accman

My wife wants her dining room table back cause my son and I have loaded it up with all our hunting stuff. She can have it back Friday morning cause we'll be gone.

The color scheme is not exactly what I would have liked (c'mon! No laughing), but when your close to another guy's stand, I just like to be seen from afar, and we can pick out my stand with the white on it. Didn't bother the deer at all last year, and they've been coming through the area anyway. Just built it last year, and my son built his at the same time, but his is on the ground with dark camo. The windows flip up and have spinners to secure when closed up. All of our 25 guys have their own stands and each have their own little touches. Stands haven't changed much in our area, except I wanted a four by four so I don't have to move around much. Some guys are bigger and it just seems to be too much movement. It was my first endevour into building one, and it's working out nice so far.

Ya know, we have about 8 kids, 25 and under in our club, and they are nowhere near lazy @sses just cause they use ATV's. They've been riding since they were young, worked a couple of jobs to get their cars and ATV's of their own. Would go out of their way to help anybody, and are way better hunters than we are, cause we taught them the right way to do it, like our fathers did. They walk the property when the deer aren't moving, we put on drives and everyone gets to walk and sit, we use those new things called walkie-talkies to keep in touch with each other so we don't shoot in the wrong direction. Hunting has enjoyed all the advancements that man can come up with, and we've come a long way from having to use a spear. By the way, when is spear hunting ? Man I miss the old days.

The earlier the better, anything to try to give yourself an edge. Leave at 5:00, there by 5:15, and it takes some time to cover the quad, set up a drag line, place a couple of scent canisters by the no-plow areas, walk back as quiet as possible, and try to do this with as little to no flashlight as possible. I've raked out a path to make it as quiet as possible, but I guarantee my fat @#( will find enough twigs and branches to step on. Takes about 10 minutes just to set up everything inside the stand opening all the windows, set up the binocs, grunt calls, bleats, rattle bag, and everything else I don't need. I'll say a couple of decats of the rosary just to pass time in the dark and hope he's on my side this year. He was last year right after I said one, so hope he follows suit. It's what we wait over 364 days for, and wouldn't miss it for the world. And, having my son hunt about 400 yards away, doubles the pleasure.

I'm in my 60's and I walk up the mountain all the time, except last year my family bought me a used quad and it's great not having to sweat on the walk in in the morning. No one use to have any machines in my early years with my father and the old crew. They were in their 70's and 80's and still walked all the way back to their stands and never complained one iota. I use to drag my deer down by myself, till about 10 years ago when the guys said they'd help me with the quads. Sure is a lot easier. Last year when I shot the 7 pointer, I went up to where I parked, drove down to where he fell, loader him up (not that easy a task by yourself), strapped him down, a drove him into camp at night. I gotta say it was a great experience, and all the guys helped off load, take pictures, and as always say "Nice, lucky shot!!" Miss the old days, but it does have it's benefits.

We get in early, bout 5:20 on opening day. Everyone heads out the same time on the ATV's, and just the sound of all the ATV's warming up in the morning and all the BS flowing gets the blood boiling. When we make it to the stands, we open the windows, set up all the gear you need close by, binocs, calls, food and drink, and then, in the darkness, you listen like you've never listened before. Every sound could be one walking by. Anticipation grows, could just about to make out something over there. C'mon, let's go, look at the watch, 6:15, then bang, someone lets off in the distance. We're on the walkies, "Alright, who had 6:15 in the pool?" Seems like it's getting earlier and earlier that someone shoots up a storm. We don't shoot cause we've gotta be sure it's a six pt or better, but that's not the case with bordering properties.

The dryer sheets seemed to work well. Never changed the lint catcher, but it makes sense. If I had the time, I'd let them dry naturally, but with all the people in my house doing laundry and all the difference scents, better off drying em quick and putting them away.

Yeah, good luck with them catching the dog. And remember, I'm talking worst case scenario here with a vicious wild dog, not someone's pet. Like I said, problem was back in the 70's and 80"s, people have a different attitude now and the laws are tighter now also. And besides, on someone's private property, with all the shots during deer season, I can just imagine when asked what they would say. "Dog? What dog? I didn't see any dog."

I think the problem here is we wouldn't shoot just any dog in the woods. If it had a collar and we see it around it's neck, we have to figure it's a locals dog. If people were going to drop of their dogs, which they have done in the past by us, they took the collars off so as not to be identified. These dogs running with the coyotes are what we use to call coydogs, not saying mating is going on, just hookups. Big enough to survive, and probably super nasty, and not coming from a good home, just makes for a tough dog. We've had a few over the years by us. All the dog owners around us put on bright collars, and tags and we respect them for it. But these people and other owners of property around us have small children and will protect them if they see a pack of dogs. These problems seemed to happen years ago, back in the 70's and 80's and we haven't seen any dog problems on our property or the neighbors as well. With 25 guys in the woods, somebody would probably see the dog or dogs, ask the locals, and if no tags or collar, take it out. Would I ? Might be tough, but if it had been seen around and caused problems and no tags , how can you not?

Just catching him and stopping to talk may be all you need to do. If you catch him again, then you have to take the next step. If he's a DEP cop in the area, find out the headquarters and write the head guy a letter explaining the problem and the attitude of one of their officers. CC the head of the department for NYS and ask for a response back. Make sure you talk to the owner first before going through the whole thing. If one of their own is breaking the law, then maybe you'll hear something from them. Is the property posted ? If not, ask the owner if you can post the property. He still has no right to be on the property even if it's unposted. Also, make sure your license is on you at all times when hunting and watch out for any of his "buddies" hoping to catch you doing something. I'm sure he has some connections somewhere.

I went up to hunting camp this weekend, (rifle only, no bow hunting) and there were a lot of the guys there all syked up for the upcoming season. I constantly tell them, my son and I've been hunting since October 1st, have had that feeling for a month and a half. My friend keeps saying he's gonna take up bow, but never does. I can't see not taking it up cause it gives us great experiences like your situation. Maybe not the miss part, although we've all had some kind of shot go bad, but at least we're out there. Thinking back, after having 6 kids, would I have been able to bow hunt then as much as I do now, probably not, too many teams and sports to coach. But I still wish I would have taken it up a long time ago rather than the last 9 years, (and still waiting for mine). And remember, if he ducks you during the gun season, you still can go late bow and nail em. I'd still like to get that Xmas time buck, and will someday.

I'm thinkin it's gonna drop a little bit. I'm more worried about the SSW and SSE on Sat & Sun. Can't remember the last time we had those winds on opening day. It's blowing the way I usually see my deer coming from. Well, it looks like I won't be smoking for the weekend anyway. Hope it changes up a bit, but it's still cold enough in the mornings anyway. Just won't need the sterno stove at all.

That's the problem with this years wind situation, it says winds from the SW at 15, get to the stand, OK, I can deal with 15. But seconds later, it's gusting to 25 and from the NE. I mean swirling yeah, but all day? certainly doesn't help the situation either. I'm sure the deer don't like to move with heavy winds like we're having on the weekends.

The only time I smoke in the woods is when I'm rifle hunting. Usually opening day is a full day without but then I'll smoke if the wind is not heading in an area I want to really watch. Never smoked when bow hunting, I'm close enough to where people walk and jog, houses realitively close by, surrounded by highways and roads that scent doesn't seem to bother them. They'll be more alert once winded, but I've never seen em take off. I carry a pack around, but only as a victory dance, which I'm still waiting for during bow. Up at hunting camp, we have to smoke outside, understandable cause guys don't want to smell like smoke. Most of em keep their clothes outside anyway to stay away from the wood stove, all the odors from food, and the inevitable passing of gas.

Guys, He's been on the loose for years now. Great sighting! Look ,...up in the sky, it's a bird, no a plane, NO It's Super PETAMAN. Faster than a racing turtle, more powerful than a skunk in heat, able to screw up hunters locations with a single bound. And who, disguised as Justin Timberlake, mildly braindead reporter for the criminally insane, fights for deer loving citizens, justice for veggans, and the unamerican Way. Nice Cape!

I take out the binocs and scan the area a few times, checking all the hard to see areas, and it's amazing how many times you'll catch something in the background you might miss normally. Even looking for new rubs, scrapes gets you doing something different. We hunt with 25 guys so on the talkies you always hear a couple of grunts, and bleats over the waves, just to liven things up when it's dead. And the occassional head bob-n-weave sometimes occurs which will trigger it's time for some coffee or soup or somethin to wake up.

Way to go Cuse!! Nice buck. Now go for that big boy, he'll pop out sooner or later.

I would bet most Troopers, sheriffs and local LEO's are hunters themselves.

Guys, can't see giving them a hard time when they're out there to help us. If I get stopped, "Sure, it's in the trunk." and I'm on my way. I've had to call on the Staties and DEC quite a few times in my lifetime and I'm glad they were around. Sure, you can tell them to get a warrant. Got a couple of hours to kill waiting for it, and besides, are you sure that the tires your riding on aren't a little bare and worthy of a ticket just for being a hardass. Not worth it.

It all seems too coincedental to me. And besides, what "professional" would ever YELL when typing a response back. Just to much like an amateur to me. I know everyone here would check him out way before handing over any money. And with all the scams going on, and past problems, it seems he thought it was worth another try.

"Maybe at 100+ yards, a .22 short may have less KE than an arrow, but like Culver said, its not about the KE that kills." Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: Richie loved to use 22s because the bullets are small and they don't come out the other end like a 45, see, a 45 will blow a barn door out the back of your head and there's a lot of dry cleaning involved, but a 22 will just rattle around like Pac-Man until you're dead. Gotta love "My Blue Heaven"

"but you have seen hunters dressed in full camo before during gun seasons." I'm sorry, if they choose to hunt in full camo, on public land during rifle season, they're taking there own life in their hands. On private property, knowing where everyone hunts on the property, knowing what direction not to shoot cause you know where those stands are, you may be able to get away with it, but it's not foolproof. If we get away from our areas, or go look for a deer, or stalk, we put on something orange, at least a hat or cap. And we have walkie talkies, we're all on the same channel, and if someone's gonna be walking the valley, we know it. Just safe practice to know who's in the woods. On public, all bets are off. It's hard enough for us to make sure We're doing the right thing than have to worry about somebody not following the rules.

If I had to guess, that buck had to have been taken next to the nuclear power plant and he's been drinkin whatever's comin out of the damn place. Either that or next to the upstate meth plant. You see, this is what happens when we have antler restrictions!!!! I mean what's next, has to be 12 points on one side ????

That's okay, say 2 Our Fathers and 3 Hail Mary's and say a little prayer to Saint Anthony. When you can't find blood, and it's a running deer, look for the hoof imprints. A lot of times they won't bleed, but just tracking the prints, even with tons of prints around, a running deer will leave deeper imprints, and take longer strides. The only deer I shot at had the arrow in him the whole time he ran off, he ran for 200 yards over a knoll and into the swamp. Not a single drop of blood, but I was able to follow him by his stride. Unfortunely, I was not able to recover him, never found the arrow, even after I went home and got my waders to try to follow.

Now THAT's what it's all about. Get's everybody's adrenaline going. Thanks for the kick-start. Awesome.