nyslowhand

Is this allowed??? Just kidding, John!

AND... Do yourself a favor and throw or give away those meager 5-600# ratchet straps that are included with all ladder stands. Upgrade to 2ea-1000# straps to secure the platform, sure it's an added expense, but you won't regret it. They cinch the platform to the tree SO much better than cheapo straps!!! I also use an upgraded strap around the horiz brace too. Don't always, but have drilled & pinned/bolted those braces in the past. Not a big deal, just a battery powered drill, drill bit, couple wrenches and a 1/4"-20 bolt, washers & nut. Those tightening knobs don't allow much torquing to cinch the sliding bars together. Brought up all this in the past, but a couple other suggestions to really make those "cheapo" ladder stands more secure; Something under the base of the vertical ladder sections, either rocks or PT wood to prevent the stand from sinking in the mud or moving around. FYI - Metal scraping on stone on a windy day does make some noise at times. So I splurge and use pieces of 2"x10/12" PT lumber cut off at 24" long. They'll out-live the stands and as the stand grow up vertically with the tree, just prop a couple flat rocks under the planks. Lastly, those pins supplied with new stands that (supposedly?) secure ladder sections together are a real PITA, noisy & allows movement. Use bolts instead!! Little ashamed to admit this, but it's a sort of testimonial to upgrading the straps. Put up a ladder stand in an ideal travel route area, but in less than ideal terrain - wet/boggy ground. Fast forward - come back the following spring to see the tree had tipped over, but the stand never come loose, even the horiz brace was entact! I'm an idiot and insisted on putting the stand back in same general area. Same scenario the following spring - 2nd tree had also tipped over and stand still securely lashed to the tree and undamaged. Lesson finally learned, NO more stands in that area! Duh...!

Every Xbow was designed (and tested!) to use a specific nock on their bolts! They're NOT really interchangeable, flat & half moon nocked bolts. BTW - Omni nocks are flat nocks with slight convex mods. Other than the fact interchanging or deviating from what the Mfger designed them for isn't suggested, may also be a safety, functionality or equipment performance issues. Thrusting a ~20" bolt down an open rail with 150/200# of force isn't something I'd want to experiment with using incorrect nocks. This question should never have to be asked! Should have been some standard for Xbows way back when.... Unfortunately, some companies just can't get past the temptation of designing using proprietary parts.

There was a TV show on one of the nature channels a few years ago about moose-vehicle accidents in Maine. It was a little hard to watch seeing those cars completely flattened or the windshield pushed into the front seats. Dummies go out onto the roads during the winter to lick the salt that's spread by Hwy crews. A car, esp at higher speeds will buckle their legs under them and then it's a huge 800# cannonball hurled into the windshield &/or onto the roof. Hard to visualize w/o cringing!!

If you can... get an upright freezer. Chest type freezers can be a PITA finding specific things, unless you have a method of storing frozen items in crates, etc. The bigger the chest freezer, the more disorganized this situation can become.

If you wear glasses, hunting in the rain can be an issue if sitting in a tree stand. Convinced deer maintain their daily feeding rituals with only a few exceptions; super hot temps, blizzard or high winds. On those days I have the TV remote in my hand!

Now here's another stat from the DEC that makes me scratch my head. How the hell do they know that!??! Shot many does with fawns in tow. Of course none with spots for obvious reasons! The fawns always seem to survive and don't tend to stray far from mama's core area or patterns. Some tend to become loners though and not willing to or easily accepted into another family. In my little part of the world, seeing a decent buck in the SZ during daylight hours until closer to Halloween is pretty slim. So, shooting a doe in early Oct for the freezer is sort of a no-brainer for me. Naturally that depends on how many I've gotten summertime photos of & what I'm seeing while in the stand. Also, after prepping all summer for the bow season, the "itchy trigger finger" comes into play during the early season! LOL

Once you get a doe in October, you soon appreciate retrieving & cleaning one with the milder temps. Also a lot less intrusive retrieving one in early Oct than after Halloween timeframe. So...YES, but always give them a lot of time to approach, sizing them up & definitely looking behind them for something more interesting.

Exactly why I carry mine in my pack, but never take it out during a hunt. With the rare exception of using it's magnification as a mini-bino if I need it. But.. To each his/her own! Little preface as to why I use yardage markers, I'm the world's worst distance judge!!!!!!

IF...you own your own property or lease, distance markers are fine. As a guest on someone else's property or on public land, rangefinders are probably the only option. I put a single streamer or wrap of orange surveyor's tape at 25yrds and wrap or tye a double streamer at 40yrds. Setting these marker's is about the only time I use my rangefinder. Way too preoccupied in watching a deer coming in, deciding if it's something I want to shoot, where it's headed, looking behind it, all while being as motionless as possible to mess around with a rangefinder. These distance markers are determined by the bow or arrow's s/u, shooter's ability or max distance they're confident at shooting. So, there's no "rule of thumb" that applies to every one every situation! Most new bows are pretty flat shooting from about 15yrds (or less) out to out past 25yrds (up to 30yrds +/-) with only a slight variance in drop. God knows I'd probably never shoot out to the 40yrd marker, it just gave me a reference as to where the deer was relative to my other 25yrd flag. The 2X distance flags comes more into play if you're confident shooting your compound at or beyond 35/40yrds, how or where your stands are s/u or esp once Xbow season rolls around, if you're so inclined.

Apparently I've lived a sheltered life, have NO celeb sightings. Like a lot of you had mentioned, most I wouldn't know if they sat next to me. Most I wouldn't cross the street to meet! I'd sort of like to keep the illusion that most are just ordinary people & not the dreaded rich, celeb or athlete A-holes.

Awh, how cute and his own little bell to boot!!! Where'd the name Otis come from? Only know a few; a USAF base, gun cleaning company, "dock of the bay" singer, a few "good, ole boys", couple of athletes, etc...

This is great reading about & seeing all those big ole bucks (& does)! Kicks my anticipation and enthusiasm levels up a couple of notches! Not to be a stick in the mud, but back to the OP's original question. Don't you think there are way too many qualifiers to make any generalized avg wgt of NYS buck statements or opinions??? Avg wgt of Adk, brush lot, suburban or bean/corn fed bucks of the same age class will differ. A brush lot buck taken during the rut and weighing ~160-170# is a great buck. Then there might be the pre-rut bucks that have fed on soybeans, clover &/or corn for awhile off the local farms that come in at the 200# mark. Isn't there dramatic differences in avg wgt between different age groupings? Also, like nyantler inferred, believe the wildlife biologist's rule of thumb is that a buck will lose ~20% of his weight during the rut. I'm not saying there are "apples vs oranges" differences, but it is worth mentioning the qualifiers when the avg wgt statements or opinions only differ by some 30-40#. Or maybe I'm just trying to justify some of the scrawny, mature bucks I've taken!

Use to be a tradition to start a bow hunting beard on Labor Day and wear it until a buck was harvested. Probably the days before face paint became popular or readily available. I also could never get past the ~2 week growth mark, just TOO itchy & (to me) scraggly looking with voids and zebra pattern. So, here's the face I was born with, love it or hate it! LOL

Oh yeah, the further you drag them, the more weight they gain!

IRC, said I feared for my own/family's safety if my gun ownership data is published or released to the general public.

Next to your vehicle or an ATV path.... Isn't this an annual topic for DDH TV? Saw a similar one years ago, but they went into the angle of the shot more in depth. Had all different hunting scenarios of angled shots. Not just broadside shots, but quartering away, quartering to, steep downward shots, etc. That's when you really need a good handle on where the vitals are & your arrows path upon entering the deer!

Get compensation from the Federal Govt, actually the SSA. Every day is a vacation day!!! Sorry to those of you that are working and making contributions to my monthly SS check. Just kidding! I'm a big fan of the "seeking phase" of the rut, when the bucks are walking around looking for does & not frantically chasing them. During this time frame I've seen bucks hitting the food plots/agr fields looking for does. Sometimes you can catch them at dawn or dusk heading to /from those areas checking out the girls. Day time sightings aren't uncommon either! If I had to put an arbitrary time frame on this, it be the 1st week of Nov (+/-~3 days). Also see this later when a lot of the does are in estrous and bucks might be cruzing around looking for the next hot doe. By then the bucks are in full breeding mode and are on their feet day and night.

At least as of a couple years ago there were a couple great videos on youtube about how to recover from a fall while using a harness. Most important was to have a screw-in step in your harness's pocket so you can take the weight off the straps that go around your groin area as you're dangling. That definitely will cut off the blood circulation to those femoral arteries. Also on youtube were great videos of how to recover from climber/hang-on disasters! Going up a ladder stand once it's upright, oriented and platform level as possible, can be unnerving w/o any ratchet straps installed. What I've found that works best is to put the horiz brace in place and secure with a long ratchet strap criss-crossed around the tree. Then the long lashing ropes are run around the tree from the platform, down to the lower ladder section and tied taught. BTW - Throw away that string the mfger includes with the stand and invest in some substantial camo rope to lash the stand to the tree.

Tried keeping my approach paths completely cleared or groomed, ONCE! It's basically a losing battle with leaves, branches, wind, etc. Do get branches p/u pre-season. On my way out from the stand I might quietly remove any branches that have fallen onto the paths recently. Sure, there's some chance of crunch...snort, but I have other OCD items I focus on! LOL.

I've used Carhartt camo bibs for years. Not insulated, but if you buy them 1-2 sizes bigger than you need you can layer per the day's weather. Little had to find, mainly online and IRC they were ~$90. Also have a set of Redhead (BassPro) insulated camo bibs that I hardly ever wear.

I use scent-free powder in my Muck boots before putting them on. Occasionally spray them down inside after hunting. Over-thinking....?

There's the dimemna, dude! Choose a caliber. A 243 is the smallest commonly suggested caliber to hunt deer and it'll kill deer every time. Not an ideal all around rifle for any big game larger than a deer. Oh yeah, low recoil too. A 300 Win Mag will blow a hole thru a deer, kill bear and moose but it'll beat up your shoulder at the same time. Do your research on suggested calibers. Lot of ballistic info on the web to check out, Go to your closest or favorite sporting goods store and see what ammo is readily available. Went thru this exercise recently, chose a ideal caliber for my needs (7mm-08), but looking at the shelf of ammo at the local Dick's I found out it wasn't readily available. Back-up choice..... Choose a mfger & rifle model. Lots of reviews on all rifles, but they are widely varied. For a 1st time buyer, you can get a decent rifle package (rifle & scope) in the ~$400 range. More inexpensive rifles closer to the $300 range are inexpensive because they include a crappy scope. If you don't like the scope that's included you may have to spend an additional ~$150 for a decent rifle scope. For a 1st time buyer, wouldn't suggest jumping in whole hog. Plenty of great rifles in the ~$600+ range and superior scopes for ~$250+, lot of $$ up front when you aren't really sure you'll like rifle hunting. Go to your favorite sporting goods store and handle a lot of different rifles. Once something jumps out at you as a nice handling &/or good looking rifle, the dilemma is to find one in the caliber you had chosen. You can buy any make, model, caliber rifle on the web fairly reasonable (gun auctions), but they need to be shipped to a federal licensed dealer costing you an additional $25-50 on top of the cost of the rifle. Don't take my word, this gun law may have changed for NY. Once you get your new toy - shoot it, a lot! If you're not familiar with fine tuning or zeroing-in a scope, sure someone would help you out! BTW - Most rifle packages come bore sighted, which means your 1st shots will probably be on the paper target. A gross alignment of the scope with fine tuning required by shooting. Not sure about other times of the year, but there are some great rebates available now from a lot of rifle mfgers. BTW - Like Deerthug mentioned, how you plan on hunting also comes into play. No sense getting a rifle that'll shoot 300yrds+ if on your property the longest shot you can make is 100yrds. Good luck.

Hopefully it's simply a matter of blasting a kidney stone. Continual back pain can be a symptom of numerous things, all the way up to an aneurysm as I found out the hard way this past spring. Best of luck!!

Really neat!!