WNY Bowhunter

I'd still eat it even if I saw them kill the cat/dog and cook it!!!

BOBCAT!!!! That's cool, I've never seen one.

My current favorites. These little heads are tough as nails, accurate as field-points and open every time. I LOVE them!!! I've shot slicktrick mag 100's for several years too and still carry a couple in my quiver. IMHO, they're the best fixed blade head on the market and leave big holes...

That's a bunch of nice sheds on the hoof right there!!!

You won't be sorry. This is the best bow that I've ever shot...period. Even my buddy who's a big time Mathews dealer is setting one up to hunt with this fall!!!

Just got her all set-up...man what an awesome bow!!!

Mine shipped last weds and should arrive today or tomorrow. Man, am I pupmed!!!

Thanks for all of the words of encouragement guys!!!

The time is correct. There are several newly planted cloverfields on the other side of the woods (where I can't hunt) where I think the deer are spending alot of time.

He's not going anywhere. He spends most of his time hiding out on the ani-hunter/vegan neighbors woods that connects to the property that I hunt.

No doubt about it, age is the key factor. If the state ever closed deer season for 3 years the quality of bucks running around would be mind-boggling!!!

The camera is a Moultrie M-80 (I cropped/edited the pics.) It takes pretty nice pics. Here's another good one...

I hunt the neighbor's farm too and had a camera set-up for this big guy. The problem is, the bachelor group he is part of always feeds/beds out in the middle of an alflafa field and there is no where to hang a camera but along a little patch of woods at the bottom of the field. I got pics of several of his buddies but none of him even though I saw him within 60-70 yds of my camera on several occasions...

Oh, I might kill this one is he shows himself...lol. Seriously, it's been a frustrating summer for getting big bucks on the cams. I've only managed to capture pics of two out of the top 5 deer I've seen. The big one in this thread had 4 other shooters with him when I saw him in July with one of them being a real bruiser. No pics of any of the them or the monster across the road on the neighbor's either...

As they say, "nets are for fish" and a score is just a bunch of numbers anyways.

Last year he would have grossed right around the 147 mark as a mainframe 9-pt. If you would have doubled his bigger side he would been around 153. He's got a lot of trash this year and I'd guess he'll gross in the 170's as a non-typical???

It probably has to do with the better forage out here...

He's added lots of trash since last year... I've been lucky enough to pick up his right antler for the past two springs...

This guy is hitlist buck #1 for 2012. I had only seen this deer one time back in mid-July and had just about given up trying to get pics of him when he decided to show himself!!!

This deer had access to the same food items that most other deer throughout the northeast, southeast and midwest do...a mixture of ag crops (corn, beans, alfalfa) and natural browse/mast...

I agree on all counts. Remember, no matter if it's Kip Adams, Dr. Karl Miller or Dr. James Kroll himself that we are talking about...when it comes to aging an unknown deer from a couple of photos... the ages that they come up with are just estimates and there is huge margin for error. Here's a local buck that a friend killed back in 2010. Despite have an estimated 15" broken off of his right antler, this deer still gross scored 181 typical. His taxidermist and a local biologist at the Region 8 office in Avon aged this deer at 2.5 years old!!! I wish that I could say that I'm joking about this but I'm not... The cementum annuli test lab test came back with an age of 6.5 years. Honestly, it's hard to despute this test, but he sure didn't have the tooth wear indicative of a deer of that age class. I'm thinking more along the lines of 4.5. The shed antler in the photo was picked up by my uncle in March of 2010 meaning that this deer added around 50 typical inches to his frame from 2009 to 2010!!!

He's a three year old. I've been watching him since he was a yearling back in 2010. I never said he was getting a pass, I have no control over what happens to this deer or any other on this farm. Steuben County is generally reguarded as one of the better "big buck" counties in the state, it's home of Charles Alsheimer and all that, but...let me tell you there is virtually NO QDM being practiced in these parts. Since I have several years of history with him and he's still such a young deer (with tremendous potential), I would love to see what he would do next year. He's gotta a run the gauntlet called "deer season" first...

Due to my work schedule, I can hunt every morning of season...but definately prefer the evenings. I don't think that I'll go at it too hot and heavy in the mornings right off. I'm gonna take off 2-3 days during the first week to get a few evening hunts in.

Keep in mind that taxidermists aren't wildlife biologists, what they say is not always factual. I don't believe that there are any 155" 2 years olds running around this state. On a different note, that's a great looking buck!!!

I think that it's a young coyote too.