Jeff if you like I can send you my copy of D&DH? Check it out then decide if you want to spend that cash on a subscription. I have a 3 yr subscription and I like it because if touches on a lot of things you bring up here in the forums. You work for them?

Tony:

I'll check into a subscription online. I appreciate the offer. I'll let you know what I think of it after visiting their site.

Edit: OK...looked fine. I ordered the 9 month prescription

You will not be disappointed.

A couple of observations...This has been a very funny season here in NC...The leaves should have been off the trees 3-4 weeks ago, with the drought, they are still hanging on....When I went down east the first week in November, the bucks were chasing does....Now we usually had 5-6 hunters out each evening, on 3 different farms, but still not every hunter would see deer...These are farms we have owned for over 40 years and kill 40-50 deer a year off....We still have bucks killed that we never saw, not during planting, harvesting, etc....Because of this, I'm convinced that some big bucks leave their core area during the rut, maybe for a night or two, maybe longer....If you hunt alone and happen to pick the wrong stand for that evening, you might not see anything, it doesn't mean they didn't move...

The rut has been hit and miss here in the Piedmont, down east runs 3-4 weeks earlier than around here...We were seeing does with black hocks along with the bucks....Its just not "hot" here yet....I'm thinking the next 2 weeks will pick up...

Certain stands are just natural routes for big bucks to travel looking for does....All of us know of a guy that has a "hot" stand...Its not usually the feeding area, it's a place where a buck can come through and scent check without being too exposed, when he is "ready"...

I also believe a big buck is "hot and heavy" for maybe a week a year.....That's when he travels and is vulnerable....After that, he settles down a bit...

There are certain bucks that we see several times a year, some of these we see 2-3 years in a row...But, the older, bigger bucks....I still believe there is a certain amount of luck involved when you get to see them, they are just "different"...

In most cases your not seeing them. Reasons being could be road kills (More big bucks die this way then people think IMO, you just don't here about it as much becausemost of the time there racks have shed already so know onetalks about the big buck that gothit on the road) Another thing to I really dobeleive is hard on deer or justanimals period isMother Nature itself.She's the cruelest one of all. Another thing too Jeff, bucks get big for a reason by not getting seen. You willunderstand this moreas yougain more timebow hunting. I learned that one a long time ago!!!

Last bow season I saw 8 or 9 bucks that were 2.5 years old.Passed on them all,this year I believe the warm weather shut them down,I saw 5 or 6 bucks that were all 1.5 years old in over 60 hours on stand.I did not see a 2.5 year old.I left to hunt out west on 11/7 and missed the last part and best part of our bow season.To my knowledge though no big bucks have been taken in the area's I typically spend time in.Very peculiar year,I thought sure I would see a lot of those 2.5's turn 3.5 this season.

Schultzy....I took a 3.5 yr old last year...and a 4.5 yr old, this year. I'm just not seeing any of the 1.5 yr olds I passed on, last year.

They're around i'm sure. In my woods we've got 4 different P@Y bucks ranging from 125" to 150" net bucks that we know of, reason being is wegot them on the cuddeback. Thisyear I shot a nice 8 pt.(136" to be exact) I never seen him on the camera.My brother hasseen 2 other P@Y's, neither were ever on camera.It just goes to show they are there but they are so hard to see even with the cameras out in the woods. We see alot of smaller bucks on the camera too, but don't see all of these while were hunting. They are there, there just not always where you or I are hunting all the time. Frustrating?Very much!!! Thats hunting though!