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After a few trips around 3A in the Catskills and seeing nothing but does and spike bucks that were not legal to take, I admitted that hunting one of the scarcest regions for bucks as a beginner with no "Hunting" skill might not yield me anything. Luckily my cousins took me to some private property in 3M where my doe tags were yesterday. After fumbling my way up a tree with a climber stand (first time using one of those too) I sat for a few hours and froze. Felt like my toes were getting stabbed it was so cold for me. Just after 10am I texted my cousins and said I'm dying up here and not seeing anything moving they then decided to push the edge of the property. They texted back, be ready they are going to be coming. I stood up and rolled the hammer back on my Model 94, 30 30 from the early 1950's(lots of family history) and stood ready. A dozen does came barreling over the hillside. one stopped for a moment giving me the chance I needed. I let the boomstick roar and my aim was true.(thank you shooting every weekend for the past few years) the result? a textbook hit right through the lung and top of the heart. I was glad as a first timer I was able to give the deer a quick humane death. Today, my first time butchering. Considering that field dressing was easier then I thought, and didn't even phase me the butchering stage should be easy enough. I'm choosing to do the butchering myself for the taste, I've heard that having a place do it will leave the white/silvery covering on the meat and that makes it very gaming and not taste that great. The couple times I've had venison its been from hand butchered deer so thats what I'm going for. And also heres my winning picture! Next weekend however now that ill have meat in the freezer, I'm going back to 3A for my Catskill buck.

Went out this morning with intentions of trying to fill a signed over doe tag for the owners of one of my main hunting properties. I ended up taking this nice fat doe @ 215 yds with my T/C Icon .308, the 165 grain Nosler Ballistic-tip did a number on her!!! They were happy to have some venison to put in their freezer...

Went to a buddys place today and ended up whacking this big doe on the evening hunt. This is deer #4 for me this season, and the biggest of my does so far. Sorry for the bad cell phone pic.

11 pointer from opening day of gun season, 45 minutes into daylight. Shotgun season for us here in Genesee County. He was chasing a doe up the hill at 25 yards, good thing I had some good wind, he was right on her tail. Let's just say he dropped 25 yards away. Let me know what you guys think. We've been letting the bucks mature on our property and it has paid off. Shoot straight! Good luck everyone

New to forum here and I guess new again to hunting this year. I started hunting at 14 and hunted into my early 20's and for various reasons got away from it. More than 10 years later after bow season had already begun this year I decided to get back in the woods. I got my dusty bow case down from the rafters of my garage and opened it up to see what time had done to my old bow(1991 Bear Black Bear). Everything looked good and after taking it to the local bow shop and being told it was safe to shoot, he changed the draw length and ordered some new arrows. I found that I was still a pretty good shot with it and after a few days of practice I was ready to go. Some may be saying that is not enough practice but I have been shooting this bow since I was 12 (I'm 35 now) and it is quite familiar to me. I had a trail cam on my property for a few months and there were tons of deer around and some really nice bucks too. I saw deer almost every time I went out and have never enjoyed hunting this much before. It makes it real nice I can walk out the door and be in my stand in 15 minutes too without driving anywhere. I let several small bucks walk and unfortunatley now regret it and although I didnt get a deer with the bow I am really looking forward to next year. The last day of the early bow season was the most exciting hunting day I have ever had. I had 3 nice bucks come in close but just out of my comfortable bow range including the grandaddy 10 pointer. That really got the blood pumping! The next day was the gun opener and I decided to gun hunt too. I was really excited because all the deer from the previous day would have been in easy gun range. As soon as dawn broke it sounded like a war zone. Gunshots all around me and only saw 1 deer off in the distance since the season started. I also stopped getting any pics on my trail cam which stunk because I was getting sometimes 50 pics in a single night before gun season! On the up side I did see the grandaddy 10 the other day, he casually walked across my FRONT lawn in the middle of the day like he owned the joint. I think he was laughing at me. Needless to say I cant wait for the 2013 bow season to be here!

It's pretty well understood that environmental laws and regulations are put in place to protect the availability of the critters that we often complain about having such a heck of time getting. Imagine if there were no such laws. I think that would be a case where we would be rightfully complaining about not having any luck or even any animals to hunt. Even with occasional flaws, be grateful for the legal system that protects what we are trying to harvest.

It's fair chase, pay your money and take your chances. Frustrating at times but, I don't have a problem with the rules. Never skirted the rules and have passed on plenty of shots at does some years just waiting for a cleaner shot. Its not about the killing its all enjoying the experience. And I'm thankful in this country we are allowed to hunt.

That's where the term "still" hunting comes from folks ...

Went out to my stand this morning, hoping to see the big guy today but managed to get the momma of the button buck I shot on opening day... I have pictures of her with 2 button bucks, I shot 1 opening day and the other one was with her today. He didn't know what to do after I shot her. He just kinda stood there and walked in a circle 10 yards from my stand and after a few more minutes took off. I'll let him grow for a couple years... This makes 3 for me this year.

Dutchess County opening day, this Big 11 showed up with his girlfriend and I ruined his date, my first one on opening day :-)

This might be my next Tattoo

Heading to sunny California (or should I say rainy Cal.) Just got everything packed to fly out tomorrow to visit our son and his family. We are going meet our newest grandson and grandma is all excited. While she playing with the boys and visiting with the daughter inlaw, my son and I will be on the river fishing for ocean run steelhead.. He lives only one half mile from the American river and we get three to four hours every day to fish. When we are not on the American we make a few day trips to other rivers. God i love those ocean runs , they fight like no others. This will be my sixth trip out and I love it. It works great for everyone. Grandma gets to visit and see the grandsons and I get to do some great steelhead fishing. I talked to my son and he told me the steelhead are moving in. He was out yesterday morning and had five hookups and landed three in an hour of fishing. That's what I want to hear. Wish me luck. Good luck to all who are still deer hunting.

SAW THIS ON ANOTHER FORUM

Stick your ramrod down the barrel and mark it for empty. Load it with a round ball and mark it again. Load it with a conical and mark it again. You never want to double-load or guess whether its got a charge in it. I read the Fedela book too, great idea. To handle the caps get a capper, brass tool yoou load with caps.

Well I don't sell the hides....and I don't want a bunch of yotes and fox killing the animals I do hunt....plus mange in the fox population here is very bad... lastly yotes before the local dogs killed all my goats killed several kids off our place....That answer it for you?

Some of the most skilled hunters I know get together at the end of season and kill monster bucks off of drives. In order to be successful on a routine basis you need to have intimate knowledge of the woods and deer patterns. Just because its a drive it doesn't always mean it is a bunch of half ass hunters doing it. But I agree it seems some of the biggest deer are killed by accident on pushes.

Eighteen deer in the field last night, with just one 4 pointer. Most, young doe. Boy has he got his work cut out for him, LOL.

yes, you can.

Thanks, and traditionally I do have good luck late in the season. People give up too easy and say there are no deer in their woods. All I do is let the first week go by and watch everybody give up. There are a ton of deer in the area I hunt, but I constantly hear that if you don't get a buck on opening weekend, you have to get real lucky. The opening weekend and last weekend I saw hunters moving through the woods in my area, and heard a few shots. Yesterday, I saw no hunters, and my shot was the only one on my ridge. The does are still coming in, the fawns will come in, and hunters are staying home. Yesterday was perfect in my area. Cool, but not brutal, steady medium wind, and crunchy so you could hear the deer coming.

Congrats! And to do it with your family's 30-30 to boot! Very nice! Be sure to wear a safety harness while in that climber, or any stand for that matter!

When the ECO confronts you...blame it on your wife: "Honestly, officer, my wife was trying to guarantee a CLEAN KILL!"

who cares what NYB says or thinks! As someone else already said, NYB has driven wedges between all kinds of deer hunters in the state. I used to be an active member until I figured out what a bunch of elitist snobs run that organization. They alienated a lot of bowhunters right out of that organization. I can think of quite a few guys who dropped out because of their nutty stances. I have bowhunted for 26 years, I see no problem allowing crossbows in archery season. As I posted earlier before this thread was hijacked, I will be first in line to buy a crossbow. A long time ago a lot of guys said the same thing when compound bows came out.

The vast majority of tickets, traffic and parking are issued legitimately. Mistakes will be made. If you get stopped, don't be a cocky little D@#k, that will get you nowhere. If you are issued a ticket that you don't think you deserve then go to court. There is a good chance that the ticket will at least be reduced. All these people who are issued numerous tickets which are ALL BOGUS.........Seriously???? No one is buying that. Ball up boys.

well finally found him went 300 yards

With the lower poundage, I would stay away from mechanicals.. imo ..I know my arrow penetration is less now that I shoot Grim reapers and I shoot a fairly fast bow. Slick trick makes a very good broadhead ,They fly true, and are sharp and tough. If you had the budget I hear great things about Solids and German Kenetics extremely tough and sharp cut on contact heads .Pricey though. In the past I shot all my deer with muzzy ,not as glamorous but they always did the job. I just always hated to resight in my out of tune bow..lol

I am sure the 2 deer I saw this year with broken legs were not born that way either.As well as the all the the other grazed and wounded deer in the woods.Personally, I am not real keen on the head shot(prefer neck /more chance for hydraulic shock to work its magic).With that said, I would rather see a well placed shot in the head or neck by a well practiced shooter than all the wily nilly shooting done by a good % of the shooters at that "HUGE" kill zone. When I am talking oh head/neck shots I am thinking 100yds or less. 90% of mine were sub 50 yds

Wow what a nice morning. Snow on the ground. Quiet. Sent from my DROID RAZR

Cleaning isn't bad if you stand the gun in the corner, loosen the breach plug, squirt some FOAMING mz cleaner down the barrel and leave it sit for an hr so it soaks down the barrel and cleans the breach plug. From there it's pretty simple and takes no time. Just put a rag under the breach end or you'll stain your floor!

Every day, your office fights to ensure all New Yorkers are safe and secure in their communities

UH!!!!!! figures a guy promoting a corner cutter like this would be hunting with a crossbow.....

a little late on the reply but,,,, if those are the steps you are using be VERY carefull with them! I quit using the one piece steps about 10 years ago because they break. I had 1 break right where they ended the thread cutting on the shank, I figured it was just a bad piece of steel, well when I had another one break the same way and same spot I took them out and replaced them with the lag bolt styles. Luckily neither resulted in a fall. I have since switched over to climbing sticks, much safer, much more tree friendly ( and landowner friendly).

the lower jaw is broke cause its the only shot i had when it charged out from under a tree top while tracking!!

Man all this talk about the ladies laughing and disappointing output from your weapons sounds like an Enzyte commercial.....

Trying to judge a mount by a photo alone is difficult at best..you really have to look at it in person. Camera angles and flash settings can make a great mount look dopey sometimes. The ear position is ok. Alot of guys want thier ears in different poses, and whitetails can and do rotate thier ears independently. The eyes are rotated one rearward, one forward. This is correct for a deer looking toward the rear like the one pictured. Like I said, the photography is probably more "off" than the mount. I know that I sometimes take quick photos of mounts before customers pick them up, and they don't look as good as the mount on the wall sometimes to me..... Dave, your mount does not seem like a semi-sneak from your photo at all. I would classify that as an upright or semi-upright. A semi-sneak is like the mount you don't care for, head more even with the shoulder. General rule of thumb: Head above the shoulders...upright Head even with shoulders...semi-sneak Head below the shoulder...Full sneak Of course, with each new catalog, there are new positions, such as: semi-upright,flehmen, pedestal, wall pedestal, full sneak head up/down, 90% turn, offset shoulder, aggressive, hooking, and on and on.... Rich

Now hold on a minute, there is alot more work involved than "scraping" a hide, and beginning the mounting process. I commercially tan all capes before mounting. if your taxidermist is doing this as well, that will explain why it takes a while to get the mount back. Short cuts in taxidermy become evident after a while. If you are just salting/scraping a hide and putting it over a form, you will undoubtedly have an insect problem at some point. I would say that if you are having fun learning and doing your own, fine. But putting out a commercial mount that is properly tanned and mounted correctly is very time consuming, and far from "easy".

Anyone can mount a deer or any other animal for that matter, but there is a difference in professional work. Taxidermy done right is very tedious and time consuming, it takes me roughly 12 hrs hands on time per deer, for someone who doesnt do them that often double that, mayb even triple. I love doing taxidermy and am somewhat offended that you feel it ridiculous to pay someone for their time. I take alot of pride in my work and once overhead is payed taxidermists arent making a fortune. If you choose to do them yourself thats awesome but to come on here saying that it is ridiculous doesnt make sense. I spend countless unpaid hrs studying reference and practicing different techniques so that I can provide the customer with the most life like mount in my ability. Since you have done them I am curious to see what you think is a fair price.