Opening Weekend Reports Anyone?

Well, here you go. Sorry I dont have any Pics, I forgot my camera and intentionally did not bring my phone(I have had a really tough couple of weeks at work). Hit the woods after a very long night thursday night, in fact no sleep at all. Managed to get to the stand about 30 minutes before sunrise and was greeted by 49 degree magnificent morning. Had a couple of does come in but never got a shot. As the day went on felt like I was dragging a 100lb wieght everywhere I went. Still managed to stalk up on a couple but never got a clear shot. Then after a very hot shower and couple of extremely cold beers, I finally went and got the 4 wheeler and headed back to the honey hole. As I was struggling to keep my eyes open a doe trailing 6-8 month'r came within about 20 yds. Now bear in mind I have already missed 4 times up to this point. I took careful air and wow, what a miss. She did not even move 5 ft. She had no idea where I was (I highly recommend that underbrush camo), so I reloaded by crossbow by placing it agianst my stomach and slowly pulled it back. OUCH!!! She still did not know where I was so I took even more time aiming this time and gently pulled the trigger and watched the arrow streak right over her head. Yup missed the same doe twice. Now honestly I have spent a lot of time with this crossbow and it is dead on (so I thought). She and the little one finally figure out that this is not good and off they go. Little did the know they were as safe there as anywhere else. Next just before sundown another doe comes in and I cannot believe my eyes as I see another bolt go directly over her back. She did not stay to see what was going on and that was it for the end of bow for this cycle. I head back to the house dejected as hell and console myself with a couple dozen beers and little tequila. Well finally muzzle loader opens on Sat morning. Usually a big event in my family, but a recent death on my brothers side left me finding all of my stands to myself. I usually defer the opening of muzzle to my brother and hunt some the other spots I have scouted. Decide since I have had such a crappy bow season that I am going to kill something. Well the sun comes up on another crisp morning the squirels are going nuts and the woodpecker that live in the neighborhood is going to town on the tree right next to me. I could not be happier. I finally have my baby in my hands and know for a fact that anything with horns is going to die (no does during firearms where I hunt). So about 7:50 or so a 5pt comes in and I draw a bead on him and am just about to 245 grains right through his neck when I hear another one coming in from the left. Without taking my crosshairs off of the 5pt, I turn to ever so slowly to see what was coming. Just about that time the 5pt jumps into the thicket. I cant believe it. Well I wait another 45 mins or so and it paid off. A decent 8pt finally comes in from where I heard the sounds and is about 60yds away giving me a perfect broadside. BTW, I was using Trails End 307 set on drip wicks about 10yds apart. My heart is actually pounding now because this buck is at least decent. I get control of myself and steady my breathing slowly putting the crosshairs on a much larger neck. I exhaled slowly and opened up a cavern on his neck. Perfect shot, hit him in his neck bone and he dropped without even flinching. Of course I stayed in the stand for about 30 more minutes since he wasnt going anywhere. No other takers so down I go and in the box he goes. Not a trophy but a great start to the year. I get great news from my mom, my brother is on the way. I think great, I really love hunting with him. My weekend just went from great to fantastic.

He shows up about 2:00 gets settled in and we get his boys set up for the evening hunt. I put them on two of my others that have been producing and remind them bucks only. I let my brother have the honey stand because we have a two buck limit up here and I wanted to hunt for a stud only from this point on. Unfortunately for him he decided to hunt from the ground and a big buck came from behind (if he had been in the stand he would have been looking directly at him). But his boy did bag a button buck so at least we got some work to do while the Hogs got beaten by Auburn. A few cold beers some cards, and a few lies later its off to bed.

Sunday morning is even better than the previous two and I drag everyone out of bed and get ready for the morning hunt. Since my brother still had not gotten one I let him head back to the honey hole and sent the boys to a couple of stands that still have not been hunted. I head off to a spot about 6 miles into the deep woods and am greeted by blow after blow on the way in. Man they were everywhere. The sunrise is just awesome with a lowlevel mist it made everthing glimmer. Hard to beat a sunrise in the mountains. I had a bunch of deer close but none came into sight so it was just a relaxing morning in the woods. Well I get back to house and brothers wife tells me my brother has lost a deer. Of course they have the 4 wheelers so off I go a couple of miles on the shoe lace express. Did I mentioned I walk about 6 miles each way already this morning. So I get there about noon and they have been looking for a couple of hours already. My brother tells me to walk this area and I did through the worste stickers you have ever seen. No luck, so I asked him to show me where the blood trail ended and he said no I will just leave it. I am a little pissed at this point and am going to find this deer. So off we go and he shows me the blood trail. I start a spiral search and find more blood within 5 mins and the deer about 10 minutes later. Moral of the story is, dont ever listen to your brother and assume he has already done a proper search. LOL. It was a great weekend, I have picks of both of the bucks we killed on my trail cam. I will post them when I get my laptop up and runnning. Sorry for the long post, but it was a good weekend. Good luck to you all and good hunting.





EDIT: I finally decided to find out if it was me or the crossbow. Stepped off 30yds, put it on the dot and shot about 2 feet over the target. YUP 2 feet. Looked down and noticed the elevation on the scope had been changed. I am sure it happened going to and from the lake in the back of my truck. Just never thought it would ever do that. Oh well, sh$% happens. Still a great weekend.

I had a miss this past weekend:boo on a doe with 3 little ones with her....she had 2 before...and the third one was the one from the doe I had gotten a few weeks ago....don't know if the arrow went over her or under her....saw the spike buck in the distance but never came close...I won't shoot it anyway....just would have liked to watch it for awhile

I was up in my stand sat. night....when the one trail camera started taking pic's on the other ridge,(I could see the flash thru the woods) hoping they would come my way but never did:boo...the next day I got the sd card out of it and it was 2 does at my other tube feeder.(going to put a double stand on that feeder,I already have it)

The food plot is staring to grow alittle at the main ridge, turkey (season) came in this past weekend too, but haven't seen any since last fall:crying

Good hunting to you all!!!!!!

Glad you found out it wasn't you Mike....missing (great report too!!! its nice getting your first of the season to take the pressure off!!! neck shot is the best:clap)

My 1st opening weekend I've missed in 18-19 years:reallycrying My knee is still in recovery mode and I can't use a climber, andI only have 1 ladder set up so Monday eveningI finally hit it. I was sitting there about 20 minutes before dark in a creek bottom with cracking all around me...next thing my phone starts vibrating (yep, the ole lady) i told her I had ta go and put it back in my pocket then crack to my right side and a big spike (120-125lbs) came out and walked right past my corn. Acorns are everywhere so they aint touching the yellow gold... He was sooooooo fat I almost went ahead and shot him butI figured it might be a 1st buck fer 1 of the kids...Nothing else came out.

This morning got out there in the drizzle rain which was fine but after a couple hours my knee could'nt handle it anymore so I had to climb down...On my way outI jumped 1 but don't know what it was. Spread out some yellow gold around all the trails for the rest of the week...

GOOD LUCK TO ALL:grouphug

my middle son Brandon (13) and I were at our camp in Gilbertown Saturday morning hunting the acorns in an area we call the " hog trap". eEnd of the year last year I got a brief glimpse of a 150" 11 or 12 point. At 7:30 I hear something heavy running to me so I stood and a 70 - 80# hog comes past me, with a 100 - 130# behind it. It was to early and all I could think of was those horns from last year so I did not shoot. My son was about 100 yards west of me and at 8:30 I see him stand, draw and shoot. I see a doe running in front of him with blood streaming out of her ribs and here her crash. This was his first deer with a bow and I got to see the show. I gave him the thumbs up and the he was stoked. We both sat back down and 5 minutes went by and I see another doe walking straight to me eating white oaks. Since we were about to start pulling Brandons deer out i decided to shoot one myself. She stopped out at 25 yards and I shot her. I'm using the Rage 2 blades this year and the hole they make are something. It looked like I shot her with a .300. She ran 10 yds and piled up. Great morning. I ended up killing another doe at another location the following morning. Same result with the Rage. Never saw any bucks but there are plenty of acorns so it is only a matter of time. Getting to see Brandon kill his deer made my season.

These are Mike's pictures from above......:takephoto.....Nice....:clap









these are Mikes pic's from above.....:toast