genesee_mohican

I guess I will have to take fourseasons advice and put my cameras up higher to be out of line of sight. But I really prefer the ground level shots, the pictures and video are way better. I also don't look forward to carrying sections of hanging muddy tree ladder sections 2 miles into the woods just to swap batteries and cards each time, not to mention the danger in being up on them. I think I'll still use the lockbox up higher, so getting the downward angle will be difficult. I'll give it a shot in this spot because it's a cool location and I get a lot of turkeys, coyotes and other critters there. I really liked that older Browning camera, I think it was 2016, a very reliable unit. I ended up buying a used one on ebay for 60 bucks to replace it and hope to get it out there later this week.

I've had this Browning trail camera setup in the same spot on state land with no issues for over a year. When I pulled the card on Dec 14th I had video of someone walking by both ways giving it a good look. Due to surgery and family holiday plans I didn't get back there until Jan 1st. I'd have to guess that someone returned with cutting tools and has stolen my camera. Pretty sad that we share the woods with criminals. I'd take this to the DEC if his backtag number showed clearly.

Some nice finds already. I usually wait until mid March to start shed hunting because cams show a lot of bucks hang on till then. I'm doing a bit of scouting and stand work now while the weather is nice, so I do keep my eyes peeled.

In my area of 8M Livingston county I'd say deer numbers are about the same. Mature buck numbers are way down and I'd take a guess that with no acorns at all last year due to the gipsy moths defoliating everything, the bucks didn't put on the fat they normally would. This made it harder for them to make it through the winter and fend off the packs of coyotes that roam the area. With my trail cams are all set to 30 second video and they shows an uptick of coyotes chasing adult deer. We had a good month of deep snow last winter, which could have made it more difficult for a rut tired buck to escape the packs of coyotes. On the upside, through out the season I also saw a big drop in the number of hunters in the main area I hunt. I figured there had to be a couple of 3 /12 or older bucks around, so when I did have a chance at a few 2 1/2 year old bucks in late bow season, I decided to pass thinking they'd have a decent chance at making it another year. ( I look at the trail cam picks now and wonder what I was thinking, lol ). I'll have cameras out all winter to help keep an eye on things, along with scouting with snow on the ground and then shed hunting. Hoping for a mild winter which helps the herd.

You bet, hope it helps. I really like the look of your knotty pine walls there.

The cooler air in the house is more dense and can be blown towards the warm air and moves the warm air to the area where the cooler air left. We use a small fan on the floor of the cooler area of the house and point it toward the wood stove area.

Yeah, I'll go with scent control over that. John Eberhart youtube videos on the subject and his book sold me on that. I've seen a big uptick in fresh dead deer on the roads in the last few days, going to head into the park this morning for what could be my last hunt of the season. Surgery tomorrow :-/ 40F, North wind, wet leaves makes for a good sneak in to the stand. I'll take it.

I'd take the 15 F with snow and light wind any day. Hunting deer in the snow is about as good as it gets. With all the options in modern clothing out there today, any serious deer hunter should be able to stay warm in that. I use layers, good boots, toe warmers and hand warmers plus a heater body suit if it's really cold and I'm sitting all day.

It’s great that license sales are up to keep our DEC going but there must be a lot of folks buying a license and then spending very little time actually out in the woods.

On the Lee side of a ridge and some pines, 3/4 way down to river bottom and barely a breeze here. Saw a small buck early. Sit/sneak/scout, rinse repeat kinda morning.

The shots I hear on the opener has been on a noticeably steady decline for several years now. This year was no exception, but there was a big decrease of hunters out during bow and crossbow season in my area this year.

I have a few tangles of that invasive weed in my hunting areas and curse at it often. It sticks and pulls at clothing and skin. I hate it!

68 acres all timber? I wonder if the trees were hard woods and had saw log value?

There are so many variables that will determine the price of land in the location of the USA you are looking to buy land. Smaller acreage will be a higher price per acre of course, but if you spend any time on zillow.com or other sites that show real-estate for sale, I would have to say that is your best source to let you know the price per acre of land.

I sat till around 10 this morning on public land, I spent most of my sit with my mind on high obtain motivation for where the best tree stand placement is for next year in this area that I'm blessed to have found, just a good travel spot in semi thick stuff. The never ending chess game is what keeps me going. I got down and started to explore a bit and found quite a few scrapes and some decent rubs. Maybe the maker of the rubs is dead but it's a good looking edge area so I'll move a nearby stand here. It was great sneaking around silently in the rain for a few hours.

Oh yeah, about 10 years ago I was hunting state land that bordered an abandoned farm. There was a 100 acre brush lot with varying degrees of thickness, mixed open goldenrod to very thick stuff and it melted down into the state land with similar habitat before it met more open woods. No one ever hunted it or pushed it. Once gun season got going and I wasn't seeing deer I decided to put a stand in a tall pine overlooking the brush. I saw all kinds of deer and a few pretty nice bucks. I'd see them at all times of day and had a blast glassing the deer. I hunted that spot two seasons and though I could only hunt it with a se or south wind, I couldn't wait to get up in that tree. Well, then that land was sold to a guy from out of the area who buys large acres of land and then rents it out to farm. As soon as I heard that my heart sank. This guy is responsible for largest area of wildlife habitat destruction in Livingston county ever. Soon the bulldozers came and leveled the 100 acre brush, all the hedge rows and grass fields surrounding the brush. Anyways, I seek that brushy habitat out.

The deer seem to bunch up in brush lots after the first few days. I reminded myself again this week that I must place a stand or two just inside of and overlooking the big brush. Deer mill around in them during the day.

I hunted the park all day yesterday, saw a coyote then bumped a small buck from the side hill coming up off the bottom around noon. I walked up on a doe and a fawn in the afternoon. It was a nice dark n cloudy day to be out in the woods. I didn't hear one shot all day. I'm still amazed at the lack of rubs this season and far fewer mature bucks on trail cam. I have to wonder if the ever growing coyote population or some other natural factor is to blame.

A lot of nice deer taken so far, congrats and good shooting. Anyone having much luck in Letchworth yet? I was out there Sunday morning, saw a doe and a few hunters tracks. I'll be in the park tomorrow am, then Fri and Saturday, hoping to see a shooter. Where is Daniel T? He usually started a letch~thread.

Fresh 2 inches of snow on the ground, I'm out in the woods if possible. It was cold, but a great day to still hunt and look at the deer tracks. I only have about 5 days left to deer hunt before I have to hang it up for the season.

I start with a wool poly blend and do a few layers on top of that, then outer layers. A Heater body suit once in the stand along with the hand/toe warmers and I can sit out in most anything. But this morning was snowy and seriously snowy n cold so I put on Pygmy's old wool pants.

No, I'm not worried about them seeing me because I'm in a large white pine that has a big main trunk the first 20 then branches out and 28 was the only and perfect spot for a stand, I have a good view of the high grass and brush in 3 directions then uphill into the woods. What's a good height for the best shot angle?

Another opener in the books. It was a windy cold day and a not so fun all day sit, but I was 28ft up in a pine tree all day. Had a 4pt come thru at 8, the a group of 5 doe at 9. I had a few stands to choose from, oh well.

Wind chill 15 up in this pine tree on private farm. Had a 4 pt go by at 8am and a group of 5 does n fawns a bit later. Very quiet opener, heard 2 shots about a mile away so far.

Hunting by myself opening weekend but will be keeping in touch with a few buds during the day for sure. We help each other find and recover deer early on and hook up later in the season for some hunts.