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What have I done?

Creamer said:
I sat the blind on Sunday evening, looking for revenge with the same head I choked with the week before. Revenge will have to wait.

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It was fun watching these guys at extremely close range.

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I had never turkey hunted that property before, but I think this coming spring I might have to give it a shot.
Click to expand...
Why wait? Get a fall tag 😬
 
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How freakin close can you get? As close as I was on Friday afternoon. I put a plan into motion to go after the bucks I found on public. It's a small bench leading out of some nasty thick cover I think they are bedding in. I set up as close as I felt I could get away with, and an hour before dark it looked like I was going to stick a solid 8-pointer. He appeared from the brush behind a forkhorn and they were coming my way. The forkhorn followed the trail and walked right through my shooting lane at 10-12 yards. The 8 hung in the brush at maybe 20-22 yards, never offering me a clean shot. He fed in little circles on acorns and browse. The fork finally got downwind of me and got some nostrils of smoke. He checked the wind constantly, never blew, but he seemed to get more nervous when he hit where I walked in and sniffed the ground, also. He flicked his tail once and turned back and walked slowly back to the 8, still behind some brush for me. He walked by and the 8 followed him. So. Freaking. Close. I think this weekend, with cooler temps, I'm going back in there.

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Hunting private ground covered in food plots is slightly different.

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I saw several deer but only a small 4-pointer was in range. Again. Grow up, young lad.

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Saturday was a washout, so Sunday was my last chance to close out October with a hunt. I returned to the pinch where I nearly killed the 8-pointer. Everything seemed perfect. The ground was damp from the rain so my entrance was dead silent. The wind was perfect. My entrance was clean, I didn't bust any deer out that I could tell. Aaaaand I didn't see a damn thing.

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Still shooting every day, and I've been shooting really well for the last 2 weeks or so. I've added sort of a grip sear to my bow, a little hard to explain but actually very simple in reality. I'll snap some pics of it later to better explain. Since I started using it, my groups have shrunk a little and stayed more consistent.

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This is what I referenced as a sort of-but not really grip sear "system." My pinkie finger tip was naturally sitting on the edge of the riser at full draw. I used a square of adhesive backed velcro in that spot, the hooks side (not the furry piece).

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So before I draw, I engage my finger nail on my pinkie into the hooks on the velcro. It catches the nail pretty well.

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I anchor, then put pressure on my pinkie, effectively making it pop through the hooks on the velcro (like a grip sear), then release the arrow.

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If nothing else, it's very effective at forcing me to slow myself down, which is my biggest issue. When I start shooting fast is when I get more erratic and have a few clunkers. The velcro/pinkie nail trick sort of forces me to deliberately anchor, engage the velcro, and release. For me, it's working.

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Here's the ShotIQ video on grip sears as they do them.

 
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These close calls will be the end of me. I hiked in nearly 1.5 miles (according to Google Earth) to hunt a secluded public ridge Friday morning. Setup was blind, never been in there before, I was going based off map research and using my HuntStand app to navigate. I set up pre-dawn in a saddle (in my Tree Saddle, hunting a saddle). As soon as the sun came up, I saw a bench below me out of range connecting the two points below me. My immediate thought, "Well I'll see deer down there." I liked my setup enough I didn't want to move, though. I saw nothing until nearly 9:30AM, when a good 8-pointer came through the saddle across from me and hit that bench. He skirted beside me at about 40 yards. When he stopped (it was windy as hell, noisy), I gave a loud grunt and he looked my way. Then he thrashed a tree. Then another one. I thought he's coming, but he turned and walked around the knob out of sight. A few minutes later, he came back chasing a pair of does, but again he never came closer than 40. On my way out, I checked out the bench where he was and it was shredded with sign. Rubs everywhere. This was one I watched him make.

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I marked a tree on that bench on my app and thought I'll come back in the morning tomorrow and kill him if he does it again. I had a good entry that morning, got right to my tree, he didn't show. I saw the same pair of does (probably) but none of them came into range.

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I think I'll get a shot at a buck in this spot. It sets up beautifully. A bench connecting two brushy points, with the opposite side of the ridge being very open and the hollow below/behind me being extremely steep. Literally 20+ rubs on saplings in that spot as well as a couple of scrapes. It's a great travel corridor that pinches down narrow in the middle. The tree has great cover. I'm probably going back next weekend.
 
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I picked up a pack of Trad Vanes to try. The rumors are true. They fly great, and they are kinda tricky to fletch. I'm going to have to try a different adhesive next time. I just did two arrows with them. They fly great off the shelf and shoot right with feathers.

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I was in SC for nearly a week, no shooting (obviously). Who knew there were deer within site of the Atlantic at Myrtle Beach?

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First four arrows after a week off, I was pretty happy.

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Private land doe...just a reminder. I know you’ve done a ton of public land hunting this year. Hate to see you make a mistake.

(Or did they lift that rule? I honestly haven’t looked because I haven’t touched public land.)
 
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