Waiting to be "Hit"

[Grizz1219]

Everyone has a plan…. Been scouting since March… Running cameras since June… Stands set… Ground blinds set… shooting lanes cut… Velvet bucks turn to hard horned… Still on camera… Consistent…. Opening day comes… The plan is set…. In your head you are picturing one of those bucks working his way up the trail from his bedding area to the feeding area… just like you have seen them do it many, many times on your cameras.. You picture him getting to the shooting lane… You stopping him in just the right spot as your pin settles in behind that shoulder… the release of the arrow seems automatic in your head as you watch that nock disappear right where you were aiming… he mule kicks… takes off and in the mayhem you hear him crash, knowing he is down… Then reality “Hits” you, you sit in the ground blind or on stand and he doesn’t show up… You’ve just been hit… Now comes the reality… it happens to all of us.. Here’s to hoping it holds off another year!!! This Sunday I have “my plan”, but if I get “hit” I still know all those days scouting, running cameras, etc… is still worth it.. its all part of “the hunt”… I love all the prep work.. All the planning that we do, it’s all part of hunting to us.. I’m almost sad scouting is over… But I am really happy to be hunting… so stage 2 is upon us… Hope all of you get your dreams to come true but those that get “hit” (Like I probably will.. LOL), stay the course, good luck and shoot straight!!!

[grampy]

Great post! I get "hit" a lot!  Until the first week of November or so. That is usually when I start to "hit" back!

[NFA-ADK]

No camera's as I like to duplicate ADK  hunting so I tend to speed scout even on LI.  My buddy does run a few cameras and I was not able to help this year with the stands but I am getting that itch that needs a scratch!  I will be on the ground this opening day and I am told I need to be at the spot by 12:01 AM to ensure I have a spot!  This is going to be a long opening day, think I will need to do a half day or I might be sleeping by 1pm.   One last test of broad-heads and slight tune issues to resolve tomorrow then I have to clean and spray the clothes, get batteries for flashlights and range finder and I think I am set. 

My reality is seeing many deer and never taking a shot, I have only taken 2 shots so far with bow.  My other reality is luck, if it was not for bad luck I probably would not have any, lol.  Just seems like I always make a mistake at the exact wrong time!  Hope this year I can get one of the big boys we have been after!  

Good luck and be safe! 

[ApexerER]

This was a great post! Its funny how that happens....All the anticipation, work leading up etc....Then you get in your stand....On high alert that first hour, maybe two....Every sound you hear is the big one..you are sure of it....After two hours....well i'll look at my phone....Text the wife...tell her I haven't seen a thing...Maybe start playing a game....4 hours later...Dang it...I knew I should have set up in the such and such stand.....hour 5...is it lunch time yet....lol

[BizCT]

3 minutes ago, ApexerER said:

This was a great post! Its funny how that happens....All the anticipation, work leading up etc....Then you get in your stand....On high alert that first hour, maybe two....Every sound you hear is the big one..you are sure of it....After two hours....well i'll look at my phone....Text the wife...tell her I haven't seen a thing...Maybe start playing a game....4 hours later...Dang it...I knew I should have set up in the such and such stand.....hour 5...is it lunch time yet....lol

Yup. My lunch (PB&J's) are usually gone by 1030am, then I have nothing left for the rest of the 8 hours lol.

[Jeremy K]

It's these experiences that make taking a big mature deer that much better. Some people think just buying a license should come with a free wall hanger. 

[Grizz1219]

The guys that are friends of mine that hunt the farm with my wife and I haven't touch ground there since turkey season... They never scout, for turkeys or deer... I killed 2 big Tom's this year and got a youth another long beard, they shot nothing... Last fall they did the same thing, no scouting for deer... they saw next to nothing.. I had a great year.. killed a target buck first day then shot two more does... great season... But I start scouting deer/turkey in March, start cameras for deer in June.. They think I'm "lucky".... LMAO!!!

[Robhuntandfish]

22 minutes ago, Grizz1219 said:

The guys that are friends of mine that hunt the farm with my wife and I haven't touch ground there since turkey season... They never scout, for turkeys or deer... I killed 2 big Tom's this year and got a youth another long beard, they shot nothing... Last fall they did the same thing, no scouting for deer... they saw next to nothing.. I had a great year.. killed a target buck first day then shot two more does... great season... But I start scouting deer/turkey in March, start cameras for deer in June.. They think I'm "lucky".... LMAO!!!

yeah i get from some family members .......your like a deer whisperer.....your so lucky........ i remember being soaked in sweat this summer cutting brush and dragging in tree stands. Looking over topo maps and setting up lanes and plans.  Luck always has something to do with it, but def make a lot of my  "luck" with hard work.  That I also enjoy. As well as the time just in the stand going over all the greatest "hits"!  

[Grizz1219]

Exactly... hunting is more than squeezing a trigger... it's everything leading up to that... scouting... range time... all of it..

[Buckmaster7600]

I put some time in during the summer but I really half ass my early season hunting. I couldn't care less if I ever shoot another deer I just like being in the woods, then a cold morning around the first of November a switch get flicked and it's game on. I'll probably spend 20 days in the woods the next month and will likely never knock an arrow.


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[nyslowhand]

In retrospect, I prefered the Oct 15th bow season opening in the SZ. Simple reason is that it gave you so much less time getting frustrated seeing not much before the "hot" action begins. I can only take so many encounters during early season with the Lil guys prancing around in front of my stand before I get annoyed and might do something I regret with my either sex tag. All this after a long period of May->Sept foreplay with trail cam, scouting, sightings, s/u stands, food sources, practicing, etc. Not saying I won't be out there Oct 1st, waiting.... I like to think of it as being punked or set-up, rather than hit.

Anyone that has historical sighting info (logs, journals) can confirm that you are less likely to see any BBs on their feet, during daylight until late Oct. If your trail cams over the years have shown what mine have, the velvet comes off, bachelor groups disperse, the big boys go nocturnal and their photos become sparse. Also look back and recall when the earliest you'd gotten a decent buck. Betting it is like my harvest data, pretty late in Oct..!?!  Granted, there might be the occasional exception. Armed with all this historical BB travel pattern data, we still go out early just hoping one will be stupid and walk in from of us... Here's to "Wishing & Hoping", I'll be there!!!!

 

 

[Hock3y24]

6 minutes ago, nyslowhand said:

In retrospect, I prefered the Oct 15th bow season opening in the SZ. Simple reason is that it gave you so much less time getting frustrated seeing not much before the "hot" action begins. I can only take so many encounters during early season with the Lil guys prancing around in front of my stand before I get annoyed and might do something I regret with my either sex tag. All this after a long period of May->Sept foreplay with trail cam, scouting, sightings, s/u stands, food sources, practicing, etc. Not saying I won't be out there Oct 1st, waiting.... I like to think of it as being punked or set-up, rather than hit.

Anyone that has historical sighting info (logs, journals) can confirm that you are less likely to see any BBs on their feet, during daylight until late Oct. If your trail cams over the years have shown what mine have, the velvet comes off, bachelor groups disperse, the big boys go nocturnal and their photos become sparse. Also look back and recall when the earliest you'd gotten a decent buck. Betting it is like my harvest data, pretty late in Oct..!?!  Granted, there might be the occasional exception. Armed with all this historical BB travel pattern data, we still go out early just hoping one will be stupid and walk in from of us... Here's to "Wishing & Hoping", I'll be there!!!!

 

 

I don't agree with this, since the Oct 1 opener I've seen a ton of big bucks in the early and late parts of daylight on there feet usually on the same routine the first few weeks. It really makes it easier for me because i only hunt a few hours a day and almost always see deer. I don't think anyone can argue with seeing most big bucks during early November though. I will mostly hunt urban areas during early October as i have pictures of deer pretty much all day behind my house by the creek. I can see my wife leave for work from my tree stand, 600 feet away!      

[Grizz1219]

past few years I have killed one of my target bucks on opening day... running 6 cameras for 4 months too... now.. if a bigger buck strolls over in search for a receptive doe that hasn't come over till the rut... well, I'm not seeing that... And my cameras stay up till rifle... So I'll stick with 10/01, hoping they are still in their summer patterns and easy to figure out... 

[Five Seasons]

not sure i understand the term getting hit here, but I get the message. 10/2 last year (remember 10/1 was a washout), nice 8 point did exactly what you said, then made a turn into some thick stuff for no reason. Didn't kill me because the season was new. Little did I know he was the one of only 2 mature bucks that would even come close

[Grizz1219]

46 minutes ago, Belo said:

not sure i understand the term getting hit here, but I get the message. 10/2 last year (remember 10/1 was a washout), nice 8 point did exactly what you said, then made a turn into some thick stuff for no reason. Didn't kill me because the season was new. Little did I know he was the one of only 2 mature bucks that would even come close

In a fight every boxer has "a plan".... Till he gets really "hit"... I took the same analogy in hunting as the deer not doing what we planned as "hitting" us... Sorry... I was not very clear... 

[chas0218]

I liked the 2nd week Oct. opener it gave me 2 extra weeks to get stuff around the house before I felt the need to get in the stand. Now I don't seem to ever be able to get stuff done in time of hunting season and end up wait until the 2nd weekend anyway.

[Five Seasons]

1 hour ago, chas0218 said:

I liked the 2nd week Oct. opener it gave me 2 extra weeks to get stuff around the house before I felt the need to get in the stand. Now I don't seem to ever be able to get stuff done in time of hunting season and end up wait until the 2nd weekend anyway.

i agree to a point. my dad hunts very little till after the 20th or so. Me, i might hunt one weekend day to keep the pressure off. It's nice to go out, but you're not forced to start hammering your stands. if your neighbors are hitting it hard in early bow than you have bigger problems, because that's just not good hunting. 

[TACC]

Anybody know the reason NYS decided to change the date to the first?

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