Lake Champlain United - Forums

Finally have a chance to tell of my most favorite time of year, now past. So... sad.... Cant wait until next year!!!!

Had a great season filled with opportunities. Tough hunting this past season though. Worked longer and harder and traveled farther than ever before. Went into it with a new setup with a PSE Madness 30 as the limb cracked on my old XS. Begrudgingly I HAD to... I also changed broadheads this season from old style Rage to the Rage hypodermics. Let me tell you... AWESOME. Will never shoot a original rage ever again. The damage and accuracy of the hypodermics is sick. The bow... eh... It got the job done, but the 30 is nothing compared to what the XS used to be. The added speed with the 30 makes the bow jumpier (and its way louder) plus it loses brownie points for looks. Enough of gear review. Ill gladly give other reviews on gear (Ozonics, GoPro) if people want though!

So here is the brief recap.

VT - Nothing (by choice and lower than normal time commitment). Saw some does (got mom pardons), few spikes and a 3pt (that I let walk for someone else to enjoy or grow bigger) and found a dead 5pt someone lost (last year).

NY - Winter kill was high last year and it showed. Opening week bow got a nice doe and passed on a 5 pt and several spikes. Doe ran all of 50 yards and piled up on a heart shot. Saw some good deer activity but they then vanished. Halloween week, missed a beautiful 8 pt at 25 yards. Oh morale was low!!! For rifle, I only had a few days to hunt NY as my vacation time was just about used up. Few days before Thanksgiving, I got a 5pt that I grunted in from 300 yards using my DePauls Custom Deer Call I got made last year. Saw some does muzzleoader season and a 4 pt and hope they make it until next season.

Illinois - Ben and I decided to venture off to the midwest to pike county early Nov. After a week of sitting on stand sunup to sundown, the last day of the trip rolled around and I had come to terms with going home empty handed. Not to mention I was super pissed off I forgot my rangefinder that morning. Fell out of my bag. I dont know how I got so dumb lucky but there was spike and a 5 pt hounding a doe in front of me about 30 min to dark. The last 10 min of light rolled in and I heard grunting behind me and out popped a stud 11pt at 20 yards?? Must have judged it pretty close because he only went 100 yards before falling over dead in sight from a double lung shot. Good thing I bought an Ozonics. That was left behind also!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2016 brings everyone plentiful fish and game animals both big and small.

Congrats!!!! Very nice buck!!! Way to stick with it!! Sleeps

Very nice! We also saw way less NY deer

Very nice deer season,now you need those strap on steps.lol

Nice report Cheryl.
Thanks for sharing your season with us.

Happy Holidays.

Thanks the the great summary... How did Ben do?

You had a good year overall and great end to the season with that Illinois monster. You did your homework and put the time in and it shows. Great story and good reading. I had a good season but no guarantees for next year. I need to find more places, they are hard to come by around here, too much pressure. I may post my 10 pt mount when I get it back, tooth survey showed it was a 3 1/2 yo. I just saved the horns from the 8 pt., he too was a 3 1/2 yo. Great job and nice post!

Sounds like a pretty good season. Thanks for sharing! At least you were able to harvest some venison. I know that that is usually a staple of Ben's diet I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the Ozonics.

Nice Wallhanger! Congrats!

Thanks guys!

Fishdawg- I didnt get any of those deer using my ozonics. For ground blinds I bet they are great but Im
Not a believer in the stand with it yet. I got busted more x this season by does using it than I ever have. However.. I hunted in windier conditions than usual in the units defense. There is so much swirl in the hills that im not sure its as functional as it could be. I bet it works way better in flatter terrains. Battery life sucks. You need to spend an additional coinage to get the extended life one to use it on all day sits. It also has a hum to it that is annoying to me. Its loud enough to mask the suble sounds of the woods. Some days I would turn it off then be like... Ahhhh thats better. So.... I give it a 5 out of 10 stars. Dont think its for me. Id consider selling it or returning it to company as a dissatisfied customer. Lol.. Oh... Every once in a while id get a whiff of the ozone when the wind would shift and it gagged me! Makes me wonder if its really even safe to use... Really.... So I guess the jokes on me... Sucker!

congrats very nice.

Thanks for the info Cheryl! I've been seeing the adds, but had also seen the price and was wondering how they worked. I know of no one that has used one. Congrats on this years Big Boy!

Once again you have had an amazing season! good for you! When can we see the rest of the Vermont hunting heritage video from last year?

I also got a quick ? What do you guys think of this? http://ghostblind.com/

shirefisher wrote:Once again you have had an amazing season! good for you! When can we see the rest of the Vermont hunting heritage video from last year?

I also got a quick ? What do you guys think of this? http://ghostblind.com/

I have one love it for the edge of a field easy set up. Wind can be an issue I've had both deer and coyotes in bow range(under 30yds).

Wow, looks like you had a good season, WFW! That's a beautiful Illinois buck. He'll look great on the wall. Congrats!! Was that with an outfitter?