Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Huntin' 2009

The woodies sure are, the picture doesn't do those two justice. I hope the wood duck boxes I just put out on the pond get used in the spring. They should we saw plenty of woodies looking for nesting places during turkey season last spring.

The neck tags on the geese is Wisconsin's DNR harvest control method. We hunt the Horicon Zone and to hunt geese in the Horicon zone you must apply for tags before 8/1. Then based on the harvest quota for the state on geese and how many folks apply for tags they issue x tags per person. Of course not all geese are shot in the Horicon zone, there is also other areas of the state that are permit only, and what is referred to as the exterior zone (the rest of the state). The harvest quota is split between all of these areas so Horicon doesn't get all of the quota. This year we got 6 tags per person, which is average for what we have been getting the last 5 or so years.

I been hunting the Horicon area since 1976 with my dad, both in the marsh itself and farm lands around fox lake. So this is a tradition that I do with my dad and want to keep it going as long as possible. He is 72 and not sure how much longer he will be able to do this.

The majority of my goose hunting takes place around my residence in the far western Chicagoland area which opens 10/17. One of the fields we hunt was in beans and was harvested last week. One of my hunting buddies scouted it Sunday morning and saw a couple of hundred mallards drop into the pond and a couple thousand geese land in the bean field. If we keep half of these birds the openner is going to be great. Last year we shot 5 man limits of mallards and geese out of this field both Saturday and Sunday of openning weekend.

Yep CJ I got land in KY and been on a few roadtrips hunting but outside that for the most part hunting suburban deer now for 12 years. I pick up a few spots and then lose a few. We got the largest tract ever this year 40 acres and we planted a food plot. I have to go through a client so can only go with him but we have gotten a bruiser on camera. The have hunted where I can see kids playing in backyard and on decks with deer not paying them attention 50 yds away. However it took me a few years to get this. THe deer know the differnece in you being in the woods. I think you need even better scent control than normal, slightly elevated over what they normally smell from a home and they are outta there. Good luck.

Woddies, that is about the only duck we get here in GA they are beautiful but that is the norm so we take it for granted I guess. I got one nbanded from outside Boston that was cool. I just wish we could get more big ducks to fill up our bag.

Lassig:

I know Horicon well, attending UW Stevens Point during the time you started hunting there. Geese and ducks a'plenty! We could hunt on the northermnost part of the campus for deer, and kept guns on campus although they had to be stored in the armory. You could get them the evening before you were hunting. I don't know if that's the same today or not. There's LOTS of resident geese in the suburbs. Hopefully you can put a dent in them this year.

I agree 100% Greg... Suburban deer are smart! They know where human scent should and shouldn't be. They smell it in the wrong place and they are gone! One of the up sides of being a cop is people are more likely to give you permission to hunt their properties. The western part of my patrol district is nothing but 5-30 acre estate homes. Some real McMasions and some real nice bucks to boot... I still like to head to PA and hunt in a more wild setting, but I have come to enjoy the suburban deer hunting. Here is the big boy I got my eyes set on this year.

Lots of deer movement this weekend and I got lucky and shot my first buck with a bow. Not huge but a nice deer

went up to Georgia with my muzzleloader this weekend, unfortunately record high temps, 85+. Hunted in shorts/shirt with light camo bug suit-- still ridiculously hot. Starting to see some early rubs, saw a few does, but otherwise not much movement probably due to heat, I didn't want to move much either. Waiting for cooler weather.

Nice going with your bow lassig

CJB are you going to bow hunt that deer because of its proximity to suburbia?

lassig:

Nice buck! Congrats on your first bow buck. I've taken does with mine, but no bucks yet.

Texas just expanded bow season to include crossbows. At this time, bow season starts 10/1 and gun season starts the first full weekend in November. The weekend between bow and rifle season is Kids weekend. Most of the bow hunters didn't like the idea of the crossbows.

lassig nice first bow buck, congrats. I got another doe on sunday am hunt. Sunil jerky being made from her I promise.

CJ, that is a bruiser. Good luck not buck activity aroudn here but sat dip into the high 30's might fire 'em up.

Lassig, any buck with a bow is a trophy in my book and that aint no dinky buck! Congrats...

Dave, PA just legalized crossbows in archery season this year for the first time as well. There was quite the blow up over that in PA as well.

Yeah, the county I hunt in is pretty much all bow hunting, either vertical or compound. If you have more than 20 contiguous acres, you can apply with my police department to hunt with buck shot, but getting that permit is a nightmare and quite difficult. So it is all bow hunting for me...

I don't intend to open a can of worms, but in my mind, with the advances in vertical compound technology in the past few years, the only real advantage a crossbow has is you don't have to pull it back for the first shot. The crossbows are a lot noisier than a newer vertical bow, harder to shoot a 2nd shot, a lot bulkier to haul around in the woods, and harder to hold steady if you don't have a rest for the crossbow.

If you have a rest, they are easier to shoot, more accurate with less practice and allow a wider range of people to bowhunt. Speed wise, I think the newest vertical bows are quicker.

HAHA, yeah it's fun watching the can be opened. Me, I have hunted with both and like you said each has their advantage. I just wish hunters wouldn't bash each other regardless of what we use to hunt. PETA and the HSUS just love to see us do that to ourselves...

Very nice first bow buck lassig!

Your right CJ, we need to band together or the anti's will eat us.
What difference does it make what you hunt with as long as it's ethical and humane.
Unfortunately human nature always causes us to screw ourselves cause people like to form clicks and feel only their way is the best.

Nice buck lassig

The prairie chicken hunting in KS this weekend was a bust. Didn't get out as much as I would have liked due to getting some stuff done around the house. Two hours walking Friday saw nothing, but Sunday afternoon Susan and I got out for an hour and a half and did see 8 chickens. One group of 6 at 200 yds and then a pair at 150 yds. Its the 4th weekend of the season so its probably too late to walk up on them, will have to try pass shooting them next time.

Did kick up a jackrabbit that I could have shot, but its the first one I've ever seen hunting, so the thought didn't cross my mind until it was too late. I would like to get one mounted, but will probably wait for a white one later this winter.

So back in IA, my brother and I got out for a little bonus hunt before work today and had a good morning:


Just started waterfowling serious last fall. The guys we normally hunt with have been doing it so long they almost make it feel like a guided hunt and that we're just along for the ride. Absolutely great to learn from them and fun guys to hunt with, but nice to prove we could do it on our own too.

nice honkers