chowder

Hey Bob are you going to stand in on the 'Brown Trout Rap'?

I gotta admit that the first thought that came to my mind after I read this post was"if this guy is worried about being able to make a 10 yard shot he should be practicing instead of hunting".After I thought about it for a minute though I realized that when we hunt or fish most of us are not really looking for a testosterone edged competition event pitting man against beast but rather a time in which we relax and try to look at the world from a different perspective. After I started to look at it that way it was obvious to me that this fellow, in not taking the shot, did just what he should have because it appealed to his own set of ethical standards and enabled him to enjoy his time hunting.Thank you Lee for the post and for helping me keep my own priorities in line. -Andy

I hear that copper stuff is the way to go! -Andy

Nice work guys

Alas Ray, most of my nocturnal observations of deer have come from the cab of a tractor w/ a bank of halogens illuminating acres of windrowed hay w/ a thunderstorm only hours away! -Andy

Jack is probably a 'non-breeder' buck and is very unlikely to respond to aggressive tactics.I've encountered a number of these bucks over the years & most but not all have some kind of handicap. They typically spend very little time interacting w/ other deer and are almost totally nocturnal, especially when other bucks are behaving aggressively.-Andy

I don't even remove my riggers from the trax on my Islander. The boat is stored in an open front machinery shed. I just put a heavy cover over the boat & leave all the tackle & rods that I don't use for winter fishing right in the boat. I do remove my displays (and my stash of pretzels & bottled water).

Here at our high altitude location I saw a mature doe that was in heat being courted by a 2 1/2 yr old 8 or 9pt yesterday.

Get down & stalk him IF you see him again. He is a 'roaming' buck & not likely to stick around inside your doe unit (they are great in rifle season but heartbreakers in bow season). Just my 2 cents!

Hey Clarke, happy belated berfday wishes! -Andy

One of our landlords is getting into bow hunting and I had him out yesterday. We set up my favorite style of stand (wally world climbing stick & 1 or 2 hang ons) down wind of a wooded corridor that bucks use to troll across lanes leading into a large meadow. We didn't have to wait long for a hefty 4 point to come thru. It was all I could do to keep my guy to keep from loosing an arrow at the young buck til he gave us a decent,though slightly quartered towards 19yd shot thru a wide open window between trees (this was going to be the only shot I felt my guy was going to have that he could make b/c the quartering away shot was gonna push 28-30yds). Well, he was high and forward of the sweet spot but against all odds the buck literally never took another step. The ST mag blasted right thru the shoulder blade and punctured the lung, causing massive hemorrhaging and totally immobilized the deer. The arrow was mostly exposed, passing only a short distance behind the shoulder blade into the lungs. The buck was done and basically immobile but still alive. I did finish the deer with a heart shot b/c the landord was shaking so hard we agreed that was the best course of action. My best guess is that most relatively short range shoulder shots w/ this broad head will result in an immobile deer. Vitals damage would depend on exactly where in the shoulder the arrow will penetrate and ,of course, the angle of the shot. -Andy

Ol' 'Tracker Greg', way to go Like I always tell people; when we find the deer , I'll tell you what happened w/ the arrow because for better or for worse 'just about anything is possible'.

We live near Solon (Cincinnatus). Drop me a pm & I'll email or call ya. To get there you just keep going on RT 41 out of Cincy http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/8180.html -Andy

Read this! http://www.amazon.com/Great-Lakes-Salmo ... 796&sr=8-7

Sorry, I thought you were asking about the DEC pheasant management area in Smithville, known as 'Long Pond State Forest' (or Tarbell Farms to us locals).The Whitney Point MU, is actually in Triangle, & I stopped going there b/c it felt like the hunting pressure was pretty high. The open acreage associated with Tarbell Farms was acquired by the state many years ago. Long Pond is also adjacent to most of the open acreage.

Took a doe @ 30 yds w/ the ST mag 1 1/8. The shot was double lung, she went about 90 yds w/ an easy to follow blood trail. So far so good!

We've been reasonably successful so far at Tarbell Farms (Whitney Point). My buddy & I & his dog have been 3 times & gotten at least a bird apiece each time. Key to hunting Tarbell is a dog that likes to cover a lot of ground. PM sent. -Andy

Great pics, nice buck -Andy

If you could fill the cooler every time you go we'd have to stop calling it fishing & start callingl it 'shopping'! Hey, it was still a gorgeous fall day on the water -Andy

OK, made the mistake of waiting at the archery shop for a new batch of arrows to be made and of course I had my wallet w/ me so I wound up buying a package of G5 Small Game Heads ($19/3 heads). They get pretty good reviews on Archery talk. I'll post my opinion after I've tried em' on some birds or squirrels. -Andy

The heck w/ the trolling & bow hunting, I'm heading down to the lake w/ my Hobie Cat and my wet suit! 32 out of the west & I can go from one end of the lake to the other in no time, anybody up for a quick rip?

Although I've solved most of the issues of predicting when the optimal time to bow hunt is by just hunting every afternoon that I'm not fishing , here's some more food for thought; http://bowsite.com/BOWSITE/features/art ... oontheory/ -Andy

Pm sent

Happy belated Birthday Rod & don't mix beer & refinishing fumes -Andy

With the way you are set up now you might want to try jigging b/c you would need to make some pretty serious purchases in order to get trolling. I have some spinning combos set up for jigging that the kids use and they are are ok( I much prefer a good baitcasting reel but that can wait till after you get a decent sonar unit). Use the closest thing you have to med heavy rod w/ fast action b/c you need to set the hook w/ authority! You will want to spool up w/ 12lb super braid (power pro, spider wire,etc) and then tie on a 7-10' 10-12lb flourocarbon leader. you will want to order some jig heads immediately b/c they are a speciality item and you do not want to be w/ out them.I get 1 1/2 oz heads for 80 FOW+ from Bill Alexander http://www.billysmtolures.com/ and the Gamma Ball Jig 4/0 BN 1 oz for 60-80 FOW from Schuberts & Laketown http://terrystackle.com/cart/index.php? ... 20a&page=7. The lighter the jig you can use the better feel you will have for the strike.You can usually get Zoom super flukes and other plastics at Wally World or Gander, you want some white, some blk/silver, and some chartreuse stuff. W/ out a decent fish finder you will want to work an area that another reliable jigger points you to. I and others have posted some very detailed instructions for this technique, search back and check this out.I think you will find that it is much better to control the boat and make your jig drops w/ out a lot of line angle than to attempt to get to bottom and drift along trying to jig as you go. Although this technique can appear to be simple and easy to pick up, it is not quite that easy. With the right basic equipment , attention to proper technique, and some time you will pick it up and learn to have fun w/ it. As far as trolling goes (and probably the jigging too) best thing to do is get to know some of the guys on here & get a trip on a boat that is set up to troll and check it out.There are a number of qualified guides and charter captains that also would be well worth while spending a few bucks on b/c they could probably save you what you spend 10 times over in poor choices on gear and technology! -Andy