PooperScooper

Meanwhile... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I predict some excitement this afternoon. In part, because I hope to be out there.

This guy. Showing me what a buck at 20 yards looks like. Had a short conversation with him from the truck window. He was one of three following a young doe at the edge of the village of Alfred. 12:50 today. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

meanwhile. Haven’t seen a single deer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That button proved repeatedly that he is an idiot who clearly still needs his mother. 9:00am apple picking time. Happened to have my phone out to check a message. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Never mind. Good and steady now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

just stopped raining. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m afraid with these 30 mph gusts and a low poundage bow, I’m forced to make the smart choice this morning. I have one mature doe regularly coming past my stand here at home. She’s likely the one who busted me climbing down yesterday, and is on the to-do list for my freezer. So I may as well just plan to meet her on her usual morning stroll tomorrow when it’s more likely that I get a good shot. Her direction of travel would be perfect for the wind direction, but would mean a harsh crosswind for my arrow. Too bad my other wind protected stand is off limits until Sunday. :(. ( AKA camogirl. BTW Somehow I ended up with two profile names years ago when I tried to change it to something gender neutral. Now I have an identity crisis depending on which device I post from. Typical)

Finally reset my password. So to catch up...I did not take a shot at the 2.5 year old white doe who stood taunting me in my shooting lane on Oct. 1st. That's a good thing, because I learned afterward that it is being protected by my dad and stepmom, whose property I was hunting on. I finally learned where the honey hole is on that property, at least this year. The deer would not tolerate a ground blind regardless of where it was or how brushed in it was. So I hung a low stand at a place now nicknamed, "the apple tree deer disco." I'm finally one of those people seeing deer every day out. Unfortunately, I have yet to connect in a way that brings one home. Highlight was yesterday's 30 yard shot with the crossbow that hit a buck in the shoulder blade. Loudest sound outside of a gunshot I've heard while hunting. Pretty sure I'll see him a again. No blood. No dead deer after a through search last night and this morning. Trail camera is up on his route. Hoping to see evidence of him up and around and hopefully get another shot at him. Today's day of tree surfing in the rain, featured the respectable 6 point that appeared behind my stand just in time to witness me climbing down. Convinced that I would see no deer today, caused me to name that guy "No Deer." I hope to see No Deer in the future too.

I took my time getting out on Sunday morning and headed across the road to the taj mahal of tree stands behind the nieghbor's house. They haven't been around much this fall and the deer seemed to be congregating close to the house because of it. I was offered permission to hunt there, but I wasn't too optimistic. All the tracks were very close to the house, and the back field where the stand is located looked untouched. Still, the stand is in a textbook location, so worth a sit. I sneak up to the stand and step on the ladder which settles with a loud bang. I froze for a minute, then continued the climb, looking over the brush at the field as I did. About 150 yards out is a nice buck nibbling on the young trees. He was facing the stand. I didn't feel I could get all the way up without him noticing me. I slowly climbed back down and looked for a way to work my way toward him. No way. Too brushy and he kept hearing me. So I climbed the ladder, slowly, with a loaded gun. There was no way to turn around to shoot from the ladder, so I belly crawled onto the platform. The front rail is brushed in really well with pine branches. I could see him through a small hole. He'd started moving away. I grabbed the bleat can from my pocket and made a pathetically small bleat with a snow covered glove. He stopped and turned toward me. Then meandered around chewing on tree tops. I tried and tried to stand up. But every time I did he'd look in my direction when the snow on the platform would squeak loudly. Then I noticed another buck looking directly at me from about 40 yards straight in front of the stand. I froze. I had to find a way to stick the muzzle of the gun through the pine branches to shoot. I was sure this was my last shot at filling the freezer for the year. As soon as he started to walk I pulled the hammer back half way. "Click," he heard it, stopped, took one more step, "click," all the way back. I glance over at the other, larger buck. He has decided to come take issue with the little guy. The smaller buck walks right past the stand. I let him go and began trying to get the muzzle of the gun through the branches. I found a good spot but the front sight was full of snow. Shit! He's still coming, I'm going to miss my chance. Quickly I snap off a twig and use it to clear the sight. Crap, rear sight is now covered with snow. I brush that off. I'm ready. Now he's moved so far that I need a new hole. I shove the muzzle through the branches, remember the safety, switch it off, say a short prayer, and boom. I was stunned. And so very grateful. 45-50 yard shot with open sights. He dropped in his tracks. Not a monster, but my biggest buck to date. I couldn't have imagined a better ending to a season where virtually everything went wrong. Hallelujah!

Man do I suck at still hunting. Deer always see me first. But when I'm hanging out in the off season I always manage to end up in their path. If only I could conjure up some of that luck now. Tracks everywhere this morning. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Getting ready to walk in for my last sit in Penn Yan. Doe and fawn in field as I pulled in. Made room in the Subaru for my stand and blind. Pretty sure I could fit a deer in here too. Hoping to have to prove it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Just after sunset, I step out of the blind to catch a bit of chasing going on in the brush 70 yards away. Watched them till it was good and dark and they were quiet. Then snuck out as best I could. I'll be back there with my bow next weekend. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

I thought it was to bright in here. Brand new blind and there's already a Texas sized (and shaped) hole in it. Looks like mice ate through the center of the roof. So strange. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Promised myself that I could buy a deer gun once I got one with my bow. Celebrated my first bow kill with a new Martian 336. Bought it last night and used it for my first deer from a treestand this afternoon. I have vertigo issues, so I don't often do well in tree stands. But I managed to stand and shoot one that crossed behind my stand without testing my safety harness. And I got a nice doe for the freezer. Such a thick fog here all day. By the time I got her dressed (didn't have quite everything I needed in my pack) it was dark. Nothing makes you feel more stupid than dragging a deer in a freekin' circle in woods you know like the back of your hand. Could only see a few feet in front of me. Drag was twice as long as it should've been. Not complaining though. It's nice to be seeing and shooting deer this year.

On my butt in coyote land. Sounds like a rabbit just bit it. I'm not a bunny. I'm not a bunny. Early shots here would be at a coyote. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

Just heard from my property manager...eh hem..Dad...that I'll be alone on their 65 acres, wood has been brought to the cabin, and the corn was cut today. I have few excuses. Now to pack.

Live from the conference room, where I'm pretending to pay attention.

Live from the living room window...totally amazed. I believe I just saw a coyote charge after a button buck, right in my front field.

Bald eagle just flew over. That's a first for me in my own woods. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

In 9y looking for a doe. They're moving.... In the distance on all sides. Hoping someone takes the shortcut. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

I hope this story is not too long and that the picture appears right side up. Short story...I got my first archery deer on Sunday. Long story follows. I went out to my "deer camp," my dad and step mother's cabin. It sits on a pond outside Penn Yan and surrounded by fields and hardwoods. Yesterday, I woke up at the cabin feeling like crap. I definitely had a bad cold, could hardly swallow. So I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. The sky brightens and I wake up and decide to start packing up to go home, totally bummed that I can't get out on such a perfect day. I look out the window and here come four doe, two were huge. Headed right past the cabin. It's now legal light. I start running round the cabin looking for my release and wondering how to get outside without being noticed. No dice. Too much noise and they hold up looking at the door of the cabin. Eventually they decide to head into the scrub on the other side of them, but something in there causes them to change their mind. They retreat to the woods they way they came. Now I'm thinking, "hmmmm...I feel a little better now that I've had a little excitement." I find some Advil in my first aid kit, take it and start to get dressed to go out. Meanwhile two bucks come out of the corner where the does decided against going. Just so happens that they are on my route to my blind. I was held hostage by them till 8:00. After walking in with a blinding headache I get in the blind, which is 70 yards in from a field edge in dense dense scrub. Just a little intersection of trails that happens in the tiniest of openings in that dense stuff is where I'm sitting. I'd cut a hole in the vines that the blind is crammed into for a shooting lane just the night before. After 15 minutes I see deer running through the field. Looks like a buck chasing a doe, hard to tell. Could be the larger buck I saw chasing off another youngster. I decided to use the grunt tube I'd never used before. It worked. The big guy does not break stride, but within minutes three smaller bucks show up. I've been waiting years for my first archery deer. I don't care what it is as long as it's over a year old. Because it's so dense, it's hard to see them, other than general size. I determine that the first one is a four point buck and is one I'd be happy to have as my first bow deer. As he approaches I shift in my seat, giving myself a Charlie horse. Oh shit. I was sure this would end with my Charlie horse not allowing me to shoot. But I determined I could ignore it because of the excitement in front of me and it would go away. He comes into the intersection and I "meeh" at him to stop him. He stops with just the slightest quartering to. He's 12 yards away. I'm not shaking and I'm wondering if it's because I'm too tired and sick, dreaming, or what. I let it fly. I hear it hit. His reaction is as if someone next to him just gave him a sharp poke in the side. He runs off down the thickest of corridors making a racket for about 50 yards, my arrow sticking out of his side. All I can think is, "that was too far back. I never miss to the left." I can suddenly feel the Charlie horse again and the shakes begin. I waited an hour and a half. Meantime, two more bucks show up. Second was smaller, third was the largest. I practice drawing on them. Neither notice me. I'm amazed. I again begin to wonder if I'm dreaming. I set out to track him. He's 50 yards down the trail. Caught one lung and the liver. He fell onto the arrow. I had to push the half that was left in him though his hind quarter to be able to field dress him. How it didn't cut the stomach or intestines on the way in is beyond me. But it was clear that it had to continue forward or it certainly would. This was a puzzle I was not expecting to have to solve. Turns out he has the tiniest 8 point rack. It's downright cute. My huge hands help make it look even smaller in the pic. It reminds me of the replica of Stonehenge in "This is Spinal Tap." He's my first archery deer and the result of my quest to develop grit after the death of my mother. She died a year and a half ago after a long fight with breast cancer. I shot him on her birthday. He's being mounted and will hang in my house to remind me of the power of perseverance.

Didn't have signal from the cabin yesterday, so here's my update. Went out and hunted while sick, got a Charlie horse shifting in my seat to get a draw on a deer. Shot that deer in spite of all that was against me. What I thought was a respectable 4 point turned out to be a wee 8 point. My first ever archery deer and I'm quite proud. 12 yards from a ground blind 42lb Elite Hunter. Full account coming soon to the harvest thread. Back to work, not reality, today.

Had a nice big doe broadside at 30 yards. Problem was that she was to my right and looking right at me after having seen me turn my head to give a dirty look to what I thought was a squirrel. Hey, that's no squirrel! After last year, I'm just happy to have seen deer two days in a row.

A foggy drizzly day. No deer to be seen. Spending the evening figuring out what is wrong with the trigger on the muzzleloader. No rush. That was my last time out this year.