Jennifer

Thanks for the PM man. How depressing. We sometimes find old garbage when we'd walk the Potter lands but nothing fresh. Finding deer like that is pretty terrible too... gives us all a bad image. I hate that a few guys can ruin it for everyone.

A small bit of luck! And we have been trying the state land over off of the 9 mile-- 3,000 some acres up there. Some of the woods is beautiful but we've seen no turkey sign, and not a squirrel or a chipmunk (what the heck). My dad and I were actually excited to see a chipmunk up there! I did see a lot of fresh buck sign, scrapes and rubs, but other than that we've spent three days up there and haven't seen anything else. Kinda spooky!

Just a note that in NY, it's illegal to possess live native wildlife without a permit!

My answer is not really fair, because I do a lot of small game hunting. I've seen a few larger bucks while turkey and squirrel hunting, and of course had to pass because it wasn't deer season. I've also seen a big fella in my yard/woods once. During open deer season, and while actually hunting, I've only seen three large bucks. All three were different years: My dad took one, I took another, and a third there was no shot. I don't think any would be considered 'monsters' though. I don't know what mine would have scored; his right main beam was broken.

If you want to send me your email address, I can pass it on to her, or I can give you her email, so you can get in touch. I know she'd really appreciate it!

Slightly off topic-- if any of you folks hunt crow but don't want the birds afterward please let me know, I have a friend in the Ithica/Binghamton area that studies them with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and would love some hunter gifted birds.

The problem with this is that there are few (if any??) studies- studies take money and not many people want to pay for this sort of thing (might be worth catching DU's ear on this one), however I know that a lot of the toxins we use in agriculture do not break down easily and so, in my opinion-- yes, absolutely, geese might retain some of the chemicals that they consume. Toxins and heavy metals are nearly always 'stored' in the fat reserves on birds and in any oils/skin. If preparing for consumption, weigh the risks (I wouldn't be feeding questionable meats to pregnant women, young children, etc) and remove all skin and as much fat as you can, same as with a diving duck.

I hate hunts like that. I always wonder what I am missing-- why is 'everyone' hiding?, especially on days where there is no obvious cause such as a weather shift or a pressure system coming through...

Don't feel too terrible. I've been out every sat & sunday since it opened here in the SZ and a few weekdays too when the afternoons were nice. Not a yelp, scratching, feather or turkey poop in over 50 hours in the woods so far! This is the first year that we haven't been able to pattern them or even know that they're out there! They are obviously but we have no idea what they're eating. The leaves are all down, here, so they should be scratching, unless they're picking bugs in the fields still, but we don't see them there either. Puzzling! Maybe they are eating apples with the deer. I know I'll see them running around, singing and dancing in circles all of deer season....

Hahah!! I can sell you my wind detection device, feather-on-a-thread, only $9.99

That's what we do, too. I always carry some small zip-ties in my pocket and we zip-tie the tag to the ear, then 'fold' the ear shut and zip tie it that way so that it can't come flying out somehow on the way home.

I've experienced that chipmunks have two main 'types' of cluck: A sharp chirp, quite loud-- this seems to be a danger warning. Often preceded by a loud trilling noise as they run to a vantage point to 'yell' at you or any other predator. A lower cluck that is heard long distances- This seems to be some sort of communication thing, sort of like a bunch of squirrels doing their low bark (not the one where they are upset at you and trashing their tails). Entire populations of chipmunks in an area will get to doing this all at once sometimes.

This is exactly what I do. A light covert feather (not a rigid one) on a thread, tied to the sight on the end of my barrel. Always there with me and easy to see at any given time, it's so small nothing notices it fluttering there either.

We have a rule in my household-- no one is allowed to read the 'comments' section under any news article. No matter what it's about, its enough to make you sick of humanity! I think people just use the comments section to troll and get other people riled up.

What a great story. Thank you for sharing! I saw the title on the front page and laughed -- had to come read this one.

For some reason my dad has always called a big, mature doe a "Bahama Llama"...

That's the best way of doing it. Mounting it like that will never leak grease either! I recommend it too.

Potter Lumber land: Those of you down in region 9 might know what I'm talking about. Potter Lumber Co. has a lot of land down here and for decades it has been public access as long as you don't use tree stands or damage the timber (understandably). My family has hunted Potter lumber lands for years and years and I have many fond memories of these areas. I mostly small game hunted there. It seems, from what I understand, that Potter Lumber lost their tax break from the state of NY for allowing public access? Regardless, they have leased out their properties to private hunting clubs. This is well within their right, and I respect that! However, it is frustrating for us as the public access lands of Potter Lumber were some of our last hunting areas, as over the years all of the private land we had permission on has been sold, cut into lots, and so forth. In the past, as gratitude for allowing us access to land, we've helped the landowners, either in doing maintenance on the land, posting, farm help, and so forth. I actually had my first experience with helping live animals birth at a farm where we helped out in return for hunting privileges. I've been doing some polite door-knocking, but haven't had any success. Sadly most folks are either leasing or don't seem to want hunters around these days, even when I offer help. Even land owners that used to say "small game only" are turning us down because so many people bow hunt for deer now, they are afraid we'd mess them up by hunting small game. I wish I could, but I simply cannot afford a couple hundred dollars per year to get in on a lease (and man, some of them have weird rules!). Even more frustrating is that I own about 20 acres behind my house, but because of the way houses have been built, nestled right up against the edges of the land, I cannot legally hunt it as not all of the neighbors will grant me permission to discharge a firearm. I know state land is an option, and trust me I am considering it! However, I regret that I simply can't afford to fill my gas tank for the hour-drive-one-way each time I want to go squirrel hunting on an afternoon. (plus the park entrance fees for some of them) I know I have no room to complain-- some of you guys travel a lot longer than one hour to get to your hunting spot!! The economy is just hitting me hard. Does anyone have any recommendations for public access land near Portville, or know of any landowners that might be willing to have us? I know it's a shot in the dark. Until then I will save my pennies for gas I suppose!!

My dad started me off with small game hunting with him. He often tells the story of me clopping along in the woods, making all sorts of racket, in my big pink rubber boots, until I saw my first deer. Then I learned to be quiet and look! I don't remember that event specifically as I was pretty young, but the feelings have stuck with me ever since. He didn't take me big game (deer) hunting until I was a bit older, because back then there weren't really any safe two man stands and all he had was a climber. When I got older we would do still hunts together. To this day, I think I am most fond of the memories of squirrel and turkey hunting in the fall with my dad. My folks also took us kids out into the wood regularly even during the off season. We camped a lot, went to state parks, and hikes. I grew up learning about the natural world and I got hooked! How my career revolves around studying and painting it. When I got married, I taught my 'city boy' husband how to hunt and now he enjoys it very much as well. Thank you, to those of you that put the time and effort into showing your kids the outdoors. If my dad hadn't taken the time with me, and probably killed a lot of his hunting time and blew a lot of chances at game due to my inexperience and fumbling, I'd never be who I am today.

A bit unusual, but my first mount, an European starling I used for practice so I could learn to mount up birds.

I'd say grouse too-- probably under a roost?

My best small game hunting happens right at daybreak too. No offense to bow hunters, but I really enjoy small game and believe it or not I get up just as early for it, because daybreak and sunset are also usually very good times for all animal activity, not just deer.

For what it's worth, my 20 ga. 870 tosses slugs more like a rifle than any of our 12 gauges do! It has a shorter range but you know, the type of terrain and habitat we hunt, it'd be rare to have a shot at over 60 yards anyhow.

There is actually something to the vinegar! If you don't want to shell out for the Nature's Miracle, the cheapest and best solution is just a jug of white vinegar from your grocery store. It works remarkably well. Your dog will smell a bit like a salad, but better than the alternative. Just keep it out of their eyes/ears when washing them down with it.

Actually I think you hit the nail on the head here. The internet and TV tells us what a good deer is and isn't, and sometimes we take that too far into consideration. While it is good to be educated (truly), in the end after learning all that we can, we should each personally decide for ourselves what a good deer is to us. It's why it drives me a little nuts when guys feel the need to call each other out on a deer that wasn't up to their standards. I'm not talking about on this forum necessarily. Yeah, maybe it would have been a bruiser if you let it walk for another year, but dangit the deed is already done and the other person decided that the deer was good enough for them. There are other ways to educate than to verbally knock someone else down a peg. This can lead to a competitive vibe that has hurt our sport more often than not. It is not everyone's goal to bring home the deer that TV and the internet suggests they get. If person A decides, honestly, that a deer is a good deer to them, power to them. If person B decides, honestly, that the same deer is not a good deer to them, power to them too.