covert

Overkill? It's possible to be too dead? I've shot deer with a .30-30, .30-06, .50 muzzle loader, recurve, compound, 12ga slug and .450 Marlin and I'm pretty sure they all ended up about the same amount of dead. I know a guy who's shot deer with a .375 H&H, I was this close to getting a .416 Rigby and sure would've used that on deer too.

He'll be a whopper next year.

Chris Christie vs Rosie O'Donnell.

Could be put to good use looking for a down deer maybe.

Depends. The steaks I cut at the beginning are trimmed better than the ones at the end. If it's cold enough I can spend 2-3 days cutting one up then it will be all separated and nicely trimmed. If I have to get it all done at once I try to do the best cuts first because when I get towards the end I tend to do less separating and trimming and more cutting. That's when I end up with some just cut across.

Wouldn't let me edit to add the story so I guess I'll just add it this way. I have a stand hanging on a small maple right in the middle of where three trails meet at an opening in a fence. I got in my stand about 4pm Monday and watched squirrels for about an hour. A little after 5 a yearling came under my stand followed shortly after by a big doe. She caught me turning to check the noise and froze. After staring at me for a minute or two she flipped her tail and was bounding away when I gave her a couple light grunts and stopped her. When she turned back she couldn't figure out where I was so after a few more minutes she moseyed off. Shortly I noticed some deer chasing each other around and figured I had a buck on a doe, but it was actually two does chasing each other through the woods. They came in with 5 more does and drew in a 5pt buck from the opposite direction. I had let this 5pt go the Wednesday before also so I let him go again. Now it's about 5 minutes to 6 and I am thinking that if I get down I will have time to get the boys in a bath and read them their bedtime stories when I hear a rustling in the leaves off to my right. I first think 'squirrel' but then I hear a stick break and immediately amend that to 'deer'! I was already standing so I sloooowwwwwwllllyyyy, one tiny step at a time swivel to my right to see a deer moving through the woods towards me. It's just starting to dim enough in the woods that the color in the leaves isn't quite so bright when he steps into a small opening and I see the nice, typical 4 point side and decide that if he gives me a shot I'm taking it. He moves up under a small apple tree, thrashes the branches with his horns, makes a scrape right there and pees in it, then starts to make his way towards the opening in the fence. One step, pause; one step, pause; one more step and he's going to be into a hole in the branches 12 yards away I had that 5pt standing in last week. Since he started to move from under the tree I've had my bow drawn and that pin right tight behind his left shoulder. When he stepped into that hole I don't even remember squeezing the trigger on my release but I saw that blue nock streaking towards him like a laser beam, hitting him just perfect behind the shoulder! He took off running like a rabbit with that nock sticking out of him around me in a half circle and just after he went out of sight I heard a crash. That's when I started getting excited, I searched every pocket, twice, for the phone. When I finally found it I called my father and managed to stumble out something about shooting a buck, a nice buck, and to bring the truck. He drives to the edge of the field and heads through the woods to me. We started tracking him about 6:30 following little tiny drops of blood. (If he'd been hit 3-4" lower he would've drained more out on the ground and given us a better trail.) After about 20 yards I saw my nock glowing through the woods and headed right to it just to find the arrow stuck in the ground but no deer! The crash I heard was him running into a top that was leftover from when the woods were logged, and by the scuffs in the leaves he fell and the arrow stuck in the dirt and pulled free. By 7:55 we hit an apparent dead end in some swampy ferns and goldenrod and spent the next 10 minutes standing in one spot until I finally spotted a little blood on a goldenrod stem. Just beyond it was my BUCK! I eased up on him to make sure he was dead and saw his left horn up off the ground. When I lifted his head I was so shocked I hollered and dropped it again. He never stopped to lay down, he just ran from where I hit him until he dropped, around 100 yards total. Pretty darn good I'd say for being hit through both lungs and the off side shoulder. Turns out he wasn't perfectly broadside but turned slightly away with the right foot forward so it caught that shoulder.

That's the trouble with typing. You can't see someone's demeanor or expressions. I wasn't taking any sort of offense, just pointing out why sometimes you end up with pics that aren't as nice as you'd like. It was already in the front of my mind due to an article in the NYON about photography. I think those pictures where the hunter is arms length behind the animal are somewhat comical too.

I wish I had gotten a nicer pic of mine from this year but we found him well after dark and it was so warm I started right in on cutting him up in the morning. I like a nice "woodsy" picture over a "back of the truck" one as much as anyone but sometimes you just do the best you can with what you have to work with. I will say that I do always try to tuck the tongue in though because it is awful looking.

10/20/14 11pt, 18.5" spread, 145 lbs dressed. 1986 Darton 30MX, Easton 2018, G5 Striker 125gr point, blue Nockturnal nock. 12yds from my stand. His right antler looks like it has one monster brow tine but if you look closely the brow is up against my hand. That's almost like a second beam on that side.

Are you naked too? That would be quite the pic!

Here's hoping for 10 million more.

Guess I should've kept my mouth shut, the Missus found one on the baby's leg tonight. Must've come in on me today and got onto him.

Mucks must be love 'em or hate 'em. I hate 'em. Pair I had didn't last and I didn't like the way they fit my feet. I had a pair of Northerners that I liked except I wish they came in an 18". My old Lacrosse that were made in America lasted almost 15 years before they gave up the ghost, the new Chi-com ones I got partway through the second season.

Where do some of you guys hunt that you encounter that many ruffians in the woods?

I don't want them to get anything done. Every time they do they just screw the rest of us. I'd like to see a mandatory sunset on every law passed so they'd need to revisit it every few years and reenact it if it was any good instead of just piling more on top of ones we already have. If it wasn't working it could just expire. Then maybe they'd earn their money instead of trying to come up with stuff to justify their wage. Course, I also don't think a politician should be paid enough to make a living at it. Should make just enough to cover the time they actually spend in Washington working.

I expected it was going to be a bad year and that's what I've been hearing, but I haven't run into one yet. That's really weird because our place is normally loaded with ticks. Heck, two years ago I was playing in the snow in January with my son and found one crawling up his leg.

It's overrated.

Hound of the Baskervilles.

I see where it wasn't that clear now. Got on the plane it was 20s and snowing. Got off the plane 2 hrs later and it was 70s and sunny. THEN I got on the hammer and won my 'toopid prize!

Imagine mixing up tubes in the excitement!?

Don't speed. Found out when I went for my brother's OCS graduation a couple years ago that they have what's called a "Super Speeder Law" in GA. Sounds like something you should get a prize for right? If you're going 20 over on a freeway it's an extra $250 on top of the normal fine. Left here and it was in the 20s and snowing, got there 2 hours later and it was sunny and 70s. Got that rental out on the freeway and didn't even realize I was going 90 until I saw the Highway Patrol.

Have every license and tag I've ever gotten.

Got to the base of the tree yesterday afternoon and remembered that the seat pad for the stand was in the garage. Sat on my folded up coat. But I saw 6 does and a 5pt so it was all good. BTW the 5 was chasing the biggest doe around all evening. She didn't want much to do with him though.

They were going all directions over the house today. I couldn't get anything done. Was trying to work down cellar and every time I heard them I was up the Bilco scanning the sky.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8305.html