RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

hahaha... Yeah. Everyone is going to be saying "boy that team # 4 must not be into it this year they are always on the bottom of the 2nd page" Little do they know that the reason we are always on the bottom of the 2nd page is because we are the ones in the woods. hahaha
Good luck everyone. My season starts Next Sat. (7th) the only mornings during the first 2 weeks I plan on not being in the stand are the mornings I am in the duck blind.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Our season starts Saturday Good luck to all ,but most of all wear a safety belt and be careful.

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Only addition I have is to enjoy yourselves! We've been waiting 200+ days for this...enjoy it!

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Well I hunted my land last week without seeing any horns. Still need to kill a doe to get my earn a buck sticker. But I am leaving for Iowa for their opener on Sunday. Have a week to hunt down there. Good luck to all of you..............dabow

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Headed out to utah to try to get my elk. See all you guys on the 13th. Hopefully we can get some bone till I get back. God bless.

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223....good luck on your elk hunt!

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Good luck with the elk 223, I think that a steak for each team member would be a nice gesture!!! :D

The hunting has been good here in PA, been passing lots of little bucks waiting on one of those bruisers I have pics of. Plenty of time left and I am already seeing alot of buck movement, its only a matter of time! :)

Hows everybody else doing so far???

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Its been wet here in meadville, But things are looking better .I also am heading elk hunting this week so I will be back when the rut heats up .

Good luck and hunt safe.

Jim

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Hi guys,
Just got back from Iowa. Was a slow week but there were a few bright spots. Passed on a 130 class and a few two year olds. Also passed on the biggest buck (body size) I have seen anywhere. This guy had to be at least 350 pounds. Huge gut hanging half way to the ground. Problem with him was his rack. Left side was a typical four points with good mass. Right side had apparently been damaged, it had a tiny spike and than a large black glob that hung down on the side of his face. Was tempted to take him, would of been good conversation but not much to score. I will be back in Iowa come november prime time. Next week I will head up to my property for a few days of hunting.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

OOps, actually this was me posting. I didn't realize I was logged in under her name..........dabow

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I have hunted very little so far. Trying to save vacation time at workand brownie points at home for the rut.
I did take my boy on his first deer hunt this weekend on his 10th birthday. It was Illinois youth firearm season.
Thanks to huntingnet member "Lanse Couche Couche", who let us hunt on himfor the weekend after we lost our lease.

The full moon always seems to mess with my hunting, but my boy scored anyway. It was the worst case of buck fever I have ever had.....and it wasn't my hunt!!!!
The boy doesn't get stirred up too easily and managed to get a good shot, even with his old man trying to shake us both out of the blind.
I am one proud dad:).
This is one of my best memories I'll ever have, and I can't express my gratitude enough to Lanse for the privilege of hunting on his property.

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Thats awsome, congrats to your son, I bet your one proud papa right now! Nothing beats the look on his face in that picture, thats what huntings all about, congrats to him again! :)

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422...congrats on your son's doe!! I'm only 17 and I already can't wait for the day when I get to take my children out hunting. Tell the little guy congrats on the job well done as well!

Hunting: Been a rough start to the season for me. I haven't got to get out nearly as much as I wanted to due to work and school...and when I do get out...I haven't seen a thing. Ohh well. My dad has been having some great luck spotting deer..although he hasn't had any shots...but just knowing they are around is a good thing. He's spotted a 3-4 different bucks...most of them legal...so its just a matter of being in the right stand at the right time.

I'm going out tonight after school to a stand where he has been seeing lots of deer. Maybe I'll get lucky...and if not tonight, maybe Thursday will bring me some luck..it will be my 18th birthday after all. What could be better than getting a buck with my bow on my birthday.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Keep your chin up, the end of this week is bringing a severe drop in temps and the action here in PA should really pick up! There is PLENTY of time left in season, and the way I see it, every passing day gives me a better chance of tagging a buck!

I visited one of my stand sites at noon today to fill up my scrape dripper and I found some new sign that looks very promissing. There is a very thin strip of younger trees behind my stand and it is absolutely full of new rubs, most are on trees as big around as my forearms, needless to say, thats where I will be in about an hour.

Good luck guys and keep us updated.... I am really hoping to add some points for our team tonight, I just have "one of those feelings" :D

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AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Getting agrivated!!!

I have hunted every day since the season opened 4 days ago and have yet to see the first deer. I am hunting rubs and trails I don't know whats wrong. I guess I will try the field edges for the next few days.

By the way... the rut is starting in Va. My hunting buddy here stuck a 6 pointer yesterday that was chasing does and saw another bruiser 8 pointer today chasing 3 does..... maybe my luck will change.

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Just got back fellas. Had a Awesome time in Utah it truly was the hunt of a lifetime. I was fortunate enough to connect on a nice 5x5 bull elk on the second evening of my hunt. He wont make any record books but he sure makes me happy. Should make a neat mount and supply plenty of meat for my family and I. I'm going to get out and do some bowhunting tomorrow night. Now i finally have some time I can get serious about it. Hope everyone is well god bless.

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Way to go slayer! How about telling the story.

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Awsome bull 223, a huge congrats!!!!!! He will make a great trophy for on the wall. Way to go!

A little update, things just keep picking up here in PA. Thursday night was my best night of hunting in awhile, I saw 8 doe and 5 bucks, all 5 bucks were legal and 3 were shooters by my standards, but I got greedy and left empty handed. I had the biggest 7 point I have ever seen standing broadside at 30 yards rubbing a tree and I passed the shot up because I had two giant 8 points (gross in the 130's) 50 yards to my left. Needless to say, the big 8's never came in and the 7 was gone by the time the 8's moved off. Friday was pretty un-eventfull, we had winds in the 20-30 mph range but I still saw 4 doe. This morning I jumped the two big 8's out of their beds on my way to my stand. I know where they usually bed but they were right off the trail leading into the woods this morning. I didn't spook them bad so I am confident they are gonna stay in that area. I have Monday off work and I will be out again, I finally figured out exactly what and where these two big 8's are doing/going in the morning and with a little luck, I feel confident that Monday morning I can put a tag in one. They are bedding in a tiny patch of woods that borders a golden rod field (probablly 1/2 acre in size) and they move through the thickest part of the golden rods up the hill, cross a gaswell road into a thicket that is on the edge of a cornfield. There are no trees to get in and honestly if there were, there would be no way of getting a stand in one un-detected. My only hope is to set-up off the dirt road and get a shot when they cross it. I found a perfect spot that will give me an 18 yard shot to where there trails meets the road and I will have plenty of cover so they shouldn't see me, plus the wind should be perfect. I'll keep you guys updated!

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Well i was sitting there the second evening things were pretty slow we were all pretty much asleep. For some reason i decided to glance to my right and saw a elk emerging from the quakies. I told my guide and he threw the swarovski spotting scope on him. he told me he wasa shooter than things got interesting. I had to move 10yards up the hill to try to get above the sage brush because of where the bull was feeding in the meadow. I had to watch the bull for 3 minutes before I shot talk about almost having a heart attack. I was ready to go nuts. Finally the bull stepped in a opening and turned his head to look behind him. I beared my 270win down with the help of my stoney point polecat rests. The guide told me he was 379yards so I held about 5" above his back took a deep breath and squeezed one off. It seemed like eternity for the bullet to get there which in reality was less than a second but i had enough time 2 pick my head up from the rifle and watch impact with my naked eye. Upon impact the bull folded on the spot all his legs folded up underneath him and he slid down the mountain about 40yards. The worst part about it was it was 15minutes before dark and due to the terrain there was no way I could get to my bull before dark. My guide went up and field dressed him and stuck his coat on him to keep the coyotes off of it. That was a major concern of mine because I heard many coyotes while I was there. Everynight right about dark the mountains lit up with coyote howls. Luckily they didn't touch it. It was a crisp 30 degrees overnight and 38 degrees when I shot my bull so we were sure it would be good for the next morning. My guide along with the camera man who videotaped my hunt who was Paul Kendall some of you may have heard of him he was a pretty awesome guy and my father drug the bull down off the mountain to a clearing so we could get some awesome pictures before dressing and packing it out. Upon skinning I learned i had made a decent shot clipping the front edge of both front shoulders along with a bunch of major arteries running down its neck. He wont make any record books but for a first elk on my first trip he sure makes me proud. To top it all off my father along with mr.kendall both got the whole deal on video. Mr. Kendall is going to publish my hunt on one of his hunting dvd's he publishes. It was a awesome trip and a memory im sure will last a lifetime.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

223: Great Story! Congrats on the bull!! I'd love the chance to go elk hunting sometime...it sounds like you had a blast!

Hunting: Well, I finally saw some deer. Saw 9 Tuesday night, 7 Thursday night, and 3 Saturday night. Saturday was my first look at a legal buck...he was sparring with a little one about 70 yds out. Amazing. None ever came in close enough...but the fact that I am starting to see some deer is great! I got a good feeling about this year....only time will tell though.

I've got an easy work week...only three days...so I am going to be out hunting alot!!

Good luck everyone!

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Season update,
So far I have only hunted 16.5 hrs. Have seen 9 deer-no bucks. And killed 1 doe. Sorry no pic. Had trouble with my release and ended up spine shooting her, and Iwas not too proud of my harvest at the time.
Going out tomorrow, will give a report.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Quick update...still no bucks....but my Dad took a yearling doe(75 lbs) on Friday night with his ML and I followed up with a mature doe (119 lbs) Saturday night with my bow. Things were a little tense for afewhours after myhit....not a great one....but we found her.

I'll post pics and the full story here in a day or two....I'm running on 8 hours of sleep over two days....and thats not enough for me. I've got some school stuff to do, then I'll get back on here and give the full story.

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I took a mature doe thursday with my rifle hunting here in 2c. I have the disabled permit to hunt from a vehicle so I was allowed to take the gun out. That is the first deer i saw all season so far hunting here in my area so I wasn't going to pass it up. Going to hit it hard this week hopefully I can get on some deer and find a buck.

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CONGRATS 223!!! You seem to be having a good year!

Here is a quick pic of my doe:

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both of those does look nice and fat. I still have to kill a doe for my earn a buck sticker here in Wi. Action is picking up, have had young bucks moving around a lot. I have to work thru friday than I am off till thanksgiving. will be splitting time between wi and iowa.

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Came so close tuesday night. I figured with the burst of cold weather we have been having and the pre-rut upon us i'd give the old rattlebag a try. So for a minute i beat the bag and blew a few grunts. I had just laid the bag down and didnt even have time 2 grab my bow yet and here he came. I had ranged some trees around me and he stopped right beside the one at 23yd. Bad part was he was looking right at me and head on. We had a stare down for a solid minute so i finally decided to slowly make the move for my bow. I had it 3/4 of the way up when he made a slight turn so i got it the whole way up no shot because he was still head on. He than turned and trotted off. I dont think he's spooked to bad because he didnt blow and he just casually left the area. I know where he lives so i'm going to keep after him. I gave him yesterday off and i'm going to give him tonight yet to and get back after him on friday. He's a nice buck i'd say he's a 14" wide or so 8pt he'd be a nice start to get us on the board. I've known theres been a buck in that area all year as i have been finding rubs from him all year long. The best part is no1 else is allowed to hunt the area but my father and I so I dont have to worry about anyone else pushing him out of the area. I'm going to keep after him and hopefully I can get lucky. Hunting here has been rough this year that was the first deer I have seen so far bowhunting. Hope everyone else is having a good season and hopefully soon we can put some inches on the board. God Bless.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Nice lookin does you guys and good luck on the bucks. I posted and update on how my seasons been going on the main board but I'll copy it here for you guys....

Hey guys,

Well, my title says it all, I love this game that we as archers play with our opponents (the deer).

This season has been by far my best season to date, I have seen more buck activity that I thought possible. I have had probablly 50 different opportunities to shoot bucks (usually 2-3 every morning and evening hunt). I have been passing up alot of younger bucks waiting for one of the bruisers that I saw all summer.

This week I have been sitting in one of my stands which is in a very open patch of white oaks with yard grass planted on the ground. I had seen several bucks cruising about 30 yards insidethe brush that borders this open spot in the woods. Tuesday I decided that I was gonna put a buddy of mine in that area as he just started archery hunting and I felt confident that he would have an encounter in that spot. I told him that even though we practice strict management in this patch of woods, he could shoot any legal buck since he has never shot a deer before. 8:03 a.m. and I get a text message saying that he hit a buck and to come over. I snuck my way to his stand and he told me that he put a perfect shot on a 5 point. We sat there for about an hour before I decided to go look at his arrow. Sure enough, clean pass through with great blood on the arrow. We started looking for blood but didn't see any. He was getting worried but I made sure to point out that these kicked up leaves were another good indication as to where the deer went. We followed the leaves for about 70 yards and I can honestly say, this deer didn't bleed a drop of blood that I saw! We came upon a clearing that was surrounded by some thick brush and there weren't any leaves to follow. I noticed that there was a freshly broken stick at theedge of the thicket and I pointed it out to him. We headed in there and his trophy was laying 10 yards inside the thicket. He double lunged the buck but it had clotted up and didn't bleed. I have never seen this happen before, there wasn't even any blood on his hide!

Well, yesterday afternoon I decided to sit where he was. I have another stand about 80 yards down from this spot but there was a fresh scrape 20 yards in front of the new stand so I figured I would give it a shot. At 5:15 p.m. the action started as a 4 point and button buck came in. As they were milling around a few doe came in followed by a small racked 2-1/2 year old 8 pt. I watched these deer as they milled around and I just kept seeing more and more deer and then I heard bucks fighting. I watched 3 different buck fights and by the time I climbed out of stand I had seen 7 different bucks and 8 doe (no shooter bucks)!

This morning I decided to sit in that same stand but I just had a odd feeling that I should be in my hang-on stand that is about 80 yards down. At sunrise I did a few grunts and in comes the 4 pt and the button buck from yesterday. They milled around for awhile and when they had left I decided to try hitting my rattle bag, not five minutes later I see movement below me. I put my bino's up and see a large body deer in the brush about 15 yards from my hang-on. As he clears the brush I noticed his rack, a large 8 point (probablly 20" outside spread, long G-2's, decent G-3's, and nice brows). He was walking past my hang on headed away from me. I did a snort wheeze and he threw his head my way, then out of nowhere he took off running away from me. I was bummed to say the least but then I heard crashing from where he had came. I pulled up the bino's and saw yet another big body deer in the brush and as he came into the clearing (yet again, 15 yards from my hang-on), my mouth dropped to the ground, it was him, the wide racked 10 point. My knees were shaking and my heart was pounding. I did a snorth wheeze at him and he was on his way towards me. There was a dead fall between us and he went around the far side of it. He came around the backside and was standing in my shooting lane at 35 yards facing me, at this point he decides to make his own scrape. As I am watching him, I never noticed a big 9 point that came out from where him and the big 8 point did. I saw the wide 10 lift his head and look down there and before I could draw back he took off towards the 9 point and they ran down into the hollow.By 8:30 a.m. I had already seen 4 bucks, and 3 of them were definetly shooters. I sat there awhile and saw a young 8 point running 3 does behind me in the clearing I mentioned earlier.

Its frustrating to sit in stand and watch 3 Pope & Young bucks walk past your other treestand but this is why I love this sport so much, it is a game of chess everytime we step in the woods, and I thank God after every trip into the woods for the chance to be part of the game. I'll be out this evening, this time I'm sitting in my hang-on, who wants to put money on the bucks being up where I had my climber this morning? :D

Here is the little 4 pt and 8 pt that have been keeping me occupied while in stand, a few more years and the outcome might be different :D





And for those who don't know about the wide racked 10 point I was referring to, this is the last pics I got of him....

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Hey you guys...the story for my doe is posted in the main forum if you want to read it. It's kinda long...but there is pics!

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1765384

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Were on the board guys :D Not the monster I was looking for, but given the circumstances I will take him. The full story is in the main bowhunting forum. He is a 6 point and he just added 60" to our score....

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Great Job !!!!!!

Its been tough here in North west Pa ,most of it is under water!

Thanks for the inches.

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congrats on the buck. It's nice to finally add some inches to the team score. Hopefully here soon I along with the rest of us can join you! Sorry to hear about you're g/fwishing her a speedy recovery.

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Great job Buck. I wish the best to your g/f as well and hope she has a speedy recovery. Sounded like you had a fun hunt.

Little update from me. I saw my first deer this past weekend while on stand. It has been slow this season but things seem to be picking up. I passed up a couple real small doe and spike and had a rather large doe come in at about dark. Too dark unfortunately and I had to pass, I did not want to criple her up. The good news is that she died a couple days later to the bow of my little brother. I hope that things start to pick up more as I will be spending a great deal more time in the woods the next couple weeks. Good luck to all of you guys and keep us posted. The seal has been broken thanks to BM and now the rest of us must follow.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

BM...congrats on the buck!

I'm going out tomorrow night...hopefully they will be around!

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Been out everynight this week and i've been skunked every night! headed out tonight to a spot my buddy found and hunted last night. loaded with rubs and scrapes. He saw a decent 8pt and a small 6pt in there last night the 8 beat the heck out of the 6 i guess than he was rubbing everything all up. I'm leaving here in 20minutes i'm going to sneak in there tonight. I wasn't even going to go out tonight but I got that itch and my minds telling me to go and sit there that they will come. Hopefully my mind isn't playing tricks on me;). It just feels right, I got that weird itchy feeling we get sometimes. The weather is cold 38degrees with a windchill taking it down to about 25 and the rut is ready to kick in anyday so I think it'll be worth it. Hopefully my feeling stays true and I can knock us one down tonight. Just wanted to remind you all that i'm not a trophy hunter. The first buck to give me a ethical shot i'm going to throw a horton matched weight mx tipped with a 100gr Spitfire in his direction and hopefully everything goes right.;)God Bless and good hunting.

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Well tonight like all my evenings this year produced nothing. I've only spotted a deer on one sitting. I've never been so frustrated as a bowhunter before. All it does though is makes me more determined. Good things come to those who wait. Hopefully my time is coming. [&:]

RE: 4- Team Official Thread
 

Hi Guys. Sorry I haven't posted for a while, been very busy.

I was out almost all of this past weekend, and the bucks are moving, but no shooters came by my stand, except for one monster that I actually grunted in, but could not get to stop when he entered my shooting lanes. He was pretty riled up and just trotted through two of my shooting lanes without slowing down. Judging from other pics in this contest, I would guess he was a mid 140 to low 150 class animal. Really nice.

I was out this morning (Wednesday, Nov. 8th) and there were bucks moving but they were taking the alternatetrail to their destination than the one I was sitting on. One very small 8 point did walk right by my set-up, but he was too small and young to seriously consider with another full day of hunting left. I did move my stand tothe intersection of the two trails, into a slightly more exposed tree, which I don't like, so maybe tomorrow morning Iwill be in position to get a shot at something nice, but deer have a way of confounding the best laid plans. Tomorrow is my last best chance before rifle season opens this Saturday.I'll postmy results before I head off to Northern Iowa tomorrow night for a 3 day pheasant hunting and fishing trip. When rifle season opens I pray that a few big'uns survive to late season and next year.

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Well fella's the season is winding down here with saturday being the final day :(. The rut is in full swing though and the deer are moving great. I thought tonight was it had 2 does come running in and stood there at 20yards in the brush they kept watching behind them and stood there for like 2 minutes. I figured a buck was hot on their tail. Well he never showed up. Finally once i could see the does were going to hit a opening i quit watching for the buck and tried to harvest one of them. Of course it went how it usually does they hit the opening to fast and never stopped. That is of course till they hit the other side of the opening in grapevines :(. I still have 2 days left and I am going to hunt them hard. Hopefully I can still manage something out of it. Goodluck boys!

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Well no bucks today....I'll be going out tomorrow night for the final time before rifle season...maybe I'll have some last minute success! [crossing the fingers]

On a brighter note....I got bored today....so I took my first archery squirrel.....Judo points really do some damage:D

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15 yd shot:

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Nice shot, now do that to one of these PA bucks. :D I got out a bit this week to video my buddy but things were slow, hardly saw any deer on stand and no decent bucks at all. We went out spotting and saw a few decent bucks, nothing huge, but we didn't see hardly any signs of rut.

Good luck guys!