Otto

Biz, I think you are right, I may have posted the wrong daytime photo of him. I’ll try to kill both of them so we can compare more accurately.

Almost didn't see the deer there, I was focused on the blood scene! Congratulations FLETCH!!

I was able to pull 2 cards last night before I set up in my tree stand. I think this was the buck I drew on last night. Above picture shows him at almost the same time I saw him a day later, only about 150 yards away. He seems to be a resident!

Rob - you will see him again soon!!! SOOOOOO Glad I took up archery!!!! And to think of all the years and hunts I missed before this......

Looks like beer belly Bob!

Still? I heard it is calming down a bit.

Had a great hunt tonight, even though I had low expectations. All quiet until around 5:50 when I saw movement in the bushes about 40 yards from me. I was already standing with bow in hand so I hooked up my release to be ready. I saw a glimpse of horn after about 10 minutes of waiting for him to step out. He came around and I saw he was a tall tinted 8 pointer. A shooter for me! After another few minutes he finally milled around to within 25 yards of me and I drew on him. As soon as I did he stepped forward and I had to let down. He kept moving slowly and I thought I had another window, but when I drew, my bow was up against a tree limb next to my stand. Let down again and watched him for a while. He freshened a scrape and then walked away. I thought why not, let’s see what happens, so I dug out my bleat can and let a couple of bleats go out. Within 5 minutes he was back looking around. He never came within 30 yards again even though he stayed near me for another HOUR. He freshened a different scrape and stayed in the area, even after I lowered my bow to the ground. Finally he left and I headed down the ladder. As soon as I was half way down, two deer come skyrocketing right underneath me and jump into the swamp behind me. Fun show with no shots fired, but totally jazzed up for the next hunt, hopefully Saturday afternoon.

That looks a lot more comfortable than the ground! Although I was comfortable on the ground, but just could not sleep well. Again, not enough bourbon.

If you can shoot left handed……

Yep, nice bow, but my Drenalin was smoother.

Finally back in a tree, quite sunny. Farmer is harvesting corn in big field way to my east, so hopefully some get chased out of there and head my way. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Lithium batteries with LED lights Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

We left Thursday and arrived at the Hoel Pond Boat Launch by noon. Fairly good rain, so we waited a while to see if it would clear up. After half an hour we decided to take all of our waterproof gear and bags and leave the rest in the car. We made the run across Hoel and then back to the car for the remaining gear. Two canoe loads of gear is just too much even if it was less than last year. We looked at sites on Turtle Pond but nothing looked decent, so we made to trek over to Slang Pond, Site 1, which was a great campsite. We had the tent and cook tent set up by 6pm and started dinner. Venison Stew - no pics... It was pretty cold overnight, into the low 40's, but both of us have warm sleeping bags. It rained as soon as we turned in and it rained almost all night, sometimes pretty hard. Friday morning we had some pancakes and sausage and then headed out to do some fishing. My buddy caught a couple of nice bass which we kept for breakfast the next morning. We spent a good part of the day fishing and paddling around the pond. Dinner that night was pulled pork - again, no pics. Saturday was opening day of gun in the Northern Zone and we had three guys canoe up to our site that morning. They said they were very surprised to see someone camping there, as they had been coming to that spot for over 25 years and had never seen anyone there ever. We asked them how the deer hunting has been over the past 25 years and they said they had never been able to shoot one, but had a lot of great memories. One of the gentlemen showed us a plaque on a tree near the campsite put there in honor of one of their comrades. Pretty awesome gesture! We decided to head out into the woods ourselves and see if they were just poor hunters of if the deer population just didn't exist near there. In just under 2 miles of walking we never saw any deer sign whatsoever - no scrapes, rubs, or even scat. Still a fun morning and it wasn't raining, so that was good. Not sure why the above photo is upside down! We came back from hunting and cooked up the fish with some scrambled eggs and had an awesome breakfast! We spent the rest of the day fishing again with no luck. Both of us were looking forward to a bottle of homemade wine and pasta with meatballs for dinner. All three nights we had great campfires, even with mostly wet wood. Some scenery shots: It was a great trip! I was worried I would be cold and wet the whole time, but other than some leaky muck boots, I was pretty comfortable. Even on Saturday night when is was in the mid-30s overnight I stayed warm in my sleeping bag. We definitely need to bring less gear and more bourbon. Otherwise, it was well planned and very enjoyable!

YES, 2 points for me this week!

That looks really good!

You can thank Hank Shaw - the master of all things wild! Looks awesome!

Hope you are both better soon!

I hope you are on the mend today and back at it soon!

Otto picks. @Moho81 for week 5.

I’m back and no deer. Lots of pictures coming soon. Surprisingly, I had 4G and 2 bars at the campsite, which is only about 17 miles from Tupper Lake.

We are launching at Hoel Pond and canoeing to Slang Pond. DEC has primitive campsites there. We plan to explore Slang, Long and Pink Ponds - Fishing mostly. We will hunt near our campsite. Loop return to Hoel at end of trip. I know a popular canoe trip is to enter at Floodwood Road and end up at Hoel, with a few carries between waters.

Holy Cow! What a deer!

Wine, bourbon and beer! We don’t scrimp even though we have to carry it. And yes, homemade sauce and meatballs because it is an easy meal in the woods. Heat in the freezer bag, boil water for pasta and you’re done!

Leaving in the morning for a canoe/fishing/hunting/hiking trip to the St Regis Canoe Area in the Adirondacks. I bought a new (used) canoe this past summer and other than a short trip in Alex Bay, this will be the maiden voyage. Hopefully the weather is not too cold and rainy. We will be hunting with bows, even though gun season opens there this weekend. I believe everything is packed a ready to go, just need to find a cigar shop on the way up, that was the only thing I forgot to get this week. We went to Lake Lila last year and I tried to only pack one half of what I brought last year. Pictures and a full trip report when I return. Thanks to @Robinfor the inspiration!

Thanks @phade Ohio has been many source for trap ammo too. But my Mule for that never sees the 20 ga Accutips.