Northsox65

In my Opinion, if you have that much land with food, thicket, and swamps and your not killing deer its something that you are doing wrong, either you are putting your stand in the wrong place or your hunting clothes are giving off an odor.

Just to throw in my 2cents, I live in Tompkins County that is one of the few countys that is still "Shotgun" only, I love my H&R single shot 12g and it is deadly, every deer that I have shot has dropped in its tracks, now don't get me wrong if this damn county went to Rifle I would definitely be using my dads Marlin 30-30 that he has killed 100's of deer with. And for accuracy with Rifles/Shotguns Let me tell you My first shotgun was a beat up old 20 gauge Stevens my Dad bought me from a gun store back in 1975, I shot well over 5000 rounds through that gun and knew exsactly where it shot, I could shoot a fly off a cows ass at 50 yards and killed many, many deer, phesants, ducks, geese, rabbits, and partridge with that gun. The first time I went to a skeet/trap range the old timers with their expensive over/under 12 gauge laughed at me when I pulled out the old 20 gauge stevens, but earned their respect when I shot 24 out of 25 birds on my first try.

Shot this nice 8pt in Tompkins County WMU 7H on Nov on Nov 25th at 4pm. Shot him with my 12 Gauge Single Shot H&R.

I go where the deer are, I have never used any scents or calls, I sit in a treestand 15 feet off the ground in a spot between their Dining room and their bedroom and I just wait, and wait, and wait,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I have hunted this Program since the beginning, There is lots of available land, however most of the deer they want killed are in the city limits of Ithaca and Cayuga Heights and are unhuntable. 2 yrs ago I killed 2 deer and last year I never saw one and froze my butt off. I will be hunting it again this yr and hope to put another deer in the freezer.

Also Grew up in Oswego County, took many Deer on the Family Farm and Three Rivers Wildlife area.

Well finally got it done, Got out of work early Wednesday to move my Stand, long story short, Another hunter moved in on my Spot that I have been hunting for 5yrs. Scouted new area with swamp/pines/and hardwoods, found tons of sign, finally get stand set up at 2pm, cut some shooting lanes and then walk around alittle , jump 2 nice doe but didn't shoot because it was 50 degrees and didn't want to be rushed cutting up a deer. get back to my stand at 330 and was going to sit till dark to see if this was a good evening stand, at 4pm this bruiser shows up out of no-where walking straight at me, at 50 yds I put the crosshairs on the white patch on his neck and squeeze the trigger and he dropped like a rock.

I like to find a pine tree and grab a bunch of fresh green needles and rub them all over my Jacket and pants, this has worked for me for years, I don't care about wind direction!

I think I am going to change it up too, I am going to try to sit all day, I have said that for 40 yrs, but who knows this might be the year,,,,

I will be out with my single shot 12 ga H&R Ultra Slug, got a whitetail 3x9 shotgun scope on it and she is deadly. Can't wait till the 21st! My son will be sitting nest to me with his trusty 870 with a rifled slug barrel.

Lead Poisoning,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Stopped at Dicks yesterday morning about 10 min before they opened and there were already about 8 people in line, I and my son got ours so all the does in 7H better watch out!

Another thing that grinds my gears is that every year someone in upstate NY will get sent a pic of either a Mt Lion, or Sasquatch, or a polar bear or something and they might even have a pic that was taken in Alaska or the Midwest swearing it was here,,,,,,,,

Another thing that grinds my gears are photos of hunters with their Deer and the hunters look pissed off, Most hunters are happier than a child on Christmas Morning, however there are the few out there,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Most of the hunting shows that I watch would of let him walk saying "he will be a dandy in a couple years"! Did I mention I hate those shows,,haha

I work at Cornell and live a stones throw away from Cayuga Heights, The deer here in this part of town are almost like pets, couple yrs ago I had 2 nice 10pts sparing in the front yard. We have acorns and apple trees in the front yard and u can see deer there almost 24/7. We have a big bodied fork that will eat out of your hand. Too bad because we are in the city limits you cant hunt them.

There was a funny Family Guy episode where Peter had a news segment called "What really grinds my gears". I will start this off with What really grinds my gears are hunters who do not scout and walk through public land at 7am on opening morning and feel like they have to walk up to your stand and ask you stupid questions!

I myself an in awe of you hunters that can go out day after day and wait for that perfect shot with a bow or cross-bow, weather you fill a tag or not, the dedication/hours you put in just to wait for a deer to get within 40 yards or closer is amazing to me. I have never hunted with a bow, strictly Shot-gun for me, but who knows, I am a young 50yr old, got plenty of time left to expand my horizons and learn a new weapon,,,,,,,,

I would almost be afraid to see what made the rub in your Bottom Pic, I gotta admit if I saw that in the woods I would think Bear, but normally bears scratch about 4-5 ft in the air, that deer must be HUGE! I don't own a trail cam, but I would have to buy one and put it up to get a glimps of that monster!

tNow this is a Rub

you are very lucky it wasen't one you were in! That would definitely suck!

I guess I am old fashioned, I would love it to be 30 degrees and have a couple inched of snow on the ground everyday for deer season, however I will hunt in any weather, I don't mind anything unless its too warm, probably that's why I don't bow hunt or live in the south. saying all that, I just watch YNN weather the night before, given that, the weather changes here by the hour, If you believe anything the weatherman says I got some ocean front property in Catskills to sell you,,,,,,

Yes I remember those days, I know the sound of rounds hitting trees and wizzing by you all too well, back when nobody hunted from stands, we all hunted from the ground, and to make matters worse it was pretty much Buck only, doe permits were few and far between. I called them "city" boys with there expensive guns, hell there scopes cost more than my old 64 ford truck! haha

Back before my kids were old enough to hunt with me I always used a Climber, I loved it. Shot many deer out of it! Instead of carrying it in and out of the woods all the time I would just leave it at the base of my tree and cover it up with pine tree limbs, nobody ever stole it in the woods, a few yrs back somebody stole it from my garage, hopefully they are using it to kill a huge deer!