Five Seasons

I'd like to dabble in some trapping after seeing so many big dogs on my hunting grounds and really not having as much time as I'd like to hunt them. Looks like hunting and bowhunting is online now but not trapping. When I looked for upcoming classes, none are scheduled within 200 miles. Is there a time of year these pop up? https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/92267.html#Trapper https://register-ed.com/programs/new_york/128

yeah.. shooting stumps on the way to the stand? scratches head

the nice thing about snow is easy tracking. I've found mz bleed the worst compared to shotgun/rifle and broadheads. Sometimes taking even 20 to 30 yards for any blood to show up. At least it was a complete miss unlike my shitty situation.

went out tonight. so quiet and still but nothing seen. bucks are all back around but at night. That's probably it for me for the year but I wont pack everything up in case I get an itch next week.

The bigger issue is just sitting in the woods on a chair exposed like that. I guess if you could use it in a blind, but I much prefer a shooting stick that can move easy to adjust for different angles.

I know. Just saying that it doesn't lesson the shitty feeling. I pride myself in the time and attention to detail I put into hunting and would like to think i'm a much better and more ethical hunter than the opening weekend orange army guy. None the less, it happens. But for me it's been about 20 years since it has. Clean misses a plenty over that span, but none like this.

interesting I never keep my bore dirty on my mz as I always understood that was a real bad practice but I'm no expert. I will say that my shot I took yesterday to check my zero was with a dirty bore.

A hunter making a bad shot isn't really what I chalk up to nature taking its toll. But yes I guess she doesn't "go to waste". that's my thought as well. sucks.

Sharing a story that most wouldn't because writing it is therapeutic for me and there's always a lesson that can help others. I don't really plan to hunt the holiday week which meant 1 or 2 more sits for me. I wanted to hunt Sunday morning and even set the alarm but it was midnight when the Bills game was over and it just wasn't worth it for me despite getting some decent bucks lately on camera. Son had basketball practice from 2 to 3 (I coach) and I thought why not just slip out for the last hour or so in the blind. Low pressure hunt, redzone on and 1 earbud in. Neighbor is buzzing up and down on his UTV a few times. I actually watched on my cell cam as he bumped a doe group that was headed his way back to me. I also heard a shot around 4:30 that sounded like a rifle but then it was quiet. I didn't have high hopes but it beats sitting on the couch. I'm shooting my old CVA Optima. It's been good to me and killed 3 or so deer in the 10 or so years I've hunted with it. Last time I shot it at a deer was in Mississippi and last time I checked the zero was a few years ago. Shooting 100 grains (pellets) and TC shockwaves (sabots). Anyhow legal light ends a little after 5 and right about 5 a doe comes limping out at 50 yards and I mean hard limping. The kind where you know some guy took a pop at her and she will live but will have a tough winter. If I'm honest I'm taking a shot at her anyhow, but the limp made me not even second guess it. I have mesh up in the blind and I'm all black inside, regardless as I turn with my shooting sticks she freezes. Thankfully she puts her head back down. Takes a few steps and turns some giving me a slight quartering towards shot with her right shoulder and vitals exposed, although the exit will be tough, I like this shot. I squeeze the trigger. There's a puff of smoke and as it clears I see her running off (tail up, not great). It's now about legal light and I don't want to wait long in the dark. I'm at the shot scene in about 5 minutes. I see decent blood, but it always looks like that in the snow. As I track I find more decent blood but the gush I wanted to see never comes. As I enter the woods where she dipped back in I hear crash crash up ahead. Dammit. I decide I'm going to test my luck and keep on the track hoping it was her last push and even if I have to put her down, I'll be able to end it. I track another 5 minute or so and maybe 75 yards and hear crashing again. I back out. Now she is no 130 class buck, but I hate this shit. Waiting overnight for a deer I only shot for the meat is never great. Even if I get to her with the cold temps there's a chance she's yote food. I haven't lost a deer in over 4 years and the last doe I wounded during archery was a brisket non-fatal shot. This might be my first bad wound track job since I was a teen. I can't get into the woods due to work obligations till 11 today. I proceed to track her for 3.5 hours and 2.5 miles. Losing and finding the track as it's just small drabs of blood and then every so often a decent blast (again maybe accentuated by the snow). This whole thing would have been impossible without the snow though. Anyhow I finally end in the neighbors cut corn field and no body and just no more blood or energy to follow a track to see if it starts again as the tracks all intersect out there and what is her and what is another deer is no easy task. On the way out I find what I later realize was a part of her track that I missed (at one point I was tracking her backwards and later realize it was her doing a loop). I know the field is her last stop based on hoof direction but I follow this backwards anyhow to find some pretty good sprays and even 2 bed downs I had not seen before. This made me sick. I had some hope maybe I hit her in the leg too, but now I'm not sure. I don't know how they do it, but they are freaking tough critters. I feel horrible that this doe has been shot twice now and is either dead or likely won't make it through the winter. I don't know if there's a lesson here or not as where I found those beds was nowhere near where I bumped her. So sure I should have probably waited and then probably backed out sooner, but IDK. I measured out what was at least 0.8 miles that she went plus the extra I didn't get to and some of the best blood was well past where I bumped her. Tested my mz this afternoon as well and she's on. Hunting sucks sometimes. sorry for the novel.

I'm surprised that some of you are still on the train. If this latest move isn't jumping the shark for you, I'm not sure what it'll take. Voted for the guy, but his time is over.

I plan to sit tomorrow morning for maybe my last morning sit of the year and I feel myself coming down with a cold... ugh. good luck!

also an environmental engineer here. Have not found a better alternative to gly. But typically the issue there is with humans, not what has gone into the earth. I do think its been around long enough that we would have known it has a negative impact by now... but I'm with you, i've heard that before. I wear a tyvex, gloves and full face when I spray it out of my machine and not really any ppe at all if spraying by hand.

Had a good hunt last night after 2 hunts in a row with no sightings. Had 4 doe and a bb come flying out of the woods behind me. Was one of those "surrounded by 360" kind of moments. Knowing how spooky they are this time of year I figured what would happen next did. As I turned to get an angle on the bigger 2 doe behind me, they spooked and so did the bb in front of me. They hung around for a bit but never giving me a shot I felt comfortable with. Now with this storm rolling in I'm not sure when I'll be out next but hopefully with some fresh snow to end the season.

yeah my son will be 11 next season and I'm already starting to think about his christmas gift for a gun that winter. I'm leaning towards a .270

you'll need nomad's permission to post his pics

I love to do stuff myself. Love to learn new things and after getting into predator hunting I didn't like the idea of kill and leave and did a bunch of research. The coon creek outdoors guy has some great videos and after watching a bunch I came to the conclusion that it was just too much work or too much prep needed if I was only going to do 1 or 2 ever. I can't imagine the effort for a big bear and as phade said, if I was ever lucky enough to get one I'd just suck it up as it probably wouldn't ever happen again.

I'm good for 2 or 3 alarm silencers a season and can almost always predict them when I'm going to bed that night. If I have a work trip planned or a busy few days and warm temps I just wont hunt because I don't have the ability to put in the work. I will also go into a hunt where doe and mature bucks are on the table and as it gets closer to dark, doe's are then off the table because night tracking and dragging can suck. I've also gone in with certain goals and passed because I just wasn't feeling it in the moment. I think that's how everyone should hunt. I hate the mantra that you shouldn't pass on the 1st day what you would be happy to shoot on the last and all that. Shoot what you want, when you want if it's legal and be happy about it. besides bb's. stop shooting bb's.

yeah that's fair too. bullets just really don't bleed either, so with an arrow you're worrying about plugging and with a gun it's just not cutting as wide of a swath either. Either way I think low. legs or paunch, possibly brisket. edit, i see he's recovered. congrats. odd little blood with a single lung. Was he dead or did you have to put another in him?

bedded without much blood has me thinking guts.

your boy kinda looks like a baby moog haha. nothing better than woods time with a child!

Yeah I should add that I don't use ozone in the tree, but I do use it in my clothes storage. At the end of the day an alert weary deer is going to bolt if they see another animal they don't like, catch movement (even from a squirrel) or if they smell something foreign. I've seen doe spooked by an estrus wick and a few years ago I had some bolt when I blinked... I swear to god lol (gun season). A calm deer might smell the gas on your boots that you walked in and pause because they're curious... but that's typically a young or very early in the season unpressured deer. Then there are deer that spook at nothing or aren't spooked by anything and nothing in the world makes sense. For me at the end of the day I'm spending my energy trying to eliminate as much sent as I can. It's an impossible task, but I like to think my scent cone won't stretch as far, or more likely appears to be an older and not a recent odor to the deer. But trying to trick a deer's nose? That's not in my toolkit. Seems it works for some though, so YRMV.

Exactly. Deer freeze all the time when they detect a foreign scent. I never use cover scents for this exact reason. If you're looking to mask your order, I'd recommend ozone.

almost 10 years and averages 2 to 3 deer a year. worth every penny. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012KJBR0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I'm surprised at how many of you don't have a scale. It's not a huge investment and nice for record keeping and just generally scratching the curiosity itch. Even if it's not science grade accurate, it'll get you close. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08669YYV7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Congrats to those who shot nice deer!

is this a place where one can shoot 2 bucks in one season or by neighbor do you mean 2 or more hunters on 1 property?