wolc123

I took an almost identical shot on Saturday (swamp and all) and it connected. The difference was, I had a three-shooter and had already fired one (still not sure if that one hit). The buck has three holes in the inboard side. I know my second and third shots hit (second one knocked him down and third was delivered to the neck at point-blank range). As far as an initial shot with a 10% estimated chance of success with a ML, I don't know many, myself included, who would take that. You did the right thing, stop kicking yourself. I think ML's are best left for ML season.

It looks like a porcupine to me.

Since you have permission and won't sleep anyhow, why not grab a lantern and go now ? Are there coyotes in the area ?

It has been more than ten years since I killed an antlered buck with less than 3 points on a side. Generally, deer with larger racks have more meat on them than those with smaller racks. That is why it makes sense for a meat-hunter, such as myself, to pass the smaller bucks early in the season(s). I can make the meat from a 3-1/2 year old buck taste the same and have the same texture as a 1-1/2 year old, simply by aging the carcass (at 33 -43 deg F) longer prior to processing. It makes more sense to use my buck tag on a buck that yields 100 pounds of boneless meat than one that yields 50. That being said, I can count on one hand the antlered bucks I have killed after Thanksgiving weekend. If I still have a buck tag then, I will take the first 3" plus spike that I can get a good shot at. That 50 pounds of meat provides a lot more nurishment than the paper tag. I do not have the option of getting all the meat I need from does, because the farmers in our zone hammer them prior to October 1. Those that remain after hunting season starts are very difficult to kill. Your question is pure nonsense. Are you for or against mandatory AR's ?

I can relate to leaving the liver on the seat. I only save those from 6 month old deer because those from older ones are too tough for me compared to baby beef liver which I can get "free" whenever I am in the mood. I also like pickled heart (wife makes it for me every Valentines day). I left a gallon zip-lock bag containing it, my Schrade sharpfinger, and my Gerber folding knife, outside my folks barn when I brought my buck home yesterday. I was a little worried about it, because I saw a red fox from my stand over there in the evening (they don't want me to shoot them because they are "fun to watch". I called at 10:00 and mom went out with a flashlight and found the heart bag before the fox got it.

Antlers are no longer a big concern for most NY hunters. Meat is where it is at these days. The poll on this site a while ago proved that. You are a day late and a dollar short with your antler restriction request. Best move on, maybe to another state. If you don't like it leave it Fred.

Good luck to all you folks out there today. I am taking the morning off, but hope to sit for a couple hours near a brassica and corn plot late this afternoon and work on my last (3) DMP's. The cold weather should get them on those before dark unless they are too shell-shocked from yesterday. The kids did not hear too much shooting around the house yesterday, while I was over at their grandparent's place on the other corner of the WMU. I will use the binoc's to make 100 % sure there are no 3" long horns hiding by the ears before firing a shot. Buttons will be "game-on".

One thing I am glad that I did not forget was an odd-ball mix-matched slug in case a "finishing-shot" was needed. I used it yesterday. I was thankful that I did not need to waste one of those $ 3 sabots to do the job (it was a shotgun only zone), or risk injury by doing it with a knife. The thing I did forget was a short haul rope. I destroyed the straps on my "muff", trying to use it to pull a very heavy buck out of a swamp by myself. I had to call in reinforcements (father and brother) to get that job done. My sister-in-law drew my name in our Christmas "gift-exchange", so at least she knows what to get me. I put the torn up one back together with knots and a machine screw nut and washer, just to make it thru the remainder of deer season. The zipper on the inner compartment had failed earlier, so there is no saving it now. A new one would be great for ice-fishing.

Nice doe for sure. I have a much harder time killing them than bucks. To me, they seem considerably smarter. They are especially hard to get on the two farms that I hunt around home (one on the NW corner of WMU 9F, and the other on the SE corner) because the farmers around here hammer them with their nuisance permits prior to October 1. Those that survive are extremely difficult to out-wit. It is nice to see woman into hunting like you are. I stopped to see a couple on the drive home this evening, and they helped me get a weight on my buck. No one here believes the PA "chest-girth" method of weigh-estimation, but it turns out that is actually conservative for NY deer. This 182 pounder should have weighed 172 pounds, with it's 42" chest girth, per the PA chart. I guess NY deer are just a little heavier. That makes sense because on average, the farther south you go, the smaller their bodies get. That also looks like a very heavy NY doe that you killed. If you can get a chest girth measurement behind her front legs, I can give you a conservative weight estimate. That is a lot easier than putting one on a scale (don't ask me how I know - my back is still sore).

10:00 am buck:

Thanks, I had to get myself out of last place of "scored" contestants. The downside is no more gun-season NY buck tag, but this one should give us plenty of grind to make it thru to next year. I will probably grind all but the backstraps. I don't know how much of them I can save because that is where my slug hit. I am thankful that I made roasts from the bb. With my buck tag punched, it looks like I will be grouse and bear hunting over Thankgiving holiday, up in the Adirondacks. I was looking forward to tracking some bucks in the snow up there. Oh well, there is always next year. I hope your lead holds, but Rob is going to be tough with that 15 pointer. You got me by an inch on inside spread and the odds of me taking an antlered buck with my ML tag are slim. I have only ever killed bb's in the late ML season. Now that we have enough meat, the odds of me filling any of my last three DMP's is also pretty slim.

Added this (was too wide to fit on previous post)

11/17/18. 6-point buck, 14" inside spread, 182 pound weight, 42" chest girth, Marlin 512

This scrappy 6-pointer offered me a broadside 100 yard, fast-walking shot at 10:00, which I "pushed". I think it missed him forward because he put on the brakes just as I heard the shot go off. He stopped behind a big tree in a swamp. My sister heard my second shot (from her house 300 yards away) 2 minutes later. It seemed a lot longer to me, before he took a few more steps from behind that tree. He was partly hidden by brush, and slightly quartering away, when I held slightly above his center of mass and fired that second shot. Had I not taken the first one (which I was 90 % sure I would make), I probably would not have taken the second one thru that brush. No matter, as that one rolled him onto his back. I could see two hoofs twitching straight up in the air for a little bit before they rolled back down. I cycled the last 12 gauge Honady SST into my Marlin 512's chamber and held the 4x scope's crosshairs on that dark spot in the brush until all movement stopped. Getting to him was tough because the water was higher than my boots. I found a couple of downed, snow-covered trees to balance on and made it over the deep spot. Wading thru the shallower water I finally found him and experienced a rarity (ground antler growth) when he began to pull his head up with his front legs. It seems that they usually look smaller when you walk up to them but not this time, this is probably the second largest racked buck I have ever killed. He would be by a long shot had he not broke off a couple points. My wife was thankful for that for now I can get away with a "free" euro, vs a $400 - $ 500 shoulder mount. I replaced the $3 sabot in my chamber with an off-brand odd-ball from my pocket and ended his suffering with a neck shot with that (another advantage of the euro mount). I did not want muddy swamp water in the carcass so I tried dragging him out with the guts still in. Clearly he was well north of 200 pounds so I did not get too far with that. I called my dad, who got hold of my brother and they arrived in about 20 minutes with a sled and ATV. We floated him over the deep spots with the sled. My brother was particularly impressed with the performance of the butt-out, when we got him to dry land. I named this one "Titus" because I had some history with him (he bested me with my crossbow last Sunday when he saw me moving my cider thermos (see 2nd photo) and never offered a shot. The Good Lord had other plans for him today. (Titus was the book on the two Bible pages that I read this morning before going hunting).

Up in tree at exactly 6:45. BBD @ 10:00 am: 6-pt (fighting 8 with two tines broke off), Weighed 182 on scale, Chest girth = 42" will post pics when available in harvest thread. Passed (3) small antlerless at 8:15. It was just like the "A-team" when the plan came together.

Save the lower jaw and send it to FSW., Measure the chest girth and use the PA chart.

Wake-Up 5:00 am, Start-Up van at 6:00 am, Up trail to spot at 6:30 am, Up tree at 6:45 am, Sun-Up 7:10 am. After all those "Ups" it will be time to "Down" some deer.

More important yet, what was his chest girth ?

You One, Buck Zero

I have not seen any more of those over there but they are shooters for me unless they are with a larger antlerless deer. I have enough DMP's for (3) more and i don't hand out any passes on them. Both of the "shooters" I meant were antlered though, a big six and a big 8. The big (8) was around last year but had a slightly smaller body then than his buddy who I killed that year. This year his rack is bigger and his body looks bigger also. He might have caught up with the 43 inch chest girth his buddy had last year. Hopefully I find out tomorrow, my tape measure is ready.

Normally, I hunt at home on opening day. I will probably make the 20 minute drive over to my folks place this year because I have seen considerably more deer action there over the last couple weeks including (2) nice "shooter" bucks. I will be happy if I can make it over there without hitting a deer with my wife's mini-van on the way. I just put new brakes on it all around, so that should help. Hopefully the hitch receiver cargo-carrier will be loaded heavy on the drive home. Good luck.

What do you think your odds of a recovered kill would have been had you shot at goiter ?

Any regrets for not taking any shots during archery season ? Good luck filling those tags during ML.

What was the weather like ? Do you think a low-power scope would have upped your odds ? I can relate to the short track surprise. When I got on those tracks a couple weeks ago, I was on them less than 200 yards when I got close enough to see them.

I bet that a lot of these guys who do not age their venison are the same ones who's wives and girlfriends don't like it. Most women I know do not like "rare" meat, and even less like it tough. At least if it is aged, you can give it to them tender. That there looks like it is cooked just right and I know it was aged properly so it is easy to understand why it is so good.