This will be a long read, so I apologize in advance. This year I'm off to a blazing hot start. I'm tagged out on does for my county, and should be one deer shy of tagging out for the season had it not been for my no recovery on my longhorn spike. I've only been bow hunting for 5 years now and this is a first for me tagging out on my does. My confidence was at all time low for the 2018-19 season. I hunted a ridiculous amount all year long last season and I didn't see the first doe while hunting until after the season had closed for them at the end of November. In fact, from the beginning of October to end of November, I had only 3 deer sightings to date. ( I saw 8 deer in total this Saturday) Hell, deer were not even blowing at me to alert me they were close by and I didn't get blown at all season. I continued to hunt all of December and into January when my season closed. I never even had an opportunity to draw back on an animal other than a lone fox last year and just felt very defeated to eat tag soup for the first time. I thought I was just doing things wrong every single time. I really let it get to me. I took this off-season and scouted harder, looked at topo maps and moved two of my stands further into the bottoms. I'm on a lease so my spots are limited where I can actually go for a permanent stand site. So far it's paid off and since August I've slung 8 arrows at pigs and deer. Hunting can be very humbling. This may just be a really good year for deer on my lease this year who knows... but to everyone struggling keep your head up. Eventually things will turn around and you’ll have a string of good luck head your way. Put in work, and you all will be rewarded hopefully. now on to my buck! Hopefully my string of good luck will continue this season. Good luck and happy hunting my friends.
Amen Brother. We’ve all been there and if not for the lows the highs wouldn’t get us so high. One year I went all season without seeing much of anything in range. It was almost worse than seeing nothing at all. It was like they knew where I was every friggin time. I got picked off and blown at before they were even close. Then when I finally had a small buck in range I botched the shot and hit him in the ham. The only silver lining was the buck lived. That was a long time ago but I still remember that season well, no matter how much beer and whisky I drink lol
Congrats! Glad you hung in there and things are turning around for you. In my opinion, hunting is far more about being in the woods and learning from your experiences than it is learning from articles, videos or podcasts. You can watch and listen to as much stuff as you want, but there is zero replacement for time spent in the woods "figuring it out". It can be difficult and frustrating at first, but once things start to click it gets a heck of a lot easier.
Congrats on the great start to the season! You are right, we all suffer highs and lows. In 2018, I had 8 deer in range, but never with a clean shot opportunity. I had one shot opportunity at doe, and my release broke as I drew. I ended up shooting 18 inches over her back. I ate tag soup that year for the first time in 10 years. So far in 2019, I failed to recover a doe I shot on the opener of archery, it crossed property lines, and I had limited opportunity to search without luck, and I missed a doe with a rifle last weekend. But, it can turn around in an instance. If it was easy, it would be called grocery shopping.
Glad your hard work is paying off KJ. No doubt there are highs and lows. Sometimes I think I have them all figured out and sometimes I think I have no idea what I’m doing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
lol, watch I'll go cold during November and be thinking the same thing! Deer can make you look pretty dumb sometimes and really question everything that you are doing. Good luck to you this season man!
Man I really needed to hear this! My season has been extremely discouraging, but knowing that optimism and hard work will pay off does give me hope. Congrats on your season so far!
Hang in there bud.... my wife thought I was crazy with the amount of times I would go to the lease and come back empty handed. I even hunted until the last day of muzzleloader season to try and get something. I've just accepted that sometimes it will not be your year. It's not anything you are necessarily doing wrong, but bow hunting in general is about a lot of luck sometimes. Trust your gut on things, and hunt where there are signs and put in the time. Hopefully it pans out and your season ends up being a little bit better!
I defiantly know that feeling. When I was a kid, my first year bow hunting, I hunted every single afternoon of the season. No exaggeration. I was to dumb to know that hunting the same two stands was why I only saw 4 deer the whole season. But at the end of the season, I saw my fourth deer. A small buck. And I shot it. It brought my confidence up and Ive been hooked ever since.
Sometimes it takes a while to reap reward, endeavor to persevere and it will come though not always in the way you expect. Congratulations on your success. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think we've all been there at one point or another. My entire 2016 season went by without me killing a single deer with my bow, and that was hunting Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas. It was almost enough to make me hang up my bow for good. Then 2017 rolled around and the planets aligned or something. Congratulations, and I'm happy you're having a great season! Oh, and that wasn't a long post. My laat trip update in my team thread was a long post.
That sounds like a rough 2017 season! Crazy to think that knowing what kind of season you are having this year bud!
