2021 HuntingNY Gun Hunting Harvest Thread

[WNYBuckHunter]

 

Post up pics of your 2021 Shotgun/Rifle/Handgun hunting harvests here!

Only pictures with the associated story will be allowed in this thread. If you want to congratulate someone, please do it by clicking on the "like this" button for the post. There will be no exceptions.

Feel free to start a new thread if you wish to have comments in addition to posting the photo / story here.

[wolc123]

15 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Not my biggest bb, but not my smallest, and definitely my earliest.  Momma wouldn't give me a clear shot but jr did at about 7:30:

 

Sunday Sept 12, 7:30 pm, wmu 9f, Marlin m512, hornady SST,

28" chest girth

[Hock3y24]

Had a doe under me in the dark, 845 am saw a doe running across the field toward me and could hear the buck grunting over 200 yards away. Doe stopped at 15 yards and I took her with a head shot. 
I wasn’t sure about the buck but he just stood there at 30 yards looking at the other doe who was about 50 yards away, needless to say I made up my mind. The Howa .308 hit its mark with a hornaday interlock and dropped him. 
cleaning the doe i believe she was just bred, I won’t go into further detail. 
This season has been nothing short of incredible for me, I’m going to share both of these deer with families in need and my dad. 

[Paula]

My first buck! 8 point, hanging weight is 140. I was watching another buck that was trailing a doe in and out of the woods and thickette. 

I sneezed and reached for the TP and a buck was looking right at me. He snorted and ran a short distance and stopped, I grabbed my gun and I shot and he turned just as I shot. So it entered front right shoulder and exited left hip. It was a stinking mess!  He dropped in his tracks. I think I will do a mount since it's my first

[First-light]

Can't make it up 6 deer by 8:00. I got the big one. 4 bucks 2 doe. 

[BizCT]

11/20/21 opening day: 3N (Putnam County) 36 yard shot at 657am. Frontal Shot. Dead right there. Story in my journal.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Swamp_bucks]

By far my biggest buck.  Shot in my little honey hole on stateland.  I saw him at 150yards trotting with his nose to the ground. Had to grunt at him 10times until he stopped and then through a snort wheeze at him. That's all it took. He came into 80yards.  The wind was at his face but he was looking for a fight. He turned and I pulled the trigger. I honestly thought I missed because i had a paper plate size hole to shoot through. Well it hit the mark he went about 25yrds.  Best part was 5 guys showed up to drag. One jumped out of his stand when he heard me yelling in excitement and came running. 

8pt, 15 3/4 spread g2s are both 10inches. I'm guessing his weight to be 160-190 he has a big body.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Swamp_bucks

[Gencountyzeek]

So the morning was filled with counting squirrels, no deer sightings at all by us or my father. My son had obligations at school to help set up for a vetrans ceremony tomorrow, so i took some time mid day to move a blind to a spot i figured could have potential. He got home around 130 and he wanted to try the blind out. By 230 it was very apparent too many people were hunting a small chunk of woods. My father was sitting 75 yards away, a neighbor was maybe 100. So i asked him where he wanted to go. "Back corner" was the answer. Ok lets go. We were settled in the new spot by 315. Within minutes i could hear deer running in the brush and a swamp to our right. A minute later i see a doe just inside the brush line , he gets on it and asks if its ok to shoot, i give him the ok. Then we hear a grunt, then another. He gives me a look and i just nod, the doe trots off and then the buck appears. I give him the good old mehhh to stop him, unfortunately he stops with a branch covering the vitals. He stares in our direction for just short of eternity, then takes 2 steps and i throw another mehhh at him, this time he stops in a opening and the rest is history. He made a great long range shot that was pushing 35 yards lol. Buck ran 50 yards and drops. So proud of him. The last few years hunting has changed for me, i tried my hardest to get my brother in law a good buck and last bow season he put his 1st "big" buck on the wall, this year was all about Ryan. I kinda like getting "old" lol. 

[Billdogge]

Got it done today around 2pm. First day in the woods was a great one 

 

[Engraver99]

40 years of hunting and never shot a doe before. Because of the shortages this year, I told myself If a lone big older doe comes by me this year I would take her. Got into my tripod stand at about 10 to seven and she came by at 7:00 and gave me that opportunity. My very first doe!

[G-Man]

Was a good opening morning , 1 coyote and 5 buck taken a couple of other passed up a couple small ones. Nephews both got their 1st buck  one a nice 8 and the other a broken 8. Those 2 kept me busy guiding them.how to gut their bucks and then hauling 5 deer out of woods before 9 am.. couplemgiys tagged out now so camp goes from 10 to 2 for most of the week.. 

[Tughill Tamer]

Late to post but took a decent 6pt back on 11/11 up on the hill on state land.

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

[chrisw]

Shot a doe this morning at 10AM. Had 4 come through, could've shot the other big doe too but dragging one through the swamp is bad enough by yourself. Hit her through the heart, she went 40 yds. Dressed at 119 on the scale.

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk

[XGX7PM]

This is supposed to be Logunn's first year hunting with the recent age drop to 12. However, he injured himself carving a pumpkin and can't shoot until his cast is off. (Severed flexor tendon on the pinky of his shooting hand, hard cast with only the thumb hanging out.)

Fortunately for me, his spirits are still high and he came out for a dark to dark crossbow sit previously and continues joining me until Thanksgiving morning as ł work to fill my tags. 

Despite the cold and this all being new to him, he has jumped right in and is endeavoring to prove himself as a hunter. 

Yesterday, 11.20.2021 we were out well before legal light and nestled in to our tower blind for a dark to dark sit, quiet as can be hoping there may be some action once the moon light was replaced by the rising sun.

We made it until after 4pm without seeing a thing except melting snow and a squirrel. Despite the lack of activity, Logunn was very attentive and took two short breaks to read and a 15 minute nap.

Around 4:30 ł seen movement coming from the ridge down the slope of the hill we're set up on, ł whispered to him and worked to get him focused on the movement. We exchanged 10⁰clock? 11⁰clock and even descriptions of shrubs/trees to get his eyes on it. ł tell him ł think it's a coyote as it seems awfully small and has a very odd walk, he catches movement as it enters a strip of wild rose and sumac. Moments later ł see a nice bodied deer come over the ridge in the same area, nose to the ground... Quickly drawing Logunn's attention working to get his eyes on this deer, ł hand him the range finder and direct his attention to the only green shrub in front of us, "Look at the green bush, he's above it to the left of the dark tree"... Logunn made some sudden movement and the deer caught it and is now posturing, beginning to snort and stomp. ł wasn't able to work his eyes towards the deer anymore, threw a round out paused and threw a second. It was a very tight window to shoot through with far too many branches but it was manageable even with my .243 

The buck was stomping and had moved his head towards us as ł shot, he did a bit of a kick and seemed to spin around on his side but it was tough to tell as he disappeared behind the thick stiff for a moment. Next thing he was up on his feet, angling up the hill towards blow downs, not running down towards the ravine. Against my better judgment we got down to check for blood with a little over a half hour of legal light left. 

Logunn went first and ł followed, catching a nice sized deer running the opposite direction ł assumed he was startled but unscathed and heading off on a new route from when we had last seen him.

We made our way to where he was when the shot was taken, referencing landmarks and teaching him how to locate the possible kill sight to begin tracking. We bumped the tiny doe which appeared to be walking odd due to an old injury.

Once at the site, ł explained that we could see the stomping in the tracks and we checked for blood, ł picked up leaves rubbing them against my hand, nothing. 

ł explained we needed to walk the tracks regardless, setting out in the same direction we followed them and ł explained how we could tell apart the running from the slowed down walking. Fooled for a moment by a crossing set we quickly doubled back and found the buck had jumped over a large log and landed a few feet away and we were back on the tracks. 

We found him piled up in the blow downs, his reaction when he realized the buck was down is priceless. Byfar one of my best hunting moments yet. We made our approach and once the kill was confirmed ł let him grab the rack and pose for a picture, he gave me a thumbs up with his immobilized shooting hand. 

The shot went through the neck.

We stopped and ł let Logunn watch a video on how to gut a deer and then ł explained each step as ł gutted and drained the chest cavity.

We dragged the buck out, carefully avoiding any standing water, eventually passing our tower and worked to hang him from an "A" frame  at the cabin. We had to relocate him to a high branch on a maple tree in front of the cabin because his head was on the ground when hung from the "A" frame.

What's odd is that ł shot a very similar 8pt after my great uncle put in a bit of work to get me in a good spot years' back... after struggling to get our spot ready in time this year with very limited time off of work and to have to hang it from the same spot as my past 8 pt in that very maple tree, it was almost as if my great uncle was smiling down on our adventure together.

All in all we made memories and meat. ł couldn't be more proud of him and can't wait for him to fully enjoy the experience once he can handle his rifle again. ł've got a hunting partner for life.

 

 

 

[Lomax]

My son Eric and I sat together this morning and he was able to drop this buck at 312 yds.  Pretty sure he’s a 31/2 yr old we called him Hank the Tank.  I missed him w the the bow on October 29th but my son didn’t with the .270 this morning.  As you can see the grandkids enjoyed it as much as their Dad.
We’re very fortunate to get to spend such quality moments….these are the best memories that last. 

[Zem18]

Odd year for me. I spent 5 hours in a tree stand for the entire bow season and shot a busted up 9pt and then Opening day in the Catskills at camp I was in the woods on the ground for an hour and 5 minutes and shot a 7pt. First time I can remember filling both buck tags in a season but I suffer from CRS. Unbelievably grateful for the opportunity to be out and enjoy the outdoors. Wish my son had made the trip to camp with us as this could have been his first deer but at 15 yrs old, girlfriends are just as important as WiFi . Hopefully I can post with him later this season.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

[Steuben Jerry]

Hunted opening morning with my wife and we experienced the quietest opening morning ever. Few sightings of small deer and only half a dozen distant shots. Got back out about 3:00 Saturday afternoon, a bit later than I wanted but didn’t bump anything on the way in, at least that I know of. I went to a ladder stand on the tree line of a swampy stand of pines to the right and a 4 acre field on the left. My daughter was 800 yds away in the tower stand that I was in that morning.
      I was just settled in there for a few minutes and I get a glimpse of a high spike walking toward me along the field edge about 100 yards out. At one point he’s inside 30 yds and just about directly down wind of me. I’m just thinking to myself how the heck are you not smelling me when it looked like he walked into an electric fence when he got a whiff of me. He instantly reared back and bolted back about 30 yds. He really wanted to keep going back in his original direction so he came walking back, stiff legged and nose in the air. Got just a bit closer, got another whiff of me and quickly spun around and took off into the pines.
About 4:00 a doe and two fawns come ripping across the field and stop, looking back at where they came from about 100 yds away. I’m thinking OK, here we go, who’s chasing you, as I slide the gun over to my left. Another spike, followed by yet another spike galloping behind him. The doe took kind of an aggressive stance toward the lead spike, and then everyone just started feeding in the field and milling around for 15 minutes or so before filtering off through the far tree line. All quiet after that.
      Around 5:00 it’s getting somewhat dark so I figured oh well, no shots tonight so I’d pour a cup of coffee and sit until after legal light ended which was at 5:13 here. I usually sit till it’s dark enough to sneak out unseen if possible. I look at my watch and it’s a couple minutes after 5:00. A minute or two later I see a deer step out of the pines at about 80 yards and take the exact same walking path toward me as that first spike did. Big body, nose to the ground, steady walk. I already had the gun up, put the scope on him and am trying to quickly judge the rack. Ease the safety off. Seemed wide enough for me but with his nose to the ground, his tines were pointing right at me at 60 yds and I couldn’t judge height at all. Getting closer. Crap, he’s going to walk right into my scent cone just like that first spike did and bolt right out of my life. 50 yards and he picked his head up and ever slightly quartered away. High tines. Shot was base of the neck, and went out pretty much mid chest and he dropped instantly. Went down like I flipped his off switch. It got dark quickly after that and he fell in a position that I really couldn’t see the rack. I sat for 5 minutes before I got down and walking toward him, the feeling of ground shrinkage is creeping in. Nah, not tonight. Lit him up with the flashlight and took a quick pic. I went to get the tractor before I dressed him out. We hear lots of Coyotes every night and my buddy lost a next-day recovery doe here to a bear a few years back. Figured I’d keep the smells down til I could get him out. And the tractor lights sure do help.
     Daughter Stephanie followed me out on one of the quads to get some field pics. There’s a bit of long-arming here but not much, just wanted to stay trendy.
     I started oddly this season by retiring on the Bow opener but quickly got busy with other stuff for a few weeks while it was warm. Got at it a few days before the crossbow opener and after about a dozen sits, I didn’t really see much of anything but does and spikes and nothing even close to being in range. Then last Monday I took a doe with the xbow and my best buck on Saturday. Still have a doe tag to stay in the game but I want to keep that open to be able to transfer to one of the kids if needed.
      Got to watch that horrible Bills game yesterday, but now I’m up for a week with family, staying up too late, and hopefully being put to work recovering deer for wife and daughter. Son in law is coming over from his Dad’s camp in Allegheny for a day or two to hunt too.
      I’m glad for the little scent education that first spike gave me, and without that extra 30 minutes this year, I wouldn’t have gotten my best buck to date.
Great end to day that started so quietly!

This guy turned out to be a frequent trail cam visitor on a few different trail cams all year. He messed up that lump of a brow tine in velvet. He was probably the #2 buck and as far as I know, #1 is still pushing does around.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Steuben Jerry

[The_Real_TCIII]

I killed a nice big doe this morning. They came in with the sun blazing in my eyes. I had to let them go past, do a spin o rama to get out from under the harness, and then wipe tear from my eyes for a few moments. Im lucky theres red brush over their heads between us. I had a slight hang fire (ML) but the shot was perfect. I saw blood immediately blast out of her through the scope. The blood trail was top 5 all time and she went maybe 75. I saw her go down. Im going to give the gun a good cleaning for tomorrows hunt

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by The_Real_TCIII

[Trial153]

Got some work cut out for me today.

[G-Man]

Little guy added to camp tally... 6 buck gun, 3 buck 3 doe from bow and youth season..  6 more deer to get to make average and a lot of season left..

[The_Real_TCIII]

A proper pic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[chrisw]

Well I decided to fill my last 8f doe tag today. I let a bunch go at 10 yds yesterday. I hadn't seen anything up until about 10:30 but I saw the Mennonites heading in to drive the property that butts up to ours. They ended up pushing 4 does right to me (10 yds). If they hadn't have ran in so quick and stopped I'd have used my pistol but the rifle was already in hand so... The 25WSSM made quick work of her with another heart shot. Dressed at 105lbs. The Mennonites shot 14 times on that drive (they shoot anything/everything). I stayed in the stand awhile longer as the 3 other does were standing behind me and I didn't want to push them back over near the drive. Looking solely for a good buck the rest of the season now.

Sent from my moto g fast using Tapatalk

[Lawdwaz]

Doe from last night.  Muzzleloader 

 

[WNYTRPR]

My luck is usually good when I hunt for an hour ,anything longer my luck is non existent .

Pretty basic type hunt .Walked in confident I’ll be walking out with a doe as I see plenty in the apples around 4:20 typically in this spot .Seen plenty of smaller bucks as well .Haven’t had any nice bucks all season in this spot on cam so they didn’t cross my mind but ya never know what could happen.

Got settled in around 3:40 or so ,after deep frying some turkeys with my buddy .I told him I’m walking out with a deer tonight as it just “felt right”.It was a light mist ,light wind (SW),and dreary feeling .Knowing my scent was blowing in the SW direction ,I wasn’t confident anything would come out in that corner ,but I got up as high as I could (for me) ya never know right ?At around 4:13 pm I spotted this guy coming through the thick stuff slowly ,I had one window of opportunity that I knew of to get a shot at it .It was still threading the needle on the shot  but that Savage 220 with the scope I have it could be done .

There wasn’t much time or room to wait for him to turn broadside ,he got to the spot I need him to ,he put his head down to feed on an apple ,facing toward me ,and put the cross hair on top between his shoulders and let it fly .He dropped instantly .I could see his back end ,I sat and waited to maybe score a doe .Minutes gone by and I looked and all the sudden didn’t see him .I was like wtf .Next thing I know he got to his feet ,ran maybe 5 yards and dropped dead .

Being as I had to head to dinner at 5 ,I got down and walked up to my friends house to grab the wheeler .I then found out ,his sister and friend who is in town ,took the dog for a walk right to the edge of the orchard ,after they were told I was in there .It was maybe 5 minutes after I shot they walked up with the dog .I wasn’t happy about that as they came within 50 yards of me in the stand .She’s and animal activist so I’m not surprised.Anyway ,here he is ,looks like I may just do a euro mount .(the buck is tagged )Also,the rope was wrapped around him already the way you see it .

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by WNYTRPR

[Steuben Jerry]

Our son-in-law joined us for two days after spending the weekend at his Dad’s camp in Allegheny county. Unfortunately, he didn’t score on a buck over there this year. So he still had his buck tag but they’re from out of state so no doe tags available for him in our area. I consigned mine over to him so he didn’t have to leave here without a deer and told him don’t be shy about using it. He rode one of the wheelers out early to within a few hundred yards from the far side of the property about a mile back and slipped in to the stand I took my buck from on opening afternoon.

He was in for less than an hour and had a buck come in pushing a doe across the field from his left to his right. He shot the buck on a trot at about 100 yds, and the buck fell forward in a heap right there, the .308 disconnecting the heart from the rest of the plumbing. At the shot, the doe bolted about 60 yards and stopped broadside. He dropped her right there, clipping off the bottom of the heart at 150.

Not wanting to make too much noise with the tractor during morning prime-time, I waited about an hour before going out to retrieve them. I found him comfortably relaxing and enjoying some quiet time in the morning deer woods.

I found a trail pic of his buck from October. That one tine that has a squiggle in it that made him easily identifiable.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Steuben Jerry