CamoGuy

I was thinking the same thing. The Ameristep 2 man ladderstand that I have for me and my son to share is only 65 pounds. I was looking at some single person ladders for him to use when we split up and the Ameristep 16 foot Recon was only like 48 pounds. With that said, I hate carrying anything heavy, so I use super lightweight hanging stands.

Heck we are practically neighbors!

Not much in the way of trees. I thought the same thing at first, but it is a house and yard with some overgrown field and a smattering of trees along the back edge of the property.

Wetzel county

I will try to keep this from being a long read. My wife got a new job that required we move 4 hours from our hometown area. Needless to say, after growing up hunting there my entire life, along with leaving my job and a coaching position for a sport that I love, I was feeling torn about it. When we got here we scrambled to find a house to rent because of the short notice. Thanks to some connections my wife has at her new job we were put in touch with a local guy who owns several houses in the area and we ended up renting a nice house from him. During the process of him showing us the house he mentioned that he owns 4 farms...yeah, my interest went WAY up. Once we settled on renting the house I breached the subject of hunting on his farms and he said I could have permission. One farm is 200 acres, one is 80, one is 45 and one is a small 16 acre homestead right on the edge of town that I doubt I will hunt. Fast-forward to this weekend. My son has made a new friend and I took him over to the other kids house for them to hang out. In meeting and talking to the dad we discovered we have a mutual love of hunting (although he is not a bowhunter). He offered to take me to some of his favorite spots which I accepted. I then mentioned that my landlord gave me permission to hunt on his farms and the dad asked who my landlord is. When I said my landlord's name his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He couldn't believe I had permission to hunt those farms. He then proceeded to tell me that my landlord has never let anyone hunt his farms AND the neighboring two farmers are trophy hunters that won't shoot anything under 20 inches wide and both of them are known in the area for killing a huge buck every year. He goes on to tell me the place is also overrun with turkeys (added bonus!). For point of reference, I am located in the northwest part of WV right along the Ohio River (I can literally look out my back window and see the river) so there is some solid genetics around here. So it seems I may have unknowingly gotten myself an exclusive ticket to hunt the deer and turkey honeyhole of the area. I am so excited it isn't even funny LOL

Been shooting with my Jennings Buckmaster since I bought it the first year they came out (99?). It has served me well, but I have given some serious thought to the new Bowtech RPM 360. I just have to figure out how to drop $1000+ on a bow and convince the wife it was a necessity LOL. In her defense, WV just legalized crossbow hunting and she mentioned buying me a $600 crossbow that I was checking out in Cabela's as a Christmas gift, so maybe I can use the old Buckmaster for another year or two

Thanks for the input. I ended up buying the reds because they only had the 250s in the hunter. I shoot 72# with a 28 inch draw so I needed the 350s. Why the Lumenocks instead of CX?

Odd. Now it is back for me too. The other day there was a pale red bar where the thread had been located on the forum with a statement that it had been deleted by a forum admin. Go figure. Thanks for the response everyone.

I see my thread asking for advice on the differences between Maxima Red and Blue has been deleted. Any reason why? Did I break some rule asking for fellow bowhunter's advice on the differences or best choice? Maybe I should ask this in the Lounge? I don't even see who is admin here anymore...

I did a Google search for "Alpine Avalanche bow specs" and came up with a few pretty good sources of info. Here is a page on Sportsman's Guide where they used to have it available for sale. It list all of the specs for the bow. http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/alpine-archery-right-hand-avalanche-match-grade-25-29-1-cam-mossy-oak-break-up?a=254153 Bowhunter.com mentions the Avalanche in a review of 2007 bows, so I am guessing maybe it was a fairly new bow at the time? http://www.bowhunter.com/feature_articles/feature_articles_bh0707_bows/ About halfway down this page there is a short review of the Avalanche http://www.womenhunters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=87%3Abow-reviews&layout=blog&Itemid=158&limitstart=30 Hope some of this helps.

I appreciate the input. I found "the ultimate archer" on YouTube but didn't find any reviews by him of CE arrows. With that said, switching brands isn't really something I am interested in. CE has served me well for the better part of 10 years now with no problems. I am sure I can find bad reviews of virtually every arrow brand out there if I take the time to look. Out of curiosity, what brand do you use?

I have been using Carbon Express brand arrows for years and love them. I have decided to upgrade to the Maxima series, but am unsure what if any difference it makes between the Red, Blue and Hunter versions. I was leaning towards the Blue, then I saw some "pros" on the Outdoor Channel using Red, then I got to looking and see they have a Hunter...now I see a Blu RZ that they are saying gives the tightest groups of any arrow on the market...so does it really matter? When I go to the Carbon Express website and click on the "Hunting Arrows" link they list all of these versions as hunting arrow options. So is it simply a preference between wanting red, blue, hunter or RZ? Anybody have any input regarding these? Also, I was going to use lighted nocks, but I see Carbon Express is adding in their Launchpad Precision nock on the Maxima. Keep the Launchpad nocks or pull them and install lighted nocks? I am not as young as I used to be and following an arrows flight path with my eyes isn't as easy as it once was. Having a lighted nock sure would help, but I don't want to do anything that would negate the whole point of upgrading to the Maxima line. Thanks in advance.

Feeling spring gobbler fever a bit. Was browsing the turkey calls at Dicks and saw the Knight and Hale White Liar pot call clearance out for $10. Any idea why? I grabbed one because the price was to cheap to turn down and I love pot style calls and it is supposedly waterproof. Took it home, sanded it up and started working it. I see no issues with it. Anybody have any idea why these would be clearance out?

It is my experience that deer avoid cows. I don't know why but you rarely see deer and cattle in the same field. Knowing this, if I am hunting a field with cows that tend to spend their evenings on the east end of the field then I will hunt the west end of the field in the evenings.

Had another lame day. There is a tree farm within about 1/4 mile of my favorite stand and I think that they have gotten damage permits and started slaughtering every deer they see. I have hunted there 3 mornings and the closest I got to seeing a deer was hearing one snort at me just before daylight as I walked in Saturday. Have seen a few tracks but nothing major. Not even seeing droppings. No scrapes. I have hunted this same area every since I was a teen...guess it is time to look for a new hunting area.

I would be there a little earlier the next day that you hunt, find a good place to sit and see what happens. I wouldn't go to all the trouble of moving a stand or anything because it may just be a situation where they got bumped and changed their pattern for one day.

That is exactly my combo.

A couple of thoughts... 1. That is just cool. Gotta be so exciting to do that. 2. I had no idea that antelope does were so small, or is that just the angle of the pic? 3. I would be really scared to be out crawling around on my hands and knees in that outfit for fear that a male may either see me as a love interest or wanna kick my butt and charge me LOL

Looks like I am the only one...I use a Whisker Biscuit. Never makes noise from the arrow moving around, no matter what angle I tip or lean my bow my arrow never falls off, easy to nock and mount an arrow before it gets daylight, doesn't impede the flight of my arrow, if I change diameter of arrows I don't have to adjust it...I wouldn't use anything else.

Nope, I wouldn't shoot at them, I would yell at them. A long time ago I learned that a running deer will often stop and look back out of curiosity if you whistle or yell at them. I can't whistle to save my life, so I would be yelling like a dang fool at them while getting my gun up and ready for a possible split-second shot.

Like was already said, find food and you find does. Usually setting up between bedding and feeding areas is a sure bet for does.

Southeastern WV was a deadzone. I saw 3 does cross the road on my drive in and that was the highlight of the morning. It rained a lot Friday so Saturday morning was heavy fog and windless. Thanks to the fog I didn't even see the first rays of the sun until around 8:30AM. Nothing was moving. Didn't even see any squirrels until around 9:00. Family obligations kept me from going back out Saturday evening, so the net result on opening day for me was sitting in the foggy woods listening to water drip from the leaves.

I have never had that problem with my Muzzy's. In all seriousness, I don't see what the big deal is about open-on-impact broadheads. I hear the "flies like a field point" argument a lot, but quite frankly I never have issues with my fixed blade broadheads flying off to parts unknown. At 25 yards I can maintain a group that is tight enough that I occasionally damage an arrow with another arrow. I don't see how mechanicals could make that much more of a difference that I would be willing to risk losing a deer. By the way, glad you found her. Nothing is more distressing than losing a wounded deer or thinking that you have lost one.

Prior to the rut I either use no scent or just plain doe pee although it is getting harder and harder to find plain non-estrous doe pee. It works great in an area of high traffic because it causes interest and will get the deer to slow down and smell around. During the season I use a drag rag covered with either Code Blue or James Valley Scents Full Draw (also hard to find). I just bought a bottle of Whitetail Maniac 155 that I am looking forward to trying but have never heard any reviews for or against it and mostly bought it because I have watched so many videos of roger Raglin drawing in deer after deer with it.