Got one...but good lesson learned...2011 Buck (pic)

Well I did it, i got my one Indiana buck for the 2011 whitetail season. It isn't gonna break any state records but it will make Pope & Young and that my friends is plenty of a trophy in my opinion! I'll first share the pictures then on to the story and the reason I shouldn't have found this buck.

Now for the story...well the wind was out of the West and that makes my Ol' Faithful treestand worthless. I thought about not hunting our property at all and go to a neighbor's we'd gain permission on but I had a feeling that maybe I should go hunt the other side of our property near some red oaks and our main food plot (still small at 1/2 an acre). This treestand was perfect for western wind, I'd just never had much luck at all here with a bow seeing as how the deer movements normally are 50 yards away and I just don't shoot that far with my bow (even though the bow is capable). Well morning hunt was a good one, I had a nice 8-pointer feed on acorns in front of me for at least 25 minutes and then filter on back to bedding area.

Well I kicked myself for not squeezing the trigger on the 8 as I packed up at the end of the morning hunt. After a warm brunch and quick nap I was back up the same tree stand around 2:45 and ready for the long sit till I'd be out of legal light at 7:34. Nothing was moving except the trees, the wind at times got up to 35mph gusts I found out later and believe me I felt every gust.

It wasn't until 6:00 that stuff started happening. Squirrels started coming out, as did a flock of 20 turkeys who came right under my stand. The wind had died and things were finally moving. Not only did the turkeys move but now the Northern Indiana Militia of Squirrels was making an appearance. With about 8 squirrels all around me a doe came in at 6:30pm. Even though it isn't the rut I knew instantly to stand (I normally am standing but wasn't) when I could, get bow in hand and be ready in case a buck would filter in as well. around 6:50 the doe was still feeding on acorns when I saw it. The buck had stepped out of the bedding area in the exact same spot the doe had and was heading my way. I instantly knew this buck would use one of my arrows if presented the chance, I stopped studying the rack all together and focused on not moving and waiting.

The buck filtered around a mere 20 yards in front of me, for what seemed like an eternity, before I finally decided I couldn't wait any longer. I squeezed my arrow into a volleyball sized hole and immediately knew it found it's mark. The buck ran off with tail tucked, a great sign, and would eventually be heard crashing (or so I thought).


Here's where the story turns to the ugly. We searched for over 2 hours for that buck...and the blood went cold. At this point we were assuming it was a high shot, hence the slow blood trail. We decided we had to wait till the next morning...talk about a restless night!

Next morning I wake up, shower, dress and head outside to hop into the truck...only to be greeted by rain! The absolute worst experience of my hunting career just took a turn for the worse. What was going to be a track the blood trail in daylight, would now be nothing more then searching for a needle in a haystack. We started looking for it in the briar patch where I thought I heard it crash, but sadly after a full hour of crawling, army crawling and forcing my way through briars it turned up nothing. So we continued on East, the direction he was heading at last blood, and kept making circles and zig-zags throughout the woods. At one point my father decides he's gonna go back to last blood and restart fresh...I decide to search the area he just came from and maybe go towards the road more. In order to shorten the story I finally did find my buck but not until I'd given up hope of ever finding him. He was a mere 3 feet from a watery marsh that sits over 400 yards away from the stand I shot it in....

So now I can say I've been there when guys call me saying they couldn't find a deer...it's a gut wrenching, sleep depriving, hunger stealing type of feeling only true hunters can relate too. My advice though would be to stick with it. If you know you hit the deer good, don't push the thing that same night and the next day...what ever you do don't give up. That deer deserves you to keep looking...nothing worse than a dead deer to go unfound. That creature called the Whitetail deer is in my opinion one of the most awesome creatures God ever created and all of us need to respect that creation. Keep lookin'...you just might stumble upon your deer and be like me...a kid again hopping up and down yippin and hollerin so loud people from miles around could hear!

Good luck this season everyone!

Scents and the truth about them is...

               They all have, will and can work. Yes you saw that right, I said they all work. You look up any scent and you’ll find guys claiming success from them. If you think about that, it makes sense because deer by nature are curious animals; so sometimes curiosity alone is going to allow success to follow the application of any scent on the market. Likewise any scent given the right deer and the right situation can and has spooked deer.

                An example of this is one I experienced 2 years ago. I was using what I consider to be the best real deer urine on the market, S&P Scents, and hunting my honey hole. I had created a couple mock scrapes about two weeks prior and now that the pre-rut was in full swing I decided to bust out the Doe-in-Estrous urine for the first time in the season. I applied some to drag and slowly crept the 100+ yards to my stand in the early afternoon. Upon reaching my stand location I applied some in each scrape and shimmied on up the treestand.

                It was only about an hour and I saw a young 4-pointer following my drag line step for step right to my scrapes…he spent easily a half hour trying to figure out where this doe went from the scrapes. He eventually chose to go check out a nearby marsh/bedding area. 20 minutes later he came back up to the scrapes but this time was accompanied by a spike buck. When the spike buck reached the scrape he got all spooked and eventually ran back down to the marsh like he’d been busted by a hunter. The 4-pointer was never phased and I even had 6 does work through my drag line that evening and not one raised a tail at it…but man that spike wanted nothing to do it. Now perhaps he’d just never smelled a doe ready for action and freaked out or he simply didn’t think something was right.

                That is one of only two times I’ve had deer spook at the smell of S&P, but that proves it can happen; which is true of every urine or synthetic based scents.

                One of the newest crazes to hit the market are the aerosol cans of urine, Buck Bomb being perhaps the leader in the field. To be honest it makes scientific sense why some guys are claiming great success using them and it’s that science that caused me to purchase a hand pumped ionizer for myself. All things that smell, especially deer, smell molecules in the air which are naturally mixed with moisture in the air. That’s how that buck could smell you from 40 yards away down wind. Your breath and nature odor released into the air had found its way to his nose. These new aerosol cans disperse scents in a much finer mist, hence releases more scent molecules into the air. This causes a much wider spread area to be affected by the scent. Now not only are millions of tiny molecules going through the air, but that bush you sprayed near is now finely coated in whatever scent you sprayed. That’s exactly what an ionizer does, except now you just push a button where ionizer like mine need primed by hand pumping. While it may not be foolproof and guaranteed, it’s easy to see how aerosol scents may just be the way to go; my own curiosity though is how well does the scents freshness stay in an aerosol form?

                Whatever scent you choose, store it wisely. While I don’t recommend the non-frozen urine based scents as the chemically make up is altered to slow down ammonia build up, it is pivotal with any scent you keep it stored at a consistent temperature.  To be safe I always keep my non-frozen S&P Scents, when I’ve used some, in the refrigerator. Also always try to pick a scent which has obvious research behind it. While I’m not a huge fan, scientists these days are capable of many things; so wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they can imitate deer urine to the degree you, I and the deer will never be able to tell the difference.

                Good luck!

Stick-to-it-ness

So you’ve done what you can. You’ve put a couple small food plots in, you’ve hung your stands months ago, planned your entrance routes and have refused to hunt your stands unless timing and wind is right…but nothing to show for it.

                If you’re like me you’ve been there. All your offseason hard work and you have nothing to show for it. Shoot even the dumb neighbor who does nothing except sets on a tree stump has shot a good buck…pure frustration is all you feel and to be honest you’re justified in feeling that way.

                So what should you do? You basically have two choices. You can either abandon your hunting reason (hope for luck like neighbor-stump-sitter) or you can keep on keepin’ on. If you are okay with taking a yearling buck, by all means go ahead and hunt however you want; despite your hunting sense telling you otherwise. However, if you still want to increase the chance of taking a solid whitetail buck stick-to-it!

                To be honest this is exactly what separates a guy who hunts and a hunter. A true hunter is going to stick to his knowledge; he’s going to play the wind the best he can, use proper scent tactics and position themselves where smart hunters would. He’s not going to settle for less than his minimum no matter how long it takes, even if it means waiting another year.

                Real life example of this would come straight out of my 2008 season. At this point I’d already went one season with no buck and was ready to start a new in 2008. That year I saw more bucks in one season than I believe I ever have to date…but never a shooter I was willing to take. Saw over 12 different deer with 6 points or more, but none fit my 8 point/wide as their ears minimum; I had to watch buck after buck walk away. I refused to lower my standards just to justify the urge to touch antlers, knowing full well I’d regret it mere days later (did that once and hated it).

                It all paid off though as the following season after going 2 seasons with no buck I downed my largest buck to date on October 1, 2009; mere 2 ½ hours into my time in the stand that year.

                So the next time your debating whether to shoot that 5-pointer walking towards you because you’re getting sick of going home empty…remember your minimum and the fact that it only takes a couple minutes and one deer to change your hunting season! Keep on keepin’ on guys, good luck!

                If you happen to bag a deer be sure to email them to me and I’ll post them!

The Art of Being Pleasant

                Every year I receive a text, email or visit from a fellow hunting friend wanting to show me their most recent harvest. Now don’t get me wrong about all that I’m about to say; it’s each hunter prerogative as to what they consider a trophy…but how we react to their “trophy” can cause quite the impact.

                Some of us have our set antler restrictions and for good reasons. We view going a year without harvesting a buck better than shooting that little fork-horn running around. Others though just want a buck and do not care of what caliber; others yet just want meat in the freezer. I’m blessed to have friends and family members from every group which at times can be a curse as well. You see I’m in the group of “Eight points and wide as ears” type of guy for a buck to touch dirt…so when a hunting buddy (who claims to be after solid bucks) shoots me a picture or worse yet a text like this, “Just downed a big buck…pic will be sent soon” I’m absolutely devastated once the picture comes through and it’s a tiny 6-pointer that isn’t even as wide as a bic lighter. However, I’ve learned something over the years; pick your battle educational moments wisely.

                At this moment your fellow hunting buddy is on cloud 9, I mean shoot I’m pumped whenever I put an arrow in a deer or slide some hot lead through their boiler room. Don’t make even the slightest comments that could offend or hurt the other hunter’s feelings.

                 I can remember being 15 and bringing my first buck, scored just shy of 145, to the local sporting goods store to check it in. Guys from everywhere in the store was coming out to see this buck I’d shot. Congrats were coming from every single mouth and slaps on the back were common place. I then remember going back to this place about two weeks later with my dad because I believe he had some bow work getting done. While we were there a truck pulled up and out hopped from the passenger side the happiest little boy I’ve ever seen. The kid maybe weighed 80 pounds and probably couldn’t have been older than 9. You just knew in the back of dad’s truck was his first deer. It didn’t take long for the little kid’s excitement to grab some attention and as dad lowered the tailgate to show us all his son’s first buck (a fork-horn) his son sounded like Stan Potts explaining exactly how the hunt went and was so excited he had to slow down and repeat himself once. We were all congratulating him and then walked up this middle-aged guy, probably in his late 30’s, who glanced in at the buck looked at the boy and said, “Wouldn’t have wasted a bullet on him.” This comment froze everyone, and as the gentleman walked away there was a moment where no one said a word; even the boy’s dad was shocked at the comment. Soon you heard someone say, “He’s probably not shot a buck in his life yet and just jealous”. The boy laughed with the comment, but it was forced and the damage had been done. Now granted that’s an extreme situation, and I would hope all the people reading this have the understanding that a first buck no matter the size is an absolute trophy and a feeling that is hard to top no matter what you get in following years. The same idea though applies to anyone seeking congratulations from you. They obviously wouldn’t have wanted you to see if they weren’t proud, so that moment is not when you have a lecture on why harvesting only mature bucks is proper game management or any other similar conversation.  Just simply congratulate the hunter and be done.

(both above picture from http://www.odorfreeproducts.com/trophy_room.htm)

You tell me which of these 3 photos shows a better trophy to the hunter? The correct answer is none, to each of these hunters what they got are all trophies!

                 A great example of this has occured to me before. I've gotten pictures sent to my email or phone to only see what appeared to be a deer that still had it's spots on it. Yes it's true, this happens and understand sometimes guys shoot does only to see a fawn coming up they hadn't seen and now out of mercy shooting the fawn. No matter what the case this is about as extreme as it gets for me, and I’d be lying if the conservation minded hunter in me isn’t shooting off alarms left and right, but it isn’t the time nor was I asked for my opinion on the harvesting of such a young deer. That is the key, if you aren’t asked what you think FOR HEAVEN SAKES DON’T SAY IT! You have to remember we as hunters are a fraternity (sorority for you ladies) of sorts and you shouldn’t waste time making enemies or causing problems with other hunters simply because of the size of their deer or deer's rack. We’ve got other bad apples in the bunch that deserves that type of treatment (like those illegally hunting, trespassing…).

                Just always remember and keep in mind the kind of hunter you want to be and stick to it. If you’re a freezer hunter, expect others to not get as excited about your spikes and forks; but that shouldn’t mean you are any less excited. On the other side of the coin remember if you’re a hunter unwilling to shoot little bucks, there will be times when everyone else is sending you photos of their bucks and you’re coming up empty…don’t let that affect you either.