OldNewbie

This is a year-old thread but maybe someone will see this.. Myself, wife, and kid are doing a one day hunt Oct 16 and we are all sitting in tree stands. Our host only has one harness available. So we could use two adult harnesses. Will gladly pay postage. And will pass along to someone else in need afterward.

Both yesterday and today I got 'made' by a doe leading her yearlings up the trail toward two different ground blinds I was in. First time I dozed off in a chair and woke up with mama deer doing a 'what the heck is that?!' head bob about 5 yards away. My head and upper body was exposed so I froze, then slowly slid off chair to cover when she wasn't looking. They retreated slowly, not at run, tails flicking but full up. This morning I was in a nearby different blind, sitting in a chair, not moving (awake this time) and out of nowhere I hear a deer not far away blow/snort 5 times in a row, while it moved away. I got in a crouch and watched three deer maybe 30-40 yards away slowly browsing along. I stood up next to a tree to get a better look and I hear 'stamp, stamp, stamp'. Dang it! Made again. My blinds are natural blinds built around/between live trees, using deadfalls and some fresh pine and oak branches with leaves to add cover. Day 1 blind also has some camo fabric along the inside. Now I know I could switch to a tree stand, or a popup blind and both would be a big improvement in terms of providing better cover. But I am curious if anyone else hunts 'natural' blinds and if so, do you have any suggestions? P.S. could I have been scented? I've taken all the usual precautions against that, and no wind to speak of either day. I am trying to post photos of the two blinds..

Yeah what's up with all the soybeans this year? Used to be all the fields here (southern tier) were corn. This year a lot of them went to soybeans, and they are just yellowing in the field. Are they harvested late or just they do so poorly because of drought they are being left? Not sure if it matters for hunting but I am curious...

I made 400+ deer sightings over the past six months (via trail cam, driving, and from the house). You can see deer in my neighborhood any time of the day, but the majority of sightings are in the first hour after sunup and the last hour before sundown. The 23 buck sightings made over the same period show twin peaks about an hour behind the doe peaks.

I just started getting bucks on my cameras the past 7-10 days. Some that walked by on the heels of doe, sniffing the ground as they went. Though still in velvet. And the acorns are dropping big time now.

They've been dropping in my woods for at least a week already.

growalot - my daughter (15 yr old) is also right hand shooter /left eye dominant.. Any tips for her as far as aiming? Do you keep left eye closed or open?

I had to deal with 6 different hornets/wasp nests last week, seems like there more around this summer than usual. I'll pass along a tip - ordinary engine 'starter fluid' in a spray can, from Walmart or the autostore.. is almost pure ether. It will instantly drop flying wasps and yellowjackets and kills them in a few seconds, if they get a good dose. Usually $2-3/can. Works great for smaller nests with a dozen or fewer wasps. I do use the long distance blaster spray for large or hard to reach nests. Plus I always wait until morning when its cooler, just to keep the odds in my favor.

Resurrecting this old thread because I just got permission to hunt a few dozen acres recently and am trying to figure out where to put a blind or two. It is half pine and half hardwoods with a mix of maple, red oak, and ash. The hardwoods were thinned about 10 years ago and there is heavy canopy now and not much understory.. you can see pretty far. The pines are similar in most spots, dense and hard to walk because of the dead limbs between the trees. There is good deer sign but no well defined trails. It looks like the deer just wander through wherever. Some rubs here and there but again no well defined trails. One little trickle of a water course with a few wet spots. A few open areas with weeds, and one patch of multiflora rose that has what looks like a well trampled clear area behind it. No scrapes anywhere that I can see. What are the higher percentage areas to check more closely? Hardwoods, pines, ditch, open areas, old rubs? How would you approach scouting an area like this, at this time of year (six weeks from the season opener).

Here's something that DIDN'T work: I wrote a note explaining I was looking for permission to bowhunt a neighbor's land and left it in their mailbox. Didn't hear anything for a week, so this morning I drove past and just by luck he was in his driveway. I stopped, introduced myself as the person who left the note. He told me it was illegal to leave unregistered mail in someone's mailbox and told me "because of that, leave and don't come back!" After that, I decided he is probably not someone whose land I would want to hunt, even if he did give me permission. The second guy said no because he leases the land to a farmer, used to allow hunting, had issues in past.. He was nice enough so I gave him a paper with my name /number and asked him to call me if he changed his mind. Overall my method of leaving a note in the mailbox, then following up in person has been successful 1 in 3 tries. This is for people I don't know, never met, and in some cases, don't even know their name (land was sold and tax map not updated).

Someone on another thread mentioned that 90% of the work happens before the hunt. Sure seems like it (though this is my 2nd yr hunting and 1st bow hunting). August is a slow month at work, Sept. is much busier, so I'm trying get as much ready now as I can. Acquired a new used bow several months ago, had bow shop do new strings and rest, been shooting and tuning it for a while now Ditto for the cross bow Set up 10, 20, 30 yard targets in the back yard, as well as a 3-D deer Pestering my daugther to get shooting her bow on a regular basis Bought a tub and filled it with hunting clothes, hats, gloves, etc. Will wash with scent free soap someday when wife is gone long enough to run a couple loads through. Got some activated carbon to put in the tub when clean Recording deer sightings on/near my land since last season (definitely a lot of mid-day movement here) Built a ground blind on my own land, brushed it in recently Asked several neighbors about hunting their land Took a broken plastic lawn chair, fixed it with zip ties, painted it camo, and practicing shooting my crossbow out of it Read some books, recently Hunting Pressured Whitetails Bought licenses, had to call to get the bow because hunter ed class wasn't entered in system properly Bought some camo fabric for ground blinds, hung it on a fence so any factory smells can get washed out by rain Anything major I'm forgetting?

Thanks.

Three days? It's taken me five months and counting to get my first handgun. I started the process of getting a carry permit in January. After waiting to take a required class, and scheduling delays, fingerprints were sent to the FBI in April. The FBI has still not processed the request. The local clerk said they have not gotten back the batch they sent in March, which is a 6 month delay. A cop I know told me getting prints checked by the FBI usually takes less than 24 hours when they send them in. I am not a conspiracy theory sort of person, but if someone in Washington wanted to slow down the issuance of new pistol permits without passing new laws or repealing the second amendment, they could assign the FBI fingerprint techs to other things and stall the whole process.

Bucks travel several miles per day during the rut, right? but most of bow season (say the month of October) is pre-rut, so do the bucks stay in a much smaller area? Where I've been scouting and planning to hunt, I see deer sign (pellets) but no old buck rubs. And no bucks on my trail cams, just does and fawns. Does this mean its unlikely I'll see a buck in those places in October? And if that's so, what sort of habitat should I be looking for instead? I'm just trying to get started, I have no prior bow hunting experience and knowledge to draw on.

I bought some arrows several months ago to fit my bow set up with a 28 inch DL. Since then as I've tweaked and tuned I changed the DL to 27". Is there any reason to shorten the arrows by an inch also? They seem to fly OK but I'm not very experienced and not really sure.

This will be my first season bow hunting (I'm 61), and also for my 15 yr old daughter. I have a Bowtech Fuel 55# DW 27" DL and she has a Parker something or other set at 35# and 24DL. We are practicing at 10, 20, 30 yds from different angles and feeling pretty good about the shooting part. Biggest challenge is finding places to hunt. Plenty of state land around but trying to get something closer to home... that's hard. We do have deer on our 3 acre residential lot. Back of lot is more than 150' from any house so within regulations to shoot there. Does anyone hunt that close to home? I'm tempted but a bit worried about wounded deer running into the street or neighbors yard.

There is a single hen turkey that wanders through my yard several times a week.. always by herself. Is this an indicator the turkey pop is low in my area? When I lived a few miles away I used to see flocks of 10-20 hens with several males following.. (but there was a neighbor feeding them all winter too.) 'Nother question.. what time of day should I be listening for gobblers, if there are any in my local woods?

One thing I can add is that in NY 'state forest' lands are generally ok to hunt, but State Parks each have their own individual rules/regs. Many do not allow hunting at all. So do your research/call them if you want to hunt one in particular. No clue about Taconic MUA or WMU you mentioned. Google Maps will show state forests if you turn on "terrain".

yeah on order already..

Got a new release for myself today after shooting my daughter's for a while. Tried it out and was a little different, took some getting used to, but ok.. then.. one shot went high and almost flew over the target. What the heck? Tried again paying close attention to form, grip, smooth release... ping! Went right over the target and into the concrete (shooting in my basement at 15 yds). Moved to 10 yds and tried another.. ping! Again.. Well I stupidly tried and ruined five arrows until I figured out what was wrong.. It had nothing to do with the new release. Just coincidentally, the serving above the peep sight had come loose and fallen off, and the peep had slid up the string an inch or more. I had sort of half noticed this random string that fell on one of the arrows earlier as I was aiming to shoot.. thought it was a little odd to just be raining string, but then its a basement, stuff happens. Didn't connect the dots until later... When it comes to this archery thing, I learn by doing, I guess..

I see now I didn't explain the grouping right. The group is centered on the aiming point, with only 1" variation horizontally, but with a 6" vertical spread above and below the bullseye. Could not holding a constant draw length from shot to shot cause that?

Another tuning related question: My groups are 1" wide and 6" high. What should I look for as possible causes of the excessive variability in the vertical dimension? Update on my other question re the vanes hitting the cable. I remembered that the bow shop installed a new cable guide. I compared it to the old one, and sure enough, it is just enough larger to cause a problem. I emailed Parker and they are sending me a replacement part gratis.. Meanwhile I put the old one back on, and shot 6 bullet holes on paper, and the groups as described above..

I could try rotating the nock.. next question: How do you un-glue a nock?

My wife, 14 yr old daughter, and I all took the required Bow Hunter Education course this past weekend, at the Watertown Sportsman's Club. We learned an awful lot, and we had fun doing it, and I want to recognize Mark, Isaac, Herb, Brent, Billy, and Emily for doing an outstanding job and devoting their time for our benefit. It is much appreciated.

I have a few tuning questions. 1) I paper tuned my compound bow and got it so 4 of six arrows are bullet holes at 10 yds. The arrow seems centered with the bow string and the tray on the shelf, so all good there. However, I noticed that the fletching on the arrows actually brushes against the cable slightly. If you hold the arrow rest up and nock an arrow, then move the arrow in and out, you can the edge of one vane is overlapping the cable just a hair (maybe 1/16" or less). Is this something to worry about? I have to move the arrow rest out pretty far to get the fletching to not touch the cable. I think these are 3 degree fletchings if that matters. 2) I also shoot a vertical bow with a bristle type capture rest. Like a whisker bisquit but the whiskers are only in three places with space for the fletching vanes to pass in between. This bow shoots pretty well, accurate and good groups. But I notice the fletching vanes are getting black streaks on them and I'm wondering if the vanes are brushing against the rest a bit too much? Or is it possible the arrows themselves are leaving black streaks when they land tight to another arrow in the target? 3) Final question, not a tuning question but... if a plastic vane gets a nick or tear in the outer edge, can it be repaired with glue or should that arrow be decommissioned until a new vane can be installed? I've had this happen once each on the regular compound bow and the vertical bow.