Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Spring Gobblers Music

Spring has a special form of music, and unlike a boom-box that can be heard at high decibel levels, some of the finest spring sounds are made by wild turkeys.

There is a whole vocabulary of turkey sounds, and each has its own message from one turkey to another, from a gobbler to a hen or from a hen to a white-headed gobbler.

Turkeys seemed to be slow to move into our particular area, and even today, there are not a large number of birds on my 1,000 acres. There are two or three small scattered flocks, and for the past three weeks, the woods have been alive with their calls.

Personally, I find the gobble to be the most stirring of all. This is especially true when a great big gobbler pussyfoots in behind you, and roars out a gobble or douible-gobble at the maximum noise level. It�??s difficult to sit through it without jumping, and the hunter must be prepared for a close-up gobble at any time.

It�??s quite easy to tell the difference between a jake and an older gobbler. The jake sounds like an adolescent boy when his voice is changing. Sometimes the gobble starts on a high, squeaky note and gets deeper as it goes, or start out sounding almost like an adult bird before getting squeaky and breaking at the end.

There is no doubting the gobble of a large adult bird that is three or four years old. These bruisers have a built-in amplification system, and a hard gobble seems to shake the trees and the ground. It is a raw and primitive sound, startling in its clarity, and overpowering in volume.

What is really striking is to have several gobblers roosted in adjacent trees. The first bird to sound off is usually the Boss Man, the biggest gobbler in the area. There is a pecking order in nature, and all other gobblers defer to the largest bird even though other gobblers will try to run off with a hen if the opportunity arises.

A hen yelping is an engaging sound that immediately attracts your attention. She can yelp softly, at medium volume and loudly, as she determines. Hens also putt, cluck, cutt, purr and whine. Some claim there are even more sounds in the turkey�??s vocabulary.

There is a drumming-spitting sound that gobblers make when they are near a hen. This sound doesn�??t carry very far, but if you hear it, the bird is very close and any movement would spook the bird.

I called once to a gobbler while sitting on the ground. A hen came out, and stood within 20 yards of me in the open. The gobbler�??s snowball-white head could be seen circling my position, and both gobbler and hen were looking for the hen that had made the call.

The birds were too close for me to call again, and I figured the gobbler would finish his circle, and head out into the field to strut and display for the hen. I was sitting motionless when I heard this sound for the first time.

It sounded like the gobbler was humming and spitting. It sounded something like a �??hmmmmmm-phhit!�?� The bird stayed directly behind me for 15 minutes, drumming and spitting, and the hen was getting agitated and the intensity of this sound seemed to increase.

It didn�??t seem to get any louder, but the intensity of it grew more demanding. I�??m not sure that is the right word, but finally the hen turned, and walked within five yards of me, met up with the gobbler, and he quickly had his way with her. There was a violent rustling in the leaves, and soon she had been bred.

The two birds wandered off the opposite way, and I didn�??t shoot a gobbler that day, but was witness to a turkey sound I�??d never heard before. I�??ve heard it many times since, and it always seems to be made by a large gobbler with breeding on his mind.

I can�??t begin to recall how many times I�??ve listened to gobblers and hens, and there are times when the hens get pretty sassy with a gobbler. Often, it the breeding is winding down, a gobbler will stay close to a solitary hen.

If a gobbler starts coming to a call, the hen may cutt, yelp and carry on, and I�??ve found that making the same sounds as the hen will occasionally bring both birds to the gun. Hold off, wait until the birds separate, and give a soft cluck. The gobbler will raise his head and one shot is all it takes to kill a long-spurred, heavy brushed longbeard.

And most of the skill needed to work a gobbler is to duplicate the calls of a hen. It works for me. �??�?? The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, March 24, 2008

Late Winter Is A Bad Time For Deer

The last two weeks of March can be an empty time for a deer herd if the weather turns bad. The five-day forecast for this week and part of next is for milder weather and some snow.

It’s not always this way, and it could certainly change in a matter of days, if past two weeks means anything. By now, most deer are stretched pretty lean and it doesn’t take much to tip them over the edge if they can�??t find food.

However, I�??ve been seeing a number of deer feeding along the shoulder of roads and those numbers will increase. Slow down and look ahead for deer.

However, for as freaky as our weather has been this winter, it wasn’t all that bad. The same cannot be said for some deer herds in the Upper Peninsula where heavy snows doomed many animals to an early death. We�??ve got over 100 inches of snow, and it�??s been spaced out well between thaws so that most animals can walk on the snow crust.

When grub gets low, and deer start living off fat reserves and bone marrow, the chance of survival is mighty slim. Deer need a bushel of browse daily, and when snow depths prevent any movement and deer are confined to deer yards with minimum food, the toll can shoot upward.

Fawns and older bucks often die first. Does, even though pregnant, can usually survive. Bucks, especially adult animals, often succumb when they can’t replace the weight lost during the rut. A rutting buck can lose 30 percent, or more, of their body fat and it is difficult to recover when the winds of winter blow cold and snowy.

The recent bit of rain sprinkles and slight warmer weather has cut snow depths in the Lower Peninsula. Whitetails appear are moving easily, and I saw a couple of animals in my back yard last week. They were moving around, and after they walked off, I checked the snow depth at less than six inches.

It’s when the snow gets belly deep, and a crust of ice forms on the surface, when deer die. They cut their legs striving to move through the ice-covered snow, and become easy prey for free-roaming dogs and coyotes. Wolves take a deadly toll on Upper Peninsula deer during a severe winter.

Winter�??s back may have been broken by now, but it’s not unusual for us to get a late-March or early April snowstorm Let’s hope the deer continue to thrive, and that our 2007 deer herds will make it through in fine shape.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Natural Sounds Can Help Bow Hunters

The big buck moved two or three feet at a time, stopped, studied the cover on both sides and in front of him, sniffed the air, and then moved forward again.

He was going nowhere fast. It was obvious this buck had been spooked by another hunter sometime in the past, and he was cautious. There were no other deer nearby—just him—and he was taking his time.

Another few steps, and a slight turn, and he would be within range. I looked at my watch, and knew this buck was mine. Every day at about the same time the school bus would come clattering down the highway, stop in front of a nearby house, and the buck would raise his head and look toward the road and listen to the noisy kids getting off the bus.

He had just finished taking those steps when the bus came to a gear-grinding stop. The big 8-point raised his head, looked out toward the road, and the sounds of the kids getting off the bus caused him to raise his ears. It was a natural sound he had heard many times before.

What he didn’t hear was my bow coming back to full draw as he stood quartering away. The arrow sliced in and that buck ran 60 yards before falling, his ears still hearing the children chattering out at the road.

Deer are accustomed to hearing all types of natural ounds. Some are heard so often they become second nature to a deer. A deer hears the sound, recognizes them for what they are, and doesn’t become alarmed.

These natural sounds can work to a bow hunter’s advantage. I’ve deliberately placed elevated coops where the slightest wind will cause the tips of branches to rub against the roof of the wooden stand. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out when to draw on a deer standing out in front of that blind. That deer is accustomed to hearing that sound, and hunters should wait until the branches start rubbing against the stand, and then draw, aim and shoot.

Years ago I had a stand placed on the ground near two trees growing out of a single trunk. Any breeze at all, no matter how softly, would cause those two trees to creak. I used the “creaking tree” trick to shoot a number of fine bucks over the years.

I had a stand once that seemed to be directly under the flight path of the Detroit-Traverse City late-afternoon or early evening flight. Perhaps this buck couldn’t understand what the noise was, but every day he would stop, lift his head up, point his nose toward that passing jet, and it always provided me with an easy shot.

I passed on shots at that buck for two years, waiting for him to grow a decent rack, and when he did and came by and was in front of me when the jet flew over, it was an easy shot.

Squirrels running through dry autumn leaves always seem to attract the attention of deer. They may see that squirrel running through the woods a dozen times each day, but whenever they scampered from one tree to another, deer often turn to look at them. This often provides enough noise to cover the drawing of your bow, and the scampering squirrel is actually working on your behalf.

Birds flit overhead, land in nearby trees, and are common sights for deer but they always turn to look at flying birds. The movement catches their attention.

Crows fly overhead, cawing like crazy, making enough racket so 10 people could draw their bows. Deer seem to pay more attention to a crow when it is nearby rather than when 300 or 400 yards away.

Blue jays serve the same purpose as crows except they don’t range as far. Jays often flit from bush to tree limb, to the ground, and up to a tree again. Each time the bird moves it attracts the attention of a deer, and when the deer turns to look at the jay, that is when to make your draw providing the animal is positioned properly.

Hunters must learn to take every possible advantage offered by natural every-day sounds. Wait for the deer to get perfectly positioned, and wait for a noise of movement nearby to attract their attention.

Use that time to come to full draw. Don’t hurry it because hunters usually have more time to aim and shoot than they think. Acquire the proper sight picture, hold steady, and make a smooth release.

Hunters who learn this trick seldom go without venison during the winter months. �??�?? The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, March 21, 2008

What Is A Bow Hunter?

The above title is a question that has been asked of me many times, and it’s always very difficult to answer. A true bow hunter is a combination of many things, all of which are upstanding and good.

*A bow hunter is ...

*A person who revels in nature, loves the outdoors, seeks a difficult challenge, equals the odds between hunted and hunter as much as possible, and who is finely tuned to the ways of the game we seek.

*One who seeks his or her game on a one-on-one basis, and who strives to get close enough to deliver a quick and certain death from a well-placed arrow.

*A person who masters accurate arrow placement, and one who spends long hours testing personal mettle against a whitetail buck that is more attuned to its surroundings than we are. This person shrugs off rain, forgets about windy weather, and laughs at fog or a snowstorm. Deer hunters hunt deer, and weather conditions are meaningless. We become one with the weather, and use it whenever possible, to our advantage.

*A hunter who thrills to the small things, and takes brief moments each day to savor the wildness of the animal being hunting and the land where such game lives. We don’t live for the kill; we live to have had the opportunity in this free society to hunt in a well regulated manner.

*Someone who knows that getting close to game means knowing and playing the wind, studying the habits of deer, knowing how and when to move, and being one with his bow and the land. He or she finds more love in the act of hunting than in the act of killing although the two are ever-entwined and a respect for the game we hunt is most important.

*One who enjoys the fine feel of a smooth bow, the effortless drawing of the string, the smooth feel of a carbon arrow, and the “whisst” of a arrow leaving the bow. It’s the silent but straight flight of an arrow, and seeing the broadhead hit where we aim.

*Having the knowledge of deer habits that allow us to defeat the most important protections that deer possess: the sense of a deer hearing the faint whisper of clothing against rough bark; a flicker of movement as a hunter comes to full draw prior to a shot; or the deer’s sense of smell that allow them to pinpoint a careless human presence.

*More than just someone who takes but gives nothing back to nature. A bow hunter is more than a person dressed in camo clothing with a hunting license in his pocket. We are caring, giving folks, who pursue deer with a passion. We are superb hunters because we must be to get close shots at 15 to 20 yards. We are the supreme hunting predator, and we take pride in our accomplishments without having to brag.

*It is teaching our children, and our grandchildren, this ancient art of hunting. What we do is a time-honored tradition, and it is a way of life for us and for others who will follow the bow hunters creed.

We, as avid bow hunters, are above-average in our hunting skills. We rely less on luck, and work hard to elevate those hunting skills that allow us to succeed. We hunt, not because our friends do, but because we must. We need to hunt and we must hunt in order to achieve these skills, and it is through long hours of practice that we become proficient.

We are bow hunters, and we are most proud of it.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Learning From A Missed Shot

It happens to everyone at one time or another. We miss an easy shot at a
nice whitetail buck or doe, and it runs off �?? alarmed and spooked �?? but
unhurt. Many hunters dredge up an excuse of some kind.

Instead of trying to come up with a believable excuse, it makes much more
sense to go through the entire sequence in your mind. Don�??t let the fudge
factor kick in, but analyze it from the viewpoint of learning from your
mistakes.

If the scene is replayed and you study the missed shot from all angles,
you�??ll probably find that something happened that could have been a
contributing factor to missing the animal,

Some hunters cut wide shooting lanes in all directions, and the coop or
stand looks like the hub of a bicycle tire with spokes leading off in all
directions.

Deer often are frightened by such cleared areas. Hunting in thick cover is
much more difficult, and many of the stands on my ranch are established in
thick cover or very close to it. Some stands are out in the open, but over
many years I�??ve learned that thick-cover locations can be very productive.

They also can lead to some missed shots. Often, in many tree stands, there
will be only one good shooting location. Often, that is all we need. But,
know this, deer moving through such areas can travel on any trail or make
one of their own. Knowing where a shot can be taken is very important.

Always check for the one good natural shooting lane, and then start looking
for other possibilities. Bigger bucks often hand in heavy cover, and
learning how to pick a hole through the cover for a bow shot can be a
lesson in frustration. Do it right, and don�??t forget about leafy branches,
twigs sticking out or that often unseen branch half the size of your little
finger that can deflect a shot.

Study that area where a shot was missed, and do so from the ground and a
tree, and there�??s a good chance you�??ll learn why you missed. Taking a shot
in heavy cover means picking a hole where the arrow must pass.

This means careful attention to detail. Don�??t forget that it takes only a
twig �?? a tiny twig �?? to deflect an arrow and cause it to fly harmlessly off
course. Miss one of these shots, and it becomes increasingly important to
study where the shot was taken and why it missed.

The most common reason for a miss was the arrow clipped an unseen twig or a
branch jumped out in front of the arrow. We all use Game Tracker devices for
trailing deer, and one blade of grass can snag the line and stop the arrow
in mid-flight. These things do happen, and when they do, figure out where a
mistake was made. Learn to pick a hole where the arrow will pass through
without nicking anything.

Those little holes become increasingly difficult to spot once the sun does
down. The heavy cover is darker, and tiny twigs are virtually impossible to
see. You must know where they are located.

Blaming the wind, a piece of blowing dirt in the eye, shooting into the
rising or setting sun, and a whole raft of other excuses are a waste of
time. Learn to study the situation, replay the shot, and determine where the
wheels fell off this shot.

Studying your missed shots can be a brutal piece of beating yourself about
the head and body, but knowing what you did wrong makes it far easier to
avoid a similar problem in the future. Making a mistake is human nature, but
brushing it away with some lame excuse simply enable the hunter to commit
the same mistake again.

And the cycle of missed shots will continue. �?? The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Achieving Greater Archery Success

Bow hunters are always looking for a shortcut. What can I do to make each trip more successful?

First of all, don’t expect every trip to be successful in terms of killing a deer. It won’t be, and besides, if it was possible, deer hunting would soon become rather boring and tedious.

I’ve come today with a list of things hunters can do to increase their success rate, but I’ll probably forget a few and that will make for another blog on another day.

*Practice shooting every day if possible. Learn your bow, what it will do, and practice often. Everything else in these tips will fall apart unless you can hit what you are shooting at.

*Hunting isn’t just from October through November. It should be a year ‘round activity. Of course, you can only shoot in season, but scouting is often overlooked by lazy hunters. Spend time in the field every week.

*Pick ground blind areas and tree stand sites with care. Know why deer move to those spots, where they come from and where they are going.

*Don’t go above 15 feet in a tree stand. The downward angles are acute, and missing or wounding a deer become more likely.

*Learn how to be scent-free. Above all else, hunt downwind of where deer travel. If the wind switches so you are not downwind of the deer, move before they get your scent. Wear clean, tall rubber boots to hunt in, and stay away from gasoline or cooking odors

*Sitting still is so crucial, and yet many hunters fidget and wiggle around, making noise and spooking deer. Learn how to focus your mind and body into silence with no movement. Make a movement only when deer are feeding or looking away, and move in slow motion. Herky-jerky movements are easily spotted by deer and they tend to create more noise.

*Learn to see deer. Forget about seeing a calendar photo of a big whitetail buck. Often, bucks are first seen by a flicking tail, moving ear, sunlight off antlers, but usually the first sighting is just a piece of the horizontal body line. Look as deep into cover as possible, and anything that moves in-between will be seen.

*Learn how to get to and from a stand without scaring deer. Each stand should have at least two entrance and exit routes, and mix them up. Go in one way and out another, and try not to use the same stand two days in a row. You must pattern deer; don’t let them pattern you.

*Study deer at every opportunity. Watch and study their actions and body language, and get accustomed to seeing deer at close range. Buck fever is a fear of failing, and the best way to get rid of that problem is to find a place where deer can be studied at close range. The more you see deer, the less often buck fever will set in.

*Pick a spot. Good deer hunters never shoot for the center of mass; instead, they pick an exact place where they wish to hit.

*Always take high-percentage shots. This means taking only broadside or quartering-away shots. Wait for the deer to give you the shot you want. Don’t take the first shot a buck offers. Allow them to move and turn, and present you with the optimum shot opportunity.

*Always know what other deer in the area are doing. Don’t get so intent on the shot that you forget that other deer may be looking around. Keep track of the deer, and one with its head down and feeding or looking at another deer is preoccupied. If the animal is in the proper position, aim, pick the exact spot, and don’t lift your head until the arrow hits and the Game Tracker string flutters out. Always use a Game Tracker because it will help you recover a wounded deer.

*Listen to your gut instincts. If you have bad feelings about taking a shot, or worry about missing, don’t shoot. Your gut instincts are always right, and if you ignore them, a wounded deer may be the result.

*Use your senses of hearing, seeing, and smelling. Those three senses are what a deer will be using to try to stay alive.

*Believe in yourself, your bow, and your shooting ability. Confidence is an important part of hunting, and if you feel confident, you will be. If you dither over choosing a spot to hunt, forget it.

There are many other tips, but these are enough to start with. Master these, and we’ll think about a graduate course in the future.—The Whitetail Wizard

Friday, March 14, 2008

Hunting Memories

Fishermen are commonly known for �??fishing memories,�?� or going back time after time to the same old spot. Sometimes it works on deer, and sometime it doesn�??t, but memories often remain long after the size of the rack and the venison has disappeared.

Much the same thing occurs with hunters. We all develop a feeling for certain ground blinds or tree stands, and often this can be good. In many cases, if a particular stand was once good, it may still be good.

For about three years my son Matt and outdoor writer Dave Richey took turns hunting the same tree. It probably produced a dozen nice bucks for them, and then it seemed to go dead. They didn�??t hunt it daily, and it may only have been hunted twice per week.

Matt took a few nice 8-pointers out of it, as did Dave, and they still talk fondly about hunting that tree. However, as I make my rounds to study deer behavior and travel routes, it has become obvious that deer had quit moving past that tree.

I�??ve got many memories of favorite tree stands, and those thoughts often are built around having taken a really good buck from it or having seen a wide-racked buck nearby. In some cases, a new stand may reveal a great travel corridor than has been overlooked.

One stand sticks out because I had seen a heavy beamed 10-pointer there, and I noted the time he passed by. I was there the next night but he wasn�??t, and several deer were passed up because I didn�??t want to shoot a lesser buck if the big one may be nearby.

I went back to that stand periodically, and saw that buck on three occasions but he was either screened by heavy brush or just too far away. And this brings up a point: every bow hunter should know what the maximum range is for them to make an accurate shot.

Shooting at a buck too far away usually results in a miss but a deer that is spooked by an irresponsible shot may never return. Even worse, a bad hit may be made, and that may result in a long tracking job and even then, the animal may never be found. Sportsmen must know their limitations, and strive not to exceed them.

Years ago one of my favorite tree stands was in a tree I called the Posturepedic. If a hunters back didn�??t hurt when they climbed in, it would be hurting when they climbed down. That stand, 30 years ago, was positioned between a bedding area and nearby fields, and it produced quite a few bucks back but is no longer being hunted.

Those who hunted the Posturepedic stand usually did so just once. It wasn�??t a comfortable stand, but it produced some big bucks for me.

Another of my favorite locations was in a dead elm, and it was located 15 yards from a hole in a fence between my land and a neighbors, and was positioned for a broadside shot once the deer came through. Many people do not realize that given the chance, a deer would prefer going through a hole in the fence rather jumping the wire.

The last time I came down out from that fence-hole stand I felt the tree shudder. I kept going and made it to the ground. The next day I drove down a wooded trail past that tree, and it was laying on the ground.

Hunting memories, my phrase for going back to tree stands that once produced shots at whitetail bucks, is something that hunters do. Some of it is nostalgia, and some is to determine if that area is as good as it once was.

These memories are good for hunters. It helps us remember a stand that once led to the arrowing a trophy buck, or a memorable miss, or a stand that just makes us feel good.

I�??m willing to bet that all of us have such memories. A little thought can make them reappear on demand, and part of hunting�??s thrill is traveling down the back roads of our memories.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Bow Hunting Gobblers

My son, Matt, and I have taken gobblers over the year and shooting them with a bow is far more exciting than hunting them with a shotgun ... at least for us.

There any number of ways to hunt these sharp-eyed birds, but one thing is a constant. Hunters must have some way of concealing the movement necessary when drawing a bow.

Trust me, it�??s not easy. Turkeys see well, hear well, and there often is enough of them around a gobbler that coming to full draw isn�??t easy.

One way of doing it, and the most effective way, is to use a pop-up ground blind of camouflage material. These blinds take hardly any time to set up, and a bit of natural grasses or broken tree branches can allow a hunter and his blind to blend right in.

One way to do it is to locate a gobbler or two the night before, watch them fly up to roost, and return the next morning well before dawn. Set up the blind in the dark as quietly as possible, climb inside, sit down and stay quiet.

Sometimes gobblers will gobble first, but often small birds will be chirping and then the crows start to fly. The cawing of crows often triggers a spirited gobble.

I prefer to let the birds gobble two or three times before making a soft and short yelp. That�??s it, just one very soft call. Gobblers aren�??t deaf, and if they hear it and haven�??t been spooked, they will answer.

Just sit tight. It�??s not necessary to answer every gobble. In fact, let them gobble one or two more times, and make one more soft tree yelp. Listen for the birds to gobble from the trees, and then beat old turkey wing feathers against tree branches like a hen flying to the ground.

The gobblers will hear that, and often gobble again, and one more soft yelp is usually all it takes. If you are using decoys, there are different schools of thought on decoy placement.

I like to use two hen decoys and one jake decoy. I like the jake decoy facing the blind and the hens five or six yards farther out. When the gobblers come to the decoys, it�??s best to place the jake about 18 to 20 yards away and facing the pop-up blind. This will normally put the live gobbler between the jake decoy and you.

Gobblers almost always will head for the jake decoy, and I�??ve watched adult gobblers jump up on the jake decoy, knock it over, and start spurring the decoy.

Shooting the gobbler is pretty easy with a shotgun, but it is much more difficult with a bow. Gobblers can stand still for long minutes, but when they come to the call and decoys, they are moving around.

Two certain shots are possible. A shot taken at a gobbler facing directly at the hunter is fairly easy but I know many people who wind up killing the bird but slicing off the beard in the process.

Wait for the bird to drop his wing-tips, spread his tail feathers, and prance around. Once the bird stops, aim for a spot just below where the beard comes out of the chest, lower the sight three or four inches, and try to hit just to one side or other of the beard. Done properly, this will kill the bird.

The other way is to wait for the bird to start strutting, and let the gobbler turn all the way around to face the jake decoy. Aim for the center where all the tail-feather quills go into the back end of the turkey, and take a well-aimed shot.

A mortally wounded turkey will almost always shoot 10 to 12 feet straight up into the air, and fall back dead. I strongly suggest using a Game Tracker unit, because if the bird is not mortally wounded, it will fly or run off. The bird may not travel too far, but if it goes out of sight, they can become nearly impossible to find. A string tracker can be a big help in recovered the bird.

Do not take side shots at a gobbler. The wing bones and feathers are heavy, and it�??s difficult to place an arrow through the wing feathers. I�??ve talked to a few turkey hunters who say they shoot their bird at the juncture of the head and neck with an arrow, but it would be a difficult shot because a gobbler�??s head is always moving.

Of utmost importance is to position the blind so a shot can be taken sitting down. If the tent has horizontal and vertical windows, position a vertical window in front of you. Sit back, with full camouflage on, and wait for the bird to get into the proper position for a shot.

Turkey hunting with a bow is a challenge. It�??s not easy with a bow, but when it works, it offers a surge of adrenaline that will be hard to forget.�??The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A Spring Wish List

These first warm days of spring cause me to start thinking that there is only six more months before we can climb into a tree stand, and start deer hunting again.

Those six months will pass before we know it, and between now and then, it�??s time to develop a wish list. That wish list may include a new C.P. Oneida bow, a red-dot sight, dreams of a massive 10-pointer at 15 yards, digging a new pit blind, or a whole host of other items.

One of my buddies loves wool clothing. He and I spoke a few days ago, and he is going shopping for another set of green-and-black checked wool jacket and trousers. He wears wool in cool or warm weather, and likes it because it is so quiet. That is the top item on his wish list, and since he loves to hunt from cedar or pine trees, the coloration makes it impossible for deer to spot him unless he moves, which he doesn�??t.

Another friend, getting a bit long in the tooth like me, is tired of strap-on tree stand steps and hanging a small stand several times every year. He�??s shopping for the sturdiest and most well-built and quiet ladder stand that he can find. He wants arm rests on it, a large enough platform to move slightly if necessary, and something that is easier to climb than going up and down strap-on tree steps. He fears falling, and wants a ladder stand because they are the easiest and safest of all tree stands to use.

Still another hunter is looking for one of those fabric covers that enclose a tree stand, and he wants one that has an umbrella-like cover to allow him to hunt on those rainy days. He tends to be a bit fidgety, and he knows it, and wants to help conceal his small motions.

One of my hunting buddies is trying to figure out an easier way to dig a pit blind than with a shovel. He�??s tired of having to chop through tree roots, dig out big rocks, and I�??ve recommended that he pay some kid $25 to dig it for him. He�??s warming to that idea, but figures the kid will probably want $50 or more to dig it to his specifications. It�??s one of the key items on his spring wish list.

OK, enough about them. What about me?

I�??m impossible to buy for. If I want something, I go out and buy it. So what is it that trips my trigger, and is there something I�??d like?

I�??m still working on the idea but I want a way to eliminate all human odor from an elevated or ground-level coop. I�??ve messed around with 30-foot pieces of metal chimney sections secured to a tree, and it carries scent away from the stand.

But once a window is opened to take a shot, human scent can seep out.  Some have suggested a sealing the window opening with a thin layer of plastic similar to Saran Wrap, and that might work if the Game Tracker string would pass through the hole. I�??ll have to experiment with it a little bit, but one question is how to keep the plastic in place so it doesn�??t come undone and flap around and spook deer. I�??m also concerned about the shiny colored wrapping that may spook deer.

I hunt with knee-high rubber boots, and they are such a hassle to put on and take on when wearing two pair of bulky socks. I�??d be the first one in line to buy an all-rubber zip-up boot that would deliver scent-free rubber with the ease of a zippered boot. Pull the zipper down, pull the boots on or off, and that would be something great.

Let�??s see. What else do I need. Nope, my raggedy coveralls still have some life in them. My heavy December furry hat is just fine, and my bow and red-dot sight works perfectly. I hunt my own land so have no other special needs.

I think about October quite a bit, but frankly, we have half-a-year to go before the season opens. I may take interest in some other item, but I try to keep my hunting life as simple as possible. If I can�??t carry it in my pocket, I don�??t need it.

It�??s my thought that I�??ll continue giving the scent-free elevated or ground coops more thought. If it can get this thing right, it will be great news for deer hunters because it will eliminate any possibility of a deer getting your scent while hunting.

Let�??s see now .....�??The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, March 06, 2008

CP-A Deer�??s Beautiful Bones

A buddy and I went out last night to do a check on a problem area on my ranch. A creek that drains my neighbor’s woods empties onto my land, and left untended, will flood the remains of an old beaver pond.

I’ve been working on it for most of last year, digging a trench that will carry the water out of the marsh and into a creek. The creek eventually leaves my property, eventually empties into the Middle Branch River, and then into the Muskegon River.

The water was still flowing steadily downstream, and so we began driving the muddy roads. We spotted some deer, and one of the bucks was already carrying what would eventually be a decent rack of velvet-covered antlers.

Those antlers of velvet are very soft and easily damaged right now, but as spring and early summer starts making its way toward September, those soft, spongy and blood-engorged antlers will have turned hard. Hardened antlers begin to shed their velvet, and during late summer and early fall, it’s not uncommon to see bucks with long strips of velvet hanging off the blood-red bone.

These bones of beauty can develop into many different forms. Some racks are narrow and high, others have shorter points but a wider spread, and many are quite uniform with a typical antler formation of anything from spike-horns, fork-horns, 6-points, 8-points and on up.

Nontypical configuration are not common on my deer ranch although every year a few nontypical bucks are taken. They may have one or two drop-tines, double brow points, and we’ve even had a few three-beam bucks taken.

Bucks on my ranch are in a rather unique situation. Statewide, most deer on private or public land are made up on large numbers of antlerless deer. These antlerless animals can be does, doe fawns or this year’s button bucks.

The majority of deer are antlerless on other lands, and the ratio can be heavily weighted toward does, doe fawns and button bucks. That is far from the case on my land.

I manage my deer herd for quality rather than numbers. The buck-to-doe ratio here is an average of one buck to one doe. Some years there may be more bucks than antlerless deer.

We spare the young bucks in order to give the animals what they need to grow great racks. Deer require quality food that is high in nutrients and trace minerals, lack of stress which is often caused by too many animal, and we give them what may be the most important of all ingredients—time to prove they can grow heavy and impressive racks.

We don’t shoot the little spike-horns and fork-horns, and try not to take button bucks when reducing doe numbers. The little bucks are allowed to survive, and they have every opportunity to feed heavily.

It’s when bucks get to 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 years of age when they really begin to produce big racks. If, by that time, their antlers haven’t begun to get any larger, we realize they’ve had the chance to grow. Whether the lack of growth is genetic or not, they become management bucks and are removed.

The culling of whitetail does is part of our management process, and one mistake I made early in my ranch career, was to keep too many does. All that does is increase the potential for a top-heavy deer herd weighted in favor of does.

We may take 80 to 100 antlerless deer in a year. We try to keep the strongest and most robust does in our herd, but every six or seven years, we remove most of the old herd does to allow the younger does to become the dominant does. This keeps our gene pool healthy.

A healthy and smaller deer herd produces more good bucks than a large herd with too many deer. The closer the buck-doe ratio is to being one to one, the greater the opportunity for that deer herd to produce bigger bucks.

This means that few bucks can be killed the first two, three or four years, and the more antlerless deer that must be taken. Managing a deer ranch is much more than killing a bunch of deer.

It means managing the herd for the greatest good of the resource. Too many deer are never good for an area. On my ranch, we let the bucks grow and prove they are

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Hitting My Winter Groove

My unofficial lay-off while getting a computer fixed and having a cataract removed has made me a bit lazy. It’s like going on vacation and returning home only to find the day-job still waiting.

I’m frequently asked how I choose topics to write about. Frankly, there are so many different aspects of deer hunting, that finding something new and different isn’t difficult at all.

What can be a big more difficult is finding something new to write about at certain times of the year. We’ve lost lots of snow in the past few days, and now is an excellent time to spend some time hunting shed antlers or checking out deer runways.

We’ve found a few sheds already, and found one dead buck with a nice rack. What killed the deer is unknown. We couldn’t find any wound, and it’s possible the 10-pointer was killed in a knock-down, drag-out fight with another larger whitetail buck.

It pays to hunt sheds where you know deer bed during the winter. To just go wandering around in the woods, hoping to find some sheds, may produce but it makes more sense to go hunting in areas where you know winter whitetails have bedded down.

Key locations are cedar swamps, huckleberry marshes, cattail swamps, tag alder thickets, and other locations with a combination of thick cover near food. Areas with thick thermal cover, such as pine plantations or balsam swamps, can offer some spectacular areas to look. Just stand upwind, allow your scent to drift through, and the deer will move away but not at a strength-eating gallop.

There is still some snow in the woods, and it may be wise to wait another week or two. Spend time looking when most of the snow has melted, and spend some of your leisure hours looking near winter food sources and where deer travel.

Don’t rush going into deer wintering areas until the animals can move freely. They can be stressed by winter weather, not enough food, and pressured whitetails trying to avoid humans can suffer increased stress which can lead to an early death.

Bedding areas, and winter trails leading to and from these locations, are good places to find shed antlers. Bucks often knock their antlers off near food sites. Trails that lead into and out of feeding areas are another good bet.

It’s somewhat unusual to find both sides of the antlers. It happens on occasion, but one way of finding both sides is to find a dead deer. The animal may have perished from lack of food, exposure, being killed by another buck, or it could be a buck that was wounded late in the season and never found.

Most of these antlers are white colored from exposure to the sun and snow. Wait for most of the snow to leave, and it makes finding sheds much easier against the darker background.

It reminds me of looking for spring mushrooms. It’s often impossible to spot the sheds, but take a few steps and turn to look back, and the different viewpoint may reveal a shed.

It’s difficult to find completely clean sheds. Often, mice and porcupines will nibble on the tips of the antler tines to get some vitamins and trace minerals. If the animal died, or shed its antlers once the ground was covered with snow, they will usually show the least amount of damage.

Wait until May, and almost every shed will show sign of rodent or porcupine damage. This is a very narrow window of opportunity for hunters to find some shed antlers that haven’t been damaged.

Shed hunting serves another useful purpose. It teaches hunters some of the key locations where deer go when cold north winds blow and storms cover the land with a heavy coat of snow. Knowing these locations can play an important role in where you may choose to hunt during the December season this year.

It also will teach you where deer trails are, how deer moved through the area in December, and that sort of information can be very important during the next late hunting season.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, March 03, 2008

Bow Hunters Are More Sophisticated

It used to be that a bow hunter would walk into a big-box store in search of a new bow.

There are always salesmen at such places prepared to sell a bow to a novice archer or bow hunter. Many of those bow buyers 20 years ago had no clue what they wanted from a bow other than it shot arrows.

Bow buyers now are far more sophisticated. They read test reports, and have an idea of what they want. Although buying a name-brand bow still remains a matter of personal taste, most people who are looking for a bow have come to understand one important fact.

You get what you pay for. There is as much difference between a VW and a Ferrari as there is between a good and bad compound bow. There are certain things in a bow to look for, and there isn’t a day goes by that I don’t discuss many of these issues with potential buyers that come into my Buck Pole Archery Shop in Marion.

It’s like our C.P. Oneida Black Eagle bow. It is unlike other bows, and people have learned to accept the fact that our compound bows look different than other bows. They look different because they are. We are proud of the distinctive lines of our bows and how they shoot.

Take the Black Eagle and our other bows for instance. Archers and bow hunters have learned, through trial and error, that a bow that may look pretty on the showroom floor may not be ideally suited for their needs.

Granted, this may not be what you want but the next person in the door may want exactly what this bow offers. It does offer a new dampening system that produces whisper-quiet shots. We learned, by moving the cam assembly down that it created an easier and smoother draw curve with no recoil when a shot is taken.

It offers flat nock travel and increased arrow speed. Sophisticated archers and bow hunters want a straight-shooting bow and more speed without having to increase the draw weight.

There is literally no movement or twist when drawing or shooting this bow. Compare it to other bows for the final test. Any stress is equally distributed through the riser, and this helps make the bow stronger with less vibration.

The “Extreme” bow has a new and more streamlined design. It has less friction on the timing cable and is faster and quieter.

Hunters must decide what they want or need from a bow. Some like a bow all tricked out with modern devices, but our bows do not require kisser buttons and peep sights when using our 33mm Pollington Pro red-dot sight. Shooting a C.P. Oneida Eagle bow is a lesson in functional performance.

These bows are so smooth to draw, and no longer is there a felt recoil when the arrow is released. The straight nock travel means this bow shoots straight and with more speed than many people can believe, even at lower draw weights.

Customers are invited to shoot their old bow, or go to another shop and try a competitors model, and then shoot one of our bows. We’ve had countless people perform this exercise, and almost always they wind up buying a C.P. Oneida Eagle bow.

The reason is the sophistication I spoke of earlier. One doesn’t have to be a bow technician to determine the tremendous difference between our bows and those of other makers. Ours draw much more smoothly through the draw curve, and once sighted it, the arrows fly accurately every time. The straight nock travel once the arrow leaves the string must be experienced, and a dozen shots at a target will prove the wisdom of this technology.

Sophistication means that buyers must be impressed with how a bow looks, how it feels in the hands, whether it is comfortable while being drawn back to a consistent anchor point, and once the arrow is released. My staff or I can tell buyers this, but it’s when I put a bow into their hands and they shoot it, that they understand the power, quietness and smoothness.

Many other bows must be sold. Our bows sell themselves.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Mid-Winter Dreamin

The buck was banging its antlers against a tree, and I listened to him working a scrape for 30 minutes late last October. The buck was within 20 yards of me but he was screened by thick brush and was invisible.

I sat in my tree stand and listened. He was close enough to hear the urine hitting the scrape, and he was upwind and the pungent ammonia odor was strong. He worked that tree over, yanked at the overhead licking branch, and for all the noise and commotion he made, the buck was impossible to see.

I checked the spot the next day. He’d been working two scrapes, and one was eight inches deep and as big around as two large platters. The buck had pulled the old licking branch down, and I replaced it. It suited him because the scrape had tine marks and a hoof print in it, and the new licking branch looked pretty ragged. The second scrape was opened up, and the licking branch was chewed to a frazzle.

What was even more interesting was that the buck had opened up a third scrape. Huge clots of wet earth was piled at the north end of the scrape, and he had made it the night before. How do I know?

Buck scrapes have dirt and debris piled at one end or another, and if the dirt is piled at the end closest to thick cover, it generally means the deer is tending that scrape in the evening as he leaves the bedding area for a night of chasing cute little does.

This told me several things: One is the rut had not started but the chasing phase had set in. This chasing phase lasts several days before the full rut starts. As long as fresh activity is seen at the scrape, and it is being tended one or more times daily, the rut has not begun. Once the scrapes show no sign of activity, that means the rut is underway.

One thing few hunters realize is that the mid-day hours just before and during the rut can produce a fine buck.

This buck may have other nearby scrapes that it had been working, but once a buck is shot and is taken out of the woods, another will take its place. Nature abhors a vacuum, and when a big brown trout or a big whitetail buck is removed, another moves in and takes over.

Hunting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. works well during the chasing stage and the rut. If possible, be in your stand by 9 a.m., and sit patiently. The bucks will move during the mid-day hours.

I first learned of this phenomenon many years ago while hunting ruffed grouse. Two days in a row a buck was seen darting away from me in the same area. I checked the area, found his scrapes, and went back and set up a stand 30 yards downwind of it. The buck came by that first day at about noon, wind-checked the scrape from downwind, and offered me a 12-yard shot.

Hunting the pre-rut and the rut during mid-day hours can pay off. Sure, many hunters can’t take time off work to hunt those hours, but keep it in mind for weekends. Hunt near natural funnels between bedding and feeding areas, and once the rut kicks in, start hunting the heavier cover.

My only real problem with hunting the mid-day hours is a personal one. I’m good for three hours maximum in a tree before everything gets sore. I’ll stick it out until about 2:30 p.m., grab a bite to eat, and then hunt from 4 p.m. until legal shooting time ends. It means spending long hours in a tree, but it can pay big dividends with a husky whitetail buck.

This method has worked for me, and can work for you regardless of where you hunt. Try it this fall and see if it doesn’t produce action at a time when no one is hunting. It’s rut hunting’s biggest secret, and now only you, me and several hundred thousand other people will know. --The Whitetail Wizard.