The_Field_Ager

Bow Hunt or Die is my fav. Bowhunting.com is their website. They have a Roku channel.

Back from Camp. Had a good time hiking the Big Woods. I wasn't really hunting hard as I am saving my tag for BigBoy whom I got an camera day after my Archery 10 point. A new monster rub and scrape were made while out of town and deer have been hitting a mock scrape I made a week or so ago. Taking it easy otherwise, while waiting for gun to open. Back to Camp again next weekend.

Off to the Big Woods later for Hunting Camp. Woot woot!

I always take my quiver off too. I keep it on a hook or convenient branch for easy access if required. Don't like too much hanging off the bow.

Not that that makes it any closer to gun hunting in terms of process or ability to reach out. I suspect the average range of kill shot hasn't changed that much with the advent of compound tech. I don't like to go over 25 yards, and all but one of my bow deer have been taken at 15. That is more my comfort zone. But for me, the big reason for preferring bow to gun is the ambient noise aspect and the generally calmer demeanor of hunter and animal. Gun season sounds like WW3 round my way. I don't even like being in the woods on the weekend opener. It sounds like a firing squad and I wonder how deer make it through unscathed. It is not a pleasant hunting atmosphere. This is why my gun hunting is largely restricted to the Big Woods, and for a very limited number of days. I will go out very late gun if I need meat for the freezer. Bow season would be a non-starter for me if Jim Bob and Billy Ray Jay were running about next-door firing off at shadows, as seems to be the course for gun season in my neck of the woods.

Dryers are simple machines I discovered. Take the skin off and there is not too much going on under the hood. I also repaired my boiler last winter, and before attempting I knew exactly nada about them A couple of days of research and YouTube vids and I had developed the confidence to do the job. My inducer motor basically failed, and sourcing a new one and replacing it myself cost me 300 dollars but saved me another 500 on labor and mark-up

Hearing lots of reports of dead Bucks on the roads. Saw two myself today coming back from the processors. Heart breaking.

You can also soak cotton balls with it and secure them close to branches with wire, where they won't be easily seen. For extra longevity. Does it sound like I had to do this once?

'Spending is better than mending' - Brave New World

I recently saved about 800 bucks by fixing my old dryer that stopped heating. Watched some utube vids, diagnosed the problem, paid 20 dollars for a part and got her fixed.Good as new.

Get some coyote pee and douse his stand and area

Went back to retrieve my arrow from yesterday evening. Had a couple of deer crunching through the area. They didn't even notice me. A small buck and the other I could only hear. Anyway, ranged the shot from last night. I had guessed it as being about 20 yards. It was somewhere between 22 and 25. So, not only a biggest archery record for me, but also my longest bow shot to-date. A twofer!

Could this be the same deer? Left is Winter 2014 - Right is today. I am looking at the G3s here. Long on both animals.

Not a monster but a decent 2 year old 10 pointer. I don't know if I have pics of this guy at all from this year. Will have to go through the archives. Definitely my most impressive archery deer to date, so that is a personal result. Glad I passed on the smaller 8 now.

Story here: http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/29191-2015-huntingny-archery-harvest-thread/?p=418002

So, bit of a surprising result this evening. I came home a little early from work and despite the ridiculous temps, I decided to sit for the remaining 40 minutes of shooting light.I am going away for the weekend so I didn't wanna waste any opportunity to try and get Big-Boy. It is dry, a dead calm.Almost no breeze. I'm thinking, as I crunch my way to the stand, that this is gonna be a waste of time, but it's already almost 4:30, so I won't be out there long.Sunset is a little after 5 in my zone. I sit in the stand.2 or 3 squirrels are tearing it up in the dry leaves, making a decent racket. 10 minutes after my butt touches seat I hear a more regular version of leaf crunching. Something is coming my way. It's getting louder and louder. I can tell its close but I can't see a fricken thing between all the sapling trunks.Maybe it's my neighbor going for a walk I wonder? No self respecting Deer will be out in this crap, surely? Then I see him and for one fraction of a second I think it might be the Big 10. I see a decent amount of bone. After a couple of seconds I realize it is not the monster 10, but he looks a decent 8 and I have put in enough hours this last month to take the shot and reward my patience. He has read the playbook and is coming right toward the pinch point made by some fallen trees. I line my sight up right over the spot he is going to hit. As soon as his shoulders pass under the pin I let one fly. He drops like a sack of potatoes. My shot was a touch high and I have spine shot him unfortunately.It was a clean pass through, I haven't yet recovered the arrow. So he is down but not out, he crashes about behind this lump of dead tree tops. I cannot see him for a kill shot. I have to jump down and run around to get to the other side of the brush-pile. At about 15 yards I put another arrow right into the boiler room and it is over. This is the stand I was surrounded by coyotes in, so I rush back, get a 4 wheeler and the wife with a shotgun to cover me while I do the business of dressing him. I had no camera, so the photos are after dark and by the house. I cut my finger up nicely in my haste to get him gutted given the warm evening temps. I just missed the processors, so he is in the basement full of Ice packs for now.Have to wait till morning to get him to the butchers.

10 Pointer down ( Not the Big Boy) Pics and story to follow... My best archery deer to date.

There are a lot of factors in a live hunt that can negatively effect shot placement that cannot be recreated on a target. But yes, Vertical requires a lot more dedication and patience than xbow or gun. Some folk might be better off never going near a vertical bow. But what can ya do?

Yes and no. And of course this issue can be said of all forms of hunting tool. Some folk are just born bad and no amount of mentoring is gonna prevent them from acting like DBs later on. Or even just being plain lazy. A lot of lazy hunters out there.

It's all about attitude and ethics. I have seen living deer with their rumps blown off from poor shotguns shots. Likely as the animal was moving. No implement is above being abused. It is not an xbow or vertical matter. It is all about knowing and following through with those shots you are comfortable with. Personally, I do not like to shoot at deer over 20 yards with bow. It's amazing how damn small they look through those sights, even at these ranges. No implement is above being abused by ass-hats and unfortunately you can't legislate for this. Going afield under-prepared and with untuned equipment is slovenly and part of the ass-hatery imho. Of course, sometimes accidents do happen. Your bow takes a knock, the peep gets moved and so forth. Best to bring a field tip or two and fire off a couple once in the stand. And don't go out without hex wrenches for your equipment.

That's nuts!

Ya, I like wet windy days for hunting and trying a couple of different spots. Can't wait to get back out there this eve.

So I went back to the scene of this mornings action, got the stand moved into the arm of this horseshoe shaped stand of hemlock that connects to a large swathe of swampy, unhunted private property. It feels like a natural funnel area once I was settled in for a sit. Had a doe and her two yearlings come right under me, a button buck and doe-fawn. I had stunk the area up getting the stand in and cutting shooting lanes. They definitely got a sniff of me but I managed to remain unseen tucked between two hemlocks. Might have to take a morning off this week to see if I can catch a buck moving like this morning. Annoyingly I lost my bow hanger during the whole process. There's always somethin!

Heading out soon to move that stand and hoping for some serious Buck Down action this evening. Can't wait!

Also, I only use single pin sights. Too much can go wrong with multiple pins in the heat of the moment.