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Let a small doe go then shot at a bigger one just about a half hour ago. Giving her a little longer then going to look. Wish me luck. Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

Hey all! Just wanted to update and again thank everyone for the input. Got up to the area Friday morning and hit the forest roads. I took the opportunity to check out several areas I had marked while e-scouting based on topography and relation other visible land features. That along with the fresh snow gave us a good starting point for the opener on Saturday. We worked several of the State Forests on the eastern side of 7R. We also tent camped on state forest land at an established primitive site. Yes it was cold, but I still have all my fingers and toes so how bad was it really? Lol. There is a bunch of hunting access but the significant amount of pressure from other hunters, especially along the roads, became apparent opening morning with several hunters stumbling through our sets. Additionally, I must have watched 30 vehicles drive down the main road during my morning sit. That was at a smaller state forest, I could only imagine the amount of hunters the larger tracts get. No biggie though, we just followed the sign deeper. Saturday afternoon, I have to admit that I missed a doe. I had just set up and packed a lip. As I turned forward to settle in, I instantly saw her at 20 yards, staring right at me. She had skirted a thick group of scrubby pines- a small spot of concealment which I was certain I would see deer approaching from either side- guess I was wrong lol. I was expecting a 100-125 yard shot on a banger of a run I found that morning. There was a a perfect branch in front of me to rest on for that shot. Unfortunately, it was too high of a rest for a 30 yard shot, forcing me to raise my body to put the crosshairs where I wanted. However, I did not execute well and ended up shooting high while she was quartering to. Long white hair, very small cylindrical bone, and no blood, even with the snow. Tracked several sets of tracks that could have been her for about 3 hours including the grid I searched and found nothing else other than at site of impact. I am almost certain I hit her tail (smh). Got down on myself for missing such a close shot but it also made me want to hunt harder in order to make up for my mistake. Sunday morning we noticed deer moving across the road as we were driving in and decided to wait until light to try to make a move on them. No luck catching up but the effort was fruitful in that it brought us to a great ridge with tons of sign. As the winds picked up later on Sunday I decided to take advantage of the noise and movement from the wind and walk some new ground. Again, we got far off the roads and found sign, some being very fresh, but no luck linking up with any deer at that time. Monday morning brought me back to the general area where I had shot on Saturday afternoon. I saw two doe across a small stream/ravine about 80 yards from me shortly after first light. It was incredibly thick where they were and I was unable to take a shot. Went back out to the truck around 11 for a good ol’ cup a noodles and planned on returning to that same spot for the afternoon. As we were finishing our lunch, a truck with three hunters pulled in, parked 50 yards past us and went into the woods we just came out of and we’re planning on going back into. Didn’t feel like getting into it with them and also we weren’t technically hunting at that time so what could I say? We decided to just move somewhere else. That afternoon I found myself at the aforementioned ridge we found Sunday morning. I sat on the southeastern side about 200 yards from the top of the hill, with a shear cliff behind me, and was seated in a gnarled up group of blowdowns. The wind was in my face and I was expecting a 30-100 yard shot given the sign I had found. After sitting a couple hours, the fresh air had me ready for a nap. I felt my eyes starting to close longer than they should every once in a while until I heard some crunching coming my way. As I scanned I saw a lone doe working her way toward me. A little too toward me, as I ended up shooting her broadside at 15 yards. She had no idea I was there before the shot. She ran 15 yards before she stumbled and slid another 40 yards or so down hill- further away from the truck unfortunately but I can’t complain. What’s another 40 yards when you’re almost a half mile from the truck anyway? I then tagged my deer and then texted my buddy to let him know we had meat in camp for dinner. As soon as I got back to my set up I heard a shot from about 200 yards away. It was my buddy- he shot a doe as well just down the ridge from where I was seated. All in all, great trip. A challenging adventure but with that comes experience and hopefully even more success in the future. I will note, there are some serious hunting folk in these parts as is common on much public land. We were friendly with the groups that stopped by and met some great fellow sportsmen. However, best to be safety oriented so wear your orange and watch out for deer drives (common) around the area (saw some potentially sketchy situations and heard of some nightmares from others we ran into). Either way glad we checked it out! Special thanks to @Kmartinsonfor the help! Dude is wise to the ways of the woods!

My first experience of hunting in NC. Nothing moving so far but it's early yet. Good luck to anyone going out. Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

I didn’t see anything today either. I hunted my food plot court at home this morning and the clover plot over at my parents this evening. I’d say we are definitely in the post opening gun week slow period now. They are all dead or in the thick cover by day and only come out at night. I’ll be hunting my stands in or on the edge of the thick stuff the next couple weekends. They might be coming back out in the daylight by the last weekend of gun, but certainly by late ML and Holiday ML. I think I have plenty of meat now, because the tiny-tined dmp tag buck from Thanksgiving morning had a more on him than I expected. Maybe 35 pounds of grind plus 9 small roasts and (4) one quart packs of back straps, and that was after trimming off a lot of fat. There’s probably room for one more average sized deer in our big freezer, but anything after that, I will be giving away.

That thing is probably over a hundred years old, I think my great grandfather made it. Him and my grandfather put lots of beef cattle and hogs thru it. Years ago, you could find places to sharpen the knife and screen. Now, I just buy new ones (#12) when it starts plugging. I think the 3/16” screen and a knife cost around $30 from Amazon last year. I put about 75 deer thru the prior set, before it started plugging. I don’t freeze the meat first, but I do remove as much of the fat and tendons as I can. It will grind the meat almost as fast as I drop it in. Most of my butchering time is spent trimming the meat off the bones and trimming out the fat. It also takes a little longer to vacuum seal the packs than it does to grind. Fortunately, my wife takes care of that part for me.

I'm surprised at how many of you don't have a scale. It's not a huge investment and nice for record keeping and just generally scratching the curiosity itch. Even if it's not science grade accurate, it'll get you close. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08669YYV7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Congrats to those who shot nice deer!

Nothing seen but on the drive back , had 2 run across the rd. Thought about bumper hunting but the $500 deductible crushed that thought instantly.

My belief is deer do NOT go nocturnal and that is an excuse people use that cannot find where the deer have moved to. I think what happens is the deer change bedding areas then limit the area they move around in during the day to a smaller zone. They still move about and feed during the day, just as many times as they did before.

These tyrants know the courts will take years to rule on these unconstitutional laws. Meanwhile they wield them against us like a bludgeon. It's a sign of a totalitarian, statist society.

Throughout my adult life I have been dabbling with a modest collection of knives I have accumulated down through the years. I stick with mostly American made pocket knives as they were about all I could and can afford. I was introduced to the knife collecting world as a young fellow on an Elk hunting pack trip in Colorado that me and my Dad went on many years ago "1970". In our group was a gentleman named Ralph Bone, he was from Lubbock Texas and by trade a custom knife maker. I thought I was a high roller with my brand new Buck folding 110, old Ralph brought me down out of the clouds showing me some of his creations that cost 10 times as much as my Buck. He went on to explain why a custom knife cost so much, in a nutshell a ton of hand forging, fitting and polishing the finest materials available. Ralph was an original member of the Knifemaker's Guild which in itself has a lot of notoriety but he also went on to become master engraver and custom gun maker. The best thing coming out of meeting Ralph was he sat me down and showed me how to properly sharpen a knife with a stone, I still use that method today so many years later. So I have long been on a quest to own an original Ralph Bone knife, any made directly by him were way out of my price range until a little while ago. I struck paydirt from an old collector that bought one directly and personally from Ralph out of his shop in Lubbock many years ago. We did a bit of haggling on the price and made a deal. The knife pictured below is used but in mint condition, has the belly zip hook along with the original Johnson sheath. I will use this knife and hope to make old Ralph proud.

Always sad to hear of this type of news. I just love dogs. Thanks for posting..

Our avowed communist AG has spoken! Keep voting for these un-American reds you fools. Robby

Started at 14 coming up from LI to hunt in Dutchess County. We stayed at an Inn about 20 of us. Hunting camp was a blast and the memories and stories were something else. We started in 1974 and did this yearly ritual for decades, seemed it would never end. Well now at 66 it's down to me and my old friend Frank. We're the last two and hunt my property in Ulster Country now. We've hunted together for 50 yrs. All the other guys are gone, many sadly have died off, many just lost interest, others moved south. My buddy Frank will be retiring come summer and his wife is going to drag him to Florida. We don't talk about it much, end of an era I guess. Sitting out in the woods I can still hear the voices and stories of our long gone crew and think of the good times we had. Almost a bit erie when I'm out in the woods now. Now I realize it wasn't all about the deer we shot or that new rifle, it was about the people. Those were some times.

Ammo shipments end up in NY probe’s crosshairs Joe Mahoney CNHI STATE REPORTER ALBANY – State officials say they have put a crimp in the shipments of ammunition purchased online by New York customers. A total of 39 ammunition dealers have received cease and desist letters from the state attorney general’s office. The alleged violators face no charges now but were warned they will face “serious legal consequences” if they continue to ship ammunition to New York addresses. “Shipping bullets to New Yorkers’ doorsteps is illegal and ammunition sellers that ignore the law will face the full force of my office,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Online sales of ammunition are dangerous and could end up in the wrong hands.” James said direct sale shipments of ammunition to New Yorkers are a violation of the 2013 legislation known as the New York SAFE Act, a measure best known for restricting the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles and bans the possession of a magazine that has the capacity to hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. However, the state sowed confusion among ammunition dealers when in 2015 the administration of then Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed off on a memorandum of understanding with the state Senate, suspending a plan to implement an ammunition database and requiring sellers to determine if buyers were eligible to purchase ammunition, said Thomas King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. “When the deal between Cuomo and the Senate happened, some people thought the prohibition about the shipping of ammo went away,” King said. “But it didn’t.” King said he is skeptical the enforcement action announced by James will yield any public safety benefits. With the database going unenforced by the state, some sellers believed they could ship ammunition to New Yorkers, King said. “I have not heard of one crime involving someone purchasing ammo from out of the state and having it shipped to their homes,” he said. The penalty for the illicit sale of ammunition is a fine of up to $5,000 for each individual violation. The state could also seek to recover all income resulting from the illegal sales, according to the attorney general’s office. The sellers found to have violated the law were directed to preserve all records relating to the sales, state officials said. Sellers of ammunition are required by law to maintain a record of every transaction in New York, with the age, occupation and residence of the person buying the product included in the data entries. When the SAFE Act was passed just weeks after the massacre of 26 people at a school in Connecticut, Cuomo trumpeted the fact it was the first legislation since the killings to expand gun control. Two years later, the Cuomo administration cut a deal with Senate Republicans to block the ammunition database requirement. The agreement was signed by then Senate President John Flanagan and James Malatras, then director of operations for the Cuomo administration. Critics of the ammunition background checks argued it relied upon unproven technology and that creating the database would have cost taxpayers up to $100 million. Meanwhile, the state’s move to create new restrictions and requirements for pistol permit holders is snarled in ongoing lawsuits. U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby ruled the new law is flawed by “unprecedented constitutional violations.” Gov. Kathy Hochul and James have not yet signaled whether the state will appeal.

almost 10 years and averages 2 to 3 deer a year. worth every penny. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012KJBR0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Like I always say, "Where there's a will, there's a dead man!" LOL!

Back to work for the morning shift. May do the last 2 hrs in the evening.

Checked in with the Neighbor behind we. They didn't see Much over the weekend but are still getting real nice bucks on cell cam and a bear.

Isn't this restraint of interstate commerce?

So NY passed a law requiring ammo buyers to have a NICS check done, and then admits it can't be done. How is it possible to comply with the law? I think any law with a catch-22 like that is unconstitutional from the start. It's a ban on ammo purchases.

Great day in the woods. Didn't see a thing today.....lol Can we start talking about the second Rut!

That’s a nice looking knife. I love the belly hook. Reminds me of my favorite factory deer hunting knife, the Schrade Sharpfinger. I always feel compelled to use an old Buck 110, while I’m up in the Northern zone, because my father in law gave it to me as a Christmas gift. Using that up there sure gives me an appreciation for my Sharpfinger, which I always use at home. A one piece design is light years ahead of a folder, when it comes to cleanup after use. My belly hook was starting to get a little dull, but I sharpened it up good, using the little white stone that came in the sheath of another, larger Schrade knife. It worked great again after that, for “unzipping” the hide from a little buck that I skinned last night.

Sorry in advance for the short illustrated novel, but its very slow out in the open fields during late gun season today, waiting on a deer: Our place is similar, but I only let about 1/3 of the fields (the less fertile ground areas) overgrow, and left the the rest open for foodplots. I also have a few acres of hardwoods on the back corner. That was mostly ash, which is all dead or dying now, but there is some red oak, white oak, and maple in there. There’s also quite a bit of oak in the hedgerows, which are mostly thick brush. The fields are small, mostly 3-5 acres in size, and broken up by the hedgerows and brush patches. After the first few days of gun, the daylight activity always winds down, outside of those brush patches. I only go in them to recover carcasses. I’m hoping for a straggler this morning, but not expecting much. I finally have the right wind (east) for my pop up blind. It should be nice in here during the rain that they are calling for later today. It’s very slow right now though, and I’m already looking forward to “wolcottsburg whitetail surf-and turf” for lunch, in a couple hours. That will consist of fillet mignon and oysters from Thanksgiving morning’s turnip plot dmp buck harvest, killed just 15 yards from my current location. My parents place, on the opposite diagonal corner of wmu 9F, is a much different layout. That’s mostly a big L-shaped chunk of mature hardwoods. They have about 60 acres total over there, and we have about 40 here. There is an overgrown brush patch, on the inside of the “L”, that is owned by a friendly neighbor. He allows no one else to hunt his land, but he has given me carcass recovery rights, and my parents have granted that to him also. In front of the long side of the L, is a big open hayfield, that another neighbor rents from my folks. At the end of the long side, is a long narrow clover plot, that is visible from my parent’s dinner table. In the middle of the short side of the “L”, is a brushy swamp. I have this little hang-on stand in the woods, near the inside edge of that swamp. That’s where I am going this afternoon (with my tree umbrella). The swamp is entirely in my parents woods, and they have a narrow strip of mature hardwoods beyond that, along the short side of the “L”. I have another little uncomfortable ladder stand, on that outside edge of the swamp, but that ones too close to a trailer park to use a gun in. I’ll know I made the wrong move, if my parents call me while I’m up in the inside edge swamp stand this evening, and say that there are deer feeding out on the clover plot. That has happened during late gun-season on several occasions, but is way more common during archery, and late ML seasons. Most years, I only hunt that uncomfortable little stand for a couple hours, on opening day of gun season. I missed that this year, thanks to the Buffalo blizzard of November 22. I think my odds of getting a shot at something from there this afternoon are greater than 50/50. I’ll give myself about a 2 percent chance of that happening before 11:00 am quitting time, from this pop-up blind that I’m in right now. My enclosed cab, 4-door side by side is parked in the barn now, but is ready for action, if a carcass needs to be hauled: That jobs going to be a lot wetter, if I need to use my dad’s open-cab Ranger, over there this evening:

Big bucks never go nocturnal... There in a spot where they feel safe close to food where they sleep for a few minutes at a time. They get up and stretch there legs periodically feed and still sniff does. Then when it is dark they will expand there range... You could still kill these deer if you know where there bedding area is......

Once they realize they are being hunted they will revert to nighttime activities and hole up during the daylight hours where they feel they have the best cover. I hunted on a big farm outside of Norwich years ago, on a side hill there was an old over grown apple orchard, an almost impenetrable entanglement of high brush, briars, brambles along with scrub apple trees. After the opening week bombardment I think almost every deer in that area would take up refuge in that mess. We would surround it and try to drive it but had very limited success. We would save our doe permits for the last day of season and one of those years I was a driver trying to flush something out to the watchers. I literally had to crawl at times to get through in pouring rain. I got to a bit of an opening and was looking ahead with my binoculars and caught just a wee bit of movement, a good look showed three does lying flat on their stomachs not 20 yards away. I was up above them a bit and drew down on the biggest one and aimed right for the middle of her back and killed her right where she laid. The other two took off like a bat out of hell but they never emerged where the watchers were stationed. They just circled and hid in that hellhole. I had one heck of a time getting that doe out of there and I will tell you what. I never went in there again. Al

A cousin closed the book wednesday afternoon on a buck that's been a family legend for the past 3 yrs. I believe this deer is at least 7.5 yr old and has been over 160" for the past three years at least. He grossed 158 as a 8-pt with a broken brow. His G2s were 13 and 14", the longest I can remember seeing in my area of Steuben County! RIP old boy. May your offspring survive to maturity...

Hopefully you are still strapping in when going up and down your ladder stand otherwise you are still taking your life in your hands. Stay safe.

Left 2 cams out through the winter . Pulled these cams in spetember. Just got around to looking at the cards.

I live in and hunted 7r for 30+ years. What can I help you with? Are you a resident? I think its called the emerald knecklace because we have 30,000 acres of public all touching in a big circle. I have spent some sort of time on almost all of them. I also have a lease available in that zone, still spots available for 500$ for the season.

Par Excellence Deer recovery Airedale Terrier "Grizz" Passed, she was owned by Richard McCorkle a retired police office down Georgia way. A member of my Airedale board for many years with too many recovery tales to count, Grizz and Richard made a lot of hunters happy. I will miss her exploits. Al

Jesus Christ blessed me with an almost perfect “dmp” tag buck today. 2-3/4” spike on the left and 1” on the right. Now, I can still hunt for the big one later this weekend, up in the nz. He has always come thru in spades, when I am in need. We now have enough meat for our oldest daughter, who is moving back home in December. 37-1/4” chest girth. Oysters and fillet mignons are in the fridge, liver and heart are in the freezer, and carcass is hanging in garage, in near perfect hanging temps. I don’t feel so bad now, about missing my first opening weekend in 40 years, due to the Buffalo November blizzard of 22. Three antlerless deer came out in my turnip patch at 7:30 and I shot what I thought was the largest doe. So much for “tall tine tubers” . They ought to call them “tiny tine turnips”.