I had a tag to bowhunt the 4 day early bow season in NY. I skipped opening morning. Went golfing the second morning. Hunted that afternoon and then yesterday AM and PM. So tonight I'm sitting in the tree. I'm suppose to provide a deer for fish camp the end of October. There's45 minutes left of the early bow season to fill the tag. Along comes a deer. But gee, is it a fawn, nope... just a little bugger. I looked and looked and tried to decide if it was a fawn or a little runt. The length of her snout said old, but dang, she wouldn't have dressed more than 75 pounds.She just wasn't what I wanted. If I'm going to waist all the time and effort tracking, gutting, dragging and cutting up I want more than a couple meals.[&:] The deer stayed around me for probably 15 minutes, getting as close as 3 yards from my tree. I was only 15 feet up but had pulled in a couple young beech saplings and tied them around me. I was invisible. So in the 3 days I hunted this was the first deer I had seen from a tree. I told myself it was alright t".o burn the tag and I'd get a deer in the regular bow season for fish camp. I also kept telling myself, "You dummy this tag becomes useless in 20 or 30 minutes". And then I'd tell myself it's OK, if the have to they can eat hot dogs or Salmon. LOL

So, the regular bow season starts tomorrow. I'm not going. In fact, Tuesday I'm heading to the Southern Tier for 3 days of camping out and golf. Ain't that a hoot.

hehehehe yep I would have done the same thing...

Yep, I realized I was getting a few deer under my belt several years ago when the decision process started to involve whether I wanted to gut and drag it as much as shot placement...

did you know the season in the southern tier is not open till the 13?

Know what u mean greg I tend to be passing on more and more deer the longer I hunt,and most of the time it's because I don't want to fool with one,but granted most of the time if I pass on a shot it is in the evening hunt when I would have to do it in the dark,and it always seems to be the night before I have to go back to work.

Let me see.....You didn't shoot a deer you didn't want to shoot....and you "failed"?

Just messing with you David. If I have to "think" about whetehr or not to take a deer.....I ain't shooting, either. I "thought" for a second about a velvet 6 pointer, opening day. Too late....if I have to think about it.

Neat encounter.....I know you'll have plenty of chances.

I stopped buying doe tags for several years because the doe tags I had prior to those years I burned....

Every time a doe was standing there I'd think....ah not tonight, I don't want to disrupt the area....then the next time, AH, not today...don't feel like dealing with her maybe a buck will come by...next thing I know it's prerut and rut and I think, nah, not today, perhaps there is a buck dogging her....I end up taking my buck and not going after the does. [&:]

This year is the first I've applied for (haven't gotten it yet) because I intend to hunt with Rick James to help thin the herd up there, (same doe management area).

David, with age comes intelligence and reasoning right? Ah, not tonight...lol

HNI Jim: Yup, I know. That's the beauty of the trip. I don't have to lug hunting clothes, bow, treestands and all that crap. I can sit around the campfire until I crash and not have to worry about what time it gets daylight... cause I'll sleep in until the bladder calls.[8D] It's totally a get away with nothing to do except play. Wait????? I do that every day anyway. I did gain access to a new very neat piece of property today.I goes right up to some fields I can't hunt where I've been seeing so many deer and all I could do was druel. I had ask the land owner of the fields and he said NO. I had hunted the land all my life as a kid. Well I found out this piece of property goes all the way through a swamp to these fields so I'll be hunting the same deer. The new land owner has been having trouble with the guy who owns the fields. He's doing some logging but has a big wetlands[8D](hemlock swamp) between where he's logging. He can't build a road through the wetlands without a lot of trouble. The guy that owns the fields won't let him cross a 75 yard swatch of grass because he lost 6 acres in the new survey. LOL Anyway I ask if I could help the guy in anyway. He said you can. You see anyone else in here tell them to get out. The guy that owns the fields is going to love it when I'm sitting 30 yards in the woods by his field and tell him to get out. They've been hunting the land for years as it is only accessible from his fields unless you're willing to make a little hike. I can get most of the way to it with my 4wheeler. The field owner(farmer owning about 700 acres adjoining) was told to remove a treestand from "my ridge" by the fields. LOL He removed it but he's probably figuring he can still slip in. I walked through there a week ago and walked up on 15 deer. I'll get in there when I get back from the golfing/camping and put up a couple stands.