Jason,
Thanks! That is how I fill my "hobby" time in the summer. Season is just about over as the salmon are starting to run the rivers (I prefer trolling in the lake).

Chad,
That is a BEAST!!! Think I may have to schedule a trip and fly out there!
Around here a 120-140 class buck is huge.
19 more days to the season opener...

Hi Chad, Great looking bucks you have.
I took mine last year in Guernsey just outside of Cambridge. We have had a 260 acre lease there for 6 years. Land owner wouldn't renew this year. He said he had some guys from Texas that would pay him big money to lease his ground. These oil leases have everything changing. We own 100 acres in Belmont and I hooked up with a farmer in Harrison with 450 acres that just gave us permission. We are also looking at a property for sale in Muskingum that is just over 200 acres. That is a nice piece.
I just hate going into new properties. It takes years to learn and pattern the deer. The lease we lost, I had shot my buck in the same stand 3 years in a row. This year it will be base off of best guess and luck.

only about 2 more weeks till the opener here been shooting daily and getting really amped up for it, this weekend will be full of walking in the woods and trying to figure out my opening morning ambush:)

Well, by talking with some other captains & with Fieldmouse, I'm under the impression that Does will be counted. The value amount is unclear at this point, but 25 points seems to be the average of what captains are voting for.

So with this new point addition being in effect for the season I'm expecting everyone to do their part by harvesting a doe & entering their kill.

no problem plenty of those ol'slick heads walking around causing problems!:barmy:

I'm looking forward to the new doe harvesting rule, if it passes.

I'm also participating in another contest on a different forum & we are allowed to enter every kill we make to add to our team scores. But that is a much smaller contest & because it is, we can afford a different scorecard & a prize. But it's not nearly as active as HNI either. Still super fun though.

I think a doe should be counted. Its a kill and there may be some that aren't antler hunters and for some the buck that they want may not show up. Why exclude someone who is out there doing what they love to do and not reward them for a trophy kill?

Good news about the doe info! I felt like I let my team down last year because all I had within shooting range was 6 pointers last year. I had only one shooter in my area who was nocturnal until the chasing phase when I couldn't get him stopped for a shot. VERY frustrating!

I was looking over last years score card & only 35 or so entries were made & thats out of around 150 participants. With does counting this year, we should see a rise in participation, but hell, some folks don't even hunt does, they're strictly buck hunters.

So if our entire team makes a conscience effort to put a doe kill on the board, that will be our advantage. And since our team seems to be fairly active hunters with good bucks in the past years, & most everyone hunting big buck states, Im thinking we've got a better than average chance of winning this thing.

I'll be trying for a doe for sure. There are a few people that want meat that don't hunt. Fill my freezer 1st and then spread the food around.

Early season doe kills are eaten up pretty quick around here. We always have a big beer bash here with my first kill of the year. We invite our family, friends & neighbors out. They bring their kids out to play with ours, the wives sit around gossiping & us fellers sit out back here & drink beer & talk deer. Its a tradition passed down from my elders & one I'll pass on to my 4 boys.

We germans do the same thing every year, except we get together and make sausage and drink beer lol.

sounds like a good time! When can i expect my invitation in the mail?

First day of the season didn't start off like I wanted. Left the house and for some reason I looked at my bow and no quiver. I practiced thursday night and took it off and didn't put it back on. So I had to turn around only a few blocks to get it. Still had plenty of time since I hardly slept, got to my stand just before 6 am and all of a sudden, the neighbor to the north, turned on his pivot motor. Its not that close but when its dead silent it does seem to making hearing little noises hard. Like footsteps of a deer in the corn right behind me. Don't know what it was for sure. Just seen the butt end of it. Motor shut off at 7:30 and then I could hear. Had 3 does come out and walk out of sight and then come charging back right in front of the stand. Don't have any idea why? But it wasn't a total bust for the day. Seen quite a few deer and it was just real nice to sit back in a stand!!

Nothing beats the first morning of the season. just 1 more week for me.

Although i love mornings, i have had 90% of my success in the evening. How bout you guys. Which is better for you, morning or evening?

I need to try evenings more than what I do, but I love everything about morning hunts. Cool to start then warming up, everything waking up, and then I get to check the cams after the hunt. Plus it eliminates tracking in the dark.

Evenings for me, thats been the best I have had anyway... And I am back home from AZ... Good trip but glad to be home and ready to hit the woods here shortly. Looks like the fall pattern is setting up earlier that usual. Leavs changing colors and cool weather this week.

Yea i am looking forward to the early fall, They are harvesting all the corn and sunflowers around my area which i think is good, now the deer are pretty much forced to head for the creek bottom.

went out this evening and took a look at an area just north of town here that i usually turkey hunt in the spring, found a bachelor group of 7 mule deer bucks. There was only 1 5x5 that was worth taking but i might have to keep an eye on him in the early season here.

Evenings have definatly been best for me. It seems the deer are more concentrated in the evening as they travel to their feeding areas. I have had success in the morning but I don't see quite as much traffic as the evening hunt...14 more days!

Just checkin in fellas. Long weekend here & still trying to get over a wicked hangover. I turned 36 this weekend & decided to tie one on Saturday nite. I'm still paying for it today. I'm just getting to old for this ****.

But on a good note, the wife & boys got me a set of Ameristep climbing sticks that I've been wanting. Also bought myself a game cart. So all in all a great weekend & only two more weeks till opening day. 8)

Happy Birthday Jason! Those sticks ought to get you nice and high to be undetected!

Thanks man, I appreciate it. Yea, I'm psyched about the sticks. I've found several cool spots that just don't work with my climber, so these should do the trick.

congrats on the b-day jason, when u are huntin alone those carts sure save a guy.

Thanks man.

Well, my plan is to use the sticks with my climber instead of my old lock ons & use the game cart to haul both my climber & the sticks to my sets & save my back for hauling out the deer. 8)

These trees out here wont allow i climber so all i use is hang-ons, I just built three hang ons this summer, but they are so heavy i am going to have to use a hand line to hang-em

Sounded like you had a good time... Shakin the hang over doesnt get any easier the older you get that much is certain...

I've always hunted out of lock ons but I bought a Summit climber last year & after sitting in it the entire season, Im not going back to my back breaking lock ons. That Summit is like a recliner at 25'.

Ain't that the truth. I don't bounce back from a nite of drinking like I use to. Though it was a blast, I'm just not up to it any more.

I concur.... picked up a summit titan last year, totally love it. I got the extra size to accomodate all day gun season sits. Seat is awesome. I guess I have just been accustomed to utilizing a climber for quite a while

Glad its not just me that takes longer to recover then... :)

36 huh, geez I remember that like it was last year. I've learned when to say when for 2 reasons. The hangover and the wife. Neither one of them makes the next day very enjoyable. Happy late Birthday!

Thanks Ryan. Oh the hangover was far meaner than the wife. She even let me sleep in & then fixed me a big ol' breakfast the next morning. And as I laid on the couch the rest of the day groaning, she asked "still having fun dummy?". Oh she's a real comedian. 8)

I know it's been posted already but who's already hunting? And when is opening day for everyone else.
Its Oct. 1st here in IL.

Also, does will be accepted (required for all Team 7 members) for 25 points. So lets kill some deer & win this thing.

I started last Saturday and I get to bowhunt until December 31st.

my bow season starts this saturday and runs until december 31 for bucks and january 15 for does.

starts sept 29th i believe and runs till jan 30th

PA starts 9/29 - 11/12 and Ohio is 9/29 - 2/3/13.
Going to Ohio this weekend to hang some stands.
We're also going to a Land Auction in Muskingum County.
Wish us luck.

Just got an e-mail from the south dakota game and fish, They are cutting deer tags in alot of the southern counties in south dakota and they are giving hunters who already have tags the option for a full refund if they choose to turn in their tags. They said in the message that this is all due to a sudden outburst of EHD.