Left work early today, put out a ground blind for my boys for next weekend’s youth hunt. Went back into the oak grove I hunted with my youngest last week. Had a doe and a couple of yearlings come in right at last light. I missed, thought she was 25, arrow was in the dirt at 32, clean with no blood on the ground. Planning to back out tomorrow afternoon with one if my boys. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
This is the smaller 10. I was hesitant about hunting this stand bc I was getting pics while I was getting ready. I made it about 50 yards from the stand (red arrow) at 7am, entry to that point was silent. Camera hadn’t sent any more pics, so I snuck the last 50 yards to the stand. I’m pretty sure he’s bedded about 100-150 yards away. Hoping for a late morning re bed where he normally beds on the property to the east. That ought to bring him by. Trying to make some moves!
Good morning my dudes! It was a pretty terrible stretch of hunting for me since last Thursday. I hunted Thursday evening, Friday morning and afternoon and didn't see a single deer during those 3 sits. Saturday morning, I saw a small buck, and that was it. So, ONE deer in four sits. Yay for me! Yesterday morning was a little better. I saw four deer, including a really nice 3-year-old 10-pointer that I'm praying makes it to next season. But there were still no shooters, and no does in bow range. I "may" hunt this afternoon depending on how things are going around the office. Tomorrow is going to be warm and super windy and we have a photo shoot so I won't hunt. Weds looks like some rain, Thurs is trick-or-treating, so it may be Friday before I get out again. My son has football playoffs this weekend, and my daughter has a cheer competition, so yeah - maybe I'll get to seriously hunt again in 2030.
I feel your pain with the kids activities keeping you busy. I hunted Friday and Saturday evenings. I missed a doe right at last light on Friday. I thought see was at 25 yards in front a tree I had ranged at 35, shot just under her and found my arrow in the dirt at 32. Saturday evening I sat with my middle son, we saw everything but deer: squirrels, raccoons, had a hawk land in a tree 15 yards from us. My oldest was sitting on the ground about 300 yards away. He saw six deer, had two spikes and two does comes within his range of 25 yards. He got busted trying to draw. A fun sit for him though.
I ended up hunting Monday night, and I saw ZERO deer once again. The next outing will be on Friday. I'm contemplating an all-day sit since the weather is going to be nice, and apparently, monsoon season starts on Sunday.
What are everyone's plans for the weekend? It is youth rifle this weekend, so my plan is to be out all day Saturday with my older boys, and Sunday if needed. I can't hunt this weekend for myself due to the youth season. I will hunting hard next weekened 8th - 12th.
I’m hunting tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday morning, possibly Sunday evening. We received some rain today so hopefully I’ll be able to get in and out quietly. It’s been drrrryyyyy. I’ll also be taking a few days off next week just not sure which ones yet.
Buck down this evening. He's a smaller 10 point that I probably should have let walk but I've been skunked the past few years and this is the first buck I've taken off of our ranch. He went about 50 yards after a heart shot from the x-bow. Got him in the cooler and I'll get him scored in a day or two and add him to the score thread. Lousy twilight pictures will have to do. Tenderloins were delicious!
My morning was rough to say the least. Went to go into a spot I haven’t been in this year and it was so grown up I couldn’t get anywhere quietly. Back to the house for an emergency bathroom break, decided to go to a stand that I’ve hunted a few times this year. Bump a deer, get to the stand, realized I left my phone at home, back to the house, back to the stand. Had a button buck come bed down until I left at 11:30. Decided to switch it up for the evening, figured the button buck wasn’t in the rut action so I went and hunted the backside of the bedding area I tried first thing in the am. Saw a 110-115”, a little 6er, and something I couldn’t make out at 15 yards right at the end of shooting time. Left my stuff in the tree and hitting it again in the morning.
Posted my buck to the score thread. 100 6/8 And yes, of course, as soon as I shoot a small buck, I'm seeing much bigger ones come in. Oh well! Maybe that's what it took to end the drought.
Rough weekend here. With the warm temps, I decided to push up further into the thick bedding I was hunting Friday night and Saturday morning thinking I was for sure going to see some bucks passing through. Nope. As I walked down the road right after shooting light, the field were full of deer eating. I don’t have high hopes for this morning sit either. Food plot has been dead. Setting out this afternoon to drink beer and catch up around the house.
My oldest got his first buck Saturday morning during the youth rifle hunt. It warmed up pretty good in the afternoon and we didn’t see anything. Skipped the morning hunt this morning. I may take my middle son out this afternoon if he really wants to go, but it will be almost 80 today. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I love this photo! Congrats to him! All that working out pays off big when you have to be the pack mule. I have absolutely nothing exciting to report from my hunting adventures. Friday I sat all day and saw one small buck at first light. Needless to say, it was a LONG day in the stand. Saturday morning I saw a few deer and had a couple of big does in front of me but I didn't have much time to hunt and needed to get to my son's football playoff game, so they got the free pass. I figured the only way I was going to piss mom off and be late was going to be for a big buck. Saturday afternoon I took the boy hunting after they won their game. He had some does point blank, but I wouldn't let him shoot. Sorry kid, bucks only! He was all but begging me to let an arrow fly and I felt bad saying no. But he was as far from the truck as you could possibly get, we didn't have the deer cart, and had stuff to do after we got done hunting. Again, I'm only in the business of pissing mom off for something with antlers on it's head. Yesterday morning, we got in a few hours before the rain came. Joey saw a bunch of deer again and had a decent buck slip by him because he wasn't paying attention. Lesson learned! I did get about a two-second glimpse of the only good buck we have on the property, but just as quickly as he showed up, he chased the doe away, and that was all she wrote. We're off to a warm, windy, rainy start to a week filled with basketball games, football practice, cheer practice, and a late school start that requires me to drop the kids off. We have another football game this weekend and a State cheer competition next weekend, so don't expect much from me.
for those of you not following along in LFTS, I am having an absolutely miserable season. I have missed 3 nice Michigan public land bucks averaging probably 120, and wounded/lost 2 bucks, including most recently a decent 10 point. The buck I missed under in early October has given me a case of the yardage yips, I have since shot just over the back of 2 really nice ones, had my limb smack the edge of my flipped up seat while shooting behind me which sent my arrow spiraling into a buck's gut, and I think I had a bad anchor point on a buck 2 days ago that caused me to hit him in the haunch. We were on bright red clean blood for 736 yards per OnX, then it finally faded out. And that's not coursing back and forth, that's plotting points after the fact. I tried calling 4 different dog services, and only got an answer from one guy who said we would be 4th in line and based on what I told him he thought it was a non-lethal wound. I am home for a couple days then headed up to WI till Saturday, then back up to MI on Monday. Going to the pro shop today to get a kisser installed so I don't make that anchor point mistake again. This should have been a dream season, but instead it's been a nightmare. I could and should be tagged out in MI 3x over now. I hate wounding deer. All I can try to do is ID the problem, try to fix it, and get back out there.
I have had one of those seasons. It sucked and that’s why I don’t post in the live from the stand thread anymore, bc I swear it was jinxing me lol. Shot a 20” wide 6 pt, a decent 10 with about 2” of penetration, an okay 8, and just couldn’t get them dead. Had some bow tuning issues, and some yardage issues as well. Ended up shooting a 95” 8 and was PUMPED when I watched it go down in 30 yards. That season was wearing on me. The day I shot the 10, I tracked it to the next property, backed out, got permission, and the land owner said he’d help me look. They hunt as well. We were looking for blood talking at normal volumes and not trying to be quiet whena doe walked up on us. We watched her for a bit. Went back to looking for blood for another 20 mins or so and we noticed the doe was still there. He said “you ought to shoot her if she’s just going to stand there and watch.” We went back and forth about me shooting the doe and I ended up taking him up on his offer. 30 yard double lung, she crashed, I looked at him and said “ain’ nobody ever going to believe this story” He even hauled it to my house!
