I had a great year, spent more time in the stand, refined some skills that needed refining, and filled one tag with a p&y buck. It's nowhere near over however, still want to fill a doe tag in MN, and wait till the last week of wisconsin bow season to head to my "secret spot" for a buck. Bottom line, I had a lot of fun, got closer to mature whitetails than ever before, and became 10x more confident with my equipment.
I've got a nice buck somewhere in a stretch of river right now. It's enormously frustrating to know the general area of the animal and not be able to do much about it. I still have a glimmer of hope of recovering of him. Small glimmer but it's there still. Otherwise, it's been a good season. That buck I shot would be my biggest. (whimper) I had a doe down by 7:30am opening morning. Had another down by 7:30am on my fourth trip out. I've passed up several slam dunk shots at does and smaller bucks. So that's really awesome. Only had my hunts screwed up twice by hikers. (That's actually pretty good.) I got to go to Jmbuckhunter's place which was way cool. It's the first time I've ever hunted on someone else's hunting property. (Other than an outfitted property) So that was quite the experience. Sadly, I thought I'd try to bring John some luck... but I think I just snagged some of his no-buck-luck. I guess I should have shot that buck there that came by the first morning. Perhaps it was the bearer of buckless cooties. My friends Deb and Louie tagged out early and have taken out half the deer herd of Central IL. LOL. That's awesome. K has taken two nice does and I won't mention how he missed a 130" buck. (oops... ) I'm still going to hunt the late season... I got my buck last year in December. :D
My season has been pretty good, but definitly not over. I killed two does with my archery equipment, one in September and one in November. I have seen some of the bucks that I am after this year, that I got on trail camera and summer glassing. Seeing some of the best bucks I have seen in the area. I have passed on more bucks than I ever have, and passed on one that it was very hard to decide. I went into this season as, if I have to think about it, it isnt the buck I am after. Come on cold December!!
Sadly, I have to say this has been probably the worst season of my life. I did kill one doe, but I also lost 2 doe and a decent 8pt. I'm ashamed of that too, I have to admit that. The weather has been horrible throughout the season in my area, and it was even worse in Alberta (-15F with 20mph wind = 42F below), where I saw few bucks and got a touch of frostbite! The tips of my fingers on both hands are numb after 10 days now. All I can hope for now is for maybe something to happen during the late season.
I couldnt have been happier with my start, the big mulie from Colorado. Whitetail season started with extremely high expectations as my trail cameras REVEALED more mature deer than I have ever gotten on camera before. Unfortunately shooting them with a camera didnt translate to shooting them with a bow, as I SAW fewer mature bucks than I have for quite some time. Go figure? I did discover some travel routes that I didnt know existed which I think will help next year and I discovered all the benefits of the snort wheeze call . Still a month left...
Great season so far. 3 deer with the bow, 2 of them nice bucks, one getting mounted. 1 big doe with the handgun, a first for me. Would have been even better had I recovered that damn coyote And it's not over yet!
my year has been good so far. i have a couple of sits left. I gave bear baiting a try for the first time. i didn't shoot any bear but had quite a few hitting my bait, and have some better ideas how to close the deal next year. I had a successful trip to Kansas and shot a nice buck on the last night of my hunt.Being from the Northeast with a low deer population going to kansas and rattling in several bucks including the one i shot and having him approach my decoy was something i never thought i would be able to experience. can't wait to go back next year.
Only had one good sit with the bow pre-gun season. That sit included seeing a nice 8 pointer at 50 yards and a doe come within 30 yards but no shot. Otherwise, my other 13 sits I saw nothing. A shot a doe during gun season so I have some meat. I'm hoping that I can kill a deer yet with the bow this late season.
Well elk season was my best for getting elk in close, but horrendously bad at killing any of them. Archery was pretty good for getting small bucks in range, but only killed 1 doe and only saw 1 shooter buck(even though I got it) Then when I wanted to shoot more does, all I'd see was bucks. Opening day of gun season was good, almost got the shot I wanted, had lots of shots at small bucks & does. Still have 5 tags, and a lot of season left. Most will probably with the pistol/shotgun, might take the bow out a time or 2 in the late season
I haven't had nearly as much time to hunt this year as in the past 20. Haven't seen a buck worth shooting with my bow, yet. Still have about a month left to get it done. I did manage to shoot a pretty nice 9pt with my m/l a couple weeks ago, and I've got a couple does with my rifle so far. Freezer is full. My son got a nice big doe, hoping for him to still connect with a buck before the season is out. All in all, a good season.
Interesting, still open and hopefull. I killed a doe while filming myself early in the season. Then I turned my attention to taking a good buck. That has proven very challengeing. At first I didn't see any bucks, then the little guys started to show themselves. I got lots of night time pics of good bucks but couldn't get any of them to show themselves in daylight. I was hunting vampires. I was really looking forward to the rut pulling them out during shooting light. I saw almost all of my rut activity in one day this season. And that was all small bucks chasing does. I did see 4 nice bucks one weekend, but none of them presented me with a shot. One was over a hundred yards away in my food plot, another showed up at 40 yards after shooting light had left, one was 50 yards away cruising thru the brush and one was going 100 mph as he passed within 30 yards of my stand. I have until Jan 15 to get it done. And with lots of stuff to eat in my food plots, the late season should see some good action. I haven't given up yet.
I've had a season to remember, that's for sure. Harvested my first Illinois whitetail, a mammoth doe opening weekend captured it all self-filming. Then harvested not only my first Illinois buck, but my first bow buck Halloween Weekend and captured that kill on film beaautifully (patting myself on the back) on film myself as well. Check out my buck kill here: http://www.bowhunting.com/videos/bowhunting-videos/episode-05-four-bucks-down--bowhunt-or-die_891 And my doe kill here: http://www.bowhunting.com/videos/bowhunting-videos/episode-01-illinois-opener--bowhunt-or-die_886
My year was very successful but not really what I has expected. I did so much Pre season scouting for whitetails that I was certain I would kill a doe early and have a good chance at some bucks. I ended up getting caught up chasing mule deer and before I relised it I was running out of time and with work beig busy and me trying to flip a house I didn't get out much and never or anything. I was blessed with a not too smart young bull moose who walked right in on me and gave me a great shot. If you would have asked me if I would ever shoot a moose in the next 5 years i would have said no. I bought the tag just cause I've seen one on camera once there and figured whynot. My goal for the year was to get a mule deer. After elk hunting and getting skunked chasing elk and not taking any days out there to chase mulies I was a little mad at myself as there were a couple monsters out there. On my last trip before my mulie season ended I was able to get my mulie and I couldn't be more pleased with it. All in all my whitetail season was very dissapointing but the rest of the season makes up for it. And in the end I'm just a little sad season is over but can't wait for next year and to be more prepared for it.
Mine was a whopping 5 hours long in the first day. While I added another P&Y class animal to the stable, I pray I never have a season like this again. Next year I will have either an Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, or Tennessee buck tag to fall back on. I just can't convince myself to get all excited about hitting the woods knowing full well even if I see a buck I can't take it. lol That said, I do look forward to getting out over Christmas break and trying to find a doe, maybe I'll get lucky and even get a snow to hunt in.
was a hard year for me.. I shot this guy on film not my biggest by far but one of my hardest earned on stateland in Illinois. Now my late season starts here in Michigan trying to shoot some does in the snow I love it.. If it wasn't hard it wouldn't be any fun..
It's been a tough year for me. My bow season is over now, and for the second year in a row I haven't put a buck down. I did manage to put down a small doe, and also got to watch my dog recover his first two deer this year........I'm very thankful for these opportunities. I did pass shots at roughly 8 different bucks this year, and also hunted the same stud of an 8 pointer and saw him three nights in a row during my week of vacation. On the second day I saw him, I almost killed him........5 more yards and a better angle and he would have gotten it. Unfortunately the doe he was with figured out something wasn't right, and she took him with her. A large part of my lack of success this year was that I didn't hunt in PA for the first time in 15 years. This is the first time in 15+ years I haven't hunted down there, and has always been my best bet at a good buck. That combined with my lack of time to scout/gameplan in the places I did hunt this year really made it a tough season. I did 27 different overnight tradeshow trips for work this year as well as some major work on the house.........I just didn't have the preseason time to put in that I really wanted and kind of went in blind on this season only armed with info from past seasons. I guess I got out of it what I put in. I'm hoping to have a bit more time in early 2011 to scout. I plan to put in some shoe leather during January/February/March while predator hunting a bit and hope to be able to build a game plan in the process for next fall.
