4 Years of Snow Camp Outdoors!

It just hit me today as I was thinking about my hunting past, on November 28th, 2015, Snow Camp Outdoors has been up for 4 years!  This year, while I didn't post an overwhelming amount, I saw one post get used by the RMEF for their youth newsletter!  One of my favorite posts was one I did very recently, when I wrote about Mom's first hunt with me!

One Special Evening

This evening was one where God again made things fall into place.  I was able to harvest my third deer of the season, a small doe (who looks even smaller because of picture angle).  The shot, my longest ever made, was 100 yards (it's NC woods okay!) with my .30-30 Winchester 94.

And while getting a deer is a blessing, this is not the main reason that this night was special.  It was that this was the first hunt my mom had ever done with me.  She was mostly there to observe, but it made no difference to me whether she's shooting or not.  She was there with me, and that's all that mattered.  

She apparently came at the right time too.  We had been in the stand for around 30 minutes and we saw a doe feeding off the opposite side of the field we were next too.  We watched her for five minutes, and she went away.  Only a couple minutes later, 3 more does came into the field, this time closer to us.  While they did not present a shot from the stand, I was able to climb down and shoot while she watched the action from above.  She's now experienced the thrill of the hunt, and I hope she'll come back for more.

Trail Camera- a Good Buy For Anytime

Hello!  This will be short and sweet.  I wanted to say that one of the camera's I have recommended in the past, the Axe 2 by Wildgame Innovations, has apparently been phased out, at least in name.  I think the WI Red 4 is the next generation of the Axe 2.  Both are about the same price, and both should do very well for a budget camera.  See you later!

Know Your Distance

Hello all!  A couple weeks ago I was out hunting in the evening.  I was set up close to where I had seen deer feed under some oaks.  Around 6 p.m. , a buck came up towards me.  After waiting a few minutes to make sure he wouldn't see my movements, I pulled back my bow for a shot and settled the 20 yard pin right behind his shoulder.  The distance from me to the buck was longer than I thought, because the shot went right under his belly.  He came back, and gave me another shot.  I misjudged again...twice...but I got very close on the thirty yard shot.  Anyway, the point of the story is: know how to estimate yardages correctly. Now I know where to aim when I go back to that spot, I just wish I would have the first time.

How do you learn to estimate yardages correctly?  Practice at varying ranges.  Get good at it.  If you have a life size deer (elk, bear, coyote) target, all the better, because you can see what that animal looks like at 17, 24, 32 etc. yards.  When you see that in the wild and remember what it looked like in target practice it helps a lot.  For example, I see a deer come out in front of me, and it looks about as big as the target I have at home when I shoot from 28 yards, I aim for 28.

The Early Season

Deer season is upon us!  I'm going to go over some tips and some of my gameplan for the next few weeks.

• In the early season, deer are usually still in their summer patters.  Therefore: funnels, early season food sources/plots, even well used deer trails, are all good places to start.  If you've managed to pattern a deer, use that knowledge to your advantage.  Is there a deer coming through a funnel at a consistent time?  Be there before it gets there, and you have a good chance of getting it.
• Calling can works well.  Try fawn bleats, doe bleat/grunts, and buck grunts.

As for my gameplan?  Hunt a funnel (in evening) and a couple specific food sources/mineral sites (morning and or evening), and transition to acorns in about a week or so.  I have a video I plan to post on Youtube about my early season experiences as soon as I get it finished!  That's all for now!