Whitetail Wizard

Monday, October 27, 2008

Never Let A Lie Get In The Way Of A Good Story

Deer tales are cut from the same fabric as fishing lies. You know: the trout was this long or the buck’s rack was this wide, all told with a straight face and widely spread arms.

The strange thing about some of these deer tales is that some of them may be true. Some are so wild they must be true because no one could dream up something so far-fetched.

Some are told to get a rise out of any listener. Some are told as outright lies, and as earlier stated, some could be true.

A man I know tells of watching a doe lead a buck past his stand during the rut. The doe walked in front of the hunter who patiently waited at full draw from the comfort of a wooden ground coop. The doe walked past the shooting window as he waited patiently for the buck.

The nose and antlers of the nice 8-point came into view, and the buck crossed from left to right. The hunter waited for a broadside shot, and when it came, he aimed and shot.

The arrow shaft, he said, hit the edge of the window frame and kicked sideways. The buck turned, looked the hunter in the eye, and bounded off, unhurt. He hears some thrashing in the nearby marsh grass and tag alders, and steps out to recover his arrow.

There near the coop door lay a dead doe. The animal, according to the story, caught the deflected arrow in the spine. When the arrow shaft hit the window frame edge, it kicked to the side, and hit the doe. He swears it is true, and who am I to argue the point.

Years ago, a hunter told me he had talked to a hunter who insisted his tale was true. He’d spotted a buck jump a dry drainage ditch at the same spot several days in a row.

He set out to ambush the jumping buck. As the story goes, he peeked through tall marsh grass and watched the buck come toward him. He came to full draw, while laying on his back on the ground, and waited.

The buck could be heard at the edge of the ditch, and as the animal sailed over his head, he released the arrow. The arrow entered, he said, just behind the brisket, hit the spine and exited the animals back.

He said a motorist almost hit the animal as it crumpled on the road side. Again, a sworn true story. Could it happen? I guess so, but shooting while laying on your back seems a bit of a stretch.

There once was a passel of guys that used to go to Tennessee each year to hunt wild boar with spears. They would confront a big boar, plant the butt end of the spear shaft into the ground, and when the boar charged, they would meet it with a big spear point.

So the story goes, they killed a number of boar in this manner and wanted to try it on deer. They knew they couldn’t entice a deer into a charge, so they decided to try spearing from a tree stand, even if it wasn’t legal.

One gent said a fat little year-and-a-half 6-point came walking past his stand, and he drew back his arm, and threw the spear. The point sliced in behind the front shoulder, knocked the deer off its feet, but it ran off and the spear fell out.

The violator climbed down, gathered up his spear, and took up the copious blood trail. He trailed the deer for 150 yards, saw it ahead and started walking up to the animal, his spear ready for another thrust in the unlikely event the animal got up.

He squatted down, the spear held with the point upright like a Masai warrior, to admire his handiwork, when the spear was ripped out of his hand. He jumped up, spun around to see a smiling conservation officer. He was ticketed, and lost his deer and spear, or so the story goes.

Some of these stories are almost too tall to be a true tale. They do show a great deal of imagination if they aren’t true, and like I said earlier, some of them are so far off-center they may even be true.

The countdown to the opener has begun. Be safe over the weekend.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, October 20, 2008

Answering Tough Questions

A hunter stopped in my Buck Pole Archery Shop in Marion today, and had us replace a worn string. Two other hunters were taking some practice shots, and the question was appropriate as we watched a young man shooting a bow set at 90 pounds.

The hunter who had his string replaced wondered if drawing that much weight wasn’t harmful.

“It’s harmful if you have to struggle to pull that much weigh, and most people can’t do it,” I told him. “The major problem with drawing that much weight is it becomes very easy to tear back and shoulder muscles. A bum shoulder isn’t easy to deal with, and it takes a very long time to heal.”

I’ve had many people in my shop that were capable of drawing 90 pounds, and one muscle-bound guy that could draw 100 pounds. Almost every one of them ended up tearing up their shoulder and back muscles, and the next thing they knew, a 55-pound bow is about their limit.

“Well, why try to pull that much weight?” he asked. “What benefits are there to drawing 90 pounds and shooting an arrow that travels over 300 feet per second?”

The obvious answer is a flatter trajectory over a greater distance. It means the difference between shooting 20 yards and 60 yards with very little change in their sight picture.

It means being able to shoot accurately at longer distances, and this can be of great benefit when hunting the desert southwest for Coues deer, the Rockies for mule deer and elk, and the sagebrush flats where antelope roam. In each case, shooting at longer distance can spell the different between success and failure.

“Of course, there are some people who wish to appear a macho man,” I told him. “Those people think that the more weight you draw, and the faster the arrow flies, the better hunter they will be.

“And, in some ways high poundage and very fast, very flat-shooting arrows can improve accuracy at longer distances and help accurate shooters achieve kills at longer range. However, one must weigh the benefits against the possible risk of personal injury.”

This hunter was pulling 60 pounds and was comfortable at that draw weight. He said he can pull 65 and 70 pounds, but is uncomfortable with the lower range and finds it a struggle to draw the heavier weight.

I put one of our Extreme bows in his hands, and it was set at 65 pounds. He pulled it back with little apparent effort, commented on how smooth the draw curve was, and asked if the poundage was set at 55 pounds.

I told him it was set at 65 pounds, and he couldn’t believe he could pull that much weight without greater effort. I put it on the scales, and the needle settled at 65 pounds when it rolled over.

“Sixty-five pounds it is,” he said. “Let me shoot that bow again.”

He shot it again and again, and 12 times in all. Each shot was side-by-side with the other arrows, and he moved back to 25 yards. He chose the same aiming point he’d used at 20 yards, and all arrows plunked into the target bulls-eye.

Now this guy was a good shot with excellent form and a consistent anchor point. He looked at his old bow with a new string and set at 55 pounds, looked at the new C.P. Oneida Extreme, and hit the hip.

“I’m going to buy that bow,” he said. “It’s not that I want to shoot faster or flatter, but in the back of my mind I’ve been hankering for a Colorado elk hunt. The extra speed, the flatter trajectory and smoothness of drawing this bow makes it a perfect choice.

“I’ll have to practice more and would like to be capable of shooting a tight group at 50 yards. With this new bow, I think that is a distinct possibility.”

He could handle 65 pounds with all the new designs in the Extreme bow.  He won’t be working his shoulder muscle any harder with this bow than he was with his old bow at 55 pounds.

He wrote out the check, said he’d give the older bow to his son, and left the shop a happy man. Granted, I made a sale but there is more to an archery shop than good service and good sales.

Making a customer happy is important to me. He will show his new bow to his friends, they will draw it at 65 pounds, and he will become one of my strongest supporters.

And that is why I make, sell and service bows. I delight in making hunters happy.—The Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Shoot Once, Shoot Straight & Don’t Miss

Many years ago several of us adopted a basic bow-shooting philosophy, and it is every bit as important to us today as it was back then. We called it the Shoot Once, Shoot Straight And Don’t Miss philosophy.

It is a philosophy to aspire to, and we’ve taught it to thousands of bow hunters over the years. The philosophy is easily understood, simply stated, and if archers follow it beginning Sunday when the bow-deer season opens, there would be fewer wounded deer.

Here is the whole philosophy pulled together as concisely as possible.

*Shoot Once—How can there be any misunderstanding about this one? Bow hunting is vastly different than hunting with a firearm where one or more shots can be easily taken.

A bow hunter, 99 percent of the time, will have only one shot at a deer. A miss or a wounded animal will send the deer in hasty retreat. About the only time a second shot might be taken is to finish off a mortally wounded animal.

*Shoot Straight—This and the next basic tenet of this philosophy are most important. Shooting with accuracy only comes from consistent and perfect practice. If the practice is faulty, the shot will be faulty as well.

This means controlling your breathing and nerves, drawing when the buck is unaware of your presence, hold your head up with both eyes fixed on the proper spot for a killing shot, aiming properly once you’ve achieved a firm and consistent anchor point, making a smooth release, and holding your bow steady without moving it (follow through) until the arrow hits your aiming point.

There is little excuse for error unless the arrow hits an unseen twig, but it’s up to the hunter to know that twig is there and to take a clean broadside or quartering-away shot. All other shots are low-percentage opportunities, and should never be taken. If you don’t have a high-percentage shot, wait for another opportunity. Don’t trust to luck.

Develop a mental checklist, and run through it in order before releasing the arrow. If you plan to hunt from a tree, practice shooting from an elevated position.

Know your limitations. If you can’t consistently hit the kill zone on a deer at 25 yards, but can hit it at 20 yards, a 20-yard shot is your maximum effective shooting distance. Know what you can and cannot do, and never exceed your limitations. A miss, or even worse a wounded deer, can be the only two plausible results of exceeding your effective shooting range.

*Don’t Miss—This is the culmination of all of these facets of this philosophy. If the above two facets are followed to the letter, and you never exceed your limitations, and always achieve a firm anchor point and aim properly (and don’t drop your bow arm at the shot), you will hit and kill that deer.

This philosophy is easy to write about but a bit more difficult to put into practice. It requires total hunter concentration, complete focus on all of the minute details, and it means knowing your bow and at what distance is your limit of accurate shooting.

Follow these simple rules—Shoot Once, Shoot Straight & Don’t Miss—and you’ll be eating venison this fall and admiring the antlers of a nice buck. You can bet on it.—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Hunting Unstable Weather

It’s impossible for hockey players to play a game unless they are on the ice, and it’s impossible for bow hunters to shoot a buck or doe if they are sitting indoors watching television.

That’s settled, so what do we do when faced with inclement weather? You know: like some of what we’ve had so far this season?

East winds, northeast and southeast winds, and rain. Copious amount of rain two or three times. Strong blustery winds. Weather that even deer dislike.

If we were to set out every evening when inclement weather rears its ugly head, we may have been able to hunt only a few nights so far this season. The abundance of combined weather conditions has been noticeable to most hunters.

So, what can we do about it? The answer is to go hunting anyway. Some deer move even in bad weather although they may not move much.

It only makes sense that if deer move for only 15 or 20 minutes, the closer one hunts to the bedding area should provide them with greater opportunity to be nearby when the animals do move.

Mild rain doesn’t bother whitetails at all. They are out in it on a daily basis, and can’t come inside out of the weather. If it is a soft rain, the deer often move well. They move less in a hard downpouring rain.

Deer will move on an east wind, but most hunters have few locations set up where an east wind offers an advantage. A strong wind is much worse than a soft breeze.

Heavy winds put everything into motion. Trees, weeds, cattails and tall grasses move. Leaves (those that still remain on trees) shake violently on the trees, go blowing off the branches, and leaves are constantly in the wind at ground level and above. Deer detest such windy conditions because it removes their ability to see motion because everything within sight is moving.

Stands located closest to heavy cover offer hunters the best opportunity to see deer on these miserable days. The important thing is to get into a stand without being seen, smelled or heard.

Crow hunters say that these black birds can’t count. I contend that deer can’t count either, and that opens up one possibility to get into a stand even if the bedding area is downwind of the stand. Your friend can drive you in by truck, park with the motor running while the hunter crawls into the stand, and then drive off.

A friend of mine and his wife leased land for many years, and each of them hunted a different parcel. My buddy would drive his wife 3/4 miles back off the road to her stand, walk with her to her ground blind while the four-wheeler idled nearby, and once she was in her blind, he would jump back on the machine and drive away.

She often saw deer while the sounds of the four-wheeler were still audible in the distance. The noise of the four-wheeler didn’t bother the deer, and if anything, it gave them advance warning that people were coming. Two people get off, two walk to the blind, one walks back and drives away. Deer can’t count, and this method works well.

The one thing to bear in mind is that deer are accustomed to seeing cars and trucks, tractors and other farm equipment in most areas. Deer will run from all motorized equipment heading in their direction, but they don’t run far unless the hunters talk to each another. Human voices add another dimension to this equation.

Talking while dropping someone off at a blind or when picking them up should not be done. Deer also are accustomed to hearing people talk, but whether talking near a hunting stand is a good idea, I think it’s best to drive up, drop off the hunter, and drive away without speaking.

Weather plays an important role in deer movements and travel. Rather than sitting indoors and not hunting, try to incorporate some other tactics into your hunting bag of tricks, and hunters may be pleasantly surprised at how well some of these tricks work.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

My Choice of Hunting Clothing

There have been countless hunters who seem to study my old hunting clothing. I don’t wear any of the modern camo stuff that is on the market.

My idea of hunting clothing is different than that of many hunters. I’m still wearing the same camo coveralls that I wore 10 years ago. They are a bit frazzled around the ankles and threadbare at the elbows, knees and seat.

It’s what I wear. It’s comfortable on me, and what many hunters don’t seem to realize is that I don’t dress to suit them. I dress to suit me.

Some of my friends have tried to conspire with my wife to get me into a new hand-made outfit. They soon learned that isn’t a good idea. I’m happy with what I wear.

A pair of knee-high rubber boats complete the outfit. I don’t bother with a face mask or painting my face. Sit still with your head down and the cap pulled low over your eyes, and it doesn’t make much difference. Don’t move or make noise, and the deer won’t know you are there.

I’ve had people come to hunt, and some are tricked out in the latest fashions. Their clothing is stiff while mine is soft and comfortable. Theirs still has the new smell that clothing has while mine smells like a fall day with a bit of a cedar odor. A garden hose will rinse off my rubber boots, and it doesn’t affect the boots or the deer.

My clothing has no odor, and is seldom washed. There is a problem with how most people wash camo clothing.

Most detergents contain whitening agents. They live up to their advertisements by producing whiter whites. Hunters don’t need brighter looking camouflage.

Those whiteners will make your camo clothes clean but the patterns are much brighter. Use a product like SportWash that contains no whiteners. Wash the clothing in clean water, hang it out to dry, and the dirt will be gone without any odor or brighter patterns.

There is a bunch of clothing companies that manufacture camo clothes. Savvy sportsmen know that if a person is hunting in the hardwoods, they should wear a hardwoods pattern.

Those who hunt out west and in desert country know that a pattern with tan and gray is ideal. Learn to match your camo with the season and terrain being hunted.

A friend hunts in wool clothing in cold or warm weather. He’s also convinced that wool doesn’t make a bad noise. He’s convinced it sounds like the fur on a squirrel or raccoon rubbing against the bark.

It is warm when the weather is cool, breathes well, and is not overly warm in warm temperatures. He swears by it, and he shoots a good buck every year.

For him, it means the clothes makes a natural woodsy sound. Wool doesn’t rasp when rubbed against tree bark. Many of the fleece patterns work equally well, but I warn people about fleece backed with a hard finished cloth. It can be very noisy in the woods.

Most hunters want comfort and quiet clothing with their hunting attire. It is difficult to find both qualities in new garments. Another friend, when he buys new hunting jackets and pants, washes them a dozen times before wearing them in the woods. Frequent washing will help break down and soften the fibers of the fabric, and means a quieter hunting garment.

Me, I’m entirely happy with what I wear. It is quiet, comfortable and the deer never pay any attention to me ... and that’s why it works for me.—The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, October 02, 2008

A Good Reason Not To Shoot An Opening-Day Buck

There is a fairly large number of people who could, if they chose, shoot a buck the first day of the archery season, and spend the rest of the fall bowling or doing something far less exciting than hunting.

Many of my friends, and I must include myself in this group, could easily dump a buck the first day. But we don’t, and for good reason.

The majority of really good buck hunters are not interested in a short archery season. If anything, we want to prolong our hunting time, and that is difficult to do if a person shoots the first buck he sees.

All of us subscribe to a basic philosophy: it’s as much or more fun fooling a buck, drawing on him if we wish, and then backing off and not taking the shot, than shooting it. Fooling the buck by being in his backyard without him knowing it, and knowing as much about him as we do, makes this a greater test of skill than arrowing a small buck.

There is a certain sense of being in tune with nature when you’ve got one or more decent bucks lined up, and know that they could be shot if you so desired. My buddy Dave Richey < http://www.daverichey.com > shot a buck on Oct. 2 last year, and it was a fine 8-pointer.

He couldn’t resist the shot at close range as it sparred with a larger buck, but although he seldom shoots a buck before the rut starts, he made an exception. He prized that buck, and is having it mounted, but kicked himself for taking one so early in the season.

The trouble, as he so well knows, is a buck shot very early in the season means the hunter is down to only being able to shoot a doe if they have a tag.

Preseason scouting tells us where to hunt, and I always have a number of locations where I can hunt at will on anything but an east wind. We love to sample a spot, and prove to ourselves that life is indeed good when we can narrow down a buck’s travels to the point where shooting that animal is more about knowing when to hunt the spot than almost anything else.

Granted, during the rut, bucks can cruise far and wide in search of estrus does, but they still travel known routes. If they bump into another hunter, it may cause them to change their travel plans for a day or two, but soon they will be following the same travel corridors.

It’s watching the buck approach early in the season, during the rut or the post-rut period, that lights me up. Shooting a buck is the least difficult part of the hunt. What is most difficult is studying their behavior, knowing how they move, and being in place before they move through, that provides me with the biggest kick of all.

It’s not necessary to always shoot a large buck. I’m content to shoot does as part of my herd management program, and in many cases, shooting an old doe is much more challenging than a big buck.

The long and the short of it is that we can, by not shooting bucks early in the season, prolong our hunting season. It gives us a reason to be out in the woods tomorrow, the day after, and every day next week.

Of course, many hunters don’t take their bow hunting as serious as some of us do, and that is fine. But if someone tells you he passed up a nice 8-point on opening day, don’t ask him “Why didn’t you shoot?”

Chances are he would tell you that the time just wasn’t right. The time he speaks of is too early in the season. If he shoots that buck, and a bigger one during the rut, what would he have to do during the firearm deer season, the December muzzleloader season or the December bow season?

He would miss a good bit of the season, and feel bad because he had robbed himself of so many deer hunting days.—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Forget About Weather Patterns: Just Go Hunting

Millions of deer hunters are found across this great nation, and we all seem to have a different philosophy on hunting. We seldom agree on wildly varying topics.

Some hunters refuse to hunt various wind directions. Anything from the east is bad. For years, October featured south and southwest winds and then west and northwest, and by December we were hunting northwest, north and northeasterly winds.

My philosophy is that a deer hunter won’t get much hunting in if they stay home whenever there is a bad wind. I hunt but switch from an open tree stand to an elevated and enclosed coop on such days. A few stands are set up for an east wind, and they are in demand when the wind goes sour.

Many are the deer hunters who believe they should only hunt during the dark of the moon. Others only hunt the week before the full moon, and others never hunt during a full moon.

There are those who believe in hunting around the Harvest Moon, the Hunters Moon, the Rutting Moon, and some who will only hunt just before the second full moon after the autumnal equinox. The nice thing about living in a free society is each of us can indulge in such pleasures.

I personally don’t care which day of the week it may be, which way the wind blows, what the moon phase happens to be, or anything else. I find it difficult to kill deer while sitting in the house rather than hunting.

There are others who place great emphasis on hunting the rut. Little do they know that the 10 days before the full rut begins, deer go through the chasing stage or the pre-rut. It is a wonderful time to be hunting, regardless of the moon phase or wind direction.

Many feel the rut begins Oct. 20-25, and that is the beginning of the chasing stage, and it will last for about 10 days before the full rut begins. It’s possible to find many people who would disagree on when the rut actually begins.

The peak of the rut near my ranch will occur on or about Nov. 3-4, and it is winding down before the Nov. 15 firearm season kicks off.

There are numerous variations, depending on where you hunt. Weather conditions and people pressure can alter these dates a bit.

Some hunters are addicted to the Solunar Tables. These tables, first invented by John Alden Knight many years ago, are based on the sun and moon and their effect on tides and the earth. They contend there are normally two minor and two major periods most days when fish bite, and when wild game move about.

Some sportsmen hunt according to the Solunar Tables and kill deer, and I know other folks who hunt whenever they can, and they also have good hunting success while hunting outside of these major and minor periods.

I’ve hunted many years with great success. Good hunting habits bring wonderful hunting success, and simply being afield whenever possible is a good reason for being more successful.

I forget about all this other business, and go on doing what works best for me. That means that I hunt whenever possible, and try to hunt every day of the season.

Take the normal precautions with the wind, stay downwind of the deer, and it becomes fairly easy to build your own deer-hunting success.—The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Rainy Day Whitetails

There are times when a bow hunter can hear a whitetail coming for 100 yards. If the animal is upwind, and the leaves are as dry as corn flakes, the sound carries for a long distance.

Whitetails depend on their hearing for survival, and dry leaves advertise their presence. The opposite is true when it rains.

The leaves soak up the rainy weather, and a whitetail can ghost through the woods with barely a sound. This is an important reason for hunters to spend time in the woods when the rain is falling.

I’ve written before that deer love to travel when a soft misty rain is falling. There is a soft pitter-patting sound under such conditions, but it doesn’t seem to bother the deer. They seem to be able to separate that soft noise from a dangerous noise without a problem.

These soft rains seem to get deer moving earlier in the evening, and it appears that deer move with more confidence during a soft rain. They appear more comfortable moving between bedding and feeding areas, and they seem to eat and move without hesitation.

I’ve had customers ask if I feel a soft rain will carry human scent downward. I believe, to a small degree, that it does. I also think that low-lying ground fog will hold human scent near the ground.

Soft rains and fog seem to go hand in hand during the autumn months, and I’ve seen some of my largest bucks under such conditions. The fog seems to offer big bucks a sense of security, and they seem to be on the move. This is most certainly true during the pre-rut, rut and post-rut, when buck and doe activity is high.

One thing about fog is it distorts the sense of sound. I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to a buck grunting as he tends an estrus doe, and in the fog, my vision and hearing is limited. I’ve seen bucks appear and disappear in the rainy fog without ever seeing the doe, and there have been many times when the doe is visible but the tending buck cannot be seen.

It’s at times like this that a hunter has to be alert. I remember one night several years ago just before the Nov. 15 firearm season opener, when I saw a half-dozen bucks appear and vanish into the fog. All were moving, all were grunting, and the antler and body size of each one indicated they were individual animals.

Judging distance in the fog can be difficult. I’ve talked with a number of people who know the far edge of their bait pile is 20 yards away, and if a doe or buck appears in heavy fog, they feel the animal is much farther away that it appears. They aim high to compensate for this imagined difference and shoot over the animal.

The best advice is to put out markers if you are not using bait. A measured distance must be believed, even if the fog makes the animal appear much farther away than what it is.

I like rain on the roof, rain after my crops are planted, and rain (on occasion) when I’m hunting. I dislike a steady diet of it, and I compare that to eating steak every night. One soon grows tired of it.

Hunting in the rain isn’t too bad. It offers something a little different to a bow hunter, and that is fine by me. I enjoy a variety, a change of pace, in my hunting, and I can hunt in anything except a downpour or when the lightning is dancing in the sky.

Most of all, I like to hunt in those soft misty evening when the darkness comes early because of heavy rain clouds overhead, and when the whitetails seem to slip up on a guy. That is when a hunt really means something to me.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, September 22, 2008

Hunters Have Different Attitudes

Millions of deer hunters are found across this great nation, and we all seem to have different philosophies on hunting. We seldom agree on wildly varying topics.

Some hunters refuse to hunt various wind directions. Anything from the east is bad. For years, October featured south and southwest winds and then west and northwest, and by December we were hunting northwest, north and northeasterly winds.

My philosophy is that a deer hunter won’t get much hunting in if they sit out every day with a bad wind. I hunt but switch from an open tree stand to an elevated and enclosed coop on such days. A few stands are set up primarily for an east wind, and they are in demand when the wind goes sour.

Many are the deer hunters who believe they should only hunt during the dark of the moon. Others only hunt the week before the full moon, and others never hunt during a full moon.

There are those who believe in hunting around the Harvest Moon, the Hunters Moon, the Rutting Moon, and some who will only hunt just before the second full moon after the autumnal equinox. The nice thing about living in a free society is each of us can indulge such pleasures.

I personally don’t care which day of the week it may be, which way the wind blows, what the moon phase happens to be, or anything else. I find it difficult to kill deer while sitting in the house rather than hunting.

There are others who place great emphasis on hunting the rut. Little do they know that the 10 days before the full rut begins, deer go through the chasing stage or the pre-rut. It is a wonderful time to be hunting, regardless of the moon phase or wind direction.

Many feel the rut begins Oct. 20-25, and that is the beginning of the chasing stage, and it will last for about 10 days before the full rut begins. It’s possible to find many people who would disagree on when the rut actually begins.

The peak of the rut near my ranch will occur on or about Nov. 3-4, and it is winding down before the Nov. 15 firearm season kicks off.

There are variations, depending on where you hunt. Weather conditions and people pressure can alter these dates a bit.

Some hunters are addicted to the Solunar Tables. These tables, first invented by John Alden Knight many years ago, are based on the sun and moon and their effect on tides and the earth. They contend there are normally two minor and two major periods each day when fish bite, and when wild game move about.

Some sportsmen hunt according to the Solunar Tables and kill deer, and I know other folks who hunt whenever they can, and they also have good hunting success while hunting outside of these major and minor periods.

I’ve hunted many years with great success. Good hunting habits bring wonderful hunting success, and simply being afield whenever possible is a good reason for being more successful.

I forget about all this other business, and go on doing what works best for me. That means that I hunt whenever possible, and try to hunt every day of the season.

Take the normal precautions with the wind, stay downwind of the deer, and it becomes fairly easy to build your own deer-hunting success.—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Two Stands For Hunting Locations?

It’s certainly not an original idea. Many hunters, besides me, have toyed with the idea of having two stands for each hunting area. One for the prevailing wind direction and the other for most other wind conditions.

I’ve thought about this at great length, and have pretty much decided that the most problematic wind is from the northeast, east and southeast.

Would a stand for a prevailing westerly-northwesterly wind, and one for an easterly wind work?

It probably would if the cover (meaning trees for tree stands) were available for those winds. The reason most of us never put up stands for an east wind is that we never used to get as much of that wind as we have over the last several years.

I have a few places where hunters can go when an east wind blows. One is a pit-blind at the base of a small hill, and an east wind blows right into the opening where bow shots are taken. Deer, as a general rule, do not approach from behind the pit blind, and it’s very difficult for a deer to wind the hunter.

A couple of our elevated coops are situated so an east wind isn’t too bothersome, but many of my stands are placed strategically for the prevailing westerly wind direction.

However, going back to the plausibility of two stands for each hunting area. It could work, if the terrain features and available trees are present, but there is the additional cost of doing so.

Say we’re hunting a big buck and we want to set up on him when the wind is out of the east, it can be done but it’s not something one jumps into when we already have some 50 stands on 1,024 acres. If we could do so, that would mean building or buying many more stands.

Most of our stands are permanent fixtures, especially elevated coops built into trees. If we were to do it at all 50 spots, the woods would lose its good looks and begin looking like a scattering of tenements in the trees. That would spoil the aesthetics of the hunting area.

What probably makes more sense than anything is to build four or five stands for use strictly on an east wind. That might mean two or three new stands along the western edge of our property where the likelihood of a deer catching the hunters scent would be minimal.

If two or three stands were positioned with the west fence line just a short distance away, the chance of a deer circling next to the fence and picking up human odor would be minimized.

The other alternative would be to build an air-tight coop with one shooting window strategically placed. If it was just large enough to shoot through, and could be opened without a sound, it would probably work.

Too many windows in a coop allow the hunter to be silhouetted against the light entering another window. And, the more windows there are, the more likely someone will try a shot at a circling buck or open the windows to look around. All this would do is distribute more human odor.

Fighting the east wind is something bow hunters must put up with, and in some cases, we can do something about it. In other cases, the wind may beat us.

We’re putting our collective heads together this winter, and trying to figure out how to beat the October east-wind problem. Will it be two blinds in one hunting spot or air-tight blinds with only one small shooting window?

Will it be one or two more pit blinds that back up to a hill? Will it be stands close to the fence to keep deer from circling behind the hunters?

It may well be a combination of all of these things although having two blinds covering one hunting spot is not one of my favorites. If one was an elevated coop and the other was a tree stand, it could work without cluttering up the skyline.

One thing is certain: whatever we do must be accomplished during the spring, or at the very latest, by June or early July. I like all changes to be made long in advance of the bow season.—The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Share Your Hunting Trips

Spending time with someone else, and watching them take a shot at a buck, is just as exciting for the watcher as for the shooter.

It’s long been said that turkey hunting is a one-man game, and that, for the most part, is true. Hunts can be shared by people who hunt alone but share the trip with someone else.

More families than ever before have come to share their hunts. My friend’s wife, Kay Richey, once shared a successful bow hunt with three grandchildren. The youngest was still sucking on a bottle, and Kay had the kids all seated in an elevated coop.

“Look,” she whispered, “there is a nice buck. Sit still, don’t move around and don’t make a sound. Grandma will see if she can shoot it.”

She eased the elevated coop window open, made sure all the kids could see without moving around, and waited for the buck to walk in. It stepped into her shooting area, and was slightly quartering-away, and she waited for the near-side front leg to move forward before drawing and shooting.

The buck ran off, and Eric who has eyes like an eagle said: “You got him, Gram, you shot him right in the heart. Let’s go find him.”

She got all three kids safely to the ground, went back up, lowered her bow and quiver of arrows to the ground, and began following the Game Tracker string. She had to rein in the kids to keep them from running ahead and getting tangled in the line.

It was starting to get dark in the woods, and she took the kids back to the car. She knew the deer was dead, and soon her daughter Nancy, and son-in-law Roger, and Dave, would arrive.

The kids were right into it once the others got there. We quickly found the dead buck, and set about field-dressing it. The girls stood and watched as the entrails came out, and when Dave held up the heart, Eric blurted: “I told you, Gram, right through the heart.”

The youngest of these kids was about two years old at the time, and it didn’t gross them out. They probably would have helped with the field dressing but we didn’t want them to get bloody for fear some well-meaning person might have thought we’d been beating them. They probably wouldn’t have understood taking the kids out hunting either.

Children must learn to have patience, and it is a necessary part of a bow hunt. Most kids, especially those who do not hunt, have a patience level of seven or eight minutes—the time between television commercials. That type of patience won’t work in a deer stand.

Kids must learn to sit still, and to remain silent. They can learn what an adrenalin rush feels like when Dad, Mom or Gram takes a shot. They learn, first-hand, that hunters always try to kill cleanly and quickly, and utilize the flesh of this animal for the nourishment of their bodies.

Adults can get their children into shooting. Never give a kid a hand-me-down adult bow that is too long for them. Shop around to find a short-draw bow that will work fine for two or three years.

Teach them to shoot, and teach them how to read deer sign in the sand, snow or mud. Show then how to determine wind direction, and why it is so important to be downwind of deer.

Show children what a broadside and quartering-away shot looks like and coach them that these are high-percentage shots. Show them which shots should not be taken and why they seldom produce a killing shot.

Teach them respect for these animals we hunt. Allow them to learn to read the body language of a deer, and how the animals will react when danger threatens.

Take them out when preseason scouting, and take them out once the season opens. Teach them tree stand safety, how to use a safety harness, and how to stay safe in an elevated stand or tree stand.

Most of all, talk to them afterward. Listen to their stories, and share yours with them, and give up your time to sit with them if they are not 17 years of age. Be supportive of their efforts, and install a sense of needing to practice to avoid having to make a long trailing job on a poorly hit deer.

Take them out hunting. Show them. Teach them, laugh with them and be proud of them if they cry over their first deer kill. Give of yourself, and that giving will be returned ten-fold in the years to come.—The Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

How I Got My Nickname

People constantly ask me the origins of my nickname “The Whitetail Wizard.” It’s a pretty easy story to explain.

The name came about in the fall of 1980 when outdoor writer Dave Richey < http://www.daverichey.com > had a story published in Outdoor Life magazine. The magazine needed a title, and they named it and me “The Whitetail Wizard.”

It’s as simple as that, but who would have guessed that 28 years later the nickname would have become so well known among deer hunters. Or that I would write a book about my life and the origins of The Whitetail Wizard.

This area, in those days, was wrapped up in whitetail deer. No one hunted from trees, and everyone hunted from the ground.

Bow hunting was always more interesting than hunting with a rifle, but the nickname stuck after Outdoor Life pinned that monicker on me. A few people started calling me that, and the name became more popular.

It got another growth spurt when I purchased the old Oneida bow company, and its name was changed to C.P. Oneida Eagle Bow Company. The Whitetail Wizard became a small part of our promotional efforts.

It was a nickname that seemed to resonate with bow hunters. I’ve gained a bit of a reputation for solving whitetail hunting problems, and people with questions about deer and deer hunting were always told to go see “The Whitetail Wizard” in Marion, Michigan.

Those problems are often solved because of the time spent in the fields and woods of my deer ranch. I have countless chances to study deer, and I’ve learned that the more study that goes into whitetail behavior, the more successful the hunter will be.

It’s difficult to be a highly successful archery deer hunter unless a great deal of time is spent studying whitetail deer, their habits and preferred habitat.

The basis for deer hunting success revolves around several areas of whitetail knowledge. It’s important to know how to locate game, how to play the wind, where to put up ground blind or tree stand locations, how to hunt rutting bucks and how to accurately shoot a deer.

I have a personal concept of what leads to deer-hunting success. The more we learn, the more we realize there is so much more to learn, and as our knowledge grows, so too does our success rate.

Many people spend two or three days scouting before the season opens, and then go hunting. My scouting is done all 12 months of the year. It is rather amazing how much can be learned by watching deer during the off-season.

Some of my thoughts on deer hunting may fly in the face of conventional thinking, but that is what makes deer hunting so great. My methods work for me and those who hunt with me, and they can work for everyone else. Accurate bow shooting is easy to learn, and it has been covered in the past.

Careful attention to detail is what makes a bow hunter deadly. There is just so much to learn about deer hunting, and all of it is important.

Hunters must learn how to figure out deer problems, how to choose a stand location during various wind conditions, and why the typical deer hunt can become the hunt of a lifetime during certain times and conditions.

Hunting success means a bit of luck and doing everything else right, time after time. If a person wants to learn, they must spend a great amount of time in the field.

There are no shortcuts to bow hunting success. It takes time to learn how to do everything right, and just about the time we figure we have this whole deer-hunting scenario worked out, the whitetail will throw us a curve ball we’ve never seen before.

That’s when we learn there is no end to learning about deer hunting. And for me, if I’m to help others solve hunting problems, I must spend more time afield studying whitetails.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, September 08, 2008

Tips On Safely Taking A Whitetail Deer

Good whitetail deer hunters leave nothing to chance. They plan ahead, and if conditions are wrong for Plan A, they know enough to switch to Plan B.

Many hunters always have a loose plan for the day. They may tighten it up or switch plans, but most successful bow hunters will always have a plan in mind. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

*Have a somewhat detailed plan and a good idea of how and where you will hunt.

*Have a good knowledge of the terrain and where deer travel.

*Always be downwind of where deer move. The key word is always.

*Know which deer frequent your hunting area. Some areas are better noted for big bucks than anything else. Have everything in your backpack you’ll need. An extra release, more Game Tracker string, compass, light, matches, Space Blanket and other items.

*Wear clean clothing and clean rubber boots.

*Shoot two or three times at a target before going out. Know exactly where your bow is shooting.

*Use a Game Tracker device. It can help eliminate long hours of searching for a weak or nonexistent blood trail.

*Use only razor-sharp broadheads. Factory sharpened heads are rarely sharp enough.

*Wear a safety harness when hunting from a tree stand.

*Visually inspect all stands before committing to them. Don’t take unnecessary risks.

*Inspect areas within shooting range for open shots, and commit them to memory. Know where you can shoot.

*Use a grunt call sparingly. Too many hunters call too loud and too often. Err on the side of too little and not too loud or often.

*Know your best shots and wait for either a broadside or quartering-away shot. Never take a low-percentage shot.

*Pay attention to what other deer are doing while you wait for your buck to turn and offer a good shot. Make certain you can draw without being seen or heard.

*Pick your shot. Never shoot at the center of mass, but pick the exact spot to aim. Concentrate on not lifting your head at the shot because it can cause the arrow to go high. Follow through!

*Know your ideal shooting range and never exceed it.

*Always sit quiet and motionless. Be still and be quiet, and draw the bow smoothly and silently.

*Know a deer’s body language. It will tell hunter what the animal will do. Each deer is as different from other deer as fingerprints, and that means that each animal can and will react different to various stimuli.

*Hunt alone. A solitary hunter is quieter, moves less, and there is less chance of one person spooking a deer than two people.

*Be prepared for a shot at any moment. Deer hunting means paying attention. Never be caught with the bow anywhere other than in your hand.

*And an extra bonus tip for good measure. Shoot once, shoot straight and don’t miss.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

A Journey Of Discovery

The tingle always begins with a brief mention from one of my scouts. People who hunt my ranch help me keep track of big deer, and there is one thing that really trips my trigger.

It’s the opportunity to hunt a big buck that I’ve never seen before. I just got a report last week from a photographer friend, and he was driving back to my home after a short drive around some of my property when he spotted this buck bedded down in tall marsh grass.

He stopped, stuck the camera lens out the open window, and got ready to shoot photographs. The buck jumped to its feel just after he stopped, and it darted 20 yards through the marsh grass and into the woods.

It stopped near some trees, shifted sideways just a bit, and he clicked off one picture. Just one photo, but it was enough to get me all excited once again about what I call a “new” buck. Old bucks are those I’ve seen time and again, but a “new” buck is one that has managed to live for three, four or five years on my ranch without ever being seen by me or any of the folks hunting my land.

His photo turned out to be a spectacular 10-point buck with an almost perfect 5X5 rack. One brow tine is an inch or two longer than the other side but it’s a buck I’ve never seen before. It is the animal that I now dream about.

There have been countless other dream bucks over many years. One was a three-beam buck that I shot three years ago, and it is now being mounted by a taxidermist. There is another three-beamer on the ranch, and probably the offspring of the last three-beamer I shot. I’ve hunted him several times without success, but a few of my hunters have seen him at a distance.

There was a big 12-point that grabbed my interest several years ago, and it took me a couple of years to catch up with him. I’ve got another big buck with a fairly heavy drop-point that also excited me a few years ago.

It’s the same old story, year after year. A buck will live for several years, and manage to escape my attention and that of other hunters, and these are the bucks of which dreams are made.

Another big buck is roaming my ranch, and he has turned into a rogue. He has become a killer, and in the past 10 days I’ve seen three examples of his ferocious handiwork.

It began with a big doe, and this killer buck disemboweled her. Her stomach and other abdominal organs were ripped right out through the holes this rogue animal had ripped when he repeatedly gored her.

Two bucks have met similar fates, and they were found crumpled up with their guts strewn throughout the woods. We don’t know for sure which buck is causing all of the problems, but we want to locate him before he kills some of the other trophy bucks on my ranch.

It has become an intensive effort. I’ll hunt the buck but on 1,000 acres, this killer buck could be anywhere. The three deer that we know he has killed were found in a fairly good sized area. He could be anywhere inside that area or he may just roam in to cover new locations whenever this mood strikes him.

There are at least two bucks now that I am hunting. Of the two, I’d like to see this big rogue buck with bloody antlers. However, if I meet up with the buck pictured above, I’d be tempted to try for him.

The above buck, photographed by noted wildlife photographer Dennis Buchner of Grawn, is a lovely animal and hopefully we will cross pathes soon. If not, I’ll have to start hunting the rogue killer buck, and that may be an extreme challenge.

Stayed tuned to this weblog, and if I’m successful with either buck, you’ll learn about it here. Have fun hunting and enjoy the outdoors.—The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, August 29, 2008

Do Injured Deer Always Die?

The obvious answer to the title question is “no.” Some deer will die if injured and others will not, and this often depends on the type of injury, where the injury occurred, whether vital organs are involved, and other things.

I’ve encountered numerous injured deer over the years. Some are the result of a doe kicking one of her fawns, others have been gored in a buck fight, and a few have been wounded by a hunter.

A leg injury may put a deer on the mend for a few days, and recovery is possible if the animal can lick the wound and keep it clean.  Deer wounded or injured by another animal may not make it if the injury is in a location where it can’t be licked.

Two decades ago we had a few hunters who couldn’t shoot straight. Me, and a few of my close friends, would hunt those wounded animals. If they looked like it would lead to a fatality, we would shoot the deer to end its suffering.

Some years ago Minnesota conducted tests to prove the fatality of wounded deer, and they found it wasn’t nearly as high as some people thought. Three years ago we had a very nice buck that had been hit high in the shoulder, and several of us saw the buck, but the animal was always too far away. One hunter saw the wound was filled with pus, and I gave the order that anyone who saw that buck within easy shooting range, must shoot it.

This animal looked like a hunchback. Every time the right front leg would go forward, the hump high on the shoulder would raise six or eight inches when it took a step. The wound was where the buck couldn’t lick it.

Two days after I passed down the order to kill that buck, one of my hunters tagged it. The deer had been hit high in the shoulder, and the animal lived long enough to grow the hump. It was never seen eating but was always on the move.

A deer hit in a front leg usually survives. They lick the leg, and keep an infection from forming, and soon the deer is up and moving around without a problem.

Some bucks have been shot, and the arrow zipped through the chest cavity without hitting the heart or lungs, and such bucks often survive. It may lay the deer up for a week or two, but death doesn’t always follow a pass-through shot.

Several years ago I passed up a buck that walked down a trail near my stand, and it appeared to have a slight limp but was moving fine. I let him pass, and noticed some hair was missing from the off-side front shoulder.

The next day found me in the same tree, and here comes the same buck on the same trail. When the buck presented a high quality shot, I drew and shot, killing the buck.

The reason for the limping buck was obvious. Another hunter had shot from a tree stand, and the replaceable-blade broadhead had hit high. It missed the spine, and caught the buck high in the shoulder but near the spine, and the buck couldn’t get to it.

I skinned out around the earlier wound, and it was filled with pus and the shoulder was green with gangrene. It would have eventually died from the wound, but was still moving well when I shot it. Interestingly enough, two of the three replaceable blades broke off and littered the wound area.

A thin blood trail with bright red blood usually means a minor muscle wound that will eventually clot and stop bleeding. Most shots hit the brisket or the inside or outside of a front leg. The chance of recovering such a deer is very slim.

Knowing where an arrow hits can tell hunters whether to wait two or three hours or take the trail immediately. An obvious wound in the paunch, far back from the lungs, can mean a long trailing job unless a vital organ such as the liver is hit.

Leave gut-shot deer alone for several hours and hope the coyotes don’t pick up its blood trail. After a lengthy wait, a deer will travel only 100 yards or less, lay down and stiffen up or die. Push gut-shot deer, and it can travel long distances and may never be found.

This points to one reason why a hunter should know how his bow shoots, where the animal was hit, and with some experience, most wounded deer can be found. Those with a minor nick on the leg or brisket will live to become a much wiser buck in the future. – The Whitetail Wizard