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Next year I'm gonna...

Westdesign03 said:
This past season was the one that put me on the board in my mind. First buck and first bow kill. I also took most of the season to figure out what I really wanted/didn’t want in my gear. That’s everything from weapon to climbing method. I think I narrowed all that down almost completely. Of course it’s sort of ever changing as new stuff comes out. I guess I’m talking a general sense.

In a nutshell, I’m going to continue what I’ve been doing this last season primarily. That is just focusing on all the hunt smarter not harder tactics we all talk about. Too many to mention here. I’m continuing to modify my setup to make everything lighter smaller etc. without sacrificing a bunch of comfort. I’m almost completely satisfied with everything I do in a tree now so I think I’m going to continue to work on ground hunting a little more.


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you and I had the same type season. My first bow kill as well! It was my second deer season (late blooming adult hunter) and the one and only goal I had was to scout during the off season. My first season I had so much trouble just getting on deer and it’s simply cuz I did zero scouting. It was a success! My onX pins were many. I also hung some presets and never hunted them cuz those dang deer just kept on moving on me. Never hunted out of the same tree. Goals for 2020: woodsmanship. Get to know why deer do what they do and learn to identify vegetation so I can interpret sign better.
 
Last year, I set out a few plans, which were mostly successful, but not completely.
1. Become a better archer. This one was a huge success. I put thousands of arrows downrange (the most in any previous offseason was probably 100), and I increased my confident range from 20-25 yards all the way out to 50 yards (though I wouldn't shoot at an animal that far). The result? I put an arrow right through the boilermaker of my biggest buck ever at 35 yards when he was walking a trail that wouldn't have brought him any closer. In past seasons, that would've been another "close call, cool encounter though!" situation, but this year, it was meat in the freezer and a new wall mount.
2. Get into saddle hunting. This one was a success in that I did, in fact, buy a saddle (Tethrd Mantis) and hunt from it a few times, but I didn't get it until December and had a rough late-season stretch where I saw no deer. Also, I traded out my saddle right after the season because it wasn't comfortable enough for me, so now I'm plotting to buy another in the coming months. Gotta start somewhere, I guess.
3. Obtain permission to hunt a new property closer to home. This was another big success, as the first door I knocked on during the summer led to hunting permission on a suburban property just 5 minutes from my house. I haven't killed a deer there yet, but it was very cool to get a brand new permission that wasn't tied to a lease, a friend, or a family property.
4. Kill more does and stock the freezer. Big failure. Very atypically, I had just two opportunities to kill a doe this season, and both times the doe was accompanied by a yearling, which led me to pass on them (just a personal thing). I could've stocked the freezer with little bucks, but passed on them too for QDMA reasons, so I have just one trophy buck worth of venison for this offseason.
 
philsanchez76 said:
you and I had the same type season. My first bow kill as well! It was my second deer season (late blooming adult hunter) and the one and only goal I had was to scout during the off season. My first season I had so much trouble just getting on deer and it’s simply cuz I did zero scouting. It was a success! My onX pins were many. I also hung some presets and never hunted them cuz those dang deer just kept on moving on me. Never hunted out of the same tree. Goals for 2020: woodsmanship. Get to know why deer do what they do and learn to identify vegetation so I can interpret sign better.
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Congrats! That’s awesome! Feels good doesn’t it? I wish I could say it was only my second season. I’ve been messing with hunting seriously for over a decade and just in the last 4 years I’ve actually started to take some deer.

Right, i used to do zero scouting too. Makes it much harder. OnX has been a total game changer for me. I wouldn’t be nearly this far without it. Yes I want to get better and my woodsmanship too. Ive been wanting to learn trees and plants for several years and just haven’t made the time to do it. I need to make that happen this year and ongoing too.


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This past season I committed to hunting travel spots or pinch points and looking at a lot more of the public ground areas I typically hunt rather than just going back to the tried and true food locations. Saw three mature bucks on public ground and all of them were 75-80 yards out. Not sure I can remember a season that I had as many young bucks in slam dunk bow range, almost every climb had at least 1 dink inside 20 yards. Learned a good bit more about some of the areas I hunt and feel like I got better at zeroing in on prime travel spots in our skillet flat woods.
 
My goals for 2020 are the following

1. Get the land I bought in tip top deer killing shape, Create food plots/bedding, also a detailed entrance/exit trail system.
2. Harvest my biggest buck on said property (shouldn't be hard to top my biggest lol)
3. Fine tune my archery skills, more target time
4. preset any and all trees I can with bolts
5. spend more time outdoors fishing, hunting, and woodsman ship
 
Welp, biggest bass I ever caught was 16 & 1/2" so I wanna top that, smack a couple does early season and make some killer summer sausage. Biggest buck I ever kilt was 128 & 1 /8" so I'd like to top that on a specific property that I hunt. Other then that, next year I wanna catch more fish with my kid and enjoy the outdoors for what it is.

Lot of folks, myself included, measure their success by what they kill. I want to be able to take joy in the simple things like just being in nature and enjoying God's creation, and not feel like if I didn't kill anything that it wasn't a successful outing. More fishing before work. Take my 2 almost 3 year old girl deer hunting, even if only for 20 minutes.

Sure I'd like to have crazy success, but if my kiddo has smile when I bring a big a bass by her feet or when we see a single deer, that is worth more than anything that the woods has to offer.
 
TNbowhunter said:
Last year, I set out a few plans, which were mostly successful, but not completely.
1. Become a better archer. This one was a huge success. I put thousands of arrows downrange (the most in any previous offseason was probably 100), and I increased my confident range from 20-25 yards all the way out to 50 yards (though I wouldn't shoot at an animal that far). The result? I put an arrow right through the boilermaker of my biggest buck ever at 35 yards when he was walking a trail that wouldn't have brought him any closer. In past seasons, that would've been another "close call, cool encounter though!" situation, but this year, it was meat in the freezer and a new wall mount.
2. Get into saddle hunting. This one was a success in that I did, in fact, buy a saddle (Tethrd Mantis) and hunt from it a few times, but I didn't get it until December and had a rough late-season stretch where I saw no deer. Also, I traded out my saddle right after the season because it wasn't comfortable enough for me, so now I'm plotting to buy another in the coming months. Gotta start somewhere, I guess.
3. Obtain permission to hunt a new property closer to home. This was another big success, as the first door I knocked on during the summer led to hunting permission on a suburban property just 5 minutes from my house. I haven't killed a deer there yet, but it was very cool to get a brand new permission that wasn't tied to a lease, a friend, or a family property.
4. Kill more does and stock the freezer. Big failure. Very atypically, I had just two opportunities to kill a doe this season, and both times the doe was accompanied by a yearling, which led me to pass on them (just a personal thing). I could've stocked the freezer with little bucks, but passed on them too for QDMA reasons, so I have just one trophy buck worth of venison for this offseason.
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Great post, great goals!
I hope to accomplish 1,3,4 this year!
 
1. Practice with my weapons until they feel like extensions of my body.
2. Exercise so I can feel up to the challenge of scouting and mobile hunting over the course of a long season
3. Scout, Scout, Scout, Scout, Scout, Scout. In season, etc. Baby #2 may have something to say about this goal.
4. Kill deer with my bow. The more I do, the more natural it will feel.
5. My wish would be to knock a buck down early. It would be a nice change from the past 2 years of brutally close encounters with no buck tags filled. With two little ones at home, it would be a great year to tag out early.
 
Guys, I think @elk yinzer was intending to see how our plans actually turned out, not see what our plans were for next year. Or that's how I read his post :)

I know it's always a bit discouraging when I review my written goals and realize maybe 1 in 4 of them actually play out. But it's helpful to know which goals you set were either pointless, impractical, or just unrealized for whatever reason. It helps you set better goals going forward.
 
Nutterbuster said:
Guys, I think @elk yinzer was intending to see how our plans actually turned out, not see what our plans were for next year. Or that's how I read his post :)

I know it's always a bit discouraging when I review my written goals and realize maybe 1 in 4 of them actually play out. But it's helpful to know which goals you set were either pointless, impractical, or just unrealized for whatever reason. It helps you set better goals going forward.
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I wasn't going to say anything it got comical to see who was just reading the title and responding.
 
After the 2018 season ended I had several goals in mind for the 2019 season. I threw all of those goals out the window when I decided to get back into Trad archery.

From that point on my goal was to kill a deer with the recurve my dad had built and given me 20 years earlier. At the beginning of the season my plan was to take the first doe or the first 2.5 yr old buck I saw. The first few months of the season I passed a couple of 1.5 yr old bucks, had some 2.5 yr old bucks just out of range, and had several mature does outsmart me. One day in the stand in early November I decided I was shooting the next deer in range regardless of age/sex. Within minutes I ended up shooting the smallest spike I have ever seen in the woods.

So, although my goals changed several times, I think I accomplished the one that mattered in the end. Now, next years goal is to take a deer with a longbow.
 
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My basic goal was to start into saddle hunting and hunt more. The past years have been rough because I sold my soul to make a dollar (work on railroad). Then a new bow, arrows, etc came into fruition which was awesome. So with various circumstances with work (again) and home life I didn’t get out as much as I wanted. But I did get my basics down well with the saddle and played with different things. It is fun tinkering. So now my goal next year is to get a lot of practice time to being a better archer and scout and hunt more. I’m determined this year to call off sick if needed to hunt more. Especially come rut time.
 
Great thread.

This coming year I want to:
  • Go down and hunt in the USA. Every year I talk about making the trip down, but never do. Canada is of course better, but you guys have a hell of a great country down there.
  • finally ditch my hunting buddy once and for all who causes all the problems (but I keep hunting with anyhow).
  • Go through a complete season without buying ANYTHING (equipment).
 
MJH said:
Great thread.

This coming year I want to:
  • Go down and hunt in the USA. Every year I talk about making the trip down, but never do. Canada is of course better, but you guys have a hell of a great country down there.
  • finally ditch my hunting buddy once and for all who causes all the problems (but I keep hunting with anyhow).
  • Go through a complete season without buying ANYTHING (equipment).
Click to expand...

Go through the season without buying anything !!
 
Fish a lot more! Unless the Mississippi River comes down and stays down. Are the price of beans comes up so the farmers will get off the cotton. No browse and too little protein has led to late breeding which means lots of late born buck deer and poor racks on mature deer. That’s no good for trophy hunting. Anyway the Wahoo fishing is better in the cooler months and they are doing away with snapper season so we always have that to fall back on.
 
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