Steve D

Despite the high winds of 20 mph I took the climber out and sat until dark. About 4:15 I see three deer coming through the woods about 60 yards away. Put the glasses on them and one was a buck walking with a limp. He was a young buck with a decent size 6 point rack. I decided then if he came my way I would take a shot because I knew he was hurt. The two doe with him came in and stood less than 20 yards from my tree and kept looking his way. The one was real small and the other one was not an adult but possibly big enough to shoot. I am looking at her standing broadside at 15 yds. or so thinking about a shot and decided to wait for the buck. Sure enough here he comes but stays just far enough away I can't get a shot. The doe start to wander away and after they are out of sight he starts to move in their direction. I draw back take aim and bleat tryin to stop him to no avail. Finally he stops, I let the arrow fly but can't tell if I hit him or not. By now it is 4:30 and I am wishing I didn't take the shot because of darkness coming on. I climb down just as the alarm goes off for sunset and go look for the arrow. Luckily it was a clean miss so I am pretty sure I shot underneath him. No hair or blood on the arrow so he lives another day. Glad to end the season with some action and not leaving a deer in the woods with a bad hit. A clean miss is always better than a bad hit. Congrats to all that scored today and the entire season.

Probably not as accurate as the chest girth method but I use this as a guide and found it to be reasonably accurate.

Got a later start than I wanted due to deer hunting and it has been tough with the changing conditions to keep things working. I had my doubts whether the traps would even fire with the snow, rain, freeze & thaw, etc. I have only had four sets out with hopes of expanding after deer season weather permitting. I was hoping if anything I would get some coyotes but this little red female showed up this morning. She is free again and hopefully won't come back. I hope to do some remakes and put a few more sets out in the upcoming days now that deer season is over. Hope the weather cooperates a little bit. I don't really care for trapping in the snow and or mud.

With the season winding down and tomorrow being iffy I went out for an afternoon sit until dark. I figured with tracks all over the driveway I might get lucky and catch one in the woods. Turkeys were going crazy all afternoon and saw a nice red fox. Had two doe come in five minutes before dark but neither provided a decent shot and one was real small. Not sure I will make it out tomorrow but if I don't it was a good way to end the season.

That sure narrows it down...Nice bird The boundary of the Park encompasses approximately 6 million acres, nearly half of which belongs to all the people of New York State and is constitutionally protected to remain “forever wild” forest preserve.

One of my favorites

Sound like a great project. One thing that may help is salt the hide for 24 hrs. then use a hog scraper to get the smaller/stubborn areas of meat off before tanning. Look forward to reports on your progress. Oops forgot the pic.

Can't say I have ever seen a "left handed" side by side or over & under. Didn't know they made such a thing.

Beautiful Cat...They are off limits in this part of the state but there are a few around.

I used to love grouse hunting but couldn't tell you the last time I saw or heard one. The only place we ever had success was around the 1000 island area and s few spots in the Tug Hill area. They have literally disappeared from this part of the state.

Had howling winds 25-30 here all day so I passed on this morning. Went out in the afternoon and sat in a ravine to get out of the wind til dark and didn't see a thing or here any shots until after legal. The last one was 5:02 Sure glad it is over and hopefully I can get out with the bow the last part of the season weather permitting.

That's a wrap for today. A nice balmy day with not a lot of wind and I probably had my best day of the season without even pulling the trigger. Saw a beautiful grey fox (which we don't have a lot of), and nineteen turkey as they headed to roost. All at less than 75 yards. At legal sundown I get ready to descend with the climber and see two flags take off through the woods about 75 yards away. To dark to see. Look to my left towards the field and there stands a BIG bodied, wide and tall half rack. While I am looking at him through binoculars another four or six point walks by him. All after legal. I get back to the house and by now it is pretty dark but there is a pretty hue to the sky. I stop for a second to soak that all in and a pack of coyotes open up about 200 yards away. Can't help but wonder what the poor people are doing

I find that hard to believe...a Honda that won't start. I'll give ya $50.00 for it and come get it.

I am not a lawyer so I couldn't answer that one. Either way they would have at least 3 more days to remove it.

I have a friend that owns 30+ acres. Him and his significant other only hunt one day a year which is opening day. He might go out once or twice more but more than likely not. They are both vegans and the only reason they hunt at all is because they have hit so many with their cars they have this urgent need to reduce the population. They shoot them, complete their tag, report them, an throw them over a ravine on their property for the coyotes or whatever. I have asked him a number of times why he doesn't donate them to the venison coalition instead of completely wasting them and his reply has always been he doesn't want to deal with taking them somewhere or mess around processing them. Some people you just cannot figure out so do what I do and mind your own business. Someone like him and my friend you will never change their minds and as long as they are legal there isn't much any of us can do about it.

Yep......same guy...Amazing how Biden is changing the country already. Cuomo does a flip flop on everything he says and does. Shortly after shutting down gyms & salons he says they are not a major source of spreading so he may "grant" them permission to stay open based on studies from foreign countries.

Tough to beat a Case knife. Good deal

I was bustin your chops....You would probably need a good foxhound to have a chance and that would be doubtful if it headed for water. Amazes me how far they go sometimes after being hit.

Sounds like a job for fox search

Made it out for a afternoon sit. This area has always had deer but not today. Not a track anywhere or none spotted in the fields to the south where they normally come out to feed just before dark. No tracks at all when I checked traps this morning so we will see tomorrow on the morning check before the snow melts.

That regulation does not apply in your area. There are only 7 counties in the state that do not allow deer hunting with a rifle. It could be written better but what it really says is if a centerfire/rifle is allowed for deer hunting it can be used to hunt predators at night. If an area does not allow hunting deer with a rifle during the regular season you are restricted to .22 caliber. Page 24 of the hunting regulations shows the counties you cannot hunt deer with a rifle and therefore cannot use a centerfire bigger than .22 at night.

Here ya go...Not sure how up to date it is or availability: https://www.guns.com/news/2019/10/02/8-semi-auto-deer-rifles-many-have-never-heard-of https://www.classicfirearms.com/long-guns/rifles-for-sale/243win-semi_auto/

I was never a fan of waxing (on traps) but have never heard of or used the "waxed sand". I have been using and had good luck with buckwheat hulls and peat moss. The traps won't freeze down but once there is a crust on top one can only hope they fire. My problem right now is they aren't visiting the area according to tracks or lack off. I think maybe with deer season they may be more cautious about moving as much. I'll keep at it for a little longer and see what develops.