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this isnt my buck but i have to share with everyone, this is my cousins buck, his first year hunting anything and we both got into bow shootin a lot at end of last year, i hunted last year but he didn't, so this is his first bow buck and first deer ever. this thing is an absolute monster, biggest deer we have seen by far around our area and even my brothers and cousins who have been hunting for 20 years have not seen one on the ground this big. 12pt 203lbs hanging, had to be near 240 or so dressed. he has only been out in the afternoons and this was his 4th time sitting for a couple of hours, said he slept for almost an hour n woke up 15 minutes prior to this guy being 20 yards from his stand. worst part about it is i now have pix of him on my trail cam that was about 100 yards away right near my stand 10 minutes before he sho him, i cant hunt afternoons durin the week cuz i have my kids as my fiance works late durin the week. im happy as heck for him to get this but wished it coulda been mine and woulda if i was sittin there.

Where i hunt, i cant see in the farmers daughters bedroom from the ground so i use my climber.

Thats a good way to get shot. I heard someone close to me shooting then saw a guy pointing a gun at me that is asking for it in my book. I thought when I was young I was taught to never point a gun in another persons direction????

I have a reputation I must maintain.

7J, First Ever Bow Kill, wife was late getting back to watch the kids so thought I was screwed, decided to go to a spot closer to home for the last hour of daylight. Was there about 10 mins when this doe started milling around, I waited about another 5 for her to present a broadside shot somewhere within 40yds. Arrow hit a twig on the way to her and she shrank down and back, so it took her in the throat instead of the heart, but result was the same. She expired within 50yards. First time using Easton Tracers, pretty sweet seeing that arrow pass through her.

Great Story Love that you had the guts to sick with your self imposed limit. Thats a true hunter. Now I dont have to see a story about him being at 38.26 yards, and that being well within my comfort level and I cant beleive i hit him to far back, or low, or high.

Elmo you have to use the Sawyers spray with Permethrin. Works awesome......spray down all your clothes and you will be tick free. I'm not sure if it will help you out at the gay bars though....lol!!!!

Isn't this a topic about grunting in a buck in early October & not about criticizing an individual for setting his own limitations?

I think its worth mentioning that I have acquintences/friends that always talk about how great hunting is. When I finally decided that I wanted to give it shot, I had very little actual help from all of those that encouraged me to try it, with a few exceptions. Frankly, I thought it was strange that those who talk so highly of the sport didn't seem excited to help out a new guy. Most seemed like I was invading their turf and were way too secretive (like they wanted all of the deer for themselves). I have a few other hobbies where if someone mentioned an interest to me, I would do whatever I could to encourage and guide them. A week ago, I did not know phade AT ALL. He responded to my post on this site seeking advice and was more than helpful than I really could ask of a stranger. He spent over 3 hours walking the property with me, teaching me signs to look for and where best to set up based on those signs and wind. He even helped me set up a blind and then left to help another hunter. I can't thank him enough. I learned more in my emails with him (and his are detailed) and that three hour walk, than all the numerous hours I spent researching. Then, I call him excited about my first shot on a deer and his response was "I'll be right there, sit tight and don't take another doe ... if a buck comes by and you want to, shoot him." He went way out of his way to help me track the deer. Phade is a huge credit to this sport and forum. He is selfless and walks the walk. People like him are what will cause this sport to grow. Don't want to sound like I am gushing over him, but he really went above and beyond. Thanks Phade. I hope I can return the numerous favors in some way. If you really want this sport to grow in numbers instead of declining, take a page from Phade's book. I am sure there are others on the forum like him, but phade's actions speak for themselves. I hope I mature in this sport to the point where I can do the same for some other novice hunters.

Youth season for deer today, but my son chose this instead

Well, it's not the way that I wanted to put my hands on some antlers...but, I found this big ole 8-pt. this afternoon. He scored 136" with a 11 1/8" G2 on the left antler and a 19" inside spread. I was on the way to my hunting ground and stopped to check out a spot on the neighboring farm to possibly set up a ground blind and there he was laying dead in the goldenrod 60 yds off of the road. I coudn't find any sort of visible bullet hole or wound other than a scabbed up 5" gash on his neck where another buck stuck a tine in him recently. He must have died overnight or early this morning. I know that he wasn't there yesterday morning as my youth hunter and I where set up in only 40 yds from where he layed. While it's certainly not the biggest rack that I've ever held onto...his dude had one of the largest, if not the largest body of any deer that I've ever seen locally and I've seen a lot 'em!!! I wish I know what killed him? Looks like the coyotes will be eating good for a while...

did in his email to his employees about the success of his business and how if Obama continues for the next four years as president, he will have to cut back and lay people off. It's pretty lengthy but worth the read: Subject: Message from David Siegel Date:Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:58:05 -0400 (EDT) From: [David Siegel] To: [All employees] To All My Valued Employees, As most of you know our company, Westgate Resorts, has continued to succeed in spite of a very dismal economy. There is no question that the economy has changed for the worse and we have not seen any improvement over the past four years. In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can't tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn't interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose. In fact, I encourage you to vote for whomever you think will serve your interests the best. However, let me share a few facts that might help you decide what is in your best interest.The current administration and members of the press have perpetuated an environment that casts employers against employees. They want you to believe that we live in a class system where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. They label us the "1%" and imply that we are somehow immune to the challenges that face our country. This could not be further from the truth. Sure, you may have heard about the big home that I'm building. I'm sure many people think that I live a privileged life. However, what you don't see or hear is the true story behind any success that I have achieved. I started this company over 42 years ago. At that time, I lived in a very modest home. I converted my garage into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you. We didn't eat in fancy restaurants or take expensive vacations because every dollar I made went back into this company. I drove an old used car, and often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business - hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. Meanwhile, many of my friends got regular jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a nice income, and they spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into this business --with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford to buy whatever I wanted. Even to this day, every dime I earn goes back into this company. Over the past four years I have had to stop building my dream house, cut back on all of my expenses, and take my kids out of private schools simply to keep this company strong and to keep you employed. Just think about this - most of you arrive at work in the morning and leave that afternoon and the rest of your time is yours to do as you please. But not me- there is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have that freedom. I eat, live, and breathe this company every minute of the day, every day of the week. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. I know many of you work hard and do a great job, but I'm the one who has to sign every check, pay every expense, and make sure that this company continues to succeed. Unfortunately, what most people see is the nice house and the lavish lifestyle. What the press certainly does not want you to see, is the true story of the hard work and sacrifices I've made. Now, the economy is falling apart and people like me who made all the right decisions and invested in themselves are being forced to bail out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed 42 years of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits, but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the costs of running a business have gotten out of control, and let me tell you why: We are being taxed to death and the government thinks we don't pay enough. We pay state taxes, federal taxes, property taxes, sales and use taxes, payroll taxes, workers compensation taxes and unemployment taxes. I even have to hire an entire department to manage all these taxes. The question I have is this: Who is really stimulating the economy? Is it the Government that wants to take money from those who have earned it and give it to those who have not, or is it people like me who built a company out of his garage and directly employs over 7000 people and hosts over 3 million people per year with a great vacation? Obviously, our present government believes that taking my money is the right economic stimulus for this country. The fact is, if I deducted 50 percent of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? Who wants to get rewarded only 50 percent of their hard work? Well, that's what happens to me. Here is what most people don't understand and the press and our Government has chosen to ignore - to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Instead of raising my taxes and depositing that money into the Washington black-hole, let me spend it on growing the company, hire more employees, and generate substantial economic growth. My employees will enjoy the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But that is not what our current Government wants you to believe. They want you to believe that it somehow makes sense to take more from those who create wealth and give it to those who do not, and somehow our economy will improve. They don't want you to know that the "1%", as they like to label us, pay more than 31% of all the taxes in this country. Thomas Jefferson, the author of our great Constitution, once said, "democracy" will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate business, not kill it. However, the power brokers in Washington believe redistributing wealth is the essential driver of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change they want. So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone. So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job. While the media wants to tell you to believe the "1 percenters" are bad, I'm telling you they are not. They create most of the jobs. If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the "1%"; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country. You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about. Signed, your boss, David Siegel

Hey guys, After seeing a post earlier i have to say this, I am an avid small game hunter, I currently dont have my archery tag as i couldnt get into a course this year(my fault i waited too long). But as i was raised and hunted with my father and grandfather growing up i was taught to respect any and all hunters in the woods. that means if im hunting small game in the early season and i see that there may be other hunters in the woods you pay even more attention and respect their hunting area, i personally have never walked up on another hunter in the woods and try to steer clear of them if i do happen to see them. but the woods are fair game for all of us and we should all be respectful of each individuals pursuit of their choice in game to take at any given time assuming it is in a legal manner. Now to what i read, you die hard archery guys that are complaining about the youth hunt and small game hunters ruining your day in the stand, wake up and remember it is those youths and small game guys and gals that help keep hunting a sport we can all enjoy. Now i also understand not all hunters have the same respect when they see blaze orange in a stand 100 yards away, i personally am not going to pull up to pick off a squirrel if i see an archer in stand. thats just not right, there is alot of game in season this time of year and we all need to be able to respect and enjoy the sport we have to spend so much money on to enjoy. sorry for going on and on but it pisses me off when i hear people talkin bad about the youth hunts and small game hunters "ruining" a day in the archery stand.

Looks like Paul Sr from Orange County Choppers

I'm gonna say the first shot entered in the middle hole....then the other two holes (top and bottom) were the entry and exit of the followup kill shot to make sure. I know I would put a bunch of arrows in that thing until I was sure it wasn't moving!!

I will not bowhunt in the rain. The risk of not recovering a deer in the rain from a bad shot is just not worth it ever. One can be as picky about shot placement and only take the perfect shot in the rain and you would be fooling yourself if you think your % rate of something going wrong with that shot isnt there. We all read story after story of people tracking deer on here for hours and hours with no recovery in good weather, now factor in no blood trail left after it as washed away. Seems quite silly to me. Not worth losing game over the desperation of I got to shoot one. Bowhunting is first on the seasons list, theres plenty of time left.

I swear some mornings I wake up with an oosik. Makes it really hard to pee.

Additionally, we export the majority of our domestic oil. Also, the folks doing the exporting are foreign companies, so we (American companies) don't even see that much of the profit. Drilling more here in the states will not help gas prices. It does make sense that drilling more here in the US would mean we have more petroleum products and hence lower prices, but sadly it's a lot more complicated than that. It comes down to the highest bidder, in most cases.

What I find hilarious is that much of Obamacare was modeled after the MA healthcare plan that was signed into law by Romney. And now Romney is badmouthing it and claiming that he will repeal Obamacare once he's in office? Yeah right!! Romney saying this alone shows what type of flip-flopping hypocrite he really is. I will guarantee anyone that if he is elected he will never even begin to repeal any of it. I can just hear him now. If elected he will be claiming that it was HE who was first in the nation to implement such a great plan! LOL He will then be claiming all the credit for coming up with the idea. LOL The guy is a real tool, I've got to say.

I think you may be misunderstanding. If you personally can't/won't shoot 50 yards, fine. If you think all bowhunters shouldn't, then, well, the fall from the high horse is going to hurt at some point. When the proper practice and situation dynamics allow for it, it is considerable. Is is common, especially here in NY? No, not at all, and I think everyone who supports a longer shot possibility in this thread has made that very clear. There are a TON of caveats with every single encounter. Nobody is saying to blanketly shoot 50+ yards without concern, and I think it is pretty clear the OP understands this. And, as far as the arrow hit, if you are seeing where the arrow hits on all of your deer...then you haven't killed many whitetails up close. I have seen far fewer arrows hit my deer at 5, 10, and 15 yards. Most times that arrow has gone through the deer before my form has let me even peek at it. It's actually more difficult to see the arrow impact at 10 yards than it is at 25.

they cant post, they all got shot.

Saturday I had a doe 2 fawns and spike all under 20 yrds with the spike coming as close as 10 yrds. They never new I was there till a gust of wind sent them scurrying the opposite direction.

that been around for several years...it is just a good safety reminder to check your arrows prior to shooting. With carbon they are either good or bad. They suggest as you remove arrows from 3D targets you inspect each arrow. Most times the damage is when you shoot arrow after arrow into a targets with several people shooting . When I practice at home I make sure I use several spot when under 25 yards, so I do not stack the arrow on top of each....

Geez Phade, Did you 2 guys have a candlelight, tenderloin dinner that night also..LOL Enough with the sappy love story..

Congrats irish on the 1st bow kill. Great job!

Dejavu'! That's the second time today I've run across this!

Cool! I love recovering my bullets when I can. I have a nice little collection. That was picture perfect expansion right there. Anybody that says a .243 isn't enough gun for deer should take note. That bullet traveled the entire length of that deer.

"... Not there is anything wrong with that ..." LOL

Kind of what I was thinking too! Thought the story might spark some interest and let people know that it might be a good idea to pull the grunt tubes out now.

Ran into one last season on the ground...he was running full out..from what I don't know..I always have bear spray with me. Spoke to an officer from the DEC and he told me that the are I was in (Sterling Forest ) is crawling with them. Said he's in Tuxedo park 3 nights a week pulling bears out of people's garbage cans.

Grow-damn autocorrect! I meant ticks. But I use to work with a lot of gays and gone to a few gay bars for happy hour as a result. None of them were name Rick. Unless they weren't honest with their real names. Hey, a free drink is a free drink. Don't judge. =P. =)

Beautiful buck man.....Great job!!!!

Doc: I also encourage you to visit the bowhunting harvest thread. I spent my own time, gas, and money helping another forum member who was willing to learn, in order to get his first deer. The first time I met the guy was at his property. We walked it, scouted it, and he gave me his thoughts and we made a plan together. First sit...dead deer and a great experience for everyone. Bowhunters are notorious for being greedy, private, and snobish. Keep perpetuating it by saying "i want my deer close and I have more respect for one who kills at 10 vs. 50." and I'll keep dispelling it by walking the walk and helping others.

First deer ever and thrilled it was taken with a bow. Here she is. Now I have to butcher her. Another first, but hopefully not the last. Phade, thanks a ton with all your help. For the other forum members, Phade was awesome. He helped walked the land with me Saturday and put my blind in a great spot. Got her 1 1/2 hours into my first sit there. Then I called him so excited that he came and helped track. Great guy and member.

IMO I didn't settle. I knew right where that buck was bedding, and I shot him within his first 50 steps from his bed - which I found in March when it was 20 degrees outside. I glassed him, got cam pics of him, knew when he was generally drinking water during the high times of summer, and knew where he was going as the season started to near. The stand was specifically set to shoot him there, as it was the only hangable tree and the only place where I could loop around him to keep my scent from hitting his bed and still shoot safely. I could have placed a stand closer to his entry to the woods, but it would have put me in a bad spot for thermals in the a.m. if I decided to try to beat him to his bed, and also due to the wind current and swirling I would have sent my stank right to him opening day. Knowing that this tree was my best option to encounter the buck before his patterns changed, I practiced this shot quite a bit from the exact same treestand model. I spent 3 full weekend days prepping the stand spot in June and early July, and I lost a few pints of blood fighting with multiflora - I cut a path back around the tree through 6ft tall briars to prevent me from beeing seen and killed the ground vegetation and placed stepping stones on the path so I could get in quietly. I bet I have 40-50 hours of scouting and prep into killing that buck, which took about 3-4 hours to do. I didn't settle, I bowhunted that buck, which is more than likely 4.5 or older, and I won by putting the arrow through both lungs. You say not to paint with a wide brush in many posts. I encourage you to do the same. While you were complaining that the early opener was a pain and that you had many other things to do, and that it was too hot, too much canopy in teh trees, etc., I was was studying my quarry, taking the proper steps to kills this buck, and practicing. Yet, I'm less of a bowhunter because I shot the buck at 55 vs. 15. I didn't just plop into a funnel during the first week of November and shoot a buck.

For me, the challenge of bowhunting is the fact that I have to get close. That's what I got into bowhunting for was to take on the challenge of a short-range weapon for hunting. Maybe I'm in the minority on that these days. But I think I'm much more impressed with a bowhunter that gets his deer at 10 or 15 yards than some guy who had to "settle" for a 50 yard shot.

And once again, I will drag out my old story about a work-aquaintance who could consistantly hold a coffee cup sized group on the archery range but had the most unbelievable record for wounded and lost deer. 5 different deer wounded and lost in one season. Why? .... because be was over-impressed with his target range success and tried to transfer all that over into hunting season. I don't know why people can't accept that a bow is a short-range weapon. Yes sometimes people get lucky and shoot a deer at some ridiculous distances. That does not mean that it was a smart shot regardless of your abilities at stationary targets in controlled archery range conditions. It just means that if you shoot enough arrows, sometimes you will get lucky.

Holy smokes, that's a big kitty, and that's exactly why you should always carry a piece with you, bow season or not...just saying...I'm not saying that I do....allegedly... :-)

I was "too drunk" to get married but I have to deal with it!!! LOL!

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You crazy old man! <grin> Here is a Garcia Vega wind detector in use. Field trial.............

As far as anti's using ultralights to harass people that about the dumbest thing I ever heard them doing. Harassing someone with a loaded gun yup "HERE"S YOUR SIGN"!!! LOL

There isnt even a base of small game hunters to mentor youth & novices anymore... It probably doesnt matter what game a novice is introduced to but viewing the following link it is hard to imagine how deer hunting would be as effective an introduction to these students.... Check it out: