jonkytron
Active Member
One of my best seasons this year in terms of deer killed and deer seen. Just thought I'd rattle off quickly some of my takeaways:
Gear:
One stick: My first season with a one stick. It was easy. I got as high as I wanted, with practice it was stress free, and I felt safer using a rappel line to get down. There are some trees that it was a pain in the ass to climb, but Ill take that over lugging several sticks in the woods ever again.
Redundancy: I’m afraid of heights, always have been. This year I added second redundant amsteel bridge to my saddle, and used an extra amsteel tether to my second bridge. I felt safer and more confident in the tree.
Dryad Drey: God damn, this might might be my favorite piece of gear ever. All day sits became a breeze and naps before sunrise and mid day were amazing in this thing. It's quiet, comfortable, and it hides my movement. I have the retrofit kit, but I’m going to completely ditch my saddle next year and just use a harness under this thing.
Bullman Ring of steps: Lightweight, gives me full movement around the tree, and combined with the Drey, I lean back, put my two feet on either side of the tree on the steps, and I’m as comfortable as I've ever been. I’m ditching my predator platform.
Matthews v3x: The best bow I've ever used. not sure I’m going to ever buy a new a bow after this one. Quiet as anything, no vibration, smooth draw cycle, just amazing in every way. huge upgrade from my Hoyt Rx-1.
Sirius arrows: Bought 6 Orions, made-to-order to my specs. Not impressed at all. Went back to my black eagle x-impacts mid season. I didnt like how they fly, and the they didnt do a great of a job putting on fletching and outserts. The arrows weren't straight when I spun them. compared to the BE X-i pacts, which I can get pre-cut on lancaster archery and fletch myself, with the FOCOS system adding FOC upfront, BE was less expensive and better quality. I’m sticking with Black Eagle from now on.
Iron-will "wides": Shot a deer with one of these, heavy quartering away, and it tore threw the entire body of that deer, and out its front shoulder, and then fletching deep into the dirt. The blood trail was massive, like someone was spilling a bucket of red paint as they walked. Just an insane broadhead.
Ranch-fairy/High FOC/Heavy Arrow: Went up from a 550 grain arrow to a 650 grain arrow with a 200 grain broadhead and 100 grain outsert. three deer dead with this setup. All the deer died within 50 yards with complete pass thrus, destroying shoulders and rib bones. I shoot a 75 pound bow, and did a trajectory calculation on ArchersAdvantageOnline.com comparing it with a 450 grain arrow. The trajectory at 20-40 yards was barely different (a few inches). I dont know if its overkill or not, but I’m sticking with a heavy arrow from now on.
Strategy:
25ft > 15ft: In situations where I could get high, Mr eberheart really is right about the 25ft high thing. I sware I could move all I wanted with deer under the tree, and if I was quiet, they just never looked up that high. I had does on several days bedding under my tree.
Hunting the thick: outside of the rut, I focused on areas that were THICK this year. I mean, one or two shooting lanes at most. I saw the most bucks I've ever seen in my tree and on my cameras. Having many shooting lanes is overrated. Also, I found that the thicker the cover, the better you can control the wind. Having something so thick behind you a deer couldnt possibly go thru it, facing into the wind of a place where the deer can just barely move thru it, forces the deer to be in only one place, up wind. I think the smart old bucks think this way too, walking the edge of barely able to move, and impossible for anything to move.
Early season: Most seasons I waited for the rut to spend the most time in the stand. This year I went in early and beat the other hunters who were waiting for better weather and the rut. The biggest deer I killed all year was on Oct 3rd, 3 days after season opener. I also saw a lot of deer on camera in public land disappear after the first and second week of October and not show back up until late December. I do believe Ill be focusing on early season more than the rut from now on.
Mineral water: I always thought about the quality of food, but never thought about quality of water. After putting a several cameras near water sources this year, I found that literally every deer in one property went to one small puddle that dripped out from an old quarry. I realized that this water probably had high mineral content and thats why the deer went to it religiously. I guess preferred water sources are a thing too, just like preferred acorn trees.
Turkey calls: 2 of the bucks I shot this year came in after I added turkey calls to my grunt sequences. In fact, I did more turkey calling than grunting. After seeing deer literally walk up to me during turkey season for 3 straight years, I decided to give it a try. It works.
hot weather rut hunting: I hear a lot of people talk about how hot weather ruins deer hunting. This year was insane hot during the rut. The deer were still moving. I know they say to wait for cold fronts, but during the chasing phase of the rut I dont think it matters. They;re out chasing does.. I saw deer all parts of day during 70 degree weather.
Cell Cam rut intel: The woods heat up quick, One day its quiet and then the next its filled with scrapes. After several years of hunting the same properties. I found it is dependent on each property. Once I saw bucks on camera minutes or hours after I saw does on the same camera, I went in the woods. Each property seems to fluctuate when that was happening. Each time I did that I saw bucks. Sometimes these properties were only a mile or two away from each other, and the rutting would be a week or even two weeks apart. So when the "rut" is happening seems to be really property-dependent as well as region-dependent, or thats what Ive come to notice.
Scent: I paid extra attention to scent this year as an experiment (I never really cared before and never really believed you could fool a deer's nose). I didnt go as far as John Eberheart, because I didnt dress outside my car, and I didnt always wear scentlok.. But I used ozone machines in a scentlok bag, after washing my clothes and packs throughly, wiped down my bow and stick, and I scrubbed the hell out of my arm pits in the shower every morning. I walked slow to avoid sweating, and I was careful of what I touched on the way to my stands. I didnt get winded or blown at once this year... And thats never happened in an entire season for me. I dont know if it was luck or not, but ill keep being somewhat rigorous about scent control from now on.
Thats it!! Learn a little more every year is always my goal. Now its time to focus on turkey season!
Gear:
One stick: My first season with a one stick. It was easy. I got as high as I wanted, with practice it was stress free, and I felt safer using a rappel line to get down. There are some trees that it was a pain in the ass to climb, but Ill take that over lugging several sticks in the woods ever again.
Redundancy: I’m afraid of heights, always have been. This year I added second redundant amsteel bridge to my saddle, and used an extra amsteel tether to my second bridge. I felt safer and more confident in the tree.
Dryad Drey: God damn, this might might be my favorite piece of gear ever. All day sits became a breeze and naps before sunrise and mid day were amazing in this thing. It's quiet, comfortable, and it hides my movement. I have the retrofit kit, but I’m going to completely ditch my saddle next year and just use a harness under this thing.
Bullman Ring of steps: Lightweight, gives me full movement around the tree, and combined with the Drey, I lean back, put my two feet on either side of the tree on the steps, and I’m as comfortable as I've ever been. I’m ditching my predator platform.
Matthews v3x: The best bow I've ever used. not sure I’m going to ever buy a new a bow after this one. Quiet as anything, no vibration, smooth draw cycle, just amazing in every way. huge upgrade from my Hoyt Rx-1.
Sirius arrows: Bought 6 Orions, made-to-order to my specs. Not impressed at all. Went back to my black eagle x-impacts mid season. I didnt like how they fly, and the they didnt do a great of a job putting on fletching and outserts. The arrows weren't straight when I spun them. compared to the BE X-i pacts, which I can get pre-cut on lancaster archery and fletch myself, with the FOCOS system adding FOC upfront, BE was less expensive and better quality. I’m sticking with Black Eagle from now on.
Iron-will "wides": Shot a deer with one of these, heavy quartering away, and it tore threw the entire body of that deer, and out its front shoulder, and then fletching deep into the dirt. The blood trail was massive, like someone was spilling a bucket of red paint as they walked. Just an insane broadhead.
Ranch-fairy/High FOC/Heavy Arrow: Went up from a 550 grain arrow to a 650 grain arrow with a 200 grain broadhead and 100 grain outsert. three deer dead with this setup. All the deer died within 50 yards with complete pass thrus, destroying shoulders and rib bones. I shoot a 75 pound bow, and did a trajectory calculation on ArchersAdvantageOnline.com comparing it with a 450 grain arrow. The trajectory at 20-40 yards was barely different (a few inches). I dont know if its overkill or not, but I’m sticking with a heavy arrow from now on.
Strategy:
25ft > 15ft: In situations where I could get high, Mr eberheart really is right about the 25ft high thing. I sware I could move all I wanted with deer under the tree, and if I was quiet, they just never looked up that high. I had does on several days bedding under my tree.
Hunting the thick: outside of the rut, I focused on areas that were THICK this year. I mean, one or two shooting lanes at most. I saw the most bucks I've ever seen in my tree and on my cameras. Having many shooting lanes is overrated. Also, I found that the thicker the cover, the better you can control the wind. Having something so thick behind you a deer couldnt possibly go thru it, facing into the wind of a place where the deer can just barely move thru it, forces the deer to be in only one place, up wind. I think the smart old bucks think this way too, walking the edge of barely able to move, and impossible for anything to move.
Early season: Most seasons I waited for the rut to spend the most time in the stand. This year I went in early and beat the other hunters who were waiting for better weather and the rut. The biggest deer I killed all year was on Oct 3rd, 3 days after season opener. I also saw a lot of deer on camera in public land disappear after the first and second week of October and not show back up until late December. I do believe Ill be focusing on early season more than the rut from now on.
Mineral water: I always thought about the quality of food, but never thought about quality of water. After putting a several cameras near water sources this year, I found that literally every deer in one property went to one small puddle that dripped out from an old quarry. I realized that this water probably had high mineral content and thats why the deer went to it religiously. I guess preferred water sources are a thing too, just like preferred acorn trees.
Turkey calls: 2 of the bucks I shot this year came in after I added turkey calls to my grunt sequences. In fact, I did more turkey calling than grunting. After seeing deer literally walk up to me during turkey season for 3 straight years, I decided to give it a try. It works.
hot weather rut hunting: I hear a lot of people talk about how hot weather ruins deer hunting. This year was insane hot during the rut. The deer were still moving. I know they say to wait for cold fronts, but during the chasing phase of the rut I dont think it matters. They;re out chasing does.. I saw deer all parts of day during 70 degree weather.
Cell Cam rut intel: The woods heat up quick, One day its quiet and then the next its filled with scrapes. After several years of hunting the same properties. I found it is dependent on each property. Once I saw bucks on camera minutes or hours after I saw does on the same camera, I went in the woods. Each property seems to fluctuate when that was happening. Each time I did that I saw bucks. Sometimes these properties were only a mile or two away from each other, and the rutting would be a week or even two weeks apart. So when the "rut" is happening seems to be really property-dependent as well as region-dependent, or thats what Ive come to notice.
Scent: I paid extra attention to scent this year as an experiment (I never really cared before and never really believed you could fool a deer's nose). I didnt go as far as John Eberheart, because I didnt dress outside my car, and I didnt always wear scentlok.. But I used ozone machines in a scentlok bag, after washing my clothes and packs throughly, wiped down my bow and stick, and I scrubbed the hell out of my arm pits in the shower every morning. I walked slow to avoid sweating, and I was careful of what I touched on the way to my stands. I didnt get winded or blown at once this year... And thats never happened in an entire season for me. I dont know if it was luck or not, but ill keep being somewhat rigorous about scent control from now on.
Thats it!! Learn a little more every year is always my goal. Now its time to focus on turkey season!
