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2016 Adirondack Buck

Coachdad

By Coachdad,
in Big Woods Hunting

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Coachdad Newbie

Coachdad

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This is a picture of the nice 9 pointer I got this year. I blanked out my face because I don’t want the locals to recognize me and start hunting on my property while I’m not there during the week..

 

Here is the story:

There is a nice stand of oak trees about a mile north of my camp. It is a nice hike and mostly uphill.

I had started a mock scrape in this area on October 15 using Active Scrape in a dripper bag. I set up a trail camera overlooking it. I refreshed it with Active Scrape on Oct 22, and I added 50% of Golden Scrape to the dripper on Oct 30 and dropped off my climbing tree stand at a tree nearby. At that point I had a few pictures of small bucks at the scrape and  the plan was to hunt this area next week when the rut should be starting up.

Saturday November 05, 2016  (Sunrise was at 7:38 AM Sunset was at 5:44 PM Wind was from the West 9 mph. )

I went up to my mock scrape area in the morning. My climber was there from the week before but I took the seat with me. When I got to my climber I found that the squirrels ate the bungee cord that keeps your boots in the stirrups while climbing, so I installed my seat and carefully climbed in without the bungee. When the sun came up, I realized that I was up too high and I didn’t have a good view because most of the leaves were still on the small beech trees. Since I was already all set up I just stayed there for the morning. I saw 2 does go by about 50 yards west of me. I could barely see them due to the leaves on the beech trees. As I was getting down from the morning hunt, I confirmed that I had a much better view about half way up that tree. So the plan for the afternoon hunt would be to only go half way up.

When I got down, I went over to the mock scrape emptied the dripper into the scrape and refilled it with Golden Scrape. I grabbed the SC card so I could check it when I got back to camp. There were 4 pictures of bucks hitting the scrape, but they were young.

I went out for my afternoon hunt about 1:30 PM (sunset was around 5:44). I tied a bungee cord on the stand for my boots and  went about half way up the tree as planned (about 20 feet high). It was a quiet day; it was pretty warm and the wind was blowing from the West. I watched the squirrels and chipmunks scamper around and make noise all afternoon. I was now able to see the mock scrape which was about 40 yards south of me. Going half way up the tree allowed me to see much further now than in the morning.

At about 5:15 PM I heard a branch snap to my northeast. I looked and looked in that area but I couldn’t see anything. But I knew it wasn’t a squirrel that made that noise. So I kept looking in that area. Finally I saw the top (black fur) of a deer’s tail. So I kept watching. Then the deer took a step, I could see it was a buck.  I could see he was a good buck, but I couldn’t tell how good because the leaves were still too heavy. So I grabbed my gun, but I didn’t have a clear shot through the beech leaves. As time went on,  I could only see parts of the deer.  So I kept watching him. He was taking his time walking to the west. He would disappear from time to time, but I kept spotting parts of his body when he moved. Finally at about 5:30 PM he stepped into a spot where I had a clear shot at his vitals. I knew I had to thread the needle and I had to do so quickly while I still had the chance. So I quickly took aim and fired. When I hit him, he jumped and took off. Now I could see he was a REAL GOOD BUCK and I could see that he had been quartering away when I shot him. I think I heard him fall.  

Climbing down with a climber seems to take forever when you have a deer down. When I got down off my stand, I walked over to where I shot him, and found lots of blood. I followed the blood about 40-50 yards and found him. The blood trail was easy to follow.  I hit him a little lower than I thought and I ended up hitting him in the heart.

 

If he didn’t snap that branch, I would never had seen him. It is also a good thing that I was only half way up the tree. I don’t think I would have seen him if I was up high in the tree. Everything fell into place nicely.

I can’t say if the mock scrape had anything to do with it or not, because he was at least 75 yards north of it. But I think I will do the same thing again next year just in case. 

He is a 9 pointer with a 20 inch inside spread. I’ll get him scored when I get him back from the taxidermist.

2Joe_9ptb.JPG

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Coachdad Newbie

Coachdad

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1 hour ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 


200lbs is the number to beat in the ADKS. We don't get a lot of high scoring racks but and buck over 200 is a trophy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks - I shot a 235 pound 8 pointer in 2013 (this one was my BEST STORY ever)...but this 9 pointer from 2016 had a real wide rack and lots of mass.. All bucks in the Adirondacks are trophy's. 

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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4 hours ago, Coachdad said:

 All bucks in the Adirondacks are trophy's. 

You hit the nail on the head there.  A narrow 6 point from the Adirondacks is worth more to me than a big 12 point at home in the flatlands.

How do they taste from around your camp?   I am thinking that the oaks and the clear cuts might give them good food compared with the mostly bark diet those in the "forever wild" areas further into the park are stuck with.   Those that I have killed around the scattered Ag fields and oaks in zone 6C (on the NW edge of the park) taste just as good as those I have killed in and around the corn fields at home.    

It is looking like a second consecutive extremely mild winter this year, which should make the deer hunting real good up there this fall.   What is the story on the 235 pounder?   I killed a heavy 8-pointer in 2014, that seemed to weigh more than me (200 lbs), but I need to get me a scale to be sure next time.  There does seem to be some bruisers up there,    

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Coachdad Newbie

Coachdad

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12 hours ago, wolc123 said:

You hit the nail on the head there.  A narrow 6 point from the Adirondacks is worth more to me than a big 12 point at home in the flatlands.

How do they taste from around your camp?   I am thinking that the oaks and the clear cuts might give them good food compared with the mostly bark diet those in the "forever wild" areas further into the park are stuck with.   Those that I have killed around the scattered Ag fields and oaks in zone 6C (on the NW edge of the park) taste just as good as those I have killed in and around the corn fields at home.    

It is looking like a second consecutive extremely mild winter this year, which should make the deer hunting real good up there this fall.   What is the story on the 235 pounder?   I killed a heavy 8-pointer in 2014, that seemed to weigh more than me (200 lbs), but I need to get me a scale to be sure next time.  There does seem to be some bruisers up there,    

As far as taste goes... I don't taste any difference from the ones I get down in Connecticut. But the Adirondack hunt is much better than the CT hunt.  The deer in the Adirondacks are much more aware of their surroundings than the deer in CT. It is a night and day difference. Sometimes it seems like the CT deer are just plain stupid in comparison.

I agree with you regarding the mild winter. Last year's mild winter gave my camp the best year of hunting since I've been going up there. Next year should be good hunting. (But it has been terrible for snowmobiling.)

I'll post the full story of the 8 pointer on a separate thread when I get some time to edit it (maybe tomorrow)... My log book contains details that need to stay private such as GPS Coordinates.. The best parts of that story are after the hunt trying to get him back to camp.

Cabelas sells scales that are pretty cheap. It is always good to have one on hand in case you get a monster that you want to weigh.

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