Grow the Hunt

Last Blog of 2010

By Brandon Wikman

Each year passes swiftly beneath our noses like a gentle summer breeze drifting by. We have a temptation to only recall the bounty of highlights and major influences 2010 has brought to our lives. Whether the sweet recollections were remarkable or definitely forgettable, we will remember them all fondly; because they are memories, the good, bad, or ugly.

This year’s hunting recap for me proved that deer and turkey will always have the upper hand. We can haul new gadgets and gear into our tree stand in hopes of catching a mature buck stumble, but that seldom happens. No matter what you are hunting for, who you are hunting with or where you are hunting… sometimes luck is our best friend.

Hunting free-roaming game is never a slam-dunk, nor will it ever. It takes a set gameplan to shift the odds in our favor. Often, we can be spoiled with good luck during a hunting season. Sometimes everything seems to go just right. While other times, not so much.

After four years of consecutively attending college, working and shooting a television show, my luck simmered down significantly in the woods. I’ve been blessed to slap the tailgate open for several years with a nice Wisconsin brute – except for this year. I’ve ventured into the simmering hot summer days with my bow and bundled up like an Eskimo to face the wintery cold with a gun in pursuit of whitetail. Sadly, I have nothing to show forth but a sore rear end and a melted mind. That’s why they call it hunting!

I’ve pocketed some great memories throughout 2010 and I hope you have, too. I will always remember the hunting trips that went haywire, the deer that never showed up and the time spent pouring my heart into the love of the hunt. And hey, I can’t forget the deer that tumbled down to my shot, also. Although memories are not always a dopamine rush, they are sometimes bittersweet and classic reminders of our life spent enjoying God’s creation.

I hope everyone had a memorable 2010 and look forward to a new year. God bless and good hunting!

3 Tips to Fight the Freeze

By Brandon Wikman

This time of year, archery hunters have much more to worry about than simply slicing an arrow into a deer. They need to face the outside elements of raw chill to make their luck in the deer stand.

The Midwest is blanketed in snow and temperatures have been flirting with single digits. There’s nothing chillier on a hunter than having to stand still with the wind in his face and ripping into layers of clothes. This, my friend, is late season bow hunting at its most enduring.

I’ve churned up a few tips that I’ve learned over the years to help hunters stay slightly warmer, a little bit longer. These strategies are among many tried and tested trials of frostbitten blunders. I hope you find them well worth your time and give them a whirl yourself.

Pack Light. This is by far the most critical aspect of staying warm in a deer stand. You must walk to and from your stand with as little as clothes possible. If you are bundled up like a snowmobile aficionado from Alaska, you have already put yourself in a bad position.

Your body will begin to overheat in only minutes and begin to sweat. Moisture is your enemy during late season hunting. The moisture build-up will only enhance your chill as time goes on. You should bring a backpack or even carry your outer layers into your hunting setup. This will allow your body temperature to stay cool when treading through the knee-high snow!

Warm your limbs. As we all know, your hands, feet and head are the first body parts to go raw. They are the furthest pieces of skin from your heart, which means it takes blood much longer to circulate.
I prefer wearing booties on my feet. There are several hunting and outdoor manufactures that make foot-specific warming gear. I will always sport a muff around my waist to put my hands in. Lastly, I always wear a mask around my face. This provides my head, neck  and ears the extra warmth they deserve.

Lastly, you will find that hunting during the late season time period is dramatically different than hunting early season or the rut. Deer tend to move during the absolute last minutes of daylight, which means if you are hunting a trail that leads to the field, you can slip in there within the last two hours of light. The least time spent in the cold, the better.

Test and try these methods to help stay warmer in the deer stand… otherwise just say the heck with it and bring a portable heater!

Hunting Big Does

By Rich Miller

With all the private land and hunting clubs, managing the deer herd is happening now more than ever. When we talk about managing deer everyone automatically thinks “growing big bucks”. Although growing big bucks is one of the goals, making the whole heard healthy as possible is the main goal. To do this we as hunters have to take some of the does out of the herd every year, also. 

The number of does we need to take is dependent on several different factors like the size of the property, the number of deer per acre and tour buck to doe ratio. The problem is shooting them when we have the chance. In the beginning of the season, I normally don’t shoot does because there is a certain buck that I have my eye on and I don’t wont to mess up the place I am hunting. I know that this is the most opportune time to take does, but between the heat and the other factor I just mentioned I can’t make myself do it. I always wait till this time of year and decide I want to shoot some does and then they are hard to see. 

I got back in town late Thursday night and my little boy told me, “Let’s go hunting!” I have a good friend of mine that is trying to take a lot of does off his property so Tye and I took him up on his invitation and headed that way Friday afternoon. On the walk we noticed the food plot we had to cross to get to the stand was torn up with deer sign. That really give me a lot of confidence that we would see some does in there.

Tye and I had hunted together a lot this year and have seen a lot of deer, but all of them were small bucks and does – when we weren’t shooting does. I was really hoping we would get lucky and get a shot. The whole evening was a typical one and we were on pins and needles the whole time thinking something was going to come out any minute. As luck would have it. nothing came out until right at the end of shooting light and a decent little 7-point buck came strolling into the food plot and fed all the way across. At least we got to see a deer and that really made Tye’s evening; but as usual, when we are after big does, they don’t show.

Cold Weather Gear

By Brandon Wikman

By the looks across the Midwest; snow, ice, and nasty cold weather looms. As a hunter, you need to know how to stay warm and alert during this time period.

First things first, you must obviously check the weather to get an accurate read of what exactly you are up against. It could be wind, snow or a sunny day with freezing temperatures. If you're going to be out in the extreme cold, sport as much warm clothing as possible. If it's mid-cold, try to dress in layers so that you can add or remove clothes throughout the day. The most important aspect of dressing warm is bringing enough layers and being able to shed them when needed.

Thermal Underwear. You can purchase thermal underwear in any clothing and underwear store across the country, whether it’s a sporting good shop or Wal-Mart. Thermals are great for layers and extreme cold.

Fleece Lined Jeans. Fleece is general is very warm and prevents much of your core heat from escaping. Fleece lined jeans are an exceptional way to keep the heat in and cold out.

Long socks or leg warmers. These will keep your legs warm a bit more, rather than just wearing pants and ordinary socks. You may want to prefer wool socks or even alpaca, which is the ultimate cold weather sock!

Jackets. A good, thick zip-up jacket is perfect for cold weather. It's warm, but also easy to put on and off. Get rid of those cotton jackets; buy a wool or a good polyester jacket instead! Don't wear hoodies in extremely cold weather as this allows the wind to go through the fibers. Without the wind chill, you will be a lot warmer, so make sure you have a windproof jacket. Try synthetics like Goretex that let your sweat escape if you are doing vigorous activities like walking to and from your stand.

Other accessories such as gloves, scarves and beanies. All of these items can add an extra warm flair to your outfit while also keeping you alert and on the ready!

The most important aspect of trying to stay warm in cold weather is to prevent your body from overheating, which leads to sweating. Many people jump into a snowmobile suit and walk to their stand. Unfortunately, by the time they arrive, climb the ladder, and get settled in, it’s far too late. Sweat is moisture. Moisture is our nasty cold enemy that will drastically drop your body’s temperature. Be sure to take your time walking to your stand and even yank off a few layers to prevent the sweat factor. I typically carry in most of my outer layers, which helps me out a ton.
   
Stay warm and be safe!

The Cold Weather Arrives...a Bit Late

By Rich Miller

All throughout the hunting season, all of us have wanted the weather to turn cold.  Well, our wish has been granted because the weather has taken a turn for the better. Over the last week, cold weather has arrived and the deer have started to move. Here in South Carolina, it has picked up some as it usually does around Thanksgiving and some big deer have been hitting the ground. 

The funny thing this year was in Kansas – when the rut is normally supposed to be the first of November – it didn’t seem to happen that way. The state of Kansas counts on the rut being the first of November and for that reason they schedule their gun season to open the first Wednesday after Thanksgiving.

This year, according to some of the reports I have been getting, it didn’t work because the deer have been running does like crazy. Several of the guys I know out there that didn’t fill their tag during bow season have taken some great bucks this past week. Normally, the rifle season is pretty tough with the extremely cold weather and the deer not moving very much. This year was just the opposite, though, with the hot weather during November there was very little rut activity and now it’s happening during the gun season. 

I just hope with the bucks running everywhere like they have been that a few of them are left over for next year. 

I think it’s a great idea to try to have the gun season after the rut, especially in open country like the state of Kansas. I think a lot of other states could learn from this, especially the state that I live in where our gun season is four and a half months long.  Our deer don’t get a break from the middle of August until the next year!

Maybe one day the people that we have setting our seasons and bag limits will open their eyes and realize we are going to have to shorten a season or lower an extremely high bag limit in order to make hunting better in our state. 

Moultrie Monster Buck Photo Gallery Contest - Grand Prize Winner

Congratulations to Rob Gillaspie from Boaz, AL, for having his photo chosen as the Grand Prize winner in the Moultrie Monster Buck Photo Gallery Contest!

We had over 500 entries for this year's contest, and the competition was better than ever. Congratulations to Rob as well as all of our Weekly Winners. Keep checking the blog as we may have another contest when we roll over to 2011.

Late Season is Here!

By Brandon Wikman

Late season is finally here! Like it or not, it’s cold, bitter and almost mind-numbing.

Much of the country has passed through their early season archery hunting, mid-firearm blasting season, and now it is time for late season deer hunting adventure; a time when your fingers go numb, eyes water from the chilling wind, and the layers of clothes make you look plump.

The Midwest recently received a load of fluffy white snow dropped off from a storm that passes late last week. The most recent temperatures have been in the teens and wind-chill factors flirting with single digits. To some this means primetime deer hunting.

During late season when temperatures drop significantly, deer must make a boogie to food sources a little earlier than normal. This is a good thing, considering the more daylight available the better. Yesterday, I took a walk in the snowy woods searching for fresh tracks. Needless to say, I found hundreds. I find it extremely interesting to notice the slight changes of deer movement, travel pattern and key food source locations that alter after the rut.

Deer are far more prone to find a snack of corn, picked soybean field, or even a nice food plot of leftover greens. This is where late season tactics meet cold weather techniques. It is essential to locate where the mass general deer movement is at this time. Now is a period where deer shift travel and food patterns once again. Many times, seeking tracks in the snow is the very best way other than using Moultrie trail cameras. If it is legal to bait in your area, deer generally will smash it like a pancake! It is all about food, food and more food.

The next few weeks I’ll be focusing on hitting up field edges overlooking rich food sources. With the cold weather to my advantage, I’ll do my best to get out there and stay partially warm.

Next week’s article will be about how to stay warm in cold season conditions; a few tips and tricks I’ve learned from some of the best in the business.

Moultrie Customer Testimonial - Robert Lederer

I have been using my Moultrie Game Spy 3.0 for the last 3 years to help inventory and pattern animals in my area. I have used it successfully 2 times since I got it to harvest bucks. This year, I had a mature buck with a flat out ugly rack that I decided to cull from the heard. Your product helped me locate, pattern and harvest this buck. Thank you for your product. 
– Robert Lederer

 

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If you have a story of how Moultrie has helped you achieve Total Game Management, send us your information and you may see it on the Grow The Hunt blog!

My Kansas Buck with thanks to Code Blue

By Rich Miller

On Tuesday Nov. 9, I got out of the truck and sprayed down with Code Blue’s EliminX 360; just like I had done every other morning since I had been in Kansas. When I eased into my stand that morning I could have sworn I could still smell the Doe Estrous PST! that I had set off the day before. Throughout the morning, I periodically sprayed more PST! out just to make sure there was plenty of scent in the area. By 9am I had yet to see a deer, but in the next hour I rattled in nine different bucks and at least four of them came in from straight downwind. The ninth buck that came in was the one I had been looking for all my life.  Between the grunting and rattling I threw his way, he ended up at 24 yards, giving me a perfect slightly quartering away shot. My arrow found its mark and I ended up with the biggest buck of my life a 173.5” 13 point, Kansas giant!