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Team 10

Well I stuck it out last evening. No shots but I did jump another doe nearby on my way out. Makes me more confident of my scouting and learning to find deer.

I have hunted that public ground often due to proximity to home, not by preference. Usually it’s overrun with the orange army, you can hardly find a parking spot, and I typically see no deer. Man… yesterday I think I was the only hunter on that parcel all day!! I couldn’t believe it when I got there and was the only vehicle in the lot. And even though they were spikes, those are the first antlers, and groups of deer, I’ve seen there. They weren’t spooked out of their minds when I bumped them either. Made me realize how unpressured and more natural the deer are in the early season as compared to rifle season. This bow hunting business is the ticket.
 
Marmuzz said:
Well I stuck it out last evening. No shots but I did jump another doe nearby on my way out. Makes me more confident of my scouting and learning to find deer.

I have hunted that public ground often due to proximity to home, not by preference. Usually it’s overrun with the orange army, you can hardly find a parking spot, and I typically see no deer. Man… yesterday I think I was the only hunter on that parcel all day!! I couldn’t believe it when I got there and was the only vehicle in the lot. And even though they were spikes, those are the first antlers, and groups of deer, I’ve seen there. They weren’t spooked out of their minds when I bumped them either. Made me realize how unpressured and more natural the deer are in the early season as compared to rifle season. This bow hunting business is the ticket.
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It’s a different animal for sure. It’s why I love early season. Even just watching the deer before they’re walking around looking up every tree is just better.


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Marmuzz said:
Well I stuck it out last evening. No shots but I did jump another doe nearby on my way out. Makes me more confident of my scouting and learning to find deer.

I have hunted that public ground often due to proximity to home, not by preference. Usually it’s overrun with the orange army, you can hardly find a parking spot, and I typically see no deer. Man… yesterday I think I was the only hunter on that parcel all day!! I couldn’t believe it when I got there and was the only vehicle in the lot. And even though they were spikes, those are the first antlers, and groups of deer, I’ve seen there. They weren’t spooked out of their minds when I bumped them either. Made me realize how unpressured and more natural the deer are in the early season as compared to rifle season. This bow hunting business is the ticket.
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It's why I fell in love with the sport 44 years ago :)
 
Good luck @Hossmiller . Looks like we're still in 1st. I'll be out this Saturday AM but I'll be looking for does and doing some scouting so I won't be able to add to our points this weekend. The one property I hunt is earn a buck so I'm hoping to get 1 or 2 more down before November gets here. Hopefully this weekends hunt will contribute to points in the future. Good luck to everyone getting out this week!
 
I only got to hunt half a day today, and didn’t end up seeing anything else after those 2 came through. I should be back out tomorrow, we have a chance of rain, so not sure if it’ll be a morning or afternoon hunt yet.
 
I hunted today. I didn't see anything this morning and this evening was a complete boondoggle. I went into a spot with good sign and just could not pick a tree. The hot tree was an absolute giant and everything else were toothpicks. I debated sitting on the ground, but it was so open near that big tree it would have been useless. I hemmed and hawed around in there for an hour with tree paralysis and finally said to heck with it and went and did some scouting. I found a few more good spots for later this week. I usually have one of those absolute s%!&show hunts so hopefully that was it for this season, lol.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
I hunted today. I didn't see anything this morning and this evening was a complete boondoggle. I went into a spot with good sign and just could not pick a tree. The hot tree was an absolute giant and everything else were toothpicks. I debated sitting on the ground, but it was so open near that big tree it would have been useless. I hemmed and hawed around in there for an hour with tree paralysis and finally said to heck with it and went and did some scouting. I found a few more good spots for later this week. I usually have one of those absolute s%!&show hunts so hopefully that was it for this season, lol.
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Man I thought I was the only one,it's a wonder I've taken some of the deer I have as much ground scent I laid down. Wish I had a good report from the weekend but it's been the worst season I remember having in a good while. I know our deer density is down but dang. 2020 and 21 both I had taken a p&y by now passed some smaller bucks and does. This year I've hunted 10 days and have only seen 3 deer. I think my streak of luck ran out.
 
Ouachitamtnman said:
Man I thought I was the only one,it's a wonder I've taken some of the deer I have as much ground scent I laid down. Wish I had a good report from the weekend but it's been the worst season I remember having in a good while. I know our deer density is down but dang. 2020 and 21 both I had taken a p&y by now passed some smaller bucks and does. This year I've hunted 10 days and have only seen 3 deer. I think my streak of luck ran out.
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You are certainly not the only one who suffers from tree indecision from time to time. I usually have one hunt each season where it all falls apart. I've gotten better at spotting the situation where everything is going sideways and just walk away. I don't want to climb when I am in that state anyway.

I hate to hear your season is off to a tough start. I had one of those back in 2016 and it was tough. Bad weather, vehicle problems and the flu sidelining me for two weeks during the peak rut all came together to make that a tough season.

Hang in there and keep at it. One thing I have learned is that a season can turn on a dime.
 
Ouachitamtnman said:
Man I thought I was the only one,it's a wonder I've taken some of the deer I have as much ground scent I laid down. Wish I had a good report from the weekend but it's been the worst season I remember having in a good while. I know our deer density is down but dang. 2020 and 21 both I had taken a p&y by now passed some smaller bucks and does. This year I've hunted 10 days and have only seen 3 deer. I think my streak of luck ran out.
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Sounds like me last year. First sit of the year I had my target walk under me for 15 mins but wasn't buck eligible yet. Would have been my best buck easily. Next sit I rushed a shot on a doe because she was getting out of my window and in my brain I just HAD to make it happen because of that buck. Then I couldn't get a deer in front of me through the rest of September and October. Knowing each "failed" hunt I was wasting time away from my family I was stressing out and not having fun. Like it was so bad I was getting the nervous craps multiple times a day the day before my hunts lol. My wife reminded me that I just need to go out and have fun. I'm going to be gone so just make the best of each hunt even if it's just enjoying the sunrise or sunset. Well the morning of November 5th I was just enjoying a sunrise when a parade of does decided to come through. I shot 4 of them lol. My next hunt on November 8th I shot my best buck to date. Things can change quickly. Until they do, just try to remember to have fun.
 
On a side note I carried my climber on that hunt and decided I didn't like it as much as the saddle even though I sit still longer and quicker set up. Felt strange lol
 
hokiehunter373 said:
Sounds like me last year. First sit of the year I had my target walk under me for 15 mins but wasn't buck eligible yet. Would have been my best buck easily. Next sit I rushed a shot on a doe because she was getting out of my window and in my brain I just HAD to make it happen because of that buck. Then I couldn't get a deer in front of me through the rest of September and October. Knowing each "failed" hunt I was wasting time away from my family I was stressing out and not having fun. Like it was so bad I was getting the nervous craps multiple times a day the day before my hunts lol. My wife reminded me that I just need to go out and have fun. I'm going to be gone so just make the best of each hunt even if it's just enjoying the sunrise or sunset. Well the morning of November 5th I was just enjoying a sunrise when a parade of does decided to come through. I shot 4 of them lol. My next hunt on November 8th I shot my best buck to date. Things can change quickly. Until they do, just try to remember to have fun.
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2018 was my year. The saddle hunting explosion on this site added a lot of stress to my life so I don't know if that somehow affected me. I actually hit 4 bucks and didn't recover them. Usually I only get a crack at one or 2. One in October I took too far of a shot and hit in the leg. Another one in late October I must have hit low and am still not sure on. I assume it was a single lung as I had a dog come and we never found it. Nov 4th I hit one in the shoulder early in the morning, searched until after lunch to confirm, set back up 100 yards away and shot another buck that afternoon to give me a little confidence back. In early January I had one quartering that I didn't aim far enough back and definitely had another single lung hit. Sometimes you just go on a bad run. I shouldn't even put this out in the universe but I've recovered every single deer I've shot since that bad stretch.
 
After you think you have them somewhat figured out and have taken a couple good ones then struggle to see even a deer is a pretty tough mental game. I think some rain will change it all for the better. Typically I'm strictly big buck hunting and will shoot a doe or 2 later on in the year. This year I just decided to shoot a doe early on. Haven't even had the chance. I do really think our population is down a considerable bit, that 6 deer limit is going to catch up at some point and I think it has. I usually would have seen a couple smaller bucks that I would have opportunity on by now but haven't. Out of 7 cams I only had 1 that got me excited and that area is covered up with illegal bait piles and sxs. I'll be miserable and tough it out to hopefully eventually cross paths with the right deer! Sometimes it just takes awhile.
 
I wasn’t planning on hunting my little property this year anymore, but I put a camera up just for Kix last week, checked it today and these guys showed up! The eight pointers been coming in for a couple years, and then there’s four other bucks & at least 10 doe on camera that day/night. But this arrival was a little alarming lol8A04DA2C-DBBC-4E6E-9AF9-87727F7727AF.jpeg7793F4BE-A1EF-42DB-ABDF-9AE80A7DCAC0.jpeg299C9DC9-E380-4EF0-85AC-CE54B46389D7.jpeg
 
I live in a remote part of Northern Michigan, and we've seen photos from neighbors around our lake with this OR similar bears. So, not completely surprised. Our dog was going nuts the other night, so this fella might have been close to our house that same night! NO more unattended nighttime potty breaks for our dog! LOL
hokiehunter373 said:
Whew buddy that looks like a sizeable bear!
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Yesterday on the way home from work I stopped at some public I've never been on and had my stuff with me. Didn't find anything to get real excited over but found one scrape and with hour and half left opted to just sit on the ground. Between the skeeters and the fact that I wasn't real excited about the sign I decided to just scout a loop back out to the jeep while I had some light left. Ended up finding a scrape closer to the road that I had just barely missed the deer. Still had a puddle in it and our ground is drrrrryyyyyyy. Have to sight in new scope on ml this evening but Thursday after work I plan to go set up on that scrape and see what happens.
 
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Sounds like fun. Always fun finding new spots. Good luck.
Ouachitamtnman said:
Yesterday on the way home from work I stopped at some public I've never been on and had my stuff with me. Didn't find anything to get real excited over but found one scrape and with hour and half left opted to just sit on the ground. Between the skeeters and the fact that I wasn't real excited about the sign I decided to just scout a loop back out to the jeep while I had some light left. Ended up finding a scrape closer to the road that I had just barely missed the deer. Still had a puddle in it and our ground is drrrrryyyyyyy. Have to sight in new scope on ml this evening but Thursday after work I plan to go set up on that scrape and see what happens.
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I've been trying to take advantage of my time bucked out for now to do some scouting. Saturday afternoon I put some time in around where I shot my buck to investigate it further. I had found a spot where I thought a buck was bedding last fall. I'm about 99% sure the one I shot was bedded in there. Its only like 60 yards from the tree I was in and there is a trail coming from it with rubs right up to where he popped out. Found a couple other really good rubs close to one of my other spots near there so it was a productive little trip. Last night I got out after work I got out and made it to this secluded section of a property that is cut off by a river. The first time I tried to get there the river was high and the mud squishy. Last night the river was down and I was able to find where the solid bottom was to cross. Jumped 3 does out there and found some sign so I'll have to investigate it further. I did find a nice spot near a powerline where a nice one looks to be bedding in the powerline and popping out into the woods and tearing up some trees. I marked that one down for next year. Friday after work I'm hoping to get out and do an initial walk through on the area that I'm doing the 4 day muzzleloader hunt on. Saturday evening I'm really hoping to finally get my daughter out in a tree this year and maybe even we can whack a doe.
 
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