Phil's 2022-2023 season
- Thread starter hickslawns
- Start date
ThatBuckeyeGuy
Active Member
Best of luck man! I didn't have any blood the first 30-40 yards or so on mine this time and it was right in the boiler . I was able to follow the thrashes he left in the leaves until I found blood .
steveOh
Junior Member
Still dark and very cloudy the time of your post this far side of the state.Find it yet, Phil?
Too soon?
- 6,359
- 136
Update: I suck.
Sat in ground before first light. (Only because I didn't trust the stand I was going to use. Good choice because in the daylight all the straps are gone from the 2 man.) Had a doe and small bucks pass at 40-50yds. Had 3 more pass at 30-40yds. Never spooked. Waited a bit. Eased in for a still hunt. 2.5hrs saw 6 deer. Found no blood.
Back in for 2-2.5hrs for what was essentially a grid search. Rick and Maxx came over. Maxx hit in nothing. We looked closer to stand, stand height, and where the deer was. He was close. I believe as close as he was I should have aimed a bit lower. Add in scope and rings, maybe another inch or two lower yet. I don't want to advertise this on a billboard, but I'll own it. I am 99% certain I had a clean miss. Ouch. The only thing that got hit was my ego.
Sat in ground before first light. (Only because I didn't trust the stand I was going to use. Good choice because in the daylight all the straps are gone from the 2 man.) Had a doe and small bucks pass at 40-50yds. Had 3 more pass at 30-40yds. Never spooked. Waited a bit. Eased in for a still hunt. 2.5hrs saw 6 deer. Found no blood.
Back in for 2-2.5hrs for what was essentially a grid search. Rick and Maxx came over. Maxx hit in nothing. We looked closer to stand, stand height, and where the deer was. He was close. I believe as close as he was I should have aimed a bit lower. Add in scope and rings, maybe another inch or two lower yet. I don't want to advertise this on a billboard, but I'll own it. I am 99% certain I had a clean miss. Ouch. The only thing that got hit was my ego.
steveOh
Junior Member
- 39,120
- 274
Man that sucks. With a gun though it's not much of a difference like with a bow.
With a 100-yard zero the bullet is going to pass the centerline of the scope right around 15 yards. Before that it's going to shoot low, but never lower than the distance between the bore and the center of the scope. So say you have a huge 4-inch difference between the center of the bore to the center of the scope, that bullet will leave the bore climbing and pass the centerline of your scope within about 15 yards for a 12 ga sabot.
For something faster like a 350 legend, it'll cross at about 40 yards. So with a scope sitting 4 inches above bore it should climb about an inch every 10 yards out to 40 yards with a350. In essence, a gun has two zeros, one at 40 and again at 100. For a shotgun it's like 15 and 100.
On a deer-sized target you shouldn't have to hold any different on a deer sized target, even at point blank touching ribs you're only going to be the difference between the scope and barrel.
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- 274
Morning was 2.5hrs. 1 buck. 4 doe.
Evening: 2hrs. Only saw 3 because someone shot and scared them my way. Could have reached out and high fives the one. Thought she was bounding into my lap.
Hunts: 26
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 15
Morning: 10
Hours: 4.5
Deer seen: 8
Does: 18
Bucks:8
In bow range: 4
Season totals:
Deer seen: 132
Bucks: 46
Does: 87
In bow range: 45
Season hours: 84.5
Evening: 2hrs. Only saw 3 because someone shot and scared them my way. Could have reached out and high fives the one. Thought she was bounding into my lap.
Hunts: 26
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 15
Morning: 10
Hours: 4.5
Deer seen: 8
Does: 18
Bucks:8
In bow range: 4
Season totals:
Deer seen: 132
Bucks: 46
Does: 87
In bow range: 45
Season hours: 84.5
I've been exhausted. Took the rain and high winds this morning as a reason to sleep a little. Headed out this evening. Property hasn't been hunted by me for gun season yet. Winds dying down. Temps dropping. Cut corn to my back. Large property which should have deer pushed into it. Observation hunt with a chance to swap a camera card to learn more.
Slid in. Didn't bump anything. Got settled. Saw a pair of fawn twins I see nearly every sit here. The. I noticed two small bucks checking them out. The bucks bedded 80yds in front of me. Later heard leaves and saw 4 tiny deer in single file with a small buck in tow. Appeared to be the twins with friends. The two small bucks had gotten up from bedding earlier and decided to join the fast paced follow the leader. Shortly after I saw a mature doe hurrying thru the same path but nothing was following her. They worked thru and I saw one of the tiniest deer busting butt 450yds across the field to the south and soon followed by one of the bucks. Spotted 4 more does probably 400-600yds to the west. They made there way within easy gun range right behind me but then got spooked and headed south 450yds across the field as well.
Great sit. 2 mature does, 7 tiny deer, and 3 bucks in 3hrs. Camera card pull revealed activity 2 days ago of the buck I arrowed high a month ago. He was chasing hard core and seemed perfectly healthy. Good to see.
Hunts: 27
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 16
Morning: 10
Hours: 3
Deer seen: 12
Does: 9
Bucks:3
In bow range: 8
Season totals:
Deer seen: 144
Bucks: 49
Does: 96
In bow range: 53
Season hours: 87.5
Slid in. Didn't bump anything. Got settled. Saw a pair of fawn twins I see nearly every sit here. The. I noticed two small bucks checking them out. The bucks bedded 80yds in front of me. Later heard leaves and saw 4 tiny deer in single file with a small buck in tow. Appeared to be the twins with friends. The two small bucks had gotten up from bedding earlier and decided to join the fast paced follow the leader. Shortly after I saw a mature doe hurrying thru the same path but nothing was following her. They worked thru and I saw one of the tiniest deer busting butt 450yds across the field to the south and soon followed by one of the bucks. Spotted 4 more does probably 400-600yds to the west. They made there way within easy gun range right behind me but then got spooked and headed south 450yds across the field as well.
Great sit. 2 mature does, 7 tiny deer, and 3 bucks in 3hrs. Camera card pull revealed activity 2 days ago of the buck I arrowed high a month ago. He was chasing hard core and seemed perfectly healthy. Good to see.
Hunts: 27
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 16
Morning: 10
Hours: 3
Deer seen: 12
Does: 9
Bucks:3
In bow range: 8
Season totals:
Deer seen: 144
Bucks: 49
Does: 96
In bow range: 53
Season hours: 87.5
Got in way early. Had a doe slowly moving around but only because I bumped her. She didn't want to be on the move. Noisy for her too. Saw another 100-150yds off thru the trees in a CRP field. Around 830 or so the crunchy was melting off and I had 4 deer move thru. 30yd chip shot. I just enjoyed watching them pass. They went into a field and turned to head towards the road. I watched them.
Had to get down to take care of some business. Debated whether to get back in stand or not. Took a drive around the block. I see a truck with two in cab and three in the bed. I know where they are going to push so I head back around the corner and pull into my hunting spot. Go get back in the tree until noon. Probably should have just continued home. Only saw one more deer. No bucks today.
Hunts: 28
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 16
Morning: 11
Hours: 4.75
Deer seen: 7
Does: 7
Bucks:
In bow range: 4
Season totals:
Deer seen: 151
Bucks: 49
Does: 103
In bow range: 57
Season hours: 92.25
Had to get down to take care of some business. Debated whether to get back in stand or not. Took a drive around the block. I see a truck with two in cab and three in the bed. I know where they are going to push so I head back around the corner and pull into my hunting spot. Go get back in the tree until noon. Probably should have just continued home. Only saw one more deer. No bucks today.
Hunts: 28
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 16
Morning: 11
Hours: 4.75
Deer seen: 7
Does: 7
Bucks:
In bow range: 4
Season totals:
Deer seen: 151
Bucks: 49
Does: 103
In bow range: 57
Season hours: 92.25
Got in at a decent hour. Enough for a 3 hour hunt. Bumped 3 when I entered the woods. Sat enjoying the evening. Hour and a half to two hour to go and another "hunter" showed up. We do communicate for safety reasons. We knew where each other were. Hadn't seen any deer. 30 minutes to go and I see orange in the ground walking across the field towards a thicket. An off limits thicket. I text and ask if that is him. It was. Told him I lost visual and he cut off any shooting lane into the field next to the thicket. . . .which is basically my only high percentage shot of where I'd see deer come out. He text and said "I'm behind the big oak tree." Not a tree in there over 15-18". Said he is in a blind. There is no blind there. Then radio silence. So I'm watching deer come up from the south. They are either going to enter the field (through the fence row dingus is sitting in therefore taking my shot away) or go into the off limits thicket. They are coming from an off limits direction. Next I see orange again. He is standing up next to a tree with his gun pointed in the off limits direction where the deer are 200yds away. Surely he isn't going to lob one that direction with his open sights? Guys hunt on the other end of the off limits field and he is likely pointing right at them. He never fired. Probably because the deer saw him and tucked into the thicket. He basically dicked me. The only consolation was when he left with 5-10min to go. There was a slight chance he bumps a deer that was dumb enough to walk in behind our entries on the downwind side. He did not. Probably because there were no deer left in the property after a week of dumbass pressure. Where he walked to confirmed the three muzzle flashes I saw two nights prior were likely from him. Pointed my direction as I sat in the woods. How do you ask a land owner to remove someone for safety reasons? Land owner is entirely too nice and has granted permission to half a dozen people for his 5-8acre patch of woods. 
Hunts: 29
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 17
Morning: 11
Hours: 3
Deer seen: 7
Does: 7
Bucks:
In bow range: 0
Season totals:
Deer seen: 158
Bucks: 49
Does: 110
In bow range: 57
Season hours: 95.25
Hunts: 29
All day: 1
Afternoon: 1
Evening: 17
Morning: 11
Hours: 3
Deer seen: 7
Does: 7
Bucks:
In bow range: 0
Season totals:
Deer seen: 158
Bucks: 49
Does: 110
In bow range: 57
Season hours: 95.25
Update totals later. Yesterday morning. No deer. Bumped a couple walking in. 2.5hr
Evening saw deer. All 400-500yds away. 8 doe. 4 buck. One probable shooter if I saw him closer. 3hr
So far this morning. Group of 2 and a group of 3. In gun range. No antlers.
Evening saw deer. All 400-500yds away. 8 doe. 4 buck. One probable shooter if I saw him closer. 3hr
So far this morning. Group of 2 and a group of 3. In gun range. No antlers.