Opening day, what will you be looking for? Doe? Buck? Deer? What are your expectations right now? I feel I have as good a chance as the next guy. Probably going to take a doe with the recurve first. (If the opportunity presents itself. Which I feel good about.) So what do you expect for your opener?
I'm expecting a doe on opening day. I've got pics on the trailcam of a doe that is in there just about everynight around 7pm.
I would like to take a doe, but last yr I thought I was on some deer and never saw one the whole day..I have actually only killed a deer on opening day twice in all the yrs
whatever walks out the first day!!!!! i'm baggin a deer this year with my bow if I have to jump outta my truck and club it to death with the carnivore!!!!!
On opening day I will be going for a doe (because my grandpa mentioned wanting some meat) and I don't mind helping him out at all!!
Im going to be set up near food sources most likely. My original plan was to locate FD's food source and hunt it the first week IF POSSIBLE (due to permission/property lines) At this point, its not looking good.
If I don't have a good buck patterned, I will be filming opening day. If my partners don't have a good buck located either...then I will either be at a dove shoot or doe hunting at a farm across the county from where I would ever expect to encounter a buck I am after.
I'm after a good time, those first hunts are really cool. Anything else, buck or doe, is just icing on the cake.
I am going to only hunt for a buck the first few weeks of archery. If I do not get one, then I will plan on trying for a doe if one gives me the opportunity. I have been lucky to take 2 bucks on the first day of archery season over the past 3 seasons. Can't wait about 2 more months...
I am moving in to kill a buck on opening day. Depending on the wind, I will set up as close to where I think a buck is bedding and try to arrow him.
I'm hoping to put my son on a deer or a turkey. I've got a spot or 2 picked out where deer and turkeys are using this trail like clockwork!
We need to shoot some does off of our property this year after taking 4 bucks and two does last year. I have a couple of guys coming to hunt on us this year that want to shoot does, so I'll just be kicking back in the treestand waiting for a solid P&Y.
Opening day will be field side with my 5 & 3 year old...all but guaruntee no shot opportunities. But the 2nd day is opening weekend - group public hunt that weekend...decent chance at a buck - but mostly setting out to take first Doe.
I will be busy running around the farm, trying to ruin everybody else's hunts, so that they will leave and never come back - leaving me alone and undisturbed later in the season, when the rubber really starts meeting the road.
Depends. Season starts for me in the early Adirondack northern zone in NY in Sept. I will be hunting a new property there infrequently this year so I think I'm going to try and get really aggressive on that property and close the deal early. I know I will have limited time in there, and the gun season starts late October, so I'm going to try and get it done as early as possible on a buck. I know there is at least one slammer in there now, so that helps my confidence with holding out for some good horn. I will be hunting my property in PA a LOT less this year, I anticipate getting in closer (not in, but closer) to the known buck bedding areas early this year to see if I can catch one moving during daylight hours. I will likely be there one or two weekends before the rut really starts to kick in, and then I'll be there for the better part of a week during the rut. The main property in NY that I'm hunting I will likely try and shoot a doe early and be careful how much I pressure the known buck bedding areas. I'll have plenty of time there to get it done without educating them early, I'll likely wait till later in the season to really get aggressive in there with my better spots to put horn on the ground.
I'm fortunate in that I live and hunt in the special regs zones in PA so we have a antlerless season that starts 2 weeks earlier than the regular archery season. So I'll use that time to try to fill some doe tags at some of the properties that get more pressure and leave my more promising spots until later in the season.