Looking for my first bow kill this season, no luck last year. This guy has been bedding down at the very feeder I hunted last week. I walked in about 200yds from my truck and settled into some cover on the treeline 20yd from the feeder, and 30yd from the trail exit most of the deer have been using on cam. It's a paper mill cleared section, thick woods on both sides of a 30yd wide clearing.

I got in my spot at 5:15, and I'm thinking I spooked him because he was already there and I got too close. Considering getting there at 3 or 4am Saturday, working slowly to my spot- if I bump him that early he may settle back down. Have seen him eating on cam around day break.

My "spot" is mobile. There's a stand 50yd from that feeder, and I've been using a large piece of burlap to help create concealment draping it from branches at the tree line.

Temps are about to drop almost 30 degrees here, the pressure's shooting up, and the wind flips from E to SW. First real cold snap of the year right as pre-rut's getting going... yeah, I'm sitting tomorrow evening for sure.

Anybody else hitting the stand? What's it looking like where you're at?

The other day gun season started. I was still out with my bow. I hear a rifle go off and I felt like it was so close that was the end of my hunt and i left. I been watching my camera and haven't got any returned deer yet. How long does it take for them to come back?

Currently I am shooting a Hoyt Charger at 70 pounds with a 29.5 inch draw, I am currently using an arrow that comes in at around 385 grains with broad heads and everything on. After doing some research I have gotten some suggestions to go up to around 440-475 grains. Is this something that I should do or would 385 grains be okay? Thank you for any help in advance and hope everyone participating in the Archery whitetail season is having a good season so far! FYI THIS IS A HUNTING SET UP NOT TARGET, THANK YOU!

To summarize quickly.

My extended family owns 400 plus acres.

My family let's me hunt a 20 acre rectangle. They are cooky.

I have full reign to walk and explore l, target shoot, etc. But when it comes to hunting, only the 20 acre rectangle.

Its is between a corn field and a soy field, closest to the main road , driveway, house, etc.

I put up a cellular cam towards the back of the property out of curiosity years ago, where im not allowed to hunt ,and where they used to lease out to a hunt group which is no more. Its just me hunting the whole place, but only in my rectangle.

The pictures from the area i cant hunt always produces 130-160 inch bucks each year, multiple, atleast 3 to 5 different shooters each year. Never seen them in my area and I devote 2 weeks a year to strict hunting my area.

My section, in 10 years of hunting, the best I've ever killed was a 14inch by 14ich 8 point. Any pictures are always doe and baskets.

Its beyond frustrating to know that on the same property, there are monsters, I just cant get to them.

How do I bring those to me. Corn, salt, nothing works. (Yes we can put those out here).

Wounded an absolute monster with my compound. Proud of myself because I was hunting from the ground and got close enough to such a giant, but obviously feel awful for how it ended. I hit his shoulder with poor penetration and found him alive and well on drone. Although I feel better that he’s not laying dead somewhere I feel terrible about putting a bad shot on him. How do you mentally move on after wounding such a great animal? Part of me wants to keep practicing and try again and part of me wants to hang it up for the season. I hate to wound any animal but especially a buck of a lifetime.

I recently bought some mechanical broadheads that use an adjustable tension screw to control how easily the blades deploy. They came with an Allen key to adjust the tension, but I’m having trouble figuring out how tight or loose they should be.

The blades are extremely difficult to open by hand, and when I pushed one into a piece of thin cardboard, the blades didn’t deploy at all.

For those of you who use mechanical broadheads with adjustable tension systems, how sensitive should that screw be, especially when shooting a high-FPS bow?

Should the blades open relatively easily by hand, or is it normal for them to require quite a bit of force? How much does the tension setting matter at higher arrow speeds?

I want to make sure they’re adjusted correctly so they stay closed during flight but reliably deploy on impact. Any advice from people with experience using this type of system would be appreciated!

Would you recommend getting a crossbow or compound bow for a new hunter? I’ve been rifle hunting whitetail for several years, and am considering getting either a crossbow or compound bow to extend my hunting season next year. I’m leaning towards a crossbow because 1) less time required to learn and be proficient with. I have limited spare time, and would like to spend it actually hunting rather than just practicing. 2) A crossbow is at least as effective at ethically harvesting an animal (less movement required, faster speeds, etc.). I predominantly hunt from the ground at the moment.

Are there benefits to a compound bow I’m not considering? How dangerous are crossbows? I’ve heard a concerning amount of stories of them blowing up, and the thought of sitting with a grenade on my lap does make me nervous. Is one more durable than the other? I’ve heard that crossbows have a shorter lifespan in terms of how many shots you can take with one, due to the higher power.

Also, if you have any specific recommendations for either that are a good value, I would appreciate it.

TLDR - I’m looking for the best return on investment in terms of time and money spent to just be able to get more quality hunting time. Crossbow or compound bow?