I'm in the Roanoke area and hunt Franklin and Rockbridge counties. You can see some of the bruisers running around behind my house a page or so back. They are actually really nice! So Team Nockdown is what we're going with? I don't know who makes the avatars but we can find out. Any ideas what we can do with the avatar (besides having a big buck in it ). Maybe have the arrow buried in the buck right up to the fletchings with a glowing nock sticking out? Something like that?
Our season here in Illinois kicks off on October 1st... This dang cold snap were having right now is killing me... It just feels like I need to be in a stand right NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey Bob...glad you could make it. We heard you were chasing bears...any luck? So we are all checked in and it sounds like the majority has voted for "Team Nockdown" as our name. Now we need to get one of them cool/hip avatars I've been seeing.
well, my food plot just comin up. a real nice big print seen along the corn by my stand. put the camera up last Sat. got one more tree to trim. my season opens up on the 17th. don't know if I'll go out, gotta work on Sun & it would be a real pain to shoot one & spend all night cleaning & packin. specially since I don't get home till 3:30 that afternoon. I'm trying to get the motor in my 69 gto before fall hits and I have a Lts exam at the end of Sept. that I've been studying for. So this month is full. We'll C how the middle of the week goes after the 17th. What do you guys think about time lapsing between camera checks. think a wk is good enuf?
Once again, sorry for the sparse replies and presence. I had a long elk trip, followed by a mid-week, evening bear-hunt, and getting ready to head back out this afternoon. All while trying to squeeze a week of work into 4 days... Our deer/elk seasons started Aug 27th and the early half runs through Sep 25th. We get a second season after Thanksgiving through mid-December. We typically focus on Bull Elk the early season and blacktails the late season. I had a nice blacktail in my sights last years but couldn't connect. He made it through to this year so I am hoping that he is still around for the late season. We had a very long/wet winter here in the NW so hunting has been different this year. Water is still present in areas that are usually dry and some major thinning/road projects in migration corridors have moved the animals from their normal habitats into other areas. It has been a lot of legwork so far this year without a lot to show for it. We also have a few fires going right now in areas adjacent to where I hunt that are pushing the animals around quite a bit. I am heading back out this afternoon with tags for 1 deer, 1 elk, 1 bear, 1 cougar. Debating hunting areas due to aforementioned conditions. East side of mountains = more water, animals spread more. West of mountains = harder terrain, more animals, but fire work pushing the animals considerably, and from previous weeks, a lot more hunters in the area. I am going solo this weekend so a pack-out will be an adventure.
Well, I should probably atleast have a doe on opening weekend. Same does, are at one of my spots ALL day. I went through all my pics, and they're in there every 2-3 hours, 24 hours a day, eating corn. We've been feeding since July. Question, should I go in a take a doe? As close to a sure thing as you can get. Or should I continue to feed them at that spot to keep there and happy for when the rut starts? I have other setups, but none that are that consistent all day long.
Oh, and the reason I ask about keeping them there and happy is because not a single buck has shown up on camera there, but at my other spots on that property, there are some big boys. So I was thinking about just feeding those does, hoping the bucks would be coming through there during the rut.
Pike I like the idea of keeping em around because they are sure to attract some bucks when the rut hits and even if you don't connect on a buck it's more than likely the does will still be eatin in the same place and you can knock one down later. Fellas I'll get my first sit in the a.m. with the NC opener. Supposed to get up near 90 so I'll probably just sit a couple of hours. The area is filled with deer and bear so hopefully I'll get to at least see some action. Haven't been to this stand since last bow season, I'm not worried about it structurally just hoping no wasps are calling it home cuz that would suck at 5 a.m.
I killed some record book mosquitos and saw one slickhead but no shot. It got light around 6 and I hunted til my Thermacell died at 930. It sure felt good to be sitting in a stand though. We need some cool weather bad. Going to our family farm today to finish some fall plots. Nothing fancy just some winter wheat, oats, and peas.
