chowder

I'm breaking in a new yote eliminator (Savage 22-250, floating bull barrel,accutrigger,etc w/ Mueller 8.5-25x50) and I need a better bipod than what I've got which is a inexpensive Harris knock off I have on my old Savage 222.The el cheapo unit I've got has pretty short legs and doesn't swivel. I've looked at a few different possibilities but the 'tall' Harris unit, extends to 27", looks like it would give me the most options. Anybody using one of these tall, swiveling units that enables a shooter to shoot from a regular sitting position? They don't give these things away at $150 w/ the quik swivel lock option but maybe they are worth it? I'd probably use it on my 7mm Rem Mag for some much needed Doe management work too.

Oh definitely get a zara spook (great suggestion!) The strikes on the spooks are tremendous! Casting them is like having a dog on point- tremendous anticipation! Not sure how the fish do it, but on occasion they will whack them just as they hit the water- tell him not hurry the retrieve on these lures. -Andy

Sounds like you got a great Xmas thing going there Chris! I'd set him up w/ some 'Zoom Super Flukes' & show him how to rig em to hang straight/run weed less style. They will kill bucket mouths if they are worked properly to drop down in and dart around in the weed beds, you don't really have to cast them that far and it's not to hard a technique to use. -Andy

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I agree w/ Pete on the issue of inevitability w/ respect to leasing becoming the predominant hunting access rationing dynamic. As far as dealing w/ repeat trespassers I've found that coating the offender's vehicle about a foot deep with liquid dairy manure works wonders ( I've also been taken to court for doing this, so be careful!) -Andy

Great story & Chuck it sounds like you handled that situation like I wish all fathers would! -Andy

We own/lease/rent,etc hundreds of crop land acres in 4 towns here in a high altitude portion of 7M. Although I've largely given up attempting to contend w/ poaching/trespass issues because I simply can't spend the time on it and have gotten used to the outrageous extent of these activities.When I have been forced to deal w/ this stuff I have had the best luck working with the State Police on trespassing issues, and the worst luck w/ local law enforcement. For whatever reason the DEC is extremely backed up in my area and responds very slowly so I have minimal experience w/ their trespassing & game violation protocols. Since this seems like an appropriate place to vent over twenty years of frustration w/ this whole thing I will add my 2 cents to this diatribe by saying the following: You aren't really sick of gun season and trespassers till you see the same bunch of worthless 'unemployed, 'out on comp', or otherwise unwilling to work, white trash driving back and forth all day long to and from trespassing/hunting while you are too busy working to hold onto the land they are hunting to do anything about their B.S. except be weirdly jealous of the fact that somehow they can get away with hunting all day every day of the season. O.K. I feel better after getting that off my chest! -Andy

I think that the number of bucks you see as a careful stand hunter is going to be hugely influenced by 2 things; A. The stage of the rut, especially if you are hunting buck travel routes between and among doe cells and B. The number of does in these cells because, as Vince has said earlier, if there are lots of available does to breed w/ out risking exposure a mature buck can seem invisible during daylight. Personally, I think that factor B is more important than exact rut stage in my area. As I've pointed out in other posts it can be very difficult to harvest these does b/c they pattern humans much quicker than we can pattern them, especially when cover is as abundant as they are. As Greg's man Alsheimer has pointed out in numerous articles 'when you have large doe populations that are subjected to heavy hunting pressure it is important to harvest does at the first opportunity not the last'. Quite frankly I was a far more successful killer of mature bucks years ago when I targeted them in the very early part of bow season because I could pattern their fairly predictable routines/core areas,etc well before the rut began. Now that I'm a much more casual hunter (with a much happier wife) I'm more at the mercy of chance encounters that are influenced by the factors mentioned above and that are largely beyond my control. -Andy

Super nice buck! 4.5 for sure, congrats! -Andy

We counted 48 does out in our meadows while spreading lime 2 days b4 the fire arms opener & I have only seen 3 deer during 4 afternoons while on stand after the opener. I shower w/ dead down wind body wash & keep my scent lok stuff sealed up & don't suit up till I'm ready to walk in. We have very heavy hunting pressure in firearms season here and I can only hunt afternoons so I'm not out during the prime am hours but still If I didn't live and work on this land I would be very tempted to say there just are not very many deer here. I'm not trying to say that my observations hold true for other areas but once again folks we need to remember that if it was easy to find & kill these critters they would have been wiped out a long time ago!

I live in a relatively low income part of Chenango/Cortland county and gun hunting pressure is pretty high. Land prices are relatively low as well so we have lots of little hunting camps where 5 guys own 3 acres & try to hunt some other guy's 300 or they pound the state land. Around here very little progress is being made in terms of QDM. I see a clear correlation between liberal doe tag allotments & better survival of young bucks. Doe tags are tighter this year & was @ the general store yesterday & couldn't help but notice the pickup w/ 2 spikers in it. Drive hunting prevails around here and most of these pilgrims have a 'if it's a buck then try to whack it' mentality. In general I would have to say that very few bucks make it past 2.5 around here.

I do not hunt w/ in range of my property boundaries during the first 12 days of firearms season. Threw 2 guys off yesterday(both packing brand new high powered rifle/scope combos) that were walking w/ the wind thru about 40 acres of my woods. Supposedly they were 'tracking' a wounded deer (of course there was no blood trail). Last Sunday while spreading manure on one of our fields near the state land I saw 12 pilgrims preparing to push a 15 acre piece of brush/timber. While scraping out the spreader I heard at least 14 shots in that piece. Boy, do I miss bow season! If you don't have to deal w/ this kind of B.S. you should thank your lucky stars! Hope everybody has a safe & enjoyable holiday. -Andy

If you are gonna run FF combos off the riggers I'd run em tight to the ball and run at least 1 as close to the bottom as you can.

Good deal all the way around -Andy

Yeah, well like I said I sure did not make a perfect shot while trying to scoot the coon out w/ my foot (the damm thing had the balls to bare it's teeth at me b4 retreating!)while trying not to lose my opportunity on the doe. My son told me to look at the bright side of the whole thing "well dad, you don't need to worry about how still you are when you are hunting, that's for sure, I mean jeez you got wild animals practically crawling into your lap!" I'm on my way up the hill to commence recovery operations as soon as I got a bit of day light. I know she's terminally hit cuz when I got over to the hedgerow she very slowly headed into, the fawn was milling about and very reluctant to leave so I just quietly backed away from there.

I'm in my little Gander pop up in the pouring rain and holding on a heavy doe late this afternoon & something just didn't feel right to me. I looked over out of the corner of my eye & a big coon was actually in my blind w/ me and after my granola bar that I had opened just b4 the does came out! Kinda messed w/ my site picture as I was about to touch off my rifle & sure enough now I have a recovery job in the am, SOB! I'm pretty used to defending my belongings from the farm cats but this the first time I've been raided in my little slice of man cave. What's the world coming to?

I'd bet that 10 is a 4.5 yr old buck, awesome work!

Happy Birthday Andy! -Andy

Thanx guys, usually use my older 870 for waterfowl & it's a factory mod. job.

You might want to consider putting a set of tracks on b4 you start drilling holes for these new to you riggers.Although it probably just seems like more $ down the drain I really think you will be thankful that you did it a little farther down the road b/c they make changing configurations so much easier. Also, the aftermarket swivels from Traxtech, Berts,etc are easier to use and heavier duty than the Cannon swivels. Just my 2 cents! -Andy

What choke works best w/ the Rem Hypersonic loads? Thanks, -Andy

There will be lots of opportunities to go winter fishing w/ others, stay tuned -Andy

Kind of tough to follow up those last posts but I'll be trying to help my 14 year old son Tristan get his first deer here on the family farm in McDonough, NY.

Have any of you guys shot both the Black Cloud and the Rem. Hypersonic? Any comments?

Heck of a buck Ray! Nice going, but now your gonna have to make some space on the wall of shame! -Andy