mprooch
Active Member
Massachusetts is a blue law state, so Saturday is usually the only day I hunt. Look forward to it all week. This past weekend was the first time I had all my gear really tuned and ready as this is my first season in a saddle, having gotten some hawk helium minis that I put aiders on and practiced enough to use them in a new spot. I wasn't sure how to carry everything in and opted to put my bow on my tidewe pack, and carry my sticks in hand with my predator XL platform stashed in the pack's pocket.
I made my way in, moving slow on a cold and clear morning. I'm hunting around a bog/swamp so getting in usually requires moving around high ground and skirting vernal ponds, standing water, etc. Got to the spot I planned to hunt only to discover no quiver on my bow. I wasn't sure at that point if I hadn't locked the quiver down or if it caught something and came free or what. Needless to say I was pretty pissed. Given I'd followed an unconventional route in (i.e., not a straight line--skirting around the worst of the bog) so it wasn't going to be straightforward to find my arrows.
Long story short, it took awhile and was well past full sunrise before I found them. By then I'd crashed around more than once, gone over my hunting boots in muck and just headed home. the quiver had one post broken and the other intact, so I think I failed to lock it in right and the one post that was holding it attached broke off on something.
So, lesson learned: Carry the bow. I took an older, smaller pack that covers 95 percent of the hawks and lashed it to my tidewe so it will hold the sticks and they shouldn't snag. Guess trying out my dialed in set up will have to wait for another day.....
I did get a doe opening day from a stand, but I want a buck from the saddle this year!
I made my way in, moving slow on a cold and clear morning. I'm hunting around a bog/swamp so getting in usually requires moving around high ground and skirting vernal ponds, standing water, etc. Got to the spot I planned to hunt only to discover no quiver on my bow. I wasn't sure at that point if I hadn't locked the quiver down or if it caught something and came free or what. Needless to say I was pretty pissed. Given I'd followed an unconventional route in (i.e., not a straight line--skirting around the worst of the bog) so it wasn't going to be straightforward to find my arrows.
Long story short, it took awhile and was well past full sunrise before I found them. By then I'd crashed around more than once, gone over my hunting boots in muck and just headed home. the quiver had one post broken and the other intact, so I think I failed to lock it in right and the one post that was holding it attached broke off on something.
So, lesson learned: Carry the bow. I took an older, smaller pack that covers 95 percent of the hawks and lashed it to my tidewe so it will hold the sticks and they shouldn't snag. Guess trying out my dialed in set up will have to wait for another day.....
I did get a doe opening day from a stand, but I want a buck from the saddle this year!