What ruins your opening morning

I am always super excited when opening morning rolls around and thinking I am going to have a great hunt. In 2014 it was very dark that morning and as I walk to my 15ft tower stand trying to be sneaky and quiet I look up and the box was blown off the tower base from a strong front that blew thru 2 weeks earlier. I was devastated and my heart just sank. My morning was ruined. Needless to say I spent that day rebuilding a new box.

That's ironic because when I saw the title to this topic my first thought was WIND. In New Mexico that is by far what ruins more hunts for me. AND we only get 5 days typically to hunt deer, so a day or 2 of wind can really put a dent in your hunt.

Good luck to all

Wind and rain....or oversleeping.

Having to work.....

Thunderstorm last opening day I hunted. I had to climb down from tower blind hike back to the truck. Still fun though.

This is the only thing that should ever ruin opening morning.

Mine would be sons not being able to make it, most likely due to having to work.

Loggers. Had a crew fire up and start processing logs a couple hundred yards from my stand one opening morning a few years ago. Not their fault - they were just doing their job - but definitely jacked up my hunt.

Had some knot head cruising around on a 4 wheeler just after sunrise another year.

Opening morning, the LAST year we were on our previous lease it was cool, no wind and just as it was good and light a truck came through the gate on the far end of the field in front of my blind. The ranch foreman gets out of the truck, climbs on the tractor and starts disking the field I am hunting. Opening morning, really? So I get out of the blind, walk down the creek bed, get on my ATV and go to the far end of our 200 acres and get in the blind there. 10 minutes later a truck goes behind my 2nd blind. 5 minutes later someone 200 yards behind my blind cranks up a bulldozer and starts knocking down trees. OPENING @&*#$ WEEKEND!!

When I travel to Canada and get a bear bait & blind set up, baited for days only to have a moose poacher tie his boat to the same tree as my bear bait marker.....Oh and we were hunting moose on this same "exclusive lake" in 2 days!

work can ruin it. City folks who thing they’re country can ruin it. Missing that big buck can ruin it. Not being able to have my wife with me opening weekend can ruin it. I’ve found it’s best to skip the first few days and go when thedeer are settling down again and most people don’t hunt again until Thanksgiving

All mine have been good so far for many years. Good luck out there.

Not opening monring but my first buck 12 years ago, ranch worker drove right by the feeder. Killed an 8 30 minutes later right there.

The ranch hand did this to me, twice, last year. Second time, minutes later, the landowner flys 50 feet over my blind in his helicopter. Killed a 9pt. with additional kickers 30 minutes later.

Lease I was on several years ago the neighboring 2000+ acre lease had their shooting range just across the fence, they started shooting right at legal shooting time and fired over 300 rounds about 300 yards from one stand. Those of us on that side of the lease saw nothing. The did the same thing Sunday morning with me in that stand, had to go have a talk with them.. Then their land owner.

They did it again the next year for opening day then setup to hunt being quite that afternoon. Just as I heard their feeder go off I opened up with a few about 30 yards from the fence so about 40 yards from their stand shooting back into the creek onto our place with the 50BMG then an AR then 100 rounds from the PS90 and 5 more rounds from the 50. After that never ha them shooting at that rang during the day during season.

Never really had a bad opening morning. I have had other mornings that were ruined.

That morning hangover!!

I was thinking that same thought. Get so excited and leave right after work, get there late and a few guys beat you and have already started on the brew. Ah then you try to catch up and everybody else is calling it a night but you're trying to polish off the last few. Fall asleep and wake knowing you have no business trying to climb up that ladder.

A kind of funny story, and a sad one..

Hunting Cass county back in 1987. 13 guys on 1300 acres and the rules were explicit, no wives, no girlfriends on the lease during deer season period!!
Opening morning I am in my tripod and around 7:45 am I hear people talking and it is getting louder? Low and behold it is one of the lease members that we all knew well with his wife taking a stroll across my hunting area

In the early 90's when we had the whole 160 acres of my friends family and relatives land, his mother who was a wonderful woman was starting to lose her mental faculties. At first light she started driving around to the stands honking her horn, when I went up to her she would tell me to be careful that she thinks poachers have come on to the property. It was frustrating but sad because she was such a good woman.

Other than that pretty darn good

RAIN! If it rains, I have a mile hike "at minimum" in the nastiest and stickiest blackland you've ever seen. Last year my son and I got the 4 wheeler stuck about a 1/4 mile down the county road and I had to put him on my shoulders along with my rifle, 2 chairs, and backpack, and hike out. It was a absolute sh## show!

As I've aged and my priorities have changed - the fastest way to mess up a good hunt is to kill something.

JR

Fog and pigs

When the feeder doesn't go off because the battery is dead........

When my coffee kicks in late.

Fog, and Diarrhea.

Heat and Tall green grass. I’m almost tag out already after one sit so I need to pace my self when I pick up the rifle. I

Having to poop right after the feeder goes off

Only opening morning I've had ruined was a opening morning turkey hunt when a guy walked right through my set on public land while I was calling in a tom

Easy answer- COWS! I hate it when they slowly come into my area and run off all the wild life.

I hate cows..... only got one property left that has them on it during season.. noticeable difference between the game numbers

Fog
Pigs

#1 Spooking deer. If the deer are still moving more in darkness than daylight, I skip morning hunts early in the season. Had to learn this the hard way over the course of several years before it set in. Trying to get in the stand while the deer are already on their feet has educated more than one old buck and stomping, snorting doe.

Last year it rained really hard the night before. Everything was a giant mudpit. Left the stand earlier than normal, for fear of getting stuck getting back to camp. Learned another lease member was stuck. Spent two hours getting him out. More rain. Left for home by about 2 PM Saturday.

Acorns
Cows
Fog
Rain
hangover

A call from the wife informing you the water heater has sprung a leak and to return home immediately.

Fortunately, this happened to me a month before Opening Day.

Me too. But I love a good ribeye steak.

I have lost my taste in beef these days... ill have a steak here and there

pigs have ruined about 90% of my hunts this year.... been using the same arrows on all of them... center punch see ya

Wife sends text, "I'm pregnant". Havent been home for several months.

Most of my opening morning issues have been solved by owning the places I hunt, living on or near them and mld.

But our hunting changed this year due to the incredible acorn crop/drop. Sitting at feeders was a crap shoot. That only bothers me when I have clients tho. Had to spot and stalk this one. Got him in his bed at 11:30am.

Nothing ruins my opening day, not a big fan of hot ones though.

Livestock

I love hearing the bissin' from non land-owners..
same crew that gets all pissy about early w/end lawnmowers...

Wow, solid deer Rancher. Have yet to be successful on a spot and stalk WT. Imagine it's quite the experience

I live with these deer and it makes a difference. A group that had killed a bigger deer had seen this one cross the road while driving in. That told me the approx location where he was gonna bed. From that point it was park a quarter of a mile away and sneak upwind. A little dose of luck and the fact that his antlers were on either side of a tree while he was looking our direction led to his demise.

Luck is always the #1 factor.

Terrible diarrhea is a huge downer.

Getting busted by does while bow hunting

Not much can can ruin my opening morning It's opening morning and I have the whole rest of the season to hunt.

Public land it's always other hunters and it seems to never fail me. I've become a little more numb to it over the years. Now days I just set up on opening day wherever the escape routes are and use the calamity to my advantage.

Private land can't really say anything cause it's hunting win some loose some but it always bets work!

Going out of town 2 years in a row for opening day. Gotta work the next weekend too.
This will be my 3rd weekend bow hunting though.

That's the worse...being afraid to blow wind in the stand cause you know you'll ruin your britches.

From 1986 to 2012 my good friend rented an 18 acre farmette surrounded by vast huge farms of corn and soy bean. It was a hunter's dream.

My friend had a hard time of saving any vacation time for deer firearms season here in Maryland (2 weeks after Thanksgiving) and more often than not he could only hunt the weekends.

I on the other hand was disciplined and saved enough time for both weeks, and hunted his place Mon.-Fri. alone.

He had a German Shepherd that absolutely loved me and usually at least half of the time while my friend or his wife or son left for work (all leaving at different times) the dog would escape the house while one of the family left for work and always, without fail, tracked me down and took up a vigil at the foot of the tree my stand was in, ending my opening day morning hunt.

I sometimes wonder if my friend tried with all his might to restrain his dog or restrain his envy that I saved vacation time and he did not!

Rmocarsky

partying the night before

Wind & Cattle

I can hunt October through February 30 minutes from my house so nothing can ruin any hunt.

Not being at the lease.

About the only thing that gets me down on opening day is neighbors to the north, coming into their camp about 10 pm the night before and being loud.

I've had over 50 "official Opening Mornings" and so far so good.
But now I look at every morning as Opening Morning.

Faulty feeder, dead battery on feeder and/or the dreaded "got to take a dump right now" when deer start coming to feeder.

Still love the hunt, just not as interested in killing as I used to be. Enjoy seeing others score. My Wife says I have too many mounts anyhow.

I have done this before, waking up too early from excitement and losing track of time and having to haul my tail down there in a rush.

Wasp nest hidden in burlap backdrop we had set up. Cold morning and they were quiet and somber. Son fires up buddy heater and those bastages came to life about 20 minutes after daylight. They were pissed and went to work letting us know. We evacuated somewhat loudly as deer were moving in on the feeder.

how about wife calling and said "My water broke,babys coming"....OOOOOPPPS!!!!!

My 4 wheeler would not start this morning, I cranked and cranked and then when I told my son he would have to take me to my stand it finally started. Opening morning was salvaged today. Also my son left his bow at his dorm so he is having to rifle hunt this morning.

#1 - not having a place to go.

Opening weekend in Williamson County back in '83. Took a stand along the property line that had deer crossing in a couple of places. About 8:30, the neighbors started driving along the other side of the creek shooting into the timber. After the second buzz-snap of a bullet going by my head, I bailed out. Took cover behind a large oak.
Went back after it was all over to get my pack and had 3 bullet holes in the stand.
Headed to the camp and lo and behold, there's a range cow with a bullet wound to the leg. $900 for that cow and the toughest meat I ever ate. Took the land owner to the stand and showed him the holes and told him the story.
Two weeks later, he came out to camp and handed me a check for $900. Said we won't have that problem any more. The other land owner made the hunters pay for the cow and get their stuff off his land.

My #1 today, was being sick with a cold. It's starting to subside tho.

Every other year it has been my lower back and sciatic nerve acting up. I was supposed to get back out yesterday with my crossbow but everything started killing me again. I was able to get out a couple of times during archery season but it still would have been nice to get out on opening day this year. But I got some great news from my lawyer yesterday and they scheduled my back fusion surgery for the beginning of December so I should be able to make it back out for the tail end of the season and through muzzleloader season.

Well....this is what ruined mine this morning. Up at 0430. On the road by 0500 today w/ my 2 boys and father. In the blind by 0615. Have two does hanging out under the feeder thanks to the raccoons above spinnning the plate. 0815 comes and goes. Feeder never went off. Fog rolls in and we can’t even see the feeder til 0910. Got out inspected the feeder. Battery is dead. Go pick up my dad and oldest son. Exact same thing happened to them. Feeder never went off. Went back home for supplies and repairs. I usually never go to the lease w/o extra 12v batteries. Today was the day I did. Ugh!!

The fact that its opening weekend ruins my weekend. I hunt or fish 3-4 days a week and it’s usually quiet and I rarely see people but opening weekend is different and all the chaos ruins it so I usually just skip it all together.

I got you all beat. I was on stand 30 minutes today when I find out my lifetime dog Blaze back home could not walk, get up, eat or drink, or lift her head. Drooling and peeing while laying down. I was wrecked, wife was crying on the phone. I came back home thinking it was really Blaze's end this time having already beat the odds circling the drain twice before. I was fully expecting I would be taking my dog to the vet in the morning for the last time. But after letting her sleep several hours, Blaze got up off the floor, walked outside and after a few wobbly minutes became her full functioning bouncy tail wagging happy self again. Believed to have been a stroke. Or maybe, just maybe she just did not want to me go deer hunting this weekend and faked it.

Best for Blaze, SJ. They are family.

Cows and horses.

Sunday morning had a giant bull stuck in my feeder pen, had to climb down and let him out.....just glad he was pretty docile.

Yep I set my alarm Friday evening, but failed to switch it from week day to weekend. Woke up at 5:30 and realized my error. Normally it wouldn't be an issue, but I had stayed at home to watch the dogs since my wife was out of town, and it's a 2 hour drive to the farm. Needless to say, I rolled over and grabbed another hour of sleep

I almost got choked up on the first part of your story. I miss all those pics and stories of Blaze. She's a hunting legend in my eyes.

Had a land owner drive through one opening morning, honking his horn. He thought that it was a good time to work cows.