Season Summary

[wolc123]

Now that 2019 deer hunting it is over for 99.5 % of us, how did yours go ?

Mine had its ups and downs, but overall I would rate it a bit above average.   Early ML season in the northern zone was tough, with just three deer sightings and I could not tell if any had horns.  I had an either/or tag, and an antlerless tag, but I was not willing to "send it" from 50 yards and risk loosing my either/or tag prior to opening of SZ crossbow.   One of them deer offered a semi-clear, off-hand, quartering-away shot that I am about 80 % certain I could have made.   

SZ crossbow was good for me this year.  On my first outing, I passed a three point "scout", then punched my either/or tag soon after with a solid 3.5 year old 8-point.  The body was big on the three, and I was tempted to take the chip shot that he offered.  My patience paid off, just like the last time I passed a three-point buck with my crossbow from that very same blind.  The big 8 gave me a scare on the recovery though, as I mistook another deer (probably the scout) crashing in the nearby thicket for him.  I wasted about a half hour searching that thicket, while I should have just stayed on the "real" blood trail.   The big guy made it about 150 yards, after taking the double-lunger.   That was odd because the other (4) bucks that I killed with that crossbow all dropped dead within 40 yards.   All those were with new mechanical broadheads though, while this one was with a used one that I had re-sharpened  I hunted 5 or 6 more times during that season, trying to fill my (5) doe tags, but seeing only smaller antlered bucks.

Three antlerless deer finaly showed up for me on opening day of SZ gun season and I mistakingly killed the big doe rather than the larger of the two fawns, as I had intended.  That mistake likely cost me any other deer sightings on that SZ property for the remainder of gun season.  Thanksgiving weekend in the NZ was tough with very little snow and horribly crunchy conditions.  I ran into some unidentified deer on my first late afternoon hunt, but likely scared them all out of the county by the noise I made on my walk out that evening.  I saw no deer on my next (5) hunts up there.    Would have been a miserable trip were it not for my mother in laws outstanding cooking.   

 Late ML season, back home in the SZ also had some ups and downs.   I made it down to my buddy's camp in the southern tier.   The partying and comeraderie was good, getting to see some old friends and make some new ones.  I finally got to see some deer but blew it on chances at two doe.   Watching The Bills beat the Steelers while enjoying rare backstraps and sipping on Crown whenever the Bills did something good was the highlight of that trip.   I even scored the tail of a button-buck that our host had shot off his patio earlier that afternoon.   Hopefully I can convert that into a few smallmouth bass from jigs that I tie this winter.    

So the bottom line was, it was a good season.  Hopefully, the venison I secured, added to leftover vacuum-sealed stuff from last season, will be enough to see us thru until mid October of 2020.  I am already planning for a shortfall though, and am going to take vacation days for all of the NZ early ML season in 2020.    That will also give me the first two (weekend) days of their rifle season.   I would have to be very fussy to come back from that trip without any venison.       

Edited December 19, 2019 by wolc123

[Steuben Jerry]

Good read, and congratulations on a good season!

[rob-c]

For deer take not fantastic ( 1 doe taken),  but overall hunting experience great . The wife and I had some problems this year . Wife is having shoulder problems and couldn’t climb our ladder stands. My self, as some of you know my knee is pretty messed up so it bothered me to carry my climber, so I didn’t. We had 4 ladder stands and 3 ground blinds for the 3 of us.  This was our second year on or lease so still learning how the deer use it. We seen lots of deer, I had eyes on one of our shooter bucks during archery but couldn’t make it work and the wife had eyes on him during rifle but had to many doe’s eyeing her to get a shot. We learned a ton this year and will be concentrating on getting the lease set up how we want for next year. 

[chrisw]

My first year on the lease, killed 3 deer, 2 with bow, 1 with gun. My biggest buck ever. I had a 20 day vacation to hunt the last 2 weeks of archery, killed my best buck the first morning. Only hunted 3 times after November 2nd as I wanted 1 more deer but wanted to wait until I had another buck tag, 2nd sit of gun I killed another buck and called it quits. Had plenty of tags left but had enough venison. Long story short, biggest buck, plenty of meat and the least amount of hours in the woods ever.

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[Buckmaster7600]

Had a great year, killed a mature adk buck and 2 does. Freezer is full and killing my buck so early I was able to use my time off to get all of next years firewood cut. Hopefully we have a good ice year or I’ll have a very boring winter.


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[Pygmy]

Opening day of rifle season was one of the best I remember...My two Canadian buddies and I all killed bucks out of my tower stand...One at 9:15, one at 11;45, and one just before dark....We killed ten points...2 3's and a 4...We were not trophy hunting hehehe...One buck was shot at 50 yards, one at 150, and one at 270...All 1 shot kills..

A few days later, I shot an adult doe from the stand...  Pretty good season as I see it...

Nearly every day a button buck and a doe fawn came out on the food plot..I named them DICK and JANE...I kept warning the button buck that if WOLC came around, he was in BIG trouble...

[sbuff]

One of my worst years ever . Think I saw five deer all season . One of which was a small 6pt I let walk .

[Bolt action]

All in all it was great season. I managed to take my first Buck in a long time. That was a tasty 4 pt and my first with a crossbow and also the first out of the climber. A week later I shot a giant of a doe but lost her in the snow storm. Then in the first week of the gun season I dropped a solid Buck. Not my biggest, but respectable. That one nearly killed me with the drag back out (4.5 hrs). Those two filled my freezer so from then on I just tried to help buddies get on deer. This was my third year on the property and the first time I had success. All in all a good year.

[Moho81]

I feel like I’ve typed out my season a bunch and you guys are probably tired of reading it but in short it was my best season ever in terms of firsts and memories made.

First bow deer (4 point buck)
First rifle deer (150 yard shot on a doe)
First deer taken with my daughter in the stand which was also my first thanksgiving day deer that I can remember (6 point buck)

It will be hard to top this season. Only thing I think that could top this year is being with my daughter when she takes her first deer if she sticks to this sport.


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[Nomad]

Good year, nice buck with the crossbow Nov 2nd , left two weeks to stay out of the woods before gun . Dropped a decent 7 opening day evening . Didn’t hunt with my daughter or Joe as much as I’d like to . From my DEC bow log 26 hours on stand , gun idk 4 ?

Each year my drive drops a little more .

[tarheel95]

Great year for experience, ok from a take perspective. Moved in the middle of the season that threw a monkey wrench into plans. Took two plump does on back to back days during bow. Straight through the heart for the second one, fastest pileup I have ever seen.

Passed a fair amount of young bucks. Had three encounters with the mature buck I was chasing on my property. One was after legal shooting hours working a scrape and bossing around a spike. Another he had a choice of going right or left (towards me) and chose the right path for him and the wrong for me. Called him in for the final encounter. Needed him to take one more step to get a shot that he never did. Eventually he realized no doe was there and boogied off. Never saw him live after that.

Freezer is somewhat full with the two does and leftover fish from the summer. Would have love to take a buck to top it off, but I would take those encounters over punching a tag on a young buck any season. Heart still races thinking about it.

Season died off after firearms season started, which is typical for my area (close to the city and lots of pressure). Saw a few young does and that was about it. All the young bucks I passed are probably in someone else's freezer.

I hunt solo, don't know anyone else that hunts in my circle of friends or family, and just want to say it is a pleasure to share the woods on this forum with other like minded people for the Fall.

Merry Christmas to all and see you for the turkey opener.



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[wolc123]

22 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Opening day of rifle season was one of the best I remember...My two Canadian buddies and I all killed bucks out of my tower stand...One at 9:15, one at 11;45, and one just before dark....We killed ten points...2 3's and a 4...We were not trophy hunting hehehe...One buck was shot at 50 yards, one at 150, and one at 270...All 1 shot kills..

A few days later, I shot an adult doe from the stand...  Pretty good season as I see it...

Nearly every day a button buck and a doe fawn came out on the food plot..I named them DICK and JANE...I kept warning the button buck that if WOLC came around, he was in BIG trouble...

I have taken a few 3's in the past, but I may just hold off on them from here on out.   The last two that I held off on were followed up (in 5 minutes or less) by 8's.  I am not that much into antlers, but those on this year's were very symmetric and might have the highest B & C net score of any buck that I have killed.   The one that followed up the three-point, back in 2016, had a body that looked to be about 2X the size of the three.  That is the main reason that I hold off on the 1.5's early in the seasons.  Getting chances at does is very rare on the southern zone properties where I hunt, so I need to get all the poundage I can out of my buck tags, or eat a lot more store-bought chicken.   

One of these odd number years, I might get a crack at a button buck, but it has not happened yet.   They are in trouble in 2020 though.               

[bigpaul]

One of my best! Seems like I couldn't do anything wrong! Every time I checked cameras most of the pics were bucks. Whenever I hunted I saw mostly bucks. Never spooked a deer going to a stand. My only regret was passing a real nice eight point on 10/4 hoping to get a shot at a real big seven which I saw the next day and then never saw again. That deer just vanished. Harvested a big 6 with crossbow and a nice 8 with rifle. Then got taunted by the nice 8 for the rest of the season. Looking forward to catching up to him next year!

[Daveboone]

Overall, good. I love being in the woods early on, but wasn't, esp. during muzzleloading season, as much as I prefer. I took a fair bit of time later, and for productivity I like hunting the slop, which come mid November was around aplenty. I saw enough deer to keep my attention, and ended up with a doe and a spike, which filled the freezer nicely. I usually don't fill my tag until the last week  end of the season, just so I can be out there, and I finished up about a week early, so I was only bumming for not having a reason to go out (but I was  butchering instead).

[Arcade Hunter]

Definitely not my best year but I did learn a few things about the places I hunted, two of which I was scouting as I hunted.  I learned some travel routs in and out of a newly found bedding area in 9P.  Over the summer I will be adding a stand or two in the area.

The state land I hunted I need to scout more off season.  I know the area but not well enough yet.  One area in particular is swampy and need to find different ways in and out to play the wind right.

All in all, I enjoyed the time I was able to spend and will allocate more time off during the season for next year.