When Do You Start?

J

jackstrawIII

New member
The question is, when do you start losing sleep in preparation for deer season?

Our bow season here in upstate NY starts the beginning of October, and gun opens up mid November. I'm already laying in bed with visions of scope reticles and hapless deer dancing in my head.

Which guns will I use? What spots will I hunt? How many deer do I want to try to harvest? Etc. So much to think about!!
 
With a half century of deer hunting under my belt, it's less "excitement" and more "anticipation". I'[m usually quite confident in where and when the deer will show up. We use the same highly productive stands every year so it's basically being patient and holding out for the right animal and shot presentation.
I get considerable enjoyment from watching the kids and sharing their excitement.
After several years of only local hunting, in 2016 I accompanied a friend on an elk hunt as his assistant due to his physical ailments. In 2017, he was in better health and we went to New Mexico on a very successful trip.
This year, I'm headed back to NM with a relative for his first elk hunt. I'm already working on the plans for that trip--only 6 months away and counting down.
 
Add additional hobbies to make the time pass. Not sure on your state but here in Wisconsin small game and migratory bird seasons start before deer season. Distract yourself by finding a new duck hunting location. But do it while fishing.

Good luck. I practice with my bow once a week and crossbow every few weeks. And yes i'm going to check out my hunting area 300 miles away next week. Find diversions.
 
jackstrawIII said:
The question is, when do you start losing sleep in preparation for deer season?
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The real question is, "Why do you ever stop?". There are two types of hunters.

1. Sets up a week in advance, hunts the season, exits the woods till next year.
AND, about 15 minutes after the season starts, he's heading into the woods, looking for
his first deer.

2. Starts AFTER the end of the season, using binoculars and game cameras. Finds out where the bucks water, bed down, they get familiar with his scent, he's in the woods so often. Knows the deer trails, their browsing habits.
AND he's headed OUT of the woods with his first trophy buck, about the same time hunter #1 is headed in.
 
I carry a rifle and look for "targets of opportunity" EVERY day. There's no "season".
Deer season was/is/always will be a period to look forward to but there's not so much "monkey on my back" pressure for success as I get older.
 
Don Dayacetah said:
There are two types of hunters.
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In my experience, the vast majority of hunters don't really fit either of those descriptions.

jackstrawIII said:
The question is, when do you start losing sleep in preparation for deer season?
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I stopped losing sleep over deer season a couple of decades ago. I can't really say why. It could be that because where I hunt(ed) (Upstate NY) the odds of getting a trophy that would make your heart race are near zero. Sure, for a while, the thought of getting ANY deer is very exciting... but after 50, 60, 70 of them, it's just not that thrilling. First, you start letting some walk, then you start letting adult doe walk even when you know the 15 guys over the next hill won't, then you start letting the smaller bucks walk, even when you know the 15 guys over the next hill won't...

Anyway, I don't hunt in NY anymore, being that I live in CO. When I was there, I generally started looking around a month or two before the season, on the few tracts of land that I had access to that were large enough to wander. A couple of trips to verify the deer were still moving where they had been was all it took. Our main hunting area was 11 acres, 4 of it open field where the cars and cabin were located. We often had 5-7 guys hunting there on opening day. Preseason scouting and such was a laugh. Except for my willingness to walk a bit farther onto unposted adjoining property and use a climber, stand locations were (are) fixed and have not changed in many years.

Now, here in CO, it's a matter of time and money. The area where I've hunted so far is over an hour from my house. I rarely have time to get there. I have a friend who hunted there for over 20 years and I use his info to help. We'll get there the day before the season and hope for the best. I also have some amazing info from a friend here on the forum, complete with maps and descriptions of stand locations. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to explore that area yet.

Real life is not like the hunting shows.
 
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when

Lots of hot weather and grass cutting 'till we get to hunt deer again. But....

I usually get my bow out and start shooting about 4th of July. I'll also carry any arrows needing refletched in at that time as well. I no longer shoot the bow year round, gives my elbows and shoulder fits. The Mathews usually needs a new string/cables every season, and I'll get that done in the same month. The old PSE is not so hard on rigging, and usually does not need frequent shop attention. Usually I'll hunt both bows over the course of our long season.

Nearly every spring gobbler season , in the course of hoofing after gobbling toms, I'll stumble up on a new spot the holds promise for deer in the fall. This spring I found a tremendous white oak bench on the side of a ridge that will almost have to have deer on it if the mast crop comes in. Easy approach too, and will favor a south wind. Another spot at the head of a hollow leading into a pine plantation holds promise for rifle hunting.

Rifles? I want to take a deer with the Garand, and will hunt it more this year. I need to work up somemore ammo for it, 165 gr Hornady's is what it seems to prefer. Carried it multiple times last season, no shots. Took the .308 Hog Rifle instead one morning, and a shooter wandered by. :confused:
I've put a scout scope (IER) on the AK, and it is shooting well enough with Hornady SST's that I will hunt it some too. . Despite my fondness for it, I will rest the Mini30 this year. Same for the the Ruger .44's, second year in a row for them. I'd like to take some deer with the .243's (Savage and Mossberg) as I did not hunt them last year at all. The Mossberg 810M appeals to me, but it is a poor rendition of a Mannlicher none the less. My Dad's Savage 110 needs to hunt for sentimental reasons if no other. Finally, I would like to take a deer with the T/C White Mtn carbine, whose accuracy problem I solved last season (loose rear sight base) .

Yeah, its on my mind.......but darn, it's hot out right now.
 
Started today for me

It started today for me I have been reviewing the quota hunts for the state and comparing the number of days,type of hunt,(muzzle loader or gun) numbers of drawings,and ranking them in order to apply for. I was in the hospital last year for heart surgery so it's actually been on my mind for a long while now.I don't mind saying that I'm giddy about it!
 
I start today. Learned today that I was chosen for both mule deer and fall turkey here in Arizona. I have plans this year to hunt with a Krag sporter I bought a couple of years ago. So I need to work up a load with a hunting type bullet. I have a load for competition that I'll start with using the correct style of bullet.

Fall turkey is fun. Especially if you don't have time to scout. It turns into a game of stalking and hoping you see the turkeys before they see you. Not very successful, but it gets me out into the woods. It's a little different if I get a chance to scout the area. It is a new area I haven't hunted turkey in this year. I wasn't chosen for either elk or antelope this year.
 
I start the last day of the last season.

My season starts with Antelope, then elk, then deer. I start thinking about next years antelope on the way to elk camp. then comes deer, while thinking about next years elk.
 
The only thing that makes me not sleep is still 25years later first day of the moose - hunt

It has even gotten worse because last 4 years i have more responsibility as the main dog guy in our huntingteam
 
There is always some season to prep for or do, we got pigs so summer is busy

Summer/early is busy because we dont really know all the stuff that is being done in the woods

Roughl winter so we have alotta stands/blinds to build but no use doing it now because the timberguys can chop big areas down
 
I'm starting to check our son's recently-harvested woodlot behind the house and am seeing deer almost daily, as the woody plants started growing. We have all kinds of new shooting lanes since the harvest that went on all last winter. There are also many turkeys around. Two days ago, I sat in my pickup around 6 AM and had 5 toms walk along the road in the blueberry field and pass within 10 feet of my truck.

Yesterday afternoon, a doe jumped from under an apple tree into a cutting and watched me drive by. That's more deer and other critters than we've seen for years. The only critters I haven't seen lately are coyotes. Tried calling yesterday, but no takers.

Right now, I'm healing from Lyme disease, so can't go out in the sun much, but in a couple of weeks, hope to do more walking around out there and checking-out good stand locations.
 
I've also seen a lot more deer this spring/summer than I'm used to seeing. This is odd considering how tough of a winter we had up here in the north... but obviously the deer did ok.

Also, I'm super jealous of all you guys that live in Elk country. I can't imagine being able to hunt Elk locally. That's the kind of thing guys up here dream of.
 
Now, here in CO, it's a matter of time and money.
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Having lived in Rifle, CO decades ago, I learned many things from the locals. Western hunting is NOTHING like hunting in the East. No stands, food plots, etc. Higher elevations, instant weather changes and huge tracts of public land mean scouting early and being prepared for anything. Out West, you actually have to go after your quarry..... ;)
 
Out West, you actually have to go after your quarry
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My Father grew up poor in Arkansas, hunting and fishing was how they put meat on the table and he was the oldest of eight.
He homesteaded some property with two other fellas in Montana while in the Air Force and in his mind had found his utopia there when it came to hunting and fishing.
Once he came back down here he just didn't have much interest.
I remember once that we went fishing together, and only a few years we hunted together when I was in my early 20s.
He understands FITASC.
 
This year:
Last week.
...When the area that I hunt had two wildfires burning in on it from two directions. (One now out, but the other still raging.)

I don't really have any major plans until late September, but a few small game seasons open on Sept 1. I'll probably try to take my son out to pop some grouse or cute little bunnies in an area closer to home when we get a chance.

My son did, however, suggest we 'build' a boat to go fishing, a couple weeks ago. Since then, I haven't been able to get that out of my head.
I might have to build a boat...
 
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