regulat0r

I was able to hunt this afternoon for the bow opener and had a great hunt. I saw 3 separate bucks come in just before dark. 2 big bucks chased each other out at about 50 yards and a nice 8 walked into my lane but it was too dark and I didnt want to take a risky shot. I will be able to hunt tomorrow as well. I was thinking about hunting a different spot but its hard to leave todays spot when I know 3 nice deer are in the area. My concern is that my scent will burn out the stand and push the bucks out of the area. Would 2 hunts do this or am I ok to hunt the same spot tomorrow and then give it some time to cool off? Please let me know what you think!

At the ripe old age of 31, I think I might be getting wiser. After 7 seasons of the same pair or outerwear camo pants, I decided it was time to treat myself to a new pair. I have used my old ones for both bow and gun seasons and they were full of rips, tears, and frays. I have a Dicks and a Gander Mtn right near me so I went to both. I was shocked at some of the prices of outerwear these days. I actually saw a pair of Under Armor outer layer pants selling for $289!!!! I saw other pants and jackets for over $200 each! After browsing the racks, I saw a pair of heavy duty camo cargo pants for $29. I bought them. I figured during early season I can wear the pants by themselves and when it gets cold I'll put my thermals and sweats underneath. If it rains, I have a plastic pair of camo slicks that I pull over. I also saw layering gear and thermals made by Scent Lok, Under Armor etc that looked super cool but had outrages prices. Is it because I have my own house now? or perhaps that my wife and I are expecting a baby? but are there people out there that spend $289 on a pair of camo pants? As I make my plans for this season, Im really trying to get back to basics with common sense strategies and that includes buying gear. When I was younger with no big responsibilities, I might have splurged on this gear. To the older guys...did this happen to you?

i have a field a stream climber that i bought for $150 from dicks. it weighs 20 lbs but i put on a comfy pair of straps and have no problem even in long walks in and out of the woods. to the guys that take in sticks and a hang on each time to the woods...doesnt that cause a huge commotion setting up?? especially in pitch black for morning hunts? not to mention that whenever i put up/move my hang ons, i am dripping with sweat by the end of it...

So I dont have much experience hunting farms as I usually hunt small patches of woods in suburban areas. I recently got permission to hunt a farm near me. I walked the property with the farmer today and he advised me to hunt a certain area where he always sees deer year after year. It's a patch of woods about the size of a football field that is in between 2 corn fields. he says the corn is cut by mid october. There is an old logging/farming road that goes through the patch of woods. The question I have is...should I set my stand at the edge of the woods patch on the border of one of the corn fields or should i set up in the middle of the woods (most likely on the edge of the logging road)? For those of you who have experience hunting farms...please share your experiences and observations about what would be best. Thanks!

sounds fishy to me...i think im going to start raising cows. the fact that i feed them corn right in front of my tree stand and trail camera is just a coincidence...

is it legal to put those red mineral blocks out in front of you cam? not trying to accuse you of anything but im pretty sure they are not. please correct me if i am wrong...

i love it when a plan comes together!! Hunted a new stand location that i put up in june. right next to a funnel/intersection before a creek and open field. perfect PM spot. I knew with temps so high i wouldnt see much until dusk. sure enough, at about 6, 2 big does came through. they started making their way down another trail but i gave a soft grunt and they stopped dead in their tracks and turned my way. they came in head on and i was worried i wouldnt get a broadside shot. the big one knew something was up and was quite tense and was sniffing around. i was drawn on her for a good 30-45 seconds. she slowly turned broadside at about 20 yards and i let a rage fly. perfect shot and i watched my lighted nock fly in behind the shoulder and then stick in the ground behind her. she jumped and didnt make it more than 30 yards. great blood trail from the rage. great opening day. now im feeling confident and im looking for some of those big 8 pointers i have on camera at a few of my spots!!

so I was in my back yard shooting today and I was trying to develop a pre shot routine that I could remember and follow before I take a real shot in the woods. I feel that most missed/poor shots are due to forgetting the basics in the heat of the moment. I developed a checklist that is easy to remember and I will follow in order before I shoot at a deer. check it out...I call it the 4 P's... 1-Pull (draw back the bow) 2-Point (find my anchor point and set it) 3-Pinky (reminds me to take my pinky off the grip and not squeeze tight) 4-Peep (look through the sight and line up my shot) **relax and SHOOT** I practiced the steps in order today before each shot at various angles/distances. Each shot...pull-point-pinky-peep-SHOOT. I am going to practice this routine each day until Oct 1st and hopefully by then it will be natural so I can do in when it matters!

As I am preparing for the season, I have been shooting 3-4 days a week in my yard. I have a glendale 3d buck that i use as a target. I obviously try to aim for the sweet spot from various distances/angles. I noticed though that as my groups are getting smaller, I am damaging arrows. I am not robin hooding them but if i hit an arrow it will scratch and damage it. I dont want to ruin my arrows but I dont want to aim at other areas of the target. I want to aim for the actual spot where I will aim at a deer. I cant afford any other target and i dont want to ruin my arrow. any advice???

i am also an educator who works in NY. While there are not many of us, there are a few guys in my district that hunt. i pride myself in being an educated person who can dispell some of the "dumb hillbilly" hunter stereotypes. Unfortunately as with any major tragedy, there is a lot of knee jerk reaction. i find myself "educating " my coworkers on such things as "semi automatic" "assault weapons" etc. i find it is best for us as hunters/sportsman to be good representatives for our hobbies. being polite and using common sense goes a long way...

for the 5 years i have been hunting i have always hunted from a climber treestand. both during gun and bow. i noticed alot of guys, especially old timers, hunt only on the ground. i was always nervous about this due to safety and all other hunters in the woods shooting. i will be hunting saturday on my private land upstate. that plus it being late in the season, i feel there will be less guys in the woods. being on the ground (actually a small camo pop up chair next to a tree) i feel like i have the advantage of being able to sneak around every hour or so. is this a good tactic? basically im looking for you guys to tell me ground hunting is good and also looking for some tactics on how to do it right the first time. Thanks!

I recently bought a house that backs up against a very large piece(42 acers) of wooded property. The property consists of wooded areas and 2 abandoned farm fields. I introduced myself to my neighbor/landowner and asked if i could hunt the property. He said I was more than welcome. i asked if any other guys had permission and he said NO. I scouted the property this afternoon and found 2 treestands on the property. One was a handmade wooded stand (this one looked it decent shaped and may have been used recently.) The other was an old hang on with an aluminum ladder tied to the tree. The hang on looked very old and like it had not been used for a while. I spoke to the landowner again and mentioned about my discovery. He didnt know anything about them and to be honest he didnt seem to care too much. My question is...would it be wrong of me to set a stand in close proximinty to one of these stands? They are both in great locations (near funnels,field edges, food sources etc) If the land owner said other guys had permission then i would not think of it but if what the land owner has not given anybody else permission, technically these guys have no right to have stands there. Im not quite sure what to do. Any thoughts/advice would be helpful. Thanks!

just looking at your name...are you a cadet/service member at west point? if so i know there is a ton of great land available to you. if not there is plenty of public/state land in orange county including stewart and sterling forest. or you can do what i do...spend some time on google maps and start knocking on doors. my philosophy is if you knock on 100 doors and 99% of the people people say NO...you have yourself a one new piece of property to hunt!!!...good luck!

dont mean to get off topic here but what is the appeal of the viper tree stands? i was sitting in my primetime light tree stand today which i paid $130 brand new at the store. it is light weight and very comfortable. i know that the vipers are 6 lbs heavier. to top it all off..they are $250-300!!! can someone explain???

i had a stressfull day at work today and on top of everything i found out some bad news regarding another part of my life. i drove home and thought nothing would make me feel better then to be up in my treestand to clear my mind. they were calling for a chance of showers but the skies were clear. i get ready and drive out to my new spot. literally the second i close the door of my truck the skies open up. i decide to stick it out and make my way to my stand. as i approach, i kick up a monster buck and a doe that were directly in front of my stand. i get up with my climber and once i get strapped in, the faucets really open up. on top of that the thunder and lightning started. i stood in my stand for about 20 minutes soaked to the bone trying to keep it together by thinking that a bad day hunting is better then a good day of anything else. i decided it was too dangerous for me to be out so i climbed down and made my way back to my truck. as i pulled in to my driveway the skies cleared and sun came out with about an hour and 1/2 of legal light left. on top of that, my buddy text me saying he got a deer. its his 2nd of the season (he has a liscence from the neighboring state) im happy for him but the timing was not perfect. sorry for the rant. anybody else have a day like that?

I hunt the hamtons all the time. i have a camo suit made by ralph lauren. i also put diamonds along the cam of my bow...JK some of my friends like to go to the hamptons beaches in the summer. i told them i wouldnt go even if they paid me...

i didnt read your whole post, just the first part. i was amazed at the times you were entering the woods!!! 730 am and 530 pm are the prime time for deer to move. you stomping through the woods at that time is crazy. i dont know wht obligations you have in life but if you can only hunt am or pm, you should choose and get in before the "golden hour" if you hunt the morning you should be in stand by 530 if you hunt the afternoon you should be in by 4

calls- bleat can, grunt tube, and rattle bag extra hooks/tree steps extra headlamp extra release snack-peanut butter crackers extra knife multi tool

ok i apologize for the confusing title but i hope you understand what i mean. when you are in a tree stand...as a right hand shooter, the natural and comfortable direction too shoot would be towards your LEFT side. the shot would become increasingly more dificult if the target is towards the RIGHT side. so what then do you do in the following scenario... you are sitting in a ladder stand. a deer comes from behind and is standing broadside at your 3 oclock position. (Directly to your right.) i would assume it would be an extremely uncomfortable, and therefore unethical, shot to take from that position. if you try to stand and turn yourself around, there is a chance you will sppok the game with the movement. any thoughts?

I made a very interesting observation about deer recognizing changes to their surroundings... I was in my backyard last night practicing and shooting at my decoy/target. I decided to put up the base of my climber up a tree and an extension ladder next to it so i could get up and down easily after i shot my arrows. I wanted to practice shooting at a realistic downward angle. Anyway...I live behind a good size patch of woods and there are always deer in my neighborhood and yard. At dusk, I was finishing up my practice and sitting on my deck. At the same time, a bunch of deer made their way to my yard including a nice 6 pointer. I was watching them the whole time. When they meandered to the edge of my property where my stand was recently set up, THEY PINNED IT RIGHT OUT! All 6 of the deer looked right up at it and stared at it. They knew something was different about that area and knew exactly what it was. They kept looking up at it and stopped every few steps to look some more. I figured if they could pick that out, then deer near our stand sights will also notice when we hang stands even weeks before the season and it might make them cautious. Lesson learned: deer are very aware of new chages to their environment and we need to always be careful as to not alert them of our precence!!

although i would be glad that they didnt take my cam...i would be very mad that they are leaving scent along what looks like a nice deer path!!!

Do you guys ever set stands somewhat close to another one? I hunt in Orange county and unlike some of you guys to the north and west, most of my patches are behind someone's house and not hundreds of acres of farmland. I currently have a ladder stand set up in a good location but for the past few years, i have noticed that if the deer do not travel my way, they make their way to a creek which is about 100 yards from me. would it be counterproductive to set a stand near that creek with my other ladder being so close? Should i act on my observations and set an additional hang on stand where i frequently see deer? Keep in mind my original stand is a great spot where i have taken 2 deer in the past few years. Any opinions? Thanks!

i dont mean to ask a stupid question and am by no means accusing you of anything...but how exactly do you get so many different animals in front of the cam for those shots...i put up cams for weeks at a time and get plenty of shots but nothing that compares to those. it looks like they are posing...

wow at those last 2 pics...thats quite a rack for a young deer and it's still growing!!

The property I have permission to hunt is private but like most suburban areas, it is near a housing development and there are other guys who sneak on to the property to hunt. The land owner does not live in the area and quite frankly i dont have the desire to spend my free time chasing guys around...I dont want to leave a hang on in the woods and the areas that are best do not allow a climber. I was thinking about leaving tree steps in the trees but carrying my hang on in to the woods each time and taking it up the tree and hooking it up. My only concern is this would use quite a bit of energy and i would make a commotion. If i practice hooking it up this summer and get into a good rhythm, do you think this would be a good idea or is it more work than its worth?? Thanks!