sampotter

"For those of you who go through the trouble of aging deer, how often do you find youself surprised by the results? A buddy of mine shot a 6 yo doe (aged by dec) from long island few yrs ago that was under 100 lbs dressed. I would have never guessed that old. Also my cousin shot a big 7 ptr last year in catskills that was 23 inches inside spread. And real massy. Deer only weighed in the 150s dressed. That one was aged at 8.5 by taxidermist. I was shocked body wasn't bigger. And this year in same areea of catskills the buck I shot was an 8 ptr, without much mass. The face was all gray and old looking and it dressed out at 153. Looking at rack I would say 2.5 (maybe 3.5) but judging by the face and weight I would say possibly older. Strange." Yes, I was surprised in 2007. I shot a 144" with my bow and a 129" 9 pt with the gun. Cementum annuli aged at 3 and 4, respectively. After further review it did make sense though. The 144" buck had bases that were maybe barely 4", a baby face (although grey), and a smallish body, while the other buck had 4.5" bases with thick, short tines, and a more muscular body. That was when I stopped looking at overall rack size and started to look more at the rest of the deer to estimate age. 144" 3 year old 129" 4 year old

For the most part, if you see a nice buck that has 4" plus bases in NY and you say he's a 4 year old, then you are going to be within a year of age 90% of the time. There aren't many bucks in NY that live past 5.

There is a clear tendency for east coast hunters to wishfully think their bucks are older than they are. I've heard the "grey face", "big head", "roman nose", etc more times than I can count. It seems like in the Midwest a lot of guys like to think that bucks are younger than they are.

The guys split up. There is the huntingbeast forum and I'm not sure if the other guys have a forum or not.

Tooth wear has been proven to be wildly inaccurate.

2 yr old 6. 20 yards. Double throat patch. Perfect tracking day.

Just tracked a 2 yr old 8 to his bed. Public land. 40 yards.

From these articles it appears that even different regions in the East have varying amounts of wolf DNA in their respective coyote populations. In any event, we do not need wolves in NY! I was in the Adirondacks for 4 days last week. More than a few times I found running deer tracks with running coyote tracks following them.

http://www.apnmag.com/summer_2006/wolves.php

For whatever reason I cannot copy and paste the link. Search " reuben cary last Adirondack red wolf". There are several good links. There is reference to the fact that genetically, the coyotes in the NE are "more red wolf than coyote", so maybe the "wolves" never truly disappeared from NY.

The last wolf killed in the Adirondacks (1890s, Reuben Cary) was DNA tested and found to be a red wolf.

When all of his teeth have fallen out and he's walking with a cane?

*This*

Drive might be just the right word; as in "deer drive"....

Exactly- that's either a blacktail or mule deer. Not a whitetail.

Nice- I love big rubs!

That picture has been around awhile.

I was going to say the lymph node on the shoulder but I see Meat Manager beat me to it. The blackness is odd especially when everything else has good color.

I was wondering if he was still around. What about "Little freak nasty" or whatever his name was?

17-18" is around average for these parts. 20" + would be considered "wide". Spread gives you a general impression but an above average spread doesn't contribute to the score as much as above average mass or tine length.

Although I really like my Bushnells I have had a couple that tend to "freak out" when the temps get too cold and they will fill the card in a day or 2. If they were the only ones I had I would say the Bushnells were junk, but the other ones I have convinced me that I had just bought a couple of duds was all. The real testament is whether the company stands behind their product. As far as I know, Covert and Bushnell are some of the best in the industry in this regard.

Thanks. I'm actually headed back up tomorrow night for the last 4 days of the NZ. The steps to my camp are 10' to the right of the camera. This buck has been through a couple of times on patrol. I do know where he sleeps though...

I have 11 Bushnells and 4 Coverts. I like them both. Both have good battery life. The Bushnells seem to have better video and the Coverts have better still photos- some so good that I am going to frame them and hang them on the wall.

I was just sent this text. I forgot to the change the time. It should read 16:06.

All of these videos listed offer some tips that you can blend together into your own style. The Benoit stuff I can really only use up in the ADKS but some of the pointers I learned from Hill Country Bucks can be used when tracking- especially the bedding stuff and the thermal tunnel idea. Not every tactic is applicable to your hunting area. To me- if you aren't learning anything from these DVDs you then maybe you should put out your own...