New York Hillbilly

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.

I’m too much of a softy! My plan was to hang tough till 10 then head to the house. Guess again! Here comes a small doe or the little spike I saw before, at 9:55, and I watch the deer walk up the hill about 60 yards. I thought it was going to bed down so I sat tight. Then at 10:05 here comes a big doe. This one I will shoot. So it gets about 40 yards broadside, my cross hairs on its boiler room, safety off, and before I squeeze here comes the little deer bounding down the hill to the doe. Back on goes the safety as they nuzzle each other. I spend the next 10 minutes putting up with the doe stomping her foot and head bobbing as she finally pegs me and tries to figure out what I am. The doe finally turns and slips into the thicket with the little one in in tow. 10:35 with them now gone, I’ll exit too.

7M. 25 degrees and brutal wind. Anyone else out in this today? With all these dying and tipping over ash trees I may nail on this soon. Too much cracking for my liking. Especially given my ladder stand is now tied to one of these now green ash trees.

I's cool with the new time as long as people use good sense and are safe. Myself, I don't really like to fumble around in the dark or sit there forever waiting and freezing, so I probably head to my stand later than many people. I had enough of that in my younger days. I never gave to much thought about the time change since they implemented it, but after reading this thread I decided to actually check the sunrise/sunset chart while on stand tonight and actually learned something. I think I still typically leave before I'm legally required. Unless I'm trapped in my stand by deer I don't want to spook by getting down, I leave when my internal clock and my eyes tell me to leave. Tonight I tried to hang in until the half hour after sunset, but I needed to leave with 10 minutes still to go. There was no way I could see well enough to safely identify anything or shoot, and did not want to risk a fall coming down my ladder.

I sat in my half house on stilts overlooking the mowed areas I did today. Clearing the dry goldenrod and brush with dull brush hog, a tired tractor, and even older and more tired tractor driver was a chore, but really opened things up. The only deer tonight though was a big fat doe with her two fawns. Easy shots but can't bring myself to do it. They really like browsing those trails between my blackberries. I saw something I had never seen before in all my years hunting. One of the fawns I'm guessing was a little buck, because he once mounted his mother like he was trying to breed her. lol Must be a 7M thing!

Yes it was cold this morning. I started out in the spot where there are 6 different scrapes, and have multiple bucks on camera there. With the exception of the big body broken rack buck, the rest are all little fellas. I didn't last long there because I'm just not comfortable hunting close to my neighbors line. I was set up at the stone wall that is my property line, and facing into my land so any shot I took would go into my property and not his. In all my years have never hunted that close for fear a deer might run on him instead on me. I also worried this morning with all the deer up there, if someone on his side didn't play by the same rules they might be shooting right at me. So I pulled the plug and moved further down my hill. Saw deer zero this morning. Came down and took care of chickens and some chores, then 2 /12 hours brush hogging. Time to get back out there for a chilly but pretty afternoon.

I agree looks like a rat.

Only deer seen today was a small doe on my way out this morning, and tonight at 4:05 an equally small spike buck. His spikes were pushing the 3 inch mark, if not a bit longer. He was browsing along the mowed trails in my blackberry patches and kept looking up at something, but whatever he was watching never showed up. Tonight with the weather, it felt much more like the last day of muzzle loader than the second day of regular season.

Sitting in my still only half built elevated stand/building for the last couple hours. It breaks most of the wind and at least keeps the sleet/snow off me. I can now see I have much brush hogging to do. It’s tough to see much with all the overgrowth. I’ll tackle it mid day tomorrow.

I’ve had a few stands end up that way over the years from my leaving them up. And seeing your stand on the ground, the same thought goes through my mind. Thank God nobody was in it! Great to hear the stand wasn’t ruined, and nobody hurt.

For anyone interested in 7m report. Windy, cold, sleet, snowing on my hill.

Yes it was! And with the clear skies here in 7M it looks like it might even feel colder today. Good luck today!

Headed up the hill in a few minutes. Ever have one of the mornings when you just can't decide where to sit to the point where you agonize over it? lol Good luck everyone!

That’s because the people in charge have no understanding about outdoor sports. They want to get rid of firearms, ammunition, and now knives. I even heard the dummies got together and decided to push a program to encourage more people to get into fishing. Because they all talked about how they heard NY needs more “hookers”, and they unanimously agreed!

Adding a little fiber to my diet. That is, the little black fuzzy stuff that lines my coat pockets. My sticky peanut brittle came out of its plastic baggy and stuck like glue to the fuzzy material in my coat pockets. No way I’m wasting my peanut brittle. Trying to rip it off has proven to be quite the challenge, and time passer. I don’t imagine the fuzz will kill me, and it sure seems to me anyway less of a threat than the 209 primers I swallowed on accident once while I was hunting.

I stood in the wind on the metal ladder stand until almost 11AM. Toes and fingers got the better of me so I finally climbed down. Fist shots (2) I heard here in 7M at 6:30. Then quite a few scattered shots throughout the morning until about 10 am, then silent. I can't believe I never even saw a deer this morning's sit. I'll take care of a few chores, rest and warm up, then head back out. I chickened out taking my shotgun this morning and going where I wanted to be, overlooking the scrapes in the orchard where I got all the buck pictures. That spot is right on my property line faced into my land, but I was afraid if people on the other property fired at my property it might end badly for me. I'll wait until mid week to sit there if I have not scored by then.

Pretty day in 7m but freezing my arse. Sun is just now reaching where I sit and my toes and fingers are frozen again. Forgot the hand and toe warmers. Urghh! Lol.

6:30. 2 shots in distance. Quite a few after that scattered a varying distance but only a couple sounded close enough to be neighbors.

Best of luck folks! I'll be out in 7M with my Remington 1187 with the red dot if it's raining but not too hard. But if it is too much of a downpour, I'll head for my elevated closed in blind and take my Weatherby 30-06.

Good luck everyone. Stay safe, warm and dry! I look forward to the pictures.

Good call. I actually think I'm taking my Remington 1187 with the red dot for the first day. I haven't taken it out for an opening day in years, but it feels like the year to start out up close and personal with the deer.

I was surprised how many black squirrels I saw in Syracuse when I was out there a couple weeks ago at a training. I have never seen one anyplace else. And, I'm puzzled how that squirrel contraption works? You sure that isn't some sort of kinky device from "Fifty Shades of Gray Squirrels?". hahaha

I'm not all that picky at 64. lol Congratulations Eddie! Heck of an accomplishment to be out there and still scoring deer at 82. I hope to be so fortunate. Also, nice shot!

Good luck you guys! It’s a beautiful day to be sure. I just came out for lunch break and am dying to be out there today. Can’t wait for Saturday!

C'mon man! Nailed it!