Legacy -The 2025 Deer Season-

[NETBOY101]

Well I went for a hike. My neighbors found out that I had some good bucks on my property so they put a bunch of stands up on the edge of my property. Didn't see much deer activity nor Buck activity so I decided to take a long walk. I was doing a little bit of grunt calling as walking and called this buck in at about 150 yd. He came in for about 30 yd across the ravine shot him 3 and 1/2 hour drag back home. This happens every year to me. I got to earn it. I can't just shoot these guys out of my stand, 

[whaler1]

Dang that’s a long drag. Might have been easier to quarter and pack out?

great stuff!

[NETBOY101]

What's the fun in that 😂

[whaler1]

Cricket sounds

cricket sounds

cricket sounds

cricket sounds

cricket sounds

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[GAMBLER]

I'd be dead dragging that far.  

[NETBOY101]

Ya I was 10 feet 10 minute break lol no lie

[fisherman21]

Another nice doe for the freezer

[GAMBLER]

1 hour ago, fisherman21 said:

Another nice doe for the freezer

Congrats!  Thanks for posting a picture.  I was beginning to forget what a mature deer looked like.  It's been tough for me since bow!  Lots of fawns around but not seeing many mature deer.  

[Gill-T]

2 hours ago, NETBOY101 said:

Ya I was 10 feet 10 minute break lol no lie

Sounds like for Christmas you need to ask for an ice fishing sled to drag your deer out. 

[NETBOY101]

6 hours ago, Gill-T said:

Sounds like for Christmas you need to ask for an ice fishing sled to drag your deer out. 

I get one of those deer sleds that I've seen the Alaskan deer sleds

[Smat64]

This video sums up my season so far. 

[Gill-T]

For those that enjoy hunting in the snow, you have to love this year. Saturday we were treated to 6” of fresh snow overnight and another 1’ fell during the day in Catt County. I spent the day tracking deer, logging about 3 miles in deep snow. As per usual this time of year, deer moved during the night and didn’t leave their beds until late morning. This meant following old tracks to their beds in the early am then hopping on fresh tracks when the deer started to move. All told I had my ass handed to me. Four track jobs resulted in the same outcome. I would get to within 50 yards of the deer and the swirly winds would give me away. Amazing in hill country how wind can reverse course so easily and deer will take full advantage by bedding in those swirly spots. I could have dropped the hammer on moving deer but with a muzzleloader, not a great percentage play.  The tactics espoused by the East Coast deer track legends on YouTube don’t always hold water in WNY with our heavily pressured public land deer. In the Adirondacks, if you bump a deer, there is a good chance that deer has never seen a human and probably will settle down. My experience in WNY public land hunting is bumped deer run as if they got a hot poker shoved up their arse and run 1/4-1/2 mile before slowing down. They don’t go right to bed either.  They will stand in cover and watch their back track. Love the challenge…..and the exercise. Maybe another go in me during the holiday hunt. Happy Holidays folks. 

[whaler1]

Haven’t been out with the gun in a month. Going to go sit in a tree with the  muzzleloader in the morning for a few hours. Don’t expect much but it needs to be fired and cleaned. Who knows.  

[dremarquis]

Gill - I have had the same experience tracking deer in WNY as you. I live in the FLX and the hills create a tremendous amount of swirling winds. 

I am trying to get deer still hunting/tracking, but so far, all I see are flags running away...

Andre

[Gator]

Snow is brutal on my knees. At 58, I'm not ready (and probably never will be) to get cut. I've seen both successes and scary failures with knee replacements. A steady diet of workouts and yoga (kudos to my wife for getting me involved) keeps me moving, albeit lumbering sometimes more or less gracefully, mostly less, but snow over a foot is my Kryptonite.

[Hillbillyx-press]

Really enjoy this site. I’m from PA. but fish at the OAK. Great season guys.

[Missdemeanor]

On 12/19/2025 at 8:42 AM, Hillbillyx-press said:

Really enjoy this site. I’m from PA. but fish at the OAK. Great season guys.

 I absolutely love hunting PA.... You guys do it right. . shorter Gun season, antler restriction, and one buck per year ..  Here's a decent one I killed in Columbia County ... 

[Hillbillyx-press]

15 hours ago, Missdemeanor said:

 I absolutely love hunting PA.... You guys do it right. . shorter Gun season, antler restriction, and one buck per year ..  Here's a decent one I killed in Columbia County ... 

Good one

[Gill-T]

El cruncho today. You were not going to be sneaking up on any deer. I played the only hand that made sense by walking in the water. Some deer moved late but tracks and deer seen were all young.  Haven’t cut a mature buck track in quite some time. I would love to know where they go. Their rub lines tell me I should be seeing more evidence. Three miles of trekking today.  

[Gator]

I had one of the most unique experiences of my hunting life last night. Just after 5 pm, I started filming an eight point that came out of the swamp, only to fumble my phone into my pocket as I realized that he wasn't alone. I ended up scoping nine bucks, a group of six traveling close, followed by a group of three. There were three shooters among them as well as a unique older buck with a mainframe ten on one side and an antler that wrapped down under his jaw on the other. 

 

I could have shot any of them, including the big nine that was undoubtedly the brute of the group, but having already taken one buck this year I decided to pass. It was super exciting though having them filter through within 50 yards of the stand for almost ten minutes. Heck of a finale.

[Gill-T]

You should have backed tracked them and find out where the hell they have all been hanging out!

[Gator]

Oh, we did. Brian followed them yesterday morning back into the swamp to our West...which makes perfect sense, even though it's fairly dry this year. What I don't know is where they were going. There's virtually no food around us this year - it's been a tough season - and they were beelining somewhere, just not somewhere obvious or close.

[Gill-T]

Super interesting. There is research and stories about deer migrations in Maine and the Adirondacks. Deer will get cues and just go. Bucks typically follow buck trails and does follow doe trails. 

[Gill-T]

https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/deer_yards.pdf

[fisherman21]

This is unreal! So Tuesday night my brother asked me if he could come over and borrow my muzzleloader because him as his brother in law wanted to go hunt yesterday morning. His brother in law didn’t have a muzzleloader, so I told him he could use mine. He grabbed it and they proceeded to go to family friends land down down in hemlock. I get a text of a picture from his brother in law at 7:20AM yesterday, and it’s a giant laying on the ground.

I called him immediately. He was walking up to it and says “I think it’s a huge buck”. I tell him “It is a HUGE BUCK”! You could hear the excitement in his voice. Then he thanked me for sighting my muzzleloader in so perfect 😂

He just started to get into hunting 2 years ago. He was able to harvest his first deer this year with a bow (a yearling). This is his second deer ever and his first buck. Just unbelievable lol. The family friend who owns the land said he had never had the buck on camera. It ended up scoring 164” and change. Buck of a lifetime. Also, the pictures don’t even do it justice. He swung the deer by my office on the way back home. It’s just a massive giant. 

Edited January 1 by fisherman21