On November 11th Tom Hains was hunting with his grandfather Alfred in Wayne County when this nice 9 pointer walked by. Tom was able to arrow the buck which had an 18" spread and dressed out at 187 pounds. Congrats to Tom and Alfred!

On December 11th Gene Tripodo arrowed this monster Long Island buck in the town of Brookhaven. Gene was able to spot and stalk this brute with his bow and put the big buck down. The deer green scored 152" and had an inside spread of 20" with 13" tines! Congrats to Gene on an incredible Long Island buck!

Here's a buck taken by one of our readers in Putnam County:

I arrowed this 8 pt at 50 yards on a QDMA property in Putnam adjacent to a NYCDEP QDMA managed property. I had numerous trail camera pics of him from this year and last. I hunted him for 12 days straight after watching him chase off two small 6 point bucks fighting in front of my stand at about 80 yards. A biologist aged him at 3 1/2 years, field dressed weight was only 140lbs. He had a 13 inch spread and 5 3/4 inch bases.

The New York State DEC needs to wake up to the black and white data gathered by qualified biologists regarding placement of future QDMA practices in New York. There is no down side only increased trophy buck opportunities and increased overall deer herd health.

Mike had been hunting hard all season and wasn't about to let this giant 6 pointer walk by. A few weeks later Mike got another chance as a giant 8 pointer walked by. He ended the season with two great bucks. Congrats to Mike on an awesome season!

This big 8 pointer was taken on November 25th in Westchester County. It was a new property that Mario had just received permission to hunt in late October so there wasn't much time to scout. Although the first few hunts brought no deer by the his stand, Mario didn't give up. Then on the afternoon of November 25th the big buck who had been leaving the monster rubs showed up. At 21 yards Mario settled the pin and let the arrow fly! The big boy didn't make it far. Congrats to Mario on a fine NY buck!

Bjorn Holubar sent me an email today with the official score of his Long Island monster. The buck officially grossed 211 2/8" and netted 202 5/8" making this buck the largest ever taken on Long Island and the 2nd largest buck with a bow in New York State.

Last night I attended the winter meeting for the WCBA. There was lots of talk about the parks, watershed, and private properties opening up to bowhunters in Westchester. More and more interest is beginning to show from towns and parks. The problem is that only 33% of the hunters participating in these programs are putting in the required time and effort. The trend with these programs going forward seems to be that they will start as "open to the public" and then pick the "best of the best" to continue in the program until they have their own team of hunters dedicated to the specific property.

There was also talk about starting a political fund to support certain candidates as dictated by the membership. A donation to Assemblyman Greg Ball was discussed but no decision was made by the time I left.

"The problem is that only 33% of the hunters participating in these programs are putting in the required time and effort."

We also heard from Mark Weckle on his genetic deer study that has been going on for several years now. He has collected over 550 samples of deer heart tissue and is now DNA testing the samples to try and scientifically prove that archery hunting is an effective way to control deer herds and allow forests to regenerate.

There were also a few nice racks in the 110" - 130" range that showed up for the big buck contest. They were great bucks, but if we could get the local deer population in check they would have probably been incredible bucks.

Doug and the rest of the WCBA team continue to do an excellent job of promoting bowhunting in the suburbs of Westchester and it's great we have an organization like the WCBA to work for us on a local level.

Scott was out bowhunting on November 7th in Wayne County when he saw a nice buck around 8:30 a.m. The buck walked by at 100 yards and Scott picked up the rattling antlers to bring the deer in. As the deer approached 30 yards, Scott grunted at him to stop and settling the pin on the buck's vitals. When the arrow hit its mark the buck took off and crashed just 40 yards away from where it was hit. Congrats to Scott on his dandy 8 pointer.

The weather was cold on November 6th as Johnathan and his brother headed to the woods. A little after 7:00am the monster buck stepped out of the soybean field. The buck took a step as the arrow was released and was hit a little far back. It took a few hours to find the deer even though it was less than 100 yards from where it was hit. Congrats to Jonathan on a great buck and not giving up on the difficult tracking job.

Mike and I met up to do some late season bowhunting in Westchester County and we ended up watching bucks chase does, fight and just deer roaming the woods everywhere! It was an incredible experience, especially since this was during the last two weeks of December. Check out the video and let us know what you think.

It was a long season filled with ups and downs, but I never gave up on my quest for a buck with more than 100 inches of antler. On Christmas morning I headed out to the woods with Pro Staff member Mike Gagliardi on our quest for a big buck. Although we never saw a shooter buck, we did do our part to help thin the herd.

This seventeen pointer was shot during the 2009 archery season on November 18th. The buck was harvested in Lyndonville, New York and grossed 203".