WNY Firearms Deer opener.........

[centershot]

......is tomorrow, 11-16-13! I know there are several of us WNY'ers here and just wanted to wish everyone good luck, and be safe! I'm meeting my gang for breakfast at 0430 at The Dinner Bell in Frewsburg, NY, then up to Charlie's house by 0600 to organize the days hunt. I'll report back with pics as the season unfolds. To all who have, are, or will be venturing afield this season, I hope your hunt is/was fulfilling and meaningful to you, deer or no deer!

[oklahoma red]

Best of luck to ya, Centershot!!
Wishing you the wind in your face, and a steady hand.

Happy shooting to ya,
OkR

[mohavesam]

Some of the best whitetail hunting anywhere in the southern tier! Don't overlook the mucklands & swamps of Orleans and the areas in and east of Sugar Hill SF! If it were legal to use a handgun & OOS license I'd be there with you!

[centershot]

Well, I thought I'd take the opportunity today to post some updates on my deer season. But, before I do, I would like to thank oklahoma red and mohavesam for their comments, and Sam is absolutely correct; NY's southern tier does have some of the best whitetail deer hunting to be found! But you wouldn't know that from the way my season has gone so far...........

Opening day, breakfast with Denny, Josh and his dad Aaron at the Dinner Bell in Frewsburg.

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Most of the rest of the crew, we meet at Charlie's house for coffee at zero-dark-thirty to strategize, then head for the woods. These last few years though, it seems like a lot less strategy and a lot more BS over coffee! LOL!


From left to right: Charlie, Chas, Chas Jr., Denny, Josh and Aaron. The large brown dog trying to crawl into Denny's lap is Shooter, Charlies' bloodhound.



No snow yet, temps in the 50's, not classic deer hunting weather!

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Opening day armament; my new T/C Venture, 30-06. Yes it is soa lever-action, you can clear;y see the lever just above the trigger, that little silvery-colored thingy!!



It was a wet, rainy, unproductive week. Hoping to change my luck I drove 30 miles west to the sprawling megalopolis of beautiful downtown Niobe, NY, population........ummm..........I dunno', maybe 30? Waddaya mean you never heard of it!? LOL! My rifle coach, mentor, several times state champion and great friend, Kay Anderson, allows me to hunt on the backside of his property. Kay has been an active competitor in smallbore and high-power rifle since he started shooting in a club in Niagara Falls, NY at the age of twelve!



The view from the treestand behind Kay's place, a lot of deer have been harvested from this stand!

[JerryB]

That's NY??? Where's all the yellow taxis and weird people????? That looks like real deer hunting country.

[centershot]

Oh, yes, well Jerry, I forgot to mention we are 450 miles WEST of "the city"!

[JerryB]

centershot you do live in some nice country. Do you have bear too?

[Nazgul]

Great Centershot!

I grew up in Jamestown, used to work for a place in Frewsburg. Had lunch many times at the Dinner Bell.

Good luck.

Don

[centershot]

Jerry, yes, there is a thriving black bear population here! All of our group are gunning for the large sow that killed Charlie's dog a couple of years ago, her time is limited..............

Small world, isn't it Nazgul! You probably already know that the Dinner Bell was called Julia's Restaurant by the previous owners. My dad & I would stop there for lunch after a morning hunt up on Woodchuck Hill, or maybe out on Bone Run. That was 45 years ago, I was 14 then. Dad passed away in '92 but stopping there for coffee & a sandwich brings back a lot of good memories! Dang, those were good times! Sometimes I get to feeling that dad's looking down & smiling whenever I walk through the door there.....

I've been out of action since Saturday evening.It finally snowed Saturday afternoon, a lake-effect storm off Lake Erie dumped 3" by 5:00 PM. As I was walking out I slipped and fell, I went down hard, landing on my rifle. OUCH!! The problem though, was that it induced a case of vertigo! This has happened to me before, my doc says "Be careful!". Right! My head was spinning pretty good on Sunday but things are settling down now. The visibility driving home that night was absolutely ZERO!
Took me an hour to make what is normally a 20 minute drive. Thank goodness Edgar has fog lights! Edgar? That's my '02 Subaru Outback! Love my Subaru!