Core

Fourth day was yesterday and going home empty handed didn't feel quite as bad as before. I also have lost a few lbs, which isn't bad. I'm four for four spotting--let's use the word spooking--deer. Really learning all the ways I suck at still hunting but yesterday came upon probably the same two deer as Monday, this time 20 yards off when they got spooked. One stood and stared at me. We had a staring match for 15 seconds. I have no idea what I was hoping it would do (look at me, shrug, then go back to eating?!); it did exactly what one would expect and eventually ran off hissing. I imagine I couldn't have drawn my bow without scaring it off but next time a deer sees me for certain I will try nonetheless, as it can't hurt. I also know the areas I'm trying to do this still hunting are really bad. The cover is just interminable and way too thick. If I spin around at any one time almost all shots would be within 25 yards, which means it's just too difficult to creep up on anything. Still trying different bits of land. Desperately need wind. It's windy and rainy today, I may man up and have a go at it. Some people claim incredible luck when it's raining, like the deer half give up on trying to sense things coming their way.

It's good that they made the tag system really simple to understand and consistent from year to year and area to area

Well if you're kidding, I'm not. Let me know, OP, when you want me to drive deer for you. It turns out I'm actually really good at spooking them.

Nice! I had kind of moved to this conclusion so good to see the same opinion. Last day on Monday I stumbled upon a ledge somebody had cut out from a huge tree. I stood on it with my back obscured and had a nice view over a large area, even had a branch or two in front of me, but I think what you mention will be my approach next time. No moving at all for minimum an hour before sunset. I hate throwing even more money at this (in last 6 weeks bought a bow, licenses, joined a range, bought every bit of hunting gear as I owned nothing, including boots, layers, jackets, backpack) but I had to buy that rangefinder on Saturday because I got it for $90 out the door at dicks. Sale on them, plus $10 off $50 in the NY hunting guide for 2015 (coupon). I can't believe how much yardage is absolutely crucial. I figured I would do better with it than I did. Now when I'm in the woods standing still I play the rangefinder game. I guess at a tree's range then see if I was right or not. When standing still I try and memorize the rangefinder range of a couple of trees so that if something comes close I'm not unequivocally reliant on bringing up the rangefinder again.

Thing is you aren't kidding, are you

I also have a buck-only on my regular season license, but my bow license says either sex (though in some of the DEC regions we're still prohibited from bucks for first 15 days). A co-worker tells me my regular season is only good for a buck (DMP still valid outside of that, though). In addition to things already mentioned I would recommend some basic first aid kit. Light, and cheap, include some gauze and bandaids or moleskins. Also some ibuprofen. Also the Windstorm safety whistle from amazon. I'm specific because I'm saving you researching. But if your cellphone dies and or is broken and you happen to get somewhat incapacitated I think you'll appreciate having a whistle. Think about a compass. I am surprised to find I use mine a decent bit even though I have cell reception everywhere I've been. Cheap, light. State land has different rules, so you really do need to check. Some state parks don't allow hunting, some do, check their website. Most of the WMA's (ny dec site) allow hunting, but some might only with a special license (e.g. montezuma WMA), whereas others it doesn't matter; park your car and walk in and your regular license is all you need. Both last posts are dead on about finding way back and have two sources of light minimum. You could get stuck out way longer than you think and if one flashlight dies you're screwed. I also carry clear safety glasses in my flashlight box because nothing beats not getting your eyes lashed by thin branches you couldn't see in the dark.

I'm in 8F. No private land, so spending my time in the lake shore marshes wma. It's tough territory but definitely has deer in it.

All I can say is I know how you feel. I missed what I consider to be an easy shot (24 yard broadside on a non-moving deer that was not alarmed at all). I won't belabor that, as I have in my other thread (this is your thread!), but I'm writing this to let you know you're not alone. You put in practice time, money, time away from family even and then you fail. It's crushing. But, then as the hours go on you start wanting redemption. And that's why you'll go back out because if you quit even years from now when hunting season starts up and you know others are taking deer you'll remember when you quit having failed. The only way past that feeling is to keep going until you get a deer to make up for Saturday. If you want to meditate listen to progressive trance music. Tons of it on youtube and I'm not kidding. I also use mechanical broadheads from Walmart. I think they lack the tuning issues that conventional introduce.

I'm partly still scouting spots and taking notes on various areas. I'm not opposed to picking up a stand for $40 + climbing sticks and carrying it somewhere that I know has good tracks, but with a 40 min drive each way to this land for that one hour pre-sunset it seems like a lot of work! I think I'll put some more hours in this weekend when the wind is highest, in yet a new spot and see how it goes. Probably going to take a day off some Friday once the rut starts as well, because I guess there should be more activity around by then and I can sink another day into it. I think ideal for me might be still hunting when the wind is high and then setting up somewhere for an hour or two before dark. I'm definitely finished with the stalking stuff when the sun is low, as it's really just impossible without wind cover in my novice opinion.

Yeah it is Each night I go home sick at the whole thing actually, then by the next day I want to get out again. I assume this is normal, but it feels like a lot of time spent walking around in the woods as I pack the car up :cry:Hoping for wind this weekend. Also am logging all my spots and sightings and what the land was like. If they would let me walk around with a gun right now I'd be tagging out in no time. I'm sure come gun season the deer will screw me over in some other new novel way, though.

Yesterday was day 3 in a row, only got out two hours before dark. Didn't have long, went to a new spot on different public land but as with prior two days obsessed over aerial images first and looked at the wind. Holding close to my heart the idea that hunters are lazy I parked somewhere in a tricky spot, and it was very hilly. Despite being mainly marshes, I found myself on a ridge inside of 15 minutes walking a very well heeled deer track with scat on it, and they had worn the path so deep it was quite quiet underneath a lot of oak trees. Just as I was congratulating myself on the deer I had seen the day before (literally within a moment of that), and walking very slowly a deer launches out of the brush in front of me. It is with a friend. The friend is probably 40 yards away but through heavy brush. They had been bedded down. I can see the friend's face and it is sniffing and looking around away from me while the runner is hissing in the woods (the sound pissed off doe make, I have learned). I spent the next 40 minutes slowly walking toward them and as I got close they would bolt 50 yards and at least one kept hissing. We did this over several hundred yards. I'm not sure what they ever saw, but they never got severely spooked the first few times doing this. But, I never got a shot, either. This was all through oak trees. Should I have waited and tried to call them back? This is now two days in a row I've learned that still hunting when the wind isn't high is very hard because the forest is too loud (on saturday winds were in the teens and the wind made a fantastic cover of walking). Also, still hunting within an hour of dusk is literally impossible. The woods shut down, there is no noise anywhere, and it's just stupid to try. I know people might say give this up and set up a stand, but 1) Setting one up on public land requires me take it in and out each time 2) With a bow, and these thick woods, a stand only works if the deer get very, very close. With a gun, if you see it in the woods it's within range, but with the bow I think the odds of needing to close distance are higher, which isn't possible from a stand (not arguing their efficacy; most people bow hunt from a stand, I know that) 3) I am still trying to make amends for Saturday's miss. I still feel with a stronger wind I can walk up on a deer. I'll probably leave this until the weekend when the winds get up and I have more time again. The good news is all three days I've been within gun range of a deer. I never would have missed Saturday if I had a shotgun. Sunday it was 100 yards which is a bit much for a shotgun possibly, but not a rifle (which granted I don't own), and yesterday's deer looking around sniffing for me I would have gone for with a shotgun for sure. I may also be doing nothing but soiling this entire area for other hunters, though I suspect not. I won't try that path again for at least a few days, and I partially consider these trips scouting runs as well. I've also learned that what looks really nice on google satellite view can be the sh*tiest thick brush in the world. I also need to check for ticks. I keep forgetting and probably have a thousand on me.

I really hope it's not years before I get another shot, but I get your point. I am still smarting from missing this. I went out yesterday for a few hours, spooked a buck 30 min in, 4 doe 5 min after that, and then 2 more doe a couple hours later. All happily running off. I've learned that still hunting in a swamp is a joke. It's too loud, so I am going to try a new spot. I also felt really guilty about blowing the entire day Saturday from the family (had only intended to go half a day but after seeing that deer I felt like a gambler who feels he's on a lucky streak), but my wife still told me to take yesterday afternoon, and I'm taking a few hours tonight as well (she even wants me to, knows I need to get a deer now to vindicate). I totally get your point about family time. I just want one deer by bow now. If I can get one I'm okay holding out until gun (I think?). But, that may be too much to ask as well, as they are skittish buggers! BTW, I got back to the spot yesterday of my miss with a range finder. My 30 yard estimate wasn't horrible; it was 24 yards. However, I also got to the range yesterday morning and my 30 yard pin was 2" high at 30 yards , My arrows are flying so slowly that using the 30 yard at 20 yards hits about 7" too high, and 24 yards is functionally closer to 20 than 30, so that combined with my improper pin adjustment pretty much explains this skimming just over its back. If I had a rangefinder on Saturday OR I had aimed at the heart + had proper sight adjustment I would have taken it in either case. I think hunting from the ground with the bow is so tricky, offering so few good shots, it's just not acceptable to be anything other than totally dialed in with pins and have a range finder. At least that's my lesson from Saturday. Oh, and hunting when it's really windy is nice. Deer don't seem to hear me walking

Yep! I am going to try this. I just did some reading about it, and there appear a sizable number of people who deliberately aim low--for the heart, but like you said you need to have much better accuracy to pull this off, so you're trading in the deer's potential reflexes for accuracy. I wouldn't have believed a deer could respond in time to these to do anything, as I'm positive a human couldn't at all. I almost thought it physically impossible; like their mass cannot actually drop that quickly (would have to go faster than gravity), but it seems they can So next shot I will go for a heart and then post back about how it went under the belly!

Although I would need to get back to the spot to know for sure, with my range finder I"m really struggling now to think that deer was any closer than around 24 yards. I wasn't so jacked up that I was shaking the bow, and the difference with the 30 yard pin and even low 20's shouldn't be enough to totally miss. I am starting to think maybe it did duck the string a bit even though it was completely calm. I am shooting about 52 lb but with 340 grain arrows, so they are not going super fast (I know I need lighter arrows if I'm unwilling to raise draw weight) . I wonder if it flinched. I couldn't tell at the time. Even if it had flinched and I had used in between 20 and 30, I would have ended putting an arrow through its spine. So there may be a combination of me poorly ranging and it ducking. Dunno. My wife said I could take the day again but if I came back without a deer I'd hate losing two days of family time, so probably going to say no to it at this point, though I will be at the range first thing today to see if I'm still shooting okay!

Nope. Honestly I brought my cellphone to watch how to do it on youtube while waiting after the shot, if it came to it. I know the basics (seen diagrams) but that's it. I haven't watched a video yet. The main problem with this spot is it is in a swamp area (woods around the side, but have to get through the swamp) and we've not had much rain so it was still accessible, but if we get much more it's going to be super tricky to get to the spots I got to today without getting pretty soaked. I would like to cart a treestand back there (can't be left overnight), but I've spent so much money recently on this (including a range finder an hour ago) that the most I can stomach is probably some cheap ground blind fabric draped between a couple of trees. I was spending some time sitting still on a chair but I'm not sure that's enough...

Today was my first day of hunting ever for anything. I am new to archery but can hit within a couple of inches at 30 yards at the range. I know many (most?) are better, but this is ample for taking a deer. I have no stand and was "still hunting" (in double quotes because who knew a single twig can snap 15 times?) state land that I had never scouted. All day long I saw an unreal amount of deer tracks in the mud, including a good amount of fresh scat. 4 hours in I hear a thundering coming in my direction and a doe and its fawn stop 20 yards away in thick brush, probably realize they are running toward what they considered danger, and then run off. Nonetheless I get the chance to nock an arrow and consider that a success for the day. 2 hours after this I crest a hill and to my shock 40 yards off is the back side of a nice size doe. It hasn't seen me, tail is low as he eats behind a small tree. As luck would have it a huge tree is between us, closer to me. I use this tree to shrink our distance to 30 yards, quietly (but not that quietly on the leaves),and this works perfectly due to this incredibly fortuitous tree. I wait about 8 minutes and it gives me a perfect broadside. Easy shot, it's eating food and never knew what was coming. Was not spooked at all, believe me. I use my 30 yard pin, release, and the arrow skims just over the top of this thing. It bolts 50 yards into the trees, hisses, and I never see it again. My arrow embedded too deep to pull the broad head out, so I had to take the shaft by itself. It's taking me a few hours to get over this. The odds of still hunting a deer with a bow on the first day out are I think very low, and everything was perfect up until that shot missed. I don't have to tell anyone here how upsetting it is to miss such a shot. It was quite literally a perfect shot anybody here could make, but I didn't. I am now off to walmart to buy a range finder. I believe the deer was actually at 20 yards in retrospect and I simply ranged it wrong with my eyes. As I said earlier, new to archery, so I'm not quite the hot sh*t I wanted to believe I was

The problem is that NY is two states under the same name; NYC and everyone else. This become crystal clear to me when I saw the map about which counties passed resolutions against NY SAFE. I agree with you there are more to guns, though, and NY has a lot to offer. Having researched this recently myself it's clear that the 243 is a perfectly capable deer cartridge. Too many people think you need a ridiculous cartridge to take something that only weighs a couple of hundred lbs. When was the last time somebody claimed a shotgun doesn't have the muzzle energy to take a deer? At 100 yards a foster slug has less energy than the 243. Black bears aren't much larger than a deer, and NY says any centerfire round is acceptable for hunting.

Nice! Do you go there often? I only have hunting boots which are waterproof up to about 5-6" by the looks of it. The officer said it is pressured due to being state land but also it's much more relaxed during bow. I don't have a stand (yet?), so will be still hunting, or doing my best approximation of it.

I am new to this, but I'm not new to NY. To the best of my recollection, we don't really get a ton of snow through regular season and, I understand, some light snow (which is generally what we get through the first two weeks of december) aid significantly in tracking of animals. So how is that a bad thing?

I've heard the best time to nail down a hunting spot is the day before the season starts I did call a DEC officer yesterday as well, so I think I'm not missing any locations. As far as I can tell, the only public hunting land is: Galen WMA Lake Shore Marshes WMA, which is connected to Chimney Bluffs Park (does allow hunting) Montezuma WMA Problem with Montezuma is it's a bit farther away for me. Also has a special permit required, though I don't know if it's hard to get (probably not). Galen seems really small (?). Lake Shore is 40 min from me. It has 4-5 main sections. It seems predominantly marsh, though certain parts of it do jut nicely with farmers' fields. I don't have waders (yet) so don't want to spend all day up to my knees in water. Any pointers with Lake Shore, or if not a hot spot, at least spots to avoid?

NY is one of the very few states that just outright bans suppressors on firearms for civilians. It's for our own good.

Oh, I see what you're saying--I just checked my bow. It's a single cam, and the serving is over the string that contacts the single cam, but the idler pulley has totally exposed string, and that string just rolls over it.

99.928% of the posts online about this topic are just debating specifics of which wax to use. I've also watched some vids on youtube, but they feel incomplete, or even dangerous (one recommends drawing your bow fully and having somebody else wax the hard to get to bits of the string. This may be acceptable, but is also risky). So what is the complete method to wax a compound bow string? Waxing regularly, and rubbing it in aggressively seems a given, but do you wax the entire string, including over the cams? How do you get under the string at them (without drawing the bow)? What about lubing the cams? My PSE bow is sparse on this and says: So I guess Scorpion cam lubricant + a regular wax for the rest of it? Those instructions are quite clear, but it looks like nobody else "online" seems to follow them.

I've read enough posts from people who had massive ringing for weeks or longer from one hunting shot to know there's no way I will ever fire a gun without ear protection unless defending myself. A single large blast can definitely cause permanent damage. I bought the howard leight $40 electronic ear muffs from amazon this week to test (because foam ear plugs cut too much ambient noise). They are effective and would work, but not comfortable for long periods (nor can I think of a way to hang them around the neck or head area comfortably). Next up I will try some of the $11 ear plugs that are rated at 22 dbr but claim not to impact hearing too much. I think on amazon they are under hunting ear plugs or similar. Worst case, some regular foam plugs hung around the neck. Even at the range I plan on stacking the foam ear plugs with the electronic ear muffs. Even suppressed gun fire up close is ultimately adding to the cumulative level of wear on your ears, so you should do all you can to limit it.

You run a risk if you say anything, and agree with thinly veiled threat above. Realistically, do you expect these people who regularly walk their dog to not walk it for the next 2-3 months during hunting season? That's far more of an imposition on them than you possibly having a deer spooked away. It's also possible this dog is one day going to drive a deer toward you, and if they are there that often the deer may be used to it anyway and not particularly spooked. The dog walker will probably wonder why this is out there