Whoa goin scouting this wekend?

[Northcountryman]

Gonna head up to camp thursday night with plans to have a look around all friday; anyone else?  Im gonna lug my climber in and see if I can find a prime spot for the opener. Last year, I found an area where there was TONS of sign, but no good trees for my climber? Whaddya do in that case? Well, I opted for another spot and got skunked.  Sure hope I can find it again ; hunch tells me its one of those perennial buck faves!!

 

[cdbing]

Do you have portable options besides a climber (e.g. hang on or saddle) or possible to improvise a brush blind? Those would be options if you find the right spot but no trees suitable for a climber.

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[Northcountryman]

Yeah, I do have 1 of those portable ground blinds that I can use in a pinch, but I prefer to be up high for better visibility.  whenever Im in my blind, I always feel like im missing deer walking behind me that I cant see and/or hear .

[Splitear]

I was overoptimistic about my ability to get in the woods this year. I had plans to squirrel hunt a lot more, and then put some time into scouting a few new spots. However, I have had zero chance to get out other than one squirrel hunt. I'll be setting my climber in the tree I killed my buck out of last year and hoping for the best.

Good luck with scouting, be safe!

[airedale]

I spend a lot of time in the woods early Fall small game hunting, I use that time for checking the Deer situation and their movements, bedding areas and food sources, so I am pretty well set on any plan of attack and where I want to be if I do any Deer hunting.

Al

Edited October 26, 2022 by airedale

[dbHunterNY]

i might scout and hunt public land. other than that I don't have the time i used to so i rely a lot of cameras and what i see while hunting. i used to run no cameras and scout with binos and boots on the ground and would put in a lot of hours doing so.

[Bolt action]

@Northcountryman - public or private? 

If private, you could put in an elevated platform.. 4 or 5 feet.. just to get you up over the think stuff in the area. Then set a pop up blind on top of that. Or pickup a tripod blind to get you elevated.

For the past few years I've had access to a farm about 45 minutes from my house. There are pro's and con's to hunting over vast crop acreage. That situation is not permanent, and is likely going to end in a few years. Last weekend though I picked up access to a closer spot that's only about 20 minutes from the house. The property is 10 acres, but backs up to 400 acres of landlocked, undeveloped and largely unhunted  land. There are a few trails leading toward the back of the lot, but most of the acreage is thick. Lots of deer sign. I dropped off a small ground blind near some apple trees last weekend and found a tree over a clearing that'll work for my climber. I plan to be up in that tree tomorrow pm. Temps are dropping and deer should be up and moving around!

[Five Seasons]

what's this opener? 

[Kmartinson]

18 minutes ago, Belo said:

what's this opener? 

Up north gun is my guess,  i should just look. Lol

[DirtTime]

8 minutes ago, Kmartinson said:

Up north gun is my guess,  i should just look. Lol

Regular season for the NZ opened last Saturday, early ML was the 15th. I missed the ML opener by a few days because of a wedding, but was able to be up there to hunt Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then Saturday and Sunday with the rifle.

[Five Seasons]

29 minutes ago, Kmartinson said:

Up north gun is my guess,  i should just look. Lol

 

17 minutes ago, DirtTime said:

Regular season for the NZ opened last Saturday, early ML was the 15th. I missed the ML opener by a few days because of a wedding, but was able to be up there to hunt Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then Saturday and Sunday with the rifle.

yeah I'm confused. All of NY has been able to deer hunt for a while now...

[Kmartinson]

2 minutes ago, Belo said:

 

yeah I'm confused. All of NY has been able to deer hunt for a while now...

Same, rut scouting? I'm always hunting sign if that's what this post is asking?

[DirtTime]

3 minutes ago, Belo said:

 

yeah I'm confused. All of NY has been able to deer hunt for a while now...

Most of the people on here hunt the SZ, and don't actually keep up with when the NZ openers are. I plan to be out for the bow opener up north next year, as well as the early ML opener. Over all, there are 6 openers for NY.

Edited October 26, 2022 by DirtTime

[Kmartinson]

18 minutes ago, DirtTime said:

Most of the people on here hunt the SZ, and don't actually keep up with when the NZ openers are. I plan to be out for the bow opener up north next year, as well as the early ML opener. Over all, there are 6 openers for NY.

I like to go hiking and fishing up there but your right, I don't pay much attention to hunting up there because of the low animal densities..... (enter wolc123) ill be proven wrong if he reads this.

[DirtTime]

1 hour ago, Kmartinson said:

I like to go hiking and fishing up there but your right, I don't pay much attention to hunting up there because of the low animal densities..... (enter wolc123) ill be proven wrong if he reads this.

He hunts the ADK's differently then I do. I don't hunt beaches with volleyball nets. The deer numbers are lower due to not as much AG up there. You should try hunting up there, from the posts I've read from you, I think you'd probably enjoy it. There are some big deer up there, and many areas don't see the pressure the SZ has for public land.

[Kmartinson]

52 minutes ago, DirtTime said:

He hunts the ADK's differently then I do. I don't hunt beaches with volleyball nets. The deer numbers are lower due to not as much AG up there. You should try hunting up there, from the posts I've read from you, I think you'd probably enjoy it. There are some big deer up there, and many areas don't see the pressure the SZ has for public land.

It's been on the table, just pretty busy with other adventures. May do big woods in Allegheny mnts PA. Rifle season this year 

[Northcountryman]

4 hours ago, Bolt action said:

@Northcountryman - public or private? 

If private, you could put in an elevated platform.. 4 or 5 feet.. just to get you up over the think stuff in the area. Then set a pop up blind on top of that. Or pickup a tripod blind to get you elevated.

For the past few years I've had access to a farm about 45 minutes from my house. There are pro's and con's to hunting over vast crop acreage. That situation is not permanent, and is likely going to end in a few years. Last weekend though I picked up access to a closer spot that's only about 20 minutes from the house. The property is 10 acres, but backs up to 400 acres of landlocked, undeveloped and largely unhunted  land. There are a few trails leading toward the back of the lot, but most of the acreage is thick. Lots of deer sign. I dropped off a small ground blind near some apple trees last weekend and found a tree over a clearing that'll work for my climber. I plan to be up in that tree tomorrow pm. Temps are dropping and deer should be up and moving around!

Public in this spot, actually. Tripod blind? Never used one before; are they good?  Sounds like youre setup very well, my friend - good luck!!

[Northcountryman]

3 hours ago, Belo said:

 

yeah I'm confused. All of NY has been able to deer hunt for a while now...

Sorry- rifle in southern zone, I meant. Opener isnt for another few weeks. Is there an early muzzleloader season now, though?

[Northcountryman]

1 hour ago, DirtTime said:

He hunts the ADK's differently then I do. I don't hunt beaches with volleyball nets. The deer numbers are lower due to not as much AG up there. You should try hunting up there, from the posts I've read from you, I think you'd probably enjoy it. There are some big deer up there, and many areas don't see the pressure the SZ has for public land.

Yeah ,but do you see deer that much up there?

[wolc123]

4 hours ago, DirtTime said:

Most of the people on here hunt the SZ, and don't actually keep up with when the NZ openers are. I plan to be out for the bow opener up north next year, as well as the early ML opener. Over all, there are 6 openers for NY.

There is actually (11) openers for deer, if you include the northern (NZ) and southern (SZ) zones, in upstate NY:

I’m chronological order:  1 Early SZ antlerless, 2 NZ archery, 3 SZ archery, 4 NZ crossbow, 5 NZ early ML, 6 NZ gun, 7 SZ crossbow, 8 SZ gun, 9 NZ late ML, 10 SZ late ML, 11 SZ Holiday ML.  
 

Between September 10 2022  and January 1 2023, With up (9) deer tags available to most folks each year,   you could skip two of those, and still legally kill a deer on each of the remaining (9).  

[Bolt action]

I've considered the tripod but haven't used one. Cheaper and more portable than a box blind while still being out in the elements. Definitely a private land item though. Good luck this season!

[cdbing]

Yeah, I do have 1 of those portable ground blinds that I can use in a pinch, but I prefer to be up high for better visibility.  whenever Im in my blind, I always feel like im missing deer walking behind me that I cant see and/or hear .

Maybe get a light weight hang on and sticks if trees are not suitable for a climber and you want/need elevation.

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[Northcountryman]

18 minutes ago, cdbing said:

Maybe get a light weight hang on and sticks if trees are not suitable for a climber and you want/need elevation.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 

Not a bad idea, but arent they kinda a pain the a#$ to hang? Last time I used one of those, admittedly, was over 10 yrs ago and I found it to be a bit cumbersome; then again, it very well could have been the hanger too lol.

[Five Seasons]

18 hours ago, Northcountryman said:

Sorry- rifle in southern zone, I meant. Opener isnt for another few weeks. Is there an early muzzleloader season now, though?

ah so you're one of those guys. haha jk man. Real hunting kicks off this weekend

 

again, just busting balls. 

[Kmartinson]

26 minutes ago, Northcountryman said:

Not a bad idea, but arent they kinda a pain the a#$ to hang? Last time I used one of those, admittedly, was over 10 yrs ago and I found it to be a bit cumbersome; then again, it very well could have been the hanger too lol.

If you practice a little bit it gets easy. Tip of the day is to use a split tree and you can use the extra tree for support to lean on, and hide your form a little bit.