PROS: Allows you to use a smart phone while hunting just as you would if you weren't wearing gloves, form fitting fingers allow for good dexterity, only glove I've ever been able to wear while hunting and still be able to text, silver through out entire glove also kills bacteria to help minimize human odor, works all season long (I tested from early September hunts through late December hunts with no issues).

CONS: Not really designed for hunting and can not handle the repeated abuse of being in the woods, for example, climbing trees, walking through brush, climbing over rocks and fallen trees. Mine lasted an entire deer season and only started not working as well after 4 months of repeated use.

MSRP: $24.99

Last fall I was contacted by Agloves to try out a pair of their touchscreen gloves. Unlike other touchscreen gloves that have a small patch of silver sewn to the fingertips of two or three fingers, Agloves uses a silver thread throughout the glove to make the first 10-finger touch screen gloves.

Following the success of the deer management programs around Westchester County, Rye is the latest town to propose a management program. It's estimated that there are 52 to 55 deer per quarter square mile at the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye. With the population this outside of the carrying capacity of the land it's necessary to start controlling the deer population.

As we've seen in other parks, the program works and deer number balance out after the first few years of a program. Here's an article on the Deer Management Program in Rye.

Be sure to read the comments at the end. There's a lot of residents with strong opinions on hunting in general. Not surprisingly many of these people just don't understand hunting or how these hunt programs work.

Just in case you didn't miss deer season enough, here's a few pictures I got from one of our reader's Chris at the end of last season.

During hurricane Sandy Chris' ladder stand and tree had become victims of Sandy and were lying on the ground. Instead of taking the stand and moving it to another location, Chris decided to come back at the end of the season to get the stand.

Antlers are the first thing most hunters think of when it comes to deer. For decades, hunters have gone out into the wilderness to hunt deer. The majority of them love the venison they will bring home after a successful hunt. However, as the sport of deer hunting has grown over the years, and deer populations are thriving, more hunters are being driven by an opportunity to bring home a buck they can put in the record books. Man caves across the country are featuring big bucks on their walls as trophies of the sport they love. Serious hunters go as far as managing parcels of land with the specific goal of growing big bucks, with big antlers. It has become an obsession by many in more ways than one.

PROS: 0.1 yard increment readings, 200 yard ranging capability, easy to use, one handed operation, quickly acquires target, distance is compensated for angle +/- 89 degrees, rubberized finish, waterproof, fogproof

CONS: the backlight turns on automatically in lowlight conditions and cannot be controlled or adjusted for brightness

MSRP: $349.95

Rangefinders are essential pieces of bowhunting equipment and I’ve been using Nikon’s Archer’s Choice MAX rangefinder for the last two seasons. It’s a tool that's earned my trust and rely on my Nikon to make an ethical shot and a quick clean kill while bowhunting. With the Archer’s Choice MAX I can quickly and easily range my intended target from 5 to 200 yards in 1/10th increments. You can even hold down the range button and continuously range an animal as it moves - how cool is that!

The big thing with today's rangefinders are their angle compensating technology. Nikon’s ID Technology compensates for various incline or decline shooting angles, up to +/- 89 degrees. It's extremely helpful for hunters out west, but don't over look its importance if you're a treestand hunter. I'm routinely in a treestand 25 feet off the ground in hilly terrain which exaggerates the already steep angles from my treestand to the deer below me. This is where the Nikon Archer’s Choice MAX and its ID Technology really shine.

Back in January 2011 I met up with the crew from Muddy Outdoors at the ATA Show in Indianapolis where they unveiled the new Bloodsport hang-on stand and from that day on I wanted one.

I counted down the days until the Bloodsport would ship and probably called Chad from Muddy more times than he'd like to admit! Just a few days after the season had started in Connecticut my Bloodsport stands had arrived. Out of the box the stand required a minimal amount of assembly which consisted of attaching the tree bracket to the back of the stand and sliding the waterproof foam seat on to the metal frame - that was it.

Each winter the Westchester County Bowhunters Association holds a big buck contest to showcase some of the clubs largest whitetails from the season. There are prizes for the top three bucks as well as the largest doe by weight.

On November 16th BJ Macri was bowhunting in Westchester County in the same area where he took a nice 10-point whitetail the previous season. Macri first learned of the buck from a trail cam photo on October 13th, but Macri didn't cross paths with the buck until hurricane Sandy had passed.

Paul Wekerle was hunting in Suffolk County on November 6th when this buck came in downwind and caught him completely off guard. The buck stood 25-yards away sniffing an estrous scent wick Wekerle had put out that morning. As the buck began walking away, Wekerle picked up his can call and a grunt tube and did a series of bleats and tending grunts.  With no response from the buck, Wekerle tried a snort-wheeze and the buck snapped his head around and started to turn. The buck just stood there licking his nose and looking back in Wekerle's direction. Then the buck turned away and slowly walked off. Wekerle watched as the buck of his dreams disappeared back into the woods.

This was a hunt I wish I was able to be a part of, but I was out of town. My brother really got into bowhunting this year (it's about time!) and it only took a few sits for him to get his first buck down, then his second buck. After that Derek was able to pick up a few of his own hunting properties, do some serious scouting and go after a really big buck on his own. For someone's first season of bowhunting, I'd say he's pretty lucky!