genesee_mohican

The biggest day of the year for me and I've been preparing and trying to decide which stand I'll sit for weeks now. It will depend on wind direction, conditions and gut feelings. I've narrowed it down to A) A semi open area between to really thick brushy spots up on flat ground in Letch, would require a 1.5 walk to get there, I haven't had anything good on trail cam all fall or b) my BIL's new piece farm in Stuben Co where I just placed a stand in a pinch point, 50 acres of hardwoods that has sizable pond on the north side and an overgrown brushy area past that. But it's all surrounded by open fields and has a few houses that surround the far north end. New land to him, I've never hunted it, big bucks in the area. I write down all the pros and cons on a piece of paper and stress out over it lol

I saved what I thought would be my best stand for an all day sit yesterday. A little gap between two bedding areas, thick stuff and where I took a nice buck this time last year. Saw zero deer, had two different coyotes come by and then around 3 a hunter came through looking for a deer he had hit and dashed any hopes of seeing something. That's state land hunting. Now I'm thinking about what Fourseasons said about the bottom and setting up somewhere down deeper for the opener. I can't get out this am, have a family thing to attend, but plan on giving it one more shot this afternoon and may take a day off....without pay next week. Sure hope I can get a November off some day.

Rain has move out here, 54F with a steady west winds. Finally a morning where one can slip into a stand on wet leaves. On the flipside, deer will be sneaking around, keep your eyes peeled!

After an all night rain Friday night there should be deer roaming all over the place Saturday morning. I'm pumped. Sunday through Wed looks great as well, some of the best days of the season to be in the deer woods for sure.

It's hard to understand why people that live in NY vote for everything that has been handed to us, that is taking our hard earned money and rights along with it. I'd move if I could.

It's been an off year so far on the east side as well. I don't have anything to get excited about on cams for once. I covered a lot of ground early in the season, scouting to find a good area to concentrate on and have yet to find it. I'm not seeing any big rubs, very few rubs and scrapes compared to years past. I've seen a few doe fawn groups and a couple of young bucks. I see them eating bushes and other vegetation. There are zero acorns again this year so maybe most of the deer wandered off to corn fields somewhere? My hopes of seeing a shooter are lower based on the sign I've seen so far, but I'll keep plugging along and put in an all day sit again this Saturday. I've had some great hunts non the less. It's great to be out there and you never know what you'll see. Good luck to you guys and keep in touch.

I sat in a stand between two bedding areas in somewhat of a funnel yesterday from 8:15 till dark. I had a big 3pt come from behind my tree and walked directly under my stand and straight away for no shot. This was at 2:15 in the afternoon. No chasing seen, no grunting heard. I have about 1.5 days left to hunt before the regular season opens.

You said "My shot: Slight quarter away, I was 20 feet off the ground, buck was 7-10 yards. Hit him high in shoulder. Found broken arrow. I got 7 inches of penetration. Bright Blood on arrow. " based on that description and taking into consideration the angle and only 7 inches of penetration, I'd say it's very possible the broadhead could have stopped just above any vitals. But maybe not. The tracking on a shot like that has to be done very carefully. Finding the spot where the shot took place and carefully looking for any over turned leaves and ground disturbance and tracks then on hands and knees to scour every leaf for a spec of blood or sign of the path the deer took. Now that this option has passed, a careful grid search is next. Good luck, hope you find him.

Yes, I've seen them eating hickory nuts several times. They can be quite loud chewing the shells.

No acorns is right! At least last year there was a bumper crop of hickory nuts which the deer love as well. The crop fields around me have been picked, coated with liquid manure and tilled too. It appears they they are mostly eating greens at this point.

Yep, all day sits planned for this weekend. I'll be in thick shady cover between real thick cover.

I'm just seriously frustrated with the fact that I'm only able to get out hunting on the weekends. I just want to be out there every day this time of year in a bad way. It seems to pull at me harder every year. With the job I have now, vacation isn't an option, so I have to make the most of my weekends.

Winds are more steady out of the south this am, 34F. I sat till noon yesterday, had does and fawns going by early, then a nice 2.5 came by at 20 yds. Maybe 100 ", no brow tines. He was grunting and following the does who had no interest. I was on public and had another guy a couple hundred yards to my south. Oh well. Can't hunt this am, but will get back out later today at some point. All day sits start now, things should be picking up. The weather shows mid to high 60's the next 10 days though, so that will have them moving mostly at night and early morning.

I took a day off and snuck into a stand where thick brush meets open woods. 32 F to start, light winds and dry leaves so I had to slowly tip toe the last 200 yards. Shortly after getting settled into my stand I caught glimpses of a nice buck with a doe back in the brush. He grunted a few times and I hear branches braking as the headed away from me. I had a few doe and a 4 pt pass by around 9:45 and saw a couple small bucks toward the end of the day. I didn't hear or see any chasing. The light fickle winds tipped off a bunch of deer of my presence I'm sure but it was a good sit. I'm hoping the winds will stay out of the south for this mornings sit. 33F here in Livingston county. Good luck to all. >>>--------->

The best deer movement days in my opinion are days following a big cold front and temperature drop. The pressure will be on the rise, winds lay down and it's a nice sunny day. Hard to beat those days. Here's an article I found on BP and deer movement: https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/big-buck-zone/2011/10/how-barometric-pressure-affects-deer/

Thanks!! 60 years sure goes by fast! It's true what they say..."enjoy every day". Thankful to be a hunter for sure!!

Yup, keep on voting Dems in, it's working out real well.

The sad thing about all this is that some hunters will be voting for Kathy in November.

No place to hunt in Allegany County NY? With all the state land available there, I don't see why anyone would have to lease property or purchase land to pay the taxes on, unless they have the money and want to. I do some roaming around that area and have hunted it during early bow and see very few hunters. https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/73957.html Check out all the state land available to hunting.

I agree.

Back to the subject of having the itch to hunt deer. I think I have it 365. I'm back out in the deer woods soon after the season ends, and if there's snow on the ground when a weekend rolls around, that's a golden opportunity to take a walk. Later on when the snow melts, that's a warm welcome to stretch the legs and time to look for sheds and do more scouting. Then the last few months here in the summer, after working 50+ hours during the week, I was itching to get out and trim some stands, set some trail cams and keep in tune with the woods on the weekends. A lot of evenings shooting arrows now and hope to get out and glass some deer just for fun in the August evenings.

I usually see a few deer, lots of tracks and I see where they have been eating the green vegetation. One thing I noticed last time out was small fruit had dropped under most of the hickory trees. Almost like they dropped early. I hope that's not the case as the animals really relied on them last fall, since the moths defoliated most oaks in my area.

I hunt a lot of different areas so I try to get out every other weekend or so if I can. I'm mostly checking and trimming stand sites, but also looking at the current agricultural crops, seeing if the gyspy moths have finally all died and off and checking to see if maybe we'll have some acorns again this year. In the new area's I want to place a stand, I'm looking at old rubs and trying to pick a tree. Also setting out trail cams to try and get an idea of what deer are in the different areas I hunt.

No way, could care less about it.