Rick James

Hey guys, sorry for my lack of updates.

My vacation back during the week of 11/5-11/12 started late due to my fiance being in the ER. I was able to get out of there on Monday when she was doing better, and ended up hunting Monday evening and all day tuesday above Oneonta NY.

Monday evening, I had a hot doe come through about 60 yards from me, and a minute later one of the top 3 bucks I have ever seen came crashing through after her. I don't know exactly what he was, but he did stop in the open facing directly away from me at one point and he was at least 3" wider than his rear end on both sides, and looked to be about 20" wide total. I think he was a 130" class 9 pointer, but not sure on the definite number of points though. About 10 minutes later 2 other deer came down the same trail, nose to the ground, one was a decent 2 1/2 year 8 pointer that was about 15" wide, and the other was a spike. The 8 got irritated with the spike and chased him directly under my tree.........the spike was under me at this point and the 8 was 30 yards away completely broadside and in a shooting lane. I decided to pass them both despite the clean shots offered in hopes of the bigger buck coming back through, or possibly coming down the same trail the next evening. The evening came to a close with another yearling 4 pointer coming down the same trail about 20 minutes later and staging up 50 yards from me waiting for dark to go out into a field to feed.

I moved the climber a bit the next evening to get closer. About 20 minutes before dark the next evening, I had a group of deer come through, I had a shot opp on a big mature doe that was in front of the group of deer but I passed to see what exactly the animals were behind her hoping for a buck in follow........nothing but one other very small 1 1/2 year old doe, and 2 little fawns.

Tuesday evening I headed down to PA to hunt my property, and throughout the week I ended up seeing several 1 1/2 year bucks, and one decent looking 2 1/2 year buck that should be a big boy next year. I also saw many does within range, but always in groups and I was always curious to see what was in follow so I passed them.

The very last day of my hunt on Saturday evening I ended up with a 1 1/2 year doe feeding in slowly from 40 yards out to directly under my tree, and because I had a 3 1/2 hour drive that evening I decided to pass her so I didn't have to gut her and track her with the long trip ahead.

The coolest part of the hunt is that my father was able to score on a doe in PA with his bow. I got him back into bowhunting a few years ago. This is his 3rd season bowhunting out of the last 25 years or so, he hasn't killed a deer with his bow for close to 30 years. He was an avid bowhunter back in the early to mid 70's with a recurve, but somehow fell out of it until recently when we decided it was a good way to spend time together. He managed to score on a doe, and we were able to be together while tracking in and when we found her. I was so happy/proud of him, I now know what he must have felt like when we were hunting together back in 1992 when he was able to be with me when I took my first buck at 12 years old. This made the entire trip well worth it.

I am spending a couple of days during rifle season out with the gun, but plan to hit the woods hard during late archery season in both NY and PA. I have already passed a few deer in NY during rifle season, hopefully I end up with a mature buck in range this year before it is too late. It also looks like I will have off the entire week of x-mas as well which is PA's late archery/flintlock season, so I will probably be spending that time in the woods as well. Hopefully I will be able to at least put a doe down for the freezer.