Jennifer

This isn't quite the same as deer acting weird out in the deep woods, but here's my little story. Nothing is more frustrating to me than hunting hard all day and not seeing a deer, then coming home and having them partying hard in my yard/back woods. I have about 15 acres total and half of it is swampy brushy "deer sanctuary". The rest is hardwoods. They approach within 15 yard or less and I will talk to them. I don't have any food out-- even wild bird seed-- I suspect they are just used to me being outside all the time and my voice. The real kicker is that earlier this week I heard a shot out back and had to politely confront one of our neighbors hunting 1. on our property and 2. firing quite close to our house (<500') in essentially my back yard. I don't mind that he was hunting but he was there without permission and shooting toward our house from probably 100 yards... not okay with me. After I had talked to him and he left, I turned around and started walking back to my house and a group of 8 does and this year's fawns walked beside me the whole way. I told them that they should pay for their 'safety' with a blood sacrifice....

It is illegal to discharge a firearm or bow: so that the load or arrow passes over any part of a public highway, within 500 feet of any school, playground, or an occupied factory or church, within 500 feet of a dwelling, farm building or structure in occupation or use unless you own it, lease it, are an immediate member of the family, an employee, or have the owner's consent. You may hunt waterfowl, over water, within 500 feet of a dwelling or public structure as long as neither are within 500 feet in the direction you are shooting. I am not sure if this applies to a currently 'in use' hunting structure... this looks like a grey area. How does one determine if it's in use or occupied anyhow? I look forward to seeing the DEC's response to your question, WNY!

It really depends on the weather, and if there are other guys hunting around me. When I suspect the weather is good for natural deer movement (key word is suspect, here! Only guessing on my part) I will sit from sunrise to set-- I have a lot of patience and if nothing else I love watching the squirrels and am a bird watcher so I'm not terribly bored. If there are other guys hunting around, or the neighboring properties, I will also sit all day if I know about it. When the weather suggests that deer are not moving / laying down all day... and later in the season when I know they've been pressured, I will sometimes sit for a bit in the morning then still hunt until the last hour or two. I've been out I think 13 days this season so far? This year's active natural deer movements on the property I hunt (all does and buttons sadly so far) have been at first light, then again from 11:30ish-noon. I haven't seen a single hair in the afternoons all season long.

Seriously!

The wind is just howling today...

This has been the first year that I've hunted where there hasn't been at least one snowfall during regular season, if this lasts. A really crazy year. I've been in the woods nearly every day since opening day (save for a few nasty days of working indoors while it poured out!) and I haven't seen a buck yet. I've seen a few does and a button but nothing I can legally take. Still, I love all my time in the woods, seeing all the critters great and small, even the squirrels. Good luck everyone, be safe.

Whoa, hold the boat. Elk are actually native to NY state, but were eliminated by people. They are not 'exotic' here any more than a turkey (which by the way only thrives in the numbers we enjoy today because of trap and release programs). There is a growing herd of Elk in PA, not far at all from where I live, that may eventually even filter north into NY naturally. http://paelk.com/ Mind, Roosevelt Elk are a different subspecies, but comparing escaped Elk in NY to feral pigs /escaped Russian game ranch boars is apples and oranges. Re: The original post/article, that's just sad. I've seen Elk in person, and at great distances through the woods. They don't look like deer even at a distance. It's very frustrating that those 'deer hunters' didn't identify their targets.

This is a very general question, I go into the woods daily behind my house. For me, clothing and shoes are my two most important items.

I contacted the DEC and was told this too. Good to know.

I forgot to mention, very cool photos, I loved reading this thread!

Actually, for some reason female grouse are 'known' for this behavior. Sometimes males will confront people to kick their butts, (much like a turkey or even a buck that gets it in his head that a person is competition) but the hens have been known to follow guys around and spend a lot of time with them in what we might call a friendly, non-aggressive manner. For guys that run an ATV, lawnmower, tractor or chainsaw, etc, it is thought that the low frequencies of the motor 'putting' are similar to a male grouse's drumming and so it attracts the ladies. Sometimes though you will just get one that is very friendly, like yours. I've seen videos with them sitting on guys heads and shoulders, and one that even let people pet her. If you get on youtube.com and search things like "Friendly grouse" and "pet grouse" and such you will get a lot of hits. There are other guys that have grouse that visit their stands, and one has a grouse that follows him into his trailer!

With the wind blowing pretty hard where we were, we opted to do a very slow still hunt this morning. Just a hair past 10am we noticed deer bedded, but the wind swirled on us and we were busted. It worked out in the end though as we ended up nudging them toward my dad who dropped one, first in 5 years. I was really happy for him... Then the work started!

Do you ever take folks with you to observe? My friend in MN goes hawking quite a bit with a falconer.

Nothing all day long except two in the field where we park (by some houses, no shooting) well before legal light. Hunted sunrise to sunset...didn't hear any shooting either, except way across in PA. We get home just as it's getting dark and were 17 deer in my yard. Seriously.

Yep-- I agree-- I think we are actually all on the same page here. Sorry to get philosophical on you guys.

Based on the photos on her site, that is some excellent work, and her prices are very fair. If I ever need mammal work done I know where to go!

Without ranting about NYS's handling of various budgets, I am sad to say to expect to see this more and more. The DEC is forcefully out of a lot of its manpower, and they are letting DEC workers and ECOs go at a sad, regular rate these days.

Here you go.

LOL thank goodness you guys have a sense of humor. I came back to this thread this morning shaking my head but then got to this page and was relieved! I don't know about you guys but I only take a swatter to the roaches that are good enough to mount. Why bother otherwise? If it's not good enough to mount, it's not a trophy. Geez.

Fantastic turkey photos!! The daytime deer photos are fantastic too. The lens flare in the deer's eyes (reflection) cracks me up though. I hope you don't mind that I touched it up a bit for you. This is what I think your camera was trying to record for you:

I don't know if it's helpful or not, but I've found that flat straps (mine is about 1" wide) are generally more stable than rope. I generally attach it by looping it tightly twice around the midpoint on my sling, and the gun stays horizontal and stable (no wobbling around) while I raise or lower it. Unloaded of course!

Despite my earlier post, I agree-- we 'should' act in the best interest of quickly ending any suffering of the animal we are taking, and also should act in interest of our safety as well. In this light I agree that cutting the neck as a method of dispatch on a wounded deer is a last resort means (and based on some of the stories above, truly some folks used it as a last resort to finish a deer). My post was more generalist than that-- I meant, in general, in my opinion only, someone who uses animal products that result from the death of an animal, at some point in his or her life, should be educated to the origins of the product (be it meat or something else) and not shun personal responsibility for what it is they are doing. With respect, I understand that witnessing the death directly does not impact everyone the same way. That said though, it impacts many people in a profound way and if it means that it helps us learn respect for the critters we eat (or harvest, or whatever) then I'm all for it. Reading the stories, here, of hunters expressing that it was hard for them to witness, speaks a great deal to me! I will leave it at that for fear of getting all weird and spiritual on you poor folks!!

Yeah I was thinking of you. Not too far away for a few guys on here that I know of. All: Remember too that bears have a huge range; if this fellow sired young there are good chances some are roaming NY right now. My aunt in the DEC emailed me another photo of this guy, slightly different angle. I have no idea how they even got him up there on that cart. A crane?!! I was told (not sure how true) that it took 13 guys to get it out of the woods. He's a scary big black bear!

Thought you guys might enjoy the photos and story! This bear was taken in Ulysses, Potter County, not too far south from where some of us live. Ulysses Man Takes Largest Bear In State on first day of bear season PRELIMINARY FIRST-DAY BEAR HARVEST RANKS SECOND HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Game Commission officials today announced that hunters started the 2011 black bear season by taking a preliminary harvest of 1,936 black bears in 52 counties on the first day of the four-day statewide bear season, which was the second season to open on a Saturday. Archery bear harvest data still is being entered into the Game Commission’s database, and won’t be available for another week. The 2011 first-day preliminary harvest compares with 1,751 in 2010, which also opened on a Saturday. Other first-day harvest totals were 1,897 in 2009; 1,725 in 2008; 1,005 in 2007; 1,461 in 2006; 2,026 in 2005; 1,573 in 2004; 1,454 in 2003;1,348 2002; 1,812 in 2001; and 1,691 in 2000. The top 11 bears processed at check stations on Monday all had estimated live weights that exceeded 591 pounds. Jonathan E. Byler, of Ulysses, harvested the largest bear, which was a male that weighed in at 746 pounds (estimated live weight). The bear was taken in Ulysses, Potter County, at 1:45 p.m. Photo courtesy Philip Smith Other large bears (all estimated live weights) included: a 734-pound male, taken by Steven Camasta, of Lakeview, in Salem, Wayne County; a 733-pound male, taken by John J. Hennick, of Cambria, in Bell, Clearfield County; a 714-pound male, taken by Timothy Kiser, of Karns City, in Bradys Bend, Armstrong County; a 706-pound male, taken by Paul Hoyt, of Levittown, in Lehigh, Wayne County; a 629-pound male, taken by Jeremiah M. Bauer, of Hebron, Ohio, in Wharton, Potter County; a 618-pound male, taken by Matthew Hazelton, of Wellsboro, in Delmar, Tioga County; a 611-pound male, taken by Carl Eyler, of Greencastle, in Dublin, Huntingdon County; a 594-pound male, taken by Lindsay King, of Hillsgrove, in Hillsgrove, Sullivan County; a 591-pound male, taken by John Kissling, of Bernville, in Beaver, Columbia County; a 591-pound male, taken by John Vinton, of Waymart, in Canaan, Wayne County. (........) Source: http://solomonswords.blogspot.com/2011/11/potter-county-leads-state-in-first-day.html