Turkey habits vary greatly by region and local area. Some Eastern and Merriam's birds become accustomed to human activity and inhabit cities and towns, while a few miles away the mere sight of a car will send birds into cover. In some western areas birds may frequent farmyards, use groves and buildings for roost sites; exhibit no fear of humans, dogs or livestock; and become pets.
Continue reading "Understanding Turkeys/Turkeys Habits 101" »
Turkey habits vary greatly by region and even local areas. Some Eastern and Merriam's turkeys become accustomed to human activity and inhabit cities and towns, while a few miles away the mere sight of a car will send birds into cover. In some western areas birds may frequent farmyards, use groves and buildings for roost sites; exhibit no fear of humans, dogs or livestock; and become pets.
Reaction to Danger
Wild turkeys are extremely wary, with excellent eyesight, but they don't hear much better than the average human. However, they are very aware of suspicious noises. Their first reaction to possible danger is alarm, the sounding of the Alarm Putt, and they often fly or run away. Turkeys have better eyesight than humans but, because of their widely spaced eyes, they have poor binocular vision and depth perception; they see very little in front of them with both eyes at the same time, which makes it difficult for them to determine the relative size and distance of objects. However, movement makes them alert.
The sun was already high in the sky when Bill and I saw our first Nebraska turkeys. They weren’t in the wooded ravines where I expected them; they were just off the highway that ran through the Sandhills region of north central Nebraska. I had just been commenting on the lack of trees, except for those around the numerous abandoned and occasionally occupied farmhouses. Then I saw the two tom turkeys, strutting 20 yards from a highway department sand pile, 50 yards from a farmhouse, complete with a dog lying in the dust near the front porch and several cats. Because of the amount of white on their tail feathers and rump I thought they were domestic turkeys. But, when we passed a flock of fifteen turkeys walking across the prairies 15 miles down the road I realized I was seeing my first Merriam’s Turkeys.
When you are calling turkeys you need to understand the meaning of the calls they use, and when and why they are used. So, let's talk turkey talk. Turkey researchers have described as many as 20 different turkey calls, which fall into six basic categories; Agonistic, Alarm, Contact, Flying, Maternal/Neonatal and Mating.
Continue reading "Turkey Communication / Advanced Turkey Talk" »
It was still dark as I turned the Suburban off the gravel road onto the field access road that ended at oak woods a half mile away. Not wanting to alert the turkeys, I turned off the engine and got out, quietly closing the door behind me. I reached into my turkey vest, pulled out my Lohman owl hooter and blew eight notes, imitating te call of a Barred Owl. A thundering gobble answered my call, followed by two more gobbles. Good, the birds were right where I expected them, roosted on the died of a southeast facing ridge about two hundred yards from the picked cornfield where I had seen them feeding before sunset last night.
If the birds did what they normally did , they would fly down about 15 minutes before sunrise, spend a little time looking for food in the woods, and ten would work there way along the bottom of the ravine until they came out of the woods into the cornfield.
When you call turkeys in the fall it's helpful to understand the differences between spring and fall calls. Since the birds most likely to respond to calling in the fall are the young, you should use the calls of the hen and her young. In the spring the poults signal to the hen that they are lost by using the three note Lost Whistle; a high pitched peep, peep, peep. As the turkey poults grow their voices change, and the Lost Whistle they used in the spring becomes the Kee-Kee, which is the juvenile version of the "Here I am. Where are you?" or Lost Yelp, of the adult birds. This call should probably be re-named the Kee-Kee-Kee. Sonogram recordings of the Kee-Kee show that it usually consists of three (not two) unevenly spaced .10-.15 second notes, performed in one second. The first note is short and not as high pitched as the last two notes, and the call generally rises in pitch.
Even though the first day of the spring turkey hunt was cloudy, and a cold wind was blowing, I headed for the soybean field where I had seen a flock of turkeys appear just after daylight for the last two weeks. I was fairly sure the birds wouldn’t show up because of the weather. Just to be on the safe side I drove to the field forty-five minutes before daylight. I parked on the road, got out of the suburban, and owl hooted loudly. When I didn’t get an answer I hooted again. Still no answer. I waited several minutes as the sky grew lighter and then blew a flydown cackle. No answer. The birds were either not there or not talking.
From early to late December the does that did not conceive earlier may come into a late estrus. Older unhealthy does and does fawns may come into estrus at this time. Both the dominant and subdominant bucks may start cruising, scraping and chasing does again. By late December most of the breeding is done and the bucks may return to their core areas to rest up after the rut, and feed to put on the weight they lost during the rut, so they can make it through the winter. Depending on the severity of the weather, the snow depth, and the availability of food sources, the deer may shift from fall home ranges to winter home ranges. In some areas they may migrate from less than one mile, to several miles. It's time to buy your feed and supplements for winter-feeding. Locate the food sources and watch them to find out which ones the bucks are using.
Continue reading "Pre-Late Breeding, Late Breeding and Post Rut Phases" »
In many areas mid-September to mid-October is a time of transition, for both the deer and the habitat. As summer rains decrease some food sources become dry and unpalatable to deer, and other food sources (such as nuts berries and agricultural crops) start to ripen, making them more palatable. October is also when temperatures may begin to drop and the wind speed increases, which means the deer may begin to look for core areas more suitable to colder, windier weather.
The result of these seasonal forage availability and weather pattern changes is that the deer may have from one to four seasonal home ranges; spring summer, fall, and winter. In many areas the deer begin to shift from their summer home ranges to their fall home ranges from early September and late October. Sometimes the deer (both bucks and does) will use the same core areas for different seasonal home ranges, but they use different portions of their home ranges for different seasons.
Continue reading "Hunting Transitional (mid-September to mid-October) Bucks" »
There was a time when hunter would visit the hardware store, pick up a bag of nails and some wood and head to their favorite spot to erect a stand. Treestands, when used correctly, are one of the whitetails hunter’s greatest advantages over their prey. In this day and age, hunters have a vast array of methods to get above a whitetail. The type of treestand you choose depends on the situation and surroundings you’re hunting in.
First and foremost, a hunter must read the manufactures instructions on the gear they are using. He or she must also remember to wear a safety harness while climbing into and using a stand. The majority of accidents and injuries sustained while hunting come during the climb into or out of a treestand.
In much of North America late summer and early fall is the start of the pre- rut and/or rubbing phase for white-tailed deer. As their testosterone levels begin to rise the bucks start rubbing trees and shrubs to remove the dried velvet from their antlers. While many hunters know that bucks begin rubbing at this time, they may not realize that bucks may also begin making scrapes at this time. These early season scrapes often go undetected by hunters, because they are either not looking for them, or they don't recognize them as scrapes.
Continue reading "Hunting Pre-Rut / Rubbing Phase Whitetails" »
In many areas mid-September to mid-October is a time of transition, for both the deer and the habitat. As summer rains decrease some food sources become dry and unpalatable to deer, and other food sources (such as nuts berries and agricultural crops) start to ripen, making them more palatable. October is also when temperatures may begin to drop and the wind speed increases, which means the deer may begin to look for core areas more suitable to colder, windier weather.
Whitetail hunters are learning that the place to hunt for trophies may not be wilderness areas or farms, but in and around major metropolitan areas. Many of the freeways surrounding these areas throughout the United States cut through old farm lots, agricultural fields, swamps ravines, and cross wooded creeks and river bottoms. These areas often remain undeveloped for years, providing excellent feeding and bedding areas for white-tailed deer. Some of the property may be purchased by large corporations that wish to build corporate headquarters in wooded areas. These corporations often fence the property for security purposes, in turn creating deer refuges. Deer use the fenced property as bedding areas but must often leave through gaps in the fence or jump it to feed in nearby undeveloped wooded areas and fallow farm fields, providing hunting for opportunistic hunters.
In much of North America white-tailed deer can be found in and near cornfields. In the Midwestern corn-belt a majority of the whitetail's habitat may be corn. With the large size of these fields, and with the lack of wooded areas whitetail deer, including trophy bucks, travel, feed and bed in the corn. Because these fields offer security, bedding cover and food the deer spend all day in the corn.
Fire Suppression
Fires, whether from natural causes such as lighting, or caused by humans (intentionally or unintentionally) on prairies and meadows, and in brushy areas and forests, have been part of the natural process of plant regeneration for centuries. Even naturally caused wildfires can be beneficial as they reduce natural fuels, which in turn reduces the chances of wild fires in the near future.
Continue reading "Habitat Management and Fire for Whitetails" »
Part of the problem with "the idea of conservation" is that we humans may have begun to realize too late that in order for this planet, and us, to survive, we must conserve, and preserve, much more of the native habitat of the entire world, than we ever realized - until just the last century, after much of the important and needed habitat has already been destroyed - by us. We need to look at not only saving a particular wildlife or plant species, but saving the surrounding habitat and other species that are all dependent on each other for survival and reproduction.
I don't claim to know a lot about habitat conservation, other than to say I know that we need it, for a variety of reasons. I've lost at least two good deer hunting areas to development since 1997 (obviously those areas also contained songbirds, small mammals, trees, shrubs, herbs, forbes (wildflowers), butterflies and other invertebrates. I've also noticed the destruction of good wildlife habitat (for housing or business development projects) in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and many other states. As a result of this I find myself becoming more interested in, and hopefully more knowledgeable about, both wildlife and habitat conservation.
During May the bucks and does may begin to move to their summer home ranges. The does may begin to look for fawning areas. Turkey hunting may still be going on in some areas. While you are scouting and hunting turkeys you can also be deer scouting, figuring out where the deer are at so you can watch them in the fall, when you can determine if there are any big bucks around.
By June the bucks and does should be on their summer home ranges, and the does should be fawning. It's time to start working on habitat improvement, fertilizing, mowing, spraying, and clearing trails and paths. You can also start glassing from the roads, to see if there are any big bucks out there, and where they hang out.
White-tailed deer leave several different signs as evidence of where they have been. Both bucks and does leave behind trails, tracks droppings and beds. Bucks also leave behind rubs and scrapes as they prepare for the breeding season or "rut" during the fall. Knowing how to read these signs can help you to know when and where to find white-tailed deer throughout the year.
For both the deer and the deer manager, March is a time when things are in transition. Winter is giving way to spring, and the deer are loosing weight because many of the food sources are depleted. The deer may begin moving from their winter range to their summer range during late March. To abate their hunger the deer begin looking for new green growth. For the deer manager, now is the time to prepare for spring planting; get planting equipment ready, order seed and mineral. Scout for turkey hunting.
Minerals
With the coming of spring, minerals are needed by both the bucks and does, as the bucks develop new racks and the does continue fetus growth. To adequately provide mineral for all the deer you should have one mineral lick for each forty acres of land. The licks should be placed in high use areas with adequate cover so that the animals readily find and use them. Minerals are most easily utilized by deer in granular form; they should be supplied on the ground in a sheltered area where they won't be washed away, or in a covered bin. You can still scout and look for shed antlers.
By early April the deer should be on their spring home ranges, looking for new green growth to gain back the fat they lost during the winter. This is when bucks begin growing their antlers, so if there is not enough forage for the deer to eat, you may want to provide supplemental feed and minerals to help the bucks grow larger racks. If you can, now is a good time to do a soil test and enrich and fertilize the soil. It's a good thing there is not too much for the deer manager to do this month, because it's time to scout and hunt turkeys. You can do some spring deer scouting while your are at it; whitetail trails, tracks rubs, scrapes and shed antlers are very evident in early spring. The information you gain now may tell you where to find the deer this fall and winter.
I've always felt that the more you know about the biology of the animal you are hunting, the better you will be at understanding when and where to find it, and that will make you a better hunter. So let's talk turkey. Sight is a main means of defense against predators for turkeys, so they often use open fields and meadows as feeding and strutting sites; and wooded areas as mid-day loafing and roosting sites.
Continue reading "Understanding Turkeys/Turkey Biology 101" »
Whoever said “you don’t know how good you got it till it’s gone” should receive a literary award. I’m dead serious. What other statement could ring so true? Especially since I am saying it now. I can only fondly remember how good I once had it, hunting in the Midwest with plenty of private ground for me to roam and easily mess up a good hunt. I never had to do this crazy new wave thing called “scouting” (I mean really, aren’t the birds supposed come to you all the time?) or ever had to beg a complete stranger to shoot at a couple geese. I had the crème de la crème of spots back home! Hundreds and hundreds of acres of flooded corn fields! People were begging ME to hunt! And now I, the big shot Midwestern waterfowl king, reduced to this! I couldn’t believe it.
White-tailed deer in the northern and mid-latitude states should be on their winter home ranges, looking for remaining/preferred food sources. In some areas there may still be some fawns getting bred. In the south they may still be on fall ranges, and still breeding.
Coping with Communicable Diseases
Because the spread of diseases such as Tuberculosis, Chronic Wasting Disease and Necrobacillosis is a concern in areas of high deer concentrations (such as the Midwest and Southeast), since baiting and feeding has been banned in many states, because of the fear of the spread of contagious diseases, you should probably no longer feed deer or provide them with minerals in those areas. If you want to increase the overall health of the deer in areas where the spread of disease is a concern you can still provide adequate winter d nutrition by planting food plots designed for winter feeding and, by providing adequate browse during the winter months.
It was a cold February morning when I left the house about an hour after sunrise; the temperature was 15 degrees, the wind chill was 5 degrees, the wind was from the northwest and the sky was clear. It wasn't the best of days to go scouting, but it was warmer than it had been in several days. I hoped the warmer weather would cause the deer and turkeys to come out and feed. As I drove down the gravel road a half mile from the house I noticed turkeys feeding in the snow covered soybean field on the south side of an oak woods. The woods was a traditional wintering area for many of the turkeys within a two-mile area.
After years of researching white-tailed deer, elk, turkey and waterfowl, and photographing them, I've learned that in order to observe the natural behavior of birds and animals, and get pictures of them you need to: 1. Understand their behavior, so you know when and where they are most active, 2. Be where they are when they are most active, 3. Get as close as you can without disturbing them, 4. Use good, high-powered optics such as binoculars, spotting scopes and camera lenses and, 5. Use amplified earphones to hear better.
You can learn bout the daily and seasonal behavior of birds and animals by reading books about them, going to seminars, learning from others, or by personal experience. I suggest you do the first three before you learn by personal experience, because it will cut down on your learning curve time. Then spend as much time as possible observing and listening to the animals for yourself.
Continue reading "Wildlife Viewing & Photography Insights" »
By now, in most parts of the country, the rut is starting to wind down. Although there may be a few does that come into estrous yet, the majority has already been bred and bucks have trying to recover for a strenuous last few weeks. During the rut, bucks actively search for does for the majority of the day. Unlike the summer months, when their lives revolve around food and water, bucks are actively searching for does the majority of the time during late October and November Instead of feeding heavily and resting, bucks rarely feed and quickly burn up their fat reserves. Once the rut is over, they concentrate more on finding food and bulking back up in order to survive the winter.
Here in central Illinois, the winter months can be pretty brutal. It’s only the first few days of December and we’ve already had a few inches of snow and temperatures have been in the single digits at night. Deer around here will have to survive another 3 months of this weather. Combine these conditions with the rigors of the rut, and you quickly understand why deer begin to feed heavily this time of year.
I got a phone call in June of 2004 from Don Tyschuk owner and Outfitter of Alberta Whitetail Connection. I knew Don from a previous hunt in 2000 which was the first time I had hunted Alberta Canada. Don wanted to know if I could make the trip up to hunt with him because he had a cancellation so I jumped on the opportunity because Don only hunts 7 rifle hunters a year.
The first year I hunted with him I took a nice 10 point but I had something bigger on my mind this time. My hunt would begin on the 21st of November which is the fourth week of the rut and considered by some not to be the best week but Don assured me that the bucks will still be chasing doe's so I was very excited about going. I would also have to contend with a full moon that week but again Don convinced me that the bucks had more on their mind then a moon and it would not effect the movement.
Of course the name Mitch Rompola has come up every year on message boards everywhere since that famous November 13th 1998. Most everyone has seen the pictures of the “Potential World Record Whitetail” taken on this day. The controversy that surrounds Mitch Rompola, and this famous whitetail is unreal. I for one, loved the story and to read about all the “it’s a fake” theories, ect. Well I came across this video the other day, I don’t know much about it, other then it says that it is Mitch Rompola narrating and filming the recovery of this famous deer. I find it very hard to believe that someone could film, and have pictures of this deer if it was a fake. I know this is brought up every year, but I’d really like to know what the real story is, and if this deer is real, and is hanging on his wall, I think it deserves the credit. Click the link below to check out the Video and stop by the message board and chime in on the thread in the “Deer Hunting” Forum.
In 1994 I began researching deer, using a journal and keeping a record of all my deer sightings, their location, sex, size and activity; along with their direction of travel, the temperature, wind-speed, wind-chill, humidity, dewpoint, cloud cover, precipitation, barometric pressure, moon position and moonlight. As a result of my seven-year study I realized there were several different meteorological conditions that both decreased, and increased daytime deer movement. I was most interested in the conditions that caused increased deer movement during the day. After analyzing my data, and correlating it with my observations over the years, I discovered several conditions that cause deer to move during the day once the rut has ended.
Several environmental conditions; including amount and type of light and weather, and lunar factors, may affect game movement. The conditions given will apply to most antlered and horned game, with the exception that larger animals, because they experience less heat loss are more tolerant of; low temperatures, dewpoints and windchills; and heavy precipitation. Northern subspecies of deer, elk and moose that are larger than their southern relatives are able to withstand colder conditions. Elk, moose and caribou tolerate lower temperatures than deer and antelope. Sheep and goats, because they have thick coats, tolerate colder, wetter conditions.
Continue reading "Deer Activity and Meteorological Conditions" »
Whether you hunt on your own or with a guide, there are a few things to remember when you are hunting geese. A couple of guided hunts near the Rochester Goose Refuge near Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN are excellent examples of things to think about before you hunt. The hunts were scheduled well ahead of time, according to the dates when some friends of mine were going to be in town, and on days that the guide had openings. We hunted during the week before Thanksgiving, which is when the migratory Canada geese from Manitoba generally arrive in Rochester. Unfortunately, it had been quite warm in Manitoba, and less than 20,000 of the normal 35,000 migratory geese had arrived in Rochester. Many of those geese had been there for up to two weeks, and they had been hunted constantly during that time.
I was making the nightly rounds on my seven-year deer research project when I saw the big bodied 10 point buck for the first time. It was just before sunset on a cold January night, when five does and fawns came down off a hill and crossed the road twenty yards in front of the truck. Luckily I was only going fifteen miles per hour, or I might have hit the buck as he ran across the road ten yards behind the does. The buck was so close I had to hit the brakes to keep from him. When the deer got across the road they stopped in the alfalfa field and looked back, then they walked fifty yards further from the road, where the does began to feed while the buck surveyed the Suburban. I stopped and grabbed my binoculars for a better look. He had a high wide rack with five evenly matched points on each side, and massive main beams that were almost flat. I watched the buck for about five minutes, until he turned and walked into the woods at the far side of the field. That was the night I decided I wanted to see the buck up close and personal.
2006 Election: What it means to you and your Hunting
As a hunter, you might think that this 2006 congressional election has little to do with you and hunting. But in fact, there are a few issues that can affect you directly. To make a better choice next week at the polls, here’s what you need to know:
CPR: The nation’s current craze with bio-fuel may threaten decades of work done to preserve wildlife. The Conservation Reserve Program sets aside millions of acres that act as natural habitat for the surrounding fish and wildlife. If our government puts biofuels in the front interest above CPR a large portion of that land will be lost in the pursuit of fuel alternatives. Make sure your political candidate supports actions in the Farm Bill, which state that fish and wildlife concerns will remain part of biofuel program planning.
Whitetail deer communicate through many different senses: vocally, visually, and through scents. Combining these can be a deadly combination.
A scrape is a visual sign post. Unlike rubs, which are seldom revisited once first created, some scrapes are reworked rather frequently. A whtietail buck makes a scrape to mark his territory and to communicate to other whitetail deer in the area. He leaves his scent behind for other deer to know that he is in the area and this is his ground. By making mock scrapes, you’re showing him that there is another whitetail buck in the area that thinks the spot is his. Whether or not he’s up to the challenge is up to him.
Something that I have always loved doing is fox hunting at night, so when my friend Glenn called me and asked if I wanted to go, I couldn't get changed fast enough. While driving to Glenn’s to pick him up, I was mentally going over all the spots that have produced for me in the past and evaluating the ambush sites.
When we arrived at our first site there was a calm in the air that made it feel like tonight was going to be a good night; little did we know just how good. The sun had just set and we were setting up for the first ambush. We picked out a spot near the top of a ridge that gave us cover over the whole bottom. Glenn positioned himself on one side of a big, old oak tree, and I was on the other side with the caller. The idea was for Glenn to shoot the fox while I did the calling.
Continue reading "Killing Time Between Hunting Seasons..." »
The Transformation
The sound of breaking sticks as I pave my way through the woods, the solitude and peacefulness of sitting on stand, and the adrenaline that rushes through my body while I wait for the perfect shot opportunity has created an obsession within me. The feeling that comes over me during those few seconds is the most addicting feeling I have ever experienced. Unlike most hunters, I didn’t grow up surrounded by many hunters. My grandfather hunted, but I seldom was able to hunt with him since he lived in West Virginia.
Continue reading "Weekend Whitetail Warrior Gone Obsessive" »
The anticipation of the season to come is already forcing me to lose sleep. My TiVo is starting to fill up with the latest hunting shows, and I find myself daydreaming of the heart pounding action that is bow hunting. Yes there are still months to go before I will actually be perched in a tree, but it’s already starting. My mind becomes so consumed with hunting it’s hard to focus on anything else. I catch myself thinking of the close encounters with giant whitetails of years past and wondering if I will get the shot opportunity this year.
