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Is your season going to plan?

BTaylor

BTaylor

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2019
Messages
6,747
Location
Central Arkansas
Most folks season are open now other than a few stragglers. Just curious how folks seasons have started and if things are going as planned or have you needed to pivot and adjust on the fly already? If things are still on track as planned what does that look like? If you have already made a pivot, what prompted it and what do the adjustments look like? My seasons always seem to be a series of pivots more times than not. So far this year things are rolling according to plan. Got the freezer restocked and got a dent started on reducing the doe population on the private I hunt some. Time to move to public here and make a couple oos hunts. Some if not most of the rest of the season will be hunting mountains or hills. I feel certain there will be plenty of pivoting to come lol.
 
LOL.

Fine. Fine. Everything is fine. Not having a mental breakdown at all.

I made a pivot alright. An on-the-fly pivot at full speed while playing baseball last weekend and my knee is wrecked. Lol.

I'm attempting to rehab to do anything I can to get out there in some gimpy capacity for the rut but the past couple days have been a painful regression and my mental outlook is not the best it's ever been presently.

I'm happy for you guys, not trying to pout. Please don't pity me, it's not life or death. Tis only a flesh wound. Definitely living this season out vicariously through you guys while sorta dying on the inside.

I'm finding this very all-consuming and struggling to even get my essential work and parenting done though. That's even tougher than missing a hunting season. Gotta drag myself out of that one.
 
elk yinzer said:
LOL.

Fine. Fine. Everything is fine. Not having a mental breakdown at all.

I made a pivot alright. An on-the-fly pivot at full speed while playing baseball last weekend and my knee is wrecked. Lol.

I'm attempting to rehab to do anything I can to get out there in some gimpy capacity for the rut but the past couple days have been a painful regression and my mental outlook is not the best it's ever been presently.

I'm happy for you guys, not trying to pout. Please don't pity me, it's not life or death. Tis only a flesh wound. Definitely living this season out vicariously through you guys while sorta dying on the inside.

I'm finding this very all-consuming and struggling to even get my essential work and parenting done though. That's even tougher than missing a hunting season. Gotta drag myself out of that one.
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Get after em LT Dan!!!!!
 
Bigterp said:
Get after em LT Dan!!!!!
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Haha I'll do whatever it takes to put myself in the game. I spent all day Saturday doing arts and crafts making a ghillie suit. It looks like my first ghillie suit... I am terrible at ground hunting but don't think I should be climbing trees. Put together the ultralight block and tackle so I can break one down. Now I just need to get my work taken care of.


Nice buck! You really needed the tracking dogs for that marginal shot I see!
 
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BTaylor said:
Most folks season are open now other than a few stragglers. Just curious how folks seasons have started and if things are going as planned or have you needed to pivot and adjust on the fly already? If things are still on track as planned what does that look like? If you have already made a pivot, what prompted it and what do the adjustments look like? My seasons always seem to be a series of pivots more times than not. So far this year things are rolling according to plan. Got the freezer restocked and got a dent started on reducing the doe population on the private I hunt some. Time to move to public here and make a couple oos hunts. Some if not most of the rest of the season will be hunting mountains or hills. I feel certain there will be plenty of pivoting to come lol.
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My season has not at all gone according to plan i inherited i case of the tips shooting my ML a ton this summer & somehow managed to transfer a bunch of bad habits to what used to be a solid shot approach. I made a bad shot on a 6x6 bull in Colorado early last month, never recovered him & kinda wrecked me for a few weeks. Finally got in the tree for the first time last early last week with my new recurve, missed a chip shot at a doe ( at least I know what I did wrong) fast forward to this morning I was out again this morning & had a really nice 8 at around 25-27 yds & flat clean missed. He was at 11oclock & that’s an easy shot he was walking left to right & I just rushed it…… I redeemed myself after a pep talk a made a perfect shot on a nice 9pt moments later. Made it though my entire shot process & great release. So I’m gonna say today was my pivot & need to put the rest of this season together!
 
elk yinzer said:
LOL.

Fine. Fine. Everything is fine. Not having a mental breakdown at all.

I made a pivot alright. An on-the-fly pivot at full speed while playing baseball last weekend and my knee is wrecked. Lol.

I'm attempting to rehab to do anything I can to get out there in some gimpy capacity for the rut but the past couple days have been a painful regression and my mental outlook is not the best it's ever been presently.

I'm happy for you guys, not trying to pout. Please don't pity me, it's not life or death. Tis only a flesh wound. Definitely living this season out vicariously through you guys while sorta dying on the inside.

I'm finding this very all-consuming and struggling to even get my essential work and parenting done though. That's even tougher than missing a hunting season. Gotta drag myself out of that one.
Click to expand...
I have hunted the first three weekends wearing a heart monitor becuase the ol ticker caught a funny tick. They(the smart fellows, electrophysiologist) have mostly decided I have a nuisance condition and am at no risk of catchin a dirt nap from heart related stuff but want the results from this monitor to be sure. First one said something about maybe needing to be put on a beta blocker and I told him to piss off, I aint taking pills. He thought that was funny, guess he thought I was jokin. At least I can still climb though. Just sometimes have to reconnect the wiring to this pita contraption. I guess the point I am taking too long to get to is adjust and keep doing you until they fit you for a box. Huntin season aint no time for mopin or fartin around with some medical foolery. We got deerz ta kill.
 
nope,but they never do lol.....thought for sure id have a doe down by now but so far only deer sighting has been a yearling. My lease has alot of pine and with the oaks not dropping they are no doubt else where on neighboring property. Told myself i wouldnt hit the WMAs here until i had that first doe down but i may go ahead and venture out.
 
not going completely to plan here. spent too much time practicing with rifle shooting this summer for an (unsuccessful in terms of harvest, succcessful in terms of great time/ memories) alaska hunt last month, didnt get the bow dialed in until last week, have missed 2 does (with the mini - both my error - isnt shooting those things supposed to be easier? lol) and gut shot/couldnt track or find a third doe with the bow. havent seen a buck on the hoof yet. need to keep after it but i feel like ive been riding the struggle bus so far this year.

to be honest riding the struggle bus is not that different from past seasons, and i AM seeing more deer... so likely it IS going according to "plan" and i just need to adjust my lofty expectations. heading out this evening to put some more time in the woods and hope for another opportunity to get on track.


Next day edit: funny how timing works out sometimes, from the lows of feeling disappointed in my last outing(s) to the highs of having a great hunt. Yesterday evening ended up being great for me. Everything seemed to click, set up and the wind was ok, would up shooting a nice 8. On track is right!
 
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First time in the woods scouting got attacked by chiggers or turkey mites.
On my practice tree trying different sticks (yes some of us still use sticks) I did not hook the daisy right. Gravity can be cruel and those Shikars are sharp.
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Nope. I don't feel so bad after hearing some of the things some of you guys are dealing with. I've been three days and have not seen a single deer on the hoof in spite of hunting over what I take for good (for a poor acorn year) sign. Acorns and fresh poops but not deer so far. I did see a deer yesterday, on the hoof, so to speak. It was 80 yards out across a creek while I was scouting midday. I walked to where it was and acorns and poops. I should have just hunted that spot, but I had a plan of where to go to other acorns and poos. I should have followed the rule of don't leave a deer to go find another deer, lol.
 
Yeah sitting here sucking, I got about 30 different deer on camera 8 really good bucks between me and my buddys 4 cameras and life happened and now we’re fighting the ex husband in court (showed up after 5 years wanting custody of a kid he’s never met) and lawyers took all my money for now luckily I have much deeper pockets than him but for now I’m tagless watching these perfect weather weekends roll by.
 
GeoFish said:
First time in the woods scouting got attacked by chiggers or turkey mites.
On my practice tree trying different sticks (yes some of us still use sticks) I did not hook the daisy right. Gravity can be cruel and those Shikars are sharp.
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I've seen an arm or three that looked like that from screw in steps too. Bet that got all the way in your feelers. Glad it wasnt worse. Now git back out there and shoot something. ;)
 
My oldest has jumped into hunting with the crossbow I bought for that purpose 3 years ago, so that's positive on all fronts. Gonna spend a lot of time doing ground sits with her trying to get her first deer down this season, which was not on the radar for this season what so ever. All in all my pivot was positive
 
I'd say yes it's going according to plan because I did so little scouting preseason, and my cell cam died in July so there wasn't much of a plan.

I got out Saturday to a known good area to hunt the cold front and to then push back to the remote bedding where my camera was dead to put some fresh batteries in. As expected, deer were up moving in the morning through the oak flats on the ridge I hunted, but no bucks showed up. I ended up climbing down around 10 to go check my camera, and ran into a doe and fawn on the logging road just before 11. Shot the doe at about 8 yards from the ground before she could run me over, and after some dragging got to take her for a ride in my fine Korean hunting rig lol
 

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Season has been open for my area for a couple few weeks now and still haven’t got out in the woods yet and I’m getting quite grumpy about it. Lol. Wish the wife’s schedule didn’t suck so bad and I could get free sooner/faster/more often the way it used to be a couple years ago. Eventually I guess I’ll get out there. So far mainly been trying to acquire some more local private properties around me and will also hit some public when I can. Never really have a solid plan in place to begin with. Just always trying to increase the opportunities mainly and then make plans short term based on what I have available to me in the moment. Probably not the best strategy but it’s where I’m at right now.
 
Guess so.. only been out twice. Nothing the first sit. Bear and two doe the next.
Tough for me to get motivated to go out now. I genuinely cannot enjoy hunting when the foliage is up. Just doesn't feel like hunting to me.

And two, I'd be sick to my stomach to shoot something this early.
Older I get, the more I realize it isn't the kill that satisfys me. It's the constant chase and cat and mouse.
 
My wife is due with our first baby right smack dab in the middle of the rut so my plan this year was to get out as much as possible and try to take a doe, then a nice buck as early as I could.

The doe happened in the first hour of the first day, so that was cool. In the last three days I've had two close calls with shooter bucks--I'm still holding out hope that I'll be able to fill my buck tag before the baby arrives.
 
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