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Oh my goodness I got a pied buck wow one side I shot was brown other side is pied

He has a snow flake

Will be going out at 1:30 today with a couple hunting buddies for the last hurrah of the season. Yesterday was quite an adventure. Me and two hunting buddies decided to head down to West Valley/Ashford area at the end of the 219 to hunt. We were watching the weather Friday and Friday evening and thought it would be OK. Well, we were wrong. 18" on the ground and it was lake effect snow like crazy at 7:00 a.m. After a discussion, we decided to head up to Niagara county land to hunt. There was snow on the ground, and I was able to connect on my second muzzleloader deer in two days, a nice-sized doe, later Saturday morning. Story here in the muzzleloader harvest thread.

Yesterday I went Out for the evening sit, as our closing on the new house had been postponed. I walked in and found an ungodly amount of tracks in the thickets behind the standing corn field, so I decided To sit a stand between the thickets and swamp, where I’m sure they are bedding up most of the day. I was In the stand for about 30 mins when I saw A group of 4 does come out of the swamp heading right for me. They cut across my boot tracks in the snow and the 2 older ones hung up while the younger 2 came right in to 10 yards. I got My muzzleloader off the hook and waited to see what the older does we’re going to do. Eventually one gave me a nice broadside shot at 65 yards, so I pulled The trigger and down she went. I reloaded And waited, as I still Had quite a bit of daylight left. After 15 mins or so I loomed Behind me to my left to see a big doe coming out of the swamp. She walked right through my wind and started trotting. I got My muzzleloader ready and grunted to try and stop her. She must have been grunted at before because as soon as I did It, she took off at full speed. 10 mi s later I saw Another deer exiting the swamp. Got my Bono’s up and it was a good 2 1/2 year old 8 with a small drop tine that I have Plenty of pictures of. I gave Him a pass, hoping that he makes it through the last few days of the season, as I really Want to see what he becomes next year. I stayed In the stand till dark to see what else was going to pass through but I didnt See anything so I hopped Down to retrieve my doe. She’s a big old nanny with a massive noggin. Biggest doe I’ve shot in the last few seasons. She also makes my goal for this year complete. 1 doe with my bow, a buck with my crossbow, a doe with my rifle and a doe with my muzzleloader. I may Go out tonight to see if I cant find a nice buck to fill my last tag with.

Must have just got married. Im sure they are in a purse somewhere

Heard the squirrels going nuts on the other side of the thicket. Few minutes later, she stepped out. Was her last. Weighted 40#

In the same stand in a tree row overlooking a field when I got my first muzzleloader deer. About 80 yards to my left, perpendicular to the tree row is a row of trees that gets a lot of east-wes deer traffic. At my 10 o'clock, about 90 yards away, I see three doe slowly moving East. I Iined up a clear shot on the lead doe and fire away freehand; didn't even bother to zoom in the scope, although I probably could have and should have. No drop. It just scampers off to its hard left, while the other two doe go run away to the left. Fortunately I have an experienced hunting buddy with me. We wait a few minutes, then he goes to look for a blood trail while I direct him to the shot area from my stand. He finds some hair and some fine mist-like drops of blood. He tells me to come down and stay to his side 15 yards away with my muzzleloader ready in case we jump it. Had there not been snow on the ground, it would have very difficult to follow this blood trail. It was intermitant at first, where it first bounded away, and just a fine mist spray of blood in spots. We keep at it, towards the edge of the property. We find a spot where it had bedded down for a while, about 100 yards away, with blood all over the area. Now the trail is getting easier to follow. Finally, after another 50 yards or so, we find the blood trail that is spread out over a wider area, like it was staggering or going side to side. 10 yards away, we find it. A nice sized doe. Although I aimed for the center of the deer, I had shot it in the throat. I am glad it was ultimately a lethal shot, and that we were able to recover it within an hour. Still, I feel bad that it had to suffer unnecessarily like that. This is the second shot in two days that was high and to the right. I think I will need to go to the range and confirm my sights are on. The first shot on Friday was through some tree branches, so I had assumed it had been deflected. But two days in a row? I've been very lucky and fortunate this muzzleloader season.

Still hunted all day yesterday, I jumped a really nice buck at 830 and was on him for a few hours never able to get a clean shot. I had a shot at 55 yards through some cover and just couldn't convince myself it was an ethical shot. Later I jumped two nice doe and dropped on in her tracks at 160 yards when they slowed. Awesome day in the woods! Got back to the truck and had 9 inches of fresh snow on it.

My bil came over yesterday morning for his final hunt of the year. We sat about 100 yards apart and at 9am 2 small bucks came by me and worked thier way to within 30 yards of him. He made a great shot on 1 with his open sighted hawken style muzzleloader. I got to watch the buck drop. We skinned and quarterd it here. Turns out it was a half rack, wouldve been a small 8. It dropped 1 side already because it had been previously shot in the neck! Through and through, small hole that was all puss filled. Not alot of fat on him. Happy he was taken out. And a happy ending to the 2017 season, on to coyotes.

It's -2F right now. I'm not sure what it was at daybreak, but I'm sure it was colder than that. I took these pictures from my deck off the kitchen a bout an hour ago.

Good movement so far today. 2 groups of 2 doe, then a small buck, I think the same one as yesterday. And just now this group of 3 doe...came into about 10 yards at one point before wandering off. Hoping one of the big boys comes by.

He didn’t associate as a buck. In 2017 he can be antlerless if he wants! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did some slow drives yesterday in the deep stuff. Man, I'm not as young as I used to be !! Was able to get my mentoree a deer though. He's been after em all year and hasn't scored. He's a nice kid and very eager to learn. I was real happy for him. His first muzzy kill too! I'll be after a big fatty tonight and prob hunt hard till Tues. Haven't done a morning sit since early gun. Gonna finish off Tues at the farm with dad. Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Biz could have shot 2 bucks yesterday and we’d never know. Actually guessing there’d be an emergency broadcast scroll at bottom of tv of the Chiefs game

I hunted East Aurora this morning, 18* and light east wind. Around 10am I mooched down into a spot take a peak, spotted a doe about 70 yards. I had a great rest but I couldn't find a good hole to slip a bullet through. As I'm watching her, something told me to turn around. Not 40 yards a way is a dandy6pt. He was tall and looked to be probably 2.5 years old or so, he'll be a dandy next year! Oh, 2' plus of nice powdery snow.

Got my first duck just 10 min ago. I believe it's a black duck. Boy am I glad I bought duckstamp on Friday Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think that these preserves serve an important function. It can be good training for a young person to observe his/her reaction to shooting, and dressing big game as well as teaching safety issues. It's enjoyment for disabled, or elderly person who can't, or who can no longer get out to hunt on his/her own. It's also outdoor enjoyment for any other gun owner who wants to go just to go and have fun. I suspect that all, or most participants support the 2nd amendment and hunting rights so I don't think that hunters who don't go to preserves should knock them. They purchase firearms, ammo as well as making other hunting supported purchases., so hunters win. I know a number of people who have gone to preserves and all of them freely admit to how and where they got their "trophies", and all of them are gun owners and hunters. In addition, I would never use the term canned hunts, which, as I was told, was a term started by anti hunters. They win whenever we quote them, or we go after our own. So in my opinion if someone wants to get some antlers on the wall, and that's how they want to do it they should go for it, have fun, hang their trophies and tell their stories.

i can see someone standing in the woods holding the whole package in one hand and their knife in the other hand and saying man I thought that buck was dead.....as they watch it run away.

Still hunted all day yesterday. Saw 7 deer total. Around 430 shot a momma. Got home and hung her up around 830. Gotta skin her this am then goingback out. Snow coved ground and quiet walking.

4 does came in running straight to an Apple tree thats still holding fruit, shot biggest with the TC ML. Pretty huge doe.

Rabbit burrito/taco.

Never did make it back out this season. Bad cold a week ago kept me congested and I have a long road of treatment ahead if I want to hunt next season. Gotta be healthy and this frigid air was just not going to work for me. Thank you to all of the hunters posting their adventures this season.

On a whim , fell into place at the last moment, last light sit. Dinorocks and his son toting real smoke poles out here. First day of ml for me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I went out solo this morning for muzzleloader. Went to a stand in the back left corner of the property. Saw nothing and started to get cold after two hours, so I took a walk to another stand near the front left corner of the property. Within a few minutes, I see a white tail bounding from right to left, about 100 yards away, then another. They quickly go out of my range of vision, but then they circled back. It was almost like they were playing. I take a look with the rangefinder and see it is a buck chasing two does. I stupidly zoomed in my scope to the max 9x, and now I am struggling to get a deer in the scope. Finally, I spot them and get them in the scope. The buck pauses, I quickly line up a shot and fire away. The buck bounds off to the left again, after the does. I try to watch him go as far as I can. No drop. So I wait a few minutes, get down, reload (you never know) and start looking for tracks, blood or hair. The shot was between 80 and 100 yards, best I could figure. I find the tracks, but no blood or hair. I follow them as far as I could go where I lost the buck to the left of my field of vision. Nothing. Oh well, I missed. At this point I'm near another tree stand at the front center of the property, so I just decide to go sit in that one. It's about 10:45, and I was going to take a lunch/heat break around 11:30 anyway. Go up, get all settled in, etc. and within 5 minutes, almost directly in front of me, I see a buck standing in the middle of the food plot that's in front of the treestand I had just shot from! Well, this time, I'm not rushing it, and he was he kind enough to just stand there in the middle of the food plot and wait for me. I guess he was still looking for the does that gave him the slip. I use the range finder to range him in at 150 yards. Then I look at the chart for my scope/ballistics (I printed it, laminated it front and back with packing tape, and attached it to my scope with a garbage twist tie) and see that the second circle at 8x is 149 yards. So I crank my scope to 8x, carefully like up my shot, and gently pull the trigger. Bam! He drops like he is supposed to. Saw the legs try to move for a few seconds, but that was it. I quickly went to go get the UTV, then went over to field dress him. Although the middle of the day, I was worried about the coyotes coming. Fortunately, that was not an issue. When I finally get to him I see he is a six pointer with a surprisingly wide rack; medium sized body. For my first muzzleloader kill, and my first deer of this season, I'm happy. After two misses in shotgun, and one miss earlier this morning, it was a relief to finally connect. Sorry for the pic. I was solo and in a bit of a hurry.

Goat Spicy chicken pizza and calamari Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To me, a wild 100 inch buck, is "worth" so much more, than a 200 inch fenced deer. JMO.

NC 6 point 2.5 yo TC Triumph 148 yards Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Manicotti and meatballs made five trays there delicious but a pita to stuff.

I think that's a wrap for me. Feeling the (freezer) burn after that all-day ice box sit. Fisher and red tail hawk spotted, but no deer. Still, it's been a great season for me and big step forward. Very grateful.

Hunted Richmondville today with my son and brother. It was 1* when we started in, spotted 7 doe on the next mountain and went off in pursuit. Many many miles today but my son got to experience still hunting and tracking and missing all in one day. Caught two different groups bedded and stalked in on both which was extremely hard with 10 plus bedded all over. First group my son got in on, the gun didn’t go off due to a cap that wasn’t seated well. Second group he got to @60 yards and missed clean. Awesome day and I am happy we got to do it together. When we finally hit the truck I had him shoot the gun so he couldn’t say it was off. Lol. Iron sights ain’t for everyone but he sure like MY gun, that means I’ll buy a new one. Saw in the ballpark of 20+, all does. One more day for me.

The youngster don’t let me down. He has fallen asleep on every watch this year lol. I’m afraid to let him hunt alone next year. Deer will run his ass right over. Or he will fall asleep and wake up middle of the night lol. Forget treestands!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Look what I found Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Been out a total of about ten hours since third day of gun , just parked in Canandaigua! Perfect wind for the same ladder I got my gun buck out of . Wife’s making pot roast and a guy at work gave me a bottle of Woodford Reserve , add big buck for perfect day !

Carrying or not Carrying, that is the question? For me it comes down to what I would be using my long range rifle for, namely target shooting or hunting. Target shooting and some varmint hunting where I would not be carrying my rifle too far or not much at all a higher power scope like the ones you listed are fine and preferable in many of those situations. Some of my rimfire rifles have long heavy scopes with 20x to 24x, they are heavier guns shot off the bench, great for target shooting but not something I would much want to carry around in the woods for Squirrel hunting. A hunting rifle that I would be carrying and moving around some distances will be a different proposition when it comes to a scope, I like light weight "everything" when pertaining to those weapons. I have shot woodchucks and crows at well over 400 yards with varmint rifles and straight 12x scopes so I know that under conditions in the field on even fairly small targets 12x is plenty of scope. Big game hunting requires even less power for me, 2x7 is my favorite power range and Leupold is my scope brand when I get serious.

I have leupold on all my guns, but im planning on getting a pst on my 6.5 grendel. Ive never heard anything bad about the high end vortex optics.

What the hell would our lives be like if this site vanished forever, I cringe at the thought. Like the morning with no coffee, a gun without bullets and huntingny without Turkey feathers! lol

Ok it’s quiet, calm, cold and devoid of deer down on this end? There were fresh overnight tracks as always up by the house. Back here 2. Well it only takes one lol. I’ll sit for a while then poke around. The boy won’t get up to hunt in single digits!! Lol Wait till he gets older and can enjoy the stillness. We will get out later for his last sit if the year. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Russians ?

Here was my view this morning- couldn’t get site to work all day Saw tracks, climbed quiet, saw $hit!!!! Home by 11...sat with my daughter at an audition for a lead part in “the little mermaid” (send prayers!) and drive to Hingham, MA. $hitty “Italian” for dinner ($12 knob creek-WTF?!?) gearing up for the Yankees/Giant ribbing from the cousins tomorrow at the Mrs Family Christmas....I smell a sick day for next week! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Last hunt of the season for me. Had a lot of action this afternoon. Saw about 5 deer chased by a coyote across the stream on a ridge about 140 yards away. Two of the deer peeled off and came across by me only 15 feet away . They were yearlings. It was funny, I watched them watching the coyote chase the other deer and when they went out of sight, these 2 ran back across the stream behind all of the chased deer. Then about 45 minutes later a spike came into about 30 yards away. Had a good season, lots of action during the regular bow season. Shot a buck with the bow. Today was the most action I had during the gun season and ML season. Very slow during those seasons, but had an enjoyable, safe season and am thankful for the time in the woods. Thanks for all the cool stories and postings. Merry Christmas everybody! Jeff

That's awesome. Not too often do you hear of a snowflake in the woods... Lol. Had to ! Serious though,that's super cool Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

There’s nothing crappy about the lower end Vortex scopes. Nicer glass than any other scope in their price range and a no questions lifetime warranty. I’ve had and have quite a few of the Crossfire and Crossfire II line. I would reccomend a Vortex in the Viper line for your purposes. Awesome scopes, and more features than any Leupold I have ever Looked through.

Leupold is American made. Not sure at what price point the Votex is made in america, but the less expensive models are Chinese crap.

Not for me, but as long as they came by the money legally and ethically I have no problem with it. A lot of people spend a lot of money on things I think are stupid and I'm sure I spend mine on stuff some people think is stupid. Hell, I sometimes spend money on stuff I think is stupid!

I bet it had something to do with @Biz-R-OWorld electrical problem

Well, I guess in truth nothing really needs "thinning". Mother Nature will take care of populations through wildly fluctuating populations that go in and out of control strictly by heavy epidemics of disease and starvation. I have heard that argument from every anti-hunter I have ever encountered. I guess our attempts at wildlife management is indeed a complete waste of money since Mother Nature already does the job for us. As far as that nonsense that hunting causes coyote populations to increase, that flies in the face of the experiences of ranchers that have successfully kept coyote populations at bay to the benefit of their livestock. It truly sounds like some kind of study that was funded by PETA.....lol. I suppose that since coyotes manage their own populations, then disease and starvation must also be a major factor in increasing the populations in the same way that hunting and trapping does. At some point one has to call BS on that crazy illogical theory. As far as the impacts of coyotes on other species, I am not as concerned about that as many are. But in spite of arguments to the contrary coyotes do reside at the top of the food chain here in NYS, with no natural predators other than the anemic and unmotivated efforts of hunters and trappers. And I think that the general opinion of biologists is that no species should be allowed to go uncontrolled ..... even if they do look like cute little fuzzy puppy-dogs.

I was considering getting a part time job since I had so much spare time on my hands the last 22 HOURS...........

To the guy who started the post there are plenty of 120’s to 130’s in NY. I wouldn’t waste my money on a canned hunt. You may have to travel and there are no guarantees but that’s why they call it hunting and not shooting.

At about 11:00 this morning I shot my first deer with a muzzleloader, a 6 point buck at 150 yards. I just recently got home after dealing with it. I posted the story in the hunting success stories forum here (I thought there was a muzzleloader harvest thread but couldn't find it.) Sorry for the pic, I was solo and in a hurry. (FWIW, I was aiming for the lungs; it ended up being a neck shot <shrug>.)

And Mario Cuomo