Scouting, Do It Right!

Here is a question about deer scouting a young novice hunter asked recently on one of the hunting forums. This question is followed by three typical standard answers.

Question:
"When do you usually start to scout out places for the upcoming deer season?" (This was asked in June.)

Answer #1.
"Now.........no really, I'm not joking...if you can find spots with lots of good feed and access to water right now, there will likely be deer around when the season starts."

Answer #2.
"I start when season opens, then if you see a good one (buck) you can blast em! I’d rather spend more time in the bush when the season is open, rather than when the season is not open."

Answer #3.
"If you want to be successful in the hunting season you should scout all year long and be out in the woods every opportunity you get."

I am not surprised to read such answers. It’s more or less the same I hear whenever and wherever I talk to hunters. There are those who believe you should spend every waking minute in the deer woods. On the extreme opposite of the scale are those who think that stomping trough the woods a few days before the season opens and hanging a stand is all that’s needed.

I can tell you that much in advance. All three answers are wrong and will actually thward your sucess to kill a buck, or any deer for that matter.

Scouting is perhaps the most important part of hunting. In fact I believe that scouting is the actual hunt. If you do it right then all you have to do is to be at the right time and the right place and shoot a buck. Well, not quit, there are many variables that will cause deer to change their travel patterns an behavior, and they do so sometimes over night.

Because scouting is so important and because there are many myth about this subject but also because I get asked more questions about scouting then about anything else hunting related, I have decided to start a series here on the Whitetail Deer Passion Blog about scouting.

By the time all the future scouting articles are added here you will know everything there is to know about scouting. But make no mistake about it. You can read all there is to read about this subject but it still will be no substitute to actually be out in the nature studying the game animal – in this case deer – you intend to hunt. All successful hunters have one thing in common. They all know the animal they hunt and the habitat that animal calls home. Successful hunters learn, study and want to know what triggers certain behaviors and why. In short they know their quarry as well as they know themselves.

So if you want to become a master scout which will lead you to becoming a successful hunter then stay tuned here and keep checking this space for added links to: Scouting, Do It Right!

Read more articles about scouting.
A Year in a Whitetail Deer's Life
Field Aging Bucks
Signpost Communication

Field Aging Bucks

Here is a quick and easy guide on how to field judge a whitetail deer buck’s age.

There are some basic body "shapes" that help identify a buck's age, but you kind of have to "read between the body size." In essence, you have to ignore the over-all body size and look for specific characteristics.

Just remember that body shape is going to change dramatically from the late summer and opening of bow season to November (rut). Even older bucks look more "meek" in late summer. There is also a difference in a buck’s body shape and size in different regions of North America. For example a southern United States buck compared to a Canadian buck of the same age looks much smaller and dainty. For comparison see the two pictures below side by side of a Saskatchewan buck (top) and an Alabaman buck (bottom) of about the same age class.

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Yearling Buck
For yearling bucks, even in Canada where their body weight can be high, yearlings still have the look of a large doe with antlers.

2 1/2 Year old Buck
2 1/2-year-old bucks are more muscular in chest, but not as much more in hams than a yearling, but they will have a large neck near the rut. In fact, the easiest way to identify a yearling from a 2 1/2 is the neck. If it has a big thick neck, it is not a yearling.

3 1/2 Year old Buck
3 1/2-year-old bucks look very much like thoroughbred race-horses. Very trim waist, but shoulders and hams are very muscular.

4 1/2 Year old Buck
4 1/2-year-old bucks are really at the peak of their game. Muscular in hams and shoulders, but belly is starting to get big, with some sag. The neck of a 4 1/2 is so large it kind of blends straight into the chest with little definition between the two, as in no destinct line between the end of the neck and the beginning of the chest.

5 1/2 Years and older Bucks
5 1/2+ year-old bucks have a lot of belly sag and the back starts to become swayed. Neck is huge with no definition between neck and chest.

People: Bob Hice in Memoriam

In Memory of Bob Hice, 1924 - 2006, innovator of tree stand hunting and passionate whitetail deer hunter.

I just learned today the sad news that on Friday May, 5, Bob Hice, inventor of the Tree-Lounge Tree Stand, passed away due to complications with Parkinson's Disease.

Many people considered Bob to be one of the innovators of tree stand hunting. Bob first came out with the Tree-Lounge treestand in 1980. Bob started selling the Tree-Lounge out of the back of his pickup truck on the side of the road and at local fairs. Through hard work, he grew Tree-Lounge into a multi-million dollar business. Bob and his wife Margaret became hunting icons in the early 1990s with their hunting videos.

Bob worked as the cameraman on these videos while Margaret did the hunting. Over the last 15 years, Tree-Lounge has given away more than 2 million of these free hunting videos. Bob's main goal in business was to provide every hunter with the safest and most comfortable tree stand possible.

Many successful hunters have used Bobs "Tree-Lounge Method of Hunting" to harvest big buck's over the years. Bob's theory was to hunt high out of a deer's scent and sight range, hunt all day and hunt safely. He felt that the Tree-Lounge was the only stand that offered all of these features.

Bob Hice has been a well respected icon amongst hunters and in the hunting industry, a man who lived his dream of the outdoors to the fullest. Men like Bob reinforce age old qualities like, hard work, integrity, ingenuity, tenacity, and morals to name a few, traits not common in today's society. He will be missed by many but his spirit will live on in his quality product and in many camp fire stories. Farewell Bob and thank you for your time, effort and dedication. God bless your family who will proudly carry on your legacy.

Remembering Bob Hice
Tree-Lounge

Tips and Tricks: Deer Hunting Tips

Don't let the deer know what you are doing.
Here is a rule I hunt by. I never walk if I can drive and I never drive if I can use the binoculars.
Stomping around on foot all over your hunting area is a sure way to let all the game know that you are after them. The best way I have found to check out an area is to sit for a few hours, preferably at dawn and dusk, at an elevated point, such as a hilltop. From there I have a good view over the area. With a pair of high powered binoculars in the range of 10 x 40 or 10x 50, I can observe from far away what the animals are doing without ever letting them know that I am in the area.
If this is not possible I drive around in the car. Cruising the country lanes and back roads spooks game very little, they are more used to see vehicles than people on foot.

Be different and kill a buck.
A good friend of mien has gone hunting for many years, but failed to shoot at anything. He asked me why that might be. In a brief conversation I found out that he does every year the same thing, even placed his tree stand in the same tree.
The only thing that constitutes insanity is to do the same things over and over again but expecting each time a different result. If it is not working what you have been doing then perhaps it is time to change what you are doing and if that means you have to get out of your comfort zone then so be it. It is often not what you do that spells the difference but what you are not doing but should do.

Avoid other hunters, deer do to.
To upon your hunting success and make it a lot more fun, take this advice to heart. First you got to hunt on some place where there are deer. Some hunters I know of hunt on places where there are no deer or very few and far in between. Second I always hunt places where there aren’t many hunters. This to me is the most important aspect. I know most of us hunt on public land, where it seems at times that there are more hunters than game. But even these places have pockets where other hunters do not venture to, for various reasons, mostly because these places are to far away from the car. Over the years I have become somewhat an expert on public land hunting and I always look for the places that other hunters don’t go to and that is where the deer go too. My very first Buck was killed on such a place. Right next to the parking lot in a thick dangle of undergrowth where no sane human being ever would think of going.

Deer calling that will bring the deer to you.
When I talk to hunters about deer calling then many complain that calling does not work for them. As I have often discovered in such conversations. The reasons are.

1. Calling where there are no deer. The deer need to hear your call to be able to respond to it. Deer are not like elk and turkey which react to prospective calling.
2. The wrong call at the wrong time of the season. Make sure you use the right call, i.e. A Doe-in-oestrus-bleat won’t work in the early season. A dominant buck grunt in an area where there are no big dominant bucks will scare all the deer out of the area. The same is true for very aggressive antler rattling.
3. The most common mistake hunters make is simply to call to LOUD. Deer don’t SHOUT at each other, they whisper. A deer hears about 500 times better than a human what sounds quiet to you is deafening to a deer.
4. And finally use a quality deer call, such as those from Modern Call Products. LLC. These calls come so close to the natural sound that you and more importantly the deer won’t know the difference. But not only are these calls top quality sound and material wise. They are also so small that they fit in the palm of you hand or you can keep them in your mouth with the bowstring pulled for that bleat to stop the buck just long enough to get the arrow into him.

Tree stand height.
Bring a few bow hunters together and get a conversation started about tree stand height and soon you have a very heated debate going. There are those that advocate 20ft. of the ground and even higher tree stand placement. While others are of the opinion that 12ft. to 15 is enough. Well the truth is that the most important aspect to tree stand placement is background cover and being able to get a clean shot at the deer. It is an irrefutable fact that the higher you climb up a tree the more likely you are to run out of both, the background cover and being able to make a good killing shot. That is just plain common sense.

Check your Equipment
Check your equipment when you get in the stand not when a buck walks out. Is your scope clear, will your bow draw back properly, shell in the chamber, etc. etc.

Stay to the last Minute
Don't leave before the legal shooting time is over. Probably the best time of the day to kill a buck is the last minute of shooting light. Don't leave your stand like me and most hunters tend to do, 10 minutes to early.

Lower the Bow Pull Weight
Many bowhunters have their bow poundage set too high. Not too high for the bow but to high for their arms. Its onething to be able to pull it in practice and quite another to be able to hold it steady for 30 seconds waiting for the deer to step out from behing that bush.

Hunt more!
To increase your success. Hunt more! Sounds dumb but its the truth. You say you hunt every chance you get when you don't have to work!!! Well that may be true but how much of that time is spent at the camp? Why not spend the middle part of the day in the woods? Staying in bed due to bad weather! Not a good excuse! Remember deer are killed every single day of the deer season. My biggest buck was killed in the middle of the day. The largest bodied deer was killed in between rain showers. You can scoff and say this is not a real hunting tip but I promise you one thing, if you were to live by this one rule it will increase your kill opportunities more than any other tip you find ANYWHERE.

Hunt a new stand location every day
When hunting a new area, or during the rut where bucks are constantly moving, it pays in the long run to hunt a new stand each day. This is the fastest way to learn the deer movement patterns.

Be mobile
Ever sat in a, oh so carefully, scouted stand and wondered why the deer move past your stand hundred yards out and not by your stand where they should? There are many reasons deer avoid your stand or simply have changed their travel patterns. Some hunters keep hunting the same stand day after day in the hope the deer will come closer. The smart hunter changes the stand location to where the deer are moving. A successful hunter is adaptabs to deer movement!

Wait, don't move that stand now!
If you have to relocate your stand, or set up a new stand in the middle of the hunting season, do it in the middle of the day when deer are resting and not in the morning or late afternoon when deer are on the move.


If you have any helpful deer hunting tips feel free to share them with our readers by adding them in the comment section.

Tips and Tricks: Treestand Safety Guidlines

The most common method of hunting whitetail deer is from a tree stand. Tree stands can be very dangerous if not used or if they are not maintained properly. To avoid becoming an accident statistic please read the safety guidelines below.

Treestand Safety Guidelines

ALWAYS wear a Fall-Arrest System (FAS)/Full Body Harness meeting TMA Standards even during ascent and descent. Be aware that single strap belts and chest harnesses are no longer the preferred Fall-Arrest devices and should not be used. Failure to use a FAS could result in serious injury or death.

ALWAYS read and understand the manufacturer's WARNINGS & INSTRUCTIONS before using the treestand each season. Practice with the treestand at ground level prior to using at elevated positions. Maintain the WARNINGS & INSTRUCTIONS for later review as needed, for instructions on usage to anyone borrowing your stand, or to pass on when selling the treestand. Use all safety devices provided with your treestand. Never exceed the weight limit specified by the manufacturer. If you have any questions after reviewing the WARNINGS & INSTRUCTIONS, please contact the manufacturer.

ALWAYS inspect the treestand and the Fall-Arrest System for signs of wear or damage before each use. Contact the manufacturer for replacement parts. Destroy all products that cannot be repaired by the manufacturer and/or exceed recommended expiration date, or if the manufacturer no longer exists. The FAS should be discarded and replaced after a fall has occurred.

ALWAYS practice in your Full Body Harness in the presence of a responsible adult, learning what it feels like to hang suspended in it at ground level.

ALWAYS attach your Full Body Harness in the manner and method described by the manufacturer. Failure to do so may result in suspension without the ability to recover into your treestand. Be aware of the hazards associated with Full Body Harnesses and the fact that prolonged suspension in a harness may be fatal. Have in place a plan for rescue, including the use of cell phones or signal devices that may be easily reached and used while suspended. If rescue personnel cannot be notified, you must have a plan for recover/escape. If you have to hang suspended for a period of time before help arrives, exercise your legs by pushing against the tree or doing any other form of continuous motion. Failure to recover in a timely manner could result in serious injury or death. If you do not have the ability to recover/escape, hunt from the ground.

ALWAYS hunt with a plan and if possible a buddy. Before you leave home, let others know your exact hunting location, when you plan to return and who is with you.

ALWAYS carry emergency signal devices such as a cell phone, walkie-talkie, whistle, signal flare, PLD (personal locator device) and flashlight on your person at all times and within reach even while you are suspended in your FAS. Watch for changing weather conditions. In the event of an accident, remain calm and seek help immediately.

ALWAYS select the proper tree for use with your treestand. Select a live straight tree that fits within the size limits recommended in your treestand's instructions. Do not climb or place a treestand against a leaning tree. Never leave a treestand installed for more than two weeks since damage could result from changing weather conditions and/or from other factors not obvious with a visual inspection.

ALWAYS use a haul line to pull up your gear and unloaded firearm or bow to your treestand once you have reached your desired hunting height. Never climb with anything in your hands or on your back. Prior to descending, lower your equipment on the opposite side of the tree.

ALWAYS know your physical limitations. Don't take chances. If you start thinking about how high you are, don't go any higher.

NEVER use homemade or permanently elevated stands or make modifications to a purchased treestand without the manufacturer's written permission. Only purchase and use treestands and Fall-Arrest Systems meeting or exceeding TMA standards. For a detailed list of certified products, contact the TMA office or refer to the TMA web site at www.tmastands.com.

NEVER hurry!! While climbing with a treestand, make slow, even movements of no more than ten to twelve inches at a time. Make sure you have proper contact with the tree and/or treestand every time you move. On ladder-type treestands, maintain three points of contact with each step.

ALWAYS remember you have a loving family and friends waiting back home for your safe return.

News: Deer Poachers Pay the Price

Five Meigs County men have been convicted and fined more than $4,600 for poaching white-tailed buck deer following an 18-month investigation in southern Ohio.

The poachers - including a grandfather, father, and son - were charged with 37 misdemeanor violations, including spotlighting deer, hunting deer with a rifle, and improper tagging, all from two townships in their home county, the Ohio Division of Wildlife said.

Charles B. Williamson, 40, of Rutland, Ohio, was found guilty of 18 violations and was fined $2,320 and assessed $1,260 in court costs. He also was sentenced to 90 days in jail, with 76 days suspended, had hunting privileges suspended for five years, and was ordered by Meigs County Court judge Steven Story to complete 150 hours of community service and to serve five years probation. Read Full Story here.

Note to the non-hunting visitors to this Blog:

The media often uses the term "hunter" and "poacher" interchangeably. Thus creating sometimes the impression by the public at large that the two terms have the same meaning. But that is not so!

A Hunter is a person who has purchased a hunting license and fulfilled other obligatory requirements that permit that person to legally harvest wildlife for which a hunting season has been established for a limited time frame and within the frame of the strict game harvesting laws. Hunters also adhere to a strict ethical hunter code. Legal hunters are an important tool in the wildlife conservation and control.

A Poacher is a criminal who does not obey by any game harvesting and conservation laws and has not fulfilled any of the necessary requirements needed to become a legal hunter.

Reviews: Deer Hunting Boots

Many whitetail deer hunters wear rubber boots in the field because they believe it helps them to eliminate human scent on the ground. If you are one of these hunters then you should check out these new hunting boots made for the cold winter months that are guaranteed to keep your feet toasty warm.

The Original Muck Boot Company™ introduces a new Cold-Conditions Hunting Boot

“The uniqueness of this boot lies within the outsole,” states Arlen Stensrud, Vice President of Marketing for Norcross Safety Products, one of the leading manufacturers of sporting, industrial and agricultural products in the U.S. “The Woody Max has one of the most durable, hi-traction outsoles of any hunting boot, providing maximum stability on any terrain an outdoorsman may encounter.”

In addition to the molded, hi-traction rubber outsole, the Woody Max features insulating CR foam and a breathable Airmesh lining laminated with orange fleece that offers comfort in temperatures ranging from 40 degrees Fahrenheit to –40 degrees Fahrenheit. The Advantage Timber® camouflage pattern can be folded over at the top of the boot to reveal the orange fleece as an added safety feature.

The Woody Max provides lightweight comfort and protection from top to bottom as the stretch-fit topline binding hugs the calf to keep warmth in and cold out. To create greater warmth, the Woody Max contains a two-millimeter thermal foam underlay in the instep area.

The Woody Max has been designed to protect the outdoorsman from more then just cold conditions. This boot contains a reinforced toe with heavy-duty protective chemi-sheet material and additional achilles overlays for an additional safety feature.

Available in men’s whole sizes 7-14, the Woody Max retails for $119.95.

The Original Muck Boot Company is a brand of Norcross Safety Products (NSP). For more information about the Woody Max, contact NSP, 1136 2nd St., Rock Island, IL, 61201 or call 800-438-6825. Or visit our Web site at www.muckbootcompany.com.

Tags: Hunting Boots, Boots, Deer Hunting

Misc.: Finding Whitetail Deer Antler Sheds for the Non-Hunter

Here is an interesting article that I found on the Shed Antlers Blog. Hunting for anler sheds is a good way for hunters to learn about animal behavior and scout a new area. Shed hunting is also a good way to introduce children to hunting or make hunters out of non-hunters.

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Finding Whitetail Deer Antler Sheds For The Non-Hunter

Whitetail deer (as opposed to Mule or Blacktail deer) are very much creatures of habit, and unless pushed out by constant human contact, can sometimes live out their lives within a one square mile area.

A good way to locate good areas is to drive slowly on some of the country roads during the evenings, and pay attention to the pastures close to the treelines. You can usually get fairly close and not spook wildlife as long as you stay in your vehicle.

Start asking around at work, your friends, Invariably you will find someone that feeds the deer because they are so cute. Ask them if you can shed hunt on their property.

The best people to talk to are your local Game Warden and state wildlife biologist. In addition to the easier spots, they also plant food plots that not many people know about. Most biologists enjoy the chance to show people what they do.

A deer's life revolves almost entirely around food. Up to 95 percent of a deer's active time is spent foraging. When deer aren't eating, they usually are resting.

On average through the year, deer bed down more than 16 hours a day, although they seldom remain bedded for more than two hours at a time without at least getting up to stretch.

Deer bed in areas that provide both cover and comfort. A deer usually beds with its back to the wind, allowing it to see anything approaching from downwind and smell upwind danger. On hot, sunny days, deer tend to bed in shady areas. On cold, windy days they'll find a place that's protected from the wind. They often rest just over the downwind edge of a ridge. They sometimes return to the same bedding areas and, sometimes, the same beds.

Because they eat and rest in the same general areas, deer tend to travel the same routes between bedding and feeding areas, forming and following trails. Deer trails may be easy to spot-even rutted from hooves-or they can be almost indistinguishable.

The trails often skirt open areas, parallel creeks and rivers or follow the contours of hills.

The best time to find deer trails is following a snowfall. That's also the best time to follow deer tracks to learn where deer are going.

In addition to tracks on or near a trail, you may find deer scat, which looks a lot like chocolate-covered raisins, rubs and scrapes, signs of browsing and cozy places in the leaves or grass where deer have lain.

Rubs indicate a potential travel corridor. Further study of the rubs in the area can help us determine which direction the buck was traveling at the time he made them. The rubbed bark generally points the direction from which the buck came. By locating both the bedding and feeding areas.

During the pre-rut and rut, bucks make both rubs and scrapes. Rubs and scrapes are often found in the same general area.
Rubs are places on trees or brush where bark has been worn down to the inner wood.
Scrapes are areas of pawed ground that are usually from football to beach ball size.
Bucks make rubs while removing velvet from their antlers. While making them, they also deposit a scent that marks their territory.
Bucks also sometimes spar with small trees and brush, rubbing them clean of bark.
Large-antlered bucks often make their scrapes on larger diameter tree trunks than do smaller bucks.
Does and other bucks may visit a scrape made by a buck, but usually only the buck will visit a rub line.

We can also learn valuable information by studying the beds of whitetails. To begin with, family groups (the matriarch doe, her female offspring & the entire group's fawns) generally bed in areas away from the local buck population. Therefore, when we stumble across a bedding areas that has a mixture of both large and small beds, we can assume that this is a family group bedding area. The exception to this is the early stages of fawn rearing when the doe becomes very territorial and drives all intruders, including the previous year's offspring, from her fawn rearing area. Even during the yarding period, experienced in the North, family groups and bucks will tend to segregate their bedding within the confines of the yard.

Another sign that indicates the sex of the maker is the location of a urine spot in the bed. Frequently, deer will raise from there beds and urinate before stepping away. When this urine spot is on the edge of the bed, it indicates a doe. When this appears in the middle, chances are good that a buck made it.

Both aerial photos and USGS quadrangles can help immensely. Not only do they show potential food sources, bedding area, funnels, etc.., they also can serve as a base map to plot our findings on. This is a key step in determining the overall patterns of a local deer population. Often, individual pieces of evidence do little to paint the overall picture. Once these pieces are plotted on a map, suddenly they seem to tie everything together and a greater picture is revealed.

When you head out for a shed hunt, keep in mind the fact that deer have been chased around by hunters for quite some time. This means you need to look for deer in places other hunters aren't going to go -- thick brush, nasty swamps and up over steep ridges, to name a few. Rest assured, the deer are out there. It's up to you to find them.

Tag: Whitetail Deer, Shed Antlers