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Big buck down!

They got it back to the trail that follows the property line. Rack is in pristine condition. And now she knows what a deer drag is like. Her second best ever deer - happy daughter! Daughter comes to our place every year. She hunts harder than I. Always more glad that she gets her NY road trip buck than if I get my own. It’s become a nice tradition. Happy Dad. Now I’m out for the afternoon shift where I saw those bucks at last light yesterday.

She got him! They followed him down to the bottom of the creek bed and saw him laying there on the other side. Hubby finished him where he laid. they just field dressed him and are starting the drag. They've got about 400-500 yds all uphill in a foot plus of slippery snow to get to where I can get a machine to it. This ought to take a couple of hours. I'm probably going out for the afternoon sit in a bit and will most likely get him back to the house after dark unless they make good time. Pics to follow. Every year she has had her deer recovered with my tractor, never had to drag an inch. I've been telling her all of my "olden days" stories about having to drag them all back. Now she'll know!

Whoohoo! Daughter just dropped a buck. But after a minute it got up and stumbled off. Thinks she hit it good, but possibly high. Gonna give it an hour and go after it.

So I closed the weld shop at 4 today. Something in my gut was calling to me, and as a firm believer of doing what my gut say, I left for my ground blind.Its now 4:15 . I dont have long but its going to be kinda uncomfortable. just a tarp on cold wet ground , no chair. my shop bibs and a dirty sweatshirt. Oh well. Things a starting to wind down, no deer sightings and im starting to think about winding things up for the evening, figured i got about ten minutes max. I look over to the left as far as i could see and i see a deer. now im thinking right away its a doe.Well let me tell ya ,that thought quickly left my mind.Now I passed and a small six point yesterday at 80 yards in an open field. I wasnt about to do that again. so i pull up my trusty smoke pole and size him up. He is just standing there looking around eating on soybeans. plenty of time to put a good shot on him. So thats what I did. I didnt see him run but I heard crashing, so I figured he split. Nope. about sixty yards.I walked over to where I shot and im looking around for hair or blood,I dont see anything. Im starting to panic instantly.then I see it . the Soybean Buck. Not much of a blood trail when you drop them on the spot.its more like a blood puddle. So thats three deer in two days. I think the butcher shop is about to be open for business. I called the guy I left at work. he said but you havent even been gone an hour. I smiled.

. Pole is starting to add up! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A fellow coworkers friend shot him opening day. They have a hunting club and they have 3 years worth of game camera photos of him. They had never laid eyes on him till this year . This hunter watched him 80 yards out during archery, but could not get him to come in. Shot him out of the same stand during firearms. Check out the size of his body, He’s not very big to be carrying a rack that size..

Such a nice guy to drive an hour to help me out with the stuck ATV. Way above and beyond what anyone can ask. And he really didn’t know me that well. Thanks my friend. Hope I can repay the favor. And enjoyed the conversation. Hope we get a chance to catch up under better circumstances . Long story short, we picked up front end and pushed it over on to fresh reeds. Enough for me to drive out from there. Always amazed at the quality of the people I meet on this forum.

Here's a cool old hometown buck that I got in to mount. A buddy killed him sunday morning. I definately feel this ancient old guy was on the downhill slide of antler growth.

Finally got my helper.

Taken Sunday, 11/18 around 8:45 am in 4f. My son was there with me and helped me track him which was very exciting!

Wolc gonna track your IP address and kill that BB Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Toting daughters youth 20 today. And hunting in a Snowglobe Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mrs TF made gumbo on her day off Two big bowls. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Absolutely perfect morning out. Got that feeling

It finally happened and it wasn't a cartoon! I have been hunting a piece of state land since opening day and today I was going to take the stand down and move to another property for the rest of the week where I have a doe tag. I lowered my gun down. I turned to my left where the terrain drops precipitously down a series of ledges. I was about to grab my ladder when Insaw him walking 80 yards away parallel my position. I pulled the gun up as quickly as I could and squeezed off a shot. I knew he was hit because I saw him about 100 yards away walking slowly but no second shot opportunity. I thought I saw him bed down. Just then I saw another hunter walking towards me and he stopped on the ledge right where I last saw the buck. He stood there for a while before continuing his walk towards me. About 75 yards away he turned and walked away. I climbed down and went to the shot location and for as far as I could see there was a blood trail. I followed constant blood until I jumped him after 400 yards of tracking. I backed out and went to our cabin. Returned with some guys from camp and started over. We tracked him another 300 yards before finding him about 200 yards from the road on the other side of the property. Easiest mountain drag ever! All down hill. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

In a spot in the middle of the backyard that we can see from the kitchen. When he was younger, we'd sometimes see him as a white blur streaking across that spot. When he was older, we'd see him just moseying around, sniffing the grass with seemingly unlimited interest. He was 10 when he died. Not really old for a dog his size, but given what he'd been through, it's miraculous that he lived as long as he did. Looking at him, he looks just like another one of those cute, spoiled, yappy dogs, which he was, but I think he was the toughest dog I'll ever meet. About 4-1/2 years ago, the day before the Fourth of July, we noticed him walking funny in the backyard, like the caboose was loose from the rest of the train. It was presumed he had herniated a disc, common for long-bodied dogs like him. (His breed is Coton de Tulear.) We immediately scheduled him for back surgery with a local vet surgeon. Immediately prior to the back surgery, the surgeon did a myleogram to identify which disc was herniated. There was none. The surgeon called us and said for us to come pick him up the next day. When we walked into the surgeon's office, Max looked horrific. He was stuporous, nearly catatonic, paralyzed in his hind legs, blind, his whole body curved in a crescent shape, and circling uncontrollably (dragging himself with his front legs). The surgeon mumbled sorry and something about a disease called GME [Granulomatous Meningoencephalomyelitis]. [Basically, GME causes the body to create excess white blood cells in the nervous system, which leads to inflammation in the brain and spinal cord.] Not knowing what else to do, we drove 3 hours to the Cornell Companion Animal Hospital, run by the Cornell Vet school, arguably the best in the country. The neurology department took him in via their emergency room and immediately started treating him with steroids, immunosuppressants, and chemotherapy. Within a few days, he had regained his vision and partial use of his back legs. It was amazing. What then followed were months of periodic chemotherapy and ongoing medications, physical therapy, massage therapy and laser therapy. In time, we were able to rehabilitate him and keep his GME symptoms at bay. Except for one back leg that would always look "kick standed" out to the side, you'd never know how sickly of a dog he was. We maintained that status quo for a couple years or so. This past January, he started circling much more than usual [a common GME symptom]. He was having a GME relapse, and we restarted the chemotherapy and high doses of steroids to battle the disease. (He had previously been weaned off of these treatments.) Also, Max was increasingly sensitive by the side of his stomach, and sometimes wouldn't eat. A sonogram diagnosed an enlarged gall bladder, a side effect of all the steroids he had taken over the years. We rejiggered his GME meds and added some liver/gall bladder supplements to his diet. This seemed to help for a while. Every month when we would take him to Cornell for chemo, they would do a sonogram on the gall bladder. For a while, it actually shrunken a bit, but then it started to get bigger again. Between the friable (thin, papery) condition of the outside of the gallbladder and the increasing amount of solids inside it, a burst gallbladder and or mucocele (plug) was imminent. Last month, we were given three choices: 1) keep doing the same, and hope it doesn't burst, 2) put him down or 3) operate to remove the gallbladder. The surgery is a very risky surgery in general, but especially so for Max given he was immunosuppressed. We opted for #3, figuring at least it would give him a chance. I was thinking his odds of survival were 50/50, but in retrospect, were probably more like 33/67. The surgery was done on Halloweeen. It went OK, and he seemed to be OK immediately afterwards. But later that night, major medical complications occurred. I won't go into the details, but I'll just say they had him in the ICU for over two days trying to stabilize him and get his blood pressure up. Nothing worked. On Saturday, after we had exhausted all of our options, we were basically told his body was shutting down due to low blood pressure and lack of oxygen to his organs. At that point, we instructed the ICU vet to euthanize him. We turned his body over to the neurology department so they could do a necropsy for research purposes. GME is a funny disease in that the diagnosis can't be confirmed without a sample of brain tissue. From his initial diagnosis of GME, Max lived for about 4 years and 4 months. Most dogs diagnosed with GME usually survive somewhere between never leaving the vet to maybe three years. As we understand it, Max is the longest surviving GME patient in Cornell's history, and one of the longest surviving in the country (not like there is an official database for this sort of stuff). With his 4+ years of case history, it is our hope that he will be able to help Cornell figure out a better way to treat this horrible disease. That, we hope, will be his legacy. Through it all, Max never let the disease, or all he endured in being treated for the disease, get him down. Even though his stamina was greatly affected and he constantly endured a level of neuropathic pain, he still enjoyed playing, barking at the TV, car rides and all the other stupid stuff that dogs enjoy. So to me, for all he went through, and for all we hope his case contributes towards the treatment of GME, I think he was a very special dog. If you made it this far in the post, I thank you. I wanted to share some sort of tribute to him, and this is the only online forum in which I am active.

6 point. Perfect weather to be out.

This reminds me of my first ever (and still biggest) buck from 10 years ago, pic attached. He was following/chasing a doe, and I got a nice broadside shot at 25yds. Runs about 20 yards and crashes. I can see him laying there, not moving. The doe actually comes back to him, smells him and stands there. She leaves after a few minutes. I walkie to my dad saying big buck down. He tells me to wait, I’m just sitting there for 30 min watching this massive buck laying there, still hasn’t moved a muscle, meanwhile I’m shaking like crazy. I start walking up to the buck, about 5 yards away, gun on him, he still doesn’t move. Stand over him, still doesn’t move. Someone talks on the walkie, and it’s loud, the buck jumps up and takes off, I couldn’t get a shot off as he almost runs me over, and he luckily goes right to my dad, who finished him off. Don’t think I’ve ever got yelled at more in my life for not finishing off the deer when I had the chance. So now I do the old poke the eyeball test. Needless to say I certainly learned my lesson and won’t ever forget it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good luck Jay! Getting snowed on here....feels deery...the doe pee I spilled in my ground blind is adding to the effect!

You know what’s for dinner! Deer Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Last update for the night. I got Permission from the landowner to continue the track. He has a large property and allows no hunting, so my buck should be safe from people in there. We pushed him a long way today and after watching him in the ravine, I really Think he’s gonna lay up and die if we leave him be. It’s gonna be a sleepless night, but I’ll be back after him in the morning.

I posted this in the live from the woods thread but wanted to put it in its proper place here. Let me start off by saying in my 21ish years of hunting I’ve never seen a buck this big alive in the woods. My biggest buck to date is a small racked 7 pointer. I was already having a pretty decent opening day. Saw a doe early then a spike around 12 and another small 4 pointer around 12:30-12:45. Things went quiet around 1pm. Around 2:30 I decided to have a pee then get out my lucky skittles and settle in for the last 2 hours of the day. Right around 3 I hear a few shots go off 200 or so yards away followed by very heavy crashing. I figured what ever the deer was is going down in some thick nasty stuff and I’d be helping drag out a deer after sunset. Just in case though I grabbed the gun stood up and waited. That’s when the surprise kicked in. This buck with a big rack comes smashing through the thicket with a broken rear leg. At this point a completely forget about the rack and settle the gun on the vitals and follow him waiting for him to hit my shooting lane. Now he’s not moving very fast because of the broken leg. He gets through my first shooting lane as I still follow him cross hairs on the vitals. He gets into my second lane and I squeeze the trigger. He folds up in 20 yards head facing away from me. That’s when I remembered Holy Crap! This dude had a rack on him and a big one! When I finally got down to check him out I was in complete shock! In fact I think I still am!

Shot him at 10:47 a.m. 11/18 State land, 1/2 mile off road DEC Biologist aged him at 4 1/2 years old 100 yard shot. Shot in upper quadrant of heart, ran 50 yards.

I dropped a deuce in the Dunkin Donuts in Hornell Sunday morning off 86 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m good

Here's my story........Friday was a total mind blower with the 11" of snow we got in Ontario Country. Two of us spent 7-8 hours moving snow, gettin cars/trucks/boats stuck and unstuck. (the boat is still stuck and will have to wait till the ground is frozen) We put up a ladder stand that will have to be moved AGAIN as I made an honest mistake and discovered it early afternoon yesterday while perusing OnX, my bad. Oh and we had the Great swan roundup for my buddies PIA birds. Myself and another guest got them up to the barn and the one on my side made a break for it.......I cornered him into the side of the barn. The 11" of snow helped to slow the big SOB down. I tackled him and carried him into his cell (horse stall) where he/she will spend the 5-6 months with its partner. Saturday was a bust for me. I should have known better than to go where I went with the winds that were forecast, all I saw was one doe all day. I'd rather not even think about what a dumb move that was....... So today was a different story. I made it to my spot by 6:30 despite the terrible snow conditions. Around 6:55 I spotted a lone deer way out in a mowed field, probably 400 yards and heading parallel to my position. He disappeared for a hew minutes and I thought I'd never get a crack at him. I watched for him to appear at one of my two possible shooting lanes and he went to the better of the two......sunrise today was 7:07am, exact time I shot him. Approx. 150 yard shot, .243 with Barnes 80gr TTSX, 8pt and dressed weight of 198lbs. I let him lay for about an hour before gutting him in hopes of a crack at a good doe. I did see one but the shot was just a touch sketchy so I passed. I didn't need a rodeo....... I have one buddy who has a great sense of humor, he sent me this picture and I should have sent it to Bizzy, he'd get a kick out of it. The End

I was after this guy all bow season, but I only saw him on trailcam pics. About 9:30am on opening day, I saw a deer trotting ~300 yards to my right, head almost to the ground, and coming right at me!!! I put the scope on it and saw it was the big 8pt that I had been after all bow season! If he continued on the same path, he would have been 25 yards in front of me! I kept the crosshairs on his chest the best that I could and was ready, incase he decided to change direction! He was on a mission and kept closing the distance! At ~150 yards, he must have picked up the does scent that I saw there earlier, because he started to veer off into the thicket! BUT, between him trotting side to side and me not having a rock steady rest, (OK, and me shaking ) I just wasn't comfortable risking a shot! I knew the .300 Mag was fully capable, but I wasn't confident . Part of me was screaming SHOOT!!! But I was too afraid of missing, or worst yet wounding him, so I decided not to shoot!! He disappeared into the thicket and I had no idea if I would ever see him again! I was tormented by my decision, but in my heart, I knew it was the right thing to do. I was bumming, feeling like I may have blown my one and only opportunity at him. I tried giving some estrus bleats to get him to come in my direction, but nothing! I figured he probably picked up the doe's scent from earlier, and followed her out of the back of the thicket somewhere into the corn. About 5 min later, I looked into the thicket and could make out a deer walking. I sure hoped it was the big 8pt! It was so damn thick and I could just see enough of the rack to confirm it was him!! It looked like he was back tracking the doe from earlier! I scanned in front of him and found one hole about 75 yards in front of me that I figured would be my one and only opportunity for a shot! I put the crosshairs on that hole and waited for him to step into it!!! I kept peeking over the scope to keep an eye on him, so I knew when to expect him! As soon as I saw his shoulder in the scope, I squeezed the trigger! He took a couple jumps, but it was so thick that I had no idea if I hit him or not!? AHHHHH! To make matters worse, although it was only 75 yards away, a deep ditch/creek was between us that I needed chest waders to cross! I had to walk back to the truck to get my chest waders, walk back to the stand, put the waders on, and wade the creek (~4' deep!), before I would even know if I hit him or not!! Well, once I got over there, I saw blood splattered all over the fresh snow! I was so relieved!! He might have went 40 yards, but was piled up along the edge of the thicket! I was grateful to have killed the buck that I was after, but even more happy that I did it with my Dad's .300 Win Mag. That gun was his baby! I know he was smiling down...

Hope you didn't take that the wrong way, I wasn't second guessing just asking. I remember the first doe I ever shot. I gut shot her and my Dad and I tracked her for what seemed like miles. We jumped her once and she was running away and I didn't shoot. My Dad was yelling at me asking why I didn't take the shot and I said I only has an @ss shot. I remember him yelling what are you going to do wound her more? Take the damn shot!!! That has stuck with me now for 20 years. We finally caught up to her in a bed that she was too weak to get out of and I put her down.

My dad eats it ,he slices it and pan fries it with some salt and pepper and just cuts around the stuff he doesnt want.

At work. A machine was not doing what it should. So got a call to come in on vacation. No problem, easy fix. Should be out hunting by noon or so. Just hope to finally see a deer after three days of hunting! Grandson is on deck for tomorrow. Hoping the deer activity picks up for him. Fingers crossed and good mojo sent to WNY, fetch him up John!

Between the melting snow and light rain one has to improvise. In the Army we would rubber band a sandwhich baggie or wrap a condom over the barrel. In the woods unprepared one must improvise. Glad I put the scope covers on. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I’d really like a peek at the deer that made this Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Home alone for dinner tonight the girls are at dance class so whatevers in the fridge. Over easy eggs on English muffins with cheddar and salsa verde, chipotle Tabasco, a side of avocados and the worst bacon I have ever had. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Wild Turkey Roll, last nights Friendsgiving, with all the usual trimmings. Saw this recipe in the NWTF magazine. The recipe said to stuff it with your favorite stuffing, which for our family is "pasta stuffing". Tasted great and my daughter and I polished off the leftovers tonight. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Allegany county 6 point. Hooray for me!

Opening day 9pt. First minute or two or legal light. Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

I decided To put together a new coyote rig this year. I wanted Something small, fairly light, and some type of night vision optics. I stopped At Runnings the other day and saw a carbine length fixed mag AR. I did some quick research and ended up walking out the door with it. It’s a DSI with an M4 bolt, Magpul furniture front to back and chrome lined barrel with a brake. I then bought an ATN X-Sight HD with illuminatior and mounted it up when I got home tonight. It makes for a pretty compact, light rifle that should be perfect for how I plan to hunt with it. I have to go pick up a few boxes of hunting ammo, but I need to break it in first, which according to DSI, takes 500 rounds. Hopefully I will have it broken in and sighted in with a hunting round by the time deer season is done and it’s time to get after some yotes. One really cool option with this scope, I can Link it to my phone and stream video from it. Should make for some neat hunt videos.

You aint kidding there. I was very thankful to be able to settle the score Saturday with the one that beat me during archery season. He may have evaded my crossbow but Titus was no match for a couple of 12 gauge slugs.

PM hunt in uncut soybean field at friends in 9H. Thanks Turkeyfeathers for the snack! I remember when your Dad (RIP) would give us snacks before we checked our trap lines! Fingers crossed with my new scope!!

I was 15 in fact lol. Haven’t even seen anything like him since. Dressed out at 175#. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great deer and a helluva beard on that guy.

This thread is 3 years old....lol! Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

Every day bb buddy Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just keep your doe in heat in a clear 6oz. bottle.

My pleasure Brian. My only regret was I didn't get to use any of my truckload of toys. Lol just kidding. Always best to be able to drive it out as its less likely to cause damage. I ain't gonna lie that machine is HEAVY. Lol. It did walk right out once you got up on fresh ground which was a good thing. Thanks for the conversation as well, it's been a rough week for sure. I did get my pa buck butchered and ended up with 78 lbs of deboned meat, cooked up a back strap steak that was just melt in your mouth delicious. Sent from my LGL58VL using Tapatalk

Rice pilaf and calamari

Swamp buck tenderloins, brussle-sprouts, potato pancakes, and Genny light.

Veal parm delivered Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Isn’t that what your wife said on your wedding night....[emoji6]. In all seriousness it’s one of the best pieces of meat on the whole deer Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk