donrtowery

the regional maps in the hunting reg book for this year shows that to be the correct zone for 6k as well

I live in southern tier, but I'm really close to northern. I was looking at some public hunting areas in the northern tier and I'm finding discrepancies in the way the DEC website defines the hunting zones. I used the Interactive Mapper and did a search for zone 6k, it outlined the zone in blue, but when I click on a WMA shown to be in 6k, the tooltip says its actually zone 7. Did they move the zone lines around this year?

Small solar tracker - http://solartracker.greenwatts.info/mini_tracker.htm

You can boost the output of solar panels using mirrors. 4 small mirrors mounted at an angle on all 4 sides of the panel will funnel more sunlight to the panel. If you wanted to get fancy with it, you could build a small scale solar tracker to always have the solar panel pointed directly at the sun. Theres some instructions online, but you'd have to alter things to work on a smaller scale I'd imagine, but it should give you some ideas.

Former IT guy here. Loved working with the machines, inept users...not so much. Lost patience with it and moved to welding. No one bothers me while im under my welding hood, which is the way I like it

I think as long as you don't let the deer drink it, its ok

http://deersearch.org/ (845)-227-5099

looking to swap my 8F for a 7A

LOL, seriously, I was kidding But thank you for the correction haha

this will be my first season since I was a teenager (20 years ago roughly, yikes). I'm not quite sure what I'm doing yet, so I got a bit of everything lol. I picked up a drybag and some earth scented wafers for clothing storage. Scent-away laundry soap and dryer sheets. scent-away bath soap, shampoo and deodorant, and scent-away odorless scent killer spray. I think my biggest challenge will be my boots. I dont have an extra $150 to spend on a decent pair of scent free / insulated rubber boots, so I'm just gonna wear my old leather, steel toe, work boots with some heavy wool socks. I think I'm gonna douse them real good with the scent killer spray and leave them outside to dry and then stick them in the drybag with my clothes and earth scent wafers. Hopefully that will do the trick.

It took me 3 1/2 years of marriage to convince my wife to let ME go hunting. No way in hell I'd ever be able to convince her to kill a poor defenseless little animal. She would starve to herself half to death before she'd ever eat meat that didnt come from a supermarket if (when) the world collapsed.

They make unscented, odor killing gum for hunters. Some have flavors, I've seen honey and apple. http://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/Hunting-Science-Gum-O-Flage---Apple-Flavor/0000000017159?gclid=CJ_o75O67LkCFU8V7AodbDoAAg

congrats, thats great! wish you luck! quitting isn't easy, I've had my fair share of attempts. Its even harder now that I'm married to a smoker who refuses to quit herself. Hopefully I'll be able to give this crap up someday myself.

How do you get your "fix" out in the field? I've been a smoker for a long time. Theres a couple different ways I can get my fix without lighting up. I can chew regular tobacco, Snus (the spitless chew), or e-cigs. Will using chew chase the deer off from the scent? Anyone use e-cigs while hunting? any affects on the deer that you've noticed?

with the terrain I'll be hunting (pretty dense woods), my longest shot will probably be around 60 - 70 yards. I really don't need any magnification for ranges that short, so the RDS makes sense to me

I have a couple of apple trees within 100 yards of where I'll be sitting. Almost all the apples are gone already, there won't be anything at all left by the time regular season starts. Will deer still go to these locations once they've been picked clean?

Noluckhunter is confused and is confusing others because he, probably unintentionally, hijacked the thread by posting his own "new hunter" questions here instead of creating his own thread. Then, as I was asking about pre-season calling...he thought I was asking him a question directly.

went and picked up a 25 lb bag of oats this morning. Planted 2 small feed plots

Thats awesome, i'll check into that. Thanks for the tip! Zombies, Deer, Home Defense, Pleasure Shooting, the ammo is cheap and plentiful when theres no panic buying going on :-/. Luckily supplies are starting to return to pre-panic ratios.

so, dropping food on the ground to lure deer in is illegal, but planting a food crop for the purpose of luring deer is ok?

I've been working on this one for a bit. Still have a bit to do...I recently duracoated it and made the mistake of clear coating it, now its way too shiny. I'll probably end up roughing up the surface and spraying more black on it to dull it down. I saw some camo gun tape at walmart the other day, I might give that a try :-/ Norinco SKS 7.62x39 Semi-auto (I have a 5 round mag for hunting thats not displayed in the photo) Modifications: Removed Bayonet Lug Synthetic Choate stock Choate Scope mount Barska 1x30 Electro Red Dot Sight Williams Rear Peep Sight KNS Front Crosshair sight post Promag 5 round detachable Magazine Duracoat in HK Black

I picked up some de-scent spray, deodorant and soap last night at wally world. Went out on a short scout before work. I know where a single small wild apple tree is in the woods i'll be hunting. Its already pretty picked over, just a few apples left, but saw at least 2 different sets of tracks under and around the tree. One set looks like a younger / smaller deer, small impression with pointed toes. The other looks like a pretty good sized animal, deep depression with more squared toes (I think this indicates maturity?). I didnt find any deer poo, but there was some...possibly fox scat under the tree. I was sticking mainly to the ATV / logging trail that goes through the woods. Tomorrow I'll head out before work for a longer trek, go through some of the more dense woods and try out some of the de-scent products, maybe i'll be able to sneak up on the big one thats been feeding on the apples. I saw quite a few, what I believe are rubs, but they dont look fresh. Hopefully I'll spot some fresh ones when I go out tomorrow. Also, I was wondering, do any of you try luring or calling bucks before the season starts? I was thinking of sitting at the edge of the woods, hanging up a scent bomb and doing a little calling practice with the rattle box / buck roar. Not sure how effective it will be, if at all since its not rut time yet.

. Oh by the way if your from Texas you know a lot about feeders which are illegal in NY. No baiting, minerals and no throwing of corn feed!!! You will be banished from this site! lol I know that feeders, and minerals, etc is illegal DURING hunting season. Is it also illegal BEFORE the season starts? ie, set up a feeder for a couple months before the season begins and take it down when the season starts? As far as scrapes go, would I be finding them this early in the season, or more likely a little later? thanks for all the great info so far!

This year will be my first year hunting in New York. I havent done any hunting in almost 20 years. I've got tons of questions, so any tips / advice you can impart will be greatly appreciated. I'll be rifle hunting from the ground. When I hunted in Texas, we had an automatic deer feeder spewing corn, set on a timer, that was sitting about 20 yards in front of a permanent deer blind, so my knowledge of lures, de-scent sprays, decoys, calls, rattles, etc, is limited to what i've read. I guess I'll just start at the top, lol. Which one has the horns, the boy or the girl? KIDDING! I totally know the answer to that one 1. I'll be hunting from the ground as I cant see myself climbing a tree. Are the pop-up, tent-style blinds worth the money, or will I be just as well off propped up against a tree? Do they at least keep you a little warmer, out of the wind/rain/snow? 2. Doe scent / buck scent, does this stuff work? whats the best? I've ordered tink's scent bomb package that comes with a drag and one of the strap-on boot pads. How far do you drag the scent? 3. De-scenting sprays, detergents, deodorants, clothing....I know deer have a great sense of smell...but how much of this stuff is over-kill...or is it all pretty necessary? 4. I've been trying to do a little scouting on the land that I'll be hunting. I'm not real sure what I'm suppose to be looking for. My guess would be food sources (acorns?), and possible deer trails. What things should I be keeping an eye out for when scouting that may improve my chances of taking a deer this year? I guess thats a pretty good start for now. If you guys have any links / resources you can recommend for new hunters, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

new member here, just sayin hello. This year will be my first year hunting in NY. Did some deer hunting when I was a teenager (almost 20 years ago, yikes!). Born and raised in Texas, so definately different terrain here. I'll be posting a new topic in the deer section looking for some tips etc, but wanted to come here and say hello first.