Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Lowhog]

Ho

1) You are comparing farm fed deer to woods deer. Trust me, there is no comparison. Your farm fed deer are more numerous, they get big much faster, and they don't spook from the sight or smell of people like a woods deer.

2) You presume the locals don't bait and jack them. Also, the Tree Guys and Stone Guys (Bluestone quarries in the area) are known for carrying 22s to take the nice ones they see when they go in. It is so rare for me to see a deer as I drive in and out on the 2 mi 4wd road that I know they are being jacked.

3) You are also forgetting that this practice precludes culling genetic abnormalities that will never become good bucks.

Also, I choose to be a meat hunter, so with all due respect, I don't need anyone telling me what I should or should not be able to take on my own land. I don't bait (it is illegal in NY) or break the rules, even though it seems the majority of hunters out there are baiting. The fact of the matter is that a passed up deer is simply likely to be one you will not see again. Welcome to NY.

How do you know what a young buck will turn out to be in 3-4 years, I guess you can see into the future I wish could. Culling out a young buck because you think he will have genetic abnormalities is a bunch of BS. And if you knew your strain of whitetail you would know the Midwest strain is a bigger strain vs eastern deer and not all are farm deer in Northern Mn into Canada. Large bucks can be very secluded animals and never go into crop land many stay in the swamps and wooded areas around here. I seen a buck dress at 299 come out of Fort Ripley one year. No crop land there just thousands of acres of swamp and oak woods. And you are dead wrong about their sight and smell they do spook very easy. And as far as your poachers you do have a state DNR and a telephone in NY do you not? Have a safe hunt Best Regards!

 

[MustangMike]

FYI, my friend that let's me hunt locally told me that the Chestnut Oak I cut + split for him last year was the best wood he has ever burned. That tree had been dead and on the ground for at least 10 years. The parts that are off the ground weather on the outside, but are Rock Solid on the inside. Amazing wood!

Re post of a pic: (all split by hand with the X-27)

 

[MustangMike]

Ho

How do you know what a young buck will turn out to be in 3-4 years, I guess you can see into the future I wish could. Culling out a young buck because you think he will have genetic abnormalities is a bunch of BS. And if you knew your strain of whitetail you would know the Midwest strain is a bigger strain vs eastern deer and not all are farm deer in Northern Mn into Canada. Large bucks can be very secluded animals and never go into crop land many stay in the swamps and wooded areas around here. I seen a buck dress at 299 come out of Fort Ripley one year. No crop land there just thousands of acres of swamp and oak woods. And you are dead wrong about their sight and smell they do spook very easy. And as far as your poachers you do have a state DNR and a telephone in NY do you not? Have a safe hunt Best Regards!

You are missing the point completely. You can't count the points, these may be very mature bucks that I can't take because they stay in thick cover (mature bucks do that) and won't hold still enough for a point count. Seeing nice antler is not good enough. The largest deer I ever harvested had a broken antler, so that side only had two points, so if you don't see the other side you can't take him, what BS!!! Your presumption that all the bucks I have to pass up are young bucks is false!

Back to saws and wood!

 

[Lowhog]

Most

You are missing the point completely. You can't count the points, these may be very mature bucks that I can't take because they stay in thick cover (mature bucks do that) and won't hold still enough for a point count. Seeing nice antler is not good enough. The largest deer I ever harvested had a broken antler, so that side only had two points, so if you don't see the other side you can't take him, what BS!!! Your presumption that all the bucks I have to pass up are young bucks is false!

Back to saws and wood!

I hunted North Jersey mountains when I was a young man, I never had a problem finding cross trails or a buck trail in open spots. I have a 1/2 mile of heavy brushed creek bottom here with open shooting spots. Maybe where your at is different. You are correct most stay in thick stuff. Most bucks die of old age or natural causes. Most older bucks breed at night or not at all during hunting season they fear for their life's more. Not so dumb any where you hunt.

 

[Erik B]

Being in agreement it’s @James Miller, this is generally the safest thread to ask advice. No, I’m not a snowflake, just don’t like idiots. I have a pair of Stihl chaps, can’t stand how the section below the knees always turns exposing the calf. Anybody wear full wrap lower chaps that they would recommend? As of now I’m looking at Echo and Labonville. Any suggestions? And yes, I do own 2 Stihl products, the chaps and a peavey, I like the peavey.

This last spring I retired a pair of chaps I had for years and replaced them with the Stihl full wrap 9 layer chaps. They are warm if you are cutting in the summer but so far when I have been cutting in the fall the extra warmth they provide is nice.
If your wife is a good cook and you enjoy eating, you may need a pair of suspenders to keep them up

 

[Lowhog]

Suspenders are a must with my beer belly working in the woodpile area in Minnesota.

 

[muddstopper]

I have never been able to eat a set of horns. Only deer I ever checked out its horns before I shot, I missed. Now NC is very different than NY. If I have deer getting in my garden, I can kill three without even contacting DNR and put them in my freezer. I can kill five with out contacting DNR as long as I dispose of the extra 2 on my property. If I kill more than 5, I am supposed to get a depredation permit. I can use a spot light in the taking of such deer. Baiting is legal as long as its a natural food, cant use candy in the case of bears, but peanuts are legal. I can kill all the deer I want off my back porch. I just dont to keep from pissssing off the neighbors that are keeping them fed. Everyone of my neighbors has a mineral block and a pile of corn in their back yards. None of my neighbors trys to grow a garden. I do allow a friend to hunt my place and he has taken two small bucks here. Last week a bear that was visiting here was killed right below my house. He liked to visit my neighbors bait piles too. The deer here are used to being around houses. They dont run when I drive in my driveway nor when I hit them with the spot light at night. Mostly they just lay in my field and chew their cud. Last year I found dead deer that had some sort of disease. Lots of dead deer found last year. There are just to many deer here and I believe it is because of all the feeders. You can track the deer by their trails going from one feeder to the next. I have set in my buddies house and watched the deer at his feeder. They are so bold that if he doesnt have feed out, they will stare into his window until he gets a bucket of corn to give to them. Then they will just stand back and wait for him to pour it out and go back in the house so they can eat. The guy hunting my property has my permission to kill them all, Bambi included.

 

[svk]

I have never been able to eat a set of horns. Only deer I ever checked out its horns before I shot, I missed. Now NC is very different than NY. If I have deer getting in my garden, I can kill three without even contacting DNR and put them in my freezer. I can kill five with out contacting DNR as long as I dispose of the extra 2 on my property. If I kill more than 5, I am supposed to get a depredation permit. I can use a spot light in the taking of such deer. Baiting is legal as long as its a natural food, cant use candy in the case of bears, but peanuts are legal. I can kill all the deer I want off my back porch. I just dont to keep from pissssing off the neighbors that are keeping them fed. Everyone of my neighbors has a mineral block and a pile of corn in their back yards. None of my neighbors trys to grow a garden. I do allow a friend to hunt my place and he has taken two small bucks here. Last week a bear that was visiting here was killed right below my house. He liked to visit my neighbors bait piles too. The deer here are used to being around houses. They dont run when I drive in my driveway nor when I hit them with the spot light at night. Mostly they just lay in my field and chew their cud. Last year I found dead deer that had some sort of disease. Lots of dead deer found last year. There are just to many deer here and I believe it is because of all the feeders. You can track the deer by their trails going from one feeder to the next. I have set in my buddies house and watched the deer at his feeder. They are so bold that if he doesnt have feed out, they will stare into his window until he gets a bucket of corn to give to them. Then they will just stand back and wait for him to pour it out and go back in the house so they can eat. The guy hunting my property has my permission to kill them all, Bambi included.

I remember reading that there was some manner of wasting disease around your area when I was looking to hunt up at my uncles place.

 

[svk]

It is interesting how different deer hunting is in different areas. It is also interesting how many deer an area can hold in the absence of predators. When I lived in the northeast I thought there would be oodles of deer because there are few coyotes and no wolves. Numbers are stable but not booming. I can only postulate that is because mature hardwood forests can only support so many animals. OTOH in Minnesota where wolves are not present, deer will quickly overpopulate IF we have several consecutive mild winters. On the flip side, in the area around my cabin the wolves are rampant coupled with several harsh winters and the deer are nearly extinct.

 

[Lowhog]

It is interesting how different deer hunting is in different areas. It is also interesting how many deer an area can hold in the absence of predators. When I lived in the northeast I thought there would be oodles of deer because there are few coyotes and no wolves. Numbers are stable but not booming. I can only postulate that is because mature hardwood forests can only support so many animals. OTOH in Minnesota where wolves are not present, deer will quickly overpopulate IF we have several consecutive mild winters. On the flip side, in the area around my cabin the wolves are rampant coupled with several harsh winters and the deer are nearly extinct.

We have a few Timber Wolves here but the Coyotes are the main problem. Plenty of cover for the nocturnal SOB's and they love their fawns. I would think with the Bald Eagle explosion we have, they are getting their share also.

 

[Lowhog]

They upped our limit to 3 this year, I can buy 2 extra management permits. 3 deer per hunter is too much for this area. Its all about the money.

 

[muddstopper]

I remember reading that there was some manner of wasting disease around your area when I was looking to hunt up at my uncles place.

https://www.citizen-times.com/story...-north-carolina-other-than-hunters/678162001/

 

[muddstopper]

Taken thru the bedroom window about 5 min ago. Big doe and yearling in the back ground. My wife videoed them from back porch as they walked all around the house. No fear!

 

[svk]

They upped our limit to 3 this year, I can buy 2 extra management permits. 3 deer per hunter is too much for this area. Its all about the money.

I hear the auto insurance companies lobby hard to for liberal deer harvest as well.

 

[blades]

no feeding,no baiting, no spotlights allowed. it is possible for me to get 2 does and 2 bucks via my current lic. for archery and Gun. some areas have bonus doe tags available as well. not my area though. in some 40 years of hunting there was only one year that I filled all my tags. Good thing too as as the other 3 in my party were not so lucky that year. So we each had venison to go home with. Just in the right place at the right time. Typically the deer will lay up in the corn fields during the day and start moving just at dusk Buggers must have stopwatches as it always seems to be just sfter close of shooting hours ( except with a camera of course).

 

[Deleted member 149229]

 

[svk]

I have shot one buck in the last 4 seasons. Last year I saw one buck in 10 days of hunting and he was running at high speed after I busted him out of his bed on a 20 degree day with 30 MPH winds. I kept seeing does with fawns so I though eventually a buck would come around but one never did. That is why I am moving operations south to where there are more deer this year.

 

[blades]

I know where I can find deer everyday, anytime, unfortunately it is all of Milwaukee county which is a no hunting zone ( for currently approved species by the DNR)

 

[panolo]

Biggest deer I shot dressed out at 257 and I don't think he ever saw corn or beans. Shot him at 11:15 am. Deer are simple. They want food, a good bed, and some loving in the fall. Find one of the three and which way they come to get that item than play the wind. I never sat in a stand more than a few times before I gave it a rest unless it was gun season.

 

[Lowhog]

Fr

I remember reading that there was some manner of wasting disease around your area when I was looking to hunt up at my uncles place.

from people feeding bone meal. Bad years I would put out a bail or 2 of alfalfa that's it.