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What would you have done different?

beararchery

beararchery

Member
Im pretty sure there was a thread similiar to this last year, but with both season Just about over, What would You have done different?
 
I have had a good season, so nothing? Ha, no I think the only thing I wouldnt have done is wasted my time filming for an Outdoor Company. Turns out I learned things that I do not agree with. It just was an eye opener I am glad I did, but what a pain. After I shot my deer, my "teammate" got all mad and went MIA after he has some of my gear...I like being able to hunt, just to hunt, so much nicer
 
flugge said:
I have had a good season, so nothing? Ha, no I think the only thing I wouldnt have done is wasted my time filming for an Outdoor Company. Turns out I learned things that I do not agree with. It just was an eye opener I am glad I did, but what a pain. After I shot my deer, my "teammate" got all mad and went MIA after he has some of my gear...I like being able to hunt, just to hunt, so much nicer
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And I've never gone through the experience to realize that, just had a hunch it would not be to my liking.

I'm pretty happy with my season. I should have taken off a week spanning the Oct/Nov change over to hunt (according to trail cams :confused:), but after spending a couple weeks out west and the way things are at work, just couldn't justify it. I settled for a half day here, a three day weekend there.

Still might get out for a late season bow hunt, but it will be more about the prospect of hunting than actually thinking I will be able to tag a decent buck.
 
I had a successful season, shot my biggest deer to date, but there's things I'd change.

1. A few of my stands need moved to the northern part of a creek bed. Countless hours in those stands, with no results.

2. Put more time in before the season. Scouting, running cameras, etc.

I learned a lot this year, I passed on the same buck I shot on 11/3 he came into 20 yards but would not give me a shot...stood straight on. Harvested him on 11/18 broadside at 22 yards.

Going to buy a trail camera, and move some stands for next year ;)
 
One thing I learned is that I still hate tagging out in October.

* I learned this years ago but was reminded of it this year. If you have decided you are going to kill a deer, kill him the first opportunity you get. Dont wait for a better shot when you know you can get it done where hes at.
 
I had a pretty good season all things considered. I was actually pondering this while sitting in a stand this evening.

I would like to next year:

1) hang a couple sets for morning hunts. I hunt public land mostly so I pack in and out. I dont hunt a lot of mornings because its not easy hanging a stand in the complete darkness in the areas I hunt

2) spend more time scouting early...meaning hanging a trail camera mostly.

3) take off some time in Nov to hunt...I had already filled my statewide tag with a nice buck in Oct, but would have been nice to try to fill my antlerless tags
 
I wouldn't of done this on the first morning of my rut vacation.
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I am sure you can figure out what happened.
982-tru.jpg
 
I don't think I would change a whole lot this year. I had a pretty great year all things considered. Deer movement was up from last year and I took some risks this year that really paid off.
 
I don't think I would change much from this year. It was a good year and the time in the stand was very enjoyable. Next year I will do more early season scouting (besides trail cams) and will try some new pieces of property more.
 
I would have done more rain dances. One of the properties I hunt relies heavily on having a good food supply. My plots didn't come up hardly at all. Just enough to taunt me into sitting over them. Deer sightings were slim on this otherwise good ground.
 
1. Put up another treestand

2. should of hunted some different ground - I've seen more deer ,in two days, at this new spot than I have seen this whole entire season combined.
 
I've found this archery season to be the most challenging I've gone through. Its seems like everything I did, my target bucks were two steps ahead of me or the wind wasn't right for a stand. Did I have shot opporutnities, yes. But, they weren't good shot opportunities. Except for one, and I messed up on that one. What do I take out of this season? I passed alot of really nice up and comers. I was hunting a new property for the most part, and learned more about how the deer travel this property, so definitely some stand tweaking next year. Where I have them is good, but they could be better. This is the first year I've felt rushed while hunting. Rushed at work, rushed at home, and rushed at hunting, I never felt like I could completely relax while in the stand. I think this greatly affected my hunts. This was the first year I couldn't take a week off during the rut and just hunt ,also due to work obligations. So definitely next year going to take more time for myself. Overall, it was a good season. The time I spent on stand was enjoyable and it was one of the best ruts I've seen for a couple years. I just couldn't close the deal for the first time since I've started bowhunting. I've come to grips with that, and will move on to preparing for next year.
 
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