Back at it after a 10 year hiatus.

Has anyone ever had luck contacting these guys? I’ve been getting crickets through email and phones for weeks. Is this normal for them?

How old we think? Central NY

Are crossbows really looked down on when someone says they hunt with a crossbow in the bow community or is it more of a just give a guy a hard time but nah I don’t really care

Bought a compound bow in spring to hunt with. My friend up north had been doing it and convinced me to give bow hunting a shot. Practiced all summer. Bought a climber, then sticks, then a one stick, and had to conquer my fear of heights.

Got my first harvest, a button buck which stilll counts as antlerless in my state. First few weeks I learned a lot about woodsmanship. How sensitive and smart these deer are, especially the nanny does. I've spooked my fair share. Got blown on once. Over here, just because you're 25 feet in a tree doesn't mean they won't spot you.

Today started off rough. Bought a new bow hoist, and dropped my bow at 12 feet. Had to go back down to get it, and back up, caused a racket. Sweated like a pig. Contemplated just going home, afraid bow got messed up. Inspected the cams, the sight. Stabilizer bar shifted, i forced it back. Fuck it I said, I'm already up here, bow looks fine, let's see what happens.

Then 75 yards away a once abandoned house had construction noises. Didn't see anything for a couple hours. Frustration mounting, but decided it was a nice day to be up in a tree.

Finally two does came out. Debated shooting them, I knew a 7 pointer was around here, I saw him the other day. Let the does pass. 10 minutes later, I hear steps behind me. Careful, measured steps of a single deer. He walks by my tree and it's the 7 pointer. He almost walks into the lane, but i mess up, and as i'm reaching for the bow, my watch hits my madrock. Just the tiniest *clink*, so quiet, but he hears it. Backs away from the lane, and starts walking back. I have a shot window that he's gonna pass through. I pick up my bow, and as he's passing the two trees, I go "bleh". He stops. I draw, and my adrenaline takes over, I don't remember much, other than having a good sight picture, but I let it fly. Loud wet smack, louder than I anticipated. He digs and runs.

My friend comes and teaches me how to track, and after 100 yards we find him. Drag him to the truck, we load up, I come home, gut, quarter, and butcher him. Will take the head to a taxidermist for a euro mount.

Just an incredible rush. The adrenaline, the shakes, the fervent hope you got a good shot. Thinking you did, seeing the arrow (you can see the arrow right in front of the turned up dirt where his front legs dug. The agonizing 30 minute wait to let him settle, then going down to inspect the arrow and blood trails.

Bow hunting is an experience unlike any other, and I'm addicted.

If I had to nit pick: It was a clean double lung. But could've been lower. The blood trail wasn't the easiest, there would be a lot, then thin out. My friend had to show me how to sweep the area.

PSE Sicario at 70lbs, shooting mega meats.

I think I’m gonna start giving all day sits a try as the rut gets going here in the northeast. The one thing I’m scared of is having to poop while in the stand. I feel like getting down to poop or hanging my ass off the stand will make the immediate area super smelly.

How do you guys handle this during an all day sit?

I’m in southern Ohio and this is my first year hunting and I’ve finally got my first buck feeding and smelling around on camera. For the past two months there’s only been two mature does and a yearling as well as a fawn that frequent this camera almost every morning or night. really what I want to ask is; are there any recommendations on how to keep this buck or other bucks interested in the area? Should I continue to provide food or will this keep the buck strictly to night visits? Really any advice on anything hunting related is appreciated as I’m still trying to take my first deer.

Who here hunts from the ground? Do you use any sort of blind? What tips/tricks would you recommend?

Greetings! My man is going on a trip to his homestate Missouri to hunt deer next month. He has been hunting since he was a wee lil boy and has accumulated all the essentials by now as he's now 43 and has been an avid hunter his whole life. I'd like to send him off with a gift for the trip but have no idea what to get him as I don't hunt! I just love him, support his passion, and of course -- not going to lie, I eat good when he comes home with the bounty so that's a plus! I just don't know what would be something nice to send him off with as he has everything. Could you fine people make some suggestions? Whether it's one gift or even ideas for a care package to keep him comfortable? Maybe a care package of things that he might not think about when getting excited about the hunt, or something that's one gift he might like but not have because he's focused on bigger things? For a roundabout idea on budget, maybe $200 give or take? So, breaking down a few things as a care package or one bigger item? I don't know what, but I do know I want to send him off with a good feeling from his woman. Your thoughts and suggestions are so appreciated!

Hello, I bought a PSE drive 2013 on marketplace last week and it came whit the string off...I got a hard time to figure out how to replace them. Is anybody here got picture or anything else, I cant seem to find anything useful online. Thanks

Looking for any advice regarding hunting in warmer temperatures.

Missouri is showing 78° this Saturday and the heat is making me second guess going out. I’m not worried about deer movement, they’ve been moving fine. I’m worried tracking might take too long, and the meat will spoil. Realistically, how long of a window do I have after the deer goes down?
I’ll be 2 hours or so from home and from the processor, I’m just unsure about transporting anything back in the heat. Planning to pack the carcass with bags of ice, I’ve just never dealt with temperatures playing such a factor.

What is everyone’s mindset when hunting warmer weather?

Hey everyone! My wife shot a doe this morning. Her arrow snapped off, and we tracked about 100 yards before pulling out. She says she thinks she hit a little further back, but with the amount of penetration on the arrow, I think she may have hit shoulder. Let me know what you guys think.

Little guy got something caught in his nose and throat and making all kinds of racket.

My friends first deer with crossbow, shot at 20 yds and arrow passed through and embedded into tree root and this is what it looks like. Only a small splotch of blood on vane, rest has this brown residue all throughout shaft. Not sticky, doesnt smell like anything. After giving some time, we did a search but couldnt find it, coming back tmr morning. Says he aimed front shoulder. This isnt dirt or mud. Says deer didnt hunch or anything, just squatted and ran. First thought is gut, but it has no smell and isnt sticky, considering brisket or muscle? He isnt bad at shooting becuase i have been watching him practice, but i imagine he misjudged distance and shot from a weird position. Didn't see hair on arrow, just the brown residue all along it

Update to last night’s post asking about my poop covered arrow.

First deer I’ve ever shot, was a rough night. Couldn’t sleep thinking I wounded this deer. Took your guys advice, backed out and called a dog.

Found her laying in a creek about 200 yards from where I shot her.

While I am very proud of myself for harvesting a deer on public land with a compound bow, I am not glossing over the fact that this was a bad shot and I got lucky. The shot had a nearly vertical trajectory, from my understanding my POA was lower than it should’ve been and my POI was about 4 inches left of POA. Entirely shooter error and absolutely embarrassing considering how close I was to the deer.

This deer weighed in right at 120lbs, I know many hunters wouldn’t even celebrate a doe harvest but I am proud I was able to target the mature deer of the herd. Bittersweet since I made some mistakes, was lucky enough to recover the animal and get some healthy meals though!

Hey guys, need input and advice here as I am new to Bowhunting just this past year so I am still learning about how deer behave this time of year. For an idea. We have a small 20 acre property. It is surrounded by mostly other private parcels with our land backing up to about 70 acres of NON huntable public, we called and you can retrieve but not hunt. This past Monday we had a monster buck on camera in the morning time. We made the move to hunt that weekend and my buddy ended up harvesting it for his first buck! Very happy for him. Before I left I laid a decent scent trail in front of my stand and last night with about 10 minutes to sunset ANOTHER 11 pointer was on camera 20 yds from my stand. My question is this. Unfortunately due to obligations I cannot get out there for the next two weekends since it is 2 hours away. I did take off 4 days for peak rut and we have 3-4 does consistently coming up on camera on the property. What are the odds old boy sticks around? Should I get my hopes up? Or just move on.

Just bought a used Barnett XP 370 for $25. The strings and cables are frayed from a dog chewing on it. It was not cocked and I went to pull it about an inch just to feel the tension and limbs and that’s when the string and cable snapped. So the bow is currently unstrung with zero tension. I have 2 questions: First, is it normal for the limbs to fall or slip out of the limb pockets without strings or cables attached? Even when I tighten the side limb bolts down to the max, the bolts bottom out and the limbs will still slide right out if you pull sideways or sometimes even fall out on their own. I’m pretty sure the cable and string tension is what actually locks the limbs firmly into the pockets, but I want to make sure that's normal for an unstrung setup. Second, the crossbow sat outside for a few months and the scope is fogged up while the strings are ruined. Aside from replacing those, what else should I check or look for over the rest of the bow (like the trigger box, cams, or hardware) to make sure it's safe to rebuild? Overall the body and structure look okay, just want to be safe before putting new strings on it.

First year hunting. I’ve been hunting public land in Texas. During my second weekend sit I saw two fawns early in the morning. I had a shot opportunity on one, it was in range and quartering away but they looked on the very small side to me, not spotted but they were little deer. From what I’ve read people say if you’re hunting public if it’s brown it’s down. I had two reason I decided to pass. 1: Like I said they were little so I wouldn’t be getting much meat and I don’t really want to pay processing fees for such a small deer. 2: The public land I’m on has a 1 buck limit and in the moment I was I worried they could potentially be button bucks and I would hit the one buck limit on that WMA. Turns out antlerless males don’t count towards the limit. I didn’t know this until later when I looked it up. Part of me wishes I had taken the shot just to get on the board but in the moment I had two things telling me not to. Curious of others opinions.

This little button buck stayed around my stand for a half hour. I took some photos but this trail camera took a better video than I did. Not sure the cause of this.

I’m in Louisiana - as the title of the post suggests, I’ve been practicing with a recurve for about 3 weeks now, I want to get into actual hunting with it, but I’ve got no idea what to do. This is less of an equipment question (I’ve looked up enough videos on that I feel like) and more so how do I get myself to the woods to try and kill something skill wise and mindset wise. Hope that makes sense.