fifty geese wide, from horizon to horizon.

There were no distinct Vs or anything, just thousands and thousands and thousands of birds. Maybe a third snows and the rest Canadas. We heard them going over, over the noise of the milk pump, which was indoors then and very loud. We all went out and stood in the barnyard watching them pass in awe....I can't describe the sensation of seeing that many geese....it had to have taken ten minutes for them to pass. We have certainly never forgotten it. Wish I was out there today on the great flyway seeing all those birds out there.

Where the Air Smelled Like Snakes

Well, actually it smells like snow. The forecast isn't calling for much, but the wind yesterday blew in something different in the seasonal scheme of things.

It looks like November.

It feels like November.

And it smells like November.

Guess it must indeed be November. We are holding good thoughts for a safe opening day and the rest of the season, for good weather to the west of us so friends in other states can get their corn harvested, a good herd health next week, and a fulfilling and happy Thanksgiving for everyone.

What are you hoping for this fall?

My Cannon

I have always wanted one...along with a tank, if I get really lucky. This is the season when that situation becomes most acute.

Southern zone deer season opens Saturday.

I love venison. We lived on it last winter, along with a couple geese and turkeys....My family has always hunted, harvesting a few of the many wild animals that graze our ground.

However, yesterday I was jumpy all day with the sounds of big guns booming all around us. I truly hope they are just sighting them in and not getting a jump on the season, but most years we find parts of carcasses way before it is legal to take them. The boss went up yesterday and took a look around and didn't see anybody, but the sneaky ones wear full cammo and you can't see them.

I have always wanted to set a cannon right on the front lawn facing down the driveway.... And I want the tank to safely chase down all the damn fools who ignore our posted signs and shoot everything that moves, the whole, it's brown, it's down philosophy.... Saturday the brown cows will have to stay in the barn. Last year Moments lost her calf to hunters peppering her, now she has finally had one and is milking great. We want to keep it that way.

I often receive lectures from hunters on other blogs about the honorable safe hunters. Yes, I know they are out there, but they are not the ones we encounter. The good ones mind the posted signs and hunt where they are welcome. The ones we meet know they are breaking the law, long before we ever see them and they just don't care. I don't have a lot of respect or liking for them.

Just for information here are the New York State Posting and Trespassing Regulations

I think I will print out a couple of copies for the boss to hand out to the guys he meets who are ignoring them......

This is the phone number to report poachers in the state: 1-800-TIPP-DEC

Anyhow, be safe out there....

I 81 South to Cabela's

Alan took Becky and me along on his senior trip yesterday. He didn't choose to go on his actual class trip (to drink and party down in the Catskills) and, although the Cabela's trip was something he always wanted to do instead, cash and circumstances had never conspired to make it possible.




However, he and his sister pooled their money and planned this excursion to the Cabela's store in Hamburg PA for yesterday. And they invited me to join them.



There is a certain amount of choice in routes between here and there. And it is possible, nay probable, that Alan's choice of 476, the toll road that ambles off toward Allentown, may have been an improvement over my choice...I-81 that is....which is the one we took. I-81 is industrial strength ugly, make no mistake about it.




Some quotes from participants in the epic journey and others who heard of our woes:

"I-81 is one long rumble strip from the border to the exit for Hamburg."

"Hey, lookit that guy that went off on the median and is driving there! Wow, is he crazy or what???"

"No, it's probably smoother there."

And of Route 61, which was the one we took from 81 to Hamburg, "I think this road was laid out by a white-tailed deer on crack."

Yeah, the ride was rough.





However, the store is really, really, really cool. It is an amazing thing to actually see the mounts of deer you have read about in Outdoor Life or Field and Stream. I wish my feet had been up to more time in the deer room, where there are legions of legendary bucks for viewing. I didn't even take any pics there as the room is very dark and I am a poor student of flash photography.

There is so much stuff to see, and hear (such as folks who should stay away from turkey calls as they are going to scare away any turkeys they encounter...of course I couldn't get Alan, the terror of the stairwells at Coby...to demonstrate his stuff) smell, (I shudder to imagine the reaction of a deer that accidentally found itself in the deer lure department...just mind boggling...if I ever go again I am going AROUND that departement) and taste, (yeah cinnamon roasted pecans, what's not to like)



I took some photos, probably fewer than I should have, but if you can visit the place yourself, do.... just plan on buying ball joints, tie rods, shocks, and tranquilizers at the end of the trip..

My favorite part was the aquarium. I could have spent the whole time there!

More pics from our trip here.

Book Sale

All next month at Tryon County Books. My folks will offer twenty-percent off and free domestic shipping from June 1 to June 30th at their amazing book store.

Mom maintains a wonderful website featuring many items from their stock of books. She adds new items frequently and has been doing a lot of updating recently.

Here are links to some of the categories that they offer:

The American Revolution

Big Game Hunting Books

Books by Jack O'Connor

Harper's Weekly

How to Shoot Pistols, Revolvers, Rifles and Shotguns

Hunting and Fishing Books



NY Forest, Fish, and Game Reports and Other Adirondack Items

Old Gun Catalogs

Out of Print Gun Books

Unit Histories and Regimentals

US Navy

Specials

• Since 1952 we have been dealing in The Old and Unusual.
• We now offer a great collection of fine quality Specialty Books. Our aim is to provide you with books you will be proud to own, and pleased to have in your collection.
• If you should be unhappy with your purchase, for any reason, we will do our best to rectify the problem.
• All descriptions are as accurate as we can make them. We try to describe any blemishes or faults, without emphasizing them. While we do not want to dissuade you from purchase we do want you to know what you will be getting.

Stop by their virtual book lovers' wonderland of historical and modern, old and unusual and tell them I sent you.

Tales of the Deer Stand

The waters were still in the Adirondacks yesterday...so many lakes, so many mirrors

To answer requests for the details of the deer hunt..... Hunter-in-Chief went out to his stand in the old pasture before milking. Saw three, shot one, thought he missed it. Chased all over the hill looking for it, following some incredibly lively deer, finally gave up and went back to look where he first shot. There was a nice doe. The ones he had been chasing were completely different deer, which explained their amazing stamina and agility. (Anyone who professes that a .243 isn't enough gun for deer is mistaken I fear.)



This deer was amazingly fat, with 2.5 inches of fat on her hinder parts. She was a big un too, very heavily muscled. Having a fisheries and wildlife student, who has studied meat cutting is a pleasantly advantageous thing I must say. Instead of a few haggled up steaks and a lot of stew meat (we process our own), we have tenderloin steaks, London Broil cuts and numerous other tasty dinner options. For farmers who have been out of meat for weeks and can't get our beefer processed just now that pile of frozen venison on shelf number one in the freezer is like Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one.

BTW, I took some pictures of the carcass before we processed it...just to show how big it was. If you want to see them I will put them up....maybe over on the View so I don't offend any sensibilities. Let me know if you do want to see them.



Update: A six point buck has just joined the doe. The kid was only out of the house about twenty minutes.... we had an outlaw from town stop and offer today to take the kid out and teach him to hunt. I kinda didn't know what to say to him....except maybe no thanks

Check out the odd asymmetry of the antlers on this guy

Update number 2...you have to check out Jan's blog for the darnedest story about deer and hunting that I have ever seen.....bar none! Do take time to watch the video. The ending is simply beyond belief!!

Second Week of Deer Camp

For all you Yoopers out there. Go listen. Seriously
(or maybe not so seriously)


ITS THE SECOND WEEK OF DEER CAMP
I GOT A SWOLLEN HEAD
I'M LYING WITH THE DUST BALLS
UNDERNEATH MY BED

AN ICY BREEZE IS BLOWING IN
THROUGH THE TONGUE AND GROOVE
MY PANTS ARE FROZEN TO THE FLOOR
AND I'M TOO SICK TO MOVE

I DIDN'T DRINK TOO MANY
ONLY THIRTY CANS OF BEER
IT MUST HAVE BEEN THAT LAST SHOT
THAT PUT ME UNDER HERE

CHORUS:
IT'S THE SECOND WEEK OF DEER CAMP
AND ALL THE GUYS ARE HERE
WE DRINK PLAY CARDS AND SHOOT THE BULL
BUT NEVER SHOOT NO DEER
THE ONLY TIME WE LEAVE THE CAMP
IS WHEN WE GO FOR BEER
THE SECOND WEEK OF DEER CAMP
IS THE GREATEST TIME OF YEAR

I REMEMBER PLAYING POKER
THAT WEASEL MUSTA WON
HE'S WEARING MY NEW SWAMPERS
AND SLEEPING WITH MY GUN

HE'S SNORING LIKE A CHAIN SAW
THE CAMP SMELLS LIKE A DUMP
SOMEONE'S DIRTY UNDERWEAR
IS HANGING ON THE PUMP

MUKKU’S IN THE WOOD BOX
EENER’S PASSED OUT ON THE STOVE
HIS FLANNEL SHIRT IS SMOKING
I WONDER IF HE KNOWS

CHORUS

VITO’S CRAWLING THROUGH THE DOOR
I THINK HE GOT FROSTBITE
HE PASSED OUT IN THE OUTHOUSE
AND HE'S BEEN THERE SINCE LAST NIGHT

THEN GOOFUS STUMBLES THROUGH THE DOOR
HE SAYS HE GOT A BUCK
HE WAS COMING FROM THE WAYSIDE
AND HE KILLED IT WITH HIS TRUCK

THEN MUUSTI CRACKS A BEER AND SAYS
ITS TIME TO CELEBRATE
GOOFUS GOT THE FIRST BUCK
SINCE 1968

Opening Day

It is opening day of the southern deer hunting zone here in upstate NY. Can't say as it is my favorite time of year. I love venison and our freezer is devoid of meat other then three sets of pig ribs.. As landowners we get a couple of dmp permits and three of us have regular licenses. I am hoping somebody fills one of our tags.

It is a worrisome time too though. Despite our posted signs strangers will be wandering over our property. Along with that willingness to break the law in pursuit of a deer usually comes disregard for safe hunting, sensible gun handling, fair take and the location of other people. And livestock. After all, if you freely walk past a posted sign to hunt someone else's land you are willingly breaking one hunting regulation. How much do you care about the others?

The Jersey heifers were brought in off the hill yesterday. They are the wrong color for the "if it's brown it's down" crowd and the heifer pasture abuts some land belonging to a housing development, which is a source of many of the sneaky clowns we will be unwillingly be hosting.

Hunter in chief is out in his stand already, waiting for the sun to rise. I wish him luck. I wish all you hunters out there a safe day...just please hunt the state lands or places where you have permission. .....I don't mean to be so cranky, but I am tired of calling the police on the ones we find, sometimes right in the pasture with the cattle....

He Thinks Your Duck Call's Sexy

After months, nay years, of annoying us all half to death with turkey calls, Alan has switched to goose calls...and duck calls...(who knew that I could miss those turkey calls so much?)

Anyhow, this afternoon he went out after turkeys. Not seeing any he leaned on a wagon right behind the cow barn. Off and on he heard a little rustling in the brush nearby, but didn't pay much attention.

Practicing those duck calls on the hundreds flying over you know.....

Then something made him glance to the side. And there less than six feet away, staring intently at him, was a six-point buck. I guess it would be hard to say which one of them was more startled. That pesky call might not appeal to me or to duck, but deer...that's a whole nother story.

Guest post: My First Deer

If I were to describe the best day of my life I would have to pick the day that I harvested my first deer.The whole month before opening day I had been biting my nails waiting for season to start. Two weeks before season started I had posted our whole farm in hopes of keeping poachers off our land.

After slogging through the mud for three days posting the land, I started to get a little cough. I have asthma so I figured that it was just overexertion. However, my symptoms only seemed to get worse. Soon I realized that it was not asthma and that I had the flu. As deer season neared I realized that I was going to miss my first chance at a deer.

Opening morning came and went; I was bedridden after the doctor said that under no circumstances was I allowed to hunt, at least for the first week. The whole week I was tormented by the accounts of my father's expeditions. I had to wait it out. Thanksgiving came and I felt good enough to gorge myself on turkey and all the fixings.

I started working on the farm again doing light work when my father fell ill. He had the same ailment I had. So I was left with all his work to finish on top of my own. After cleaning the barn of animal wastes and feed refusals, I was setting off to spread the noxious matter, when Doctor Mom gave me the okay to hunt for a few minutes.

Dad had told me about a little spot in one of our fields called the old pasture lot. We had used the field as a pasture in the past when the grass was insufficient in the other two pastures. The grass is tall most years, providing an excellent food source. A creek that runs on the westerly end of the field has cut a deep bank into the grassy sides of the pasture, providing great protection from the cold winds of November, as well as a constant water source. Encroachment from hunters is also hindered by the natural structure. Tucked up against the bank is a small wooded area. Stuck among the tangled masses of grape vines and box elder trees there is a little apple tree where the deer and other game animals love to go when season opens. There is a little gap between the trees where a watchful person can peer past all the thickets and see the contents of the little hollow.

It was there that I harvested my first deer. After following my dad's advice I walked around the far side of the field in hopes of advancing on the little grove. I have seen large deer go there before in hopes of eluding the constant hunting pressures. After thinking that I had not been quiet enough I took the shell out of my gun. As I walked to the hole in the trees I noticed some brown where there shouldn't be any. I quickly reloaded my gun as the magnificent creature raised its head. I felt the report of the gun against my shoulder and my ears ached from the load noise.

I slammed another round into my gun as I walked quickly through the entangled trees and shrubs to get to my quarry. At the end of my short trek laid the most beautiful animal I had ever seen. I did not need to use the second round because I shot it cleanly through the head. I then puzzled how to get this new found source of meat and nourishment home. I tried and failed numerous times to strap it to the hood of the tractor.

I had a huge dilemma on my hands. Should I leave the deer to go get help or should I keep trying to get it on the hood of the tractor? After a few agonizing moments and a few more attempts I decided to leave my deer and go get the loader tractor to get it home

When I finally got it to my house, I went inside and told my mom that I had shot a spike buck. She came out with her camera and saw the beast, There, before her, was the 140 class eight point buck with brow tines that were almost eight inches long. It weighed at least two hundred pounds. It was so large that when we hung it from half-inch rope the sheer mass of the animal snapped the line that was holding it up.

Since that day I have taken many deer. However, the day that I harvested my first deer will always be the most remembered in my mind. My father has taught me the importance of land management and self control. I never harvest more wild game than we need. And after I take any animal I think it for what it gives my family. Each animal that I take makes the ultimate sacrifice for my family's well-being.

This is a paper that Alan wrote recently for his college English class. He received an A+ on it and I liked it so much I though I would share it with you, with his permission. He is such an outdoorsman that it never fails to amaze me that he also writes very well. However, he does and I hope you enjoy this essay. Here is a photo of that deer and the happy hunter.