Blog Entries from the WeHuntSC.com blogging crew
We met up with Derrick at 5:30 in the morning. I thought that was a little early, but I had forgotten to budget in the time necessary to let Derrick bend our ears a little before heading out. After our ears got warm we headed out.
Derrick and I were hunting out of a tall tower stand overlooking a food plot bordered by a cutover on one side and some woods on the other. The sun reflected off the ice that covered the trees, plants, and underbrush that surrounded us below. We watched the sun rise while we scanned the field below for movement. At a certain point the sun was shining directly in our eyes, the stand was facing east. For about 20 minutes I could only look left and right out of the sides of the stand avoiding the front of the stand where the brightness of the sun shined through. Eventually the sun got high enough to where we could see out of all directions of the stand easily. It felt like it was time for something to happen.
We surveyed the field looking for any movement. I would zoom in with the camera looking around the edges of the field while Derrick looked through his binoculars. Around 8:20 a hawk appeared out in front of us at about 80 yards and perched on a tree branch. The hawk would swoop down as if to catch something and then return to the branch. It did this several times so I decided to turn the camera on to hopefully get the hawk catching something on camera. I turned the camera on and got the hawk flying off and returning to the branch one time. Just a few seconds after the hawk returned Derrick said ?look at those deer?. Sure enough two does had walked out in a shooting lane to our left while this hawk was chasing his breakfast. I rotated the camera over to film the deer as Derrick slid down from his chair into shooting position.
At first we weren?t sure if the does were going to be big enough to validate taking a shot. After looking at them closely we decided that the first one was decent enough size to make a shot. I had the camera in place and Derrick was ready to make the shot. As I looked through the camera I heard Derrick say ?Are you ready? and I whispered back ?yes?. A millisecond after I said yes the deer was laying on the ground. Derrick wasted no time pulling the trigger after hearing that I was ready. The smaller doe scurried off with the loud booming sound of the shot. There was no doubt on this one. Derrick had a made good shot.
We sat in the stand for a bit to let the nerves settle a little and then we got down out of the stand. Getting down out of that tall stand is a process for me because I don?t like being up that high in the first place. I made a point to go slowly and after I got down I filmed Derrick as he got down from the stand as well to show the height of the stand. We went over to the deer and loaded her up. Derrick says that he aimed at the base of her neck. I?m not so sure about that, but whatever the case is?he hit the deer at the base of the neck. The doe weighed 113lbs and we had another good morning in the woods.
Derrick came through again and I got my fair share of entertainment.
Regards,
Clint
It?s evident that managing game on one's land can have long-term benefits for hunting. In this blog series we're looking at the concept of Game Management. So far in the journey we've discussed Food Plots, Selective Harvest, & Herd Balance and with this entry we're going to look into the concept of deer surveying.
Deer surveying is exactly what is sounds like, surveying the deer on your land. Recent technology has made surveying deer (and any species of game) a whole lot easier, mainly via the creation of the game camera. The invention of the game camera has undeniably changed the way we hunt. Game cameras give hunters an advantage by providing valuable information about the deer in our area. Obviously game camera pics don't give an outdoorsman a 100% accurate read on the deer in a given area, but they do give way more insight about the deer herd than if we didn't have game cameras.
Game cameras are the most common (and affordable) way to survey one's deer herd. Though, there are more scientific and expensive methods of surveying deer. I heard one speaker at a conference say that in some locations they were flying airplanes over tracks of land taking thermal imagery to survey the game on the land. I imagine thermal imagery is more accurate and way more expensive too! I also know that DNR uses some more advanced, scientific techniques for surveying deer population & growth. These are all neat methods that provide more accurate data, but any method besides a game camera falls out of my financial range. Nevertheless the importance of having a feel for the game on your land is the main point to be noted.
Why is having knowledge of the deer in an area important for game management? If you are herd balance conscientious then surveying deer can give you a feel for the ratio of bucks to does on your property. Sure it's not accurate down to a finite percentage, but it does allow more informed decisions to be made about the herd in a given area. From this insight a hunter can help determine which deer he or she should or shouldn't harvest based on numbers. Essentially a hunter can get a feel for the herd balance in the area they are hunting through surveying the game on their land. You'll find that die-hard hunters survey deer year round and move their game cameras around a few times a year. Surveying deer, like game management, is a year round process.
Surveying the game in a hunter's allotted hunting area also helps one determine the age class of deer in the region. Viewing the size of deer in a game camera's pictures can help hunters determine the age of bucks based on body size, rack size, and other traits of mature bucks. Along with viewing the different age class of bucks any recent fawns, yearlings, and does can be observed as well. Viewing the deer in your area helps you get a feel for the health of deer as well.
Knowledge of the game in a track of land is a must in any effective game management strategy. Whether you survey deer through more expensive techniques or simply through a game camera, surveying deer pays dividends and helps hunters make informed decisions. Surveying deer allows hunters to watch deer mature over time and gives insight toward the herd balance ratios. If you haven't already, start learning about the deer in your area and you'll be a better hunter because of it.
If you read my blog "Shed Crazy" you would have seen a shed that we found this past year of a buck that we later named the Brow Tine Buck. This deer had unusually long brow tines that measured approximately 9 inches. For that reason, this deer was on the top of the hit list for the 2011 season. Fast forward to October 29th.
When the alarm clock sounded at 5:30 a.m. on October 29th the sound of rain was tapping steady on the window by my bed. Without much thought I quickly turned it off and drifted back into oblivion. What only seemed like a minute later, alarm number two sounded off on my Timex Ironman watch. It was now 6:30 a.m. As I lay there for a few seconds a couple thoughts drifted through my mind. The first was the rain and the second was the rut. After a few more seconds went by I figured that I better get up and check the weather. After checking weatherchannel.com and taking a peek outside I decided that my thoughts of the rut outweighed the rain that seemed to be on its way out of town. It was time to go hunting.
One thing I've enjoyed about this season has been using the Mckenzie Scent Fan Duffle. It has allowed me to store all of my gear in one spot and has kept my Crossover Camo suit ready at a moments notice. Because I was running a little behind on this morning it was important that I have all of my gear ready to go in order to get ready quicker and get in the stand faster. Did I mention that it's nice not to have to worry about cover scents. The bag takes care of all that for me. There's nothing like a good mixture of fresh earth and pine.
As I made my way to my stand I thought that with the storm moving out the deer should be on the move. I had a good wind as I walked in and I had a good feeling about the hunt. Since I was late walking in I didn't have to sit long before the sky started to lighten up. At about 7:30 a.m. I caught a glimpse of a deer moving through the cotton field. I quickly turned to get my rifle ready. The first deer was a doe. I knew this could get good quick. The doe was moving at a steady pace through the field so I scanned back across the field and there he was. My first thought was what the heck is that. I immediately knew the deer had a big body, but his rack was very unusual. As the deer moved through the field I knew my window was closing fast. I had to make a decision quick. The deer then stopped and looked my direction. That's when it hit me. This was the Brow Tine Buck. I quickly clicked off the safety and put the crosshairs behind his shoulder. A loud crack and the buck jolted out of sight. I couldn't see him crash but I could tell he didn't go too far. What a feeling! The Brow Tine Buck was down!
As I sat in my stand after making the shot I thought to myself this must be the Year of the Brow Tine. First we found his shed antler in March. Then I picked up an awesome knife from CRKT. Coincidently the knife is called the Kommer "Brow Tine". And then it all comes together on October 29th with the "Brow Tine Buck" on the ground. Awesome!
The buck was definitely a good one to get out of the herd. He ended up being a 187 # 7 point and a trophy in my book. This year his brow tines measured close to 12 inches. Crazy is all I can say!
Due to the rain I left my video camera at the house, but once the buck was on the ground a made the quick trip back to the house and got the camera. Check out some of the footage.
"We're going to get one tonight" JD whispered as we settled in for the evening hunt. I was a little more skeptical because as I cut a thread on the burlap surrounding the stand with my CRKT "Brow Tine" knife a bead of sweat dripped from my forehead. It was a very warm October 15th. The double stand that we have set up faces west and with little shade the bright sun had JD and I squirming for any available shade.
The deer seemed to have similar thoughts as well. Just as the shooting lane filled with shade the deer started to ease in for an evening snack. With a little less than an hour of shooting light and deer already starting to move into the food plot I started to believe in what JD told me earlier.
The first two deer that entered the food plot were a doe and her fawn. We watched these two for a few minutes when the doe shook her head and then darted through the food plot as if to signal that something had her on edge. As the fawn followed the doe out of the food plot I whispered to JD, "There might be a buck behind them." Before I could barely finish that statement a buck entered the food plot. "There's a buck!"
JD and I had hunted several times during the week and had seen a good number of deer on those hunts. On those hunts we really put our Mckenzie Scent Fan Duffle bag and Atsko scent products to the test as a front moving in off the coast had the wind blowing at our backs. On each hunt we had deer in close and not one time did a deer wind us. On this hunt though we had the wind in our favor and with plenty of daylight left I thought to myself, "We are going to get one tonight".
For this to be true though I knew that we were going to need the buck to close the distance before I would give JD the green light. The buck entered the food plot a good two hundred yards out and would need to get within a hundred yards for a comfortable shot. The buck seemed to be torn between the doe and the oats and turnips we had planted. He would drop his head and chase the doe but soon lose focus and start to eat again. With this patterning continuing it seemed likely that he would soon be within range. As the buck made his way closer JD filled my ear with questions. "How much do you think he weighs?" "How far away is he?" "What do you think?"
As I watched the deer move down the food plot, my words to JD were, "I think he would be a great first deer." JD took a deep breath and I could tell he was starting to get really excited. The buck finally had made his way to the bottom of the hill and now he stood at one hundred yards. I whispered to JD to get ready and ease the safety off. I told him when the deer took a step forward to put the cross hairs right behind the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger. As the buck took that step forward my heart was pounding because I knew this was the moment we had been waiting for. Without hesitation JD squeezed the trigger and the buck dropped. As I watched through my camera's viewfinder I could tell that the buck was down but I quickly told JD to load another cartridge. To my surprise the buck jumped up. JD fired another shot just over the bucks back. The buck turned and sat on the right edge of the food plot. "Load another round!", I exclaimed. It was at that point I thought the first shot might have hit him high. The buck staggered up again and headed for the cutover. JD fired another shot and the buck disappeared.
Every deer hunter knows that feeling that overwhelms you after you shoot a deer. I think JD and I both were shaking like a leaf as we tried to plan our next move. I replayed the video and JD's first shot looked like it hit high and back some. We waited about thirty minutes and then walked through the food plot to mark the spot of where the deer entered the cutover. We found a little bit of blood where the buck had sat down but as we searched the edge of the cutover there were no signs of blood. If any of you have ever searched for a deer in a cutover you know how hard it is to navigate the briars and thick brush. With the darkness set in and no sign of a blood trail, I thought it would be good to go to plan B. We went back to my house and reviewed the footage over and over again. With the shot being high I thought it would be better to give the deer time instead of pushing him out and eliminating our chance of recovery. We decided to wait until daylight and get some help from my neighbor.
My neighbor had always told me that if we couldn't find a deer to call him and he would get his Labrador Retriever to help. So I called him the next day, and in a moments notice he had Haley ready to "Hunt Dead". I picked JD up and we headed over to the food plot. Haley got on the trail quick but we couldn't keep up so we decided to start over. This time my neighbor stayed right on Haley's tail and within a few minutes we recovered the deer. A sigh of relief from me and big "Woooo!" from JD echoed through the thicket.
JD had just harvested his first deer. A four point, 120 pound buck! The buck had three points on his left side and a cowhorn on its right side. Definitely a great first deer! I couldn't have been happier and I think JD feels the same.
Words can't really describe the feelings of sharing this experience with my cousin JD. I think this will be something that he will always cherish and I know I will. I was really impressed with his patience during our hunts and I think he is officially a deer hunter. He has learned so much not only through the things I've tried to teach him but also from all of the others who have helped us along the way. And I can't thank everyone enough.
JD, you did a great job and I can't be more proud! I think you got a pretty cool birthday present this year buddy! Check out the video below of the hunt.
Yellow Cape Communications is a communications firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yellow Cape specializes in television production, multi-media for web, still photography, communications consulting, marketing communications services and all things web. You've seen Yellow Cape?s work before when you first come to the site and see the girls in camo introducing our site. You may also have seen the 2010 Central Eagles State Championship Documentary or the Chesterfield County Career and Technology Education video. I also had Jason produce a DotNetNuke SuperFan Video for me and it turned out really good!
Jason Fararooei and his team at Yellow Cape Communications create top notch multi-media communications - so if you work for an organization that may need multi-media creation, photography or communications consulting services, give Jason a shout http://www.YellowCapeCommunications.com.
Yellow Cape Communications has partnered with WeHuntSC.com on 5 quick-tip video segments to promote the basics in hunting and outdoor safety. Over the course of this deer hunting season we will be releasing the videos in this blog series. I can already tell you that the last segment in this series is by far the best! Below is the first in the series.
There are several facets of Game Management. The first one we're going to investigate is the notion of food plots. Food plots are great resources for managing game on your land and are commonly found as a staple in any game management strategy. The core definition of a food plot is "A planted area set aside to act as a food source for wildlife" (Wikipedia). Given that definition a farmer's large field of crops such as soybeans, corn, and peas sometimes serves the same purpose that a food plot does even though that is not the intention of the farmer! Though, farmers will eventually harvest their crops whereas when hunters install food plots they are usually not as big, are of more variety, are located in different areas, and wildlife are the intended consumers of these crops.
It's important to begin by saying that food plots are not a solution to a problem, but rather a supplement that can be beneficial for the game on your land. If you do not have deer on your land, planting a food plot will not make them magically appear. Planting food plots will also not instantly create "monster bucks" on your land or instantly increase the number of deer in your herd. If you expect these kinds of miracles to occur as a result of planting food plots then you're going to be disappointed. Managing your own expectations is important when installing and maintaining food plots. After putting in a lot of work and time with food plots it's easy to feel like "I've worked hard so I should reap the benefits of my work", but this is not immediately accurate. The benefits and effects of having food plots on your land become more prevalent over the course of time. As you might imagine from this blog series, food plots are just one tenant of game management and they are probably one of the most well known in the game management matrix.
Hunters often install food plots in areas that farmers wouldn't, in areas that are deep in the woods or out in some remote location. Creating food plots in these remote locations gives deer easy access to food sources that they need and also provides hunters with ideal hunting locations. Thus, food plots offer both nutritional benefits to the deer as well as benefits to the hunter. Let's look at the nutritional benefit of creating food plots first.
Having food plots on your land during the spring, summer, and fall months ensures that the deer in your area have protein which is important during this time of the year when bucks are growing antlers and does are pregnant and lactating. Adequate nutrition helps the reproduction process, increases the birth weight of fawns, foments larger body size, & raises the likelihood of the doe having multiple fawns. The healthier the doe is the more she can lactate. A healthy adult doe directly helps the fawns out as they mature. Also, during the rut, bucks expend a lot of energy & valuable resources. The availability of nutritional resources helps reduce post-rut mortality rates of these bucks when they run themselves ragged during the rut.
During the winter months a deer's food sources are not as plentiful as Mother Nature naturally reduces the available supply of forage. During this time of year deer don't need as much protein for growing antlers or nursing, but rather they use the nutrients they consume for pure energy. Having food plots available helps deer not have to use fat they've stored up for their internal energy demands. When they can find forage to browse on during winter months it aids in keeping them healthy and decreases the amount of time spent recovering from the rut period. The sooner they can recover from the rut and winter the healthier the bucks will be when the time comes to re-grow their antlers and the more fit the does will be to carry and nurse the fawns. Keep in mind that these benefits won't be noticeable initially as it takes time for these cycles to occur.
Keeping food plots going year round is the best case scenario, but sometimes, for various reasons, we may not be able to manage food plots throughout the full year. If I had to pick one season to install food plots, I would definitely install a food plot during the winter months when the deer's food sources are minimized. Providing deer with ample food sources during this time is more critical for them and will also help you locate deer during winter months.
Food plots also offer hunters some benefits.From a hunting perspective food plots normally increase the number of deer you see during the hunting season, that is as long as you don't disturb them too much. I have friends who want to go and "check on' their food plots all the time & go switch game camera cards out at their food plots way too often. Going out to food plots repeatedly only counters the desired goal and the reason you put them in! I've put in a lot of hard work on our food plots and I still have to remind myself not to overdo it when hunting and checking game cams. Mature deer pick up on these disturbances really easily. I try to be mindful of the pressure I put on our food plots and I don't shoot at every deer I see in our food plots.
On a side note, if you're a turkey hunter, food plots also benefit turkeys. Turkeys will come out and pick at the crops (depending on what you've planted) and also get bugs from around them. I got video just this past weekend of a turkey browsing a food plot. In this respect food plots can serve a dual purpose for hunters if you hunt both deer & turkeys.
From what I've read (and heard) it seems that general ratio is to have 5 - 10% of forested land as food plots. There are tons of different crops you can plant and there is a whole industry ready to sell you any kind of food plot seed and gimmick imaginable. I try to keep in mind the end reason of why I'm creating and maintaining food plots because it's easy to get overwhelmed with options. I try to remember that legumes such as clover, peas, & soybeans are all rich in protein and are great for deer.
We've chosen to work with Tecomate Seed for our food plots because they make quality seed that grows well in our area. Tecomate Seed is coated with a coating called "Yellow Jacket" that helps absorb a large amount of water so the seed can germinate. Tecomate Seed has a trusted brand that's built on years of research and testing. If you've ever seen the TV show "Bucks of Tecomate" then you know what I'm talking about. Hopefully in time we'll have some good deer like that around the areas we hunt, but the same rule applies patience is the key.
We are installing food plots on some areas of our land this year and I'm going to be posting some brief blog entries with videos and pictures of our food plots to keep you posted on our successes & failures with regards to our 2011 food plots. We're planting Tecomate's Max Attract in all locations. Regards,