covert

Not in the Northern Zone until regular season closes. You could run south of the line where bow is still open though. The bow/mz tags are for the special seasons, not only the implement.

Sorry, I know it's not the best pic for the discussion but it was the only one I had on this computer at the time and I wanted to get it posted before I lost my train of thought. Here is a better one that I just moved onto this computer, same deer 2 min later. I think that probably part of the opposition is created by the implication that people who choose to shoot smaller bucks are careless, sloppy and unsportsmanlike. I fail to see how seeing a deer, verifying it has a rack and then shooting it is somehow less safe than seeing a doe and shooting it. If anything it would seem that the "brown and down" accidental shootings would be more prevalent when hunters don't even bother/have to look for horns.

Threw two 1.5 coils out this afternoon, see if I can pinch a coyote in the back yard. Don't have to go too far as they come right down by the house all the time.

Definitely, but the stats don't differentiate when poachers get hurt/killed do they? It will still count against the rest of us as a "Hunting accident".

Still a bad way to start out the season.

Anybody have any luck with them? Maybe I just don't do it right, but it seems like even I should be able to handle: 1. Put finger over single hole on bottom. 2. Invert can to make bleat sound. 3. Repeat. : I just never seem to get any reaction out of them. I have had deer within bow range (15-20 yds) and bleated at them and they just keep on keeping on. I know guys who swear they have bucks run in and try to climb the tree they are so excited, but I just feel like a goof doing it with no results. I always carry the dumb thing but it's like that one big silly looking lure in the tackle box that you just chuck when they're not hitting anything else anyway. The grunt on the other hand I have supreme confidence in. I have grunted at deer and had them make a beeline 300 yds down a field. I grunted my first bow buck right off a doe's tail, but that bleat can, I just don't know.

I've taken 3 of my 7 bucks on 11/18, and most of the bucks killed in our camp were the second week in November.

That's actually a SZ buck from 6P. I know he had good forage available, but that doesn't mean he was eating it. There could be other factors influencing this particular deer, I was just trying to give an example that showed that the age estimates of deer on the hoof are just that, estimates. Not picking on anyone in particular but some people come across like they can look at a deer on the hoof and tell absolutely how old it is. I personally (even though I prefer traditional archery and don't want one) support crossbows and I have expressed that in NYON and to my legislators so it didn't bother me at all.

Wow that is a hell of a yrling you dont shoot him and in a few short yrs he would be a nice deer. I like it when people shoot the little ones and have to leave the woods because there all out of tags. Then I can get down to the bussiness at hand of finding and killing a big buck. Someitmes I win more often than not they win. Thats why they made muzzloader season so I can fill out the rest of my tags on meat does and young fawns. Yummmy fawns! :-\ That buck was at least 4 years old at the time of this pic. The first time I saw him was 2005 and he had a regular forkhorn on the left side and the weird side was the same except for that little sticker down by the ear. Looking at him though he never looked burly like an older deer.

No, I understand the need for the tags. I just meant an exemption so if you were farming you wouldn't need to buy the small game license to get them, you could just go and buy the turkey tags.

I actually completely forgot it opened today until I read your post. :-[

On the topic of laws, one I always thought was dumb was that you have to buy a small game license to get turkey tags. If you're farming you don't need a small game license to hunt on your own land, but if you want to hunt turkeys you still have to buy a small game license. So if the only place you ever planned to hunt was your own land but you want to hunt turkeys you still have to buy the small game license. I always thought there ought to be some sort of exemption for farmers.

I wouldn't say you did too bad so far. First time out and you've already seen 4 deer, one with horns! Not too shabby.

Brutish! I hope you didn't have to lift him on the ATV all by yourself. If you did, remind me never to knuckle with you!

Westmoreland. We set up in McKeever. I mean, that depends; I don't owe you money do I?

;D ;D ;D

We have about 6 regular full members that hunt out of our tent camp and a couple guys who make it in now and again. Most of us are related. We rarely ever can get more than 4-5 in at a time though because of scheduling. If I'm not up there I am hunting alone down around home.

I abide by lots of laws I don't agree with so yes, if ARs were the law where I hunted then I would follow them. Just because I follow a law doesn't make it inherently a good law. I don't believe anyone can look at a buck on the hoof and say for certain "That deer is 1.5 (or 3.5 or 6.75) years old." anyway. How old is this one?

I have noticed this too and not just from any particular person, but it seems that you hear a lot about how bucks "score" and they're "140 class" or "160 class" etc. We get some nice big bucks in our tent camp in 5H (on State land no less) and we get some nice smaller bucks too and we work our butts off for all of them. We've had a couple big 10s, a couple 9s, a bunch of nice 8s and I couldn't tell you what any of them scored and don't care either. The memories of the hunt are worth more to me personally. Then we talk to a couple guys we know who shoot some big ones too and they are always asking us what ours "scored". We always just shrug and tell them "I don't know, they were pretty big by the time we got done with the drag though!" My big 9 took me and Dad 3.5 hours of dragging just to get him to the tent! No motor vehicles allowed in there! On the other hand though I knew a guy in high school whose mission in life was to kill spikes. He was convinced that "Once a spike, always a spike" and you had to kill them all to "get the runt genes out of the pool". And then he would complain that there were never any bigger bucks around. I guess I am pretty much in the whatever (legal) works for you camp. I like getting big bucks but when I do decide to shoot a smaller buck I don't feel like less of a hunter, because I put a lot of hard miles on my swampers to get him.

G5 Montec 125 grs. I keep looking at the Ashby single-bevel two blade that Alaska Bowhunting sells but I'm having trouble getting past the price. http://www.alaskabowhunting.com/Ashby-Single-Bevel-Broadheads-P147C15.aspx

I half wish that someone would steal my Moultrie so I wouldn't have to use that piece of junk anymore. >

Not personally, but I have friends who used to all the time until it became prohibited under the CWD quarantine. I helped them skin one once and that was the end of that operation for me. By the time you trim out all of the smashed up bloodshot jelley to get a couple pounds of meat out it's just too much screwing around for my taste. Plus I'd think it has to be tough as old shoe leather. Figure if you were standing in the road about to get hit by a car you'd get a big shot of adrenalin and tense up right before you got flattened out.

Well I found the passage I was thinking of. It is regarding waterfowl hunting under the "Prohibitions" header. At least I'm not (that) crazy. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28175.html "By using bait to attract waterfowl. A "baited area" is considered to be baited for 10 days after any bait is actually removed. Even if you did not place the bait, you may still be ticketed if you hunt in a baited area."

6P here. I'm up to 23 today (total since 10/18) but no horns yet. Also 38 turkeys and 1 coyote. Big son-of-a-gun too. The coyote was out in the middle of a hayfield by my stand this morning and he was after a doe and a little one. The old doe was concerned enough that she was keeping an eye on him but not concerned enough to take off. He would within about 100 yds of them and they would move off a little. They did this all the way across the field until the deer hit the fencerow and then they took off. The coyote ran up to the fence and then must've decided they were too far away to bother with so he turned around and loped back in the direction he came from. Tried blatting at him but it was so windy I don't think he even heard me.

Nice one! :) Congratulations! My first bow buck was a 5 pt too but I was a lot older than 15 unfortunately. :