WNYBuckHunter

Its not trespassing in ANY sense. I dont set foot (or tire for that matter) on anyone's property that I dont have permission to. My shining a spotlight onto your land does not screw up your management anymore than driving by does.

I know gjs a bit, I dont think he hates gun hunters, I bought my Encore off of him, but I know he doesnt like the length of gun season in NY, which I agree with. I dont know exactly what his stance on crossbows is, but you certainly know what mine is lol. Maybe gjs was having a bad day, I dont know.

Since when are they going to be legal in bow season in the first place? According to what the bill said, they are only legal in gun season. How would they ruin bow season? Ohio and other states have them during bow season and they dont ruin anything.

Just from reading your story, I gotta say it sounds like he didnt quite have his stuff together 100%, but you did leave a day early and didnt seem to mention to him that youd like to try another area. It sounds like your lack of success cant just fall on his shoulders. No guided hunt is 100% guaranteed, if it is, youre hunting in a pen.

They are on sale at Dicks right now

Based on that, wouldnt it make sense that if you have the bow, you would be bow hunting and the gun would become secondary? You might want to seriously consider calling DEC to find out for sure before you walk into the woods with a gun and bow at the same time.

Thats like saying walking into the bank goes hand in hand with robberies. If you came out and wrote down my tag number while I was spotting, and later in the year some poacher came by and shot a deer in that field, you giving the police my tag number would do nothing. The police probably wouldnt even give me a call. I have been spotlighting for a long time, my dad used to do it when I was a kid. To us, its just fun to see whats out there and some of the largest racked bucks Ive ever seen in person were while I was spotting. I would never poach a deer or jacklight, and I would say that most people that spotlight wouldnt either, just like most people with aftermarket exhausts wouldnt poach deer from the road either.

I picked a pair of these up this weekend, as I had some gift certs burning a hole in my pocket that were gonna expire at the end of the month, and they cost me next to nothing out of pocket. I was using my Bushnell 10x42s in the field, and they arent terribly bulky, but something even smaller in the same power would be better. They are a nice pair of binos, I must say. Very clear and sharp and pretty bright for their size. I will probably go with Nikon for my binos from now on.

That stinks, hopefully you can get out for ML. Hope you feel better soon.

I love it, had a fun little hunt today. Its windy and freeeeeeeeeeeezing out, and I got out of work with just enough time to put a quick walk and stalk on a creek bottom I have been seeing deer in lately. I slowly walked up the edge of a field and slowed way down when I started coming up the hill that is just before the bottom. About half way up, I saw a pair of ears sticking up from down in the bottom. I immediately got down on my knees and took off my backpack. I got my shooting stick out and adjusted it to be long enough for when I raised up on my knees. I then crawled about 50 or 60 yards on my hands and knees through a foot of drifted snow, peering up over the hill top to make sure they werent looking. I had some nose drip and snow freezing up in my mustache and the wind was biting my face. I got to within 125 yards of the deer, got up on my knees, planted my shooting stick, cocked my pistol and held on the largest of the 5 does, which were still laying down. I slowly squeezed the trigger and the deer all busted out of their beds after the gun went off. I watched them run and to my surprise, the one I shot at was running just fine, no blood or anything. I walked down and checked and there it was, a blown apart wild grape vine, about an inch and a half or two inches thick. What a bummer of an ending to an incredibly fun and cold hunt. It was the first deer I have taken a shot at with my Encore, and if it woulndt have been for that branch, she would be hanging in my garage. Oh well, the deer have been down in there a ton lately, they will be back and Ill try again, probably this weekend.

I was able to get a quick walk and stalk in after work tonight. Saw 5 doe bedded down in a creek bottom, took a shot from @ 125 yards and hit a branch that I didnt see. Get out of your stands guys, the deer are around, they just arent gonna come to you.

Whats wrong with spotlighting? As long as you are doing it legally, whats the problem? I spot deer all the time before season, I follow the rules and have fun doing it. Id tell you to go fly a kite if you pulled up and said anything to me about it. Now if you are talking about spotlighting and shooting deer, thats a different story. Why wouldnt you call the guy's tag number in while you were following him?

Thats funny. I would have pointed out that her brake lights are in the back in a very sarcastic way. Nobody ever said you have to have common sense to have money.

Well said Doc

Id shoot that in a second, looks like great fun!

He was shooting at a deer in a field before the road. He missed the deer and the round crossed the road and hit the guy shoveling. If you saw pics of the scene, youd see what I am talking about.

Nah I am going to go about it the legal way. Basically my plan is to go to the farmer's house and just explain to him that my blind came up missing and that there was a trail camera in the vicinity that snapped a couple of photos of the blind. Ill tell him that if the blind were to be left in front of my barn, there would be no questions asked. Hopefully that will make the blind turn up, if not, I guess Ill just have to take it as my first lesson in the area. Ill be using cable locks on everything next year, thats for sure. Oh, btw, for those of you with ladder stands, I saw nice ladder sections at Dicks yesterday with removable steps. Pretty nice and another way to secure your stands. I plan on picking those up for all of my ladder stands. Between those and cable locks, it should be enough.

Im gonna give it another go this weekend. Im gonna hunt an area I havent messed with since opening weekend, hopefully Ill get it done with a doe or two. After this weekend, the deer stands come down and most of my gear will be put away with the exception of my predator gear.

Go to Archerytalk.com and look around, plenty of custom string makers on there that will make you a string and cable for a decent price. Mine cost less than $100 for the string, cable and to have it all installed and tuned this past year.

Ha-ha ... how are you going to see what happens if you pull the cameras? LOL, I figure Ill see what happens if I start seeing deer use their normal patterns when I am hunting there.

Im not into the bear hunting thing, but if the hunter legally killed it, I dont have a problem with it. I do have a problem with the people that decided they should tame the bear, that is never, ever in the animal's best interest. If you want to have a pet bear, go through the hoops you need to and take your chances with a domestically raised bear. Keep it in your possession legally and do what you want. Leave the wild animals to be wild. Food plots arent even close to what went on with this bear.

I dont know, an aftermarket exhaust usually costs more than a factory one. Actually the after market ones are cheap. If youre buying from Walmart maybe lol.

Im glad the guy is getting charged. If youve seen pics of the area, it was ridiculous that the guy was shooting in that direction. Im pretty sure the guy wasnt hit from a direct shot, I think it was a ricochet. The hunter was in a treestand, so the angles dont really match up for anything else.

If you press charges on them, it can be misdemeanor theft or a felony depending on the value of what they stole. Either way its a court date and a pain in the ass even if they arent found guilty.

Thanks guys, yeah Im pretty upset about it and my daughter is bummed. Im pretty sure it didnt get blown away, the chairs were still right there and they are very lightweight too, so the wind would have taken or at least blown them a little ways. I had the blind staked down very well with 5 stakes on the bottom and all 4 wall ropes in place. I did explain to my daughter that some people are just jealous or not good and dont care how they make other people feel or that they dont have a right to take things. Im not letting it get me down, Ill be putting one of my new ladder stands up tomorrow so that I have something to hunt out of next weekend. My IR cam will be 15 feet up a tree nearby focused on the stand. Ill press charges against whoever I catch stealing it.