Buck Scrapes Are More Than A Scratch (Part 2)

Earlier this year I wrote an article about my thoughts and experiences about buck scrapes.  In this article I want to get mores specific as to how I plan my hunting about around the phases of a scrape.  In order for me not to repeat myself, it is best if you read my first article:Buck Scrapes Are More Than A Scratch.  Now to expand on what I have concluded about scrapes I will break down the life cycle of a scrape in to seperate phases and shed light on what I look for in each phase.

Phase One:
Phase one is before their is any visible sight of the scrape to the hunter.  This happens as early as the beginning of October here in Wisconsin but I am sure is specific to the area you hunt.  In this phase the doe starts to visit a tree branch frequently and marks her scent.  The doe will like the hanging branch and urinate on under it.  This will go on for a week or two with no other deer visiting the scrape.  I concluded this through setting motion cameras on video over the previous year's scrape locations.  To this point I have found no use to the phase from a hunting standpoint.

Phase Two:
Phase two begins when the first buck visits the scrape.  In my experience this occurs roughly a week or two after phase one begins.  The first buck to open the scrape in my experience is usually always a young buck less than two years old.  This buck and the doe will keep visiting this scrape for another couple of weeks.  Other young bucks will also start visiting the scrape as well but only the one doe.  If the doe gets killed the scrape will end.  Most all scrape visits are done at night.  The doe to buck visit ratio will flip and you will see more bucks visiting.  Several times I have caught buck fights on camera toward the end of phase two of a scrape.  If you are holding out for big bucks, this phase is usually not of much use other than documenting the date the scrape opened up.

Phase Three:
This phase is brought on by subtle change in the appearance of the scrape.  Without a season or two of experience seeing it yourself, it is difficult to explain exactly when this phase starts but I will do my best.  After the scrape opens it will take roughly two and a half to four weeks to reach phase three.  Phase three can be seen through the bucks visiting the scrape.  Keep an eye on the quantity of bucks visiting the scrape in a short period of time.  The closer their visits are to the doe visiting is a good indicator she is close to being ready to breed.  If the doe is a widely sought after then the big bucks will usually make an appearance at the beginning of phase three.  Also in this phase you will usually see more aggression in the way the ground is worked up.  The licking branch will usually be snapped and dangling.  Phase Three is truly the best time to be hunting and stand location is key.

Phase Four:
Have you ever experienced a second or "late" rut.  This late rut will happen usually sometime in December.  Phase four is just that.  I believe this happens when the breeding of a doe didn't work the first time around.  In other words whatever buck bred her didn't do a good enough job and she goes in heat on her next cycle thus a second rut roughly thirty three days after the last time.  I have seen late scrapes and attribute them to this.

So now that I broke down a scrape in to phases, I will explain exactly how to use them to your advantage.  To do this though you have to ask yourself which buck or bucks do you want to base your hunting on.  Once you have selected your prey you can hone in and study key information you can get from your videos.  First off, you need to keep track of how often that buck visits the scrape.  Next figure out the personality of the buck by how aggressive they are working the scrape and their posture.  On a side note, big bucks aren't usually the aggressive ones.  Watch what time your buck is visiting the scrape an its direction of travel.  If your buck is visiting just after sundown or shortly before sun up you can bet his bed is near by.  And lastly keep track of each phase of the scrape and you can predict when it will peak and thus you will know exactly when to take your vacation.  With a little experience you will be able to almost predict it.     But don't take my word on all this, set your own blackout motion camera to video and see for yourself.

In the video which you can view by clicking on this link, Phase Two Scrape Video you will see a buck chasing away from a newly made scrape.  This excites me because this buck is pretty big to be coming in to it this early.  This scrape is in early Phase Two and I predict it to peak toward the end of the first week in November.  Guess when my vacation is?

Again, don't take my word as fact.  I challenge you to find out your own answers.  I am simply sharing what I have found to be true on my property.  I would love for you to email me with your own thoughts and ideas as to hunting.  My email address is: insidetherack@gmail.com

Hinge Cutting A Funnel

This off season I am going to utilize a method of hinge cutting in order to create a funnel.  To give a little insight as to why I am doing it let me explain; My father has limited mobility in his legs so stand selection for him is quite restricted. It has to be a clear path to and from his stand with no muddy areas. This leaves him hunting the field edge. And because we don't own a high fence ranch and the deer here in Northeast Wisconsin come and go with no rhyme or reason you have to get smart. For these reasons I plan on bringing the bucks to him rather than him to the bucks. In order to accomplish this though one needs to consider a few things. First you must have an good idea as to the existing travel patterns of the bucks. Things like where they are coming from and where they are headed. Creating your own funnel will only work if you make their travel easier and more appealing but not change their overall direction of travel. Next you should consider the forest floor and vegetation. Find the lowest route and attempt to use it or at minimum work off of it. In my experience big bucks like to travel in the lowest thickest areas. Cover you can create quickly but terrain takes way more planning and heavy equipment. So once you know where you are pulling the bucks from and find the lowest travel route; you are ready to create the perfect ambush spot.
So how do we take this perfect spot and make it appeal to the big bucks? Easy, you make it easier to walk for the deer than the surrounding terrain and create a false sense of security. To make it the path of least resistance for the bucks you simply mow a narrow path if it tall grass or clear a hole through the brush. You want to clear this path either to an existing known travel route or until you reach thicker cover. While making your path, don't move logs or fallen trees out of the way. Instead leave them where they are and cut a path through them hence clearing a small section of the tree. If you make the mistake of moving the whole log chances are you will push or drag it parallel to your created trail which makes the deer feel trapped.

Now that you have created a clear walking trail it is time to make it a buck trail and not just a deer trail. To do this you must create cover around your new trail but not close it off. This is done by hinge cutting the small trees and saplings next to your trail on both sides. Now when you hingecut these trees you do not want to be doing it low to the ground but rather four to five feet up off of the ground. And the other key element to its success is you do not want to pull the trees parallel to your selected trail but rather perpendicular. And another trick that seems to work is pulling the saplings across the trail instead of pushing them away. If you choose to pull them across make sure you are making the cuts high enough and your not making the trail too narrow. Another thing I have found is if you then create a few shooting windows or holes in to the path. This is particularly crucial on a path to a field or food plot for the bucks entering the path from the field. Because the big bucks don't like to be in the open so they are usually moving off of the field in a hurry. Then when they enter the tree line they will many times stop to scan for danger and hopefully that pause happens in your shooting window. The same goes for bucks entering the field. Many times they will stand a few feet inside the tree line and make a last second scan for danger.

Remember this isn't a fool proof approach but trust that with a little practice it is deadly. I hope this tactic can help some of you who may have mobility issues or someone who simply finds bucks coming and going without any rhyme or reason.

Why Do Deer Come Out Right Before Dark?

Do you ever wonder why deer come out in what seems to be the last half hour of light? Have you ever wondered why deer stand in what is called a staging area before coming out? Well hopefully I can answer those questions for you in order to give you an edge on your next hunt.

The next time you go deer hunting I want you to keep an eye on something. I am willing to bet that the first deer you see in a large food plot will come out in the area shadowed by the overhead trees. Watching this made me wonder and I think I have come to a conclusion. Deer want the most cover they can find even in the wide open. In a deer's world eating is when they are the most vulnerable. A wide open food source makes them even more vulnerable. So if they are going to eat in an open field they usually will stand back and watch that field for danger. This area they stand back in is what is called a staging area. From this point they want to scan the field from cover to see what they are getting themselves into. Once they decide to enter the open area where they will eat, it is my opinion they do so before it actually gets dark for one reason. The big reason I have discovered is the very cover they find safety in during the day becomes more dangerous than the field is at night.  Then if you ever hunt in the woods and walk out through a field to return home you will notice that the woods gets dark roughly 20 minutes earlier than the field does. Whatever the time difference from one getting dark to the other, will generally be the same amount of shooting light you will have left on the field.  Now to break it down even further; those scared deer have roughly twenty minutes to try and find the most cover in an open field, hence they stay in the shadows.

Don't take my word for it though, each property is different. Keep your eyes and mind open and formulate your own ideas. I just hope this post might answer a few question and at the very least get you thinking. If you have any feedback I would love to hear it and if you find my articles interesting be sure to subscribe to my future posts by submitting your email.

Deer: The Basics On Why Deer Are On Your Land.

The difference between a good hunter to a great hunter is a great one understands why deer do what they do. This topic can be complex but I will focus on the basics. The basics alone will be enough to improve your strategy. With a little understanding you can better pick out a travel corridor and place yourself in an optimal position to see bigger deer. Below I will spell out several considerations that need to be explored in order to get the best understanding and in return yield the best results.

First, take an overall look at the landscape surrounding your property. Do you have heavy agriculture, lakes, rivers, swamps, or a mixture? Each terrain poses its own benefits and shortfalls. Deer need three basic things for their survival and by dissecting what you already have you can understand why the deer are on your property. Deer need food, water, and cover. If you are lucky enough to have an adequate balance of all three I am willing to bet that your hunting yields good results. So if you are lacking one or more of those elements, you then know why they leave your property to be shot elsewhere. If you know where they go to acquire the missing element(s) then you have a good idea where their travel corridors are.

So now comes the part that really upsets me. Why do most hunting magazines and shows always stress the introduction of food plots but neglect to shed similar light on the other needs? In my opinion; the reason they tell everyone to put in a food plot is it is the only one of the three elements they can make money from. Improving habitat for cover is the most often neglected and many times the most beneficial. But the magazines and shows ignore it because there is no product to sell. If you have a chainsaw you can do it. The other element they rarely mention is water. A one time rental of a backhoe and you can provide water for the deer. So its the food plot that needs constant reseeding and fertilizing which makes it the constant money pit they make money from. Therefore they stress it the most and only touch on the others.

To better illustrate this lets use the property I hunt for an example.  My property consists of a cedar swamp transitioning into agriculture. But the surrounding area is a patchwork quilt of cedar swamps and farm fields. Along with all of that there is a small year around river that snakes through about 80 acres away. So for me it is quite simple. I have cover and food but lacking adequate water on my property.  Deer will drink the water in a swamp but will travel for a better source. So I have two choices. I can either create watering holes or exploit the travel corridors to the river. I have limited equipment and found the bedrock to be only a few feet down at the field edge. So a watering hole is going to be difficult but I am going to try putting one in on the edge of the swamp when we have a dry year to get equipment in there.  So for now I have really focused on cutting the deer off as they travel. To see how I do this check out my articles on hinge cutting.

So now that you can examine your situation and see what your strengths and weaknesses are, you can focus on improving what you lack. So now if you look at the surrounding area as a whole and find your neighbors to have the same, there is still hope in making yours better. To do this you need to offer one or all of the three elements better than your neighbor has. For better cover you can thicken up the bedding areas and travel corridors through hinge cutting. You can also plant trees and cover but that takes more time to develop. If you choose this route you should check in your area for deals on trees around Arbor Day to save money. For better food you can offer a mineral rich food that the deer don't find elsewhere. The trick on this is go to your local feed mill and inquire on what's popular. Then simply stay away from the most popular seeds. It is also a good idea to buy multiple seeds and not a mixture. This way you can plant them separately and see what grows best and to see what the deer want.

Now to enhance the water in your area there are ways to do it for better results. The more secluded you can make the watering hole the better. Also if you can create more cover surrounding the watering hole you will not only have more deer coming to it, but you will see them using it more during daylight hours. Another trick is to create steep sides all the way around the watering hole except the point you want the deer to enter for a drink. Also if you have a small hole with steep sides all the way around make sure you lay a log into it so small critters can escape if they fall in.

Take a chance and try some of these tactics. But remember to have a game plan before you start making permanent changes. Its is simple to change your property but hard to change it back. Simply formulate a master vision and work towards it one project at a time.

Tracking Deer: My Two Cents

So you take a shot at a deer and now the real fun begins. If I share one thing and one thing only it would be to make sure you watch where it runs. Before all of that though there are some things you can do to make tracking a lot easier on yourself. First, make sure you spend a little extra money on equipment especially broad heads. Second, take a good shot. If you're going to take an animals life you owe it to that animal to make it as quick and painless as possible. With that said and with the animal in mind sometimes things can go wrong and the animal can run a considerable distance.  Now if that happens we can't lose sight of the fact that we need to consider the suffering of that deer.  I have been on countless blood trails that went down to a trickle.  When that happens it is almost inevitable for someone to mention that the deer will survive.  I don't mean to be a downer but I am going to tell you that if you put a projectile through the mass of that deer, it isn't going to survive.  That is like saying if you were shot with only hooves and a tongue to care for that wound you would survive in woods.  I think people say that to make themselves and others feel better but the reality is that animal will die.  Now that we know it is going to die it is up to us to make it worth while.

Tracking your trophy starts the second you take the shot.  Watching everything that deer does and every where it goes is crucial to the retrieval.  So when the shot is taken, watch to see where you hit the animal.  Next watch how the animal reacts to the shot and how it runs.  Finally watch exactly where the animal goes.  Some terrains make it very hard to know exactly where it ran but there is a trick to make this easier.  Instead of celebrating in your tree stand, take that time an  attempt to pinpoint exact trails that wounded deer traveled using landmarks like a tree or rock.  Now if possible you can be even more accurate if your able to use three reference points.  One being where you are sitting another being an obstacle in line beyond the point of interest.  The third reference point would be directly to one side or the other of the point of interest in order to establish distance.  Watch the attached video below.  This video is of me shooting a buck from one of my best bow stands.  When you watch the video you will see the deer run through a soybean field.  Look to see if you can see what I used as landmarks or reference points. Footage Of My Hunt  Now that you watched the video did you see the obvious reference points I used?  Well I used the row of soybeans that didn't grow as one reference.  The other reference I used was the light colored tree directly beyond him when he stood at the edge of the field for awhile.  It was very difficult to get an accurate triangulation but I was successful using that said tree and the edge of the tall grass he entered the tree line at.

 So now that you have established a possible travel route and key points of interest it is time to exit your stand.  I always go to the point of the shot first if it is close by.  When I stand where the animal was shot I look for several things.  First I attempt to locate my  arrow if bow hunting and I try and find blood.  I also look for hair.  The color and type of hair can tell you where the exit wound is located on the deer.

Finding blood is crucial for the tracking the animal.  Along with tracking, blood can tell you a whole lot more about type of wound the deer sustained.  When you find your first good sized glob of blood pick it up and inspect it.  If it is dark blood chances are it was a further back shot hitting the liver and or kidneys.  If it is a light colored blood it is a safe bet that the deer was hit in the heart or lungs.  Light colored blood can also mean vitals were not hit at all.  This can make for a tricky track often times left empty handed.  Now If it is a lung shot usually the blood is bubbly.  This is a great sign for tracking because chances are the deer didn't go far.  Now for the sniff test.  Take the blood and put it up to your nose and take a long deep whiff of the blood.  If you can smell fecal matter you hit the guts.  Gut shots are best tracked several hours after the shot was made.  This is to allow the deer to lay down and not be pushed.  A frightened deer can run along way on adrenaline leaving you with a long track.

Now that you have found blood at the sight of impact start following that blood in the direction you last saw the deer.  Many people skip to where they last saw the deer but those people lose out on crucial information.  By knowing the exact travel route of the deer and cross referencing it with which side of its path of travel your finding blood you will better be able to track that deer when you get past the last point of sight.  This allows you to see which side the deer is bleeding from the most.  While tracking blood it is crucial mark the trail frequently with toilet paper or something easily visible.  This allows you to look back and establish an overall direction of travel.  When wounded, deer will favor one side or the other giving its path a curve.  For instance if a deer has a wound to their left leg chances are the will favor that side thus their travel route with have a slight curve to the left.  When following a blood trail there are a few things you want to do to get the best results.  Below is a list of them as well as why they are important.

1.  For small amounts of blood keep you tracking team to experienced trackers only.  If you have someone inexperienced have them carry the gear and stand at the last point blood was found.  Everyone wants to help and that is great but when someone is in the woods with you and are not sure as to what they are doing, they run the risk of walking over trace blood hindering the track.

2.  Be quiet.  Many times during the track you are following a deer that might still be alive.  If you are too loud chances are you will not here that deer running through the sticks.  If you can see the deer in the distance struggling to get away, you can end that deer's suffering a lot sooner as well as shortening your drag.

3.  Bring a compass or even better a gps.  Many times you will be tracking in to the dark.  No matter how well you know the woods, darkness and a blood trail can get you turned around in a hurry.  A gps will give you a few added bonuses.  First it will track you movements so you can see an overall travel pattern taken by that deer.  Secondly when you recover the deer it will give you the shortest distance to a road.

4.  Look for blood smears.  These smears usually are larger in size and are associated with other signs of struggle like rustled leaves or tore up dirt.  A smear like this indicates the deer fell or laid down.  This is a good sign if you find this but keep a note of how many you find.  If you start finding a few of these spots it means that the deer is being pushed.  If this is the case you can bet you are the one pushing the deer.  You want to stop your search immediately and wait a few hours.

5.  You are not the only one tracking your deer.  With the fresh scent of blood in the air as well as a trail of blood on the ground, you can bet there will be others looking for your trophy as well.  If left too long your trophy will be enjoyed by others first.  Predators and scavengers come out at night looking for a bite to eat.  Coyotes and wolves have excellent noses and if they stumble across your blood trail first you can bet they would enjoy an easy meal.  Keep this in mind and make sure to listen for them.

The overall progression through the woods should be graceful.  Keep in mind this animal is wounded.  A wounded deer does not want to jump nor do they want to struggle to get where they are going.  Deer take the path of least resistance when they aren't wounded so you can bet they will be doing the same when they are.  Now if you find the animal went through a thicket where they could have gone around, chances are they are struggling and didn't have a choice.  With all that in mind start your search along the obvious travel route like a path which follows its overall direction.  Next, go slow and be sure to search the ground you are stepping on before you take that next step.  And always remember to search trees and foliage higher up and not just on the ground.  If the blood trails trickles off to nothing it is time to change your search pattern.  To do this you simply start fanning out back and forth looking for blood.  The further you get away from the blood the wider you fan out.  If this fan search brings zero results go back to the last point of blood and search again for deer tracks.  If the tracks don't tell you anything then start looking for the deer to have changed directions completely.  It is possible they sensed danger in the direction they were going and had to change their plan all together.

Sometimes tracking your trophy can be a lot more difficult.  If you hunt with a crossbow it is a reality that the short bolt could get stuck completely inside the deer.  Other times if you hit the deer in just the right spot, the hole can get plugged up with fat or other internal debris to restrict the blood from coming out.  And in other cases the blood can be washed away or covered up by rain or snow.  If this is the case there are a few things you can do.  First off, give that animal several hours to lay down and pass.  Pushing a deer in those conditions dramatically hinders your chances of recovery.  Secondly, keep in mind that wounded deer all seek the same thing.  They want water and cover so if you know the area terrain chances are you know where they are headed.  If there are roads surrounding the area or better yet between that deer and the water or cover they seek, you can sit over this area in your vehicle while you wait to track.  If luck is on your side the deer will cross this area shortening your track.  Lastly, get a search party together and start a grid search.  This is done best during daylight hours.  Remember that you are not searching for blood at this point but rather a carcass.  A trick to this is again go slow but look behind you.  Sometimes a deer won't be visible from one direction by their belly hair can be seen from the opposite direction.

This article by no means is the solve all in deer tracking.  I do hope it will give you a good idea as to what to do the next time you have to track a deer.  Or if you are a beginner all together, I hope it gives you solid insight as to how to conduct a search yielding the best results.  If you remember one thing the next time you track it is this, go slow!

The Future Of Buying Hunting Land

If I had a dollar for every time I heard an elder say, "things aren't the way they use to be," I would be a rich man. Well, as I get older I sure know what they meant by that. I am extremely grateful that my parents bought land years ago and kept it for my brother and I. Acreage has inflated in price so much over the years leaving it almost impossible for the average hunter to afford his own. I have seen something in recent years that makes it a little easier though. Below I will explain the trend I have witnessed here in Wisconsin and am sure it is common throughout the Midwest.

Years ago, if a person wanted land they would simply look in real estate books or newspapers. The other method people would utilize is they would approach landowners and let them know they were interested. Another way people would purchase land is they would research who was behind on their taxes and approach the owners to more or less give them a piece of their property in exchange for paying the back taxes. All three of these methods still work today but there is one more trend that is growing. This method is scary as well as an eye opener to what the future holds. It can however, allow a hunter to buy a much smaller property but hold the hunting rights to a much larger plot of land. Which if the hunter has a tight pocketbook, it might be the best option.

Let's say for explanation purposes their is an elderly person who owns a remaining forty acres from a once much larger farm. If this is the case, the remaining land is usually a good peace of hunting property that they might have held on to for that purpose.  Now let's say this property consists of twenty-five acres of farm field and fifteen acres woods or cover. What has been happening is "Super Farms" both dairy and agricultural are buying land up left and right. The obvious bidders are the crop farmers but dairy farmers need the land as well. By law dairy farmers need so many acres of land associated with the farm per head of cattle. So simple math would explain that if the dairy farmer wants to expand his milking head, he or she needs more land. So what does this mean for the hunter wanting a parcel to call his own? Well, it means that the price of good hunting land is going up beyond his or her reach. This happens because these "Super Farms" approach the small land owners and offer them an exuberant price for their land "when they are ready." One can not blame these people for selling to the "Super Farms" after they throw the figures out on the table.

There is one factor in these backroom deals that can benefit you the hunter wanting a piece of land. It comes down to how businesses work. See, at the end of the day these "Super Farms" are nothing more than a business. And like any business they are constantly trying to cut overhead. And for our example property I mentioned above; the farmer would be looking to rid himself of the fifteen acres. It isn't that they even want to dump the fifteen acres but that they almost have to. That fifteen acres offers no benefit to the farmer because not only do they have to pay taxes on the land but they also had to buy the land.

So now what do you do as the hunter looking for land? First you start by making sure you are 100% ready to purchase land. Then and only then do you approach the owner of one of the super farms. You approach them with the notion of buying a piece of the wooded property which is useless to his business. You can be picky but make sure you don't waste their time. By all means make sure it is a piece of property you would want, you are buying it and all. But keep in mind these guys are very busy as well. Most of these farmers will give you hunting privileges to the whole property instead of only the part you own.  In other words you would have a forty to hunt for the price of 15 acres.  This by no means is a fool proof method but rather something that happens more and more.

Taking Your Food Plot To The Next Level

Food plots are a big craze in the deer hunting world.  As they should be, they satisfy one of the three essential needs to keep deer in your area.  The one draw back I found in my area with a food plot, is it doesn't stand a fighting chance to draw deer in like it does in other regions. This can be explained by the simple idea of supply and demand. By my land there is more agriculture than a deer knows what to do with. With the amount of food the deer have to choose from, it is extremely difficult to entice them to regularly visit a food plot. It seems to not matter much what I plant either. So instead of giving up I changed my approach.  In doing so I have learned a trick that might be useful to others in a similar situation.

The trick isn't what you plant but rather how you hunt it.  So then what is the trick for optimising your hunt? First you want to select your stand location which is within shooting range of a good portion of your plot. Then but a roll of rigid wire garden fencing. You want the fence to be around four feet high. Cut several pieces of fence roughly twelve to sixteen feet long. Wrap each piece separately into a circle and connect the ends together. What you have now is several rings that you will use to block off sections of your plot. Now stagger these wire hoops around your plot within shooting range of your stand. They should stand up on there own and you can stake them down if you want. Once the plot gets grown up enough the deer will come to eat but will not be able to eat what is inside of the fence. Then the real trick comes into play. When deer season comes around, pick an afternoon to hunt when you have predicted winds in your favor. The morning of your hunt simply move one or more of your fences to allow the deer access to the lush greens. Then simply take a pruning shears and nip off the very tops of your untouched plot. For even better results at a trade off of more labor; make several cuts off of each stem. One cut or several, it will get the fresh aroma of food in the air for the deer to smell a long ways away. The more cuts you make the more scent gets kicked up. And when you are done hunting you simply leave your fence over a new section of the plot in order to allow it to grow in nice and thick without being eaten.  There are definitely some crops this method works better with than others one being clover. But it greatly depends on what the deer in your area are after.  I hope this gives you an edge the next time you plan on hunting over a food plot.

How To Manipulate Deer In A Standing Corn Field

To understand this article I will have to make sure you understand what hinge cutting is. In an earlier post I wrote in great detail what exactly hinge cutting is and how it is used but I will again give a brief description. Hinge cutting is when you cut a tree approximately 60% of the way through in order to bend it over. The tree while remaining alive can be used for various manipulation purposes. If cut low to the ground it can be used to block a path. If cut high it can be used as bedding or cover for safe passage. For more information on hinge cutting trees see my previous post which covers it in more detail.

Now for this post I am going to switch your gears a bit and focus on hinge cutting for travel manipulation only. Like the title says, I am going to discuss hinge cutting standing corn. For this I want to stress a few things. First off make sure you own the corn field. Secondly, unlike hinge cutting trees, the corn stalk you cut most times will yield no corn thus circumventing the reason it was planted in the first place.

I have never seen or read of anyone using hinge cutting on corn but I have and it works nonetheless.  In order to do it you do not need any power tools but rather a simple machete and a plan. Your planned outcome should be one that doesn't include trying to change the entire direction a deer is attempting to travel. It works best when you are trying to focus a deer's travel route to one area usually within shooting range of your stand.

To accomplish this task a few conditions have to be in your favor.  First off, the best results I have gotten have come when you are attempting to funnel the deer on their exit of the field versus where they enter. Secondly, you want to attempt to get as near as possible to the natural exit point to assist them to where they want to go.  When creating a funnel in a corn field you don't need to funnel them into a few foot gap but rather a several yard gap because you should be able to make a shot several yards away.

With that said, how exactly is it done? You want to start at the exit point or kill zone and work in to the field. Selecting one stalk at a time you want to cut in to the stalk at an angle just enough to allow it to bend over without breaking off. You then wedge the top of the bent stalk in to another living stalk.  Sometimes this may require tying it in place to make it more secure. It works well if you wedge it between the ear of corn and its stalk.  You continue doing this making sure to overlap the barrier creating a line as to have no gaps between the bent stalks which would allow the deer to slip through. The key factor to remember when cutting or bending the stalks is the cut should be done between knee and waist high.  As you work your way into the field you want to fan out a little more each time. When one side is done repeat the same steps on the other side. When completely finished and if you were to look down from a plane the manipulated stalks would look to form a cone shape open on both ends. Note that the further you enter the field the better you will harness the deer.

Now if you really want to maximize your results you can match your efforts on the other side of the picture.  What I mean is you can take your machete and hinge cut saplings at the entrance to the wood line if one is present.  These cuts should be done roughly at chest or shoulder level and bend the sapling over to create a desired entrance to the wood line.  If you read my earlier post on hinge cutting you will see I go in greater detail on how to make a trail.  It won't take long before you notice a heavily used trail right where you want it.

Once you have mastered this particular tactic there is one last thing that you can do to give yourself even more of an advantage. For this extra advantage your stand will have to be located close to the field edge. What I have done is use deer's natural instincts against them. Deer will usually stop before leaving cover to enter an opening which in this case before entering the open area being between the tree line and corn. If your funnel opening is big enough the deer will use it as an entrance as well as an exit. So you can cut a shooting hole into the area behind the hinge cut saplings on the woods side. Thus giving you that shot before they even fully step out.  For an explanation on what a shooting hole is reference my article on shooting lanes.  If your stand is close enough to the field edge, you can also create a shooting area into the corn field itself.

I hope you find this tactic helpful.  I always encourage feedback and would love to hear your comments. Feel free to email me with questions or input. Follow all my posts by requesting notifications when new posts are added by submitting your email on my main site: GetInsideTheRack

Filming Your Own Hunt

This post gets away from deer manipulation a little and explores hunting technology. I just want to say that although it would be awesome, I am not sponsored by anyone. The technology I want to strongly suggest is a weapon mounted camera. I have experience with two separate cameras one of which is out dated. Before selecting my current camera I did my research and spoke with many that owned various makes and models. I do want to highlight some key factors that I feel are important when selecting a camera.

When I bought my first camera which was a Midland XTC there were not many on the market to choose from. I didn't want to spend the extra dough to get the necessary mount to screw in a stabilizer so I just had one machined. It was a great camera at the time and was a wonderful starting point.  Let's just say it was enough to hook me into never hunting without one. I hunted with it a few years until one particular hunt where I had a trophy within bow range but had no shot.  I thought at least I would have camera footage of the buck but soon found out the low light of the early morning didn't allow me to see much of any antlers on the video. Being frustrated I set out on a quest which took almost a year to find the right camera. I did learn something on that particular hunt that would define the key features I was looking for. It had to be a camera that was designed for hunting. The Midland XTC was a camera made for action situations not necessarily detail.

In my quest I looked at different options including all of the popular makes and models like GoPro and Ion. All were great cameras but they didn't hit the nail on the head for what I wanted. The Ion was small enough and the GoPro had excellent quality. However, as I researched I found out more things I didn't like for the purpose of hunting and less things that sold me on those cameras. I wanted something that would only take a second to start recording and didn't require me to navigate a menu or press more than one button. I needed something that wasnt going to distort an image the further from the camera it got. I also wanted something designed to mount to my bow and would record a good image in low light situations.. When I found the Tactacam I found all of that and then some. I am not saying the others are not excellent products, anything is better than nothing. All I will say is it definitely is designed for hunting and you can't go wrong with the price. It can also mount to a gun or crossbow without adhesive.

I did say earlier that it took me almost a year to find the camera for me. So if this camera is so awesome why did it take so long? It was mostly because I wanted to go the mainstream route and didn't want to take a chance on a newer brand or product. But after I put the pro's and con's on paper I soon realized the paper had little written in favor of the mainstream cameras. I did however come up with a few things I didn't like about the Tactacam. I wish they would work on a better audio record feature as I feel it isn't as good as other cameras out there. I also wish there was a way to turn the blinking light off when it is recording. I have yet to have a deer even notice it but it would be nice nonetheless.  Whatever your needs are just be sure to weigh your options and be true to yourself as to what you want to do with the camera.

Besides simply being awesome, what practical purpose does having a camera on your weapon pose? I have found mine useful for various reasons. Number one is I always wanted to film my hunts but I can't expect someone to sit in a tree with me for days on end for that one particular moment.  I also find it impractical to have a camera strapped to a tree only to have to point it in the direction before I shoot without managing to scare a deer away. Now from a recovery aspect, by timing your shot you are able to to see shot placement on the animal and figure out which vitals if any you hit. A camera also allows you to follow the wounded animal until the last visible moment. That way you can review the video and figure out where to search for blood if you are having a hard time picking up the trail. And finally, if you simply can't get a shot off on a trophy at least you will have footage.  We hope it doesn't happen that way but it has to me.

Again I am not a sponsor but I just thought I should relay how excellent of a product Tactacam has for the hunting world. Definitely worth the price. Whatever you use to film your hunt send me a link of your hunt, I love watching them.

Below is a video shot from my Tactacam of my 2014 bow kill

Applying Different Manipulation Tactics Together

In previous articles I wrote about making shooting holes and hinge cutting trails. So when I was cutting lanes this past week for a new stand I thought I should illustrate how I applied these manipulation tactics.  This stand which is going to be occupied by my uncle has been a plan in the making since last year. His stand in its old location proved to be useless for various reasons which is material for its own article. All I will say is my uncle was getting discouraged to say the least and it didn't take much convincing for him to want to move it.

In order for me to explain this in detail I first have to give you an overview of what I am attempting to achieve with this new location.  His new spot is located on the edge of native grass and elder brush. It is tucked in to 45 year old spruce trees that separate a corn field from a cedar swamp overlooking the grassy staging area. To prep this area for future success, this past summer we cut the bottom limbs off of the spruce trees bordering the field edge. Doing this allows the deer to see the field from the staging area behind the trees. In the past the deer avoided this area all together because their visibility was limited. Since we have cut these limbs the deer have been using this area a lot more and it is evident with the abundance of rubs. I have also hingecut areas behind the staging area in order to make a bedding area.  Being in a cedar swamp I started with a small section last winter to see how well it would take. After seeing is how it is being used, this winter I have expanded the hingecut area to include several high spots to hold several deer to bed. With the stand being between a food source and a man made bedding area the only thing left is to enhance their travel.

So now the idea is to manipulate the deer to travel in designated areas to maximize shot potential. To do so I walked through the staging area to locate their natural travel routes. I then walked these trails while looking back towards the stand to find the areas where I would cut the least amount of vegetation in order to open it up. The idea is to leave it as undisturbed while making shooting lanes. Once I found two lanes to be cut I began hingecutting smaller saplings around the optimal shooting spot to create a false sense of security to a buck.  Doing this also obscures their vision to the stand which will give my uncle a little more freedom to move before he takes a shot. Once that was done I began cutting the shooting lane back towards the stand. By doing this it is much easier to see what really needs to get cut versus cutting from the stand out. As I got closer on to the stand on one of the lanes I cut higher up the brush in order to create a hole versus a lane.  This way when a deer scans the area they see more of what they always have versus a definitive lane.  The other lane however is a little more open because there are different points in which trails cross. 
We will have to see how this stand produces in the years to come and you can bet I will add an update following the next season.  Until then I hope this article gives you an idea of how different tactics can be used together to increase your odds.

Easy Deer Manipulation Tricks

Their is no better way to maximize your chances at bagging a mature deer than by deer manipulation.  This style of hunting preparation is especially crucial to the bow hunter who has a family and limited time to spend in the tree.  Beware though, once you get positive results you will be hooked.  Here is my story on the first time I was successful:"The Day I Was Hooked On Deer Manipulation"   When considering if this is for you rest assured anyone can do it whether you own the property or not.  Deer manipulation is based on one rarely disputed fact of deer.  They like to travel on the path of least resistance.

Before attempting some of the more permanent tactics I explain below make sure you know and consider the overall needs and movements of the deer. For example where I hunt I have a small river roughly 60 acres away and the deer naturally go between my hunting property which has dense cover and that river.  Your efforts will never stop that travel nor should you ever try because it is much easier to use it than try and change it.  Most manipulation efforts can be done for minimal cost to you but not without sweat equity.

The first tactic is called hingecutting.  This style of manipulation will reap the best results but not without a trade off.  It is reserved for the hunters who own their own property because it is permanent.  Hingecutting is simply cutting a tree partially down in order to create cover or a barrier depending on your needs.  In my earlier post Hingecutting: Soup To Nuts I explain exactly how it is done and many of its uses.  I mention it here as one of the best ways to manipulate deer and I wouldn't suggest doing it unless you own the property however it can be done on smaller scales.  Usually it is illustrated using 6" to 9" diameter trees but it can be just as successful with small saplings when used to create barriers.  For the smaller saplings it is much safer to use a machete instead of a chainsaw.  When applying this method to small saplings it will only hold its desired effect for a single season or two.

Fence cutting is another trick that can be used to change the movement of deer.  Many hunting properties including mine come with decades old barbwire fence lines.  Most of these fences are knocked over or left to be forgotten.  They usually follow field edges or property lines.  Now I am not going to sell you the notion these old fences hold the key to bagging the big buck.  I will however tell you that if you simply cut an opening in a standing fence you will be able to predict where the deer will travel because chances are they cross at the easiest point.  Simply make a desired location the easiest to cross and they will.  When thinking outside the box, you can imagine how putting a fence up will dramatically change your deer patterns as well.  I used this method successfully a few years ago which allowed my late cousin to bag a trophy before his time was up.

Now how many of you hunters have a stand located over a large corn field?  If you do then you probably have observed deer coming and going with no rhyme or reason to their travel.  If you apply the idea that deer will use the path of least resistance you will find you can manipulate their path right past your deer stand.  I wish I had discovered this method years before I had for I would have some nice trophies on the wall.  All you have to do is take a machete and cut one row of corn down and like magic they will start walking down that row.  You don't have to cut an entire row down from one end of the field to the other.  All you have to do is remove the row approximately twenty or thirty yards into the corn field.  If it isn't yielding results then extend it further and further in to the field till you see sign of them using it.  Again you aren't going to make a deer travel north and south that wants to go east and west but you can move a deer trail over to you instead of having to relocate your stand.

The one often overlooked manipulation effort is giving them fresh water.  This method is considerably more labor intensive but it yields results.  Many hunters will share the notion that rutting bucks will skip out on food but can not skip out on water.  With that said, many bucks will scan a food plot from a distance but not stop to eat.  These same bucks will scan a bedding area from a distance as well.  Like any animal, bucks can not go without water.  So the question becomes what kind of water do they want.  Applying common sense would tell me that if you could provide a quiet secluded watering hole they would much use that than a river or lake which provides less cover and more danger.  Again be careful because this method is often times permanent.  I will not go in to detail on how to achieve the perfect watering hole but I will stress that it should be quiet and secluded.  Hingcutting trees around the area might prove beneficial but each property holds its own needs.

Where I hunt we are not in shortage of agriculture.   I can not even begin to tell you how much food the deer have to eat but I will just say hundreds of acres.  If you hunt over a field or an area like this I will give you another play from my secret bowhunting playbook.  The idea is to make the crops within shooting range more appealing than the rest.  To accomplish this you can do two things.  First fertilize the area within range to get the crops to grow better than the rest of the field.  Next take small section of fence to secure off a certain spot.  For this I found using rigid fence wrapped in a circle with a five foot diameter works best because you don't have to monkey around with fence posts.  All this fence is going to do is prohibit the spot from being eaten.  The night or morning before you hunt take the fence off of the untouched crops and take a weed trimmer to cut the tops off.  By doing this you will get the fresh scent in the air.  Climb in your stand and wait.  They will be coming.  Just remember that if you utilize this trick for a morning hunt you want to cut it the night before but remove the fence that morning.  I also challenge you to put a motion camera over the spot.

I hope this article gives you some tools to get started.  Like I have warned you earlier; once you get positive results doing this you will become a manipulation junkie like me.  Remember that some of these methods are permanent so get permission when necessary and proper planning is a must.

Deer Calling, Blind Grunting, & Everything Inbetween

Using deer calls while hunting can be a tricky thing. The experiences I have had with calls has dictated the way I use and view them. To be honest there is no way someone can tell you what exactly works and doesn't because each property and especially region is different. Someone like myself who is located in Northern Wisconsin is gonna have a different view point than someone who lives in the southern part of the country. One thing is for sure however, someone attempting to learn should not rely on the professionals who have TV shows. Its not that they are doing it wrong its just they are applying methods for the area they are hunting. And most of the "professionals" are hunting an area with a heavily controlled herd with strict doe to buck ratios. Even the "free range" deer they hunt on film are still on large tracks of controlled property. So in other words the tips and methods I will convey to you are based on hunting on small plots of private property surrounded by more small properties which I have no control over.

The best success I have had calling has been since I started monitoring my herd via motion cameras set to video. A camera set to video over an active scrape can show you the aggression level of the bucks in your area. Each buck has a personality and once you find the buck you are after you can curtail your calling to him.

I always try to apply common sense to all my hunting endeavors and it is no different for calling so here it goes. Aggressive bucks tend to be dumber than less aggressive bucks during rut. So if you call aggressively you are more likely to call in an aggressive deer looking to fight. Naturally then aggressive bucks will be seen more frequently than other bucks therefore their life expectancy is lower. So it has been my experience that the bigger the bucks in an area of more hunting pressure tend to be less aggressive. So when hunting areas with more pressure one wants to consider a few things to be the most effective.

The first rule to follow. Don't watch a hunting show just before going in the woods. This rule is partly a joke but mostly serious. Those hunts are done on land with large buck to doe ratio which makes the rut more competitive. With having a low number of does to breed with, those bucks are forced to fight over them more. It is a simple form of supply and demand. If you are reading this article you are most likely hunting on a property not managed that closely therefore you need to consider the differences.

The second rule to follow, when using any call you have to put yourself in the mind of a buck. If you were a buck in an area that has an abundance of hunters all trying to call you in to them; it wouldn't take you long to figure out when a call is a fake. In other words you want to make it more believable. To accomplish this I rarely only use one call at a time if I don't have any visible deer. For example, I will not use a doe bleet call without accompanying it with a grunt call. Same goes with ratteling. If two bucks are fighting or "ratteling" in real life, there will surely be other sounds going with it. In an attempt to recreate this I will sometimes break branches, rustle leaves, or grunt. With that said I will usually overlap the two calls so I can sell the production even more. Being a horn hunter and knowing the bigger ones tend to be less aggressive, I usually am light on my calling.

Secondly, you do not want to overcall. To set up your calls in order to appeal to bigger bucks, again you want to put yourself in the mind of that weary buck. Being less aggressive on properties with a lot of pressure, big bucks generally won't go running in to the call without checking out the area first. So you want to allow them time to come in and investigate the area which most likely will be from where you can't see their approach. In return, if you stay still instead of calling again they might present themselves to you instead of them seeing you as you start your next calling sequence.

So when should a person call for deer? Again each property is different and each informed hunter is a master of his or her own area. For this question I will simply tell you things that work for me. I have had excellent luck calling bucks at two crucial times. The first time I will never miss during rut is the few minutes before you can see in the morning. This specific time allows you to pull a buck away from entering his bed to instead investigate the call. It also is perfect because they cant physically see you yet. The second time is controversial and gutsy but I will share it anyway. I like to do a bleet and grunt series the moment after I get in my tree and ready to shoot. The reason it works is the same reason why I am not concerned with why people would argue against it. It works because like I said earlier it is more realistic. If a buck can hear the call they could hear you walk in. If they can hear you and see you they are going to ignore your call anyway because they just saw you. Now if you have good entrance screening and they could hear you but not see you; they will know something was walking through and your call will tell them it was a hot doe thus triggering a response. For both of these times my go to calls are a bleet grunt series. For this I bleet once. Then after roughly 5 to 7 seconds I grunt two consecutive times. During the second grunt I start one last bleet.

Lastly, the controversial blind grunt. A blind grunt is simply using a grunt call when you don't physically see a buck to call in. Some do it and other swear against it. Applying common sense I have my own take on it. Personally I do not have a problem with blind grunting. I have never seen evidence it scared anything away. Like using any other calls it poses the risk of scaring a deer away because they can see you and you don't know they are there. On the contrary, it has been my experience that deer don't hear an audible grunt all that far away unless the tube is pointed directly at them. With that said if you point your tube at dense cover there is no reason you should be scared.  Think about it this way. If a buck is within range then it isn't a blind grunt. And if there isn't a buck that can hear it anyway, what are you going to scare away?

In closing I want to stress that everyone's hunting land is different. And every area has different factors working for or against you and for these reasons different calling techniques work better accordingly. However, softer is usually better because you can't be too soft only too loud. Hope to hear your feedback good, bad, or otherwise. Please follow this blog for future posts. Thank you for reading and Happy Hunting!

Hinge Cutting: Soup To Nuts

Winter is in full force which means the foliage is gone, bugs are dead, and everything is frozen. Most are inside where its warm waiting for the spring thaw to get outside. I on the other hand have learned to love this time of year. This is the pinnacle time of year to make a real impact on manipulating your deer's habitat. The number one tool in any manipulators arsenal is hinge cutting. What is hinge cutting you might ask? To put it simply, it is cutting a tree about 60% the way through in order to bend it over so the top is at ground level. But this method of manipulation gets way more complex than that. On the plus side it is inexpensive, doesn't kill the tree, and can create various outcomes to control the movement of deer.

Above is a photo of a tree I hinge cut in combination with others to make a bedding area

Hinge cutting can be used to achieve a variety of things.   Mainly it is used in such a way to create bedding areas specific to bucks or does. Hinge cutting can be used to create a funnel. It can also be used to screen the entrance and exit of a hunter to his blind. Hinge cutting can also be used to impede the deer's travel to undesirable locations such as a neighboring property. Each desired outcome requires different considerations when cutting each tree.

1.  Creating Bedding Areas

Hinge cutting to make a bedding area is very effective if done right. All a person needs is a chainsaw and a will to work up a sweat. First you must find an area which has standing timber 6" to 9" in diameter. This selected area should also be dry. It works best if a person selects a few areas about one to three acres in size. To create this bedding area the trees need to be hinge cut about 5 feet above ground level in order for deer to be able to travel underneath it. For the purpose of bedding, the direction the tree falls is immaterial because the more tangled it becomes the better. Keep in mind that if a few areas are made stand locations between them can prove to be excellent for harvesting mature bucks. Also it is important to leave trees which provide an excellent source of food standing. A buck bedding area is made using the exact same method with just a few minor twists. First pick a tree you would like the buck to bed next to. Second hinge cut a smaller area of trees surrounding the selected tree making sure to leave an entrance and exit path. Third make sure the ground on the windy side of the tree is flat, has good drainage, and is free of debris or foliage. It might be necessary to rake the area as to remove any sort of nuisance to the laying buck. Lastly, lay a log on the ground against the trunk on the backside of the future bed. When the bed is finished the buck when laying down should be facing the wind with his back to the tree and surrounded by cover provided by the hinge cut tree tops. Make sure to revisit a buck bed once in awhile to clear any sticks or debris that has fallen in it. When clearing it you should also search for hair or sign it is being used. Once you find it being used check it less often and at off peak bedding times.

I find that mid winter is the best time to make bedding areas for a couple reasons.  The first reason being that deer love the sound of chainsaws. One can almost bet that when the cutting stops they will soon be in to investigate only to find new browse.  Another reason is that the deer are in search of browse and will find the area when they are grouped up. Finding it now means they will most likely use it later. Especially a small buck that splits from his mom. If he takes a bed that you created in a way you kind of own him. If your able to keep him close by chances are you will have an opportunity to harvest him when you feel he is ready.

2.  Creating A Funnel

Funnels are natural areas where trails squeeze together. Most common forms of funnels are creek bottoms, shallow spots of a stream, or a narrow strip of cover between two areas of little to no cover. To create a funnel by hinge cutting you first need to determine that natural path of the animals you want to hunt. Then by hinge cutting a tree about five feet up the tree and pulling it across the trail you want to create and alternating the direction you pull the tree over; you can create a trail for the deer with cover on both sides. One key factor in this is not making the sides of the new trail so thick the deer can't escape it. If it is too thick the deer will not use the trail because it is too confining. This trick works well for bow hunting because it will steer the deer to where you choose thus allowing you closer to make a shot.

3.  Screening Your Travel To Your Stand.

A hunters travel to and from his stand can often be his downfall.  All too often hunters are spotted by the deer they seek before they even step foot on their ladder. In an attempt to be more stealthy a hunter can hinge cut trees in a fashion to mask their travel. This is down by hinge cutting the trees perpendicular to the trail you walk in. Again, the cut should be made about five feet up the tree as to allow travel underneath. By falling the trees perpendicular and at staggered distances from the trail it does not create an impassible barrier but rather cover for the hunter to move undetected. In this case one has to be careful not to go too crazy but rather cut just enough.

4.  Impeding The Travel Of Deer

No one wants to admit they don't like their neighboring landowner but sometimes its the hard truth. In my opinion more times than not the demise of a small landowners success is at the mercy of what the neighbor views as a trophy. With that said, hinge cutting is an inexpensive way to create a fence. This desired outcome takes a little more planning and skill than the others but effective nonetheless.  For this purpose the cut should be made roughly between two and three feet up the base of the tree. The tree should fall the direction you would have a fence go. A few key factors should be considered when making the necessary cuts. First plan out a few trees ahead so you can lay the previous ones ass close to the base of the next one as possible. Keep laying the trees down in a line making sure there isn't a gap big enough for a deer. Deer will naturally avoid jumping unless they must.  One other use for this particular method is creating a no deer zone behind your tree stand. By hinge cutting a fence like row behind your tree stand it forces the deer to come in to your area from elsewhere. To be more effective you can cut it in a "V" shape with your stand at the point. Therefore if a deer is coming in from behind you it forces them to one side or the other. In return, you will create for yourself a sure kill shot opportunity as well as restrict the likeliness of you being winded.

I hope to hear about your experiences hinge cutting as well as any questions you may have.  Feel free to post any of your own experiences and implications of hingecutting to this blog. Please follow my articles by email or social media for future tips. 

Scent Control: What Matters For Different Hunters!

Scent control is without a doubt a money maker for the hunting world.  I sometimes feel an entire department store could be filled with scent masking products.  The question gets asked do they really work or is it simply a money maker?  It would be hard to say either answer is wrong.  Scent without a doubt can be a deal breaker when hunting a mature deer.  With that said, I believe it is overemphasized in many situations.

First and foremost if you are just starting out and have to buy camouflage anyway; by all means buy something with scent blocking or eliminating technology.  However, if you are like most and have a budget to consider then you might want to ask yourself a few questions before making the switch.

How much time do you spend on the land you hunt?

I listed this question first because I believe this is the biggest area where scent control can be grossly overrated.  I will take me for example.  When I was younger and on the go I did not spend much time on the land I hunt.  This being a few years ago, there wasn't much of any options as far as scent control.  I found that I was being winded a lot hunting in the swamp and not as much on the field.  It seemed when I hunted over a bait in the swamp I would hear the infamous scent busting deer blow almost half of the time.  In other words I would have benefited greatly having a product available today to help mask my scent.  Fast forward several years and the market is flooded with products.  To date I own only extreme weather scent control clothing and found I get no difference in the amount of times I am busted.  How is this so? Simple, I spend a lot of time on the property doing various activities.  I am part of the everyday scents of the land not associated with danger.  Just like a deer associates a chainsaw with food, they associate smells with different things.  So if you live on the property you hunt, chances are you don't need to invest in scent technologies.  If you are checking cameras, cutting wood, or simply enjoying your property frequently then you probably don't need scent controlling technology.  Now if you don't spend as much time as you would like on your hunting land, then by all means invest. 

 What season are looking to hunt?

Different seasons are different on almost every level and it is no different for scent control.  So if you are hunting archery season you are more likely to need scent control then if you are hunting rifle season.  Now if your area is a shotgun only region then you might put more weight in scent control than if you hunt with a high powered rifle.  So simply ask yourself how close are you to the deer you plan to harvest.

What terrain do you hunt in?

Terrain can be a crucial factor in deciding if you need to upgrade your wardrobe.  If you find yourself in a cedar swamp where the air movement is more stagnant you should emphasize on scent control.  On the flip side if you are on an open field you probably don't need to take much notice to the issue.

What are you hunting for?

Lastly, everyone's goals are different and their scent control needs change with those expectations. Are you the hunter who is out for meat and the weight of the deer means no more to you than how many meals you will get?  If so you shouldn't be worrying about scent control as much as the horn hunter.  Now if you are like me and are interested in a mature buck, scent control matters a whole lot more and you might not want to take the chance.

I do want to mention a few last points for you to consider on scent control.  If you decide to use a spray, soap, or cleaning product please don't.  I say that for the following reasons.  If you can smell it yourself then the deer can smell it too.  If the deer can smell it then I am willing to bet it isn't a natural smell they come across in the woods.  And lastly if you have a significant other and like them even a little bit then don't even consider using fox urine or any other urine to cover your scent.  Yes, I have tried it.

Cutting Shooting Lanes: 5 Things To Consider

An excellent stand location can easily be ruined if proper considerations aren't taken when cutting shooting lanes. All too often hunters take to the woods with chainsaws in hand to cut lanes with no real plan. For those that feel this topic is self explanatory, you are correct but if you were never taught or you never put thought in to it. you may need help. The idea I take with me out in the woods is this: If someone came in to your house and rearranged your living room you would probably notice before you entered it. Now if someone moved a few items in your living room you wouldn't notice until you were already standing inside the room. The same rules apply for deer. If you are the one that notices the few items moved before you enter the room, congratulations you are the trophy deer. Below is a compiled list of things to consider when clearing shooting lanes.

1. Holes Instead Of Lanes. This is going to be different for rifle hunters and bow hunters but the same theory applies. Don't clear away areas you cant shoot anyway. Don't take a tree down next to your stand that only needed a few limbs cut. The more cover you can leave the more secure they feel traveling. For example when I cut a shooting hole to a bow bait in a swamp I literally cut just that, a hole through the branches.

2. Don't Cut Them Too Wide. Again the application of this is different for your weapon of choice. Archery being more of an intimate hunt, a hunter will see his trophy and be ready for when the animal steps in his lane or hole. With that in mind it doesn't make sense to make the shooting lane very wide. A rifle stand needs wider lanes to allow the hunter to get ready. But think like a deer and you will think of a lane as danger because to them they look the same as a road. So again plan your cuts and look ahead down the lane to see if it will actually make a difference.

3. Know The Prevailing Wind. Try to select a stand location so you can cut your lanes so the wind goes across them not down them. The idea is that the deer cross your lane instead of using it as a trail. This way it will also cut down on your scent getting you busted. Every area has a dominant wind direction for a given season. If you don't know what the usual wind direction is in your area then I suggest you figure it out before you cut anything.

4. Know Your Deer's Natural Travel. I made this mistake when I was first starting out and spent many years wondering why I wasn't seeing anything. When I finally figured it out I felt dumb. Know where your deer are going whether it be to eat, sleep, or drink. Then know where they are going for each and the general times they travel. The focus then is to cut them off with your shooting lane. Its that simple. The mistake I made wasn't that I was in the wrong place but rather my lane was north and south and the deer were traveling the same direction. So they just walked their own paralleling trail.

5.Don't Cut Right Angles. I saved the biggest tip for last. Hunters have a tendency to cut lanes straight out from their three windows leaving the stand door at their back. Good stand setup but lousy lane planning. Cut the lanes just off 90°. When you do this it gives you a few advantages. First it allows you to look down each lane without moving much. Secondly it prohibits the deer from silhouetting you through the opposite window and lane.

There are so many different considerations to entertain in different settings. I hope these five will give you a good start and if nothing else get you thinking on the right track.

The Day I Was Hooked On Deer Manipulation

It was the 2010 Wisconsin Rifle Season and I was hunting my usual stand in my family's swamp. This stand had shooting lanes that were made years earlier by a bulldozer. Since the bulldozer had pushed everything over, water filled in the holes creating more of creeks than lanes. At any rate at the far end of one lane was a narrowing and a slight curve followed by a ninety degree corner. This narrowing had made seeing any deer in the last twenty yards or so almost impossible. My brother's lane ends at this very corner from the other direction. In that 2010 season my brother had seen his usual amount of deer which included does visiting daily and an assortment of bucks on a regular basis. I on the other hand saw nothing. This was extremely discouraging but not surprising seeing is how his stand has always been the hot stand. I took notice that season to something that would forever change the game for me though. One day I walked over to his stand at the mid-day break and noticed that in the twenty yards not visible to either of us were a plethera of tracks. Not just any tracks but tracks of a heavy deer. They had the signature of a mature buck with the split toes and the drag marks leading to the print. I didn't ponder on it too much until after season when I had more time to reflect.

When I began to think about the deer trail I saw I couldn't help but feel like it made no difference how much time a person puts in to getting their stand ready if your gonna overlook the details. So I began thinking of ways I could manipulate the trails deer take. I finally made my mind up that I was going to erect a fence in order to prohibit movement in the undesired area. So I went to the hardware store and bought a twenty dollar spool of electric fence wire and a bag of staples. I went out late winter and began stringing fence wire from tree to tree and vertically every two feet or so as high as I could reach. I did this on the corner where the deer had a dominant path and closed it off. When I finished, the deer were no longer able to cross either lane without being visible from one stand or the other. I was pretty confident that it was going to work.

Fast forward now to the 2011 gun season. I had vacated my stand for one that was showing greater promise. Nonetheless my brother stayed true to his stand and sat the whole season. That is until the Friday of the closing weekend when he decided to head back the many miles to where he lives. It was then time for my late cousin to sit in his stand because many of us were back to work. That afternoon my cousin saw a few doe and soon realized one of which was hot. Bucks began coming out from all directions which pushed the doe to the corner where I installed the fence. Then the big guy stepped out rounding the fence. My cousin shot him and retrieved it a short distance later. What was remarkable was not that he got the nice buck but that if the fence hadn't been there the logical exit point for him was in the blind spot. My cousin was sure that without the fence he would have never bagged his buck of a lifetime. My cousin's life was taken a year and a half later.

Since this first successful attempt on controlling deer I have learned a few things. First, don't attempt a fence like I did for a long stretch. Keep it to 20 or 30 yards. It is after all in the woods and many things can fall and break your hard work. Secondly, hinge cutting is way more practical and natural. Nonetheless either method will work and both are equally effective.

How to read a buck rub!

I remember as a kid going in the woods with my dad and we would look for deer sign. It was a game to see who could spot a buck rub first. Like all dads that ever took the time to do this with their sons, mine let us win sometimes. Nevertheless to this day it is still a race when we go in the woods together. But what is a buck rub and why do they create them? Unlike scrapes, I think the mainstream hunting world has this topic under control. But why would I waste my time with this post if I didn't have my own two cents to add? My two cents isn't necessarily about why they make them but how can we as hunters read them.

When I find a rub in the woods I look for a few think. I do this in an attempt to sometimes uncover crucial information about that particular buck.

1.  Size of the rub
When I say size of the rub I am talking about a few things. Mainly I am looking at the diameter of the tree. The larger the tree generally equates to a larger buck. All big tree rubs are big bucks but not all small tree rubs are from small bucks. I then look at how far around the tree the rub goes, this too generally will tell you the more of the tree the rub wraps around the bigger he is.

2.  Which way the rub faces
Now that we have determined the particular rub belongs to a buck worth knowing more about, we can attempt to figure him out. Which way a rub faces will tell you which way he is traveling.  If you are standing in front of a tree that has a rub and you can see the rub then the buck who made it was generally traveling the way you are facing.  By knowing this and knowing the surrounding terrain one can usually pinpoint where they are traveling to and from. This becomes a lot easier if you can find more rubs in a particular line or spot.  If you apply common sense you can usually figure out why he was in the particular area.

3.  Overall location and quantity of rubs
It seems that bucks will make more rubs entering and leaving bedding areas and areas of congregation. For example if you have a large plantation of spruce trees and find a lot of beds inside, you will usually find more rubs in a particular location on the edge. This would indicate that particular buck's entrance or exit of that area depending on the direction the rub faces. Now if you incorporate a trail camera you can pinpoint the buck making the rubs and the time he is moving through. Now compare the time of the photo to the travel time you know the deer to be moving in the area and can determine if he is sleeping in the bedding area or cruising it for doe.  In other words if the deer in your area are generally eating and moving at night and you discover a buck is leaving an area towards the evening hours, you can make an educated assumption that follow his trail backwards and you will find his bed near by.