Last First

 I put the video for the last day of the archery season and the opener for the muzzleloader season together. So far it's not been a horrible season, having seen deer on 3 of the five hunts I've been able to get in.

Yesterday was part of the game on public land.

When I got to my chosen spot there were already two vehicles there. One smaller SUV and a pickup. The owner of the SUV was already gone (so to speak- see later), and the two guys in the truck were just finishing up getting ready. They asked where I was going to be (I wish everyone on public land did this), I told them and they said they were going to be in the second field. Which was fine as it did leave me a good area to watch.

They headed in and I threw my pack on and locked my own SUV and started in. I noticed a light coming back from the first field and figured one of the other guys forgot something. Nope. Upon my getting on the trail I was greeted by two dogs wearing orange vests with a third back with the owner. The light I saw was a pheasant hunter who was now leaving, in the dark. My best guess is he decided to give up the area to the deer hunters. At least I'm guessing for the benefit of the doubt here that's how it went. No night hunting allowed in any of the areas near home so....

I got to my blind and set up. After about 40 minutes I saw a doe trotting from the woodlot to the field and was out of my safe zone in less then a few seconds. She slowed and stopped for a second between me and the other field the other two guys here hunting. I didn't even get time to think about grabbing my ML/ I managed to get a little clip of her on video, but with the low light it's a little hard to see her.

So my morning consisted of seeing a good doe but not having a shot and hearing turkeys where I never heard a peep from a turkey all last May when I was hunting them.

Deer Hunt 2

 

First Deer Hunt Of 2025

 The archery opener was last Saturday, but I had stuff going on all weekend and most of yesterday. But I was finally able to get out this morning. It felt good to be back in the deer blind. Plenty of acorns were dropping in the woods so things should get interesting pretty soon. Providing those woods don't get over run with pressure. It seemed very strange to be using a crossbow instead of my compound bow. You get used to something for so long it can feel off to do something different.

I didn't see any deer on this hunt. I might head back out tomorrow or Thursday if I'm feeling up to it.

Some Light Hunting & A Discussion

 We set out this morning to go over to the camp because I wanted to do some light bear hunting, try and locate a coyote den, and state why going forward my annual virtual gathering as well as all ABB outings will be set up through my forum now. So te end chat for this one is very dry and direct.

So upon arriving in the area we got a call from my buddy he had to help his father with a goat. Due to some bad cell coverage we thought he had said they also needed our help so we said we'd meet at the goat pens. Once there there was no one else around so I did manage to get ahold of my buddy who then explained that there was a mix up due to the call breaking up, but since we were there the extra hands would be appreciated. Turns out his father had suffered a nasty gore cut by one of the goats horns. So we got things handled. His dad drove himself to the ER even though we all tried getting him to let us take him. So off to the camp we headed.

Upon getting back in we talked for a while and then my buddy and I set out to look for the den and see if there was any fresh bear sign around. We did a big zig zag and passed by two of my hunting blinds but did not find what we were in search of. Back at the camp we opted to pass on making fire due to it being 81* in the Adirondacks in late September. I made the closing clip for my video then we talked about deer hunting, reworking the firepit at the camp, and the upcoming cabin trip.

From there we headed back out loaded things back into my SUV and went to see how my buddy's father was.

As a side note, I won't be discussing guns much on this blog, but those Thordsens are a huge step up from the spur if you live in here in NY. The best option by far if you want to go featureless. The 10/30 Hexmags aren't horrible for the price either. 

While at the camp we saw a few of these caterpillars.

They are Hickory Tussack. We looked them up when we got home and while they are very cool looking they secrete a slightly toxic fluid from the hairs that causes a rash. Pretty interesting little critters if you ever feel like looking them up.