Dorsilfin

In the stand. Wonderfull morning. This weather is gorgeous.

I had 3 does prego this year, only 1 fawn made it. I have coyotes on my cameras around the property.. Sure a single coyote or two will probably not take on a mature doe/buck but they will run the herd around and spook up/run down the fawns. So i agree 100% that coyote's greatly impact the deer population.

Got ahold of Malafys. they dont process bear.. back to square one. Anyone else have any recommendations?

I hunt 3A.. its slim pickings.. I usually head down to 3M for my Doe's for meat and im still waiting on my catskill buck.. 3a is sparse very sparse that being said any deer that gives me 3 points on 1 side is considered a shooter for me.

Thanks for the scent info. Ill pick up some vanilla and caramel this week and give it a try. how far out do you run the scents leading into your shooting lanes? would it be worthwhile putting scents out during the week when not hunting just to try and keep him moving through the area more regularly?

no corn just an apple and pear tree, which he had wrecked this year.. fatso climbed the pear tree and snapped it in half and sat around eating all the pears haha. both tree's are pretty well tapped out of fruit now so im thinking hes probably just hitting the beechnuts and acorns right now to fatten up which are kinda all over the place on my property.

Hey all, Ive had a blackbear near my cabin quite a few times and hes showing up more regularly on my trial camera.. he likes to eat it :/ I am looking for ways to improve my chance of seeing it during the daylight hours while I'm hunting. *video of said bear* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBZXiXZ1Bqo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3wP7Y_dtyE He does not seem to have a regular day/time for walking through this area tho it is well traveled by the deer and coyotes and other wildlife so its a good intersection to lay and wait but i also do not want to spend a week sitting in a tree hoping he walks by. I would like to entice him a bit to come out more regularly. Have any of you used any products/scents to pull them out? Any type of calls to use?

Tried giving them a ring but just the beep beep beep. will give em a try tomorrow maybe just busy right now. I dont see bear processing on their site but figured id call and ask.

Hey All, I hunt up in 3A in the catskills and while last year I processed my own deer and plan on doing the same. This year Ive been eyeing a blackbear lurking near my cabin. Im not sure I feel comfortable doing the butchering processing and was wondering what places you might recommend in the area that I could look into. Anything near kingston/rhinebeck/poughkeepsie/newburgh/fishkill will do. lemme know who you've used or have heard good thing. Thanks!

I only have an hour drive home from the cabin so im not too concerened about that. Thanks for the info, If I manage to get one ill process it at least into quarters and get them into my cooler with some ice packs until I can get home and do the fine butchering.

As a newbie hunter, ill be joining the bow hunting ranks and be heading out this weekend. The temp's in the catskills are going to be well mildly warm near the mid 70's. Assuming I down a deer, or bear what kinda time line am I looking at for needing to get them skinned and butchered down? I've ready to open the cavity up and get ice bags in there pretty quick and Ill already have a few at my cabin regardless so once its out of the woods ill have ice bags in it within a few min. I butchered my deer last year but that was in rifle and the temps were much cooler in the 40's so i had some time to hang it a night and then take care of it. With it this warm, is it advisable to hang it a night? or just process it that day and get it in the freezer?

Yeah im following you. So assuming a button buck it would be ok so long as its under 3inches but if its over that, you cant take them with any permit until they get 3 points on 1 side. I hate to take a doe from the small group of deer around my property, and will probably pass on them for another area if I dont see a buck. Thanks for the info.

I hunt in 3A in the heart of the catskills so deer are sparse. I am planning on doing bow season there as well now as well as regular season with my rifle. With my bow tag, since its for an antler or antlerless deer. assuming I dont get anything past the 3 points on 1 side, can I take a smaller buck like a 2-4 pointer and tag it as a doe on my tag? or is it Does only, or bucks with 3 or more points on 1 side?

Wow, didnt expect such a flood of information. Thanks so much everyone for the input and discussion. The shop did use a bow to measure my drawl length that had all kinds of adjustable cams on it to change the draw, and I had a "release" but it was just a hook similar to a release so that i wouldnt accidentally fire an empty bow They had me pull back showed me the basic form and pull back and measures me at my nose touching the string. not sure if thats the "ballpark" method or something maybe they do, but I felt like the tech guy was pretty solid and had no interest in selling me anything just showing me a bit about the bows and doing the draw tests.

Hey All, I am looking to get into bow hunting after a fun first year doing rifle. My Uncle who was a long time hunter recommended that I get measured to see which bows will fit me. So I went and got measured at Kenco's on Rt 28 with a draw length of 29.5 They were really friendly and thanked them for their time but was uninterested in buying a new bow just yet but would keep them in mind for any misc supplys I need. So now that I know my draw length, I've been doing a bit of craigslist window shopping and am trying to determine which bows might be good for me. My ultimate goal is just to have a plain jane bow with no thrills for hunting deer in the catskills. for the most part it will be from the ground doing still hunting, or possibly a climber treestand if I can find one light enough to hike into stand land and back out with me. I know its only Feb, and Oct is a long way aways, but Id like to get something and practice all summer to be proficient enough to put the arrow where I need when its go time. Any guideance would be greatly appreciated. -Dors

yeah, reading skills failed me today. My bad

I might have mis read the rules, but since 3a for example issues no Doe permits, and is antler restricted, a regular buck permit I dont beleive counts as a doe permit where none are issued?

Just remember, for anterler restricted zones, Doe's count towards the antler restriction and cannot be taken

Just got in from a cold rainy day in the catskills working the mountain. spooked up a couple doe's but no bucks to be seen. Giving tomorrow morning another pre dawn hike and going to probably ride it out till 1-2pm and call it a season. Supposed to be rainy and chilly tomorrow not exactly what I consider fun, sitting around getting wet and cold hoping a deer walks by

When should I have rolled the hammer back to the ready to fire state? when i got the text to be ready they are coming, I figured they are going to barrel through and might only get a split second to get one,which is what happened. If I had waited till the doe paused for a moment to roll back I could have easily lost my target having to reacquire or miss all together fumbling with rolling the hammer back. Heading to the cabin this weekend for the closing weekend of gun, Hoping maybe a catskill buck will walk by, but happy none the less with some meat in the freezer and a first deer done from start to finish.

I just finished the process and everything is in the freezer. I am from head to toe exhausted. I got as much meat as possible off of her, and spent the last 5 hours slowly cutting the silver/white lining off the meat and cleaning it up and freezer bagging it. I got a couple nice steaks, and 2 roasts from the hind quarters. back straps came out good and are freezing away. I had for dinner tonight while butchering (weird?) the inside little flanks, my cousin said they are the filet mignon of deer, I chopped them into little 1 inch cuts and butterfly cut them in half, little salt and pepper and into a super hot pan with some butter. got them all browned up and super hot and just chowed down. I've had deer 10 years ago, and back then I thought it was good. Tonight was like the greatest meat I've ever had to date. Is it the excitement of the hunt, or am i really just loving it that much. I'm thinking both. right now, its time to sit back and relax and enjoy the moment.

I had a black down jacket on over the lighter jacket pictured with an orange blaze vest. but yeah I didnt want to buy camo gear, I just wore my hiking stuff and threw on an orange vest/hat and called it a day sure did, My uncle pretty much demanded the liver should I shoot a deer lol, so I made sure to take care and putting that in a ziplock bag and on a cold rock while I was finishing things up to cool it off quickly. He's looking forward to me stopping by next weekend =)

After a few trips around 3A in the Catskills and seeing nothing but does and spike bucks that were not legal to take, I admitted that hunting one of the scarcest regions for bucks as a beginner with no "Hunting" skill might not yield me anything. Luckily my cousins took me to some private property in 3M where my doe tags were yesterday. After fumbling my way up a tree with a climber stand (first time using one of those too) I sat for a few hours and froze. Felt like my toes were getting stabbed it was so cold for me. Just after 10am I texted my cousins and said I'm dying up here and not seeing anything moving they then decided to push the edge of the property. They texted back, be ready they are going to be coming. I stood up and rolled the hammer back on my Model 94, 30 30 from the early 1950's(lots of family history) and stood ready. A dozen does came barreling over the hillside. one stopped for a moment giving me the chance I needed. I let the boomstick roar and my aim was true.(thank you shooting every weekend for the past few years) the result? a textbook hit right through the lung and top of the heart. I was glad as a first timer I was able to give the deer a quick humane death. Today, my first time butchering. Considering that field dressing was easier then I thought, and didn't even phase me the butchering stage should be easy enough. I'm choosing to do the butchering myself for the taste, I've heard that having a place do it will leave the white/silvery covering on the meat and that makes it very gaming and not taste that great. The couple times I've had venison its been from hand butchered deer so thats what I'm going for. And also heres my winning picture! Next weekend however now that ill have meat in the freezer, I'm going back to 3A for my Catskill buck.

My Brother takes the stand down, and leaves a note on the tree in a zip lock bag. if they dont contact him in a month it goes on craigslist and gets sold. Granted his property is fully posted every other tree and anyone setting up a stand is doing so illegally and trespassing. Surprisingly he hasn't had one person contact him after hes taken the stand and left a note.

Monster! and well done on pulling that out of Ulster. You mention state/public land, where did you manage to find this big guy? (Im up in 3A near Slide/cornell/wittenberg) area and am not having much luck.