hueyjazz

I primarily tree stand hunt or hunt atop a ridge shooting across to another ridge. I've never had one lick of luck stalking in my woods. Good luck being quiet no matter how much a twinkle toes you are. And I abhor deer drives. Somehow shooting towards people walking towards you doesn't work for me. Getting a shot at a running deer doesn't do well for shot placement. I rarely shoot twice and never three times. I figure when I hear five shots, it's a drive. Not really sure what the fifth shot is at but to each their own. I know a lot of deer are taken this way. I only use ladder stands because they are so easy to move. Any permanent stand is going to lose it's effectiveness over time. Or at least for the bigger and smarter bucks. I own my own land a top a mountain and I'm quite friendly with neighbors of surrounding land. They also hunt. We have agreements in place that we know where each other is and do mutual aid should one need help tracking, dragging or whatever. But I hunt alone by preference. Stand placement is decided a lot during non-season during snow periods where I back woods ski following deer tracks. Where they cross and amount of travel. I also own several mature oak trees so acorn production is good. No farms around here. I put up multiple stands and move between them by evidence I see on game cameras. Strategy has been successful. I'm in 9P where deer aren't plentiful and doe permits are gold. You need two preference points to even have a chance. It seems to me ladder tree stands are being sold higher and higher. I've seen some as high as 20' I'm aware that's the length of ladder and not actual platform height when in use. Why would you ever want to shoot at that steep an angle? Your shoots would be limited unless the height is overcoming some other aspect of the terrain. I've been hunting out of 15' stand and part of that is overcoming terrain but now that I've been shooting X-bow too I think I want to go lower. For sake of conversation, assume the terrain is fairly flat. In your opinion, how low is too low to still have the advantages of the stand. That being, avoiding detection of sight, smell and overcoming terrain. Driving around I see quite a few permanent stands around 8' but they are fully enclosed. I know there're ground stands fully enclosed but that just isn't going to work in my area. And oh, I really don't like small spaces that are fully enclosed. I have a tendency to make them bigger.

I rode an elevator once that a bat came into. Couldn't get to the next floor fast enough as it buzzed me. I know they are basically mice with wings but all those bad horror movies leave an imprint on your mind. They are actually very beneficial creatures. If you have bats you don't have mosquitoes. One bat eats hundreds a night Snake in a blind. Ya gun a gun right? Don't you watch Westerns? You never see them miss with a pistol and they never shoot twice. Blow them to ell

And by the way, don't think you can hide anything from them. My camp is go to the middle of nowhere then drive a couple more miles deep into the woods. I figure I was so far off the trail no one would find me. I had Amish build me a shed that was 10' x 14' Before it was done the local assessor was out to look at it. Amish didn't pull any permits but that wasn't a problem. I ask how they found me. Google Earth. So I start watching Google Earth and notice things like a bridge I put in recently are now on Google Earth. The eye in the sky is photographing me regular and the assessors know about it.

Different rules in different places been generally if it's on wheels, it's not a permanent structure and you're only taxed on land. Soon as you build structure it's another story. And if you tell them you plan to sleep in it, that's another deal. They may require up to building code, septic and water. I see a lot of hunting camps by me that are nothing more than a trailer. Some with even a power pole to hook up to. Then there's also solar to consider. It's not that tough to put in if you keep requirements sensible. My original cabin was a weekender deep in the woods with 25 acres. No water or septic. I was taxed on it more than my city house.

My shotgun is still my go to gun for deer hunting and most of the people around me feel the same. Getting a shot over a 100 yards in our hardwoods would be a miracle. I collect WWI rifles and have quite a few. The most accurate is the Swiss K31 but the Springfield isn't bad either. The Swiss have a long heritage of shooting and in WWII it was armed neutrality. Nobody just waltz across the border. Their guns are amazing and shoot MOA. If you follow results at Camp Perry you will see them there. I have taken a Swiss hunting but I always wonder if the 30 cal bullet (Technically 7.5 x 55 mm but hand-loading 30 cal works just fine) it shoots would be deflected by the smallest of twigs. I also fear the travel distance of the round as compared to a slug. Gravity would make both drop at same rate but the speed of rifle round would make it travel further. In either case I had to hunt with a shotgun for many years and I'm quite comfortable with either my Rem 870 12 gauge or my Mossy 500 in 20 gauge. I never received a complaint from the deer they have taken and they look just fine next to the potatoes.

My first year I didn't know any better and unlike me, I didn't study up. I figured there would be slight differences between bolt, field points and broad head but nothing like what I saw when I re-examined. I was aware that uneven cocking would have an adverse affect and I've been anal about consistency for repeatability I now surmise the Allen stuff is crap and have replaced it all. I've often experience people trying to spend their way into better shooting rather than put the time in to acquire skills. Well, that's the wrong order in my book and not the only sport this occurs in. But I do believe in this case crap equipment took down adequate skill. And I'm sure the more I get into crossbow I will itch to get better equipment. However, at this point the equipment is better than me. This deer thought so too

This is Hueyjazz and you hit the nail on the head Wolc. It was an Allen 125 grain fixed broadheads on a Jackal crossbow with Allen bolts. And I would say the difference was 10" low from the field point of same weight at 30 yards. First year with crossbow I missed a buck at 25 yards. By miss I mean I got hair and fat on what I thought was going to be a well placed lung shot. Ended up being a low glancing belly shot. I've killed a lot of deer with shotgun. I'm a patience, meat hunter, one shot, one kill kind of guy. If I can't get the shot I want, on the deer I want, they walk. The fact I missed at this distance after much practice with field points really POed me and I just couldn't out what I did wrong. Buck fever left me in my teens. Now I just a mild sweat watching deer while I wait for shot. For year two, I shot the same broadheads into my target. Real low At first I figure I must of whacked the scope unknowingly for the bolts to be this far off. I switched back to field points which turned out to be dead on. I talked to my buddy whom also does crossbow and he only used mechanicals and has had good success. I got some 125 grain Swhackers. They came with their own practice tips. I re-sighted in scope and upgraded my bolts to Carbon Express. I was staying on a half dollar at 30 yards and a orange at 50 yards with either tip. (Destroyed target) At same time I also moved to a CenterPoint Whisper 380 that I put a decent scope on. The Jackal was fairly accurate but sounded like a bat hitting a wet sack when it went off. Plus it was bulky in ladder tree stand. I'm very happy with present setup. I own my own land and know it well. I starting to like the early crossbow season better than gun. But as long as there's an ethical deer in freezer each season, I'm good

Second year of hunting with crossbow but first year with success. I really put two and two together this year and figured from my first year mistakes when I could believe I missed a buck at thirty yards. I didn't realize was how different fix broad heads shot than the same weight field points. Practicing during summer I fire the crossbow sighted in with field point but with using the fix broad head. What I was keeping on a half dollar at fifty yards with a field point was close to missing target. I went to mechanicals and made a point of making sure they were on target. Success was in the making. Regular gun season was horrible in my area. Many days of high winds, rain and no deer. I saw all sorts of deer during crossbow and let quite a few pass until this seven point came out to make love to the two does I was watching

I guess I do hunt using my back country skis but not during the season or with a weapon. After hunting season is when I follow tracks in snow to scout and find sheds. I have 30 acres of my land which backs up to English Hill State forest. My skiing tells me where I should place stands for next season. Places where three or trails cross or just well traveled trails have been good to me. I think hunting out of the same location year after year limits your chances but change is only good if you have evidence of probable success. My back woods skiing does that for me. Plus, I love to ski. I learn to back woods ski in Adirondacks. You get good real fast using those trails. It's turn or hit tree. Even though I've skied for 40 plus years and consider myself quite good and experience. I still fall on occasion. You can't always see what under the snow you're skiing. I wouldn't want my deer gun or bow to take a rap and lose my zero during season. I did work this summer cutting a large loop through my land so I could ski unfettered. And I've always wanted to know if I could pull off a biathlon. I own several target 22s. Most are heavier than sin and not real biathlon material but I still want to see if I can control my heart rate after a good ski and shoot with accuracy.