nyantler

yeah thats true also..lol

I have to laugh when some of you say that the dusk and dawn are the best times for seeing deer.. you really mean that is the best time for the hunters that sit in the same spot all day to see deer. That is not my experience, or the experience of most of the hunters that I know... the best time to see deer is anytime we are in the woods. Again, there will always be those that hunt close to the edge of the rules no matter what the rules are... 1/2 hour before sunup and sundown will turn in to 35 minutes, then 40 minutes, then 45 minutes. Mainly because most hunters couldn't even tell you what time sunup and sundown are. No law is going to change that. The laws are created to save stupid people from themselves.

yeah I suppose you could be right.. I think I should change my statement to "Obama doesn't own the guns in that picture" Kenyons don't usually hunt with rifles.. spears and blowguns... but not rifles.

Its not an uncommon occurance this time of year.. during the breeding season bucks become so frenzied with high hormone levels that they can hardly help themselves with the urge to breed. They will soon be losing those urges and hormone levels and start dropping antlers.

Sure there isn't anything wrong with those types of hunts if you're being on the level about what type of hunting ouyr doing. I think the problem is more with trying to pass that type of hunting off as really "hunting". Like filming a TV show in a fenced area and trying to pass it off as hunting. It is no more hunting than catching trout in the swimming pool at the local sportsmans show is fishing. Might be fun, but it wouldn't be considered sportsman like. Although after watching kids fish in one of those pools for hours, banging fish in the nose with bait and never getting one to bite..maybe it is a bit more of a challenge than catching a hungry trout in an adirondack stream. lol

I'm kinda on the fence about all this...

I think most of the guys that don't see deer late season are basically stand hunters... it only goes to reason that stand hunters will see less deer as deer movement slows down... some spots are better than others. Like you, I have never had trouble finding deer.. my hats off to those hunters that see lots of deer all year from a stand... they must be doing something right, have a great spot or are just plain lucky as hell... I can sit in a treestand for maybe a half hour and I get so bored and figity that it becomes absolutely no fun for me... I am one of those that always wants to know what is just around the next corner... waiting for deer drives me nuts!!

LMAO!!!!!

This is my time of year to donate a few does to the Venison drive.. I'll be out with both muzzleloader and bow depending on the weather.

Even if they don't know anything about the Onion... they know that Barrack Obama doesn't own a gun!!

Worked fine for me

I may if we get some tracking snow...

The best hunting attitudes in my opinion are similar to yours... the old saying that "It is not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game" applies here in my view. Learning to enjoy hunting and playing by the rules are way more important than killing the deer... the deer is the bonus (or the win) that comes from spending the time learning what hunting is all about... having a different opinion of what hunting is will always be the case among hunters... the important thing is to enjoy the experience no matter how you do it.

Or from some hunting show..LOL

Congrats!!! Feels good huh???

I have friends that have taken animals out West with modern inlines at close to 300 yards with scope... I shoot patch and roundball from my Hawkin proficiently at 100 yards, off hand with peep sight and am confident at that distance... I have never practiced any farther, so not sure beyond 100. Practice makes perfect, the guns don't just shoot themselves.

In-lines don't clean any quicker than my Hawkin if you are using the right stuff in the Hawkin... it takes me maybe 10-15 minutes to clean my gun for long term storage.

I'm betting that after the first week most sat in the same stands for the rest of the season, in the same hunting area expecting that things would change. I have shot 90% of my southern zone bucks in the first week of December and have filled every doe tag I have ever gotten for the last 15 years (except for 2010 season) during the late muzzleloader. Like I've said here before... not seeing deer is more the result of what you are doing than what the deer or someone else is doing.

Hawkin 50 cal. powder, patch, roundball.

I have misfired on 4 mature big bucks .. all chip shots at 40 yards or less...all are some of my best deer hunting stories and I can't help but laugh when I tell them..I have killed a few good bucks and many many does when the gun has decided to go off... sometimes the gun goes off the first day its loaded and some times it doesn't.. the same is true 9 days later.. and every day in between.. regardless of how careful you are to keep things dry it's gonnaa be a crap shoot with traditional equipment..unless the gun has been subjected to ran or a wet snow I leave the load in until I get a shot at a deer. Again, half the fun for me is the mystery of whether the gun will fire or not... and my flintlock is even more of a mystery, but still fun to me and sometimes make the best hunting stories.

There was a study done years ago where one mature buck was placed in a high fenced enclosure (I believe it was 1 mile square but not positive... could have been smaller, but no bigger) 10 hunters were put into the enclosure to hunt without weapons for 1 week ... not one of the hunters ever got a look at the buck. That gives you an idea how hard it is to see, let alone kill a mature whitetail buck. BUT.. even knowing that I could never get myself to hunt with anything but a camera in a high fence area... oh and by the way.. the buck was a captured wild deer... not a farm grown animal.

Half the fun of muzzleloading is the mystery of whether the gun is going to go off... one shot, one kill... powder, patch, ball.. I was so disappointed when things changed from a primitive muzzleloader season to allowing inline rifles that guys are using now. Not that the inlines weren't a good idea as far as a gun goes... but they are no more a true smoke pole than a sword is a pocket knife. The original TC Scout is probably the first inline, but at least it was loaded the same way as the older hawkin style side hammers... powder pellets, jacketed sabots, 209 primers, and scopes changed everything. All the muzzleloader season is now is just an extra 9 days of gun hunting... there are only a handful of us truly traditional type hunters left. I understand all the arguments for the inline, and they're fun to shoot like any other gun... just don't get why some fellas just are so resistant to doing things a little like they did in the past... lots of hunters talk about tradition, but few understand what it really is. It always comes down to having to kill a deer at all costs and making it as easy as possible to do so... IMO taking the challenge right out of hunt.

Correct..that is not an opinion, that is ignorance.

You do know that bitching on a forum and standing up for your freedom are two dofferent things? Although I'm one of those that believes there are too many laws... having no laws is not freedom, it's anarchy and no free society will last long with total anarchy and no laws to protect your freedoms.

Unfortunately the officer doesn't necessarily know for sure whether the corn was piled by the farmer to help the hunters per their request, especially if the hunters are the ones telling him that the farmer piled it... they just know for sure that the guys were hunting near piled corn...be an easy way to get around the law by having the farmer pile corn for you promising to take the blame if you get caught... if I'm an Encon officer I make the arrest and let them plead their case in court.