Sat all day thursday and didn' t see a thing. We have been scouting a field for about a month now and have all the entry points picked out and depending on wind will pick which ones to hunt. Last scout was 2 days before the season and we saw 24 deer.....8 bucks.....4 NICE bucks while glassing the field.

Now comes the season and the bad weather combined with a bunch of local IDIOTS driving their trucks right into the field so they don' t have to walk.......and all that scouting is basically shot to hell. What a shame. I really feel like strangling these lazy morons sometimes. They drive into the field and scare 30 deer back into the woods and then go in and set up their stands??? Well no surprise that the deer are already long gone and back to bed. They are convinced that driving into the field doesn' t effect anything and the deer are too stupid to realize what a truck full of people is. I give up.

Anyways.......I sat all day and was over a great rub line that spills out to the field so I was really hyped for the late hours of daylight to see who would come out to the field for some chow time. Well, at 5:40 some idiot pulls his MINIVAN right up to the woods line and gets out with a bucket of apples in his hand. [:@] I let him carry all his stuff into the woods before I whistled at him and sent him back to the truck grumbling..........this is state land so first come first serve.

Deer action is almost nill and at 6:30 a nice doe walks out of the woods and is heading to my right out to the field. I pick up and draw holding on a shooting lane 10 yards before the field.........she stops right in my sights as if to commit suicide or something LOL Best broadside I could want. My finger moves over the trigger but I notice she looks a little farther then I think she is. I open my closed left eye and see the tree I ranged at 20 yards is well inside her. I let down and she slowly walks into the field to graze. Glad I didn' t shoot because she was 35 yards away and that is outside my range. She must have zigged a little on her way to the spot she stopped at because she was at 20 when she came out. I think the combo of being almost dark and hoping a buck was behind her made me extra cautious about the shot..............The fact that I was itching to pull the trigger didn' t help that' s for sure .

Glad I let down............not glad I wasn' t in a tree 20 yards closer

You done did good

Sorry about all the idiots but you made the right decision.

better luck next time and it' s nice to see someone who knows and hunts within their limitations.

There are a lot of people who would have taken the shot anyway...

Sounds like you did the right thing by passing on the shot. Good thing you were alert to your yardage markers. Those split second decisions are often the difference between success and failure.

yep, sounds like a good day.

Does sound like a good day gone bad. I too hunt public land and can relate.

Good decision,,,Great patience dealing with people driving all over hunting land. It doesn' t just happen on public land either. I have a buddy who leases property w/ me and he just picked up a 3-wheeler. He said" I' ll just use it for wood and pulling deer out" Yeah right. He told me he toured the propertyand " didn' t come close to getting stuck" Hope he doesn' t find my honeyhole!!!
It' s hard enough to sneak in on deer, but to have people being lazy and driving all over the place is just aggravating.[:' (]

Sounds like the same idiots around here .It started out to where you are to afraid to rifle hunt because of the brush and noise shooters.But you move off to bow only area and all of them bought bows and only shoot them when they see a deer and dont feel they need practice.It' s hard to hunt anywhere any more unless you are fortunate enough to afford leased property.[:@]It sucks.

Atlasman,

Fine job friend...we need more hunters in our ranks such as yourself and less of those others you posted about....you' ll be rewarded, as if being out there isn' t enought right?