steve863

Thank you very much for it!! I figured if I drove over in my BMW to pick it up, they might get suspicious, so I gave the kid down the block a couple of bucks to borrow his rusty bicycle.

Great program! Here's a picture of me picking up some venison last year.

Yeah, that was a good one! I've said it before and I'll say it again. Only LIARS will tell you that they wouldn't shoot that deer they've waited all season and maybe years for just because it's 5 minutes before or after legal hours.

Culver, don't forget that you can always sell some to those that took only 5 with them and are now in the middle of the woods needing more. You can sell it to them for $10 a round! LOL

Be it a big buck, small buck, big doe, small doe. I will have a buck tag and a doe tag in my pocket this season. First thing that might come by my way and gives me a good shot will get shot at. I make NO bones about it. I hunt to kill something for the freezer, so NOTHING will get passed up. If I want to only LOOK at deer I don't need to buy a hunting license to do that.

No kidding! I have heard gun hunters go out with only the 4 or 5 rounds that go into their guns and NO extras. I guess that mentality comes from bowhunting where you take only a few arrows. Believe me, if you gun hunt long enough their will be a time when you'll need more than 6!

Lets just hope Burt doesn't end up in the middle of the highway one night dressed in his pajamas. It's obvious that he is all in despair over me and Doe shooting all the deer off his land! LOL

That is why I am a strong believer in taking the FIRST deer that gives you a good opportunity if meat in the freezer is important to you. Passing deer after deer the whole season waiting for the big one and then thinking that a good, easy opportunity will present itself on the last day is wishful thinking at best. Put one in the freezer first, and then worry about getting Mr. Big.

You won't know until you try shooting it. In most cases the difference isn't enough to miss a deer, but it could be up to a couple inches off in any direction. Just because it's a heavier bullet, don't mean it will drop more either. Shape of the bullet also has a lot to do with point of impact. Each gun and load shoot differently.

Same gun that I have carried since 1985 when I bought it. Remington 700bdl in .270 win. I am a strong believer in picking a gun and sticking with it. Having one for rainy days and another for sunny days doesn't work for me.

Man, I feel like I just read "War and Peace" here! Well, I guess you have to stick to the decision you made, but I would have gutted the deer, waited a few hours to see if anyone would come around to claim the deer. If no on showed up I would have tagged it and been done with it. The outcome could have then been put into one short paragraph instead of the long story, and I don't think the boys would have learned any more or less than what they learned here since you were more than willing to turn it over to the person who had shot it. And of course you guys would have had venison in the freezer to boot. No one would have condemned you if you took this deer for your own since you weren't going to let the deer go to waste. By the way, I do think you owe the boys an apology for making them drag the bloody deer without first field dressing it. Sounds like they had a hell of a time dragging it out.

Looks like we won't be getting those socks for Christmas this year with the reindeer out of commission! LOL

The vast majority of my hunting has been with a gun. Since I started hunting in 1979 I know for a fact I've drawn blood on 5 that I did not recover and all were with gun. I think only 2 of those were serious wounds though. One was definitely a gut shot on a doe on the last day of the season. Looked as long as I could into the dark, but couldn't find her. Could not look the next day since I had to be at work. The other seriously hit deer was one that tumbled down a hill when I jumped her again while tracking her with a friend. I was ready to put another round in her when the friend told me not to since he thought she was done. Boy was he wrong. She got up again and I never found her. Will never make the mistake again of not finishing off a deer. The other 3 were most likely not seriously hit so I'm hoping they all recovered. Another 50 plus deer I have put down for good, so I don't know if my percentage of losses is good or not, but that's what it is. I have always held that many deer run off wounded without hunters even knowing that they were hit, especially with gun hunting, so hopefully none of us wounded even more than we thought. That is why it's important to look real hard for any sign of blood. A couple of deer I found in a heap a good distance from where they were shot without any blood other than where they fell.

Might be a little hard to tell from the photos, but it looks like he hadn't eaten too much of that deer from the first photo to the last. He waits much longer and the coyotes will finish it off for him.

Reminds me a bit of a european roe buck.

No, it ain't PETA, it's your fellow hunters who want this. Plenty here you can thank.

My theory has always been that everyone should be issued two tags. One for a buck and one for a doe that could be used anywhere in the state. And this would be all you'd get regardless of the season or weapon you decide to use. If you fill them both in bow season, you are done for the season. The DEC could issue extra DMP's in areas where they think it's needed and people could apply for those. I doubt this will ever happen, but I think it would work well and keep deer populations at a good level and keep most hunters out there happy other than those who want kill up to a half dozen deer or more per season like they currently can in some areas with the current system.

Sorry Dave, but you should read my first reply. I only suggested that people should enjoy hunting and be happy with whatever they get and NOT get wrapped up with silly measurements. You fellas took my simple statement as a slap in the face and challenged me on it, so I replied again. I could care less how you boys want to hunt or try to change anyone's mind, for I am sure that is close to impossible. You may be competitive, but some of us others aren't. We have enough competition in our lives and for me hunting doesn't need to be competitive. Isn't hunting supposed to be a pastime and not a competition? I simply enjoy my days afield and hope to get some venison for the freezer. NO need to set any goals or competition whatsoever for myself. If I succeed, great. If I don't, I try again next time. OK fellas, quick! The exact length and weight of your first borns to the fraction of an inch and pound? First person to reply correctly gets a box of rice-a-roni.

Your home state of NC has even higher peaks than NY, and it's pretty darn scenic around the Smoky Mt region in neighboring TN. Plus, they have way more deer than the Adirondacks with more liberal bag limits to boot! I think I know where I'd go if I had to go 700 miles.

I'm wary of such statistics. I know that I've followed up on poorly gun shot deer (my own and of others) and was able to catch up with them and put them down for good. NO way I would have put them down for good if I was following them up with a bow in hand. So I think any statistic of greater recovery chances for the deer shot with a bow can be countered with better chances of a lethal follow-up shot with a gun.

Gee Elmer, nice to see the face behind the posts! LOL

So you could shoot a hunter who is carrying a gun in Texas for trespassing? I don't think so. Having someone break into your house with a gun is one thing, but shooting someone outdoors who appears to be hunting, even if he is trespassing, without any sort of other threat to you would probably put YOU in jail before the trespasser.

Well, you probably get to hunt a lot more than 90% of the hunters out there, so you are more selective and careful. I will bet that another 90% of hunters out there, be they bow or gun hunters wouldn't let that 12 pointer (or even a much smaller deer) walk by once, never mind twice. Just doesn't happen in the real world. We can think we as hunters all think rationally and of ethics at a moment like that, but that would honestly be asking way too much of most hunters out there. Not defending them here, just telling it the way I see it. Most hunters would shoot, say his "Hail Mary's" and hope for the best. Might not be saying much about us hunters as a group, but hey, I'm just telling it the way I've seen it and it honestly matters little on the experience level of the hunter from what I've seen. The IQ's of many hunters I've seen isn't very high to begin with, so asking them to make rational decisions when they have a bragging size buck in front of them might just be a bit too much for them. Sad but true.

I tell you, and then sometimes people try to convince me what upstanding citizens hunting has in it's ranks. Yeah, some are good, but still WAY too many bozos out there. I simply can't think of another pastime or hobby where such nonsense happens!! Unbelievable and pathetic!!

Of course instilling in our kids what others should never do to them is very important and certainly can help prevent such crimes. As far as all kids out there being able to fight out of a situation like that, I don't know. Maybe some can, but I wouldn't count on every kid out there to be able to floor a strong male adult and I wouldn't want to think of how it might enrage these perverts and what else they would want to do to these poor kids. Most recommendations I've read on what kids should do is to go find another adult, who is removed from the situation and tell them. Not an easy situation to be in for a kid, that's for sure.