Practice, Practice, Practice, Getting Ready for the Season

As in any sport, practice is essential to hone your skills prior to the start of hunting season. But is all practice equal? It does not matter which weapon you hunt with, you still need to use good practice routines to hone your skills to be in your prime at the start of hunting season.

Venison Loaf Recipe

Another of my favorite venison recipes is my version of meatloaf, Hope you enjoy.

Placing your Deer Stand

Understanding the patterns of a deer which you are hunting will greatly improve your hunting success, this is why it is so important to scout them as I described in my earlier Blog “Preparing for Deer Season; Scouting”. This will also be key to locating your stand.

Quick Venison Chili

A quick venison chili recipe

Caring for your Camo

Why you should never use common laundry detergent to wash Camouflage,,, it’s more than just that spring fresh scent.

Understanding Rubs and Scrapes

Understanding the rubs, and scrapes made by a buck . What do they mean to you while scouting for hunting season.

Preparing for Deer Season; Scouting

I’m sure you have heard or read somewhere about how important it is to learn the patterns of the buck you want to hunt., but just how do you do this?  What are the tell-tell signs that he is in the area and what is his daily routine?

 Scouting truly is an art form, one that will pay huge dividends once you learn the best methods.

 First of all scouting should have begun as soon as hunting season was over last year, but it’s not too late this year yet. You absolutely have to understand the deer you hunt and their behavior. The what they do, when do they do it, and will the continue to do it?

 Now unless you’re a full time guide you probably don’t have time to spend hours walking the woods every day, so you’ll need to take full advantage of the time you do have. Always carry a notepad or GPS when you are scouting and record any special events that happen, the time of day it happened, and where they happen. Then plot out these events on a map back at home. Over time a pattern will emerge. So start this process by the latest, spring or early summer and keep it going until a few weeks before hunting season. Remember to always give your hunting land some time to rest before the season.

 When you’re scouting you should always use the same scent control, as if you were hunting. Remember to wear scent free clothing, rubber boots, along with a quality hunting scent eliminator. You want to leave as little of a mark on your hunting area as possible.

 This includes cutting shooting lanes and setting up your deer stand. The less you can disturb the area the better. Basically you want to get in, find out what you need and get out!

 Many hunters seem to think that scouting consist of spotting tracks, droppings and rubs or scraps. But do you really know what to look for in these signs? To me it’s more important to know what the deer are doing, rather than the fact that they are there.

 After all, unless a track is pristine with out any debris in it or the droppings are steaming fresh there is really no way to say how far a deer has traveled since leaving the markings.

For the most part a deer’s territory is from ½ to 1 and ½ square miles, although during the rut this could double.

 So, it’s more important to understand what was going on when they traveled through. If the tracks seem to travel short distances with frequent stops, most likely they were feeding. Or if they appear to be steady with abrupt changes in direction most likely they were either heading to or away from a bedding area. These are the questions you should ask yourself when scouting. Basically deer are the same as people in that they will fall into a pattern just like you do when you take the same route to and from work every day.

With this in mind, a map plotted with events, dates, and times will become the most useful tool that is seldom used. The use of topographical maps are best for this, they will also help you locate bottle necks or saddles on the property.

 And do not fall prey to the preconceived notion that the trophy bucks are only found in heavily wooded areas. As you begin to plot out your maps you’ll find this isn’t always true. Often just the illusion of cover will satisfy a deer.

 I hope this article help you and feel free to add your comments, or suggestions.

Doc’s Horny Stuff, the ultimate hunting scent eliminator.

Preparing for Hunting Season; Game Feeders

Ok I’m not going to endorse any particular feeder here, but I will share some experiences and suggest a few things to look for in a feeder.

First of all, supplemental feeding laws are all over the place from state to state. For a quick check resource Click Here. Be sure to double check the information on the State website links they provide.

Now on to what I have learned about game feeders. There are many plans on the internet for homemade gravity feed feeders, which are inexpensive to build. As far as functionality goes, they work quiet well and they are also easy to make. Another plus for the PVC versions is their longevity, you will have them forever,,,,,,,,, IF you can afford to keep feed in them LOL.

Deer will flock to these home made feeders, but so will every other grain feeding animal in the forest and the problem with gravity feed, is that the more grain which is eaten, the more grain is supplied. Also as with any feeder that is not easily moved from place to place you will soon be dealing with mud every time you need to refill the feeder.

When it comes to commercially made feeders, beware of inexpressive plastic models! At first the idea of plastic seems great. The thought of never having to worry about your feeder rusting seems like the best thing since white bread, lol, but here again be warned! Squirrels have amazingly sharp teeth. do not be persuaded by claims of hopper thickness, they will get in, trust me. Steel is the way to go without a doubt.

Automatic game feeders are the ultimate when it comes to convenience, so let’s discuss them for a bit. I would suggest a hanging model with a tripod for a couple reasons.

First of all with the hanging models whether you use the tripod or a tree to hang them in the feeder is up off of the ground. This gives you a little protection from varmints like squirrels, and raccoons. And I do mean just a little! These little devils are unbelievable, raccoons came by their mask markings around their eyes honestly. I once sat and watched one hang from a neighboring branch to my feeder and spin the spreading plate to dispense grain. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

To protect your grain supplies and only feed when you want invest in a varmint cage big enough that a raccoon can not reach the spin plate. That 30 or so dollars will save you hundreds.

The second reason I suggest a hanging model with a tripod is their ease of moving locations. Let’s face it, when deer feed on the grain your feeder distributes, they will paw the ground looking for more food. In a very short time you will have a muddy mess around your feeder and you will want to move it. Don’t be tied down to having to find another tree in the area you wish to feed in. Also most well designed tripod models are equipped with either a latter or some sort of lowering device for refilling the hopper.
Here again you do get what you pay for. Well I hope this blog helps you out, and feel free to add your thoughts on this subject.

Deer Cross Supplies, the ultimate hunting scent eliminator

Preparing for Hunting Season; Trail Cameras

In my last blog “Preparing for Hunting Season; Food Plots” I mentioned the use of trail cameras for monitoring the staging area which you setup. Well I had forgotten about a new product just on the market from Moultrie.

At the start of 2009 Moultrie gave their whole line a facelift, sporting a much smaller profile. Along with some amazing new features. The new game management system introduced this year comes equipped with cellular service and a complete online suite of tools.

This new feature allows connection between the Moultrie camera and the internet. Once connected to the MGMS website you have access to your cellular plan, pictures from either one or multiple camera(s) and mapping systems.

The truly amazing feature this system provides you is the ability to change the settings on your camera right from the MGMS website. There is no longer any need to hike into your staging area and possibly spook that trophy buck before hunting season.. Also with this system you are able to plot out the locations of your pictures on an aerial map of your hunting property.

It is my understanding that the basic data plan runs around 29 dollars a month which can be reduced if signing up for a 3 month plan and allows up to 238 pictures a month with 250 MB of free storage.

Other neat features of this system are:

• Easily create albums and galleries.
• The ability to edit, save and email your pictures.
• Access to your account from anywhere in the world with Internet availability.
• Notification by email or text message when captured events occur.

Deer Cross Supplies, the ultimate hunting scent eliminator.

Preparing for Hunting Season; Food Plots

Food plots, a lot has been written before about this and I’m sure a lot more will be written in the future. Mostly by the companies who wish to sell you their seeds to plant..

It is always a good idea to get a handle on this early, food plots can become very expensive and require a good bit of work as well. One thing to remember is that, a deer’s plate changes throughout the year.

During the early spring month’s herds tend to be in search of a high carbohydrate food source, visiting leftover corn fields and plots of wheat or rye as winter gives way to spring.

One idea here is to use an automatic feeder, broadcasting shelled corn in an area close to your desired hunting grounds. But as spring wears on the deer population’s appetite will quickly switch to a high protein diet. During this time of year clover becomes their favorite meal.

Later, as the summer months begin to heat up, herds will begin congregating  in and around soybean or alfalfa plots until fall approaches. At which time, their cravings turn to grains. During this phase of their feeding cycle, sorghum seed pods will often become the preferred meal.

Then as winter approaches in late fall, once again the herd will be in search of high-energy  carbohydrates to see them through the winter.

As you can see, few if any hunters have the resources or time for that mater, to provide a complete year round array of crops. Basically there two stress periods for feeding herds, late summer and winter. With this in mind, a combination of high protein sources and high carbohydrates will make up your best food plots.

My suggestions for late summer would be soybean or alfalfa with a second crop planting of corn. I’m sure you have heard that no food plot should be with out clover, but in your main hunting grounds I still say soybean or alfalfa is better.

My reasoning on this is something that few hunters employ when setting up their plots. The large trophy bucks prefer to feed under the cover of darkness. They tend it mill around in the brush until nightfall to adventure out into open fields.

By creating a staging area for them you improve your chances during the early season. These will be the best areas for small patches of clover. Once you have your major food plots established and they are being grazed, scout the surrounding tree lines.  

After you locate the largest trail leading in from bedding cover,  search 50 to 100 yards to either side of this main trail. Often you will find a secondary trail, as you scout this fainter trail back into the woods watch for rubs and scrapes. If you come across an opening with several rubs then you have found an established buck staging area.

This is where you need to sow your clover plot, even if you need to bring in a chainsaw to open it up some. By creating a smaller plot,  here under cover you are sweetening the staging areas for bucks to feed a little before venturing out after nightfall.

Once you have these staging areas setup and sown you should leave them and not return until hunting season! If you do wish to monitor the area I would advise using a game camera along the trail leading from the staging area into the main field. And never visit it more than  once a week. Using SD cards will allow you to slip in to exchange cards without disturbing the area. I would also advise using a quality scent eliminator on these visits to keep your human scent to a minimum.

As I said before, much has been written about food plots and which crops are best for your hunting lands. Each crop has its own advantages and disadvantages and no one crop fits every situation. Nature is always changing and from year to year the weather changes too. Visit your local Agricultural  Extension to discuss the planting seasons and fertilizer needs of your property before deciding which is best for you.

 

Deer Cross Supplies, the ultimate hunting scent eliminator