accman

As well as Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. "Nature will find a way" or was it life finds a way. Thanks for putting in perspective.

Okay, Talked to the guys at the hunting camp work day on Sunday, and they understand why my son and myself were wearing masks, cause he just had a new baby, and I like seeing my grandkids. Their not wearing masks outside, but I wore mine all work day cutting wood and running the splitter. Gas fumes stay with me a long time if I don't. But after talking to them about the year so far, at work, they wear their masks even if half the work crews don't, so it sounds if they are conscientious of keeping it away from their families. I think my son will hunt opening day and head home as he still doesn't want to take a chance, understood. But I think I can still wear my mask and stay at the camp for the weekends and have some fun. Keep some sanitizer around, and if anyone is sickly, I'll head home. My wife was watching the news and out of the over 200,000 deaths in the country, only 11,000 were attributable to COVID only. Like what was said earlier, it's being over-weight, diabetic, and other health issues that drive these COVID fatalities. As was said before we should, by now, have lost weight to better our chances, myself being a mere 40 lbs or so overweight would like nothing better than drop the excess baggage. But the way I love to cook, drink, and eat, I'm my own worse enemy. Besides, if I start to diet now, it'd be blown out in one weekend at hunting camp.

Well, out of the 20 guys who belong to the camp, we always get about 11 guys staying the first couple of weekends. I bring up all the fixins from Arthur Ave, like the mozarella balls, proscuitto, suprasad, etc and enough "Alcohol" to do the trick. There's nothing like the night before opening day. Enough BS floating around, and it brings out the best in all of us. I gave up my vacation during August this year, we all gave up a lot, but giving up hunting is like cutting off your arm. I can give up not having all the family around for the holidays, there'll be other days, but not other hunting days, and whose to say how many more years I've got, so I'll talk it over with them, get their feeling on the subject and we'll go from there. Besides, with all our beverage intake at night, and getting "VonSnookered", I don't think COVID has a chance. Thanks for the feedback and have a great year.

It's been a long time since I posted, so sorry if the topic's been brought up before. I rifle hunt with a great group of guys who all live in the same general community in Orange county and my son and I are the only real outsiders. We'll be heading up pretty soon for the beginning of rifle season and I'm a little uneasy staying at the camp. I know none of the guys have contracted it, and I trust them like brothers, but it still seems a little unnerving that I don't have control like I do at my own house. My immediate family and I are very cognizant of sanitizing, wiping down everything, and it's easy to keep a handle on it. I'm of retirement age, 6 kids, and 6 grandkids, and we all are quite aware of what needs to be done and I'm sure all my hunting buddies are too, but it still is like the elephant in the room. Don't know if everyone's going to stay at the cabin, like we always do the first couple of weeks. So, I'm just wondering if anyone else out there is worried about the exposure or not. I hate wearing masks, although I'm forced to at work all day, but it's pretty good protection so far. And I've noticed we haven't gotten the summer colds and flu like we used to get, so maybe it does help. But just the thought of wearing one at hunting camp might be taking it a little to far. Thanks all and god bless.

I've been hunting in Port Jervis for 47 years and this was the quietest weekend on the mountain. Not a shot heard all day Sunday. Totally unheard of. Out of 23 guys hunting, one bear, and no deer on the ground the whole weekend. Only time this happened was back in the early 70's, only deer taken was a spike, after a previous tough winter. 50% of our guys didn't even see a deer. I had one doe come by at 6:30 on the opener, and that was it the rest of the weekend. Good thing for good food, good friends, and good football or this weekend would have been a total write-off. What we need is a little snow on the ground to make em start to move a little. Good luck for the rest of the season.

The reason I said Ted Nugent was because he is the loudest advocate against people who hate hunting and companies, like FIOS, who continually give us a screwin. I just switched over to Optimum, (man, do I hate the thought of that), but for all three, TV, phone, and internet with all the stations and 5 TV's is $40 less than what I'm paying now. I'm sure something will come up with raising costs and whatnot, but can't stand companies like that who have no consideration. All cable & dish companies are the same, but it seems to be the lesser of two evils.

I simply can't believe that FIOS would remove the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel and still believe customers would stick around. I don't know about you folks, but I watch an awful lot of hunting shows all year round, as does my family and friends, and they're changing over to Time Warner. Unfortunately, I don't care for cable either, but will have to make some decisions quickly. Who In their right minds would drop two hunting channels during hunting season? I pay about $3,000 for TV, phones, and internet each year, and that's an awful lot of revenue to lose if you multiply it by all the hunters and even non-hunting patrons who watch the show and will look elsewhere. Don't know if this has been talked about before on other forums, but don't mess with my hunting shows !! Especially Ted Nugent!! Boy, getting screwed by NYS and Fios in the same year, Go figure. Good luck to all this year and have a safe and successful hunting season. God Bless.

I don't hunt on public lands, but maybe an orange tarp to cover the deer is in order to protect ourselves. Cover the brown, and there's no excuse to shoot. Unfortuneatly, a lot of times you hear this, the hunter hears something big coming, gets excited, and shoots the movement. You just can't cover every possible chance but a hunter shooting something that's being dragged or on a cart is just plain inexcusable and totally scary.

To hell with how old !!! How heavy is he !!!!! Man, he's gotta be pushin +270 or more. I can imagine bringin my quad down to where he finally falls down and everyone, like in Jaws, going, "You're gonna need a bigger quad".

The craziest part is, I'll be heading up to hunting camp this weekend, see just a couple, no bucks, and when I come home on the Sprain Parkway field by Ridge Hill in Yonkers, they'll all be out there waving their hoofs saying, "Na, na, na, na, naaahh!!!" It's just not fair, big bucks to boot. They must know there's no hunting south of 287.

I'm from Yonkers, it's 40 minutes to an hour for bowhunting and rifle. But the rifle is nice and quiet when you go in, over 600 acres. When I'm bowhunting, I'm near a main highway or road and there's cars, tractor-trailers, & motorcycles It's a wonder the deer can freakin hear anything, but make one small sound, they're gone. They have to shut out the traffic, which is why a lot of em end up as road kill.

Gotta be my antique Mannlicher Schoenauer. "Don't leave home without it !!!"[attachment=26939:imagesCANQ11I0.jpg]

I still use my pop-up tent from time to time, could of used it tomorrow cause we've heard there's a big buck in the area up north, but I've set up early at 5:00am, can't see everything that's around you that early, and haven't placed it in the best area. I just want it up and ready, less noise. Deer have come by, noticed that something is there that shouldn't be there, and steer clear of the area. If I had gone up and placed it where I wanted a few weeks ago, (hoping that it'd still be there), the deer might get use to the sight and smell of it. But since that's not the case, I'd rather hunt Westchester where I know we seen some nice bucks, I'm only hunting half the day, so I'll stay local. I always think getting a ground blind ready weeks before is 100% better than winging it. But, others here, have had luck, rightfully so, setting up that morning and not being noticed. This can happen specially during the rutting period where they could run right up to you standing there and not even care if your there or not. Good luck either way.

How many of us can sit most of the morning, guess what time it is, look at our phones, and say, "Yep, 8:20", turn around later on, figure is 9:15 and bingo, right on the money. Rarely, are we surprised at what time it is. Our internal clocks are pretty good. If I can see that buck and know it's almost shooting light and I won't have another chance, I'm not checking my phone to see what time it is. I'm not moving around, flipping the light on, put it back in my pocket, awful lot of movement for no reason. I'm not talking 1/2 and hour or more, I'm not even talking 15 minutes. If it's 5 minutes to go, you've gotta go for it. Now, I've never shot before 6:45 or after 4:30, always within the correct shooting light, but if given the opportunity, I'd be hard pressed to not take it. Answering to myself would be a lot harder to answer to than anyone on this site.

I also hunt 3m and they've torn down poster signs, stole stands, and dumped trash on the property. I like the ladder idea and the use of screws. Will try that next time. We've got statees and DEC watching our area on their patrols, so hopefully, that might help. Just another reason to go in with a flashlight, wear orange, and protect yourself cause you don't know who's on the property.

I lost the only one I shot at that way, saw the arrow hit behind the shoulder, no blood, could see the arrow in him, ran for 200 yards over knolls, down ravines, and into the swamp. Waited 3 hours, with tons of prints around and no blood, I had to follow him by his longer, heavier, stride, which was easy to follow, but once he made the swamp it was over. He never broke stride. I had my waders from fishing but I just got swallowed up in the the mud. Tried some 2 x 6's cross some areas, but even then only made it part way and couldn't differentiate his prints from others. Tried getting to higher ground and glassing for a while, smoked half a pack of cigarettes hoping he might move, but unless your next to em, they're not going anywhere. Came back next morning hoping for some sign, but nothing, no arrow, nada. Tough break, know how you feel, and mine was a clear 20 yd shot, must have caught more muscle than vital. Which explains why I won't take a long shot over 40 cause I couldn't face losing another one.

We all look at our watch to see what time the first shot goes off in the season, and I always hear one somewhere between 6:15 to 6:30. Sunrise this year is 6:42/set is 4:38. I won't shoot before 6:30 and I start packing at 4:30, out by 4:50. I hate to see a nice one at 4:30 cause I know it'll be a tough seeing and tough tracking and have passed, but a buck of a lifetime might just change that. Our guys on their quads don't leave the woods till dark, cause a lot of deer are moving and they don't want to spook them getting out of their stands. I do that with bow hunting. Just want to see what comes out, and I can't see the pins well in low low light, rifle would be a little different. I think the 1/2 hr before and after would be appropriate, but I'd only go a few before and after at the most. Like grow said, give an inch take a mile, and I have to live with my decisions, but also have to look our other members in the face and explain to them what happened. Not worth the stuttering and b/s.

Bucks are like mailmen, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these creatures from the swift completion of their appointed ruts". As Nike says "Just Do It !!"

Nice buck. It's always good to let the small ones go if your not relying on the meat for the winter. It'll pay off with better deer in the long run. It's tough for us to control it in the two areas we bow hunt, which are both only 22 acres, but I just can't see shooting a 1.5 yr old. Give em a chance. Up at rifle camp, when I was young, a spike or Y was a goner. After we started the qdm rules bout 7 years ago, we're shooting the same amount of deer, only they're 6's, 7's, & 8's, and a lot more mass.

No, I was going to wait for it to get to my 30/35 yd mark. I'm not going to take a chance and wound the buck. Just wait for a clear shot and since they're rutting, he'll get stupid again and come my way. Got one more chance at him on Friday, then head to rifle zone, and may take off during the week and hunt for him again.

We had one of our members who always packs pbj sandwiches and a mama bear came in with 2 little ones and come right up to his stand. He poked his head out and told it to go away, but it kept looking around his stand. Finally, he threw the pbj sandwiches, Mama went over, picked em up, and they all walked away happy. I always carry pepperoni, potato rolls, chick broth in the thermos, mini laughing cows, hostess cupcakes, & choc milk. I think everybody in our club has such a wide variety of foods & smells, the bucks make sure they stop at each just to get a whiff of what's on the menu.

I've been hunting for 46 years and every year I read the book of rules, cover-to-cover. You owe it to yourself to get fully familiar with them, it's what drives this sport. You would need to know what wmu your in to fill out your tag when you get a deer. It's homework we all have to do. We all don't agree with them, but we have to know them. Good luck.

Awesome buck, nice job. One of my fondest memories of my dad was when he brought home a buck, and we'd take pictures of it with me holding the antlers, and me opening the chest cavity looking inside like it was a place to hide. He'll remember em for his lifetime. Way to keep the traditions coming.

This weekend was typical of my experiences trying to get my deer with a bow spaning 9 years. Hunted saturday morning with my son, cool enough temps, but had to leave early for a funeral. He can see my stand from his and I called him when I left, around 8:45. Didn't see anything in the morning, but of course when I get home, I get two texts from him saying I had a huge, wide 4 pt, old deer, around my stand at 9:15, and at 9:45, a nice 7 pt was hagging around my ladder. He has the go-pro on his bow to prove it, and I KNEW it was going to happen. Then, Sunday a.m., had some activity rutting in the distance, could see three or four does being chased by a small 4 pter (saw that one earlier), spike, and another huge deer I couldn't make out. Then, he showed up on the hill in front of me, some 60 yards away, a hugh, really wide, 8 pt, not overly tall tines, just big and old. He walked down to about 45 yds, but the wall, needed him to cross it or just come closer and he just sniffed the air, heard the doe behind him and walked off toward her again and they were gone. My son called and asked if I had a shot and I told him I did, but it was 45 yards. He laughed and said, "Figures". I've been practicing at work at 20,25,30,35, & 40, even try the 45, 50, & 55, but from 40 on up, the accuracy just isn't there. Oh, I'll hit the deer, but it's not pie plate material. My son on the other hand will put em in a softball size up to 50 (lil %*@&), but he knows my limits. The time will come and when it does, it'll be fun, just wish it'd happen sooner than later). Will hunt Friday morning again, then head up to hunting camp for the rifle opener. Would be nice to have that 8 strapped to the trunk for a little braggin rights.

I, myself, wouldn't hunt in the fenced in type of preserves, paying for hunts of a lifetime. I don't begrudge them for anything cause they fill a need. One of our members from the gun club went on a hunt within a closed-in hunt, and he said it was really awesome to see so many deer, quality of deer, types of hunts, etc. He said it was lnteresting, but more of a "once in a lifetime deal". Fair chase? I dunno, hunting on 15,000 acres which are fenced in still gives you wide open feel. I wouldn't do it, cause it would be too much like catchin trout at the Eldred preserve and pay by the pound. I remember my father taking me and he quickly cut my line when he saw I caught a huge trout, and said good fight, catch something smaller. If given the opportunity in New York to hunt off a bait pile, How would I feel shooting one? I dunno know, if I needed the meat and it meant getting one or not getting one, I guess it'd be okay. But, when it's ingrained in you since you were a kid, you couldn't bait em, and have had success without it, sort of makes the demons come out of you. "Throw the pumpkin out, they love it", "It's only corn, it would have spoiled anyway", "What's one salt-lick and it looks like a rock anyway". We all have to look inward and hopefully do the right thing. As for Maine, been up that way, seen thousand upon thousand acres of land to hunt up there, my only thought was, "MAN, that would be one Hell of a Drag!" and whatever it takes for them to hunt, so be it, and it's good their way of life got another chance to continue.