Good time here. Still no shooter bucks in sight. Won a free hunt from a raffle on a high fence ranch. Since I'll never shoot anything in a fence that can be found in the wild I took my 5 year old for a 4 horn ram. She kept begging me to shoot the elk, fallow, and sika deer. Had a great time. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Thanksgiving was a good break. We went to IA for a few days and had a good time. I got out hunting with muzzleloader yesterday. Still a few weeks in the season here so don't count me out just yet!
I might be putting some more points on the board for us here shortly... small-medium buck. It was really low light when I took the shot. I could see him just fine to shoot, but as soon as that luminok lit up it washed out my vision so I don’t know exactly where I hit him. It definitely felt like a good shot and the luminok flew dead straight without any side-to-side or up-down wobble like something was off. And he kicked his ass up bout 5 feet into the air and took off like a bat outta hell so all signs point to deadness, but just not certain since I couldn’t see where exactly it hit. Going to give him another 30-45 more minutes then climb down extra quiet to hopefully find the arrow and see what the blood looks like. Tried posting the above earlier but it wouldn’t work. Ended up climbing down earlier than planned because it started to rain and I didn’t want blood trail to wash away. Found the arrow and got good blood! Still can’t post anything but I found him. Only went about 50 yds. He was a fighter got scars all over him and definitely took one to the face! Still can’t post anything but got some photos for contest. They kind of suck since I was by myself with no tripod and was in a hurry to beat the rain: This was actually from Sunday evening but there was some kind of server error on the website that kept me from posting it. The message draft saved though and I don’t feel like re-doing it all so I’m just putting it up as is. Ill add him to the scorecard thread tomorrow. Scorecard is in my pack and I don’t remember his exact score but it was just shy of 100”. I think around 97” maybe 98”
Awesome job opossumhunter!! Congratulations. Good job on the doe Tony! I'm glad you were able to get out and do some hunting this year after your accident. It's a shame that some members on this team quit participating, we would have done pretty good as a team, we have some good hunters here, it kind of takes the wind out of your sails when people don't participate. I appreciate all the stories people are still sharing on the team thread, it's fun to read your updates. Thanks
Well if we wanna get back in the running, I’ve got a set of matching elk sheds that would probably go for 350+ inches and I still have a couple doe tags as well as a second buck tag. I’ll be happy to let the air out of a doe or a spike then bust out the hacksaw, wood filler, and epoxy for a little arts and crafts....
Took today off for a long weekend of hunting. Sitting a piece of public with a little timber and a lot of standing corn.
Get you a biggin man... Or a freezer full of does... or both... either way, enjoy it! One more month until we all start the long ass wait for opening day.
Heading out to a honey hole of mine with a decoy, rattling antlers grunt and snort wheeze. I plan to sit all day and try to get it done. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Oh man.... I have officially found the money spot. It’s actually the same place I got that buck at. That was my first sit there. The only reason I even tried this spot because I got frustrated with all my other permanent stands. We have been getting nothing but east winds all season. Normally that hardly ever happens here in the fall or winter so I don’t really have any stands set up for those winds. Finally decide to do something about it and grabbed my climber. Went in around 3 last Sunday, found a random tree off a logging trail, climbed up it and sure enough half an hour before sunset a doe festival started. That buck I shot wasn’t far behind them. Went out to that same stand the following day and shot a doe in the morning with my rifle. I got her cleaned up and in the cooler to start aging and then climbed back up the same tree that afternoon and got a second doe with the bow. I offered it to a buddy of mine who has been having just as tough of a season as I have and he hunted it Wednesday evening. As he was climbing up and about halfway up the tree a doe walked out. He stopped climbing pulled his rifle up and smoked her from halfway up the tree. I was still walking back from showing him where the stand was when I heard his shot. I went back with the deer cart and got the doe and told him I would go get started on the doe and he could stay put since there was still an hour and a half of shooting light. He climbed back up and I had barely gotten the doe off the cart and onto the gambrel when the crack of his second shot rang out. I’m pretty thrilled about the whole situation. I’ve never had a stand setup before that is just a guaranteed meat wagon. I already ordered a nice hang-on to put there permanently. Probably leave the climber there for now though and put the hang on up for next season so I don't disturb the area too much. I still can’t figure out what it is about that spot that makes it any good though. It is pretty open and doesn’t really have any thing to attract deer. There is practically no cover there and no terrain or other features that create a funnel or pinch point for traveling deer and nothing special as far as food sources. There is one white oak, but there are other places on that property that have more and healthier white oaks and those spots have nowhere near the level of deer activity as this one. It’s really the kind of a spot where if you saw the stand there you would just assume that some beginner hunter picked that spot because they didn’t know any better but damn if it hasn’t produced - 5 deer in 3 hunts is a good track record in my book. My best guess is that there is something on the neighbors property that’s causing them to funnel through there. I looked on the satellite and topo maps and didn’t see anything obvious but there has to be a reason they like that spot. Stuck a cellular cam out there the other day and they are still there despite the fact that its been hunted 3 times in under a week and 5 deer have been killed there (3 of which were with loud ass rifles). There is 2 or 3 herds of does that walk through there every morning and evening like clockwork and about every other day a group comes through right in the middle of the day, plus the place is chock full of deer all night long. I am going to have to increase the data plan for that cell camera if I leave it there. A handful of decent bucks going through as well.
I hit a brand new spot this morning. Sat a saddle that looked good on the topo overlooking a swamp. I think this place has some serious potential, but need to scout it a bit. Nothing moving but squirrels.
I always keep a couple arrows in the quiver with small game points on them just in case I find myself in that type of scenario.
I found the secret guys! All you have to do is mention that you think you're running a bit of a temperature at work. They practically boot you out the door to go hunting! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Two shooters have shown up. Saturday and Sunday are my last 2 days days to hunt. Anybody got a rabbits foot I could borrow? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
