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I hope this story is not too long and that the picture appears right side up. Short story...I got my first archery deer on Sunday. Long story follows. I went out to my "deer camp," my dad and step mother's cabin. It sits on a pond outside Penn Yan and surrounded by fields and hardwoods. Yesterday, I woke up at the cabin feeling like crap. I definitely had a bad cold, could hardly swallow. So I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. The sky brightens and I wake up and decide to start packing up to go home, totally bummed that I can't get out on such a perfect day. I look out the window and here come four doe, two were huge. Headed right past the cabin. It's now legal light. I start running round the cabin looking for my release and wondering how to get outside without being noticed. No dice. Too much noise and they hold up looking at the door of the cabin. Eventually they decide to head into the scrub on the other side of them, but something in there causes them to change their mind. They retreat to the woods they way they came. Now I'm thinking, "hmmmm...I feel a little better now that I've had a little excitement." I find some Advil in my first aid kit, take it and start to get dressed to go out. Meanwhile two bucks come out of the corner where the does decided against going. Just so happens that they are on my route to my blind. I was held hostage by them till 8:00. After walking in with a blinding headache I get in the blind, which is 70 yards in from a field edge in dense dense scrub. Just a little intersection of trails that happens in the tiniest of openings in that dense stuff is where I'm sitting. I'd cut a hole in the vines that the blind is crammed into for a shooting lane just the night before. After 15 minutes I see deer running through the field. Looks like a buck chasing a doe, hard to tell. Could be the larger buck I saw chasing off another youngster. I decided to use the grunt tube I'd never used before. It worked. The big guy does not break stride, but within minutes three smaller bucks show up. I've been waiting years for my first archery deer. I don't care what it is as long as it's over a year old. Because it's so dense, it's hard to see them, other than general size. I determine that the first one is a four point buck and is one I'd be happy to have as my first bow deer. As he approaches I shift in my seat, giving myself a Charlie horse. Oh shit. I was sure this would end with my Charlie horse not allowing me to shoot. But I determined I could ignore it because of the excitement in front of me and it would go away. He comes into the intersection and I "meeh" at him to stop him. He stops with just the slightest quartering to. He's 12 yards away. I'm not shaking and I'm wondering if it's because I'm too tired and sick, dreaming, or what. I let it fly. I hear it hit. His reaction is as if someone next to him just gave him a sharp poke in the side. He runs off down the thickest of corridors making a racket for about 50 yards, my arrow sticking out of his side. All I can think is, "that was too far back. I never miss to the left." I can suddenly feel the Charlie horse again and the shakes begin. I waited an hour and a half. Meantime, two more bucks show up. Second was smaller, third was the largest. I practice drawing on them. Neither notice me. I'm amazed. I again begin to wonder if I'm dreaming. I set out to track him. He's 50 yards down the trail. Caught one lung and the liver. He fell onto the arrow. I had to push the half that was left in him though his hind quarter to be able to field dress him. How it didn't cut the stomach or intestines on the way in is beyond me. But it was clear that it had to continue forward or it certainly would. This was a puzzle I was not expecting to have to solve. Turns out he has the tiniest 8 point rack. It's downright cute. My huge hands help make it look even smaller in the pic. It reminds me of the replica of Stonehenge in "This is Spinal Tap." He's my first archery deer and the result of my quest to develop grit after the death of my mother. She died a year and a half ago after a long fight with breast cancer. I shot him on her birthday. He's being mounted and will hang in my house to remind me of the power of perseverance.

Shot this buck at 8:45am this morning cruising a bedding area, popped out at 32yds and double lunged him. I've let a lot of young bucks pass and haven't shot a buck in a few years because I wanted a deer I'd be proud to tag. I don't have private land to hunt so to kill a good buck on public land makes it that much sweeter. Awesome day! Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

So I couldn't sleep at all last night, i finally fell asleep but when I did, I ended up sleeping through my alarms. I woke up at 7am and saw it was already light out. I debated whether or not to go out because of the rain, but thought hey why not right? I was all ready and in the blind by 720. at 730 i grunted a couple times and softly hit the rattle bag. 10 minutes later i saw some movement in the distance, couldnt tell doe or buck at first. As it was walking away i saw its antlers so i grunted twice and it immediately turned around and headed right for me. I didnt have a good shot until it quartered away, and i hit him right behind the shoulder. he ran 25 yards and went down. he isnt a giant but he is still an 8 pt and my first buck, so i am happy.

Public land 9 pt Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

I left at 5am and headed the 1/2 mile to the swamp stand...20 yrds from the stand I literally step on a grouse(first in a long time) and land on my back side...lol...heart attacks with wings...get to the stand not spooking or hearing one deer...get set up ...slowly turn with bow in hand to sit..There she blows....snort snort snort For Petes sake... it was dark and she was up wind of me...Thought all this for naught and forgot cell and seat pad to boot...I heard a lot gutteral grunts and trees snapping, running around and another grouse flushed...then it was light enought to see and I had doe to my left and behind me eating apples...called in a 4pt and then closed my eyes a bit, heard some dang strange sounding birds saw a mink and lots of red squirrel then caught a flash of wht where the doe had been...I saw short tines and thought nah...then he came in and had a big body...a swamp buck and One was on my do list...So I stood...he was coming in fast and I saw the direction...I zeroed in on him and ma,ma'd to no avail my shoulder was starting to burn and I had ranged where he was earlier 30-35 yards and I was loosing ground when I screamed MA!!!...just as he slowed and turned his head I hit my release....Another shot that didn't sound right!...I watched and listend but didn't see him come though the direction he headed and everything was silent...CRAP now it's starting to rain..Was it 11am already? No cell no clock...I waited around 10 mins and said I have to check...I go to where he was when I shot and no arrow. ...no tracks because there were millions of them and deep in the mud and water...But blood..blood every where...and it went right into the nastiest wild rose on the property..20 yards and there he was...OMG how'd he mange to get so big...lol I knew I was in trouble...small rack but looked smaller due to his body...and I could not budge him...Went back to the house and got our son who was there helping his Dad get some work done...Thank you lord..that never happens...I know it had to be just about 9am when I shot him......So I have my swamp buck and even though the arrow looked like I hit him far back(on heart side) it center punched his pump and took out the lungs exiting his opposite arm pit...which I'm still trying to figure out..he must have been turning away from my shot when it hit??

Can't argue with that

Taking the kids to the doc for a checkup and see this guy chasing a doe hard in Clarence All misspellings courtesy of iPhone

Dad just hammered the small 6 he missed the other day, I let him borrow a rage tipped arrow he's excited because he watched it go down.

9 pt down! Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

Nice to see him finally get a bow deer it's been along time.

Don't cure it ...... enjoy it. That is the kind of excitement that I go out hunting for. Those things that cause "buck fever" are the things that make it all worth doing. I have had deer that I could have reached out and touched (if I was fast enough), that provided excitement that came close to having me pass out. That level of intensity makes the whole thing memorable whether I get the deer or not. My goal always is to get the deer as close as possible, and that is just so I can experience that out-of-control excitement that you have.

I would just like to take the time to thank all of you that have submitted stories and photos to my Facebook page and website. I appreciate you allowing my readers a chance to get a look at your exceptional NY bucks and share in some of the stories. I also would like to say that anyone here is welcome to submit stories or photos of their successful hunts. I know that I and other NY hunters enjoy reading the stories and seeing the bucks. I certainly enjoy bringing them to the readers. Thank you.

BigBoy still on his feet as of yesterday morning. I think I might have his main travel route pinned down now. Might be all she wrote for this guy come gun season:

I use to set my life around hunting with a recurve ,even during shogun season. I use to make my own wood shafts/fletch & mount Zwickey broad heads. I enjoyed the challenge. Bow hunting in Oct is where the season should be, never liked the late season. When the Compound craze set in, I thought the same way some are viewing the crossbow hunters. Now years later there are a lot of deer being ethically killed by Compounds. I think of it like this what's a Challenge to one is not to another, and you will see in years to come the crossbow will be right there, Now the State did not make a Special season for compound's and they should not for the Crossbow. The State needs to call a spade a spade, its a Bow not a firearm. I've Taken Deer with a Long Bow, Recurve, Compound, Shotgun and Rifle, all Challenging enjoyable hunts, at different distance's. I will be taking one with a Crossbow in the future. I view it as a different hunt using a Different Tool to get the job done. People say deer are going to get wounded, Man I've see wounded Deer in every season. There are always going to be poor shots no matter what you put in there hands.

I think there needs to be a division between the silent killing and the "guns-a-blazing" season. I have always thought things were set up just fine to accommodate both styles. Having said that, I also think there is an element of the bow hunting population that has an elitist attitude. But overall, it is a small (yet loud) percentage of all the bow hunters in NY. I think we can put the "selfish" label in any of the segments. It is part of the human condition and should be expected... it will always be that way. The trick is for hunters to start paying more attention to what they are doing and stop worrying about how others do it. But unfortunately, being up in everyone else's business is part of the human condition as well. Frankly, I like separating myself from all the BS and focusing on just enjoying myself while I'm in the woods and not worrying about what others are doing unless it directly affects my safety. Maybe some would even call that selfish... but it works for me.

Back in same blind as all week I know they come by here but my short morning sits are not helping me....today got the 5 yr old in here...I'm back on second so don't see him so asked him if he wanted to come never seen him jump outta his bunk beds so fast lol Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

A friend from work who I have been mentoring and introduced to bow hunting got this 7 point below. This is his first year hunting, first deer ever and first with a bow. I had been posting updates in live in the stand but wanted to update the conclusion and a few lessons learned. Im still relatively new as well this being my 6th year and have only about 10 under my belt. We did somethings right but a few wrong too and hope other newbies may learn from my mistakes. My friend shot this deer 8:40 11/8. Waited an hour to climb down to CSI shot site since he didn’t see the deer go down and no idea where he had hit the deer. We found the arrow for a clean pass through covered in nice red blood tip to tail. No gut smell no indication of anything amiss except white hairs. There wasn’t much blood after initial shot location so we were warry to pursue. The trail was very difficult to pick up as we spent a lot of time looking where he believed he last saw the buck. We only searched in like a 50 yrd range since we didn’t have much info to go on. Based on the scarcity of blood we decided to pull out and wait for a friend to assist. We were back at it about 4 hours after the initial shot. Picked up last blood and determined the buck had gone the complete opposite direction of where he believed he last saw him and where we had been searching initially. The blood trail was weak and we were slow going, mainly relying on tracks in the leaves. About 200 yrds from shot we found an empty bed with bright red blood with bubbles. So, our guess at this point was a high shot, one lung, possibly hitting gut, maybe liver, as there was one small spot along the blood trail that was gritty and smelly of gut. This is where we made our 2nd mistake. We should of pulled out and just come back the next morning. But we didn’t. We pushed thinking four hours since shot and lung blood we should be good. The blood continued to be sparse and was heading for some pretty thick stuff about 500 yrds from first shot. The blood wasn’t wet so we assumed that being dried up it was older, that we mused of pushed him earlier when looking at shot site the first time. However we were wrong and eventually bumped him. So we left him over night. Now it was just me and my friend we were able to pick up blood from where we bumped him but it was gone in like 40yrds. We were now searching a narrow deer trail through weeds and interspersed pricker bushes from waste to shoulder high. Did the hands and knees for 100yrds and no blood it was gone. We did a grid search and nothing for that whole area. Guessed maybe he went over a small wall based on the deer trail. Followed that for another 100yrds in to even thicker and nastier weeds and pricker patches that were now over head in many areas. Decided to grid back to where we finished our last grid. Four hours later As we got to about 5 ft from where we finished our first grid, my friend says there’s a deer bedded there. I shout, no that’s your deer and the celebration began. [/url]">http:// [/url]">http://http://s1134.photobucket.com/user/kurtrudolph/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-11/FullSizeRender.jpg.html'>

the population comes in to heat like a bell curve. "Main" being the largest percentage. I also notice that when I hear different hunters speaking about the "rut" they attribute what they like about it to what is really pre-rut activities. Personally I do not like the main rut as much at the seeking and chasing portions of the pre-rut. too many mature buck locked down with a hot doe. if she is content sleeping then he ain't budging..lol

I grew up gun hunting, got into bow at about 20 and ML about 18 years ago. I enjoy them all. I probably won't buy a crossbow unless it expands my opportunity to hunt, because, at the end of the day, I am not a bow hunter or a gun hunter or a ML hunter. I am just a hunter and will take as much time as they will give me to do it, I really don't care what is in my hands. all the seasons offer unique challenges and hold different memories and focuses for me. The bow season is a more solitary event. The gun and ML is more of a social event. I think because of the lone nature of bowhunting it is easier to stay focused on yourself, get wrapped up in what you want (in general). I grew up hunting in a group, a deer camp mentality. There wasn't the prep that goes into seasons now. tree stands were the exception not the rule. We didn't have this immediate access to others that the internet provides but I don't remember there being the hunter vs hunter issues back then.

Just had a 4 pt come in and work the main scrape in front of me.

Here ya go .............

Got to give the woman credit. This is how it starts. Fiorina "I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, 'Home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble.' And then government stepped in. ... And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen."

Whoa! WTH! I posted that photo after seeing it on Facebook and thought it was pretty cool. Never said I was the hunter, nor did I expect people to take it that way. It looks like nobody even asked if I did. I don't read this bow hunting forum too often and haven't been back to it after posting that shot. All I can say is I never expected people to be so presumptuous. LOL! Let me set the record strait. I DO bow hunt. I use an Oneida Phantom and still prefer 2117 aluminum arrows. I used to bow hunt a lot. These days not as much. But I will go after a nice deer worth bow hunting AFTER I have seen it while hunting coyotes. I no longer spend too many hours bow hunting otherwise. I did not shoot that deer! But I have taken a couple of deer with heart shots, though none as nicely centered as that one. I just thought it was a cool picture that should be shared. Believe me, if I shoot a deer like that, I will TELL you I did, and the full story will follow until it bores you to tears. Take my word on it! Wow!

Got out of work early today. Said earlier today in another thread that I never have, nor had any interest in hunting public land. Got home and reconsidered. Instead of hunting in my back woods on my property, I figured I'd try this public piece a few miles away. Grabbed my climber and headed out. Passed 1,436 ladder stands within 500 yards of entering the woods. So, I went deep. Just saw a woman hiking. FML. She wasn't even hot. She didn't see me. We'll see how the rest of the afternoon/evening goes.

Where do people find the time to come up with this stuff, jeez....just hunt and be happy!!!!! The only outcome of these topics is negative and in most cases will pit hunter against hunter. Its hunting season aren't there better topics to discuss like the rut,etc..hey Doc stop stirring the pot, get yourself a crossbow and get out there, its fun!!!

Get your popcorn ready...

Damn nice shot VJP! I didn't know you bow hunted? Lets see a picture of the deer; buck or doe? Almost looks as good as mine from Saturday.......................................

Nice one! Had one myself on Monday morning with a nice doe on LI. Went about 35yds, such a quick kill when it happens.

Got a good laugh at this video.

I took the "rough" cape to the taxi-dude (Bernie Seitz) this morning. I asked him to save the lower jaw for me as I'd like to have it aged. He called me a couple hours later and said he had caped it all out and I could swing by and p/u the lower jaw and horns. We were still in the area and buzzed over to grab the goods. His age estimate is 7.5 years old and the ROUGH green score on the antlers was 138" gross and 123 4/8" net. I'm pretty happy with the numbers......................... The BEST part of the entire deal is that I made a great shot. I've blown some gimme's before, I promise you. Some other pics........

Just saw Deerpassion post from Live from the woods... Got me thinking. This guy and bunch of you others hunt hard during bow season. How many hours of "actual " in the woods would you estimate you spend during the season ? Per bow season ? Gun season ? ML/late bow ? I don't bow hunt but end up in the neighborhood of 100 -110 hours each year during gun/ml season. and I think my wife likes me being gone as she bought me a shotgun and ml for Christmas and a birthday years back.

My friend harvested this beast yesterday Long Island public land. He was all rutted up tarsals jet black and stinking. He came in to my buddy's tree and just started to turn away when my friend hit the grunt tube and pulled him back. He said he came in head low, ears back and lips curled. He was on the trail of 2 does and a spike which had passed a few minutes earlier. What a great buck!!!!!...too bad i had to work. Cant wait to get out Saturday and hopefully get a chance!!

My buddy got this beauty yesterday County Parkland. He was all rutted up looking for love. Tarsals were jet black and stinking

alot

Just curious what's the significance of 343. It's a number that stands out to me for personal reasons .

I actually liked how it was years ago. when you got a big game license and bought the bow hunting privilege you got ONE tag, you could take a buck or doe during archery or the tag was good for an antlered deer during regular season. If you did fill it in either, you were done unless you drew a doe permit.

now this is interesting. is this the 6pt with 6pt on top that you posted in the harvest thread? based on that harvest thread picture I'd say that deer's 2.5. with this picture... directly from the side versus from above it's hard to tell if dentine width of first molar (fourth tooth back) is more than enamel width. it doesn't appear to be though. what's interesting is the 3rd premolar has quite a bit of staining when considering at 2.5 years old it would've just replaced it. although staining is still possible. lastly looking at the last tooth back (3rd molar), the last cusp is not still pointed but worn to concavity to me which is a sign of 3.5. lingual crests at 3.5 will still look high and pointed so can't go much by that. if the dentine width was NOT questionably as wide as the tongue side enamel on the first molar then I'd still go with 2.5 yrs old. if it was questionably wide I'd go with 3.5 just based on looking at a jawbone alone.

Well said. My father said when I was a kid, start shooting a bow if you want more time in the woods and that is what I did. The season has been like that for a long time. If you want to spend more time in the woods then pick up a bow and stop crying.......

It's all crazy....look anyone can go bowhunting if they want.....and shooting a deer at 10 yards is way more difficult than one at 300 yards....fight all ya want about it....or fix what's bugging you...bowhunt if you want to have that extra season...but don't blame others...we are all hunters...and we have equal rights

Just called in an 8 and I wasn't even done calling yet and he came running in.no shot though

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/45478.html

As I was eating up some fried heart in butter last night my son and I agreed that would be a darn shame messing up a heart by shooting it![emoji15]

I've been saying it for a good while now. Hunting has become a very selfish game, and it's getting worse all the time. Anyone who thinks it's not probably just hunts by themselves on their own property and hasn't been exposed to what's really going on out there or is very naive. It goes way beyond bow season vs. gun season also. You have people getting their trail cams, treestands, etc. stolen and damaged and this is being done by other HUNTERS, not by just some other idiot walking thru the woods. This is all done to screw the other hunter out there, in order to make hunting easier for themselves. We accuse anti-hunters for messing things up for us, but the truth is that we've messed up way more things ourselves.

Doc, thak you for bringing this up, I see it as well. Let's hope this thread remains true to your post and we can discuss it without devolving into the usual fights and name calling. I don't know about you, but I also sometimes feel like I (and others) demand/DESERVE more time with a favorite or new tool than others (usually when I try and like a new method with a new tool.) And then I swing back to wanting sufficient time with my gun, resent the intrusion into what was the original or standard season and rail against the very thing I had just tried. I do get angry when one segment of the hunting community, be it gun, bow, x-bow, small game vs large game hunters, try (and often succeed) to expand "their" season at the expense of others. Especially when the "others" season came or was established first and the "new comers" try to take part of it away for themselves. This can be seen in the "special early and late" seasons for muzzleloaders and bow. Both seasons were originally established as primitive weapon seasons to augment the regular season and now have become primary seasons due to the advancement of technologies in each. And then, while technology advances, some segments want to "freeze" the evolution (here compound hunters of which I am one against the crossbow also of which I am one). Looking to other states, some blackpower in-lines, sight systems and powders, substitute and smokeless, have been banned, stopping the evolution of that arms use at a certain point. Further, some of this can be attributed to the allocation of our deer herds through deer management permits, antler restrictions, etc. For example, I really do not like the fact that a youth can harvest any 3" on one side buck for I think it is 4 years? 12-16yrs old, before they have to follow the antler restriction rules. I fully understand the need for youth recruitment (and fully support the Columbus day weekend deer and early pheasant hunts) but feel really bad for the older 17yrs+ hunter, women and men getting into hunting at a later stage of life, 20's 30' 40'setc. and have to sit and watch the same non AR eligible buck walk by year after year before they can take the first buck of their lives (let them take that first non-AR buck, report it and then have to comply). So, having gotten pretty far down the line with this, Yes I sometimes do feel the "its my deer" syndrome preceding and even encroaching into the regular season at both ends. And the same things can be said for the big game vs small game/turkey seasons. Neither is more important than the other. Some of those seasons are the "most important" season to some of us be it deer hunters, turkey hunters, gun dog owners, etc. I guess I am long winded (Very) but hope this is the type of response and discussion you were looking for and that I did not go too far afield. I too get a little selfish about "my deer" and "my season" and do not know what we all can do together (other than respect each other and share equally before we lose it all) to maintain a happy balance and stop all the territorial bickering. Please let's keep this thread a polite and rational discussion as Doc wanted it.

Happy Birthday to all of the Military Veterans out there . Thank you for your service to our country !

Pick a spot and do not look at the horns. MY problem is after the shot, have to make sure I do not have a heart attack.

Seen that picture before...

You are completely uneducated about the NRA. They will not allow any gun control laws to pass that will only effect law abiding gun owners, or are designed to be used against law abiding gun owners like the Trojan horse was used. I have a real problem with people who own guns, yet believe the NRA is not on their side, or is some type of lunatic organization. If not for the NRA, you wouldn't be able to own any guns today. And that is a FACT! Where do you get your NRA information? Have you ever been an NRA member? People who get their opinions from their enemies, are not examining both sides of the issue. Speak your mind, but be careful what's in your mind and where it came from.

Keep in mind too the 835 is bored out vs the 500 that isn't. The 500 will really pack a kick with 3.5's. There are plenty of package deals and variations of the 835 so check mossbergs website. I believe not all can shoot a 3.5. Gander and dicks will run sales too. Please don't spend under $100 on a scope. You'll regret it and end up buying a better scope later.

Well our other hunting partner tagged out this morning. Time to shoot some does. Some nice deer in this thread. Congrats to all!