nybuckboy

shooting before sunrise or after sunset. More likely before sunrise. We all hear the shots opening morning well before sunrise.

When I use a ladder stand I don't connect my harness until I'm up on the stand. Make sure you attached it, regardless of what type of stand, high enough. You need to figure out, based on your height, how high to tie off on the tree. Correct is that when sitting you can the tug above if you were to slouch or lean forward. Therefore, practice at home down low so that you know, based on the height of your eyes to the tree how much higher to position the tie off connection. Oh yeak also use a chain to attached besides the ratchet strap and be sure to padlock it as well.

I will get the camera back as well and Doc, to answer your question. Over the years the property was allowed to be hunted by Tom, Dick and Harry and anyone else who asked permission. 18 months ago new owners and real farmers bought the property. They witnessed first hand the number of hunters as they chopped corn so this year have made a point of weeding out the hunters. The younger family is starting to take some things over and I kinda got lost in the shuffle. But now my son and I, it appears wil be one of the few outsiders allowd to hunt as we live next to the land.

They were not stolen but were taken down because someone was not aware of my permission. I will set them back up Saturday. A lot of land owned owned by big family. Where I hunt makes up less than 10% of all the land owned. It is a big family and not everyone knew of me.

MYSTERY SOLVED AND SHALL I SAY IT IS ALL WORKING OUT. I WILL GET MY STANDS BACK THURSDAY NIGHT. LET'S SAY THERE WAS MIS-COMMUNICATION AND LEAVE IT AT THAT.

The field edge isin the middle of the property not along a property line

Yep, 6 ladder stands and a Moultrie camera stolen. They were all there as of last Wednesday night Sept 18th. All were chained and padlocked and had my last name and cell phone number inscribed with a dremel burr. A couple of these stands have been up 5 and 6 years. They were all along the field edge along the cornfield. It looks like a well planned heist. Will report to State Police and Sheriff tomorrow. Talked with DEC tonight. Land is Posted well too. Probably done at night where the corn could hide any light. makes me wonder if it's for scrap.

Hey Deerthug, I think you are on to something. How about the white jump suit and buy some RIT Dyes. First a plastic tub filled with a diluted green dye so as to take the white out of the white suit and dunk it in the tub and let it soak it up. Sueeze it out and then dry it. Next take and lay the suit on a plastic covered table. Then have 3 containers with brown, gray and green dye and then using sponges and paint brushes (paint sponges) just start camo coloring the suit with the 3 colors. You can make branches and blotches and just have fun. Hang it up and let it dry.

You can set all the stands... you can set up the trail cams... you can plant all the food plots but the best thing you can do score a big buck is pick an area with a good doe population... sit on the down wind side of good run and just put in the hours. Pass on the little bucks and wait for a good one.

I would ask you this first... do you have a college degree or any college? Not that I'm saying you need college to be successful, just asking as it will be easier to suggest career paths. Also, do not forget about a trade: plumber, electrician, etc. Money to be made here.

Ask him!!

Excellent idea but to improve I would add a piece of gray 1" or 3/4" pvc about 6 inches long as the steps.

Thank you for posting this terrible story. If it helps one person stay safe it was worth the time. I use the safety harness now each time but never did just a few years ago.

At asav2013 Thanks for the input. It is not real easy property to bow hunt as the layout of the land runs East-West so the wind is either out of the West/Southwest or South most of the season. I can not gain access to the land from north which would be great. I can some what from the East. It is even more difficult now because the corn is up so late too. I used to be able to glass up until dark but with the corn you can't see a thing. The corn did not start to come down until the day before gun opened last year and doubt it will be much different any year. The land does always have some nice bucks but as I say it is a bit difficult to bow hunt.

What have you found to be the best, safest, easiest to install, etc and why? I have resisted anything but screw-in steps as I generally use ladder stands but have a few hang-ons including 2 M100 Millennium's hang-ons. I just bought 4 Gorilla, 3 step sections to use with one of the Millenniums.

Yes I am only talking about bow season as this is the Bow Hunting Section. Yes as most noted and I agree... I love and prefer the morning hunts for the many reasons mentioned. I love hearing the woods come awake with their own symphony of sound every day. I love seeing the day unfold and you can bet I will be out every morning opportunity during gun season but for bow season I'm gonna try something different this year. I do not want to "over" hunt the area. Bow and gun and muzzle is a long season. I do not want to leave my sent and bump deer in the early morning but as October starts it's last third of the month, around the 20th, I plan to start hunting select stands in the morning as well as afternoon/evenings.

I do agree that you can't shoot them from your bed but my rational for this is... It is easier to get the time in the afternoons from the office and in addition, I don't want to bump deer going in early. I would rather go in when they are bedded down and sit til they begin their late day/evening feed. Later in the month when the seek phase heats up the bucks are likely to be on the move throughout the day and then I will be in the woods all day.

I was not planning any morning sits, only afternoon sits from 3 or 4 til dark until later in the month. Thoughts?

One thing I would like to add is the property is a triangular piece. The narrow end is on the west side and down hill and goes uphill to the wide end on the eastern side. The prevailing winds are from the west/southwest. I can only enter really from the south side or the east side so I'm limited. In the image where you see the open CRP fields with 4 wheeler trails, is now all corn and the hedgerow connecting the 2 pieces of woods is no longer there. The new land owner has bulldozed the hedgerow and the pond is drained.

With rifle/shotgun I don't always care as much and don't always hunt the wind. With bow I feel the wind is really important. Question: Do you try and sit in a stand that is on the downwind side of the section of woods or do you sit where you feel the best deer movement is regardless on the downwind side of a trail? I have heard some long time hunters say - hunt high in the morning and low in the afternoon because of thermals - YES?

I think we all agree without a doubt a deer has a sense of smell far superior to a humans. My question is: do they see and hear better than humans. Consider that we are talking about someonewith perfect 20/20 vision and excellent hearing. IMO,they don't see quite as well as we do because they don't see colors, other wise I think we see about the same. I'm not so sure they really hear that much better than we do. They can move their ears so they have better directionality but as far as actually hearing, I'm not sure they hear better than a human. Your thoughts?

You might look into Kentucky for Elk. There are a lot more elk in KY than PA. About 9-10,000 compared to less than 1000 in PA. There were 7400 in 2008 according to the link below. http://www.rmefnky.org/kyelkherd.HTML

The buck on the left is my best NY buck, killed with a shotgun in 1999 with a gross score of 131, 9pt. The buck in the middle is my bow kill from Illinois in 2009 gross score 150, 8pt. The one on the right is a rifle kill with a gross score of 151, 11pt killed in Mexico, about 2 hours south of El Paso, TX.

true talker... an old one all black.