So how many gadgets do you use to help you hunt?
jpiney43
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Bleat can..toilet paper, snack and weapon. I also have a small plastic vial with milk weed seeds...those white puffy doodads that show me wind direction and wind swirls...great fun launching them and seeing where they go.
Problem is all my stands are getting overgrown with milk weed[hihi]
Problem is all my stands are getting overgrown with milk weed[hihi]
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1,478 Posts
range finder is the only gadget I use.
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15,837 Posts
Yes, as a cover scent walking in on the boots. Later, as the season progresses, you walk in with a drag rag of doe pee or estrous. Spray raccoon cover at hip level in the tree or on brush near your ground hide. Raccoons are in trees for the better part of everyday and the deer are not fazed by their smell at all. I have had deer balk and spook at fox urine although others will swear by it.
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6,690 Posts
Rangefinder is the only thing I would consider a gadget. Binos, knife, buck call bleat can and weapon along with rangefinder are the constants. Most of the time a fanny pack is all I need. I'll have a backpack when I'm with a climber which has extra shirts, jacket, safety gear and food.
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1,295 Posts
i use 6 gun shells eyes and ears camo stand
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4,248 Posts
I got one of everything and two of some stuff. I'm a gadget junkie.
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909 Posts
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5,838 Posts
Just a bow and some deer scent .I dont need all those high priced gadgets other hunter's waste their money on[up]
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831 Posts
Fox urine is a good cover scent. Have had deer bird dog my trail in. Yes ***** spend most of their time in trees, but have also seen grey foxes in trees. Don't recall ever spooking deer with fox urine. Works for me and it's hard to train an old dog new tricks.
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6,576 Posts
I would assume we're talking mostly about deer, here ?
YES, I can and have killed deer (buck and doe) without the aid of many of these 'technological force multipliers'
.The first deer I ever shot
I made the decision I wanted to start hunting. The only hunting I had ever been exposed to before this was when I was very young and it was shotgun hunting. I filled out my NJFPID card application but wanted to hunt before I got my papers so my brother mentioned bowhunting, I liked the idea. We went and I bought us each a bow and some basic camo. I wasnt even going to utilize treestands but a friend talked me into a climber, so, I bought one.
I set out on my first real hunt (a bow hunt, obviously) on the opening day of archery season. Prior to opening day, I knew I needed to FIND DEER if I wanted to SHOOT DEER. So, my brother and I went to one of our farm and started looking. We found a bunch of tracts and kept combing the area. Eventually, we bumped a large group of deer. I said, "this is where I am going to hunt" and we left.
Not long after this first "scouting trip", I went in with my climber for an afternoon hunt. I had no idea what time I should get it or what. My clothes were not washed with any special soap and the only thing I had with me aside from my bow equipment and my stand was a cheap pair of binoculars I had had for years.
I get set up in a tree and 15 minutes later I shot my first archery deer on my first archery hunt, ever. She was at 15 yards, give or take a yard (no rangefinder but we paced it out after the hunt). No bait. No trail cameras. Didnt even glass the area. What we did was find deer sign which led us to deer, then, I set up and shot one.
I shot many deer this very same way before I ever started to glass fields, utilize trail cameras, bait, etc, etc. I began baiting the following season but still used scouting to key in on an area, then, I would sometimes bait these areas I found to maximize their potential. I was never into the method of dumping huge piles of corn and other bait to bring deer to me; I've always went TO THE DEER (through scouting). After I found a spot that had deer sign and looked good for hunting, I would sometimes bait it. Didnt begin using trail cameras until the season after this.
The first buck I ever arrowed
Same deal as the first doe I ever arrowed. I had seen a really nice buck in October while hunting in the woods just a litte ways off of a freshly picked corn field. I did whatever I could to "follow" this deer for the next month. Eventually, I got a shot on him but my arrow deflected off of a branch. I stuck with it, went back in the next day and while I didnt kill him, I shot a beautifully racked 9pointer.
No trail cameras. No glassing. No bait. I stayed on this deer as best as I could. When the rut came into full swing, the only thing I really new about bucks was that they trail from doe feeding and bedding areas to other doe feeding and bedding areas. I set up in a hardwoods (many oaks) funnel between fields and a dense thicket.
I had my archery tackled, stand, a grunt call and a doe bleat can, with me.
My next big buck
I had shot other bucks between my first and second, but, 1 I failed to recover (no idea what happened to him) and the other was a "shoulder knuckle" hit and he lived, saw him the following week.
So, I had seen a few good bucks the week before I killed my second buck. In fact, I had the one I killed at 80 yards, a week before I killed him. He was cruising for love, caught his attention with a growl (he was the first buck I had ever heard growl) but he wouldnt come in, no reason, I was on the edge of a low grassy field, he could see, when I called, that no deer where there.
Following week, saw him bedded (locked down) with a hot doe in a crp field. I slipped into the property the following morning and shot him just after first light. No cameras. No bait. Just scouting and hunting.
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3,010 Posts
Weapon, rangefinder, and tree stand or ground blind
21 - 40 of 40 Posts
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