Jlighty's first season in 20 years

[Jlighty]

Went out this afternoon to poke around. Was essentially still hunting without any weapon. Got into a really hot looking area in the woods that I have walked around but not through a hundred times. Was squatting there listening when I heard something moving towards me…a doe would have walked straight into me if I hadn't snapped a branch off the tree I was leaning against. I mean LITERALLY would have bumped into me. I broke the branch and whacked it against the tree a time or two and she took off. Stopped after about 50 yards and Gave me 4 or 5 snort wheezes so I'm pretty confident that she never really saw me. So cool. I absolutely love this stuff. It's the kind of thing you wish your wife and kids could be there with you for so they'd understand.

 

[Jlighty]

Found an amazing trail today with a very large, prominent rub line. High rubs. Got a cam on it. We'll see. Also made a more direct path to the swamp point.

 

[Jlighty]

Just got my head back!

 

[Jlighty]

Went for a quick walk today. pulled a few more pictures of a doe who's been frequenting my cam with her fawns. Also took some pictures of some of the rubs I've found in the last few days...

 

[Jlighty]

 

[Jlighty]

I would like to get a few more hours out in the woods today but my daughter has cheerleading practice. There are two very promising areas that I'd like to poke around. One that has more rubs together in a small area then all the others I've seen combined!

 

[Jlighty]

Well, It's been brought to my attention that what I have been thinking were rubs all along is actually from the deer stripping the hemlock bark off the tree in the dead of winter. Looks like I still have a lot to learn.

 

[Jlighty]

I'm growing VERY tired of these frigging WGI cameras. This is about the best picture I've gotten in the past two weeks. Everything has been so damn whited out or grainy/blurry that its impossible to tell what you're even seeing. Is this a buck or doe? Almost looks like there's some antler there, but since the head moved, you really cant tell. Who wants to give me a few hundred bucks to spend on cameras?

 

[Jlighty]

Finally got out last night. Only got about 4 hours in and saw a doe right at last light but she never gave me a shot. Out again this morning but didn't see anything. Different spot.

 

[Jlighty]

Well, took my daughter out with me this afternoon. Kinda poked around and tried to have her push something out of the usual bedding spot where I've seen it, but nothing was there. Stopped a while where I had no intentions of shooting anything just to see how she'd do, she did well - a little antsy - but I figured she'd be OK if I actually took her to one of my spots. Moved quite a distance to another spot where I was pretty sure there were a few deer coming through right about sundown. got there around 5:30. Well, a doe came through - just a lot earlier than I had thought. As soon as we got seated, I was about to break a couple small branches to clear a couple small lanes and BOOM, she was almost on top of us. Still had to nock an arrow and all. She busted me when I went to draw back - ran about 25 yards to where I had no shot, then pawed the ground for about 5 minutes and slowly made her way back. I drew a bit earlier this time and just about the time she was in my shooting lane, my daughter moved her leg and she took off for good. Tried to throw out a couple grunts but to no avail. We sat until dark hoping something else would come through, but nothing did. Been a good week to keep my daughter interested though. Well worth it.

 

[Jlighty]

Posting from overseas. Going to miss this entire season. Guess I'm going to do a lot of reading on here.

 

[Jlighty]

Three months to home... Ready to lose my mind. Need to see trees, grass, anything! Note- the middle east sucks now as bad as it did 12 years ago.

 

[Jlighty]

So, with my feet back in NH and my head firmly lost in thoughts of the upcoming season, I'm very glad to have been able to find my way back to hunting again. Bought 4 cameras. done one pull on 2 of them and finding it hard to not rush out every day to review pics. Started shooting the bow daily, trying to figure out how to become a truly great shooter - I spend so much time prepping that if I don't have great shot placement it's all for not. Found a couple promising spots around me and revisiting some that I've used in the past. Mostly what I'm trying to do is learn. So very glad that I found HC and can come on here and get my fix before September. Should start to see pictures rolling in shortly.

 

[Jlighty]

5 days out from the Archery opener. This will be my daughters first year hunting. She's ready to go. New sight, arrow rest, arrows, bow string, case. Hopefully she doesn't tense up and grip the bow in a stranglehold. She's been doing pretty well and with me next to her I think she'll do fine. Got a couple 10 pointers, 2 8 pointers and a 6 pointer running around, as well as a healthy bunch of Does. At work this weekend and I know I'm not going to get ANYTHING done. Thursday can't come soon enough.