Hunters seldom see good racks like this but wait for him to turn.
Bow hunters are always looking for a shortcut to personal success. What can I do to make each trip better? First of all, don't expect every trip to be successful in terms of killing a deer. It won't be, and besides, if it was possible, deer hunting would soon become rather boring and tedious. I've come tonight with a list of things hunters can do to increase their success rate, but I'll probably forget a few and that will make for another blog on another day.
Deer hunting tips to live by.
*Practice shooting every day if possible. Learn your bow, what it will do, and practice often with it. Everything else in these tips will fall apart unless you can hit what you are shooting at. *Hunting isn't just from October through November. It should be a year 'round activity. Of course, you can only shoot in season, but scouting is often overlooked by lazy hunters. Spend time in the field every week, and especially from mid-August through the end of September.
I went out earlier today for a look-see. Snow in copious amounts is schedule for tonight and tomorrow. Deer often move ahead of a winter storm, but there was very little deer traffic tonight, which makes me think the storm may not arrive until late tonight or early tomorrow. *Pick ground blind areas and tree stand sites with care. Know why deer move to those spots, know where they come from and where they are going. The more a person knows about how deer travel through an area is vitally important to success. *Don't go above 15 feet in a tree stand. The downward angles are acute, and missing or wounding a deer become more likely for many people. Those deer shot at nose-bleed elevations on the television could have been shot from 15 feet just as effectively.
It’s not needed to hunt high. Be downwind and don’t move.
*Learn how to be scent-free. Above all else, hunt downwind of where deer travel. If the wind switches so you are not downwind of the deer, move before they get your scent. Wear clean, tall rubber boots to hunt in, and stay away from gasoline or cooking odors. If money permits, invest in a Scent-Lok suit. It can be a wonderful investment. *Sitting still is so crucial, and yet many hunters fidget and move around, making noise and spooking deer. Learn how to focus your mind and body into absolute silence with no movement. Make a movement only when deer are feeding or looking away, and move in slow motion. Hurry-up movements are easily spotted by nearby deer and such moves tend to create more noise. *Learn to see deer. Forget about seeing a calendar pose of a majestic whitetail buck. Often, bucks are first seen by a flicking tail, moving ear, sunlight shining off antlers, but often the first sighting is just a piece of the horizontal body outline in a vertical surrounding. Look as deep into cover as possible, and anything that moves in-between will be seen. Learn how to pick apart the cover in search of deer. *Learn how to get to and from a stand without scaring deer. Each stand should have at least two entrance and exit routes, and mix them up. Go in one way and out another, and try not to use the same stand two days in a row. You must pattern deer; don't let the animalss pattern you. *Study deer at every opportunity, from springtime though the winter months. Watch and study their actions and body language, and get accustomed to seeing deer at close or long range. Buck fever is a fear of failing, and the best way to get rid of that bigaboo is to find a place where deer can be studied at close range. The more you watch deer, the less often buck fever will set in. *Pick a spot. Good deer hunters never shoot for the center of mass; instead, they pick an exact and precise place where they wish to hit. The obvious organs to aim for and hit are the heart and lungs.
Know your bow, pick a spot, and make a smooth release.
*Always take high-percentage shots. This means taking only broadside or quartering-away shots. Wait for the deer to give you the shot opportunity you want. Don't take the first shot a buck offers. Allow them to move and turn, and present you with the optimum shot opportunity. Be patient and wait for the perfect shot. *Always know what other deer in the area are doing. Don't get so intent on one animal that you forget that other deer may be looking around for danger. Keep track of all the deer, and wait until your deer has its head down and feeding or looking at another deer and double-check the other nearby deer. If the animal is in the proper position, aim, pick the exact spot, and don't lift your head until the arrow hits and the Game Tracker string flutters out. Always use a Game Tracker because it can offer a helping hand in recovering a wounded deer. *Listen to your gut instincts. If you have bad feelings about taking a shot, or worry about missing, don't shoot. Your gut instincts are always right, and if you ignore them, a wounded deer may be the result. *Use your senses of hearing, seeing, and smelling. Those three senses are what a deer will be using to try to stay alive once hunting season begins. *Believe in yourself, your bow, and your shooting ability. Confidence is an important part of hunting, and if you feel confident, you will be. If you dither over choosing a spot to hunt, forget it. There are many other tips, but these are enough to start with. Master these, and we'll consider a graduate course sometime in the future.
This buck later gored me in the head as I hung the mount.
My taxidermist had just delivered mounts of both whitetail bucks I shot a few years ago. One was a beautiful typical 8-point that was taken on Oct. 2 at 10 paces with an arrow through the heart and lungs.
The other buck was a 9-point taken late in the firearm season. He had two antler tines broken halfway off during a rutting fight, and one beam had the beginning of what would have made him a 10-point if it hadn't quit growing.
I was particularly proud of the 8-point. It is a lovely rack, and we determined it would look best if hung low (about head-high) on the wall. But, we reached that conclusion only after we tried hanging him high on the wall.
It was one of those times when I should have known better … but didn’t.
A wobbly short stepladder was used, and I had to reach up over my head and hang the mount on a sturdy nail pounded into a stud. After it was hung, we both decided the buck had to be hung lower to show off his rack to its best effect.
There was no cure for it but to scale the wobbly ladder again, stretch way up on my tippy-toes, lift the head off the nail. All good plans, but my balance is bad from my one-eye vision, and just as the mount came off the nail, I began losing my balance.
One hand held the mount by one antler, and as I wobbled around in an effort to keep from falling, the rack spun in my hand. This deer had it in for me for shooting him while he sparred with a 10-point buck.
The buck took some revenge on me while off-balance,
The rack pivoted around, and the G-2 on the opposite side swung and dug a small divot out of my scalp. I muttered, struggled for balance, and Kay was there to grab the mount before I fell and impaled myself on his tines.
I climbed down off the ladder, rubbing my head, and we proceeded to find another location where the deer could be hung lower, show off his spread and tine length to better advantage. He was hung up there, and we stepped back to admire him. Perfect!
The 9-pointer was mounted with his ears back and in an aggressive looking mood. He could go up higher on the wall, but first I was going out to the garage and get a taller ladder so I'd have better control over the mount.
Up I went like an arthritic old squirrel. Kay handed up the mount, and I messed around for five minutes before I could get the nail in the mounting hole. Then, Kay stood across the room offering instructions.
"Move the bottom of the mount to your left," she advised. "No, another two inches to the left. Uh, another inch. Nope, one more inch. That's it."
Me, ladders and mounted critters have always had an odd relationship.
I climbed down off the stepladder, and my head hurt a bit. I rubbed it, and my fingers came away bloody. The antler tine had scraped my scalp and broke the skin.
My head was rubbed a few times, and slowly the bleeding had stopped. The two shoulder mounts had been hung in place, jiggled around until they offered the best view, and we straightened up the furniture.
We stood back, studying both racks, and it was a done deal. Both animals remind me of when each one was taken. The 9-pointer had come out of some tag alders, and was walking across the field at 5 p.m., and his ears were laid back and his neck hairs were sticking up.
He was spoiling for a fight, and the two antler tines that were half broken off, may have felt like a toothache. One shot from Kay's .243 Thompson/Center rifle had anchored him on the spot.
That season had been a good one. It was just about a year to the day though when we started to hang both mounts.
A slip of my grip, and a moment of being off-balance, was enough for the 8-pointer to peel my scalp. That deer ultimately got his revenge.
Somehow the whole experience seems fitting and a bit funny. I thought perhaps you might enjoy hearing about how a buck knocked me around.
The late George Yontz with a steelhead. Look at those upper arms & shoulders.
A reader mentioned the Sturgeon River near Wolverine and Indian River in an recent email roday, and it set me to remember things from 55-60 years ago. We traded a pair of comments, but his mention of the river brought back a great flood of pleasant memories. One was of a former Pennsylvania Dutchman by the name of George Yontz. He owned the old Hillside Camp cabins and tackle shop three miles north of Wolverine on old M-27. He taught me a good bit about steelhead fishing, catching walleyes on Burt Lake, and about being willing to gamble when the situation demanded such actions. Yontz was a plumber and pipe-fitter by trade, and was long-waisted and short-legged. He wasn't tall but had biceps as big as my thighs, and was as hard as granite. He had developed a far-flung reputation as an arm wrestler of merit who had never been beaten, and people came from near and far to test him. They would arrive by car, swagger into the tackle-shop building, looked at my friend, dismissed him and asked for the legendary George Yontz.
The poor guy didn’t realize what he was walking into.
"You found him," Yontz would say in an ugly tone. "You want something?" "Understand you arm-wrestle some. Want to give it a try with me? I've never been beaten." A glimmer of a smile always crossed Yontz's face as he answered: "Got any money? I don't arm-wrestle for fun. I always like to take money from people who have never been beaten. Everyone but me has been beaten at least a time or two." "I got money. How about $50?"
"Let's go for a hundred. Which arm-wrestling method do you prefer: lit candles or razor blades?" "Say what?" The gent with the big fancy car suddenly found himself out of his league and sputtering. "What's this about lit candles and razor blades? Never heard of that before." "Give your Ben Franklin to my man here," Yontz said, pointing at me. "He will hold your cash and mine, and he will give all of it to the winner. You have a choice: my man can light two candles. We will assume the position and he’ll measure where my hand will hit the table if you whip me and he'll measure where your hand will hit the table if I win. One candle will go under your hand at my end and one under my hand at your end. Any serious problems with that? "Or ... I have two special devices here that will hold a single-edge razor blade with the sharp edge pointing up. You can get your hand cut or burned. It's your choice, bud. Time's a-wastin', and I ain't much on talking about it. Let's arm-wrestle!" The muscle-bound gent had that look deer get when caught in the headlights of a speeding car. It was so quiet you could hear yourself sweat. He looked at Yontz with apprehension as he rolled up his sleeves over forearms that looked like Popeye's, and stood grinning at the dude. The man wasn't grinning back as sweat began beading on his forehead.
I began a behind-the-counter search for somethinng that didn’t exist.
He didn't know whether to cut and run or try to finish what he started. One look told me and Yontz this guy was wired and wondering what he'd walked into. "C'mon, make your choice," Yontz hissed, baring his teeth slightly in a frightening grimace. "Make up your mind: Lit candles or razor blades. What will it be? Dave, go fetch the candles, razor blades and the things to hold the blades while our gentleman friend here gets himself ready to get whupped real bad." I turned and started looking under the counter. I knew there were no candles, razor blades or special devices to hold the razor blades. It was part of Yontz's dog-and-pony show, and it was beginning to show on the stranger’s face. "Hey, hey," the guy sputtered. "Let's keep this a friendly test of strength. Let's just arm-wrestle for the Bennies. No need for any rough stuff, is there?" "It makes no difference to me but I never arm-wrestle friendly," Yontz said. "I want your money and you want mine. How can that be friendly? I just thought a guy that drove clear up here would want to make this a bit more interesting. You've never been beat, I've never been beat, so why not add a touch of danger and pain to it as well?" "Let's just arm-wrestle for $100," the man said, eyeballing the size of Yontz's forearms as he took off his flannel shirt, and stripped to a lightweight T-shirt from the waist up. There were muscles visible now that few people had ever seen, and only those people who were willing to arm-wrestle for $100 would ever see. Well, that’s not quite true. His “man” had a front-row seat and could see the muscles bulging in his arms, shoulders and wrists. It was an impressive sight.
It soon became apparent to everyone that the stranger was out of his league.
Yontz flexed his arm muscles, and for a man in his 50s at the time, he was a remarkable specimen. His arm and shoulder muscles rippled like waves washing a beach. The other man was well built from lifting weights, but so far he just didn't have a clue how much trouble he was really in. They locked hands, and Yontz needed a thick book under his elbow to match up. "Your challenge, you start," Yontz said as they locked hands again. Yontz stared hard into the challenger's eyes, and nodded for him to start. The man tried to do it hard and fast, and it barely rocked Yontz as he held his hand straight up with the stranger's hand in his. The old pro felt a challenging taunt was in order. "Get it going," Yontz said, "I don't want to sit here all day holding hands with another man. Show me what you're made of. Bring it to me. Arm-wrestle or I'll break your wrist!"
The contest was already won but the visitor just didn't know it yet. He gathered his strength, took a deep breath, let it out and gave it everything he had. He couldn't budge Yontz's hand. He nearly lifted himself off the chair with the effort but his try was ill conceived and a case of too little, too late. "Done messin' ‘round yet," Yontz snarled. "If you can't bring more than that to the arm-wrestling table, it's time to finish it right now." He slammed the stranger's knuckles against the hardwood table with great force. Had he wanted to, he could have broken the other man's hand. He did it hard enough to make the knuckles swell up and turn an angry red color.
Adding insult to injury.
"I'll give you a chance to get your money back," Yontz said. "Want to go again, left-handed? I'm pretty weak in my left arm. Hurt it a bit when I was young. You might take me left-handed. You game for double or nothing?" The man looked Yontz in the eye, and saw something there he didn't like. He also saw that a man twice his age was well equipped and more than ready to whip him left-handed. "Nope, I've had enough," the man said. "Boy, give him my one hundred dollars." "Hold on there," Yontz hollered, standing up fast, tipping over the table and flexing his muscles. "I told you that my man would hold the money. Don't be calling him no boy. Treat him right. He did his job, I did mine and you didn't do yours. Apologize!" "I'm sorry," the guy said to me as he headed out the door. "Young man, please give Mr. Yontz my money. It's disappointing to lose, but I was beaten by a better man." Yontz later told me that it was true he had never been beaten arm-wrestling. He also said he had learned early in his arm-wrestling career to get into the other guy's head fast and make him sweat. Break his confidence before you sit down at the table, he said, and you've won the battle. I served as Yontz's "man" for almost 10 years, and after each win, he would slip me ten bucks. Ten dollars back in 1952 through 1961 was a pile of money to a kid, but most of all, I learned an important lesson from him other than how to catch trout: don't back down, don't give up, and make the other person question your abilities. Do that, and half the battle is won before it starts. His advice has served me well for many years in other ways. But I never could arm-wrestle, but then, I never had to. I usually could talk my way out of trouble.
A small doe trails behind a decent buck in the fog.
A buddy of mine was hunting one of my stands tonight, and it is surrounded on three sides by a watery alder thicket and the fourth side by an open field that runs through the rolling hills.
He wanted a nice fat doe for the freezer and could care less about arrowing a buck. I put him in an elevated coop, told him to sit still and wait for a broadside shot at a doe.
Arrowing a buck? OK, so what that it’s only the second day of the firearm deer season. There are many hunters, myself included, who occasionally choose to wear camo gear and a Hunter Orange hat, and take to the woods with stick and string while everyone else hunts with a firearm.
Many bow hunters like the added challenge of competing against firearms.
Over many years, I've hunted the entire firearm season with a bow. There's something about the added challenge of competing against 750,000 firearm hunter with more primitive gear.
He started seeing deer shortly after he climbed up tino the stand. A doe and button buck came early but the little buck was always between him and the doe. They fed off into the alders, and then an 8-point with gleaming white antlers showed up. Another doe and fawn tried to come in to feed but the buck ran them off before he could get a shot.
Finally that buck left, and a small buck wandered in, and then they left . The big buck wouldn't allow any other deer around it, and then there wasn't a deer in sight.
This is how deer hunting often goes in northern farmland areas, It's possible to sit for several days and not see a but, and then all of a sudden, a small buck of deer will pass through, The hunter must be vigilant at all times.
It was a common thing in northern farmland areas. Many deer travel together.
"I'm sitting there with perhaps 15 minutes of legal shooting time left and two big does walked in and kept right on going," he told me. "I was just getting ready to put my bow away when I spotted a fawn and a nice doe approaching. The fawn was almost the size of her mother, and I decided to shoot the doe fawn and allow the doe to live another year."
He watched the mother and fawn walk up and stand 10 yards out from his elevated coop, and the fawn stood eight or 10 feet behind the big doe. He came to full draw on the fawn, and when the red-dot settled in behind her front shoulder, he touched the trigger release.
"Just as I stroked the trigger," he said," I saw the doe's nose appear. The arrow hit, and although I was aiming at the fawn, I couldn't tell for certain which deer I hit.
"The orange Game Tracker line went out, sputtered once and stopped. It stuttered again, and several more feet went out, and then the line stopped moving entirely."
He waited until he could get some help and stronger lights, and me and four other guys with lights followed the Game Tracker string for about 100 yards. He found the top portion of his arrow shaft, and we continued following the string and blood.
Tracking the string almost to the deer.
The deer was on a runway and stuck with it, and suddenly the line veered off to the right. We continued following the string but now there was no blood. Fifteen yards later we came to the frayed end of the tracking line, spread out and couldn't find any blood.
We backtracked to where the tracking line took the sudden swerve, found more blood and found the deer within 20 yards.
"A Game Tracker string has saved many deer for me and other hunters," he said. "When we couldn't find blood beyond the end of the string, it was decided to look for blood where the deer swerved. I suspect another deer got tangled in the string and took it out.
That deer, and thousands of other deer, have been successfully found by using the Game Tracker device. It is a wonderful tool for bow hunters, and although my friend's arrow double-lunged the animal, it still went a fair distance before falling.
Everyone who hunts should use this string tracking device when hunting thick cover. We've used it since it was invented some three decades ago, and we still use it for one very specific reason: it helps us recover wounded deer.
It’s not likely but some opening-day bucks may be out in the open.
The forecast for the Nov. 15 firearm deer opener leaves little room for speculation about the weather. As of this writing, it seems to be waffling a bit between rain and snow. If we're unlucky, we may get both. I seem to find myself wondering whether the weather will clear off or be nasty. If it's going to be sloppy, I want to have a ground blind close to the best bedding cover. I normally don't worry about such things, but I've always played hunches, lived by my gut instinct and wits, and with the promise of inclement weather, I'd just as soon be somewhere that it is reasonably dry. Two spots come to mind, and both are ideal for a pop-up blind. As distasteful as it is to erect last-minute stands, a pop-up blind can have a person hunting within five minutes. I plan to put a pop-up blind deep in a pine plantation that is owned by a friend, and it will be positioned downwind of where two major deer trails come together. The deer have to work hard to feed all night because where a standing corn field stood last year, the corn has already been cut. Up in the air or on the ground? I plan to be in a tree stand if it is not raining or snowing or in the pop-up blind if it is. The neat thing about a pop-up tent like mine that is made by Eastman Outdoors is that it can be carried in, set up, and a hunter is on the ground and inside where it is reasonably dry and slightly warmer. Another spot is in hilly country with rolling ridges. I put up the stand last week, and I eased into the area today to check things out. The tent top was stove in a bit from the wind, but all I had to do is crawl in, push the top up and it popped back up in place. It sits down below a ridge, and two trails cross below the ridge, and it provides a good commanding view of the area. It's located about 150 yards from open croplands, and the deer move through there at dawn and for an hour after. Choose spots wisely and play the wind. Both spots, although 10 miles apart, hold good promise and my biggest problem will be to decide which place to hunt. And, like it always happens, my decision will be a last-minute one based on the weather and wind direction. Both locations are best on a west or northwest wind, and if we have snow we'll probably have a northwest wind. If we have rain or rain mixed with snow, the wind will most likely be out of the south, southeast or southwest. This won't affect me too much, but an east wind will be a kiss of death for both spots. If the wind comes from a southerly direction, I'll be hunting the pines and 150 yards from my friend's house. South is a perfect wind for hunting the pines in my planned area. Whatever the weather brings on Monday, I'll be out there and that's a promise. If the firearm season is like the bow season, we’ll all need luck. You know why, other than it being a lengthy tradition? It's the only day of the year when you can hear the sun rise.
Be careful with this shot. The fawn is very close to the buck.
Firearm deer-season openers vary from one year to the next, but some things never change. Firearm hunters do things just before the season opener that can cost them a shot at a nice buck on the opener or during the 16-day season.
By Friday, the roads will start filling up with small trailers, truck campers, tent dwellers, and other people heading north to their favorite hunting area to set up deer camp. These camps are spread throughout most of the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula.
Mistake No. 1 for most hunters is they are traveling in the wrong direction. Most sportsmen should turn aroundm and head south to the southern Lower Peninsula counties. That where most of the deer, and most of the larger bucks live.
Michigan’s southern counties are best for big bucks and lots of deer.
Mistake No. 2 of this deer-camp routine means sighting-in rifles. Where do these hunters go to make certain Ol' Betsy is still shooting straight? You've got it: they sight in their rifles where they plan to hunt. Duh! That’s not a smart move.
Deer are not capable of thought like a human being. They rely on finely honed instincts to stay alive. The woods have been relatively quiet with bow hunters closing out the early archery season, and only a few small-game hunters are around to make any noise.
All of a sudden, here comes an influx of sportsmen. They rattle and clatter around at their chosen campsite, and there are car doors slamming, loud talking, and people start to settle into their camp.
Deer sense changes in the fields, swamps and woods near deer camp.
They then walk through the woods through dry leaves or snow to determine where to sit on opening day. They lay down plenty of stinky boot leather, holler back and forth to each other, and leave the woods filled with human noise and scent.
Next, they set up a target 100 yards away, and blim-blam at it for several hours. They shoot fast, over-heat their rifle barrel, and never truly get a good reading of what their firearm is doing. They should know that any first shot they take at a deer on Monday will be the most accurate because it is being shot through a cold barrel. That is, if it is dead-on.
Shooting a clip filled with cartridges in rapid-fire fashion doesn't give the best results at sighting in a firearm or hitting a deer. As the barrel heats up, the bullets start hitting farther and farther apart. Hunters should always allow at least five minutes between shots when sighting in a rifle. Ten minutes is even better.
Be quiet, don’t slam car doors, and realize that deer can hear, smell and see well.
There is loud conversation as the hunters compare notes, and advice is freely handed out. The steady sounds of shots being fired, and the loud talking, and people roaming aimlessly through the woods, isn't lost on the local deer population. It doesn't take much IQ to know that something new has been added to the mix, and anything new means possible danger.
It seems everyone now sits inside a portable tent or a small coop to hunt, and many people still use bait, even though it's illegal. Deer are always suspicious of bait that is suddenly found in the woods. It takes deer at least a week to become fully adjusted to a nearby bait site.
The problem of hunting from a fixed location is that no one is moving except before dawn, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then again after shooting time ends. Most hunters don't go out and work the swamps and other heavy cover because they don't want to push the deer to someone else. So if everyone sits, and the deer hold tight in their bedding cover or other thickets, there won't be many shots taken.
If the deer don't move, the hunters complain about a shortage of deer. They say the DNR has lied to them again. Sadly, most of the blame for very little deer movement can be laid at the feet of those hunters themselves. If everyone sits, and no one moves, the deer won't move until after dark.
Make just a few changes, and it can help hunters bag more deer.
Is there anything hunters can do? Not really, the damage has already been done for this year but sportsmen can sight in their rifles during the summer months at a gun club near home. They can make forays north during summer or early fall months, and make certain their blind is OK.
They can tone down the loud conversations, and realize that deer are not accustomed to continuous loud man-made noises. They can work together so that everyone walks around for an hour each day, and develop specific areas for hunters to walk through to move deer around.
I'd rather see four guys, who hunt together, sit until 9 a.m., and then one person should walk through a designated piece of cover for an hour before sitting down again. At 11 a.m. many people walk out to eat. At noon one of the hunters could cover another parcel of thick cover, and most hunters come back out at 1 or 2 p.m. Another hunter could move at three, and a different one at 4 p.m., and that would put someone out walking around and moving deer most of the day. Everyone would see more deer and probably shoot more animals.
If every hunter stays in their blind all day no one will be moving animals. Hunters can work this or a variation of this movement pattern, and it is bound to help sportsmen see more animals.
Even more important, it isn't going to ruin anyone's hunt if just one person gets up and moves around for an hour. In fact, it could lead to better deer hunting for everyone. It's certainly worth a try.
