WNYBuckHunter

The only difference in taste I have noticed over the years comes from deer that live in the big woods, on mostly woodland type forage, and deer that come from predominately ag areas. I think that the big woods deer are more gamey tasting due to their diet of mostly nuts, woody materials and such. The farm land deer feeding on beans, corn, wheat and other crops have a different taste. If youve ever had venison from a deer taken from the mid-west, youll notice it big time.

Mexican hat dance phade?

I agree with you 100% and personally think the DEC is a little overboard on that. I have screw in hangers in trees that have been there for years. I also have trees that I have screwed hangers into and removed them on multiple occasions and the trees are just fine, years later. Still, I can see why they have the rule. If they didnt, youd find home built stands lag bolted into trees all over state land, like people used to do before DEC made the rule of no damage to trees.

Wheres that face palm smiley when its needed?

My phone has an ICE list right at the top of the list of contacts. I think I have 3 separate ones in there. My thoughts on the accident, hes lucky if he lives through it unscathed, and what in the world would posses him to go up 30 feet and be climbing around on branches. Not a smart choice IMO.

Sorry, but you are wrong on that. With that line of reasoning there should never be a murder or any other felonious crime committed. Also, do you realize what a felony on your record does to your life? It affects it in many ways, you really want to ruin someones life because they dont wear a harness? If someone wants to go up a tree with no harness and falls out of the tree, affecting his family and himself, well, thats their dumb choice, which they have every right to make. Bottom line is, you cant legislate stupidity.

Thanks for clarifying Grow.

BTW Grow, just so you know, if you are shooting deer at your location, according to that set of times, at sunrise, you are shooting about 15 mins early. Not passing judgement, just sayin.

Please Grow, dont insult my intelligence. It is 100% clear from what you have posted in this thread that your comments were directed squarely at me and the buck I shot on last Saturday. I havent even given my opinion on this situation, but I will say that from the sounds of it, the two are completely different, and had I been in the op's shoes, I dont know for sure if I would have taken the shot or not. I wasnt there, so I cant say for sure either way. I sure as heck would have put more effort into searching for the deer, and I would have been on the phone with DSI the next day. Now as for what the weather was when he took the shot, personally, I wouldnt have been out there with a bow in that weather. With a gun, hell yes, but not a bow. Tracking gets too tricky and for me, I am too nervous about a marginal shot with a bow to take the chance. Just my opinion, not passing judgement.

I bought Scent Lok clothes on sale, didnt cost any more than non-Scent Lok clothes. I also spray down with scent killer spray. The next set of clothes I buy for bow season probably wont be scent blocking, as I only bought what I have now because I got a great deal.

Nice deer, but if you can figure out where hes going to at that time, you could get closer to that area and catch him coming in. Look at aerial maps, etc and figure out where hes going, probably a bedding area. Dont wait too long, the chasing and seeking phases of the rut are going to kick in soon and then all bets are off.

Ok Grow, let me put this to bed for you. The sunset table that you posted shows what time the sun sets in Albany. Sunset is different depending on your location across the state. According to 4 sources (weather sites, and an app I use on my phone that tracks sunrise and sunset by GPS coordinates) sunset that day was 6:07 at my location, I took the shot right around 6:06 or 6:07. After I shot the deer, I sat up in my stand for 10 minutes to calm myself before I even called my father to bring down a light. By the time he got down there was @ 15 mins after the shot, it was starting to get dark at that point. I wasnt 100% on the shot and didnt want to push the deer, so I made the call not to spend too much time poking around down there. Id rather let the deer sit and not push it into the next county. I couldnt shoot a deer when its dark with my bow even if I wanted to, I have very short fibers on my pins and dont use a sight light or lighted nocks, as I want to be able to enter into P&Y if I were to get one of the big bucks on the farm I hunt. I honestly dont give a damn what your opinion of my choice is. The shot happened at the last minute, it was legal and not an issue to me. The two shots themselves may be similar in this thread and what happened with me, but they are certainly not the same situation. Stick to the topic at hand, and if you have a problem with me, bring it up TO me, not in backhanded comments in another thread that has nothing to do with me.

Great pics!

Shhot me a PM, I can zoom the pic in better if I had the real file.

I love ladder stands, dont get me wrong, but I like the hang ons for the extra versatility.

Glad to hear you got the juice back.

Damn, thats where that went...

Yep, arrow in the head.

WHats so amazing about the pic? Am I missing something?

Yep, I have one of the 2 person stands, and its great to be able to take my daughter or fiance. Im not going to buy single ladder stands anymore. Im beginning to truly love my hang ons for just myself.

You can find the boundaries here...

I have 2 pretty much brand new 15 foot ladder stands for sale. I pulled them both out of the box a month ago and put them together. One has been used for my practice stand and the other has never left the garage. I want $50 each for them, local pick up only. The only reason I am selling them is I would rather buy another 2 person stand for my daughter to be able to come along.

No problem Steve

I used to do the same thing. Went down to a spot in 9P for years and spent alot of cash between food, gas, propane for the camper, etc and rarely saw or got a deer. Usually I would spend the last 2 days of bow down there and the first 5 days of gun, leave empty handed and then shoot a deer on Thanksgiving morning at my father's house. After having that happen a few times, I quit going to camp down there. Too many deer close to home to bother spending the time and money to hunt elsewhere.

Go check them Grizz, youd be surprised at how well they hold up. I left mine out one winter and the snow collapsed the roof, but no damage whatsoever.