Bowhunting

Yep. Sighting in my new crossbow and setting up stands again.

Yessir! My brother and I have been practicing here and there during the summer to stay sharp. I want change up my broadheads this year. I keep hearing that Rage is all the rage. I've seen videos of the exit holes they leave and I gotta say I'm impressed. Not exactly sure that I want to switch so close to the season unless I can get a lot of practice in with them though. Thanks for reminding me to go pick up my license!

Do y'all hunt private or public land? Right now I'm relegated to hunting public land as I don't know anyone who has enough land to hunt on.

Trail cams have been snapping pictures of 4 nice bucks that come in every couple of nights. Stands are up, just switched back to a new compound after using a crossbow for the last 4 seasons.
Jeremy, I switched over to rage heads about 4 seasons ago, started with the standard two blade and switched to the chisel point 100grain two blade two seasons ago. I shot 13 deer in the last three seasons, all with rage, all were recovered no more than 35yards from impact. Three of those dropped right in their tracks. I have been bow hunting all of my life my (I even dropped a 350 lb black bear when I was 17) and have not seen such a game changer in equipment as these heads have proven to be. Don't listen to guys that complain about them opening prematurely during flight, rage used an o ring only for blade retention on older designed heads, if you bumped the head hard enough it would open, now they use the o ring and a Schock collar, this was a nice improvement and the blades stay in place until it reaches the target. Last season I was given a G3 mechanical head to try by a friend. I took an 11 yard broad side shot at a doe, thought I missed her as she ran away seemingly ok, about 35-40 yards out she nosed down and doubled up. It was awesome to watch from the stand. When I got down I recovered my bolt bloody from a pass through but I could not find a single drop of blood from the impact sight to the deer, not even a pinheads worth. All three blades broke when it hit the ribs on the entry side too. Needless to say I stocked up on more rage heads...

I'm shooting Easton FMJs but they're the older style with the slightly thicker aluminum skins. My old Browning Illusion slings 'em out at around 280 fps but they're so solid that the kinetic energy at the target is devastating! Where my brothers' arrows both stop after about 6" of penetraion into the foam target, my arrows are slamming through about 3" out the backside of the same target! I'd bet I could easily put one of those arrows through both shoulders of a deer if needed. Luckily I haven't had to test that theory. I'm shooting Montec 100s fixed blades but I'm looking forward to seeing what these Rage heads will do!

Do you practice with the broadheads or do they fly true as a field point? I saw practice heads but I don't know if I want to spend $40 for them... especially after spending $50 on the broadheads themselves. My only concern with practicing with the broadheads is tearing off the blades when pulling the arrow out of the target.

I know you're not going to tell me where your secret heavenly hunting grounds are so stop teasing me with pics of those bucks!

Nice! I've been hunting Ted Harvey and the Archery Only area off of Blackbird Forest Rd. for the most part. I forgot to get my permit for White Clay last year so I didn't hunt it at all. I might reconsider Lums this year though I'll need to get out scouting that like yesterday. The guy who owns the land around my cousins house has told HIM that it was okay to hunt the property but I'm not sure his offer extends beyond that.

I'll have to get the grain weight of my arrows and see how close I am to 500. I never really bothered about it before as it shoots smoothly and accurately. I keep telling myself I want to upgrade to a newer bow but I just can't push myself to do it. I bought mine in 98/99ish... you know when they didn't have these self-drawing, 350fps with 140% let off bows like today.

Nice buck!
Jeremy, my secret grounds are literally in my back yard. The house I rent is in an apple orchard which has corn rows and squash patches separating the groves of apple trees. It helps that there is a 1200 acre preserve that backs up to the orchards. I keep posting my pics on FB as I have family in Florida that use to hunt, but if you think it's to keep teasing you, I can go with that too.....
The rage heads come with one practice point per package. They fly true like a field point, I have never shot a practice head.

I have a Wicked Ridge CLS with 125g Rage Crossbow broadheads. We lease a farm near Felton. Just started the lease last year and we took 10 deer off of it. 2 nice buck and 8 large doe. LOTS of deer there and a bunch of non typicals we have pics of. A friend of ours and his dad leased it for 10 yrs before and his dad died. He decided to give it up so we took it over. 400 acres with about 100 acres of woods. We planted a few food plots this year so looking forward to the early season. I've been dying to get a buck in velvet. Haven't been successful yet but hopefully this will be the year.

I use a Vicxen set to a 47pound draw. It's a few years old but its been a great bow and Im not looking to trade it up yet. That velevet 8pt buck Hardkro talked about definitely would have been a GREAT first buck but was an AWESOME hunt all around. And yes I did get pissed :upset: :upset: said a few choice words and even cried but I didnt give up and am still out there. (would have loved to have gotten it so I could also say I got a velvet buck and you havent to the hubby.. lol)

Keep plugging away and that opportunity will present itself again, that's one thing that I did learn while bow hunting, persistence, persistence, persistence, it all pays off in the end !

Why is that???

Well, I got my license today and was pleasantly surprised while flipping through the book that PA has a free "deer attractant" permit available for the special reg areas. Now it's back to the store to pick up a feeder, going for the magic number 10 this year a little bait couldn't hurt

I know what you mean, I have an inner tug of war every fall, filling the freezer with meat always wins and I don't know how to break the cycle

Is it bad that I haven't yet procured my hunting license!!

Quote from Kuntryboy816

Is it bad that I haven't yet procured my hunting license!!

Got my license and eight anterless tags from the courthouse, six stands are up, need to do a little trimming, just put up an automatic feeder (pa is finally allowing the use of a feeder on private property) cleaned out the freezer and set up the dehydrator. Naa I'm not excited