anyone still bowhunting?

[sticknstring]

I'll be out there as well... With the recent cold snap I'm torn between bowhunting and ice fishing. They were sure moving nice last weekend with many bucks seen - encouraging to see after gun season. Now if I could just get one to venture my way! I think the northern 2/3 of the state has a few inches of white stuff so get out and do a little scouting and fill a december tag or 2! Lets see some snow pics... Best of luck everyone!

[rippinlips]

I say colder the better I love it when it is cold just layer up and sit. The deer really start moving more right now when it's cold. The deer seem to be moving around 8 in the morning when we are close to the single digits and earlier in the afternoon like around 3:30 til dark feeding. Last night had 16 does and 3 bucks come in and the more mature bucks seem to follow after all the other deer have come in and all there doing is browsing and checking to see if any other are in heat. I would love to pull the trigger on a few does at our farm put it's hard to you just never know if there is a nice buck cruzin in and might get spooked. Have anybody else notice these activites.

[Powerstroke]

Drives can be very effective while bowhunting, but there is a technique to it. Drive while bowhunting are not the crash through the brush making as much noise as possible. You want to push deer from their beds, but you don't want them completely spooked. The goal is to get them to vacate the bedding area and move on, but not at a running pace. The point is to get them on thier feet so they move in a direction where you have someone posted. Once the deer has made that move its time to stop pushing. You don't want to startle that deer further when someone is drawing on the deer.

rippinlips, I'll gladly come pop a few or even one of those does for you if you want to wait for your buck......

[Nova]

I agree the cold does make them move more because they have to feed more to keep warm. I can dress warm enough to stay in the coldest temps. My problem is most of my sighting in and practice shooting is summer and early fall when it's warmer. Now that the temps are dropping you have to put on more layers. This changes how you draw your bow, how you hold your bow, could possibly affect your anchor point and your release. How do you guys adjust for this? I do try and practice with the clothes on I will normally be hunting in, but who target shoots with long underwear, and 4 layers on in August? No huge deal, just wondering how you guys adjust to the heavier clothing. Anchor piont is my main issue here.

[sticknstring]

I usually try and layer with vests to keep the warmth on the chest without the bulk in the sleeves which makes it easier to draw... but nothing is better than actually practicing with with all your clothes on. Otherwise when it's really cold take a blind out there with ya and a Buddy heater - you'll be to sit all day! It is supposed to warm up for the weekend so it should make for comfortable sits on stand. Shoot straight!

[walleyedan]

Ice fishing or bow hunting??? I think I am going to hunt one more time this weekend, then I am done (I think).

Good luck guys and I agree, some snow pictures would be good.

Walleyedan

[bigbucks]

Nova, just take a few shots right before you head to your stand. Bring a portable target with in your vehicle if you're not hunting right at home. Anything that's a problem is usually so obvious you fix it right away & then you're shooting good & have that in your mind not long before the potential moment of truth. You're not going to change your sights, you'll just adjust some clothing or your body position.

Heck I've taken my 3d target to the stand with me before & stuck it right out of the stand when it was cold. You can leave it there as a decoy or get down & lay it in the weeds right near the base of your stand. If there were a couple of arrows sticking out of it, it would probably just make the deer more curious...

[bigbucks]

Bow may only come down when I take one more weekend to try to fill a tag or two in WI. Only one MN tag left (bonus), hope to fill that in the morning with the ML, anything without horns will get it.

If I don't tag out this weekend I may bowhunt MN once or twice more, but I still haven't gone after grouse or pheasants yet & the time's getting short, & now the lakes are frozen... What to do? The options are limitless, predator hunting sounds fun too...

[huntnfish]

I'm in the same boat as bigbucks. I don't know where to even start. I want to get out one more time and try and stick a doe, but with the ice here and pheasants it is hard to decide.

[Slow Jigger]

I am heading ou tto my ground blind in about 5 mimnutes looking for the first deer of my life....

Saw two close enough but no good shot angle....

[so haaad]

I saw one doe on Saturday feeding along a grass field. Didn't see anything on Sunday.

[Meat-Run]

I'm still chasing the deer. Unfortunetly this archery season started out with discouragement for me since I have only had public land to hunt. Just recently I have done some home work and allot of persistent work I have locked up 50-80 acres close to town that is unbelieveble with the landowners very cooperative toward me archery hunting there land. Yes there is still nice people who share their land. I'm on my soap box now but I have been rejuvinated with this recent "score" of private property so close to work/home. There is at least 3 bucks and several does on this property.

Question for you experts out there? Is it true that if you have less does you should have more bucks moving around during the fall? One more question will the deer move during the daytime right know when it is fairly warm out? Sorry for the questions but I wish I have about two more months to hunt now.

Meat Run

[Powerstroke]

I spent the weekend hunting in the north metro. Lots of deer moving in the last hour or so of daylight. NOthing in the mornings. I didn't get a shot at any deer, but a guy in our group shot a small 10pt'r that is the genetic twin to a 140" 10pt'r my buddy shot across the road last weekend. They have the same rack shape and proportion.

I'm still hunting for the first deer of this year. I took friday off to get a 3 day weekend in.

[Nova]

Alright, I am heading back up to the Fergus area with the bow. Any good late season tips for me? I don't have any good food sources, they are mostly just eating browse right now. Haven't even touched the 3 food plots in weeks. There was a fair amount of traffic last weekend but very few during the day. Any tips would be great.

[GerrySchoolcraft]

I had a 3 day weekend and hunted hard, I was always in the wrong spot, seen several shooter bucks. Be care ful though cause the big ones are dropping their antlers. I watched a 160 inch 10 point loose half his rack 100 yards from me, the other half was already off, looked for the missing half for 2 hours but with no luck, that was December 8th. The half found does make for a nice trophy and was cool to see.

[chris63]

I will keep trying until the last day of the season.Still better than working no matter how cold it gets!!!!c63

[primetime49]

now is the time.We logged out about 100 logs on one of our farms this past month that showed no deer activity during first or second slug seasons.Stopped out at farm twice last 10 days and got some super trail cam action.Some others that usually hunt this one gave it up for dead.We over harvested it last year.Return hunters moved a mile east where good buck sighting was going on in underhunted area,all of a sudden those deer moved into this farm only to surprise us all.We have 6 stands that basically just looked like they were going to be useless this season that now look like gold.With warmer weather on for this week it looks like all day hunts will be possible.My deer at home are quickly deleting themselves via highway 23 suicide.back and forth from the river and woods to the orchard.Our only buck and 2 of 13 does are now road kill.Check old areas that maybe didnt look so good earlier this season but have been historically good.The deer are on the move and the weather is great.I need one with the straight bow to satisfy myself for season and its looking good.

[Meat-Run]

Well I took a half day off yesterday and spent it in a my stand. It was very foggy and drizzly out and never saw a deer. I thought it would have been perfect to see deer moving with these conditions but nothing was moving. I think we need another cold front soon before I go back to the stand.

mr

[SnoManX]

I've hunted the last two weekends on 80 acres of pines boarded by the Interstate, a swap, and harvested corn and bean fields. I've seen one doe and only three sets of different tracks (in the snow) the whole time. I thought the deer would be all over that corn field this past week. Hoping to still take my first one with bow this year...the freezer is getting pretty empty!!

[Nova]

It seems like they are saving the corn for later in the year. The neighbor has 4 acres of un-cut corn and I walked around and through it last weekend with fresh snow and there was not one track. They are all over in the woods though eating browse.

[matthothand]

I'm done bowhunting for the year. I got my buck yesterday morning and captured the moment on vdeo. My buddy shot his 8th deer of the season while I ran the camera only a half hour before I dropped my buck. The buck was my final deer of the season and brought the grand total of 9 deer harvested this year for me...we each hunted multiple states if anyone is wondering how we got so many tags filled legally. To those still hunting good luck. I'm glad I'm done now though so I can think about ice fishing.

[cat-man]

Yep I BLEW IT, last night i missed a really nice 8 pointer TWICE i'm sick about it. now i dont know what to do as far as hunting him again, anyone have any ideas. he's hanging with about 12 does,a spike and a fork horn so thats my story.

[DRH1175]

I would like to get out once more atleast. The places I hunt seem to be hit pretty good with the Muzzys so now that It was quite I will maybe get out on Friday for a bit.

[Meat-Run]

Yes I'm still chasing them. See allot of deer and even took a shot at a young buck on Friday afternoon. This would be my first buck with a bow so I can justify to myself of shooting a young deer but missed. Now that the season is getting close to ending I am now focusing on yearlings or small does but still have the itch.

mr

[sticknstring]

Catman - It happens to the best of us! Twice in a night has to sting though! But it sounds like you have a pretty good spot scouted out. Stick it out... he'll show again. I'd pick a different tree though or sneak in closer to the bedding area. I've been hunting over by Swanburg with very little success ever since the warmup began. We need another cold snap to get them moving again. A little snow wouldn't hurt either...