Elmo

Best camo is to come dress in a suit and tie and say you're a distant cousin my mom invited. Open bar is the target.

Welcome aboard. Several New York cityslickers on here. I'm up in the Bx myself. As far as good yote spots, there are several spots upstate. Whether they're good or not, I don't know. I see signs but yet to have taken one myself.

That's the route I took initially...trying to keep it small and affordable. Then for some reason, it started to become more and more my parents wedding even though I'm the one getting married. They're inviting relatives I didn't even know I had. "Oh, you if you invite this person, you have to invite that person as well...they would be insulted." - me: "I don't even know them, why would I care if they're insulted?" Oh well...money comes and money goes but parents will always be there. I figure just make everyone happy and get it over with.

The south (Was it Louisiana or Alabama?) also implemented a state funded bounty on nutrias and I believe still does. They give a few bucks for every nutria tail turned in. It got a lot of kids to pick up a gun and go into the swamp to make themselves some money. Great way get kids into hunting.

Took me a little over 2 hours to drag her out. I was too excited so I posted the thread during my first break. Shawn and I took turns dragging.

Red marks were from the drag rope.

There's a ton of stuff I would want but my wedding is in the beginning of January so I already told everyone they're not getting anything from me because I'm going to be broke so I ask for nothing in return. But if there is anything I do want, is that they don't act a fool during my wedding.

Btw. Due to lack of equipment, overly excited, and rush to have her gutted and skinned, we forgot to weigh her but by the hunter who helped us, estimate, he's guessing "she's 150lbs easy. Maybe 160." Exhausted, I left the head with the tag still attached to it at my dad's garage. I figure I'll report it next morning. That should be okay, right?

Got this doe today at around 3:45 PM after conducting a mini-two man deer drive.

Okay..story begins in squirrel season. I use squirrel hunting as my scouting and found a nice spot. Lots of signs. So I came back to that spot during archery. Every time I go there, this doe kicks up from this swamp and runs off in the same direction. Once, I followed her and that's the one I was less than 20 yards from but only had the head shot and passed on in if you remember from my previous postings. After a while, I didn't see her anymore, then the tree stand accident, and I figure I played my cards one too many times at this spot because the deer here has patterned me so I moved on to another spot. I never did get her and once archery season ended, I couldn't hunt that spot anymore because I didn't have a DMP for that area. While I did find buck signs, I only saw does. I kep telling people that if I was allowed to take them with a firearm, I would have had several deer by now and that's when the light bulb went off. I went and bought a muzzleloader because that'll allow me to use my antlerless and/or either sex tag. I prayed that no one else had discovered that spot during gun season and that deer would still be in that swamp. Took days off from work, made sure I made my way up to the spot real early. Shawnhu wanted to tag along and assist and it's a good thing he did because I actually owe this deer to him. We got in a couple of minutes before 7 and sat till 10. Nothing. I figure the deer are not moving due to the rain so we need to walk around and push. We walked for miles but golly and saw a bunch of signs. I was so frustrated. It was like their teasing me with signs but never show up. We hike from 10AM till 2PM and we're pretty beat at his point. I insisted that we go back to that swamp. I'm going to sit in the direction she ran to each time I kicked her up and wait for her to come out as the sun goes down. Shawn, decided to wander off somewhere. Turns out, he decided to go a big circle and come walk in from the rear of the swamp. Good thing. As it turned out, the reason why I stopped kicking her up was because she moved to the other side of the swamp. My walkie talkie went off..Shawn is whispering quickly "She's coming towards you! She's coming towards you!" I shut the walkie talkie off and kept staring...about a minute pass and I see these movement 30 degrees to my right. I raise my gun and the deer saw it and stop. Again, it was head on but even with the muzzleloader, I decided to be patient and wait. We essentially had a staring contest that lasted maybe 5-10 minutes. The doe must've thought to herself "I could have sworn I saw something move over there...oh, it's probably nothing." She took two hop prances to the left, went into a stroll for about 10 to 15 feet, and stopped. Roughly 50 yards from me. Perfect broadside shot. I pulled the trigger. Boom! Huge puff of smoke. I cleared the smoke and look and the deer is gone! Disappeared. I went to where she was standing and I didn't see anything. No blood, no hair, nothing. I was shoced! No way could I have missed! Shawn shows up and I told him what happened. Shawn said well, "if she was facing in that direction when you shot her then she probably ran in that direction." We went over with would be the other side of this rock ledge which starts a decline of a hill and there she laid. Dead as a door nail. We traced the blood trail backwards (and it was a lot of blood) and realized that I had actually shot her 10 yards further back than where I had thought. Drag out was a killer. Just had a drag rope. No sled. No tarp. Didn't get her to the car till around 5:30PM. Couldn't even get her into the car. Luckily, a fellow hunter happened to have drove by and gave us a hand as well as some extra plastic bags. Got her to my parents garage where Shawn, my dad, and I butcher her up. Shared the meat around. I took off while my dad is putting the finishing touches. He wanted to break the bones into smaller portions because he plan to make stock with them. Me...I find myself telling this story over and over again to anyone who asked. I'm excited. My proud. My dad is proud. I just need to invest in a cart of something. Apparently, I now wear the marks of a hunter. PS: .50 cal TC Shockwaves went right through the deer but after examinging the insides, the shockwaves completely shreded both lungs, I couldn't even recognize them anymore.

Big fat doe. Dropped her around 3:45PM with the muzzleloader. This drag is killing me! Details to come.

Whats is worst? Hunting evolving in ways to expand hunting or hunting dying as people move away of tradition? Like Bob Marley said "no one canna stoppa da time."

Wet and foggy. Can't see beyond 40-50 yards. Hope the powder doesn't get wet.

Ditto.

Powder, bullets, cleaning supplies, loading accessories all add up. Expect that extra hidden cost when deciding on your muzzleloader.

I totally forgot LI has a January deer lottory. Having someone put you in front of the deer and you shooting it isn't hunting...it's killing. Which is cool. If I need to desperately fill my freezer, I might do it. But I wouldn't go around telling people who I hunted the animal, tracked it down, snuck up on it, etc. That's where the true enjoyment of hunting comes in. I would also recommend keeping active on this forum. Most people are busy trying to finish up deer season and gearing up for muzzleloader season so they won't be as helpful initially but once deer season completely ends, hunters tend to have a little more free time. It also gives other hunters a chance to get to know you better.

First, you need to get your hunting license. To do so, you need to take your hunter's safety course first which is free but there aren't that many available during the winter. Once you have the license, you can hunt. Without the license, you can follow someone but you pretty much got to be a ghost. If you help in any way, you're considered hunting which is technically illegal without the license. Most of hunting is not actually the shot but rather learning about the animal. Figuring out when it comes out, where it eats, where it sleeps, what sounds does it make. You're tracking the animal and setting up an ambush. You don't need to have a gun, bow, or whatever to do this. You only need those items if you want to kill the animal. I've was camoflaged up against a tree and had a squirrel come 10 feet from me and kept staring at me trying to figure out if that's a hunter hiding there or not. That's hunting. I could have shot the squirrel. That would be killing it. I've picked up hunting 2 years ago. Did it all by myself. If you want to go with a guide, I'm sure that would work. Otherwise, I think you can just hike into the woods and explore. But when you explore, pay attention to all the little details. The footprints, the animal poop, etc. Also, this forum organizes group hunts every once in a while. Keep your eyes open to them.

Welcome. I agree with arrow nocker. Small game is the best way to start because you'll see action frequently. It give you a reason to go out there and look around. Deer hunting is what everyone wants to do but it's a little harder and not the best beginners hunt. Read around the forum. Many experienced hunters on this forum will close out the season without getting a deer this year. Also, the regular season just ended so unless you're hunting the late muzzleloader/bow season, deer season is already over. Shawnhu's suggestion of an airgun isn't a bad entry into the hunting world as well. You can get a decent setup (rifle, scope, ammo) for under $100. This way if you find out hunting is just not your thing, you didn't waste a ton of money. If you get hooked into hunting, then you can invest in better equipment (it can be very expensive and addicting) and the airgun can be given to your kids if you want to when they're old enough if you plan on introducing them to hunting. Just a suggestion.

.300 Weatherby Mag Recoil of a 150 grain .300 Weatherby Mag from a 8 lbs rifle = 30.35 ft-lbs. Recoil of a 150 grain .300 Weatherby Mag from a 11 lbs rifle = 22.07 ft-lbs. Recoil of a 180 grain .300 Weatherby Mag from a 8 lbs rifle = 31.54 ft-lbs. Recoil of a 180 grain .300 Weatherby Mag from a 11 lbs rifle = 22.94 ft-lbs.

Best of luck! I'm taking tomorrow off and relaxing as I get ready for late muzzleloader season.

Since the Mossberg 500 is the only one I have and used, I guess that's my favorite.

If it's classified as crossbow then no. Crossbow can only be used for deer and bear.

I would hunt the Panama Canal. It just got to be a funnel/pinch point.

Written permission to do what?

I have a bag of those tiny balloons specifically designed to fit in front of a muzzle. Will try those out.