beachpeaz

I commend you in your switch. I hunted exclusively with my bow last year, even during gun season. Nowhere near your commitment, but a big switch for me. The lazy culture bred by our NYS DEC "kill 'em all" strategy is disgusting. The sport has been removed from hunting and now its a contest of who can shoot farthest with their .300 ultra mag or cross bow.....and then people are somehow proud of their "accomplishment." SMH.

I'm pretty good at finding sheds each year. I walk my ass off all season. There is one property that I walk that I have yet to find one and it is driving me NUTS! There are huge bucks, there are an abundance of bucks, there is a ton of food / ag, plenty of thick bedding, 100% posted and a low population of people around it (so I don't believe it is hit by trespassers). It doesn't make any sense to me. Anyone want to take a stab at this picture and see something I'm missing? I'm going to walk it again next week:

I've hunted western states quite a few times. For Colorado, there is first, second and third season. First season will require points. Second and third season you can typically buy a tag OTC. The upside of later seasons is less people. The downside is, at the elevation the animals will be at, anything after October 1st, you can be dealing with considerable snow and cold......not idea for bow-hunting (or getting around in general). I've hunted the early muzzleloader season (last week of September and first few days of October) many times and I have had it in the mid 70's and also been snowed off the mountain with close to 0 degrees outside. You never know. Third season, which I think falls in November, you are asking for really, really bad weather. Also, the peak of the rut for Elk is early (September) unlike deer. This will also play against you on the later season hunts.

So, I found this one literally on the same trail I walk every week during shed season. It is at least 2, if not 3 years old. I must have walked by / stepped over it no less than 20 times. Unbelievable.

Wait, spilling corn isn't consider a food plot. Crap. I have some raking to do.

It's all good. lol. Feel better!

uh, yeah he did, did you miss the yellow dot IN the sanctuary where he has a camera and wants to put a gun stand? NY hunters are all the same. Amazing deer survive to be a year old in this state.

Did you just compare a tame deer that lives in a park to a wild animal? Now THAT is humorous. So, yeah, build a sanctuary and then be sure to put up cameras, walk around and check those cameras, build a stand, hunt the stand and shoot the place up during gun season. Bucks love that stuff. You may be able to hand feed them like the deer in the park since they will get used to him being there. Oh yeah, and since he will be putting the stand up a whole 2 weeks ahead of season, it is a moot point, deer don't remember anything past 13 days. Come on man......

If you build a sanctuary, why would you hunt it at all? That is counter productive. Build it, stay the hell out of it, and figure out how deer travel to and from that area to be able to hunt them. The second you step foot in there and leave any scent (or your scent blows in there because you are up wind of it), it will no longer be a sanctuary. Just because you draw a line around it, doesn't mean the deer understand it is a sanctuary. No mature buck will stay in there if you are running cameras, putting up stands, hunting gun, etc.

17.6 miles the past 4 days on foot. Found 2 dinks. I love finding any, so not complaining, but there definitely seems to be an antler drought this year (which someone else made mention to). I am not very optimistic on my numbers this year.

good choice of beer too!

Well, what's done is done. He is in possession of it and he knows who I am. If something ever changes in him and he decides to give me the rack, thats up to him. It at least gave me closure that the deer was recovered. I only hope he went back that night and grabbed the entire deer so it didn't go to waste (which I doubt). Nothing I could have done that night would have found that deer. I could have looked the rest of the night with the same result. No blood.....the blind leading the blind. Where that deer was allegedly recovered is nowhere I would have expected or looked that night upon the direction I watched him go. With no blood trail and dark, you can only instinctively look. For those of you who somehow blamed this on me, I can only LOL. You don't know me, so go ahead and be quick to judge as you probably do with all aspects of your life. I've never lost a deer in 30 years of hunting until this one. I owe you no defense. Thanks for the input from the rest of you, I appreciate it. I'm out.

I appreciate everyone's input, for better or worst. If not, I wouldn't have even posted this topic. Its worth repeating though, had he not of picked that deer up (or called me and told me he did), I would have found it on Saturday morning! He told me where he found it and we looked there (just not Thursday night). So, you can blame me for not going back Friday, guilty as charged, but if the DB didn't pick the deer up or told me he did, the story is irrelevant. And THAT is what my post was asking!! Not whether or not I had more pressing obligations on Friday. Should he keep the deer and should he have at least told me he picked it up. The rest we can argue now that it's 3 months later and we are looking back all night long. Doesn't change anything.

Not inconsistent at all. You suffer from "hindsight is always 20/20." In that scenario after searching and finding no blood, I was convinced the deer had survived. Not like I followed a blood trail and gave up (which I would never do). I am business owner. I have 49 employees who rely on me. Assuming the deer survived, my obligation on Friday was to my company and employees. I went back Saturday the first chance I had just to make damn sure.....and found not a drop of blood again. IF I found blood to begin with, I would have made other arrangements for the next morning and continued the search until I found him at the end of the trail or knew he was alive. Without blood, that changes everything. We grid searched that area for hours. Had he called me and said he found my deer, I would have went and taken care of it. Maybe a few hours later, but certainly I would have. He found it in almost the opposite direction to where I saw him run, thus why our search resulted in nothing. Plus he ran up and over a 20' cliff / hill and into the next ravine. Always easy to judge in reverse and from a couch.

I went back 36 hours later (Saturday morning), the first chance I had. I put in my due diligence. I exhaust as many options as I can before I ever give up. Not finding a drop of blood after searching for hours doesn't give much hope. I went back though, and brought help. Had he called me that he found it, I would have dropped everything and went to retrieve it. I have the highest respect for the animals I hunt. It bothered me every minute from the point I left that I may have wounded it. Even if he called and said it was dead and he was keeping it, I would have accepted that. Knowing the animal didn't suffer or was injured. He didn't bother to even do that. Had I not run into him, he would have never told me.

I looked for 2 hours that night without a drop of blood. I went back Saturday (36 hours later) and searched a few more. I had no choice on Friday but to work. Regardless of what time I went back, the deer would have been gone. I'm sure he was back that night. I'm not sure that gives him a right just because he beat me back!

lol. I hope to see someone riding a deer someday. That would be the icing on my deer cake. lol. See grows response. I never considered it until he said something. I bet he did find blood that night and waited for me to leave! That makes me fume even more. I was hoping someone had a logical argument that I'm an idiot so I could let this go. Now it appears I should be more mad than I am. lol.

No doubt. It is an odd situation where multiple family members own the property and the Son gave him permission and the Dad gave me....and the father and son never spoke....sooo, it ended up being a bad situation in the woods that could have been avoided with better communication. Since rectified. I made the mistake of not having it written and on me. This year I will, and history will not repeat itself. I have ZERO use for people like this guy. It is a dynamite spot and he is too stupid to know how to hunt it.

I don't believe I can type that on here...lol. Let's just say the conversation got really heated and had I been 20 years younger again, there would have been fists thrown in the middle of the woods. I thought that was a TOTAL DBag move on his part and I was not bashful in telling him that. His response was "you shot it out from under my stand." So, I guess he felt justified that it was actually his deer. I had literally been in that set for the entire day (before sunup) and toughed out 11 hours of cold for the deer to come by. He hunted for 10 minutes before I shot my deer. The deer would have never walked by where he was. Not that you needed to know that detail, but in case you had any sympathy for his response, those are the details.

The worst part is it was dead within 200 yards of where I shot it. Not like he found it a mile away and there was a question of what deer it was. It's also not like he found it 3 months later shed hunting. To go back after you know someone killed a deer and then not even tell the person? WTF. I don't get it. Soooo aggravated over this. I'm losing sleep. I can call him and yell, but that's not going to change anything.

Well, that's my opinion. I was raised with class and ethics. I am always the first one to help out someone else when needed. I would never keep someone else's deer, nor would I want to. Unfortunately the breed of hunters (and humans in general) that are raised today, have no value in other people. It makes me more sad than frustrated.

Curious what you would do in this scenario: I had permission to hunt private land this fall. While in my stand I see a guy walking through the cut corn field and climb up a tree literally 50 yards behind me. This is not my property, I am just there as a guest, so I figured I would lay low until it got dark and not ruin either hunt by getting down and talking to him (like, hey, what the hell are you doing 50 yards from me. That's another subject matter). Of course, of all days, I have a 140" class 10 point walk down the trail in front of me 10 minutes after this wahoo showed up. 30 yards, broadside, no clue I am there, I make what I think is a great shot. He bounds off, crashes through the thicket and disappears. Its 4:20pm and legal light is about 4:45pm, actual darkness about 5:15pm (yes, this idiot was walking through the corn field getting in his stand at 4:15pm, 30 minutes before sunset). I am on the fence about waiting til dark until this guy leaves (definitely don't want to deal with him) or going to find the deer because there is nothing worst than tracking after dark. I decided to get out of my stand and go talk to him. He was also there on permission so the conversation was fairly pleasant (although he thought he was the only one allowed to hunt this property). Regardless, he said he would go help me look for the deer. We walk to where I shot him and find my arrow busted off and not a drop of blood. It is now turning totally dark. We both looked for 45 minute and never find a drop of blood. I know in the back of my mind I made a good shot. I walk around in the direction that I saw him disappear and still find no blood. He gives up his search and we shake hands. I looked a little bit more and figured I would come back that weekend (this was Thursday afternoon) and look during daylight in hopes of finding something. I do exactly that and go back that weekend with my father and look for a couple hours. Nothing. It kills me that I could have possibly made a non-lethal shot (I watched the arrow make contact around the front shoulder). I walk away pretty discouraged but at least knowing I looked and looked. leap forward to muzzleloader season. I am back out at this property hunting and of course run into that guy again. This time the conversation a lot less pleasant. He tells me that he went back that weekend and found my deer and kept it (obviously before I could make it back to look). This guy knows who I am (we exchanged numbers the first time we ran into each other) and we obviously both know the land owner (to which neither of us are). Knowing what I just typed, would you have kept that deer? Or would you have returned it to the person you know that shot it? I feel like that is pretty dishonest of him to do that, but I am obviously biased because it is the deer that I shot. Curious if he is in the right on that, or is this a grey area. Any opinions?

Now that made my morning. lol. There is something to be said about someone who is man enough to put a 70lb ladder stand on their head and walk around the woods.

Amen on that! And rated to 350 lbs, so its not like its just for "light" people! You haven't deer hunted until you spend no more than one sit in any given tree and keep the deer on their toes.

I think you are crazy. I own Lone Wolf Alpha II climbing system (4 sticks and 1 hang on stand). I will put money on a race that I can be up a tree faster than you with a ladder stand! Name the place. Not to mention the stealth nature of this compared to an ugly eye sore sticking off a tree that a deer can see with a ladder stand. Better than a climber because it doesn't matter if there are limbs on the tree, doesn't matter if the tree is straight and doesn't matter the diameter of the tree. Best system on the market. Its incredibly quiet as well. I covered it in a stick on felt type material made specifically for this application. Damn near silent. No noisy ratchets for securing to the tree. Just strap, pull, repeat. I will never go back to a ladder stand or a climber.