billey100

My son's first year hunting, so glad they lowered the gun age to 12 just at the right time for us. We hunted in the morning, setup a pop up blind on a hedgerow where we thought would give us the best safe shooting lanes, avoiding neighboring properties for back stop reasons. Saw a buck, to far and while on our property the bullet would have travelled across another property if he missed. We learned from that morning and realized the only way from the ground we could get a shot would be to put the pop up literally in the middle of the field of beans. Just too many knowls even in flat property to see anything from one side of the field to the other. Went back in the afternoon, setup the blind and grabbed about 30 corn stalks from a friend. Around 6 a doe and fawn came out into the field to our south about 150 yards away. Not allowed to shoot doe here per the landowner so we just watched, had no shot as it was towards the road anyway. They worked right towards us slowly, they got to about 50 yards at sunset. Any closer and they are going to blow, would have ruined the entire last half hour more than likely. As we were both watching them get too close my son said they look like they are looking at something off to their left. We both looked out the from of the blind and there was a deer. Saw body but his head was in the brush munching on something. I said I think it's another doe and just then it wiped it's head around and I saw great mass, same deer as the morning. He got excited and said what do I do? I said better take the gun off of safe as a good first step lol. He took his time, deer had no idea we were there. He shot and it went straight down immediately, thought he had tagged him but then I saw that he tried to get back up and I knew right away he spined him. He tried to get up but could not, we scrambled and he dispatched with a second shot in the perfect spot once we got closer. Super proud of his abilities, 100 yard shot with a bipod, he tried to peak a few seconds early and shot high but he learned something.

Thanks for the tip! Dropped my son's deer off there this morning, super nice guy and looking forward to trying some of the snacks. Will post back with results when I get everything back.

Story in the harvest thread maybe late tonight or tomorrow...

We learned a lot from this morning, moved the pop up to the middle of the bean fields and covered it in corn stalks. Proud to say my son just dropped his first buck ever. Pics shortly...

8j and my son turned 12 in April this year. He was excited to bow/duck hunt in the first place and then when they lowered the gun age he was even more so. He got his very first duck on youth/veterans weekend up north 3 weeks ago. We bow hunted last weekend and he is gun hunting for the youth Columbus day weekend. We are trying a bean field this morning, bumped a few setting up but then saw a really nice 6 at shooting time. He just stayed out of range I was comfortable letting him shoot and also worrying about backstop issues. The having to be on the ground rule is pretty tough with a rifle and angles.

Yeah I feel bad for them, they did a ton of deer every year so it had to be a tough decision. That's the post I saw as well, and I can go that route if I absolutely have to but I would like to drop it off whole.

Thanks, yes Avon would be tough. Thanks for the tip, did my own for a lot of years it's not a lack of knowledge. With the age of my kids/their sports schedules and the things I like done with the meat I choose to take my time back in this case.

Hi there, the place I have been taking my deer for processing the past 10 years or so is not accepting deer this year. This was Silver Creek Custom Meats in Waterloo, NY. Looking for any recommendations of anything local or even with a half hour of Seneca Falls/Geneva area? I see Pro Cut in Bloomfield gets high praise here but its over 45 minutes to get there. Not the worst but if there is anything closer I would like to save a lot of time over the years. Thanks as always for the help,

Thanks @phade and @mowinvery helpful info!

I have a question the RevealX or really any of the wifi enabled cams. Scenario wise can these be used without the cell activation but you can connect to them if you are within range of the camera? In other words I don't care if I am getting them to my phone actively or pushed. I would like to get to my stand and connect to the camera that is close by and remotely view the pics if that makes sense? Keeps me from having to actually scent up the cam or get near it to swap cards and stuff.

I just thought I would throw this out here in case there is a chance that someone else falls into this scenario. My son turned 12 in April, has his lifetime license and is set to duck hunt this fall. While we live in the Southern zone I am planning to take him for the youth weekend 9/17 and 9/18 in the Northern zone. On that note I am also a veteran, which happens to now have a special weekend in that same zone, same weekend. Long story short it's not spelled out in the regs but after several calls to that zone and Albany we need a third party non-gun mentor to come with us. The theory being that if I am shooting and he is shooting I can't focus on safety for him. Totally understandable just wanted to pass it along that it's an odd scenario that they haven't accounted for in spelling out that weekend in technical words. Would hate for someone to get pinched for hunting just the two of you when you are both legally hunting.

My son and I have been in the tree since 6 in 8j. First and only shot we've heard was 621, it was pretty close by and scared the crap out of my kid. Last year by this time we had heard around 20 or more shots. Ammo shortage or deer shortage lol?

Got out today, had a 6 pointer at 45 but his body was that of a half year old fawn so I passed. Also have you ever seen the videos where the clowns keep getting out of the car? That's how this video starts out. I have no idea how they didn't see me, I was in an open ladder stand.

Out early in 8j this morning with the xbow. Haven't posted much this year, just haven't been out much with work and the kids covid school schedule. When I can get out I haven't seen a thing which is odd for me to not even see a doe or two. This morning I had two trash pandas all over me for about a half hour. Do you know how loud they are in crunchy leaves, it's unreal.

So glad you get to use it! I expect some pics of a big one!

Went out Sunday morning with a decent South wind we usually get a few flying. Pretty slow but we eventually limited out with two of us. With it being slow to get the limit I took my last shot at a hen, turns out that was a good idea.

Same story here in 8J at the processor I use. I caped mine myself and took the body last night. She said they took in 100+ opening day, 50+ each on Sun and Mon. She said it was the most they have ever had, and the most bucks ever they have been asked to cape for mounting purposes.

Thanks! He is super into it, I mean non stop it's all he talks about year round is hunting and fishing. Has his lifetime license, just dying to get to 12 so he can small game and now hunt. We threw some heat packs in his gloves and boots, and I brought his sleeping bag to get into while in our double ladder stand. He was warm the entire time which I was worried about but we didn't have to sit to long. Second guessing the mount, but caped it good just in case and will throw it in the freezer. More about him being there than the size of the deer. I did stop at the processor just to see what was there already. There were 2 or 3 deer that were massive, huge 10 pointers and a 12 pointers with a some stickers and stuff.

Took my 10 year old son out this morning for his first opening day ( legal disclaimer he did not shoot or have a gun). Shot this guy around 745, 10 pointer with a huge g2, the other side g2 was snapped off but is still a legal point. Will probably get home mounted due to the hunting memory more than anything. My son is the one who saw him and said big buck coming. Heart shot and he went about 100 and he watched him pile up.

I haven't gone back to my stands since my bow kill first weekend. Trying to stay out until Sat for gun opener. Think both pics are the same deer but I suck at this when there is angles. Second set of pics I just thought was cool because the doe went through and the buck was 4 minutes later mouth wide open.

Tagged out on my buck tag a month ago, finally got windy enough on the lake today to take the kids out. Just me in the blind with a license so two mallards in a short time and I was done already. I really miss the 4 mallard limit already as I could have had a few more, and to be honest 3-4 birds is just enough breasts to feed the family one meal. Same two ducks, my youngest (7) and my oldest (10) just taking turns for a picture.

What temp and how long did you do it for out of curiosity?

Sat my first watch of the year this morning. I have been skunked a lot recently during bow season and with two kids we really go through the meat. I saw antler and a big body and it didn't take long to decide even though it's opening weekend to pull the bow back. My kids and I really cut out some good lanes this year and luckily this guy walked right through one at 38 yards. I saw him coming slowly, he stopped just before the lane and I thought maybe it wasn't gonna happen. He then took about 3 more steps. He was quartering away ever so slightly but stopped perfect in the lane. I put the pin on him and followed up my shot. I heard it hit really hard and at first thought it was to far forward, but it turns out it tucked just behind the closer shoulder/leg and buried into the opposite side. I watched him run and watched the arrow sticking out about half way and then the arrow disappeared. I heard him crash at least once then nothing. Gave it a good hour and went to the spot, not good blood which had me super nervous. About 20 yards away however I had great blood and a good tracks. Followed it for about 60 yards and saw a white stomach. I will be honest that one little tiny part of me thought wow no more hunting for 6 weeks but I got over it pretty quick. I can find some time to take the kids duck hunting now. I know I never post but I do read almost every post all day in the Live from the Woods thread. It's great to read all the stories and I am thankful I have meat in the freezer.

Hi there, I know I never post in fact my last post was 2014. However I watch this thread all day every day. This morning was my first sit this year. I really hunt for the meat and not the antlers. I have gotten skunked on bow for a few years without even getting a good opportunity to shoot and I don't have a lot of time to hunt. Anyway this guy stepped into my lane at 38 yards just quartering away a hair. I tucked it just behind his shoulder. Hit the other side and he took off, watched the arrow snap off while he ran. Listened to him crash a few a few times and then heard nothing. Gave it about an hour, followed a massive blood trail a out 100 yards and he was piled up. Not a giant but he is mine.

Had today off, did a morning stint in 8j and saw 4 slicks and small 6. His rack was good enough to be older but his body was 1.5 all day. If he ever makes it he will be a stud in a few years bit probably not around here. Same buck came through in the afternoon about 50 yards out. Never winded me either time even though he go down wind for a minute. He was just lazily walking around but def during day light hours. Business is picking up I hope.