abrown

I know why they establish the accuracy testing, I was just giving you a hard time. We didn't do cross section aging in the class, it was based off of tooth wear. In my wildlife management class my professor commented that our wildlife dep, and school sent the teeth off to a lab, like I said earlier. That is why we where doing it off of tooth wear. I also find it funny that EVERYONE seems to know how to age deer on the hoof, or have a good estimate. I'm not saying people don't know what their saying, but if that was the case, then EVERYONE would be a wildlife biologist, and there would be NO use for people who study and go to school for it.

That's pretty funny that you say that, they are 100% on KNOWN aged deer, how about deer that's not known? Doesn't do any good to age deer you already know the age to! The reason I say this is, because while in school, I took a tooth aging class, and ended up aging ALOT of deer that came through the check station I was at. I was told, they sent two teeth off the same deer to the lab, but labeled them different to have them aged, came back different. So, that's how much I put into that.

Leaving CO with tag soup, had a good bull come in, but couldn't get a shot. I have a +140 class buck on trail cam in Kansas, so I'm drooling to get back and nail him! I haven't checked my trail cam pics in OK.

2003 Hoyt HavocTec, 2010 Hoyt Maxxis 35, and Redwing Hunter recurve. Love the parrell limbs though!!

No clue about mule deer, but I'm trying to get the hang of elk. From everything I've heard, and what I'm using, and what I've heard works the best is locating elk with a bugle then closing the distance and using a simple cow call to pull them in. That being said, it's alot like turkey hunting, big gobblers on public land is like big bulls, except elk use the wind. That's about all I can say, I'm pretty addicted to it, been two years, and heading back for a 3rd.

Na, that's ok with me, on another note! Let me get this right, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin and Canada is our locations? LOL, I don't know about the other teams, but those areas alone probably make up the majority of big buck territories!

What do you shoot? I have a 270, Remington LH with a Hart match grade barrel. I love the gun, but it seems like my wife's 25-06 with a 117 gr, does more to the deer than my 270. I hand load 140 Hornaday for my 270.

Buck Nasties, LOL, I'm heading to Colorado next week for elk. I deer hunt in south central Kansas and north central Oklahoma.

Checking in too. That's a stud, but I wouldn't expect anything less coming from Iowa! I still have to check my trail cams.

Around 55, cow elk.

I'll be up there the 10h thru 23.

There are two things you can do, 1. Sight your bow in a little low to allow for angle, or 2. Sight your bow in from the roof. I don't think there's a need to go spend some serious $$$ unless your hunting the mountains or have a stand out of a cotton wood, or you have the money to blow. I worry more about the size of the rangefinders myself, more compact and easier to tote the better. I use the Redfield Raider, AWESOME range finder.

A heck of a deer no matter what he scores, good luck, and like the other guys said, would like to see a morning or evening after pic!

Sounds like you did everything possible to recover it, that's all that can be asked. As far as feeling bad, I made a less than perfect shot on buck and doe the same evening, the doe didn't act hit, so I re-ranged the spot she was at, shot 10 yrds too shot, and with aluminums it makes a big difference, 30 vs. 40. When I shot the buck, same spot, he acted hit, but didn't find him until two weeks later, and you can bet I was sick to my stomach, I did however cash a tag in on him to keep his head gear, the least I could do. I do get sick and upset if I make a less than perfect shot, more than if I get into a fight with my wife! LOL So, not getting upset, I don't understand, the shot I do. As far as the earlier posts go, people need the fear of God put back in them, Doesn't it say somewhere, "The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom!"?

I agree to a point, a heavier arrow is good, but at what point do you sacrifice speed for weight? You can easlily solve the problem, take a second or two more and make a good shot! I shot a cow elk at 55+ yards two years ago, my carbon was 8.2 gr/in w/fixed blade, complete pass through! I have shot more deer quartering to than away, I like to know I'm pile driving that arrow into the chest, making sure I don't skip it off the shoulder blade though!

If you REALLY wanted to get technical, you'd find out which side of the arrow is spined and fletch the arrow accordingly. I just fletch them, shoot, and if one arrow shoots different, I compare it to one that flys true, and 90% of the time you can fix it! I just practiced my 50 yrd pin yesterday, no problem in taking a shot that far at all!

abrown 32 Sept 17-Dec 31 KS Oct 1 - Jan 15 OK

Another thing is you'll have to find if you prefer to shoot with one eye or both eyes open. There's postives for both. The common way is to focus on your pins and not the target, or atleast that is what I was taught. I don't do it though, I focus on my target, and leave both eyes open. Aim small miss small! You'll just have to find out what works best for you.

That's why you do number your arrows, so you can correct the ones that don't fly correctly.

Hunt hard and scent free! LOL I'd try hunting moon phases, it might increase your chances if he's nocturnal.

I still number them! The main reason is when I'm sighting my bow in, if I'm dead on with arrow #1, and arrow #2 is slightly off, alot of times it'll have to do with vane clearance, then I know exactly how postion my knocks. This also applies with broadhead tuning, it helps when you get one of the arrows tuned, you can tune the rest to the same. After tweeking each arrow and knowing how each arrow flies, they all fly the same.

That's been the only places I've hunted, on cattle ranches. Several pros to hunting where cattle are... 1st you won't have to worry about baiting or mineral licks, they'll hit the same places the cattle hit, 2nd the deer are not as spooky when they are around cattle, use cow crap as cover scent, sounds gross but works AWESOME, I've had deer come in directly down wind with cow crap on my boots, 3rd you can focus more on a deer's native diet, like forbs and white oak groves. That's a couple pointers I use and had most of my success on.

I'd look at a topo map too. You have any bottoms with big white oaks? Acorn crop will have alot to do with it also. I usually use tree spikes and hunt out of large trees, sit in the fork of the tree, helps keeps ya mobil and allows you to move around to find where the main travel corridors are. Of course if your hunting pines, it will change alot of factors too.

Here's a couple, I don't know exactly how big, but nice.

I'd let the landowner and gamewarden take care of it. You don't know the circumstances in why those stands are there. Another question is, have the stands been there a while, are the stands growing into the trees, and is there a lock? It might be a neighbor or friend of the landowner. If you do decide, get the gamewarden involved!!! I don't think they would mess with you when if the law gets involved.