SteveNY

I'd like to see a good photo of that beast.

Do you do the stocking yourself? I've heard about pheasant stocking but I dont know much about the program. Why don't they release the birds one day, then the next day publicize the location they were released? Or do people just show up when its not even publicized?

Good luck this year Sportsman

Very nice post, thanks for sharing

Now that I wrapped my brain around what you were talking about... Sounds like the area I hunt. I hunt HUGE areas of state land. There have been some massive buck taken out of those woods, but the average is a small 6. The BIG buck aren't abundant, nor are they easy to pattern. They are definitely more finicky and cautious then the type of deer that hang around my yard all year long. If you cant even get photos of the type of deer you want, you need to find another place to hunt. That's not to say that they aren't in there, but there aren't many of them. Since I started using cameras my luck has improved... Think about it, a camera is watching possible hunting spots for you 24/7. If you don't see the type of buck that you want pass that camera, the odds of you seeing a deer you want while hunting in that same spot/area are not too good. I'd like to shoot bigger buck myself, but I just love to hunt where I do, so I don't move to other places. Now this year with the AR in my WMU... Jeez... I hope the program works cause I probably wont have any meat for a while...

So my story starts like this. I'm thirty-two years old, I started hunting big game 10 years ago with a shotgun only. I don't own any land, so I hunt state land. I hunt Canadice/Hemlock state land. I have an area were not many hunters hunt because you have to go through a swamp to get there. I was lucky to get permission to cut through a landowners land that's behind state land, but anyways I have been hunting this spot for ten years now. I've always been a "If its brown it's down" guy. Just wanted meat, but now I've been bow hunting the past three years. I'm all about bucks now. I have always got does out of this area except for one buck, it was a 6 pointer with a 19" spread. Which I was happy about, but the thing is I want a big buck! Since I started bow hunting 3 yrs ago, I've taken two 6 pointers and a little basket 7, and I've seen twenty or more 4-6 pointers. Never seen anything bigger. The real question is, do you think theres bigger bucks there? I have never seen anything bigger then a good 6 pointer! And why? There's a food source, water, thick cover and fields. Is it me or the area I hunt? Do I give up on this spot or do I keep at it? There is 6000 acres or more but I have never seen any bigger bucks.

Wow, that's a lot of dogs

That's a long sentence... Sorry man, I can barely even read that.

Me too!

hahahahaa

Hi Jim, glad you're enjoying the site!

Welcome!

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I agree with that. I hunt the same areas you speak of. Mostly State lands, big huge chunks of it. I can agree that there are less and less hunters in the area, and the old timers I hunt with it say it even more. They say "there isnt enough hunters in the woods pushing these deer around any more". I'm not sure if this is true or not. In a way it makes sense. There are 6-9+ guys hunting out of my camp every year and most hunt all day every day for the entire week. There have been a few nice deer ive seen that came out of the southern part of 3A, but a crab claw 4 pointer was the average deer. Me personally in 14 years have taken 2 spikes, a button(thought it was a doe, back when they actually issued doe permits in the area), and a nice size 6 pointer. I missed a huge 8 or 10 pointer that was probably the buck of a life time. Passed on a couple spikes. That's about it... I never see the caliber of bucks in the woods or my trail cams that I see on this site. I may never unless I hunted some where else. But I wouldn't give up hunting where I do for the world. We have real wild, mountain deer here. There's no farms for deer to get fat on around here. Theres got to be big ones are out there some where tho...

Thanks man. Only took me about an hour. Go with plucking the feathers out that you want, instead of trying the borax/salt method. Much faster, neater and less work. I started off fleshing out the tail fan and salting and all that... its just a pain in the ass. With this method you can kill a turkey in the morning and have him mounted in the afternoon. No waiting for curing. I was gonna make a video on how I did it, but when I start doing something I have a habit of not stopping till its done... 1) Pluck out all the tail feathers you want, keep them in order the way u pulled them out (from left to right or right to left). I decided to do 3 rows of feathers. Mostly because it looks fuller and includes the nice short feathers that have the cool looking blue/green/purple colors in the sun light. 2) Get a piece of thin cardboard and arrange the longest of the tail feathers fanned out, face up, on the cardboard. Once they look neat and even use a hot glue gun to lock them in place. I did about 3 rows of glue in an arc shape at the base of the feather quills. 3) Continue the same routine for your second, and if you want, 3rd row of feathers. 4) By now you basically have your entire mount done, attach it to what ever kind of wood mount you want after that. The one I bought had a metal plate on the back, I just screwed the cardboard and feathers to the back of the plaque, attached the beard to the front of the plaque and was done. Lemme know if you have any questions.

I thought it was only me seeing small bucks my whole life, haha

I hunt on the Sullivan/Ulster County border. I have never seen one in 16 years of hunting, nor sign of them. Trail cam never caught one either. But recently I have been hearing them at night. One guy I hunt with saw one once and took a shot at it, hes been hunting the area over 30 years. And my brother thinks he saw one in the woods once. I spent this past Saturday trying to call one in using rabbit in distress, I heard howling in the distance for about 2 minutes just before sun up, but none showed up.

Finished it last night.

This is my favorite... I dont even wear gloves any more when I'm sitting. Just put your hands in the muff, its like a little oven

Thanks for this, I downloaded all of them

Thanks!

Wow, awesome pics

Gorilla Gear Trophy Mount Plaque - $22.47 Hot Glue Gun and Glue- $14.98 Took me about an hour from start to finish.

I didnt see this episode, but I have a similar experience my self... I dropped a 6 pointer 3 years ago that had an entire broad head about 1/4 inch from his spine. It was totally concealed and surrounded by scar tissue. The blades of the broadhead and the tip were intact. No arrow shaft at all tho. Pretty wild...