OK, I know we're all traditional bowhunters and that we practice all year round to "keep sharp".....
But, Summer is coming to an end,and fall will be here before we know it. When do you start to get ready,and what exactly do you DO?????
I usualy don't shoot with a bow quiver on,but the last few years I have been hunting with a Selway "soft-kote" slip on bow quiver.
Well, tonight I'm gonna "soap-up" the limbs of my Mikuta longbow and slide the quiver on,where it will stay untill after Shawn's Bunny Hunt in Febuary.
Also, I mostly shoot wood arrows. However.....I have about 2 dozen "Autumn Orange" XX75 2016's that belonged to my very good friend who "passed on" a few years ago. My good friend Joe Skipp crown dipped,re-fletched,and crested them for me. I have a dozen tipped with old green Bear Razorheads put away in a box that are my "hunting arrows" the rest are practice arrows.
So there you have it.....I put on the bow quiver,break out the aluminiums and start practicing!!!!!
(then about Oct 1st. I break out the hunting clothes and spray them down with "permetherin" to ward off the ticks) ;)
So what do YOU do?????
Well down here in Ga. something is always in season to hunt so I keep in hunting shape and focus year round. It was hot today (mid 90's) but was still able to find some hogs although no shot. I to look forward to October and cool weather and sitting in a tree. I need the rest.
I've been doing a little and thought about shooting before going to work but thats as far as I got.
When its in the air You will be able to feel and smell fall coming here in NY thats when the pace really starts picking up.
I'm hanging stands (late this year) shooting almost every day, glassing the fields and dreaming of big bucks under my stand.
I'll make a string for my go-to bow soon and shoot that in,probably make a new set of arrows up,and next week I'll start shooting some broadheads
never not ready. I keep all hunting clothes washed and as scent free as possible in plastic tots. Quiver is always on my bow and shoot broad heads at least once a month (?) just to make sure they fly ok.I shoot my bow 5-6 days a week year round and have a latter stand in my yard to shoot out of.
I've already checked the area I hunted last year, still looks good, I have three bows I plan to hunt with this year, lots of practicing, come october I rabbit hunt until deer season starts, I also found a place that I cant hunt deer on, buts its overrun with hogs :bigsmyl:
Shooting my broadheads from different arrows to see which combo does best, next will be sharpen them all up. Stands are up, except for one, so its just clothes that need to be washed and dried outside.
But it is STILL 2 months away.
I'm ready the day after the season closes, but I'll shoot more from my tree stands, I'll take long slow walks in the back woods (3 acres) to help to get ready.
I scout pretty much year round and do as much shooting as possible. I try to hunt anything thats in season this time of year. I don't think it ever ends,LOL!
I hang my stands in September and don't go back till opening day. A few days before opener, I wash all my stuff and store them in a scent free bag. I get all my calls and scent together as well as knives and flashlight with new batteries. I have a rubber tote I keep my clothes in outside and it doesn't come in until the season is over.
I try to stay in shape all year too. I get kinda lazy between January through turkey them pick it up around June. Gotta be able to drag them deer!!
Opening day for deer and elk here in Oregon is the end of August! Can't wait. I have been putting in miles of hill climbing. I also shoot everyday all year. I have been putting my "stuff" together for loading the backpack. I was my clothes with a scent blocker and then put them in bags with fir boughs. Sometimes as I drive around town to appts. I have an elk calling CD in the truck, a bugle in my mouth, and making cow and bull sounds!!! Get some pretty interesting looks from people around me...oh well!
This will be my first season hunting with a bow and I find myself shooting, scouting, and becoming so ansy that I drive my wife nuts. The waiting is the worst, especially this year since I found a beutiful funnel between two oxbows that is covered in Moose sign in every direction. On the three occasions I have snuck in I have seen a Bull every time, and heard more than one mystery animal crashing through. I just hope my sanity lasts these next 23 days till season opener.
I'm about ready to start putting quivers on my bows now, even though it is a little early hear.
To get ready for Missouri archery opening day Sept. 15th....
Every July I buy my tags(this is a personal tradition that I started years ago).
Buy a dz new POC's and get them worked. I shoot about everyday anyway and put these new arrows in my rotation to weed out "flyers"..
Scout one long day at the end of August, taking alot of time trying not to push any deer. Sharpen my "go to" broadheads and wait for opening morning. This year is a bit different as I have an Antelope hunt happening in SD in a few weeks. My hunting combo (plus a back up combo) is tuned to perfection and camo has been picked for the Antelope trip. All should go well then I get home to scout for deer.
Good luck out there this season.
John III
I've hung a few stands in new areas, trimmed a few new and old shooting lanes, mowed walk paths to some of the stands so i can get in and out without leaving any more scent than necessary, and I've been shooting broadheads from a ladder stand for bout a month now...I'm ready....just waiting on opening day.
I was born ready! Hap
Now when I live in Walden NY and worked in Fiskill NY I would start getting ready always in the first week of Sept after labor day weekend. I would then start taking my wood arrows with blunts and start doing a lot more stump shooting in the areas I planned on hunting that fall. I had the fun of stumping and also at the same time could be scouting new or old areas for current deer sight. Now being retired ( old fart ) i feel I am always getting ready. I shoot a few arrows daily and shoot 3D course of 44 targets 2 times a week, I also will take a walk weekly with cedars and blunts to stump shoot. I no longer am a tree stand hunter, but have put in one new blind this year and also have checked out 3 other old blinds spots for current year usage. I have to find a BH target to shoot my new carbon into and see how the BH will fly. I guess I am now just waiting for another opening day. My biggest lost is my hunt buddy passed away from cancer and have not found another buddy to hunt with. It was a lot more fun when we would do all the things together to get that fine edge to our shooting and the plans for another year of hunting.
Bill
im ready for opening day in missouri now got stands hung all im waiting on is the calender
I shoot my hunting set-up year round. I even shoot broadheads quite a bit all year. It keeps me sharp. I normally hang and cut out my stands all year as well, doing a few each week. This year I have not been to one stand site and I have well over 60 stands to get ready. This is down from a high of 102. My son-in-law and I can get them done in 2 weekends working non-stop! Shawn
I hunt hogs all year round, havent hunted deer in some 15 years so i guess im on the go and ready all year round.
To keep sharp i attend 3d shoots all year, about 6 to 9 a year, depending on hunnydos and hunting. Puls i like the competion and the people you meet.
will be placing stands soon, only problem this time of year its still very thick, i leave a few in place every year but put out 3 or 4 around early September once i see how the mast crop will be.
I like to get started right after the Muzzy Shoot. Thought I was born ready..... guess not. ;)
... mike ...
For me it starts August 1....I choose my bow for the rest of the year, start practicing with and without a quiver and increase my shooting sessions. I also make up half dozen or so new arrows just for broadheads and tune them then put them in the quiver until it's time to hone the heads in October. I work on the clothes in October too...make sure the moths havent chewed up my woolies and then treat everything with permethrin. I organize my pack, change batteries in the GPS and head lamp. Touch up the blade on my knife and I wait.....and wait....and wait....and wait for the southern zone archery season to open......this is depressing.....later
I'm always looking for meat to add to the table, Alaskans are lucky too have some form of hunting available year round so distinguishing a "hunting trip" from a "hike" or "fishing trip" or even hanging around the yard is sometimes tough. I will almost always have a bow or rifle within quick reach.
Having said that though I'm starting too hunt sheep again after a injury that set me back and I have been preparing for that....well since I got hurt. This march I started doing at least 3 hikes above tree line each week and quit smoking cigarettes, other than that I'm tuned up year round.
Oh I do grow a full beard starting august 1 every year.
I start by looking all my stuff that has been scattered and lost over the summer months.:)Decide on what bow I will start out with and may shoot it some between now and opening day.Arrows and broadheads stay sharp and in an arrow box all year.I don't really get going untill after the mid of August however.Our season does not open untill sept.I have one stand in the woods more for observation that I will sit in the first morning.From there I will see where I need to go with my climber in the afternoon.
I shoot a lot of 3D tournaments in the off season and shot the last one of the year this weekend at McAlester..time NOW to start getting tuned up and ready for the season
I shoot my hunting set-up year round. I only have to sharpen my broadheads. As boring as it sounds I haven`t changed a thing for about four years now.
My cold weather clothes are all that is needed to "get ready".
Most of my treestand hunting is done with the use of climbers, but I scout year around.
Last year, I noticed my cold weather clothes seemed to shrink a size or two, while they hung in the basement. I push myself away from the dinner table a little sooner now, and that took care of that problem.
I shoot a lot of bows, both longbows and recurves. About two months prior to opening day, I pick my hunting bow and shoot that exclusively. Squirrel and rabbit season opens a month before deer season here and I try to get some actual hunting practice in as well.
Dang near ready now. Have 32 stands hung with 6 or 7 others in reserve for changing conditions. All are named and mapped so someone knows where to find my carcass if I don't get back. Limbed out. Haul lines in each tree, steps and/or ladders all up. ( Except for ones that could get ripped off.) All broadheads sharpened. I do that incase I cut myself I will have time to heal before the season. Clothes washed, descented and bagged away. I shoot my recurve most days off my deck or out of the treestand I have in the back yard. October 1st can't come soon enough for me.
Lots of work and sweat especially for a guy who isn't getting any younger. But it is a labor of love.
I can't put my bow down, so I guess i'm just ready. :campfire: