wolc123

It is more of a travel corridor, between bedding and feeding areas. There is a swamp on one side, and open hardwoods on the other. After they get pressured, when gun season opens up, they seem to stick to this narrow band of thick stuff, along the edge of the swamp. My stand is right in the middle of the thick stuff. It is difficult to get a shot much over 50 yards from it. It is going to be tougher to get a doe. I was able to bring the buck back in, for a close shot on opening day, with a grunt call.

I would like to see a doe, when I get back out there this weekend. I am loosing my hope of that, because I have not seen one since opening day. I do breathe a sigh of relief, after getting thru each hunt without seeing a larger buck than that which I punched my tag on however. My plan for Saturday morning, is to try back at the stand where I saw the doe two weeks ago (opening day), and hope I can catch her there again. I tried last Saturday, but she did not show. I let her pass on opening day, but I killed the buck behind her. I think last Saturday was too warm for her. Cold and snow might bring her back this weekend. My spot is in some thick cover on the edge of a swamp. I have caught late season does cruising thru there several times in the past, so I think there is a chance on Saturday.

The difference is, with a bow, there is no way to hide the fast motion required for the draw. A relaxed deer is less likely to react to the sound of a release, dont you agree ? The older crossbows mat have been loud, but some of the newer ones have made great strides there. Even my inexpensive Centetpoint sniper has some effective silencers that make it quieter than my older vertical compound. You can get away with a loud release when you are shooting at a relaxed deer, while an alert one will jump at a pin drop.

That buck on your hoodie blends in with the left beam to make it look like a funky 24 point non-typical. Congrats on the great late season buck.

The huge advantage they have over guns is thier silence. That's why they belong in archery season. Plus they kill the same way (bleeding), and share the same basic components.

The reason why a crossbow results in less wounded deer, is because a quick motion (draw) does not have to be made while a deer is in close. You may think that they dont notice the draw, but deer have excellent periforal vision. They are very adept at detecting such movement. That glimpse puts them into a sate of high alert, resulting in "string jump", which puts the deer in a different position when the arrow arrives. That makes for lots of bad hits and non-recovered deer. It should not be hard to understand why a deer is more likely to be in a relaxed state when shot at with a crossbow, than it would be when shot at with a bow. Is a relaxed deer, or an alert deer more likely to suffer a bad hit ? This really is not that complicated. Less wounded deer is the number one reason I prefer the crossbow. That is followed closely, by less wounded hunters. Most hunting injuries occur as a result of falls from tree stands. Most bow hunters feel the need to get up high to hide the draw. The higher you go, the more severe your injury when you fall. The only two valid reasons I can understand why bowhunters dislike the crossbow are selfishness and elitism. Why else would they not want to see less wounded deer and less injured hunters?

3100 psi takes 40 minutes:

More likely he snapped it off on momma when he went in for some milk. Too bad he didn't break both sides off to less than 3", so that I could tag him with a dmp. Antlers are overrated.

Almost all of them get busted up, by opening day of gun season, in my two spots on opposite corners of wmu 9f each year. The reason for that is that there is consistently around 4 bucks per doe by October 1 each year, due to heavy antletless harvest on nussance permits prior to that. If you want a buck with a pretty rack with all his points intact, you got to kill it before the rut. The 1.5 year olds really get picked on by the Bullies. This 3-point was a 4 when I saw him on opening day of crossbow. He got one side knocked off prior to last Friday, when he stopped by to see me.

I like euros, but my wife also does not care for them. I prefer the natural ones, not whitewashed or camo-dipped. As a compromise a few years ago, when she had our kitchen remodeled, I got a new room for my hunting and fishing stuff. That's where the euros go now. I can't say that I like the rack hub very much. It is a bit too modern-looking for me, and I dont like that you loose the natural antler spacing. Those are some cool antlers though, and I surely would have made a euro with them, but not a shoulder mount. I have seen some good looking light fixtures made from antlers, and that set would be good for that.

Happy b-day and I hope you make it a BBD day as well.

The key, in that situation, is to get another bullet into the deer asap. That is one of the reasons why I think the folks who hunt with a ML in the regular season are nuts. It makes sense to keep your gun pointed at a downed deer for a few minutes, from your stand, if you can. Too many folks and also afraid of ruining meat or wasting ammo. Either of those is infinitely better than a lost deer. During bow season, it makes sense to give a deer time before going after it, but it never does with a gun. If the deer is on its feet and I can't land follow up shots from my stand, I am in hot pursuit on the ground. My gun don't get put down until I stick the loaded muzzle into the downed deer open eye and it does not flinch. I wonder how many deer escape the shooter's freezer each season, thanks to folks texting "BBD", or some other nonsense with their trigger finger. i know of at least one that did. Cases where wounded deer run off onto belligerant neighbors land are thankfully something I have never had to deal with. I feel sorry for folks who are in that situation, and even sorrier for those who subject others to it. They will get what's coming to them some day and it won't be pleasant.

I just was not feeling it in the enclosed box blind that I was in. The wind shifted a bit from the east, so I moved to the open-top center blind where I had originally planned to sit tonight. This spot offers the best shooting position at the location where I saw a big-bodied deer on my walk out two nights ago. I hope it is a doe and I hope she comes out before 4:41 tonight. It would be a shame to not take advantage of such good carcass hanging temperatures as are predicted over the next few days. Come on big momma, just 63 minutes to go.

Is it as good as the original ? Definitely my favorite lunch beer. I dont like the real hoppy, IPA-tasting "craft" stuff.

I finished up Joe this afternoon. I prefer the "natural" look over whitewashed or camo dipped. He will hang out in my shop for a while, prior to taking the top spot, inside our house, on my post-2015 trophy wall. He looks like a 2.5 year old, based on comparison to some other skulls. I did not save the lower law, but it might still be on my coyote bait pile. They just started to hit that last night, when I scared them off while opening my bedroom window. I talked to another one our good friends about Joe's passing last night. It looks very likely that he and this buck may have entered the Hereafter at exactly the same moment.

My lunch break was busy again today. I went to church with my daughter, ate a quick meal, finished my euro, then washed her car and my suv. I was ready for a little relaxation this afternoon, so I got all Elmer fudded up and headed for my most comfortable stand, made from an old 8 ft, full sized truck cap. Our venison supply is in ok shape, but I think this spot gives me the best chance at a coyote. I missed getting a shot at one a couple winters ago, when I neglected to open the front window. I am all set with that now, and it is wide open. I could not jimmy open the child proof latch with my leatherman tool from the inside, but I went out and released it. They lightly hit my bait pile last night, and this is the area where I heard most of the yipping during the night It is also the only stand that I could get to with a south wind, without tipping them off in the sanctuary/cover areas where I think they, and/or deer may be hiding now.

Leftover venison/spinach stuffed shells for lunch:

That looks like a good idea. I am going to pull out the old Woolrch Buffalo plaids, that my wife got me at an antique shop, for the afternoon hunt. The pants fit ok, but the jacket was too tight. I cut off the sleeves and made a vest out of it. It looks like it is going to be plenty warm enough for that this afternoon. I am going to grab some lunch, power wash my 6-point from opening day into a euro, then head out looking like Elmer Fudd, for the evening sit. The only thing that won't match is my blaze-orange hat for the walk, or my Realtree-camo one while I am in the stand. Hopefully that waskally doe or button buck shows up. I would settle for Wiley coyote.

Tough without snow, but not too bad if there is some. That is why I didn't miss going up there on this long weekend.

I will pray that he finds it. It sounds kind of like a high back hit, since the deer went down at the shot, then got up a few minutes later and ran off. A few years ago, a buddy had that happen at my place. I heard a shot, then he texted me that he had one down. I sure wish he had used his trigger finger on something other than his cell phone. That deer got up and ran away. It bled good for a while, then petered out, and we never found it. We looked for it for a few hours that day, and I went out again at night with "blood glow". I used my whole supply of that, advancing the trail a couple hundred yards, but it was getting very sparse near the end. Now I just try to keep on good terms with The Man upstairs, for help in recovering deer. They all end up exactly where He wants them to go. If that turns out to be "deer heaven" (my family's food supply), I know that I am doing ok. We have been eating good for many years.

What if it died after midnight? I have never done it, but what day would you guys put on your tag if you found it dead the next day ? There are so many coyotes in my area, that I would never consider waiting until the next morning. That's what flashlights and lanterns are for.

I hear crows. Hopefully, one will land on my bait pile so that I can add to it, and verify the 80 yard zero on my .22. Usually, I aim about 3 inches high, but I might try 3.5 since there is a 10 mph headwind.

For me, it is about 4 seen and killed in the morning, for every 1 in the afternoon. I think much of it depends on the area where you hunt.

I started hunting at 2:30, when the coywolves began howling and yipping out back. I added a fresh deer carcass to my butcher waste pile a couple days ago, and they must have found it. Not quite enough moonlight to make out a target with the cheap Simmons scope on my 10/22 however. Man, I wish we had some snow. I will switch over to my Marlin 512 and Redfeld scope at sunrise, in case an antletless deer steps out of the standing corn for a taste of turnip greens. It is not quite cold enough to stimulate that action though. I certainly won't waste one of those $5 sabots on a coyote. A .22 rimfire hornet is plenty enough for those thin-skinned dogs.

I don't think deer can see it, but I am certain that turkeys can. I do know, from first hand experiences, that at least one cagey old buck would intentionally hang with turkeys whenever he could. Had I been attired in blaze orange, up in my tree stand on the day he approached with his flock of "pawns", I never would have seen any of them. To me, that alone is reason to take it off up in the tree, besides the fact that is well above anyone's line of fire on the flatlands where in hunt. In a hilly areas, especially where rifles are legal, it makes more sense to leave it on in a tree. Even on flat private lands, where I rarely see other hunters, I make it a point to always switch to my blaze orange hat when I am not up in the tree. I don't always get it on straight, if i need to get down in a hurry. There is always going to be "jerks" , like you refer to, who will shoot in your direction, even if you are head to toe blaze-orange. I felt the pressure wave of a slug against my face one time, when the "hunter", in the next hedgerow unloaded his autoloader on a deer half way between us. I had an orange vest and hat on that day, but it didn't help me a bit. After feeling the first shot before I heard it (a memorable experience), I hit the dirt and dirt started hitting me in the face as the other 4 slugs landed nearby. The problem there, is that some folks get blinded by the brown and forget about the "what is beyond" part. That dude could not use "cover" as an excuse, because I was standing in a flat, cut hayfield. From that point on in my hunting career, I rely a lot more on elevation than blaze orange, for safety. No more deer drives for this guy.