Weather Website For Hunters and Fisherman

Hi!  I just wanted to mention a new website I found (I saw it on one of the hunting/fishing channels) that shows when game will move, where the wind will blow, where to set yourself up, and so on.  The website is ScoutLook, I think it is a very good weather station for helping you to find hunting or fishing opportunities.

Click this link here: http://www.scoutlookweather.com/

Have fun!  And have a happy new year!

Guess What!

Hi!  So, I think that all the big bucks have vanished, but there are at least three different spikes on my property!

This little guy visited the feeders about three times that night. 

The top buck has curved antlers.  The middle has three points (sorry, they're hard to see), and the bottom one has straight spikes.  So, the big boys (if any) are hiding, but I can see that the fawn bucks are surviving!

More on My Camera Pictures

So, here is an up to date look at my camera photo's, thanks to my Wildgame Innovations game cam.  I told you I would let you know about the status of the buck, so here he is:

You can't really see the antler on this one, but he has three points.

To be honest, I think I may have two fawn bucks on the property.  The buck I showed previously was like the one on the bottom, not so much on the top.

There are a couple other pictures that my camera took this morning:

The does where at my corn.  I away the trough (see the night picture of the buck above), to see what happened.  You can't see the corn, but the doe is eating it in the bottom picture.  It seems that these are healthy does too.  Nice winter coats on them.

That's all for now.  Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all!  Thank the Lord for the gift He gave!

Established Bait Piles Work

So, in the previous post, I showed you my first deer.  Well, I just wanted to say that, established bait piles work.  The place where I shot the doe was 50 yards from a bait pile.  I saw four deer that morning, and four the previous evening.  I'll even share some pictures of my bait site (haven't used it yet) that I put in less than a week ago:                                                                                  

So, I think you can see that they work.  The next to bottom picture features a spike buck that my camera took a picture of.  I actually got two pictures of him, but that one was the best of him.  The bottom has two does standing behind a log close by the feeder.  I'll keep all of you posted on my camera pictures if I get some exiting things.  By the way,  most of the pictures were taken on the night of Dec. 17-18, I got over 10 pictures in one night!  And the bait site isn't that old!  They do work when acorns and other food isn't well available.

My First Deer

Hello!  So, I have shared hunting experiences in the past.  I thought there was no reason not to share this one.  I took my first deer!

I took her near a bait site on a friends property.  I hunted there an evening and the next morning, that's when I shot this nice doe from about 50 yards away.

Take a Leaf Survey

I took a leaf survey a few days ago.  I found I had these tree's in my area:

1. Beech
2. White Oak
3. Red Oak
4. Chestnut Oak
5. Sweetgum
6. Hickory

Pines and cedars were obvious.  But here is how I did it and why I did it.

How
I took a walk in the woods.  And I collected leaves from several different areas.  So I got to see what tree is where.

Why
I wanted to see what tree's were where by looking at their leaves.  That way, I knew where to go to hunt.  Or, if you don't do that, you can know where to go to observe wildlife.  Oaks provide food for deer, squirrels, and probably more.  Hickory provides food for squirrels, it's one of their favorite nuts.

In all, taking the survey helped me know more about my woods, and what's there.  If you manage wildlife, you can know where to apply fertilizer (or help in some way) to mast providing trees to increase their production of nuts and fruits for wildlife.

Merry Christmas!

Baiting vs. Supplemental Feeding

Baiting deer is a very debated topic.  I've read the pros and cons of it, and I think that if you want to bait, and it's legal too, fine.  If you don't bait, that's fine too.  I personally might bait a little bit, and I still will hunt over natural foods and when available, food plots.  But, let's make the difference between baiting and supplemental feeding (minerals)

Baiting- Attracting deer to a hunt site with the use of corn or deer attractant.
Supplemental Feeding- Giving deer minerals they need to get big, strong, and healthy.  You don't hunt over the spot, you leave it alone.  Doing this after the season would help deer to get through the winter without a lot of weight loss.

Baiting can be done with help from a feeder, or it can be piled on the ground.  I don't think it matters if you get a $400 one or make it out of pvc pipe for $5.  Deer have patterns, and they will stick to those patterns unless they have a good reason, so if you use a gravity feeder, it will only use feed if deer come.  Meanwhile battery feeders throw out feed that may or may not be eaten.

Mineral blocks can be used for bait, but I would say that they should be used to give deer much needed minerals.  Giving deer corn and mineral blocks can help them during winter, when food is scarcer than during summer or fall months.  Food plots are another example of feeding deer, if the food plot is there in the winter.

My personal experience.  I only used a little bit of corn in front of a camera to see if deer were coming to a particular area, that's it.  I haven't done the whole thing long, only a couple weeks.  But I think I will mostly stick to supplement feeding.  And if you have pvc or gravity feeders, why not just catch some acorns and put them in it so deer can have them?  (Check out my article on acorn gathering: Gathering Acorns for Hunting)

Big and J, Sportsman Choice, Whitetail Institute, Evolved Habitats, C' Mere Deer, all make good feeds and mineral items.
Salt blocks are another good investment.  But use them for minerals, not for bait.

That's all for now, happy hunting and Merry Christmas!

(CORRECTION): A couple weeks after I posted this article, I decided to hunt over my corn pile a little bit, as a last resort to get another deer, and I almost succeeded.  (3/26/14)

2nd Birthday!!

Snow Camp Outdoors just had their 2nd birthday a couple days ago!  Thank you all you readers for keeping me writing.  Please comment on what we should do next (adding in different content: video, product review).  

Product Review- Hurricane Bag Target

I think that the Hurricane Bag Targets are awesome.  Sure, you can't put broadheads into them, but they provide great target practice.

Durable
The bag target sustained 100's of shots from my bow, over a few seasons.  Eventually I was careless and left it outside most of the time, and if I kept it in a dryer place, it would have lasted even longer.

Nice Aiming Points
I have a target that has a deer vital area shown on one side, and "hurricane" looking aiming points on the other side.  I used the deer vital side much more than the other side, because it gave me a realistic thing to shoot at.

I Could Move It Around
All I needed to do was to pick up the strap and go!  Now, I wouldn't say that anyone could do it, depending on strength and age.

I like Hurricane Bag Targets.  I would recommend them.

Select A Bow

For those who want to get a bow, you must ask, "What type of bow do I want?"  You can boil it down into two main categories: traditional and modern bows.
  I would suggest that you look at if you want a modern compound or a traditional recurve bow, for example. Compounds give you let-off at full draw, while traditional bows do not.  Check out these two articles that I have written in the past to help you narrow down your choices:

Longbow vs. Recurve

Compound vs. Crossbow

  Another thing to consider is to see if you are right or left handed.  You need to find a bow to fit that need, obviously.  Some bows can be right or left handed, but not many.  Here is an interesting fact I found from "Archery Bows and Arrows Online," "However, reality is if you are right handed you will be holding your right handed bow with your left hand so be sure, if you are shopping on your own, to pick the one that you hold in the opposite hand of your dominant hand.1"  Great tip.

  An archery pro shop would really be of use in helping you find your draw length and weight.  They can measure how far you need to draw back the bow to get it to full draw, and how much weight you can pull back, because it won't work if you cannot.

  I have read that you can measure your arm length to figure out what draw length you need, but, as I said, archery pro shops really help.

Happy hunting!

1. Compound Fitting Guide

Squirrel Tip

If you happen to be hunting squirrels, and it seems to be that nothing is moving, just wait.  Today, I went squirrel hunting and it looked like absolutely nothing was going on, with the occasional birds singing.  But when I got into the woods, they were much more alive than I thought!  Squirrels were moving like crazy.  I got, with an air rifle, about 5 shots at them, all in one small area.  I didn't hit them, probably because my rifle is not in prime condition, but I am sure I also had something to do with it.
Squirrels do move, even when you think not, so just keep your eyes and ears open.

Happy hunting!

Food Plot Setup

I got this idea after reading about food plot shapes and native warm season grasses (NWSG). Here is a picture of this idea:

Here is the explanation of the illustration:

• The big green "S" is a food plot, it can be clover, chicory, peas, sugar beets,  whatever you want.  
• The brown stripes, on the inside bends of the "S," are NWSG, they are put there for cover for deer when they enter the food plot, cover for bedding, and cover for quail.
• The large green area with brown dots is, as you might have guessed, a forest.  If they are oaks, the deer have a great area for them.  Where else do they get, cover, lots of great food, and socialization all at once? 
• And lastly, the big black dots are treestands, which might have been obvious.  You can put them in different locations than shown, but this way you can hunt with almost any direction of wind blowing without it carrying your scent to the deer.

This is just a picture, okay?  Realize that there are no dimensions, it's that way so you have the freedom to do however big or small you need.  You might have done that even if I did dimensions.  

  But I want to do a note on the NWSG, if you want tall grasses (this would help with calling, because the deer can't see the "buck" or "doe" or even "fawn" that's calling to them, so they must come to investigate, putting them in your sights. 1 ), it is recommended by the University of Tennessee, that tall grass blends are usually made up of: big bluestem, indiangrass, little bluestem and switchgrass 2 .  You might also could add a little broomsedge in there.  But, the tall grass may not stay up in the winter, but they're still a good choice.

Short grass blend include: little bluestem, broomsedge and or sideoats gama, and other legumes and forbs. These types give cover for wildlife also, but maybe not quite as much for a deer.

  Another idea to make this even better would be to put a water source close by the area of this setup.

That's all for now!

1.QDMA How to Hunt Native Warm Season Grasses

2. Native Warm Season Grasses, University of Tennessee, pdf, pg.92

Beat Summer Heat and Other Summer Fun

Here are some tips for beating the heat:

• Play in the pool!  Great for cooling off.  Play Marco Polo, have jump contests (biggest cannonball splash).
• If you don't have access to a pool, have a water balloon fight.  It's fun!  Make it more fun by playing games, like Capture the Flag, but instead of tagging throw balloons!
• Smaller kids can play in a sprinkler.  That's always a good thing to do if they can't swim.
• When its cooler in the evening, play some volleyball, badminton, and other fun games.

Scouting for.. Squirrels?

Yes.  It is quite easy.  Scouting for where squirrels are in the preseason is a great way to know where they are.  Here are some things to look for:

1. Nuts:  Nuts are must.  Oaks, Hickory, Beech.  Any squirrel food source (including crops like corn).  Identifying nice squirrel food also might help with finding nice deer food sources (both like acorns and corn for example).  Look also for opened nuts on the ground.
2. The squirrels themselves. 
3. Look for the nests.  They look like big balls of branches in a tree.  Squirrels also use hollow parts in a tree for nests.  

Knowing where squirrel habitat is and how much of it there is can help a lot in wildlife management.  You know a rough population of squirrels and can know how many to harvest in the future.

Scouting Tips

Today I'll talk about some things I have learned and come up with for helping me scout in the hunting off season.  Both are helpful in ways that you may not have to go into the field (you still have to, but these lessen the time).

Google Earth
Great program.  Use place markers to mark spots of stands, blinds, points of interest, etc.   Trails can be marked also.  Use them to mark out logging roads (if any), trails, any other thing related to paths.

Printable Maps
I use a downloaded topo map and printed it and marked down all the sighting I had of deer and used them to locate likely spots for next season.

Fishing Tip

Fishing is fun.  A great way to enjoy the outdoors.  I'll give a new tip I learned on my last time fishing.

I fish in a pond that is mostly round.  But there is one part that makes a little point in it.  A little bay almost.  I fished in that little "bay" and I caught fish every time I went there.  So here is what I am saying.  While fish may be in the bigger body of water, look in small bays in lakes and ponds, because fish will gather in calm water and the small fish feel a little more secure.

Food Plots

Food plots are very important to wildlife.  Providing food, and, depending on the type of plant and animal, even cover.

What to Plant

Plants that you can plant on your own are included here:

Clover
Clover is one of the most popular food plot plants out there.  A good food source that provides protein, deer love it.  Given good care (mowing, fertilizing), clover can last forever.

Corn
Also a favorite of hunters, corn is a deer magnet.  If the corn field is big enough, it can provide ample food and cover for a bunch of whitetails.  But, don't rely on corn as your only food source, it can run out (depending on how much you planted).  You may need to plant another type of grass or clover to provide more food.

Others
Other seeds include: the popular soybean, wheat, turnips, chicory, buckwheat, and others.

Popular food plot brands that sell seeds and food plot blends include: Whitetail Institute, Antler King,       and BioLogic.

Care For Your Plot

Food plot plants don't prosper by themselves, they need help to grow.  Here is a few tips on helping the plant get their maximum potential:

• Increase pH.  7.0 pH is the target for soil acidity, which is neutral.  Check your pH with a soil tester or send it to a lab.  Once you know the pH, if needed, lime your plot to increase it (pH).  The lower the acidity, the better the plants.
• Once you have improved pH, you can fertilize.  Use a fertilizer that will target your specific food plot plant (or plants) needs.  Antler King has come up with great fertilizer's Plot Max and Jolt.  Both help increase pH and increase the amount of food plot foliage.

Tip

• When you don't use brand name seeds to plant you plot, it may be helpful to plant a mixture of seeds,  because different plants provide different nutritional needs for deer.

A good food plot will pull in deer from around your property and the surrounding properties, if put in the right place.  Happy hunting!

Rubs

Rubs, you know, the rubbing that you see on trees that deer make?  Here is a few things you should know about them.

1. Bucks rub to get the velvet off their antlers and to mark the tree with that particular buck's scent.
2. Sometimes you are able to tell what the size of the buck is depending on the size of the tree.  Any buck can rub on a small tree (as in a couple inches in diameter).  But only larger and more mature bucks can rub on large trees (trees that are a foot or more in diameter means it was a really big buck!).
3. The rubs can help you monitor your herd that you have in your area.  You can see the sizes of your bucks,  and help you figure out what their patterns are.

Pre-Season Scouting

Scouting before the season starts, even when it is still spring, is a great thing to do.  Set up trail cameras, feeders, and other things.

Cameras
Put cameras next to feeders, food plots, water sources, trails and other deer hotspots.  If there is a place that has a bunch of deer tracks that you can consistently find fresh ones, look there with trail cameras.

Feeders
Put them where deer will feel comfortable and not scared.  As said above, you could put a camera there to see how many deer are visiting it and how often.  When it needs to be filled, sneak in as quietly as possible and have yourself scentless.  Depending on where you live, deer may be used to the scent of people and not get scared as easily.  Or they may not return for days if they see and smell you while filling the feeders in a rural area.

Look For Signs
Tracks, beds, and eventually rubs and scrapes, are all great things to see where deer activity has been and where it is.

Popular Fishing Baits and Cover Spots

It is helpful to know what types of baits and cover fish like.

Baits

Sunfish
Small live baits work best for sunfish and artificial's also work.  Preferred baits are: worms, cut up nightcrawlers, crickets, and other small baits.

Bass
You can fish small or large baits for bass.  Popular baits include: jigs, soft plastics (plastic worms, crawdads, etc.), spinners, poppers, and divers.

Catfish 
Catfish will eat just about anything that has a smell, though artificial's will sometimes work.  Give them cut up baitfish, stinkbaits, a chunk of a bar of soap, anything that can have a scent.


Cover

Fish congregate near these things:

• In lakes- Docks and bridges work well for fish as shade. Piles of sunk logs protect small baitfish and fallen trees with many branches also do the trick in helping you find fish.  Weeds hide many small fish and protect them from predators.  Clutter, such as tires, cinder blocks, and other object create cover for fish.
• Streams and rivers- Points in the river block the current, look there.  And, like lakes, fallen trees also provide a great source of cover for fish in rivers.  Large ricks break up the rivers current, making the water a few feet behind it calm; to find rocks beneath the surface, look for a V's on the surface.

Airgun Hunting Part 2

Today we will cover airgun hunting.
Airgun hunting is pretty simple.  You just hunt with it like what you would with a rifle.  Except you won't be shooting long distances.

Here is a list of animals that I would recommend to hunt with an airgun:

• Squirrels: They are the most popular small game species in America.  Place the shot in the chest or head area.  Try to bag squirrels on the ground, so if you miss, there is no deadly pellet still flying.   
• Rabbits:  They can be hunted, but they are tricky to shoot with an airgun.  Personally I hunt them with a shotgun, so I don't know much about it, but all I know is that it can be done.
• Crows:  These wary birds can be taken with an airgun.  But check with state laws before you hunt them with an airgun.

I hope you have enjoyed our look into airgun hunting.  It is cheap, cool, and fun.  I hope you will try it!

Airgun Hunting Part 1

Airgun hunting is a very fun sport.  For the most part you can only hunt small game with them, but its fun anyway.
I will go into the basics of airgun hunting: guns, ammo, and tips on hunting.  For now, we will cover guns and ammo.

Guns

Types, Actions, Power Plants

• Main Actions: Break barrel, Underlever, Bolt-Action
• Main Power Plants: Spring Pistion, PCP (Precharged Pneumatic), Pump Action, Co2

Brands

I would recommend Ruger, Benjamin, Beeman, Remington, and Browning.  Basically any of the brands that make good big game rifles and shotguns should most likely make good airguns (if that brand makes airguns).

I personally have a Ruger Airhawk that I have had for a little over two years, still working great.

Calibers

.117, .20, .20, .25 are the main calibers for airgun hunting rifles.

Ammo

Types and Info

• Hollow Point: Does a lot of damage with increased pellet expansion.
• Wadcutter: Very accurate.  They are fine for hunting at short ranges, about 25 yards, which isn't much.
• Round Nose: Round tip reduces wind resistance.  Use for long range shooting
• Pointed: A great hunting pellet that provides maximum penetration of game.  Very accurate.

Next time in part two I will talk a little about hunting small game with an airgun.