Sad to see it end

Man am I tired, sad to see it end but it is gonna be nice sleeping in tomorrow. I have one more hunt tonight with my 6 year old daughter. Will be her first hunt. We are both pretty excited.

I am interested in hearing how other people’s late season hunts went, expecially archery guys. This was my first archery hunt of my life. I had two shots and missed both. Not sure how you guys ever kill anything but it is way more fun than gun hunting. I had a gobbler coming at me this morning until a mosquito control truck drove down the windrow behind me and pulled up within spitting distance to me. He asked if he should come back later. WELL WHAT THE —- DO YOU THINK . Anyway, I am always looking for info to improve my game, what worked, what did you try and what would you do different next year?

My birds shut down last Sunday. I have not seen them out in the open since Saturday AM. I decided to sleep in this week. My “rookie” season was a success for me. One bird in Skonny and two missed opportunities in MN. Can’t complain. Lots to learn yet and already excited about next spring’s season.

Fish:

Very cool to hear how your season has been going, and with a positive attitude and interest in getting better, I’m sure it won’t be long until you’re skewering your fair share of them. No doubt, Minnesota’s 5 day seasons and the late MN bow season both make it somewhat difficult to get the job done. For a first ever shot at it, having two opportunities, shots or not, is how I’d measure your success. It’s one of the bigger challenges we have in the upper midwest for hunting, rivaled only by big-buck hunting IMO just because there are so few compared to gobblers.

Ever get rid of the dekes? They cost me at least one bow bird this year had I been able to shoot straight. I’m sure for others, dekes were the difference in getting them theirs.

Joel

If the deer rut lasted 6 weeks like turkey season does. I think I would hunt myslef to death.

what a tough season. Missed two and had 100000 close calls and seen tons of strutters every outing Im starting to believe that one turkey eye is heat sensored and the other is x-ray. I can’t count how many times i got picked out through brush, in the blind, etc.

And they say turkey’s can’t pick out blinds…..

How do you feel about that protour!

Isn’t it ironic, now that the season closed last night… My birds were back in their spot this morning, 1st time all week.

Sad it’s over but glad it’s over . Been a good season, 4 states and 5 birds, all with a bow and out of a blind.
Now I can focus on dropping theon a big old bruin.

Quote:

---

4 states and 5 birds, all with a bow and out of a blind.

---

Quote:

---

How do you feel about that protour!

---

On Thursday night i ended up hanging a stand in the roost because i didn’t want them to be spooked by the blind. The stand was on the opposite side of the tree where one strutter came from with thick buckthorn surrounding me and i STILL got picked out

I hear ya Fish509 – I’m tired too. I hunted a lot this year – 3 states (MT, WI and MN) and had a very memorable season (killed a tom in each state). My MN tom was with my bow and I called in another bow kill for a friend.

Some keys to our success is to really limit the amount of light in your blind and dress in black. Set your blind up in your backyard in the direct sunlight and have a friend pull your bow back or video tape yourself. You will be amazed what you see and don’t see. You may have to make some modifications to your bow or to your blind.

I try and shoot through a mesh screen when bowhunting in a blind (mechanical broadheads work just fine too). This will help out when you need to pull your bow back.

When bowhunting, I also like using 5 decoys. I place a full strut tom with a bedded hen off to one side and a jake with 2 hens (alert and feeding) off to the other side. My philosophy is that if the dominant tom shows up, he will go after the full strutter. If a subordinate tom shows up, then then hopefully he will go after the jake. I’ve used this set up for two years now and its working pretty good. Yes – I’ve also had some toms not approach at all, but the majority have committed (8 kills).

You’ve had a great year Brad!