Guppy35

If that was a GoPro using the head mount strap, what settings did you have your camera on when you took the video?

Nice video, and great looking buck! Congrats!

Thanks for the advice Momay! It's great to get a second opinion on something that can be as serious as the possibility of Lyme Disease. It's good to know that we are taking the right steps in the process. I appreciate the reply!

Actually the doctor at the hospital never put him on anything, and never told us to get another check up. We called his pediatrician this morning and she suggested an antibiotic cream to put on the bite. I think because he is so young still, they can't use the same oral antibiotics that they would normally use if an adult had been bitten by a tick.

Sat in the woods yesterday after work from 4:30 until dark. It was very windy and quite warm, so i wasn't expecting to see much. Right at dark i was beginning to pack up and had a ~200 lb bear walking towards my stand. He got about 15 yards away quartered towards me before he realized something wasn't quite right and turned and walked back the same way he came. Had my GoPro on and was tempted to take a shot, but there is a much bigger bear in the area and i'm hoping to get a pass at him this season! On a side note, when i got home my wife happened to find a tick already attached to our 9 month old's neck (right behind his ear). Well not knowing how long the tick had been there for we took him to the hospital to make sure it got removed correctly. The doctor that removed it was not too concerned as she said the area hadn't become inflamed yet and it was likely it had only been there for a few hours. Just a reminder to all of us hunters that spend a lot of time walking through the woods and open fields (and field dressing animals) to make sure to give yourselves a quick look over to make sure you don't have one on you when you get home.

According to Charlie Alsheimers "Strategies for Whitetails" book, here is his prediction for this year's rut: Rutting Moon: Nov. 7th Prime Seek - Chase phase: Nov. 4th - 14th Prime Breeding Window: Nov. 13th - 27th

Congratulations to your daughter! Nice deer, and great shots too! You must be one proud dad. Can't wait for my son to be old enough to start going to the woods with me.

I think BSMaster has a good point, antler restrictions should not come from the DEC, but within each hunting camp. If one hunting camp wants to hunt for trophies, they can have their own antler restriction. If a camp hunts primarily for the meat, let them harvest any legal deer that they want. At my camp we have an antler restriction of 4 points per side, and we have seen tremendous antler growth throughout our herd. But i don't think the DEC should dictate what size buck an individual can harvest.

Although i do agree that shooting a 130 - 140 class buck is much more rewarding than a 1 1/2 year old 4 point, a lot of people do not have the luxury of having enough land to make QDM work for them. Yes, they can pass up the smaller bucks and maybe they will connect on a bigger buck eventually, but if you are surrounded by hunters that are content to shoot whatever they see, chances are most of those bucks aren't going to make it more than 1 or 2 seasons anyways. I guess what i'm saying is that a 4 point may not even get some people excited, but for others a 4 point may be a trophy. Sometimes it's not about the size of the antlers, but the story behind the hunt that makes it a trophy.

Rob - I have Charlie's book sitting in my office right now at work that i read through on my lunch breaks. It's interesting to see the 5 stages of a hunter, and i think it's quite accurate for most hunters. When i started hunting i was fortunate enough to harvest a 115 class buck my first year of hunting with bow, and my next buck was a 135 class with gun a few years later. After tagging those two deer, i found it hard to shoot the smaller bucks only because i knew the thrill of taking a bigger buck (and knew they were around too). Well i recently got married (2 years ago) and my wife has three younger siblings (2 adopted from Ethiopia, and 1 from India). Growing up on a huge dairy farm where they milk over 400 cows, their family does not have the time to hunt. So last year i started showing the kids some pictures of the bucks on my trail cameras and they seemed so excited and kept asking me if they could help me track a deer if i got one last year. Well to make a long story short, on the last day of bow season last year, i had a small 4 point walk broadside at 20 yards, and the first time in my life i did not even hesitate to take the shot. At that point, it wasn't about me harvesting a mature buck, it was about giving those three kids an opportunity that they had never had before, to get out and be a part of the hunting atmosphere. I knew the buck had crashed down in the creek about 75 yards from where i shot him, so i gave them all flashlights and let them track it (they did a great job and led me right to it). The most satisfying thing about that hunt was not the shot, or the rack, but the smile on each of their faces when they finally found what they were tracking.

Nice pictures, hopefully you'll be able to connect with one of them this year!

Great looking deer, good luck this season!

I think you're right Chas, it really all comes down to personal preference just like everything else. If i had the money just sitting around i'd probably buy a few Reconyx cameras, but i don't see that happening any time soon. Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks off some of the cameras my parent's had set up.

Does anyone else use Cuddeback cameras? That was my very first camera when they first came out, and since then i've had at least 2 set up every year. I've tried other cameras, but none of the ones that i've tried have even come close to the performance and quality of Cuddeback IMO. The one feature that i really like about Cuddeback is that you can set it up to take pictures and videos together. Right now i have it set up to take 3 pictures in a row, then take a 30 second video directly after. This has been especially helpful during pre-season scouting when the bucks are still in bachelor groups, as well as during the rut (you may get a picture of a doe, but the video will sometimes show a buck or two following closely behind) What kind of cameras does everybody else use, and what is your opinion on the quality of the pictures / videos? Here is a video that we got on one of our Cuddeback's back in 2011 of a bachelor group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHzF2m1-nWk&feature=youtu.be

Here are youtube links of two videos that i got a few weeks ago of a really nice black bear. How much do you think this guy weighs? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WqfajFIl4U&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMK50fOuDZY&feature=youtu.be

Rob - You keep shooting like that and you won't have any arrows left by the time season comes around! You'll be shooting the knocks right off your other arrows! That is a great grouping though.

Between the geese and the walleye, you really have it figured out! Way to go Kevin!

Wow, it would definitely be tough to troll through that crowd!! Nice job on the 3 bow, Les.

Here is a cropped picture - a little easier to see it here.