November 4th 2011

      On October 30th myself and 5 other guys left for a trip to central N.Y. for what was supposed to be a meat hunting trip. On November 2nd we returned (a day early) from the worst trip I have ever been on (one deer sighting in 4 days).
       I was happy to be back in MA and even happier to see that the 16 inches of snow that had fallen on the morning that we had left, was almost gone. We got home from N.Y. late Wednesday night and I spent Thursday washing all my clothes and getting ready for my hunt on Friday. The winds had been primarily from the southwest for the previous few days but were going to be switching to the N/NW on the 4th. I had two stand that I could hunt on the N/NW winds, I considered these two stands to be my best two stands. I thought long and hard about how I would hunt the two spots and which one I would go to in the morning. After flipping a coin I made my decision.
      On Friday morning I made my way out to the stand I had chosen. The stand is about a 40 minute hike, out onto a ridge that is mostly made up of mountain laurel so thick, you can't walk through it. My stand is located where this laurel reaches more open hardwood (mostly oaks). Over the summer this location produced tons of trail camera pictures of does. It only produced two buck pictures (a broken racked 6 point and a fork horn). I still set the stand with the idea that the does lived in the laurel, and come November the bucks would be there.
       I got to the stand before dark, it was cold, and fairly windy (10-15mph). At approximately 8pm the wind took a break just for a bit, the woods fell very quiet. I took the opportunity to roll my estrous bleat can about 4-5 times and put it away. About 5 minutes later as I looked up the thick line of mountain laurel out in front of me and a little to my right I could see a piece of laurel moving and the black nose of a deer. A buck was rubbing some laurel about 50-60yds away. As the buck slowly came out of the laurel I could see it was a good 8 point buck. He moved very slowly toward me. I could feel that the wind was perfect and he had no chance to wind me. He was very careful, looking hard, and checking the wind with every step. It seemed like he was never going to step out in the open. As he reached about 40 yds and appeared as if he would step out, I noticed movement in the same spot where he had exited the laurel. It was another rack buck, another 8 pointer. I quickly realized that the first buck was the biggest, and that he was now working closer and was going to walk through the wide open at 25 yards. I quickly disregarded the other buck and focused on the first. I slowly came to full draw as he stepped in to open. I gave a quick mouth grunt to stop him. He didn't hear me, and walked right through the first lane. Within a second he entered the second lane and I again grunted and he didn't hear me, I quickly grunted louder and this time he stopped. I released me arrow and within a split second knew that this buck wasn't going very far.
      I grabbed my phone to let everyone know that I had just shot a good buck and that I was gonna need some serious help to get him out of the woods. I also let my brother know that I knew which buck I had killed. Over the summer he had got a trail camera photo of a high-racked eight pointer on a ridge about 1/4 - 1/2 mile away. This buck was very tall and unique and I knew as soon as I had seen him which buck he was.Within an hour or so I was back at the stand with a 4-wheeler and 3 friends to help. With snow still on the ground and a large hole made by a Rage broadhead, the trail was easy to follow. The buck ran about 150yds before dieing at the edge of the same mountain laurel he had come out of. The buck was big and took some serious work, even with a 4-wheeler to get out of the woods. Thanks to everyone who helped get him out of the woods.

     The end result was an 8point buck that weighed 191 lbs.

bucks on the move!!

THE NIGHT OF OCTOBER 5, 2011, I HAD 3 DIFFERENT BUCKS ON THERE FEET!! THIS WAS THE NIGHT THE COLD FRONT ACTUALLY CAME THROUGH. HOPE IT STAYS SEMI COLD FROM HERE ON OUT. HOPE TO BE ABLE TO POST SOME MORE PICTURES SOON. I HAD THIS BUCK IN VELVET ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO AND NOW HES HARD HORNED AND PACKING ON THE WEIGHT.

First Bucks of the fall!

Here are some of my newest Vids. The top buck is a buck I had pics of after the season last year in the same area. He has added some mass and tine length, he's a brute now. The short-tined eight pointer doesn't have much of a rack, but he has a huge body, I have his pic in velvet as well, but I don't think I got his pic last year. The last video is quick, but appears to be another smallish 8 point. Looks like they are starting to move a bit, hopefully I can get some more pics up soon.

Beastly 6 PT

This beastly 6 PT has a broken brow on the left side and huge G2's. Biggest 6 I have seen.

Another 7

Here's a picture of a wide 7 taken in Mass around noon last week. There is a second deer behind it but you can't see its head.

Finally on the Board

It was Dec. 2, 2010 and I hunted MA with a muzzleloader in the morning again having a deer slip by behind me. I've been chasing deer for 2.5 months and have yet to get one due mostly in part to my own stupidity.

After sitting the morning in MA I decided I would go to NH and check my camera to see if there was any recent activity. I threw my bow in the car and went up. If it looked promising I would stay up there otherwise I would return to MA and waste my time down here. I have been hunting NH since Sept 15 and have not seen a deer. Why would I think it could ever look promising.

Early I posted pictures of a big 7 PT that I got on my camera last week. It had rained hard and heavy for most of the day Wednesday, so when I arrived and found fresh tracks I thought I would have some pictures that would tell me how recently the deer had been there. I pulled the SD card and found the batteries were dead and there were no pictures.

I'm here and the tracks look fresh so screw it I thought. Something might come. I changed, and climbed into the treestand just before 2 PM. I hadn't been in the tree 45 minutes when I heard a noise to my left. I glanced over and saw the body of a deer behind a hemlock. When it stepped out I could see it was the beast.

He started toward me and was no more than 30 yards and he stopped. I had switched out the batteries in the camera and I thought he might have caught my scent. I had used this scent I saw on TV called Calm A Herd, it's supposed to be a cover scent and smell like deer. The stuff is a stick and is $20 for 2.5 oz. I rubbed some on the nearby trees to cover my scent from changing out the batteries before I got in the stand.

The buck acted cautious but didn't seem to scared. He would start in, then walk back, he was after the acorns that were under my stand. He circled behind me and in front of me just out of range for an hour and a half. He was just taking his time never acted scared, but very cautious. He was back in the hemlocks behind me and I could hear him, but not see him. It was getting late 4:40 when I heard a deer walking steady toward me. I thought it was a different deer.

The beast never stopped and walked right under my treestand. He was broadside at 15 feet when I drew back. I had watched him for so long that I was completely calm and I was telling myself to take my time and not blow it. It was gray light, and I could see the green dot from my sight as I lowered it onto his form. I touched the trigger on my release and he bolted going about 100 MPH. I had no idea where the arrow hit as I couldn't see it when it released.

The string on my string tracker was going out, so I knew the arrow was in him. I climbed down and was going to look for him in the morning since I was unsure where he was hit, and I had a detail at 6:30 I had to get to. As I was walking out I came across my string. I noticed the blood trail at that point was heavy and I only went about 20 yards and I saw him piled up.

His inside spread is just about 21 inches. He weighed 168 lbs.

NH Buck

These are pictures I got of a 7 PT under my treestand in NH. I have not seen a single deer in that state and I have over 100 hours in trees. The beast is wide and probably close to 200 LBs.

There are at least a few deer in Massachusetts!

       Yesterday Nov. 12th I saw deer! I haven't seen a deer since Nov. 2nd. I would have never thought it would be possible. That I could spend virtually every day in a stand, during the first two weeks of November, and not see a deer, but it has happened. I don't know what happened to the rut. I don't know why I haven't been seeing deer, but I do know that I am not the only one experiencing this problem. 
    Yesterday at 8:30am out in front of my stand about 80yds I could see a large doe heading my way, with this years fawn leading the way. My stand is located on a ridge that runs north and south. I come in on the east side of the ridge, which is very steep but it allows me to get into my stand without the fear of any deer cutting my track. The deer were coming from the north on a run that travels 20 yds to the left of my stand. The wind was out of the Northwest, which meant there was no chance these deer were going to wind me, it looked like I may fill my doe tag. The deer were feeding on acorns and slowly walking toward me. When the fawn reached the 40 yd mark she dipped into some thick brush that is a little further west of the run and disappeared, the mother did the same. I could hear them in the leaves and within minutes the fawn came out almost dead left of me, still heading south past my stand. I let her pass waiting for the mother. The fawn fed within 20yds of my stand behind me and continued south. The mother never came out...no filled doe tag.
    At 9:30 I could hear a deer walking from the same area the does had come from, maybe the mother was bedded and was coming out. Nope, I could see a buck, that I thought was a big spike heading my way. Like I said the does came from the same area but he did not seem to be trailing them. He was not searching, he would sniff the ground but he didn't seem to be on the hunt. At 40 yds, where the does had gone left, he went right. He did not seem to even notice that the doe's were there, and that they had gone the other way. He continued toward me until he was directly in front of me at 20yds (the only place I don't have a shot due to the pine trees that hide my stand). He stood there and ate acorns for about 5 minutes. During this time I realized that he was not a spike but a small six point, he had 10 or 12 inch beams, each had two small (less that 2'' tines). He ate acorns, cleaned himself, shook off, he basically didn't seem like a buck looking for doe's, more like a deer that just woke up from a nap. After eating some acorns I figured he would continue his trek south past my stand either on the right, or left on the main run. Nope, he walked straight to my stand, under the pines that hide me, until he was sniffing my tree steps. One good sniff and a quick look up, and he was off to the races, blowing loud enough to alert every deer in the area (not that there were anymore). If you asked me on November 2nd if I would fill my 2nd tag on another small buck, I would have said "no way". Seeing a deer has been so difficult, the thought had crossed my mind, and if I had been given the opportunity...I may have ended my season on a 120lb 6pt. But.... I didn't... and now I'll have to keep hunting, hopefully not for another 10 days without a deer sighting.                                                       

THIS IS THE PLACE I SHOULD OF BEEN AT YESTERDAY

I HUNTED THIS SPOT HERE ON MONDAY THE DAY IT WAS MISERABLE AND SAW NOTHING!!! BECAUSE OF ALL THAT WIND WE HAD DEER WERE NOT MOVING I THINK. YESTERDAY I WENT TO ANOTHER SPOT AND LETS JUST SAY I SHOULD OF BEEN HERE. THE BUCK IS A FOUR POINTER THREE ON ONE SIDE AND A SPIKE ON THE OTHER. THE BUCK IS WITH A BUTTON BUCK. THE FOUR POINTER BEDDED DOWN IN THIS SCRAPE FOR 8 MINUTES. THE DOES CAME IN LAST NIGHT TO THE SCRAPE, I FIND IT AMAZING ON HOW THEY"LL GET UP ON THERE HIND LEGS FOR A SNIFF. THE DATE AND TIME ARE WRONG ON THESE PICTURES BUT I DO KNOW THE BUCK WAS THERE YESTERDAY AT SOME POINT AND THE DOES WERE LAST NIGHT. I CHECKED CAMERA ON MONDAY AND THERE WAS ONLY 2 PICTURES HERE. I GUESS I KNOW WHERE I"LL BE TOMORROW.

Where NOT to go in New York

I just returned from a much anticipated 3 day bow hunt in Central New York with a guide service by the name of CP's Guide Service (www.biggamehuntingny.com). The crux of this message is to never consider using this guide service while searching for trips in NY. I had the misfortune of learning the hard way.
This was not my first guided hunt in NY and I have had several decent hunts. However our group decided to change it up this year and found this guy at the Outdoors Show at the Big E last Spring. He had everything to offer, archery and gun hunting, on-site butchering, a country inn with 2000 adjoining acres and 50 stands. All this less than three hours away and for only $650. Sounded like a good deal so I checked several references who all gave the guide high marks.
Well...., that was before the guides wife took out a restraining order against him so that he lost the property and everything that came with it. That left him scrambling for lodging which turned out to be an absolute dump where we slept on stretchers. No lie.
We could have dealt with less than ideal living quarters, but what he did next was abysmal. The guide had yet to step in the woods this year and this is his full time job. His stands (which turned out to be 18 and not 50) had not been touched since last year. Most of them were not even close to where the deer had been traveling. Thank god I brought my climber to make adjustments. He didn't talk to us to see what we've been seeing, if we wanted to move, if we needed help,...etc. He didn't talk to us period! After three days, this guy still didn't even know our names!!! He basically took $650 from the six of us and just took off each day. Getting out to all of the stands was our own dilemma and several were over a half hours drive.
The weather was terrible which I can accept, that's part of hunting. There were deer in this area in good numbers too. But his lack of preparation, professionalism, his rudeness and the fact that he was not honest about his situation is what ticked off all of us. So much so, that we all abandoned the hunt on the last afternoon. The one guy who took a deer called the guide to ask for help after it crossed onto private property, he was told to just trespass and get the deer back to camp. Sorry, but isn't that the guides responsibility to help out in that situation?
Alright, enough whining. Just wanted to let people know to stay clear of this clown.