What Are Your Deer Hunting Goals This Year?

© By Othmar Vohringer

Set a goal for this hunting season and then work toward it.

I asked a hunting buddy of mine that question and he replied with; “Jeez, buddy turkey hunting season just started and you already think about deer hunting.”

Well, besides being guilty of having constantly whitetail deer on my mind, even during turkey hunting season, I also happen to think that it is important to have goals in life and in hunting.

Just like having a goal in life provides you with a working guideline so does having a seasonal goal for hunting. Without a goal you won’t know what to do or how to get there. It’s a bit like driving a car without knowing where you want to go or how to get there, you end up driving in circles.

This might be okay for the hunter who’s just looking to get away from the daily grind for a bit, enjoying the great outdoors. Killing a deer is a priority but rather an added bonus. However, my guess is, since you’re reading here, you’re the type of hunter that has a passion for hunting and whitetail deer. You're  the type of hunter looking to maximize the rate of success in the deer woods. To achieve that increased success rate you have to have a goal in mind and then work toward achieving that goal.

With that established you need to set a clear goal of what it is you want out of the upcoming hunting season. I don’t know what your goal is. Maybe you want to kill your first big buck, or the first deer period, or maybe hunt a place that is not overcrowded with others hunters. Whatever your goal is for this season, no matter how big or small, you have to plan for it and you have to start rather sooner than later.

My goal for this season is to find an area with a good whitetail deer population. That might sound strange to you, but where I live is not known for abundant whitetail deer populations, it’s an area with a large mule deer population and also known for big mule deer bucks. Through research I found an area with a good whitetail deer population and a better than average trophy buck population. Now my next task is to find private landowners willing to let hunters on their property, which means spending a few days, maybe even weeks, knocking on doors. The chosen area also has vast amounts of public land. My goal is to find the public land areas that other hunters avoid. To achieve this goal I have to study maps to see what the access to these areas are. My task is to find areas where vehicle access is restricted. With restricted vehicle access chances of  encountering undisturbed hunting enjoyment and opportunity rise drastically. When all this is done I have to start scouting and chose possible stand locations.

Of course, I just could drive into the area when deer hunting season opens and see what transpires. But that is not me. I like to set myself goals and then work toward it. It increases my chances of success, and besides that, as a passionate whitetail deer hunter it is just another excuse - a worthwhile excuse – to occupy my time and my mind with whitetail deer.

What are your deer hunting goals for the 2015 season? Let’s discuss it!

Tip of the Week: Whitetail Deer Behavior and Movement Pattern Studies Reveals How To Hunt Mature Bucks

© By Othmar Vohringer

In this "Tip of the Week" I would like to draw your attention to two interesting studies that had been done in order to learn more about buck travel patterns. Knowing how bucks behave during all stages of the rut enables hunters to make the right decisions on stand placement. In my profession as an animal behaviorist I have studied whitetail deer behavior at great length and I am convinced that the knowledge I gained from these studies ultimately were the biggest contribution to my success as a hunter.

Knowing the habits and behavior of whitetail deer will lead to a better understanding why animals do what they do. With that understanding we can develop strategies that ultimately will result in more encounters with mature whitetail deer bucks.

Where Are Bucks Hiding? New Study Reveals Insights into Buck Behavior is written by Daniel Xu for the OutdoorHub.com

GPS Reveals Early Season Buck Movement Patterns This article, posted on the Quality Deer Management Website, provides lots of charts and aerial images to illustrate buck movement patterns. 

Rut Myth Debunked – Is the rut the best time to hunt mature bucks?

© By Othmar Vohringer

Hunting is riddled with myths that have been passed on from one generation to the next. Without a doubt one of the most myth-ridden segments of the hunting season revolves around the deer rut. Many hunters plan their hunting strategies around these long-held but flawed beliefs. To become a more successful hunter this fall you first want to separate fact from myth.

Here on Whitetail Deer Passion we will help you in the next view days to separate myth from facts.

The first installment of “Rut Myth Debunked” we will examine the long held belief that the rut is the best time to kill a big buck.

This myth is so deep rooted in our mind that many hunters don’t think about pursuing mature bucks until the deer rut begins. This is too bad for them because the rut may very well be the worst time to be chasing a mature buck. You can confirm that fact by consulting one of the many trophy record books. Reading through these books shows that more trophy whitetails are taken during the early and late part of the hunting season not during the rut.

It makes sense too when you think about it. In the early season bucks are still on a predictable feeding to bedding travel pattern and again so after the rut. When the rut kicks in bucks travel randomly day and night in search of hot does. In other words, during the rut a buck could turn up any time and anywhere. To hunt the rut effectively hunters have to be mobile too. This is not the time to sit all day in the same stand hoping a buck will eventually walk by you.

Prepare to hunt all day long but instead of hunting one or two locations choose several stand sites that promote deer travel through well-defined bottle necks. Stay close to the doe groups as bucks will be there too.

Read the next segment of Rut Myth Debunked:
Hunting bucks by setting up over a scrape
Does the full moon have an effect on the timing of the rut?

Pre-Season Preparations: Read And Understand The Hunting Regulations

© By Othmar Vohringer

An important part of preparing for the hunting season is to read and understand the hunting regulations in the area you hunt. Yet, I am baffled each year how many hunters, even so called celebrity hunters, are caught in violation of game hunting laws. The usual excuse is; “I didn’t know.”

There is simply no excuse for not keeping up and be familiar with the laws and regulations pertaining to hunting. Wildlife conservation needs can, and often do, change from one year to the next and if you do not know and shoot the wrong deer or at the wrong time you could get in to serious and expensive trouble. Take my hunting region for example. Due to declining moose populations the Wildlife Services stipulated that the moose hunting season start in November and for two weeks only, whereas in the previous year moose season was held in late September to October. The season has not started yet and hunters already “look forward” to the September moose hunting season. If theses hunters go out and shoot a moose they are poachers and will be treated as such when caught, and quite rightly so!

It is our duty to keep abreast of changing laws and regulations and with every region making hunting regulations available on the Internet nobody has an excuse not to be informed.

The most important part of pre-season hunting preparations is to know and understand the rules and regulations, even if you hunt with an outfitter in another US State or Canadian Province. Not knowing the rules will not prevent you from getting your butt kicked, the excuse that you didn’t know or that the outfitter hasn’t told you will fall on deaf ears in the court room.

Get A Rest

© By Othmar Vohringer

©Copyright Heidi Koehler Photography

A few years ago I accompanied one of my hunting partners on a moose hunt. I was a novice at moose hunting and came along for the ride providing a second pair of eyes and hoped to pick up a few hints and tips along the way. We may have driven for about half an hour along a logging road in the wee hours of the morning when I noticed some movement in the mist down in a swampy area. My hunting partner noticed the shadow in the mist too and stopped the truck. When the shadow stepped onto the road in front of us we saw that it was a legal moose. My partner jumped out of the truck, slammed the clip into the rifle, worked the bolt and a second later the .30-06 barked loud and I saw wood splinters fly off a tree about three feet above the back of the moose. “You missed by about three feet, hold lower” I said to my partner. Again the gun went off. This time I saw a small cloud of dust just behind the moose. “You missed again” said I and he responded with “Damn rifle”. The third shot at the quickly departing moose also hit a tree.

After listening to my friend’s excuses of why he missed I ventured the opinion that perhaps he should have gotten a rest before he pulled the trigger on the rifle. “What rest do you mean? I slept very well thank you very much” he replied. No, I was not talking about that kind of rest but rather resting your rifle on something to steady your aim and increase shooting accuracy. Shooting off hand is without question the most unreliable way to get a clean killing shot at an animal. There are only a few hunters that are capable of shooting accurately off hand, and even they only manage some kind of consistency at very short distances. Depending on speed of the bullet and distance to the target a fraction of an inch of movement of the barrel at the moment you pull the trigger can be as much as ten inches or more off the target downrange.

Are You Overanalyzing Hunting?

© By Othmar Vohringer

There used to be a period in my hunting career where I would analyze everything down to the smallest detail. While this can be a good thing it also can quickly turn into self-doubt caused by trying to analyze too much. I used to ask myself all kinds of questions before a hunt.

Things like.

What stand should I hunt today? Will the wind be right for that stand? Will the deer move by that particular stand or have they gone elsewhere? In addition to all this, and more, I was concerned about the wind, weather, moon phase, the gear I had with me and on and on it went.

I constantly asked myself; “What if?” The questions and analytical process seemed endless. It came to a point were hunting became a chore rather than an enjoyable time in the deer woods. One day a few seasons ago I just had enough of it and told myself. “Just go hunting.” Ever since that day I enjoy hunting more and appreciate the time in the woods more.

Hunting has become too complicated, when in fact it is simple. If you’re doing your scouting right then what else can you do? With years of hunting experience under by belt I remind myself that I should trust my knowledge and gut feeling more. I’ve been a successful hunter before I started to worry about every little detail and I am still a successful hunter now. But now I enjoy hunting more again.

The lesson learned here is. Don’t overanalyze hunting too much. Do your due diligence in practicing your shooting skills, learn about deer and their habits and scout. When all this is done just go out and hunt.

This is the weekend to be out hunting

© By Othmar Vohringer

All across North America a huge cold weather front has moved in over night from the pacific and heading now east. Here in our region the temperature dropped from a balmy 50F (10 C) to 30F (0 C) over night with light snow flurries and up to two inches in elevations above 1,800 ft. (560 m) see level.

What this means is that you should be out hunting this weekend, the rut will kick in hard and deer will move all day long. Don’t forget to take rattling antlers and scent with you. This is a good time to rattle a big buck in or fool him with doe-in-estrus scent.

In a few hours I am heading out with my friends to the hunting camp north of Merritt, BC. We have planed the trip a few weeks ago and now it just got better with the weather change. I will be hunting hard all day long and hope you do the same this weekend. It is not going to get much better than this. If any of you shoot a buck this weekend, send me a report and picture.

Good luck to everybody and be safe.

Tags: Rut, deer Hunting, Rattling Antlers, Deer Scent, Doe-In-Estrus, Cold Weather Front

Mistakes deer hunters make (Part 4)

© By Othmar Vohringer

In this edition of the mistake series I would like to discuss with you what I consider to be the fourth biggest mistakes hunters make: Getting patterned by deer.

“I scout every day and all year long. I know every deer in my hunting area” said the hunter with pride. This hunter is at the opposite end of the scale that I discussed in Improper Scouting of the second edition of Mistakes Hunters Make. (see link at the bottom of this article) While there is certainly such a thing as scouting not enough, there is also the problem of scouting too much.

Ironically, the hunter mentioned at the beginning complained that no matter how much he scouts and how well he knows each deer and what they’re doing, he still has failed each season to kill a mature buck. I was not surprised to hear that.

First I do not believe that a mature buck can be patterned. Once the rut begins a buck will be traveling day and night in search of receptive does. There is just no prediction when and where he will turn up with any amount of certainty that would come close to calling it pattern movement.

The other problem of course is that while the hunter does that sort of intensive scouting he will be patterned by the deer. In fact the deer, especially mature bucks, will have figured out the hunters comings and goings, and activities long before the hunter knows what the deer do.

With that much walking, hanging stands, exploring and polluting the area with human scent it is relatively easy for deer to keep track of these intensive scouting hunters. By the time hunting season rolls around the deer are familiar with everything these hunters do.

The best chance we get at killing a mature buck is the very first time we hunt them. Each consecutive time will greatly reduce our chances of success. Getting patterned by deer does not only happen to the hunter that scouts every day all year long. It can happen and does happen to all of us.

Many hunters are predictable. They park the truck every time at the same location and then walk the same route to and from their treestands. By doing that we leave a scent trail that gets stronger each time we repeat our visit to that same stand using the same route. “Ah”, I hear some of you say. “I use scent eliminating spray and wear rubber boots. There is no way the buck can smell a scent trail from me.” That maybe so, but that is no guarantee. As we walk through the woods we can’t help but brush up against vegetation or touch it with our bar hands. No matter how carefully we walk we still make some typical human noises. Repeat this a few times and the deer will have you figured out. To think otherwise is a huge mistake. Deer survive by been well informed what goes on around them and to never let their guard down. Especially older deer are masters at patterning hunters.

Tags: Deer hunting Tips, Hunting Tactics, Scouting, Patterning Big Bucks

Read related articles:
Mistakes deer Hunters Make (Part 1)

Mistakes deer Hunters Make (Part 2)

Mistakes deer Hunters Make (Part 3)

Mistakes deer hunters make (Part 3)

© By Othmar Vohringer

In this edition of the mistake series I would like to discuss with you what I consider to be the third biggest mistakes hunters make: The over dependency on equipment.

As I have written in an earlier article, The Science of Hunting and the Good Old Days, hunters have come to rely too much on modern technology and gadgets in exchange for true woodsmanship. As technology improved and kept pumping new products onto the market that promised to get the job done for us, hunters became lazy.

Why scout if all I have is to use that magic potion in a bottle that I can spray around my stand and have all the bucks come running? Why watch the wind direction if I can wear a suit that makes me undetectable to a dear’s nose? Why drive along the back roads to check how many deer are in the area if I can hang up cameras on every tree that do the scouting for me?

As the modern gadgets kept flowing on the market we became more dependent on them. We began to believe and trust the advertising and all the new theories that scientists have come up with. So much so that we now believe that these things are more important than gathering first hand knowledge from the animal we pursue and the land animals call their home. We believe that with all that new-fangled technology we can’t fail yet more hunters than ever do fail and so does modern technology if solely relied upon to do all the work for us.

It is then no coincident that hunters start to blame equipment if he fails to kill an animal. Excuses like, “I did exactly as the chart said I should do.” or “The scent I used did not work” have become all to common excuses. We have heard of hunters that filed lawsuits against hunting product companies, claiming that the product did not produce the hoped for hunting success.

The problem is that deer do not read hunting magazines. Neither do deer read product advertising. How should they know what they are supposed to do and how to behave? If deer could read all the stuff that is written about them and the products that are sold they probably would laugh at us for all the fuss we make about them.

The simple truth of the matter is that there are no short cut and gimmicks to hunting success. Products and gadgets are an aid, nothing more and nothing less and they will only improve on our success if everything else is done right too. Most of the scent products and calls will work sometimes when the conditions, timing and location are right. When all these elements are perfect, is for you to figure out. Gadgets can’t do it for you. None of the modern products and science works all the time in every instance. Too much of a dears habits and behavior depends on so many different circumstances that it is impossible to generalize.

Scent elimination products only work if the hunter takes all other necessary precautions such has having a shower before each hunt and wearing clean clothing and still being mindful of wind and thermals. Modern products can be a great asset to the hunter that combines them with knowledge gathered from actually observing deer and scouting. Depending on modern technology and science alone is a big mistake that will cost you hunting success.

Tags: Deer Hunting Tips, Hunting Products, Deer Scent, Hunting Tactics

Read related articles:
Mistakes Hunters Make – Part 1
Mistake Hunters Make – Part 2

Mistakes deer hunters make (Part 2)

© By Othmar Vohringer

(The “Mistakes deer hunters make” is a series of several post on this blog over the next few weeks in my new column “Smart Hunting Strategy Tip of the week”. Last week we discussed how important it is to know the habits and behaviors of deer)

In this weeks Smart Hunting Strategy Tip of the Week I will write about what I think is the second biggest mistake hunters make. Scouting! Scouting is the most misunderstood word in the hunting world. For some hunters it means going for a walk in the woods a week or two before the season opens and then hang a stand along any trail that looks good.

Scouting is the most important ingredient to a hunters success. In fact it is so important that I consider it the actuall hunt. If I do my scouting right then all I have to do is to be in the stand at the right time and shoot a deer. It’s not quite that easy but you will understand what I mean at the end of this article.

Proper scouting starts right at the end of the hunting season and never stops until rhe end of season, only the way we scout differs slightly as the season progresses. At the end of the hunting season is where I gather all the basic information I need to get me started on the right foot. Armed with a map, camera, notepad, GPS and pencils in different colors I walk the woods noting everything I find on the map and the notepad. Deer trails are red, food sources are green, buck sign are colored brown and hunter trails are colored black. On a post-season scouting trip I do not have to worry about spooking deer, they won’t remember my intrusion come next fall. But the information I gather will be the most useful to me of all scouting trips. So much so that all future scouting trips are based on the findings of my post-season scouting.

The additional bonus of post-season scouting is that the land lies barren before me. I clearly can see the terrain and structure of the land. The cover, unlike in the fall, stands now clearly out from the surrounding terrain and so do the secondary less traveled buck trails that connect doe feeding an bedding areas. After I have gathered all the information and logged it on my map and in the notebook I start to formulate a game plan for the next season.

As I said, this is the beginning. Scouting never stops, it is an ongoing process throughout the year and the hunting season. It is vital, especially during the changing season of before and during the fall and winter to keep close taps on deer movement. In the summer my scouting is non-invasive. All I do now is once in a while glass open fields from a distance to see what, and how many deer are in the area. That is all I want to know at this point. Some hunters think living practically with the deer and knowing each one personally is the way to scout. The more time you spend in the woods trying to pattern deer you run the risk that deer pattern you.

In the late summer, early fall I am back in the woods checking on woodland food sources and agricultural crops. I am not interested in what the deer do now. I am interested to know where the deer are going to be when the hunting season opens. To know that I have to check up on the availability of the food source. The oak tree that was loaded last year might be barren this year and the farmer may have rotated the crop fields. If I don't check on these things I can’t predict travel patterns and thus I will not be able to hang stands that will bring deer my way when the time is right.

If I do my scouting right and check on the food sources that are available to the deer at the opening week of the hunting season I can set up stands with confidence for the early season. As the hunting season progresses food sources change, influencing deer travel patterns and so does the mounting hunting pressure. As I hunt I scout. On my way to and from the stand I take different routs constantly checking, carefully with binoculars, for changes and new sign popping up. Here a new rub, there a new or reactivated trail. As the season progresses I adjust as the deer do, always trying to keep on top and ahead of deer movement patterns and selecting new stand sites or readjust existing stands as needed.

Scouting is like the work of a profiler. You don't try to figure out what is going on now but what will happen next. Where will the deer be in a few days or a week from today? You can’t gather all that information by scouting only a day or so before the hunting season opens. If you do not scout properly and learn the habits of the deer, you will be left guessing at the deers next move. In other words you will be behind rather than ahead of the deer. As I said in the beginning, proper scouting is the actual hunt. Do your scouting right and the deer will never know what you’re up to because you’re ahead of them. Do it wrong and your hunting success will depend entirely on luck. The common denominator of all successful deer hunters, the ones that shoot every season their deer, is that they are good scouts.

Tags: Deer Hunting Tips, Smart Hunting Strategy Tip Of the Week, Scouting, Post Season Scouting, Deer Movement Pattern, Deer Sign

Read related articles:
Scouting – Do It Right
A Year In A Whitetail Deer’s Life
Find Bucks on Public Land
Outdoors with Othmar Vohringer

Mistakes deer hunters make (Part 1)

© By Othmar Vohringer

(The “Mistakes deer hunters make” is a series of several post on this blog over the next few weeks in my new column “Smart Hunting Strategy Tip of the week”.)

In the over 16 years that I have been hunting and studying whitetail deer, I have come to an opinion of what I feel are some of the biggest mistakes bow and firearm hunters make that will cost them opportunities of killing a deer. When I say, a deer, than I mean any deer not just trophy bucks.

This week’s column will deal with what I consider to be by far the biggest mistake.

Failing to understand deer.

As a deer hunter I have long ago realized how important it is to study deer. For the past 16 years I have become a student of whitetail deer behavior and the more I learned about the habits and behavior of deer the better a hunter I have become. Despite the knowledge I gathered over the years I am still constantly reminded of how little I know. Without fail, whenever I think that I have finally figured deer out they prove me wrong. The learning never stops.

It always has amazed me to a point how many hunters expect to be regularly successful if they don’t learn all they possible can about deer and then get upset if at the end of the season they have failed to shoot a deer. I have lost count of how many deer hunters feel that if they read regularly hunting articles it will improve their success rate. While I admit that reading about deer is important to improve your knowledge – otherwise I wouldn’t write about it – nothing is better than getting out in the woods and fields and learn from the animals you hunt.

You need to read deer signs, watch the animals and how they behave, where they travel or where they have traveled. What caused the reaction you observed? What makes this deer do that and another do something else? A successful hunter is one that always asks why and then follows up to find the answer. It’s like detective work where you look for clues and then try to find the answer to it. In the end the puzzle of answers are matched up and will become a picture. It’s an endless search for answers that always will produce more questions and the more you know the more questions you will have.

Without fail when I ask hunters on one of my seminars, what is the preferred food source right now? They will answer promptly. But when I ask what is the next available food source it is silent in the room or someone pipes from the background “I don’t know.” If you don't know what the next food source is how can you predict future travel patterns of the deer? I used to hunt a particular spot where deer at a certain time of year crossed a farm road. Each day hunters would ask, “What makes the deer do that?” but none of these hunters ever bothered to find out why. I did and as a result I shot a dandy buck.

In order to become a successful deer hunter I first had to become a deer detective. The answers and questions are endless. But the more you observe and ask the more you learn, and the more you learn the more knowledge you will gain. Successful hunters have all one thing in common, they are all knowledgeable about deer and they never stop observing and learning.

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In next week’s “Smart Hunting Strategy Tip of the week” I will discuss the improper scouting with you, which is also very high on the mistake scale of hunter.

If you’re interested in booking my seminar “Mistakes deer hunters make” or would like more information about my other deer and turkey hunting seminars please contact me.