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At 7:30 I had a nice little 8 point poking along and stopped 30 yards downhill from me. Slightly quarter too but I’m not confident to shoot 30 without being level with the deer. So I took my chance to see if he would turn and come up the logging path towards me, or pass behind me. He chose to go behind, and slowly picked his way along but seeming focused on what he was doing. At an even steeper downhill angle he was quartered away at 27 yards. I even stepped down a rung on my ladder to try for a better angle. I steadied myself and as he passed behind a big tree, when he stepped out there were several small branches I worried might mess up the shot so yet again this season I passed. Moments later here came two nice does from where he went. They stood about 5 yards from the base of my tree so I couldn’t do anything without getting busted. They got nervous and walked off from where they came. I just did some more pruning and now have much clearer shot to that trail. And for the record, I tried to grunt at him when he was waking off and he paid it no mind.

Just in at 57 yards .

I was once told when a man walks into the timber he carries much more weight then he does walking out. As a boy I never got it I figured the goal was to be packing the weight of a harvest. But as I got older it all made perfect sense. While your sitting there 15 feet up a tree you have no choice but to think about the things weighing on your mind. You come to terms with all the rights and wrongs, you make light of the dark times and pray for the good. What I owe to the woods I could never repay. Its where I have become who I am, its made me appreciate life and its beauty, and most of all its kept me going....

It opened up this morning. Had a few nice big bucks on cam and I saw 2 shooters today. Had all I could do to not take a big doe. They were under me at 10 yards. 3 big does and 3 yearlings. Shooter buck was close so I held back. Next few days should be good!

63 here. I have always been up bright and early, so getting up and into my stand still doesnt bother me. What does, is that all my hunting buddies are scattered, so I hunt mostly alone. I really miss the company/talking about the day, etc. I bagged a buck with my ML early, which I am happy for the meat. I have the last week of the season of which is when i usually see the most deer, and more bucks, but I really dont have much drive to get out in the woods now.

Thank you for your service and same to all the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Merchant Marine veterans.

I hunt alone occasionally but most of the time I'm with family and or friends. In my opinion the meeting back up at the truck at the end of the hunt is almost as fulfilling as the hunt itself. I really enjoy the tailgate stories. Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

Yea I hunt alone too , I still have buddies that I text while in the stand .. I like afternoon till dark but mainly because I hate being cold and getting up early Lazy I guess

I feel the same way . At 83 it gets tougher to climb out of bed at zero dark thirty and the drive 50 miles to a hunting spot . I could hunt 10 miles away in Walworth but at my age I don't hunt unless one of my sons is with me . I didn't get to be this old by being too stupid .

Im an early morning Hunter almost exclusively, but I TOTALLY understand what youre saying as I find it a bit harder to get up and at em in the dark. what motivates me is sitting there, enjoying the peace and serenity, watching the sunrise

1959 - 1963

Wow. That’s a beauty. Good luck!

An observation regarding age vs. still hunting: Nearly 81, and my favorite way of gun hunting is still-hunting after opening day. That has it's positives and it's negatives. The old circulatory system likes the idea of walking to keep warmer on some of those bitter cold days. However, my stamina isn't what it used to be. Also it seems that as the years advance, I am losing my "sneak". I don't walk as smoothly and light on my feet as I used to. That causes a few more noisy steps that break branches underfoot or shuffle through the leaves a little louder than I would really like. The old eyes are probably not what they used to be, but my long distance vision is still good. That is super important in still-hunting. My hearing aids do improve the ability to hear deer coming (maybe even better than I used to). Some more of the good news is that age has naturally slowed my pace to the proper speed of successful still-hunting. So there are some pluses and minuses relating to this style of ground-hunting at an advanced age. There are some trade-offs regarding my decision to come down out of the trees years ago, but I still enjoy the challenges of sneaking around the woods trying to best the super-senses of the critters on their own terms. Just being able to get up that old "killer" hill behind the house is quite a challenge, but there is a lot of satisfaction in still being able to do it. Age has taken away some abilities, but has given a few satisfactions back as I succeed in fighting back against time.

My son really wants to bring the buck decoy tomorrow, so I’ll be pulling the tarsal glands from my buck out of the freezer and hauling it out there.

I blame Trump for making the sun rise earlier and set earlier than it did last Saturday.

You can add me to the group, these days I prefer going out in the afternoon and hunting until dark. Al

I think that eventually we will all be in that situation but I still have a few years of pretending I'm tarzan aaaaghhhhhh AAGGGGGHHHH!!!

I did a lot of hunting out of hang-ons and climbers back when I was younger. Fortunately I managed to avoid a gravity attack, although I had a couple of close calls. Most of my friends who hunt out of treestands have had at least one fall. I am not nearly as strong, limber, and bulletproof as I once was, and my days of hunting from hang-ons and climbers are over. My favorite treestand was on my Dad's property. I built it with scrap lumber in a maple on a pinch point in a neck between two woodlots. I called it the world's greatest treestand. I killed perhaps 30 deer from that stand, and a couple of my buddies killed a bunch too. After my Dad died in '94, my Mom sold the property. Nowadays I have a couple of ladder stands I hunt from. I also have many spots where I sit or stand on the ground or on a log or a stump. Often I just lean against a tree. I have two pop up blinds that I use on occasion, but I use them much more for turkey hunting than deer hunting.