New York Hillbilly

At 60, I sure am with you on this one. After so many years and so many deers...lol..I just can't get them hung up, cut up, and wrapped alone like I used to. Plus, after being away for so long nothing is set up to properly tackle the deer processing part of the equation. Unfortunately, with the exception of one local fellow who cut a few of my deer, the several other times I payed to have it done I was terribly disappointed. When you cut as many deer as I have you know full well what you should be getting back, and when you did not. Getting one small box or a couple white plastic shopping bags filled with "your deer" just does not fly with me. Also, the idea that I might kill a deer with one shot and handle it properly then possibly if not likely gets tossed and mixed in with one shot to pieces and handled questionably burns me up. If I choose to have every part of the deer with the exception of tenderloins and backstraps turned into processed items that is my business, but it shouldn't get mixed in with some else's deer as part of the deal. If I could only find someone I trust to cut and wrap my deer it would be a blessing and they would have a long (hopefully) time customer. I would never grumble about the price I'm asked to pay because I know the work involved, but I would insist on knowing what I brought in was what I was bringing home. Nothing more and nothing less! Anyone have such a deer processor close to either Utica or near my family in Webster?

Still fighting a miserable cold that went into a lung infection, another night of coughing almost convinced me to throw in the towel for this gun season. With the sound of the wind outside, the warmth of my bed seemed much more appealing than waving about side to side tied to a tree. However, after a few moments I managed to muster enough resolve to get up, hack a few more times, hit the asthma puffer, get a drink of water, brush my teeth, and start slowly climbing into my hunting clothes that at this time of year more resemble a cocoon. The argument in my head about staying in bed or tackling another day in the cold, windy, snowy woods, was in the end won I think in large part by my refusal to accept the thought of getting too old and slowing down. Call it pride, ego, or stubbornness, I reminded myself I did not come all the way back to New York to live from Alaska to wimp out from doing something that has been such an important part of my life and something I desperately missed while I was away. Once my clothes were on, I quickly started to build a sweat as I wrangled with and swore at the cheap safety belt harness system I have been using because I couldn't find my much nicer (and safer) one buried for the past 5 years in my garage someplace. What a fiasco this pile of loose belts and buckles that seem to have no rhyme or reason and require the physical stamina and contortion skills of a Cirque du Soleil athlete/artist. Definitely not an easy task for a guy my size, age, movement restricted by a laundry basket worth of clothes, coughing and gasping for breath. God I hate this harness, but I don't dare climb up into ladder stands anymore, wind or not without one on. Did I mention 3 years ago, after some 40 years of climbing some pretty sketchy deer stands without incident, I fell off a brand new eight foot ladder while I was painting around a window frame? The end result was surgery on my arm to put in 13 screws and 2 or 3 (I can't remember) metal plates that hurts to this day. No more climbing anything without being secured. Once finally dressed and with the safety harness gripping and pinching me in all the worse possible places, I left the house without looking back. I climbed on my 4 wheeler and made my way up the hill through the snow covered fields. All of my fiddling around got me started rather late by most peoples standards here, but to be honest these days I actually prefer getting on stand just before shooting time. I hate sitting in the dark listening and hoping to hear nothing. When I entered the woods on my wheeler I had to stop and back up to grab my blaze orange hat that was ripped off my head by a rogue blackberry bush, and then onward up the hill to my stand. The snow was deep in the woods and being close to 7 am I could see the deer tracks seemed to be everywhere I looked. Many of them looked fresh, which worried me a bit that I bumped the deer out of the area on my way in to the stand. Regardless, I was now there so I parked my wheeler up a bit from my ladder stand, hidden as best as possible in some brush, and I walked the few yards through the knee deep snow to my stand. Grasping the rungs of the ladder, up I went, while trying to not to keep stepping on my insulated coverall bib pant legs that are too long for me. At the top of the ladder I reached for the tree to hug it to steady myself in the wind. When I pulled, then tossed the belt that goes around the tree to secure myself, the stupid thing pulled out of its loop in the back of me. Rather than risk falling out of the tree trying to get it back behind me I decided to improvise and tried to secure it to the tree but through a different part of the harness. As I monkeyed around with the belt trying to figure out a way to tie myself to the tree, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a coyote moving quickly through the dense saplings on the hillside above me. I'll admit that I have no love for coyotes after losing a beagle to one years ago and several other close calls with my beagles with them while rabbit hunting after that. So, I immediately stopped messing with the belt and sat down, pulled a bullet from my pocket, chambered the round and tried to put and end to this one. At the shot, he/she kicked it into high gear and was gone in a flash, clearly a miss. Gathering my thoughts for a moment, the wind gusting against my face reminded me I was still not secured to the tree, so I stood and turned around to resume once more figuring out this dilemma. It seemed like I was at it forever in the tree, and I was beginning to think I would just climb down and hunt from the ground rather than continue to huff, puff and swear under my breath. It had been about a half hour since the coyote deal and I still was not secured to the tree. Then again out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. This time coming up from the stand of hemlocks below me, just as I had hoped would happen, I see a big doe all by herself. She looked alert but not frightened and was clearly on her way up towards me. As with the coyote I was standing untied to the tree and with my rifle still unloaded. This time though, my back was to the deer and she was walking straight uphill towards me rather than off to the side like the coyote. I knew my movement had to be seamless and with some haste to pull this off successfully. With that, I turned, sat down, all the while watching her pick up some speed as she came up the hill in front of me and in a diagonal direction she would pass me at about 50 yards. I fumbled quickly in my coat pocket for a round and quickly got it chambered. The wind was in my favor but she clearly began to sense something was going on, perhaps hearing the rifle bolt close, and she picked up her speed to a trot. At her pace it was going to be iffy to keep the scope steady on her, so as she started across an open area above me I let out a loud squeak noise from my pursed lips. At the sound she stopped, I put the cross hairs where they needed to be and I fired. At the shot she whirled around and sped back down the hill towards the hemlocks she had come from. I couldn't see where she went but did see a giant cloud of snow following her movement down the hill. Rather than risk getting down and pushing her if still alive and then having to track further in the deep snow, I sat for another half hour. Interesting to note was, while I was waiting in the tree, a single crow flew over making a weird croaking sound, circling the entire time. By the time I got down, there had to be fifty of them circling above me and it was eerie, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock movie "the birds"! It didn't seem possible the crows could have that quickly identified my dead deer if she was in fact dead. Once I got down I slogged through the knee deep snow in the direction of where she ran rather than walk up the hill to where she was standing. It was quickly obvious I hit her hard, as the blood spray on the snow looked like spray paint. When I turned my sight down the hill I could see her laying on her back, feet in the air and with her head buried in the snow. There was no tracking needed for this one because even without the blood it looked like a bobsled run where she slid and plowed all the way down the hill. When I got to her I was impressed with her size and knelt down to pull her head out of the snow, brushed her free of snow, and as I always do spend I few moments quietly reflecting and giving thanks for opportunity to take such an animal. While it was again this time a one shot one kill situation, and again thankfully she died within sight of my stand and four wheeler, the old saying about the work starting after the shot has never been more true. Pics include: my stand, my wheeler in plain view from my stand and only a few yards from where she was shot, single shot behind the elbow that passed through totally taking out the heart, and the bobsled run where I found her.

Had a very similar experience yesterday, but by only 4 minutes after sunset. I don't set my alarm (great idea by the way) but I watch my phone like a hawk towards the end of the afternoon making sure I don't goof up with the time, especially on overcast days and/or snowy days when it is hard for me to be certain the sun is dropping below the horizon. Then today I think I was rewarded by taking a nice big doe. Judging from her size and that she was all alone, I almost wonder if she's the same one I watched last night. I think you too will be rewarded for making the right decision. Good luck!

A short sit on stand this morning. Filled my 7M doe tag. Deer tracks were everyplace I looked on my way to my stand, and all around my stand as well. Something has them on their feet. My sits have been few in number and pretty short in length with a severe respiratory infection kicking my rear almost all gun season. I'll put story on harvest thread tomorrow. I'm calling it a day, a good but tiring one at that.

Finally stopped coughing long enough to sit on stand again this afternoon. It was beautiful outside. Saw one doe and fawn up hill from in thick stuff, no shot. Nothing else until I came down the hill and spotted a big doe standing perfectly broadside about 100 yards away. She stood long enough to tempt me into thinking about chambering a round and taking the relatively easy shot but I passed. There were tracks all over the place today in the fields and woods. They must have been moving like crazy.

Check out Sangerfield (7M) on the map. Surrounded by, farm land, Nine Mile swamp, and thousands of acres of State land including Tassel Hill and Brookfield. Thruway to Utica then 15 miles south.

I agree with 110 to 115.

Thank you! Hamilton is about 15 miles from me. I'll check them out.

Any information greatly appreciated. I typically cut my own deer, however this year I would like to have it professionally done. In the past I have taken deer to Nolt's in Lowville but the drive is 1 1/2 hour each way. They do a great job and happy with their products but would like to find someone closer. Can anyone share with me who is cutting deer in the Utica/Rome area and if you have personally used their services Thank you!

Sure thing! I'll try to send it this morning. : )

Wow, sounds like you had a lot of deer activity. Not nearly as busy here the past 2 days, but I did take the nice 10 point with that Weatherby 30.06. Finally gave it a little action, and boy oh boy is it an accurate son of a ...well...gun. lol

Welcome to the hunting world. Working as a police officer is a tough gig. Respect! 1. There are folks on this site from the city, and all seem real nice. I hope they contact you. 2. When you buy your license check the syllabus for the maps of public hunting as a place to start. You might even make some contacts here, and get an invite to go along. 3. Check online for field dressing tips. Not so hard really, just messy and takes a little time until you get experienced at it. 4. Yes the whole head goes to the taxidermist if you choose to have it mounted, Also, read up on the difference between caping a deer you expect to mount versus a deer you plan to just saw the skull cap and keep the antlers. Good luck on your journey!

Nice deer. Congrats! : )

For those interested: I posted the story about my this morning buck on the 2019 Gun Harvest thread. : )

After almost second guessing myself on where to sit, I purposely reminded myself not to do it. I decided to stick to the plan and climb back into the stand I was in last evening without seeing any deer. With all the tracks I figured it was just a matter of time, and with knowledge from so many past seasons here, I know well how bucks seem to like sneaking through this spot from feeding to bedding areas. They keep themselves under cover of goldenrod and brush as they follow the contour of the ground from a scrub apple orchard in a ravine on one side of the field to about 70 acres of much the same on the other side. The 70 acre side almost never smells of humans because I have kept it off limits even to myself as a sanctuary for them. This morning I also decided I would not make myself sit in the dark for so long waiting for sunrise. On mornings this cold it seemed pointless to sit and freeze while praying nothing comes by until its after official shooting time. I did not want to be frozen solid in the dark like yesterday, so I got on stand by 6:30. I drove my poor old 4 wheeler up to my stand and buried it head on into the about 1/4 acre brushy island that sits right in front of my stand at the field edge. I put the wheeler to the up hill side of the brush island so it would not be seen by deer if they followed the trails I expected. In the end it did not seem to matter. The four wheeler was in plain view to me from my stand being only about 20 yards from my ladder. Once in my stand I got things adjusted and in position. I broke a couple branches to make sure my barrel wouldn't bump into one when I raised my rifle if a deer cam down the trails. One branch was too big and green to snap, so I gnawed at it with my knife until it looked beaver chewed, then I broke it off with a loud snap. Now my ball cap hung on one broken tree branch and my blaze orange hat on another branch, and yet another held my grunt tube. With all my clothing and paraphernalia hanging in the tree it looked like a hunters Christmas tree meets Charlie Brown. Now I was ready for action. Nothing was going to mess with this plan. The deer would come out of the corner, follow the trail, walk broadside to my right and into my natural swing. Lucy would not pull the deer football and have me land on my back this time. Ok. Somebody forgot to explain the play to the buck! As I was all comfortable standing up against the tree, snug with rifle up, and pointed in the right direction, suddenly appears a buck. A nice rack buck by my standards! Big bodied and light colored rack that I thought was an eight pointer, I never had to ask myself if he was a shooter. This was destiny as far as I was concerned. I planned it this way and the pieces were going to fall into place. That is until he decided to screw with my plan. Instead of walking straight down the trail to my right and into my shooting lane, he decides to turn and begin walking up the field placing the brushy island between me and him. I managed to keep my cool as I saw things starting to go a different direction, but I had to tell myself to get a grip. I pulled my rifle back from where it was rested, trying to avoid being seen or heard if the barrel bumped anything. He kept walking in my general direction but diagonally and to my left. Then instead of walking around the island he takes a short cut right through it and I'm certain at this time he is going to walk right into my 4 wheeler. As it happened he cut through the island and I briefly lost sight of him. Now I was getting nervous! Trying to not get frantic searching for him, knowing he can't be more than 30 yards from me, I saw him again. There he is basically broadside, about 10 yards from my 4 wheeler, head up alert but not necessarily alarmed yet. He just had that " hey something is up" look. I knew that was going to change quickly when he figured out what was up was me! With the scope at its lowest setting I quickly put the cross hairs on his head, followed his neck down to its base as far as I could where his body became engulfed in goldenrod, and touched off the shot. He immediately disappeared from my sight. I figured he dropped from the impact, but this is deer hunting and I know too well anything can happen. I ejected the spent shot and reloaded as soon as I fired. I stood with my rifle at the ready in case I caught any movement but there was none. After about a 1/2 hour I began to wonder if he was laying there dead, laying there wounded and ready to bolt if I got down, or if I somehow missed and he beat feet out of there. I was stunned how close he came to my 4 wheeler presenting for the shot, and if dead, what good fortune to have him expire basically next to it saving me any drag at all. Unable to fight the curiosity any further I unloaded my rifle and quietly climbed down the ladder. Once on the ground I put 2 rounds back in the rifle and snuck as quiet as I could on the crunchy snow up the field edge, rifle up and in his direction, but off to the side in case he was alive and decided to head my way. It took me just a few moments to peek down into the goldenrod and see him laying dead exactly where he was shot. I walked up to him, watched for breathing, poked his eye, and confirming he was dead, knelt down and rubbed his side giving thanks. I had to count his points twice to convince myself I had finally after all these years and all these deer actually taken a ten point buck. At 60 years old I actually felt like a kid again. Edit: PS. To show the distance between deer and wheeler. If you enlarge the picture of the brush, to the left you can make out my 4 wheeler. And, further left, on the other side of the tree in the picture, and a bit higher in the frame than the wheeler you can see a yellow apple. The brush beyond the apple is where the deer stood and dropped.

One shot one kill! : ) At 7:18 this morning. 10 point. Will share cool story in a bit.

Stood in a different stand for the afternoon hunt. Saw zero deer while on afternoon watch, saw one as it stood in the brush and watched me ride by on my wheeler on way back to the house. Saw the first gray fox I've seen in years. It was eating frozen apples off the ground for probably 20 minutes before it wandered off. Back at it in the morning. This time at my uncles old stand for old times sake.

It sucks that my phone carrier from Alaska is so bad here. I can't even call or text from my stand to the house just down the hill from me while I'm up there. I can't read this site or post from my stand so I need to get caught up when I get back to the house. I came off my stand at 10:45 to check in at the house so my wife didn't get worrying. Plus, my feet froze so badly with these Alaska boots against the metal of the stand, when I got to the house and checked my toes, not only were they painful but 2 then felt numb as they warmed and stayed white colored. Nervous! First shot heard was at 6:15 (single) followed by 3 more quick shots one minute later, 6:16. Bunch of nuts! Saw one button buck at 6:45 or so, about 20 yards, and watched him quietly walk through. Then at 7:30 3 does followed by a steady stream of more does that I stopped counting because they were trotting around in the bushes and I couldn't keep track. Then in the same group one definite buck chasing a doe in big circles until they went down into an orchard. Just before going down I had three nice size does walking single file straight to me until about about 20 yards. The lead doe caught my scent, stopped, and looked directly up into my stand. I didn't make I contact and she stayed for a couple minutes before turning broadside and then stiff leg walked back where they came from. Her partners got the message and turned and walked away as she took up their lead. Back at the house worrying over my toes, and thanks to my wonderful Mr.s I'm eating the delicious sausage gravy over toast she made me as a reward for coming to check in.

He's got the right idea! Just remember, wasn't it you who said there are no deer in Bristol anyway? lol

That's hysterical!

No! I wondered about that when I was buying it the other day because they didn't have any specifically marked .300 Savage. When I was uncertain at the store, I googled what others recommended for their Savage 99 .300, and several talked about having excellent results with the Remington .300. Learned 3 things in this deal. 1.they don't fit...lol. 2. Those guys I think may have been full of you know what. 3. I should have tried to ask someone here when I was in the store. : ) I was pretty sure I remembered buying Hornady .300 Savage specifically , must have been at least 6 years ago. Even seem to remember it being a sort of orange box. Anyhoot...thanks guys. Lesson learned!

Well, I had to change plans due to an ammunition issue today. Grandfathers Savage 99 .300 will be sleeping in and my Weatherby Mark V 30.06 is up to bat. The Remington .300 ammo I bought would not chamber and I'm not sure why. I'm wondering if it is because it is .300 Mag? I did have ammunition for this rifle a few years ago that I used later in the season to take a deer, but can't find it in my stuff that was packed away while I was gone. No worries though, because I sighted the Weatherby in this afternoon, if you want to call it that. Required no adjustments, as it was dead on with the shooting stick at 110 yards right out of the case. At about 50 yards freehand the one and only shot was still perfectly dead center. I bought the rifle 5 years ago off this site when I first moved to Alaska, and never had an opportunity to hunt there with all the hours I put in at work. It is its maiden voyage with me tomorrow. A beautiful rifle and feeling confident! Good luck everyone!

Poor little puppy. Get well soon Luna!

Me too! Grandfather's Model 99 Savage .300 will be spending its first opening day with me.

Thank you. Our NY property is in the town of Sangerfield. 7M