3rd Birthday!

I forgot to mention it earlier, but a few days ago Snow Camp Outdoors just had a 3rd birthday! Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to!

A Few Pic's and a Story

Hello!  It's been a while!  Well, I was out hunting last Saturday and it was around 4:45-5pm.  I was in one corner of the property I hunt when I looked up at the sky and said "Lord, I've not seen any deer the past three times or so I've been here, can you please let me see one today?"  Three seconds later, I see a doe.  The only problem is: it's on the wrong side of a cow pasture that I can't shoot at!  Not only was the window in the thick understory brush I looked through not a real firing lane, but I didn't think deer would go out in that field at that time!  To make matters worse, there was seven of them!!  They kept jogging along and eventually went past my stand.  I was unable to shoot at seven deer!  Then in the distance I hear BANG.......BANG......BANG!!!  "WHY!!  Yes, I wanted to see deer, but you know that's not what I meant!"  I even about could pinpoint the spot on the property they crossed to get to the field on the other side!  Ah, the joys of hunting!

Besides that, I've gotten a lot of pictures since I last posted.  It's mostly a doe group, but there have been a couple bucks around.

6-point, nice little rack there, huh?

This was a nice sized 5-point, he's pretty well bodied.

It's crunch time of the season, best luck on filling your tag!  Happy Thanksgiving!

November Pictures

I've been out twice this month, once was more of a scouting walk in a property that I was somewhat unfamiliar with.  Both times I've seen deer.  I've shot one already with my bow, but it was a behind where I wanted the arrow to go (my fault).  I tried to trail the doe the next morning, but no blood trail or anything.  And I mean nothing...at...all to help me find that deer.  I was disappointed, but still reported a harvest.  But anyway, enough of that, here are some pictures I recently got on my camera.

I'm thinking that this was a button buck, just by looking at the head.

I'm almost positive this a doe I call "Missy" she comes by often.

This is Missy's fawn, she has the biggest fawns I've ever seen.

I'm making a very good educated guess on the last two pictures.  Missy and her fawns come by often, probably more often than any other deer at my camera.  Missy is also the biggest deer I've seen this year and her fawns are like their mom, big (no offence Missy) and healthy.  The cool thing is I can track whether or not a doe it Missy is on her left side there is a black spot on her shoulder.  And she has the big fawns, as you can probably see.

That's all for now!  Keep hunting as the rut heats up!

Mid-Late Season Sucess

By now, the acorns are slowing in their drop, and whitetails are looking for other foods to get ready for winter.  But the rut is also starting to kick in.  Here's just a couple tips to help during the rut.

• Hunt does to find bucks.  You've probably heard this one before, and it's quite simple.  It explains itself.  And if you want to shoot does, hunt the does!
• Try calling.  Doe grunts and buck grunts would be good now.  Tending (estrous) grunts might work.  Don't try fawn bleats, because the fawns born this year should start to be acting like does or young bucks.
• Keep practicing with your weapon.  By now your guns and bows should be sighted in (I'm a little behind in the gun department, I've been on vacation with family).  But keep familiar with it, which shouldn't be a problem.

Happy hunting!

Mid-Season Sucess

How is the deer season going?  I have yet to take a deer, but I've only been out 4-5 times, twice I didn't see anything (well, except a doe and fawn 150 yards off), twice I've seen deer, and ultimately both times they spooked.  And lastly on a hunt I saw a coyote while hunting on the ground, I didn't stay to see if there were more.  But I'll give you a few tips and try to follow my own advice here:

• Try calling.  Doe grunts may work, and fawn bleats might still do the trick.  
• Have a strategy.  Know when, where, and how your going to hunt a particular area.  Let someone know where you are, just for safety.  
• Hunt food sources.  Acorns are now starting to fall, so head over to some oaks.  Food plots may also be productive.  
• Any hunt you can walk away from is a good hunt, so stay safe.

Have a good weekend!

Don't Forget the Does

A lot of the hunting world today revolves around bucks.  You'll see on websites "How to get a bruiser in the early season" or "Where to catch the big boys" and so on.  And many lose sight of the does.  And actually, they have a lot to do with genetics and herd health.  Not only that, but they offer more opportunities to shoot and give kids an opportunity for a deer.  And, you hunt does to find bucks in the rut.  But here we go...

• Does give half of the genetics to the fawns.  So they give just as much genetics as bucks.  An unhealthy or sickly doe will not give great genetics even if a great buck breeds her.  
• Not only that, but the more does there are, there is less rut activity.  If there are more does, then it will be harder to pinpoint where a buck will be if there are a lot of places does could be.  If there are less does, then bucks will have to search out for them more, leading to more buck activity.  
• The more does there are, the higher the population of deer.  You may ask, "Isn't that good?"  Yes and no.  More population means more deer which mean more hunting opportunities.  No because if the amount of food a deer population eats exceeds the amount of forage a piece of land produces, then the herd suffers.  Less food means less nutrition.  Less nutrition leads to smaller deer and unhealthier deer and smaller racks and fawns. 

Yes, I did read about some of this, but all you need is a little logic to get to those conclusions (I mean no disrespect to anyone).

Till next time!

Pinpoint Hunting Spots

In prep for hunting season, make sure you know where to hunt on the property (or properties).  Many hunters look at a good looking spot, hoping deer are in the area.  Sometimes they get lucky, other times, not quite so much.  I don't want anyone to be like that.  So, here is a list of places that would be good spots:

• Look for trails leading from bedding to feeding areas.  Trails leading to oak trees would be dynamite spots when the acorns fall.
• Funnels.  Look for places that narrow deer movement to a small area.  An example would be a thin strip of woods in bordered by fields on both sides.  Or, there might be a field on one side and a river on the other, with a little bit of woods in between.  
• In public land, look for places other hunters don't go!  Many hunters on public land (or even private) may not go that far from their trucks to their hunting spots.  Go twice as far as they do.  Also look for places that hunters look over.  Those places will probably hold deer since they are unpressured in that area.

In all, look for food sources and unpressured areas.  Does will go there, and bucks will follow.

Get your license and hang up stands!  It's just around the corner!  'Till next time!    

Recent Camera pics...and one of the cutest so far

I've put the camera back out.  I've gotten a good bit of pictures too, mostly at night, since it's close to a driveway.  But I'll share some of the day pictures:

The doe in the above picture is the mother of the fawn.

 As I was scrolling through pictures this morning, not expecting anything but does (which I got, except the fawn!). I was about to bounce off my seat because that's the first picture I've gotten of a fawn with his/her mother (most of her :).  It's also one of the few pictures of fawns I've gotten and the best one.  Just want to see the bucks now!

Get ready!  It's only a few weeks away!  But keep things in focus, God, school, work, and family come first! Till next time!

Prep For Hunting Season

Hunting season is just around the corner!  While summer is a great time to fish and swim in pools, it's also a great time to get outdoors in the woods and prepare.  Here's a list of things that you can do to prep for the final weeks till the season:

• Backyard bow practice!  Start drilling on your form, aim, release, and follow-through.  Backyard bowhunts are another fun thing.  You put out a target (a 3D makes it a WHOLE lot funner!) and you start from one side of your yard, and creep up on the target, and make a shot.  You practice your skills for a stalk or still hunt.  You can also do this on a treestand.  Go up, sit like normal, then act like the target you set up, say, a deer, walks into view.  Slowly stand up and draw, aim, release, and follow-through.
• Scout!  Look for tracks, trails, browsed plants.  Food sources, bedding areas, you name it!  If you can locate a trail that is close to bedding and food sources for around the year, your set!  For example, one place that I'm looking at putting a stand is close to a trail that passes oaks, a greenbriar patch (which deer like to eat), and bedding.  And when it rains, a small ditch actually makes a temporary pond.  Perfect spot for a stand! Which leads me to my next point...
• Hang Stands!  Looks for spots like what I mentioned above.  Not only that, but bedding near creeks, trails, food sources, near corn fields, and so on.  
• Sight in your gun!  If you don't sight in your rifle, you won't hit anything.  Not only that, but practice with it, let it become almost a part of you since your so good at handling it.
• Put out trail cams!  (I'm repeating myself) Near trails, bedding, food sources, mineral licks, so on.

Other things that I'll leave out of the "big" list is establishing mineral licks and food plots.  Now, food plots are meant to complement natural food sources, not replace them.  You might could just seed a place with naturally occurring seeds, or let the plants come up by themselves.  Sometime food plots can be a pear tree, or an oak stand.  They don't have to be a lawn of clover.  And they are not necessarily necessary to have a great hunt!  I just do a little bit of it because I enjoy doing it.

Stay safe, get your licence, and get ready to hunt!  Until next time!

Fishing on the Watauga River

The Watauga River in western NC is only 60 miles long, but it offers good fishing, depending on where you fish.  Watauga is a Cherokee name and it means "the land beyond 1."
  Last week I was in the mountains with family and we wanted to throw in a line.  A man pointed us to a road that runs parallel to the river.  We went and fished, and caught nothing for a while.  Then, I had almost given up, and BAM!  A smallmouth hit my lure with a fierce blow.  I fought him a little too quick, because he had a lot of fight in him.  I was just about to grab him (he was around a foot long and weighed maybe 2lbs, at least 1 1/2lbs) for a picture and the jerked and flipped and snapped the line!!
  Even so, I had fun. I'll try to get some pictures if I can, then I'll add it to this article.  But here are a few things I have learned about river/creek fishing in general:

1. Fish what the fish will bite.  If they don't want surface lure, try a diver (where legal) or a spoon or worm.  Jigs will also trigger a bite.  If the river is shallow, get a diver that, of course, dives but floats. If it sinks, then it will drag along the bottom like a rock when you reel it in.
2. Artifical bait is good for using a small bobber and a little line below it.  Don't go any deeper than about 8 inches, but that will depend.  A shallow creek will need less line below the bobber than one would in the Mississippi River.
3. Bass strike hard and fast.  They (at least smallmouths) also like to jump out of the water.  Keep you line tight and try to tire the fish out a little by giving him a little line.  But keep it tight.
4. Trout seem to know if someone is fishing for them.  You have to be somewhat stealthy and don't let them know you are there.  

As anyone should, check your state fishing laws to make sure the way you fish is legal.  And always have fun.  Till next time!!

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watauga_River  

Recent Camera Pictures

Well, I had a camera out last week, and pulled it out to see what I got.  It took fewer pictures than I thought, but I did get some valuable ones.

Note: The deer like to play hide and seek in these pictures.  If I made them bigger, they would take up half of the page.

The deer is toward the center of the picture, behind the big tree.

Look where the big fallen tree and thick tree meet.  It's a fawn (the head at least).

It's a nice finding game right?  But anyway, sorry I can't make them bigger, but I hope you guys enjoy them!

Independence Day

The Fourth of July is one of the most celebrated holidays in America.  And rightly so.  But, amidst of all the fireworks, some might lose sight of the importance of this day.

The year is 1776, and the 13 American Colonies have started to fight against Britain.  The Continental Congress, with Thomas Jefferson doing the most of the writing, wrote the Declaration of Independence, stating our, well, declaration of independence from England.  They explained the reasons why they wanted independence and addressed certain grievances that the colonists had against the king.  The Congressmen signed the document on July 4th, 1776.  On July 8th, as the Declaration was being read, bells sounded in joyous harmony marking the birth of a nation!  But, the new country still had a war to wage, and trials fought through, and independence won.  In 1783, it finally came to pass after the surrender at Yorktown.

That is why we celebrate, to mark another year our nation has stood.  But it can only stand as long as we help it to.

Budget Hunter

I wanted to say a few words on my being a hunter.  I am just a teen (a polite one :) , and saved by Jesus).  I don't have a dozen stands or trail cameras.  I don't have a TV show on the Sportsman Channel to give me funds for food plot and habitat management.  In other words, in how much I can do for the property I hunt on is probably just as much as any teen.  I will be honest, a lot of my gear was given to me.  I either asked for it or was given it as a gift (even if I didn't ask).  Most of that stuff I would have bought myself if it had not been given.

I have a $70 Wildgame Innovations Axe 2 gamecamera.
   My bow is a Parker Side Kick.  It performs well for a youth bow, pretty quiet and accurate.  It has the "grow-up-with-Parker" program, which means I can trade in the limbs that came with the bow for thicker limbs for $50.  I get to keep the old limbs for when I go to a new bow and I put the slimmer limbs on for my siblings.
   This I write for the memory of my great-grandfather (dad's side).  A few months ago I posted a picture of my first deer. The gun in the picture is a Winchester Model 94AE, given by my great-grandpa.  He died just a few weeks ago.  I was happy he saw the rifle put to good use before then.  And he was proud of it too.
   All of the land I hunt on is of course, not mine.  I get permission from my grandfather (my mom's dad). You could say that I get a "free lease."  This year my family plans to hunt with me on it, so I have to get a few food plots in to get ready.

I could write more, but, that's all I want to write for now.

Ice Storms

A almost two months ago we had a bad ice storm in my part NC.  Some people were without power for almost a week.  Personally, we regained power after half a day.
A lot of tree tops were down, causing brush piles in many places.  But whole trees went down as well.  In one place a tree caused other trees to fall on other trees that it created a nice sized opening.  My instant thought: food plot!  Bedding and night feeding is close by, and deer have been in those woods.  I've seen a doe and a couple rubs in that location.  I know some that have management plans different from mine, say, planting oaks where trees fell and created an opening, which is fine.

Keep camera's running and keep scouting, because something good will come out of it!

Trail Camera Update

So, in the last post I promised to show you all some of my recent pictures.  Well, here they are:

Apparently deer aren't the only ones at the feeder.

My feeder was a little dirty after the raccoon incident.  But, well, at least some deer are coming.

Short, but I did what I promised!  Until next time!!

Trials and Tribulations of a Treestand

Hello from Snow Camp Outdoors!!  It's been a while, I know, things have been slow and I have some posts drafted, so be ready for some updates in the following weeks (even days!).  Besides that, I recently put up a treestand in my front yard!!  75 yards away from my house with a small food plot in front of it.  Not bad right?  It is a two person stand by Ameristep.

Behind the stand

Next to it, looking up

Looking at it from my plot

The stand is not that high, only 8 feet.  It is really only 20 to 25 yards from my stand to the plot.  It took me and the help of two 9 year old boys to put it up.  But we did it.  

  Once it was up, I tried to tighten the "installation" straps.  Did it, then went to the ratchet straps.  I couldn't figure it out, but eventually I did.  Then, I found the installation straps needed more tightening!  I took maybe an hour, but I was really proud once I put it up, my first stand.

  So, what is the plot?  Well, it's clover and chicory, but it's just coming up.

The feeder is out there mainly to get deer coming into the area.  So when the plot comes up, they'll eat it.  By the way,  I'll post some of my recent pictures soon.  

Until next time!! 

Enjoying Snow

It's snowing where I live in NC.  Really cool stuff.  Me and my family played in it, sledding and all.  I also went on a very short scouting trip.  More to just take a walk in the woods than anything else.  I went to look for tracks, trails, anything.  But just enjoying tromping through the snow and enjoying God's creation was enough.  Sometimes, that's just what you need to do.  But, tomorrow morning, just for fun, I'm going to look at tracks, along with play time!

Be Resourceful

I have a Delta River Bottom Intruder 3-D target.  I tried it, and it didn't work with broadheads like it was supposed too.  It actually destroyed them.  So, after some thought,  I think I'll try to make this target into some kind of decoy.  Put some scent on it, and put it close to a stand somewhere and see what happens.  So, if some product doesn't work well, find what it can do.

And for future targets, I think I'm going to go with Big Green or Hurricane.

Product Review: Wildgame Innovations Axe 2 Game Camera

This game camera is the same one that has taken all of the deer camera pictures on my blog.  I have had it on almost continuously for a few weeks at a time, and it still has more than half battery power left.

My Wildgame Innovations Axe 2 game camera

It's been pretty reliable.  Flash is adequate.  It does not have color night pictures, as you can see with the pictures on my blog.  You can judge for yourself if you think this camera is a good deal (under $80) or not, I think it is.

The Last Camera Pics...For Now

This will be the last post of my camera pictures, for a few weeks.  I thought I should give it a break.  But keep watch for when I post up some pictures.  Anyway, here are some of the pictures I got recently:

I wonder, what was she looking at?

Little blurry, but all camera's have their moments.

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures!  I'll post some more soon!