ncountry

Congrats to your dad...great follow up too!! Many wouldn't have found that deer..

Screw in steps, most of the time, affect the life of the tree very little. barring any disease . Screwing a step into a nice young maple for example will ruin its future timber value though. I would use my head in what type of tree and where I used screw in steps, private or public land..Never let the tree grow around them. Not only is it hard on equipment , but dangerous to a future Sawyer. Imagine a circular mill catching one of those? Yikes!

Ouch!

I will tell you, what I tell myself.. Dumb #$$...lol

I use a hha w/dial, and really like it. Eliminate s the clutter. I am a hold a little high or low sort of guy anyway.. Most of the deer I shoot, I don't move the pin anyway. I set it at 25 and that works out to 30 or so... I use the sight more for practice at 60-70yds..and the occasional 40 yd shot..

Not so sure.. how's a guy to sneak over to the neighbors with this much snow?

Here are a few pics from your area...for motivation.. 1st one grossed over 150" Mine are the 2 little ones..lol

Hmmm........like I said......great buck!

Congrats to your dad , great deer. Personally I'd have to disagree with you lawdwaz. Gross score is the one that matters to me..care less what a book says..lol

This is how we have been doing our burger also, the last few years...yummy!!!

IMHO mandatory orange is bs. IMHO going into the woods without orange in some areas is just plain stupid.This comes from someone living in the nz that never wears orange and never worries about getting shot. When I am hunting public land in the sz I am the great pumpkin(and nervous)..lol.

Having access to a tractor w /loader we do something similar. hang deer from bucket,lower bucket all the way, attach hide to front push bar and lift, done.

Hold on to the hope GM. I have known your frustration. 4 of us just returned from the park. I figure we had an average of over 100 hrs apiece in the woods. Although I shot a 9 and a doe. One other got a button buck. and that was our total. 2 of us were not even waiting for anything special just a good shot at a doe or legal buck. It was an excellent year for buck activity for us but seeing them and getting them close enough for a bow shot is a whole other story.lol . We hated to even break out the guns when firearm season opened, but did out of frustration. ps..Absolutely love those bottom lands! even though I am discovering more deer than expected close to the fields..

I have never seen so many "stupid" 2 1/2 + year old bucks as I did this year. Lucky for me I closed the deal on a nice 8-9 point(didn't measure the short extra point) Seems like they were chasing does everywhere. Personaly, one of the best years I have had at the park for buck sightings in the last 7 years.

Congrats..I am in the southern zone for a few more days, but I can say that I have killed close to all my 100+" deer between the 7-11.

Shot a doe yesterday11:30 morning from this stand..look what walks by a little after 7 this morning..Not one of the biggest ones I've seen so far. But big enough for me. nice 9

I have been hunting Letchworth for the last 6 days and am seeing a lot of rutting bucks chasing,tracking,and trolling for does. Seems like a lot more in the last few days. Nothing within range but a broken horned 4 or 6 hounding a doe . Buddy and I watched a real nice 8 or 10 chaseing a doe right up the side of the rd towards us,who happened to be leaning against the tailgait at 11:am . They were within 100 yds when finally the 2 nd car that stopped to watch spooked the back into the woods..lol

I am seeing bucks chasing and trolling for doe everywhere but 30 yds around my stand..Lol..

New inexperienced hunter .I would recommend 7m-08 and a single shot. They can always move up later .

I think it is great that we all use different weapons to do the same job.I would rather see a good shooter shoot a deer in the head than a poor shooter emptying their guns while trying to aim for the vitals. I just find it foolish that some will redicule others for being "overgunned"

If you had come up here during archery season you could have taken a doe with the either sex tag or antlerless deer only tag. But now that rifle is open all you can take is a buck with 3" or more of antler.. I assume you can take a doe with bow using a dmp tag(not positive on this being that I haven't seen a dmp issued in my zone for a while)

Congrats! My wag is 112"

Have you ever tracked a deer shot through the lungs with a 223? have you ever tracked a deer shot with an arrow through the lungs? If so you definitely know the anwer to your own question. 2 different methods of killing. I would rather track the deer shot with the arrow any day of the week. This comes from my personal experience hunting with an old timer that swore by his 223 . Terrible blood trails.

Great pictures! Looks like some good hunting spots...