wooly

I just wanted to be a more versatile deer hunter with any legal weapon here in NY and kill some deer with all of them. The new weapon, hunting styles, challenges, and learning curve were all exciting to me as well as the ease of use I'd heard so much about. As I've stated in the past here, I've lost and wounded my fair share of deer in my days with a compound, so any advantages that came with an x-bow were more than welcome to me. This year I was forced to sit out the entire month of October with my compound due to some health problems and physical limitations drawing it after a rather extensive surgery. With two weeks left before x-bow season I was able to pick it up and practice enough to be prepared for the final 2 weeks of archery that we all enjoy so much, and cleanly killed a deer even though I couldn't "bow hunt" on my first sit of the season. I did have a variety of scenarios in mind when I first got my x-bow that would have made me take it afield before my compound but those will all depend on my own personal recovery and full inclusion. All you younger guys who oppose them now need to remember you might not be made of steel and invincible forever, so don't put them down too bad unless you can predict the future. BTW- I got divorced BEFORE I got my x-bow just so there weren't any custody issues with my new baby,lol

Congrats buddy! Sometimes it just feels good to do something different than you normally would. I'd imagine shooting big bucks year after year has gotta get pretty boring at times! Great to see you recognize something wasn't setting well with you and attempting to fix it before it got out of control! Seriously..., great job man! Now don't disappoint us with that regular season promise!

Hate them freakin' little c*#k suckers,lol

VERY cool shots man! Got me all excited about carcass cam season again!

X-bow opener doe down! This was an extra special, emotional hunt for me. Some of you know why.., and the rest of you will have to take my word for it. 16yd shot from a ground blind double lunger. Amazingly she ran 250yds before piling up BUT I found her ass! Thanks for the help dragging out sis! I couldn't have done it without ya!

Journeyman plumber here, but recently crossed over into a new field where I interview/interrogate hot nurses every day at a county hospital! It don't pay squat, but it does come with some sweet benefits!

When you're talking to another hunter who you thought knew his stuff.... until he tells you about all the rubs on the ground and all the scrapes on the trees!

Ii'll be out there as well! Will be the first deer hunt of the season for me this year.

Tip #1 If you're gonna be a good mentor, you need to b smart about it. You're gonna need to learn to place ALL the blame on the noobie when things go wrong... and take ALL the credit for yourself when things go right. That should keep you covered until his first kill, and then you can steal his spot,lol

I just chop off the heads and leave the rest of the carcass for you gutter gobblers.

LOL- you sure you don't wanna keep them for yourself. You've got quite the crafty imagination! I'll PM you my current address so I don't have to sort through all that annoying fan mail that's sure to follow!

Pumpkin carving day here!

Just another little spin I'll add to that. I'd rather see a guy out there with a crossbow making simple one shot one kill shots on game, filling his tag, and getting out of the woods. Opposed to the guy who's not as skilled or dedicated forced to hunt with a vertical bow with a list of excuses while fatally wounding 1, 2, 3, or more deer a season before he finally gets a tag on one....or none, but the end result is still several dead deer that nobody will ever get the chance at going to waste. If crossbows make guys more efficient hunters, then I'm all for that. In theory crossbows could quite possibly have a positive impact on deer #'s if you can get them in the hands of guys who aren't cut out for hunting with a vertical bow (such as the neighbor you mention).

When I first got into bowhunting, I HAD to shoot at every deer I saw for at least my first 5 seasons no matter the distance, terrain, shot angles, or size of deer. I was an exceptional shot on paper, but for some reason I needed multiple opportunities on whitetail before I'd finally connect. In that time I missed and wounded a lot of deer. Probably close to 1:4. I'm sure I checked off every possible poor shot selection scenario in that time and my recovery rate reflected that. My tracking skills also sucked back in the early days. Over the past 25 years or so I learned how t get closer to whitetail and how they would react under a variety of encounters. I also finally realized exactly how high of a deer encounter rate I was having each season which made passing on some opportunities that much easier.THAT was what helped me overcome my awful recovery rate and I forced myself to wait for the best shot opportunities over the next 25 years. My recovery rate has improved tremendously since then but I'm sure there has been one o two hits that have led to an unrecovered deer in this time as well. My early career #'s may hurt my stats, but I'm not embarrassed to say I've learned from them and overcome the temptation to take marginal shots with the bow anymore. For that reason I'll have to put myself in the 75% category

Surprised no pics of Pygmy giving the young lady driving lessons on his little Johnson....... or is that an Evinrude?

Congrats on your first man!

I have a neighbor a few houses down from me who dumps 50lb mountains of rock salt all around his stand. I doubt anyone suspects a thing about him using it as a deer lure when he rolls out of Walmart with that. I find so many bait piles with stands hung over them while post season shed hunting it's not even funny. It's become so common around here that it doesn't even phase me anymore. Never had a problem myself killing deer without it so it doesn't bother me as much as it should.

Life has thrown me a bit of a curveball this year so I'll be happy to even make it out there this season. If I get to share a few hunts and laughs in the blind again this year with sis will be good enough for me. Any kill would be nice but not as important as the memories I make and time spent with my best hunting buddy!

I've followed up with some of these Jack in the pulpit plants throughout the spring, summer, and now what I'd consider fall. I believe you're probably right as they've now gone to berries. Pretty common to see them here. They also fooled me in the past when I thought I'd make an attempt at finding ginseng.

Set up my first mock scrape of the season the other day. Just scratched the ground, snapped off an overhanging licking branch, and added my own special sauce! Next day it was already seeing some good action from a variety of young bucks and a few others.

Happy B-day Ed! Hope it's a good one!

Holy smokes! Must not have got all my scent off it,lol Good luck with that pig!

Don't know for sure without seeing the sides, but looks similar to the "io moth larvae" or "automeris io". A shot of one I found a few years ago. Linky- http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Io-Moth

Cool clips and sweet buck! I'm absolutely hooked on video mode anymore! So much more to see.

I usually just grab 4 or 5 ten second clips that I like and combine them in Nikon Movie Maker. It only gives like 5 different transitions to place between the clips, but it's a pretty simple(and free download) software that works out alright for my trail cam stuff.