accman

I'd be happy with the temps being 39 high 19 low. My son and I usually bow hunt friday morning, then head up to camp. If the weather is going to stay cold like that, I think there's a chance of possible flu symtoms coming about on Weds afternoon and they usually last at least 2 days. Poor guy.

I practice with it on and off, not too much difference in the results, but should try it to get used to it while walking. Ya never know when your walking in or out what might pop up in front. It's off hanging close by in the stand.

If I had to hunt on the ground, I'd use a tent, find a knoll to give you the best view of your surrounding area. I had to use a tent at our hunting camp when my son first started, found some nice shrub oak to back into overlooking a huge area on all three sides. Saw plenty of deer, just couldn't grow the horns on em, but my son shot one out of my stand not to far away. My stand is a 4'x4'x7' with windows bout 5' off the ground and have good views on all 4 sides. It's great to have one during bad weather, throw some sterno on, can move around all you want and still not be seen. Tents will supply shelter also, and with a nice chair, you can get comfortable. But the thrill of shooting one while mooch hunting can't be beat, nothing like it. Good luck on whatever you decide.

He finally decided to get it mounted, full mount, semi-sneak, real nice look. Took it to one of the local taxidermist near Port Jervis, just over the jersey line, North Jersey Taxidermy and he showed us a lot of nice work. Some of our members had him do the work and it was great, specially a bobcat on a log, real impressive. He's doing a show down at the Edison expo during January, so we'll head down there and see what it looks like. He gave us a 6-8 month time limit, which is par for the course, so my son will have a mount to place on his wall when he gets the new place this month. Hopefully, I'll get a bigger one during bow or rifle, but who's kidding who?

Great job. Still waiting for my first, been a long time, but c'est la vie. I've always got rifle and late bow, but I'm dying for that feeling of the first.

Hopefully with a little more activity this weekend, and them coming from anywhere, a climber is better. Getting that upper perspective and seeing a heck of a lot farther is worth the time up and down. Only thing is if I'm going to get there and make some noise setting up, I'd like to get there by 5:30 so I'm already setup and quiet by 6:00. Others go in 6:30 and shoot em at 6:45, so who knows. I always like being a little early to the stand.

I like deer meat, but if I didn't get one, no big deal. I don't feel that since I paid $100, I'm gonna take a doe or young buck. My $100 goes out to enjoyment of just being out there and if I get lucky to see a good one, fine. My son has been getting one every year, so he fills up our extra freezer and draws from it when he wants some. Getting two in a season really fills up both freezers and we give it to a lot of our friends. I've taken my bullets and arrows for a walk many a year and have some really great memories about those times. My luck would be if I took a spike, I'd probably have a beautiful 10 pointer standing there, watching me field dress the damn thing. That's the best thing about hunting, it means something different to everybody.

Wow. Good luck and heal fast lucky P. One of my friends just fell off a ladder doing the gutters, fell bout 20', fractured 4 ribs and a punctured lung. Lucky he's still alive and the ironic thing is that he fell of the roof once before about 4 years ago. He's 72 years old and at what point do you pay somebody to go up for you? I think his roofing days are over, and should have been over after the 1st one. Best of luck.

Thanks folks, the fact is I should have gone right after it happened to the ER. As was said, the risk is always there no matter how careful you are. I'm in construction (granted the financial end of it), have a hard hat right in the back seat, as do alot of our members who are in the trades. Do we use hard hats on our hunting work site? No. OSHA would have had a field day. If this pole were just a bit bigger, even with a hard hat, I would have been cracked in the back and neck, and could have shut out the lights. Freak accidents are gonna happen. Trying to knock down the percentage and use safety ropes, hard hats, etc can lower the possibilities of accidents. In hind sight, we should have waited for the chainsaw, he's in is 70's and I'm in my 60's and we should have known better. Next time we'll know and thank god, there will be a next time. God bless.

I bought it for my son and I this year. I place it on a few trees around my stand and when I get up in my ladder stand, I place it above me and on the adjacent tree. It's looks like a deodarant stick and smells like a bedding area pretty much. I usually have deer spooked down wind, but they haven't so far using this stuff. The owner of the local archery shop said he overstocked last year he thought and ended up selling out quickly and couldn't get anymore of it. This year he said it's his best seller. It's not really a gimmick, probably a little overpriced, but the amount I spend on hunting anyway, it's worth a shot. I do my best at scent control during bow, not as much as my son, but I take the time to spray down, wash with scent free, yada yad, but I still see deer catch wind of me and trot away. I wouldn't use too much of this stuff, just a little bit, specially if your going to be putting out some rutting scent further out. And bring a plastic bag with you cause once you open it and use it, the odor kind of lingers for a while.

It wasn't me, cause I always figure that time will heal everthing, but with 6 kids and the 3 girls (youngest just turned 21) look at you and say "That's okay, don't go to the ER, I'll have my new daddy walk me down the aisle"!!, well that's just downright dirty pool. lol. No pics, the top of the head still bleeds every now and then, and the people at work call me Mikael Gorbachev. I'm like the new poster kid for what not to do. All the guys at the hunting club called me to make sure I was alright. Real nice of em. I know they were thinking of taking a piece of the wood and have it mounted. Hunting club humor at it's best. One of the guys was wondering if I go, can he have my stand? I'm sure I'm going to never hear the end of this, specially on November 14th before rifle. Guess God's got something else for me to do, so I keep following his lead.

They're real behind this year down in Orange and Westchester. I've seen spikes chasing does but I think that they do that anyway to have fun and not in full rut mode. Even with the bad weather this weekend, plus the change in temperature, we should see some signs of picking up and more movement. Good luck to all.

I use a dragline and a couple of canisters during the rut. I've seen it work like they're on a string and other times, they couldn't care less. Haven't seen it spook them or bolt out of the area after smelling it, so why not use it. It can be counter-productive if used too early. I'll start to use it sparingly this weekend, and add a little bit more each weekend. When rifle starts on the 15th, I'll use a full drag and 2 canisters out. Hopefully it'll turn em around and head to your area. I always wondered if a buck picks up the scent halfway on your drag trail, there's a 50/50 chance he heads your way or heads to where you started from. Therefore, my scent trails start about 200 yds from my stand. At least I have a chance of seeing him in the distance and see how he reacts.

You're lucky. With all the "Old farts" we have up a hunting camp, our woods smell like that all the time!

On Sunday, had a work day at camp to cut wood for the landowner. We had 3 chain saws going, and one of the senior members noticed this old telephone pole, bout 20' high, all rotted, woodpecker holes all over it, and was slated to be taken down. He goes to me, "C'mon, we can push this over". I took a look, pushed it, and it was giving at the base, seemed easy enough, so we began to push. One, Two, THREE, but on three, instead of falling down, it broke about 9 ft up, bottom half fell forward, but I heard a big "SNAP" and the top came backward. I turned, began to run away covering my head and the upper half of it cracked me in the back, and got me on the head and neck real good. Knocked me to the ground, didn't lose consciousness, on all fours, bleeding like a pig on the top of my head, I began to take inventory. Back ok, neck ok, arms ok, I knew I got nailed hard, but still a little dazed. Everyone ran over, saying "don't move". Got the first aid kit, took me back to camp and worked on me. Nothing but a lot of blood, gouges in the head (good thing there's no hair upstairs) but thank god no concussion. Felt okay that day, sore but nothing you couldn't handle and the next day was sore enough to say to heck with it and got a CAT Scan. Mainly because my doctor told me I was an aSS for not going the day it happened, but I chalked that up to thinking I'm superman and I've had worse. When you put it in perspective, a little thing like that can turn out so wrong that you can buy the big one, a lot of prayers seem to be in order for giving me a second chance. Will shoot the bow this afternoon to make sure everything's in order backwise and on Sunday, will sight in the gun to make sure the eyes still work together. Lord willing, it'll all work like a charm. Unfortunately, I win the prestigeous "OHWHATANASSIAM" award for 2014!!!

Nice deer. Windy conditions are pretty cool too hunt in, unless it's too rocky. Awesome when they come out real early like that.

I shoot a used PSE I bought 10 years ago to get started. Has treated me well and I'm sure I'd love to get a new Mission. Maybe down the road, but I've just paid for 1 wedding, got 3 more coming up in the next 18 months, and 2 more in the near future. That's what happens when you have 6 kids, you learn to do with less. I rifle hunt with the same Mannlicher I bought in 68, and wouldn't seem like hunting without it. It's now considered an antique, and try to find ammo is ridiculous, but it's light and packs a wallop. But for some strange reason, I put more money into Saltwater equipment, rods & reels, always changing em and upgrading. Go figure. I'm just content with the old ways when it comes to hunting. Like a lot of the guys said here, buying at a local archery shop, making friends with the owners, and using their expertise to equip you and get you on the right track is the way to go.

No rubs down by me yet. Have seen em scraping, only spikes, but nothing bigger. More does than normal. It's been a little strange year, but when I'm not seeing the big ones, I hunt sparingly, and leave the area alone. No sense taking a chance and spooking them coming in and out. I'll wait one more week and hunt a little heavier during the rut. I always like it when I can use some scents and a drag line. Like to see if it stops em or they couldn't care less. No big bucks on the trail cam either. We'll probably see rubs this weekend.

Always check with the owner to make sure it's alright. And afterward, never hurts to offer some venison, either.

OFF 303, Not too far from jersey

I've found that with my son's rangefinder, just wasn't giving accurate readings during fog. So, I just put up orange reflective tape 1" by 2" on the trees marking upright at 20 yds and horizontal at 30 yds all around the stand. This way I'm not dependant on the rangefinder and I don't have to keep moving around ranging on an open ladder stand.

My son called me at 5:00 last night with pictures of 2 does he spotted just after work. His company in Rockland has an open field and far enough away from housing and roads and decided to give it a try. At 5:30, he sends a picture of a nice spike. Then, I get a call on the house phone that he just shot a huge buck and I had to come up and help him get it to the car. He thought it dropped right before it headed into the marsh. It was a 40 yard shot, 60lb Mission bow, and he's real accurate. He didn't even go another 40yds and dropped. Unfortunately it was pouring rain when we clean him up, but a beautiful, heavy deer. We took it up to a butcher in Orange county and he's having it caped and mounted. He's taken an 8pt each bow season for the last 4 years, but this was his biggest yet. I, on the other hand, am still waiting for my first. He reminded me we've been bow hunting 9 years and I still haven't gotten one. Isn't he sweet, (lil *&%#), but still a proud papa.

Don't give up on the rifle yet. I fractured a thumb years ago. They put me in a cast ending just before my elbow. Still could pull the trigger, but had to cut up an old hunting jacket around the sleeves to let the cast through. If they cast it, hope it's not past the elbow. With some luck, you won't need it and it'll have a temporary brace for a couple of weeks. Good luck and we'll keep our fingers crossed.

I think they should come up with the "Loraina Bobbit" method of justice and just cut em off. We need a few more eunichs around anyway.

All I can pass along was a skit that Sam Kinison use to do about Marriage. He'd ask "Okay, How many of you guys are thinking of getting married out there. One, Two, Three, Okay, Here ya go. I've got one thing to say and listen well.............. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" And he'd keep it up for about a minute, screaming at the top of his lungs.. "What's WRONG with you people??? We've already been through this. RUN, Run as Fast as you can!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Otherwise, good luck and grats!! I married a saint who understands I've been hunting for 45 yrs and go every weekend, when there's not some family obligation. With 6 kids, it was tough on her, but I try to make it up for the time when I'm there to do what she wants. A little give and take goes a long way.