dbHunterNY

darien lake sp is a square block of public land. there's a couple sections and camp grounds but it's a couple miles across. ask my little brother how he knows.

bob said it. if you could post pictures of the cleaned up lower jawbone i could tell you with practically 100% certainty. my money would be on 2.5 yrs old. not all DEC field folks are as skilled at aging deer as the next.

scope to shoot. most of the time i use my rangefinder that's 6x magnification cord crossing over my left shoulder and resting on my right side. i use that all season rifle or bow. i bring 10x42 better glass nikon binos if i know i'll just be hunting watching fields for more power and brighter last light field of view. lighter than the binos too. if my dad is a snow bird and i'm hunting the farm then i might hijack his nice 12x50 vortex binos i bought him.

hi felicia!

....to be clear you didn't weigh him with a girth tape right? lol if that's the case, i'm changing my answer!

forget what he said. get the Klash or Diamond Infinite Edge anyway. years down the road he'll want a more efficient fitted bow for him but he can start and end his bowhunting career with one of those. assuming it's not worn out beyond repair a grand kid can use it too. resale is great on them too if you just figure on off loading it.

yesterday evening i happened to be out of work and went out with my young daughter to scout and kind of hunt. buck over hundred yards away in an adjacent swamp/thicket was roaring like crazy. loudest grunting i've ever heard. nobody was in there with a grunt tube either, because that was the first thing i figured the noise was. bucks seem pressured now though with the rest of the deer. aren't coming out into the open like the first couple days.

body characteristics you hear about are based on hard antler and close to the rut. pre-season velvet pictures don't show show the deer in the same condition and can screw you up. 190 lbs is a heavy deer. not sure where you are. binghamton area can vary a bit. still on qdm co-ops out here we haven't had 2.5 yr old deer that heavy at this time in the season. heaviest i can think of was a buck i took that dressed 180lbs with similar spread but nothing for tine length. that was early bow season though. we aren't in a good area but have ag ground. chest isn't deep enough and racks just get pretty big at 4.5 yrs old. i'd lean toward 3.5 yrs old. still have a decently long body compared to a yearling like what you pictured.

I would have a home full of large mounts if I hunted elsewhere for myself and/or alone. I hunt the family farm to be around family during hunting season, we have respectable bucks. still everyone has been seen by someone and nothing that's around is much of a secret. nothing lives to full 6.5+ yr old maturity to grow truly large antlers and bodies. rarely go on destination hunts or travel like some do to midwest states like indiana or ohio. often i don't have the vacation time to sacrifice after visiting friends and family elsewhere, including taking my family on vacation because i can't get those years back. i've known guys with awesome trophy rooms but have gone through things like divorce or made sacrifices to get them. i know others that shot truly giant deer for an area from pure dumb luck. couple where new hunters that barely knew anything about deer hunting, one literally had the buck run into the path of the bullet while trying to shoot something else, and one was hungover and his friends had to practically haze him to get him out of bed that morning. it does get old at times. it's blatantly ridiculous some people don't take things seriously unless you have a wall full of shoulder mounts. i will at some point hunt for myself to expand my collection of mounts.

Horrible at taking photos. Saturday and yesterday I had many young bucks each sit. No encounters with a shooter. Checked cams and had some around a week ago while on vacation. Three mentees took some deer, that i'll be posting in the other QDMA Field to Fork thread. Neighbor took a solid 18+" wide 8 pointer during the lunch hour. a big group of us were at the garage/shop and watched it all go down from across the valley with optics. ...forgot to mention I took a coyote and 3 more got taken on the neighbors. when you see a coyote it's coyote season not deer season. lol

Dave don't know if you'll see this but do you need any help? still at the office down in Albany.

perfect. i hate the "you can't eat the horns" comments, but i do agree it doesn't have to be the biggest or anything like. congrats on a great deer.

i've done it in the past but not sure it'll happen this season with everything going on. I might take my bow out. I definitely will if I hunt Albany (4J) as it's vertical bow only.

Mentee harvest photos to follow.

a couple mentors took deer so on November 8th we had a field dressing and butchering demostration. Brian Bird of BHA was the man giving the presentation. we'll likely have some more at some point with mentees taking deer.

On November 3rd a mentor and fellow UHRV board member hosted a range day where mentees got a chance to shoot some deer worthy rifle calibers and in many cases the rifles they'd be using on their hunts. only a couple had past firearms experience and owned a rifle to use. we had paper "shoot-n-C" targets set at 50, 100, and 150 yards. we also had a deer vital size steel gong at 200 yards. best of all we had a DYI proficiency deer setup. it's a plywood life size deer cutout. vitals are cut out of that with a cardboard backer and white paper vital outline pinned behind it all. when you shoot it, you can't tell visually see where you hit it until you go down and pull the bullet punched paper vitals target off the back. wished i had more photos. two of our mentees with no previous firearms experience nailed the 200 yard gong from the bench. Mentors went over shooting positions with the mentees on a carpet from standing free hand to prone to using shooting sticks. Being my mentee was using an unfired gun of mine, I covered "break-in" and sighting in. They got learn how to bore sight, foul, field clean, and dial in a rifle. Thankfully, I somehow managed to keep it to together and not screw up the process. Showed how to bore sight, "walk gun out" to targets at 50, target at 100 yards, and then final shot on steel 200 yard gong, all with just 3 shots. Being a mentor in front of all these mentees taking mental and sometimes hand written notes, while watching your every move, tests your nerves like a big buck! You feel like a duck. You're cool as a cucumber on the surface, but under water it's pure chaos staying afloat. lol (Mentees shooting in the photos; Jimmie, Tom, Sandra, and Steve)

Aside from an On-X Map subscription we gave them some swag and stuff to help them on their hunt.

on October 20th we had them take their mandatory hunter safety field day/test. They got some rimfire range time in with one on one shooting instruction. Took them out to look at some deer sign and do blood trailing. They also learned hands on in the field treestand and firearms safety. (I'm getting a harass on to cover climber and other non-conventional treestand use)

getting stuff pulled over to the new thread so I'm not hijacking the other branch's and causing any confusion. BHA guys i've met are great. Glad to have them onboard. We'll be doing this each year so I'm sure if your schedule changes you'll get the opportunity. I have been in attendance and I'm a mentor. I'm photo taker for many of the photos posted so far.

Our group's 2019 Mentees. We lost a couple for this year due to personal life events and long distance just couldn't work. One will be returning next year assuming their family member recovers health wise. We're at 9 mentees.

We had our 2nd whitetail and conservation 101 class on October 16th. It was again at the 4H training center in ballston spa, ny. Venison tacos were the first night and last night was pulled venison sliders, snack sticks, and jerky. Other sides to go with the venison too. We covered a whitetails senses, habits, and briefly strategy on how to hunt them. Including resources for doing so. Each new hunter got a free 1 yr premium subscription On-X Hunt maps. Sunday will be hunter ed, range day with 22lr rifles, and purchasing their licenses for them. Also they'll get some goodies to use on their hunt as well.

on October 2nd we held the first meet and greet along with classroom time with videos and discussion. The event was held at the 4-H training center and shooting sports facility in Saratoga, whom the Upper Hudson River Valley QDMA branch sponsors. we started with informal meet and greet including a good spread of food. the group enjoyed tacos as we consumed about 5 lbs of venison taco meat. videos and discussion covered history of the north american whitetail deer population, giving an intro to the field to fork program, conservation model and related laws that were put in place to support it, and very briefly touched on whitetail biology. next class and discussion takes place on October 16th. We had 10 new hunters for the roster moving forward for this season. We had one female in the group, as well as people of various ethnicities and walks of life. All seem very engaged.

Should be good to temps well below zero. Sometimes any gunk in there can get stiff with say a pump or semi. Being a bolt action you really just have firing pin, lug groove, and chamber that people slack on. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I run a snocross helmet and goggles. Still no skin exposed at all. Their designed for air circulation though otherwise it gets a little foggy even with double lenses. I'd need to have 40+ mph winds to see. I dont think the deer would appreciate that. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

tomorrow it'll be a combo of UA cold gear base and then Scentlok late season parka and pants. if it's stupidly cold i'll actually tote my Klim snowmbile gear with coverup jacket and pants but my jacket has a broken zipper.