Deer Hunting Season 2010 in NY

My son Jeremy and I returned from an very enjoyable but unsuccessful baited bear hunt at Carey Outfitters in Maine to experience a pretty successful deer hunting season in NYS.

Our bow season started here in NY on October 16th and ran until Nov 19th. Opening day found us on my son-in-laws property. The season started with a lot of deer activity, mostly does. I prefer  to hunt on the ground and had at times 11 does around me during the morning hours. In fact I had so many does around me, I was unable to draw my bow. I was not in a pop up ground blind and if I had been I could have easily had my pick of the largest doe, as all were within 25 yards of my position. I was in fact sitting on a three legged stool, with some fresh cut tree limbs and pine boughs around me for cover. They all came in at once and were essentially on all sides of me. Part of the fun for me is just being that close to deer without them knowing I was there.

My son-in-law shot a doe from his tree stand at a range of 27 yards. The doe hit the ground, spun around, then recovered her feet and took off downhill through the woods. The blood trail was somewhat sparse and three of us tracked her for 45 minutes through the woods and down the hill where she eventually crossed the road. She ended up laying down in a creek bed. She jumped up when my son Jeremy surprised her and started up the embankment away from the road. Jeremy took an approximate 45 yard shot with his PSE Bow Madness shooting 2 blade RAGE broad heads. I have never been a fan of mechanical broad heads, however the entry and exit wound left by the RAGE broad head has forced me to admit, they are a viable option for deer hunting. The deer piled up within 12 yards of where she was hit. 

(Side Note:  The initial shot appeared to have been a deadly one, as the deer dropped and didn't move at first.  We later concluded that the larger fixed blade broadheads he uses on an older bow, at 198 FPS didnt have enough penetration to pierce the small crevis of two rib bones.  Instead, the broadhead seperated from the arrow shaft after entering the shoulder muscle and bouncing off the rib cage at 27 yards.  The 9" of broken arrow was later discovered buried beneath the tall grass without the broadhead.  After the initial search, we decided to change and come up with a new game plan to find her.  When a single pool of blood was discovered along the side of the road where she must have rested, we were lead into the backyard of a neighbor whose property borders a rather large creek.  Injured deer will seek out cool water and may stay there until they are forced to move.  I approached the water bed with ease and watched for any movement.  I had a strange feeling I would see her any minute.  My hope was to recover her and not to find her alive.  I heard a splash and had only seconds to knock an arrow and take the shot  Luckily the arrow made its mark.  The first image is of the entrance wound and the latter of the exit.  The broadhead went through the center of the heart leaving a 3' blood trail on either side of the doe, and exited through the opposite shoulder, finally stopping in a tree.  I was shooting at 248 FPS with RAGE 2 broadheads and couldn't believe the penetration and knock down power at 45-50 yards) 

The rest of bow season was pretty much uneventful as far as successfully harvesting an animal goes, however there were some exciting close encounters.

That takes us to opening day of gun season which was Saturday, November 20th.We had snow on the ground which was a plus, and yet the weather was comfortable. The deer activity was phenomenal with the bucks pursing does like crazy.  We were at one of the properties we normally hunt during gun season and the buck to doe ratio was also excellent. Early morning on opening day, produced a 6 point buck for my brother-in-law Allen. This was Allen's first deer with a rifle and he made a good shot with his Marlin 30-30. Later that morning Jeremy took a button horn buck at around 75 yards with my Ruger Mdl 77 MKII .270 Winchester with 150 grain Winchester Power Points. He thought he was shooting a doe, which turned out to be a button horn buck. That deer filled the first doe tag.

(Above Photo: Allen's 6 point opening day NYS deer season Marlin 30-30 with 170 grain loads, and Jeremy's button horn buck filling his doe tag.)

My brother had seen two very nice bucks pursuing 4 or 5 does while sitting in his tower stand. Unfortunately for him, the bucks were on the far side of 400 yards. He was using a Ruger Mdl 77 MKII in .300 Win mag with a Leupold VariXIII scope on board and was comfortable out to around 300 yards from a rest. 400 yards was pushing the envelope even from a solid rest. I forgot to ask Tim, but assume he was using 180 grain hand loads.

Nothing was happening for me where I was sitting, so I decided to still hunt over towards a ravine where the big bucks are known to hide out when the shooting starts. The wind was wrong for me to still hunt, so I decided to walk down through the chest high golden rod towards the ravine anyway in hopes of pushing out the bucks, or perhaps getting lucky for a close shot. In the process I kicked up 2 does which circled back to my right in the direction I just came from into the golden rod. I swung to my right, picked up the second doe, and broke her back on her third jump with the Savage .308. I was using Federal 150 grain Power Shoks which had proved exceptionally accurate in my rifle. The larger doe had veered sharply to the right, into some saplings making a shot at her difficult at best. While concentrating on the two does, I failed to see the two large bucks below me and to my left taking a different route along the edge of the ravine, then running past my brother's tower stand too fast for him to take a shot. They ended up going down over the hill through the woods and having slowed down to a walk, went close to where Jeremy was sitting. The .270 barked again and Jeremy had heart shot a 13 point, heavy beamed buck. This was the best deer Jeremy had ever shot, and was within 150 yards of where I took a 130 class 8 point Thanksgiving morning in 2001.Jeremy's deer has been rough scored at 146 7/8".

(Above Photo: Jeremy's 13 pt buck and Dan's button horn buck opening day of NYS deer season / Sat Nov 20th, 2010) 

(I had become very cold and decided to take a short walk to warm up just prior to seeing this buck. As I walked up a rather steep hill I spooked a small deer that ran down the hill through some thick pines. I got my phone out to check up on my dad when I heard something crashing through the woods above me. I looked over and saw a doe running past me with a younger buck on her tail. Then shortly behind him I saw the buck in the photo and my heart started pounding, I had no time to think. They were moving very quickly. I got on my knees and leaned against a tree. I yelled several times to get them to stop but they were oblivious of me. Luckily the doe decided to run back up the hill and the bigger buck was right behind her. He happened to step out from behind a tree almost directly across the slope, level with me and I was able to make a heart shot. He didnt run more than 30-40 yards down the hill before he layed down behind a large fallen timber.)

(Another shot of Jeremy's 13 pt buck taken with .270 Win using 150 grain Win Power Points)

We had some additional exciting encounters with does and one large buck during muzzle loading season without success. Jeremy made a nice stalk crawling on his belly through deep snow while cradling the TC Omega ML across his arms. Unfortunately when he was close enough to make a shot, the gun would not go off. While crawling through the snow across the meadow, he inadvertently had been packing snow and ice into the bottom of the Omega, which temporarily froze the action so the gun would not fire. He was able to cock the hammer, however he could NOT pull the trigger and the action was frozen to the point he also could NOT open the action either. We played tag with up to 11 does and one huge buck for two days in the late afternoon without being able to take a high percentage shot at any of them. The photo below is a solution that Jeremy sewed together to solve the problem of getting snow and ice into the Omega's action.

Closing thoughts:

All in all it was a great season. Neither one of us were successful in taking a bear on our Sept hunt in Maine, and yet I will always have memories of that trip. See my post on Carey Outfitters bear hunt to read that story.

I didn't take a big buck this year, and it turns out the doe I shot was also a button horn buck. I would be a liar if I said I didn't care if I took a monster buck or not, and yet this season was one of my most memorable hunting seasons. Hunting is about more than taking the largest buck, or making the most difficult shot, etc. It is about time spent together in the woods and at the range, and the anticipation of opening day.

If one of us, or all of us take monster bucks, that is a bonus. I think I got more enjoyment out of watching and listening to Jeremy tell and retell the story about his 13 point buck, than if I would have shot him myself. I like to think that I have passed something onto Jeremy in his love of hunting. My prayer is that the November 2010 elections will bring some common sense and proper respect for the 2nd amendment, and smaller government back to these United States.

2001 130 class 8 point and Jeremy's 2010 13 point rough scored 146 7/8 class buck. Both bucks taken on the same property 150 yards and 9 years apart.

Dan

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other" John Adams