nybuckboy

I hunt on about 350 acres but can only access it from the south and east for the most part. Mostly open area with about 40% woods and scrub brush. I have 11 ladder stands and 3 hang-ons. I plan to set up 1 more ladder and 1 more hang-on. I do prefer the ladder stands (all 15ft). I rachet them on and chain and padlock them. I leave them up all year round. I also have started to spray paint brown and gray primer on them to try to break the ladder section up from the woods. I let them dry and sit out in the air for weeks before set-up. I also zip tie some branches on them to break up the vertical sections. If you take the extra time to disguise them and use some camo tape to silence them I like them the best. I do believe ladder stands give the most support and comfort and I also like to sit when shooting cause of balance issues.

What type of stands to you generally use and why?

I have gained so much valuable information from many forums on so many topics, that I thought I would share some info that has helped me. I would like to offer some advice that has worked well for me in building good arrows for hunting. So if you getting arrows for the first time or you are looking into buying new arrows, either way, I think this will very helpful to you. I started with Beman MFX 400 shafts cut to 28 inches. I determined my size by using the Beman/Easton guide and my draw length. I shoot a Mathews Drenalin at 60lbs. Ideally, for hunting purposes you want an arrow that weighs well over 400 grains with a FOC of 12-14%. The first thing I do is install the NAP Quikfletch QuickSpin fletchings on the bare shafts as close to nock end of the arrow shafts as possible. I am in love with these. They are easy to use and have helped my groupings become tighter and they are easy to replace should you destroy a fletching. They weigh about 30 grains. Then insert the nock. The next thing I do is determine my FOC (front of center). I am looking for about 12-14% FOC. You will need break off weight inserts which I order thru 3 Rivers Archery (see below for link). They come as 75 grain weight which can be broke off to 50 or even 25 grain inserts. I used 75 grains.Insert the FT in to the shaft loosely and by using just a bit of scotch tape, enough to hold on the 75 grain insert at the end of the shaft as well insert the 100 grain field tip. (obviously insert a 125 grain FT if you are going to use a 125 grain BH). This will get you close as the tape weighs little. Using the FOC calculator determine the FOC using the 75 grain weight. If the FOC comes up over 15% then break off 25 grains from the insert and calculate again. You are looking for 12-14% FOC. To figure FOC go to: http://archeryreport.com/2010/09/arrow-foc-basics-calculate/ [/color]To order the break off weight inserts you can go to: [/color]http://www.3riversarchery.com/Easton+Brass+HIT++Break-Off+Insert_i6757-1_baseitem.html [/color] [/color]The reason you want a 12-14% FOC is the arrow will fly better and have more impact or kinetic energy. Yes you do lose a little speed but the arrow will fly better in adverse conditions as well as have more impact (kinetic energy) to penetrate thru bone. Once you have determined the proper weight to use to obtain the desired FOC then glue in one insert. Let the glue dry and then screw in the FT. Go shoot the arrow and see how it flys. You may wish to paper tune but I assure you for the most part, this will work out well with all your arrows. When I was done, I weighed my arrows on digital scale and my total arrow eight is 473 grains with a 13% FOC. I set my sons arrows up the same way. He shoots a Diamond Stud at 52 lbs with 450 grain arrow with a 14% FOC. At a 3D shoot we were shooting with a friend who shoots a Darton set up at 62 lbs and my son’s arrows were penetrating much deeper then the friends in to the target and mine penetrated even deeper. Once you set up your arrows like this I bet you never buy arrows another way. Good luck and I hope this helps.

Couldn't I have my son pull his existing bow back the way he normally does and measure?

Mathews bows are a set draw length... not sure a premium bow manufacturer doesn't have a draw length adjustment but they don't, although you can change cams to change the length.

My son is 16. Has a PSE Chaos that we bought a couple years ago. It came with 40# limbs and $100 I had 50# limbs installed but have both sets of limbs for when we sell the bow. It actually is 52# pull. We plan to upgrade him to used Mathews (I shoot a Drenalin and he like Mathews as well). His mid finger to mid finger is 68 inches so divided by 2.5 = 27.2 and his physical draw length (fist against the wall measured to corner of his mouth) is exactly 27 inches. He will use a string loop on the new bow. We are looking at a used Mathews Switchback 60# with a 26.5 draw. I know a little short is better than a little long. Will this be about right?

Yup, just talked to him. That is north campus, he says those deer are not stupid up that way!!lol Of course not... they go to Cornell

Saw 28 deer today most of then after 3:45pm. I know for sure that 24 were definitely doe, the other 4... I can't say. I also think I may have seen the same 4 once before but for sure I saw at least 24 deer today from about 2pm til dark. One was group of 11 doe. Exciting to see so much action in so little time. Gonna get back at it early in the morning.

That's why I was wondering about the Trails End 307. It is an attractant for both bucks and and does. If the doe likes it then she may seek it out and the buck may follow. The claim is that many big buck have come to the end of the trail... hence the name Trails End. I believe it was the first scent manufacturered by Wildlife Research.

Gonna go out Friday afternoon and Sat/Sun too. Should have a west wind and thought about hanging a scent leaf. Was considering either an estrous leaf OR an Trails End 307. Which do you think would be best, those that are familiar with these.

What are barrel condoms? ... I presume you mean balloons or anything to go over the end of the barrel... yes

Well duh... I did not have and have been using Triple 7 a along. Anyway, my son sighted in his TC Impact in 4 shots from a bore sighting direct from the store. He is shooting 295gr Copper Powerbelts and I am shooting the rest of my 270gr Platinum Powerbelts. I'll switch to the 295 b/c they are more readily available when those are gone.

I been hearing that over the past few days, some hunters are beginning to see a lot of doe moving. I hope so cause I have not been seeing much deer movement at all for a month. If the doe are herding up then the big bucks should be finding them and hanging out with them. Any of you seeing this? Last year, the first Sat of muzzleload, I saw 21 doe and 5 bucks all before 10am. Then the next morning about 8am, I saw 5 doe with a small 5 point buck and a mature, long beamed, 150+ class was with them. This can be the most exciting time of the year, (except it's freakin' cold).

I'm sure this will open a can of worms but I'm looking for the best all around weight sabot for deer hunting. Not brand but weight. The reason I ask is I just bought my son a TC 50 cal Impact. I use a 270 grain sabot with 100 grain pyrodex in TC Trumph. He will use the same grain pyrodex and I bought 245 grain for his TC. I thought this would be a good weight. (please don't tell me to change to777) I realize there will be some trade off. More weight = less velocity but more kinetic energy AND less weight = more velocity but less kinetic energy. What grain weight do all you experts feel (myself included) gives the best velocity and impact?

I saw nothing!!!!

Gonna set up near the bottom the main woods, the woods that were logged. This is about 300 yards across at this point. Maybe they will be in their browsing. I plan to hang 3 estrous scents. One just inside the woods as we enter... another about half-way across the woods and another almost to the other side of the woods. I plan to set my son up between the 1st and 2nd scent and myself between the 2nd and 3rd scent. The wind is out of the West and will carry the scents up the hill and through the woods. Plan to sit the day from about noon on. We'll see what happens. Good Luck to Us.

I have been seeing some small bucks and not a lot of does. Do you think the mature bucks are lock up w/ does?

Same here

That buck w/o question is in the mid 160's. I have a 150 8 pt I shot with bow in Illinois and that buck has it all over mine. Just the 2 extra tines accounts for 16" in score making it 160's.

Thanks all... I am gonna hunt both Wed and Thur am until about 9am. Have to go into the office so I'll give it another shot.

That's a possibilty that they have me patterned but I have 11 stands and have used all but 2. The thing is most of my stands are on the edges of fields or in corners, (both inside and outside corners) and I'm not seeing deer even hundreds of yards away. I have decided to give it one last shot and go out late today.

Yep... I'm done bow hunting for the year. I have the hunted about the hardest I have ever hunted (hours) and am just bummed out. I hunted today (Sat) and the previous week Wed afternoon, Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday both in the am, til mid morning and from mid aft til dark. At least 40 hours of daylight and seen no deer - unless you wanna call the one on the way in in the dark and the one on the way out at dark. Some of you may remember I have the loggers in the area and boy have they frogged (nice word for #@#*&*) it all up. I'm gonna ride my horse tommorrow for a couple hours all over the hunting land. I am putting my bow away and see what happens when the gun season opens and the deer are pushed around. Incidently, the guy that hunts 100 acres across the road from where I hunt also has the same logging operation on the other side of him and has been seeing a boatload of both, bucks and does.

nice buck... congrats to your Dad