Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

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Mechanic Matt scored with his Stainless Ruger 77 in 35 Whalen, loaded with 200 gr Fusion bullets.

He was going to take his 30-30, but I convinced him to take the scoped Whalen. The shot was not real long (between 50 and 100 yds), but through lots of brush, so I'm glad he had the Whalen, it will punch through that a lot better than a 30-30. Also, he told me that with all the brush and low light (cloudy) he would have had trouble seeing the antlers with open sights.

The deer was quartering towards him, and the bullet went right through the shoulders and pulverized half of the heart. Amazingly, with a heavy blood trail, the deer still went almost 100 yds before dropping! It is always nice to have snow to make it easier to find your deer! He had to descend a steep decline to get to it.

The brow tines did not seem to be in proper proportion to the nice main beams on this deer. They are all different! The rack was nice and pretty symetrical.
Love it.

I also heard that someone did very well playing cards ;)
 
This reminds me of a TRUE story!

There was a member at our range having trouble getting a round to chamber in his 700 Remington.

The range officer came over and said "the problem is you are trying to chamber a 30-06 in a gun chambered for 243". The owner of the gun responded (obviously after reading the ads) "this is a 700 Remington, it can shoot 17 different calibers, including 223, 243, 270, 30-06 ..."
Can’t cure stupid!
 
Mechanic Matt scored with his Stainless Ruger 77 in 35 Whalen, loaded with 200 gr Fusion bullets.

He was going to take his 30-30, but I convinced him to take the scoped Whalen. The shot was not real long (between 50 and 100 yds), but through lots of brush, so I'm glad he had the Whalen, it will punch through that a lot better than a 30-30. Also, he told me that with all the brush and low light (cloudy) he would have had trouble seeing the antlers with open sights.

The deer was quartering towards him, and the bullet went right through the shoulders and pulverized half of the heart. Amazingly, with a heavy blood trail, the deer still went almost 100 yds before dropping! It is always nice to have snow to make it easier to find your deer! He had to descend a steep decline to get to it.

The brow tines did not seem to be in proper proportion to the nice main beams on this deer. They are all different! The rack was nice and pretty symetrical.
Nice deer Matt . I got nothing so far but there's always muzzle season.
 
Nice deer Matt. I only see does where I hunt unless the chase phase is in full swing. I did connect on a nice fat doe last Friday. Got about 30 lbs ground meat and about 15 lbs of cuts.

The CAD almost struck again. There's a really nice 268 XP on FB marketplace for $300. Looks like a low hour homeowner saw. Good thing it's an hour drive to get it. That's the only thing that kept me from getting it.
 
I'm intrigued. When you shoota deer, how do you get it home?
Depends what time of the year/temp/where I'm hunting. I shoot most my deer behind my house so I load it into the utility trailer and bring I to the shed to hang it if the temps are cold enough. If it's within an hour drive I will gut it and the load it in my van to bring it home. Possibly buy a bag of ice to stuff in cavity if too warm. If I'm farther then that and it's too warm I've quartered them and put the meat in a large cooler. If it's cold I will just load it in the van or on a trailer for the ride home.
 
Yea usually we take them home wash them out real good with the hose and take to processor the next day but if warm they need to be packed with ice or taken to processor with refrigeration normally we wouldn't hunt in michigan if temps are over 70 because of possible spoilage but I give credit to them guys down south who do it alot I imagine.
 
Truck needed some new tires... unfortunately that is not code for I got a new saw. Actually i could have picked up a couple saws for the cost of tires. So to test them out I went to get a load of wood from an acquaintance that moved to a place with 20 acres.
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Some of it is pre-cooked firewood. I highly recommend it at half the price! Kind of like individually kiln dried so the moisture is already burned out of it.
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This was from a pile he had cut after being the village idiot (his words, not mine - or at least that's what he figured his new neighbors think after the wind spread a fire he started last year.)
 
I'm intrigued. When you shoota deer, how do you get it home?
Last deer I shot next to my house, I hooked to my truck bumper and dragged to the door of my shop and hung on my cherry picker. I put the head end in a large trash can with a new liner. I usually skin and debone while hanging. If the shoulders are shot to ****, I dont bother with cutting them off the deer. Once deboned a 150lb deer wont weight 50lbs so if it is a long way from the road, I will skin and butcher in the woods and leave the carcass, minus the good meat, in the woods. I can skin and debone a hanging deer in about 15 min, one on the ground not much longer.
 
In the old days, and even now if you are on public land, you have to drag it out. It is a lot easier in the snow, and lot easier downhill. Going uphill (with or without snow) you often just "face the deer" and pull 3 or 4 feet at a time, take a breath, and repeat. I took one deer out, by myself, from over a mile in, and it was downhill next to a steam (it actually died in the stream after crossing several times). Thought I would be able to call my brother for help, but there was no service!

If you have two people, you can tie the legs around a long stick and carry it out.

When it is deep in on private property (like Matt's deer) we usually cheat and get the ATV to bring it out, but keep in mind I have only had an ATV for 6 years.

As I have gotten older, if I am hunting alone on public land, I will usually leave a hand truck in the back of the Pick Up that I will retrieve to help me get it out. Even with a hand truck, uphill is tough, and I wish the wheels had rachets!

The traditional method, that I have done a lot, is to tie a rope around the neck to a 2 - 3' stick of wood and put your rifle over your shoulder and just drag the deer out (with your arms behind you gripping the stick). That is the way it was done for decades, but now everyone is spoiled and has a deer cart or hand truck, or calls for help on their cell phone. We did not used to have them either!
 
Thanks Mark

I’ve hunted quite a few days before seeing any deer. 180* different from last year when I was seeing them every time I went hunting.
As for dragging them out? Just make sure your hunting buddy is bigger than you, it really helps a LOT. My uncle and nephew are both over 6ft and even knocking on 70 old Uncle Mike here is still a lot of muscle to help drag.
Last year my 6ft4in nephew shot a big momma and she ran deep into the swamp. That drag, even with him sucked! But you do what ya gotta do. Man up and shut up!
This years deer I drug quite a bit before we could use the ATV, but that is part of hunting!!
 
I've done some heckofa drags on public land. If the deer is light enough, I'll shoulder it but not before putting an orange vest on it. One wet year I was able to mostly float a buck out in water filled log skidder ruts. If they are running towards the truck I'll only shoot once. If they're going the wrong way I'll unload on them! Lmao!

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk
 
I did some scrounging in the bush today. Got a part log load of cherry, ironwood and ash branches and small trees. Spent some time with my chop saw and the 16" skil saw to cut up 4 logs. Yup the 32 pound beast, my arms are jelly now. The logs are about a max of 6" diameter. I ratchet strap them to a work bench to cut them. I cut flat cookies and oval cookies. About 150 in total. My daughter in law prints Christmas sayings on them and sells them for $7 to $18 each. She'll put them on chicken wire with an electric heater to get the last of the moisture out of them then a quick sanding on one side and print on them. I'm going to cut a whole pile more logs and get them up off the ground and dry properly for next year. I'll also cut some bigger ones on my band sawmill. It's crazy what people will pay for this kind of stuff. Much better returns than selling firewood. Also a picture of my tractor cab floor, does anyone else oil their cab floor to keep it from rusting? Flippy caps work good for this.
 

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I agree. My wife sold “ tree cookies” one year.
cut the little ones on a miter saw and big ones with the chain saw. I’m blessed with a real aggressive 6”x 48” sander that gets saw marks out real quick.
After seeing the $ she maybe on the 2” ones, I realized I’ve burnt approximately the equivalent of our national debt on my brush pile!!
Cotton wood and walnut make real neat ones!
 
I bought a couple more trucks for firewood and to haul my tractor, processor and sawmill around. Planning to put a flat bed on the 4 door Ford. I might just resell the blue diesel one, I bought it at auction and it was supposed to be 4x4. They made a mistake on the listing and said I didn't have to take it but I got a decent deal so figured I would just keep it and resell it if I find a 4x4 one. I'm selling the toppers as I have no use for them and they are worth some good money. Trucks are tough to find around here right now. I've still got my 2500 dodge with flatbed. I also bought the 2 wheel drive F350 with an aluminum flatbed ( ex Home Depot truck) on it last spring have a scissor hoist to put under it but too busy to do it yet . I just keep telling my wife I'm just gonna keep buying trucks until I find one I like. What I want to end up with is a 2 door F350 4x4 dually with a 12' dumping aluminum flatbed on it. Then I will keep either the 4 door or the blue diesel for pulling trailers.
 

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