Cabin Fever

Nice buck!

Cool pics!

Beautiful!!

I've had a woodchuck hobbling around my foodplots all summer. I saw it frequently in different plots, but just never had a gun with me at the time. I knew it had something seriously wrong with it, as it really had a difficult time getting around. I never got close enough to it to see what the problem was. I walked out of the cabin today and noticed a blob in the clover. As slow as it was moving, I thought it was something that was damn near dead. I got the .22 and watched it through the scope. It was "gimpy". Figured I would put it out of its misery and probably a slow death. When I got up to it, I could see it had a huge tumor on its side. Seemed like the tumor was about 1/3 as big as the woodchuck itself! It was huge!

This doe must have been bred much later than the other does around, causing her to drop late. This fawn is much smaller than all the others that I've gotten pics of recently. Scary to think how small it is and season starts in 24 days!

I've gotten pics of this 10pt passing within 20 yards of 3 different treestands in the past week. He's still hanging out with a small 6 and a small 8pt also.

Dave - It works great too! I just made another one last night. This is how I made mine. http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/5508-adjustable-cam-stand/

That's not fake foliage! That was just what I trimmed off of a bush. Wanted it to blend in with the native vegetation.

Thanks A LOT!! Did you notice the pond?? You know where my cam would have ended up don't you??

They will spoil you!! Keeps you out of the wind, rain, and cold! I have a Buddy portable propane heater for heat and a single propane burner to warm up soup and coffee. I keep a few cans of soup in there and a gallon container of coffee to warm up in a metal coffee cup used when camping. Makes long or all day sits MUCH more comfortable!! I origionally did all of this for when the kids went with me, but..... I must admit, it sure makes it nice and cozy in there!

I was asked to remove some critters living under a shed. I caught a opossum in a cage trap. It did the usual threatening act by opening it's mouth wide, showing its teeth, and hissing. I picked up the trap and moved it ~2' to a more convenient location to get it later. When I set the trap down, the opossum collapsed, like it was hit by a baseball bat, with it's mouth open, and eyes closed. I knew it must have been "playing dead", like I've heard they do sometimes! I got a laugh out of it and took a couple of pics. I walked away for a few minutes to check other traps. When I came back, the opossum was sitting up in the cage looking around. As I got closer to it, it again collapsed, opened its mouth, and closed its eyes, playing dead! First time I've ever seen this! Too funny!

I made a trailcam stand to help out in spots where there are no suitable trees to mount a trailcam to. I tested it out by the pond. In previous videos, I had a doe browsing her way around the pond towards the cam. I guess the camo job I did on the stand works a little TOO well! In the video, you can hear the doe sniffing the cam, then the cam starts shaking and you can hear her chewing as she starts browsing on the tree limbs that I attached to the stand to disguise it! (The last image is the video link) http://s216.photobuc...nt=PICT0359.mp4

I use to keep a trailcam at the pond taking pics. I always got several action pics, appearing the deer were playing around the pond. Figured it would be a good opportunity to use the video mode. I got 50 or so videos in the past few days. It looks like the deer play "tag" around the pond! (Videos have sound, so turn up the speakers.) In the second video, you can hear a doe bleat. http://s216.photobuc...nt=PICT0325.mp4 http://s216.photobuc...nt=PICT0328.mp4 http://s216.photobuc...nt=PICT0330.mp4

I just don't need it that high in that spot. It would have been easier to stand up too. Another thing are the stairs. It was a real hassle finding boards that long. I think they are 20'. The stairs are a little steep and are even propped up a bit by cement blocks on the ground. I just thought while I was doing it, to go BIG!

The blind takes a beating up there. Its up near lake Ontario and that area gets hammered by lake effect snow. The fiberglass rods have been broken, holes get punched through the blind, about all the outside loops for securing the blind to the rails have been ripped off by the wind, etc... And this blind is only 2 years old! I think if I enclosed it, it would be a lot easier and less hassle each year. But, I also don't use it that much anymore. I think I hunted out of it once or twice last year from bow, gun, and muzzleloader seasons. I just used straight 16' 4x4's. I used the elevator brackets to build it. Sure made it easy! http://www.sportsman...b.aspx?a=355434 If I could do it over again, I would have only made it 12'.

16' tower stand with a 6'x8' platform. It's great and comfortable when I have the kids with me, as they can stretch out, nap, move around, etc... Been securing a popup blind on it each year. I would like to enclose it, when I figure out how to!

Here's a few videos that I posted last year. http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/1095-pt1-09-scrape-video/page__hl__%2Bscrape+%2Bvid__fromsearch__1 What I've learned? 1. Several bucks use the same scrape. I've gotten pics of 7 or 8 different bucks visiting the same scrape in a weeks time. Over the season, maybe 12-15 different bucks will visit it. They seem to come out of the woodwork! I have cams out year round and never seen most of these bucks. 2. Don't be fooled that just because a scrape doesn't appear to be fresh/active that it isn't visited. Many bucks (and does) will come in and smell and maybe urinate, then leave. They won't freshen or step in the scrape to leave tracks as evidence. If there's weeds or leaves around the scrape, you just might not see its tracks. 3. 99% of the scrape videos and pics that I have gotten over the past couple of years are at night. That doesn't discourage me too much, because I know i that it is a place with a lot of activity, so if the bucks are moving, it should be a good place to catch one. This particular scrape in the videos, is right on the edge of a thicket/bedding area. 4. Although I've always read that bucks make scrapes to advertise their presence to does, I will see 10x more buck visits than does. Does "may" stop for a sniff or to urinate, but a lot times will walk right on by without paying any attention to it.

He's a nice one!

That's awesome! Great start for sure!

I don't know? I copied that quote from this site.

Is there a limit on posting pics? Curious what this means: Attach Files Used 55.02MB of your 97.66MB global upload quota (Max. single file size: 8MB) Do I need to remove pics and videos from previous posts, in order to make more room or what? If so, how do I do that? I use photobucket, so I didn't think that posting an img link would use up much room?

Deleted. Vids weren't showing up as planned.

I do it every year!!!

The past few days have been very enlightening for me, regarding chainsaws, human intrusion, and the reaction of deer. I've been out cutting firewood the past few days. I wanted to get it wrapped up by this weekend to give the deer plenty of time to "settle down" before season. YEAH, RIGHT! Yesterday I walked out of the woods to re-fuel the chainsaw and there was a big doe browsing ~75 yards from where I was cutting! She never gave me a second look! I was later walking by a patch of woods where I had been cutting a lot for the past 3 days. There was a doe and fawn feeding in the winter rye patch ~30 yards from where I had been cutting! To top it off, they were walking towards the woods where I was cutting earlier that day ~100 yards away! I went back to camp to get some water and there was another doe feeding in a clover patch ~100 yards in the opposite direction from where I was cutting! A couple of days ago, I had been running the chainsaw all day. I stepped out into the lane and saw a turkey ~75 yards away pecking along the lane, with no concern! I am really amazed and wouldn't have whole heartedly believed it, if it hadn't have happened to me. I am in an area with ag fields and apple orchards. There is quite a bit of human activity in the orchards throughout the year with spraying, mowing, tree trimming, checking on trees, harvesting, etc... I guess they are just accustomed to human activity.

I noticed that a lot of hunting shows are using and/or pimping this Ozonics ozone generator scent elimination system. http://www.ozonicshunting.com/ I see them hanging in their blinds and about head level in their treestands.