Xtreme' 2007/2008 hunting Season

[xtremesportsman]

May 2007... Took notice of several bucks behind the house. All in Velvet. One looks much bigger than the others... 3 all together... Need to keep an eye out for more activity.

[xtremesportsman]

July, August and September... Set up trail camera at two locations. many bucks coming to the area and passing though... A couple of 4 pntrs, 6 pntr, spike, two 8 pntrs and one 9 pntr... have not seen many does at all... 3 or 4 and two with fawns... Setting out 6 different stands on 43 acres...

[xtremesportsman]

[xtremesportsman]

[xtremesportsman]

Mid September... The deer are changing their patterns... Less activity durng the day and the bachelor groups are breaking up... Two bucks still stay together, an eight and a seven... The big guy is nocturnal and has only been jumped in the back of the proerty while bedding on a small ridge... I set a stand there just in case we can catch him coming in for a nap... All theother stands are on rub lines and trails...4 of the six stands have rub lines on them... All are on deer trails... I am feeling good for this season... Hoope to get a deer off the property this year...

[xtremesportsman]

October 1st, 2007 Opening day... I hunted alone... Seen a small buck (4 pntr) but nothing else. AM hunt was nothing to get excited about... PM hunt nothing mcuh else happened...

Friday Oct 05, friend Andy comes out from Queens to hunt... Meets me at the gun store before I close... We have a feast on Chinese Buffet and head to the house for an early day.

Saturday Oct 6, 2007 Start the hunt an hour before day break... Another hunter is hunting very near the stand I put Andy in... Will have to investigate before we set out after the AM hunt... I see a 7 pntr that morning below me on the lower p[art of the ridge, he takes off to the track and the pine I have Andy in... I can hear the 7 pntr snort Andy and head back up the ridge to me... I pass on a shot and hope it will return to Andy... It starts back down the old track right to Andy in the pine tree, but again he gets made and the deer takes off to my nifghbors property... Andy sees one of the smaller eights walk across the field at about 75 yards. he is a straight trot determined to be somewhere... two does walk by in the same direction, maybe somewhere one of my neighbors is feeding them... Who knows, they just trotted away with determination.

[xtremesportsman]

October 6th 2007, PM hunt... well, we did a few chores around the house and picked up a few things that wereneeded. After taking a well deserved nap I went downstairs and woke Andy for the afternoon hunt...The house was cool fromthe air conditioner running, it sort of made me forget how hot out it was going to be today... we dressed in the basement workshop and got ready for the hunt. I was wearing shorts and a tank top covered by my camo nylon leafed pants and jacket... we were about to head out the sliders when I opened them and hgot hit in the face by a wall of humidity and heat... Damn it was not at all like the opening days I had hoped for. Cool weather and comfortable stands... I turned and asked Andy, "Do you really want to hunt in this sh#*"... He did, he had driven from queens and wanted to get a deer. 49 years old and many hunts and the porr guy had never shot a deer... Gun or Bow... He still used the PSE Polaris Express I had given him as a Christmas gift so may years earlier when I was still with the NYPD... So off we went in 87* weather to hunt deer... We found the fella that was posted close to my stand that Andy was in. He had been hutnign the property for a few years and I said there was plenty of room for him as well and told hm where he could hang aother stand if he desired... We headed to the same stands as the morning hunt even though Andy was going to try another stand at first, he then asked if it would be okay to hunt the one from this morning... I said of course but his cocern was the other hunter... I lived on this property, this fella was a visitor, I told him to hunt the stand... lucky thing he did... At 6 PM the same seven pntr came out with a smaller six and a spike... I watched the deer as it walked the same route it took this morning probably heading to the pond for a drink in this heat... Within minuted of the deer walking below me and out of sight I heard the crack of and arrow, the loud slam the arrow makes when it is driven into a deer... I waited for Andy to call me, I knew he would no matter what the outcome... The phine vibrated in my shirt pocket, I answered and heard Andy say he had hit the deer. I asled where he hit him and he thgouht it was a good shouder shot... I told him we had plenty of light and to sit tight, keep hunint he had another tag... Minutes later Jimmy (the other hunter we met) called my cell phone (we exchanged numbers to let each other know where we were hunting). Jimmy said he had Andy's deer 60 yadrs from his stand and the deer had gut sticking out and he thought it may be gut shot. I agreed after hearing the description and we decided to wait until dark to come out... it was near dark at 7Pm when we met Andy athis stand... we found the arrow and there were bubbles on it, I asked if Andy had a good broadside shot and it turns out the deer was quartering towrds him when he shot, I grimmaced... Not the ideal shot for any archer, forget about a new one that had never shot any animal before... we followed a slight blood trail to whre Jimmy saw the deer last standing... Now it was dark and we dug out our lights... we were 80 yards from the stand and just about at my neighbors property line when Andy saw the deer folded up in the tall weeds on the side of the track... He had his first deer ever, a 20 yard shot with a Spitfire broadhead and a 80 yard recovery... While gutting the deer I saw the arrow took out the lung, passed in front of the gut and hit the back leg... The guts were intact and had pushed through the hole in his stomach... The shot ewas not the prettiest but it did the job... I was truly honored to be a part of this first successful deer hunt for a long time friend... i'd give my own deer to see more of these everyday of the season....

[xtremesportsman]

Andy left on October 8 to return to the city and I hunted on the 9th only to see a small buck under my stand, one that I had no interest in shooting.

I planned on getting upstate on the 12th after closing the gunstore andhunting opening day on the 13th but the trailer was acting up and I didn't want to risk taking the quad up on it. Borrowed a trailer from Charlie on saturday and got Billy's nephew to finally get on the road on October 13th and missed opening day...

October 14 2007, I was up at 0445 to hit the bathroom and beat the rush... 3 hours of sleep wasn't great but it would do. I was hunting my buddies place in orange County for some agriculture deer... The trail cam pics had proven that he had some slammers on the property and no one scored opening day



.... So all the giants were still there.. Sunday Morning we set out on twop quads and the rhino to hunt the back fields and woods of billy's property. It was Uncle Jerry, Billy, Jerry's son John, Joe, patrick (the nephew and me... Uncle Jerry got out of the rhino first... About 400 yards from the house he was hunting a freshly cut hey field... The deer have been hitting the heck out of it... we took the rhino and quads anothe 500 yards and parked them on the fields edge and hiked into the stands and blinds... It was well before 630 and light would be in anhalf hour or so... Around 0710 I saw 3 does work into my area from a cut field... They came into 40 yards and nibbled on whatever was on the forest floor. I sat quietly and watched hoping one of the buckls may pop up, but nothing happened. At about 0830 i heard a loud snap behind me and I turned with the bow up and ready to drawer only to discover 4 cows in the woods behind me... I waited till they settled on a tree to eat the leaves adn I calledbilly's phone. I was told that the farmers dairy cows broke the wire and were out and about. He and a couple of kids were working quads through the woods to round them up... i might as welll meet them at the quads and help them look for Unlce Jerrys deer. He had shot one at first light but they couldn'tfind the blood... I went back and took my quad to joe and patrick who were in the field on all fours looking for blood... we finally sent patrick out to the other end of the field and told him to wait for Uncle jerry to signal which way to go... we found the deer about 70 yards from the shot... Nice heavy 8 pntr... ucle Jerry took a 45 yards hot with a custom reurve from a ground blind. He use doble cut on impact blade on a cedar shaft he made himself... He has been praying for this hunt to happen since he turned 60...75 years old a a dream came true... God Bless him....
So far two successful hunts I have been a part of and both of them more memorable than any others.

[xtremesportsman]

Hunted a couple of days in the last weeks of October but have not seen much activity at all. A few does and a spike is about it. Acorns are thick on the woods floor. Heaviest I have seen in years, the deer are only moving for water. No need to look for food with the acorn drop we have had so far. The warm weather is keeping them hunkered down during the day.

Went out on October 28 with boss and best friend Billy... in the woods by 0600... Billy called me to report Mark had shot a 4 pntr at his location. 25 yard shot, Bowtech tribute, Carbon arrows, mechanical broadheads. Deer recovery 150 yards. At least one lung on a quartering away shot.

[xtremesportsman]

November was slow with the acorn covering the ground everywhere... Hunted a few days in Novemeber and did let a spike and several does walk by. At the end of the month I was hunting with my boss and Anthony when I had a nice wide 8 pntr come within ten feet o a blind I was hutning. I took a shot at the deer when he went out to 15 yards and hit a twig only to see my arrow go slying off over the buck and into the woods. Saw this deer again a few times but never for a shot...