Cabin Fever

This "firearm" definition is from NYSDEC Regs book: The following are general hunting regulations. Specific regulations for various game species are in the Small Game, Big Game and Trapping sections of this booklet. DEFINITIONS Air gun—[/size]a firearm that uses spring or compressed air (not gunpowder) to propel a single projectile that is .17 caliber or larger and produces a muzzle velocity of at least 600 feet per second. You may use a smooth or rifled bore. Bow—[/size]includes long (stick), compound, or recurve bow. Firearm—[/size]all guns, including handguns, rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders and BB and pellet guns.

Click on the pic to enlarge. You'll see plenty of places where the mice were chewing on the tines!

I have this printed and carry it with me.

Doing some trimming around a stand today and saw something white sticking up out of the leaves. At first, I thought it was part of a ribcage. Took a closer look and found it was a shed from last year! Can't find the damn things when I go shed hunting in the spring!!

I'd say injury also. Good God he had a huge neck on him in that trailcam pic!!

It'll be interesting to see if Charlie's predictions pan out. He said on the D&DH episode that he was really sticking his neck out this year, saying that the rut would be later than ever. I DVR'd the episode and saved it, just so I could compare.

Yeah, I'm not going to even attempt to get in there any deeper than I already am. There is no stealth mode as thick as that whole place is! I don't think there are any trees in there any larger than ~6" in diameter and visibility is nothing anyway. This is a bedding area (sanctuary) I don't want to disturb and run them out of. I'll just hope since they feel somewhat safe in there and when it gets cold enough their belly might get them up and moving a little earlier.

A problem of mine is I have thickets that are butted practically right up to orchards and cornfields. The deer don't have to travel far between bedding and feeding, so there's little to no opportunity to catch them in between. They can stick their head out of the thicket and be in an orchard or cornfiled. Now, couple that with 13-14hrs of darkness everyday, they really don't need to move much during daylight hours anyway. THEN, once the guns start going off and pressure is on, it makes it even tougher! Some of my stands are inside the thickets 50-80 yards, as to not be intrusive to the bedding areas, but enough to hopefully catch them browing their way towards the crops. I don't want to push it much more and disturb the bedding area, causing them to vacate. Sure makes for some tough and frustrating hunting!!

I've logged 78hrs in my stands so far and I've only seen 1 mature doe!!! And she was being chased by the buck that I shot, so I sure as hell couldn't shoot her! I'm at a loss wondering if they've just been laying low hiding from the bucks or what's going on?? Makes it hard to fill doe tags! Considering my lack of doe sightings, it makes me wonder if I should shoot one if I do see one!?!?! Anyone else NOT seeing mature does??

If you're in pressured areas, hunt near the thickets or travel routes heading to the thickets.

Maybe in some cases, but I'm willing to roll the dice with this one! If you use what is available to you with the HSS, you'll be much better off than if you didn't use it! They also say that seatbelts kill. I wear mine and not just because it's the law. A seatbelt has already saved my life!

What a beautiful buck!!

Congratulations!! Nice buck!

I've never heard of this before. I use the optional rope style tree strap that you can buy that wraps around the tree instead of the strap that comes with the HSS. I've never had any problem with it restricting my movements. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunter-Safety-System-Rope-Style-Tree-Strap/745316.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3DHunters%2Bsafety%2BSystem%26x%3D19%26y%3D4&Ntt=Hunters+safety+System

Congrats on the buck!! I know how you feel, I've logged about as many hours in the stand! It's been my worst season ever, as far as sightings.

My condolences to the family.

The forecast for the weekend opener is looking good, at least for now! Highs in the 40's and NO rain!! Not so thrilled about the upcoming full moon, but I guess we can't have it all!!

Never noticed a difference.

I had a Fire Chief at my camp a couple weeks ago hunting, who doesn't wear a safety harness. While giving my lecture and trying to get my point across to him, I told him it was like someone telling him they didn't have or use smoke detectors. Or someone who doesn't wear seat belts, because they are inconvenient. He would look at them like they were stupid! That's the way I feel when I hear someone make excuses as to why they don't use a safety harness! To me, it's like they're playing Russian Roulette EVERY time they climb into a stand. My son later joined us at camp while we were getting geared up to head out. After the guy walked away, my son immediately asked me where the guys safety harness was. I told him to ask the guy. When he walked back in, my son asked him. The guy showed my son the jumbled mess of a safety harness that he had and said that it was a pain in the ass to use. It was one of the junk harnesses that came with a treestand! I asked him if he thought that his 2 and 3 year old sons would miss him if he didn't come home some day? After I saw this accident on the news, I texted the Fire Chief about it and said that this poor guy won't get a second chance to wear a harness...

That is a beauty!!

This is my second year using it, with no luck or interest shown by bucks. I've been using one for the past 2 weeks with absolutely NO luck. One morning I laid a scent trail with it using my retracto-drag. Soon after, I had a 4pt heading my way and wondered what his reaction would be thinking he had a hot doe all to himself. He got to the path, took a couple of whiffs, and continued across the path! No interest, really wasn't curious, nothing! I continued to use it, until it emptied this morning. Won't be replacing it! You mentioned that you liked Tinks 69. I was at Dicks a couple of weeks ago and saw that they carry a Tinks 69 aerosol spray, just like the Buck Bomb. Might be worth a try?

I just can't understand why hunters don't wear safety harnasses!?!? Man Dies After Hunting Accident in Bristol Updated: 4:03 pm Town of Bristol, N.Y. - A man is dead after a hunting accident Saturday morning in the Town of Bristol. According to the New York State Police, around 9:15 a.m., a hunter fell out of a tree stand off of Hundred Acre Way. Police say he died a short time later. As of late Saturday afternoon, no information about the hunter’s name, age, or where he was from has been released. http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/Man-Dies-After-Hunting-Accident-in-Bristol/zqrbQEsjq0u3a0ijknb7LA.cspx

Great buck Larry!

Finally got lucky. Worst season I've had, as far as sightings go. Been out 26 times (69hrs in the stand) and only seen 13 deer! I hunted Monday morning and saw nothing. This made exactly 2 weeks since I had even ‘seen’ a deer during shooting light! Talk about frustrating... Planned on taking the rest of the day off to "recharge". On my way out of camp, I pulled SD cards from my trailcams to check. When I got home, I noticed there was a good amount of daytime activity in the previous couple of days along the edge of this one thicket, as recently as 45min before I checked the cams! I wondered if there may have been a hot doe in the thicket. Due to a series of events that happened that day, I decided to head back to camp to hunt that afternoon. Just had that feeling... I went to a stand along the edge of a thicket. I've never bowhunted this stand before. If you saw it, you would understand why! The tree is only 4-5" in diameter up where my back is when I stand up in it! Hard to hide 240lbs of "red-hot-lovin" in a tree that small! http://huntingny.com/forums/Smileys/akyhne/grin.gif[/img] Anyway, I thought I'd roll the dice and hope that a buck would come out of the thicket and be so focused on the scent trail that I laid out along the thicket that he wouldn't see me in the tree. I got into the stand 3hrs before dark. Within 10 minutes, I heard a couple of sticks crack in the thicket. I thought/hoped it might be a buck chasing a doe. I grunted 3-4 times. A buck grunted back ~6 times and began making more noise. Then, all hell broke loose crashing!! They were so close, I could see the brush shaking ~50 yards away in the thicket, but I couldn't see the deer. They took off running towards the other end of the thicket. I've played this game before in previous years and knew that they would probably be back. To make a long story short, over the next 90 minutes, they crashed back and forth 4 times! Each time, so close that I could see the brush shaking. Man my heart was pounding and the adreneline rushing!! I grunted to the buck every time they came back my way. I even heard the buck snort-wheeze, that I've never heard before! The first few times, I thought it was just a snort, like they had smelled me. I thought there was NO way with the way wind direction was. Then it dawned on me, that it was the snort-wheeze that I had heard them use on several hunting shows. I knew I was in the money and just needed the doe to bring the buck out to the edge of the thicket. Finally,I saw brush shaking ~60 yards to my right. The doe stepped out of the thicket and into the mowed path along the edge, then continued walking across. Then, what looked like a big 10pt stepped out. I grunted to him and he stopped and looked back over his shoulder at me very majestically looking. He put his head down and trotted after the doe. I hoped that she may eventually circle back to the thicket and lead the chase back by me. Then, seconds later, a spike stepped out following the 10pt. I again grunted to get his reaction. He continued the pursuit. I got a glimpse of something else behind the previous deer that appeared to be coming my way. I then saw a rack come out of the brush and look like it was looking for the source of the grunting (me!). He angled right up to me looking for the other 'buck'. Shooting opportunities were very limited, as I never trimmed into the thicket, nor did I ever plan on bowhunting this spot. My only clear shooting lane was up and down the edge where I keep mowed. I scanned ahead of him on the path he was taking and found a clear spot on his way to the mowed path. Figured if I couldn't get him stopped there, I'd have to wait AND hope he continued to the mowed path. As soon as he entered the clear spot, I stopped him broadside at 15 yards with a grunt and settled the pin behind his shoulder. I shot and saw the arrow pass through right where I was aiming! He crashed into the thicket for ~70 yards, then everything went silent. THEN the shaking started!!! LOL I waited ~30 minutes and texted a few people to let them know. After a short tracking job, I found the buck and recognized him from trailcam pics that I had gotten 3-4 weeks prior on the other side of my property. He was a nice 8pt.Unfortunately, he had broken off 8" or so of his right main beam! That sucked, but I was still very happy with him. Ever since I saw him on the trailcam, I really wanted this buck. Considering how hard I hunted this season, makes me appreciate him even more!

Great buck!!! Congrats to your Dad!!