phade

Sounds crazy, but in the late MZ, I prefer not to hunt the first 4-5 days of the season after the close of regular. I actually like that Thursday or Friday to be the first day I hunt MZ. I find that the few days of little to no pressure makes a world of difference for that first MZ hunt. The past few years I have taken the Friday afternoon off work and been able to plug a deer or two as I see movement earlier in daylight. You get the jump on weekend hunters, too. It may be different in a 500 acre/2 hunter scenario, but I wouldn't make the move until I am sure I have the info. That time of year lends itself really to one, maybe two sits before your "shot" is spent.

I'd be moving the cams to a circular or rectangular pattern based on buck trails you know surrounding that "bedding area" however big it is and hope he takes them, with an outward path in the p.m. and an inward route in the a.m. I think by doing that now, you'll leave yourself enough time to gather any patterns that may develop from a bed to food/food to bed attitude. You already know he's not on your property all the time based on the neighbor's field. While I believe mature bucks core ranges shrink as they age in general, I have started to realize that certain situations (rut, limited food, and even some summer crop rotations) impact that to a degree more than we want to believe. 500 acres is huge, but let's be real here, that doesn't mean he's spending the majority of time on it, especially if you only have a handful of daylight photos. You appear to be a skilled enough hunter to be able to have identified him more often than that if he were on it more often. I think if he is bedding on your ground on certain occasions, why and when becomes the issue. Look for wind and temp relations - if the wind is high, is he bedding there for warmth and wind break, and scent checking reasons? Or is he becoming a slave to his stomach because of limited food sources? Is he hitting a green field when the snow is light and he can get to the food, and abandoning it when the snow piles on for some other source? Ideally, you hit a homerun on picking him up on the cams just outside that suspected bedding area to give you more info.

I take it your daylight photos of him are late season in MZ? How do you know he's there in MZ? The large buck we were chasing covered more than 2 miles based on game cam pics taken of him in rut. Typically late season may see a shift in locale based on the the food/safety aspect. Does your ground offer the food or the bedding with food just nearby?

I'm not the most handy-man inclined person out there. I can generally figure stuff out a bit. My home is heated on propane. So, my house flooded in June. I have a ventless standalone fireplace in the lower level, no electric needed to start. I generally don't use it much, except when downstairs (not all that often) and pretty much use it for emergency heating should power go out. It'll sufficiently heat my home and previously worked without much issue. The flood level was well above the working components. I was worried it wouldn't work. After the clean-up, I spent some time trying to get the pilot to light in the summer. I eventually got it to light no problems. Was more likely just a facet of having some air in the pipeline. It lit up and I let it run for 15 min, and shut her down, convinced I had no issues. Here's the problem I encountered yesterday. Pilot lights, and I can turn the dial and the thing will light up. The issue occurs when the temp is reached and the fireplace turns off. The pilot remains on, and when it tries to fire back up, it won't. It's spitting out propane fine, but the pilot light isn't igniting it. I thought I heard what sounded like to me was gurgling sounds along the burners. I though maybe some water was in there, but that doesn't make sense. I figured I'd crank the thing up to as high as it would go, let it heat up and burn the water off (if that was the case). Home got nice and toasty, but the problem remains. I don't hear the gurgling any longer, though. Pilot seems like it might not be reaching as far out as it should, but why would it light when initially turned on, but not in subsequent attempts when the fireplace tries to start back up?

Solid...

The majority of doe fawns in our area are bred and often make up the bulk of the second rut according to talks I've had with our regional biologists. He actually cited a large %, somewhere around 2/3-3/4 if I remember correctly because they gained the body mass needed to go into estrous.

I don't think anyone knows why he posted those pics. I believe he has two B/C bucks on the wall, one public. He must either be super confident he can kill him or he knows he can't kill him and felt the need to blow up the spot.

It certainly contributes to the problem hunters have with staying out and in the woods. Either you have them on your hunting ground, or you don't.

This keeps up and the already good prices for NY rats will be unreal.

Can't say I've ever liked the real-world performance other than paper shooting them. I hunted with them for a few year and came away disappointed like most here. I've had better luck with darn near another other option out there. Hornady SST, Harvesters, Barnes, etc.

I witnessed two yards last night on the drive home. One had more than 30 does in it. The other was well into double digits. Was shocked.

I don't think its the same across the board. People who "invested" in brassica/radish may find some deer there; a lot of the conversion has taken place. This could be a double whammy because deer are just turning on to the food source with the conversion and that would mean there's a large availability of it (say a field full) rather than just spots of consumable or easier to reach food sources elsewhere. They'll paw through snow to get to food they need with little issue. Late cut corn fields are probably high on the list if the snow isn't super bad. In non ag areas, I'd be seeking out the apple and other fruit trees that show late drop characteristics. Heavy snow can force some of those trees to lose a bit of fruit because of the heft/weight. Or, even if they don't drop, the added weight of the snow can make branches that were once unreachable...reachable to the deer. It won't support a lot of deer obviously, but if its in cover, could be a good place to set up on. Green fields seem to still be drawing in some deer. Once the snow piles on, that will subside a bit, but deer will still visit if they can get through the snow.

Probably farm raised. I think they can do that if certified?

Pressure change before and after fronts often are paired with increased feeding and deer activity. With the bigger (for the time of year) snow coming, the deer will be up putting on the fed bag. If you can find the right food source, it should be a good hunt.

Ohio has some good bucks, that's for sure.

The guy who posted the pic has taken a booner off public land, too. Not like he doesn't know how to kill them. Plus with the other two people who vouch for it having taken booners...that buck could be in trouble if he hangs around.

This guy: http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2135056&page=11 I'm lucky enough to have spoken to two people who can vouch for the buck being legit. Both of them have taken B&C bucks and one has watched the buck all summer by spotter. He actually told me about this buck in the summer and said he thought it'd be a record contender. Same guy shot a typical that was a common base away from being a new record (not the one D&DH is spouting off about). The buck has traveled a long distance from its summer range - to the point it's absurd. More than a few miles. I can't believe the guy would post such a thing, but whatever. Talk about a lot of added trouble in the area.

Deer will move to areas where pressure is not. I find in most cases, when people say "there's not much pressure"...they are wrong. I am not saying you are Teebug, but most people who say there's not much pressure think too small. Think big picture. Your individual property may not have pressure, but most people don't know precisely what goes on beyond the border on adjoining lands, even if you have talks with the neighbors. If you set a few cameras there on that ground next year, you'll see that some deer don't have muddy legs up to their knees and some will in summer and bow season. As the season progresses, you'll see the majority of deer begin to have muddy legs. This is because pressure drives them to where pressure is not. One parcel I hunt on is 40 acres. It was very lightly and very smartly hunted this season by all accounts and truthfully under-hunted. The deer exhibited the same characteristics. 8 of 10 deer now on cam have muddy legs. The go to areas the hunters do not. The pressure outside the parcel is larger, but nowhere near as bad as I have seen on other ground, but I am sure this is pressure and safety driven.

I documented more larger, older, higher scoring bucks this season here in NY than I have in the past three years combined. Several of them have been shot. Doe numbers seem wishy washy based on locale. Some places seem fine, while others seem like the numbers are low. I wouldn't be shocked at a slight cut-back for next year though. I've seen plenty of good bucks on NYAntler's FB feed...and never seen so many good bucks shot by female hunters as I have this year. This weekend weather certainly kept many hunters out of the woods. It's a tough time of year - the pressure has taken toll, many hunters lose the faith or start cutting corners and getting sloppy because they feel their odds of success are lower now, and let's be honest, it sucks sitting in 15 degree weather with sideways blowing snow and 25 mph winds when you "believe" the odds for an encounter are slim to none. That's weather more of a typical last weekend of gun season or mz season here in Rochester than the second weekend of gun season. I also saw doe yarding this weekend, which to me, is way too early for my parts. Typically its MZ season when that starts happening.

Nice job! Congrats!

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hbs or an iwom are as high as a thermacell on the list of value vs. cost. I love my iwom.

Last year and this year I've pretty much halted shooting does. I have literally run out of DMPs before gun season burning 2 draw, 2 second chance, 2 consigned, and one antlerless in bow/mz. I got into shooting rabbits on my few acres this year and went 4/5 on shot opportunities with almost all right around 30 yd shots, but I ate some $ as I often hit rocks that ended up damaging the arrow after the pass through. A few stuck in and got damaged as the rabbit Great practice though. Good times no doubt.

Shootability over speed any day from a hunter perspective. There's a reason most of the highly regarded hunting bows are not the speed demons of their respective year/generation.

its not impossible for the area though.