Getting antsy

[snagfinder]

Still waiting to get last seasons deer mount back. The previous seasons deer I got back in may but that one was shot is early October.  Apparently not getting one til almost Christmas gets me on the bottom of list.

[minky]

Ya, really looking forward to the upcoming season.

Moved a stand to a better spot last week.

This stand is on a small amount of land (4.7 acres) but gets a lot of deer movement.

Landowner has seen 3 different doe \ fawn combos and 2 small bucks.

He usually sees at least one nice buck cruise through each fall.

[Siwulat]

I’m super antsy for this season. Got a new bow in January and have been shooting the heck out of it. Just another month or so left! 

[Scoot]

Looking forward to it! My son is bear hunting in Minnesota and I drew an elk tag in New Mexico. After that we will hunt whitetails around home. I'm definitely getting ansty!

[snagfinder]

Im antsy for the season but I meant Im antsy to get last seasons mount back.

[Scoot]

Sorry snag,  I lost track from the original post! However cool mounts are, what really excites me is the future. Mounts are a great way to remember punched tags and successful hunts, but thinking about the upcoming season is what really gets me excited.

[snagfinder]

Normally im really excited by now as well. Don't know if its the warm weather or lack of fishing ive done this summer but I haven't even taken my bow out of the closet yet this year. Usually ive fished so much im ready for something else. Guess having a 2.5 yr old and 12 month old daughter changes a fellas routine a  bit. That's were the antsy to get the mount comes into play, hoping it jump starts me a bit for all the fall fun stuff ahead.

[nofishfisherman]

1 hour ago, snagfinder said:

Normally im really excited by now as well. Don't know if its the warm weather or lack of fishing ive done this summer but I haven't even taken my bow out of the closet yet this year. Usually ive fished so much im ready for something else. Guess having a 2.5 yr old and 12 month old daughter changes a fellas routine a  bit. That's were the antsy to get the mount comes into play, hoping it jump starts me a bit for all the fall fun stuff ahead.

 

Yeah those kids tend to have a ripple effect on your life don't they?  I'm excited for the season but also dreading how close it is.  I have had ZERO time to get out and shoot this summer.  Normally I shoot a couple days a week all summer long.  This week I just started some shoulder work to get my shoulder to a point where I can handle a lot of shooting since I'm going to have to do more shooting in a shorter amount of time to get ready for the season.  And lets not even talk about finding time to go get stands and blinds placed.  Luckily I moved one ladder stand to a prime spot last December to have it ready for this season so in a pinch I do have one spot ready to go already. 

 

Scoot I'm also insanely jealous of your NM elk tag.  That's my dream trip. Probably going to have to wait for awhile though.

[Cheetah]

Scoot, looking forward to seeing photos from your hunt in NM.  I have a MT elk tag to start me off this year.

[snagfinder]

A bunch of shooting is overrated.(I think) If you go shoot a few and your bow is on target what are you gonna gain from target shooting everyday? Just cause you can hit a quarter at 30 yards 90 percent of the time don't mean you can hit [PoorWordUsage] when the 10 pointer of a life time is standing in front of you. I have a few buddies that seem to prove the theory a lot. Me personally the more I target shoot the worse I get. I will go out soon and shoot a half dozen arrows and if all goes good the next shot after that will fill my tag.

[nofishfisherman]

I'll agree that shooting a ton of arrows in itself doesn't add a lot of value assuming you're shooting well from the start.  However, there is more to practice beyond making sure you can hit what you aim at.  Like you said target practice and shooting at live game are very different.  What I try to focus on at the practice range is my shot routine and metal process.  I want to make sure that my process is so well locked into my muscle memory that it is simply reflex when Mr Big walks by.  Its too easy to see a deer and let a piece of the process get sloppy. If that happens it can be the difference maker.  For example I was hunting with a buddy last year.  I know for a fact that he takes his bow out once or twice before the season to make sure he can still hit the target and that about it.  Well, first day out last season he drew on a deer and he had a mental breakdown and put the wrong pin on the deer.  The result was the deer ran off and his arrow was buried in a tree trunk directly above where the deer was standing, that was his only shot attempt for the season.  The only way to lock down your routine and make it automatic is through doing it correctly repeatedly and the best way to do that is at range before the season. Of course its not going to be fool proof and things can still go wrong but I'm a believer in preparation. I don't want to put all that time in the stand and then have the entire season come down to a mistake that I could have prevented with proper preparation.  This is just me and my mindset though. We all operate a little differently and have different experiences.  I've only been shooting a bow for 3+ years and only have 2 seasons of bow hunting under my belt so some may have things locked into muscle memory over 20+ years, I'm not there yet so practice is required. 

[Scoot]

I completely disagree with your approach and belief about shooting snag. No doubt there's a point of diminishing returns,  but the amount of shooting you're talking about is nowhere near it. In fact I'd say that approach is unethical and not respectful of the animals you are hunting. 

 

A lot goes into making a good shot at an animal and no doubt you're right about some guys who shoot a lot making bad shots.  But that provides no support for the ridiculous claim that suggests you shouldn't be well practiced.  

 

Certainly no need to go crazy,  but you'll be a far better hunter with more time behind your bow than what you said above. 

[snagfinder]

To each his own I guess. Once you know your sighted in properly I just don't see the point unless every night after work you come home and shoot one arrow. Its always only gonna be the first shot that counts unless you hop out of your truck and take a bunch of warm up shots in the dark in the morning. Oh and by the way your comment about me being unethical and disrespectful to nature , you know where you can shove that. My dad is the most respectful and honest man around and that's how he raised me, so taking a shot at me is taking a shot at him and im not ok with that. If you want to have an opinion about my practice habits more power too ya. The rest of that unethical B******t you can keep to youself. Thank you for [PoorWordUsage]ing me off for the rest of my work day.

[nofishfisherman]

I guess I just can't understand the mentality that doing something correctly one time means you're now perfect and no longer need to practice. 

 

Let me pose this question to you.  If you had the chance to attend an NBA basketball game and were given the chance to shoot 1 free throw in order to win $1 million. Would you stop practicing after you made your first 5 free throws or would you keep practicing?  If it were me you better believe I'm going to practice until I can make a free throw in my sleep. 

 

But like you said to each his own.  

[Scoot]

I figured that's how you'd respond snag. It's too bad you don't get it,  but that's really not my concern. 

 

You figure good golfers hit a good drive in practice then hang up their clubs until the tourney begins?  Same goes for anyone who really wants to be good at anything actually. 

 

IMO you owe it to the animals whose lives you are trying to end to be very proficient at doing so.  That's what makes it different and more important than golf, basketball,  or most things people want to be good at.  If you disagree I think you don't have a leg to stand on in the ethics dept, but nothing you describe is illegal so do whatever yout want. 

 

With regard to your father- I didn't say boo about him or anyone else in your family. For that matter I didn't say you were a bad person, just that I think one thing you do isn't ethical.  

 

Practice how you want,  hunt how you want- the laws are in place and as long as you follow them my take on your behavior is only one guy's opinion.

 

... and this is an open forum on the internet!  You post what you did on any open bowhunting forum and someone will be dumb enough to take your bait and reply with common sense.  In this case it was me. 

 

I hope the rest of your day goes better. 

[snagfinder]

My last response to this will be a question? If you shoot twenty arrow on Monday and all are great, then on Wednesday you shoot twenty more and all is great, Friday comes and you gonna shoot twenty more for the final tune up before Saturdays hunt and suddenly your shooting 2" left. What are you gonna do? Adjust your sight even though first 40-50 arrows for the week were good, or go to bed thinking if I see the big one in the morning should I aim right or just assume them last bad shots were just me? I would have rather have stopped when I know my bow is on and my confidence is high. Anyway Im done with this since this started as me wishing I would get last seasons mount back.

[nofishfisherman]

I can only answer for myself but I try to figure out why I'm shooting 2" left.  The first 40-50 good shots already tell me its not the bow and that its something that I'm doing differently (unless there is a new variable introduced to the equipment).  I try to make my practice shots more thoughtful than just absent minded shooting so if something isn't right I work to figure it out that way when I hit the stand the next day I'm aware of the mistake I was making and can make sure I'm not going to make the same mistake when the shot really counts.

 

If you're shooting without any thought behind it then you won't know if its your bow, your form, or if your going to have the same issue the next day.  There is a saying the practice makes perfect, in reality its perfect practice makes perfect.  Perfect practice to me means executing each shot like its your only shot and if something is wrong you work to fix it. 

[Scoot]

Confidence and competence are often highly uncorrelated. 

 

Sounds like you think your shooting skills are good enough to get the job done. If you're as competent with your shooting as you are confident, then all will be fine. 

 

Good luck this season. 

[Wanderer]

@snagfinder

 

Hope your mount comes back before Christmas!

 

I dropped off a head for a Euro mount last November and haven’t been called on that yet either.  Much longer wait than normal.

[snagfinder]

In 7 years of bow hunting I've watched a ton of nice bucks walk around, waiting for the right shot or just having fun watching them, knowing its a long season. In those 7 years ive shot 8 arrows. 7 of them made clean kills  including 3 out of last 4 not making it 40 yards. That being said the one that didn't end well was last year and I told the story on here. But still had nothing to do with the shot it went exactly where I wanted it to, just a poor shot placement on my part and hit shoulder. Maybe I should spend some time studying deer anatomy.

[rkhinrichs]

My goal this year was to build my own arrows. We will see if they work on September 1st. 

[Wanderer]

Nice!

[Scoot]

Very nice rk!  I hope they work great!!!

[HunterLee]

Long time since i been on here- glad to see people getting antsy. Waiting for my two bucks from last year to come back, and about ready for out of state deer, MN bear and deer, and who knows might even try a over the counter goat hunt

[MUSKY18]

Antsy?  That would be an understatement.  I got out bow hunting 1 time last year due to the job I was working at the time.  That job is history and am now working a job that will allow me to hunt as much as I used to.  Last month has been pretty much a disaster.......the land that we hunt on, first when we went in to kill the areas for the food plot, the guy running the sprayer decided it would be a good idea to put Roundup on the clover plot I put in last year.  It was thick and awesome and I could tell the deer were just hammering it.  Mostly does and fawns, couple small bucks, but hey, when the does need a man, he usually shows up.  Needless to say, I was a little upset when this happened.  Almost lost it when the guy got done spraying the plot and then drove over to me and said "I killed that plot, we should plant a clover or chicory plot there".  Just shook my head and walked away.  Strike one......then about 2 weeks ago the owner of the property informed us that we would no longer be able to bow hunt on his land.  Only muzzleloader, and that's only if they are completely tagged out by then.  STRIKE TWO........so I just planted over 200 dollars worth of seed in food plots that I may never even get to hunt over.  STRIKE THREE!!!!   So now I am in scramble mode to try and find some private land to hunt or start getting out to scout public land in hopes to find a good spot.  All i can do is make the best out of it and hopefully things work out the best.  Either way.....I'm going to up a tree somewhere and totally loving the experience of sitting in the woods with mother nature, with a huge smile on my face!!!!