Whitetail Wizard

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Forget About Weather Patterns: Just Go Hunting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Rainy Day Whitetails

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, September 22, 2008

Hunters Have Different Attitudes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Two Stands For Hunting Locations?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Share Your Hunting Trips

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

How I Got My Nickname

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday, September 08, 2008

Tips On Safely Taking A Whitetail Deer

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Wear clean clothing and clean rubber boots.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Know your ideal shooting range and never exceed it.

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

A Journey Of Discovery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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