Live From The Woods 2023-2024 Edition

[Moho81]

What a long youth weekend it was. Long story short we seen plenty of deer. My daughter took a long shot at a buck that ended up being a clean miss. Then a little while later she took at shot at a different buck this time well within her comfort range the first shot looked good but he bounded off 20 yards and stopped I had her send another one. That shot got a mule kick out of him and he trotted back into the woods and it really looked like he got in about 10-20 yards and just laid down. It was early in the evening so we gave him a couple of hours before going to look but we didn't find anything. No blood no hair and no buck. We went back had dinner came back out with about 10 people lined up and walked a few hundred yards just hoping he was laying somewhere but no such luck. We both hope that we either see him again either on camera or in person just so we know that he is still alive. Buck fever really got her good so she was shaky for the shot which is what I am hoping led to a clean miss.  

[landtracdeerhunter]

11 hours ago, Hock3y24 said:

My youth hunter chickened out again, I went out with the bow at 4. Had two doe at 10 yards bleating the whole time but were in a hard spot to shoot, rather that force a shot or spook them I let them pass, never smelled me downwind. 

When that youth hunter is ready, it will happen.

Good luck in your hunting season.

[airedale]

1 hour ago, Moho81 said:

Buck fever really got her good so she was shaky for the shot which is what I am hoping led to a clean miss.

When I first started hunting I got Buck fever as bad as anyone could, my first Woodchuck I was shaking like a leaf. What cured my fever was small game hunting, Rabbits, Squirrels and Chucks, the more experience I got taking the shot and making the kill the less fever I got.

When it came down to my first Buck I was using a Sako 222 with a 8X Leupold scope and a dot Reticle. I had probably killed over 50 Woodchucks with that rifle and I knew wherever that dot was when the shot was fired, that is where the bullet would strike. I put the dot at the base of that Buck's neck and touched her off and he went down like he was struck by lightning. Experience with the rifle, confidence in it's ability to put the bullet where I wanted made it easy.

I still get excited, I was in the squirrel woods this morning and when I still hunted one for a shot I was excited but no shakes and the shot and kill was easy, if the excitement was not there I probably would quit hunting. I always say the best way to get young hunters started is on small game, experience builds confidence that you just can not get Deer hunting taking a shot once or twice a year.

Al

[Moho81]

1 minute ago, airedale said:

When I first started hunting I got Buck fever as bad as anyone could, my first Woodchuck I was shaking like a leaf. What cured my fever was small game hunting, Rabbits, Squirrels and Chucks, the more experience I got taking the shot and making the kill the less fever I got.

When it came down to my first Buck I was using a Sako 222 with a 8X Leupold scope and a dot Reticle. I had probably killed over 50 Woodchucks with that rifle and I knew wherever that dot was when the shot was fired, that is where the bullet would strike. I put the dot at the base of that Buck's neck and touched her off and he went down like he was struck by lightning. Experience with the rifle, confidence in it's ability to put the bullet where I wanted made it easy.

I still get excited, I was in the squirrel woods this morning and when I still hunted one for a shot I was excited but no shakes and the shot and kill was easy, if the excitement was not there I probably would quit hunting. I always say the best way to get young hunters started is on small game, experience builds confidence that you just can not get Deer hunting taking a shot once or twice a year.

Al

For sure, it's been a bit of a struggle with my daughter to get her out shooting. She has some decent anxiety that can get in her way but over time with enough encouragement she has been able overcome it. Saturday in between deer hunts we did a little youth pheasant hunt with the kids. We purchased and released 25 birds in small groups and let the kids hunt them. We started with some trap shooting as a warm up and it took some good convincing from myself and 2 others to get her behind the youth 20ga but once she did she was good to go and once she knocked down that first bird she was hooked! Now she's telling me we have to go out small game hunting, buy a bird dog and buy an over/under for her to shoot. Freeking kids LOL 

[Hock3y24]

My broad head after the doe sat, blew her opposite leg apart. New blade won’t spin true. Mike Sohm from Magnus responded to my email 8 minutes after I sent it mailing me a replacement head! 

[chrisw]

Sat one of our leased properties last night for the first time, multiple bucks every night on camera. The neighbor fired a rifle about 30 minutes before dark, hopefully it was an actual "youth hunter." Had a small 8 come out of the corn before dark and feed by but the bigger bucks stayed out of the field all night, which hasn't happened in 2-3 weeks. I'm guessing the rifle shot is to blame. The super wide buck showed back up early this morning, so that's reassuring. I did some mid day scouting on some public land close to home and found several fresh scrapes and a huge buck track in them. Going to spend a few sits near there. I'll attach the scrape track...

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[chrisw]

2 bucks and a doe and fawn tonight. Bucks weren't big enough, I need to see what made those scrapes before I shoot a decent buck in there. Wind was not ideal although the predicted wind was perfect. None of them winded me although downwind. Had to wait til well after dark to let them feed off a ways.

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[chrisw]

On a side note, my big 8 is back on one of the leases, at least he was this morning. We've got a lot of good bucks this year but he's tied for number one to me. I'll attach a motivational pic for anyone interested!

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[New York Hillbilly]

6 minutes ago, chrisw said:

On a side note, my big 8 is back on one of the leases, at least he was this morning. We've got a lot of good bucks this year but he's tied for number one to me. I'll attach a motivational pic for anyone interested!

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Holy crap! Lol. Consider me motivated! 
Good luck on getting him! 

[chrisw]

Holy crap! Lol. Consider me motivated! 
Good luck on getting him! 

He was big last year but he got even bigger this year, this property isn't great for holding them but either way it's exciting to get pics like that! I've only got one buck higher scoring than him so far, and that one is +/- 160 we're guessing.

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[First-light]

So two days in a row we had doe come into the stands and had a buck push them around. Both nights the bucks made a coughing noise, not a snort but some type of cough that sent the does running. Any ideas on what this is?

[Hock3y24]

22 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

When that youth hunter is ready, it will happen.

Good luck in your hunting season.

hes already shot 2 bucks the last two years. lol teenagers and their girlfriends. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

2 minutes ago, Hock3y24 said:

hes already shot 2 bucks the last two years. lol teenagers and their girlfriends. 

Good to see them involved in hunting. Hope they stay with it.

Oh,  and good luck with the teenagers.

 

[Hock3y24]

32 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

Good to see them involved in hunting. Hope they stay with it.

Oh,  and good luck with the teenagers.

 

My son and other nephew will be eligible for NY youth next year, so its quite possible ill be taking 3 of them out. My son and I will be out for pa youth next weekend. 

[First-light]

Saw a couple of Doe last night then about 5:00 a bear walks in. Not the one with Mange. This was I guess 2 -3 year old about 200 lbs. Real good looking bear. He wondered around at 50 yards and never came closer. He drifted off after 5 minutes. Hope to get a shot at him. Just real good looking and I'm guessing being young the meat would be more tender? 

[Hock3y24]

1 hour ago, First-light said:

Saw a couple of Doe last night then about 5:00 a bear walks in. Not the one with Mange. This was I guess 2 -3 year old about 200 lbs. Real good looking bear. He wondered around at 50 yards and never came closer. He drifted off after 5 minutes. Hope to get a shot at him. Just real good looking and I'm guessing being young the meat would be more tender? 

My bear was approx. that size a few years back, and was the best tasting croc pot meals I've ever had. 

[First-light]

From 3:30 till dark I counted 15 doe around me. I pulled up on one that was close. She immediately looked up and ran off. Always tomorrow. 

Edited October 13, 2023 by First-light

[GreeneHunter]

Well I " Got Er Done " this morning !  Certainly not my best shot but glad to be out there with these old eyes of mine with a Crossbow !  It was a 30 Yard shot and she noticed my at the last second ( I wanted to double lung her) and bought it in the neck . She ran about 25 yards with the Bolt sticking out of her neck , turned around broke the Bolt off then slowly went down . While dressing her out I retrieved the Business End of the Bolt without ripping my hands open ! 

[airedale]

Way to go Greene man, 

Al

[bugsNbows]

Congrats. Should be good eating!

[Four Seasons]

Tag filled. Great Job!!

[chrisw]

Had 3 big does at 12 yds tonight, came to full draw and put my thumb on the trigger only to change my mind. There's too many bucks in there right now to booger it up retrieving a doe. I heard a buck grunt in the corn, he came out right at dark, not sure what buck it was but I got stuck in the stand well after dark waiting on him to work off.

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[fasteddie]

Saw over a dozen deer yesterday late afternoon in the woods in Geneseo .

[First-light]

Today was my buddies Birthday. He was up here all week with his wife and son. Last hunt this morning. I got up and noticed the frost on the ground and said its a killing day. He comes trhrough shooting this really nice doe. 2 year old son totally into it!

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Edited October 14, 2023 by First-light

[First-light]

No idea why the pictures posted like that. You get it