WNY Bowhunter

Headed out when my wife gets home from work @ 2:30!!!

Congrats!

WTF????

When people say, "well he may not be the biggest buck, but..." to justify why they shot a small buck. No need to make excuses, it's your tag, shoot what you want!!!

Things seem to be picking up, had three calls last night about mounts!!! Can't wait for tuesday morning.

Had a fun hunt with a buddy opening morning. Called ion a mixed flock with 5 longbeards strutting and gobbling just like a spring hunt!!! They hung up just out of range for half an hour. Eventually, an adult hen came in to investigate and I took her...first fall turkey in several years now.

Hope you're not in Mendon. If so, have fun picking all those ticks off later!!!

A few of the biggest local bucks that I've ever had my hands on... 1.) Biggest buck that I've ever seen on the hoof: 187" gross non-typical 22-pt killed in 2002. Has several small abnormals broken off so he was over 190 when I saw him. Was a mid 140's mainfraime 10 the year before!!! 181" gross 15-pt a friend killed last season. Had a couple of abnormals broken... 181" gross typical taken by a friend in 2010. Would have been 196-197 gross typical if his antlers hadn't been damaged. The big side is 95" typical!!! Friends late season muzzloader buck from 2013. Grossed 172 typical even without brows... Another friends 168" gross typical bowkill from 2008... Killed by a 14 year old amish kid. Never scored, but the only 7-pt typical antler that I can remember seeing... Buck my uncle killed in 2013. Grossed 161" typical with another 5-6" broken off...

Had a fun hunt tonight...original setup with the climber didn't pan out so I ended up standing in a hedgerow. Had this guy come by at 15 yds, easy shot... A few minutes later I had a buck walking just inside the woods grunting. He was only 50 yds away...a doe popped out but he never showed. Probably the big 9 that I'm after. Should be a great morning!!!

It's a Mears form.

Since this season is off too the slowest start that I've seen in years, I finally got around to mounting up a deadhead for a friend of mine that he found back in 2011. This buck was obviously a serious scrapper which is why he chose this form. Unfortunately for the buck, a slug in the lower jaw eventually brought him down...hopefully, the coyotes found him quickly.

Thanks everyone!!! No bday buck...maybe tomorrow.

Northeast corner of Steuben.

That news is 2-3 months old and hasn't stopped any one from getting them on archery talk. I will be buying more after this season. The original dozen I bought in 2015 still has a perfect success rate...8 heads and 8 very dead deer over the past three seasons!!!

Wall pedestal for sure!!!

Another one falls victim to the Chinadermics...

1.5 = 8-pt 2.5 (year he got his name) = 8-pt with "wannabe" 9th point but not an inch 3.5 = 8-pt with sticker on base 4.5 = 8-pt with two "wannabe" G4's 5.5 = 5X4 6.5 = 5X4 again but opposite of last year. Was really hoping he would be a mainframe 10 this year.

He's changed a lot since 2013!!!

So, I have been watching a particular buck that my wife and I call "Wannabe" since he was a yearling 8-pt back in 2012. I have never really tried hunting him too seriously because he primarily beds on the neighbor's property and stays there til dark which really doesn't help my cause of putting a tag on him. This year he is 6.5 and has been more daylight active through the summer/early fall than he has ever been by far. He has a very small home range and has been showing up on cam quite frequently over the past few weeks. My wife and i also had an encounter with him after legal shooting light on 10/3 where we had him at 30 yds and I actually had to scare him off to get back to the truck!!! Now, I decided that it's time to try to put an arrow in him. I found a few scrapes a few days ago near the property line about 150 yds or so from the cam that he shows up on the most (closer to his bedding area). I got some cool pics of him working one of the scrapes the other night. Yesterday evening at 7:40 I had two young bucks sparring on cam...this went on for a few minutes until they both stopped and looked back in the direction towards the scrapes. Sure enough, a few moments later Wannabe showed up, seemingly drawn in my the clashing of antlers. Tonight, it's reasonably cool with the right wind...I'm going to get in close to the scrapes with my climber and try tickling some antlers together to see if I can't coax him across the property line a little earlier...it's a long shot but better than no shot I guess.

Compound or recurve? Can't believe you let my first mount of the season walk off like that...lol.

Loctite super glue.

Believe it our not, this was that 3.5 buck last year!!! He's definitely the most surprising deer of the year for antler growth...

The cam scene is dreadfully slow so I was super excited to see a few familiar faces on one camera. It's amazing how the bucks physiques have changing in the past month!!! This 6.5 year old brute is bull of the woods and #1 on my most wanted list. I don't get too many bucks of this age class on cam. My wife and I actually had an encounter with him at 30 yds. tuesday night but it was after legal shooting ended and neither of us had our bows handy. I want him BAD!!! Looks like he's been working out on some saplings... Big 5.5 year old 6-pt. that hasn't been on cam since late August... This 3.5 year old buck is the big 6's running buddy. He had also been MIA for a month but appears to be packing the groceries away...

Heck no!!! I wish they would open season earlier in September when the bucks are far more patternable. Like everyone else, my cams have been dead for the past 10 days or so....