loanstarhunter

I went on my first hunting trip of the season on Wednesday.

I was sure it was going to be a good morning. The area was blanketed in heavy fog and I almost hit a doe while driving to my favorite public hunting spot. Seeing that doe gave me a little hope that at least they were moving. So I get to the parking area, get all my stuff together and off I go into the darkness. I get to my tree which is roughly a 10 minute hike. I take my stand off my back and realize "WTF" I left my bow sitting on top of it's case in the back of the truck. I put my stand on the tree and headed back to the truck. 10 min back to truck, 10 min back to tree, sweat dripping from my brow like niagra falls. So I get into the tree without any additional problems. I only made it till 10am before I had to get down. Saw nothing.

I have not hunted this spot or scouted it in 2 years. So I thought I would check on the other areas that I like to hunt and make sure that I can still get to them and possibly find a new spot or 2. Well, much to mydismay the area has become so over grown, I can not get to any of my old stand sites.

Moral of this story, don't wait till the last minute to descide to hunt public land. I can hunt one of my 4 spots in this particular area. I am going to have to find a new spot. Things are not looking good for my season![:@]

mez

Hey, it could be worse. I was pretty sure you were going to say that you got back to your truck and your bow was no longer sitting on the case where you left it.

kenman

Bad morning in treestand is better than a good morning doing most anything else.

gzg38b

I had a similar bad opening morning due to poor planning. I had my tree set up months ago. I had planned my approach on paper but I never actually WALKED it this year until opening morning. My plan was to sneak along the river and use the steep river bank to stay out of sight. The problem was the river bank was so overgrown this year that I couldn't get through easily. I was working up a huge sweat in the darkness and making a ton of noise. So I figured I'd just walk IN the river. Last year it was only a couple inches deep. I stepped in the river, took a few steps and the water rushed OVER MY RUBBER BOOTS! Son of a B! Screw it - I'm already wet - might as well keep going. Now it's time to climb the bank but it rained all night and it's all muddy. Long story short I'm sliding on my ass down the muddy bank in the dark with my bow in my hand. Finally made it to the top of the bank to hear a deer blow and crash through the woods. I made it to my stand soaked in sweat, mud, and wet feet about 30 minutes before daylight. I still saw 3 does at first light but overall it was a bad start to the season.