Archery Talk

"For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the man was lost."

Effen' nail...

 

Smoked a little piggy yesterday. The herd caught me off guard and had to shoot the little guy on the run. It was pretty bad shot placement but thankfully dropped him in his tracks

momma sow leading the pack was well over 400lbs

 

It's never too early to get your junk.

 

Never too early.
If you waited till fall you may not find them.

 

There is some very good stuff on Walmart's clearance aisles about this time of year. I am still using Sport Wash that my wife bought en masse off that aisle about twenty years ago for $1/bottle. Once found a bunch of Zoom lizards there. Are they crazy? There is always archery stuff this time of year too. Just gotta' keep checking back.

 

I've been on the prowl for cheap trail cameras so I'm not too mad when they are inevitably stolen. No luck yet

 

Pony up for two that sends pics into the cloud immediately. For this purpose, focus each on the other such that any attempt on either will be recorded by the other and sent to the cloud for your retrieval. Then go find your culprit, charge and prosecute. Or, do what I did: Leave a laminated note easily observable between the tree and the camera. It should read:

"You have been photographed as you walked into this area, and up to this camera. Your pictures are already in the cloud. Same for the parking area. There is/are another camera(s) around, strategically positioned to capture anyone that might venture in here and steal any of them. If you can find all of them, (and how will you know that you have found ALL of them?) then you have a decision to make: Do I steal them and get caught? With assistance from (insert your local Parks and Wildlife name here) we are intent on finding out who is stealing trail cams in this area. Risking this camera is a price I am willing to pay to know the identity of the person who stole from me. Know that I am well motivated, and so is the state. Any cameras you find MAY be the property of the state. SO...I suggest that if you can't find all of them, maybe you should leave this one alone and haul your ass."

My game warden buddy up in the Davy Crockett National Forest told me that they have "lipstick"-type stealth cams that they use all the time to multiply their efforts. He said that these are seldom discovered. They are labeled well so that if they are found the person knows that they are stealing investigative equipment from the state, a state felony. He is a good friend, but he wouldn't even show me one. He's a game warden first and foremost, and a good friend second. And that's the way I want my state's game wardens to be: By the book. I wondered that because he wouldn't show me one if they really had them. Later I found that he was indeed telling the truth: I know this is true because my wife pulled up a real estate sales sign and threw it into the woods on the property across the street from our house. We don't want anyone to clear or develop it. Less than six hours later a different game warden was in our driveway confronting her (and me) with pictures of her doing it. The real estate agent was his girlfriend, and the other real estate agents out here had been stealing her competitive signs. So, he was using these state-issued stealth cams to monitor some of her signs. (We later became friends, because I later thanked him for awarding me, for JUST ONCE, her recognition and acceptance that FOR THAT MOMENT I held the irrevocable and UNQUESTIONABLE, UNPROTESTABLE absolute moral high ground over her, the first time in 36 years of marriage, if but only for a fleeting moment.)

 

Realistically I feel like it would be near impossible to find someone even if you did get a picture of their face on trail camera. That is also a lot of trouble I’d like to avoid.

The trick in my opinion is put them up high so they are out of the line of sight and impossible to get without a way to reach 12’ or so in a tree. Another good trick is use bailing wire instead of straps on them. I find I almost always see the strap before the camera and bailing wire is almost invisible.

Also as much as it would be nice to have cell cameras to know exactly when a deer is where in real time the cams are 100$ on the low end and another 5$ a month vs a 28$ camera if I but a new one at full price. Can cover a lot more area for the same price with cheaper cams and don’t have to sweat it as much if they are stolen.

 

Oh. I assumed you were already locking them to the tree and they still got stolen. Listen, stealing is stealing in my book. But if you are not going to take steps to prevent it, by the Grace of God you go. At least get a $12 bicycle wire rope lock and secure the camera around the tree. For this investment of only $12 more you don't have to experience re-occurring $28.

I've had a climbing stand stolen from me back in the 80's, before I started locking them to the tree. (They did me a favor. Sitting in that Amaker was torture.) Not a single one stolen since then, and on public land too. And as far as experiencing enjoyment from being outdoors, the pursuit and successful prosecution of someone that has stolen from you is more motivating and rewarding than hunting. I don't remember how the conversation started, but a game warden once told me, "You hunt deer. I do too on my off days, but I enjoy hunting people that break the law even more." Must be nice to have a job that you enjoy more than your two days off!

Most of all though, if you have hunter traffic through your area, find another area that doesn't. Make an investment of your time and distance that others are not willing to sacrifice.

 

Sunday morning they are here like clockwork. Three of the yearlings are nubbin' bucks. We feed them every day when others stop after hunting season so that the little ones make it to Spring:



Doe's thousand yard stare down the golf course. Drama!


It's the matriarchal doe's son, the little one in the middle, bringing his punk-ass friend and some little whore he met in a deer bar last night to the family food plot to eat Sunday morning breakfast. And he didn't call and ask Mom first!


Mom's ain't happy about it, not one bit. And if Mom ain't happy, nobody's happy. That's the son by the tree, the one with the "Oh, shit. I done gone and fucked up and pissed Mom off again" look on his face. You know, "that look" Mom can give you and in an instant you KNOW that you done fucked up. Again. Yeah, if you didn't know, that's what your face looks like at that moment.


Screw them bitches! Mark this so they know it's ours now!


I've seen Mom in action. She will whip some buck ass! Shit in her kids and grandkids kitchen? The ending to this story has yet to be written.

 

Whats everyone's experience or opinion on thermacell's for keeping the skeeters off you? I am the kind of person that if there is a skeeter within a 10 square mile radius, it will find me and it will bite me. While hog hunting, one of the days got up to 70 degrees and the mosquitos were horrific inside the ground blind that was also sitting in a flooded field.

 

@StayinStock is on their "Pro-Staff"

 

I've got one, they do work but they also give off a smell so you have to use them with the wind.

 

I figured that they would definitely have a scent to them. Rarely would I be in a situation where I wasn't hunting the wind so I dont think that would be an issue. Honestly I think that Id rather sit and not see a damn thing, than I would see something but be so distracted by mosquitos that I couldn't take a shot.. or sit still enough to have something come in without it being spooked.

 

Thermacells are the only bug repellant I have used in a long time. I think they work well under the right conditions but in my opinion when there is a breeze it messes it all up and you have to figure out how far up wind to put it for it to work. I haven’t ever used one hunting and probably haven’t used one more than a few times in the past 3 or so years.

I never got big bites really bad and I think some combination of that plus lots of exposure from hunting, working at summer camps and as a backpacking guide made me kind of immune because I haven’t had any major bug bites since early summer really. I get one or two every once in a while but it isn’t near as bad as it was.

I think another thing is if you can bear it I am convinced that if you don’t swat the bugs away and let them leave on their own when they are done you don’t get bug bites afterward. Something about a numbing thing they use that we are allergic to then a neutralizer before they leave on their own that cancels the number we are allergic to.

Edit: I remembered they also apparently make earth scented or something like that thermacell pads that might be worth a check but I would still play the wind

 

Yea man I was a wilderness guide in the appalachians for nearly 5 years.. I can deal with bugs.. but can’t deal with bugs and still sit still and be silent.

in about 2.5 hours I had over 30 bites on my body lol

 

I agree with that even not getting itchy and everything afterward it is near impossible to not swat at them. The hardest ones are when they fly into your ear. I guess most of the time I spend 30 minutes swatting at them and when it inevitably doesn’t help I just end up letting them do their thing. Being higher in a tree also helps the bugs not be as bad and you can get away with moving a little more

 

Yea I’ve never had a problem in a ladder stand or elevated blind. This particular time it was a ground blind sitting in some river bottom muck in my back field.

 

It was almost nothing but standing water lol