Gill-T

Would love to see something different than what is offered on the great lakes. An eight rod tournament where total length is measured of all fish during tournament time. A picture would be taken of each fish next to a measuring stick with a tournament button ( button given out on the morning of the tournament). This would allow for catch and release. April weather would allow for C&R.....and no weed mats!!!! Also awards could be offered for biggest fish of each salmon/trout species category.

I would rather see you paint the bottom like the view of the surface water looking up at it. Make it invisible NOT visable!

Build schools near police barracks and you will see this horrible spree end one day.

Since we are at a crossroads maybe it is time to form a formal committee structure. Elected at the events during captain's meetings. Representation for the am and pro divisions. I think if contestants know they have representation.....a voice to look out for their collective best interests it might go a long way. I know a lot of am contestants (myself included) who have offered their time to help with events and have been turned away. Get rejected enough.....and people stop asking. My guess is there are plenty of contestants willing to VOLUNTEER their time to help with the tournaments.......USE THEM. I would be willing to bet the contestants don't care about financial transparency of the tournaments......if that is the reason for the secrecy over the years. We just want a forum to fish in a FAIR tournament where we feel everyone has a FAIR shot to win our money back.

This story does not have a good ending . After remaining motionless (I even closed my eyes so my blinking didn't give me away)....I had to wait for the 2.5 year old to look down hill before I could make a move on the bigger buck hanging back. Finally, when a car driving by caused the younger buck to look down at the road, I was able to turn, take a knee and find a small 4" window in the cover to shoot at the older deer front quartering. Now, I don't like front quartering for obvious reasons, but it was less than 10 yards. At the shot, the buck humped all up with it's opposite shoulder/leg dragging as it ran past me at 5 yards (deer still did not know where I was). Every indication was a perfect shot. The deer wavered at 20 yards broadside and I considered reloading my single shot and shooting again but it looked like he was going down and with the road nearby I did not want to throw anymore lead than needed. Then the deer labored behind a blowdown and out of site. As I fully expected the deer to be dead behind the downed tree top, I was shocked to find the deer absent upon looking. Good blood immediately. He can't go far right? Well the trail continued on 100 yards, and I started to think I single lunged him. Problems continued as the trail went across a neighboring property (horse farm) which we did not have permission to access. We called the phone number on the posted sign but was only able to leave a message on the answering machine. Then the sun departed and the skies opened up with a deluge. So it looks like it will be an after season antler hunt with my dog. Coyote food. Wish I never had shot. A hunter's shame.

Was hunting my buddies property bordering rt. 78 in wales Sunday. After being dejected about not seeing even a squirrel on stand, I decided to go stillhunting as a last chance hailmary. Using a drainage cut I counted 500' off rt.78 and entered into a bedroom area. Using the cars whizzing-by to mask my footsteps I snuck around some recently timbered areas with lots of fallen tops. I was standing next to one such top when a buck stands up from underneath, then another, then another, then another, then another. Six bucks all huddled in under this top. Given the size of the tree top, they had to be spooning!!!!! A four point, three sixes, a 2.5 year old eight, and a three year old eight. After getting to their feet, they were all looking around for the disturbance. Not moving a muscle these deer stood for five minutes within 5-8 yards of me trying to find the source of danger.....and yes, "all camoflage-hunter guy" I had an orange camo vest on. It helps late in the season when the rut is over to go for a walk and look in all the nooks and crannies.

Lower the ball slowly. The stacked line should be half the set back the down-line has. If you keep the distances short off the ball or stacker you will decrease tangles as well.

Size #1 dipsy you will not get below 70' unless you put the setting on .5-1 and troll REALLY slow. The size #1 will plane-out and stop diving any deeper once you hit 250' of line out. Mag diver on a 1 setting will get you to 115' down with 350' (before planing out) of wire out at trolling speed of 2.25-2.4 mph. Remember a factor not discussed in the diving curve is how fast you are trolling (downspeed) and the bait you are using. You will get deeper with a spoon than a heavier dragging flasher.

I wonder if the legs were functional. Those extra legs could be used to keep flies or coyotes off it's back. Two extra tarsal glands means EXTRA stinky. Interesting to see how long the hooves grow without wear and tear. Hope someone has the story behind the deer.

I have the non-line counter version for my rigger reels and really like them. Quality components you can see and feel.

Happy B-Day Jerry. I know B-day means "what should I buy myself" thoughts......how about some more downriggers? You do have all that mounting room on the hardtop!

By all means start out young hunters with an open book on what to shoot. Get 'em hooked first then start to include them in the management discussion. Applying too rigid of management rules often leads to hard feelings and camps breaking up. I took place in a camp in Arkport that was one of the first to practice QDM. My relative landowners instituted a $400 fine for hunters shooting anything less than a 120" deer. Needless to say I don't hunt there anymore.

I would never shoot a young eight. The ones to cull are the MATURE sevens, sixes etc. Sometimes weak or no brow tines need to be considered as cull deer.

Niagara County produces knarly looking non-typical racks every year. A friend of mine has a 200 inch deer to his credit from Niagara. He also guards and posts his lease closely. If you are near the indian reservation you might have issues with walk-ons carrying assault-type rifles.

Perfect, I have loading up and customizing mag spoons.

OMG Ray!!!! great deer.

I could probably write 1000 word response to this one......First, I don't use scents, however, I have hunting buddies that swear by buckbomb spray. Bottle stuff is too strong IMO. If you go to a deer farm and get estrous urine fresh it is yellow and not NEARLY as stinky. The Buckbomb concept is more intriguing because you can mist just a little scent as you walk to your stand. Word of caution as the tops of buckbomb is poorly designed and often will pop off and the whole can unloads....be prepared to run! Bucks will place twigs and leaves of seedlings ankle-high in their mouth to "taste" the scents left by tarsal gland/urinating. If you have never seen this behavior in the wild, esentially a buck or doe will put their tarsal glands together and urinate down their rear legs while rubbing the glands together. By tasting/smelling the plants deer legs touch, the herd can communicate with each other ( don't brush up against anything on way to stand). With this evidence of deer behavior in hand, one could assume that scents used properly would work.....I just prefer to remain as invisible as possible. If a doe gets a whiff of doe-n-heat and starts those nasal openings o'flarin' then she is more likely to smell you.....and drag that buck following her along and out of range. Learn the proper usage of the grunt tube.......and proper brand. I have heard some of my buddies grunt calls, and they sound nothing like a deer grunt. I will use the grunt call before and after a rattling sequence, when trying to turn a deer that is moving away from my position, when I spook a deer that hasn't smelled me or seen me as it will calm a snorting protective doe. I use a grunt call at frequent intervals when walking into stand in the dark esp. when the leaves or snow is really loud and crunchy. This sometimes backfires as often deer will approach you before shooting light. Use the snort/weez after a rattling sequence and to calm a bumped deer. In the deer vernacular the snort/wheez means F'ck you! Usually two fighting bucks make this vocalization, but it will shut up a snorting mamma doe that does not know what you are. To do the snort/wheez cover one nostril and blow hard and as long as possible. Hopefully, you have some good buggies up there to accent the wheez. Sometimes, this is done in a three burst sequence, but that is hard to pull off with the nose. I don't think the products on the market sound very realistic for the snort/wheez. The deer bawl is great for attracting does as it mimics a yearling calling for mom. The deer bawl can is pretty close to sounding realistic, but you can make the sound with your mouth by curling the sides of your tongue up to touch your upper teeth and make a sound not unlike a sheep (might attract Ray be careful). The bawl is good for stopping deer before a shot also. Then there is the doe snort. This one is used only when you want to clear deer from under your stand at dark.....and you are hungry and cold. They will all take off but won't know who blew the alarm and why. Was that too wordy????

FINALLY!!!!!! a weekend with cool temps and NO WIND!!!!!! Remember not to drink too much tonight as you may be asleep in the woods when the big one strolls by

Depends.... at first light, fish are often feeding at a certain level so flooding the hot zone to cash in would be a good tactic. If I am steelhead fishing offshore during the summer, I am often fishing a tight band of ideal water temps so I will flood the target zone. Conversely, in search mode.... spread 'em out until you can figure out what is going on that day.

To answer what has not been already covered......depends on water temp and time of year. Your long coppers might come into play in May off Niagara County, but really won't shine consistently until later in the summer when the fish are deeper. Get on a boat as an observer for any of the four Pro/Ams and you will see there are some little tricks to keep tangles down to a minimum. The July Sodus Pro/Am would be the one I would pick to see the long Coppers in action.

Watching the Outdoor Channel lately, I have been shocked at the lost deer some of the shows portrait with seemingly great looking archery shots. Later, they show up on trail-cam pictures with a scar hole in their hide and they look fine! Tough animal. Put up some trail cameras near his bedroom and see if he still walks.......it might cure what ails'-ya.

My buddy used the services in Erie County, and the dog was just a german short-hair on a long lead.

Nice Buck Ray.

My middle rigger has AFW moss green braid. Nice on the hands and reties. During flea season I just run the line thru my fingers as the line is retreived and the fleas fall off. My two outdowns, one with SS and one with coated cable catch 4xs as many fish.....maybe the hum??