BUCKANDAQUARTER

You can call DEC and tell them about the mercy kill or dead find and they will issue a new tag for you.

Of course, why wouldn't they walk under a stand?

Haha! The same thing happened to me about 10 years ago. I sat overlooking some nice hardwoods one evening and went back to sit in the same spot the next day and there was a tree about 8 inches in diameter rubbed literally 5 feet from where I sat... mocking me. I have only seen one other tree that big rubbed up there and that was 2 years ago!

Great story and a beautiful deer. Thanks for sharing!

Nice work!!! Hell of a deer!

I think I might this year. The spot I typically hunt during rifle is the least pressured area on the land. All of the bucks in rifle and muzzleloading I have gotten have been within 20 yards, although last year I missed a monster in a small opening at 60 yards. I somehow managed to hit a big spruce... still a sore subject as it was my first miss in the 14 years I have hunted deer and last time I saw a good buck all season.... and it was opening morning. Just seeing how many bow die hards are out there!

congrats, that's a nice heavy rack!

congrats, nice deer!

ehh. it's okaayy...

Does anyone opt to take out the bow instead of the rifle? When I got my Bow hunter Education course an instructor said he hadn't taken a gun out in years. At first I was thinking he was a felon, but now I find myself thinking of carrying the bow out.

He has a complaint with the Better Business Bureau as well.

That sucks Drop. I have been there and I know how it feels. Last year my back ruined the end of muzzle loading for me, I couldn't get back in to get my climber for a month and that came up missing of course. Good luck healing and slaying one.

I still hunt to a spot that kind of had a mix of everything, a bushy area rubbed up area with a food and water source close by, then I'd sit until dark. In the mornings I'd try to already have a spot in hardwoods to sit at. Also I'd avoid areas where my scent was blown ahead of me as soon as I'd pull up with the truck. Again I haven't gotten "the big one". My brother did and it was on a bushy draw that transitioned to hardwoods. It was an area where one ridge ran into another ridge like a "T" and the crease or funnel ran down into that bushy draw. He had found a mess of old rubs in the off season, and early in the year he found a good buck to be working that area again. He had a doe in heat scent on his boots and the buck trotted in behind him when he was sitting. Very specific area in that case. I always found good sign on hardwood ridges and saddles, but it seemed like every time I was in an area that was no longer being worked (day late and a buck short!). A good friend of mine usually gets a smoker every year and it is always still hunting. He takes the first week off and is gone all day every day and just SLOWLY walks and keeps his eyes out for a flicker and tries to figure things out. He usually does too.

LOL oh MAN....

Northern Zone.

yeah, it's normal. I found a first for me this year too. A sapling overhanging a scrape was rubbed, and uprooted laying on the ground mere feet from where my buck had died days earlier. That thing was on a tare through that area! Go get him!

Nice doe!

Steve thanks for the link, I am going to check that out. It is horrible how uninformed and dismissive doctors are about Lyme. I had all the symptoms off it and was treated even with a negative (I can't remember the percentage of false negatives but I think it is like 50%) and I went to a different doctor for a dislocation and he asked me why they treated me if the test was negative, and disagreed with the decision... It is standard procedure to treat with antibiotics for any tick bite. He must have missed the memo. Jennifer, I hadn't had a single tick this year until Monday, then all of the sudden I found five deer ticks while in stand. I got home and there was one attached under my armpit. The worst I had was about 7 years ago and I had 33 on my camo! I was sitting in some of those short bushes that have the small berries (uhg... the name is slipping my mind right now!) Luckily those were dog ticks.

Hilbilly you nailed it! The area he described has it all. Close food source, bushy and pine cover, and there is the buck sign that goes along with a intersection like that.

If only there was something to deter people from doing these sorts of things... oh yeah morals.

Kind of bold to deny a refund on a hunter web site. Seems almost like a taunt. Besides if I took someone's two thousands dollars and said for an extra 3000 we can go here, or I just keep the 2G's and we go nowhere I'd rather not be alone in the woods with them, especially with a firearm.

Sounds like that spot has a lot going on. I've had years like that when I haven't seen hardly a thing. It just makes it that much more exciting when a shooter comes in.

you can kill them you just have to smart about it, grow has already shed some light on an idea...

I know what you mean Belo, i am fortunate enough to live in area where there are deer, just not big ones. i have hunted with my brother in adk park. i live southeast of the park on the ny/vermont border in farm country. decent deer population, although the land i hunt is particularly hard. a lot of my big woods experience comes from vermont, although i haven't hunted there in years. only saw a few deer over several years and one was my brothers 9 he shot about 3 miles from the truck. i have yet to get a big deer out of the big woods but i can tell you it is on my bucket list and probably something i'd be most proud of.

already some good points made. if you have been using the same spot and been walking in and out the same you may have burnt out that spot. i have found sign in areas i have never hunted on my property i have hunted for 13 years. i set up on it and got my buck. my old faithful spot i have seen one doe out of 6 or 7 trips, since the feed is different than usual this year. acorns are more abundant, although only in some areas. find some areas where there is sign and do not be afraid to change it up over several tips. as said above scent control and wind direction is a lot of it. winds on my property are primarily out of the SSW so go in from the east property line and have to walk twice as far. since i started doing that i have gotten twice as many bucks. best of luck