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It’s torture having to work this week. Come Friday I’m headed to camp for at least 7 days. This pic was taken last night at a scrape I found a few weeks ago that I freshen up every time I go by. I think this is the 5th different buck I have visiting.

I remember Pumpkin Mt.. Was in there a lot in the 80's. Can't remember the Smiths name, Nice Guy. Talked with him quite a bit. He had a Win 9422 mag. on the rack. Wished I had bought it.

The weather has been all over the map this week. Hope you’re having (or had) some luck. Seeing and hearing deer just no results yet. They are much more active since Wednesday here (near sevey’s corner)

miguel.great pics,may i ask what part of adirondacks you are hunting,also the moose living there now is a shock to me.when i was a youngster back in 1966 my dad bought a summer home on schroon lake.spent many weekends and all summers there for years.most beautiful and favorite place to be for me for many years.dad sold to a good friend in 84 as he bought oceanfront property and built a home in north carolina.have not been back but plan on it in 2024.remember us going to the dumps on weekend nights to watch and feed the bears.was truly gods country,it was difficult to explain to people the air smelled so pure and fresh you could almost taste it.

The week in the woods was incredible and went by way too fast. The first two days in I had an old friend staying with me. The last time we hunted together was a 1987 camping trip around Wanakena NY Adirondacks. He joined the Navy soon after, and hadn’t hunted since. We had a great time in camp, although it was challenging hunting with him. He really wasn’t into taking it too seriously, but once I figured that out, we had a blast.
Once he headed home to Virginia I started hunting hard. The weather was great for the week, but very little snow. Twice we had about 1/2”, and then it was gone. Forget about tracking. I wanted to try something different this year, and I used the grunt call much more aggressively and often than ever before. I also gave rattling a try. I had rattled in the past, but never had much luck with it. Skane had reached out and offered some tips and encouragement to give it a honest attempt. I have to thank him again, it is definitely a worthwhile weapon in your deer hunting arsenal.

Lots of moose sign all over the property, but I didn’t see one. They are definitely here though!

I changed the scope on my 7600 .30-06 carbine this year. I had been using a Leupold 1.5-5 Vari-XIII since I bought it in 2019 and had no complaints, and it always worked perfectly. But if you spend enough time reading about Leupold hate on online forums, you start to question the reliability. So, I thought I should try a new scope. I settled on a Trijicon Accu-Point 1-4x24 with the German #4 with green dot. Optically it is a better scope than the Leupold, and the reticle is BOLD, and very quick on target, especially with the illuminated center dot. The problem is it is considerably heavier than the Leupold and really affects the balance and pointability. Overall, I’m not really too happy with the new set up, and didn’t carry the 7600 as much as I usually do. I’ll probably be doing something different with this rifle for next year, I may even go back to the Leupold.
The other rifle I hunted the woods with a lot this year is my Remington Model 7 FS in 7mm-08. It wears a Leupold VX-r 2-7x33. Fully loaded it weighs 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and points like a dream. With 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips it is extremely accurate and deadly. These FS model 7’s were the deal of the century. Those Brown stocks are perfection.

I bought a Rem seven FS in 7-08 this fall and am using it this season. I really like it. It needs a deep cleaning since it was well used by a previous owner and it will get that over the winter. But it shoots great and points nice with the 18-1/2” barrel.

We get quite a few moose pictures on my families property but have yet to see a moose rub. Those pictures are great.

Good stuff, Miguel. I have taken 3 deer hunting trips to the ADKs. I am starting to put plans together for next November. On my 1st trip I hunted from a tent/base camp. The next two were bivvy hunts. I hunted the east side in a wilderness area and saw very few deer but did blow a chance at a buck on my third trip. I am itching to go again but want to go later in the season than in the past in hopes of possible tracking snow. I have a wall tent but I am not sure if I am going to go that route or bivy again. I might also try an area that is not wilderness in hopes of higher deer numbers from logging.

Let us know if you got one. I am enjoying your pics.

The weather cooled down some and we got a little snow, but barely enough to try and track. The ground still wasn’t frozen and anywhere the sun could hit the snow melted quick. Although tracking was difficult, the snow kick started deer movement and rutting activity.

As I said earlier, I was grunting and calling much more w aggressively this year than I had ever before. Twice that week, both times early morning, I had smaller bucks, a 4 point crotch, and a small basket rack respond to grunting. Both times I was still hunting the edges of spruce thickets and they charged out into the open hardwoods to find the intruder. I hadn’t had anything respond to the rattling yet, but I kept at it.
My last full day to hunt, I gave rattling a thorough try. I had been concentrating on the spruce thickets, but around noon I tried a swampy area, willows and cedars, and a steep rock ledge forms a funnel. I rattled a long sequence, maybe 2 minutes, paused five minutes, then another two minutes sequence, making all of the noise I could. Then I settled in for at least an hour wait. I couldn’t see my downwind side as well as I would have liked, it was too thick, but I had great visibility on all other sides. About five minutes after I quit rattling I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. A really nice buck was about 30 yards away from me, directly downwind. Just as I saw him, he smelled me. I already had the crosshairs on him, but there was heavy brush between us. He took two steps to backtrack and I had a clear shot.

What’s left of a .284 140 Grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, found just under the hide on the opposite shoulder.

Congrats on the buck! Nice shooting!

The little Model 7FS came through again! He didn’t run 20 yards and was done. I was surprised at the size of the body, especially the neck and shoulders. I guessed him at over 200, but once he made it to a scale he went 193lbs, not bad for the Adirondacks! Nice heavy 8 point rack that he abused fighting and knocked a point off, so officially a 7 point.
The nicest thing about hunting on private land as opposed to the Forest Preserve, now instead of starting to drag I went and retrieved my Honda Rancher at camp and made short work of getting him hung on the meat pole.

I owe a huge thanks to Skane. He gave me some great pointers on rattling, and the confidence to give it a good attempt. The funny thing is, he really emphasized how important it is to keep watch downwind of your rattling location, and that’s exactly how it played out.

Way to go, brother! Thanks for taking us along. Beautiful buck.

Congrads on great buck! Enjoy your thread every year!

Miguel, great story and pics. As has been mentioned, real deer hunting.

Bob

Great buck, nice story.
Thanks for sharing it with us!

Congratulations "M", on a great hunt !!

Yes, Scott is a font of deer hunting knowledge & a really good guy !