How do you prepare for deer season...

[the muleskinner]

deerhunter61,

Thanks for the compliment. I've never had the buck scored. What would be your rough estimate?

Congrats on you trophy! They've got some monsters out your way huh?

 

[deerhunter61]

Probably in the 130 range. There are quite a few different areas to measure. If you go to Boone and Crockett's website they actually have a calculator on their website. You simply measure the different places and then enter the info and after you are finished it will add it up for you. Of course it is not official but it definately serves my purpose which is simply my curiosity.

And yes we have a few of them. I hoped to get a 140 class buck this past season but I never saw one. I did see one that would have been around 130-135 the weekend before the season opened but after that no one on the lease saw him. Last year when I was checking out the lease I saw a buck that would have pushed 150 but according to what I have seen and heard since no one has seen the same buck. I took photos and showed the others on the lease and all had said they had never seen that particular buck before. And then a couple of weeks ago during spike and doe season I took my nephew hunting and he saw a 12 point with what he said was well over a 20 inch spread. He also said the tines were real long. So this is going to be the buck I will be hunting this coming season.

 

[deerhunter61]

So after this past season...is anyone planning on doing anything different this next year? Or are you going to do the same thing?

 

[bang_bang]

Different...YESH!

I got a crossbow for Christmas, so I'm going to hang some stands and place some blinds in different spots. I'm eager to experience bowhunting, and I'm hoping to get one of the elusive monsters that always evade me and every other hunter during muzzle loader and rifle season.

Funny thing is, I can see these monsters (8 and 10 pointers, the 10 pointer having a wide spread and the 8 having a narrow but extremely tall rack) up until a week before muzzle loader opens. This is from sitting in my front yard and watching the Christmas trees across the road. Their patterns are easy to predict, but when rut starts, they are nowhere to be found.

Gonna surprise them this year though. Not a lot of bow hunters around.

 

[CoRoMo]

Preparation begins about this time of year.
My brothers, my dad and I are just now beginning to email and call each other about this year's elk hunt.
From this point all the way through October, things escalate gradually to a feverish point.

I'll always scout the back-country several times during summer and go target shooting several times as well.

 

[deerhunter61]

I will be working this year to clear another shooting lane and do some scouting a little earlier than I did last year. Last year was my first year on the lease and after I found the place I was going to set up my stand I spent time looking at deer movement and cut three shooting lanes and planted a little oats etc. The oats never came up because we never got any rain after I planted it.

I am also going to be looking at another area to put up a stand in after my nephew saw a 12 point there the third week of the season.