Big Woods Beatdown 2024

[Dougfirtree]

It’s mid-winter and I’ve got the flu. Time to write up a bit of a year-in-review for the 2024 hunting season. I didn’t get out quite as much this year, but I made some great memories and had a ton of fun. Spoiler: the Adirondack bucks kicked my ass again and I loved it (mostly).


Here are some snapshots (written and photographic):


Youth weekend: My middle son and I got out a few times. We saw deer every time and he could have shot deer on every sit, including a spike horn buck. He hasn’t killed a buck yet, but he set his heart on something that was a bit bigger and I had to respect his self-control.


He continued to hunt with me over the course of our long deer season, both in the valley and up in the mountains. He put on some miles and didn’t get discouraged. The highlight of his season was an evening sit where 10 does came by us in single file, all about 10 yards away, each hopping a fence and having no idea we were there. His last time out, in December, we got on the track of a buck and some does and we were getting very close, when they decided to ditch us by descending an icy and precarious route down a 200 foot ledge/cliff. Well played, deer. My son will be back at it next year!



The story of the first 5 weeks of the season was bare ground. That makes things a lot tougher, but I got out and did my best to patiently still-hunt and sit/call. I spent a few days hunting with my brother, in the central Adirondacks, which was fun. A couple of days after I left to return home, he sent me this pic. He’d had a 9 pointer come to him on an evening sit. He worked hard for that deer and while I wish I'd been there, I was thrilled for him!

 

[Dougfirtree]

I mostly hunted an area I know where there are a lot of signpost rubs. They were certainly drawing bucks this year, but unlike last year, they were mostly younger deer.






I had a real hankering for carrying my 7600 this year. I refinished the stock last winter, added a spacer and new recoil pad and replaced the peep with a Skinner (which is awesome) and for some reason, it just felt right this season.

 

[OleRedbeard]

Great pics and absolutely beautiful rifle man!!

 

[Dougfirtree]

Things changed dramatically at Thanksgiving. We had a big snow storm blow through and all of a sudden there was good tracking snow everywhere. I got after it and it seemed I couldn’t go in the woods without finding a buck track. Every time I’d go hunting, I’d spend the whole day following a nice buck and I’d catch up (usually multiple times).



When I took this picture, I’d just jumped the buck I’d followed for a couple miles. I’d jumped him a couple of times already, but they were all “wind bumps” where the wind blew my scent to him before I had any chance at seeing him. This time, he heard me at about 20 yards. There was a rise in the ground that kept me from seeing him when he jumped. I caught a flash of him when he was into the brush and there was no shot. He crossed the stream and I had to turn around anyway, it was late. Long walk out.





In early December, I got out tracking on a cold morning in the bigger mountains. It was 11 degrees when I left my vehicle. I found a really nice buck track at about 8:00 and it was very fresh! He was coming out of a swampy lowland and meandering uphill to bed. It was post-rut, he would be tired. I felt sure I’d get a crack at him if I stayed with it. I was hoping to catch him before he bedded as the track was so fresh, and I ended up going too slow. He went halfway up the mountain before climbing up on a knobby ridge covered in thick softwoods. He had to be there. Half an hour later of careful stalking and I found his bed. I’d wind-bumped him. I followed his running tracks down the mountain. He didn’t slow down a lick, for about half a mile, until he screeched to a halt (literally) at a well used deer trail up onto a knob.


He mixed around with their tracks enough to make me slow down, and eventually headed back uphill. I wind-bumped him again in a surprisingly open spot. If the wind had held, I think I would have seen him from 100 yards out. Bummer. He dashed straight up a wicked steep hill, got on a ridge that climbed the mountain and was covered in thick spruce/fir. It was later in the day, but I wanted another chance. He was a nice deer, judging from the tracks and the beds.


I hoofed it uphill until I just had to turn around. I was way up there and it would be dark soon. I still had to walk a couple miles through a foot of snow, over rough terrain and then cross a wickedly thick swamp. I was soaking wet from going through the snow-covered softwoods and pretty tired when I got back to the car. Still only 14 degrees, but I’d had a fun day.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Probably the coolest day of tracking I had (and most frustrating) was the last one, in late muzzleloader season. I found a smallish buck track as soon as I entered the woods and it was quite fresh. I followed it just in case, and wind-bumped him up onto a hill that I knew had some hunters on it. I continued on, crossed a swampy stream and entered an area I’ve had good luck finding deer in. Almost immediately, I came across a huge buck track! It had been made that morning and was one of the largest I’ve ever seen in the Adirondacks. I followed him quite a ways, having to slow down pretty frequently to make sure he wasn’t bedded on various rises of land. He took me through a cool cedar swamp, up onto a ridge and there he joined up with another mature buck. They started walking together and I just could not have been more pleased! Conditions were quiet and the wind was being surprisingly cooperative. The two bucks took me down to the swampy shore of a pond, where they meandered through the brush for a while. I had to make some flying leaps over channels of water to stay on them, but eventually, they got back on solid ground and began slowly meandering through the softwoods on the shoreline.




Twice, while following them, I came to where they had gently sparred with each other. I knew that I was very close. They were distracted and everything just felt perfect. I was moving slowly, gun ready, thinking I’d catch a glimpse of them any second. Then the wind shifted for a few seconds. I may have said some unspeakable things to the wind, but it was undeterred. It shifted again for a few seconds. I picked up the pace a little bit to get over a rise and I could see their running tracks when I did. Time for another long walk out. It seemed like the story of my season was to have incredible luck getting on deer, then incredibly bad luck with the wind shifting.





On a brighter note, I ended my season by volunteering for a mentored hunt in southern NY. I got to spend 2 days hunting with a great group of mentors and mentees and had a complete blast. My mentee didn’t shoot a deer, but we had several close calls and I got the sense that he was hooked now. It was a treat taking him out and being around all the energy that comes from new, excited hunters interacting with experienced hunters who are doing what they love. I’ll be doing that again!


And, I’ll be back for another voluntary beat down in the Adirondacks next year. My youngest son will be able to hunt here in NY and I’m really looking forward to getting out with him.