coonhunter

Glad you got one Cabin Fever. You sure have had to work for them the last couple years. I'd say you are about due for an opening day bow kill next year.

I can say that last weekend I had a mother and her 7 year old daughter sitting with me, and her aunt about 100 yards away overlooking another draw. About 8:00, the aunt fired once and scared the crap out of me. Of course, she facetimes, or whatever the hell it is called, her sister and says she has a doe down in sight. I told her to sit tight and I would be up in a few minutes. I head up to her and help her get it gutted. While she is filling out her tag, Boom!!!!, another shot back down below. The mother calls up and says she has a buck down right by the swamp. So, back down I go to help her out with gutting. Her 7 year old daughter is so excited because she saw the whole thing. Then she got to help spread the legs so her mommy could gut the deer. So then, me and the daughter head back to her aunt to drag her doe back down to her mother and her buck. When we get to the doe, she says whoa, that is way bigger than mommy's buck. I was honestly surprised she noticed, but she was right for sure. I put on my harness and dragged the doe back around the finger of land, back to the other deer and take a break. We sat there and had coffee and cocoa and shared the excitement of success for both women. It was a perfect morning other than the long drag back to the cars. Both of these women hunted the youth season years ago with me, and have continued hunting. This year they gave me a call to take them where the action was because their spots had gone cold. I gladly planned a Saturday morning hunt, and asked for the daughter to come along. It worked out even better than I hoped. This was on heavily hunted state land, in a spot that gets avoided because of too much water to access it. During my coonhunting days, I found a small strip of land to get in there. It has been a great spot after the first week for over 20 years.

I bowhunt a lot on benches and saddles. My two favorites both have bedding in sight, and food readily available without exposing themselves to an open field. Both of these features are great to hunt and I see plenty of deer. The hardest part is getting into these areas and not letting the deer pattern me. If I come out of my stand in either area, I am out for the day because I just can't get back in them without spooking deer. If hunted carefully with the wind and leaving scent, you can still see bucks even late in the season because of the bedding and close food. Neither of these spots are close to the road, and both are uphill going in.

I always have a thermos of coffee and a couple bottles of water. For food, I bring a couple sandwiches and a bag of trail mix.

Most of the time I climb until my rope starts to lift my bow. That is 22 feet to the bottom of my climber. If I have to go higher for cover or to keep my scent above another level, I do it. On the same note, sometimes when the leaves are still on, I may only go up 15 feet so I can have a little bigger field of vision.

One big thing that Grampy wrote is to stay off the blood trail. It seems like every time I go to help someone trail, I have to hunt for blood almost the whole way because they walked right in it. My best advice is to take your time. It is not a race. Always know where last blood is in case the deer circled back or turned off the trail. You can slowly circle the last blood until you pick the trail back up. Don't be afraid to take a couple minutes and study the woods in front of you, and off to both sides. If the deer is not dead, lots of times it will be bedded to the side waiting and watching. You may get a kill shot if you can spot it before it bolts.

I prefer hunting with my bow. Gives me time to unwind and really relax. And, I like the up close aspect of it. For actual fun, I like the camaraderie in the regular season. I enjoy all the deer being killed and butchered up. I love all the first bucks and first deer, the good food, the beer drinking and card playing at night. Just a fun season.

Nice batch for sure!!

I'm in the same boat with G man. I like the setting up and moving around, trying to get a target buck in range without spooking him, or stinking up a set up. I enjoy helping others to succeed a lot more than myself, whether it be with bow or rifle. There is a good chance that I let walk the biggest buck I will see this year on Friday morning. It was the right choice for me because I am trying to get a kid from long island a shot at this buck. His father and the rest of the guys have been more than generous letting me bowhunt this farm that they lease for the very low cost of scouting and setting up a few stands for them. It is the least I can do as far as I'm concerned.

39 legal years of hunting for me. Like a lot of you who grew up in the country, I got quite a bit of experience before I turned 14 hunting with my dad. All I can say is that I sure am glad and feel fortunate that I grew up when I did. My family was never very well off, but I sure got to learn the woods and waters.

Great job. Already showing he can keep his nerves in check long enough to make the shot.

This is my favorite running post during the big game season. I will always enjoy hearing about a trainer and his dog working together to achieve a goal. Good luck to all three of you this season.

Hopefully, whatever you get, you are better than me at remembering the damn thing. At least once or twice a season I leave my quiver up in the tree, or at the base of the tree when I am leaving. You would think it might happen once, but I do it every darn year.

Nice, both are quality fish

Grouse, I take a lot of kids and newcomers hunting. Get yourself a good sized pop up. Put it up where you know you will see deer most of the time, and take her for a few 2 hour sits. She won't sit still for very long, she will talk, she will have to pee,well, you will be amazed at how much a kid has to say and do in a couple hours. Keep it short and sweet, and don't really plan on getting a deer. It is good to plan ahead. Have snacks for both of you to share. If you carry a thermos, get one for her and put whatever she will drink in it, so she can do the same as you. Find out if she wants to watch you kill a deer beforehand. If she does, be prepared to use up a tag when the opportunity comes because she will be begging you to shoot it. Some years, for the youth hunt, I will have two girls in the blind with me. It is usually a fiasco with them tee heeing on their phones, oohing and ahing when squirrels and turkeys come out. They always get a deer before we are done. Sometimes it takes a couple sits, and sometimes they will both score on the first morning. All I can say is that having kids along makes hunting so much more fun.

Hey Biz, how did those yellow tomatoes come out? Were they too mild, or did they taste the same as the red ones?

Nice! I haven't seen one in years.

I still have my Bear "Lights Out". I threaten to get a new one every year, and never do because it works every time. Still use Beman with 75gr Muzzys at 62 pounds. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done. For rifle, I just use my Mossberg 100 ATR in .270 with 130gr Winchester, whatever the cheap, grey box is. This rifle is usually in the hands of a lady or youth hunter, as I usually only shoot a couple does during regular season. I always like to help others that are less experienced, or have little time because of work or little kids. And, I have a couple good sized pop ups that kids are always welcome to sit in with me and/or their mother. We always have a good time.

I don't even have a clue how many deer and other animals I have butchered or been part of a group butchering. My father showed me how to skin and quarter before I was even old enough to legally hunt. I like the fact that I know there was no hair touching the meat, and it is definitely the right deer. I am also a firm believer in getting the backstraps out and in the house for someone to prep and get cooking while the deer is being quartered, so we can have some great eats before the final cutting gets done.

After two years of not having a specific deer to target on the lands i hunt, I have a couple of them this year. One is a deer I thought was dead because I hadn't seen him since the winter in 2019. He just showed up a month ago in a bean field. He is a little thicker, but has lost a little tine length I believe. I'll be able to better judge when the velvet comes off. It would be nice to have a little better luck with him this year than in 2019, where I saw him from stand a grand total of zero times. It is tough because the bedding is not on this property, and that property is leased to a group of guys that live by the adage of staying on their own side of the fence, and me staying on my side of the fence, which is fine. The other is a nice clean 8 that managed to elude the boys from Long Island that lease the farm that I have done the majority of my bowhunting the last few years. I hope to put a youngster onto this buck on the weekends his dad brings him up. Other than that, I will see if I can win the shooting pot again this year with the group from the island. The kid gave me a little run last year, so maybe he will be able to get me this year. He is definitely a quick learner that listens and watches how I showed him. It only took two seasons for him to reach the final three.

I was out this last weekend to check my bowhunting ridge not far from New Berlin, close to the Unadilla River. Let me tell you, if you hunt anywhere near a swamp, you better get in and take a look around. I hunt a pretty big saddle between a normally, pretty bad swamp, and an old apple orchard. The saddle has a lot of oaks on it. The swamp is absolutely full of water. It looks like I could stock it with fish. It is traditionally a great bedding area, and the deer are still in it judging by the tracks and muddy paths leading to and from it. Lucky for me, I hunt the saddle for the most part in the mornings, and the apples in the afternoon while they last. Apple trees are loaded, but the oaks are on an off year with way less acorns. Plenty of agriculture fields, so I don't have to worry about food sources, but it is easier when the oaks produce. I can say that a late season spot i hunt is on a beech ridge, and they are loaded better than they have been in years. Depending on the deer movement, I may have to change up where and when I am hunting this year.

I knew for various reasons that phade was posting much less about cameras and his hunting. He has his reasons and he has posted some of them. That doesn't mean he was out of the camera game. He is a good source for information and supplies. Just like anyone that has skill or knowledge, people take advantage sometimes. And Mowin, in no way was I talking to you in particular. You just happened to be posting on the day I took a look on this post. It was good to see phade on here for a little while in a few topics, and that was why i took a look in the camera section.

I don't understand it. If i was in the market for cameras, I would be all over Phade. He has been in the business a long time and obviously knows what is going on. People always complain about customer service. How much better could it get than having someone like phade to help you out? He has seen about everything, and lives the problems before the cameras come out lots of times.

left field, travelling has never been a big priority for me. I used to go to a lot of competition coonhunting events in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and I always drove to them because of my hounds. The only reason I traveled to these was because of the money and to meet new friends and see old ones. I have always been an outdoors person doing a ton of camping, fishing, and hunting. For the most part, I have done these things in the northeast with a car or a truck. I like to do things with my family and friends, and not all of them are in a good enough financial position to blow a few grand on a trip. I'll take the quality times with everyone over just my wife and me going somewhere by ourselves. Cities are out of the question for me. My wife loves them, I hate them. We do get out to see some of my coonhunting buddies every couple years, or they come out here. Basically, I work and live a simple life.

Don't feel alone Jeremy K, I am over 50 and I have never flown. Just never came up in my life where I needed to. I had covid and was never sick at all. All I experienced was really dry eyes. Like below zero and out snowblowing on a windy day dry. Cost me a couple weeks of work that was paid without using any of my time. My wife had a fever and shortness of breath for three days, but as soon as she started moving around more, her lungs cleared back up and her fever went away. We were both exposed directly several times without catching it. Then, I caught it from my owner at work where we were wearing masks. Of course, then i gave it to my wife and her college age son. We just stayed the hell home like we were supposed to and got through it without it spreading to anyone else. I am not a believer in the mask at all. It is just something to make people feel safer. I got the vaccine just so I no longer had to wear a mask at work. I do not care if people get the shot or not, and I do not know anyone else that cares about what other people do about the shot. I refuse to live my life scared of dying from a virus that nobody seems to be able to get a good line on yet. I want to know why I didn't get sick at all, my wife got a little sick, and a guy on my bowling team almost died. All basically healthy and over 50.