Nice Kilo, I was wondering what you were going to end up getting, I think you made a good call. I really like my summitt climber but it is a little cumbersome getting in and out of the woods. Definitely a good idea about the safety harness, I was lucky I had mine already on and attached when climbing yesterday! The top half of my climber must not have been seated well enough n I went to sit down and it gave away, luckily I grabbed onto my rope. Shook me up pretty good for a few seconds then I finished the climb, I don't think I have ever been so happy to sit down in a LONG time lol. Good luck gettin out soon! I am getting closer to finishing up my ghillie suit, it should be done within the next week or so, depending on my evening craft time haha. Pics to follow step by step when I get it done!!
Well, I've got my sticks ordered and should be delivered today. Ended up getting the 4 pack of Muddy sticks (cam system) for a pretty reasonable price. It's the same company I ordered the stand from and I got a great deal for both (Total Sports LLC out of WI). Great people and always willing to work with their customers. Anywho, I'm looking forward to practicing a lot with the stand, as I have NEVER hunted with a hang-on and sticks. Any suggestions from those that have as far as best way to set up or moving through the woods, etc? Chiro, I'm glad you're okay, brother. I'm sure that was scary as hell but at least you're smart enough to wear a harness. I grew up with a guy that thought he was invisible in his climber...until he fell 15 or so feet and broke his left leg in the middle of nowhere with nobody around. Now, I think he wears a harness even when he ground hunts or something. He's crazy about hunter safety since his accident. How is everyone's season going? I'm planning on going out next Friday.
I don't have my daughter this weekend, and I'm off Monday, so I will be spending a lot of time in the woods. I spotted a good sized buck Monday night, but he was walking through the dry creek bed, 50 yards away. I could barely get a glimpse of him through the brush, but spotted a large body and good looking rack. Hope he's the one from my trail cam last year. If so, I estimate he'll score in the 160's, but could be more. I'll be hunting over the creek bed this weekend and really hope he comes walking through there. Although I'm also torn, as he's the biggest buck I've seen on cam and I'd like for him to spread his genes some more. Don't think I'll be able to pass him up if he walks within shooting distance, though, since he'd be my biggest buck taken by any method.
SURPRISE!! Bow is Mathews Monster MR-7, Broadhead was Grim Reaper Razorcut 1 3/8-100g, CE Maxima Hunters, Rest is a trophy Ridge Revolution She came in at 6:40pm. Super Pumped! Best Part of all this was my neighbors came over to help me out(they're both in their 70's) and they were like lil kids in a candy shop, I had a blast having them help me out, and then brought some of the last couple logs on summer sausage and jalapeno sausage I had just as a thank you :-) :rock Hope everyone is having a great week n good luck to anyone that is hunting this weekend!!
Way to go! I'm going to San Antonio until Tuesday for work, so I won't be able to get out until Wednesday. Good luck everyone and I'll be checking in with the weekend progress. Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Congrats! I had a doe and fawn walk in this morning and got within 7 yards. However, I didn't feel like orphaning the fawn. There are too many coyotes around the area and I don't expect it would last long on it's own. Besides, it might be carrying the genes of one of the big bucks on the property!
No luck for me today. Had a black cat walk under my stand just at dawn (literally) and then no deer came in at all today. I'm not superstitous, but had to laugh at the way the rest of the day went. I got down out of the stand a little after 10 today and walked out of the woods, scanning the beans. Spotted 2 doe and a fawn across the field and they were walking toward the patch of woods where the truck is parked. Picture a rectangle field and we're both walking south, but I had to go west to get toward the truck, whereas they just had to keep walking south straight through a narrow patch of woods at the entrance to the property and they'd run into the truck. I stayed low and kept watching them while I walked along the edge of the field, hoping I could get ahead of them, but we were moving about the same pace. Lost them at one point as they turned into the woods on the western edge of the field. I moved quickly and got about halfway up the southern edge of the field and decided to try and pull them out with a fawn bleat. I was kneeled down where I could see the western border of the field, but never saw them come out of the woods, so decided to head on toward the truck. As I stepped out into the field, I spotted them quite a bit closer, now on the southern edge of the field, so I ducked back in to some cover. They started walking back north into the field, so I threw out another series of fawn bleats. They started running to the north. Great, I spooked em. But then they stopped running and went back to walking. So I just sat down to watch them walk away cause I wasn't going to be able to low crawl through the beans to get close enough, at least not without ruining the beans. Then they suddenly stopped and did a u-turn. They started walking back toward the woods on the southern edge. Unfortunately, I was tucked back in too far and if they'd turned to walk toward me along the edge, I wouldn't be able to see them until they were a few feet away. So I drew back took a bad shot just before the biggest doe got out of sight. Not sure what I did, but I somehow shot right in front of her. I can still picture the arrow flying past her. Oh well, better to miss clean than hit bad. Lost a good arrow with a brand new nockturnal, though. It's somewhere in the beans and weeds, but I couldn't find it. Nockturnal wasn't visible during the day and I couldn't find it after dark. I imagine the battery ran out long before the 9 hours between the shot and end of daylight. Let's just hope I get the mistakes out of the way before a big buck comes walking in front of me! Hope you guys had better luck than I did. I'll be hunting tomorrow morning, then probably done until next Sunday. Hope tomorrow's a better day.
Nice job Chiro! Had a great hunt Fri evening with my 7 and 8 year old sons. We all crammed into a buddy ladder stand - they sat, I stood. Cold/Damp night...deer started moving early. We had two fawns come into 5 yards wide open, my boys are wispering for me to shoot - I explained that I don't want to shoot any fawns and that typically the bigger deer will follow. Sure enough, 2 big does started making their way to us, following same path as fawns. I reminded my boys to stay still and quiet as big does are way smarter than those fawns that hung around us a long time. Sure enough at 30 yards the does just slow down and get that look like they know something is around. The lead doe continued anyway - I could tell my boys hearts were starting to race...as she went behind the last big tree between us at 15 yards I drew back slowly...and of course they both just froze (as they spotted the fawns behind us now look up into tree). To my boys she was wide open broadside - they thought I was shooting any second, for me she was 100% hidden from view. I held back over a minute and began to shake, both from fatique and excitement. My oldest wispered, "Dad, you are shaking the whole tree stand" I eventually had to let down. Does began the slow stiff legged walk back the way they came, I drew again and mouth bleated to stop them multiple times...they never spooked, just slowly walked out to a safe distance. We were so close, my boys said they were sure my bow was going to erupt any second on that doe...wish it could have happened, but my boys got the "rush" I was hoping for. One of them said "I've Never been so close to a deer", the other said "how do you shoot your bow with so much adrenaline going"...so, long story - but really turned out to be an awesome moment for us, and for getting them hooked. Looking forward to many more. Next 2 weekends very busy for me - not sure if I'll get out until the 27th, but should hit it hard for a couple weeks then. I'm in a shooting mood this year - I can all but promise a doe and buck at some point - keep me motivated team! Keep the upadates coming...and Good Luck!
ThaTAS awesome BZ, very cool story! Can only imagine how they would have reacted if you would have been able to get the shot you were looking for, but that will keep them wanting more for another round in the tree with Dad! Very cool!
Well, today went about as good as yesterday did bad. I hadn't thrown away the package for the Nockturnals yet and was looking at it last night and read that battery life is over 20 hours. I started to get worried that maybe I didn't see the arrow fly correctly yesterday and that maybe I'd gotten a bad hit on the doe since I couldn't find the arrow last night. So I was relieved when I saw the green light burning bright this morning as I walked into the field a full 19 hours after letting the arrow fly. It had gone farther than I expected and I wasn't looking in the right place last night. Nice and clean, no blood, just mud. Turned off the nock and headed to the woods. Got up in the stand and stood up till a little after 8:30. Wasn't hearing anything, so sat down. About 15 minutes later, I spot a deer walking in, then another, then another. Of course, they were walking toward me so I couldn't just stand up. The first 2 got into some brush and the 3rd looked away from me. Took the opportunity to slowly stand up. The 3rd then walked forward and stopped at a tree I had been in opening morning (glad I wasn't there today). She was about 20 yards away with her head down, but there was just the tip of some brush where I preferred to aim. Put my 20 yard pin a little bit higher than I wanted, but still well within the kill zone. Let the arrow fly and watched the green Nockturnal light up and the arrow fly right into her and stick. Looked like a good hit, but was worried I didn't get pass through. She jumped and took off. Watched her leave and waited about a half hour then lowered my bow and started climbing down. Got halfway down the tree when I heard something, so I turned around to look. Two does came in, and went out the same way the one I shot ran (turns out, I think they were her fawns , but they didn't really look that small from the stand.) Anyway, I watch them, then just as I'm getting ready to move again, I hear something else. Another doe came through, and I thought she was following the other two. However, she walked directly below my stand (at this point I'm barely 10 foot in the air). She spotted my bow on the ground and bolted, but stopped 10 yards out, hidden in the brush. After a few minutes of milling around, she walked out into the creek, but just stood there. Then I heard another deer coming. I instantly knew it was the little 6 point buck I've seen on trail camera with a doe. He's not one I'm going to take since we're a one-buck state, so I wasn't too disappointed that my bow was on the ground. He walked out into the open area, milled around, then headed out the way the first 3 had come in. I was finally able to climb down a half hour after I started. Took the climber back to the truck, made sure I had everything I needed for trailing and cleaning the doe, then headed back to the woods. Took forever to find first blood, but I kept zigging and zagging through the area she went into the brush (thick honeysuckle bushes) and finally found the blood trail. Slowly followed it back to her, listening and scanning ahead as much as possible. Found her about 20 yards before the creek. Snapped my pics, set the bow aside and was pulling the arrow out of her when I heard a grunt across the creek. Nocked another arrow, climbed behind a fallen log and grunted back. Played this game for several minutes and could hear him walking, but he never came across the creek. Then I started to look around. The doe had fallen in an area of about 4 or 5 scrapes and there was a very big rub immediately behind her (look at the very center of the first pic and you'll spot it). I was concentrating so much on following the blood trail that I hadn't spotted any of this sign. But now I know where I'm going to set up at the end of Oct when I take two weeks off work to hunt! Started to clean up the doe and spotted the teets when I turned her over. Hate that I orphaned 2 fawns. Didn't even think about them being fawns since they were leading instead of following. Not sure how long they would have needed her around, but hopefully they'll survive on their own. Anyway, I finally got the doe cleaned up and drug her out to the field, only to look across and realize she was about as far away from the truck as possible, while still being on the property. And of course, the beans were still in so I couldn't just drive the truck out to her. Dragged her several hundred yards, then finally called my brother, hoping he wasn't working today. Thankfully, he wasn't. I continued to drag her a few hundred yards while waiting, then he finally showed up. Tagged and bagged, end of story! Here are the pics, I've already put them in the scoring thread with details.
Nice Job Capt!! I am sure the youngins will be just fine man, if they were big enough to where you thought they were just smaller doe then I am sure they will just find some more deer to attach themselves to the group! Congrats on a nice deer brother!!
Capt, great job on the very nice doe and excellent story! I love reading threads like this. BZ, it's great you got your boys involved at such a young age. I remember being that young and duck hunting with my father. Great memories. Keep up the good work, all!
Alright, lady and gents. I have something to put out per Fitz and other administrators. I received a PM from him this morning to all team captains to remind their team to put date and time when submitting deer for scoring on the official scorecard thread. I did look over our guy's posts and they meet the requirements for scoring. This is simply a reminder to make sure once you harvest a deer and are intent on getting it scored for this contest, the requirements of two photos with date and time are satisfied. Thanks and good shootin'!
Congratulations guys! Only got 2 hunts in this weekend. No sightings the first one. Went back out yesterday afternoon. Soon as I pulled up to get out and walk to my stand my parents blue heeler comes running up. He saw me leave the house and came running I guess. Called my Dad to come get him, tied him to the Gator and headed in. Got settled in. Heard them pick up the dog as I was getting settled. Bout an hour into the hunt I saw a small 4 point about 30 yards out in the woods. He is never alone and made a turn through the gully towards where they normally come out. Went behind the hill and I could hear at least 1 other with him and moving straight where I wanted them to so I went ahead and stood up, got my bow in hand and just waited. They got about 10 yards from where they come out and I hear noise behind me and panting. I turn and look and here comes my parents Blue Heeler. Nose to the ground comes straight to the stand passes the ladder and then starts running around lookin for me. Ahh the joys of huntin close to home! He circles several times, goes out into the food plot starts sniffin around, goes out into the woods and I hear the deer run and him behind them. He comes back from chasing them and lays in the mud in the middle of the food plot to cool off. YES I thought really hard about target practicing on that daggum dog!!! Lesson's learned you ask? Tie up the dog and use more scent block. Ha ha Gotta love the memories and stories from these kinds of hunts though.
Look at the bright side Bowchik...you don't have a long drive to get to your hunting spot, so you get to sleep in a bit later than some people! Not to mention you get some control over who hunts your property. Fortunately, I don't have a very long drive either, but I don't own the land so I have no control over who can hunt there and who can't. Better luck next time!
Here is an update on the ghillie suit I am building myself, its taken FOREVER, I had stitched the netting on so that I wouldn't add any scent from using a sealant. made it specifically for bow hunting, the weather isnt going to be super favorable this weekend, so I may be able to finish the hat and the pants! Let me know what you guys n gals think, I did something a lil different, I did not tie the burlap on with knots, I looped it all through via a goose neck, so that way I can change it later on if I want to :-).
Looking good, Chiro! I bet that's been a real pain; however, I'm sure it will be well worth it when it's finished and you're out in the woods. One question, though. How come you decided on ACU for you base pattern? Just curious...
