WNY Bowhunter

Ended up tucking the bottom lip a little more... Reunited with last season's bow buck...

Thanks everyone!!! These two are next...

I'll probably just end up attaching the hanger to the plywood on the back of the form.

I've been wanting to try my hand at taxidermy for a while now. A friend walked me through the mounting process on my bow buck from this past season. I ended up picked up 5 bucks to mount. After dealing with some serious frustrations with the whole splitting/fleshing of the face, I finally had a cape ready for the pickle and tanning process. The test subject was my wife's opening morning buck. Thankfully, everything came together smoothly and I'm pretty happy with the results. Now, just have to give it a couple weeks to dry...then I can airbrush, paint and add the finishing touches. BEFORE: On to the next one!!!

Both does. Second one is a fawn.

2014... He showed back up post season already shed and suffering from what appeared to be a bullet hole at the top of his shoulders. When I hung my cams in early July I was left wondering if he had made the winter given his poor condition prior to the onset of the cold/deep snow that Feb. and March brought. Well, In late July he answered this question and showed up with a very visible scar on his back... He dropped by on x-mas eve to let me know that he was still out there... This deer will never be a high scorer but is one of those cool character bucks. I look forward to seeing him next season as a 4 yr old. Given the mild start to winter and the fact that he is in much better physical condition than he was last year at this time...I think he might add some inches this coming year.

Unfortunately, I believe that I too added a nice buck to the the unrecovered list. I shot at one the evening before Thanksgiving. Everything happened so quickly...he showed no reaction to the shot and I found no blood but I can't believe I could have missed at 80 yds. When I went to where he had entered the woods a few minutes after taking the shot a deer jumped up and crashed off. I came back a couple hours later and then the following morning but no luck. Then, on the final day of season my uncle found a dead 10-pt. in the same vicinity a couple hundred yards from where I was looking. I believe that it was the same deer.

Federal Heavyweight #7s

That's one of those deer that is a tough call to make without having history with him. He looks like he could be a 3.5 in the color pic?

I may hunt in one of the "better" counties in the state for deer...it is private land...but FAR from being "managed" for big bucks. I have no food plots and no exclusive hunting rights to any of it. It's as "real world" as hunting gets in NYS and most bucks get killed off at 1.5 to 2.5 which is on par with the rest of the state. Anything that lives older has done it entirely on it's own survival abilities...

Here are two bucks that I am mounting to compare: Buck #1 grossed 147 4/8" (would have been almost 155 had the left side been matched)... Buck #2 grossed 142 on a 7-pt frame (minus his brows, so 149 or so with them)....

Seriously, you need to expand your hunting grounds from your traditional 8 acres in Putnam. I give you credit though, I would have given up hunting long ago if I were in your shoes... If you are talking numbers, I had three gross 150 class deer killed on places that I hunt this season. Not bad for NY, but definately not midwestern stats.

He didn't have much of a jump from 3 to 4, but...if the mild weather continues I think he could put on some inches next year. This guy has been the most cam friendly deer on the farm for the past 3 years now.

After my best trailcam buck on the farm got shot on the opening morning of gun season, I was really hoping that this guy would pull through for me. Sure enough, he beat the odds again and showed up this morning. He's missing his signature curled back browtine but otherwise appears no worse for the wear. I'm hoping he puts on those G4's next year as a 5 year old...

Looks like this guy... http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/29000-big-suffolk-county-buck/

A friend of mine loads the 168 grain Nosler BT's for me...I love them!!! They are very accurate out of my Thompson Center Venture and Icon and they leave awesome blood trails!!!

If only the age and potential could meet up...

I can add two of my better bucks to the deceased file... The first is probably the best known age 3.5 year old that I've ever had on cam. He was weaker on the right side this year but still a bruiser, a buck that could have been a real giant next year. I saw him bowhunting twice the last week and had a feeling that his daytime wandering habits were going to get him into trouble this weekend. Sure enough, a neighbor killed him 7:15 yesterday morning. He was the one buck that I was really rooting for to make it through season. Oh well, at least I won't be hoping he shows back up when I start running my cams again in a couple of weeks... Last year: I had been keeping tabs on this deer for a friend of mine. He was a very frequent visitor all through Sept and Mid-October... Last night he showed up in my uncle's alfalfa field which is about 3/4 mile from where we had been getting him on cam. My cousin dispatched him with his 7MM Rem Mag. Unfortunately, he had recently broken off both brows and had a couple of deep gouges in the back of his neck. My friend's sister-in-law heard a vicious buck fight last week in the location of the trailcam. No doubt he was one of the bucks she heard... Congrats to my cousin on harvesting a great buck after missing the past four seasons serving in the Marines...

My wife and I were set up this morning at the same location that I shot my archery buck. I was watching a gulley crossing and she was about 75 yds away in a stand overlooking two fields. About 7:15 I hear her shoot...look up and see a nice buck coming at me. I swing to get the gun on him and he tips over!!! What a way to break in her new TC Venture .308!!! I believe this is the same 8pt that was under my stand when I killed by bow buck... He ran about 40 yds and was leaking blood like he was hit with a Rage. Love those Nosler Ballistic tips!!!

Most of it probably just has to do with the fact that I spend more time at the other properties. I've hunted this place for 15 years or so and usually it is a good spot to see deer but mostly little bucks and does. I'm sure that there are bigger bucks that have been here all along but without the trailcams you would never know it...

Can't complain really!!! Typically the bigger bucks that I get on camera are from properties closer to Yates County.

No doubt!!!