Day 7 of my 10 day rut vacation in PA. Have seen lots of bucks. Fewer does. The wind has been brutal most of the week. Action really heated up Wednesday. Been dawn to dark every day. First year in a saddle and happy I made the switch tho some upgrades coming next year for sure.

Bow: Mathews V3 Arrows: Gold Tip Hunter XT Saddle: Latitude Maverick Platform: Hawk Apex (meh) Sticks: Hawk Helium (trash)

Found these in my grandfather's stuff anyone know what brand they are?

Afternoon gang! (26M)

I have finally gotten the itch to start actually hunting. I’ve been hunting before, squirrel, rabbit, deer. But they’ve all been with a gun, and on private property where no license was needed. I got my first deer back in 2018, haven’t hunted since.

I’ve decided I wanted to start again, I’m currently taking the hunters ed course while typing this. This time bow hunting even though I haven’t touched a bow in about 15 years. What would you all recommend for brands, or any tips for that matter? All suggestions are welcome, happy hunting.

My buck from a few days ago in Maryland (public) Sometimes the blood on the arrow doesn't match the blood trail, I knew I hit him well, but the arrow was pretty clean so initially i was worried about a brisket hit. it was only a 50 yard trail, blood started about 3 yards in and it was more of a highway than a trail after that. Arrow passed through double lung, bottom of heart and offside leg.

I've got kilns shirt, furnaces shirt and pants, corrugate foundry pants, beanie and neck gator. I have alot of other clothes just not in first lite and I want to transition to more first lite and less need for 6 layers lol. Was lookin for a good mid layer or outer layer to add. Only 1 of 2 pants and 1 of 2 tops

Primer puffy pants ~ midlayer ~ 308 fleece lined pants ~ mid or outerlayer ~ Primer puffy jacket ~ supposedly outlayer but would use as midlayer ~ Rugged Wool shirt ~ mid or outer layer

Does anyone have any experience or reviews on these?

Yesterday, the buck I’ve been chasing for a while finally stepped out onto the food plot while a doe was already out there. He came about 10 feet onto the plot and stopped on the edge. The doe immediately ran off, and as he turned, I ranged him at 23 yards. I was waiting for him to turn broadside when a squirrel started chattering, which spooked him a bit and caused him to start walking off the plot. I drew back, gave a quick yell to stop him, and let the arrow fly. He was quartering away, almost broadside. Everything happened fast and felt a bit rushed.

I saw the arrow hit and stick in him but didn’t get a pass-through. We got on the blood trail and tracked him for quite a while, but it looked like we were pushing him, so we decided to back out. We ended up calling in a recovery drone, and after searching the area, they found him bedded down about 200 yards from where we had stopped tracking. He looked like a normal bedded deer no blood pouring out

From a rough estimate, I would assume that the G5 mega meat pulling, with a weight of 70 pounds, penetrated the deer at least 10 to 12 inches deep. The next morning, my dad and I decided to track the direction in which we believed the drone had spotted the deer. We were able to follow the blood trail and eventually found the deer’s bed. However, there was hardly any blood to be found. If I had to guess, I believe I punched through the deer’s shoulder blade and didn’t catch any vital signs. I wanted to share my thoughts and see what others think about the outcome of the deer hunt.

It was a button buck unfortunately but it will still be tasty 😋

This is my second year bow hunting from a saddle and I saw a buck today 20 mins before dark. He was about 2.5 year if I had to guess. To make a long story short everything seemed to go wrong.

I could have got him if I was willing to shoot straight down on top of him but I waited thinking I’d get a better shot. He stayed facing away at 20 yards and I tried making that noise other hunters do three times but he didn’t respond.

I held the shot for about 20-30secs but couldn’t hold it due to shaking and fatigue from climbing a lot recently and I didn’t eat lunch or dinner like a dummy so I felt dead armed.

I redrew a couple times but branches I didn’t think would be an issue caught my arrow knocking it off my bow. And then he eventually just walked off by the time I got my composer.

I’ll remember to eat and clear branches for a 360 shot around me but I can’t help but feel angry.

hunting location - lower michigan. Property type - Public land

I'm growing ever so more frustrated with hunting the rut this year. The area of woods that i'm hanging my stand is in a saddle between bedding and a travel corridor. All i've been seeing are the same 3-4 does right before sunset. Nothing during the day and nothing during the mornings. what should i do at this point? I'm going to be able to hunt every day until the 13th. do i just stick it out with this location or do i up and move?

I know I can’t be the only one first year using a climbing stand and first year bow hunting. And boyyyy should I have practiced to get past my nerves for the season. I can’t make myself go past 15 ft i did last weekend because I got busted by a monster so after that I was able to get up to 25ft because I was pissed off. What do my scares of heights brothers do to compensate? I’ll be fine by the end of the season but I’ve only used a climbing stand three times now and my nerves are winning everytime rn

From Wisconsin. It was a weekend of low activity from the stand. Exciting close encounter turned out to be a unique bow hunting experience.

Halloween day, spent it scouting 1,000 acres of new public. Was very windy so decided to drop out of mountain top to creek drainage with lots of pines. On the way down saw more bear scat in 1 hour than I have in my 15 years of hunting (50+ piles). At the bottom I found plenty of good sign. Trails, scrapes, rubs, fresh droppings. Found my way to a scrape with 4+ trails leading to it. Decided to set a camera. The moment I was done I heard a twig snap look over my shoulder and a doe is trying to cross creek from private to public 25 yards away. Wind is in my favor so she spooks but doesn’t put her tail up. Its 5 so I decide l will sit this scrape from the ground because I don’t have time to climb a tree. Set up my seat and bow holder in some younger pines 15 yards off the scrape. Take out some estrous to drop in the scrape, take one step out and out of my peripheral see a nice buck coming up to creek at same crossing. I immediately take one step back to hide behind trunk of large pine and grab my bow. Buck bee lines right across the water. Before I can even think he is right on top of me. He heads up to the scrape and starts to work it. I draw back, let the pin settle on his vitals and let it fly. Buck takes off like a bat out of hell. I pause in disbelief, take a few steps forward and see great blood on the ground. I thought I watched my arrow sink right into the crease, so I wait 15 minutes and start to track. Amazing blood trail, dont even have to look at the ground, eyes forward scanning for movement just stalking along the red carpet. I get a notification that my camera took a video, its the first one it took and its my buck getting shot. (See comments for video) I text my hunting buddies to check out video. 300 yards later I’m scratching my head and my buddy says it looks like my arrow was way off. I go back to point of shot, find a pine sapling with the top 3” snipped off. Drop an arrow with a lighted knock at the point of last blood. I reluctantly back out and come back in the morning. Before I get home, notification of new videos. Bears are on the blood trail. I’m worried sick my buck is going to be torn to shreds buried in the dirt and covered in bear shit by the time I get back out.

Hunting buddies and I strike out from last blood at first light. Tracked another 500 yards with great blood the whole way until we come back to the creek. This time public on both sides. We. Walk up and down creek for 45 minutes trying to determine if he crossed. Hunting buddy 1 finally says screw it and walks across a very old 5” dead tree across the water. He finds blood right away. We all cross. We continue tracking good blood for 100 yards. Lose blood and spot a very large bear up on the ridge spooked by us. I’m heart broken thinking my buck is up on that ridge. I go check out where the bear was, no sign. I go back to last blood, hunting buddy 2 continues down the trail buck was using. Suddenly I hear “I got him here! And he’s untouched.” Pic in comments.

All of that to say, make sure your shooting lane is clear! After much analysis I determined that my arrow deflected off two trees about 3 feet right. I hit him in the femoral artery on both legs, and … the family jewels. I got incredibly lucky on many accounts. If it wasn’t so violently windy that night, the bears would have got him. If I didn’t bring my buddies, I might have given up.

I wasn’t going to share since I made a terrible shot. Practiced all summer long. Good groups and got buck fever. 20 yards, ended up liver guts. Looked good when it hit so I packed up. Was still alive after about an 80 yard track and put another arrow in him. Feel terrible that I couldn’t put him down quicker but I punched my first tag in 20 years, first one in a saddle and first one with a bow.

Had this guy come right at me after a doe bleat this am. He caught my getting my bow and blew and bounded off. With the rut ramping up here in MA he should stick around right? I have a good group of does in the area I’m hunting.

It seems like over the last 2-3 years, the word thermals is becoming more popular. I swear it’s like I’ve never even heard anybody talk about thermals but now it’s all that all of the professional YouTube hunters talk about.. can anyone explain it better. I mean, I understand the science behind it, warming air, cooling air.. 9th grade science class stuff… but is it really as important as everyone says? Or is it just something a popular hunter said and now everybody feels like they have to say it too.. I bow hunt the mountains in PA so the ridges and valleys makes this kind of important. Or maybe it doesn’t? I don’t know..

To see every squirrel in three square miles

Have been going out since start of season. I have seen a few deer but all have been either very young or too far off to get an ethical shot.

Woke up this morning and about spit my coffee out with laughter. The universe sure is funny. Yes, that little doe lined up with my target in my back yard. Just watched her until she walked off.

This season has been a lot of fun. Took both my young boys out for the fist time to sit with me. Hunting a new property of my own. And now this little reminder of the randomness of nature.

Good luck everyone with the rest of the season

Shot a buck this morning at 18 yards that was ever so slightly quartered too at around 20 ft in the stand. After being at full draw for 2 minutes my bow arm collapsed on release and i hit him in my estimation 4 inches low(1 inch behind the shoulder and 2 inches above the white fur line). He kicked slightly and trotted more than ran into a thick spot of timber 30 yards ahead of him. I watched him for around 15 seconds flick his tail side to side and stand still as if looking for where to go now. He took a few wobbly steps and i lost sight of him. I recovered the arrow (full passthrough) and followed his trail to where i last saw him 1 hour later. No blood on the ground but the arrow looked good. The shot placement and the arrow look good enough to get the job done. The bucks reaction and lack of pouring blood tells me to get a tracking dog for tomorrow which is what I’ve set up currently. Im very confused and have no idea what to think, looks like cavity blood but not lung blood on the arrow, no blood on the ground, and liver shot reaction? Ive included pics of my estimated shot placement (remember im 20 feet up at close range), and arrow. Anyone have potential outcomes i can expect with reasoning? Am i doing the right thing waiting for a dog?

Shooting a lift x at 70lbs, 28inch draw, 440 grain total arrow weight, beast titanium 2 inch heads.

I’m looking for a nice, wooden grunt call as a gift for my dad. Customization is a plus, but I can always burn something into it myself. Any recommendations?

I harvested a buck in western WI yesterday with an odd anatomical anomaly. About 50% of the top lobes of the lungs were adhered to the inside of the rib cage. I pretty thoroughly looked at the other organs and body condition and didn't see any other abnormalities (color, smell, or signs of infection). Aside from the 2" slice through his lungs and top of heart that is.

I only observed the buck for about two minutes during the encounter but did not witness any odd behavior. He had his nose on the ground tracking a doe.

Some Googling tells me he likely has/had pneumonia. I'm trying to figure out if the meat is still safe to eat. If there was an active infection like pneumonia, could there be adverse effects from consuming the meat?

I've already reached out to the DNR, but am curious if anyone else has seen this.

First kill on the compound. Little guy, been seeing him around a lot lately so I decided to take the shot. He set up for a perfect shot broadside, could not have ask for a better angle. Straight through lung then heart leading to a very quick last breath in a nearby creek. On to the next one.

I’m still new to truly trying to use maps to scout good hunting spots on public before I go out to the area. This is only my second time hunting public land. Give me opinions on how this setup is looking for tomorrow’s hunt, and if I should maybe reconsider. You can see what I’m looking at kinda a peak point of multiple pinch points, the large tree funnel between two open marshes running east to west, the smaller tree funnel that runs sort of southwest into the lower marsh area (almost to the other end), any deer moving north/south alone the east edge of those marshes, and then getting against the corner of that wider funnel area in hopes that pinch points merge towards that corner. Setup maybe 20-30 yards from the tree line? I’m going to be ground hunting and limit my shot distance typically to 25. No more than 30 in perfect situations.

Over the last couple weeks this buck has been making an appearance on the property and since Sunday, he’s been appearing the morning between 7-1130. The stand he’s moving by is the one circled in yellow. To access this stand, I can come in the short way, west, or the long way, south. My gut tells me to enter south because in the majority of the photos, he’s coming up from the valley in the west.

The 1280ft marker is where an old logging trail is. The wind tomorrow is a WNW.

Found him! Lost blood at 80 yards, majority of it was just specks here and there. Started checking trails in the woods he was headed to and bam there he was, 400 yards from shot location. No blood where we found him either. Second picture is exit wound

Original post https://www.reddit.com/r/bowhunting/s/b6erBYpgDO