wolc123

Following that many miles after the shot in the snow, with no blood evident, is pretty good proof that it was a miss. Did you use your scoped .35 Remington pump-action ? What magnification was the scope ? Do you think that a semi-auto would have been better in that encounter ? Were you exhausted when you fired the shot ? What were the weather conditions at the time, and what was the shot angle ? What do you think you could have done different to make that shot connect ? I have only killed two bucks in the Adirondacks. My first miss up there has been playing in my head since 2014, even though I killed him with a followup shot, from about 300 yards with my 3-9X scoped bolt-action 30/06. I can not remember where the magnification was when I missed. At this point, I am about 90 % certain it was a branch strike that did that first shot in, but unless I locate that busted branch, I will continue to wonder. "Clean-misses" bother me almost as much as unrecovered "hits" because absolutely no skill is required to make them. I know I missed him twice (the second one does not bother me as much since it was rushed offhand). The autopsy showed that buck was only hit by one bullet. I snow-tracked in on a couple antlerless deer up there a few weeks ago, but of course they were "off-limits" for my rifle. Naturally, there were no deer at all around (and no snow) when I was up earlier with my ML and could have legally taken one. It sounds like soft, silent snow and a steady wind provide the best tracking conditions. If I see those over Thanksgiving, I will probably give it a try again. If not, I will try to find good spots to set up my tree-hammock chair and try to ambush one, just as I did the other (2). Good luck on your out of state hunts, and you still got the tag and plenty of time to get it done in NY. If you want to try something different, I can think of a good book that you could read a page or two from on the morning of the hunt.

I will go with my Marlin 512 bolt action shotgun with 4X Bushnell banner scope. I have taken plenty of antlerless deer of both sexes with that one but it is long over due to get one with antlers. If one with more than three points on a side offers me a shot on Saturday or Sunday, it might finally happen. The farthest I ever killed a doe with it was 163 yards. The weather conditions on Saturday, with light winds and a backdrop of snow, look good for a long shot in the open hardwoods. If the big-antlered buck I messed up on with my crossbow last Sunday morning takes a similar walk this Saturday, it should be his last.

Sad day for country music fans. RIP Roy

For sure. I have already altered my opening weekend plans at home to hunt the brassicas and corn a bit more. Snow always makes them hit those hard. The dusting that we had here last night was great for sledding the crossbow-kill carcass that I butchered back to the "coyote" pile. I am really hoping for some up in the Adirondacks when I head up there over Thanksgiving. I have killed bucks up there every time we have had it then. That also means that it is going to need to be a big wide six or better for me to punch my buck tag at home in the Southern zone on opening weekend. I don't like the idea of heading up there in the snow with just a bear tag because that will make them hibrenate early.

Reeltime, Your dad sounds like a heck of a guy. As good as the hunting was that you all had down here, it will be even better up there where he is now. I missed your lake Ontario fishing reports this summer and fall. I did not get up there much myself, due to some big projects at home. I never had much luck with those red tractors either and got rid of my last one this summer. The green, blue and orange ones have done much better by me. Congrats on the PA buck. It was great that your dad was able to see that and take part in the excitement of those kid's hunts this year. Prayers sent for him and your family.

Brassicas and corn are always better with snow.

I finished processing the bb tonight. It made 12 quart packs of grind and about an equal volume of other cuts including (5) roasts from the rear, a bone-in neck roast, (2) quart vacuum bags of backstrap, and one of "hidden tenderloins". Looks like right around 50 pounds, not counting the the regular tenderloins, heart and liver. The PA chest girth chart, using a tight tape measure for the measurement, appears to be almost spot-on for Western New York button-bucks anyhow. I think I killed this ones father last season, a year ago to the day. The body shapes were very similar. The bb had thick, easily recoverable meat over the rib-cage, just like his poppa did and each of their last meals came from the same clover patch. The older buck produced almost exactly double the amount of meat, which also matched up good to the PA chart for his 43" chest girth. Although they never met while alive, it is cool to see them together now in "deer heaven" (our family's food supply). There are still a few of the old buck's roasts left in the freezer.

If you struggle with buck fever, then Culver's idea is probably best. After you decide the buck is a shooter, immediately move your focus to the individual hair that you want your projectile to strike. Do not look at the antlers any longer than necessary. Antlers never did much for me, so I never struggled with that, but I have struggled with "meat-fever" in my younger days. A good cure for that was lots of squirrel hunting with a .22 rimfire. After you get comfortable with those tiny kill-zones, larger animals are more like taking candy from a baby. Even more important, is realizing who controls the fate of all living things (even sparrows), and staying on good terms with Him. If He wants that buck to suffer some other fate, it don't matter what you do, it will not go your way.

It's the most wonderful day of the year (and I am a Christmas baby). I can not wait. On my last three crossbow hunts, I saw mature bucks that would have been chip shots with my slug gun. The one I blew it on this morning really has me ready for Saturday. I will be ready this time and hopefully he will be back.

Next to the butt-out II, which I purchased on Chef's recommendation, that was the best thing I learned from this forum. I have to thank G-man for providing that a few years ago. It is a big help in estimated the amount of venison I need to get our family thru a year. Surprisingly, the butt-out worked well on this one. The last time I tried it on a bb that my buddy killed in 2016, it failed miserably. One thing is for sure, I am going to be real careful to get all of the 57 pounds of edible meat (per the PA chart) that I can from this one. I ate the tenderloins for lunch yesterday and they were unbelievable. I am not going to count any unhatched chickens, this may be the only deer I get this year.

I thought this 99 pound field-dressed (per the PA chest-girth chart) was an average sized doe until I started to gut "her". It stepped out onto a clover plot at 3:30 Friday afternoon. When "he" turned broadside, I hit him behind the shoulder with a bolt tipped with a mechanical broadhead, fired from my Barnett Recruit. He turned tail and I thought I heard a crash. I said a quick prayer for an easy recovery, walked over and saw him down 20 yards into the goldenrod adjacent to the clover. This was my first deer from the ground with the crossbow and also my first DMP filled with one, having previously taken just three antlered bucks from tree stands with it. I was in one of them cheap pop-up blinds that Aldis was selling for around $30 last year.

PICKED THE WRONG TIME FOR A DRINK: I made one this morning that cost me a shot at a nice buck. One year ago today, I placed a hang on stand near the center of a narrow 7-acre block of woods that is part of my folk's farm, but I had never hunted it before. It is 500 ft wide and bordered by a swamp to the south and a trailer park to the north. A new owner had bought the overgrown field to the south of the swamp. He left a note on a stand that I had mistakenly placed on his land, back when I did not know exactly were the border was. He had it surveyed, and my stand was 10 yards on his side of the line. After I moved it, I thought I would be able to gun hunt out of it last year but the trailers were too close for that, so I saved it for crossbow this year. Today was the day and the wind was perfect. I got an early start in another familiar stand, then made a move to the new one at 8:15 am. I had tried and failed to locate the new stand a month earlier, on a squirrel hunt (with my pellet gun), but that was complicated by all the leaves on the trees. With them all gone now and with plenty of daylight, I had no trouble finding it this morning. The trailers also looked closer, with the leaves down, but they were over 250 feet away. The stand location was near the north edge of the swamp on higher ground with lots of mature oak trees. The squirrel activity was heavy. At 10:15 am, just as I was returning the cup on my thermos of hot cider, I heard a "squirrel" crunching the leaves behind me. It turned out to be no squirrel, but a high-racked buck. He was now stopped 40 yards away. in some thick cover. He stared right at me, 8 feet up in that tree. I did not make a move, but he did not like what he saw. He changed course, never getting any closer or offering me a shot. I tried a few grunts, but he paid no attention to those. He was upwind the whole time. I blame my shiny chrome thermos. I have got to camo that, if I use it again in an exposed stand. Since this was my last day crossbow hunting this year, I moved that stand to a spot about 525 feet from the nearest trailer. That might be where I hunt on opening day morning. I will also have a gun with a 200 yard effective range and a camoflaged thermos. The hunting has been a lot better over there since that new owner posted the heck out of his new purchase, and prosecuted a few tresspassers. Prior to that, there was always hordes of aborigins (people I don't know) spilling over into my folks woods almost every time I hunted there.

When it gets real cold, I put a down vest under my jacket. That helps a lot. With that, a good hat and face mask on my head, mickey mouse boots on my feet, and my hands in a muff with a chemical warmer, if I stay out of the wind, I can handle the coldest conditions for as long as I need to.

I have been binge watching "Meateater" lately he and ate those, from an antelope, in the episode I watched last night. Those from the bb were not bad, but nothing special, basically leaving me hungry, so I pulled the tongue (he eats those also), and cut off part of the liver and fried that too. No reason not to since the frying pan was already dirty. The tongue was tiny and the skin on it was tough and chewy but the liver was good as usual. Again, I was left wanting more, so I pulled the tenderloins and just finished those. Those may be the best I have ever had - beef or deer. Now I am stuffed and ready to sit in the stand until dark. I would put the total weight of the "parts" that I have consumed so far at slightly less than a pound. That should leave more than 50 on the carcass to share with the wife and kids, per the PA chart.

bb was a little heftier than I estimated. Chest girth was 35", which means field dressed weight of 99 pounds and 57 pounds of edible meat per the PA chart. I just pulled the balls to fry up for brunch. The weather is perfect for it right now and he is hanging insulated garage. Normally, those 6-month olds don't need much time for the rigor-mortis to come out, but big as he is, I will give him a couple of days. I will probably skin on Monday night and process Tuesday night. That meat is like gold so I will definitely trim carefully and try to get the full 57 pounds. The morning hunt at my folks place was partially successful in that I found my bolt and I think I can save/rework the mechanical broadhead to try on a third deer. I also saw a solid 2.5 year buck at 8:15 am (looked like a compact 8-point rack), but he did not quite give me a good enough shot to take. The best he gave me looked like a 50/50 and I need 90 % to launch a bolt. I could only take that cold wind until 9:15 am this morning. I will get back over there tomorrow. I have some more comfortable stand/blinds to ride out the high winds at home this afternoon.

bbD yesterday for me (sorry FSW), hopefully BBD today.

I learned that trick after my uncle lost what he said was the biggest buck he ever saw in the thick woods across the street from our farm many years ago. He leaned his slug gun against a tree and walked up to it with his knife. Before he could make the first cut, it got back up and took off, never to be seen again. Usually it is tough to learn lessons like that from someone else, but he was with me when I killed my first deer so that helped it sink in. I have yet to have one blink, but I will be ready if one ever does. With any spine area hit deer, I always give them a second shot as soon as I am close enough to make a good one (to the neck) if they are still moving. I even did that once with my ML on a double-lunged doe that started to pull her self up again when I got to her.

Wow, that is a couple of sad stories there. "Ruined meat" provides a lot more nurishment than a paper tag and bullets are cheap. All hunters should learn how to stick the muzzle of their loaded weapon into the open eye of a downed deer and immediately give it another round if it blinks. If the eye is shut, give it one more anyway. That first "lost deer" story really hits me hard, because last year my buddy chose to text me that he had a buck down rather than using his finger on his trigger. That cost us a considerable amount of venison when that buck got up and escaped. The shock of a bullet to the spine area often immobilizes them for a few minutes.

You win for the best outfits

Have any of you guys used mechanical broadheads more than once ? I bought (6) of the 125 gr o-ring style ones on clearance from Bass Pro about 10 years ago. Back then, I used one on a target, to see if it would fly the same as my 125 gr field tips (it did). Since then, I have shot deer with the other (5), all of which dropped dead in sight or close enough that I could hear them crash (less than 40 yard run after hit). The first two were with my vertical compound, the last three with my crossbow. I used the last new one on a big buck last season, but the high price of new mechanicals kept me from buying more this year. I was able to get pretty good performace on targets with Muzzy and Wasp fixed 3-blade broadheads, so I planned to use those this year. I also stuck my best "used" mechanical in my quiver, after sharpening up the blades with a stone and replacing the o-ring. This afternoon at 3:30 pm, I had that old mechanical on the rail when a fat button buck stepped out into a clover plot, 20 yards from my popup blind. I hit him behind the shoulder. He spun around and hightailed it into the goldenrod after taking the bolt thru both lungs. I thought I heard a crash, so I walked immediately over there and sure enough, he was down just 20 yards in. This was a good-sized bb. It felt like he weighed about 85 pounds field-dressed, when I tossed him into the box on my dad's side-by-side ATV. I will get a chest girth measurement tomorrow, when I go back over there with my wife's van and cargo carrier, to pick him up. Those mechanicals (new or used) seem to be so lethal that I am reluctant to hunt with anything else. I was not able to find the bolt that went thru the bb tonight, but I will look for it some more tomorrow. I did find a couple more of those used mechanicals in my archery "junk drawer". By combining parts and sharpening blades, I was able to get one in decent shape. If I can find the one from today's kill, I will try and get a third deer with that one, now that I know they work for at least two. Mechanical broadhead prices should be slashed severely after gun season opens, and I will buy more at that time. Hopefully the one that I have, and the other I might find, will get me thru tomorrow and Sunday. I am reluctant to hunt with fixed blade broadheads because I have had a few long and difficult tracking jobs with those over the years. The mechanicals, on the other hand, seem to kill them nearly as quick as a rifle ML or shotgun slug.

Do you have access to a copy machine ? If you are worried about it, just make a copy. You can even use colored paper if you want to make it look official.

4.5

My 4X scope was mounted low. What I liked best about that, was how quick I could get on a target with it. That is a big deal when hunting the heavy cover. I could get on a target considerably faster with that scope than I can with the iron sights on my new one. I am hoping that the fiber-optics will help out a bit with that. I also had one of those tang extensions on the hammer which made it real fast to work that with the scope. I will have to pick up one of those, because my father-in-law's does not have one on it.

I also had another 336 30/30 (standard model with a 4X scope), many years ago. At the time, I did not hunt the NY northern zone and I liked my large bolt-action better for western Mule deer / elk hunts. I traded the old Marlin for a woodchuck gun. I did not miss it until I started the hunting the Adirondacks about 15 years ago. My father in law has one just like my old one (including the scope), that he never uses. Some day, when the time is right (like if I get him the bear rug that he has been asking for for years), I will ask him if I can hunt with that gun. I would only use it when there is no threats of rain or sleet (that is what my open-sighted one is good for). Do you have a scope on your 30/30 ? The lever is so much better to carry in the mountains, than my heavy bolt-action, that I can't wait to get hold of a second one with a scope. I had forgotten how much better it was until that rainy day hunt a couple weeks ago.