On_Point

Jason, that's a great spot your hunting. I expect to see big things come outta there. 8)

On_Point

Well, IL opener was yesterday. I was on stand by 5:30am. Had 5 does walk in to the maple grove around 7:30 or so, but they never came in range. They browsed around at 75 yards for over an hour & then headed to bedding. About 9:10 they came back through at a full run directly into my set. I have no idea what spooked em, but I'm guessing hunters on the neighboring property. Around noon I headed to my evening set & filmed deer browsing & bedding all afternoon in a dried up back water slew. Around 6pm they started walking into me, heading into the ag field behind me. I had a group of 9 does walk directly under stand. I waited for the old grey nanny doe to walk into my lane, I drew on her undetected, I took the shot & I swear I nailed her perfectly. She barreled down the slew in the direction she was facing. The other deer scattered & after 20 minutes I climbed down, retrieved my arrow, soaked in bright red, bubbly blood. I was psyched. I packed my gear, walked it back to the truck, got the lantern & my game cart & went back to track her down. The initial blood trail was good but once she broke into the crp 50 yards away the trail went cold. I searched for an hour before calling in a friend. We searched till around 10 before I had to head home so my wife could go to work at 11pm. She should be back here shortly & I'm heading back out to search some more. Crazy first day.

sdhunter11

I hate it when deer run into sloughs, hope you find her jason.

On_Point

Well, I spent roughly 3 hours this morning searching & didn't find her. I'm really thinking that I only got one lung on her. I watched the video I was filming a thousand times & the hit looks good. I could follow the blood into the crp about 30 or 40 yards but there are so many trails she could have run that I just searched in grid pattern through the crp after a while, but this crp parcel is 85 acres & hasn't been maintenance in over 5 years. It started feeling pretty hopeless. I did ask the land owner to watch for buzzards so I'll know if she's dead or just wounded. Better luck next time I guess. Hell, at least I got the ****ty hunt out of the way on opening day. The next one has to be better than this one, even if I don't shoot a deer.

sdhunter11

At least you can say you put up an honest effort. Its all uphill from here lol.

BUCKEYEhunter140

well guys no bucks yet for me. im waiting on the weather to get cooler before i kill adoe

good luck team

Bowman4440

Yea im with buck eye no slick heads getting shot for me yet in the 80's the rest of this week, hopefully it starts to cool off then you can count on an old slick head going down.

On_Point

Heading out for an evening hunt. We have a storm front moving in this afternoon accompanied by much cooler temps. I'm expecting to see the deer on their feet. Talk to yall later.

sdhunter11

weather looks good for this weekend here, it is 39 F right now, it is suppose to be a high of 46 F tomarrow and saturday, and sunday is a high of 59 so it should be a good weekend. good luck this evening jason.

Outdoorcountry

Saw Jason's post last night and decided to hit the woods on the way home from work. Had a doe come out of the woods 15 yards from my stand. Had a perfect 1/4 away shot, drew, placed the just behind the the shoulder and thwap! Except she jumped the string and the arrow went right over her back! She went out into the field further and stopped at 35 yards broadside. The 2nd shot lunged her and she ran about 60 yards before she dropped. Another 25 pts for team 7.