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Post by M4Madness on Dec 25, 2022 17:18:13 GMT -5
That has been a pretty interesting series to watch. I've probably watched 90% of his videos. He is either from an Ohio Amish community, or at least closely associated with them -- he speaks Pennsylvania Dutch at times in the videos. My thermal and nightvision is of the same optical quality as his, but mine is "handheld" (rifle and helmet mounted.) Sadly, the State won't let me assist in deer recoveries with them, and without a drone, I'd be limited anyway.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 25, 2022 15:12:50 GMT -5
Hope everyone is having a great Christmas! Christmas with my sisters isn't until Wednesday, and my wife doesn't have anything to do with her family. My wife and I have no children, so it was just us. We had rotisserie chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans for Christmas dinner today.
I did get a nice present last night on Christmas Eve a couple minutes before 8PM. I made contact on ham radio with a French gentleman in the sub-Antarctic Crozet Islands, which is the #3 rarest country in the world in amateur radio. It is 14566.7 miles between us on the "long path" around the globe.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 23, 2022 11:06:26 GMT -5
I've been watching a lot of deer recovery videos by this Ohio guy with his thermal-equipped drone: youtu.be/nIzXatqQlGYHe uses thermal imaging and nightvision to locate wounded/dead deer. As the owner of thermal and nightvision devices (sadly no drone), I can understand how beneficial this equipment can be. It is a shame that Indiana prohibits the use of thermal imaging in wounded/dead deer recoveries.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 23, 2022 10:59:57 GMT -5
I would like to see one of those maps that shows hunter density per county. Things could be adjusted with that. I would bet the higher the cover percentage the lower the hunter density. The lower cover percentage has through the roof hunter density.. Exactly my belief. As deer habitat shrinks, hunters get packed tighter together, just like fish in a drying up body of water.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 22, 2022 16:51:18 GMT -5
My personal opinion is that what is hurting Northern Indiana is lack of security cover. I seldom travel north of Indy, but when I do, I'm always shocked by the flat land and small woodlots. It's very hilly and forested in the southern half, and that's why my county (Lawrence) and the surrounding counties have good deer numbers. There are lots of places for deer to hide, and lots of places hunters aren't willing to venture. Just reading the story of how the Beck buck was taken makes me wonder how any deer reaches maturity in those flat woodlots.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 21, 2022 13:29:43 GMT -5
Your missing the point. I'm talking antlered season only. Not any doe patrol. All the doe patrol you can handle. 4 days would be fine if all I were after were anything with bone on its head. But, the chances of me killing a big buck in four days of hunting, while possible, probably isn't going to happen. A 4-day season is going to consist of four consecutive days most likely, and I've never taken off work to deer hunt. That leaves me two days. And when you hunt hundreds of acres, deer can be anywhere, so you may not see deer in the same location daily. Heaven forbid we had four days of hard rain and wind. You can't just say, "Well there's always next year", as that will lead to an overpopulation of antlered deer the following season. My personal opinion is that by reducing gun season days, you are forcing people to shoot any buck to fill their tag, which isn't conducive to growing large-antlered deer.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 21, 2022 11:52:18 GMT -5
I received pigeonflier 's posts as if they were in jest. At least I hope they were. I initially thought so as well. It's extremely difficult to detect sarcasm in written word, so if I'm in error, then I sincerely apologize.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 21, 2022 10:54:11 GMT -5
Was it on deer that literally walk five feet from porches and just trot off a few yards when humans get out of their cars and walk inside? I'm pleased to say that no leaf blowers were involved in my hunts. Lol! Hey, if he's happy hunting there, I'm happy for him. I wish him no ill.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 21, 2022 10:38:34 GMT -5
When your good your just good. I've been that way for years. What irked me is that you are insinuating that me (and others) aren't "good" hunters, yet I've killed as many deer with a bow in a single season as your season this year, and I did it in half the time. I used every tag that I legally could and was done before gun season even opened, and hunted numerous farms while doing so. I even managed to half-a$$ video half of those hunts.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 21, 2022 8:46:10 GMT -5
That's got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard someone say. DeRn city deer rock... and not a single one with a gun. Just fer giggles. This is the first year I was allowed in to put a dent in the city deer population. Just for more giggles I was not invited in because the deer were so easy to kill but rather cause its so easy for me to kill them,, sir... When your not good enough, your just not good enough. Don't take it as an insult. Just take it as some can and some can't. Not give me more time so I can... I'm biting my tongue here.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 21, 2022 6:08:16 GMT -5
If you can't get it done in 4 days time with any gun you wish then your not good enough. I'm hoping that this is sarcasm and not your real belief. It has nothing to do with anyone's prowess as a hunter. I'm a decent hunter with close to 100 deer under my belt, and it still took me three weeks of gun hunting this year to get a buck that met my minimums. Sometimes the deer cooperate, sometimes they don't. I don't know the specifics of where you hunt, but it appears that you've been jaded by easily-hunted city deer. 😀
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 20, 2022 22:27:34 GMT -5
I was really hoping to get out Friday as well but, not in those winds. Maybe Monday I can get out in the afternoon. Heck, if the snow's not too bad, I may be able to get out Saturday night. My wife and I are concerned about this incoming storm. They're calling for perhaps a half foot of snow, 50 MPH wind gusts, and a low of -1 Friday morning and a high of 4 degrees. Windchill will be -25. If the electricity should go out, we're in trouble, as our home is total electric. I'm seriously considering filling some gas cans tomorrow for our 7500-watt generator (which we've never used.)
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 20, 2022 19:35:05 GMT -5
Goodness M4, you got oxygen up in those things? LOL! It's been over 20 years since I hunted out of any of them. My wife's last year in hers was 2006. The property was heavily timbered in 2017 and sold the same year. I can see the property line from my bedroom window, so it's a sad situation. I do have a funny story about the 45-foot tall one, but first a little tidbit about it. It was situated at the head of a mostly-dry ravine. Right below the tree was a 15-foot rock ledge waterfall, so on that side of the stand, it was actually 60 feet high! Opening morning of the 1998 firearms season found snow on the ground and me situated in that high fork. Looking back now, I was STUPID, as I never used a harness for climbing to it or while in it. The steps were simply 2X4's with four nails holding each one on! I spied a lone doe walking a fencerow and my original plan was to use her for buck bait. Suddenly, I kept hearing this sick-sounding, squeaky grunt. It was drawing closer and closer, and I kept scanning behind me to locate the source. I finally found it -- a trespassing hunter who was walking and blowing into his grunt tube. Realizing that my hunt was essentially ruined, I decided it was now or never on the doe. I fired my Remington shotgun right as the guy was almost directly below me, and it scared the heck out of him and he made haste! LMAO!
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 20, 2022 18:12:13 GMT -5
Wow. That’s way up there for one of those type of stands. That was her first year of hunting, so I used my climber to keep an eye on her that season. She killed an 8-pointer from that stand on every firearms opener for the next three years, while I hunted another farm. Her last hunt from it resulted in a spine-shot buck that bawled before quickly dying, and she hasn't hunted since.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 20, 2022 18:05:54 GMT -5
The remnants of my 45-foot high (yes, 45) stand that I killed a doe out of on the firearms opener in 1998.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 20, 2022 17:59:38 GMT -5
My wife in hers years ago during a rainy day in the 2003 firearms season. The property has since sold, so no idea if it is still there or not.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 19, 2022 16:53:20 GMT -5
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 19, 2022 11:42:46 GMT -5
I had a little shoulder issue going on the last couple of years, but it has completely subsided on its own. I haven't hunted archery season the last five years, so I sold my bow to someone who really wanted it. Now that I'm getting excited about deer again, I have to decide what to replace my old bow with. If I go with another compound, I'll probably go with a 50-pounder. Heck, Ted Nugent has hunted with 48# as long as I can remember, and he's highly successful at harvesting game.
My biggest "problem" with getting a crossbow is the stigma associated with them. I only have one friend who hunts with one. Everyone else I know uses compounds. As soon as I mentioned that I might consider a crossbow, I started getting the "don't do it" friendly teasing.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 19, 2022 9:24:23 GMT -5
Well I finally figured out why I've been missing deer. Though I feel it reflects back on me as far as being a sportsman, but I'm honest about things so I'm going to share my experience in hopes that it's a simple reminder to add to your equipment checklist. Turns out that the every darn mounting screw on my scope had worked loose for 1 reason or another. The 2 nuts that attach my rings to the weaver mount were loose as well as the 8 that hold the scope to the rings. I don't plan on separating the optics from the M/L so I decided to use some blue lock tite on everything in hopes that simple mistake doesn't happen again. My scope base screws had loosened on one of my rifles this season, and luckily I felt the vibration as I was walking with it slung over my shoulder and was able to correct it before finding out the hard way that I had a problem.
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Post by M4Madness on Dec 18, 2022 16:48:07 GMT -5
I'll be 55 years old next month, and have been shooting a compound bow since I was 21 years old in 1989. I'm at a crossroads in my archery career and trying to decide what my next archery equipment purchase will be.
I got to wondering about peoples' equipment choices today since crossbows were legalized for everyone years ago. If you use more than one bow type, please choose the one that you hunt with the most.
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