Same here. Both my dad and I have seen only a couple fawns and a doe 60 yards out the last 4 times we've been out. Had more deer run in front of my truck going to and from hunting than I did on stand. Weird movement right now.
Heading out this afternoon on the snow. Going to be in a blind on a food plot. Supposed to lightly snow here all day and start to taper off on the afternoon. I'm hoping to get them coming to the food after the snow. First gun season is Friday-Sunday. Trying to get one down before then.
I may head out for an afternoon sit today, we'll see how the snow looks around noon and I'll make the call at that time. I also may go buy a firearms tag for this weekend so I can keep bowhunting. It's going to be super cold so I may just camp out in a blind and run the heater.
Heck yeah! Congrats teammate. Putting some points on the board! Hopefully I can continue the trend tonight!
Snow is already gone here except in the full shade spots. Watched your vid on the new Mathews. Man, those guys are smart! More overpriced integrated accessories to increase their margins without raising the price point on their bows. Brillant!!!! Whomever thinks of that stuff needs a raise!
The stabilizers are kinda neat, and I'm sure people who want to outfit their rig in "all Mathews" stuff will gobble them up. Cool concept, but not a game-changer for me. But the RPD technology in the limbs is pretty legit. I shot my Phase4 side-by-side with my V3X for probably half an hour last night, and the difference is pretty incredible. It may not seem like much on paper, but when you actually shoot the bow you get it.
Do you feel the draw cycle on the 33" is smoother than the 29"? I have a VX3 in a 29" and went back to shooting my old bow. I feel the break over on the 29" is harsh, more like brutal. Never shot a 33" as my dealer rarely has lefty stuff to demo. My suspicion is a should have ordered a 33 instead of buying a 29 off the shelf.
They use the same cams, just different mods, so I can't imagine they feel all that much different. Unfortunately, I gave my 29 away, so all I have are 33's now, and can't make a side-by-side comparison. I've never personally felt like the drop into the valley was all that harsh, but it seems like everyone interprets it differently. My only gripe on the CC cams is that the tophat system can be a pain if you need to swap them around. I've owned at least half a dozen bows with this cam system and only needed to adjust tophats once. So it's not quite as big of a problem as some people want to make it out to be, but it can sometimes be annoying. I was hoping to get my Phase4 fully tuned and sighted so I can start hunting with it, but with temps in the 20's this weekend I'm not sure how much outdoor shooting I'll be doing. I may have to settle for indoors at 20 yards for now anyways. Last night's hunt was a total bust - literally. I had one deer sneak in behind me but never heard it in the wet snow and leaves. Somehow it busted me and all I heard was it bounding away behind me. The brush is so thick I never even caught a glimpse of a tail. Cell cameras were all pretty slow last night as well. Contemplating one last hurrah out to my lease tomorrow to sit all day before the gunners come out and mow them all down on Friday.
Taking the day off tomorrow. Going to hunt all day. We need to roll! If we don't start getting it done soon it will just get that much harder? What are we in, like second to last place?
Congrats on the deer everyone!! I got back from Iowa late last week, incredible spending time out there hunting.. unfortunately came home empty handed. I had bucks under my stand every day that I was able to hunt. I got caught in thunderstorms 11-4 and 11-5 and was not able to hunt those days, got some good scouting in though. It was also pretty warm out there which I am sure everyone else dealt with. There were only 2 days on stand that I didn't see "shooters". The days I saw them they just weren't close enough. One thing I ran into that I am not used to, is seeing deer where I can't move after them. Multiple times I saw bucks on neighboring properties, right across the line but did not have permission to hunt them. I am used to rut hunting big patches of public where I can move and adjust as necessary. I pulled all day sits 11-3,11-6,11-7,11-8 and 11-9. I only saw bursts of intense chasing on 11-2 and 11-3. The other days it was definitely lack luster in terms of chasing, more just cruising or tending does. I did leave my cameras out there and got a lot of activity the few days following my departure (go figure). All in all it was an incredible time, the deer that were near me were acting so nonchalant, responding to calls.. it was such a fun hunt. I would recommend Iowa 1000% to anyone that has it on their bucket list (especially if you're used to hunting heavily pressured deer). The public property I did check out was rough, thick nasty stuff with some decent pressure. I chose to stick to my friends properties, which I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to hunt on. It's a bummer coming home empty handed, felt like I lost my "Superbowl", but when I look back... my dream was to hunt Iowa in the rut and I got to do exactly that. As far as hunting around home in PA since I have been back... I've spent more time with the family than in the woods. I'll get out some more and hopefully at least take a doe. Good luck everyone! Enjoy your time in the woods! Congrats again to the guys that got it done!!
Sounds like you had a blast! Tagging a buck is always the goal, but that experience is something you'll never forget. And don't worry - you may get to do it again in 5-6 years if you draw another tag. I sat in a stand for 9.5 hours yesterday, only getting down to grab lunch and jump on a work call I couldn't miss. I ended up rattling in a spike about an hour before dark. This just isn't my year.
