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Please do not take the title out of context. There is a point to be made but it's not my goal. I wanted to share my story with you all as I'm sure some will enjoy it. It's just kind of funny this happened really concerning all the talk lately of legal shooting hours. In Mississippi legal shooting hours are 1/2 hour before and 1/2 hour after. There is also a 10" inside spread or 13" main beam. The rut is in full swing down here so I snuck out of work Friday afternoon for a sit in a ground blind (it was drizzling) on some public land near me. I harvested a doe near the spot I chose just a few weekends prior. I have been seeing great sign in this area, fresh rubs and scrapes and passed a new one on the way in. I get in and set up by 2:30. It was one of those days where you're feeling good to be in the woods but I didn't see a thing all sit. I'm sitting up on a nob overlooking a deep shallow creek which provided a small window between 2 thick bedding areas where I had found some great sign. It's a hard to reach area as it's a pretty steep climb down and up. Sunset is ~4:50 and the light is getting thin around 5:05. I'm hunting with my muzzleloader instead of my shotgun as I do not yet have a rifle. I look through my nikon 3x9 and still have good light. I'm shooting at a downward angle and decide to give it 5 more minutes. Truthfully any later, while legal would have been iffy. Had I been in a field I'm sure it would have been fine. At 5:10 a see a deer come running down the hill and paused broadside at about 50 yards behind a tree. I bump the power to 4 and cock the hammer on my CVA Optima. I am not going to shoot a doe. It's dark, wet and a hell of a drag. He steps out. He's a shooter. Bang. The buck runs 20 yards down into the steep shallow creek (oh crap), up the other side (thank God) and then flops once and dies. I sit another 5 minutes and go and check him out and was very happy with my decision. Not a perfect shot and didn't get much meat out of both shoulders but double lung just the same. The drag out with my cart may have been one of the hardest things I've ever done. Into the creek and up the otherside pushing him up with my shoulders. Inching up the ravine grabbing onto trees to prevent myself from slipping and from him sliding back down. 2 hours later he was out. I was sore but thankful. Cut him up Saturday and did the grind Sunday. He's going to be a European. 15" inside spread and a wopping 110lbs dressed haha. I'm calling him a 9 as the broken brow tine passes the keychain test for me.

Very exciting! They are fast little buggers

That should cover everyone.... I will be very busy so wanted to tell eveyone at NYhunting to have a Happy healthy and love filled holiday season with family and friends. Relax and enjoy visions of turkey & deer dancing through your head in anticipation of the 2015/16 seasons to come.....Best Wishes ........Chris

Longer season..?? Are you KIDDING me ?? This last one damn near killed me... All that time driving around at night with a spotlight holding an AR-15 out the window.... I'm glad it's over so I can get some SLEEP !!

He forgot "baiting" wasn't legal in NY..lol

take a deep breath and relax........

Theatre tickets for a play is a good idea

My favorite recipe is to stuff a tenderloin with crumbly blue cheese, chopped red onion, and spinach leaves. Coat with Buck's seasoning and bake.

Earlier today I was at the Galleria Mall in the continuing search for Christmas gifts for my wife (ALMOST fruitless) and in a strange twist I ended up in Dick's. Then I ended up in the hunting/guns area.......(I swear it's like something/ somebody took over my body, I couldn't control it). There, lo and behold are .22 shells! Wow, the Holy Grail!! 1400ct Remington .22's bucket for $69.99 I made a mental note for you guys & gals here and then turned and left. I was NOT there for .22 shells, not at any price. I was there to shop for my sweetie........................... So there you have it, hit Dick's up for your bucket of bullets. You're welcome.

Some times we take ourselves a bit too seriously. It's a shame because life is way too short to cheat ourselves out of our own portion of it. In order to get myself re-centered, I often ask myself, just what will people think of my accomplishments 100 years from now. The answer always comes back that unless my name is printed on money, they likely won't even know who the hell I was. So I might as well make sure there is always time for me and my family because there's no 2nd go around on this thing called life. Keep the priorities all in the proper order.

HEY !!!... Who says that some of us fat old rednecks aren't in shape ? ROUND is a SHAPE !! Damn sissified city boys !!

I'm sure it's all delicious but that first picture looks like a pile of dead bats! lol

Dairy cow or beef? Nice big ol' plump Angus strolls by....well I might have to think about it. lol

well with fishing season winding down we have been able to run back and forth to camp to do some work. its tough trying to get everything done with only a day or 2 here and there to get work done. new heat system for the entire camp, i had everything done except for the vent and fresh air intakes plumbed. once I had the heat on through the entire camp it was time to open the archway to make it all one place,,,,, was going to be nice not having to walk all the way around to get into the new addition. pine finished on living room wall around the archway. started laying the hickory flooring from the existing hickory flooring and carrying it out into the new addition. progressing into the new room with the flooring, I had to back lay almost 8 feet of flooring to carry the flooring throughout the entire first floor. entrance way by saturday night I had a good dent in the flooring,, couldn't hardly move by midnight but I had almost 400 sq. feet of flooring down... Ziva thinks the new flooring is pretty nice.

his property? His buck. If I leave a $20 bill on a park bench I don't expect it to still be there. The company should do a better job protecting their investment. What would they do anyhow trample all over his land and tranq it? Good for the buck for escaping and good for the kid for killing it. $20k? good lord...

Call Matt Cantrell. He does a great job. I saw some fox mounted in his shop.

If you find a spot with lots of sign and wait it out you will see deer, I think you moved to other locations without giving the spot you were in a chance. I have sat in a spot for a week and seen nothing but squirrels, however if you sit there long enough the deer will cycle trough.

Where does the line form ?

I wouldn't be worried so much about the take being too high but more about stressing the deer farther along into winter. Later probably isn't that big a deal in the Carolinas where the winters are a lot milder.

been in pa more than ny the last couple months. but I needed to come back to start a house build here. a fresh coat of snow thanksgiving morning at camp. since mother nature decorated outside i decorated the inside. I could only fit 7 deer mounts in Judy's crossover and a few duck mounts so I will just have to take a few mounts each trip down to camp. a few small bucks in the stairway.

That'd go over real well here.................................LOL!

I just realized that I posted in Live From the Stand thread instead of this one, so I'll just copy and paste it if that's ok. Got it done last night with the bow in 1C. It seems like the second rut is in full swing down here on the Island. I scouted the area yesterday morning and I found plenty of new rubs in the woods as well as a few new scrapes. Even though it is a last light spot, I did get in a little later than I would have liked. I almost thought about bailing out as I was kicking up deer on the way in. I'm glad I didn't. It seemed liked everything was moving a little earlier last night. The weather was perfect. Very light NE winds, cold, and some flurries. Shortly after getting settled in, I had 4 does come in. The biggest one was no dummy. There was another stand about 50 yards from that someone left in the area. She came in with her head up looking for someone in it that wasn't there. Then she appeared to be checking every other tree in the area. I thought to myself, she's a smart one and needs to go. Unfortunately, she never gave me a shot. After they moved off, I also saw a 4 point with his nose to the ground, then he stopped to freshen up a scrape. He got a pass. Had 5 more does come in as it was getting dark as well as seeing a few more moving around in the thickets. Then a solid 8 with some decent mass appeared on the edge of the clearing about 60 yards out. He stood there for a few minutes checking out the area. Then just as I was losing light, he made a beeline towards me and the scrape. At 32 yards he went broadside, and I let one fly. Found my arrow and it looked good, but I decided to back out anyway and come back with a good light after dinner. I was literally on my hands and knees trying to get through blow downs and thorny thickets following his blood trail. He only went about 100 yards with a double lung hit. Not my best buck, but def my biggest this late in the season and a really good one for the area I was in, considering all of the pressure that is there earlier in the season.

My next pic will be in 6 years when I finish growing out my mullet like my idol, FSW Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Biz, I noticed that there is always a big smile on your face when you post pictures. Is that because you are generally a happy guy, or you are showing off your teeth to the hunters who don't have any??

Every year about this time, I give some of the neighbors & co-workers jerky & smoked sausage; this time I took pictures. My good deed for the year.

I suppose....No different than shooting a bison ahey?

I would think No different that pheasants on a preserve. They are under preserve rules until they fly off the property then it reverts to normal game regulations. Pheasants can be taken on the preserves for a longer season and without any sex restrictions. Technically if a wild bird wandered in there is could be taken on preserve rules. That whitetail would have been legally safe if the season had not been open around the farm. I would think that if it were a species that didn't naturally occur in the area it would be another story. Anyone know what happened to those guys that shot the escaped Elk a while back?

Is that sausage ready to eat? It sure looks good!

maybe the other two hunters took it for what it was and were smart enough to keep their mouths shut.........

TreeGuy, I emailed the NYSBBC records chairman and asked. He said he can help you out, but the best way would be for you to call him. Send me a PM if your interested and I will give you his number.

The high fence place had three bucks let loose when a tree fell on the fence...so it wasn't the only one that was shot. All three were based on the reports I read. So, to single out the kid seems like a bit of crappy reporting for this article.

I would of for a cut. Sweet business deal!

SO I officially completed my first true season of deer hunting. I must say I am pretty proud of my dedication, I put in around 100hours total between regulars northern and southern and late muzzleloader. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for answering some of my posts. Even the more errr…. Negligent ones. And I wanted to share a list of achievements over this first season and follow it up with a short story of my final day. I sat through 10-20* temps shivering. I fell asleep a few times in the evening after going out in the morning as well.. I learned to be able to sit still for longer periods of time. I sorted my gear and got my insulation and necessities system parred down. I also realized how much sitting comfort plays a part in the enjoyment of the hunt. I learned to walk a little slower and softer. I only saw deer 2 times. I heard them 2 times. I learned how to better spot them in the woods. I learned more about deer moving and bedding habits. And I am sure there are others I am forgetting. So on my first time ever out with a rifle in my hand hunting I was sitting halfway down a large ridge that ran the length of a creek. Unfortuneartely I was not sitting far enough down and was treated to the sound of several deer crossing said creek about 50 yards outside my vision. In the middle of a text message id ropped my phone and readied to shoot. Only to see hide nor hair of them. On my second time out we were sitting on the same ridge in a different section where ( the deer always go) according to my “guide” on the way there he tells me the cleared a bunch of land a little farther down and did some logging. This time I saw doe, 2 of them come from crossing the creek and then trot directly away from us down towards where I had sat the first time. My first true sighting but no chance in heck of a shot. After an uneventful rest of the sit I went down and checked out where they had come from. Seemed to me that the logging and land changes had caused the deer to no longer move as far down the ridge / creek and were now using a split in the creek as a bridge to move from one side to the other and there was heavy trail showing such. Sure enough as we followed said ridge towards my first spot we heard 2 grunts of some sort down by the creek but nothing showed its head. For the rest of the season I saw NO Deer. I moved from 6k to 6p to 6r. The later 2 being large tracts of private land. I saw sign, oh boy did I see sign. Deer Super highways, rubs, beds etc. but no live deer. And so went the entire rest of the season, I had a week vacation, a couple 3-4 day weekends and spent every free moment in the woods. Getting in an hour before light many mornings in effort to be set before they showed. So came muzzleloader. My partner had an extra so I bought the tag. We went sat evening and sun all day on the final weekend. We let his father talk us into doing a stalk down through some swamp in an old crab apple orchard where we had spent a majority of our season…. Well needless to say the swamp was fine but the east end of the orchard was so over grown there was no lanes to speak of. So we humped the rest of the way to his stand and I made my way around the outside of the orchard to where a bordered a southern field, there was a defined small ridge here with an old old loggin trail that I had wanted to hunt all season. For this last day I had moved my chair over there the morning before, 10 feet down my ridge overlooking a small 30yards of marsh then up 10 feet to the ridge in question with a large corn field and creek on the other side. I get my husky self there with about 2.5 hours of shooting light/ time left. ( till legal sunset) I sit down. And strip a layer, remove my hat, get my water out. And in general and “preparing” to sit for the net 2 hours. All in all about 4 minutes of movement tops. As Im bringing my bottle down after a sip or water is ee a flash of white in the trees at the start of the logging road. I freeze. Sure enough 3 doe. As slowly as possible I set down the water and lift the rifle to my shoulder. Getting good and set. They stand for a minute and then go down the trail a decent trot. Sight is on the lead doe the entire time, but there is decent coverage in the way. Looking ahead I see a nice gap in 2 trees and move my sights in the middle to take a shot. Sure enough the doe goes right behind said trees and for a moment I have a solid block of unobstructed hide behind the sights. …… but she keeps moving and they disappear down the ridge. What happened? Well my brain didn’t think to make a bleat or something to try and stop them so I could shoot. And I told myself all season I would be someone who unloads at a moving deer in hopes they hit it. I told myself all year I would go for ethical and safe shots. I don’t want to send a deer to painfull drawn out death because we cant find her or the yotes get her. And so ended my first season of deer. Mother nature saw fit to taunt me for my first season at the ripe age of 30. Showing me the goal for a moment in the beginng and the end of the season. Like a drug dealer for an addict. Punishment for the previous years not putting the time in. Heres hoping I paid my dues and next year is more successful. Hind Sight 20/20…… I had an acceptable shot and should have taken it. The excitement of the situation delayed my reactions. Thanks all. I hope you enjoyed the read.

"Rather than notify Stillwater that their deer had escaped, he went ahead with the hunt." The above quote taken from the story speaks volumes about the "hunter"...................

but the article said he knew about it, so figured I'd just stick to that instead of adding "what if's" to my comment.

What a shoddily written article. "The boy knew the deer was in the area, reports Field & Stream, because he’d seen it on a trail camera image and heard about the escape previously. Rather than notify Stillwater that their deer had escaped, he went ahead with the hunt. “I knew it was one of the deer that escaped from the pen, but I figured that wasn’t my fault. I hunted like I would have any other deer that would have been there. I shot him in the heart, he went about 30 yards and dropped,” Wright said." So which is it? Did the farm know of the escape or not? As far as ethics go, as long as the kid had the legal right to kill that deer, I see no issue with it. The farm should have taken more care not to let their animals escape. I wonder if they will test it for CWD.

Why do you have to be fat, crude and bearded to be a hunter? I'm thin, in shape, clean shaven and white collar. And I get it done just the same....with prettier girls and more money.

I think he was saying that he has a jacket for sale

Bucks are dropping horns by middle of dec, a longer season won't help, but a week of gun then close for 2 weeks then reopen would.

Seems like your a antagonizer who also has a short temper, seems like your the type that is always mad. No offense meant. :-)

I got the Mermaid an inflatable Tom Selleck Doll...She moved Tom upstairs and I get the recliner....Win/Win... I told her I'd like to have her go to Cox's and buy me a seersucker suit... She went to Sears....

Heres a pic

Grow - you are correct, I've done the research. If things don't work out and I don't get married in June, I'm selling the ring and going on a sheep hunt! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm sorry, but I just can't picture any of the fat, crude, bearded, beer drinking weekend warriors that I call hunting buddies getting their nails done, or having a mudcake on their faces at the salon. If they admitted something like this, I promise you they'd either be sleeping in their truck or out in the snow at deer camp. And the last time I got a massage, it was from a pretty little Korean woman, I think the name of the spa was "XXX Oriental"?. Back to the topic at hand...Mrs likes to shop, I either give her cash or gift cards.

I love massages. There is a lady in my town that charges $40/hour. I try to go a few times a year, really is a stress reliever. My wife won't do just the massage thing, she needs the works!

To provide lean, delicious, unaltered meat for my family.

7 deer in the freezer, 75 lbs of sausage made (hot, sweet, breakfast), 20 lbs of slim jims, 20 lbs of summer sausage, 10 lbs crogan, the rest into burger steaks and stew. It was a good year.

I shot this buck on 11/30/14 in the Adirondacks (Hamilton County) after tracking him for 4 hours 23 minutes (I originally claimed 5.5 hours in a FB post, I was incorrect according to my GPS) and covering 5.2 miles. I missed (deflected bullet) him once about halfway through the journey, but was able to connect when he got distracted by a doe and followed her across an opening in front of me. After shooting him I realized I had trail cam pictures of him last year over 2 miles from where I took up his track this year. These big woods bucks have large ranges! This was probably the most memorable hunt I've ever had, and boy did I have to work for it! Based on last year's trail cam pics and his tooth wear, which was at least as much as the 5 year-old 8pt (cementum annuli aged) I shot about a mile from there in 2012, I estimate this buck to be at least that old as well, perhaps even one year older. I will send his teeth in too to confirm. Gross green score of 131 and change. Brows are over 5 and 7" and bases are just shy of 5". The picture(s) I posted on FB last week generated a lot of comical comments about practicing shooting more, aiming better, and only taking ethical shots. Those folks don't realize that tracking is not blood trailing. They don't go 5.2 miles after a heart shot either. With tracking, you follow the buck BEFORE you shoot it... P.S. I wrote a much more detailed story of this hunt but I am going to see if I can get a magazine to buy it. They require it be unpublished material, which unfortunately includes posting it on an internet forum. If things go well, hopefully I will be able to post the story at a later date. (Sorry NYantler) Not something I normally look at, I thought this graph of my walking speed was interesting. (From GPS) Trail cam pics from 2013: Making a mock scrape:

I must say Ive been truly blessed in 2014...started off with a nice limit of geese over cut corn on 9/13 followed by a beautiful bear on the 14th.... bowhunted hard in oct with no luck on a buck, but did get a decent gobbler from the stand to christen in my new Martin Nemisis...after seeing nothing but groups of does for 5 weeks I scored on my best bow buck to date, a 19"wide 2.5y/o 8pt.... no luck on opening day of gun but the next day I scored my 1st handgun kill with a nice doe at 70yds(missed 2x @ 50 lol) with my S&W 29... Nov 30th I killed my best gun buck, a heavyish 3.5 y/o 8pt ......with the freezer busting at the seams I was feeling greedy and gonna pack it in, but yesterday I decided to jump in the stand and score a little "give away meat" with a transferred dmp. Got busted by a FAT doe with 3 fawns around 9.. at 10 I almost decided to pack it in when a group of 3 mature does came into range and I double lunged the biggest one at 20yds very enjoyable late season bowhunt with snow on the ground ....I gotta say this was my best season in my 15 years of hunting and still cant believe my luck, but what Im most thankful for and proud of, was that all kills were quick and clean and required zero tracking.

I don't know if I can put my finger on the real reason that I hunt... I'm sure it has something to do with the challenge... especially the 1 on 1 challenge with a mature buck on his turf... but I also enjoy the comradery of hunting with my buddies as well... I have always loved the outdoors and shooting too... I guess it's a combination of things that makes it so interesting and fun. The serenity is a huge factor as well... time to think in peace... getting away from the daily grind and enjoying all the beauty that nature has for us... pretty cool really when you think about it.