2014 Season Recap
2014 Winner
2014 Winner Jeff Robinson with his 119", 10 point bow Kill in Clarkson NY.
Tuesday 12-16-14 Dan D'Ettorre killed a doe at Clover Hill in Springwater, NY
Tuesday 12-16-14 Joe Shiner killed a doe near Caledonia, NY
Monday 12-15-14 Doug Sholette killed a buck with both antlers broken off, he thought he was shooting a doe.
Saturday 12-13-14 Jeff Ames killed a nice doe at work with a borrowed bow while wearing a tie! The guys at Valley Cadillac went over to the Hummer building to grab some leftovers from the Christmas party from the night before. They saw some does feeding in the woods and Jeff said if I had my bow I could kill one of them. Mike Clark said I have my bow in the car and Jeff said grab it and I'll try to shoot one. With the pressure of 5 guys watching Jeff grabbed the bow and put the release on. He told one of the guys to open the door so he could walk out with his release on and he creeped out. The does knew something was up and they were getting nervous. Jeff had to lean over the hood of a car in the parking lot and take a 35 yard shot with an unfamiliar bow. The guys were watching him take the shot and they saw the lighted knock hit the doe perfectly in the "10 ring". The doe left a huge blood trail and fell dead. Jeff made a great shot with unfamiliar equipment. I wish one of the guys thought to video the shot. That is a great story, and great shooting Jeff!
Sunday 12-7-14 Doug Sholette killed a big doe at Clover Hill in Springwater. Doug has had many sits with no action, he finally connected and has meat in the freezer. Nice shooting!
Sunday 12-7-14 Tom Stroup killed this big bodied buck in Brockport, NY. After he was down he called his son Dave and his grandson Issac to help drag him out. great photo!
Sunday 12-7-14 Jeff Robinson shot a big doe in Scotsville, NY. He said it was crazy in there. The buck were chasing the does and he had deer all around him. The only dee that would give him a clean shot was this doe and he put a shot from his muzzle loader right through her chest. Nice work.
Friday 12-5-14 Tom Farrarro Shot a doe in Brocckport, NY
Sunday 11-30-14 Dan D'Ettorre killed a fat doe on Valley land in Naples, NY. He sent me a text saying, when you see thier bellys from the tree stand its not a good thing for the deer. He has another kill with his T/C .270. Nice shooting.
Sunday 11-23-14 Dick Borza killed this 8 pointer in Auburn, NY. Nice work Dick.
Sunday 11-23-14 Joe Shiner killed his fourth deer of the year on our land in Cuba, NY. Joe is going to need to buy another freezer. He is stacking the meat up like cord wood!
Sunday 11-23-14 Mike McLean killed a doe at their camp, Clover Hill in Wayland, NY. after a muddy drag Mike called her a chocolate covered deer. Another one for the freezer, nice work Mike.
Saturday 11-22-14 Mark Shiner killed a buck on our land in Cuba, NY. Mary was in a stand when he saw the buck. He took a shot and could see he hit him a little low and forward. The ran and stood by a tree for a little while and Mark has to lean out and take a shot to finish him off. He measures 105". After battling snow all week at his home in West Seneca he finally got out of town to hunt and got his buck.
Friday 11-21-14 Me, Dave D. Killed a doe in Brockport on Dan D'Ettorre and Mike McLean's land. The deer here cant help but flock to the deer radishes Dan and Mike put in. I took this one out of a group of 5. I dind't hit her great and had to track her down. I put her back up in a brush lot and had to finish her off with the ole' "Texas heart shot". more meat in the freezer.
Monday 11-17-14 Mike McLean Shot this nice doe in Wayland at Clover Hill.
Sunday11-16-14 Pat Duggan let the excitement of hunting on his new land in Naples get the best of him. He killed a 4 pointer.
Sunday11-16-14 Dan D'Ettorre killed a Beast of a deer at their camp, Clover Hill in Wayland. We are guessing he is a 4.5 year old. the "un-official" measurement is 114". He is a mainframe 10, if he didn't have a busted left side and he was symmetrical we estimate he would be 137". Since he is busted on the left side he is an 8 pointer. Dan showed incredible discipline on opening day, he passed on a beautiful 120" 8 pointer witch he accurately judged to be a 2.5 year old. The guys at Clover Hill have done great job with their QDM and their "hit list" Has grown tremendously. May of the guys have passed on great 2.5 year old bucks so they could be incredible 3.5 and 4.5 year olds like this one.
Dan was in a stand location he scouted, picked out and installed the stand. It was a quiet morning until about 8:30 he saw a couple of does. a little behind them was the buck. He was trying to field judge his age then he got a good look at his body. He was Square and big. Dan could tell he was a shooter. He raised his .270 and fired. The buck went down then got back up and went in the same direction ans the does. Dan got down, confirmed he had blood then backed out, he did not want to take any chances. He went to camp and waited for the guys to finish their morning hunts. Around noon they went up there and luckily they had no problem following the blood trail in the snow. He went about 80 yards and died. He double lung and liver shot the buck. Great Work and a great Buck!
Opening Day 11-15-14 Neil Hart killed a doe.
Opening Day 11-15-14 Ray Umbrino Killed a nice 7 pointer in Naples at Pat Duggan's camp. Here is the story in Ray's words.
4 of us were in the woods opening day down at Pat Duggan's place in Naples, Pat put me in a ladder stand right in front of what he calls the swamp, about 7:45 a doe came by and slowly walked through the swamp to the top of the hill, I watched her for at least 20 minutes unable to take many easy shots because I didn’t have a doe permit, at about 8:05 while still watching the doe I saw a buck walking across the hill, as it got closer I could tell it was a very large bodied deer and appeared to be an 8 pointer; I was the only one in our group hunting with a shotgun (everyone else had rifles) so I waited until he was about 60 yards way to take my shot which stopped him in his tracks, a second shot made sure he was down, as I set the gun down and looked up strangely enough the doe (only 20 yards from the buck I shot) was still slowly walking up the hill eating berries off the trees, the two gun shots never even made her flinch........ when I walked up to him I saw he wasn’t an eight pointer like I though but was a very nice seven. Lucky I didn't have a doe permit or my morning would have ending 20 minutes earlier and I never would have seen this buck........ Thanks to Pat for his hospitality and the opportunity!!!
Opening Day 11-15-14 Mike Guzik could not hold back and he killed a 4 pointer.
Opening Day 11-15-14 Tom Farraro could not hold back and he killed this 8 pointer.
Opening Day 11-15-14 Joe Shiner shot a Doe in Cuba, NY. A group of them came in and he shot this one in the head. It kinda ruined her day and he wasted all of the cheek meat! In the second picture Joe's big doe is hanging next to Kenny Winiarski's first deer. They will have have more great deer hunting memories together.
Wednesday 11-12-14 Me, Dave D. Got an nice big doe. There was four of us in Odgen tonight. The other 3 guys all saw shooter bucks, Tom Farrarro, Keith Schnetzer and Frank were the other three guys. I didn't see any bucks tonight. I saw a nice big doe coming in and a deer behind her. The deer behind was not a buck, it was a fawn. Mama gave me a clear shot at 20 yards and I took it. I hit her in the spine and she dropped. I finished her off with a heart shot. I have meat for opening day jerky!!!
Monday 11-10-14 Jeff Robinson shot this nice 10pt. in Clarkson, NY. Jeff is my neighbor, he hunts a small piece behind our houses. around 8:30 Jeff heard a noise over his left shoulder. He looked, grabbed his bow and came to full draw. The buck stepped into a lane and Jeff gave him the old mouth bleat to stop him. The buck stopped and he let the arrow fly and the buck mule kicked. The arrow hit him perfectly and the buck bounded and stood there 35 yards away for a few seconds then he got weak in the knees and dropped dead. Great shooting and great buck! We had a couple of beers and measured this buck at 119". We got him skinned and quartered. The autopsy reveled Jeff hit this buck in the heart, check out the pics.
Saturday 11-8-14 Danny D'Ettorre killed a nice doe in his honey hole in Brockport, NY.
Friday 11-7-14 Joe Shiner Killed a nice 8 pointer in Chili, NY. Joe was in the woods in Chili and I was in the woods in Churchville, I just texted Joe that I saw 4 does and he replied with "it's dead here, I should of went with you" I thought, you never know. About 15 minutes later he called me. I knew he shot something when he called, he said I shot a good buck. A nice doe came in first, he thought about shooting her at 30 yards and saw she was looking behind her. He looked and saw the buck coming in. He waited for the shot then he released the string, (Joe still shoots with his fingers). The arrow hit a twig and deflected and hit the buck in the hind quarter then the arrow entered the gut. Joe was sick but he did the right thing, he backed out for the night. I met him at 7am at his house the next morning (my birthday) 11/8. When I got there he told me he didn't sleep much and he was researching gut and hind quarter shots most of the night. He also said he did a shot with his late grandfather and my great Uncle Tony and asked for his help on the track. Joe keeps a shot glass and whisky handy for special occasions. When we started the search we found hair and gut but no blood. After about 100 yards we finally found blood and we able for follow it a while then it stopped. The blood was on and off for 1200 yards, that is nearly 3/4 of a mike (according to Google earth). We made some miracle finds of blood, some times we would go 50-75 yards with no blood. Luckily the deer kept heading west and mostly stuck to the deer trails. After about 3 hours he entered a residential area. We left ow bows in the woods and tried to ask for permission. one guy did not answer his door. When we walked on the road we found 2 drops of dried blood (miracle find) in the road and we were able to confirm he continued west across the road and into the woods. One land owner gave us permission and we went to grab our bows and got yelled at by a home owner, after we explained we were not hunting, we were tracking he let us get back on the trail. After we crossed the the road there was no sign of blood and it was a swampy area. We were body searching at that point. We covered about 200 yards and we separated to cover the wide area. I ran into a land owner and explained what we were doing. He was very nose and told me there was some meadows to the west and one that I was about to check. I told him we would check the meadows then we were going to quit if we could not find more blood. I waled into the meadow to the west about 40 yards and there he was laying dead. It looked like he ran till he died, he was stiff. I could not believe it, I called Joe and texted him a picture. Joe was screaming on the phone then we found each other and started celebrating. We thanked Uncle Tony for his help from above and I told Joe that 2 years ago Angelo shot the contest winner on 11/7 and I helped him find that buck on my birthday 11/8 . I didn't want to tell Joe that earlier, I wanted to get our hands on him first. We had to call my buddy Bob Baliva to get a ride to my truck and get him out of there. We are happy we have another great hunting memory and story. Like John Sweeney said, "when in doubt, back out", It does pay off, a gut shot is a kill shot. This buck measures 116.75" and is huge body deer.
Sunday 11-2-14 Dave Hopkins killed a good 7 pointer (should be an 8 but he has a busted G3) with his brand new Crossbow. Here is the story in Dave's words. The "un-official" score of this buck is 117". Great work Hoppy on your "personal best"!
"I purchased my Barnett Raptor yesterday at Field and Stream in Horseheads, NY. I spent some time both yesterday afternoon and this morning getting the unit dialed in, left the house around 10:15 and was on the hill behind the house by 10:45. Standing corn, tall Ponderosa Pines, Christmas tree pines and some good hardwoods set the stage for a great opportunity. Around 11:30 I saw the deer, confirmed it to be a shooter, marked my lane and hoped that he would cooperate. He entered the lane and I marked my target, around 28 yards, uphill, his nose entered the lane, I drew on his shoulder and fired. He continued on down the lane, tail down, I had no idea of his condition as I could not recall the impact. I marked my time and verified my distance markers, all looked great, I was comfortable that I had made a good shot. I had a beverage, went to my estimated impact site and found blood about 5 feet further uphill than I had anticipated! Thrilled to have blood on my first shot with the new weapon, i marked all of the locations, and waited to track. I notified Keith and Cecelia of the potential success and started scouting. 20 yards down the trail and I have significant blood, both sides of the trail. Another 40 yards I see a large bodied buck down! After inspection I see that my boy has broken G3, bummer for score but a great buck and personal best for me. I am looking forward to doe and bear hunting the rest of the crossbow season and yes I have to go to Roscoe next weekend to take a stab at that slob bear Bill has on the cameras."
Sunday 11-2-14 RJ Booth shot a 7 pointer. The buck measureas about 80". Here is RJ's story in his words....
MY uncle Tom Booth & I have been wanting to put a stand up on the ridge behind my grandpa's house for a long time. For those who hunt the Southern Tier know, it is a LONG walk up a huge hill, carrying your clothes so you do not sweat you butt off. That be said, we never put one up. Then came our 4-wheeler. We put it up Sunday 11/2 afternoon and I shot this buck quartering away at 8 yards at 6:55 AM the next morning, it traveled maybe 50 yards.
Thursday 10-30-14 I had a blast at Catskill Pheasantry in Long Eddy, NY. I was a guest on this great outing and it was awesome watching these dogs work. They are all business and they are great at their job. They released 15 birds, the dogs found about 17 and we killed 13. Cant wait to do that again!From left to right Dave D'Ettorre, Sean Callaghan and Neil Curcio (our host).
Sunday 10-26-14 Keith Lennert Killed a nice doe. Keith made a great double lung shot at 35 yards.
Sunday 10-26-14 Mike McLean killed a turkey in the morning and a doe in the afternoon at Clover Hill in Springwater, NY. Nice Double Header Mike!
Tuesday 10-21-14 John Sweeney Shot an 8 Pts. buck that was 185 lbs. dressed and measures 87". John went into the stand on this rainy night and the deer were moving. He hit his grunt tube, looked down and there was a smaller buck right under him. shortly after that he saw another small buck, that buck kept looking behind him and this 8 pointer was following the same trail. As the buck entered the lane John sent the arrow. The buck was in mid stride and john hit him a little far back. The arrow passed right through and after examining the arrow John knew he had to back out if he wanted to find him. Below is the rest of the story in Johns words.
Shot him Tuesday night at 5:30 in the rain in Fairport at my buddies Xmas tree farm. Saw 3 other bucks as well. Gut shot him and no blood so I backed out and followed up this morning. I was Looking in some pines where I last saw him when I started hearing a buck grunt. I Had left my bow on the ground because it was so thick in the pines. The bow was closer to the grunting deer than I was at this point. I circled back away from him and got the bow back and slowly followed the grunting. I was right below the grunting wheezing buck for about an hour. I was within 30 ' of him but could not see him due to the thorns and thick brush. After a while the grunting stopped so I circled up the hill and found a trail I could get down. Found a spot where he must have bedded at one point as all the weeds were flattened. Finally spotted a small patch of white about the size of a softball (his Belly). Had to get within 20' before I could confirm it was him. As I approached he tried to get up but could not. Finished him with a lung shot from about 10'.
Moral of the story: "when in doubt back out". This guy lived 15 hours after I initially shot him. Very happy to have found him.
Tuesday 10-14-14 Dave Hopkins and Keith Schenetzer had a cool encounter. They were in Springwater at Votypka farms and they went in the hedgerow "behind the barn" around 5:30. They weren't there long when they saw a doe coming across the field. Hopkins's bow was hanging on a hook and he was out of position. Keith has his bow in hand and he was in position. Dave raised the range finder as she approached and said 35 yards. Keith dialed his sight to 30 yards and Hopkins said 27 yards, the arrow was already on the way. Keith double lunged the doe, she did not seem to know she was hit, ran another 70 yards and fell over dead. The best part about this story is that they got to share the encounter together and will always be able to enjoy the memory and tell the story. Some of my best hunting memories are encounters shared with others. Very Cool!
Monday 10-13-14 Gavin Vogt son Gavin Jr. killed his first buck today on the last day on the 2014 youth firearms hunt. After a long weekend of hunting hard Gavin Jr. didn't give up. He went back out there today and got it done. Gavin Jr. put down this nice 4 pointer. Nice work Gavin Jr.!
Friday 10-10-14 Joe Shiner and Kevin Gleber both killed does down at our camp in Cuba, NY. Kevin was in a stand I just put up. Joe was in a stand on the North end and he watched this huge doe and two smaller ones feed their way to him. When the big one looked away he drew, a small button buck saw him draw then the arrow was on the way, done deal. Kevin saw this one come in with two smaller ones and he made a great shot into the shoulder and through the vitals. Nice work Boys!.
Sunday 10-5-14 Tom Farraro's co-worker Dan killed this 305lb Black Bear in Barre, NY. He watched this bear stand on his hind legs and smelled the air. When he got back down Dan shot him at just over 20 yards. The bear went 40 yards and piled up. Dan is in the Pope an Young record book with this Bear. His sckull measured 19.5". What a great trophy!
Saturday 10-4-14 Brett Grape killed this 80lb Female black wolf in Idaho while Elk hunting with Jeff Ames, Stephen Ames Chad and Gio.
Brett was with Chad and they still hunted all morning through a creek and ended up just under a mile from their spike camp. They found a few nice bogs leading to the creek so each of them sat and watched one for a few hours. Around 2pm Brett turned to his right and saw 3 wolves on a trot coming right towards him. Brett turned quick as he could and shot the black one in the head at 14 yards. His scope was dialed up to 8X when he raised it, he saw black in the scope and squeezed one off. the bullet hit her in the forehead and exited the ribs. The wolf was dead before it hit the dirt. The other 2 ran into the meadow and that's when he noticed a 4th wolf that was only about 5-6 feet away that had sneaked around his back unnoticed. Brett wished he could have ripped off another round but he was a little freaked out. It is not the 6x6 bull elk he was looking for but it was a great experience.
Saturday 10-4-14 Keith Lennert killed a 10 pointer with character in Newstead NY. Keith has only been hunting a few years and he consistently puts deer on the ground. Keith went in around 2:30pm he saw a small buck and some does. He saw this deer raking a tree with his antlers and decided he wanted to shoot him. When the deer gave him a good shot at about 22 yards he let the arrow fly. The deer dropped in his tracks. The arrow tore up the chest cavity. The deer was still moving on the ground so Keith sent another arrow for a mercy shot. As Keith went to climb down the ladder he heard something and looked at the deer. A huge buck was standing next to the dead buck. The big buck leaped over the dead deer and took off. Keith could not believe it, the huge buck has a big branch from a tree stuck in his antlers. Keith's 10 point buck may not win the contest but his meat will be good and his horns can go on the wall. Nice work Keith.
Wednesday 10-1-14 Kevin Gleber Killed a doe at his place in Hamburg, NY. at 15 yards Kevin made a perfect quartering away shot. Nice way to start the season!
2014 20BuckHuntClub 38 Big Buck contest participants, $760 Prize Money
Dave D’Ettorre, David J. D’Ettorre, Angelo Infantino, Ron Swart, Mike Guzik, Craig Couburn, Mark Shiner, Joe Shiner, Mike Leach,
John Sweeney, Kevin Gleber, Dan D’Ettorre, Tommy Reina, Jeff Ames, Mark Broncatello, Mike McLean, Bret Grape, Stephen Ames Sr.,
Steve Wysocki, Tom Booth, RJ Booth, Mark Booth, Keith Lennert, Gavin Vogt, Dick Borza, Neil Hart, Patrick Duggan, Jason Aymerich,
Ray Umbrino, Dave Ames, Jeff Robinson, Dave Hopkins, Tom Farraro, Mike Clark, Dave Stroup, Tom Stroup, Mike Eckrich and Doug Sholette