drockw

Im very satisfied to be completely honest. I took 2 good does, and the buck that I took was wounded. I feel I did a very good thing there.

Anyways, i do understand where you are coming from.
Dere

TFOX

This happened to me last year and I killed a nice buck this year so keep plugging away.

joemr1288

Simple. I missed two nice bucks cleanly over their backs. But it is my first season so I did not expect to get anything and I learned a lot this year and will be more prepared for next season. Still have a week and a half to get a deer so maybe after Christmas I will get one.

englum_06

Well, I kinda have mixed feelings about this season. I killed a nice one, but there's more to it than it sounds. Still feel bad about what happened!

Here's the post I made about that buck:




"Well first off I want to say thanks to everyone that has helped me out in the past year preparing for the season!

This is my first year with a bow, and my first bow kill. I scouted my ass off this spring/summer to get in a good spot. This was the first year I got out and scouted, picked my spots, hung my stands, and prepared everything by myself.

Now to tell the story, I shot him on October the 1st (opening morning)at 8 am. I saw 7 bucks to 1 doe that morning. Him and another buck came in from about 200 yards out, and he stopped behind a tree at 20 yards (while im at full draw) then he stepped into another clearing finally (at about 23 yards) and I stopped him. When I released the arrow, he shot forward. He was spooked already, and Im not sure if he was just starting to bolt, or if my bow scared him, buthe bolted andit made me hit him back farther than I would have ever wished. I got down- upsetwith myself-after about an hour and left. Came back about 7 hours later andI walked for 5 hours. Didnt find him. The next day I walked again for 5 more hours. Didn't find him. Went out today, and walked for an hour and I finally found him. I looked up in the air and saw about 15 buzzards flying aroundso I made abee-line to section of the woods. It took 11 hours of searching, but I finally found him. Kind of mixed emotions. It was ugly, again at the same time Im so thrilled. I felt like I was running through the woods once I finally saw him. I absolutely tore myself up over this the last few days.


The pics not the greatest, I was just walking and just used a cell phone as soon as I found him, it was all I had on me!

He's actually an 8 point, there's a smaller point on his left side towards the end.
"









Since that morning I have let probably 3 or 4 deer the same size as him walk, let a TON of small bucks walk, and also saw 4 other BIG mature bucks (1 over 150" and 3 over 160"), but like you guys, they just didn't cooperate! They just wouldn't come in range! Had one hang up at 40 yards on me for a good 20 minutes, but being my first year I made myself pass on anything outside of 30!

I still have the rest of the season to finish out though!

rybohunter

Pa Archery runs 6 weeks, ending in mid november. Then it comes back in the day after christmas for a couple more weeks.
Recently they've opened archery seasonfor does, starting mid september with the season staying in until late january. Butonce gun season starts (monday after thanksgiving) you can continue to huntdoes with shotguns until the season ends.

magicman54494

What happened to me is simple. I hunt a high risk/ high reward area. I expect to see few deer but know there's a chance at a dandy buck. BTW it's not over yet. I'm plugging away locally. I'm hoping one of th local bucks will freeze to death and I can walk up and tag him
I look at my hunting season as a whole. I hunt gun and bow. I was very successful with the gun so if I score with the bow it will only be icing on the cake.

Soup du Jour

Over all Ithink I had a good year. I try not to score my year on the deer I take but the enjoyment I have when I am hunting.

I just moved to the area that I hunted so I did not have any knowledge of the deer movement. I did some scouting but honestly in the big picture of things it was a very small amount. I took a good doe with my bow on a questionable shot and I took a nice 6 point with my rifle.

I have been out this December with my bow a few times chasing a big mature buck that people have seen in my area but I have not. I have seen a few nice young bucks that will be dandys in a year or two.

Overall I need to do more scouting, get my stands hung much earlier, use my deer cameras more often, and spend more time hunting.... Don't we all.

Did I enjoy the season, yes very much so. Is there room for improvement and changes, yes very much so.

Soup du Jour

virginiashadow

That is why hunting is so much fun. It is hard. If it were easy I would not enjoy it.

For me, I had my first two mature bucks within bow range but could not get off a shot.I have no other excuse other than I need to get better at hunting. Small details make all the difference in the world.

AF Hunter

After careful reflection on this season so far and analyzing the overall picture, I have come to the conclusion that so far it has not been in the cards for me to get that perfect shot on the perfect buck so far. Without being able to control other wildlife and domesticated animals and weather patterns it just hasn't meant to be. I will continue to hunt until 30 minutes after sunset on the 10th of January.

But I did put enough does in the freezer to carry me through another year. Now, it's time to make up a batch of my chili and watch football.