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On Sunday morning (12/1/19) while sitting in my tree stand I heard a crunching movement off in the distance. The ground was frosted with a temperature of 21* and the crunching sound was real brief so I actually wasn't sure if it was a couple steps from a deer or just a squirrel. I turned my head scanning the area in the direction of the sound for about 3 to 4 minutes looking for the source of the crunching that I heard. I didn't see anything or hear anymore movement and figured that it must have been a squirrel. Then about a minute after I turned my head away, I heard two buck grunts coming from the same general area where I had heard the brief movement a few minutes beforehand. The area where I heard the movement and now heard the buck grunts from, consists of a decent sized pond situated about 115 yards from my tree stand. The area bordering the east side of the pond is a thick bedding area that I leave as a sanctuary on my property, only going through there if I have to track a hit deer through that area. Scanning this area from my stand, I still didn’t see any deer and I didn't hear anymore movement, so I believed that the buck I heard was slowly cruising through the bedding area looking for any receptive does. I waited another couple minutes to see if the buck that made the grunts would come into view to determine if he was traveling away from my stand area or towards my stand area. I still wasn’t hearing any more movement and still had no deer come into view. So, at this point I grabbed my deer call and made two doe in estrous bleats with it. After about 30 seconds, I could hear the crunching movement of a deer walking on the frosted leaves on the forest floor in my direction from the pond area. Then, after about another 30 seconds the buck finally came into view. It was an 8 point buck, slowly walking down towards my stand area. At this point the buck was about 40 yards away moving through some brush and was walking slowly, stopping every few steps, turning his head looking back and forth trying to find the doe that he heard make the doe in estrous bleats. Within a few more seconds, the buck eventually worked his way down to an opening in front of my stand offering me a 35 yard shot. My shot hit its mark and I harvested an 8 point buck that I called in with my deer call. I've experienced success calling some deer to my calls but this was the first time that I actually harvested a deer that I called in...pretty exciting to say the least. I had passed on this buck during bow season at about 11 yards and I passed on a 70 yard shot at him yesterday chasing a group of does, but now this late in the season and offering such a chip shot he was out of passes.

OK Hank, just settle down a bit and let's work this out. First, you have plenty of deer in that area with all those tracks. That's good! Next those deer were feeding there in your pic's. Looks to be an oak and they were pawing the snow to get the acorns, which are a preferred food source, for deer this time of year when they are available. Also good! So you have an area where deer are obviously feeding. You need to sit DOWN WIND of this area about 75 yards away. Find a big tree, a blow down, or large rock to sit in front of, to break up your human outline. SIT! Don't move! When you do, make it in slow motion. Deer are very good at picking out the slightest movement! Just sit and wait them out. Trying to stalk them, or cut them off, won't work so well until you get a bit more experience under your belt. Sit so you have at least one or two open shooting lanes, to the trail with all the tracks. And just wait for a deer to move into your shooting lane. Slowly raise your gun, get on target, aim small, miss small, and gently squeeze the trigger. You got this man! It's not real hard if you have the deer there, and you do! OK quick review. Find a spot DOWNWIND, a ways off that trail that will hide your outline. 75 yards or so. Sit quietly. Don't move around! Slow motion when you do. Especially when deer are near. Wait them out. They are there! They will come. Make sure where you set up you have a couple open shooting lanes to where you expect the deer to come from. Take your time with the shot. Aim small, miss small. Hope this helps ya. You will learn something each time you go out! That will build experience. The more experience you have, the more enjoyment and success you'll have. Always remember, the deer themselves will always be your best teachers. Slow and steady. Good luck! You got this man!

Had my first ever jury summons this week and was called to go in today. Even got picked for the first group of 14. I’m not sure what I said but I was released. Took that as a sign to hunt the lake effect snow storm in 8F. Love snow camo Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you change hour mind or need it for dragging it’s yours to use, for a cup of coffee I’ll even deliver. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wait that’s redneck? Mine have been up since 2014. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When I hunt the afternoon I always set the alarm on my phone for the end up legal shooting time. Went out this afternoon and sat through the swirling winds and blowing snow until dark(legal). I packed my stuff up and headed out, go about 25 yards from where I was sitting and see two deer about 60 yards away. I head their way and drop down into a little dip and when I come up there they are broadside 50 yards away. Couldn't see any horns but I have two doe tags for that area. I pull the gun up and can see them clear as day through the scope. I look at my watch and it is just about nine minutes after legal so I lower the gun and watch them feed for a little bit then mosey on down the hill to my truck. First deer I have seen in fourteen days. With only three days left I know I did the right thing and will just have to take my chances for the remainder of the season.

I could drill the breech plug on a drill press . I've also got almost 25 years I the machine trades ,I wouldn't recommend someone trying it unless you have a really good grasp on holding a somewhat tight tolerance ,specifically on the depth of the hole you need to drill. The flame channel stays the same diameter, you are counter drilling /boring the breech plug so that the flame channel gets shortened .

So today was my last gun sit before the late season. I have to say it’s been a interesting year for me. I don’t log hours but it’s been a lot. I saw the biggest deer I’ve ever seen from a stand. I’ve seen deer every trip out which for the Catskills is amazing. I have had legal bucks in range a few times and yet I am deerless. I have to say this is sort of by choice. We took 6 deer off of our 25 acres last year and I kind of wanted to give it a rest. I told my self for me to shoot it this year it would have to be my biggest buck to date. So far I have stuck to that, let’s see if I do in the late season... Had this guy at 20 yards today he wouldn’t leave even as I was cutting down a small tree Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All I want is 4 more years of Trump.

I got out Thanksgiving Morning with my stepson for our 3rd, and possibly final sit for the year together. The 35 mph winds and snow squalls wasn't stopping him from wanting to fill a tag. We chose a ground blind that i felt would be tucked in out of the wind more than most places and not far from a bedding area.. First whitetail to show was a fawn, it stepped out from cover and fed out in front of us, a few moments after entering, another bigger bodied deer appeared right behind it feeding away. We watched them for awhile waiting on more. After 15-20 minutes, nothing else showed up. And these 2 had made their minds up that they were moving on, So we decided to attempt a shot at the bigger of the 2. He had a buck tag, a doe tag, and I had 2 doe tags that could be filled for the area. So we elected to get him his first deer by rifle regardless. Well what we thought was a doe, especially by how it was acting with and around the fawn. Ended up being his first buck ever, he was super pumped. I can't explain how happy I am for him, how happy he was for himself! We could literally see zero sign of antlers over the deer's head, Not that it matters it was his first and he is pumped to say the least! I couldnt be more happy for him. Bucks tagged legal and in the freezer! I brought my tripod I use for predator hunting to help him to my best ability. He split that bucks ticker in 3 pieces with a 140gr ELD at 120 yrds and it still ran a good 50 yards!! Kids a sniper in the making! That morning he learned what it was like to enter the tip of a sharp knife into a nice warm deer stomach! that irreplaceable sound and instant smell of a stomach deflating! LOL!! i hadn't laughed so hard in a long time, I tried to warn him to turn his knife around that you'd be better this way especially working around that stomach of his with the initial incision lol. He insisted it was how his dad showed him.. Lucky for him Im a good guy, and instead of only one set of blessed field dressing covered arms, there were 2 since he couldn't hold his own stomach together lol!! It'd be nice to get out and fill a doe tag or 2 before seasons end together. And a selfie after the shot!

Want to borrow my snowmobile so you can get out for muzzleloader, you’re more than welcome to use it! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cool to have a list like this. You were in the stand EARLY in 2014!

strategic planning for next year - muzzleloader last day will be Dec 22 - so instead of having to worry about time to put up xmas lights - go full redneck and leave them up this year. - your welcome

Be careful ,maybe take your cell phone on the roof ... ya,know just in case the ladder slides out and leaves you stranded on the roof.

6S. Oneida County. Town of Marshall. 150 gr .308 Win handload. Sunday 11.17. 7:35AM. 20 yd shot, 40 yd recovery. 180# dressed. Doe #1. Sunday 11.24. 4:15PM. 40 yd shot, 5 yd recovery. 110# dressed. Doe #2. Sunday 11.24. 4:15PM. 50 yd shot, 5 yd recovery. 130# dressed. Very fortunate, grateful and lucky! We shall not want for jerky lol. Congrats to all the others with great deer.

A short sit on stand this morning. Filled my 7M doe tag. Deer tracks were everyplace I looked on my way to my stand, and all around my stand as well. Something has them on their feet. My sits have been few in number and pretty short in length with a severe respiratory infection kicking my rear almost all gun season. I'll put story on harvest thread tomorrow. I'm calling it a day, a good but tiring one at that.

My buddy's friend does them as a side income. He's done deer and coyotes for me and they come out good. For $50 it's well worth it to me. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Young and dumb, we’ve all been there.

Live from the front porch. Approximately 25 yards. Two youngsters trying to scavenge from under my apple trees. Only youngsters are this foolish this time of the year.

they're still finding it worth it and enjoyable but we both know success will get set the hook much deeper. lol it ain't over until it's over. worse case is i still send him home with some venison as a participation prize.

With no 4H DMP and 30+ inches of snow, guess I'll have to make do with following this thread for the remainder of this season. Even though I know where the deer will be! Late season in the snow can be very productive, with the deer more settled down and patternable. Some of my best bucks have come at this time of the season. Best of luck to all still trying to punch tags!!

My wish..... is to have as much fun hunting next year, as I did this year! Hunting in WNY with moog, Culvercreek, Terry and Gary was a highlight of this season! Santa is still saving for an AR predator rifle. Maybe next year?

Says I do not have permission to view the files. Bad enough I can't see big bucks in real life. I can't even see the pictures Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Saw this on the web and chuckled.

No idea how difficult the process is which is why I said he should do some research. But I think TF was saying that he can’t find a breech plug that is 209 compatible for that gun.

I sure will try my best...

All the thanks I need, is to see you in a picture with your first deer! You really do got this!

Absolutely.......Growie on one shoulder and Bizzy on the other. I was itchin' to text a to the group chat (Tacks, turkeyfeathers, Sodguy, treeguy, Jeremy and Bizzy) that read "and boom goes the dynamite". I guess it'll have to wait.

Grilled salmon Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I have not been out last couple of days . My husband is in the hospital he has a blockage . So the first day he was like I am shocked your here and not out hunting lolol. Hopefully he comes.home Tomorrow so I can get out there and fill a tag . I have to stop pushing to others and get.mine first lolol

I got my hunting license at the end of October, went out on 5 hunts before this one and today with the help of friends I got a button buck which I thought was a doe so I took it. Even though I hate the idea of taking such a young buck I can’t take it back so here he is. My fist deer ever. It was a hell of a hike and a grueling hike back. Until next season.

Ok I don’t usually post doe kills but ..... this one is a bit special. For what it’s worth, Natalie was kicking my butt at Descendants trivia when 3 walked in. 2 left.

I have been blessed with 2 gun kills this year on top of my bow deer. No doubt this is my best season ever filled with a list of firsts including first bow deer, first rifle deer, first thanksgiving deer and the best first is having my daughter in the stand with me for that first thanksgiving deer kill. We cheered we high fived and hugged! First rifle deer was the very first day I decided to take the 30-.06 out into the field after some heavy persuasion from my friend Jack Daniels. As usual Mr. Jack was not wrong and at 9am I had 2 doe walk into my shooting lane at 150 yards and only one walk out. My second harvest of the season came on Thanksgiving Morning at 10am. I had my daughter in the stand with me a very nice enclosed box with heat that a friend was nice enough to let us use. We where only hunting until 10am due to dinner plans and that’s about as long as you can expect a 9 year old to last even with heat. As we where counting down the final few minutes she spots a deer working it’s way to us and to her credit calmly and quietly lets me know. Right away I notice that it looks like a 1.5 year old tall spike, a deer that normally gets a pass but not this day. This day is special. I move her into position so I can position myself and my rifle out one of the windows and tell her to cover her ears. When the buck steps into the shooting lane I let that .06 bark and the buck drops to the ground DOA. We cheered, we high fived and hugged in celebration. To give the buck time to be sure he’s dead I walk her through the process of filling out the tags why it’s important and then rearranging the box stand as it was when we arrived. Much to my surprise when we got to the buck he was a small little basket 6 pointer. A very respectable deer for a 9 year old on her first harvest! The smiles say it all! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Happy Thanksgiving ! We used to do a family hunt Thanksgiving morning, which was a tradition in my family dating back well before I was even thought of. My uncle is the only remaining blood that hunts and he's had a pile of surgery's and side effects won't allow him in the stand. My bro in law and father in law hunt, but aren't typically able to make it so this year I decided I was going outside the "legal" family and just asking my buddy's who love to put in stand time. So,[mention=5278]The_Real_TCIII[/mention] , my fishing buddy and my dad headed down to our camp in Franklinville. We were greeted with high winds, some rain, some snow, some more winds and some ice pellets. It was a tough sit this am for sure. Once the wind died down I had a great feeling we were gonna have some action. All I kept hoping for was to hear somebody's gun roar, all am long.... Not a deer seen by the 4 of us, so TCiii and I did a slow mooch towards my dad and my buddy. Cell service is awful and TCiii and I were slowly making our way along when I got a text from him and knew I was a bit ahead of him on our parallel drive. Then the phone rang, and TCiii had a a couple doe sneak between us right back to where we had come from. I decided to get up a touch higher where I could see a clearing in the hardwoods and wait. A few minutes went by when I caught a glimpse of a deer heading up the hill right at me from the opposite direction. I saw a rack, that was at/outside the ears and looked fairly tall. At that moment, regardless of age, size, or inches I knew I wanted to take him. I dialed in the scope and waited for a shot. The only one I got was a walking, heavy quarter too, and when I sent it I immediately saw a giant hole in his side as he piled away right down towards TCiii. I started my track and had good blood right away and a clear disturbance from him running. He went about 80-100 yards and I found him laying under an apple tree trying to get up. I gave him some time to "go to the light" and he finally mustered up enough to get up on all fours so I sent another round his way (still have to do autopsy to verify I hit/missed). He gave up and I waiting to TC to come so we could walk up together. Turns out, my dad had gotten out of his stand and headed to the ridge for a better view and must have bumped this deer back to me. He was full of #1 and #2 more than I've ever seen on any deer, so he must have been laying there all morning. What a great Thanksgiving it was, and I was glad to spend it with my hunting Family. I am blessed to have punched 2 buck tags, that's for sure ! First kill with the 308. Hornady SST 165grain did awful things to him.... #Team1000 Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Not a ton of motivation to gun hunt but my parents were heading to my grandparents today and I wanted to send a bunch more meat down to them so I resolved to shoot anything but an obvious button-or-yearling buck to keep the freezer at max capacity. Same stand as my archery buck this guy came in just after legal and gave me a bit of time to check out his half rack at close range which I thought was whitetailope like and cool and his body was excellent. I dropped him at 10 yards with 20 ga light fields out of the DS2...I’m on an 11 year NY gun harvest streak never been skunked in NY, still got a dmp I love it. His face was messed up and he had puss at the broke pedicle almost definitely lost in battle..cool. First Thanksgiving deer for me. First 2 buck year for me as well. Congrats all on the great harvests everyone, biz’s dad, stud for Grampy, another bruiser for Moog, treeguy, tall ones Jj and Lawd, great mass enigma!

FYI - deer don't see orange. it's brown. It's the best camo you can wear

Just an FYI - I bought two canisters 6 years ago. Not even close to finishing one, but BH209 is supposed to have a very very long shelf life if stored correctly. So you might want to buy 2 and not worry about it in the future. Don't recall what it costs, but I bought 2 at the time due to the extra shipping charge.

The QDMA guy had two great opportunities on nice bucks but couldn't seal the deal. We sat twice so far, including all day on opener. Is what it is. Going to try once more. The other is a new hunter that works with me and was promised by a buddy to take him out. Hasn't happened, so I offered to try to get him out. We shall see.

all seems to be quiet with late season activity and now hit with 2+' of snow in 2 days. hoping to get my mentee out this weekend. saturday morning or sunday afternoon.

Homemade chorizo and loaded nachos with mighty taco sauce of course

Thank you so much, Grampy! I really appreciate all your detailed instructions. They are super helpful!

BUSTED.............damn the luck. I knew this internet thing would catch up to me at some point. Funny thing, yesterday afternoon I hunted East Aurora for a doe. There was heavy snow cover on the limbs and snowing fairly hard around 4:38PM (yes, PM) when three deer appeared inside of 40 yards. By the time I ID'd the biggest deer (at 20 yards) the clock had ticked to 4:44PM.......three minutes past legal shooting time. Damn, too late. See, I've turned a corner.....

I used whitehots because they recommended them ,complete garbage . I could not get any shots to even come close to repeating.

i had really good luck with buck forage oats they were still green on the last weekend of november and getting hit hard, planted first week in septmber and grew very well

2 with the bow and 1 with the gun of a remember right? Nothing to be disappointed in there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is no excuse for this "hunter" !! He should be prosecuted, and do hard time! My grandson and I had a monster buck standing on the top of a ridge on Saturday. Only thing we could see behind him was sky. I called off the shot. Easy call. No idea where that bullet would have ended up had my grandson missed, or had a pass through. This non shot, is stressed at every hunter ed course we give! I sincerely hope your neighbor fully recovers. My prayers to him and his family.

Went to scout some state land near one of the smaller lakes in the area to see if I could “track” a buck once we get some snow on the ground. Iv never set foot in the area, only fished the lake. I brought my bow just in case. On the walk back toward the car I could hear a deer walking “below” me on the lake side. I stood behind a tree and this little guy passed me. Shot him quartering away. I was trying to “aim for the opposite leg” and hit a little further back than I wanted. Took out off-side lung and Rage did tons of damage. He ran down the hill but dropped in sight. I carried him out and decided if I ever get a buck in that area I’d drag him down to the water and get the boat. Incredibly steep and overgrown. Weighed just under 100lbs. Should be delicious.

I decided to head upstate for the opener last weekend, and shortly after I left I started getting pics of a buck parade past my stand for the entire weekend. All good bucks, but not the one I was really after. I left early Sunday morning and rushed home for the evening sit. Unfortunately it was just a few does that night. Then on Monday, my target buck started showing up across the road on another cam. Up until this point I had only got a handful of pics of him since early October. Now he was showing up daily and during the day. It was a long week at work knowing that he was becoming killable, and I was stuck at work waiting for Saturday to get out again. Friday was warm and activity was nonexistent, but I saw a small drop in temps forecasted for Saturday and I had a feeling that it was going to be a good day. The plan was to do an all day sit, but after sitting in the emergency room with my dad until late Friday night, I decided to sleep in a bit. I woke up Saturday morning to a flurry of activity on one of my other cams overnight. I had 4 different bucks chasing a doe late Friday night until Saturday morning as the temps dropped. So I decided to change my plans and jumped into my ground blind for the day. I got in just after 10. Around mid day, I had a small spike come in, then a 4 point. Late in the afternoon, 5 does came through. Then right at last light, he showed up on my left and entered my lane at 15 yards. I let one fly, but I didn’t stop him as he walked. I hit him a touch back. Tracking was a little tough as it was a slight uphill shot, about mid ship, with the exit hole just slightly higher. I tracked him about 90 yards before the blood trail really opened up. It was then that I realized that it looked a bit dark and it might be a liver shot. So at that point me and my friend decided to back out and get some dinner. We came back about 4 hours after the shot and started tracking again. At the point of last blood, it entered a thicket of thorns about 6’ high. So I got down on my belly and tried to crawl under as it was about a foot off the ground underneath. I shined my light ahead of me and there he was about 5’ away in the middle of the thickest nastiest stuff around, dead. I probably never would’ve found him if I was doing a grid search. Turns out I hit liver and one lung and he bled internally for quite a bit. He has a very similar rack to the previous buck I shot in the same area. He is a mainframe 9 with 3 kickers, and has a very dark chocolate rack. I spoke with another hunter in the area that has been targeting this buck as well, and he confirmed what I thought that he was 5.5 years old. He has plenty of mass throughout and I have a feeling that he’s been the one busting up some of the younger bucks racks. #fromtheground

Friday, November 8: I headed out at 8:00 a.m. with my bow and a folding stool. Cold wind cut across my face a bit, but mostly head on. I walked over to where I had seen a couple of scrapes, and with fresh overnight snow on the ground, I was curious to know if bucks had freshened them up. I was hunting does, but I was still curious. The scrapes were covered in snow. I followed some track along an old logging road. Fresh snow partially filled the tracks, so it looked like deer had walked the path sometime during the night. When I came to within 20 yards of my neighbor's field edge, I stopped, leaned up against a tree and took a look around. 10 minutes passed and then I saw movement. 30 yards to my right through thick pine saplings, a doe. She was walking with the wind to her back, and I didn't move. No shot opportunity through that thick stuff, and I wanted to learn where she was headed. As I watched her through the binos, I saw a few more doe ahead of her. They'd get downwind of me in a couple hundred yards, but I wasn't concerned. I figured they were well on their way, and, being downwind, they weren't viable hunts for me anyway. Gotta let them go. After I could no longer see them moving through the trees, I cut across their tracks, got the wind in my favor and walked on. Maybe they were feeding on a specific oak. Maybe there was some other browse they were interested in. Basically, I wanted to know where they were coming from and figure out why. As I traced their tracks backward, I came to a pinch point, looked up, and saw a doe broadside at 20 yards. I froze in a half-kneel, un-nocked bow in one hand, and the stool in the other. Guess I'm gonna do the mannequin. She came towards me to about 15 yards, walking the worn track a little above me and to my left. I could now see she was the lead doe in a group of three. She saw me, and locked on. The two doe behind her stopped in their tracks and watched her for a queue. She stalled, stomped, head-bobbed, stomped some more, but never blew out. After a while, the two does behind her got bored, flicked their tails and pushed her on. I held my stance for as long as I could, and when I looked behind me, they were long gone. I checked my phone, and it was about 9:20, and I decided to set up. I found a good "hole" with some shooting lanes. It was going to be tight, but that means it was also going to be challenging and exciting. I was sitting for 5 minutes when I caught movement from my right about 30 yards away. The deer walked closer, putting a few trees between us. I drew back and held on the trees, hoping that the deer was a doe, and that it would walk to my right of the trees. I won half that bet. She popped out from behind the trees at 15 yards, coming just to my left, almost straight at me, below the well worn track. There were a few hemlock saplings between us, but when she came to the opening, she spotted me and stopped. I had my pin on the back half of her shoulder, and I steadied my focus there. She was slightly quartered-to, and so close that I could see her individual muscle strands tighten up. I let the arrow fly before she could figure out what to do, or what I was. POP! Double-lungs. I watched her bound once, trot, stop, flick her tail, walk, and then fall over. Dead deer. Seconds after she fell, a Golden-crowned Kinglet landed on a branch just over my right shoulder and started singing, and not long after that, another doe came walking through on the well-worn path. She never saw me, and wandered off, maybe oblivious, maybe just moving on in a most natural way. The woods then returned to its standard winter calm, and I sat there and thought more about death as an offering of life, waiting to walk up to a bounty of fresh kill that will help sustain my friends and family through the winter calm. I stood at the site where I shot her, and took a photo of my setup. She was 9.5 yards away.