Just wondering what you guys are going to do different, try out, or change this year?
My main goal is to relax and enjoy my woods time more. I have a tendancy to hunt so hard early that I burn myself out a bit.
I'm also going to try stalking to my stand at first light as opposed to getting in in the dark.
Rob,
Relaxing and taking a more 'casual' approach to hunting was the best thing I could have ever done.
For a while there hunting became more like work than play. With me being focused on 'success' entirely too much. Furthermore, that 'success' was defined by the result of the hunt/ hunting season, rather than the experience.
Enjoy the ride.
Now; if I do not want to get out of bed, I don't. If I feel like getting out of the stand, I do. Etc.
It has actually improved my 'results' the less I seem to 'try'.
Gonna try...
1) Stalking vs. Always using a treestand.
2) To kill a deer with a wood arrow of my making. (So far all my trad animals have been with a carbon arrow...glad I've been able to take an animal with trad gear, but doesn't seem right without at least one or two kills with a wood arrow).
3) To make it to Deer camp with all of my fellow TG members in October at JWSF.
John
My goal this year is to take a deer on the ground
with a wood arrow and my longbow.Have taken 3 deer from a treestand.Now its time to do it the trad-way from the ground...............
going to concentrate on hunting ONE area and putting my time in.
Hunt more. I'm out of college now so I have more time. :)
This will be my first year to deer hunt with a traditional bow. I have used a compound my whole life but I am more excited than ever about this season! I am also going to try some new strategies on the way I approach and leave my stands, hopefully not to educate the deer as much as I have in the past.
Shoot deer both right handed and left handed. Other than that, will change nothing that has worked over the years.
Gonna hunt instead of thinking or talking about it... Right Joe?
... mike ...
Remain flexible in hunting locations.
quit my job so i can actualy hunt more...ive worked 1.5 years without a day off that includes all the holidays more time with my family
Going to hunt like I'm hungry!
Actually going to hunt this year, last year I spent at Camp Red Cloud Korea. Chris
Just try and enjoy the experience.
1. I'm going to use a different bow.
2. Using a 90 grain heavier arrow.
3. The biggest thing for me this year is to try and finish my KY season by October 1st (2 deer) so I can concentrate on hunting with my best friend in Indiana. My buddy is down this year. His son went through a tough issue during the winter. He has a couple more aches and pains and even fell off a roof a few weeks ago (he's 65). He has also been dealt a pretty major change in his hunting property.
If I can be around for him to make fun of and laugh at and ease his pain, that'll fill my tag.
Going to have a sex change... figure I'll lose some bow poundage, but should be a lot more flexible. :laughing:
A friend, Monkeyball, hunts from the ground and does quite well. He really sold me on ground hunting. I bought an evolution leafy suit from BPShops and then got a Waldrop PacSeat, comfy,lightweight. So I look forward to moving more and being at eye level with the critters. Had a treestand stolen once, was very mad for half hour and decided to sit on ground and enjoy the morning... buck came along, hit the scrape and I got my first buck with trad bow. Will always remember being more satisfied cuz my next couple of bucks were from treestand and happy to have them but the one on the ground and my first was the best!
quote:
Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
Going to have a sex change... figure I'll lose some bow poundage, but should be a lot more flexible. :scared:
:laughing:
Charlie, you wouldn't have to worry about squirrel attacks either! :bigsmyl:
Going to gone into each hunt / sit with no preconceived notions about what the deer "ought" to be doing and listen to what the "are" doing.
Don't want to get "stuck" using the same stands that have been historically successful.
Going to hunt off of the ground a whole lot more and do more still hunting and spot and stalk when the opportunities present themselves.
QuoteOriginally posted by Charlie Lamb:
Going to have a sex change... figure I'll lose some bow poundage, but should be a lot more flexible. :laughing:
Yeah, but you'll never even go hunting, it will take you too long to get ready and you won't be able to figure out which shoes go with your camo pattern. Chris
Picturing Charlie as a girl is something I can't and wont do. It makes my head spin. :scared:
Gonna try to get out of my comfort zone.Hunt the thousands of free acres within an hours drive from my home instead of pounding the 80 acrse that abuts my yard.Less sunday night football and more sunday afternoon hunting.FOCUS!
This year I am focussing on my son in the woods. Quality of time not quantity.
This is kinda interesting.... Good thread idea.
I will be hunting two new bows which I am "practiced up" on now. Thats one thing.
Next, I will likely hunt a bit more from the ground. Its easier for me but the walking in and out could become a problem, especially if I kill something. Have to call for help.
I hope to find a blind and deaf elk that will give me a broadside shot for a change!
Two things:
1. Hunt with My son.
2. Pick a spot, draw and then concentrate. (Its working in practice.)
Martin
I'll be hunting for the first time with a longbow. I picked the woods, custom-ordered it, tuned it, and learned to shoot it. Now I'd like to fill my tag with it!
I am gonna do the unusual, like setting up on the edge of a housing development where no one would even think of hunting. Maybe do more run and gun deer hunting, I usually sit a lot, I will have 63 stand sites this year. I may move every hr. or so from stand to stand as long as I can get away with it. Shawn
For a change of pace, I think I'll actually try and shoot something this year!
I'm going to try to do better with the equipment that I already have. When I get good with it, I will probably stay with it.
QuoteOriginally posted by Shawn Leonard:
I am gonna do the unusual, like setting up on the edge of a housing development where no one would even think of hunting. Maybe do more run and gun deer hunting, I usually sit a lot, I will have 63 stand sites this year. I may move every hr. or so from stand to stand as long as I can get away with it. Shawn
Shawn, you might wanna hang a few more so you are not hunting the same spot every 2 months Haha
Holy chit....wish I had 63 stands :thumbsup:
/\\ That's a lot of lumber for me to cut, glue, screw together and paint. Not including taking to location and trimming.
This is my first year with a recurve and I can honestly say I am ready to go. So other than that, not too much different.
I did put a radical helix on some arrows last night and they really fly well. So might go with them.
My goal was to kill an elk in my home county, but that is looking more and more unrealistic at this point, so I'm already moving to plan B for elk.
I'm going to spend a little more time in the high country after bigger bucks, but I almost always bail out and head closer to home on the ground I know. I expect no different
I like the "relax" thing. Yeah, it's no good when hunting becomes work.
After 4 years of hunting with bows I hope to shoot a deer and hog.
Aim lower.
HUNT MORE!!!!! Work less... :thumbsup:
I'm going to go where I got a chance at a giant, hunted my whole life here in east tn. Biggest deer I ever saw here would be small by most standards. I am going to spend a week in wisconsin the end of October.
Hunt from the ground only
and what ever speed I am moving move even slower!
Also new arrows, AD Hammerhead lites, so heavier arrow and more FOC, we will see how it works.
I'm gonna concentrate on quality more and numbers less. I'm also gonna work harder scouting than I have the last few years.
Just bought a waterproof container and my wife said I can take the good digital camera.
I'm going to take pics of everything this year!
Rob
I am going to hunt with my longbow the entire season. I usually pick up my 7 mag when gun season comes in but this year its all archery and longbows.
Hunt a new area of public land. In fact as of now I only have permission on 3 different tracts of Public Land.
I hope to kill my 1st one with a bow.
I am going to hunt from a portable and the ground more.... and then put my ladders in better positions... Place my tree stands with better cover and access... No more good enough or gaad as I can get it... Only place stands in REALLY GOOD spots that have access, back cover, and preferably in the dark shadows, so I don't look like a 175# squirrel fidgetting away....
Last year wasn't bad, but put a few stands in killer spots that still weren't quite right as there weren't proper trees for a stand any where closer... guess what? Those deer never came in close as they all stayed at 30-35 yds fed all around me... some bolted, a couple galls blew... and a few had me pegged and just turned and slid out of there....
Sit in a treestand for mountain lion,bear and whitetails.I have tags.
I am NOT going to Hunt up and down the mountains for elk from dawn to dusk the first two days and barely have the energy to hunt the rest of the time I have.