WNYBuckHunter's Outdoor Journal

[WNYBuckHunter]

I went down to one of the farms and checked my cam yesterday. Got some good videos of deer, yotes and squirrels. Nothing impressive yet though. I went over to the other farm and worked on food plots with a couple of the other guys. We expanded 2 of them to double their previous size. They are both new plots and will be planted this year. Myself and another guy took an ATV ride down through some areas that we want to try and capitalize on this year. It was a good strategy kinda day.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Shoot, I forgot about this and didnt add anything all summer. To make a long story short, we put in 4 food plots, created a 600 yard long by 15 foot wide trail through a stand of woods, which was seeded in feed oats. We hung 4 brand new stands, moved a couple more, added a ground blind, cleared all kinds of trails at another property and scouted our tails off. We are now 100% done, the hit list has been created, and we are ready to go.

[BizCT]

I hope someday to get enough pics of bucks, that I can actually create a "Hit-list" lol.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Mine is actually pretty short. 4 bucks on it at this point. My "I will not shoot" list is alot longer.

[WNYBuckHunter]

2 weeks into the season, and its been pretty good so far. I first hunted the second day of the season, had a bunch of does out in one of our new plots, enjoying the fruits of our labor. I got busted drawing on a mature buck, and passed up this guy...

 

 

Hunt 2 ended up with a perfect 30 yard shot and a nice young doe for the freezer...

 

 

 

My other couple of hunts have added up to a ton of sightings, but no more mature bucks yet. My target buck is still around. Hopefully he will slip up for me while Im in one of the stands set to bust him coming in or out of his bedding.

 

Some more random pics from my season so far...

 

 

 

 

 

[WNYBuckHunter]

I got out for a quick hunt after work yesterday. Sat in the stand I was in for my first hunt this year. Had a button buck and a decent doe come out, but I passed her up in hopes Half Rack or one of the other mature bucks on that farm would present an opportunity. No such luck though. Heres a few pics from the hunt...

 

 

 

 

[Pav2704]

The button buck must have been real close... Such a clear pic... Thanks for sharing

[WNYBuckHunter]

He was at 8 yards.

Today I had the kids so I decided to get the yard and outside of the house buttoned up for winter. I also got the generator and snow blower out and got them ready as well. I did some back yard shooting with my daughter. I have to say, the kid is a natural. She shot 15 rounds of 3 arrows. Out of all shots, only 2 were outside of the vitals on the target. Shes just shooting 10 yards for now. We are gonna work on 20 the next time.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Yesterday I got into my stand a little later than I wanted to. I've seen deer from this stand every sit so far and yesterday was no exception. I had 4 doe in front of me but none presented a shot. The wind picked up through the morning and I finally had enough. I got down and did some scouting on the way out. Found a ton of good scrapes and a couple of really big ones. I will hang my cams on them when I have a chance. I got back to the truck and headed to the other farm to try and find a spot out of the 30 mph gusts.

I got to the farm and headed toward a new set that we hung this year. It sits in a creek bottom just at the bottom of a ridge. On the way in I stopped to take a couple of pics of the new woods trail we planted in feed oats this year. Looks pretty good.

So I got up in my stand and had no action for the mid day. I'll be back in there when it's not so windy.

[WNYBuckHunter]

So this past weekend wrapped up my bow season for this year. Even though I didnt end up bagging my target buck, Id say it was a successful season. No great mishaps, and theres some meat in the freezer.

 

Saturday started out great, with a giant buck that I have never seen on trail cams making an appearance right around 7am. He was with 4 does, and his attention was focused on them. He ended up 20 yards from me, but not in a shooting lane. I have debated trimming a lane for the exact spot he was standing in, but have left the branches there for cover in the early part of the season when leaves are still on the trees. This was the second time those branches have cost me a good buck, so the debate in my mind is over, they will be cut before next season. In any case, before he got into a shooting lane, I got busted by one of the does that had moved directly downwind of me. She gave a quick snort and took off, he stood there and watched her, then followed. I tried to grunt him back in, but he wasnt interested. That afternoon, I ended up at the other farm in a stand that I have had sightings in every sit. I ended up with a bunch of does coming in, one in particular that I wanted to take. She was in almost every lane, and I drw on her 3 different times, but I just didnt have a clean enough shot, so she walked. After that I had a young 8 point stroll by at 5 or 6 yards.

 

 

 

Sunday morning found me back in the same stand as Saturday, hoping for a repeat appearance by the buck. No such luck, only spotted a buck chasing a doe in and out of the corn about 100 yards out.

 

 

After the morning sit, I joined up with a buddy and we decided to button up a few stands and move another. We headed over to the other farm and started by moving a stand that we just didnt feel was in a great place. We wanted a set that overlooked two of the food plots and would give us gun shots into both of them. The range is less than 200 yards to the end of both plots. Perfect for my muzzleloader. Heres the view straight out of the stand...

 

 

After that I took a few pics of the radish/brassicas in the one plot. The radishes are delicious and the deer have been eating them like crazy. Theres a bunch of bare spots where they have been digging them up.

 

 

 

 

After we finished up there, we headed back to the farm and got the other few stands buttoned up for gun season. I decided to go have one more sit, despite the ridiculous winds. I got to the stand and sat for about 1/2 hour, at times having to hold on to the tree so I didnt get blown out of the stand. I decided it might be better to get down, so I did, and stood in the middle of some trees and brush nearby. I ended up having a bunch of does go through about 30 yards out, but there was too much brush for a shot. Next I had a button buck come up a trail 10 yards away and pass by without noticing me. About 10 mins later, a 2 1/2 year old 8 point went down the very same trail, in the opposite direction. I had 4 chances where I could have taken him at ranges from 10 to 30 yards, but he just didnt meet my standards for this year so I let him walk. I headed back to the truck, happy with my bow season, and looking forward to gun season and the chance to get a bit of revenge on all of those deer that stayed just out of range, or in areas just out of my bow shooting lanes.

 

 

 

 

[BizCT]

Must be nice to pass on 8's knowing bigger ones are around. I'm jealous.

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[WNYBuckHunter]

Number of points is no concern to me any longer. My rule used to be 8 points, then it turned to close to the tips of the ears, now its all about age. Ill shoot a 3 1/2 year old half racked buck before I shoot a 10 point 2 1/2 year old.

[BizCT]

I hear ya and agree. I would think that I would lean towards that approach too if I was in the right area like yourself.

[TheMiz54]

WNY looks like u have a great place how much land do you own?

[Burden24]

Number of points is no concern to me any longer. My rule used to be 8 points, then it turned to close to the tips of the ears, now its all about age. Ill shoot a 3 1/2 year old half racked buck before I shoot a 10 point 2 1/2 year old.

Couldn't agree more with this. My pass count is up to 15 after this weekend of 1.5 - 2.5 yr olds. There is three 4.5 yr olds one of which I was so close to getting this Saturday I'm waiting for, but would also gladly shoot the 3.5 half rack that I have on camera if he walks by. It's all about age!

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[WNYBuckHunter]

WNY looks like u have a great place how much land do you own?

I own 3/4 of an acre.

The farms i hunt i do not own. The total i have permission for is @ 900 acres.

[Geno C]

How many different farms do you hunt?

[WNYBuckHunter]

2. They are within a couple of miles of one another, but are both completely different animals. One includes a large swamp, is pretty flat and is mostly made up of hundreds of acres of crops. The other is super thick brush, cow pasture land with a couple of creek bottoms and is very hilly. Not a heck of alot of big ag fields nearby, just a few hay fields and one small field that is rotated between beans and corn. It was beans this year so its no help now. We do the food plots on that farm, no need to on the other one.

[Geno C]

That's great, thats alot of land to hunt

[WNYBuckHunter]

Yeah, but like I said, alot of it is big, open ag fields. The thick, hilly farm is @ 275 acres IIRC. The other is big, but not all contiguous. Theres a main road that runs through it, then another farm that cuts one section off, and a few other smaller blocks of the same farm that are separate. The smaller farm that cuts the one section off is maybe 150 or 200 acres, and the guys that hunt it are dolts. It works out well though, once they bump deer from their block of woods, they will typically bed down in a couple of drainage ditches on the farm I hunt, so when the wind is right, and they have hunted in the morning, Ill do a slow stalk on the ditches. Its paid off twice.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Opening day was an ok one for me. Got into my stand at around 5:45 and settled in. First i saw a few does cross the cut corn and head for the standing corn at around 120 yards. Would have been an easy shot on any of them, but i was out for antlers. A little while later, a small 1/2 rack crotch horn came down the lane at less than 10 yards and stopped to freshen up the scrape 20 yards in front of my set. About 15 minutes later a high and tight racked 6 came along and hit the same scrape.

Just after that i heard a shot from on the farm and got a text that one of the guys had a nice buck on the ground. I was excited to see if it was one of the deer we had been keeping tabs on. I didnt see anything else and got down just after 9:15 and headed back to help with the buck. I took a slow walk back and jumped a doe fawn on the way. I got back there and saw that the buck was indeed, one of the deer i had been watching, my daughter had named him Mr Crabs, as he had 2 odd extra brow tines, one looked like a crab claw. He was a 2 1/2 year old that I had passed a couple of times, and had hoped would make it through, but no such luck. Congrats to the guy that took him, lots of people would love to have him on the wall.

In velvet...

Harvested...

The evening sit was the first sit i have been skunked this year. Nothing but tree rats, but i did have great company.

Had to take today off of hunting, but I have the day tomorrow to get back at it.

[Five Seasons]

I totally would have shot that buck too but yes he would have been a sight to see next year.

[BizCT]

Cool looking buck.

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[growalot]

wow little Caribou or Elk genes in him?...lol nice buck congrats!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Lol yeah kinda cool huh. Not my buck though.