Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting NY Opening Day

Good luck to all hunting NY firearms opener today.
Be safe,shoot straight and have fun!

Michigan as well.


Good luck Dan. I'm off to freeze my arse off again.....

Today consisted of the of throwing a trespasser out of a stand 75 yds from me at 8:30 am,driving to next property to find out more people in woods around my set to then driving to 3rd property and seeing 1 doe...Did I mention I really hate gun season?
The yahoo's will quit soon enough and I can actually start hunting deer again instead of orange jerks

I can't take the opening bit of the south opener, too many Yahoos. So I went up north. Nice and peaceful, I think everybody goes down south.

Found a set of fresh tracks and followed them to a little buck. I was so happy I caught up to him I shot him. So now I am out of NY tags.

Off to Vermont Monday.

Noknees, were you up in the Adirondacks?

Yes just the very southern edge of the park, In Bleeker. Its nice living less than a mile from the N/S line.

Small 8pt 2 doe and piebald button buck... Oh yea and a hunter sitting on a bucket 75 yds behind me
Touchy situation as he's a friend of neighbor where I park and yard I cut thru to get to my stand
Told him he wasn't on property he was supposed to be on that he cut trees and saplings on someone else's property and that it wasn't very cool setting a stand 75 yds from me
Did I mention I hate gun season

Yup. Gun season in NY has it's challenges

Noknees, that is very interesting. I have spent time in Utica sinse my mom grew up there. I have been to Old Forge. Some park there I recall. I also took a drive to Speculator and took a picture of West Canada creek. Some of the most beautiful country I have seen east of the MIssissippi River. Rough and rocky. I didn't know there were enough deer there to even bother hunting them. Acoording to my uncle ,lives in Whitesboro? sais he gets invited every year to his friends 300 ac up there and never goes. " Nuthin up there" he sais. Oh well.

I had a good opener. I passed 3 separate does early on. About 10:30, I heard deer coming behind me. It was an 8pt following a doe. The buck was just about to clear some brush when he hung up. I think he winded me a little. He dropped 20 yards back into the brush. Trying to get turned around to see behind better, I caught the top of my boot on my stand and it made a little noise. The buck looked my way and we got into a long standoff, neither one of us flinching for about 20 minutes. I had the gun up but had no shot. Finally, the buck moved. He took a couple of steps and bedded down. I thought of trying to shoot him on his bed but there was one stick showing across his chest and you know how that usually works out.

Fast forward to the end of the story. The buck stayed bedded down behind me for four hours. Around 3:00 a small doe came walking up from behind me and the buck got up to check her out. He followed her up out of the brush to where I could get a shot. 7-08, 120g TSX through both shoulders, DRT. Not a trophy 8pt just a nice freezer buck.



Notice the little spot of piebald on his muzzle.

Nice patience you had, glad it payed off! Have a pic?

Thanks. I added a pic to my post.

I gave up my hot spot again this year to my buddies Dad. he's 80, and well....

Last year he missed a buck there. this year he and my buddy killed matching PA 11 points. Both were extremely happy, as was I for them.

I never saw a buck in 2 solid days of hunting. I did manage to mercy kill a doe that looks to have been crippled by a car sometime last year. She was nothing but skin and bones and I doubt she would survive the winter.

Not my best opening weekend but lots of good times and memories.

had towork till about 9:30 got home got my brother out about 10 am he shot a doe 15 minutes later.Not too bad for getting late start

I would guess that there are 5 or 10 times more deer in the southern tier than where I hunt in the dacks but I am getting to the age where where I would rather have a good hunt in a beautiful place than be elbow to elbow with a lot of hunters just for a better chance to shoot a deer. I think its a benefit of age.

Amen to that noKnees!

Absolutely noKnees. My son and I go up to the Moose River Plains for the Bear and deer opener. Set up camp and spend a few days just enjoying the big country cooking in the dutch ovens, and being away from it all. Great job Southerntier8, nice looking buck there. My 14 year old son got his first this year. Sunday afternoon.

He may shoot many deer in his life, but he will always remember that one.

yes he will. He is getting a lot of mileage out of this. He is the only one in our group to have taken a deer yet. He's beating out the old man!!! But I am happy for him!

The NY regular whitetail season opened with a dusting of two day old snow on the ground, most of the leaves down but the woods were basically bare. Temperatures were cold, rising through the mid-twenties with intermittent breezes that carried the dampness of the rain from the day before. We were down to the last of the whitetail sausage in the freezer. I had sat out 2013�s NY deer season in protest of newly passed in the dark of night, misguided, poorly written, anti-sportsmen legislation. My friend Gene had set up a trail cam and hunting blind on my mother�s property. He preferred to hunt from tree stands but the cameras had picked up several deer near the blind and he graciously offered me the use of it. I accepted his offer and spent the morning grateful for the shelter the tent offered from the wind as 6 hours dragged by from dawn until noon showing me numerous birds, squirrels, and a glimpse of single small skiddish doe about 100 yards away. I did not have a doe tag and probably did not see her long enough to shoot even if I had one. Saturday afternoon we had plans and arrived back home long after the early darkness had fallen. Call me superstitious but I had neglected to eat the ceremonial slice of opening day apple pie for breakfast.Is it any wonder I didn't have any luck?

A few brief hours of sleep brought me to reluctantly rolling out of bed Sunday morning. I was all but convinced that the woods were empty and were it not for Gene�s pictures of deer on the trail cams, I might have stayed in bed. But it was the opening weekend and I was home. You can�t pass up opportunities like that. I hauled myself out of bed and into the warmest clothes I own � a tick proof under layer of close fitting clothes and socks. Heavy green wool pants, blaze orange camo sweatshirt , heavy wool blend socks, boots, hat, and glommits (glove/mitten combos), and a blaze camo parka. I added oxygen activated foot warmers to my boots, and added hand warmers when in the woods. Before I left the house, I did not take time to make coffee, but I made sure that I had a piece of pie.

I walked out with coat unzipped, and gloves off trying to keep from sweating as I walked to the stand I had mentally selected. I planned to stand against a big tree on a stone wall on the south end of my parents� land � the exact spot from which I had shot my last buck 2 years before. As I walked to it, I prayed �Lord, please show me a nice buck, and if it is within your will help me to kill him and bring him home.�
By the time I arrived I was breaking a sweat, but I bundled up and settled in to wait occasionally alternating between sitting on a cushion I had carried out with me and standing against the big oak. Squirrels kept me company but nothing else. After three hours I was cold enough that I decided to move. I slowly made my way 100 yards north to the top of the ridge. I stopped just a few yards from where I had shot my 2010 buck. The area had been logged in 2011 and I had not seen a deer there since the logging, but I was willing to give it a try. I resolved to sit for another hour before moving again.

I was getting cold and thinking it was time to move. Getting chilled I was beginning to wonder why I was hunting at all. Maybe I should just pack it in for the day. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was about 5 minutes until 10 AM. I told myself to wait the 5 more minutes until the hour was up before moving. I raised my binoculars and started my scan right to left, then I saw a deer coming along the stone wall toward me. It was on the opposite side of the low stone wall. The wall was not in the way of shooting but the dozens of trees between us were. I put the binoculars down and picked up the rifle. If the deer had antlers I would want the rifle in my hands when I saw them. I might not have long to get a shot off if the deer veered deeper into the trees. He was about 125 yards away but coming closer. The wall came within 75 yards. I would have an easy shot if he kept moving parallel to the wall. I put the scope on him and saw several inches of antler as he passed between two trees. He was a legal buck!

Just as he stepped into view again he turned almost directly away from me then swerved quartering away. I had seen deer take that route before and it went behind some pine trees and out of sight. This might be the only legal buck I saw all season, I couldn�t let him get away. I took quick aim and fired.

The buck hit the brakes, reversed direction and trotted back the way he had come from. When he reached the wall he slowed from a fast trot to slow trot and turned broadside moving away. He was almost the exact place I first saw him but facing the opposite direction when my .375 caliber 300 grain Hornady round nose bullet pushed by 66.5 grains of Alliant�s Reloader 15 entered just above the elbow of his right front leg, passed through both lungs, creased the top of his heart and exited just below the elbow of the left front leg. His front legs went out from under him and his shoulder hit the ground before he scrambled to his feet and ran out of sight.

I took a deep breath, apparently I had been holding it while shooting. I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving and texted Gene that I had shot but couldn�t see the deer, and that I planned to wait 5 minutes before looking for him. I did not want to risk pushing a wounded deer into running. I hate tracking. Gene said that he would be right there. I topped off my magazine and used my binoculars to try to find the deer but I couldn�t see him. After 5 minutes by my watch I hung my blaze hat on the tree so I would be able to easily come back to my daypack and started down the slope moving carefully and as quietly as I could, fearful of spooking a deer that might be running on three legs or gut shot. I knew the second shot had hit him but not whether it was a good hit or not. You just can�t take anything for granted. Just as I reached the wall, Gene arrived. I cautioned him to hang back while I looked for blood. First I found the trail in the leaves where he had trotted between my shots. I followed it to a good blood trail and motioned Gene forward. When he crossed the wall he stopped and looked through his scope looking for the deer and spotted him down about 40 yards away from where I spotted blood.
The hit had been good. It looked like he had scrambled out of sight, turned to watch his back trail and then just laid down with his feet under him and passed before I ever even stood up. He was a big 2x2, in the prime of health. I was very happy to have him. Thank you Lord.

Gene dressed him out while I went to get the 4 wheeler and helped me to drag and load him, and to hang him. I was very grateful for the help since even with the 4 wheeler it can be a challenge to get these big boys out of the woods. I�d guess the deer weight at 130 lbs but it is only a guess. I am happy to say that we�ll have plenty of venison for Christmas jerky.