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I know he's not too big, but it's my first deer with a bow. Taken in 7s 10/1/13 at 0725 am.

this is going to take longer to type than the actual hunt lasted. hunted the first day morning and evening with plenty of sightings but none of the decent bucks showed up. second day I skipped the morning hunt because of bad winds for all my morning stands and having some work i needed to get done. the evening hunt I had 2 of the decent bucks at 20 yards all out battling for 15 minutes and no shot at either of them. last thursday am i went in to move that particular stand up another 10 feet, it was at 20 feet and just seemed to be too low for my liking. seeing as we were leaving for pa that afternoon I figured get in move the stand up, spray it all down and get out of there and be gone for a few days. wanted to hunt last evening but we didn't get back in time. this morning with the impending rains I didn't dare hunt and the wind again was iffy for my morning spots. as the day wore on and the rains moved out and the temps dropped to 50 and the winds picked up from the west south west it was game on.... but there seemed to be a persistant little disturbance to the west and I was watching it on the radar and finally I decided that it was going to move out over the lake and be good to go with no rain. My concern over the rain made me later than I wanted to be to get to the stand I moved but I figured if I hustled I would be ok. I have been watching this buck for 3 months from long range almost on a daily basis in the evenings and any mornings I didn't have to work. i parked the truck at 4:45 changed clothes and sprayed down with scent shield. I litterally jogged the 300 yards to my stand. hooked up the harness and bow and up the tree. I pulled the bow up knocked an arrow and hung the bow on the hanger and then hung my fanny pack on the tree. I turn around and start to zip my jacket when I look up and see him coming towards me! I pik up the bow and he is now just about under me and he walks behind me as I ease to full draw he stops at 7 yards broadside he raises his head and tests the wind. It was too late the green pin was burning a hole through the top of his right shoulder, almost like a laser guide for the wasp tipped xx78. at the shot he lunged forward and sprinted 35 yards before I heard him crash... I was in disbelief on what had just transpired, I was not in the stand 3 minutes before I shot him... I knew it wsa going to be close on time but I didn't realise it was going to be that close. im done till I head back to pa to hunt there.

First one of the season for me! Had 6 or 7 come out just before sunset, and this one gave me the best shot. 30 yards, double lung, right through the pump station!

this is going to take longer to type than the actual hunt lasted. hunted the first day morning and evening with plenty of sightings but none of the decent bucks showed up. second day I skipped the morning hunt because of bad winds for all my morning stands and having some work i needed to get done. the evening hunt I had 2 of the decent bucks at 20 yards all out battling for 15 minutes and no shot at either of them. last thursday am i went in to move that particular stand up another 10 feet, it was at 20 feet and just seemed to be too low for my liking. seeing as we were leaving for pa that afternoon I figured get in move the stand up, spray it all down and get out of there and be gone for a few days. wanted to hunt last evening but we didn't get back in time. this morning with the impending rains I didn't dare hunt and the wind again was iffy for my morning spots. as the day wore on and the rains moved out and the temps dropped to 50 and the winds picked up from the west south west it was game on.... but there seemed to be a persistant little disturbance to the west and I was watching it on the radar and finally I decided that it was going to move out over the lake and be good to go with no rain. My concern over the rain made me later than I wanted to be to get to the stand I moved but I figured if I hustled I would be ok. I have been watching this buck for 3 months from long range almost on a daily basis in the evenings and any mornings I didn't have to work. i parked the truck at 4:45 changed clothes and sprayed down with scent shield. I litterally jogged the 300 yards to my stand. hooked up the harness and bow and up the tree. I pulled the bow up knocked an arrow and hung the bow on the hanger and then hung my fanny pack on the tree. I turn around and start to zip my jacket when I look up and see him coming towards me! I pik up the bow and he is now just about under me and he walks behind me as I ease to full draw he stops at 7 yards broadside he raises his head and tests the wind. It was too late the green pin was burning a hole through the top of his right shoulder, almost like a laser guide for the wasp tipped xx78. at the shot he lunged forward and sprinted 35 yards before I heard him crash... I was in disbelief on what had just transpired, I was not in the stand 3 minutes before I shot him... I knew it wsa going to be close on time but I didn't realise it was going to be that close. im done till I head back to pa to hunt there.

October 2nd....

I stuck this 8pt last night at 5:45 pm. All night long there was a light misting rain and it had the deer moving! I had a doe and fawn came in really early. It was the smallest fawn that I have ever seen this time of the year. Covered in spots and couldn't have weighed more than 40lbs. Shortly after I had a total of 6 does work their way in. They all made it within 20yds but I had no intentions of taking a doe yet so I let them all walk. The rain stopped, the sun went down and here he comes!! A nice 8pt worked his way down the lane a presented a 10yd broadside shot to me! Yeah I love it when a plan comes togther!

I thought for sure Early had found his true love when I read the title.

coyote followed a fawn past me.....not anymore Sent from my MB886 using Forum Fiend v1.0.1.

Got a nice buck on Sunday Oct 6. The fun part about this buck was that i saw him my first morning out on Friday Oct 4th. He gave me a perfect broadside shot at 25 yds and I guess I just didn't settle my pin like i should have and i shot under him and sheered off a few of his chest hairs. I was a little disappointed but I had already taken a doe that morning and i had 3 months to find him again. On Sunday morning I sat up in the same tree and though I saw many does, he never came out. as I walked out of the woods that morning I came across ground zero. A small area with 2 or 3 active scrapes and every sapling rubbed free of bark. I knew this is where he was coming out from bedding all day. Lucky for me there was a big black pine with good vantage points right along the trail. I unpacked the climber, got out the saw and trimmed it for a 20' high sit. I was back in the stand at about 3pm that afternoon and almost immediately the does started coming out. I counted 9 in total and it didn't take long for me to get skylined. I was frozen in an uncomfortable position for over an hour before those pissed off does left the area. About 5:30pm I hear a crack behind me, looked down and there he was. I had to spin an lift the bow up over the side bar of my stand and i did this with great care making sure I didn't catch any of the bark on the black pine. He took a few steps as I drew back, gave me a quartering away shot a little better than straight down and I let fly. The arrow made a loud, deep thud as it sunk in high on his rib cage and lodged in his shoulder on the opposite side. I knew the arrow didn't pass thru and he turned and crashed in thru some of the thickest most dense tangle of brush, stickers and vines you can imagine. It sounded like Buick as he blasted 60 or so yards through the brush ending with a solid loud CRASH. I knew he was down. I got out of the stand immediately to begin finding him and I made note of the direction of where he crashed. This brush is so thick you might have to go 20' sideways just to get back on trail and go 2' forward. I found a few drops of blood that had splashed out of his back and moved forward. It didn't take long for me to lose the trail on the wet leaves and it seems several other deer spooked with him so following the running tracks wasn't working. I finally gave up and thought I would bring my beagle back to help me find him. I had gotten so turned around in there (it's really like one of those mouse mazes) that I just looked up over the trees and headed for daylight. And to my amazement, there he was. And as luck would have it, he died only 40' from a field. It still took me a good 10 minutes of maneuvering and a few cuts to get him out of there but I made it. he's not the biggest deer but It was a very fulfilling hunt and my strategy change paid off.

Something that will help you in future season , is when you take a deer when there is snow. After finding your deer, follow its tracks backward starting from where u shot it. Learn where it came from what it was doing, did you find its bed? Do this to every deer you can and you will unravel feeding patterns/bedding areas/natural movement and forced movement patterns. All of which will put you ahead of the game for following seasons, allowing for less intrusive scouting.although the deer you track is dead others will do the same year after year.

Just got off the phone with Bear Kelly from Summit. I sent him some pictures and discussed the situation with him on the phone. Even admitted that it was likely my fault the stand broke. He agreed, and said they would be sending me a brand new Titan in the mail at no cost to me. Not just the broken bottom, but an entire new stand. That is OUTSTANDING customer service in my book. I was expecting to have to argue to get a warranty, but he said no, new stand no cost, and then spent 10 minutes discussing some things i can do to make sure this doesnt happen again. Summit has a customer for life

numba 2... not the biggest girl in the world, but she came in hobblin real bad, had a broken front leg... decision wasn't hard... felt bad for her...

deerpassion is close to you. Everyone scouts and looks for different signs and/or reads those signs different. Just because you might not have filled your tags does not mean you are doing anything wrong or scouting wrong. I will come and squirrel hunt with you in the spring, if no one else is available.

I dont wait all year for deer season to sit my ass on the couch thinking about it some more while its open. Im gonna be hunting SOMEWHERE every single chance I get for the entire season. I already have 1 in the freezer and will put money down that there are more to follow this year. I agree that you dont want to burn yourself out with all day sits right now (IMO not effective or worth it yet), but come on guys, the excuses for not being out there this year are really making me laugh at this point. "Its too hot", "Ill burn myself out", "Its not good hunting yet" lol sheesh. Hunt smart, play the wind and choose the right stands, youll see deer.

Shawnu,Are you a smartass?Look up the regulations.He was perfectly legal.Guys like you piss me off!

I make sure I have my "4-wheeler" tuned up before the hunting season and then test it out

Early goes trolling once again, and once again he's not disappointed, as many of us rise to the bait.... He's not REALLY a self important elitist d---head...He's a Psych major and he just gets off getting REACTIONS out of people..

Had 11 deer come out in my new plot this morning. 4 does, 4 button bucks, 3 fawn does. Shot the biggest doe at 20 yards quartering to me. Rage took out lung and heart. She ran ~80 yards and piled up. 130 lbs hanging. Didn't have my camera arm but got video of her before I shot her.

Now if the same guys that estimated a deer track at 6" were the ones that estimated the weights of the deer, I think we have the problem solved.

Figured it out. Helps when i use my brain:rolleyes:

they said close to 300lbs... that could fall short of 300lbs by 30lbs or so, that could be close in their eyes. 250# deer are NOT rare out here on the island, especially weeks before the rut kicks off and they start to drop weight, i dont see it being a long shot.. JMO im not saying this deer is 300lbs, way to hard to judge by this pic anyway but big body deer exist and you dont have to go to canada or mid west to shoot one...

Can you burn yourself out on something you truly love to do and have such a passion for? Tha is only here for a few months out of the year ? That you wait for all year long? I'd spend every second of everyday on stand of it were possible ! Not toention the fact that with the season beginning on the first of the month now , the first week is your best shot at catching one of those bucks on the feeding pattern you've figured out "weather permitting Ofcourse" after that week patterns change and it will be hard to spot one of those bucks again until the rut begins .and everyone knows that they can be chasing a doe 5 miles from your stand at that time ! Good luck everyone! Shoot straight and be safe !

Time put in and the number of deer where you hunt are 2 of the biggest factor IMHO. In your first 3 years you killed 2 and one with a bow! That's pretty darn good. Most of what I learned came from time spent in the field. Deer movement during deer season is key to where my stands go.

Oh Im not arguing with ya, just discussing it. Like I said, the most important part is you werent hurt.

Trying to get more info. They said it was very close to 300lbs. People don't be so negative, there are some very big deer on Long Island.

One of my cousins snapped this grainy shot last week...

Well I ended up having 6 or 7 does and a few fawns come running out 30 yards to my left just before sunset, and one of the does gave me a nice, ever so slight quartering to shot. I rewarded her with a 125 grain tipped carbon injection right through both lungs and the center of her heart. She took off and i heard her crash 30 yards away in the thick stuff off to the left in the pic i posted earlier. It was a good night! Pics in the success thread...

So here it is: My brother in law who has never bow hunted a day in his life is going with me for his first time. To his credit he has put time in shooting his bow a lot since he bought it a couple months ago. He has been shooting my deer target in my cellar and has gotten proficient. We are hunting my land yesterday afternoon and had not hunted in the morning. I was going to sit in the same spot I do every season even though with it being early in the season with no rutting yet I pretty much figure ill see nothing. He on the other hand wanted to go sit on the side of a hill where he likes to sit in gun season. Instead, I tell him to go sit in my little apple orchard because I figure the deer would be in there munching apples. About 5:30 he texts me he sees a doe, then a fawn, then the doe is 35 yards away chewing apples. I text back don't take any "iffy shots". Then he texts me "there's a big buck coming and I can't count his points he's about a hundred yards away". I text back to just stay still. Keep in mind he has never scouted, is standing on the ground next to a tree where I told him to go, has no clue really what is going on. Lol I text back after a few minutes, "is he still there"? Lol He looks around the tree and days back "yes and coming closer". I text back, "stay real still". More minutes pass and guess what? He texts me "I shot a buck now what do I do?" Again, I text back to just stay still. This time I leave my stand and walk all the way across my property to him and when I get there he tells me the details. He points to where the deer ran after the shot and said he heard "a big crash". I know just where the buck was heading so I tell him to stay where he was when he shot and I slowly poked through the tangled mess into a small creek bottom. There was his buck.....and holy what a brute. This slammer hung around for better than a half hour and then walks 15 yards and quarters away from this first time hunter, standing next to a tree, who the delivers a beautiful shot straight into the deers heart. Moving it was a nightmare because of the weight. After dragging it by hand back into the orchard we were able to get it onto the four wheeler. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow to share. I watched this buck when I was brush hogging during the summer. He was a 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 year old buck. After living that long he gets taken by one lucky brother in law. Lol!!

I'm trying one more for those like me who like to keep it natural. I had him pose with his buck right where I found it laying in the tangled up little creek bottom. My favorite picture from the hunt.

Get a load of the ripples in the neck and size of the body. And I'm talking about the deer. Lol! Pics compliments of my tech savy wife. Thanks to her!

Sweet Jesus, Doe...!! You made me squirt beer out my NOSE !!

So regardless of the BS...that is a great thing and congrats to the hunters...sponsors...any helpers and the ppl that own the land...KUDOS to you ALL

Here is my season prep.. 1.... Put new batteries in hearing aid. 2... Put camo tape on walker... 3....Make sure there is ample toilet paper in my pocket. 4....Look for license and tags that I put somewhere where I would surely remember it. 5....Go to town clerks and pay $15 for replacement license and tags. 6....Go into closet to get my rifle. 7... Having forgotten why I went into closet, go to fridge for a beer. 8... Take nap. Next day...repeat..

The irony displayed in this thread is mind-boggling. You do realize you are on an internet forum dedicated to hunting? Hunting the old way is the only way, yet you are participating on a hunting forum online? And, you have nearly 1,000 posts on your account. Mind-boggling.

I am confused too.. Early...I'm supprised you have boken down and used this new fangled girly equipment we are using to gossip and chat like little girls on the internet .lol

I was hoping to see some of the college girls when I saw your title. No, wait, never mind........ Awesome pics Eddie. That is one tall racked buck you have there!

Couple more pictures of him,

Proud Daughter sitting with Dad for the first time. Looks like we have a future hunter on our hands.

8pt I killed in Saratoga County on Sat (9/28/2013), second day of early bow in the NZ

I need your help to spread the word about our $1,000 scholarship to a High School Senior Graduating in 2014 from one of the following counties: Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Wayne or Wyoming. The application can be printed here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w8ucfru0zjbj3w9/4W9hOlalT0/GRST%202014%20Scholarship%20Application.pdf It can be viewed here: maybe of poor quality going from word to jpg. Thanks, Questions... PM or email me at GRSTQDMA@GMAIL.COM

I am a brand new hunter, just got my license and have been studying and reading up on the sport for a few months. I see a benefit with trail cameras because I do not live close enough to the areas I hope to hunt in order to scout them as much as I would like to. You make it seem like trail cameras are cheating somehow, but in order to effectively use trail cams you need to find .... the trails. Isn't that half the work? Yes they give you a great advantage in figuring out deer patterns and what time would be best but you still need to find the deer sign and trails in order to make use of them. If you have the time to spend all day in the field then yes you will see more and know a lot more about deer movement and good places to setup than a guy like me who only has SOME weekends free to hunt and scout. In order for me to have a real shot of bagging anything I am seriously considering a trail cam to get a better idea of deer movement so I can maximize my hunt. Right now I am trying to learn as much as possible so I can hopefully bag something this year, and trail cams will help. Doesn't make me any less of a hunter than you, just significantly less experienced which I am all too aware of.

The viper is rated at 300 pounds.I usually climb with my harness attached because friends have had the stand slip on them before.Climbers are not just for small people either.When I was heavier I went out and bought the Titan so I was in the weight limits if the stand.Get out there and hunt and be same with a safety harness.The OP had a bad time,wasn't ridiculing Summit for shoddy work,I feel the only thing that could have helped the OP was attaching the top and bottom together.Then again I wasnt there and can only guess what happened.Glad your safe and keep us updated as to what summit helps you with.They are the only stand I will buy because they stood behind their product when I had a small problem and they are like having your favorite recliner in the tree!!

My anti-hunting buddies with their profanity and such screwed with my video on Youtube (got their sorry a_ _es blocked)... got the "stick it up your arse" note up front for them so they can't say... we just stumbled upon it and OMG...

So the flip side of that coin could be... doesn't not taking advantage of the technology available, and simply deciding that technology is bad, make him an unethical hunter? After all, why would you only use a smooth bore shotgun, when a rifled barrel and a scope, properly tuned and matched with a well designed slug will greatly enhance your accuracy and make it much less likely that you would wound an animal. And aren't recurve bows are much harder to hold on target (60 lb at draw vs 12 lb, for example) greatly increasing your chance of a poor hit? The answer, of course, is that there isn't one. Which ever way we choose to pursue the most exciting big game animal in our state (IMP) within the legal boundaries of our state hunting regulations, is the right way. Keeping people, especially the younger folks, engaged in the outdoors, is not just a good idea, but is a necessity if we want to continue to have the hunting opportunities we enjoy now. We each have the right to disagree, and the discourse in this forum is a good media for doing that, but keep in mind, at the end of the day we need each other to present one united front in defense or our hunting rights, or we'll end up with more safe-act type legislation restricting us even further.

have you ever weighed yourself with gear on etc? Think that stand is only rated to 250lbs

Congrats ! My wife says I'm number 1 though ,she even holds up a finger!

So there's absolutely no possibility that acorns fell in a perfect pile forming a cube??

Doe opening day at 6:00 PM 28 yards,ran about 50 yards and was done.Now its antler time!!!

This obviously isn't a NY kill, but it was my first harvest of the season. 4x4 bull elk, taken last Thursday in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. 25 yard quarter to shot, got both lungs, liver and some gut and sliced up the offside hindquarter. He went about 150 yards and watched him drop.