Nearly 70 degrees in December and I have a day off from the office.  The kids will be in school until 3pm, what to do…… sit in the house, watch television?!?!?!  Nope, I’ve had buck fever since last night.   Today will probably my last time to hunt for more than say 2-3 hours at a clip.  In reality, I MIGHT get out maybe once or twice more during the Christmas break (weather permitting) and that will be it for the 2012 deer season.  Within an hour I was standing in the woods trying to decide where to hunt.  My usual spot would be the easiest to access, but I decided not to go there.  My instincts told me to take my climber and hunt a different location.  From my usual stand, I passed on many does and spikes for a mature buck.  The location was good but, I believe we are now late or early post-rut and the patterns have changed. 

I noticed that the does always came from the west, but one mature buck (and maybe a second) always came from the east.  I have long suspected they entered the corridor via a funnel bordered by a high ridge on one side, water on the other and scrub pines in the ravine.  I was certain they bedded there as well, because the wind is almost always perfect and renders the area almost unapproachable.  It was near perfect.   There is a catch; I noticed a strong cross wind.  If you were able to get close to the water on and about 50 yards from to entrance, the cross wind is consistent enough to carry your scent away from the funnel and out to the water.  So I got set up in a tree at the edge of the funnel above the cross wind and about 25 feet up to maximize the cross current scent cover.  Should those does return and approach from behind, I am good. 

About 5 minutes after I settled in, two nice mature does appeared like ghost at the entrance of the ravine where I expected the buck. I waited hoping for either the buck or a younger smaller doe (better eating) to follow them out into the clearing.  They were feeding beneath a tree I ranged at 45 yards.  I watched them for about 20-25 minutes and learned a lot about deer behavior and how sounds affect their behavior and level of alertness (the sounds of cars, horns, sirens, dogs, people talking even doors opening and closing carry much farther than I thought).  After getting caught up in observing the does, two things came to mind: this is a really good spot, they have been inside of 50 yards for almost 30 minutes and have yet to see, hear or wind me; secondly, his may be my last or one of my last outings for the season and I have not punched a single tag!!!! 

So I decided to take one of these does as it appeared there was nothing behind them.  I reached down (love the Lone Wolf platform’s bow/gun mount), grabbed my bow, flipped the seat up and slowly rose into position to stand for the shot.  The larger doe moved into a shooting lane and stood in front of a tree 30 yards out.  She looked down; I drew the bow, held the pin just behind her shoulder and let it go.  I saw the arrow nock light up and disappear.  She jumped, spun around and both does ran off together.  I watched them run side by side for about 75-100 yards then I only saw one tail waving over the hill.  From my stand, I could see the arrow nock.  It was still illuminated and I knew from the positioning it was a hit.

I waited about 15 minutes packed up my stand; threw it on to my back and headed over to the arrow.  Covered in pink slightly foamed blood and missing a vane.  Good and bad………. Good: probably a solid lung hit, she will fall inside 100 yards or so.  Bad: lung shots don’t provide much of a blood trail and worse, it is starting to drizzle.  I searched no blood, but I could see a trail of disturbed leaves in the direction they ran.  Not 100% sure she was down I backed out went home, ate left over pizza, answered email from the office and about 3 hours later grabbed my secret weapon…….. Jake, our trusty German short haired. 

No, not a trained hunting dog, but he points and tracks rabbits and anything else all over the yard.  Last month, he chased deer into the woods and was lost for about 4 hours.  I took him to the arrow; he sniffed it and on queue took off dragging me up the hill.  Without coaxing he was going exactly where the deer ran!!! I was excited but trying to keep from getting dragged on my face by a near 70 pound dog in full trot.  We went over the hill and I felt we were way past where I thought she was but I let him run.  He stopped and started back and forth until he got a scent and dragged me within 10 yards of her!!!  It finally hit me, he followed the scent of the first deer over the hill where I saw her, then doubled back to the down deer that was now dropping a little blood. He tracked her perfectly, they ran together and she doubled back to lie down… Jake did it!

Great fun on a last minute hunt. 

A wrap up of the 2011 Deer Season

I intiated this post November 2, 2011... edited it December 29, 2011 and didn't remember to review and release it until well....... now (January 16, 2012).  What can I say? Life happens and sometimes a lack of time for hobbies or play is an indication of great things to come and memories in the making. 

Football, school, work and (gasp) social invitiations significantly limited my opportunities.  The biggest factor being little league football (Pop Warner).  My Wife has had enough of football and she has never been one for hunting or fishing. She was not exactly thrilled by prospects of bowl games, big plays, road trips, last minute victories and..... a trip to the playoffs.  So let's take a moment to blog out a quick review of the 2011 deer season before we move on to the 2012 fishing season. 

• Hunt 1: The season 2011 deer season started September 8, 2011.  Our first hunt didn't take place until mid-October.  The temperature was above normal in the mid 70's.  The warm temperatures meant food was abundant and as a result, the deer were scattered about, well into pre-rut patterns and  pretty much nocturnal.  So the boys and I hunted from a pop-up ground blind.  A shoot through blind is great for this type of hunting because: it holds in odors; is very mobile; and most importantly it is really the only way to hunt with two restless boys.  We set up about 4 yards off a 20 yard cutover with lots of natural cover, acorns, tracks and other signs of heavy traffic.  I took some "doe pee" and began covering our scent trail in and the perimeter around the blind.  About 15 yards from the blind in a hardwood stand I look up and there are 3 does looking at me!  I stare at them, they stare at me.  After what seemed like an hour (a few seconds), I blink, they snort and wave goodbye.  End of the day.........

• Hunt 2: Started pretty much the same, but I did not go on a long walk to cover our scent this time!  I just cleaned up our scent around the blind (quickly and queitly) and hunkered down expecting the does to come back up the trail.  About an hour into the hunt, I looked out of the window and what did I see coming in? A coyote!!!! I got around to a stable position and tried to draw my bow when I realized that I had my release strapped on backwards. We had a really good wind and he was no more than 10 yards out when he heard me fumbling with the strap and/or the boys moving in for a better vantage point to watch.  Did he run?  No, he actually circled us about 10 yards out then drifted 15 yards and stopped to look back at us. I shuffled again to turn his way, drew back and he jumped behind a log and slowly walked away. We must have done a great job of playing the wind.  He went about 20 yards further and started digging at something under a tree. I think he heard us again, moved to try to wind us, didn't get a good bead on us, but was nervous enough to move on. They are smart! He just seemed to keep outside of my shooting lanes.  Of course about 5 minutes later in that general direction, I saw the does we were waiting on take off tails flashing. If the coyote couldn't wind us from 10-15 yards, I don't think the does got us from about 40-50 yards. I suspect they either ran up on the coyote digging or got his scent and ran off.

•  Hunt 3: The third hunt was an evening hunt from a treestand (~2 hours) which I actually tried to blog live.  The most exciting part about it was that it took place on Christmas Eve a few hours before church.  This time I hunted a nice parcel behind my home.  As as soon as I sat in the stand, I heard dogs barking in the background.  and shortly after I saw about 4 does high tailing it across a ridge.  I never saw what was chasing them, but I didn't see any dogs or hunters either.

•  Hunt 4:  The fourth was a last ditch effort to avert a 2011-2012 skunk!  The boys and I grabbed the groundblind and headed out to a known travel corridor for some does.  This hunt occurred on the very last day of the season, during the last two hours of shooting light. Our last chance.  We waited, desperately watching the tree line for any hint of deer or movement.  Suddenly, in the very last minute of light, there appeared a head bobbing.  It just appeared like a ghost. I could see a really nice mature doe, but she was quartering hard towards us and about 10 yards out, from the corner of the blind.  A really bad bow shot.  I needed two steps .  Just then, a light wind, I heard a short.  BUSTED! Suddenly, it seemed the woods came alive around us!! Deer were everywhere!  Their camo is perfect!  Never saw them.  My boys were adrenaline junkies at this point!  We didn't get one this year, but the final hunt was exciting enough to bring us back. 

The 2011 deer season is over............. 4 months until we hunt the screamer again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to practice!

Hunting Public Land Part 2 of 2: Treestand Selection.

So, let’s continue looking at the “challenges” of hunting public land a how this influences tree stand selection, factors to consider and some modifications I’ve made in response to experiences in the field.

Generally speaking, in North Carolina and Virginia screw in steps, lug bolts, nails or any other such “permanent” climbing aids are prohibited on public land.   Our regulations allow for the building of natural ground blinds or even leaving a tree stand attached to a tree.  Permanent structures remaining after the season are prohibited.  More importantly, you don’t want to leave something you really like in the woods too long or someone might like it better than you – hence my “carry in-carry out” rule.

The areas I hunt are spread over about 60,000 land acres of public “multi-use” land open to hiking, wildlife watching, camping, biking and fishing.  Some areas are within close proximity of residential dwelling and are limited to archery equipment.  Other areas are heavily wooded and open to deer hunting with muzzleloaders, rifles, shotguns even the use of dogs.  Highly pressured and/or mature bucks and does on public land survive by patterning hunters and making use of areas rendered ‘un-hunt able’ per human habitation, the unwillingness of hunters to take on the thick nasty stuff, or a lack of trees most hunters find suitable for many traditional tree stands.  

Given these conditions, the ideal public land set-up would be extremely portable to carry long distances over rugged terrain hunting game signs; adaptable to almost any tree, easily transitioned from area to area most of which may be unfamiliar and stealth to hide from people as much as game.  After all, if an area has ‘telephone pole’ trees and easy access it is likely to be highly pressured.   

So let’s look at the set up that I ultimately settled upon, the Gorilla Silverback Scout. 

This is an aluminum hang-on type stand that weighs in at a verified 10 pounds even (including all straps).  The stand is very light.  Light enough to hold in place with one hand as you attach the stand to the tree.   Unlike the comparable Lone Wolf or Muddy Hunter Pro stands which have adjustable seats and platforms, the Gorilla has only an adjustable seat.  The Lone Wolf is crafted from a solid one piece platform whereas the Gorilla and Muddy stands have the typical welded platforms.  In theory, the Lone Wolf’s platform should be quieter as welded platforms are known to creak in very cold weather.  I hunt in Virginia and North Carolina.  During deer season, temperatures will range between 80 and 32 degrees Faranheight with only occasional dips lower during mornings late in the season.  So, that not really a concern.  However, the Gorilla Silverback Scout costs about $100.00 less than the Lone Wolf Assault of comparable size and weight. 

To climb, I use Lone Wolf climbing sticks. 

They weigh in at about 2.5 pounds each, very quiet to climb, and solid.  They were engineered to stack and are adaptable to pretty much any tree you might encounter.  The sticks come in packs of three and most people will use 3 to 5 (I generally carry 5 sticks which weigh ~ 12.5 pounds).  I am 5’7” and 4 sticks will get me about 16’ high without any dangerous maneuvers and comfortable steps.  If you are closer to 6’ tall then you might make 18-20’.  The 5^th step isn’t always needed but it does allow me to reach 20’ and step down on the stand for safety.  The single post design of the Gorilla Silverback Scout tree stand allows the Lone Wolf climbing sticks to stack lock on for portage as if they were engineered to do so.  

Regardless of the stand selected, I intended to make a few modification to “quiet the stand an enhance durability”.  Basically, I coated the stand with a rubber undercoating then sealed it with a coating of bed liner followed by a coating of camouflage paint and ACU camouflage.  In the dark things hit and bump. Metal on metal is an unnatural sound that will wake for the forest especially mid fall though winter.  As the humidity falls sounds travels better and the metal seems to attain a higher pitch. This process results in a stand that produces a light “thud” instead of a forest awakening tuning fork style “tiiiiinnnnggg!!!!!!!”.

If you are interested in quieting your stand down (highly recommended for Summit stands), here is an overview of the process:

Step 1:  Disassemble the stand, remove all, straps, cords, labels, tags and scuff up the existing paint or roughen up other  smooth surfaces with sandpaper.

Step 2: Coat the stand with a layer of roll-on Herculiner bed liner (preferred for climbing stands) or spray on Duracoat bed liner and let it dry.  The key here is to ensure the final coat dries with a roughened surface to improve grip on rainy days. 

Step 3: Add a coat of rubberized auto under liner.  This is a rubber spray on substance that can be found at almost any car parts store.  I purchased a can of the Scotch Guard brand for about $6.  This is probably the longest step.  This stuff smells pretty strong so I leave it outdoors to “cure” and loose some the odor.  It won’t totally go away, but we’ll take care of the remaining odor in step 4.

Step 4: Coat the parts with a couple coats of flat camouflage paint.  Kryon is great and runs about $3 a can, but the $0.97 flat hunter green from Wal Mart works just as well.   The critical aspect of painting after the rubber liner has cured is that the paint will seal in the odor.  From here you have options:

allow the paint to cure, reassemble, and add your carry straps or.........

add a camouflage pattern using additional "camo" colors, stencils or add a layer of camouflage duct tape.  Below, I added some ACU digital camouflage to the stand and the sticks.  Note how the climbing sticks stack on the stand.   The stands attachment belt makes a great tool for cinching it all together for portage.  Absolutely silent and with the MOLLE shoulder straps and belt you barely feel it upon your back.  Great for long hikes.

Other popular choices for hunting public land are

Climbing stands:  The first stand I purchased was called the Summit Viper Xtreme. 

 It was nearly identical to the ever popular and Summit Viper with one exception.  The Summit Viper is aluminum and weighs in at 21 pounds ready to hunt.  The Viper Xtreme is a steel version that weighs in at about 28 pounds and about $70.00 less.   With a MOLLE kidney belt and shoulder straps to distribute weight along your waist, the viper Xtreme is a great value, mobile and highly efficient.  However, as noted above, quite often the best trees for a climber are often associated with easily accessible areas and high hunting pressure.  Typically, the best forage trees are not as amenable to climbing stands as say pines.

Ground blinds: Mobile, very adaptable and great for taking out children or new hunters as they are great at hiding movement.  Scent control is critical as is and finding a place to set up.  While I have used them as a carry in and out system on public land they are at their best when they can be left in the field.

Tree Saddle: The most mobile, stealth and adaptable set up I found involved a hang-on sling type seat called the Trophyline “Tree Saddle”. 

The design allows you to hug the tree and lower your profile by keeping the tree between you and the deer, much like a squirrel.  You can use device this on any tree big enough to hold your weight and the thinner, gnarlier and forked the better.   This was my number one choice.  Unfortunately, Trophyline appears to be either out of business, out of stock or somewhere in between.  The result has been a ridiculous rush on saddles via eBay and classifieds.  I purchased a neoprene “Real Tree” version last February (wanted a leather “Roads trips” edition) on EBay for $169.00.  I shot from it a few times and it wasn’t bad.  Overall, the set up was about 20.5 pounds (saddle/accessories – 8 pounds, 5 climbing sticks 12.5 pounds).  After several sits in the saddle and looking at some of the newer ultra portable lock-ons, I realized that many of these smaller platform stands were comparable to the saddle in adaptability, stealth and portability.  For example, the Lone Wolf Assault, Muddy Hunter Pro, and Gorilla Silverback Scout HX, all weigh in at about 10-11 pounds, have adjustable seats and with 5 Lone Wolf climbing sticks they are in the same 20-21 pound range as the saddle.  

I am a turkey-addict!

I am DJ…… and I am a turkey-addict!

Never thought I would make that admission.  This blog was not intended to be so hunting heavy.  In fact, for balance, I will force myself to discuss my garden in the next post.  But for now………… this has become an obsession, not just for me but my boys as well. 

Fishing is my passion.  Bow hunting was to be a 'little something else' to get outdoors.  Something I always wanted to pursue during the winter and/or pre-spawn spring before the bass get off the beds.  Turkey hunting is not passive. It involves calling, moving, chasing and watching……… the call and response.  The anticipation of a response to every call, searching out every rustle and crackle, the flutter in your chest when that bird comes up from behind.   These birds are brilliant or at least smarter than me!  Via my inaugural blog, I introduced you to the Screamer. Saturday, we went back after him: same place, time, and conditions.  Figuring he might be “educated” I brought two different calls with different pitches AND a decoy.  Late again, we arrived in the Screamer’s realm just after 11AM and called for two hours.  Nothing.  So we packed up and headed out.  Instead of calling it a hunt, we searched out a new spot about 2 miles away and found a long ridge overlooking a nice run of bottom-land hardwoods a small stream and a farm. 

We set up the decoy about 20 yards out, from the blind, in a cut line.  Twenty yards was a distance at which I was VERY comfortable, but far enough away for the bird not to be distracted by the blind.  It was perfect, becuase if I were 10 yards off in either direction I would still feel comfortable with the shot.  Our blind was off in the cover of a stand of trees, fallen branches and shadows.  The mix really made the camo pattern blend in.  We called and called and heard a couple of responses but they seemed far off.  We heard what we thought might have been faint clucking, but no visual confirmation and so we joked that we were being circled and observed.  About two and a half hours in (following conventional wisdom) we packed it up and called it a hunt assuming the gobblers were done for the day.  As we left, we found tracks and as we put two and two together………… we came to the realization that we were being circled and that wily old bird probably got behind our blind and we scared him off?!?!?!  Proof?  See below:

Yes, it is a picture of turkey prints, but if you look closely, you’ll see it is superimposed OVER my six years old’s foot print.  That bird not only circled us but had the audacity to walk in our footsteps along the ridge and up to our set up. Seriously, the evidence really suggests we left a few moments too early and probably scared him off as we emerged from our blind……… 

I am DJ, I am a Turkey-addict.