Sitting here at 3:30 AM, drinking a coffee and posting a thread on leatherwall as I wait for the clock to reach 4:00. The practice and planning over the summer will hopefully pay off but it is always a gamble in an area that consists of the 4th largest Amish population in the world. Amish are not known for herd management.

The dry summer has concentrated what deer there are and this is looking like my best opportunity, since moving here, five years ago. The deer movement (as of a week ago) showed deer moving all day long and very little at night. I have not seen this behavior before but I attribute it to the fact that food and water is scarce this year.

My equipment is still the Martin Mamba which I have been using for the last 10 years or so but the arrows are new by design. This year I am giving the Ashby theory a go and hopefully that will gain me the penetration that I have always lacked, due to my rather short draw length. The carbon shaft is carrying the Ashby head which I purchased from Alaskan bowhunters supply, back 7 years ago.

This year my stands are on public land (as always) and set 16', which is higher than I normally go but I have too, IMO. I hate heights but the ever changing winds (360 degrees in a few hours) makes ground blinds impractical. Hope I dont find myself hanging from my safety rope as the sun rises. :D

Good luck Chris.

Thanks. 9am with nothing yet, other than a fox squirrel. Windy as all get out so I have little Hope of seeing a deer but you just never know.

"Amish are not known for herd management."

Now that's an understatement...8^))) If its brown its down...

Good luck today. We have one more week here in the Keystone State.

You haven't seen anything till you've seen an amish family of 12 or 15 surround a field they know a deer is bedded in and all start walking towards the middle. Guns blazing and Gary layin on the ground. I let em hunt again the next year but told em that in no way could they ever do that again.

So this is how I get away from those other guys with the wicker hats. Wasn't too bad going in but coming out into a 20mph head wind was nuts!

This is where I hope to see a deer. I have plenty of places where I can draw, as the head goes behind cover. I love this set! Headed back out at 3pm. Weather is calming down and is called to be at calm by sunset.

They are actually Great people. Just not conservation minded.

Good luck. I can't get out until the 25th. Amish should have all the button bucks cleared out by then.

Mark.. I have met a few younger guys who only hunt for big bucks but overall (around here anyway) the families pretty much take what the lord provides... As they put it.

From the looks of the lack of browse in those woods, you might consider that being a major problem with the lack of deer too. God Bless

Wv... Where I am going is in a transition area. The beds are to the west and crops are to the east. My stand is a high spot that runs, bordering water on both sides. Kinda like hunting the top of a huge beaver dam, if you will.

That's water behind me

Don't get me started about the amish where I live. I got no use for them. Poachers, draft-dodgers, hypocrites.

Man no love for the Amish. I wonder how many of you could live their life style? Who cares if they don't trophy hunt, I don't either. I take what come by if it's brown it's down. I could care less about horns or mounts on a wall.

There hasn't been a draft since the early 70s. MP

I like the amish. My neighbors were all amish before I sold my farm. I was just saying they hunt in ways no one else would. And they kill everything that moves since they hunt for food.

Wife got her first stick bow buck. 10pt

Taking the big boat back to land.

GLF... I don't know one Amish guy that hunts for food. They love to hunt and they eat what they take but they don't need to hunt to eat. While I get along and like the Amish, they are known far and wide for being avid law breakers and poachers. They just don't accept pur laws as worth following. As I have been told by many of them.

I always find it amazing how we lump people together. A couple law breakers and now suddenly they are all bad.

Lots of people are poachers, does that make us all poachers?

And....I also know some Amish and Mennonite hunters who are VERY! trophy minded and don't shoot little buck. Very avid bowhunters.

sometimes I'm amazed how narrow minded people are.

People are people...some good, some bad.

good luck hunting chris1960

We call them the Blue army. They hunt in gangs around here with as many as 20 to a group. With multiple doe tags that means they can kill up to 50 deer in a season and will kill that many if given a chance. Most land owners posted their property because of the Amish killing every deer they see. They wound a lot of deer because they're always driving deer and they're usually taking running shots. If you have too many deer on your property let them hunt, they'll have them cleaned out by the end of rifle season or ran off to the next county.lol

Depends on the Amish and where they live. The amish in holmes county are tourist trap bait and are rich compared to others. My next door neighbor and her kids worked their butts off and hunted to have meat to can.

Sorry for the rant, congrats on a nice buck.

Ventura66.... You are right on both counts. Thank you. :)

Shade my... I acknowledged a few a have met are also management minded but that is few among the hundreds that I have spoken with and I do mean hundreds. I work for an Amish family business and come into contact with new people every day while working my job.

It is what it is.

Thanks will tell :)

Anyway... Now that everyone has gotten the Amish bug out of their systems :D

This thread is going to continue on (for my part anyway) about hunting the public lands of northeast Ohio.

Congrats ro marshall1960's wife and good luck to Chris 1960!

I'll be hiunting NE Ohio a bit this year for the first time. This is a pic while scouting one of my new hunting spots. They were out about 2pm. Both bucks in velvet but neither have gotten much bigger. Just yunguns.

I hunted Northeast Ohio 40 years ago right across the Pa. Border from Pymatuming. I asked the farmer if I could archery hunt and he laughed and said if I wanted to try and kill a deer with a bow go ahead. I was the only one hunting archery on his 500 acres. I saw and shot at the biggest 10 point I've ever seen. There are some really huge bucks there that's for sure. Shot the 10 point in gun season and ended up get killed by a 12 year old kid with 20 gauge single shot shotgun. Took him three shots to hit it, it was going on three legs two miles from where I shot it.

Good Luck GLF. Looks like a good start :)

Weather is getting cooler quickly. Yesterday, I started looking at the 48 mag that was hanging on the wall and thinking, its about time to start warming up with this higher brace height bow, as the clothing starts adding on.

The 48 is a different shooting bow (for me) and requires some getting used too. Tonight I will start devoting all my time to it. If I can get it back by Friday, I should be in good shape. If not, I will just have to figure it out until I am proficient.

Looking at my wife's black widow and its generous brace, I envy her ability to just stick with one bow throughout the year.

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