grampy

Thanks for the replies! I'll have to look into the Lynch call for sure! Just got home a bit ago. Tried out a bunch of calls over at BPS. The one that sounded the closest to my old HS Strut call was the Booger Bottom from flextone. Walnut lid with cedar base. One side for raspy aggressive, the other side for clear and seductive. Kept going from call to call but seemed to always come back to this one! I think it will do just fine. Getting pumped for thunder chicken season already!!!!

I'll be following this thread too. I made my first bow kill with a recurve. And I think maybe I'd like to make my last bow kill with a recurve, to come full circle. Problem is I have bad shoulders. And will need a recurve, that I will be able to draw and be strong enough to take a deer. Moog will be my go to guy for advice as well!

As I can't find my old HS Strut box call, since moving. Got all my slate and mouth calls, and it should have been with that stuff, but it's not. So I'm going to Bass Pro in Utica in a couple hours. Any suggestions on what would be a good replacement box call? Don't have a lot to spend but I'd like to be all set for the youth season, opener this year. So my grandson and I will have time to practice our calling. Appreciate all replies guy's!

Happy Birthday! Hope your special day is filled up with all the good stuff!

I'm sure we will get a no BS review from pygmy soon enough.

Some hunters keep score, as in, "how many did ja git"? I don't believe the critters keep score at all.

That is an awesome buck! And you did a masterful job with him! The work I've seen from you is nothing less than stunning! If I ever have another mount done, I'd be honored to have you do it! Even it it is a long drive to get to you.

It is too easy to just overthink everything. My hunting areas are all hill country, with benches, saddles, valleys, ravines, cuts, washouts, swamps, thickets, hay and some crop fields, fields overgrown with buck thorn, open hardwoods, brush choked and open hill tops. So it's obvious, that one 'could' over analyze, just about every one of those 'spots' to the point where you have no idea where to go! Or consistently choose the wrong 'spot' at the wrong time. Deer need three basic things, food, water and security. Food preferences change over the course of the season. Learn what they eat, in your area, and when. Then 'beat' them to the food source, by setting up just as they move to it. Water, in most all places in NY, they can easily get just about anywhere. Security, or cover, will usually be a thick or overgrown area close to where ever they are feeding at the time. Or when they feel human pressure, the thickest, most nasty, impenetrable places that humans rarely go into. Or high on a ridge looking down, with the wind on their backside. So, once you have an idea of where they are feeding and bedding, just connect the dots, by following some 'cover' between the two. As the rut picks up, you just keep this going, by still following the doe. And setting up between the 'dots' on 'spots' between the bedding and feeding. Wind and thermals are always going to be a challenge, in hill country. As the more mature deer will not tolerate multiple scent busts, or sightings of humans. Before they avoid that particular area, during daylight hours. So if the wind changes in your 'spot' move! This could be as simple as just turning around and hunting the other side of the tree, on an oak flat. Or moving to the closest 'spot', where the wind will be in your favor. Be adaptable, Don't over hunt any one 'spot', have many of them. After awhile you will 'know' what 'spots' are better and when. Keep the deer guessing. Try not to be patterned. Use the patterns of other hunters to 'your' advantage! Be persistent! Never give up until you get your deer! And most important, keep it simple! Don't over think yourself! Just connect the dots!!!

I'm right there with you! When it comes to target shooting, I am admittedly, the at the bottom of the list from our group of guys. And I catch a bit of ribbing at the range. I'm also shooting the least expensive rifle out of the group. But it would't matter if I had a top of the line classic Weatherby, I just don't shoot paper well. But,.......every one in that group, has had a miss on a deer over the last few years. I've had no misses over the same time period and all one shot kills. So that is my come back at the range.

A Thermacell for the black fly's and skeeters. Otherwise I'll have a 13 year old waving and swatting. So much harder to get a turkey in range when someone is doing a helicopter impression!

The thing with deer hunting is, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to do it, while staying within the legal guidelines, of course. Hunters find success using all sorts of different tactics and methods. And it's all good! When I was a bit younger, I did quite a bit of still hunting. And still do some now. In fact one of my biggest bucks was shot in his bed, during a snow storm in 1986, after cutting his track going into a hemlock thicket. I now try to 'predict' why, when, and where a buck will be at a given time, on a certain property. And slip in to wait for him, in a natural ground blind. Sometimes it even works out! Hunting should be enjoyable. So hunt they way you prefer. But always keep an open mind, for other possibilities, and be as adaptable as the deer we are hunting.

Happy Birthday sir! Hope your day is filled up with good stuff!

Welcome!! Really nice to have you drop by. Just pull up a seat and join in any ole' time. With your experience, I'm sure you will have plenty to share. The low country of SC is a great place for outdoorsmen. And to hunt NY, as well, you get to see some beautiful country!

As I get older, the hills seem a bit steeper each year. Welcome scscout! Nice to have you join us. If you'd like, go to the introductions and tell us a little about yourself. I lived in Summerville SC for a few years, many moons ago. Still have family and friends down there! Had some really good hunting and fishing, adventures down there!

Looks like a nice sturdy target. Nice group too. That new recurve, seems to like you.

We all are individuals, and we all hunt for different reasons and have different goals. So if someone wants to let five yearling bucks pass, to perhaps shoot a mature eight or ten point buck, last day of the season. That should be their choice. If someone else, wants to go out on opening morning and shoot the first legal buck that comes along. That should be their choice. I buy the tag. I don't need someone to tell me what to shoot.

Hey moog, without the stogie, while hunting, how am I to know wind direction, so the deer won't smell, said stogie?

I've been stuck in the minor leagues of hunting, forever. I don't think, at this stage of the game, that I'll ever make it to, the major leagues. But I'm no longer a rookie!

Couldn't care less about any awards ceremony. Unless it's for who caught the biggest fish or shot the biggest buck! Or maybe who walked the farthest to their stand in the worst weather. and stayed out in it the longest. Who took the most kids afield last year? Who won the turkey calling category? Who would win the lifetime achievement award by hunting the most opening days? Now these arwards, I'd watch!

The tent sale with 40% off ended today in Manchester.

With a bass rig, I can skip a jig or worm, between pylons , well up under a dock. Or pitch a lure into a coffee cup from 30 feet away. But with a fly rod in my hand, I'm barely able to make the most basic of casts. But it's still fun and I tend to laugh at myself, instead of getting frustrated. And I'm just to stubborn to give up!

I'm a terribly bad fly fisherman. But I'm determined to get better each year. Last year as I was moving to another spot on a local trout stream, I happened apon a truly gifted fly fisherman. I just sat on the bank and watched him effortlessly toss tiny midges 30 and 40 feet, to a cut bank and overhanging tree, on the drift. Everything he did was just so smooth compared to my own herky, jerky flailings. After a while he noticed me watching him and he walked over and said hi and he appreciated me not 'crowding' him. I told him I'm new to fly fishing and really enjoyed just seeing how he worked the line and water. He said he's been fly fishing for a "long time" and has fished "many far off places". And looked to be about my age. He then invited me to join him and I got the best advice yet. Let the rod and line do the work, don't force it! Little tips on how to mend the line with the tip of the rod were eye opening to me! I gained a lot in that half hour or so, but like I said, I know enough now, to know how much I need to learn. So I'll keep at it. Thanks Emory! Hope to meet up with you again sometime! Just to watch how it is supposed to be done.

The guns that are passed on to us, always, are the most 'valuable' ones we have. That is a very cool rifle! My buddy has one very similar to that one, that he used to teach his daughters to shoot. As they would be useing pump action shotguns to hunt deer and turkey. I'll have to ask if it was handed down to him. But no doubt, that it will be passed down to his grandson, at some point. Love these kind of stories. Happy shooting!

Kinda looks like Trump Tower! That is so cool! The hours that must go into building something like that. It warms the heart to see a grandfather sharing something he loves, with a beloved grandson. Lifetime memories being made. That's what its all about, right there.

This cam was definitely in the right place this year!