hardcorehunter

Bored today..rainy...bookwork is done...so I am making a post[8D]This was my best year of bowhunting and I spent less time in the woods than I have in many previous years. Some of my seasons observations...take them for what they are...simple observations... from the NM elk, 2 MO bucks, a MO doe, and a MN buck

1.This is the 1st year that I used absolutely no scent sprays or scent elimination products...dismissing the fact thatI have to spendmy $$ on the stuff IMO. I never aired my clothes out either. I washed them only in baking soda so that they would be clean with no UV brighteners.No carbon clothing or silver lined clothing.

2. My entire season I hunted strange woods in NM, MO, and MNthat I had never been in, so there was no preseason scouting. Maybe I was successful as I had to think more and not rely on old habits of hunting the familiar woods that I have known in the past.

3. 99% of my hunts from a tree were 25-30 ft up....helping me keep my scent undetected and my movement hid when it came time for the shot.

4. I never hunted the same tree or location twice. I always setup and tore down my Lone Wolf Alpha hangon and LW sticks the same day.

5. I always watched the wind and only hunted a location when the wind was favorable.

6. I used no lures, urines, cmere deer..or any other attractants

7. I used a buck decoy only one night and because of the decoy...it made a 125" class buck come in and he offered me several shot opportunities while he scoped out the decoy,I would not have had, had the decoy not been there.

8. I discovered that if you have to..you can improvise a location and make it work like I did with my pinoak buck setup where I hung a stand 8 ft up and had a nice buck walk right by and under me. Pics below.















Here he is directly under me...no scent sprays..stand hung an hour before this...wind in my favor



Him walking away still unalarmed after only having the top of his back 4-5 ft from me

9.I discovered you can hunt in their bedroom provided you get in well before light and get your stand hung. Deer bedded and sleeping below me and around me



buck sleeping just 5 yds from the base of my tree..see my arrow in upper left



Another bedded buck

10.I also learned that if I didn't have a self leveling hangon stand like my Lone Wolf...I wouldn't have been successful as I wouldn't have been able to hunt many of the trees I used as they were crooked. Climbers would not work on any tree I hunted out of this year.



No way a climber is going up this tree and if the stand didn't have a self leveling platform...well...it wouldn't work

11. I also discovered that on the only one night I used it, that deer don't seem to see a white blind like they see other blinds as I had shot opportunities with this setup and I never even brushed it in. More field testing obviously on this needs done though.





picture of buck taken from my blind that night

And last thing I learned.....BOWTECH ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GMMAT

Great photos (and season) Don

BobCo19-65

Cool stuff!

buttonbuckmaster

Why didn't you shoot that buck?[&:]

hardcorehunter

too little

buttonbuckmaster

Not for me.

TeeJay

I have had a frustating season to say the least! After turning down a few I probly should have taken, only to loose the big 10 up north. Still dont know what went wrong there. I was hoping one of the muzzleloader hunters would have got him just for some closure. BUT after last sat. watching my 13 yr old son shoot his first buck and a dandy at that. I will call the 08 season a success. Don if you could post that pic on your phone of sams buck.

WV Hunter

Nice HCH, real nice. Congrats...

hardcorehunter

My bowkills for the season in order:



NM elk..public land



MO buck


MN buck..public land



MO doe



MO buck

hardcorehunter

OK