what did you do this week for hunting ?
Massachusetts
I just couldn't stand it any longer. It was hot but I just had to get those sticks up . You know that feeling ,when you first climb up into the spot that you were sure was a great vantage point . And it is .
What did you do ?
Hey guys, new guy here, been reading your forums for a while and finally registered and made a handle, I hunt z11 and first year hunting was last year, killed my first and only deer (spikehorn) bowhunting in my treestand last season and hope for the opportunity to get another shot on a deer this season......this week I've been shooting bow everyday, ordered new ladder stand, and laser boresighted my muzzleloader. I can't friggin wait!
Welcome aboard Skippah! Good bunch of folks here, glad you decided to post.
Ive been doing map study, reviewing some areas in ct i will hunt again for the first time in years.
Some shooting as well.
Been busy, and still havent put a cam up this year!!! Maybe this week...
Welcome Skippah. Put the ladder stand in for when my son comes in with me, trimmed some shooting lanes, trimmed out quieter access to the swamp hole for climber, started micro plot #2. Started building 12 more tapered arrows. Shoot some with longbow every night. It cannot get here fast enough.
checking cams... making sure old stands safe... trimming some new lanes. I have 3 new stands to put up over the next couple of weekends in NY and MA.
I have been shooting my bow alot. Now that my daughter is old enought to be a smart a $$ she watches and tells me every time my shot is bad. "Keep practicing daddy youll get beter". Ive been shotting a bow for 25 years but i think its a good thing to have some pressure.
Welcome Skippah Cameras out(6) . Shooting daily, changed my bow bling to orange this year IE; sling,stabilizer,nock loop, limbsaver broadbands, string suppressors, etc . New wraps and blazer fletches orange / camo on my maxims, gear washed ,treated, and hung outside. New batteries in everything. Buzy Buzy Buzy
I'm off to a blazing start. Other than read about what you guys did to get ready, I did pretty much nothing. Seems like the same thing happens every year. I have all these grand plans and then life happens, and then I wake up one morning and the season is about 2-3 weeks away...
Bruce,.. Good now if all the hunters did that,.. I would a happy hunter,..
Just kidding Bruce,.. I hear ya,.. for 2 nights I have been wanting to do practice shots off my porch and when I get outta work there is always something that must be dealt with. This eve is helping my elderly Mom out,..
Set up a natural ground blind, hung a stand, shot the bow, began some silencing modifications on my climber and produced and picked up over 100# of bear bait. I've finally stuck to a pretty good plan and followed through with work when I either didn't want to or was really tired, that hasn't been the case the past few years.
I tend to obsess over details which sometimes keeps me from just getting out there and putting the plan to work. I have prepped several good locations for the climber stands (usually trying to hide the climber in a bushy location) and I try to make the trail discreet . Bought a blaze orange thermal suit (unused) on Craigs - list for 35 bucks . I Hate being cold. And I moved a few cameras to new locations . I give the spot a few weeks to produce information then move the cameras somewhere new.
I Knocked on some doors with success. (I start with ,is anyone hunting behind your house ?) I Made a ground blind spot in a ridiculous location but the sign is crazy (will need camera info for travel times which I suspect is midnight but who knows ? ) . I Am begging softly for some private land access with neighbors . Ordering a new lock on stand. Tuning the bow . (I don't shoot much when its on target) Just a few shots a week . I like the one shot for practice approach , as it gets closer to the season because it is all we get in the big moment. I will shoot/practice with my best arrows and broad heads a few times then resharpen as needed.
In the moment we get 1 cold shot and then lots of adrenaline ... I try to stay in that mindset instead of this is practice.
Sounds like a good way to be ready for that one shot PI, I like it
Been shooting regular all summer. Got a few cams out but haven't check any yet. Hung four setups on CT property July 1st. That was hot and buggy. Concentrating now on packing. I'll open my season in WY in a few weeks. Good luck guys, welcome aboard skippah.
I shoot limited number (5-10) per session, but try to keep in mind that the first one is the shot that counts.
I'm similar Pi. My bow has been hitting tacks (by my standards) for years. I take care of it, and it seems to not change. Ill do stuff like this:
Go run around the house fast a few times then shoot that first shot when still breathing hard OR put pressure on myself: "Make that shot or you have to go mow the lawn" for example. I'd rather get my nose hair waxed than do yard work - ok, not quite, but you can see the "pressure" that creates for me. Anything I can come up with that raises the stakes of the shot... heck, I've considered having a friend cut a bit of metal for me with 4-5 holes... miss the hole, there goes your expensive carbon arrow!
So long as you have the general fitness to take that approach (a couple shots a day vs lots of shots), it sure seems doable.
That's actually one of the reasons that I like, when possible, to do pretty long shots, and why I put my 3d target (which stays at my parents due to available yardage) so that if I miss I hit a stone wall... You have the cost of your arrow riding on every shot!
I dont know that it would work for a tournament archer, but I'm not one, :)
Good Will Hunting... I like your enthusiasm and creativity.
I used to practice like that with a friend . We would have one turn around and the other move a target in the woods . Then as quickly as one can ( person moving target is now next to the shooter) The shooter turns around and finds the target and shoots . Asap. 3 second rule applies. Judging distance quickly and accurately and such.
I saw a show some time ago with special ops man shooting under extreme physical distress. Both exhaustion and hot or cold . Surprisingly , It didn't affect his accuracy at all. Go figure . Adrenaline must make up for it. Experience doesn't hurt either . Some may choke under pressure but that is a mental thing I believe.
I like the running around the house idea to get the hart pumping. I've been hunting for a long time but I still get the fever pretty bad. also I shoot year round but only one arrow at a time. I shot one arrow, pull it out of the target move to a different yardage or angle and shot again. I also I rarely shoot more than ten times in a practice session. it keeps thing more realistic, and its not hard to fit a 5 min practice into my daily life.
Gentlemen you might consider packing on some pounds to avoid having to run around the house. Through years of disciplined eating, I've been able to achieve a condition where my heart is pounding just by walking out to set up the target.
Absolutely nothing, did nothing last week too. The week before I did manage to put out three cams in three towns. I'll check them next week if I have time.
I shoot my bow when I have time during the week but to me it's still early. Right now it's all about work and stuffing money away so I can take the whole season off. Been taking hunting season off for close to ten years now. The advantage of being self employed.
I won't even scout till the end of September, I'll start getting ready the first week of October with stand placement and aggressive scouting. Really don't cut any shooting lanes and try not to disrupt the woods more than I have too. Try keeping my presence in the woods to a minimum. I'll put up stands and leave them, I know a lot of you won't but I don't carry climbers in and out of the woods, lots of work and climbing is enough of a workout.
I've had a stand stolen and just the cables on another. But that was years ago. I guess I'm just lucky to hunt in areas that most guys won't bother with, either because I'm deeper than most guys want to go or the few who do find my stands and cams are respectful.
Do whatever you feel will help for the up coming season, I don't think early preparation is a waste of time and you gotta do what you gotta do when you have the time to do it. Good luck everyone.
Ahh Jeb, the season isn't even here yet and you already have me pissing myself laughing.
Like a few of you I only shoot about 9-12 arrows during a practice session. I almost always find the first shot to be the most accurate.
Muzzy, it sounds like you have no time to prepare for hunting with all the time you've spent draining the canal of all it's stripers :-)
Stillhunter , I drink that way. Never will you catch me drinking more than one at a time. It's one after the other. But if God gave me two mouths then that would change the game. Be more fitting for the two arms I have...
Jeb, you said a mouthful... Do you actually walk all that way ? there are scooters and golf carts yu know . Don't have a heart attack buddy. Get a scooter.
Seriously , the electric bike and or motorcycle is on my wish list . Would make some of those long hikes and no parking spaces a thing of the past. Quiet and easy . No ?
A little chilly this morning, that can only mean one thing...
I think Muzzy has a good idea. Low impact. I think my scouting may tell me more about where the deer were before, as opposed to where they are now--which is different than where they were before because I've been walking around stinking up the woods. Who knows. It's an interesting puzzle.
I learned something in high school think it was called the "Heisenberg uncertainty principle," which says you can't simultaneously know the speed and location of something. If I remember right. This thing with the deer might be similar--maybe you can't truly understand the system without messing it up.
But then if you've messed it up you no longer understand it. Golf would be much simpler.
yup. if you want to run cameras to take stock of the deer in the area or hang stands early, then by all means. But checking deer sign this time of year and hanging stands based on it, go in the category of lessons learned, and things Ill never do again. I will say im not that worried about messing anything up in august thou, the places I hang stands now don't have any deer sign yet, and the deer I might scare out of an area while looking around will not have much deer in then come October. or so I tell myself.
Stillhunter, that rings so true to me. I can't count the times I've hunted stands based on having MANY deer on camera during August and even Sept, only to see zero come hunting season. I guess I'm a slow learner because the main stand I'm thinking about is still in place. Maybe that won't happen this year since I haven't hung any cameras yet. But it still may unless I go in there and remove the stand.
My thinking is beginning to evolve though, to hang Aug/Sept stands only in spots where I've routinely seen deer during Oct/Nov.
I go in clean in the off hours , if I go to the woods to place a camera or prep a tree spot. . The spot should have old sign and its good to have some fresh too. But the sign I am really looking for is a slightly used paths into the thick with a staging area, If there is a well placed scrape close by or a cluster of rub trees all the better. Then I will try to find the bucks likely house . I presume it will give a good wind for his nose and cover for his discretion and he will come to a spot that allows him to see motion ( the action) without full exposure. (if you can see the space all around with someplace to bolt off to for cover and from down wind ...there will be a perimeter path in the brush , he will be there when it gets going)
Cover with a commanding view and down wind. I'm just behind or off on a tangent .
It seems that the mature buck works at a tangent to the normal deer movement (until the actual following of the doe routine / Rutting behavior ) And with this in mind I want to be out of his safe space but within shooting range too. My woods entry should be carrying my sent away and that determines which side to enter from and set up on. Well the odds anyway. It is worth walking far and around if that puts you in clean.
Cameras are fun but seldom show what will happen in mid October and into November action . For that it is another food source (mast crops ) So I have that in play too then the checklist is near complete. If you walk slowly and always bring a deer treat the does and young bucks will tolerate you if you do not startle them too often . (They are bait for my target animal) but stay out of Mr. Bigs space.
That said when I know there is a healthy population and a few mature does then there is nothing left to do but hunt it.
I had a camera out last year in September for two days. I had over 200 picture of deer in two day. I thought I hit the mother load. I never saw a deer from that stand all season. I knew better than to hang that stand on September sign but I did it anyway and its usually a mistake.
Still h- it is tempting isn't it . (for those who are less experienced these are my thoughts) (You old salty bastards already know what is what). Sometimes they are still there in summer /fall areas in the first week but likely the food changes and unless there is that next food also close to it then ... you know, poof. I wish the season opened a few weeks earlier for just that reason. Those first rubs show up and a few timid scrapes ... Then it is dead as a ghost town. But they are not far off . Usually just moved the game into deeper woods . Perhaps in part because so many eager hunters are dipping into their space and making a racket. But food and the upcoming events are shaping the game.
As the season progresses the outside action goes deeper for travel, by the time the season is well under way. ( Cover and avoiding people) I try to find a few good white oaks that are loaded with acorns just outside heavy cover . (June drop is a good time to look) binoculars for later (like now )and if this is on their seasonal travel it is a potential spot . (I am seeing acorns on the ground and I think it is squirrels doing it) . Most of this is with new woods and once we know the seasonal habits it's just doing what worked the last season , granted if little has changed. Either way there is no absolutes just advantages and odds.
Fresh signs are the best for getting right on ,but quick. I agree with setting up on old sign from the fall before or near community scrapes . They will do it all again as they did. Be quick to react to new sign that pops up . Often the new is near the old but something made it shift a bit Perhaps a hunter entering from one side or trees /cover removed and it is no longer a safe entry , but if it is where that buck needs to be , he will be there .
I did most of my scouting Jan-March. I have cameras behind my house and on a farm I hunt in Rhody. Both places are where my food plots are as well. I like using my cameras for inventory post season, but since I'm working the food plots anyway the cameras won't hurt. Most spots I won't go near after early Spring until I go to hunt them, particularly bedding areas and the runs into them. I've seen too many nice deer go nocturnal or become ghosts from even just a little peak at a camera or trimming shooting lanes in September.
I like target shooting a lot, all year. I practice for the season at 50 yards, makes 30 yard shots easy. I find that flat ground shooting makes me shoot high from the stand, so I practice from stand height, or I cheat and set my stand 1' off the ground but shoot down a hill. I did my usual August tear the bow down and reset everything looking for tighter groups. And I'm thinking of using a thumb release this season. Only thing left is remove one tree that fell across a river I canoe down for access.
Getting ancy, less than 3 weeks to Rhody opener!
I reduced my 6 pins to 3 for less clutter and more light comes through , I'm good out to 40- 45 yards but I don't think Ill ever need it past 40 and more likely 30 . I went for a peek / scout in a place that I first hunted several years ago . There I found a community scrape had moved by about 75 yards to better cover over the years and apparently a few deer are sleeping right next to it . It is still active , most likely by the doe's . I picked two trees and made minor prep. so they are climbable . I am tempted to put out a camera but I don't want to bugger it up.
Old rubs there tell the rest of this story ... Land of the giants.
Two new stands today . I Met a fellow hunter from my area and got a few good tips about local deer , people and police issues and a good butcher, At Dicks sporting goods of all places , in another town. Strange how some days work out like that.
10 bucks off coupon for the marked down F@S Timberline . They are very good stands for (70 bucks ) . I paint all my sticks and stands with light and dark house paint , then weather them for a few weeks to kill the smell.
I feel so far behind already...Have my 5 stand locations picked out, so I guess that's a start. Just getting around to painting my sticks which I have been meaning to do for the past 2 seasons, but now I am committed. I have not hung a stand yet! Hoping to get in 1-2 per weekend until the next 3-4 weeks, then I am out of the woods until opening day. I thought the first kid ate up all my free time, well the 2nd really did me in. Finding time to scout, hang stands, practice is nearly impossible with a toddler and a newborn. Going to have to rely on my old spots early on this season and follow the fresh sign from there, no time to scout new ones.
Addicted, I know it doesn't help you get ready for hunting but it sounds like you're making the right choices. Kids/family always come first in IMO. Just wait until the little ones get bigger and you add sports, music recitals, gymnastics, dance, etc. to the mix. It's kinda like a big game draw, if you're real nice and helpful to your wife now you can build points for the future ;-)
I finally did something to get ready, sort of. I took down a stand that I hung 2 years ago and never hunted out of... Yeah, the slooowww start continues...
Bought a new lock on Hawk Treestand and a new ladder stand for my daughter for the youth hunt. Scouted a new place in NY over the weekend. Need to hang a double stand set for youth hunt this weekend and another in the new NY spot.
Wise and funny Bruce. " Building points " I will add that a man needs to take care of his needs (doing what builds his enthusiasm ) or he is of little value to others . Maybe woman do too but "I wouldn't know nothing about that." FGump. I personally know "too much about that."
The family is stronger when the adults have some time and events for themselves . A little break goes a long way... it has to. Call out for help and take care of yourself .
Good friends are sometimes hard to find , helpful ones , even harder...
Addicted it gets better in a few years. I drag one or two of my boys in the woods with me,often with 40 lb bags of lime or fertilizer on each shoulder,and we turn the soil by hand. At the very least I have one there in case dad takes a tumble when checking a stand! Haha . This week I freshened a mineral site off of a foodplot that sees a bunch of traffic. Checked the cams, I still have a bunch of bucks running in a bachelor group, and a doe with twin fawns that frequent the plot. Its great to show my 3rd oldest son these pics, who I recruited this year with my oldest stationed in CA,and the other in college to help me out. He put a bunch of work in ,and the smile on his face when he sees them eating from our plot is as rewarding as filling a tag. I also started leaving my single pin set at 25 yards,and shooting from tree stand height, at distances between 35 and 15. Also doing more shooting out to 60 and 70 yards. I agree that it makes those 30 yard shots easier,and that it's tough to get a shot over 35 in the Mass woods. I continue to narrow the contest to figure out which arrows get the 1, 2, and 3 spots in the quiver. What I find most interesting is the first arrow I fletched,visible excess glue, beat up all year because it wasn't as pretty as the other arrows,is consistently the best shooting. Go figure. The time is drawing near gentlemen ! :-)
Eastie, don't worry how that arrow looks now. When it is soaked in bubbly, frothy blood in a couple months or so it will look beautiful...
I nailed down a spot with the caretaker of some semi-private land and learned about the abutting land for which he is responsible. Who should not be there and who should. Big information score and piece of mind stuff. That's a big Go , Houston !
SSWWWEEEETTTTT !
Deer report from down the street tonight (Source: Wife) at least 25 deer in the field kicking it up and 10 in the next field a few hundred yards away from that ... Both are less than a mile away from my freezer...
Now the plan is to get closer or get permission which ever comes first.
Doing nothing but shoot with some regularity. Major goal this year is to stay out of the woods beforehand, which is harder than it sounds. Stands have been up a long time already. It's kind of an experiment. Obviously not set up on fresh sign (that I know of), but on the plus side, I'm not in there stinking it up. And I've sworn to myself that I'm not buying any rabbit urine this year, just like last year. But I bought it last year, and I'll probably buy it again this year.
Rabbit piss ! how the heck do they get them to piss in a bottle anyway ?
I tossed out some mineral for cattle (more for less of the same stuff) Two bucks showed up for a taste. Well one did and the other was in background . Of course the better buck probably knew better. Many would not pass on the lesser one but there are some real big fellas in them woods ... Good to see so close to my hunting trees. Tales of 5 big bucks less than 100 yards away , told to me tonight by reliable source. Hello !
Shot shot and shot some more. got trail cams ready to go out. Ones dead need to replace. Ordered a new Arizona ez fletch. That showed how the shootings going
I high jacked a skid steer and put it a 1/4 acre food plot. I bought a half acre lot next to my house last year and cant think of anything better to do with it. sugar beats, winter peas, clover, alfalfa. if that doesn't work Ill just pay the deer to come over.
Cool stillhunter, actually perfect size for plot
Took my 2 shots at 20 and 30 .... same hole. Hardly ever shoot longer but people here suggested it ... way off , almost an inch to the left ... Shit, I do need practice . Toot toot
Painted a few stands and sticks , slimmed down everything to the bare bones , no arm rests , foot rests , shooting rails or padded seat backs . Scratched all that crap. I busted out a new ladder stand too and painted all my black seats . Whats with the black straps and seats . Someone must have said back straps and meats and off they went ... Black is the new camo ? Slow learners I guess.
Got out in the woods for the first time today. Worked till 1 then went for a walk. Repositioned a stand by a whole 30 yds and when I walked out to my car. Which was ina buddies driveway a doe was eating his flowers in the front yard. Don't know why I go into the woods behind his house, I should just sit on his front step with a cup of coffee and a muffin!! Won't be back into that stand Location till Nov All the rest of my stand locations are still the same as the previous years and don't need any tending to. I will take a walk a rainy day right before the season to scout and make any final preparations for the first couple weeks. I am a firm believer in hunt fresh sign so we will see why the beginning of the season dictates Shot the bow for the first time since last year and am shooting 6-8" groups at 40 yds. Need a little fine tuning on my form again but that will come with repetition
Put 2 new cameras out in a new spot today and hung a stand in a big pine. What a pain it is to try and hang a stand in a tree you can't reach around
That looks well camo'd,.. in the pine and all.
What stand is that,.. is that a lone wolf stand?
It's an older loc on with a modified seat. Took the cushion off and took a plastic camp chair, cut the legs off of it and strapped it to the tree and stand at the same time. Have a backrest and arm rests for an extended sit for the rut. Platform is 22 feet up and plenty of cover to hide my movement. That setup took me a little over 2 hours to set up today. Lol. It better pay off
Got my hang on up today. I have been shooting the hell of my new used bow with positive results.
Got my one and only stand up yesterday, big relief it's up, now I can play the game again this season.......that's the tree before I put the stand up obviously lol
Got my one and only stand up yesterday, big relief it's up, now I can play the game again this season.......that's the tree before I put the stand up obviously lol
Got my one and only stand up yesterday, big relief it's up, now I can play the game again this season.......that's the tree before I put the stand up obviously lol
Got my one and only stand up yesterday, big relief it's up, now I can play the game again this season.......that's the tree before I put the stand up obviously lol
Got my one and only stand up yesterday, big relief it's up, now I can play the game again this season.......that's the tree before I put the stand up obviously lol
Got my one and only stand up yesterday, big relief it's up, now I can play the game again this season.......that's the tree before I put the stand up obviously lol
That tree looks awesome dthfrmabove, like Swiss family Robinson treehouse, HUGE
Hot on the trail of a new hunting spot. Digging into land owner records and talking with folks that abut a great farm field . Deer every day, dozens of em , an hour before dark and the locals that tell buck stories that make me think I'm in Illinois. Yikes !
DFA , That tree is leaning a little too much for me ... Nice improvising with the seat.
Skippah , That is a big log in the sky buddy . Nice. Looks like the west coast forest land .
haha im definatly running around the house today right before i let one fly, what a good way to get that real world situation shot cause i kno my hearts usually beatin into my throught before a real shot on a buck. I try to get out two days a week to scout new and olds spots, still waitin on fresh rubs and scrapes.
Hung stand #3 or 5. Been tackling one per weekend, so I should be good by the end of September. Paper tuned my bow and adjusted my sight slightly, then practiced, practiced, practiced.
