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DanD

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Posts posted by DanD

    2019 DMP probabilities

    in Deer Hunting

    Posted

    32 minutes ago, Steuben Jerry said:

    For the life of me I don't believe they are evaluating 8T correctly. I know there is variability within the unit but it's hard to believe when we counted well over 100 deer in a one mile ride to the end of our road on a late winter/early spring day this year. Over 100! Last year it was 80-ish on the same ride, the year before it was 50.

    I think they have it wrong.

    100% agree on 8T. 8X at least has increased chances of a second tag :) 

    • Like 2

    Ghosts from Years Past

    in General Hunting

    Posted · Edited by DanD

    The date was November 15, 2014. The first day of gun season in the southern tier, and a day I will never forget as long as I live. We had done several pushes that morning and were setting up for our final push before lunch. Crawling through red brush on the previous drive, I just wanted a break and volunteered to be a stander. We had an unusually large group that morning, and the prime standing locations were taken by older or younger hunters. I ended up standing in an area we call the “Dead Zone” where two hedge rows came together in a cut corn field. It used to be the prime spot for the drive; however, the deer had gotten wise to our strategy and avoided it all costs. I was more than ok with just sitting back and watching the action. The drive started as it normally did. Deer trying to escape out the side of the drive and running past standers in optimal locations. As the drive was coming to an end, one of the last pushers screamed on the radio “MONSTER”. No one knew where it was going only that it was in a disgusting tangle of red brush and thorns. Knowing he wasn’t too far from me, I readied and looked down the hedge row to my left expecting him to pop up in the most logical place if he was coming my way. All of the sudden I hear the sounds of brush hitting off antlers to my far right, and out pops a doe with Mr. Big right on her tail. They were only trotting so I knew I had a chance. Slightly caught off guard, I swung my 870 SPS SuperSlug and squeezed off shot one which fell short and covered his front right leg in mud. The doe takes off down the hedge row, but Mr. Big is utterly torn as what to do. Follow the hot doe or save his own bacon. He cuts off from the doe and starts to do a semi-circle around me to go back into where they just came from. Shot two, low again and behind as he starting to pick up speed. It was at this point, I realized he was much further than the 75 yards I thought he was. Shot 3, as he starting to get his motor if full gear, is behind him even though I’m leading him by nearly a half deer length, but closer to the right elevation. Shot 4 same thing, behind him. Chamber shot 5, and I prayed to God that this one hits. Squeeze it off, and he stumbles a little bit and slows down. He stops in the middle of the field with his arse facing me looking for where the doe went. I struggle to jam two more shells in the gun before he takes off straight away from me. Pulled the gun up, and knew he was way too far at this point, and I had no shot at vitals. I take off down the hedge row to try to push him back to other guys in the group and from going back into the thicket. I was too late as I saw his rack one last time before he disappeared into some hemlock trees. I walked back to the field in defeat only to find a glimmer of hope, a small patch of white hair from the fifth shot. No blood whatsoever as I followed his tracks the entire way through the field to where he went back into the thicket. Still in disbelief, I paced off the distance only to realize shots 2-5 were closer to 150 yards with shot 1 around 130. I was holding far too low on all my shots aiming for the lower third rather than trying to catch lungs in the middle third of him. A mistake, I have not repeated to this day on any deer.

    To this day, I can still clearly hear the brush hitting his rack and remember the way he trotted out on that cut cornfield in all of his glory. That buck was killed the following year by a friend of a friend. He grossed in the mid 170s and netted right around 170 as a mainframe 12 point. I still question what would have been if I would have taken more time to settle on the first shot to properly gauge the distance and try to stop him…

    Anyone else have ghosts from years past that still haunt them?

    • Like 8

    NY Buck of a Lifetime

    in Taxidermy

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, crappyice said:

    Sweet Jesus! Love that deer and pic two OR can you put that pedestal on a rotating wheel and have it constantly spinning?!?! So much to see there!!!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Actually, the thought crossed my mind; however, I'm not sure how i would do it where it would be safe for the kids. 

    NY Buck of a Lifetime

    in Taxidermy

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

    Hey now, you can attack the post, but not the poster!  Plus I sold the truck.  But the jeep does have carpet too but no blood will be touching that (mostly because I am a crappy hunter).

    lol I think the walls of your house tell a very different story from what I remember. I did hear you had to call in reinforcements in 2018 from 8X who used your gun to fill some freezer space :) 

     

    • Like 2

    NY Buck of a Lifetime

    in Taxidermy

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, WNY Bowhunter said:

    The only thing more impressive than the quality of the deer up there is the sheer quantity of ticks they possess!

    100% agree. They people are also a bit odd. They like carpet in the beds of their trucks???:scratchhead:

    • Haha 2

    NY Buck of a Lifetime

    in Taxidermy

    Posted

    1 minute ago, WNY Bowhunter said:

    I'm in the same boat with a 1 and 3 year old plus a wife that wants to hunt more this season. I'd be happy to take the first decent 3.5 year old buck that presents an opportunity...

    First two does that looks 2+ are getting some form of projectile thrown at them. Any buck over 2.5 will get heavy consideration depending on the day and amount of sleep deprivation. 

    • Like 1

    NY Buck of a Lifetime

    in Taxidermy

    Posted

    1 hour ago, WNY Bowhunter said:

    Heck of a deer. Region 8 buck?

    Region 8 yes, Steuben county no :( . I can't seem to make it happen down here even though I've lived in Steuben county for 5+ years. Old man came up from PA the first year we moved here, and he shot a nice 6 point. Otherwise, we've been held buck-less, but it isn't for lack of effort. 

    NY Buck of a Lifetime

    in Taxidermy

    Posted

    1 minute ago, 518BowSlayer said:

    sweet buck! sweet mount! I like the 1st position where it kinda looks like a wall pedestal. those other bucks are still bigger than anything I ever shot!

    Took me 12 years to kill my first buck in PA, a little five point. Went through another long dry spell and then I just started getting obnoxiously luck. The 8 point in the upper left was 2016. I shot a busted up 9 point in 2017 (I did a European mount). 2019 was an expensive year. I shot the 10 in the upper right in the ADKs in November, and then I shot this monster in muzzleloader season. Went out looking for a doe for the freezer, and he came trotting through at about 10 am. I about shook myself out of the tree when I saw him. 

    • Like 6

    NY Buck of a Lifetime

    in Taxidermy

    Posted

    Finally picked up my once in a lifetime NY buck. Highlight of the trip was watching my little guy walk into a taxidermist shop and lose his mind :) .Absolutely thrilled with how this guy turned out! Really happy that I went with a floor pedestal as a wall pedestal wouldn't have worked very well in my basement. Still trying to figure out what direction to face him, and if he should even stay on that wall. He dwarfs my other two bucks something terrible.

    Lab came back and said he was a 5.5 year old which seems about right given the cinder block he had for a skull.

    IMG_0809.jpg

    IMG_0812.jpg

    IMG_0817.jpg

    IMG_0820.jpg

    • Like 34

    My best camera seems to be my driveway surveillance camera

    in Trail Camera Pictures

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Bionic said:

    Out of 6 doe that nibble around in my yard, only 2 have a fawn each by the looks of things.  I have 5 cameras out back, so we will see what they show the first weekend of August.

    I'm not sure how many does are around our place, but I've also only seen two with fawns. One with 2 and the other has 3. Thinking the 3 dropped early because they look enormous compared to the fawns from the other doe.

    • Like 1
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