I’m taking my boy out this weekend for his first deer hunt. Going to take the gun for him and the bow for me. The deer were moving like crazy last night while I drove around. Good luck to everyone and stay safe. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Went out tonight and it was drizzling as I was walking in and once I got to where I was going to set up the rain turned into a downpour for about 30 minutes or so. After getting all set up it ended up being a pretty nice night with a little more rain. About 30 minutes before end of shooting light I had 3 does and 3 bucks- a basket rack 8 and two spikes - come out. The 8 was sparring with one of the spikes acting like he was king afterward which was pretty funny to watch. May go out in the morning and try to kill a slickhead but we're taking the kids to Nickelodeon Universe so I'll probably just end up sleeping in; may try to go out tomorrow night but doubtful.
Goodluck to anyone out this morning. Killing me sitting at work…settle your pin and squeeze it off! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
In the stand this morning. Just does with young fawns. On my farm so far I’ve seen one set of triplets, one set of twins and a couple singles. Healthy herd so far
Nothing to get excited about (yet) in my fall plots or on cameras. Good luck to you guys putting time in the saddle and well done Heartstopper and son!! -fsh
I saw a buck tonight but skirted me. Probably wouldn’t have shot him regardless. Trying my damndest to find a doe lol deer numbers here are still low from last years ehd. Probably be a minute until we fully recover. It was insane last year here. But I’ll find them. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Friday night, I got my boys out for our first hunt of the year. My oldest is 11 and has been hunting since he was 8. My little guy is six and still has a couple of years before he's pulling the trigger, but he wanted to tag along with Dad and his big bro. We hit the blind around 4:30 and had our first action at 5:30. Two young bucks came into the plot in front of us, but the closest the bigger one got was 43 yards, which was just a touch further than I wanted him to shoot. Eventually, they got a little spooky for some reason and trotted off. A few minutes later, we had two big does and two fawns come in, and they fed around for probably close to 30 minutes. My son only wanted to shoot bucks, so they got the free pass. With about 10 minutes left in legal shooting time, I asked the boys if they wanted to start packing up or wait the last few minutes. They both said wait, and no sooner did I look up than one of the two bucks from earlier came back into the plot. He crossed in front of us at somewhere between 30-35 yards. Joey gave him a quick "meh" to stop him and then let it rip. It was a perfect double lung shot and 100-yard recovery that I let the boys do on their own while I filmed them. Great way to start our season! I managed to sneak out for a quick hunt myself last night and didn't see anything except a couple of house cats. Depending on my work schedule, sports, weather, etc, I may try and sneak out for an afternoon sit during the week. If not, I'll be back at it next weekend.
Snuck out after I got the kids to school. Before I could even climb up I was covered up in deer. Ended up sneaking up a tree with doe bedded within 50 yards of me. It was too loud to try to sneak up on them…seen 6 doe in total and the only one that gave me a good shot was a really little doe. Wasn’t that desperate yet. Definitely felt good seeing deer! Once the day winds started I had to get out of there because it was a swirling mess but I’ll be back! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
So, a friend of a friend jumped in on my lease this year since I had a couple of people bail out. I sent him all my recent trail cam data and told him I would sit over this scrape when the cold front hit. Traditionally, this has been a good daylight spot early season on a cold front like this. He sat it Friday and Saturday evening and saw some does and a couple 1-year-old bucks, but that's it. He couldn't hunt Sunday, and look who showed up. That's the way it always seems to work! I've had daylight pics of this guy 3 of the last 4 days now, so he's moving around for sure. Too bad it's 2 hours from home, and there's no way I can get there any time soon.
This is why I can’t use cameras…I would just be losing jobs every season chasing bucks I have pictures of hahah that would suck having to drive 2 hours to hunt. How many leases are you currently on? I’ve been asked to join some here and there but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Of course the ones I’m asked to join have a bunch of people that go in so I figure it’d be like paying to hunt public land pressured deer. Except cornpile lmao Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I'm on two leases here in IL - one of which we will likely be losing at the end of this season. The landowner is a ****** and wants to keep raising the price while reducing the amount of huntable acres, and it's not that great of a spot to begin with. It's just close and convenient, which is why we've kept it as long as we have. But I'm not willing to pay any more than I'm currently paying, so it's time to move on. Fortunately, I have a permission spot close to home that I can still hunt, so my efforts will get shifted over there next year.
Looks like a washout for the next few days so I'm currently not planning on getting out until maybe Sunday evening. If Saturday is as windy and rainy as they're saying it's going to be I'm going to use that as an opportunity to get out and scout my permission farm. I need to figure out where these bucks are because they certainly aren't on any of my cameras right now.
Snuck out of work early. We were getting a new machine delivered so the shop was in disarray and the last thing needed was a sale guy getting in the way. I’m in about an 80 yard wide patch of “old woods between two areas of 5 year old clear cut. I had an encounter with a good buck a few years ago here. I was in a ground blind 30 yards from where I put the stand I’m sitting in now, closer to where the buck was. There’s a nice scrape that’s freshly opened 10 yards in front of me. I was able to access the stand from behind and wind is blowing from NNE. Fingers crossed