Any Bowhunters on here!

[gmaschke]

Went out last night and couldn't even get to my back stand as I already had 4 deer in the middle food plot.  So I climbed into a latter stand between two plots and withing 5 minutes I had 2 bucks and a few does and fawns in front of me at less than 20 yards. 

Throughout the next 2 hours I passed on 4 bucks(its early so I am holding out) and a few does before finally taking a doe for the freezer.   I like to fill a doe tag or 2 before I get serious about the bucks because when the bucks start moving more I refuse to shoot a doe.  Anyway going back out in a few to strap myself into another tree....... damn wind!

[Marty]

Never been, not too much on sitting outside in the cold.

I've been bird hunting and managed to hit a couple of woodcocks.  Just about stepped on one before I found it

[woogie0004]

went out last night and didnt see anything ill be heading to the thumb tomorrow so i will be sure to see something there.

[Ron]

Woke up early Saturday morning and found it to be really windy and raining, so I went back to bed. 

Went out last night and saw 2 does. Had about 3-4 opportunities to shoot one within 20 yards, but she was on edge due to acorns/squirrels making a racket and I was hoping to see either of the two bucks I kept seeing during EAS (during which I never saw a doe  ).

Went out this morning knowing I might not have dressed warm enough. At first light I heard deer within couple hundred yards of me when they jumped a fence. Had a small doe come through around 7:30am, then saw one of the two bucks I've been hoping for at 7:55am about 80 yards away. Watched him browse for a while and then we went out of sight - presumably to bed down since he was near where he's done it in the past.

Around -9:30 I was really starting to get cold and a spike came from an unexpected direction about 40 yards out in front of me and went towards where the larger buck was expected to be. I was hoping he'd get roused and perhaps they'd come through where I was at, but no luck. Around 10:30 I got down - my hand was too cold to unclip the latch I use on my tow rope for the bow! I'll be modifying a glove for future use so I can wear one with my release unencumbered.

Also took some time today to scout for duck opening next week and took my dog for a trial run through an area that looked like it might have woodcock ... none there yet though.

While I hope to have venison in the freezer soon, these last few years I've really started enjoying bird hunting much, much more than deer hunting. For me habitat improvement > bird hunting > deer hunting, though I enjoy them all.

[gmaschke]

Hunted last night and saw the most different bucks ever seen on one stand/one sit 14 BUCKS!!!! it was awesome until right at last light I whacked one...... so I thought, heard the crunch and he took off into heavy brush knocking everything down.  Wasn't getting anywhere fast then after 5 seconds nothing.  I thought I spined him but unsure of the hit as the firenock is too bright and actually blinded me.    I got down and the arrow had only a 1' streak of blood about 2mm wide.  No blood. No hair anywhere else.  I looked and looked but nothing.  not sure what I hit but it was no spine and was not fatal.  None the less I am sick about it.  Still pissed at myself for even shooting, I know better!  It made a bad night of what had been my most memorable on stand in michigan.

I even saw a heck of a pair of bucks fighting pretty hard.  Never seen such aggression this early in the year.  They were tearing it up.
Adam where are you going in "the thumb?"

[Ron]

Hunted last night and saw the most different bucks ever seen on one stand/one sit 14 BUCKS!!!!

Wow! That's definitely an evening full of action. I've never seen anything close to that, but I typically hunt spots where I just can't see much due to cover.

..... so I thought, heard the crunch and he took off into heavy brush knocking everything down.  Wasn't getting anywhere fast then after 5 seconds nothing.  I thought I spined him but unsure of the hit as the firenock is too bright and actually blinded me. 

I didn't quite follow that part of the story - you shot through brush? IMO if you'd have spined him, he'd have gone down on the spot and not ran.

I had a similar night - missed one point blank because I forgot to compensate for how close he was and the angle of the shot. 10 yards away and right over his back - still makes me sick that I squandered such an opportunity. I'm thankful I missed him complete though.

I'm a competent shot and represented MTU for indoor nationals the year I was there, but regardless, I'll be putting the practice blades back in and plan to shoot some more treestand-height shots at varying yardages before I head back out again.

[gmaschke]

No he was in the clear on a lane.  Next to the lane is heavy brush and at the shot he went into it.  I have only spined 3 deer.  I say "only" lightly as 3 is too many.  It works but is not ethical.  On each occasion it was in no way my intent.  It was always misjudged yardage compounded with a little string jumping.

Any way of the 3 I spined one was able to move using it's front legs to some degree.  Although this was moving more than that it wasn't getting anywhere too quickly and was making the biggest racket I ever heard.  Then after about 5 seconds(less maybe but seemd a long time) then there was no noise what so ever.  I assumed I spined him and he was able to use the front legs.  But after seeing my arrow with only a small trace of blood and buried straight into the dirt, I was baffled.  When a deer is spined the arrow doesn't usually pass through. 
For the 1st 30 yards I could see the path he took by the wide swath he left by knocking limbs and tall grass down.  Then the woods opened up and nothing.  no drag marks no blood nothing.  Last night I noticed that there was a little red in the grooves of the broadhead blades.  I definately touched him but where I'll never know.

I don't usually shoot when it gets that dark and it was dumb on my part.  I am still sick and pissed at myself for not showing more restraint.  I have lost deer in the past especially when I was younger and learning the hard way, but rarely anymore.  But I feel terrible for a long time afterward and by a long time I mean years not days. Best guess is where ever I hit him obviously wasn't leathal but did stun him for a few seconds and when he ghot his bearings he was gone in typical manner.  Again thats only a guess as I'll never know, unless I see him again in which case if he is fine he gets 1 free walk,  I owe him that atleast.


By the way the spot I was hunting is between 3 good sized foodplots in the middle of a very large patch of woods.  Only 23acres of it is mine but its the best piece of the chunk as its swampy all around us but we are high and dry with a ton of apple trees and by the way its the best apple crop I have ever seen in our woods.  The deer were going from plot to plot and apple tree to apple tree all night.   I do a lot and I do mean a lot of bowhunting(2 and sometimes 3 states a year) and 14 is the best sit I ever had for buck sightings.  I once saw 12 different bucks in one sit in Pike County Illinois but that was a dark to dark sit during the rut.  The next day I saw 2 all day and the 3rd day I shot a 173" at 11:20 in the morning and it was the 11th buck I saw.  That was a good day and had the makings of a very high siting day.  But I didn't count those sits because if you ever heard about Pike County Ill, its.... well lets say its a whole different world especially during the rut.  Their Buck to Doe ratio is 1:1 in the area I was in and it made for a very intense rut.

[gmaschke]

There has been some nice bucks shot so far.  This having to work for a living thing is killing m!!!e.  Wish I could win the friggin lotto then I could get real serious on some deer.  A few more weeks and I am burning 4 weeks vacation!  Woo hooo !!!

[Ron]

A few more weeks and I am burning 4 weeks vacation!  Woo hooo !!!

I've got something similar in the works. I save as much time off as I can for the fall.

I'm also not feeling the heat right now - hopefully it'll get back to some  cooler temperatures like it was for the opener!

[gmaschke]

Oh its coming.......... I remember my first whitetail buck.  I shot it on the night of October 8th and we jumped it while tracking.   It was cold and he was obviously still on his feet so we waited til morning.   I found him in about 10 min. the next morning and he had 2" of snow on him!  It snowed a few hours earlier.  I was jumping for joy and the snow made for some nice first buck pics.

I too hate the heat and until last weekend the wind.  I now see that the wind is only a small hurdle.  In fact it gets your scent way downwind and scatters it quickly.  Also in high winds its usually consistent and not variable.  I sat in a standa few times last yearthat is about 50 yards from where I sat this weekend.  I remember cussing non stop because during the coarse of several hours the wind literally blew from every single direction.  It did this to me several times last year.  I know trees and such have a bit to do with it but I am actually about 200 yards from Lake Huron.

I am counting the days down to til vacation and Pre-rut/rut........

[woogie0004]

i was hunting in harbor beach  seen a ton of does 26 at one time but not a single buck.  i was planning on shooting a doe my last day up there if i didnt get a buck and go figure i didnt get a shot at a doe that day.  ill be heading back up there late october early novemer. hopefully ill have better luck  the buck to doe ratio is horrible up there last year i shot 5 does and one buck and and my uncle shot 3 does and didnt even see a buck i try to do my part to thin out the does but i usually do that in muzzel loader and late anterless season its a 2 hour trip for me and if its not cold enough to let them hang i have to drive back as soon as i get one.

[gmaschke]

Yeah that's why I shot a doe that 1st weekend.  It was cold enough to hang them.  I usually wait until the first cold spell.  Then when the rut nears they are off limits until December, or unless I tag out on bucks then its game on ladies.

[Ron]

Went out only once this weekend - Saturday evening. Talk about hot! It was hard enough to dress and not be sweating in the stand. I saw one doe for about 30+ minutes and nothing else - can't blame them with the heat.

I took the mornings to duck hunt - very uneventful. My hot spot for Saturday morning was 100% dead and Sunday I dealt with sky blasters that snuck up about 50-60 yards away. They probably shot a box of shells each and hit nothing. Burns me up the more I think about how they also had no decoys set, but didn't move off to find another spot, nor had what I would consider sufficient means to recover anything if they did hit one unless they had swimming trunks under their camo. 

[whiteram98]

Very nice reading guy's! I have not had a chance to get out yet. working midnight's doesn't always pay to be able to drive to Sandusky and back in a night.  Definately a great area to go. With the last heat spell here, I will be waiting till it cools down. Prefer to let them hang for a while with out having to take them to a butcher! I Heard it is about $80 this year for processing. I don't really have an area around Marine city/St.clair to be able to go that is close to my house.

[Ron]

Prefer to let them hang for a while with out having to take them to a butcher! I Heard it is about $80 this year for processing.

I prefer to let them hang too. Do you get something special done when taking them in to be processed?

I've always processed them myself - it's both cheaper and then I can make the cuts I want. Then afterwards if I want sausage made I just take in boneless meat to the processor.