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Post by subzero350 on Dec 15, 2014 16:08:48 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Dec 15, 2014 15:15:19 GMT -5
I've been seeing this term thrown around a lot on here lately. I'm just wondering where the proof of it is.
About 1/2 the hunters I talk to (in-person) are rack hunters. They tell me that they will NOT shoot any does and won't even shoot any "young" bucks. The rest consider themselves lucky to get 1 doe a season, and that doesn't always happen. I'm not aware of anyone, personally, who has ever filled his or her county antlerless quota in all the years I've been hunting.
One of the problems we have up here in the northeastern part of the state is lack of areas to hunt. There are very few public lands where you are permitted to hunt, and most of those don't permit you to take does during certain parts of the season. Most private land owners don't want anybody hunting - period.
So, I ask, where is your proof that the does are being over-harvested? I don't want hearsay or assumptions based on what you are seeing yourself (or lack thereof), I want actual evidence. Who do you know has filled their county's antlerless quota lately? If ever?
Just curious.
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Post by subzero350 on Dec 10, 2014 19:27:13 GMT -5
Since gun season opener, I've seen very little activity during the bulk of the daylight hours. But after dark, I see many pairs of eyeballs reflecting car headlights in the fields (and also in the road where I've had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them).
The wife just took a doe at around 8am this past Sunday morning. It was intercepted leaving a field coming back into the swamp to undoubtedly "bed down" for the day. The doe's stomach was almost bursting at the seams, full of food. Seems to indicate that doe was out feeding in the fields for most of the night. It was, of course, a full moon and clear sky this past weekend too.
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Post by subzero350 on Dec 5, 2014 17:12:05 GMT -5
No sir not really..Its a small step at best .You as a hunter has to buy 3 tags to get that effect .It needs to be available as the sale of a single "deer " tag good for any season or either sex for those who want to buy one or one at a time. Not have to buy season or weapon or sex tag . I guess I don't understand what you are saying. The Deer License Bundle is one thing you buy. It allows you to hunt ALL seasons (except Urban) and you can take 3 deer with it only spending $65.00. You don't have to buy 3 separate tags if you buy the Bundle which costs only $65.00.
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Post by subzero350 on Dec 4, 2014 15:23:23 GMT -5
They need to just leave it alone and the license language alone unless they are going to just create a single ."DEER" tag good for either sex in any season period . Didn't they just do something like that with the advent of the "Deer License Bundle"? (Which is a great deal for me since I don't have a lifetime hunting license)
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Post by subzero350 on Dec 4, 2014 15:14:47 GMT -5
The hunting sport is not devoid of bullies. On both the properties I hunt, neighbors mounted concerted efforts (not quite illegal) to bully us out. My dad (who owns one of these properties) almost succumbed to this pressure. I did not allow it to happen.
As a result of my persistence, the bullies have given up and some have even become friendly with us now.
It's just a game people play. And sometimes the only way you can win is not to play. We didn't fight fire with fire in these cases, we just ignored them and went right on hunting our properties as we would have anyway. I think as soon as they realized their actions weren't going to stop us from hunting, they quit wasting their own time trying to run us off.
That having been said, if someone decides to cross the legal line and interferes with your legal pursuit of game, get video evidence and call the DNR. They probably can't do much if they don't see it happen, but a video is worth a million words and can go a long way to bolstering your case. I've always got some kind of video recording device with me in the stand...
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 24, 2014 18:37:22 GMT -5
There probably will be a grand jury to decide if there was a case of police brutality. I doubt it, the officers will probably say it was "resisting arrest" which is why it was tased a 2nd time.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 24, 2014 15:08:36 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 19, 2014 17:39:23 GMT -5
My dad owns 5 acres in Steuben Co. and we have permission to hunt a 25 acre farm in Huntington Co.
The 25 acre farm has about 10 acres of tillable field (they usually plant beans or corn), about 3 acres of mowed ground where the house and out building are, and the rest is woods. In reality, we probably only hunt 10 acres of this property (sit on the edge of the woods and fields).
The 5 acre Steuben Co. property is about 1 acre of mowed ground and the rest is woods and swamp. It is basically a gateway property that sits between a larger part of the woods and swamp, and access to farmers fields and a pond. This property has not failed to produce at least one deer per year for us since we started hunting it about 10 years ago. It isn't big, but it produces because it is a great location right in the middle of a deer highway.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 15, 2014 0:46:14 GMT -5
I have a CVA Optima ML and absolutely love it. I love the fact that the finger removable breech plug allows me to drop the pre-formed powder pellets out of the gun so I don't have to shoot it just to unload it.
However, I've found that it only likes to shoot CVA brand Slick-Load bullets or Powerbelts. I've got some Hornady saboted bullets and it is like they are too big to even fit in the barrel (takes an extreme amount of pressure just to start them). So all I shoot out of this gun are the Powerbelts which are much easier to find than the Slick-Loads.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 14, 2014 1:15:13 GMT -5
BUSTED:
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 13, 2014 23:15:08 GMT -5
Yeah, why don't I believe that response? I still don't like having the wording repeal in the proposed rules. Why even have to have it in there if not selling the lifetime licenses is already a done deal?? Why have to add that now? I know they won't do it, but they could make it easier and just start selling the lifetime licenses again... (I would sure like to get one)
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 11, 2014 20:16:09 GMT -5
It's not a tumor! (or is it???)
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 9, 2014 17:23:56 GMT -5
And to think, I sometimes hunt just 15 minutes away from Kendallville... I live there hunt 6 mins always. Never see deer like this tho Agreed. Never seen a 28-pointer but I do see nice bucks and big herds (sometimes numbering 3 dozen or more) all the time up here around the lakes
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 9, 2014 17:19:14 GMT -5
Got a late start today. Not even in my stand 10 min and a 2-pointer walked by. Hear lots of noise in the woods next to the field I'm watching but can't see anything yet.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 7, 2014 22:57:31 GMT -5
And to think, I sometimes hunt just 15 minutes away from Kendallville...
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 7, 2014 14:30:02 GMT -5
Thanks everyone, I am hearing mixed suggestions and opinions all around, but what I do know now is I have a $150 limit to spend on my upgrades. Ultimately, I would like to get the rifled cantilever barrel with scope, but those run for $250. At that price I could buy a new 44 mag hand rifle or muzzleloader as mentioned before. I found a guy on Armslist with that barrel set up, minus the scope for $120, but he is being flaky every time I want to arrange a meet. The rifled choke and magnetic sights sounds like the cheapest route, but I don't want to just go with the cheapest option. I want something that is reasonably priced and will make for a great deer gun for years to come. Keep in mind if you buy a rifled barrel, it is going to require much more expensive ammo (saboted bullets). These typically run $10 or more for a box of 5. AND, different barrels only like to shoot specific shells accurately. The rifled barrel I put on my 870 only accurately shoots Remington Accutip Slugs and Federal Premium Saboted Slugs (both of which retail for over $14 for a box of 5). Everything else I tried (several different brands) peppered the paper at 50 yards with no consistency. But the Accutip and Federal slugs do provide small groups even out to 100 yards (maximum distance at the shooting range I go to). Rifled Slugs made for smoothbore shotguns are much cheaper, but they do offer less accuracy at longer distances (so keep that in mind). Federal sells a Truball Rifled Slug box of 5 for $5 or less, retail. Plus they usually offer rebates of up to $2 off per box right before hunting season. This year I was able to purchase these slugs in 20ga for $3.99 on sale at a local retailer, then submitted a rebate for $2 a box (max of $10 rebate per household). There are also rebates offered on the saboted shells. Again, you should probably evaluate what you are going to be doing with the gun. If all you are ever going to shoot out to are distances of 50 yards or less, then a smoothbore with rifled slugs will work fine for that. But if you want to be able to shoot further, then getting a rifled barrel would be the better choice.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 6, 2014 18:52:55 GMT -5
I should have worded that better. The shotgun has no mount for a scope, so getting a mount would be part of the investment. I also have a 12 gauge remington 870 magnum express with the threaded end for a choke. Can I shoot slugs with this if I put an improved choke on the end? I wanted to have a firearm to use for this season but all I have is my remington 870. Grandpa is letting me use his 16 gauge smooth bore that I asked for because I did not know about the improved choke on my 870. I recently purchased some rifled shotgun slugs for my wife's new 20ga (smoothbore) and on the package it said Improved Cylinder chokes are the best to use with rifled slugs. The manual that came with her new gun said NEVER fire the gun without a choke tube installed in the end of the barrel (for barrels that accept threaded choke tubes). There is a scope mount kit available for the 870 that installs over the receiver and gives you a weaver style rail so a scope (with rings) can be mounted to the receiver. This is how my dad has his scope mounted on his 20ga 870 and it is a tack driver at 50 yards. However, I noticed that while bore sighting with a laser stuck in the muzzle, if you applied lateral pressure on the foregrip (pump action grip) on this gun, you could force the barrel to move laterally from the scope's sight since the scope is mounted to the receiver and not the barrel itself. You couldn't move it a lot and it probably wouldn't affect short distance shots much, but I thought this was worth mentioning. For my 12ga 870, I bought a rifled barrel that has the cantilever scope mount attached directly to the barrel.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 6, 2014 18:34:03 GMT -5
I tried heating my blind with a buddy heater (propane catalytic) 2 years ago and it made me light headed and sick. I don't know if there was a problem with the heater but it was working (producing heat). Yes all the windows on my ground blind were open.
Since then, I've just dressed warmer and the blind keeps enough of the wind and elements off of me that I stay warm without the heater.
Concerning whether or not erecting a new blind will scare deer away, I guess that depends a lot on where you are putting it and how close you want the deer to get to it before you'll take a shot. I would say it isn't going to matter much where you erect the blind if you are going to be shooting deer before they come within 30 yards of it. I don't think they are going to stand 40 yards or more away from it, see it, and be scared that something just appeared in the woods. If anything, the new smell of the blind and/or the noise you would make putting it up would scare the deer more than the "appearance" of it alone. At least, this is what I would think.
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Post by subzero350 on Nov 6, 2014 18:25:26 GMT -5
I'm the opposite; as long as you eyes can use irons, I'd rather have them than a $50 scope. Nothing wrong with iron sights at all. They are very robust and will rarely fail you. Scopes can fog up or drift from zero, and the batteries can die in red dots. The more complicated the sighting device, the more than can go wrong. That having been said, the scope on my 12ga allowed me to perfectly place my shot last year and drop my 8-pointer where he stood.
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