Rut 2008

Wow - here we are into bow hunting season in NY already. I have been involved with some changes at the office, retirement planning etc. and have been neglecting my BLOG lately. I did manage to get out a few times with the bow, however I have not had any decent shots and NO buck sightings yet.

Gun season here in NY is on 11/15, only 9 days away. My son has been up from Florida hutning with me and he goes back this weekend, so I am switching over to the gun mode.

I understand we lost 7 days of bow hunting season this year because of NYSDEC regs and the Saturday opening day scenario etc. I know that many bow hunters I have talked to have expressed concern over that issue, however every dark cloud has a silver lining as they say and this year per Charles Alsheimer's information, the rut will be in full swing with two great weeks to look at:

November 10-16th w/ (3/4 moon) & November 17-23rd (chase phase goes into overdrive) with the second week co-oresponding with the gun season in the southern zone. This means that the deer activity should be high with perhaps a tad of caution thrown to the wind by rutting bucks and willing does. I have talked to several guys who use trail cams a lot and have not been seeing much buck activity on the cameras. The first week of gun this year should be a great opportunity to see bucks that you have never filmed or seen on your property prior to hunting season. I shot the biggest buck of my life back in 2001 because of this. During the week of 17th - to the 23rd, the chasing, rubbing, fighting, scraping phase should be intense. You may see a buck at noon time or 2PM in the aftnoon as likely as you will early morning etc. My point is that what we lost as bow hunters will still be there during gun season and you can take advantage of 100 yard plus shots with a shotgun and 200 yard plus shots if your county allows rifle hunting.

I celebrated my 30th wedding anniversary on Tuesday Novemer 4th and I bought a 15foot ladder tree stand and plan on hunting out of that on opening day on 11/15.

I haven't decided yet whether to take the .308 Win or the .270. I suppose it does not much matter as both will easily take a whitetail out to 250 yards. In Dec I have a late season ML hunt booked down in Steuben county, NY and am looking forward to that hunt also.

Have a great hunting season and stay safe.

Dan

Psalm 139: 1-4 KJV "O, Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me (2) Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising, thou understandeth my thought afar off (3) Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art aquainted with all my ways, (4) For there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O,Lord, thou knowest it altogether"