HuntOnly.com

Scouting is important for hunting any animal. Unfortunately most non-residents, and many residents, do not have the luxury or time to scout an area for elk. For those who cannot scout there are some ways to increase their success rates. The most obvious way is to use the services of an outfitter. By using an outfitter you eliminate the need to scout, because the outfitter does it for you. They scout the area before the hunt, choose the best places to hunt and do the guiding. If you like to become more involved in the hunt you can choose a semi-guided hunt. Some guides offer pack-in and pre-scouting services to lessen the amount of time you have to scout during the hunt. A semi-guided hunt usually involves one guide for each four hunters, with the guide telling you where to hunt, rather than actually guiding you and going along. In this case you do your own daily scouting.

Another option for those who like to do their own scouting is a drop camp. A drop camp is exactly what the name implies: you are taken to the area by the guide, usually on horseback, and dropped off in an area where the camp, tents, cooking gear and firewood are ready for you. You provide your own sleeping gear and food, cook your own meals, and field dress, quarter and pack your game into camp, where the outfitter will pack it out to his headquarters. Usually you will not have horses in camp, and you have to do all of your scouting and hunting on foot. If you choose this type of hunt you should be in good physical condition, have First Aid, CPR and survival training.
If you have the ability and the time to do your own scouting, do it a couple of weeks before the hunt. For archery hunters this may be as early as late August. By this time some of the older bulls have begun to shed their velvet; making rubs, wallows; and they may be bugling and associating with the cows. However, many of the bulls may be in bachelor herds by themselves in high alpine meadows.
If you are hunting private land that you can drive on, be sure to stop far enough away from where you expect to see elk that you don't disturb them. If you are using ATV's to get into back country on National Forest land realize that it will alert the elk and drive them out of the area for you and every other hunter who has worked so hard to get into the area without disturbing the elk. If you really want to be successful as an elk hunter don't go into elk country with a motor vehicle. To do a thorough job of scouting you will have to cover a lot of territory; elk home ranges may cover as much as forty square miles. Because of these large home ranges elk don't leave a lot of sign in some of the areas they use. Not finding recent elk sign doesn't mean there are no elk in the area, or that they won't be using it the next day, or the next week.

Interpreting Elk Sign
When you are scouting you should look for sign along trails, in meadows, near likely bedding areas in heavy cover, and near water holes. Tracks and droppings should be evident if elk have used these areas any time in the past few months. The tracks of a mature bull elk are between 4 and 4.5 inches long without the dewclaws. Bull elk tracks have a square outline in comparison to those of cow elk and domestic cattle (that may also frequent the same area). Elk droppings are larger than deer droppings and are more oblong in shape. The pellets of bulls are often pointed on one end and indented on the other, while the pellets of cows are often pointed on both ends. When elk are foraging on moist, succulent grasses and forbes the droppings are often clumped and look like small cow pies.
When you are scouting look for beds the elk use at night in open meadows, look for beds they use in the day in heavy cover. Look for scrapes in open nighttime bedding areas and heavily covered daytime bedding areas; and wallows near springs, low-lying areas or streams. Look for waist to shoulder height antler rubs (with the bark stripped from the tree) on pine, spruce and aspen trees. Look for broken off outer branches of spruce and brush where the bulls have thrashed the trees. Look for tooth scars (two parallel gouges from the incisor teeth) on the trees in aspen groves. All of these signs indicate elk use in the past, which means the elk may utilize the same areas again while you are hunting.
Observing
You should begin scouting by checking a topographical map to locate east-facing finger-ridges with adjacent watercourses, meadows and conifer forests. Saddles between high drainages and meadows are excellent elk crossings, and lookout points you can use to look and listen for elk. High ridges, where you can overlook several valleys and meadows, allow you to hear and see elk over a wide area. Look for elk at sunset as they come into open meadows to feed; stay as long as you can - because the bulls often don't show themselves until the shadows cross the meadow, which may be up to a half-hour after the cows first begin to appear. When you see elk at sunset watch them to see which way the go when it gets dark. If they are not disturbed during the night, they may stay in the meadow all night long, or return to it again the next morning.
In the morning elk often feed until the shadows recede, then they move into nearby wooded areas to bed, usually near water they can use during midday. If you know where these bedding areas are before the hunt it makes it much easier to locate the elk once the season opens. Check wooded areas you think may be used as the bedding sites. When you find bedding areas determine if there is a way to stalk or ambush the elk while they are in the bedding area, or as they move into or out of it. Do not go into the bedding area as long as the elk are there; wait until you are sure the elk have left their beds, realizing that most forested bedding areas are used during the day, not at night.
When you see elk, take note of where they appear, the time you saw them in relation to sunrise or sunset, and which way they came from and left. When you hear bulls bugling, try to locate them by sight, or pinpoint them by sound, and record the time and place on your map and in your journal. Be careful not to disturb the elk during these scouting trips, particularly if you are using private land. If you "bump" the elk they may leave the area and not return for some time. You may drive them off the property - where you can't hunt, but someone else can. The best tactic is to scout, observe, record and pattern the movement of the elk without disturbing them.
Becoming a Predator
One of the reasons humans aren't successful when they hunt is because they don't become a hunter. Putting on hunting clothes and picking up a hunting weapon does not make you a hunter. Taking a weapon into the field with the intention of hunting does not make you a hunter, or maybe it does. It does not make you what you should be if you want to be good as a hunter, what your ancestors were, which was a predator. The difference between a hunter and a predator is that the predator has an intimate knowledge of the game in the area, the area itself, and knows where to find the game under the current time of year, time of day and current environmental conditions. If you have hunted the same property for several years you understand what I mean.
The more experience you have on a particular piece of land, the more familiar you are with it. The more experience you have hunting, the better your hunting skills and hunting techniques are. The more experience you have hunting particular species, the more you will know how it reacts at particular times of the year and times of the day under different environmental conditions. The more experience you have hunting a particular species on a particular piece of land, the more you will know where to find the animals on that land under all conditions.
A predator knows where to find the game under all conditions. To be successful as a predator you have to know the land, and the species; understand how the species will react under all environmental conditions; and have experience hunting the species, use proven, successful hunting techniques and be a good hunter.
One of the biggest problems for hunters is not knowing the lay of the land. Hunters don't know the lay of the land because they may have never hunted it before or have not spent enough time and effort scouting it. No one can teach you the land. You have to learn the lay of the land yourself; and the more hours and years you spend on it, the more you will know about it. You can cut corners by getting information from someone who knows the land, and by having and being able to use topographical maps and aerial photos, which will give you an idea where the preferred habitat of the game is.
But, if you don't understand the game you won't know what type of habit it prefers or where to find it under varying environmental conditions. You can learn about the game by reading, listening to others, watching videos and by watching the animals themselves. The more time and effort you put into trying to understand the animals, the better you will be at predicting where to find them under all types of weather conditions. The best way to learn about the animals is to research them thoroughly and gain all the knowledge you can, then spend time and effort watching and hunting the animals yourself. Knowledge is only a partial substitute for personal experience.
You can learn good hunting techniques, but without good hunting skills, learned through personal experience, even the best hunting techniques won't do you any good. Hunting skills (being quiet, unseen, unscented and a proficient shot) must be sharpened by putting them into practice over several years. The traits of patience, perseverance, persistence and curiosity are possessed by predators and can be taught through self-discipline. These traits and skills must be combined to make a good predatory hunter.
Knowing you should stay downwind of big game, knowing when to sit still and be quiet, knowing that if you hunt all day you're chances of seeing game are good; and doing it is not the same thing. Knowing there may be an animal just over the next hill; and going there to find out is not the same thing. Knowing that sitting it out in cold, windy, wet weather will probably help your chances of seeing a trophy whitetail buck, or a flock of bluebills; and suffering through the weather is not the same thing. Knowing that putting in more time and effort will help you learn more, see more and become a better hunter; and just thinking about it, is not the same thing. Reading and listening can help you know and understand, but you have to supply the time, effort and experience if you want to become a predatory hunter.

This article is based on Elk Addict's Manual ($20 for boo, $15 for computer readable CD), by T.R. Michels, available in the Trinity Mountain Outdoor Products catalog.

T.R. Michels is a nationally recognized game researcher/wildlife behaviorist, outdoor writer and speaker. He is the author of the Whitetail, Elk, Duck & Goose, and Turkey Addict's Manuals. His latest products are Hunting the Whitetail Rut Phases, the Complete Whitetail Addict's Manual, the 2006 Revised Edition of the Elk Addict's Manual; and the 2006 Revised Edition of the Duck & Goose Addict's Manual.

If you are interested in more deer hunting tips, or more deer biology and behavior, log on to Trinity Mountain Outdoor News and T.R.'s Hunting Tips at www.TRMichels.com. If you have questions about deer, elk, turkey or waterfowl log on to the T.R.'s Tips message board. To find out when the rut begins, peaks and ends in your area click on Whitetail Rut Dates Chart. For a catalog of books and other hunting products; or for information on a wide variety of Natural History Eco-Tours, viewing and photographing regional and national scenic areas, birding, big game animal, elk bugling, wolf howling, sandhill crane, swan, prairie chicken, sharp-tailed grouse, wildflower or other tours contact: T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors, E-mail: TRMichels@yahoo.com, Web Site: www.TRMichels.com.

Posted by T.R. Michels at 08:53 AM | Permalink

Using deer scent and calls is still somewhat a mystery to some hunters. What scent should we use and when should we use a particular scent are just some of the questions I hear regularly on my seminars. Then there are hunters that think using scent and calling is a hunting strategy. It is not! Using scent and calls only work if they are part of a sound hunting strategy based on thorough scouting. Fail to realize this fact and the use of calls and scent become useless. In fact you are liable to scare deer away.

Then there are the skeptics that believe scent and calling does not work and is a waist of time and money. Is it? Depends. Deer attractant scent and calls can work great in positioning that elusive buck in front of your stand. On the other hand use a particular scent or call at the wrong time or over-do-it and you never will see a deer near your stand.

To make scent and calls work it is imperative to know exactly the changing social behavior of the deer in your hunting area as the season progresses. For example, it totally defeats the purpose and actually will hurt your success in shooting a buck when you use a doe-in-estrus scent during the early part of the season when the actual rut is still a month or two away. The best way to know what the deer do in your hunting area is to study their behavior patterns and then adjust you scent and call tactics accordingly.

Early Season

Mid September and in some areas up to the middle of October the bucks are still in velvet and some does are still nursing or weaning fawns. This is the time to appeal to a whitetail’s sense of curiosity and appetite. Eyeing up or chasing does is the furthest thing from a buck’s mind. At this time of year the bucks still travel in bachelor groups.

Scent:

The scents that can work well at this time are food based attractant scents and plain doe or buck urine based scents. Other scents are curiosity scents that also can work very well. A curiosity scent is not based on a particular food source. These are scents that appeal to a whitetail’s curiosity; the smell is simply attractive to deer. Some of these curiosity smells are peanut butter, vanilla and anisette. There are commercial scents available mixed with plain deer urine containing vanilla and or anisette.

Calling:
Deer are at this time of year social and will communicate with each other by using different sounds and behavior patterns. The calls that work best in the early season are plain doe and buck grunts. A social grunt is the equivalent to us saying hello or how are you? This is a very easy call to reproduce with any deer call, usually consisting of three to four soft “uuurrrrp – uuurrrp – uuurrrp”.

A lot has been said and written about early season fawn bleats and if used correctly they can work grat to bring a doe or a curious buck into shooting range. There are two basic fawn calls and only one of them is worth trying in my opinion. That call would be a normal fawn bleat sounding like a youngster looking for its mama. It’s a call that a fawn will often make during the time when the doe weans it.

On the other hand, the much discussed and promoted fawn-in-distress bleat is not a call that I would consider even remotely useful. A fawn in mortal danger will make a blood-curdling cry for help. Since deer have no actual defense possibility all they can do is rush to the scene and run in a mad dash around in an attempt to confuse a predator and lure it away from the fawn. With deer running like mad everywhere there is no way to get a clean shot at any of them. Therefore I do not recommend a fawn-in-distress call as a valued call to attract a whitetail to your stand location.

Pre-Rut

As it gets cooler and the nights longer the bucks start to get antsy and agitated. The joke Mother Nature plays on the bucks is that they are ready for the mating game long before the females will be. In frustration they start to trash bushes with their now velvet-shed and hardened antlers. The bucks become progressively more intolerant of each other and engage in sparing matches. Small rubs start to appear on trees and saplings here and there. Often we can even see some haphazard scraping activity and these signs are indications of bigger things to come in the next few weeks.

Scent:

As tempted as you may feel to use a doe-in-heat or a buck-in-rut lure, keep it in storage, it’s not the time yet. During the pre-rut I still use the same scents as in the early season. What changes is my calling tactics.

Calling:

Now is the time to add some variety in your calling and to add some light antler clicking. The pre-rut is the perfect time to imitate sparing bucks. Mix your calling to make it sound realistic. When bucks fight they don’t just stand motionless in one spot and bang the antlers together. As bucks engage in a little sparing to get rid of their frustration, they first circle around each other and make grunting sounds. Sometimes they stomp the ground with their front feet and eventually they will engage the antlers by clicking them gently together, this is usually followed by a little playful pushing and shoving around.

It is these sounds that I try to duplicate by giving a few soft buck grunts with my call while rustling the leaves with my feet or scraping the rattling antlers over tree bark if I am in a tree stand. My rattling sessions start by grinding and clicking the antlers gently together. I may continue with a calling session for about four to five minutes. If nothing happens I will repeat another calling session a half hour later.

Rut:

It is November and the bucks now actively begin to chase the does around in anticipation of the first females coming into the estrus cycle any day now. The does are not quite ready yet and actually try to evade the bucks while the boys get even more agitated than they already are. Now the bucks actively start to freshen up old scrapes and rubs. Eating become less of a priority at this time of year as the interest in the opposite sex starts to take over a buck’s brain they become very aggressive toward each other. The bachelor groups are dissolved, as each buck becomes a solitary wanderer perhaps permitting a young buck to follow him around on his quest to pass his genes on to as many does as possible.

Scent:
As the behavior of the bucks change so do our scent tactics. Now I pull out all the stops by applying doe-in-estrus and buck-in-rut urine and glandular lures to spike scrapes and create scent trails leading to my stand site. There are many different ways scent can be applied and I will write about that in a later article. The aim of my scent tactic is to attract a buck to me believing that he is following a female in heat or that he has to investigate an intruding buck.

Calling:
During the rut doe-in-estrus bleats mixed with antler rattling have worked very well for me in the past. With this tactic I give a passing by buck the impression that two bucks fight over an estrus doe and that this might be a good chance to snatch that doe away from the other bucks. Mimicking a strange buck with a buck grunt or two can be a highly effective way to coax a buck into shooting range too.

This rut scent and calling tactic will work all the way through to the end of the hunting season.

Conclusion:

Deer calls and scent can work great if used correctly and not viewed as do-it-all tactics. For scent and calls to work everything else has to be right too. The best results can be expected if the area is scouted and the stand locations are chosen properly. Deer will not make huge detours just to investigate a call or scent and by that I mean, the best results can be expected if scent and call tactics are used where the deer are in close proximity to your stand.

Othmar Vohringer is a freelance outdoor writer, seminar speaker and founder of SHS (Smart Hunting Strategies), established in 2001, from British Columbia, Canada. He can be contacted via his blog located at the link below.
http://outdoorswithothmarvohringer.blogspot.com

Posted by O. Vohringer at 09:01 AM | Permalink

The most important thing to know when you are deer hunting is where and when to setup. When you’re hunting you need to know where the deer are likely to be during legal shooting hours. In order to know that you have to have a good knowledge of when and where deer normally move during the day. Studies by Kammermeyer and Marchinton show that, throughout the year, deer move more during the day than they do at night. However, this changes as summer turns to fall, and as the rut progresses. As the vegetation begins to die off in the fall the food sources in wooded areas are depleted, and the leaves begin to fall from the trees. This causes the deer to seek food in more open areas, where they feel insecure during the day; consequently, they become more active during the night. The studies showed that, in the fall, deer activity peaked from 4:00-10:00 PM and again from 4:00-8:00 AM, with some activity between 8:00 and 10:00 AM. The farthest distances traveled per hour usually occur in the morning, probably because the deer were trying to get back to the security of their core areas before it go too light.

Daytime Deer Activity
I have had the opportunity to watch hundreds of deer during the day, especially the ones that bedded in the grove behind our house. Because the deer bed within 50 - 100 yards of the kitchen window I have been able to document everything they do during the day. They usually move out of the grove to feed about from a half-hour to an hour before sunset, earlier when there is cloud cover. They usually move back into the grove from a half-hour before to a half an hour after sunrise, later when there is cloud cover.
Once the deer are in the woods, they usually wander around and eat grass, forbs and twigs for about a half an hour, and then lay down. Most of the deer have two or three beds they use on a semi-regular basis. One doe used the same bed three times in one week. Most of the beds are on the side of a hill where they are out of the wind, and are at the base of large trees, or near fallen logs, or piles of brush where the deer can’t be seen from one or more directions. One bed is in the open, but it is in a low-lying area that you can’t see until you are within thirty yards of it.
While the deer are in their beds they usually face down hill, or with the wind at their backs. I assume this allows them to see or hear approaching danger to either side or in front of them, and to smell and hear any danger behind them, or from upwind. While in their beds the deer intermittently lie awake or doze with their heads up and their eyes closed. They usually open their eyes at the slightest sound of danger, but don’t usually get up unless they think the danger is getting too close. Every once in a while the will put their heads down on the ground and appear to be sleeping. But again, the slightest sound will cause them to open their eyes and raise their heads and try to determine what caused the sound. But, they don’t spook easily, I have seen crows land within five feet of the deer, while they remained lying down, and only occasionally looked at the crows.
When I go out the back door to go the garage the deer usually look in my direction when the door slams shut, but they rarely get up. They do watch to see what I am doing, and as long as I don’t appear to be moving in their direction, they lay there and watch me. However, if I begin to move toward them they usually get up, make sure I am still coming, and then run out the other side of the grove, across the field, and head for the river bottom a half mile away.
During the day the deer usually remain in the same bed for 3-4 hours, and then get up between 10:00 and 11:00 AM, stretch, walk a few yards from the bed and urinate, wander around a bit while eating, not usually traveling more than a hundred yards, and then lay down again. About 3-4 hours later they will repeat this, and may lay down again. If it is getting close to sundown they may wander around in the woods until they feel it is safe to go out into the open to feed. Most of the rest of their activities occur after dark, that includes scraping. What all this means is that deer, especially older bucks, spend up to 80 percent of the day in or near their bedding areas. If you want to see bucks during legal hunting hours you should get as close to their bedding areas as you can without alarming them.

Nighttime Deer Activity
Hunters rarely think about nighttime deer movement, because they can’t hunt at night. But, an understanding of where and how deer move at night is essential if you want t be a successful hunter. During the fall of 1999 I decided not to hunt the opening of the gun season. Instead, I parked my truck on a high hill, where I could watch the hunters as they drove to their hunting spots, so I could learn how the deer reacted to all those vehicles driving down the county roads and into the woods and fields, and all those hunters walking through the woods during the early morning hours.
I couldn’t believe the number of vehicles I saw driving into and through the fields and woods where I knew the deer would be feeding at night. As I drove down the county roads to the hill, I saw five vehicles parked on access ramps to logging roads that led into wooded areas. Didn’t the hunters know that the deer regularly used the logging roads, and often crossed the county road right where they had parked their vehicles? Didn’t they know that any deer that saw the vehicles would probably not use the trail, and probably would not have returned to their normal bedding area because the vehicles were there?
I watched one truck go across a half-mile wide cornfield, and then stop within fifty yards of the woods. Didn’t the hunters realize that the deer were feeding in the field when they drove across it? Didn’t they realize that every deer in the field headed for the woods the minute they saw the headlights or heard the truck? Didn’t they realize every deer in the woods also heard the truck, and that none of them would come out to after sunrise when the saw the truck in the field?
I watched as another truck was parked on a county road within twenty yards of a hay field where I saw deer feeding from September through January. Didn’t the hunters know that the deer regularly stopped there for a last minute bite of alfalfa before they went back to their bedding areas in the morning? No wonder those hunters saw so few deer, and rarely saw a buck, nonetheless a big buck; they let every deer in their hunting area know it was the opening of gun season, and that the woods was being invaded by humans carrying guns.
The only reason I can think of why hunters cross open fields to get to their deer stands is that they don’t understand that the deer eat in those fields at night. The only reason I can think of why hunters park their vehicles where they do is because they don’t know that deer use access ramps as crossing areas, and logging roads as travel lanes as they move to and from their wooded bedding areas at dawn and dusk. Don’t cross an open field as you go to a stand in the morning; know where the deer feeding areas, crossings, and travel routes are; and don’t park where the deer can see or hear your vehicle when they use those areas.

Hunting Sites Part 2
Many hunters realize that they see deer most often at dawn and dusk, but some of them fail to understand that the deer rest in wooded areas during most of the day, get up around sunset, and move out of the woods and into fields after dark. They also don’t understand that, when the weather is nice, the deer often spend the night eating and resting in or near fields, and that around sunrise, they leave the fields to go back to their wooded bedding areas. During the night I regularly check the feeding areas where I do research and hunt. While I often see deer feeding after sunset and before sunrise, I also see them bedded in or near the fields from 10:00 - 12:00 PM and from 2:00 - 4:00 AM. Several different studies on daily deer activity show that during the fall deer are most active at night around dawn and dusk, and from 12:00 - 2:00 AM. This means they are not moving much between 10:00 and 12:00 PM, and between 2:00 and 4:00 AM.
So what do deer do at night? When deer leave their bedding areas at sunset they often head for the nearest field, stopping to feed on grass, sedges, forbes, fruits and twigs along the way. Once they get to the field they stock up on corn, soybeans, alfalfa or where what ever else is available. In areas where there are several types of forage the deer may travel to each of them during the first few hours of darkness. The deer don’t actually digest whet they eat while feeding because they are ruminants, they store the food until later. Once they are full the deer usually lay down to regurgitate their cud and chew it to make it digestible. From the daily activity studies I mentioned earlier it appears that deer feed for 4-6 hours in the evening, lay down to rest and chew their cud for a couple of hours, then get up and feed for another couple of hours after midnight, rest again for a couple of hours, and then get up to feed again for 2-4 hours before going back to their bedding areas. It is thought that deer rarely sleep longer than two hours before standing up to at least stretch. During the winter deer may sleep longer than that. During the rut bucks may bed very little.
While I was watching the hunters during the first day of the gun season one year I noticed three does, each with a fawn, feeding in the cornfields within a half-mile of my truck. Because these deer were not harassed by hunters they continued to feed until about 8:30. Even with several gunshots around them they continued to feed, and appeared not to be alarmed by the dun shots in the woods, or the fact the hunting season was in progress. Shortly after 8:30 the does and fawns moved north and crossed a county road in open country. Then they went north until they got lose to a group of trees planted along the neighbors driveway as a windbreak/snow fence, followed the trees east and crossed a highway, and eventually moved back into the wooded area where they bedded.
I suspect the deer were unaware of the hunters stationed in those woods, unless they came across their scent, and therefore they may have continued to move and feed as they normally would. They probably didn’t stop moving and feeding until they got back to their bedding areas, which may have taken an hour or more. Movement by deer such as these, which were unaware of the hunters, explains why hunters often see deer moving in wooded areas late in the morning even during the hunting season. Hunters who know that this activity may occur can take advantage of it by staying in the woods most of the day. They may even see a buck following a doe late in the morning during the rut, especially if the does have been feeding in fields away from their bedding areas.
Stand Site Selection
A stand is where you choose to hunt, and can be any location where you wait for the animals. It could be near a tree, rock, or hilltop; or it could be a tree stand, tripod or ground blind. The main purpose of a stand is to allow you to see the animal and get a shot before it detects you. A stand site should afford some means of protection from the animal seeing, smelling or hearing you, while letting you see the animal.
Your method of hunting dictates where you place your stand. If you are rifle or muzzle loader hunting your stand can be farther away from where you expect deer than if you are shotgun, handgun, archery or crossbow hunting. Distance alone is enough to avoid detection. The shorter the effective range of you and your weapon, the more concealment from sight and sound, and the more the wind direction dictate where your stand should be placed. If you intend to wait for the animals, or use techniques to attract them at distances closer than 100 yards, place your stand out of the direct line of sight of the animal and keep downwind or crosswind from its approach. A tree stand can be placed near high use areas but can be out of normal visual range because of height. Height also helps to disperse scent and sound.
Ground stands can be effective as long as adequate concealment or camouflage is used, and precautions are taken so the animal doesn't smell you. There are numerous hunting blinds that conceal movement, muffle sound, and because you are out of the wind, less smell escapes. Because deer have learned to look into trees for hunters, and associate the upright human form with danger, I have begun hunting more from the ground. The biggest advantages of ground stand hunting are mobility and comfort. By sitting on rocks, logs, the ground, or my Back Seat portable stool, I can easily pick up and move if the area is unproductive. I don't have to worry about hanging multiple stands that may or may not be in the right location, or taking down my stand and moving it. I simply get up and walk away. This is especially helpful if there is a sudden wind change. While I am sitting on my Back Seat I don't present the upright human form, and deer don't perceive me as a danger. I have been hunting from ground stands for years and have had more "close encounters" with animals and shooting opportunities than I have when hunting from a tree stand.
Tree stands
With hunters spending so much time in tree stands hoping to see and get a shot at a deer, the location of the stand in relation to where they expect to see the deer is crucial. But, I often see stands hung too close to open feeding areas, too far from core areas; too far from or too close to deer travel corridors and trails; in places where the wind or thermal currents are wrong; in surroundings where the hunter is sky-lined; and often too low. In order for you to get the most out of your tree stand it needs to be in the right location; an area frequented by deer at the time of the day that you intend to hunt from it. Ideally this is in a wooded or semi-wooded area where the deer feel secure in during the day.

Secure Areas
Since deer spend the majority of the daylight hours in secure areas, often in thick vegetation and wooded or low-lying areas where visibility is limited, the majority of your stand sites should be in or near those areas. If you can't see the deer and shoot into those areas, you are too far away. Deer (especially older bucks) don't usually leave their security areas and move into open areas until shortly before or after sunset, which means that hunters who place their stands at the edge of agricultural fields and other open areas will see fewer deer, and especially older bucks, during legal hunting hours, than hunters who place their stands in or near the secure areas.

Close Enough
A stand also needs to be close enough to where you expect to see the deer to get a shot, but far enough away so that the deer don't detect you, either while you are waiting or getting ready for a shot. Obviously hunters using a bow, crossbow, handgun, shotgun or muzzleloader need to be closer to the deer than a rifle hunter. When you choose a location for your stand consider the effective shooting distance of you and your weapon, and then set up several yards closer than that for good measure. Do not set your stand too close to where you expect to see the deer. Too often I see stands that are within yards of a deer trail, or are hanging off to the side of the trail where the deer may be looking directly toward the stand as it comes around a corner in the trail. If you are using a short-range weapon, and can see several yards of the trail in any one direction, you are probably too close, because the deer will probably be able to see you.

Not Too Close
Although you want to be close to the deer's core area, where they spend most of their time during daylight hours, you don't want to be so close that you alert the deer to your presence. You don't want the deer to smell, hear or see you when you are in your stand; and especially when you put your stand up, which is when you can be seen, smelled or heard by the deer as you walk in, hang your stand and clear shooting lanes. How close you can get to the core area depends on the terrain, the thickness of the vegetation and the wind direction. No matter what the terrain and vegetation are like, I don't think you can setup a stand closer than 100 yards without the deer hearing, seeing or smelling you. Air currents are often the determining factor as to where you can set up, because wind from you to the core area will carry your scent to the deer. If the wind or thermals are wrong, a half-mile may be too close.

Posted by T.R. Michels at 08:14 AM | Permalink

I remember 15 years ago when I went out to scout for a good place to hang my stand in anticipation of my very first bowhunt. To say I got frustrated would be an understatement for what I felt. I knew that I had to scout very different from the way I would when rifle hunting. This was very different, a bow is a short-range weapon and to be successful the stand has to be in a location that brings deer close to the hunter. In my case not much more than 25 yards preferably a closer.

Looking at the land I scratched my head asking myself, “Where do I get started? How can I reduce this huge landscape before me to a small 25-yard circle where I could ambush traveling deer?

It took me two full seasons without ever getting my stand close enough to deer, let alone shooting one. Then finally it came to me what I did wrong. The breakthrough in my bowhunting success came after reading an article by John Sloan. In the article John explained what makes deer travel and how they chose travel routes. Once I understood the concept of the four factors that determine deer travel scouting has become easy and I was able to choose stand sites that consistently produced results.

From conversations with hunters I know that for many scouting is a hit and miss affair. After you read this and understand it you will be able to improve your hunting success. In fact the four factors of deer are such a sure thing that you can carve them in stone.

These factors are, FOOD, COVER TERRAIN and STRUCTURE and to a lesser degree you can add water as fifth factor in arid areas or during particularly hot years. These four factors are the corner stones of scouting. All deer movement is based on these factors because anything a deer does is somehow related to one or more of the four factors.

So lets look at them in detail and see what we can learn from that information. The aim here is to find the perfect stand location, and wherever two or more of these factors come together you have a dandy stand site that guaranteed will get some deer traffic by your stand.

Food:
Food is a constant factor of deer. Food dominates everything a deer does. In other words food is the catalyst of deer movement. If the deer have no food they don’t travel. If deer don’t travel we can’t kill them. It’s that simple. But food sources change almost constantly and so does deer travel. A smart hunter keeps close taps on the changing food source. A good hunter knows what agricultural and woodland food sources are available to the deer at any given time during a hunting season. Because food is the catalyst of deer travel all scouting should start by finding first the available food sources in any given hunting area. Now we have a starting point. From here we have to find the other factors, cover, terrain and structure. These three factors determine how deer travel to and from the food sources.

Cover:
Of the three remaining factors cover is very important to deer movement. Deer use cover in one of two ways, either as resting place (bedding area) or to travel. Cover gives deer a great measure of security and wherever possible deer will go out of their way to be able to take advantage of cover. Cover comes in many ways. It can be a thicket, an irrigation ditch, an overgrown fence line, a hedgerow, a gully or a ravine. Also less obvious features such as a standing row of corn or a wooded finger leading into a field are cover for a deer. Anything that lets a deer travel without exposing itself to the open constitutes cover. Anybody that hunts for a year or two knows how little cover a deer needs to completely vanish from sight. So look for everything that could provide a deer with some measure of cover.

Terrain:
As you look at a topographical map you will notice that the terrain (topography) exists of undulations made up of hills, flatland, mountains and so on. When deer travel they are like you and me in that they prefer the easiest rout from point A to point B. Deer often will travel for some distance to walk in comfort around a steep hill rather than exert important energy to hike over the hill, provided that the easier route provides them with sufficient cover. Think what would be the easiest route for you to get from one point to another and that likely is the same route deer choose too, provided it gives them sufficient cover.

Structure:
Within the terrain are things that I call structure, these can be natural or manmade features that also influence deer movement. A smart bowhunter learns to find structures that will “funnel” deer past his stand location. Structure is something that alters deer movement. Structures can be anything from a blown down tree, a cattle fence, and a shallow creek crossing to a narrow saddle over a steep hill or a bench on a hillside. Manmade structures of course can be altered in such a way that it forces deer to travel where it is to the advantage of the hunter, in effect creating a funnel. My favorite structures to hunt are cattle fences near a break in the fence or the mouth of a hedgerow leading from a woodlot into a field, other structures are places where deer cross a road or creek.

Other forms of structure are made up of edges. Edges exist anywhere where two structures meet, like a cornfield bordering onto a woodlot. Where hardwood and soft wood meet is also an edge and is the border of a thicket inside a woodlot. Deer prefer to travel along such edges because it provides them with cover. Wherever two or more edges meet could be a hotspot for deer travel.

Many years ago I had a stand placed where a cornfield bordered onto a small woodlot and a swamp. Right where the three edges joined was a shallow creek crossing and for as long the white oaks at the top of the ridge behind my stand produced mast this stand was a hot spot from which I have taken consistently deer every season. All the deer traveled along the three edges and right under my stand these three edges met leading into one huge trail leading up to the ridge top. The reason this, and many other stands I placed, produced so well over many years is because once I understood the importance of the four factors and how they dictate deer movement I was locate bowhunting stand sites that got me predictably close to where deer would be long before the deer used a given area.

In upcoming articles we will look at this topic in more detail. Everything will be based on the four factors of deer travel to locate early season, rut and late season deer ambush spots.

Othmar Vohringer is a freelance outdoor writer, seminar speaker and founder of SHS (Smart Hunting Strategies), established in 2001, from British Columbia, Canada. He can be contacted via his blog located at the link below.
http://outdoorswithothmarvohringer.blogspot.com

Posted by O. Vohringer at 07:59 AM | Permalink

Whitetail deer have mastered the skills of survival. They have incredible senses and quickly learn how to avoid danger. There are many reasons deer stay in bed on any given day, learning more about why and when they may decide to stay put can help you become a more successful hunter.

Weather can have a strong influence on deer movement. On days where the wind is blowing above 10mph deer movement seems to slow drastically. Of course if 15mph winds are normal for your area, this will have little effect on deer movement. Here in Maryland there are many days with little to no wind. So when the wind does kick up, I believe the noise and movements all around keep deer in their beds longer.

Barometric pressure can also be a good predictor of deer movement. When the barometric pressure rises or falls quickly, as it does before and after a storm, this can trigger deer to move and feed. Some studies indicate that the greatest level of deer activity occurs when the barometric pressure is between 29.80 and 30.29. Being on-stand right before a storm can certainly prove to be a great time for whitetail sightings.
Unseasonable temperatures can also have big influences on whitetail movements. If the temperatures exceed 12 to 15 degrees higher then the normal highs in your area, this can grind deer movement to a halt, especially during the fall and winter. Whitetails will have their winter coats by this time and high temperatures can make it uncomfortable to do much more then bed on a shady hillside or thick cover.

Just like Humans, whitetails all have individual personalities and make decisions based on likes and dislikes. Some whitetails are very sociable and curious, while others like to keep their distance and be left alone. You can imagine which whitetails you tend to see from your treestand the most. Personality can have a great effect on a specific deer on your property. If the buck you’ve been watching all summer is a loner (and a lot of big bucks are) that is going to make him all the much harder to get close to. If the buck your chasing is very aggressive and confrontational then he may be easier to dupe with calls or decoys. Observing and watching how the deer move and interact with each other are the only way to learn these traits, and every buck is different. Whitetails habits and personalities also change as they get older. Once a buck has gone through a few autumns, he has most likely learned a little about hunters, the rut, and how to bed and feed during this time and he will change his habits accordingly.

Hunting and Human pressure also has a huge effect on whitetail movement. As hunters move into the woods in the fall, whitetails quickly learn that decreasing movement is a key to survival. The amount of pressure needed to effect deer movement can vary greatly, I believe. If your property is a farm where humans are in the fields and woods on a regular basis, then deer will be a little more tolerant to humans (this is not to say that you shouldn’t be taking every precaution possible to minimize human scent when entering the deer woods). However if you hunt where there is little to no human activity on a regular basis, then whitetails will quickly take notice as hunters enter the woods and curb their daylight movements in a hurry. Taking steps to minimize the amount of human scent you take into the woods, even on scouting trips, is a vital process that will help you be successful in the fall.

Where deer bed, feed and get water can also have a big effect on the amount they must travel. Whitetails are slaves to their stomach, they must eat on a regular basis and therefore they must move to the food and water sources. If their bedding areas are a mile from the food and water sources, as is the case in a lot of places out west, then they tend to be traveling more often. However on the east coast, where I do most of my whitetail hunting, it’s not uncommon to have whitetails bedded right in the cornfield they feed in every night. In this situation where deer merely have to stand up to feed, it can be very tough to see a lot of deer.

Paying attention to some of the details that may effect deer movement on any given day will help you become a more successful hunter. Of course there is no exact manual or science to this, as we said earlier, every whitetail as a personality and habits of it’s own and therefore will make decisions to move or not in different ways.

Posted by S. Johnson at 08:28 PM | Permalink

This is not for the faint of heart. These arrows have one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to blast through whatever it hits. These arrows fly fast, they fly straight and they hit with a punch!

I purchased one dozen of the Easton Axis Full Metal Jacket arrows two weeks ago, and I love them! The first thing you will notice when handling them is the diameter of the shafts. They are considerably smaller than what most hunters are used to. The second thing you will notice is the price tag, 120.00 per dozen. They are not cheap, but in my opinion well worth the money. The shafts are constructed of a thick carbon core wrapped with a 7075 alloy metal jacket. The whole purpose behind these arrows is to provide hunters with increased penetration, and unmatched durability.

Got Questions about Easton Axis Arrows or Hunting In General...??
Join the HuntOnly Forums today!!!
Talk hunting with fellow hunters from across the country 24/7...
Click here to Register, it's Free!

These arrows utilize the HIT ( Hidden Insert Technology) Technology. I recommend having the pro shop install these inserts for you if you are not familiar with them. If you will be shooting broad heads with replaceable blades then you will need the broad head adapter rings which will cost app.. 17.00 per dozen. They are small and easy to lose so I recommend getting a small case to carry them in, a 35mm film canister or a mouth reed call case works well also. The adapters are needed due to the small diameter of the shafts, they hold against the rear of the blades to prevent the blades from shifting backward when impacting your target.

Now on to the arrows themselves. I had mine cut to 28 inches, shaft size - 400 ( 9.9 gpi ) - armed with field tips. I was shooting into a Game Winner Target.

My first day to shoot these arrows the wind was blowing at 10 mph and gusting at 15-20 mph. I found no disturbance in flight due to the wind shooting from 45 yards and less. This again is due to the smaller diameter. I have found that once you extend your range past 45 yards you will have some drift due to the wind. Upon pulling my first 4 arrows I shot, I found that these arrows penetrated the target almost 4 inches farther than my previous gold tips. This is due to the smaller diameter of the shafts. I spent two hours that first day shooting the arrows and I enjoyed every shot. These arrows are much easier to extract from your target than others, even with the increased penetration. While shooting, I hit another arrow ( good shot group ) the arrow had impacted the shaft of another and followed the length of the shaft into the target. Unlike a carbon that would have either shattered or splintered and then had to have been discarded, the shaft that was hit, was slightly "dented", I immediately shot the impacted shaft from 50 yards to 10 yards in 5 yard increments. I found no problem with flight or penetration. It is still a good practice arrow, though I would not recommend hunting with it due to it having been damaged, but it does not need to be thrown away. I have not taken any big game animals as of yet with these arrows, but I must say thus far I am very impressed with them. They are durable, the fly straight, and there is a noticeable difference in penetration.

However, I would recommend having your shafts refletched, with fletchings of your choice. The factory fletchings are not very durable, they will ripple on you if shooting through a whisker biscuit and can rip off in flight. This seems to be the norm with factory fletching jobs.

All in all, for the money these are great arrows. I will recommend them to anyone looking for a tough durable arrow that will provide the hunter with unsurpassed penetration. You can read more on these arrows on Easton's website.

Posted by C. Jeans at 02:00 PM | Permalink

In this article we will look at the different signs deer make and their meaning. In general signpost communication is both, a visual and olfactory marker for other deer. Signposts include both rubs and scrapes. Deer use these signposts to convey a message to other deer or as an orientation marker, similar to directional signposting we use on our roads. A smart hunter will learn how to interpret and understand deer sign. Understanding deer sign is as important to a successful hunter as understanding a deer’s behavior in correlation to food sources, topography, seasonal and environmental changes.

We will look at some of the sign we find in the deer woods and learn how to interpret them. Scouting is like detective work. We collect pieces of evidence and by interpreting them correctly we are able to predict where and when deer move in a given area. From that gained knowledge we are able to select stand locations that will produce deer sightings.

Scrapes:
A scrape is an area of exposed earth up to 6 or 8 feet in diameter that a deer has swept clear of leaves, twigs and other debris with its front feet. Deer leave their scent at scrapes in several different manners. They urinate in it and as they step it in leave glandular scent behind. Despite popular believe that only bucks make and use scrapes, does make and use scrapes too. One way to view a scrape is that it is a check in station. Deer passing through the area will check in or visit the scrape to leave their scent (urine) and see what other deer have recently been in the area. Both bucks and does will visit active scrapes. There are several kinds of scrapes.

Primary Scrape:
A large scrape made in an area that does frequent or where several doe trails converge. A buck will often urinate in these scrapes and leave other glandular scents in the area. These scrapes could be described as boundary signposts. For hunting purposes these scrapes are not much use to me other than that they tell me that this area holds a dominant buck.

Satellite Scrape:
A scrape made by a mature buck along edge cover or buck travel corridors. Some hunters believe that satellite scrapes are mostly used by the bucks. However, I have witnessed many times that does too urinate in these scrapes to “advertise” their estrus status to passing bucks. Several satellite scrapes along an edge are called a scrape line. Generally, I do not hunt scrapes but they do tell me by increased activity (scraping) when the rut is approaching.
Primary and Satellite scrapes are always placed on edges and in plain sight, they are meant to be very visible. These scrapes are mostly located next to a tree trunk or bush with an overhanging branch hanging about four feet of the ground. Typically the branch above the scrape will be chewed on by the deer to leave yet another scent marks. In addition bucks will rub their heads on these braches and by doing so deposit glandular scent on the branches.
The scrapes can appear from the size of a dinner plate to several feet in diameter. The size of the scrape is no indication of the size of the buck that made the scrape.

Random Scrape:
A scrape made randomly by a buck along a trail. These random scrapes feature not always an overhead licking branch. Most hunters believe that random scrapes are made by immature bucks and never revisited by the deer that made the scrape or any other deer. Such scrapes are, also made by large bucks in the pre-rut out of frustration. The pre-rut is a very tense time for bucks when they start to become more aggressive and intolerant of each other, the does are not in estrus yet and so bucks let off some steam by making these “frustration” scrapes and trash their horns against brush and saplings. Again, for hunting proposes these scrapes are of no value to me other than that they tell me that there are bucks in the area.

Mock Scrape:
A mock scrape is one that has been made by a hunter in an area that deer frequent. Some hunters will visit mock scrapes year around and freshen them with commercial deer scent. The purpose of a mock scrape is to create a signpost that brings deer closer to your stand location and give the resident bucks the impression that another buck invaded their territory. By making a mock scrape the hunter has to pay attention to deer travel. It makes no sense to try and attract a buck with a mock scrape in an area where he doesn’t travel. No deer will go out of its travel way to come to a scrape.

Active Scrape:
An active scrape is one that is being regularly maintained by multiple deer. A scrape that is not regularly visited is referred to as an in-active scrape. An active scrape has fresh turned soil and is free of debris such as leafs and twigs and it has a strong smell of urine. When a hunter approaches a scrape to “juice” it up with deer urine based scent he should use utmost caution not to leave any human odors near the scrape. Most hunters use rubber cloves to handle scrapes and make sure that they do not step into the actual scrape.

Rubs:
A rub is an area on a tree 1 to 3 feet off the ground where a buck has rubbed the bark off the tree by using it to remove the velvet, polish his antlers and strengthen his neck muscles. It is often said that all bucks rub little trees, but only big bucks rub big trees, however I have made no observations to support such claims. I have seen small bucks rubbing on large trees too. One basic rule should be applied to rubs. While a big buck can make small and large rubs, a small buck only makes small rubs. In my opinion, there are only three types of rubs; incidental, cluster and sign post rubs.

Incidental Rubs:
Incidental is just as the name implies. Incidental. They mean nothing and have no value for our scouting purpose. Incidental rubs appear early in the season and are numerous. They are not large and appear either as singles or in groups of three to four. Some hunters make the mistake of believing that these rubs are made by bucks to remove the velvet from their antlers. However, after my observations I believe this is not true. To be honest with you I have no clue as to why bucks make this rubs. Perhaps they make them to relive some the tension and aggression as bachelor groups begin to dissolve and bucks begin to test their strength on each other and get ready for the coming of the rutting phase. What ever it is I do know that these rubs are of no value to me in planning my hunting strategy.

Cluster Rubs:
I do not know or this is the proper name but that is what I call these rubs because they appear in clusters. There may be as many as a dozen or more of them in one small area and always in clusters. They may vary in size from a small sapling to a thigh-sized tree. These rubs provide me with slightly more information than the incidental rubs. In fact, I am convinced that these cluster rubs are made by more than just one buck. Because of that they are an indication that the area is frequented by more than just one buck. These areas therefore deserve some consideration as possible stand sites. My observation has been that such cluster rubs seem to appear more in areas with regular to heavy doe traffic. You find them often near or around doe feeding and bedding areas and that is what makes these rubs interesting for me. Make no mistake about it. Come the rutting season these bucks that made this rubs will all hang around by the girls. I have always maintained, if you want to kill a big buck stay with the does because the big boys will too.

Sign Post Rubs:
These are the rubs I am looking for and that in my opinion have the highest value in terms of placing my stand or patterning a buck. These rubs are exactly what the name implies – sign posts. This rubs convey information, not only to the bucks, but also to the woods savvy hunter. These rubs are like street signs for us. Like a stop sign that tells us to stop or a warning sign tells us of a dangerous situation ahead. The sign post rub tells the buck the same thing. It provides him with information. If we as hunters can interpret that information correctly, we can plan a strategy that ultimately could bring a buck right close up to us.
It may not be evident immediately what a sign post rub means, it often takes some real detective work to figure that out. Let me give you an easy explanation of how they work. You need to understand why a buck needs these sign posts and does do not. Does travel in large family groups during most of the year. These social groups create large and good visible trails. The does easily can follow these trails, even at night, they also know exactly where each of these trails leads too. It’s a bit like with you and me, we know our way from our home to the next grocery store or to our place of work even if all the road signs would be removed from that route.
Bucks, on the other hand, spend the most important part of the year as loners, or in the company of a single subordinate buck. Buck trails are insignificant if they can be seen at all. Bucks travel a great deal and often cross into strange and unfamiliar territory in the search of receptive does or new territory. As with us humans, if we go some place we are unfamiliar with we need to relay on a road map and signs. It’s no different with bucks and it is here where the signpost rub guides the bucks.

Signpost rubs are usually large and good visible, they are also regularly freshened up during the fall moths and may be used by more than one buck.
By far the easiest rub to understand is the crossing point rub. Look for such rubs near crossings such as along roadsides, fence lines, streams, field edges and other edges. These rubs tell the bucks, “Here is a crossing”. It is also common to find a line of rubs, “rub line” leading to these signposts. Often there is no or only a very faint trail leading to such a signpost rub or along a rub line. Single bucks do not make large trails. However, if you look a little bit around in the area, preferably upwind from the signpost rubs, you will discover in many instances a significant doe trail.

A signpost rub can tell us much more than just where a given buck may travel or cross a certain point. Such rubs also can tell you from which direction a buck approaches and where he’s heading, even the time of day and frequency of travel.

The bucks always rub the tree on the say of the direction they come from. The marred side of the tree points to the tail end of the buck. If you are facing the rubbed side of a tree you are facing in the direction the buck is going. If you follow the direction and keep your eyes peeled you may see other rubs in a line. This line has not necessary to be straight. During the pre-season scouting follow this rub lines and knowing where these lead too will let you determine at what time of the day the bucks most likely travel this route. If a rub leads to a feeding area it is likely that the buck travels this rub line in the late afternoon. A rub line running along a ridge top may most likely be a midday travel route when the buck searches for does in heat.

Deer Tracks:
The size of a deer track will help you to determine the size of the deer. As a deer grows, their feet will grow accordingly. Big mature bucks will leave big and deep tracks. In soft ground the dewclaws will show on both bucks and does. Rounded tips on hoofs are a result of hoof wear usually due to rocky or other abrasive surfaces and have little to do with weather the deer is a buck or a doe.

When a deer walks, they will place their back hoof in the track of their front hoof. If the second track falls slightly to the outside of the first, it is probably a doe because a doe's hindquarters are wider than her chest. The wider hindquarters of a doe are required for giving birth. If the second track falls slightly to the inside and short of the first track, then it is probably a buck track since a buck's chest is wider than his hindquarters and his body is longer.

Deer Trails:
Think of deer trails like of our highway system. Deer trails are always coming from somewhere and going somewhere. Deer trails lead to food sources, water, bedding areas or connecting with other trails. Some trails can be as wide as a walkway while others are so faint that you can barely see them. Deer do not use all the trails at will whenever they want, there has to be a purpose for the deer to use any given trail. During the year deer use different trails at different times and for different purposes. To find out which trails the deer will use during different times in a hunting season and to plan hunting strategies that work the hunter has to find out which trails will be used by the deer at the time he hunts. What trails the deer will be using at any given time has to be determined by finding out what’s on either end of the trail or what they are connected to.

Deer Droppings:
Deer droppings don’t tell me much, other than that at one time or other a deer walked here. There are only two incidents when I get exited about droppings. One is when I find fresh deer droppings plus other fresh sign that tells me that this is an active area full of deer that I need to hunt here right now. But as I said, there has to be other sign indicating that the deer are using the area, deer droppings alone don’t excite me at all. The second occasion is in the late season when I track deer in the snow with my bow or muzzleloader. Seeing fresh deer droppings, perhaps still steaming, puts me on high alert. This could mean that the deer is only a short distance ahead of me.

Othmar Vohringer is a freelance outdoor writer, seminar speaker and founder of SHS (Smart Hunting Strategies) established in 2001 from British Columbia, Canada. He can be contacted via his blog located at the link below.
http://outdoorswithothmarvohringer.blogspot.com

Posted by O. Vohringer at 09:39 AM | Permalink

By July most of the does should be done fawning. The fawns should be growing and following their mothers some of the time. The Whitetail bucks are growing racks, and all the deer should be feeding on preferred foods.

Planning Ahead
Any type of deer management should take into account several different factors; herd size, buck to doe ratio, age structure of the herd, fawning rates, type of habitat, available food sources, seasonal use of the habitat; and hunting success by age, and sex. One of the first steps in deer management should be to determine the size and makeup of the herd. A fairly accurate count of all the animals should be taken to determine buck:doe ratio and fawning rates; to determine if the herd is in balance with the available habitat, so that overuse of the habitat by the deer does not occur; which could resulting in habitat destruction, poor nutrition, starvation, disease, stress, and poor reproduction and growth of the deer herd.

You can start to produce a socially balanced deer herd: 1. By keeping the herd at or below the carrying capacity of the habitat. 2. By balancing the buck to doe ratio of the herd. 3. By ensuring that there are adequate numbers of both sexes and all ages classes of deer in the herd, so that maximum breeding occurs at the appropriate time of the year.
You can find out how many deer there are in the area by having several different people counting deer in different areas, at the same times, on several different days or nights. Be sure to determine the sex of all adult deer, and count all of the fawns. While you may miss some deer using this method, if you use the highest number of deer seen during any one time, you will have a fairly good estimation of the size and makeup of the deer herd n your area. You can also ask your local game managers how many deer they believe there are per square mile in your area. The game manager should also be able to tell you the carrying capacity of the land.

In order for any deer management program to work hunters and game managers must realize that:

1. The habitat can carry only so many deer, it makes no difference whether they are bucks or does. Once the number of deer exceeds the carrying capacity of the habitat there will eventually be habitat destruction, which can lead to disease, stress, and starvation of the deer. Or the deer, particularly younger bucks, will leave to find more suitable habitat, making them susceptible to injury and death by natural causes, hunting, or vehicle collisions.

2. Once the carrying capacity of the habitat has been determined, the total number of deer should be kept below that capacity, so that there is adequate nutrition in winter, and in case of forage and habitat loss due to natural causes.

3. Because the habitat can carry only so many deer, and one of the goals of deer management should be to ensure that there are appropriate numbers of both sexes, and all age classes of deer, one of the first objectives should be to balance the buck to doe ratio of the herd. The best way to increase the buck:doe ratio is to remove some of the does. In order to keep the buck:doe ratio stabilized an appropriate number of both bucks and does should be removed every year.

4. To increase the average age of the bucks in the herd younger bucks must be allowed to reach four to five years of age, which is when they should be the dominant breeding bucks. It may be four to five years before there are significant numbers of older bucks available to achieve all the breeding at the proper time.

5. The oldest and youngest deer, and bucks that are exhausted from the rut, are usually the weakest and the first to die. In order to keep weaker deer alive when they are under stress their health needs must be provided for. With the threat of infectious diseases, the best way to provide for the nutritional needs of the deer is through habitat improvement, and food plots; not through supplemental feeding.

6. Increased deer attraction to a particular property, improved survival and fawning rates, and increased body and antler size can be achieved by providing adequate cover and water, planting deer forage and browse, and providing year round minerals. Supplemental feed can be supplied (only where CWD and TB are not a concern) in the winter and early spring when deer are stressed.

T.R. Michels, Trinity Mountain Outdoors, E-mail: TRMichels@yahoo.com , Web Site: www.TRMichels.com

Posted by T.R. Michels at 07:39 AM | Permalink

I learned a lot about the woods, plants and animals from my father and the old men of the hunting camp. Today I sometimes have to force myself to recall the wisdom of those men. Each time I do so my hunting success improves dramatically.
The recent controversy surrounding the Scent-Lok company and their supposed promise that their carbon lined apparel is 100% capable of eliminating human odor got me thinking about how hunting is today compared to the time of our fathers and grandfathers.
Today hunting is all about science and modern technology. Hunting has moved from a simple outdoor activity to a space age, technology driven race to sell hunting-success promising products. From the technologically advanced compound bow that can shoot carbon arrows at lightening speeds to the image stabilizing, high precision rifle scope; it’s all here to help us kill that elusive monster buck and the moment we purchase one of the high tech products it is outdated by even better high tech products.

Technology and science does not stop with products that guarantee 100% hunting success. One of the newer fashions in the world of QDM (Quality Deer Management) is ‘growing’ better and bigger deer with the purpose, obviously, of growing larger antlers. Scientifically designed and mixed seeds will make sure that the deer in your area will all grow into record book trophies. No bull, it has been scientifically proven to work! And then there is, of course, the plethora of products that promise to take care of human odor, the age-old problem hunters face when dealing with the fine nosed whitetail deer.

Clothing lined with carbon, soaps, shampoos or laundry detergent all have one thing in common. They promise instant success that has been scientifically proven. Or how about the all-synthetic, better than nature, deer attractant lures? Doe and buck urine that never saw the inside of a bladder but which science will have you know is a chemical mix that is 100% better than the real stuff. If we are to believe the advertising dominating every hunting magazine and TV screen, we hunters have nothing to do but sit and wait for all the gadgets and gizmos to bring a trophy buck our way.

Let’s stop right here for a minute and make a leap back in time.

I fondly remember my childhood, sharing hunting camps with my father and his hunting friends in the days where we didn’t have all that science available and the gadgets derived from that science. We wore lots of wool clothing, not camouflaged, which was washed with any old laundry detergent available. Game calls were not invented yet. There were a few old men that could produce a perfectly pitched buck grunt with the mouth and a blade of grass. I admired these men. The only deer scent we had available was the urine of harvested deer.

What I remember really well was that the game pole on any given trip was quickly filled to capacity with deer and other critters- often to the breaking point.
I honestly cannot remember a time where any hunter in our camp went home empty handed. What I do remember is that besides deer a lot of small game and birds were brought to the camp as a welcome addition to the otherwise boring camp meals.

How did they do it? Nobody had high-powered magnum rifles with synthetic stocks and stainless steel barrels firing composite ammunition. Most game was shot with the trusted old .30-06 and open iron sights. The next popular deer hunting gun was a shotgun loaded with buckshot and the odd lever action rifle. Game was taken at very short ranges compared with the ranges we take game today. Back then we rarely saw a rifle topped with a scope; that was something only wealthy hunters could afford to buy.

And yet miraculously, despite the lack of technology, backs then hunters have been successful in shooting game too. They probably killed more game than the average hunter does today. Another puzzling aspect to this hunter success rate was the fact that the deer population then was nowhere close to what it is today. Today’s deer numbers are several millions stronger than they were forty years ago, yet we harvest less deer today than when I was a child. How come?

Sure these days bag limits are not as generous as they were forty years ago or even longer ago. There was little true wildlife management and most certainly no Quality Deer Management and planting food plots with scientifically mixed seeds. In those days most hunters went to the woods each fall to provide nutritious sustenance for the families.

So how did they do it?

Here is what I think has happened. Today we have come to rely too much on modern products. I lost count of how many times I heard something like: “Since I started shooting with bow ‘x’ I kill more deer.” or “The deer saw me because I didn’t wear the right camouflage.” And even this one: “I missed the buck because the scent lure I was using was no good- it spooked the buck.” Rarely if ever do I hear somebody say. “I messed it up because I didn’t know better”.

The hunters of yore had no high tech products to blame for mess-ups. They only had to blame themselves. These hunters knew that their hunting success was in direct relation to how much they knew about the animals they pursued, the lay of the land and the weather conditions. A good hunter was also a good woodsman and animal biologist. I remember listening to my father and the older hunters with an intense thirst for wisdom. Their knowledge of animals and habitat was simply stunning to me. Some of the hunters could tell by looking at broken grass, leaves, or twigs what direction the deer was headed.

I have learned a lot about the woods, plants and animals from my father and the old men of the hunting camp. Today I sometimes have to force myself to recall the wisdom of those men. Each time I do so my hunting success improves dramatically. We have come to rely so much on gadgets, gizmos and expert advice that we have forgotten how to think, how to observe, and how to register it all and then put that information together in our noggins to formulate a hunting strategy. It seems we can’t function anymore without the aid of modern technology and if success fails us we’re quickly ready to blame it on the technology and not where the blame should really go - ourselves. In no way do I attempt to diminish modern science and technology but these things should be viewed as useful aids and not as do-all and be-all necessities. Once all is said and done hunting success boils down to one thing: us! We make it or break it- not our guns and not our camouflage or any other product.

The most modern rifle or bow will not shoot a deer for you if you don’t have the time or inclination to practice and become proficient with it. Reading hunting magazines explaining the latest tactics will not make you a better hunter. Spending time in the field observing and studying will make you a better hunter. The best scent control product will not work if you do not hunt with the wind in your face. The best scientifically written book on scouting will not reveal where you have to hang the stand if you do not go out and scout the area thoroughly and figure out how the deer travel and what time of the season they use an area and why. It’s all about YOU!

Othmar Vohringer is a freelance outdoor writer, seminar speaker and founder of SHS (Smart Hunting Strategies), established in 2001, from British Columbia, Canada. He can be contacted via his blog located at the link below.
http://outdoorswithothmarvohringer.blogspot.com

Posted by O. Vohringer at 07:38 AM | Permalink

Recently I came upon some information about the economic impact hunting has in North America and decided that I should write about it so that other hunters can see too what good we hunters do for our countries economy and wildlife conservation in general.

With the ongoing bashing of our hunting tradition by politically motivated radical groups and organizations that portray hunters as beer-swigging redneck slobs and trigger happy morons that are just as capable of killing a human as they are an animal it might be time to set the record straight and provide some heavy weight ammunition, no pun intended, to combat the slanderous comments the antis loudly proclaim.

Here are some interesting figures published by the Congressional Sportsman's Foundation:
34 million Americans hunt and, or fish. Together these sportsmen and women pour 76 billion dollars annually into the economy and give 1.6 million people jobs. Eight out of ten voters in America are hunting and/or fishing. This is a significant number of people that could produce a significant political clout on the ballot box provided they make use of their right to vote during the presidential election and make their voices heard at the local level on hunting and fishing issues.

Do you think that tennis and skiing are popular? Yes they are but hunting and fishing are more popular; more people hunt and fish than play tennis or ski. If all the hunters in America would decide to move to New York and Los Angeles, everyone else in these cities would have to move out to make room for all the hunters. Everyone knows that NASCAR is very big and popular but not as big and popular as hunting. If all the hunters and fishermen in America would attend a NASCAR race they would fill out every single seat at the track – not once but 13 times.

According to the Congressional Sportsman's Foundation, if we just took the hunters in America and created a corporation to receive all the revenue generated from hunting, that corporation would be listed in the top twenty of Fortune 500. If the fishers would be added to that corporation they would have a financial net-worth of that of Microsoft, Google, E-Bay and Yahoo (76 billion versus 73.6 billion) combined. Very impressive don’t you think? And that is only America. Add to this Canada with similar figures and heck, why not Mexico too, and you are talking about some serious money here. Why Canada and Mexico too, you might ask. The hunting heritage is a North American tradition that is shared by all hunters in these three countries and so are the efforts of wildlife and habitat conservation. Here is another bit of good news that came from the same survey: the vast majority of Americans support legal hunting and more than 95% support legal fishing. Compare that to the miniscule 3% that subscribe to the animal rights agenda. Most of these 3% are not consistent in their animal rights beliefs and only a handful of them are activists.

But the hunters financial, material and physical input does not end with the dollars generated through the purchase of hunting goods and license fees. The survey tells us that the vast majority of hunters in America are active members of such notable organizations as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants For Ever, Trout Unlimited plus a long list of equally important national and local wildlife conservation organizations and clubs that generate additional billions directly earmarked of wildlife and habitat restoration. Many hunters and fishers are members in more than one such organization and club. Hunters and fishers are also the folks that almost exclusively donate their own time and personal efforts in various programs provided by organizations and wildlife agencies to actively get involved in wildlife and nature stewardship.

In short, the report shows very clearly that no single person or organization does more for wildlife and habitat than hunters and fishers. These efforts can be enjoyed by all people, including the anti hunters and animal rights folks. The quote attributed to Winston Churchill, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” seems also very appropriate to what the hunters and fishers do for the rest of society. The fact is that if it weren’t for the actions and dollars of hunters and fishers the elk, turkey, ducks, geese, salmon and trout would have gone a long time ago the way of the Dodo. The same is true for the many state parks and other publicly accessible lands; it is the hunters and fishers that keep these lands and water bodies open to the public with money and personal efforts.

So next time you see a TV show where animal rights protest against hunting or ridicule hunters in slanderous ways, remember that this is not the big picture. Also remember that PETA and the likes spend less than 0.2% of the millions they make annually on wildlife and habitat conservation. Remember that these folks do not speak for the majority of the American people even if they make it sound like they do. It’s also worth knowing that some jurisdictions that have in the past adopted some of the animal rights agenda on wildlife and habitat conservation have had to regret the negative consequences it had on wildlife and the environment.

Next time you see a flock of ducks or geese flying south thank the hunters. The next time you hear the thunderous gobble of a turkey or the bugle of a bull elk remember that hunter’s dollars and their personal efforts saved these species from certain extinction and not the animal rights groups. Next time you hike in a state park and admire the beauty of nature and wildlife thank the hunters whose money makes sure that parks stay open to the public and remain safe from developers. If it were not for hunter dollars much of the public land we take for granted only could be kept open through drastic increases of taxes or making visitors paying an entry free.

As you surely have figured out by now the abundant wildlife that makes North America one of the ecologically richest areas in the world is the direct result of our hunting heritage and the hunter’s active commitment to wildlife and habitat conservation.

Looking at the above dollar figures and comparing them to that of the animal rights movement it amazes me that we seem to have such a struggle against the anti hunting lobby. Perhaps we should learn from the animal rights groups how to promote our heritage in the media. Animal rights groups get heard in the media because they know how to make it work for them. To use a quote of Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) “We are absolute media whores.” Indeed, the animal rights movement spends the lion’s share of their dollars on promoting their agenda in the media, the schools and in the communities.

My suggestion is that our hunting industry and the various hunter-founded organizations actively go public with their efforts in the mainstream media to promote our cause to the communities at large. While everybody knows who PETA is you will be hard pressed to find a member of the general public that knows anything about the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited or the National Wild Turkey Federation let alone knowing what these and many other fine hunter founded organizations do for our wildlife and habitat.

I am convinced that if the hunting industry and the large organizations would get together and invest just a comparatively small sum of the multi-billion dollars to “advertise” in the mainstream media and promote our cause in the schools on a national level we could silence the animal rights movement and make their threat to our heritage a thing of the past. It is my opinion that if we want our heritage to survive into a prosperous future we must educate the average man, women and child on the street, in the schools and in their homes via the media. It is these people, the majority, which have no opinion on hunting and could become our biggest allies on the ballot box. Isn’t it about time that the general public heard the full truth and not just the lies and deception of the animal rights activists?

Othmar Vohringer is a freelance outdoor writer, seminar speaker and founder of SHS (Smart Hunting Strategies), established in 2001, from British Columbia, Canada. He can be contacted via his blog located at the link below.
http://outdoorswithothmarvohringer.blogspot.com

Posted by O. Vohringer at 07:33 AM | Permalink

The Optimizer LT Elite is made of one piece machined aluminum, so durability is standard. The sight has 1 pin, so no confusion on which pin to shoot when you come to full draw. This particular version of the Optimizer LT Elite comes with a 2” sight housing wrapped with 10 feet of .019 green fiber optics, so brightness is a non-issue as well. Sight also is fully adjustable without any tools and is compatible with magnification lens and a light.

I purchased Optimizer LT Elite 5519 on the recommendation of my grandfather, and it is just as nice as he said it was. The design and quality of the sight leaves nothing to be desired. I was able to bolt in on my bow and have every yardage from 20 to 60 yards sighted in, within an hour. That’s impressive.

This sight is designed so that you can shoot your bow at 20 yards and again at 60 yards and through a special piece of tape that comes with the sight find “Your Number”. Your number corresponds to predefined pieces of tape that come with the sight. Find your numbered tape and attach to the sight. Each piece of tape has a range from 20 to 60 yards in 1 yard increments. So after this short exercise, your bow is sighted in for every yard from 20 to 60 and the best part about that, it WORKS… So as I stated, in about an hour you can have this sight setup, sighted in, and ready for hunting, 3D, backyard shooting, whatever the case may be.

CONS
Cons of the sight, and there are a few, as with anything.

The biggest issue, and it may not be an issue for some is weight. The Optimizer LT Elite has a lot of moving parts and is made of high quality materials, so it’s on the heavy side at 11 ounces.

I’m not sure you can count this as a con, since this is what this type of sight is designed to do, but a 1 pin movable sight means just that. Before each shot it must be adjusted for the desired shot distance. With today’s range finders, this can be a great thing as there is no guessing which pin to use, how high to hold, or anything. However, when the shot changes after you come to full draw (Buck catches movement and jumps back 15 yards and stops) you will no longer have the correct yardage on your sight and you’ll need to let the bow down and adjust the sight before an ethical shot can be taken. This may not always be a problem, and may never be a problem. But it “could” be a problem, just something to think about.

One last con would be price, in today’s archery world $100 sights are almost commonplace but this sight gets to the high-end of pricing with a retail of $169.99.

Overall I would say this is a great sight, very well built, and really makes shooting longer distances easy, has a bright pin for low light, and a single pin is a great benefit when buck fever sets in and you end up using the wrong pin and shooting over his back.

Good Luck this year!

Got Questions about the HHA Optimizer or Hunting In General...?? Join the HuntOnly Forums today!!! Talk hunting with fellow hunters from across the country 24/7... Click here to Register, it's Free!

Posted by S. Johnson at 08:40 AM | Permalink

On a cold and blustery November morning in 1996 I sat in my tree stand located on a narrow bench of a steep slope from where I had an excellent view of deer activity. At the base of the slope was a large cornfield. The deer would feed all night on the corn and in the morning headed towards the top of the ridge passing by my stand and eventually into a thicket of young pines. It was the perfect set up for a morning stand.

At around 7:30 am I saw movement down at the edge of cornfield. A look through the binoculars revealed three does and a good buck moving onto the trail that would bring them past my stand. Instantly the numbness in my body from the hours of motionless waiting disappeared in anticipation. Quietly I removed an arrow from the quiver and put it on the bowstring and then attached the release. I was ready for the deer. Since the buck was still a small fork horn I decided to take the first doe that passed under my stand.

The deer were about a quarter of the way up the slope when they heard a sound and stopped dead in their tracks. I heard the sound too and it sounded like the shuffling of a person, perhaps another hunter. The sound came from quite a distance but the deer are alert at this time of year and have grown very wise due to the immense hunting pressure. The lead deer, a mature and wise doe, flicked her ears back and forth in an effort to pinpoint the exact direction the sound came from. Meanwhile the deers noses worked overtime, sucking the air in to detect the slightest scent molecule that would alert them to danger. After about five minutes of listening and sniffing the air, the deer seemed convinced that there was no imminent danger but deemed it prudent to turn back to the security of the dense cornfield.

After that brief encounter I sat in my stand for another hour or so without seeing any more deer. Since the deer had decided not to come to me I knew it was time to set plan B into action- I would have to stalk them in the cornfield. The numbing cold that seeped deep into my bones from sitting in the stand for several hours contributed to that decision and I looked forward to do some walking and stalking.

Cornfields are not only a favorite food source for deer but also offer shelter and security. I have observed many times that deer spend all day in a cornfield, especially big bucks, when the hunting pressure gets to them. Deer have learned that in most cases hunters do not venture into cornfields and thus they feel quite secure in these large fields.

While it is certainly not easy to stalk upon deer in a cornfield it is not impossible to do. The biggest problems for a hunter attempting to stalk deer in a cornfield are noise from brushing against dry cornstalks, limited visibility in the thick cornrows and wind direction. Lets look at the above problems in detail and see how we can overcome them.

Noise:
The two biggest challenges a deer hunter has to overcome are the animals keen senses of hearing and smell. To camouflage the sounds of clothing and gear brushing against the dry corn stalks it is best to wait for windy weather. Deer don’t like wind because it makes it difficult for them to hear and smell so they will usually stop traveling and sit the weather out. For the cornfield stalking hunter wind means that his sounds will be muffled amidst all the sounds of rustling cornstalks.

Wind:
As I said above windy weather will muffle the noise you make but in a cornfield wind currents can be very unpredictable. This is not so much an issue when the winds are strong and thus eliminate any unpredictable breezes that may carry your scent where you don’t want it to go.

Limited visibility:
Cornfield deer hunting can be very exciting because visibility for both deer and hunter are very limited. It is possible to stalk almost to within touching distance of a deer. Careful stalking and long observation times are necessary to avoid deer spooking or you being surprised by a deer. Because of the short distances involved the best cornfield hunting weapons are bows, muzzleloaders and slug guns with short barrels. These weapons are easier to maneuver around in the dense cornfield. Shooting ranges are often so close that the use of bow pin sights and riflescopes are superfluous. Bow hunters can learn to shoot instinctively at distances of up to 20 yards, as there often will not be enough time to sight the target with a pin and peep sighting system. Firearm hunters can use open sights; a scope if used at all, should be low powered, no more than 4x. Practice shooting fast, as many shots will be short and fast at alert deer.

How to successfully stalk deer in a cornfield:
Cornfields consist of single cornstalk rows. Deer usually feed, travel and rest in the narrow lanes between standing cornrows. The best way I have found to stalk a cornfield is by starting at one corner of the cornfield on the downwind side. Good camouflage from head to toe including hands and face are essential. The bow or gun should be held against your chest in a vertical position so that the weapon doesn’t brush against cornstalks as you cross the rows. Begin with your eyes and ears on full alert at the downwind side of the cornfield. Slowly sneak across the cornfield from row to row, cautiously peeking up and down each row before you move on to the next row. After you have reached the far end of the cornfield, walk down as far as you can see within the cornrows – 40 to 80 yards depending on the density of corn leaves and ground weeds. Now cut back across the rows in the opposite direction as described above, again slowly moving from row to row peeking up and down each row for deer. Never try to move the whole body at once through a row of corn. First move your head into the row and slowly move it to either side looking for deer. If the coast is clear slowly move one foot and then the other into the row. Continue this back and forth pattern until you have covered the whole field – or you spot a deer.

If you see something that looks like a deer in the field but aren’t quite sure take a look at it with the binoculars since dirt, clumps of weed or crunched up cornstalks can look from a distance like bedded deer. Also make sure you look not only to the sides of each row but also in front of you and behind you before you move on to the next row, it could well be that a deer is right ahead of you or moved behind you while you where busy watching your sides.

You see a buck bedded down in the cornfield- now what?

If you have identified a deer as legal game you can take the shot immediately if the deer is within range of your chosen weapon and you have a clear shot at its vitals. You also can stalk closer to the deer but before you begin your stalk use your binoculars to check the surroundings and the intended stalking route for any other deer that may be nearby. Spooking a deer will ruin your stalk and hunt for that day. If the coast is clear do the following:

Quietly backtrack 10 to 15 cornrows; the idea is to put enough standing cornrows between you and the deer to block its view. Now comes the most difficult part of the stalk. Slowly and quietly sneak down the cornrow in the direction where the deer is bedded. Don’t rush your approach and be as quiet as possible, any slight mistake you make now will result in the deer jumping up and being gone. Remember deer always sleep with both ears at full alert and one eye open. When you have closed some distance to the deer you’re faced with the difficult task of stalking back across the intervening cornrows. Again check frequently with your binoculars for hidden deer and your targeted deer. Should the targeted deer suddenly become alert, freeze on the spot - don’t move as much as a muscle until the buck relaxes again. Once you have closed the distance you need and have an open shooting lane - take the shot.

Going after bucks in standing cornfields is a tough task but lots of fun too and you should give it a try, especially in areas where deer are under heavy hunting pressure. In such areas deer will seek standing cornfields as sanctuaries so be prepared to see lots of deer in a cornfield. Before you attempt to hunt on croplands make sure you get permission from the landowner first.

Back to my standing cornfield hunt on that blustery cold November day: Just a few minutes into the stalk I busted a bedded doe, she jumped up and sounded the alarm. Within seconds the cornfield came alive with deer running and jumping all around me. Although I didn’t shoot a deer on that day it made me realize that cornfields can be real hotspots for deer, holding big bucks you never thought are in your hunting area.

Othmar Vohringer is a freelance outdoor writer, seminar speaker and founder of SHS (Smart Hunting Strategies) established in 2001 from British Columbia, Canada. He can be contacted via his blog located at the link below.
http://outdoorswithothmarvohringer.blogspot.com

Posted by O. Vohringer at 09:32 AM | Permalink

For as long as I can remember this issue has been festering among archers. The Internet forums are full of heated controversy between the vertical and horizontal archers. What puzzles me most is seeing how some archery organizations feed this controversy by purposely spreading false hype and misinformation, and for what? Mainly, to protect their own agenda and selfish goals.

Here are just some of the commonly made statements that surface with regularity about crossbows:

“Crossbows are an ineffective hunting weapon.”
“Crossbows lead to unethical behavior”
“Crossbows are not archery equipment, they are guns with a string.”
“Crossbows are not traditional archery”.

Hogwash, I say. Lets look at some undeniable facts.

Is the crossbow traditional?
You bet. Crossbows are as much traditional as the longbow and certainly more traditional than the modern compound bows. The first mention of crossbows can be found from 800 years ago in Europe and more than 1000 years ago in China. How much more traditional can it get?

Does the crossbow lead hunters to unethical behavior?
This is the most ludicrous of all the statements against the crossbow. Actually it is a ludicrous statement for any hunting weapon choice, be that a rifle, longbow, compound or a crossbow. Weapons do not lead to unethical behavior. People, however, can and at times will engage in unethical behavior regardless of what they use to hunt with. In other words it is the person using the weapon that has to make the decision to use that tool in an ethical manner and within its capability or not.

Are crossbows or not archery equipment?
Yes they are. A crossbow is styled and functions exactly on the same principle of a vertical bow. An arrow is placed on the string and if the string is released it will catapult the arrow off the shelf. The mechanics are exactly the same too in that just like with any bow the string is attached to either end of a flexible limb that bends backward if the string is pulled and then reflexes when the string is let loose, thus creating the force that shoots the arrow. The only difference is that the bow is mounted onto a “stick” (that is all it was in the beginning of the crossbow history) and that the string is held by a mechanism that has to be released with some sort of trigger. Not much different than using a release aid for a compound bow with the only difference that the string is not held in place manually with muscle power. The crossbow is mounted onto a stock that looks similar to a gunstock, that is the only similarity it has with a rifle and that does not make the crossbow a gun, not by a long shot – no pun intended.

“Not by a long shot”; that brings me neatly to the next accusation:

“Crossbows are an ineffective hunting weapon.”
Really! If that is so then how could a small band of Swiss freedom fighters some 800 odd years ago send the mighty longbow army of the Austrian and German Emperor running and scrambling for safer places? There are many other related examples from early history proving the efficiency and accuracy of the crossbow. The crossbow, just like any other game harvesting tool, is a very accurate and efficient weapon when used within its limits. A crossbow has about the same efficiency and accuracy range as the modern compound bow.

With expanding deer populations every where and the efforts of game commissions to control this deer explosion, more hunting opportunities have been created and seasons have been made longer. Shouldn’t we welcome more hunters into our ranks so the wildlife populations can be controlled effective