Hunt Prep - Opening Day!
Opening day!
Can’t believe we are already here. I’ve been anxious all weekend thinking about it!
A lot has happened the last few days.
Weekend Practice
On my last post I mentioned I was down to three arrows and I had three broadheads. Well, I put one of the three broadheads into a tree so I was down to two.
I finally figured out that my horizontal adjustment on my sight wasn’t working. I went inside and was able to push it over and lock it in place, and validated that it was finally aligned where it needed to be!
I then ran down to Preston and picked up some more broadheads! Bought a pack of 4 that were almost identical to mine. When I got back I realized they were heavier (125 grams instead of 100) but they flew right on with my other two.
Once I got the broadheads on the new arrows I began working through the arrows to identify my top three arrows. I started at 20, was able to take out an arrow, and then backed up to 30 and then 40 yards.
I started at 6 and was able to weed out 2, so I have 4 arrows that are good to hunt!
I have shot broadheads out to 50 yards, but at 50 the dispersion has been pretty bad. I am about a basketball sized spread at 50, but from 40 on in I am a large fist which is awesome. With the blind set to 20-25 yards, I should have a guaranteed kill.
Hunt Prep
We were able to go back up to Gray’s Lake (the hunting property) on Saturday to check the trail cams and make sure the blinds and cameras were squared away. We were seeing four bulls on the property (as of Saturday):
Spike
We first saw him up on the mountain the first time we checked cameras, but on Saturday we noticed he was coming into the meadow and into the wallow (where the blind is).
Raggedy 5x5
Don’t have pictures of this one, but he has been all over the meadow. He had a little bit of velvet hanging off his antler and is a younger bull.
Small 5x5
Definitely more mass and symmetry than the raggedy 5x5, but still relatively small. This is the bull that we saw in the meadow during our first trip to Gray’s lake and it appears that he is still hanging around and herding cows.
The big one, 6x6
What a stud!
As of Saturday we got a photo of him on top of the mountain about two hours before we were there. We are really excited to get back up there and see if he filters down into the meadow and wallow.
This would be a great bull! Nice solid 6x6 with solid G4, 5, and 6s. He is definitely larger than my first bull (barley a 6x6, really a solid 5x5), but who knows if we get a shot at him.
Mental State
I’m freaking out! Spent a lot of time thinking this year about this hunt and now it is finally here!
Am I going to wait for the bigger bull or take the first bull that comes? I’m not sure. I strongly believe that if one of the 5x5s comes up then I am going to take it. The spike? I might wait, I might pull the trigger. It’ll probably be a feeling thing in the moment.
I have the whole week blocked off to hunt so it is really hard to say what I’ll do. I haven’t had a ton of opportunity with a bow so it’ll be hard to hold back if that opportunity comes.
Can’t wait to get up there! We are going to drive up around 1PM today and then I’ll sit from 230ish until 9! Just got to pray that something comes in front and I get the opportunity to shoot!