dbHunterNY

here in 4J you had to check your harvest in to get the bonus (either-sex) DMP. no way to really fake a harvest.

yea many here in 4J that I've talked to didn't even know about it. check station times were a pain from what I remember. for here at least, if more people knew about it and it was easier to make it to a checkstation then I think they would've had better participation. poor execution and promotion in my mind. many hunters out there don't read the NYODN or dig for info as much as many of us do.

yup you did the right thing. I'd keep an eye on that spot though. if they do come back you've earned the right to not be so considerate. usually if they thought they had permission you'll hear about them going to the landowner. if you don't it means they got caught and know it.

QDM co-ops in the harvest bucks that old. have trail camera pictures, history, harvest them, and then send the teeth out for confirmation. I'm not as good at aging as some of the others in the group. we (mostly they) are constantly gathering this info and putting together "Aging On the Hoof" seminars. hooks and pins are terms more associated with livestock and say dairy farmers. not really deer. basically I'm referring to his whole hind quarters. hooks are the hip bones on the top and pins are the bones pointing straight back off the top of the hams as you'd call them. they're more visible in a dairy cow. 3.5 yr old grows more in the front as he needs that bulk there first. at 4.5 a deer reached full skeletal maturity and fills out a bit more in the hams area.

really fun to get those results. that's why we do it for deer. I didn't do one of my doe taken last year but it was probably around 11 or 12. definitely 8.5+ yrs old. I know a couple guys from other co-ops around here that shot doe that came back at 15 and 20 years old! for a deer that seems crazy to me. it's more commonly done with bear by state wildlife agencies though.

once a deer is 5.5 yrs old I just say 5.5+ unless maybe there's history. I think jaw bones are tougher than aging by good and many trail cam photos. I try to use as much as possible to get the whole picture and not rely on one thing. many who practice QDM more so than your average deer hunter send in incisors for verification. you pay the same sending in 1 tooth as you do 6. we have a few of us to a slip so it's more affordable. also it's more concrete aging data that we can really use for both herd monitoring and future aging.

not quite sure. 3.5 or maybe 4.5 yrs old. leaning toward 3.5 yrs old. it looks like he's not as filled out at his hooks and pins so seems heavier in the front despite not have so much of a tapered look. he'll tighten up and burn some of it off by mid November. the brisket into the neck doesn't blend as much as you normally see in a 4.5 yr old.

the report was pre-written btw. you'll need to FOIL file for it though. until then you can't have it.

are you a politician? I did not ever say DEC is infallible. now if I thought that, I wouldn't be volunteering my time to run a co-op to manage deer regardless of DEC wishes. ... I voted for option 4 btw. not the same frequency or effort the first two weeks as before. so which one of your group was the 1 vote or blood bath vindicator?

yep screw the food plot and do scouting and stand setup quick as possible. in and out. seems like good habitat for browse. looks pretty flat. first figure out access walk the road or creek to get N and S. look for any bedding that could get you busted on the way in and determine where you need to come in from. next go in deeper and look for an intersection of multiple trails. also look for maybe a trending row of mast producing trees like apple, oak, etc. if you have to, work backwards from the field edge. if you've got fishing waders spray them down and wear them. looks like an early season evening stand. if you've got a new moon you might check a buck late to bedding in the mornings but evening would probably be your best bet. who knows. also like moog said good shots unless you know you'll have permission to track on adjacent properties. stick to the bottom 1/3 and aim for the heart. center mass lungs might let it go a ways.

hand tools, compact 4x4 Kubota B7200D (17 HP), 4' bush hog, tiller, and cultivators. for bigger stuff we use the actual farm equipment anything from a New Holland Workmaster 55 to a JD 4440. To go with those we've got plows, discs, and usual you'd need. really don't use the ATVs or Gator though.

boy do I have a deal on hay bales for you. great deal. let me know how many loads of hay (fuel) per food plot you need! haha

I got the Nikon Omega with BDC reticle in 3-9x40mm when it first came out. I've got no complaints.

I need it like a hole in my head. can't believe someone else isn't taking it off your hands though.

looks like it from what little I know. perfect picture to judge.

more than likely it's fawn, yearling, 2.5-3.5 (middle aged), or mature 4.5+ you don't get a lot of time to break down the buck as it's walking into your set. what helps is a crap ton of trail cam photos and history. then after it's dead you look at the jaw bone and send out the teeth to say hey I was right or hmmm???

well eventually you get compost, so it's not a bad thing.

I'd have the orange army hammer the crap out of your doe population. it'd be supply and demand causing you to pay out your a** for any over the counter tags for deer that are left. then when you squeeze off a shot on a yearling dink with great potential, because you're still distraught by all this that happened and the idea I'd be working for DEC, your season would be over. you didn't earn your second buck tag, because some dipstick that worked at a check station making less than $15/hr knew just enough to tell you your buck wasn't over 1.5 years old based on the teeth and it didn't cut the mustard. you'd hate it more than you do now, especially after with all the BS awards that your tax dollars payed for.

honestly in these places I would be absolutely fine with over the counter tags to otherwise get more to fill. there's limitations though, declined opportunity from isolated harvest pressure, fact that some fill their freezer and no more, other spots holding lots of deer nobody can hunt one for whatever reasons, etc. without an increase in participation it'll just create more apparent pockets of deer and probably in some cases, divide the hunting population.

yes I know what the award was and that over half a dozen of them got it, hence the .... "hahaha" and fact I would even bring it up knowing that you know about it or look into it. I brought it up as a joke. My point is the numbers I came up with are at least something so you haven't been told nothing. we all know some of us fill doe tags like it's a job but that obviously isn't enough. in this context, more of the general hunting population need to pony up and take more doe within these WMUs. So many are crying the blues I think I've got a great idea. Whoever keeps whining can trade places with someone in the dacks, catskills, or similar smaller areas. they'd be more than happy with just having opportunity to shoot something and probably have a doe thwacking party and be merry. while I'm not ok with what DEC did that does affect me, it's not exactly the worst problem to have where you are.

damn... I whole heartedly agree. I fill the freezer regardless but hunting for a buck gets me out there more readily and when I'm out there I get opportunity. I take doe as early as I can. However, I have no doubts that myself included will have less drive to get out a field during those times of doe only. Someone with less opportunity than I have could easily end up not filling as many tags. even in doe rich areas there's no guarantee for success.

I just started using it but the Cuddeback Long Range IR cam I've got has a trigger speed that's plenty fast enough it seems. also it's got an adjustable window for the motion sensor; wide or narrow beam angle. I don't think night time IR pictures are that great but day time ones seem to be really good. it's set to 20MP though. TrophyCams I've got from Bushnell seem to take good pictures during the day good pictures at night. trigger speed isn't quite as fast though. you just learn to work with a camera and how to use it, as long as it'll work dependably. I've heard a lot of good things about Browning cams. Haven't bought any in a while so many of the new ones I don't know much about.

what PSI and end are you using to pressure wash your deck before restaining? been looking at getting a pressure washer.

another thing DEC told me to push is their Bowhunter sighting log.... email DEC at [email protected] with subject titled "Bowhunter Sighting Log". Give your name, address, hunter ID (back tag number), a list of the counties where you hunt, and whether or not you have participated in New York's bowhunter log in any previous year. Maybe then they'll have better info and won't be so bold with their management decisions.

we've got limits now. problem is access and more of the general hunting population doing their part too like has already been said. DEC encourages hunter mentoring. if you're shooting 20 doe and a neighbor new hunter is struggling, you should help them out. some can't be helped to make a difference. you just let them do what they will and leave the limits as they are.