The Spring Boom

This is quite possibly one of my favorite times of the year as a hunter. The antlers are popping, the fawns are dropping and the stage is being set for yet another chance to put down a legend come Fall. It's the time of year where those who truly want to make something special happen in the Fall start putting their work in now....Spring Training hunting style if you will.

Matt Flynn's not going to simply waltz into this coming season for Seattle without practicing with what weapons he has to work with and neither should we (I do hope the best for Flynn as I'm a Packer fan...I pray I don't lose some of you as followers due to that).
Here's my Spring hunting agenda:

Get Gear Ready To Go:

Here in the coming weeks I'll be making the switch over to new arrows, as I was underspined and had far too low of a FOC in my opinion (if that all sounded like gibberish no worries, I'm going to have an arrow expert right a Arrow 101 post). My goal is to shoot 3 shots everyday from the month of June all the way up to October, minimum....becoming an after work routine. I'm not going to lie and say I've always done that as there has been years I've barely shot any leading up to the season...however if I want to do all I can to maximize my chances come Fall this is something that must be done.

I'm also officially entering the world of Range Finders...not sure how much I'll use it in the field, but it'll be getting lots of use during those practice shots I mentioned above as to make sure I'm proficient with it.

Food Plot & Mineral Sites:

Food plots are a HUGE part of the spring for my father and I. As many of you know and even watched we cleared out new spots for plots this Spring, planted them and now are simply begging for rain to assist in their growth. We will periodically check on the food plots to see if they need mowed (clover especially) back or simply to gauge deer usage, documenting everything along the way.

While we live in Indiana, where mineral sites are illegal during hunting seasons (10 days prior to season also), we can't go crazy with having multiple sites. We only have one right now, which will go unfreshened the months leading up to the season and even dug out some by hand to remove all leftover mineral still in the ground (as outlined by DNR correspondance I had and am still having). While it may seem tedious to have to remove or shut down the site come the season, we feel it's well worth it if it means our local deer are getting the nutrients they need. I'll just be 100% honest and state that if you are going to use a mineral you need to check out and try Monsterraxx. I am not in any way employed by them nor was I asked to mention their product, however when you experience a product with the amount of success we and others I've talked to have had with Monsterraxx. I'll share that knowledge with anyone!


Picture courtesy of Pat H.
Monsterraxx at work!

Gaining permission for new properties:

This is the time frame to get out and find new places to hunt. My approach to this "touchy" often times disappointing feat is to write a letter. The advantage to a letter is it takes out any chance that you leave a first impression you would rather not have. A letter is a lot less intrusive than merely knocking on doors, which does have it's own benefits and place in gaining permission. The letter allows you to get out everything from your character, hunting experience, expectations and understanding of all rules set before you by the state and the landowner if allowed to hunt the property. *I will expand upon this idea by doing a full write up of my exact technique which has expanded my hunting properties a little each year. I'll even share a copy of the exact letter I use everytime, editing only to fit the situation.

Observational logging:

This season will be the first time I hope to keep a log on everything we do from property to property. The where/when/how we planted each food plot. Any hinging of trees or clear cutting we did. Where we hang stands or positioned trail cameras. When reviewing the trail cam pictures I hope to log weather conditions of each high activity day in hopes of making correlations between the weather and how the deer use our property. *I am also going to pay attention to moon phases and the pictures as well. Bill Vale has opened this hunter's eyes to how the moon can and does affect deer travel in both small and huge ways throughout the year.



There you have it, my short but quite involved Spring agenda. Hopefully all of you are busy doing similar things in hopes of upping the odds against the awesome creature that is the whitetail buck. I'll finish with the same thought I have before; what we do now we will reap from in the fall.

God Bless,

Ty

Creating the Ultimate Kill Plot

Be sure to check out my new write up on, Creating the Ultimate Kill Plot, over at Monsterraxx.com's blog section.

Here's the link:  http://www.monsterraxx.com/publisher/1/blog

The winner is....

So the May Giveaway is officially in the books and I can now tell you what the winner has won, but first if you haven't looked at all the pictures be sure to go back to the Giveaway thread and check out the awesome trail cam images you all entered! I'll have to give the nod to John C. for entering the awesome Cuddeback picture of the impact moment in an archery hunt...absolutely awesome shot (perhaps I'll send a consolation prize to John)!


So the winner for this week will be recieving in the mail Bill Vale's awesome book Taking Pressured Trophy Whitetails: Pursuing the Gray Ghost in Urban and Farmland Settings. You will also be recieving Bill's 2012 Hunting Calendar. Both of these items together ar a $55 value...and you'll be getting them for free!

Bill Vale is a tried and true hunter from the state of Michigan, where taking mature trophy whitetails just doesn't happen to anyone on a consistant basis. We've all heard the hunting slogan out of the state, "If it's brown it's down" but in that same state Bill claims trophy gems can be found and he's going to share with you the tactics he uses every year to put himself on great bucks.

From Bill's site:

Every hunter dreams of shooting a trophy buck—of looking down on a cool, crisp morning and seeing a massive set of antlers walking below his or her tree. But who do you know who not only sees these animals, but is successful every season shooting them? And shooting them in areas where the deer are under extreme hunting pressure, like Bill’s hunting area of Calhoun County, Michigan, where there are some of the highest numbers of hunters per square mile than any other place in the world?

Master Bowhunter Bill Vale’s landmark book brings into perspective the order of survival that was put in place by God Himself and has gone unnoticed by hunters for centuries. This includes how the solar/lunar forces (perigee and apogee), and the light the moon reflects govern the movement and instincts of big bucks and the timing of the rut from year to year.Learn the aggressive secrets, tactics, and field-tested strategies that have been proven successful after 35+ years of hunting for pressured big bucks. Bill’s research and instruction will help the beginner to Master Hunter. This is the most complete book about deer hunting strategies ever published.

Everyone that I've heard talk about this book has had nothing but great things to say, so even if you didn't win the giveaway do yourself a favor and check out Bill's link on the right side of this site (it's the one just under Whitetail Ambush Secrets) or I'll make it easy click: here .

Okay so here's the list of names and number as I received them via email:

Dave H-1

Aaron S-2

Chris K-3

Brent S-4

Chris T-5

Goosepond-6

Jonathan-7

Pat H-8

Ryan H-9

Jacob A Mc-10

Tom L-11

Andy S-12

Jeff W-13

Roger R-14

Jake D-15

M. Dian W-16

C. Metiva-17

John C-18

Al M-19

Andy L-20

Tonia L-21

Al. C-22

Here's the screen shot from the online random number generator:

Which means Goosepond Monster you are the winner! Email incoming, and to all who didn't win be sure to keep checking back to the site as work on deer habitat is never ending and I'll be bringing you videos and write ups on anything and everything.

Thanks to all who participated!

* Giveaway disclaimer if for some reason the winner already has these items I'll discuss with them another option via the email they used to send me the pictures. Also I am using the email names I recieved as a few people couldn't get the posting option to work here, by using emails I can guarantee everyone who desired to be entered is entered.

May Giveaway...Trail Cam Shots!

Alrighty...here it is! The May Giveaway is here!

Details of the prize will be released tomorrow when the winner is announced! THAT'S RIGHT YOU ONLY HAVE 24 HOURS TO ENTER THIS TIME!

In order to enter this time it's a two step process....but trust me this prize is worth it if you hunt whitetails!

You must email me, tylanmiller(at)gmail(dot)com (written this way to stop spammers), and attach a favorite trail cam picture. This can be a picture you have taken or one you have come across online. Now this picture will not win or lose the giveaway for you, it is still 100% random...however who knows maybe I'll give away a prize for the one that catches my eye the most. At the worst we'll all have a bunch of pictures to look over tomorrow, which all of us hunters love to do!

You then need to also comment on HERE like normal (if you are having trouble do the posting here, let me know in email and I'll get it on here):

Example if I was entering:

Tylan M entered


Then sit back and wait...till approximately 10am tomorrow when I'll post all the pictures and announce the winner...and introduce and highlight the prize for everyone!

**I'll give you a clue on the prize...a link to the right does have a "connection" to the prize.

Here's one of  my favorite trail cam pictures, followed by some of the entries I've recieved so far (click to enlarge):

Trident, the buck I harvested this past year on Oct. 15th