nyslowhand

So ... IRC this happens every year, someone in you area says it's on, chasing, fighting, breeding. You look around your stand and see a literal vacuum. Suppose these solicited observations could be put into a general rut trend, but to put much accuracy overall of when it's on would be misleading. Like Cabin Fever mentioned - Be there & they'll come, eventually!

^^ Yeah, me too.

Keeping the back windows closed in mainly to prevent light coming into the blind behind the hunter and deer seeing your profile sitting in the blind. Most blinds are "blackened" inside for this reason. Suppose some scent might also be emitted into area

Use your headlamp or flashlight as a means of not tripping over something and finding your way in the dark. The beam of my flashlight is generally aimed ~10" in front of me. When I think I'm nearing my stand, I might aim the beam up into the trees. May be a little different finding your way thru a field than along a small path thru the woods..? JMO, if you spotlight deer in the field they may get spooked. If you dump deer in the dark in the woods, they may came back thru where they were headed on a slightly different path. Either way it depends on just how spooked they get regarding what happens afterwards.

I'm not a trophy hunter, but can I still be jealous!??! Just WOW!

Isn't that almost always the case!?? Dangers of leaving cams out when the rut is approaching.. Shoulda been here or there or coulda done this or that!??!

FYI - Those Yellow Jacket discharge blocks are really compact and I've never put an arrow more than 1/2 way into mine even shooting at ~12-18". JMO, can't go wrong for the price, ~$15. Have also heard stories of Xbow hunters discharging an arrow into the ground with one of those specialty arrows/tips and damned things either ricocheting or carbon arrow shattering.

Back in the 1950s it was the Polio scare that launched the vaccinations in schools. Yeah, IRC those with round scars from vaccinations were from the small pox shots!??!

There just aren't the right words to express how great a job you & your 4-legged team do!!!!! Your enthusiasm and perseverance are inspiring!

That's just wrong... but funny as hell!

Yeah, still remember forming a line while in elementary school for those mass shot clinics. Pretty sure it was polio vaccination, regards it was w/o any parental consent, IRC. Now that I'm thinking about it, believe there were two people administering shots, one in each arm.

Or how about being in a hurry & forgetting to attach quiver? Having NO arrows when you finally realize it up in the stand!!! Nothing this year, but you only have to go thru one of these "Oh crap" moments or for us dumb-a$$' may need 2-3X, before you go thru the mental exercise of getting ready for 1st hunt. What do I have, what do I need, what am I forgetting????

^^^ sounds reasonable. IF arrows are proper length, groove/channel is straight and arrows are too... should NOT happen.

Typical of almost ALL mfger's customer service departments. Lot of times it's easier & faster to look up the issue on the web or other forums and see how others have fixed the problem. Eddie, isn't there a mid-adjustment on the retention tang that holds arrow snugly, but not overly so that it forces opposite end of arrow upwards? There is NO bending of those spring steel tangs! Off the cuff, maybe slightly score the retaining side of the tang with a file, Dremel, etc to give it a little more friction power. Goes w/o saying, this could effect arrows flight, fps, consistency, etc! Maybe there is an issue with the retention tang the mfger supplied, so CS is only resort to resolve your issue. UGH...!!!

In my neck of the woods there's a fairly large packing plant that does several hundred deer a year. Price is ~$80. Don't believe they charge xtra for special cuts, but token $ for seasonings &/or pork added. Obviously, they don't do all the specialty meat sticks, Salamis, hot-dogs, etc. After using them for a couple years, dropping my deer inside their facility and adding mine to the pile of 20+ deer that were already there - wondered about what am I getting back?? So I asked and got a tour. Each meat cutter does one deer at a time and every vac sealed pkg is ID'ed with tag/invoice#. Not sure how they deal with the ground venison for each order? They claim each order is done completely, but have to wonder if they grind each order regardless of size or just wait until there's a ton of meat and dole out your order in a proportional size. Clearly, processing a deer yourself is the cheaper and ideal way to go, but not everyone has the s/u to do this at home!

Any deer I've shot at that have gone down within sight or distinctly heard them crash.

Obviously, whitetails are wild animals and don't necessarily take the "beaten path" all the time. One reason I try not to put up a stand within 18-20yrds of any known travel routes/paths. My heart & nerves can't take TOO many encounters of BBs walking directly at my stand w/o having a shot.

Wish I could have been there! Have always been a fan of his, esp past few years. He has no problem sharing the stage with other great guitarist.

WOW, in my backyard.

Any new rubber boots will stink, some more than others. I always scrub the exterior of new rubber boots with scent-free soap, either shower or laundry and use a ScotchBrite pad. Insides get liberal dosing of scent-free spray. Then hang them with a rope looped over a tree branch, upside down for a couple of weeks, or more. I can't comment on smells after using them. Guessing my feet don't sweat &/or stink, at least to me. Although I have used that scent-free powder inside my rubber boots a few times each year.

It's all about personal choice and what works for you & your equipment, like you said! Sounds like the beginnings of the Rage debate, huh? You either love em or hate em! Kidding, of course!

^^^ BIG ditto!!! I AM a Xbow hunter for past ~4yrs. There are basically 2 major advantages of using a Xbow over a new gen compound bow. Remember how many arrows you had to shoot to get a new sight pin s/u dialed in? And how many you shoot each year to get back into the consistency groove? Think I shot ~ 10 arrows with my Xbow before the scope was dialed in out to 50yrds. Disclaimer - This depends on Xbow mfger & quality of scope!!! Maybe 3-5 more practice shots to get BHs zeroed in. I only shoot my Xbow <10X each year, just to be sure & re-familiarize myself with its functioning. Other big advantage is you don't have to come to full draw when a critter comes in once you cock your Xbow. Shooting at target/game at additional yardage is not that big a factor over modern compound bows. I added maybe 10yrds with Xbow compared to my self-imposed, ethical shot distance with a compound bow. Anyone that's shot a Xbow at/beyond ~50yrds knows this, whether they'll admit it or not. Pull the trigger, THWACK sound and you watch the arrow arc thru the air for an eternity towards the target. If you do the mental exercise or even a paper spreadsheet of Pros vs Cons, the cons out weigh the pros maybe 2:1 or even 3:1. Determining factor for me was same as above member's post. After decades of compound bow hunting, you all will come to a point where you find the need to reduce draw wgt, impose closer ethical shot distances and most obvious is a much shorter full draw hold time. Xbows wouldn't be my weapon of choice, but it does keep me doing what I love, bow hunting in the fall woods.

A piece of 2"x2" PT fence post or even a 2-3" sapling cut to the correct length to support center hub of blind will work. Just have to do some backwoods engineering to come up with a way to ensure support stays on the hub area, depending on your blind. Heard people that use old shower curtain rods, ones with the tensioning spring inside them. Lot of blinds have the eyelets & ropes about mid-height to stake them down. When I used blinds, tried to tie off at least 2-3 of those ropes to trees or saplings. The stakes they include with blinds aren't the ... best. Isn't Cabelas now part of BP? Not sure if they still offer lifetime guarantees, do they??

Some Xbows you can. Other mfgers strongly recommend not doing this! Read the owner's manual. Yeah, those Yellow Jacket discharge bags for Xbows are handy. Just have to remember to keep an old arrow/bolt with a field point nearby.

Hate to disagree, but with my 10pt Xbow, the Nap Spitfire & their Maxx version only shot 1-2" off from the field points. So ... assuming it has a lot to due with the specific Xbow you're using!??! Or the scope...?