sampotter

Phade is correct about it creating a funnel. You might as well have a lake there- deer won't cross it unless pursued. On the other hand you can walk through it to cover your boot scent. I will be hanging all my clothes in the heifer barn this year. My grandad always used to say there was no better cover scent than to wear your barn clothes and boots out hunting. As I remember he, my Dad , and uncle killed a lot of deer after chores in their barn clothes. Lagoon manure is a different beast though.

FSW- My original statement was that it would be nice to see a picture on a magazine that represents a possible trophy for nearly anyone that deer hunts. It is a fact that the average NY buck that reaches 4 years of age will score somewhere between 130 and 140. They are not behind every tree but I have been fortunate enough to get a chance at something like that nearly every season that I've lived in NY. I live in one of the better regions of NY but there certainly ios plenty of hunting pressure.

FSW- I'm not sure it's necessary to do a call out. It's common knowledge that the average NY buck will score 130-140 at 4 years. Your captive bucks must reach that size at 2?

I agree with earlier statements about lowering the age for young hunters. I was the least interested in hunting in my entire life at that age. It continued right through college which i almost regret. I had priorities ... Get them started young before the hormones take over. Let parents decide when their kid is old enough.

Not sure what this was supposed to mean? 135s are not hard to come by or the broken brow tine.

Doc- I would agree that there are more than enough guys that travel around and just hunt and get their mug on TV. I don't have cable so I can't say I am familiar with all of the junk out there but I know there is a lot. You'd have to agree that there are some that do put in the hours though. Sure Lee and Tiffany are generally annoying to watch, but they mostly hunt their own farms and hang their own stands. I'd have to agree that the product placement is whorish. I guess it makes their lifestyle possible.

I would much rather see a nice clean 135" 8 point with a swelled up neck and broken brow tine than a 37 point cultured pearl. P.S. Dave- I didn't say anything about anyone's imagination

I read a good article recently about several different stages of a hunter's career. This may be the same one or one very similar. Basically it gives a different label to different steps in a hunter's career. The last stage listed is the Sportsman stage where its more about giving than taking. Note the author pointed out that not all hunters make it through all the stages. http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/hunter-stages.php Honestly I would love to mentor a teenager during a youth season. I would agree with some earlier posts in that I would not accompany someone else's kid so they can hunt themselves.

I don't know about anyone else, but I am sick of seeing some nontypical, blunt-tined, white-antlered, pedigree-bred, pellet-fed bucks on the covers and in articles of some of what I thought were decent hunting magazines. Granted, a lot of Alsheimer's photos are of captive deer, but at least they look like I might see one like that when I'm hunting. I have no problem with pictures of huge wild bucks, but when they are clearly farm deer and their picture is at the beginning of an article about stand location its like using tattooed porn stars as models in a Victoria's Secret catalog.

Doc- I'm sure most of these same arguments have been made before. I wish there was a way to present old threads as a HuntingNy "encylopedia" or archive that was easy to look through and see if someone already said it.

Hunting shows don't have to be unrealistic. It all depends on what you want out of your hunt. No, you are not likely to see multiple mature bucks in the same day because of the way we (the state) manage our deer herd. It also depends on what name brand of hunting show you watch. I tend to like the Drury type productions and stay away from Buckmasters type stuff. I also try to stay away from DVDs that show hunting styles that are not possible or not legal where I hunt (baiting in Saskatchewan, hunting a sendero in Texas). Sure he bucks are bigger than the average mature buck in NY, but if you are hunting for mature bucks and scores are secondary, then the sheer size of the video bucks should not make it unrealistic. The other thing to pay attention to is the days they hunted and didn't see or shoot anything that is worth showing. I've noticed stretches of 10 days or more where the TV hunter reportedly doesn't see a shooter. That is reality. If any one of us was getting paid to hunt 30 days a year I'm pretty sure we'd all get a crack at a mature buck. Remember- they only show the money shots, nobody wants to watch a guy sitting in a tree counting acorns. Watching DVDs has helped me judge deer body language, watch how deer respond to calling and/or decoys, judge maturity, and guess at scores. To me the only truly unrealistic thing about hunting shows is how much more time these guys spend hunting (also preseason preparation) than the average guy. It would probably take the average guy 5-10 hunting seasons to amass the sheer amount of qaulity hunting days that the average TV hunter hunts in one season, which is probably why the average guy only gets a crack at a nice buck every 5-10 years.

I have never heard anyone else bring it up so I will: If we designate seperate seasons for muzzleloaders and shotguns/rifles, then why would we have crossbows and vertical bows share the same season? Obviously there are a lot less differences between MLs and shotguns than there are between CBs and VBs. I support allowing CBs in bow season only for those with a permanent, documented disability that does not allow them to shoot a vertical bow. Crossbows require a lot less practice to be proficient with. I enjoy bow season because I can see deer nearly every time I go out and they are doing normal deer things. Gun season is a crapshoot around here- most of the deer I see are ones running from the neighbor's land. Normal deer activity totally shuts down. If crossbows were allowed in bow season there would be a large influx of folks that had never bowhunted before because it was "too much work". I enjoy the solitude of bowhunting and the liklihood of seeing game. I'm sure there are some that would call me selfish or elitist. Bowhunting is not an exclusive club. There's a reason why some trout streams are flyfishing only. If you want to get the first crack at the bucks then put in the time and pay your dues.

Here's a couple more angles of his rack when still in velvet. It appear that there is no split in the right G2, just a great big leaner.

Here's the 12 vs. a known yearling in a side by side comparison. I still think the 12 is 2. Regardless he is cool and has a ton of potential. Unfortunately I've had 2 other really young bucks with racks similar that didn't last long.

I would have to say it is split. Mainframe 8 with 4 nontypical points, or maybe a 10 with 2 nontypical points?

A really nice 2 year old with 12 total points. Have my fingers crossed that he lives a few more years.

I would support this idea. I don't need to kill more than one big buck in one state in the same year. On the other hand, I've only ever done it twice and I've had enough seasons without any mature buck sightings. It would at least make people hesitate for a moment before they drop another nondescript yearling. I support ARs because I want to see a big buck or two every season and there's no shame in that. Will ARs help the health of the deer herd? It depends on what you mean by healthy. I guess if fawns are being born every year then at least the herd is reproducing. Is the herd in a "natural" state? Not if you are comparing it to what it was when Columbus landed. Imagine if there were no men around and all the 20-30 year old women were being bred by 13 year old boys? It would be like some African countries where all the men have died in war. Babies will still be born but it certainly is not "natural". Proponents of ARs and QDM that are promoting herd health are saying just that. A healthy herd has a natural age structure that includes 50% of the bucks being 2 years old or older. Yearling bucks rarely get a chance to breed. More competition for does means a more intense rut and a tighter breeding window. With all the fawns being born in a short period of time it makes it harder for predators to make much of a dent in the overall fawn crop. I read that a lot of PA hunters hated ARs until the second season. Then there were legal bucks everywhere. Shooting yearling bucks is picking low hanging fruit. There are smart ones and there are dumb ones. The dumb ones get shot. Let those dumb ones get to be 3-4 years old and you have a dumb, but nice buck. Everybody wins. ARs are only a temporary one season inconvenience. Most of those yearlings you weren't allowed to shoot will be there next season. Then you will be able to shoot them. At the same time the next crop of yearlings is growing into legal size. That's the beauty of deer- they are a renewable resource that matures fairly rapidly. P.S. For all you folks that pick at each other's spelling, grammar, or brag about your hunting prowess: grow up.

Tell you what- I would never attempt to scare an armed buddy. I would scare the crap out of him if I knew he was unarmed though. I had a coyote come right to the base of the tree I had just descended in the dark when I was 15 feet away. I knew what it was and wasn't really scared but I can tell you that the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I also had a spike come right up to me in the dark in CT as I worked my way to a tree.

Lame

Here is the answer to that:

As I remember they had scored it as a typical but called both G3s abnormal and deducted them from the net. It didn't make sense but I read it more than once.

Knew you'd have a comment Joe. It's interesting- the way the D+DH article makes it sound- B+C is insisting that it is measured as a typical? If true it means that they have already ruled it not to be a common base point. Sounds like more of agreeing on a score than anything else.

The only real reason to use cedar is that the post should last several years. The critical thing is not to contaminate it with human stink. Needs to be conspicuos and have a licking branch shoulder height or lower to a 6' man.

YES G-man! I am eagerly awaiting developments. Remember that Rompola allegedly agreed to sign an affadavit saying he would not enter his book in B+C as long as the Hanson buck was the WR?