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Team 8 Thread

slonstdy said:
Struck out today in CT.
I'm hunting the NY opening day tomorrow on the hill behind my house for a few hours in the morning if it isn't raining. I start my four midnights tomorrow night so I won't be getting out again until Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday I'll jump to PA in a spot where I have a couple of booners on camera.
Good luck to all on opening day!
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Booners? Let's see some pics!
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Passed a doe at 10yds on Sat. Only saw one other deer over the weekend. Its still very green and thick here. It was great to get back in the tree with the bow again though.
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Where about in Northern LP do you hunt @boyne bowhunter? Just out of curiosity. My family has a camp near Mesick that I’m planning to hunt from later this month. Guessing you’re a bit further north based on your handle.
 
Small world . . . Both my parents grew up in Mesick. In fact I still have a couple of pieces of family property down there. Unfortunately I dont get that far south to hunt much anymore.
 
boyne bowhunter said:
Small world . . . Both my parents grew up in Mesick. In fact I still have a couple of pieces of family property down there. Unfortunately I dont get that far south to hunt much anymore.
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Ha, funny. We own 15 acres right along the little airstrip south of Hodenpyl. We own like half that airstrip. We use it as a home base for hunting the NF.
 
Fortunately, I hunted more than I ever have in my life last year.

Unfortunately I’m looking at a wedding and first born coming in April! Wait I mean fortunately!

Yes, fortunately!

We hatched a plan, and assumed we had some time to prepare for getting it right. Turns out I make babies much more effectively than I shoot at deer. One shot one kill haha!

The ole lady knows my priors though, and she’s on me to put meat in the freezer. I’ll have to be more selective on time and place to hunt, but I should be able to squeak out ten points as a minimum.

Good luck boys let’s go get em!
 
I've just never been much of a doe killer. I've killed 80 some deer in my life and I'm pretty sure only 2 of them have been antlerless (one of those turned out to be a button buck). I think its a throw back to my dad, who lived in the era where deer were scarce enough you didn't share deer track locations much like you wouldn't share the location of a 160" buck these days. "I saw some tracks" had a whole different connotation in his day. In his mind the only way to increase the deer herd was to not kill the does. I know its not necessary anymore but it's kind of hard wired into my psyche.

That said, if I happen to choose to take the long bow into the woods one of these hunts and a fat doe with no fawns walks by she's likely to take a truck ride. I've never taken a deer with Trad equipment and I want to break that streak. Otherwise I'll just keep looking for a decent buck. For me the contest is just for fun and added incentive to get out there on those borderline days. As @kyler1945 so astutely pointed out in another post, part of the enjoyment is being able to share the story. At this point in my hunting career I find that story is less about the actual kill than being able to say I made a plan and the pieces came together such that I could have killed. Especially this early in the season the tags (i.e. my tickets to hunt) are still more important to me than the venison. It'll take a decent buck t get me to even draw on it yet. That said, I'm usually good for a buck or two somewhere through the course of the season.
 
kyler1945 said:
Fortunately, I hunted more than I ever have in my life last year.

Unfortunately I’m looking at a wedding and first born coming in April! Wait I mean fortunately!
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DUDE!! Your friends weren't kidding when they said don't do it! lol

Congrats man and best wishes to you and your new family.

Now can you do me favor and give me first crack at all your gear you'll be selling soon?
 
slonstdy said:
DUDE!! Your friends weren't kidding when they said don't do it! lol

Congrats man and best wishes to you and your new family.

Now can you do me favor and give me first crack at all your gear you'll be selling soon?
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I started the sell off about a year ago in anticipation of a move, and with the price of used gear exceeding what new gear costs due to supply issues. It has continued knowing about the bambino. I have some stuff in the classifieds. Unfortunately half my stash is in Colorado, due to thinking I’d stop at that house prior to our hunt. I didn’t.

That also cemented how much stuff I’ll actually keep for western huntjng too. I made it through with the backups to the backups. Just fine.

So there will be another purge likely between now and December, and one in spring.

You’ve missed most of the good stuff though!

Thanks for the well wishes. I’m not too worried about hunting privileges. She likes to go. And I killed 7 deer, an elk, and rounded up 50lbs or so of fish here and there. We’ve bought meat maybe 5 times this year. That money saved, and satisfaction, has her all in.
 
kyler1945 said:
Fortunately, I hunted more than I ever have in my life last year.

Unfortunately I’m looking at a wedding and first born coming in April! Wait I mean fortunately!

Yes, fortunately!

We hatched a plan, and assumed we had some time to prepare for getting it right. Turns out I make babies much more effectively than I shoot at deer. One shot one kill haha!

The ole lady knows my priors though, and she’s on me to put meat in the freezer. I’ll have to be more selective on time and place to hunt, but I should be able to squeak out ten points as a minimum.

Good luck boys let’s go get em!
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Congrats @kyler1945. My daughter's a full grown, self-sufficient mom now and in my mind's eye she's still a little kid. Take advice from an old guy whose been there. They grow up so fast, one day they're starting Kindergarten and a blink of an eye later they're graduating college. Don't miss any of it! I'm fortunately now at the Grandpa stage of life with a 4 year old "mini-me" version of her mom running around. Life is good!
 
Got great news today, my weekly Wednesday training class was cancelled along with Friday's project meeting. That means I'll be prowling the PA woods starting tomorrow late afternoon straight through to Friday evening. It's been steady rain here the last few days but tomorrow afternoon it clears out so I'm hoping that will get them out up and moving.
 
Almost killed one on the walk in at freakin 2:30. Climbed up a big white oak about 3 pm and had another doe come right in while my bow is still on the dang ground ugh. Dang pigs have these deer so skittish it's not even funny. Yesterday was a bust. Have a feeling I'll be hunting these white oaks for another week or two.
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This afternoon will be my first outing of the year. I would surprise myself if I shot anything other than 2 bucks that I've been watching grow this summer (both just good 8pts). I have an 11 pt running around as well but he's only 3 and definitely needs another year. Watched that one a lot last year but was a little narrow 8pt with 2 little G4s that weren't long enough to count along with kickers on both G2s that also weren't quite long enough. I have his sheds
 
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