2016-2017 Archery Season

[zack.klan]

Yesterday, October 1st, was the first day of archery hunting in our county. I've been watching the weather reports for the past week and couldn't decide what would be my best tactic. Rain was supposed to roll in and it seemed like every day the reports kept changing. Typical Erie weather. As i was packing the light before, I found a tree umbrella that I didn't even know I had. I figured I might as well bring it along just in case. I'm glad I did. I got in the stand around 4:30 A.M. and the rain didn't hit us yet. It was so dark that I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. About 30 minutes goes by and I start seeing little pairs of lights going back an forth under my stand and around the area that I was hunting. I though it was just my eyes still adjusting to the pitch black. I didn't pay them any mind. 30 more minutes goes by and I'm still seeing the "little lights" run around. There were 5-6 pairs. I started to think that either they were deer passing through before the rain or they were raccoons roaming around. I didn't hear any chattering so it was raccoons but I didn't smell the deer either. I had no idea what they were but I was just watching them being that there isn't too much you can do in a treestand at 5:30 in the morning. It finally gets to be a little more light where I could start making out some what of the shadows on the ground. All I can make out are big-bodied shadows so they were obviously not raccoons so it had to be deer. I couldn't make out whether they were buck or doe.

The rain finally started to come down but thanks to my handy dandy umbrella, I stayed dry. After an hour, the rain stopped and everything came to life, besides the deer. I was surrounded by little tweety birds and biplane mosquitoes. I broke out the Thermacell and continued to wait. The rain was off an on all day.

From 4:30 A.M. until 7:30 P.M. the only thing I seen was the "little lights", a bunch of birds, a chipmunk, and 2 squirrels. That's hunting though. You can't harvest them if you're not in the woods after them.

[Okanagan]

Sounds like a good hunt! 

I have a smallish camo umbrella that has a big bite cut out of one side and has almost no stem handle.  Is that a tree umbrella?   I picked it up off of a sale table one time and had no idea what it was for but intended to use it as an instant ground blind.  I lean it up on a bush or stick with the cut out side down and sit behind it, or sometimes clip it to limbs with clothes pins.  I've shot several critters from behind that umbrella blind and it was hiding my son when he killed a called cougar.  As much as it rains in our country, I need to learn how to rig it as a rain cover!   

Good luck in filling your deer tag.

[nastygunz]

Sounds like one to me, they work pretty good in the tree and on the ground

[Coulter]

Hey, don't encourage him Clyde...I'm trying to get him hooked more on ducks and coyotes.

[zack.klan]

The real issue at hand is that I'm hooked on everything and not enough money to start it all at once.

[FinsnFur]

The good ole Thermacells