tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 4, 2019 13:37:55 GMT -5
Um, lemme get this straight, Mark? You hunt deer. And somehow that does NOT make you, a "deer hunter?" Certainly I'm missing something... 25-06 is my favorite caliber. The longest 2 shots I ever took with my Remington 700 BDL were: 1) when new (1986), a wood chuck (open sights) at 373 yards (yes, measured, I was a surveyor and a friend wanted to know exactly how far lol) at the farm in Sauquoit; and 2) about 12 or 13 years ago (again, measured), a doe at 487 yards here at the home orchard. With the woodchuck, I aimed at a point as close as I could to the top of the head (a little tough to pinpoint at that distance!!!), expecting to hit about the chest or belly area (it was standing up straight). It was the first shot I ever fired from that gun, I remember it was Federal ammo, I think 117gr. It took the chuck just above the chin. My first lesson and it impressed me - the 25-06 is FLAT-shooting! Last year, 3 shots, 3 deer, and zero yards run, combined. Each dropped on the spot, all 3 double-lung and heart. Longest shot (two of them ) 40 yards, closest 15 (the buck). The deer pattern us long before we ever see them or their sign, time spent patterning THEM pays off tremendously in just time savings alone, not to mention knowing when they'll be where allows for the closest shot. Not fair enough? Tough!!! Total time spent afield for hunting last year: under 40 minutes. This year - same 25-06, 6 point buck, just about exactly 80 yards. At the farm in Sauquoit. From my observations, it should've been the big 9-point at that place and time but I figure oops, I'm always going to be learning, and learn I did - the next day, a neighbor ("Brother 58") told me that a guy they let hunt shot "a HUGE 9-pointer!" the day before I shot my buck. So that explained why the interloper 6 was there. BUT, my 6-er ran a good 400 feet before piling up in a big (am I still allowed to use that word according to you guys?) honeysuckle bush and then backtracked about 50 feet. Hard to believe there's that much blood in one deer. Might as well have been a slow-moving tractor with a blown hydraulic hose. So, let's say, 0 + 0 + 0 + 400' + 50' (could leave that 50' off since - well, the buck ran it, I'll leave it in) = 450'/4 = 112.5' average for each deer, say 38 yards apiece rounded up. But I did spend a total of maybe 2 hours or so including shooting the buck this year. I don't count time after they're down. That time is more accurately "harvest," not "hunt." At least by my definition. Haven't had a chance to get out again since I shot this year's buck. Last year's and this year's, all with Remington 120gr Cor-Lokt PSP ammo. Not a fan anymore: over the past 18 months or so, 6 cartridges from 2 boxes failed to fire. It's not the gun, you can see the deep penetration by the firing pin into the primer. So, do I suck now or what? All kidding aside, I generally quite agree with you regarding "deer hunters." The stories I could share about my nephew-in-law... He'd fit the picture you've painted! Might've even seen his photo in the dictionary under "deer hunter." Oh and hey, if for some odd reason you ever find yourself oh, I dunno, maybe, wondering how "BIG" that midget button buck is, I'll shoot you my home address. Feel free to stop by and take a look! (just be prepared to estimate size from the skeleton, if you wait too long!) I don't need to be home, any time you please, just go 200 yards straight out behind my house (due magnetic north lol). ...unless something moves it by then... The deer that is, not magnetic north. But then again... could be either one, or both!
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 4, 2019 13:53:28 GMT -5
P.S. - Cazenovia is NOT all that far from Clinton. And the farm is about halfway between my house and the Herkimer County Fairgrounds in Frankfort. BIG does... BIG BIG does... and ginormous button bucks... woodchucks as big as - well, button bucks...
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Dec 4, 2019 17:45:10 GMT -5
I've shot four deer in the last three years with my 25-06. Combined, no BS, the four of them have run less than 100 yards.....NO BUll, like 20 yards each give or take. I double-lunged them all.....I am surgical with the gun. You wouldn't want me shooting at you with it..... Longest shot.....110 yards. Closest. 60 yards. Four deer. One doe...three bucks. One "Giant" buck. All dead in 25 yards or less with NO meat ruined. Bubba: "That gun is too lite for deer" Or even better, Bubba: "You are doing it wrong! Double-lunging is for bows and arrows. No exit hole for blood trailing! You need to shoot them in the shoulder and bust them all up with a bigger caliber gun!" Me: "Four bullets, four deer, and they run 25 yards each, no meat ruined, and I am doing it wrong?" "Um......OK?" Deer hunters.............. MZ
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Dec 4, 2019 17:46:26 GMT -5
First of all, you better keep these anti deer-hunter slurs off your Facebook page, or your tv celebrity hunter gumbas will be very disappointed in you.
Second, I bought my first .25-06 when I was 25, which of course was 30 years ago. Sadly enough. It was a Brno mauser reworked and an absolute tack driver. Today I carry my latest .25-06, another customized mauser I had built in Golden CO back in 2001. It has killed coyotes in CO and NY, deer in NY, PA, NE and caribou in far north Quebec.
Last, I drilled a decent buck between the shoulder blades from 15' above in archery, he took off on a tail-twirling sprint for 30 yards, stopped, flicked his tail and tipped over dead. Within easy sight. Like most of my bow kills... dead within sight of the stand.
PS... when it comes to tracking wounded deer, I'm the guy they call when tracking dogs can't get the job done
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Dec 4, 2019 17:50:01 GMT -5
... on the topic of pictures, the absolute WORST are all those social media posts with hapless coyotes half-drowned in a catch circle of mud soup. Some of those are so bad, it looks like they're anchored in a sewage pond. For the love of all that's holy... PLEASE preach to your choir to NOT post mud-balled, waterlogged coyotes in slopped up catch circles. PLEASE!
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Zagman
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,186
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Post by Zagman on Dec 4, 2019 20:30:09 GMT -5
I am NOT a deer hunter.....don't think about it, don't care about it, do because I have the property, deer season shuts down trapping, and I love me some venison!
Of course I understand the confusion!
And, of course, I'm being a smart arse....
Best analogy is sports. Do I like sports? Sure. Do I follow a team or teams with passion and venon?? Nope. I hope SU wins when they play....if they don't, I go about my business as usual. I don't get mad or upset or let down. Conversely, when they win the Final Four, I take no credit for their win. I don't refer to sports team as we, but rather, THEY.
Me: "Hey Bubba, did the Yankees win last night?"
Bubba: "No, we had a rough night, bad pitching killed us"
We? Us?
Same with deer hunting. I am usually looking for my orange hat Friday night around 10PM, wondering where this is, where that is. 180 degrees from the way I approach coyotes and trapping. NOTHING is left to chance. Pre-planned. Thought out. If I DON'T get a deer, no biggy. If I DON'T catch the coyotes I'd hoped, well, then I pout like a baby! LOL
Bubba: "Hey Zagger, you catch 100 coyotes yet?"
Zagger: "No, we had a tough weather year, population is down, lots of competition, the sun was in my eyes, and the dog ate my homework!"
In the end, the whitetailed deer rules the world. And drives revenue. And a million other things. Our deer season is too long in NY. Deer hunters and deer leases and such have caused me FAR more issues than other trappers ever could. So, I am NOT a deer hunter!
So there!
MZ
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Post by Rick on Dec 4, 2019 20:45:06 GMT -5
Screw the Yankees
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Zagman
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,186
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Post by Zagman on Dec 4, 2019 21:01:46 GMT -5
Wow! We awoke a sleeping giant! You don't call......you don't write........you don't tweet............... MZ
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Zagman
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,186
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Post by Zagman on Dec 4, 2019 21:09:58 GMT -5
... on the topic of pictures, the absolute WORST are all those social media posts with hapless coyotes half-drowned in a catch circle of mud soup. Some of those are so bad, it looks like they're anchored in a sewage pond. For the love of all that's holy... PLEASE preach to your choir to NOT post mud-balled, waterlogged coyotes in slopped up catch circles. PLEASE! I don't disagree....Facebook is your choir, not mine. You've said these forums are dead, Facebook is the future. You tell them! You won't see any catch pics on my page...just personal choice. When guys post one and tag me I ask them to un-tag me............ Just a personal choice....not ashamed to be a trapper or share what I do. But one pic gets shared and immediately has negative comments. If a guy could ensure they ONLY stayed in a closed group, but they simply don't.......... And BELIEVE me, I know and understand that the people against us also don't like tailgate shots or well-done barn shots. None of it is good, from the mudballs to a beautiful end of the line barn shot. Or even Austin's pic of six or seven reds on a tailgate from 1989 LOL It's the people on the fence you have to worry about..................... I learned my lesson years ago when I found a bunch of my catch pics on an anti-website, many of them having my trap line dogs and trapped coyotes. I USED to post a million pics on these forums but now simply choose NOT to....doesn't mean others shouldn't. MZ
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Post by Rick on Dec 4, 2019 21:27:11 GMT -5
Hey Bud, hope all is well. My computer died, i' m on one of those little I-Pad dealios. I also refuse to learn about what a "tweet" is.
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Post by Rick on Dec 4, 2019 21:29:48 GMT -5
...and I agree...deer, deer hunters, deer leases have caused me more trouble than other trappers, bad populations, bad weather, and sun in my eyes have ever caused me. Combined.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 4, 2019 21:30:44 GMT -5
OK, I'll go with that thinking regarding deer hunters - I'm not one either. Same reasons I shoot them. ...ya frickin deer hunter you...
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 8, 2019 17:53:20 GMT -5
OK, I sprung all traps (not that I had many out to begin with) last Saturday before Ezekiel hit. I didn't expect that I would still not have them reset this long after. Anybody still active? Only 2 days of the fisher open season left here, I had hoped for a few more before it was over. At home, not bad wind, but at the farm - screaming wind. And up on the hilltops, knee-deep snow and crazy wind, snow devils blowing around everywhere and my tracks blown shut not 30 feet behind me. Not conducive to keeping sets working lol!
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Post by nyrat on Dec 8, 2019 19:50:18 GMT -5
put in a few pocket sets today for what ever hoping for coon but will take a rat or mink. coons will be on the run next few nites
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Post by trappermac on Dec 8, 2019 20:10:30 GMT -5
Had hoped to do some marsh trapping but cold and snow put a damper on that. Maybe once the ice is safe. Did put some canine sets on the property today, first time this year. Plenty of tracks and travel going through. Made hay sets as the snow machine is supposed to turn on again tues or wed and easy to keep them running. We'll see.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 9, 2019 9:32:20 GMT -5
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Post by trappermac on Dec 9, 2019 12:59:09 GMT -5
Going pee-less here...
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Post by nyrat on Dec 9, 2019 16:49:21 GMT -5
went 3 for 6 on pocket sets today 2 coon 1 rat be pulling tomorrow with 4 to 8 inchs of snow on weds water is way high from this morning glad I remade them higher today should be all still working and I was late to work by 1/2 hour to.
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Post by nyrat on Dec 10, 2019 18:34:02 GMT -5
nothing today pulled all 6 sets under water
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 16, 2019 13:53:49 GMT -5
Fisher sealed today at the Herkimer DEC office. Informative conversation with "Paul," he said he was at the Pompey event. He asked me where I was going to sell now that NAFA wasn't quite the viable option anymore lol. Turned in logs, etc. to him. I sure had higher hopes for this year's fisher season but - that's life! And it woulda been nicer if there had been no fur thieves to deal with... I saw two coyotes out in broad daylight when checking traps way up on the hill at the farm mid-morning. Nice, big, well-furred, good color. Got home, in the house for lunch and a big pale coyote (mostly white with black ears & muzzle and a small black stripe on back and tail, ditto on well-furred!) at the deer carcass sharing a meal with 7 turkey vultures. The coyote was a little nervous but they got along. Kind of a surprise! Seeing those 3 in broad daylight got me to questioning the weatherguesser's forecast of "1-4 inches by 6PM tomorrow." Too bad I've had no time to make additional sets.
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Post by trappermac on Dec 16, 2019 14:11:38 GMT -5
and a big pale coyote (mostly white with black ears & muzzle and a small black stripe on back and tail, ditto on well-furred!). If his collar is brown and answers to Skippy, that's my collie/shepherd cross.....raw egg per day for that nice fur...
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 16, 2019 17:22:42 GMT -5
lol... lots of off-white, white-ish and white with streaks coyotes around home. Catching them is another story. Maybe I should get pics and post them... sure would erase the doubt factor. ...well, maybe reduce it... Now, what to do with the saddle that was on the deer I got? Funny, that - not something ya see every day!
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Jan 1, 2020 16:48:47 GMT -5
New Year's Day, nice male red fox. This one didn't have a collar, though. Is it really as slow around here as it seems?
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Post by dinorocks on Jan 2, 2020 7:38:57 GMT -5
Happy New Year’s! I have been getting a steady trickling of critters over the past couple weeks...finally got a chance to rest yesterday (first no-catch day). Hoping that changes today! A couple more days off before back to worky work.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Jan 2, 2020 9:21:44 GMT -5
Wow Dino our catch cycles are diametric opposites! Good on ya! And of course, Happy New Year to you and yours.
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