Best shotgun value is the savage bolt action (tack driver). Most scope companies contract out to Bushnell for their glass.......so buy a Bushnell and rest easy. My set-up is a H&R ultra slug in 12 gauge that I had magna-ported.
Hunted Allegany Co state land tracking deer in the snow with the Marlin 30/30 Saturday......,good for the soul. BTW there is NOBODY hunting down there. I had 3,000 acres to myself.
This year was a spoon year. I took very few fish off flashers. Why??.....the water was very cool this year IMO with all the wind changing direction every other day. I could count on one hand the times I had to fish below 80’. Spoons tend to shine in the top 60’. Lots of guys run sticks for kings in the spring. If I had a choice between spoons or sticks I would chose spoons every time due to better flash attraction, array of glow colors and better hook up and land ratio due to hook configuration. Flashers shine 70’ and deeper.
I think the wind switch-movement theory rings true because wind change/barometric change often go hand in hand. Also, deer like to travel-feed into the wind, so if wind direction changes so does their movement direction.
While pouring over everyone’s deer reports, I can’t help but think you guys would see more bucks if you took more does off your properties. The ratios seem out of wack.