stubborn1VT

The rut is a whole cycle. Lockdown is the part of the cycle where the does are actually bred. When this happens, a buck and doe pair off, often for 24 hours. They hang out and do the deed, usually in a secluded location. Romantic! Those pairs are MIA because they aren't moving around much and aren't on a regular pattern. They're holed up in a thick spot, out of the way spot, oddball spot. Hope that explains it a little. Maybe someone else can chime in. The basic idea is that they are busy gettin' busy, so they don't walk by your blind/treestand.

Either heat or lockdown. Nothing to be alarmed about.

That's what Pygmy said!

How has your experience been with the hay wagon/blind setup? I've thought of trying this myself.

Charlotte, NC or VT?

Charlotte, NC or VT?

Congrats!!! Seems like I hear somewhere that this was your year!

Quick, low impact sit in the blind. Nothing seen. Checked cam and had resident doe& fawn after dark the past two nights. Not sure if that's because of high temps or my hunting pressure. Big 8 point was around on Halloween at 7:30 and 10pm. Looked like he was scent checking the plot, not feeding. I'm off the family farm to check cameras, move a stand, pull another stand and hunt the evening. Good luck everyone. It's about time isn't it?

Heck yeah!!! That's when shootin' was shootin'!

I wore work clothes (unsprayed) instead of hunting clothes (sprayed) and I should have known better. Some of the reed canary grass was almost head high. Permethrin works.

Just got back from scouting a piece of permission ground. Customer owns 80 acres. Mostly beef pasture that hasn't been used in a year. Not much to funnel them, but pretty easy to observe from the high ground. It's only 5-6 minutes from my house. We'll see. I picked about 30 deer ticks off my clothes before I got in the truck. That's a good sign, right?

Good luck Zeke. That much arrow should do the trick. Hopefully a dog brings you guys right to it. Positive thoughts.

As others have mentioned: margin for error. You lose bullet weight, penetration, knockdown power and recoil. The only benefit IMO is that the .243 is more shootable for someone who is recoil shy. I have seen instances where a person was more accurate with smaller caliber than one they were afraid of.

Good luck Zeke. Dropping temps. I bet we see pictures before too long.

My plots look somewhere between those two. Wish I had bulbs like that here. The best of my brassicas are mowed down. Took too long for them to get established thanks to the damn dry conditions. On a positive note, I stopped by TS for birdseed and looked through the leftover food plot seed. They had 1/2 acre bags of WI Fusion marked down to $25 from $36. I was pleasantly surprised when it rang up to $18 at checkout. I have two narrow woods plots that I want to expand. I have had some success with chicory in the past, as well as small burnet. I'm hoping that doubling the size will make both these staging plots better. The biggest issue is leaves. I may experiment with dragging them with the 4 wheeler and chain harrows. I guess I would resort to a leaf blower if I had to. I hate the sound of them more than just about anything.

Goofy sit. I set up in the hedgerow to cover the log road that leads into the plot. Doe, fawn and an unknown came out behind me and fed in front of the permanent blind I use for rifle. Three minutes of legal light left and I was packing up and the doe caught me moving in the brush, 75 yards away, through a strip of field corn. Never winded me, but I hate spooking deer. Ah well. If I had sat the blind they would have come out the log road 135 yards away. I love my crossbow, but I'm starting to miss my magnum.

Live from the couch/picture window. My lower back is still all jacked up. Frosty and nothing moving yet besides our grumpy horses. Not even a chickadee. This frost would make a cruising buck easy to spot. Good luck to everyone who is out. I will be out there for the PM, one way or another.

Sat out tonight. My back is giving me hell and I don't have a good north wind setup here. Doe, fawn and an 8 point came out in the plot just before 6pm. Hopefully he hangs around. Haven't had a buck here in a couple weeks. Game on!

I know, right? Where else can you break the AL HR record and still get booed? Who wouldn't want to play in the shoebox of Yankee Stadium and be "appreciated" by grateful fans? No pesky roof either!

I'm looking forward to the weather cooling down and the action heating up. Hiked around our little piece here at the house, checked posters, got sweated up. I've had as many as 7 does/fawns here. Hopefully that will be helpful in the next week or two.

Good info Rob. I'll give this a rest run on one camera when I get back out this weekend.

I've been very happy with Piledriver bolts. I shoot WASP mechanicals, but I don't think it makes a huge difference what broadhead as long as it's accurate. I'm a fan of Magnus stuff for fixed blades.

Congrats! Should serve you well. I have wanted a 7mm08 for awhile now, but I can't justify it. Killed too many with my magnum to change now. I have been happy with all Federal ammo. Hope you find a flavor that your rifle likes.

Hundred of years of vaccines. This is not a unique vaccine. This is basic medicine. I had to have vaccines to go to kindergarten. I had them when I joined the military. I had more when I served overseas. It seems silly to me to draw the line at THIS vaccine when most of us have already had half a dozen and never raised a fuss. You do you, but this is nothing more than a flu shot. Nothing to lose your minds over. I won't begin to change a single person's mind, especially on this site. I just checked in to report that I still haven't had it. I'm out.

It CAN keep people from dying. That's just Darwinism though. Nothing to get excited about.