# It's almost here.....



## Pure river (Sep 12, 2005)

Well...its almost here...that dredded day when the pumpkin army decends upon the woods!! lol

disclamer: no offense to those who enjoy being a part of the "pumpkin army". It just never been my thing. 


To all the bowhunters out there enjoy the 4 day weekend. I've never been much of a late season bow hunter, so I ususally consider this weekend basically the last 4 days of my season.

It's been a good one!

PR


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## lg_mouth (Jun 7, 2004)

...for the orange army myself. I truly enjoy bowhunting late season, but with the extended gun season and muzzleloader season, they will be pretty jumpy for most of December. I will be setting over whatever food I can find in January though!

Good luck on the last few days of your season PR.

lg_mouth


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## Pure river (Sep 12, 2005)

I really miss being able to hunt late season. I use to really like it. Back in the mid to late 90's (in my previous life..ex wife..ex family haaa) I use to live and work out in the sticks of Coshocton county..Tiverton Center area. I had two acres and between local farmers and my wifes family I had permission on over 1000 acres to hunt.

Now..living in Delaware, it takes me 45 minutes to get to one of my two hunting spots. When i lived 5 minutes from my stand and got home at 3:45 it was awesome to sneak out to the stand in winter. I loved it. It was soo quite your ears would ring. I use to go all the time after work. Just sitting there with a light snow falling was so peaceful. The deer would come out and dig in the fields for a few morsels of food. Sometimes I had a hard time sticking an arrow in one ! haaa. Its like they had MADE IT...and there out there scratching for a few chunks of corn just to survive! haa. 

Now..its just to labor intensive to make the trip just to try to fill a tag. 

Ive bow hunted for so many years I have grown to distain gun season. For me, it just never felt like "hunting". It was just sitting there hoping something runs by me with their tounge hanging out. The deer are not in their natural movments. I just dont like it.

Unfortunatly, its a necseeity for population control. 

I use to really like the late season muzzleloader season, but now its just about as bad as the first day of gun season.

We have been working really hard to set up our one property for a "gun season haven". It has paid off. once the pressure hits they come flocking to the area. No deer drives..no hunting during gun season. We have seen more older age bucks this year bow hunting on the farm than ever. And with the farmer not taking in corn off until after gun season, next year will be even better 

4 day weekend...HERE I COME!!! 

PR


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## FishinDawg (Mar 9, 2005)

I do some shot gun hunting, but mostly on the weekend, I go out once or twice, I do 99% of my hunting with bow, i'll be out Friday afternoon, saturday and maybe Sunday. After that, it will be late December early January until I get back out with the bow. 

too many crazies in the woods,


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## lg_mouth (Jun 7, 2004)

It is just not safe around here. I plan on bringing my daughter up as a bow hunter. She will first use a crossbow and then graduate to a compound if she wants. 

I feel the same about gun hunting as you PR. Not much sport in it if you ask me. 

lg_mouth


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## rossdeerhunter (Nov 6, 2006)

yeah i agree theres a higer level of challange when hunting with a bow vs. a gun. i use to gun hunt at my younger age (ok about 9 years ago) when i wasent quite old enough to hunt with a bow because i lacked the ability and i didnt have much money to buy a cross bow but as i have gotten older i have dropped the whole gun hunting thing. when i was about 15 i got my first compound and fell in love ever since. theres nothing like seeing a deer in its natural habitat grazing for food or seeing a big mature buck rutting after a doe thats something that your average run in the mill hunter will never see because they only take advantage of the gun season. not saying gun hunters are a bad thing but i myself feel alot safer when it comes to bow season than gun season. To me there are too many rambo type hunters out there and for my personal well being i would rather pass on gun season. I say trade the gun in and buy a nice bow trust me the adrenalin rush is like no other.


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## flypilot33 (Feb 9, 2006)

I only hunt with a gun during gun season as defense again idiots. I would rather be out with my bow.


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## chase845 (Nov 2, 2005)

It doesn't seem like hunting to me either. The thing that really drives me nuts is talking to someone about the huge mature buck they have in their truck and finding out they have hunted 3 times in their entire life. I sat in my tree tonight watching piles of does and thought about how hard I've hunted and how some lucky 12 year old is going to blast a 160 inch deer Monday. Yes I'm a jealous person


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## chase845 (Nov 2, 2005)

Any thoughts on having a doe only gun season? That would cure my jealousy...


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## harjo02 (Jul 26, 2006)

How over run will the public areas be like Deer Creek? Are there 5 cars in every turn off? Guys around every turn? Is it even worth/safe to hunt public land? Is it safer/more worthwhile on Weds, Thurs or Fri?

I'm a bowhunter but I want to hunt gun. I'd rather keep my existing hunting areas for bow.

Thoughts?


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## flypilot33 (Feb 9, 2006)

Antlerless only gun hunting........That's only about the greatest idea I have ever heard.


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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

harjo02 said:


> How over run will the public areas be like Deer Creek? Are there 5 cars in every turn off? Guys around every turn? Is it even worth/safe to hunt public land? Is it safer/more worthwhile on Weds, Thurs or Fri?
> 
> I'm a bowhunter but I want to hunt gun. I'd rather keep my existing hunting areas for bow.
> 
> Thoughts?


Depends on where you go. I will be hunting on AEP public land but the land I hunt is not on the map so few know of it and there is tons of deer. Deer creek isn't too bad. I hunted there for a few years and always killed deer on opening morning. The key to Deer Creek is to get in and get settled about 6:00 maybe even 6:30 at the latest. At daylight when the other guys just start leaving the truck, they will drive the deer right into you. If you are interested you can PM me and I'll try to explain how to get to a specific spot where I have killed a deer every time I was there.


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## lg_mouth (Jun 7, 2004)

Although that sounds great, it would have a huge downside as well. There would be tons of buck lusting hunters try their hand at bowhunting and the rut would be a nightmare. It would be like the orange army, only with bows. 

lg_mouth


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## halfrack (Oct 13, 2004)

I would rather just hunt with a bow ,but i enjoy being in the woods with my father as he doesn t bow hunt anymore.Plus we hunt together side bye side wich is nice.But when ever i have a buck tag left during gun season I wait for a big mature buck to shoot.I just don t shoot anything.


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## lg_mouth (Jun 7, 2004)

Me too. My dad is the only reason I gun hunt. When dad passes, I will hang up the slug gun and every Monday after Tgiving will be time for me to remember the great times dad and I have had.

lg_mouth


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## halfrack (Oct 13, 2004)

Lg mouth yes the same here .It will be a sad day when that does come about but till then enjoy every hunt with him like it is the last.Where before we used to hunt out of treestands and in different areas.But now with his eyes not as good as they were becuse of something that 1 in a million people get,wish i could remeber the name of it.But any way i sit with him now so he can hunt ,Oh yes and he is is still pretty good with a gun that has a scope on it.Well have a safe gun week to all that are going. Plus remeber gun week is mostly all luck not skill in my opion,,,,


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## Pure river (Sep 12, 2005)

Funny you mention your fathers eye problem. I just found out several weeks ago that I too have a 1 in a million eye disease in my left eye. And Im only 35!!

Its called PMD..Pelucid Marginal Disorder. Its basically where your corena gets misshapen. My cornea in my left eye has degenerated (if you look at it from the side) looks like a breast. Kind of slooping north on the top half then round on the bottom. It really sucks because I have been left handed all my life and left eye dominate. Now...since my left eye has gotten so bad, I have become right eye dominate. I now have to learn to shoot everything right handed. I've had no problem adapting withe the compound, but wing shooting is a whole different story. Back to being 12 again trying to learn to get my gun up fast is tough!! haa

I and the dr is just hoping it will stay issolated in just the left eye and will my right eye will not degenerate. Its really rare, so there has not been much money spent on reasearch.

My thoughts to your father!!! I know what he is going through. Taking away your ability to do something you love is tough!!! Hopefully I can keep one good eye and keep bowhunting forever. I really dont want to have to go to a crossbow. I will if i have to ,but for now i'm good to go.

It really makes me appreciate every opertunity i am in the woods. Some day I may not be able to!!

PR


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## halfrack (Oct 13, 2004)

Pure River, my dad had strokes in back of his eyes.But he still does all he can when the weather is nice outside and sunny.On the dominate eye thing I was always left eye dominate but never new that till i tested myself one day after reading about it.So now i shoot everything left handed,bows and guns.Man what a difference to in my shooting abilities.But good luck with your eyes....


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## CHOPIQ (Apr 6, 2004)

An easy test to see which eye is dominant: keep both eyes open and point with your index finger to a spot on the wall. Close one eye, open it and then close the other eye. On one of the eyes you'll see your finger looks like its not in line with the spot. The eye where your finger looks like its pointing at the spot is your dominant eye. Try it you'll see what i mean.


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

funny - when I started shooting as a kid I shot lefty because my left eye is dominant and it felt right. My father quickly turned me around into shooting everything right handed using my right eye (maybe this wasn't the best thing to do?). By age 6 I was shooting right handed without thinking about it.

It made me think about it when halfrack said his shooting improved dramatically - I wonder if at this point in my life my shooting would improve?
Or since I have been shooting this way for so many years that it wouldn't matter?

I'm just curious - I consider myself much better than average shooting right handed and don't feel any change necessary as I don't plan on any competition shooting (just fun and hunting for me). But, I do belong to a gun club and we shoot every Thursday night and if I could make a big improvement it would be worth trying for "bragging rights". There are a couple professionals in the club (one ex-Olympic Pistol Team member) and some other exceptional shots, so I will never be the best, but it would be nice if I could improve.

Any thoughts? 

Sorry for the hi-jack PR!


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## Pure river (Sep 12, 2005)

I wouldnt think in your case the "improvement" woudl be worth the time to get throught he learning curve. 

Its funny, I went pheasant hunting on nov 3rd and still shot left handed with right eye dominate and still got two of the 3 birds i shot at. I would like to get out next summer and work on the righty with some clays to see if it helps. For me and wing shooting I think i have just done it for some many years that its not really a sight issue. I just swing with the bird and shoot.

As for pistols I have adjusted to canting my head and using my right eye now, but still holding the pistol with my left hand. I dont shoot pistols much, but it has seemed to improve my shooting..proabaly more so because im pretty much blind out of my left eye and it cant help but make it better to aim out of the eye i can see out of !! haaaaaaaaaa

good luck

PR


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## reel (Dec 15, 2004)

I like the idea but !
Antlerless only would probably decrease the overall $$'s for permit fees.
And if someone makes a mistake they will not report the kill.
...


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