Grow the Hunt

Hunting the Canadian Bruin

-By Brandon Wikman

Deep in the impenetrable, moss-infested bush of northwestern Ontario lays a land untamed and merciless to the heart of a city dweller. An environment choked with tangles of vegetation, sculpted by ancient rock bed cliffs, and home to some of the most sought after big game species in North America: monstrous black bear.

My cousin, Joe Nawrot, and I ventured into the north woods of a land lost in its own beauty and mystic. We brought with us video equipment, archery gear, and a grueling intention to defeat the black beast of the boondocks. Our journey provided us with a humbling experience to hunt with the most legendary Canadian outfitter in the entire province of Ontario; Dan Schafer, owner of Cygnet Lake Camps. Schafer hosts an enchanting vacation for those looking for a week spent in paradise. Cygnet Lake Camp is home to the finest fishing, hunting, and soul soothing excursions. It was my time to embark and make peace with a Canadian wilderness adventure.

The enduring pursuit to outwit a bear by bow n’ arrow has always been one of my most desired goals. I lugged the title of rookie bear hunter, but sported a relentless attitude to learn the craft of the trade. My mind sopped with information that Schafer flooded me with. Fine details that wise bear hunters like him could slowly drip into quenching amounts of vital information.

He explained that bears are extremely difficult to judge by size because they are completely shaded in black, a statement that fashion aficionado can attest! Bears are also super-stealthy. Many newbie hunters are baffled by the way bears silently drift through the forest like they’re walking on air. By the time Schafer finished wrapping up his sneak-peak course of Bear 101, I had my homework cutout for me.

The Canadian terrain may look marvelous to the casual observer, but don’t let the pretty looks deceive you. Unveil the mask of splendor and you find a hostile environment swallowed with flooded timber, bottomless marshes, and raging rapids of water tumbling from the skyscraping cliffs. The word “wilderness,” now resonates a whole new meaning to me.

The trek to the tree stand was an adventure in itself. An ATV was our means of transportation. The four-wheelers cut into the crusted moss beds that clung onto ancient boulders and fallen trees. An entire new habitat caked in spectacular colors of green decorated the depths of the spruce forests. Throughout the ATV venture, we slopped through puddles of muck, scaled stairs of protruding rock, and tore into scenery that echoed with mystery. The walk into the jungle began as the turkey trail transitioned into a simple footpath. As I walked along the trail with dazzling eyes of curiosity, I was in awe of how few people left their footprint in a land so virgin of human destruction. A humbled sensation of adoration crammed my soul with glee until it nearly exploded at the sight of a ladder stand in the distance.

The hunt for black bear began as I nestled myself into the mid-level branches of a spruce tree. My eyes scanned the snarled forest that hummed a nasty melody from an infestation of bloodthirsty mosquitoes. Wisely, I sat content with my bug-suit that shielded my skin from the annoyance of pesky bugs.

Moments passed slowly. Each waking minute purified my soul and sanitized my mind. I showered in a natural cleanse of Mother Nature; scrubbing the brilliance of wilderness and majesty of nature into my memory. My movements were slow and cautious. Each glance from side-to-side took a scrupulous amount of analyzing the twisted timber for a colossal mass of charcoaled hair.

As beams of glowing sunlight flirted with the Canadian horizon, pink shadows of streaming ribbons festooned the dusky sky. My eyes winced into the blockade of forage as I spotted movement beneath a cluster of white birch trees. A blob of black, which looked as dark as ink, sauntered toward my direction. From the shadows of the murky forest loomed a beast of the night.

My quivering arms snagged my bow as he eased closer. With each step the bear took, my eyes became larger and larger. My heart ached with pulsations of nervous excitement as my conscious failed miserably as a seasoned guide. I was as frazzled as a ball of yarn tattered by a militia of viscous cats. As my bow peaked and broadhead cocked into firing position, I let go!

The carbon arrow pierced into the giant’s vitals. The shot found its mark. I mustered a shriek of thrill that could be heard from the next hillside. My bear hunt was completely accomplished.

Echoes of life still resonate within as I recollect the fond chronicles of the north woods. The Canadian wilderness is home to awe-inspiring scenery freckled with translucent lakes clustered with fish and bountiful forests hiding an assortment of wild game. As any true hunter would realize; the harvest only lasts a mere second, but the entire hunting adventure lasts a lifetime.

Cool Elk Photo On Game Camera

Check out this great picture that was submitted to the photo gallery by Randy Kendrick. This cool shot was captured on a Moultrie I-40 game camera at a secret hunting spot in Colorado. Thanks for sharing the great picture Randy

Safety First

-By Rich Miller

Whether it is driving a tractor to prepare food plots, clearing shooting lanes with a chain saw, or hanging tree stands, this is the time of year when hunters are in the woods every spare minute that they have. For most of us, when we are at work at our regular jobs there are signs on every wall, or a person whose sole purpose is to remind us to keep safety first. While we are at our hunting club or lease there isn’t always a person or a sign on every tree to remind us to keep safety in mind while we perform these activities.

As I get older I think about these things more and more. With hunting season just around the corner we don’t want an accident to keep us from doing what we love doing. Most everyone wears their safety harness while hunting in a tree stand but we need to wear it when we are hanging them also. To me there is more chance of falling while hanging stands than any other time.. Personally I wear a Summit harness and it has a climbing belt incorporated into the harness. This keeps me secured to the tree while putting up steps and putting the stand in place. I am sure there are other good harnesses on the market and it doesn’t matter which one you use as long as you are using one.

Since I was in the military protecting my eyes and hearing was something that was drilled into me, and I have been doing it no matter what my activities. Whether I am riding a tractor, running a chainsaw, or shooting I always wear my ear plugs or muffs and my safety glasses. I still want to be able to hear turkeys gobbling in the spring or a deer walking in the leaves during the fall when I am an old man. Not to mention, it would make it tough to hunt if you couldn’t see.

A tractor can also be dangerous in many different ways. I have to haul my tractor a lot this time of year and my rule while loading and unloading it is to take my time. Like anything else when we get in a hurry that is when things seem to go wrong. It is the same way while changing implements on the back of the tractor. Make sure the tractor is powered down when a person is working behind the tractor. Most tractors have a seat belt and it needs to be used. A lot of the work that we tend to do on our hunting clubs is in tall weeds and places that we haven’t been on a tractor before. Walking these places before hand is a good practice to make sure there are no foreign objects, or ditches or holes that can be a potential hazard.

In the past I have been as negligent as anyone when it came to my safety in the field, but the older I get I think more about it more than I ever have. It could only take a second to ruin a whole hunting season or worse. No matter what I am doing I try to stop, think, and just take my time because none of the things that I am doing are more important than getting home safely to my wife and son.

Cygnet Lake Camp

-By Brandon Wikman

Some people find escape and diversion from everyday life in material items. They discover a single flare of content with simple tangible goods, but soon realize that their fate is left in shreds of momentary value. The secret of life is decorating your soul with ornaments of perpetual beauty that blossoms from God’s greatest bounty.

The arresting fascination of the wilderness has embraced a fairytale charm through the hearts of homebodies seeking grace. Virgin eyes can only attempt creating foggy parodies of what energy the Canadian wilderness would bring to their spirit. The sight of soft speckled sunlight glimmering through the canopy of birch trees; fresh spring water bubbling from a hillside blanketed with flowers meandering through a meadow; spruce trees plastered with white moss as if it were Christmas in the middle of summer. It is these spectacles of Mother Nature that marry our imagination with reality.

In today’s spoon-fed culture where materialistic fascinations of desire penetrate far deeper into the psyche than our conscious mind can even drift; we step into our own hell. Our intellect is carried and passed from precedent generations of want and desire. A mindless craze saturated with media manipulation and a congestion of celebrity do’s and don’ts. Much of society has slowly evolved into a compulsive product of tomorrow’s technology and urgency.

We’ve grown ignorant of the simplicities in life and maintain a hasty cycle of monotony throughout our existence. The world strays through a garden of gold blindfolded and oblivious to the riches buried beneath each blessed day.

Self-gratification is prized as what type of interior our vehicle sports. Modesty has slowly deteriorated from a mindset that solely craves triumph upon scaling the so-called “ladder of success.” Our culture has banded together to blend a poisonous concoction that consists of fame, fortune, and greed. Countless numbers of anemic souls suckle off the drips of toxic media corruption only to find their selves thirsting for another serving.

Too many of us are already dead. The essence of life must be altered back into a realistic perspective. Families must harbor the values of love, time, and tradition to maintain a steadfast birth of contentment. Traveling down the path of least resistance requires nothing more than an attitude lacking ambition and curiosity.

A week spent lavishing in the bush at Cygnet Lake Camp in northwestern Ontario has cleansed my tarnished soul. Relishing the moments of solitude tames the beast within. Inhaling a breath of clean air has never felt so good.

The untamed wilderness has a mystical way of bridging the gap that separates our heart from mind. Tranquility cannot be impersonated from the confinements of our home, but sprouted from the waving pastures of wild flowers. The cascading waterfalls upon ancient moss infested boulders. The teeny droplets of sparkling dew clung glowing on a spider web at dawn. These are a compilation of life’s’ greatest fairytales that you won’t find in your library.

Purify your livelihood by medicating life with a dose of Mother Nature. It will transform the way you live.

I’d like to thank Dan Schafer, owner of Cygnet Lake Camp, for providing me with the time of my life.

Cool Alaskan Video

Check out this cool YouTube clip that was compiled from video using Moultrie I-40 and I-60 game cameras. The end of the clip shows why it is important to use a Camera Security Box when you put your camera in areas where there is a bear population. This video was taken in Talkeetna, Alaska. Thanks for sharing these cool videos with us Bill.

Confidence is the Key

-By Rich Miller

Last weekend I worked a promotional event in Perry, Georgia. While I was demonstrating the Pack Rack, a hot new call from Knight&Hale, I kept getting asked some of the same questions I seem to get ask at every show I work.

They all want to know if rattling and grunting works. My answer to that is: most definitely. Is it going to work every time that you rattle or you blow on your grunt call? No. But deer do react to grunting and rattling more times than not.

For me, there are a lot of advantages to using these calls rather than just sitting in a tree and doing nothing. With that being said, different times of the hunting season require different types of calling.

Early season requires softer grunts with just a tickling of the horns to mimic sparring bucks instead of an all out fight. During the early season you are trying to attract deer more out of curiosity instead of aggressiveness. When it gets later into October and November I get a lot more aggressive with my rattling and my grunt calls become louder. Like I said, this doesn’t work every time but it does work on a consistent basis for me. Confidence in a call and stand location has always seemed to equal success.

The other question I always get asked at shows is what is the best way to get on bucks in the early bow season? Over the years I have found that the most consistent places for me to harvest bucks in the early season is to hunt the food sources- whether it is a food plot, acorns, persimmons, or muscadines.

The thing I like about the early season is that it is the best time to pattern a buck. It seems like they are more predictable now than they are any other time of the year. The tough part is finding where they are hanging out without spooking them. Bucks seem to hang out in a very small area and don’t venture too far away if they have the food and water that they need.

If you can locate one buck then there are usually several more, because the bucks will stick together in bachelor groups this time of year. My Game Spy game cameras are the tools that help me the most when I am scouting. I can see which fields the deer are using and what time they are there. I can also determine where the deer are entering and leaving the field so I get my stand in a spot where the deer will be. The cameras also show me the size of the bucks that are using these areas, and that leads back to the confidence factor.

When I know that I have my stand in a location that has been getting a lot of use I am more willing to stay put and wait these deer out. The cameras allow me to scout without spooking the deer. Of course it is still hunting and the deer don’t always follow the plan that I have laid out for them, but these methods do allow me to be a little better prepared when the time rolls around to ambush these wily critters on their home turf.

Beyond the Darkness

-By Brandon Wikman

As darkness shadows beyond the vast horizon and evening transforms into night, we are all left mystified in what creatures lurk the forest floor.

A timeframe when all previous apparent facts about giant whitetails are twisted into guesses, theories and speculations. The only distinct manner of pursuing these nocturnal nightmares is through the covert use of scouting cameras, which unveil the identity of many true legendary whitetails that may be prowling the property you hunt.

Whitetails are quick to react, whether it’s through their developed notion of predatory senses or perhaps their keen logic to discover food nearly everywhere they habituate. These animals are quite possibly the most underestimated creatures in the wild, especially when we talk about uncanny mature bucks; seasoned beyond all instances they seem to live a solitaire life isolated in nearly every form from their own counterparts.

We all begin our undercover whitetail investigations during the summer, where we can actually spot bucks from a distance, while they demolish soybean and alfalfa fields. Although, we are left uncertain on what deer move during the brink of night. Scouting cameras have revolutionized the way the hunting community and I hunt. As a broke college student with no time to spare, living in the confinements of what we’ve all come to know as, ‘the dorm,’ it’s virtually impossible to scout, hunt and be successful without the aid of cameras.

A hunter without a scouting camera is like a carpenter without his hammer. They are a way for us to capture vital information on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Scouting cameras are another pair of eyes in the woods, but without the worry of our scent or time availability.

Butch Fox of Bluff Bucks Outfitters, owner of one of the most successful whitetail outfits in the Midwest says, “We set out a dozen cameras during July and anticipate what deer we’ve grown from the previous year. It not only gives us an estimation of the quality of bucks on each land parcel, but also how much they’ve grown. We’ve specifically used cameras as our assistants, but they’ve also become my actual hunting guides, with unlimited information that defines several choices I make as an outfitter.”

I use Moultrie game cameras for several reasons. First and foremost because of they’re affordability, which I’ve actually accounted for in my college life. Which means I can purchase books and pay tuition, while still being able to afford a few cameras! They have an incredibly fast trigger speed, their easy to use and most important, efficient.

Every year it seems a new product is introduced into the industry, which dazzles the hunting community. I believe the scouting camera has done so for the past few years and their only going to get better. Performing the techniques used by professionals and tailoring it to your property can be a revelation in the way you begin to hunt.

Evaluating the information you receive on your cameras and tracing it to the property you hunt can be an intense step-by-step investigation that triggers valuable insight. Cameras give us a chance to “be there,” yet not really, “be there.” They’re truly a great device that has the capability of broadening our comprehension on deer movement and putting us on the right trail at the right time.

Most exciting, they reveal hidden messages that we all urge to decipher in the mysterious world of the whitetail underground, although we take every resource possible to understand these creatures, we will never fully understand the enigma completely.

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.

Blind Siding Whitetail

-By Brandon Wikman

Carelessly plopping a tent blind into a mature whitetail’s domain is risky business when you don’t take the neccessary precautious. You must have a strategic plan of action that revolves around a flawless approach. Whether you’re hanging high in the treetops or tucked into the brush at ground level with a tent blind, hunting mature whitetail deer requires an original methodology.

Every savvy buck hunter can easily attest that mature deer are apt to spook from tent blinds. Their camouflage wrap doesn’t hide its boxy figure and obtrusive configuration. If a tent blind isn’t placed in a spot for weeks before season, deer will avoid it like a plague. Hunting blinds form a noticeable force field for the first few weeks of placement. Deer would rather keep a safe distance from the foreign object.

One way to mask a blind is to brush it into its surroundings to prevent deer from spooking. Many new and improved blinds offer both top and bottom loops that weave a 360-degree concealment system around the tent. Every time I place a blind into the forest, I’m very keen on making sure it has background and frontal cover. I use my hand saw to zip into the bark of branches, bushes, or stalks to decorate my shooting house. It breaks up the outline and decreases the shagged edges that deer seem to key into. Buying an inexpensive ground blind requires much more work than just unzipping the carrying bag and planting it into the woods. If you are willing to pay a little more for quality and value, some blinds don’t require any brushing in at all!

My favorite benefit for using blinds is that I can place them anywhere in the field and deer won’t hesitate to give it a second glance if it’s covertly hidden. They are extremely versatile and can be easily moved according to where you anticipate deer to travel coinciding with wind direction. Most are fairly waterproof and prevent you leaving the woods early from an all out rainstorm. The vast majority of blinds are also lined with black interior to prevent game from seeing you. Blinds are a necessity in my neck of the woods.

Hunters who understand the value of slipping into the confinements of a quality blind that blends into the surrounding landscape find them extremely useful. There ease-of-use and user-friendly adaptability is what increase the odds of success in the field and forest chasing whitetail deer.

Do Big Deer Move More During a Full Moon?

Mike Hanback posted a blog on his Big Deer blog about how the moon affects deer movement. It seems that Hanback and one of his buddies are working on a new theory that big bucks are more likely to move around during a full moon. This theory goes against everything that hunters have thought about deer moving best around the dark moon phases.

If you have a Moultrie camera with the info strip on it, you can put Hanback’s theory to the test. Check your pictures and compare the moon phases and see if the big boys are showing up more around the full moon phase.

Let us know what your research reveals.