Grow the Hunt

Try A Tradeshow

-By Brandon Wikman

This is the time of year when consumer hunting tradeshows and outdoors expos substitute for our beloved time spent in a tree. It’s an exciting time of year because so many industry trends are changing, revolving and revamping. New products seem to pop-up like dandelions and we all sit back to watch and listen about the latest news feed from reputable media sources.

Consumer tradeshows play a major role in the success of hundreds of outdoor businesses. It’s a place to promote, market, advertise and sell. In a consumer’s point-of-view, there isn’t any better place to ask questions, dig details or speak with the people who develop the products you use on a daily basis. Exhibitors range in all different types of backgrounds. Businesses from archery to firearms, cutlery or dog training, all call it home. Anything or anybody that has something to do with the outdoors is liable to make an appearance. That is the most interesting part.

I’ve been preparing hastily for the tradeshow season here in the state of Wisconsin. The Deer Classic circuit begins only a mile from my house in Eau Claire, WI (www.Deer-Expo.com). The highly anticipated event tears across the entire Midwest. It covers many of the regions where hunting is not a hobby to the locals, but considered a lifestyle. Attending a show is a perfect opportunity to personally meet your favorite television show hosts, writers and many others that are integrated within the industry. Not only does this provide a nice weekend get-a-way, but also a time to get a sneak peak on some of the latest gear and services introduced in 2009.

During shows, handfuls of hunting representatives from across the country conduct seminars and hands-on learning classes to sharpen your hunting 101 skills. I’ve always enjoyed listening and taking notes from some of my greatest hunting heroes. Each speaker represents a specific topic, which may range from shed hunting to implementing food plots.

I will be conducting seminars at all the shows scheduled in Wisconsin. I specialize in speaking with youth and parents. I always stress a focus on the importance of taking a child hunting. It’s these valuable lessons taught that will provide a lasting foundation for the future of our heritage. I will also be representing my business, Wik’s World Outdoors Camp during the shows. I’ve had the fortune of meeting some of the most incredible people while at these events. I’ve learned that you never know who may stroll by next.

Tradeshow junkies have an amazing time and always bring their family and friends along for the experience. It is a great way to sample new equipment for this fall or perhaps this spring. Take a moment to surf online and see if there are any shows in your area. Often times, shows and expos are listed in state newspapers or hunting publications. Bring a friend or a newbie for a chance to see what makes the industry go-round!

Occupy Your Time After the Season

-By Rich Miller

I have been at home the last couple of weeks and I really started to miss not being able to go jump in a deer stand. By the end of the season I was ready for it to be over, but now I am ready for opening day to come around again this year. Even though I can’t deer hunt right now, I do have a lot of things to do around the farm and on my deer lease. The main task has been trying to do a little squirrel hunting. These little gray tree rats have been reeking havoc on my corn and where I keep it stored in one of the buildings. It has been fun chasing these squirrels around with my little nephew and son. Whether we get anything or not they sure do love it and think we are really doing something.

I also have plenty of bush hogging to prepare my spring food plots. It seems to really help get these places cleared and rip them up with plows so the grasses and weed will start rotting. This also helps any moister we get to go into the ground and not run off. If you are thinking about planting any fall food plots this is also the perfect time to go ahead and get your lime on them to give it a head start. The little things I do in these slow times of the year really seem to make a big difference in the success of my food plots later.

Freshening up all of my mineral sites for the deer has also filled the time. Right now to me is the most important time to have these minerals out. With all of the does being bred, it is crucial that they have the minerals they need to keep themselves and their fawns healthy. As I have said many times before, the healthier these fawns are at birth, the bigger the bucks they grow into. I keep my mineral sites fresh year around and in the same places all the time. I try to find areas that are shaded and will stay damp even with little rainfall. Once I find a place I like, I rake all of the leaves and debris away from the area, take a shovel and break the ground up so that it is really loose. Every couple of months when I freshen the spot up I will do this the same way before I pour my minerals out.

Even though there isn’t a lot going on right now as far as big game seasons go, there is always the little thing to keep us busy. If you are like me and have more little things to do than you can keep up with, give some of your buddies a call and get them to help you. At least you will have someone to talk about past hunts with and you will definitely be making the right steps for some great stories in the future.

Got Game?

Hunting is usually a sport that is passed down from generation to generation. Unfortunately, hunting areas have become limited and it can be tough for kids to get involved in hunting. The Paly Voice, Palo Alto High School’s newspaper, recently published an article about three California students that overcome many obstacles so they can pursue a sport that they are passionate about. Check out the article here.

60 pages of trail camera pictures...

If you haven’t stopped by in a while, you need to visit the Moultrie photo gallery.

You can...

• Search over 60 pages of user submitted photos taken with their Moultrie Game Camera by species, location, date, rating, and keyword
• Rate and comment on photos
• Email photos to friends
• View a map and see where all the photos were taken

Visit the Moultrie photo gallery and see breadth and quality of imagery produced by Moultrie Game Camera users over the past year.

The Online To Off-Road Sweepstakes

Are you tough enough to ride with the big boys? Enter the “Online to Off-Road Sweepstakes” for your chance to win a 2009 Grizzly 550 FI EPS 4X4 ATV and prove you can handle what Yamaha Outdoors can deliver. The 550 is loaded with On-Command 4WD, Ultramatic automatic transmission, and, of course, electric power steering. So you can pound it all day without feeling it the next day.

By entering the “Online to Off-Road Sweepstakes”, you are automatically entered to win one of two Moultrie Game Spy I-60 Prize Packs. Each pack includes two Game Spy I-60 trail cameras, two Camera Security Boxes, two 4GB SD cards and two PowerPanels.

To enter online and for a complete set of sweepstakes rules, please visit www.grandviewoutdoors.com/yamahasweeps.

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.

Moultrie launches NEW Game Camera System

Moultrie announced the launch of the Game Spy Game Management System, which offers complete access to game cameras via cellular network and internet. Consisting of three components – camera, cellular modem and web site – the Game Management System provides complete access to game cameras 24/7, from the comfort of your own home.

The Camera
Moultrie’s introduction of a complete camera system also brings to the market four innovative scouting cameras that are compatible with the Game Management System. Choose from the Game Spy I-45 and I-65 models with truly invisible infrared technology, or the Game Spy M-45 and M-65 white-flash models with color night-time video. Each game camera boasts a quick trigger time and long battery life, so you’ll never miss a shot. Moultrie’s 2009 game cameras retail $279.99-$379.99.

The Cellular Modem
Game cameras are addictive, but the cost of checking them every weekend gets expensive. Moultrie’s new GPS Game Spy Connect modem plugs directly into compatible Game Spy cameras, giving you the ability to access your camera whenever and wherever you please. Through AT&T’s cellular network, you can wirelessly transmit images, check battery status or even change your camera setting – all from your computer, PDA or cell phone. The GPS Game Spy Connect retails for $149.99.

The Web Site
Moultrie’s Game Management web site (www.moultriegamemanagement.com) offers members a private-access web page to manage photos, data and cameras anywhere in the world, from any computer with internet access. Once signed up, members can also enter accounts remotely from most cell phones or PDA’s with internet capabilities. Upload images captured at your favorite hunting spot, keep an eye on your property, plot and view locations of game activity using GPS coordinates, control your camera from miles away . . . the possibilities are nearly endless! Monthly plans start at $29.99.

Moultrie’s complete Game Management System will be available summer 2009.

Winter Supplemental Feeding

In many areas across the country deer season has come and gone. There are still a few states that have another week or so left of the season. Growing healthy deer for next season starts now.

When hunters pack away their rifle at the end of the season they usually don’t think too much about feeding deer until spring roles around and things have thawed out from winter’s icy grip. Now is the time to start supplemental feeding. Winter weather is pounding much of the country’s food source, making it harder for deer to feed.

Supplemental feeding at the end of the season helps relieve a lot of stress that deer have been under during the rut. Bucks lose a lot of body weight during the rut and supplemental feeding helps bring them back to a healthy weight. The time between the rut and spring is when antler growth starts to occur. Supplemental feeding also helps increase survival rates among fawns and bucks.

Setting up a camera by your feed areas allows you to get a good idea of the health of your herd. You can see your buck to doe ratio, as well as see what bucks made it through the season.

If you want to grow the deer population and quality of deer on your property, now is the time to start supplemental feeding.

January Giants

-By Brandon Wikman

When Joe Nawrot and I, began packing last week for our final whitetail-hunting trip of the season, our family and friends gave us a puzzled look. January is a time for celebrating New Year’s Eve, working on those pesky resolutions and kicking back to enjoy Winter Break. Right...?

Nearly the entire country has shutdown deer season until next September. Many bucks have been already casting their antlers due to severe stress from not only an exhausting rut, but also the frigid temperatures. The weather conditions during this period of time make a mind and finger-numbing experience. We cannot forget the last and most important point that keeps many hunters astray from their tree stands facing Jack Frost; most January giants have turned completely nocturnal from the last 4 ½ months of continual hunting pressure. So, needless to say, I couldn’t really blame them for their skepticism.

All I could do was attempt to prove my point and replenish my hunting’s passion, which is to never give up on the relentless pursuit of trophy game! The deer season isn’t over, until the rulebook says it is. In this case, January 31st for the buckeye state. I was bound and determined to shoot a buck in Ohio with my good friend, Ty Mccombs of Whitetail Outfitters of Ohio.

I knew the only way of coming back to Wisconsin with a buck was to have a few variables working on my side, which often times seems too much to hope for. When hunting animals, there’s no control over them. Automatically, they have the upper hand. The weather needed to be extremely cold. Deer must eat to survive, especially when temperatures teeter in the teens. Whitetails live by their stomach; so hunting over a quality food source is critical. With the combination of a weather system brooding its way into Ohio and a standing cornfield, a good bet was dealt that deer were going to be on their feet before dark. They were going to be scrounging up any last kernels of corn before the storm plowed through.

The very first evening Nawrot and I hung twenty feet high, literally. We overlooked a thick bedding area where we anticipated intercepting a buck on his way to a cornfield. We anxiously waited the magical minutes of last light, when deer slink their way cautiously en route to dinner.

As the last, luminous glow of sunbeams sparkled upon the snow, the frozen woods thawed with life. I heard a continual step-by-step crunch from behind us. As I tossed my binoculars to my face, antler emerged from the snowy pines. The buck’s hooves cautiously broke into the ice-crusted snow. His ears pressed forward and eyes scanned the winter wonderland.

My eyes were fixed upon his gigantic antlers, just like I’ve always been told not to! Buck fever kicked in within seconds as I gawked in amazement. Thoughts shattered like broken ice in my mind as I began realizing my fortunate fate. I kept thinking that this could be the largest buck I’ve ever killed with my bow! As I drew my bow, my ice-chilled bones popped and crackled. Squinting into my peep sight, I managed to align my fiber pin with his chest. I inhaled my last breath of frigid air as it stung my lungs with bitterness. My frostbitten finger punched the trigger and I sent an arrow into the vital of my best bow buck by far.

The beginning of a year and an end to a season couldn’t have been written any better. As each year passes, we gather an insightful amount of hunting information about deer that television, books or magazines will never teach, but only tell. Experiencing the hunting venture first hand is the only way to really grasp the reality. I owe much gratitude to my good friend, Ty McCombs, for teaching me firsthand that big bucks are killable during one of the most underrated months of the entire year. If you have what it takes to squeeze into another layer and bust out the hand-warmers, hunting January just may put some venison in the freezer.

Hunter Control

-By Brandon Wikman

There’s nothing more critical in the mind of a savvy deer hunter’s decision-making process than watching weather patterns. Deer are influenced by several variables that we can control or often times wish we could. The essence to discovering success is to understand your limits and boundaries as a whitetail deer hunter.

Some of the attributes we can definitely influence are hunting pressure and food sources. Hunting pressure is accredited to the amount of hunting we do in certain area. It is a deterrent to our odds of striking a mature buck. Every single time we hunt in a particular tree stand or ground blind, we are narrowing the opportunity of killing. Several factors can manipulate the range of alertness deer have picked-up on throughout the entire season. Some of the problems are the amount of human scent left behind in the woods or field. Other factors can be the amount of times deer have spotted you in your stand or walking through the field after dark. That is why maximizing your scent reduction practices and entry or exit routes to a deer stand are so essential. Our mistakes are easily downloaded into a deer’s computer-like mind and used against us.

I found that out when I first began hunting the farm where I grew up. I was only twelve and didn’t comprehend the wisdom deer truly have. The first two seasons I would always climb down from my tree stand and exit from the field. As you could imagine, deer scattered like splinters of material after an atomic explosion. All I’d see were white tails bounding to the nearest woodlot. The third season I finally saw a great reduction of deer using the field during hunting hours. It wasn’t until after dark when they’d have enough courage to venture into the alfalfa and soybean.

Food availability is the other aspect of hunter control. That is why food plots are so important and have been the dictator of tagging-out every season for thousands of hunters across the nation. Planting different food plots that cater to each season is by far the most important characteristic in a whitetail habitat. If you can customize each food plot to fully develop and ripen according to spring, summer, fall and winter, deer will have no reason to leave your property. It is the production of food availability on a yearly basis that aids not only in deer sightings, but also health and nutrition.

Weather is a totally different aspect in the whitetail world. It’s a factor that we as hunters cannot control, but can use to our advantage. Deer feed heavily before and after storms. That is why sometimes we spot deer devouring food during the middle of the day out in a field. Unlike humans, deer can easily sense weather systems. When a heavy snowstorm is moving in, deer will pack themselves plump full with anything in sight, because during the storm blast, they’ll be conserving energy.

If we were to focus on hunting according to the weather right now, we need to look at the temperature as a surefire gauge to predict deer movement. I did that recently on an Ohio muzzleloader deer hunt that has been scheduled for the past year. Two weeks ago I was supposed to be in a tree stand in Ohio, but after looking at the five-day forecast, things changed. The weather in Ohio is supposed to be in the mid-60’s and rainy throughout the week. To any hunter looking to face a challenging hunt, this would be one to jump into. Deer, especially big bucks, have no reason to get out of their bed early. They won’t jump into a foot plot or agriculture field until dark.

I actually ended up re-scheduling the entire trip after speaking to the outfitter and eyeballing weather.com. We decided to wait for a major weather pattern to move into the Buckeye state before any attempt to kill a big buck at all. Even though the muzzleloader firearm season will be over, I will have better opportunity with a bow in hand trying to stay warm in 20-degrees, rather than 60-degree temperatures.