MJL927

The good news section:

This past Tues was the bow opener here in NY. Got to my stand long before daylight and took way too long to settle in.

15 minutes later I had three deer under my stand. Far too little light to even see the darn things let alone arrow one. The wind was pushing my scent right to them and they were nervous about that. They were stomping but did not seem very alarmed...rather "put off" by what they couldn't determine. Eventually they moved off.

Daylight hit around 7am. BTW: it was quite cold! About 1 hour later, 6 does walked in out of the north. They walked right to my stand! Each one presented me with several shooting opportunities. I promised myself to hold out for a buck though. These deer maneuvered themselves into the same spot the morning deer were in so once again, I had some slightly nervous deer. Even so, they hung around for a good 10 minutes then sauntered off.

Less than 30 minutes later, I saw two more deer off to the east, roughly 70 yards away, on the side of the hill. I couldn't tell if there was a buck so I grunted. The deer moved right down the slope towards me. Turns out they were does. These deer moved steadily westward right past me.

At 10:30, I once again saw more deer. Three mommies and three yearlings. One was a button buck. I saw them up in the same area as the last two. When I grunted, the button buck RAN down the hill to me. He stopped less than 20 yards directly in front of me then began feeding on some leaves of a fallen tree. The remaining deer worked their way down to where he was. They also milled around then left.

17 deer before 10:30am is pretty gosh-darn amazing for where I hunt!! That is the most deer I've ever seen in one morning! It's almost more deer than I saw during the ENTIRE SEASON last year!!

I left for lunch around 12:30 and got back into my northern most stand around 2pm. Had an uneventful afternoon save for a dozen turkeys that I saw. That evening, I saw two more deer down in a hedgrow but it was far too dark to even try to go after them.

19 deer in one day has got to be some kind of record around here! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Now for the bad news part:

While driving home, my doggone truck completely died!! The lights got dimmer and dimmer then I lost all juice. I'm no mechanic but I'm pretty sure that my alternator took a nose dive. This means my primary hunting vehicle is caput!! [&gt;] I had taken Wed off to hunt but wound up spending that day towing my truck back to the shop. Thank God it rained all day. This weekend is going to be very interesting if I get a deer since I'll have to use my car!!

-Mike

highball

Good luck this weekend.Make sure your battery didn't bite dust also.

CatskillHuntr

Where do you hunt? What part of the state are you in?

I saw nothing all of last year, except for 3 does I spooked on the way out of the woods during bow season. I am hoping this year is more eventful.

BTW: I am in Sullivan county, and do most of my hunting in and around the Woodbourne area.

Charlie P

Glad to see you had a good day.I have a question for you.You saw 19 deer and only one was a buck( button),right.So why hold out for a buck if you do have doe tags? The earlier you can remove some does from the area the more breeding activity you will see come the rut.

MJL927

CatskillHuntr: I hunt in the 8F WMU. My family has two farms about 3 miles apart totalling approx 250 acres. I also hunt behind my house and at a hunting club that I belong to.

Charlie P: Believe me, I was/am very very prepared to take out the does. I completely agree with you about filling doe tags and have no problem doing so. However, I have already shot 3 does on my crop damage permits during September. My freezer is well stocked! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> With that in mind, I made up my mind to try to hold out for a buck. Everytime I saw the does come in, I kept thinking that at any minute, he would be stepping out right behind them. That was my dilehma. By evening, I told myself that if I saw the does again, I would tag one. That's probably going to be my continuing plan as this season unfolds.

-Mike

GoTres

Awesome morning. Hope the truck is easy and cheap to fix. Good luck with the rest of your season.

Sooner_Hunter

Great is accurate. That is impressive!! Don't know when I have seen that many. All the stars lined up?

Crowpecker

MJL, sounds like a pretty good day in the woods to me <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>. I wasn't able to go out this week at all due to work, but plan on going down to Bath, NY tonight to hunt tomorrow and Sunday. I was pretty pumped up about bowhunting until I saw the weather report for tomorrow. Though the weatherman was talking about Rochester, where I live, I'm sure I'll get the same windy conditions (gusts to 45mph all day tomorrow)in Bath. Looks like the weather will be the spoiler for me, but I guess I'll go anyway. I doubt I'll gun hunt this year after getting shot in the back last year on opening day from a stray shotgun slug. Luckily it didn't kill me but I still have that slug in my shoulder and the pain to remind me every day of it. Maybe if I find a place that is safer with fewer hunters, I might venture out during the gun season but I haven't found any other place to go. The place I hunt in the Bath area is private land but they always get a lot of trespassers there and I'm very leery of hunting around anyone I don't know or that wanders all the time with a gun. Hope you get that buck you're looking for.

Vinny

Tazman

MJL you are like me a lot, any day you see deer, whether you get a shot or not is a great day!! This is something people who do not hunt can not understand. I hope your truck got fixed all right. What was wrong with it?

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

MJL927

Crowpecker: OUCH!! That really really sucks!! Were you able to talk to the shooter? I doubt he/she did it on purpose but man, I would have loved to let them know to be ALOT more careful in the future. On the plus side, think of the statistics....The odds of being shot while hunting are actually extremely low. Since it has already happened to you, your chances of being struck again are astronomical. I might just start playing the NYS Lotto if I were you!! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> I live just east of Rochester. They've been calling for some morning showers on Sat then warming up a bit. Perfect weather actually. Then Sunday is supposed to be very nice.

Tazman: Totally agree. Just seeing deer or &quot;anything interesting&quot; is enough to keep me happy. They haven't been able to look at my truck yet since the local shop is a very busy place. However, the verdict so far is that the alternator is shot.

-Mike