Speed Scouting for Deer Season

 Fall is here everyone!  It's gotten a little chilly down here in central NC, especially after Sally came through and brought so much rain.  Either way, for those of you who see my social media posts, you know I've had quite the last few months!  Graduating college, starting a new full time job, and welcoming a new daughter!  

That doesn't leave a lot of time to scout for the upcoming deer season to pinpoint new spots.  If you're pretty familiar with the property, then great, head start!  You may not need to find out where deer hang out on the property, as you may have that down.  But, there may be new bucks in the area or some new patterns individuals may have.  So, keep your cameras going!

If you're unfamiliar with the area you're hunting, like trying out public land, then you need to get started quick!  Hunting apps like HuntStand or OnXMaps are really useful here to get a grip on an aerial view to identify possible pinch points and routes to and from food/bedding.  On the ground, if you find an oak ridge, or a flat spot between two slopes where there's an oak stand, great!  Or, maybe is a lower area between to slopes where deer may travel from bedding to food.  Look for natural barriers that may attract deer movement.  

If you're hunting a smaller property, like so many suburban hunters, deer are likely in the thick stuff.  Deer love the thicker sanctuaries because quite frankly, they don't have many other places to go.  And that's also where people are less common.  Bottom areas where there is a creek with woods and some thicker undergrowth is a good place to start when trying to find deer, as often those sites aren't buildable and therefore are left alone. Where law allows, you can possibly attract deer and hold them on a smaller property with some corn feeding or even a mineral site.  Quite possibly a small food plot can be planted and if well managed, you're in the gold.  But that's more of a long term thing, we're talking speed scouting!

Again, you're speed scouting, trying to narrow down quickly where deer are and aren't.  Not only scan for landmarks and land/food qualities, but be on the lookout for any rubs, scrapes, or beds in the area.  It's amazing how often you will stumble onto stuff like that.  When you see something of note, mark down that spot!  If you do so, patterns may start to emerge on the map that you may not have noticed otherwise.

Deer Society "Mr.Maybe" Video Highlight

As I sit here on a Friday evening listening to the rain pour down on the North Carolina countryside, and thinking about the buck I saw in the front yard this morning, I got an itch to watch some hunting videos.  Yeah yeah "you might be a hunter if (fill in the blank)".  That may be a good idea to try sometime, let me know in the comments if you have a "You might be a hunter if..."!  But seriously, if you can't hunt during deer season, do the next best thing: watch footba, I mean, hunting videos.  So, here's a thought.  I'm going to be posting some video's of hunts/stories with the tactics they use to get the deer, and provide my thoughts.  With my own story of Prince last year, I may do a little video of my own if that appeals to anyone!  I don't have any hunt footage, but I can share pictures and narrate my story!

Normally the video's will be fairly short, though this one is a little more than 10 minutes, but worth the watch to me.  So here's my video highlight pick, a video by Deer Society of a buck called Mr.Maybe :

The tactic of using buck scent, in addition to the water source, is a fantastic setup.  Given the conditions of drought, in combination with the fact he was a dominate buck, just shows how a little ingenuity can tip the odds in your favor.  Being the dominate buck, he would need a challenger to face him for him to even be interested.  But he knew all the bucks in the area.  So by using unfamiliar scent in his core area, it nagged and annoyed the buck.  Which was the bucks undoing, and the arrow that shot him literally had his name on it.

Hope you like this new spin on things.  I plan on bringing out a couple more video's in the future, in addition to telling you about my trip to Montana back in the summer!  Keep hunting!

The Season Approaches

It's almost hunting season!  Are you ready?  I know I'm not, as far a prep goes!  BUT, here's a few things to help rev up for the season:

• Glass fields and crops such as soybeans at dusk.  It's also a great way just to sit out in nature and enjoy it, take someone with you too!
• Put out trail cameras.  I have a camera out, I need to check it :) I've been away lately, but I can't wait to see what it has captured in pictures!  As far as trail cameras go, look for patters in activity.  If you have consistent pictures of deer at 8am and 5pm during the summer, then during the early season they should still be following that same pattern.  Thus, you know when you should be in your stand.
• Shoot!  Shoot your rifle, shotgun, your bow.  Sight in the scope.  Pattern your shotgun and perfect that lead by shooting some skeet.  While shooting your bow; perfect your anchor point and release, not to mention arrow grouping.

Enjoy your prep time!  Can't wait for fall!

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!   

Hunting Website

Hi guys!  I just wanted to quickly let everyone know of a website I've known of for a while and honestly haven't thought to share it.  Anyway, the site is Hungry for Hunting and his new website is devinbrewer.com (they both have good content in them). I've been on his newsletter list for a while now and he's got great content.  I'm in a video series where he's going over how he learned to deer hunt and how he eventually learned to succeed year after year.  It's more than walking up on a deer or "hiking with a gun" as he calls it, but you should scout, plan wisely, and hunt smart, being ready to adapt as things change.  Hope you guys will check it out, and I'll see you next time!

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!

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!    

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

Apply What You Learn into Practice

So, yesterday I was hunting, again, and I unknowingly walked, apparently, into a does bedroom.  I started to walk into a big clump of thorn bushes and a doe jumped out and seem very surprised I was there.  I had read a lot about hunting in some books the last few weeks so I put what I read into practice.  I read that deer sometimes double-back, so I waited in a little clear stretch in a bottleneck in the woods close to where the does bed was.  The doe, thinking the danger had past, came back through the clearing (really a 10 foot wide path) came back right in front of me in bow range.  I wasn't prepared to draw back because the doe was walking so silent.  But the doe kept walking and I didn't get to shoot.  But I decided to follow, but I scared it so it ran off again.  I waited a while but I decided to head home before I saw it again.  So, don't feel bad for me.  I don't.  The lesson is this: deer sometimes will double-back.

An Experience to Learn From

I just had an exiting experience that all of us can learn from.  I was bowhunting on Sept. 20, 2012, and I was in a large area that had been clear-cut.  All the weeds that had grown up since the clear-cutting made things a little difficult to see.  I had found a huge deer trail that was about 8-10 feet wide and totally clear of weeds.  I knew that there was a small trail that wound through the weeds which eventually intersected with the trail I was on only a short distance away.  As I walked along the big trail, hoping that deer would be on the "highway" I heard a rustling close to a big brush pile.  Thinking it was a rabbit, I kept on.  But the sound followed me.  I tried to see if it was a deer by making a grunt sound.  Then BOOM out of nowhere a huge doe goes leaping away.  It wasn't anymore than 15 to 20 feet away!  I had an arrow knocked but it didn't matter, I couldn't hit a running deer.  I had no idea that a 100 pound deer was there because I couldn't see through the weeds that separated us.  Here is the lesson:

Always be prepared.  Don't let your guard down.  The deer you desire may be 15 feet in front of you.

At least this experience of losing a deer will make the one you (if you've had the same thing happen to you) or I get taste success that much better.

Note: This lesson was made at the authors expense.