End of the Year Flurry

  Near the end of the season, I was overwhelmed with a flurry of personal things that didn't allow me to keep active with the journal, and I apologize for my negligence in not getting back to it until now. Near the end of the season, I saw many things that really let me down when it comes to social media and the way certain hunters try to portray themselves. I just wish people could tell the truth about what they're doing. If people claim to be trackers, how come they very rarely kill deer before huge storms roll in at the end of the seasons across New York and New England and dump large amounts of snow, causing the deer to migrate and head to winter yards? As I've always said, and I still stand behind it, snow makes bad hunters good hunters. If you can kill deer at any time of the season with and without snow and everywhere you go, you probably have a pretty good idea about deer behavior and how to find them. 

  By the time late muzzleloader season ended in the Northern Zone in New York, the group I hunt with had  experienced its best year ever for big-racked bucks, as we killed one that green grossed 157, one at 143 and one that was in the 120 range and one that was around 110. We all ended up putting big deer on the ground, and nothing makes me more satisfied than that. They were all killed in different areas of the Adirondacks and none of them were killed on snow. We knew every deer existed and somehow we figured out how to increase our odds of taking them. In the end, luck was on our side. Unfortunately, during the season this year, this blog application stopped allowing me to upload pictures onto it, and I haven't figured out how to navigate the problem. I apologize for not being able to share pictures of the deer with you. However, I do appreciate all of you who followed along this year. I can see the statistics, and I'm glad that many of you found this new blog site since the former one no longer works. Thanks again for giving me incentive to keep this thing rolling along. It takes a lot more dedication than one can imagine.

  Although I'm not sure how many bucks I ended passing in the Midwest, I know my season in the Adirondacks will never be equaled. When all was said and done, I believe I passed 16 bucks, some being really nice 8 pointers that I was able to video. Hopefully, I can upload the videos onto my YouTube channel. Unfortunately, a few of the deer I passed did get killed by other hunters, but that's a chance you take when passing bucks. If I don't give them a chance when I see them, then they have absolutely no chance of making it to the end of the season and being larger the next year. I"m glad another hunter was able to fill his tag because he might have different priorities or goals than me and far less time to hunt. We all hunt for different reasons and we all choose to shoot what we shoot for our own reasons. It doesn't make any of us right or wrong.

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