Need a plan.

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Axis II

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Due to cutting my hand I can’t do as much right now and Bow season starts sept 28th. I haven’t scouted, hung stands or cameras and won’t be healed till probably opening day. I use a climber or run and gun hangon so have to scout trees before hand and due to it being public I use cameras to tell me if it’s good or a bad spot. What would be your plan of attack?
 
Iffin it were me, I probably wouldn't worry about opening day. Instead of rushing in and wasting time sitting in a tree that may prove fruitless, I'd take the time to do it right. Do you not have any good spots from previous years? Bow season for the most part gets better as the season goes on, as the leaves fall and the rut approaches. The hunt is more than just the opportunity to stick something. If your hand is in that bad of shape, odds are you haven't been shooting your bow either. Relax, bow season lasts a long time.
 
What would be your plan of attack?

I'd Go Hunting...

Seriously..., are you saying that you've never used the same spot twice? :scrutiny:

OR do you generally hunt the same area(s) and the game cameras confirm what you know from the past? Have you ever harvested a deer from a stand that would've probably been harvested from where you had the stand the previous year? So you moved the location from last year due to a photo...but really it wouldn't have mattered if you had the stand in the same tree as before? :scrutiny:

Have you ever set up where the game camera info indicated was a "good" area, only to spend the day and not see deer, or you saw them but they didn't come close enough for a shot although they were close enough when the game cam shot the photo? :scrutiny:

If you're on public land there is going to be soooo much unfamiliar noise and scent the morning of opening day, that the habitual movement patterns of the deer will no longer be such....,

So, think back about the areas where you've taken deer in the past. Figure out the area where you've taken the most deer, and put your stand up there. ;) The other option is to figure out which area would be the toughest for your competitors in the public area to get into...and know that all that opening day disturbance is going to "push" deer into such an area. :cool:

Send us a photo of you deer please.

LD
 
Iffin it were me, I probably wouldn't worry about opening day. Instead of rushing in and wasting time sitting in a tree that may prove fruitless, I'd take the time to do it right. Do you not have any good spots from previous years? Bow season for the most part gets better as the season goes on, as the leaves fall and the rut approaches. The hunt is more than just the opportunity to stick something. If your hand is in that bad of shape, odds are you haven't been shooting your bow either. Relax, bow season lasts a long time.

I'd Go Hunting...

Seriously..., are you saying that you've never used the same spot twice? :scrutiny:

OR do you generally hunt the same area(s) and the game cameras confirm what you know from the past? Have you ever harvested a deer from a stand that would've probably been harvested from where you had the stand the previous year? So you moved the location from last year due to a photo...but really it wouldn't have mattered if you had the stand in the same tree as before? :scrutiny:

Have you ever set up where the game camera info indicated was a "good" area, only to spend the day and not see deer, or you saw them but they didn't come close enough for a shot although they were close enough when the game cam shot the photo? :scrutiny:

If you're on public land there is going to be soooo much unfamiliar noise and scent the morning of opening day, that the habitual movement patterns of the deer will no longer be such....,

So, think back about the areas where you've taken deer in the past. Figure out the area where you've taken the most deer, and put your stand up there. ;) The other option is to figure out which area would be the toughest for your competitors in the public area to get into...and know that all that opening day disturbance is going to "push" deer into such an area. :cool:

Send us a photo of you deer please.

LD

Buck- I haven’t been shooting my compound but crossbow is good to go. I have good spots but it’s private that’s affiliated with a hunting club. Sometimes no one is there and sometimes it’s a zoo. One year someone moved in on me so I had to move. The patterns also change.

Dave-I use the same spots but wind, hunters, food changes a lot. I have new properties this year and some old that have been logged, etc. I didn’t hunt at all last year so who knows what happened in 2yrs? I don’t mind sitting the same spots and have stands that don’t move. Again, been awhile and lots of changes.
 
Your health is more important than hunting. Let it heal, then get in the woods.
Setting your stand late isn't a deal breaker anyway. If it was, climbers would not work.
Hunting is about being out in God's creation and seeing the beauty of it. Relax and enjoy it.
 
2 times I got hurt right before deer season, first time was after a bike wreck needing 90 stitches in my left leg. The other was the day the first didget of my right middle finger got cut off, they reattach that and put two pins in the bone.

This is still when I hunted the same land and had my normal spots to hunt,but even waking in on the day of the hunt depending on different animal signs you see can change where you sit. I don't climb trees so just sit on the ground or on the rock walls.

Be careful to rap up your hand good to keep it clean. Getting out there can help a lot to cheer you up.
 
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Dave-I use the same spots but wind, hunters, food changes a lot. I have new properties this year and some old that have been logged, etc. I didn’t hunt at all last year so who knows what happened in 2yrs? I don’t mind sitting the same spots and have stands that don’t move. Again, been awhile and lots of changes.
Yeah you're right, a lot more variables. Well there is always "hunt more" and use the first few trips as a "scouting expedition".

LD
 
Bandage your thumb up good and get out there. You hunt with a friend right? Have him help with anything you need help with. You would do the same for him if he was injured right? Im not down playing your injury but I wouldn't let a cut thumb stop me from hunting. You just have to adapt a little until it's healed. I'm sure your hunting buddy will be happy to help.
Last year my best friend injured his right shoulder 2 weeks before bow season and could not use his compound so he bought a crossbow. I had to cock it for him and set up his treestand. He could barely use his right arm but he could shoulder and fire the crossbow with discomfort. He shot a beautiful buck and we dragged it out together and I field dressed it for him. Here's a a pic to get you motivated.
IMG_01391-1.jpg
 
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I had a surgery years ago to remove a tumor and when they put me back together they didn’t use stitches, they glued me back together.

I’ve been using cyanoacrylate (aka super glue) on cuts. It’s almost instant and you closed it up to contamination and are good to go.

I have unopened tubes just about everywhere, shop, house, truck, travel medicine bag, farm. Better than a box of band aids.
 
Bandage your thumb up good and get out there. You hunt with a friend right? Have him help with anything you need help with. You would do the same for him if he was injured right? Im not down playing your injury but I wouldn't let a cut thumb stop me from hunting. You just have to adapt a little until it's healed. I'm sure your hunting buddy will be happy to help.
Last year my best friend injured his right shoulder 2 weeks before bow season and could not use his compound so he bought a crossbow. I had to cock it for him and set up his treestand. He could barely use his right arm but he could shoulder and fire the crossbow with discomfort. He shot a beautiful buck and we dragged it out together and I field dressed it for him. Here's a a pic to get you motivated.
View attachment 856933
I have absolutely no use of my right thumb. The pad and side by the nail is completely gone, almost down to bone. If you put your thumb over a nickel and cut the circle that's all gone. I have maybe 15% thumb print left. When I move my hand its extremely painful. Yes, I hunt with a buddy on his lease and he would help as I would help him, but these spots we don't hunt together because he has his lease. Congrats to your friend and sorry to hear about his shoulder, but I have a giant open wound that requires new bandages every night, taking antibiotics to prevent infection that I don't think is working.

I thought I fractured my hand 2 seasons ago and had no insurance at the time due to a job transfer and he field dressed two deer for me. He has a torn rotator cuff and I cock his crossbow for him. If this was just stiches and some glue Id be at it.
 
It's amazing how much just a finger can hurt, I was out of work for 2 months with those pins in, week before I have them taken out I was driving to the doctor. Pain in the but when you got a stick, some how when I was shifting one of the pins caught my best vent, when I went it to 4th i pulled one out, hurt so bad I pulled over.

The line were drilled into the bone, since my tended was cut in half, the pins were to prevent my finger from turning into a S. Pins did not work anyway. Most days I just wish they left it off.

How did you cut yours.
 
It's amazing how much just a finger can hurt, I was out of work for 2 months with those pins in, week before I have them taken out I was driving to the doctor. Pain in the but when you got a stick, some how when I was shifting one of the pins caught my best vent, when I went it to 4th i pulled one out, hurt so bad I pulled over.

The line were drilled into the bone, since my tended was cut in half, the pins were to prevent my finger from turning into a S. Pins did not work anyway. Most days I just wish they left it off.

How did you cut yours.
Manual food slicer. It took the pad down almost 1/4'' and all the way off. No sewing it back on and the bleeding wouldn't stop so they cauterized it. From the side of the nail all the way around the pad is completely gone and just exposed tissue. Its my right thumb and I am right handed so it makes it worse. I cant dangle my hand because the pressure makes it hurt, its got about 1'' of padding on it to keep it from being banged. Everything to the right of the circle is completely cut off and missing. 1/8'' more and I would be at bone. Doc says it will be a big flat spot the rest of my life. I also think its trying to get infected even though the GF changes the bandage daily.
 

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Manual food slicer. It took the pad down almost 1/4'' and all the way off. No sewing it back on and the bleeding wouldn't stop so they cauterized it. From the side of the nail all the way around the pad is completely gone and just exposed tissue. Its my right thumb and I am right handed so it makes it worse. I cant dangle my hand because the pressure makes it hurt, its got about 1'' of padding on it to keep it from being banged. Everything to the right of the circle is completely cut off and missing. 1/8'' more and I would be at bone. Doc says it will be a big flat spot the rest of my life. I also think its trying to get infected even though the GF changes the bandage daily.
Yup that hurt, how so deep was it when it was sharpening or where you cutting some stakes. Infection is no joke, gets much worse when there's exposed meat. To bad you can't shoot lefty you are now the only real reason to have a pistol brace. Did they say anything about grafting skin.
 
Yup that hurt, how so deep was it when it was sharpening or where you cutting some stakes. Infection is no joke, gets much worse when there's exposed meat. To bad you can't shoot lefty you are now the only real reason to have a pistol brace. Did they say anything about grafting skin.
No graphing and couldn't sew the piece back on. It was set at 1/4'' depth. The machine is called a Mandoline. I was slicing potatos and looked at the GF who was making chicken and took it right off. I just called doc and they think its infected. ER said don't wash and put Neosporin on it since Tuesday.
 
The machine is called a Mandoline.

They should outlaw those things. Know several folks that are missing the end of their fingers thanks to those things. One of 'em's a sister and one is my wife. Had to help bandage both of 'em.

Back in the late eighties, I crushed two fingers(in one, the bone was in 14 pieces) on my right hand(index and middle fingers) two weeks into bow season. The Doctor told me 8 weeks before I could even put pressure on my hand. They were bound to aluminum splints and stuck straight out. 8 weeks would have taken me thru bow season (and the rut) and gun season. Soooooo, I rigged up a strap to pull my release with my wrist instead of my hand, and turned the release upside down so I could "pull the trigger" with my fourth finger. Still was awkward to draw with those two splints sticking out and everytime I released an arrow the pain would almost make me cry.......but I got a buck and a doe that year with my bow. Desperate men do desperate things........o_O
 
No graphing and couldn't sew the piece back on. It was set at 1/4'' depth. The machine is called a Mandoline. I was slicing potatos and looked at the GF who was making chicken and took it right off. I just called doc and they think its infected. ER said don't wash and put Neosporin on it since Tuesday.
Oh I've been to many fire calls where people Dunn that. At least you did not have it set for ripples
 
"duty now, for the future"...

Sure, you can't shoot game in the off season, but show me a law that says you can't
observe and track game, in the off season. If you are starting now, you're about 8 months late. Own that, and
start preparing for next season, now.

Look at it like this: Your real weapons are game cameras and binoculars. The bow and rifle are just collection tools.
Now, you can hunt one of two ways:

1. The way you're doing it now, go in during the beginning of the season, hope you get a deer by the end of the season. (pretty much like everybody else)

2. Track and observe for a few months, during the off season. When everybody is walking into the woods, at the starting day of the season, you'll be walking out, with your trophy.
 
No graphing and couldn't sew the piece back on. It was set at 1/4'' depth. The machine is called a Mandoline. I was slicing potatos and looked at the GF who was making chicken and took it right off. I just called doc and they think its infected. ER said don't wash and put Neosporin on it since Tuesday.
Girlfriends will do that to you. It was a trap to get you to stay home.
In all seriousness, let it heal before worrying about hunting. Maybe do late season.
 
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