Deer Hunter Out of Retirement

[clemsonfor]

Yea, I still don't think I will do the 15* mornings, besides according to the camera I have a group of deer showing up between 11:00am and 12:00pm so I told my wife on real cold mornings I will hunt the 11:00am deer:thumbsup:

That will change from now till December 15th or so!!

 

[clemsonfor]

NO crossbows allowed in NY(first year for use during rifle) and no baiting.
Best advise I could give is ....get a good safety harness and use it.I now carry a cell phone also.I use ladder and hang on stands,but I am purchasing only ladder stands and will phase out the hang-on.Up north the deer don't start moving until it gets cold out.15 degrees would be a balmy day.

I hate ladder stands now, you so low and the deer will look at you esp when hunting in hardwoods where you rarely shoot over 75 yds. I almost exclusively use climbers now to get at least 20 feet up, closer to 25.

I have a good trail about 50 yards behind my house, Only problem is my deck is screened in. But I can sit and look out the window and watch for them then sneak out the front door!

Bullet holes are not that big, neither is an x or slit from an arrow, just rescreen as needed, wear ear muffs to as the noise eco will be loud on a covered deck. Afterall most ground blinds have a mesh material over the openings that you shoot through so that the animals cant look in good.

 

[westbrooklawn]

David - I can relate to your post. I grew up in rural upstate NY, and hunted constantly from the time I was 10 until I was about 22. Job moves, kid's activities, and career work in general kept me away from it for about 30 yrs. I started back about 10 years ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not like I spend a lot of time at it like some do... I usually start with a couple days of dove hunting, and then deer hunt about 14 times during the season. I started with rifle only, then got into muzzle loader, then last year purchased a Barnett Wildcat C5.... similar to your Quad 400. The muzzle loader and crossbow were initially just to lengthen the season, but I found I really liked using both of them as well as rifle. I have found corn feeders and trail cams are invaluable to bring the deer to a stand location as well as seeing what is out there and patterning movement. As far as stands go, I started with a climber, then went to fixed metal ladder stands, and last year built a box stand. The box is by far my favorite, both for comfort and safety. At 62 I don't enjoy the climber much any more. Last year I completed my personal "trifecta"... doe with the crossbow, buck with the muzzle loader, and two more does with the rifle.

I imagine your deer population is similar to what we have here in the Triangle area... more does need to be shot to bring the ratios into line. A couple of other things I have learned... 1. Bleat cans and rattling can help bring the bucks in during the rut... I've seen it work. 2. It is not necessary to field dress your deer... hang it by hind legs, and you can skin down and remove hind end, backstraps and shoulders without disturbing the body cavity. This concept was totally new to me from my early hunting days. There are several articles and videos on internet explaining how to do it. 3. I would highly recommend getting a Havalon knife with replaceable blades for dressing and boning deer. I have always kept good knives and kept them sharp, but the Havalon system really seems to be the best solution for me. Good luck... I hope you enjoy your return to hunting as much as I have!

 

[czechsonofagun]

Welcome back - hard to imagine I would pick wife over hunting , but I hunt only for few years now, it is still thrill for me.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

One thing I want do is all the gimmics. Simple corn feeder and camera only. Funny thing is some people at work who have found out I am starting to hunt again are telling me all these new things I need to do with scents and all this other expensive crap. Of course they only started hunting 5-8 years ago for the first time. I tell them when you grow up in the woods hunting as I did that just because you stopped huntign for a while does not mean you have forgotton everything.

I do think a range finder would be good and will look into one of those. I have a few bucks crossing the river side of the property. There are 7 different trails comming into the field. All seem to be different groups of deer. This is what I have observerd over the last 3 years. The deer are use to my scent and don't/have'nt shyed away from me the last 3-4 years even during season. I sure that will change this year since I am starting back hunting.

I did put a bag of corn out on the ground Tuesday night and checked it Wednesday evening. All the corn was gone, I mean there was no sign of corn at all on the ground. 45 pictures on the cam and I thought it had to be crows since we seem to have thousands of them. But it was deer, every picture from 9:30pm to 8:30 am.

How many of you field dress your deer and /or process it yourself and how many take to a meat processer?

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[foreman Etexas]

One thing I want do is all the gimmics. Simple corn feeder and camera only. Funny thing is some people at work who have found out I am starting to hunt again are telling me all these new things I need to do with scents and all this other expensive crap. Of course they only started hunting 5-8 years ago for the first time. I tell them when you grow up in the woods hunting as I did that just because you stopped huntign for a while does not mean you have forgotton everything.

I do think a range finder would be good and will look into one of those. I have a few bucks crossing the river side of the property. There are 7 different trails comming into the field. All seem to be different groups of deer. This is what I have observerd over the last 3 years. The deer are use to my scent and don't/have'nt shyed away from me the last 3-4 years even during season. I sure that will change this year since I am starting back hunting.

I did put a bag of corn out on the ground Tuesday night and checked it Wednesday evening. All the corn was gone, I mean there was no sign of corn at all on the ground. 45 pictures on the cam and I thought it had to be crows since we seem to have thousands of them. But it was deer, every picture from 9:30pm to 8:30 am.

How many of you field dress your deer and /or process it yourself and how many take to a meat processer?

Thanks for the input guys!

I do the field dressing and quarter up the meat but I let the women(wife&mom)do the fun part processing

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . The point of this thread is, you guys that deer hunt a lot, help a hunter get re-established. Tell me some of your tricks, baits, etc. :thumbsup:

Thanks,
David

I also came out of "retirement" several years ago, when my son wanted to start hunting. Now, he's all grown up and doesn't hunt anymore, and I'm still doing it. (but it's all his fault)

As far as tips and tricks: Use the crossbow at night with a red lens on the spotlight.

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . Bullet holes are not that big, neither is an x or slit from an arrow, just rescreen as needed . . .

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[outinthetalgrass]

Since one of the better deer trails runs right behind my house about 75 yards from my back deck, It has become my deer stand. I sit out on the deck chairs and wait for the deer to come by.

I second sitting on the back porch, and waiting for the deer to come to you.

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . How many of you field dress your deer and /or process it yourself and how many take to a meat processer? . . .

Process my own, but I don't field dress.

We hang the deer, head down, from the hocks. (hamstrings)
Then, skin the deer. Use a Wyoming knife. (there are a few "gimmicks" that have made life much easier since you dropped out of hunting. )
Fillet out the backstrap and tenderloins.
Separate the front legs at the knees. Just cut through the soft tissue and pop the "ball joint" out.
Separate the shoulders from the carcass. Again, just cut through the soft tissue behing the shoulder blade.
Separate the hams from the carcass. Cut through soft tissue between the spine/pelvic bone and the hip joint. Pop the ball joint out.
Separate the knee joints.
Now, you will have the backstrap and tenderloins, two hams and two shoulders. No gut pile. (you just dispose of the carcass intact) No bones have been cut, so there are no bone fragments in your steaks. The only downside to this method is that you loose the ribs, but, I think you would starve to death trying to live off of deer ribs anyway.

BTW, take the meat and put it in an ice chest. Cover it with ice and water. Add ice daily and drain off excess water, until there is no blood in the water. Depending on the age of the deer, that will be from a day or two up to a week. Then, you can cut it up and enjoy! :thumbsup: