Whitetail Wizard

Monday, June 30, 2008

The Art Of Treestand Placement

There are those who walk through the woods, look at the trees, and decide here is a great spot for a tree stand. Sometimes they are right, but more often they are dead wrong.

The chosen tree may be good for the hunter, but it may be all wrong for stand location. It may offer little or no chance for a sportsman to get a clean shot at a buck.

A good tree stand, whether it is manmade in a factory or created by the hunter, must meet several criteria. It must be somewhere downwind and within 20 yards of where two or more active deer trails connect. It must offer some concealment from approaching deer that are out of sight of the hunter.

A tree that stand will be placed in must have an open spot where a stand can be easily placed without having to cut big limbs out of the way. It also should offer hunters at least one clear shooting lane without having to trim away limbs. A fifth reason, and this is a personal thing, is I prefer that deer approach me from behind and on my left side.

The tree and other limbs or pine boughs should cover most of my body silhouette. A cedar or pine tree in the midst of some ash, maple or oak trees is good. You’ll hear the deer approach from behind through the leaves, and once they pass the stand, they will offer a quartering-away shot.

How high is just right? I like most of my stands between 15 and 20 feet high. If you have the right set of circumstances, there may only be one open area for a shot, and it’s up to you to know where the deer travel before establishing the tree stand position.

Some hunters act like they are married to a tree stand, but a wise hunter will have three or four stands to cover various wind directions. Get one step ahead of other hunters, and have a stand set up for an east wind. You’ll be able to hunt when others cannot.

Pick your sites wisely, and only after watching deer move through an area. You must know the stand location, and how deer utilize it, before the stand is in place. Steer clear of stands along the open edges of fields. Granted, you’ll see more deer this way but may have fewer shots. The deer often move out into a field and be too far away for an accurate shot.

Pick spots 100 to 200 yards from an active feeding field, and find where two or more trails merge. Check around, and find a good bushy tree that is downwind, but within easy bow distance. Watch deer travel through the area for several days, and learn which side of the tree the deer will pass, and you’ll have narrowed down the search.

I prefer either a permanent stand or a ladder stand. These two, if properly constructed, are very safe. I wouldn’t use a climbing stand at my age, and I want to feel safe and secure in a stand. It has to be anchored securely to the tree, and accessing the stand must be easy.

The stand must offer good concealment. I dislike open hardwood trees that lose cover as the leaves fall. The only other alternative is to climb higher, and my preference is to shop around until you find the right area with the perfect tree in the perfect location. Add a stand, and make certain it is securely attached, and stay out of it until the season opens or whenever the wind is perfect.

Too many hunters play with fire when choosing stands. A perfect stand must be perfectly placed to work. A poorly positioned stand in the wrong area will ruin more deer hunts than anything else.

Pre-season scouting is the key to choosing tree stand sites wisely. Watch key areas, see where deer naturally travel, and don’t forget about having two or three entrance and exit routes to prevent being patterned by deer. Don’t crowd too close to bedding areas, and don’t get too close to the edges of feeding areas.

Deer are most comfortable at 100 to 200 yards from the food site. This often offers much thicker cover, and hunters must spend enough time watching an area to know precisely how the deer travel through it.

Put time into pre-season scouting, narrow your stand placement area down to the best possible location, place the stand well so deer will come from behind you without being downwind, and choose different ways into and out of the area without having to cross deer trails. Get all of it right, and you’ll be hunting in a hotspot.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, June 28, 2008

What Do Deer See?

The vision of a whitetail deer is truly impressive. It’s uncanny how they can pick a bow hunter out of a bushy tree or a ground blind.

Hunters often question this ability. They claim their hot new camo clothing eliminates being spotted. They claim their scent-killing clothing and sprays will defeat a whitetails nose test.

In many cases they are wrong. The clothing and the sprays can help, as can deer scents, but the deer can spot a hunter. They can sniff out a hunter, and accomplished sportsmen know that. They know what will work and what will not.

Nothing is absolute unless you stay indoors and never venture outside. What hunters need to realize is they must be smarter than the deer. They must use their brain to figure out how to avoid detection.

Years ago I often sat in tree stands and watched the deer and their interaction with humans. Many sportsmen think if they can’t see the deer, the deer can’t see them.

Whitetails are masters at standing in heavy cover, and studying the terrain in front of them before they commit to a move. Some deer have stood without any visible movement for 30-45 without moving any part of their body except their eyes.

Follow this example. One day I had a man hunting, and he talked a good story about being able to sit still. I sat in another stand 200 yards away with binoculars, and watched him. I had an advantage because I knew where the deer would come from at his location.

Half of my time was spent watching him and half was spent watching the area where the deer would come from. He couldn’t see the routes the deer used to approach his stand as well as I could, and the deer were much closer to him than to me.

This gent was spotted time and again. Many hunters believe that when a deer spots a hunter, it will snort and run off. Sure, that happens often enough but the animals often will remain silent and take a wide stroll around the unsuspecting hunter. The hunter figures if all remains silent the deer never spotted them, and that is an inaccurate assumption.

I watched deer stand 200 yard away in thick cover, and they would pick up the hunter quickly. A slight movement, a slap at a buzzing mosquito, some wayward drifting scent—anything can spook a deer. Once scared, a buck or doe can steal away through heavy cover without being seen.

It has become a mantra for me. There are only so many ways to tell a hunter how to sit still. They jerk, twitch, try to look behind them, and they feel the deer can’t spot them if they can’t spot the animals.

Folks, that assumption is dead wrong. Take a long look at your tree stand or ground blind. Are there an adequate mix of light areas and dark shadows?

Have you mastered the art of having cover behind you that will break up the human silhouette? Have you learned to memorize the light areas at various times of day? Move at the wrong time, and suddenly blot out an area that normally contains a brighter zone, and deer will spot that movement.

Deer are not stupid. They depend on their instincts, and if they see something out of place, something that wasn’t there the day before, they don’t consciously suspect that area of danger but on an instinctive level, they seem to know that something is different or out of place.

If a bow hunter sits in a tree, and blocks out a bright spot but moves and covers it up when a deer is looking, the chances are great the animal will pick him up.

This sitting still and studying the bright spots and shadows is an art. Study your stands long before the season opens, and note where shadows and light areas are found during that two-hour period before shooting time arrives. Do that, and you’ll learn where these areas are and how they change as the sun starts going down.

This is not calculus or rocket science. This is more a matter of common sense. Know your surroundings, know what provides shadow, and know when the moving sun will be more of a handicap than an asset.

Study your tree stand site, and do it from all angles. Too many hunters view their stands only from in front or slightly to the sides. Most forget about standing 50-75 yards to the rear, and looking for moving objects.

Bow hunters can bet that a deer will do that. Savvy bow hunters are simply smarter than the deer they hunt. Being smarter just means paying more attention to your hunting site, your surroundings and try to look at things from a deer’s point of view.

Learning to think like a deer will pay off.—The Whitetail Wizard.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Reading & Interpreting Deer Sign

Reading deer sign is something that has always made sense to me. It gives me more knowledge of the animals, where they feed, where they travel, and in the end, it’s this knowledge that makes hunters more successful.

I’m so mindful of a big buck from several years ago. I’d seen him on two or three occasions but didn’t know where he lived. It took me a week of reading October deer sign to pin down his whereabouts.

The area was in fairly heavy cover. I knew the buck had an exceptional 10-point spread, and reasoned he would be working over some big trees to strengthen his neck muscles before the rut began.

I’d moved slowly through the heavy cover without seeing much buck sign except for a few small rubs on some tag alders. I came out the other side of the tag alders, and entered a 25-yard by 25-yard stand of cedars and pines. That is when I worked out this whitetail puzzle.

One of the cedars was scarred by a pre-rutting buck. Lower limbs were broken off, and the trunk was scrubbed hard from a foot above ground to five feet off the ground. Mind you, I couldn’t circle my arms around the tree trunk. This gigantic rub was truly huge.

Checking around was a faint trail that rain toward another cedar, and it too was rubbed by the same buck. Three trees within 25 yards formed a minor rub line, and the trail had exited the cover I had just walked through. This buck was leaving the tag alder to rub the cedar and pine trees, and most likely, the deer was moving out just before dark.

A nearby tree was perfect for a stand. There would be no clattering and banging required to erect a tree stand here. I’d attach a rope to my bow and my belt loop, lay the bow down flat, climbed 10 feet up the tree and stand on two thick parallel limbs that grew close together. Another limb came out at waist level, and I could stand on two limbs and lean back against the other one.

Two nights later as the sun was sinking into the western sky I caught the glint of sunlight hitting brownish-white antlers. The buck went to the first tree, thrashed it hard for several minutes, looked around, and went to the second tree and repeated the process. Fifteen minutes later it arrived at the tree just 15 yards upwind of me.

It took a minute for the buck to rake the tree to a pile of fuzzy bark curlings at the base. He nosed his handiwork, lifted his head, moved around the tree to work on the opposite side. The deer was quartering-away at 15 yards, and it was an easy shot.

It’s not my policy to advise anyone to stand on cedar or pine boughs and lean against another one, and I don’t suggest you follow my lead. However, I knew the limbs would support me for one evening of hunting. I was certain it would lead to a shot at the big buck on the first night, and it did.

That buck was a creature of habit, and such habits can put a deer in trouble. Once the buck stopped rubbing and visiting the nearby scrape, this idea wouldn’t have worked. My adventure with that big buck was timed perfectly, and that is where knowing something about the rutting activity comes in handy. From the end of October through mid-November, that tree might not have paid off as the buck hazed does through open fields and thick cover.

Hunting one buck is an adventure, a matter of going after them one on one. It means knowing as much about the area as is possible, and being able to translate that knowledge into an action plan.

There are countless other ways of reading deer sign that will pay off in a big way, and we’ll cover some other examples in the weeks to come. The important thing to realize is that studying deer sign is as much a part of deer hunting as carrying a bow into the woods.

Be alert to deer sign, read what it says, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a better deer hunter.—The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Find The Hidden Travel Routes

Reading deer sign is something that has always made sense to me. It gives me more knowledge of the animals, where they feed, where they travel, and in the end, it’s this knowledge that makes hunters more successful.

I’m so mindful of a big buck from several years ago. I’d seen him on two or three occasions but didn’t know where he lived. It took me a week of reading October deer sign to pin down his whereabouts.

The area was in fairly heavy cover. I knew the buck had an exceptional 10-point spread, and reasoned he would be working over some big trees to strengthen his neck muscles before the rut began.

I’d moved slowly through the heavy cover without seeing much buck sign except for a few small rubs on some tag alders. I came out the other side of the tag alders, and entered a 25-yard by 25-yard stand of cedars and pines. That is when I worked out this whitetail puzzle.

One of the cedars was scarred by a pre-rutting buck. Lower limbs were broken off, and the trunk was scrubbed hard from a foot above ground to five feet off the ground. Mind you, I couldn’t circle my arms around the tree trunk. This gigantic rub was truly huge.

Checking around was a faint trail that rain toward another cedar, and it too was rubbed by the same buck. Three trees within 25 yards formed a minor rub line, and the trail had exited the cover I had just walked through. This buck was leaving the tag alder to rub the cedar and pine trees, and most likely, the deer was moving out just before dark.

A nearby tree was perfect for a stand. There would be no clattering and banging required to erect a tree stand here. I’d attach a rope to my bow and my belt loop, lay the bow down flat, climbed 10 feet up the tree and stand on two thick parallel limbs that grew close together. Another limb came out at waist level, and I could stand on two limbs and lean back against the other one.

Two nights later as the sun was sinking into the western sky I caught the glint of sunlight hitting brownish-white antlers. The buck went to the first tree, thrashed it hard for several minutes, looked around, and went to the second tree and repeated the process. Fifteen minutes later it arrived at the tree just 15 yards upwind of me.

It took a minute for the buck to rake the tree to a pile of fuzzy bark curlings at the base. He nosed his handiwork, lifted his head, moved around the tree to work on the opposite side. The deer was quartering-away at 15 yards, and it was an easy shot.

It’s not my policy to advise anyone to stand on cedar or pine boughs and lean against another one, and I don’t suggest you follow my lead. However, I knew the limbs would support me for one evening of hunting. I was certain it would lead to a shot at the big buck on the first night, and it did.

That buck was a creature of habit, and such habits can put a deer in trouble. Once the buck stopped rubbing and visiting the nearby scrape, this idea wouldn’t have worked. My adventure with that big buck was timed perfectly, and that is where knowing something about the rutting activity comes in handy. From the end of October through mid-November, that tree might not have paid off as the buck hazed does through open fields and thick cover.

Hunting one buck is an adventure, a matter of going after them one on one. It means knowing as much about the area as is possible, and being able to translate that knowledge into an action plan.

There are countless other ways of reading deer sign that will pay off in a big way, and we’ll cover some other examples in the weeks to come. The important thing to realize is that studying deer sign is as much a part of deer hunting as carrying a bow into the woods.

Be alert to deer sign, read what it says, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a better deer hunter.—The Whitetail Wizard

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Whatâ??s Your Arrow Choices, Sir?

There is very little discussion these days about arrow shaft construction. There are only three basic choices, and from there, several secondary choices.

Aluminum, carbon or wood? Only some long bow and recurve bow shooters still shoot wood arrows although many have switched to either one of the other two choices. The secondary choices are manufacturer, size, weight and length.

Compound bow hunters are locked into a choice between aluminum and carbon, and there is little to discuss. Very few compound shooters still choose aluminum these days.

I still like aluminum shafts for bow hunting but much of the time carbon arrows are in my bow quiver. There was a time 10 years ago when aluminum arrows had a death grip on the arrow market but times have changed.

In my Buck Pole Archery Shop, at least 90 percent of my arrow sales are carbon. Some other shops report 95 percent carbon over aluminum shafts.

Years ago there were plenty of arguments against carbon shafts, and many were unfounded. Some of the early carbon arrows were too skinny, some had ugly out-serts that attached to the shaft, and the broadhead screwed into the out-sert. Another argument that has passed by the boards was that carbon arrows would shatter inside a deer.

Believe me on this: I resented carbon arrows and resisted using them. My buddy Dave Richey told me I’d lose arrow sales if I didn’t stock carbon, and soon I noticed that people were passing up the aluminum shafts and going elsewhere to buy carbon arrows. That was like throwing away money.

It took some time but I eventually began to stock carbon, and began shooting these new shafts. They flew extremely well, and that settled the argument for me. I now stock and sell carbon arrows.

Why shoot carbon? One excellent reason is the arrows are extremely straight, and the tolerance level is much tighter (less than half of one percent) than with aluminum, in most cases. Several years ago Archery business magazine found carbon arrows were more perfectly formed, more precise, and in most cases, stronger than aluminum.

The magazine said that Eastman Outdoors’ shafts, and especially their Maxima shafts, have the tightest tolerances in the arrow industry. It means, that with practice, a hunter or target archer can become a better shot with these arrows.

Carbon arrow companies have relegated the skinny carbon shafts of yesteryear to the back shelf, and are producing shafts with much the same diameters as aluminum.

The bigger shafts help increase down-range energy, and this allows the arrow to hit with greater force. The down-range force produces better penetration, and with increased accuracy, this means a chance for more killing shots.

Carbon arrows require a properly maintained and tuned bow. A bow that is out of whack won’t shoot any arrow well.

This means the hunter needs a well-tuned bow, a quality bow rest, and a good mechanical release. They will help produce far more accurate shots than most people ever knew was possible.

Most quality archery shops can do a fine job of tuning your bow, and it’s common for people to bring their C.P. Oneida Eagle bows to my Buck Pole Archery Shop in Marion for an annual tune-up.

A properly tuned compound bow and carbon arrow should be paper tuned. A properly tuned arrow will cut a perfect hole when shot through paper. Out-of-tune bows will cut or tear ragged holes with feathers or vanes cutting high, low, right or left when they go through the paper.

This requires further tuning, and when the rest, nocking point and other factors jell, there is a perfectly round hole. And, with our great line-up of bows which include the Extreme, the straight-nock travel produced by these bows make for the most accurate compound bows on the market.

Some people continue to fight the trend toward carbon arrows. I know I did, but I’ve seen the light.

A well-tuned bow, quality carbon shafts, a good rest like the Bo-Doodle that we install on our bows, and a broadhead suited for that shaft, will make any bow hunter a much better shot at deer and targets.

Tough? A buddy of mine shot a black bear, caribou and whitetail deer with one arrow. That’s right—one carbon arrow. He sharpened the broadhead after each kill, and the arrow was still straight after killing three big-game animals.

That puts a capital T and A on the words Tough Arrows.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, June 16, 2008

Learn How To Sit Still

There is an art to sitting still. Not only motionless but doing so without making a sound.

It may sound easy but it is a very difficult thing to do. Everyone fidgets at times, moving around, easing that tree stub that pokes you in the back, and swatting at mosquitoes.

Trust me, sitting still is an art. Not everyone can do it, and I can set like a statue but nothing like I could 20 years ago. Age brings with it knowledge and more aches and pains.

The knowledge is what allows me to tune out the sore back, hips, legs and other body parts. Knowledge is the key to becoming a successful deer hunter.

Anyone who ever studies deer should have learned two things very quickly. Stay downwind of the deer, and learn how to sit still.

It is not easy to sit still. Those who think they are being motionless and silent are, in many cases, moving far too much and making some noise in the process.

How do you sit still? The best way to learn is to go where deer are plentiful, and sit in a tree or a ground blind. See how long it takes before the hunter spooks deer.

Many feel that only spooked deer snort. Lots of deer simply disappear into cover, and leave the area silently. They are spooked but do not snort.

Watch deer, and see how often they stop and look around for danger. I’ve watched large numbers of deer over the years stand motionless for 30 minutes to an hour after detecting the presence of a hunter. Not a muscle, ear, eye or anything will move it they’ve been alerted to nearby human presence.

One of my hunting friends used to hunt a funnel leading out of a cedar swamp to open hardwoods. The swamp was full of water, and it was easy to tell where the deer were coming from. Deer that were wet clear up to their belly were coming through the swamp. Those deer could be heard coming for 15 minutes as the water sloshed around as they moved.

Once he spotted a buck moving slowly, and then it stopped. It was 200 yards away but there was an open spot he could see through with binoculars, and he knew there was a hunter upwind of the deer. That animal stood in cold November water for over an hour without moving. Dusk came and went, and the buck still stood in the water, as motionless as a statue.

How do you sit still? Part of it comes through practice but much of it comes from a total state of mental relaxation. Put your mind at ease, forget about aches and pains and that stiff little stub poking into your rump.

Tune it out. The more you think about it the more it will bother you. The same is true of mosquitoes early in the bow season; forget about them, and the less you move the less they will both you.

Think good thoughts about good friends. Leave business problems at the office, and dismiss them from your mind. Mentally think about something calm and pleasing. Put your mind in a relaxed state. Forget missed phone calls or upcoming doctor appointments. Clear your mind of anything and everything, relax and don’t think.

Purge your mind of all thoughts and picture yourself somewhere lovely, a spot where you feel a gentle sense of peace, and where nothing can affect you. A friend imagines himself on a calm pond where no wind is felt, no sound is heard, and his mentally lays his back against a boat seat, stares up and the clouds and his breathing slows down. He keeps seeing that gentle pond in his mind’s eye, and he sits quietly and without motion.

Time seems to pass slowly, and almost as if from a haze, out steps a buck. The animal is upwind, sniffing and looking for danger. Sensing none, he steps forward two or three more paces, and stops.

Relaxed, the deer looks around and watches his back trail. As the deer looks away, the hunter slowly and quietly comes to full draw, aims and kills that deer.

It was easy because the hunter was relaxed. A relaxed sportsman, at peace with body and soul, doesn’t move and doesn’t make a sound.

It takes practice but then so do many other things. Sit in the woods during the summer months, and practicing the art of sitting motionless and silent, but realize you needs practice. Do it now, and you’ll be ready for the hunting season when it arrives.—The Whitetail Wizard

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Ease Up On Your Draw Weight

I’ve seen it thousands of times. The strongest looking guy on a 3-D course has muscles in his spit, and he delights in telling others how he pulls 92 pounds or some such thing.

He tells others that he is dead-on at 50 yards, and his arrow speed is well over 300 feet-per-second. He usually insults others by asking them how much weight they draw.

If they answer 55 pounds, 60 pounds or 65 pounds, he criticizes them for not shooting more poundage. Such jokers attend one or two 3-D shoots, and then wonder why no one wants to associate with them.

Other than because of a personal belief, there is no reason a person should be pulling 90 pounds or more. It’s not needed, and drawing that much weight doesn’t make most people a better archer.

In fact, one could argue the case that too much weight can make them a worse shot. How so?

It’s easy. Anyone who draws that much weight is an accident waiting for a place to happen. There used to be a guy that came into my archery shop, and he had to retune his bow after every four or five shots. The vibration of the shot was so violent his bow would go out of tune.

Once, the bow blew up when he shot an arrow much too light for his draw weight. The bow disintegrated in his hand, and only through good fortune, did he escape serious injury. He was cut up some when things started flying off his bow.

A month later, as he cranked his bow up another two pounds, he drew it back with visible difficulty, and shot one arrow. It was on the second shot that he blew out a couple of shoulder muscles, and the last thing I knew he was pulling 55 pounds. His he-man days were over.

He no longer razzed other hunters about their meek draw weight. He learned a lesson he’ll never forget. Too much draw weight will cause long-lasting injuries.

The one thing such macho guys believe is that pulling heavy-duty weight helps them. Another guy I used to know cranked his bow up to 85 pounds, and he knew he was teetering on the ragged edge of too much draw weight. He gritted his teeth, and when he shot, he would miss the kill zone by a foot or more. He wounded too many deer, and also wound up hurting himself.

Most of the deer shot in Michigan and other states are taken at 20 yards or less. It doesn’t take a heavy draw weight to shoot a razor-sharp broadhead through a deer with 35-40 pounds.

One woman I know is extremely accurate. She has good eyes, good form, and has shot over 250 chipmunks and red squirrels around her home using a bow and arrow. She rarely misses, and if she draws on either one of the small rodents, it was dead but didn’t know it yet.

She gradually built up her strength to draw 38 pounds, and she shoots deer every year. She shoots arrows clean through the deer, and that points out the two things any bow hunter needs to be effective in the deer woods. They need to be able to accurately shoot arrows, and must shoot arrows tipped with razor-like broadheads.

Most factory broadheads are not razor sharp. If you shoot a replaceable blade broadhead, choose one with the sharpest possible blades. If you choose a fixed-blade broadhead, choose a two-blade head than can be sharpened by hand.

We use a flat file to get the broadhead reasonably sharp, and then we put the finishing touches on with a stone. The tiny burrs on the edge are removed on a leather strop like the ones barbers once used.

It doesn’t require he-man strength to shoot a deer. It does require accurate shot placement, and very sharp broadheads. A bow shooting an arrow at 180 feet-per-second or faster, and an arrow tipped with a very sharp broadhead, is far more effective than a bad hit from an arrow traveling 300 feet-per-second.

It’s a matter of concentration and skill rather than one of brawn and bluster. A cool hand, under pressure, can place an arrow accurately, and the sharp broadhead does the rest.

Which scenario do you think works the best?—The Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Ground Blinds Can Be Very Productive

There are over 40 ground blinds and tree stands on my hunting land, and many people would be very surprised at how effective ground blinds can be.

Most of mine are made of wood—a box blind, if you prefer—and they stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. The trick with them is to have them in place early, certainly long before the season opens, and then stay away from them until hunting season begins.

These ground blinds can blend in with their surroundings but it’s not necessary that they do so. My ground blinds often are covered with tar paper or the wood is painted black or brown (including the inside).

Many ground blinds are baited, and that is why the deer come to them, but they are strategically placed. Some are on rolling hills where deer can see all around them, and often deer will stand some distance away to make certain there is no one inside the blind.

Many hunters who sit inside a ground blind are somewhat claustrophobic and are constantly moving around inside. There is only one place a hunter can shoot, and that is out the shooting window.

Still, people apparently feel deprived of not being able to swivel around and look for deer when they are sitting in a roofed ground blind. A friend of mine solved that problem with several coops he had built.

He learned that people were opening up the little windows on the sides and back to look around. It always created some noise, and watching deer could see inside the blinds when they opened the window. His solution cost his two minutes for each blind, and it cost him only a few cents per blind.

He used a power screwdriver and some wood screws, and screwed every window except the shooting window shut. The windows were made of wood, and two or three screws kept those windows closed, and the hunter success rate shot up.

Most of my ground blinds are large enough for just one person. One person makes far less noise than two people, and I often discourage two people in a blind unless one is a guide and the other a customer. Then the guide studies the deer and tells them exactly what it is.

I have one ace-in-the-hole blind. It is a wooden coop built up on a solid base on top of a utility trailer. The neat thing about this stand is if I need a blind quickly, I hook the trailer on to the hitch, tow it to where I want it to be placed, position it properly and unhook it. The crank allows me to level it up, and all a hunter has to do is climb in and sit down.

I try never to face my stands to the east or the west. It makes hunting very difficult in the morning or the evening. Besides, a shooting window facing in those directions really get lit up by a rising or setting sun.

Carpeting does wonders for silencing a ground blind floor, but the mice will eventually chew some of it up and make nests out of them. Another thing about ground blinds is that hornets, wasps and yellow jackets seem to love them, and set up nests inside. Each year the nests must be removed and the coops fogged with an insecticide.

The important thing about a ground blind is to sit back away from the window. Camouflage clothing certainly helps, and wearing a hat and face mask and gloves can be very important. Blond hair, the glint of glasses, white skin or any bright clothing can be seen from a distance.

The other thing about hunting from a ground blind is to get there long before deer normally move. If a deer is shot from that blind, other deer will treat it with great suspicion, even if no one is in it. Get there early, and sit down and sit quietly. The simple act of being removed from the sight of a deer doesn’t allow for a hunter to make noise.

Get comfortable, sit as motionless as if you were in a tree stand, and wait for the deer to arrive. Hunters should exercise the same degree of quietness and learn to sit still, and it’s amazing how productive a ground blind can be.—The Whitetail Wizard

Monday, June 09, 2008

Deer, Available Food & Winter Starvation

Everyone who came into my archery shop the last few days groused about the weather. It seemed to be the topic of the week.

The more people talked about the crummy weather, the more I thought about how if affects whitetail deer. Many people, who live indoors, wonder about deer. A common comment is: “It’s raining outside. The deer won’t move.”

They relate to how they wouldn’t want to be wandering around outdoors in the rain. They seem to forget that deer live outdoors, day after day, throughout their life. They learn to cope with bad weather or die.

Now, for you and me, a bone-numbing rain would make us wet and irritable, and possibly sick if we stayed out too long and got too cold and wet. Well, how about the deer?

I’ve watched deer stand for long periods of time in the rain. I’ve seen big bucks stand without moving a muscle while two or three inches of wet snow pile up on their back or head.

They could, if they so chose, wander over and stand under a pine tree that would break up some of the snow. I’ve watched deer lay in the snow, their body heat turning their snowy bed to ice, while the snow piles up on them. It doesn’t seem to bother them a bit.

Now, cold and wet (rain or snow) weather when combined with a cold and strong north wind, can affect deer. I don’t quite understand the winter severity index, but when temperature and wind chill factors are crunched, out pops the winter severity index. It basically tells us how cold it feels when standing outside. When deep snows begin to pile up, and moving around becomes more difficult for deer, then the animals begin to suffer.

It takes more than two or three days of nasty weather to affect deer. if the snow isn’t deep, they can browse freely without having to yard up. What we have right now is not enough nasty weather to force deer into a winter yarding area.

The deer’s major problem is slipping on wet, slippery ice. If they fall just right, or cannot get to their feet, they become coyote food. And that is not a pretty sight.

Actually, the rain allows deer greater access to standing corn, grasses that grow in the fields, and the natural browse found in the woods. This is the kind of weather that can save the life of a big buck or a fawn.

It’s when the snow starts falling from dark overhanging clouds, and it begins to pile up, it still isn’t a problem. It’s when the snow reaches the belly of adult deer, and they must plow through deep snow to feed, that is when things start going bad.

Without food, they begin to live off their fat reserves. Skin out a deer during the fall, and great gobs of fat are collected around the abdominal cavity. As the winter drags along, and forage becomes less abundant and more difficult to reach, stress begins to play an important role in the lives of deer. The greater the stress from a lack of food, the sooner deer begin to get a fuzzy face and rib bones begin to show.

Then the bone marrow begins to go, and once that happens, deer are dying a slow death. Once any fat reserves in the bone marrow is gone, the deer curl up and die.

Whitetails are amazing creatures, and given food and cover, they can live to a ripe old age. However, if they go into the winter in poor shape, and have little opportunity to feed before deep snow covers the ground, the winter die-off can be horrific.

A friend toured several Upper Peninsula deer yards a few years ago. He and a DNR wildlife biologist snowshoed two miles back in to visit a deer yard.

The browse line was nearly seven feet off the ground. Bucks, does and fawns lay scattered like jackstraws, and the few deer left alive stood idly by while the humans counted dead animals. They quit counting when it rose to over 100 in that one small area, and then they snowshoed into another area several miles away.

It was more of the same. Dead and dying deer everywhere.

It takes a bunch of snow, and overused yarding areas, to produce massive dieoffs like what my friend saw. My deer are fed daily, and we still get some winter die-off.

Deer live and they die, just as humans do, but it’s far more humane for a deer to die from a well-placed arrow or bullet, than to starve slowly to death during the winter months. Their only hope is to die before the coyotes find them, and begin eating them alive.

That is truly an awful way to go.—The Whitetail Wizard

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Archery Questions Answered

I’m often asked questions that come from people who come into my Buck Pole Archery Shop in Marion, and some of these are asked so many times that they rate a spot on my daily weblog.

Here is a sampling of some of the more interesting questions that have been put to me in recent weeks.

*Which arrow shaft is most popular now? The answer is the carbon shafts. They represent probably 75 to 80 percent of my annual arrow sales. There was a time when aluminum out-sold everything but that has changed in the last several years.

And if anyone is interested (which I know they are) the Eastman Outdoors Maxima is the carbon arrow shafts that I sell. Independent testing has proven it to be one of the straightest arrow shafts on the market. They are tough, straight-flying arrows, and in heavy demand.

*Is it necessary to have bad vision to require the use of your Pollngton 33mm red-dot sight or can anyone use them? The answer is that anyone can use them and realize superb aiming results by controlling the brightness with the rheostat control. It provides an accurate and legal aiming device because no light is shined on the animal. The red dot is an internal light, not external.

It can be very beneficial to bow hunters who have poor vision. The red dog is centered with the eye, and when the hunter holds his head up, keeps both eyes open, and places the red dot on the target, it provides them with a precise aiming point with the proper anchor point. This sight has enabled people with serious visual problems to accurately shoot a bow again.

*I bought one of your Gator Jaw releases but lost it in the woods. What should I do? Well, come and buy another one. The Gator Jaw release has captured the eye of many bow hunters because it holds the bow string in two places—above and below the arrow nock, and provides a smooth and very accurate release.

The specially designed handle is made to fit any size of hand, and when the bow is brought back to a constant anchor point, the eye is perfectly centered in the red-dot sight, and it provides superb accuracy. Many people who shoot a release anchor with their index finger big knuckle under their ear, and this provides a reliable anchor point. The key to accuracy when shooting a bow is a solid and consistent anchor point.

*I read somewhere that you use milkweed pods for something. Can you elaborate on that? It’s long been one of my secrets, but I let it out two years ago. I collect milkweed pods in the early fall, wrap a rubber band around each one to prevent it from prematurely opening up, and then I let the pods dry.

Once dry, it’s easy to separate the seams of the pod, and remove the silkweeds one or two at a time. Toss them into the air from ground level or your elevated stand, and the silky milkweed seeds will drift on the wind. It will give hunters a clear idea of where the wind is going. If they blow down to the ground along an active deer trail, that means the deer will wind you. Use them to determine wind direction, and if used faithfully, you’ll never be winded again. It pays to release one or two of the seeds periodically during the hunt. Even a minor wind switch can hamper your hunting efforts.

*Do you wear a face mask or camo grease to break up any skin tones on your face? Nope, not me. I wear a hat, and in warm weather it is pulled low over my eyes to put my face in shadow. â?? The Whitetail Wizard

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Food Plot Strategy

Food plots often are little one-acre plantings near where deer bed, and I have a few such plantings on my land. But, when one supports 400-500 deer, such tiny plots don’t last long.

Most of what I plant is in larger plantings. A 50- or 100-acre corn field is big enough to cut some, and leave some, and what is cut can be fed to deer during the winter.

Soy beans are fine for deer but they scoff beans down just about the time they start growing. We plant some winter wheat, and deer love such plantings during hunting season.

Planting food plots specifically for hunting purposes isn’t always possible. Sometimes, it’s necessary to cut down the size of the planting because of the terrain.

A good example of what I try to do is to have open winter wheat fields with one or two strategically placed coops (either elevated or on the ground), and they work. The greater the distances to be watched often requires the use of an elevated coop.

Coops placed near travel routes are great. One favorite spot is a natural funnel between two heavy tag alder thickets. Winter wheat is planted on one side of the funnel, and open rolling hills is on the opposite side of this long and narrow funnel. An elevated ground coop (Execution Knob) is surrounded on two sides by open fields and on two sides by the meandering funnel. A coop is placed on the opposite side near the edge of the field. Both spots produce simply because the tag alders offer cover and a reasonably secure travel route, and there is nearby food and water available.

Another coop is placed at the edge of the corn and near another alder swale. Deer have traveled between the corn and the alders for many years, and this ground blind is a natural. It produces good bucks every year.

One other thing I try to do is position coops along natural travel routes. For instances, on the south side of my property are some rolling hills dotted with thornapple trees, and deer must pass through the thornapples and the heavily wooded ridges to reach the grasslands and open fields below. Pick a spot where two trails merge into one, set up a stand on the downwind side, and be ready for action.

Deer like field corners, especially those with heavy cover and brush. Deer dislike walking through open woods to reach a open food source. They prefer to approach the feeding field through heavy cover, stand back and look for danger before stepping out. Find such a spot, and position an elevated coop or tree stand nearby, and stay out of the area until hunting season arrives.

Creek bottoms are hotspots, and edge cover near old marshes are good. Deer can move along the edges of the marsh grass and heavier edge cover, and if danger threatens, they are only one step from heavy cover. A well placed stand along such travel routes leading to food sources can be exceptionally good.

I have a ground blind near a huckleberry marsh, and deer love this cover. It is thick but narrow, and in one spot, a road crosses through the cover. On the south side, in an open field, is a very productive coop. The deer will filter down through the marsh, each the dirt road, and walk that up the hill and out in front of the coop. It is a very good stand, and although few of my stands are pretty, they are pretty effective.

Look at the cover, and look at the natural travel routes of deer in your area, and then look for places where these travel routes butt up against natural cover. You’ll find that by putting some thought to the topic, it becomes easy to locate stand sites near food sources or along trails leading to those food sites.

One spot that we call the Skyline Set is downhill slightly from a well-used trail leading from heavy cover to the open fields. The deer stop here to look out toward the open fields, and they are silhouetted against the sky. It means uphill shooting at 18 yards, and each year it pays off with nice bucks.

A bit of thought is all it takes. Put yourself in a deer’s place, determine what they need for food sources and how they move through to get there, and you’ve found a hot spot.—The Whitetail Wizard