Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Whetting The Appetite

One person could call it whetting your appetite. Another might say that watching deer right now is like having an itch you can’t scratch.

Nonetheless, going out and watching deer before sundown in just one way to keep yourself involved in this bow-hunting scenario. Of course, we can’t be afield with a bow an arrow except for target practice, but it’s easy to leave the bow home to avoid any possible hassles with DNR or other law enforcement officers.

Head out, and I’ve found sitting in my vehicle at the edge of the road can be a superb way to watch deer. If you own private property, sit on a high hill, and use a window mount and spotting scope to study deer at 300 to 400 yards away.

Do this often enough, and suddenly you’ll be sucking air as a genuine dandy whitetail steps out and offers a good view of his antlers. Study the deer from as many angles possible so it can be recognized later, and study where that animal came from and what time he showed up.

I often know where the animals will come from, and turn my truck sideways, and I have a window mount for my spotting scope. If the binoculars can pick up the deer, and your vision is good enough to count the tiny bumps on his antlers, stick with them.

However, there are many occasions when quality spotting scopes are required. The spotting scope allows a hunter to zoom in on the rack, check it for any irregularities, and it’s possible to obtain a more accurate assessment of the animal and his antlers.

Look for width between antler beams. Count the number of tines, including brow tines, and then assess the approximate length of each tine. Look for mass at the base of each antler, and mass around each beam between antler tines. This will give you some idea of just how big the buck really is.

Many bow hunters are accustomed to shooting smaller basket-rack bucks, and this is fine if it satisfies you. It’s still important to know what you are dealing with. Some Quality Deer Management areas have different restrictions for number of antler points.

It’s critically important to know what you may be shooting at in October once the bow season opens. A sneak peak now can tell you if the bucks in your hunting area meet the QDM requirements. It’s not fun to get a ticket for thinking a buck had six point an inch or more long only to learn, once the deer is on the ground, that the one tine you thought was an inch long was only a half-inch in length.

Such unwitting mistakes should, and often are, at the discretion of the conservation officer. Personally, I’ve always felt the three-inch minimum for a spikehorn is crazy. How can anyone tell if an antler tine is three inches or 2 7/8 inches? Or, in a QDM area, a buck may have three well defined points on one side, two well defined points and one marginal point on the other side. If the marginal point doesn’t measure an inch in length, the person is subject to a ticket for shooting an illegal deer. I know a young man who made that mistake two years ago, and got a ticket. He could see the point but it proved to be only 3/4-inch in length. He got wrote up.

This is not about me being angry with the DNR for ticketing a young kid. It’s about studying deer ahead of time in your hunting area, and having a good idea what bucks are available. Study a buck several times, and that nubbin that looked one-inch long two weeks ago may soon change into a half-inch-long point.

This is where the use of good optics can help keep a person from making a serious mistake. Buy a spotting scope and the best binoculars that are affordable, and spend time in the woods bringing whitetail bucks up close.

Study them intently, and after you watch enough bucks, and study their actions and travel routes, you’ll find that the old heart doesn’t seem to beat quite so hard and slowly the anxiety of seeing deer doesn’t get a hunter as shook up as before.

All that can happen as a result of preseason scouting. Imagine that!—The Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Quality Optics Can Help Bow Hunters

A few years ago a bow hunter came into my archery shop, and wanted to tell me a story. Most such hunting stories are boring, dull and perhaps not true, but this man seemed sincere.

It seems he was hunting a marshy area 10 or 15 miles away that morning, and as he sat patiently and watched nearby trails, he was griping to himself about leaving his binoculars in the truck.

I have a thing for good optics, which include Swarovski binoculars and spotting scope. His binoculars were left behind because he didn’t think he would need them.

An hour into his morning hunt, he spotted a buck easing through some tag alders a good distance away. He could see four points and the brow tine on the side closest to him, and figured he was looking at a 10-pointer. The buck was slowly easing his way, and its head was down and partially screened by tag alders.

He watched it come, and kept getting brief and fleeting glimpses of the near-side antlers. The buck stopped 40 yards away, almost entirely screened by thick brush, drifted away only to be spotted again moving back the way he had come.

Again the buck disappeared, and the anticipation level was mounting. It was driving his anxiety up and up, and the animal appeared to be toying with him.

Right at sundown, the buck came closer, kept his head down to where its head was in the tags and it was 22 yards away. He could see the near-side heart-lung area, and decided this was the best chance he’d ever have at a big 10-point. He estimated that if both antler beams were about the same, this buck could score 150 points.

The buck’s head was still in the tag alders when he came to full draw, and he had a broadside shot. He kept his head motionless, had both eyes open, dropped the red-dot sight just behind the front shoulder and held up six inches from the bottom of the chest, inhaled, exhale, steadied the red dot on the chosen area and shot.

He didn’t lift his head at the shot, and watched the arrow hit perfectly. The buck kicked and dashed into the tag alders, and he could follow its path by the animal bouncing off the alder brush.

He though he heard the buck fall but held off for five minutes, and finally he took up the Game Tracker string and blood trail, and slowly followed the deer through the tags. He got to where he thought he heard the sound of the deer falling, and found his arrow, the end of the string and a big puddle of blood.

He has shot many deer, and knows that often when the arrow comes out, and is streaked with blood clear up to the vanes, that it is a mortal wound and should be found nearby. He listened, heard nothing, and began looking for the blood trail.

It was quickly growing much lighter down in the alders, and he found a spot of blood here, another 10 feet farther along, and then two or three drops, and kept following the deer trail without finding anything. The deer had lost far too much blood to stop bleeding.

He backtracked to the last blood and his arrow, and knowing that mortally wounded deer often jump off to one side or the other of the trail before dying, so he checked the left side of the trail. Nothing.

He went back to the last blood and checked to the right side of the trail. Ten yards from the last sign was a tiny berry of blood, and then another, and then he spotted the buck. He ran to the animal, and it was dead, and then got a sinking feeling in his guts.

The off-side antler had been broken off just above the brow tine, and instead of being a 10-point as he envisioned, it was a six-pointer. He’d made a great shot, but the only problem was he’d forgotten his binoculars and couldn’t size up the deer. Wishful thinking had mentally prepared him for a 10-point.

He told me that carrying binoculars can be a hassle, but from this day forward, his will be in his backpack. He was proud of his shot, and of the buck that had unwittingly fooled him, but mad at his mental lapse.

Frankly, I use my binoculars or spotting scope often to double-check on a buck’s antlers. The use of quality optics have undoubtedly saved me from making a similar mistake.—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Changing Weather Energizes Whitetails

We are coming ever closer to autumn, and the first early signs are starting to show. Few whitetails are being seen during the day, but deer movements increase after sundown.

The days are getting ever shorter, and even though yesterday’s temperatures pushed up to 85 degrees, the temperature took a pretty good dip as night approached. Today’s temperatures will show a high of 75 degrees, and the evening low will be about 50 degrees.

It’s this 25-degree temperature differential between daytime and nighttime temperature that energizes whitetail deer. The deer start moving just before dark, and this also is a time for motorists to be cautious when driving state roads. Lower temps cause deer to move.

Let’s face it. Deer don’t have to feed much during hot weather, and many of them will lay low in some cooler, shady spot during the day. Once it gets dark, they are up and on the move.

This same response to dwindling daylight hours and cooler weather is what kicks off the rut in late October. This time period is called photoperidism, and it means that fewer hours of daylight lead to changes within the deer body.

Bucks show an increase in the male hormone testosterone, and whitetail does undergo similar hormonal changes that cause them to go into estrus. All of this is linked to shorter days, and the need for most (but not all) does to be bred from roughly October 25 through November 15. This ensure that the fawns will be born in the spring when there is plenty of lush green growth on which to feed.

Weather—whether good or bad, warm or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm—is important to deer and deer hunters. Few hunters take time to study how weather conditions affect deer movements.

There are some generalities. Deer seem to move best during the fall hunting seasons when a light breeze blows. They move well in a soft drizzling rain, and seldom move well in a hard rain because hard rains are usually associated with a rapidly falling barometer.

Deer are keenly aware of weather changes. It seems they have a built-in barometer. Deer move well on a slowly rising barometer, and a slowly falling barometer. Some of the best deer movement of all will come two or three hours ahead of a rapidly falling barometer that indicates the onset of a major snow and wind storm.

I can hunt my ranch right out my back door, and if the Weather Channel warns of an impending major storm, I am out hunting before it enters my area. The peak of the deer movement is one to two hours before the storm hits as deer feed heavily before bedding down.

There is one condition when deer never move well. That is during high winds with lightning, thunder and a hard pelting rain. Deer stay alive by using their eyes, ears and nose, and such weather conditions negate any use of those senses. The fury of high wind and thunder defeats their ears, the blowing tree limbs, leaves and other objects keep them from seeing human movement well because everything else is in motion, and the swirling winds of a storm doesn’t allow them to detect human odor or where it is coming from. They sit tight under these conditions.

The days I really enjoy hunting are those when it is cool and crisp, with three or four inches of snow on the ground, and a soft and gentle breeze from one direction. Deer can move freely, can test the soft breeze for danger, and deer often move fairly well after a storm has rolled through.

The snow obviously helps the hunters see deer but it also can work in favor of the animals. Anything that moves is instantly seen, and if a deer focuses on you, you’ve been well and truly nailed.

The cooler nights are putting whitetails on the move right now, and we still have a month to go before the Oct. 1 archery season rolls around. My thought on this day is to study the relationship between weather pattern changes and deer movements.

Study what makes deer move and keeps them from moving, and you’ll have solved one minor point of the mystery of whitetail movements. This is important stuff, and is a major deer-hunting puzzle piece to learn, and it’s of vitally important to bow hunters.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, August 28, 2006

Coming Into The Country (Deer Country)

A first-time deer hunter in new terrain is at some disadvantage. They don’t know the country, and have little clue where deer travel.

Coming into new deer country is always exciting. Those of us who have been involved in bow hunting for many years, always study the lay of the land. We note the thick cover, obvious funnels, saddles or low spots between two high hills, and we start check out everything about the land.

We know that normal morning cycle is from feeding areas to bedding zones, and in the evening, deer leave normal thick bedding cover and work their way toward farm fields, oak flats, food plots or big corn fields.

Given an hour of looking around, most hunters with several years experience will have found deer trails, and they’ve separate the well traveled routes from other seldom used trails.

They pay particular note of the wind direction, and how that wind would carry human scent to the deer. This may be of the utmost consideration, because once winded, a hunter is not likely to see anything more than the south end of a deer heading north.

But sizing up a hotspot involves considerably more investigation. Given time, we can locate the bedding and feeding areas, and from there draw on our knowledge of deer travel habits to find key spots to ambush the animal. It’s easy to be a bit off on the first night, but careful study often can predict the most likely route for deer to take.

A buddy once hunted an island in the middle of the Mississippi River, in the great deer state of Mississippi, and he hadn’t been there 15 minutes before he spotted the ideal tree within 100 yards of a thick palmetto swamp. He had a self-climbing stand, and the tree was straight. up he went, forearms leaning on the handles, and he quietly lifted his feet. Up and up he went to a height of about 20 feet.

He made very little noise, and since he was hunting during the rut, he felt the soft noise of climbing the tree might sound like two bucks banging their antlers together. He got into position, fastened his full-body harness to the tree, and sat down after pulling his bow up into the stand.

He nocked an arrow, pulled down his face mask, and sat without movement. The tree had little cover, but it offered a panoramic view of the bedding area and trails leading out of the palmettos toward an open green field.

Two hours later as the sun began dipping toward the western horizon he spotted a doe moving fast out of the palmettos. It crossed a tiny nearby creek with one splash, and then came the unmistakable sound of a tending buck.

His bow was up and ready and his body was positioned so he could draw and shoot with the bow limb outside of his left leg. The first doe squirted out on a dead run, and then came another mature doe being tended by a big 10-point buck. If they followed the same trail as the first doe, the other doe and the buck would cross at a quartering-away angle at 15 yards.

His set-up was absolutely perfect, but as is true with many hunts, Mr. Murphy of Murphy’s Law raised his ugly head. This law states that if anything can go wrong, it will.

Murph was in the saddle that night. The doe and big buck passed within an easy 15 yards of his stand, and they had to pass a big magnolia tree. When they did, and he was screened from their sight, he made a silent draw.

The only problem was the doe was on the side closest to the bow hunter. He was at full draw but the buck, oblivious to any danger, was perfectly screened by the doe. They marched slowly off in lock-step, and the episode passed without a shot.

He had never hunted that island before, had little clue of anything but the bedding area and where the food plot was located. He was downwind of the deer, and he had done everything according to the rules of common sense, but there is no predicting how deer will line up when they walk past a hunter.

Each new area requires study, and the same attention to detail should be noted if someone places you in a stand. Note possible travel routes, the wind, and if you play your cards properly, the buck will walk past and not be screened by a doe.

But, it’s just the luck of the draw. That’s why they call this hunting rather than killing.—The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Velvet Shedding Will Start Soon

One of the great wonders of this world, to me at least, is the growth of deer antlers. It begins in the spring, and the magic of growth can be seen almost on a daily basis.

I never fail to marvel how a bald-headed buck in late winter will begin to grow this years antlers. They seem to spring almost overnight from the pedicels on the deer’s skull, and soon thy will be furry knobs.

Before long, those fuzzy knobs grow higher and thicker in diameter, and then they begin to fork and new growths that will become antler tines begin growing off the main beam. By early to mid-August, most of the growth has occurred.

The next process is the blood-engorged velvet will begin to harden, and usually in early September, the antlers under the velvet harden, and the velvet begins to shed or be rubbed off.

Bucks often rub the velvet off on small trees, and hunters often see this rubs on trees and confuse them with rubs made prior to the rut. The rubs made by removing the velvet, mean very little. Rubs made by bucks with hard antlers as they strengthen neck muscles are an entirely different story.

The velvet is often seen hanging in strips off the antlers. It swishes back and forth as a deer raises and lowers its head to feed, and is eventually peeled or rubbed off.

Once the antlers are free of velvet, the hard bone is often streaked with blood but this soon disappears. A buck is capable of breeding a doe whenever he has hard antlers.

These white antlers may stay that way or they may darken. Big bucks often have darkened antlers, and in some case, a close-up view would reveal curlings of bark attached to the antlers. Some antlers will remain white until they fall off although some will be tan, brown or even a very dark brown color.

The removal of velvet usually starts in early September, and almost always is over by Oct. 1. Antlers are a status symbol of sorts for male deer. The larger the antler development, the more respect other deer give the larger buck.

Age and antler growth, usually a combination of the two, leads to a pecking order. The largest bucks will do most of the breeding, and fights among large bucks can be serious. On occasion, bucks will fight to the death over breeding rights.

There is nothing pretty about a fight between two evenly matched bucks. Neck muscles swell, bucks perform mock battles with trees, but when two big bucks square off over breeding rights, no one can predict the winner.

Often, battles are won by sheer strength but some are won with bucks with the greatest desire to breed does. It may be a slightly smaller buck, and in a few cases, I’ve seen some of the largest bucks run from a fight. Such fights often result in one or both deer being gored, and the loss of an eye is fairly common.

One year, during the winner, my two largest bucks, got to fighting on the ice of a pond, and both bucks were gored badly but one died on the ice after taking a pair of tine thrusts through the chest. It was too weak from the prolonged fight and blood loss to move, and it collapsed there.

The other buck, although not wounded as badly during the fight, was out of gas. The ice collapsed under the animal’s weight, and down it went. The ice froze around the deer that night and both animals died.

We walk our land in the spring just after the snow melts. We pick up every antler shed we find, and we probably miss more than we find. Sometimes we find both halves of the rack near each other, but it’s more common to find just one side at a time. Sometimes we find the other side some distance away, but unless it is a unique antler formation, we never know for certain if we have both halves or one antler from one deer and another antler from a different animal.

We’ll be home from Colorado in less than a week, and by that time, some bucks may be losing their velvet. This circle of antler growth and loss is a part of the whitetails world, and a big part of mine.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Go With Your Gut Instincts

The weather conditions are perfect. A soft, gentle breeze of under five miles-per-hour allows us to be downwind of approaching deer. The wind is perfect, and two tree stands or elevated coops are perfect for an evening hunt.

Both are near the junction and downwind of three active deer trails leading from a bedding area to the evening food source. Both are 15 feet off the ground, and each one allows easy quartering-away shots.

The burning question is: which of these two stands should be hunted? Neither one offers a clear advantage, and both stands are equally good. So which one will be the hunting stand of choice on this night?

The average serious bow hunter wishes such options were available to them on a more frequent basis. It’s a rare time when two stands offer similar degrees of efficiency, placement and attraction to deer.

Trying to make the mental coin flip is a lesson in frustration. So, how pray tell, is a hunter supposed to make a wise decision?

The answer is a gut check. Something about one stand or the other will serve to trigger an instinctive reaction. This is one of those situations where the hunter lets his instincts take over, and almost always, the proper decision will be made.

Often, the decision will instinctively be made based on one tiny thing that appears so intangible that many people would pay no attention to it. Here is an example of what might instinctively sway your choice from one stand to the other.

Stand A faces southeast, the direction that deer will travel, and as the sun starts going down, your shooting position is shaded from the bright sunset. Nothing can interfere with a shot.

Stand B is equally good but it faces slightly southwest, and deer cross in front of the stand at an angle. It’s a great spot, and plenty of deer move past, but the hunter is squinting a bit because of the bright glare of the sunset.

So ... in this situation, the instinctive reaction of hunters who know the particular quirks of Stands A and B would find most people picking Stand A. A gut check, or decision based on instinct, tells a hunter which stand should produce.

Now, if all things remained equal, the average hunter would probably choose Stand B for a morning hunt because they wouldn’t want to be squinting into the sun as it rises and they are trying to aim at a deer.

Gut instincts play an important role in other aspects of bow hunting. The wind is up a bit, and the tops of trees are swaying. The hunter tends to get a bit queasy in the stomach when the trees sway.

If that hunter had a choice between a tree stand or ground blind on this evening, which do you think he would choose. If your gut instinct said the ground blind, you’d probably be right.

These instincts are what keep some big bucks alive, and a deer operates on the sensory stimuli of sight, smell and sound. They pay particular attention to what their ears, eyes and nose tell them.

On the other hand, hunter instincts are not nearly as well developed, but when something inside your body screams “do this or do that,” the wise hunter pays attention to such instinctive thoughts.

Deer seemingly appear and disappear, often without sound. You are looking one way, and a thought blasts into your brain telling you “Don’t move,” it’s a good idea to remain still. Often your senses, without your knowledge, picked up the presence of a nearby deer. Was the deer seen or heard?

No, but your sensory instincts determined the presence of a nearby animal, and you remain motionless. Soon it steps into view, and in time if all things work right, a shot will be taken.

These instincts date back to the dawn of Mankind where a a hairy prehistoric human paid attention to his/her instincts or was gobbled up by some large animal. Most people who fought in Viet Nam came to trust their instincts about whether they were walking into an ambush. They learned to sense danger.

The hunting instincts of most sportsmen have been dulled a bit over the passage of many centuries. We aren’t as sharp as our distant ancestors, but our instincts still work.

We must learn to depend on them. A person with good instincts is often a superb hunter.—The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, August 25, 2006

Shooting Doe Fawns?: Game Management?

There was a day, and not so very long ago, when shooting does was considered unaccountable behavior. Hunters who stooped to shooting doe fawns were considered lower than a snake’s belly.

People who shot a doe in the Upper Peninsula often hid the animal in the trunk, and piled luggage on top so no one would see it. Thankfully, those days are, for the most part, a thing of the past.

Michigan has gone from far too many deer in the late 1980s through 2002, and now there are far too few deer in many Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula counties. People who want to shoot deer should be hunting the southern counties where most of the deer live.

I own a large fenced-in enclosure. Shooting deer here isn’t as easy as one might think because there is about 1,000 acres, and there are cedar swamps, marshes, cattails, ponds, creeks, heavy timber, and more tag alder thickets than most people have ever seen.

If a deer wants to stay hid, it can easily do so here. Every year we see an older buck that no one has ever seen before. Why not? He kept his head down, and moved after dark. Old bucks get old because they make very few mistakes.

The question tonight is: Is game management best served by shooting adult does and doe fawns? The answer is a definite yes.

There are many reasons why taking a doe fawn may be preferable to a mature doe, and here are just a few.

*Mature does produce, on average, larger deer (both buck and doe fawns) than will a 1 1/2-year-old doe. The fawns from the older does may grow larger, and may inherit some of the doe’s instincts for staying out of trouble. Those same instincts serve young bucks well too.

*The offspring from a mature doe seem to grow faster than the doe fawns from a young doe. This makes those fawns from big does more likely to survive a bad winter.

*A buck will breed any doe, but the older does often drop their fawns earlier, offering them a better chance for more nourishing good. A doe fawn that comes into estrus in December or January is likely to be bred, and her fawns will be born late and get only the leavings from the most abundant food sources.

*Mathematically, taking the big, mature doe and leaving the smaller doe fawn to live, doesn’t make sense. A doe fawn, in bad weather may die of starvation or winter stress. Young fawns make very tasty table fare, are abundant in the fall, and taking them just makes more sense.

*Frankly, on a deer ranch like mine, some of the same conditions that affect deer herds outside of the fence, do so here. Allowing too many mature does to live is equally unwise. It is a matter of sound scientific game management to manage the herd for the greatest good of all of the animals. If this means shooting 20 adult does and 40 doe fawns, it’s what we do.

*Keeping our deer herd in balance means removing excess animals. On the outside, everyone wants to shoot a buck. That leaves even more does and doe fawns to have fawns in future years, and the problem perpetuates itself when young and old does are not taken by hunters.

Fortunately, the stigma once attached to hunters who kill adult does and doe fawns isn’t as nasty as it was a half-century ago. Reading, and learning about deer, has educated many hunters and most understand that properly managing a deer herd to keep it healthy and in line with its available habitat and food supply, means removing some does.

The DNR took that philosophy two or three steps over the line in the past, especially in northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Deer numbers are still very low in many areas, and now they (the DNR) have backed off a bit after admitting they may have been a bit too zealous in the past.

Deer numbers will rebound outside of my fences, and some does and doe fawns will continue to be shot in areas where population controls must be enforced. However, will this increase the number of bucks or the size of their racks?

Not really unless people shoot a doe and allow a 1 1/2-year-old buck to live. Pass that same buck up next year, and he will be somewhat bigger. Shoot a doe instead, and give that buck 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 years to live, and if your and your neighbors cooperate, within four years there will be some huge bucks running around.

Back inside my fence, that is exactly what we do. We shoot does and doe fawns, and allow 1 1/2-year-old bucks to live. Most of the 2 1/2-year-olds are left to live and grow, and that is why we have some big bucks on my ranch.

And that, my friends, is the end of this story.—The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Dreaming The Whitetail Dream

Here I sit, in a tree stand overlooking a Colorado water hole, and waiting for a bull elk to show up. It’s idle-thought time, and as I sit and wait for what may or may not happen today, I dream the whitetail dream.

My mind easily drifts back home to Michigan, to my 1,000-acre deer ranch, and to upcoming hunts. It’s funny: hunting elk but thinking and dreaming of hunting whitetail deer.

There is nothing moving, and no elk bugling, and it’s easy to let the mind drift. Let’s see if I can remember all of my day-dreaming thoughts.

*There was one of my earliest thoughts. It was of a buck that came all the way across a quarter-mile open field, in view at all times, and walked directly up to my stand several years ago. He was a big 8-point, and once he arrived within 20 yards, he stopped as if on cue, turned quartering-away and offered the perfect shot. It was too easy, and perhaps that is why I remember it.

*I remember one buck (he had nine or 10 points), and he was moving past me in a heavy snow storm. The wind was whirling around the buck, and I could count nine points and occasionally saw what may have been a 10th point, but the swirling snow obliterated it. This old gent had snow on his back and the top of his head, and when he passed, he was just a bit too far off for a decent shot in low visibility. I watched him walk with that little swagger some bucks have, and I’m glad now I didn’t shoot.

*A buddy of mine was sitting in a ground blind, and peeked out just in time to see a doe running at full gallop toward his coop. He knew the doe would go behind him, and as she passed the corner of his blind, here comes a big 8-point running at top speed. He thought the buck would run into the coop, and watched as the buck passed so close to the coop that if he had opened the door, the buck would have hit it. He told me about it, and two days later I saw that buck walking behind a doe that was crossing in front of the coop. One shot ended his doe-chasing career.

*What is really fun is setting another hunter up on a buck that operates on a daily schedule. I told this fellow that the buck comes from the west at 6:10 p.m., and will walk in front of the stand on a knoll, stand there for a minute at 20 yards and check the field ahead of him. Sure enough, at 6:10, here comes the buck. It stopped 20 yards away, and the man made a perfect shot. He still doesn’t understand how I knew that buck would be at the appointed place at the appointed time. It was easy; this buck was a snap to pattern, and doing so paid off.

*I shoot my share of does. We must thin doe numbers every year. If we don’t, the numbers quickly double, and it’s twice as hard to reduce the herd size. The same thing holds true in all areas, but inside an enclosure, it is much easier to manage the deer. We know if we don’t do it, disease will take its toll. One time I set out to shoot an old dry doe, and I hunted that old girl almost daily before she made a slight error of judgment, and I got a clean shot. People who think shooting a big buck is difficult has never singled out a dry doe. They are much tougher to hunt than a big buck.

*Shooting time was almost over when another deer story came to mind. I was hunting from a pine tree, and the does always seemed to circle the tree in hope of winding a hunter. I sat tight, and there was no breeze, and a doe led a buck past my stand twice, but the animal was moving through thick cover. I kept pace with his travels, and his circles kept getting tighter, and I knew the next pass he’d have to pass through a narrow opening. I was at full draw when he stepped into the opening, stopped, turned his head to check out other deer, and the arrow took him broadside. He ran 70 yards across the field and died within five seconds of the arrow hitting him.

It’s almost dark, and my hunting and day-dreaming is done for the day. Stop by tomorrow.—The Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Some Thoughts On Deer Scents

Deer scents have a bad habit of alienating people. There are a few places where people who use deer scents are accused of taking unfair advantage of deer.

That is sheer nonsense. A friend of mine tested several dozen different scents years ago, and he used them on every hunt for three years. The conclusion is that some scents are more effective than others, and some don’t work as well as others.

How’s that for a mush-mouthed answer? Let’s get one thing straight: I don’t use deer scents of any kind, and never have but that doesn’t mean anything other than I don’t use ‘em..

It’s not that I have anything against deer lures or scents. I’m neither for nor against using them. For me, it’s one less thing I have to concern myself with, and besides ... I shoot plenty of deer without them.

However, being a practical sort of guy, I’ve had this conversation with countless hunters over the years. Using a cover-up, food or sex lure or scent can make deer stop where you want to stop, and if you shoot that buck, the scent did its job for you.

There’s one other thing that many hunters never consider. If a hunter really believes in lures and scents, use them properly, control his odor in an effective manner, that bottle of scent may produce for him. On the other hand, if they do everything wrong, it won’t help a bit.

The hunter must really be a believer. By believing in the value of the lure or scent, he or she will probably sit stiller, not wiggle around, be downwind of where a buck should travel, and have enough self control to make his draw and shoot a properly aimed arrow at the right time.

The result is a dead deer. The scent was what made the hunter a better bow hunter. The scent helps the hunter become the best that he can be.

I used to fish for bass and walleyes quite a bit, and I wouldn’t think of going bass fishing without having a Hula Popper, Jitterbug or Rapala in my tackle box. I can’t conceive of going after walleyes without some leadhead jigs of various weights and colors, a nightcrawler harness or two and some Hot-N-Tots.

I used those lures for those game fish species because they have produced for me on many occasions, and I have complete confidence in them now. Using them makes me a better fishermen because of my willingness to use them properly and because they have delivered good catches in the past.

The same holds true with deer lures and scents. I don’t use them because I have the utmost confidence in my ability to successfully hunt whitetail bucks without them. They weren’t in use back when I started deer hunting some 60 years ago, and if it ain’t broke, why try fixing it.

My only advice with deer lures and scents is to read the directions thoroughly, think out where the deer travel, and decide where to place the scent so a buck will stop on the trail where it will provide a perfect shot.

Can one use too much scent? I admit to not knowing much about the stuff, but some that I’ve smelled are pretty strong. My thoughts on the matter may differ considerably from yours, but I would think it might be possible to use too much scent.

I’d think that an area that reeks of doe-in-estrus buck lure or scent would be most unusual in the woods. To me, it reminds me of trying to eat a steak every night for a month. Sooner or later you will tire of it.

With deer, I suspect that a little bit of scent is more intriguing than a whole bottle of the stuff in one spot. First of all, many scents are expensive and too much of it in the right or wrong area may make a buck start circling to determine what’s up with this place. The buck may wander downwind of your stand, catch your scent and leave.

My dealings with scents and sex lures, etc. is nonexistent. All I go by is common sense. Many hunters put scent on a rag, and drag it through the woods to their hunting area. This seems to work well when used in combination with a 35mm film canister filled with clean cotton and a few drops of deer lure or scent. Place the canister in a logical area where bucks travel, and a buck may trail the scent from the drag-rag to the film canister, bend over to sniff it, and you shoot the deer.

I can see how it could work, but I am a non-expert on the topic. Enough people talk to me about lures and scents, and now you know as much about it as I do. Good luck!—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Morning Or Evening Hunting: It’s A Big Question

There are Democrats and Republicans; Catholic, Jewish, Protestant or the Islamic religions, and there are morning and evening deer hunters. My topic tonight is about the last one because I never debate politics or religion with anyone.

The burning question for many hunters is whether to hunt the morning or the evening hours, and I suspect more people hunt the evening because it is easier for them to get into the woods. I hunt the morning only on occasion, but now that I’m in my 70s, I don’t hate deer bad enough to get up long before daybreak to crawl into a darkened blind.

It hasn’t always been this way, and when I was younger, hunting the morning was a good time. And I killed some fine bucks by doing so, but these days I like my sleep. I spend a full work day at the archery shop, and then hunt the evening hours until shooting time ends.

Are there good reasons to hunt the morning? Of course there are, and the best one is if you can get in front of the deer, they may stroll right past you just as the sun comes up. Some hunters swear it’s the best time to kill a big buck, but that may be a highly debatable point.

Morning hunts mean that it is always going to continue to get brighter whereas in the evening, it continues to get darker. That is another plus for the morning lovers. There are times, during the morning, when a buck may tarry during his travels, and may not reach you until 9 or 10 a.m.

The rut is a good time to hunt from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. It’s a difficult time for working hunters to get away, but it’s always a good trick to keep in mind in late October and early November.

Frankly, my land isn’t easy to reach a morning hunting position without being winded or spooking deer. Our predominant wind direction is from the southwest, west or northwest during the fall, and the deer are moving from east to west in the morning. Make one mistake, and the deer have nailed you.

The chance of spooking deer from a good stand is one valuable argument against doing so. One hates to park, walk a few hundred yards to an ideal stand, and bump into deer in the dark. They race off in all directions, snorting and blowing, and the effort was a fruitless one.

I have numerous friends who have the same problem on their land, and it’s just too hard for them to get in front of the deer without spooking the animals. So, for many people, the evening hunt is the best time.

Most people prefer to hit the woods once their normal working shift has ended, and for them, being in place by 5 p.m. is plenty good enough during the early season.

We can drive to many of our stands, drop off a hunter, and keep moving on. The animals, like most farmland deer, are accustomed to vehicular traffic during the day but it spooks them when it is dark.

Key points in favor of an evening hunt is the ability to get in front of the animals without spooking them. It’s possible to walk into most areas on foot, climb into a stand, and be in place an hour before the deer move. Hunters who are careful about their scent, and move without touching bushes, brush or tall weeds, will have an advantage. The advantage is increased by wearing knee-high rubber boots.

Another advantage is the approaching darkness. Deer often begin moving an hour before sundown, and as the light begins to fade, deer movement often picks up. This can be an asset, but one problem is that there are times when deer won’t get to the hunter before shooting time has ended.

There are pros and cons to morning and evening hunting. I much prefer hunting the evening, and for those who enjoy greeting the dawn from a tree stand, more power to you. I hope a big buck steps out and offers a clean shot.

Personally, my head is often on the pillow at dawn. But I make up for it by hunting the evening hours. It pays off for me.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, August 21, 2006

Take Your Shot: Not What The Buck Offers

Deer hunters with little experience often shoot at the first deer they see. If they are hunting over bait, it will probably be a button buck.

Too many hunters have too little time to hunt, and that makes them impatient. That impatience often ruins their hunt because they shoot too fast for fear the deer will run off before they can shoot. They take poorly planned shots, and don’t wait for the ideal conditions.

Sometimes the ideal conditions never arrive. This leads to an increased anxiety level, rapid heartbeat, fast breathing, and a touch of buck fever to boot.

It’s little wonder they miss the deer or wound the animal. One basic piece of advice I give anyone is to take your time, take only high percentage shots and never take low percentage shots.

I’ve watched some television shows where the show host takes a neck shot during daylight hours. When they film the hero recovering his deer, it’s long after darkness has fallen. What isn’t being said on some shows is that a long trailing job was required to recover the animal.

I can’t make you control your breathing and jitters. I’ve written in the past how to cure, or attempt to cure, a case of buck fever. Page backward through my daily blogs until you find it.

The truth of the matter is that it takes a number of shooting opportunities before a hunter can tell himself: I’ve been here before, and killed the deer. I can do it again, and concentration is important.

Size up the animal as it approaches, and wait for a quartering-away or broadside shot. Never shoot at a deer facing directly at you, quartering toward you or facing directly away. That so-called “Texas heart shot” is an awful way to kill a whitetail because often the arrow never reaches the vital organs. Trailing a wounded deer like this is a terrible chore.

Wait patiently for the deer to turn and provide you with the desired shot. Talk to yourself, and calm down. Tell yourself that “I can do this.”

Wait for the proper opportunity to draw so the deer (or other nearby animals) do not see the draw. Don’t aim for the center of the mass, but aim for that precise spot behind the near-side front shoulder. Narrowly focus on that spot, and don’t lift your head when the arrow is released.

Lift the head, and the arrow almost always goes high, and either sails over the deer or wounds it high in the back. Watch the arrow sight, and follow through with the bow arm holding the bow steady until the arrow hits the animal.

The major problem for so many hunters is they can’t stand the wait. They wait is the buzz of the hunt. Why not prolong it until the deer turns to offer an easy killing shot. It’s when the adrenalin is gushing. Rush the shot, and try to sneak the arrow behind the shoulder blade when there is no way it will go there, and you’ll be trailing a wounded deer.

Ethical hunters owe it to stay on the track of that deer as long as possible, and that is why I endorse the use of a Game Tracker. There are a good number of deer shot on my ranch every year, and every bow shot is taken with the hunter using this string tracking device.

A string gives a line of direction to follow. A deer may travel 50 to 70 yards before it starts bleeding. People try to guess which direction the deer traveled, and the first thing they know, the area is so tracked up by hunters that they’ve trampled any blood into the ground.

A Game Tracker string may break as the deer twists through the woods, but often we’ve followed a string for 200 yards before finding the deer.

Shooting a deer with a bow is easy. Control your nerves, take only high percentage shots at a distance you are comfortable shooting at, don’t hurry the shot, pick a spot where a kill is guaranteed, and wait for the deer to offer the perfect shot.

Never take the shot a deer first offers you. Wait them out, study the animal, and when it does provide the ideal opportunity, make the most of it.—The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Thinking Of Other Elk Hunts

We are on our way to Colorado, and as the miles roll by under the truck tires, my thoughts turn to previous elk hunts.

Some are memorable for many reasons, and a few were so-so outings when drought conditions kept the animals confined to certain areas. Sometimes it was so hot and dry that the elk wouldn’t move until long after dark, and would be bedded down the next day.

Very hot and dry weather limits elk movement. Too much effort is expended to make long-distance moves necessary. At times like this, water hole hunting pays off if the animals don’t have to move very far to find water.

Some of the good hunts stand out, and this year, my son Matt and I will hunt together. It’s a time for us to share a hunt, and if a bull comes in, I probably will not shoot.

I want to watch Matt shoot a bull. I’ve had him along on other hunts where he has shot a bull with his bow, but I’ve never had the opportunity to sit and watch him do it. I think sitting beside him, watching a bull approach the water hole, watch him come to full draw and release a straight and true arrow would be wonderful stuff.

My wife, Ruth Ann, has shot elk on these hunts and it was a thrill for her. Other hunters I’ve taken to Colorado have shot elk, and our wishes are for good hunting conditions and nice weather.

One wonders what I consider to be a nice elk hunt. It’s pretty easy to state my case.

I’ve shot numerous elk with a bow, and killing one more elk isn’t necessary. What does perk me up is watching a big bull approach slowly through the black timber, stopping often to look ahead and to test the wind for danger.

Some bulls have taken two hours to come the last 100 yards. A big bull, and even the cows and calves, are constantly alert. They seem to be looking in all directions, and often are standing still.

I remember one bull that stood in one place, back in the black timber and 80 yards away, and he didn’t move. Occasionally we’d hear the shrill bugle of a young bull, but this old boy wasn’t going to be baited into battle by a youngster.

He stood there, slowly looking in all directions ahead, and only his head moved as he tested the air. I’m trying to will him to move, but that doesn’t work, and when he finally stepped out, he was facing directly at me.

A straight-on shot isn’t a winner on a big elk. He was still too far for an accurate bow shot, and I sat patiently and waited without moving while hoping the wind wouldn’t switch and blow my scent to him.

He continued to stare while facing me, and it was almost as if he knew I was in the small tree stand. I wanted to clear my throat, but didn’t, and it seemed as if he would never move. He eventually took several steps forward, stopped again, and seemed to be staring holes through me.

I knew my camo was good, and knew that I wasn’t sky-lighted. I didn’t move, and decided to play the waiting game with him. Ten minutes later he took another half-dozen steps forward, stopped again while still facing me, and then turned his head to look as a cow stepped out of the timber.

He moved several steps closer, and the cow caught up with the bull. Now I’m wondering if she will complicate or prevent a shot when the bull got closer, and together they walked up to the water hole.

Both animals are facing my way, but common sense tells me they have no idea I’m in the tree. Their heads go down, and my bow came up slowly but it wasn’t time to draw and shoot.

They drank their fill, and stood, still facing me until the cow nuzzled up next to her boy friend. Lovin’ apparently wasn’t on his mind, and he turned and thrust at her with his antlers. When he did I came to full draw, aimed at the bull only 25 yards away, and made a perfect shot as he stood broadside to me.

The bull stood for an instant as the arrow went through his body, and turned and ran just inside the timber and fell. That nice bull hangs in my living room, and has provided me with a memory that will never fade away.

Now, I’m looking forward to making new memories. While I am gone, think fall, think bow hunting, and keep reading this blog. There are more good things to come.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Little Tricks To Make Bucks Travel Your Way

One of the most common problems bow hunters encounter is knowing which trail a buck will follow to pass their stand. There is a fairly simple solution to making the buck travel down the trail in such a way that it will take the trail closest to your stand.

The two trails may only be 20 yards apart, but if the bucks are using the trail farthest from your stand, that’s not good. One way to solve this vexing problem is to block the used trail upwind and downwind of your stand.

Haul a pile of brush onto the distant trail and make a big brushy heap upwind of the tree stand on the farthest trail. Do the same thing 50 yards downwind, and when a buck comes along, you’ve made his choice for him. Your are like a cop directing traffic.

Deer, up to a point, are somewhat like people. They are lazy, and often will take the easiest route. If they encounter a brush pile too big to step over, it’s almost a sure thing (nothing about deer hunting is 100 percent) that the buck will move to the other trail. That may place the animal 10 to 20 yards closer to your tree, and provide a hunter with a much better and closer shot.

Deer have no trouble jumping a fence, but going back to the previous comment about them being somewhat lazy and willing to take the easiest route, give a buck a large enough hole in a fence to walk through without tangling his antlers, and the chances are good the buck will choose that route almost every time rather than jumping over it.

I once had a hole in a boundary fence, and the deer used it daily. They would travel east in the evening through the hole, and west at dawn. Each time they would choose that fence hole to go through, and many a nice buck was shot there.

Bucks often like to travel little knolls that provide them with some elevation. This is especially true if a funnel touches on a broken-down fence en route to heavy cover. Some old farm fences are pretty dilapidated, and bucks feel comfortable in such areas. Knock down a small section of that fence where deer would normally jump over it, and it can lead to good action.

Pick a spot slightly downwind, and position it so you have a shot 20 or 30 feet before the deer comes to the broken fence. If the deer gets too close to the manmade route, they often spurt quickly through. By placing a stand back a short distance, the animal will be moving at a much slower pace, and may even pause nearby to look around. It provides the perfect opportunity for a shot.

At times we’ve had beaver problems. They build a dam, and it blocks off the stream. The dam, if firm with dirt and branches on top, provides a natural route for deer to cross. It doesn’t happen every day, but there have been times when I’ve seen deer (and bear) cross a beaver dam. A stand set up downwind and nearby can offer a perfect opportunity for a shot.

I’ve never done this but have talked with several people who claim they have. They may have an excellent spot for a tree stand but it is 100 yards from their tree closest to the travel route. They erect a stand near that trail being used, set in it once or twice before the season opens, and then place a shirt stuffed with straw in the stand.

They set up their hunting stand 100 yards away, and by periodically sitting in the decoy stand and having a scarecrow sitting there the rest of the time, often causes deer to move in your direction or the opposite way. This idea seems to have as many holes as Swiss cheese, but two people tell me there is a 50-50 chance the deer will come your way.

I can personally vouch for all the methods except the last. Deer can be made to move in other directions, and sometimes it doesn’t require much sweat equity to make them come your way.

If you are going to cut a hole in an old unused fence or use a fence that a tree has knocked over, or use a brush-pile to change a deers path onto another nearby trail. get your stand in place early and then fix everything so the deer will move your way once the season opens.

All of these tricks are worth a try, and keep using the ones that work.—The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, August 18, 2006

“Gapping” With A Red-dot Sight

Many years ago, when I first introduced the red-dot sight to bow hunters, I coined a word. “Gapping” was as descriptive a word as I could think of about how to shoot at different distances with a single red-dot sight.

Most whitetail deer in Michigan are shot at a distance of 20 yards of less with a bow and arrow. So my red-dot sight was sighted in to be dead-on at that distance, and I could shoot nocks off arrow or Robin Hood two arrows if I chose to do so.

By logical extension of being dead-on at 20 yards, I wanted to know where my red-dot sight would cause an arrow to hit at 30 yards. It was easy, and with six arrows I knew my arrow, at my draw weight, would hit about four inches low.

That made it easy. If a buck or doe walked past me at 30 yards, I’d put the internal red-dot behind the front shoulder of the animal, raise it slightly, and shoot. The arrows kept plunking into the target bulls-eye with regularity.

OK, I wondered, how would I have to hold to shoot a deer at 40 yards with my red-dot sight? I knew the arrow would be a good bit lower, and so I entered the next stage of this personal experiment.

Mind you, what worked for me and my bow and my arrow and my broadhead, may be much different for you and your equipment. However, a hunter shooting less poundage, etc. will have a different point of impact and each person will have to do the math themselves.

I had a round hay bale placed at 40 yards, and I shot six arrows with the red-dot centered on the bulls-eye 40 yards away. The arrow consistently hit 12-13 inches low, but the arrow placement, rights and left, was excellent. The trick now would be to learn what 12 inches looked like at that distance, and that is how “gapping” began.

Some might call it “hold-over” but gapping seems to serve the spoken purpose quite well. I drew back, gapped (or held over) the bulls-eye at what appeared to be 12 inches. and shot another six arrows. Each arrow was about one inch directly below the bulls-eye.

Knowing the precise distance is crucial to long-distance shooting. Some people lack the total concentration required to place the red-dot above the target, hold it steady, and shoot.

The red-dot sight has another distinct advantage that isn’t immediately apparent to some shooters. If the archer can’t see the red-dot when back at full draw, he or she either has the bow canted to the left or right or their head is tipped in one direction or the other. The head must be held upright with both eyes on the target for it to function properly.

I feel perfectly at ease shooting at 50 yards, but the hold-over or gap is much greater at 50 yards than at 40 yard. The arrow is losing speed, gravity is exerting a greater downward pull on the arrow as it decreases its speed, and 50-yard shots are only for those who have practiced religiously at that distance. Being off with your aim at that distance can result in a clean miss or a badly wounded deer.

Do I recommend shooting deer at 30 to 50 yards? No, it’s not for everyone, and it’s certainly not for the archer who doesn’t practice daily at those distances.

A major problem is that many people can’t tell the difference between 30, 40 or 50 yards which is why some of my friends carry a small range finder. If they had an animal standing still, and can get an exact distance measurement with a range finder, they know precisely where to hold for a killing shot.

Is there a special draw weight for longer shots? Not necessarily, but common sense dictates that the heavier the poundage, the more arrow speed there is available to drive the arrow. The more poundage, within reason and with a well-tuned bow, the flatter the arrow trajectory will be.

Is it necessary to shoot 100 pounds? Absolutely not unless you have a fondness for torn shoulder muscles. Eighty and 90 pounds aren’t needed, but the hunter should be pulling between 60 and 70 pounds.

More important than poundage is accurate arrow placement. I have many friends who never shoot beyond 20 yards, and have some friends who prefer to shoot their buck at 30 to 40 yards.

To each his own, but regardless of the distance we shoot, we have an ethical need not to exceed our skill level. We must stay within the limits of what we are consistently capable of, and go no further.

We owe that to the deer we hunt.—The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Should Hunters Ever Stop Learning New Tricks??

A thought came to me the other day that I’ve been hunting whitetail deer for over 60 years. Friends, that is a long period of time.

Do I consider myself an expert. No way. I’ve been fortunate to have hunted in many areas, but hunting my own land is the most fun of all.

So what has hunting taught me over 60 years? Go back and read the past 10 months of daily blogs, and you’ll get some kind of idea about some of the things I’ve learned.

But it dawned on me that hunting whitetail deer, and being successful at it, is a never-ending passion for great knowledge. I still learn something new almost every day, and it’s my desire to do just exactly that.

When a hunter stops learning, and stops caring, it’s when he or she stops being a very effective hunter. Learning something every day doesn’t need to be a never-fail method of hunting rutting bucks or how to lure bucks closer to your stand.

It simply has to be something that makes our hunts more enjoyable. It can be a certain nuance about setting up on a buck that we’d never tried before, but after trying it once,and if it produced a good buck, it becomes a meaningful discovery. That doesn’t mean it will produce again next year, or ever again, but it means it work once and deserves to be remembered.

Learning new things should be an ongoing part of the deer hunt. People can learn hunting tricks by reading about them, but until a sportsman puts that knowledge and technique into play, they never know whether it will work or not.

I make it a point to learn something new whenever I plant my backside in a stand. Sometimes what we learn is something we really knew but hadn’t seen it work for several years.

Some hunters like variety, and others are most content to sit in one place, hunt a certain way, and never change. I’m just the opposite. My idea of a successful day afield doesn’t necessarily mean shooting a big buck, but it does necessitate learning something about deer, deer habits, deer habitat, how and why deer travel certain ways on some days and a different direction on other days.

I want to know what deer are doing, and why they are doing that, and I enjoy moving from one stand to another. It’s one way that I keep track of deer movements, and it helps me keep pace with whitetail movement on different parts of my ranch.

How can this help someone who hunts on a small wood-lot or in an area where deer travel is constantly messed up by humans moving around. Constant hunting will teach sportsmen providing they pay attention to different nuances of the hunt.

The hunters who go out, sit in a ground blind or tree stand, and never determine why deer move to that spot as they do, are the ones who are missing out on something that is fascinating. Such knowledge is the stuff of which venison dinners are made.

I try to keep all this information crammed into my skull but I know several people who keep a daily log of every facet of every hunt. They mark down where they hunted, how many deer they saw, hight off the ground, the wind direction and how deer reacted to it, the number of bucks versus does seen, if the deer were traveling alone or together, and many other things.

This daily log, when continued for many years, will slowly develop a pattern that hunters can use to their advantage. Something from these daily notes will jog a memory on a specific day when all the conditions match up, and if it can be remembered. a certain little trick can pay off.

Hunting is a continuous learning process. Hunters who stop learning, or forget what they learned 30 years ago, often are doomed to failure. That’s why I go hunting every day, and my idea is to learn something about deer that I never knew before.

That little tidbit of information, learned on a day-to-day basis, may result in a big buck.—The Whitetail Wizard