Gator

I bet there'll be some traffic on here this morning looking for updates! Good luck!

I'd duck hunt if any of the guys I hunt with ever duck hunted any more... I used to chase ducks 3-4 days a week back in graduate school and as a postdoc. There's no way I can manage that now, but man I miss getting out. Over the years I've let most of my spots slip. When they disappeared, as most private spots do given long enough unless you own them, I didn't do the legwork to replace them. And so I'm off to the deer woods. Who knows? We haven't set foot on the property in a week. Anything could happen.

Remember the pictures of the zombie fox-chicken I posted a few weeks ago? I think we figured out what they are. Thanks to the guys on a habitat board I frequent I can now see the young buck spinning circles and kicking his rear legs in the air. Another guy posted a series of pictures that were very similar, but some of them clear enough to identify the animal. I have no doubt that's what we have here. Mystery solved! Although I preferred the zombie fox-chicken or chupachabra explanation myself...

Nicely done, Pap!

"Butter Sherry Reduction"...I knew a girl named Sherry once. It applies. Can't get out until Friday, but from a friend's report I gather that the does have started to herd up.

Yep, Scotty, I agree...and I know that Jeff needs a flip over, so I'm going to buy this for him. He's been using my old, old, old one. I'm sure he'd jump on this himself, but he's either at Sandy or hunting right now.

I felt lucky just to walk up on a yearling on the way in yesterday, that's how bad the season's gotten. A buddy of mine who hunted Gaines further west had bucks running doe and saw two separate eight pointers. I'm heading to a different property this evening that hopefully changes things for me. Good luck out there today. It looks like the best day of the week so far.

It's the guys who won't give you their names that you know are up to their armpits in BS. First thing I always do is introduce myself. I've gotten lost in a swamp before and ended up in a neighbor's field; when a guy approached me I told him my name, where I hunt and what had happened. Turns out I'd pushed a ton of deer out, including a nice buck that they shot . Pap, I hear you on the newbie neighbor. I just don't get why folks move in and feel the need to assert dominance. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. When we bought our property there were treestands along two property edges. I introduced myself to the adjacent owners, told them that we'd be hunting with young ones so please don't shoot into the property, but that I'd try to place my stands at a sufficient distance to theirs as to not compete with them. Basically, I ceded the one entire edge of the property bordering a nice field to these guys, with the exception of a single stand that's 80 yards onto our property, so it's not even really "on the edge". And you know what? I have pretty good relations with the guys. They know we're in there so they don't hunt it as much as they used to, and it hasn't turned into some pissing contest. We keep each other posted on trail cam pics of nice bucks (mostly ), and a simple text will suffice to track an animal. Good neighbors are worth their weight in gold.

Great buck! It's good to see the next generation score, with so many dropping out of the game. A buddy's son got to see him take a doe last night for the first time...the kid was a little green at first during gutting, but quickly got over it...hopefully he catches the bug too. I skipped this morning thinking afternoons might be better, but it seems this week like it's not hunting if it's not raining. I see that chance of precipitation improves as we go through the day. Lucky me.

My luck during shotgun season has been all bad...well, not bad, just non-existing. I have yet to see a deer that I would consider shooting from the stand, including doe, which is crazy. This morning a buddy texted me from a stand 150 yards away that five doe were between us headed my way. Do you think that I saw them? Of course not! I may have to sit a couple evenings like Matt says because mornings have rotted. I miss bow season.

That's an amazingly fast turnaround! I'm having friends of ours do mine (I pay them), they did my last one and it turned out great. Here's a question: how do you guys hang your European mounts? I mounted two screws in the wall positioned where the main beams bend forward and countersunk a hole in the back of each antler. The screws protrude from the wall 3/4" and the mount simply hangs from them. It's flush with the wall and doesn't risk damaging the delicate bone structures, but the downside is that there is a hole in the back of each antler. It's not visible when mounted and the angle of the head on the mantle is perfect, but still...there's two holes in the rack now. I'm sure there's a better way.

My trail cams had tons of pictures right up through Friday, then as of the snow on Sunday things went dead. Hardly any pictures of deer and what few I had were after dark. If this morning was any indication, they're holding tight. I almost stepped on a buck and my buddy missed a running shot on him. That's all we saw. At least it was calm out.

Used to grouse hunt Cameron State Forest growing up. Great country!! Being out every day in this crap is wearing me down. With my friend here from Boston, we've been pushing each other hard. We're seeing some deer, but not much movement. Today's another day and tomorrow looks great!

It looks nice out there now, but tomorrow we separate the men from the boys. And just in case anyone's wondering which camp I'm in, I'll likely be in bed listening to the wind and hugging my woobie But this morning I hope to deliver a special lead present to the bruiser I gave a pass last weekend. Good luck, shoot straight, be safe.

We almost joined you, but decided to perch instead. What a gorgeous day! And now we have a couple hours to get 'er done this morning before the crap starts...

Potentially the last sit of the year yesterday evening. I hunted the same stand I started the year in, so there's some symmetry to the season. I was hoping to stick another doe, but it was not to be. I had a button, a four and two small doe under me, while the mature doe were moving into the field 50 yards downwind. They were kind of jittery; I think I'd better wash my hunting clothes before Saturday . It's tough no matter how good you smell when they're right in your wind... I also found out while I was in the stand that a bruiser was hit by a car over by where I own land. It's tough to see a magnificent beast get leveled like that, but when you own near a park, it's just as likely I think that the biggest buck get taken by a car as by a bow. Unfortunately, that's not the first one I've heard hit the dirt this year and it could be that most of the giants are out of the game now. Not that it's likely we'd see them, but it'd be nice to know they're still around when he!! breaks loose on Saturday. I had confirmation on four this year, but three are gone now. Which sucks.

I think I got charged by a buck on the way out yesterday. I busted a couple of deer in a thicket and one of them circled and came straight back at me. It stopped just inside the brush, breathing heavy. I dunno, could have been Sasquatch, too. I didn't even string an arrow last night because I hiked way back to see what was going on rut-wise by the swamp. I didn't want to disturb the stand by harvesting a doe with opening day so close since one of my good buddies is likely to hunt it. It didn't matter, since I never saw a deer until the walk out. Typical rut though, another friend of mine hunting the other edge of the property a couple hundred yards away was covered up at dark with chasing and grunting. Hmmm, that sounds bad...

What a great deer! Congratulations to her. So, yesterday I made a really tough decision. It probably shouldn't have even been a decision to make, but I will admit to feeling sorely tempted when the largest deer I've ever seen alive in the woods presented himself at 20 yards,,,but I already harvested my buck this fall...but it was the biggest I'd seen in 35 years of hunting. And I have my buddy's tags who's coming up to open gun with me from Boston. It shouldn't have been a decision, it should have been a closed book. Ethics played a part in my decision to hold off, but I've got to admint there was also a little bit of not wanting to be ashamed of a kill. Yes, social media and specifically this thread was the nail in the coffin. If I'd shot, I couldn't be proud of my harvest. I'd like to think that ethics alone would have sufficed, but thanks to all of you who've participated in this thread for helping to keep an honest hunter honest. And even having not shot, my heart's still pounding this morning. That's what it's all about, right?

Post clear signs in the middle of the trail. All that grass makes it tough to figure out property lines. No excuses for trespassers. But make it easy to see when you're in violation. There's lots of old fences on public property; depending on it's condition, yours might not gather much attention from a wandering bird hunter. Let me know if you need any help with those pesky ducks...I might know a guy

Just in case there's some strange alien ghost walker out at the land and we don't return, here's some pictures of the culprit. Anybody have a guess what this is?

Nice buck! Brian should have been hunting the stand I was in this morning, as I had three shooters walk past and I'm tagged out. He had one in front of him prior to good shooting light. No doe on the property today; I think all the buck cruising blew them off. We looked at the gut pile from his doe last night and the heart and lung were already gone. I have at least one coyote on camera near the ground blind he and his son hunted...I'd love to get a shot at that! I've got to say, kudos to Brian's son. He sat for a couple of hours not seeing anything, but stuck it out and scored! The kid was flying high last night, had to help us track the deer (only went 50 yards), drag the deer out, just unreal how into it he was. I think it was probably more fun watching him than I've had in years in the woods. It makes me understand the passion of passing on the legacy. I wish my daughter was into it... Back at it with Hambley this afternoon. I'd love to shoot another doe...graduate students need to eat too...but you can't beat being in the woods during the rut!

Good advise, but personally I'd love 100 acres of swampland!! Deer AND ducks! I don't duck hunt as much as I used to, but we are always keeping our eyes open for potential acquisitions...