Grow the Hunt

The Broad Head Battle

-By Brandon Wikman

I remember when I was about 14 years old, tearing through the new hunting catalog; wide-eyed, drooling and ecstatic.

I'd wait months just to tear open that fat book crammed with all the goodies I'd add to my Christmas list. The bow hunting gear was usually my favorite section of the catalog and my eyes lit up like a 200-watt bulb when I saw the array of flesh-slicing, bone-busting broad heads.

The super-big expandable heads that promised to kill deer on the spot and leave a perforation the size of a foxhole fascinated me to a point of shock. Little did I realize, I was setting myself up for nothing more than serious disappointment.

Standing at a proud 5-foot 4-inches and tipping the scales at 120 pounds didn't really help my bow hunting performance, let alone football career either. I could only pull back 50 pounds on a good day. That's with leaning back, pointing towards the clouds and putting all my weight into my right arm to yank the string back.

As cool as I thought I was with my machete-type head, it just wasn't practical. Heck, I thought I'd be able to take down an elephant, but all I really did was wound my first deer. That really made me think about what I was doing.

It takes roughly 45% more kinetic energy to penetrate a deer's body than a chisel point broad head (Muzzy or Thunderhead). And another 40% more kinetic energy for a chisel point to penetrate a deer's hide than a cut-on-contact head (my preference). Using a cut-on-contact head is the way to go, in my opinion. Unlike a mechanical or chisel point styled head, cut-on-contacts keep slicing and dicing when they're in the deer.

A chisel point reminds me of a carpenter's nail. It's more apt to wedge, rather than cut. The point of a broad head is to slash veins, arteries and vitals after it already impacts if it hasn't already passed through.

A mechanical head reminds me of a parachute for some odd reason. They're made for people who shoot at least a 70-pound draw weight. And once they enter the deer, blades are easily busted, deflections often occur off bones - and that's if the head even opened correctly in the first place.

When shooting an animal, we must take every effort to kill it with the most ethical and humane way. The quicker, the better. I will take my odds on the best performing head with the most blade length and penetration ability.

Remember, it's not the speed of the arrow that ultimately results in a kill, but rather the length of the blade and ability of it to rip and tear the innards.

101 Uses For a Trail Camera

-By Brandon Wikman

Scouting cameras have been used to capture candid shots of whitetails lurking the woods day and night for years. In my opinion, trail cameras are one of the absolute best scouting tools on the market. They give you an opportunity to actually be, somewhat, 'one' with your herd.

Photographs truly do say a thousand words. You can easily formulate your upcoming hunt with the vital information your camera captures. Such as determining age and health of deer, travel routes, time of day they're moving, a rough ratio of the herd and so much more sweet data that will give you the upper hand on Mr. Elusive.

Not only can you familiarize yourself with the locals on your property, but also photograph a variety of wandering neighbor whitetails or even other wildlife.

I've used cameras in nearly every setup imaginable. I've strapped cameras to my tree stand, along rub lines, over scrapes, in the middle of food plots, over bait piles, along streams, on fence jumps and every other so-called secret spot my hunting partners have tried.

Now, the nice thing about using these high-tech gadgets is that they have more than one use, so I've come to know. Here are a few wild, crazy and, well, amusing scouting camera uses I've heard over the past couple years. They may not be your everyday deer snapshot, but they’re still clever without a doubt.

Different uses for cameras:

• Hide one in your driveway to see what time your son or daughter gets back from their date.
• Conceal one in a stump or bush along fence lines to photograph trespassers.
• Strap a camera across from your deer stand to see if you're not the only one hunting your stand.
• Place your camera near your game feeder to capture snapshots of practically every deer on the block.
• Cram a camera inside your secret candy stash to see who's been burgling your goodies . . . Okay I definitely never tried this one, but it still sounds legit.
• Use cameras to photograph specific deer you do not want harvested to show to your hunting crew.
• Spray acorn scent on the camera unit to get some crazy close photos and possibly a nice tongue shot… I mean, if that's what you're going for...
• Set a unit up near a fresh coyote kill to get some awesome predator pictures.
• If you're really bored or just plain curious about what’s living in that big hole in your backwoods, prop a camera near it to capture a coyote, fox or even badger!

Okay, so there aren’t quite 101 different uses on here, but honestly speaking, there are so many different ways you can utilize cameras other than monitoring your deer herd. So it doesn't hurt to have a couple cameras in the woods for scouting your trophies for this fall and one on the side to tickle your imaginations itch!

Be creative. Be different. Heck I don’t know, be paparazzi-ish! Haha...

Simple formula for food plot success

"I want to start a food plot on my property, but where do I start?" That's a question we are asked a lot. This video provides a really simple formula for creating successful food plots.

Other ways to feed deer and turkeys

-By Randy Cooper

Many good things in life were born out of necessity. It's fun to get creative when finding ways to feed wildlife. You can make your own trough type feeder with a roof over it to keep the rain out. It can be a simple all wood arrangement or you can use a 55-gallon plastic drum cut in half and supported by using some pressure treated lumber and a fiberglass roof.

Gravity feeders can be as simple as a 4-inch diameter plastic pipe about 3 feet long with a cap on one end and the other end left open. A small mouse hole is cut on the end that is open and is placed snug against the ground. The pipe is bungie corded against a tree for support. Fill it up with corn and as deer or other critters eat it, more is spilled onto the ground.

There are also many companies that offer programmable feeders that use anything from a plastic drum to a 6-gallon bucket. These feeders are, in my opinion, the best choices because they keep the feed dry. Corn that is allowed to get wet by either dew or rain may spoil and mold. This could mean bad news for deer and other wildlife that eat it. It's just not good for them and could make them sick. These type feeders usually use either a photo cell or a timer that is adjustable. I have mine adjusted to dispense feed for 10 seconds, 30 minutes after daylight and again 30 minutes before dark. This conditions deer to visit during daylight hours. Ten seconds doesn't sound like much but it puts about 1 pound of feed on the ground. I use the 6-gallon bucket type and have mounted 3 legs to make a tripod for it to stand on about 7 feet off the ground. This works great when there isn't a tree in just the right place to use a rope over a limb attached to the bucket handle. Whatever works, right! Like I said, it's fun to get creative and use your imagination.

For feed, I personally use a 50/50 mixture of whole kernel corn and high quality goat food with vitamins, protein, and molasses for a sweet smell. The deer love it. Through my trail cam pictures I've noticed the health of my deer get better both in body weight and shiny coats. Keep practicing with your bow and start getting some venison recipes together. You’re going to need them!

My heart skipped a few beats today!

-By Randy Cooper

My heart literally started to pitter patter today in the woods. I was relocating my Moultrie Gamespy 200 camera to a new location to see if I could catch a huge 10-point that I've been seeing. For about 2 weeks he hasn't showed up so I thought he might have relocated for some reason. Bucks that have been coming to my feeder have been in velvet up to this week. I noticed that the velvet had began to dry and get tighter to their antlers in the last photos taken. When I went to my stand location overlooking one of last years big scrapes on a major trail, my mouth fell open. No it wasn't a copperhead, it was the tree that the huge scrape was under. It had been rubbed so badly that it had shreds of bark hanging off it up to about chest high. Usually when bucks begin to rub off their velvet the rubs they make are half hearted and on smaller trees. I had employed a little tactic just the week before when I hung the stand that overlooked this scrape. I simply took a stick and cleaned it out and left drag marks in it like a buck had opened it up. I didn't use any scent, just cleaned it out. This was in an effort to make any passing dominate buck in the area think, in animal terms, that a transient buck had taken over that scrape and was calling this area his own. It worked!

This tree was about a 4-inch diameter. Not bad. I then turned down the trail in the direction I wanted to go and hang out the camera and was floored to find two more rubs on bigger trees including one of about an 8-inch diameter trunk. They were destroyed! I usually don't find these really aggressive rubs until during the last stages of pre-rut when their testosterone is through the roof. When I saw all this I began to shake. This is the kind of sign that I dream about finding. The kind that makes it impossible to sleep at night after finding it. It's very rare. I put the trail pod mount on a tree pointing down the trail the buck will have to use to check this scrape and left as quickly as I could. I was wearing my Elimitrax boots and leggins to make sure that my scent wasn't left in the area. Only Ms. Cleo could have known that I was there. I'm going to sneak back in there tomorrow and check the camera. The importance of all this is that, first, these are the earliest rubs I've ever seen since I started hunting big bucks. I think these bucks are in good shape because I've been feeding them a combo of high protein goat food and whole corn since December. Second, I think the tactic I used worked and elicited a response from the most dominate buck in the area. It has to either be the massive 10-point or a 20-inch 8-point that are always seen together. Now that they are going into hard antler I expect them to become more solitary and aggressive toward each other. Wish me luck on opening day, September 8th, I know exactly where my butt will be sitting that morning.

Food Plot Preparation

-By Randy Cooper

It's mid-August and the heat is unbearable. The past 8 days in Georgia have been over 100 degrees. And, to top it off, with the drought we've had most of the spring and into the summer, there is a rain deficit of over 18 inches. The last thing I want to do is bake in the sun, but as the old saying goes, "No pain, No gain." It's hard to grow anything in weather like this. We're less than a month away from opening day of the season and we need to make sure our food plots are coming up.

Let's take a few steps back and see what I have done so far this summer to get prepared. First, I picked out my food plot locations. I then cleared openings using my tractor (my buddies use dozers and bobcats). One of the most important steps was taking soil samples from several locations within each plot to get a respective sample of the area. I sent my samples to the closest Agriculture Department for an analysis. They recommended the addition of lime in order to bring my PH level to 6.5-6.8. Some people choose to spread the lime themselves, but sometimes it takes literally tons of lime to make a difference. The addition of lime takes up to 3 months to affect a real change but its well worth it.

The first of August brought scorching temperatures, but I had to rake and disk the soil in my food plots. I spread a good fertilizer like 10-10-10 and then turned it under again.

Now that my soil is prepared, I'm going plant shopping. Next week I'll cover what to plant and the use of annuals and perennials that both deer and turkey can benefit from.

Keep practicing with your bow.

Welcome to our Blog

Over the last 30 years, Moultrie Feeders has been dedicated to introducing well-engineered and highly-innovative wildlife management products to the market. From planting food plots to supplemental feeding to scouting and patterning, Moultrie strives to satisfy the needs of every game manager. We have decided to sponsor this "Grow the Hunt" blog because we know the important role game management plays in hunting. We consider your game management goals, our goals! Moultrie has complete confidence in the blog writers, Brandon Wikman and Randy "Coop" Cooper. We hope you enjoy, and please feel free to comment.