"Finding the Neddle in the Haystack"
By: Braden Arp

Youth Article (Young Bucks Outdoors)
Pictured is Brock Arp (12 years old) with a nice shed.


“Sit right here until I come back for you. Whatever you do, don’t get up. I will be on down in the woods a bit. If you need anything, key me up on the radio. It will be daylight soon. Make a good shot. Good luck.”
I can still remember those words ringing in my ears some twenty two years later after being wedged in a deer stand with a 16 gauge shotgun held firmly in the clutches of my white knuckled hands. I added the part about the radio. We used the scream and yell method. To this day, I can remember not knowing which way to expect the game, not knowing which way my father would be arriving to pick me up from, or heck, I didn’t even know the general direction of the truck. I was lost before I even had the chance to get lost.
A couple of years later I realized what lost really meant when we stumbled up on a house after a seven hour walk through the woods while coon hunting. The ol’ man walked out on the porch after hearing the frantic knock on the door. He sat down in his rocker, offered us all a glass of sweet tea, and began to tell us where we were, and we were still lost! I learned a valuable lesson that night that has stuck with me ever since and that is to, if nothing else, pay attention. I guess sometimes learning the hard way has a way of making lessons learned “stick” in your head a little better, and boy did we learn one!
People say to learn from your mistakes, which is just what I did. We had the yearly scouting trip coming up, as I’m sure many of you have been on as well, to the big timbered hardwood track that has been the host to several “wall hanger” class bucks. This particular year I decided to take a different approach than the two seasons before. Rather than be just the wood carrier, tool belt holder, and all around “go for”, I decided that this year I was going to try and figure this thing out. Granted you’re not going to figure it all out in one scouting trip, I would try and figure out a few of the basics.
The very first and foremost thing on my mind was where I was. I paid close attention to where the truck was and which way we walked in and out. I noticed my father didn’t just wonder around through the woods. He had a specific trail he walked and that’s the way he did it. Before you blunder out in to the great unknown, know where the truck is. Set some landmarks to go by, such as old blown down trees or a fire break, and don’t forget the “old faithful” orange ribbon.
After getting my bearings, I would venture out a little and maybe cross over a hill or two exploring new terrain and try to figure out why my stand was in the location that it was in. The South Georgia hardwoods were loaded with deer sign which made it fairly easy to find rubs and scrapes and all indications that deer was in the area. I began to pay attention to trails and where they would lead to and where they would come from. I found that allot of them led back in to something thick and nasty, which was always close by one of our stands, which got me thinking to the previous season and where the deer usually came from. Two and two started to come together. They still added up to ten, but I was getting closer to this riddle of “deer hunting”.
Later in the afternoon of our scouting trip, I found a shed just inside the thicket to one of the ladder stands that dad had hung for me to hunt. Now don’t get me wrong. To this day, I like finding rubbed trees shredded from top to bottom, but I really get excited to find a shed antler from a nice eight point buck that lives in the area I hunt. Still I find sheds in areas like this one on the edges of the thickets. When the buck’s antlers get ready to drop, a lot of times they will get caught on the scrubby undergrowth of the thickets and go ahead and fall just waiting for you or me to come by and find it. Another trick I learned was for those of you who use “trough” feeders, run a small rope about six inches above the top of the trough all the way around. This will sometimes be just enough resistance to cause a buck’s antlers to shed and fall.
There are endless videos and articles on how to harvest that buck of a lifetime. They are informative for sure, but don’t forget about the “jump in and get your feet wet method”. This is where the rubber is going to meet the road in learning to find and pattern deer. This is how the guys in the videos learned. I had a friend of mine tell me about an area up north that has thousands of square miles of big dense timber that no one has ever hunted.
“That will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack”, I told him.
“Well, it’s in there. We just have to find it!”

Finding Acorn Trees Now

You know the drill. We set up in early bow season on trees we have always hunted in the past, but the acorns just don't seem to be dropping. Been there, done that. I have found that the large mature acorn trees will not produce every year , regardless of the rain that they have received. I love hunting the large gigantic acorn trees in bow season, but I have found that the mid size trees produce more frequently, and for the most part, are easier to find in clusters along the hardwood ridges.

There is a tactic that you can use to get a leg up on the acorn crop for your area. Its really simple. Take a pair of good clear binoculars and glass the trees in your area and find out which trees are loaded with acorns. That can be done now. Granted you may look like an idiot in your scouting party for "stargazing", but I guarantee you will find the best acorn trees to set up on. You may find a tree loaded with acorns and just a few unused trails leading into it from previous years. There will also be trails that are wore down to the dirt on the trees that produced last year. Don't pay as much attention to the trails that are hammered out now if there are no acorns on the trees that the deer are traveling by. The deer will pick right back up on the unused trails from a few years back once the acorns start falling.

Another trick I like to use is to find the first feed trees out of the bedding are where the deer are coming from. Allot of times, the deer will come out of there bed and feed on the first acorn trees from the bedding area. It may even be still a little thick, but get in there with them and hunt the feed trees in the thickets if you have too. It is a great buck tactic if there is a little pressure on the deer you are hunting such as leases and hunting clubs. Also, those bucks will respond a little better to calls since the area is thicker and holds the security a big buck desires.

Find the trees loaded with acorns now, and then pick out the trees closest to the bedding area. It just may be the tactic that leads to you harvesting a trophy buck that has been eluding you.

Fort Walton Peer

There is one thing that I have always wanted to do , but haven't, until this year. In previous years, the kids and I have walked past the peer and thought, "That looks like fun", but we didn't have the right equipment to go out and fish on it. After all, ocean fish don't bite a finesse worm from an All Star Rod and Pinnacle Reel. This year, I was talking to a guy after a walk out to the peer and he told me that they have all you need in the peer "clubhouse" to fish. After checking it out, we rented 3 fishing rods, bought some bait, a couple of Gatorades, and a Got-cha plug. I had $46 in the entire trip. Sounds easy enough, huh?

Now we didn't have very high expectations of the trip, just some well deserved "hang out" time. I baited my oldest son's rod and he dropped it in the water. Bam, a fish was on its way up to the hands of my 12 year old. I baited my 10 year old's rod, and after sliding in to his brother's spot while he wasn't looking, another fish was on its way up the long crank from the water to the peer. Two fish in two minutes.....not too bad. The kids proceeded to absoplutely rip fish from the water and drag them over the rail and down onto the peer deck.

Fort Walton PeerA little later, I decided to tie on the Got-cha plug and see if I could hook up with something on artificial bait. Ater a lesson from a local in liters, I re-rigged the plug with a #30 flouracarbon liter and sailed the plug out into the deep. Immediately, I got a strike and hauled in about a 16" Bluefish. The next 9 casts produced fish. I was amazed to say the least. We ended up catching about 40 fish in a couple of hours.

The cool thing about the rod rental is that the rental is good from midnight until midnight . We turned our rods in at around 3:30PM and went back after dinner at 8:00PM and picked them back up to fish until midnight at no additional charge. I love to take charter boats in Destin, but I tell you, I had more fun on the peer and for a heck of a lot less money. Also, its a great place for kids. You don't have to worry about them falling in or getting sea sick. Its worth the small amount of money and is a great gettaway from a fun filled day of shopping!

Welcome to My World!

Vacation 2008......Fort Walton Beach, Florida

If any of you have, and I'm sure you have, vacated with a 10 and 12 year old, then you know of the frustrations of attempting to capture the perfect beach family photo of the wife and kids. I would like to be able to say that this trip was an exception, but as it goes, it wasn't. Now everyone wants the family to all have a fun trip and have as great of time as can be had, but there are some exceptions to these times. Picture time is the dreaded time that we all just bare and get through. With a 12 year old, it makes it a little more difficult. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and we had a blast, but my kids thought that picture time was a moment to gather all the crazy antics on camera. As you can see from the picture, this shot was almost perfect.....until my oldest decided that a beach picture needed a little sand in it. Are we the only ones, or have any of you had similar experiences with picture time?

NOAA SETS ASSESSMENT ON 909 RED SNAPPER CASE

Need I say more?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States Department of Commerce, General Council for Enforcement and Litigation, Southeast Region, handed down a Notice of Violation Assessment (NOVA) on a red snapper case made on April 28, 2008.
The NOVA stemmed from the case made on the vessel Captain Charlie which was captained by David T. Harrelson, 52, of Lockport, Louisiana. The boat was chartered by one Florida and 17 Georgia fishermen.
The vessel Captain Charlie was found to have a total of 909 red snapper which were taken during closed season on board the vessel when boarded by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Agents working under a Joint Enforcement Agreement between NOAA and the State of Louisiana. The recreational red snapper season was not set to open until June 1, 2008, and the recreational limit during open season is two red snapper per person per day. In addition, 287 of the red snapper were under the minimum 16 inch size limit. None of the 18 non-resident fishermen possessed a Louisiana basic or saltwater license.
The NOVA issued was in the amount of $80,000, and a 210-day Notice of Permit Sanction (NOPS) for the violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act regulations was issued to the owner and operator David T. Harrelson of Rebel Charter Services, LLC.
Also, a joint and several NOVAs in the amount of $45,450 was given to all of the fishermen aboard the vessel Captain Charlie. In addition, the owner, operator and all fishermen were issued a Notice of Proposed Forfeiture for the red snapper.


“We would like to commend our agents for doing an outstanding job in protecting our state and federal fisheries resources,” said Colonel Winton Vidrine, Chief Law Enforcement Office for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
A response from the respondents is anticipated within the next 30 to 40 days.