Elmo

Is it kind of early? Other deer I see elsewhere still brown.

The wind here consistently blows up the hill here and towards te entrance so once they get pass me and close to the houses, there really no way I can come up on them unless I sneak up during a brief windshift like last time. Right now, I've been hitting the spot every other day. Don't want to "waste" a day marking the trail just yet since i took this week off to hunt. I head back to work on Wednesday. What I'll do is I'll mark it during my last day off to use during the next time I come back here. So far today, I followed my plan B. Put on some heavier duty waterproof boots. Followed the creek to the second spot I picked out and up into the tree by 5:45AM. No deer so far. Decided to use a fawn distress hand call at around 9AM. No response. Stopped calling at 9:30AM.

Seen a bunch of really anorexic ones of the Saw Mill Expressway. They also had a grayish coat instead of the usual light brown.

Chefhunt, DEP uses fireworks to scare away certain birds to prevent them form nesting permanently in Kensico. They fire them off from boats. Btw, same results here. "Not a soul is stirring. Not even a mouse."

You can't camp out in Sterling. No fire allowed. To camp and hunt, you need to head up into the Catskills or Adirondacks for the most part. There might be one near here but the ones I've seen don't allow hunting and camping at the same time.

Accuracy over power any day of the week. Go as powerful as you can accurately shoot. We're talknig about northeastern whitetail deer here. Not a bull moose.

flash light compass gps face mask magnesium fire starter water first aid kit field dressing kit paracord (for emergnecy or to drag out deer) spare batteries for gps/falsh light (i like the fact they use the same batteries) license and tags.

I have a Savage Model 12 in .223 with a 28" fluted bull barrel. She shoots like a beauty but unfortunately it'll only hit paper at a range. I took it out to hunt with several times last year...never again.

I think the article was written by someone who is neutral to the subject and threw in a couple of "oohhh--ahhh" value into the article so that it isn't bland. That's typical journalism. Shock value sells. Because while is used words such as "disemboweled", he saved "horror" to describe the meat industry as to why it is better to turn to hunting. The second to last paragraph I believe describes the authors stance; its has a bad side and a good side so you make your own judgement. FYI: all the authors of the books mentioned there were non-hunters until they came to an epiphany. All except one. Steve Rinella grew up hunting all his life. Coincidentally, I met him while he was promoting his book and we started chit-chatting once he hound out that I hunt (only person in the room who did). This article came out that morning and he was proud of it.

I agree with everyone else so far but also consider that heavy and light is a personal opinion. What's too much kick to one person is nothing to another. What's too heavy for a 140 lbs person might be lightweight for a 230 lbs football player. If it's really that important to you, you should purchase the Cartridge Comparison Guide by Andrew Chamberlain. The entire book is nothing but every conceivable chart out there. The recoil chart will tell you the recoil of a caliber depending on the grain and the weight of the rifle it is shot out of. Or if you want, you can let me know what caliber you're thinking about and I'll list the recoil in response. Just don't like like 20 different calibers or something. Give you an idea of recoil of various bullet weight versus rifle weight here is a few popular ones: cartridge - bullet weight - recoil (ft-lbs) from 5.5 lbs rifle - 8 lbs rifle - 11 lbs rifle - 14 lbs rifle. Nosler-6 .223 REM - 55 grain - 3.89 ft-lbs - 2.67 ft-lbs - 1.94 ft-lbs - N/A Hornaby FL 30-06 - 150 grain - 28.34 ft-lbs - 19.48 ft-lbs - 14.17 ft-lbs - 11.13 ft-lbs Hornaby FL 30-06 - 180 grain - 32.44 ft-lbs - 22.30 ft-lbs - 16.44 ft-lbs - 12.74 ft-lbs

I'll probably start on 'yotes after deer season is over or I get a freezer fill...which ever occurs first. Plan on using either 17HMR with V-Max rounds or .223 depending on the location (amount of open field, brush density, etc).

Nocked only when I'm actively starking or sitting in stand. On quiver all other times.

That's good news, 13B! Not only should you not have to pay to get your car out of impoundment but they should reimburse you the cost of you renting a car this whole time!

After taking tuesday off, I went back at it today. I got there at 5AM hoping to be up in the tree by 6AM. One thing I didn't take into account. All the rain has completely changed the landscape. At night, with the fog disrupting my headlamp, I couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of me. To get to my spot, I'm required to follow a dry creek bed that crosses several live creeks, and go around several heavy vegatation. Guess what? Now the a live creek and I'm looking at a live creek crossing a live creek. When I had to go around a dense vegatation, I lost my orientation and was completely lost. Grounds that were completely dry when I scouted the area is now a marsh. I went ankle deep in water. Bushwacking in the dark with 40-50 lbs of gear is not fun. I checked my coordinates and noticed that I had actually doubled back futher up north. At this point, I realized I'm not going to make it to my spot in time even if I could and decided to head back out. I made it back to my car by 7AM. Not one to give up easily, I dropped off my stand and hiked back in a few hundred yards and hope maybe I can still catch coming up while hiding behind boulders and trees. Strained 1/2 a cup of water out of each sock and waited till 8AM. Didn't see a thing so I started to stark my way to all the spots I've kicked up deer. Again, nothing. Walked around till 9:30AM and called it quits because my feet were starting to sting. Not faulting anyone because I honestly believe the advices I've been given are sound advice but I need to rethink this strategy. There's absolute no way I can make it down to that funnel point in the dark when there is no visible trail. I'm going to have to hunt from a location shortly before the creek hits it's first vegatation road block. After the funnel, the deer spreads out in different locations but there are tracks on both sides of the creek so even though I can only cover 2 travel routes it is better than nothing. I will try to take another stab at it tomorrow. I might not be a successful hunter but I won't let "lack of effort" be the cause of it.

Hang in there buddy. Always remember that the storm always passes.

Got to meet Steve Rinella today. Very cool guy. Very down to earth.

That I can see. Author is writing about the books, not the cause. The books themselves will speak of the cause.

How would you figure? It's bringing awareness to hunting books from authors who were not hunters initially (except for Steve Rinella) that had turned to hunting as a healthier and more morally concious lifestyle.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/books/new-breed-of-hunter-shoots-eats-and-writes.html?hpw&_r=0

Seems the deer in this area bed right up near the houses because they know it's safe there or something. The funnel I'm setting up at is about a mile in.

This is from DEC website. Q: Is it legal to use decoys and electronic calls to hunt deer? A: Both decoys and electronic calls are legal to use for deer hunting in NY. You should exercise caution when transporting a deer decoy to and from the locations in the field. Some hunters wrap a strip of blaze orange material around the decoy when carrying it. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8310.html Look under "Equipment" section.

Then the follow up question is would it be too soon for me to head back to the same location tomorrow after kicking this deer around four times today?

Is there a good mouth call that will imitate a fawn call? I have an electronic caller but don't want to lug that in while carrying a treestand and all the rest of my gear. I'm strickly a meat hunter and with the abundance of does versus bucks, anything that can bring in does would work out better for me.

This public land I've scouted is a valley with a small stream at the bottom. While deer signs spread out on both sides of the valley, they seem to funnel at a certain point at the base of the valley by the stream. Stream runs north and south. Only entrance is from the east which is a road that borders the park. While I know several deer cross that stream, I just don't know when. During one of my scouts, I kicked up a couple of deer 200 yards south of the entrance. Went into the park around noon, kicked up the deer around 5:30PM. This morning I arrive at entrance at 7:30AM. As I'm unpacking car, woman who lives across the street is leaving for work. I waved at her but she completely ignores me. Either she didn't notice that I waved or she didn't like hunters. I thought to myself "if you don't like hunting then you shouldn't live across the street from a hunting area". I closed my trunk, I strapped my climber on my back, backpack to my front. Grab my bow, click the remote to activate the car alarm (force of habit, I live int he city). I walked maybe 30 yards into the area and a deer jumps out and runs westward down into the valley! It was sleeping 30 yards from the car. It is worth mentioning that the wind was blowing up the valley here. West to east. I was hoping that wouldn't be the only deer in the area since the tracks I've scouted were of various sizes. Along the hike down to the stream I caught a glimpse of that deer again. It turned south and circled back around back up the valley a little south of me. I get to my spot, climb the tree, and settled in by 8:45AM. I sit till 2PM. Only thing I saw were 4 squirrels and 3 ducks splashing around in the stream 30 yards from me. Wind here was blowing south to north going against the stream. I get to my car around 3PM. When I get to my car, guess what...deer again...same spot, this time with a friend, jumps and runs south. I dropped off everything into the trunk of my car and just grab my bow. I figure I'll walk in to where I last caught a glimpse of their white tails and start starking from there. I walked maybe 150 yards and figure this was about where I last saw their tails when I had a strange feeling. I looked to my left and there was a tree next to me that split at it's base forming a "V" and between the "V" were those two deer 15 yards away staring right at me! I set my trigger on the nock, raised the bow, and they never even flinched. I was about to pull the arrow back but then I started to think. I'm around 500 feet from the road and the houses across from the road. Or am I 450 feet? Or 550? I'm pretty darn close. Plus, I would be shooting in the direction of the houses. The arrow probably won't reach the houses but it would also mean I would have to look for the arrow really close to the house if something went wrong and I missed. Plus, this is a complete frontal shot. Hmmm...maybe if I am at the head. I mean, they really are that freakin' close! But what if the duck and I hit the top of their head and the arrow only slices skin and riccochet upward towards the houses? This wasn't something that flash through my mind instantly. We really were staring at each other for that long! Then I realized one of them was slightly turn just a tad. Maybe a 10 degree turn. I figured they know I'm here and they haven't moved even when I raised the bow. I don't feel comfortable shooting at the head or a frontal chest shot. If I simply took one or two steps to the right, I can probably stretch that 10 degree turn to a decent quartering shot. Plus it would align some tall bushes between the houses and that deer. The moment I stuck one leg out, boom! They ran. Further south...angling closer to the road and houses. So... Question is, should I do a morning sit or an evening sit? I kicked deer near the entrance/road at 5:30PM and at 7:30AM but they're clearing crossing that stream at some time. And...should I have taken that head shot at 15 yards while facing the houses? Distance to houses could be 500 feet or it may not. It's too close to tell.

Congrats!