What are you doing to prepare for deer season?

We hope you will chime in with any thoughts you have in the comments section below. You might have some guidance that would be good for others.

Typically, we are sharing deer hunting news and some other news from the outdoor world that pertains at least loosely to deer hunting.  The news has been a little slow lately after kind of a flurry of announcements by various state wildlife agencies about deer seasons. So, I got to thinking about what folks are doing to get ready for upcoming seasons - if anything.

Normally, right now I'd be out shooting my bow quite a bit by now, but dinged up my shoulder a little and am giving it one more week to heal up. I hope to be solid then.  It's the side in which I hold the bow (left shoulder) so I am pretty sure it won't be a big deal.  I live out in the woods and can shoot down a slope off a pretty high deck on the house, so that is pretty nice.

I am also doing some activities to improve fitness and watching my diet to shed some weight that should have come off long ago this summer.  We usually hunt out of climber tree stands after hiking in to public areas...one mile in is about as close to the truck as we are ever setting up.  Fitness is important.

I need to get my bow into the shop just to get looked over and in case anything needs to be done, get that going before a big rush hits them.  Every year, I say I am going to get the rifles zeroed in early...a month maybe before deer season. The closest range where I can shoot is always kind of crazy, but the week before opening weekend here in Missouri is absolutely nuts.  So, maybe this week while waiting on the shoulder I will get out a couple of evenings after it cools down a bit and shoot 2 or 3 groups from each of the 3 rifles we use (30-06, 30-30, 7mm-mag).

Finally, I always try to start doing some scouting for a new area about now.  With public land hunting like we do, you have little or no control over what happens in an area.  Regs change, a place starts getting too much pressure, etc.  So, I am always trying to seek out some other options.

Anyway, again share your thoughts if you have them.

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