Late Season Buck Hunting Tactics

© By Othmar Vohringer

It is early December and in most regions, other than in some Canadian provinces, the rut is winding down to the post rutting stages. With most does breed bucks change their behaviour once again. With the breeding frenzy over and food sources limited bucks concentrate their efforts on gaining back the weight they lost during the rut. Now the buck’s main activity consists of sleeping and feeding to gain the necessary strength to make it through the harsh winter. Many hunters, me included, believe that the post-rut is one of the best times to kill a monster buck. Why?

During the rut bucks chase does day and night and there is no predictable way to determine where they will turn up next. After the rut is over bucks stay in one core area where they can find sufficient cover and food in close proximity. As an additional bonus bucks become more tolerant of each other and it is quite common that several bucks share one core area. But make no mistake late season bucks are no easy pushovers. Even at that time of year bucks are still weary. The bucks that survived the early and rut hunting seasons are skittish and have little tolerance for human intrusion in their core area.

While many big bucks have been taken by stalking them I don’t regard this as the most effective late-season hunting tactic. Granted there it is a special experience to track a buck in the snow and getting close enough to it to shoot it. A much more successful late-season buck hunting tactic is to set up a treestand or ground blind. To find a promising stand site some careful scouting is necessary. Look for a thicket, the thicker the better, in close proximity to a food source. If there is snow on the ground it is not hard to find well-worn trails leading out of the thicket to the food source. Hang a stand or set up a ground blind somewhere in between the two locations, possibly not to close to the bedding area (thicket). Make sure the wind is right and that the stand is far enough away from the thicket that the bucks cannot hear you approach the stand when you walk through the crunchy snow.

Hunting Success Is The Result Of Learning

(Originally published in the Merritt News - Othmar Vohringer The Outdoorsman)

© By Othmar Vohringer

Over the years the one thing I’ve noticed about successful hunters is a trait they all have in common: Knowledge! Successful hunters have spent many years perfecting their skills and have studied the habits and behaviours of animals. They have learned how wild animals use the landscape features to navigate around in their territory and because of this they know what features to look for that enables them to encounter wildlife. Knowledge permits the hunter to make an educated decision on where to go and at what time of the season and day, and if he should be in a particular spot in the morning or afternoon.

Hunters who lack knowledge will have to depend on luck. Luck, however, is fickle. Sometimes it comes to you the very first time but more often than not it ignores you for all of your life. Is there a shortcut to becoming a successful hunter? A way to shave off years of learning by trial and error? Yes there is! By learning from successful hunters that are willing to share their “secrets.”

November Changes Everything For Deer

(Originally published in the Merritt News – Othmar Vohringer The Outdoorsman)

© By Othmar Vohringer

This year’s summer was hot and the fall had the occasional rain, which provided deer with plenty of nutritious food and good conditions to raise their offspring.

At the opening of the hunting season the deer usually grazed late in the fields; often after dark to avoid the heat of the day and early evening. During the day the does and fawns browsed and bedded in the timber or in patches of tall grass along field edges. The bachelor groups of bucks seeking cooler climates and isolation tended to stay in the higher elevations.

At the first hints of frost in late October the bucks started to become more active. The maturing fawns fed more widely separated from each other and their mothers. The juvenile bucks began to test each other’s strength by mock-fighting each other.

Now with the temperatures falling well below zero Mother Nature begins to change drastically and so does the deer herd. Soon to be gone are the beautiful fall colours, to be replaced with tones of grey. This is the time for deer to prepare for the most important event of the year: the Rut.

For us who call ourselves hunters this may also be the most productive time to be out and about in the fields and woods. The bucks start to come into the open as they lose some of their cautious nature as they actively start to seek out the doe family units. The bucks are not yet actively looking to breed with does, they just want to know where they are and more importantly, they want to know where the older, more mature does will be. Those are the ones that will come into oestrous first.

The smart hunter knows that now is the time to observe the does closely and keep track of their movement. Now is the time a hunter has the best chance at a usually weary mature buck. But make no mistake; although bucks loose some of their suspicious nature as their hormone levels rise, they are not totally oblivious to danger.

Mature mule deer bucks visit the does only at night in the fields. Before daybreak they return to the hills and wait for the does to return from the fields where they join them. Your chances at a mature buck are much better if you learn where the does go to bed down and then set up close to them and wait for a buck to pay his visit.

Mature whitetail bucks are seldom seen standing in open fields during daylight hours; they mainly wander along woodland edges and in strips of brush or tall grass, providing them with good cover and a view of the open doe feeding areas. Try to find these buck travel corridors and you’re very likely to have an encounter with a mature whitetail buck in search of a doe.

If you haven’t had much hunting luck keep at it. Plan on hunting all day long because bucks will be moving around in search of does from dawn to dusk and all night long, eating little and sleeping even less. Good luck to you all.

The Rut Is On – Prepare To Hunt All Day

© By Othmar Vohringer

November is the time we all have been waiting for. The rut is on. Bucks are cruising around day and night in search of does. Now is the time to find a good spot, set up a stand and though it out all day from dawn to dusk. The important thing is to find the right spot that bucks frequent daily and that provides you with the best chance to get a crack at a rut-crazed buck.

Here are my favourite locations to intercept a traveling buck.

Cranbrook, B.C. to cull urban deer

© By Othmar Vohringer

In a recent report the B.C. government allows the City of Cranbrook in British Columbia to be the first city in this province to cull urban deer. The city of Cranbrook has lately been several times in the news with stories of deer attacking pets and at one point even a newspaper carrier doing his paper delivery rounds.

Chris Zettel, communication officer of the City of Cranbrook said, “People in our community want something done about that problem.”
The provincial government will issue the city a permit to trap and kill up to 25 deer. A contractor will bait deer into a covered trap and then kill them with a bolt gun, similar to those used in abattoirs across Canada. The meat will be offered to First Nations in the area. This “deer management” method is modeled after the one employed in Helena, Montana. The cull is scheduled to start this fall and if successful will become an annual event until all aggressive deer either leave the city or are killed.
This so-called “deer management program” will cost the people of Cranbrook a small fortune. How much money will be spent is not revealed at this point. However, I know from similar such programs in America that they are very expensive.

A much better choice, and one that actually makes money for the city, would be to introduce urban deer hunting. In Illinois, where I used to live for over ten years, controlling urban deer populations was the job of bowhunters. For that, the city permitted a limited number of hunters and a modest hunting license surcharge, to hunt deer in city parks and in people’s backyards by permission of the landowners.

Initial concerns of mortally shot deer running onto roads or near housing have never been recorded. Mortally wounded deer seek thick cover not open spaces like roads and peoples gardens. I killed my biggest whitetail deer buck to date on such an urban deer hunt. I would welcome if towns and cities in B.C. overrun with deer would permit regular hunters to do the job rather then pay “professional experts” big money to rid the city of the surplus deer. This would create a great new hunting opportunity for bowhunters in this province.

Does peeing into a scrape really work?

© By Othmar Vohringer

It’s an age old question “ does peeing in a scrape really work”. Not so long ago hunters were told that peeing anywhere in the woods, let alone into a scrape, is a big no, no. Yet, there always have been successful hunters claiming that human urine works just as well, if not better, as a deer attractant than the commercially available deer urine products.

Many heated debates have ensued over this issue and the industry happily sold thousands of hunter urinals to the purists. Now however, it seems that there is some truth in the claim that peeing in a scrape attracts deer. A recent study has shown that deer, even old trophy bucks, actually are attracted to human urine. It is believed that testosterone in male urine is a major player in why bucks are attracted to male human urine in scrapes.

I believe I purchased my last bottle of deer urine about ten years ago and ever since pee in the woods when ever I have too. The idea of using my own urine as a deer attractant came to me when one afternoon I watched a large whitetail buck working a scrape really hard that I prior to climbing in my stand saturated with my own urine. From that day forward my own urine was the deer scent attractant of my choice.

Although most hunters think that scrapes are an estrous doe to buck communication point. I firmly believe (and science seems to back that idea up) that scrapes are actually a male-to-male communication point. While scientists admit that there needs to be a lot more research to be done before they can reach a conclusive opinion on the matter I will keep on using my own urine to attract deer. As far as I am concerned I’ve have the proof that it works on my wall and in the freezer.

How do you feel about this interesting subject? Would you pee in a scrape or on a trail or are you of the opposite opinion that hunters should avoid relieving themselves in the woods when hunting?

Tips To Improve Your Hunting Success

© By Othmar Vohringer

Let’s face it. If you are an avid whitetail deer hunter with hopes of bringing home a deer this season, it probably won’t happen. Statistically speaking, the odds of taking a deer are clearly stacked against you. Ten percent of all hunters take 100 percent of all deer is a common saying.

Yet, each season, hunters throughout the country beat the odds. While there are some hunters who are just plain lucky, there are many others that score consistently by becoming students of the whitetail deer. To take them, ordinary hunting techniques aren’t enough. You’ve got to go the extra yard. Here are a few tips that might help you to turn the odds in your favour this year.

Locate Several Ambush Sites
The number of ambush sites should not be limited. I have always found that the more I have, the better my chances of success are. Today’s lightweight portable treestands in a wide variety of models to cover every need make it possible for you to change locations at a moment’s notice and hunt where the wind is favourable and where deer move.

Hunt Only Where the Wind is Favourable
The biggest mistake deer hunters make is hunting where the wind is unfavourable. You could luck out, or you can hunt where the wind is sure to be favourable.
I would suggest making notes about each ambush location and the prevailing wind direction. Never let yourself be fooled by “scent control” or “scent elimination” products, it’s a gimmick that only works when you in addition consider the prevailing wind.

Stay Clean and Reduce Human Scent
It is impossible to be scentless, but you can take precautions that will help. Take a shower before every hunt. Dress in clean clothing, including under garments to reduce human scent. Remember you cannot eliminate scent, just reduce it. Water and soap are much better than any spray on “magical potion” offered on the market. Whenever you walk to and from your stand avoid touching vegetation with your bare hands.

Avoid Getting Close To Buck Sign
Most of us find it tempting to look or even touch scrapes and rubs. However, doing that will leave your mark behind for every buck to read.

Pay Attention to Rub Lines
I seldom pay attention to rubs scattered throughout a given area. However, several rubs along a trail may indicate that a buck is traveling the route frequently.
I would also suggest you inspect the rubbed trees. Both large and small bucks rub trees of all sizes. However, if the tree has deep gouges, you can assume that this is the work of a larger deer.

Always Carry a Grunt Tube
Bucks are the most vulnerable to grunt calls when they are rutting. However, many hunters claim grunt tubes also work well in the pre-rut and post-rut periods. For this reason, I would suggest you always carry this nifty device along.
I would not use the grunt tube repeatedly when you are not seeing deer. Save the call as a last moment technique, or when a buck passes by out of range. Blind calling seldom works but when it does it’s pure magic.

Get Away from the Crowds
This seems like a no-brainer but time and again I see hunters following each other, even hanging stands close to each other. Don’t do that. Deer know about the habits of man and adjust accordingly.

You should consider getting away from the crowds as soon as others begin making a habit of passing through the area. When hunting heavily-forested areas, get further from the roads and fields whenever the hunting pressure intensifies. In farmland areas, look for terrain where few hunters venture, such as high-grass fields, standing corn, swamps and thickets. Learn what escape routes the deer use and then let the other hunters “push” the deer to you.

Scout Continuously
I often forfeit hunting time so that I can scout for meaningful deer sign. When things are not going well from my ambush location, I feel that it is wiser to spend time walking in search of deer sign and active trails then keep sitting in the same unproductive spot and hoping against all hope. Do all your in-season scouting during midday hours when deer are less active.
Changes in food sources, bedding areas and hunting pressure are the primary reasons why whitetails change their habits and a smart hunter adjusts to these changes. Continues scouting will keep you abreast of deer movement patterns and lets adjust you stand sites and strategies accordingly.

Hunt Smart and Hunt Hard
Smart hunting is easier said than done. Smart hunting means that you should not take unnecessary chances. Always plan your approach and departure routes to and from your stand in a direction where you will not alarm deer. Also, keep noise at an absolute minimum.

Hunting hard is absolutely necessary. It seems we always hear about the guy down the street who bagged a monster buck the first time he hunted. But you can bet you are not that lucky. If you hope to kill a super buck, count on hunting often. Hunt every opportunity you have, the more time you can spend outdoors the higher chances are you score.

Bowhunting Is still One Of The Most Popular Hunting Methods

© By Othmar Vohringer

According to an article, published on the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Website, bowhunting is a popular pastime for millions of Americans.

The National Sporting Goods Association reports that more than five million Americans hunted with bow and arrow in the year 2010. This was roughly the same as the number of people who went water skiing that year. With the inclusion of crossbows into the archery season in many U.S. states the number of bowhunters is likely to increase in the coming years.

My Favoured Stands For The Hunting Season Opener

© By Othmar Vohringer

The Feeding Area
In the early season bucks still concentrate on the food sources. Therefore my number one favourite stand locations are located near food sources. These locations are the most consistent producer and the easiest to identify of all the early season options. Start glassing fields about two weeks before opening day, observe where deer enter the fields and then start from there to look for a suitable stand site inside the woodland.

Ideally, you want to hang the stand a bit back from the field edge in the thicker stuff where bucks hang up until nightfall before they enter the open fields. Bucks feel safe coming out in these hidden spots and will fall into a more consistent pattern than they would where they are more visible.

One thing about bucks on a feeding pattern: they’re sensitive to hunting pressure. If they detect any human presence they’ll completely stop using that particular field, or they’ll use it only after dark. Make every effort to prevent deer from knowing that you’re hunting them for as long as possible.

When the does and small bucks get spooky, their body language will send a message to the mature bucks that they should immediately stop using the field. There’s no rut and no urgency to cause them to ignore danger signs. The bucks have nowhere they absolutely have to be and nothing they absolutely have to do, so they can wait until dark to feed or simply relocate to a different food source with little provocation.

Try to select as many stand locations as possible and then hunt them never more than twice per any given week. The more often you hunt a certain stand chances that deer will be on to you will increase significantly.

Bedding-To-Feeding Bottleneck
If you study the trail systems used by deer during the summer and early fall (prior to the rut) you’ll notice one thing they all have in common: an hourglass shape. The trails spread out and disappear as you get close to the bedding areas and they again fork off (though not as dramatically) into several smaller trails as you get close to the feeding area. That portion in between, the main arteries where the trails tend to come together, are great locations for early season stands. These trail intersections (bottle necks) are hot spots for deer movement.

These spots close to bedding areas present a slightly greater risk of disturbing deer, but it also gives you an advantage. Since the deer will get to this stand earlier in the evening than they will to the edge of the fields, you might be able to catch those bucks that aren’t entering the field until after legal shooting time. I also like this stand because you can get away from it without spooking deer at the end of the hunt because they are all in the fields feeding. In theory, they’re already past you and into the field.

The Bedding Area
Hunting near or in bedding areas are the highest-risk stand locations. The bedding area is the buck’s top sanctuary were he feels absolutely safe. Understandably, if the buck should notice any changes or intrusion in this area he will be gone for good. Of course, you don’t want to hunt the bedding area unless you have already hunted stands along the field edge and the bottleneck to no avail. Bedding areas are always a last ditch effort to kill a large buck.

Unless you already have a stand up, there’s really no gentle way to find and set up this ambush. Therefore it is important that you set bedding area stands up long before the hunting season starts and give the deer plenty time to settle down and forget about the intrusion.

Be careful placing the stand, whenever possible, choose a tree that will carry your scent out over a valley or ravine so there is little chance that the buck will smell you on the final approach. If you can’t find this perfect scenario, at least set up so the wind will blow your scent away from the most likely feeding areas.

Bucks will never be more predictable than they are during the first week of the season, but they’ll also never be more sensitive to hunting pressure. If you approach opening day with a plan, this period can be nearly as productive as the rut. Start at the feeding areas and very carefully work toward the bedding areas. It’s a simple strategy that will keep you in the action for a solid week or two.

The Philosophy of Big Buck Hunting

© By Othmar Vohringer

We all dream of hunting big bucks but some of us don’t know how to hunt mossy old horns while others, hunting on public land, believe that there are no big bucks where they hunt. Well I’ve got good news for you.

Rick DeStefanis, a veteran public land big buck hunter of many years, is the author of a new book, ”The Philosophy of Big Buck Hunting”

After reading the book from cover to cover there was no doubt in my mind that this IS the book many hunters have been waiting for. “The Philosophy of Big Buck Hunting” is not your run of the mill book written by some celebrity hunter having the good fortune to hunt on managed land or go on guided trips to prime whitetail destinations. No, Rick hunts where ninety-five percent of all hunters hunt: on heavily pressured public land.

The wealth of knowledge Rick gathered in over fifty years of hunting pressured big bucks is represented in a book that is written in a language everyone can comprehend and without the usual hype common to other “big buck hunting books”.

The Philosophy of Big Buck Hunting contains 4 chapters, six key principles and over forty tips on hunting big bucks. It starts with the most important information every aspiring big buck hunter needs to know: “How a trophy whitetail hunter thinks”. If you want to hunt big bucks the road to success starts with you, not with what camouflage you wear, what scent you use or what rifle caliber you shoot. Trophy whitetail hunting is about a change in hunting philosophy and Rick does a great job of explaining what it takes to acquire the mindset of a trophy hunter.

What follows are pages upon pages loaded with solid and practical field proven tips and tactics about scouting, stand placement, how to read deer sign and much more. The book closes with a chapter on equipment tips, advice for new and experienced hunters and another chapter on the future of hunting.

As a veteran deer hunter myself I highly recommend this great book, not only for the aspiring trophy deer hunter, but also for every hunter regardless of his or her skill level.

For more information about the author and the book visit whitetailbuckhunter.com

Photo Credits:
Top left: © Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
All other photos are © of Rick DeStefanis

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Deer Hunting In Your Backyard

© By Othmar Vohringer

How would you like to bowhunt deer in your own backyard? Well, if you’re a resident of Smithfield, North Carolina you can do that. According to an article in The Herald Smithfield's town council has voted to allow residents to hunt in their own yards this hunting season. The decision has been made in an effort to reduce the deer populations in town. In previous years the police had been paid to take care of problem deer, which has been an expensive endeavour for the taxpayers. Letting hunters do the same job in their own backyard, or others with written permission form the landowners, doesn’t cost the taxpayers a single dollar.

Hunting permits will be issued for archery only, during deer hunting season, and those participating must follow the hunting rules plus a few additional rules. Hunting is only permitted from treestands, at 8 ft off the ground, and must be 150 feet from a dwelling. These are some of the lighter restrictions for in town hunting in North Carolina. One councilman tried to allow hunters to be able to hunt from the ground to make it easier for seniors who might have problems climbing into a tree stand, but that proposal was dismissed as being unsafe. Shooting from an elevated position in areas where people live close by makes sense to me. An arrow shot from a treestand will go into the ground, versus travelling horizontally and could end up harming a person or pet.

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Antler Addiction

© By Othmar Vohringer

I’ve been holding off with this column for a while now. Why? For two reasons. First I was not sure if the hunting community would perceive it as a slander and second I wanted to get it right. So why write it now? Well I thought about it and in the end found it’s just wrong to worry about what other might think or if I get it right. So here it goes.

For the past several years I’ve received a considerable amount of emails and calls from readers of my blogs, newspaper columns and hunting magazines articles, that are dismayed by the amount of “antler addiction” that is going on. Or, as one email writer said it. “No matter what magazine I read or hunting TV show I watch, it’s always about big antlered deer and bigger antlered deer and I am getting tired of it.” That hunter is not alone. There are many others that feel the same way. The simple fact is that big antlers sell magazine and increase viewers for hunting TV shows. But does that make it right?

It’s a tricky discussion because at the heart of it all it is human nature to be competitive, wanting to be better than the next guy or simply doing better than in the past. Outdoor writers know about this competitiveness, they are part of it, and so most keep writing articles about the “ten secrets to hunt big antlered trophy bucks” or “how to grow you own monster bucks on your land.”

How far this obsession with trophy-sized deer has gone becomes clear with the Quality Deer Management. From the onset this has been a very noble program aimed to improve the overall health of deer herds, but over the years it had been reduced to nothing more than a management program to achieve maximum antler growth. The question I ask myself is this antler addiction we all seem suffer from, yes I like big antlers too, doing the hunting sport any good? Or more to the point. What are we teaching our children and future generation of hunters with this addiction to antlers? I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the antler fascination. The problem arises when the attraction crosses the fine line into addiction and hunters begin to place large antlers before herd management, stewardship and sportsmanship. Antler addiction is not good because, like any addiction, it spirals into and obsession that can spawn a whole host of negative activities and emotions.

So are hunters to blame for this antler craze? Certainly some are, but not all. I believe the evils of antler addiction are a symptom of society in general. We’re a society focused mainly on keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, instant gratification, entitlement and totally commercialized-way-of-life. This is what turns quality deer management focused on healthy ecosystems into trophy deer management, or worse, greed. I think it is important to re-focus our attention on the less obvious returns. Place an emphasis on the hunt. By all means enjoy antlers, but do not enjoy them more than the hunt and do not place the hunt above its real purpose.

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Stay In The Shade

© By Othmar Vohringer

In about a month it is time for me to start hanging my treestands and build a few ground blinds. This chore reminds me of a few important factors in choosing the best place to hang a stand or set up ground blinds. Although deer travel patterns, food sources, cover and the proximity of bedding areas are important ingredients to find the perfect spot there is another important factor that is often overlooked by hunters. Sun exposure. A few years ago I learned the hard way how important that factor is.

Sunlight and where the sun is standing at the time you hunt plays a very big role. As I said, I learned that the hard way. The morning I learned that lesson the sun was shining direct in my face. Not only did I get a spitting headache from squinting the eyes but also I missed a big buck. Being blinded by the sun shining direct in my face there was just no way that I could have made a perfect shot. There is also another equation to sitting with the face to the sun or in direct sunlight period. Deer can see objects better in direct sunlight then in the shadow. Knowing that and what the learned that day I now make sure to avoid situating my stands or blinds in direct sunlight. I look for places that receive natural shade throughout the day. I make sure that my treestands are well shaded from the canopy or surrounding foliage.

The important thing to remember here is that shade not only conceals you from deer that are already in bow-range, it helps you from being picked off by deer that are traveling through nearby corridors and feeding areas.

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Bowhunting Stand Locations You Should Avoid

© By Othmar Vohringer

There are any number of features that just scream, “Hang a stand here.” But some of these spots are traps that you should avoid. Here are a few examples of such hot spots that turn out to be traps.

Ravine Crossings
This tempting location probably claims more victims than nearly all the others combined. Even experienced hunters can fall for its raw appeal of a ravine.
Here's why these are traps: Funnels between two bedding areas are always good choices to place a stand but not all funnels are the same and the ravine is one of them. At first glance it appears to be a great funnel between two bedding areas, made even better by the fact that you can sneak up the ditch to get to the stand. Deer will never know what hit them.

Be aware you've just stepped into the snare that's going to make you miserable and ruin what could have been a great area. What's going to happen when the wind blows? Your scent is going to wash all over that ravine until every deer within a quarter-mile radius knows you're there. Ravines are not very predictable in wind directions. Often these spots are prone to switching wind directions and swirling air currents.

Easy Stand Location
Most of us prefer a stand location that's easy to travel to, over one that requires a GPS, and maps to find. Some hunters are comforted when they get out of bed in the morning knowing they almost can drive up to the stand location or only have to walk a short distance. Yes such easy to reach locations can be good spots too, but in most cases it’s what every other hunter does too and you pay the price for it.

When I chose a stand location I look for places where I do not have to walk through areas that hold deer, like an open crop field, and where every other hunter might set their stands up to. My stands are always placed further back from the feeding and bedding areas on trail intersections and away from every other hunter.

Don't fall victim to the temptation to choose a stand site because it permits you easy access. Look for a stand that gives you several approach routes without walking through deer holding areas.

Start Your Deer Scouting Now

© By Othmar Vohringer

The summer just started, well here in BC it did, and that is about the time where I start to drive along the field edges in the evening to look for deer. I am not interested yet in figuring out travel patterns. It’s to early for that. Deer hunting season is still a few months away and deer will have changed their patterns by then. But it is a good time to start a deer inventory of sorts. The bucks start to grow their antlers and most fawns are born.

Armed with a camera, binoculars and a notepad I check how many does, fawns and bucks are in the fields. I make careful notes of the time the does and fawns enter the field in the evening and at what time the bucks come out. I make notes about how many deer I see and how many of them are does, fawns and bucks. I also write down the size and age of the bucks, from what direction they enter the field and in which direction they leave.

This observations give me a pretty good idea how many deer there are in my area, what the sex and age structure is, it's a good starting point to go by when the serious scouting begins in about another month. By the beginning of August my scouting for the early season will be done and the stands are in place.

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