Nittanyfisher

I was not able to purchase my son's tags until he was officially 12. 

I went in on his b-day and there was no issue and that was on a Saturday, so you might be able to get them 1 day in advance but anything more is most likely not going to work in your favor since it is in the system as not being able to obtain a license until their 12th. b-day.

Had 1 opportunity with an 8pt in Webster, but of course just like it always happens he approached from the side that I have zero cover on in my stand.. he came to 20 yards and I tried to maneuver for a shot but I was busted.... Then popped a mature doe about an hour later.. now I can focus on specific bucks...

As Troy "Ranch Fairy" Fowler states, shoot for where you want the arrow to exit as long as it passes through the vital "V"

This past 2 years I have shot exactly 2 arrows at deer and have aimed to where I want that arrow to exit where it would take off the top the the heart. My farthest track was 30 yards. Both shots broke ribs and 1 even broke the scapula where the ridge is located headed down to the leg on the opposite side (exit side). Yardage #1 11 yards, #2 15 yards. 

Bow poundage 53lbs Prime Logic with an 80% let off Arrow is a Hunter XT from Gold tip weighing in at a rough 570 grn with a fixed blade G5 Stryker in 125gn. 100gn brass insert and fairly short arrows

I will always try to shoot the heaviest arrow after getting back into this pastime, and will never resort to lighter faster arrows... Out to 30 yards I feel 100% confident with every shot that I take. If I need to shoot past 45. I will do my damndest to make sure that everything is in my favor before I let that arrow fly and I still am quite confident that my setup will result in the same ending.

Know your limits, stick to them, and be sure to draw in your target as close as you can so you don't have to worry. Hunting winds are HUGE, and movement or lack of is just as important.

This is the time to start to cull some of the does off these properties... The buck to doe ratios in certain areas is absolutely ridiculous and since there is not a huge take in season, that usually results in a rather large winter kill when we have deeper snowpacks... If there was ever a time to finish filling the freezer for others (friends, neighbors, land owners and don't forget food pantries), this is it...

Remington Model 7 .308 - 8 deer

Remington model 700 BDL .308 10 deer

Remington 870 20 gauge - 1 deer

Savage 220 20 gauge - 4 deer (current Shotgun of choice)

CVA Optima .50 Cal - 3 deer and Counting (current inline)

Thompson PA Carbine .50 Cal Flintlock - 11 deer (current Flintlock)

Robert Hart custom .257 Roberts Ackley Improved with a Remington model 700 Action (pre-recall) - 47 deer and counting (current rifle of choice)

I would look into a waist pack that has an optional shoulder harness built in... I picked mine up at the Harrisburg show almost 15 years ago and the straps have finally gotten so worn that I have to replace them.... There is no tag on it to give you a brand name but I would look for something like that. The other option is to use a waistbelt on the existing backpack... Human bodies are not designed to have a ton of weight on the shoulders but once distributed to the hips, you will never notice it if that is all you are carrying....

15 hours ago, iceman05 said:

 

What are some of the issues with not shooting doe? Or problems you are seeing. Some say don’t shoot doe some say shoot as many as you can? Seems the guys I know shooting doe see bucks more frequently.


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The area that I hunt in has a deer problem period. The buck to doe ratio is way in favor of the does and even with the farm that I hunt on taking out 15-20 deer every year with hunting and pest control with the DEC, 4 move into the area in their place. The neighbor to the south  will not shoot does for some reason, so we have does on this farm that actually end up dying of old age. For the last 3 years I have had deer aged at 8+ years old with the oldest being 10. She was smaller than most and no back teeth. The holding capacity of an area is also bigger than your farm. I have 400+ acres on this one but that means nothing when the 2000+ around me is only looking for racks and pass every single flat head up. The good part is that there is enough food to go around, but at the same time since we also have "sanctuary areas" we also have the highest concentrations of deer. 

You need to have good doe mgt to have good quality bucks and animals overall.

35 minutes ago, Legacy said:

And just like that... A giant walks out...

Working a field scape hard!!!

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Hope you get a shot...

I am going to try to fill my doe tags before gun season... Farm has a major deer issue since no one shoots does around it....

Yesterday on my first sit in 25+ years with a bow I thought that it was going to be a bust since I tried to approach the stand from what I thought was the safe side. Well there were 5 "confirmed deer" that I booted out of the field thanks to that wonderful moonlight we had, but I figured that if I was able to get to that stand I would at least have an idea what was on the farm this early. 

Once the sun was up I had mom and 2 fawns come from the north which was behind me. Mom got a nose of me but couldn't figure it out or see me, and the 2 fawns couldn't care less. 1 even bedded 10 feet from the ladder. They move off after about 25 minutes and at 8:00 I have 2 donkey eared does that everyone hates come though and 6  of last years yearlings and 4 fawns come within 2 yards but I can't move without getting busted. They move off to the east and finally get a nose of my entry path.

8:32 I have this 2.5 year old buck come screaming in from the south and get to 12 yards and he stopped hard. Knew something was not right. I have never been successful at archery and then stopped hunting when I was 22. The best I did back then was educate a ton of them and 1 poorly placed shot that ended up as Coyote food. This little guy did a 180 and moved to 15 yards quartering away and I let it fly just to get the skunk off of 30+ years of no success  (gun season is a way different story). I let it fly and WOW. he bounded off and I heard him crash. End result - Double lung with a clip of the aorta and a 64 yard recovery. 

I also do not believe that you were "Catfished" at all. You do not have the permission of the new landowner, but if you are inquiring about hunting it, he is also able to keep a running list of people that he can reach out as possible suspects if there are findings of violating his rights as a land owner... 

After all just because you asked does not 100% guarantee that you will be able to obtain rights... It just means that he will only ever respond to people who ask. 

I think that you also did the right thing by asking and respecting his land owner rights. 

The Large Block Targets are more than adequate. I have one of those and one of the cheap Black Hole targets that I am almost getting up to the fletchings on after using that for a vast majority of my practicing. I don't think that I will buy another one unless it is for the kids to use...They seem to break down quicker than the original block one. Granted I was also shooting 70-75 arrows per day for 60 days straight just to work on form so that probably has something to do with it, but there were no broadheads used on it yet and I think that I am going to save the broadheads for a new block or dedicated target.

On 6/16/2020 at 10:12 PM, schreckstoff said:

RE: arrows, I have become a student of the Ranch Fairy (YouTube if u haven’t seen him), heavy stiff arrows, high FOC, no “Twizzlers” no Flappers anymore for me. 

I agree.. I care more about the hole on the opposite side of my target than any speed that I may get from a lighter arrow or higher poundage.

I did find that there is a performance drop off in accuracy once I get to 500 gn on the current bow set up. This I believe is related to taking the pre-flected arrows and builds rather than a shaft tune. If I was to up the poundage to 65+ I think that 500+ grains would not be an issue, but I'll stick to my 480-485 window right now and up it if I go for pigs or bear/elk

At the beginning of the "Pandemic" I told myself that I would pick up a bow again this year and get back into archery. Well I did and tried quite a few bows out and ended up picking up a Prime Logic. I am 

shooting the HunterXT 300 spine arrows with the 50gn aluminium insert in them and plan to use the G5 Stryker V2 broadheads this fall. 

Quote

 

Static build up could be coming from 1 of 2 spots. It could be in the tubes or it actually could be in the powder. There really is not a clean way to get rid of it since you would need to keep the static from building once you have packed the tubes anyway. in the offseason you can try to pack them in the anti static bags from electrical or computer gear or you can try to do the water/fabric softener solution wash after season and then leave them out to dry but I am not one to add more chemicals to the volume measured powder that you are using. The amount of powder that is stuck in the tube is not going to manipulate the performance of the sabot enough to worry about.

My area has been hit quite hard with poachers... Found 2 bucks and 4 does dead from gunshot wounds on the property yesterday... all were vital hits and all were left laying with no effort to recover.... Man I hate that. Let the farmers/owners know and we had DEC all over this one.

I have yet to even pull the gun up on a deer at this point.

1 minute ago, brucehookedup said:

This new snow has me running my dog for bunnies and birds. Something i have more FUN then deer hunting.

That is 1 event that I miss from my childhood. I would head down to the slag piles and hunt the brush for bunnies... Limited everytime.

Legacy - Just want you to be aware that the plastic on those is a bit harder and have been known to crack if you use the charger as a sabot starter. The cold seems to really do a number on them and I have personally cracked 3 before. Great charger carrier and you can even get away with a horn just in case

Just keep your sabot starter with you....

Federal Coppers worked the best out of mine, Remington accu-tips were a very close 2nd but I opted to get 2 sleeves of the federals... 2 3/4 were way more consistent than the 3 inch.

Thanks for the confirmation Gator..... My text reads 24 pt non typical and live weight 244... That would have had me shaking in the treestand this year if it came across the orchard...

Guys, last night I got a text with a picture from a very reliable friend that another HUGE buck was taken out by a truck in the Brockport area. Has anyone else heard of this yet? I am not one to continue to spreading false facts, but someone did pick it up and bring it back to their barn. Not sure if this is the person who hit it but I am not seeing a police carcass tag which is why I am questioning.  The pics show that it really took some damage (I would hate to see the truck too). 

17 hours ago, orangediablo said:

 

That 257ai has to boogie

It does.

Remington 700 action (pre 1980 and fixed for safety issue) with everything else a custom build with a Timney trigger from Robert Hart. I am getting touching holes all the way out to 200 with the Speer Softpoint boat tails 120 Gn. I can get 2900+ from a max load of H4831 with 50 grains, but my most accurate is 44.0 gn of IMR4350, which is pushing 2800-2825 fps. More than enough speed and the farthest any deer has gone was 6 steps. 

I have played around with a bunch of bullets and so far the only ones that I have not tried were the all copper ones. My biggest pain a few years ago was that the bullets that I have been using were basically separating. Then I got my hands on some Speer hot-cores. No more separation, then I used those up and had to go back to the soft points because that was all I had. Then I stumbled into the Hornady Interlocks at either 115 or 117 gn and those were just as accurate as the Hot Cores with a small modification to my powder charge. Now the question will be do they stay together.... 

I have a few boxes of Swift A-frames that I like the performance on, but I am thinking that they are not going to open and deliver the shock that I want, and the Speer Big games are not as accurate as I would like out to 300 -350 yards. I do have shots out that far since I am in a box and hunting apple orchards on a bench from an elevated position so longer shots out to 350 are common. Anything farther than that, I won't take. Not because I won't be accurate, but I want that animal to expire fast. I owe it to the animal and to myself to make the cleanest most accurate shot I possibly can.

Federal Copper Premiums worked the best out of my 220. 

The only downfall that I can come up with is that I rarely use the 220 anymore since the county I hunt in went to rifle. Now the only hard choice I have is the 7mm08 vs 257 Roberts Ackley Improved 40 deg....

I have the 220 with the leupold muzzleloader scope on mine and I love it. The reason for the choice was 1 standardizing on 1 scope/1 brand/1 model and the durability. If 1 ever fails I can move the other over. My muzzleloader is the CVA Optima.

All of my other rifles have an older Zeiss Conquest on them. The same model and size for all... I like to have consistency.