# Bow season opens Oct. 1 here.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Just 25 days away from Archery deer season. I do practice off and on thru the summer for a few days. But now with the season so close I will be doing some shooting for about an hour every day, also working on holding the draw for those times the deer needs to take just one more step and it seems like it takes an hour and you don't want to be caught letting down a draw. For me that is the hardest part to get in shape for.

I have a BSA red dot on my bow and really like it. Brother had some other brand and he couldn't dim it enough for low lite times. He claimed in low light the dot covered the whole deer not just one tiny spot. I have not experinced that myself.

I also still use alum arrows since i could not afford carbon when I bought the bow and when I do have extra jingle now I just pass on the carbons.


. Al


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Delaware archery opened Sept 1st....


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Our season (IN) opens Oct 1st also. I've spent a bunch of time this past year on stands, food plots and habitat work.
Need to get my weapons out and tune up my shooting a bit also. 

Have never been a fan of red dot optics of any type. Have seen numerous instances where they get left on, then you go out hunting and can't use scope because batteries are dead. Why risk your hunt to batteries when crosshairs or pins work just fine?

Will be hunting IN, IL and KS for whitetails this fall, things are fixing to get busy.
Good luck all !


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Our season opens September 15. Allowed Unlimited Antlerless and one Antlered and two Turkeys.

big rockpile


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Late January won't come soon enough for me. It seems like there is six months of deer season here now. People jealously guarding a bunch of does, waiting on the big one. By the time they decide to actually put some slick heads in the freezer and do the landowners some good, they will have them driven so deep you'd need Dachshunds to jump them out. It was better back when people had a few weeks and made it count and were happy with whatever they got. It's too darned commercialized. Foodplot this and trail cam that, and everybody looking for inches. If it isn't a magazine cover buck they feel like they failed, and usually look for somebody else to blame. The magazine cover bucks are mostly within one or two generations from a nitrogen tank. People used to be tickled to death with a forkhorn. Archery, muzzleloader, atl-atl, whatever, all that stuff does is sell licenses. You hang stands and see deer in bow range. You bowhunt and see deer in muzzleloader range, then you muzzleload hunt and see them in rifle range. By rifle season you don't see them without a spotlight. But people build up the anticipation with seeing them, so they plop down for the next license. If they put rifle first, most people would be done and go home in a couple weeks, and the rest of the season would be much more enjoyable to the folks that don't think the sun rises and falls from a whitetail deer's hind parts, your bird hunters and rabbit hunters and such. Those that enjoy a day afield with human and canine companionship and don't measure success in inches of silly bone.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Barn builder tell us how yoiu really feel. My self I have not bought a doe tag since way back in the mid 1960's. 
Let the city people & kids shoot the baldys so they can brag they shot a deer, but not on my property. I also do not do food plots or bait piles. I do how ever walk my dogs in the woods and field and pay attention to the deer and where they bed and where they run when spooked and react to strange people.

I hunt with stick and string, shot gun , rifle and muzzle loader what ever is allowed in the zone I am hunting or conditions. Here at home most of my rifles are not allowed, I do not bow hunt because I feel there isn't room enough or a chance the deer will not leave my property. So I do shot gun and muzzle loader here at home, the rest at the UP deer camp.

 Al


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Here in NY (Northern zone) bow season starts Sept 27th - Oct 1 for Southern zone. SIL was up here last weekend putting up cameras, moving tree stands, and generally seeing whats where.... He and a hunting buddy will be here the 26th and get an early start; or so they say........


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

I'm nuts about whitetail hunting and use all weapons from October 1 opener all the way till the end in early January. Also hunt three different states just to get the different experiences and to hunt places where the chance of taking a big buck is better. In my home state, I share barn builders opinion regarding hunting pressure. After the guns start popping the deer get very spooky and nocturnal, however the locations I hunt in IL and KS don't have near the pressure and deer behave pretty normally there even late in season.

Used to hunt all over, go out west, hunt all different species, etc. but have pretty much narrowed it down to whitetail and an occasional elk hunt the last few years. We really enjoy the venison and it was a shame to travel long distance then have to give up the meat to an outfitter or donation because it was impractical to haul home. Last few years I've stuck relatively close to home which allows me more time in the field, plus the ability to easily get all of the meat home.

For me the season comes and goes too quickly.


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## Back2Basix (Dec 24, 2015)

Early antlerless actually starts the 16th but I'll be in Montana. Drooling for October 1 bow opener, though the big boys don't leave the swamps until 1st week of November.

My Oct 1 to Nov 7th excuse---"Sorry honey, can't clean because I'm heading out to the stand for a few hours" sure is nice sitting in the quiet watching squirrels and does. She still wonders why i don't bag my first till November


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Back2Basix said:


> Early antlerless actually starts the 16th but I'll be in Montana. Drooling for October 1 bow opener, though the big boys don't leave the swamps until 1st week of November.
> 
> My Oct 1 to Nov 7th excuse---"Sorry honey, can't clean because I'm heading out to the stand for a few hours" sure is nice sitting in the quiet watching squirrels and does. She still wonders why i don't bag my first till November


Yep .... I don't get too excited until about Halloween thru Thanksgiving. That's when you are most likely to see the big guys up on their feet during daylight hours. Nov 5 thru 15th I'll be on stand as much as possible to take advantage of rut activity.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Well so far it don't look like I'm going and we was counting on at least two Deer.

Maybe we can get some Road Kill.

No longer have Rabbits around here and can't hunt Hogs.

big rockpile


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I don't count on getting any deer, But if the great spirit listens he provides. Squirrels are plentiful now, rabbits not so much. Game birds other than turkeys are slim pickens due to a ice storm a few years ago that did in the Phesants. Should be some young coyotes to butcher as soon as the leaves are gone and the grasses die back so we can see better.
So wild meat will be plentiful I am a thinking.


 Al


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Winter here mostly Deer and Fish.

big rockpile


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## Back2Basix (Dec 24, 2015)

big rockpile said:


> Well so far it don't look like I'm going and we was counting on at least two Deer.
> 
> Maybe we can get some Road Kill.
> 
> ...


Before i had land & time to hunt i made friends with a deputy. He offered to call me on all viable road kills EXCEPT with the expectation of "all hours of the day" he'd call. Might try that


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Back2Basix said:


> Before i had land & time to hunt i made friends with a deputy. He offered to call me on all viable road kills EXCEPT with the expectation of "all hours of the day" he'd call. Might try that


They do this with me. Their problem is people lying about how long a Deer has been dead.

big rockpile


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

Al, are you south of M-57 (MI shotgun only)? I'm a couple miles south of 46.

Both shoulders are getting bad, so if I start bowhunting again, it'll be with a crossbow. I can't even hold back a compound now....

Lotsa bunnies and tree rats around here. We cleared about a half acre and made brush piles. The buns like that.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We aere not shot gun only any more and in facet has been a long time since it was like that.
rifle
Can not use bottle neck cartridges IE 243, 7mm08 308 so forth.
*But can use straight wall cases in a rifle, plus pistol cartridges that are straight wall.

Also pistols, and Muzzle loaders.
*
Lots of tree rats also lots of hickory nuts and acrorns this year plus corn fields.
To many coyotes around so rabbit populations is way down. No phesants because of a ice storm 2014.

 Al


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

archery started here on the 16th. My first year hunting. I've been practicing daily with my bow. Hubby has been a hunter for a long time so this is normal for him. I'm excited and nervous. We spent opening day in tree stands.....very relaxing; I now know why hubby likes it so much! Then when we decided to head home, we walked out of the woods and found an nice 8 point and a bunch of Does eating the acorns in our front yard. I just know they were laughing at us! Still the season is young so we'll find them when we are in the stands one day.


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## Back2Basix (Dec 24, 2015)

hiddensprings said:


> archery started here on the 16th. My first year hunting. I've been practicing daily with my bow. Hubby has been a hunter for a long time so this is normal for him. I'm excited and nervous. We spent opening day in tree stands.....very relaxing; I now know why hubby likes it so much! Then when we decided to head home, we walked out of the woods and found an nice 8 point and a bunch of Does eating the acorns in our front yard. I just know they were laughing at us! Still the season is young so we'll find them when we are in the stands one day.


Welcome to hunting, that's exactly how most hunts happen. You go East and they're West, you hunt the orchards and they're in the fields, you sit in the woods and they're bed down in the lawn.

I tell you what though, no better nap has been had then the one in a deer blind, lol


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

Back2Basix said:


> Welcome to hunting, that's exactly how most hunts happen. You go East and they're West, you hunt the orchards and they're in the fields, you sit in the woods and they're bed down in the lawn.
> 
> I tell you what though, no better nap has been had then the one in a deer blind, lol


LOL......
That's why they call it "deer hunting"...not deer shooting.

Bow started Sept 15th...........kinda backed off from deer hunting except for gun and ML seasons.
These days, my favorite hunt is for turkey........


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

We get an early black bear season here. Lots of mast and no deer carcasses for them to eat yet. Should make for some fine eating.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Well, I saw a decent buck and four does yesterday on the archery opener, but nothing close enough. Back after them today.


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## Back2Basix (Dec 24, 2015)

Passed on a funky 5pt and a large doe, both within 20yds. The bigger guy walked right behind me.

Unfortunately the wind wasn't in my favor and i didn't get to hunt the stand i wanted


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