phade

Quick check in. Ohio hunting has been very slow with the high temps. We walked into the stand two days ago at 80 degrees for example. It’s been quite boring short of seeing a fisher and a beaver from the stand. Not a surprise, day movements have been slow in PM. Short burst of activity all does and 1.5s in AMs. Yesterday we got a very mild cold front. One buck we did have some confidence in ended up breaking off his G2 and G4 the evening before. He got a pass as we sat all day yesterday to push luck on this minor cold front (high of 60). Cams have shown good action at night lol short of the busted up buck. We decided yesterday to leave for Missouri Wednesday and try to hunt a huge monster cold front coming in Friday AM. Going from 71 to 37 for the HIGH. New job starts 21st and I have no PTO. Tough decision but I relegated to taking the first good buck I see here in Ohio. NY has been a disaster with our properties too. I haven’t seen a 2.5 yo in nearly three weeks. All day sir was slow. Saw one deer tail 60 yards out in brush in AM and nothing at all til 3 when a spike came in and left 20 min later. 4:30, this guy came in and I made a shot at 30. Just barely saw him go down but it was the “I think” he went down that I saw so we waited. He died where I last saw him. High slight quarter to but got both lungs and exited through liver. 9 point with a split brow. Had backstraps for a very late dinner after him dying in 6-7ft multiflora. I’m happy with him due to the slowness of the season. We definitely need to work on property access next year in NY and get more work done here in Ohio. Onto Missouri after tonight’s sit.

That’s weird bait lol.

We are rolling west.

Birds are communicating as if it were spring.

These three doe are bedded in front of me 60 yds. They must be fat and ugly to the bucks. Seriously. Nothing checking them out.

Three doe and 1.5. No chasing.

one last NY sit this am. Will be out til 930 prob. Then packing, last bit of wash, and confirming zero on a few items.

Dbl post.

This is certainly not usual warmth. Several more days of this stuff. I am just downwind of a scrape that has been very active considering the weather. Mostly does going by 530-630 and a few bucks showing up at 7. Here is to hoping one arrives earlier.

Starting to pack. Even the long range forecast doesn’t instill confidence I’ll need my heavier clothes. Low 50s for highs even out a week. I’m gonna get showered up and going here in another 30 min and force myself to hunt the PM. I could almost do a base layer and a leafy suit lol. My hunting partner is tapping out opting to do some work stuff since he will be off for two weeks, too. Hearing cams are slowing down from a few friends who are 12-24 hours ahead of us weather wise. Still have to get at it. Some buck will slip up at some point.

Down and out now. Nothing else seen but did bump one of the does that bedded on way way out. Definitely getting warm. Will get some packing and wash done. Hunt PM, AM, and then Ohio!

I’m going to sit til 1030 I think. Super slow after first hour. Have had bucks in here 9-10 2x this week so bummer on that not being today. I expect a few photobomb selfies from the does in front of the scrape cam though lol

Excited for this spot. First time in. Three does and a BB. Quiet last hour. In a bottom and thermals working to perfection. Rising up and away. Where’s the bucks though…

Leave after dark. Hunt AM. No lost hunting time.

Increased activity on cams both in NY and Ohio. Temps look lousy but it's time for serious seat time. I have about an hour here left in the office - last day at work, then 19 days off, which will be fun, before the new gig starts. Not going to try to rush to the stand tonight, so it's going to be packing, a few confirmation sight ins on the bows/Weatherby/CVA, and I'll be in the stand in the AM.

I think frustration is perfectly OK if you can ID it and are willing to either accept the outcome and/or do something about it. Where frustration leads people down a wrong path - hunting or some other more important topic - is to either waffle in limbo, or not come to a conviction about the former statement. While I have passed plenty of does and a few good bucks this season, I have not had a solid encounter with a deer I wanted to take. Came close once with bucks that were likely coming my way but got disrupted by a passing truck. My thought process asks why I have my result and to get to work on it. Hopefully you are doing the same!

Post what you want. While this site has some good people, there are some that just can't not let things go, if it is against their collective mindset. I am alot more selective of what I share now too, so I get it.

Cams blew up overnight. Chasing sequences on all NY properties. No mature bucks but 1-2 year olds. A few mouth open bucks taking breathers and scenting. One good buck working a scrape after dark in Genesee county.

Anecdote is all we have in either direction. He has alot of insights for sure but I am curious of the average hunting experience by caliber. As 243 is more often a starter caliber for alot of people, it may stand to reason that lesser experienced hunters are using it and more prone to poor shot placement, choice of projectile, etc. So many what ifs across the board but I don't think a .243 is as bad as people make it out to be.

Post must have been hit with a .243. Can't find it.

In rifle country, I hunt mostly with my 243s and 350Ls, even in places like Missouri. It's weird the chambering that put the 30-30 out of favor (in terms of volume sold/popularity) in America now gets the critique it does. I find the round to be fine and that the margin of error thought process to be a bit if a misnomer. I believe that personal pride ends up being the reason why BH, chambering or projectile choices are blamed rather than the faulty link. My hunting partner lost a mature buck last year in MO after a less than stellar shot using Federal Sierra Game King tipped out of a 30.06 at near bow distance. Did he blame the chambering? No. Cause he messed up and had to handle the situation. The meat loss issue at short range w/ 243 is indeed something I have personally seen. Last year's buck took one to the shoulder hard quarter to at short range and I lost wayyyyy more meat than I thought. I usually use Barnes but my Weatherby loves the Federal Blue Box 100 gr and it's performed fine in a short run so far. A 100 and in option? I don't see why anyone would really have a gripe to in turn say you need a .50 BMG. Pride, pride, pride....

Yeah the wind has been tough this year - odd directions from norm and alot of low to no wind hunts in October.

I recently got a schooling from a childhood best friend who works at NASA on propulsion efforts (literal rocket scientist I call her, lol). I wasn't aware that all of our GPS across the various networks and phones and hardware, use the same 29-30 satellites and the government sets the accuracy of said units, not to be differentiated by our own receiving/sending equipment. Anyhow, the government can adjust the accuracy of our GPS with a basic lightswitch. When the war in Ukraine began, the US throttled the accuracy of our GPS a bit - I forget the reason why she said but IIRC it had something to do with commercial use being accurate enough for military consumption on targets - but that most of what we see across apps, cars, etc. will largely be the same data from the same satellites. Where they may be gaps with phones is assisted GPS, which uses cell towers/data to help if within canopy or area where GPS cannot penetrate. That she said, can cause it to be off. Apparently we have a government network of GPS satellites that are very accurate but with fewer satellites than comparative govt like China. She said the real tech capabilities were deployed with the terrorist guy who was eliminated on the second floor balcony with a drone strike and the damage was contained to his room not injuring others within the same house. She essentially told me that they can hit a practical postage stamp.

Seeing a lot more activity in past 36 hours. A few day walking checking scrapes. Also seeing signs of bucks starting to really go after a few single does on cam. We tied into one of our target bucks Sat evening but just past shooting/legal light for my partner and he had to wait quite some time for the buck to clear out. This morning was a bust short of three does I saw. We went to the south side of our farm due to a change in wind that didn’t pan out. North was where we wanted to go and glad we didn’t because the smallest of the target bucks was walking around for the first two hours. Hard to turn down a really good buck like that but our regular cams showed that BOTH of the bucks I saw get into a brawl last season and were the 1 and 2 on that farm made it through and showed up this week. Thought both were gone/dead. Super pumped because they blew up even more. Here in NY we had a good buck go by pretty late in AM to hit a scrape in cover. A stand we set is in the background. I’ll likely be there Thursday AM. See what it brings.

Last 24 hours so has been an uptick. A few friends and acquit have tagged on 8s in the 115-125” range across Monroe/Livingston area. This AM was a crap show with neighbors doing work right at dawn. On way to Ohio for the next day or so. Have to take a shot. 7:30 is 30 ish minutes after dark so gotta try it. The other buck is new this season first time on cam but I think it’s one from last year that I had a few times.