Making A Mineral Lick For Deer

© By Othmar Vohringer

The best time to establish a mineral lick for deer is from late winter, after the bucks dropped their antlers, to early spring.
While deer only need small amounts of minerals for full antler development having no minerals, or not enough, will result in in less antler growth than what genetically might be possible. Minerals are not just important for antler growth but also for the overall health and development of deer, lactating does and growing fawns in particular.

How to establish a deer mineral lick?

Practically you can put minerals anywhere and deer will eventually find it. However, to maximise the benefits for you and the deer it is best to place minerals where deer frequent. Look for topographical structures such as deer crossings, field and woodland corners, creek bottoms, ridges and saddles that are away from view of people or vehicle traffic. Find the secluded places that provide deer with a measure of security.

Although it is legal here in British Columbia to bait deer I do not use mineral licks for baiting deer. Just as I never place a stand directly over a food source or food plot.

Why not?

Because I want deer to feel safe on the lick or food source and keep returning to it regularly. Putting up a stand direct at the lick or food source will eventually make deer suspicious, resulting in deer abandoning it altogether. Also, it can be quite difficult to kill a deer at the lick or food source, especially for bowhunters, as deer constantly move around. I hunt the traveling deer. With that said, I place licks in such a way that it funnels the traveling deer past my stand location.

A lick can also be used to redirect deer traffic. Let me explain what I mean with a situation I faced last year. I hunted an area consisting of a large wide open field bordered on one side by thick brush and the road on the other side. Several trails went from the field into the brush but there was no predicting what particular trail the deer would use at any given time. Set up over one trail and deer move one of the other trails. Change stand locations to the trail the deer used and they would use the trail you sat over the day before. The brush is so thick you can’t see more than a few feet inside it. My solution to the problem? Redirect deer traffic by making a deer lick. I placed two mineral salt blocks inside the woodland on the thicket edge where the brush thins out. Checking the mineral lick in late winter I noticed that the deer established a large well used trail leading from the thicket to the mineral lick.

I recharged the lick with new mineral salt blocks early this year and the deer still hitting it strong. Come summer, around July, I will hang a stand on the new trail between the thicket and the mineral lick, refresh the lick again and leave the area alone until September, the beginning of the fall archery season.

Preparing a deer lick station.

When you found a good spot to establish a deer mineral lick don’t just dump the minerals in a pile on the ground. If there’s a rotten tree stump on the spot hollow it out and then pour mineral granulates into it. If there’s no tree stump clear a spot of about 5 to 8 feet in diameter down to bare soil. Spread lightly and evenly with mineral granulates. Check back in intervals of about one month and replenish minerals as needed.

If you use mineral blocks, as I do, clear a spot down to the soil and place the mineral block in the middle of it. To give the lick a quick start, or as an additional attractant, you can spread a few handful of grain or chopped apples around the mineral block. Unlike mineral granulates there’s no need to check mineral blocks frequently. The mineral blocks I put out in late winter last year still were in good shape this spring, unlike the mineral granulates I used for another lick station that were completely gone. Refreshing mineral licks for several seasons will saturate the soil to the point where deer will begin to eat the soil too, making it a traditional lick that deer and other wildlife will return to every day for many years. Hanging a trail camera near the mineral lick will have the benefit that you can check what deer and other wildlife visit and on what time of day. Cameras also let you keep taps on the antler growth of the bucks.

Give mineral licks a try this season, it’s an affordable way to help the deer getting important minerals and if placed correctly can improve your hunting success rate too.

Deer Hunting Tip: Always Check The Wind

© Othmar Vohringer

The number one defense of deer is their nose and it is the hunter’s biggest enemy. More hunts fail because deer got a nose full of human scent than by anything else that could go wrong. When I hunt, the wind is always foremost on my mind. I am very particular about checking the movement of the air flow regularly around me.

Before a hunt I check the local weather station to find out what the prevailing wind directions are. I do not own a smartphone but for those that do there are various applications available that provide you with regular updates on wind directions, wind speeds and other weather conditions.

I am old fashioned and check the wind and air currents with the aid of scent free chalk powder. I purchase the chalk that commonly is used for chalk line boxes. This fine powder comes in various colors and is cheap. A big one pound bottle of that stuff lasts me usually up to two years. I prefer the red colored chalk that I fill into a small nasal spray bottle that I can carry in my shirt or jacked pocket. A squeeze of the bottle releases a small cloud of red chalk into the air that, because of its coloration, I can watch for a very long distance drifting in the air current. This provides me with a good indication of what the wind does around me and further away from my stand.

I also use quite often seeds of plants such as Milkweed, Dandelion and other seeds that float in the air and make perfect wind movement indicators that too can be seen for a very long way floating in the air. This becomes particularly important in hill country where the wind is often subject to changes of direction and swirls back and forth.

Regardless of what you use to check the wind, important is that you make a serious commitment to continuously check the wind during your hunt. If you want to become more successful as a hunter you have to pay close attention to the wind and use any available method to check the wind, be they high-tech or old school. Never underestimate a deer’s nose, because it will detect your scent even if you wear scent blocking/absorbing garments and boots.

Getting In And Out Of Your Stand Undetected

© By Othmar Vohringer

As hunters we invest a considerable amount of time in scouting and finding features that promote deer travel, locating food sources and the perfect stand locations. Yet, few hunters pay any mind whatsoever to finding out how they will get in and out of their stand locations undetected by deer. I lost count of how many times I heard stories of hunters that got busted by deer on their way to and from their stands. It happened to me too, more often then I care to admit.

But I learned from my own mistakes and for many years now pay close attention to the routes in and out of my stands. Choosing the perfect route to access or depart your stand is just as important as finding the perfect stand location. Before hanging a stand, find out how you can access and leave without letting deer know that you’re in the area. Because if you can’t do that the best stand location will be ruined for future hunts, you might just as well pull it.

When I chose a stand location I make careful notes of where deer will be during those times that I hunt a particular stand, pre-season and careful in-season scouting will reveal these areas. If deer can hear, see or smell me on my way in or out I am done. Deer stay alive by exactly knowing what is going on all around them and who’s coming and going.

When choosing entry and exit routes we have to pay close attention to wind directions and how air currents behave in the area. That is the reason why it is so important to know your hunting area so well, not only to figure out deer movement patterns but also to figure out how you get undetected in and out. Finding the perfect stand access and departure route means that we often have to choose several routes, quite often the route we come in to the stand might not be the same we can use to leave the stand. Quite often it also means that we have to walk a considerable detour. One of my best stand locations required a boat to access and depart from it. It took me an extra half hour instead of the 15 minutes the direct route would have taken me. The extra minutes and requiring a boat was well worth the effort and time as the stand kept producing deer hunt after hunt and season after season. Seldom is the shortest and easiest way also the best way.

The next time you experience that your stand doen't come up to your expectations give it some serious consideration about how to get into and out of your stand location without alerting every deer in the vicinity to your presence.

Early Season Deer Hunting Tips Roundup

© By Othmar Vohringer

The most common keywords used by readers of Whitetail Deer Passion over the last two weeks are; "early season deer calling", "early season deer hunting tips" and "early season deer scent".

With over 200 pages of deer hunting information on Whitetail Deer Passion it can be time consuming to find the right information at the lick of a button. To make life easier for you I did the search work for you and provide a collection of links to information about early season hunting tactics, deer calls and scent usage.

Enjoy!

Calls and Scent For Early Deer Hunting Season.

Early Season Antler Rattling Tactics.

Early Season Deer.

Are You Ready For Early Bowhunting Season?

Early Season Scouting.

Deer Scent and Calling Throughout The Seasons.

Making Sense About Scent.

A Year in A Whitetail Deer's Life.

The Most Common Mistakes Made Setting Up Treestands.

There is a lot more information here on Whitetail Deer Passion about early season deer hunting, but I am convinced that the links above will provide you with a solid foundation of tips to get you started in the right direction to early season deer hunting success. 

Best of luck to you all hunting the early deer season, stay safe and keep the Whitetail Deer Passion burning. 

The Most Common Mistakes When Setting Up Treestands That Will Reduce Your Hunting Success

© By Othmar Vohringer

As mentioned in another column here on Whitetail Deer Passion, there is no denying that the invention of the treestand is the single biggest advantage for deer hunters. However, to use the advantages of hunting from treestands to its fullest potential we have to make sure to set them up correctly. It is here were many hunters make blunders that cost them “deerly”.

Here are some of the mistakes hunters make and how to avoid them.


Going too high

The height of the treestand from the ground is determined by the surrounding cover. If the surrounding cover is optimal at 8 feet off the ground then that is where you should hang the stand. Hang the stand any higher and you risk to be sky lighted, deer will spot you from a mile away…and no they will not come any closer to see what that bulging blob on the side of the tree is. In my humble opinion the biggest myth ever perpetrated on hunters is that philosophy of climbing high up into the tree tops to avoid deer smelling you. To avoid deer from smelling me I rely on a good shower and a set of fresh clean under and over garments before every hunt and to make sure the wind is right for the stand I am hunting, if the wind is not right I will not hunt that particular stand and go elsewhere where the wind is in my favor. Tests have shown that no matter how high you climb deer will detect your scent. The tests have shown that when you go high, around 30 to 40 feet off the ground, the air current will carry your scent maybe 100 to 150 yards before it descends to ground level. Do you believe deer that smell a hunter 100 to 150 yards away will come closer to have a look where the smell of human is exactly coming from? Neither do I! On the other hand the same tests, done with smoke cartridges placed at various heights, showed that when the stand hangs lower, around 10 to 16 feet off the ground, the scent seems to linger around the base of the tree. In that scenario with the immediate surroundings of your stand site contaminated with human scent, you still stand a chance of getting deer within shooting range, even with a bow.

Another myth perpetrated by the “climb as high as you can” advocates is that the higher you climb the less likely deer will see you. Wrong! As I stated at the beginning, if you run out of surrounding cover you will stick out like the proverbial thumb against the sky. As much advantage as treestands have, hunting from them has also educated deer to look up into the treetops for danger. In areas where hunters predominantly hunt from treestands deer always will look up first before they look ahead and around. The popularity of hunting from treestands has taught generations of deer to look up for danger. 

Hanging treestands at the wrong time

Hanging deer stands a few day or even weeks before the deer season opens is a sure recipe to spoil opening day hunting success. If you do your scouting right you should know what areas deer use on opening day, long before the deer move to that area. I hang my stands at the very least one to two months ahead of hunting season. That way the area can settle down and deer get used to the "new growth" on the tree. No matter how carful you are hanging stands it is noisy and the area is heavily contaminated with human scent. If you hunt on public land where it is not logical (stands do get stolen) or legal to hang treestands months in advance you can at the very least locate potential stand sites and do any necessary trimming and preparations. That way on opening day you can move in and carefully place your stand with low impact to the area. Having said that, I find it personally very important to practice setting up stands with the same commitment as shooting your gun or bow… and I will tell you why.

Practicing setting up stands makes it safer to use them because you're familiar with the procedure, but also there are times when a stand needs to be moved during the hunting season because deer travel patterns change. In these cases I move my stands during midday hours when the deer are resting in their bedding areas away from the travel corridors, trail intersections and feeding areas. Such stand location changes have to happen quickly and quietly. This is only possible to do if you are intimately familiar with setting up stands and that means practice and practice again until you have every move ingrained in your brain. I can take down a hang-on stand and set it up again safely in less than ten minutes. Of course, when you relocate a stand during hunting season you want to do so at the time of day when deer are bedded down.
 
Where possible a climbing treestand is much better suited for quick in season changes than a hang-on stand. To make changing stand locations quick and easy I select as many trees as I can and prepare them well before the hunting season opens. However, it must be said that climbing treestand models needing a lot of assembling are not well suited. The best models are those that only need an adjustment of the climbing cables, such as the Summit Climbers.

Ignoring the lay of the land and wind directions

The weather forecast predicts north easterly winds but don’t bet your farm on it that this holds true for your stand locations too. The topography of the land with its hills, valleys, gullies and slopes among many other features can and often do affect wind direction. In addition local thermals further affect where your scent will carry. The solution to this problem is to make sure where the wind and air currents drift. To determine that I always carry a used nasal-spray bottle filled with unscented red snap-line marking powder with me. When I squeeze the bottle I can see the red powder cloud for a long distance flowing with the breeze. This provides me with accurate information of what the wind and thermals are doing.

On that note, where ever possible I set up two stands in the same general location that way I can keep hunting by just going to the next stand when the wind or current changes. If you’re sold on scent eliminating products and clothing don’t think for a minute that deer will not smell you, because they will. I used to be fanatical about scent control, showered in scent eliminating products before every hunt, washed my clothing in scent eliminating laundry detergent, air dried and stored clothing in scent free vacuum sealing bags and wore a scent free coverall on the drive to the hunting area and used scent eliminating spray to treat my hunting gear after I left the truck, including hands head and boots. In addition I spent a fortune on scent eliminating lined camouflage garments and boots. Then one day I learned a very educational lesson that brought me back to reality about scent eliminating products. A buck came in from downwind, stuck his nose high in the air and took a deep breath, then he bolted away never to be seen again. The wind is not your friend, it is your enemy and you should always pay close attention to it.

Getting to and from your stand

How many hunters give any thought to stand entry and exit routes when they scout? My experience is that there are not many. It is a mistake that can you cost deer. It doesn’t take a degree is deer science to know that whitetails are very aware at all times what’s going on around them. The only way to outsmart the deer is to be very meticulous when scouting. Don’t just look for deer sings and a good place to hang a stand, also scout for your own entry and exit routes. The result of that consideration should be that you can enter and exit your stand site without letting the deer on what you’re doing, sometimes that means that the entry route is not the same as the exit route, or that you have to change the routes as the season goes by.

To close for comfort

Another mistake some hunters make in stand placement is that they go too close to deer feeding areas, food plots and bait. First of all it can be a very hard task to kill a deer at the feeding site and second, as studies have shown, as the season goes on deer avoid the food source more and more. No matter how careful you are in approaching or leaving the stand, eventually deer will catch on to you. The deer might not be aware of you but the minute changes and sign you leave behind each time you visit a stand site are often enough for deer to become wary and avoid the feeding area during legal shooting times. It is much better to place the stand back from the food source, preferably on intersecting trails where you will encounter much more deer traffic. Especially if you're after a buck it pays to hang the stand back from the food source. Mature bucks are notorious for hanging up in the woods and wait until nightfall before they enter the fields and food plots.

Over hunting

Hunting from the same stand every other day is a sure way to let it get “cold” in a hurry. My experience is that a stand should not be hunted more than two day per any given week, with at least two days rest in between. An old but very true saying among experienced deer hunters is; “The best chance to kill a deer from a treestand is the very first day you hunt from it.

So there you have it. I hope these tips will help you to become a better deer hunter. Feel free provide additional treestand hunting mistakes that you know or learned the hard way about it in our comment section.

How To Score Your Whitetail Deer Trophy?

© By Othmar Vohringer

Over the years of writing Whitetail Deer Passion I get a lot of questions about how to score a whitetail deer trophy buck. Rather than writing about it I do one better and let Stan Potts, probably America's most respected whitetail deer hunter, tell and show you exactly how to score your trophy whitetail buck.

For more information on trophy qualifications, registration and rules visit:

Boone & Crockett Club Org. Trophies taken with firearms.
Pope & Young Club Org. Trophies taken with archery equipment (Crossbows are excluded).

If you would like to share your trophy whitetail story with the readers of Whitetail Deer Passion, look here for more information.

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.

How Do You Pass Your Time In A Treestand?

© By Othmar Vohringer

“How Do You Pass Your Time In A Treestand?” This was an actual question a hunter asked on one of the many hunting social forums proliferating the internet. The person then went on to elaborate on how bored he gets sitting for hours motionless in his treestand as he waits for a deer to walk by. What followed the initial question of the poster was quite amusing and entertaining to read. 

Most of the forum members advised that they pass their time via cell phone, connecting with friends on Facebook, Twitter and other online networks. One of them proclaimed “I am actually right now in my treestand and checking out the latest posts on this forum.” A few others wrote that they take a book with them to read while in the stand, others read their favourite hunting magazine while others watch hunting TV shows on their newfangled electronic devices.

Interestingly enough from the 40 plus replies to the question not a single one of them mentioned that they hunt while on stand. Hunting deer from treestands is still somewhat new to British Columbia, and yes, it is the most effective way to ambush deer, particularly the wily whitetail deer. However, to take full advantage of a treestand scouting for the exact location of deer travel hotspots is of paramount importance. Just hanging a stand somewhere along a deer trail can have a hunter sit for many hours and days on stand without ever seeing a deer.

The Good And The Bad Of Public Land Hunting

© Othmar Vohringer

Does of you that read Whitetail Deer Passion regularly know that I hunt often on public land. Here in Canada we call it Crown Land. The general consensus among hunters is that hunting on public land is nothing short of a nightmare. Yes it can be though to compete with many other hunters and spooky deer but it is not all bad either.

Here are a few examples of the good and bad based on the personal experience I gathered over the years.

Let’s start with the good points first.

1. You can sleep a few hours longer. Every other hunter is in the woods before first light until about 8:00am to 9:00am then they go home and don’t come back until late afternoon. Deer know about this human habit and adjust their movement patterns accordingly. If you get an hour before the other hunters go home to your stand you catch deer moving about.
2. Rather than scouting for deer sign scout for human sign. Figure out what the other hunters do and where they set up their stands and then look for the escape routes the deer use. The escape routes are where you want to set up and wait until the other hunters start pushing deer your way. Also look for the places other hunters avoid. Things like flooded timber, marshes, small woodlots, tickets and other “unlikely” places, because that is where the deer go when the pressure starts to build.
3. Talk to the farmers in the area because they have pretty good grasp on what the deer are doing and where they go once the hunter invasion begins.
4. No matter where you live in North America there is public hunting land within one hour drive of your home and you don’t have to pay an access fee or take out a second mortgage to pay for the lease.
5. Despite what you hear to the contrary, there are mature bucks on public land. I've shot quite a few nice bucks where nobody expected to see big bucks. They are there you just have to hunt them very different then you would on private land. 

Now let’s examine a few of the not so good points.

1. You will have to compete with lots of other hunters and that can make a little uncomfortable as far as safety is concerned. On public land I wear a hunter orange vest and hat on my way to and from the stand during bowhunting season. During the firearm season I wear even more hunter orange for the duration of the hunt and regardless if it is the law or not. Having been shot at ones I can assure it is not a nice feeling.
2. If you hunt from a treestand don’t leave it on the tree. Even if the stand is chained and bolted to the tree is can, and often will be, stolen. Over the years I had two stands stolen that I thought were adequately secured to the tree with chains and padlocks. It seems treestand thieves arrive equipped with bolt-cutters and ladders. I thought just taking the climbing stick down would be sufficient to secure the stand in addition to chain and padlock. I was sadly mistaken.
3. There is always the chance that your “hotspot” is also the “hotspot” of five other hunters. It happened a few times to me that I climbed into my stand and not much later heard hunters climbing into trees to either side of me.

The Best Places In North America To Hunt B&C Trophy Deer

© By Othmar Vohringer

While some hunters don’t care much about trophy deer hunting for others it is a different story. For those hunters looking to hunt that once in a life time trophy whitetail deer buck I’ve sorted through the B&C record book to figure out which American state and Canadian province offers the best chance to fulfill that dream. Here are the top ranking US states and Canadian Provinces, listed according to the entries in the B&C trophy records.

1. Wisconsin, 383 entries
2. Illinois, 299 entries
3. Iowa, 224 entries
4. Ohio, 215 entries
5. Missouri, 214 entries
6. Kentucky, 199 entries
7. Indiana, 195 entries
8. Kansas, 181 entries
9. Minnesota, 172 entries
10. Saskatchewan, 147 entries
11. Texas, 132 entries
12. Alberta, 115 entries
13. Nebraska, 78 entries
14. Oklahoma, 48 entries
15. Ontario, 41 entries
16. Arkansas, 40 entries
17 (tie). Michigan, 39 entries
17 (tie). Mississippi, 39 entries
19. North Dakota, 31 entries
20. Pennsylvania, 26 entries
21. New York, 25 entries
22. South Dakota, 24 entries
23 (tie). Georgia, 23 entries
23 (tie). Maryland, 23 entries
25 (tie). British Columbia, 19 entries
25 (tie). Maine, 19 entries
27. Virginia, 17 entries
28. Tennessee, 15 entries
29. Colorado, 13 entries
30. Idaho, 11 entries

For more information on the Boone & Crockett Club, visit www.Boone-Crockett.org
 

Watch Out For Deer Crossing Road Signs

 © By Othmar Vohringer

Hunting Tip Of the Week:

Deer crossing signs alert drivers to be careful of deer crossing the street. Usually such signs are posted where over the years several deer/vehicle accidents have occurred.

For hunters these sign have an additional meaning. It means that the stretches of road where such signs are set up are traditional deer travel corridors. Such places are a good starting point to look what’s on either side of the road that makes the deer cross on that particular place. It is not uncommon to find some type of food source and structure that are hot deer magnets.

Before you run off and start scouting make sure it is not private land, if it is, get permission before you set foot onto the property. Over the years I had good luck discovering deer hunting hotspots by starting to scout at deer crossing road signs. While some of these traditional deer crossings are active all year others may just be used by the deer at specific times of the year. In any case, the areas near a deer crossing road sign are always worth a closer look.

Summit Treestands Recalls Crush Treestand Series

© By Othmar Vohringer

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Summit Treestands, LLC, announced today a voluntary recall of the following consumer product.

Name of Product:

Crush Treestand Series Models: Perch, Stoop and Ledge hang-on model treestands.

Units affected from this recall: About 2,900

Hazard: The treestand’s hanging strap assembly could dislodge from the treestand or fail to restrain or hold properly on the tree, posing a fall hazard. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Description: The recalled treestands have the following names and item numbers:

Crush Series Perch, number 82069.

Crush Series Stoop, number 82070.

Crush Series Ledge number 82071.

The treestands include the main stand platform and seat with a green cinch strap and a tan tree stand hanging strap assembly, which consists of one nylon strap with a hook and an adjustment portion with a metal buckle and a matching nylon tab and a hook. This hanging strap assembly has the recalled item numbers printed on the safety label attached near the buckle.

The recalled products are old at: Hunting stores and in catalogs such as Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s and others across the U.S.A. and canada from July 2012 through August 2012 for between $70 to $100.

WARNING: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled treestands and contact Summit Treestands to receive a free replacement hanging strap assembly.

Consumer Contact: Summit Treestands, LLC, toll free at (855) 373-9808, anytime or website www.summitstands.com click on the Recall icon for more information.

(Image courtesy of Summit Treestands)

Are Trophy Records Destroying Hunting As We Know It?

© By Othmar Vohringer

For years I have been saying that the “trophy” aspect of hunting perpetrated in every magazine and hunting TV show eventually will backfire on our hunting heritage. It is my contention that if trophy record books would only give credit to the animal without the name of the hunter they would go quickly out of business. The reason hunters enter trophy’s in these books is for the sole reason to see their name in print. In magazines and hunting TV shows trophy animals are used solely for the purpose to sell products and to give “testimony” that the writer or TV show presenter is an “expert”.

Now don’t get me wrong. I like to kill a trophy animal as much as the next guy but to me it is not a contest and I certainly never would enter one in a record book. I am not a trophy hunter and I am not a meat hunter either. I am just a hunter. While I fully respect that some hunters may only hunt for a trophy animal to please their own ego or their own sense of achievement it needs to be mentioned that the trophy hype does affect new and young hunters in a very negative way. How so? I lost count of how many times I heard a young or new hunter say something like; “I will not waste a bullet on a lesser animal.” Or “I want to be a trophy hunter.” These are all people that may go many years without killing a deer waiting for that big trophy buck. They do so because they want not to be ridiculed by their peers for shooting a lesser animal.

Whitetail Deer Hunting Tactics: Read All About It

© Othmar Vohringer

Common belief has it that outdoor writers are the lucky ones because they can spend all their time in the great outdoors. While I admit that I call myself “lucky” I do not spend all my time outdoors. A good part of my time as an outdoor writer is used up in my office writing about the outdoors. Proof of that are my new articles published this fall in the BC Outdoors and western Sportsman magazine, available on the newsstands now.

Western Sportsman magazine. September/October 2012: Beat Them To It. On page 69 I reveal seven of my favourite early season deer hunting tactics that may help you too to get an early season buck this year. Here is a teaser.

Hunt Escape Routes.

For most hunters there is nothing worse than having to share the same area with hordes of other hunters. In fact, dealing with all the other hunters used to be the reason why I rarely went out in the early season. Not anymore! I learned how to use the other hunters as my involuntary deer drivers. When hunting highly pressured areas I forget about scouting for deer sign. Instead, I scout for other hunters and the sign they leave behind. Given the habitual human nature the hunters will do the same things again this season. Try to find trail markers hunters have left behind (they always do), stand locations and easy walking and driving access routes to the area.