Grow the Hunt

Surving the Fall

By - Brandon Wikman

The last image burnt into my tattered mind was a faint image of my mother’s face before my body shattered onto the cold forest floor. Am I alive?

We’ve heard that 80% of tree stand accidents happen when hunters climb in and out of the stand. Last week I became a statistic, a statistic that changed my life. I feel blessed to be here writing about my experience and hope to raise awareness to the hunting population that safety is so crucial while outdoors.

The past weekend marked my 22nd birthday. I was finally able to cram an entire weekend’s worth of homework and job duties into the middle of the week, allowing me to escape back home Saturday and Sunday. Spending time with loved ones is extremely important to me. I value every waking moment spent with my mother and sisters. As another birthday rolls in and cards fill the mailbox, I take a different perspective on what my day earth means to me. I dearly thank my mother for raising me correctly and honor the sacrifices she made for the betterment of my sisters and me. It’s not about the gifts, cakes, or glory, but about the moments cherished with the people dear to your heart.

My plan was to spend Saturday afternoon in the woods hunting, doing something I can’t get enough of and absolutely love. At dark, my mother had my favorite dinner prepared with a mouthwatering cake and ice cream to compliment the meal fit for a king. The thought was nice and surely comforted my food deprived stomach as I walked into the woods, but what happened next changed the entire course of my evening plans.

I slowly tiptoed down a deer path en route to my tree stand. The wind was calm, breeze was cool, and my hopes were sky high. As I approached my stand, I unraveled my rope and latched it to my bow’s cam. I eased my bow down cautiously as the rope’s slack tightened. I was ready to scale up the ladder. So I thought.

A backpack full of grunt tubes, rattling horns, and a miscellaneous array of hunting gear shifted back-n-forth against my back as I climbed the ladder rungs. My cumbersome rubber boots took up the entire rung, with only centimeters of excess space. The stand was finally in sight. I motioned to lift myself into the stand, like I’ve done hundreds of times before, but this time was different.

My bulky camo boot slipped off the top ladder rung and sent my balance a rude awakening. The backpack weighted my back towards the opposite direction. I was literally freefalling in midair. It was a nightmare, but I didn’t seem to wake up in my bed in a cold sweat. I was plummeting head first into the frozen tundra. The fall was swift. I had enough time to think about my family one more time before I readied myself for the 20-ft spiral.

My right hand instantly stretched toward the earth while my face cringed. I knew this was going to hurt. It did, badly. A sudden impact of sheer body weight against pure earth collapsed my body into a pile of reckless pain and agony. I quivered like a bird that fell from its nest. I frantically gasped for air, but nothing would fill my lungs other than piercing needle-like pains. I was shocked, but somehow alive.

An instant adrenaline rush fused my body into gathering itself, and I slowly stumbled back to my vehicle. Blood oozed from my nose, trickled down my chin, and stained my camouflage coat. I hobbled my broken body back to the truck and drove myself straight to the emergency room.

Hours of x-rays proved that my body took a blow. I fractured ribs, my scapula, and sprained my legs. The doctor advised I rest and take it easy. I was convinced my bones were broken, but the doctor said otherwise.

On my drive home I realized how lucky I was to fight off busted bones, a broken back or even worse, death. I enjoyed my dinner with the family that evening, but it was a dinner that meant more to me than I’ve ever imagined.

More than 30% of hunters die annually from falling 20-ft. up. The statistic elevates as the height of the fall increased. We must all be aware that safety is our number one priority. I’ve been lucky to have years of safe trips up and down trees, but there was just something different about last weekend. Please be careful and cautious during your next adventure.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trophy Memory of a Lifetime

- By Rich Miller

This week has been really slow and I haven’t been able to do much hunting at all. The only thing I’ve been doing is working, trying to get caught up and ahead before I leave for my Kansas trip. The phone is ringing a lot more. Three days this week I have received calls telling me about monster bucks hitting the ground. It looks like I am going to hit Kansas perfect this year and the weather is going to cooperate also.

Over the past couple of nights, I have pretty much put everything together that I think I will need while I am there. Clothes, calls, scents, bow, decoy, and stands are all laid out in the garage ready to go. Every year I swear I am not going to take as much stuff as I did last year, and it looks like I have more this year than I ever have. That’s the good thing about driving and having an enclosed trailer. I don’t have to worry about weight limits or how many bags I can check. I know I can make do when flying because I did it on my bear hunt, but I am glad I don’t have to make it happen on my deer hunts. I have to pick up the field producer and all of his camera equipment when I get to Kentucky, so hopefully we will have enough room for him!

I did get in the woods one afternoon this week. Though I wasn’t there long, it was a very enjoyable hunt. Since the time change, it makes it tough to get in the woods after work but my little boy knows I am getting ready to go out of town and every day he has been saying “deer hunting Daddy, deer hunting Daddy”. That means he wants to go deer hunting, so I had to get him into the stand before I left for my hunt.

The afternoon I was able to take him, we got into the stand just before 5pm. He was real quiet walking in, he was so excited and he had to do everything by himself. When we got settled into the stand he climbed up in my lap and was steady looking, asking “where are the deer?” We had only been there for about 15 minutes, when I noticed a doe coming out on the far end of the field. I pointed her out to him, and then there were six more that followed her into the field. He watched them very intently as they fed, then he climbed out of my lap and was trying to get me to reach for the gun so we could “shoot deer” as he says. After very quietly explaining to him that we were not going to shoot any does, but we were going to wait on a big buck that seemed to satisfy him for a few minutes. Then he would say, “Daddy get gun” yet again. The deer left the field just before it became too dark for us to see. We headed back to the truck shortly after.

Once we got back to the truck, he was all smiles and all he could talk about was the seven deer we saw in the field. Though I wasn’t dragging a big buck out of the field, I sure did take a trophy memory home from that hunt.

A Kink in the Rut

- By Brandon Wikman

Across the Midwest hunters have been awaiting this precious time. A time when people take off work, skip school, and use those sick days to their advantage. It’s the whitetail rut!

The rut may be in full swing, but the intensity of the lovesick chase is dwindling by day. Bucks that are love-struck and seeking a companion that’s willing to give in is hard to find when most of the activity is occurring at night. The rut is just as glamorous as the weather this time of year. When the weather is mild, so is the daylight activity. Bucks tend to move during the cooler hours of dawn and dusk, which puts hunters in a predicament.

It’s clear to say that the moment of truth can happen at any given time during this period of the rut, but the odds plummet drastically. Deer are lugging around a thick and burly winter jacket right now. They don’t like to move as much when temperatures escalate. In fact, it’s proven that whitetail movement decreases and the heat index increases. Deer waylay throughout the day and hit up a late night fiesta. It would be like you or I tossing on extreme arctic weather clothing and running laps around our house. Not fun.

I’ve been filming for my cousin for the last week. He’s yet to score on a buck this season, but like most, he’s hitting the woods hard right now. It is fascinating to witness how dramatically the weather influences deer movement from our point-of-view. Last week the weather was very brisk. A cold front stormed through the Midwest and the woods went bonkers. We camped out all day in the stand and saw bucks cruising throughout the day. In fact, every single hour in stand proved to be incredible. It wasn’t a day after when things changed, for the worse.

An unseasonal high pressure system boosted the temperatures into the mid-50s by day and 40’s by night. We were both hoping for the best, but had an idea things weren’t going to go our way. Needless to say, the only movement we saw was a few dink bucks during first and last light. I’ve been looking at the weather forecast for the next few days. It doesn’t look good. The upper Midwest will be seeing temperatures jumping to the 60’s by the weekend, which is near record highs for most states during November! It is a dreary thought, but the weather is beyond our control. We are able to reduce our odors, choose our locations, and so much more, but we can’t change the weather.

My best advice is to focus on bedding areas during dawn and dusk. The mid-day rutting activity will slow down to a dribble. We are planning to hunt mornings and evenings, and save our backs and behinds some trouble.

I wish everyone the best as we approach the middle of November. This is a time when many hunters find their dreams evolving into a reality. Hunt hard, hunt safe and good luck!

High Fence Hunting

- By Rich Miller

At this exact moment I am at my hunting camp letting my can of beef stew settle before I head off to bed. I have been down here hunting this weekend chasing crazy whitetails around the woods. It has been really slow for the few days that I have been here. I have seen a few deer but nothing of size. Not only are we not seeing much deer movement, but we have not heard very many shots either. That is really unusual for the end of October with rifle season in full swing. Most of the time it sounds like a war zone from the start of rifle season to the end of November. In this particular tract of property we only have around 300 acres and it is surrounded mostly by public land and some private on one side. We try to practice quality deer management as much as possible, but the deer are small-bodied to begin with and the average buck taken is one and a half years old; you can imagine how hard it is to see a good buck.

This afternoon while sitting in the stand, my mind was wandering as it usually does when I am not seeing anything. I got to thinking about a conversation that I had not too long ago. It was about the ethics of hunting in a high-fence area. I have never hunted in a high fence, but I have been able to get a tour of one and I am here to tell you that it was impressive to see the fruits of the time, labor, and especially the money that was invested in the place. The fellow I was discussing high-fence hunting with was dead set against it and didn’t agree with it at all. His complaint was that the guys hunting inside the fence were shooting big mature deer and acting like they are hunting the same deer that he was on the outside. It took me a little while to digest it and come up with a reasonable response.

First of all, I somewhat agreed with him; high-fence deer are definitely not the same deer that I have been hunting. A deer in the enclosure is not going to be passed up as a basket rack six point and step across the property line only to get blasted by the neighbor. Also, the managers can keep the doe-to-buck ratio more in line with better camera surveys and stricter management practices. However, most of these enclosures are between 1,000 and 10,000 acres, and it isn’t like you just go out there and chase a monster buck around to you get him tired and shoot him. It is still hunting and after the season opens, the deer are still deer and they know they are being hunted.

I think the property managers and owners know that they are not hunting the same deer that most of us are on public ground and hunting clubs. They know that they have a way better chance of seeing and shooting a monster buck in an enclosure because there are more deer in there, and they aren’t there by accident or luck. The property managers worked extremely hard, spending a lot of time and money to build the enclosure.

I have gotten very frustrated with neighbors and outlaws shooting some great up-and-coming bucks that I know I passed up to so they could reach their potential. At those points, I felt like fencing everything in myself if I had the resources to do it. I understand both sides of the argument and really don’t have an opinion either way. The opinion I have is we are all in the same boat whether we like high fences or not, we all love hunting. There are people and groups in this world that would love to keep us all out of the woods if they had their choice in the matter. So as long as it is legal and everyone is obeying the rules, let’s stop arguing between each other and support hunting of any kind. If we start picking and choosing we might all one day be out of a sport that we love.

What are your thoughts on high fences?