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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 19, 2023 6:17:13 GMT -5
Post up your hunts and successes. The early season in the SRAs kicked off this past Saturday. Of course, I think there are only a few here that archery hunt consistantly, lol.
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 19, 2023 6:25:26 GMT -5
I hunted the early opener and had a messed up morning. Apparently I set up within 40 yards of another guy and had no idea he was there until he took a shot at two does I was watching. I haven't seen another hunter in there for years. Watched him climb down and leave then came back to trail his deer. I climbed down to introduce myself since we were basically sharing the same little woodlot. The sign didn't look good to me but he seemed to think he double lunged it. I helped him trail it for about 100 yards and told him I would back out and let it go for awhile. Only a few dark red drops here and there. I left him and wished him good luck. I guess he said he only planned to hunt the opener there, then was going to hunt other places near his camp the rest of the season. That was good news for me if true cause the woodlot is only 5 acres.
I went back in the evening. His climber was still at the base of the tree but he never showed. I don't know if he ever found the doe or not. I saw a 3 point and 7 does and passed a 15 yard shot at big mama. I am getting soft in my old age when little ones are standing there as well.
Cameras in my early season spots are showing a decent number of smaller legal bucks and quite a few sub legals. Finally had a shooter show up in the area last week, but only night time pics thus far.
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Post by dougl on Sept 20, 2023 10:54:17 GMT -5
This is the first time in quite a few years that I had the time to actually be ready when the season starts.I haven't seen any true giants but I've been seeing more bucks that are just really nice than any other time I can remember.I'm not ready for fall to be here but I'll roll with it when it does.
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Post by bushmaster on Sept 23, 2023 6:05:16 GMT -5
I'll hunt this upcoming Saturday morning for sure. I'm not going to burn myself out in the early season though. Probably hunt a handful of times prior to Nov. 2nd week of Nov. is when I'll make a real effort.
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 23, 2023 6:10:49 GMT -5
I'll hunt this upcoming Saturday morning for sure. I'm not going to burn myself out in the early season though. Probably hunt a handful of times prior to Nov. 2nd week of Nov. is when I'll make a real effort. Similar here. The older I get, the more selective I get about when I hunt archery. Lately, I have been hunting less and focusing more on the right time to be in the woods instead of just more time in the woods. I will hunt a few days here and there then start hitting it hard the last week of October and on. Sat this morning out to see what the weather is going to do. I may hit the stand this afternoon of that storm stays east.
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Post by muttleysback on Sept 23, 2023 7:10:49 GMT -5
The older I get, the more I enjoy the time I spend in the woods. I will be out there when the season opens but with a couple of caveats. first off, I no longer hunt in the rain unless I am in a blind with a roof. Second, I no longer spend entire days in a stand. If I kill one, so be it. The kill just isn't as important to me as it used to be. I do like hunting when the bucks get all crazy though.
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Post by moosemike on Sept 23, 2023 10:54:01 GMT -5
I'm away at work 10 hours a day so all I have are Saturdays. So I pretty much have to utilize them regardless of weather
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Post by rusty on Sept 23, 2023 15:07:21 GMT -5
I am still building a new camp so my hunting will be cut way back for the first few weeks of the season. When I do get a chance, much of my hunting will be from the cabin for a couple hours in some evenings. I wish I had applied for a doe tag up there. Around home I will hold out for a pretty decent buck but I doubt I'll pass any shots I get to fill my doe tags. This summer flew by faster than any I recall.
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 24, 2023 7:14:48 GMT -5
I was headed to my spot yesterday afternoon and the rain came down hard. I turned around and came back home.........
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Post by cspot on Sept 24, 2023 19:34:13 GMT -5
We will be out this coming Saturday. We checked all the stands today, and sighted in the crossbows. We are ready to go. A little later this year getting stuff together but been busy fishing.
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Post by muttleysback on Sept 25, 2023 5:04:31 GMT -5
It is a tough life, cspot, but someone like us has to do those hard jobs. Right? Golly, who else could fill the bill, serving as a bad example for others?
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 25, 2023 6:38:43 GMT -5
Did a camera check yesterday. The good news is I have quite a few bucks around my early season stands. A shooter finally showed up but he is all at night. The bad news is I got a picture of someone dragging a fawn through property that only I have permission to hunt.
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Post by CoureurDeBois on Sept 25, 2023 17:51:09 GMT -5
Between the constant pain in my lower back, from mild to ouch, and the tired legs all of the time, I'm giving it up. I am see a chiropractor once a week. which has helped some, and will start some physical therapy in a couple of weeks so hopefully I can do rife season. I'm sure I will do some, but I'm working toward the hunts being more distant than a hundred yard from where I park the truck, like last year. My 16 year old grandson wants to start bow hunting so I gave him my cross bow Saturday. I would of liked him to start out on a long or compound bow, but he wanted to hunt with a cross bow. Hopefully he will get the bug and decide to make the change sometime in the future. Good luck to all that are going out.
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Post by muttleysback on Sept 26, 2023 5:34:02 GMT -5
Sorry to hear this, CDB. I have some of the same problems with lower back pain (L4-L5), but my chiropracter keeps me vertical. Hope yours can do the same. Nearly thirty years ago, my doctors suggested lower back surgery. I resisted that option and am glad I did. As to the tired legs/fatigue, I had this last year. I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. A really good cardiologist got me on a regimen of meds that turned that around. I am now walking two miles a day with Ms. Doris and our dogs and am looking forward to this hunting season. Here's hoping that your health problems can also do that turnaround.
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Post by muttleysback on Sept 26, 2023 5:36:13 GMT -5
Did a camera check yesterday. The good news is I have quite a few bucks around my early season stands. A shooter finally showed up but he is all at night. The bad news is I got a picture of someone dragging a fawn through property that only I have permission to hunt. We have several quality bucks in the area of our camp, but they only show up at night. I'm hoping we get to see a couple of them when the rut kicks in and they get hormone crazy.
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Post by CoureurDeBois on Sept 26, 2023 8:32:24 GMT -5
Sorry to hear this, CDB. I have some of the same problems with lower back pain (L4-L5), but my chiropracter keeps me vertical. Hope yours can do the same. Nearly thirty years ago, my doctors suggested lower back surgery. I resisted that option and am glad I did. As to the tired legs/fatigue, I had this last year. I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. A really good cardiologist got me on a regimen of meds that turned that around. I am now walking two miles a day with Ms. Doris and our dogs and am looking forward to this hunting season. Here's hoping that your health problems can also do that turnaround. I've had three surgeries on my lower back, 2 different surgeons. All due to stenosis. The first one was in 2014 by a neurosurgeon to remove spinal stenosis on L3. no fusion. Second one was 2018 by a spinal surgeon, fused L2 & L3, removed a cyst and more spinal stenosis. Third one was in 2021 by same Spinal surgeon, performed spinal decompression and fused L3 through T12. The first one helped a lot, second one also gave me 2 years of pain free, third not so much. I've had my legs checked for blood flow last year, every thing was fine, so I ruled that out. Hopefully between the chiropractor and the upcoming physical therapy I can get back my mobility, mostly pain free. Things will have to get a lot worse before , if ever, I have any more surgery. Wife and I also walk our dog, most days. Yesterday we made a mile, but most days this pass summer was between 1/2 and 3/4 miles, and I average about 2.5 miles per day total. Luckily the dog is 11 years old and she doesn't seem to mind too much when her walk gets cut short. I'm looking forward to rifle bear and deer season, and we've been talking about hunting the early bear muzzleloader season this year. I haven't given up hunting completely yet, just changing how, where, when, and how long I hunt.
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 26, 2023 10:49:14 GMT -5
My experience from a rehab perspective is low back surgery usually ends up going and going and going like the energizer bunny. Have one, then some years later, another, then another then ulitamtely with a back that is so messed up folks lose quality of life. Many long term studies show little long term benefit from spinal surgery in most cases.
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Post by CoureurDeBois on Sept 26, 2023 15:03:43 GMT -5
My experience from a rehab perspective is low back surgery usually ends up going and going and going like the energizer bunny. Have one, then some years later, another, then another then ulitamtely with a back that is so messed up folks lose quality of life. Many long term studies show little long term benefit from spinal surgery in most cases. I agree, if I had it to do over again, I would not have done the last two surgeries. I also feel it is somewhat inherited, my mother suffered from the same type pain, though she controlled it for years with oxycodone. I have two pills of oxy left from the surgery that I carry with me while hunting, fishing or cutting fire wood, just in case I need them to get off the mountain, so far I haven't needed them. I also have some left over pain meds that I use occasionally to do what I want, or need to do, or to get some sleep if the daily doses of Advil doesn't do it. The Advil usually takes enough edge off that I can at lease function. I also can no longer lay down in bed to sleep, so the recliner has become my bed. For some reason I usually have no back, or leg pain while I'm in it. I've tried propping myself up in bed in the same position as the recliner, but that doesn't work. As I said the chiropractor has seem to help the lower back pain some and I'm hoping the physical therapy will help some also. If it doesn't, then I will discuss treatment meds with my primary doctor come spring when I have my semi annual check up. I have come to the conclusion that I will probably never be completely pain free, and the surgeries have also created another problem, though it doesn't last long. It has happened twice, once with a tick bit and once with covid. I loose all the strength in my legs for 5 minutes or so. The surgeon's PA said it was due to the surgeries, and it may or mayn't go away.
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 27, 2023 6:21:09 GMT -5
I also can no longer lay down in bed to sleep, so the recliner has become my bed. For some reason I usually have no back, or leg pain while I'm in it. I've tried propping myself up in bed in the same position as the recliner, but that doesn't work. Usually it is the slight flexion that a recliner puts your lumbar spine in, which offloads stenotic pressures. Even if you lay in bed and prop up your upper body, your lower spine is probably relatively flat which increases those pressures.
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Post by muttleysback on Sept 27, 2023 6:31:47 GMT -5
My experience from a rehab perspective is low back surgery usually ends up going and going and going like the energizer bunny. Have one, then some years later, another, then another then ulitamtely with a back that is so messed up folks lose quality of life. Many long term studies show little long term benefit from spinal surgery in most cases. I have a good friend and sometimes hunting buddy who has been through three lower back surgeries, has become addicted to opioid pain killers and recovered from that, and now his doctors want to do a fourth surgery. I thank my lucky stars and my talented chiropracter that I resisted that route back in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Post by CoureurDeBois on Sept 27, 2023 10:28:35 GMT -5
My experience from a rehab perspective is low back surgery usually ends up going and going and going like the energizer bunny. Have one, then some years later, another, then another then ulitamtely with a back that is so messed up folks lose quality of life. Many long term studies show little long term benefit from spinal surgery in most cases. I have a good friend and sometimes hunting buddy who has been through three lower back surgeries, has become addicted to opioid pain killers and recovered from that, and now his doctors want to do a fourth surgery. I thank my lucky stars and my talented chiropracter that I resisted that route back in the 1960s and 1970s. You definitely need to watch yourself with the opioid. Back in 2006 when I had my right knee replaced, I came close. I got my last prescription for them the beginning of November and by the start of rifle deer they were gone., thankfully. By the second day of buck season I knew I was coming down off them. Haven't had any problems with them on my back surgeries due to the fact I didn't use them unless I was really hurting. Lesson learned, probably why I still have some left over from the last back surgery 2 years ago.. I'm also thankful that the Advil takes enough of the sting out that I don't need one very often. Would be nice though, if there was some type of pain killer that worked as well as the opioids, and wasn't habit forming.
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Post by dougl on Sept 27, 2023 10:35:58 GMT -5
I've had lower back issues that range from mild to miserable due to a dead lifting incident about 15 years ago.Several months ago,I started doing a few sets of hyper extensions when I go to the gym every morning.Since I've started that routine,I feel like I'm 25 again.I'm gonna buy one for home.If I feel the slightest stiffness in my back,I do a few sets and I'm as good as new.
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 27, 2023 11:16:17 GMT -5
I have a good friend and sometimes hunting buddy who has been through three lower back surgeries, has become addicted to opioid pain killers and recovered from that, and now his doctors want to do a fourth surgery. I thank my lucky stars and my talented chiropracter that I resisted that route back in the 1960s and 1970s. I hear and see very similar stories all of the time, unfortunately.
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Post by ridgecommander on Sept 27, 2023 11:18:20 GMT -5
I've had lower back issues that range from mild to miserable due to a dead lifting incident about 15 years ago.Several months ago,I started doing a few sets of hyper extensions when I go to the gym every morning.Since I've started that routine,I feel like I'm 25 again.I'm gonna buy one for home.If I feel the slightest stiffness in my back,I do a few sets and I'm as good as new. Extension exercise if very effective for certain conditions. Few actually realize it and focus on it. It can be very bad for some conditions as well.
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Post by rusty on Sept 27, 2023 17:06:58 GMT -5
I've had lower back issues that range from mild to miserable due to a dead lifting incident about 15 years ago.Several months ago,I started doing a few sets of hyper extensions when I go to the gym every morning.Since I've started that routine,I feel like I'm 25 again.I'm gonna buy one for home.If I feel the slightest stiffness in my back,I do a few sets and I'm as good as new. Extension exercise if very effective for certain conditions. Few actually realize it and focus on it. It can be very bad for some conditions as well. Is it an exercise that help with sacroiliac pain?
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