Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How the hell .......

.... are we going to fill the time till deer season!?! 6 months to kill. I'm going to pick up another otter six this evening. An older ADL. Won't take six months to debug that. Then what? Trail cameras? Food plots? Exercise? (Lol). So how are you all filling the void between seasons?

Could always pick a fight or two in the optics forum.

I'm faced with the same dilemma on an annual basis and have yet to come up with a solution.
I do know that I have accumulated far too many rifles thinking that was the answer to biding the time.

What is that, too many rifles? Can't be.

Knee surgery June 17th
PT and Training will start 3 days later for
September bear....Colorado
October pronghorn....Colorado
November Mule deer....Colorado
November whitetail....Missouri
November whitetail....Oklahoma
December/January whitetail Missouri

PT and mountain work will keep my next 3 months busy

One rifle and one load for all the above

30-06 150 grn Accubond @ just about 2850

Go to work. Walleye fishing in May and early june. Go to work. Channel cats in June, July and August. Go to work. Smallmouth bass in August. Maybe some flathead fishing this July. Go to work. See my daughter this July . She comes home for 4 weeks . She lives in Taichung, Taiwan.

Otter6,

I think tomorrow my Weatherby will be ready to go hunting. I have only one more test. After that, Lord willing, I will go rabbit hunting and maybe even try to find some of those pig I heard about in Southern Oregon. I might even throw in a little fishing.

I am training a horse, beautiful, pet, pasture stale.

I'm nearly done with my 6.5 Swede

I'm looking for a REAL gunsmith who can WELD mis-aligned scope base holes and RE drill & tap. Somebody 'screwed up' a 98 Mauser. There are smiths w/in reasonable distance BUT I don't know them well enuff to TRUST them.

Jerry

I just 250 miles up and 250 back to hang two trail cameras today. Also put out two salt blocks and two mineral rocks.

Since the first of the year I have put over 300 rounds of 300 RUM downrange and about the same in a 300 SAUM not to mention 338 and 7-08 and 06 ammo. Also working towards this years elk trip. So I am trying to stay active and engaged.

We used to hunt woodchuck here in the North East in the summertime.

That was great hunting. They are gone?

Do you have any chucks in PA?

Then we shot in the outdoor matches. Both slow fire and some rapid. This was at 200 yds.

Our club ran a running deer match as well with a paper deer target on a track pulled by a motor.

I've been shooting woodchucks and fishing. Walleye and Northern pike opened last Saturday.

There are still lots of woodchucks in some areas of NY. I shot 6 this past Saturday afternoon on a farm in Otsego county. The Cortland/Syracuse area is still loaded with them.

LOL

.
Hope ya make it but, I wouldn't get my hope's up to high. My left knee was replaced Sept 16 last year and while I'm getting around pretty well now, it's taken to long to get here. I have this strange click in that knee every time I bend it, I was told it's normal.Right now I'm at a point where I can get up off the ground without holding something, been years since I could do that. If they give you the drugs they gave me, one is a powerful narcotic. They can't call it into the drug counter, you have to call the Dr ahead of time so he can send you a prescription. I don't recall much of anything while I was in there and not much more for several days after I got home. Make sure ahead of time what you have to do and whoever is taking care of you, make sure they get that in writing. I went about a week and getting them built up again was a chore! I was told recovery time is about a year. Good luck to you!

I'll fill in my time fooling with my dog's and hopefully a catfish trip!Also gonna hunt deer again this year, first time in years. Started casting bullet's for my 308 and 30-06 and gonna get them dialed in.

Cool. No idle hands in this crowd. I'm looking forward to taking my daughter to the first 400 yd deer target shoot at Anderson Creek Sportsmens club on the 22nd She wants to get as many in as possible before college in the fall.

How about a trip to the Lone Star State to hunt one of these.....

I have two boys, aged 8 and 5. A whole lot of my time is spent at a baseball diamond in the summer. In between times, I have a pup I'm trying to train to find birds. Right now, guns for me, are WAY down on the list.

took me quite some time to figure out otter six... LOL.

For us, its maintenance... we start hunting around Sept in AK, and finish ducks in Jan here.

That means Feb/Sept we have to take care of 3 houses, yards, maintenance, 100 acres of land, dead trees, fence repair/replace, road maintenance and so on.

I'm SO thankful when end of Jan comes around, and Sept gets here so damn fast its not even funny.

Probably doesn't help all the fire/ems volunteer calls I run, almost 300 on an average year...

When we used to shoot highpower and all the other cross training shooting, we rarely got anything much done. Was thankful for deer season as it meant we could quit shooting until the spring again. What a refreshing break!

That was years when a lot more of my family was alive to work around the farm etc.... and now its the same amount of work but only 2 people to do it.

Really ??

It should tell you something.


Jerry

You guys are already shooting chucks? I was raised to not shoot them til the middle of May at the soonest so the little ones are not with momma anymore.

Man, I've bought rifles over the past few years when I'm not even wanting or needing them. I guess I really don't need more than one or two.....but that's not fun for anybody.

I'm starting to shoot my bow, run cameras, then the kiddos and baseball, ballet for the girl(thank god it's not the boy.....never know these days), starting on a new build(if this F'ing stock will show up), and family vacation........likely hog hunt a bit over the summer.

Could always make a trip to south Florida. Deer season starts on July 30th this year. Not too far away, But who the hell wants to hunt in south Fla in July?

In the 70s I lived in NW Ark and we had a great place to hunt with Groundhogs. It was large pasture land that had been bulldozed and the draws were full of pushed up timber/brush and undergrowth. The G-hogs were thick. We didn't give it any thot.

Altho we shot A LOT of hogs, we exterminated them in that area. uggh! We should have researched groundhog life cycle and waited PAST the birth/raising season.

Jerry

Trap and skeet boys...

Yard work, wash car and truck.
Take-in a few baseball games.
Reloading and shooting.
Road trip to Idaho and Montana.

Try to enjoy life.

That would be more fun than twin busty red heads half my age. A friend of mine thought he had us a line on an axis hunt. Turned out to be a ruse. In 1995,I hunted Rio grand Turkey in TX. The ranch had exotics afoot. That was pretty cool. Like a whole other country.

Same here.

I always held to that protocol too. Whack a nursing momma too early and the little guys won't likely grow up to be targets. Memorial Day was always the start of our self-limited groundhog season in Maryland and PA for that reason.

As for me, my deer season doesn't start 'til right after Thanksgiving. The thought of chasing around the country chasing deer in other bailiwicks just doesn't hold the appeal it once did. I'll likely spend the summer and early fall like I usually do- sitting on the veranda with a jug and a good book, with an occasional hike around the neighborhood to keep my legs in shape for those halcyon days of squirrel and deer hunting, and the occasional foray into a clear cold stream in order to wave a split-bamboo stick around in the air. I don't go a-helling through life like I did before. At the tender age of 63 I'm starting to mellow a bit.

That doesn't stop me from acquiring/building more deer rifles though. The irony is, most of them will never see a chilly sunrise in the deer woods as I always tend to grab one of the old memory makers for that job.

Same here but my mom does help out quite a bit as well(especially with paperwork).
We really could use another worker or two but it's hard to find help.



Haven't been bored in 6 years.

Fill the time until deer season? I just retired Apr. 27th and at least now I've got the time to do all that stuff I never seemed to have time for when I was working. Plan on doing a lot more reloading and help out a guy with some woodchuck culling on his farm. Go to the range more; visit my buddy who runs the local gun shop more. Got a couple trail cams out on one other property I'll be hunting in November. We might set up a blind out there. Gonna hike around on a 6000 acre piece of hilly state land that I've hunted for years and get to know it even better. I got a long list but at least now I can fit all this stuff into my schedule. I could have retired a few years ago but put it off until age 66 so I can get even more $$ out of social security and have more money in retirement than I had originally planned on. Plus; I'm thanking the good Lord that I'm still in good enough shape at my age to do all that stuff. So staying in shape and eating right can also fill that time. Have even found myself looking real hard at a couple more guns down at the shop.

The farm I'm shooting them on now is infested like I've never seen. I mean there are probably 50 active holes in the one 40 acre field I shot them on last weekend. I killed six and saw about 12 more I couldn't shoot at because of houses/barns/livestock in the background and I was only there for an hour. The farmer asked me to please kill as many as I can. I'm not worried about wiping them out but he said he'd really appreciate it if I could. I'm done for now as the grass is getting too tall. I'll get back to it in June after first cutting.

b h -

I'm jealous! ! That was such a hoot. We have 'some' ghogs around here but I've haven't seen many.

Enjoy!


Jerry

Blackheart; Sounds like a farm I hunted here. There were so many on the place,all the field drains were ruined. Erosion was out of controll. They were using the window wells on the house for shade,and chewed the TV cable off. Left unchecked g-hogs can ruin a farm for sure. We would work the fields over with the rifles,then sneak in around the buildings with shottys.

Crappie fishing.
Sporting Clays and 5 Stand.
Load development for 4 rifles.
Have a new lease in Mo that we have to get stands set up on too.

Then there is the whole working 65 hours a week thing...

My list of things to do grows daily. Once the kitchen is finished I need redo the wife's office (laundry room).

I have 3 porches to clean/treat, a house to wash and a bunch of frigging shelves to build in the shed. Plus the garden, fill up the bird feeders daily, hunt for snakes, and play with 3 dogs.

Summer is my 'busy' time around the house, because I don't do a damn thing in the fall cept hunt and watch college football.

And, you SIR, have earned that right!

been trying to get my next winters fire wood in and split! started the garden, have 4 places to mow besides my own, getting my small boat ready, plan to do alot more fishing this summer, guns to shoot and shells to reload, always something to do!

Just brought home 2500 shotguns shells. If they last even close to Deer season then something bad happened. Actually if they last thru July, something really bad happened.

Til deer season? Well, I have gopher shooting to attend to, p. dog shooting, some pistol shooting, some long range shooting, trout fishing, a trip to my wifes folks with a bit of bass and bluegill fishing to pass the time.

Will also shoot some trap and skeet.. My step daughter and her son will come visit us for two weeks to fish, shoot and enjoy the out doors..

Have a couple trips to Montana planned, some lakes in the mountains I want locate and fish. Train my little golden pup, I have more to do than I have time to do it.. Don't know how I survived before I retired.. Now due to my investment lady, I have more money than I started with and I have been retired for 17 years..

You should by her a BD and Christmas present.

Pigs and coyotes with some exotics when I can find a good deal. A lot of habitat improvement the next month or so. We got a lot of trash hardwood trees such as sweet gum and bitter pecan that don't produce mast so I'm trying to cut a bunch of those to give some little clearings and hopefully some new growths mostly natural regen with some planting of oak and a few fruit trees

Depends what you are getting done, but you ought to be able to get around. A walking stick might help keep you from tweaking things, and I would recommend a knee brace to keep you from hyper-extension or twisting and injuring colateral ligaments (inner and outer of knee) or cruciate ligaments (the inside of the middle of the knee ones people usually tear or sever). I had one after the first surgery and that kept me going the 9 years more before the replacement. I used it all last fall and into winter sports this winter. I plan to use it this fall, too. I don't want to mess up the repair. It pays to protect it a bit for a while, expecially while training and trying to get your conditioning back. You don't want to go have a repair repaired.

Ten years ago I had arthroscopic surgery on an already really bad knee on July 3, and by the October 1 opener I was fine to elk hunt, but the quads were still a bit weak. I did pack out elk, though. I was just careful and used a walking stick as protection. Last year in late April got that same knee replaced. That was after having both hips replaced the year before. By July I was scouting at 9,000+ feet in my elk area - using a protective brace. By the elk opener I was doing very well and didn't have much trouble. But again, the leg was not quite as strong as the other. In the bad wet slippery crap, I was definitely using a walking stick for protection and a little extra help on the uphill. Mind you this knee had needed replacing for about 19 years. I can now do a lot of stuff I had not been able to for years. That does not mean the new knee made me 20 again. Good luck with the knee.

BTW, DonFischer, mine makes a sort of muffled pop kind of sound/sensation when I step up like on a stair. Just asked the Doc about it on the anniversary check. It comes from a little sort of bubble of the synovium slipping out from under the kneecap and popping back in. The synovium is the capsule around the knee joint itself where the fluid that lubricates the joint is contained. I guess it is not uncommon to have a little fluid filled tissue bubble kind of squish off to the side and pop back in. Mine does it as I flex the outer quad just before I step up. Doesn't hurt. He said it is not uncommon after the drastic surgery like a replacement, and nothing to worry about. That much carving on a knee and the resulting scarring and rearrangement of stuff is bound to change things a bit.

Heck deer season really does not start until after I go elk hunting, so that is a lot of time to fill between now and November. This year I am taking a year off from repair and rehab, so more time to play outside of work hours. Scout elk, hunt the wily trout, photography, hike, bike, whatever the weather allows. Just spent a weekend in Yellowstone seeking out grizzlies to watch, as well as whatever other wildlife was around. There is always plenty to do, especially when you take a trip and come home through flooding. Got to get the garden in, need to check the river, man what am I doing typing (except waiting on something baking to be done).

The easy explanation is coyotes. Dunno. Haven't shot one since I stopped hunting in PA in the early 90s. We never used to shoot them until the first of July so as not to leave orphans. Lots around here, but not any place to hunt them.

Actually, I like to watch them in the woods getting their dens ready for winter. They make trip after trip with mouthfuls of leaves to pad their pad.

Until deer season time is divided between work around home three days a week, and fishing, shooting , scouting for deer and elk. Three days for those with one day to relax and plan projects, fishing trips. After deer and elk season it's coyote and cat season. It's a viscous cycle but I do my best!!

Sounds like heaven to me.

Fishing. Not as much, since I stopped running charters, but still a lot of fishing.

Always something to go catch comfortably, year 'round, down here, but during hunting season, I don't fish nearly as often. With the end of deer season, that changes a little. With the end of turkey season, it goes to all fishing which works well because by late April/early May, everything that was chewing in the winter is still chewing, plus everything else that breathes through gills. I'll be in the boat and on the beach for the next several months, except for the 6 weeks of June and early July doing the college prospect baseball circuit with my oldest.

In between there's a thing called "work", range time with the kids plus a new to me .308 to work up a couple loads in, and a new hunting tract to continue scouting and prepping for the Fall.

I'll manage.

I have a visit to my Father for a week than off to Idaho where I have a few projects to complete. Also camp, fish and scout about. If I am lucky I will draw a moose tag. Here there is the old Mach 1 that is receiving all new upgraded suspension and steering parts. I am about a week away from being retired for a year and have not been bored yet.

For the time being, I've got plenty to do to keep me busy. My boat's got some minor issues that require a little shade tree mechanic work. I've got a new AR 15 I'm still sighting in. 'Son's coming up from Indiana in June and we're going up to Pine City shooting with a bunch of his buddies. Week of vacation over the 4th of July. A crossbow to get dialed in before archery season. Lots of honey-do stuff around the yard. Some reloading equipment to get up and running. Deer season can't possibly come fast enough, but there's always stuff to do in the mean time. Have a great summer guys.

Got a rifle build going. Been doing 1911 mods and shooting pistols on rainy days. Shooting sporting clays and 5-stand. Checking trail cams, fishing, turkey hunting (about over now), then there's the unending search for the "better load" in certain rifles...

Then there's work, work and work. Also taking care of the farm, wife projects, and the rest that must be done between the 'fun stuff'.

work