So I'm officially looking for a new place to hunt in 2015 as of about a week ago. While part of me will miss the property I had access to last year, I'm very excited about the opportunity to learn something new. It's funny, in years past.....almost all of my encounters with big bucks occurred on fresh stands and on property I was hunting for the first year. I think there is something about the level of scouting you put in on new property and approaching it for the first time that keeps us focused on the fundamentals vs. just doing what you have always done and falling into the rut of preconceived notions. Anyhow - My goals for 2015 are two things. I want to shoot another personal best buck. I also want to shoot a 130"+ buck on public property. I will likely find another quality lease for this year to hunt and am already on the search, but I'm going to spend every minute of my spare time in the next few weeks to try and and find a deer I'd like to hunt on public property as well. Anyone else have new goals for 2015?
I'm trying to save money to put up more stands. I pretty much just had 2 stands and I want to bump that number to 4 this year. I also want to plant at least 4 food plots this year, and setup a ground blind over in some pines. The deer seem to bed in the pines any time it calls for rain, and that could pay off big over the rut. I also am trying to kill my first bear with a bow and Elk.
My new goal is to kill a mature buck on a public land spot that I grew up hunting on. I've taken smaller fork horns there when I was younger, but never saw a good mature buck. When I was 9 my dad got this buck in those woods and I've wanted to do the same ever since. It's not heavily pressured, you just gotta find them. I posted a thread last June on scouting it with topo maps and got a lot of great advice from alot of people on here, but never made it out there. Once we lose some of the 2' plus of snow on the ground I plan on scouting those areas and hang a LW trim some lanes and stay out till the 2nd week in November. Here's my dad and the buck that started it all for me... Here's the link to the thread... http://forums.bowhunting.com/bowhunting-talk/61684-my-quest-public-land-buck-pre-scout.html Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Kill my first buck with my bow - I passed up numerous small bucks last year and also missed 2 shooters 2 weeks apart last year. I do not want to shoot anything below 8pts.
Same as last year, be patient, be ready, and shoot a mature buck. Next year will be my 3rd year of finally figuring it out. Forget early season it only burns out stands and sits of seeing a doe parade is boring. Come November be ready and hunt no matter the weather.
My goals are to figure out if any of the 3 shooter bucks I saw last season made it through gun season and winter. If any of them did, my next goal is to stick an arrow in one of them!
Find another buck for my brother to shoot Honestly, I love to find specific bucks and try to figure them out. Hell, maybe even shoot one. All I really know is that I'm going to have to be more successful with less time.
No new goals, just continuation of old goals. Every year I try (unsuccessfully) to find private property here in Pa close to home. I'll work on that again. I'd also like to take a nice buck in Ohio but that is my goal every year too.
This past fall i started hunting a new farm..so this spring n summer im goin to be scouting it hard...ive never hunted for a specific buck but this coming fall i hope too..i had him on cam in oct..but was tagged out in sept n by nov he started roaming..and i didnt hunt hard enough..hes not huge but nice 10 pt..possibly five yrs old now...i believe he was dominant buck in the area...he lost ton of wieght over the rut..either got hit be vehicle or shot..as he has a wound on his back..n seems to be favouring leg...he rebounded nicely after rut..luckily this yr winter started late here..so im hoping he made it..he lost his rack super early too...if i dont have a shot with him a 3.5 yr old n up is next goal...and theres two of them on cam..im sure some more that jus dont come into cam range as well..
I am turkey hunting with a bow for the first timr this year. I am planting food plots for the first time ever. Looking forward to hunting over them and seeing what affect it will have on the deer there.
Improve my filming Kill a turkey with my bow Kill a goose with my bow Fill the out of state tags I buy
Kill a mule deer buck. Climb to the top of the nearby mountain (11,929'). Husband was hospitalized last year and then my dog died so we didn't get it done last year. Did try once but the new puppy was worn out by time we got to 11,000'. Yep, it was totally the puppy's fault we didn't finish the hike. LOL Find some good water hole/wallows for elk within 15 miles of home. If I can get that done, I'll buy an archery elk tag.
As of now here is my short list: Hunt the earlier season closer to where I think more buck and does feed regularly. The last couple years, I hunted hard in what I call the "back" section of the woods. This is more of a transition area between swamps, fields, and super thick areas. Just missing food however, the buck walk the swamp lines during the rut looking for doe. The pay-off there can be great however, sightings of deer are not very often. I'll push to the back section for the two weeks of rut when I think the monsters are showing themselves in the daytime. This should allow for a doe in the early season and maybe a surprise shooter buck. Another goal is to take a doe off my own property...as long as the house plans get approved, I should have 15 acres of my own. Although it boarders other houses...I've been told plenty of doe walk across one of my corners. For this doe, I hope to have one of my young sons with me. Another goal is to upgrade my bow sights to smaller pins. I enjoy the truglo site I have now however, I have seen some .19 and .10's that I really like.
Kill two turkeys this spring...one with a bow and one with a shotgun. I hope to kill my first spot and stalk mule deer in CO...if I get drawn for a permit. Take a 4.5+ year old buck in IL. My last goal....I've taken my #1 hitlister off my home farm in MO the last two years. As long as I have a target buck this year, I hope to continue that streak for 2015. Here's video of a buck I had a long range encounter with on the 3rd day of the 2014 MO bow season. He's still around now. Hopefully he's still around come fall, and if he is, I'm sure he'll be numero uno on the ole hitlist. [video=youtube_share;mvlu0PpPtaU]http://youtu.be/mvlu0PpPtaU[/video]
My biggest goal is to get my fiancé her first bear and her first deer. She has been hunting off and on for 4 season now without any luck.
