TheHornHunter
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Posts posted by TheHornHunter
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Exactly. Deer freeze all the time when they detect a foreign scent.
I never use cover scents for this exact reason. If you're looking to mask your order, I'd recommend ozone.
I’ve experimented with all the scent stuff over the years… evercalm, ozone, smoke, etc. Ozone by far is the best but even that isn’t guaranteed. I usually will have deer get down wind and look like they hit a brick wall as soon as they hit the ozone and then will either sit there for a minute sniffing around and go on their way or will turn right around and go back where they came from. I’ve only ever had a few instances where one freaked out. The best thing to do - by far - is put wind in your face and don’t walk in where you expect deer to travel. I never use evercalm anymore and only occasionally run ozonics just to be safe if something manages to get downwind. The ozone is way more effective in a blind but I’m usually running and gunning on the ground or doing hang and hunts so it’s just another thing for me to drag along.
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Man thats a big bodied buck!
He was a hoss last year. Still big this year but looks like the injury led to some weight loss. Corn and soybean diet does wonders for the body!
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TheHornHunter, that's quite a transformation!
I had a guy call me today about a deer he shot that was in need of some repair work. It was a really cool triple beamed buck but was missing his left side at the base. Between that and a new cape, I warned him that it was probably more of an undertaking that he wanted to get himself into. Crappy deal, it was a really cool looking deer.
Damn that’s too bad, that’s a really unique buck! Don’t come around triple beamed bucks too often
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Cool buck!
I was over to some family property yesterday checking cameras and had this big buck come across a cornfield. As he came up the bank to cross the road in front of me I noticed that one of his sides was a little funky with twisted looking tines. He ran past my truck and I saw that one of his hind legs was deformed above the tarsal area (obviously shot last year) and he couldn't lower it at all. He had no problem jumping the ditch and making it up the steep bank. It's amazing how tough those things are...
One of my top targets from last year either got shot in his rear leg or hit by a car and his entire rack shrank with one side now looking like a trident. He’s still covering ground and hitting scrapes but looks awkward as hell moving around. Such tough creatures
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Warm weather definitely suppressing movement in 8H/8F but tbh my hunts last couple days have been better than I expected. I’ve seen a handful of 2-3 year olds chasing does and more movement in general than I’d expect being so warm. Cameras have slowed significantly so haven’t been expecting much but they are missing a good amount of action…. the other night I was in a 2-3 acre thicket with 2 cell cams on either side and had 4 bucks in there with me but not a single picture. Doubt they are aware of the cams, seemed like using more random trails and just more chaotic movement right now. So long winded way of saying don’t rely too much on cams. That said, all my mature bucks have disappeared across multiple properties. It’s been close to a week since I’ve got a picture and had been getting each buck every 1 to 3 days. Not sure if they are locked down or maybe my cams just missing them…. but very strange as we’re talking about half dozen or so different properties all seeing the same thing. Hopefully incoming cold front gets the big boys moving again
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Holy G3's
For real! He was a stud of a 2 year old last year and this year he packed on another 10-15” despite going from a 9pt to a 8pt. Really hoping he can make it another year
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Cold weather definitely has them on their feet! My cameras are popping like everyone else and home ranges expanding quite a bit…we had one buck on cam last night in spots almost a mile apart in less than 2 hours!
I’m also starting to see signs of first does cycling. I had a lone doe fawn wander by me this morning on one of my private spots and an hour or two later had a nice 3 year old 8pt I know well push a doe out of a thicket, through the nieghbors cut corn field and right by me with a smaller buck not far behind. I’ve been looking for a bruiser that’s been here the last few years but starting to think he’s dead since I’ve got no pics this year and seeing that buck with what’s probably the first hot doe here. Oh well, cool hunt! Back to public tonight, hopefully still active. Good luck to all heading out
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Uh oh. Town of Rush… very close to Honeoye Creek. The creek, not the WMA.
This is pretty close to rush too
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Got out for the second time tonight and had some dog walkers come by right at prime time… the unfortunate downside of hunting public. Cell cams at other properties were popping so going to try and get back out tomorrow AM. I’ve got some toads on cam on public land including one I’ve got history with back to 2018 so I’m dedicating most of my early season to chasing them. Hopefully my private stuff will marinade and be fresh for November.
I got a cell cam pic of a bear yesterday which is pretty cool, literally 100 yards from a bunch of houses in a pretty suburban area of 8H. Never thought I’d be sharing my hunting ground with a bear haha
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Good luck with this! Make sure you true up the assessment value to what you're planning to pay to adjust for what your actual tax load is going to be. I've pretty much given up on buying NY land at this point, math just doesn't work
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10 minutes ago, BizCT said:
20 years and no appraisals is crazy. Locally it's revaluation every 5 years.
I think that's what most places do. My home is every 3 to 5 years. Idk if they tried to reappraise it and he fought it or what, but it hadn't changed from his original purchase price. I asked the town treasurer about it and he made it seem like it wasn't uncommon.
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I think people underestimate how much taxes can be on some of these properties and what the means for the economics on the parties involved. Can't blame landowners for not wanting to eat the tax bill themselves and a lot of folks including myself have decided it's a better use of capital to lease vs. buy. I've been in the market to buy land for several years and had a few deals fall apart because of what the taxes were going to be once the appraisal value on the town books repriced to what I would have paid. Rough #s but usually was working out to about 3-4% of my purchase price in taxes per year... latest example was 110 acres near Rochester that I could have got for ~$250K but was going to run me ~$10K per year in taxes. The previous land owner was paying $3,500 in taxes and that wasn't a terrible deal but his appraisal value hadn't changed in the 20+ years he owned it.
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That things a beast. How many HP? I’ve been using the kitchenaid for single deer and the 3/4 HP for multiple deer or sausage batches. For one deer the clean up on the big grinder takes more time than the grinding.
I’m looking at getting the grinder attachment for my kitchen aid for just that reason. My grinder is great if I’m running multiple deer through it but takes forever to clean and isn’t fun at all with how much everything weighs. Would be nice to have something smaller to do like 10-20lb batches
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The two biggest bodied bucks I shot - one was PY and the other probably scored about 100" but big bodied. Had both mounted and I often hear "wow the antlers don't match the head and neck on that one." lol
I’m glad this is a common thing because we couldn’t figure out if it was just our area or not. Part of me thinks people pass the ugly bucks for lack of antlers so they have an easier time growing old. Our two biggest bodied bucks were PY but barely
This one is my biggest bodied… not super long but really fat, which is kinda hard to tell in this picture
This is my bow buck from 2020 and is one of my higher scoring NY deer but he was 30 pounds less than the buck in the last pic and taken 10 days earlier. He was a public land buck though with no meaningful ag around so was surviving off acorns and suburb landscaping
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Someone is skipping leg day
He’s trying! He was my #1 target this year but he shifted his range after spending the last 3 years as a homebody on my farm and we only ever got night pics and one sighting in the gray light. Pretty sure I know where he moved so will be knocking on some doors and hopefully catch up to him next year
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8 hours ago, Swamp_bucks said:
Wouldn't suprise me he dropped a bunch of weight. Like others I've heard that 20-30% weight loss. Latest I killed one was around December 1st and he was by far the skinnier of all my bigger bucks I've taken.
That's what I'm thinking. I was always a little skeptical about how hard rut impacted our bucks because our ratios are so off and they don't need to work hard for does, but this one definitely lost a ton of weight from even the pic I have of him in late November. I'm surprised how much, but no December harvests so nothing to compare it with
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9 hours ago, Four Seasons said:
213lbs, 191lbs, 189lbs. All November harvests.
Some real beauties there... which area if you don't mind me asking?
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10 hours ago, NYBowhunter said:
This is my buck from this past bow season, a big boy and was probably up there weight wise (unfortunately never weighed), have shot a few through the years that were bigger. One of my biggest racked bucks a late season muzzlelaoder kill and he was by far the thinnest of them all, big rack but he was run down.
Beauty of a buck... looks like we have the same chain hoist. Sure does it make easy for getting them up on the pole
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11 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:
I can't add anything to your question on post rut weights but can say I've killed (without checking my notes) two bucks over 200#. Not surprisingly both were archery kills, a 217# 8pt in 2009 in 8N and a 203# 11pt in 9H in 2015.
For sure another one was crowding 200# but has some controversy surrounding it, lol. That was the one that Biz just can't let lie......I killed it and in the excitement of the moment, explained numerous times here, I didn't remove the heart and lungs when I weighed it. IIRC it was 205# with that in so my conservative accurate weight would be 195# just to NOT fudge anything.
I've killed a couple others in the 180# range also.
The guys I hunt with have been weighing anything obviously over 1.5 YO since the early 70's and until 2009 the heaviest buck was a 163#. Things have certainly changed for the better in the area for numerous reason such as less pressure from hunters, easier winters and high deer numbers among others.
This is the 217# buck
203# buck
Those are some beauties! I'm glad I retracted my comments about putting more on the pole.. if you've been stacking them up like that since the 70's you've got me beat by a LONG shot... I'm not even a decade in lol.
Isn't it funny the things we do in the moment of excitement after a big buck kill? I haven't left the heart/lungs in but I've let my knife in a deer and lost lord knows how much other stuff that got left on the ground. I don't usually get buck fever before a kill, but it sure hits me hard after the kill. My friends actually have a running joke about the amount of stuff I lose after I kill something
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In all my years of hunting I've seen one def over 200. And one or two that were close.
The one I seen that was definitely over 200 I couldn't believe it. I swear it was 240. I was bow hunting and it was an awesome day but never got a shot off.
Had two 4 points come out in a field and then they went down over a hill and I couldn't see them. Then 6 does came chargng into the other end of the field from a cornfield.
Then to my far left a 5 point stepped out and behind it was this 9 point. It literally waddled across the field and it had 75+ pounds on any of the deer out there.
All the deer went right too him like he was the king. Even the two 4 points came back over the hill. He never came into range. Tried grunting at him and he barely looked my way. Like you come here if you want to start something. Lol. Closest he got was 70 yards. Huge buck. He was twice as big as the does. It was almost freaky.
Then had one a couple of years ago that had a huge body but a small rack I got close to a couple of times but didn't get a shot. Prob not 200 but a def tank
But deer that big sure are rare.
Watching those big boys move is a thing of beauty, especially working does. Always blows my mind how they can move thru the woods in almost silence yet a little squirrel can make a noticeable ruckus 100 yards away.
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We noticed a significant drop off in weight locally on December deer. My dad shot a nice 8pt a few years ago that was 108lb dressed in December. I bet he was 140-150lb in late October.
I’ve always read 20-25% is a good estimate but sometimes as much 33% weight loss
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I guess the numbers make sense then. If he lost 20-25% and is 155 he’d have been 190-200 pre rut. I’ve never killed one or even been around one that I can remember in December before. I didn’t recognize him the first time I saw him in part because how much weight he lost but I’ve shot does that were 140-150 so I was surprised he came in only a little over that
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I wish I had a scale last year. I shot a forkhorn in bow season but he seemed big and heavy. Then I shot my best buck to date opening day of gun season and his body looked smaller to me but his rack said 3.5 all day. He also had a lot less fat than the late October bow buck.
So this year I bought a scale and only got a few does that I didn't bother weighing.
Our biggest bodied bucks have been on the lower end of our antler spectrum and our highest scoring bucks typically haven’t had much for bodies. Weird dynamic
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We weigh all our deer. For the area we hunt the general averages follow. For pre and early rut bucks.
1.5 yo - 115-125
2.5 yo - 135-145
3.5 yo - 155-165
4.5 yo - 175 - 185
5.5 yo 185 - 195
older 175- 200 - we personally have not taken a buck over 200 in CNY and I do not remember too many I have even heard of.
There are always outliers these are averages. Post rut bucks 2.5 and lower seem to lose less weight. 5-15% Older bucks can lose quite a bit more than that even. As you can figure our sample includes a lot more earlier bucks than late season bucks.
That seems similar to us in 8H, all the ones I killed and weighed were 4+. We’re in prime ag though and always have a few pigs that are 200+. Interestingly, it’s never the ones with the biggest antlers. Like this one from this year, just a mean fat old slob. I think my buck this year was just rutted down. I’ve never killed one close to this late before to have anything to compare it with
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210 is a MONSTER
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He was a fat slob. Antlers didn’t come close to matching the body though. My buddy killed a bigger one but we never got a weight on him. When I was in Kansas someone killed one just under 300 dressed and that thing was a horse!
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Live From The Woods 2022 - 2023 Edition!
in Deer Hunting
Posted
100%. Totally forgot to mention use for clothes. It’s fantastic for that
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