2015 Bow Hunting Report Thread

[outrider58]

Pretty important day today.

I plan on using my Ozonics at one of the spots I've found. I hunted there yesterday but I'm pretty sure my scent was being spread to where the deer enter the area. I just sat in a spot outside a clearing on a hunting chair in the brush.

Today I'll use the Ozonics mounted outside my Doghouse blind.

On the bright side, with the rain and low pressure, your scent is gonna hit the deck as soon as it leaves your body and the rain will help defuse it more. That's about the only good thing about hunting in a) low pressure(high pressure is much better climate to hunt in), and b) the rain(I hate hunting in the rain).

Now doesn't oxonics make ozone to cover your sent. Then I always thought ozone was toxic and causes cancer?

Only liberals. The one thing I think eventually may happen is, deer will become educated to the smell of ozone and begin to associate it with danger.

 

[Striper69]

I'm hunting in Nebraska. The weather is perfect for hunting here. No rain till the end of next week.

I think I set up in the wrong place. I tried to set up out of a clearing but I think it was right on the path that the deer use to enter the clearing. I'll try off to the side in a couple of days.

On the bright side: I found that I can set the Ozonics thing right on top of the blind without using the clamp mount. I'm going to try a different spot tomorrow where I know the deer's pattern.

 

[wilcam47]

If either if you fine gents one day have a little too much coffee and feel the urge to spill your opinions all over the internet, I'd be very interested in reading them. I learn a little something from each experienced hunter I read/speak to and it all adds up.

Theres a few threads on this forum that have lots of info...

Ive learned a lot of my skills by making mistakes and learning from them like outrider.

 

[Striper69]

Pics of the type of area I'm hunting:

 

[Striper69]

The area is next to the Missouri River on the Iowa/Nebraska border. Pics were taken from both sides of the river from a bridge.

The weather has started to act like normal fall weather. This morning I took my Marlin 30-30 out of the trunk of my car and it was cold as heck. Must've gotten down into the 40s last night.

 

[outrider58]

Are you gun hunting now Striper69? Are you primarily meat hunting or (eventually) bone hunting? The property looks real nice. I'm surprised the corn is still standing. Out here it's mostly picked. Are you hunting a lease or your own property?

 

[acwatkins]

Just got my license, bow stamp, and managed hunt permit. Hopefully i can nab a deer with my bow on public land this year!

 

[Gunlawyer]

Well, out just west of Frederick they are still in bachelor groups but are starting to show interest in does I believe.

This nice little 8 pointer was cruising for does this evening I think. He was maybe loosely with a bachelor group of three. A spike and a small basket rack 6 pointer with tall bright yellow antlers were definately close buddies and I considered zapping the small 6 but passed, hoping to see him next year maybe.

Well, the smaller bucks were acting nervous and constantly staring at their backtrail. I hoped something bigger was alarming them. So I waited and waited and sure enough, just at the last possible minute of shooting light, the boss (of this group anyway) eventually brought up the rear. There was a doe and her baby there too but he was not really interested in any of the group. The spike scampered playfully around him though! He left the group in short order and was heading toward the standing corn and presented a nice broadside shot and that was that.

 

[outrider58]

Nice 2 1/2 year old!

 

[Striper69]

Are you gun hunting now Striper69? Are you primarily meat hunting or (eventually) bone hunting? The property looks real nice. I'm surprised the corn is still standing. Out here it's mostly picked. Are you hunting a lease or your own property?

No, I'm just getting my 30-30 ready for the rifle season in November around here.

I want to get a small doe for meat with the bow first but I may wait. I'm looking for a place in a small town in Iowa. I'm calling up about one tomorrow. I just moved back from Maryland a little while ago.

They're just now starting to harvest the corn here. I've been seeing farmers working the fields at night on the way home.

I'm hunting an indian reservation in Nebraska right now. The bow season just started in Iowa but I need to get a place here before I can get a license. I don't think they have a rifle season in Iowa, just shotgun/muzzleloaders.

The pictures are from an area just south of Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa. I'm going to scout the area this week.

Needless to say I have a lot of choices of prime deer habitat.

 

[Striper69]

Hunting report for today:

I went to a spot where I've seen the small buck and two does (maybe siblings?).

There were a couple of guys sitting nearby with their dogs. I talked to them for awhile and they said they'd try to keep the dogs away. I made the mistake of showing them my coyote calls and using them. That probably drew some coyotes in the area.

I set up my ground blind with the Ozonics but the damn dogs came by. Oh well, dogs will be dogs.

I did hear the small buck make his cawing noise he makes when I disturb them as I was leaving.

 

[outrider58]

No, I'm just getting my 30-30 ready for the rifle season in November around here.

I want to get a small doe for meat with the bow first but I may wait. I'm looking for a place in a small town in Iowa. I'm calling up about one tomorrow. I just moved back from Maryland a little while ago.

They're just now starting to harvest the corn here. I've been seeing farmers working the fields at night on the way home.

I'm hunting an indian reservation in Nebraska right now. The bow season just started in Iowa but I need to get a place here before I can get a license. I don't think they have a rifle season in Iowa, just shotgun/muzzleloaders.

The pictures are from an area just south of Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa. I'm going to scout the area this week.

Needless to say I have a lot of choices of prime deer habitat.

Boy, I'll say. Looking good!

Hunting report for today:

I went to a spot where I've seen the small buck and two does (maybe siblings?).

There were a couple of guys sitting nearby with their dogs. I talked to them for awhile and they said they'd try to keep the dogs away. I made the mistake of showing them my coyote calls and using them. That probably drew some coyotes in the area.

I set up my ground blind with the Ozonics but the damn dogs came by. Oh well, dogs will be dogs.

I did hear the small buck make his cawing noise he makes when I disturb them as I was leaving.

Here's a recommendation for some of the newer hunters here;

Always try to pick your hunting spots/stands in a place you can get in and out of while spooking the fewest deer, even if it means walking way out of the way to get to your spot.

 

[outrider58]

A word on hunting scentless, a mistake I made for years...

I'm going to assume you already have a closed(air-tight even better) container to store all your hunting clothes, all the way down to your undies. In there, you will also have your scent blocking/absorbing clothes. The mistake I made for a few years was, I liked to put acorns in there as well to add a cover scent to my clothes. Always hunting from trees, it made sense to me to smell like an acorn, right? Wrong. Scent blocking/absorbing clothing only has a limited capacity for odor. While my clothes were sealed up in their container, they were being 'filled up' with the odor of the acorns to the point that they were unable to absorb my scent when I wore them.

One thing I do and works very well, I put acorns in my bow case every year. It helps keep other foreign scents covered up. That scent permeates the string and cable and any other porous materials on the bow including my release.

 

[Striper69]

Funny thing about the places I'm hunting is that I haven't noticed any acorns around.

This place isn't anything like Maryland. There's a lot of wide open spaces and hunting areas that don't have anywhere near the pressure you have back there. There just aren't that many hunters around.

 

[pbharvey]

Well, out just west of Frederick they are still in bachelor groups but are starting to show interest in does I believe.

This nice little 8 pointer was cruising for does this evening I think. He was maybe loosely with a bachelor group of three. A spike and a small basket rack 6 pointer with tall bright yellow antlers were definately close buddies and I considered zapping the small 6 but passed, hoping to see him next year maybe.

Well, the smaller bucks were acting nervous and constantly staring at their backtrail. I hoped something bigger was alarming them. So I waited and waited and sure enough, just at the last possible minute of shooting light, the boss (of this group anyway) eventually brought up the rear. There was a doe and her baby there too but he was not really interested in any of the group. The spike scampered playfully around him though! He left the group in short order and was heading toward the standing corn and presented a nice broadside shot and that was that.

That's a really nice buck, congratulations.

 

[outrider58]

Funny thing about the places I'm hunting is that I haven't noticed any acorns around.

This place isn't anything like Maryland. There's a lot of wide open spaces and hunting areas that don't have anywhere near the pressure you have back there. There just aren't that many hunters around.

Generally speaking, Oaks only make acorns every other year(and that can get screwed up by droughts, too much rain at the wrong time, etc.). Where you are might be the 'other' year.

 

[Striper69]

Saw a nice buck dead next to the fast lane on I-29 today. He must've gotten hit around noon cause I didn't notice him this morning.

Went and sighted in my .17 HMR that I put a new scope on today. I also shot the 30-30 at 50 yards after I sighted that in at 25 yards yesterday.

I took too long and wasn't set up at the spot. There were all three deer there and they ran into cover as I passed them.

I'm going to take a bike and do some scouting around some hard to get to places tomorrow.

 

[Derwood]

I hunted Saturday afternoon, in the mist/light rain. I was actually planning to go small game hunting, since the weather was so good for it. I got to my spot (a 45 minute drive) at around 3 p.m. and just planned to slowly stalk a creek bed area for squirrels until 6:30 or so. Then I realized I'd accidentally grabbed a box of 16 gauge shells instead of 12 gauge. FML. I don't even own a 16 gauge gun--I bought that box for a friend a couple years ago and he left the remaining shells it in my ammo container after our hunt. So there I was, ready to hunt squirrels with an empty shotgun.

At least I still had my bow and treestand in the vehicle, so I got set up for that instead. I saw no deer. It got pretty windy around dusk, so I think they were holding tight until the weather calmed down. Naturally, I saw five squirrels and two groundhogs. On the upside, the weather felt just great and my new KUIU rain gear is fantastic.

 

[outrider58]

I hunted Saturday afternoon, in the mist/light rain. I was actually planning to go small game hunting, since the weather was so good for it. I got to my spot (a 45 minute drive) at around 3 p.m. and just planned to slowly stalk a creek bed area for squirrels until 6:30 or so. Then I realized I'd accidentally grabbed a box of 16 gauge shells instead of 12 gauge. FML. I don't even own a 16 gauge gun--I bought that box for a friend a couple years ago and he left the remaining shells it in my ammo container after our hunt. So there I was, ready to hunt squirrels with an empty shotgun.

At least I still had my bow and treestand in the vehicle, so I got set up for that instead. I saw no deer. It got pretty windy around dusk, so I think they were holding tight until the weather calmed down. Naturally, I saw five squirrels and two groundhogs. On the upside, the weather felt just great and my new KUIU rain gear is fantastic.

I call it "paying your dues" to the deer hunting gods. It never ends.

 

[Striper69]

More pics of Whitetail Nirvana