Ghilliesuit22

The Obama Deception

I had to scrape my windshield today before work and all I could think about was that I should be hunting.

I think redneck was saying that he believes most of the scent comes from your mouth (respiration) and hence why he does not worry about wearing scent gear. I am almost positive that deer smell your breath before anything else, as you breath most likely carries through the breeze. JMO

This may sound weird but I am going to say it anyway. I am a mouth breather and I have to consciously choose to breathe through my noise. In years past I have noticed that when I accidentally switch to breathing out of my mouth, it almost immediately alerts deer. During a hunt a couple years ago, I hadn’t seeing anything all morning and I got sick of breathing through my noise so I started breathing through my mouth. All I could hear from that point on was deer snorting and running a way. I wasn’t aware of their presence. I started breathing through my noise again, and within 10 minutes the deer came in. I think breathing from the mouth puts a whole lot more human scent in the air. I know there are gums and Dead Down Wind mouth spray. I just breathe through my noise and I will eat apples throughout the day. Has anyone else noticed this and do you have any other remedies for the issue?

The weekend before last I spent most of Sunday setting up my stand in a red pine (cutting down branches, making shooting lanes, etc). This is the first time I put my stand up in a pine before (its looks awesome, very well hidden). I faced it a little bit diagnol of this trail of which I thought to be very well traveled. I can barely see behind me through the thick pine branches and I definitely would not be able to make a shot. I went back there this weekend to make some mock scrapes when I started hearing movement coming towards my way. So I quietly climbed up my stand because I was anxious to see what was coming. Not sure if this was the best thing to do being that it was the middle of the day. About ten minutes later, nothing coming down my trail but I still hear movement. I look to the back of me through this little hole through the pine branches and sure enough I start seeing brown traveling down a different trail that is almost parallel to mine. I realize that this was just one instance, but I totally missed that trail the week prior becuase the grass is so high. I didn't see it until they were actually traveling through it. I know it is early but I am starting to think I made the wrong choice by about 40 yards haha. I really don't want to move my stand and disturb the area again a week and a half before the season starts. I am sure some of you have been in this situation before, thought you might share what you did.

So that is where you spend your bow season? I take it you buy non-resident tags or how does that work?

Wow thats kind of late. I just found out that there is no hunting allowed on Sundays...

haha, isn't your woman still up there? I am not going to waste your time right now. Thanks for all the replies, doesn't sound too bad. The reason I want to do it myself is because I am sure there are going to be a lot more encounters in the future. Thanks again.

Thanks...Sounds like the same as Michigan's. I saw a lot of deer down there but they did seem a lot smaller than Michigans body wise. What is the average healthy buck/doe weight? Thanks

My folks just moved to Summers County, West Virginia which is in the southern part of the state. I was just curious when is the rut season down there? Is it in late October? Early November? Dates would kind of be nice. Thanks

Nice Niner, must still be pretty warm down there. Did you have track it by yourself?

Well bow season is right around the corner but I just bought a new scope for my shotty. I would like to get it sighted in before bow season starts. This is my first time putting a scope on myself. I don't have any fancy bore sighters or anything like that. I was curious what do I need to know to get the reticle perfectly straight? Or do you guys basically just do best guess? Any tips on sighting in a new scope would be appreciated as well. I know this probably belongs under Shotgun and Accessories but I figured it applied here because I will be using it for Deer Hunting and it will get more of an audience. Oh by the way I bought a Bushnell Banner Dusk & Dawn Shotgun Scope. The shotgun is an 870 12 gauge with rifled deer barrel. I know its not necessary but background never hurts. Thanks Y'all

HAHA! 1. The guy answering questions was not doing enough to defend hunting...jmo. 2. I think what I am saying is that I pretty much think the guy behind the wall (guy asking questions) is a tool. His comments at work generally do not represent good character. I am sorry, I got way off on a tangent, I was trying to explain my bad attitude towards unethical people. And I really don't have enough background info on the guy behind the wall to prove that he would be an unethical hunter, I was judging by his everyday attitude and regular discussions at work. My main point in the beginning was that don't you hate to see people who you think are tools to belong to something that you are passionate about. I am sorry for not providing adequate information in the beginning.

haha this made me laugh, my friend MichiganHunter reminded me about getting back on here.

I understand where some of you are coming from with the idea that he may just need exposure to the woods. I failed to include the fact that the guy he was speaking to (who supposedly bow hunts) was not actively denying or educating the individual. I should have included more of the story. It also seemed as though the individual had previously hunted deer during rifle season and his comments just rubbed me the wrong way. I will totally agree that we need to get more people into hunting especially youngings as we do not want to lose support in the future for our beloved way of life. I just dislike seeing people in the woods who do not appreciate it. I may just have a bad attitude because of what I have been exposed to. I used to work for a guy who knew I was a hunter. He told me that he bow hunts every year and that he always gets a buck, sometimes two. He would tell me stories of different bucks that he harvested and I was actually interested. This guy would constantly put down the idea that bow hunting took any more effort than harvesting with a rifle. I never really understood it. When asking him, he would just say it comes easy to him. I found out later that he had previously had a shoulder injury for like a year, and his doctor wrote him a note of disability so that he could hunt with a crossbow. I am not downing crossbows here but just listen to the story. He no longer has the injury and flaunts the fact that he still has them fooled because he can bow hunt with his crossbow. He also later revealed his secret of getting a buck every year. He lives about 5 country miles from a carrot farm, so he would get a dump truck load of carrots and dump them in the corner of his property (which is about 4 acres). He has a stand that he leaves there every year about 15 feet from the carrots. On opening day, he would go sit up in his stand for about 2 hours before dusk, and when a buck came to the pile he would turn on his little laser and pull the trigger. This is the same guy that doesn't see any reason to test any of his equipment before the start of the season. The thing that bothers me the most is that I know there is a lot of other honest hunters in the area who haven't seen a buck for years (no it is not me haha). He had no pride or ambition to do it the right way. He also had two boys of which were interested in hunting… Back to the original story, I was quick to judge as I do not even know the guy. It may also be the fact that I hear this dude talk on the other side of the wall all the time, and his comments are generally representative of a tool. After much rambling, I will say that just because someone has ignorant comments towards hunting or the outdoors does not rule out the possibility of changing their perspective. It may be worth educating the individual and God knows we do need more people educated about hunting, the outdoors, and firearms. However there are many out there that I just hate to see hunting since they are a poor representation of it. This could in fact negatively affect others idea of what hunting is and what kind of people participate in it which could inevitably steer good people away from it. A few years ago there were dove hunting ads on TV where two guys with beers shot doves off power lines and then left their empty cans behind. I can’t tell you how many people I heard reference that ad when speaking about passing the dove hunting bill in our state. Anyways I hope I didn't put anyone to sleep.

Use to hunt a lot of birds on public land in Michigan. I got my first archery kill on paper mill owned land which is open to the public. I usually try and hunt private as much as possible. I also don't like being on state land during rifle season. I agree completely with what Storiale said. I like the fact that on private land you can be at ease knowing that it is unlikely for someone to walk across your hunting ground. There was a lot of open state land in the UP of Michigan where I went to school, and it was awesome scouting for good spots. I just hated how far you initially had to drive to get back there.

My sister used to work for a vet and while there she adopted a rescue pit from Detroit. It was going to be a fighting dog. Anyways I was a little nervous with the background of the pup and the breed. His name is Broady and he has a great sense of humor and will love on anyone that comes to the door. He is very well behaved and just a great family dog. His jaw and teeth do look fierce and they were breed for chomping but any dog can tear flesh. Cool color by the way I like it.

I like my rifled 12 gauge barrel. I have used iron sites on my shotgun since I was 15. I used copper solids with the barrel from the very beginning. A few years ago a friend mentioned to me that since I don't have a scope there is really no point to using the sabots because you will never utilize their potential. He said just buy some Remington sluggers and I bet you won't notice the difference except in your pocketbook and on your shoulder. Well I used them for a couple years and I never felt great about shooting rifled slugs through my rifled barrel but I had a pretty close group at 50 yards on paper. Last year I missed a pretty decent buck with it and my hunting buddy got fed up and he put his old shotgun scope on my shotgun as he had been asking me to buy a scope for years. We see deer at 80-150 yards all the time but I never felt comfortable making that shot with iron sights. He even bought the mount and rings. I guess I was just stubborn but he is a great friend. Anyways we could not get that thing to pattern with the remington sluggers, federal sabots, hornady sabots. We thought the reticle in the scope was bad, so I bought a new scope this year (it is on its way). Now I am starting to think my barrel just didn't like the slugs. Long story short, I was always happy with the performance of the copper solids, touching groups always even with iron sights. So I think they are worth the mula. Time will tell when I test out my new scope. You get what you pay for and as much as it hurts to pay around 3 bucks a round, I like the piece of mind. Oh and back to the original subject, I think I am just going to pass on the managed recoil slugs. Copper solids are meant for accuracy at long distances so it doesn't make sense to lessen the velocity.

Haha you have me curious now, grape kool aid dry, liquid, with or without sugar haha?

This is the first year that I have decided to make some Mock Scrapes as pretty much all other attractants have become illegal in Michigan. I think I have it down pretty well as what to do however choosing what scent to put on the scrape is kind of daunting. I have read a lot about using drippers and they all seem fairly similar however there are so many scents out there. I was reading whitcombs site and they were suggesting that most bottled scents from the store are old and have broken down to ammonia. They were also saying it is really only effective if you buy fresh scent. Some suggest buck urine, some suggest doe estrus, some suggest buck urine and doe estrus and others suggest that you just pee on it yourself haha. I am also looking for the most cost effective approach as I don't want to buy into all the gimmicks, I just want it to work. I have heard that visually a scrape with a licking branch is enough to get bucks to travel there and turn it into an active scrape. I was just wondering what you all think. If this has been covered to death I apologize.

Haha, I set up my stand on Sunday and ever since it is all I can think about. I find myself daydreaming at work thinking about where I am going to put mock scrapes and stuff. Anywho I hope we get a frost before the 1st, the mosquitoes are horrible here since our flood.

Nice 8, I could be wrong but it looks like the first pic that buckee lightened up has another buck grazing in front of him but maybe I am mistaking. It is hard to tell.

So all around my office there are cubicle-like walls. I can only see a handful of people from my desk however I can hear many more. I heard some guy talking to someone else who happened to bow hunt. He was saying that he might be interested but was asking all kinds of questions in this whinny voice such as: "Is it hard" "Isn't it like shooting a gun now a days" "Does it cost a lot" "How much time do you have to spend out there" I mean I know there are a lot of idiots that end up in the woods but I would like to think the majority of bow hunters can't wait to get out and hunt. I would like to think that they look forward to the effort that comes with bow hunting or any other kind of hunting for that matter and that most of them have a deep passion for it. It just ticks me off when I hear people like the guy above belittle hunting. I mean maybe I am being over sensitive here but I would rather keep people like that out of woods. And just to give you a little background I drive an hour to work from the country to city so that I can work. Most of the people I work with are straight city-folk.

Funny story Funny story about water softener salt. Back in the day we were doing some home improvement type stuff so we rented a dumpster. My step-dad had my friend and I carry the old water softener (still filled with salt and water) out to the dumpster. Well our house sat up on a hill, so it was easy getting the softener down to the dumpster. We just rolled it. However the dumpster sat about 2 feet off of the ground. I'll be honest here at age 15 we could not lift the sucker into the dumpster. Logic sat in, and I thought hey why not just dump all the salt out, it will be a lot lighter. That did the trick although I left about 200+ lbs of water softener salt sitting on our grass. Well lets just say 8 years later, the grass still does not grow there and the deer are still hitting it. Not to mention there is about a 2-3 foot deep hole from them digging. Great little place to watch the deer near our house. I was always worried if the salt contained harmful chemicals that may not be right for deer. Thanks for the posts.

Cut up my first deer last year, ended up cutting two. Well I will say that the first one will probably be daunting and not too mention unless you have butchered before, your cuts are not going to be perfect. I had shot the deer first day of bow season and it ended up being rather warm (in the 70's). My first priority was to get the meat off the bone. I will tell you that if you are planning on grinding, don't skimp. We used a grinder that was around $100 and we suffered. The grinder got clogged with fat even with our best attempts to remove all the fat. Also we had to cut small pieces and wait for the grinder to take it all in. I would say the grinder probably held us up and extra 4 hours. Sharp knives are important as well. We had sharpeners by our side with a bucket of hot water to rinse off the fat that eventually sticks to the side of the knife. We used a saws all to cut through the bones that we needed to. No real need for a bone saw, but you may want to use a blade that you really don't care about. Also I don't know if this is standard practice, but obviously we try and keep all the hair off the meat...unfortunately some sticks, meat is sticky when warm. A propane torch is nice to have to burn off the hair. This may be straight up hick I don't know but it got the job done. Oh and the more people to help you cut it up the better. Good luck. Second deer went a lot faster.