Freezer is full

**BowmanMike** · November 27, 2022

I just finished processing my third doe last night and now I have that content feeling of having a full freezer and lots of meat to make sausage with.

My bow season was ok,got a doe from the ground and passed on a six,which was one of the only bucks seen. Didn't see any more during gun season but I only went out for the opening day.

I do love bowhunting the best and by the time gun season rolls around I am kind of burned out when it comes to chasing bucks. My number one goal then is to top of the freezer. I am taking a break now and may go out with the bow again later just to take advantage of the season.

If we get the right conditions I may try some tracking in Brookfield state forest later in the season too.

How is everyone else's season going?

**Robhuntandfish** · November 27, 2022

That's a great season. And it's not over yet.

I've got one in the freezer and had a possible chance at a nice 6 and a monster 8 if just for a smidge of luck. So can't complain here.

**ShootEm** · November 27, 2022

Good thread @BowmanMike

It’s been a wonky season for myself, as I know it has for a lot of other folks on here. I connected on a doe during bow on October 29th. November in particular has been weird for me. I was able to connect on a big bodied, weird/wide 5 pointer during bow on November 5th after blind calling with a grunt tube (pretty cool, never had that happen before) in 75 degree weather. After that though, not much of a rut it seemed. My guess, like many others, is the rut took place more at night due to weather.

For rifle, the private land I had permission on got sold off, so that left me to give the public land game a shot. What a different world, even just in two weeks, it’s been a huge shock. After the season, I’ll be starting a thread on here to pick everyone’s brain for advice for next season on public. I will say, I’ve learned a TON during the whole process, from e-scouting to boots on the ground and finding sign/areas of interest to rubbing elbows with the orange army (and trying to avoid them).

All in all, a pretty good season with a full freezer (room for one more though!), and a lot of useful knowledge gained.

**BowmanMike** · November 27, 2022

2 hours ago, ShootEm said:

Good thread @BowmanMike

It’s been a wonky season for myself, as I know it has for a lot of other folks on here. I connected on a doe during bow on October 29th. November in particular has been weird for me. I was able to connect on a big bodied, weird/wide 5 pointer during bow on November 5th after blind calling with a grunt tube (pretty cool, never had that happen before) in 75 degree weather. After that though, not much of a rut it seemed. My guess, like many others, is the rut took place more at night due to weather.

For rifle, the private land I had permission on got sold off, so that left me to give the public land game a shot. What a different world, even just in two weeks, it’s been a huge shock. After the season, I’ll be starting a thread on here to pick everyone’s brain for advice for next season on public. I will say, I’ve learned a TON during the whole process, from e-scouting to boots on the ground and finding sign/areas of interest to rubbing elbows with the orange army (and trying to avoid them).

All in all, a pretty good season with a full freezer (room for one more though!), and a lot of useful knowledge gained.

I started hunting public a few years ago for bow only. I am a fairly hesitant to go during gun season,but enough people do,so it can't be life or death. I jumped a nice buck during bow on public,some of those woods have lots of diversity and hide holes for deer. I think public is under-rated.

Trying new ground is a great way learn something new as well.

I am not sure how I would handle public during gun season...probably try to sit on escape routes the first weekend and after that try to find where other people don't go. I think in general bowhunters are willing to go further than gun hunters ,but that could be entirely wrong.

Good luck on your journey!

The rut was weird here in 4F as well,very compact it seems. I did not find near as much sign as usual,rubs and scrapes that is.

**ShootEm** · November 28, 2022

1 hour ago, BowmanMike said:

I started hunting public a few years ago for bow only. I am a fairly hesitant to go during gun season,but enough people do,so it can't be life or death. I jumped a nice buck during bow on public,some of those woods have lots of diversity and hide holes for deer. I think public is under-rated.

Trying new ground is a great way learn something new as well.

I am not sure how I would handle public during gun season...probably try to sit on escape routes the first weekend and after that try to find where other people don't go. I think in general bowhunters are willing to go further than gun hunters ,but that could be entirely wrong.

Good luck on your journey!

The rut was weird here in 4F as well,very compact it seems. I did not find near as much sign as usual,rubs and scrapes that is.

It definitely gets a bad wrap in my opinion from my (very) limited experience in it. There are a lot of things that come into play compared to private. You have to be able to call an audible at any time and with limited intel, it can be really hard to do that if you don’t have a solid handful of uncommon spots. A public land hunter is a lot different than a private land hunter. Not better or worse, just very different in approach and thought process. I think I need to hit the woods hard after the season ends in the snow to really get an idea of the major travel routes and doe bedding. The hard part is covering the 4,000 acres of land, e-scouting can only do so much!

I appreciate your thoughts on how to go about it, any insight or advice is welcomed. Best of luck for the rest of your season too, knocking one down after tracking it would be a hell of an accomplishment!

Edited November 28, 2022 by ShootEm
Misspelling

**Arcade Hunter** · November 28, 2022

It was an odd start to the gun season this year.... Opening day I went to one of the two state land areas and the snow was up to my waist. I made it 70 yds away from the truck and turned around. My hunting partner couldnt get down his street until Sunday evening so he missed the first two days like myself. The following morning we went to another piece of stateland north of the Buffalo area... pretty much walked in blind. He would up shooting a small doe, I kicked one up but it happened so fast that I couldnt get a shot.

This is a great area to hunt (some of you local guys know where I am talking about) and we are starting to get things figured out here. Were seeing deer but not getting any shots.

Now the snow pack has dwindeled and we can get into all the areas so I am looking forward to the rest of the season. My buddy gave me the deer and I butchered it and is in the freezer. We have a lot of tags left to fill and one more great place to hunt.

**mowin** · November 28, 2022

My freezer usually says empty or not much in it until late muzzleloader.

During bow and rifle, i target the larger deer I've seen or gotten pics of, often times not shooting anything.

Once ML hits, I go in freezer camp mode. Usually all bucks get a pass from me, and I target dry does. Not uncommon for me to take 3-4 does during ML.

I saved two tags for last yrs holiday hunt. Ended up filling one. Wanted to fill one on Jan 1st, but the only deer seen were 3 different spikes.. go figure..

**BowmanMike** · November 28, 2022

2 hours ago, mowin said:

My freezer usually says empty or not much in it until late muzzleloader.

During bow and rifle, i target the larger deer I've seen or gotten pics of, often times not shooting anything.

Once ML hits, I go in freezer camp mode. Usually all bucks get a pass from me, and I target dry does. Not uncommon for me to take 3-4 does during ML.

I saved two tags for last yrs holiday hunt. Ended up filling one. Wanted to fill one on Jan 1st, but the only deer seen were 3 different spikes.. go figure..

I have waited before as well but have not always been able to connect late. I don't like the pressure of that situation. If I can get done early I will. MZ season is great though because deer are back to normal behavior here by then.

**mowin** · November 28, 2022

7 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

I have waited before as well but have not always been able to connect late. I don't like the pressure of that situation. If I can get done early I will. MZ season is great though because deer are back to normal behavior here by then.

My area has a very high deer population. Helps in making the decision to hold off easy. Of course anything can happen, but I'm confident I can harvest 3 freezer queens easily.

**GroanALot** · November 28, 2022

Im on deer 4 let her hang skin on (in the wrapper ha) due to holiday commitments and hangin conditions fluctuating slightly past 5 nights….let go of about 80# of meat this weekend to 2 sirloins of osso bucco 7lbs of breakfast sausage and several gallon bags of roasts to brothers uncles and my highlander pop pop: