wooly

Maybe we could get LGBT to post some of his numerous x-bow kills from over the years before he gets this thread locked up like the rest of them! I mean he must have albums upon albums just full of x-bow kills by the sounds of it..... or NOT!

Real nice buck Joe- congrats to baby bro and the rest of his hunting crew!

Well, good news and bad news from the weekend. The bad news is, no shooters sighted in person either day. The good news is, no shots fired so I still have my buck tag and it seems a new batch of bucks is moving into the area with some better size to them. Cam activity has really picked up with a lot of does moving around before sunset and bucks are really cruising now throughout the day. Saturday was by far the better of the two days for me as far as encounters and activity. On my way to one of my blinds I spotted a spiker that looked dazed and confused. He was walking in circles, sniffing the ground and looking over his shoulder, and obviously pre-occupied by something other than any approaching danger from behind(me). Eventually he found his way into the apple orchard which allowed me to move on. I didn't make it another 50yds around the side of the orchard when I spotted another deer zig zagging at a good clip down the ridge I was on. He blew by me at 20yds with his mouth wide open and ducked into the cover so I wasn't able to snap a pic. I did recognize him as a small 4x2 from a trail cam pic I found later in the day though. I hoped to get a pic of him so I kneeled down and waited for him to re-emerge but he never did. Instead another deer came flying down the same ridge, on the same trail he had been on. Same thing with this little guy. Mouth wide open, random approach, and clueless as could be. There was definitely something in that orchard thicket that got them all fired up and careless. Even though none of them were anything to write home about, you could feel the excitement in the air and I know better days and bigger bucks aren't too far away! This guy might qualify as an antlerless deer with that 3" antler on one side,lol I liked the pose he gave me though that really caught the look I'm trying to describe here. I continued on to where I wanted to try another night of observation from a field edge where I get tucked into the goldenrod from the ground just above a corn field. This is where my cam has been catching the increased doe and larger buck activity right on the edge of a good bedding area. It's always a hot spot when the first doe start coming into heat, and the field can fill up fast, so I was hopeful I'd see some action. It turned out to be a slow night with only 3 antlerless and one buck that came out at last light. It was basically beyond "dark 30" by that time, but at least I'd seen what I came here to find out..... sort of. So now that things are beginning to really heat up, it's just a matter of being patient, finding the right buck, and waiting for the right opportunity to connect. I'm kind of hoping all the chips don't fall into place until x-bow season opens this weekend. I never took the crossbow out of the case last season, and I've never killed a BUCK with it, so that's something I'd like to accomplish this year if I can hold out a little longer. I'll try not to kill anything this week, but I can't guarantee anything! Should the right opportunity present itself before then, I wont hesitate to punch another tag with the compound!

Thanks- I try my best to "compose" the shot before anything steps into it. Missed some pretty shots due to no daylight action a couple weeks ago with the turning leaves. Everything happened at night instead.

Not that it makes a big difference since my minds already made up if I get an opportunity. Just curious what you all think because to me it looks like he could go either way, but I'm leaning towards 2.5.

If I didn't like how good (more natural) camo patterns look in field photos, I wouldn't even bother with it. Most all the popular brands "blob-up" anyhow even at bow close ranges. Add to that, most bowhunters hunt from the treetops or a ground blind where it really doesn't help much more other than in the hunters own mind to make him FEEL invisible. My rule for camo is I don't have a favorite brand anymore..., rather I have a favorite material in fleece which is silent. That to me is more important, more available, and cheaper than trying to blend in with Bill Jordan, Micheal Waddel, and the Lakoski's.

Dude- I think you need a "time-out" Take a break and catch your breath. With every post you make here it's becoming clearer that your brain isn't getting enough oxygen. It's pretty obvious at this point that having an intelligent conversation with you here is NOT going to happen. Quit chittin' up the threads you don't know the first thing about and go try to dream up another new silly topic to pretend to feel so strongly about. You're bouncing off the walls here like a damn pre-schooler with a sugar buzz!

LEAD!

Does anyone remember which side was leading in the poll..? That's the team I wanna be on this week!

That's like having your favorite soap opera interrupted by Obama!

Well that's odd. Seemed like it was going as smooth as any of the rest of them till this point. Glad I didn't send in my "supporting member" fees just yet,lol

Do you have another tank you can put the regulator on and soap it up to check for leaks?

Hello Dolly's! My favorite. Sis makes these for our hunting snack bags from one of dead Grammas old recipe cards! I'm sure you've had them before so this is just the first one I found online in case I had the name wrong. http://www.food.com/recipe/hello-dolly-cookie-bars-15570

I just got my hunting clothes smeared all over a fresh doe the other day so I'm smelling pretty ripe for the rut!

Nice bucks! My ol' man is almost 80 and I can honestly say I don't remember him ever killing anything bigger than a basket 6pt once in a while. I'm not even sure what he ever did with all those racks since then. Even as I got into hunting and tried to get him after a larger buck, he was never interested in any of that. There was NEVER any shortage of doe and fawns hanging from the meat pole by him and his buddys over all that time that's for sure! Come to think of it, he never even ate deer meat but the rest of our family did.

Just a short paragraph with names, location, weights and measures. Not sure if this link will land you on the outdoors page but I'll try it anyhow. http://e-edition.buffalonews.com/?token=Ucgvth1o56h-OCpcYqJtxP4CxwLZLIPVinMTXGla4AY

I wont even begin to guess where your deer went to die, but I will say it's NEVER too late to find it and learn from there in case it happens again. Even if that means you don't find it until after season, the knowledge you gain from that will be helpful on future tracking jobs should the same thing happen again. I make a habit of looking for unrecovered deer after season every year while shed hunting. You'd be surprised how many times deer go to the same places to die, or at the very least have similar preferences on where to pile up when terrain and/or cover are alike. What may feel like your biggest failure now could turn out to be your biggest learning tool moving forward to future hunts.

Haha- thanks guys...., I'm outta likes too. That was never intended to be about ME, but I am feeling all your love!

I was hoping nobody would recognize me! I might slip into my Halloween disguise a little early just to elude capture! So glad they ran that shot for sis to hang onto! Thanks again Turkeyfeathers for your help getting that submitted!

Unintentionaly of course....., but I also hit one like this a few years ago with the 50cal ML. It's one of those things I don't talk about much. RIGHT up the poop shoot and dropped him in his tracks. The internal damage was horrific, yet extremely effective. I'd NEVER try that shot on purpose, but yeah... does it ever work!

For you guys that get the Buffalo News check out the outdoors page! Thanks to Turkeyfeathers for pointing me in the right direction. I got to submit a picture of me and sis(dalo143) from our turkey hunt last week and they ran it in todays sports section! Only problem is they mixed up the beard measurements with our birds in the little write up while hers was actually 8.5" and not 7"(that smaller one was mine). Still very cool, and a great exclamation mark on the end of her hunt! She called me up from work at 5AM this morning to tell me she was a famous turkey hunter now,lol

Feeling your pain Larry! Whoever said a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one has never seen me cut up a deer before,lol I was trying out my brand new set of Outdoors Edge knives when I almost cut myself for the 3'rd time, but the bandage saved me from gutting myself for good. Funny part was when I finally put on a pair of latex gloves over my wounds after that, and took them off when I was done. I looked at my hand and the elastic band aids must have pulled off with the gloves. I forgot and thought I ground them up in the burger! That would have sucked,lol

I appreciate the comments and support everybody. While I don't know what my future in hunting will be beyond this season, I'm determined to finish strong and fill my remaining buck tags before the 2016 season is through. (with a little luck.... and God willing of course) I guess I sort of saw this coming a while ago and that was part of the reason for me starting this journal. I'll ride it out the rest of the way and make a final decision in the post season. Deer hunting has been a big part of my life for a long time and I think now I'd rather just help others get the same satisfaction out of it that I once did. It doesn't all make complete sense to me yet either, but eventually I'll figure it out. Thanks again.... and don't go away just yet,lol

Hey chickee, good to see you around again! Hope they fix you up good as new. Happy belated B-day,lol

Congrats Jay! I'm thinking this fall season stuff is where we get to even the score from getting shut out in the spring! I can't believe you're now gonna ruin perfectly fine artery cloggin' bacon with healthy WHITE MEAT,lol Enjoy anyhow!