[On Point]

Eleven weeks & counting here in Illinois.
Archery season starts Oct. 1st here & we're getting things ready for another great season. Me & my son got out over the weekend & did some scouting. We're going to hang a couple stands in the same spots as last year, but saw a couple good spots down by the creek to put the climber in. Need to bring the saw out to clean up some trees & cut some shooting lanes.

Anyone else out there getting the itch yet?
I know a few states start their archery seasons in August & September.
Wish they would bring the season in earlier here.

 

[Steve in Illinois]

NOT SOON ENOUGH!!!

I just did some work for the guy who owns the property I hunt. He said he's been seeing plenty of does running around. Being a meat-hunter that's some great news to me.

Squirrel-season opens Sept. 1st btw. I plan on getting out for them the first couple weeks as well.

 

[mmwb]

Our archery deer and elk opens Sept. 1.

 

[Bogie]

Itch!?!? .... I've got a full blown rash! Oct 1st. I'll be in a tree for the next 3 months

 

[zukker]

Newbie here. Got a lease in Georgia and yeah, got the itch real bad.

 

[MaKettle]

My 11 yr old just took his hunter safety test this past weekend so he can hunt this fall. Last year he went as a mentored junior hunter and got his first deer. This year he can carry his own gun. (mentored juniors have to have a licensed adult carry the gun and pass it for the shoot). So we'll have 4 in the house this year out hunting. Hoping to fill my freezer real good!

 

[ashhoe]

Ahhhhh, October 1st. Opening of archery deer season in Michigan. Also, my wifes birthday. Every year, October 1st. The big fight. Getting my self ready for the fight, and getting the Mathews MQ32 ready again in case I win the fight!
You haven't lived until you "corn" some venison. If you like corned beef then you'd love corned venison.

 

[WannaLearn]

I got the itch the day after the last season closed. I still have post partum depression but it gets better each day that goes by and gets closer to opening day.

 

[9mmMike]

Yep, itching bad....may go primitive weapon this year so I can get out a month early!

 

[On Point]

Illinois Whitetail Archery starts Saturday. Yee-Haw!!!

It starts on this date in many states I believe.

Are you folks ready to put some fresh venison in the freezer?

 

[bighanded]

ah yes...the sound of large caliber rifles firing off in the woods, where normally my grandkids and the neighor's kids all like to play...the woods where we have "no trespass/hunt" signs posted everywhere, the woods where houses are within the 300yd limit by law but the hunters don't know that cause they are on property they are not familiar with...the lost dogs running through our backyard and getting into it with our dogs, the strangers who decide that our tree stand is somehow public property and that their ATVs give them as much right as ability to claw up our yard as they accidently break out of the woods into our open area....
yeah..that hunting season...

truth is, ever since the economy got so bad down here, most guys just hang out in their back yard after dusk and shoot the deer all year long anyway..so there's hardly any left right now...turkeys are the same way...we had a nice little group of 14 a couple weeks ago..then started hearing the evening gun shots..several at a time..now we are down to i think 4.


I really have nothing against hunting..responsibly..do so myself, but we have a few bad hunters that seem to think it is smart to do everything wrong..to do everything that violates laws and rules..so hunting season this year looks like it'll be over in about 2 bucks, 1 doe, and 4 turkeys...should be a short season....we know our animals cause we have critter cams all over our property..we also know some of the 2 legged animals..and once again this year we'll email the pictures to the DNR officer and have him go knock on doors and explain it to the hunters.

We quit walking in our woods for quiet enjoyment in the evening...now we only go back there on machines..noisey, red machines...and we go armed.

rant complete..if you're a responsible hunter... I wish you a safe and prosperous enjoyable season..good hunting!

 

[WitchyWoman]

I was out on opening day for archery season here in Missouri. It's my first season to hunt with a bow. I haven't gone out in a week because I've been sick which totally sucks, lol. My hubby hasn't had time to go hunt yet, but I've been hitting the woods pretty regular. I haven't gotten anything yet but that's a big yet. I'm not a trophy hunter either. We love the meat.

Our farm has conservation property on 2 sides. That's usually great, except the past couple of years we have had some tresspassers. Now we always go out armed. Especially when I'm by myself. Luckily MO has concealed carry and you can carry even while bow hunting. I would have anyway, lol.

 

[On Point]

truth is, ever since the economy got so bad down here, most guys just hang out in their back yard after dusk and shoot the deer all year long anyway..so there's hardly any left right now...turkeys are the same way...we had a nice little group of 14 a couple weeks ago..then started hearing the evening gun shots..several at a time..now we are down to i think 4.

I take it you're not from Illinois.
We are having NO lack of Whitetail nor turkey around here.
Yes, maybe we have a few lawbreakers running a muck, but DNR does their job very well here in Illinois.

Hunt safe, Hunt responsibly.

 

[bighanded]

no...down south...actually was born up in Ohio..and Dad and family always enjoyed the hunting up there..learned to do it right...got down here and he lost interest in it..the way they do it here...and I did as well.

I'm sure it's just my area...seems like I've got my share of pretty rough ol boys around here..classic toothless, unshaven, skinny cause they eat cigarettes for breakfast rather than a good meal...you know, the classic Walmart shopper after 11pm :xeye:

anyway, do have some good hunters..my neighbor is always good to call me if he's going to be out back sighting a rifle or doing some tree stand sitting, etc..it's mostly the ******** down the road, living with their girlfriend , who is a divorced 40 yr old living with her mom...an 82 oldsmobile in the driveway and unemployment gives em justification to perch nightly in the backyard and shoot anything that comes through so they can be a good provider...then when the mostly miss the deer and it's injured they come trapsin through my yard with gun in hand telling us they are looking for their deer...something wrong with a guy who can't drop a deer with a 308 at 50 yds...even more wrong when he shows up at 9pm after dark with a gun on his shoulder in my yard and doesn't even know my name...yeah..that goes over well.

seriously ya'll..it's a religion.. I know..so i wish you all good n safe hunting..

 

[Observer]

Always hunt all three seasons. They are all three different and the experiences are always individually exceptionally gratifying.

 

[Steve in Illinois]

So did anybody else score? I shot a doe this afternoon. She was right under me almost. Only about 12 feet from my stand. I hit her between the shoulder blades and it exited through the sternum. She went about 40 feet and died in less than a minute. No tracking!

 

[LostLegion]

^^ What are you planning to do with it?

And I hear it's the rut for Sika deer so I'm trying to not go deep into my local forest in case I encounter a ****ed of male.

 

[Steve in Illinois]

I'm going to eat it. What would you think? When I get a deer we don't buy beef till the deer's gone. We like it more than beef. Plus it's a lot healthier for you.

 

[Finny]

I'm going to eat it. What would you think? When I get a deer we don't buy beef till the deer's gone. We like it more than beef. Plus it's a lot healthier for you.

They say hamberg is going to 5 bucks a lb. My son and I can take 3 each of the kings deer one doe only. Good luck S in I

 

[Creek Walker]

Ah yes the time of year I have to patrol my woods to run off people that have no respect for private property and think I'm an arse for not letting them hunt.

It's simple back in the day you asked the property owner for permission to hunt. Due to a monster buck that frequented my woods I ran off 10 hunters last year who didn't have the decency to ask for permission. My portion of the woods is 10 acres and the creek is more or less the property line. I had two hunters I stopped and they swore they were on their own property and I asked them what their plat showed. Yes the answer was what is a plat?

I have no problem with people who ask, I have no problem with people who are tracking their kills. I do have problems with people with illegal tree stands and blinds I have a really nice blind on my back porch thanks to an illegal hunter. If a certain tree stand isn't removed it will become my property after the season is over. Three years and it hasn't been used.

Be respectful and hunt safe.