Swing and a miss

Last Saturday was my first time out hunting in half a decade or so.  It was great to be out at 5 in the morning.  Because shooting light wasn't until 6 something, I didn't get out into the woods until closer to 7.  Walked all morning on a piece of public land that I really had no knowledge of.  I should have scouted it earlier, I just never got around to it.

At about 7:45AM I was resting in a thicket.  I had just put my bag back on and picked up my bow, when I heard a lot of noise moving from my right to my left, probably 20 yards in front of me.  With all the brush I couldn't see anything.  Then to my right I saw what I'm pretty sure was a doe, as it circled back around.  Not 30 seconds later I saw the white flag as it moved away.  My thought is that I stumbled upon their normal morning trail and as they approached they caught a whiff of me.  I'm pretty sure there was no way I would've snuck up on them.

It was a good morning and I now know that there are definitely deer out there.  I'm going to hunt another property this weekend, but I hope to be back out on that public land in another week.  Hopefully I haven't completely run them off.  The next block of woods over is being logged, so I'm banking on them being used to humans and the smell.  Better luck next time.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weekend!

Final Prep

With hunting season almost upon us, it's time to make those last minute changes and preperations to get ready to get up at 3 in the morning.  First thing is to make sure the bow is performing in top shape.  That means using broadheads to tune, tightening everything down, and going over every inch of the bow to make sure it won't fail when that monster is downrange.  Cameras also need to be checked and any other equipment needs to be ready to go; tree stands, climbing gear, and harness among other things.

I was shooting my broad heads today and it seems the pins are a little off.  I was told i wouldn't have to change that much, but I think I may also need to check flight path.  A little paper tuning before I start moving the pins and it might just straighten itself out.  Pun intended.  I also got string wax this weekend.  I think that because I've been shooting it for so long without the wax, the string is pretty much at the end of it's life.  After hunting season is over, I will definitely be changing it.  Nobody told me that was an issue.  Better late than never, but I hope the bow will hold out.

Thanks for reading and in a week or two, I'll get some pictures from the stand and maybe even a deer up here!  Stay tuned.

Grizzly Adams

If you don't know who the title is speaking of click: here.  In light of the coming hunting season, I will not be shaving for the foreseen future.  Hunting is manly, eating deer meat is manly, so to make it even more manly we'll be adding facial hair.  I don't know when I'll be shaving, but it won't be for over a month.  Much to the chagrin of my significant other.  But their loss.  I'll be posting a pic half-way to the season to track progress.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more manliness.

Counting down the days

It is almost September and hunting season is looming large.  In light of this, practicing is pretty much an every day occurrence.  If it's 4 arrows or 40, it helps.  As I continue my strength training, I am also making sure to train my bow technique.  As with strength training though, you need a rest day every now and then.

Today was a 3 set day of arrows and everything looked great, from 15 yards to 30 yards.  The last set of the day I posted, because it was my first set where all 4 are just about within an inch of each other.  Usually I'll get 3 together and one outlier.  Today marks a good day in my progress.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned.  Also check out the photos page for my camo gear.  Everything came in last week and I finally got some good pictures of it (minus the boots).

It's a long way down

Yesterday we stayed out all evening watching fields.  I used my stand for a little more than just practice.  We got out into the field a little after 5 and we stayed out 'til after 9:30.  The tree I picked was a little difficult as it had a split and it also had a branch that was in the way.  I went up just fine even though I had to get around the branch and that included kneeling on the seat.  On the way down however, as I was kneeling on the seat, I ripped the rest of the nylon straps holding it to the frame.  So now I have no seat for my stand, which isn't the worst thing in the world.  I could just use it as is, but I think I'd rather be able to sit down.  Most likely I'll just be buying a replacement seat, but I could rig something up from home that might work.

Overall it was a good experience scouting and even though I didn't see anything, my friend did.  So we know they're out there.  Next time we'll change locations a bit.  Hopefully I'll have a seat by then.  I did get some pictures and tried to take some video, but it's not great so I may or may not post it.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

Professional

Yesterday was my first visit to the local archery pro shop.  The gentleman there was very helpful and knowledgeable.  Fletching my arrows came out to be about what I thought it was going to cost, so that was good to know I had planned accordingly.  He put the bow in the press to see if he could eliminate some of the cam lean.  To be honest, it still looks just the same, but I thanked him for doing that.  I also asked him about how much it would be for another half a dozen arrows.  I don't know as if I'll be buying any this year, but I thought I would double check in case the worst happened.  It's good to know they will fit in the budget as well.  Apart from archery gear, I stopped off at Wally World and grabbed a few items.  It always boggles my mind how fast I end up spending money there.  Everything I got was a necessity, hunting wise, and I paid a little over $50 for the whole thing.  Now you could say that hunting gear is expensive enough that I got a great deal.  But for what I was getting, it still seemed pretty steep.  Now once my camo and harness get here on Wednesday, I'll be good to go for hunting season.  Pictures will follow.

Thanks for reading.

Records

Today was a day for records.  First off I shot at 50 yards.  Now seeing as my groups have been pretty bad due to lack of practice, I was slightly worried about hitting the target at that range.  Turns out I wasn't too far off.  I definitely had arrows all over the target, but I didn't miss.  Fortunately out here I won't be making any hail mary shots as there are very few places where I would even have the opportunity to take a 50 yard or longer shot.

For the second record I let loose over 80 arrows today.  It was a good experience and I could definitely feel it in my arms.  I thought I had long days before, but shooting to exhaustion was good for my arms and my aim.  At that point you are just going off of fundamentals and nothing else matters.

A good day of practice.  The only other issue that I'm finding is that now I've shot so much, the arrows punch through the target in places where there are a lot of holes.  There is still a good amount of target left, so I should be okay for this season.  Although I still have to broad head tune the bow, so it will definitely be done after that.  Hunting season is not far away.

Thanks for reading.