UPHunter08

Depends. If you're in the open where the deer can be at any range, a rangefinder is a big help. If you're in the woods or some other cover where you only have a few possible shots (e.g. shooting lanes), you can get the range to some landmarks ahead of time and have no need to fork out $ for a rangefinder. Certainly, you should know the range to your feeder before you start hunting.

ksharvester

thanks everyone the more advice the merrier!

shawnfogelman

First off, welcome to bow hunting! It's like nothing else you have ever done before. Sure it sounds easy, you wait in your stand for the deer to come in and then shoot.... right? LOL, well not quite. Patience is what you need to learn first and foremost. sounds as though you are on the right trail with your feeders and cams up. Practice practice practice with your bow and make sure that everything is working as it should. If you want that trophy buck..., you will probably have to let that 10 pointer walk, unless of course he is a monster 170 class or bigger. You shoot the small ones and they won't get any bigger, you let them live, they will get bigger and if you let him walk, you might just get a chance at that trophy you are looking for. Keep the cams going cause you just might get a glimpse of the one you want on your wall. Then you can try to specifically hunt that one. Hope this helps. good luck!

ksharvester

yea he is the only shooter buck on the cam now but ive only had the cams out for the last 3 weeks so there is plenty of time. im going to take a few does first and get the hang of it before i even try to take the monster bucks. im going out this weekend from saturday morning before light till sunday afternoon. going to take my camper out there and sleep in it and i have another camera and stand im going to set up over some CRP with river that runs very close by. im hopeing to have a very sucessful hunting season this year. i will post pics as i get them. also i bought some extra memory cards to take out there so when i bring the ones that are in there currently i will post pics of what i have on here. maybe you guys will be able to age that 10 for me. once again thanks for reading and responding to my rambling lol

UPHunter08

You may well see bucks that you never see on your cams. Whether it be because the cams are just in the wrong spot (some bucks just avoid feeders) or because it's a buck that isn't always in your area. Especially once the rut hits, bucks will travel all over the place. It's quite possible that you never even see that big buck that's on your camera, because once the rut starts he may move into another area. Since this is your first year hunting, by all means shoot that guy if he gives you a solid shot! I can guarantee you there are a lot of hunters in your area that will shoot him given the chance, so it may as well as be you. Letting one that big go for another year is a risky proposition if you're anywhere there are a lot of other hunters...(large tracts of private land are different...talking 100s of acres here).

BTW, if you want us to age that buck, make sure you get him to smile for us. Rack size isn't a precise way to estimate age...you really need to see the teeth post-kill if you want to be sure.

ksharvester

im hunting on private property 2000 acres of it. there are 3 deer hunters including me that hunt it but thats it. there are other land owners that border some of the land i hunt and im not sure how much hunting they do. Last year when i was pheasant hunting i seen a monster buck next to a tree row that i have one of my stands and feeders in. i checked the area out and there were alot of rubs. the next time i went pheasant hunting i found one side of his shed and it had 9 points on the one side. thats the reason i put one of my stands there. that was after season so i know he made it just hoping to see him again this year with either a bow or a rifle in my hand.