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What's gonna be different for your new 2021 season?

Get my 13 year old a shot at a deer from a saddle. Hunt less during the early season and more during the rut.
 
I am still trying to imagine hunting in the swamps of Florida. @Weldabeast must really be a beast to pull that off. Northern florida doesn't look so bad. But how bad are the mosquitos? Snakes? Spiders? Not to mention skunk apes.
 
I've got several changes I'm making next year.

First, I fell into the trap this year of overhunting the hot buck sign I was seeing. Worst part is I know better and did it anyway. While I didn't hunt the same trees, I certainly spent too much time in that 5-10 acre chunk of woods. At the time I justified it to myself by saying it was where I was seeing the sign. However, as I look back I think it was more that there were more guys hunting in the area than usual and I didn't want anyone else moving into "my" hot spot. It's a mistake I won't make again. I've always tried to spread out my hunting more and I'm going back to that again next year. I can't let the pressure from other hunters affect my thought process and what I want to do.

Secondly, I'm going to make some changes to my arrow setup. I'm planning on keeping my arrow weight pretty consistent (about 510grains) but I'm going to change both my arrows and broadheads to get more FOC. Right now I'm only about 6-7% and I'm targeting somewhere in the 12-15%. It's something I wanted to do last year but by the time I caught the bug it was too late in the season to make a change. Hopefully if I make the changes this spring I'll have it all dialed in by next fall.

Lastly, I really want to kill a deer with my new longbow. I've never even hunted with traditional equipment let alone take a deer with it. That in itself is going to take some considerable work over the summer. It's been 25+ years since I shot a bow without a release or sights so I'm going to have to spend some time re-learning how to shoot with my fingers again. :tearsofjoy: I won't take it into the field until I'm confident I can make it work but that's my number one goal this summer, getting at least semi-proficient with it.
 
I hunted on the ground or one-stick climbing exclusively past year. Have learned I hate the screw link. It's small, squeaky, and hard to operate when fingers are cold. I'm going to get a 70kn auto-locking steel industrial safety biner and quit worrying about crossloading it with just my body weight.

I ditched peep sights past year, and loved it. Going to practice a bunch more with it.

I got a small self-inflating 2" seat for ground hunts and it made sitting on a root at the base of a tree much more tolerable for 3 hours. Gonna practice sitting on my butt on the ground shots more.

Not buying any more camo. I shot my buck in a wal-mart flannel shirt and wrangler cargo pants. AM buying brush busting pants. Water and swamp did not deter me. Hawthorns and briars did, and that's where I found the deer.
 
For me this is easy, Go saddle hunting! :D. Just joining the craze. I cant wait to get out this fall. And looking forward to all the practice in the backyard, when it warms up a bit, looking at -25 windchill this weekend in WI.
 
Need to kill more deer in October with my bow. Only got 2 last season despite plenty of encounters. I think this means I have to get better at picking "the killing tree."
 
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I plan on trying to keep my emotions out of my hunting. Have a plan, stick to the plan no matter what.

What prompted this was this being my first year bow hunting I was figuring some things out. I’m a meat hunter more than a horn hunter. Last year I had traveled to my dads farm area to chase down a big buck, I hunted three spots over two days and had multiple encounters with deer, last day about an hour before dark I had a doe broadside at 20 yards for quite awhile. It would have been a chip shot, no branches in the way, strong side of the tree, couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. I had a doe tag in my pocket for that area and it’s still there because I wasn’t there for when doe came in during rifle season. Looking back I should have shot that doe but I let a big buck cloud my judgement. I have to keep emotions out of it. I’m out there to fill my freezer to feed my family, not to spend more money on a big buck mount.

So the plan for next year, kill enough does to fill the freezer before the rut so I can go have some fun chasing big bucks around with a clear conscience.
 
MattMan81 said:
That's on my list as well. I am good at saying. Oh. What if I need this. Or that. Toss it in the backpack.
Click to expand...

I'm like a drug addict with gear. I tell myself it's bad and I won't use it... and I still take it.


I've gotten better at minimalism while elk hunting (mostly because it's torture carrying too much) but when I'm only walking a couple miles at 1500' elevation.... the same motivation to take less isn't there.
 
I really worked on simplifying my setup this last season.
I traded saddles, Mantis for a Recon, and sticks, Muddys for Shikars, so I expect to be both more lightweight and comfortable going in next year.

As for plans, there are two new pieces of public I plan to figure out this coming year. Both within an hour.
I have no interest in mz or rifle hunting, so my only real goal is to be done by Nov. 15 when quail and rabbit season start.
I have a new gundog (Boykin) that I'll be training up on blood tracking to round out the rest of deer season.
 
I'm extremely excited to be able to hunt a new piece of public this year. It was private for years and some monsters were taken out of there. Land was sold and bought to become public land now. But it's very, and I emphasize very remote to access unless you come in from the private land, which I have access to :cool:. The terrain and habitat make it exceptional to get big old deer.
 
I am tired of the precision and consistency of carbon arrows, so I am going back to wood shafts. Building some doug fir shafts with natural turkey feathers.
 
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