Nope not yet, I suck as a hunter because I have a busy life with work commitments. I planned on my traditional Halloween hunt to kick off the serious time but the grandson is staying over Saturday so I will not hunt, not much of a hunter too bad I have a life where my wife, children, and grandchild take priority over shooting another buck. I will hunt Friday and Tuesday, beyond that we will see I will arrow a deer before gun season opens.
I understand sota pop. hug that grand baby and and enjoy the family, after all, it;s just a deer. that baby boy will be grown and before you know it he will tagging along with you!
It has been many factors, harvest of crops really alters travel paths as well as wind. But simply has not been prime time yet, when you have limited time you play the highest odds and the next 14 days are key I will pick and choose. Not going to sit and wait for a deer to mount that will go in a dumpster when I tip over. I want a large deer that I can age and trim and make delicious meals out of.
3 shooters I been watching before season....they were on my list. Hunted hard for a month, passed a lot of Doe (had fawns) a few small Bucks (spikes, and a 4-point) until 1 of my hit-list came in behind me, went to the right and never gave me a shot. Went down the trail about 40-50yds. while a small Doe came in under me. She milled around a bit, and then went towards the Buck and caught his attention. While I was standing up slowly and turning focused on the Buck, I get a snort blow behind me, turned my head to see what it was only to see a rack and white flag waving bye-bye. Figured I was done. Nope, hit-list Buck runs over towards me to see what was the ruckus...stops perfect. End of story.
Kinda funny a guy that used to work with me is a kinda new bow hunter I kinda mentored him gave him some gear. He texted me last night that he was going to sit all day. I texted him at 9 and asked how the hunt is going. He saw one fork outside of range, I told him I was making a cheesy hash brown sausage patty with egg sandwich. I am going to climb up about 3:30 fresh and ready for prime time.
Nope. I missed a very good 10 pointer early season (because I'm a dumbass). I'm on a horrible dry spell over the past few years. Definitely a bit frustrated at the moment.
I have seen 7 deer and had six deer in bow range, four provided shot opportunities, of which three were not legal bucks, and one I did not like the shot angle and passed hoping for a better shot that was not presented. Had a doe just before legal light that moved off just before it got light enough to see. One legal buck that I drew on and never stepped in the clear enough from behind trees for me to feel comfortable letting the arrow fly.
Only two kills this year so far. This year between covid and an overly full freezer from last fall and winter I been not sending as many arrows. I killed a nice bull in Alaska in August, skipped my usual elk hunt and passed a couple decent mulies. I did kill a buck at home in NY mostly because I got to hunt with my son. All that said if I dont buy another freezer I have no more room. I am off to KS for beginning of Nov and then dont have any plans till Jan except hunting locally.
well, glad to hear of some success. mean while, I have had 11 different sits. 8 deer seen total. 2 illegal bucks in bow range, everything else was not in range. this had been my most difficult season in a lot of years...just for seeing deer in general. Not sure it's me or just deer have not moved well or both.. I also know that last year and this year I have had my son hunting so that could make it more difficult in the fact that I can't be quite as free and mobile. But that's ok, I am teaching him what not do!!
Yep I went out sat as hard as I could and decided not to shoot a doe. I hate it when you you have does infront of you and they keep looking back behind them and it is getting too dark to see.
What really sucks is when that old doe picks up your entry trail and tries to bird dog you to your stand. Ever had to flatten out on the tree like a squirrel until she leaves? It's how I found out my boots were bad. From climbing trees with screw-in steps it wore out the seams on the boots and let odor escape.
Old does will hunt you down like you owe them $. That one reason I do not like sitting over a food plot. Sooner or later.... I like hunting travel routes in thick cover. Here one minute,gone the next.
I'm punching my doe tag with no deer recovered Shot a big doe on Saturday evening. Felt really good about her. 30 yards on the edge of a cut corn field. Release the arrow and it sounded exactly like when I hit my target bag. I wait it out until dark as I had deer all over. Wait for my husband to get back from his evening (caping out his monster buck from night before) - and go looking. Could not find my arrow or blood. Back out after an hour. Went back first light yesterday and was able to find blood. Started tracking. Found my arrow about 50 yards from shot sight. Covered in blood and fletchings ripped off. Still following blood. It started raining. Still able to follow blood. Then we came to a water hole in the middle of golden rod......and lost all blood. It was down pouring by this point. We zig-zag searched but couldn't find it three hours later. She is out there somewhere and I am sick to my stomach. We got snow last night - so hoping it pushed the golden rod down that we may be able to find her after work. Although it's been over 36 hours, I am still hoping to recover and salvage some. I'm so upset over it and called it a season for my bow. I'll see what I can do with gun season.
