I’m going to apply for a tag next year to start building up preference points. Everything I’ve heard/read says you probably need at least 3 points to draw an OOS tag. And don’t apologize for shit. I didn’t see it as bragging.
Yeah that is generally a good metric but it's still not guaranteed. What season are you thinking? What part of the state are applying for?
was searching for the camping thread too, but me and a buddy are talking about doing Boundry Wilderness Canoe Area next fall. Want to do some duck hunting and maybe deer hunting in the afternoon if we aren't fishing. Anybody have any familiarity with the area? #Minnesota Golden Gophers #Minnesota Vikings #Minnesota Timberwolves #Minnesota Twins #Minnesota United 2 major things off the bat look like use Kevlar canoes and paddleplanner.com should be of good use.
If I'm coming out there, I'm bowhunting the rut. I'm sure other seasons are good, but I want that rut experience that I don't get at home. Everything I've read says to look in the East/Southeast portions of the state, like Zones 5 or 6. But I'm not opposed to other areas. 4/5/6 look to have the most number of tags but also the highest number of applicants. What are your thoughts?
Id be interested as well. Me and 2 if my buddies are doing Kentucky Public land next year, with the thoughts of doing a different state yearly. Would like to go ahead and put our names in for tags down the road. Like mentioned above, bow and run preferably.
If it was me.....I'd look seriously at 5 and 9. Im more familiar with 9 as I grew up in that part of the state. You have Volga Lake ground with there are some slammers taken every year. You also have yellow river state forest. All great public hunting. Yellow river is probably better. If you go zone 5 you have Stephen's state forest. My youngest brother used to be a Lucas County deputy which is where that ground is and the sheer number of monster deer ibwould get snaps of that he would have to put down due to car accidents would blow your mind. As far as time frame, October 31st to middle of November would be your best bet. If you guys end up drawing ever. Let me know. I'd be down for a meet up somewhere. If you have any more in depth questions, pm me. I've hunted NE iowa for the better part of 20 years.
Just caught a buck chasing tail in our back field. Dog chased em back across the fence. But that's good, had only been seeing a couple doe the past few days, finally cooled down though last night. Modern gun opens up Saturday
Our primitive rifle season opens tomorrow, our full gun season opens next weekend. Our rut will kick off in about 2 months, with 2-3 weeks of rifle season to go, hopefully, sometimes it's later. It sucks having such a late rut, and the season not getting pushed back for our area.
Saw a coyote from the deer stand at about 7 o clock this morning. The 30 minutes later saw a 2 or maybe 4 point buck come over to the pond and drink some water then promptly got on top of some corn I threw out yesterday afternoon. Had a pretty easy shot at it but let it walk. It seemed unfazed by all the gunshots in surrounding woods so hopefully it sticks around. If it had been a doe I probably would have taken it idk. Also probably influenced my decision that I saw a bigger looking buck just a couple days ago
Not a good outcome. We trailed him over a mile and caught up to him as wind was blowingbinto us like 30 mph. He was locked on a doe. Blood looked good but figuring on just a muscle hit. No vitals. Didn't even look phased.
Still too damn hot here and not really expected to cool off before Thanksgiving. I did a hang-and-hunt this afternoon on a transition from pines to oaks going down to a creek bottom. It was 78* when I started and I sweated my ass off. Didn’t see anything, but it was a bit of a shot in the dark just trying to go into a new spot and scout and hunt at the same time. Probably will revisit this spot in January though.
Was out last night in 20-30 mph swirling winds. Gorgeous 8-10 pointer walks to 45yds wind at his back. Pretty far shot given the wind and brush. I wait figure he’ll walk closer. Wind switches direction he smells me and bolts.
I'm a newbie to bow hunting, and a lefty. What level bow should I be looking for? We to The local shop today looking for a newbie package ($300) and immediately steered me to a $700 bow. Said the difference is night and day. Thoughts?
My cousins and I are going to start going out of state to public lands, starting with Indiana next year. So Ive got a year to get to practicing.
I think the bow packages they have at like Dicks, Cabellas etc are good enough. It's all about shot placement, and your own accuracy.
There's probably going to be a difference in the $300 and the $700 setup, but I'm not sure it's so obvious or makes your experience so much better that it's worth paying more for a first bow. You can get a pretty good bow package for less than $500. The Hunting Public guys have done 2 or 3 videos about buying a beginner setup and hunting with it. They've bought multiple Bear Archery setups for less than $500 and have killed with all of them. If the bow shop you're going to is immediately trying to push something more expensive than what you're leaning towards, I'd go check out somewhere else. They seem like they're just trying to sell you something.
Also, check out your local classifieds/craigslist whatever - a lot of guys upgrade their stuff, or just realize they're never going to use it and you can get used for good deals. Would be nice if you can find a used deal with a bow, case, release, quiver, arrows, broadheads, everything together - all that stuff adds up quick. 30 here, 40 there. etc etc. May be a little hard to find a left-handed setup. Sean Connery what setup did you end up going with? If you want to learn to shoot right-handed I'm selling my older bowtech destroyer.
A couple of the THP guys are running this setup. It's really adjustable with some good features for a beginner. You'd just need to get arrows for it and a release, and you'd be ready to hunt. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/Bear-Archery-Species-RTH-Compound-Bow-Package
This is how I upgraded my bow last year. Guy bought a Mathews Vertix and a Halon to test and didn't like the Vertix. So I bought it from him on Craigslist for $600 essentially brand new. It had never been hunted and only had a handful of arrows shot with it. And I was in the process of looking for a new bow and really liked the Vertix. Just wasn't interested in pay full retail price for it.
I’m a lefty too. The resale market is great because there aren’t a ton of buyers. I would check there first. If you actually find something you can get a good deal. A package is the way to start and then you can add on from there. Go shoot the bows and see if you can tell a difference. If you made me put a number on it tell them that you have $500 to spend and you need to be able to hunt. Arrows, release, broad heads etc.
First bow doesn't need to be a Cadillac. Spend the savings on a good sight system, stabilizer, and release as mentioned above. Also a target to shoot at home. If you practice for a year, you'll be ready to move up the model line, if you're still interested. I actually enjoyed target shooting (paper) more than hunting, but liked both. I only ever shot Hoyt, but the smaller Mathews interest me if I was hunting only. Some of the cheaper bows are owned by the more expensive companies, IIRC.
My boy has a lefty Diamond and it's a really great starter bow for him, although it's a youth and small frame bow. I also own a starter PSE and a more expensive Mathews. Any starter bow package would do the trick.
Thanks guys. I went into it knowing nothing at the shop today. He let me shoot the one he was discussing. Draw length was a good 3-4" short so I was all out of whack. Wtf can you do with a $200 sight on a bow? Really make that big of a difference?
I'm new to all this as well but using an old bow of my dad's and put a cheap sight on it. Spent maybe a couple hours sighting it in and it was pretty money I mean I was shooting a ~12 inch target at 50 ft. With enough practice I dont see how I couldn't clean that up too tbh
It does make a difference but not a huge difference. My understanding is big difference in higher end bows is the speed, let off poundage and smoothness. You can get most decent compound bows to shoot straighter than you can shoot it. You just need to get them tuned. I bought a PSE package and added some stuff over time. Last year I upgraded to a fully loaded Matthews. There is a difference but it hasn’t blown my mind. The only upgrade I would encourage you to consider is adding a drop away rest. Whisker Biscuits are okay but wear out over time.
Yeah, fall away rests are probably the best you can get, but upgrade that at a later date. If you can’t hit your target reliably, you won’t know the difference between a biscuit and a fall away.
A buddy of mine has a Hoyt Alphamax32 with a case. Everything but a release and arrows for $300. Google tells me its a 2009 model.
I have a QAD and I really like it. I have an IQ sight....don't really like it. I will be switching to single pin before next season.
It's not a terrible deal. I absolutely hate fuse products as I used to have all fuse accessories on my old hoyt Vectrix and had nothing but problems with my sight and quiver. I honestly would offer him 250 without the sight.
fuck this thread is going to make me get back into archery. used to spend way too much on that particular hobby as a younger guy.
Very easy to do. I'm going to increase the weight of my arrows and broadheads after the season. Going to go super heavy.
Alphamax is a really good bow. Pretty solid deal. Probably needs a new string though unless it’s been replaced recently.