2020-21 Hunting Season

Airborneguy · Oct 3, 2020

Blimey said:
I can remember each one I've failed to recover. One was a monstrous buck and when I let my arrow go I knew it was a double lung. Pefect broadside.Then it went into the woods and stopped, which is the telltale sign (goes in and crashes behind brush, dead). Then it came out of the woods and I was so surprised I failed to use the time I was given (and it was enough, sadly) to nock another arrow. The blood trail went cold eventually. Obviously I had not lunged it at all. I bet it was just a couple inches from a double shot.

I also once lost a trail during a heavy snow fall. It was coming down hard and the snow was covering the tracks. That was uniquely frustrating. Also super stupid on that one because after the shot (from a semi-auto rifle) I was so confident as it trotted off I failed to use the opportunity for a second one. So lesson learned never not use the chance for a follow-up shot if available, regardless of confidence in the shot.

We're getting a dog and I've thought about training it to track but I think it's probably an advanced skill to teach.

My last lost deer was a snap shot as I was walking. Also in the snow. I feel what you meant: losing a deer in the snow seems impossible but it happens.

Last season I shot a deer with my .45-70 from 15 yards. It literally fell over. Got up and walked off so I figured same: let it die. Few minutes later, no blood at all and no clue where it went. Luckily my cousin called me 5 min later asking if the deer he just killed was mine (he heard the shot). Major hole in a perfect spot. How it made it 200 yards uphill will always escape me. Thankfully we got it at least.

Saltwater60 · Oct 3, 2020

1911guy said:
I find ruffed grouse the most fun to hunt. Often get so tangled up in brush I can't get the gun up when they flush. Loads of fun

Me too. I just wish there were more of them around me. I don’t see many of them.

JamieZ · Oct 3, 2020

Had 3 deer pop out today in less than 10 mins of getting in my tree stand. Momma and 2 little ones. Would of harpooned the Momma but her and one of the little tikes went deeper into the woods and left the other little one in front of my stand about 15yds away. It hung out for a good 45mins, then slowly wandered deeper into the woods. Wind shifted and I was upwind of the woods, so I bailed before it got dark and went home to chow.

After it got dark I loaded my truck back up with predator gear and headed out. Got to my parking spot, loaded everything on my back for walking out to my spot where I was going to sit and started walking. Got to my sitting area about a half mile from the truck, put the caller out, set up my chair, set up the gun on the tripod, looked around the fields with the thermal mono and then decided to turn the gun thermal on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,anddddddd it wouldnt turn on WTF. So packed up my shit and went home. Once home I noticed one of the batteries seemed to go in to far,,,,thought I might of lost the spring but it was there, it was just crushed. Stretched it out, threw in batteries and it fired up. Little bit of a wasted night.

Went out predator hunting last night and when the caller went into rabbit distress, a fox 10yds behind me in the brush started making all kinds of weird ass noises that I would imagine was him saying that he was hungry.

Saw no yotes.

1075tech · Oct 4, 2020

Lost one in the snow two years ago. About 75 yards away in dense brush. Waited until he cleared some trees and went for the normal behind the shoulder shot. He dropped immediately. Waited a few minutes before getting out of the stand. On my way down I see him get up. Went over to where he was. Ground was all tore up where he spun around before going down. Not a lot of blood though. Followed him for less than 100 yards. Only found a few more drops of blood. His tracks eventually went into a major trail

Airborneguy · Oct 4, 2020

Well back from opening day weekend at the cabin. I passed on a few does. Didn't see any bucks. I'll take a doe on the land during rifle if I can. I already got that fatty in NJ and anticipate 1-2 more down there.

Carlos Hathcock · Oct 4, 2020

Peaceful afternoon.....

Xae289 · Oct 4, 2020

So far, I went to the private property I hunt with a group of friends to help clean up and finish setting up some tree stands and that's been all I've been able to get done for hunting this season so far. This weekend I'm planning on doing some squirrel hunting on some public land in Putnam with or without any of my hunting buddies. Can't wait to get out.

Criticalt · Oct 5, 2020

Airborneguy said:
I don't know how this deer didn't die from blood loss. We had a good trail most of the way with only a few breaks. Had it jump twice but the blood was so strong we all agreed we should push on. Good thing is it ended right by a road we can easily drive to so we can try again tomorrow or later.

I think I posted my big track story here from 2017. I was alone and refused to give up because it was my best buck to date. I got permission from 4-5 homeowners in person and then the mayor of Wurtsboro (who was at work, got him on the phone). Finally found him exhausted on the mayor's property.

I finished it off then heeded the mayor's one request: no gutting until off the property. This meant a 1/4 drag down his gated driveway THEN walking almost a mile to get my car.

I'll most likely consider that day one of my greatest moments until the day I die.

In 2006 I shot a big buck....not sure of points but huge rack and huge deer. I used a 1oz slug, broadside from maybe 10 yards.....I hit right behind shoulder but maybe a little low......buck fever I guess....it was 2 minutes into opening day.
He jumped and kicked, I thought he was going down.....but he ran.....and ran....and ran......
After about 20 yards the blood was spraying pink foam in a 7 foot fan....lung shot, he will fall soon.
Nope....followed him for over a mile where he crossed a road and went into the swamp. This swamp is 6-10 feet of water in places and he disappeared below the water. We got there in time to see a bubble trail but no sign of the deer. I tried to poke around with a 15 foot stick. If I felt him I would have went in but I couldnt feel anything soft.
Never found a trace of him. I went back a few times just to see if he floated so I could at least get his antlers. No luck.

Criticalt · Oct 5, 2020

BDinPutnam said:
As per ALWAYS, two weeks from now these fuckettes will be nowhere to be seen.

Now? They'll literally hang out and talk to me inside 30 yards and sometimes 30 feet.

View attachment 90335 View attachment 90336

They knock on our door this time of year.....little peckers. Not even afraid of our dogs. A whole flock will putter around the yard. Opening day....gone. They are easy to find though. I havent had a bad turkey season in 20 years.

Blimey · Oct 5, 2020

Criticalt said:
They knock on our door this time of year.....little peckers. Not even afraid of our dogs. A whole flock will putter around the yard. Opening day....gone. They are easy to find though. I havent had a bad turkey season in 20 years.
View attachment 90390

I went turkey hunting twice. Saw nothing. I have to say though in all the times I've gone deer hunting--let's say around 100 times I guess--I've seen turkey in the woods a grand total of three times. I don't have a clue where they go. Even when I used to still hunt I never kicked them up.

Criticalt · Oct 5, 2020

Blimey said:
I went turkey hunting twice. Saw nothing. I have to say though in all the times I've gone deer hunting--let's say around 100 times I guess--I've seen turkey in the woods a grand total of three times. I don't have a clue where they go. Even when I used to still hunt I never kicked them up.

During deer season I get out in the woods between 6am and 6:30am. Right about 7:10 I hear the turkeys coming out of their roosts.
They get pretty high up and are hard to see. If you are walking around or come in too late, they will stay in the trees all day. Try looking up....like 60 plus feet up.

Blimey · Oct 5, 2020

Criticalt said:
During deer season I get out in the woods between 6am and 6:30am. Right about 7:10 I hear the turkeys coming out of their roosts.
They get pretty high up and are hard to see. If you are walking around or come in too late, they will stay in the trees all day. Try looking up....like 60 plus feet up.

So that's where the damn things are.

Criticalt · Oct 5, 2020

Blimey said:
So that's where the damn things are.

They wont come out of the trees if they know you are there.
But they can also hide very good on the ground.
On windy or rainy days, or really quiet snowy days is when you can sometimes catch them walking around. They have extremely good hearing.....but their eyesight is second to none. They can hear you click your saftey off from 100 yards and see your finger twitch from 200 yards.

Blimey · Oct 5, 2020

Criticalt said:
They wont come out of the trees if they know you are there.
But they can also hide very good on the ground.
On windy or rainy days, or really quiet snowy days is when you can sometimes catch them walking around. They have extremely good hearing.....but their eyesight is second to none. They can hear you click your saftey off from 100 yards and see your finger twitch from 200 yards.

Last year I had some walk under my stand for an hour or so but out of range. Then back in 2015 I saw these dark masses as sun came up walking away from me—close. Certainly within shotgun range. Otherwise I saw some in 2016 and...that’s it!

FrankenCub · Oct 5, 2020

Haven't seen any horns around our place but did see a nice 8pt last night

Picture isn't that good, they were probably close to 200yds away. When we drove by them the first time the buck was right beside the road. I wasn't going to deer hunt but a friend could use some meat for his family so I told him if I see a buck I'll drop it for him. He just needs to process it.
I should have gotten my turkey stamp when I bought my license a couple days ago but didn't think of it. Don't have any turkey calls anyway. Think they'd be easy picking here. There's a lot that hang around.
Gotta get my NV mounted back on my AR yet, it's been sitting on my pellet rifle for rats lol. Hopefully I'll get it done tomorrow once I finish the struts on the Pathfinder.

Acer-m14 · Oct 6, 2020

seen this the other day .. young boy gets one .. thought the deer was going to run into there blind LOL .. ...

damn it i got tears of joy again watching it ..

Airborneguy · Oct 6, 2020

Damned turkeys are all over my uncle's property. It's nuts how many there are. And that said, we've only taken a few over the years because they are such a tough hunt. I got one in the pouring rain when a group walked like 20' from me and one more than must have been injured or something because it walked right across the cabin lawn. I actually was able to chase it down, wasn't really hunting but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

In the stand now in NJ.

Robin · Oct 6, 2020

I got a video of a hen right under my sons tree stand from opening day, she's looking for her pal's and making a call I had never heard before. For some reason it won't convert it so I can load it in here.
Robin

pjzwtl · Oct 10, 2020

Airborneguy said:
I don't know how this deer didn't die from blood loss. We had a good trail most of the way with only a few breaks. Had it jump twice but the blood was so strong we all agreed we should push on. Good thing is it ended right by a road we can easily drive to so we can try again tomorrow or later.

I think I posted my big track story here from 2017. I was alone and refused to give up because it was my best buck to date. I got permission from 4-5 homeowners in person and then the mayor of Wurtsboro (who was at work, got him on the phone). Finally found him exhausted on the mayor's property.

I finished it off then heeded the mayor's one request: no gutting until off the property. This meant a 1/4 drag down his gated driveway THEN walking almost a mile to get my car.

I'll most likely consider that day one of my greatest moments until the day I die.

Dude if only you knew I was like 1/4 mile awa

BDinPutnam said:
As per ALWAYS, two weeks from now these fuckettes will be nowhere to be seen.

Now? They'll literally hang out and talk to me inside 30 yards and sometimes 30 feet.

View attachment 90335 View attachment 90336

had this young Tom visiting our coup the other day.

Jsmegs77 · Oct 11, 2020

My 14 year old got his first deer today, hunting with Grandpa on Grandpa’s property. Shooting a Savage 110 in 6.5 Creedmore, also Grandpa’s. I’m pretty proud of him, he only has maybe 10-15 rounds through the rifle for practice.

Now maybe he’ll quit badgering me to take him to LI fishing.... he wants to fish salt water something awful.

Xae289 · Oct 14, 2020

BDinPutnam said:
Not sure where else to put this does anyone know where I can order #11 percussion caps (for muzzleloader) that's actually in stock?

If you have any interest in CCI #11 Magnum percussion caps, I can sell you as many as you'd like.

Saltwater60 · Oct 14, 2020

My parents property had tons of turkeys now I see none. Two years ago there was shot and feathers all over. The last 2 years not a sign. I stalked and shot one 3 seasons ago now if you count this season that’s coming. I’ll get out one day turkey hinting maybe two. Then I’m shooting my deer. No bird signs this weekend.

Blimey · Oct 15, 2020

How big is this fkin deer? It doesn't seem like a perspective issue because it's actually touching her in the shot. Unless she's like 4,6 that is a tremendously big ass doe.

Deer attacks woman in Richmond Park after she poses for a photo

A deer attacked the woman posing for a picture in Richmond Park, London on October 11. Royal Parks Police tweeted the picture to warn that deer are not cute like Bambi.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Blimey · Oct 15, 2020

Also update from me. Gone out three times. First time late evening had a couple come within 50 yards then run off. Second time was morning and at 9:30 some came very close--but just out of range. Last Sunday was awesome hunting weather (I thought). Chilly, albeit windy. I was there three hours and saw jack shit while in stand! Really couldn't believe it. Even the squirrels were not out much at all. On the way out I walked upon a couple, but of course that's too late with a bow to stand a chance.

Tisto · Oct 15, 2020

Saltwater60 said:
My parents property had tons of turkeys now I see none. Two years ago there was shot and feathers all over. The last 2 years not a sign. I stalked and shot one 3 seasons ago now if you count this season that’s coming. I’ll get out one day turkey hinting maybe two. Then I’m shooting my deer. No bird signs this weekend.

Where is the property ? Sounds like you have a coyote problem. If your land has everything that turkeys need but doesn't have turkeys anymore, you have predators. I'm happy to exterminate a few with you if you so desire. I have all the toys.

2020-21 Hunting Season

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.450/400 Nitro Ex

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