adirondackbushwhack

The coyote looks like he's on a stalk and using the rocks to move quietly.

I hunt bear but haven't had a chance to go out this year due to car trouble. It's fixed now and I am going in the morning. The only way to get bear is to locate their feed. They'll hang in an area where they find the feed they are looking for and I identify those areas by their scat. The scat also tells me what they are eating. Anyway I did find a nice oak stand many years back and the bear just love acorns, especially in this area of the dacks where acorns are in really short suppy. Anyway this spot holds bear most of the time and it's not unussual for several bears to be feeding on the acorns there at the same time. Last years bear I got was feeding on berries in a spot that I had located a buck and was scouting for him. I found lots of bear scat there and still hunted into the wind along the feed and got lucky. The wind is the number one spoiler for bear, they have great noses and will vanish when they wind ya. So anyway I have to spend a lot of boot leather for bear but without locating what they are feeding on your chances are mighty slim of lucking into one.

The greatest buck attractant in the woods is doe. Find where the doe are and stick with them. Smoke yourself good with hemlock on the way into the woods and have fun.

Many times my camp has been miles from any road or trail and my expected time of return is weeks away. I always make my camp near a water source and near a prominent feature of some type so it is easier to find camp at the end of the day. I don't figure there is a man alive who can't get turned around a bit in the right conditions and I've had to rely on compass and map to find where I was on more then one occasion after a day of tracking. I carry at least two compasses and at least two topo maps of the area as part of my possibles. I never head into the woods without my possibles. I had a time where I was on a day hunt and when I came out I found that the river had swelled and I couldn't cross it to get out of the woods. I hiked up stream a couple of miles and found a spot I could get across but I was pretty sure I was going to end up spending the night. It was a good reminder as to why I carry all of those possibles all of the time.

Thanks good luck to you too. It is a big area I have two nice buck scouted in two different spots. I've had vehicle trouble and haven't got up there for bear yet so I am planning on a bear hunt on Monday and then bow later in the week.

I'm thinking you could hit the deer in the meat of the leg without missing it completely and it isn't likely to go down for a second easy shot to finish it and will likely get away if where you hunt is anything at all like where I hunt. Then too you could miss low and catch some belly and again it will run away to suffer. No I'm not thinking that with the THS you have either a down deer or a clean miss. You can more easily wound the deer with the THS then you can with a broadside heart lung shot mearly because a smaller miss with the THS leaves a wounded deer. That's the way I see it anyway.

No it's south of there in the Wilcox lake area.

Thank you. Good luck to you too.

I don't think both sides are arguable. If the shooter was anything at all he would have taken a follow up shot before loosing the dog or in the event that the dog was already loose he would have taken a follow up shot BEFORE the dog got to the pig. To my mind it doesn't matter what happened after the video stopped because it already showed a dishonorable act.

When exercising the body needs energy and hunting up and down those mountains from dark till dark is pretty good exercise so I always bring lunch and snacks. Mostly peanut butter sandwich for lunch and fruit, trail mix or jerky for a snack. In cold weather I will also bring coffee or hot cocco. I tend to lose quite a bit of weight in the hunting season (not that I couldn't stand to) and I also get physically tired after a couple of weeks in the woods and if I didn't take a lunch I would get tired even quicker. The lunch also restores my energy and helps me stay focused and retain concentration.

It's all state land that anyone could hunt. There is so much of it that most of it is left untouched so if one is willing to hike a bit it is possible to hunt deer that haven't ever seen a man.

Take it last. Take the flank second from last and that exposes the tenderloin.

That's correct, no primer is an unloaded weapon.

My camp location changes each year but it is within a 20 mile radius . Here are some pics from last year.

Here is last years bear in my backpack ready to be packed out.

Killing the game quickly is important to me. I have many fine rifles but I choose to use a .444 because it just plain knocks the crap out of them and kills vary quickly. Last year my .444 was in for repairs and I used a 25-06. I shot a nice buck with it and it went down at the shot but when I walked down to it it was still alive and so I shot it several more times in the heart and lungs to dispatch it as quickly as possible. That's why I use the .444 with it I don't have to do that it seems to do the job much quicker. Anyway I didn't like that animal suffering and i didn't think it was funny either. If they flop around for 5 seconds they're getting more lead from me.

I wouldn't take that shot today although I was struck by the blood lust in my youth as most have been and might have then. BUT the giggling while the animal lies suffering with no immmediate follow up shot says it all.

The SOB does need to be shot in the ass himself; and then laughed at.

Yep. The only ones I have a problem with are the poachers.

If this is for my post I'd say you completely missed what I was saying.

NO. There is no need to gut a deer you are quartering to pack out. Packing them out is MUCH easier then dragging them especially when long distance or up hill is involved. My pack is a meat packer designed just for that job. It is an Eberlestock J107 dragonfly. There are places in the Adirondacks where dragging just is not practical.

Still hunting/stalking/ tracking is a completely differtent thing. Getting out of the blind and doing things in this manner is stepping into the animals realm. Hunting in this manner requires one to get in touch with their animal instincts and get in touch with ones primitive roots. Yes we are still using our brain to hunt but here in the animals world we are FORCED to use other tools that some have long forgotten. Tools like moving silently and effortlessly through the woods so as to go undetected by the foersts inhabitants. Skills must be learned and and perfected so the hunter may travel though even the noisiest woods while still going unnoticed by game. In fact it requires skills or tricks that many who haven't employed may think impossible to work. Seneses must be keen and sharp at all times and complete concentration is neccisary at all times lest one make a mistake and spook his game. Quite unlike stand hunting where one might read or daydream while waiting for their deer to arrive. Certainly still/stalk/tracking isn't nearly as easy as stand hunting but it has it's own rewards, rewards gained in the thrill of pitting ones own woods skills against those of his game. There is nothing quite like tracking down a nice buck and shooting him as he lies chewing his cud unaware that I am even there. Or walking up to bedded deer in dry crackly leaves because they didn't know I was a man when I walked up to them. Or even slipping silently along following a group of doe throughout their day hopeing that a buck comes in to check them. These are joys the stand hunter will never know IF he hunts only from a stand. Those of us who do still hunt/stalk/track beleive that if we hunted only from a stand we would be missing out on 90% of what hunting is all about. That is NOT to say we look down on stand hunting because to be honest there are times we all hunt this way even if rarely, but certainly once one hunts by still hunting/stalking/tracking methods most of their hunting desires are no longer fulfilled by stand hunting. Being a stealthy hunter and aquireing and useing skills and tricks never used in a stand is a pleasure for many of us and while Antler may have offended with his words I can understand him. I myself, and remember I have stand hunted with bow and rifle, have been guilty of thinking of stand hunting as mostly waiting for the deer to come along. That's not a dig it's just what it felt like to me as I sat there daydreaming or reading my book while waiting for the deer to arrive. Not so with still hunting/stalking/tracking. I'm too busy and concentraiting too hard to be feeling as if I'm waiting; I'm actively engaged in something at all times while hunting in this manner. I guess it's a hard thing for those who only stand hunt or those who haven't fully developed their still hunting/stalking/tracking skills to understand but honestly I'll never hunt over bait or food plot or sit in a stand of anytype all day, I'd be too bored and wouldn't enjoy myself and enjoyment after all is why I hunt.

I think there is a misunderstanding going on over the hunting/non hunting issue. Perhaps I can explain in a way that hopefully will be less offensive to the stand hunters. Hopefully anyway as i don't wish to offend. Stand hunting, either tree or ground blind is all the thing today. It's only odd balls like antler or me who choose to stillhunt/stalk/ track. I don't know antler but I hunt in this way. I would guess that the vast majority of hunters do so from a stand and the rest of us are the odd ones; especuially when it comes to bow hunting. Hunting from a stand is mostly useing ones mental ability to determine stand placement and lets be honest we have deer beat by a mile in that department. If we throw in a food plot or bait the stand hunter doesn't even have to use his superior intillect to out smart the deer he need only feed them something they like. Stand hunting seems an extension of our modern, do everything quickly and EASILY lifestyle, brought to the forests. From the elevated tree stand the hunter is less likely to be detected when he moves to shoot and less likely to be winded in many cases too. Hidden in a modern ground blind the movement is undetectable. So unseen and unsmelled the stand hunter kills the deer that he has either figured correctly with his stand placement or he has tempted the hungry animal with bait or food plot. I've hunted from a stand before and did so in just this way. I did not use any of the animal instincts I was born with to hunt when I did so I just picked a spot and waited for the deer to show up so I could shoot them. Nothing at all wrong with that.

Hemlock smoke works best. I just make a small fire when going into the woods and smoke myself with hemlock. It does help a great deal but nothing gets rid of all of my scent.