Ric and Karissa's hunting journal for the 2016-2017 season
- Thread starter finelyshedded
- Start date
Gordo
Senior Member
It's a major victory that your daughter saw her first rut action from stand! That'll feed the fire
Thanks guys, we'll give it our all!
Here's the biggest most mature buck I saw from the treestand during my 4 all day sits in SE Ohio. This one was on our farm. No movement on our prop till 5:15 wouldn't you figure! He prolly covered some ground before first light the next morning! Lol
Big ole body on this buck TOO!
Here's the biggest most mature buck I saw from the treestand during my 4 all day sits in SE Ohio. This one was on our farm. No movement on our prop till 5:15 wouldn't you figure! He prolly covered some ground before first light the next morning! Lol
Big ole body on this buck TOO!
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Well, I'm soooooo far behind in updating this journal I'm not even gonna try! rotflmao
This year was as rough as it was last year for the most part on the props I have for us to hunt. Bottom line, neither Karissa or I have seen a deer we feel like shootin at so that's pretty much the story. We've gotten skunked much more than we have liked this season but when we did see deer they were pretty young or were females. If doe/deer numbers were much higher we'd shoot a doe or two to help manage the herd but numbers where we hunt just doesn't justify it.
Black Friday morning I took Karissa over to our farm to basically show her around and share many past memories Ron and I had on our farm over the years while we sat in a make shift blind from first light to about 10:30. We had a button buck and another small 4-6 point buck come within 40 yards of us that morning. Just nothing happening much that morning but it was great to finally get her on our farm to hunt for the very first time. If our schedules weren't so hectic and different and the farm not 3 plus hours away it'd be a different story.
She had to head back home after my family spent most of the weekend with Mom and Ron and his extended family over Thanksgiving weekend but I stayed back to hunt the entire week of gun season with Ron and our buddies at the Chicken House deer camp. Even though the deer sightings were minimal at best the weather for the most part was ideal so the ODNR can't use that excuse this year! Lol
I saw plenty of hunters out as well but there isn't near the number of deer drives as there used to be either. Like Brock said in another post last week, many more of us just sit in a tree or spot on the ground these days trying to kill a good deer with natural movement but the deer basically just hunker down till last 15 minutes of shooting light and are on their feet from then till first 15-30 min of shooting light then repeat that process each day! I personally saw two young antlered bucks and 8-9 antlerless deer all week long while I hunted all day long. We started doing small 8-10 man still hunts or slow pushes from mid week till Saturday morning up till I had to pack up and head home. Karissa wanted to hunt at the farm near our house last night so I made sure I got home plenty early enough to make that happen! We sat the last hour and a half near a bean stumble field and managed to have a valuable hunting encounter together. I used a camo 4'x10' piece of blind fabric to help conceal us a little along the edge of one of the fingers splitting several bean stubble fields. The wind was out of the NNW which was determined where we were going to set up. Karissa was shouldering my brother's Henry 45/70 lever gun last night as we had it zero'd in at 1" high at 130 yards. So I felt very comfortable anything 175 yards and closer would be game if given a standing still and broadside or near broadside shot. She has shot a 20 ga shotgun before and this gun pretty much has the same recoil I explained to her. Ron has a nice variable 4x12 power Leo scope on this lever has well. I had her practicing holding steady on various objects in different sitting prone positions till she found resting her arms on her knees proved to be rock solid. I also went over how this gun operates which she already knew since she nearly aced the HSC with a 97% anyway, duh. :smiley_clap:
Anyway we were whispering back and forth and she said, Dad, I see something moving in the brush way over there across the field in the other finger. Sure enough this young 7 point enters the field at about 175 yards away and over the next 5 minutes feeds and walks right to us at 18 yards! I had her adjust her scope on his approach and she had the crosshairs on his vitals almost the entire time. He eventually boogered when he got TOO close but what a great encounter we shared. I whispered to her what Brock would say, "We had a great hunt without the mess!" She agreed! Lol
It was also cool having her whisper, "Hey dad, your deer you shot last year was named Henry wasn't it?" I said yup! She said, "you shot him with this gun didn't you?!?" I said yup. She said, "that's pretty cool how you came about that name, HENRY!" I said, yup! It was pretty neat knowing she figured that out all on her own by reading the make and model etched on the barrel....:smiley_coolpeace:
Here are a few pics
Here's the video of the buck encounter
Regardless, I/we were just never in the same area code of a hot doe this season that had a mature buck nearby and that was pretty much just like last year. Oh well, the season is far from over and we'll still be out there whenever our schedules allow us from here on out.
This year was as rough as it was last year for the most part on the props I have for us to hunt. Bottom line, neither Karissa or I have seen a deer we feel like shootin at so that's pretty much the story. We've gotten skunked much more than we have liked this season but when we did see deer they were pretty young or were females. If doe/deer numbers were much higher we'd shoot a doe or two to help manage the herd but numbers where we hunt just doesn't justify it.
Black Friday morning I took Karissa over to our farm to basically show her around and share many past memories Ron and I had on our farm over the years while we sat in a make shift blind from first light to about 10:30. We had a button buck and another small 4-6 point buck come within 40 yards of us that morning. Just nothing happening much that morning but it was great to finally get her on our farm to hunt for the very first time. If our schedules weren't so hectic and different and the farm not 3 plus hours away it'd be a different story.
She had to head back home after my family spent most of the weekend with Mom and Ron and his extended family over Thanksgiving weekend but I stayed back to hunt the entire week of gun season with Ron and our buddies at the Chicken House deer camp. Even though the deer sightings were minimal at best the weather for the most part was ideal so the ODNR can't use that excuse this year! Lol
I saw plenty of hunters out as well but there isn't near the number of deer drives as there used to be either. Like Brock said in another post last week, many more of us just sit in a tree or spot on the ground these days trying to kill a good deer with natural movement but the deer basically just hunker down till last 15 minutes of shooting light and are on their feet from then till first 15-30 min of shooting light then repeat that process each day! I personally saw two young antlered bucks and 8-9 antlerless deer all week long while I hunted all day long. We started doing small 8-10 man still hunts or slow pushes from mid week till Saturday morning up till I had to pack up and head home. Karissa wanted to hunt at the farm near our house last night so I made sure I got home plenty early enough to make that happen! We sat the last hour and a half near a bean stumble field and managed to have a valuable hunting encounter together. I used a camo 4'x10' piece of blind fabric to help conceal us a little along the edge of one of the fingers splitting several bean stubble fields. The wind was out of the NNW which was determined where we were going to set up. Karissa was shouldering my brother's Henry 45/70 lever gun last night as we had it zero'd in at 1" high at 130 yards. So I felt very comfortable anything 175 yards and closer would be game if given a standing still and broadside or near broadside shot. She has shot a 20 ga shotgun before and this gun pretty much has the same recoil I explained to her. Ron has a nice variable 4x12 power Leo scope on this lever has well. I had her practicing holding steady on various objects in different sitting prone positions till she found resting her arms on her knees proved to be rock solid. I also went over how this gun operates which she already knew since she nearly aced the HSC with a 97% anyway, duh. :smiley_clap:
Anyway we were whispering back and forth and she said, Dad, I see something moving in the brush way over there across the field in the other finger. Sure enough this young 7 point enters the field at about 175 yards away and over the next 5 minutes feeds and walks right to us at 18 yards! I had her adjust her scope on his approach and she had the crosshairs on his vitals almost the entire time. He eventually boogered when he got TOO close but what a great encounter we shared. I whispered to her what Brock would say, "We had a great hunt without the mess!" She agreed! Lol
It was also cool having her whisper, "Hey dad, your deer you shot last year was named Henry wasn't it?" I said yup! She said, "you shot him with this gun didn't you?!?" I said yup. She said, "that's pretty cool how you came about that name, HENRY!" I said, yup! It was pretty neat knowing she figured that out all on her own by reading the make and model etched on the barrel....:smiley_coolpeace:
Here are a few pics
Here's the video of the buck encounter
Regardless, I/we were just never in the same area code of a hot doe this season that had a mature buck nearby and that was pretty much just like last year. Oh well, the season is far from over and we'll still be out there whenever our schedules allow us from here on out.
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Good stuff Ric and you are right,still lots of season left to go.
Good luck sure hope K or you or both get a shot at one.
Good luck sure hope K or you or both get a shot at one.
K has been very busy with school work,studying and all that she hasn't been able to shoot her bow for the past month. Out of the blue she looks me up an hour before dark last night as I'm finishing up my leaf blowing and says, "I wanna shoot my bow!"
I shut it off and she had everything ready to start shooting at 20 yards. I told her to just make sure all her anchor points are reached and relax and focus and settle in.
She shot just two arrows at 20
I snapped the above pic then we walked up to 3 yards from target and had her repeat her shot process using her 30 yard pin and stepped back to 5 yards using her 20 yard pin doing the same thing. She buried her arrows into the center of the bullseye each time and I told her, "You're done and all set!" Lol
I can't believe how well her and her bow are shooting with a whisker bisquit! rotflmao
Glad she wanted to check things out but she genuinely loves to shoot her bow! I think this summer we'll be able to shoot even more and hopefully get her up at 50 lbs.
She has cleared it with her professor and school security for her to take her bow to school this week and do a class homework assignment on archery. She said she's actually excited to do this because it's much easier than doing Physics and Organic Chemistry like she has been! :smiley_crocodile:
I shut it off and she had everything ready to start shooting at 20 yards. I told her to just make sure all her anchor points are reached and relax and focus and settle in.
She shot just two arrows at 20
I snapped the above pic then we walked up to 3 yards from target and had her repeat her shot process using her 30 yard pin and stepped back to 5 yards using her 20 yard pin doing the same thing. She buried her arrows into the center of the bullseye each time and I told her, "You're done and all set!" Lol
I can't believe how well her and her bow are shooting with a whisker bisquit! rotflmao
Glad she wanted to check things out but she genuinely loves to shoot her bow! I think this summer we'll be able to shoot even more and hopefully get her up at 50 lbs.
She has cleared it with her professor and school security for her to take her bow to school this week and do a class homework assignment on archery. She said she's actually excited to do this because it's much easier than doing Physics and Organic Chemistry like she has been! :smiley_crocodile:
Just wanted to add this for anyone just getting into archery or those who just didn't know this basic and very helpful information. As we all know, the first thing that must be done before shooting any bow is to have it fitted perfectly to the individual then tuned as perfectly as you can to that individual. Once that is done and you're wanting to sight in your bow there's is a simple way to get started.
To get your 20 and 30 yard pins shooting very close to where they need to be simply start up at 5 yards with your 20 yard pin till you can hit a dime size dot. Then to roughly set your 30 yard pin step forward to 3 yards and repeat the process using your 30 yard pin. I consider this like bore sighting a shotgun or rifle, it will get you very close on paper near the bull before you start dialing it in. Be sure to always be aware of bow cant and proper hand grip when shooting as well.
Hope those that didn't know this finds this helpful.
To get your 20 and 30 yard pins shooting very close to where they need to be simply start up at 5 yards with your 20 yard pin till you can hit a dime size dot. Then to roughly set your 30 yard pin step forward to 3 yards and repeat the process using your 30 yard pin. I consider this like bore sighting a shotgun or rifle, it will get you very close on paper near the bull before you start dialing it in. Be sure to always be aware of bow cant and proper hand grip when shooting as well.
Hope those that didn't know this finds this helpful.
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