sampotter

Saw just his head in the back of a neighbors pickup the other day. Its actually been there for a few days. Brown its down....

An article in D&DH by Ozoga cited a study that showed that although more than 50% of rattling sequences elicit responses hunters saw less than 50% of responding bucks. The bucks always approached from downwind.

Gggggggaaaaddddaaaannnggggg!

I'm taking the trusty bow out tomorrow.

Nice double throat patch too.

I live 10 minutes south of Auburn- it seems like all I see is deer drives. More like stomping up rabbits. Once I started bowhunting I learned to appreciate and respect deer more and don't care for deer drives. Seems like a lot of deer around here just move into town once gun season starts.

Really? Cows really aren't that hard to kill, especially if the cow was sick, old, in labor, etc. Also most people labal all bovines as "cows" whether they are 2 days old or 2 years old. I have heard of bears grabbing calves out of hutches on dairy farms in northern NY.

Ha- only if it was a female horse and a male deer... But no, not possible. Hope this guy makes it 3 more years. Unfortunately the full body mount is going to be expensive for whoever gets him. I was mowing hay in CT several years ago and moved a fawn out of the field that had pink hooves but no extra white.

Last season I set up a tent style groundblind behind my house and put all my hunting stuff on a clothes rack. I then put a hotplate with a metal coffee can full of poplar shavings in there. I closed up all the windows and the door. Smoked em really well. I got busted maybe one time. I did read somewhere that smoke may be carcinogenic so you may want to look into that.

Absolute dream buck.

Really? Did you miss the part where he had already used his buck tag thereby making shooting the 2nd buck ILLEGAL? It always amazes me when folks tried to rationalize breaking the law. There is no gray area- the law is black and white. There are other states that allow party hunting, NY is not one of them. It's illegal to even possess another hunter's deer tags other than a signed DMP. I'm not even sure the 2nd deer got tagged. Grow has the right stance- shooting an illegal deer is stealing the opportunity from everyone else. This deer was not one on my trail cameras so I don't feel as though he poached one of "my" deer and I'd be happy for any hunter that LEGALLY killed it.

There are some folks that buy their wife a license even though she has no intention of hunting. I follow your devil's advocate point but it easier to go by the law than a "well, what if?" I agree with your second point completely. There are 4 other hunters on this property and they were all allegedly there for each kill. The fact that they don't tell him to drag his arse amazes me. None of those other guys have shot a buck...

Didn't say I had a solution- I just basically agreed with the thread topic of missing bow season already. I could come up with some suggestions but they wouldn't fly.

Ah- SteveB.. We live in the same general area so I suspect that what I see and hear is similar to what you see and here near you; droves of orange coats pushing patch after patch of brush, people shooting from and across roads, trespassing, ATV riding where there shouldn't be, shots before and after legal hours, etc. The rah-rah-rah BS drives me nuts. I probably live too close to a large population center so maybe get to see more than my share of wannabe gunslinger yahoos that give a bad name to our sport. The only time I hear a complaint about bowhunters is when someone sees a deer with an arrow sticking out of its head, which is not often. The general public have issues with gun hunters all the time.

A guy that hunts with my neighbor shot a decent 115" 3yr old 8pt across the road opening morning of gun season. Not a buck I would shoot and I was a little surprised he shot it as it is not his first rodeo, but a nice buck that the majority of NY hunters would be tickled to take. Fine, congratulations. Then my neighbor called me yesterday evening to tell me that the same guy shot a much bigger 8 pt yesterday- a 130"+ 8 pt from the same stand! I told him I was reporting it to DEC, he asked me not to and said he had thoroughly handled it. At this point all I have is heresay because I have no evidence of the 2nd deer other than a pic on my neighbor's camera. This kind of stuff is what is wrong with the deer hunting in NY and probably the country. Poaching of any kind hurts us as hunters. I understand why he would want to shoot the 2nd buck- it is a great deer, but I don't get why he feels he is entitled to steal from the citizens of NY by shooting it. This same douche shot a decent 3yr old 7 point on the gun opener last year and then wounded a spike during a deer drive a little later in the season. Incidentally I ended up finishing it off after it crossed my property. I returned to the farm and soon I received a call from my neighbor asking if I wanted to tag the aforementioned douche's spike because even though he wouned it he didn't actually want the deer. Just like the average dog that can't resist giving chase to something that runs, this guy can't resist shooting at something with antlers, big or small. Another note- my neighbor's hunting group seems to believe its ok to tag a buck with someone else's buck tag, even if they are wintering in Florida, so they are not a completely wholesome bunch either. At this point I have made 2 decisions: 1) although I have participated in a couple of drives in the late season with my neighbor's group over the past couple of years, I will no longer do this as I don't need to be associated with the above crap or get in trouble for it. 2) I told my neighbor that I would not call the DEC this time (I have no hard evidence and my neighbor is a genuinely good guy except for this stuff) but assured him that if I found out this happened again that I would and they could assume that it was me. I am sure this happens all across the state and it needs to be stopped even if it is one at a time.

Gun season is ridiculous.

Get as far away from access points on state land. Hunt weekdays if you can- Thursdays or Fridays would be best because the previous weekend's activity should have cooled off.

Depends on the pressure. In some places i hunt i wont get the big boys on camera again until next bow season and on others they'll be back in a week or so. If you can offer a sanctuary and hunt really carefully using the wind and not doing drives and tromping around it'll help. My #1 goal for a hunt is to get in and out without deer ever knowing i was there. Also- it ain't over 'til it's over.

Bow season is when deer at least get to act naturally and you get to see big bucks.

It may also be they feel safer where you hunt. 2 years ago i had 31 deer come into a 3 acre brush lot on opening morning of gun season. During bow i would never see more than 5 in a day.

All i can say is i really like mine. It is rechargable but you can also use aa batteries. I use it deep in the adks with no problems.

At least a dozen shots before legal hours. 1st ones 45 minutes early. I miss bow season.

I hunted Ohio earlier this week -and 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset for bow season. It was nice.

My Dad snapped these pictures from the road on 11/13/12 at 11 am. All I could say was Wow! This buck would look big in Illinois. His neck is thicker than his hindquarters. This is what a fully mature buck looks like folks.

I have a garmin rino 655t. It is great but a little more expensive.