Sounds of Opening Morning

[fasteddie]

I used to hunt on Gibsonville Road by Pine Tavern when I 1st started hunting with my FIL . We would hear shooting before 6:30 and he say , "it's those damned Perry boys" ! That was back in the 60's .

started hunting my SILs property around 1990 and we would hear a lot of shooting before legal time . Vehicles used to park on Country Club Road in Geneseo and walk in the back way . Always had tresspassers ...........Someone finally stopped them from parking on their property and there hasn't been many hunters around since .

I used to keep my shotgun unloaded until legal time and pray that nothing came by until later so I wouldn't have to fight the temptation !

[Pygmy]

Yeah, I love it...

 

One opening morning maybe 20-25 years ago, I decided to try to count the shots I heard opening morning.. By 9:00 AM I had counted over 200 shots, and quit counting.

 

Since rifles have become legal here, I hear MUCH less shooting, and many times it is a single shot, rather than the volleys of 3 to 5 that were so common when everyone was using shotguns.

 

 

[steve863]

I'm in my 60's and I walk up the mountain all the time, except last year my family bought me a used quad and it's great not having to sweat on the walk in in the morning. No one use to have any machines in my early years with my father and the old crew. They were in their 70's and 80's and still walked all the way back to their stands and never complained one iota. I use to drag my deer down by myself, till about 10 years ago when the guys said they'd help me with the quads. Sure is a lot easier. Last year when I shot the 7 pointer, I went up to where I parked, drove down to where he fell, loader him up (not that easy a task by yourself), strapped him down, a drove him into camp at night. I gotta say it was a great experience, and all the guys helped off load, take pictures, and as always say "Nice, lucky shot!!"

Miss the old days, but it does have it's benefits.

I will give the benefit of a doubt to those using ATV's if they truly can't walk well, or are getting up in age, but from what I've seen, most of the people using them look perfectly capable to me. And some that are a bit less than capable are that way because they never exerted an ounce worth of energy their entire lives. I for one will contInue doing it the old fashioned way on foot, and when I can't, the gun and hunting coat will be hung up for good.

[burmjohn]

Why do you care what others are using to get in and out of the woods?

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[Five Seasons]

They all used to use Jeeps and quads to get up the hills way back in my area of the Catskills, that's until the DEC stopped and fined all of them. This was in the mid 80's when it was more of a sport to drive the Jeep up the mountain than it was to hunt. It took a few years before everyone said the heck with climbing mountains and stopped hunting here. After some time the hunting improved because of it. Less hunters has made the herd grow, now there is a good healthy herd here, by me anyway, and I get more big bucks on my cameras than small ones now. Back in the day you were proud to shoot a spike.

It sucks to have to climb steep mountains to hunt at my age but the quality of bucks I see here keeps me motivated.

The harder the land is to get to the better the deer sometimes. We hike down and then up a ravine to shoot some great deer.

[Zag]

I always get a chuckle out of the first shot way to early, the next noise is usually my bowel movement!!

[steve863]

Why do you care what others are using to get in and out of the woods?

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Because hunting used to be a vigorous type of outdoor activity, and now it's filled with a bunch of lazy a$$es who can't walk 150 yards to their stands!

[Five Seasons]

Why do you care what others are using to get in and out of the woods?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Agreed. During gun season you really have to stop caring so much haha.

[Five Seasons]

150 yards? That'd be nice. If you want the challenge and tradition stick to archery.

[steve863]

150 yards? That'd be nice. If you want the challenge and tradition stick to archery.

Sorry, but there is way more tradition that revolves around gun hunting. The bow opener does not carry even close to the excitement, that the gun opener does. Never has and never will.

[jjb4900]

yessss!! another thread that has deviated from the intentions of the original poster and is starting to turn ugly........gotta love it!

[Zag]

yessss!! another thread that has deviated from the intentions of the original poster and is starting to turn ugly........gotta love it!

yeah no kidding...see what happens when people can hide behind a keyboard!!

[Five Seasons]

Sorry, but there is way more tradition that revolves around gun hunting. The bow opener does not carry even close to the excitement, that the gun opener does. Never has and never will.

I'm not arguing that. I love opening day, that tradition and hunt is different than the challenge of archery. but to expect some sort of pure hunting with fat guys hiking into the deep woods is silly.

[the blur]

What's your average walk in ?     1 mile or more ??

[jjb4900]

What's your average walk in ?     1 mile or more ??

5 miles uphill, there and back......

[crappyice]

Uphill...both ways right??? JK

[Lexingtonlegend]

I hunt in the northern tier of the Catskills and there's no one who walks 2 1/2 each way to there respective stands. Either you leave at 2:30 am to get there or you're truck ran out of gas and you are huffing it along the county road. 

 

Anyways to get back on topic, I expect to be in stand 1 hour before sunrise. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

5 miles uphill, there and back......

Barefoot

[burmjohn]

Because hunting used to be a vigorous type of outdoor activity, and now it's filled with a bunch of lazy a$$es who can't walk 150 yards to their stands!

I put in a decommissioned chair lift from the local ski place from my cabin deck to my stand about a mile in. Sometimes I just ride the chairlift back and forth so it feels like I'm walking through the woods.

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[Geno C]

Because hunting used to be a vigorous type of outdoor activity, and now it's filled with a bunch of lazy a$$es who can't walk 150 yards to their stands!

 

 

boy i wish i can walk 150 to any of my stands! lol

 

my closest set in one my my spots is a 400 yard walk. my furthest out here is half mile and mine upstate is half mile. all walking, no atv... next year im placing a stand close from my truck for next year. i see giant deer at this one spot for 3 seasons now and find myself asking why i am walking almost a half mile in when all the shooter deer end up in the spot so close to where i park lol

[nyslowhand]

Of course, the annual, pre-dawn 1-2 shots coming from a couple different locations. All happening as you look out into the woods and can't even distinguish the trees apart. Other than waiting for the deer, I really look forward to the mid-morning shooting. Get a couple of guys (gals) tired of sitting and bump deer on their way out for coffee. The 8-10 shots, minute later a few more and several minutes later several more shots. Couple years ago, across the road from where I hunt, think I counted a total of 15-16 shots over a 10 minute peroid. Poor deer! Idiots! This is on private lands, so I can't imagine what NYS lands would be like.

[Doc]

The first time I walked intoteh deer woods with my Father I was 8. That was 40 years ago. I have been there every season since. I hear shooting. The land we lease boarders about 2000+ acres of State land but the shooting is nothing like it used to be. I can remember years ago you felt like your head was on a swivel looking to teh sounds of the shots around you. I can remember state land and there were deer running every which way all day. Opening day. and then it turned into a desert.

 

After opening weekend I take a ride around the block when we head out for water and groceries and the state land usually doesn't have any cars parked there.

Exactly the same thing that I have observed. Even as a kid, before I was old enough to hunt, I remember waiting for the bus and hearing an almost constant barrage of shooting. And yet they claim that there are so many more deer these days than there was back then. There certainly seemed to be a lot more hunters in the woods. Today there is a flurry of shots from well before legal shooting hours until around 9:00 or 10:00 and then it really starts to get quiet. And like you said, once the opening weekend is over, state parking lots are almost deserted. I don't think we have a shortage of license holders, but we do have a shortage of dedicated enthusiastic hunters that are out hunting hard and as often as they can.

 

The bad news .... there are always just enough guys out to keep the deer in a survival mode, so nothing gets any easier as far as finding deer out in their normal daylight patterns. Not enough guys to keep the deer moving, but enough to keep them spooked.

 

It will be interesting to see how the addition of rifles in our county will effect the participation. I have been hearing guys from all around the valley sighting in their rifles (at least I hope that's all they are doing .... lol). So there might be a brief re-birth of enthusiasm this year.

[Jeremy K]

Along with the sounds of opening day are seeing the people on their way down to camp . My dad and i saw a guy in a full deer skin outfit one year going into a store , we laughed our a$$es off ,he had the arm fringe and all , his back tag was firmly affixed to the back.

[Five Seasons]

boy i wish i can walk 150 to any of my stands! lol

my closest set in one my my spots is a 400 yard walk. my furthest out here is half mile and mine upstate is half mile. all walking, no atv... next year im placing a stand close from my truck for next year. i see giant deer at this one spot for 3 seasons now and find myself asking why i am walking almost a half mile in when all the shooter deer end up in the spot so close to where i park lol

We found this out a few years ago. Neighboring pressure in the hardwoods was pushing them up right behind the house. Nice quick walk haha

[bowaholic]

Its like a war zone near me! Three years ago my dad got his deer early (hour after legal light) so I helped him drag his out.  I almost didn't go back into the woods because it literally sounded like a war zone.  Luckily I did because I got my best buck yet, thanks to the apparently poor shots in the woods