2010's official OT URS bowhunting thread

[sedorusc]

starting to get amazingly anxious. can't wait to freeze my butt off in the trees. got my new martin bone hunter I've been shooting daily, my nikon rangefinder with angle adjustment, trail cameras out, trees picked for my climber and just picked up my license today. only thing I might pick up is a new climber as mine is huge, uncomfortable to carry and 35-40lbs. maybe it'll make more of a man out of me, but who knows. thought carrying around a 30lb child would help. who else is psyched? anyone hitting up the 3D target ranges. I've been to two and want to go again. wildwoods archery in elbridge and gregs archery in moravia. amazing some of the shots they setup and more amazing I can hit them. won't tell you about the arrows I've lost though. I'll stop and let someone else chime in now. post up some trail cam pics. even last years will do.

 

[acdraindrps]

Hey! I already started this thread months ago!!

Try doing a video shoot at S&S archery in springville (or maybe someone closer to you has one?) they put a giant screen 20 yds out and you shoot blunt tips at it while a video plays. The screen then calculates where you hit and gives you points based on how close you were to the vitals. You can hunt whitetail, blacktail, rhino, turkey, geese, squirrle, rabbit, elk, moose, bear, actually just about anything you can think of. If I'm not mistaken you can play a game of darts too against a friend.

I haven't been shooting as much as I should be. I definitely need to work on that a lot more. I just have been so busy lately. I am kind of stuck because I am trying to work now as much as I can so that come deer season I can afford to take the time off for the rut. Ahhhhh the rut... soo close.

I have definitely put in my time of summer scouting though. I hope that it pays off in a few weeks. I am especially excited about my ground blind this year. I bought it at the end of last season on sale, got a great deal... problem is I haven't gotten to use it for deer yet. I have the perfect place for it this year, should be sweet. I'm going to put it at the same place I shot my buck last year with the bow.

I need to buy some more arrows. I also need some replacement blades for last years rage broadheads, and yes - I will be using them until they fail me.. because they are by far the most effective brodhead I have used. Other than that, I'm all ready to go.

Counting the days at this point...

 

[Capt_Cully]

Oh man I had a doozie of a dream last night about herds of whitetails on the farm I'm hunting this year. It then turned to a nightmare as hunters were all around......woke up in a cold sweat, no lie. My wife doesn't get, and can't believe how bad "the fever" is.

Same bow this year. Black Ice. Did get a Nikon 550 rangefinder and also sticking with rage 2 blades. Stands are out. Just waiting for the green light from the good ole DEC!!!

 

[Jacwil]

Sweet!!! I went bear hunting this past weekend in the Adirondacks. It definitely got me in the "mood" for bow season!

Bullseye Archery is only a few miles from me and last year I shot on their big screen setup. It wasn't that great...we had to aim about a foot low and a foot to the left for the shot to indicate a vital kill shot....pretty annoying. They do have a huge 3d target range complete with a silly T-Rex target :eek2:

 

[sedorusc]

rage blades here and a nikon archers choice. loved a ground blind I had setup few years ago but lost land due to son of owners decided to start bowhunting. had a little 4 basically close enough I could've reached out and scratched that itch he had. plenty of turkey too. sorry for the repeat thread. the fever must have me delusional.

 

[Jacwil]

I shoot a Browning Parallel Limbed Bow and I do have a Bushnell range finder but all of my stands are setup so that my shooting lanes are all 20-25yds. What I typically do is select an area for my stand, then shoot all my potential lanes with the range finder, and then finally set my ladder stand up. This way I have no guessing and I can eliminate any need to range a deer as it comes in. JME, but it's difficult enough to get to full draw as a deer is coming in, let alone raise the rf, lower it, and then raise and draw my bow.

 

[NirvanaFan]

I'm all set, just waiting til the end of October. Stupid work is making me travel from Oct 12-28! They just don't understand.

I really need a new bow but can't justify spending the money right now. Maybe in Dec or January when everything goes on sale or something.

 

[Firedog1962]

I just picked up the new mathews Q7 and it's awsome. Quite fast and super sweet

 

[Tank14]

My birthday is opening day this year. Hoping to give myself the first present!

 

[block head]

buying tags tommorrow ,come on 8a no whamies,no whamies,no whamies....been shooting the mongolian horse bow,most likely will use old faithful (mathews Q32)

 

[acdraindrps]

Oh man I had a doozie of a dream last night about herds of whitetails on the farm I'm hunting this year. It then turned to a nightmare as hunters were all around......woke up in a cold sweat, no lie. My wife doesn't get, and can't believe how bad "the fever" is.

Same bow this year. Black Ice. Did get a Nikon 550 rangefinder and also sticking with rage 2 blades. Stands are out. Just waiting for the green light from the good ole DEC!!!

I got the same rangefinder last year. No complaints!

 

[acdraindrps]

Sweet!!! I went bear hunting this past weekend in the Adirondacks. It definitely got me in the "mood" for bow season!

Bullseye Archery is only a few miles from me and last year I shot on their big screen setup. It wasn't that great...we had to aim about a foot low and a foot to the left for the shot to indicate a vital kill shot....pretty annoying. They do have a huge 3d target range complete with a silly T-Rex target :eek2:

I went to the daks this past weekend too. We stayed in Hope Falls area. Tons of bear sign. A friend of mine got a nice one on opening day.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Anyone do mock scrapes? how? any action?

 

[acdraindrps]

I shot my buck last year over a mock scrape. It was in the corner of a field, along the edge of it. There is a pine hanging over the mock scrape just at rack height that bucks will also work at with their preorbital glands. I put the scrape in about a week before the opener, and they really started working it pre rut. I put down some dominant buckscent, and although some say the deer know the difference, I argue that with all the testosterone running through them that time of year, they will fight anything that remotely smells like another buck.

I saw at least three bucks working this scrape last year. One that was bigger than the one I took too... problem was I didnt have another tag until the shotgun opener and this land was bow-only.

 

[sedorusc]

I've gotten pics of bucks working a scrape. problem is it was 2am. otherwise I made a mock scrape downtrail from another the same as ac did. problem there was only buck I saw working it was a little crotch horned guy.

 

[Capt_Cully]

i've been strongly considering doing one. the buck I shot last year was over a huge natural scrape. I've read, that more than scent, bucks and does, love the smell of the turned dirt. And that the testosterone in the male urine, may be what the does pick up and kicks them into estrus.

However, I've also read that scrapes are more like points of interest on highly traveled routes, not areas bucks seek out, but stop at periodically. The land I'm hunting this year, I got access to late in the season. I know the routes really well, and saw a scrape line that lead right to where my stand is this year. It is also about 10 yards from where the scrape line ended at a 6 inch tree that was torn to shreds. I can't decide if I need to even get involved by making a mock scrap right in front of my stand in the corner of the field.

It might all just be nervous energy.....

Hadn't shot in a week due to a vacation and work sched. Today was dreadful.......

"follow through IS the glue!"

 

[acdraindrps]

A buck will often make a giant circle of scrapes and rubs marking "their" territory. If that buck comes to his scrape and smells another bucks' scent, it will drive him nuts that another buck is trying to get at some of his does. This will increase the chances that the original buck will frequent the area of question during the daylight hours - to try and fight off the intruder.

You may laugh, but I pee in my mock scrapes. I read a long time ago that in a lab study it was near impossible to tell the difference between human and deer urine an hour after excreted. I have watched younger bucks go absolutely insane when they come to a scrape I previously pee'd in.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I believe it. "Human scent" is not supposed to be present in urine. So should I put Buck or does urine in an early mock scrape? Bucks. right?

 

[acdraindrps]

I believe it. "Human scent" is not supposed to be present in urine. So should I put Buck or does urine in an early mock scrape? Bucks. right?

Absolutely. I have never seen a doe pay any bother to a scrape. I would think that doe pee or doe scent would work better on your boots for the walk in or on a cloth drag on the walk in.

 

[sedorusc]

dominant buck scent in the scrape. even the little guy I saw tore up a scrape I made with it. I always use esrus for my drag or even drop some estrus gel on leaves as i'm walking in. anyone use buck bombs? i'm 50/50 on them.