Hunting Mature Bucks While Playing the Wind – Bowhunting.com: One of several great blog posts this week form the Bowhunting.com staff. There are few factors more important when pursuing mature bucks than playing the wind. Check out this article to get tips for handling different winds in different scenarios. It’s always a good topic to brush up on.

Gonna Be Hard To Sleep Tonight – HBinMotion.com: Heartland Bowhunter is always good for some buck porn and these trailcam pics from North Dakota are perfect examples of that! The guys are actually in ND right now, hunting these bucks! So hopefully next week they’ll be posting about a successful kill or two.

Acorn Update: Heavy In Your Area? – Mike Hanback’s Big Deer: Check out this article to get an update on acorn production around the states and how that might effect your early season hunting.

RQ Countdown: T-5 Days- Record Quest: Andrew McKeans quest for record book bucks is about to kick off, this article showcases his excitement and thoughts as the season is about to begin! Also has some nice Milk River whitetail trailcam pics.

Homemade Pizza with Game Sausage and Veggies – From Forest To Fork: This is a new blog from the wife of acclaimed hunter and blogger, Mark Seacat. Katie’s going to be sharing some great wild game recipes and this one really caught my eye. This looks like some delicious pizza and I’ll definitely be trying this with my venison sausage!

Well it was an incredibly tough call when deciding who would win the treestand harness contest, but we’ve finally come to a decision. I’d like to congratulate Kyle McNew, the soon to be owner of a brand new Gorilla Exo Tech G30 Harness! Kyle’s story stuck out as the closest call and most dangerous incident submitted. If Kyle keeps climbing up old 2×4 steps in tree trunks, he’s really going to need this harness! Thank you to everyone that submitted your stories, they were all great and I wish I could post them all and send you all harnesses! Maybe next year, haha.

I think if there’s one lesson to learn from these experiences, it’s that treestand falls happen and you have to be prepared for them. Spending a $100 on a harness is a heck of a lot better than spending life in a wheelchair, so make sure you play it safe and strap in next time you’re in a tree.

With that being said, let’s take a look at Kyle’s close call…

My treestand accident experience was on a November evening of the Michigan firearm season. My friend and I were headed to a stand that was built years ago and was one of our most productive stands on the whole farm. This stand was made out of 2×4′s and 2×6′s about 22ft. off the ground. It was a large platform built in a multi trunked wild cherry tree. Once we got to the stand my buddy climbed on up, as I tied on the camera equipment and gear he pulled it up. Once the guns and gear were in the tree I started climbing up the 2×4 steps that spanned between two trunks of the tree. Once I reached the last step at the platform the board had came loose and I fell hitting multiple large branches on my way down.

At the base of the tree there were a bunch of stumps about waist high of smaller cherry trees that we cut off earlier in the year to trim shooting lanes. I landed square on my back on a 8in diameter stump. Laying there in unbelievable pain, my friend went and got the truck and took me to the emergency room. Luckily I had only a handful of bruised ribs and one major headache. Once I got the nerve to investigate what had happened I found that since the tree had grown it pulled the nails right through the boards. That stand is still there and it reminds me of how dangerous treestands are regardless if they homemade or store bought and how lucky I was to not end up paralyzed or worse yet.

30 days. 720 hours. 43,200 minutes. 0 good nights of sleep. The countdown has begun for me, as only one final month remains until my 2010 deer season begins. But it will be a long month, as I am unbelievably excited for opening day and the season that will follow.

Opening weekend for me will be an exciting affair. Several of my friends and my dad will be joining me at my farm to hunt the first couple days of the season. Hopefully one of my friends will shoot his first deer, my dad will shoot his first deer with a crossbow and maybe, just maybe I’ll see a surprise shooter on my property! It ought to be a great weekend of good food, great company and bloody arrows.

So my question for you is this. When is your season starting and what are your plans for opening day or weekend? Can’t wait to hear! Nothing beats the beginning of a new season!