How has Everyone’s Hunting Season at Home been?

Congratulations Aaron!
 
Last week my 7 year old son and I spent a wonderful week bow hunting with my farther and brother in northern Michigan. Our buck to doe ratio is out of wack so we don't have any issues taking a doe, on the last day of the hunt the good Lord placed a nice doe 40 yards from the stand but he also placed a small branch 30 yards in front of the same doe. We never did find that crossbow bolt but fortunately it was a clean miss so the only thing hurt was my pride. Around camp we call that "Choking in the face of Venison".

This was Trip's 3rd hunting season with me and I have to tell you, you have no idea what you can get away with in a tree stand until you hunt with a small child. Three times during the week Trip turned to me and whispered "Daddy I have to use the bathroom" each time we had deer in the food plot 60 yards in front of us, all 3 times he let fly over the side of the stand and all 3 times the deer never moved.

This years hunt also marked my 39 consecutive year of hunt with my father (@Shootist43). I have lived in Kansas City for the last 22 years but every fall I leave the land of big deer and return to Northern Michigan to hunt with my father. Hunting for us is about spending time with family and passing on this wonder sport to our children.

Hunting gear has changed a lot since the days of white cotton long johns when I was 14, layers of fleece and an Ipad with head phones make all the difference in the world when hunting with little kids.

Trip tells me he wants to try hog hunting next year, I'm sure I'll make that happen.

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Going back to Spring turkey season. My first time taking both my boys together. 6 and 8 at the time.
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160 Whitetail deer reviewed with the binos and spotting scope and there was absolutely nothing I am willing to tag on opening day. Great fun looking.

This is the best trophy from opening day. First shots with a .22. Only 7 more years to wait for his own hunting license. Until then, I have an enthusiastic spotter.

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Last week my 7 year old son and I spent a wonderful week bow hunting with my farther and brother in northern Michigan. Our buck to doe ratio is out of wack so we don't have any issues taking a doe, on the last day of the hunt the good Lord placed a nice doe 40 yards from the stand but he also placed a small branch 30 yards in front of the same doe. We never did find that crossbow bolt but fortunately it was a clean miss so the only thing hurt was my pride. Around camp we call that "Choking in the face of Venison".

This was Trip's 3rd hunting season with me and I have to tell you, you have no idea what you can get away with in a tree stand until you hunt with a small child. Three times during the week Trip turned to me and whispered "Daddy I have to use the bathroom" each time we had deer in the food plot 60 yards in front of us, all 3 times he let fly over the side of the stand and all 3 times the deer never moved.

This years hunt also marked my 39 consecutive year of hunt with my father (@Shootist43). I have lived in Kansas City for the last 22 years but every fall I leave the land of big deer and return to Northern Michigan to hunt with my father. Hunting for us is about spending time with family and passing on this wonder sport to our children.

Hunting gear has changed a lot since the days of white cotton long johns when I was 14, layers of fleece and an Ipad with head phones make all the difference in the world when hunting with little kids.

Trip tells me he wants to try hog hunting next year, I'm sure I'll make that happen.

View attachment 207958

Going back to Spring turkey season. My first time taking both my boys together. 6 and 8 at the time. View attachment 207968

Good job on teaching them young guys!
 
I wrote about my mule deer and the crossbow. No luck with elk yet. Got 3 Pronghorn. Got a buck 2nd day of the season. No big story. Found a hot doe with 4 mature bucks interested in her. Got out of the truck and walked a few feet to take the one with the most mass. A week later took my son and his girlfriends boy out for a couple of doe antelope. First one was an easy sneak. About 110 yds and first one down. Made several other stalks and did no good. Antelope can get spooky. then we spotted a herd bedded out of the wind where we could get in to 140 yds and got our 2nd one. Just meat hunts, but fun to get out.
Bruce
 
I seen a bull moose while moose hunting ....but we only had a cow tag ! Next week starts the rifle hunt for whitetail ... maybe I'll have something to report then .
Glen
 
Congrats to all the hunters so far! I struck out during bow season, but rifle opens Saturday.
 
Sitting in my stand right now, for the third time this year. Still haven’t seen anything.

I thought I walked by you the other day.
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Here in the England the doe season started on the 1 of November. So I began our fallow doe cull here's the result of the first two days.
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My wife had to ring the restaurant we booked last night and alter our booking for a later table as I was still sorting the carcase's. Luckily it was my Birthday !
 
This year we were allowed to hunt turkeys in the fall for the first time and myself and the better half tagged out right at the beginning of the fall season.

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I was talking to one of my Army buddies at work about the hunt and as is typical of guys in the service who move around a lot it can be tough to find a place to hunt, so I invited him to join me ... he asked if could take his twelve year old daughter out with us as this was her first season of hunting. We got her out in the spring and couldn't connect but we made up for it in the fall season! After her hunt I asked her to write up the story ... so here it is in her own words:)


It all started with the most important thing… preparation. I practiced shooting with my dad whenever we had the chance and we always prepared all our clothes and equipment properly to make sure that we were comfortable. Even before I got my license I went out turkey hunting with my dad to watch him and practice. The first season where I got my license it was spring and we saw two jakes. Not giant ones, but not smalls ones either. We waited for fifteen minutes to see if they would come into shooting range. They didn’t. And that was the end of my first turkey hunt.

The next time I went it was the fall season. The weekend before I shot my first turkey, I went turkey hunting in a blind. I woke up around 4:30 in the morning and when I and a friend of my dad’s were finally ready it was the very beginning of legal hunting time. We waited and waited then we heard turkey calls. They were calling each other and then a couple minutes later three hens came in. I put my gun in place, I aimed, I shot and... I missed. They flew away and never came back.

A week after that I went hunting again. We had prepared everything the night before and we were all ready to go in minutes. We went out and waited. And nothing happened. No calls, no turkeys, no nothing. After that we went back home and decided we’d go out a bit later. When it was time to go we got ready and set up in a different spot. We waited for at most an hour and a half. And then a turkey showed up. It was a small hen, but then right behind came another hen. And another. In all there were about 5 to 6 hens, and we think there was still a couple more farther behind. I slowly took aim and shot. Right on target. All the other turkeys flew away and all that was left was the one. I was so excited. We quickly went over to make sure it was dead. It was. It was so exciting. We waited for our other hunting friends to come. We took some pictures and went home early. No better way to end a hunt. (;



P.S. Thank you very much for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. It was a moment of a lifetime and I’m extremely grateful. You are both very kind. Thank you very much.



Abigail is a 12-year old hunter from Ontario, Canada

I am pretty impressed with this young lady, makes me think there is hope for the future yet:) She definitely has an open invitation for next season!

Here she is with her dad who also managed to connect that day!

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Busted a bunch of dove in TX opening weekend. Knocked down a nice Aoudad ram with @gizmo. Hope to get back out to the Rockin’ G for some deer & turkey hunting in December. Eventually, the ducks will migrate south.
 
Been bow hunting for 9 seasons now, I've shot 4 does and missed a buck back in 2011 that I misjudged the distance on.
Well this year paid off. Have a stand I have been hunting for 3 years now that I have passed on several smaller bucks at (land I hunt has 15inch inside spread limit), pretty sure I saw this deer several times there last year.
First afternoon hunting this season he walked out about 5 minutes before dark right at 20 yards broadside, 30 seconds later it was all over when I heard him crash down 75 yards away. Still living off the excitement!
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Nice buck!
 

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