Any bowhunters out there??

[scesnick]

Captinjack,

It is not so much about eliminating your scent, It is more about recducing your scent. I absolutely agree with you that aminals can smell way better than we can imagine but with good scent control i.e. carbon fiber suit, scentless soap, coverscent, Your chances of harvesting a deer is ALOT better than if you just hike up to you treestand smoke a cig and start hunting.

I know for a fact that this increases your chances of seeing deer in the woods. If you smell like a hobo that scent will be stronger and travel farther in even a slight breeze. It is all about scent and wind direction.
You can not convince me that scent control is useless.
I'm not saying they can't smell you, I'm saying you have to control that scent and be very aware of it.
If your is theory that this is useless, then I would still be waiting for my first bow kill. Do you think the deer is going to come on down and get shot even though it winded he 10 minutes prior? I highly doubt.

BTW, I have racked up over 40 bow kills so I think I do have a clue.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

It is also a game of "Tall Tales" Don't believe ANYTHING any other bow hunter tells you when it comes to where the big deer are located. there is NO WAY he will ever tell someone else where his honey hole is at. You just have to find one yourself and then lie to the next guy about it. It is a vicious cycle.

I have no problems telling people where I see or shoot my bucks. Most of them are on my own property and the rest are right across the road. Every hunter in this area knows where we hunt but very few try to sneak into the areas we hunt. We do take new hunters with us to these spots and do not worry about being secretive. We enjoy this sport and try our best to bring new hunters both young and old into this.

There are hunters that only care about themselves and will lie and trespass about where they see and kill deer but you can usually tell immediately who they are. I will say this, around 70% of the hunters we meet and know will gladly tell where they see their deer.

Just have fun out there and enjoy the sport and share it with as many people as you can.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Jack, I agree completely. Scent elimination is a joke and all it does is put money into the companies telling you that you need it to harvest an animal.

Hunting is all about skill and patience. No bottle of cover scent or man made device is going to remove the basics from hunting.

 

[scesnick]

I was not trying to say that we ever trespass or break any laws at all. We are highly competitive in a good natured way. therefore, if my buddy has been on a big buck he will take the loction to the grave with him for sure. If one of our other buddies would happen to stumble on that deer and kill it, well, the the other fella will never live it down..

I own 76 acres that is on top of a mountain and surrounded by state game forrest. I aways welcome other friends that want to get into the sport to come to my house and I put them in a decent stand. . But, once they understand the ethics and and get "hooked" on the sport the free ride is over and it is time for them to go out on their own.

I don't usually have any problems with unknown bow hunters trespassing on my farm. Rifle hunters is a totally different story though.
I did find one guy a few years back in MY portable in MY apple orchard. I asked him who said he could hunt there and he said " the guy that owns that house up there" well, that ws my house and I didn't know the guy... He was hoping it wasn't my house when he said that.. .

Some people have no respect for others at all..

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I wasn't implying that you would trespass, I was just stating from my own experiences that most of the guys around here who are so secretive about their hunting spots and where they see deer do tend to trespass more often then not and by their own admission. These guys think it is funny to find a "huge" buck on someones small piece of property and then sneak in there to hunt it.

I enjoy hunting and have been fortunate to shoot three nice bucks so far. I will only shoot a mature buck and do not bother the doe and yearling bucks. However, I know how exciting it is to shoot a decent buck (decent is 120 class) and I will not try to prevent others from sharing that experience. We have friends that come up from PA every year for opening week of gun season and we tell them where we have been seeing the deer and they are welcome to hunt our property and use our guns, stands, trucks and anything else they need. We always hope they at least have a chance at a decent buck and have lots of fun stories hunting with these guys.

As I said before and it is not directed at only you, just have fun and do your best to help others enjoy this sport. They way people are posting their land up now it won't be long before there won't be much huntable land left here in NY.

 

[scesnick]

Robert in NY,

I know you were not implying I was a trespasser. If i was to tell my hunting buddies where I have seen a big buck You can bet that they would be there the next day. It is just how we are.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree about the scent elimination.

Do you use scent lure? do you think oh say, doe in estrus works?
My fellings toward this is that some work and some do not. Tinks is the biggest joke around. I have NEVER EVER had a buck even stop to smell it. They just walk by it.
"Still Steamin" , now that is a different story. I have had the most success with Doctor O's. It is about $20 for a 1oz. bottle but worth the money..

 

[HGM]

I'm not a big fan of the scents either.. I do like to use a cover scent of an "earth" scent at times.. I use it to cover up things like when I accidently forgot to fuel up before going to the woods and need to stop on the way.. Then I would want to spray my hands or feet to reduce the odor.. It does work to the extent that I cannot smell what I'm trying to cover.. As for the deer I have been busted with and without it.. I do believe they can smell you regardless of your cover scent, but if you plan your hunt correctly, its irrelevant.. I have killed as many deer on the ground as from a stand, some with a cover scent, most without.. If you want to see more deer, you will need to use the wind(and moon phases) to your advantage, period(in my opinion).. I dont believe they work that well, but I also dont believe they will hurt..

 

[DUMBDOG]

I do believe that the scents are useless. Yesterday morning, had a 4x4 walk up to within 25 yards of me. The thing that spooked him was my reaching for the shotgun which was to far away. Had stood up to stretch when he came out of the woods on the other side, did not want to move and spook him to soon. I was just standing beside a tree. Last night had a doe and fawn walk by be fifty feet away. Was wearing legal orange coat and hat.

The secret is wind and movement of the hunter.

 

[RobJ]

Yes there are some bow hunters around here. I agree with some of the others but add to look at Ebay. I had an old Browning bow. Misses some shots, deer jumped the string(when they hear the bow and duck before the arrow gets there). I upgraded early this year to a Matthews MQ-1. Even though my bow is 3-4 years old it is so much sweeter that the old one. VERY quiet and much faster. I got the bow, release (new Tru-Ball Velcro Caliper Release), 6 Easton ACC arrows with Wasp broadheads. Quiver, stabilizer, new string, tru glow sights, and a standard 2 prong rest. Hunters peep, kisser button and probably more I'm forgettingl. All for $300 plus about $30 shipping. Since I knew the the lenght of the arrows the bow was completly set up for me. I didn't make a change. It'll go up to 70# and has a 70% let off (which is sweet). I think this bow new was about $600, this is a bone stock bow, ZERO extras. I was surprized that bare bows were more than rifles since I hadn't looked in over 10 years. Best time to buy is after the first of the year, our bow season is over in Texas this year(of course you can hunt the rifle with a bow). You will start to see the upgrades needed and folks selling them pretty soon.

I've had some good luck this year so far, 2 for 2. The buck isn't big but anything taken with a bow is great.

Good Luck,
Rob

BTW, Hoyt and Matthews are probably the top 2 sellers/best IMO. That's what I sort of see anyway.

 

[scott_vt]

Yes there are some bow hunters around here. I agree with some of the others but add to look at Ebay. I had an old Browning bow. Misses some shots, deer jumped the string(when they hear the bow and duck before the arrow gets there). I upgraded early this year to a Matthews MQ-1. Even though my bow is 3-4 years old it is so much sweeter that the old one. VERY quiet and much faster. I got the bow, release (new Tru-Ball Velcro Caliper Release), 6 Easton ACC arrows with Wasp broadheads. Quiver, stabilizer, new string, tru glow sights, and a standard 2 prong rest. Hunters peep, kisser button and probably more I'm forgettingl. All for $300 plus about $30 shipping. Since I knew the the lenght of the arrows the bow was completly set up for me. I didn't make a change. It'll go up to 70# and has a 70% let off (which is sweet). I think this bow new was about $600, this is a bone stock bow, ZERO extras. I was surprized that bare bows were more than rifles since I hadn't looked in over 10 years. Best time to buy is after the first of the year, our bow season is over in Texas this year(of course you can hunt the rifle with a bow). You will start to see the upgrades needed and folks selling them pretty soon.

I've had some good luck this year so far, 2 for 2. The buck isn't big but anything taken with a bow is great.

Good Luck,
Rob

BTW, Hoyt and Matthews are probably the top 2 sellers/best IMO. That's what I sort of see anyway.

Afternoon Rob,
Very nice !!! Im not a bow hunter but those two are beauties! I can also appreciate how hard it is to get close enough to knock down something that big !