New member from Central New York....really!

LanceR

Six Pointer
Contributor
Hello to All

My wife and I are approaching the time to sell our farm near Auburn in central New York and plan to relocate to North Carolina in retirement, most likely to the area near Elkin and Thurmond. I guess this is my third retirement as I'm a retired Army infantryman and retired from custom home building and finish carpentry a few years ago. Maybe this time I'll really mean it. I'm joining the forum to get a better idea of what's going on in NC.

I hunt a lot, fish some and trap a little bit and figure to continue that in NC. I recently got my license for tracking wounded big game with a leashed dog so I suspect I'll continue with that, too. Once I get me feet on the ground I hope to get back into teaching hunter education.

I thought the fish and wildlife laws in the People's Republic of New York were complicated but the county by county rules in NC will really take some getting used to.

We have a smokehouse and cure a lot of our own meats and make a lot of kinds of sausage so we're planning to continue that after the move. We are looking for a place with enough shop space (existing or building space) for my wood and metal working equipment and to continue in our hobby of collecting military vehicles. The ability to set up a range for pistol and rifle is a requirement.....

I'm primarily a deer, turkey and goose hunter and hope to continue them for a long while, especially deer hunting. I'm looking forward to learning from all of you. Thanks for having me.


Lance R.
 

crittergitter

Ten Pointer
Welcome to NC and welcome to the site. I hunt up near Elkin. There are some big deer up that way. Good luck with the move.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Welcome to the forum. I hunt below Elkin a ways, but get up to that area fairly regularly.
Good luck with the move and thank you for your service.
 

JoeR

Eight Pointer
I used to live in Elbridge for a few years, and then spent 20 years in Town of Mexico. Relocated to NC 4 years ago. I don't miss the snow or rusty cars. I do miss the constant sound of migrating geese while hunting in Central NC...but not enough to go back! If you like the hills of the Finger Lakes, look at the Western half of the State. Great hills in NC as you move away from the coast.

Joe
 

LanceR

Six Pointer
Contributor
I used to live in Elbridge for a few years, and then spent 20 years in Town of Mexico. Relocated to NC 4 years ago. I don't miss the snow or rusty cars. I do miss the constant sound of migrating geese while hunting in Central NC...but not enough to go back! If you like the hills of the Finger Lakes, look at the Western half of the State. Great hills in NC as you move away from the coast.

Joe

We're 5-6 miles from Elbridge. If you know where Elderberry Pond, the organic farm and restaurant is, we're the next farm to the west. We've planted no-till for 15 or more years. We're in corn this year so deer hunting here will be a challenge until it gets shelled in a month or so but we'll have great late season goose hunting, especially snow goose hunting.

If I may ask, why did you leave Elbridge where you'd get maybe 100 inches of snow in a bad year to move to Mexico where you might get 200 inches of snow? I still remember the winter about 10 years ago when the area around Redfield and the western Tug Hill got 12 feet in 10 days. We could see a solid wall of dark lake effect clouds across the northern sky all week and it never moved more than a few miles north to south the whole time. We were sunny the whole 10 days.


Lance
 

nchawkeye

Old Mossy Horns
Welcome to the site, some good people here...

That area up around Elkin is some pretty country, used to travel up there with I was with John Deere, had a dealer in Elkin and Mt Airy...

Have a great season!!!
 

Rescue44

Old Mossy Horns
We're 5-6 miles from Elbridge. If you know where Elderberry Pond, the organic farm and restaurant is, we're the next farm to the west. We've planted no-till for 15 or more years. We're in corn this year so deer hunting here will be a challenge until it gets shelled in a month or so but we'll have great late season goose hunting, especially snow goose hunting."

Another month before the corn is cut/shelled? Most if not all corn has been cut here for a month or more. Curious...is that normal? Or due to weather or equipment availability?
 
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LanceR

Six Pointer
Contributor
We're 5-6 miles from Elbridge. If you know where Elderberry Pond, the organic farm and restaurant is, we're the next farm to the west. We've planted no-till for 15 or more years. We're in corn this year so deer hunting here will be a challenge until it gets shelled in a month or so but we'll have great late season goose hunting, especially snow goose hunting."

Another month before the corn is cut/shelled? Most if not all corn has been cut here for a month or more. Curious...is that normal? Or due to weather or equipment availability?

Nope, its normal. Most of the corn being chopped for silage is cut but shelling corn won't start for a while yet. The dryer the corn is the less time it spends in the dryer and the lower the invested costs are. Unless someone is big enough to own a dryer and enough bulk storage to hold their grain and beans they sometimes have to wait to shell corn until the local mill has room to take it, too. We've had a few years when neighbors have left corn standing until late winter which made deer hunting pretty tough.

We had an extreme drought this year (rare here) and there's a lot of ankle to mid calf high soy still standing. It's the same kind of deal though. If its not at risk of getting wet repeatedly and risking mold it makes sense to leave it standing and drying.


Lance
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Welcome to the Forum! Interesting to see you have a blood tracking dog, what breed? Being from NY, have you had any direct experience with John Jeanneney and United Blood Trackers? He's from upstate NY, and is pretty much the "Godfather" of training dogs to track wounded deer. I met his wife when they were doing a seminar in NC a couple of years ago.
 

emurph114

Button Buck
I used to live in Elbridge for a few years, and then spent 20 years in Town of Mexico. Relocated to NC 4 years ago. I don't miss the snow or rusty cars. I do miss the constant sound of migrating geese while hunting in Central NC...but not enough to go back! If you like the hills of the Finger Lakes, look at the Western half of the State. Great hills in NC as you move away from the coast.

Joe
I used to live there too, nice little small town, not much has changed

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

JoeR

Eight Pointer
We're 5-6 miles from Elbridge. If you know where Elderberry Pond, the organic farm and restaurant is, we're the next farm to the west.
If I may ask, why did you leave Elbridge where you'd get maybe 100 inches of snow in a bad year to move to Mexico where you might get 200 inches of snow? I still remember the winter about 10 years ago when the area around Redfield and the western Tug Hill got 12 feet in 10 days. We could see a solid wall of dark lake effect clouds across the northern sky all week and it never moved more than a few miles north to south the whole time. We were sunny the whole 10 days.


Lance

Fair question! I moved around a bit for work. I had a sales territory and I moved from Elbridge to Watertown and then to Mexico. What's even sillier is that for 6 years I taught at SUNY Canton College while living in Mexico. 226 miles round trip through some of the worst snow in the Country and only ever missed one day of school. In fact, I was never even late getting there. I definitely miss teaching. I'll do it again when I retire probably.
If you travel down this way looking for a place, give me a call. You're welcome to come by, meet some neighbors, and I'll show you some great local barbecue....another good reason for moving to NC. :)

Joe
 

LanceR

Six Pointer
Contributor
Welcome to the Forum! Interesting to see you have a blood tracking dog, what breed? Being from NY, have you had any direct experience with John Jeanneney and United Blood Trackers? He's from upstate NY, and is pretty much the "Godfather" of training dogs to track wounded deer. I met his wife when they were doing a seminar in NC a couple of years ago.

No dog yet as I only took the test in April and I've so far been getting more practice tracking with some friends who have them. I've been fortunate to have very few critters go over a few hundred yards and have only had a handful of really tough tracks to run so any practice on a bloodline is good. I expect to get a Deutsch Drahthaar (AKA a German Wirehaired Pointer). A good friend is originally from northern Germany and works with the breed warden there to find good dogs. He can bring one back for me or, alternatively, I have an offer to visit with his family there to pick one up. I was stationed in West Berlin in the late 70s and 1980 and have always wanted to go back and see the changes after the wall came down so we may combine the two trips.

I've never met the Jeanneneys but a friend who has been tracking for over 20 years knows them well and some of the other local trackers do also. I had been looking into a bred tracking dachshund until the offer for help in getting a good drahthaar came along. I'd like to have a versatile hunting dog and the drahthaar will fit the bill very nicely. Another advantage of doing this is that every dog we bring over brings a fresh bloodline here.

It's interesting the number of former (reformed?) New Yorkers in NC. Maybe we'll have to get together after I get the smoker set up.

Another interesting thing is checking the locations of everybody's home as they reply. I can place only about 15-20% of the NC counties from memory and unless we've vacationed in or look at property in an area the vast majority of town locations are still unknown to me. I can foresee keeping my state map atlas handy for a long time.....


Lance



Sent from my tin can and string.
 

JoeR

Eight Pointer
I used to live there too, nice little small town, not much has changed

What a small world! My daughter lives in Knightdale.
I liked Elbridge. I lived across the road from the Big M. It was a great place to live. When I first moved there I worked as a mechanic at Sam Dell in Auburn. Lots of great hunting there too. I shot my biggest deer near there. 200+ lb 9 pointer. Worst venison I ever tasted. :)

On Edit: I was telling my wife about this thread, and she told me our former neighbors, Jeff and Julie also moved from Elbridge and currently live in Knightdale. Too funny.

Joe
 
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emurph114

Button Buck
I just started hunting last year...I lived about 5 mins or so from the Big M off of Kingston Rd

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
No dog yet as I only took the test in April and I've so far been getting more practice tracking with some friends who have them. I've been fortunate to have very few critters go over a few hundred yards and have only had a handful of really tough tracks to run so any practice on a bloodline is good. I expect to get a Deutsch Drahthaar (AKA a German Wirehaired Pointer). A good friend is originally from northern Germany and works with the breed warden there to find good dogs. He can bring one back for me or, alternatively, I have an offer to visit with his family there to pick one up. I was stationed in West Berlin in the late 70s and 1980 and have always wanted to go back and see the changes after the wall came down so we may combine the two trips.

I've never met the Jeanneneys but a friend who has been tracking for over 20 years knows them well and some of the other local trackers do also. I had been looking into a bred tracking dachshund until the offer for help in getting a good drahthaar came along. I'd like to have a versatile hunting dog and the drahthaar will fit the bill very nicely. Another advantage of doing this is that every dog we bring over brings a fresh bloodline here.

It's interesting the number of former (reformed?) New Yorkers in NC. Maybe we'll have to get together after I get the smoker set up.

Another interesting thing is checking the locations of everybody's home as they reply. I can place only about 15-20% of the NC counties from memory and unless we've vacationed in or look at property in an area the vast majority of town locations are still unknown to me. I can foresee keeping my state map atlas handy for a long time.....


Lance



Sent from my tin can and string.

I believe several people on this thread have Drahthaars, and I've heard lots of good things about them. My current tracking dog is a mixed-breed rescue hound, and when the time comes I'm thinking about getting a Barvarian Mountain Hound.

And yes, to the despair of many native Carolinians, there are a lot of Yankees moving in. I'm from Maine, stationed here in the military for 10 years in the 70s - 80s, and moved back to NC in 2004.
 

Eggman

Twelve Pointer
Welcome to the forum. I bet you know some of my neighbors. I live in Fl and 85 percent of the folks here are from NY!
 

LanceR

Six Pointer
Contributor
All, thanks for the kind words.

Joe, the Big M in Elbridge is now a Tops as Big M was supplied by P&C who went out of business several years ago, The Big M in Weedsport is now a Sure-Fine and the one in Skaneateles is also a Tops.


Lance
 

JoeR

Eight Pointer
And yes, to the despair of many native Carolinians, there are a lot of Yankees moving in. I'm from Maine, stationed here in the military for 10 years in the 70s - 80s, and moved back to NC in 2004.

I make sure to mention this when I'm making friends. In my opinion, if you move somewhere, it should be because you like the place, and not because you want to turn it into your old place. If you want to do that, you probably should have stayed there. I like NC for what it offers..not for what I think it should be.

Joe
 

JoeR

Eight Pointer
All, thanks for the kind words.

Joe, the Big M in Elbridge is now a Tops as Big M was supplied by P&C who went out of business several years ago, The Big M in Weedsport is now a Sure-Fine and the one in Skaneateles is also a Tops.


Lance

Cool. I should take a drive through there on my next trip to CNY. I moved from the Lower Hudson Valley to Elbridge when I was 25 or 26 years old. It was a nice place. We moved there on a blizzard year 91, 92 maybe? Lots of good snowmobiling.
Joe
 

LanceR

Six Pointer
Contributor
Cool. I should take a drive through there on my next trip to CNY. I moved from the Lower Hudson Valley to Elbridge when I was 25 or 26 years old. It was a nice place. We moved there on a blizzard year 91, 92 maybe? Lots of good snowmobiling.
Joe

Joe, if you come up shoot me a PM. We have a lot of empty bedrooms with the kids all gone now and maybe we can fit some fishing and hunting in. Fall turkey and bear and deer bow season opened yesterday here in the southern zone. Non-resident hunting is only $100 and gets you an antlered deer tag and a bear tag. There's no shortage of doe tags in CNY and the area around Ithaca is two antlerless deer/day with roughly 90 days of open hunting there. Depending on implement deer are open until 20 December but the Ithaca area has a special three week season in January.

Annual non-resident fishing was lowered to $50 annually, $28 for 7 days and $10 for one day. Salmon and steelhead are just starting to run and depending on what species and river or creek you are fishing some will be coming in all winter.


Lance
 
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