Jennifer

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I do appreciate them. I didn't get cold in years past, but health issues have been sneaking up on me. I will look into the underarmor products and start saving up for next year. I don't know what it is, but other than opening day and maybe Thanksgiving day, the two areas I hunt just don't have folks around. In years past-- just like you said, I used to see deer "gently bumped" around by guys leaving around noon and so on. Now there seem to be no guys, so I try to plan for an all day if I can manage it. I'm far enough away that taking a break would turn into an event if my dad is with me. It's neat that some of you guys have camps nearby, that is pretty cool. Maybe someday for me!

I'll have to look into the supplemental heat. I bought my dad one of those zippo hand-warming units last year and we are really unhappy with it... it's not like the old fashioned ones that he says that the guys he hunted with used to use. The one use heat packs get pricey, I will have to see if there are any re-useable solutions for next year. Thanks so much for your suggestions!

I sometimes layer to the point of ridiculousness, hah! I sometimes joke with my dad that I run out of clothes in deer season. Truly though I depend on many layers of thermals and sweaters, etc. I am using woolrich outer pants and a nice lined jacket from the 70s... one of the blaze orange suckers lined with corduroy. I am starting to wonder if there are any newer materials that are better in the cold. The woolriches are hardly threadbare (man they made these suckers heavy) but being on a budget I never really looked for anything different.

How do you guys stay warm enough to stay out when it's real windy and temps are in the 10-20°F range? I am not being sarcastic, I genuinely am curious. I have a really nice thermal balaclava for my head/neck and layer up otherwise, but the wind just seems to cut through me at those temperatures. I still hunt (very slow walk) in these conditions and just get so darned cold after a few hours. Wish the deer bedded on the property I can hunt, as it is I just hope for lucky movement.

Did a very, very slow still hunt all day until the rain got me too wet and cold to enjoy my time in the woods anymore. Nothing so far. Lots of sign on the property I hunted today, just nothing moving.

This deer was beautiful... thank you for sharing!! I have been to a few outdoor shows that have had mounted Steuben Co. deer... you guys grow 'em big!!

Gosh I know we are only a few days in but I'd love to even see a deer I can legally shoot, haha! No cell signal where we hunt so I have to do "live from my chair afterward". With it being extra crunchy this morning I decided to sit in the stand until the frost melted. I was going to get down and still hunt the afternoon, but some guys on the neighboring property were running all over on ATVs and hollering at each other (what the heck) so I stayed put in case they pushed any deer around. Dad put on a very slow still hunt for several hours on the sidehill where deer have typically bed down over the years since the wind was right for it. Not a thing, today. One squirrel. We quit around 4:15... neither of us like to track, gut, and drag one out in the dark. We have to walk a long way in so it works out for us. Of course I get home and there are a bunch of does having a party behind my house!

If you sit (on the ground), breaking your outline up is very beneficial. Sitting against a tree, or a deadfall... even a root snarl really works wonders to help visually hide you. I took my last buck while I was sitting against a weird lumpy tree. The animals were used to the odd shapes there and my outline was broken up. My dad used to take deer from the same rootball every year before we had to leave that property.

I don't propose to debate on if the photo is real, fake, or whatever... but as someone that studies taxidermy and has dabbled... that's no taxidermy/not stuffed. I can also say as someone that knows my way around Photoshop professionally, if that's a photoshop job, then someone spent a lot of time on the image, to simply to try and fool some people.

9x, I was unable to go out yesterday due to obligations for a show I did, but I didn't have to leave the house until 8am. I am rural and people hunt all around where I live. I got up at 5:50 and had coffee outside after tending to the chickens and listened, there were quite a few single shots before 8. Maybe 30? More than in years past. I also did not hear the 5-shot volleys that we used to hear a lot when I was younger. I think in general (key words: in general) more guys are being patient and hopefully making the shot count? Drives seem to be much less common than they used to be, at least during the first few days. This is only anecdotal experience though and I have no idea if it's true or not. On my dive to the show at 8am there were few cars parked at the state forest and along the roads.

I am pretty excited about getting out there, and am serious about deer hunting, but I'm afraid I'm inside today. They just issued a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado advisory for my area. There's a lot I will tolerate to hunt in but at one point it becomes a safety issue, yikes.

Well, the turkeys won again this year! This season we managed to roughly pattern some birds (we counted about 16-18 in the flock), and set ourselves up on them, but it's a very hard ridge to work because it's very steep and the birds can see you coming from nearly any angle. We set up to ambush, but as these things go they saw us before they were in range. We managed to get a good break of them-- some flying, some running, in nearly all directions. It was a dream scenario for fall turkey-- they were broke well and we set up in a good spot not far away to call them back in together. I've hunted fall turkey this way since I was 12 and it is one of my favorite experiences, to hear all the birds talking and trying to get back together. Well, for whatever reason, this group has been strange the last few years and we didn't hear a peep or see a feather. We tried to work them all day and even set up trying to catch any stragglers wanting to group up just before roosting. No luck! The only thing I can figure is that the fox population has really skyrocketed in this area lately and maybe the foxes have them call-shy. I've noticed that when we turkey call we tend to call foxes in.

Bummed I'll be missing Saturday, but I'll be out there Sunday for sure!

I lived in TX for a while after I graduated, and while I was completely unable to hunt, I was able to talk to a lot of people about their experiences and how they hunt, and saw some videos. I think I was as surprised by how they hunt as they were about how I hunt (here in WNY). I am not trying to suggest that either is wrong, or less ethical, or anything. They are just different. I know that my preference is here, though. There is nothing wrong with being proud to hunt here in NY. Everyone has different experiences and I'd love to one day film a hunt to share that with others. The internet and youtube are pretty cool that way; we are no longer "confined" to the hunts they show on TV. I know I've gotten a kick out of watching some of the PA hunts and vids posted here on the forum.

Very true. The DEC has had a lot of funding cut since I was there. My relative worked there nearly her whole life... retired this year... and she said she was getting out 'just in time'. Sad.

Er.. back to the original topic, back when I used to intern with the DEC we would do voluntary deer check points, we'd collect a tooth and ask a few questions about the harvest. I dunno if they still do them in this area, as my last experience doing this was over 10 years ago now, but if you are not in a hurry and see a voluntary check, the information collected there does go right to the biologists for learning more about the deer. I was only physically present to help one time (admittedly because I hated missing deer hunting days) but it was very polite and no one searched vehicles. I've never been stopped before, personally.

That's exactly what I do on days that I can't (or won't!) sit in a stand all day. It all depends on the weather, what I think the deer might be doing, and how I'm feeling. My dad and I have a saying: "No matter what we decide to do, it will be wrong". Fortunately there are a few times when we get things right and it all comes together!

During gun season I do unless the weather is crummy. I have to stand up and carefully stretch every now and then though. If it's extremely cold I might have to get down and move a little... but generally I do several all day sits each year. My dad and husband think I'm a bit nuts but it's worth it to me, I have my bad days where hiking all day is hard. Sadly many of them (all day sits) are spent without seeing a deer but at least the squirrels and birds entertain me.

Absolutely right, but you said, "I think camo really is a waste of money as far as the animals are concerned." ... just a reminder that some folks might be hunting things other than deer.

It's very possible- I meal feed them, but they don't have free range 100% of the time so they may have grown used to only picking the larger insects. Some of the breeds I have are not as good as foraging as others, too. I just know that guineas have a reputation as putting a hurt on the tick population in any given yard/area. I'm going out to get some today. If our one little sporting goods shop or Walmart doesn't carry it I'll order some online. When my dad looked at me and said that they (the ticks) were taking the enjoyment out of hunting for him, I knew I had better find something that works better than OFF... This is accurate, based on the research I've done. Of course, I must make the disclaimer that I'm not an expert!! This would fit with our area, as we have not had a good acorn mast in a few years. My parents have had more dog ticks on their dogs this year than ever before, too. This is simply from their well-mowed lawn, in town.

Guinea fowl will often eat ticks, but chicken don't, or don't often. I tried offering some to mine directly yesterday... my birds only seem to go after larger insects.

Holy moley... hunted the same area, same trails as we have been all fall, but today we all came out with new decorations. Must have had 10+ ticks on (the outside) of our clothing each. This is the worst I've seen it in this area, and I pay close attention.

So sorry to hear about this happening to your mom. It is a much more complicated disease than many realize, especially with all of the co-infections that can occur. You are right, back then (and even today sometimes) a lot of doctors would laugh about it. I experienced this a lot. It's cost me a lot financially and physically to deal with it over the years. I was 11 when I was bitten and I've never known a 'normal healthy' day of my adult life, pretty nuts!! The fact that I am able to be active at times is a testament only to how darned stubborn I am. I like hunting too much.

We currently have 3,000+ members of this forum. That's hardly a huge percentage to represent all the hunters of NYS but it's quite a few people. We can safely assume some/many of the accounts are people that are no longer active, people that signed up but only care to read (not post), and people out of state. I'm curious to find out if any one of the currently active (reading) members gets one of the surveys. If there any way to know how the distribute the surveys, geographically? Meaning, of the random hunters selected, do they take measures to be sure that all areas of the state are represented? I am just curious if there is going to be a bias toward WMUs that have a higher density of hunters (or not).

Yes, I have chronic Lyme. I fist contracted it 20 years ago when the local doctors didn't really know much about it. It has not been fun.