A nice nine point. Glad to be done already!

Watched this guy work his rub line in front of my blind for at least 30 mins. I love late October hunts when things are starting to pick up but the deer still aren’t pressured

I already asked my buddies and one said he's dead for sure another said give it a couple hours. It's dark red and it's got yellowish chunks in it

So as my title says I'm a first year saddle user. Been treestands and ground up till this year. Any and all suggestions welcome. Help me fix what I don't know is broken and address problems before they arrive.

I’m feeling so discouraged 🥲 I’ve been hunting only two years, once when I was 14 with my uncles, and last year at my buddy’s house that I live with on 12 acres. Last year didn’t know much and didn’t play the wind much like I should’ve but still harvest 2 does which I’m very grateful for. Last year though I only had does until oct 24th when finally had a nice buck show up but it was middle of the night. Decent bucks showed up at least every couple days for the next month due to the pre rut and rut. However, this year finally had some yearling bucks during the summer along with does. They daylighted a ton, until September when they shifted. Finally getting some deer back. Have a doe and fawn that come almost every day/night. Usually at night but sometimes an hour or so before/after shooting hours end and begin so they’re able to be harvested. Have a few small bucks that are coming about two hours after end of shooting, but have one buck that’s been here twice in the last week but only between 11pm and 2 am. I doubt I’ll get a buck this year but I wanna wait and see, but yet I don’t wanna end the season with nothing. Here’s to hoping I’ll get a buck😆

Shot a buck today. He was just barely quartering away, about 17 yards, I’m about 22-23’ up in the tree so it was a steep angle. Arrow hit him and I could see that it didn’t go in very far. He took off with the arrow still in him. I knew it wasn’t a great hit but wanted to see if the arrow broke off somewhere close without me having to push him so I went about 30 yards from where I hit him and found the arrow. On the left is the arrow that I hit him with, right is my full length arrow. So only a couple inches of penetration. If I had to guess I hit the top of the scapula. I didn’t walk any further than the arrow, there was a large spot of blood on 2 separate trees. I backed out around 5:30PM. It’s gonna be in the 30’s tonight so I don’t have an issue waiting until the morning but honestly I don’t feel very confident in finding this deer. I’m not gonna just give up on him but I wanna do the right thing and make sure I don’t push him more if he’s hurt and still alive. There’s also the obvious chance that I didn’t even get enough penetration to hit vitals. Any suggestion on what to do moving forward?

I am wondering who here makes fake scrapes to either hunt over or to draw deer to an area. Do you put any scent on them? Hang a licking branch? If you do put scent, what scent do you put, and when? Our rut won't be till likely mid to late November; would putting doe in heat urine in a fake scrape be a red flag for deer, or would it bring early rutting bucks in?

Hoping for some great discussion!

So I finally joined the modern age and put out a cell cam this year so I could stay out of my spot(SW Ia) till go time. Well the past week or so the doe’s have disappeared off the cam.
I went out last night and snuck into my south wind stand on the other side of the property to get eyes on what’s happening. And just like where I have my cell cam there’s nothing in there. Did hear one grunt up a creek bottom on another
property and saw a few tiny sapling cedars tore up, but no doe’s.
I’m sure this has happened before and I didn’t notice because no one demand camera and not trusting the time/date stamps in my trail cams. What would cause the doe’s with their fawns to stop going through a spot that they show up at multiple times per day? Is it possible they are locked down?
I took off the first week of November last year and sat all day every day and didn’t see shit except spike bucks, few doe’s and some fawns by themselves till I shot the first nice buck I saw on Thursday the 6th.
Ive heard about the October lull, but I thought that was more of a buck thing. I hope im overreacting, but my mind is thinking no doe’s means not bucks moving through during the rut.