Hahahaha woundn't it be fun to have a video of you during the game! Hey like you said, I hope the big boy comes by, presents a nice shot and you put the hurtin' on him.



Have a great time, be safe.

Troy

Hey guys, I will try this again. I tried to post a couple of times the other day, and it wold not let me, dont know what was wrong. Well not much going on for me. Saw a couple the first couple of days, but nothing since.[:@]Any ways, I have not had much time to hunt yet this year, seems like there is always something going on. I have been staying late alot after work, working on my racecar. I dont know if I have ever mentioned it before, but dirt track racing is probably my biggest hobby, other than hunting. I have not had a car the last few years, but I picked one up this summer, and am planning to have it done by next summer.
Hunted for the first time out of my new ground blind today, boy is that ever different. Saw lots of Turkeys, but no deer. I wont have time to get out at all this weekend, sogood luck to everyone.

Went to a location today that I wasn't planning on hunting for another couple weeks but I think I will have to change my mind about that... I never noticed before, I don't know why, but there are a huge number of hickory trees in this one little grove. I always thought that it was mostly a black walnut and butternut grove with some very mature Elms and some other trees untill I went into today and poked around.. The only reason I poked around was because I saw a trail that had seen real heavy use...Well, I know why now... I think I will take the climber in there middle of next week, I wanted to wait for the corn to be picked but the nuts are all over the place in there right now, I think if I wait too long there will be nothing left, lol... It is a staging area to begin with because it provides the shortest distance between cover areas when the deer need to get water. Found some real good sign, including some rubs and some real, real big hoof prints... Makes me wonder... Couple of real good climber trees too (Straight as telephone pole hickory trees) with good cover up at 15-20 feet but nothing until than.. Only problem is that it is the bottom of a swale but some of the okay trees are up on the hill side so we shall see...

Not planning on hunting all day tomorrow, maybe just 4 hours or so..Trying to figure out the weather... 50 degrees at day break, 70 by 10... Going to be cold and warm all at the same time.

GENTLEMEN - START YOUR ENGINES!!!!!!

Duh - there is a little check box to add the sig - that would make the whole thing easier - OK Confusion cleared up (sorry was havinga blond moment!

Quick sounds like you will be in a sweet spot!

IL - are those shell/shag bark hickory - or pig hickory? I have heard that the shell bark only grow along a narrow band of the country and was just wondering.

Shed - I thought about you this evening - took my 4 year old to one of the county parks here this evening they have probalby 20 or so elk and half a dozen bison. The one big bull elk looked to be a 9X10 - had not noticed non-typical elk before - but this one had tines going everywhere - and two drop tines - was cool (would be better out in your neck of the woods though).

AR - I agree with you! - I have never heard anything bad about the nontypical & the new dig. would probably be the best way to go - ouch!

BigDaddy - I used to hunt off the ground 90+% of the time either in brush blinds, the Hunt-N-Hut or just a makeshift camo netting blind. It is a different game from there!

Good luck to everyone! be safe out there - and in my best 7th ining stretch Harry impersonation - Lets Get Some Bucks!!!

Mike

WEll, sleep is over for me now.. Just got woken up buy one of my stinking canines and when I saw what time it was I figured, might as well stay up, get some breakfast andt ake a shower.. Damn dog. cost me an hour or sleep... Oh well.

Shag and Shell bark are two different hickories Mike. Shagbark is the one that has been converted to an ornamental... Shell is the one that is very rare. Which one the hickory is.. I am not sure.. Some sure looked like Shag but others are very smooth barked, more like the Pig... But all the leaves are like Shag..Going to have to bring my tree book with me. (Yes, I have a tree book, don't you?).. Oh well,time to check the Weather one more time and get some fuel for me and will get on my way soon...

Good luck all.

Well guys, we're on the board. I think that was the shortest PA season ever - I hunted for about 10 minutes of daylight. I turned it loose at 7:10, and saw him pile up in about 50 yards.Afterward, I justhung outup in the perch until 10:00 just to see what else was lurking around. I saw a few does and a spike between 7:15 and 10.

3 bucks came cruising through at daybreak - 2 scrubs and this guy. He looked bigger on the hoof, esp. compared to the other two. So, I took it all in, watched him make his last rub, and slammed him. His score will suffer, b/c he doesn't have much spread at all, but I'm pretty excited. It looks like I might get to buy a NR OH or WV license and trophy hunt for the rest of the season!!!

That itchy trigger finger strikes again. I told you guys that I wouldn't be able to lay off.

SCORE = 87.25

FYI - Unfortunately, he wasn't sporting Penn State tickets in his antlers. He'll make a great taco, nonetheless.. . . and you guys will never believe what I did this morning. Totally embarrassing.

Congrats Quick... I know what you mean by itchy trigger fingers.. I hope you have as good of luck on your out of state trips. Nice thing with Illinois having the two buck tags is that you can work to improve when you go for the second one, if that is what floats your boat.

Sounds like you had a better day than I did.. I knew mine was going to be bad the moment I got out there.. Something about the location just didn't feel right and it turned out I was right.. I am going to have to switch to the climber for a while as the deer traffic was all over the place, just no where within my vision.. Even heard a couple bucks knocking heads about 300 or so yards to the east of me.. Couldn't see them, they were down in a ravine but I sure heard them.. Not serious fighting but there was some crashing around and some antlers a crashing for a while right at dawn.. Just was the wrong location for today.... I didn't stink, didn't move to much, the squirrels didn't even notice until I had to get the heck out of dodge because I had a work emergency that in 2 weeks can be handled by someone else I hope...

I am thinking of going out again tomorrow but we shall see... I probably won't have the time. I need to work the edges of cover more instead of these trails right now... When the corn is out these place will pick up nice I think but for now, they are just hanging in that corn field... Maybe that Hickory patch will make a nice place to hunt.. And I am sure the Summit stand will be more comforatble than the other one I was in today..

To add injury to insult this day, I stupidly sliced a finger when I loaded a broadhead tipped arrow onto my bow.. Damn that thing was sharp.. So, deer 1, Anthony 0 so far this year. Oh well, it was nice to hear the birds and head the crashing going around, I did miss seeing my Red fox this year, going to have to move over to his neck of the woods, that was always fun watching him run around first thing in the morning during a hunt last winter.

IL - Listen to what this bonehead did today. I was up about all night last night, packing everything, and getting ready. So, I had my stand packed with my daypack and all was ready to go.

So, I woke up at 4:30 on 2 hrs. sleep, and was at my spot by 5:30. I wanted to be in the tree long before daylight, so I threw on my treestand, daypack and grabbed my bow...wait... where the hell is my bow? Yep, I left the stinkin' thing at home. So, like a maniac, I raced home, grabbed my bow, and double timed it back. I barely made it in before daylight.

Who forgets their bow? Normally, I get frustrated with myself when I make a stupid mistake, but this one was so over-the-top, all I could do was laugh. It all worked out, I guess.

I hear ya about being in the wrong spot - nothing much more frustrating than seeing/hearing them, but not being in range. Just fine-tune your stand location for next time, and you'll be fine.

That a baby Quicksilver...Way to go! It's a great looking deer.

I have been in New Orleans since the 12th of September. I'm ready to go home...Supposedly I get to fly out either tomorrow or Monday. Either way, New Orleans can kiss my ass and I'm not going to turn back once I'm on the road or in the air. The smell is sooooo bad down here.

Anyway...Back to hunting! My season started today and unfortunately I didn't get to hunt. I'm hoping once I get back home and take a couple of days practicing (I was also shooting all summer long), I will get a few hunting days in. I hope all of you are doing well and again, as soon as I get home....The game is on!!!

Well, went out again, to same location for an afternoon hunt. Basically the same result but this time I had a fawn come up behind me and scare the living beejibies out of me when it bawled right under my stand... I didn't see it come in, I heard it but it came from solid cover and than just stopped moving. Thought it had to be another one of those gosh darn Squirrels that were making my evening a living hell... 5 minutes pass and than "BLAAAAAAAAH" Almost had a heart attack.. Than I heard something further off and the fawn took off in that direction.. Guessing it was mom, lol.. Seriouslly, I think I jumped a foot..

Have the climbing stand ready now for action, might be middle of next week before I go back out though.. I left the hanger where it was but I think I will tear it down and movie it as well... I have an idear....

Welcome back Sum... I bet you will be happy to see Michigan.