# Any Bow Hunters?



## Decoyer

I am just wondering if we have any bow hunters on the site. I personally bow hunt a little bit, but only when it doesn't get in the way of duck and goose hunting. I have always wanted to get more into it if I had more time.

Also, I will be the moderator of this forum so lets keep it clean and we will all get along fine.


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## nodakoutdoors.com

I've been avoiding bow hunting my whole life for some unknown reason. I think it's because of waterfowling....I can't stop!

Rather than get discouraged in October, I'm going to take up some bowhunting. It could be a good change of scenery for me.


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## Decoyer

For me, bow hunting is something to do close to home after the birds leave. It is amazing how hard it is to get on land for bow hunting close to Fargo. I am lucky enough to bow hunt with someone that can get me on all the land I need within 30 miles of town.


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## GooseBuster3

Bow hunting is a great sport if you like to sit in a tree for hours at a time. I get the most enjoyment out of the sport by stalking to with in bow range of the deer. Espically muledeer hunting with bow, you guys should try it!

[ This Message was edited by: GooseBuster3 on 2002-03-09 12:56 ]


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## BigDaddy

I bow hunt, although I have had some eye problems the last couple of years that have prevented me from hunting. I am real big on confidence, and I just haven't been confident in my skills the last couple of years. Anyway, I used to bow hunt religiously when I lived in Indiana. It is definitely addictive. It looks like the docs finally have this eye thing figured out, so I will be spending lots of time practicing this summer. My advice... practice, practice, practice. When the big one gets up 40 yards out, so want the confidence to know that the shot is within your limits.


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## Dan Ball

I just found this site tonight and I bowhunted for quite a few years in the Minot area. Even though I live in TN now, I still remember some killer stand sites in the Minot area.


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## mallard

I agree to practice allot! When the time comes,when Mr big decides to walk by youre stand and you start getting a serious case of buck fever(all bow hunters get this from time to time),you want to go into auto pilot.By this I mean,by practicing allot you just pick a spot behind the shoulder just like the target and release like you have done a thousand times before .Shooting religously throughout the year helped me get my first bow buck a few years back.I didnt even get worked up until after the shot.GB3,I have had my best success the first 2 hours and the last 2 hours of the day so sitting for hours on end may be a waste of time.Bow hunting also takes time to get set up right.Pre season scouting and proper stand placement are a must if you want consistent action.This weekend I seen 11 bucks and approximately 30-40 does and fawns while in the stand.The bucks are still rutting which supprised me as well as the numbers.Even with that many deer I still had no shot.Thats just the way bow hunting is sometimes.I love the goose and duck hunting,but man did I miss bowhunting after a month and a half without sitting in the stand.There is just something about having them get so close you can here them breathe.


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## Dustin

I am a Bow hunting finatic I cant get enough.......I live in Mn just found this site today. I am going bear Hunting for a 4th weakend in ohhhh an Hour or so......Wish me luck!!!!!!!

Dustin


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## GooseBuster3

My brother is a big bow hunter. He is 15 loves doing that more than anything. Hes already passed up some nice ones this year. Hes waiting for the big one.


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## Goldy's Pal

YEP!!!!! Most peace and quiet a guy can ask for. Nothing like leaning your head back against the tree, staring at the stars in the early morning, and wondering what New York City is doing about now. Godda love it!!!!!


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## WhakGreenie03

NYC....hell i wonder what the hell im gonna do if i hear the slightest sound or see any movement. I have been an avid bow hunter for years now. I wouldnt trade my bow in for the best gun in the world. Rifle season is too novice for me. Something the old timers can do to say they still hunt. I would rather spend 1000 unsuccessful hours in a tree stand than to take 1000 successful rifle shots. Ive been filling my rifle tag with my bow for 6 yrs. There is just something about watching the deer hurdle around the stand that cant stop me from chuckling. And any bow hunter knows that once ya see that deer 25yrds away you think he can hear your every thought and heart beat. HUSTAD! Your missin out!


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## Goldy's Pal

Yeah Yeah :roll: Just have sometimes plenty of time to sit and think about nothing in the dark before it gets close to daybreak and the real fun starts. But not all the time. I had two bucks sparing right under my stand one morning in the complete darkness!! I couldn't make out a rack or body to save my life. Totally drove me nuts!! They of course went back to there bedding area before daybreak, but that was something new. We could turn pages on these huntin' tales.


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## WhakGreenie03

WOW! I have always wanted to witness that. I have spent many hours in a stand and have not see anything. 
I just went out and tried to find some sheds on monday and came up empty handed. Goldy...find any sheds yet?


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## Goldy's Pal

No sheds, I spent a lot of time this year playing with a couple new game cameras in the woods. That's a hoot!!! I've got to figure out how to post pics in the photo album yet. I just got some neat pics of does but I know there is a good buck running around. I'll put the cams back out in the summer and try getting him with velvet.


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## WhakGreenie03

i am looking into buying a camera. I tried the stealth cam last year and didnt like it much. What brand do you use?


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## buckseye

This was taken with a Deer Cam scouting camera, I like it but it is the only one I have used.


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## WhakGreenie03

there is all this talk about bait piles, and from what i see you run one too. I was wondering if it is the legal thing to do. I have been running one for the last 3 years and have always questioned it from the success i have had. Anyone 100% sure on this?


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## buckseye

In ND it is legal. Altho you can't introduce noxious weeds to federal lands, I'm not sure if they have an exact rule for feds or not. Crap... I hope I don't get abunch of grief for hunting over bait, I prefer a waterhole on a real hot day. They are both kinda the same tho.


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## WhakGreenie03

i dont think that there is anything wrong with hunting over a bait pile. If its legal its just another weapon to use in a successful hunt.


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## Goldy's Pal

buckseye, nice pic. :wink: I've got the cheaper stealth and the one for about $180.00. I think the spendy one of the two takes a little clearer pic. but have had good luck with both. Battery's don't like to keep enough juice in em' to rewind the film automatically when it's really cold for a week. Whak greenie, I put out corn and beans in the winter time to help out the deer and actually put my cams on both sides of the pile about 20 yds or so away from the feed. (camera is about 3 to 5 feet off the trail) It's ILLEGAL in MINN. to hunt over bait of any kind. I think mineral blocks are ok but don't use them anyway. I just put some lure (kiss #1) in a camera film container with cotton balls and hang it from a limb where I want the deer to stop and sniff and man I've had so much luck with this stuff I rarely use anything else even during the rut. I counted 14 does' in one night coming up to sniff this. Not one buck!! He came after I was home I suppose. :lol: Man I can't believe you guys can hunt over bait and water out there. You guys got it made!!


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## WhakGreenie03

goldy..god, i never thought that hanging cotton balls. God, thats gonna be my new tactic. I was having troubles with getting the cheap stealth cam to pick up my movement. So after a half hour of frustration, i returned it to save up for a better one next year. I hear ya with that bait pile. I for sure thought that it was illegal cause it is so easy to attract deer. The key to having a bait pile is to maintain it. One deer bring another and that one brings 3 more and soon youll feel like your feeding the whole ND population of deer. I think that the mineral blocks are a waste. I purchased one last year and it was not nearly as succesful as corn or screenings. Does anyone have a food plot? Im interested in hearing what was planted and the results.


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## Goldy's Pal

I use a duck call lanyard around the film container, works great!! Then when you go home you can put the lid back on and take it home so they don't have to smell it when you don't want them to. I've found that works the best. They seem a bit more curious that way. Keeping the container in a glass jar of some sort keeps the smell sealed. (My wife likes that trick :lol: ) I haven't done food plots but heard they do work!!! I'm curious myself.

:beer:


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## rifleman

Called a couple refuges today. Bait is not allowed on national wildlife refuges.


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## Elly2211

Goldy ,
in MN you cant hunt over water?


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## Goldy's Pal

I thought that I read in the local paper once about some bowhunters who had dug out some pits and put 5gal. plastic pails of water in them and got caught. There isn't anything about water being illegal in the regs just food. I think they were hunting at night over the pails of water when they got caught so that's probably what I was thinking of.


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## Goldy's Pal

Food plots; Imperial Whitetail runs about $300.00 per acre. You need to invest about every 3 to 4 years. Also adding lime to neutralize the soil is key. This from a guy I work with. His 24 point non-typical bow kill currently ranks 3rd all time in the state of Wisconsin.(224and7/8ths) I listen to him once and a while.  :lol:

:beer:


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## WhakGreenie03

id say that 3rd in wisc. is something to brag about and would have ya listen to him everynow and then. I was would be a lil cautious of putting a water hole in. I dont think that it would be that successful cause the deer would be a lil cautious in drinking out of a pail even if it is in the ground. I also believe there needs to be a line where hunters dont try to offer everything at one sitting. Just my .02


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## bretts

Im not big into baiting. I think baiting in deer is kinda a cheap way to get deer. Try hunting without your bait. If you do your homework and know your stuff, then all it takes is patience. I haven't baited any deer, and either has my buddy that I bowhunt with, and we have both taken big nice mature bucks. Trying scouting in the evenings from a distance, and if you spook a big buck get outta there, but watch where he runs in, 99% of the time thats where he came out. Key on that!


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## WhakGreenie03

i see where you are comeing from bretts. I personally dont mind baiting deer for the reason that my younger sister doesnt have the patience that most of us avid hunters do. I figure running a bait pile and having a women get involved in the outdoors is better than having her shy away from hunting due to unsuccessful hunts.


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## Duckslayer100

I'm a big bowhunter in the summer, I never have enough time in the fall to deer hunt though. I do all my bowhunting on lakes and rivers looking for those lumbering gargantuans known as carp!!! Fun, fun, fun...and the chicks dig BIG....fish.... :wink:


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## bretts

yeah I can see how it would be good for people that don't have a lot of patience. Where do you hunt whackgreenie? I hunt around the mayville area and having the good crops is awesome for bowhunting. The beet fields for early bowhunting have produced my biggest buck yet last year. To bad it was messed up on one side, but the other side had 25"main beams G2's 12.5", and G3's 12". It was an awesome buck. I'll have to post some pics soon


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## WhakGreenie03

i once bow hunted by mayville, but a construction company bought the big stretch of woods that i hunted. There i did not bait. I know that you guys have QUALITY deer up in those neck of the woods. I now hunt in the sandhills around kindred and some of our land by cando.


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## Kansas Kid

I like to bow hunt the rut. I rattle and use a grunt call. I hunt from the stand in the mornings and evenings and from the ground during the day.

I will chase my second turkey this spring with a bow, season opens tomorrow.


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## Goldy's Pal

Kansas kid; good luck with the turkey hunt. To me one of the ultimate trophy's I've yet to harvest. A bow kill Tom. I took the bow my first year turkey hunting and had a nice flock of birds in range. I was in a burlap homemade blind with windows cut out. When I reached for the bow they totally spooked. Not thick enough burlap. I needed to double or triple layer it so they couldn't see my movement. Live and learn. I took a jake the following spring with the shotgun just to get one under my belt. I celebrated that hunt for quite some time!!  I smoked that bird with apple wood and to this day I don't think I've tasted anything soooo good.

:beer: :beer:


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## kyhunter13

I am a bow hunter and need to know somthing.I got a darton bow and I got in a deer stand and it is shooting high.Do I need to shoot lower even at a deer.


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## Bobm

Provided you are shooting with sights and have correctly sighted in, yes you have to hold lower than on the flat. The reason is that the downward angle "absorbs" some of the drop that normally occurs when shooting on the flat. Another factor could be that the deer is dropping slightly at the sound of your bow and giving the illusion you are shooting high. Shoot directly for the heart, low and right behind the shoulder, the arrow almost always will hit higher than you expect, but still be fatal.


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## kyhunter13

Thank you that will realy help me shoot the deers beter.I have been shooting high and i did not know why.Thank you


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## kyhunter13

Thank you that will realy help me shoot the deers beter.I have been shooting high and i did not know why.Thank you


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## kyhunter13

I have a donut on my darton bow and have some aluminm arrows and some carbon arrows.Is there a certon donut for diffrent arrows?


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## Bobm

Eat the donut before you go in the woods that way you won't have sticky arrows. Just kidding I shoot a longbow and don't have a clue what a donut is.


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