phade

Mostly 8H and 8F here. Can wander to a spot in 8G if I need to.

I've shot quite a few in a row through my Vortek UL with BH209 and never really had much issue with loading. I think once i got up to 10 shots...just to see at the range. And it loaded quite well, although the accuracy started to fall off a bit. You seem to have tried everything I would have, including the harvester sabots. They do in fact load easy as can be. Might just be the real tight tolerances.

I turned a buck with it this season in Ohio. It works...sometimes they ignore it, but I've never had them run for the hills.

I've owned about 10 WGI cams of varying varieties. Almost all have had to go back to them for warranty. I think my Spypoints have been the best overall performers. Not the greatest nighttime shots, but reliable and usable. Great daytime photos.

Scrapes going cold are some of the best "real-time" info you can read at this time of year...even edge ones as long as nothing has impacted it...ie a corn field coming down, etc. If you have a farm of any size, chances are, you have a primary scrape somewhere. I'd look real hard come post-season and figure out what drives it - crop rotation is likely a factor. Glad to see the action picked up for you!

90% prep means that you aren't hoping imo...so that's a bit of a contradiction. Size of property makes ZERO difference, actually - you still need to game plan. Lockdown is a completely blown up excuse, just like the lull...at least the lockdown has some biological merit whereas the lull is a myth. Some of the biggest bucks of the season are shot during the supposed "lockdown." Lockdown period means getting super aggressive with your sets and parking in or on the bleeding edge of the bedding are of does, or in the thick cover between food and doe bedding areas where bucks will tend. The thing is, lockdown doesn't mean all bucks are locked down at the same time.

I haven't used 777 pellets in any of my guns but the Wolf. That doe was at best 15-20 yards from me. Not much you could do but chuckle. Never had issues with BH209, but I will clear out a shot if it has been raining or snowing.

I've physically seen chasing and breeding on opening day of gun before.

I've seen them quite a bit in person. I can say I like the idea, but it's just not the world's greatest stand. It's been around a few years, and if it was that good, they'd be a much bigger company by now.

I have one travel corridor that will work, but there's two hunting...sooooo. Gonna have to stretch it with one of the stand choices. Worst part is the E puts my scent through most of the ground where they bed.

Hope? There has to be more than hope. Especially at this time of year. This is a great time to kill a big buck. The first thing I look at is your cams - where are they and why? Cams are a tool, but oftentimes they don't tell the whole or accurate picture.

Unless a hunter messed up the spot, these statements tell you a ton of info. The question is, what are you doing about it? It's like being given an open book test and getting a 50 on it. Sheesh...the answer is right there. They are not scraping and signposting as much right now because bucks are focused more on receptive does. The first time I see a primary scrape leafed over, it tells me where to go immediately. Find the does, and find funnels between bedding areas, and then find the thick stuff. One of those three options will pan out for you. Just don't give up, thinking the rut is over...cause it's not. The back side of breeding is the best time imo to take the top end bucks. Mature bucks are more willing to take risks at the end of the rut for the late estrous does. And, that time is nearing over the next week to 10 days.

My CVA Wolf had condensation issues last season, and I left it in the garage overnight. It was with 777 pellets, and I had a very underwhelming discharge....lol. I think the doe laughed at me and walked off.

The wind pattern looks consistent, too, so it's not likely to change much. Looks like most of the week has a E component to it.

I also forgot is the wind has said it's coming from the E....which is about as rare as rare gets. Not even NE...straight up E. That screws a bunch of my sets. Of all wind directions, E is the one where I have least options.

Sorry, sold it while away in Ohio.

Although the weather will be great for the weekend warriors, I would prefer to have a touch of snow on the ground. Still beats having to deal with rain, though.

20, 30, 40 is pretty common yardage. That's what I have on my 3 pin. I think the 3 pin is ideal for most eastern whitetail hunting. Out in the midwest, you can gap a little further or go to a 4 or 5 pin. Bill gave you a good tip to ballpark you to the pin distance - it won't be perfect, as your distance between pins grows with the distance....ie, on my bow, the distance between 20 and 30 pins is smaller than the distance between 30 and 40 pins. And I agree that the majority of your shots are going to be 20 and in, and with practice, you should only need your 20 pin in those situations. That said, both of my bucks this year were beyond that at 30 and 55 yards. If you are prepared, your chances of being successful are that much higher. Use a range finder if you have one to mark off the yardage and use a target...not a tree. Even a cheap $20 one from walmart will work.

A couple of the deer that I had encounters with were also caught on cam. The mainframe 10 should have been dead by my arrow. Unfortunately I backed out of the stand he walked under after a miscommunication with another hunter who was NOT supposed to be hunting in the area that day. I had to watch the buck walk under my stand from a ground blind 100 yards away across a small pond.

Congrats!

Congrats! I largely prefer simple broadheads, such as Slick Tricks and Strikers, etc. But, the only mechanical that has ever really impressed me has been the Grim Reaper Razor Tips. They do a number - I find that the practice heads are on the money, too, when I compare them to the real deal. So much so, my hunting bow hasn't seen a field point in two summers now. I shot two bucks this season (NY/Ohio) with the 1 and 3/8" Razor Tip and they did some carnage. Now that the first one is out of the way for you...the rest come easy, ha.

Truballs are the best rifled slugs out there imo - save for any ACTIV slugs you can find in the old shops. Truballs are cheap, too. I like them MUCH better than the sluggers across any smoothbore I have ever shot.

People confusing opener?

Thanks. It is the summit hd 150. Great xbow for newbie. Little slow at 260 fps rating but no major complaints.

Sorry all im on my cell so posting is hard....esp with pics. I had a slam dunk on a 140 10 that was screwed by another hunter who was NOT supposed to be there. Was a real bummer as i had to watch the buck go under my set from 100 yds away in a blind that i had also set. Boy was I miffed. The other hunter really screwed me over and worse his entry was dead wrong, and i watched the buck pass my set and then go on alert as he picked up the hunters trail. The hunter never knew he was there. That sent the buck nocturnal for the most part over the past week. I got several cam pics of him going to and from bedding 20 min on the bad side of hunting time every single day that week. Last night after taking care of the fil's doe, the owner called the neighbor farmer and told him to cut down the corn bordering the ground. They are buddies. This field of corn is 300 continous acres of mature corn. The call went out at 10 and by 2 i was met with the below pic at my stand. Since it was the last night farmer asked we burn our tags on a feeding mouth. I agreed as long as it had antlers it was going down - people in ohio really do help one another and it was the least i could do. This landowner and farmer are awesome. We used a 50k jd to toss the deer in the bucket and to gut. Even made use dinner, and honestly, was refreshing to see. I bought a stand for the owner and put it up for him as he xbow hunts from time to time maybe 4-5x a season. Anyhow, i set up and the deer were abandoning the corn as the combine went by. Had a fork come out down wind and i turned him with a short can call. He stopped in the field 40 and i was waiting to draw when the combine had made its way back to this side of the field, which took about 15 min to make one pass. The buck slipped back into the corn. As the combine left, light faded down to last 15 min. Lots of does filtered out and four got to 30 yds and i was going to shoot after all, just to help out these people. So what if i burned an either sex on a doe, on my last night. They picked up my scent stream in the corner amd started head bobbing, but i think my predator camo really helped keep them around for 5 min. A 2.5 rounded the corner and sent the does into the woods. He worked the scrape, which was huge and was previously protected by the corn. He picked up my scent stream too, but again it just wasnt enough to make him bolt. Facing backwards in the stand i drew and held on the right of the tree. 30 second went by and he ended up giving up on my scent being a concern and headed west, forcing me to lean back to clear the stand tree and shoot him on the left of that tree. 30 yds heart shot and i watched him drop in the corn field. Would have loved to sink my teeth into the mature bucks i started to get a handle on but it was hard to say no to these kind peoples request on my last hunt.