2018 Season Recap

The Last day of the season.  

Dan D'Ettorre and Mike Clark both shot does on DanD land in Chili, NY.  Dan and Mike saw a bunch of deer earlier in the day but no shots.  I joined them for the last couple of hours and the shots rang our around me.  First Clark then Dan.  Clark's doe is a decent size but Danny's is an absolute horse.  Nice work guys!  While Dan was recovering his doe he found the carcass of the turkey he shot during bow season.  It still had Dan's arrow in it so he got that back.  

Steve Ames killed a great buck at Clover Hill Farms in Sprringwater, NY.  They call this buck Jackpot because he showed up out of the blue and made their hit list.  This buck measures just over 138".

Here is the story from Steve.

"I was hunting for three specific Hitlist bucks that we called “Dirty Dozen”, “High Tower” and “Jackpot”. All three bucks were close to or over 150”. The spot that I was focusing on we had pics of Dirty Dozen and High Tower. I was in an area that was between bedding area and some standing corn. I had seen a 2.5 six pointer and 6 does coming out of some thick stuff and around 20 min later I had my first glimpse of Jackpot. I really never expected to see him in this area as all our camera pics had him about a ½ mile away. He walked broad side of me about 50 yards in some really thick stuff. I waited for about 10 min while he was just browsing to get a clear shot. He then just stopped and looked my way. Luckily, I had a small window of a shot and took it. He ran about 50 yards and dropped. I scored him at 138.5 but he had a busted G-2 and G-3. So, he would have gone high 140ish. Great year for the Clover Hill HC with 7 nice bucks taken. "

Carson Daly killed a big doe in Sweden, NY

Mike McLean killed two does in Springwater, NY.   

Mark Shiner Killed a doe on our land in Cuba, NY.  Mark was hunting with Jamie Scherer and Jamie bumped some to Mark and Mark took out the big doe.  Nice work Mark.  

Me, Dave D'Ettorre shot two Red Foxes in Ogden, NY.  I was Hunting with my buddies Tommy Farraro and Al Caruso.  I was in a stand in a hedge row, on a field edge.  As soon as I got in the stand I saw what looked like a dead deer.  I decided to wait until after the hunt to check it out.  Around 3pm I saw a big red fox going away from me and he turned and came back and stopped in a perfect spot and I shot him with My son David's CVA Optima muzzle loader.  the sunset was at 4:39 tonight and at 4:37 I saw a fox in the same spot as the first one smelling where he was standing.  I cocked the hammer and shot her.  One male and one female.  At the same time Tommy was doing some shooting and he killed a buck.  When I got down I went to check it out the deer and it was a dead doe, possibly a car hit stiff and cold, no holes that I could see.  Cool afternoon.  

Mark Shiner Killed a buck in Lancaster, NY.  Mark made a long shot with his muzzle loader and the buck didn't go far.   Nice shooting Mark!

Jeff Ames Shot a nice 9 pointer at Clover Hill Farms in Springwater, NY.  Jeff heard from his dad Steve Ames that they were entering low in a field.  Jeff set him self up in a culvert and dug himself into a snow bank.   He sat there with the wind and snow in his face until late after noon then 12 does entered the field with this buck behind them.  Jeff took a 200 plus yard shot and hit the buck.  Jeff called his brother Stephen and they got on his track.  With the snow falling they had no choice but to get after him.  After a long track they found him.  Nice Family effort!  Nice shooting Jeff!

Ron Swart shot a buck and a doe in the Southern-tier. Friday night he shot the doe and Sunday morning he shot the buck.  Ron was hunting with his 82 year old father and his nephew Jackson.  On Sunday they were dragging out Ron's buck through nearly a foot of snow.  Ron's 82 year old dad was a trooper trudging through the snow carrying his gun and Jackson's gun.  As they approached a clearing Ron handed Jackson his gun and  asked Jackson to check the clearing.  a few minutes later they heard a shot.  Jackson took a shot at a 5 pointer and Ron and him went to check it out.  They followed his tracks and found blood.  The buck headed to the thick stuff and they found him nearly buried in the snow under a pine tree.  Jackson got his first buck that day.  Nice Family outing and great memories!

Pat Duggan shot a big coyote in Naples NY.  The yote came in hot after being shot at by his buddy and Pat dropped him with his .243.  Nice work Pat. 

Joe Shiner shot a doe in Ogden NY.  My son David, Joe and myself were hunting Friday afternoon.  David and Joe were on opposite ends of a big field and Daivd said he saw 2 does on Joe's end of the field.  Joe was in the woods about 50 yards and he may not of seen them unless David told him about them.  after some back and forth over the texts Joe got a bead on one and threaded the needle to drop her.  He  hit her in the spine and David got to the deer first and finished her of with a head shot.  This was a tag team effort.  Nice work!

Stephen Ames shot a nice buck in spring water, NY at Clover Hill Farms.  He rattled the buck into one of their food plots and made a good shot.  This buck measures 118". Nice work. 

Mike McLean shot a big doe in spring water and Clover Hill Farms.  

Me, Dave D'Ettorre killed a 7pt. buck and a doe at our camp in Cuba, NY.  I was hunting with my cousin Mark, cousin Joe and Uncle Jimmy.  I sat in "Uncle Marks's stand" in the morning.   The stand has special meaning to us because three weeks earlier we spread my Uncle Richards ashes there. He wanted them spread there because this is where he got his last deer.  This year has been though for our family with tremendous loss.  I was thinking about all who we have lost and I did not care if I didn't see a deer,  I was enjoying being in that stand.  At about 8:50 I saw this buck sneaking through the woods.  I got my scope on him and through the trees he looked like a small buck and I wasn't going to shoot,  when he crossed the four wheeler trail about 75 yards away I looked at him again in the scope and determined he was a shooter.  When he stopped, I settled in and shot him.  He took off down hill and he looked hurt.  Joe came over and I stayed in the stand, when he got to the spot he said he had blood.  I got down and we followed the blood trail to the buck.  I double lunged him.   After we recovered him and Joe went to get the four wheeler I said a thank you to Uncle Richard Shiner, Grandpa Shiner, Paige Smith, and John J. Donlon. 

After we bot the buck up to camp Joe said he was going down to the ravine and asked if I would pick him up later.  About 45 min later I went to get him and from the four wheeler I saw some does. I jumped off and pulled out my Glock 9 mm and took 3 shots from 30 yards away.  One shot hit her in the heart.  She went straight down hill.  When Joe and I got there we saw a small button buck and Joe said you hit a little one.  I said I did not shoot at a little one and mama was probably laying near him dead.  Sure enough she was.  Nice big doe, just as big as the buck.  It was a good Saturday night at camp playing cards and a good Sunday!

Cole Penders Shot a doe in Bath, NY.  Here is the story in Cole's words. 

I was hunting down in bath New York on opening day for gun season. I was out sitting for an afternoon hunt over a clover field. The action was extremely slow but had a good wind hitting me in the face and it was about 5 minutes before legal shooting hours ended and 3 big doe stepped out into the field in front of me about 150 yards away, i put my cross hairs on the first doe’s front shoulder and fired all 3 deer stood there confused so i chambered another round and lined up again and fired and this bullet went straight through her front shoulders. she mule kicked and ran about 40 yards before hitting the ground. Walked up to her to find out i landed both shots the first being a bit low but the 7mm did the trick.

Nice work Cole!

Angelo Infantino shot a big doe at his place in Wyoming, NY.  A nice Buck was harassing a couple of does around Angelo's stand.  Angelo got a good look at the buck and decides he was not big enough so he shot the doe.  Nice restraint, he wouldn't get any bigger if you killed him now.  Nice work Angelo.

Dan D'Ettorre Shot an 8pt buck at his place in Chili, NY, DanD Land.  We were hunting together that morning and Dan was in a box blind over a food plot.  He saw some deer moving and he hit the grunt call this buck tried to circle down wind of Dan but was blocked by the creek.  The buck entered the food plot and Dan nailed him in the heart with his muzzle loader.  He didn't go far.  I joined Dan and we got him out of there and met my son David up at the barn for the afternoon hunt.  Nice work Dan.  

Keith Lennert shot a nice buck in South Newsted, NY.

 Brad Gravino shot a nice 10pt in Mendon NY wit his H&R 12awg Ultra Slug

Dan D'Ettorre shot an 8 pointer in Chili, NY at his place, DanD land with his crossbow.   Dan was watching a smaller buck following a doe then he looked to his right and this buck was right near the stand.  He took aim let it fly.  Dan had no blood or bolt at the site of impact.  He found the buck dead about a 100 yards away.  Nice work.

Brad Gravino tagged a doe in Mendon, NY.

Jeff Ames shot a beautiful 10 point buck in Springwater, NY with his compound bow. Jeff saw a shooter buck at 53 yards.   The buck went through a lane and Jeff grunted to get him back, the he did a few doe bleats and a soft rattle.  At about 20 yards Jeff saw a bigger buck moving and he began to make a scrape.  Jeff attempted to draw twice and his release slipped off twice., somehow the buck did not spook.  Jeff put his release on and came to full draw and hit the back when he was standing at 12 yards.  The buck took off about 20 yards and stood there bleeding.  Jeff loaded another arrow and waited for the buck to move into a small hole through the branches then Jeff hit him again.  After a couple hundred yards of good blood, the blood stopped.  They got Bob Yax and his tracking dog Thor.  They bumped up the buck and tracked him to the edge of a ravine. They backed out and Jeff went in today and saw some crows leaving the ravine so he carefully eased in and saw the crows leaving a small group of trees.  Jeff went in there and saw the rack.  Doug helped Jeff get him out of there and transported him back.  Great work Guys.  They call this buck V10. This buck measures 143"

Steve Ames Sr. shot a nice 10 point buck in Springwater, NY with his crossbow. The buck was heading up the field edge and fed in the clover food plot.  Steve made a nice shot and the buck ran until it died in a food plot.  Nice shooting! This buck's rough measurement  is 125.75"  

Me,  Dave D'Ettorre shot a good buck in Sweden,  NY. My brother Danny texted me on Tuesday night and said somebody need to be in his "Honey-hole" in Sweden.  I told him I was planing on it.  I told my son David he should go in there and he said he would.  When we got up and it was raining a little and he said he was going back to bed.  I tried talking him into going but, he went back to bed.  So I went in there.  About 7:50am I saw the buck about 60 yards away just standing there.  I saw a second deer coming my way and as it got close I saw it was a small buck.  The big buck went into the open hardwoods about 80 yards away and stopped. I grabbed the grunt call and hit it twice, he didn't move. I Hit it a few more times and he started coming.  I came to full draw and stopped him at 20 yards with a mouth bleat and hit him with an arrow.  He ran to a spot about 30 yards away from me and stood there hunched.  I knew he was hurting but he didn't go down.  I grabbed another arrow and hit him again right behind the shoulder.  I check out the first spot, no blood no arrow.  The second spot had blood and my arrow but the penetration did not seem good.  I followed the blood for 20 yards and found good dark blood with one soy bean in it.  When I saw the soy bean I backed out and gave him 7 hours to die.  Went back in at 2pm with my cousin Joe Shiner and found him dead 20 yards from the last blood.  He died quick but I didn't want to take any chances.  I'm very happy and appreciative of Dan for the killer spot and Joe for the hand.  I have let a lot of little ones live and It has been a very long time since I've killed a good one.  He measures 122.25".  Now it is my son David's turn to get a buck!

Mike Clarke killed an 8 pointer in Chili, NY on Dan D'Ettorre's new land, "DanD Land".  Dan and mike hung an new stand then 20 minutes later Mike killed the buck.