OldNewbie

Dick's has Black Friday prices up on its website now, and the Ameristep Outhouse Blind is listed for $9.99.. not sure if its a mistake or intentional, but thought someone might be interested. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=42288046&ab=Blocks_Holiday2016_HuntFish_Page1_Deal18_Rank116_DSGDB_1731&cp=2460170.72913296.112170796.113442206&categoryId=110933606 I stepped into one at the F&S store a few days ago, and its too small to draw a bow inside, so I'm going to pass.. at that price its tempting though..

So I had first one, and then another gut pile disappear, without anything showing up on the camera I had on them. I just tested the camera and made sure it was working OK. It was set to take a short video and then wait 30 seconds then do it again. It works well on deer, night or day. (Has IR for night pics). I found the stomach/rumen about 10 feet away from the second gut pile like something dragged it there, but nothing on camera. Everything else remotely edible was just gone. The only thing I can think of is a person came along and turned off the camera, removed the gut pile, and then turned it back on.. But that seems really really unlikely. Are there any woods critters stealthy enough to defeat a trail cam? What could account for this?

Here in 8W I heard more muzzleloader shots earlier in the week than I did Sat. morning. Plus the processor I use said he was not full as of 2 PM, which was unusual for him.

My first archery deer/buck, taken first day of gun season in 8W.

30 acres private land, too small for gun hunting.. will be sitting with my compound bow, waiting for those deer seeking sanctuary from all the gunshots.

As my name says I'm an old newbie. At 61 years of age, this is my second season deer hunting, and first with bow and crossbow. I got into it late last year, gun hunted state land (8W), saw 1 deer, shot nothing. This year I've hunted a few hours several times a week since October 1. I had an early disappointment - shoulder shot a deer that we couldn't find - and since then none of the deer would give me a profile that I was comfortable shooting. Drew on a 4-point three times in one day, but let it walk. I was really starting to think I might get nothing again this year. But today that changed, and I brought home my first ever whitetail! It's not a trophy - just an average doe - but for me it's 'success'. I won't bore you with the details but it was a 25 yd shot from a ground blind with my Hickory Creek mini-vertical crossbow. My first time field dressing a deer too. I'll just say, hard to remember those YouTube videos in the moment, but I got through it. Was surprised how easy it was to drag with lots of leaves on the forest floor. Best of all it only went maybe 20 yards and the total drag to a trail where I could get it on my tractor was maybe 40-50 yards. I had two goals for the season: to take a doe and a buck, one on crossbow, the other compound. So one down, one to go. Thanks to all who responded to my calls for advice.. couldn't have done it without you. (BTW the wound on the upper shoulder is exit, not entrance. Was lower on the other side.)

Happened to me last night. Deer came in 5 minutes after sundown, as I was packing to leave. After 20 minutes, I just backed out of the blind, carefully walked up trail.. and spooked a buck that was ABOVE me on the trail back to the house. Then just for good measure, had another blow at me from the little overgrown weed patch in the corner of the yard.

KenDoe, I only have a little more experience than you, but I recently switched to 125 gr broadheads after sighting in with 100 gr. When I shot the 125 gr. on my range I found the sights needed no adjustment.. shooting at 10-20- 30 yards. But as PREDATE says, you really should sight in using your hunting gear if at all possible. As for shooting from the treestand. In theory, the height/angle doesn't matter, but your form can be distorted.. its important to keep your upper body the same as if you are shooting on the ground, and then bend at the waist .. So I'm told and have read. As for the new fletchings I'm not an expert but I would certainly run some test shots on the target if I changed fletchings.

growalot... those spare green tomatos will make a great salsa.

Thanks RD, I think that is what I will do. I did a little side trip this afternoon and found a fresh scrape. Tomorrow or next I'll sit on the other end and see what's there (if the wind cooperates). There are some small patches of state land nearby.. some bow hunters but not heavy pressure. I scouted one area this summer and found a water hole up in the woods a ways. Might try visiting that.

I only have permission to hunt the one private parcel. After that, its state forest or park lands.

I am fortunate to be able to walk 5 minutes out back and be in a ground blind just inside a nice 30 acre patch of woods. First two weeks of the season I was sitting AM and PM for an hour or so, and more often than not saw at least one sometimes more doe groups, and the occasional small buck. Activity/sightings have dropped off the past two weeks considerably. I'm wondering if it is 'stand burn out' and the deer have shifted their daily habits to avoid my stands, or maybe they have decided to stay a bit closer to the freshly cut corn fields (and a few remaining uncut). One bit of relevant info.. I can walk to my main stand without crossing or entering the main 30 acres. I live right on the edge of it. I'm to the east so when wind is west as normal, its a good setup. North wind, scent is more a concern as some deer enter/exit to south of me. Initially they did spot me several times, but I got better at seeing them before they saw me. And I improved the blind some too for better concealment. Last several I saw never looked at me, just wandered on by (slightly out of range). But last several sits have seen nothing at all. Oh and the coyotes were out back making a huge ruckus last night.. I'm feeling discouraging and not sure what to do at this point. All sorts of things are running through my head, like.. just give it a rest for say a week, maybe more (hard to resist the temptation though) look for another location within the 30 acres (but would mean tramping all through it.. ) look for someplace entirely different (but further away, so will limit number of sits I can do drastically) keep doing short sits every day or two ('eventually they will come back') do some mid-day sits instead of AM or PM (coming later maybe?) do more chores/work.. put some points back in the bank. (or go fishing..) Thanks for your ideas....

I should know this, but do bucks continue to make rubs after they shed their velvet? The two I've seen have lost their velvet already.

I hunt a ~30 acre patch that is part pines and part hardwoods, mainly red oaks. I have seen a spike and a 4-point buck wander by on several occasions, both on camera and while sitting in my blind. However, I have not found any scrapes or rubs anywhere on the property. I do see any number of old rubs that are scarred over from previous years, but nothing fresh. Is there still a chance an older buck will come around during the rut? There are plenty of does in the tract.

This my reply to everything you post from now on.. You've chosen to ignore content by Uptown Redneck.

Two weeks ago they were in my acorns morning and evening every day. Now still 1-2 in the AM and zero in PM. Instead if I drive around I see packs of them (6+ does mostly) in the fresh cut corn fields or walking toward standing corn, well before sundown. More leaves have started coming down now and covering the acorns which are mostly on the ground, so it seems to me (as several above have said) the deer are changing food sources (to easier pickings). I am sure they will be back by the gun opener - they all but knock on the door and ask to come in when the guns start going off.

Same thing happened to me last week. Thought I had a perfect shot off, but there was a loud thwack upon impact, and the deer bellowed and collapsed in a heap right there. Only to get up again and limp 10 yds, lay down, get up again when some other deer spooked off, and then limped out of sight. I waited 45 min and then went looking in the dark, with my wife and daughter helping me find and follow a blood trail. (They were way better at it than I was.) We marked it with surveying tape and got maybe 40-50 yards and then the blood just quit. It was just small drops for the most part. We went back in the morning and found the arrow just another few feet away. I used a Rage 2 and one of the blade edges looked like someone sawed on a rock with it. We searched a total of three hours, from one end of my 30 acre hunting area to the other, but nothing turned up. I figure it went off the property somewhere to recover. In hindsight I would do two things differently. First, I wish I had thought to put another arrow in the deer when it stood up. And second, we should have waited longer before looking for it. I don't know if it would have made a difference, but my mentors all say we should have waited longer. This also made me think that lighted nocks might have some real value when shooting at last light, in helping find the deer after dark.

Interesting... What is it called and does it stay on the bow when you shoot or what?

Question 1: When going after a doe for the meat, how do you decide which deer to try for? I have been seeing groups of 1 adult/mama with 2 trailing youngun's coming round. I think I read that if you shoot the adult the young will leave. And that the younger deer are better eating. So is it better to try to get one of the followers vs. the lead doe? I don't care too much about the quantity of meat, not feeding a large family. But is there enough on a younger deer to make it worth the gutting/dragging/processing? Question 2: Frost is predicted for tomorrow AM. Do deer change their habits in any way when there is frost? Thanks fellas..

Most mid- to high-end fly rods are 4 piece today. If you got a 8 1/2 footer that's 25.5 inches per section, add an inch or two for the rod case. Is that small enough to fit in your pack? If you want something even smaller you can find shorter rods.. I have a 7' 4-piece "pack rod" that I bought for fishing smaller brookie streams in northern PA. I've also had it in Colorado hiking in to high lakes and smaller streams in the parks. But I wouldn't really recommend a short rod like that for general purpose use. Would be a hindrance on a big river like the Delaware for example. You will soon find that fly rods are like golf clubs. You could play a round with just a 7 iron, but once you get into it, you will want a 'full set of clubs' i.e. 4, 6, 8 wt, short pack rod, two handed rod, steelhead rod, nymphing rod, etc.

As a long time fly fisher and instructor I would say the brand is not that important, but what is key is that the line matches the rod weight (i.e. 5wt line for 5wt rod) and that the line weight can handle the flies you are trying to cast. For trout via dry flies and nymphing a 5 wt is fine. For casting weighted streamers for smallmouth and bigger trout you want a 7-8 weight. And for Pete's sake get some instruction in the basics of casting. Shorten your learning curve a ton. Also have a look at www.sexyloops.com. And a word of warning.. fly fishing is extremely addicting. There is no known cure.

I've seen same as Rockspek for a couple of weeks, also on my trail cams, but nothing too serious. No fresh scrapes or rubs in my little patch o woods.

Turns out I made a new blind at noon, sat at 6:15 PM and shot a doe at 6:35 PM. Honestly I don't know exactly how I drew (it was like Moog said, autopilot) except I was focused on keeping the deers heads behind the tree in front of me until I was at full draw and looking through the peep. Then I stepped to the side of tree and the deer was in my sights. They looked at me but didn't spook. I think the advice I got about being silhoutted in a blind yesterday and day before might have made the difference. I put a bunch of foliage upright behind me to block any silhoutting from a lighter patch of open ground up the hill behind me. Thanks everyone for all the help.

I was in my blind today and thinking about I will do if/when a deer comes in range and I want to shoot it. (It's a natural blind, not a fully enclosed pop-up or tree stand. Just prior to shooting, I will likely be standing behind a tree with shooting window just beside the tree. ) Realized there are some potential pitfalls in the draw-aim-release sequence. Like - do you have the bow down and to the side under cover of the blind, draw, then raise it? If you draw at right angle to the deer, then you have to raise it and swing it 90 degrees to come on target. A lot of movement. I also find sometimes I draw the bow in a horizontal position and have to swivel it 90 degrees to the vertical to aim and shoot (bad habit from target shooting). Again a lot of movement. Or is it best to take a step back away from the tree, point the bow toward the tree, then draw. then sidestep from behind the tree and shoot? If that is so, standing behind the tree gives the most cover when drawing, but if you do that, you might end up with the arrow aimed at a tree 6" away.. dangerous I think. I'm probably overthinking this, but I am new to the sport, and wondering what others do.. Is there a 'best' way to do this safely and with least chance of spooking the deer? Thanks

Hmm my blinds are open to the rear, silhouetting could be a problem.