Camo crew sounds good and the avatar looks great. Dove season starts tommorow gonna go out friday and see if we can't shoot some birds. then it is 15 days until bow season starts. Buddy I hunt with on his property has seen some good bucks so hopefully this will be the year

Camo Crew sounds fine with me too.
I guess RDHunter still hasn't signed in yet. Maybe he's on vacation.

I'm getting ready to head to Ohio Saturday morning. I can't wait to check my trail cam pics. We're also on a mission to kill a coyote that seems to have made is home on our Lease.

25 days for me! i can wait. dove season opened today, so hopefully that will help time go faster.

So does anybody have any trail cam pics of bucks your seeing?

i have close to 80 pictures of just bucks, but the forum will not let me upload...

I only have one good buck so far on trail camera. I was getting pictures left and right at the beginning of summer when they were small but then I just stopped getting them.. I dont know if I have my cameras in the wrong spot or what. Me and my friend are going to a 3d course tomorrow then we are going to my cabin to check a camera and finish putting up a few stands and clearing shooting lanes.

Hey guys, christine just posted a thread for captains to check in so should we round one up for her?

Who would like to do it?

I don't care who el capitane is. Just as long as we win!!

Pope94/Ia must be the capeetan

Haha why me?

how do u change your avatar?

Pope94/Ia. Cause you knew they wanted a name for team captain...

I put one ladder & 1 hang on up today. Already have 2 Double ladder stands up.. It's gettin time... Saw 3 does & a fawn by one double stand....

and it looks like he is on here the most. Doesnt matter to me really, but I would think who ever is on here the most should be it. jmo

HahA okay I guess. It doesn't really matter to me.

I agree. Pope94/IA should be our captain. I see RDHunter still hasn't checked in.

I got my trail cam pics when I went out to Ohio this past weekend. I didn't have a shooter. A lot of 1-1/2 and 2-1/2 year old bucks. There is a 7 point that's 18" wide that might be a 3-1/2 year old but he's not a shooter in my book. Probably a 100" - 105" deer. I know there are bigger bucks around but I also know they are very leary of the trail cam flash even when they are infrared. Season in Ohio begins September 25th. I can't wait.

I guess I can be captain. I sent RDHunter a pm so hopefully you receives an email or gets on sometime soon. He could be on vacation or busy at work..

I went out last weekend to finish putting up a tree stand. This stand is extremely high in the tree. I haven't had one this high before but the stand is very comfortable and I have several big branches around me so I feel safe up there. And im soooo hidden. I can't wait to hunt it come september 18th!!
Ill be filming all of my hunts this fall and im gonna do a better shop than I did last year hopefully.

Hey guys, I was out putting up a stand today and I had a yearling walk up with in 20 yards of me up in the tree. She caught my scent though and took off, but it got me going. I don't know how I am going to make it the next week and a half before the season starts.
Oh and I also might, and I stress might, have just landed a prime new hunting spot. A customer at work was talking about his 120 acres and I drifted the conversation over to hunting and he said he hasn't hunted it in years. I got his number and I offered to help him around the farm. We'll see....

Hey guys, I'm your alternate! Name is Mike, originally from Upper Michigan, but now in Heyworth, IL. I've got a pretty decent lease that I hunt, so hopefully I can get it done this year. Stands are hung, possibly one more to go up yet this weekend, haven't decided yet. Oct. 1 can't come fast enough.

one of the bucks that we will be trying for this year

welcome to the team mike! its nice to have u aboard...

Welcome to the team! Glad to have you aboard.

Thanks guys! One more stand going up tomorrow or Sunday, depending on the rain in the forecast. I've got high hopes for this year. This is the 3rd year on my lease, and I have yet to take a buck off it. I've seen some good ones, passed on countless small ones, just need to them to behave the same way with another year's growth on their heads. The first weekend I'll be back home in the UP to hunt with my brother, both deer and grouse, which is always fun. I'll bowhunt up there a little, likely a doe mission, or just bear watching, which is what early season has become in the last couple of years.

Welcome to the Team Mike! I had a lease in IL for 5 years. That was before the they raised the out of state license fees. Sure do miss that place. It was just south of Navoo or across the river from Keokuk, IA. Definitely big deer in IL.

I hear ya on the non-res fees. My bro is coming down, and wow, $455 for the combo tags. That's high.

Guess what is one week from today!! Opening day of Iowa youth! Oh man I can't wait. Considering I dont have any arrows yet ill more than likely be taking my muzzleloader or a 12 ga. But its just youth season, Ill have months of bow hunting to get a big one for our team!

Yup, one week here as well. I took the whole week off so I can get out and see if
I can't get a buck early. I cant wait.

Hung my last set today, interesting spot. Big drop off behind me so it feels like I'm WAYYY up there, but on the uphill side, it's just a normal height, maybe 17' or so. Loads of acorns/oaks all around it, including the tree the stand is in, so that may pay off in the early season. Now the wait begins, October 1 for MI and IL. I ordered some stuff from Cabelas yesterday, so at least I have that to look forward to in the short term. I bought a Dead Fowl goose dummy for my lab, just hope he can get it in his mouth!

I put up a treestand a few weekends ago that is on the downside of a hill so its waaaayyy up there! I showed me brother and a friend of ours the treestand and there first words were.. "hooollly S**t". Im thinking 25 feet maybe? Im not good at judging how tall a treestand is in the air. All I know is that it was a pain in the buttox to put in but it sure paid off! I love that stand so much.

I bought my youth tag and a any sex bow tag saturday. Later on when I get a little more money ill buy one or two more bow doe tags and then my shotgun any sex.
Today we went out to the pond and cabin too put up a few more stands and find blind locations. I set up my two trail cameras so ill have some pictures come next weekend.

Mine are all in place & 3 reserves in the garage for IF I GOTTA move during season. I qualified for a "special" antlerless season that opens in 3 days & just checked that stand area today-looks good. Just using my recurve on this hunt.

I received confirmation that National Bowhunter Magazine will be publishing the article I submitted on my DIY Antelope Bowhunt this past Aug.. That puts a grin on my face...

Good Luck fellas...

Counting Down! 11 more days until Ohio's Archery season.

16 days until I get to head out for a few days. I am going out this weekend to do a little scouting.

Same here, 16 days! Going to pull my camera card on Friday and see what's lurking. Last year in the early going I got lots of coons and turkeys, so hopefullly that pattern has changed.

4 days from now ill be in the woods... more than likely in my dark horse blind because its suppose to rain all weekend. Which is fine. I know exactly where to go and when to be there. Ill probably sit all day if its raining and wait for that rain to stop. The deer will be out like crazy. Finally ordered some arrows today. Our archery guy said he should have them done on saturday so saturday morning ill be taking my dad's 12 gauge out and then during the day we are gonna run to his place and pick them up and get my bow raised to 65 lbs.

Hey Pope94/IA, Just a little word of advise. If you hunt out of treestand, you may want to try pulling your bow back at a 30 - 45 degree angle down before raising your bow's draw weight to 65 pounds. It should be a smooth motion draw, as if you were drawing back on a big buck right under your stand. Another thing to try is to put on all the clothes you would be wearing if it were 10 degrees outside. If you don't have any problems doing either one, then you should be ok to raise it to 65 pounds. Just make sure you try it once you raise it. The last thing you want to do is get busted on a buck of a lifetime drawing your bow back when you have to raise it up, just to draw it. Just my 2 cents.
I can't wait to see how you make out this weekend. Good Luck!

Good advice by dmax, 65 in the bow shop when you don't want to look like a wuss in front of a bunch of guys, is one thing, but doing it in the tree is a whole 'nother deal! The clothing is a good point too. Best of luck this weekend! Can you shoot either sex?

Yes I have thought about that. Im still a kid and my strength is getting much greater and 60 pounds has become feather weight for me. I know the clothes and being 0 degrees outside will really make a differance. Ill have my archery guy raise the bow and ill sit down on the ground and try and shoot and if I can't pull it back then ill know I can't do it sitting down in a tree stand or with all my clothes on.

YopperMike, I can indeed take any sex. If I dont tag a deer during youth season than my tag is good for one gun season of my choice. It was a new law passed a few years ago. So if I dont get a shooter in range than I wont be releasing any arrows this youth season. Ill end up using it for first season shotgun.

Hey Pope94, I never thought about setting on the ground and drawing.
I've had two shoulder surgeries and I didn't want to give in that I couldn't pull back 65 pounds anymore. It cost me last year when a 12 point caught me struggling to draw because I got to the peak and couldn't finish drawing. I was sitting in my stand and drawing back on about a 20 degree angle. It was probably for the best because he was a 2-1/2 year old 12 point that I had passed on earlier in the season. I sure hope he made through so I can have redemption this year. I have since bought a a new bow that is much faster so I can take the draw weight down. I'm now shooting a Mathews Monster at 52 pounds. With that being said because this bow is 353 fps IBO and my Q2 was 320 fps IBO, I'm shooting faster and with more kinetic energy with a lot more comfortable weight.
Good luck this weekend!

Pope, good idea with sitting on the floor. We used to do that alot at the bow shop just for fun, but it makes a world of difference in what the draw weight feels like. Good luck on your hunt this weekend, hopefully you can tag something, buck or doe. Gotta say, i'm hoping the buck tag gets filled with archery tackle! I'm a rather large mammal, but because of shoulder problems, i'm down to 64 pounds, and I'm passively shopping for a new bow with a less aggressive draw. Draw weight can sometimes become a weiner measuring device, but no need! Especially with todays bows that can deliver great speeds at low poundage.

Thanks guys hopefully I can tag a buck this weekend. But if not... I have 3 more weekends for youth I think?

Our archery guy works in his archery shop on the side of his real part time job and he works with my uncle so my dad asked my uncle if he could get the arrows from our archery guy so I would have them by saturday morning so I can start archery hunting right away. So that means I won't be able to get up to his shop to raise the bow poundage. Which really is no big deal. I might go up there sometime next week or if not Ill just wait until turkey season comes around.

When im at home shooting I like to try differant things and I tried shooting sitting down and its a challenge. Not only is it hard to pull back but your shoulders are turned and your posture is way off so its harder to hold still. I actually have had to come at full draw on a couple deer and a turkey. I was army crawling through some tall weeds towards a big tom and I had to turn around and lay on my back and I pulled back as I went to sit up. That was tough!!! The turkey caught me when I was just about at full draw and right when I was ready to pull the release trigger, he took off.

Checked my camera today, only a couple short doe vids and some coon pictures. I moved it a short distance to get a better shot down the trails instead of perpendicular to them, so hopefully that increases the picture quantity for next weekend.