Dieter Herbert had one heck of an opening day this year. And to top it off Herbert was hunting public land in Long Island. Here's his story in his own words: Well to say this years opening day was awesome is an understatement. It was like no other I have experienced! The morning started early. I dropped my brother off at his spot and quickly got to my spot and climbed the hill to my ground blind which I brushed in 3 weeks prior to the opener. The morning started slowly with high winds which really limited my hearing. At about 7:50 a.m. I heard one stick snap really close to me. I peered out the window and saw a nice 8 pointer checking out my blind. He turned away and I drew my bow as he stepped into my lane and I smoked him! I watched the buck run 60 yards and pile up - I then pulled a Stan Potts reaction, lol, couldn't help it!


Then came the afternoon hunt. I climbed up into my favorite stand and immediately started seeing does cruising the woodlot. I had a mock scrape near an existing scrape I hunted the year before and it worked like a charm. At 4:45 p.m. I saw a big silhouette step out of a bedding area 60 yards away. I got a good look at him in my binos and realized this was the deer that I hung this stand to hunt and my main target this year. He pulled a 180 right towards the mock scrape he stood broadside at 18 yards and I took the shot. Not too confident about the shot and the looks of my arrow I let him rest overnight.


The next day I picked up where I last saw him and he didn't make it 30 yards from my last glimpse of him, I was so pumped! This was all public land that I had been hunting extremely hard for the past three seasons and after a dry spell on the bucks I just couldn't believe it came together twice in one day and on opening day!