Germ

I have faithM & M

I bet a 130 class by the end of the week

GMMAT

Happy to hear you guys are still at it (I'm envious).

I went through my deer woods yesterday.....just looking around. Since my season's been over....I've been ino the parks area where they live to learn more about their tavels. I've seen more rubs and scrapes since the season ended than I EVER saw during the season. I'm just not sure why????????

Keep at it guys.....it ain't over!!

mauser06

MM im with ya...though all my previous years were rifle kills i cant remember a year i didnt kill atleast one deer. i think there may been one time but i cant remember for sure. i know the last while ive killed 1-3 every year..weather was terrible this AM i didnt venture out. 25mph winds and rain and snow. i dont feel safe in a tree like that. winds dying down and its either going to snow or no precip no so were gunna start driving with the flintlocks at 11..id like to atleast get a doe with the flinter..for the meat for dad..and for my first flintlock kil. im off till friday...only got obligations to something one day out of the week...we will see what happens. i spend mornings on stand with the bow..then usually drive with flinters at 11 or i bowhunt the evenings...

dukemichaels

Well gents.. my Illinois season has now officially ended.[X(]

I don't want to take the season for granted (because I had a good year) but man.. it is bittersweet watching the last sunset from stand.

I have so much work ahead of me for the second season in a row. At this very moment I am witout a single piece of land to hunt upon in 2007. Let the door knocking, plat book searching, phone calling season commence!

Not to mention my wedding in July.. moving my girl in with me.. fixing the last touches on my home and then selling.. buying a new place to live.. finding a new place to live.. moving my girl and myself out.. and a wedding and a honeymoon all before the season opens for 2007. It is gonna be a long year...[&:]

Mantis Mayer

Yikes!

Germ

Dukes this is the best advice I can give you, and the only time I will give it.

Run boy run, run like the wind[8D]

mauser06

well boys...i hate to say it...but its tag soup for captian Mauser. this late season has not been good to me...getting up and hunting every area i see deer sign with the bow..then doing drives with the flintlock from lunch time till dark or if we stop early i climb back in a stand with the bow...havent seen ANYTHING from the stand...not even a tail or a snort...the deer are simply living in backyards and walking to the farmland to eat at night.

i almost killed a buck with the flintlock. it was coming out of the drive 70yds away..my buddy was up on the next hillside about 100yds from me and about 75+yds from the deer. it was between us but running directly down the deer trail i was standing on. cracked back the hammer and got ready to drop him when we got close...well my idiot buddy decided to shoot at it. he cant hit a barn 5yds infront of him and we all know it...but he shot anyway...bye bye buck.

i thought the kid was my best friend..i would called him my best friend..but now after that i dont think so. friends dont do stuff like that to friends. if it was running towards him i would never shot. i would helped him gut and drag it and congradulated him.

this season taught me alot. i love bowhunting and hate gunhunting. and i now hate doing deer drives. i learned i dont need guys to drive deer and other guys in the group as "competition" all of us trying to tag a deer. this year i seen more deer and more bigger bucks on stand then i did when we were driving them. what do i need to waste time with them for?? simply put i dont. im better off alone..worrying about myself and tagging my own deer. i just always thought my chances were better hunting with them guys..but this season taught me im better off climbing a tree..next year im going to be much more serious in bowhunting. i didnt realize id get to hunt as much as i did this year with college and work and everything so i ended up overhunting all of my stands. not next year. im going to start VERY soon for next year...beating on doors and getting permission around here and up at school. going to scout them all hard and also refine my spots everywhere else. i much rather bag a buck with the bow than have to rifle hunt again.

sorry to let you guys down.....i feel lucky to got a shot at a respectable buck my first year of bowhunting and im glad i was on a good team. i learned alot this year and gave it my all. the important thing is that i learned..cant get any better unless you learn. wish i would have killed that buck...but thats the way things go sometimes.

another thing that chapped my arse today when i was leaving the farm the farmer friend of mine said "when schools out in May you just better start shooting that bow so you kill yours next year" i said it wasnt my shooting the shooting was fine the deer ducked. then chimes in my "buddys" cousin that "bowhunts" and he says no it wasnt the deers fault! coming from a guy that shoots his bow a couple times a year and i was shooting circles around him my first week ever shooting. gut shot every deer he ever killed with a bow. think he got 2 bucks to his name..one was found by luck the next day and the other was found weeks later by a rabbit hunter. errrrr im definently done hanging around them guys........

Mantis Mayer

And just like that, another season has come and gone. Sorry I didn't produce for you guys.I blame it on the Closing onthe home a day before thearchery opener.[:@] Dukegetmoved well before the season! Well it was a fun road to travel with you guys I enjoyed your company and againI'm sorry Iwasn't onthethread as much as youyahoos! I look forward to recognizing your faces from here on out in this place and good luck in your travels!

Oh yeah and the news on the street is: I'm gonna be a dad and it's due in September! I can't time anything right!

mauser06

lol congrats MM. sure is bad timing...again!

this semester is 5x busier than last semester...good thing its spring and not fall!! i should have the bulk of the work done before the snow melts though..so i'll be back in the woods scouting, fishing and then spring bird hunting...cant wait. also got permission to hunt 100 acres up here...and the guy told me about another big farm that he said lets people hunt...the 100acres i got permission to is heavily hunted and not too great...but could be a good guy to network through..is it october yet?..nevermind..ill take may! yelp yelp yelp....gobble obble obble!!!!!

GMMAT

Heck I enjoyed both of you guys immensely, this season. I'm was happy to be along for the ride.

Maybe we'll hook back up and give it a shot, next year. We'll see.....

Good luck to you guys.....

Jeff