nyantler

When someone says big buck... that is the buck I picture in my head... great animal!

Anyone who thinks that is a wolf has never seen a wolf... very curious how he sat 10 feet behind the animal which makes little sense unless you're trying to give the impression that it is bigger than it really is... if I trapped or killed a wolf I would certainly cozy right up to it for the photo so you could see how big the animal really is... some people will do anything to prove there are wolves in NY... there are not!

Damn... I can't believe I fell into his trolling crap again... I must be tired

Wow those are two good size Yotes!

How do you know WE'RE not the wrong folks to mess with? Just sayin'

Or across the water in Rikers..LOL

lol... You'd have to know me much better to know I don't worry much about that kind of thing... Lets just say I can handle myself just fine and definitely don't scare easily...

never second guess yourself when you make a choice about what, where or when to kill a deer... if it's legal it isn't "wrong".. it's more wrong to worry yourself over a choice you made in good conscience and under the law... hunting is suppose to be enjoyable like any hobby.. we make decisions based on the circumstances at the time... if you thought it was right then... then it is still right now.

I would have called he DEC as soon as he said that he already had gotten a regular season buck... and I wouldn't have done it anonymously so that when they denied shooting the 2nd deer I could be contacted to show the officer where and when everything took place if need be... even if the guys got out of it... it is always good to put those kind of hunters on the DEC's radar... I caught a man and his adult son shooting a doe out of their truck a few years back right in front of me as I came around the bend of a "village" road. The father shot from the driver seat across his son's chest and out the passenger side window with a muzzleloader... he killed the doe. We stopped next to him, he looked at us as I was taking down his license plate number... then he slowly drove off before I could say anything to him... I called a state police buddy of mine who sent out a trooper that took my and my buddies statements and confiscated the doe... she ran the plate number... the guy lived down the road about 2 miles.. she paid him and his son a visit ... they had to confess because we had witnessed the whole thing and they were arrested, for about a half dozen criminal violations then ticketed for DEC violations... they had both of their weapons confiscated, lost their hunting licenses for 5 years and were put on 5 years probation for the criminal part of it... not sure what the fine was, but my buddy said it was a hefty one...

Although I believe that there is no excuse for mistaking a hunter for a deer in the woods... not all of the incidents of hunters being shot are because they were mistaken for a deer... in some cases the shooter could be shooting at a deer and hit a hunter somewhere beyond the deer... if you are wearing orange it is much more likely that the shooter will see you beyond the deer, if you're wearing camo probably not likely at all...especially if you are stationary... a simple orange hat could make the difference between getting shot or not getting shot... wearing some orange during the gun season shouldn't have to be mandatory... if you're the gambling type and stupid enough to believe you're safe with camo on when bullets are flying then you get what you get... I feel sorry for the guy that has to live with shooting someone beyond his target that just wasn't visible because he chose not to be. Not being able to tell a live deer from a man or deer being pulled on a cart.. inexcusable.

41 Years

I tracked this buck on opening day in in Perryville NY... caught up with him and 4 does hanging out in a small patch of brushy woods... got 5 looks at him standing still but he never gave me a clear shot and I wasn't gonna risk wounding such a nice buck... snow was too crunchy to get any closer than about 70 yards and he always seemed to have trees or brush between me and him...I finally lost him to posted property after 3 hours... But my close buddy Dave shot him this evening at 4 pm at 12 yards on the ground... and I couldn't be happier for him... I always tell him things happen for a reason... the reason I wasn't able to kill that buck was because it was Dave's turn! By the look of the bucks antlers he was rubbing the hell out of the woods. Way to go Dave!

$6 an acre is usually fair.. with bigger pieces like 400 acres or more you might want to get some friends to share the lease with to cut down the cost. fair is also what you and the land owner can agree on.. dickering is ok.

Happy for you John... way to go... that's a beauty!!

What a buck!!

Some of us big buck hunters don't hunt for the trophy, but rather for the challenge... the greater the challenge the better the hunt in my opinion. I guess the trophy would be conquering the challenge. I personally don't think small bucks are much of a challenge... although I'm sure they may be for others and for them a trophy... whatever blows your skirt up is good by me... everyone has a different opinion about what is fun for them so that's what they should be doing. The contest in deer hunting should be between the hunter and the deer, not hunter and hunter.

I never noticed much of a difference with rifle or shotgun... with the muzzleloader however I pop a cap before loading to foul the barrel.

The "not bone driven" hunter if presented with a choice between two deer standing in front of him a doe and a 150 class buck will pick the buck every time... just because a hunter can't kill a buck doesn't mean he doesn't want to... and just because some of us choose to hunt big bucks doesn't mean we don't like hunting for antlerless deer as well... it's just a choice for some of us, just like killing smaller bucks is a choice for others... big buck hunting for me is my chance to get away and have a good time. I just don't see how horn hunting drives up the price of anything. In fact, I would think that all the fancy gear, scents, blinds, treestands, four wheelers and other unnecessary junk that the weekend warrior needs to gather is more expensive than the clothes on my back and a weapon that I carry. Sorry, but I just don't see your point. That's a nice buck in that avatar of yours by the way... I'm guessing by your post that you must have been disappointed that the deer had antlers.

The law is that you call an EnCon officer in that situation... that is the legal way... shooting the deer may have been noble, but for some reason you decided not to notify officials of the incident... that in itself is suspicious. You can't just make your own decision to dispatch a deer after legal hunting hours.

Whatever... but to your credit you're right... you aren't a name caller

I don't leave the vehicle until sunrise

I think that if AR's had been implemented 100 years ago and the DEC was trying to get it changed to a 3" antler rule now... this argument would be the same.. only in reverse... NY hunters are always divided on almost every issue that has to do with deer hunting... it wouldn't matter if the rule was the ultimate for conservation... the truth is very few hunters care a hoot about conservation... in fact, they prefer over population because it means more deer... they don't care about herd health, age structure, improving natural food sources.. just what ever makes it easier for them is what they want... and that's okay... they make up the majority of NY hunters so they will have the loudest voice... that's how things work... but we are slowly seeing a push for better age class that wasn't around 10-15 years ago... who knows what the future brings... I like the fact that many more hunters are now passing younger bucks on their own without any law telling them... many of them are younger hunters too... and they are the future of hunting.

Oops... My apologies then.

Editing your original statement doesn't get you off the hook... yes you did say unethical hunter... I read it a few times to make sure... but I guess that's the kind of thing we can expect from you now that we know a bit more about your ethics... and if you go back and read my posts I never called you unethical... just voicing my difference of opinion... that's kinda what we do here... but after your post edit trick I do question your integrity...

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