The Engineer

I started with 150 grain surplus. Then reloaded with 160 grain and 1 click up and the groups were within 2" at 100 yards with 8 shots. Of course I only shot 7 and reloaded????

My 1943 M1 Garand with hand load 160 grain iron sites. She deserves to be used on a very good hunt this year

Funny you picked this topic. This weekend I was putting up a 2 person stand and the thino collapsed like a house of cards. Needless to say I fell 19 feet to the ground. I landed on my side and I have some road rash on my legs. I am a little sore but for the grace of God nothing else. If I heal up enough I am going back in a put another up.

Don't worry about spooking deer etc. When I bought my property we closed right before deer season. I found a spot the week before opening day and piled a couple of rocks to find my stump over looking a funnel I expected the deer to go through. Well I got out late opening morning around 7 sat down and 15 minutes later a 6 point walked next to me and was hamburger. Point is this, deer can show up any where on your property so go out and find a spot. You get one or not who cares it's your property to play on and when ever you can hunt any day you want in season of course???? As for the tree stand I just bought a 2 person stand from sportsman guide for $89. Dicks has the same one for $99. Go get it set it up ASAP. Move it after season. Get couple of cameras too. You can use them to track deer now and watch the property later Have fun and good luck

Yes I keep my cameras out almost all year long. I like seeing the critters. I live on the island but try to get up here every weekend I can of course I need to make sure the honey do list is done. I figure come up as much as possible to enjoy it since I am paying a mortgage so I should use it ????

I checked the cameras not as many deer as I thought their would be especially considering the worn-out trails the camera face. What was nice to see was about 30 turkeys walking in woods. A lot of young ones so I watched them for 1/2 hour. It Started to rain so I cleaned out the garage to get it ready for a snowmobile I am picking up next weekend. Tomorrow get up early to drive back home and hit the couch for football

Hey Ricky welcome to the site. I am right next store in Grand Gorge. The hunting isn't bad last year and the year before I only saw does. A few bears on my cameras but not during the season. It didn't help that I have an as==$%le neighbor who last year decided to shoot about 1000 rounds on opening day because they were bored and drunk. The years before that I got a 6 and then a 7. Right before the season I saw the biggest 10 point deer I have ever seen about 50' from me and he wasn't scared and just kept walk along side me and then went up the hill. I thought it was an elk. I live on LI during the week so i see big deere very day. Our area is OK but I think the west side of dellaware county is better hunting. I guess more farms to feed and smaller mountains. I think over all a lot of does if you have a tag the bucks are there but I only have seen a 4 and 6 by me and 2 bear. I haven't heard any coyotes for about 2 to 3 months. They must be traveling because I am seeing a lot of rabbits and woodchucks. What area of Stamford? Good luck and be safe

What a great thread. I was upstate this weekend alone (terrible????) working on food plots, tree stands and the perfect temperature of beer after working in the woods. It took many trail and errors to find it. I come home yesterday to my wife canning kosher pickles, garlic pickles and some others. She also made 30 jars of blueberry jelly and strawberry preserve. What a way to end the weekend. Funny part I couldn't find pickling salts anywhere along route 23 and 28 that she needed. She had to go to Walmart on Long Island. If you have recipe send it over. It was cool coming home and seeing the process go on while recovering

I have a 3006 from Belgium with Leopold scope.From my shooting rest and all locked and dialed in and only using the trigger I hit under 1" all 4 rounds at a time. I have taken most of my deer with it. Under the same conditions I will do 2" at 200 yards. Now when I shoot free hand I don't do as well and the deer never seem to wait around when I use my bench but it gets the job done. Sure my Remington 700 will almost go through the same hole time and time again but with a semi with no kick in a tree stand it can't be beat

Thanks GrowAlot, I was hoping you would respond. I am hoping in the next few weeks I can test the soil after the snow disappears. Does alpha grow high? reason I ask the I don't want to block the view of the pond I put in last year. Any luck on the cypress. You think it will grow well upstate? I am in zone 5 at 2000' elevation. Thanks,

I am sure I am not alone but I am sick of this snowy cold crap. It has put me a month behind and still going. On the Island yesterday it snowed again which put me a month behind to do my honey do list before I can get up to Grand Gorge and do what I want to do. It still has 2' of snow last I checked 2 weeks ago so now is the time do home work. Any way I have hill side field ready for seed. I haven't decided what to plant yet, straight clover a mix someone give me an idea on that. The field is close to the house maybe a 100' away. So I am looking for easy care. The grade is to tough for lawn tractor but my sickle mower or walk behind going up and down would fine. The hillside is about 100' up and down by 200' side to side. it faces east so it gets good sun all day. Looking to help all the animals deer, turkeys, etc just to keep them in my area. Also I making a field in the middle of the woods. Most trees are gone just a few 6" or less stalks and under brush. I was going to make another food plot there and start planting some evergreens around it. I wanted to make a good wood break refuge for the deer and turkeys. I was going to plant Leyland cypress. I can get them for $15 for 3' to 4'. They grow fast here on Long Island so I am thinking in 5 years they will hit close to 20' tall and almost 20' wide with good limbs. The area where they will be planted is in USDA zone 5 at 2000' elevation again facing east good sun all day and good water. I was wondering if anyone had experience with them in the mountains? When the weather gets better I will be up there taking pictures and make some maps of the layout and ask for more help. Thanks,

This explains a whole lot. My wife just saw this site while I was on it the other day and asked is that all you hunters do.. I asked what do you mean she said look at the ads on the site. all they advertise is porn, mail order brides guns ammo and machinery parts. Little does she and for that matter me to about the internet and cookies. Now that we all know delete this thread or our wives are going to know what the hell we look at when no oneis around

I just left Grand Gorge went up for the weekend. its next to Prattsville. I am at 2,100 feet and the snow is 24" easy in my yard. I didn't bother going further up the mountain. I am lucky I have a neighbor that plows right to my door. It was warm yesterday of about a 40 degrees. This morning it was 28 and it started to snow in the higher elevations AGAIN. I will go back up when the snow gets below 12" so I can run around on the quad. The way it looks up the mountain the snow will be around for another month easy.

I am in Grand Gorge saw about the same does for months. In the last 3 weeks I have seen 3 bucks an 8,4 and spike. I am starting to see the boys walking around in day light. It is not far now. I cant wait to get out of here on Friday and get out on Saturday.

I am in 4P and the last few weekends I am going up from LI to the property. I have noticed more deer on the side of the road. 3 weeks ago around 10:30AM I was putting along on the quad on my logging trail to one of my cameras when 50' to my right the biggest deer I have ever seen just watched me go by and never moved. I didn't make direct eye contact with him just a glance here and there and kept moving. I went to the end of the trail and turned around and came back. He was still there and looking at the area where I just was. Until I was parallel with him did he look at me. He had a massive 8 point rack and his throat and chest were huge. His antlers looked very dark compared to stark white. I though he was an elk or something. all he did was turn around after I passed him with his nose to the ground and slowly walked up the hill and disappeared . That night I had this on my camera but this may not be the same deer but maybe the angle of the camera throws it off or I had buck fever. I didn't see him last weekend but this morning around 7:00AM on my morning patrol to my tree stand I jumped him he ran 75' ahead of me twice as I got close and did it over and over. All the while let out the warning yelp. Finally he took off and as he was going over the hill and running hard I could hear him yelping for 1/2 mile. I got to my stand and went up. 10 minutes later a lone 4 point walked through about 150 yards away. I lost him in the thickets with my binoculars. His was walking slow and sniffing the ground along. The rut is days away. I also found 1 scrape on the trail. Sorry this so long winded but I didn't see any bucks all summer or fall. They are coming out of no where and I have no one to tell. I have 4 1/2 days before I get the hell out of here and get up state for opening day.

I would want 1500 acres in the middle of Manhattan. Think about it. I could get rid of all of the liberal hippies who believe no one should have any type of gun. We would not have all of the democrats who continually take a freedom away on a daily basis or figure out ways to take my money and give it to people who choose not to work or look for work and take up space just to stay elected. I too love NY and like all of the diverse areas here. But it is run like crap by crap. If I could pick another place something maybe in the mountains of SC or NC. In the mountains there the summers are not as bad and in the winter the snow flies but melts away pretty quick. And they don't have the lingering artic blast that we seem to be having this year. It would have to be big enough that it would take 1/2 day to walk across on horse back (The other half to walk back). Log cabin, elec, water etc. I like internet so that would be a must. Also 1 road in with a gate and camera so I would who not to open up for. A nice 3 to 5 acre lake stocked up with a possible running steam for trout. Just my rant

Does Delaware County or Schoharie County or Greene County have trees? I am in the Stamford area. I was going to tree some of these trees but I am sure with my impatience I will be going to Moorse Nursery and get a few hybrid oaks and fruit trees.

I need some help. All week all I saw was 2 does and a spike buck on the side of the road when I was leaving to go home. Only 10' from me for 10 seconds. If I was in the passenger seat I could have choked it to death. (Like my wife said for the ride home forget he be there next year) Any way, this week was cold in 4P. So after the morning hunt walking out I decided to follow some tracks in the snow. The first day I jumped something all I saw was the tail about 30 yards away go over the hill and disappear. I think it was a buck as I got right on top of him before he bolted. What I did notice was 3 scrapes on the ground all with in 40' of each other. The day before when I walked out of the woods I noticed just 1 about 75' from these new ones. These 3 were made in 1 night. the place is loaded with tracks and some really big ones too. My question is simple is this area the bedding area? is this his center of area? or a borderline of his area? All I know I will be moving my stand next year. Before anyone says I should have hunted that area I did. Because some of my goofy neighbors decided to shoot all week before I got there, the deer were only moving at night time. If I can convince my wife to let me go this weekend I will sit not far from there in a chair. Let me know thanks,

I have hunted state land and still never had an experience like this.

So for 51 weeks I wait and wait. go out check cameras, watch the deer movement. I watch what they eat where they go. It goes on and on. Over the last couple weeks I have the cabin ready to go. Pack up the wife and dog on Friday night. Make great time going through the city from Long Island to Grand Gorge (31/4 hours) Waters running, heat is on, car unpacked all before 11. In bed by 11:10 and fast asleep. Get up at 5 have 2 cups of coffee eggs and precooked sausage. In the stand by 6. I don't see nothing. I cant figure out why. I have 5 cameras out there and I have turkeys, bears and 3 regular bucks that are keepers. Besides the 25 different does. As I am looking around with my binoculars at 6:45 when I can see. I see my one neighbor up in a tree stand right on top of the intersection of 3 trails. It looks like a tree in the middle of the road. That was not there last weekend when I was up. Not only that this guy was never into hunting and never had a tree stand. But what can I say it is 30' off the property line on his side. The wind was blowing on his back right into the bedding areas I found during the course of 51 weeks of scouting. No movement!! Wait it gets better. The neighbor on the other side arrives right after me on Friday and says hello and good luck. He and brother (who is a tool bag) say they have 3 friends coming up and one was a NYC cop. Again I am out there at 6 waiting for legal time. I after seeing the neighbor on the trails I figure I will stay a little who knows maybe a buck went out for a mid night hit and run and may come back through the same trail. Now at 8:30 the second neighbor decides to start a 2 stroke quad and go up to the top of the mountain which is his property. He is allowed it is his. Then for the next 1 1/2 hours the quads are running. Then comes the best part. They decided to shoot about at least 150 rounds (10 round bursts) of 9mm in the middle of the day. After the alcohol set in they decided to run the quads all 5 of them at top speed up and down the road and in the woods. They finally stop when it got dark out. Thank God I would hate to see them hit a tree or 2. They go out to dinner at 6:00 and come back at 8. While driving back up the road past my house they spent the time spotting with lights all the way up to their house. The next day the same dam thing. I wish they had a season for A-holes. They left yesterday by 2. I was out this morning for my last hunt I saw 1 doe. I at least saw something. I am going back next weekend. I hope the D bags take a weekend off. Sorry to vent I just cannot believe this experience. It was like a fake reality show. I am an easy going guy. I had logging done last summer and pulled out about 6 cords of wood and split in and left it on the side of our road for all the neighbors to take what they need. That's enough wood for me for 3 years. Never again I am done.

Nice pics, I have a cabin in Grand Gorge. I have a few pictures of bears too. I just started throwing corn around lately. I also have a nice picture of a buck starting to get his racks. I am going to get an automatic feeder this week

I got an easy 24" to 30" depends on the drifts. I was suppose to go sking up at Windham with the boys and no wives. I am glad my wife and I decided not go until next week. After seeing this today and I went well She made it very clear I would have been single hey wait . Anyone have an idea of the Stamford, Grand Gorge area? Or close to Windham? Thats where the cabin is.

First Light I live in East Northport too. Buck Hunter- After seeing the morons from the city make the down state people look like fools. I was trying to do the right thing and make sure I had a good clean shot. If I didnt no big deal thier would be other deers or I could have used my doe stamp.

Buck Hunter, let me clarify, While he was walking from my left to right at 100 yards or so I could not make out his body but just make out his head through the sapplings trees etc. I could count his points which in 4P matters. So as he was walking behind the does about 100 feet behind with his nose in the air I knew he was going to walk over a very clear trail where I would get a full look between a few trees maybe 2 seconds unless he stops right there. He didnt stop by I was perched and ready to go. So BOOM I took my shot once I could confirm that I would get him and not hurt harm anything else. Now First Light, I am not on the train but i live close to Huntington. I too read outdoor news. What area do you live in?

Now here you go