Live From The Woods 2023-2024 Edition

[New York Hillbilly]

7M. 25 degrees and brutal wind. Anyone else out in this today? With all these dying and tipping over ash trees I may nail on this soon. Too much cracking for my liking. Especially given my ladder stand is now tied to one of these now green ash trees. 

[airedale]

7 minutes ago, New York Hillbilly said:

Anyone else out in this today?

I just came in after a couple of hours, 25 degrees and too windy for me, I still saw the same two Does and one Squirrel.

Al

 

[First-light]

I went out because they started shelling my corn. Saw nothing but they will be back. Brother is staying out till it rains. 

[Hock3y24]

PA cams still firing, following 3 doe, cam is 1 hour behind, since this 2 spikes and a 4 pt have followed same trail. 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Hock3y24

[New York Hillbilly]

I’m too much of a softy! My plan was to hang tough till 10 then head to the house. Guess again! Here comes a small doe or the little spike I saw before, at 9:55, and I watch the deer walk up the hill about 60 yards.  I thought it  was going to bed down so I sat tight. Then at 10:05 here comes a big doe. This one I will shoot. So it gets about 40 yards broadside, my cross hairs on its boiler room, safety off, and before I squeeze here comes the little deer bounding down the hill to the doe. Back on goes the safety as they nuzzle each other. 
 

I spend the next 10 minutes putting up with the doe stomping her foot and head bobbing as she finally pegs me and tries to figure out what I am.  The doe finally turns and slips into the thicket with the little one in in tow. 
 

10:35 with them now gone, I’ll exit too. 

[Hock3y24]

Getting out of work tomorrow at 2 pm and gonna take my youth hunting nephew out for an evening sit. hunt NY thurs and Friday then down to PA camp with the fellas for some shenanigans.

 

[New York Hillbilly]

Holy crap! It will be just like me to shoot a deer in the weather so I can suffer field dressing it.  
The steady downpour of sleet and rain in this wind have the window of my blind covered in ice now. 
Stay warm and good luck to those deer crazy enough to be out now. 
 

[chrisw]

Had a big buck walking through cornfield at noon today on camera, 15 yds from my stand that I wasn't in. Awesome.

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[50calpeephole]

Was hoping with the changing weather the deer would be out in force, but no such luck.  

  

Biggest thing I saw all day was a grey squirrel in the morning.

[buffalojay83]

Saw a button buck today this am. No movement near me lots of wind so I still hunted around a little

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[Shoots100]

 

Opening day was not looking good weather wise as it was raining as I was getting into camp.

So setting up my ground blind was a no go.

Thankfully the rain started to taper off around 3 Am.

The rain finally stopped at 4 Am.

I set out a half hour early to set my ground blind up and waited for the fun to begin.

Spotted over 20 deer with the thermal while waiting for the sun to rise and had 4 bucks chasing a doe in the distance as legal shooting time approached.

One buck was clearly the dominant buck, but it wasn't one of the big bucks we had on the trail cameras, so I passed on it.

As it got brighter out and the deer came in closer to around 200 yards, I could see the dominant buck was a shooter 8 pointer, so I decided that it was time to take action.

He was perfectly broadside, but as I was taking the safety off, a truck came barreling down the right of way road and scared them away down a ravine.

F'ing neighbor worked late, so he got up late and was flying down the road to his stand on a neighbors property.

So as I sat there plotting the neighbors demise for chasing the deer away, they popped up around 300 yards away feeding under some thorn apple trees and saved the neighbors life.

I picked a clearing they were heading towards, ranged it at 315 yards, dialed it in and waited.

About 10 minutes later the doe appeared in the clearing, the 8 Pt buck followed and I dropped him.

After the shot, the doe trotted about 20 feet and one of the smaller bucks jumped on it.

To the victor goes the spoils.

Another member of camp bagged a nice 7 pointer about an hour later.

Since I was tagged out, I decided to coyote hunt over the gut pile we made 150 yards away in view of the camp.

Nothing showed up that night, so I went out Sunday night at a location away from the neighboring hunters properties who were still deer hunting and dropped a male coyote at 1am. 

When it rains it pours.

 

SJC

 

[New York Hillbilly]

From 7m.

At 9:30 I had the little spike at 50 yards in the wide open and broadside. His spikes would be lucky to hit three inches. I’m surprised he is the only deer I’ve seen this morning. As nice as it is right now and following that storm yesterday they should be moving like crazy.  Would love to sit all day but honey do list still has items with the kids coming later today. 
 

For those who are out and can stay out, today feels like a good one. 

[greg54]

I'm out in the swamps with my friend and his nephew in 8g. Light drizzle still no shots heard. Good luck anyone out and Happy Thanksgiving.

[New York Hillbilly]

36 minutes ago, greg54 said:

I'm out in the swamps with my friend and his nephew in 8g. Light drizzle still no shots heard. Good luck anyone out and Happy Thanksgiving.

Cool picture! Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving! 

[Water Rat]

I let a small 5 pointer walk by me Sunday morning because I was hoping for something a little bigger. I’m starting to think that I made a mistake. 

[New York Hillbilly]

I'm fuming! Just blew I chance on a buck, by breaking my attention to what I was doing at the critical time. I'm not sure exactly what he had on his head, but from the size of the body he was a fully mature buck.

After brush hogging  and climbing up in my tractor bucket to chainsaw branches away from stands today, and taking care of chores at the house, I decided to spend the last couple hours in my elevated half house. I had a really good view in all directions since brush hogging, but the fog rolled in making it tough to see after 4pm. From past experiences I knew deer like to sneak around when it is like this. At 4:30 I got a text from my wife telling me my daughter and grandson were on their way, and asking what we might like to so for dinner when they get here.

As I'm now responding to her text, I just happened to look up and catching me totally off guard here comes a buck walking into the same area the little spike traveled this morning. Totally broadside, I quick put the phone down stand and pick up my rifle. I put the scope on him and what the hell, I can't see through the scope. It was all fogged up! I grab a piece of toilet paper out of my pocket that I keep to wipe my glasses and scope, and wipe the lens. The buck still walking as if on a mission is not giving me any time to fool around. Just as I go to put the scope back on him, he obviously either saw me or got the vibe something was up and started running into the goldenrod. If I had been freaking paying attention instead of texting, I would have seen him coming from quite a  bit further away and would have had time to get straight by the time he was broadside to me. Urgghhh!

NOTE to self: No more texting during peak times, and I need to finish this blind. My elevated blind is really big, 8x8, sort of on accident, and with the exception of the back wall and a monster sized window in the front wall, all the rest of the wall space is open from about 40 inches height to the roof. They clearly can see me up there moving around getting in position.

 

[buffalojay83]

I'm fuming! Just blew I chance on a buck, by breaking my attention to what I was doing at the critical time. I'm not sure exactly what he had on his head, but from the size of the body he was a fully mature buck.
After brush hogging  and climbing up in my tractor bucket to chainsaw branches away from stands today, and taking care of chores at the house, I decided to spend the last couple hours in my elevated half house. I had a really good view in all directions since brush hogging, but the fog rolled in making it tough to see after 4pm. From past experiences I knew deer like to sneak around when it is like this. At 4:30 I got a text from my wife telling me my daughter and grandson were on their way, and asking what we might like to so for dinner when they get here.
As I'm now responding to her text, I just happened to look up and catching me totally off guard here comes a buck walking into the same area the little spike traveled this morning. Totally broadside, I quick put the phone down stand and pick up my rifle. I put the scope on him and what the hell, I can't see through the scope. It was all fogged up! I grab a piece of toilet paper out of my pocket that I keep to wipe my glasses and scope, and wipe the lens. The buck still walking as if on a mission is not giving me any time to fool around. Just as I go to put the scope back on him, he obviously either saw me or got the vibe something was up and started running into the goldenrod. If I had been freaking paying attention instead of texting, I would have seen him coming from quite a  bit further away and would have had time to get straight by the time he was broadside to me. Urgghhh!
NOTE to self: No more texting during peak times, and I need to finish this blind. My elevated blind is really big, 8x8, sort of on accident, and with the exception of the back wall and a monster sized window in the front wall, all the rest of the wall space is open from about 40 inches height to the roof. They clearly can see me up there moving around getting in position.
 

Anybody know a good divorce lawyer lol

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[Water Rat]

I’d be fuming too . Sorry to read this New York Hillbilly. I learned that lesson a couple of years ago when a gobbler came in silent when I was on my phone. Learned that lesson the hard way.

[Water Rat]

P.S………at least you had some excitement. 

[New York Hillbilly]

2 hours ago, buffalojay83 said:

Anybody know a good divorce lawyer lol

lol   Good one!

As miserable the deal was, I only have myself to blame. I let my guard down. She never texts me while I'm hunting, so as soon as I saw the text was not an emergency I should have just ignored it or texted "not now". Instead, the excitement of my kids and grandson coming got me off my A game and I got too chatty. I basically quit hunting to start talking. Knowing full well a deer could pop up at any moment I should have kept my eyes fixed on what I was there for, and checking my scope for fogging. I guarantee I will not let that happen again. At least this season! hahaha

With all the hard work my wife always puts into making Thanksgiving and the holidays nice for everyone, with all the baking, cooking, decorating, etc., and with our 44th anniversary this December, this one buck isn't about to be a deal breaker. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't trade her for all the deer in the woods.

[First-light]

10 hours ago, New York Hillbilly said:

lol   Good one!

As miserable the deal was, I only have myself to blame. I let my guard down. She never texts me while I'm hunting, so as soon as I saw the text was not an emergency I should have just ignored it or texted "not now". Instead, the excitement of my kids and grandson coming got me off my A game and I got too chatty. I basically quit hunting to start talking. Knowing full well a deer could pop up at any moment I should have kept my eyes fixed on what I was there for, and checking my scope for fogging. I guarantee I will not let that happen again. At least this season! hahaha

With all the hard work my wife always puts into making Thanksgiving and the holidays nice for everyone, with all the baking, cooking, decorating, etc., and with our 44th anniversary this December, this one buck isn't about to be a deal breaker. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't trade her for all the deer in the woods.

I've been texting more often and have to break the habit. Just taking it in and out of my pocket is going to spook a deer! I wouldn't trade her for all the deer in the woods.  atta boy!

 

[DirtTime]

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow hunters. 

 

Clouds moved out and it's a beautiful morning to be hunting.

[Tughill Tamer]

Out on the hill for a hunt with my son. These hunts are pretty special to me wether we see anything or not. He lives in NC and is up for Thanksgiving and we only get a few hunts in together each year now. Good luck to everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!

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[airedale]

15 hours ago, New York Hillbilly said:

I'm fuming! Just blew I chance on a buck, by breaking my attention to what I was doing at the critical time. I'm not sure exactly what he had on his head, but from the size of the body he was a fully mature buck.

The first 40 yrs of my hunting life there were no smart phones and I got along hunting just fine without one. Now I did buy one a few years back and it sits on my desk at home, I don't carry it around with me and I don't think I have used it more than a half dozen times, I use a regular cordless phone when making a phone call.

To each their own but when I am hunting I want zero distractions and the way I see it those phones are one of todays life's all around biggest distractions. People just can't seem to put them down, they are addicted and I just do not get it, I have better things to do.

Al

Edited November 23, 2023 by airedale

[New York Hillbilly]

1 hour ago, airedale said:

The first 40 yrs of my hunting life there were no smart phones and I got along hunting just fine without one. Now I did buy one a few years back and it sits on my desk at home, I don't carry it around with me and I don't think I have used it more than a half dozen times, I use a regular cordless phone when making a phone call.

To each their own but when I am hunting I want zero distractions and the way I see it those phones are one of todays life's all around biggest distractions. People just can't seem to put them down, they are addicted and I just do not get it, I have better things to do.

Al

Yes. The research is overwhelming that cellphones and computer type devices are addicting. They are designed to be that way for many reasons, and very little is meant for our overall good.