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Love those that come here and talk the talk but dont walk. I know being busy too, but some people have a problem with eating tags. Gotta get my buck...gotta get my buck. And im all for those who want to shoot any deer. I just dont care for both sides of the mouth talking.

I ike the peacefulness of getting away for a while, and the challenge, memories, etc.

Oh yea well I am a meat hunter but will only shoot older doe's, does that make me a trophy meat hunter? Why did it become a bad thing to hunt for meat? No one said you have to be a meat hunter and live exclusivley off of one kind of meat either. And by the way I consider myself a hunter, no other descriptive words needed.

7pt i got friday evening in a snow squall. and hen the next morning 1st with bow for me.

lol? 30 yards, straight on? You could have at least pulled the arrow out before the picture.....

Bullseye!!!! I wasnt in the stand 1 minute tonight when i caught this little fella cruisin throigh the golden rod...gave him a couple squeaks and he came right in.... got to 37yrds and made me, but, to his demise he let me go full draw while he stared right at me. My arrow was dead on as he was barely quartering to me @ an almost straight on shot....look at the pics and you will be able to tell, RAGE in the cage left him with a "gaping wound channel" . Just about cut his leg off, tore apart his should and took a nice chunk of his heart. He went about 15feet doing the bulldozer...good way to start the night!

LMAO, thats exactly the way will happen. BTW, it was good to have a solid back and forth with someone that didnt get offended and start calling me names. Thats the kind of discussion I enjoy. Good stuff!

Its that time again! This is our third year for doing this thread and its always alot of fun! Post in this thread using your smart phone (or other device you can get to the internet with) from your stand or blind with your thoughts, current conditions, pictures, sightings, etc.

Well this mornings hunt will have to go down as "I should have stayed in bed". Started off with opening the dryer, and hunting cloths not dry. Guess someone forgot to turn on the dryer. Wasn't me!!!!! But of course I was blamed by the wife. So I took the blame, we grabed other cloths, and headed to the woods. Climbed into the stand, which is about 30ft in the air. Within 30 seconds of being in the stand, I drop my hat out of the stand., and of course that is not a scent attractant you want to use. So it was back down the tree to get it, and back up. After about a minute of being back in the stand, I start getting stuff out of my backpack. I pull out my camera arm for the tree, set it on the seat, turn to the left to screw in the attachment, and knock the arm off the seat. Of course, all the way to the ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not to mention that it hit the ladder steps 3 times on the way down. I'll tell you what metal to metal in the early a.m. makes a whole lotta freaken noise. Again down the tree, and back up. This time in the tree I get completely set!!!!!!!!! It gets to be about 15 minutes after light, so I reach for my grunt call, pull it out of my pack, and it decides to jump right out of my hand, hit the ladder once, and then fall all the way to the ground. At this point I was not going back down the tree again. So I decided to sit, and about 40 minutes later, I get an attack of "I have to go to the bathroom, and I have to go now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I figured that after alerting all the deer within 10 miles that I was hunting atleast twice, and about to make a mess of my self, that my morning hunt was over. Sometimes you have hunts that you will never forget, and you don't even see the first deer. LOL I will say that my wife, and father-in-law got a kick out of this when they just heard the story, hope everyone else enjoys it too. Now I'm going to go back to bed where I should have stayed LOL LOL LOL .

Congrats on the button ...good eats right there and always great to get that #1 done....

Congrats bkln on your first archery harvest you will never forget that one!

Congratz, bkln!

Congrats!

I think grow is reffering to the court case in said county that went in the way of the defendent who was accused of baiting. The court found the laws on baiting too vague and therfore unconstitutional somehow. Im not a lawyer and dont know how it was exactly put i dont have the material infront of me, but thats basically what i gathered from it. .... of course, peanut gallery, correct me if im wrong

Good luck, we may find you hanging on the meat pole! lol

Button....lol

White tail addict , you brought tears to my eyes. This thing called deer hunting has been with me from as long as I can remember. When my 3 brothers and I were young, my parents always took us camping and fishing every chance they could get. When we were 12, we got our first bb gun at 16 , we got our first shotgun. My father always took us small game hunting then when old enough , he took us to deer camp with all the other guys. They accepted us , we were the dogs , we helped move the deer . This is how we learned the way of the woods, how to read the terrain so as not to get lost. We all got compasses and we learned how to use them after we got turned around once or twice. I'm 54 now and only missed 1 opening day of gun season due to college but I did work the DEC check point on that day for course credit. All my 3 brothers have moved out of state for job reasons, but I'm still here. My wife and I bought 175 acres in the southern tier and are building our own handcrafted loghome. Hopefully in the future we all can get back together and hunt like early years on my turf. Dad turned 80 this year and is in great health , so we need to make this happen soon.

And no machines or run away pipe to knaw on your fingers.

i dont understand your point. if you're refering to the bb thread. a 1.5 year old 150lb. 5 point is not the same thing. if you want to talk about ethics i passed on the 9 point that came out 15 seconds later. had him at 6 yards broadside. Most hunters would have taken him too. I could easily have got a tag for him as well. Any archery kill is a good kill. Just leave the BBs alone is all I ask. the deer i shot the deer i passed on

Lets all be honest with ourselves for a minute. People might get on here and claim that they are "meat" hunters and others claim they are "trophy" hunters but we are all far from as noble as we claim to be. This is 2012 we don't hunt to sustain ourselves we do it for fun. By the time you pay for a license and equipment and time in the woods that deer meat becomes very expensive. Its true that you can't buy vension here but people give deer away like crazy. Go to any apple farm and the farmer will be happy to give a deer that the workers kill. Its like antler restirctions. I love them but its nothing to do with the health of the herd, I just want more big antlered deer. You have seen my posts on the harvest thread I shot two older does but it required time and a few passed shots. I've passed on some small bucks too but if I happen to shoot one its just because I'm tired of hunting. I'm humble enough to admit the truth why don't the rest of you do the same and these arguments might not be so heated. If you shot a young deer be honest and say I got excited to see something so I shot it or say I wasn't seeing anything else I figured its better than nothing. Don't lie and say I'm a "meat" hunter just like I wont sit here and claim that I only shoot old deer because I care about genetics etc.... We all have our reasons to do what we do and no one is wrong as they are being legal and ethical its just a matter of how passionate you are. Not everyone thinks hunting as anything more than a couple of cold days a year were as others live and breathe it year round. Both are fine I could go forever and tell you my whole hunting history if you wanted but I got to drop my son off and get some small game in before I'm a tree tonight. To all you "meat" and "trophy" hunters good luck, safe hunting, and god bless!!!

Deer hunted Saturday and saw nothing. BUT....i did grunt and doe bleat in TWO hunters. Welcome to hunting State land..LOL For those of you who are blessed with your own property....Count your Blessing!!! It definately adds another challenge to hunting.

I dont care what he shoots as lone as hes not some tree hugger on here trying to stir things up cull buck or not shoot what you want share the pics and the hunt and have fun and good luck

I think I would not be driving so far into the woods. I tis all about dedication. Eventually it pays off.

Wish I could, stay at home dad has to stay at home until making money mommy gives me a few morning or evening hours to go. Will be doing all day at my poconos cabin Saturday.

After scouting all of September and October, and finding no sign, we've finally got scratching going on! I was very excited to locate and bust a flock of 12+ birds this morning with my husband, to try and get him on his first bird. Unfortunately, the area we broke them in was very thick with no chance to pick a bird out, so we scattered them as best we could. Got one bird to come back in to us, and due to my own fault with mis-communicating, my husband took his shot too soon while the bird was out of his range (16 ga.). I told him to take his time, wait for a good shot, take it when he was ready, which he misunderstood. To be fair, the only other time we got into birds was a jump shot where I shot a flushing bird, so he was eager to get a shot off. We moved a short ways and set up to work other birds in as they started kee-keeing all around, and one flew in to us and was working in at about 70 yards, but the owners of the neighboring property started running utvs around and had some kids and dogs running around too, then started the chainsaws and target shooting up and down the roads. The property I hunt is sort of an island within their property so they were all around us. Not at all angry with them-- they probably had no idea we were there... just unfortunate timing! The birds shut right up and wouldn't peep the rest of the day. I'd love to go back in and try to group them off the roost but work calls.. alas! It was a lot of fun, and a learning experience for us both. I'm learning how to mentor and he's learning how tricky turkeys can be! Feeling very fortunate to have had fun with those birds today, even if it was short lived.

Quartering to you? Id take that one as a lesson if I were you. Congrats on putting it down!

see I like big deer too, but what they have on their heads means nothing to me. What they have on their haunches and ribs means much more. I would pass on a 160 pound 10 for a 180 pound 6 point anytime. That is because I do like the meat and the bone on their head is secondary to me.

Congrats...dead is dead ...nice buck

Nope, I shoot the 125 grain, which are the same cut as the 100s, and I had a great blood trail with my doe. Only went 60 yards, and didnt need to follow the trail, but there was a good one there. IMO, unless you videoed the shots, if you didnt find the deer, you dont really know where you really hit it, so commenting on shot placement of an unrecovered deer usually isnt very accurate info.

Seems a bit hostile of a response nyantler. Coonhunter is just looking for a discussion on the subject, and that is what many of the replies have offered. Though opposing views could be shared in a less derogatory manner. If you read his post you would see some of the bucks they culled weighed 190 dressed. That is not a young buck, but then again I am not a biologist. Coonhunter, sounds like you have a nice area to hunt in. That swamp sounds golden for helping protect the more intelligent mature deer. As for culling bucks, I would have to agree with most the guys here. A wild herd has too much gene flow to effectively control what genetics get passed. I could see how killing a buck with a rare trait could help prevent that trait from being passed, but large bucks with few points are common and will continue passing their genes. I would say that your groups desire to cull has led to better hunting practices. Passing on younger bucks means a longer season trying to wait out for the big guy, the more time in stand the more bucks you will see. Also, experience should have improved you as hunters over the years. My guess is you have all become more experienced outdoorsman and that is why you are seeing more desirable deer. My advice, take the mature bucks regardless of the number of points. Frankly, I feel most achieved over the age of my deer and the way it is taken. I won't take a 1.5 year with a gun, but took one with the bow this year. Felt fantastic to harvest a deer with my bow and I couldn't have been happier. Each hunter has their own goals, and as long as one gets the thrill or puts meat on the table who cares how big the deer was. You brought up a good topic, thanks for the thread. Don't let a couple of harsh responses get to you, that is unfortunately how most hunting forums end up.

Thats quite a rack your wifes got..... Sorry , couldn't resist. Congrats to her. Super deer.

Are you cleaning that deer or getting ready to do artificial insemination? Just kidding Congrats. P.S. Those gloves just brought back some memories i thought i was rid of.

Experienced hunters know that.

I've had mature bucks charge my stand after using the big can. Think they are like rattling, works sometimes in certain locations for some bucks at specific times.

1) i am not saying people are less of a hunter for any reason 2) i would rather hunters killed mature deer than bb's 3) i would hope at some point in our hunting career that all of us try to learn something to better us as hunter Can u really tell me u disagree with this? Or..... Lets agree to disagree.

Treeguy, thats just not realistic. Saying that if someone cant see the diff between a BB and a doe, they arent a hunter is just as bad as the elitist attitude that minority groups like NYB exude. All hunters cant be as perfect as some.

I have shot a button buck years ago thinking I was filling a Doe tag and didnt know it was a buck till I went to field dress it !

I agree with you but I could see mistakes being made with no ill intent as far a distiniguishing a btn buck from a doe especially from a distance

I believe the reason you are allowed is it is difficult to distinguish between does and button bucks. Three inches is just a point at which they feel you no longer have an excuse for misidentifying a buck as a doe.

There is a ton of bait already in the woods. I hunt over and under bait all the time. I got ridge tops chuck full of acorns, flats loaded with beach nut old farm lands invaded by crab apples. The best part is mother nature puts it out there for me and it dont cost me a dime.