[Buckcrossing]

I was just reading an article in the September issue of Virginia Game&Fish magazine. (Page 33, Dan Anderson)
The article discusses what preparations you should be making for the upcoming fall hunting season, what practices to use when trekking through your hunting grounds as the season approaches and how to avoid disturbing or spooking any desired game that may be in the area.

To start off I should tell you that i am hunting my property for deer. I hunt another property for bear and turkey. I don't prepare the grounds for bear and turkey, it's several hundred acres and I only have permission to ground hunt. No stands, no cams, just show up and be happy to have such a large property to harvest from.

My property on the other hand is just over 70 acres and I have several cams and stand locations.

I have had cams running for two months now. I check the cards every Sunday. I have gotten some nice deer on camera every week for the last month. I do not have any food plots, but I will next year.

So far I have seen that my doe population is very high this year. I have seen several bucks, but most are young. I do have a larger buck, I'm guess 3 years, with very short tines (2-3" and they are very dark). Two big shooters have been seen on cam. I prefer harvesting does (racks do nothing for my freezer) but I will always take a bruiser buck.

I have one more week before I stay out of the woods and let the herd be. My stands are in place and shooting lanes are cleared. I just tuned my bow to perfection for the season. I will still shoot (obviously), but I need no further adjustments this season. I have a Matthews z7 xtreme. It's set at 58lbs. I have a truglo 4 pin carbon optic, and an apache drop away rest. I also use a tru ball release.

I do not bait or feed. I just make sure the water hole is accessible and try to designate areas of my land for its use. Some areas are for shooting, some for hiking/walking and some areas that are off limits for sanctuary.

As far as my gear, I wear mostly multicam and realtree. I don't have my pack set up yet, but I have gotten the gear together in one closet.
I just bought my new boots (Aerohead by Lacrosse) last month. Amazing boots, I recommend them to anyone! Super comfortable and very wearable.
I wash my clothing in dead downwind detergent and it will be hung outside in 3 weeks and will not be brought back in for the entire season. I also make my own scent spray to apply to clothing and gear. I do that just about every time I head out. It's a boiled mixture of material from my grounds.

Where are y'all at in your season preparation? Any tips and tricks that you swear by? Feel free to share your season progress. Anyone who has questions...even the normal newbie questions, feel free to ask, and I hope that the experienced woodsmen here will be willing to answer their questions and share the knowledge we have all gained through our time in the field.

Here's to a bountiful season! Only 47 days left in my part of the country!

 

[bowclan]

Deer archery starts here September 29th til February 28th. So, I have been shooting my bow. Thats most important.

 

[East Coast Woods]

Around October 15 for NC regular gun season.

 

[SurlyBoB]

I've just started organizing my hunting gear that I put away last winter. I'll be washing all of my hunting clothes in Dead Downwind also and storing it all in scent free bags. I will also be applying more leather conditioner to some of my boots along with a waterproofing spray.

I check all of my game calls this time of year to make sure that they're working like they're supposed to.

I also go over all my bags and packs to check them for wear or damage. I pay particular attention to the plastic buckles because they seem to break on me.

I've sighted in my rifles already and have gone over them with a fine tooth comb. I take very good care of my rifles and handguns throughout the year but I tend to be a bit more picky as hunting season approaches. I've done an inventory of my hunting ammunition and I know what I need to buy now. All my knives are kept in excellent condition because I use them all year long.

Our hunting property has 220 acres with about 90 of those acres upland, the rest is swamp. I love hunting the swamp and I have several permanent stands out there. We have around 10 stands scattered on the property and last month I checked them all and did repairs as needed. We stay away from the hunting property for at least a month before hunting season to let things calm down. Bear season starts Sept. 1st and I don't bait. I know where they are and I prefer to stalk; keeps me on my toes. There is a big sow that I'm looking to tag next month.

We've got two cameras that we move around the property and it looks like it's going to be a so-so year for us as far as deer are concerned. The heard in our zone has been hunted pretty hard the last 6 or 7 years and it shows. The DNR has restricted the limit to one deer, buck or doe.

Turkeys are just starting to make a comeback in our area and we hunted the property this spring with no luck. The season seemed to be too late and they were not coming into our decoys with calls. Normally we hunt turkeys much further south and have a great time.

I'm pretty damn excited. I can never seem to hunt enough.

 

[Hercfe]

Been shooting the hell out of my xbow. Getting the rifle and shotgun ready. I'm old fashioned in deer season-I use a 35 rem. Marlin 336. I love it. My favorite rifle of all time honestly. Great PA woods gun. I get a bit giddy just talking about it because generally mountain and west-side hunters hear 35 rem and laugh. Most of my deer shots are within 100 yards, and I just love the feel of a lever gun in the woods! Something very American about it to me.

Anyways, I got out my pack last night, and found a big damn hole in it. So I ordered a new pack, will be washing it with my Charlies soap and leaving it on the porch for a while with my other gear. I agree with Buckxing. I wear a lot of multicam, but prefer mossyoak where I hunt because its not as brushy with hardwood, even in SWPA-mostly pine stands and swampy low growth where I see the most game.

I'll be in the woods next weekend to start scouting for September archery, then I'll use all of archery to scout for turkey in Nov and rifle season in Nov/Dec. Come January I give up on hunting and pay attention to NFL and NHL until May when spring gobbler opens, so in March I get to do this all over again. Its kinda handy because everything gets a great workout on a regular schedule.

Good luck in the woods this year fellas!

 

[Buckcrossing]

I got out my pack last night, and found a big damn hole in it. So I ordered a new pack

Why not just throw a patch in it? Was it too big of a hole?

 

[groothewanderer]

Looooooots of shooting. Managing to average a 300 at my clubs 3D shoots. Making arrows and refitting my bows for hunting season. Will be at the place this weekend to thin the swine population and do one up on a spit. Yum.

 

[Buckcrossing]

Here we are...33 days until archery opens here. I got my final stand put up yesterday. Took all the cams down and brought them in. While going after the camera on the NW side of my property, I spooked up a nice shooter buck. I laughed and said "I'll see you in a few weeks".

Going over cam footage yesterday, I saw a beautiful fox on one of my south cams. I've been finding their scat on rocks lately, it was nice to get a look at it. I'll see him in November.

I ended up adjusting my bow a little more. I am now zeroed up to 60 yds. I missed a big buck last year at about 60 yds. Don't want that to happen this year.

Went and got all my tags on Saturday. I have 11 deer tags total. Pretty anxious now. I have to go to Colorado on the 12th...maybe I should take the bow and try for an elk tag...

 

[groothewanderer]

Here we are...33 days until archery opens here. I got my final stand put up yesterday. Took all the cams down and brought them in. While going after the camera on the NW side of my property, I spooked up a nice shooter buck. I laughed and said "I'll see you in a few weeks".

Going over cam footage yesterday, I saw a beautiful fox on one of my south cams. I've been finding their scat on rocks lately, it was nice to get a look at it. I'll see him in November.

I ended up adjusting my bow a little more. I am now zeroed up to 60 yds. I missed a big buck last year at about 60 yds. Don't want that to happen this year.

Went and got all my tags on Saturday. I have 11 deer tags total. Pretty anxious now. I have to go to Colorado on the 12th...maybe I should take the bow and try for an elk tag...

Its a must do. I did that with my brother around Eastas Park. Got skunked but it was a hoot nonetheless. I plan on doing it again.

 

[maat]

I recently bought a Hoyt Tenacity at a garage sale. I quickly realized that it was not fitted for me. Luckily, a son-in-laws dad is an avid bow shooter with equipment. We lowered the poundage to 58, shortened the draw to me, tuned it and set pins at 20, 30 & 40 yards.

In my twenties, friends and I belonged to a bow club and we shot regularly. We shot instinctive and used fingers pull. It did not take long to pickup using sights and trigger. I'm currently shooting every evening in the back yard.

I have a stand on a relatives land. I will be clearing shooting lanes in the morning and practicing with a target in desired shot areas. Today, I will be going to buy clothing and accessories. I just received a thermaCell for mosquito control. I was lucky to pickup a Bushnell yardage pro sport 450 for 50.00 bucks on Craigslist yesterday.

 

[groothewanderer]

I recently bought a Hoyt Tenacity at a garage sale. I quickly realized that it was not fitted for me. Luckily, a son-in-laws dad is an avid bow shooter with equipment. We lowered the poundage to 58, shortened the draw to me, tuned it and set pins at 20, 30 & 40 yards.

In my twenties, friends and I belonged to a bow club and we shot regularly. We shot instinctive and used fingers pull. It did not take long to pickup using sights and trigger. I'm currently shooting every evening in the back yard.

I have a stand on a relatives land. I will be clearing shooting lanes in the morning and practicing with a target in desired shot areas. Today, I will be going to buy clothing and accessories. I just received a thermaCell for mosquito control. I was lucky to pickup a Bushnell yardage pro sport 450 for 50.00 bucks on Craigslist yesterday.

Dont forget to practace up on your shooting from odd positions. Your POI will change even if you just switch from standing to sitting.

 

[maat]

Dont forget to practace up on your shooting from odd positions. Your POI will change even if you just switch from standing to sitting.

This is why I am going to practice from my stand before hunting.

 

[maat]

Had a very productive day. Cleared my shooting lanes, setup the corn feeder and shot my target from numerous positions and distances. I was able to get all my odds and ends(day bag gear and clothing) purchased and am ready to get hunting.