Zem18

Just got back from morning sit. Went to second property with my buddy. Ended up sitting in a ground blind for only the second time ever. Was comfy in there. Well it was placed last week by someone else and not brushed in so when that 4pt came over the top of the ridge and saw a new house in his living room, he stomped and took off back the way he came. That was my last sit for bow this year. Sad to see it end. Going to sight in this afternoon with my buddy for next weekend. Gun was on last year but it's always good to check each year.

LOL jmg - This model is a year newer, built in 1974, only running water is the creek out front, no electricity, but we do have a propane stove and propane lamps. Oh and a woodstove. We went high tech a few years ago and dug a dry well and my FIL built us a urinal inside in the corner. Beats heading outside in the middle of the night. Our outhouse is to the right of the last red cooler, an old portajohn, with a stainless steel pull out tray as the old hole in the ground filled up pretty quick. Cant say we are full of it anymore, but the hole is. One of our member fought with his girlfriend and spent a summer living down there. He is gone now as well but no ghost, thankfully.

Shot this buck this morning - November 14th 2015. Best buck to date with any weapon for me. Story and more pics here: http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/29563-zen-moments-with-zem-2015/

Thanks - I am going to do a Euro mount or Western as some call it. I did my 8pt from gun last year and it was my first one so thought I'd try it with this one. He is a trophy to me but not a shoulder mount trophy. Maybe someday.

Just checking in with the fellow Lordville boys for this season. Who is going to be up next weekend? Noodle, you going to be up? Maybe I'll stop down this year and say hi.

Its not much to look at and this pic is several years old but not much has changed. Will be headed down Friday evening after work. Eat some pizza and start playing cards. Might even have a few drinks to ensure a good nights rest. Good luck all.

Just had my second CT scan on Monday Eddie, thankfully, without contrast, so I didnt need the iodine. Got a 2.5mm stone in the left kidney and I just had surgery in September for a 9mm one. Hope your results are better than mine

OK The story and pictures are in my journal. Click the link below http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/29563-zen-moments-with-zem-2015/?p=422310 This is the shorter version as I typed the whole thing up and previewed it. I went to correct a misspelled word and lost the whole thing. Sorry for any typos in the new version and any details I left out. Z

Holy crap I just previewed my whole story and tried to correct a mispelled word and lost the whole thing, WTF!!!! OK trying again Had a deer come in to my right just after 8am this morning as the wind had died down for a short stint. He looked to be headed on a 4 wheeler trail that runs past my stand about 15 yards away but then dropped into the woods at over 40 yards away and was headed to the field. He gets to the field and peeks out and then heads into it and walks along the edge towards the crabapple tree where my trail camera is. Walks right past the cam ( Didnt take his picture either, POS camera) and freshens a scrape under the tree. He then proceeds through some Autumn Olive into a scrub field and into a thicket off to my left. I see him sniffing his way through the thicket and is going to come out towards me. He comes out and hits the 4 wheeler trail and turns to come straight by my stand. I draw as he goes behind a few trees and when he hits the 20 to 25 yard mark he stops quartering away slightly back towards the deep woods. I settle the pin and squeeze and as I watch my arrow headed to him, he turns hard right and I hit him in the hind leg. He immediately jumps up and then hits the ground in the middle of the trail. I am fumbling to nock another arrow and he tries to get up, dragging his backend and scampers into the thicket. I watch and listen and he does not go back into the scrub field so he only has one way out of the thicket. I sat close to 2 hours and had to check for blood and an arrow (which I was pretty sure was still in him) I got to the hit site and found some blood, not alot, and then another decent spot of blood. At that point I went back to my stand for another 1.5 hours or so. I know what is on the other side of this 60 yard long thicket, so I decided to head along the 4 wheeler trail that goes along the thicket. I could not get in there unless I was on all fours and wasnt leaving my pack and bow behind. When I got to the end of the thicket, it opens up into a mowed area around two ponds on the neighbors property. I decided to walk along the edge of the thicket to llok for blood or other sign that he made it out of there. I come across the run he took through the thicket and come out into the mowed area as there was decent blood. I scanned the open mowed area and the two ponds and did not see anything. So my eyes to the ground, I start to follow the blood trail out of the thicket. I take ten steps and up pops the buck in a 5x5 patch of Goldenrod I had just walked within 10 feet of as I entered the mowed area. He is standing with his hind end facing me and he is looking back over his shoulder at me but not moving. I come to full draw and start to slide to my left to try and get him broadside to me so I can finish him off. He doesnt like this and starts to walk away but is limping bad and I see his insides hanging out beneath him. I follow him to close the distance and he gets about 25 yards away and beds down in a briar patch with one opening. I get to within 15 yards and send an arrow into the opening at his vitals and the arrow hits the mark but does not penetrate as I thought it would. My focus changes and I see there were twigs and branches between us and that is why it did not penetrate good. When I hit him, he got up and walked 10 feet and jumped straight into the small upper pond and started to swim away from me. I nock another arrow and run to the levee between the two ponds to get into position to end this as he steps out on the other side. Well he makes it to the opposite side and will not get out of the water. I walk up to within 5 feet of him and send an arrow through both lungs and it was over. He kicked 2 times to get away from shore and turned over right smack dab in the middle of the pond. It was finally over for him and me. I had to sit for a second as I thought I was going to have a heartattack. I went and knocked on the neighbors door and asked him if the row boat was sea worthy but it leaks like a collander he said. At that point I headed home ( 3minutes away) and got my chest waders and my neighbors pool cleaning pole. My buddy came up to help fish him out and video me, all the while making smartass comments in the background. Only had to get wet up to my knees in the waders but that water was chilly. I got ahold of his antlers and pulled him onto the levee between the two ponds and here he is. An 8pt with a busted brow tine. And a side view Once we drug him up to the woods to field dress him I inspected the intial hit. When he turned hard right, I hit him through the left hind leg, slicing his underbelly, and hitting the inside thigh of his right hind leg. When he jumped and then fell straight to the ground, he had a compound fracture to his right rear leg and that is why he was dragging his back end as he went into the thicket. I was extremely lucky today to have recovered this deer and things could have gone much worse. I am happy that I got on the trail when I did so I could end the suffering and enjoy this beautiful deer. Fnally some good luck came my way. Here is one last view of him hanging in the shop before we process him.

Thanks all. He is out and waterlogged and I only needed my chest waders. Barely got em wet to the knees. Have to run to soccer bit will post story and a pic later in my journal. Best buck for me with any weapon.

Let's just say there is more work to be done!

Holy $#!+ did I just have an encounter I will not soon forget. My heart is racing but am super pumped. I got him after bumping him and sticking two more arrows in him but he is done. You are not going to believe this!

Yes

Buck. Not a good shot as he turned as I released.

Yeah I got my period, just spotty, no heavy flow yet, smartass. Here is some more Oh its getting heavier, I may need a pad

Finally got a break in the wind this morning and then this happened

Great pics and keep at it. It only takes 1 hunt to change your luck!!

Awesome story. Thank you for sharing and congrats on a beast of a deer.

Yeah, how long did it take you and what is your process? Did you boil, pressurewash?POSTED AT SAME TIME _ saw your post above. Thanks.

I'm on the Broome/Tioga border too, Apalachin here. Sightings way down for me this year but so are my hours on stand. Consider yourself lucky.

Congrats on your first with the bow and hopefully many more to come!

Happy Birthday and get well soon.

Few updates. The elk were moving in Colorado and my FIL,s buddy shot a dandy bull on Sunday the 8th, their last day to hunt. They got home today and I couldn't get up to the house to see these animals they got but will go up tomorrow and snap pics to share on here. My BIL shot a small buck this morning with the x bow. Believe it was a spike. He is a meat hunter only and would rather use the antlers to stir soup with so good for him. My buddy was out at the 2nd property we hunt today. Had a 3pt and 4pt come in around 2pm. Hung around for over an hour an half in the area. At 3:30 a big doe was coming into range and he was up and ready to draw when the 3pt popped out of the pines and started grunting at her. She freaked and bolted. Didn't get another update from him so I am assuming he is pissed. Saturday can't get here fast enough.

Got into stand right at 6am today. Was up and settled and I hear steps in the leaves. Then I hear the dreaded blow. Not once but twice. Game over. Zero, zip, nadda the rest of the morning. The last couple of years the patterns have changed here and it seems like I am just hoping to get one dumb enough to walk by. I can't move a stand as we are already close to the property line and the deer now travel back on that property. Hardly any pics at the crab apple tree. Have a scrape under the tree but the cam was facing other direction watching a fresh rub. No daytime pics at all this year. Can't figure out what has changed their patterns in this spot. Same thing and the other property my buddy and I hunt. August and early.September he had over 2000, yes 2000 pics in a week. Now he is getting 2 pictures a week. There was some logging going on very close which explains what could have them changing here. Guess I will still take my chances on lady luck this bow season but it doesn't look promising the way my year has been going. CT scan in the morning and follow up appointment on Thursday. Been feeling ok so hope all is well and have gun season to look forward to.

Bumped a few going in this morning which always sucks as they are always within distance of my stand. They couldn't be close to the beginning of the walk in, no always at the end. Figures. Got in the stand and waited for sun up anyways. About 7am I see a lone deer sneaking by but not stopping to feed. As he clears some trees I can see he has a rack but a small one. I let out a few grunts and use the can call but to no avail. Then Turkeys start gobbling. Love to hear that in the woods. About half an hour later they are behind me about 40 yards and just out of sight but as loud as can be in the dry leaves. I thought I was going to be trampled over by them. As I am watching to get a glimpse of them I hear something to my right and thought it was squirrels. I look over and there is a yearling all alone who just busted me. It took off towards the turkeys and then hit the brakes. It didn't know what to do or which way to go and then bounded off away from all of us turkeys out there this morning. Hung in for 4.5 hours total and saw 2 deer and about 20 to 25 turkey in that flock. Little disappointed but will be back at it again tomorrow. Keeping fingers crossed that one with some size comes in range. Saw my buddy at the soccer dome this afternoon. He shot a big bodied 5 point this morning with the crossbow. Only deer he has in range all season. Meat in the freezer for him and his family. Congrats Paul.