Grow the Hunt

Off To A Good Start

-By Rich Miller

So far this year my deer season has been as good as it gets. I was fortunate enough to get a good deer early and I have been seeing a lot of deer activity every time I go into the woods.

It has been a long time since I have seen this much food on the ground and the deer are really loving it. Usually when there is this much food it is a problem keeping up with them and trying to figure out where they are feeding. When deer don’t have to move very far to find food it makes it hard to intercept them between bedding and feeding.

Luckily that hasn’t been a problem for me this year and I have been covered up with deer everywhere I have been. In the different hardwoods I have been hunting I have seen a lot of fresh signs from where deer have been bedding there. I haven’t jumped any deer going in to hunt but I have been worried that they will be there before I get there.

I normally take the opportunity this time of year to do some doe management but so far I have been really slack. I went down to my hunting club last weekend with the intent to take out some does and just have some fun with my bow. My hunts went as planned but when I had the opportunity to shoot I got lazy and started thinking I didn’t wasn’t to mess with cleaning a deer that night and never shot anything.

Another reason I didn’t shoot a doe was the amount of buck sign that I found when I arrived at the club. It had been a couple of weeks since I had been down there and there was almost no buck sign then. Man was I in for a shock when I stepped into the woods on Thursday afternoon. There were scrapes and rubs everywhere as I walked to the spot that I intended to hunt.

I had seen two really nice bucks in this area last fall and I was hopeful that they had made it through the season. With all of the sign I saw while setting up, all I could do was picture one of those bucks walking out and checking the fresh scrapes in front of me. I know the odds of seeing one of these mature bucks during daylight hours this time of year are not very good, but I still couldn’t make myself shoot a doe.

As the days get shorter and the temperature gets colder the hunting will just get better every day. It seems like someone is calling me to tell me about the big buck that they had seen or had the chance to harvest on a daily basis.

This is the time of year that we have been waiting months on so if you haven’t gotten out in the woods yet I think it is a perfect time to get off of the couch and get out there.

Good luck when you do!

The Best Laid Plans

-By Rich Miller

In last weeks’ blog I talked about a hunt where I did a lot of things wrong and the hunt didn’t work out the way I wanted. Some hunts just happen that way and some happen just like we plan them. One thing I have learned through years of hunting is when you think you know what to expect, the unexpected happens.

Usually when I go on a hunting trip I have a plan. Whether I am driving to areas around my house or making a road trip, I plan where I want to hunt the evening I arrive, the next morning, and the day after that. Sometimes I am still undecided when I arrive but other times I follow my plan to the letter.

Several years ago I was headed to Kansas for a rifle hunt and, as usual, I spent the whole drive thinking of where I wanted to hunt the afternoon I arrived. We arrived shortly after lunch, and once we said our hellos and unpacked it was time to get down to business. My Uncle Jimmy knew where he wanted to go and I had decided to go to what we call the “Crooked Creek Farm”. Our Game Spy cameras had been providing us with some pictures of three shooter bucks on a consistent basis. While I would have shot any one of these deer, there was a big ten-point in particular that I was really hoping to settle my crosshairs on.

After dropping my uncle off at his hunting spot, my buddy Mick and I headed toward Crooked Creek to drop me off. We don’t lease or have the soul hunting rights to this farm, but we never have any problem with the other guy that hunts it. The farmer is just kind enough to let us hunt. Well, as luck would have it when we arrived at the gate to the property there was a truck parked there. I didn’t know where the other hunter was nor did I want to intrude on him when he was already there first so we left.

It was getting late and after discussing it with Mick we decided to head over to a new farm that we had acquired permission to hunt that year. I hadn’t been on the property, but I had checked it out on Google Earth and pretty much knew how the land laid. Between Google Earth and Mick filling me in on what and where the crops were on the property, I came up with a plan for the rest of the afternoon. As we arrived at the gate to the property I grabbed all of my gear as Mick was pointing out the crop fields to me and where he thought would be the best vantage point for me to sit that afternoon.

After I had walked through the gate, I may have gone a hundred yards when I crested a ridge and noticed a deer walking in my direction. I definitely spotted him before he saw me because he was still walking in my direction. Naturally, as soon as I spotted him I hit the ground and commenced to getting my rifle off of my shoulder. Now keep in mind all of this was taking place in what seemed like less than a second. As I was trying to get my rifle ready for a shot, the buck must have caught my movement because he stopped and was staring dead at me.

I had him in my scope and he was looking straight at me, his rack at the time looked to be in the 200-inch range. I didn’t have a lot of time to look at him. I was just trying to make sure it was a buck I wanted to shoot the first day of a twelve-day hunt. At 175 yards it, was easy to see that he was a shooter. He was one of those that you don’t judge; you just get your gun ready. He was well within range but facing straight at me. All I needed was for him to turn enough so I could get a bullet into his vitals.

As if he was reading a script he turned to run and my bullet found its mark. The deer instantly hit the ground and there was no doubt that I had just taken the biggest deer of my life. While walking to the deer, I heard a truck coming and to my surprise Mick was coming through the gate. He had seen the whole thing from about three-quarters of a mile away. He said that he could see the deer from the angle he was at, but he couldn’t see me. He knew things were good when he saw the buck hit the ground and then heard the shot.

Even though this was my biggest buck ever, he still had one thing that just about every deer has, he had ground shrinkage! He was about 30 inches shy of the 200 mark that I had originally estimated. Also, the deer ended up being a perfect ten-point frame and had two matching kickers off each of his G2’s. I guess the way he was standing and looking at me made him look like he was more of a non-typical.

It is funny how everything worked out on this hunt. I was really disappointed when someone was in the first spot that I went to, but if the guy had not have been hunting there I would have missed out on one of the best bucks of my life. Even some of our best laid plans don’t work out. Keep going and don’t give up. As long as you are in the woods, Lady Luck may help you out the way she did me.

Making Summer Successful

-By Brandon Wikman

Summer seems to strike a golden chord with savvy archers awaiting the opener. It is a time when we prep ourselves mentally and physically for the dawning of a new season that lies only weeks ahead. Our goals are set, anticipation is high, and now we sit tight, holding on to last year’s cherished memories. These recollections will soon evolve into this year’s fresh moments of enlightenment as we move into the later stages of summer.

This time of the year is always my most difficult time to cope with. Like many hunters, my calendar counts down the days until opening weekend of archery season. Deer season couldn’t come any sooner, but as it often does for many of us, by September we are wishing we’d put an extra few days of planting food plots, checking cameras, and scouting. Instead of daydreaming about the season, take action to make it the best hunt of your life by successfully preparing a game plan.

During different stages of the day, my mind departs and wanders into the forest. My imagination strolls down deer trails, overlooks hunting property from a birds-eye-view, and plants rich food plots in areas I’d never step camouflage boot in. During the afternoon grind reality splinters the ceiling of my office into tiny fragments of ideas and chunks of drywall clobber me over the head bringing an unsettled ambition to create one more nutritious plot, hang another stand, and burn more gas taking rides around the block with my binoculars strung around my neck. It is these small innovations of strategy that will make us all more successful hunters.

During the next few weeks I will be taking advantage of the extra time by hanging a few more stands around a freshly planted food plot that will be monitored by my handy game camera. Deer are constantly mowing greens right now. You will find bucks juicing-up on protein rich foods that will help them build muscle for the November brawls that lie ahead. Does are not so different. They are inhaling masses of soybean, alfalfa, and clover, which helps them feed their young. I’ve always found that placing my trail camera along field edges during this time of year yields many more photos.

As the shadows of dusk blanket the horizon, mature whitetails step foot into the limelight. It is a perfect time burn a few miles and ignite buck fever by driving around the areas you hunt. I will often times park behind brush or a wall of trees to remain hidden as I drool at the velvet covered bone from the eye-piece of my spotting scope. There’s nothing like glassing fields that are speckled with monster whitetail and knowing your tree stand’s only yards away. You must ask yourself, “Are you ready?”

Many hunters sit back and relax as opening day pulls the carpet from beneath their spotless boots. Prepare yourself now so you can pull the rug from beneath that buck’s hooves!

Bluegrass Breakdown

-By Rich Miller

Last week I was invited to Kentucky for a Knight & Hale Pro Staff meeting. I was really excited about going up there for several reasons. We were going to be checking out the new products for next year and I was going to get to see and hang out with some of my good friends from across the country that I don’t see very often. The meeting was held at the awesome Whitetail Creek Lodge. Other than our meetings we shot our bows on the 3-D range, fished in the pond right in front of our cabin, and thanks to Jim Strelec we ate like kings every afternoon; that man can do wonders with a black iron pot and open flame.

While I was there having a great time with all of my friends, my truck decided that it didn’t want to cooperate anymore and something in the motor was making it bellow white smoke from the exhaust. Being six hours away from home wasn’t the place for this to happen. After calling several different dealerships it was determined that I wasn’t going to be going home on Sunday as planned. It was going to be at least Tuesday before they could get it fixed.

Even though I was a long way from home I guess it could have been worse because I did have my good friend Jim Strelec there. He offered me a place to stay until my truck was ready for the road again. Since I was going to be there with nothing else to do I figured I might as well make it as productive as possible and check out some of the local hunting opportunities.

In this day and age hunting clubs, outfitters, and leasing land can be tough on a hunter’s wallet. I have always been a do-it-yourself type hunter whether it is deer, duck, or turkey hunting. I have found places all across the country and have had pretty good success on public ground for all types of game. It requires a little work and research, but there are places out there and many of the people that use them are not going to talk about them and give away their secrets. Some of these areas are draw hunts and you have to apply for them early, but there are also a lot of over the counter tags available.

After talking to couple of people in the area I found out about an area that is known as the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. It is somewhere in the neighborhood of 170,000 acres that for the most part is all open to the public. So I got a map and with some help from Jim and his pickup we did some riding and scouting. It didn’t take long before we started seeing deer pretty regularly in some of the fields and crossing the roads. Everywhere we went it was beautiful and looked as if the place had been made for deer and turkey. The bottoms were grown up in native grasses or either planted in corn with hardwood ridges bounding up each side full of virgin hardwoods. I found several great looking areas that will be good places to start looking if I get to come back this fall. From talking to some of the locals I feel like a hunter has the opportunity to take a trophy class animal while hunting there.

Tags can be purchased over the counter and are pretty reasonably priced for the opportunity to hunt deer of this caliber. When planning these do-it-yourself hunts add a couple of extra days to scout and learn the areas so you can try to pinpoint the animals before you waste your time hunting unproductive areas. Another trick is to contact the state wildlife department and find out when the rut normally occurs and plan your hunt around that time. This kind of hunting is going to require a lot of foot work but for the hunter who can’t afford the high dollar outfitters a hunt like this can turn into a hunt of a lifetime. If you make this an annual trip with a couple of hunting buddies it will get better every year from the knowledge that you gain from the previous years. Like I have always said you can’t kill’em sitting at home on the couch, so give yourself a chance and get in the woods!

Turkeys on Trail Cams

-By Art Helin

“Trail cameras for scouting turkeys? Are you crazy?” asks one of the gentlemen in the crowd. I respond with a “maybe”, but this is one of the most overlooked and useful tools you have for turkey hunting. These high-tech gadgets are great. The most effective way to use cameras for turkeys is to put them up and leave them alone for a week or two before the season starts. Why constantly go in and out of your prime hunting area pressuring birds and educating them?

I place the cameras in three areas. The first is in the birds’ known strut zones – typically oak flats or small field edges where you find turkey scratch. The second is on food sources - clover, cut corn, alfalfa fields, etc. Third is on water sources (shallow backed- up creek areas, ponds and secluded mini ponds); mine happen to be on small man-made water holes or mini ponds. I place the cameras in these locations so I can time when to hunt these particular birds and areas. Many people hunt certain areas too early or too late in the day; by finding and timing these birds you will be in the right place at the right time. It is easier to call a bird to an area he wants to be in rather than somewhere he doesn’t.

I set my Moultrie I40 cameras on 2-shot mode so I can see what birds, and possibly how many, are there. This helps to figure out after you shoot a bird and have tags left, if there are likely to be birds still in the area. Check the cameras to get a pretty good idea of what they are doing at what time of the day. I like to move cameras about every week or so during the season because more pressure from you or the neighbors may change their patterns.

Most people have limited time to hunt and scout so why not put your cameras in the field and take some pressure off the birds, figure out their daily patterns, hunt them at the right time, and become a more successful turkey hunter? The bonus is most bucks will also be sprouting at this time so you can also get a good look at what’s to come this fall! Good luck and shoot straight.

Karlee's First Bird

-By Brandon Wikman

Introducing people into the hunting and outdoors lifestyle has always been my passion. It’s a unique and thrilling opportunity to educate, be a role model, and change someone’s life in a positive matter. This past week proved to be a life-changing experience for one of my friends during her very first turkey hunt.

Step 1: Scout
A few days before Karlee’s turkey season opened, she and I trekked through the wooded grounds we would be hunting in search of turkey signs. I am a firm believer in doing your homework early to reap the rewards early (a big gobbler).

As we edged toward the field, she spotted a few feathers buried beneath the grassy weeds. It was obvious to see that this was surely a turkey roosting area after looking up into the tall white pines. I explained to her that the branches of white pines are like beds to turkey. They spend half of their life sinking their claws into the bark and sleeping through the night. We continued on our mini-journey through the woods in pursuit of more hardcore evidence of my favorite feathered-friends.

Step 2: The Pre-hunt
Karlee didn’t hesitate to let me know her true feelings of waking up at an ungodly 3:30 am. I guess I couldn’t blame her. Regardless, she managed to gladly surprise me when I saw her sleepily walk into the living room. Half-zombie and half-woman, she slowly began waking once the coffee and breakfast was served. I could tell that she was pretty excited about the morning hunt.

As every guy would know and every woman could agree, women seem to typically take a lot longer getting ready than men. Not this time. We were actually out the door and on the road with time to spare. It’s not too often I make good time when I’m just by myself. I was anticipating that the good omen would continue.

Step 3: The hunt
Karlee and I slinked into the forest’s darkness silently like a burglar slipping into a backdoor. We tiptoed through the woods, gun, camera, and gear in hand. I whispered to Karlee that any obtrusive noise would wake the birds and send them darting through the early morning air.

Our morning setup was only a hundred yards from where Karlee found the turkey feathers. A jumble of white pines and a small patch of cedars is the only thing that held back Karlee’s first turkey. As morning light danced upon the horizon, the woods came alive. Morning songbirds sung a sweet melody as the geese chimed in every now and then. The squirrels began rummaging through the forest floor and deer sluggishly walked back to their beds after a long night of gorging. I knew it would only be minutes until I’d watch Karlee’s eyes pop from the shriek of a gobble.

The turkey began claiming dominance with thunderous gobbles soon after the crack of dawn. I nudged Karlee to pick up a call and softly begin chiming love toward their direction. She was able to ignite a few gobbles from her box call. We waited motionless for another five minutes until I spotted a gobbler fluttering through the air heading to Karlee’s yelp. The gobbler pompously walked into range while strutting the entire time. This scenario was absolutely perfect, one that doesn’t come too often when hunting these random critters.

Karlee steadied her shotgun as the bird high-stepped his way in looking for the imaginary lovesick hen. When the tom crossed the 20-yard mark I told Karlee to fill his face with bb’s. She did just that! An eruption of bb’s burnt through the air splattering into the gobbler’s face. We both couldn’t help laughing. She looked completely speechless. She was glowing with pride and shaking with turkey-fever. I soaked every moment of it up. I knew in my heart that this was an experience that she’d never forget for the rest of her life.

We recovered the bird and took some great pictures of her trophy. Little did she know, those pictures photographed that day would be a conversational piece in her scrapbook forever. Not only did Karlee kill her first animal, but she also lived in the shoes of an outdoors person, the eyes of a hunter, and mind of a conservationist. It was by far one of the most memorable hunts I’ve ever been a part of. Hunting to me is simple, it’s about making lasting memories with people you enjoy spending time with.

Productive Turkey Hunting

-By Rich Miller

Well you guessed it; rain was in the equation again this past week. Not only did it rain again but there was some really bad weather. Strong thunderstorms, high winds, hail, and dreaded tornadoes ripped through the South on Friday afternoon. Though we had some trees down and lost power for a little while I feel like we were fortunate compared to a lot of other areas of the Southeast. Even though Friday night’s weather was so bad, Saturday turned out to be one of the prettiest days that we have had this year. As nice as it was I don’t think I could have found a turkey if I had been on a turkey farm. I guess the tornadoes and thunderstorms blew the turkeys into another county.

Even though I didn’t get on a turkey Saturday it did end up being a productive day. Just because you are in the woods turkey hunting doesn’t mean you can’t do a little scouting for deer season. I have found some of my best places to deer hunt while wandering around in the woods during the spring, chasing lonely gobblers. When scouting this time of year deer signs seem to stand out a lot more than when the leaves are fresh on the ground. You can see deer trails on the side of ridges and where they are entering food plots or other fields. You can also find rub lines that you normally wouldn’t have found during hunting season. If a little luck is on your side you might even pick up a shed antler or two.

After finding a lot of possible stand sites for the upcoming deer season I keep a log with which piece of property they are on and what is the best way to access these locations. I don’t know about you guys, but with deer season at least five months away for most of us if I don’t make notes of these locations I will never be able to remember them by the time deer season rolls around. Of course most years I don’t have enough time to hunt all of the places that I find, but when things start getting slow during deer season and I am not seeing many deer, these notes usually give me some new places to hunt. Another good thing about the log is that I will know exactly where the sites are and I won’t have to be in the woods disturbing the area before I am ready to hunt. These slow days turkey hunting can make for some successful days in the deer woods.

Turkeys on the Run

-By Rich Miller

Well it wasn’t opening day but it was going to be the first hunt of the year. Every year a good buddy of mine Robert Colcolough and I head down to Barnwell, SC for the season opener of turkey season. The southern half of the state opens 15 days earlier than it does here, so we always try and get a head start on the season. This year the season opened on a Sunday and we were unable to make it on the opener. The way our schedules were working out we were only going to be able to hunt on Friday. Since we were going to be so short on time we decided to fly down on Thursday afternoon. Robert and his brother-in-law own a Cessna 172 airplane, which saves us about two and a half-hours drive time each way. The weather worked out for us and we arrived in Barnwell around 5:00 Thursday afternoon.

Once we arrived at the house and got our gear unpacked it was time to find out where some turkeys were roosting. We were running a little ahead of schedule so we went by one of the food plots to change memory cards in one of Robert’s cameras. When we got out of the golf cart I hit the owl hooter and we heard a bird gobble in a clear cut about a hundred yards off. After blowing the owl hooter a few more times there ended up being two birds gobbling in the clear cut. Once we left those birds we headed to a hill where we always hear birds. By the time we headed back to the house we had found two more birds roosted on the hill. To say that we were feeling good about the next morning’s hunt after having roosted four different birds was an understatement.

The next morning we decided to start out at the hill first thing. We figured we would have the best shot at this bird and if it didn’t work out, we would be able to hear all of the other birds just in case we needed to go after them. While we were walking up the hill trying to decide where to set up, this bird was gobbling his head off. There was a food plot within a hundred yards of him so I crawled out there and set up my turkey decoys. This turkey seemed like he was gobbling about every thirty seconds. I didn’t start calling to him right away. I waited until I heard some of the hens with him start calling. Once these hens got cranked up I started calling back to them and it wasn’t long until the gobbler was going out of his mind, and then another one started gobbling behind us. I started hearing turkeys flying down from the roost so I gave a few fly-down cackles and two hens landed in the food plot in front of us. These hens fed around the decoys a few minutes and then walked out of the food plot. A few minutes after they left a long beard ran across the food plot about forty yards away from us following those hens. He acted like he was spooked and wouldn’t slow down for anything. As I was trying to figure out what was going on I caught more movement coming through the food plot and it was two more hens. Coming up the rear behind the hens was a white-headed gobbler in full strut. Behind him was another gobbler but he wasn’t strutting, he was headed across the food plot toward where the first gobbler went. About the time the strutter got in front of my gun barrel the other gobbler came back in the food plot within range also. I asked Robert if he had a shot, he said he did and I said on three. One, two, three, and if you would have been a spectator you would have only heard one shot but there were two bird laying in the food plot.

After the high fives and pictures it was 7:45 am and time for breakfast. After breakfast and getting the turkeys taken care of we got packed up and headed back to the airport. We had turned what was usually a weekend trip into an overnighter and it turned out to be very successful. By the way all of the new toys I couldn’t wait to try in the turkey woods last week worked as good as I hoped they would.

Turkey Hunting Tips

-By Rich Miller

This time of year gets really crazy for people in the hunting industry. This year all of the dealer shows and major trade shows were all within a week of each other and had everyone trying to be in two places at once. There are more than just the major shows going on, there are also state-turkey calling contests. This past Friday I was in Augusta, Georgia to judge the state turkey calling contest. Being around all of the turkey talk and hearing all of the calls were all it took to get me thinking about turkey hunting. For the next couple of months I will be working other promotions and shows until turkey season opens. With me being gone so much it leaves me little time to do my preseason scouting. This isn’t a problem for the places that I hunt around my house, but it is for some of the properties that I hunt that are a couple of hours or more from me.

Over the last several years my Game Spy cameras have helped me scout and pattern these turkeys that I otherwise wouldn’t have had the time too. I put a couple of cameras on two of my bigger food plots and this helps me in determining what times of the day the birds are using these areas. In years prior to using scouting cameras I would show up at camp with no knowledge of what the birds were doing and it would take me a couple days to get the birds figured out. This is still not a foolproof method of keeping up with these birds but it keeps me from showing up blind.

There are two things that are always a common denominator in being successful in the turkey woods. The most important thing is patience and a close second is knowing the main food source the hens are using. Whether it be a food plot or a hardwood ridge with leftover acorns, knowing where these food sources are is a great start to a successful turkey season. The patience factor is to me the most important thing a turkey hunter should have in his arsenal. When things get slow in the turkey woods a turkey hunter automatically gets antsy and wants to get more aggressive. Whenever I get like that I try and talk myself into staying put another ten or fifteen minutes before making a move. Over the years I have had it happen to me and heard stories from other hunters that they had been setup trying to get a big gobbler to come into their setup and when they got up to leave they didn’t get fifty yards and they spooked a bird. Another fifteen minutes at their setup and the bird would have probably have shown up and been in range. The rule I go by is when I think I cannot sit there any longer I look at my watch and give it fifteen minutes and I cannot tell you how many birds have messed up in that last fifteen minutes.

Aerial Maps

-By Brandon Wikman

When I scout a hunting property, whether it’s one I’ve hunted for years or a fresh piece of ground, there’s nothing more helpful than an aerial map. Aerial maps will give you a bird’s eye view of the terrain, shapes, features and characteristics your property holds.

Enhancing the visual aspects of what types of attributes your ground possesses will aid immensely throughout the entire season. I prefer using maps to locate deer travel routes in a broad perspective. You can easily locate funnels, fingers and pinch-points by simply analyzing forest and field features. Another benefit is locating water sources. Water plays an important role early in the season and also during the rut, when bucks are in full-blown chase mode.

There are many ways to get your hands on an aerial map. My good friend and neighbor, who seems to do everything a step above the rest, hired a small passenger plane to flyover his property for a few hours. Both he and the pilot buzzed around and gained a further understanding of his land. He also photographed the entire chunk of land. This can be achieved by making a quick phone call to a local airport in your area. This option may be a little expensive, but here are a few more alternatives that will open your eyes to the ‘big picture.’

Making a short drive to your local courthouse is another way to attain an aerial map. All it takes is a few simple question of where the land is located and sometimes they are able to print a map onsite. Otherwise, they will send a map to your home address within a reasonable time. This option is fairly quick, cheap and painless! You are able to customize the size and dimensions of your map and have them laminate it for you. It is just another great way to physically see treetops and field shapes from the clouds.

Thanks to the World Wide Web, we are now able to fly around not only our entire state, but also our whole planet in the luxury of our chair! Through the Internet, aerial maps can be pulled up in no time and at no cost! I use this time-efficient method almost every week. A program called Google Earth, www.earth.google.com, shows defining terrain features and allows you to zoom into properties from the stars, literally! It is easy to download onto your computer system.

Another web site of interest is www.maps.live.com, which displays even more detail, in my opinion. I can virtually locate the exact tree my stand is hung. This has opened a new platform in technology for the hunting community. This program allows you to mark tree stands, flag deer trails and label as much material as you want.

Technology has brought many great products over the years; much has been at the tip of our fingertips. I urge everyone to spend an hour studying the property you hunt, because I promise that you will gain a better appreciation and knowledge of the lay of the land. Walking a property is one thing, but sitting in the convenience of your home and pulling up a web site that shows you a totally unique perspective of it is another. Try one of the listed web sites today; I am sure you will be glad you did.