Grow the Hunt

Making the Not-so-Perfect Shot

By Rich Miller

When a hunter goes into the woods, all he can think about is making the perfect shot.  We’d all like to have the deer come up the trail or into the food plot – just the way we imagined it – then turn broadside and offer us the shot we’ve dreamed of. Whether with gun or bow, when this moment of truth comes, sometimes the shot isn’t as perfect as the rest of the scenario was. Not a lot of people like to talk about it; or if it happens on TV, some of the people act like it didn’t happen or the shot was a “little back” and they make a short recovery. The hard truth is bad shots happen and we as hunters must be prepared for them when they occur.

The other Saturday afternoon, right after dark, I got a phone call from dad telling me about a deer he had just shot. He was hunting with a muzzleloader and the deer was about sixty-five yards away when he took the shot. He said after the shot, the deer just hunkered up and walked out into the field and laid down. He was still in the stand when he called me and told me he could see the deer, but couldn’t get another shot at him. He wanted to know if he needed to get down and try to sneak up to the deer and get another shot into him. I told him definitely not; I felt like the deer was gut shot and he should just wait until it got dark, sneak out and we could find him the next morning. Early the next morning my dad and I headed out with my little boy and nephew in tow to find the buck.  Once we got there and were recreating the shot, my dad filled me in that he tried to sneak up on the deer after we talked and jumped him. I immediately became worried because after a deer beds down and gets back up the blood trail gets very sparse. We found where the deer had bedded down in the field and there was a little blood there, but we couldn’t find anything after that. After showing me the direction the deer ran after he was jumped, I started looking along the fence and found some tracks. After a lot of searching I found one small speck of blood, but the same heavy tracks were there, also. I stayed on the tracks until I couldn’t find them anymore, but I realized they were running down hill toward a pond that was a couple hundred yards away. I walked straight down the hill about thirty yards from where I lost the sign to a real thick spot in a gully and found the deer. 

The reason my dad said he got down and went after the deer was that he had seen a coyote earlier in the hunt and he thought it would find the deer if he didn’t. We did find the deer, but we got really lucky and it was a lot of unnecessary work in doing so. Bad shots will be made, and over the years I have learned the best friend a hunter can have is patience. Don’t get in a hurry, take your time and make sure you’re on something before moving forward and messing up any sign you may have. It’s not easy and it will be time consuming, but if you’re going to hunt, tracking wounded game is part of the game. It’s like they say, “the works starts after the shot.” Be prepared for a bad shot – but don’t expect it – because we have all made them; and if someone hasn’t, that’s only because they haven’t been hunting long enough.

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Triple J Wing & Clay

By Brandon Wikman

Last week I cased my bow and stuffed my archery equipment into the closet. As I shoved bags, shuffled boxes and pushed draping clothes of camo, I latched onto my shotgun gear. My partner, Hunter Olson, and I took the invitation to bust a few clay pigeons and hunt the long fields of sorghum and high grass in western Wisconsin at an incredible shooting sports and bird hunting facility called Triple J Wing & Clay.

Steve Reis, owner of Triple J, provided us an amazing opportunity to bring our cameras and capture the ambience, experience and enlightening spectacles decorated around this beautiful place only 20 miles from legendary Lambeau Field.

We were guided by Steve’s son, Jason, and kindly helped by other Triple J workers. Hunter and I tied our walking shoes, loaded our shotguns and began dissecting the field with the aid of dogs. Triple J holds over 530 acres of bird hunting paradise that is solely dedicated to bird hunting and clay shooting enthusiasts. The clay pigeon shooting courses, bird hunting, restaurant and bar are open to the public and always make a nice resting spot after a great day of hunting.

With shotguns in hand, Hunter and I marched to the pheasant-infested fields in hope of filming our first pheasant TV show of the year. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a pheasant hunter by any means or stretch of the imagination. To put it in perspective, I can relate to making homemade raspberry jam a whole lot more than I know a feather about pheasants. This was not only a hunt, but also more importantly a learning experience for both Hunter and me.

The early morning sun speckled the midnight’s frost and placed glimmering jewels upon each stalk. As soon as we began to walk, the glowing field – freckled with beauty – erupted. Our black birddog darted back-and-forth in pursuit of the smell of roosters. With each crunching step my spirits lifted in hopes of getting my first crack at a pheasant. 

At only a mere sixty yards into the depths of waist-high sorghum, our birddog (the real hunter of the morning) showed deep signs of “birdy”. As Hunter and I prepared for the flush, a long tail-feathered rooster raged into the air like a mini-rocket. Hunter jabbed the butt of his small 20-guage into shoulder shooting position and lit the rooster up! The colorful bird plopped into the dirt a few yards from where it was flushed. The guides and I looked at Hunter with eyes as large as shotgun shells and congratulated him on a spectacular shot.

We progressed throughout the afternoon, hunting hard. Celebrations, misses and a vest full of enriching moments weighed our back vest pockets. The morning truly brought memories that will last a lifetime. I must sincerely thank Steve Weiss for giving me the chance to learn a little more about pheasants, shooting sports and, most importantly, mentoring an 8-year old child into the woods, water and field. For more information about bird hunting and shooting clays in western Wisconsin, be sure to look up www.TripleJWingandClay.com.

Game Spy Photo Gallery Featured Hunter - Pamela Entrikin

Our next photo to be highlighted comes from Pamela Entrikin in York, SC. This night shot was taken on February 10, 2010 with her Moultrie Infrared Game Spy Camera.

Pamela says, "Grey fox. This is the one and only time I've caught him on my camera."

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Keep sending in your photos and checking this blog, because you may be our next featured hunter! Please include your full name, location, which Moultrie camera you're using and a short story with your photo if you want it shared on our Grow the Hunt blog. The more information and better the photo, the better your chance to be featured.

We're getting a lot of great submissions, so keep them coming!

Looking for the Perfect Time (and Weather) to Hunt

By Rich Miller

For four years, I was in the military and that was four years that I didn’t get to do very much hunting. When we were not at sea, or when I was not on duty, I would try and come home to get a little hunting in. Sometimes, I would just go up to our hunting club just to get a full day of hunting in and then drive all night to get back before I had to be at work. Looking back now, a lot of those drives were pretty stupid and didn’t make much sense; but for a guy eat up with hunting the way I was, I would have done pretty much anything to get in a tree stand for a couple of hunts. 

After I had completed my four years, I made it home in June of 1993 and I told everyone that I was going to hunt every day if I could. That fall, our season opened up the first of October and closed the first of January. In those three months I hunted everyday but three. I don’t remember the reason I didn’t hunt, but it must have been good. After that year I hunted a lot every year, but never like that first fall back.
 
This year, I hunted opening day as usual, but since then I haven’t been in the woods much this year. For one thing, the weather has been consistently warm except for just a few days. Heat hasn’t been the only reason; the dry weather has been as much at fault as any. My work schedule has changed, too, and that has played a part, but even the days I did have a chance it just didn’t feel like one should be in the woods. Every year it seems like I hunt like crazy as soon as it opens and by the time the weather gets right and the deer really get to moving I get a little burned out. 

This year, with not as much time on my hands, I am going to wait and pick my days. I’ll wait on fronts moving in and out or any kind of temperature or weather changes. So far this year, that hasn’t happened; and the few times I have been, the deer movement has been as slow as the cool weather moving in. Watching the weather, it looks like it might be starting to get right, but looking back everything has been late this year. Turkeys, crappie, and the bass were all a little late this year, so I guess the fall weather and whitetails will be the same way.

Game Spy Photo Gallery Featured Hunter - Kevin Berry

Our next photo to be highlighted comes from Kevin Berry in Missouri. This night shot was taken on October 13, 2010 with his Moultrie Infrared Game Spy Camera.

Kevin says, "In two years this guy's gonna be a bruiser."

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Keep sending in your photos and checking this blog, because you may be our next featured hunter! Please include your full name, location, which Moultrie camera you're using and a short story with your photo if you want it shared on our Grow the Hunt blog. The more information and better the photo, the better your chance to be featured.

We're getting a lot of great submissions, so keep them coming!

Hunting Update

- By Brandon Wikman

This year’s weather has brought an increasingly new mix of variables to the world of whitetail hunting across the country. New challenges and obstacles have been exceedingly piled onto archery hunters throughout the duration of this year’s season. From the upper bands of Michigan to the southern hills of Kentucky, deer have been tough to kill.

Currently, I’m on my 20th day in a tree stand in Wisconsin. I’ve hunted all across Dairy Land in some of the most deer-littered areas of the state. Yet, no matter what, I’ve came home with a sore rear-end and an eyesore of antler. Sure, there are hunters capitalizing on the 2010 season and have a mean set of antlers to show for it, but at least for my partners and me… it hasn’t been good.

Wisconsin and much of the Midwest have experienced record inches of rainfall. I remember waking up to nearly 10 inches of water in my rain gauge. During the soggy summer months, things were always simply wet. Crops were sky-high, puddles were everywhere, and deer antler was abundant. Things changed come season.

As Mother Nature would have it, opening weekend of archery season turned out to be the toughest I’ve ever hunted. Deer were difficult to pattern because of the mass acorn crop. There were acorns literally scattered everywhere in the woods. Any trail camera pictures that I did receive at my stand site were after dark. Bucks were basically lollygagging, browsing and munching on a healthy dose of appetizers before tearing into the main course of field greens.

This trend has continued over the past few weeks in my area. After speaking with friends last night from Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri, they are completely the opposite.

Many of their stories have hinged on the fact that weather has been extremely hot, dry and bland. Deer have dispersed like rats off a sinking ship. Temperatures in Missouri have been in the 80’s throughout October, which isn’t normal by any means.   

As Mother Nature battles on, we as hunters can only do one thing: hunt on. November is approaching and the time to be in the woods makes us all just that much more excited. Weather plays a significant role on deer movement, as we know. Natural forage doesn’t help much either, especially when we are trying to draw deer into our homemade hunting plots. Things will turn around, as they always do. Persistence in the forest will reward those who have patience with opportunities.

Game Spy Photo Gallery Featured Hunter - Tyson Harvey

Our next photo to be highlighted comes from Tyson Harvey near Kerrville, TX. This shot of an exotic species to most of us was taken on Nov. 22, 2008 with his Moultrie Game Spy Camera. It's nice to see the Moultrie Feeder in the background!

Tyson says, "Two free range Sika deer routinely hitting my feeder."

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Keep sending in your photos and checking this blog, because you may be our next featured hunter! Please include your full name, location, which Moultrie camera you're using and a short story with your photo if you want it shared on our Grow the Hunt blog. The more information and better the photo, the better your chance to be featured.

We're getting a lot of great submissions, so keep them coming!

Game Spy Photo Gallery Featured Hunter - Bob Rice

Our next photo to be highlighted comes from Bob Rice in New Hampshire. I know a lot of hunters can sympathize with this shot of "the one that got away," from August 25, 2010, captured with his Moultrie Game Spy Infrared Camera.

Bob says, "Shot this buck opening day...blood ran dry...the rains came...never to be seen again."

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Keep sending in your photos and checking this blog, because you may be our next featured hunter! Please include your full name, location, which Moultrie camera you're using and a short story with your photo if you want it shared on our Grow the Hunt blog. The more information and better the photo, the better your chance to be featured.

We're getting a lot of great submissions, so keep them coming!

Jenn’s First Bird

- By Brandon Wikman

Hunting turkey can be a pursuit of unpredictable obstacles that weave themselves into a broken basket that can only carry air. Big birds are notorious for pecking your intelligence into the ground. Often times, they seem to make me want to pluck my hair follicles out! This week I strutted out of the woods slightly smarter and much more successful.   

This past weekend meant the world to me. I wanted to serve my dear friend Jenn a hen dinner served on a silver platter. My focus was purely on my forest’s feathered friend, turkey.  A peculiar critter that eludes even the most tactful hunter in the woods, these birds live and die by their keen eyesight. It’s as if turkey sport a pair of Nikon’s on their goofy faces, not to mention their uncanny ability to survive in a wilderness seemingly fit for only the most dominant bush creatures.

I had one day to put my best efforts into scouting and zeroing-in on a bird for Jenn. I began my woodland excursion in the morning while trekking farm fields for any visual evidence of footprints, scat or feathers. During my big search I happened to stumble across an alfalfa field that graciously held a handful of feathers. As I collected field feathers and began to part the lush greens in search for prints, I was convinced that this was a gobbling good spot.

Instantaneously, the blind was erected. Turkey aren’t as tent-blind savvy as whitetail, but I still brushed-up the blind to ease any doubts. My handsaw was put to action. Woodchips flew like sparks as the saw’s teeth shredded through the lumber. Pine boughs were thrown into a heaping pile that would soon be decorating my blind. Pine trees are incredible for throwing down a covert strategy that will make you invisible; the limbs are dressed with so many finger-like needles that vanish your outline in a matter of seconds. My blind looked like a pine hut that came directly from the early era of caveman. My ancient cavern would soon be put to the ultimate turkey test once Jenn arrived to hunt tomorrow.

The next morning was show time. All I had to do was hope that the flock of birds wouldn’t forget their travel route, which bypassed the blind at a mere 10-yards. Jenn and I shuffled to the blind at first-light. As she jacked ammo into the shotgun I crossed my fingers and wished for Jenn to blast her very first bird.

The sun cast a balance of warmth on the blossoming fall forage while the fog faded, and flocks of geese darted into the horizon from bowling balls to bb’s. This Mother Earth moment was instantly carved into my memory and cleansed my soul. It was nature at its very best. We sat, watched and waited.

Suddenly, my eyes grabbed a flashy bolt of black. Both Jenn and I squinted out of the window and spotted the flock scratching their way from the woods into the field. Beams of sunrays accented the feathers as I gawked at my plan working to perfection. Jenn snuggled the gun into her shoulder as I continued to throw a one man show circus in my imagination. One-by-one the birds entered the field. Jenn selected the closest turkey and without much guidance provided her own opportunity to shoot. The faint click of the safety was followed by the booming blast of her gun. There were birds and feathers scattered everywhere! It was as if the sun had been abruptly blocked and floating feathers and darting birds choked all light. All the while, I turned to look at the smile on Jenn’s face and it lit the world back up.

As the commotion of wing beats and puttering bird noises ceased, I turned my attention to a beautiful bird lying on the ground. The elation of joy was hard to beat for the experience of a surefire plan, which is difficult to come by. I counted my blessings that morning and shared my love and passion with someone I deeply care for.