Skillet

Buck was a 9 point.

These are my deer from this past weekend. Got the buck on 11/19 and the doe on 11/21. Not huge deer, but important to me, because they were the first deer That I was able to take with my Grandfather's gun since he passed away. Both deer are from Naples, NY

Dave, those blacks are cool. Got one this year & can't wait to get him back from the taxidermist. Good luck!

Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to the end of deer season, so I can go out small game hunting without messing up the deer guys.

I'd shoot him in an instant, he'd look great in my freezer. Any deer is a trophy to me. Nice Job!

I won't watch any creepy stuff on TV. Amazing how that dumb zombie movie can seem totally plausible you out in the dark woods. My girlfriend makes fun of me, but as soon as I invite her to do the 5 A.M. hike, she drops it. Don't be embarassed man.

It occured to me this weekend how blessed we really are as a group. Not going all "churchy" on you guys, but what an amazing thing we are privileged to experience. Being able to watch the sunrise, and the woods waking up. Seeing all of the animals and watching them totally unaware of your presence. Being able to take game home for the table. Just feeling way down in your soul that you belong out there and everything is right with the world, for just awhile when you are in the woods. These are the reasons that I hunt. I am a christian, but I really don't go to church. I feel so much closer to god in the woods than I ever could in a church. Being out there in nature allows me to breathe, and feel at peace. I don't care if you are religious or not, there is something holy about being in the deer woods on a cold fall morning. It's amazing to me how beautiful it is out there, definitely enough proof of a higher power for me. Outdoorsmen have access to a side of life that many people will never experience and could not even imagine. I'm probably opening myself up to criticism, but just putting it out there. Let's not take it for granted.

I shot a doe with my 20 Gauge on Saturday night, and lost it. It was an easy shot, 55 yards. No excuses, I messed up and pulled the shot. I followed the blood as far as possible, then lost it and went to get help looking. After spending time that evening and returning in the morning, we found nothing. What little blood there was had been washed away by the rain we had. I searched my ass off, and felt horrible about losing the deer. I have lost deer with my bow in the past as well. I don't care if you are a bowhunter or a gunhunter, you will eventually lose deer. Not going to listen to some prick throwing a whole group of hunters under the bus. We have enough enemies outside of the sport.

Saturday, went out to my stand across the road from camp, sat in the stand till 0830, when a nice 9point came out, I was lucky enough to get him with a nice clean kill. Between sun up and 0830, I saw no less than 8 different grey squirrels in a walnut tree next to my stand. On Sunday afternoon, a bunch of guys drove off the area of my stand. Figuring that the area was already blown out for awhile, I decided to go out squirrel hunting in the stand. I got up there with my 22, and no more than 40 minutes later, I was on my way back to camp with a limit of greys. That was one of the most exciting hunts I have ever had. By far the quickest. Actually, I don't think I have ever limited out before. It's amazing how concentrated they can get in the late fall, when the mast is drying up.

I guess you COULD, it just might get real expensive.

Hi all, I've been on here since July, but haven't been very active yet. About me, I'm 27 yrs old. I work for the NYSDOT, so I'm the guy in the real slow plow truck that everybody hates. Been there 3 years & wouldn't trade my job for anything. I have an 8 yr old son named Hunter. I'm divorced, but I've got an awesome girlfriend who I'm going to propose to soon (after hunting season). My 2 favorites are squirrel hunting and bowhunting. We have land in Naples, which is where I do almost all of my hunting. I'm a meat hunter. My biggest buck was a 115" 9pt. I was lucky enough to take 2 bears in Maine, one was 175# the other was 220#. If I could do any hunt I want, I would like to draw a tag for a wild Bison, and hunt it with my bow. OK, I'm sick of talking about myself. Anybody else on here live in Rochester? or Naples?

I'm not pointing fingers, just trying to figure out who it could be. Doe, that's a great idea, maybe I'll go out for a drive when I get down there tonight. Thanks!

Well, I'm going to apologize for my remark about "elite" hunters. I got kinda excited and went all stupid. Anybody want to help me eat this crow? there's a lot to go around.

I wish I could get a plate #. There is never any cars there while I am at camp. I wonder if it is guys from other camps that are sneaking over, but most of the neighbors are cool. One exception is the guy up the road, he wanted to have permission to use our land, but posted his up tight. I still catch those idiots sneaking around. Last May, his kid with his girlfriend was set up in our meadow with a turkey deke, and he tried to tell me that he wasn't hunting, just passing through. I asked him why he was there, he said "this is a legal right of way, and we're just going thru to the land on the other side of yours". No such right of way exists, and god help you if you get caught on THEIR land. IDK, maybe it's them, but like it was said earlier, they are locals. Not good to piss off the locals. Frustrating.

njg, I'm sorry to hear what happened to you. I've lost deer before, and there is always a million ways to relive it, think about "coulda beens" & make yourself feel like crap. Don't listen to the negative junk on here. I believe that you did the right thing, considering that you felt that it was a marginal shot. Man, it takes a lot of balls to get on here and say that you are a better tracker than someone you have never met. I guess that having a big mouth and logging thousands of posts really makes you an "elite" hunter . LMFAO Better luck next time njg.

I was taught to always drag the deer far from my stand to gut them. I usually do it when I get back to camp, then put the pile in the bushes. I don't really think that it matters, but it's just the way I was taught. It does make for a heavier drag though. I guess deer are used to death, like fasteddie said. It's not like us walking down the street and seeing auntie Mable with rigormortis, laying in the ding weeds.

Anybody else running into a lot of trepass issues this year? We've got 34 acres in Naples, not much, but enough for 2 guys if you hunt it smart. I only get out there from thurs - sun, but there is almost always evidence of somebody else using the property. Cigarette butts in my treestands, boot tracks, food wrappers, etc. The deer have really gotten wary, and I know it's not from me, some of my stands (the ones with cig butts especially) have totally stopped producing. It's gotta be some jerk who knows I'm not there during the week. Nothing I love better than being up in my stand and having 4 wheelers go screaming thru the woods. By the time you get down to confront them, they're gone, and they sure as hell aren't gonna stop and talk to you. It's not even like I would've necessarily said no to these guys if they would ask, but now I'll never say yes to anyone because of a couple bad eggs. Just wondering if anyone else has had any problems this year.

Hi all! I finally lucked out and got that big black squirrel! Gettin him mounted and can't wait. Dyin to get back out this weekend. I decided that I'm done bow hunting for the year, got one small buck in the freezer. Now it's time to chase all them tree rats.

Definitely a turkey for the deep fryer. It's a yearly tradition, every opening evening. The pickled eggs are a must too, as well as a big jar of hot peppers.

OK guys, 14 days and a wake up to go! Saw a nice black running around the woods @ camp last weekend. I'd like to get a crack at him, don't see too many black ones around there. Just put a new scope on my Ruger.

Cool, it'd be nice to get a bear in the southern zone. I've seen them around our place in Naples, but that has always been in the spring. Seems like they go into a parallel dimension or something once the season opens up.

Thanks for the replies. The bullets I'm shooting are just lubed lead conicals with a felt wad under them, sorry for there being any confusion of them being saboted. The drop wasn't horrible, a couple inches, with the heavier bullets (They were in my friends' stuff, he said he didn't remember how heavy they were, but he thought they were around 365Gr, does that sound right?) I had to file down the front brass blade to get the elevation right for the 240 / 90 gr load, so if I were to go with a heavier bullet, I guess I would just have to file more off? On the other hand, what would a typical 50. Cal round ball wiegh? Would that shoot higher than my 240 gr.? G-Man, it's a 1:48 twist. There seems to be a lot that goes into getting this type of shooting down, hope I can get it figured out well enough for this season.

Hey guys, I just picked up a traditions, 50. cal carbine for $50 from a friend of mine. After monkeying around with it, it seems to be a real picky gun. The only load that seems to shoot really consistently is a Hornady 240Gr, pr conical, and 90 Gr of Pyrodex RS. I know it's not an inline, and I'm not trying to push it past 80 yards, but if I go much heavier on the bullets, I start to have significant drop inside of that range. I can't bump the powder up enough to compensate for the drop without exceeding load limit (haven't tried it). So, the question is, is this load enough for deer or black bear? Also, I'm having trouble finding any more of these Hornady conicals, any ideas on where they could be found? I'm brand new at muzzleloading, and any advice would be really helpful. Thanks.

During gun season, my area gets too much pressure. Once bow is over, I'm all done. The deer go into hiding, and all you see is hunters. I think that allowing gun hunters in the woods during archery will disrupt the deer, and you would see a dramatic decrease in overall archery season take. Anybody else?

And shooting 10 deer is a whole different thing than somebody shooting a buck with what the DEC says is too small a rack.