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Been up most of the night! Hard to sleep when my buddy sounds like a wounded wildebeest!!!... Outside right now, the wind is blowing the rain sideways! Not a good day for bowhunting. But what a day we had yesterday! Thanks to a guy with a heart as big as he is....moog. He unselfishly gave me and my lifelong hunting partner Gary, the best stands on the property. Based on wind and his experience. Both Friday evening and Saturday. And what a property it is with multiple big mature bucks seen! And a nice one taken by Gary. A tip of the hat to Bob (CulverCreek) and his friend Terry!! Two absolutely great guys who offered a perfect place to butcher and cape Garys buck! They just don't come any better than these guys out in WNY!! Will post more on Gary's deer and hunt in the harvest thread when I get home. Thanks again Brian! Our door will always be open to you for hunting anything on our properties! Same for you Bob and Terry! This has been an awesome trip!

just got back home and got her hung up!! A very big girl,she went maybe 100 yds altogether and felt like she had been dead for a couple of hours. Bloodtrail sucked,maybe the montecs are not that great. Full story in the harvest thread when i wake up,i am beat. Had to drag her on a sled for a mile.

Stayed out late last night in Olean , told everyone i WOULD make it out hunting. Woke up this morning to wind and rain . Decided it would be a good day to leave at sunrise and take a slow walk . Shortly after starting my walk i noticed i had walked up on small doe eating apples . I figured she couldn't be alone and was able to get to the side of the trail and clip my release on . As soon as i did that i heard a deer crashing away just out of sight . As the sound stopped i heard a buck grunting and saw his antlers over the tall grass headed straight for the original doe still standing there . He came out slightly quartering away and i made a perfect shot and he crashed less 40 yards away from impact . After it ended i thought how happy i was with every thing i did in the heat of the moment and how all that practice with the bow ,i never second guessed or screwed around with the shot , i drew ,aimed and released.

Smacked an ancient doe this afternoon 8 steps on the ground

10 pointer from yesterday all cleaned up.

Full story and pics in the harvest thread.

Came back home from camp for a day or 2 before heading back to camp, covered a bunch of new land yesterday found a lot of sign and saw a few deer, 1 decent buck but not a shooter. This morning I had an awesome run in with a bull and cow moose, I thought there rut was over but I got confirmation it was still in full swing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Finally. Came in just out of range then wandered off a bit so I tried calling back with fawn call. Couple min later it wanders in closer. 20 yards. Biggest doe I’ve gotten yet. .

I finally got to report a harvest after a two year archery drought. I hunted most of the day Saturday,saw one doe in the distance in the a.m. In the afternoon i got set up with my climber at a friends property 40yds into the woods from the corner of two ag fields,corn and soybeans. The woods were full of acorns and even some hickory trees and some beeches. After sitting until 5.30 without any deer activity I was seriously questioning the point of hunting. I had been hearing turkeys not terribly far of most of the afternoon. Finally i saw them in the soybeans,and then a deer as well.The turkeys worked their way back in the woods and i was hoping the deer would follow. Now i saw three of them..Then they all started running and i saw a decent buck chase them out of the field and into the woods away from me. I thought at least i saw some deer. I tried grunting but nobody showed up. The turkeys were still milling around 50 yds from me. When i watched them i saw a deer through the trees as well,or so i thought. I kept loosing track of it. Now it was close to sunset and i was about ready to climb down when this big doe cautiously came from deeper in the woods on the way to the field. She walked behind my tree,so i had to lean some around the right side of it to get a shot at 25 yds. I thought the hit looked good but didn't sound so good,pretty dull. The lighted nocks were great. The doe just ran off maybe 25 yds and stood there tail tucked. My heart sank. After my horrid season last year where I lost two deer with the bow and one with the gun,more deer than in all my years combined,I was devastated. The doe was too far for another shot,so i watched her and tried to mentally mark her path. She did not want to move,maybe travelled 40 yds in 15 minutes. I climbed down as quietly as i could,which was awkward since i dropped my haul line earlier and had to carry the bow.I went to get my arrow to get information and backed out. Dark blood covered the arrow and no gut smell. That was a good sign. I made it back to the truck and my buddy and he told me about a big black bear he had seen 30 yds from his stand. I told him about my situation. He was nice enough to agree to come back with me several hours later. We wanted to get the doe before the rain started,midnight in our area. We got back to the hit site and looked for blood where i thought she stood but couldn't find any. Off to a bad start. Then we checked another area where she stood behind some fallen logs. There we found sparse blood and managed to pick up her trail. Blood was really spotty,and we came to the first bed soon. I had hoped to find her in her first bed,but no luck. We manged to follow the track,barely. We found a few more beds,then the blood trail got good and she was only 20 yds further. It seems she had been dead for several hrs. All in all she only went a little over 100 yds from the hit site. Took us maybe 25 mins to find her,Chef was right. We got her just as the rain started. I was super excited,I dont know if I could have stood loosing another deer. I was also very glad my friend came out with me,i would have been on edge for sure in the dark with a bloody carcass behind me and a Bear not too far off. Ones imagination tends to run a little alone in the woods at night. I wasn't happy with the beginning of the hunt,but it ended well. It payed off watching the hunting public show on YouTube. Backing out and coming back later saved the day.

Ok not NY woods, here’s my friend in Montana with yesterday’s deer , he’s a biology professor, and does a dandy field dress . I should go back out , everyone gets bucks pretty easily. I always forget the March deadline to apply . It’s a mix of whitetail and Mule deer at this spot .

Well we got skunked yesterday morning on birds. Was really surprising as we have been seeing loads of them in there every day for the last week and a half. But that’s the way it goes sometimes. Buddy and I put together this blind with pvc Friday night. Came out pretty well considering the haste it was completed in haha We broke the blind back down and moved it over to my neighbors farm pond and added a tarp under the burlap to keep this mornings rain off us. We nailed 7 geese and 2 beautiful mallards this morning. Wife wanted to try a goose stew tonight. Not sure how well it’s gonna turn out but we are giving it a try

Back to NY, what a trip it was. Where I hunted was Vail, Colorado. Second Rifle, I was there for 5 days. 2 of the 5 days we got over a foot of snow on the Mountain I was hunting, it was very tough getting to my hunting spot( extremely bumpy steep seasonal road/cliffs next to the road with 50 foot drops) , let alone hiking through that much snow. Opening morning I knew a big storm was coming in the following day, I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it back to my spot the remaining 4 days. So I really wanted to get harvest a buck as soon as possible, I hiked about 25 minutes in the dark as the sun started coming up I found a valley with open pines that connected to a dense hill side of pines. I sure picked a lucky spot, it looked like a funnel and it was. With in minutes of sitting down I had a group of 10 does come right out of the dense pines, with out knowing the area and seeing 10 deer so fast I decided I was going to sit on this hill side all day. I ended up not needing to sit all day, at 9:30 a.m. a group of 6 bucks came running through the bottom of the hill. I had enough time to put them all in my scope, I picked out the biggest buck which was the last buck of the group. He had the tallest tines and whitest snout, I shot him at 130 yards and dropped him in his tracks. Upon butchering him I had 15 other deer come out of the pines, it was quite the spot. I sat there the rest of the day to see if any Elk would come through, no luck. Continuing the next 4 days I hiked endless miles looking for an Elk or Bear, I came across 1 set of bear tracks. I saw approx 50 mule deer, 1 buck was bigger then the one I shot ( he was a true trophy) the rest were all does or smaller bucks then what I harvested. I didn't see any elk, the last day I found a hill side extremely steep and only had access from the hunting ground. There was a canyon on the other side of this valley, so the only access was from my direction and sure enough it was loaded with fresh Elk tracks in the snow. A storm rolled in extremely fast, so I was only able to watch the valley for about a half hour on the last evening. I am hooked ! Mule deer were very fun to hunt, and now I am very confident I found a good hill side to find Elk. I will be back !! I am going to try to return in 2020

10/26/19 #1 I woke up this morning to a text that was sent late last night. It was from a hunter that shot a 12 pointer in the front shoulder with his muzzleloader. He tracked it until bumping it out of a bed after 150 yards, then backed out. As he was leaving, he found more blood but resisted the urge to follow it. We discovered today that the deer had, unknown to the hunter, ran the same way the hunter left the woods and he had been pushing it. Kunox and I arrived at sunrise, met the hunter, and drove back onto the State land he was hunting. The area had been logged within the last year, and the buck had been shot in a clearcut. The hunter has hunted this buck exclusively the last two seasons, so you can imagine he was a little stressed over the turn of events. Kunox got locked on and we got to the hunters point of loss pretty quickly. The bloodtrail was adequate to follow without too much difficulty for a while, then stopped except for an occasional drop every now and then. Kunox went hot a few hundred yards after last blood and the hunter caught a glimpse of a body and a tail. He thought the deer looked smaller than his buck, but we followed until we could confirm that yes, the track was too small. We went back to last blood and Kunox took us in a different direction this time. We went 200 yards with no blood, then we started to see fresh blood and knew we had the buck on its feet. Rifle season started today, so I had told the hunter to bring his. When we started seeing fresh blood I told him to stay close in case he gets a shot, and I also shortened Kunox’s lead to a couple feet. We continued and Kunox eventually took us to a trail that had blood right at the waters edge of the Deer River. Kunox quickly jumped in and acted like he wanted to swim across, but after 20’ (he was on a 30’ leash) he turned around and came out of the river onto the next trail over, shook off, and proceeded away from the river. When we had gotten to the river, I told the hunter to walk the bank downstream to see if he could spot the buck either in the water or near the bank, so the hunter was at least 50 yards from me when I spotted the buck bedded down in some thick stuff. I hollered to him to come back toward us and see if he could get a shot. As he came back, the buck jumped up and crashed through the brush out of sight, and it was obvious he was hurting. From this point on the buck opened up good and the bloodtrail was extremely easy to see. Kunox was super excited as we hustled after the buck, and I was thankful I wasn’t being pulled by a bloodhound. We jumped him 2 more times before the hunter was able to shoot him. The track was 2.1 miles long, and the initial shot was in the left front leg. #2 The second track today was the opposite of the first. The hunter couldn’t find blood, so he called us. Kunox’s investigation showed us a couple drops of blood 75 yards from the hit site, and the dead doe 20 yards away.

I came SOOO close this morning....I had a cat track ON my trap, but just off the pan.... I need to learn how to block the traps better to control where they step.. The good news is that the cat got a free meal ( duck leg) and did not have an unpleasant experience, so hopefully he'll be back and I'll get another chance at him... It rained pretty hard last night, so I re-scented all of my sets..So far no freezing temps to deal with... I need to go shoot a couple more mergansers for bait...

Got a good wife. She just told me since next weekend i wont be hunting all but friday between her bday and friends services. Shes giving me the entire next weekend to hunt for 4 days straight and then taking a halfday on the 15th so i dont have to leave the woods. Hoping tags are filled by then. Gave her a big old kiss she called me a fool as usual. Good luck to anyone out in this weather and all week.

In my tiredness last night I posted my harvest on what's for dinner thread (dip shit), no idea how to move it over here. Here's a pic moments before the shot, deer selfie!

I just wanted to let you guys know, you all caused me to drop some coin on a deer mount. Dropped my deer off today for a shoulder mount. I considered the pedistal mount, but I dont really have the space for it right now. I did mention how big the neck was so he's going to recreate the size of the neck. Trying out a new taxidermist that had pretty decent deer mounts. He's much closer to home than the guy I went to before and he's a much nicer guy.

Of course i backed out,last thing i wanted to do was push her. It has been almost 3 hrs since i shot her,gonna be at the hit site at 5 hrs after the shot. I think she was still close when i got my arrow,it was getting to dark to see..I think she will be right there. A buddy whos coming along to help,which is very nice.

Shot on 10/25 Got to my stand around 6:10 and didn’t hear or see a thing until around 6:35-40 when I saw a big body about 40 yards in front of me. It was traveling the opposite way the deer usually do in the morning and it was all alone. I’m thinking it was a buck, but it was barely light enough to see a body let alone the head. I decided to text back a few girls that around 7:20 when I decided to look to my left in the middle of a text. I saw a giant body and nice antlers 15 yards from me, so I quickly figured out that it was a deer I would take. I put my phone in my pocket, got up and took the shot. I didn’t aim for more than a few seconds and let it rip once I saw it was in the ughh spot. I didn’t see where the arrow hit due to a few alder branches, but it sounded good and I didn’t see an arrow sticking out so I thought I just might have put a good shot on it. It ran down the same path that the deer I shot last week ran down and got right to the part where it was too thick to see well. I watched that spot really closely because i figured he was right there and just when I was saying to my self that he might be going down, he drops. Man what a feeling to put a good shot on a deer and watch it go down. I thought it was a big 8 at first, but turns out it’s a big 5. No brows as you can see and one of the points broke off. It was a little smaller when I got to it, but still very happy with it. It’s either the biggest body deer I’ve shot or second biggest. It was a damn chore to drag that thing out and my back isn’t too happy about it.

Well didnt trap it but was lucky to have this female pop out in range. Now to get in freezer till I start vacation and can get a seal...how it lay went about 25 yards exit hole up.. my 1st cat !! Excited!!! Dont think my taxidermist will like sewing up the grim repertoire holes though..

Had a great week. Only got three hunts in because weather people suck! Said rain for Tuesday morning, but not a drop until late afternoon/evening, so I made no plan to hunt and slept in, I was stewing hard on that one. Hunted West Canada Lake Wednesday morning. The area I was in was thick, and I mean thick. Walked for a few hours on a loop a little North of Lewey Lake, maybe I covered a mile and a half. Heard something bug out ahead of me, but saw nothing. Headed back to the cabin around 10AM for breakfast and hiking for the afternoon. We hiked a trail in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness near Chimney mountain. I did some off trail recon during the hike and located a few spots I could see far enough to get a sit or two in. Found a nice little bowl with a couple down trees that made a perfect blind. We also hiked two other trails that afternoon. Thursday morning I got in the area I found the day before just at first light and sat for a couple hours. Stayed until my a** was almost frostbit from sitting on a cold wet moss covered log. No deer seen. Back to camp to warm my backside and wait for my buddy to get there. Wifey wanted to get some scenic pics so we did some driving and walking for that. Friday was calling for crappy weather, so I did not hunt. Instead, we hiked Watch Hill in the rain. I made the top, but where the trail gets narrow up top, my fear of heights went crazy and I had a full blown panic attack up there. I made the top, but not to the over look off the rock face, 50 yards to go and I was shaking and felt like I was having a heart attack. The decent was nothing less then miserable. At least I did make the top, and for being a short fat out of shape dude I was still happy I made the hike. Saturday morning. Regular season opener. I was stoked. Decided to go back to the bowl I sat with my bow. Get to the secondary trail head, and there's 8 guys getting ready to head in. I back out a little to let them have the area thinking they were local guys and knew the area better then me, and I didn't want to impede on their hunt. So I found another spot and just stood next to a tree for an hour until I heard someone walking through just over a small ridge in front of me. I waited a little to see if he/she kicked anything back my way, then headed out. I did not want to hunt off any trail heads, but did anyways. Saturday was at the request of my wife to stay close to camp after having issues on Friday. Over all I had a great time up there. We ate great, got a lot of dirt time in, played board games at night, smokes a couple nice cigars, sipped some brandy, drank a few beers, and just enjoyed being in the Dacks. I have to sort through a ton of photos, and video clips, to see what came out good. I did not take a lot of pics or shoot much video on my hunts though, I kept my focus on the hunt. But I will try to at least get some pics up here. I did make sure to take a pic of a guardrail and a woods road though LOL!

Gonna try the computer to upload pics.

It just struck me but we have shot a good buck from the stand Gary scored from yesterday on the morning of the last Sat in October in 2016, 2017, 2018 and now 2019. Gotta be a trend if not a pattern.

Ok anyone grinding up straps for taco meat needs a good bitch slapping!! [emoji2357] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Im in,8G.pulled cam card on way it.pllllllease show up at the same time today

2 up and a bag of grease Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Back in the stand. Rain stopped. Wind is swirling in this hilly area but I don’t think a shooter will pass through my living room. Grampy staying and coming back out shortly.

Left worki early today, headed to camp, got up there just in time to catch last hour ,of hunting. This 10 pointer came out into one of the food plots eating and tending a doe. Pass thru, took out the lungs.

3 bucks, 3 does tonight, best sit in a few years.

What happens in the woods,stays in the woods ! Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Two grown men hugging deep in the woods :-)

At hard rock casino in Hollywood Florida Tried the buffet not bad . Going to see dice

Shot a big doe a little before six. I watched my lighted nock and it looked good,but she just ran 20 yds and hunched up,tail down..I watched her for a long time,she did not want to move. I climbed down as quiet as i could and got my arrow. Dark blood,must have been all liver. No gut smell at all..Sounded like a low thud on impact. Anyway,i marked everything and backed out. Going.back for her in a few hrs. What is the rule of thumb for liver again? 4-6 hrs? It is supposed to start raining around midnight,so gotta go anyway. I am not loosing this one.

Relax at home night with the gf.picked up from rohrbach's brewpub down the road.monster onion rings with horseradish dipping sauce.rohrbach reuben with fries for me and brisket melt for her(no pic).delish!!.scored a 4pk of yesterday's release too(beer thread)

At 5 Pm I had 2 doe and 3 fawn come into the clover. The lead big doe hesitated to come into plot. Eventually she fed as close as 7-8 yards but quartering to the whole time. Not a shot I want to take. Even that close. Eventually they all fed right through at 15-20 yards but a shot never came of other doe either as quartering towards. Then they were outta my life. Just before legal light ending I had 2 big doe come in acting nervous. Looking over their shoulders. I could have zipped both but waited. Minutes later a really big bodied fork horn ( no brows ) nose to the ground. Sat in blind for awhile and escaped undetected... I think. Fun evening for sure.

Not so small. Real nice 3yr!

LOL! My niece got married yesterday. Very swanky wedding in LIC (Long Island City) Old renovated warehouse right on the east river. When you pulled up you were driving into a truck depot! That's me the stud lol with my two daughters. A picture with my mom of 87! The view to the outside through the chuppah! An amazing time last night....today we recover!

Holy chit my heart is racing.had a doe barreling towards me mouth open 10ft from ladder and small 7 or 8pt i just post pic of hot on her grunting.she stopped n he said go and ran her in a circle in field right back at me.grunted n he was oblivious to it.5 secs later here comes the 5pt ive had on cam hot on the trail.pulled phone out for pic.legs still shaking.

Love mine as Wellington’s or just cooked whole and then slices thin on top of a crusting and browned onions with a squirt of horseradish sauce. Gonna need to try it your way! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Backstraps still? I always eat them the first few weeks. Idk how anyone lets them last more than a month Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a spot already picked out in my freezer for him.

Yes Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Out in 3K

Yikes! That track looks like one guy I know looking for his stand before first light!! Lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congrats guys. Looks like a great time!! I think biz would consider this a GTG?

Gigante In Eastchester. 5 of the 14 items ordered. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tp will get destroyed with any amount of rain. Bring pieces of cloth / towels ripped up, or better yet surveyor tape. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Strange season, but I got a tag filled. I run my own business and make my own schedule, so I have plenty of time to hunt. I saw a 1.5 year old buck opening day at 90 yards, and then not a single deer for the next 10 sits. Not sure if it was the weather, the moon, or what. Took a couple days off from hunting because of rain and warm weather. A small cold front moved through and I hurried to a new stand that I had hung. When I got into town there were off and on showers that hadn't been in the forecast. It was too cold, so I went and sat anyway. I saw 7 or 8 deer from the stand and 7 more on the walk out. That was more like it! Had a couple more deer-less sits. I bounced around to different stands, waiting for a south wind to go back to my new power line stand. Sunday's forecast had a 5mph south wind, so I went in early. I got in the stand just after 3pm and as soon as I sat down a tall spike came out. He was 200 yards away, but they were moving! Half and hour later a doe and fawn came out at 30 yards. Instead of using a brush-hogged trail to cross the power line, they dove off in the tall grass, goldenrod and berry bushes. I could only see the does ears. I had no intention of shooting her, but was surprised that I couldn't see her from 17 feet up. Two hours passed and nothing else appeared. It started drizzling. I decided to sneak down to check the fields with the last 20 minutes of legal shooting light. I came out to the field edge and stood in some tall grass against an 8 foot tall dirt berm and watched the field. There was nothing out, so I dropped my backpack and lounged against the berm. It was still sprinkling and the wind had switched from south to southeast. A buck came trotting out into the middle of the narrow hay field 100 yards up the hill from me. He had a big body and at least a fork on one side. I waited until he started feeding on clover, then got down on my belly and crawled through the waist high brown grass to the very edge of the field, pausing when he picked his head up. I was calm and not amped up. I figured it would either work, or it wouldn't, but I was going to try to get a shot. As he slowly fed closer, I pulled my neck gaiter over the bottom of my face and wiped the scope lenses clean with my sleeve. He continued to feed broadside down the hill. It didn't take him long to close the distance. The field is only 70 yards wide right there, which made the middle only 35 yards away. I had practiced at 32 yards a lot and was totally steady from a prone shooting position. I lined him up and touched off the shot. The crossbow seems fast to me after years of shooting a "slow" compound. The bolt makes a hollow sound and the buck spun and made his death dash to the woods. I watch him stumble into the timber and hear him crash. I went down to the farm house and tell my brother. We head back with flashlights and a knife. The rain had washed the blood out of the field in the 40 minutes I was gone, but I walked to the spot where he went in the woods and find blood spray on the yellow and orange leaves and the grey trunks of the small maples. 40 yards later we find him on the other side of an old stone wall. He looks long in the light of my headlamp. We get him out, cleaned up and hung for the night. In the morning I bring him to a reporting station (I'm in VT as the name implies) and weigh him. 5 points 170lbs. I am thankful. It just goes to show you: You don't have to be good or clever, but you do have to go out and HUNT and you do need to be able to shoot. It can change in a heartbeat.

If your shots are under 25 yards don’t even think about it. You’re only going to mess with your head Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro