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Last year I missed a good buck at 5 yards when I clipped 1 little witch hazel branch. I said then that since the arrow clipped his left front leg that was the only buck I would hunt for last year. had no other encounter with him through the end of archery. I saw him 3 times in rifle only once where I had a sure kill no shot as he was right on the skyline and no way I was taking that shot so I passed him. I saw him this spring and a number of times through the summer and fall, with little free time to hunt I took this week off and focused 100% on his core area. passed up some bucks both saturday and monday most being 1.5's and 2.5's. Tuesday with the rain I didn't hunt. wed. morning was perfect wind for the bedding area flat in his core area, got in early with intent to set dark to dark. just at daylight I had 3 doe come running through with 2 respectable 8's following, 1 being a 2.5 and the other bigger one might have been 3.5 but he got through before I could get a full assessment of him. about 15 minutes later I can see a big buck on the skyline about 200 yards away, almost exactly where I saw the one last rifle season. he chased a doe the opposite direction. it seemed a bit misty in the air and was foggy so I checked the radar on the phone and saw no rain in the area. it was just after 7. I look out on the flat and like a phantom he just materialized out of the fog. it was Tank and he was walking directly at me. this area was logged 8 years ago and is just a sea of multifloral rose, blackberry, witch hazel, poplar, maple and sumac. I am 28 feet up in a double trunked cherry tree so I am looking down through all the brush. He makes a scrape 40 yards from me and made quite the production of it as he had leaves and mud flying 8-10 feet in the air. i couldn't really see the rack just a glimpse here and there but knew it was tank. He was on my silvertop trail but going backwards on it I covered the can call and gave a muffled bleat, he stopped looked then took another step so I bleated again making him stop. he started walking away again so I hit him with a tending grunt. he bristled up turned 180 and here he comes. still in the brush. slowly he is coming now he is right on the silvertop trail and I am 100% focused on his front shoulder. 30,25,20,15,10, he walks behind 2 mid size maples I ease to full draw, 8,7,6,5,,,, he stops settle just off the shoulder and just as I released I thought I remembered him taking a step. He lunged forward, then ran as best he could out through the maze of tangled briars. I saw him when he got over to the other side of the bedding area about 100 yards away, he stopped and was wagging his tail like a beagle on a rabbit. He turned to the right and in a couple steps he was out of sight. headed right towards an even worse area of treetops and all the other stuff listed above, you can not even crawl through their tunnels. I sent judy a text telling her I just shot tank but had not checked the arrow yet but felt he was liver hit. I eased down the tree and checked the shot site and sure enough the arrow is dripping with liver blood and stomach. I ease back up to the stand, get my pack on and let the bow down and ease back down and slowly and quietly ease to 500 yards to the truck. I was constantly checking the weather, but knew I had to wait. If I pushed it and he got down into that hollow we would never find him. Even though I watched that fletching go through his shoulder I KNOW what evidence is present on the arrow and that tells me to wait. I gave him till 4 when we got back to the stand, eased 30 yards out the scuffed leaves trail and no blood.... I told dad I was going to get in the stand and direct him to the last spot i saw him. it took him almost a half hour to get out to 100 yards to the spot. I said stay there and I will get over there, I work my way over and now within sight of where he should be standing but no orange hat, I call out to him ( not shouting ) no response,,, now dads 83, yeah in good health but ya never know.... I call him on the phone,,, where the heck are you I told you to stay here, him- im right here. me- well where the H$%^ is right here not where I told you to stay.. him- im right here with your deer... I almost dropped the phone. I got down to him and i was elated then deflated when I realized his left side was gone! I wanted to puke! once I knew it was tank I never looked at his head again. after tagging and dressing I got back to camp for the cart, back to the deer and then the work began.. about 3 hours into the trip out dad says I don't know why you shoot deer back here because we go through this every time. all I said was I think the results speak for themselves. by the time we got back and got him washed out and hung up I had forgot to get pics. and I was a bloody mess from my own blood, tired, sore, dehydrated, etc. so I got a couple pics this morning. I also put him on the scale, 214lbs dressed. antler bases are 8.25 and 8.5 inches. pretty respectable numbers even for a half rack.

Howdy all, I got this 4 point in Madison County near Hamilton last Saturday 11/7. He was the 8th buck I saw that day and the first to offer me a clean broadside shot at 18 yards. I hit him about 4pm so by the time I got down and tracked him down it was getting late so hence the darker first picture.

9 pt state land prolly the smallest buck out of the three i saw in there this morning but limited time so tagged out. I might sit there opening gun morning cuz i kept consistently seeing a nice one and it was such a drag my climber got left behind Sent from my LGL22C using Tapatalk

Keep the wind in your face and you will save a lot of money.

Just watched the Rangers beat the Blues from my seats in MSG.

First Crossbow Kill, PSE Fang, Rage Broadheads, went 30 yards. Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

sorry for the sideways photo.....11/10/15, PSE Fang, Rage Broadhead, 20 yard shot....10 yard tracking job. Oh, and before I shot her, she was being chased around by a buck about 100 yards away....I stayed in stand for a little longer hoping he would follow, I finally got down and figured I would drag her a ways off before gutting with plans on hunting the area later on, as I was dragging I noticed the buck making his way towards me so I slowly walked back to my stand which was now at the base of the tree and waited....he walked to within 20 yards of me and went to her and stuck around offering me numerous perfect shots.......he was the biggest 4pt I have ever seen, but we have antler restrictions so all I could do was sit and watch...good show none the less.

Wow, I just saw HUGE bear! First time ever while hunting. He was walking slowly at 50 yards. Really cool..

I love how there are those that speak of ethics and respect for the animal, yet have no problem taking a deer after hours. The pathetic desperation for a deer must be overpowering... the lack of ability to kill a deer during legal shooting hours... what a tug of war that must be in their mind.

Got this little fella tonite. I've seen him now 4 times in the last month without a doe around. Well I've passed up shots on him twice, I've been out of steaks since August so he didn't get a third pass. Unfortunately first shot clipped a branch and went high and spined him, I quickly followed up with another shot square in the shoulder. Happy to be having tenderloin for dinner tomorrow. O I passed on a decent 6 point a half hour before he came out. That will be a nice buck next year.

Ok .... I'm just whining here but I'm at work and would rather be climbing into my tree stand ! Anyone else being tethered at work besides being in the woods ?

I am just going to make one more statement and I am done with this thread. As hunters, sometimes we are our own worst enemy

It's more fun if you use somebody ELSE's hand....

Only if you are jewish and it's a Friday night.

It is interesting that some find it laughable that some of us look up sunrise and sunset times. Also interesting, is that they will actually call you out on it. They can not, in thier mind, get the fact that we follow the game laws. "They" think everyone "bends" them, I own my own land in a remote area. I could shoot a deer at midnight. nobody would ever know. I pack it up 15 minutes before, in case I jump someting on my way back to camp.

Been reading all I can on this site for 3-4 seasons. Most all of you seem like great people who are always willing to educate a newbie with thoughtful answers. Just wanted to say hello

I hope your not planning on trimming branches in WMA's , or the internet cops will get ya.

First crossbow kill. Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

It's my firm opinion that the reason why hunters say deer don't move in the wind and rain is because hunters don't hunt in the wind and rain. I've gotten some great deer on poor weather days Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a Red Tailed Hawk land on my boot while while turkey hunting. Had my back to a tree with my legs stretched out on a log while calling. The bird landed on my boot toe and stared into my camo face mask for about 10 seconds before flying off.

No, the NYS Environmental Conservation Laws say nothing about "common sense". There are explicit starting and stopping times and that is a good thing. At least it keeps all those shots in the dark down to a dull roar. Those idiots are using their version of common sense too. The problem is that contrary to their own beliefs, they really don't have any. I get a kick out of those who try to justify ignoring or thumbing their noses at the laws based on inconvenience. It really sounds like the bigger the rack, the more laws it justifies breaking. Hey .... these are the armed people we have out there in the woods with us. And then there are those who are struggling to get everyone to admit that they break the law so they can feel good about doing it themselves. You drive 5 MPH over the speed limit? Well great, let's all go out jack-lighting tonight. Damn ..... what on earth is wrong with you people? You are not talking about accidently or inadvertently or mistakenly breaking the law. You are bragging about or admittedly planning on willful illegal action. And sadly you don't even see anything wrong with that.

I posted a thread recently about a droptined buck that I got on camera on halloween... I checked this cam again today and was shocked to discover another one!!! My treestand is in the big tree in the top right hand corner. I almost sat here monday morning too...

The colder temps should have the deer moving. I'm gonna try to find the lee side of a woods or spot protected from the wind, the deer may be seeking out those places too.

I want to say Thank You to the guys willing to stand against ,unfortunately, the majority in saying breaking the law is not wrong. Regardless of how one tries to rationalize ,compare to,trivialize or justify those actions. There are young or new hunters that read these type of posts and it just makes me sick knowing what they may be taking away from them...Complain about the poachers, baiters trespassers,brown down all you want...but it is this and the people that train the new hunters that cause the problems...for if one broken law is OK by a little.... how many others in their minds will be as well?..... Do Not whine about what you have helped to create...do not look down your noses at anti's and posters when you have helped to create the images going through their minds....

Thought this thread title was about something else ...

ethics and what's legal is not ALWAYS the same thing. For example, I don't believe it's unethical to smoke weed. I don't find it unethical to speed if you're rushing your pregnant wife to the hospital. If the law says I can only carry 7 rounds in my pistol, carrying 8 doesn't make me feel like a sleazeball. Point being, spotlighting and hunting in THE DARK would be unethical practices. Letting a deer suffer after sunset instead of putting it down seems unethical to me. Taking a deer 3 minutes after sunset doesn't make you a monster in my eyes.

It doesn't take a genius to check the weather channel or accu weather and see what time sunrise and sunset are .

Got dads "6" point cleaned up. I'm pretty sure legally it's a 5 lol. He's never going to give me my rage hypodermic back after this.

Many years ago, I was hunting mule deer on the outskirts of a Colorado ski town on some public land that was popular with hikers. A trail followed a creek a long way up a tall mountain. I killed a buck at 10 am, about a half mile off the trail, and about 5 miles from the trail-head parking area. I figured I had the rest of the day to get the deer out myself, rather than heading back to camp to get help like the other guys did when they got theirs. I was young and foolish. When I started up that morning before daybreak, it was quite cold, but dragging that heavy carcass down that trail into the afternoon, it got very warm. I was literally sweating gallons, and very thankful for the creek, my canteen and some water purification tablets. The thin air at high elevation didn't help, but fortunately it was mostly a downhill drag, so gravity did. About mid-way thru the drag, a couple big dogs came charging, barking, and drooling from around a bend. I had saved the heart and liver in a plastic bag. That was inside the carcass, along with some snow I had packed in there, from a shady spot, to try and preserve the meat in the rising temperatures. The dogs quickly ripped that bag apart and tore into those "treats". I dropped my pack, frantically trying to find my slingshot to drive them away. Just then two good-looking women, dressed in flashy jogging suits, rounded the bend and called for their dogs. When they reached the bloody mess blocking the trail, one of them said: "that's gross". I replied: "Bambi was hurt real bad, I was trying to get him to the vet but now your dogs just ate his heart". They just shook their heads and continued up the trail. Several hours later they passed me again on their way back down and without saying a word. Had I known how bad that deer would taste compared to a NY whitetail, I would have just saved the rack and let them dogs have the rest of it.

He could hear them saying, "I can even smell the fish today!"

They beat the "Jersey Jets" ! yeeeee --haaaah ! All the TV announcers picked the Jersey Jets to win .....

+1. Last year I used a spray. Being a smoker I came to the conclusion I was wasting money. Light up in the woods and all that "stuff" you did to cover your smell is gone. There are a ton of threads about this on here, and it's a debate that won't end. Do what ever you think helps, and makes you confident. No matter what, keep the wind in your favor when you can, have a few set ups to deal with the wind, and hunt.

A deer has something like 30% more scent receptors than a dog. And, dogs are not fooled by all the scent free products.

I know most hate bow hunting in the wind. But I have a south facing oak and hemlock ridge that the deer pile into when the wind is blowing hard from the N-NW. I have been saving this spot for mid November. A natural ground blind that has been very good to me over the years. About halfway up the ridge. That's where I'll be before light in the morning! Hoping to change my luck this year! Anyone else have a good set up for the strong November winds?

Perhaps EVER

thats very cool. good luck I hope one of you get him

"I vas only followink ORDERS "

Attached is a photo of Pygmy's hand. Pygmy, you didn't listen to your mama did you?

used them again this past week, I think they're pretty good...glad I bought them.

The true twisted view is on the left. They whole heartedly believe the Constitution and the Bill of Rights exists to grant us all our freedoms. They actually exist to assure our freedom by limiting the Government.

I always liked Fitzpatrick, but he'd kill us with those late interceptions especially during comebacks. As much as I like him, I'm glad he hasn't lost his "touch"!

Larry...now you'd have to have driven through Mt Morris NY to know THATS a possibility!

I'm just goofing.

What do you consider "their twisted cause"?

This was a NICE win

Ground blinds for me and my son this year being his first. I stick the blind in the woods just off the edge of a cut corn field. No treestands this year. Two comfy swivel chairs and a Mr Heater in case it's too cold and a thermos of hot coffee and sandwiches.

OK, A guy I know posted this picture of what he seen on the opening day of Gun Seasons in 2013 in The Finger Lakes National Forest in Hector. I really don't think anyone can beat this for the weirdest thing. Some guy was walking his goats on opening day of gun season. At least he put hunter orange on them

If I do I just hunt from my truck & watch the clock

Was able to get out of work in time to go hunting this afternoon and it paid off. 6 point with the Excalibur Matrix 310.