idn713

I have the CVA paramount .45 and it’s incredible. Easily the most accurate production muzzleloader available. The accura doesn’t hold a candle to it. The only thing better is a true custom smokeless and that will be another grand.

Kind of can't believe people do this. Never getting hit with consequences usually makes this a lifelong behavior in people. Makes you rethink letting people go and then becoming much more forceful about imposing penalties

Oh agreed, I hate gun season and love Muzzy, but every opener you can potentially luck into a giant......

Getting stoked for opener, hopefully some early morning magic is in store for us!

Sheesh man. Glad you are ok. That’s some scary stuff.

Welp bit of a long story here. Background is that I hunt my fathers Brockport property primarily and I am also a part of the Irondequoit Police Department Bow Hunt program which aims to control the deer population in the city and prevent car accidents. The Bad - With all the rain lately the property in Brockport is flooded which has drastically altered travel patterns along with doe entry points. This has been coupled with the fact that my Dad decided to put up a metal barn on the front of the property (about 200 yards away from one of my most productive spots) smack in the middle of the bow season and rut. This means the construction crew is banging away and blasting music at 8AM sharp (I know cause I observed this from a stand over said productive location). So all of this has combined to more or less squelch the daytime movement of several really nice bucks that I have on camera. With construction likely continuing through gun season I reset my goals to allow for a bow buck that's reasonable, - if not up to my typical standards. So today I had my hunt in Irondequoit and I picked out a prime spot, that I know from past years, that really has a good crack at some rutting action. Today as soon as sun broke I was treated to a cavalcade of wildlife with fox, racoon, falcons, squirrels, and songbirds of all type all around my stand. Combine that with pleasant temps and a doe coming my way, I was a happy camper. The doe fed around in the same spot for half and hour (long time for a deer to loiter) and then fed away with me. I figured that a bit later a buck could come through but it was such a comfortable, life filled morning that I was unconcerned with anything else happening. In the next moment the bushes to the right of me rustled at 18 yards. Well a big bright beautiful Cardinal appeared happy as can be. This was significant, because in May we lost my Father-in-Law (his name was Tom) to liver cancer. He was one of the most amazing men I've ever had the privilege to know and every time we have spoken of him since his passing, a cardinal as appeared as if to say, "I am right here!". Well I smiled at the cardinal and said "Ok Lord, send me a buck this morning, but make sure it had the Tom stamp of approval". A half hour later 70 yards behind me I hear grunting, I turn back and see a smaller but mature looking 9 point walking toward me and he is harassing a doe. He is coming right to me but suddenly the doe has had enough of him and jumps the opposite way and quickly moves off. I figure the hunt is done and the buck will follow but the buck whips back around toward me and starts thrashing every bush and tree in sight. I grunt at him to get him to commit but I see him bristle every fur on his body and start stiff legged challenge walking to something that certainly is not my call, its a 6 point buck! He starts fighting the 6 and then a 4 point runs in directly downwind of me reacting to my grunts. Well the 4 sees the two bucks fighting and wants in, so it walks directly under my stand and back 60 yards behind me to meet the bucks and then all 3 bucks square off! Quickly the pecking order forms where the 6 spars the 4 and the 9 spars the 6. At this point I say "Alright Tom, if you bring that 9 into chip shot range, I'll take him". Well what do you know, the three bucks fight their way to 30 yards to the left of my stand behind brush. At this point I assume the hunt his done, they will continue on forward and I wont get a shot. At the last moment, the 6 rakes the 4 with it's antlers and the 4 jumps the hedge and runs to the base of my tree. Well the 6 was bristled like a mad dog and sprinted over to the 4 with intent to keep the fight going! As they set to square off again, the 9 comes walking in on their trail and he is also bristled and angry! The 9 walks directly into my shooting lane at 18 yards (EXACTLY WHERE THE CARDINAL CAME OUT) and gives me the broadside. I whispered "Thanks Tom", and let it fly. Perfect double lung with the 2" Killzone. He jumped twice and fell over dead. Had a bit of an emotional moment when I watched him fall a mere 50 yards away. So, while not the biggest buck in the world, it's one of the most memorable hunts I have ever been on. National Geographic stuff with a fair amount of God's providence mixed in. It is a morning I will not soon forget.

Seems like the wind is killing the evening movement today.

It’s the best thing I’ve ever bought for my bow and I would recommend it in a second to anyone. It’s incredible. That said, I never use the preset pins and I’ve never had an issue with false reads. The laser is very precise with your aiming point. You would need to use one to fully understand what I mean by that, but I have unwavering confidence in it.

It was the same for me last year, got absolutely pounded. This year shockingly the brassica has seen good use but not quite as much. I have so many huge bulbs though (that they are already eating), so late season should be tremendous. I will say that winter rye was huge for me last year too and it is so easy to plant. Don’t overlook simple stuff and just skip straight to brassica.

I use the Garmin Xero sight and the torque indicator is built into the ranging process before the sight places the pin. Incredible tool that’s opened my eyes to the importance of proper grip.

A buddy of mine does big and beasty every year without fail and it never is an issue for him. That said I will rotate out to other things just for deer draw and to be different from the neighbors. For instance my neighbors don’t do clover so I changed my front food plot to a perennial clover plot and guess which plot is being hammered? I’m not super worried about crop rotation, with the buckwheat and fertilizer, I feel I am putting enough back into the soil.

I would worry far less about mowing and just simply get good weed kills from the very jump of spring green up. If you are planting a fall plot and you are going straight from a fallow field, then I would skip the buckwheat step and simply weedkill from spring greenup straight through to late summer. Probably get 5-6 kills in. You will be amazed at how little biomass there is once it has been killed and dried. From there you should have wide open soil by late august with just standing stalks of dead plants. Then plant whatever you want. Then the next year I would start in with the buckwheat method as you will have cleared with way for it with the initial year heavy sprayings.

They fall through perfectly there is zero surface tension between the two objects so they just bounce off and fall right onto the open soil.

It’s funny deer movement should be killer right now but these last two days all my insanely reliable camera movement is just GONE. The neighbors all around the property these last two days all decided to be out around their houses and apparently operating heavy machinery, gotta wonder if that has something to do with it.

Giant!

Giant!

I'm for sure seeing the little guys in the day on the cams with all of the shooters working around after dark. I also expect that to shift significantly in the next week. I am in Western Monroe County.

Checking my cams and I come across two trespassers on the cams. Super disappointing to see a full grown man teaching a kid that trespassing and hunting on someone else's HEAVILY posted land is ok. This is how we get hunters that think it's ok to do whatever they want and shoot over property lines. This is very frustrating to see, wish I was out there to catch them.

Last update for you all to see the final result of the food plots. I would encourage anyone doing plots to begin to utilize the no till approach. It has come out absolutely perfect and i have included some final pictures to give you an idea of the growth I got. If you have any questions about the process, don't hesitate to PM me and ask!

Yes, I def hear you! Trying to do what I can to minimize impact while taking a few annoying mammas out of the herd. Still trying to tweak my residents on the property to be a little less doe heavy, but I certainly see where you are coming from.

One less big doe to wind me come bow.

How do you figure? Less attraction for bucks? I figure a bunch of dumb 1 year old does going into heat will do me better than mature wind cognizant does.