nyantler

I heard those things can shoot 500 yards on a string... imagine the havic that might raise with a bowhunt with traditional or compound equipment. Not sure how I will sleep thinking that some hunter might totally ruin my trad bow hunting experience. picture it.. somewhere someone will be launching arrow like objects great distances at over 300 fps at some unsuspecting deer while I'm trying to hunt with my little ol' recurve... oh wait.. that might just be a compound bow... no maybe a crossbow... either way.. its gonna totally ruin my bowhunting...

For me its Zwickeys with my cedar arrows and use to be Magnus when I shot Terminators with the recurve

I hang deer feet up because my gambrel doesn't work well with the head up

Not being a fan of crossbows is just fine... saying that it will promote poaching is a bit out there as an argument against them..Having crossbow season or not i'm sure doesn't increase the amount of poachers... if they are poaching deer they will use any weapon they want... whether legal or not.. its not like they won't use a crossbow thats illegal the same as they would if it was a legal hunting weapon. Thats why they are called poachers because they don't care about legal or not.

I guess pretty soon you'll be calling on people stopping to admire the work you've done on your property... as for paranoia... sound to me like you have a good case of it... also sounds like you have pissed off some people in your area... with all the property I own or lease I have never been much concerned about people stopping on the road to look at deer or spotlighting... an never found the need to confront them. As for trespassers I have had a few andd I usually end up just politely letting them know what I think they need to know...I use to know a guy like you that spent his whole hunting season walking the perimeter of his property looking for poachers that didn't exist.. constantly complaining about all the trespasser, when in fact they were just neighboring landowners walking the edge of their own property... instead of talking with the neighbor and maybe making a friend... he just pissed them off enough so that they were happy to continue sitting the edge just to drrive him nuts... later he got caught shooting deer and not tagging them (poaching) on his own property... I guess the neighbors might have had more to worry about with him than he with them.

Getting a deer is a bonus that just makes the experience all that much better... for me it is all about what leads up to that bonus... like Noodle I have had many great hunting days that I didn't shoot a deer... if you can't say that.. then you might want to rethink why you are hunting.. yes, we are all doing our part for conservation and that should be part of the equation for a happy hunt... but the bottom line is that there are some great experiences with friends and family that can't be replaced by even the biggest bucks

The Shrade Old Timer 152 Sharpfinger.. the only knife I have ever used... I have 3 of them.. the older ones made in the USA with American steel are best...

The first challenge would be seeing a deer that you can shoot... which has nothing to do with the weapon in hand

Great story Noodle... it would serve a lot of hunters well to learn to make the deer secondary to the experience... after all if you're not having fun and soaking in all that nature has to offer.. whats the point? good job!!

Absolutely correct...food plots wouldn't be pulling just the bucks off the property.

They kick less than a shotgun and its all about traditional hunting for me.. I love it... one bullet...some powder and a primer and away you go. I even use mine during the regular season. It was started as a primitive muzzleloader season and IMO has progressed to single shot rifle season. I'm not an inline guy and never will be, but its still one shot... so you need to make the first one count.

good job NJG... good start!

It can snow from now until the last day of late muzzleloader as far as I'm concerned.

LOL... sounds good to me.

If you want to hunt bad enough you'll find land to hunt.. it's going to be tougher for those hunters that live closer to NYC or places that are very urban... the more urbanized the area the harder it will be to find land... here in Madison/Onondaga County we are less than an hour from tons of state land to hunt.. that is virtually empty after opening day... and lately even on opening day.

22 acres is like a postage stamp to a deer... if you are seeing does and fawns you should be seeing bucks.. at the very least during the rut when bucks are most active... my guess is that you don't have you cameras in good buck areas and you might not be hunting in a place where bucks feel safe. Also the surrounding properties may be harvesting an abundant amount of small bucks making it hard formore mature bucks to take hold in that area. Where there are does there will ALWAYS be bucks... otherwise you wouldn't be seeing fawns. I have hunted property where the hunter/landowner made the same claim as you and I found a buck within a few hours and saw three bucks that day.. granted they were smaller bucks but still bucks that the landowner said weren't there.

I agree... I think some hunter are intimidated by the vastness of some of the state land...or are just to lazy to travel a little to hunt... either way there is plenty of land to hunt if thats what you really want to do.

Not to be combative.. but there is no data that says that half th participants are crossbow hunters during the bowseason.. there are more crossbow users overall in the state. 43% of hunters own crossbows while only 36% own traditional or compound bows and 21% own a gun only. Because they can hunt with crossbows during anytime of the deer season... there is no good data saying that more crossbows are used during the bow season. Although I agree that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't more kills with crossbow during the bow season.

I think if I used pins I would put them slightly behind the front shoulder..

They are not necessarily choosing crossbow during the bow season Although crossbows seem to outnumber traditional and compound bows in Ohio... there are no separate permits for the archery or gun seasons... hence there is no hard data on which season the crossbow is used let alone how many actual bowhunters there are in Ohio.. a survey in Ohio showed that young hunters getting into archery have a higher rate of using crossbows because of it's simplicity. As they reach the age of 18 to 25, this group shifts to compounds or traditional equipment, and then when the hunters reach age 45 to 48, they tend to shift back to crossbows again because it is simpler to shoot. There was no mention of crossbow superiority in survey responses So why more hunters are choosing crossbows in ohio might be because they are young hunters or elderly that wouldn't be hunting the archery season maybe without the simpler option of a crossbow.. not because the crossbow is more superior or there is an agenda to oust traditional and compound bows from bowhunting. No matter how much NYB types try to convince us thats the case.

LOL

Where the heck do you live growalot?? I'd move if I had the problem you have.

Unfortunately you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink... we can only introduce hunting to the younger generation. But like it was for us it is up to that generation to carry on after we are long gone... whether or not the hunting tradition lives on depends soley on our youngsters keeping up with things after we're gone.. that remains to be seen.. not by us obviously ... we won't be here...

Wolverines for me.. 800 grams... I also have Lacrosse Burley rubber boots for the really wet days.

random rubs don't get me too excited other than knowing that there is a buck around that made it ..rub lines or clusters are the rubs that interest me.... a rub line is usually set where a buck frequents often.. could be a path to and from a food and bedding area... or some other commonly used trail... amost always tracking a buck you will see all of the rubs from years and years of travel by other bucks that have used that same trail... most of the time whitetail bucks don't walk willy nilly through the woods... they keep to a trail that they know to be safe...