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Last day , best buck for the oldest member of camp, his personal best from 55 years of hunting! one of my.personal personal goals this year was to get him a chance.. bonus on drive I took buck as well but it had shed its horns..

Punched a tag in the final hour tonight. This is my first doe ever and shot with my grandfathers rifle that hadn't killed a deer in nearly 50 years. A nice end to a challenging rifle season. Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

Boys got it done. I'm happy he loves venison and shot a nice doe.

Thought I was gonna get skunked this year , 1 hr left and bang !

I just wanted to throw out a big thank you to all of you guys! I harvested my first deer with a muzzleloader today, a spike under 3 inches. I got to camp last night, woke up this morning and went to pick up the ML after having the new scope mounted. As I got there they were just finishing cleaning the gun. They had actually sighted it in for me that morning. I took it home redialed it in using Blackhorn 209 and waited for my buddy to arrive. We decided which stand we would each sit and started walking. About half way to my stand this guy ran in front of me and stopped broadside at about 40 yards with a clear shot. I fired and he hunched up and slowly walked off. I knew right then and there he was gut shot. I watched Him bed down at about 90 yards. I reloaded and fired he Immediately flopped his way down the hill and came to a stop. I went back to the house to get the ATV and meet my buddy. First shot really hit the liver and just nicked the stomach. 2nd shot I aimed for the neck as it was all I Could really see, I hit the head and basically blew off one of his ears. Hence no real pics of the head lol. I just wanted to say this deer belongs just as much to all of you for all the great advice! It really is a honor to be apart of just a great community. Thank you all Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One more slickhead for the freezer, now wait for the muzzy season.

Ended up doing drives all the way until last light. 7 of us stuck it out and worked hard pushing, tracking setting up and doing it all over again. In the end as a group we took 3 doe all nice sizes. I covered 8 miles of ground through crunchy morning snow, ice,mud, water you name it I went through it today. Was the perfect way to end the season being a part of 3 deer with some really great fellow hunters. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here is the pic. Loads fine now that I am on wifi

Finally able to at least climb and be more mobile while awaiting neurosurgeon appointment next week. Had one of those hunts Sunday morning with a plan to get this guy and it worked. There's a couple more opportunities for late season MZ; finishing strong!

It was one of the best seasons for me and my son took his first deer during youth weekend (a doe)... the pic on the left was my bow buck and then my gun buck on the right. I only hunted 2 days during bow and 2 days in gun so the season was fast, i wish it was not over so quick. I did hunt several days just to get out and watch, a couple times i didn't even carry a weapon.. I have a doe tag left that i may decide to use during muzzleloader...I have enjoyed reading all the great stories on the site this past season! Hope everyone had a safe season and have a Merry Christmas!

Thought I put that post above in the live from the wood thread. Shows how good I can see without my reading glasses. Got too Dunkin donuts this morning at 5:30. Our agreed upon meeting time. Get a coffee and sit down. Nobody is showing up. I send out a group text no answers. Now I am agrivated since 4 guys said they were hunting this morning and I drive by far the farthest to the lease. It is freezing cold and I am contemplating cutting my loses and driving back home and going to bed. I start making phone calls and my friend Tommy is the only one that answered. He said he is coming but he is running late as always and he still had to load his sled. So I just go to his house and put his sled in my trailer knowing it will be faster than waiting for him. So finally we are ready to head out as it is now past sunrise. We get there and ride our sleds out to the power line to come up with a plan. Tommy tells me to climb in the stand we call the Remington stand and he is going to take a slow walk and try to get something moving towards me. About 20 minutes after I am in the stand I can see two deer moving through the woods heading from where I was expecting if Tommy pushed something. It is going to be a long shot so crank my scope up, get on them, they both look the same size so I decide I am going to shoot whichever one gives me the best shot. One stops directly in the middle of the power line, I hold high and squeeze off a shot. There was no reaction that I could tell, they both just ran off. I wait for Tommy to finish the drive and nothing more comes out. I climb down and jump on my sled and ride to find the tracks in the snow. I find what I think are the tracks and follow them about 30 yds and no blood. Well it was a long poke and I blew it. So this time Tommy is going to sit in a tripod stand and I am going to walk to him. I do and push nothing. As I get to him he says he is going to go look for blood again, that all the time I have been hunting with him I have never missed. So he takes off as I walk back to my sled where I started my walk. I get there and get back out to the power line and my phone rings and its Tommy saying get over here, I hit the deer and he has blood. So I go to where he is and sure enough, there is blood, not much but its there. I look back at the stand and I am thinking holy crap, that is a long ways. I asked how far he thinks that is and he says all of 300 yds. Now I feel sick to my stomach, I am wishing I missed or didn't take the instead of taking such a long poke and making a terrible shot. We come up with a plan that he is going to follow blood and I am going to take my sled and go all the way around incase he bumps her. So I do that, call him and tell him I am in position. He says ok he is going to start on the track. Seemed like 30 seconds went by (it was probably 5 minutes) and he calls me and calls me and calls me a &%÷#×$+*. He says he has her but she is at the very bottom of the steep ravine. So I go back around wondering how we are going to get her out of there. Luckily Tommy had 100 foot rope in his truck and I was able to get my sled to the edge of the top of the ravine. I pulled her with my sled 30 feet or so, backed up and retied the rope until she was at the top. Sled pulled her like nothing. I know this is a long post for a doe but I enjoy reading the stories so hopefully nobody minds. First two pics are her at the bottom of the ravine. Much easier getting her in the snowmobile trailer than the back of a truck. This was by far my longest shot. I don't think I have ever taken a shot more than 100 yds before, probably more like 75.

My wife thinks euros are creepy. She doesn’t gripe about shoulder mounts so in the interest of cooperation my 2 euros were relegated to my basement hunting room. Bought these cheaper skull hookers on Amazon. They work great. Easy on and off but secure. Plus you can tilt euro or turn it side to side. Not bad for $20.

A couple weeks before I shot him........looks like he's limping a bit? Maybe that's why he was only going 73mph when I shot him?!?!

Field to fork mentee Steve made it out to my family's farm. The farm is part of a community wide QDM cooperative of several thousand contiguous acres. Steve had practically no firearms or hunting experience prior to the program. Yesterday was his 3rd time out hunting and as you all know it was the last day of NY southern zone regular season. Steve ended up making a great standing shot on a nice doe with a 7mm-08 rested on shooting sticks. We managed to get within somewhere around 30 yards of the doe, for a close shot. The area had gotten well over 2 feet of snow in the beginning of the week, which changed up deer movement a bit. Thankfully I have a snowmobile for access and recovery. He got a hands-on field dressing tutorial. Steve is a chef with some butchering experience so I showed him how to skin, quarter, and bone out the rest of the carcass once getting them off the mountain. He's going to do the very last bit of processing that he's familiar with. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

If I go, I’d pick up Pygmy, and any others from Buff / Roch who make it to my house can ride along . If I go all that way I don’t want any excuses from Biz, like his wife is in labor or something .

You are important, especially to most of us here. No pressure but your lack of attendance will disappoint many of us Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Roscoe Diner....Great memories of that....In the early 1970s, my ship was home ported in NYC, first at Brooklyn Navy yard, and then at Fort Schuyler, just below the north end of the Throgs Neck Bridge... After liberty weekends at home, a couple of my shipmates and I would head back to the city on Sunday night, usually after closing down one of the bars in Corning.. We had to make it back to the ship for quarters Monday morning...The Roscoe Diner was an oasis....If we made it there for coffee about 3:00 or 4:00 AM we figured we had it made...Damn near fell asleep and went off the road several times, but somehow we always made it..

More garbage after a still hunt on state land. Quesadilla with pulled bbq chicken, taco meat, salsa, cheddarjack, cilantro. Avocado on the side

I'd be game if any of the WNY guys are coming past the Corning area on 17 and have room for one more short pervert.....

We covered 5 miles in the snow today according to my brothers app. We had fresh snow on top of the 8-10 that was already there so I’d guess it was close to or over a foot deep. My Dad, Brother and I were all still hunting along the side of our mountain when I cut a set of tracks/jumped one. I followed them down off until it slowed down then I stopped to have lunch and let it settle down a bit. As I progressed on the track I noticed it was heading to an area I have caught them bedded before so I circled up wind and also higher up on the mountain. I slowed way down and was looking for a deer as I got into the bedding area on a mini ridge that descended into a thicker area. Just then as I scanned I caught a deer moving and quickly got over against a tree to rest against in case I got a shot. Sure enough as I watched more doe came into view and they quickly headed up hill to me. I got on the lead doe and dropped her when she stopped broad side @70 yards. Then the trailing doe and fawn ran closer and stopped and I reset for another shot and let it rip. That’s when the rest of the herd ran, 10 total took off and seconds later I heard my Dad touch one off which got me more excited. He’s 73 and my brother and I cherish each hunt he comes on. Where we hunt and how we hunt is not easy so for a guy of his age and shape to do it is impressive to say the least. Turns out his went down in a hurry, @75 yards with his iron sight 50 year old Remington semi auto. My second shot led us on a short track to the doe that was within of my first. Then we had to drag the things out which took 3 hours and a lot of work and man are we beat. I leap frogged my two while my brother took care of pops doe and eventually came back to help me. Weights were 110, 132 and 135 tying my biggest doe. It’s a hunt to remember for sure. That’s a truck load of meat. ; )

There is not a day that goes by that I dont talk about hunting. Not sure thats a good thing but its a thing

With muzzleloader starting and most of the state having snow I figured I would throw some more up here that might help someone giving it a go this week. You don’t need thousands of acres to track and kill a deer, I’ve tracked deer on 20 acre chunks and killed them but you have to go about it differently. 2 of the 3 bucks I’ve tracked and killed on small chunks of land were bucks I saw while sitting and didn’t get a shot at and got on their tracks and killed them. The other one I jumped from his bed heading in after daylight, I Waited half an hour and tracked him and killed him in his next bed. All 3 of these bucks were late season with a muzzleloader. If you’re going to track on small parcels you don’t need to worry about covering the ground you do in the big woods. You want to be going at a snails pace from the start because you are most likely only going to get one chance at him/her on the property you’re hunting. Hunting on small parcels is the only time I will ever still hunt to find a track. In the big woods it has to be one or the other, I always tell people that still hunting for a track is like having a wife and a girlfriend at the same time, might seem like you’re doing good for a while but it almost never ends well because you won’t cover enough ground to find the track but on a small chunk of land the last thing you want to do is go jogging through the middle looking for a track. Just still hunt your way through and if you find a fresh track take it even slower and you have a good chance of catching up to it. If/when you bump a deer when tracking it many think it’s the end of the hunt, in my opinion it’s just round 2. If I’m tracking and I jump the buck I think it helps both me and him. He then knows I’m after him but I also know I’m not far behind him. If you jump one that you’re after and don’t get a shot or if you do shoot but aren’t sure you hit him. Sit down, play a game on your phone, eat a snack do what ever you have to do to stay there for 20-30 minutes. Then continue on this time of year especially deer won’t go far! 5 years ago in the Catskills on the last Tuesday of season I killed a 10pt that I jumped 11 times and missed twice before I killed him and he went less than a mile and half from where I cut his track. Bucks are tired this time of year they want to eat and sleep in the middle of November if you jump one there’s no telling how far he’ll go before he eats or beds down again. Crunchy snow- a lot of people think you can’t still hunt or track on crunchy snow and it’s not the case at all, probably half of the bucks I’ve killed tracking have been on crunchy snow including the 10pt in the Catskills. When the woods are crunchy everything sounds loud, in my experience I think deer are way less on edge when there’s a crunchy snow and they stay in their beds a lot longer waiting for your approach because you aren’t startling them. They’ve heard you coming for a long way they know where you are and they know how long they have before you’re close to them. Go a little slower and stop more often is the only thing I change when tracking in crunchy conditions, no animals in the woods walk half a mile without stopping except predators. So every 5-8 steps stop for a few seconds it sounds much more natural and seems to bother deer much less. Good luck and keep the questions coming! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel like I've seen this movie before..

Out with the muzzle stuffer. Good luck everyone. 35 and rain in forecast. Let’s do this

I’m going to make Bionic smile at this GTG if I have to present him with 2020 Ford F-250 King Ranch Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Venison sausage 'n peppers

Pygmy and Nomad!?!?! Throw in a Grampy and a Bio and a Bumjohn with a case of shirts and it’s a real party!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Venison chili Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Started the day with 18 degrees and a 12 degree windchill. Spent most of the day in the woods just coming home to shed some clothes after it warmed up to 40. Howling winds all day 20-40 mph. Sad to see it end but glad it is over. Hear the last shot a 5:10 on the way out . I might try to get out with the bow if we get some decent weather but it doesn't sound to good at the present time and I need a break for a couple of days. Sitting back and reading the bible with some crown royal. Congratulations to all of those that were able to fill some tags this year. I did come across something interesting today. Sunrise, Sunset, and todays find:

It was the right thing to do shooting a wounded deer. I am encouraged by your ethics. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Moog I use Federal Fusion 140 gr. Factory ammo in my 7mm-08. Every deer I have shot with it have been 1 shot behind the shoulder kills including the 8 pt. Buck I bagged this year. My son shoots Federal Fusion in his .308 and bagged a 7 pt. Buck and a doe this year with one shot behind the shoulder kills. Federal Fusion ammo is also very accurate and not too expensive. valoroutdoors.com

that's awesome for him, congrats! There's always a small part of me that feels for the deer taken on the last day. Like damn, you were this close buddy haha

Trust me...when the little one arrives Mama will be calling the shots a lot more

In hunters safety they told us if a single snowflake got in our barrel the gun would blow up and take out an entire neighborhood Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

He's not paranoid....If he WAS he would have changed his username a few times and done some other weird stuff, like drive around a forum GTG, take pictures and not go in...Hey...errr..wait a minute....

Wow, that means a lot! I feel I do not add a lot to this forum as far as why we are actually here, so to see this means a lot. Thanks Chef, you’re alright!

Not hard to remember, used a smooth bore 12 ga from mid ‘70s to 2012 or 13 . Went we went rifle I never looked back , slimmer , lighter doesn’t beat up my shoulder .

BM7600, this is a great thread. Thank you

Here’s a present day look at the Brooklyn Navy Yard lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Just stop being so paranoid .

Stocking up the freezer

Oven baked bone in chicken marinated in butter milk tobasco mix and a Parmesan spicy coating with a side of green stuff

Planning SENY GTG 2.0 soon Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Hunter- if you came inside to the GTG instead of waiting outside, you would have met a group of great guys. Anyone who has met Chef, CrappyIce and many others in person would have nothing but positive things to say. Of course, we all don’t have the same identical hunting beliefs or beliefs about non-hunting topics but that doesn’t mean we can’t all be friends. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s the least of our/hour concerns. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Also on Monday Dieuseul "Deuce" took his first deer at a vary respectable range too, despite I can't remember the number.

Yesterday afternoon I was headed out for the evening sit......the south wind had me pondering where to go but I settled on one stand close to a bedding area. Before I got to my stand, I heard and then saw two deer busting out at a good clip. They were quartering away and I knew I had to get to a tree for a rest PDQ if I had a remote chance at the second of the two. The first buck passed through an opening and I quickly got a rest on the side of the tree and focused the cross hairs on the opening then let my left eye cheat over and see the second buck coming to the opening. I brought my left eye back to the scope and let 'er rip, tater chip. The entire sequence didn't take more than 5 seconds from the first I heard them till the buck was down. Although he was down, he wasn't out. I chambered another round and as he wiggled around I had to wait for an opening to get another round into the vitals, within seconds the coup de grace was on the way. The shots were from about 100 yards, maybe a touch more? My rifle is a 7mm-08 shooting 120gr Ballistic Tips, handloaded. He went 175lbs on the scale and has 9pts. I am getting him mounted and asked the taxidermist to hang onto the lower jaw as I'd like to get an age on him if possible.

Well I had some firsts today. Not very often that happens to a guy my age. Longest shot ever on a deer..170 yards. First deer killed with a cartridge that I made myself. First deer killed from a ground blind that I didn't build myself. Here's the story... As some of ya know, I've been dealing with a health issue for awhile now. Last night something came up. Called my doc, he said Stay Home and Rest! Call back if it gets worse...blah...blah...blah. It's deer season! I don't wanna be home! I was miserable all morning. I said screw it! I'm going hunting! My wife is still not very happy with that decision. But I am!! So I slowly gather up my stuff, not feeling too good, get dressed and head out around noontime. But smiling all the way up from home to the hill! Get up to the farm, and my partner Gary and I discuss how little deer movement we've been seeing. And the very few shots heard in our area. He was out this morning and saw nothing in his best spot! We both know the deer are here, still fresh sign popping up, and it's only a matter of time, just stick to our spots! So instead of going to the oak ridge where the doe are feeding. I decided to go back to the 'cut blind' between two bedding areas. (I posted a thread about this spot last week) I was pretty sure at least one if not both of my target bucks used this area, as I'd seen both of them in there the last two years after my buck tag was punched. As well as bow sightings with no shots. And I have seen a two year old buck, and some doe both Saturday and yesterday, during some cold sits. So down I go, again slowly. Get settled in about one, and thankfully, it's much warmer today, with a slight drizzle falling. NW wind quartering in my face. And it just felt great to be there!!! And not home being miserable! Nothing at all until about two thirty, when I see a doe running left to right at the top of the cut 214 yards away. I wonder why she's running? A few minutes later three doe bust out of the left side about 175 yards away, stop briefly look back, and shoot to the other side. Almost immediately two more bust out and do the same thing! Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack, but I KNEW a buck would be coming, from the way they were acting. Sure enough about two minutes later he bounds out, and in one leap he's in the middle of the brush in the center of the cut! I saw he was a shooter right away, but had no shot through the brush he was standing in. So I flipped off the safety and waited for him to cross to the other side of the cut. But he did the opposite! One leap and he was back where he came from to the left, of the cut. WTH?? Heartbreak! Then I could see him there, but again no shot, too much brush. (He did this as I found out after the shot, because a small buck was there and he was running him off.) So now he decides to persue the doe and jumps back into the cut at 170 yards. I literally yell BAAAHHH ! He skids to a stop, instantly I find him in the scope, and fire my 270 handload to him! All this from seeing him bust out the first time, to the shot, happened in like 30 seconds! At the shot I thought I saw him flinch? Then he was gone to the right side of the cut. It happened so darn fast I immediately thought I'd rushed the shot. And knew he was out a ways too, for me anyways. And I was doubting myself, saying what did I just do? I'm usually very calm, and I was all through this, until after the shot! I was pretty sure it was my #2 buck!! I was pretty sure I hit him!! But where? Then a two year old buck steps out where mine did and starts walking up away from me, at the same time another real nice buck runs down from the top! Both run the direction the doe's took. Now I'm shaking! I call Gary, he says he'll be right down with a wheeler. So I stayed put until he got there, and went over everything. Now it's going on 3:30 do we walk down to see if we can find blood before dark. I found where he skidded to a stop and found hair! And then some bright blood just a few feet away! Followed a so, so blood trail into the nastiest brush and thorn thicket for a little bit until Gary turns around and says congratulations, nice buck! He only went 50 yards or so. Perfect double lung and nicked heart with bullet fragments! I was so happy as I walked over, put my hands on him and gave thanks to God and my native woods spirits. Now the work began. I knew he was a good size buck, but I knew I couldn't do much or I'd be on the way to the ER. But did what I could to help Gary. We did it one step and pull, one more step rest, then pull again. He kept getting wrapped up in the vines, thorns and thick brush. But we finally got him out to the cut. I wouldn't let Gary field dress him. My buck, my job! No way we could get him on the wheeler so just dragged him to my truck where Garys SIL came to help get him in. Then from there to be hung in the barn. Again surprised when the scale read 193 lbs. We don't have huge racks like some areas of the state with our clay and rock soil. But we do get some heavy bucks! I've killed two bucks over 200lbs here over the years. When I first saw this buck with the little crab claw two years ago, he was at least a two year old. We were soaked from sweat and the constant drizzle. But I haven't felt this good in a while! Pretty sore now though. But I'll be good enough to go up and help skin and butcher him tomorrow. None of us know how many hunting seasons we have left. But I know it's times like this that keep me going back to the deer woods. And when it's time for me to stop, I'll have memories of days like today, to bring a smile to this old hunters face. To the blind from where he was shot. Up in center of pic. 170 yards.