First-light

Again, we all have our opinions. All the farmers I know use the nuisance permits during gun season, many are left over. I have heard of stories of gut shot deer left to rot but never saw it for myself. Shorten the gun season and the experience decreases in many ways. Look at all those trips to camp, time with good friends, stories to tell, taking a kid hunting, revenue lost to local towns, and chances at bagging a buck that would decrease. I don't believe you will get a significant amount of guys picking up the crossbow in exchange to be out in the woods two weeks after gun opener, just won't happen. Hey, just my thoughts, if it aint broke don't fix it!

It will all fall into place. We all make mistakes don't kick yourself. Enjoy the venison!

Guys way to go! Nice buck, does he get mounted?

If it's true, a late rut, the next two weeks should be good? My area was not hunted hard on opening week. I will miss Thanksgiving weekend and be back up the following weekend. Be interesting to see the buck activity then.

Good luck, I feel for you. We wait all year to get a shot at the big one and a major malfunction occurs with the gun. That sucks.

I don't agree with a shorter gun season. It's just the opposite for me, I come up every other weekend and if it was two weeks well I'm out of luck. I won't knock down the crossbow until I try it. I think the way the season lays out right now is fine, I'm not worried at all about introducing the crossbow, that will work itself out in the long run. I will not give up the right to choose what type of deer I shoot, that goes against my grain. Trophy is in the eye of the beholder and let it be. As for the nuisance permits we (land owners) that lease to the local farmer have stated that no nuisance permits be used on our land. I don't agree with the DEC and these permits.

Of course try to drain the blood as much as you can. I transported 3 this weekend to the processor by putting them inside my Tahoe with an old rug on the floor. Not a bad idea to stuff a rag in the mouth if they are in the trunk and drop them off in Jersey! No really alot of blood comes out of the mouth and it may save you from a bad stain.

Thanks John-I'm sending some you way right now. It was a good three days and all days spent in the woods. Funny that my neighbor and his gang only have 1 deer hanging. 9 of them saw nothing all day yesterday????

Funny, Charlie's place is 2 miles from my camp!

Had some excitement! Good luck later in the week, it will be getting cold they should be on the move!

I could go for 3,4 and 5. Tax credits is a good idea. I get tax credits by being in the agricultural program, why not hunting?

Not every shot ends up where you want it, could of been deflected. One hell of a tough deer.

If I had to cast a vote right now on any changes to the hunting season, I would leave it alone. What is so bad about the NYS deer season anyway? We have multiple opportunities to harvest deer. Lucky hunters can get a DMP permit. I know from region to region the herd changes but where I hunt we have all age groups of deer. If you lucky enough you my take a 3.5 or 4.5 year old deer. If not there are plenty of doe and smaller bucks to hunt. I went bow hunting 7 days this year saw plenty of deer. I hunted opening weekend and Monday morning we took two huge doe and one nice 4pt. We saw plenty of deer. My hunting experience includes hunting with family and friends, being able to shoot what I want to shoot and seeing the deer in their element. If we harvest deer all the better. Again I wouldn't change the way NYS manages the hunting season. My opinion, what's yours?

Turnips aren't touched yet, it amazes me.

The full moon may some impact.

This is all good information and it seems that we will never agree 100% on some type of practice. If I had to cast a vote right now on any changes to the hunting season, I would have none. What is so bad about the NYS deer season anyway? We have multiple opportunities to harvest deer. Lucky hunters can get a DMP permit. I know from region to region the herd changes but where I hunt we have all age groups of deer. If you lucky enough you my take a 3.5 or 4.5 year old deer. If not there are plenty of doe and smaller bucks to hunt. I went bow hunting 7 days this year saw plenty of deer. I hunted opening weekend and Monday morning we took two huge doe and one nice 4pt. We saw plenty of deer. My hunting experience includes hunting with good friends, being able to shoot what I want to shoot and seeing the deer in their element. If we harvest deer all the better. Again I wouldn't change the way NYS manages the hunting season.

Just an observation about the bucks. They were still hitting the scrapes in my area. Every scrape was freshly pawed over each night. Thought it would be a bit late for this?

Good shot Eddie!

I should start calling him that!!! Yes I still have a buck tag. Thanks guys these were some pretty big deer had alot of fat on them.

8P had shots from 6:20 to 6:35 5 shots in all. The property in the back of us had no hunters and they call themselves a gun club??? It was very slow opening day, we scored (see my journal) but my neighbor who has in 11 people to hunt only shot 1 buck sat-mon.

So sorry, he went out doing what he loved but way too soon.

OMG! We dropped off my father-in-law at his sons house 11:00 pm Friday night. It is a 50 min drive to the cabin in Howard, we had 3 almost car deer collisions! One doe actually was running right into the side of my car, one sick puppy!

Hey everyone, We just got back from camp. Saturday was a very trying day with the wind and lack of hunters moving game. The guys behind us who own a 300 plus acre property were not in for opening day as well as my next door neighbor. After not seeing anything in the morning I met up with my brother and we had coffee in the woods together. We planned on staying in all day so we packed accordingly. After we split up about 1:00 I see two deer out in front of me, two doe. I take aim on the second one and touch off a shot. They continue to run, the shot was about 80 yards. I hear more shooting where my brother was, maybe he connected also? I went to look for blood and found some specs and it increased as I followed. At about 50 yards I see the deer I shot standing so I put one more into her and she is finished. A hog of a doe, I would guess 2.5 years old dressed out at 135lbs. I call my brother and he says he shot but can't find blood. I tell him to continue looking while I drag my deer out. He calls and says he has blood so I come over to help. We follow the same type of blood trail that my deer laid down. The blood trail abruptly stops so we do circles looking for another 1.5 hrs. I keep on smelling a musky deer order now and then. I say to myself that deer is out in the field in front of us. We give up the search and I tell my brother that I would walk down the middle of the field having a hunch she is there. Well I find her right out in te open, another huge doe. She dresses out at 129lbs. Each shot was a bit back from the shoulder, blowing out the stomach and liver. Well we leave the deer and continue to hunt. We don't see anything so I go up to get the quad at dark. While driving back I round the corner in our pines and there is the rear end of a deer on the trail, he picks up his head and it's the big white racked 8 pt. I am about 3 feet from the buck and I put on the brakes and he jumps up and to the left into the thick pines. We had such a great laugh about that. We see some more deer on Sunday but only does. As we walk out there is a doe in our big field of clover. you can see her plain as day with the moon and the horizon. We stalk her and get within 30 feet, it was really cool. She finally busts us and runs off. Monday morning we hunt and I moved some stands. I met up with my brother and the bottom of the property where in the last hour I was making noise moving the stands. He wants to hunt another hour so I go back to the cabin. As I get to the top of the property I hear shooting from where he was. He bags a nice 4pt. He swears that the hocks he cut off the doe led that buck in. Maybe so cause te wind was blowing right at the deer. We had a great time, my neighbor who has in alot of family the first week of season only took a broken rack 6pt. Slow for them so far. We had a great time have plenty of meat!!!!! Enjoy the pictures, Burt

Hey everyone, We just got back from camp. Saturday was a very trying day with the wind and lack of hunters moving game. The guys behind us who own a 300 plus acre property were not in for opening day as well as my next door neighbor. After not seeing anything in the morning I met up with my brother and we had coffee in the woods together. We planned on staying in all day so we packed accordingly. After we split up about 1:00 I see two deer out in front of me, two doe. I take aim on the second one and touch off a shot. They continue to run, the shot was about 80 yards. I hear more shooting where my brother was, maybe he connected also? I went to look for blood and found some specs and it increased as I followed. At about 50 yards I see the deer I shot standing so I put one more into her and she is finished. A hog of a doe, I would guess 2.5 years old dressed out at 135lbs. I call my brother and he says he shot but can't find blood. I tell him to continue looking while I drag my deer out. He calls and says he has blood so I come over to help. We follow the same type of blood trail that my deer laid down. The blood trail abruptly stops so we do circles looking for another 1.5 hrs. I keep on smelling a musky deer order now and then. I say to myself that deer is out in the field in front of us. We give up the search and I tell my brother that I would walk down the middle of the field having a hunch she is there. Well I find her right out in te open, another huge doe. She dresses out at 129lbs. Each shot was a bit back from the shoulder, blowing out the stomach and liver. Well we leave the deer and continue to hunt. We don't see anything so I go up to get the quad at dark. While driving back I round the corner in our pines and there is the rear end of a deer on the trail, he picks up his head and it's the big white racked 8 pt. I am about 3 feet from the buck and I put on the brakes and he jumps up and to the left into the thick pines. We had such a great laugh about that. We see some more deer on Sunday but only does. As we walk out there is a doe in our big field of clover. you can see her plain as day with the moon and the horizon. We stalk her and get within 30 feet, it was really cool. She finally busts us and runs off. Monday morning we hunt and I moved some stands. I met up with my brother and the bottom of the property where in the last hour I was making noise moving the stands. He wants to hunt another hour so I go back to the cabin. As I get to the top of the property I hear shooting from where he was. He bags a nice 4pt. He swears that the hocks he cut off the doe led that buck in. Maybe so cause te wind was blowing right at the deer. We had a great time, my neighbor who has in alot of family the first week of season only took a broken rack 6pt. Slow for them so far. We had a great time have plenty of meat!!!!! Enjoy the pictures, Burt

I think 2.5 year old deer is mature. Do I harvest 1.5, yes. If I had more time in the woods I would think about passing the 1.5's. I don't and love venison so a 1.5 will do.