WI Archery Season 2021!

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szwampdonkey
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WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:08 am

With the WI Archery Season starting in under 2 weeks now who else is chomping at the bit to just get out and get that first sit in? I was up at 5 letting my Brittany out and having a cup of coffee on the deck and couldnt help but feel that familiar hint of fall and deer hunting as cool and crisp as it was. These first cool mornings in early Sept really get me fired up. So just got me to thinking about what other beasts will be doing on that FIRST sit and whats it all about? I realized for me, its not really about killing deer. Here is how i have my first sit planned.

Opening day ill be out well before sunrise, really just to see the natural world wake up without any human intrusion (except myself of course) which is a HUGE part of hunting for me, getting away. I have a well known spot extremely close to my house that is easily accessible but low impact as I can park my truck, take my climber, and be up a particular well known to me tree in under 20 minutes. My son and I fondly refer to this spot as "The Easy Button" because its so easy to hunt from my house ill use it for low impact sits when im under a time crunch after work or something just to get out. This spot is extremely overlooked being so close to the road and roughly 15 acres but it overlooks about 1000 acres of mostly private and some public cattail marsh mixed with scrub brush and a high oak ridge on the other side (about 3/4 of a mile away) which is all private. I can see ALL of it from this particular tree with the sun rise coming up right in front of me over that far away oak ridge. Its a site to behold seeing the sun come up over that ridge slowly illuminating all that grass, water, and cattails sprawled out before me. Almost every sit here i see deer ranging from fawns to mature bucks moving about in this cattail marsh once the sun comes up. Granted, the vast majority of them im not really hunting as they are often pretty far off in the swamp or that oak ridge on the other side but it is nice to see them and observe them through my binos and on the first sit of the year ill be honest that is what i want most, just to see all of it again and observe deer. Dont get me wrong, im shooting a mature buck if it shows in range but this first morning sit of the year for me is always more about just getting out there and seeing all that natural beauty again while perched 20 foot up a tree.

After this first sit ill start getting more aggressive and going in for the kill so to speak but i always look forward to this first sit just to get back in my element.

So what are the rest of you WI beasts (or any state starting soon) going to be up to on your FIRST sit of the year?


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greenhorndave
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby greenhorndave » Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:46 am

That sounds like an awesome spot to kick things off SZ.

I can’t wait for it to kick off either. Gotta admit that I’m not sure where my opening sit will be. I have a few options, but none have that vista that you’ll have. Either too flat, too remote or too leaf-covered.

Also got late access to a few new places, so I want to check them out as well. I went out to one of them yesterday and did some low-impact field edge scouting. Found a lone apple tree that’s loaded but not dropping yet. Be interesting to see what shows up. But I want to try and crack the code of those new places and I don’t want to dive in this close to opener, so I’m going to wait until after it starts.

Got another spot that was going to be for water access, but I’m going to check for water today… it was great in spring and seemed like a spot that always has water, but I’m not sure now because it’s been such a dry summer. It tough to spot check, but I may try to do that today.

So I got nothing that is a 100% lock. But I’m going to enjoy the heck out of the game starting up again.
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Bowhunting Brian
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby Bowhunting Brian » Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:52 am

I have more ground to hunt this year. I'm pretty happy about that.
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Tue Sep 07, 2021 3:08 am

I'm really looking forward to the season. It's always relaxing to get back into a tree.
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Tue Sep 07, 2021 5:47 am

greenhorndave wrote:That sounds like an awesome spot to kick things off SZ.

I can’t wait for it to kick off either. Gotta admit that I’m not sure where my opening sit will be. I have a few options, but none have that vista that you’ll have. Either too flat, too remote or too leaf-covered.

Also got late access to a few new places, so I want to check them out as well. I went out to one of them yesterday and did some low-impact field edge scouting. Found a lone apple tree that’s loaded but not dropping yet. Be interesting to see what shows up. But I want to try and crack the code of those new places and I don’t want to dive in this close to opener, so I’m going to wait until after it starts.

Got another spot that was going to be for water access, but I’m going to check for water today… it was great in spring and seemed like a spot that always has water, but I’m not sure now because it’s been such a dry summer. It tough to spot check, but I may try to do that today.

So I got nothing that is a 100% lock. But I’m going to enjoy the heck out of the game starting up again.


Bet that lone apple tree will be a great spot to at least tag a freezer doe for sure.

Regarding that watery spot you mention. I checked two spots back in late July that are usually wet and swampy to get through, like knee deep roughly. They were both BONE DRY! Like i I was just taking a stroll through waste high tall grass. I mean i thought it would at least be mucky with some wet pockets still but both areas were completely dried up. I couldn’t believe it dropped that much!

Afraid i’m going to have more company in some areas now as i rely pretty heavily on water barriers and my hip waders but now some of these spots it looks like you can get back in there with just hiking boots.
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby Jonny » Tue Sep 07, 2021 11:43 am

Been so excited since my 1 bow hunt last year that I haven’t even wiped the blood off the kayak yet
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby MuskieHunterDave » Wed Sep 08, 2021 12:43 am

I don't have the energy needed to hunt the morning and the evening on the opener. I save those types of efforts for the rut.
I haven't found any sure-fire buck spots in the new areas I've scouted to hunt this year. I have found a few spots with lots of deer activity that I plan on hunting the first and second evenings of the season.
It's probably foolish to ignore the big buck areas I found last year, but I just got so fed up with the pressure that I'm trying all new areas.
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:18 am

MuskieHunterDave wrote:I don't have the energy needed to hunt the morning and the evening on the opener. I save those types of efforts for the rut.
I haven't found any sure-fire buck spots in the new areas I've scouted to hunt this year. I have found a few spots with lots of deer activity that I plan on hunting the first and second evenings of the season.
It's probably foolish to ignore the big buck areas I found last year, but I just got so fed up with the pressure that I'm trying all new areas.


Due to starting work at 0630 for like the last 12 years i’m up at 0430-0500 even on Sat and Sunday so mine as well go climb a tree instead of browsing this forum thinking about it :lol:

Pressure was pretty bad last year, worse than any other i’ve seen. I think a lot were Covid Outdoorsman so i think things might start to return to normal this season.
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:23 am

Jonny wrote:Been so excited since my 1 bow hunt last year that I haven’t even wiped the blood off the kayak yet


Your first bowhunt? Were you always a rifle hunter and picked up archery last year?

Since starting bowhunting 30 years ago gun deer hunting is more of an afterthought for me. I go but it’s not the same. I can see quitting altogether in the next decade or so and just bowhunting.
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby Jonny » Wed Sep 08, 2021 3:42 am

szwampdonkey wrote:
Jonny wrote:Been so excited since my 1 bow hunt last year that I haven’t even wiped the blood off the kayak yet


Your first bowhunt? Were you always a rifle hunter and picked up archery last year?

Since starting bowhunting 30 years ago gun deer hunting is more of an afterthought for me. I go but it’s not the same. I can see quitting altogether in the next decade or so and just bowhunting.


No I’ve been bow hunting since I was 12 (legal age at the time). Bought a place in central Wisconsin and spent September and early October working on that and enjoying that.

Hunted one evening, shot my buck, and got covid 3 days later. By the time I was well enough to go hunt again, it was 70 so I fished and scouted until gun season.

Just excited because I only sat in a tree 3 days last year
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby Jonny » Wed Sep 08, 2021 5:12 am

And just scored permission on 300 acres of company property in Waukesha county.

Pretty sure it’s pressured quite a bit, but I’ve seen a fair amount of deer driving through there before.
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby greenhorndave » Wed Sep 08, 2021 5:28 am

Jonny wrote:And just scored permission on 300 acres of company property in Waukesha county.

Pretty sure it’s pressured quite a bit, but I’ve seen a fair amount of deer driving through there before.

That’s sweet man! I don’t think there’s any place in SE WI that’s not pressured, be it public or private. Probably mostly from the last two weeks of October through gun season, tho.

Good luck this year Jonny!
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby greenhorndave » Wed Sep 08, 2021 5:30 am

szwampdonkey wrote:
MuskieHunterDave wrote:I don't have the energy needed to hunt the morning and the evening on the opener. I save those types of efforts for the rut.
I haven't found any sure-fire buck spots in the new areas I've scouted to hunt this year. I have found a few spots with lots of deer activity that I plan on hunting the first and second evenings of the season.
It's probably foolish to ignore the big buck areas I found last year, but I just got so fed up with the pressure that I'm trying all new areas.


Due to starting work at 0630 for like the last 12 years i’m up at 0430-0500 even on Sat and Sunday so mine as well go climb a tree instead of browsing this forum thinking about it :lol:

Pressure was pretty bad last year, worse than any other i’ve seen. I think a lot were Covid Outdoorsman so i think things might start to return to normal this season.

Yeah, pressure was not insignificant, but I’m not going to let it put me off like I probably did too much last year. A few spots had vehicles, but the quality of the deer I’ve had on cam this year said they weren’t completely successful last season.
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Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby Tim H » Wed Sep 08, 2021 5:36 am

This summer were in the process of selling our house, buying a house, and moving. We have been in the new house for two weeks now. I have yet to see the woods since May which is long over due. Honestly this is the longest stretch that I've been away from the woods in a very long time.

Opening day for me will be a kill mission. I will have every intent on releasing an arrow if a nice buck or doe presents itself. Odds are I'll end up in a tree of some wet place I've never been too. The goal is to use information I learned the past few seasons to get me in a good position to make it happen. ;)
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Re: WI Archery Season 2021!

Unread postby Jonny » Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:50 am

greenhorndave wrote:
Jonny wrote:And just scored permission on 300 acres of company property in Waukesha county.

Pretty sure it’s pressured quite a bit, but I’ve seen a fair amount of deer driving through there before.

That’s sweet man! I don’t think there’s any place in SE WI that’s not pressured, be it public or private. Probably mostly from the last two weeks of October through gun season, tho.

Good luck this year Jonny!


Yeah my only hope is the amount of small half acre lots that border it and one side is a big golf course. We own all of the marsh and most of the transition so it looks really nice. Just need to go walk it and see what’s there.

Also is bow only so that will be nice
You have a monkey Mr. Munson?


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