2023 Early Antler less season

[cervidchasers]

Here it is :

Antlerless-only deer season in mid-September (9/9 - 9/17/2023) using firearms, crossbows, and vertical bows in WMUs 3M, 3R, 8A, 8F, 8G, 8J, 8N, 9A, and 9F, and using only vertical bows in WMUs 1C, 3S, 4J, and 8C. DMPs and DMAP tags only.

Edited August 25, 2023 by cervidchasers

[cervidchasers]

Always wonder why 8H is not in this one

[Robhuntandfish]

13 minutes ago, cervidchasers said:

Always wonder why 8H is not in this one

Same with 7J and 7F.  I can get 4 doe permits here every year. 

[GreeneHunter]

I still wonder about this --> only vertical bows in WMUs 1C, 3S, 4J, and 8C <---  , what is the reason for no Crossbow ?

[Wolc123]

I am really looking forward to this season this year.  I’d like to punch both of my first (2) wmu  9F  dmp tags.  I’ll go back for (2) more of those when the leftovers come out on November 1.  
 

It would be great to get one into my deer fridge on the first weekend, and another on the second.  Even better to get them with (2) different weapons.  Last weekend, I got (3) shotguns and my ML sighted in.
 

 I’ll get my (2) crossbows sighted in this weekend.  I got all my blinds and stands at home ready last weekend.  I hope to take care of those at my parents place this weekend.  I have one new double ladder over there.
 

 I need to add a folding chair to my single ladder, near the trailer park, and move it about 100 yards.  That is a crossbow only spot since it is about 100 yards from the closest trailer (legal for x-bow, but not gun or ML).  

Edited August 26, 2023 by Wolc123

[Larry]

I live in 8G but I don't hunt it. I don't process my own deer and it's to warm. I take all of November off I can get a couple then.

[Lawdwaz]

20 hours ago, cervidchasers said:

Always wonder why 8H is not in this one

Wildly curious on that too…..

[boo711]

9 hours ago, Wolc123 said:

I am really looking forward to this season this year.  I’d like to punch both of my first (2) wmu  9F  dmp tags.  I’ll go back for (2) more of those when the leftovers come out on November 1.  
 

It would be great to get one into my deer fridge on the first weekend, and another on the second.  Even better to get them with (2) different weapons.  Last weekend, I got (3) shotguns and my ML sighted in.
 

 I’ll get my (2) crossbows sighted in this weekend.  I got all my blinds and stands at home ready last weekend.  I hope to take care of those at my parents place this weekend.  I have one new double ladder over there.
 

 I need to add a folding chair to my single ladder, near the trailer park, and move it about 100 yards.  That is a crossbow only spot since it is about 100 yards from the closest trailer (legal for x-bow, but not fun or ML).  

Get permission from the people that own the trailer and you could use that spot for muzzle loader also

[Wolc123]

1 hour ago, boo711 said:

Get permission from the people that own the trailer and you could use that spot for muzzle loader also. 

A problem with that spot, is that there is a whole row of trailers that runs along the side of it, at least a dozen.  I’d need permission from several owners to get within 500 feet.  250 (with a crossbow) is no problem.  The trailer park superintendent is an old high school buddy of mine, so I could maybe get that permission, if I was so inclined.  I’ve got other reasons not to though.  

It’s pretty thick in there, and a shot much over 50 yards would be tough also, so the crossbow is not at a big disadvantage compared to a ML or slug gun.

 The trailers run along one side of that back block of my parent’s woods, and a swamp runs along the other side.  I have another stand located on the high ground on the other side of the swamp.

 

 I frequently see deer move thru the swamp towards the trailers.   Triangulating the position of that movement, from those two current stand locations, is leading me to a new spot that is about 100 yards from the current one closest to the trailers.  After completing that short move tomorrow, and adding the new seat, I’ll be ready for a big doe just two weeks from today.   
 

My other stand in those woods (from which I have gunned down several mature bucks and one mature doe), was already selected to get me in the optimum position, at about 510 feet from the nearest trailer.  The largest buck that  I killed from it dropped dead in the middle of the swamp, about 400 feet from the nearest trailer.  I had to float his heavy carcass out of there on a big plastic sled.  
 

He still had guts in him, when my brother and I floated him out, and had to have weighed well over 200 lbs on the hoof.  I later weighed his field dressed carcass on a certified butchers scale (after hanging outside all day), and it was 183 pounds .   
 

 Lastly, I’d really like to finally take a doe with a crossbow .  So far, I’ve  taken just 5 or 6 bucks and a coyote with one.  Another advantage of the crossbow is that it ruins very little meat and getting meat has long been the primary reason why I hunt.  

Edited August 26, 2023 by Wolc123

[cervidchasers]

Maybe we can use this thread to post up our successes..

[Wolc123]

Just a night and a week to go.  I’m really looking forward to next Saturday.  I finished up all the stand maintenance, over at my parents house, last Sunday. I moved my trailer park stand about 50 yards, which puts it about 15 yards from what looks like a well traveled deer trail, based on the tracks in the soft ground along the swamp.  
 

I put a very comfortable foldaway wood chair in it, and left the crappy one I made for it last year down at the base of the tree.  My plan is to arrive at my parking spot, on the dead end road in the trailer park, about an hour before sunrise with my Barnett Recruit crossbow.  
 

I’ll hunt that stand until 11:00 or so, then head around the corner to eat lunch with my parents.  Dad wants me to Bush hog the edges of a few hayfields over there after lunch, then I’ll hunt my new double ladder stand, in the woods near the back of a long clover plot, until dark with my ML.  
 

I will skip the evening hunt if I get one in the morning, because I only have room for one in my deer fridge.  I’m feeling pretty confident, based on the sign I saw, and the deer they have been seeing in the clover plot.  So much so , that I’ll put the hitch hauler on my wife’s mini-van.  The folks in the mobile homes know that van.  

 

If I don’t connect on Saturday, I’ll squeeze in a couple hours, before church on Sunday morning, at home.  I’m thinking I’ll sit in my truck cap wood splitter shed that morning.  The deer have been knocking the crap out of my 1/4 acre late sweetcorn patch, just across the creek from that.
 

The turnips are looking real good next to that, as is the rr corn / oats on the other side of the turnips, and the clover behind it.  

It’s also just a short walk from the house, which will give me more hunting time.  I get along with good with neighbor who’s house is within 500 ft, so no problem using my ML there.  I’ll push my log splitter over to one side and place a swivel barstool in that black and white shed this weekend.  It will be good in the rain if we get some.  
 

Sunday afternoon, if there’s an east wind, I’ll go back to my west side truck cap blind.  A west wind will put me in or on my east side, two story truck cap blind.  Each of those is within easy shooting distance of good looking food plots (oats, clover, late sweetcorn & turnips).  

I’ll also be putting in an acre of awp/wheat/clover,  next to that west side truck cap blind this weekend, but that won’t have much draw  until October. 
 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Wolc123

[mowin]

In my area, a doe is as easy as buying a package of Ballpark franks. We don't need a early season. We fill our doe tags during the late ML season or the holiday season. 

[Wolc123]

9 minutes ago, mowin said:

In my area, a doe is as easy as buying a package of Ballpark franks. We don't need a early season. We fill our doe tags during the late ML season or the holiday season. 

If your trigger finger was itching like mine is, or if you were watching your expensive sweetcorn disappear,  you’d be wanting to get out there next week.

  I’m also hankering for some fresh fillet mignon, to go with my Silver queen.   That never makes it to the freezer around here.  
I hope to fill one of my two first draw 9F dmp’s next Saturday, and the other the following weekend.  I’ll go back for (2) more, when they come out for the second draw on November 1.  I can work on those during late ML.  

Edited September 2, 2023 by Wolc123

[mowin]

Just now, Wolc123 said:

If your trigger finger was itching like mine is, or if you were watching your expensive sweetcorn disappear,  you’d be wanting to get out there next week.

  I’m also hankering for some fresh fillet mignon, to go with my Silver queen.   That never makes it to the freezer around here.  

I get it.  Everyone's reasoning is different. I don't plant sweet corn.  Good luck this early season. 

[JohnPlav]

None of my normal spots are open for the early season, so we’ll be out on public next Sat and Sun.  Last year I got a big old fawn-less doe within the first hour of the season.  Hoping for a repeat!