I went opening day on the 15th. Saw two does but like you, I'm not in the mood to deal with the butchering duties in this hot weather. It's going to be 90 today.
My season is about 20 days old and I have not been out. Busy remodeling a room for my 3yr old. Some of these morning as are nice ad cool, i'm getting excited to be out there.
...Tick Tock... ...Tick Tock... Saturday, we open, and I'm on one. I had two mature bucks (4x6 and 5x5) frequenting an isolated ridge all summer long. I pulled my cams prematurely to make sure they were left alone. I know the area well, so I know they're going to stay nearby until/unless they feel pressure. These are the two likely suspects. Well, I decontaminated myself and slid in there to have a peek and see if the small stand of oaks is producing - and found a really active scrapeline, along with some really solid rubs. Louisville Sluggers. Decent acorn production and marked deer activity. There's a tree with the prevailing wind and morning thermal in its favor - and it's BEGGING for me to sit in it. There's a big boy in there, and he's making himself comfortable on that thick-ass ridge, so I'm going dark-to-dark on Saturday to try and catch him by surprise. If he comes through in daylight hours, he's gonna get housed. 5 days. My buddy and I probably walked over 100 miles this spring - picked about 30 sheds a piece... I've never been so ready for opening day. This is a deer that I want BAD, and I'll have the element of surprise on my side for exactly one hunt. After that, my cover will be blown, and it'll be a chessmatch. 5 days.
Good luck Quik! Hope it works out for you. I just got an interview for another job that might limit my hunting. Hopefully I still have enough time this fall.
OK - Looks like we have enough votes to call ourselves: Drum roll please......"The Main Vanes" I have no idea who we get an avatar for this one but, it will give us something to do
I wish I could help but I have zero experience in graphic design. Hey Jonathon, I've been remodeling our living room and dining room. This past Friday I got a wild hair and decided I'm sanding down my living room floor and ripping the carpet up in the dining room and sanding the wood floor underneath it as well. I can't stand carpet in the dining room so when we bought our home last year I knew it was going. I rented a floor sander and edger and went to town removing the old varnish. Put 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of polyurethane and it looks pretty money now. I'm far from an expert but I think for my first time it turned out pretty good. As you can see the floor closest to where I took the picture is the dining room where I ripped up the carpet. It had paint marks on it and raised nails. In the living room you can also see where the old varnish was starting to flake up. My bro taking a hack at sanding down the floor. It was his first time as well. The finished results of sanding. I almost decided to leave it as is and just put down some high gloss polyurethane but the wifey wanted the floors to be darker. Putting down the 1st coat of "gunstock"stain. After the 1st coat of polyurethane. Finished results and finally getting the furniture back in from the garage. I haven't put the fish tank or dining room table back in yet. I want the floor to cure a little longer. Overall, it turned out well.
red - That looks great! How long did it take you from sanding to your last coat? Did you rent the sander from someone like homedepot?
I rented the sander and edger from Rent-All for 80 bucks including paper. I started on Friday and finally moved everything back into the living room today.
Give her hell Fran !!!! Sounds like you did some serious home work again this year. Hope you get a shot at one. I really like that 1st buck. He is a stud !! Tim
Red, the floor looks great. That's hard work. Good news guys, I scored on a 6x6 elk this evening. I'm beat so I'll be hitting the sack now but will try to post a picture tomorrow.
Congrats on the Elk, Arch. Post pics when you get 'em. My opener was as slow as molasses. The bucks are hitting the scrapes at night, so I sat all day and nary saw a deer. I knew it was all-or-nothing. This morning, I hung a stand that is guaranteed to produce deer sightings. It's a long haul in there, and I sweated my ass off getting it hung. I'll give it a week at least before I hunt it. Things have been really dry in my areas - leading to an earlier-than-expected acorn and leaf drop. I'm scrambling to catch up to the rapidly changing food sources, so it's adding an element of chaos to a season that I'd already scripted out. Post those pics, Arch.
i Pm cody about getting on a team..he said something about team 15..not sure if you guys needed another guy or not..but would def. be interested in helping out the team... let me know guys, ill hop aboard if you need someone.
thanks bro..ill try my best to contribute to the team here.... hopefully have a doe down the next week or so....would be nice.
I went out yesterday and had zero sightings. It was a new spot that I located on Google Earth. I trampled through the corn as quietly as I could but with a climber on my back I'm pretty sure I sounded like a T-Rex walking through there. Every animal within a 1/4 mile could probably hear me. It was good exercise I suppose.
