BUCKANDAQUARTER

That's what I mean. I just bought a Summit MLB Specialist. 16 lbs with padded seat or 14 lbs with a sling style. I bought it to get to those types of spots where you can get in and set up at a moments notice given the right tree. My older brother finally took his bow hunter education and the instructor said how people setting up a treestand spend too much time hunting for the right tree rather than actually hunting. I thought that was a good point to bring up. Case and point: a few days ago I headed deep in the woods to my usual rifle spot. Kind of a recon/big doe mission as I already filled my buck tag. I brought the climber and went in a little further in than usual. I found a small clearing that looked like a route to a bedding area. I found a suitable tree and was about to set up but then I decided to poke down the hill another 20 yards. I jumped a deer from a large bed with a fresh rub about 5 feet away. I find it is hard to let good enough alone. I could have probably set up the climber with no trouble but with a hang on I personally would have made too much noise.

I think he means using srew in pegs could make more noise, make you sweat so there is more scent. just a guess. I do agree that hunting fresh sign as fast as possible is your best bet, but in my experience i have burned out too many spots by getting right on them and hunting hard. the land i hunt get pressured and deer easily go nocturnal.

well said! very soon they will start to get out of these patterns and be on the move, probably the next week or so it will be harder to hunt fresh sign as they could be chasing the doe. right now there is a chance they are sticking to the patterns.

That steady pattern of a buck travelling that route will soon change unfortunately. I have found that this time of year giving it a couple of days doesn't hurt as much as say a week or two from now when they are chasing. Machinist said it best, jump the big one and he is most likely out of there and nocturnal. Set up and knock him down!

Knock one down! Good luck!

Someone said scrapes aren't the place to shoot bucks I beg to differ. As some of you know I saw a monster entering a field from a thicket on opening week. I went into that small thicket and it had 4 scrapes in a 20 yard radius. I gave it four days since I walked around it. set up in the evening and bagged my little 8. went back there last week and there was a coffee can sized tree rub and another scrape in the thicket with two others 40 yards out right were my deer had expired. went back this morning and there were more rubs and a huge active scrape exactly where i shot mine. I took a different route out and found 5 more scrapes in a 100 yard line going from a field through pines to the thicket where my stand location is. some scrapes had the saplings with the licking branch uprooted, mangled, and on the ground. I should have passed up the small 8 and waited for his granddaddy, no doubt that spot is where its at.

i hunt 5S its decent number of deer in 5S, not so much where i hunt. majority of the buck tags filled are for spikes.

well with the sway in the back and the grey snout I'd say 3.5. I have seen a bruiser twice this season and his neck was filled out and that was in the beginning of the month. every other deer I've seen hasn't had a big neck yet. so I guess it depends like pickle said.

There was one killed on the northway near lake George, last year or the year before. dec had denied sightings up until someone nailed it with the car. then they said it wandered in from the midewest. I have personally seen one on two different occasions one summer. It was quite obvious it was the same one and they were virtually in the same spot. i heard a local had picture of it from earlier in the summer, so it was in the same area for a summer. as far as breeding no way. i get no kicks telling BS stories, DEC.

early what are your thoughts on catch and release bass fishing.... just curious.

someone on here said that you can learn three times as much in one bow season as you can in one rifle. so you can take anything you learned from that week runs, feed, bedding areas, where the deer seem to be more. etc... you will be more prepared for when the weather does get more favorable. just a brighter side of things.

WOW... dad must have done most of the dragging lol.

WOW... told my buddy about the site today, i'll call him and tell him make sure to get his butt on here and check those bruisers out. go put an arrow in one now!

awesome deer! congrats!

Personally right now i would shoot the bigger 3.5yr if they where standing side by side. after i got my first 3.5yr old it was hard for me to go back to 1.5s. however i shot my first bow dear a 1.5yr od 8pt this year, first 1.5yr old since 2008. i've passed up spikes and 3,4, a 5pt since i got a big one 5 yrs ago. i have gotten 2.5yr old though. since i started leaving the 1.5's i missed a MONSTER last year opening of rifle and saw an astonishing buck immediatly after harvesting my bow deer this year. either it is a fluke or i am seeing improvements. i would absolutely love to start a co-op., and i am seriously thinking of breaking out the tax map and dialing numbers or writing letters. southern washington county farms have started doing this qdm and it has had amazing results. around where i am many are in the if i don't shoot it the next guy will mentality. which i completely understand. everyone has different goals, and needs as well. i should also point out before i had an epiphany in 2007 that i hunted to land wrong and couldn't get a chance at a buck for 7 years. lol. my 2 cents.

he would have had many laughing on the way to put him in the freezer

I registered mine after a fine. 50 yards Behind my parents house there is a pond that I ice fish. I was riding my legal snowmobile down there and hit my jon boat frozen down to the dirt and dislocated my shoulder. a few days later I had to get my fish on and I couldn't ride my sled so I took my illegal four wheeler was electric start and easier to steer. I DEC officer saw me fishing and decided to pay me a visit. he started to enter the pond on a thin ice area over deep water and I yelled and told him to enter on a different spot... basically saved his life. he came out and gave me a ticket for unregistered ATV, 50 yards from my parents house. I even had to go flag him down at the end of their driveway to give him my info to give me a ticket since I left my license in my car. I save his life and he repays me with a ticket. next time he is taking a dip.

sadly, deer camp is a dying thing around here, between taxes and all that many folks can't afford a piece of land and a camp. For me it is now supplemented with phone calls and occasionally swinging in to a buddy's house and BSing. deer camp is where you make it basically. so a lot of the youth won't have those opportunities regardless of when youth weekend is, so having that weekend to hunt will just increase exposure to what it is all about. bring 'em around when someones got a deer or the guys are hanging out and they will still get a taste of the atmosphere and be able to share their own story.

so my brother and I have guns that were passed down to us, and sometimes we would lend them to each other. now under this POS law we would be breaking the law. luckly there isn't paper work on these guns.

man that would be awesome, rolling out of bed and right to the stand!

congrats! just got my first too! awesome feeling isn't it?!

The state is always doing a "fundraiser" with tickets. Isn't it their sworn obligation to pursue people breaking the law?

Coonhunter great story!!! congrats to the young lady on her hunt.

surprised that so many bow hunters don't want to share the woods with kids, they may never see or hear, for a few days out of a 45 day season. I understand not wanting any interference but just think it may make all the difference for that one kid getting involved in the outdoors

tough break! I left my camo in a box of leaves since last season and forgot to buy scent killer this year. had success hunting too, wasn't winded that I know of. sometimes when I leave the car I roll around in leaves and dirt just in case or find some pine to grind in armpits, etc. I just don't let anybody see me, haha.