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I've been hunting all week at camp and hour and a half away from my house, meanwhile, my brother shot this stud 3 miles from my house! I think its time to hunt closer to home!

I took this doe yesterday. 16yd shot, and my first ever archery deer from a treestand. She ran about 50yds and crashed.

I'd like to thank all you Vets out there for giving us the freedom to do what we do. Your service is so appreciated and I can't thank you enough !!! Happy Veterans Day ! and I would also like to wish the wonderful US Marine Corps. Happy B-Day Semper Fi Devil Dogs !!!

This is my 5th season hunting, but my 1st with a bow. Up until this year I would only get out a handful of times a season with no luck. Well, Oct 26th was my day. It was an extremely windy day. I was with a friend on their property. The tree stand I was in was about 10 yards into the woods from a corn field. All morning I was seeing deer behind my tree but the tree was wider than me so a shot was nonexistent. Finally around 9:15 I was tired of just watching them run around behind me and hopped into the tree. Balancing on 3 huge branches and waited for the biggest doe in the group to walk into the open. I laid back, Drew, sat up and realized there was another branch in my face. Scooting down the branch a little while holding my draw I found a clean lane. I ended up taking the shot at 30 yards and double lunged her. She ran about 50 yards into a swamp and expired. I'm so happy my first harvest was with a bow. What a feeling! I'm hooked on bow hunting. I don't even want to take the shotgun out this year.

Hey fellow Archermen and women. My Brother and I drove down to camp Thursday evening, didn't get set-up and in bed until 1 am. I knew I wouldn't want to get up in the morning but obviously the rut is starting to get under way. Plus, we haven't been to camp since Oct. 15th or something. We both had the itch. I'll fast forward, in the stand 6:30, at 8:08 I see this buck behind me, he's at about 30 in lots of trees walking away, he's about to cross the powerline that runs through our property which would put him at 50-70 yards. Well he does what we all pray for, he picks up the scent drag at about 40 or so yards, snaps his head 180* and walks right in to about 17 yards. I placed a nice 100 grain Muzzy through both lungs, and he expired within 70-100 yards. My best buck to date, I'd say he weighed in the ballpark 175-185, he's a brute and even with incredible adrenaline, it still took a while to drag him out. I'm back home and I'm going back for a doe Tuesday-Friday. Good Luck to ALL!!!

Isn't it funny that we have no problems shooting wild canines like coyotes and foxes, but when it comes to a domestic dog doing exactly the same kinds of behavior and with much less need, we get all wimpy and worried about the dog's welfare. Frankly, if some of these owners would just show half as much compassion about their animals in terms of keeping them under control, there wouldn't be anyone considering shooting them. You all want to worry about the welfare of something, just consider the fate of the deer that these dogs are chasing. It has to be quite a horrible death to run the gauntlet over considerable distance, having chunks of meat pulled out of your hindquarters until you finally fall down from exhaustion and have the job of being eaten alive completed. I saw it once, and it was a pitiful and completely unnecessary sight. We worry about the results of an errant bullet or arrow that wounds and eventually kills a deer and yet, completely down-play this prolonged torture inflicted by dogs allowed to run wild.

Shot this buck yesterday at 7:45 called him in using grunt tube and can call

Put a roast in about 2 hrs ago. Will share it with my two girls and Sam Adams tonight. Will give the bow one last try Friday then the lead coms out!!

once a deer chaser...always a deer chaser once an AH dog owner always an AH dog owner... The owner can't be put down...but the dog should be...

Yes, I put that "standing still" qualifier in there because I pretty much don't take any shots anymore unless the target animal is standing still or walking very slowly. A man's gotta know his limitations .... lol.

I shot this Healthy Webster, NY buck in WMA 8F not the biggest rack but it was all in the moment and they all taste the same

you totally would lol

Back in the same stand I was in yesterday when the big 10 came in. Hoping he makes another appearance.

You have "good blood" and didn't keep going? You'd put your tag on that buck?

Just had this young 8 at 5 or 6 yards

I told her don't get in a big fight because you hunt 2x a year. He s ok though. Can't hit the broadside of a barn.... 9mm a few paces he said to her "its ok you can protect the house" . I said we ll work on it Ed.

Well the official first catch... LOL

To all the Vets. thank you for your service!!

All day there has been a constant roar of the winds, and I pity anyone who is trying to hunt out of a treestand today. It basically would be all moving shots even if the deer were standing still.....lol. That is if you could shoot while having one arm wrapped tight around the tree.

I'm not sure how I'll hold a steady pin on a deer lol.

Handwarmer muff, eh ? I agree that there is nothing like a warm muff to warm a fellow's hands....

Swapping for a better model....that's exactly what I did! My past boyfriend gave me crap every archery season because I went hunting every possible moment so I threw him away and found someone that loved hunting as much as I did. He's now my husband and he hasn't ever given me one nasty remark on how much time I'm in the woods even when I'm gone every single day. Now that's a keeper!

We looked everywhere after we had no more blood, hope she comes back in gun season not suffering!

Sounds like you have to get your head on straight. You always have more time to shoot, than you think ,because if you don't have enough time ...then you don't have a good shot. Think of it that way. Good luck.

...until you shoot another

you can not practice for nerves. When I have one coming in and I ma getting ready I talk to myself internally. I say wait for the good shot, then think my whole routine and follow it. The shot is as much mental as it is physical. You have to get the mental part in check and control it

My cameras are showing just as many deer (in fact a lot more bucks) and they are all showing up after dark, where just a month or so ago, there was activity all day long. My theory? ... the leaves are down now and cover has evaporated. Perhaps they are a bit more aware of just how much they stick out. Also food sources are in the middle of change right now. Patterns have changed. Also, the woods is full of hunters (small game and bow). Also, rut movements are kicking in. Bow season is an extreme time of change in deer patterns.

thats always a great way to break the gun in lol goodluck and get after em

I pretty much zero my gun one time after I put the scope on it. Have never had to touch one after that. My scopes been on my rifle for about 5 years without ever needing anything !!

Heres pics from this morns hunt... Winchester Blind Side!!!!!!!!

Congrats!!

Congrats Elmo.

Congrats Elmo!

Congrats

is anyone else here noticing a pattern of deer being taken buy guys standing on the ground next to trees? It seems to have started the first weekend with my brother in law. LOL Adds a new meaning to tree stand hunting. This could start a craze! Think of the benefits of not dangling from tree tops, no big falls to the ground, no weird angles, and the best thing is now we all know that when deer learned to start "looking up" they must have forgot to look straight ahead. LOL Oh and lest I forget...............nice buck, congrats on a successful kill and recovery. Job well done!

I think this rut is going to trickle over pretty good into gun season this year. Your gonna see alot of one day a year hunters getting lucky

Better take 00 buck. I've seen you shoot.

My buddy Cj's buck.Taken in Western Wayne Co. yesterday afternoon

Oh man Joe we need to have a caption contest for that pic,lmao 18 inches....long black.... and Joe blows, would probably pop up at least once on the first page and I'm sure there would be plenty more lauughter to cum,lol!

I had pretty much the first scenario. I did not take the shot for that reason. I hunted state land for many years with everyone I hunted with in camo. We knew our shooting lanes as we made drives. No one ever got shot at or has bullets buzzing over their heads. I teach this class and I have actually done demonstrations on this and had people hiding in camo in brush piles. and stand up after saying they would take the shot. It is an eye opener. Anyway back to scenario number one. It was by far the biggest buck I ever saw. Across the field broad side and well within range of my 25-06. Due to the fact there was a guy who hunted on the other side of the field I would not take the shot. I think it is a very important point. However, if I were that nervous about using a rifle, I would not hunt with one. Now for a statistic. The large majority of hunting incidents where someone gets shot, it is by someone in their own hunting party while they are performing some illegal activity. You are more likely to get hurt in a tree stand incident than a shooting one. That being said, it does not mean it can not happen. It is a judgement call. You can make the argument to never take a shot unless the deer is on a certified range with a good backstop. And for the record, the blaze orange statement was for you DOC to let you know where this was going to go. Scenario 2 I would wait until he presented a better shot or pass.

You do realize this is just another rant for blaze orange?

They make medicine for that, go see your doctor.

I thought this was going to be something totally different

passed small does for a week and it paid off.... Sent from my MB886 using Forum Fiend v1.0.1.

Got this doe right before sunset last night. She came out with another doe and a fawn and she was the bigger of the two adults. First deer taken with a bow I just got my bow last year so this is my first full deer season to hunt with a bow and I love it. I did a tonnn of shooting to get ready for this season and it paid off. She led the way out then came the fawn. I had already started to draw my bow and think the fawn heard me. It looked right at me and then the mother did to I let the arrow fly and ended up getting a great shot. She ran maybe 20 yards off the trail and piled up in a shallow swamp land. Lets goo deer season 2013 for my first bow harvest. Im very pumped lol !!!

Got a nice buck on Sunday Oct 6. The fun part about this buck was that i saw him my first morning out on Friday Oct 4th. He gave me a perfect broadside shot at 25 yds and I guess I just didn't settle my pin like i should have and i shot under him and sheered off a few of his chest hairs. I was a little disappointed but I had already taken a doe that morning and i had 3 months to find him again. On Sunday morning I sat up in the same tree and though I saw many does, he never came out. as I walked out of the woods that morning I came across ground zero. A small area with 2 or 3 active scrapes and every sapling rubbed free of bark. I knew this is where he was coming out from bedding all day. Lucky for me there was a big black pine with good vantage points right along the trail. I unpacked the climber, got out the saw and trimmed it for a 20' high sit. I was back in the stand at about 3pm that afternoon and almost immediately the does started coming out. I counted 9 in total and it didn't take long for me to get skylined. I was frozen in an uncomfortable position for over an hour before those pissed off does left the area. About 5:30pm I hear a crack behind me, looked down and there he was. I had to spin an lift the bow up over the side bar of my stand and i did this with great care making sure I didn't catch any of the bark on the black pine. He took a few steps as I drew back, gave me a quartering away shot a little better than straight down and I let fly. The arrow made a loud, deep thud as it sunk in high on his rib cage and lodged in his shoulder on the opposite side. I knew the arrow didn't pass thru and he turned and crashed in thru some of the thickest most dense tangle of brush, stickers and vines you can imagine. It sounded like Buick as he blasted 60 or so yards through the brush ending with a solid loud CRASH. I knew he was down. I got out of the stand immediately to begin finding him and I made note of the direction of where he crashed. This brush is so thick you might have to go 20' sideways just to get back on trail and go 2' forward. I found a few drops of blood that had splashed out of his back and moved forward. It didn't take long for me to lose the trail on the wet leaves and it seems several other deer spooked with him so following the running tracks wasn't working. I finally gave up and thought I would bring my beagle back to help me find him. I had gotten so turned around in there (it's really like one of those mouse mazes) that I just looked up over the trees and headed for daylight. And to my amazement, there he was. And as luck would have it, he died only 40' from a field. It still took me a good 10 minutes of maneuvering and a few cuts to get him out of there but I made it. he's not the biggest deer but It was a very fulfilling hunt and my strategy change paid off.

I know he's not too big, but it's my first deer with a bow. Taken in 7s 10/1/13 at 0725 am.

this is going to take longer to type than the actual hunt lasted. hunted the first day morning and evening with plenty of sightings but none of the decent bucks showed up. second day I skipped the morning hunt because of bad winds for all my morning stands and having some work i needed to get done. the evening hunt I had 2 of the decent bucks at 20 yards all out battling for 15 minutes and no shot at either of them. last thursday am i went in to move that particular stand up another 10 feet, it was at 20 feet and just seemed to be too low for my liking. seeing as we were leaving for pa that afternoon I figured get in move the stand up, spray it all down and get out of there and be gone for a few days. wanted to hunt last evening but we didn't get back in time. this morning with the impending rains I didn't dare hunt and the wind again was iffy for my morning spots. as the day wore on and the rains moved out and the temps dropped to 50 and the winds picked up from the west south west it was game on.... but there seemed to be a persistant little disturbance to the west and I was watching it on the radar and finally I decided that it was going to move out over the lake and be good to go with no rain. My concern over the rain made me later than I wanted to be to get to the stand I moved but I figured if I hustled I would be ok. I have been watching this buck for 3 months from long range almost on a daily basis in the evenings and any mornings I didn't have to work. i parked the truck at 4:45 changed clothes and sprayed down with scent shield. I litterally jogged the 300 yards to my stand. hooked up the harness and bow and up the tree. I pulled the bow up knocked an arrow and hung the bow on the hanger and then hung my fanny pack on the tree. I turn around and start to zip my jacket when I look up and see him coming towards me! I pik up the bow and he is now just about under me and he walks behind me as I ease to full draw he stops at 7 yards broadside he raises his head and tests the wind. It was too late the green pin was burning a hole through the top of his right shoulder, almost like a laser guide for the wasp tipped xx78. at the shot he lunged forward and sprinted 35 yards before I heard him crash... I was in disbelief on what had just transpired, I was not in the stand 3 minutes before I shot him... I knew it wsa going to be close on time but I didn't realise it was going to be that close. im done till I head back to pa to hunt there.

First one of the season for me! Had 6 or 7 come out just before sunset, and this one gave me the best shot. 30 yards, double lung, right through the pump station!