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Well our gun season opened Saturday and is 2 days under way, Little Ang her father and I went out 5:30 Am I got her in her first ever treestand helped her get the shotgun up to her and went over to my stand. About 7:30 A couple of Doe walked right under me but with no permits for doe I had to let them walk, we all had radios so I called my father -in -law and told him the doe were on there way over to him but, they must have taken a different route.

I ask Ang how she was doing and she said she was ok ( took a little getting use to the height) but she settled in fine. 9:00 rolled around and Ang was getting coll so we broke for coffee, went back to the house about 300 yds away had breakfast got warmed up and went back put her in the stand again waited there till about 12:00 went for lunch, Ang was a little disappointed but was enjoying the outdoors and the exercise which was quite strenuous for her with all her gear.

Day 2 was about the same except when we broke for lunch we desided to put on a small drive, after lunch I took Ang and one of her father doe taggs and put her in my stand hoping that the drive would push one of the does back to her and she could get a deer but to no avail. Day 2 come and gone and Little Ang is disappointed but I told her in all the years I have been hunting I have only taken 5 deer and have seen only a few more than that. She is still having fun and is hoping to get back into a stand on Wednesday as she has only 2 days work this week and the rest off.

Big John: I have been reading about the poor shape the NY deer herd is in. Any truth to it?

Hey PS I don't know about poor, they just opened up rifle usage in my county because they thought it would help thin the herd out here so......who knows.

Thin out the herd with no doe tags? Them New Yorkers is crazy.



At least you got to see some deer. That makes it quite a bit better than going with no sightings.

Big John, what county are you in up there? I work upstate quite a bit, and somes of the areas I go to are loaded with deer.

Tioga County

Dave-t: I was just talking to some guys at the bowshop and they were talking about how bad deer season has been the past couple of years. They went on to say that in the late 90s they were shooting 35 deer a year on their 250 acres. Now, they just don't see them. I just kindof shook my darn head and walked off. Some places, there are numerous does that need thinning. Other places, the hunters are gonna have to wisen up.

I know what you mean PS. Near Clinton the deer pop is hit hard during the gun season. My father inlaw's place is 1/2 mile from public ground and there haven't been any numbers of deer there for 2-3yrs. 4-5yrs ago it was actually worth bowhunting, but I don't even waste my time now, after the unlimited doe tags have been in effect.

I have seen a decent 8pt down there this year, but him and two does is all that I have seen down there this year.

Well, I fear what is happening in some of these places will also happen around my property. We have some new idiots in town that are hunting. That, and nuisance permits have really put a hurt on our deer herd. You just don't see them anymore.

They will find the pockets of least pressure. You deciding to bowhunt only will really make your little chunk of property attractive to mature deer. You will miss out on opportunities that would have been easy with a gun, but the up-side is, that you know mature bucks will be "loyal" to your property, and that there should always be one or two there to hunt.

I firmly believe that a buck will stay in as small an area as will meet his needs, when he feels safe there. It doesn't take a lot of land to hold a buck, if the habitat is right and the pressure low. He'll travel for does, but if he doesn't get killed doing that, he will be back to his honey hole.