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The only one not mentioned. Wind is my number one factor in stand placement. All the others are great but if the wind is wrong they are not so great anymore.

From the deck of shooting house...and I can't remember the last time I relaxed and watched the clouds go bye...that pic is directly above my head as I sat on the deck....nice summer beeze and all....

Panther sighting in NYS........ Oooppps.......Not just our little Jade..

-food sources- This is probably the most important of all in my book. Early season preferred hard and soft mast crops let me choose pinpoint ambush locations deer concentrate on pre rut. Post rut is obviously another good time to target a food source. Regaurdless of all other factors that influence deer movement, their need to feed is one that can't be ignored in order to survive. That said, very rarely will I hunt right at the food source itself.(see cover) -cover- Like everyone, I enjoy seeing and watching deer while I'm on stand. Generally, the more the better! A typical stand in the open forest may see many encounters that fullfill that requirement, but lately my stands are located closer to the cover especially on evening hunts in hopes of catching "maturer" (lol) deer durring legal shooting time on their hooves and off to the food source. I tend to not sit these stands all day. Any unfavorable change in the wind can and will alter any patterns a buck has established in a core area. -trail cam pictures- Love to get good bucks on cam especially when it's not just a one time ordeal. Knowing you have a good buck that calls any piece of your propperty home is the starting point for any solid game plan to hunt him effectively. -physical sign (tracks,rubs,scrapes) This one I probably pay too much attention to when rub and scrape activity begins to increase. Now instead of falling into a rut and hunting the sign exclusively, I'll hang a cam untill I see a pattern worthy of hunting. Not all that often I see good day time activity around rut sign as most will take place under the cover of darkness. If I hunt a new propperty, I can't think of a more exciting place to set up than some fresh, hot sign! -funnels/pinch points- Yep, lots of steep ridges here with food sources at the higher elevations and bedding thickets down below. A nice bottleneck between the two can produce at any time but I prefer the morning sits here! Funnels between bedding area thickets can be hot all day long when bucks are scent checking and cruizing for does.

I was thinking about getting a Deer Crossing sign and put it in my SIL's pasture lot so they would go where I want them to travel .

I forsee alot of them hitting the archery woods the first season or two and then giving it up when they realize a crossbow is no good for shooting at a running deer 50+ yards away. Either that, or many will fall in love with the challenge of getting that close and will end up picking up a vertical bow that weighs less and isnt so clunky and difficult to load/reload.

Now that's what it's all about. Finally, somebody nails it. Looking forward to the final version.

And... to ensure your drawing with the correct set of muscles. My personal test is to hold the compound bow as if sighting it and draw straight back horizontally to my anchor point. When I can no longer do that when adding resistance in a smooth and fluid motion, I go back down in draw weight. If you can't do that, you're setting yourself up for disaster with physical damage &/or scarring game with a "windmill draw". The 2nd, seldom discussed and probably the most important criteria of max poundage is how long can you hold the draw weight your ego has set for you? What's reasonable? How, where or what do you hunt...? Do you stalk, ground hunt, nest with the eagles or sit in a stand closer to the squirrels playing? For me, some where between 60-90 seconds. Hell, at 65 I can draw more than 70#. I'd be a fool to think I could hold it for more than 15 seconds... I'm comfortable at giving up 5-10% of arrow flight time, KE &/or fps with my 58# over increasing to 65-70# and still getting a typical "pass-thru" into the chest cavity. So I guess the moral is; it's all about trade-offs for your situation or preferences, but let your body decide what's sufficient not your ego. IMHO - The efficiency of modern compound bows gives diminishing returns in performance above ~60#. Ever see the bow reviews with the fps vs wgt charts? Most plateau around 60-65#, intentional through cam &/or limb design by the mfg'ers. Guess this will be all a moot point in a few years when Xbows are allowed in the fall with 170# & 350 fps. Sorry, that's another topic!!!

Well think Mountain Men last night just killed it. You had the Eustuse guy in NC, tell one of the people he teaches to go sight his rifle in, and only gives him 4 bullets to do it with. So Eustuse, goes out hunting and shots at a deer and wounds it, saying the gun misfired (really misfire LOL) and blaming the guy that sighted it in.He finds bone and puts it in his mouth, then finds little specs of blood and tracks the deer till dark and then quiets. Sorry a gun should be sighted in by the person that is going to use it.

Interesting thread and topic and there a are a lot of good answers and there is no RIGHT one because I think it depends on the goals of every hunter and the land they have access to. For me the #1 condition is that there is a buck in that area I want to hunt. Preferrably and in order this comes in the form of me physcially seeing him. Then probably trail cam pictures and friend sightings depending on their knowledge. Lastly it would be physcial sign - (First Tracks - Big Buck Tracks especially fresh, Second - Big Rubs - fresh ones, Third Scrapes and during the right time of the year but they are over-rated in my book.) Getting to this point, while it sounds easy is extremely challenging, but if you are fortunate this is half the battle. Next for me is to understand the terrain. Where is the cover and possible bedding areas? What is the food source? What are the transition routes to get from and too? Are there any obvious funnels, pinch points and likely set-up points? I try to perform an analysis of the likely core area of the one I am after and often times set-up a couple stands trying to intercept him. Now comes the stand placement strategy. Focus is on predominant wind direction first if possible. Someitmes there may not be a tree to set-up in so you need to understand when you can hunt the "off-ind" stands and how you will get in and out of the stand. Soemtimes during the season I'll tweak the spot and go in with a portable and set-it up and hunt out of it that night. I minimize the cutting of lanes, scent and distrubance in the area. Trail cams at this point are placed in spots that are easily accessible even if I know they may be at night I can still figure where they come from and where they are headed. Multiply this process by 20-30 because you can not hunt the same spot every day. It's a lot of work but it is part of the fun. Throughout the years some spots are just good and I set my stands up there every year or tweak them slightly. Again good thread and interesting to read through.

IMP INFO Photos They come north on storm fronts. As of right now i believe there are only five products labeled for army worm in NY. One of the most popular / expensive is warrior. That being said from what i have heard it is getting hard to find product and or the price is getting hiked. I wouldn't worry too much about a lawn it will come back. Crops are a different story.

You are more than welcome to post a link. I like the video, looks like good stuff!

The last pic shows what my view will be this Sunday while I lay on my hammock in my yard.

Looks like someone had some extra money and time to kill, to me. Not at all practical from a combat point of view. There are far more effective weapons systems out there than this. For personal protection i dont get it either. Nothing better than a 12 gauge short barrel with extended magazine tube. Everyone knows the universal sound of a shell being jacked into a 12 gauge means that if you dont belong here you need to get the F out of here in a hurry!!!

It's unfortunate that this place an "internet forum" spews such misdirected feelings. I made it a policy to keep my nose out of back and forth stuff like this. Sure I may make a comment but it's not worth getting into over the internet. Honestly this site is pretty good but when a thread like this gets out of hand it downgrades it. Put us all in one big room to socialize we all get along. Same problem with todays youth. Too much time texting and not enough one on one. It's sad whats happening...............

Welcome Sam. Yo will never go wrong with a Z...as long as it fits you and feels right. a good fit+ practice =confidence in you ability and that will turn into good shots when the moment is there. If that is the only bow you have handled I would try as many as you can before buying. There may be one you like better, but if that is what you want then have at it...and enjoy Good luck

I have never heard that before, but I'm thinking that method may be right on target. It never ceases to amaze me as to the silly looking gymnastics that some people go through try to draw their bow. So much has been written about the need for super arrow speed that people regularly over-bow themselves. This "rule of thumb" would definitely keep that from happening.

Makes a lot of sense. To really simulate any possible scenerio, I'm going to have to try that with a peanut butter sandwich between my teeth, a cellphone wedge between my shoulder and ear, and a thermos full of coffee held between my legs, while bobbing back and forth from holding in my pee for an hour. Seriously though, I'm thinking of going up a few pounds. I think I may be able to draw more than what I'm at now.

This is true!! If you see the camera do a face plant, see a look of horror on the old peoples faces and hear a bunch of screaming, THEN we have a mountain man show!!!

The person who wrote this is a college student. Perhaps there is hope for us after all. DIVORCE AGREEMENT THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY WELL PUT AND I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S BY A YOUNG PERSON, A STUDENT!!! WHATEVER HE RUNS FOR, I'LL VOTE FOR HIM. Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al: We have stuck together since the late 1950's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way. Here is a model separation agreement: --Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes. --We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. --You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. --Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. --We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel. --You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them. --We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. --You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens. --We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. --We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood. --You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. --You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security. --We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values. --You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill. --We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volt and Leaf you can find. --You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. --We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. --We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem." --I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World". --We'll practice trickle-down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot. --Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag. Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years. Sincerely, John J. Wall Law Student and an American P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin & Charlie Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & ( Hanoi ) Jane Fonda with you. P.S.S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country. Forward This Every Time You Get It ! Let's Keep This Going, Maybe Some Of It Will Start Sinking In!!