Atlas, Great hunt and great oppertunity to see how a good herd behaves. I learned a lot about deer behavior while hunting areas similar to yours. I also had the time of my life doing it. Congrats on your hunt and I hope you do it again.
I am far from an expert at quickly scoring racks in a blurr but the buck in my video I guessed at mid 130's.........keeping in mind I had him as close as 10 yards so I feel pretty good about that guess. In fact he may have tickled the upper end because he looks even better up close. The other 2 were an 8 and a 9 with good not great mass and 16-18" spreads and nice tine length. Could they have been upper 120's?? Yea, I won't pretend to be able to 100% nail a rack with 6". I will say I believe 100% that they were certainly closer to 130 then 120 if they were under. We are worried this will be a "one and done" kinda thing because his other 2 buddies are not gonna just give it up...........but we got pretty friendly with that local farmer and we have 2 nice possibilities to work with if this falls through. One could be a pot of gold.
Well.. If you make it out next year.. we'll have to hook up somewhere. And like Greg/MO said.. the money you paid is astonishingly low. Leases in that area can go.. and often do go.. as high as 80-100 an acre. Ouch.
I leave sunday for schuyler county, will hunt any where from 7-10 days,. Cheap hunt like yours, cost me 1650 for the land and place to stay,. meals and license are on me. After reading your post I am even more excited. I haven't even seen a buck yet this year, and only saw one last year. I can tell by talking to the outfitter that they get by on verry little but he seems like a good person and if he can put me on deer I will make it worth his while.
Dan, LMAO. The outfitter I hunted in IL lost a lease because he had WI hunters on it. The landowner kicked them off and took the lease back. atlasman, you experienced the same IL I did. PA sucks, as does apparently NY. :p Justin, your still seeing more and better bucks than we can or do even when your hunting is tough. At least your expectations or possibilities are vastly improved. I'm going back to IL in 2010. :D
Duke, with all due respect, where in the hell did you get those numbers? We've owned and leased land in this EXACT area for the last 15 years. I believe 80-100/acre is absurd. Do you know these people? Someone who spends that on a land has clearly been taken!
Yeah... people around my part hate out-of-staters. Actually, we used to lease a piece of land that butted up against our land that we own and were undercut and kicked out because the farmer got greedy and decided to lease to some people from SC/FL that were willing to pay A LOT more money. I'm not really complaining... it just sucks and is a part of hunting. I don't mind out of staters at all, and actually have kinda gotten used to it with having Timberland Outfitters only 10 miles away and Site M about the same.
Fantastic Atlas! Sounds like a great trip.I hunt my a-- off at home to get opportunities at 21/2 year old bucks.In a few days I will become a much better hunter apparently.I head out to Idaho for my annual rifle hunting trip. I have another almost completed archery season (for me,because of travel) of disgust.Significant scouting,8 stands set,lot's of tree time and I havn't seen a 2.5 year old buck.I have seen 10 1.5 year old bucks. There is nothing like being in country where you have a balanced age class of bucks and the hunting pressure is light to moderate. I have been mumbling all morning about how our hunting sucks,my wife just rolls her eye's.
LOL I meant to type machineS as their were many besides the combine running as well. We passed a bunch of state land on the ride actually..............for what I saw.......I feel like I got a great deal. If I had saw crap I would have felt jipped of course.
You New Yorker's, LOL I am headed to the farm and get in one right now, time to take the bulls by the horn and take care of the corn!!!!!! Seeing you behind a 160 would have gave me a heat attack
Deal. We didn't get any numbers even close to that from the locals..........highest we heard was $50 and most were $30-$35/acre. At $100/acre an outfitter with 10,000 acres would need to make one million dollars just to break even every year........not even counting food and lodging costs. That seems like an unsustainable business plan. Ouch is right..........I wish those people all the best because they are mostly poor but sooner or later people will draw the line at how much money a chance at a big deer is worth.
LOL......trying to type with one hand on my side..........back is killing me from sleeping(if you want to call it that) on the floor with my recovering dog. Pin was on him........2 more steps, or more time to trim shooting lanes and he was a corpse. I am satisfied knowing I beat him on his own turf and was foiled by something other then the deer...........BUT.........obviously no where near as thrilled as I would be had he cleared that scrub bush. If I have any regrets at all...........it's not shooting the buck in my video. I probably should have shot him but the thought of seeing that 160 again and NOT being able to shoot kept me looking past him. Amazing how a buck near 140" can start to look just "OK". The first shot I had at the buck in the video I passed because I didn't want to shoot him and be "disappointed" after what I saw early on. That sounds crazy even typing it.
I've always said NY sucks for deer hunting.........I fully admit now I never knew how bad it REALLY sucks. What I saw and experienced was a different world...........resembling in no way shape or form what is considered "deer hunting" in NY. I feel like a guy who has been playing golf on a municipal public links course for 20 years and then one day got a chance to play Augusta National.........makes you realize how potentially great the same game can be in a different setting..........and in both cases your scores are sure to go up I have the next 12 days off and honestly have little to no desire to go sit in the woods of NY anymore. I tried to go out yesterday morning and got down at 8:00 am after seeing two 4 ptrs and a button buck.............which is actually a damn good day around here. LOL
Tony, We are from reasonably the same area...........I mean this with 100% sincerity. This place is an absolute joke.........do whatever you can to make sure at some point in your life you experience what it is to hunt REAL deer in a REAL setting. WARNING: Once you eat Wagyu beef.....going back to the Dollar Menu at McDonalds really sucks.
Atlas, first off glad you had a great time and opportunity! Second, I don't believe the whole State or entire mid-west is this "easy". Perhaps even that very area, you just hit it right and hunted it right! As you know I live in NE Ohio...not the big buck mecca of the southern, central part ot the State. But right now, I know, I could go out and get on a good buck, I've had that type of season. Why? it's the same land I've hunted for the last few years. A few changes in tactics, better stand locations and the timing of the rut.. This game isn't easy no matter where you hunt or your abilities, but when it comes together, it's like being in the zone in other sports and it comes easy (for a while). As for ILL spoiling you, honestly what would bring you more satisfaction, a 160" in ILL on some land you don't know...or a 120"-140" in NY?
