Nomad

Welcome from Webster! I hunt 8H though.

Change of plans !!! Farmer just called he was combining beans on our land, near my stand of yesterday and jumped a monster 12pt out of our ditch,it ran into some thick brush near by. This puts my stand between where he is now(we think) and where he goes at night. A man can hope can't he ?

I've got corn.beans,clover and alfalfa all around me. Its easy they feed on what ever I'm not hunting.......

Nice Pics. ! I need to bring my pole saw with me.... always something I missed when I trimmed lanes .

I have not hunted it in a few years. A friend would get cabins for a couple weeks, some guys for a month... Its always been good for us. Lots of guys here know more about the park then I,although some guys I hunted with hunted there 30 years. We mostly went down to the river bottom, sometimes I'd go across the road near the farms.We'd bring a rope system and carts to haul 'em up, lots of work, which is why we'd only shoot bucks of size.

What with working nights and hunting yesterday AM today was my first day to sleep in, in awhile and I'm happy ! Tonight I'll go to my "best" stand for the first time this year. Taken many deer there, my 2nd best bow buck,a plump doe the first sit last year, and my friend got his best buck ever out of it last opening day afternoon,as i took one in the AM and put him in it for the PM. Got lots of good bucks on cam there this year. Its on the edge of thick thick brush with standing beans 30 yards to the east.We shall see....

The FAA sets the laws for uncongested areas ,water open land, aircraft must be 500 feet above people and man made structures. As for ballons its a big issue with areas of lots of hot air ballon tours. Its gone to court more then once,with ballon folks winning . Some land owners have gone as far as putting up tall "spite" polls (man made structure), they lost in court too. I did contact the ballon owner,nice guy said he's stay away from our fields and offered to give me a free ride !

Airspace.... Ok 2 years back in spring turkey I had a hot air ballon practising touch and go's by my turkey decoys. he'd come down to with in a few feet go back up repete. I called a DEC officer who works my area on my cell. As far as ballons they can land anywhere as its out of their control and as far as being low over the land thats allowed too any craft.

Well got out this morning. 47 seemed like a south wind, but as i got mear the stand the wind was not blowing much in that area ,for once. Went to my TV field, a hay field where the deer pour into it like on those shows... well if 6,8,12 deer count. second time in this stand this year. ZERO deer today.Ya its early,warm,crops still up and so forth.I'd still like to see some lol. Going to my best stand tomorrow night. Tonights Survivor night, with friends coming over !

I understand a hunter wants to,needs to ? hunt. You'll get there. There was a time when my wife worked full time M- F and i worked half the week ends, our kids were young,i had tons of time off from my job but did the Mr. Mom thing and got out when could, and ,thats but a distant memory now . We are hunters for life .

Finish up "nights" tonight,hope to hunt tues. afternoon but a repairman is coming by 12 -4..... Hoping its more 12ish. maybe wed. AM Thur. night. Dave second guessing is thing !

Just did a round trip from Roch. to Buffalo on the thruway. Left at 11:00 dropped the youngest off,stopped by the oldest's place got back home around 3:00. The deer were out everywhere feeding mid day . Fields, side of the road all over, singles and many groups. Saw one buck thrashing a bush . looked like a good time to be out.

Right on biggamefish ! I just got home from the gym,sat. is deadlift day for me.Sumo's, snatch grip, reg. deads 225lbs 5x5 then a few sets of chin ups .

Good question and one the needs to be covered more. I feel that a stand with screw in steps I'll be able to reach them, why because I've tested doing it. I do test my equipment by hanging from it ect.If not I'm tied into a rope with a Prusik knot, a second closed loop is on me ,i can then tie a second Prusik on the line for a foot hold,stand,slide top one down,hang from top one ,slide foot one down untill on the ground. At work we've gone up and down 5 stories in training by doing this . HSS has the straps you carry on you to remove tension from the leg straps too if one prefers to hang untill help comes. Keep your cell on you as well as numbers of folks who know where your stands are. I have a photo with stand locations and my wife knows which one I'm in and I call when my boots are on the ground . The main farm makes you check in an out each hunt. I have thought of leaving an old ladder near by for the people I call to bring to me also. My climber, I'll be hanging till help comes ,if I drop my cell,that could be awhile BUT my wife will call if I don't.I don't answer she'll call the farmers and tell them what stand to go to or in the case of the climber area to check. Now a ladderstand seems to be the hardest your hanging along the tree and its hard to reach the ladder which is a fair distance away. I put a couple screw in steps where I can stand on them to make it easier to reach the ladder. Bottom line practice, before you fall,train like you fight so to speak . BTW I'm 53

The issue with the waist harness was after the fall they went up around the chest/diaphram area making breathing difficult .

While maybe not ideal,I'd think two togather would be fine. I also think if the one goes all the way though the buckle with a few inches sticking out it should be fine as well. I don't think it would pull through, but they way to know would be to test it under a shock load. Heres what i learned this year... I hang my stands tie off my ropes with a Prusik, then a few feet off the ground i clip in and drop,to test everything. Both my leg straps on the harness popped they came undone ! BUT it was my fault I threaded them through,but not back over and under again. My own fault and one that could have cost me had i not tested things.

Thanks guys. Dave I'm trying to step it up this year,buck size wise .Last year I took a doe first night out and passed on plenty of young bucks,saw maybe 5 "shooters" none in range. I was ok with that,but I had no so so ones to temp me. .....That may be an issue,I know whats around but will I go for the buck in the hand ??

A little light rain or on and off maybe. Depends on the part of the season we're in days I got left and so on. Today i did not bother to get up, I go in on nights tonight 3,15 hour nights in a row,and hunted yesterday AM so why start off nights tired to hunt one time in the rain ? Got 25 more days off in this season to hunt ,plus afternoons after working days if I wish, so I'm not pi.nned to a few days which makes my choice easy

I hunt mostly AM,2 to 1. I try to do 2 AM's 1 PM repete.In the rut both or all day. Love the Am watch the woods wake up,still have all day to go to the gym,yard work , run the dog and so forth. I hate getting home at 8:30 at night like last night .

Ants me too. I can walk my land in bow season with a handgun, I can small game hunt it with handguns during bow season,but I cant have a .38 snub on me if i'm sitting in a stand with my bow. And your not alone in carring during bow, I'd say half the guys I know do .

Well this AM was a bit of a let down, saw nothing !! Which does happen, just not at todays stand,its one I put guests in as you always at least SEE deer from it . Its a ladder and I thought it had a strap on the tree to tie into but no. So i screwed in a tree step, took the loop of rope off my pack and tied a Prusik to the step to clip into. Shot a field point before getting down like always, hit a rock..... Saw what I thought was a wild pig, put the binos on it , looked like a giant raccoon ! I should have stayed in bed, oh and i do have an eye Dr. appt today at 4:00, that might help things.

Nice job ,thin blue line !

I'm glad your ok too ! All my hang ons have a rope tied off above head height when standing on stand. I have a Prusik knot on them at about 2 steps up,so i'm clipped on from when I leave the ground till I'm back down. Was i always like that ? No. When I first used tree stands I used climbing blocks tied to the tree, and tied a rope around my waist when I got up in the stand, which was made out of steel and was a giant pain to hang. Equipment got better,stands, tree steps and harnesses, and I learned of many who fell and were not so lucky. I know I'm older now I like to think wiser. must say I still use $50 stands may need to rethink that,you do get what you pay for.

I try not to blind call. I only call if I see a buck way off in a field and looks like he's not coming towards me.When I just blind call,I only see them when they start to run away from me after sneaking in . If I see one off a ways and call, I stay readybeecause I know he's sneaking in.

Hum I carry everyday, from cutting the grass to walking the dog, so yep deer hunting is no different .