WNY Bowhunter

I've been wanted to try my hand at taxidermy for a while now. A friend of mine helped me mount the buck I killed on 10/2 and I'm pretty happy with the results. I still have a little touching up to do and the cape isn't fully dried yet...

I set a camera up on a scrape next to one of my stands a couple days before Halloween. I didn't get to hunt this spot much this year since I killed a buck on 10/2. In particular, I was hoping to get some good pics of a big 9-pt with a crabclaw that I'd gotten pics of a few weeks before. Well, I finally made it up to check it this morning: ended up get a couple of pics of the 9-pt passing through... I was really excited to see this big ole droptine bruiser. In the first pic he is 15 yds from my stand. I'd love to see him a couple of weekends from now... Also had a few two year olds, some does, a few yearling bucks and too many coyotes...

The wind this year sucks...really getting tired of it. I hope your luck improves.

No shortage of squirrels and chipmunks.

First time in a tree since 10/13...beautiful evening to whack a doe.

Thanks everyone!!!

It's been a bit warm and windy to deer hunt so I've been chasing turkeys for the past couple of days. I had a fun hunt with my wife last night. We were actually after some gobblers that I've been watching when a flock of hens/poults showed up. I got the old boss hen fired up and she came on in while the others stayed just up over the knoll in the cornfield. At first we were gonna pass hoping the rest would come in, but they started working further away...so, the old adage of bird in hand played out. Erin made a great left handed shot to end the hunt. I went after some more birds this morning and had a bunch roosted across the gulley from me and even had one gobble twice. I ended up getting around them and called two hens in...one of which strutted and drummed like a gobbler for 45 minutes at 20 yds!!! It was a cool hunt even though I elected to pass on her.

Dang that 8pt is a stud!!! I just set a couple cams on scrapes...hope to get some sweet pics.

I am hunting property that borders Bully Hill. This doe was no stranger to their vineyards...

There are some good ones around Branchport!!!

No, I check the cam for him every few days. His stand is on the across the field in the direction the buck came from. There are no stands by the camera...it's set in a small gap where they drive the tractor between the two fields and it makes a perfect spot to get pics.

This camera is strategically placed on a hedgerow gap that connects two fields. The huge red oak directly above the camera is dropping acorns like crazy and that's the reason that this deer is around so much. He was actually MIA the whole first week of October.

Definately one of my favorite pics of the year so far!

Looks like somebody has been working out those neck muscles... My friend couldn't hunt saturday afternoon due to a wedding. Lucky for him, his sister in law didn't take her son out for the youth hunt that night...

Last night's doe...probably the biggest and definately the oldest that I've ever taken.

Yesterday morning I hunted some winery property basically just to take a trailcam down that I had setup a couple of weeks ago. Upon, checking the cam I was pleased to find a whole bunch of bucks hitting the white oak that my stand was set in. Two deer really caught my attention...one was a beautiful 9-pt and the other was a doe that looked like a football with legs... Since, my buck tag is filled I decided to try to hunt this fat doe. Taking a wise old doe like this is definately no easy task. She liked to hit the oak up around 6:00 every few nights with a couple other does. I had a little time to kill yesterday afternoon so I went after her. I arrived to my stand late at 5:15...literally two minutes later she steps out at 150 yds down the field and started working my way. Eventually, she ended up feeding right under me and I put a Rage Hypo through her at 10 yds... I may have to have her aged...she has lots of white on her face/muzzle and her legs. I think she's been around a while. I have to give he old girl credit for surviving the nuisance permit onslaught that happens here every summer... This would have been a nice pic with a better camera... So, that's a wrap for me for this bow season. I have one more DMP left but my freezer is pretty stocked now and I have no reason to fill it. What a season!!!

I could show you a pile of pics just like this. All from unmanaged ground too. I don't believe that ARs would better my area at all.

Here are a few of the biggest bucks taken locally that I've had my hands on...

There a more where he came from. For instance, this deer is less than a mile up the same road as this other buck, Hopefully, he will get to do his thing with a few does...

My 13-pt. buck taken 10/2 and recovered 10/3...

I really can't complain about what my area of Region 8 produces. We can grow some bruisers if they escape the hunting pressure for a few years.

What an awesome first few days of season it was here in NE Steuben County!!! I found out yesterday that my neighbor killed the big 10-pt on saturday evening that I was watching a few weeks ago. I never was able to get him on trailcam but I knew he was still around. He was 21" inside and scored 147 with most of his right G2 broken off. The real kicker is that the deer was taken in the same woods that I killed my doe thursday morning only 100 yds or so from my stand!!!

Thanks everyone for the kind words. What an awesome experience it was to be able to harvest this deer. It is weird to know that my season is over already as far as shooting a buck goes. But, I will be out in the stand more just to enjoy nature and maybe arrow another doe. I also want to give a shout out to my buddy Ron for letting me hunt his property after telling him about all of the bucks that were out in his cornfield the previous afternoon. Few more pics... Based on his body size, this guy was a solid 4.5 year old, but his rack was more like a 3 year old. His G2's/G3's were all bladed and I believe that he would have been narley next year with a whole mess of stickers...

It's a six arrow quiver so I fill it up. By the end of season there are usually a few less in there...

I was worried more about being busted my one of the other bucks that was in range, particularly the eight point that was sniffing around below me.