nyslowhand

Sure you already know this if you've been following Irma... Currently upgraded to a Cat 5 just before it's hitting Florida's southern tip. Projected (??) path takes it along the west coast of FL and somewhat west of Atlanta sometime Tuesday, when it really starts to fizzle out of the hurricane classification. We all know Mother Nature is unpredictable...! You may end up sharing a room with an Flordia evacuatee... Best of luck!!!

Me too, got a short video of a couple of 6pt little guys feeling their oats on Aug 25th. Definitely wasn't a fight to determine who was the boss, more of a "play fight" sparring. Certainly gets the hunting enthusiasm a boost.

Ahh, the old bow hunting curse.... finding the perfect tree to place a stand in the perfect location!

Yeah, grampy hit the nail on the head, with maybe a little more variation in his +/- tolerance!!! IF..... all the planets are aligned properly, the weather cooperates, moon phase, blah, blah!! The October prediction is always there every year, some early rutting activity of mainly younger bucks and only a few, sparsely located does going into estrus. The big boys typically wait for the easy pickings, more does in estrus in more locations! Not saying you won't see any BBs chasing in Oct, but unlikely if you're planning vacation time. At least where I hunt. I tend to see some BBs leisurely cruzin around, assuming they're taking inventory about the last week of Oct.

Fawns tend to get super frisky, running around like mad and get separated from their mama. I've worried about this after getting videos of lone fawns wandering around aimlessly & seemingly lost. They do tend to get reunited, eventually! Not to say this one hasn't actually lost his/her mama.

Exactly why I quit doing the survey! Not sure how DEC interprets the hunter reporting a sightings number, when in reality was seeing same deer numerous times in same location. IRC, location of reported sightings is pretty vague. Maybe the DEC's mysterious fudge-factor is being applied!?! Started keep a journal with whatever info might think is pertinent, ie; weather conditions, wind direction, specific sighting details (time, travel direction, deer ID if possible, demeanor, etc) and any anecdotes. Something I like to review during the cold, snowy winter months for possible future use.

Couple of 4rnd clips for the 270. If that doesn't work, time to go back to the range. With the ML, usually load it up & carry 2-3 speedloaders in my pocket. Not sure why, rarely ever get a 2nd shot with a smokepole! Still remember as a youngster carrying almost a boxful of 12ga slugs when I thought more lead meant more venison. Thank God I've gotten over that philosophy and like the one shot, one kill approach better now-a-days.

In case any of you like to download the efile/pdf version of the hunting guide booklet. http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/15huntguide.pdf Some of you are into fishing, so here's that version's link. http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/fishguide.pdf

Very nice, regardless of where in NYS that BB lives! We both know these summertime BBs caught on cams are merely motivational teasers, esp if caught during daylight hours. Come October they tend to disappear. Who knows, maybe raging hormones will cause him to walk under your stand. Can only dream, huh!??!

FYI - A proven DIY deer deterrent method is to hang dryer sheets and refresh them with a spray bottle as needed. All the local apple farmers used these with great success, until the DEC forbid this practice, for whatever reason. Assuming the DEC would rather issue permits to kill the deer than simply allow farmers to keep them out of the orchards. Must be some logic involved...?

Licenses went on sale Aug 1st, when I got mine at local Town Clerk's office.

The Boss.

.... in area of Hamburg and Holland. Any of you folks from that area? Hoping none of you were effected!!! Pretty rare to have tornados touch down in NYS. Only saving grace is they tend to be super concentrated and not long lived, only if you weren't in its' direct path.

Other than all the great advice already posted, know your equipment and your limitations are my only suggestions! Please, ignore those TV outdoors/hunting shows! You'll learn nothing from them. Be prepared for a huge & lengthy learning curve! Like Grampy suggested, a mentor will help you to reduce this learning period! BTW - That learning experience is never ending, you'll hopefully learn something every outing! Practice with your bow at different ranges until the proper form comes naturally and consistent arrow placement improves, then practice a lot more! Know your max confidence range and stick to that! Don't think limiting yourself to 25yrd shots is anything to be ashamed of, that's a lot of bow hunters' self imposed max range!! Make sure you shoot and fine tune your bow before hunting using whatever broadheads you choose! Most shoot differently than practice tips, some a lot!!!! As suggested, practice at different heights, as in being up in your climber. Know whitetail anatomy and how an angled shot will penetrate the vital area a deer. As a new hunter using a climber type of tree stand, safety should be your main concern. Practice a lot using your Viper climber, ascending and descending. Contrary to a lot of opinions, you don't need to climb 20-25' up a tree to hunt deer! A more reasonable height would be in the range of 15-18" above ground level, to the base of your climber. Easily judged by putting markers or knots or the length of your haul rope. Once you gain confidence using the climber, try using it in the dark, that's a sort of spooky experience, at least for me. Oh yeah, learn how to prepare yourself for an accident while using your climber. Lot of great videos on Youtube about this topic. A good safety harness is mandatory!!!!! Final thing, which I could give tons of advice about, but you'll just have to gain through experience - remaining calm during that encounter or moment of truth!

The main problem, other than PB now sucks, is that you can't share photos on forum PMs w/o a web address for them. Wish List for Burmjohn... Be nice if that were an option when using PMs, attaching photos/vids from cell or PC! Then none of us would be cursing PB!

So what does everyone use for a cloud storage site for mainly videos, w/o uploading for the entire world to see or costing a small fortune??? Even on their best day, Photobucket was always terrible for ease of uploading videos and producing degraded quality.

Oh yeah, you only have to sit on a wet ladder stand seat a couple of times before you begin carrying in a foam seat. Have had many different styles over the years. Inflatable, the thick/high density foam ones, but the best are the ~2" thick, larger size, semi-squishy and with a carrying strap. Don't know about everyone else, but if I'm not comfortable (& dry) sitting, the hunt is doomed to be shortened.

... and this kid (Judge) leads all of MLB in home runs, won all star homerun derby, beat Joe DiMaggio's rookie home run record pace, 5th highest batting avg in all of MLB and only a rookie! Whatever they're paying him is NOT enough!

When you want to share photos or vids with someone else, Photobucket comes in handy. Just the fact that you may not want to share photos/vids with all forum members or the entire world, you can copy the site's link of your uploaded "goodies" to a specific individual's PM or email address..

For several years I had 8X trail cams and had 2X SDs/cam and always kept them in those plastic SD card individual sleeves/cases. Held 8 SD cards in a container while making my rounds. Can be anything, old Altoid box, small Tupperware (spice?) container, Skoal/Copen dip cans or whatever fits into a pocket easily. Cards retrieved from cams w/pics went into sleeves/cases and into pocket to be taken home and viewed. Takes the confusion out of what's fresh & what's full of pics! Only have 3X cams currently and use one of those hard shell, 12/16 SDs, 6/8 per side, water resistant card cases. One side for fresh and other for ones with pics/vids. Like fasteddie mentioned, cards don't always stay nested in foam cutouts and create more confusion than they're worth. Years ago when I was dealing with same confusion Cabin Fever is asking about, I'd thought about somehow marking one set of cards. That way you could keep track of what cards you were taking home for that specific day's venture. Tried the viewing on site option briefly, but was never satisfied with what I was able to see on tiny viewer or smart phone screens.

In my experience seeing buck's racks grow on trail cam videos in the area, habitat and limited food sources available where I hunt... Typically by July 4th the bucks are carrying the amount of points they will ever get in that year. Not saying small points might develop that may be min measurable (1"). Naturally, many more inches to grow yet. JMO, by the end of July/start of August, the tine length begins to slow down and thickness or mass begins to start. Disclaimer.. every buck is different and they differ in varied areas per minerals in the soil and food sources which might encourage growth available throughout their rack's development. Sorry, no #%, just some rules of thumb for bucks in my area!

^^^ All good! Clearly the question about prior hunting experience has to be asked also. If they have never hunted before, a lot more background info needs to be supplied and further questions asked. Transitioning from deer hunting with one weapon to another is a little more straight forward. Lots of questions and even more soul searching needed!!!

Interesting question I actually had asked of me while shopping for footwear at Dick's Sporting Goods. I did have a BowTech hat on, so a guy came over and asked the same thing as OP of this topic is inquiring about. First thing I asked was his age and if he had any physical limitations. Next was what his expectations were for taking up archery hunting, with any type of bow. Initially getting into shooting a compound bow has a lengthy and steep learning curve to become at least semi-proficient! Many hours &/or days of practice are required each follow-up year to keep proper form and consistency. Obviously having a knowledgeable mentor will be really helpful and reduce the learning curve somewhat. BTW - Needing any corrective vision (glasses!) can be an issue using a compound bow, esp if you wear trifocals. With a Xbow, after the initial couple of hours of familiarizing yourself with the Xbow & sighting in using the scope, there's probably less than an hour of practice needed each follow-up year. Major benefit of using a Xbow is there is NO holding the bow at full draw waiting for a shot opportunity. Contrary to any mis-beliefs, you only add ~10yrds to your max effective range over a compound bow's range. As of now, there's a fairly long bow season when using a compound bow and during a time of year when the weather is much nicer than any gun season. Xbow season is only 2 weeks long in the SZ, but that may change in the next couple of years...!?! Once you get confident with shooting either type of bow, the real learning experience begins. How to hunt the fall woods and getting up close & personal with the deer. Pretty sure any of the gun hunters that have jump on the Xbow bandwagon will tell you, they are completely different types of hunting and skill-sets required. Best advice is to look around and if you can shoot each type of bow. FYI - Do NOT believe most of the BS spewed by the clerks in the big box sporting goods stores. Best advice comes from the privately owned bow shops whose owners & workers are hunters also. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Yes, Barbie can hunt and harvest BBs! Helps if Ken has ~5k of hunting land available, a small fortune in agr type food plot equipment, $Ms in endorsements and that's their full time occupation of growing & hunting BBs. Jealous, maybe...!

Looking at this topic as a cost vs ROI: Probably the $100s of dollars I've spent on both OTC synthetic or the "real thing" deer scents over the years. Have heard many rave about certain brands, none have worked for me! Have to laugh at myself when I think about one hunting gizmo I purchased, the pee bottle. After using it on the 1st hunt... what do I do with the contents now? Poured it out on the ground next to where I was hunting. Duh...! Then I heard about guys refreshing scrapes with their own urine. So why in hell am I so concerned about where I go...? Since then, simply go overboard and have had numerous bucks & does underneath the stand checking out the scent. Dbl duh...!!! Then there's the $$ worth of scent-free/non UV crap I stubbornly buy each year, laundry soap, dryer sheets, spray, earth scent discs, totes/bags, etc. Not knowing if it is really working or not!??! Sometimes I think I'd be money ahead if I simply bought a $10 bag of corn and filled my hunting jacket's pockets before each hunt using it as strictly a cover scent.