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.