The Final Countdown

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• Leupold Katmai 8x32 Binoculars


• Moultrie Game Spy I40 Trail Camera


• Moultrie Game Spy D40 Trail Camera


• Loggy Bayou Transformer Safety System


• Evolved Harvest ShotPlot – Premium Forage Brassicas


• Big Dog Treestands


• Summit Treestands


• Medalist Silvermax Silkweight Base Layers


• Medalist Cheyenne Pants


• Lacrosse Alpha Burly Boots

Does it get any better than this? Archery season is less than 24 hours away and the temperature is diving into the 30s! I don’t think I can ever remember conditions quite this good for opening day! But to answer my opening question, yes, it can indeed get better than this. That’s because on Saturday morning, instead of being perched in my favorite treestand, I’ll be squeezed into an aisle seat of a Boeing 737, headed for a week-long visit to the Aloha State. That’s right, Hawaii. And no, they don’t have any whitetails there.

I know some of you have probably already decided that I’ve lost my mind. And in some ways, you’d be right. But that’s not why I’ll be spending next week on a beach. Much like my obsession with bowhunting, my lovely wife Kimberly has a passion of her own. It’s called triathlon. It’s not merely a hobby or a sport, it’s a lifestyle. And although it might be hard to believe, Kim spends more time swimming, biking, and running than I ever could with a bow in my hands. Over the years, her drive and work ethic has taken her all over the county to some very big races. But on October 11, she’ll be competing in the biggest triathlon of them all, the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Just qualifying to be there is a huge accomplishment, as only 1,800 athletes from around the globe are invited to compete. But finishing is another matter entirely. It will require her to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run 26.2 miles in temperatures that will likely climb into the 90s. The 140.6-mile course will probably take Kim over 11 hours to complete. To put it in perspective for the hunting crowd, finishing this race, for Kim, would be a lot like you or me arrowing a 200” whitetail this season. So maybe now you might understand why my treestand will be vacant tomorrow morning.

That’s Kim after finishing 1st in her age group at the St. Croix 70.3 Ironman last spring.

Even though, I’m very proud of my wife and would never miss her big day, being away for the first week of bow season is pretty hard for me to swallow, especially with the prime weather conditions in the forecast and the excellent sign I’ve been seeing during my pre-season scouting. I just have a very good feeling about this year.

AJ Johnson sets up a trail camera on an apple tree and puts the “Mohican Sneak” on an unsuspecting button buck.

My hunting partners and I have been hard at work since the middle of summer preparing for this year’s season. Countless hours have been spent glassing green fields, talking to landowners, checking trail cameras, hanging stands, and trimming shooting lanes. At last count, we’ve hung 25 treestands in funnels and other likely hot spots where we hope to intercept a mature buck.

These young bucks show great potential, but aren’t quite what we’re looking for this season.

Hanging treestands is always a chore, especially since we’re putting two stands at most of our locations so we can video our hunts.

AJ hauls a couple of hang-on stands to a prime spot along a thick creek bottom.

Kirk Byerley points to a few trees that were freshly shredded along a rubline; He was all smiles after we hung a couple of stands along a nearby funnel leading to a thick bedding area.

Kirk’s son Jakeb helped us with a little pruning and checked out this year’s acorn crop.

As I explained in a previous journal entry, this year was our first attempt at establishing some food plots. Our seed mix contained two types of brassicas (turnip and rape) and was advertised to reach a height of 24” after 45 days in ideal conditions. As folks in northwest PA know, this fall has been very dry and average precipitation has been much less than ideal. Even so, our plots are thriving and although they might not have grown quite as quickly as advertised, we are very pleased with the results. Let’s hope the deer are too!

A view of our food plots that were planted in early August.

Some areas of the plots contain plants over 18” tall.

Lots of nice rubs have appeared in recent weeks.

Trail cameras can tell you a lot about the bucks living in your area, and every year we have a blast surveying the local herds. We try to place our cameras near feeding areas or along trails leading to them that won’t disturb the deer near their bedding areas. We’re also careful not to visit our cameras too frequently, and usually wait 2-3 weeks before returning to them after they’re set. Due to substantial amounts of soft mast this year, apple trees and stands of cherries have been hot spots for getting some good photos.

AJ was pretty excited when he saw this buck on his trail camera.

These two bucks are using the same trail, although at very different times.

I captured a couple photos of this buck with an odd rack before and after he shed his velvet.

This 11-point with a droptine would be a stud next season, but given the opportunity, I’m not sure I could wait another year.

After we get a look at some of the bucks living near our hunting spots, we try to focus on a couple of the nicer ones and begin to plan a strategy for intercepting them during the season. A wide variety of food sources are abundant in our area this year, so tracking individual bucks has been challenging, if not almost impossible. Still, we’re optimistic that we’ll catch up with one of the big boys at some point during the season.

Big rubs usually mean big bucks, and AJ was pretty happy to find this one near one of our stand sites.

The goal of all of our hard work is to harvest a mature buck like this heavy-antlered 12-point.

I hope everyone is as excited about the upcoming season as I am. From what I’ve seen so far, I think we have a lot to look forward to. I also hope that you all get a chance to get out in the woods next week…hunt a little extra for me since I’ll be missing those frosty mornings! I wish everyone the best of luck and a set of tall tines headed you way!