The Bow stand Log thread.

[huntnfish]

I went out last night and did a little long distance scouting to try and figure out where the deer went to. I saw a couple but it looks like the mid october "lull" is in full swing. I plan to do some more sitting once this monsoon passes.

[96trigger]

Had a doe at 10 yards tonight. No idea I was there. It was fun, wish something would have been following her.

[mudslinger64]

2nd day in a row that i haven't seen a deer,don't know what is going on must be the rain and snow we got.it is supposed to start getting nice so maybe they will start moving again.

[ARROW 1]

I went out to one of my best stands and wasn't let down.The wind was right and things just felt right. I had a doe and a fawn come thru at 5:30 at 30 yards . Then at 6:40 I was looking at the trail where the doe and fawn came from when something caught my eye off to my left its a 8 point buck. I only got a quick look before he went behind two trees and stopped. Then after about 45 sec he starts coming right at me still not sure how big he is. Then he gets in close enough to see a nice long G2. I decided right then Im taking him. By the time I get drawn he is thru my 1st shooting lane. I stay on him thru the tree branches now at 7 yards. He clears the branches now at the field edge and down wind I stop him and let er rip at 12yards . He lets out a load roar type noise and gives the big leg kick and runs back in the woods. He clears the ridge and I get down and look for my arrow nothing and no blood or hair. I didn't see the arrow sticking out the other side when he ran off. I know its still sticking in him. I go to the truck right away and call a buddy to help track.

Now its 7:30 and we find blood at the woods edge where he ran back in. Blood was good and my buddy slaps my shoulder and says you got him he's dead. I wish I felt the same at that time. My stomach was making noises and I felt a little sick. My worst fear is to not find a deer. It was a quartering away shot one vital only but, I thought it was the last shot I was going to get. We keep tracking good blood and all the sudden it stops! We looked for 30 min making big circle around last blood until we found him. I was so happy I gave the deer and my buddy a hug and thanked the big guy above. He still had the arrow which hit the opp shoulder. He went 150 yards and was in full rigor when we found him. Its not as big as I thought he was but im happy to be done. The nice G2 thru me off and the G3 and 4 go into a smaller crab claw. But once you draw the bow back there is no more looking at the rack. Now I can go fishing for some fall eyes I will post pics soon.

Things to keep in the back of your head. With short range shot with no exit wound the deer will probably only pump blood when running. When the speed slows to a walk the blood might be gone. This is what I think happened to my deer. Keep looking. Last my three blade rage was still in one piece and caused enough damage to put him down! This is my second deer with the rage Im hooked. Its a confidence thing for me.

Good luck to everyone and make it home safe!

[archerystud]

Congrats on the buck!

[Jameson]

Three more hours this evening. No deer were sighted.

[Wanderer]

After 5 seasons I finally was able to harvest a turkey. My kids 4 and 2 were able to help me carry it to the truck. I hunt mostly public land in sherburne county but do have a farm that lets me hunt. I decided to try my luck at a fall bird. I shot a hen at 30 yards in the morning. She walked right next to the stick I put out there to help with yardage. I would have liked a tom but of the 20 turkeys I see on the farm there is only one tom. I'll have to try for him in the spring. Later that evening I had 7 does in front of me. Bucks came out but too dark to shoot. Light sparring. Sat for an extra 45 minutes watching the show. I love fall. My daughter (4) said, "Dad I can't wait to hunt with you. I'll shoot them and you clean them. That's Gross!" I'd be honored too.

Congrats fish! The drought is over!!!

[mudslinger64]

hunted this morning until noon didn't see anything but tree rats and bunnies...

[96trigger]

One lone doe again tonight. Thats two nights in a row that I had nice does standing broadside, easily shootable. No fawns in sight. Probably starting to shoo them away before the rut. Grunted in that little buck again tonight. He came in running. The little guys are looking for any early does that come in to estrus.

[ac777]

Saw 2 does and a 6 pointer this am, this evening had a button buck walk directly under my tree, I literally could have killed it by dropping a knife on it's spine. Or jumped on it. It was cool though cause it had not the slightest clue a potential predator was directly above it. Saw a turkey that came out of hiding less than 20 yards away when I started rattling, that was kinda un expected.

[tracker x-2]

Thats funny Ac I hade the same thing last night. i thought he was a doe at first then i saw two little spikes. He came there and was sniffing the twigs i moved to climb the tree i thought for sure he would make me. Then he starts to eat them lol. He was in front of me for a while and he went up to a posted sign in front of me like one of those pictures you see somewhere with the deer looking at it like they can read it. Also had two forks come in front of me for a while and do a little sparing that was cool to see. Then a six point came out and pushed those little guys around for a bit then head to my tree as well. The thought crossed my mind cuz he couldnt have gave me a better chip shot at ten yards, but I know its just a matter of time before the biggins start to move. all in all it was a great night out there.

[pascooter94]

last night only seen one yote,moving to fast for a shot,

made some mock scrapes to see if any bucks will take over

i will look at it on tuesday on my day off.

[buckx37x]

one doe at about 80yds. she was the biggest doe ive seen in my 36yrs of deer hunting. I had a rooster walk by my stand just a crowing like mad, also scared the **** out of a pheasant hunter walking by my stand.I passed on a six night before 10yds. just strolled right by.

[ANYFISH2]

Last night made it out for the third sit this year. Only saw a fork while walking back to the farm, so I stopped and took a knee. The fork ended up walking within 27 yards while I was kneeling it the grass. Pretty cool.

[bottom-bouncer]

I hunted alot this past week thursday I tried a new spot got out of my van unloaded my climbing sticks and stand and then realized I forgot my bow UGH!!!! load everything back up drive home put bow in van go back to woods. locate the tree I want to be in set up ladder sticks pull stand up drop stand down ladder sticks I think I hit every step pull stand up second time get stand hung get every thing ready to hunt not really expecting to see anything after the noise I had made but thought I would sit anyway and observe the edge of the corn and alfalfa. I looked at my watch and it was 5:38 turn to reach into my back pack for my water and see a doe coming rite at me I stand up wait for her to come into the open and let fly pass thru can see my arrow in the dirt as she bolted away watch her pile up 30 yds away decide I mite as well get down I still have enough lite to get her cleaned up and loaded up before cark walk over to her and look at my watch 5:58. didnt see any thing friday saturday I had a doe and fawn at 35yds when two yotes showed up for the party wanted to stick one of them but they stayed in the brush.

[mudslinger64]

i sat all day in the stand i put up just off the road 6:20am until almost 7:00pm,i didn't see anything until 5:30pm when i saw a nice doe walking the woodline alongside the road heading towards the trail i am set up on about 50-60 yards in.i was watching her make her way to the trail when she stopped and was staring down the road.a few moments later a van with some bird hunters was coming,she jumped to the other side of the road and went in the trees.the van stopped for a couple minutes then left.so i am watching the trail where it meets the road hoping she would come back across,they usually will in a few minutes.i kept looking towards the road watching for her to come back and just happened to turn my head to look the other way down the trail when i see her coming at me through the trees and brush.she had crossed the road a little farther down from the trail and was just making her way back to where she wanted to be.she was coming in at a bad angle for a shot and did stop once for a few seconds at about 25 yards but she was almost facing me so i had to pass.that was the only deer i saw today.

[96trigger]

mudslinger, not sure exactly how manyt stands you have, but you reference the one by the road alot, and it seems the deer sightings are going down. One word of advice, take it or leave it. Don't over hunt a stand. The deer will start to avoid it like the plague, you might already know this, and if you do, I don't mean to tell you what to do. I have 8 stand locations, I try to sit in them only once a week. It is painful because there is one stand right now that I know gives me the best chance of seeing deer. When the rut is full swing, I will break my own rules and hunt that stand more frequently, but this early, I will only hunt the ones I know hold deer more sparingly. The big bucks are going to start showing up where the does are soon. If the does start to avoid the stand, so will the bucks. Again, not to tell you what to do, just something to think about if you are over hunting one stand.

[mudslinger64]

trigger,i just put this stand up a couple days ago.i have 4 stands up right now all within about a mile of each other.i will be sitting in another one tomorrow that is on the same road but about 1/2 mile away about 150 yards off the road,this is the one that i had the 10 pointer by last week.right now i am the only one hunting in this area other than bird hunters.

[96trigger]

Great to hear it. I figured that you knew that, but I just thought I'd throw it out there. It won't be long now and the big guys will start showing their faces in broad daylight.

[mudslinger64]

i could only hunt till 10:00 this morning,at 8:00 i had a doe standing broadside at 30 yards.i put the 30 yard pin right on her heart and squeezed it off,i don't know what happened but my arrow went just over the top of her shoulders and stuck in a tree at about 35 yards.she didn't know what happened she jumped then stopped and after a few minutes she started feeding on some leaves.she was not in one of my shooting lanes when i shot,it is kind of brushey there but she was in a spot that looked clear.i very well could have clipped a branch for it to shoot that high because at 30 yards i am dead on,she didn't jump the string and the string didn't hit my arm and when i shoot i cradle the bow between my thumb and index finger and let the wrist strap keep the bow from falling after i shoot.i am thinking a small branch that i couldn't see.heading back out in a couple hours i hope this monkey is off my back by then.....

[vister]

welcome to the pitfalls of bow hunting!!

[mudslinger64]

well i got into my stand about 2:00 this afternoon and at 6:00 i had a spiker come through on a trail.he was pretty much broadside slightly quartering towards me at 25 yards,i stopped him and took the shot.i put my 20 yard pin about halfway up on the crease behind his front leg figuring the arrow would drop slightly and shot,it looked like he flinched when i released.i heard a dull thud when it hit i think i may have hit him back a little and had the arrow exit through the intestines.i found the arrow and it had a lot of blood and what looked like something that would be in the intestines plus some hair it also stunk.the arrow was laying on the ground pointing towards my stand so i am hoping it hit the ground while it was still in him and pulled out when he ran off.i looked for blood for about 30-40 yards and didn't find any so i backed out and will go look in the morning,i didn't want to push him so hopefully he will just lay down and expire in a short distance.when he ran off he had his tail high in the air not tucked down if that says anything.

[Wensel]

MS

So far I think you've done everything right with tracking, those quatering toward you shots get ya alot dont they?

Good luck let us know, to me you got liver and guts no boiler room

He'll be dead in the AM

[Stratosman]

Well, good luck finding him, you did the right thing by backing out. The best policy though is to never take a quartering to shot, there is no way to hit the vitals and more often than not it's all guts, which appears to be your case. If you clipped liver, the deer will be dead by morning, however lots of times liver shots don't bleed real well, nor will gut shots...so good thing you backed out, daylight will help tremendously...and I'll be rootin for ya to find him come moring!

Oh yeah and post a pic, we love pics.

[Archerysniper]

More than likely like everyone else has said you got a paunch shot you did the right thing backing out you probably wont have any blood trail but by backing out and not jumping him they will normally only go 100 yards and bed down in some thick stuff so stay home tonight don't get tempted to head back out let him sit and you will recover him in the morning, also don't head out right away you want good enough light so you can see if it jumps carry a very sharp knife and your bow you might have to finish it in the morning but it should be too stiff to move from it's bed.