I really appreciate your encouragement! I'm so pumped to actually be able to say I'm a successful bow hunter!!! Caleb is such a great kid. I'm so blessed to have him. There is no one in this world I'd rather share these moments with. I'm so glad that at 15.... it's still pretty cool to hunt with Mom. He's been a great teacher, mentor & hunting buddy. I hope & pray we get many more seasons to hunt together!! Even if he's slightly creepy! View attachment IMG_20181110_145029_004.jpeg Sent from my SM-N960U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
This is why I like joining in on the contests like this one. Encouragement, help, guidance, storys and pics. Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
So I have a confession to make, I cheated last weekend. A friend that has badgered me for years to go with them to deer camp finally talked me into it. I haven't rifle hunted in 25 years. His family has a large ranch in northern Nebraska and they get together every year for a long weekend. The hunting is unlike anything I've done before so it was going to be an adventure. When I was a kid the longest shot I ever took with a rifle was about 50 yards, not terribly sporting. This was distance hunting, shots at 1000+ yards of you want. My limit is 500 under perfect conditions. His cousin took a buck at 850 last year. We hunted for 3 days in cold temps and wind. Not much deer movement. The best day we saw 8 deer in a stand that covers about a square mile of terrain. That night my friend shot a nice whitetail, 4x5 approx. 135", at about 250 yards. The last day we had hunted the morning and decided to meet up to go pick up blind and tear down a trailer blind. We came over the hill to work on the trailer when one of the guys spotted a doe and soon after we saw Muley buck bedded 150 yards away. He wasn't overly impressive on top but when he stood up I decided I would fill my tag. It was a fun weekend with good people. Please don't tell my bow that I cheated on her.
Congrats! I may cheat on my bow on Saturday, as well. I’ll be taking both to the good ol 6’x8’ tree stand my dad and I built about 15 years ago. Bow for a buck, 30-06 for a doe. Yes, overkill, but I sold all my guns for bows and bow accessories
Doe down with the rifle at my parents house. It doesn’t sound like much, but it reminds me of why I hunt. Setting in this old stand that could pass for a tree house. Dad let me stay home for school so I could build it with him. I get so caught up in chasing bucks, I often feel let down and frustrated. Not today though. We’re having fun with zero expectations today and expectations have already been exceeded.
I’ll be back after it next weekend. These coyotes are thick behind my house, and I finally got a shot on one.
Nice! I have a big fluffy one I have seen on cam a few times. Can't wait to throw some steel in the dirt!
Well it has been a couple of boring sits for me. All does and smaller bucks, just like a few if you my #1 shooter Tenderloin Squirts walked under my stand, 18 yards broadside on Thursday morning while I was at work.. my buddy to the south is in northern Oklahoma near the Kansas border gun hunting so it's just me on this half section hoping he shows himself. I know everybody likes to throw shade on moonsign but after cross checking against the camera I'm back to believing in it. Hopefully Wednesday will be the day!
Well 21 straight days sitting in a tree stand and I'm back to work today. Some nice bucks were cruising through and checking on the does the day after Haloween and 2 days following. Then the weekend came and like a light switch the does and young ones went on lock down. I mean like vanished... One nice 8pt. gave me a slam dunk on the morning of November 14th before 3" snow was predicted. I passed as there were 2 -12 pointers on cameras from the week of Oct.24th and I know they would be coming after all the does. NOT!!!!! I seen 2 young does Friday Nov.16th during our shotgun season still the mature does have not been seen on the property or in front of the cameras since Nov. 3rd. From the 3rd of November I did see 39 bucks. Of these 39 I would say possibly 11-13 were different ones with the biggest being the 8pt. on the 14th, all others 6pts. down to a couple of spikes. So they obviously thought the does should be on the farm also. Not once did I see any chasing. I have never seen this in all the 35 plus years of bowhunting. I will be headed back down to hunt this weekend and the second firearm season the following weekend. I will pull cards as soon as I get there Thursday night to see if they have returned or not. What I usually see is a doe comes into heat and a few days later she and her young ones are back to their normal routines. Meanwhile Congrats!! to all who has found success so for this year.
I have to agree. It’s the worst deer movement and rut activity I’ve seen in a decade. It’s bizarre to be honest. The doe behavior doesn’t even make sense. I know we have a very widespread and over abundant mast crop which is always a nightmare but there is something else at work here. Something is just off.
I'm comparing this year to 2013. Ever changing weather and a large mast crop. I didn't get it done until December in '13 and I am starting to think it may be that way again this year. Between the hard mast, acorns and pecans, and the soft mast, persimmons, they just have little to no pattern. However, our rut just went into full swing with chasing and I am hoping Wednesday will be the day.
My wife says that I’ve done all I can do and it’s about “just getting lucky”. I’m starting to wonder if she’s right! But I choose to run on sheer determination rather than luck
My son had that big deer at 55 yards this afternoon. While he was hunting... I hung a set where the buck was this morning at 7:00 am.
Well like drenman, I cheated had a great trip to Kentucky! Seen more deer movement than I have ever seen, little bucks chasing does like crazy and it even snowed one morning (Big deal for a Florida guy)! So I decided to hunt the mornings with my rifle and hunt evenings with my bow, on the fact that there were a lot of areas with long shots and I still enjoy hunting with a gun! On morning hunts I was holding out for a nice buck and evening hunts I was planning on taking a doe or a nice buck if I had a shot. Well as it seemed the morning hunts with my rifle I had deer all around me walking within 5yrds of my stand, and when I would go on my afternoon hunt with my bow the only deer to come into range were the little bucks. So unfortunately never shot a doe, but did manage to shoot a nice 8pt with my rifle! So it was the last morning and it happened to be the morning that it was snowing, I was turned in my stand watching this younger 8pt and doe running around directly behind my stand, then out of my peripheral I see a bigger deer walking down the hill on the other side of the tree about 10yrds from me. I slowly turn my head and catch glimpse of this nice 8pt making his way down to the bottom about 20yrds away from me, stopped him at 30 yards and shot him! Could have got him with my bow but that's the way it goes and still ecstatic about it! Unfortunately no points for the team yet, hopefully be heading up to Ga in December.
