Just over 11 days!

[alecvg]

Just over eleven days left till game time!!!!  I am freakin going out of my mind!  What are your guys plans for opening morning?

[Wea300mag]

I have a 2 hour per-dawn walk planned to get out in front of the crowds for the opener.

[Woodchuck]

i have a big 4-way funnel i sneak into by 5 in the morning, nobody else seems interested in it, just sit back and watch it happen, our group has pulled 4 bucks out of that hole in the 3 yrs

[270Shooter]

Ducks hopefully, maybe deer in the evening.

[NWBREW]

Up at about 6 am and sit back and drink a couple of cups of coffee. I don't deer hunt till the late hunt.

[aaronk]

Up at about 6 am and sit back and drink a couple of cups of coffee. I don't deer hunt till the late hunt.

After everything I've been reading I think I may do the same. Given the proximity to my hunting locations as well as my work schedule has something to do with that decision too.  Regardless, I'm still getting excited. 

[bamalefty]

Leaving out Friday afternoon to meet my buddies at our spot and set up camp for the night.  Then wake up and start walking and glassing.

[Schmalzfam]

Well, we are hitting Jake's 9am football game..first thing
Then..we are going to get all camo'd up, sit around for a few trying to decide where to go..lol. 
Then, we when do get up in the hills we will be wondering..where are all these blacktail???
And we will all be wishing we were over on the eastside..hunting our "favorite" spots, in the warm Eastside sun.

[andrew_12gauge]

only about 4 days and 7 hours until first light on opening morning for me, a buddy and i will be heading up on friday to set up camp here in idaho

[MichaelJ]

Saturday morning will find me straddling a 2000lb animal hoping to stay on for 8 seconds! lol this is for the ID deer opener but I'm gonna go exchange my tag for a late whitetail tag so I can hunt during my break from school!

Michael

[JackOfAllTrades]

I'll be pulling the camp trailer over the pass on Thursday right after work to get my camp spot. I may spike out Friday afternoon to be ahead of the crowd Saturday morning. I'm solo for the first part, then my boys will drive over for some bonding.

-Steve

[Caseyd]

i have a big 4-way funnel i sneak into by 5 in the morning, nobody else seems interested in it, just sit back and watch it happen, our group has pulled 4 bucks out of that hole in the 3 yrs

I've seen it happen up Mill Creek on my family's land.  Alot end up in the stubble up top! Always feel a little unsafe though.

Probably just stay in the lowlands and hunt the stubble. Eat breakfast and run through game plan again, headout after first light. No point in pressuring them when you can't see them

[zackmioli]

heading out on friday the 16th at about 5am. get to the landowners place at 11am say hi, head down to the same spot we camp in every year, get camp set up, gather and stack firewood, and talk about where everyone is going in the morning.

[gasman]

Going to set up camp this weekdend.
Be back on Wed next week and the wife and kids will be up on friday after work.



I so can't wait for the season to start 

[superdown]

 
 I AM ONLY A LITTLE EXCITED

[woodswalker]

I'll be on a airplane coming back from JAPAN.... work moved my trip out a week...SHOULD have been there NOW and BACK the weekend BEFORE the opener.

[Dipsnort]

The usual for me.  Gawdawful 1.75 hour, 2 mile uphill hike to my funnel, sit down by my rock minutes before shooting light and knock down the first 3-point (or better) buck I see.

My wait will should be up to 45 minutes, but often it happens withing the first 5 minutes of the season.  The last 2 years my buck was already waiting for me about 200 yards away and I only had to catch my breath and keep an eye on my watch to make sure I waited until it was legal to shoot.

Now if I could only find an elk area like this I would be a happy, happy guy!

[elkcane]

ill be on my by noon on 16th. finish gettin camp together, sit  back have a beer and wait til morn.

[bankwalker]

i can honestly say that im not excited at all for this season.
ive put everything off for so long, and now nothing will be ready by opening day.

im just gonna focus on my girlfriends second hunting season and hopefully her getting her second deer.

[KimberRich]

I'll be in the camper until shooting light. I know your thinking "what the heck"?? 

My hunting partner told me there is great hunting all around where we camp so he stays in the camper until shooting light and then hunts out to his spot to sit.  I was raised that you hike to your spot an hour before dark and sit and wait and listen so this was hard for me to understand and when you can look out the window of the camper on opening morning and see daylight I was going crazy!!!!

First year we hunted there we literally walked 50 yards from the camper and looked into a draw and I saw 2 nice bucks trotting up the hill.  Last year we hiked all over creation and back and when we returned to the camper for lunch I peeked into the same draw I saw those bucks in the first year, and shot a 4x4 WT.   

[saylean]

Depending on weather...

hopefully head about a mile in to my funnel area, and see what I see. Shoot the first legal buck I see...since I havent killed a muley in forever. Having a great time is in my plans, thats for sure.

Then,...go bear hunting the rest of the time.

[Skyvalhunter]

I'll be on a airplane coming back from JAPAN.... work moved my trip out a week...SHOULD have been there NOW and BACK the weekend BEFORE the opener.

Time for another job!!

[Dmanmastertracker]

 Word for the day "funnel". What the heck is it exactly, does it come with a spout , I'm picturing a giant plastic "deer culvert" . Kidding aside, I have a progression of spots I plan on hitting day one. Never know when someone will be there first so it's good to have options. I've pegged two different animals I'd like to go after, one I think will be overlooked by a lot of folks, he's really got a trail along the back of a cut where you will see just his upper half if your lucky -unless you get above him . At least a 3x, yes I'm getting stoked.

[uncoolperson]

lots excited and a little worried, still haven't found much in the way of anything promising for deer where I've been looking.
but it'll still be a good few weeks of wandering around rifle in hand soakin in the rain.

[Little Stu]

I am going to drive to my spot along the road and glass the hillsides for a few hours and drink coffee like i always do. then about Wednesday i will start to hunt serious after the opening weekend warriors are gone.

[Dipsnort]

Word for the day "funnel". What the heck is it exactly...

It's a location where the animals walk/run past after being pushed by other hunters.  Find the right place like that and you'll have a great hunting opportunity.

[huntnphool]

I will be taking my daughter over for the opener and then hunt the last 4 or 5 days.

[gasman]

I have a ravine that i hunt and have taken 3 deer from it in 4 years on opening day. The only time we did nt get a deer was when the Fishing and Hunting News and Washington-Oregon hunting magasines advertisedn how good the area was, so we had people all over the place that year. We only took home a doe (my son had a doe tag) that year. Seen 8 people opening morning and they were coming from every where (this was just in this one ravine).

i was a bit  for we had scouted the ravine befre the season started and had 3 legal bucks wanding in and out of it, two were 4x4's with at least a 22'' spread n each one. never saw either if the bucks after the season started.


I told my daughter (Rocky) she is getting to shoot first this year. I want here to get here first buck (she has only shot does). I will only shoot after she fills here tag or she tells me to take the animal.

Picked up some supplys to butch some deer today, and am i ready to grt hunting.

[Red Dawg]

looking forward to the opener so I can kill the 180 buck I saw last year. He has been giving me nightmares since the day I saw him. Hopefully MEAT (300 rum) will be able to knock him down. I know right where he lives but he i a very crafty sucker but I think I have a great plan. Good luck to everyone, looking forward to all your stories and pics

[72k5blzr]

  Head east Thursday morning be set up by evening, hunt hard all day everyday doesnt matter what time im out of bed or where im at im hunting. Sure seems like alot of hunters are preoccupied with seeing "orange" hate to break it to ya but if you didnt hike in a camp a day or 2 you arent "getting behind the crowds." Theres a guy or 2 in every camp whos damn alarm goes off at 2:45 am so they can "beat the crowds" fools i say! If you didnt scout in the off season if you didnt pick up your rifle until you sighted it in and the only exercise you get is sex than the odds are stacked against you before you even saw me up on the hill.

[alecvg]

I am pumped!  Good luck guys, I hope all your plans go well.  I found the biggest deer rub I have ever seen last week right where I hope to go opening morning, so I hope he is still in the area, he should be, lots of feed, and kind of a pocket most people overlook.  Wish me luck!

[jsteplee]

Can't wait for the opener, but I'm behind.  I was scouting pretty regularly over the summer.  Then in late August/early September two things happened.  My son's soccer team needed a coach (guess who volunteered), and we started having problems with our well.  Here we are over a month later, and there's a soccer game every Saturday, winter's coming so there's stuff to do before the mud becomes a problem, and we're just getting finished on the well issues.  I've got a sea of clay and stuff that needs to be mucked out of what used to be a horse pasture, and the list goes on.

So, I'm jazzed about the opener, but I haven't picked my spot for opening morning yet--yeah, now it sounds like "one of those guys."  Anyway, I'll be out this weekend (not on Saturday) to try to finalize things.