Re-thinking how to think...

I would never consider myself a ground breaking thinker...especially when it comes to whitetail deer hunting. However, it wasn't until recently I began to understand why some of my "mistakes" have actually been connected to some of my greatest harvests or close calls I've had to date.

To see how my "mistakes" were actually the perfect move at the perfect time we must first understand the background of hunting and how it affects the mindset of the hunting world.

In all honesty trophy buck hunting is really quite a new craze, one which is slowly changing the overall mindset of hunting as a whole...however the original thinking behind hunting still carries more weight in the mindset of hunters. What is this mindset or way of thinking? Well it's quite simple, you hunt for food and do so in a way you have the smallest chance of failure; hence the idea of hunting always with the wind blowing into your face.

Hunting with the wind in your face is a great thought, because the deer won't smell you...however if a deer is trying to survive and are walking through woods they cannot see over 30 yards through trees; do you think they're very likely to move with the wind or "tail wind"? They may...but deer instinctively are wired by their creator to survive, and that is what will control their movements nearly every second of every day. Yes, bucks will at times lose all reason and go crazy...but even then they don't lose all reason, because after all even blindly following a hot doe is trying to make sure the whitetail deer continue to exist (survive).

So if we're after mature bucks, and they won't by nature move into the wind too terribly much what do we do? We stop thinking like meat hunters and more like hunters who are detectives who eat, sleep and breathe with one objective in mind; putting ourselves in "the right place at the right time" by design due to our intense scouting.

I say intense scouting but some of you if you're anything like me have experienced that "right place at the right time" but wrote it off as a coincidence or as a simple fluke the buck acted and moved the way he did. After meeting Bill Vale, my reasoning and outlook on all of my hunting success has changed...and I've began to realize that some of the "wrong" risks I have taken in my young hunting career that paid off were not mere coincidences.

The knowledge that Bill Vale has on whitetail deer, more importantly pressured big bucks, is absolutely insane! You can tell immediately when entering his trophy room that this man must know more than your average good hunters. Wall to wall and floor to ceiling are trophy caliber bucks that Bill has collected over the years with his "wrong" tactics that at times seem the complete opposite of normal thinking. An example would be hunting with the wind blowing directly at where you expect the deer to come from...obviously not done all the time, but if the situations are right this is easily done and has been done by Bill and even myself a couple times (albeit not by design like Bill).

Last year's buck "Trident" came in quartering
to me from DOWNWIND...something
he was doing instinctively to survive!

I cannot wait for this season to get here and the following ones after that due to the fact my thinking is going through a complete overhaul. The "mistakes" I've made in the past will now be "planned events" based upon my scouting which has gotten more intense.

All I can say is if you haven't got your hands on a copy of Bill's book click here...and once his subscription site is up and running you would be wise to sign up for it also! I also want to stress Bill is giving me nothing in return for bringing up his site, I also don't make any money or benefits from you going there or joining...I am merely sharing

God bless and good luck out there!

Ty

Spring Check-In

Well it's been awhile, and yes I realize I didn't do a June giveaway...forgive me just gonna pass over this month's. As I touched on in the last post a lot of my past few weeks have centered around writing up as many letters as I can in hopes of picking up new hunting ground in 2 different spots; in Michigan to extend my season and one spot very close to the house for those quick hunts. I have been blessed to have gained an amazing friend in Bill Vale, the man I shared some information on with the last giveaway...and will be hunting with him possible some which I'm absolutely blessed for even the possibility. If you haven't make sure you check out his site (click his name above) and just get a glimpse of what this man has to offer, and trust me when I say if you buy his book you will not regret it!

The other thing I'm about to start doing is changing my arrow set up, been waiting forever for my weighted inserts to come from Gold Tip...hopefully I'll make a couple videos about the changes and maybe even some practice shots.

Some of you have been asking about our summer food plots and how the hinges are looking....well the good news is all of it is still there. The bad news though is we've had a record dry late spring and summer here in Northern IN, which caused the new food plots to be very thin (truly only the buckwheat came up in force)...the 50+ trees we planted I'd say are all or atleast 90% dead due to lack of water...the hinges though appear to have done fine which is huge!

I'll get some rubber to the dirt here soon to show you guys our set ups in the spring green time frame when the woods are thicker than any other time period of the year.

Stay tuned and keep checking in. As always if you have any ideas or things you'd like to see me discuss just email or post a comment below and I'll do my best to tackle it.

Good luck out there and God Bless,

Ty

Writing a "Can I hunt letter..."

If there is one thing I dread more than anything it's that awkward moment after you knock on a door for the first time...and stand there....just waiting for the person to come to the door and chase you off saying "No" when the word hunting comes out of your lips.

I've learned that over the years when trying to get permission for new properties respect is quite possibly the #1 thing you can use to increase the odds in your favor when acquiring new hunting properties...however let me introduce the time I decided on writing letters instead of the awkward door moment.

 I can still remember the day at work when someone showed me our county GIS program and how to operate it. I'd be lying if I said I listened to anything he said after, "As you can see you can scan the entire county, click on any parcel and instantly see the owner, mailing address, acreage and....."

I was gone, all I could see was hunting opportunity after opportunity has he scrolled around in all directions. The second my first lunch break came I don't even think I ate, I was on a mission which was to find as many possible hunting spots I could. I quickly printed off a dozen or so maps and began mapping out my plan to stop and ask all the owners....that's when I started thinking about something.

I'd never actually approached someone I'd never met before expecting them to welcome me with open arms and allow me to hunt...pretty intimidating. I also tried to put myself in the owners' shoes, I'd be putting them on the spot and making a quick decision would probably end in a "No" to hunting. So I set about making a letter format. One which I could make just small changes to and send out to every single land owner. Now this letter doesn't just simply say, "Um...I was wondering if you'd let me shoot some deer on your property."

This letter had to be well thought out, respectful and even appear professional. To accomplish this I almost approached it as a job application's cover letter. I planned on first introducing myself to the owner(s) in an effort to control the first impression they'd have of myself. This introduction of basic information about me would also allow them to make a decision somewhat on my character...which as you can guess is key to them saying yes.

(remember to see the images that follow better: CLICK ON THEM)

So the beginning of my letter goes something like this (screen shot of actual letter):

I then go into the reason I'm writing them with this part:

Well now the topic has been breached....it's at this point that I'd guess 75% of the people reading this far know at this moment whether they'll let you hunt or not. However, you gotta convince the remaining 25% that are not sure with justification of why you should be allowed to hunt. The keys here is don't lie, be honest about what type of hunter you are, if you're strictly hunting for mature (don't use the word trophy) bucks say that, if you're hunting strictly for meat do the same. I use the following to address my hunting beliefs and character:

Okay so I've described what type of hunter I am (HONESTLY!) now I state how I will act on his or her property:

I've pretty much stated everything I desire to or can in letter form, which is why I close out the letter. I make sure to share with them my purpose for writing and not just showing up as well I share every single type of contact information possible (cut that part off for obvious reasons):

Space left for authentic signature.

The map I get through my work's GIS system...however Bing and GoogleEarth both provide great ways of getting and printing out maps.

That's pretty much what my letters to landowners have looked like for a couple years now. I tweak them some from place to place obviously, but the skeleton of the letter stays the same. No matter how nice and respectful you are realize you have a greater chance to get a no than a yes. However, all it takes is one yes and it could provide you with hours of hunting and possibly some deer touching dirt come the hunting season!

Good luck out there everyone!

God bless,

Ty