Bruno started the year with a nice bow harvest on a buck. Larry and Jared joined him on 2 weekends of bowhunting.

 Jen, Glen and Randy encountered steers for the entire month of October before the steers were retired to the south pasture. The steers did not make it easy for the bedding deer during that time. Once November hit, the does returned to the North pasture. October saw the passing of Browny the Bull. Gust’s favorite steer.

 Randy, Bruno, Glen and Jared braved the Nor-easter that pummeled Hornell with 11 inches of snow the day before gun season. Randy and Glen were greeted with a 4 foot snow bank blocking Back Street Rd. After crashing the snow bank, they managed to get both the truck and trailer stuck in the easement field. Luckily, Chris and Lee from Burns Farm stopped by with a ranger to save the day. Bruno and Jared had to park at Sherman the Goat Farmer’s where they also stored the quad for the night. The snow was so deep the quads struggled to pave trails. After spending another hour dismantling the snow plow bracket from the quad, we finally managed to set the stands dredging through knee deep snow. 

 7:03 AM was the start of legal shooting for gun season. 40 shots within an hour. There was a lot of activity with the rut in full swing. It was not long that Randy and Bruno both had bucks down. Randy’s involved a lengthy tracking effort with an easy blood trail that looked more like a massacre. On the way back from helping Randy winch the 8 pt out of the creek, Bruno started what could only be described as World War III with a Deer. After loading and reloading 6 shells, shooting 6 times and landing 6 hits, the deer became known as the Devil’s Deer -666. Despite the number of shots, Buno did not hit the liver, yet It appeared the deer had black blood.

 Congratulations to Jared on taking his first buck!! It would not have happened without Bruno calling in a “wake up and pay attention” call. Seconds later the shots rang out and Jared notched another chapter in his hunting journey with the harvest of 1/2 rack.

 Sunday proved to be challenging due to an all day snow storm dumping another 6 inches. Despite the additional snow, the quads managed to perform to save our bacon.

 After the passage of a deer import restriction in Ohio, the NY deer processors were full by Monday. We managed to find an Amish family in Panama NY called Troyers. Very reasonable and accommodating. With the retirement of Derry Nell, we also had to find another taxidermist. Lane Taxidermy in Dansville NY looks like the next handler of the NY trophy deer.

 Glen and Randy both whiffed at 35 yards on the big doe. The black cat may have had something to do with Randy’s miss since it crossed his path almost every hunt. The deer was nicknamed 9 lives deer.

 Jen, Glen and Randy bow hunt Stark County after Thanksgiving. After seeing just 3 deer all season, Jen and Randy walked in on 8 doe hanging around Jen’s stand. After a chaotic afternoon of seeing bunches of deer, Glen converted on a doe at 15 yards and Jen missed the infamous 9 lives deer.