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Coming season goals

I guess VA is good for something. I can kill as many does (on doe days) I want with bonus tags on private land. That means I never really tag out
 
2Sloe said:
I get 2 buck tags and pretty much plan on one of them going unused. I don‘t mind. I like to be in the woods and you can’t be there if you don’t have a tag in your pocket. Look how many guys are crying to be in the woods right now and it’s only May. It’s not about filling tags, it‘s about life experiences. I’d rather be in the woods looking for a 160” deer than sitting at the house thinking about the 130” I shot two weeks ago or the 130” that I passed up last week. Tag soup? I give it all the meat away except one of the back straps. If I want meat I can shoot does all day long.
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This is the point I've reached in my hunting journey too. I'm at a point where I'm savoring the experiences and better yet, still honing my hunting skills. The only way to enjoy the experience is to have a tag in my pocket. It's my ticket to the ride.

My criteria for a successful hunt isn't defined completely by "closing the deal" anymore (although I won't lie and say it isn't a part of it) but rather if I was able to put myself into a situation where I could have made a kill on a decent buck. I also only get two buck tags a year and find myself now routinely passing on deer I wouldn't have hesitated to shoot in my younger days. For me its about tag conservation and staying in the woods with a weapon (preferrably a bow) in my hands. In a perfect season I'd tag out on the last day.

We do enjoy the meat and I still average a deer a year, which is enough to supplement our empty nest household, but the truth of the matter is that I don't need to kill a deer to eat. In fact, actual price per pound when you add up all your hunting expenses, venison has to be some of the primest meat available. While we do enjoy the venison, the fact is that I've reached a point in my life where my success criteria has changed.

I sat approximately 80 times in trees last year deer hunting, saw numerous animals, passed on six bucks including one I had at full draw before I changed my mind, killed a personal best buck and you know what comes to my mind as the as the best sit of the year . . . the sit where I had two bald eagles hanging around my tree for about an hour on colorful fall evening. :)
 
Weldabeast said:
I apply there every year. I've scouted and hunted a bunch in there... Of all the wmas I've been to Cary for some reason has high fwc presence.... Not that I have anything to worry about but I'm just making an observation... Every hunt I've had in there I've been stopped, asked for my paperwork, and searched. I haven't had that happen but maybe 2 times in all the other places I've hunted and in Casey this 1 bald officer in an unmarked truck stopped me 5 times in 3 days.....
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Man he must like you. I’ve been stopped maybe twice in the past few years out there. I’ve taken about 5 hogs out of it in the past 2 seasons. I can’t seem to find any deer except spikes in there though. I’m thinking of heading south this season.
 
My #1 and has been my #1A for my whole archery and gun hunting career: Shoot a buck on state land in Northern Michigan. #1B: Shoot a deer on state land in either Southern Michigan or Northern Michigan.
I've shot all my deer on private but those decent public land deer always seem to evade me. I have some good leads on a nice buck near my house on some public so I'm hoping I can drill one this fall.
The most important goal I need to have this year is to just have some fun and not get so down if I fail. Success is on a razor's edge in archery hunting.
 
Last 2 years, I've put one antlerless in the freezer. So goals for this year are as follows (archery only):

in order of priority..

1: Put 2 deer in the freezer... no more buying red meat!
2: Learn the deer behavior/patterns better in this large piece of public where I RARELY see other people.
3: Get out for the rut this year. I've stayed off public land the last two years as in MN the rut coincides with the gun opener/season. It just becomes more trouble than it's worth and last year, I already had one in the freezer by then. But i've found an area that's bow only fairly close to me.. so this year, it's on.
4: Shoot a buck. Nothing wrong with just putting meat in the freezer, but I'd like to get my first archery buck.
 
My goal for this year is do some out of state hunting and most importantly hit the damn target. I have no problem smoking does but I've missed 3 deer in the 130-150 range in the past 2 seasons.
 
All the goals previously mentioned are excellent. I am very competitive by nature and sometimes it is a hindrance to the enjoyment of the entire hunting process. I have shot many many deer and some nice bucks but my goal has been and remains to try to focus on a target buck and be able to take that buck on that specific property. This is my underlying goal most seasons and because we only have two buck tags (archery only either sex tag) and one regular season buck tag, and I always seem to have limited time to hunt, my competitive nature gets the best of me and if a decent buck comes within bow range, I'll probably take the shot. My goal this coming season, right now, is to be more patient and inventory 3-6 decent bucks on different properties (private and public). I then want to try and focus on taking one or two of those target bucks. And I agree, although I enjoy venison, I like a decent sized rack but I also feel it is important to fill your DMP tags to keep the herd in balance. Some day when I'm retired, I'm going to just hunt every day of the season and see what happens. I'm hoping that the size of the bucks I take increase in direct proportion to the amount of time I have available to hunt. I used to never even think of spending money on hunting out of state but I'll be honest, this is getting more and more into my blood. Two years ago I mistook a spiker for a doe the first day of bow season in my home state and although I cursed myself, it actually was a blessing in disguise. I got a license from a neighboring state and started the process of hunting public land out of state which was such a great experience even though I didn't harvest anything out of state. I'm thinking of maybe trying one other state this year in addition to my other goals I mentioned before.
 
I usually don't meet the goals I post, but here goes.

I want to kill a deer, a duck, and a squirrel all in one day. I've done a deer and a duck, a deer and a squirrel, and a squirrel and a duck...but never all 3. Bonus points if I can also catch a fish on that same day.

I want to shoot more deer with a muzzleloader. That junk was fun last year.

I want Amos to retrieve one of the ducks I put my dad on.

But really, I just wanna kill animals. A variety of animals in a variety of ways in a variety of places.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I usually don't meet the goals I post, but here goes.

I want to kill a deer, a duck, and a squirrel all in one day. I've done a deer and a duck, a deer and a squirrel, and a squirrel and a duck...but never all 3. Bonus points if I can also catch a fish on that same day.

I want to shoot more deer with a muzzleloader. That junk was fun last year.

I want Amos to retrieve one of the ducks I put my dad on.

But really, I just wanna kill animals. A variety of animals in a variety of ways in a variety of places.
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Depending if I get the quota or not, I also have a deer/hog and catch some fish goal if I get drawn to hunt on this specific piece...actually u can hunt and fish simultaneously on this wma and that sounds pretty fun
 
Weldabeast said:
Seems there is 1 of these threads every year. We are starting to apply for quotas here in FLA so it's time to start forming goals.
Like the goals. Interested in the pocket hoist

First and foremost I have a goal of hunting more than 6 days this year. The weather killed me last year... Fingers crossed for a little less rain this year and better luck on my quota applications.

I'm super easy to please so an achery deer and I'm happy/content.

Utilize the water access with the canoe again.

I'd like to connect with a hog...they've been giving me the slip the last couple seasons

Still have yet to kill a buck but I hate to make that a goal as I'm probably setting myself up for failure

If I'm lucky enough to connect on my canoe hunt id like to use the diy pocket hoist system I put together.... My back was destroyed the following day after quartering off the ground last year
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I’ve always made my goals bare bones

1. Kill deers with bow and gun (Usually call it quits at 4 or 5)
2. Eat deers
3.Take someone hunting who normally wouldn’t go

I usually hold at for a “racked buck” and prefer full sized deer but come post center fire season it’s tag filling time as my household love venison
 
Marmuzz said:
Take a deer, any legal deer, from the saddle. Would love to also camp hunt out of state this year but we’ll see.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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a cool place to camp/hunt out of state for you might be greenridge state forest in MD. 50k acres and tons of primitive camping. we love going there. If you want to get a meet up goin send me a message im always down to share some spots if someones down to scout out new ones with me. They have all seasons open. Rifle is kinda busy but 50k acres you can get away from the crowd
 
These are all great. Here are mine:

  1. Set up on the correct side of the tree for crissakes.
  2. Harvest a deer with my bow from the saddle while having guessed the correct side of the tree.
  3. Enjoy the real saddlehunter effect: seeing more deer. Damn that's cool.
 
PEEJAY said:
a cool place to camp/hunt out of state for you might be greenridge state forest in MD. 50k acres and tons of primitive camping. we love going there. If you want to get a meet up goin send me a message im always down to share some spots if someones down to scout out new ones with me. They have all seasons open. Rifle is kinda busy but 50k acres you can get away from the crowd
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50,000 acres! :oops: Holy moly. Gotta be some good bucks in there somewhere, but 50,000 acres is a lot of sifting!
 
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