genesee_mohican

No brow tines. He looks like a moose from behind. Hope you get a shot at him.

20 F, light SE winds with a fresh dusting of snow on the ground here in 8M Livingston Co. A great day to be in the deer woods, and ahhh to hear the footsteps of a buck coming on those crunchy leaves! Good luck to all today. I'm heading out to move a stand and see what's going on in the woods. >>>------------->

It's November 11th, and like many posts I've ready I'm seeing very little in the way of full rut. I'm sure much of it could be at night, but I'm not hearing or seeing signs of deer being hit on our highways. The mature bucks are cruising more during daylight hours and showing up on trail cams and sightings in the woods, but rut? Some of the experts predicted it would be full blown by now, and this was "the week". Others that say it happens at the same time every year, so this should be the peak now. I'm still waiting but it seems like bucks are still in the 'seeking' phase. I haven't seen any chasing. I'm sure some breeding is taking place now, but I think things are a little behind this year, like the leaves changing and dropping late. All that warm Oct weather has nature running behind, but now with this cold snap I'd be betting that the next 10 days will see a big uptick in rutting activity and the opener of southern zone gun will be in the sweet spot.

Yes, in the park. The main office is at the south end of the park, and some of that is off limits to hunting so the deer can be seen wandering around.

Crossbow opened last weekend and I saw zero uptick in the number of hunters out in my area. This week had great conditions for deer movement, we have a ton of deer in 8M, something like 7 bucks per square mile in my town with thousands of acres of public land, and I saw very few hunters as I took rides before and after work this week. Apparently, there's no mad rush to get out with a crossbow. Also, crossbows are similar to compounds when it comes to technology. The best compound and crossbow makers in the world have worked for years to get better and any progress in that area is slow and limited. On top of that, NYS has restrictions on draw weight, width and more to keep things toned down. I don't see a semi auto, air pressure driven, fire breathing super sonic crossbow in the works in our lifetime. Choose the recurve, compound or crossbow of your choice and enjoy the hunt! In 10 days the slugs and rifled bullets will be harvesting game. The deer won't be any more or less dead when they are harvested and the records show that since crossbow started, there has been very little increase in the harvest during early bow season. Good hunting!

Nice call to shoot him for sure and he'll be good eating. Congrats! How do you know it was a crossbow? I don't know too many hunters that never wounded a deer.

Nice bow deer and photos, Congrats!

This week should be great timing for the rut to kick in and good weather too. I figure the deer have much less area to hide, so they will be up on the hillsides chasing instead in the bottom willow thickets, at least near the north end by the dam. I tagged a mature buck on Saturday that was walking around mid day. I had planned to take most of this week off, but now I'll just take a day and move a stand and enjoy the woods next weekend, but I'll be wishing I was out there this week.

Good luck ncountry, you picked the right week.

Gatoraid, h20, dried fruit w nuts trail mix, candybar, two apples.

I didn't see anything most of the morning but was in a new stand and planed to sit all day. At 11:15am a buck cam down one of the main trails and appeared to be in no hurry. I grunted him to a stop but he ended up stopping behind some trees. He took a few more steps and I stopped him again in an opening for a 30 yard shot. He only went about 40 yards and piled up hard. He had a pretty heavy body and getting him out from 2 miles deep, using a game cart was difficult. Another mid day encounter with a mature buck.

Nice buck WNY! The big ones are moving a bit more the last few days.

Nothing moving here yet so I'm hoping mid day will pick up and should be a good afternoon according to the moon times site. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hunted the last 2 hours and had a small 7 pt come right under my stand at 5:30p

I love this time a year. It was brutal to have to work today as I had a hunch they'd be moving. Had a 130 on a trail came 11:18am and again at noon. So, it's best to sit tight this time of year and hunt all day if you can.

I will be in a comfy Millennium stand that I've yet to hunt this year. I will be ready to sit all day with warm cloths, food and h20. Max distance at this stand would be about 30 yards. No naps this weekend!

20-27 ft and I like a tree with some extra branches to break up my outline, as well as comfort.

Heavy rains were over the entire river watershed last Sunday and Monday and it continues to rain. I took a photo from the hogsback overlook last Friday and then again yesterday. The dam is holding water back and preventing flooding downstream, but most of the river bottom in the park is underwater and will remain that way for a while.

This rain may have had them laying low all night and once it stops they will be up to feed and look for does. If it lets up later this am or early afternoon, it might be a golden time to be out there, so keep an eye on the radar, sharpen your knives and be ready to head out.

We've had a couple years now with crossbow allowed the last 2 weeks of archery and I didn't see any increase in the number of hunters out on the state land I hunt. From what others have posted, the deer harvest didn't blow up during "archery" season. I've been bow hunting for 41 years I think there advantages and disadvantages with hunting with a crossbow. Unless I go out and put a shooting rail on all my tree stands, it's not an advantage in accuracy and seems like a disadvantage in some cases. I can balance my compound and hold rock steady at any angle but can't with my crossbow, unless I have a good rest. Twigs still deflect arrows and bolts, deer still drop down at the sound of the shot and all the other factors come into play. On the upside, hopefully the wounding rate will drop a little and the guys and gals that are unable to draw a bow due to physical limitation can get out to hunt with a crossbow for a couple of days ( 2 weekends of crossbow, unless one is retired of has a lot of vacation days), before gun season starts. Having another choice is a good thing, everyone has a choice of what they want to carry out in the field. Pick the one you enjoy hunting with, have fun and good luck bagging a deer!!

I'll be out this weekend, and it will depend on the stand I'll be in.

Good luck and wishing you a speedy recovery!

I don't use any trails and it's pretty steep where I go up and down, but doable for most really. 3 weeks to hunt the park! that's awesome, looking forward to the pics and stories. Good luck and be safe!

Not many will do it but enough that finding a place where there are no others hunting is hard and I've scouted a lot of places. I waded across last week, but a raft would be needed now. It's a nice place to spend the day, no big buck yet, but keeps me going back. Not sure how many more years I have in me so I enjoy every trip.

8M lots of scrapes this past week. Daytime trail cam pictures of bucks Oct 27th and 29th. Saw a mature buck wandering around at 10:30am on Oct 28th. Nov 1 has the ingredients for good daytime movement. Post cold front, light south winds and B Pressure 30.22, high temps in the 40's.