Meat Manager

+1, and +1 abstaining from taking a bad shot, always try for a slightly quartering away broadside shot with a clear lane and a still deer. Oh yeah, and I also don't think this was a "Failure." It was a learning experience as is nearly every hunt I have, I do lots of stupid stuff, but I have reduced it by atleast half over the years!

Congrats on the doe

Steady and light west winds and overcast here...conditions optimum for early season! Tons of squirrels and chippies.

Steady and light west winds and overcast here...conditions optimum for early season!

Heading back out to the same old orchard stand i was in this morning, should be in the stand by 4 for some primetime!

RIT = RIP Real nice deer, real nice shot. Congrats!

I agree about not busting his chops, and if it came off that way I apologize. Let me also state I have left 2 in the woods in my time, but both were on cold nights, and the second I recovered the next morning when I continued to search by just continuing on the trail I had last seen the deer on and listening for a murder of crows...only the front end was worth anything, and I lost the 6-7 point, backstraps and hind-end to Coyotes, but atleast I got something: That said there are three parts to Archery hunting: practice and pre-season prep, skilled shooting, and patient and diligent tracking and recovery...two hours on an animal you are positive you mortally wounded does not seem ethical by any stretch and gives archers a bad name in general. Also there are a lot of guys on here who still don't like us doe assassinators period...this certainly doesn't help that battle.

It is your responsibility to make a full attempt to recover that deer, not the tracking services. I don't know the details of your situation other than what you have posted, but unless the trail ended across private property or otherwise unaccessible land you should atleast spend today trying to recover. With the warm weather a successful overnight recovery is probably not worth it though.

i'd get back out there and do concentric circles onhands and knees if possible from last blood til you find her or more blood/fur. If it was lung blood that deer is likely dead by now. 1 lung can take an hour or so but they will typically expire. Lung blood shoud also show up knee to waste high on tall grass and shrubs. Also because you did not push her she probablydid not go too much further...go get that meat quick before it spoils.

+1 on Red Squirrel. I have seen them eat everything from apples to corn, and I've seen them stash it all in different places almost always on the ground.

Saw 1 antlerless browsing in Delaware State Forest in PA on Saturday. Saw 2 antlerless had the bow drawn on 1 this morning in 7j. Didn't get a lane. I see these same 4 or 5 from my kitchen window as I'm feeding my son nearly every morning...one will be in the freezer after gun season opens if I haven't filled any tags:

Saw a couple rubs similar to those of Oblivs on Saturday in PA...saw some very small ones on my way out of the stand today. I'll grab pics of both the next time I get to each stand.

Nice! I saw a couple antler-less right around the same time, did not get an open lane. You planning on quartering that gal or do you have a nice place for hangins?...temps supposed to get up to near 80 Wednesday.

1 hr until I have to get down and watch my lil boy til 4 when I head back out... ...unless those doe comeback into range, then I'm quartering this afternoon, come on deer!

2 doe just came around me at 30 yds...I was drawn on the second one for a long while, never stopped in a lane. Good action!

1st guy in the lot...heading in its wet breezy and 54. Come on deer!

Hunted 10 hours yesterday for PA bow opener, 1 seen browsing in the distance. Raining hard here now but scheduled to taper off for tomorrow morning. Should make for a quiet walk in and some relatively active deer. Forecast looks good with a WNW breeze so I will be hunting the appropriate stand until 10am when daddy daycare resumes till 4 pm when I will either hit another stand, or preferably start quartering my morning kill!

55 cloudy with occasional swirling breeze...in my stand at my poconos cabin since 530... 0 seen but several heard on the tick pines next to me.

Your right, and it is only 1 doe now, I think it used to be 2...I got overly excited when I posted that before, but the DMFA tags are valid on most of the Cornell EAB property, and that was my point.

Been ready, checked all my hang-on stands by early September, hung two more over the past couple weeks. Got one left to hang at my cabin in PA on Friday. Truckbed is loaded with the climbing stand and two rubbermade bins full of my hunting gear which has been organized and scent-controlled, it will stay this way until February. Been shooting the bow again consistently since mid-August, today I cut the same hole 3 times in a row with the same arrow...I'll be nocking that one on Saturday Morning at the cabin in the Poconos. Monday morning the wife is giving me the day off from Daddy-daycare...other than that I will be trying to get out 3 to 4 times a week (4hr intervals tops) during the weekdays all season (probably more mornings than evenings, but again it depends on the wife). I will be in PA every weekend from this weekend through October. So i get an early crack with the inline muzzleloader in the middle of October. I'll hunt opening day plus a couple of Rifle there as well, and finally do some late season bow right after Christmas. These are my only full-day hunting opportunities this year. Then I finally can't wait to harvest up to 2 doe a day in the Tompkins DMFA in JANUARY 2013...Finally Late Season in NY! Finished all my chores for the fall today, home improvement season resumes in February.

Really great easy to use chart, thanks! I totally believe in moon phase and anecdotally believe I have observed greater activity as aforementioned in the above article.

NZ Tomorrow, PA Saturday, SZ Monday and Tompkins DMFA ends JANUARY 29...YAAAAAY!

I usually head up there for a day, but this year PA opens on Saturday and Southern Zone monday, no need to travel that far North. In any case good luck to everyone in the northern zone, get under those white oaks!

Oh man, this is a great chart and great outlook for opening day...

The Cornel Earn-A-Buck has been going on for some time and if you check the map it is mostly concentrate by the villages of lansing and cayuga heights where hunting is virtually totally banned. Tons of upscale residential, and tons of corn...Thus the huge deer problem and the need for the deer management focus area. It will be studied under a microscope for the next several years to try to determine the actual impact.