Legacy -The 2024 Deer Season-

[Legacy]

What a weekend!

My kid was in the same set both am and pm hunts on the opener hoping for a chance at one of our shooters. We both sat in the punch/funnels that connect the two big chunks of woods. He passed up a few small bucks and a slow afternoon turned into chaos. Chasing in the thicket behind him for an hour eventually led him to put eyes on this great 8pt. The buck made his way to him from over 200 yards away. And eventually the deer walked directly in front of the stand about 20 yards, the kid waited until the deer was past him, quartering away before he stopped him and hammered him. The kid was close enough that once I heard the shot, I got to watch the deer on a death run through binoculars. Perfect shot heart and both lungs. Deer ran 50 before falling over. Big mature 8pt with decent mass. I'm guessing 4 years old as we do have pictures from him last year. Love these great dad moments!

 

As for me...

Day 2 of gun 

Going where the SW wind allows me I ended up in one of my best sets. Saw a couple of young bucks cruising early. I decided with buck sightings to pull out my can call and dumped it 3 times. 5 minutes later this 8pt was standing 20 years directly downwind from me without a care in the world. It was at that moment I realized that my kid and i had been confusing these two deer on camera. And that we had 2 8pts that we had been watching. The deer decided to continue on his path from right to left and gave me a 20 yard shot. Easy track job. Deer probably ran 70 yards. I enjoy bow hunting so much more but man is rather shoot them with the gun. It's devastating.

 

Although I'm tagged out now it was a great moment to have with my kid!

 

 

[Legacy]

SO I thought I would share this...

 

I saw this somewhere online and bought this "blood trailing flashlight" based off the comments I read from others. It works great. I brought it into the field this year on recoveries and the damn thing works well. I also tested it in the daylight hoping it would be fairly useful but nope. But in the dark... wow. The way it seems to work is by flashing lights and it highlights the color red and literally illuminates it. The flashing light makes the color red blink and man does it work well. If your tracking at night this is a must have. The video I shared is extremely accurate and not an exaggeration.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z3KRRF7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

 

 

 

[Duckman1]

Nice story and pics. Just ordered the light. For someone who is color blind I hope this helps me a bit

[Gator]

10 hours ago, Legacy said:

SO I thought I would share this...

 

I saw this somewhere online and bought this "blood trailing flashlight" based off the comments I read from others. It works great. I brought it into the field this year on recoveries and the damn thing works well. I also tested it in the daylight hoping it would be fairly useful but nope. But in the dark... wow. The way it seems to work is by flashing lights and it highlights the color red and literally illuminates it. The flashing light makes the color red blink and man does it work well. If your tracking at night this is a must have. The video I shared is extremely accurate and not an exaggeration.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z3KRRF7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

 

 

 

I just got one of these last week, and let me tell you, last night I put it to the test on a doe a buddy had shot in a field (easy recovery and great blood trail), and it worked lights-out (pun intended). It's a bit heavy, but given how well it works it will take up residence in my pack. I will mention that there are several illumination options including a very, very bright white light and three strobing red/white combos at different frequencies. 

 

I haven't evaluated how long it will last in the field, and that could impact its usefulness since there's a dedicated Li Ion battery involved. The product manual says 2.5-3 hours fully charged, depending on which mode you use. If correct, that would fit all but the longest tracks. It's USB-C rechargable, so you could potentially carry a power source too...

[MeanMachine]

Just a quick season update for me.   Started out with Rob at Southern Ohio Outfitters opening week.  First night in the stand had what would have been my biggest buck come in.  Big 8 - stopped him and pulled trigger on xbow safety on, rush take it off and shoot.  Thought I smoked him.  Arrow had a lot off fat on it and not a lot of blood.  Take that night no luck and next day no luck.  4 days later he shows back up on cam.  Pics below - a little high and back - arrow passed through 

 

Shot a nice 8 at my lease on a windy day.   Was ticked because the buck showed up on camera at the stand I almost hunted.   Fortunately he came by this stand and made a nice 30 yard shot. 

 

 

Hunted Illinois November 7-10th.  Booked with an outfitter.  Started out more like a DIY hunt.  Nothing scouted or stands set.  Ran into trespassers which really sucked.  They moved us on 4th day into a nice location.   I ended up scoring on a nice 8 Sunday evening.   

 

My daughter was also successful in Ohio with another booner.  She is a great shot and has some incredible luck seeing giant deer.  It's been a ton of fun watching her score on some great deer over the years.   This pic is my favorite of her deer

 

 

Good luck to everyone!

[GAMBLER]

10 hours ago, MeanMachine said:

Just a quick season update for me.   Started out with Rob at Southern Ohio Outfitters opening week.  First night in the stand had what would have been my biggest buck come in.  Big 8 - stopped him and pulled trigger on xbow safety on, rush take it off and shoot.  Thought I smoked him.  Arrow had a lot off fat on it and not a lot of blood.  Take that night no luck and next day no luck.  4 days later he shows back up on cam.  Pics below - a little high and back - arrow passed through 

 

Shot a nice 8 at my lease on a windy day.   Was ticked because the buck showed up on camera at the stand I almost hunted.   Fortunately he came by this stand and made a nice 30 yard shot. 

 

 

Hunted Illinois November 7-10th.  Booked with an outfitter.  Started out more like a DIY hunt.  Nothing scouted or stands set.  Ran into trespassers which really sucked.  They moved us on 4th day into a nice location.   I ended up scoring on a nice 8 Sunday evening.   

 

My daughter was also successful in Ohio with another booner.  She is a great shot and has some incredible luck seeing giant deer.  It's been a ton of fun watching her score on some great deer over the years.   This pic is my favorite of her deer

 

 

Good luck to everyone!

They are amazing animals.  The stuff they survive is unreal.  A couple season ago, I shot a doe with a backwards leg.  It looked like she had been hit but a car, her leg broke and healed backwards.  She was perfectly healthy and the injury was old.  Congrats on the deer!  

Edited November 20 by GAMBLER

[Gill-T]

that is jacked up Brian!

[GAMBLER]

1 hour ago, Gill-T said:

that is jacked up Brian!

I was a little confused when I was walking up to her.  Three forward and one back!  

[Gill-T]

Anyone seeing anymore daytime chasing or are things quiet?

[battlehammer]

I just returned from a week hunting southern Erie/North Catt line area. Big woods hunting - 

Beyond quiet for us. 4 guys nothing hanging. We have seen very few deer.

Cameras are silent minus doe groups in the wee hours feeding in the oaks. Mind numbing considering the amount of deer we seen during archery. Bring on the snow 

[Gill-T]

Ya, that spinning low pressure system had very few deer moving. Same area you are hunting. 

[whaler1]

Very quiet in northwest Monroe County

[Gill-T]

We have bucks and does hanging but you have to step on them or play the push game. 

[Smat64]

Same here, super slow. Very hard to even see a deer. 
 

saw a rabbit Friday, raccoon Saturday. 

[Gill-T]

The does are trying to stay out of the woods where they are getting harassed by bucks. You find them bedded in the first cut of goldenrod on a field edge. They are making micro movements. 

[sectvchamps1113]

A year ago (11/24/23), I spent the day with my dad, shooting my biggest gun buck later on. Two days later, my world was forever changed. I miss him every day. Yesterday (11/24/24), a year later, I went to the same spot, thinking of him the whole time. After seeing two other bucks, this one stepped out behind a doe.  I believe something higher was working just like it did last year.  I wish he was here to celebrate. I miss his texts, advice and love. This one’s for you dad.

 

120 yards with arrowhead custom smokeless muzzleloader that I put together over a few years.  Two steps is all he took. 

 

[Salty Nut]

I am in the Southern Tier outside of Corning. It appears that the first pass of the rut finished up mid last week. Does and fawns back feeding normal, mornings and evenings. Didnt see any bucks for 3 or 4 days, Sunday night saw two smalls, last night a shooter that i never saw before and have zero pictures of. The bucks were all right at dark. Pretty normal 

[whaler1]

2 hours ago, sectvchamps1113 said:

A year ago (11/24/23), I spent the day with my dad, shooting my biggest gun buck later on. Two days later, my world was forever changed. I miss him every day. Yesterday (11/24/24), a year later, I went to the same spot, thinking of him the whole time. After seeing two other bucks, this one stepped out behind a doe.  I believe something higher was working just like it did last year.  I wish he was here to celebrate. I miss his texts, advice and love. This one’s for you dad.

 

120 yards with arrowhead custom smokeless muzzleloader that I put together over a few years.  Two steps is all he took. 

 

Really cool. Great story and you got to share it with the next generation. 
Your dad is smiling and proud from above. 

[fisherman21]

Nice fat doe this morning.

[whaler1]

Tommy put his friend on a good buck last night

[Gill-T]

Can I be Tommy’s friend?

[Tomb]

35 minutes ago, Gill-T said:

Can I be Tommy’s friend?

Can I be Tommy!!!  lol

[Legacy]

[Legacy]

A quick rant....

I follow a bunch of NY hunting pages on Facebook and I can not believe the amount of bad information in regarding to tracking deer that exists. If it wasnt for the fact that I love the sport of hunting I would find some of this stuff humorous but instead its almost scary. The reliance on tracking dogs is astonishing. That service has more work then they could ever want and I cannot imagine how many of these deer tracking calls go unanswered. 

[Gator]

I was going to ask to be Tommy's friend (no benefits, sorry), but I got beat to the punch.

 

Krystel and I did dinner yesterday with Paul Willey and his wife Tania; as many know, Paul tracks and his dogs Volt and Iggy do a damn good job of it. Some of the stories he shared regarding the misinformation and blatant insistence from guys who called him that they know right where the deer went, or how to run a track, or even where they hit it (which 50% of the time is just dead wrong) is simply astonishing. The degree to which folks will flat out lie to get a tracker is similarly astonishing. 

 

No tracker does it for the money, but some of the interactions he's had with hunters after he's traveled two hours and spent half a day tracking are crazy too. Crazy insulting sometimes. I just don't get it. Arguing with somebody who does this two or even three times a day, trashing their expertise, then calling the next day begging them to come out again cause you couldn't find it grid searching. Hunting during the track. I could go on and on...these aren't all Paul, but he runs with a group of other trackers who share stories. And let me tell you, between you, me and the walls, if you piss one of these guys off, you are not going to find somebody to track for you in the future.

 

So, at the risk of sounding preachy, respect your tracker. Treat them right. Try to learn something. And don't be, "that guy".

 

And if you choose wisely in the stand, you will likely never need their help. But if you do, they'll be there.