• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Team 4

I got my first sit in yesterday. I have gone from a Kestrel to a Phantom this season (I still have the Kestrel, and will decide which i will run in the future). The Phantom has some definite advantages over the Kestrel, but it isn't perfect. I think it is clear that my Kestrel is more comfy. I got an ass cramp last night that I have never gotten before - now I am not sure that it had anything to do with the saddle.

Other than that I was pretty happy, and certainly the phantom is lighter - for me that helps a lot because I tend to hike a long way and carry more than I need.
 
OK I have 4 sits in now, all in my new Phantom. Overall it is pretty nice.

Now, I haven't seen a damn deer, or any kind of encouraging deer sign. Now it is still early, and I have not been to my best spots.
 
abd8714c5bb9fff125b2c2ecd01e4af8.jpg

Got a decent doe tonight but not from the saddle it’s been a quiet gun season
So far hopefully things will pick up in time for the start of my vacation on the 30th it’s gonna be game on


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have 5 sits in now on 4 different locations. I have yet to see a deer which is making me loose my mind. The good news is that my buddies are definitely seeing activity now. Does, small bucks and a couple of solid 8 pointers. Those guys have better food sources, but I have way way thinker cover and bedding... Fri the temp drops up here - it has been a freaking sauna up until now. Hopefully that shakes things up for me.
 
Been out 6 times saw a legit stud last night I was 8 yds off on my position. Would have got a shot if a coyote hadn't screwed it up

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
I am still blank after 6 sits. I am losing my mind. My buddies continue to have deer in and around them - I am just not seeing a thing.
Unfortunately now I go into a shutdown at work for a week, so I am pretty much not able to get out until next Monday....

I still haven't gone into my best spots. I will be saving those for the last week of Oct right before the gun hunt opens. If I don't see anything after that, I might throw all my gear in the river and take up table tennis.
 
Quick update: Haven't been hunting much other than day trips to Delaware on the weekends, but have been scouting daily and shining most nights. I get another buck tag at home on Halloween. Trying to pin down a big non-typical I've been shining. He would be a good one for the contest, points everywhere. I've passed up a few deer in Delaware. The properties I've been hunting have a 15 inch spread minimum for bucks, so I'm looking for a no brainier, something well wider than it's ears. I've got eyes on a couple but having a hard time pinning one down only hunting weekends. Feel like I keep getting close, and then a week later everything's changed and I have to go find the deer again. I've been itching to hop in the truck and go hunt West Virginia or Ohio for a long weekend. Maybe late November when work slows down.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MJH
Had a buck bedded 60 yards from me last night not sure if he was one of the whoppers that was on camera but I grunted heard him crossing the ditch but never seen him again I feel that I’m gonna get on one soon everything starting to heat up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
OK boys, I have pre-rut vacation updates...

I rifle hunt up north on the rut, and so I take several days during the pre-rut to bow hunt down where I live.

Day 1
Sunday I worked a night shift, but cut a deal to get out early. I got up to my area at 5:15am to start the long hike into my best spot. This is a super thick patch of flooded timber and cedars. The water levels are really high, which I love because it keeps the other hunters out. Anyhow on my walk in I have to cross a small log bridge I built over a small but deep channel. Sure enough, I blow out and take a dive. both of my hip waders are full of water, and my a$$ and lower torso are soaked. I stripped off, wrung out all my gear and redressed. It was 3C (37F for you yankees), so not too cold thankfully. I did have a chance of clothes in the truck, but I was committed. I pushed on and climbed my best tree on favourable wind. A few hours go by and I have used everything I have to get/stay warm (drank all my thremos, put heat packs in my shirt, eaten all I got...). At 9am two does come out of the thick stuff coming perfectly to me. In this situation I will take a doe, but I am on the lookout for bucks that are following. Either the wind swirled a bit, they saw some movement by me, or their deer intuition kick in, but they stopped and changed direction out of my view. 20 min later, on bad wind in the thick stuff there is a giant commotion and a deer runs off through the flooded timber. My mind clearly comes to believe that I have now blown my best spot.... I hang on until 11am, and now between being wet and really cold, and exhausted I decide it is time to go. As I am climbing down (bolts), with my legs split between two well spaced out steps, I feel the need to fart. No problem. Wait, yes big problem - that wasn't a fart... Needless to say I hiked out totally defeated...

Day 2
The wind is perfect for that same spot as day 1. I am super reluctant to go in there again, because I am worried I have blown it out, but I decide to give it a shot. This time, instead of hiking in through all the water (~2km), I am going back to running the canoe. This solves one problem and creates another. The stream is really small, and there is sh!t tonnes of deadfall. Normally in the summer I go in and clear a bunch of it, so I can canoe, but it didn't happen this year. My buddy and start our paddle in, and hit a big fallen tree right away. I figure we are in for it. To make a long story short, we push through all manner of **** and get to our area. Mark goes to an area he likes, I go to my main spot - same tree as day 1. This time i am dry, warm and happy as a clam. The early morning is uneventful, I dont even hear anything that makes me think there is anything going on.

At 11am, across the hardwoods the story starts to change. 100 yards off, following the far bank of the stream moving South towards me is a deer. I focus more closely, and see quickly that it is a big deer. Then I see his rack as he moved forwards, and this is a monster. Just a huge 10 pointer. This is the kind of deer that can get the puck out of the corner... Wind is West and if he moves further South he is going to scent me, but I blow a soft grunt to see if he will come check me out, and he looks over for quite a while, but ultimately holds his course and disappears into the thick stuff. With a rifle, that deer is down, but on an archery hunt i never had a chance.

Shortly afterwards, Mark texts me to say that a deer has crossed the stream between us. There is some more movement near me which catches my attention, so I am feeling really good about deer activity in the area. Mark and I are determined to sit all day, and I have found my new phantom to be pretty comfortable. Now it starts to rain, and rain pretty hard. I hunker down...

Now it gets hard mentally. I am warm, but after 7, 8 hours in the saddle your brain starts to hurt. All I have to do is text Mark and say "let's pull out" - but I hold. Well sure enough, just when you think you are beat mother nature decides to share her bounty. In the thick stuff to my left I see an antler flash. The buck is sniffing the ground and moves right to the edge of my first shooting lane at 30yards. He takes a couple of steps forward, I "meep" and let fly on a great rear quartering shot. That was 3:07pm after ~9 hours of sitting.

We go through our standard routine, wait an hour and then go check out the bolt (i could see the illuminated knock sticking out of the ground from the stand). Flights had nice looking blood. Now tracking blood is a huge issue because the whole area is watery and it is raining hard. We fine virtually no blood, but to make a long story short, we find him piled up about 75yrds from where he was hit. The best part is that in searching for him, we found at least 15 scrapes all immediately around that area. This is a perennial hot spot, but this is the most sign I have ever seen there.

So, we have a decent, Canadian born and raised 8 pointer in the books. Today I have taken the day off, but will be back up that stream Thurs and Fri...

1603899410403.png
1603899374266.png
 
Awesome buck and story @MJH ! Way to stick it out. 9 hours in the tree has me restless just thinking about it. Congrats!!
 
Day 3.
Got back up into that hot spot with my hunting partner. My tag is filled, so we are on his. The gun hunt opens on Monday and I am going back in to work, so this was my last archery hunt up in that area. Mark made it clear that he wanted something for the freezer, so we were green light.

We canoed in well before dawn, and started another all day sit. Mark sat at the hot spot where all the sign is down like crazy. I moved 400 yards North into a patch of walnuts surrounded by thick swamp cedars. I found this spot a couple of years ago, and prepped it. Being so deep I don't hunt it often and have never closed the deal there. I found the spot by winter scouting and started to understand the travel in and out of the grove. This is the kind of spot that I would never have found without reading Eberhart's books. It is the kind of spot that you just believe in.

The day passes uneventfully. Unfortunately there are no hijinks or humorous screw-ups. At about 2 pm a string of does roll in, I fill Mark's tag, and put 5 more points on the board for team #4.

So that is 18 points from the great white north gents.

Next stop rifle season in the big woods up north...

1604069038180.png
 
Way to put some points up!! Getting it done! Tomorrow I will try and not drag the team down and actually get an arrow in one lol Wish me luck!
 
  • Like
Reactions: MJH
Blew an opportunity at one of the the biggest 8 pointers I've ever seen yesterday. I rushed the shot and wiffed a 15 yard slight quartering away chip shot. Amateur hour. Kicking myself for that one, but he taught me a lesson I won't forget. Good news is the sign he's making is unmistakable, and he's leaving a lot of it in a small area. I will do everything I can to get back on him and make it count this time.
 
Blew an opportunity at one of the the biggest 8 pointers I've ever seen yesterday. I rushed the shot and wiffed a 15 yard slight quartering away chip shot. Amateur hour. Kicking myself for that one, but he taught me a lesson I won't forget. Good news is the sign he's making is unmistakable, and he's leaving a lot of it in a small area. I will do everything I can to get back on him and make it count this time.

Osprey is your real name Tyler Bass?

Ok that is unfair to both parties. I retract.
 
hello all

im new to the forums, good buddy of osprey and now a saddle guy thanks to his persistence - been hunting with him a few years now, just got a phantom and still a total noob ( fell out of the tree yesterday hahaha)

ive been a little punk b*tch for years only hunting from the ground... its amazingly different now being elevated and hunting from above - cant wait to get some more time and expereince in the trees

i know i am probably too late to join the contest but i hope you guys crush it and solidify your dominance on those other teams
 
hello all

im new to the forums, good buddy of osprey and now a saddle guy thanks to his persistence - been hunting with him a few years now, just got a phantom and still a total noob ( fell out of the tree yesterday hahaha)

ive been a little punk b*tch for years only hunting from the ground... its amazingly different now being elevated and hunting from above - cant wait to get some more time and expereince in the trees

i know i am probably too late to join the contest but i hope you guys crush it and solidify your dominance on those other teams

Hunting from the ground? Were you home schooled????

Just kidding around. Once you get used to the saddle, you will never look back.
 
Guys I have failed pretty miserably. I’ve blown opportunities at 1 doe and 5 bucks in the last two weeks. I missed the doe, missed a nice 8 and a six, and got busted by a decent 8, an old 130s 8, and a monster mid 150s 10. This is my first year in Wisconsin, and I feel cursed. I had encounters with two mature bucks this morning, one at 25 yd and one at less than 10, and have nothing to show for it. Nothing to do now but keep at it!
 
Back
Top