Buckstopshere

You've got the right attitude. Don't give up. I know it is tough...Best of Luck!

Congrats! Beautiful Buck!

Scouted two different properties and Saturday. Both had fresh scrapes open. Tale of two treestands Sunday: Saw five bucks this morning, more of less together. Looked like a big-bodied 3.5 year old, an 8 maybe a 10 - was chasing the heck out of a 2.5 year old and there was a little buck following off to the side, and back of the 3.5 year old. Drew on a 1.5 year old 5 pt. and said, "Your dead." He spooked and ran out another small buck, nearby I hadn't seen. I stopped the 3.5 year old with a grunt, but he took off after the 2.5 year old...had his own agenda. This evening, 11 does. No bucks. Feed and leaf fall changing quickly. About two weeks ahead of last year.

Windy days are great days to still hunt, scout, and fine tune stands because the wind will wipe your scent away. I'll be on the move. Good Luck to all and have fun! It's finally here.

As Fairgame says...New Moon. My notes show that for the last 20 years the New Moon has been without a doubt, the hottest time of the rut.

Over the years I have used a lot of different scents, estrus and otherwise, liquid, spray and gel...but sorry to report, most didn't work, except like Bill says, when at the peak of the rut. What has seemed to work the best is tarsal glands, cut off a buck or doe the year before (frozen in a ziplock bag) and hung near a stand the following year, and cut overhanging branches from a scrape, transported in a clean trash bag, and zip-tied to mock scrape within shooting distance.

I wondered if maybe a sound narration would be better. Maybe I'll try that next time.

I put together a video clip and shot montage with titles of whitetail scrapes just in time for bow season. Learning lots about scrapes. Hope you enjoy it! Click on the url on the right side, over the ad, and you will probably need to turn the volume down. http://www.wellsvilledaily.com/newsnow/x710521779/VIDEO-Elementary-Scrapeology-by-Oak-Duke

I better hurry up and tell my age...62, before I get any older! ;D An old dog for sure!

I never quit scouting, before the season, during the season, and after the season. January through April is a great time to be in the woods, especially now that our snow is so light for easy walking. Doc is right. The deer do change their patterns as the food, cover, and their requirements change. But there are a lot of things to learn out there that gives us a better edge come game time such as a cluster of apple trees you never knew was there, a major scrape cluster, replete with 10 years worth of rubs, new access trails, adjacent landowner patterns, etc., etc. not to mention sheds! And it keeps us in good shape.

A good rule of thumb when you are in a hunting situation, at full draw in a tree stand is to AIM LOW. Shoot for the deer's heart, right up the front leg. KISS. Keep it simple... don't be doing trig when it's time to put your arrow through a deer's chest. But the most important thing to me is to make sure your broadheads are scary sharp. Best of Luck out there everyone!

That's a good one Larry! Just my two cents, but I think that the whole culling thing is a sales gimmick. First of all, it makes no biological or game management sense because the does contribute 50% to the genes. It would be like trying to breed dogs or horses, or cows and only be concerned with the quality in the dog, stallion, or bull. Actually, the notion of culling whitetails is an insult to our intelligence. But it is a good marketing tool. "Now Doc, I have a whitetail trophy project going on down here in Allegany County. (I wish ;D ...not really.) And because we have had some great conversations about bowhunting in the past...and you are such a great guy, why don't you come on down here and shoot one of my cull bucks. They are only a couple hundred bucks...and it would be a blast....etc. etc. Course if you have any well-heeled hunting buddies, bring them too." Get my drift? And if you brought two...and they shot two bucks...the cull buck you shot would be between you and me...wink, wink. I went on a hunt in Tennesee for hogs a few years ago and watched one of my buddies drop 10 grand in five minutes...shooting three rams with a rifle. These hunting guides are good salesmen and it is all about the marketing....$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Let's talk about real hunting! And it starts Saturday! Good Luck to all!

The more the better. I have never seen where logging has hurt the deer population. On the contrary, it seems to give them three things they like most, food, cover and safety. (And it's good for all other animals and plants too. The worst thing is an old forest that is dark with a full canopy. Once it cuts the light out, nothing can grow.

What do you mean, "left over tags"? What are they!?

I have an "old" Bowtech I use now...about 5 years old. And I thought it was getting old...some guys seem to change bows like they do hats. The old equipment I use is the bones, muscles and tendons...and that little bit of gray matter between my ears...now that's getting real old! This will be my 40th year buying a NYS Archery license. I didn't save that one. But I have all the rest, I think. Remember how cool the stamps were? Real art. It is a shame they are just plastic now. Not to capture the thread, but who has the oldest NYS bow stamp?

That's too bad man, but things have a way of balancing out...the good and the bad! I bet you kill a dandy buck this year! You are sure due! Best of Luck!

I much prefer killing them in the morning, better for photos and a much easier tracking job. Late afternoon though is the most lethal for me, that's when I have killed probably 75% of my archery deer.

I got a shot of a spike buck a couple years ago that I could have shot. Amazing how bright the flash was. You would think it would spook them more than it does. The video option is a great idea! I'm going to have to try it!

You are right on, nybuckboy.

Yes, I do. Sometimes an hour before, sometimes 8 hours before. ;D Seriously, I use scent killer soap just before almost every hunt and think that it makes some, though marginal difference. I just feel better and it's part of my "pre-game warm-up..."or hunting ritual. I do all the de-scenting basics like with camo in plastic bags, put on outside the vehicle once I get to the woods, etc.

Good point. A hunting buddy and I were discussing the same thing. And he has a number of stands on his property that always seem to produce. And on the other hand, we probably all have set up great looking stands, but they are terrible. There is a lot more to the wind and thermal air drift than what we know. I have amused myself for years with milk weed silk, taking the pods into my stand and pick off the seeds and let the silk blow away to see the direction of the wind. Countless times I have watched the milk weed silk blow away as I figured, only to see it blow back 180 degrees perpendicular! maybe 50 yards away. Point being that there are so many cross currents, updrafts, downdrafts, changes in direction, even the Venturi effect. Years ago a hot air balloonist got trapped in a wooded hollow here, outside of Wellsville. He couldn't go down because it was just trees, but when he went up, the wind off the ridge blew him back down. He finally came out sideways...like the way to get out of a rip current in the ocean. But the wind is not always kind to deer, any more than it is to us. I am sure that deer get fooled by it to, thinking they can smell what's ahead...but because of a change...they walk up to us and give somebody a heart attack. The wind is not on anybody's side and that's why we can kill big, smart deer with a bow and arrow. One other thing about the wind. We don't know about scent...really. How can a bird dog retrieve a freshly shot pheasant and then on the way back...go into full point on another live bird. Wouldn't the smell of the fresh bird...maybe still alive, overpower the scent of a live bird on the ground? I've seen it a bunch of times. And on another day, the dog couldn't find a bird if it was tied to his collar. Old dog trainers talked forever about...Scenting conditions....and some times deer can smell us and other times they can't. Depends on the scenting conditions.

Well best of luck. Sounds like a plan! Let us know what happens and post photos!

But not necessarily in my experience. Instead of going ape...he puts his tail between his legs and slinks away. Sometimes they seem to get intimidated and seem to shy away, especially some yearlings and 2.5 year olds. I have noticed that sometimes after experimenting with different store-bought scents, (and watching them with a trail cam) bucks will come in to the scrape, smell it, and act like they think about it for a minute. And then move off...after a while the scrape goes dead. I think we are only beginning to understand the complex scent messages at a scrape from the messages on the all important overhanging branch and to a lesser degree, the ground-based part of the scrape. Does are as important at scrapes as bucks. Scrapes are not just a buck thing anymore than sex is.

Best of Luck, Fantail!

Very cool!