Stand & blind location

Outfit My Rig!

BrianLynn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:55:08 -0400

After being without a truck for some months, I finally bit the bullet and bought a used 2001 Chevy Blazer LT. While I'd prefer a truck, the Blazer fit the four requirements I had: four-wheel drive, big enough to haul the dog, room/a place to put the kiddo's car seat and within my budget (those aren't listed in any particular order, by the way...).

What accessories have you SUV (and truck/car guys) enjoyed the most? Are there certain brands you like better than others? Are there budget-saving brands/ideas out there? I want to hear some thoughts on how best to outfit this baby for hunting, fishing and dog training.

Below are some ideas on things I might want to add on, please let me know what, if anything, I'm missing and/or things that really aren't worth it.

Sunstein on Hunting and Animal Rights

BrianLynn — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:01:24 -0400

Enlarge Photo

In the Gun Shots blog, John Haughey, and by proxy, Alan Clemons, does a great job outlining the danger Cass Sunstein, Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (for which he might be confirmed as early as today), poses to hunting and how/why hunting and firearm organizations oppose his nomination.

I thought I'd take it a step farther and provide you with the source material, straight from the horse's mouth, and some of the highlights from his University of Chicago White Paper (along with some of my own comments), entitled "The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer".

Nocturnal Bucks

outdoorlife-editor — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 20:00:00 -0400

When the hunting pressure's on, big bucks go nocturnal. Problem is, it's illegal to hunt by moonlight. Careless hunters will force deer deep into the woods, causing them to move almost exclusively under the protection of darkness. Such bucks can be tagged, although it's never easy. Four of the nation's top guides are paid to find these reclusive monsters and consistently put them in their clients' peeps…when the sun's still up. (Talk about stressful.) Here, they reveal their tactics.

Dale Carter brings some 30 years of experience to guiding clients in Pike County, Ill., and has had a lot of experience pursuing older deer. “When bucks hit four years old, they become very difficult to harvest. By then they've become quite savvy,” he says. Carter believes older bucks travel mostly at night, with a couple of exceptions: “At the first of October and during the rut, these guys will show during daylight hours.”

Carter has had success by putting clients on clover or alfalfa fields early in October, when the big boys are bulking up for the impending rut and winter.

“These deer can be pursued only when the wind is perfect for the hunter. In addition to perfect conditions, it takes a very skilled and patient bowhunter to draw on one of these old bruisers,” says Carter. “I keep my hunters concealed in the thickest cover I can find—remember, the deer they're after are extremely wary and any sign of a human will send them packing into the woods.”

Contact: Carter's Hunting Lodge (217-723-4522; carteroutdoors.com)

Greene County, Ill., outfitter Joe Gizdic has built a solid reputation for putting clients on some of the state's largest whitetails. Gizdic says the best way to tag a massive buck is to keep it from becoming nocturnal. “I think older bucks go nocturnal only because of hunting pressure. The best way to hunt them is to keep the pressure off.” To that end, Gizdic never sends a client to a stand unless the wind is blowing from a direction that makes it virtually scentproof.

Gizdic also never lets hunters approach their sites carelessly. “At times it may seem like an inconvenience, but you've got to take the path of least exposure when heading to stands,” he says. “This can mean walking several hundred yards out of the way, but it keeps pressure low and deer in their natural patterns.”

Gizdic agrees with Carter's strategy of hunting green fields early and adds this advice: “Early-season food plots are gold mines, but never hunt them in the morning. You might push a buck off the food he's browsing at night and inadvertently create the pressure that will make him nocturnal.”

Contact: Illinois Recreational Resource Org. (217-299-0332; irro.net)

Michigan native Mike Valliere guides for Gizdic at Tall Tine Outfitters. He favors the late season. “It's the best time to see a buck that's gone nocturnal,”he says. “After the rut, bucks need to replenish fat reserves they lost.”

Valliere knows big bucks go unnoticed during late season simply because bowhunters aren't willing to endure the elements. “By late in the year, most bowhunters have hung it up for the season because of the cold, but you've got to be out there to get a big one,” he explains. Late-season food is scarce, however, because of the cold, the crop harvest and heavy deer browsing. “Hunger and the need to survive override the need for seclusion; nocturnal bucks will abandon their cover and feed during daylight.”

Locate standing corn, soybeans, turnips, wheat, rye or anything else from the early season and you'll find bucks. Valliere hangs stands on the outside of food sources or slowly moves toward bedding areas.

Contact: Tall Tine Outfitters (217-589-6990; talltineoutfitters.net)

Florida's Dennis Floyd believes that to tag reclusive bucks a hunter has to resort to radical tactics, which includes sitting in the stand in unfavorable conditions. “Rainy, foggy or snowy days are good times to be out. Bad weather intensifies and concentrates deer movement.”

Floyd likes bad weather during the pre-rut. “Inclement weather causes bucks to skirt the edge of food sources looking for receptive does. Those edges are great for a bow stand. Also, scrape lines are usually hit hard after a storm. Bucks rush to freshen them because their scent will have been washed away by the downpour.”

Floyd also believes that all nocturnal bucks move during daylight hours; you've just got to be in the right place to see them. “Even the most nocturnal of bucks will get up to stretch and walk to a nearby water hole at midday,” he says. “Find a remote water hole and you'll catch a big buck quenching his thirst. It takes an enormous amount of patience to get into position, but it's a great way to arrow a trophy deer.”

Contact: Dennis Floyd Wildlife Services (407-928-4035)

Find the Food Dale Carter targets feeding areas when bucks are bulking up for the rut. Set With Care Joe Gizdic limits his clients to stands where the wind is ideal. Seek Leftovers Mike Valliere hunts leftover food sources during the late season. Work the Weather Dennis Floyd believes the best days for nocturnal bucks are the ones with the worst forecast.

Luck Of The Draw The best early-season stands for big bucks

outdoorlife-editor — Sat, 31 Jul 2004 20:00:00 -0400

I knew that Bobby Culbertson and his team of guides at Mississippi's Tara Wildlife had a reputation for putting tags on mature bucks in the early season. With more than 325 Pope and Young Club animals to their credit, there is no doubt that Tara's guides know how to get hunters in the right locations. What I didn't know was exactly how they did it. Sure, in the early season the general strategy is to hunt near food sources in the evening. But that strategy is too vague. I wanted a specific answer.

Culbertson gave me one, but before I could fully understand it I had to expand my vocabulary--remember, I was in a rural Mississippi deer lodge with folks who spend more time with deer than with people.

1. ear·ly sea·son n 1: occurring from September through October in most states 2: when most bowhunters catch up on yard chores

2. hook dad·dy n (slang) 1: huge buck capable of hooking its antlers around large trees and rubbing them raw 2: deer rarely seen by early-season bowhunters

3. sec·ond·ary draw n 1: early-season hangout for big bucks 2: areas early-season bowhunters routinely overlook

Here's Culbertson's answer to my question in his own oh-so-eloquent words: "People think the early season is a tough time to whack a Pope and Younger; they're dead wrong, it's one of the best times to put a hook daddy in your sight window. Hunters like to focus on food sources, and sure, deer will be there gettin' their groceries, but they're missing the real deal. There's more to it than hanging out near the victuals. The hook daddies hang in secondary draws until it's too dark to see their mossy horns. You've got to hang in a secondary draw, where the big boys cool their heels till dark."

What Culbertson means is that harvesting a good deer on a food source is common; harvesting a great deer there is rare. To score that exceptional early-season buck you've got to find secondary draws where big bucks stage near primary food sources. The big boys don't move onto these food sources until well after sunset, after they've listened to most hunters climb down from their stands and walk out.

Culbertson has the research to back him up. More than a decade of harvest data at Tara reveals that bucks taken on or at food plots, agricultural fields and mast sources (oak, persimmon and pecan trees) typically score less than those harvested in transition or staging areas near food sources.

Before the rut, bucks aren't yet ready to mingle with does, which is why secondary draws suit their bachelor personalities. They prefer thick strips of cover that lead from bedding areas--cutovers, swamps, thickets--to primary food sources. These are referred to as "secondary" draws because does and young bucks will use more open "primary" draws on their way to food sources. A hunter hanging out in a primary draw will see a lot of deer, but no big bucks--the mature bucks will be standing around a few hundred yards away in a secondary draw waiting for dark.

Culbertson did temper this advice with this point: "Don't mistake bedding areas for staging areas. Bedding areas are where deer lie during midday. Staging areas are where deer spend time prior to moving to a nearby food source. If you bump 'em out of their bedding area, they'll move right to the next zip code."

After each day in the field hunters at Tara are asked to fill out a questionnaire that asks what stand they were in, how many deer they saw, what time of day they saw the deer, whether they were bucks or does and what the weather conditions were on that day. After taking all of this data, gathered over the past decade, into account, here are descriptions of Tara's five best early-season stands--out of 300. Each is positioned in a unique secondary draw.

WILLOW FLAT STAND

This stand is located along a 300-yard stretch of willows that extends into large corn and soybean fields. A dry drainage ditch runs through the center of the strip, making this one of the most pronounced funnels at Tara. It's fairly deep, with sloped banks edged with thick briars. The dense vegetation on each side makes deer feel secure as they sneak through the draw on their way to the fields on either side of the ditch.

Every year Tara's clients harvest some great early-season bucks off this stand by catching them staging in the drainage. Culbertson recalls a 12-point buck that no one ever got a good look at. That changed one day in early October when Tara regular Joe Guthrie of Birmingham, Ala., sat in a lock-on stand overlooking the drainage. During the last hour of light, he saw an antler tip appear just above the briars down in the drainage. It turned out to be the 12-point buck quietly slipping through. The giant took his time moving down the draw, but Guthrie knew the buck had nowhere to go but toward his stand. The buck finally closed within 15 yards and Guthrie kept his nerve long enough to double-lung him. The buck green-scored 151 51/48 inches.

PANTHER PLOT STAND

The most unique secondary draw on Tara is close to Panther Plot, a large food plot planted against a bank of the Mississippi River. The plot got its name when a bowhunter said he saw a large cat slipping through its tall grass. While it is not the only food plot in the area, it is the only one that is routinely visited by bucks sporting heavy headgear. The difference is its secondary draw. During late summer and early fall the river draws down to the 10-foot mark, leaving hundreds of yards of shoreline exposed.

"We have a horrible mosquito problem at Tara early in the season, so deer yard up next to the river where there's a breeze to blow the insects away," says Culbertson.

The riverbanks and shallows are the strangest secondary draw Culbertson has ever encountered: "To get relief from the bugs, deer will sometimes lie in the shallows with everything covered but their eyes, ears and noses. They'll lie there until after the sun has set and then they'll move into the food plot to feed. You could grow old waiting for one of those big boys to come into the plot during daylight hours. You've got to catch them staging at the river."

Tennessee's Don Russell did just that when he hunted the stand one evening in the early part of the season. While sweating it out on a hot afternoon, he spotted a high-racked eight-pointer headed for the river shallows to stage early in the afternoon. He let several bucks pass as the big deer slowly closed to within top-pin range. He waited until the buck walked past him before drawing his bow and taking the shot as the deer quartered away. "That buck never made it into the shallow water to stage," says Culbertson with a smile. "He did make it onto Russell's den wall, though."

PINE TREE PERSIMMON STAND

Trees loaded with ripe, dropping fruit are a bowhunter's dream. The southern persimmon is as powerful an attractant as there is in Mississippi, but what makes this stand better than most is that this particular grove of persimmon trees is located in a dry river bottom that connects a thick cutover to the grove. Selective timber cutting a decade ago removed the hardwoods, leaving the area barren of mature trees. Twisted undergrowth and adolescent trees replaced the once open forest. The cover now serves as a staging area for bucks as they wait to move into the grove at dark.

"The Pine Tree Persimmon stand is jammed up with the kind of cover that big deer love to stage in. You can sit and watch smaller bucks walk right into the grove; mature bucks know better," says Culbertson.

Every year Culbertson hangs several stands overlooking the thickets and waits for the right wind. "A few uninitiated clients grumble when I put them in Pine Tree Persimmon; they take one look at the stand and think they've been dry-holed [put where the deer aren't]. Visibility is about fifteen yards from this stand. I ask hunters if they're claustrophobic before putting them in."

When a buck comes through the draw he's often right on top of the stand before the hunter knows the buck is even around. As a result, hunters have to be still, patient and alert when hunting this area. If a hunter isn't paying attention, a buck can appear and disappear before he's able to draw his bow.

Florida's Ken Tricky knows this personally. "It was one of those nine-inch-square evenings," says Culbertson, meaning that the deer were so thick they were on every nine square inches. "Tricky saw his buck suddenly appear in one of his shooting lanes. He was ready and made the shot in one quick motion. The buck greened out better than one hundred and fifty-five inches."

RATTLESNAKE ROAD 12 STAND

"If you head on up Pine Tree Road, you run smack-dab into Rattlesnake Road, and yeah, it got its name because of the slithery critters that call it home," Culbertson says, grinning. "But the big bucks like it, too. Just a stone's throw off the road there's a honey locust tree that is one of our early-season sweethearts."

The tree produces locust beans like clockwork at the beginning of archery season. The tree is in the middle of an overgrown logging road--skidders actually went around it when they dragged out cut timber. The road forms a peninsula: On one side there is a cypress swamp, and there's a classic cutover on the other. It has everything big bucks look for: The locust tree provides food and the adjacent cutover provides security. Throw into the mix the fact that the swamp and cutover form a funnel and you have the perfect bow setup.

Florida's Vance McCullers is an early-season regular who comes specifically to hunt that tree every year. One afternoon he shot some great video footage of seven racked bucks on their way past the tree. He eventually caught a glimpse of a tall set of antlers moving in the cutover toward his stand. McCullers managed to put down his camera long enough to arrow a beautiful 145-class tall-tined eight-point hook daddy.

COLDWATER PIG TRAIL STAND

This stand got its name from the well-worn trail under it that resembles a feed-trough path on a pig farm. The "coldwater" in the stand's name derives from a small spring where deer come to drink during hot weather in the early part of the season.

An overgrown logging road with a shallow swamp on one side and a planted cottonwood forest on the other runs past the stand. What makes the area unique is that the swamp and the planted cottonwoods end in dense cane thickets at the Mississippi River levee. Deer come down the logging road to the cane thickets. In the evening they cross the river here to get to a huge cornfield on the other side. It's also where deer stage as they wait for the sun to go down. It has everything deer want when the weather is hot: a plentiful amount of cold water, thick cover and a nutritious food source nearby.

"Our cane thickets are so dense you can't imagine anything being able to move through them," says Culbertson. "But bucks love them. The cane serves as the secondary draw for the agricultural fields."

On a horribly hot and humid afternoon in the first week of October, Benny Grantham of Mississippi climbed into this stand. He was doubtful that this odd setup positioned very close to the river was a hot spot, but he knew enough to trust Culbertson's expertise.

Well before dark at 3:45 p.m., he saw a wide-racked 10-pointer moving through the cane on his way to the water. Grantham arrowed the 150-inch whitetail buck at the water's edge and became yet another early-season, secondary-draw believer.

Archery Triple Play IN SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA YOU CAN TAKE A BEAR, BOAR AND BUCK THE SAME STAND

outdoorlife-editor — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 19:00:00 -0500

There are places in the Eastern United States where a bowhunter has a legitimate shot at killing a trophy deer. There are places, too, where an archer might see a big black bear wander by.

But only in a few places can a sportsman carry a bow into the woods knowing he might see a wall-hanging buck, a rug-sized bear or a motorcycle-sized European wild boar stroll past his stand.

Such places do exist, tucked deep in the steep-sided hollows of southern West Virginia. And thanks to regulations put in place by the state's Division of Natural Resources, bowhunters can legally take any of the three during a five-week mid-autumn window.

"It's a variation on a season Virginia had a few years ago," says Curtis Taylor, the DNR's chief of wildlife resources. "Their season let you kill deer, bear and turkey on the same day. Ours just swaps turkey with wild boar."

The mountains are steep-sided leg-busters, covered with greenbrier thickets, laurel hells and slippery clay soil. Guide services are nonexistent. Lodging is sparse and Spartan. Driving the region's twisting roads can be a nerve-racking experience punctuated by axle-bending potholes and seemingly demented coal-truck drivers. But for those bowhunters motivated and determined enough to brave the area, the big-game rewards can be spectacular.

Four of West Virginia's last five archery-record bucks have come from counties where the archery triple play is possible. Bears are almost too plentiful throughout the region, and 300- to 500-pounders are nearly common.

Boars aren't nearly as abundant, so they constitute the limiting factor in any bowhunter's quest for a big-game sweep. Once relatively widespread over a four-county area, the European transplants have suffered a decade-long population decline--a decline that has prompted DNR officials to declare them off-limits to nonresidents.

All three are available to resident hunters, however, and the two species with the greatest trophy potential--deer and bear--remain open to any bowhunter willing to pony up the price of a license.

REGULATIONS PAY OFF

It wasn't always this way. A quarter-century ago, even the best hunter would have been hard-pressed to locate a deer or a bear within 50 miles of today's most trophy-rich hollows. DNR officials began transplanting boars into the region in 1971 precisely because there weren't many deer or bears left to hunt.

A change of deer-hunting regulations in 1979, however, transformed much of West Virginia into one of the nation's best trophy whitetail haunts--a status it retains to this day.

Four counties--Logan, Wyoming, Mingo and McDowell--were declared "bowhunting only" that year. By 1985, the region produced its first record archery kill, a 17-point non-typical that scored 212 1/4 Pope and Young points. Four more record bucks have been taken in those counties since 1995. Last year, the four counties produced 39 Pope and Young-class trophies, a whopping 60 percent of the statewide total.

Two years before the region's deer population began its turnaround, a change in the state's bear-hunting regulations sparked an explosion in the bruin population. Starting the season a week later than usual allowed pregnant sows just enough time to den up before the shooting started.

Bear numbers quickly rebounded, and the oak-rich forests of the state's southern mountains provided ideal habitat for the species' expansion. By the early 1990s, more bears existed in the southern counties than in the rest of the state combined.

District biologist Tom Dotson, engaged in research on the bears, says most of the bruins under study--taken at random from the wild--weigh more than 300 pounds. One caught earlier this year weighed 570, and another went 565. Those are big bears in anybody's book.

SCOUTING THE RIDGE

This year's buck-bear-boar opportunity will last 36 days, from October 18 to November 22. Dotson says that to have a reasonable chance at all three species, hunters will need to concentrate on a relatively narrow area along the boundary between Boone and Logan counties.

"From Route 17 on the west side to Route 85 on the east--and from Wharton on the north down to Blair Mountain on the south--is where someone would have the best chance of taking a boar," he says.

The area encompasses roughly 16 square miles of extremely hilly, extraordinarily rugged territory. Luckily, hundreds of miles of four-wheel-drive and ATV trails crisscross the slopes and ridges. Access isn't a problem because the coal and timber corporations that own the land allow free access to most of it.

"Most of the hogs are centered in the head of the Spruce Laurel Fork drainage and over onto Blair Mountain," he says. Bear densities are especially good on Cook Mountain, the ridge immediately east of the Spruce Laurel drainage system. Finding a deer should be easy, according to Dotson, because they're everywhere.

Dotson says the best way for outsiders to locate any of the three species is to scout the many points that extend off the region's serpentine ridges.

For more information, contact the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Section, State Capitol Complex, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E, Charleston, WV 25305; 304-558-2771. Hunting licenses, stamps and permits are available online at www.wvhunt.com.

For more regional information, go to www.outdoorlife.com/regional

Play Offense An aggressive midday plan to con dominant bucks

outdoorlife-editor — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 19:00:00 -0500

Is your back stiff from sitting in your tree stand's little seat? If you're just itching to climb down and shake things up, you can go on the offensive. During the rut, bucks check bedding areas for estrous does during midday. They might lie down with the does for a few hours as well. The standard advice in this situation is to take a stand between bedding areas so that you can ambush bucks as they move to scent-check doe groups. That's still good advice, but when done correctly, a more aggressive tactic can be more effective during the rut.

HIT AND RUN

When you climb down at 10 or 11 a.m., pull out an aerial photo or topographic map, pinpoint a few bedding areas, check the wind direction and plan a downwind approach. It's prime time to rattle in a buck.

Western whitetail guide Dwane Kiehl is an old pro at this tactic. He explains, "The idea is to key in on bedding areas that are holding does, and then to stalk within 100 to 200 yards of the cover before calling. When you set up, it's actually more important to be able to see to the sides and behind than it is to have a shooting lane directly in front. Bucks will circle downwind to pick up the intruding buck's scent and see if an estrous doe is present."

Wildlife biologist and Alabama outfitter George Mayfield, another believer in this tactic, advises, "Start by tickling the antlers together. You need to be careful not to spook any deer that might be close. After a quiet sequence, turn up the volume. You should rattle hard, make some deep grunts, break brush and stomp on the ground. Buck engagements during the rut are anything but civil. Because this can be very difficult from a tree stand, I prefer to stay on the ground when hunting alone."

DOUBLE TEAM

Because it's difficult for a bowhunter to rattle and shoot at the same time, Maine's Dave Hentosh touts the value of the buddy system. His method is simple: One hunter has the calling duties and the other acts as the shooter. The caller slips in close to a bedding area and hides under a pine or in a thicket; the shooter takes up a position 30 to 50 yards downwind of the caller.

An advantage to this technique is that the shooter isn't the focus of the responding buck's attention; consequently, the shooter can draw without being seen. To accomplish this, however, both hunters must be as scent-free as possible. You should consider using doe-in-estrus scents as both a cover odor and a convincer.

To add further to the realism of the scenario, consider using a decoy that can be set up quickly and quietly. The decoy will draw in bucks that might otherwise hang up out of bow range.

If the first location doesn't draw in a good buck, move to another likely area. You should be able to do two or three setups before it's time to get back on stand in the afternoon. Why nap when the deer do, when you can stir up a little action?

THE SETUP

If you can get up a tree very quietly, you can use a climbing tree stand. If you are hunting by yourself and will also do the calling, you should use available cover and a piece of camouflage cloth to quickly construct a ground blind. Before you make a sound, you need to be sure you can draw on and shoot an approaching buck from either side. Also make certain there are no limbs in the way, note yardages to various points and decide when you'll draw on a buck that approaches from either direction.

Reading The Wind Here's how to predict where your scent will blow

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 30 Sep 2003 20:00:00 -0400

In order to make a good stand better, I decided to cheat. The stand overlooked a wide bench on the side of a ridge that dead-ended above an alfalfa field. I had the stand positioned on the downwind edge of the bench (the "C" on the left in the illustration), but with the stand in this location, I couldn't cover the whole area. So I moved it to the center of the bench (the "B" on the left). Some deer were sure to walk downwind of this new setup, but I was confident that my scent would stay above the deer as it was blown off the bench.

My plan worked. A short while later a friend of mine bagged a 145-inch buck from the stand. The buck came by on the downwind side but never detected his scent.

As this anecdote shows, playing the wind entails more than simply setting up downwind of deer sign. It's an art form that can really up your odds. However, you can only "cheat" when you completely understand how air flows over terrain.

HOW AIR FLOWS

Basically, air blows in the same way that water flows over a creek bottom; it moves predictably over high spots and level stretches but swirls into calm pockets and past obstacles. High winds, like fast water, swirl more than light, steady winds.

Also, keep in mind that as wind moves over a ridge, the quiet pocket of still air on the lee side can pull it down. This causes swirling that sucks human scent toward the ground. The farther up on a ridge you place your stand, the better your chances of having your scent flow out above deer. (The "C" on the right in the illustration is placed high enough to avoid swirling winds, but it also puts a hunter away from the main action.)

Hollows and draws funnel wind and change its direction like water that hits an oxbow in a stream. The most severe case occurs when the wind flows across a ravine. Because of the way the wind hits the downwind side of the ravine it will usually flow in the opposite direction at the bottom.

A more predictable situation occurs when the wind is blowing in the same direction as a ravine runs. In this case, the ravine will channel the wind. This is the only time when these locations are huntable (stand "B" on the right).

WIND TUNNELS

Even if the ground doesn't fall away on the downwind side of your stand, you can still sometimes place a stand upwind of potential deer crossings and be successful. Thick vegetation slows the wind over a short distance and creates a vacuum that pulls it to the ground. However, thin cover lets the wind pass through, keeping your scent off the ground for a much longer distance.

If possible, place a stand in a strip of open timber between thicker stands of trees. This way your scent will funnel its way out.

SUNLIGHT'S INFLUENCE

If you check the wind in a food plot on a sunny day, you might find that it's blowing calmly from the west. But beware. When you get back into the shady cover something strange might happen: As warmer air from the bright field runs into heavier, cooler air in the shade, it can turn. In fact, if there is a sunny trail on the eastern end of the plot, the west wind might funnel down it even if the trail meanders in a northerly direction.

What can be more confusing is what happens when the terrain has thick clumps of vegetation with openings in between. In this case the wind might bounce off these cooler areas as it makes its way through.

There is really no end to the way sunlight and shady areas can affect light breezes. The best way to figure them out is to use a wind checker [see sidebar, previous page]. Of course, the whole situation changes in areas with steep terrain when the sun dips low and the evening thermals take over.

PREDICTING THERMALS

In steep, rugged country, thermal air currents greatly affect wind direction. At sunrise, thermals are going downhill, but when the sun warms a slope, the heated air will begin to rise. This causes the thermals to switch, usually at midmorning. The new uphill flow continues until evening shadows or heavy clouds cool the earth. The lower temperatures send thermals flowing downward once again.

Even when the thermals have shifted uphill on a warming slope, the wind in a shaded drainage on that slope may still be blowing downhill. These phenomena make attention to wind currents very important.

In the final analysis it takes more than checking the forecast to determine wind direction. You have to look at the terrain, sun and vegetation before picking a stand site. But if you take the time to study where the wind blows, you can find ways to "cheat" and stack the deck in your favor.

Wind Checkers Dangling a string from your tree stand will give you the wind direction where you're sitting, but it won't tell you what's going on 30 yards downwind. A wind checker with heavy smoke or milfoil will allow you to watch what the wind is doing downrange.

How To Funnel A Buck Up your odds by controlling where deer walk

outdoorlife-editor — Sun, 31 Aug 2003 20:00:00 -0400

Seven years ago, an outbreak of Dutch elm disease on my property turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The fungus had decimated the elms around one of my favorite food plots. In an attempt to extirpate the disease, I cut down enough dead or dying elms to feed my wood stove for several seasons. The aftermath of that cutting drastically improved my bowhunting success and thereby taught me a lot about setting the trap.

Before the outbreak of Dutch elm disease, hunting that food plot had been a crapshoot; deer entered and exited the food source at random locations. By piling the discarded elm branches at strategic points around the field, I created an ideal funnel that runs right past one of my tree stands.

During my first evening in that stand, three bucks approached the field from behind me. Though they were angling toward the opposite corner of the field, when they hit the wall of brush that I'd piled up, they turned and paralleled the obstruction until they sauntered by my stand at 15 yards. The biggest one, a dandy eight-pointer, was the focus of my aim. My shot was true, and in the years since that hunt five more mature bucks have fallen victim to that setup.

STAND LOCATIONS

In 1999, I carved out several food plots on my northern Michigan hunting property. I used a bulldozer to clear the ground and to push piles of debris around the field edges. I left only a few corridors for the deer to access each plot. I further enhanced those corridors by cutting man-made trails through the woods until they intersected with several natural deer runways.

In my experience, mature bucks in pressured areas generally will avoid exposing themselves in open fields during daylight. As a result, I only hunt right on top of a food plot if it's small and secluded enough to make bucks feel safe. As a general rule, I place stands at least 100 yards from fields, where trails I cut through the brush cross natural deer runs.

EMERGENCY EXITS

After creating funnels to and from a food plot or other feeding site, I look for the best exit route. Ideally, I want to be able to sneak away without spooking feeding deer off the food plot and without scaring away bucks that are approaching the area after dark. This is another good reason for hunting from a stand positioned 100 or more yards away from a feeding area. Also, keep the wind direction in mind. You don't want your scent to waft over the area when you leave the woods at sunset, educating deer to your presence.

The last thing to consider is an observation post. Find a place where you can approach the site unseen to check to see if deer are using the field and to see which trails they're using to enter.

This may seem like hard work. But when you consider the time and money it takes to produce a food plot, the effort required to set it up properly is a small price to pay for the return on your investment: trophy bucks.

Creating a Rutting Area

Placing a few trees strategically in a food plot can create a rutting hot spot. Fresh-cut pines with 4- to 5-inch bases work best, but freshly cut tops will also work. Using a posthole digger, place the pines in front of the main trail that enters the field. Remove all the lower branches to about 6 feet up. During the rut, bucks will rub their antlers on those trees with reckless abandon.

Stay On Target A formula designed to make the shot a no-brainer

outdoorlife-editor — Sun, 31 Aug 2003 20:00:00 -0400

The best way to keep everything together during the moment of truth is to use a practiced pre-shot routine. When an animal I want to take approaches, my mind races through a series of methodical steps. I use this same sequence every time I practice. It's so ingrained into my shooting style that I don't think I could shoot without going through the steps that are listed below.

BEFORE A BUCK IS SPOTTED, YOU SHOULD DO THE FOLLOWING:

1. Cut shooting lanes

Ideally, you should have done this months ago. If you have just switched your position to take advantage of changing deer patterns, you should cut openings with a pair of shears or a pole saw. When cutting shooting lanes during the season, keep the cutting to a minimum and be careful to keep your scent off the brush.

2. Use a range finder

You can't wait until an animal is passing through your shooting lane to zap it with a laser. When you get in your stand, check the yardage to different points all around. That way, when a buck bursts in, all you have to do is look at some of the markers to judge how far away he is.

3. Assess the wind

If the wind is blowing hard you'll have to compensate for it on any shot beyond 20 yards. Hopefully you have learned your arrow's flight in various winds while practicing. As a general rule, allow about 2 inches at 30 yards for every 10 mph of crosswind speed.

ALL RIGHT, HERE COMES A GIANT. NOW FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

4. Decide when to draw

If the pace and course of the animal is unpredictable, wait until it is within bow range before drawing. This way you won't get stuck at full draw waiting for a shot. On the other hand, if you're a compound bow shooter and the animal is moving your way at a moderate and consistent pace, you can (and should) draw while it is still well out of range and wait. This way there's much less chance of the deer seeing or hearing you.

5. Pick your opening

Gauge the animal's course and determine the closest point that allows an open shot. If a buck is moving in a straight line at a steady pace, this should be easy. If he's chasing a doe or feeding you'll have to keep recalculating until he's in range.

6. Choose a pin

If you didn't have time to use the range finder and check any reference points beforehand, you have to make a quick estimate of the distance. Pick the right pin and take a couple of seconds to get settled mentally.

7. Check the clearance

With the proper pin aimed at the opening, check any pins above it. If there is brush, limbs or leaves in line with these pins, you have a problem. Move to open up a clear lane. I've missed some really big animals because I didn't learn this lesson early enough.

8. Stop the deer or not?

I don't like to stop walking game when the shooting lanes are narrow. Instead, I aim at the center of the opening and shoot as soon as the animal's shoulder appears beyond my pin. As long as the animal's pace is leisurely and the distance short (20 yards or less), this timing results in a double-lung hit.

On the other hand, consider stopping a moving animal in each of the following situations: 1) When you have wide shooting lanes; 2) When the deer is moving faster than a walk; 3) When the range is more than 20 yards; 4) When, for lack of practice, you don't have the confidence to time the shot.

9. Pick a spot

Your best shots will occur when you pick a specific spot (one single hair or a discoloration on the side of the animal) and focus on it.

10. Don't rush the release

I don't think about the release, but some hunters concentrate on a slow, surprise release whenever time permits. The best advice I can offer is: Don't rush the release and it will take care of itself.

11. Hold your aim

Unless the situation changes because of something beyond your control, never second-guess a decision once you've made it. If you are going to think about a form tip during the shot, keep it simple. I recommend reminding yourself to stay locked on the spot you want to hit until the arrow arrives. This will focus your concentration on the target and will give you a better idea of the arrow's impact.

Practice your pre-shot routine on every shot you take during the weeks leading up to the hunting season. It will soon become second nature and you won't have to think about it when the chips are down. Through practice and preparation, your decision-making will become automatic and you'll become deadly on game.

Is Everything A-OK?

Some mistakes you make during the moment of truth result from equipment-related problems that could have been avoided had you detected them earlier. Every time you enter a stand and prepare to hunt, check your equipment thoroughly.

1. PEEP SIGHT: Make sure it's clear of obstructions and is turning properly. Draw the bow with an arrow on the string to be sure.

2. NOCKS: Inspect them for damage and to make sure they aren't blocked with dirt.

3. REST: Make sure your arrow is resting properly before a shot. Some bowhunters take a practice shot as soon as they get on stand.

4. FLETCHING: Fletchings must be solidly anchored to the shaft. Give them a tug. If one feels loose, switch to a different arrow.

5. SIGHT: Check for damaged or missing pins. Consider keeping a second, pre-set sight body in your fanny pack in case of problems.

6. BROADHEAD: If you're using mechanical broadheads, check to make sure the rubber bands holding them closed are still intact.

7. RELEASE AID: Grit can jam a release's mechanism. A test shot will reveal any problems.

Stay in the Action The manager of a bowhunter's Eden discloses his playbook

outdoorlife-editor — Thu, 31 Jul 2003 20:00:00 -0400

In the fields and woods outside, bucks were in a post-rut frenzy. Inside the lodge, a gaggle of bowhunters was working up a frenzy of its own, gawking at the scores of hero shots on the walls and envisioning their photos somewhere in the sea of smiles and antlers. In a few hours these hunters would be up in trees, seeing what fate had in store.

Seated at his desk in the middle of this scene, Bobby Culbertson was well aware that fate has little to do with getting within bow range of a mature buck. Culbertson is the manager of TARA Wildlife Inc.'s whitetail herd, a central Mississippi property that proves that 200-pounders with antlers high and wide can be grown in the Deep South. For the past six years he has seen groups come in every week from October 1 to January 15. Each time he must produce, no matter what the weather or the rut serve up.

And produce he does. Bowhunters kill an average of 40 Pope and Young--class whitetails at TARA each year. Few hunters leave without having had at least a chance at a buck that sent their blood pressure into the danger zone. Count me among them. I was soon to find out that at TARA a good-old-boy named Bubba doesn't just show you to a likely tree. Here the stand locations are based on years of research compiled from hunter report cards, timing of the rut and innovative scouting techniques. After the hunt at TARA last fall, I was impressed enough to talk Culbertson into explaining what the extensive research has taught him about hunting each segment of the season. Here's what he had to say.

PRE-FROST STAND CHOICES

Heat and its evil cousin humidity still weigh heavily on Mississippi when the bow season opens October 1. Here the mosquito action often beats the deer action during the first few weeks of the season. But for those who don't mind bathing in DEET, Culbertson has a proven strategy to offer.

Before a killing frost has sealed the fate of the greenbriers and wild grapes, deer have a menu more varied than a Greek diner's. Food plots barely get passing notice this early. At this time deer are more into snacking than grazing. Movement seems idle, even lethargic. But there are two things deer need: water and relief from insects.

At TARA, this means the Mississippi River. Deer will actually bed in the sand right next to the river, where a breeze blows the bugs away. In other sections of the country, deer climb ridges to find a breeze. To take advantage of this food-to-bed scenario, Culbertson puts his stands between water or early-season food sources that are actively being used and places where deer can bed in relative comfort. Action is mostly early and late at this time--there's little need to try your patience in the early season. But there is a big need for intensive scouting to take advantage of the buck's predictable routine.

Does aren't what you want to key in on now, says Culbertson. Bucks are in bachelor groups. Outside of the rut, the boys don't play coed. You have to move fast, advises Culbertson. In a few weeks the bachelor groups will break up and the bucks will disperse (this happens in late September and early October in northern states). Some bucks might move a few miles away at this point, while others will stay put.

Fifteen sets of clients' eyes out morning and evening make Culbertson's scouting easy, but he doesn't just rely on his hunters' anecdotal reports. His many guides use "observation posts," places where they can watch likely areas from a distance.

Culbertson advises doing the same by spending the first day or two of an early hunt positioned where you can glass as much terrain as possible in order to pattern a group of bucks. Later, you can move to the drainage, funnel or bench that you've seen bucks using.

PRE-RUT STAND CHOICES

When a killing frost has taken away some of the victuals, bachelor groups have split up and the first saplings are being rubbed raw, Culbertson changes tactics. Depending on mast crop, food plots are now a possibility, but his favorite stand choice is a scrape line along a travel corridor. Even better if the line is between trees that are dropping persimmons, acorns or pecans.

Early scrapes and rubs (late September or early October in northern latitudes and late October and early November in much of the South) are typically made by bucks 3 1/2 years old or older. Young bucks rut later, says Culbertson.

At this point in the rut Culbertson believes in low-impact, in-and-out, stand-hanging excursions during midday when bucks are generally inactive. Culbertson looks for tine marks well above the rubbed portion of a sapling and tracks that are at least 3 inches long--Culbertson notes that bucks typically leave a track in the freshly turned earth of a scrape.

But you have to move fast. This predictable period dies in late November in Mississippi and in late October in Northern states. Culbertson believes that, like anywhere else, deer activity slows down just before the rut.

RUT STAND CHOICES

When the calm before the storm comes to a furious end, Culbertson changes tactics once again. He looks to the forest. With the heat turning down with each succeeding week and the intensity of the rut turning up, does begin to bed in cutovers and nearby woods. Now bucks go into cruise mode as they travel between bedding areas. This makes the stand of choice in the morning in a bottleneck between thick areas in the open forest. If you're not seeing does, you're not going to see bucks either at this time of the year.

Bucks pass through scent-checking, typically walking with the wind passing over their left shoulders. Big bucks, says Culbertson, prefer to walk perpendicular to the wind, not right into it. This allows them to skirt large openings and cover territory with both their noses and eyes.

Culbertson keeps his bowhunters in trees until 11 a.m. now, later if they can stand it. You never know when a buck will come cruising.

Last fall, I had the chance to hunt in the timber at TARA during the post-rut. Perched in a tree dangling over a cutover, I watched a 140-class eightpointer chase a doe right at me, but then turn before coming into range to corral the doe. Disappointment lasted but a minute. Three does came fast with a 10-point behemoth on their heels. But then the wind touched the back of my neck and the curtain fell. Bowhunting offers no certainties, even when you're in the right spot.

HOW TO SET A TREE

Fred Law, deer manager of Alabama's Enon Plantation, is very particular about how he sets a tree. On a bowhunt at Enon last fall, I noticed that each of his lock-ons made me feel like I was in a blind. Law pays strict attention to cover. There were shooting lanes on each side, but there's always plenty to hide behind. He never sticks a lock-on in a telephone-pole-shaped pecan tree. Here are a few things he looks for in a stand position.

1. A right-handed shooter should set up so that deer are likely to approach from behind his left shoulder. This enables him to draw unseen (using the tree for cover) and to shoot as the buck quarters away.

2. The tree trunk should be large enough to break up a person's outline.

3. Ideally, there should be limbs underneath that don't obstruct shooting lanes.

4. If possible, a hunter should be between 18 and 25 feet up.

5. Don't consider the wind alone. Set up so that the sun won't be in your eyes.