Gear is dusted off and ready

ull


Beer of choice this evening.

Not me, but good luck to you.

I need to wait until Wedsday.   Good luck

I had to look twice - your pile of gear looks just like mine right now.  Same boots too.

My son and I are ready to go.

 

Been on stand since 5:30. First I was sweating, now I'm freezing. Haven't seen or heard a single deer. Neither has dad or cousin. We hunt my cousin's 190acre farm and this is first opening day that I remember not seeing at LEAST a doe by the afternoon. Probably only heard 3-4 shots all day so far, usually sounds like WWIII on opening day.


Guess all the deer are on strike.  Good luck everyone, be safe.

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In my stand now. Been here since 5. Saw a half rack 4 point. Passed on him. I saw nothing else, except sleet and rain all day. Enough sleet to cover the ground. My hunting buddy got a nice 8 PT and 2 doe. Its friggin freezing now! I dressed well but the temps really dropped.

Just got back from a two week fishing trip to Emerald Isle NC.

I had zero envy for the guys out there today.  It looked miserable out.  I'll be heading up to my buddy's property in Mercer county later this week, and it looks like the weather is shaping up to be the same as it was today.

Was at my buddies camp in Clarion for the weekend/opening day.

Saw 5 doe, a spike (standing under my stand) and a four point.

Was in my stand from before sun up until around 5:00, got pretty cold, no rain or sleet, just windy.

May head up there again on Saturday, that or I'll go hunt with a buddy in Slippery Rock.

ETA:There were 6 guys and one youth at camp, nobody shot a deer.
       Hardly any shooting in the surrounding areas, which is odd, there's usually a lot of shooting.

I hunt on a friends farm north of Carrolltown.  Hunters on two sides of us managed to kill a few bucks, with one guy a couple hundred yards from me bagging a huge buck (heard the shot and saw them dragging it out), by 8 am the rain was so nasty I left my tree stand and hunkered down at my secondary spot. By 2pm i had to throw on another layer of gear because the temp had dropped and the freezing rain turned into snow.

I saw a total of about 15 deer, mostly Doe, youngsters, and a couple little bucks. Weather really made it a pain in the rear and definitely affected what the local critters did, I normally see a few right before sun down, and that is when I normally get my deer, but, this year they stayed put.  I'll be out pretty much every other day at least so there's plenty of time to fill some tags.

Took this pic right after freezing rain started to stick to the ground. Made it easier to see the critters as they ran though the woods.

Today (Tuesday) was impressively miserable.
Was either rained on, sleeted on, snowed on, iced on from about 8am on.
Property owner put on a deer drive both yesterday and today so I think most got pushed off.  Nothing killed yesterday on the drive, today a nice 8 point and a doe were taken.

Personally all I saw yesterday was does and spikes.  Today it was a doe, spike (different from Monday), fork horn, three point, unknown buck with large bright white antlers, and a super scrubby 6 point.

 

I went out to a new spot Thursday afternoon, near home, but, it was pretty dead other than a shitload of turkeys raising hell. Most of my buddies have bailed on Hunting tomorrow (Sat) because of the weather. I may still head out in the afternoon and try to catch the deer when they hit the farm around sun down.

I can hunt every day next week so i am not stressed about missing the first day of Doe.

Man, I can't wait to hit the farm on Monday. No freaking rain!

I went to my buddies place in Slippery Rock on Saturday. We were in our stands before it got light, it rained pretty hard until around 8:00, saw two doe after it quit raining.

Decided to get out of my stand and do some walking around about 10:00, nothing.

We hit a couple of other spots in the area, didn't see anything. It started raining again around 1:00, sat in my stand until about 3:00 then had to head home.

I probably won't get to hunt on Saturday but I still have flintlock season, which is my favorite time of year!

This first week made me really happy to have killed a buck in archery. :) I may go set a few evenings and try for a long range doe. Don't think i will be taking any shots under 500 yards. Those damn deer sit so tight when it is cold and rainy. You really need to root them out. I have seen deer in the past in weather like this that will be within 10 yards of a hunter and if they think the hinter doesn't see them they won't move. This week looks a little better. Good luck all.