dbHunterNY

good outfitters keep harvest photos up to date and make sure good ones are taken for their use to market the business. they can add 20" of antler and 50lbs to a buck just with the photo. haha it can seem obvious but when done right it's much harder to tell.

photo is yours but who doesn't want a good photo. it might seem like a pain but just know what to do and not to do, especially with kids or first time hunters you're mentoring. maybe you might be fine with a photo of you and an obviously dead carcass hanging over a hood with a cig hanging out of your mouth or beer can in your hand but what about them? they don't know better. ....I've got some great advise too. ditch the cell phone cams at some point and use an actual camera. especially in lower light. had a hunter take some field photos of his first deer that was a 4.5 yr old doe with a bow even. said he was good and had some field photos with the deer. I said here i'll take some more just in case. propped the deer up with its legs naturally under it, stuck the tongue in, got a good back drop to frame the photo, took a couple seconds to wipe the hair back from being dragged, and got him behind it holding the head up and with his bow. he was shocked at how much better that stuff made the photo look and with hind sight was much happier. youth are notorious for getting harvest photos in magazines and hunting guides. maybe you don't care to be in them but how much would it make their day to have that happen. think about it.

getting the same ragged hole accuracy with my Browning 30-06 shooting the 150gr Fusions. Pretty happy. years back I went back and bought a bunch of boxes. Good for quite a while I'd imagine. Busy doing other stuff this weekend getting things ready for winter season. I've got to get out this week and check my gun. I plan on hunting a lot with my bow still but need it on stand by.

it's not legal to use here in NY. cool as heck though.

hey pygmy.... we're over here.

yea it doesn't effect much in my mind unless you're deep into the timber. although I do try to do it ahead of time. the most important thing I think is knowing you're cutting shooting openings through the woods not wide lanes from ground to sky.

when the wind is really blowing I feel it changes way deer act and move a little. then when it's harder to hold on target with the wind pushing your bow arm and/or shaking the tree you're in. I don't like hunting in wind either but I've still managed to have success doing it.

sometimes loud cracks can come from far side shoulders or leg bones and ribs on entry. I don't really go by sound much. I almost always spot my arrow to impact or see disturbance of hair when it hits. low light being the exception as I don't use anything like lighted nocks.... yet. I go off sight and observations of blood on the arrow and ground. sounds doesn't come into play for me too much.

congrats... feels good to finally get your first one with a bow. did for me. heck lee lakosky took 7 years to get his first buck with a bow. seems like your ahead of him! haha

I've always thought at 2.5 most of the time on the cheek side it'll be slightly pointed but blunt and still appear concave. at 3.5 it's concave as in flat and concave. then at 4.5 the last cusp will be worn down the side with the face sloped toward the cheek. we just had a 160 lb, 17.5" spread, 8 pointer taken during youth season that had the last cusp pointed. i aged it and others seemed to agree. I guess i'll have to look into that more though and keep an open mind.

now this is interesting. is this the 6pt with 6pt on top that you posted in the harvest thread? based on that harvest thread picture I'd say that deer's 2.5. with this picture... directly from the side versus from above it's hard to tell if dentine width of first molar (fourth tooth back) is more than enamel width. it doesn't appear to be though. what's interesting is the 3rd premolar has quite a bit of staining when considering at 2.5 years old it would've just replaced it. although staining is still possible. lastly looking at the last tooth back (3rd molar), the last cusp is not still pointed but worn to concavity to me which is a sign of 3.5. lingual crests at 3.5 will still look high and pointed so can't go much by that. if the dentine width was NOT questionably as wide as the tongue side enamel on the first molar then I'd still go with 2.5 yrs old. if it was questionably wide I'd go with 3.5 just based on looking at a jawbone alone.

Doc sorry btw..... back to Selfishness!

referencing culvers bell curve you're talking about the rising slope and I'm talking about the top of the bell. with the idea that bell curve representing breeding spans a couple weeks. puts us about a week apart with our references. sounds like we're on the same page then.

i agree with the bell curve concept. also agree with the rest of it. going with the "main" being the peak of the bell and from what we've seen, it seems like that'd fall somewhere within a week from now. so first week of rifle we'll be still into peak breeding or the "main" portion. right now I'd imagine if you're not seeing chasing going on you're in the wrong area and not seeing any doe.

I'm sure both our deer can't be too far apart but we're just not seeing that being the case out here. there definitely have to be some doe ready right now but majority aren't there yet. from what we've seen this year these next two weeks will be ending chasing and into peak breeding. locations with less age structure and really no mature bucks weren't reported much different in long standing QDM areas that most certain have bucks of all age class, better ratio, etc. not sure what you meant by main part of the rut.

not selfish. we should remain to have an archery season before any kind of gun season and that includes muzzleloaders. forget arguing that deer are less spooked or more easily patterned during archery season. using archery gear is a huge handicap even to the shortest ranged legal firearms. so mixing them up in a season is ridiculous, unless it's a hunters choice to use archery gear during gun season. shorter seasons are more by design to prevent over harvest. hunters are way more successful with a gun than with any kind of bow. right now the first week of southern zone gun season is at peak stages of the rut where any mature buck is the most vulnerable. early bow season he's got his daily routine if you're lucky. if you screw up though there's nothing to prevent him from flying off the radar. he'll just feed more and be more active at night. no hot doe to cloud his judgment. no where in the country that I know of does a state wildlife agency allow gun hunters in the woods first, combine them into one season, or have seasons for less primitive weapons longer or even the same as less primitive (gun vs bows). that's not without reasons or coincidental.

try not to think it's a deer. know its a target and thinking about what's needed to make the shot happen and put the arrow where it needs to go. then after it's a dead deer running the flood gates will open. you're not going about shooting a big buck. you're going about a process with know steps to follow. admire the buck or deer after it's on the ground and you won't get all messed up and buck feverish. seems stupid too but don't forget to breathe. ....problem with this is saving it all to the end, you've got to remember to visually mark spots where it got hit and where it went for tracking.

I've seen fixed blade and some mechanical tipped arrows deflect off ribs both on entry and exit to where the arrow basically turned and changed direction. not all shot by me but witnessed. last year I had a doe very slightly quartering too. she was hit perfectly between and behind the "v" of front shoulder blade and leg entering on her right side. during the hit she dropped, spun toward me, and also flailed her rear end. that caused the shot to go through both lungs but exit out her left hind quarter a little more than half way down.

that brings them to your motion sensor that turns on a radio in your house so you can go to your window with a bench rested weapon and switch for a flood light that's out at the bait pile. the question was what brings them to YOU. ...seriously story I heard of a guy living in the dacks'. I otherwise couldn't make that stuff up.

no dig meant. it just looked odd. I'm not a taxidermist so didn't know if that was one of the touch up things left or even if it was just the way the photo was taken. I've seen a lot of mounts up close both shop and average joe done. I think it's one damn good job. I'd put it on my wall without the touching it up. just working toward perfection now.

yea you want peep to fit your housing more. my sight picture does have a small air/light gap between the housing and the peep. I can subconsciously make corrections easier to keep things lined up. I shoot competition and hunt this way.

old way of thinking was a smaller peep for accuracy and to center the pin in the peep. new way of thinking is to get a bigger 1/4" peep and bigger 2" pin guard. center pin guard in the peep and first most used pin is centered within guard. much more light and visibility to get on and stay on the deer vitals. if I can't clearly make out where the pin should go it's way too dark to be shooting. even with a lighted nock.

I've had continued success with a Primos Buck Roar. Old model that I'm sure has a replacement. it allows you to grunt softly or push out a loud one without pinning the reed and sounding like a duck. it's also got a challenge wheeze built right in and a forearm strap to keep it handy. I've got e-calls, grunt tubes, estrous cans, rattle bags, etc. this one I use and bring with me. I call sparingly. mostly contact grunts... soft or aggressive depending on the situation and only to steer a deer my way that wouldn't otherwise be coming in. I've done tending grunts but sequence is usually too long to give up your position too much. snort wheeze I only use if there's lots of deer activity movement and sound. I just used it successfully this past weekend. deer under me and decent one off in the woods. heard snort wheeze and grunt. saw deer where the sound came from and it was already a spot he's been before so he came in without hesitation to clear up his dominance. aside from that I use a rattle bag on rare occasion but only if no deer are around or they're far enough away. another huge factor is the buck to doe ratio or curiosity of the deer with a rattle bag. otherwise I've seen it run them off.

that's pretty fool proof and easy. I like your thinking for a solid start.

white of the nose seems odd but the whole thing looks great. you did a heck of a job even with your buddy's help.