shawneeslinger

Opening day was great. A little windy, but still great to be in the tree. Saw a doe and fawn in the morning. A little bit of a let down, but it was still a good morning. On my way back to the cabin I got the cards out of 2 cameras. In a week and a half, one had 150 pics, the other had 1250 pics. Crazy. Got about hundred shots of a great 8 pointer that is probably close to 23-25 inches wide. Still fairly spindly, and not much mass. But a cool looking deer.
The evening hunt was brutal. about 80 degrees and in direct sun for most of it. It was hot. But I had tons of deer in the foodplot. 8 different bucks, all spikes except for a 4 pointer, and 7 does. With me going to South America on Wednesday, I had a family appearance I was required to make, so I opted out of killing and settled for just enjoying. When I get back in 2 weeks, it will be Killing Time for certain. Hope some of ya'll get it done while I'm away.

hammerman

went out for the first time saturday morning. In the morning I had a total of 10 doe & 2 bucks pass by at 50yds by 8am. The farm I hunt is close to some public land I use to hunt and about 8:05 I heard some sirens that stopped in the area of the public ground parking lot. 20min later a helicopter is flying over the farm & from the way it sounded it landed on the road close to the parking lot. I decided to get down & drive over there.

By the time I got there the helicopter was gone but the CO was there so I talked to him. He said a hunter fell from his stand that was @ 14'. I asked what his condition was but all he would say was they thought it was serious enough to use life-flight. I use to think I didn't need to strap myself to a tree but one day after we had our first daughter I dozed off and almost fell out of the tree. That was the day that I decided I wanted to be around an able to play with my daughter and taking an extra 2-3 minutes to climb a tree was no big deal vs falling from a tree while hunting a deer. From that day on I have never climbed a tree without being connected to the tree at all times

I've heard all the stories "I have good balance, if you're careful you won't fall, etc..."
Guys it can happen to anyone of us and it would be a shame for one of us to fall with all the equipment available on the market to keep us safe.

So, on to the evening hunt. I got in the stand about 3:30 and the wind was gusting 30-35mph. About 4 the wind started to calm down and I spotted a small 8pt buck 80yds to the north working a scrape. Then 80yds west out popped a doe & yearling. The buck disappeared and the doe were slowly working their way to me. The doe stopped at 19yds slightly quartering away & I let the arrow fly, she ran about 60yds and was down. Over the next hour I saw 8 more doe.

This was by far the best outing I've ever had for the beginning of the season.

Sorry about the quality of the pic my 5yr old daughter took them with my blackberry.

shawneeslinger

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing.

camokenny

Went out this weekend but only saw the same 5 does both mornings. No shots. No bucks.Its early so no worries.

youngfart

Hamerman
Awesome job on getting your doe down and hey! Your daughter did a great job on the picture,for a phone what else can you ask for!!
I went out last night and the dang farmer was taking the crops off. Never saw a thing ,but did hear them talking along the fringe of the field that was being taken off. I tried calling but no response.
As I was leaving the bush I went and received my TC SD card and switched it out . Got home and looked at them and was pleased to see the big non-tyipical made it through the winter. Picture was terrible so I won't post it up,guessing he'll push the 200 mark this year.
If only I could get lucky enough to have him pass by my stand . So now I have 2 great non-typicals on the same property.I'll have to save one for Will when he comes up in November for the rut AKA Iamyourhuckelberry. I'll try to get out a couple of evening hunts this week and will stay posted,good luck and be safe team.
Rocky

blakefrautschi

post the picture!!! haha i want to see this beast!

and congrats hammerman on your doe!

finner

Congrats on the doe's guys!

Ill be getting out for the first time this week, had other things going on this weekend that put hunting off to the sidelines. good luck fellas and be safe out there.

camokenny

Wheres everyone at? Hows the hunting going? I cant make it out but on weekends. Gotta help with a youth duck hunt on sat. so i wont get out till sat. evening or sunday morning. Good Luck everybody.

finner

Went out yesterday afternoon, its been really warm here lately, so i wasnt expecting to see to much. saw a doe and a fawn on my ATV ride to the property i hunt. Got to the stand, didnt see anythting till 1/2 hour till dark when i heard leaves crunching, down the oak ridge comes a little 4 point feeding on acorns. 2 more does came thru a a few minutes later, and then right at dark another big doe came in and fed right under my ladder and wouldnt leave, i finally had to scare her away as it was getting pretty late. all in all a pretty good hunt for being as warm as it was.

blakefrautschi

i'll be heading out again this weekend... i think.. haha its so hard to pass up duck hunting while the weather is so nice.. i love both deer and duck!!!! we'll see what happens, its still real warm here but i think i know a trail that a big one uses to and from the corn field, i dont have a cam up there, but i was walking and saw many tracks from that deer, and they were the biggest deer tracks i've ever seen... so hopefully they belong to a buck with the biggest rack i've ever seen lol