Ny Opener
 

Good luck next weekend, post your pics or deer sightings.

what part of new york are you in ??

Dutchess County, you?

Hey, I'm in Columbia.

Odd year so far, not seeing the deer do anything they normally do.

I know acorns are everywhere, but something else is different too.

No signs of rut at all yet, very few scrapes & minimal rubs.

I generally lay off rifle season in favor of bow and ML, maybe not this year...

i'll be hunting in cattaraugus county and not sure on the other my buddy bought a place in 8n but not sure on the county. will probably hunt niagra county a day or two if time permits. good luck !!

Good luck guys. So far this bow season I've only seen one big buck but he never came within 60 yards of me, and just to mess with me the same buck made a huge scrape under my stand and a rub line.

Deer down
 

Boy, they were moving this a.m; felt more like late Dec than Nov!!

Only hunted archery for a week and half this year;finished it out yesterday by bumping deer all day long but no shots.

Woke up at 4:15 ready to go, grabbed my boyhood 20 ga and a few slugs on a whim and headed out up the hill.

By 7:00 I'd heard a dozen shots or so and my feet were freezing. Naturally, that's when the deer started passing by, so I sat tight.

After 45 min or so, and having 2 doe and a small buck pass within 10 feet of me, I finally couldn't contain myself when #4 came along. A medium sized spike, he was headed right for me and would had to have stepped over my legs to get by when I pulled the trigger-heart shot.
Still, he ran 50 yds before going down.

Field dressed him, came down to the house to drop off some gear, post this & now I'm back to drag him down.

He'll be tasty!

Opening day for me I heard very few shots, I had a really big racked 4 pointer walk right under my stand, gonna let him grow another year also saw a doe.

Anyone get anything this weekend?

How'd it go New York guys? I think I'm gonna come up there and hunt next year.
-Jake

I just registered, this is my second post.

My name is Michael, I'm 28, and live/hunt on my property in Sullivan County, NY.

Opening day was a day I will NEVER forget, and it is by far without probably the besr day of my life. My dad, and I always deer(rifle) hunt together, and I have been by his side hunting since I was 12. Well after all these years I have finally had the PRIVILEGE to see a big buck while in my tree stand. It was about 10:45am when I heard a thrash to my left, so I out of reflex I quick turned to see the flicker of a deer run through this dense pine section. After I caught that glimpse, I saw/heard nothing, so i sat as still as possible, and about a minute later I heard crunching coming fast from directly behind me, so i sudtley turn around, and its a nice buck slowly trotting directly to my tree. The buck ends up half circling my tree about 15' from my tree, then swings back in and stops literally right in front of me, in the direction i was facing all morning. I sit roughly 15-20' up in a climber, and he was about 20' from my tree, so he was at a steep angle, so as quietly, and as smoothly as I could I picked up my rifle, and took aim, and fired. It was a good clean shot, and he did not got far. I could not be happier, my dad was about a 5 minute walk away in his stand, so to experience this all with my dad, is a dream come true. Earlier on at approximately 7:30am he harvested a 7 pointer as well, but not as large. What a great day, that we will never forget!

Thats awesome, I hunted Sullivan county for many years and ever since they made the "3 point" rule the amount of big bucks we have seen has sky rocketed.

Are you in Sullivan County by chance?

I like the 3-point rule, while this is my only large buck that I have ever seen(hunted 15 yrs so far w/father), I just feel its best all around to let the deer live a bit before harvest.

I had the deer weighed tonight at the taxidermist, it weighed in at 175 lbs, im soooo excited.

I'm not in Sullivan any more but I was for many years, the best bucks we used to ever see were spikes but then the 3 point rule happened and we got four 8 pointers in two years. Now I hunt dutchess county and its bow/muzzeloader only and no 3 point rule but I still let any young ones go. People in NY have the bad habit of if it's brown it's down mind set

Very true. I understand taking spikes etc for your first buck, and all, but I feel at some point that should get out of your system.

To each his own though.

I agree with you as well, I don't understand shooting a spike when you can shoot a doe especially when the same person is looking for a trophy buck.

Congrats to all.

If any of you are out this week, you are a braver man than I!

Our windchill here is below zero today.

Anybody in western NY?!

Nice buck MJN, welcome to the site!
-Jake

I don't know if this intended toward my earlier post?

Generally, I agree with you.
In fact, when our area stopped issuing DMPs I ceased hunting the regular season because anything and everything with antlers was being taken; the brown goes down philosophy.

For the past two years I have had no time to hunt any season, and really haven't this year either, so my decision to take a spike was based solely upon putting meat in the freezer, though I did pause a bit before pulling the trigger.

I am an unabashed meat hunter. Though I have taken some decent bucks in my time, I find the "trophy" doe to be a much tougher hunt.
While a spike is not necessarily my first choice, it is sometimes a workable option.

Anyone else with any success? I past a couple small bucks this season but no shots at all on a mature Buck

Because of work and personal stuff I wasn't able to drive up to my property in Chenango County until the morning of the opener. I arrived around noon in a snow squall which allowed me to move up to my stand without making any noise. Almost worked too well as I surprised a spike while preparing to climb into my stand. I clean missed a 20 yard snap shot which did little to scare the buck because when I went to check where he was standing; I looked up and he was about 80 yards away. He just turned and trotted away not really bothered at all.

I decided to stay in my stand just to see what would happen. About 3:30 I spotted a real nice buck in thick brush along a creek. The only time he came into the open was on my neighbors property so I couldn't take a shot. With about 30 minutes of day light I caught a nice buck trailing a doe heading up the hill past my stand. Found a clear spot and dropped him trotting at about 120 yards (after missing a 20 standing shot; go figure). Not the biggest 8 point in the woods but dressed out at about 160. Getting too old to drag big deer like that out of the woods alone :).

Saw a couple nice bucks, but couldn't get shots on them. Settled for a spiker, let does walk even though I had a DMP tag.

Way to go any pics?

any body hunt in unit 8n in italy new york i have a friend that has land there and plan on hunting there a couple day's as i have a doe tag there he said it sounded like a war zone on opening morning then he went up this past weekend and seen natta i'm going up for muzzleloader can't wait to get back home to do some hunting and of course see my mom !!

I hunted 8T and, I must say, it was terrible. I crossbow hunted a week before gun started and only saw one small 4 pt. Gun was does only... never saw an antler. Worst opening I can remember in a long time. Very few shots heard even tho opening morning weather was great.

I have a pic but don't have an account with anything like Photo bucket so can't post it. Will post if I can find a way.

Had the same season as you, I don't know why they were so nocturnal this year

3seasons,

No no, not at all was anything directed toward you. I should have been a bit more detailed when I replied. I was saying I understand people taking spikes, i'm not against it, and I understand its not a guarantee to see a mature buck every season, but as far as the "if its brown, its down" way of life, I think that should be outgrown at some point by people who live that way of life in the woods.

Bocajnala, thank you!

From the conversations I've had, opening week was hot; since then, it seems like guys have hunted hard with little success.

I've seen some recent trail cam pics of big bucks, all at night.

Myself, I haven't even seen a deer during the course of my daily travels in at least 2 weeks, which is quite unusual.
Makes me a bit nervous given that Monday begins muzzleloading season and I love taking a nice doe with the sidelock!

I will say, the weather this Fall continues to be odd- a foot of snow on the ground 1 week ago which melted , now a cold rain!

Seems like a snowstorm may be good for a few inches early next week, that will be my day to still hunt!