I'm slow getting to this. Truth be told, I'm slow at a lot of things. 
Something that I felt like I was slow (or unwilling) to adapt to the past few seasons has been hunting an area/location the way it needs to be hunted instead of how I want to hunt it. I love being in a tree for deer season, but a few locations where I encountered a lot of deer and bucks lately have been in areas where it's hard (if not impossible) to get away with hanging in a small tree without a lot of cover around me. I spent a while getting my old ghillie suit trimmed up to avoid string interference, and also bought/assembled a ghillie boonie. A weakness in my ground hunting has been having a good chair option, and this year I'm trying (and so far loving) a waterfowl marsh seat. It's very comfortable to sit in and shoot from, and being a single post/leg, doesn't have leveling issues I have had from all other chairs I have tried.
Last weekend, I got some cameras up and prepped a few areas. One location, in particular, had a really solid ground setup location. There was already a natural little "nest" with some downed limbs, and I cleared it out a little to give myself room to operate. I'm really excited to hunt this spot.
View from inside the "nest." Deer like to parallel the thick cover behind the setup, and there's hardly any trees that are huntable. With a recurve, I can't set up for 35+ yard shots, so a ground approach should keep me better hidden and get me in range. There's a historical scrape in front of the setup, as well as converging trails.
As usual, I got a couple of mock scrapes going with the Branch Butter. That stuff smells like death but deer seem to love it.
I'm also excited to shoot these Simmons Swamp Sharks. I bought them before last season, and they flew great, but I could never get them sharp enough to feel confident to hunt with them. A friend suggested a YouTube tutorial and it solved my issues. The key to them (for me) was starting with a round chainsaw file to get the bevel cut/set. Now they are popping hair and feel downright dangerous.
Something that I felt like I was slow (or unwilling) to adapt to the past few seasons has been hunting an area/location the way it needs to be hunted instead of how I want to hunt it. I love being in a tree for deer season, but a few locations where I encountered a lot of deer and bucks lately have been in areas where it's hard (if not impossible) to get away with hanging in a small tree without a lot of cover around me. I spent a while getting my old ghillie suit trimmed up to avoid string interference, and also bought/assembled a ghillie boonie. A weakness in my ground hunting has been having a good chair option, and this year I'm trying (and so far loving) a waterfowl marsh seat. It's very comfortable to sit in and shoot from, and being a single post/leg, doesn't have leveling issues I have had from all other chairs I have tried.
Last weekend, I got some cameras up and prepped a few areas. One location, in particular, had a really solid ground setup location. There was already a natural little "nest" with some downed limbs, and I cleared it out a little to give myself room to operate. I'm really excited to hunt this spot.
View from inside the "nest." Deer like to parallel the thick cover behind the setup, and there's hardly any trees that are huntable. With a recurve, I can't set up for 35+ yard shots, so a ground approach should keep me better hidden and get me in range. There's a historical scrape in front of the setup, as well as converging trails.
As usual, I got a couple of mock scrapes going with the Branch Butter. That stuff smells like death but deer seem to love it.
I'm also excited to shoot these Simmons Swamp Sharks. I bought them before last season, and they flew great, but I could never get them sharp enough to feel confident to hunt with them. A friend suggested a YouTube tutorial and it solved my issues. The key to them (for me) was starting with a round chainsaw file to get the bevel cut/set. Now they are popping hair and feel downright dangerous.
