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Well, this happened at about 10 am this morning. I made a shockingly bad shot that turned out to be shockingly devastating and mortal. I am converted to Swhackers though. Those things are formidable and deadly. Glamour shots and full story later when I get cleaned up and back from the processors 8 Points, looks like a 3 year old by the teeth.

Wife did it tonight nice basket 6 point she is pumped her first deer ever!!!!!

So, the morning start was not ideal. Wife forgot to set her alarm so it was already light, and after 7 am when I got up. It was windy and raining so I decided against a hunt. Suddenly the wind dropped and the rain abated. I stepped outside and the air felt good. I wondered if the rains all through the night meant deer would be late getting going. I hurriedly dressed and hit the same stand I have hunted all weekend, along a rub and scrape line and with camera data showing daylight Bucks, morning and afternoon. I got into the stand and could see the leaf litter around was disturbed. I figured it was too late and I had missed the action, 8:30 am by this point. I needed to go number 2 real bad, and so hobbled over to a creek nearby and sat on a downed tree going across it. It snapped just as I was finishing up and I went tumbling into the creek water and got a very wet arm. I figured this was a sign and was planning to head back in. As I passed the stand I decided to give it one more half hour. It was about 9:30 by this point. I got into a daze, thinking and talking to myself and looking in the wrong direction. For some reason I looked back over my shoulder, and there he was at 20 yards making to walk right past me, just as cameras had indicated he might. I barley had time to grab the bow, turn 270 degrees with him as he passed, all the while trying to catch my d-loop and failing. Panic set in, I was not going to be ready. I just managed to draw back before he entered the last shooting lane opportunity at 15 yards, and I don't remember letting loose. What I do remember is the horrifying sight of seeing my arrow buried in his rump.He had picked up the pace as he passed by. I should have bleated. Blood spurted but he darted on although looking very wounded and limpy. I was crushed. I figured I was going to have a stalk, track and finish adventure. He stopped at 50 yards, lay down and stopped moving. After a few minutes there was a little more movement. I decided he was hurt and I needed to get down and finish things. I came around behind and downwind of him but as I got to about 25 yards it seemed like it was over. I got to 15 yards, drew back and made some noise. He didn't budge. I knew it was over and I had gotten very lucky...very lucky indeed. I went back and tracked the blood. It was heavy and bubbly. I found the arrow and I had gotten decent penetration. I had obviously hit his femoral artery. All in all I'd say things started and ended in less than 8 minutes but those minutes watching him down lasted a lifetime while I feverishly calculated the best plan. It was a big disappointment to have made such a crappy shot based on me being distracted and rushing a shot I probably should never have taken and was not ready to take. Lesson learned. I will be frosty in the future when I know Bucks are using an area, as was the case here. Happy to have filled my bow tag however, given the inclement and odd weather we have been enjoying. I am handing the property over to my neighbor for gun season. My mission is to help him get a nice Buck. I don't feel the need for another deer just yet myself.

Dan, he hit 194 on the scale. 21” & 22” main beams with an 18” spread. Tons of fat on him. He was eating good. ***I have to correct this, as I was told tonight that the scale I used is off by 14-15lbs so weight is actually around 180.

This is my first post in the thread, as I haven't taken a deer with my bow in 3 years? It may be 4 years? Lawd can help me with this as I got my Elite bow the following year after you got yours. Anyway, I was hunting an area in 9F yesterday not seeing anything, A friend calls me and says he just got run over by 2 bucks grunting after a hot doe. Literally 400 yds from where I was! So I moved to a stand I have near there, 5 minutes in the stand and I could hear the grunts. At 5:00 I heard a grunt real close and looked up to see this buck at 15 yds. There was a doe in front of him and she moved into my little food plot, perfect broadside shot, I waited and he moved right to the same spot. I shot a little high and as he ran off I could see my arrow hanging out on the opposite side about to fall out. I waited an hour and got down. I didn't see any hair or blood at the hit spot, so i followed what I thought was the route he took from what I could see from my stand. No blood at 40 yds. I found my arrow and some blood, he went right down a mowed path, but there is a lot of water, I went 30 yds to next blood, another 30 yds and no blood after. I tracked the lane about 100 yds to a creek and never saw any sign. I went back to the last blood and found some more blood, and blood with bubbles in it! I don't know how I missed it the first time. he left the lane into thick stuff and 1 small drip at a time I found him 30 yds later. Pics coming

3N first archery buck Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got this guy in 9p around 330 came in quick was looking for does

So Friday I had enough time to slip into a stand for only the 3rd time this season. Life has been so busy raising 3 young kids, mom and dad working 2 more than full time jobs, trying to expand our careers etc.. But I recently got some daytime, and some just after dark photos of my #1 buck. The wind was NW so I picked a setup that was located near where these pics were taken and where the does tend to congregate before and after dark. Not far from one of my plots, and apple trees. I call this the safe place cause they are here all the time day or night. While watching a spike and doe mingle around a couple hundred yards out I snapped some pictures on my newly acquired Sony Hd video cam. While doing so i heard some scraping behind me over my shoulder. I turned around and seen a buck in action, scraping and urinating down his legs. I turnthe camera to the center opening, slowly reached for my bow. Glancing through the oak branches littered with leaves yet, i picked out a decent rack, so i removed the bow from its hanger. As he began walking out into the field i caught another glimpse of the rack, It was my #1 buck i call "The Ghost" .. I have been very good with controlling emotions and such while having shooters present in bow range. But I totally lost it and started shaking like crazy. This deer is one of my 8.5 yrs old, and haven't even laid eyes on him since 2012 when he was a 3.5yrs.. When I elected to pass him due to some brush, on the opening day of Gun. But a lot of history through trail cam pics.. Now Back to the story, I had just ranged a couple markers in the field to know yardage in case something happened fast, like this was unfolding.. I dialed in my HHA single pin to 40yrds where i believed he was heading.. and began to draw as he entered the center of the shooting lane in this picture.. he was heading for that doe on a steady walk. So I as softly as possible gave him the "meh", in hopes he wouldn't become fully alert, and only just peek my my way... Well he became fully alert staring me down.. Between the shakes and the trying to hurry and settle the pin before he bolts, I forgot to hold lower, on him and squeezed as the pin found the halfway mark up the back of his shoulder instead.. I don't believe he ducked at all and sent the arrow an inch or so over his back. My heart Sank!! Everything I tell myself "not to do" while at full draw, I did in the heat of the moment. Mad, Sad, bummed, sick to my stomach.. you name it. I guess its what we call Buck Fever.. After replaying the shot over and over again in my head, I thought to myself he wasn't quite 40, so I ranged that spot again, he was at 35yrds, not 40... Then thought to myself, ill check the video! Wrong.. while moving the camera, i never hit the record button... another Bummer! lol To wait on this deer, and finally get the chance with lots of history over the years and blow it! I'm staying positive due to the fact he didn't spook much, trotted 20 yards and stopped and glanced back at me, i had another arrow knocked already but those oak leaf branches blocked any shot.. and he slowly walked away.. I think he may be kill able still .. I just need to pick the right days on the right wind and the right stands and hope for the best... I do have more shooters on the lineup but this guy just made me want him even more now.. Anyhow, the reason i posted this here is for the fact of Practicing QDM. It is such a blessing to have animals of his caliber in our woods, and we aren't even a 100% co-op. Maybe 60% ish in some sort of management plan, and on poorer soils. But to pass the young bucks up and watch them and all other critters in their glory is amazing. To wait for a true slammer of a wise whitetail and beat him at his game, is just incredible, and astonishing. But to miss when the opportunity arises, is just super hard to swallow. Ive been here before, Ill probably be here again lol. Its part of the game. And its why I love to bow hunt more than gun hunt. But he will be even harder to tackle down now.. and an even bigger accomplishment if i was lucky enough again.. Decided to post a couple pictures.. Rant Over lol Good luck Everyone, Its the magical Time of year!!

Well didn't get a deer Saturday but had a great day. I was going to sit until 2pm. I saw what I believe to be 7 different deer 5 buck & 2 doe. I saw what I thought was my last one around 10:30 am. As I was packing up at 1:45 all of a sudden there were deer running everywhere. A 4pt. & a 6pt. were chasing doe all around under my stand the 6pt chased away the 4pt then a doe left but he still had the one which 5 min. later he mounted about 30 yds. from me. when they finished up(about a min. 2 stroker) they almost both fell over. They walked apart about 15yrds. & stood there just panting, like 2 teens doing it the first time, well about 5 min later he chased her again ,she stood still & he mounted her again & the same happened. I had 2 good chances the shoot him but I figured any guy that gets laid twice in 10 mins. deserves to live! lol First time I actually saw this in 50+ yrs of hunting, have seen the chase but never the mounting up close.

Priest said a record fast mass at 4 pm today. Wife was a champ and let me go for a quick sit. Got home, changed into hunting gear and literally ran out to the blind. Sounded like I was running on potato chips to get out there. Not five minutes later, this guy walks up the trail my blind looks out on. I am amazed the racket I made getting in didn't push him off. Stopped him, put a bolt through both lungs and piled up 20 yds later. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shot this guy Saturday morning. Unfortunately wound up bumping him 3 separate times throughout the day. Mind you these three bumps were spread over 12 hrs if not more. Finally found him today. After 3 long days of tracking and searching. Will post only thw pictures I took from my driveway as the picture for how I found him is not so pretty. The coyotes by me did a number and he was nearly picked clean. I was really hoping to donate this deer to the hungry. Unfortunately my next two deer will have to suffice. Without further adieu my buck from 3s Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

I love putting cams over scrapes every year!

And I just had a shooter at about 60yds through brush but couldn't get him closer and Phade just passed on a 105-110 8pt. That's 3 decent or better bucks seem in the last 30min. Hunt if you can.

I would tend to agree with this but I was in the woods Saturday and Sunday and saw doe with no bucks chasing and a couple different bucks just moving slow...minding their own business. I haven't seen evidence of it yet

Holy crap. I'm in the cat tails looking for birds when I hear a walking and a grunt maybe 15 feet in front of me. I freeze and a big 6 walks right toward me. I made a noise to stop him otherwise he might walked right into me!

I didn't see anything most of the morning but was in a new stand and planed to sit all day. At 11:15am a buck cam down one of the main trails and appeared to be in no hurry. I grunted him to a stop but he ended up stopping behind some trees. He took a few more steps and I stopped him again in an opening for a 30 yard shot. He only went about 40 yards and piled up hard. He had a pretty heavy body and getting him out from 2 miles deep, using a game cart was difficult. Another mid day encounter with a mature buck.

!0 pound pork loin brined for 4 days and smoked... Pretty tasty..

Well no luck for me yet. Still have a few days left here. Weather drops into the 20s tonight so that should help. But check out this monster my old man dropped in Kansas. My parents moved back to Kansas this past winter. He walked across the street to a 250acre farm and asked the old lady who owns it if he could hunt there. She said yes and that she normally doesn’t ever let anyone hunt but since they are neighbors no problem. He said he put up 2 cameras a couple weeks ago and has 6 bucks all over 150. This one he shot was the 2nd biggest. My old boss at the outfit I worked for in KS gave it a quick measure and he says it’s 165 being conservative. Could possibly break into B&C, will know for sure once the taxidermist gets his hands on it. 270 pounds dressed weight also! What a awesome buck.

My buddy David just texted that a monster stopped by 5 min ago. Huge but gave no shot and spooked at his decoy. Haven't seen anything but now is the time to be out. Just need some luck. Phade also had a big boy at 65 yards tending a doe yesterday. Me, I got squirrels. Lol

Success ! First Deer with the Crossbow ! 6 Pointer !

This afternoon I jumped into the stand around 130 or 2. The wind was perfect for the stand I was in, which is about 100 yards outside of a big bedding area in a swampy area bordering a large creek. I didn’t see anything until around 5 when a 1.5 year old 6 point came through about 35 yards behind me. He walked over to a scrape and freshened it up, then walked 10 yards to my right. I was texting a few people and heard some splashing and brush breaking back in the swamp. I turned and looked for a few minutes but did not see anything. After a few minutes I sat back down, texted my daughter about the 6 that went through. As I was putting my phone in my pocket, I heard a splash from the small stream behind me. I looked but did not see anything. As I was turning my head, I heard some sticks break behind me on my left. I slowly turned my head to see a wide rack and big body about 25 yards away. Without thinking, I turned a bit and reached up for my crossbow, which was hanging on a hook. Just then I thought “ahh crap, that was too much movement” and slowly looked back to the buck, which was staring right at me. We had a stare down and then the farmer up by the road, made a large bang sound and the buck turned his head to look. Seeing my chance, I took my crossbow down and got it shouldered. The buck turned his head back and started walking forward. He took 5 or 6 steps and was in a shooting lane at 20 yards. I put my 20 yard circle on him and pulled the trigger. I saw the lighted nock hit him right behind the shoulder about 2/3rds down his body. He bolted and ran about 60 yards, crashed into a tree and went down. I started shaking hard and called my girlfriend and a buddy that was hunting at the farm. After about 20 mins of shaking, texts, etc I got down to retrieve my buck. He is a 4.5 year old 8 point that I call Yardstick. He was a fighter and is missing his right G2 and left G3 from fighting.

X-bow opener doe down! This was an extra special, emotional hunt for me. Some of you know why.., and the rest of you will have to take my word for it. 16yd shot from a ground blind double lunger. Amazingly she ran 250yds before piling up BUT I found her ass! Thanks for the help dragging out sis! I couldn't have done it without ya!

One more for the recurve and my biggest buck to date Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

Turkeyfeathers.....I know I have posted almost exactly this before on your posts from previous years. This is my 28th year deer hunting and only my 5th with the bow/xbow. You have no idea what you are missing. I have become a much better hunter in the last 5 years than I ever was in the previous 23 years. Go buy a bow...you don't need so spend huge $$$....Just get something comfortable to you and start shooting it....I don't look forward to gun season at all....I hunt it of course but there nothing like bow season. Wish I had 23 years more experience with it....Go get a bow...can't stress it enough....

If you need to be talked into hunting the first couple weeks of November I dont know what to tell you. Not all does come into heat at the same time, thats why the bucks are "Seeking" and "Chasing". Be out there, it can happen any second

I seen them mate once. I let him finish then shot him. At that point I realized that when I die I wouldn't mind going out in the same fashion.

Thats how it is now, youre either in the game or bubkus lol

This week should be great timing for the rut to kick in and good weather too. I figure the deer have much less area to hide, so they will be up on the hillsides chasing instead in the bottom willow thickets, at least near the north end by the dam. I tagged a mature buck on Saturday that was walking around mid day. I had planned to take most of this week off, but now I'll just take a day and move a stand and enjoy the woods next weekend, but I'll be wishing I was out there this week.

When I am hunting I feel really FREE of all of life's burdens and responsibilities, even if it only for a few hours... Besides that, I like to shoot stuff......

Just got back from hunting in northern Maine. No luck, but had a great time still hunting skidder roads and clear cuts. Saw 2 bull moose and 2 does. Also, we had 3 Amish farms to hunt, one with standing corn and beautiful fields of clover. I'm at a total loss as to why there was not one track in that corn, and in 3 watches only saw one doe in the clover. I know Maine has nowhere near the deer numbers we do, but they don't like corn? Back to tracking tomorrow if I get a call.

Everyone with scavenger photos should feel free to share them on this thread. I posted my lamb butchering scraps on someone else's gut pile thread. However, I thought I would start one for the coming season. The lamb remains disappeared quickly. Look closely at these shots and you will see a colander shaped chunk of edibles. It is what remains when your render fat to make suet for the birds. These photos are not in order. The fisher checked it out first. The fox spent a lot of time sniffing, biting it, jumping back after biting it, then finally it dragged it out of sight. There was not sign of it this afternoon. A couple of our GPS tracked Golden Eagles just got within cell phone range after 7 months out of touch. I'll be posting selected research site photos here once that starts up in late December.

Skipped hunting and went fishing 22,23, and 24 inch landlocked salmon for dinner. They are pigs!

The 11-2 magic hour strikes again! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

this. end of discussion.

well i was in the same tree today so we will see. I am not a smart man

yup I physically live in ny, , as soon as my verbal commitment i made is done I will be gone and back to pa. yes our season is quite long here, my goal number 1 the rest of the week is to try and get dad in range of a good buck, or any legal buck. He will go if I go with him but that means taking one of my loggy cheap seats and standing on the main stand seat i put the 2nd stand above him then crawl up the tree into the second stand, saturday he was mumbling something about me being part squirrel lol. But he saw 2 really nice bucks and seemed to rejuvenate his desire to hunt and that is why he wanted a double ladder stand put up in the same area. he said yesterday he didn't want me crawling up trees just to set a 2nd stand so I could set with him.

I'm sure we would all have some little tweaks we would like to see happen to the NYS Constitution. My question is, just who would you like to entrust that to? Would you let those that keep electing Cuomo as Governor, or the same people who put Chuckie Schumer and Gillibrand in as our Senators? Would you trust the authors and supporters of "The Safe Act"? Here in The People's Republic of New York State, in this age and location of liberal mentality just who would you entrust to tinker with this document? Most likely it would be turned from a constitution to a manifesto.

It had a bunch, but that one is a prick tick.

Chicken quesadillas tonight, we're fat on weekends...don't judge us.

Healthy food only....Usually Mr Goodbar, Snickers, Reeses cups, Almond Joy and Payday....Water to wash it down, or to wash down the snuff residue before I eat my candy bars...

Good hunt this afternoon. Saw a monster at about 70 yards from my ground blind (tree blowdown in swamp). He was only about 25 yards from a pop up blind (that I wasn't in ). Grunted a couple of times but he didn't show any interest. He hung around for a few minutes then vanished in the heavy stuff.

On an all day sit I'll get a pizza delivered. Or Chinese

Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Wishing you well! And good luck for hunting this season! My fears were confirmed a couple weeks ago after the CT scan. Asked Doc to give me until after Thanksgiving to get some hunting done before surgery. This will be the 4th time under the knife this year for me. Not a one of us are ever guaranteed our futures. So live each day to the fullest. Hunt like each deer will be you last. Love your loved ones like there us no tomorrow. Thank God for the blessings in our lives. Live simply. 2017 has been a tough one. Already looking forward to a much better 2018!!! I'm certain it will be!

Kinda wanted my first deer taken with a bow to be a big buck but when this dandy doe stepped into the perfect spot I decided to fill one of my doe tags. Sorry not the best picture. She's a big girl.

Westchester County, NY (Kensico Reservoir)

Got in the stand about 7:30 am yesterday got set up and grunted a few times about 7:45. This guy walked out of the brush lot into the grass plot and he only went 40 yrds after the shot. Glade I shot him only 400 yrds from the road. My Nephew and I had a heck of a drag getting him out.

Nice buck!

Tuesday all day is my plan to, if I don't whack one Monday night . Although I head to town for an hour to eat lunch . So a double cheeseburger with grilled onions and bacon plus cajun fries .