mjac

Personally, I would not take a fawn or a doe with fawns, I use the doe with fawns as" live bait " for the rut bucks ! Single does are fair game. Most fawns I see here in southwest NY still have spots . I hope hunters will not use this early bow season as a fawn season, but my gut tells me it just might.

I would use that Browning as my main deer gun ! I lost out on the inheritance of my fathers first and only shotgun. It was bought for him in 1957 for his 16th birthday by his dad., It was a Browning "Sweet Sixteen". Growing up and hunting with him, I loved looking at his gun. I would do all the cleaning, re blued it kept her nice and pretty for me when I thought I would be it's new owner. Unfortunately, it was stolen from his trunk by his his old girlfriend's son. We couldn't prove it, but we know it was him, one of those circumstantial things ! That was about 12yrs ago and I'm still sick about it. It was probably bought and sold for next to nothing.

The bolt action Mossberg 20 gauge that is being discussed here with the c-lect a choke is a model 385KB. I have the same gun. It was my first shotgun my dad bought for me in 1978. They also made them in 12 gauge.

Simply put, if you don't take him, someone else will !!

I usually jump off the tree stand on a younger doe and wrestle her down until I can hog tie her. Then I simply leash her to a tree near my stand and wait her to go into heat. You should see the bucks line up.

Put em on the smoker,, taste like chicken !

Funny how you say ,, he shows up when you were somewhere else ! They don't get old by being stupid do they . I would set up in range of this stand and make him think you are not there ! Change it up a bit. That, is a nice deer.

Just to add, don't take the same walk to your hunting area, use different routes and times. If the wind is not right then move , watch your scent. Another good point is to get up higher in the stand than you normally would with good cover, Let the other deer pass and do their thing if you are really only hooked on to getting him. These wise old guys know how to pattern you and they know where you are. Change things up a bit, once you have them wondering they seem to move more. And again, use the chase phase to take advantage of him letting his guard down. I've hunted a few wise old bucks and almost each one of them was always looking at and staying just outside of where I "used" to sit and got them from the blindside ! It gets frustrating as hell at times, and it's a mind game with them and the feeling is great when you beat them at their own game. I'm after one now since bow opener and finally this weekend I got to see him twice both times just after 5:15 pm without him detecting me. I shall prevail !!!

Wait him out, they usually make that one mistake during the chase phase of the rut cycle. I have seen mature bucks running up a road in the middle of the day during that time !

Why not setup a trail cam on a new scrape and you can then better track his routine with the picture time stamps and see if the buck stays within a certain time pattern ? I gave up on then scents. I have never had any luck using them, and I'm really not too sure what they are putting in those jars ! Pictures don't lie

Better than the introduction to having one at 25 yrds and missing ! And...sorry to say,,that WILL happen

15, 25, 32

I had a similar question a few yrs back and asked the DEC agent about this and it is really a judgement call on the officers part. He said that food plots fall under the category of "agriculture use", therefore making it legal. When you manipulate that "agriculture use" it then becomes an issue. If you harvest your crop by cutting and farming out the corn no problem. If you cut the corn off the plants, leave them lay & never harvest , it then leads to the interpretation that you are feeding the deer. His botttom line answer was to let the corn stand on the stalks and there it is still being agriculture ! You'll never win a pissing match between you and the officers.

There is a whole lot of "fluff" that goes along with hunting , and all the sales / marketing of all the products out there. When thinking of the differance between alum vs carbon arrows , think about the basics. Will an alum shaft with a razor sharp broadhead at 30yrds penetrate a piece of flesh and meat ? Of course it will,,, my advice is go with what you are comfortable with.and try to to get all caught up in the hunting "fashion hype ".

As long as one follows these State Regulations, I don't see what the problem with spotlighting is SPOTLIGHTING You may use lights to observe wildlife under the following conditions: You are not within 500 feet of a home or farm building, unless you have permission from the owner or lessee (when looking for deer or bear). While in or on a motor vehicle and operating a light and no person has a firearm, crossbow or bow unless: the firearm or crossbow is taken down or the bow is unstrung, or the firearm or crossbow is securely fastened in a case, or the firearm or crossbow is locked in the trunk of the vehicle, or the firearm is a handgun.

Check out this article from the current drilling going on in PA http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article182669.ece

We hunt down in 9J - Chautauqua County Southern Tier and have seen the least amount of deer in three years for gun season, bow season is always good. I went to my camp last night to check it out with the early snowfall over the past few days and there is approx 3 feet on the ground. Another storm is predicted for late Sunday evening thru Tuesday with the high temps being in the teens ! This outta be an interesting weekend for sure, seeing deer in 3 feet of snow ? I am using my snowshoes and hoping for the best !, I saw some nice bucks and big doe delivered at the processors so they are still out there. Good luck to everyone, especially those with the big snow, road hunters will be almost elimiated since the piles of snow along the roads plowed are 6 feet high.

I simply don't trust what these companies tell the public. The bottom line to these energy companies and the investors ( of course) is the almighty dollar, with the quickest and easiest way to get to that gas. They will tell you anything you want to hear to get to it. The " proprietary" reasons for getting their frack receipe is a bunch of horse crap. The boost to the local economies and jobs is usually short term until the wells are drilled and producing, then they move on. Part of their business is getting sued, and they drag on those cases all the while the drilling still goes on and damage is done. I don't blame the broke farmers or others who take the offers for the land, it's easy money for them. The responsibility lies with the energy companies, and thats the problem. Simply not trusted. With all that gas down there which they can produce, have you ever seen the prices we consumers pay go down as a result ?? Guarantee that our prices we pay will go down and sign off on that ,and maybe I personally might start to listen. If you want the gas, do it with the old fashion hard working way, which has been proven. Until then, the companies officers and investors are they ones laughing at us.

I read this prediction by a famous whitetail reseacher who has studied the rut for the past 14yrs, take from it what you want ! Dr.Alsheimer has been studying the timing of the rut for 14 years now and it seems that the key factor in kicking the rut into gear is the occurrence of the second full moon after the Autumn Equinox. According to the this theory, once the “Rutting Moon” hits, most doe’s estrus cycles kick into gear and the peak of the rut follows shortly! So if we follow this theory, this year presents an interesting conundrum. The rutting moon this year falls on November 21, the latest it has ever fallen in Alsheimers’ study and given that, it looks like the rut could be later than we’ve seen in a long time. That being said, here is the “cliff notes” version of Alsheimers predictions for the 2010 rut in the North… A minor “sweet spot” of deer activity will occur around Oct 22, as the seeking and chasing phases of the rut will begin, but at a slower pace than usual. Buck activity will really get kicked into gear around the 15th and increase steadily. The major “sweet spot” and the peak of the chasing phase will occur from Nov 21 through 25. Most breeding will be done in the last week of Nov and into early December.

Can you say,,,backstraps

9J - Chautauqua County- North Harmony (Whelan State Forest Area ).

Checking in from Chautauqua County and it has been super slow so far. Been in three different stands of mine that have produced over the past two seasons. I have only seen maybe three deer in almost 10 days and I've been out there alot maybe too much ( if that's possible !). I did get a shot at a 6pt the last week of Oct. but missed low, but got the tree. Not sure what's going on , but maybe the nice weather keepin them in bed all day. I've seen tons of scrapes and some nasty rubs, surely they are around but most likely doing the midnite trot. First time in along time I've thought about hangin the bow up , but somethin inside me says no ! I did tune up the shotguns this afternoon , that felt good, gave me something to look forward to. From all I have read by some well respected whitetailers, the rut this year should be timed with shotgun season, later than the past few years. I hope it picks up before then, I would really like to get one with the bow again, it makes all the waiting in trees worth while. Gonna give it a rest for a couple of days and try it again.

What does a deer look like again ??

If you want the doe, I would move closer, where the wind won't bust me