Have your opening day spot picked out?

[G-Man]

1 hour ago, ridgerunner88 said:

Are people doing morning sits this early on? I was thinking just use the "catch them going out to feed" afternoon strategy but if someone has a solid morning strategy I am all ears... the wife even wondered/suggested I go out early on Friday... I have learned to not turn down those opportunities lol. 

Cams showing good movement 7 am to 9 am. Why not sit in am. Its cooler deer have had an entire quiet night to relax.

[ridgerunner88]

2 minutes ago, G-Man said:

Cams showing good movement 7 am to 9 am. Why not sit in am. Its cooler deer have had an entire quiet night to relax.

 

I have to hand it to you... pretty much every time I get a response from you on one of my questions it is right on the money! Thanks man!

 

[heavuser]

Holy hell dude, that buck!

Edited September 29, 2022 by heavuser

[heavuser]

4 hours ago, ridgerunner88 said:

Are people doing morning sits this early on? I was thinking just use the "catch them going out to feed" afternoon strategy but if someone has a solid morning strategy I am all ears... the wife even wondered/suggested I go out early on Friday... I have learned to not turn down those opportunities lol. 

I will be, cameras have been popping off every morning

[Swamp_bucks]

Narrowed down my morning to 2 spots hoping for a doe to my knowledge there’s no bucks I’m interested in chasing in those woods but they have held a couple big ones.  Saturday night I know right where I’m going. Hoping to catch whatever big buck is making the sign in a group of isolated oaks off the edge of a swamp I found Monday. 

[Swamp_bucks]

Narrowed down my morning to 2 spots hoping for a doe to my knowledge there’s no bucks I’m interested in chasing in those woods but they have held a couple big ones.  Saturday night I know right where I’m going. Hoping to catch whatever big buck is making the sign in a group of isolated oaks off the edge of a swamp I found Monday. 

[UWShunter]

Fairfield County. Wooster Mountain in Ridgefield/Danbury, Bennett's Pond in Ridgefield/Danbury, and then I got into the Aquarion Water hunting program. It's like 7,000 acres throughout the state but I will likely only go to the closeby ones in Newtown, Redding, etc.

I’m by Torrington.
Seen 2 bears only.
No deer.
Cams picking up does.
Gonna change soon.
Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Larry]

Last time In a place I hunted for over 40 years. It's beeing sold 

[heavuser]

Again this morning, 3 in a row now, same 2 does keep coming past my camera. If they keep this up for just 2 more days at least one of them is going die. 

 

They show up at almost the exact same time everyday, 720ish am

Edited September 29, 2022 by heavuser

[phade]

Rare wind for opener. East in AM shifting to NE for the next few days. Our plan for Saturday morning really hinges on a Westerly so that is out the window. Too risky to cross feeding areas with an Easterly. We may hunt the first hour in some easy to access spots but we're equally in the boat of not going out until the PM which will be a better entry for us. Getting good activity of bucks daily now, but only two in that spot that are shooter category. One very infrequently shows up and the other is there but not as reliably appearing as the 1/2/3 year olds daily. No doubt we'll encounter bucks, we just need the right one to show.

One other spot that we typically stay out of until late Oct/early Nov is surrounded by corn so we may sit there later in the week once we get the right wind. Pair of shooters showing up there to consider. Can't pressure that place too much and it goes to crap after the harvest and spoils are gone. We may need to try earlier than normal due to the crop rotations and it coming down presumably before the rut action gets going.

Lower pressure and cloudy, which IMO isn't great conditions. Slightly windy Sunday PM. But, all workable. Not too hot, rare wind. I'm sure it'll result in an early season tag or two being punched by people who thought they'd need to wait a while for that wind direction to arrive.

Probably Ohio the following weekend. 

[Robhuntandfish]

8 minutes ago, phade said:

Rare wind for opener. East in AM shifting to NE for the next few days. Our plan for Saturday morning really hinges on a Westerly so that is out the window. Too risky to cross feeding areas with an Easterly. We may hunt the first hour in some easy to access spots but we're equally in the boat of not going out until the PM which will be a better entry for us. Getting good activity of bucks daily now, but only two in that spot that are shooter category. One very infrequently shows up and the other is there but not as reliably appearing as the 1/2/3 year olds daily. No doubt we'll encounter bucks, we just need the right one to show.

One other spot that we typically stay out of until late Oct/early Nov is surrounded by corn so we may sit there later in the week once we get the right wind. Pair of shooters showing up there to consider. Can't pressure that place too much and it goes to crap after the harvest and spoils are gone. We may need to try earlier than normal due to the crop rotations and it coming down presumably before the rut action gets going.

Lower pressure and cloudy, which IMO isn't great conditions. Slightly windy Sunday PM. But, all workable. Not too hot, rare wind. I'm sure it'll result in an early season tag or two being punched by people who thought they'd need to wait a while for that wind direction to arrive.

Probably Ohio the following weekend. 

it is a weird wind.  We have forecast for E here in the morn then N in the pm.  Ive killed a few deer on that rare N wind. Might just work out. 

[heavuser]

Horrible horrible news .....

 

 

Rain all &^%$ day tomorrow.

[Judoka95]

Unfortunately, I won't be able to get out in the AM but based on the wind and movement that I have been seeing the last week I will be sitting in a small ladder stand on the north side of the property at the edge of my field.

The PM doe movement seems to be coming from the north woods into my field so I will be trying to intercept them before they get there.

[Nomad]

I’ll also just hunt PM, out of this small ladder stand , the deer will follow the black marks into the beans , ok,some will enter a bit farther down , or not at all, they’re tricky bastards . 

[phade]

On 9/29/2022 at 3:43 AM, Larry said:

Last time In a place I hunted for over 40 years. It's beeing sold 

Sorry to hear, genuinely. Do you know how much the owner wants? I am in the market for land.

[stubborn1VT]

Just got a text letting me know that the farmer (my brother) is mowing the hay field I was going to hunt tomorrow PM.  Better to know now.  It's my best north wind spot, so I'll have to adjust to that.  Perfect timing. 

[Nomad]

1 hour ago, stubborn1VT said:

Just got a text letting me know that the farmer (my brother) is mowing the hay field I was going to hunt tomorrow PM.  Better to know now.  It's my best north wind spot, so I'll have to adjust to that.  Perfect timing. 

I’ve often seen them hit the cut hay fields soon after cutting . But I’m sure you know your land and deer .

[heavuser]

Here ... we ... go

[wolc123]

19 hours ago, Nomad said:

I’ve often seen them hit the cut hay fields soon after cutting . But I’m sure you know your land and deer .

I saw that yesterday afternoon at our place.  The town came thru and bush-hogged the creek banks, about 25 yards back on each side, in the morning.  There were (3) bucks together checking out the mowing job.  
 

One of them was this nice “shooter” 2.5 year old, which I have now seen back there at least a half a dozen times.  Here he is, lined up with a window of my pop up blind at 20 yards, for a perfect Texas heart shot the last time I hunted back there during the early antlerless gun season:

That almost makes me want to pick up my bow again (which I haven’t touched since 2013).   Good luck to all the bow hunters out there.  
That “hay” is mostly cattails and weeds in the creek bed itself, but nice clover and Timothy on each side. 

Edited October 1, 2022 by wolc123

[The_Real_TCIII]

Here ... we ... go

Little did you know that your life was about to change!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Kmartinson]

My wind is a little wrong, but I may get lucky and have one try to sneak through.

[heavuser]

11 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Little did you know that your life was about to change!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[wolc123]

5 hours ago, heavuser said:

 

That dark red rack on your buck is very cool.  In 40 deer seasons, I have only killed (2) that were that color.  I think both of mine were 1.5 year olds.  They were both 6-pointers, when I killed them, but the first one had busted off his 7th post (brow tine).  

This busted up 7 was my first antlered buck, taken on opening day of gun season in 1986, at home on our farm in wmu 9F.  I originally had the rack on the dark board that the second one is now on.  My buddy gave me that crappy mounted cape (that he was going to throw out) when he had his grandpa’s big buck re-mounted onto a new cape.  My dad made the dark walnut board for the back.

 

This next one is my last Adirondack buck, and the second buck of my last “2-buck” year (not counting bb’s), back in 2016.  To me, an Adirondack buck is worth at least double what a flat-land WNY deer is, because of the  scenery up there.  

This one is worth triple to me, because of the color of the rack, and because it was the best shot that I have ever made on a deer.  It was the only time, that I know for sure, that my shot hit the exact spot (within 1/32”) of where I aimed.  It also has that cool little bulge on the end of the right antler.

Some day, I am going to switch positions of those two racks, putting the Adirondack one into the crappy cape, and the WNY one back onto its original board.  The bulging eyes on the crappy cape are appropriate for my shot location, on the Adirondack buck, at the instant of bullet entry.  

[heavuser]

4 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Some day, I am going to switch positions of those two racks, putting the Adirondack one into the crappy cape, and the WNY one back onto its original board.  The bulging eyes on the crappy cape are appropriate for my shot location, on the Adirondack buck, at the instant of bullet entry.  

Nothing better than hearing good hunting stories. Thanks for sharing!

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by heavuser

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, heavuser said:

Nothing better than hearing a good hunting stories. Thanks for sharing!

 

That was a memorable hunt for sure.  It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which we had spent with the in-laws at their Adirondack retirement home, on a little lake up there.  After Turkey leftovers for lunch that day, our two daughters and my niece and nephew and me burned thru a couple boxes of .22 ammo on the rifle range, which is next to their house.

With all that shooting, I wanted to be as far as I could from there, for the afternoon hunt.  I walked down the main camp road, almost all the way to the paved road, over a mile away.  That took me over a little creek, that winds thru a valley, and up a ridge, where there is a mature pine forrest.

I knew that there was a group of antlerless deer bedded down in the thicket around the creek, but they were all “off-limits” during gun season.  I was positioned well downwind of and above them, where I had a good view of a trail that ran along the upper part of the ridge, along the edge of the pines.  
 

I was hoping that I might catch a buck walking that trail, scent checking on the does, down below.  I was expecting one to come from the west, and I had my “tree-hammock” chair, positioned for a shot from that direction.  I was armed with my heavy Ruger M77 30/06 and I had the 3-9x scope dialed downs to 3.  
 

There was about 6” of powdery snow on the ground, and the view from that spot was spectacular, with the pines behind, mountains in the background, and creek down below.  

 

About 15 minutes after I got comfortable in that chair, and was enjoying the view, I heard a stick break along the trail to the east.  Twisting my neck around, I could see the buck about 60 yards away, and walking towards me.  
 

I began a slow turn, shuffling my feet and turning the pedestal like a turret in a tank.  At the same time, the buck turned around, and was pointed back to where he had come from, when I got into position to shoot that way.  He was now 50 yards away, standing still like a statue, and facing directly away from me. 
 

I had heard of this shot, but had never attempted it.  I was very confident in my rifle (it always held a group of under an inch at 100 yards from a rest). I had a super steady rest with my elbows against my knees.  
 

I settled the crosshairs on “the spot with no hair”, and pulled the trigger, sending a 150 gr Federal Classic right up his poop shoot.  The buck flattened out as was if he had been struck with a sledge hammer. 
 

I walked up to him, and noted a flow of blood from the front of his neck.  I was dreading the gut job.  A few others on the site have taken that shot and complained of a horrible mess when gutting. Surprisingly, it was about the cleanest of any that I have ever done.  Even the butt-our functioned perfectly, doubling as a bore gauge to verify the accuracy of the shot.  The only internal organ damage was a groove across the edge of the heart.  I did loose the neck roast from the exit wound.  There was no entry wound.  
 

I guess those other guy’s attempted Texas heart shots must have been near misses, or maybe the animal (a few were caribou) must not have been quite so perfectly aligned.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  Sometimes, He wants you to get a little dirt on your hands.  
 

My father in law suggested that I move that little 6-point rack to the “popped out eye” cape.  He likes to decorate his place with mounts from up there.  Right now, my first Adirondack buck is the only one on his wall.  I’ll be up there trying for another (and a bear and a big smallmouth bass) in less than 2 weeks.  I can’t wait.  

Edited October 2, 2022 by wolc123