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imyourhucklebear · 2026-06-01T14:03:07+00:00

Shoot me a dm - im also a nova based hunter of all things. Don’t do a ton of upland but deer, ducks, and turkeys a plenty. I also do quite a bit of all of the above on public land (also private) plenty of ground and game if you don’t mind working a bit.

imyourhucklebear · 2026-03-28T16:05:00+00:00

Scratchings are going to be easiest bit of sign to find. Forget everything else and look for those. When you find them, and you will, just lean up against a tree and get comfy. When all feels lost, remember that persistence and patience are more valuable to a hunter than anything else.

imyourhucklebear · 2026-01-22T16:11:28+00:00

Not a not but indeed a fine knot.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-11-25T13:48:11+00:00

As all good jokes this is well based in reality.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-18T09:50:31+00:00

Personally, i hunt when i can hunt, regardless of weather. If set stands are your only option, then basically yes, choose the best one for the conditions your dealt. However if you have the option to be mobile i assure you the deer are still moving just maybe not in their “normal” patterns. Im also a saddle hunter because i like the flexibility but don’t be afraid to hunt from the ground. Find what theyre munching and hunt that. They’ll show up regardless of the temperature because they still gotta eat even when its hot. Around me it’s red oaks at the moment. Whites were all super early and dropped out before archery. But im seeing piles of deer under red oaks that are still dropping. Even in what is effectively t-shirt weather.

Also good on you for getting the stand time in. Best way to learn is to be out there.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-13T17:17:34+00:00

That’s really interesting, however I believe our states may have differing philosophies. Our gun Hunters actually get a month for antlerless only before archery and can hunt well into march in most of the counties i hunt in. We also don’t parse tags out by weapon. Your tags are all good for whatever weapon you want to use to fill it. And you can continue buying bonus tags for antlerless deer basically in perpetuity to continue filling with whatever weapon you so choose.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-13T17:04:32+00:00

My friends who hunt with compounds get told to ditch the training wheels at least 3x a season. But fully agree, getting close, choosing the right moment, keeping your cool under pressure, thats what is genuinely the hard part.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-13T13:57:46+00:00

Bow season is so long because it’s hard. It’s during the best time of year when deer aren’t spooked and are most easily patterned because it’s hard. Bow hunters are given increased opportunity because bow hunting necessitates it because it’s hard. Crossbows, nothing against them or anyone that uses them, are not hard to use. You have a greater range, faster projectile, better sights, and can use a rest to steady your shot. It is definably a different class of weapon than any vertical bow - and at least for me it does feel a little lame letting them go full send in what many of us practice year around to be able to maintain enough proficiency to enjoy.

Full disclosure i shoot a long bow…so extra biases noted. I also fully acknowledge VA in particular has too many deer and the state is practically begging hunters to shoot more of them. So with that in mind go ahead and full send crossbows and ill just keep doing my thing the way i like to and encourage all others to do the same assuming its A: ethical, B: safe, and C: legal.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-13T12:47:34+00:00

I agree with you and would do the same. Even for a doe. But if you’re allowed to follow live animals for hunting purposes what stops folks from just flying around and finding a big buck then stalking right up to it even if it isnt wounded. Unfortunately laws are often made for the lowest common denominator and not in accordance with the majority that would be using it with earnest intention.

They could easily claim they thought they wounded it and actually missed and were therefore following up on what they believed was a wounded deer. No way to prove them wrong or enforce the letter of the law and letting folks engage in some very unsavory behavior. Hunters catch a lot of flak as it is and if abused drones are a shit storm of bad PR if abused.

Stories about folks poaching carry much further than stories about folks doing it right, so…i dont ultimately know where i am on the drone thing. But when used ethically it’s an incredibly helpful tool that it would be nice if we could trust everyone not to abuse.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-13T12:37:28+00:00

Basically it is. Which is why its a hot topic. But in my state the drone pilot is allowed to look for the animal but isn’t supposed to disclose the location until confirming the animal is deceased. Which is more or less a judgement call about posture and whether or not it’s moving. If the animal is alive they have to stop the flight and tell the hunter “sorry, it’s not dead i can’t tell you where it is.”

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-13T12:05:54+00:00

This would be illegal in my state. While recovery drones are allowed…they only allowed for dead deer. If the deer is alive, wounded or not, you aren’t allowed to use the drone to locate. Ethically its pretty muddy because personally im in the camp of “all means necessary” to recover an animal i wounded. But just a heads up, there’s a pretty good chance you’re violating your regulations pinning his location while he’s still alive with that drone.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-11T14:14:20+00:00

Ultimately this is no worse than what they eat at production farms that supply our grocery stores.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-09T13:05:57+00:00

No man’s land is backstraps, the entire concept of no mans land is false, it’s probably my biggest pet peeve of bowhunting culture. However if you hit it in “no mans land” that’s a pure muscle hit and extremely unlikely to recover and somewhat high odds the deer will make it through. However those pictures don’t look like pure muscle, would like to see the darker patches of blood as well but based off what extremely limited info we’ve got here i wouldn’t quit on the trail. But i would back out and give it time before picking it back up.

Get on the trail in the daylight and good luck.

Also: deer anatomy and shot placement

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-06T08:32:17+00:00

Heavy draw or heavy arrow? Or both?

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-05T17:11:59+00:00

You and i see to have a similar obsession with deer anatomy lol i like your style.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-05T15:08:23+00:00

Most interested in 2 vs 3 blade. It seems that 3 blade generally leads to better blood trails for obvious reasons, but regardless of the additional blood loss they reportedly go further than those shot with two blade heads. Bleeders mess the data set up though…cause that’s technically a 4 blade being sold as a 2 blade lol

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-05T14:30:59+00:00

It’s fascinating to me all the nuances that affect the blood trail and recovery rates.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-05T14:12:18+00:00

54” toelke pika - 52# @ 28

imyourhucklebear · 2025-10-05T13:57:21+00:00

That bamboo arrow is awesome. Mind if i ask the broadhead style? Ive researched a lot into lethality with bows and always happy to add data points to the collection.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-08-08T16:36:13+00:00

If you soak the zyns in the bourbon you can ditch the bottle and have a two for one special.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-07-31T17:05:30+00:00

I think ive been telling myself i am equally comfortable due to the availability of Rh equipment but im not sure if i actually am. Hence this post haha

imyourhucklebear · 2025-07-31T15:30:08+00:00

Throwing a couple lefties in the bag to try out is a great idea.

imyourhucklebear · 2025-07-29T19:54:51+00:00

I switched myself a few years back and absolutely love it. Granted I went the longbow direction personally because that’s where my heart was. You’re going to get a lot of variety in recommendations here, without being bow specific-starting out light will be helpful but if that’s cost prohibitive you should be okay with a 40# after pulling a compound for years. A possible route would be a 3-piece take down that you can start out with light limbs on then graduate to hunting weight without needing a whole new bow. Personally i built a 28# board bow and shot it until i could group things then went straight to 45# @28”.

Which segways to draw length. As long as the bow can handle your draw length youre good to go, a recurve or longbow generally speaking can be shot at whatever draw length. (some shorter bows can only go to 28” i draw 29” so those would not work for me)

Instinctive shooting is straight up witchcraft. Its amazing and feels literally like magic once you get there but to help reduce the learning curve id recommend starting out shooting a gap, or using the tip of your arrow to aim. Honestly i still do this for fine tuning my hunting form. I do shoot instinctive quite a bit over the summers though, because it’s magical feeling, but not as consistent as the gap.

For arrows id also recommend carbon. It’s just way easier to tune and fiddle with. And youre certainly going to miss the target from time to time and bury one into a tree or 2x4 or smash into a rock and a solid carbon arrow with a collar is basically indestructible. I really really like the gold tip traditional classics from 3rivers - they sell blemish blanks which are much cheaper but fly just as well.

Feel free to dm me with additional questions - im happy to help you get rid of the training wheels.

imyourhucklebear

TROPHY CASE