Grow the Hunt

Rainy Season Opener

-By Rich Miller

For the past couple of years we have been in a drought where I live in the South, but for the last week it has done nothing but rain. I don’t know if Mother Nature wasn’t ready for everyone to hit the woods on the 15th but she did a good job on making it hard to hunt. Last Tuesday when our archery season opened it rained pretty much all day. We had a lot of pictures of some really nice bucks using our food plot on a regular basis and had planned on getting one of these deer on film.

We hung out under the barn waiting on the rain to break until about four o’clock and decided we better go ahead and get in the stands in case the deer moved a little early that afternoon. The rain did eventually quit shortly after we were settled in our stands but as hunting goes we never saw a deer that afternoon.

With work and family obligations I didn’t have a chance to get back into the woods until Friday afternoon and yes you guessed it, it was raining again. I didn’t care if it was raining or not I had decided that I was going anyway. Plus I had checked the radar and it looked like it was going to clear up within an hour or so. The good thing about the rain was it made it really quiet getting to the stand. I got my climber up the tree and settled in and after pulling my bow up I turned around and noticed a deer standing about sixty yards down the ridge. These two spotted fawns stayed in the area for about twenty minutes before they fed back into the thicket where they came from.

Shortly after the two fawns left the rain stopped and the sun started to stick its head out. It was good to see the sun out but at least I had seen deer when it was raining. I wasn’t seeing anything so I just sat back in the stand and enjoyed being in a deer stand full of anticipation and excitement. It had been months since I had that feeling.

As I was soaking in all of Mother Nature’s sights and sounds my evenings hunt was quickly coming to an end. I don’t know where my mind was at the time but I looked up and I noticed a color behind a dead bush that hadn’t been there previously. As I stared at it I saw an ear move and then put the shape together - it was a big bodied deer. The deer was already in range so I just stood up and carefully reached for my bow. I still hadn’t seen the deer’s head gear but I just wanted to be ready because the body of the deer was so big. Eventually the deer moved its head out from behind the bush and I got a good look at his rack and knew immediately he was a shooter.

When I did get a good look at his rack I knew why I couldn’t see them when he was behind that bush, his antlers were so dark they were almost black. Fortunately for me the buck was on a trail that was going to lead him within 15-yards of the tree I was in. When the buck’s head passed behind a tree that was between us I stuck an arrow through both lungs for what I felt like was a perfect shot. As usual the buck immediately took off in another direction but in a matter of seconds I heard a big crash and then it went quiet. That’s when the adrenaline kicked in and I got the feeling that no drug can produce and what a feeling it was. It was only a couple of days into our deer season and I already had a great buck on the ground.

By the time I got my stand off of the tree and found my buck it was dark and I still had a long walk and a lot of work to do. It was a good thing my cousin Greg was kind enough to help me get the deer out of the woods, get him field dressed, and to the processer. I was sure glad that he was there to help out but it was even better having him there to share the hunt and celebrate with.

A Hunter's Work Is Never Done

-By Rich Miller

Every year it seems that there is more and more to do to get ready for the upcoming hunting season. This year is proving to be no different either. Keeping up with the areas that I hunt locally is bad enough but when you throw in the lease in Kansas it is even worse.

Last week I flew to my home away from home to visit my good friend and fellow Knight & Hale Pro Staffer Mick bowman. Even though we always have a good time when we are together the purpose of this visit was work.

We tried to get as many stand sites prepared as possible before the season opens. Though it will be November before I am there to hunt, when I show up all I will have to do is get in the tree. We were able to get four different stand sites prepared for a hunter and cameraman. We hunt some of these places year after year and we always see a lot of deer activity.

We checked out a couple of new places that looked very promising but it was so thick out there right now and they will look totally different come November. We trimmed some of the brush from around the stand sites and they will only get better after the leaves fall off the trees.

In several of these places we are not able to plant food plots because it is in pasture. The farmers just won’t allow us to plow up parts of their pastures no matter what we are planting. It didn’t matter anyway because the ground was way too wet to allow us to plant anything. Our solution to putting a food source in these places is Moultrie feeders. Most of these pastures are 80 or 160 acres in size so we put a feeder or two in the middle of the property to help draw deer into these areas.

We place the feeders in areas that are natural travel routes for deer and it doesn’t take them very long at all to find them. The does use these feeders on a daily basis and as you well know, where there are does in November the bucks will be cruising through to check them out. These feeder sites are a great place to set up our Game Spy cameras so we know what uses these feeders. It also provides me with a lot of anticipation every week as I wait on Mick to send me the weekly pictures from our cameras.

I was there for five days and we did manage to get a lot of work done but as it always goes there are never enough hours in the day. It was time for me to fly back home before we knew it. It will seem like time is dragging until I get back out there to hunt in November. There is an upside though, bow season opens here tomorrow. If I have never mentioned it before, I love this time of year!

Opening Weekend

-By Brandon Wikman

The tireless daydreaming of archery season has finally come to an end as reality settles upon the eager hunters of Wisconsin and across the country for that matter. This coming weekend marks the grand opening of the 2009 archery deer-hunting season for several states around the country.

This year is incredibly interesting because the opener of bow season is far earlier than previous years. This brews a much more potent concoction for hungry hunters! The date of the big bang is Saturday, September 12th. Thanks to a gracious calendar year, opening archery weekend favors on the hunters’ side now. Shimmying a tree this early may pay off in a huge way for a few reasons.

Scoping out some of the places I’ll be hunting this fall has proved that several bucks are still carrying fury velvet. Typically, deer begin shedding their soft skin at the end of August, but it appears many are still sporting their summer headgear. Like many, I’ve always wanted to arrow a buck in velvet. The beauty of a reddish short and thin coat complimented by fury wrapped antlers is a hunters dream. This year’s hunters may have a true chance at a buck that hasn’t fully cleaned his rack and is still wearing their summer suits. Hunters will find that the earlier than normal opener, will still show deer cruising their exact same travel patterns they used throughout the duration of the summer. That includes trails, feeding locations, and bedding areas.

It is obvious that deer slowly transition and rotate to feed on different crops as farmers begin harvesting their spring plantings. Deer are going to be mowing the soybeans, alfalfa, and clover for another few weeks. In fact, much before the farmer’s heavy-duty equipment will. Thousands upon thousands of agriculture fields remain moist and green. The summer has been very mild. The scorching heat from previous years has been replaced by substantial rainfall in 2009. The crops are healthy and the deer are too. We must take advantage of the opportunity and make our best attempt to pick off an early season bruiser.

I’ve captured a few incredible trail cam pictures of several mature bucks. The photos not only provide me proof of a few bucks on my hit list, but also give me a reason to be in a tree come this weekend. Thanks to using these cameras, I’ve been able to photograph a handful of mature bucks on countless occasions. The camera was set up on the edge of an alfalfa field, where deer have been pounding the greens. Food sources once again prove to be my best location to position trail cameras.

If you are the type of hunter to hunt the rut exclusively, this season it wouldn’t hurt to try your odds in a few days! I wish everyone the best of luck as we get our deer hunting gear back out and a new season underway!

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.

Trail Camera Picture of a Fawn

In last week’s entry we linked to Field and Stream’s Whitetail 365 blog posting where Scott Bestul had posted a picture of a fawn they came across while hunting in Wisconsin. We asked if any “Grow the Hunt” readers had captured any photos of fawns on their game cameras. This week, a Moultrie customer submitted a really cool photo to the Photo Gallery of a doe and fawn. If anyone else has been lucky enough to capture photos of fawns, be sure to share them with us by uploading them to the Moultrie Photo Gallery.

New Beginnings

Scott Bestul from Field and Stream’s Whitetail365 recently posted about spotting a fawn last week while he was in Wisconsin turkey hunting. Bestul seems to think that the baby deer couldn’t have been more than a few days old. He was able to snap a quick photo of it to share with us on his Blog.

Have any of you Grow the Hunt readers started seeing any fawns yet? If you have any photos be sure to upload them to the Moultrie Photo Gallery.

Is this Deer Sick?

This photo was recently uploaded to our photo gallery by Jimmy in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Jimmy asked our opinion if we thought this deer was sick or just changing from its winter coat to summer coat. Leave us a comment on the photo letting him know what you guys think.

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.

A Flock of Turkeys

These gobblers were recently caught strutting their stuff in Springfield, Missouri.

Is any one else getting photos of gobblers strutting in front of their game camera? If so, be sure to upload them to the Moultrie photo gallery.

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.