Five Seasons

I've found from my own experience that the rut's tied a little more to sunrise then moon phase... I don't totally discount his predictions. I just also don't follow them religiously.

classic!

So around 2pm yesterday I got the itch to get out. Normally I'm not an afternoon hunter, especially with the Bills playing. But I figured I could bring the headphones and NFL app into the woods a listen while sitting (1 earbud). It's just a 5 min. walk out my backdoor and by 3:45 I was in the stand. Around 5:30 the activity heats up and I have over 5 doe around me. I'm not sure what time it was dark (because my phone died haha). But I could no longer see very well and there are deer all around. What do you guys do to not spook on exit? I ended up sitting probably close to 7pm and did some grunting as I was getting down, only to still spook one deer that I thought had left but didn't.

wtf? lot of bold claims there, that a lot of hunters would disagree with. well, we've been using mock scrapes for years. Only recently started using cams. But it seems that with the addition of the orbital on the licking branches that the scrapes are getting more use. A few have had almost year round activity.

great buck. congrats!

i have watched the same mature doe for 2 years in my backyard. Her doe offspring have stayed as well. The bucks tend to leave, except for last years bb who is now a spike and hanging out eating my apples. It's kind of cool. Mature bucks will find "their spot" though, although in late winter you can see them all hanging out together.

always been a facemask guy. I guess it started during gun when I realized just a hat didn't keep my face from freezing off. Now I use a lightweigh scentlok facemask. Most of your odor is released from your head. Silly to scentlok everything and not your head.

you think he's coming back?

little early for estruses. not to early for scrape mate. Also check out smokey's interdigital and pre-orbital gland. stuff should be illegal.

plenty in ontario. looking a little more at the weather it doesn't look to appealing. But not bad enough to stop the deer from moving. I'd be more apt to save your all day hunts for another week or 2. Don't make hunting a chore where you're just wet, cold and miserable.

good idea. the rain will help wash away any scent you may have left too.

nobody will ever agree on when it'll start pre-season. but when it's here, we all know. Probably seeing some decent pre-rut and weather pattern change activity.

You need to be in the woods. bunch of rain and some temp drops. pre-rut. get to bed early and hunt the mornings and 1 or maybe even both afternoons.

doesn't matter how long the gap in days was. deer, especially a mature doe are smarter than we give them credit for. I've hunted a stand once that my cousin was busted in 2 weeks prior and they came through the brush on the run looking right up at me

what this guy said. even easier in the winter when you can see bear earth where their body heat has melted the snow.

with the rain as well, i fully expect to see lots of pics come monday. good luck guys.

you said that about 2013. I for one am glad someone like you is not in the same woods as me. exactly. fell for his trap thinking we were at the point of just bs'ing and joking. lesson learned i guess. tully is thousands and thousands of wooded acres. and my last 4 deer have come from 8F anyhow. And how do you know I didn't already tag my buck this year?

should have known. Thanks for keeping in line with your usual non-ny hunting because you need a crossbow self.

that's not what I meant. It's other employees. If it's too hard for some of you to grasp that someone in a leadership role wouldn't want their direct reports and others digging through their personal stuff and possibly using it against them, then we work in different fields.

so you're a little south of me. i'm closer to route 20 and mostly hunting ridge bucks. You look to be more similar to suburban hunting... which is very un-tully like haha. Your biggest issue looks like access. I'm assuming you have a backyard you can walk into the woods from? My biggest advice about Tully is that there are thousands of acres. The valley holds some true giants. Problem is that most of it is pretty heavily hunted. So the best bucks seem to come out of the sanctuaries that are off limit or very hard to get to. my particular zone requires quite a steep hike down a ridge that most guys would avoid. its even more fun to hand drag up. If this land is hunted by others you might not have a lot of success. But surrounding pressure could be your greatest ally. I would hunt it as least invasive as possible so they continue to believe it to be a safe zone. assuming its not already hunted like i said.

no you don't. When i'm quoted my sig doesn't show up and neither does anyone elses. yours does. i have no idea what it is, but i'm pretty sure it's advertising which is usually against the rules anyhow. and if it's not, it's annoying.

oh don't get me wrong. I still dislike crossbows and shooting button bucks. I'm just careful with how I share these beliefs. For example, HR will tell you from day 1. You don't talk about religion, sex or politics at work. You're absolutely entitled to your opinion and can discuss with like minded people, but those 3 topics can get you in hot water. Anyone with an office job can relate. It doesn't mean you have to back down when you're put against the wall, but it's best for your employment to take the high ground with the "i respectfully disagree, and lets move on before it gets heated". most people are agreeable to that.

wait so everyone found the pics? where are they?

go away. and i'm sick of your facebook link. get rid of that or at least put it in your sig when you leave.

but if someone had it out for you and started collecting some of your upstate/downstate stuff (eventhough we all realize they're jokes). would that not be in the least a pain in the ass for you to have to explain?