Pygmy

I don't leave home without it.....Some days you can follow me around the woods by following my " paper trail".....

Got in my tower about sevenish....There were 3 deer on the far end of the field....Got the binocs on them and they were Homer and Marvin, two little spikes I have seen every day this season, and another little 3-4 point that I have seen a couple of times.. End of story....Nothing else seen and at the urging of my colon, I came home about 9:30...Time to start getting dinner ready anyway......

It's an 8 point....Anyone who says 8 pointer is a commie fag city boy.....<<grin>>....

Thanks Cynthia....I LOVE it when girls talk dirty to me...<<wink>>...

Regular Sierra cup/core bullets are fairly explosive at high velocities, as are Speers or Hornadys... Bonded bullets like Nosler Accubonds or better yet monolithics like Barnes bullets are a better choice if meat damage is an issue with you... Nosler Ballistic Tips are no more explosive than other cup/core softpoints, in my experience... Shoot 'em through the ribs and you don't have to worry about it..

When I saw the beam on the first big one I forgot about Marvin..... For all I know, he may have been bopping the hot doe while the big boys were fighting...

Yeah Larry....Either one of those bucks looked like they could have been the one I missed Sunday, which I would estimate as a 120-130 inch buck... Nice to know there are some decent ones around... I generally have no qualms about shooting the first legal buck I see, but this year I decided I'd like to spend more time in the stand rather than shooting the first spike or forkie I see... I have seen at least two legal bucks within range each day so far..There are a pair of spikes I am now on first name basis with.. I named them Homer and Marvin after a couple of my barfly buddies from the Legion....Homer has two teeth and Marvin doesn't have any, so they average ONE between them...

I sat in my tower blind over my winter wheat field this afternoon.... Not much happening until about 3:40, when Marvin, one of my pet spike bucks, came into the field...Marvin was followed by a small but lively 6 point... About that time some does showed on the far end of the plot and the 6 point trotted out toward them...There was some chasing and mingling, and then a bigger buck showed up.. I was just getting set up for about a 225 yard shot when the bigger buck took off for the other end of the field...I though he was chasing the 6 point off, but then he appeared on the far end of the field squaring off with another big buck, who appeared the same size.. They proceeded to go at it, and they were not just sparring..They were on the ground several times...They were 330 yards from me, which is a doable shot under ideal conditions, but they were moving constantly and light was fading quickly... One finally ran away..Not sure which one was the winner....First time I have ever witnessed a REAL buck fight..Pretty cool... I snuck out of my blind and hope I didn't alarm them....

When I left my stand this evening I had four legal bucks within rifle range..Three spikes and a forkie... God is punishing me for missing that big 8 point yesterday morning...<<sigh>>....

And what red blooded American boy DOESN'T ???

BEAUTY !! Congrats to Jay....BTW, Greg, did you say he was STUNNED or STONED ??....<grin>.....

Sat in my tower from dawn till dusk.. Passed on a spike and a forkie and also saw one small doe....Possibly the LEAST amount of shooting I have ever heard on opening day....Congrats to the guys and gals that got it done today !!...

Good luck and hunt safe !! I'm out the door....Ten minute drive to the property and ten minute walk to my tower...

Certainly not, Jay.....These little scrub bucks that I hunt along the PA border don't hold a candle to even those taken in northern (especially northwestern) Steuben County... Once you get south of the Fingerlakes, the size shrinks dramatically, both in body and rack.. I have seen a lot of deer on the scales, and the heaviest buck I have ever personally witnessed being weighed was 185 dressed, and he was killed early bow when he was larded with fat... 120" to 130" bucks are whoppers around here, although the occasional monster is taken....I remember an 8 point taken near Hornell that scored 154...That rack was so much bigger than what most of us consider a BIG buck that it may as well have been a different species.. Biggest I remember locally was a typical 10 taken off Frog Hollow off Meads Creek Road that scored 167 NET....

We shot our first buck the same year, Ric...I'll bet mine was smaller than yours !!

Yeah, Phantom.....The gene pool DEFINITELY gets a little shallower down this way..... The term "Sexual relations" takes on a whole new meaning down this way...Hehehe....

I could almost guaran ****ing- TEE that there were no deer farms Steuben, Allegany, or surrounding PA counties in 1939... Those people were trying to survive the Great Depression, and I'm betting not too many were spending their sparse $$$ raising deer... My dad grew up during the depression ..My Grandfather had a good job as a foreman at Corning Glass Works, but Dad told me that they usually only had meat for meal one day a week, because with six kids in the family they could not afford it.... My Grandpa loved to fish and hunt small game and helped supplement the family diet that way, and yes, there were a few deer shot behind the barn at dusk, too.... Hard times.....

1938 or 39 ( not taking the time to look it up ) was the first time deer seasons were held in western NY ....Lots of deer had quite a few years to grow big with no legal hunting pressure...Lots of big bucks around that had never been exposed to hunting pressure... At that point in time, Allegany had more forested land, Steuben had MUCH more agricultural land... The depression was still on and fresh meat was very expensive and rare....Probably the deer in the ag areas were more susceptible to poaching than the deer in say, Allegany State Forest"... Just a theory......

It's a dirty job, but SOMEBODY has to do it !!...<<grin>>...

Geeze Jerry, now I understand why your lovely wife is such a pretty lady You were a good looking STUD back then !!

I shot my first buck on the day after Thanksgiving, 1966...No pictures..Probably didn't have any film for the Kodak Insta-Matic... I shot him with a win M37 12 gauge single shot at about 75 yards...The shotgun had been stripped of bluing by someone and never reblued..It had a tiny little front bead, and, of course, no rear sight... I was aiming at the chest and missed him completely the first shot..The second shot ( still aiming for the chest) I hit him right behind the ear.... He was a 3 point, with a fork on one side and a spike on the other...However, I was so excited I did not realize he had a fork on one side...Dragged him about 200 yards up over a steep hill by the spike...It kept slipping out of my hand and I formed and broke two water blisters on my hand by the time I got him to the top...

Bless her heart..I grew up on 187 acres in rural Steuben County and we always had several friends come to hunt opening day... My Mom always made a big kettle of homemade vegetable beef soup for opening day..... A couple of the guys who are still alive tell me that they looked more forward to Mom's soup than the hunting...

......YUM !!....

Your blind is a little cockeyed..Remember to level your crosshairs <<grin>>....

Thanks, Rob..Last year opening day my two Canadian friends and I shot 3 bucks out of that tower..Nothing big, but we weren't trophy hunting....