am/pm

[ZEN]

No not the gas station.  Come October are we rutting hard?  Seems like the afternoons become a viable time to keep hunting where as before and after the rut an early/late afternoon hunt is as good as it may get.  Long days mean keen focus so best wishes evryone.  MAy you find your zone, your zen.  Many of you have mentioned deer sightings etc.  What time of day are you out.  I like to get out early.  CAtch em sleepy and hungry, moping around in the shade.  Nice to be able to dig in and maybe put on a good stalk if need be.

[ICEMAN]

Zen, how many deer have you shot?

[boneaddict]

You forgot 24/7.  If you are not out in the woods from dawn til dusk, you ought to be, and when its dark you shoud be mentally preparing yourself, and resting. 

[ZEN]

I aspire to take my first deer this season.  Feels like a big deal so I try to keep my excitement in check.  I come from a midwestern hunting family but I was a reg+off season wrestler and an artist.  I was training like Rocky IV and contracting crappy book covers while my cousins were deer hunting.  Different strokes.  We'd get after some small game but now it's something different for me.  Small but concurrent tragedies some years back have delivered me into a place of reanimation .  Every chance I can get away from work I'm on the road.  There's a different quality to time in the big open world.  Plus, I went to college in Seattle and I work for a developer near there.  I see the boom.  People scrambling for property.  $10 million "single family residences" do not benifit our world or its people especially when the timber is harvested from some tiny exotic forest somewhere.  The customs tariffs alone must be outstanding!  These guys never come down.  Burning too hot.  Stay too close to the city and your life stays swirled up.  I feel like I'm up to my neck in oatmeal most days. 

Long story short ICEMAN, I'm invested in making this October count.  This first deer will symbolize decisiveness and discovery.  It'll acknowledge my discipline at the range these last few years and gratify the labor I've put into my rifles.  The duality of stillness and explosiveness.  Hey, blue collar guys making it work the best they can.  It's part of being who I want to be I guess.  So we'll see how many of my pieces fit together.   

[ICEMAN]

Sounds like you are committed.  Deer are basically nocturnal type animals, up at night feeding, and start looking for a place to crash and rest by mid morning. These deer will now bed down. Play it right, you can catch them feeding at first light, or atleast as they move to bedding areas. Put yourself between food and bed. Where we hunt, the mid day hunt is slow. Not alot of other hunters around, so the deer stay put. In other areas, you may get hunters moving thru an area stirring up and moving these otherwise bedded deer. Use this to your advantage...if other hunters are nearby, as they get moving back to camp, let them stir deer up for you. If really cold out, the deer may move around basically all day to get enought food to stay warm. If wind pick up, bedded deer may get up to move out of the wind. Think about these things as they occur.
ZEN, your best plan in my opinion, is to get well rested, and hunt all day from dark to dark. Do not bite off more than you can chew. Pick a small area with deer tracks, and commit to it. Backpack up, take lunch+, move slowly, don't worry about the rut, or calling, or rattling up a deer. You need to work your way into this other stuff later. Another year. This year, bring some good binoculars, and just be silent, and observant. Sit, look, watch, move, sit, look, watch, move, sit...... If you do this all day, you will see deer. Get some "windicator" of some kind. Powder in a little flip top vial, or maybe a feather on a thin string. Watch the wind. Hunt slowly looking all around, with the wind in your face. Look 10 yards out, 50 yards out and 300 yards out if applicable. Glass and glass and glass with your binoculars, not your scope, do this till it hurts, and then some more, you will find deer. Done this way, you may not be surprised by a deer, rather you surprise it. Move very slowly, use your optics, move a bit again....See the deer first. Take the slow, thought out shot. Too many guys go stomping thru the woods expecting to come upon a deer standing broadside in the open with food hanging out its mouth. Instead, find an ear wiggling ahead of you, check the wind, slowly move so you can fully see the deer, and hopefully you will finaly come upon a buck, you will take one shot, hit the deer where you wanted to, and you will have a fantastic year of celebration and joy.

[billythekidrock]

Long story short ICEMAN, I'm invested in making this October count.  This first deer will symbolize decisiveness and discovery.  It'll acknowledge my discipline at the range these last few years and gratify the labor I've put into my rifles.  The duality of stillness and explosiveness.  Hey, blue collar guys making it work the best they can.  It's part of being who I want to be I guess.  So we'll see how many of my pieces fit together. 

Sounds good, but don't make your satisfaction hinge on a kill. Knowing when not to shoot can be as (ok almost) satisfying as knowing when to squeeze the trigger. Smell the air, listen to the chipmunks and watch the birds. If you are hunting bucks, watch how the does interact. If you are tracking animals, look for mushrooms. And by all means, take a camera. Make your time in the woods count...for many things..
Good luck.

[jackelope]

the most important thing IMO is that there is so much more to the hunting experience than killing an animal. like billy said, take it all in for what it is...just being out in the woods for me is what it's all about...harvesting an animal just adds gravy to the whole experience.

[ZEN]

You take the words right out of mouth.  I really appreciate the possitive words.  I passed on a couple deer last year which was my first year out with the intention of actually taking an animal.  Wasn't right.  Like I say.  I want to make my first one count.  Scrutiny is dignified. A hunt is hunt. A kill is a kill.  I'd like a deer one day but I'll hunt everyday.  Anyhow, I'm pretty light on my feet but I like to take it slow like you say.  I keep a good pace on hills and trails but once I feel kinda deep I try not to draw any attention to myself.  I let the branches in the wind dictate my speed usually.  See how fast they blow around.  Like on the highway, Don't be the fastest car or you get seen first.  That's the goal for me really.  Be aware and be in it.  Rain or shine.  Hope I didn't seem trigger happy.  I most surely am not although I expect nearly range accuracy in the feild. 

[elkaholic]

I agree with Jackelope, take it all in and enjoy being out...... Its a nice break from the hustle and bustle.

[Lincoln4]

Hunting and killing are different.  While actually harvesting an animal that you have worked hard for is rewarding, I get buzzed just being there and hunting. 

[Coasthunterjay]

Hunting and killing are different.  While actually harvesting an animal that you have worked hard for is rewarding, I get buzzed just being there and hunting. 

  I could say the same. I put alot of work into harvesting an animal..... But i must also say GOD has gifted me and given me a steady hand and great eye sight. All of this will come to you in time. Have fun with it all and keep that positive additude that you have. You will be a greathunter as long as you dont give up and keep going after it. we dont become great hunters over night we have all learned from others and over a long Period of time have actually retained it.

well all be looking forward to hearing a sucess post soon!.................AJ 

[robb92]

Good luck this fall on harvesting your first deer, our bow seaosn opene don the 15th and runs until the 31 of jan, so I have lots of time to fill the freezer back up. Enjoy your time in the woods and also be safe!!! If you hunt from a tree stand use a harness!!!! I read several stories every year about hunters not using them and falling out of the tree and either killing themselves or becoming paralized.