Opening day less than two weeks away...

[45Badger]

Anybody else getting twitchy at the prospect of sitting in a tree at "0:Dark-thutty", freezing you butt off, waiting for the sun to cross the horizon?

[CJB]

This week is creeping by. Next week will be worse. Only thing keeping me occupied is making my list of things to pack.

[JJ]

I'll be putting finishing touches on the box stands this weekend, and dropping off heaters. No sense in hauling extra gear opening morning if it can be avoided.

[Holland&Holland]

Stands are all up an set. Trails are cleared. Gear is out and packed up ready to go. Guns are sighted in. Just need final food based supplies and give the old ATV a once over maintenance wise this weekend and it is off to the stand.

[MJY65]

I wish I were. I used to be crawling out of my skin in anticipation of opening day. Unfortunately, the whole QDM, landowners raising deer like a crop and TV shows telling us that anything less that a 10pt buck isn't worth shooting has absolutely ruined deer hunting for me. I haven't gone for the past 3 seasons.

[LePetomane]

No way. Too many hung over crazies out there on opening day. I have never become excited about any opening day. It's more of a social event. Besides, I'll be in Idaho fly fishing for Steelhead.

[photogpat]

Just finished up the menu planning by email last night.

Marinated Flank Steak Thursday night (also makes steak sandwiches for lunches for the next three days)
Pork Hocks w/sauerkraut and Dumplings Friday night
Ribeyes w/mashed tates and caesar salad Saturday night

Apple, blueberry and pumpkin pies...and about 8 dozen cookies...and venison jerky....

Angioplasty on Tuesday morning...

[Ghost]

Anybody else getting twitchy at the prospect of sitting in a tree at "0:Dark-thutty", freezing you butt off, waiting for the sun to cross the horizon?

Ready to sit in my enclosed and insulated blind with a heater for the first time ever and the Grendel is sighted in and ready to fill the freezer.

[yuppiejr]

Getting the camper loaded up, got stand locations plotted in Google Earth and will be making the mad scramble Thursday/Friday to get set-up ahead of the rush to grab prime camping and stand locations on public land. Was quiet last year but it could be a bit crazy this time around with changes from intensive harvest to lottery in some neighboring zones pushing more people our way.

I'm supporting our local Federal/ATK folks by loading up on 115 grain Federal Fusions in 6.8 SPC for opening day, seems they have at least one high level executive who's a big fan of the cartridge in the AR platform and hangs out with the 68forums crowd so I'm hoping to provide some real world feedback on performance.

Good luck all, be safe! I hear the anti-free component in Fireball whiskey (consumed the night before) helps with the early morning cold feet.

[LePetomane]

I hear the anti-free component in Fireball whiskey (consumed the night before) helps with the early morning cold feet.

It helps with the headache, too

[hornswaggle]

You betcha! I've got a son and daughter along this year looking for their first deer so I hope at least one of them has success.

[CJB]

Going to be a hard year. We're in area 156 and none of our 7 hunters this year have a doe permit. None of the neighbors that we've talked to have one either.

[tenmilmag]

The bow hunters are down 17%

[smurfman]

Heading out in a few minutes to replace a ladder stand out back and then it's off to the cabin tomorrow to do a couple of last minute tasks at the cabin.

Like others, no doe tags for the cabin for me or any of the neighbors. Doe/fawn numbers were about the same as previous years but there is a serious dearth of bucks around. I have seen only two spikes all year with the neighbors getting only a few more. The "up side" is there are a pair of 8 pts and a pair of 10 pts running around though they are still a little young. With "Bucks only" in effect, I don't hold out much hope for them getting older.

Best odds is for me shooting a deer out back during the week. It's Hunter's Choice so anything is fair game. It used to be an intensive managed area so I would fill a couple of bonus tags here and save the primary for the cabin. Now, it's almost back to the early days of my deer hunting where brown is down.

[yuppiejr]

The bow hunters are down 17%

More for the firearm hunters.