nyantler

You do realize that even if you stay the 20 more minutes.. you'll still get out of the stand and jump 2 bucks that would have walked up to you...lol.. thats how Murphy's Law works

I learned that is no such thing as a chip shot when shooting at a nice buck...I learned the hard way last year.. spent the afternoon tracking a nice buck that was following a bunch of doe.. I caught up to him and had him broadside at 40 yards.... a little downhill shot but nothing crazy... I missed him completely with my 870.... I have never missed a deer with that gun...ever... I think the shot was so nice that I already had him butchered and was eating tenderloin before the bullet left the gun... just goes to show you...nothing is for sure... lesson learned.

Atrain.. what year was that buck taken??

Looking forward to featuring some of your stories on my site for 2011.. good luck !

Actually you don't have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt.. just preponderance of the evidence... which means it's the officers word vs. the hunters... we know who usually wins there

I think thats what I enjoy most is knowing that you really only have one chance at catching the buck before he catches you... much different than big woods tracking where you have plenty of space to continue a track... sometimes in the small areas you end up having to leave the track to posted property.. it's all part of the game.. now obviously I couldn't spend all day on 54 acres... and may not even find a track to follow... most of my small acerage tracking happens when I have limited time that day to hunt, maybe just an hour or two.. I go to one of my local hunting spots and see if I can pick up a nice track.. I usually already have an idea that there is a nice buck somewhere in an area. I never worry about pushing deer to others.. thats part of what happens when you're hunting... and I never tresspass... no buck is that important as to invade someone elses hunting property.

I use to take the tarsal from every buck I killed and use it the following year... I haven't done it in a while.. I just always forget to cut it off the buck... its my favorite thing to use if I'm using something for scent

Burt those bucks were actually not from big woods... they were local to my home... i track even on small pieces of property and have been very sucessful... its very different from big woods tracking... I do both and have killed my last 5 bucks either in their bed or as they were getting out of their beds to get away... I hunted an 8 point buck in Maine once that someone saw early in the morning running into a swampy dark, dank ravine 3 miles in... the guy that saw the buck ( a local to maine) said that there was no way anyone could find that buck in that swampy area let alone kill him, it just wasn't possible... with that...I made the trek into the ravine. I walked through the swampy area full of blow-downs stopping every minute or so and looked for the buck laying down (there was no snow)... after I scanned the area I would grunt then scan again... I did this for about a half hour to 45 minutes as I made my way slowly through of the boggy blowdown... I stopped and scanned, made a grunt, and up from the ground about 75 yards away the 8-pointer stood up from his bed facing me... without even blinking I raise my 30-06 and shot him square in the chest... it took me 5 hours to carry him out of the woods on my back ( I was in my late 30's then)... the moral of the story is.. don't ever tell me it isn't possible... its only impossible if you aren't willing to try..

I would get at least front and rear sights to start with... beads are good for birds but not for deer...I'm guessing that you have the bird barrel on that Mossberg,, get a smaller slug barrel for deer... I never thought a scope was necessary for a shotgun in NY unless you have a vision problem.. most of your shots at deer will be well in range for iron sights

those are all gun bucks

with my Hawkin I have gone days with the same load if its dry out... after a snowy or damp day I usually unload the gun... I have been known to put a little powder behind the nipple, which I'm sure isn't common practice but it will get the gun to fire if you forgot to reload and you still have yesterdays load in.. just a tiny bit though you don't want to shoot you eye out

I do the Ghillie suit as well.. works better I think when hunting from the ground... I wear woolrich gray wool pants when it gets snowing up North.

I am a play the wind guy... I guess I got lazy in my old age and just refuse to go through the scent free ritual every time I go out to hunt.. but scent control or at least keeping away from a whitetails nose is the key to success... what ever a hunter does to keep from being smelled is a plus... no matter what it is.

Yes the suits are a far cry from their original suits from the 90's... I use to die in them some days... back then you wore an under suit and then an over suit... man were they hot... now they have everything you can imagine. I no longer wear one because I just don't like the price tag... but when I did they worked very very well. I still have a few suits but I think they are too old now to reactivate and have lost their zip!

Recurve.. cedar arrows..

Welcome Rick and Dan.. Madison County here... right on the border of Onondaga..

Sounds good to me.

Yeah I think that was already covered here..

The reason ScentLok works is because its carbon fiber woven into a fabric... its not the same as the carbon you would use for air and water filtration... the military has been using carbon filled suits for decades with the same results... thats where the idea actually came from...I do agree that playing the wind gets the best results when talking about bigger bucks.. the less chance your scent has of getting to their nose the better... ScentLok or not

I think the difference is that a big buck will always be more cautious than other deer... except maybe when he's chasing a doe... but the big boys don't take many chances.. thats how they got to be big boys.

say what you want, but until the bullet hits the deer... no shot is a sure kill...otherwise there would be no other need to take any other kind of shot but the so called sure shot... and nobody would be missing or wounding deer... some shots are just better than others but never sure... ... you say a 200 yard shot when you're "in the zone" is a high percentage shot... and I say I'd rather take a 50 yard THS than a 200 yard shot at anything... but thats me.. I know my limitations and I also know that nothing is for sure except death and taxes...

I agree.. but there still is no shot that is a sure kill...unless you can make the shot...if there was a sure shot.. everyone would take it and nobody would miss where they were aiming... no shot is a sure shot... just higher percentage than others for hitting your target..

I'd think you'd be happy for him if he's you buddy

Why? Because they are decimating the deer herd of a million in NY?

No shot is a sure kill... some are better than others.. just like some hunters are better shots than others... I'll pick my own shots thank you... knowing what you are going to do after a shot is just as important as the initial shot... I never let a deer just lay there and die... if it means another shot to finish the job then so be it...after my first shot I immediately cut the distance on the deer so that the next shot will be that much closer if I need to take another...I have been fortunate to never have had a deer last long enough to get away or even out of gun range before dying Many guys here talk about humanely shooting a deer yet... but don't talk the same about a shooting coyotes... or woodchucks... the idea is to kill the animal you are shooting at.. however that my happen... sometimes it is just uglier than others... some of you may think that a nice lung shot or a shot that puts a deer down immediately is always more humane... just because they aren't flailing around doesn't mean that they are any less alive... yet the hunter will stand there and watch the motionless deer gasps for breath for minutes before expiring because they don't want to spoil any meat... I'll take the Texas heart shot any day with a shotgun or rifle.. knowing that unless I miss the deer completely... it will only be a matter of seconds before he is dead... even if its from a second or third bullet.