46rkl

Venison chili with my own tomatoes and peppers mixed in. Southern Tier Old Man Winter to celebrate the days success.

Success!! Right where I thought I heard her pile up.

So, I climb up into my stand and the first thing I see is a doe walking away thru the corn at about 40 yards. No shot so I just watch her walk. After settling in to my stand I pull out my phone and read a few posts on here. Just as I put my phone away, here she comes back out of the corn! Walks right by at five yards and stops to smell my tracks. No shot. She walks out to about 15 yards and I pick up the bow. At twenty yards she turns left and I hit the release. She paddle wheels her hind legs and lets out a bawl before running off. I watch her go out of site about 40 yards away and hear a crash! Writing this while trying to be patient. The great thing is that, even with an average size doe, this never gets old! Still feel the adrenaline rush! Lovin' it! Hopefully, more later. Patience! Only been fifteen minutes.

Swirling winds are making it a frustrating afternoon here. One lone yearling doe and even she caught my scent. Once she got to twenty yards...

Can't begin to tell you all how much I've enjoyed reading this thread! Growing up in the sixties in what then was the edge of the suburbs around Rochester we did most of the same crazy things mentioned here. The forts that we made were from hay bales. The farmer loved it as long as we were careful not to break the bales. We made massive forts and when the farmer was ready he pulled up the wagon and we all loaded the bales on. We would make a sandwich in the morning and often, not come back in until the dinner bell rang. Then we would sprint for home cause dinner didn't wait and with four boys , there was no such thing as seconds. Thanks again for all the great memories!

Absolutely sounds like someone doesn't want you hunting in that spot. Wether it is theirs or not! Scumbags. I had a similar situation earlier this week. I walked up the hill to my neighbors land where I have a stand (with his permission) and thought that I was a little turned around in the dark as I couldn't find the ladder stand ( first time there this year). I sat on a nearby stump steaming over some dirt bag stealing my stand until light enough to see and to my surprise, there's the stand, about forty yards away! Seems someone decided to move it off of Jakes property and on to their own. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It was nice of them to put new straps on the ladder, I'll be glad to use them on it in its next location, about a hundred yards away with a cable and lock on it all. A group of guys (different than previous years) lease the land off of my neighbors and they have been a difficult bunch. I have found three dead deer, all shot in the hindquarters and lost by them. I've never had a problem with stands or cameras but everything is getting locked down now.

Picked up fresh tracks about four and followed them for about twenty minutes. Spotted the deer bedded in some thick brush but it had already spotted me. I knelt to find a hole to shoot thru and found one. Unfortunately , I could see buttons on its head through the scope. Ah well, a fun evening anyways.

Finally! The last hour in my stand tonite brought the first real snow of the year! It's 8:30 now and there is about an inch and a half on the deck. I can't wait until morning. Some of my favorite stands require snow in order to have half a chance to spot deer moving in the thick brush. Can't wait!

On my land in 8H (25 acres surrounded by corn) it has been an average season. Between myself and the others that hunt my land we have taken 8 deer. 3 bucks and 5 doe. Sightings have dropped off in the last two weeks but that seems to be because the doe have herded up. When I do see them, they are in groups of 4-8 doe and extremely skittish. No surprise there.

I thought it was interesting to read about the "40 acre" deer take. I have 40 acres in 8H and our take has been 7 so far. 4 buck and 3 doe. Still seeing plenty of deer and none of the big bucks have been taken so far, but they are still showing up on camera.

That is one great story! Much thanks for your service and I fully endorse hacking away until its what you like!

Using my lever action 30-30. Love this old gun! Accurate out to 100 yds. With iron sights.

My sightings have been pretty consistent with previous years. First light, between 8-9 and then last half hour. No surprises there.

Real Tree EZHanger works great for me. I use different sizes depending on the setup but I typically keep my bow in my lap during the last forty-five minutes or so.

EZhanger. Very versatile and you can hang a bow, pack, water bottle and even your gun on one with no problem.

Interesting morning. Watched a doe with two fawns feeding out in the field. One fawn kept jumping and running back and forth like it was being bothered by bugs but then it suddenly put its nose to the ground and started trailing like a mature buck. It followed the doe across twenty yards and tried to mount her! Momma put an end to that with a well-placed kick. After some more jumping and running around the little guy repeatedly tried to mount the other fawn. I'm thinking it was his sister and she just kept running away. Pretty darn funny to watch, kind of like the junior high students I taught..., I'm thinking this little guy could be a real stud some day! If only he makes it through this year.

I asked a related question on another thread and then noticed this one and thought I'd post it here also. Can a youth hunter choose to hunt with a bow and still take a buck? My thought was no, it is a youth firearm season but others disagreed. Since I was hosting a group of youth hunters last weekend, it was an interesting question but no one had a chance to look it up or make a call. The kids dad decided no buck, doe only with the bow. The kid was fine with that, he just wanted to hunt with his bow. Gotta love that kind of dedication to the bow!

Depends on the stand I'm hunting. If I'm along a field edge, I tend to leave well before last light so as to not spook a field full of deer that move in at last light. On woodland stands I often hang until dark to see what might be moving and where. Only on land/stands I know well, otherwise it can be difficult to ease out of the woods. So, like most hunting situations, it depends....

Here in 8H I've been hunting regularly, just avoiding certain spots till later. I've taken a nice doe on the first day and have since had a few friends hunting here as well. I don't see fewer people out hunting in this area with the exception of a group that leases land down the road from me. I hosted a few youth hunters over the weekend (one took a nice fork) and an interesting question came up. One youngster decided that he would rather hunt with his bow. Can he still take a buck as it is youth season or is he limited to a doe like a regular archery hunter? His dad said doe only (we were all too busy to check online or make a call to DEC) just to be safe. Anyone know the answer? I'm old enough to have hunted years when four of us had to apply for one doe tag so I'm happy to take a doe regularly with my bow. My situation is certainly not the same as everyone else's but any chance to be in the woods hunting, be it for doe, buck or small game is a great day.

I just finished reading this thread and thought that I would ask if anyone else has ever had a reaction to deer blood. I get itchy skin for a day after gutting without gloves so it has been many years since I have not worn them. I've tried many different types and have settled on elbow length industrial cleaning gloves. Like others, I turn them inside out and wash them at home. Bacterial and/or parasitic infection are rare, but real concerns. Better safe than infected.

I have different masks for different weather conditions. The only time I use face paint is on warm days of bow season. Then the lightest mask makes me sweat too much to be acceptable. I wear glasses so limiting the exposure on the rest of my face helps.

I would welcome mandatory blaze orange. I think that it helps avoid accidents and statistics bear that out. My biggest reason is that it makes it much easier to detect what may be beyond your intended target. I would support the 30 minutes before and after. There is certainly enough light for safe hunting as any bow hunter can tell you. While I'm very new to this (or any) forum, I can't stand the attitudes and aggressiveness being displayed by some. My diagnosis is male menopause......

I have a stand tucked into a pine that does a great job shedding the rain, as long as the wind doesn't blow too hard. I'll be out as long as I can take it. My best two bucks to date were both killed in a cold, hard rain. Bundle up and enjoy the last day! Before pulling out the muzzleloader, that is.

Just heard the "thwack" of an arrow hitting a deer about 75 yards away! Looks like my neighbor was out also!