epanzella

Thanks guys, all good info.

Hey Newtown, you may have saved my bacon. I didn't know you couldn't use a rifle in Allegany! It's in Catagaraus county which is rifle so the no-rifle reg must be something particular to the park. Do you know any on line site that has a complete list of Allegany regs? I'm trying to avoid any more surprises. Thanks. Ed

Thanks Newtown. All the available elbow room for getting away from the yahoos is why we picked Allegany for this year's hunt. Here in Ct the state forest we usually hunt is over run with screaming and hollering orangeballs that start their deer drives at 7am opening morning, shooting up the place and rarely hitting anything. We spend considerable scouting time patterning bucks and it's all undone in a few minutes by these guys. We've had past success on CT public land but there just isn't unough geography to get away from the crowds and it's making it a lot harder to get a decent buck. I'll have to check out that Seneca Allegany Territory, we've got a full set of topos and have been comparing them with sat photos. Thanks again for the info. Ed P

Anyone have any info 2 share on Allegany State forest? Hunting there for the first time this year.

My son arrowed this buck on state land in CT this AM

Retired building/remodeling contractor.

Nice job!

I'm a nite owl and can't sleep if I hit the rack before 11:30. For single day hunts I get up at 3am which just leaves me ragged so I take NYQIL @ 7pm and I'm out cold by 9pm. This gives me 6 hours which is just about what I get when not hunting. When I go on a week long hunt I need the NYQUIL the first nite but by nite 2 I'm in the groove of hitting the rack with the rest of the guys @8 or 9 pm.

I have a Summit Viper and a Summit 180. These stands are the easiest to use and the most comfortable that I have experienced. I haul them in and out with me every day but keep a notebook with all the GPS locactions of the trees I use. An entry I make in my note book that's real handy is the cable adjustment of the top and bottom that works best when I get up to altitude. It's always a crap shoot trying to guess how the taper of the tree will affect your adjustments. The Summit cable has 4 sleeves crimped on to each cable end so my code would be, for example, T12 B22. The T12 would mean the top has 1 one sleeve exposed on one side and 2 sleeves exposed on the other. Obviously B22 would indicate the bottom would have 2 sleeves hangin' out on each side. This usually results in the stand tilting up at the base of the tree but it ends up dead level at my hunting height. (20-25 ft) Ed

A doe will snort, stomp her feet and often walk in a circle before going off the way she came. A buck will do nothing exept dissappear, either fast or slowly depending on how imminent he perceives the danger to be. Often he'll actually walk backwards for a few yards before turning around, leaving any doe with him to fend for themselves.

A few times when tracking a rutting buck that I killed I've smelled them before I saw them. Probably 30-40 yds in the thick stuff. I hunt from a tree so never smelt one "on the hoof".

My sons and I are gonna hunt Allegany State forest for a week starting the day after thanksgiving. Never been there but have high hopes. Reviewing topos and sat photos but it's too far away for scouting this year. (we're in Eastern Ct) First few day will have to be scouting and hunting.

Great funnel? Lots of sign? Don't see squat? We get that more often than not. Sounds like a nocturnal spot 2 me. Put up a camera and you'll know. I got my two best bucks from spots with just about zero sign, because the many doe in the area weren't using those trails but the buck would come by about once a week. It's tuff keeping your confidence in a spot when not even seeing any doe for days but sometimes you gotta hang in (up) there.

In any group of animals if there is a trait you want to breed out, you kill the animals with that characteristic and eventually it will go away. I'm no geneticist but it seems to me that killing only trophy bucks will eventually reduce the numbers of deer with those qualities. It seems that some culling of inferior animals would be required to maintain herd quality.

Yeah, still not terribly convenient but easier than a bottle alone. Always encouraged to hear about ladies who hunt. I hope I'll get to hunt with my grandaughters when they get a little older. My grandson has already bagged two deer. Good luck with your season. Ed

Now THAT'S funny, I don't care who yar.

Look in marine catalogs for the "Lady J" adaptor and pee bottle.

Thanks, Ed

One of the episodes a few of the drivers came up to me asking if I had seen a deer go by. So I told them. The other time the shooting was in some pines about a hundred yards behind my tree. As I was a brisk 5 minute walk (after reaching the trail) from the road and 5 minutes later I heard their trucks starting, it was obvious they weren't tracking or dragging anything. But I can see your point as it's certainly possible they were shooting at a different deer running where I couldn't see it. I'm not totally against deer drives as we've done them ourselves the last day or two of the season when the deer are hunkered down anyway due to hunting pressure. I am against drives that upset natural deer movement on the opening few days and I think any ehtical hunter would be against a group that wouldn't spend fifteen minutes looking for blood after firing 30 shots. We're going to try Allegany State Forest this year (first time) as it looks like there's plenty of elbow room and Cataraugus county seems to have it's share of slammers. Any info on that area would be appreciated. Ed

I'm a newbie here in NY because deer drives pushed me right out of our hunting ground in Ct. My sons and I make lots of scouting trips in the fall (6-8 full days) and we each try to pattern at least two bucks. Opening morning we're all cozed into our trees at Zero-dark-30 waiting for our efforts to pay off, then at 7am twenty or more bozos come sceechin', hootin' and hollerin' thru the woods stinkin' up the place. If a skipper so much as blinks, there is a barage of 30 or more shots in 5 seconds. Five minutes later, I hear the trucks start up and they're off to ruin another spot. These guys don't even take the time to look for wounded deer. On two occasions their target, (a doe in both instances) ran by me and stopped for a rest right near my stand. Both times they not only survived the spray of shotgun slugs, but were without a scratch. If the deer doesn't drop in it's tracks, these guys head for the trucks. No B&C buck is gonna get caught up in these drives, but they do hunker down for the rest of the season. It's a miracle nobody gets shot. We had been regularly passing up 110 inch deer and bagging bucks up to 140 in that (public) forest but since the drivers started hitting it hard deer sighting of any kind are down 90% and even 110 inch sightings are rare.

I hunt with a crossbow because I have arthritis in my shoulders and can't draw a conventional bow. They are fairly accurate when cocked properly and will achieve passthru's with just about any broadside shot that a compound bow can do. Are they the greatest? Not by a long shot. My Barnett is advertised at 300fps but only does 255-260 with the reccommended bolts and 100 gr Muzzies. While the trigger belongs on a cheap logsplitter, it groups (for me) about 3 inches offhand @ 20 yds and I limit my shots to 30. Both my sons have Mathews compounds and they are easier to carry while being more accurate @ 300fps. The xbow offers no advantage over a conventional bow but is a Godsend for people like myself who would be unable to bowhunt at all if they were outlawed. BTW, I bow hunt in Ct which requires a special Xbow permit in addition to a standard archery tag. To be granted that special permit, I had to appear before a review board with a letter from a doctor stating my inability to draw a bow.

I like to be ready and sitting still while it's still dark. I stay until it's too dark to shoot. I've shot deer every hour of the day, and once nailed a dandy 9 pointer @1pm while my hunting buddy was having a sandwich on his tailgate. He heard the shot and got a case of the shuddas. The only way to guarantee you won't see a nice buck is to get out of the woods.

I wouldn't piss on the ground within 500 yds of my stand. I always use a bottle. In your stand what scent you have is 30 ft up so why add your scent to the ground as well? Getting a spike or doe to come in close after you piss on the ground means nothing. You could probably call them in with a trumpet. Fooling a buck worth taking is another matter entirely.