Hunting The Adirondacks

[Ognennyy]

Here are a couple of Adirondack bucks. Not 200# though, upper 180s or so. Most mature ADK bucks won't hit 200# like they do in Maine.

Wow dude those are absolute monsters considering they're not anywhere near a farm. Congrats and thanks for sharing. Would you mind my asking, what's your strategy? Are you bed hunting? Tracking? Rut hunting near bedding?

[Ognennyy]

Yeah that's a big deer for sure. I think I'll have to get up there into the mountains this Spring and apply some beast scouting to find some big guys like that.

don't be surprised if you find a big shed in a bed that's how I found all my sheds from up their I found when all the deer move to go yard the biggest bucks dig in and stay right in their core area. check areas that have moose the bucks use their trails in winter.

Thanks for the advice man. I actually know a spot up there that basically has a resident moose. I find its droppings every time I go to the area. I think I might even know a couple places nearby that might hold buck beds. I'll be checking those out when the snow melts.

[SamPotter]

Here are a couple of Adirondack bucks. Not 200# though, upper 180s or so. Most mature ADK bucks won't hit 200# like they do in Maine.

Wow dude those are absolute monsters considering they're not anywhere near a farm. Congrats and thanks for sharing. Would you mind my asking, what's your strategy? Are you bed hunting? Tracking? Rut hunting near bedding?

The top one was killed still hunting and the bottom one I tracked. Covering ground is pretty important for getting on deer in the Adirondacks.

[brancher147]

This was the biggest I shot. I was tracking him and stopped in one of his many beds from overnight and he walked right up to me in front of 3 does and I shot him at 20 yards. Post rut after Thanksgiving he weighed 160 I think and had no fat at all. Tooth wear indicated 4.5 years old, and I had been hunting him for 2 years and this was first time I saw him other than hundreds of trail cam pics.

[ghoasthunter]

This was the biggest I shot. I was tracking him and stopped in one of his many beds from overnight and he walked right up to me in front of 3 does and I shot him at 20 yards. Post rut after Thanksgiving he weighed 160 I think and had no fat at all. Tooth wear indicated 4.5 years old, and I had been hunting him for 2 years and this was first time I saw him other than hundreds of trail cam pics.

congrats that's a great buck

[Ognennyy]

This was the biggest I shot. I was tracking him and stopped in one of his many beds from overnight and he walked right up to me in front of 3 does and I shot him at 20 yards. Post rut after Thanksgiving he weighed 160 I think and had no fat at all. Tooth wear indicated 4.5 years old, and I had been hunting him for 2 years and this was first time I saw him other than hundreds of trail cam pics.

I'd give my left arm for a deer like that. Congrats man.

[Ognennyy]

Here are a couple of Adirondack bucks. Not 200# though, upper 180s or so. Most mature ADK bucks won't hit 200# like they do in Maine.

Wow dude those are absolute monsters considering they're not anywhere near a farm. Congrats and thanks for sharing. Would you mind my asking, what's your strategy? Are you bed hunting? Tracking? Rut hunting near bedding?

The top one was killed still hunting and the bottom one I tracked. Covering ground is pretty important for getting on deer in the Adirondacks.

Thanks Sam. I'm not sure why I never thought of it before, but with such low deer density it does make sense to try to go to them as opposed to setting up an ambush.

I can see how once you become an experienced tracker, and assuming you have snow on the ground during hunting season, you could move quickly when tracking. Then read the track, know when the deer has slowed down, and slow your pace as well. How can you cover a lot of ground while still hunting though? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I generally spend almost an hour covering 100 yards when I still hunt.

[SamPotter]

Here are a couple of Adirondack bucks. Not 200# though, upper 180s or so. Most mature ADK bucks won't hit 200# like they do in Maine.

Wow dude those are absolute monsters considering they're not anywhere near a farm. Congrats and thanks for sharing. Would you mind my asking, what's your strategy? Are you bed hunting? Tracking? Rut hunting near bedding?

The top one was killed still hunting and the bottom one I tracked. Covering ground is pretty important for getting on deer in the Adirondacks.

Thanks Sam. I'm not sure why I never thought of it before, but with such low deer density it does make sense to try to go to them as opposed to setting up an ambush.

I can see how once you become an experienced tracker, and assuming you have snow on the ground during hunting season, you could move quickly when tracking. Then read the track, know when the deer has slowed down, and slow your pace as well. How can you cover a lot of ground while still hunting though? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I generally spend almost an hour covering 100 yards when I still hunt.

I typically walk as quickly as I can quietly go until I at least find some promising sign. Then I'll slow down and take my time. The problem with still hunting right out of the truck is you could spend an entire day creeping along and in reality not be within a mile of a deer all day.
I actually would prefer noisy walking conditions. Then you can make your cadence sound like a walking deer. I like to count out 20 steps, grunt on the last step, and then stop, scan and listen for 30 seconds or more.

[mspaci]

Sam, thats an interesting strategy for still hunting. Assuming this is when there is no snow, & w/ snow switch to tracking? Mike

[SamPotter]

Sam, thats an interesting strategy for still hunting. Assuming this is when there is no snow, & w/ snow switch to tracking? Mike

Absolutely- you'd be surprised how little snow you can track in.

[ghoasthunter]

Sam, thats an interesting strategy for still hunting. Assuming this is when there is no snow, & w/ snow switch to tracking? Mike

Absolutely- you'd be surprised how little snow you can track in.

if its a wet rainy day you don't even need snow too track those giant mountain slobs sink in deep in the wet leaves if they walk across rain deer moss you can even age the tracks buy how much spring back it has. or if they go threw water look for unsettled muddy water then you are right behind them. killing these bucks takes team work we used to always send 3 or 4 guys up the same ridge well before day light then put 3 guys on up wind end. then one guy walks the wind tunnel from down wind end threw likely bedding and bump them the bucks will run with the wind before they circle. put one guy up top than one half way down either side. hunt high in mornings get above the bucks then low in afternoon and sit till dark watching likely trails. threw out the weak you will burn up all the ridges and start to stack the buck beds. we kill a lot of bucks on the last day of hunt like that. just sweep the whole area from down wind of prevailing wind across. if your hunting say 10000 acers the bucks still only bed in a small percent of those areas on leeward sides. the more odds in your favor the better % for a shot. and practice shooting off hand year round with a 22 shooting fast makes or breaks the hunt.

[Jcol6268]

I have recently become obsessed with hunting the Dacks. This was the second year of hunting the dacks with a group of guys who grew up hunting there. We travel 6 miles back and make a few day camping trip of it which is just an experience on its own. Last year (my first) I was lucky enough to shoot a 2 year old six pointer. He was a main frame 8 with no brows. Checking scrapes at the base of a mountain mid day (favorite time). Our group also shot another 8 pointer and an 11 pointer last year. For Dack hunting our group does fairly well. Last spring I put out trail cameras and we had good action this year except the days we were there LOL. End of October up to the day before we got there we had steady action on the cameras every two-four days. The morning I was supposed to be there (got delayed a day because of work) I had two different shooter bucks come right through the same swamp thicket at 10:00 am and noon. I woulda guessed those deer probably 185-200ish dressed. I’ve noticed the deer size up there similar to my hunting experiences in Maine.

What I’ve picked up from my groups two generations of successfully hunting the dacks is pretty simple. There are miles of untouched land that’s almost void of deer sign. It seems the deer sign is scattered in pockets. Find pockets of deer sign to help your success. No sign move on. The deer sign however will be around hill country and water. Water is the biggest thing, find a hill with a creek at the base or a beaver pond and you have something good!

It’s also cool seeing all the moose sign even though I haven’t spotted one yet. However we did have a moose walk straight through our camp one day while we were out. A lone moose that had its tracks straight through the snow in camp. Pretty cool. The moose rubs are gigantic too. I’ve noticed a decent amount of bear sign and also have had a few bears on trail cams. Even one that took a bite outta one of my cams! Lol. Luckily it only knocked it off and didn’t break the camera completely. Once the snow pack is low with only a coating of snow around I’ll be making my way up for the next scouting trip.

[mauser06]

Since "Mausers Michigan Adventures" are probably over....


I'm highly considering the Adirondacks in the near future.


For this coming year, I am taking the season off of adventuring. Gotta do some planning and figure out the logistics. Will focus on home (Pennsylvania) and if I tag a buck early, I may scoot to Ohio.



Big woods adventures are where my heart likes though.

In Pennsylvania, good tracking snow is pretty rare in gun season...even our late flintlock season it is hit or miss. But I love tracking...killed my first deer tracking this season. Actually got 2 shots in the same day with the flintlock. First one I got a little too cocky and smacked the tree I was trying to hug..

[ghoasthunter]

was digging threw the junk drawrs at my dads today and found two photos from the dacks. the one in woods my father shot getting bumped of his bed buy his brother. they took turns walking the bedding line in mountains for two weeks in a remote camp 9 miles in on the last day of the trip my dad droped this buck 5 shots later running full boar past him with the Texas heart shot. tag teaming works! the second deer we call the black buck my dad shot this buck tracking on bare ground! in a rain storm he followed the buck for the whole morning and jumped it traveling along a brook in swamp he thought it was a bear at first then then had to put 8 30-06 rounds threw it to drop it he said it just slowed down every shot but didn't flinch buck dress at 210. its the only black deer I ever seen. both bucks were killed in same area the drag took 2 days on the black buck cuz they shot 2 other bucks that trip up and over two mountains at 3000 foot then a long boat ride where they had to break ice for the whole distance of the lake and they were back at the truck.

[ghoasthunter]

was digging threw the junk drawrs at my dads today and found two photos from the dacks. the one in woods my father shot getting bumped of his bed buy his brother. they took turns walking the bedding line in mountains for two weeks in a remote camp 9 miles in on the last day of the trip my dad droped this buck 5 shots later running full boar past him with the Texas heart shot. tag teaming works! the second deer we call the black buck my dad shot this buck tracking on bare ground! in a rain storm he followed the buck for the whole morning and jumped it traveling along a brook in swamp he thought it was a bear at first then then had to put 8 30-06 rounds threw it to drop it he said it just slowed down every shot but didn't flinch buck dress at 210. its the only black deer I ever seen. both bucks were killed in same area the drag took 2 days on the black buck cuz they shot 2 other bucks that trip up and over two mountains at 3000 foot then a long boat ride where they had to break ice for the whole distance of the lake and they were back at the truck.

if anybody wants scale for the body size of these bucks my dad is 6' 3" and 235 pounds.