Leaderboard

It took a while, but I finally put my tag on a buck this year. My buddy bagged a nice 5 point on the opener, but I saw nothing but a squirrel. I did spend a few hours in the morning on the opener helping him with his deer, when I should've been in my stand, but I don't know if I missed anything when I wasn't there. Anyway, the day after Thanksgiving I went to my friend's nearby property to hunt. He was out of town for Thanksgiving and asked if I would hunt his 100 acres and make sure no one else was hunting there. I had exclusive hunting privileges Weds through Friday. I drove my truck into a back field and parked to wait for the sun to rise. I took a seat at one end of the field where I could see the whole field, as well as the wood line around it. Soon after legal shooting time, I saw a doe at the far end of the field just inside the brush of the woods bordering the field. It was 200 yards away. Scanning the woods behind her, I spotted this nice 8-point buck. The brush was obscuring his body, and I could only see his head and neck. The doe spotted me and blew a warning. She did it again a few seconds later. When she ran into the woods the buck was still there looking at her. I knew he was going to run, so I set my crosshairs on his neck and steadied my aim. The Kimber 84M in 7mm08 roared and the buck staggered, as he tried to run away. I lost sight of him after that. I drove the truck over to where he stood and found him not far from where he was when I shot. I was a 200 yard off hand neck shot, and the longest shot I've taken on a buck in the Catskills. I had to call my friend Chuck to help me lift it onto the tailgate of my pickup, as it was too heavy for me to do it alone. The buck weighed 140 lbs field dressed and has a nice symmetrical 8-point rack. It also has two little bumps where it was growing 2 more points that would have made it a 10-pointer, but they're too small to count. I took some time to fill my tag, but it was worth the wait.

Went hunting with my oldest son and Grandson in Geneseo Friday . Sat for 5 hours and saw nothing . Had the wind blowing in my face . Around 4:20 , Matt shot a nice big doe . Blake saw a couple of fawns and never shot . That's it for me until this coming Thursday . I gave Matt one of my anterless permits since I haven't used one . Gotta git'r done ........

Fingers crossed for you! Good luck. At the risk of sounding obvious. Keep eyes open for hair because you may not see blood right off the bat.

Nice Buck !

Congrats on the buck!

Unless the kill was under a nusience tag issued by the DEC, it's illegal to knowingly shoot a sow with cubs in NY state. The cubs should make it, but being their motherless, they'll be more prone to go into areas to feed that they normally wouldn't be going into before trying to find a place to hibernate.

Yes they will make it unless something goofy happens. I shot a sow in PA quite a few years ago. It's totally legal there. When I checked it in I talked to the game commission guys about it. They said the cubs would be fine and lots of sows with cubs are shot during their season.