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LIVE from the Saddle 2024

HuumanCreed said:
Omg. I think my grunt tube frozed.....wth. This is the coldest l ever hunt. Mid teens. So is this something that happens or it's just this old 30 plus year hand me down finally dying?
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No that happens all the time to me. Especially with calls that have rubber components. Stick it inside your coat right up against your chest for a bit then blow it again.
 
26 and snowing. still hopeful and can somewhat feel my toes still. One good thing about temp is phone stays in pocket more.

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Live from the couch update: saw 3 more at PM but all 55-75 yards away. I think I'll go out one more time on Saturday and am going to set up in a tree that gets me closer to their travel routes (should wind allow/be similar)... So obviously they will all walk right under the tree I was in today.

Was happy to have my fanatic set and two layers of merino. Need to get some boot blankets or artic shields for next season but shoving a hand warmer inside my boots on top of my toes was good enough to stay out for 13 hrs in the low 20s today, it'll be good enough for Saturday.
 
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I got out this afternoon. 15 degrees with a light wind wasn’t terrible. The fingers didn’t like the climb down, but had a great hunt. I had two bucks get out of their bed around 4 at 100 yards out… mingled around for 30 minutes before disappearing. I didn’t see anything else the rest of the evening. My dad was around 300 yards from me and shot a 6pt his first time out in around 5 years so he was pumped up. Got a few more weeks here in Ohio to get some more on the ground.

The trail cam pic is the bucks I watched tonight. Should be some good ones next year if they make it. I would have happily put one down though if they came in.
 

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Back in WI for a few days before the next semester starts trying to fill my buck tag and one or two more doe tags. Decided to sit an established shack tonight to get a better plan together for tomorrow afternoon. Getting back there was rough, I was post holing the entire way through 12-24” of snow. Temp showed 2 when I left the truck and the weather app showed the felt temp at -18. Wouldn’t have been that bad but I’m pretty sure I have the flu so that added a layer of suck.

Ended up seeing ~25 does but they hung up at 40, the beans closest to me are pretty picked over. Going to sneak around to the back corner of the field tomorrow afternoon and get up in my saddle just off where they entered from, all 25 did the exact same thing and it’s similar conditions tomorrow so I feel decent about it.

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We got 4-5” of fresh overnight and this afternoon and the woods look awesome. I’ve had deer coming in here morning and evening daily for the past couple days so I’m just hoping the does come through this evening.
 

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casts_by_fly said:
We got 4-5” of fresh overnight and this afternoon and the woods look awesome. I’ve had deer coming in here morning and evening daily for the past couple days so I’m just hoping the does come through this evening.
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I had my friendly local spike under my tree when I walked it. He watched me set my sticks the other day and let me climb down and walk away without even a twitch. After he left it was quiet for a long while. About 430 I saw three deer off in the distance and thought they might come to me. After a solid 20-30 minutes of browsing their way towards me they finally came in. I drew just as the big doe was coming to my kill spot but she stayed facing me for what felt like eternity. She eventually looked up and didn’t like what she saw so she took two steps to her right and went broadside. I pulled the shot a little from fatigue at that point but it center punched her liver and she was down in under 100 yards. The two with her stayed by her for 10 minutes and then made their way back to me but they came on an odd trail and I never had a shot.

Bigterp said:
Out here with you guys 5” fresh snow, 25 deg & ain’t no way I’m looking up what the real feel is……. I’m toasty in this iwom xt.View attachment 98630
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It was about the same but I was in a protected bottoms so the wind was negligible. It was actually really nice out.
 

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Not a live shot, was trying to keep my hands in the warmer as much as possible last night. Third sit in a row last night and I thought I had the setup dialed. Tuesday night was a mess, had some issues getting out there and got out later than I wanted so ended up in a ladder stand I didn’t really want to be in. Blew two chances because the stand screeched so bad in the cold (it was 1 when I got in and -2 when I got out) then had a fork horn blow it for me when I was at full draw on a good doe.

Pic is from last night, moved into the tree I wanted to be in. Setup was perfect, I doubt they would be able to pick me off until it was too late. Ended up having 18 come into the beans last night but they came out a different trail about 80 yards down to a different section of the beans that haven’t been absolutely destroyed. Tonight is my last chance and will likely be my last sit until next season. Going to shift down to cover that trail tonight, hoping the last sit ends with some more venison in the freezer.

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sconnieVLP said:
Not a live shot, was trying to keep my hands in the warmer as much as possible last night. Third sit in a row last night and I thought I had the setup dialed. Tuesday night was a mess, had some issues getting out there and got out later than I wanted so ended up in a ladder stand I didn’t really want to be in. Blew two chances because the stand screeched so bad in the cold (it was 1 when I got in and -2 when I got out) then had a fork horn blow it for me when I was at full draw on a good doe.

Pic is from last night, moved into the tree I wanted to be in. Setup was perfect, I doubt they would be able to pick me off until it was too late. Ended up having 18 come into the beans last night but they came out a different trail about 80 yards down to a different section of the beans that haven’t been absolutely destroyed. Tonight is my last chance and will likely be my last sit until next season. Going to shift down to cover that trail tonight, hoping the last sit ends with some more venison in the freezer.

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If you find yourself having to use a ladder stand again (we’ve all been there) you can set your platform above the ladder stand and then you won’t have to deal with the noise.
 
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
If you find yourself having to use a ladder stand again (we’ve all been there) you can set your platform above the ladder stand and then you won’t have to deal with the noise.
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That was Plan B when I was heading out, but when I got out there I realized I was going to have trim a bunch of branches off to make that work (stand is in a cedar tree).

In hindsight, I should have just hunted off the ground that night with the amount of time I had to get set up before I expected them to start showing up. There was a deadfall I could have tucked myself into near the corner of the field that they all walked past, and with the fairly stiff wind moving everything around and covering my noise I think it would have been a good option.
 
sconnieVLP said:
Not a live shot, was trying to keep my hands in the warmer as much as possible last night. Third sit in a row last night and I thought I had the setup dialed. Tuesday night was a mess, had some issues getting out there and got out later than I wanted so ended up in a ladder stand I didn’t really want to be in. Blew two chances because the stand screeched so bad in the cold (it was 1 when I got in and -2 when I got out) then had a fork horn blow it for me when I was at full draw on a good doe.

Pic is from last night, moved into the tree I wanted to be in. Setup was perfect, I doubt they would be able to pick me off until it was too late. Ended up having 18 come into the beans last night but they came out a different trail about 80 yards down to a different section of the beans that haven’t been absolutely destroyed. Tonight is my last chance and will likely be my last sit until next season. Going to shift down to cover that trail tonight, hoping the last sit ends with some more venison in the freezer.

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Man you sure walked around in that snow a lot getting in and out. ;)
 
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
If you find yourself having to use a ladder stand again (we’ve all been there) you can set your platform above the ladder stand and then you won’t have to deal with the noise.
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Or just stand in the upper seat as I did a couple of times this past gun season.
 

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casts_by_fly said:
Man you sure walked around in that snow a lot getting in and out. ;)
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It has been wild in there the last few nights, that back corner is completely trampled.

Saw ~25 the first night, probably 30 the second night, and then 18 last night.

With that many eyes out there and deer coming by nonstop you can make zero mistakes, especially since they’ve been hunted for more than four months at this point.

The temps are making me reevaluate how some of my gear is set up. I’m not new to this kind of weather, it’s how I grew up hunting, but these temps and mobile hunting are new to me. Definitely some lessons learned about getting a few things a little more dialed in and I think it will help when I’m not sitting there at -2 as well.
 
sconnieVLP said:
With that many eyes out there and deer coming by nonstop you can make zero mistakes, especially since they’ve been hunted for more than four months at this point.
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Preach it again. my biggest screw ups are undoubtedly the times when I try to shoot one doe in a group of more than two or three. Last late-season I had at least 20 deer around me chillin’, I should have waited for them to start exiting and pick one off from the rear guard if at all, but I got greedy and impatient and tried to draw on one of the first few. Like 7 of them blew at me and I went from seeing 20+ deer every few days to not seeing two deer in over two weeks. That’s a lot of time to lose deer movement on a small property when your last tag is just a-burnin’ through your coat pocket.
 
This one actually is live. Last at-bat for the 2023-2024 season, set up further south on the beans. There are three major entry routes, but from the looks of it they are all exiting past me. Didn’t have a ton of tree options and would prefer to be on the other side, but I have good cover up here so should be able to maneuver a bit. Balmy 12 degrees, didn’t even bother packing the heavy stuff in.

Even if I don’t connect tonight, it’s beautiful out here tonight - one of those days that makes you feel lucky just being able to experience.

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