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TheHornHunter
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Hello all,

Stumbled on this site recently and decided to join up. I live outside Rochester and hunt several leases (~600 acres w/ 1 other guy) and permission properties (~1K acres) across Rush, Mendon, Honeoye Falls, West Bloomfield and Macedon. I also do some hang and hunts on public land around the area and typically get out to Ohio once a year for a 3-4 day hunt. I hunt A LOT - this morning was the 29th day I've been in the woods and my 40th sit. I'm a huge data junkie so I track all sorts of stuff from hunting observations, to trail cam activity to carcass weight and meat yield - i'm a research analyst by trade so just my nature :)

This is my fourth year hunting and bow hunting is my preferred method, but I mix it up with my muzzleloader or rifle from time to time. Killed a few does this year, but no bucks yet. My hunting partner and I target bucks at least 4 years old and are lucky enough for a lot of our hunting land to be surrounded by either properties that don't allow hunting or are similarly managed. I passed probably a dozen 2-3 year old 120-135 class bucks during bow and had close encounters with probably a half dozen mature bucks, one of which I've now ran into 7 (!) times in the past month. I've had him at under 40 yards twice, but one was chasing does and the other was running off a buck whose ass he just kicked and neither time I couldn't get him to stop. Most of the time I get to watch him walk under one of my other tree stands on the property and kick myself for not being there. Hoping to catch up with him again and seal the deal. 

Anyways, that's a bit about me and my season to date. Looking forward to joining into the conversation with ya'll!

Edited by TheHornHunter
typo
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welcome.. i also hunt the areas you do (8H) and look forward to passing info back and forth... unfortunately 2-3 year old deer at 120-135" are definite shooters, at least to other hunters in the county.. but i fully respect your decision and think it's great the neighbors also let the deer age as well where you are... i have all my tags so far as i've passed on younger deer so i cannot be too critical. 

last year i was fortunate to take a 4.5/5.5 year old (according to the taxi) 138" 9 point.  IMO deer don't have a lot of hiding spots around here and most often will get shot young or get hit on the highways... good luck

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11 minutes ago, ApexerER said:

Welcome, sounds like you have some beautiful property to hunt. I don't ever see myself being a position where I am passing up a nice 2.5 year old buck. Sounds like you have a lot of knowledge. Look forward to your posts.... 

 

 

Thanks for the welcome! There's nothing wrong with not passing them - i tell all my buddies shoot whatever puts a smile on your face. I got skunked my first season, shot a six pointer my 2nd season and killed a nice 120ish 8 point last year so I've been passing bucks this year that would be my biggest ever. Maybe I'm crazy, I just love the thrill of chasing these old brutes and being in the woods. Plus I get plenty of meat from does so as much as I want to kill one of these 4+ year olds i'm not going to be heart broken if I don't and it won't ruin my season. 

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21 minutes ago, JRod 8G8H said:

welcome.. i also hunt the areas you do (8H) and look forward to passing info back and forth... unfortunately 2-3 year old deer at 120-135" are definite shooters, at least to other hunters in the county.. but i fully respect your decision and think it's great the neighbors also let the deer age as well where you are... i have all my tags so far as i've passed on younger deer so i cannot be too critical. 

last year i was fortunate to take a 4.5/5.5 year old (according to the taxi) 138" 9 point.  IMO deer don't have a lot of hiding spots around here and most often will get shot young or get hit on the highways... good luck

That's an awesome buck you got last year! Good to know someone else is hunting same areas too.

I agree with you on other hunter's shooting those deer and I'm fine with that to be honest. Most of our neighbors pass them but we have a few that don't and like I said in response to someone earlier I'll never tell someone what they should or shouldn't shoot - if it puts a smile on your face it's good with me! I hunt a lot of creek beds, thickets and swamps trying to find those hiding spots lol. It's a low probability adventure chasing these timber monarchs and I know that but that's what makes it fun to me... if it wasn't challenging i'd get bored.

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1 hour ago, TheHornHunter said:

That's an awesome buck you got last year! Good to know someone else is hunting same areas too.

I agree with you on other hunter's shooting those deer and I'm fine with that to be honest. Most of our neighbors pass them but we have a few that don't and like I said in response to someone earlier I'll never tell someone what they should or shouldn't shoot - if it puts a smile on your face it's good with me! I hunt a lot of creek beds, thickets and swamps trying to find those hiding spots lol. It's a low probability adventure chasing these timber monarchs and I know that but that's what makes it fun to me... if it wasn't challenging i'd get bored.

that's great... i can tell how passionate you are about hunting in some of your responses here already.. bunch of us regulars on here are from western NY and Rochester.. i hunt private 5 acres in 8H and private 40 acres in 8G but live in Brighton.. good luck

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3 hours ago, TheHornHunter said:

I live outside Rochester and hunt several leases (~600 acres w/ 1 other guy) and permission properties (~1K acres) across Rush, Mendon, Honeoye Falls, West Bloomfield and Macedon

Welcome...you are definitely hunting some areas for nice bucks and are lucky to have access to what sounds like some nice properties.

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On 11/21/2018 at 1:23 PM, JRod 8G8H said:

that's great... i can tell how passionate you are about hunting in some of your responses here already.. bunch of us regulars on here are from western NY and Rochester.. i hunt private 5 acres in 8H and private 40 acres in 8G but live in Brighton.. good luck

Thanks! Same to you. I live in Pittsford so right around the corner from you

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On 11/21/2018 at 2:58 PM, moog5050 said:

That’s some serious acreage in excellent areas. Welcome aboard.   We hunt many of the same areas but far fewer acres.  

80% of it is ag fields if I had to guess so it hunts a lot smaller than it sounds, but it's enough for me and my buddy to hunt nearly every day and keep the pressure spread out.

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5 hours ago, TheHornHunter said:

Thanks! Same to you. I live in Pittsford so right around the corner from you

Saw your buck in the other thread. Congrats. Was that a shotgun kill? Or bow? Finally saw some deer including a nice 8 point down on border of henrietta/rush after going a week without seeing hardly anything... 

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4 hours ago, JRod 8G8H said:

Saw your buck in the other thread. Congrats. Was that a shotgun kill? Or bow? Finally saw some deer including a nice 8 point down on border of henrietta/rush after going a week without seeing hardly anything... 

Thanks! I shot him with my muzzle loader, actually he was my first deer with this particular muzzy. Movement in my area definitely picked up Friday thru the weekend - the first half of last week and last weekend was pretty dead. Most of what I’m seeing is typical late season feeding habits. AMs are getting tough to hunt but if you can get around bedding undetected it can still make for some good hunts. PMs have been much more productive for me... green food sources or cut corn being the most productive. I took my buck in a rye grass field. Good luck! 

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