I posted this in the Smacktalk thread, but I'm going to post it in every team thread so no one misses it: I want to take a minute and clarify a rule in the contest and emphasize the importance of getting your required two different photos with the buck, the bow and you in the pics for entry on the Official Scorecard. The rules read: Scoring system will be as follows: Each participant is allowed to enter ONE antlered deer as their “Buck Score”. This must be the FIRST antlered deer that you harvest during the season. We had an instance last season where someone in the contest killed a buck but failed to get pictures of the buck. This not only resulted in the buck not being counted towards the team total (of course), but also prevented him from entering another buck killed later. ONLY the first buck you kill can be entered, so make sure you don't make the mistake of not getting TWO good pics that have you, the bow and the buck in them.
Now that we're all checked in, anyone got any captain recommendations or want to be captain? I know dnoodles has already beat yall with the "1. 2. 3. Not It". I don't mind throwing my name in the hat but if anyone else wants it they will get my vote. Any team name ideas? I'm gonna start thinking of some ideas tonight and tomorrow.
I'm good with either one of them. I, personally am leaning more towards Nockturnal Emissions. That's the one that get's my vote.
Let's hear what y'all have done for prep for the season. I have started some mock scrapes and the deer are visiting them, so I'm pretty excited about that. I also put out, for the first time, some horizontal rubs. Of course the bucks are still in velvet so I know it will be a while before I see any results from that. Another task I wanted to try this year was opening paths close to my stand sites. I have a stand that is right on the edge of a swamp. There is some very tall grass that grows next to it. I took my weed eater and made a path through the tall growth a couple of times this year. The path is just wide enough to walk through and according to my cams, the deer are using it and I even found a couple of beds on the edges of it. At another of my stand sites, the stinging nettles grow higher than your head. I did the same thing there with the weed eater and according to my cameras the deer are frequently using that path. Let me hear some of the tricks y'all are trying to play on your deer. Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
I'm good with whoever wants captain and good with either name. I'm way behind camera wise this year. No cameras in IL yet. Not much for shooters in WI. Gonna be more of a rut hint kind of season for me. Should be able to hunt all of November Sent from my SM-G991U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I do not mind whoever wants to take the team captain spot. I have done it before in the past already and I can sometimes be busy with work during season and not be on here to frequently. I am ready to be in a tree this Saturday. Going to be a hot one but need to get out there. I will be solely saddle hunting this year and will be mostly on public land. Lost one of my deer properties so I will be on public more. I have out 3 cameras in NC and 3 in VA. I plan on putting out 2 more this week in VA to figure out where I want to be when VA opens Oct 1. I will also be checking my 3 NC cams and pick a spot that looks more productive for Saturday. I would like to do both a morning and afternoon hunt. I have lots of areas to hunt but nothing in my sights yet as far as good bucks. Nockturnal Emissions is a good one too for a team name.
Correction. VA does not come in until Oct 7th. So it gives me almost a month of hunting in NC before I can hunt Va. Better than nothing!
so far my only prep was 3 different food plots in WI, which were all disasters due to the drought. But my buddy (it's his property) put in a well head, gas pump, and a sprinkler system in on the main plot this weekend and we are going to do a last minute fall blend planting next weekend. Too late for any early season growth but hopefully late October it'll be greening in while everything else is browning out. All the acorns (huge but very early crop this year) will be gone by early October. We are going to put out a couple livestock water tanks next weekend as well to try to create an early season magnet. In public in MI I am going to hunt a little deeper than I usually do, we have made friends with the landowner that abuts the parcel we hunt and I am not worried about recovery if I shoot one and he runs over the line. This guy bought about 4 years ago and the previous landowner was an a*hole, he told the new guy we were trespassers and stole his stands (we never set foot on his property) and were night hunters (we are not.) Took a couple years and a few beers to get the new guy warmed up but this year we threw in a couple hundred $$ on his food plots and now we got written permission to recover anything over the line. Cousin went up and threw some cams up last weekend, but we don't use them to hunt really just general area inventory. They're really hard to pattern in that parcel, it's open woods and they run every which way through it esp. once the rut action starts. I was just notified that a work award ceremony that was scheduled for Oct 23rd in VA was just moved to Nov 7th. I can technically miss it and be awarded in absentia but it's kind of a Big Deal. There are direct flights from Grand Rapids to Reagan where I would only miss hunting all day on the 7th and the morning hunt on the 8th. I don't have to decide until first week of October but it still pisses me off. Oct 23rd was perfect. Pretty sure I have killed more bucks on Nov 7th than any other day, and I know the vast majority of my buck kills have been Nov 2-7. ...plus it's really gonna piss me off to have to pack a suit and shave my neck beard mid-November. That's like a hockey player shaving his beard in the playoffs. Bad ju-ju.
Hey all, have a little time. Name is Kyle. I live and hunt in Michigan. My in laws own a small farm and every year, we take 2-3 bucks and that many does. Our average Buck is around 80-90" but we have seen a few in the past around 125"+ . a few years back our neighbor took one that was pushing 130". I only saw him once on hoof about 300 yards while in stand. Other than that, I mostly hunt for food, but we have been making an effort to not kill anything unless it has 8 points (our area doesn't have a point restriction, but we are trying to grow better bucks) I'm good with who ever wants to be Captain, and Either name is fine by me. other than that, work keeps me busy, but I take every Friday off from Oct 1 - Thanksgiving. Here are a few of the bucks we a looking to find. (not sure if the wide one is a 6 or 8)
Back home from an awesome road trip through Western and Southern Colorado. We had an amazing time and got along great with our new to us Mercedes Airstream Interstate van. We upgraded the solar and went to lithium batteries before we left and everything worked to plan. We stayed a few nights off the grid and had plenty of power to keep the fridge running and run heat/lights etc. We were going to go to Wyoming and the Dakotas, but due to the horrible heat, we stayed the whole trip in Colorado at cool elevations and hit several National Parks including hiking on the sand dunes and hiking in Black Canyon. We saw lots of elk, deer and pronghorns and my wife even had a bear growl at her when she got too close unknowingly along a trail. Personally, I think the bear would have been sorry. She might be small, but she doesn't fight fair! lol I just ordered seed from Rakk Fuel today and tomorrow plan on getting plot prep going. I am behind as usual, but seldom hunt much until November. Last year was a fluke and I was shocked to kill a great buck in October on my first sit. I guess we can hope for lighting to strike twice, but I would doubt it. I do have 35 acres of first year alfalfa that is as good of a stand as you could ask for. Three cuttings this year and it is going to be in great shape for deer season. They love that stuff and I will have a blind or two on that field and have seen several very nice bucks there. I have yet to put cameras up but will be doing that very soon as well as starting some mock scrapes and cutting some cedar trees to place as rubs. Lots of work to do, but always fun and really love the looks of this team! I was pleased to see that my stalking skills on tame deer in protected land is still intact.
