LIVE from the woods 2016 Edition! - 7th Year, lets make this happen...

[zeus1gdsm]

No deer sightings today. But I did get a nice show and close encounter with another big Brown owl. I think he likes me.

Went to the lane the buck walked into yesterday. Cleared some branches in the way to make it more of a shooting lane. Found a dinky old rub on a 2 inch tree.

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[Paratrooper395]

Haven't seen anything sense the day before opening gun. Walked about 3,500 meters only came across one set of tracks proabbly from them morning. 

[Fletch]

Headed out in the am can't wait to walk through 2 feet of snow!!

[Bowshotmuzzleloader]

2 hours ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Love the sqawks a pileated makes  Like something from a Tarzan movie. Had one near me yesterday. I get a headache watching them

I be been hunting this stand for over ten years and like clock work he comes at around 4:00,, what I'm curious to and was thinking about tonight is this the same bird ? How Long do they live and /or do they teach their young to feed in the same spots as they do as there are holes in such in these trees that he frequents ,,, looking for insects I would have to guess, anybody have any idea ??

Edited November 21, 2016 by Bowshotmuzzleloader

[607 HUNTER]

Opening day 6 point- State land, Allegany County, Birdsall

Got in the stand at 5:30 a.m. , stayed in the stand all day. Seen 1 doe walking at 9 a.m.  and then this buck at 4:40 p.m. I hunt in a creek bottom, I seen him trotting in the thick under growth. I had just enough time to see he had a rack in the scope, and pull the trigger before he was out of site. 80 yard shot

After the shot- he ran about 10 yards, just about of of site and I seen him drop. I didn't have much time to hunt this season with a 18 month old and 4 week old home, so I feel very lucky to have tagged out opening day. 

Good luck to the rest of you this season.

[Gencountyzeek]

Well my father came over this afternoon to hunt with a old marlin 336 in .35 rem he just picked up at cabelas yesterday. I sent him to a ladder stand in the back of my property. He was out about 20 min and he txt me if I allow anyone else on the property. A guy dressed in camo with a orange hat just walked up to him not looking up until he was 5 yards away. Then he just turned and went back the way he came. I called my neighbor to see if he had anybody out on his property. Next thing I here shooting. 5 shots total. Left a message with the neighbor, threw on a orange vest and grabbed my riffle. My dad said it was the guy that shot. I pick up his tracks and follow them and catch up with the guy standing in a field. Come to find out he's my neighbors, neighbors son. In from Connecticut for opening weekend. I told he walked right past 2 posted signs on his way to my dad. He said he couldn't really make out what it said. Soooo u just keep going?! I then point out I had him on camera on my property yesterday. He denied that, so walked to where the camera is. O, sorry he says. We parted ways and I had my dad move to the front of my property away from all the moving around. I just got back to the house and I hear a shot. He called me and I head out with my quad. He got a 4 pt, thought it was bigger but I'm happy, it's the first deer he has gotten on my property. Kinda paying back for all the years I was able to hunt on his property. I ll post a pic when I get one.

[Kot2B]

kot2b,
congrats ! That thing is a porker. Button ?  And where's your snow ? Want some? I'll ship you some

Thanks! Nope it was a big doe. She still had milk. There was a button a head of her, both came out 20 yards away from me and about 100 yards from my stand. I stood there hoping to see where the deer were traveling. All bow season I suspected them traveling where I shot her. She was a double lung but still had to cross the creek and make the drag that much harder. I'm happy.

[Rockspek]

I made it to my stand late this afternoon.  Waded through snow that went from 3" to up to my hips.  That explains the scenario here...Windy.  I didn't see any deer but heard geese and saw a few other birds.

[Zuke]

Opening day started with a buck, I believe 2.5 8 point right around 0705. He has potential so I let him walk. They have to be good before they're great, right? He snuck up about 20 yards to my right before I noticed him. Then about 1030 a small doe came into view from straight ahead.... I read a page back someone talking about taking a head shot, and that bothered me a little. We as hunters owe it to every single one of each other to give ourselves the best image we can. This doe painted a bad image to me of my neighbor's, and every non hunter that saw it had the same remark of "That's why hunters are terrible people". I'm happy I was able to put her down and she did not starve to death as her bottom jaw was just hanging... She will feed some very good people.

[hunter49]

  I got me a 7 pt. Saturday morning about 10:30. I heard leaves crunching & thought it was another squirrel  so I didn't look behind me right away. I heard it again so I looked but didn't see him until he moved.  I saw the rack & thought that's a good buck. I waited for him to get to an open spot & shot. He ran 5 yards spun around, flipped over backwards & slid down into the gully(of course) and that was it. He had just got done freshening up his scrape that's what I heard.  It was about 72 paces and the heart looked like someone had butter flied it open. The right side  was a nice 4 pt. The left side was about 1 ft. tall & only had 3 small points. If it was symmetrical it would have been a nice mounted head. Now I am only doing a Euro.

[MayfieldBowhunter]

Good on ya Zuke way to do the right thing! Now ya know what type of people border your land !

[germs087]

Sat out all day in this terrible weather and to my amazement had a good buck come in hot chasing a doe around 4:45. Of course he was dead down wind and picked up my scent but couldn't figure out where it was coming from due to the high winds. He froze for about 2 minutes behind a tree with only his back end exposed, meanwhile daylight is fading and I am waiting for him to split. He ended up turning to head back the way he came from and I squeezed off a shot. He was quartering away when I shot and I think I was aimed a bit back when I squeezed off the round. He fell over when I hit him and gathered himself and hastily walked away. There was OK blood for the first 100 yards or so and that fizzled out for about 100 yards when it picked back up and he entered a thicket. I decided to back out as I was not confident of the shot. I gave him about an hour after I shot before I tracked and hadn't come across a bed before he entered that thicket. My thought was to back out if I find a bed. He was dragging a leg on the far side of his body so that would lead me to believe the bullet likely entered mid body and hit the leg/shoulder on the way through. Thoughts? I am not sure what tomorrow will bring and honestly a little angry with myself I didn't make a better shot.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Germs if you can wait until morning I sure would, have you got snow?

[germs087]

Germs if you can wait until morning I sure would, have you got snow?

That is my plan, I will head back around 8am or so. We have around 8" or so of snow, the only bad thing is the blowing wind is likely going to cover any tracks or at least make if difficult to identify his.

[upstate]

18 minutes ago, germs087 said:

That is my plan, I will head back around 8am or so. We have around 8" or so of snow, the only bad thing is the blowing wind is likely going to cover any tracks or at least make if difficult to identify his.

Since he's in a thicket it should blow over too bad. Plus, look for blood on sticks, twigs, grass and other pieces of woods in there. If you can pick up even small dimples and there's perhaps blood that's covered up by a layer of snow, use your boots to press down each step, the blood will show up. Don't shuffle , step down. Even just a little blood looks like a lot in snow. 

 

Good luck, keep us posted.  

[germs087]

I'm confused by his reaction to being hit, knocked him over and took him a bit to regain his footing but OK/spotty blood

[upstate]

may have hit something to slow bullet down, or its a gut shot and plugged up that hit part of front shoulder.  Was blood in hoof print (usually means a leg shot)? 

I've seen it all, done it all. Found deer I shouldn't and lost ones for the wrong reasons.  If nothing else, learn from your experiences.   

 

I hit a really nice buck, quartering away, hard (damn near walking dead away) in the neck. He took off across three wide open fields and a dead sprint. 3 guys in stands said, "he didn't look hurt at all".  He was on a death run and bled out 700 yards away. 

[Hock3y24]

Walked a lot today in this powder, found 20-30 sets of tracks and had a couple does in the scope bedded down, however I just sat and watched them hoping for a buck to come bother them.

[germs087]

may have hit something to slow bullet down, or its a gut shot and plugged up that hit part of front shoulder.  Was blood in hoof print (usually means a leg shot)? 
I've seen it all, done it all. Found deer I shouldn't and lost ones for the wrong reasons.  If nothing else, learn from your experiences.   
 
I hit a really nice buck, quartering away, hard (damn near walking dead away) in the neck. He took off across three wide open fields and a dead sprint. 3 guys in stands said, "he didn't look hurt at all".  He was on a death run and bled out 700 yards away. 

I was thinking possible a twig or branch and the bullet fragmented. No blood in the track, usually was spread between steps on the far side of the body.

[Gencountyzeek]

If the shot knocked him down I'm guessing it had to have hit the far shoulder/leg. If that's the case I would say liver and atleast 1 lung. I'd say dead deer in the thicket. 

[mlammerhirt]

Went liver....lung on a buck that must have spun as I shot last fall. Crosshairs were locked right behind the shoulder and the buck was ever so slightly quartering to...ended up running 30 yards and dropping like a ton of bricks. The bullet exited out the armpit...missing the front leg.

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[hunterdan44]

Opening day started with a buck, I believe 2.5 8 point right around 0705. He has potential so I let him walk. They have to be good before they're great, right? He snuck up about 20 yards to my right before I noticed him. Then about 1030 a small doe came into view from straight ahead.... I read a page back someone talking about taking a head shot, and that bothered me a little. We as hunters owe it to every single one of each other to give ourselves the best image we can. This doe painted a bad image to me of my neighbor's, and every non hunter that saw it had the same remark of "That's why hunters are terrible people". I'm happy I was able to put her down and she did not starve to death as her bottom jaw was just hanging... She will feed some very good people.

Wow! Thanks for putting it out of its misery. An ethical clean quick kill should be every hunters motive. Nice job!


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[Adkhunter1590]

Went out for a couple hours this morning. It was in the low 20s with mid to high 20 mph winds. Bitterly cold for sure. Saw a doe and my resident button buck. Other than that it was dead out there. Stayed in and caught up on a little sleep this afternoon.

Not sure if I'll hunt the morning tomorrow. Depends on what time I get out of work. If I get out at 7 I'm going to head up to dicks when they open and pick up a new muzzleloader. I just ordered a vortex scope, sling, and gun case online to pick up tomorrow when I get my gun. Gonna go with the CVA wolf in stainless. They only have the scope package model but I don't trust cheap package deal scopes so that's why I ordered the Vortex. Will just have them slap it on there for me when I go. Decided on a new smoke pole since me and my buddies are planning another late season Ohio muzzy hunt in January. We went last year and had a blast. It's a cheap trip and there are some big bucks in Ohio. Can't wait to get some range time with the CVA

[DirtTime]

Thought the snow would make this morning better. I was wrong. We only had an inch that was all but gone by noon. It was cold and the wind was irritating to say the least. Did some still hunting to keep warm, but the only part of deer I saw was a flag running away from me.

The old 3G network doesn't get great reception in the woods all the time.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice in my area, so back out there.

[Jdubs]

Tucked into a blind with 3 days off to harvest my first deer...wish me luck.