Stretchhunts

Looks like I'm in the same boat except my rage 2 blade left me one heck of a blood trail. Saw the buck go down 100 yards away. Gave it 1 and 1/2 hrs went to check and it was gone. Bright red blood all over the place. We tracked it for a few but decide to let it go til the am. Good luck tomorrow.

Good luck !!!! Off to get some sleep, Up at 4:30.

The day I loose the excitement of opening day is the day I walk away from hunting. I've had years where I got nothing or turned deer down and it doesn't bother me b/c I love to be hunting. I relax when I get into my stand but enjoy the waiting and counting down to opening day.Maybe it is b/c I'm 34 but if i don't get excited and look forward to doing it then why do it.

I have two bow stands set up in a bunch of apple trees with a huge open hay field on one side and a treed funnel going to the apple trees. All kinds of sign. One stand in the apple trees and one where the woods comes into the funnel. I've hunted them both a lot in the last 3 years and have only seen one doe and a spike. My uncle keeps telling me to take them down but for some reason I can't.

I'm 34 so not the youngest but not the oldest ;D

thanks, Just printed it out

I would wonder about putting venison in salt water? Wouldn't you be salting it to death by doing this? I myself don't think there is such a thing as gamey taste, it's just that venison is a different meat than beef, pork, etc. and that gamey taste is just a DIFFERENT taste from the other meats. never had any issues with salty taste but it does make it the most tender meat I have ever had. I've also been able to have people eat it and have no clue it was deer. It's just a trick I do but I perfer to cut my own deer b/c I am picky.

Bolt. I love hunting with him. nothing beats seeing the look on his face when deer come near us. Priceless

a trick I learned from a DEC officer is to put the meat in 5 gallon buckets with salt water. This will take the game taste out and tenderize it. Your water will look like red kool ade when your done. Let it sit for 24hrs.

He'll be happy with it. Now I just have to wait and get him in the woods. We'll be out with our bows this weekend but I'm dying to see him shot something with a rifle.

looks like we are going with the Savage 111 in .270. He handled that and the 30-06 with no issues. I just think the .270 with a flatter shot is better for him. Also he really doesn't need the long reach of a 30-06.

This may be real off the wall but a Indian guy I was talking to at a local sporting goods store told me to use my wife's tampons during her period. well I was dumb enough to try and it surprised to find out it did bring deer in. They would walk right up to the tree it was hanging in and smell it. I have yet to have big bucks come into it. Most of them were spikes and small 4 pts. Yes it is kind sick but I can get them for free twice during hunting season, lol

I can't find any info on it. I wouls assume no but I have a few calls into NYS parks and DEC officers I know to find out. No, there is no longer a mandatory check. "Attention Madison and Oneida County Deer Hunters There no longer is a Chronic Wasting Disease containment area within Madison and Oneida Counties, and there will not be a mandatory deer check for harvested deer in this area in 2010. Hunters are now free to move harvested deer outside of the former containment area." http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8325.html The two infected "wild" deer that were found seem a little sketchy to me anyway. There were two infected captive herds a couple miles apart and these deer were found right in between the two. Now I'm not typically a wild eyed "Allstate-released-tigers-to-cut-down-car/deer-accidents" conspiracy type, but I've always wondered if these two "wild" deer were actually escaped/released from one of these captive herds. thanks for that find. a lot of the hunters I know in Madison county all talk about the car/deer accidents.

I can't find any info on it. I wouls assume no but I have a few calls into NYS parks and DEC officers I know to find out.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/33220.html In order to increase confidence in our understanding of CWD in the Oneida/Madison Containment Area, a targeted sample of deer was collected during February and March of 2009. Information developed through this targeted sampling effort better informed managers on decisions to be made concerning future CWD management and possible Containment Area regulation changes following the 2009 big game season. With still no new cases of CWD detected, the Containment Area was decommission in July of 2010

Bow opening day I will sit all day. get in about 30 mins before legal shooting light. Gun opening day I will be in 45 mins before legal shooting light. Again I will sit all day. I three times I see the most deer during opening day are at first light, Right around 9 and right around 2. The last two I think is when the guys around me are coming out of the woods and coming back in. Seems like they always push deer to me that's why I sit all day.

I'm counting down the days. I'll hunt the first two days then I took Halloween week of sine that seems to be the week I always see deer starting to move around. ;D

awesome buck. That'd be a hard one to pass up with a bow but imagine what it'd look like next year.

Mr VJP thanks for the info. I'm rounding up some guns for him to shoot this weekend. I'll let youallknow how it goes.

Sorry I guess forgot to mention it will be all used for deer hunting. I do have him trying a .270, 30-06 and a .243 this weekend. All of them are older guns and I really never even crossed my mind about used, DOH. He watches me shoot my ithaca's and I use hornady SST's in them and he wants nothing to do with those guns, lol. Can't blame him but that's what I've always shot. New the to rifle hunting thing since they just opened it up last year in Madison county.

Wow guys thanks for all the replies. He has been shooting a .22 for a few years now and is real good with it. He also has been shooting a bow for 4 years now. I started him early with a bow b/c of his size he could shoot full size one with ease. All the guys I've talked to at gun stores are saying 30-06 b/c of the range of loads but everyone I know who shoots are all saying the .243 . If he stops growing I can spend more on a gun instead of clothes and food, lol

I'm trying to get my 14 year old into gun hunting. He wants nothing to do with shot guns. Since he doesn't know if he will like rifle hunting I'm looking in the $300-400 range. I hear horror stories about the remington 770? What caliber? 243, 270, 30-06? He is 6'4" and 235lbs so he should be able to handle it, just have to get him not scared. Thanks Mike

My 14 year old is into bow hunting which makes me proud. Gotta keep them off the couch and away from the xbox, lol

I use a Ithaca Storm 12 ga with Hornady SST slugs or a Ithaca model 37 with the same slugs. The storm has a scope and long fixed rifled barrel the 37 is iron sights with rifle barrel. no issues with groups out pass 100 yards with the scope.

I'm so glad I found a local hunting forum. I love the sport. Been hunting in NY for 18 years. I have a 14 year old son who is into the sport and a 10 year old that i hope will be soon. My wife also has been hunting for 6 years now. Can't wait to start reading all the topics on here to pass time until opening day. Mike