Doc

Oops!.... I just noticed the title said "tree stand", and I came down out of the trees decades ago ..... lol. My stands consist of solid walls of natural local materials on the ground, and that is where I do my bow drawing. I could be break dancing back there and the deer would not see it. Then I just let the deer walk by and if all goes right, I get a nice 20 yard or less, slight quartering away shot. That's if everything goes alright and the deer are on the trail. However what I have found is that unless they are on the trail of a hot doe, most of the bucks that I have seen are traveling at right angles to the majority of trails. Probably just scent-checking as many different trails as possible. But I have been caught more than once with bucks walking in behind me or out in front coming straight at me, offering nothing but face-shots, on no trail at all. What a helpless feeling that is. My stands will never work when that happens.....lol. But that's all part of hunting for me .... you win some and lose most.

On all my 100+ yard archery shots, I always hang several wind socks down the shooting lane. And I only shoot at the old sway-backed bucks that can't hear or see and have no likelihood of moving away from the arrow. The good thing about these shots is that you always get a second, third or even fourth shot at those old deaf, blind, toothless, bow legged, arthritic ones.

I think it's more a case of having some friendly discussions with them and explaining the situation and obtaining permission to shoot within the 500' rule, and don't worry about the technicalities of the law. In the interest of good neighbor relations, it sounds more like a case of mutual accommodation and agreement rather than looking for legal loop holes. Unless they are already known to be poop-headed A-holes, in which case, you may have to rely on the technicalities of the law.

Well, I think this summer has been on the colder side of typical. And at times it has had some very large amounts of precipitation. If those patterns continue into the winter months, it could get ugly. But I am not worried. I just bought a winch for the ATV for lifting and lowering the snow-plow. I used to do that manually...... Not fun! When that sucker got loaded up with wet gloppy snow, I had to really grunt and get all my body weight into it to lift it up. But now I'm ready. By the way, I have noted over the years that deer will go right past their chosen foods just to munch the hell out of expensive landscape plantings and anything in the garden.

Well, in all fairness, owning your own land does not guarantee that you won't have neighbor-problems. And some of the situations that I have heard and read about would make this situation seem pretty tame by comparison. But there are a lot of situations of begging and groveling that owning your own land does do away with.

They work well and are an ingenious bit of engineering. Cheap (sheet metal) and effective. Of course today they have been replaced with all kinds of expensive machined parts that do exactly the same thing.

Back in my younger years (1986-ish), a group of 4 of us co-workers planned a moose hunt up in an Ontario, Canada township of Shining Tree. Actually it turned out to be two archery moose hunts. The first one was an ATV hunt where we reached our calling areas via ATV or took canoes out on the lakes and rivers and made some cow calls. The first hunt provided some close situations but no connect. The second hunt was different. We left Three Bears Camp and drove miles on back roads, parked the trucks, unloaded a boat and motor into a lake and used that boat to tow two canoes. We went to the end of that lake and then had 150 yard portage into a second lake and off into the end of that one. We were in deep! We set up camp (tents) there. It was weird to be out of sight and sound of anything resembling human activity. No lights, no sounds other than moose splashing around across the lake. We started paddling around a swamp nearby and found some tracks and scat, and even a few pretty well established moose trails. Laid out our plan of attack and then went back to camp. We caught a mess of pike for dinner and relaxed around camp ready to hunt the next morning. By 9:00 AM or so, we were quartering up a bull and heading back to camp. We had to hire an outfitter just to satisfy the Canadian law and to guarantee tags, but we were completely on our own as far as the camping and hunting went. The expenses were split 4 ways, and the cost was absolutely dirt cheap. We used dried food, and supplemented meals with some great pike that we caught. Some of that freeze-dried food that they sell is some great stuff. We ate like kings. Would I do anything different after those two experiences? ....... I wouldn't change the 2nd hunt one bit. It was perfect! That wilderness experience was something that I will never forget. It was absolutely the best hunt I have ever been on.

I begin preparing the shot (drawing and aiming as soon as I feel that the deer's vision is adequately blocked and when the shot is immanent. The set-up usually is for a 20 yard or less shot. There is always something out in the shooting lane and along the trail that I have measured to be 20 yards. When the deer reaches that point and is broadside, I am in the zone, and ready to release the arrow.

And then there was Stacey Groscup that would shoot hand-thrown aspirins and life savers out of the air with recurve, longbow and compound. I watched him do it! Huge range of skills out there.

Wouldn't it be fun to add up the costs of all of our equipment and gadgets and go-fasters, bows, arrows, releases, maintenance tools, licenses, this, that, and the other things, and now lighted nocks. Throw in an armful of guns and ammo and maybe some reloading equipment and a little gas for transportation, Yipes! Did I leave anything out? ..... Probably. Now distribute those costs across each pound of venison. Yup....It's a disease. Lighted nocks? ..... Why not? ....lol.

When faced with these kinds of issues, I really like a written interpretation from those that might be knocking on your door if your interpretation does not agree with theirs. Also, be sure that the local and state agencies don't have their own separate laws regulating their interpretations of such things. Try to get an e-mail response that addresses your specific situation to file away in case you get challenged.

Water in Bristol can be a problem depending on the location in the township. There is a lot of black sulfur in the ground, and drilling an expensive well can still offer up only nearly unusable stinky water. Down in the valley, we have sulfur and quick-sand and heavy mineral content (iron).....all problems. Also, there are a few places in town that don't seem to have a whole lot of water of any sort. A couple of years ago Bristol Center had to pipe in public water that came many miles over the hill from Canandaigua Lake. They just could not get any reliable useful wells down there. Take a tour around the neighborhood and talk to as many neighbors as possible to see what their experiences are. Also contact a local well driller (I don't have any names. My guy croaked many years ago) and get some guidance from them. Chances are they have put some wells into the area, and they know what the local aquifer is like. They also may have some alternative suggestions. Probably there will be no cheap options.

I usually go too far away. I'm hunting a mile up on top the hill, and have to listen to my wife describe all the deer that walked across the front lawn down at the house.

So, what are your thoughts on the ethanol treatment additives? Not adequate? I regularly use the marine grade stuff in every 5 gallon gas can.

Interesting question. If you have a deer target with the kill zone marked on it, is it adequate to be able to put every arrow inside the defined kill area? That can be a pretty big area. But is it good enough if your arrows are scattered all over the extreme edges of that area? A kill is a kill right? Well, if you are using the very edges of the kill area on the target, you have not allowed anything for even the slightest movement of the animal. How about after hours on stand and your muscles are all tightened up and aiming conditions are not exactly optimum. You can do things on the nicely measured out flat and level archery range that somehow come off a lot different when you're kneeling, sitting, or working from just off the side of a tree. What I am saying is that it probably is not really great to be accepting edge or marginal shots. Leave something for contingencies of things not being completely perfect like it is on the range.

I would call it "occupied" as far as the spirit of the law is concerned. But let me ask another question. If you go and get permission to shoot closer than the 500' from the owner/occupant, does that make it legal? I have never seen anything that addresses "permission". I know the landowners and tenants and such can ignore that proximity law, but what I am wondering is can the owner give others permission to shoot closer than 500'. If the answer is "yes", then perhaps you can make the problem go away with a little face to face conversation.

Whatever you do, do not put the problem back on the landowner. they may simply throw up their hands and give both of you the boot, and anyone else that shows up at their door in the future.

I don't know what kind of guy this handyman is. You mentioned that he "got nasty" toward the end of the conversation, so I am suspecting that the guy may very well be a problem. Frankly, I like my hunting and scouting and such to be entirely focused on the hunt and not worrying about stolen or smashed cameras, or sabotaged stands, or someone on the property trying to discourage me from being there. I don't hunt to have a lot of drama and hardships from cantankerous hunters. I understand how these things can escalate, and it really doesn't add a whole lot to the quality of the hunt. On the other hand, I hate to see jerks be rewarded for being jerks. It's a tough decision, and probably has more to do with your own attitudes toward these kinds of situations. If you are up for a potential never-ending scrap, you certainly have "right" on your side. If you would rather not be dragged into a constant looking over your shoulder, and you have anywhere else to go, you might want to opt for another hunting area without a built in feud.

Sounds like you did good. What part of the state is it located?

Everybody's saying they aren't cheap, but nobody is saying what the price is. Being a bit of a cheap-skate, maybe I really don't want to know.....lol

I think the idea is to have gloves that are big enough to easily pull off when the deer first comes into sight. It is rarely so cold that I cannot be bare handed for a few minutes while the deer gets into range.

I don't really mess around the area that I deposit the urine. It is simply squirt a drop or two and retreat to the stand. Even does cannot continue walking without stopping to scent-check the trail. I have never had any deer bolt from any of my scent that may linger. It really works quite flawlessly and gives them something to stop for other than something that draws their attention directly to me. I have experimented with other "stopping items" on the trail, and have found that even items like a Kleenex or even something that has my scent on it will draw a curiosity response that will stop them in their tracks. However, deer urine keeps them at ease more than items that contain human scent. And if I carefully choose the spot, I can arrange it so when the deer drops its head to sniff the urine or whatever the item may be, it's vision is screened behind some item of ground-clutter (grass, shrub, log, etc.) with the vitals still exposed.

Weird topography! That almost looks like an island out there. However the question of stand location cannot be answered with just those two pictures. First of all, are you talking about gun hunting or bow hunting? That will determine proximity. Which way are the tracks primarily coming from and going to? What kinds of areas does that trail connect. Is this a feeding/bedding trail? In other words, what is the purpose of the trail. That will help establish when the deer use it. No point in watching a trail that is primarily used at night. And of course there are the prevailing wind considerations. It makes little sense to set up such that your scent is flowing down the trail to incoming deer. Then there is the consideration of a good stand tree if you are using a treestand. Proper cover against sky-lining. Ground stands/blinds also have characteristic that require specific kinds of background cover. There are so many aspects to stand set-up that all have to be satisfied.

Pants pockets. I seldom need anything else. However, I do have some phenomenal gloves designed for skiing that I use in extremely brutal weather. I take two pairs. One pair on my hands and another pair that is stored inside my suit, next to my body. Then if the one pair gets cold and is not doing the job anymore, I simply swap them. However these kinds of gloves are bulky and not great for shooting (especially for shooting the bow). So there does come a time when you just have to toughen up and go bare-handed for a few minutes.

Deer frequently stop on their own. It is all part of their defensive gait. The problem is that they may not stop at the right spot. Just a drop of deer urine on the trail will almost certainly catch their attention without alarming them. That allows you to pick the spot where they will stop. I do not like the idea of making sounds to stop them as it almost always snaps their head around with a direct gaze in your direction. Not exactly the best thing for those drawing a bow. It also puts them on "set", ready to "jump the string" when you release. That drop or two of urine is a more natural way of stopping them, that does not raise their alarm system.