Nomad

Nice job ,Larry ! One of the ,most consistent big buck killers on here . BTW, buy a Yeti tumbler ,your ice will keep all day .

Oh I see, Price Is Right rules , one over my 117 .....

I’ve never put a tape to a rack ( deers ) but my guess would be 117 .

It’s a dangerous slippery slope , what’s next ? Will I start using an elevator instead of the stairs ? Buy a damn riding mower ? Will I have to have my wife open jars and kill bugs for me ? Good luck, fellas . I’m done hunting ,but will take my daughter out Monday Morning , so my spot will have had a nine day rest .

Atta boy ! Just like someone starting benching and they add a few pounds to the bar each week , just keep adding a few yards to each drag . For the record ,my second buck this year came out in a sled towed by a an ATV, neighbor heard my shot, and he knows when I shoot ,something dies, so he came over . When I drove around to his house ,he loaded it into my truck with his tractor . I felt dirty ......

So as not to pollute the live from the woods anymore , I’ll start a new post , to try to explain my thoughts and feelings about deer hunting for me today . I’ll skip past my first 13 years, and start 31 years ago, as that’s when I began hunting the spot I hunt today as well as being my first year bow hunting . Well I bought my first tree stand because I figured I’d need one for bow, most gun hunters I knew didn’t use them much as we didn’t stay in one place to, long , we went after the deer , but for first and last light leaning on a tree or sitting on a log worked just fine in gun it seemed . I had 3 others that hunted with me , but typically had just two or three of us total,at a time we sat till 9 often on the ground , then joined up with another 8 or 10 locals and drove till 3 when we’d then go sit again . Driving was fun and very productive ,many of those guys have done them for years and knew where the deer bedded and where they’d run to , the team work and camaraderie was unmatched ! So was the work ,we drove farm wood lots in the middle of large muddy crop fields, just walking to them was work, always stopping to scrape a few pounds of mud off your boots or trying to pull a boot free of the muds hold. I came home covered in mud from the knee down ,and exhausted . But my fondest hunting memories revolve around dropping running deer at pretty far distances , then the work to get them out , those deer were more satisfying then almost any other , Ive since took . If we didn’t feel like the big drives we’d stay on my side and do 2-3 man pushes , we’d walk ditches, hedgerows , sunny edges of thickets, creek beds, jump a deer and drop it as it ran , or it ran to a guy we placed on its escape route , which we knew well . Great fun! Teamwork ,knowledge of the deer habits , and just plain hard work , difficult walking and dragging deer did make the evenings meal more satisfying too ! About IDk ten years ago, I got placed under the farms rules ,one of which is no driving or walking around . My one friend asked me what the “ hell are we going to do all day ? “ sitting in a tree all day never really occurred to him ,or appealed I guess as he stopped hunting a couple years after . So now we sit in stands longer, go to lunch in town, nap in the truck , and go back in earlier. Not near as fun, but I’m adapting, and at least hunting today doesn’t tire you out , not sure what my daughters learning by hunting that way though . I long for the days of the past , boots on the ground , hard work, we got wet , cold , sweated bad on drives ,then froze on stand . Today many around me drive their atv right to their blind, sit and drive home , that’s just not satisfying to me , the buck I shot with my rifle OD was ho hum .... a broadside buck just standing there for minutes while I decided if I was going to kill it . I much preferred when it felt like I was more a hunter and less of a hunter who sits , but loss of neighboring lands, farm rules , removal of hedgerows and brushy creek bottoms , along with aging took much of that away . I may be forced to sit on my a$$ and shoot some stationary deer while he eats , but I’ll still drag that MF’er out by his horns , it’s about all I’ve got left of the good old days .

Hunted two times out of an in closed blind / hut , because my daughter doesn’t handle the cold well , so I sat there with her ,I do camp out of it , .all 4X 8 of it, and store stuff in it to which was my reason for building it .After we sold my father in laws house , I had no place to keep stuff or dry off when it rained . Yep I sit In stands , no longer walk miles trying to jump a buck or drive across muddy farm fields all day ,hell im 60 with a bunch of worn out parts ,but I draw the line at elevated blinds ,and atvs , perhaps when I reach my 80’s . But now that I’m on CDB oil that seems unlikely.

We’re getting to much like Texas ranch hunting here . Lease land, drive out to an elevated stand , play with your phone till a deer you want to shoot walks by, Shoot it and drive back . I like to hold onto a bit of the past .

Functional strength Bro !

My best turkey was shot directly across Hard Rd from Wilink middle school , it was hard to hear him answer my call, because they were having gym class outside . With all the very recent development in the area , I haven’t hunted by my home in a few years . Lowe’s and that adult community behind it displaced a couple dozen deer and many hunters . If you look along 104 in that area there used to be a spot where a tree fell and took out a section of that fence, along the South side just past Lowe’s . On the North side behind the ice rink, right in line with the tree spot ,someone cut a hole in the fence , that became a popular spot for them to cross , just had to set up down wind from the cut fence .... Speaking of Wilink middle school , before it was built , that land was largely a large overgrown field , with one hedgerow , guys bow hunted that hedgerow . I had permission to hunt out a couples living room , while they went to FLA for the winter, Private rd dead ended into a woods of Lake Rd. A guy a few houses down from them said I could hunt off his poach , never did . But yes ,it’s not like when I hunted here after school in the ,70’s which is good there wasn’t many deer then ,lots of land few deer, now lots of deer less land . Really anything West of Holt Rd is dicey ,even for me . I used to walk into the woods wearing ,jeans, LL bean coat, walking stick and binoculars, just a hiker folks , once in , out came .44 mag and orange hat . Always legal but some areas were tight , and when everyone went from rakes to leaf blowers , it spoiled the piece and quiet of the hunt . I think I’m getting a tear in my eye .....

Well I was WRONG , almost made it a whole year ! DEC says, the hole punch just means it was checked ( like was pointed out prior here ) . In the past they always put the age on your tag ,via the sticker with age circled or written in . They never came to my new processor till last year , and the three holes punched in, seemed to me to correspond to the bucks age , so this year one punch didn’t match up , leading to my confusion . It was nice when they put the age on it , wish they’d continue that .

That is certainly true , and it’s often quite easy to gain access to large tracts of land .

East of 250 is Penfields law . I was shooting them in the woods along 104 and Hard road just a few years ago, used to sit by the bus garage just the other side of the fence ,busses a few feet away , and I wasn’t the only guy there Like most Webster hunters have ,at one time or another I’ve hunted by the town barn, cops get their fuel there ,they didn’t care I was in a stand 75 yards away ( great staging area .) two guys on Pellet rd I know still knock ‘em down there . Yes gun hunting in this town isn’t what it used to be ,for sure ,but cars are the number one killer anyway and we’ve sure increased those .

That’s true ,Brian. But I’ve lived here 60:years, 50 of those I’ve stomped around these woods, from building forts as a kid, to drinking ,and sleeping overnight in them as a teenager . I’ve hunted them ( including the town hunt ) shed hunt, them ,,and know many hunters who, live and hunt here . That deer is far from typical for ,here . There’s still a lot of hunting in this town , guys have killed them this year in the woods across from ,my driveway , you can see the houses on the other side it’s so small , but it’s not hunters but cars that really keep the population in check, which is why they started the town hunt . Drivers kill far more deer then hunters ,and we got more and more drivers , and deer pushed into smaller spaces . My buddy who got the pics has found arrows in his one acre of woods behind his house ,If there’s more then three trees guys are hunting it .

That’s exactly what my daughter said . Not the first time he’s seen it on his two acres ,although the woods snakes around a bunch of houses . i know where I’ll be shed hunting !

A half mile East of Moog ... my buddies backyard today, he thought it was going to walk right up to him , he said he could have stabbed it . These are screen pic of a video he sent me , I don’t know how to post the video . I’d lie to see the one that broke off his G2 on the left side .......

They should go back to the stickers .

So are number of holes equal to age ?

Interesting about the hole punch , last year it had three holes which seemed correct for age of deer . If it’s punched so they know it’s checked why three last year ? Also they always aged them and put age on the tags , I figured with the new style ,smaller tags they went with a punch , why stop aging them ? I guess Dec gets call in the AM . Moog ,missed your text ,got cooler .

Not sure if a house on 4-5 acres is “ unimproved .” The whole unimproved ,vacant and unfenced , makes it harder to arrest a trespasser , But is not a license to trespass . Also a laneway, a mowed path, a hut, , an old fence , drainage ditches ,almost anything is an improvement. No dated signs , just 11x11 with POSTED at least nine square inches ,and the name of land owner , 660 feet apart or closer . Don’t be “ that guy” that thinks he can trespass because he thinks the land isn’t posted correctly, they tend to find their vehicles, towed way out into muddy fields , or just sprayed with manure ,if the timing is right .

yep yesterday , standing in a field at ten talking to my buddy, he spots a deer running in the woods, I pull up binoculars ,and a large 8 is chasing her . I send him to the woods where it’s open ,as you never know where they’ll end up and at least he can shoot a good distance there . I stay in field watching the back door, and a young 8 comes out of thick area 60 yards from me and heads off in the direction of doe and big buck . Later on stand buddy has a mid sized 8 walk past him, go look into a field for a minute or so and move on . You’re familiar with my area ,if that helps.

I agree with all above , thanks .

Never used a range finder, I shoot my deer in bow 20 yards and under . Always carry binoculars, I scan from time to time, but mostly use them on deer I see out in fields , or a bit off in the woods .

Processor cut the skull cap off yesterday ,I don’t imagine it would be easy to, find the head / jaw at this point . I don’t feel its a year old deer either . My understanding is the “ biologists “ that do this are often students going to school in that field . I’ve shot boat loads of 1 1/2s back in the day on that property , sure some are 8pts but 9 inch spreads three inch tines . this is the only trail cam pic of him a two days before I shot him , the yellow was me marking my hut and the distance ,as my daughter and I sat there OD , he was there with a better buck two days prior .lol

I hesitated shooting this buck, one reason he lacked mass and tine length, but he looked wide and decent body . He measures 17 inches inside spread and I got a full three brown paper grocery bags of meat . Just looked at the tag , the DEC punched one hole in it which means a one year old deer . For those that don’t know they visit processors to check tags , monitor health, and also age the deer taken , Ive had mine checked for twenty some years . They used to use stickers, I’ve got tons of old paper tags with stickers on them, I’ve always agreed with their aging, and I know this deer is no real old one , but a year ?