I just started Deer hunting a couple years ago when my boys became teenagers. I've helped them successfully do the "Tx trifecta" (Turkey, Deer and Hog) so this year, it's my turn as I've never done any of them (long time quack smacker). I'm on a great lease and have a really nice 9pt. picked out for my first and had him in my scope Saturday afternoon...

I climb in the box blind Fri afternoon with my driveway alarm at the feeder to wake me up if any hogs come in during the night. Have some groceries, cot, couple of Sam Adams and movies on the iPad, so I'm livin' large now. Couple of hogs show up around 11, but I convince myself not to shoot in the event my buck is in the vicinity and given the 70' temp, I'd have to clean the hog and go get ice right away to keep it. Small 8pt Sat AM, nothing else as I sit the rest of the day.

About 5:30 as light is starting to dwindle and I'm thinking of starting to pack up, my 9pt makes his appearance. Measured 80 yards, perfect broadside shot, click the safety off, take a couple of deep breaths, I touch the trigger to start my pull... and the freakin' X-Sight scope powers down. You've got to be kidding me! On the pic rails, I also have (2) rechargeable USB batteries mounted as AUX power for the (4) AA's in the scope. How can this be? OK... I have spare AA's in my bag, no problem, but why isn't the USB keeping it running?. Buck is still by the pen. Swap the AA's, power up, point at the Buck, it dies again! The spare AA's for some reason aren't working. Now I start to get the Buck fever shakes as my opportunity to take my first is starting to slip away. I have the end of the USB battery where the status light is, taped up as the LED on it is like a lighthouse at night. Take the tape off... red LED, it's dead! Lord help me now. The cord from the scope to the USB battery isn't long enough to reach around to the other side, so by time I get the other USB battery moved, my boy walks off. When I get home to see what happened, everything was good with the 2nd USB and 2nd set of batteries in the scope.

The overthinking part comes in when I decided I needed a night scope to hunt hogs and a day scope for the usual suspects on the AR-10, so I bought one of the ATN X-Sights as the idea of having both and the ability to record the shot, seemed like a good idea. The scope has been fine, I was just a poor manager of my power with some bad luck dripped in to boot.

I'm back in the stand Fri. with my AR-10, (2) sets of new in the package Ultra Lithium AA's, (2) freshly charged USB backups AND my Ruger 77 Leupold 50, it doesn't need batteries.

Wish me better luck this go around!

Charlie

Yep, too much stuff. I think most of us are at some time guilty of taking way too many things for "what if" situations. I've yet to own a scope that takes batteries though. 'Can't imagine the frustration.

We're gonna need to see a picture of the blind that's big enough for a cot.

It's not hard to keep it simple. You just need to decide to do so.

Monster bucks? Don't need `em. Does eat just fine.

Thousand dollar rifles with fifteen hundred dollar scopes? Don't need `em. Iron sights and round balls do just fine.

Getting close and picking your shots might bring joy and excitement back into your hunting life. Remember, the original purpose of hunting was to put meat over the fire.

Batteries, USB for a deer rifle? Way too complicated for me. A Pre64 Remington 270 sighted in with a Leupold Vari-X scope is all I need.

On second thought, why not plug your USB into your Ipad. Maybe there's an app for aiming or maybe even pulling the trigger! (sarcasm)

That read like a horror story, sorry to hear. I've got an EOtech on my AR for playing with, but nothing else needs batteries... nothin' with a USB. deer hunting is too serious to have a failure over a damned battery. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm razzing you, I honestly feel for ya. Life just seems funny that way.. you try your best to get everything perfect, top of the line, technology lets ya down.

Wishing you luck for next time!

Technology can be a detriment. With the AR10, if I were you I would get a QD-mount for your ATN at night and one for a daytime scope for day hunting. LaRue makes great QD-mounts that will hold zero when you change them out. Takes about 30 seconds to change them.

Hunting with the AR, cot, fancy scope, and IPad makes me think you're missing the point of hunting. Go simple and enjoy it

I use the technology for safety and scouting, such as the cell phone and GPS for safety, and satellite images for scouting. However, I'm not one of those who spends a small fortune on game cameras and memory cards to take photos of deer that I will never see, much less harvest. If a big buck walks out in front of me, I want to enjoy the full excitement of seeing him unexpectently for the first time.

I made a "home brew" game camera mostly for fun back before you could buy them using plans posted on the Internet. But I soon got tired of it for the reasons mentioned earlier.

Tracking the weather is another good use of the technology, as well as using the Internet to learn more about deer and their behavior.

Better luck next time.

That is exactly why I only hunt using a spear while wearing a loin cloth. Too many variables.
Lol, not really. And I know what you're going thru, sort of. I've had my share of totally wasted opportunities due to something I screwed up. At least you might get another chance at him. Good luck.

CharlieCTx, that's a funny post. If you are a gadget guy, the outdoors sports can clean out your bank account. Equipment that is vital for one hunter isn't even considered by another. Some guys are dressed and equipped as if they are patrolling the roads of Kandahar rather than walking to their deer stand. That's fine because it is their choice. I don't think I have ever had to carry spare batteries as part of my hunting kit though.

KISS!

It's an Atascosa 5x7 4ft tall , nice blind and the cot is just over 6ft (it's a cheap Bass Pro old army style, certainly not fancy), so it fits, but it is tight.

Charlie

One must always consider murphy's law - what can go wrong will go wrong. There is something to be said for keeping things simple and limiting the variables involved in your plan. The less variables, the less chances ol' murphy has to screw things up for you.

Charlie, for what its worth, at night deer aren't near as jumpy as they are during the day. Not saying you wouldn't scare deer away by shooting at hogs, but I have first had seen many times where deer simply stand at shots fired at hogs. To a deer, they don't know what the sound is, just that it isn't hurting them. If they have no reference or ide of what is going on, they might not spook off. They will almost certainly be back in the am if they are regular to the feeders.