Whitetail Wizard

This timing takes the does and unborn fawns (usually one buck and one doe fawn) into May when the weather is warmer and green lush food is available to eat. We usually figure Mother’s Day to be the peak time for the fawn drop.

This is an important time for our ranch. We suddenly experience a major increase in deer numbers, those numbers may surge upward by 50 to 100 percent.

The life of newborn fawns can be a precarious one. Coyotes can and will kill and eat as many young fawns as possible, and losses to such predators can be fairly high in areas where predator numbers are above average.

Newborn fawns, once cleaned up by the doe, have very little odor. I’ve been on walks, and have found numerous fawns.

They are tiny and cute, but stay away from and and do not touch them. Human odor on a fawn may cause the doe to abandon the fawn, ensuring it lives a very short life before dying of exposure, hunger or predation.

Managing a private deer herd means knowing about how many animals are present on the ranch, A young doe may have just one fawn, but older does often have two and occasionally will have three.

A major increase in fawns means many more mouths to feed, and as cute and cuddly as a whitetail fawn may be with their white spots, too much of anything is a detriment. It’s especially true with deer.

Many enclosures look like a park. The browse line is high, and that is the result of too many years of feeding too many deer. I made that mistake many years ago, and it took all that much longer to reduce our antlerless deer numbers.

My goal is one buck per one doe. We are at that ideal ratio right now, but once the fawns are born, the delicate balance of bucks to does is knocked out of whack. We suddenly have more deer to feed, and that means some deer must be taken.

If we tried to see that all new-born deer survived, and all would breed within one-and-one-half to two-and-one-half years, we’d soon have a parklike atmosphere with a high browse line, too many animals and stunted and runty deer that will eat themselves out of a place to live.

Death comes to all things, and there are many dangers to fawns. Many does are being killed right now on state highways, and that means an average of three dead deer: the pregnant doe and her twin fawns.

An enclosure must manage deer just as the state must manage its public deer herd. The best and easiest way to do this is through legalized hunting. We study our deer herd once the fawns are up and moving around, and it doesn’t take long to determine how many adult does and doe fawns must be taken to bring the private or public deer herd into balance with its habitat, food supply, and the carrying capacity of the land.

My deer do not get hit by cars and are not poached so only natural attrition and hunting can control our herd numbers. If I slip up, and too few antlerless deer are taken, my land and the deer herd with suffer.

If this sorry state of affairs were to last too long, my herd would be as out-of balance as the state herd is. Michigan, for far too long, managed deer for quantity rather than quality.

It’s not what we want. We want and need a well-managed program on our ranch, and that is what we get. Many people eat free venison when we must reduce our herd, and sadly, many of the animals taken are doe fawns.

The older I get, the more I enjoy such gorgeous days. It’s fun to watch the bushes and trees start to bud out, everything beginning to green up, and to feel a soft and gentle warm breeze as it kisses my cheek.

I sometimes find myself suffering a bit of spring fever. You know those kinds of days we all had as a kid when sitting under a tree in warm but muted sunshine, and kicking back to dream some dreams of yesteryear.

I sat back in my truck, me and our dog Pippy, and began remembering where I’d been in my life and where I was going. A few of my thoughts on a spring-fever day were:

*Remembering a big buck I chased for 12-15 miles with an old-timer friend of mine back in the 1940s. We were dogging his tracks in the snow, and that buck knew we were there and he took us across rivers, through the woods and swamps, and once I had a chance for a shot at that huge buck, and my friend whispered: “Don’t shoot. It’s an old fire-charred pine stump.” I lowered my rifle and the stump grew legs and ran off with a huge 12-point rack. It had been the big buck we’d chased all day.

*It’s thoughts like that that made me want to fence in my land and build up a private deer herd. The deer back in the mid-1940s during WWII were few but the bucks were large. Only kids and old men hunted deer because men were off to war or working in factories, and most people that needed a deer, shot a doe. That gave the bucks time to grow, and heavy-antlered bucks were far more common then than now. Counties with too many does, and too few big bucks, will seldom generate big deer.

*I’ve long had a philosophy of Live And Let Live. Enjoy Life And Help Others Enjoy Theirs. It’s a philosophy I often think about, and one that I put into practice as often as possible.

*I think about how a few bucks grow to a ripe old age on my ranch, and are seldom seen. Once or twice a year someone will catch a glimpse of this 180 to 200-point buck, but they seldom show themselves during hunting hours. Or, if they do, it is before or after the season closes. We occasionally find a big shed antler, and occasionally find both sheds, but that doesn’t happen often.

*There are times when 130 to 150-class bucks are seen on a regular basis, but those who think hunting big bucks on a high-fenced enclosure is simple, has never tried it on a spread of over 1,000 acres. It’s far from the cakewalk many people think it is, and we’ve had people come for a hunt for a particular animal and the buck is never seen. Hunting here is as difficult, and possibly more difficult, than hunting deer outside of the fence.

*Another thing I thought about on this nice day was the good friends I have, and how much I value their friendship and the help they have given me over the years. Some of my friends have been just that for over 30 years, and we enjoy each other as much now as we did when we first met. Good friends pitch in to help when I need help, and they never for anything in return.

*I think occasionally about my successes with the tool and die business, making C.P. Oneida Eagle bows, and the success my Buck Pole Archery Shop has enjoyed over the many years we’ve been selling these bows. Every now and then an old client from 20 years ago stops by, and it’s like a grand reunion.

*Most of all I think of the whitetail deer. How much they mean to me, how much pleasure I derive from hunting them, and the fact that I obtain pleasure out of watching and learning from these animals all year long.

The DNR then crammed the Lower Peninsula walleye season in with trout, and I’ve spent my share of time over the years fishing for walleyes. Anglers who love big walleyes can have my share: a plate heaped with browned and fried walleye fillets from a passel of two-pounders is food fit for a king.

I’m at a point in my life where decisions are important. Priorities must be established, and time allows only so many passions. A choice must be made.

It’s like those who love to bowl, fish, golf, hunt, ride four-wheelers, etc. A person with too many likes finds he doesn’t have enough time to give any the quality time a specific pastime requires.

Many years ago I pretty much gave up on most things except for whitetail deer. Twenty years back, my buddy, Dave Richey ( [url=http://www.daverichey.com]http://www.daverichey.com[/url] ), invited my wife Ruth and I, to a day of fishing on Lake Erie. This was in the days of 10-fish walleye limits on that body of water.

We fished hard, and Dave and his wife, and two other people spanked the walleyes pretty hard. We caught 60 of them, and we had a grand day on the water. Twenty of those walleyes went home with Ruth and I, and sadly, we ate them all much too quickly.

I seldom go fishing these days. My avocation is the same as my vocation. It is the study of whitetail deer behavior and hunting those animals.

My fenced-in 1,024-acre enclosure offers me everything I need for an outdoor recreational experience. I can sit and study whitetail deer by the hour and never tire of it, and sometimes, based on their actions, I know what the animals will do long before they make their move.

Many outdoor writers would have sportsmen think that new hunting techniques come along every year. There is very little new in deer-hunting circles other than clothing and equipment.

The techniques are pretty much the same. What is different is that hunters, as they study deer habits and habitat, develop slightly new wrinkles on the old methods.

It’s some of these new wrinkles, and an even better knowledge of deer and hunting methods that can help turn the trick. What makes hunters more effective as sportsmen is better equipment and an increased knowledge. Meld the two needs together, and the result is a more successful hunter providing they continue to learn something new on a regular basis.

A hunter with a new and faster bow, with practice, is a better hunters. Why? Because they can shoot an arrow faster and flatter now than 10 years ago, and faster arrow speeds mean a flatter trajectory. Practice allows the longer shot to be accurate. Of course, this is true only for those who practice.

The new technology in release aids, carbon arrows, new arrow rests and so on make us more effective. Our tree stand technology hasn’t changed significantly in 10 years (except for quality control and increased safety) but our knowledge of deer habits and habitat requirements have increased, and as we increase our knowhow, we tend to increase our success.

Hunting success varies from one hunter to another. Take two hunters, and expose both of them to more deer knowledge and increased access to key elements of the hunt, and question which one becomes a better hunter? The know-it-all guy who goes through the motions but cares little about learning more about deer or the hunter who soaks up knowledge like a kitchen sponge.

You got it. The person who willingly sits down, and listens to savvy hunters and reads about deer behavior and methods, will be the big winner. Methods of firearm hunting as practiced 50 years ago involved sitting down on a stump in the woods, become half frozen, and then shooting a little buck wasn’t a good hunter. For the most part he was lucky.

Today’s hunters, especially those who read about deer hunting and put into practice things they’ve heard or read from good hunters, quickly make the quantum jump from lucky to good.

Why is it that major problems often can be solved faster than little problems? It’s one of those mysteries of life that I’ve never been able to understand.

It’s not that I mind putting in the time, but it cuts into some of my blog writing time. Frankly, other than little nitpicking chores around the farm, this is one of the few days each year when there isn’t something worthwhile to write about.

Today, it was raining all day. The rain was falling when we got up, and it seemed to be raining every time I looked out the archery shop window.

Business at the archery shop was steady but the customer traffic was like the rain showers. They would come and go, and a few turkey hunters stopped by to warm up and dry off.

One hunter told me he’d heard one half-hearted gobble that he pegged as a jake. He yelped, waited for almost an hour and nothing showed up nor did he ever hear another gobble.

A second guy told me he saw two hens in two widely scattered locations. Both hens looked like they were more interested in feeding than anything else, and there were no gobblers to be heard or seen. His suspicions were that both hens had already been bred.

Another turkey hunter stopped in just as I was leaving, and he said he had hunted from daybreak until 1:30 p.m. without seeing a gobbler or hen and he had heard no turkey talk.

I drove around a bit on the ranch and stayed on those roads that had been worked on, and saw one gobbler far off across a field, and it was heading into the timber. He looked like a bird with a purpose, and I suspect he was trying to corral a wayward hen.

Another short drive on a good road showed me another good longbeard and he was catering to every whim of his six hens. Another gobbler and two jakes were trying to keep three hens entertained when none of them seemed interested.

I sat in a number of good locations, checked out open fields where birds often go when it rains, and I heard just one gobble. I was sitting in my truck with the engine off and two window partly open, and it was impossible to tell where the gobble had come from.

Any further travel would put me on roads that still needed more work. The rain was starting to make things a bit sticky and slippery, and I eased slowly out of my high-and-reasonably-dry parking place and headed for home.

There are birds here on the ranch, and three of us have last-season turkey tags. We all hunt with bows, and one of my friends—Roy Rhodes—has three areas scouted out for the lengthy last season.

There are good days and bad for turkey scouting, and quite honestly, today was a horrible day. It has rained, and even though this is being written late, the rain continues to fall.

Some are in key areas where deer come out of heavy cover and then pass within 20 yards of one pit blind. Another is positioned on top of a knoll. This blind offers shots of only 20 yards. Deer can’t be seen any farther away than that, and often they move in from the sides and are standing 10 feet away.

Another of my pit blinds is a dandy. It faces due east, and is carved out of a hill side behind the pit, and when the cussed wind come from the east, it’s right in your face. The hill keeps deer from getting behind you, and the shots are at 18 to 20 yards.

The neat thing about this coop is it’s possible to glass 500 yards of fields with woods on the north side of the field. The deer step out of the woods, look around, and depending on where they want to go, they may wind up walking several hundred yards to the area of this pit blind.

There are little tiny windows on the north and south sides but none to the rear. They are covered with camo cloth, and a cautious peek will often reveal a nice buck coming from the north or south. Only noise or a bare face sticking out of the tiny shooting window would spook the deer at this spot.

The thing about pit blinds is they can be placed almost anywhere. One of the spots I want to hunt has a trail running along the base of a 15-foot-high knob. The deer never go behind the knob, and usually follow the trail.

I haven’t done it yet, but am thinking about putting in a pit blind. The pit would be butted up against the knob, and deer walking the trail would offer an easy bow shot. I’ll probably study the area at some length this fall, and do something about it next year before the season opens.

A friend of mine from Flushing had an ingenious idea for a wooden coop on the ground. There were four spruce trees that grew in a square and were six feet apart. He built a coop 5 1/2-feet square and stuck it between the trees.

It was erected one wall at a time, and it had a wood floor and a sloping wood roof. Hunters could shoot in only one direction, and when the fourth wall and roof was installed, the coop was virtually invisible.

He walked me past the tiny coop, and I didn’t see it. We stopped, and he whispered “What do you think of this blind?”

I looked around, and saw no blind, and thought he was jerking my chain. When he pointed it out, I thought to myself: I’ve got to have one of these.

Another guy did the same thing. He dug a pit blind between four pines, put a little roof over it, and the judicious removal of three or four tiny boughs offered a perfect area to shoot through. It’s such ingenious things like this that allow hunters to customize a stand to make it fit in a special place and perform it’s own specific duties.

All pit blinds I’ve seen, and those I’ve heard of, allow hunters to shoot only in one direction. This is fine because hunters who try to move around in tight quarters create noise and that spooks deer.

Hunters also have to be comfortable in cramped quarters. Pit blinds can’t be too large or they wouldn’t serve the purpose for which they are intended. People with a sharp sense of claustrophobia wouldn’t like pit blinds or the tiny blind surrounded by spruce or pine trees.

Several years ago a big buck taught me some things. I’d seen him twice but had no clue where he called home. A week passed while I read nearby deer sign before I could pin him down.

Home for this old rascal was in heavy cover. He had a very good 10-point rack, and I felt he’d be working some big trees to strengthen his neck muscles for the upcoming rut.

I walked slow and easy, with little sound after a light rain, and found only a few small rubs on the tag alders. I then walked into a 25 X 25-yard cedar clump and some pines. Here is where some of the puzzle pieces fell into place.

One cedar tree was scarred viciously by a buck. All lower limbs were broken off, and the trunk was literally ripped apart up to five feet off the ground. The trunk was so big it would have been impossible to put both around around it.

A faint trail was spotted heading for a nearby cedarâ?¤ and it also had been scarred up by that buck. Three more trees in a line were rubbed, and this was the biggest rub-line I’d ever seen. It seemed obvious the buck traveled out of the tag alders I’d walked through, scrubbed each tree in turn, and then headed out on his nightly round of chasing does.

I found a nearby tree that would be perfect. I tied one end of a rope to my belt and the other end to my bow, and shinnied up the tree and stood on two big limbs. Another big limb was at mid-back level, and I could stand, lean back in relative comfort after attaching my safety harness. I could cover most of the savaged trees in this clump.

The third night as the sun faded into the western horizon I saw light from the setting sun glinting like orange fire off the buck’s rack. He immediately attacked the closest tree to him, and ripped it hard for a few minutes. He stopped, went to the second tree in line, and whupped on it bad. Fifteen minutes later the buck walked to the tree just 15 yards upwind of me.

The buck took a minute to turn the base of that tree into a pile of fuzzy bark. He stepped back, looked at the efforts of his hard work, and began working the opposite side of the tree.

The buck was quartering-away at no more than 15 yards, and it was an easy shot. Not all hunts are this easy, especially for a trophy buck. This buck was a creature of habit, and with good luck I was able to capitalize on his pre-rut behavior.

Hunting one specific buck like this can be much more satisfying than hunting and killing smaller bucks. It requires more thinking, hard work, and paying your dues. Sometimes a one-day hunt won’t pay off, and I felt fortunate that my hunt for him was as short as it was.

Learning what you can from visible clues left behind after a buck passes, especially just before the rut kicks off, is a big adventure. It’s easy to guess wrong, and unless you are happy with the wind direction, a hunt can fizzle if a deer spots any movement or catches your scent.

This is a brand of one-on-one hunting that is very satisfying. It means learning and knowing as much about the area as possible, and being able to translate that sign into meaningful hunting information.

There are many other ways to read and interpret deer sign. The most important thing of all is to know that studying deer sign is a major part of deer hunting. Believe otherwise, and it could be a long season.

Gobblers and hens hang around the ranch, and I suspect they feed some on the corn around the deer feeders but none were seen there this morning. I did see a few birds crossing fields, and watched them for long minutes before they disappeared into thick cover.

My turkey tag is for later on, and so part of the morning was spent driving around and thinking turkey thoughts from other seasons. My son, Matt, and I have hunted gobblers for many years and we’ve both taken several birds with a bow.

Thinking of that reminds me of a story that my friend, Dave Richey, once wrote about Matt and a gobbler he shot with a bow. Matt had hunted from a tree (which was then and still is legal) but a number of people climbed all over Dave for endorsing what they felt to be an illegal act.

Dave finally got a quote or two from the DNR Law Division, and the problem went away. Matt has since taken a number of gobblers from a tree, as have I, and it is more fun than shooting them at 40 yards with a shotgun.

But, you wouldn’t expect anything different from a dedicated bow hunter, would you?

There have been a number of other gobblers taken during the hunting seasons by bow hunter friends, and although we don’t have a lot of birds, there usually are a dozen gobblers and jakes on the ranch in the spring.

I spotted one bird with an 8-inch beard as he kept circling around a hen that wasn’t ready for his advances, and she kept slipping away and trying to make it to the brush. They finally disappeared into a thicket and were never seen again.

Another gobbler with a hen was spotted toward the back of the ranch and not too far from the old beaver pond. The gobbler was 200 yards away when I first spotted him, and I slipped the truck into neutral, turned off the ignition and stopped.

The windows came down, and this Tom was strutting in a wooded clearing, and the hen stood coyly along the edge of the woods and watched the show. This bird was worked up, his head flashing blue and white, and he would gobble and double-gobble, spin around in a circle, and strut.

His fan appeared to be huge, and from that distance, my high-powered Swarovski binoculars gave me a good look at him. He appeared to be a very big bird, and would probably weigh about 20 pounds.

There was the impression of his spurs being long but I could never see them clearly. Even with a spotting scope, which I often carry, I’m not certain the spurs would have been clearly visible. What I saw and thought were spurs may not have been, but he was a very big bird.

He danced his heart out for that hen, and finally, both birds walked off into the woods like an elderly couple walking home from a movie.

With time enough, can I grow a 200-inch buck? Can I grow some 180-class whitetails.

The answer is that 180-class bucks are realistic because there are some of them running around the ranch right now. Are there any 190-inch bucks kicking about? I think there may be a 190-inch buck, and that 190 could be a 200-point animal. The big one was seen two or three times last fall, and he was never taken by a hunter.

If he survived the winter, which should have been possible with the late snowfall and the early break-up, he should be out there and perhaps has pushed his way over that mark.

Time enough is the necessary ingredient in this stew that must be mixed up for a buck to grow this large. Huge bucks are difficult to grow in the wild, and some of the really huge bucks come from areas at the northern limit of their range.

They grow big wild deer in northern Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. These areas are right on the fringe of the areas where moose take over. Wolves are present in those provinces and deer areas, and they prey on the meek and weak.

Big bucks grow wild in southern Michigan, some spots in Ohio and Illinois, and Kentucky produces some big bucks. Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, eastern and western Montana, Nebraska—all produce trophy bucks. The northern reaches of Minnesota has produced one world record.

Big bucks are not common ... anywhere. They don’t grow like grapes on an arbor. They combine good genetics, good food, a lack of stress and luck or good fortune, have time to grow. Such bucks in the wild are pretty rare, and growing them in a captive herd is no walk in the park.

The buck shown above had a 28-inch inside spread but the points weren’t as long and heavy as they should have been for a buck with a spread like this. This animal came from our ranch several years ago, and no doubt he impregnated many does and some of the larger bucks that we have now may have come from his seed.

It’s difficult to tell just how big this buck would have grown had he lived one or two more years. As it was, he was pushing 180-points, and that is a very big buck anywhere.

Could this wide-spread buck have reached 200 points? We’ll never know because he was obvious taken by a hunter, but in all probability, he may have added enough mass over two or three more growing years to exceed that lofty goal.

I care for my deer, feed them well, and over 20+ years of active deer management on my ranch, have failed to produce a buck this large. Some enclosures say they have 200-point bucks, and I know one that does, but whether alive in the wild or behind a fence, making one of these huge deer live six or seven years to grow large enough to make the big time is easy.

Spring brings with it many changes. Some of the areas are starting to show the first signs of green-up. The wind and warm weather is slowly drying out my roads, and although we need rain, it would be nice to firm up my ranch roads before the spring rains come.

The thing about a slow drive around the ranch allows me to accomplish many things, all of which are important. I can study my deer herd, look for a break in the fence, check the roads for really bad spots, look over some of my ground stands and elevated coops, and hope my pit blinds aren’t full of water.

Antlers are growing well on the bucks, and a few fuzzy-antlered bucks show great promise already. Some have definite eight points and a few appear to be 10 points with a wide spread and heavy antler mass.

The does and fawns are in groups, here and there, and the bucks are forming up their bachelor groups that will bind them together until early October when conditions suddenly change. The pecking order will have been in place for months, but fall is when bucks begin pushing each other around once the velvet falls off their antlers.

For now, they are buddies just like a group of teenagers in high school. There is always the meek and mild buck, the big bully, the even-tempered big buck, and all forms of other bucks including the occasional spike.

They travel everywhere together, and everything stays friendly right now, but the smaller bucks always defer to the biggest buck and/or the bully. They go to feed together, bed in much the same area, but the boss buck of this group always chooses the best place to bed down.

The does are waiting patiently for their fawns to be born, and they stick pretty close to areas where they will have their fawns. All does are heavy with sagging bellies, and the time is rapidly approaching when they will start having their fawns.

I drive slowly around, always looking for deer and especially for the larger ones, but I’m paying close attention to the condition of my ground blinds and tree stand, pit blinds and elevated coops. The need for constant attention is always present, and this obviously includes the flow of water through my ranch.

The stream is dammed up upstream from my ranch, and if high water comes during a rain storm and the beaver dam washes out, all that water and silt will come washing downstream onto my property.

High water, even from this tiny creek, will wash out parts of my roads, make other roads nearly impassible, and create great problems. Although deer will travel through water if they must, they also will avoid such floods and very wet locations if it is possible.

Two stands are near an old beaver pond on my property. The pond originally covered 10 acres or so, and now it is grown up to tall marsh grass. Deer will use the marsh grass on occasion, but they prefer other cover. My primary concern is to protect my roads during a rain and fences during a strong wind storm.

Spring is good for what ails a person. It is a time of renewal, a rebirth of our land and the animals that live here, and I take a genuine pleasure in driving the roads and studying the changes that winter left and those that spring will bring.

I’ll just trot out a few tonight, and go into a deeper explanation about why they are some of my key thoughts. Here are several to consider when you think about why you prefer hunting deer with a bow.

*October is such a beautiful month, and most of the women I know who hunt with a bow favor the beauty of early October. It’s just a shame the color doesn’t last longer.

*There is a shoot-don’t shoot atmosphere about bow hunting. A person could hunt every day with a bow without turning loose an arrow at a deer, but why? A kill isn’t always necessary but it must be what our hunting urge wants us to do. Instead of shooting and killing an animal, it’s possible to draw on every deer and then allow it to pass without taking a shot.

*There are sights, sounds and smells that nurture our days afield with bow in hand. There is the distinct and sharp odor of skunk on a foggy fall evening, and there is the odor of pungent marsh mud when hunting through cattails for wary deer.

*There are countless sounds to be heard. The guttural grunt of a buck tending a doe, the soft rustle of deer hooves moving through dried leaves, geese passing overhead with that mournful honk, and the startling noise made when a ruffed grouse blasts out of heavy cover.

*Bow hunting always makes me practice more than I normally do while working at the Buck Pole Archery Shop. I have hay bales in my yard behind the house, and I’ll often shoot a dozen arrows before heading for the woods. I make the Oneida Eagle bows that I shoot, and there is something very satisfying about shooting a bow that I designed.

*Watching and studying deer is a great personal love of mine. I’ve found that the more one studies deer, the more they learn about the animals, and the better they become at hunting deer. Watching deer closely also teaches people when and when not to draw on an animal.

*My senses reach a higher level during deer season. It seems that I can see and hear better at this point in time. I’ve learned how to look deeply into heavy cover, and to spot the vague outline or movement of a nice buck.

*Hunting makes me feel good. I don’t need a kill to be satisfied. Just watching deer, studying their travel patterns, and learning how they react to other movements or sounds. I don’t move or make any sound, and the only movement comes when I draw the bow and I know when and when not to do so.

*Bow hunting is something very special to me. There are many other reasons, some more important to me than others, but most of my hunting time is spent observing. Very little time is actually spent shooting deer.

*I greet October with a passion difficult to match during any other time of year. October, when it comes, is such a wonderful time for anyone to be afield.

*The deer move well early in the season, and late in October is when the rut kicks off, and it too is an exciting time of year. The leaves are down on the ground, and the bucks are actively chasing does all over the farm.

In this country, opinions are like elbows, everyone has one. You may disagree with my thoughts on this topic, and I may disagree with yours, but we should each respect the other for the right to speak up for their choice.

My vote goes to grabbing the bow and walking directly to the blind. Climb into it, settle down, get ready for deer activity, and it seems to work for me. A deer that may observe me walking along, and ducking into a blind, isn’t frightened by my actions. I do nothing to terribly frighten the animal.

The deer may circle the area, pick up a tiny bit of scent, but not enough to spook them. It goes on about its business without being unduly alarmed. People on foot are common on a working farm just as cars and trucks are commonly seen.

A sneaking or skulking hunter, one who tiptoes toward the hunting blind while darting from bush to bush, attracts far more attention from deer. An upright man may cause deer to run off 50 yards and stop in cover to see what happens, and when nothing does, their fear disappears.

A hunter that acts suspicious, and causes deer to become alarmed, do themselves more harm than anything else. They literally drive deer away by their actions.

The sportsman who wishes to reach his blind as quickly as possible, should walk steadily (don’t run or sneak), and when he reaches the ground blind, elevated coop or tree stand, should climb into position with a minimum amount of noise, sit down and sit still.

Once the hunter reaches his hunting area without incident, disappears from sight into the blind or stand, is soon forgotten. They posed no danger to the deer, and the animals soon revert back to feeding.

A moving pickup truck is always studied by nearby deer, and as long as it moves along steadily and the people inside stay inside when the truck stops, it doesn’t unduly frighten deer.

There are times when a truck can pull up to a blind, a hunter can ease out and get into the stand, and then the truck pulls away. Deer can’t count. The truck pulls in, stops for a half-minute, and then moves on. Just don’t slam the truck door or make noise getting your gear out of the truck bed.

People may think getting into a stand scares deer. It doesn’t as long as everything acts natural and there are no loud and unexpected noises. It’s noise that deer may hear a hunter make from inside the blind or from a tree stand that will drive deer crazy. An unexpected sneeze or a cough will trigger the alarm button.

Moving directly to the stand in a normal walking pace is the best way to get there. It’s the straight-line rule between two points that is important providing the sportsman doesn’t have to walk through a bedding area.

If deer are seen on the way to the stand, don’t stop to look at them, but keep moving forward without breaking stride. Hunters who stop to look at the deer will cause them to snort and alert all deer in the area.

A person who doesn’t look at the deer and walks at a steady pace to his blind often cause the deer to bound away but they usually do not snort.

This year, just to prove it to yourself, try walking right along without lifting your head or stopping to look at deer, and climb into the stand and sit still. If that doesn’t convince you, try sneaking from bush to bush and tree to tree, stopping frequently, and skulking about, and see how often you get snorted at.

You’ll soon learn what works best and what does not. It takes many things coming together to make a deer hunt end with a shot at a good buck.

It shouldn’t be a big choice, but some hunters made it into a major decision. If in doubt, and sharp broadheads are your choice, then stay away from the those that come from the factory with a statement about “razor sharpness.” Many are not.

I own an archery shop, and just before bow season opens, I have the chance to talk with hundreds of people who come in to have their bow tuned. As a rule, I don’t check their hunting heads, but I have done so on a few occasions.

It was something I never would have expected. Many of the heads I tested were dull. Sure, they would poke a hole through a deer but the blades really weren’t cutting. In many cases the heads might push an artery or vein aside but might not cut it.

Folks, the sole purpose of a broadhead is to cut through arteries, capillaries and veins. Arrows kill by the broadhead slicing through blood vessels and major internal organs.

Arrows kill by massive tissue destruction and extensive blood loss. That doesn’t happen with all broadheads.

Many broadheads on the market are not sharp. I’d never categorically place all broadheads in the dull department, but there are far more dull blades out there than sharp factory-sharpened heads.

And there is a good reason for it. I produced the Patriot two-blade broadhead for several years, and sadly took them out of production. The reason was they were too expensive to make with a razor-keen edge.

I refused to sell broadheads that were not sharp. Sure, I could have kicked up the price by another $5 or 10, but no one would pay the rate. I would have had to charge $10 per head in order to make any money, and it was easier to stop making them.

Machining a two-blade head was expensive ... very expensive. I tried to be competitive, but the dull broadheads were half-again cheaper than my sharp heads. I couldn’t compete, and decided that losing money on broadhead sales was stupid so the Patriot head vanished from the scene.

The broadhead market is huge. There seems to be hundreds of companies making two, three, four and five-blade heads. All believe in their products, as well they should, but most mechanical or replaceable-blade broadheads are not nearly as sharp as they should be.

Many of the replaceable blade heads have a chisel-type head while I prefer a head that begins cutting as soon as the tip starts to pierce the skin. It cuts through rib bones, and often blasts out the other side.

My daily routine often calls for sharpening the broadheads in my bow quiver. A few licks on a diamond stone will keep them very sharp, and with only two blades to sharpen, it doesn’t take long to touch them up.

My thoughts on this topic are rather straight-forward. If I am to shoot a deer, whether it is a buck or doe, I want to shoot and hit it with a very sharp broadhead. I want that head to do the maximum amount of tissue destruction and cause the greatest blood loss in the least amount of time.

I feel we, as hunters, owe it to deer to make the kill clean and swift. From arrow hit to death is less than five seconds. Many of these deer won’t travel 30 yards before dropping.

It’s not my idea to cause massive destruction in a non-lethal area. I believe in the heart shot, and second best is the heart and lung shot. When my deer are field-dressed, the heart is removed and most of the time a two-blade wound is right through the heart.

This comes from continuous shooting practice and the use of a very sharp broadhead delivered accurately to the proper location. This only comes through years of practice, not getting rattled when a deer gets close, and concentrating on all aspects of aiming and the shot.

I believe hunters do need another deer hunting book. In this day and age, hunting time comes dearly. There are too many other things to do to compete with hunting, and so a hunter should go afield armed with as much knowledge as possible to maximize the potential of having an enjoyable hunt. And, with some luck, it can lead to increased success.

Hunting has always been a matter of highest priority to me. Some folks prioritize hunting higher than going golfing, to a movie, out for dinner, bowling with the guys, or a whole huge list of other things.

So, if your top priority is to hunt one or two times a week or even more often, the best way to achieve success is to know as much about hunting as possible. In September, I will have had this daily weblog up for two years.

It dispenses most things a person needs to know about hunting whitetails, particularly with a bow. However, I understand travel and other commitments of sportsmen, and also realize that people read when they have time.

A book will offer much the same information as I’ve provided in my blogs although it will be provided in a different format. A book allows me to go into far greater detail than is possible in a 700 to 800-word blog.

A book will allow me to cover individual topics like a blanket. Some stuff will be revealed in the book that hasn’t been covered in a blog, for one reason or another.

The man asked if this was an ego trip for me. It’s rather an odd thing to say to someone who is trying to help sportsmen become better bow hunters.

Sure, it’s rather neat to write a book. I’ve never done it before but I’m doing it now. It’s a lasting thing to pass down before my days are done. Granted, it massages my ego a bit but I’m not driven very hard in that direction.

The whole thing is about education. Like a teacher in school, I’m now trying, at the age of 76, to teach others some of what I know about hunting deer. I’m a good hunter, and always have been, and some of my methods may seem a bit unorthodox, but they are entirely legal.

If hunting is to survive long into the future, it’s important that those who care most about it, learn more about the sport. They, in turn, can do as I am doing and pass this knowledge down to future generations.

So I’m writing a book to share my knowledge. I’m going to sell my book, and hopefully I’ll make a few bucks along the way. It’s the great American dream; work hard and get paid for your endeavors while helping others.

My book doesn’t even have a title yet and I’m working hard to get this thing done, and frankly, it’s difficult. I’ve always been a man that worked with his brain and his hands, and writing a book is foreign to me. It’s easy to get off track, and then I have to rein myself back in.

This book will hopefully be ready before bow season begins on Oct. 1. My plan is to have copies by late August or early September. I plan to pre-sell the book as well.

Pre-selling books offers a win-win situation for everyone. Here is how it will work.  As time goes on, and we learn how many pages and illustrations will be in the book, we can then get a price from the printer.

Once we have a printing cost we can establish a retail price. Once we reach that stage, I plan to offer a pre-publication deal to my readers. I will knock the projected retail price down by shaving a few bucks off the retail price, and I’ll pay the postage, and readers will be able to buy the book much cheaper by paying for it in advance.

That means you would send me money upfront, and those who take advantage of this pre-publication offer would be the first ones to get signed copies when they become available. I’m an honest man, and if someone trusts me with the up-front money, they will get their book.

This book will be my legacy to hunters, family and friends. It will be my way of spreading my hunting knowledge to those people who have far less time to hunt than I do. It’s a sign of the times, this lack of hunting time, and if hunters are to be successful sportsmen in the future, they must be well-rounded in the basic fundamentals and advanced techniques that work on whitetail deer.

That information will be in my upcoming book. Just keep watching these pages for more information. Remember, outdoor books make great Father’s Day, Christmas and birthday gifts for the hunter in your life.

Pop cans, water bottles, empty potato chip sacks, candy wrappers, clots of Game Tracker string, and invariably we find something that someone left behind. A sheath knife, a Leatherman tool, and any number of other items are found.

We always try to remember who was the last one in that blind. We usually get the lost equipment back to them, but there are times when all we can do is hope they discover his their loss, and call to ask “Hey, did you happen to find ...”

We have about 40 stands. Elevated coops, ground coops, tree stands and pit blinds are part of what needs to be cleaned.

We try to keep old carpet on the floor to help reduce the sound, and every coop needs to be swept out and all the debris removed. Plexiglas windows need to be washed, cobwebs cleaned out, and any maintenance is duly noted for another day.

My good friend Jeremy Castle often takes it upon himself to clean the coops. I know he doesn’t enjoy the job, but he also realizes that someone must do it. It’s better to clean them now than just before the season opens.

As he cleans the coops of accumulated litter from the last group of hunters, he carries a pad of paper with him to write down any repairs that may be needed.

This list is something that Castle also does. He is a licensed builder, and he handles most of the repairs on our elevated and ground blinds.

Name it, and a blind can develop a particular problem. Most often the repairs are more cosmetic than functional, but they do require our attention. Sometimes a hunter forgets to open the Plexiglas window before shooting at a nice buck. We’ve found with every case of window shooting that the deer runs off unscathed, and is much wiser for the experience.

Hinges need oiling to prevent squeaking when the sportsman enters or leaves the coop. Sometimes the roof springs a leak, sometimes the stools that people set on become wobbly. All must be attended to before the fall hunting season.

In more extreme cases, new steps must be constructed, railings must be installed, and doors may warp and become crooked. The most troublesome problems involve the inevitable move of a blind from one spot to another.

We use a bulldozer or a big tractor with a large bucket to transport ground blinds to new areas or to lift them up onto an elevated platform. We tip them into the bucket, chain the stand securely, and transport it where it is needed.

We must consider how the hunter will approach the stand, where the deer usually come from, and place it so the stand is downwind of most deer movement.

Sometimes one of the chores may be to slightly lower the bottom edge of a shooting window. We insist on the use of Game Tracker devices for all bow hunters, and a too-high window may catch the string and throw the arrow off. This also serves to educate deer.

One thing we always need to do is replace the mesh on side and back windows. A hunter that moves around, trying to see out all windows, will spook any deer if the side and back windows aren’t covered. The hunter is silhouette against the bright window, and deer readily spot this movement.

Hunting coops are necessary. They offer concealment for hunters, but sportsmen must bear some responsibility for sitting still and being quiet. A coop may help most hunters, but those who insist on moving around, trying to look out all windows, and bumping into things that make noise, are defeating their own purpose.

The same rules of being motionless and quiet apply as much to hunting-coop hunters as to someone sitting in a tree stand. Make a mistake, and sooner or later, a good buck will hear, see or smell you, and that hunt is over almost before it begins.