Have an opportunity to hunt a new place tomorrow in between work.

No rifle stands, a few bow stands set up.

Do I bring the bow and set at a feeder or pull the old .270 out that I never use anymore and walk and rattle?


Acorns are on the ground so feeder activity can be spotty. We are a few weeks early on the rut but I did rattle up a Buck on the place today around 11 am.


Kind of at a cross roads on how I should hunt

If its dry as a bone i'd sit a feeder. If its leafy green id go with the rattle.

There is some greenery from last weeks rains not to mention the stout acorn crop

I would go with the bow at the feeder

I made the mistake of taking less weapon than what was allowed one time and paid the price. If going to the bow stand, take the rifle too.

I always say "go prepared for anything " good luck.
Question - Is the rifle sighted in?

Yes, rifle is good to go.

Few things to ponder:

Ive never shot a deer ive rattled up myself. I’ve rattled up a lot and had clients shoot them, but never done one myself.

This is a perfect excuse to break my old .270 out of the safe.

There are a lot of deer and they are moving, and I have a chance at killing a better than average for hill county buck of luck smiles on me. It will be harder to do with a bow in one trip. I will only be able to hunt this place intermittently.

Hit the horns!

This is what I ended up doing and I’m glad I did.

Action was fairly slow, rattled up two young bucks this morning and two young bucks this evening.

Did see a potential shooter on a doe but she walked off with him in tow before I could get a real good look at him.

Passed on a hog that got to within bayonet range and then another group later that morning.

Ended the evening right at dark when I walked up on another sounder and the old ruger went into action, took two in quick succession. For reference, on both hogs I cranked my scope to 9X and made good head shot on both of them.

Two takeaways from today:

Goal for the season is to rattle up a mature buck and kill him. Today was a lot of fun and it was nice to get away from the blind and feeder.

Second is to hunt with the Ruger more. It’s really a pleasant rifle to carry and the action is smooth as butter, carrying it around today was like meeting up with a old friend.