wolc123

Most likely they just tacked on that orange hat OR vest requirement to make a safety improvement to compensate for a possible loss with the added half hours before and after the sun.

Only action so far was a turkey taking flight from a tree top 40 yards behind me at sunrise and several appearances by this little guy 10 yards to my left. That’s the edge of the swamp, 10 yards past the grey, and the closest double-wide trailer is 125 yards to my right. It has warmed up a little now, so I removed my face mask to improve my radar (hearing). Last time that I hunted this spot with my crossbow in prime-time, a big 8 pointer was able to sneak in to 15 yards undetected. I don’t want a repeat of that today.

Sorry charly you are dead wrong on that one. Look up the dec regs, where it shows 500 ft setback requirement for shotguns, rifles, handguns, and muzzleloaders (all considered firearms), 100 ft for a vertical bow, and 250 ft for a crossbow. I assume that was the settlement that was reached with the anti crossbow group NYB. I am good to go with no orange where I am because a firearm armed hunter would need to be in a boat or wearing hip boots to be more than 500 feet from the nearest trailer. Your confusion is understandable considering that in other ways, ny’s laws consider a crossbow a muzzleloader. Your not the first one who is mixed on that. Rules confusion runs rampant on this forum.

Ready for some action 20 minutes before sunrise behind the trailer park. No gun so no orange hat needed.

The anticipation is killing me. This is worse than opening day of gun season, as far as that goes. I am packed and ready to go. I just finished a shower with scent killer soap/shampoo and my Evercalm and grunt call are packed. The cargo carrier is loaded into the back of our mini-van, in case its needed to haul back a carcass. I am bringing my small crossbow for the morning hunt. There is not much room, up in the stand where I am headed in the morning, and it is too close to about a dozen mobile homes to use my ML. Tomorrow will be my first hunt there this year during a "prime time" (outside of the nearly useless 10:00 - 2:00 time slot). The only other time that I hunted in that spot during prime time, was back in 2018, when I blew a great chance at a fine 8-point with the very same crossbow. A week later that year, when I killed him with my shotgun, he was down to 6 points and 182 pounds field-dressed. Had I been able to take him before the rut, he may have dressed over 200 and he surely had all of his points then (they were easy to see and count from 15 yards away). I am also bringing my chainsaw, to clear trails in the woods, that were blocked by the big wind storm a couple weeks ago, and my in-line ML for the afternoon hunt down on the south edge of the woods. I hope that I can find an empty Remington slugger under my new box-blind stand over there, so that I can complete a "shop project" that I have in mind. Even though I am a meat-first guy, I would be about 1/10th as excited about tomorrow, if I didn't still have a buck tag. One thing that antlers are definitely good for, is cranking up the anticipation and making it harder to sleep. Good luck to everyone who decided to take advantage of this special Christmas present from the NY state DEC, and get out there tomorrow. Hopefully, this thread gets lit up with lots of action.

How did those turn out ? I hope to get one or two more added to the Valentine’s day pot over the next 7 days.

Merry Christmas to you and your family also. I will probably be down-state a few more times, over the next 3-1/2 years, so there should be time for that. Lite beer from Miller is my go-to at joints that don’t carry Genny. My wife couldn’t find a Genny scarf. I like the journal section, on the forum here, and yours is a good one. I aim to start one of my own in 22, hopefully with a Holiday ML deer on January 1. It looks like bear can not be taken during the “Holiday Deer Season”, because that’s what they call it on the DEC website.

Those did turn out pretty cool. Great idea for keychains. Gives me an idea for a “shop project”. I’ve got the lead slug, just need to see if I can find the empty, on tomorrow afternoon’s Holiday hunt.

Correction (unable to edit and fix it in prior post). The true maximum bag limit of shed bucks in many wny DMU’s during the Holiday season is 9. To bag all 9 of them, between tomorrow and a January 1, you would need to still have your regular season “antlered” tag which is also good for a antlerless buck during the late and holiday ml seasons, your bow/ml either/or and antlerless only tags, your (2) first draw dmp’s, your (2) “extra” dmp’s, and (2) transferred dmp’s. I only have 4 tags left (I did not receive any transferred dmp’s) , and just one is good for a buck with antlers. If I see one of those on my first (8) Holiday hunts, he is going to need at least 4 points on a side to get that tag. One 3” spike will be enough for me to use it on my first two hunts of next year, which will also be my last two hunts, of this year’s Holiday season. I will be very thankful to just see one deer thru that. Being able to assist one or more into “deer Heaven” - mankind’s food supply, would be very nice bonus. The Christmas morning / birthday festivities are winding down now, turkey’s in the oven, and it’s time for me to pack my wife’s mini-van for tomorrow’s “opening-day” hunts. The weather forecast looks good with nearly ideal meat-handling temperatures, no rain or snow, and moderate winds. One thing that I am not certain of, is if a bear could be legally taken during the Holiday season. I don’t expect to see any here in wmu 9F, but the warm weather seems to be keeping them out in other zones. My mother in law just sent me pictures of fresh tracks in the snow last week up in wmu 6c.

Thanks all, kind of glad for the 3 day break from work an hunting.

It sounded like more of a primer issue, based on what I read. Does t7 work with a wider variety of primers than bh209 ? If so, that might be another reason to stick with the t7. If sounds like primers and other reloading supplies have also been adversely affected by the Covid-19 crunch.

I almost changed to bh209, prior to the current covid-19 crunch. The main reason that I didn’t, is because I am pretty cheap, and I wanted to use up my supply of t7 pellets first. I also found that cleanup got a lot easier with the t7, after I started using Traditions foaming bore cleaner and a bore snake. Now, I am very glad that I didn’t make the swap, after hearing about the current supply issue, and at least one bh209 misfire this season, from another forum member. I have never had a misfire with t7 pellets in my in-line, using three or four different brands of 209 primers. Have t7 pellets also been scarce and expensive, since the crunch, or have they been a little easier to find lately ? It sounds like you have found them to be a lot cheaper anyhow. I might have just enough t7 pellets left, to get me thru the Holiday season this year. I was also able to find a one pound can of loose t7 at Runnings, early in the crunch, from which I have only used about 100 grains. I would like to restock my supply of pellets, with a couple more boxes for next year, if they could be located at reasonable cost. They are considerably more convenient for me to use in my in-line than the loose powder. My 50 cal in-line shoots best with (2) 50 grain T7 pellets. If and when I fill my ML/bow buck tag, during the upcoming Holiday week, I will switch to my sidelock, to work on my three remaining dmp tags. That shoots best, when I pour in 25 grains of loose t7, then drop in one 50 grain pellet. I put some new fiber optic sights on that gun this year. They worked quite well on paper, but I would really like to see how they do on a deer.

Not legally, per the DEC, because you can take up to (6) antlerless bucks in many DMU’s (assuming you get (2) transferred and (2) “extra” dmp’s in addition to your first (2)), but the maximum bag limit of bucks carrying antlers remains just (2) in most DMU’s throughout the December 26 - January 1st Holiday ML season. You can legally kill (8) shed bucks, during the Holiday and the normal late ML season (ended Tuesday) if you have those (6) dmp’s , because both of your buck tags may also be used for antlerless deer during those seasons.

You or I might get the last post in the 2021 crossbow harvest thread. In addition to this Sunday, I also plan on hitting my crossbow-only “trailer-park” stand on January 1st, so that will give me a shot at first Crossbow harvest of 2022. 1st crossbow harvest in the morning and first Muzzleloader harvest in the afternoon would also be cool. Anyone can get the biggest antlers, field dressed weight, or PA chest girth, but there is just one first and last each year. No sense letting my 4 remaining deer tags go to waste when there are lots of hungry folks out there and the NY DEC is depending on us to help with the state’s deer herd management. If your freezers are already full, don’t forget that many processors will take your deer and process it for the needy, at no cost to you. Google venison coalition for the processing location nearest you. Financial contributions towards that program are also accepted by the DEC when and where you purchase your license.

Merry Christmas to you Cynthia, and to all the rest here at huntingny. May you all enjoy the new Holiday Muzzleloader season, that the NY state DEC gave us as a wonderful new Christmas present this year. Nowhere near the gift that our God and Father gave us all with His Son 2022 years ago, but still a very good one. Thank you Mr. Polencardz, and all of my friends in the Northern Erie Snow Seekers, for not being grinches and taking that recent special gift away. I will pray that the Good Lord blesses you folks with plenty of happy trails after January 1.

Thanks for the President’s day invite, and I might try to stop in, with those two lower jaws that I saved for you, and check out your racks. I am pretty sure that we got detoured right past there, a couple of trips ago, when there must have been an accident on Rt 3. It didn’t take us that much longer, to get to the in-laws place, going that way. Looking at your three pictures of this year’s kills up above, they appear to show two different bucks. On the bottom two, I can clearly see the brow tines, and on the top one I can’t. I enlarged that top picture as much as I could with my phone (I think it is an I-phone 14), used my bifocals, and I still can’t see them. If that one also has them, then they must both be 8-pointers, or did I miss some more 1” or longer stickers ? I am not much of an “antlers” guy myself, as you and everyone else on this site must surely be well aware of by now. I even missed this damn 1-1/8” long brow sticker on my one and only antlered buck (so far) this year, when I called in my harvest report. I still feel a little guilty about that, because the DEC probably considers 5 or less points as 1.5 years old, 6-8 points as 2.5 years old, 9 or more points as 3.5 plus, and no points (my wife’s favorites) as 6 months old when aging male deer with their computer program. I am sorry that you are not overly thrilled with the DEC. From a “mostly” MEAT hunter’s perspective, I feel that they have been doing a stellar job lately, of managing our deer herd. Never have I felt more certain of that than this year, when my freezers would be almost empty, rather than packed to near capacity, were it not for the new changes they made. The jury is still out on the new Holliday season, but the early antlerless season, restored Adirondack ML antlerless, and half hour past sunset, have been real good for me. I believe you if you say the brows are there on that upper photo and if you have it next February, I guess I might be able to see them up close and in focus. Getting off the “missing” brow points, and back on topic, I understand that you are now tagged out. I have an extra dmp, that I could sign over to you, if you want to come out west for some Holiday hunting. You would be very welcome if you choose to. I can offer you a comfortable box blind, over looking a not yet fully consumed standing corn plot, on 34 private acres. I kicked a big (unidentified) deer out of there last Saturday afternoon. Shoot me a pm if you might be able to make it out to wmu 9F any time between December 26 and January 1. ps, I edit almost all of my posts with this damn smart phone because it always changes a bunch of words (or I fat-finger) a few. MERRY CHRISTMASS

Can’t comment on the Chrysler, but my wife loves her Siena. I think it is going on 200k miles and has only really needed tires and brakes. It is a bit older though, maybe a 2012 or so. I did have the tranny fluid flushed and changed about 5 years ago, after it heated up a little on our drive back from a VA vacation that year. The kids could smell the fluid cooking off from the back seats. Probably the only reason it did that, and needed a change, was that I had towed our boat with it in overdrive one time, up to the St Lawrence and back, when it was about a year old. It hasn’t missed a beat since changing the fluid and she won’t let me get rid of it. When the roads are salted late season, I park our summer Silverado in the barn, and use that Siena as my hunting vehicle to go back and forth to my parents place about 20 miles away. I will be over there with it this Sunday for sure. It works great for that, especially with a cheap cargo carrier in the hitch receiver for hauling carcasses. Sure wish I had it after Thanksgiving when I had to take the tailgate off the truck, use it as a ramp, and use a comealong to winch a heavy bastard up into the bed.

Not sure what you are talking about kind sir, but I didn’t see any brow tines on your upper (I assume northern buck), so that is what I meant by “missing”. Do you have a clearer photo of that one ? The only “broken” points I referred to on this thread were the tenth and eleventh points (right side looking at the picture or his left) that the 9 pointer I killed this year had lost during the rut. If you would like, I can get some photos from different angles, or stop by your ranch with it, when I am up that way ice fishin over President’s weekend next February. I saved his lower jaw for you, so that you could verify his 3.5 year age if you wanted to. I always estimate their age by skull size and he appears to be my 4th 3.5 year old over the last 5 years. I could also bring along the lower jaw of my 2018 (weight / PA chest girth calibration) 3.5 year old buck if you wish. That’s him right up above that infamous little “Texas” buck The Good Lord blessed me with, up your way, back in 2016. I can’t recall ever claiming to be a “great hunter”. I ain’t even a real good shot and never placed higher than third place on my high school rifle team. The only time I know for sure that I hit the spot that I aimed at, was on that little “Texas” buck. The only reason I know that, is because there was no hair at that spot. I have just been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time for The Good Lord to bless me with some “marginal” bucks by your standards or some good ones by mine.

Thanks for posting those pics of “the one that got away” That makes it very clear why you are so upset with the “lesser” 7 and 8 pointers that you ended up settling for this year, and why you get so pissed off with the repeated postings of my 9 pointer. By the looks of the fuzzy pictures of them, it seems like your camera is going bad also. Oh well, better luck next year. Like I said in the op, I am trying to hold out (until January 1st pm hunt) for an 8 point with my second buck tag this year, but I will settle for one with just 4 points on one side, even if he has dropped the other side. I have never owned a trail camera, but I am very thankful that The Good Lord allowed me to assist, putting the largest antlered bucks that I laid eyes on for 5 of the last 6 years, into their final resting place (my family’s food supply). I did suffer a year, like you did this year, last season though. I lost the biggest one that I saw that year, due to this damn smart phone. Fortunately, I learned from that mistake, and it was safely tucked away in my pocket, when this guy showed up just after sunset on the evening after Thanksgiving. Do not dispair, change you course, and it is bound to get better for you also next year. Happy New Years to you and your family and I hope 2022 brings you more of God’s blessings and some more satisfaction.

Missing and broken are two different things.

They do look different, upon a closer look. Congrats on another two big-buck year, in NY. Did you notice the missing brow tines on that first one before you shot him ? Now I see why you are so pissed off when I put up the pictures of mine. The Good Lord blessed me, the lowly, unskilled, button-buck killing, meat- hunter, with a 9-pointer, in addition to my prized early button buck, while you got stuck with just a 7 and an 8. That gives me the tastier one and the bigger one by most common-folk measures. I was thankful that my big one had broken off his other two points, thru the rut. I didn’t have to spring for a shoulder mount, for what would have been my one and only 11 pointer. Just set your sights a little higher next year, if the racks in the low-hundreds are not doing it for you anymore. There are lots of bigger ones out there, you just need to step up your game a touch, maybe spring for some better binoculars and scope.

It looks like he was very successful up north, but I haven’t heard about down south. He’s not talking about it, so I got to assume he was shut out down at Letchworth. If he is one of those “hypocrites” who opposes the Holliday season, but will hunt it anyhow, then he can still get it done properly (with a true “trophy” by his definition) down there, up until January 1, 2022. I am going “trophy” mode myself, with my remaining buck tag, until my last (January 1, 2022 pm) hunt. The way I justify that is: I don’t really need more meat, and by passing a small buck early, I might be able to use my tag on a bigger one on that last hunt. I will go back to the same standard I used for the early part of the seasons this fall: 4 points on a side or solid 2.5 year old minimum. That photogenic 3.5 year old 6x3 of mine, that FSW likes seeing so much, blew that minimum out of the water. That was just one of those rare instances of “ground growth”. I figured him for a solid 2.5 year old 8 point, when I first looked away from his rack and tried to get a slug into his chest. I was very surprised by the size of the rack and the carcass when I walked up on it. The fact that ones like that don’t come around for me every year (just 4 out of the last 5 in fact), means lots of on line pictures when it does finally happen.

Maybe you were not able to crack my code: BB = big buck 3.5 years old or more. bb = button buck 4 - 6 months old. All the meat in that pan is from this BB. Get it now ? You got to like my orange drag handle anyhow ? I used it for its intended purpose, AFTER dragging that lean, gut-filled carcass to a clear area. Order of operations is important on such a job as that.