Jdubs

I'm a new hunter and the idea of taking a fawn for the sake of a successful hunt doesn't appeal to me. I could just as easily enjoy the many sights and sounds of the woods and consider that time spent as a successful day. I didn't see, let alone harvest, one deer last season, but thoroughly enjoyed every minute spent hunting, observing and learning. Instead, I will work harder to be a better hunter and put myself in a position to harvest an older deer. There is more of a challenge to that. How others choose to hunt (with respect to all the various laws and limits) is none of my concern.

I'm in Ballston Lake. Nice thing is being able to walk 1/4 mile out the back door and into a stand or blind. For a somewhat suburban area, we still have a good number of deer, turkeys, coyote, fox and fishers. My neighbor even caught a bobcat on his cams. Hopefully, this deer season is more productive than last year. I'm going to give crossbow a try too.

Nikon Aculon

I made a natural ground blind with a wrap of the Hunters Specialities blind material, paracord, some bicycle inner tube (to silence my shooting rails) and whatever was on the ground. If someone wants to steal it, then I'm out about $20 and an hours worth of work. In lieu of ladder stands, I decided to make the investment in a LW Alpha and climbing sticks so I can stay mobile and not have to worry about lowlife theives.

I came across several fisher cats while hunting predators this past winter. They are fast! One was jumping around in the trees above me while I was walking in to my ground blind. Thing sounded like a pissed-off pterodactyl crashing through the branches! Definitely needed a new pair of shorts after that night. Here's one that I caught on cam checking out a baitsicle left out for the yotes. Never saw one in daylight though. MFDC0182.AVI

Hi everyone. Found your site from a simple Google search and the conversation is just what I was looking for. I will contribute where I can, hopefully with things that are useful to the group if not mildly entertaining.