Gun hunting starts NY southern zone tomorrow

[daytime dave]

Gun season starts tomorrow morning. I'm going to be in my stand. The weather calls for 40F and clear skies. I'm planning to bring the Remington 1100 with smooth bore deer barrel and 1.5 Leupold scope. It's from the 60's. I will bring the Smith and Wesson 686 on my hip.
Later in the season, I'll switch to the Henry Big Boy .44 mag with the 629 on the hip.

My stepson and my neighbor saw a big buck in the area. I hope he's randy tomorrow.

[Vaquero]

Good luck, ours doesn't start til next Sat.
I'll be out with one of the muzzleloaders tomorrow, with the 1858 in a shoulder holster.

RP

[Vaquero]

I saw nothin, what about you Dave?

RP

[JEBar]

I saw nothin, what about you Dave?

RP

sounds like most of my outings ..

[Vaquero]

I saw nothin, what about you Dave?

RP

sounds like most of my outings ..

Well, the moon was near full and very bright around here last night so that could've been some of it.
We have a pretty good deer population. We have them right in the yard on occasion.
Mon. or Tues. morning I was pouring a cup of coffee and just happened to look out the kitchen window and caught a glimpse of a doe just this side of the barn and not 40 yds. away.
Going to try one of my favorite spots this afternoon.

Maybe Dave did better than I.

RP

[daytime dave]

Nope, I didn't see anything. It was a full moon and the wind started blowing hard this am. Across the valley from me there were a few shots. Very little shooting, which is unusual for this area on opening day. We'll see what I find this afternoon.

[Vaquero]

Was looking behind me and turned around and he was half way across the field. Maybe 50 yds., but watched me the whole time. Guess he saw me turning, a tall rack maybe 5 or 6 points.
Didn't want to spook him trying to get the gun up.

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RP

[daytime dave]

I didn't see anything this afternoon either. Very little shooting for opening day all around.

[daytime dave]

Not much shooting around me this am. One was very close by, but nothing moved my way.

[Vaquero]

I watched a doe early on for 45 mins or so. Then a little past 8 a decent 4 point crossed about 60 yds out, but I let it walk also.

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RP

[rickhem]

I had three bucks by me on Saturday. No does, which is strange, just those bucks. I was in a ground blind made from old logs and deadfall limbs, and it was there when I bought the property. It's delivered the past few years, so it's my go-to for opening day. Had a pretty nice 8-point walking about 60-70 yards to my west, and he even walked past the lane that I shot last year's deer, but I didn't shoot. Flashback: I hit a really nice buck in bow season, and didn't kill him, and saw him about two weeks later on a camera about a half mile away, still walking around with my arrow hanging out of his neck, so I'm kind of trying to finish that job.
Later in the day I had a small spike about 80 yards east of me, then a nice 9 with a broken rack working through a creek bottom to my north. I have months of trail camera videos showing some very large bucks on my property, so holding out for one of those.
Spent the morning and the evening in that same post and saw absolutely nothing all day.
I did find out that a guy was hunting about ¾ mile to my east shot a buck with an arrow in his neck. Did some follow=up and was texting him last night. It's that same deer and he has my arrow too, we'll hook up later this week so I can see the head and get back my arrow.

I'll be out and at it again later.

[rickhem]

On a sadder note, a guy I worked with texted and told me that a guy from his community was killed hunting this weekend. He said it's hitting his area hard. He said it would probably be a bit before it hit the news, and I haven't seen anything about that yet, but it's terrible news.

Everyone be careful out there.

[daytime dave]

Another morning of nothing in sight. I didn't hear any shots, probably due to being a work day.

Yes, it's too bad about the fellow killed while hunting. I won't hunt on public land. I'd rather see nothing than risk someone else seeing "me".

[CT_Shooter]

Flashback: I hit a really nice buck in bow season, and didn't kill him, and saw him about two weeks later on a camera about a half mile away, still walking around with my arrow hanging out of his neck, so I'm kind of trying to finish that job.

I did find out that a guy was hunting about ¾ mile to my east shot a buck with an arrow in his neck. Did some follow=up and was texting him last night. It's that same deer and he has my arrow too, we'll hook up later this week so I can see the head and get back my arrow.

Thanks for sharing this story, Rickhem. I'm glad to read that the wounded deer has been harvested. Very good news after a very sad event. Also sorry to read that a hunter has died in the field, possibly as a result of another hunter's mistake. Regardless, it's still sad.

Hoping you are successful later. Good luck.

[rickhem]

Follow up to an earlier post about the buck with my arrow in it. Met with that guy this afternoon and he gave me the 12" of arrow and broadhead that were still in the deer's neck. He had that buck's head still too, and it's a really nice 8 with a little sticker about half way up his left side G2. He has a few hundred plus acres east of me that he hunts, and he said this buck was still chasing does when he shot it Saturday morning. Nice guy, and we talked for a while, and I thanked him for returning my broadhead and chunk of arrow. I did bring another of those arrows to show it matched and validate that it was from me.
I feel better knowing that buck was harvested, sorry it wasn't me, but glad someone finished the job.