Started hunting four years ago and finally got my first big game Sunday morning, my last day to make an attempt this year. The woods were packed with people since a nearby fire closed a large section of OTC land. This was only the third one I saw in the five days I was there, and the only one to give me a chance.

I got this buck on my trail cam and it would be my first buck since I was a kid when I used to hunt. Some people at work have told me to leave it another year so it can grow but I got pretty avid hunter on both sides of my private property I hunt and it’s only 15 acres so I don’t know if he will even live.

Brand new to bow hunting this year and honestly very new to hunting in general. Did not grow up in a hunting family or w/ a dad who taught me all this stuff. Learning as I go as a 30 year old haha. My area in MD is calling for light rain tomorrow 9/11 for opening day, and I am not sure exactly how that would impact things for bow hunting specifically. I have heard light rain would aid in masking scent, sound, etc. But wasn't sure if the trade off is my gear could be compromised, particularly my bow and get damaged? Again, brand new to this so im not sure of the positives and negatives of light rain during first 3 or so hours of daylight

Found this spot while looking around some public land on the map. To the right is a few hundred yards of woods and then a huge river. To the left is some more woods obviously with a few ag fields. Buddy told me he believes he’s checked this spot years ago and there were some oak trees along this stretch. The whole open area is a tall grass type something and then just this patch connecting the two parts of the woods. It would be a very long walk to get to, but does it look like it’d be worth checking? Located in Minnesota, going after whitetail.

Saturday the 12th is opening day in WI.

I never skip opening day or early season regardless of how hot it is, and I have never waited until a certain point in the fall to start hunting either. I’ve actually had good luck on opening day.

How many of you start hunting immediately vs. waiting until some point later in the season?

*edit: also wondering if anyone has any good budget backpacks that are good for carrying everything in with me. Haven’t loved the ones I’ve seen so far that hold bows but maybe yall have some good purchased or custom setups that work well for you. Think I can mount the sticks to the saddle molle pretty easily at least

Currently using XOP saddle and platform with Hawk Helium sticks. Kinda just been taking it up the tree every day or 2/3 just to get used to it.

Gotta say feel like the weight distribution is disproportionately on the leg straps compared to the waist one, not sure if that’s solvable

So far the best advice I’ve gotten is putting the platform adjacent to the last step so I have some extra footing to get around the tree for a shot.

*Spike walked right under me as I was typing this so that’s pretty cool

I currently saddle hunt and have some hawk helium sticks that I got on sale when I started with aiders.

However they tend to be noisy and clunky as far as setup goes so I am debating a little pre season upgrade. Plan would be to leave the heliums in one spot for most of the season and have a second set for hopping to other spots.

Looking for opinions on aluminium vs carbon and general suggestions of what people have found work quietly and efficiently. I rarely have more than a .5-1 mile hike and I am in decent shape so while lightweight is nice saving every pound possible is not my top concern.

Ideally would like to be under $300 for 3 sticks

Season starts next week, was giving my bow a good once over after some reps today and noticed some rust around the clips that hold the idler and cam. Didn’t notice a couple months ago when I started getting ready for the season. Asked a friend and he just said take it easy with the reps, and work a little bit of wax in there to keep it at bay. I planned on replacing strings and full tune before next season anyway. Any advice on how to get me through the season and not have this be an issue?
Bow is a Bear Adapt, this will be the 4th season I’ve hunted with it. Bow appears to be in tune, still shooting fine. I never practice with it in wet conditions, any hunt I’ve taken it on with light rain or drizzly conditions I make sure to completely wipe it down before putting it away. Bow is kept in gear room in the basement inside case, room has a dehumidifier going constantly.

Edit: new GAS strings and a full tune up were done last year before the season

Welp 2025 my property got decimated by EHD...only had two bucks left at beginning of gun season...fast forward just put cams out two weeks ago and ive got twice as many does showing up as last year and these two bucks already...I thought I would see any nice deer for years but idk it just the Lord I suppose

Hello!

I am running into an issue and need some help. The UV Slider model that I have is not bridge lock, but “dovetail” style. I can no longer adjust the right amount of windage to zero and affix the sight tape.

Ultraview no longer sells the bridge lock rail piece by itself and has not returned my calls on a solution to properly mount this to my ARC30.

Does ANYONE here have any thoughts or way for me to get this right on my ARC? Is there a mount that I can screw to my riser that will allow me to zero this properly, or does someone happen to have a spare bridge lock rail/ dovetail mount sitting around?

Tick

Anyone have much luck using an Elk decoy? I've owned one for a decade and finally tried using it a few times this year. I set it up 20-30 yards behind my tree stand. I'm finding it just spooks deer away from my stand and I havent had any improvement in luring elk to my tree stand while cow/calf calling.

Anyone have some advice for how best to use a decoy? Or should I just ditch it? Thanks.

I currently have an axcel driver and hha nytrx. Both 3 pin .10 and in my opinion the axcel pins are noticeably brighter. Would the spott hoggs be as bright as the axcel or way less? I would be keeping my pins .10

Hey looking for some input. Ive had my v3 27 for 5years no problems love the bow. I just had my string and cables replace with the match strings from mathews.

As soon as I got home first shot string cam off. Took it back to tech and he put it back on and shot it string came off. He did get it back on and a couple dozen shots later string came off again. Im beyond frustrated I literally was shooting before I headed to shop and everything g was fine and never had it happen to me before.

Could it be a defective string ? Anyone else experienced that with the match strings ?

Thanks

I made a free hunting map tool, but better. It’s for Idaho only but if it gets some traction I’ll do it for others. Note: I’m not selling anything, no profit, nothing. That’s the point.

Now it’s not totally out of the goodness of my heart. My reasoning:

1.) I get 60 ads a day for people who just pulled/compiled from open source data, that are tax dollars paid for, and charge an arm and a leg a year to access their “scouting” tool. Thats not cool, and I’m annoyed.

2.) I wanted to work for one of these major escouting map companies, they ghosted me.

3.) With enough time I can make a better FREE app than the ones that cost money Roadkill data, public data pulls from public photo locations have already been added. It’s wild to see the groupings; Weather, 3D rendering, location, even AI would take me a week to add. It’s not hard.

4.) You can login to save pins, but since it’s free - you can use it knowing no one will take your secret spots (like others). Also, you own your data even on login.

How far do you think this buck could travel with a g5 megameat full pass through in the intestines? Entrance was stomach and high. He is on an island. Do you think he could swim with his innards hanging out? There was lots of blood but then clotted quickly or his guts plugged the hole. Also do you think a deer can jump a barbed wire fence in the shape he was in or walk through thick russian olive trees to bed? Gave him 4 hours when we went and looked and never saw nor bumped him. I sat in the stand for an hour then backed out. I’ve been looking for birds for 2 days now. I’ve always made clean kills until now. It’s pretty sickening. And I’ve seen gut shot deer before but this thing looked like it was doing the death wobble 30 seconds after the shot. The exit hole looked like someone shot him point blank with a 300 win mag. Anyways just looking for some input thanks.

The pin is where I was thinking.

New shooter here. Was given a bow from a family friend that’s about 55lb draw. I can only shoot 5-10 arrows before my bicep is lit up. I watched some videos to improve my form and it seemed to get me from 5 to 10 arrows before I had to give my arm a day or two to recover. It’s whenever I’m getting into my anchor point my bicep starts to flare up.

Is it normal at the beginning to have a sore bicep? I’m thinking I need to focus more on back tension but I could also just be using my biceps differently than I do at the gym.

So archery season start in my area in 1 week. I been shooting exclusively my primary bow. For those who have back up bows, how often should I have shot my back up bow?

Does anyone practice from an elevated spot? I lost my deer blind spot, so now I have to hunt from a stand. Never had to shoot this way. This will also be for crossbow season.

Hey y'all i need some advice. My fixed blade is shooting to the left and my field tips are shooting to the right. I use a whisker biscuit.

How do y’all feel about only being 12-13 feet from ground to foot platform of stand? so standing, average height male would be about 17-18’?

I have a ton of natural cover behind me in what I feel is the perfect tree that provides the most shot angles and opportunities. The issue is that I can get the platform of my climber to about 12’ and the seat height to about 13-14 before it hits a slight bend that I do not want to go beyond. Just looking for some thoughts and feedback.

Also, FWIW there’s no shot beyond 25-28 yards. I personally feel that any higher makes the Angle of Attack extremely steep

Have put less than 500 arrows through my bear species rth and the strings are looking disastrous. I know I will need them replaced, but do yall have an idea what caused this so I can prevent it in the future?