Wolc2023

[Wolc123]

New Year New Forum

January 1 morning: second last “hangover” Holiday ML hunt at home from big box-blind up front (our house), I didn’t see anything but the creek rising. Maybe I should have went out back after church, because my neighbor texted me a picture of 6 deer headed towards my back turnip plot at 1:30 in the afternoon.

I doubt that would have panned out though, because after shooting two and missing one on that plot in 2022, they seem to scent check it from downwind, before emerging from the heavy cover.  

 

January 1 evening:  last two hours at my trailer-park stand over at my parents place with my crossbow.  That stand is too close (300 ft) to a row of double-wides (most of whose residents are in FL for the winter) to use a firearm.  

I accidentally dropped my seat cushion, right at sunset, and then heard twigs snapping behind me.  Two antlerless deer were heading towards me at 75 yards but veered off into the swamp at 50, not offering a clear shot.  That was all seen until I gave up at 20 minutes after sunset, when it got too dark to see in the thick woods with all the snow melted. 

I ended 2022 with slightly more than 3 average sized deer in the freezer.  I would have liked to have had one more in reserve, but that  should be just enough to get us thru, until the early September antlerless season.

 I sure hope they have that again this year.  By the looks of all the local wmu 9F deer that survived hunting season, they surely ought to.   We will definitely run out of red meat before the early NZ ML week in mid-October.   At least there is plenty of room for fish in our big freezer.

 I hope to have more time for fishing this year, having just about completed my old barn dismantling/new barn build  projects which consumed most of my free time the last year. 
 

 

[Skillet]

Glad you came over!

[Robhuntandfish]

Welcome in Wolc! 

[crappyice]

Atta a boy Wolc...congrats on a good season

[Wolc123]

1 hour ago, crappyice said:

Atta a boy Wolc...congrats on a good season

Thanks, and congrats on the good one that you had.  I sure hated missing my first opening day of southern zone gun season in 40 years, but I am very thankful that 2022 ended with enough meat for our family.   

I am definitely going to make a few changes this year, starting with planting a lot more corn at home.  The clover plot, over at my parents, is also going to get reworked and I’m going to add a turnip plot over there.  
 

I am also going to do more target practice, after blowing two easy shots on deer last year.  That’s cheap and fast with the bb/gun, cutting wire-suspended beer cans hanging from a tree branch in half, off the back porch.   My lever action 30/30 is going to get a scope on it, and I’m going to improve a of couple stands and move a couple of others.  
 

Hopefully, keeping Jesus Christ in the top spot and making those changes will help me punch a few more tags this year, and end up with enough meat to be able to give more of it away.  

Edited January 2 by Wolc123

[grampy]

25 minutes ago, Wolc123 said:

Thanks, and congrats on the good one that you had.  I sure hated missing my first opening day of southern zone gun season in 40 years, but I am very thankful that 2022 ended with enough meat for our family.   

I am definitely going to make a few changes this year, starting with planting a lot more corn at home.  The clover plot, over at my parents, is also going to get reworked and I’m going to add a turnip plot over there.  
 

I am also going to do more target practice, after blowing two easy shots on deer last year.  That’s cheap and fast with the bb/gun, cutting wire-suspended beer cans hanging from a tree branch in half, off the back porch.   My lever action 30/30 is going to get a scope on it, and I’m going to improve a of couple stands and move a couple of others.  
 

Hopefully, keeping Jesus Christ in the top spot and making those changes will help me punch a few more tags this year, and end up with enough meat to be able to give more of it away.  

Welcome aboard Wolc123!

Sounds like you have a solid plan in place for a successful 23 hunting season!

[Buckmaster7600]

Good to see you around  pal!

[blackbeltbill]

WOLC IS HERE!  

 Looking Forward to seeing pictures  of Fish held overhead. Welcome aboard.

[Rusty]

Welcome to the site Wolc!    

[Otto]

Welcome, now I don't have to go to the old site to see what you are up to. 

[Doebuck1234]

Welcome aboard wolc,was wondering when u were going to pull the trigger!

 

 

[Wolc123]

Now that big game season is over, I may try and get out after squirrels, if the weekend weather conditions get ideal for that before the end of February.  I’m leaning towards my trailer park stand with my open-sighted Marksman  .177 cal pellet rifle.  I don’t think NY counts that as a firearm, so it should be ok to use within 300 ft of the trailers.
 

I will definitely be going for head shots with that, because this chipmunk, that I aimed towards center of mass and dropped in September, got back up and escaped into a rock wall.  Grey squirrels might be a little tougher to kill than those.  I’m thinking high-back hit above the spine (or maybe chipmunks have a real no mans land below the spine, unlike the imaginary one that some guys think deer have).  

 

Maybe no more hunting till September for me , but hopefully it’s ok to post fishing stuff in the hunting journal section here.  Hunting is similar to fishing for me, in that they are both fun ways to get meat.  
 

There is no where I’d rather live (in the lower 48 anyhow), than upstate NY.  As a pure meat hunter, I can’t think of anywhere else, that can rival our whitetail deer hunting or our smallmouth bass fishing.  Those are my two favorite things to hunt/catch and eat.  
 

What I spent a few hours on today, is where those  two come together so it is some least somewhat hunting related.  I catch most of my bass on buck or  doe tail jigs.  The only thing I purchase for those is the hooks and thread.  
 

I had a little trouble pouring (80) lead jig heads today.  My 50 year old melting pot crapped out.  I had to swipe one of my wife’s stove decorations and set it in front of my propane heater to finish up.  It worked good enough that I don’t think I’ll bother replacing the electric one.  

They are ready for powder coat paint now.  After that, I hear treat them in an old toaster oven (used only for that purpose) , then tie them up.  Maybe I’ll a few with coyote tail instead of bucktail.  


 

Not only do those jigs work on freshwater smallmouth bass, but saltwater spotted bay bass like them too.  I caught this one in SanDiego bay on opening day of NY southern zone deer season last year .  It looks like I will be heading down there again in a couple weeks, so I will be trying that again, maybe with the coyote tail jigs. 

Edited January 15 by Wolc123

[blackbeltbill]

Yeah- post up the Fish here.

Get yourself a Thermacell  like,I did and both of us can try it out in May . 

 Get out there for the Big Birds

 

 

[Wolc123]

11 hours ago, blackbeltbill said:

Yeah- post up the Fish here.

Get yourself a Thermacell  like,I did and both of us can try it out in May . 

 Get out there for the Big Birds

 

 

I’ll look for one of those.  One of my neighbors is a big time turkey hunter and he swears by them.  I didn’t have much time for turkey hunting last spring, but hopefully I’ll get in a little more this year.  I called in a hen, over at my parents place, and I had toms answering my calls (but not coming in) 2 or 3 mornings at home last year.  
 

Does the thermacell work for black flies ?  I only went out one morning up at my Northern zone spot, the morning  after hearing gobbles up the hills around the lake on Memorial Day weekend, while I was out fishing at sunrise.  
 

The black flies were pretty intense in the woods up there, so I pulled the plug on that hunt early.  I went back out on the lake fishing.  The black flies  were no trouble out on the water.  

My pop-up blind was a casualty of the wind storms during deer season last fall, so I’ll need to stick with my barnwood sided tree blinds, and old truck cap deer blinds, for turkeys this spring.  I did call a big Tom into one of those a couple of spring’s ago.  He came in silent, and caught me by surprise, so I never got a shot off.  

 

My barnwood sided tree blinds definitely work for hens.  I called that one in to 10 yards, over at my parents place last May, and another at home a few falls ago.  I killed that one with my 12 ga 870.   That was my first and only turkey kill. It was pretty tasty, even the drumsticks, which I cooked in the crockpot.  
 

I’ve tried a few spring tom drumsticks that way (which friends gave me), but they were very stringy and tough.  I’ve heard that only the breasts are worth saving and eating from those.  
 

Turkey hunting will be competing with Lake Erie walleye fishing for my free time this May.  My wife and kids like eating those (I prefer bass), and my freezer fish supply for them is down to just one pack.  
 

I have plenty of fish for me left in the freezer (per NY state advisory, St Lawrence River and Adirondack fish are ok for men over 50 to eat but not for women or children).  

[Robhuntandfish]

Thermo cell is awesome if sitting or in a blind. Almost a must have for turkey hunting. 

And I always took the turkey thighs and legs and crockpot them. Then pull the meat off and mix with BBQ for pulled turkey sandwiches.   

I don't get out to turkey hunt much anymore as I lost my best turkey spot and like you said the walleye bite starts. 

[Wolc123]

This photo very clearly illustrates a few links between my two favorite NY state protein sources (whitetail deer and smallmouth bass).  

1) Note the bucktail (maybe doetail) jig in the mouth. 
 

2) Note the distinct browse-line on the evergreen trees along the lake shore.  
 

In the fall (my favorite time to bass fish), most of the fish move into the shoreline.  Not only do the deer provide the bulk of the material for the jigs, but they also keep those lower branches trimmed, all of the way around the lake.  
 

I would need a lot more jigs, if they didn’t do that, and it would be tougher to cast them into the strike zone. 
 

“Surf and Turf” season, aka northern zone early ML week, just can’t get here soon enough.  

[Wolc123]

38 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Thermo cell is awesome if sitting or in a blind. Almost a must have for turkey hunting. 

And I always took the turkey thighs and legs and crockpot them. Then pull the meat off and mix with BBQ for pulled turkey sandwiches.   

I don't get out to turkey hunt much anymore as I lost my best turkey spot and like you said the walleye bite starts. 

Most years, I get out on Lake Erie fishing in May. My primary target is usually big (20” plus) smallmouth bass with bucktail jigs.  Since the arrival there of the round goby and the massive forage base that it provides, the growth rate of the bass is way up.  A 20 inch bass is now still fairly young and good eating.  

“Accidental” caught walleyes hit those bucktail jigs as well at that time.  There is usually plenty of them in the shallows then.  I didn’t make it out at all last May.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to squeeze in a few times this year. 
 

I’m not a fan of trolling for walleyes, but that is definitely the preferred method out there.  Just something about reeling in those “water-filled pillow cases” with heavy trolling gear, that has little to no appeal for me. 
 

They are fun on jigs and light tackle though.  I also don’t like the taste of the meat from the Lake Erie walleye.  It’s ok, if you eat it fresh, but after any time in the freezer (even if vacuum-sealed), it seems to take on the flavor of the zoo-plankton that they like to suspend under.  
 

By contrast:  Vacuum- sealed bass, when the fillets were still twitching when removed, tastes as fresh after a year in the freezer, as it did the day that it was caught.  
 

I’ll bet that most of the folks, who say they don’t like eating bass, just toss them into a cooler and let them die full of guts like they do walleye and panfish.  For best taste, bass need to be kept alive, until the meat is removed. 

Edited January 15 by Wolc123

[blackbeltbill]

1 hour ago, Wolc123 said:

I’ll look for one of those.  One of my neighbors is a big time turkey hunter and he swears by them.  I didn’t have much time for turkey hunting last spring, but hopefully I’ll get in a little more this year.  I called in a hen, over at my parents place, and I had toms answering my calls (but not coming in) 2 or 3 mornings at home last year.  
 

Does the thermacell work for black flies ?  I only went out one morning up at my Northern zone spot, the morning  after hearing gobbles up the hills around the lake on Memorial Day weekend, while I was out fishing at sunrise.  
 

The black flies were pretty intense in the woods up there, so I pulled the plug on that hunt early.  I went back out on the lake fishing.  The black flies  were no trouble out on the water.  

My pop-up blind was a casualty of the wind storms during deer season last fall, so I’ll need to stick with my barnwood sided tree blinds, and old truck cap deer blinds, for turkeys this spring.  I did call a big Tom into one of those a couple of spring’s ago.  He came in silent, and caught me by surprise, so I never got a shot off.  

 

My barnwood sided tree blinds definitely work for hens.  I called that one in to 10 yards, over at my parents place last May, and another at home a few falls ago.  I killed that one with my 12 ga 870.   That was my first and only turkey kill. It was pretty tasty, even the drumsticks, which I cooked in the crockpot.  
 

I’ve tried a few spring tom drumsticks that way (which friends gave me), but they were very stringy and tough.  I’ve heard that only the breasts are worth saving and eating from those.  
 

Turkey hunting will be competing with Lake Erie walleye fishing for my free time this May.  My wife and kids like eating those (I prefer bass), and my freezer fish supply for them is down to just one pack.  
 

I have plenty of fish for me left in the freezer (per NY state advisory, St Lawrence River and Adirondack fish are ok for men over 50 to eat but not for women or children).  

I have never used a Thermacell.  The Skeeters last Spring were Horrible and Deep Woods Off did little. I hunt alot near Wetlands and Sloughs where Skeeters are a problem.

   I am definitely  using one this coming Spring! As far as Black Flies being repelled ,I see nothing on the package. Perhaps  others here would know.  The unit covers a 15 Foot Zone.

[Robhuntandfish]

1 hour ago, Wolc123 said:

Most years, I get out on Lake Erie fishing in May. My primary target is usually big (20” plus) smallmouth bass with bucktail jigs.  Since the arrival there of the round goby and the massive forage base that it provides, the growth rate of the bass is way up.  A 20 inch bass is now still fairly young and good eating.  

“Accidental” caught walleyes hit those bucktail jigs as well at that time.  There is usually plenty of them in the shallows then.  I didn’t make it out at all last May.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to squeeze in a few times this year. 
 

I’m not a fan of trolling for walleyes, but that is definitely the preferred method out there.  Just something about reeling in those “water-filled pillow cases” with heavy trolling gear, that has little to no appeal for me. 
 

They are fun on jigs and light tackle though.  I also don’t like the taste of the meat from the Lake Erie walleye.  It’s ok, if you eat it fresh, but after any time in the freezer (even if vacuum-sealed), it seems to take on the flavor of the zoo-plankton that they like to suspend under.  
 

By contrast:  Vacuum- sealed bass, when the fillets were still twitching when removed, tastes as fresh after a year in the freezer, as it did the day that it was caught.  
 

I’ll bet that most of the folks, who say they don’t like eating bass, just toss them into a cooler and let them die full of guts like they do walleye and panfish.  For best taste, bass need to be kept alive, until the meat is removed. 

We troll but use light walleye bass equipment that is more taylored to the fish.  We use bass bait casters with worm harnesses and drift sinkers.  A 19" walleye puts up a nice fight on those. Once in a while get a big sheepshead, catfish or carp and it's a huge battle. Lol 

I also didn't like the larger trolling outfits with lead core for that reason.  

Edited January 15 by Robhuntandfish

[Wolc123]

8 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

We troll but use light walleye bass equipment that is more taylored to the fish.  We use bass bait casters with worm harnesses and drift sinkers.  A 19" walleye puts up a nice fight on those. Once in a while get a big sheepshead, catfish or carp and it's a huge battle. Lol 

I also didn't like the larger trolling outfits with lead core for that reason.  

You also have tastier walleyes in Oneida, than we have out here in Erie.  In the far western part of NY, those caught from Chataqua are also better tasting than those from Erie.  I think some of that is due to the smaller average size, but most is due to less zoo plankton.  
 

I used to eat lots of walleye from Chataqua, and I never remember any having that algae-like flavor, that seems to affect most of those that I have had from Erie, in recent years.