New York Hillbilly

I too came in when the rain started again. This gives my great comfort that I am now thinking like a deer, and it only took until my 48th deer season to accomplish. lol

This! Or, on second thought, why can't people just police themselves? Before posting; why can't people ask themselves if what they are going to say is meant to be something helpful, positive, even simply sharing, or meant to be an A-hole to someone else. I for one don't care what anyone chooses to post, how often, why they post what they do, or why they come to this site. If it is something that is not all that interesting to me I just scroll by and find the stuff I do enjoy, from those I know I like to read what they post. To the best of my memory I have never been intentionally nasty to anyone here or previously here. But, I have been on the receiving end of some pretty offensive stuff in the past, amazingly for absolutely no reason other than expressing my thoughts and sense of patriotism to our country while others were all jumping on the, "I'm a Ukrainian bandwagon" and banging the drums for war, and from the self proclaimed medical experts and Trump haters throughout the 3 year Covid nightmare. Oh..so how did these situations all play out in the end? For the most part I really enjoy this site and the people who post here now. From past experiences reading peoples posts, I know those I would invite to hunt with me in a heartbeat and those I would never turn my back on in the woods. It should be pretty simple really. Move on, don't be nasty and disrespectful to other people, scroll past what you don't like or are not interested in rather than find fault, pick and choose who you enjoy reading from and responding too and go for it, and if anyone is so bent out of shape about this or any other site, the simple fix is to start your own.

Thanks for the laugh! That was the best deer report I have heard in a very long time! hahaha

Looking forward to it!

Happy Birthday fellas!

Bummer! Finally got snow yesterday evening and I had to be back to work this morning. Based on past history, with the sunshine today it would have been a great morning to be out there. I sat for last 2 or 3 hours in the snow storm last night and it was fun, but not productive. On the way out I crossed several fresh tracks around the stand I was not in of course. I love the snow because it really reveals a lot of information. It will be Saturday morning before I get back out and the snow is supposed to be gone by then. Good luck to those lucky enough to be out there today.

Doc, you are right on the money. I think the days of "orange next to every tree" is a thing of the past. Strange now to look back and realize the reason I bought my property originally was because of this very thing, and wanting to have a safe place for me, my family, and the occasional friend I might invite. The landowner properties that border me on all sides are my age or older, and I think they quit hunting a long time ago for a variety of reasons, including poor health, or were just not into it to begin with. I suspect in the case of my one NYC neighbor just stopped making the trip up for his annual "deer camp" after his kids, much like mine, grew up and either moved away or got busy with their careers and/or kids of their own. The NYC guy had quite a big crew of guys coming up for years, and the shooting they did really kept deer on the move. Some of his guys were much older than me and may have died off or moved South to warmer weather. I have not heard one shot this year from that direction. And, as far as that goes, I think I have only heard one or two shots semi close in any direction since opening day. There were lots of hunters on all the properties around me years past, and it was really exciting. Now, just distant memories. I agree Doc, it is depressing. It's like a ghost town!

I took the morning off and then went this evening for the last couple hours. Another sit without any deer seen, and other than 2 shots from way off, absolute silence.

When we first moved to our property over 30 years ago, there were multiple resident flocks. We used to joke it was almost like a turkey plague. Was common to see 40-50 at a time. Not that way anymore. I have not seen a turkey or heard one in the woods all deer season. My guess is it has to do with all the coyotes over the years, and now fishers are something I see frequently. Something freaky is also going on here with the deer this year. Some of it may have to do with the land reverting back to brush, but I also think my neighbors on every side have given up hunting and as a result the deer are just sitting tight. I can count on both hands the number of deer I have seen since opening day, and have only heard one shot fired that sounded close since opening morning.

Fingers crossed for you! Good luck. At the risk of sounding obvious. Keep eyes open for hair because you may not see blood right off the bat.

About 9:30 I had a young doe all be herself about 10 yards away from the base of my stand. She seemed small to me and acted young and inexperienced. I actually had my four wheeler parked next to base of the ladder, and she was wicked curious of it. Not frightened at all. She kept staring at it and walking right to it. When she figured it was no threat to her she spent the next 10-15 minutes just browsing on the goldenrod and she was so close could see easily hear her chewing. It sounded like she was grinding her teeth. She was basically point blank range but I opted to pass, thinking her to be too young and small. For tomorrow morning; I took a four section climbing stick that I had kicking around from the old days, and a hang on stand, and put them up in an area of deep ravine creek bottoms. This area is covered in brush and scrub apple trees. There are several muddy deer trails crisscrossing this spot. By the time I finished I was drenched in sweat and tired. I can safely say it is the last time in my life I will fool with climbing sticks and hang ons. I think about half way into the project I remembered why I stopped using them Way too much effort and risk involved! Back in the 1/2 built for the rest of the day. I may just fall asleep as I listen to my neighbors cut corn.

Congrats on the buck!

Go for it! I’m with you in this one. As slow as this year is this season for me, any mature doe without a fawn with her is fair game. And, I’m not at all picky about a buck either. Other than the little spike running around, no other buck I can get a clean shot on will make it by me.

Froze my arse last night and thought my building was going to collapse in the wind. I got some audio of it for memory sake. Lol Picture perfect morning here today except no deer seen yet. Couple way off shots but otherwise dead quiet.

Anybody else out today?

With the decades long exodus, New York should have as it's motto, "Live Free or Fly".

Happy Thanksgiving to you all from 7M. With the company here, I was kept up until midnight. Although I was running 1/2 hour behind, and tired this morning, I still made it to the ladder stand I had planned to use. I heard several far off shots but nothing close, and I saw zero deer. Came back to the house at 10 to visit with the family and enjoy the day. I may grab the last hour tonight in the stand I saw the bucks yesterday. To those who scored deer today, congratulations! NYH

Yes. The research is overwhelming that cellphones and computer type devices are addicting. They are designed to be that way for many reasons, and very little is meant for our overall good.

Thank goodness you have the generator, Al.

lol Good one! As miserable the deal was, I only have myself to blame. I let my guard down. She never texts me while I'm hunting, so as soon as I saw the text was not an emergency I should have just ignored it or texted "not now". Instead, the excitement of my kids and grandson coming got me off my A game and I got too chatty. I basically quit hunting to start talking. Knowing full well a deer could pop up at any moment I should have kept my eyes fixed on what I was there for, and checking my scope for fogging. I guarantee I will not let that happen again. At least this season! hahaha With all the hard work my wife always puts into making Thanksgiving and the holidays nice for everyone, with all the baking, cooking, decorating, etc., and with our 44th anniversary this December, this one buck isn't about to be a deal breaker. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't trade her for all the deer in the woods.

I'm fuming! Just blew I chance on a buck, by breaking my attention to what I was doing at the critical time. I'm not sure exactly what he had on his head, but from the size of the body he was a fully mature buck. After brush hogging and climbing up in my tractor bucket to chainsaw branches away from stands today, and taking care of chores at the house, I decided to spend the last couple hours in my elevated half house. I had a really good view in all directions since brush hogging, but the fog rolled in making it tough to see after 4pm. From past experiences I knew deer like to sneak around when it is like this. At 4:30 I got a text from my wife telling me my daughter and grandson were on their way, and asking what we might like to so for dinner when they get here. As I'm now responding to her text, I just happened to look up and catching me totally off guard here comes a buck walking into the same area the little spike traveled this morning. Totally broadside, I quick put the phone down stand and pick up my rifle. I put the scope on him and what the hell, I can't see through the scope. It was all fogged up! I grab a piece of toilet paper out of my pocket that I keep to wipe my glasses and scope, and wipe the lens. The buck still walking as if on a mission is not giving me any time to fool around. Just as I go to put the scope back on him, he obviously either saw me or got the vibe something was up and started running into the goldenrod. If I had been freaking paying attention instead of texting, I would have seen him coming from quite a bit further away and would have had time to get straight by the time he was broadside to me. Urgghhh! NOTE to self: No more texting during peak times, and I need to finish this blind. My elevated blind is really big, 8x8, sort of on accident, and with the exception of the back wall and a monster sized window in the front wall, all the rest of the wall space is open from about 40 inches height to the roof. They clearly can see me up there moving around getting in position.

I was almost 5, and believe it or not, from such a young age I have similar memories, even though they are vague.

Cool picture! Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

From 7m. At 9:30 I had the little spike at 50 yards in the wide open and broadside. His spikes would be lucky to hit three inches. I’m surprised he is the only deer I’ve seen this morning. As nice as it is right now and following that storm yesterday they should be moving like crazy. Would love to sit all day but honey do list still has items with the kids coming later today. For those who are out and can stay out, today feels like a good one.

Holy crap! It will be just like me to shoot a deer in the weather so I can suffer field dressing it. The steady downpour of sleet and rain in this wind have the window of my blind covered in ice now. Stay warm and good luck to those deer crazy enough to be out now.