Grow the Hunt

Game Spy Photo Gallery Featured Hunter - Kevin Jaegers

Our next photo to be highlighted comes from Kevin Jaegers in New Hampshire. This cool, snowy shot of a couple of big whitetails was taken on February 1, 2011 with his Moultrie Game Spy Camera.

Kevin says, "This picture is of a two bucks coming to my shed trap looking for food just after the big snow. This photo was taken with a Moultrie Game Spy 6.0"

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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!

Shed Hunting Tips

By Brandon Wikman

Trudging through the soggy snow in search for massive whitetail headgear can be completely irresistible when you know both where and how to look. I’ve encountered many years of tireless searching for bone without any rewards to show for it! Finally, after listening and learning to a few shed hunting gurus, I’m able to ‘shed’ light on some valuable tactics in search for the mysterious bone!

FOREST:
Shed hunting in the forest is a lot like fishing. As a fisherman, we always keep a close eye on structures such as weed beds, logs or overhanging branches. Shed hunting is no different. Look for places such as thick brush spots or lone standing pines and try to figure where bucks would spend the majority of their time. You can maximize your search by seeking key high-percentage areas that deer often use.
   
Your best bet is to break out an aerial map and look at the terrain. Mapping The Outdoors has the most high quality printable maps on the market. They have solved the whitetail conundrum by providing outdoor enthusiasts like you and I an opportunity to hone-in on properties with a birds-eye view. Aerial maps will uncover ridges, fence lines, trails, streams, and so many more fascinating land characteristics that will not only help you shed hunt, but more importantly enhance your opportunity of smashing a buck come season.

Ultimately, aerial maps will give you a better idea of where to begin. Once you have a general idea of where to look, it’s time to get your hiking boots laced.

I have found that searching the south edges of woodlots that border cornfields can be a gold mine. These are prime food source locations that are in direct sunlight throughout the day. Small patches of thickets within a property are a wise place to look, also. These gnarly places hold a high percentage of a forest’s bedding area. They also have a great opportunity of snagging antlers due to the blanket of twisted branches.

Lastly, find river or creek crossings. Many times deer will follow water parallel until they find a shallow spot. Bucks will make a good hop, skip and jump across the water and jar their antlers from hoof impact.

FIELD:
During the winter, whitetails rely on the rich carbohydrates they find in corn and soybeans. Agriculture fields are a huge whitetail pull. They provide animals with a consistent food source that is, most importantly, within walking distance. They don’t have to lose energy walking miles and miles looking for a place to find grub.

Deer typically will feed on a number of different crops in the winter. They prefer corn, alfalfa, winter wheat and rye grass. These are power-packed foods that provide substantial energy. Dealing with thousands of endless acres of agriculture fields can be daunting! There is a lot of field to cover and antlers can be scattered anywhere.  Before yanking your winter boots on for a trek, here are a few things to note:

Be aware of the travel locations of where deer are entering and exiting the field most often. Find the largest concentration of tracks, droppings, or sign to guide you in the right direction.

Glass the field with a nice pair of binoculars. This is extremely productive and you’ll be able to spot the glimmering sheen of a shed antler.

Be sure to get a high vantage point so you can see as much as possible. You may want to find the highest ridge in the field and stand atop your 4-wheeler to navigate.

If you don’t have a four-wheeler, walking will suffice. Take a stroll through a few rows at a time and mark where you’ve traveled. It’s much more efficient to look in one direction than to sweep back and forth throughout the entire field. You must take your time and mosey through the field with wide eyes!

Shed hunting is a fun way to get your family and friends into the woods. This is a good thing, considering the more eyes, the better! Be sure to take a weekend and search for success.

Sheds Dropping

By Brandon Wikman

The Midwest has been blasted with a cold punch from Mother Nature. Blow-after-blow we find ourselves buried deep in snow as the streak of negative-degree temperatures continues.

The upper Midwest isn’t the only region of the country that has been iced-over; in fact, the entire country has experienced an unusual frigid streak, which has begun knocking-off deer antlers for the past month already! I returned from a few hunts during mid-January and spotted a handful of bucks that were antler naked! Seeing deer with red nubs at only 20 yards with my muzzleloader in hand wasn’t the most enjoyable sight, but it proved that stress has been a factor within the deer herd across the nation.

From Ohio down to Texas, deer have been experiencing a lot more stress, which in turn reflects on their bodies. It’s especially rough on deer and turkey when the ground freezes, as a layer of ice forms on top of the ground and then icy snow compacts together to make scavenging for food nearly impossible.

After returning from the Eastern Sports Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the trend topic of the weekend was chatting about bucks losing headgear. I spoke with several outfitters and friends that said they had trail cam pictures of bucks single-antlered weeks ago.

I also spoke with Tom Miller, Vice-President of North American Shed Hunters Club, and he was eager to brief me on the abundance of deer that were suffering from the frostbite temperatures, especially here in the Midwest. He said that he has already spotted dead deer and turkey, potentially from inadequate nutrition. Thus, tossing bone to the ground.

As the frosty months of a new year pass, we can only hope the wildlife can withstand the chill factor. It is amazing to realize how awesome nature can be and how the wildlife adapts to it.

Now that many antlers have dropped, snow is keeping them buried and hidden from the floor critters that munch the bone away. Once this snow begins to melt, be ready – it’ll be a shed antler hunt fest soon!

Game Spy Photo Gallery Featured Hunter - Steve Roeder

Our next photo to be highlighted comes from Steve Roeder in New Hampshire. This great daytime shot was taken on September 25, 2010 with his
Moultrie Game Spy Camera.

Steve says, "The one I wanted but did not get!"

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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!

The Bone Harvest

By Brandon Wikman

Gathering ordinary items has never been a serious hobby of mine. Collecting rare coins, ancient stamps and varieties of old books doesn’t compare to the jolt that motivates me to find the priceless antler of a big buck!

There isn’t a better time than now to venture into your acreage or nearby farm field in search for cast antlers. The early spring months are a magical time when bucks drop their headgear that they’ve sported since last August. Hunting for shed antlers is an activity that any passionate hunter should do as a pre-operational and scouting tool for the upcoming fall. More importantly, it is an amazing chance to introduce a newbie into the outdoors.

For the casual observer, cast sheds are nothing more than a discarded bone. To others, they provide as a valuable reference tool. There’s much to discover from fallen bone. Most obviously, it’s a key identifier that a buck is living on your property. Hunters can estimate a rough score and age from antlers. An antler reveals the precise runway a buck may use, which can be effortlessly backtracked into his core area. An abundance of insight is collected from picking up an antler. It gives you a general look at the prospects you have for next hunting season.

Snatching an antler – in my opinion – is the hunter’s version of Easter egg hunting, but without the pretty colors and egg salad sandwich.

Shed antlers can be found in the most unpredictable places. I’ve spotted them dangling from branches, hooked on fences and on the side of a country road. Brisk winter months keep animals to a simple daily routine. Deer save energy by moving as little as possible. The only energy deer will use during these dangerous times is for sniffing-out food. A simple back-and-forth quest for scraps of food keeps them strong enough to survive the hazardous Midwestern winters.

Deer spend nearly half of their life hidden in the tangles of brambles and safe cover. Shed hunting should begin in bedding areas. The bright white snow acts as a roadmap for deer movement. Finding trails only takes a few minutes. Backtracking them to a deer’s living corridor serves as both a safe-haven and a location out of the wind or elements. Bedding areas are always my bread-and-butter, but fields provide you with some luck, too.

Searching agriculture fields and late season food plots can take an eternity. Numerous acres of harvested cropland may stretch for miles. It’s nearly impossible to cover all the ground by foot, unless you plan on probing until summer! Walk the forest edge and boundary lines and finish the rest of the hunt by jumping on an ATV or snowmobile. Not only can you traverse much quicker, but you can also grid the field in no time. Winter food sources play a key role in the success of shed hunting – they’re a locations where deer will concentrate to and the odds of an antler jarring loose are in your favor.

Taking the day to put your eyes to the antler challenge is a rush. The anticipation and wonder keeps your enthusiasm buzzing. Go for a nature walk, burn a few calories and start your 2011 whitetail scouting. Shed antler hunting proves to be one of the most pleasurable sports when hunting season is closed. I urge everyone to lace-up the hiking boots for a great weekend experience that can be done with family, friends or newcomers!

Moultrie's 2011 Camera Lineup

By Rich Miller

Last week, I wrote about the new decoys from Carry-Lite; but this week I want to talk about something even better – Moultrie and their new lineup of cameras that are about to hit the market. They have outdone themselves this year with cameras that are above and beyond anything that we have seen yet. 

One of the neatest cameras for the year is the Plot Stalker. It is a little different from their previous style cameras, but it has a totally different purpose. This camera is for daylight use only and is a time-lapse camera – not a motion sensor. The purpose of this camera is not to get pictures of a particular deer and judge him from the photo. This camera is more of a scouting tool that will help us with placing our stands and what time of day deer are entering and leaving fields or food plots. With a wider-angle lens that really has an infinite field of focus, it is going to cover a lot more ground than a regular motion picture camera. Every camera comes with software that will turn all of the pictures you get into a video so you won’t have to flip through thousands of pictures looking for the animals. The best thing is the price of this camera is going to be $104.99.
 
Now, the new models of motion sensor models have raised the bar for the camera industry and I don’t know how they are going to be able to top this. Moultrie has developed their own technology when it comes to their infrared flashes. They are calling it the “Illumi-Night Sensor” and this thing is amazingly bright. It is a lot brighter closer to the camera and it also increases the flash range to 60’, compared to the 50’ ranges of the previous models. Another great feature of the new models is the wide-angle lens that is on all the cameras with the Illumi-Night Sensor. Another plus to this camera is it has a hybrid mode – you can set these cameras up for motion pictures, Plot Stalking or both. That means you can have it on a trail on the edge of a food plot to take pictures of the deer entering of leaving the area all day long and then at night have it take motion sensor pictures. 

Moultrie has the only cameras that I know of that are capable of doing this, and I can’t wait to use it! The M-80 and M-100 Mini Cams can operate off of 4 or 8 AA batteries that will last up to a year! Now, if you run these cameras in Plot Stalker mode, it will cut the battery life down considerably but that is because of the amount of pictures that are being taken.
 
The folks at Moultrie have really outdone themselves this year with all the new models they have out. I can’t wait to see what kind of pictures and videos that everyone will be sending in. Keep your eyes open at your favorite retailers for the M-100 and M-80 later this spring that have this new technology and you will be amazed at the pictures that you will be seeing from this lineup of cameras.

The Biggest Thing This Season...HD Turkey Decoys

By Rich Miller

It’s been a month now since deer season closed and with all the shows and traveling, talking about turkey hunting is really getting me fired up. There are a lot of products every year that hit the market giving hunters the grand illusions that they will bring in every turkey in the woods. There are new products every year that do give the hunter a better advantage when he hits the woods on opening morning, but we still have to scout and put in our time. It’s hard to kill turkeys when you’re hunting where they aren’t.

This year Carry-Lite has improved on the Pretty Boy series of full strutting decoys once again with the Bob’n Tail Tom HD. I got my sample of this new decoy a couple of weeks ago and every person that I have shown it to has really been impressed with it.

This decoy does several different things that it hasn’t been able to do in the past. First of all, there is a cloth “skin” around it giving it the look of real feathers. With the life like-head combined with the silky feathered look makes this decoy look like the real deal. To make it even better, the decoy name “Bob’n Tail Tom HD” says it all. The balanced tail hung on the back of the decoy moves in the slightest breeze and gives it the most lifelike look of any decoy I have seen.

All you have to do is get this thing out in a place where it can be visible from a distance. Call a little to get a big tom’s attention and once he spots the decoy it will be on. This thing is going to retail for about $60 and that’s a smoking price for a decoy of this caliber. They didn’t ask me when they named it and although “Bob’n Tail Tom HD” is a good name, I think it should have been called “Barely Legal”!

Whitetails in Winter

By Brandon Wikman

The bone-chilling Canadian air has advanced across the Midwest. Daily temperatures have dive-bombed into the single digits, while the wind-chill has plummeted into the negative degree marks. Snow and sheets of ice frost the landscape as far as the eye can see. It is safe to say that we are in the heart of winter.   

The remarkable ability for whitetails to cope with such harsh conditions never ceases to amaze me. The paralyzing wintry weather prods against the whitetail deer’s aptitude to survive. It is a yearly North Country battle that truly defines the old axiom, “Survival of the fittest.”

Small families of whitetail will usually cluster together in tight pockets of shelter, also known as deeryards. These dense havens of underbrush keep whitetail a few degrees warmer by blocking out the wind and winter weather elements. Doe and fawn stay together with their sisters, while many mature bucks seek refuge elsewhere.

Winter brings a new importance to food. A whitetail deer feeds every day, except during extremely nasty storms. In the case of numbing whiteout blizzards, deer will lie low and preserve their much-needed energy. Their calorie count is on a clock and forces life or death decisions. The forage of summer has all but disappeared. Tender grasses, agriculture fields and weeds have vanished. Deer turn to pine needles, evergreen trees and even tree bark.

As said, whitetail will generally not move during extremely frigid temperatures. They will sit tight and conserve as much energy as they can. They will find food, bed near it and lie low. This gives them an opportunity to survive during sub-arctic temperatures that we find common across the upper portions of the U.S. The hide that wraps their body is like a sleeping bag. Their fur is dense, which boosts their ability to stay warm. As many of us know, snow is an insulator, which keeps deer slightly warmer.

One of the most amazing points to note is that a whitetail’s blood flow varies according to different situations and circumstances. In freezing climates, such as Minnesota and upper Michigan, a whitetail’s blood flows to the brain and critical organs, such as the heart. The blood flow avoids the animals’ extremities because those are the least important parts of the body that will help them survive.

If a deer’s blood flowed to its legs, they’d lose heat and much colder blood would flow back into the deer’s body. This would make the animals much chillier and begin shutting down systems from hypothermia. The legs fall into a state of senseless stasis. This incredible capability of adaptation intrigues deer aficionados.

As humans drag out their winter jackets, snow-pants and gloves, deer grow their own jacket and let there body systems take control. This is just another astonishing attribute to the amazing world of whitetail deer.