Kids and Hunting Decissions

I have spent a great deal of time in the field with all four of my children hunting everything from squirrels to whitetails. Many times after our hunts or when I have had a chance to reflect on our time together, I have often wondered if they are getting out of it what they should be. Do they know that hunting is more then taking game and have I even given them a clue to my idea of being stewards of the land. Last weekend was a defining moment that put some of those worries to rest.

It was a two day youth hunt in Wisconsin and I had two of my kids chomping at the bit, ready for their first deer. We were hunting a lease that belongs to a hunt club I joined and my kids know there is deer on the property.
We split into two groups, my daughter Amber age 12 and myself in one and my long time hunting buddy Todd and my son Nathan age 14 in the other. The first morning Amber and myself have two deer near our stand. One a mature doe and the other just wouldn't give us a look to see what it was.
Now, club rules say we can shoot nothing less then an eight pointer but kids or any indavidual taking their first deer can harvest anything. The doe in the thicket was fair game. Although we could see the doe it was to thick to take the shot and Amber knew this. She never even raised the gun to shoot. That was the first moment Poppa knew she had been paying attention to previous instructions. The doe did however begin to feedin our direction and Amber was on the ball. she stood up in the tree stand some feet abouve the ground and turned toward the deer. She raised here gun and steadied it against the tree. Still the doe never gave her a shot and slowly walked off deeper into the thicket but as she started to leave the second deer that we could not see started to follow her and took a path just six yards from our stand. I looked to motion to Amber her it comes but seen she already seen it and was ready to shoot.
This was the second proud moment for dad, as she got ready the deer stoped to nibble some browes, giving Amber a perfect quartering away shot. The deer turned it's head and we both saw it was a buck fawn. Amber clicked the safty back on and watched the little buck follow the doe into the thicket. She turned and sat back down in her stand looking at me with the biggest smile I have ever seen on her face. I think we were both shaking at the knees from the excitment and I told her I think she did a good thing letting the little buck walk and she agreed.
That afternoon back on stand again we hear a single shot comming form the direction of Nathan and Todd. Nathan took his first deer confirmed by the vibrating cell phone in my pocket. The look on Amber's face had me guessing, she was rethinking letting that deer walk that morning.
Sunday morning, the last hunt. I hear foot steps in the fallen leaves that cover the ground but can not see what is there because of the canopy of leaves remaining on the trees. The sound stops close by and doesn't move again for many minutes. Finally I hear it again and then I see the head, another doe making her way right into our set up. I motion to Amber to get ready and the doe is walking right through our shooting lane. Amber gets her gun up and finds the deer in her scope. I give the doe a bleat from my mouth stopping her right in the lane for a perfect broadside shot at ten yards. POW! My heart sank because I knew she had just shot high over the deer's back.
To make this already long stort short, I think I was more depressed then she was and I was feeling bad for her. She informed me however, that she had a great time seeing deer and even getting to take a shot. I was then also reminded that we have the whole regular gun season for her to get another chance. She took it right in stride and proved to me that she really does understand that there is more to hunting then just taking game. This had to be one of the best couple days I have spent in the field with her and a weekend I'm sure neither of us will forget....

Scrapes

Well October finally made it. Many bow hunters have been loosing sleep waiting for this time of year to come. The colors are on the trees and the temps are showing signs of giving way to summer's heat.
With October also comes a shortening of daylight. These shorter days along with cooler temps will have most bucks chomping at the bit waiting for the first does to come into estrus. In an attempt to let every doe in the area know he is available for service, he will begin rubbing and scraping. Plastering these advertising billboards all over his core area in an attempt to bring the first doe in estrus into his territory to him. Did I say bring the doe to him? Yes I did but we will get to that in a moment.
Most every hunter knows scrapes can be a good place to think about hunting. Not all scrapes are created equal though. Often a buck will scrape and never revisit that location while others he will freshen during the entire rut. What makes one better over the other and how do we know which is which. I'm not sure there is really any hard quick answer to that. One thing that many writers and experienced hunters seem to agree on, is the fact that the hottest spots will most likely have clusters of scrapes in one small area. As said before, this area will usually be close to the bucks core area.
Heavy concentrations of droppings will be found near by. The other dead giveaway, the scrapes will always seem fresh. Often a dominant buck may only visit these at night. If he does visit them during daylight he will almost always approach them from down wind. Setting up shop to close to these scrapes can often get a hunter busted. Try backing off and hanging a stand 30-40 yards down wind of these scrapes.
Then there are the does, a big buck will most likely set up his core area close to or near by the does. That's the whole reason he makes these love signs, letting a hot doe know he is there. Another method of hunting hot scrapes is to run a drag past them to your hunting spot. Because the estrus cycle is pretty short, in many cases if a male companion hasn't come around the hot doe will visit his scrapes. Generally she will only visit the ones closest to his core area in an attempt to find him there. Often, mating will happen right at the scrape. In the event she doesn't find him there, she will urinate in the scrape letting him know she is ready. When the buck visits he will begin to trail the doe. Keep in mind this works best when there are hot does in the area. A lil bit of your favorite Doe-in-Heat on a drag can be just the trick to bring that big guy into bow or gun range.
Keep in mind, the idea here is to find the biggest concentration of scrapes in a small area. One or two here and there probably are not worth your time. Many hunters have found a couple scrapes and hunt them never to see the buck that made them. Begin looking in areas where you have seen many or know does often frequent, a buck will do the same. When you find the hot spots don't be afraid to pull out the bag of tricks to get him show him self. Try hunting down wind of the scrapes, run a drag from them to your stand, rattling and grunting or setting up a mock scrape are all good tactics to use when the rut begins. Scrape hunting can be very rewarding and you should spend the time to find the right ones to hunt over.....

Scents and Attractants for early season Deer

To understand scents and attractants we must first understand what they are. Over many years of making deer attractants I’ve found that we use different words to describe the same thing. I sometimes do the same and inter mix words when I talk to people about our products. But here is how I define a few words when talking about deer lures.

First is the word SCENT. My definition of scent is that it comes from an animal (urine, glands etc.). 2nd would be ATTRACTANT. My definition is a smell that would entice with a sense of pleasure such as food. 3rd would be LURE. My definition is any scent or attractant that will bring them to the set. Yes I’m and old time trapper also, and the set was made so that the animal would place is foot exactly where I wanted them to step. 4th is curiosity and is something they don’t smell everyday. And 5th COVER scent. Any odor other than our own human scent.

I consider all the above to be a type of cover scent as it lends a deer’s attention to that odor and not ours. Most cover scents are made to smell like earth, trees, etc. So any scent or attractant can also be used as a cover scent as I see it. I will not use any type of cover scent on my body or clothing when hunting. I only use a scent eliminator without any smell to it.

Deer hunters should know that there is not a deer lure made that will work 100% of the time. Some hunters think that you can just pour a bottle of scent out anywhere on the ground and deer will come. Wrong! You have to know where the deer are and their habits to utilize your lures to there best drawing ability. When used properly, in the right location and the right time of year you will increase your chances of bringing a deer to your stand.

Our goal as deer hunters is to get the deer to walk to where we would like to get a good shot at it. So how do we go about doing this and what do we use for early season deer hunting? When setting up over a trail or spot that you think deer will pass, you want to be on the down wind side of the trail. I like to have a shot of about 20 yards from the trail.

Note: this for early season, during the Pre-Rut and Rut when the big boys are doing allot of scent checking, I place my stand about 40 yards from the trail. This gives room for the big boys to circle the down wind side of the trail for that Doe in Estrus Scent. If you want to use your stand in the same place all year then place your scent 20 yards on the other side of the trail.

For now though we are in the early season and deer are using trails and making rubs so I place my scents and attractants about 20 yards from my stand. Food and curiosity attractants work well this time of year. Food attractants used, should be common to the area you are hunting, you wouldn’t want to use sweet corn where no corn is found. I have found that food attractants work best from early afternoon until darkness has you heading for your vehicle. Deer have been feeding all night long and heading back to bed down in the mornings, so they are not really interested in food. I use a curiosity attractant such as our MO~NILLA or L.C. BERRY early in the mornings as they work allot better than our food lures early in the morning. The scents I use are Doe Whiz or Y-Buck Whiz to drag to my stand and then along the trail where I’d like to take my deer. I place some of my curiosity scent at the place I want to take my shot. I never place Scents or Attractants more than 2 feet off the ground.

I don’t know where or how it got started, but it seems to me that all the TV PROS and magazine writers haven’t been in the woods long enough to really observe or study deer.
So popular belief is that the higher you place your lure off the ground the farther the scent will carry. I say HOGWASH, the only thing placing your lure high is going to do is make the deer look up a whole lot more than by keeping it close to the ground. The more a deer looks up scent checking, the better chance it has of spotting you in your tree stand. You might get by with it on younger deer but your chances of being picked off by and older deer are great.

The same holds true with putting mother earth, acorn wafers etc. on your hunting clothes. How many times have you seen the so called Pro up in his tree stand with scent wafers hanging from his hat or pinned on his shoulder, get busted because the deer picked the hunter off. The camo might have helped to hide him but the deer knew something wasn’t right. Please, Please use a no scent spray on your clothing and give yourself a better chance of getting Mr. Wallhanger if he should show himself.

There are times when I make a 20 yard circle around my stand with Doe Whiz in case the wind shifts, but by doing this you must be very keen to having deer come in from any direction. When I’m hunting Trophy Deer I don’t use this tactic, its just way to risky.
If you are like many hunters and try to get in a couple hours of hunting after work and you are worried about how you smell. Spray your clothes with non scented spray and if you have some other spray like mother earth or whatever, spray it on the ground about 10 yards from your stand.
Deer are wild animals and you can’t always tell what they will do and how they might react to scents and attractants etc. I really do spend over 300 days a year in the woods testing, studying, photographing, and hunting-(during season) the great Whitetail Deer.

Also one last note about Doe Whiz and Buck whiz. A doe will not always check the scent of a buck and a buck will not always check the scent of a doe. But a buck will check the scent of another buck scent most of the time to see who the new kid in the block is, and during the rut a buck wants to know who the intruder is.
I developed our Trophy Blend to aid in the better chance to bag a buck during the pre-rut and the rut. I believe it to be better than estrus by itself and feed back from others has been great. Visit our website often for more info and to just say hello at HighNoon Deer Scents also known by many as Swansnest Botanicals We also love to see your pictures and like to know what you were using to bag your deer. My wife and I love to see others having success and fun and hope that we have helped in some small way.


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