Distressed Sportsman

[Reel Doc]

Pardon me while I blow off some steam about some of the people, (I cannot say sportsmen) afield in my area.

The combines just rolled through our soybeans along with the neighbors. Within 500 yards of each other, 2 dead bucks, both gut shot.

If you followed the rifle posts recently, then you know how I feel about the reckless few who ruin it for everyone, just another example here. Fortunately a combine head or 2 didn't get trashed trying to grind a carcass.

Nobody has a perfect shot every time, certainly not me, but please remember everyone, respect the game you are after, and practice with your weapon of choice OFTEN before going afield. Be realistic about your shooting range, and PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT AT MOVING DEER.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but if you just pass this reminder on to other hunters out there, maybe, just maybe, a few less deer will end up being wasted as fertilizer in a field somewhere.

Sorry to have to let it rip, but I feel better now.

On a lighter note, enjoyed the scenery from a tree Sunday afternoon hoping to see a doe or 2. Unfortunately, a wise old gal travelling with 3 others had me pegged from 80 yards away even though the wind was perpendicular to us. I don't know about the rest of you, but smart old does nail me 10 times more often than bucks do.

Greg

[chowder]

Greg, you are gonna get me going on what my wife calls "Chow's regular rant"! All I can say is I hear you. I don't usually find too many untill Black powder ramblings find me on my property lines on a snowy afternoon, but the sensation is always the same- profound astonishment that any one could be so stupid and on top of it all they are mostly spike or crotch horns. I find myself hating every idiot w/ a rifle rack and an antler sticker on their pickup! ( wow, that was venomous )

As far as the does go, many many years of trying to manage doe numbers on crop land w/ a bow have convinced me that at this point in the season a mature doe is a far tougher animal to take than 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 year old buck- they can be really tough to draw on w/ out getting busted!

If you get towards the end of the regular season and there's still room in the freezer, give me a ring- I could use an ethical, trustworthy man on doe patrol.

[dremarquis]

i second (or third) you, Greg. I have never got a buck in the 130 class and i passed up a 150+ the other day (at 15 yards!!!!!) because i couldn't get the beast to stop his fast walk/trot. I had my pin right on him but it's just not worth it (from an ethical hunter's perspective). Sure, it's possible i could have got a clean kill, but 10-20 times more likely that IF i hit it, it would have been wounded or died without my finding it. Trying to decrease the # of hunters who shoot at running deer is the reason i'm against allowing pump and semi-autos, whether rifles or shotgun.

on a related (unethical) note - i had my best climbing tree stand stolen from some public lands - WAY back in the thick stuff, thru all the multifloral rose etc. I had it lock with a huge chain and masterlock. I couldn't believe it - some A%@hole goes in there with a bolt cutter!!!! man, there are a lot oo shooters (i almost called the "hunters") who give us hunters a bad name/reputation.

andre

[mrhappy]

I agree with you........Makes me SICK!!!!! However, there is a message here to send also. Way to many guys take a shot and unfortunately make a marginal hit (like the guts), and what do they do next? Get down and look for their arrow or for blood.... bad move! A gut shot deer IS going to lay down very close to your stand location and if given enough time WILL expire right there, usually within 100 yrds. Gut shot deer DO NOT bleed so forget about a blood trail rain or shine...When you make a bad shot (GUTS) GET OUT as quietly as you can, give the deer a minimum of 12 hrs then go back to where you last sen it and I AM Sure you will find it very close! I hear these stories way too many times from hunters pushing wounded deer, jumping them out of their beds and they lose them because they run into the next county after being spooked. When archery hunting especially, if you make a marginal shot (guts, liver) and you don't see or hear your deer fall, leave it alone for a good amount of time, it will lay down and expire. DEAD is DEAD. Way too many deer each season go unrecovered due to hunters impatience or lack of knowledge. When in doubt....GET OUT! Only one more weekend til the army's of orange and the "beer hunters" take to the field once again, I am sure none of us fall into this catergory so I don't need to remind anyone that we have a responsibility as sportmen and to these animals to respect them and do every thing possible to recover them!!!!! Be safe and ethical!!!!!!

[Reel Doc]

Thanks for letting me vent, your comments remind me that I'm not alone.

Some FYI's

1. 15 years living at our current location, and even though I post the property, have lost 3 tree stands, so Andre, you are reminding me that the bolt cutter bandit is still at large.

2. A few years back I invite a former client from Cortland to hunt with me. Back when I worked there and had no place to hunt he showed me the ropes on some public land, and always seemed to be an intelligent hunter. We're bowhunting 2 sides of a funnel and can both see out to an adjacent field. Close to sundown a nice doe gives me a broadside shot but I hit her high through the chest. She goes to the woods edge and lays down, but my buddy? starts yelling and crashing out of his stand. The doe takes off in the thickest pricker infested hedgerow you ever saw. I'm cussing this guy out as we had to trail her by flashlight an extra 150 yards and after the first 50 I'm confusing my blood with hers after getting gored by all the briars.

This guy had far more field experience than I did, but forgot the basics you fellas talk about...give them time to go down and stay down. That doe withstood a double lung, but the broadhead must not have nicked a major vessel going through as she went a long way. Since changing to expandable broadheads and having no favors to return to past buddies, tracking distances have decreased dramatically.

Good luck to you all out there, stay safe and enjoy the sporting opportunity and beauty our area provides.

Greg

[GAMBLER]

on a related (unethical) note - i had my best climbing tree stand stolen from some public lands - WAY back in the thick stuff, thru all the multifloral rose etc. I had it lock with a huge chain and masterlock. I couldn't believe it - some A%@hole goes in there with a bolt cutter!!!! man, there are a lot oo shooters (i almost called the "hunters") who give us hunters a bad name/reputation.

andre

If a stand is left on "Public land" that is state land, It might not have been stolen. The DEC has been known to take down stands on state lands. Here is the law on tree stands on State lands. http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/09guidemaps.pdf

[flybuster]

i agree , I think it comes down to lazyness tho. my neighboor came to me two days before halloween and told me he hit a great buck. i was bizzy w my kids so i could not help him find it, the next day i asked to see the deer he told me he couldent find it,looked all night. Halloween night he comes to my house and tells the same story of another deer. i was pissed. this is the guy that ripps slugs at every deer he sees, hits legs , guts anything and almost never recovers the deer.

anyway i asked him where they both were when he shot them and what direction they headed and set out on my own he shot them both on my property??????? the first deer ran into my swamp, where he stopped tracking it blood was dried up of course but still visible, went into water up to my hips and drug out 9 pt that scored 133 im livid now but headed to the second location and long story short i found his gut shot 8 scoring 129 within a hour.

both deer were the biggest he ever shot, to lazy to get wet to lazy to look a little harder or the next day to lazy to call deer search the most under utilized asset to the hunter. i have a couple nice racks and coyote bait. and now he has a tresspassing ticket. enough was enough ten years of bambi blasting and he thought i was kidding when i told him to keep off my property

[perch predator]

sounds like you shoulda done that 9 years ago. Set up trail cams though cause he'll probably be back. Good luck keeping him out.

[Reel Doc]

Perch is right flybuster, especially if word gets out in your neighborhood about the size of those horns. You might want to get them both mounted to sell on ebay and maybe make a couple wannabes happy and also OUT of the woods

Greg

[bill]

When it comes to tracking deer, I agree on letting them sit as long as possible on marginal hits. I mostly hunt public land, and wanted to tell about a 8pt my nephew shot last week. This is his first year deer hunting, he called me to tell me he hit a nice buck but he wasn't sure where he hit it. We gave the deer a little more than an hour before I started the search. The arrow showed good blood, dark probably liver with some bubbles, maybe 1 lung. We eased our way through open hardwoods trying to spot it while we fallowed the blood trail. The deer went farther than I would have thought, but I was confident we would recover it. I finally tracked it down and realized something was wrong. The whole stomach was hanging out of the deer. Upon further inspection I noticed a lot of hair on the ground near the hind quarters. The buck was chewed up though the hind quarters all the way to the tail bone. We recovered the buck 2 hours after the shot and the coyotes, already had it. I believe they actually chased the deer an extra 100yds, before catching it by the sign of the blood trail. This happened in letchworth park. I have probably lost about 6 deer over the years letting them lay up over night and finding the carcass all chewed up the next morning. I just have never seen dogs on a carcass that soon after a shot. Letchworth is only open to spring gobbler and deer season, all other game is off limits. Bill

[Reel Doc]

Sorry to hear your nephew had a disappointing first time. Let him know there will be plenty more opportunity. That's increadible that the yotes were on it that fast. We camped at Letchworth this summer and never heard a howl. Are you hunting on the South east portion of the park away from most of the traffic?

Greg

[kingslamon22]

last year my father shot a deer and as he was dressing the animal, a mature male coyote came in to the smell of guts. the whole time my father was moving and making noise while gutting, this coyote came 30 feet away, in plain sight, 15 mins after the deer was shot. totally suprised, my father will never leave his gun under the treestand even after the animal expires. nor will I. if his hunting buddy didnt arive after the shot, he may have had to defend his quarry agains the yote. we will never know because this coyote is 30-06ed. but watch them things. cant see em until they want you to see em.

[ray koziatek]

a coyote attacked (5) a hunter 3 or 4 yrs back in odessa ny as he was gutting his buck , he fought em off went to hospital got 85 stiches (bow hunting) that afternoon after he got home he got his shotgun snuck back to the carcass and droped 2 and wounded a 3rd on his deer.There is a pack of 4 or 5 near where i hunt 15 min after dark they sing for about a min. most every nite, makes the hair on my back stand up and ive ripped three good hunting shirts with my backhair.

[chowder]

I arrowed one the other day, they are kind of tough to settle the pin on b/c they never really stop moving. Some times they do kind of get to me b/c I have some really long, dark, hikes back thru thick cover during bow season and when they get to howling and I'm only 1/2 way back you can't help but get the creeps!

[W.W.IV.]

Guy's in the 70ties I lived in Oswego county,had some deer hunting in my back yard. I also had Coydog's in the backyard. when I bowhunted I carried a 22 simiauto hand gun.Those's dogs weren't afraid of you and would attack. A freind came across a pack of them deer hunting and was attacked by a St.Bernard.That was the last thing he did. Slugs are hard on dogs. Oh Ya I know I wasn't legal . Better safe than sorry. . Hey good shooting Chowder.

[chowder]

Jeepers, you guys are kind of freaking me out w/ these yote stories! I've been hiking out 2 or 3 miles in the dark for 20 years often enough after gutting deer and figuring it was all in my head to be a bit scared. A friend of mine(who unlike me can consistently make 250 yd shots) and I do some predator hunting using .222s and it always seems like they don't want to be any where around humans.

[ray koziatek]

wwIV I too was attacked by a pack of squirrels one day i heard they saying looks at the size of that "NUT" in the tree before i knew it everything went grey..thank goodness i fell from my stand smashed about a dozen of them and ran home before they regrouped..

[W.W.IV.]

Ray. I think your over doing the acorn cover sent you've been using, the squirrels love it.