nyslowhand

Myself and other hunters in 8F have noticed the same as you. All my buck sightings were from Oct 15 thru ~Nov 6. Almost exclusively during early AM or late PM hunts. Never saw a single buck cruzin' mid-day like I had in the past. Since Nov 6th have only seen one other buck that I had booted from his bedding site. Last year was a "trickle" rut, not a lot of feverish activity within any specific timeframe. This year's rut was earlier than usual & from what the experts (?) had predicted. Of course it didn't help with the S/SW winds and accompanying warmer temps. Whitetaills are wild animinals and they'll bred when they are ready, regardless of the date, time of day or weather conditions.

Good job! I haven't seen any bucks since 1st week of Nov. Did you steal my rifle? LOL Good old T/C Triumph?

Spend all year looking forward to turkey (gun) & bow season for deer. Never was much of a "walker" when hunting deer, so that hasn't changed. Yeah, walk much less for turkeys now than when I scoured Sugar Hill's 9000acres looking for them. Gave up hunting for a few years, but have jumped right back in with both feet a few years ago. One thing I did have to give up are those damned climbing treestands. Still have one, but use it very seldom. Own 60acres, so I always walk to the ladder stands during bow season. NO more dragging deer. That's what ATVs are for!! Only thing I find is different now that I'm in the "old coot" stage is my tolerances. Can't tolerate sitting in the rain, high winds up in a tree and late gun/MZ season with the cold temps. Those early morning and late day hunts, day upon day do take their toll. Can sit for about 5-6 hours. After that I need to move or quit before rigermorteous(sp?) sets in! Last thing that has changed is during SZ gun season, I now use my muzzleloader exclusively. What hasn't changed is the excitement and thrill I get when I have encounters with deer. Especially during bow season!!

My bad, never mind John. Had selections checked in the "OTHER" filters. DUHHH, dumb-a#@!!!

Same thing! When I'm NOT logged in, 4 pages. Logged in, I get "NO New Content"

We PM'ed about the viewing of recent posts when the change-over was implemented. Nothing was resolved. Have come to the conclusion that inorder to view all new posts, you have to manually search specific categories. I can see all of them when not logged-in, but only see the ones I've selected "Follow This Topic" when I log in. Old forum format showed all recent posts. Am I still doing something different or wrong?

http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/564436/hunter-hospitalized-after-fall-from-tree-stand/ Good news: He got a deer! Bad news: He then fell out of the treestand! Good news: In guarded condition, so may be okay (eventually)! Bad news: Gotta buy a safety harness! Condolences to the gentlemen!!!

Shot alot of 110 & 150gr loads when I 1st got my Triumph. Nothing seemed to give me consistent placements. Tried the 777 Magnum pellets and use only 2 pellets. Equates to ~125/130gr load. Works pretty good. These are not readily available everywhere, but worth the trip tp BP occassionally. Used the T/C sabots that came with the rifle, but hated them. Did some research & ended up using Barnes Spit-Fire MZ. Shoot pretty well & consistent. I only shoot a 245gr sabot. If you feel the need to shoot a bigger sabot, your loads will change accordingly. Have to use the Winchester 777 #209 primers. FYI - You'll need to clean barrel after no more than every 2 shots, otherwise your consistency goes to hell. After every shot is prefered, but ..........................

Lets' see - went from blue jeans, carharts, OD, Treebark, Mossy Oak, Realtree, ....... Gotten deer wearing them all! IMHO - Getting alot of marketing "fluff" from some of the upstarts wanting a piece of the camo clothing giga$$ pie. If you like a pattern and are sucessful with it, guess it's working for you. Don't know about everyone else, but I can't afford to keep up with what they are telling me is the latest & greatest camo. Is there a "best" camo pattern, ....are we refering to stalking, treestands, hardwoods, pine plots, thickets,...? Maybe the indians were right when they used the universal deerskin capes. Anyone tried that camo?? LOL

Those wafers are a supplement, not a lone scent-free product. Throw them in a bag after washing with scent-free laundry soap & drying with same product sheets. Pin one to my cap after spraying down with scent-free field spray. Had deer underneath the stand. Does it help - maybe. Does it scare them away - more than likely it's body movements & not the wafer. If you use the pine wafer in the middle of the hardwoods..............

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/NY-hunter-dies-after-fall-from-tree-stand-2255741.php WOW - 35' up in a treestand w/o a harness (or parachute)!!!!! I'm good at 1/2 that height. Needless tragedy! Condolences to his family.

He's a dandy!!! If you don't think he's big enough for your standards- can be there in the morning! Just kidding! This irkes me when I hear it on TV, just think how much bigger he'll be next year. I'd be flinging an arrow!

First and the most basic issue is the trespassing. Need to get that under control & missing cams may (?) disappear. No pun... Second is that I also have private & posted property, but all my cams are still locked to the trees. Masterlock Python cables can be purchased "Keyed alike" from certain resellers. (Ck eBay) I have a set of 4 all keyed the same. Really much more convenient!! Your luck has to get better, Oak!!!

Had encounters with this guy the last two bow seasons. Always charges my stand once and then I never see him again. Have end of July 2011 photos (night time) of him near his home thicket on neighboring property. This photo was ~400yds onto my property and of course still in the middle of the night. Hoping for this year's encounter to be during gun season!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all. It was a very exciting hunt!!! 6pt will not win a buck contest and I didn't take the photo with my tag exposed. There are a lot better bucks taken to date than mine. To me it's about the experience and not so much about the number of points, body weight or a wall mount.

The story: Wasn't paying attention to the time when entering the woods, but it was 6:45AM when I settled in the stand. Unbelievable how many sounds you hear in the dark that you wish you could ID. Around 7:45AM I saw a couple of does (I think) meandering in the woods. They left, then about 8:30 looked over my right shoulder and saw a doe passing by behind me ~50yds. She kind of disappeared. Was just thinking how cold I was and I should start wearing my insulated, camo clothing. Not that it's pertinent, but I had taken a leak over the side of the stand. Damned coffee! All of a sudden I hear this sloshing in the boggy areas directly behind me at ~8:45AM. Looked and saw a buck coming directly towards the stand at ~25yds downwind. Couldn't move he was ~15yds & still coming straight towards me. Didn't the fool go directly under the tree stand. Must have smelt the urine and was there for about a minute. Doing all kinds of contortions to see where he was going to come out. Eventually he walked way at ~45deg, now I stood up. Had a hell of a time getting release attached to loop & watching him. Drew, bleated at him & shoot at ~18-20yds. Could see the arrow still in him as he ran. Ran off ~40yds and fell into a large puddle. Saw the water splashing. He got up & ran another 12-15yds and into another puddle he went. Never moved after that!!!!!!!!! Waited as long as I could, ~20min. Don't look so big when they're all wet.... Would have been a decent basket 8pt, but he had no brow tines. Never grew in! Also had some minor palmation of main beams. Neat little buck, probably 2 1/2 - don't think 3 1/2. Have photos over the years of other bucks with no brow tines. Genetics....? So I guess this single occurrence disputes both hunting the wind & the mystic about whether to pee at the stand or not. Sure had me rattled when he was underneath the stand!!!! Glad I didn't see him, don't know what I would have done with him at 1yd. May have let him pass if he hadn't tempted me being so inquisitive & close. I'm only so-so with a bow. So, many of my shots are at inopportune times and shot placements are less than desirable! Must admit this was a near perfect quartering away shot. How the hell did I do that??? Between last ribs and broadhead just penetrated the opposite front shoulder. Amaze myself sometimes!!!

Congrats!! Sounds like you had better grind that old doe up!

Think everyone knows you'll go broke trying to keep up with the latest & greatest bow. IMHO - Familiarity is the key. If you have a decent bow, are really comfortable shooting it, experimented with arrows/broadheads & get decent accuracy - it's a keeper! I had an Archery Research (PSE) that filled all the above requirements. God knows why I splurged on a new BowTech. Two years & still not where I was with old bow.

Pretty optimistic! LOL I usually hope for one and then see what happens.

A lot of patience! Some grunting. Food sources!!!!

......... and idiots!

Thought I'd bring this topic back to the top again. It's well worth reading!! Also the answer to short tether lines on your harness. DIY tying a prussic knot & what size rope to use.. If you're like me those cheapy tree straps that come with inexpensive treestands leave a lot to be desired regarding safety.

This explains a lot about the piebald deer you've been seeing!?!

FYI - I no longer have the three treestand harnesses available. They found a new home!

I'm old, but damned you'd have to be atleast 100 to have seen these in use................