Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Offers New System To Turn In Poachers

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

LITTLE ROCK, AR --(Ammoland.com)- The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is offering a new way to anonymously report outdoor-related violations to the agency’s Enforcement Division agents. It’s called tip411 and is as simple as sending a text message.

CitizenObserver, the tip411 provider, uses technology that removes all identifying information before the AGFC receives the text so that the AGFC cannot identify the sender.

To send the anonymous tip via text message to the AGFC, text AGFC with the tip to tip411 (847411). You will then receive a thank you text acknowledging that the text has been received.
According to AGFC Assistant Chief of Enforcement Todd Smith, the system is a completely anonymous way for people to report violations via text messaging.

“Our dispatch center will be monitoring all incoming texts 24 hours, 7 days a week,” Smith said. “We will respond to the reporting person, gather required information, then pass it on to the appropriate officer,” he explained.

With the increase in technology along with the way our society communicates these days, this venture should open the door for those who would not have called in a violation, Smith said. “There are many other agencies across the country that have initiated this way of communicating with law enforcement,” he added.

An iPhone app is also under development and will be available soon. Citizens all may anonymously report tips by calling 800-482-9262.

American Bob Cat

New Jersey Fish and Game

Trenton, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- Although bobcats are considered a game species, they are currently classified as “Endangered” in New Jersey and are therefore managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program.

There is no open hunting or trapping season for bobcat, and it is illegal to intentionally take, kill or attempt to take or kill one in the State.

Bobcats legally harvested in other U.S. states or Canadian provinces may be possessed provided the pelt is affixed with a CITES tag from the state or province of harvest.

Bobcats thrive in a variety of habitats with high prey abundance and dense understory vegetation, including hardwood forests, mixed forests, brush, swamps and farmland habitats). Forest edges and rocky ledges and outcrops are also important terrain features. Bobcats seem to use the convenience of woods roads and established paths in forests to aid travel.

Bobcats are widely distributed across New Jersey, but are mainly found in the northwestern counties of Sussex, Warren, Passaic and Morris. They are scarce in the central and southern counties of the state. Trappers should make every reasonable effort to avoid taking bobcats, and should know what to do if a bobcat is accidentally captured.

Back feet often follow in the front foot tracks of bobcats. Bobcat track trails tend to “wander” compared with the more straight-line patterns of wild canids (foxes and coyotes). Bobcats travel and hunt with a deliberate and methodical walking pattern, rarely bounding unless chasing prey. Bobcat tracks are approximately 1½ – 2½ inches long and 1 3/8 – 2½ inches wide in dirt and up to 2½ inches long and 2¾ inches wide in snow. Bobcats have 4 toe pads on the front and hind feet. Claw marks typically do not show in tracks as they do with canids.
Coyote/Bobcat Track Comparison

Information to Help Avoid Bobcat Captures

• Wherever a bobcat track is identified, cable restraint sets should not be made in close proximity.
• Every year a growing number New Jersey trappers discover to their extreme discomfort that a bobcat is in one of their restraints, and that making sets on or near existing bobcat sign is a real problem as bobcats will repeatedly use the same travel patterns within their territories.
• Bobcats tend to use areas where cottontail rabbits are abundant. Trail sets that are effective for wild canids (fox and coyote) can be expected to capture bobcats as cats will follow canine trails, particularly those in open fields.
• Lures and baits that appeal to one species appeal to others as well. Visible baits of any kind, especially rabbits or parts of rabbits, should not be used if any bobcats frequent the area. Sight-attractants such as bird wings, feathers, pieces of fur, should not be used near the traps if bobcat may be present.
• The use of tainted rather than fresh meat baits provides significant attraction to coyotes and foxes but tends not to attract bobcat.

Reducing Mortality and Injuries to Incidentally Captured Bobcats

If you find a bobcat (alive or dead) in one of your sets, call: 877-WARN-DEP (877-927-6337). The dispatcher will notify the appropriate Endangered and Nongame Species zoologist. The dispatcher will record the trapper’s name and phone number. The zoologist will then immediately contact the trapper to meet with him/her and release/remove the bobcat from the cable restraint.

It is very important that a live bobcat be released as soon as possible to prevent further injury or death to the animal that might result from a prolonged time spent in the trap device. Every trapper should have and carry a catchpole and wire cutters as part of their basic trapline equipment to allow safe release of any unintended animal captures. Trappers are also advised to have a piece of heavy canvas (or carpet) large enough to cover a bobcat and a pair of heavy duty leather gloves.

How to Release a Snared Bobcat

• Approach any trapped bobcat slowly to avoid causing them to move about excessively. Never attempt to render a bobcat unconscious with a blow to the nose or head or by any other means. Life threatening injury to the bobcat may result.
• A bobcat will allow the catchpole loop to be placed over its head, but it can be expected to react when the loop is tightened. Tighten the catchpole loop only sufficiently to hold the bobcat securely without preventing its ability to breathe. If a catchpole is not available, an alternative method to release bobcat is to cut a strong forked stick to allow the pinning of the bobcat’s neck and shoulder to the ground while the snare is removed.
• It is important to keep the head of the bobcat pinned down to the ground. Quickly place a foot, with light pressure only, on the hindquarters to restrain the rear legs. Always be aware a bobcat may try to lash out at you with claws extended on any paw.
• Once the bobcat is immobilized, the canvas/carpet can be placed over the prone animal to quiet it as the cable restraint is cut off or removed quickly.
• The catchpole loop should only then be relaxed and removed to allow the animal freedom to escape. Important! – Special care should always be taken when releasing a bobcat. They are very capable of injuring the trapper with their teeth or claws.

Utah DWR officer Josh Carver shows what wildlife officers and volunteers are trying to stop this winter: The illegal killing of mule deer in Utah. This 6x5 buck was shot in Iron County in November.

Utah Division of Natural Resources

Utah --(Ammoland.com)-  This winter, Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officers and members of sportsman’s groups are carrying out the largest winter range patrols ever conducted in the state.

“As Utahns celebrate the holidays and usher in a new year, our officers will be busy protecting the state’s mule deer herds from poachers—thieves who steal wildlife from present and future generations of ethical sportsmen,” says Mike Fowlks, chief of the DWR’s Law Enforcement Section.

“We won’t tolerate deer poaching in Utah,” Fowlks says. “We’re pulling out all the stops and using all the means we have to protect Utah’s deer herds.”

The following are among the things the DWR is doing:

• Patrolling winter ranges at night. Officers are conducting these patrols on land and from the air.
• Conducting saturation patrols that put several DWR officers on the same piece of winter range at the same time.
• Enlisting volunteers from sportsman groups to serve as additional ‘eyes and ears.’

The volunteers patrol the winter ranges. They have the means needed to report what they see and hear directly to the nearest DWR officer.

Patrols are underway across Utah. The patrols will continue through the winter.

Fowlks says most of the on-the-ground and aerial patrolling is focused on areas where deer are most at risk.

“But those aren’t the only areas our officers and volunteers are watching,” Fowlks says. “Far from it. We’re watching winter ranges across the state.”

Fowlks says five areas in Utah are receiving special attention:

• The desert areas on the western side of Utah
• The southwestern corner of the state
• The Paunsaugunt deer unit in southern Utah
• The Henry Mountains unit in southeastern Utah
• The Book Cliffs unit in eastern Utah

Turn-In-a-Poacher hotline
As you travel through Utah’s backcountry this winter, Fowlks encourages you to keep your eyes and ears open. “You don’t have to be part of this patrol effort to make a difference,” Fowlks says. “If you see something suspicious, let us know as soon as possible.”

Utah’s Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline is the most efficient way to contact a DWR officer. The UTiP number is 1-800-662-3337. The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Winter a critical time
Much of the deer poaching that happens in Utah happens in the winter. And for good reason—winter is the time of year when mule deer are concentrated on their lower elevation winter ranges. The bucks are also less wary because the breeding season is underway or it just finished.

Fowlks says poachers usually target the biggest bucks they can find. In addition to stealing opportunity from legal hunters, taking the bucks can also result in too many deer being taken during hunts that upcoming fall.

Fowlks says DWR biologists count the number of bucks per 100 does in December.

“In December, the deer are bunched together on lower elevation areas where it’s easier to get an accurate count,” he says. “But if poachers kill bucks after the biologists have counted them, the data that’s used to set permit numbers in the spring won’t be correct—it will show more bucks than there actually are. And that can lead to too many hunting permits being issued.”

Poachers take a big toll
So far in 2011, wildlife officers have investigated the illegal killing of 189 mule deer in Utah.

Most of the deer were bucks. The antlers on 22 of the bucks were big enough to place the deer in a trophy category.

“Hunters would haven been thrilled to take any of these bucks,” Fowlks says.

The monetary value of the animals to Utah’s citizens is $242,800.

Deer Hunters - Tag Your Deer Properly

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

PRATT, KS -–(Ammoland.com)- The regular Kansas firearm deer season is winding down, but archery season remains open the rest of the year, and several whitetail antlerless-only seasons will be held in January.

After a deer is taken, hunters must dress the deer out, cool it down, and get it to a place for processing — all of which is hard work.

But before moving the deer, the hunter must fill out his or her carcass tag and attach it to the deer. There is more to this than meets eye.

“Hunters need to make sure they attach the carcass tag securely,” says Mark Rankin, assistant director of Law Enforcement for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT). “We have problems every year when hunters get to a locker or are stopped en route and there is no tag on their deer, but they say they have tagged it. Follow-up often reveals that they did have a permit, but the carcass tag had blown off in the back of the vehicle. In that case, we have no choice but to investigate. In some cases, a citation may be issued.”

The best way to tag a deer is to follow the directions in the 2011 Kansas Hunting and Furharvesting Regulations Summary, Page 16, available at KDWPT offices and license vendors, as well as the KDWPT website, www.kdwpt.ks.us.

Another issue regarding tagging affects nonresidents who may want to have their deer meat processed in Kansas and shipped home, but they want to travel home with the head and antlers. Or they may want to donate the meat in Kansas and travel home with the head and antlers. Kansas law requires that the carcass tag remain attached to the animal until processed and remain with the meat.

“In these cases, we suggest that the hunter keep the top part of their deer permit with the head and antlers,” Rankin explains. “The carcass tag must remain with the carcass, but if the hunter keeps the top half of the permit with the head and antlers, he’ll be within the law.”

It’s not just Kansas law that’s at issue, however. Many states have adopted strict regulations to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). Typically, these regulations do not allow the transportation of a deer head with brain tissue from a state with confirmed CWD cases (which includes Kansas). Hunters have been cited in other states and had their deer confiscated for not complying with the transportation laws of that state. Boned meat, as well a the cleaned skull cap and antlers, may be all that can be legally transported in some states.

Nonresident hunters should check the laws regarding transport of deer in all states through which they plan to transport any portion of a harvested deer.

Royal Purple Synthetic Oil

Porter, TX --(Ammoland.com)-  Every hunter knows that the most important tool he has is his gun. If the gun malfunctions, your day is as good as done. Cleaning your firearms properly is just as important to your safety as it is to your hunting success.

You may be familiar with Royal Purple’s automotive or industrial line of products, but Royal Purple also offers synthetic gun oil that contains the same proprietary additive technology Synerlec. Royal Purple’s Synthetic Gun Oil is specifically formulated to provide exceptional protection against wear, rust and saltwater corrosion and fouling. It works well in a variety of temperatures and will not thicken in cold weather.

First, find a safe place to clean your gun. Before you begin, be sure to remove any clips or magazines and check the chamber to make sure your gun is unloaded before you start the cleaning process. Check your owner’s manual before disassembling your gun, and do not go beyond what the manufacturer recommends. While your gun is disassembled, inspect it for cracks and other signs of excessive wear. If your gun is in need of repair, consult a qualified gunsmith.

Royal Purple Gun Oil

Begin cleaning your firearm from the breech end whenever possible. If you cannot do this, take safety measures to prevent pushing debris into the action. Get a phosphor-bronze brush and scrub the entire bore thoroughly. Select the proper jag or patch holder and the correct size patch for your application. Saturate the patch with Royal Purple Gun Oil and run the patch down the barrel. Remove the soiled patch from the rod as it exits the end of the bore. If you pull the patch back you can redeposit fouling and draw debris into the action. Let the gun oil soak for a couple of minutes to help remove any lead or carbon buildup.

Remove the jag or patch and attach the appropriate bore brush. Saturate the brush with the Royal Purple Gun Oil and work it back and forth through the bore three or four times. You will then want to reattach the jag or patch with a soaked patch, and run down the bore with the new patches until they emerge clean. Run a dry patch down the bore, removing any remaining residue. Make sure to check the barrel for any traces of fouling.

Take the Royal Purple Gun Oil and spray it on a patch or cotton mop, and run it down the freshly cleaned bore to leave a very light coating. This will help against rust and corrosion. Use a double ended nylon gun brush soaked in the gun oil or a degreaser to start removing any un-burnt powder or debris in and around the action. Make sure you coat any surfaces that have been degreased in addition to the moving parts with the gun oil. This will protect against rust and extend the life your gun. Make sure you do not apply too much lubricant as excess could cause the gun to collect unwanted dust and debris.

Reassemble your gun and wipe down any metal surfaces you may have touched with your hands. Make sure your bore is free of any obstruction before firing, and never attempt to clear a bore by shooting it out. Clean your scope with a camera lens or glasses cleaner and clean the body with a dry cloth.

Royal Purple Synthetic Gun Oil is available at e-commerce sites such as Amazon, Jegs, Lucky 7 Trucks, Pace Performance and Summit Racing.

About Royal Purple
Royal Purple manufactures synthetic products for numerous industrial and consumer needs. Join the Royal Purple on Facebook at www.facebook.com/officialroyalpurple and Twitter @RoyalPurpleInc. For more information on Royal Purple or its products, contact Royal Purple Inc., One Royal Purple Lane, Porter, TX 77365, 281-354-8600,  www.royalpurple.com.

Ohio Department Natural Resources Extends Hotline Hours During Deer-Gun Hunting Season

Ohio Department Natural Resources

COLUMBUS, OH --(Ammoland.com)- Individuals seeking information about the upcoming youth gun and white-tailed deer hunting seasons, or to report violations of state wildlife laws, can take advantage of extended call center hours from November 19 to December 4, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Wildlife.

The 1-800-WILDLIFE (945-3543) general hunting information hotline will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.on Saturday, November 19 and Sunday, November 20, for the ninth annual youth deer-gun season.

Staff will also be available to answer calls prior to and during the regular deer-gun season, which begins Monday, November 28, and ends Sunday, December 4.

Special call center hours prior to and during the state’s popular deer-gun season are as follows:

• 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, November 25
• 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, November 26-27
• 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, November 28-December 2
• 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, December 3-4
• 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, December 17-18
• The hotline will be closed on Thanksgiving Day

The extremely popular deer gun season is a period when many of Ohio’s hunters have last-minute questions and the Division of Wildlife will be ready and available to assist them. Hunters are encouraged to contact the division with any question that may arise.

Ohioans also are encouraged to help enforce state wildlife laws by reporting violations to the division’s Turn-in-a-Poacher (TIP) hotline at 1-800-POACHER (762-2437). Established in 1982, the TIP program allows individuals to anonymously call toll free from anywhere in the state to report wildlife violations. The 1-800-POACHER hotline is open for calls 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Tipsters may be eligible to receive a cash award and are urged to leave a message during closed hours with as much information about the suspected violation as can be provided. Tips can also be submitted online at wildohio.com.

The ODNR ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR Web site at www.ohiodnr.com.

This 7x7 bull elk was shot and killed by poachers last week off Clear Creek Road south of Chinook. (Photo courtesy Montana FWP)

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

CHINOOK, Mont. --(Ammoland.com)- State wildlife investigators are seeking help from the public regarding the illegal shooting of a large bull elk south of Chinook in Blaine County, MT.

Havre-area Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Warden Ron Howell said the

7×7 bull was shot sometime between 5 p.m. on Sun., Nov. 6 and 7 a.m. on Mon., Nov. 7 off the Clear Creek Road. The elk’s head and antlers were left intact, and all of the meat was left to rot.

Anyone with information about the poaching case is asked to call Howell directly at 406-262-2407, FWP Region 6 Warden Sgt. Shane Reno at 406-262-3133, or FWP’s 24-hour TIP-MONT hotline at 1-800-847-6668.

Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward up to $1,000.

South Dakota Fish, Game & Parks Offers Tips for a Safe and Successful Pheasant Season

South Dakota Fish, Game & Parks

PIERRE, S.D. --(Ammoland.com)- Pheasant season brings family and friends together to share old memories and create new ones.

The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department offers the following basic guidelines encouraging hunters to be safe and legal:

1. A safe hunt is a successful hunt. Safety First — Safety Always. Know where everyone is in your group. Shoot to the blue.
2. Remember your license.
3. Bring someone along, young or old, to experience the South Dakota autumn.
4. Leave your vehicle and cares behind. The best hunting experience comes when walking.
5. Daily limit for pheasants is three, and the possession limit is 15. Possession limit may not be met until the fifth day of hunting.
6. It is illegal to allow a firearm to protrude from a motor vehicle on a public highway. It is illegal to shoot from a motor vehicle, including an ATV, while hunting pheasants.
7. Nontoxic shot is required on most public lands.
8. Make sure your birds are property packaged for transporting.
9. Obey the 660-foot safety zones around occupied dwellings, livestock, churches and schools.
10. Respect landowners, the land, and the people in your hunting group.

More details are available in the 2011 Hunting Handbook of rules and regulations.

Pennsylvania Game Commission

HARRISBURG, PA --(Ammoland.com)- Improperly field-dressing a deer and warm weather can impact the quality of venison warns Dr. Walter Cottrell, Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife veterinarian.

“The first step in making sure that the venison reaches the table in the best possible condition is, sighting in and practicing with your sporting arm,” Dr. Cottrell said. “Coupling that with knowledgeable shot placement ensures a clean kill and minimal damage to edible parts of the animal.

“After properly tagging their deer, hunters should wear latex or nitrile gloves to remove the entrails. Care should be taken to remove entrails without rupturing them, and hunters should drain excess blood remaining in the cavity. Do not wash out the deer with water or in a creek. Wipe down the cavity with a dry cloth or paper towels, being careful to remove all visible blood and hair.”

Once entrails are removed, the deer should be taken from the field and cooled down as soon as possible. The cool-down process begins when you field-dress the deer. To hasten the cool-down process, skin the deer and hang the carcass in the shade, refrigerate it or place a bag of ice in the body cavity. Never place a deer carcass – with or without the hide on it – in direct sunlight.

For those who process the deer themselves, the first step – after tagging and field-dressing the deer – is to remove the hide, which comes off easier if the front legs are cut off at the elbows, and the rear legs are removed just below the knee joint, with a saw. Use a knife to cut the hide from where each leg was sawed off at the elbow, back to the body trunk. Cutting the rear legs just below the joint also makes it easier to hang a carcass on a gambrel or meat hooks. Hang the carcass by the large tendons on the back legs.

Next, the hide is pulled from the carcass, starting at the rear end and working downward toward the head. Peel it from the hind quarters first, then cut the tailbone and pull it down to the shoulders. Work the hide over the shoulders and pull it away from the legs. Finally, pull the hide down the neck as close to the base of the skull as possible, and then cut the head from the carcass with a clean saw. Remove all of the trachea or windpipe.

The remaining hide-free carcass should be wiped off immediately. If you use water to clean the cavity or carcass, dry the meat immediately. Wet or damp meat spoils more quickly and is more prone to cultivate and nurture bacteria. Rinsing meat with water also can hasten the spread of bacteria. Inspect the carcass again for any blood and hair. It’s also a good idea to remove large fatty deposits to improve the quality of your meat. It helps lessen that “game taste” some people dislike about venison. Please note, though, that fat is removed from the carcass with greater ease after it has cooled.

Following these steps will prepare your carcass for hanging in a meat processor’s refrigerator, or quartering and placing it in your refrigerator. If the air temperature is above 50 degrees, hunters should get their carcass refrigerated as soon as possible.

“The bacterial load of a deer harvested in warm weather will multiply quickly, so it’s important to dress the deer as soon as possible, transport it from the field and remove the hide, and refrigerate the carcass,” Dr. Cottrell said. “Cooling the carcass will help prevent bacterial growth.”

Hunters who are interested in becoming more self-sufficient also can de-bone the carcass. The cuts are relatively simple and can be made while the deer is hanging or from a plastic sheet-covered table. An inexpensive plastic fluorescent light cover which can be purchased at any home supply store can be used for a cutting board. Deboning offers the advantage of allowing the hunter the ability to view all sides of the cut so any fat, damaged meat and bloody areas can be trimmed out before freezing.

First, remove the shoulders with a filleting knife. This can be done without cutting a bone, by cutting behind the shoulder-blade. Next, remove the meat from the shoulder with a filleting knife.

Hindquarters can be removed from the carcass next by using a saw or by cutting from the underside with a knife. If you plan to have steaks or jerky made from them, don’t make any further cuts.

Inside the body cavity, against the backbone, are the tenderloins, considered the best cut of meat on a deer. Use your hand, and a knife when necessary, to pull them free. Outside the cavity, along the backbone, are the loin muscles or back-straps, which also are outstanding cuts. Again, using a filleting knife and your fingers, slide the blade along the spine to separate each back-strap and then finish each piece by cutting in along the top of the ribs and under the muscle to the first cut you’ve made.

The remainder of the carcass can be de-boned with a filleting knife. Try to trim fat from meat where you can and wipe off blood whenever it is encountered. De-boning can be done relatively quickly, but remember, every ounce of meat you remove increases your trimmings for sausage, bologna, meat sticks or other products. De-boned meat can be taken to a meat processor immediately, or frozen and taken later. Hindquarters may be frozen for processing later as jerky or dried venison. Steaks should be cut fresh. A link to a video on deboning in the field can be seen on our website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), by putting your cursor over “Wildlife” in the menu bar at the top of the homepage, then putting your cursor over “Wildlife Diseases” in the drop-down menu listing, and then clicking on “Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)” in the next drop-down menu listing. To view the video link, scroll down to “What Can Hunters Do,” and click on “Bone Out Your Meat!”

“It’s always a good idea to become self-sufficient as a hunter, because of the satisfaction you’ll derive from processing a deer all by yourself and the extra care and quality control you’ll provide,” noted Cal DuBrock, Pennsylvania Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Management director. “It also broadens your hunting experience and makes you more conscious of where you need to place the crosshairs when you shoot.”

The Game Commission offers two free brochures on venison care and field-dressing deer. The first, “To Field Dress a Deer,” offers step-by-step instructions – with illustrations – on how to field-dress a deer. The second, “Venison Needn’t Be Pot Luck,” offers field-dressing instructions and cooking tips.

To assist hunters in getting the most of their wild game harvests, the Game Commission offers a two-disk series, produced by Jerry Chiappetta and featuring Certified Master Chef Milos Cihelka. These DVDs – “Wild Game Field Care and Cooking” and “Upland Game Birds, Small Game & Waterfowl” – show step-by-step the best care for game animals from the field to the table. The videos are available from the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us). Put your cursor over “General Store,” then click on “Visit the Outdoor Shop,” choose “Pennsylvania Game Commission Outdoor Shop” in the lower left-hand corner, select “Merchandise,” then choose “Videos” and then scroll down to the DVD video you are interested in and complete the order form. Both DVDs sells for $18.87 (plus tax and shipping and handling).

Finally, for recipes that will make venison tastier, consider buying the Game Commission’s “Pennsylvania Game Cookbook” for $4.71 plus tax and a $1.25 for shipping and handling. The book and aforementioned free brochures are available by writing: Pennsylvania Game Commission, Dept. MS, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.

Bass Pro Shops

Springfield, Missouri --(Ammoland.com)- Pressured, rut-weary bucks like to stage and browse in cover before hitting a field at dusk or after dark.

On cold afternoons, glass for bucks feeding or loafing on sunny slopes that face south or southwest.

On windy and frigid days, hunt deer down in draws or creek bottoms.

If a doe comes flitting by your stand kind of antsy and shaking her tail, then get ready.

Brenda Valentine is co-host of “100% Real Hunting” on Versus.

She might be coming into late heat and a buck might be coming along behind her.

When weary and skittish bucks don’t move a lot, sometimes it pays to go to them. If your stands aren’t producing, still hunt, especially if there’s snow on the ground.

Follow fresh tracks or hunt along a hillside and glass down into draws and bottoms. Any of these tactics could lead to success.

Brenda Valentine is co-host of “100% Real Hunting” on Versus.

For more tips, log onto basspro.com

About Bass Pro Shops Group:
Bass Pro Shops -56 retail stores in 26 states and Canada visited by over 110 million people annually, international catalog and internet retailing, American Rod & Gun wholesale division selling to over 7,000 independently owned retail stores worldwide, Outdoor World Incentives also selling Bass Pro Shops gift cards through over 132,000 retail outlets across America and a restaurant division with 26 locations. For more information regarding Bass Pro Shops store locations, products or special events, please visit www.basspro.com. To request a free catalog call 1-800-BASS PRO.

Bass Pro Shops

Springfield, Missouri --(Ammoland.com)- It will not mean doomsday for the deer herd if you shoot does! Just think about this!

If an area has 100 does and hunters take half of them, that would seem like too many.

But if those remaining 50 does all had twins, which is normal, there would now be 150 deer where the year before there were 100.

Compute the same way again the next year and your total is 225.

Larry Whiteley is host of the award-winning Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Radio.

Ten years later and the numbers are staggering. It is obvious then that hunting is no threat to a deer herd but too many deer for the available food supply is.

Besides, it takes just as much skill to take a wary doe as it does an 8-pointer. Mature does need to be culled and they offer the finest tasting venison of all.

Larry Whiteley is host of the award-winning Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Radio.

For more tips, log onto basspro.com

About Bass Pro Shops Group:
Bass Pro Shops -56 retail stores in 26 states and Canada visited by over 110 million people annually, international catalog and internet retailing, American Rod & Gun wholesale division selling to over 7,000 independently owned retail stores worldwide, Outdoor World Incentives also selling Bass Pro Shops gift cards through over 132,000 retail outlets across America and a restaurant division with 26 locations. For more information regarding Bass Pro Shops store locations, products or special events, please visit www.basspro.com. To request a free catalog call 1-800-BASS PRO.

Bass Pro Shops

Springfield, Missouri --(Ammoland.com)- Good duck calling techniques are essential to success. There is no substitute for practice so do it whenever and wherever you can.

Go out and listen to live birds or taped sounds of birds.

Don’t wait to work on it in the blind.

When you’ve mastered it, learn to call a lot when they’re working a rig, but once they’ve committed, lay off and don’t do anything except maybe a little feed chuckle if it looks like they are coming in. If they drift or pass, hit them hard with the calls again.

Jerry Martin is co-host of “100% Real Hunting” on Versus.

On sunny, warm, still mornings, your calling should be easy and maybe even a little lazy. If it’s a windy, blustery day, then you have to work hard, be aggressive, and call constantly in a very excited fashion.

Jerry Martin is co-host of “100% Real Hunting” on Versus.

For more tips, log onto basspro.com

About Bass Pro Shops Group:
Bass Pro Shops -56 retail stores in 26 states and Canada visited by over 110 million people annually, international catalog and internet retailing, American Rod & Gun wholesale division selling to over 7,000 independently owned retail stores worldwide, Outdoor World Incentives also selling Bass Pro Shops gift cards through over 132,000 retail outlets across America and a restaurant division with 26 locations. For more information regarding Bass Pro Shops store locations, products or special events, please visit www.basspro.com. To request a free catalog call 1-800-BASS PRO.

Bass Pro Shops

Springfield, Missouri --(Ammoland.com)-  To become a better wingshooter, try positioning your feet so that your lead foot is pointing slightly past the area where you expect the bird to flush and keep your stance narrow.

Doing so will give you more room to swing your shotgun without awkwardly twisting your body.

Also, make a conscious effort to follow through with your swing. Stopping a swing is why most people miss.

Alan Treadwell is co-host of “Outdoor World Television” on Versus.

Keep your cheek down on the stock as you follow through and don’t immediately look up to see if you hit the bird.

When a bird flushes, don’t mount your shotgun too soon. Focus on the target before you mount the gun. Stay focused on the target, not the shotgun bead.

Alan Treadwell is co-host of “Outdoor World Television” on Versus.

For more tips, log onto basspro.com

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Mossy Oak

WEST POINT, MS --(Ammoland.com)- Q: What time of the year do you do your scouting?

A:My scouting is done 365, 24-7. I divide my yearly scouting into thirds. The first trimester starts in the beginning of April and last through August. The first four months of this third, April, May, June and July, my scouting efforts are almost exclusively through the eyes of trail cameras strategically positioned over mineral licks.

The bucks’ antlers are starting to show promise at this time but not to the extent that you can tell which buck is which from the previous hunting seasons. As August approaches and the deer are hitting natural food sources like corn, soy and alfalfa, I add a few cameras to the arsenal in the travel corridors heading toward those areas.

Mossy Oak Pro Staff Member Mike Monteleone

The second trimester is September, October, and November. At this time the deer have sprouted their antlers to full potential and have distinguished characteristics. Trail Cameras are still used but moved from mineral licks to travel routes, food plots, crop fields, acorn flats and bait stations (dependent upon game laws in each state). By this time each deer can be recognized from prior years or you’ll see new deer that moved in from other areas. Each deer is cataloged and noted. As the trail cams are taking photos 24-7 in dense cover, long range scouting where possible is done at dusk with spotting scopes and binoculars. When late September and early October arrives and the acorns are littering the ground, 50 percent of 30 trail cameras are then moved and strategically positioned to take photos of oaks that are about 12-15 inches in diameter. My experience has taught me that these trees attract more deer than the smaller or larger trees. Archery seasons in the East, specifically Maryland and Delaware, starts in September, so while the trail cameras are scouting these oak flats I’m normally in a tree hunting. But more importantly, I’m observing for hunting the month of November.

November – Need I say more! Obviously hunting is the priority during this month. November is in my second trimester of scouting but not the current November – it is November from the previous hunting season that is so important here. Ninety percent of my November scouting is done from an elevated hunting position or from low-impact scouting as I walked to and from my treestand the year before. In general, bucks of all ages will have the same habits the current year as their predecessors the years before. And if you’re lucky, and a “hit-list” buck you spotted the prior year may return and give you a chance that you didn’t get before.

The third trimester begins in December and lasts through March. Some older bucks are still searching for receptive does in December but for the most part they have returned to their wintering grounds. Bucks are trying to replenish the fat and muscle loss from the strenuous rut so scouting is done at a distance with binoculars when possible and hunting over late season food sources in states where hunting seasons are still active.

When the cold weather hits in January and the hunting pressure is minimal due to most hunters taking refuge in front of the fireplace, you can bet the bucks will be hitting the food wherever they can find it. I set up cameras on the edges of the thickest cover bordering natural food sources, crop fields and food plots.

My February, March and the beginning of April scouting is done via foot in all areas of my hunting grounds, including bedding areas and designated sanctuaries. Shed hunting is the key to locating the core areas of bucks you have been hunting and will be hunting in the coming year. You will lay a lot of shoe leather but it is necessary in determining which bucks survived the hunting season and brutal winter.

Q: Do you use trail cameras to help you scout?

A:Yes, they are important in my scouting techniques as mentioned above.

Q: Do you use food plots or other food type attractants?

A:Yes, food plots, mineral licks, crop fields and oaks.

Q: How do you hunt big bucks before the rut and early in the bow season?

A:September and October hunting strategies are based on prior scouting methods, usually by hunting over food sources or on travel corridors to and from food sources. Bucks are still in bachelor groups and still somewhat calm. Contrary to popular belief, big bucks can be patterned for a brief period of time in early September. If you are lucky enough to hunt a state that allows bowhunitng in September; this is the time to ambush a big buck before he sheds his velvet. After their velvet is shed, mature bucks normally go underground and can be found at food sources in thick cover before dark. Mature bucks wait for the cover of darkness before entering open crop fields so hunting a travel route in between a staging area and a crop field is the way to go when hunting afternoons and evenings. Morning hunting setups should be similar – ambush a buck as he leaves a crop field or before he goes to bed by hunting a travel route in between the two. As Late October approaches start hunting the downwind side of doe bedding areas. The last week of October is when the larger bucks appear in daylight, so think about hunting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the next two weeks.

Q: How do you hunt scrapes during the pre-rut?

A:I don’t hunt scrapes just to hunt a scrapes. I feel the chances of a big buck showing himself before dark at a scrape are slim to none. And Slim just left town. So that being said, I hunt downwind of a known food source and make my own mock scrapes about 40 yards upwind of my stand location. Normally, I hunt these areas only in the afternoons and evenings. During this phase of the rut, a buck’s priority is to feed first then mate so morning hunting is not a priority of mine. Until the chase phase kicks in, I believe that most big bucks are in bed before we get out of bed so I’m sleeping in!

Q: Do you use scent control products?

A:Definitively! Scent control products, whether carbon or anti-microbial clothing or scent reducing sprays or the like will never eliminate all of your human odor, but they do minimize a human’s scent tremendously. So much so, that if a buck decides to appear unexpectedly downwind of your location, he may feel that his enemy is further away than he thinks and it may give you that extra second that you need to pull off the shot. Or, if an unexpected wind shift or thermal sends your scent in a forbidden direction, you may go undetected by the skittish doe that has a buck in tow. Scent control products will give you that extra edge.

Q: How important is wind direction when deciding where to hunt?

A:You should always have wind direction in your favor. A deer’s first defense is through its sense of smell, especially if it is a mature deer. I’m sure I’ve been busted by a buck and didn’t even know it. On many occasions I’ve watched a buck cross my track hours after I walked on a trail, jump out of his skin and bolt in the opposite direction. I’ve also watched younger bucks walk the same trail I walked smelling every step I took, eventually to learn that the trail was getting stronger the closer he got and move in the opposite direction.If a mature buck catches your scent in any form, be assured you won’t see him walking in your direction. He’ll be heading south in most cases.

Q: What is your favorite time of the hunting season to hunt?

A:I love to hunt whitetails no matter the time of year. The key is to change strategies as the year progresses to maximize your success and your enjoyment. An individual’s hunting season is full of ups and downs and if you keep at it the entire season, you’ll maximize your chance of success.

The Mossy Oak ProStaff is a group of top outdoors men and women from across the country that act as spokespersons for the Brand. Members of the Elite ProStaff are people the hunting community will recognize from their hunting expertise and accomplishments, videos, TV and magazine articles. Our Regional ProStaff is a group of accomplished hunters who promote Mossy Oak in various regions across the U.S. They also manage a more localized Field Staff in their regions. From event support to retail store grand openings to radio and TV appearances, our ProStaff adds value to the Mossy Oak Brand nationally, regionally and locally.

Pennsylvania Game Commission

HARRISBURG, PA --(Ammoland.com)- Pennsylvania Game Commission officials urge hunters and trappers to place a greater emphasis on pre-season scouting this year, as there have been a number of dramatic changes in the landscape, some of which is manmade while others are the result of nature’s fury.

“Annual changes in the availability of fall food sources require hunters and trappers to study how wildlife behavior and movement patterns are altered as the seasons approach,” said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. “Those who take the time to scout for these food sources and trails before the seasons open greatly increase their chance of harvesting game.

“However, this year, dramatic changes on the landscape will be just as important – if not more important – as looking for the highly nutritious acorns and other natural foods sought by game animals.”

Specifically, Roe cited Marcellus Shale-related drilling and recent Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee damages as examples of larger impacts on the landscape that may alter what hunters and trappers find in the forests and fields of Pennsylvania.

“The ‘Big Woods’ area of northcentral Pennsylvania, home to many of the traditional hunting camps, lies within the area being explored for Marcellus Shale natural gas, and has seen a dramatic increase in drilling,” Roe said. “Northeastern Pennsylvania also has seen a large volume of Marcellus Shale activity. Both of these regions experienced more disruption in traditional hunting and trapping areas from drilling activity.”

Roe said decisions about when drilling activities on State Game Lands occurs is largely dictated by who owns the oil and gas rights. In many instances, the Game Commission owns only the surface rights, and a separate party owns the oil and gas rights under State Game Lands.

“According to state law, mineral and oil/gas estate rights exceed surface estate rights, meaning the mineral and oil/gas owners have the right to use the surface in a reasonable manner to access these natural resources. Simply put, the Game Commission can’t just say ‘no’ to those seeking to tap into the gas reserve they own. However, the Game Commission strives to work proactively with the subsurface rights owners to minimize the surface impacts of the drilling operations.”

When the Game Commission owns the oil and gas rights, Roe said the agency exercises much greater control and oversight of drilling operations.

“All drilling operations are regulated by state court rulings, state law and the state Department of Environmental Protection,” Roe said. “That being said, the Game Commission does weigh many factors when considering a lease on State Game Lands, and much attention is paid to areas with critical or unique habitats. When the Game Commission owns the rights to the subsurface resource, we have the ability to stipulate that no drilling-related activities occur during peak hunting seasons.”

Roe said the standard language in all agreements in which the Game Commission owns the rights to the oil and gas under State Game Lands states that drilling-related activities are not permitted for the following: opening day of archery deer season; opening day of any youth or special-use hunting season; opening day of early fall muzzleloader deer season; opening day of early small game season; opening day of general small game season; the first three days of the antlered and antlerless or concurrent antler/antlerless firearms deer season; opening day of fall turkey season; all Saturdays of firearms deer season; opening day of spring turkey season; and opening day of bear season.

Unfortunately, in situations where the Game Commission does not own the oil/gas and mineral rights, Roe said the agency cannot prevent an operator from exercising his or her rights in a reasonable manner.

“We strive for voluntary agreement to our standard hunting season restrictions with those companies,” Roe said. “When the agency doesn’t own the rights to oil and gas deposits under State Game Lands, the Game Commission’s ability to restrict drilling activities during hunting seasons is limited.”

Roe also noted that there have been significant impacts on wildlife and the environment from weather beyond gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale layer.

“Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee wrecked havoc on thousands of Pennsylvanians,” Roe said. “At the same time, access to certain areas of State Game Lands and other hunting and trapping locations may require hunters and trappers to use alternative plans or routes to reach their intended destinations.”

As an example, Luzerne County Wildlife Conservation Officer (WCO) Gerald Kapral said the recent hurricane and heavy storms that passed through the Northeastern United States caused a tremendous amount of damage to roadways and bridges, making many areas impassable.

“While major roads will be on the priority list for repairs, many back roads and those in more remote areas could be closed for an extended period of time,” WCO Kapral said. “With another season on the way, hunters and trappers should check access to their favorite spots as soon as possible to avoid any last minute surprises that could keep them away from areas they plan to be this fall and winter.”

Lebanon County WCO Michael Reeder reports that several access points to SGLs in Lebanon County have been affected by flooding.

“The Food and Cover Corps crews are busy trying to repair the damage, but hunters should plan on possible limited access points and parking during the upcoming season,” he said.

Roe noted damages caused the agency to cancel three of its popular public tours for State Game Lands. Those cancelled were for SGL 211 in Dauphin/Lebanon counties; SGL 57 in Luzerne/Wyoming counties; and SGLs 12 and 36 in Bradford County.

“The cancellation of these tours should alter hunters and trappers who use these roads to access interior portions of State Game Lands to the fact that they may want to consider alternative access points,” Roe said. “The bottom line is that scouting this year will need to include how you plan to get to where you’re hunting or trapping.”

Pennsylvania Game Commission

Pennsylvania --(Ammoland.com)- With thousands of Pennsylvania hunters heading off to hunt big game in other states and Canadian provinces, Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe reminds hunters that, in an effort to prevent the introduction of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into the Commonwealth, the agency prohibits hunters from importing specific carcass parts from members of the deer family – including mule deer, elk and moose – from 19 states and two Canadian provinces.

Roe noted that this importation ban is outlined in a recently revised executive order, and affects hunters heading to: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland (only from CWD Management Area), Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York (only from Madison and Oneida counties), North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia (only from CWD Containment Area), West Virginia (only from CWD Containment Area), Wisconsin and Wyoming; as well as the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The executive order prohibits hunters from bringing back certain parts from any cervid from the listed states or provinces, whether the animal was taken from the wild or from a captive, high-fence operation. The specific carcass parts that cannot be brought back to Pennsylvania by hunters are the ones where the CWD prions (the causative agent) concentrate in cervids, and they are: the head (including brain, tonsils, eyes and any lymph nodes); spinal cord/backbone; spleen; skull plate with attached antlers, if visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; cape, if visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; upper canine teeth, if root structure or other soft tissue is present; any object or article containing visible brain or spinal cord tissue; unfinished taxidermy mounts; and brain-tanned hides.

“The most notable change this year in the list of states impacted by Pennsylvania’s Parts Ban is due to the detection of CWD in Maryland,” Roe said. “It is important for those Pennsylvania hunters heading to Maryland to become familiar with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources CWD Management Area, which includes a portion of Allegany County noted as Private Land Code 233 in Maryland’s annual Guide to Hunting and Trapping. This section, which includes Maryland’s Green Ridge State Forest east of Flintstone and Oldtown, is directly south of Pennsylvania’s Bedford and Fulton counties.”

In West Virginia, the CWD Containment Area also has been expanded as the disease has moved outside of Hampshire County. The new CWD Containment Area now includes all of Hampshire County and portions of Hardy and Morgan counties.

For details, hunters should contact the Maryland Department of Natural Resources or the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.

Roe noted that the prohibition does not limit the importation of: meat, without the backbone; cleaned skull plate with attached antlers, if no visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; tanned hide or raw hide with no visible brain or spinal cord tissue present; cape, if no visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; upper canine teeth, if no root structure or other soft tissue is present; and finished taxidermy mounts.

Pennsylvania hunters heading to a state with a history of CWD should become familiar with that state’s wildlife regulations and guidelines for the transportation of harvested game animals.

Wildlife officials have suggested hunters in areas where CWD is known to exist follow these usual recommendations to prevent the possible spread of disease:

• - Do not shoot, handle or consume any animal that appears sick; contact the state wildlife agency if you see or harvest an animal that appears sick.
• - Wear rubber or latex gloves when field-dressing carcasses.
• - Bone out the meat from your animal.
• - Minimize the handling of brain and spinal tissues.
• - Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field-dressing is completed.
• - Request that your animal is processed individually, without meat from other animals being added to meat from your animal, or process your own meat if you have the tools and ability to do so.
• - Have your animal processed in the endemic area of the state where it was harvested, so that high-risk body parts can be properly disposed of there. Only bring permitted materials back to Pennsylvania.
• - Don’t consume the brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils or lymph nodes of harvested animals. (Normal field-dressing, coupled with boning out a carcass, will remove most, if not all, of these body parts. Cutting away all fatty tissue will help remove remaining lymph nodes.)
• - Consider not consuming the meat from any animal that tests positive for the disease.

Roe said hunters who harvest a deer, elk or moose in a state or province where CWD is known to exist should follow that state’s wildlife agency’s instructions on how and where to submit the appropriate samples to have their animal tested. If, after returning to Pennsylvania, a hunter is notified that his or her game tested positive for CWD, the hunter is encouraged to immediately contact the Game Commission region office that serves the county in which they reside for disposal recommendations and assistance.

A list of region offices and contact information appears on page 5 of the 2011-12 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest, which is presented to each Pennsylvania license buyer. The contact information also is available on the agency’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) by putting your cursor on “About Us” in the menu bar under the banner, then selecting “Regional Information” in the drop-down menu and then clicking on the region of choice in the map.

The Game Commission, with the assistance of the Pennsylvania and U.S. departments of Agriculture, has conducted tests on more than 31,000 Pennsylvania deer and elk that have either died of unknown illnesses, were exhibiting abnormal behavior, or were killed by hunters. No evidence of CWD has been found in any of these samples.

The Game Commission will continue to monitor this disease and collect samples from deer and elk that appear sick or behave abnormally. The agency plans to test all hunter-killed elk and approximately 4,000 hunter-harvested wild deer for CWD again this year.

First identified in 1967, CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) that affects cervids, including all species of deer, elk and moose. It is a progressive and always fatal disease of the nervous system. Scientists theorize CWD is caused by an unknown agent capable of transforming normal brain proteins into an abnormal form.

There currently is no practical way to test live animals for CWD, nor is there a vaccine. Clinical signs include poor posture, lowered head and ears, uncoordinated movement, rough-hair coat, weight loss, increased thirst, excessive drooling, and, ultimately, death. There is currently no scientific evidence that CWD has or can spread to humans, either through contact with infected animals or by eating meat of infected animals. The Center for Disease Control has investigated any connection between CWD and the human forms of TSEs and stated “the risk of infection with the CWD agent among hunters is extremely small, if it exists at all” and “it is extremely unlikely that CWD would be a food-borne hazard.”

“Hunters spend a lot of time in the woods, and are a valuable source of information to wildlife agencies across the United States,” Roe said. “If a hunter sees a deer or elk behaving abnormally, or dying from unknown causes, contact us and provide as much specific information as possible about where the animal was seen.”

In 2005, Pennsylvania CWD task force members completed the state’s response plan, which outlines ways to prevent CWD from entering our borders and, in the event CWD is found in Pennsylvania, how to detect it and contain it. The task force was comprised of representatives from several state and federal agencies, including the Game Commission, the state departments of Agriculture, Health and Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as representatives from stakeholder groups including hunters, deer farmers, deer processors and taxidermists. The plan is updated annually, and the current plan can be viewed on the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us) by putting your cursor on “Wildlife” in the menu bar at the top of the homepage, then put your cursor on “Wildlife Diseases” from the drop-down menu, and then clicking on “Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).” This page also includes links to tips for taxidermists and meat processors, as well as the CWD Alliance’s website (www.cwd-info.org).

Information on CWD also is published on page 52 of the 2011-12 Pennsylvania Hunting and Trapping Digest, which is presented to each license buyer.

“We know that Pennsylvania hunters are just as concerned about keeping CWD out of Pennsylvania as we are, and we are confident that they will do all they can to protect the Commonwealth’s whitetail and elk populations,” Roe said.

Food plots should offer deer nutritious food every month of the year.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- “Why is it our farm does not seem to have as many deer especially bucks, on it as our neighbor’s farm?

The only difference in our management style is that our neighbors plant food plots, spring and fall and we plant food plots just in the fall.”

This is one of the questions we get most often from not only Whitetail Unlimited members, but deer hunters in general. Quite frankly, it is one of the easiest deer management questions to answer. It is, in part, about having a dinner plate full, on a year around basis.

Holding deer, specifically bucks, on a year around basis requires a combination of habitat requirements. First is security. There must be areas where the deer feel safe. Bedding areas and escape routes are a must. Then comes water. Deer require surface water to be available all year. Next is diversity. They like diversity so there is a need for openings, dense brush, open woods and corridors offering cover. And last, but by far not least, comes food. Deer require a variety of food including young twigs, buds, and leaves of certain trees and shrubs. They like certain grasses, sedges, legumes, forbs, fruits and nuts. Their consumption of these food plants varies seasonally, based on when they are available. It is here that the food plot plays a role in helping create the ideal year round habitat, or falls short.

As long as there is an ample supply of good food in the food plots and all other factors are met, the deer, bucks and does, are likely to stay in an area. Take away a choice food supply and they may start to wander in search of a new food source.

Plant warm season food plot crops with the same planning and care given cool season crops.

Advantages of Warm Season Food plots
As a wildlife manage, I have always found it easy to get hunting clubs and rural landowners to plant fall food plots as they are considered an attraction to bucks looking for choice food, a place to sit in a blind or stand and see deer. But the spring/summer food plots are not grown for hunting and they are more often than not considered of little value.

We all know that deer need all the help they can get in the way of food for the winter. A food shortage can be life threatening. We do not think, however, of the spring and summer as being a time of need, the woods and fields are green and wildlife appears to be healthy. In high quality habitat during years of ample rainfall and mild summer temperatures, this may be so; but these are becoming rare due, in part, to climate change.

The warm and hot months of summer are a stress period for deer and especially deer found in low quality habitat. Bucks are growing antlers. If food is insufficient, bucks will not develop antlers to their age and genetic potential. Does are pregnant, having fawns and producing milk. Fawns are growing and being weaned. The deer population is at its highest numbers. There is a sudden need for high quality food and lots of it. Now that some of the U.S. is suffering from higher summer temperatures, less rainfall, and drought or near drought conditions, much of the food available to deer is lower in moisture content than usual and often lower in quality. Deer are under stress and in the warmer parts of the country. The hot summer is the period of highest stress.

Planning is a Must
High quality year-round, cool season and warm season, food plots require planning to offer deer a dependable, highly nutritious food source on a 12 month basis. By now, most food plot growers know that in order to get top crop production on any food plot a soil test must be taken and the resulting recommendations for lime and fertilizer followed. Since most food plots are planted in annual crops for the fall and spring, it is necessary for the warm season crops to be listed on the soil test information sheet as well as the cool season crops. Far too many hunters list only the plants they are going to plant in the fall and omit the spring plants. To get healthy summer crops they must have the proper lime and fertilizer as well. This crop rotation information must be a part of the soil test.

Planning the crops to plant in your food plots for both cool and warm seasons requires some thought and advice from an agricultural expert with experience in the area where your land is available. Just selecting a highly advertised plant mix at a hardware store and scattering it in your food plots won’t produce the food source you want to keep the deer on your property happy. Each crop has certain requirements. Some do well on dry well drained sites while others do well in moist bottomland type soil. Some are hardy during low temperatures, while others do well under drought conditions. Some do well in the warm south, while others do best in the cooler north. Where there are high deer populations, you will want to select crops that can tolerate heavy grazing and keep coming back with new growth.

Consider Perennial Crops
There is a growing interest in planting food plots in green browse perennial plants. You plant this crop one time and, with management, it provides a green food plot on an almost year around basis for five years or more. Crops that fit this category include Durana clover, Ladino clover, Alsike clover, red clover and alfalfa. It sounds like a “magic bean” for food plots, but it isn’t quiet that. The advantages are obvious, plant it once in five years and you have wildlife food. However, it requires some effort. Like annual crops, it requires annual fertilization. It must be mowed to keep weed competition down during the warm months. It does not do well in all sites and regions, and, depending upon weather conditions, it can go through periods where there is little plant growth. Companies like Hunter’s Specialties, Pennington Seed and Whitetail Institute, however, continue working to prefect some of these perennials and they look very promising as long term food plot crops for some regions of the country.

Like the annual crops, the perennials must be selected with care, considering the soil and other conditions of your property.

Consult With County Agricultural Agent
One of the best sources of free advice for selecting both cool and warm season annuals and perennials is the local Cooperative Extension Service county agent. Almost every county in the U.S. has one. Ask at any farm supply store and they can tell you how to find him. Spend an hour with the county agent and you can plan your year around food plot crops and get free advice on soil testing, planting recommendations, and planting dates. Follow his recommendations and your food plots will reflect it. This may be the best free advice you will ever get!

Plan Replanting
On large properties with numerous food plots, the planting dates for planting annual crops can be crucial especially during the late summer plantings. All summer, the deer and other wildlife on your property have counted on the food being in the food plots. Then suddenly you come in and plow up the remaining food and replant a fall crop. This shock period can be reduced by planning your food plots so that it takes place gradually over a period of weeks. You want it so when the last food plots are being plowed up, the first ones plowed are coming back in green growth. The same thing needs to apply to the spring plantings. I never want all my food plots to be non-productive at the same time.

Keep Records
Having worked with food plots for over 40 years I have learned that food plots have their own personalities and you can learn how to get the most out of a food plot by keeping annual records on it. Such facts as how much lime and fertilizer is applied and the date applied need to be recorded as well as when it was plowed and when it was planted, what was the crop and seeding rate? How many bucks/does do hunters see on the plot and the dates? Rain dates and amounts are important. Deer and turkey taken on a food plot, their size and date taken is valuable. Reviewing records such as this, especially over a period of years, allows the manager to see what works best on a specific plot and what changes may be necessary to make it more productive. The more available highly nutritious food that is available on a food plot, year around, the more likely it is going to be in holding those bucks you want to see.

Year around food plots alone are not going to guarantee that your property will attract and hold mature bucks, but when it is a part of a totally managed habitat, you put the odds in your favor.

FOOD PLOT CROPS

Annual Cool Season

• Wheat
• Rye
• Corn
• Chicory
• Ryegrass
• Oats
• Crimson Clover

Perennial

• Durana Clover
• Ladino Clover
• Alfalfa
• Alsike Clover
• Red Clover
• Orchard Grass
• Redland Ii Clover

Annual Warm Season

• Cowpeas
• Soybeans
• Sunflower
• American Jointvetch
• Alyceclover
• Buckwheat
• Lablab

When selecting seeds for your food plots, get seed that is recommended for your area and soil type.

For more advice check out Jay Wayne Fears book the Ultimate Deer Hunters and Land Managers Pocket Reference Guide.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Louisiana --(Ammoland.com)- Louisiana Operation Game Thief, Inc. (LOGT), a Louisiana wildlife crime-stoppers program, awarded $3,200 to diligent citizens statewide at their quarterly meeting on May 21 at the Booker Fowler Fish Hatchery in Woodworth.

The group approved and dispensed cash reward amounts for tipsters who reported wildlife violations that led to 13 subjects being apprehended in wildlife cases. There were a total of nine cases presented and 33 offenses associated with those cases. The cases ranged from hunting turkey over bait to the illegal selling of fish.

Louisiana Department Wildlife Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement LOGT Coordinator Sgt. Will Roberts provided LOGT members with information on each case and a recommendation for reward amounts.

“We depend on LOGT and these public tips to help break a lot of cases that might have otherwise gone unsolved,” Roberts said. “LOGT provides the incentive for the public to come forward, which is the cash rewards offered for information leading to arrests in these cases.”

LOGT was instituted in 1984 and provides cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of violators of fish and wildlife regulations. Funds are raised through private donations, court directed contributions and through contributions from cooperative endeavor agreements with organizations such as the National Wild Turkey Federation and Quality Deer Management Association.

Anyone wishing to report wildlife or fisheries violations should contact an LDWF enforcement agent or call LDWF’s 24-hour toll free Operation Game Thief hotline at 1-800-442-2511. Callers may remain anonymous.

Outgoing LOGT Coordinator LDWF Lt. Col. Keith LaCaze, who retired after 34 years of service, was presented a .22 rifle and an outdoor painting in recognition of his service to the organization. The new LDWF LOGT coordinator is Sgt. Will Roberts.

OGT meets quarterly throughout the year to review cases and dispense rewards. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled in August.

For more information, contact Adam Einck at aeinck@wlf.la.gov.

Fertilizing selected oaks can encourage a bumper crop of acorns in good years.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- It was raining pieces of white oak acorns, so loud that I was concerned that a buck would walk up and I wouldn’t hear him.

I was on my climbing stand in a large pine which grew on a brushy fencerow some 20 yards from the “noisy oak”.

The big white oak was loaded with acorns and every squirrel in the area had gotten up early to feed in the tree.

I was proud of this oak, and its bumper crop of acorns, as I had something to do with abundance of mast this tree produced.

As it became light enough to see I watched two doe ease out of the woods and under the big oak. The oak was growing in the edge of a pasture and was not crowded with other trees. It was near enough to the woods line deer and other wildlife felt safe feeding under the tree during years it produced acorns.

J Wayne Fears applys granular fertilizer all the way from the drip line in to within three feet of the tree’s trunk with a hand held seeder/fertilizer spreader.

The last two years it yielded a record harvest of acorns and deer, wild turkey and squirrels had enjoyed the feast. The previous year, I had taken two above average bucks feeding here and I had high hopes of doing better this year.

As the does begin to feed, they kept looking up and staring at what appeared to be the base of the pine I was in. Suddenly a long tined nine-point buck jumped the fence and trotted under the big oak and started feeding. I waited to draw my bow, looking for the perfect broadside shot. As I waited, four, then three more wild turkey hens sailed out of the woods behind me and landed at the feet of the buck. Like a flash, the does and the buck ran into the woods. The “feast tree” was paying off and it was only the beginning of the season. I knew it was only going to get better, and it did.

Selected Oaks Respond to Fertilizer
The large white oak in this article didn’t have a track record of producing acorns every year in abundance. In fact, some years it didn’t produce acorns at all. I had selected the tree and others similar to it to fertilize annually to increase its acorn production and after a period of time it paid off and it is still paying off.

Research by foresters have proven that carefully selected oak, and other mast producing trees, can be helped nutritionally by following a fertilization program and after a period of time, if other conditions are favorable, the tree will produce a high yield of mast. To the hunter this can mean having a number of trees he has selected and with the use of fertilizer and other improvements we will discuss, have several stand sites that hold a lot of potential for attracting bucks. Developing the project is a fun spring activity and, while it takes time, sometimes years, when the “feast trees” do entice a buck, there is a lot of satisfaction knowing you teamed up with Mother Nature to have a successful hunt.

Here are the steps to having your own secret “feast trees”.

Selecting Trees to Fertilize
The word “select” is the key word in fertilizing oaks for deer. I have seen many hunters go out and pick out a large oak and fertilize it with little or no results. It is a lot more to it than that. The first thing that is necessary is to get to know the kind of oak you are going to work with. Since there are about 80 different oaks in this country I am going to use the white oak as an example in this article.

The white oak is my favorite oak to fertilize because it is found throughout much of eastern U.S. and it is a favorite food of deer. The reason it is sought out by deer in the fall when acorns are falling is because the white oak acorns have less tannin than the red or black oaks. Tannin causes acorns to be bitter to the taste. Indians and early explorers and settlers ate white oak acorns and made them palatable by boiling the meat of the acorn. I have eaten acorns prepared that way and it is not bad. It is even sweeter to the taste when the acorns are from an oak that has been fertilized a few years.

Having a few secret oaks that you fertilize does not guarantee hunting success but it helps put the odds in your favor for quality bucks.

It comes as a surprise to some hunters to learn that many white oaks, as well as other oaks, do not produce mast every year. Some do not have a record of ever producing acorns. Individual white oak trees tend to have either a very good or a very poor seed crop and are consistent in seed production from year to year, be it good or bad. Trees growing free of competition, with ample sunlight and growing in fertile soils have been known to produce acorns as young as 25 years of age. Other trees growing in thick forest conditions with lots of competition, poor sunlight and in poor soils may not produce acorns until they are well over 50 years of age or older. Some may never produce acorns.

All of this to say that just picking a white oak tree and fertilizing it is not the answer. You must take a lot of time and select white oak trees that you know produces acorns and then go to work to make it even more productive. Sometimes this takes a couple of years or more. Once you find a good seed producer mark the tree so you can find it again. It is a good idea to mark its location on your topo map and to store its location in your GPS.

I like scouting for good seed producing trees in the early fall when squirrels are feeding in white oaks. Find a white oak full of feeding squirrels and you have probably found a good “feast tree”. Also, you will have the makings of a squirrel stew.

Keep in mind that even the best acorn producing white oaks can have a bad year. White oaks, and many other oaks, flower when the leaves begin to emerge at the first of spring. Dry winds or freezing temperatures can be detrimental to flower development and that year’s acorn crop is lost.

For this reason, and the fact you don’t want to hunt too hard around just one tree and cause the deer feeding there to become nocturnal, it is a good idea to have several trees in a variety of settings to fertilize. At the present I am working with six trees, three are in bottomland setting and three are on a mountaintop setting. If a late frost gets some of them there is a chance the others will not be damaged. In good seed producing years I have six good places to hunt without putting too much pressure on any one.

Reduce Competition
As I stated above, to be good seed producers oaks must be as free of competition as possible. Tall oaks with crowns reaching above the upper level of the forest canopy receive a lot of sunlight and are usually among the best acorn producers. Oaks out in the open even better. The best “feast tree” I ever developed was the one I wrote about in the beginning of this article. It was just out of the woods in the edge of a pasture. It still is known as the “buck tree”.

If the oak tree you have selected to fertilize has other trees crowding it you need to eliminate as many as practical. This is especially true with those which touch the crown. The more open the tree, the better as far as potential acorn production is concerned. Studies have shown that acorn producing white oaks growing in thick woods may produce 10,000 acorns in a good year, a tree in a more open environment may produce 20,000 or more.

How to Fertilize
Fertilizing a selected oak is more than a matter of scattering a handful of fertilizer at its base. There are two methods of fertilizing your selected oaks. The first is the use of 13-13-13 granular fertilizer. This should be applied in early spring. Apply it at a rate of 2 pounds per 1000 square feet of crown. A mature white oak with a crown measuring 80 X 80 feet, or 6400 sq. ft., would require about 13 pounds of fertilizer.

You want to apply the fertilizer from the edge of the drip line, that is the outer edge of the further most tips of branches from the tree trunk, to within three feet of the trunk of the tree. If there is a lot of leaves and limbs on the ground in the fertilizer area than you will want to take a rake and rake them away so that the fertilizer comes in contact with the soil quickly. I like to lightly disc up the soil where I am going to fertilize under an oak with an ATV pulled disc. Use a Cyclone-type hand seeder/fertilizer spreader to distribute the granular fertilizer uniformly.

A second method is to purchase a box of fruit or shade tree fertilizer spikes at a nursery or garden supply store and follow the instructions on the box. They are more expensive than granular fertilizer but easy to carry into the woods for use.

Deer enjoy the less bitter taste of white oak acorns and are attracted to trees which produce a good crop of acorns.

Results Takes Time
While this is a good way to increase the acorn production of a selected oak don’t expect to see bushels of acorns appear on the tree the next fall. Based on my experience it is usually the third year, all other things going right, such as no late spring frost, that you can see a significant increase in the acorn crop. Like most habitat management, it take time and this is a long term project that requires fertilization every year.

This is not only a good habitat improvement project for deer hunters but it is a good technique for squirrel hunters and wild turkey hunters as well. On my farm in Heflin, Alabama I had a friend who was an avid coon hunter and he found two of my “feast trees” by accident. Every time he turned his dogs loose near the trees they would tree a coon in them and often there were several coons in the trees. Not knowing I had been fertilizing the trees for several years he once ask me why those two trees always attracted so many coons in the fall. He will know when he reads this.

Be sure to select and fertilize several oaks in the area where you hunt. I have known hunters who developed only one “feast tree” and they hunted it almost every weekend during the deer season. The trees worked great the very first few days of the season but it didn’t take long for the bucks, and does, to catch on and they fed only at night.

Also mark the trees you fertilize or have a way of finding them when the hunting season opens. I have seen hunters put a lot of effort into fertilizing oaks only to not be able to find them opening day. However, keep your trees a closely guarded secret. Share your “feast tree’s” whereabouts to one or two and soon there will be a parade coming to your tree to watch the acorns grow, or fall.

This same method of fertilizing oaks can work just as well on almost any mast producing tree, whether it is soft mast or hard. I use it on selected persimmon trees, old apple and pear trees, and saw-tooth oaks. It is not a guaranteed buck, but it sure adds to the odds in your favor.

Check out J Wayne Fear’s Book How to Manage Native Plants for Deer for more info on deer habitat management.

Springtime Reminder For Turkey Hunters - Safety First

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

PRATT, KS --(Ammoland.com)- The youth/disabled and archery spring turkey seasons began April 1 and run through April 12, and the regular season runs April 13-May 31. During these seasons, Kansas hunters must remember one word that exemplifies the perfect hunt: safety.

Responsible hunters are sure of their targets — and what lies beyond them — before firing, and they hunt defensively to protect themselves from the mistakes of others.

The following are just a few defensive safety tips to follow when pursuing America’s largest game bird this spring:

• set up against a stump, tree, or rock that is wider than your shoulders and higher than your head;
• never wear or carry the colors red, white, light blue, or black — the colors of a wild turkey gobbler — when turkey hunting;
• eliminate movement and set up in open timber rather than thick brush;
• avoid imitating the sound of a gobbling turkey;
• watch other game and listen for the alarm cries of blue jays, crows, squirrels, or woodpeckers that can tip you off to the presence of another hunter;
• assume any noise you hear is another hunter; and
• never move, wave, or make turkey sounds to alert another hunter of your presence but remain still and call out in a loud, clear voice to announce.

Including the archery-only season and youth/disabled seasons, Kansas hunters will be able to hunt for two full months. During the youth season, youth 16 and younger must be accompanied by an adult 18 or older.

The adult may not hunt during the youth season (except with archery equipment). No hunting license is required for resident hunters 15 and younger, but a valid Kansas turkey permit is required.

For more information, contact the nearest office of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks or visit the agency’s website, www.kdwp.state.ks.us.
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Bradley Smoker

Delta, British Columbia, Canada --(Ammoland.com)- Bradley Smoker www.bradleysmoker.com is sponsoring three free two hour long-workshops over the three days of the convention (one each day).

Location: 2011 NRA Convention, Rooms 310 and 311

Workshop dates and times:

• Friday, 29th, 11:00 to 1:00;
• Saturday, 30th, 11:00 to 1:00
• Sunday, May 1st. 11:00 to 1:00

The workshop (no, you will not be getting your hands dirty–it is a live presentation of techniques) will cover advanced (home) techniques and processing, preparation, and smoke cooking of game and domestic meat, sausage and jerky.

The workshop will feature many helpful tips, techniques and processes that will prove exceptionally valuable in the making of game and domestic sausage and other smoke food products worthy of being eaten. This course is highly-instructive and will use actual product for the daily live preparation demonstrations.

These advanced professional courses were a great hit at the 2009 and 2010 NRA Conventions and that is why the NRA is having Bradley Smoker back for the 2011 NRA Convention.

Presenter is Brad Lockwood. Brad is a proven expert in both domesticated and wild game processing and is an excellent instructor. Brad is past president of the Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors and has won several national awards for meat processing. He is also the host of Outdoor Edge’s Love of The Hunt on Direct TV and Dish Network.

These courses teach advanced meat preparation (correct meat cutting and preparation and smoke) techniques for game, sausage and jerky preparation that you can use with all smokers and are not exclusive to the sponsoring Bradley Smoker brand.

If you want to learn more about Bradley Smokers please go to www.bradleysmoker.com

The Bradley NRA Convention booth is 1051. Please swing by and visit with the knowledgeable Bradley folks about all types of food smoking including even cold smoking for food preservation.

At the Bradley Smoker booth you will see some very cool equipment from semi- to full-automatic effortless fabulous flavor food smokers. These are not your father’s old fashion hard work constantly needing monitoring hard work smokers. Now, creating incredibly professional flavorful smoked food can actually be fun and easy enough that anyone can now do it!

We hope to see you there and again please come by and visit the Bradley booth 1051.

J Wayne Fears' Ultimate Deer Hunter's & Land Manager's Pocket Reference

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- J Wayne Fears’ Ultimate Deer Hunter’s & Land Manager’s Pocket Reference contains the most readily available information on the whitetail deer ever compiled and placed at the hunter’s and landowner’s finger tips in a 3½” X 6″ pocket-sized format.

Specifically written for deer hunters, wildlife managers, landowners and hunting club members, this pocket-sized deer hunting book is designed to go into the field with the hunter or landowner.

The book provides a quick reference of valuable information on managing land for deer, managing native species of plants for deer, deer harvest information, butchering tips, hunting lease management information, deer facts, firearms data, hunting safety, where-to-get more information and much, much more.

Whether it’s the ballistics of your favorite deer rifle, how to score a trophy buck, write a hunting lease, fertilize a white oak or determine the weight of a deer without a scale, it’s all inside this handy little book.

Fears has been an outdoor writer for more than four decades. His work has appeared in most of the leading outdoor magazines with over 4,800 articles and 25 books published. In 2005, he retired from Progressive Farmer magazine, the nation’s largest and oldest magazine for farmers and ranchers, after serving 11 years as the magazines wildlife management editor.

During the 1970′s and 80′s, Fears was the wildlife manager for Gulf States Paper Corporation and served as the business manager for its Forest Recreation Division. His work in exploration, wildlife management and writing has taken him around the world, and he has been elected a member of the prestigious Explorer Club and awarded the University of Georgia’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He has received numerous awards for his writing and conservation work.

“This is perhaps one of the most valuable deer reference books ever published. Lots of information in an easy-to-find-and-carry format. No deer or wildlife manager should be without a copy of this book.” — Larry Weishuhn, wildlife biologist and TV personality

To purchase the Deer Hunters & Land Managers Pocket Reference, go to

http://www.protoolindustries.net/categories/deer-hunting-and-management

Delta Waterfowl’s Top Ten Spring Snow Goose Hunting Tips

Delta Waterfowl

Bismarck, ND --(Ammoland.com)- Snow-sodden fields. Ankle-deep mud. Biting winds, driving rains and cold-to-the-bone temperatures.
Play Slideshow

Spring snow goose hunters happily endure Mother Nature’s unpredictable mood swings to chase geese that hold advanced degrees in survival. Snow geese can be older than you, and have witnessed, from their lofty, discriminating vantage point, untold decoy spreads during their travels across the continent. They’re savvy, cunning and difficult to hunt—even exasperating—but far from impossible.

If you’re looking for a prescription for successfully hunting spring snows, Delta Waterfowl has a small coterie of snow goose aficionados who are qualified to help. After years of hunting these wily birds, they’ve learned some fool-proof (or nearly so) secrets to help fill your freezer with some tasty wild protein. Enjoy the spring season.
Delta’s Top 10 list:

1) Scouting: If you don’t find the birds, they likely won’t find you. “You have to scout, scout and scout some more,” says Scott Terning, Delta’s director of recruitment and education. Watch the snow line; birds will be south of it, always. You can also use a number of online sources to aid your scouting and get refuge reports to determine bird concentrations, but remember nothing compares to doing real-time scouting.” Terning recommends finding the largest concentration of birds on a lake, wetland or piece of sheet water. During the spring, he said, it’s common to locate multiple roosts in a given area. “You want to scout these birds and locate where they are feeding for your hunt the next day,” Terning says. “Taking these simple first steps will save you a lot of time and frustration.”

2) The sheet water connection: “In the spring finding sheet water is often the key element in finding birds,” says Delta Waterfowl Senior Vice President John Devney. “They seem to decoy far better in fields with a little water in them. Spring snows will often look for corn stubble and sheet water in the same field.”

3) Concealment: Hide, hide, hide! Fooling spring snows requires you stay well hidden. Take advantage of any field changes that allow for better concealment—from drainages to low spots to missed field vegetation. Conceal ground blinds from all angles and use decoys to break up their outlines. In grain fields it’s sometimes best to ditch the ground blinds and hunt in your best “whites.” And don’t forget your facemask. There’s typically no margin for error.

4) Decoys: You don’t need a 1,000-decoy spread to have a successful hunt, says Terning. “You need a respectable amount of decoys, and the best ones you have, because quality can be more important than quantity,” he said, noting that you should team up with a friend if you don’t have enough decoys. “Bring along some floaters too. You’ll want to use them in the sheet water.” Keep decoys properly spaced, about three or four feet between each. The spread will look more natural from a distance and create the affect of having a larger spread.

5) Movement in decoys: It’s very important to attract distant birds to your spread. Use kites, flyers, flags and other decoys to increase motion, especially directly behind your blinds on the upwind side of your spread. This will create the illusion of snows landing and leap-frogging over each other to feed. “Silosock flyers work really well to add movement to your spread,” says Terning. Bottom line: employ as much movement as possible, even to the point of putting a white vest on your dog.

6) Late snows: The latter part of the migration can provide the best decoy hunting, because the majority of the birds are juveniles. “Young birds are much easier to decoy,” says Delta’s Jim Fisher, Canada’s director of conservation policy. “You won’t see the number of birds, generally speaking, but the decoy hunting can be excellent.”

7) Hunter placement in decoys: “Don’t be afraid to move within the decoy spread to get to a better position to shoot lower birds or to have a chance at flaring birds,” says Delta’s Fisher. “Or leave the decoys altogether and get downwind to a spot that may give you closer shots.”

8 ) Prepare for fog and mud: Spring hunters will likely find both in copious amounts. “Morning fog can really get guys mixed up when they’re looking for the field they received permission to hunt the night before, so make a mental note of landmarks to guide you to the right spot,” says Delta’s Terning. “If the fog has been really bad, use a GPS to plot the precise location of where you want to set up the following day. A good map and GPS are indispensable.” The spring season has another constant: mud. Be prepared for it; bring extra clothes/gear and have a plan for transporting decoys because driving a truck and trailer into a field may not be an option. “Hunters need to do their best to leave the smallest footprint as possible,” says Delta’s Devney. “Be respectful of landowner property and be extremely careful not to tear up muddy roads.”

9) Ballistics and shooting: Fisher strongly recommends using quality shells. “I like to use three-inch shot shells with BB or BBB,” he said. “Be judicious with the shots you take, know your maximum effective range and don’t stray from it. After all, it’s hunting, not shooting.”

10) Food, glorious, food: Have a plan. Bring a cooler, ice and cleaning materials. Know the rules on how to legally transport birds. Snow geese, contrary to popular myth, are superb table fare. Bring a grill or stove and prepare a feast in the field. An easy recipe: take the tenderloins from several goose breasts. Dredge them in seasoned flour and fry. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce. Delta President Rob Olson says sweet chili or plum and hot mustard is a terrific combination. Find some great snow goose recipes at deltawaterfowl.org

About:
Delta Waterfowl provides knowledge, leaders and science-based solutions that efficiently conserve waterfowl and secure the future for waterfowl hunting. Visit: www.deltawaterfowl.org

10 Tips for a Safe Spring Turkey Hunt

National Wild Turkey Federation

EDGEFIELD, S.C. --(Ammoland.com)- With wild turkey hunting season still in full swing in many states, the National Wild Turkey Federation has the safety of turkey hunters in mind.

Safety is a key element when you’re in the woods mimicking the sounds of wild turkeys. A safe turkey hunter is much like a safe driver — you must be defensive minded. Also, keep in mind that a safe hunter is an effective hunter.

Here are 10 tips to consider when you’re in the woods:

• Leave the area if you suspect there’s another hunter already working the same bird.
• Resist the urge to stalk turkey sounds. It is nearly impossible to sneak up on a turkey. It is also unethical and could lead to an accident.
• Select a spot that is in open timber rather than thick brush: wearing camouflage clothing and eliminating movement is more critical to success than hiding in heavy cover.
• Sit against a large stump, blow-down, tree trunk or rock that is wider than your shoulders and higher than your head when calling wild turkeys.
• Never wear bright colors, especially not red, white, blue or black because these are the colors of a wild turkey gobbler. Watch out for red, white or blue on your socks, t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, hats, bandannas, etc. Wear dark undershirts and socks, and pants long enough to be tucked into boots.
• Remain still and speak in a loud, clear voice to announce your presence to other hunters if necessary. Never move, wave or make turkey sounds to alert another hunter of your presence.
• Keep your hands and head camouflaged when calling.
• Maintain a clear field of view when using a camouflage blind or netting.
• Ensure your decoy is not visible when you are transporting it. Stash the decoy in your vest and make sure the head is not sticking out. If you harvest a wild turkey during your hunting trip, you also should cover the bird’s head and body when carrying it out from your hunting spot.
• Put your gun’s safety on and approach the downed bird with your firearm pointed in a safe direction after firing. Never run with a firearm.

The National Wild Turkey Federation is committed to making hunter safety a top priority. In 1991, the NWTF initiated the National Turkey Hunting Safety Task Force to complement the hunter safety efforts of state agencies, the International Hunters Education Association, the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The task force – composed of hunting and shooting safety experts from around the country – has met three times since 1992 to develop a comprehensive hunter safety program, and has since produced and distributed more than 1 million pieces of hunting safety information.

Thanks to the cooperative efforts of the members of the National Turkey Hunting Task Force, the number of turkey hunting incidents continues to decrease even as turkey hunters flock to the woods in increasing numbers. Spring turkey hunting incidents have decreased from a high of 8.1 per 100,000 in 1991 to a low of 2.95 per 100,000 in 2001, the most recent year this data was updated.

Note: Before heading afield this spring, check with your state or provincial wildlife agency for hunting seasons and bag limits.

Hare Rabbit

Outdoors Magazine

Vermont --(Ammoland.com)- Hares have an interesting place in the English language.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Mad as a March hare” and wondered where it came from?

March is the breeding season for hares, thus their odd behavior of boxing and jumping during this time of year.

This is not a new phenomenon, and the earliest written testament to it was circa 1500, in Blowbol’s Test reprinted by W. C. Hazlitt in Remains Early Popular Poetry of England, 1864.

It states, “Thanne [th]ey begyn to swere and to stare, And be as braynles as a Marshe hare.”

In hunting circles, the phrase derived from a male hare’s (bucks) tendency to travel several miles to breed with a female (doe) during the month of March. When a hunter’s dog would disturb the buck, he would return to his home area miles away with the dog often in pursuit.

This meant the hunters would either lose their dog or have to travel miles to find it.

The phrase “hare-brained” refers to the same behavior. This is also old and is referenced in Edward Hall’s Chronicle, 1548: “My desire is that none of you be so unadvised or harebrained [sic] as to be the occasion that …”

Other interesting facts about hares include that the rabbit in Bambi named Thumper derived its name from a female hares’ tendencies with her young. Hares do not live in the ground like cottontails, so they have their young above ground and the babies (leverets) spread out to hide so that if one is discovered by a predator it will not find the entire clutch. When it is time for the young to nurse, the mother hare will “thump” her back foot rapidly to call them in to feed.

About:
Each month Outdoors Magazine shines its spotlight on different areas of the outdoors world. Features and sub-features are multiple page spreads written by select experts in their fields. In addition to features and sub-features, each month Outdoors Magazine has over 40 columns written by real guides, industry experts, and the best in their fields. Our staff are die-hards who take the time out of their lives hunting and fishing to write. For more information, sponsorship opportunities, and expanded article descriptions, visit www.outdoorsmagazine.net.

Skyhorse Publishing

New York, NY --(Ammoland.com)- Does your meat bounty runneth over? Not sure what to do with all that game piling up in your freezer or barn?

With The Complete Guide to Sausage Making you can turn wild game and more common meats like pork, chicken, or beef into scrumptious sausage, pepperoni, bratwurst, salami, and more! Less waste and more taste!

Writer-outdoorsman Monte Burch shows you all the tools, materials, and steps it takes to impress your family and friends by creating all types of fresh sausages at home.

With Monte Burch as your guide, you can master the art of sausage making and proudly present your family and friends with delectable creations.

The Complete Guide To Sausage Making

Try recipes such as:

• Farm Fresh Breakfast Sausage
• Morton Salt Pepperoni
• Maple-Flavored Sausage
• Tex-Mex Pork Sausage
• Jalapeno-Cheese Venison Summer Sausage
• Wild Goose Salami
• Hot Italian Sausage
• Potato Sausage
• Bradley Smoker Old-Fashioned Frankfurters
• And many more!

This useful book provides a brief history of sausage, vital food safety tips, and the necessary tools needed to create great sausage from scratch—smokers, grinders, knives, and casings—and then moves on to the basics, from field dressing to preparing and seasoning.

Learn about the endless varieties of smoked, cooked, and fresh sausages; dry, semi-dry, and hard sausages; cooked sausages and specialty sausages. If you are an adventurous meat lover, The Complete Guide to Sausage Making is the perfect new addition to your kitchen shelf.

About the Author
Monte Burch is an award-winning freelance writer, photographer, and illustrator. He has written for numerous magazines, including American Rifleman and Field & Stream. He is also the author of The Complete Jerky Book (Skyhorse 2009).

About:
Founded in 2006, Skyhorse Publishing was at #2 on the 2010 Publisher’s Weekly list of the fastest-growing independent publishers in the United States. Skyhorse publishes books on many different subjects in areas including sports and outdoors, military history, how-to, self-help, true crime, antiques and collectibles, transportation and aviation, current events, and more. In July 2010, Skyhorse acquired the assets of Arcade Publishing, including some 500 titles—many from prominent authors, including Umberto Eco, Elie Wiesel, Ingmar Bergman, Octavio Paz, and others. Skyhorse’s founder is publishing industry veteran Tony Lyons, former CEO of The Lyons Press. Learn more at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

Outdoors Magazine

Vermont --(Ammoland.com)- Master Maine Guide and deer hunting legend Randy Flannery will be making a rare public appearance in the Adirondacks on March 27, 2011, and will be conducting a seminar on advanced deer hunting strategies, specifically targeting tandem hunting techniques.

Flannery is a regular columnist with Outdoors Magazine and is considered a pioneer in tracking and stalking techniques.

His strategies and methods have been featured several times in other magazines like Field & Stream and Deer & Deer Hunting.

Doors open for the seminar at 11:00 a.m. and lunch will be served shortly after. It is expected the event will run late into the afternoon with several pertinent topics being covered. Tickets are limited.

Flannery’s presentations are a must for “real hunters.”

Learn From a Deer Hunting Legend - Randy Flannery

They encompass a variety of strategies that have been proven successful across the East. If you know the challenge of killing a buck on public land, and the thrill of hunting the deep woods, you will not want to miss it.

The seminar will be held at the Lakeview Restaurant in Averill Park, N.Y. on Sunday, March 27. The cost is $50 per person or $25 for youth hunters under the age of 18. Lunch is included.

For more information contact Glenn Galkiewicz at (518) 477-5100 or on his cell at (518) 429-0463. Or email glenster1231@yahoo.com

About:
Each month Outdoors Magazine shines its spotlight on different areas of the outdoors world. Features and sub-features are multiple page spreads written by select experts in their fields. In addition to features and sub-features, each month Outdoors Magazine has over 40 columns written by real guides, industry experts, and the best in their fields. Our staff are die-hards who take the time out of their lives hunting and fishing to write. For more information, sponsorship opportunities, and expanded article descriptions, visit www.outdoorsmagazine.net.

RealTree

COLUMBUS, Georgia --(Ammoland.com)- Realtree’s All-Stars of Spring XVIII turkey hunting DVD brings an exciting new twist to wild turkey hunting footage with the new and extremely popular “Beards or Bust” competition.

Two turkey hunting teams hit the road with a handful of rules and a road map.

The goal?

Take all four subspecies of North American wild turkey within set time limits, budgets and laws. Everyone involved had a blast, and you’ll have almost as much fun watching the turkey hunting clips and learning unique hunting tips…without putting all the miles on your truck!

Realtree All-Stars of Spring XVIII Turkey Hunting DVD

This new spring turkey hunting video also features an inspiring story revolving around Jeremy Williams, a fine man stricken with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Watch his hunt with Bill and Tyler Jordan, and see how so many people, including those with Extreme Makeover; Home Edition, came together to help Jeremy and his family.

This remarkable story will leave you proud to be a turkey hunter.

Of course, this All-Stars DVD offers much more – an incredible 36 hunts from 10 states: Georgia, Alabama, South Dakota, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Florida, Colorado and Oklahoma.

You’ll no doubt leave your couch a better turkey hunter after watching

Realtree All Stars of Spring XVIII.

Available at your local sporting goods retailer, 800.474.8733 or www.realtree.com/store.

Cutt'n and Strutt'n 15 Continues the Turkey Hunting Tradition

Hunter's Specialties

Cedar Rapids, IA --(Ammoland.com)- Now in its 15th year, the Cutt’n and Strutt’n DVD series from Hunter’s Specialties continues to bring exciting turkey hunting action as the Pro Staff and friends hunt gobblers across the country.

Cutt’n and Strutt’n 15 contains 3 hours of hunting action and 34 hunts with Pro Staff members Eddie Salter, Matt Morrett, Rick White, Phillip Vanderpool and the rest of the Hunter’s Specialties family and friends all getting in on the action.

The new Cutt’n and Strutt’n 15 DVD from Hunter’s Specialties sells for a suggested retail price of $9.99.

For more information about other Hunter’s Specialties products, log onto the Hunter’s Specialties website at www.hunterspec.com, write to 6000 Huntington Court NE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402, or call a Consumer Service Specialist at 319-395-0321.

About:
Hunter’s Specialties is the world’s largest manufacturer of hunting accessories and has been producing quality products since 1977. Hunter’s Specialties manufactures over 900 products.

Owners David and Carman Forbes, who live by the company motto “For Sportsmen, By Sportsmen,” started H.S. with just one product-No-Mar Camo Gun & Bow Tape. Visit: www.hunterspec.com

GroundHog Hunting

Outdoors Magazine

Vermont --(Ammoland.com)- For one day of the year they are the country’s most celebrated animal.

For the other 364 days most consider them a pest. They wreak havoc on an unprotected gardens and burrow underneath pastures creating tunnels that can collapse causing harm to cattle and horses. They are groundhogs.

Depending where you are in the country you might know them by a different name. In the East “woodchuck” is common. Some call them prairie dogs or gophers, but those are more western terms. The truth is gophers and groundhogs, while related, are different animals. Gophers only get up to 3 pounds while groundhogs can reach ten. Also, prairie dogs live in big colonies (thus those hunting videos where guys shoot hundreds of them a day) and groundhogs live in colonies of 4 –6 animals.

Some people also call them whistle pigs, but this is an older expression. It derives from a whistle-like sound the animals will emit when cornered. For the record, they are also known to swim and climb trees to escape danger.

Groundhog Day
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania likes to take credit for the inception of Groundhog Day, but its roots go back further. It was a German tradition long before the early settlers of the small American town made it popular. If anything, Punxsutawney deserves credit for the holiday’s modern adaptation.

Groundhog Day is based on the European tradition of Candlemas Day. It falls on the mid-point between the winter and spring equinoxes. German folklore states that if the sun comes out on Candlemas, the hedgehog (or badger) will see its shadow and six more weeks of winter will follow. When German settlers came to Pennsylvania they continued this tradition, using groundhogs instead of hedgehogs to predict the weather.

Hunting Groundhogs
While the fat groundhog pictured on television the morning of February 2 might look cute, it is important to remember these animals are a very serious nuisance to farmers. While hunting them in the East is not as popular as it once was, most farmers welcome those who want to pursue the little beasts on their property. If you go out though, don’t expect a day full of shooting, the little critters are more difficult to harvest than people give them credit for.

A few tips include:

• Flies around a hole indicates it is active.
• Morning and late afternoon are the best times to hunt them. A groundhog’s den is 15 – 25 degrees cooler than the surface, meaning they will settle in them during the heat of mid-day.
• If you jump one and it runs into its hole keep an eye on the cavern entrance. Chances are that within 15 minutes (usually sooner) it will poke its head out to see what startled it and if the danger is still close at hand.
• If you are stalking a groundhog and it turns to look at you freeze. Most of the time it is the movement that scares them and they will go back to eating in 10 – 15 seconds.
• Groundhogs live to eat. They are vegetarians, and if they have a choice, will often eat alfalfa over other types of grasses.

Why Hunt Groundhogs?

• As we stated, groundhogs are a nuisance animal. Farmers and horse owners know this, and if you have ever tried to grow a garden where one is present than you understand this fact.
• Groundhogs are also edible. While it may sound unappetizing, they are vegetarians and their meat is highly prized in some circles – not to mention it doesn’t get any more organic. Most chef’s advise that you should roast them like you would roast beef. The younger, small ones are preferred table fare.
• The small tail of a groundhog is prized among fly tiers. Its thickness and texture is somewhat unique, and is used in the production of a handful of different types of flies.

About:
Each month Outdoors Magazine shines its spotlight on different areas of the outdoors world. Features and sub-features are multiple page spreads written by select experts in their fields. In addition to features and sub-features, each month Outdoors Magazine has over 40 columns written by real guides, industry experts, and the best in their fields. Our staff are die-hards who take the time out of their lives hunting and fishing to write. For more information, sponsorship opportunities, and expanded article descriptions, visit www.outdoorsmagazine.net.

Beat the Cold Kill a Coyote

Outdoors Magazine

Vermont --(Ammoland.com)- With temperatures predicted to drop well below zero over the next three days across the East, many people are preparing for a weekend of watching football and sitting by a fireplace.

Devout predator hunters are taking a different view though, and to them the impending temperatures are a reason for celebration.

“The colder the better,” said Bill Savage, a coyote hunting specialist from the Tug Hill Region of New York. “My best days coyote hunting are when the temperature never gets above zero. If it gets as cold as they say it will … well … let’s just say I am like a kid in a candy store. “

Bob Howe, the owner of Pine Grove Lodge in Bingham, Maine, has a simple explanation for this phenomenon. In essence, in the colder weather a coyote needs to expend more energy to stay warm. This means they need to feed more, and the hunters who have their baits set will reap the rewards.

”Everybody thinks coyotes will only hit the bait in the evening or at night, but that time around noon can also be very productive,” said Howe.

Two of his hunters experienced this first hand earlier today when they both killed coyotes hitting baits a few minutes past 11:00 a.m.

Coyote hunting in the extreme cold does take some special preparation. Gun actions can freeze and calls can act and sound differently than in warmer conditions. Plus, there are the inherent dangers that come with below-zero temperatures. For those willing to pay the price though the rewards can’t be beat.

For more information and predator hunting tricks, check out the March issue of Outdoors Magazine with a special insert “When Hunters Become The Hunted” detailing the methods some of the East’s best use to put fur in the shed.

About:
Each month Outdoors Magazine shines its spotlight on different areas of the outdoors world. Features and sub-features are multiple page spreads written by select experts in their fields. In addition to features and sub-features, each month Outdoors Magazine has over 40 columns written by real guides, industry experts, and the best in their fields. Our staff are die-hards who take the time out of their lives hunting and fishing to write. For more information, sponsorship opportunities, and expanded article descriptions, visit www.outdoorsmagazine.net.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- On each day you hunt deer, the strategy you choose often will determine whether you spot a deer.

For instance, although tree stand hunting has revolutionized the sport of deer hunting, it may not produce the best results in every situation.

Let’s look at several hunting scenarios, and decide which technique works best for each. We’ll evaluate your best chance for seeing a buck based on a) stalk hunting; b) hunting from a ground blind; c) hunting from a tree stand; or, d) all three tactics. Deer season has ended across much of the country but is still going strong in the South.

The Rut during the Rain
a). Stalk – Once the rut begins, and rain pours down throughout the night and then tapers-off shortly before or at daylight, that’s when you need to stalk-hunt deer. The wet ground will help you to stalk quietly. This factor, combined with a gentle breeze, will provide ideal stalk-hunting conditions. Bucks excitedly chase the objects of their affection during the rut, focusing their attention on estrous does rather than the eager hunters on the property. List the places where you’ve encountered does prior to the rut, stalk slowly and quietly to those sites, and then wait and watch for 10 to 15 minutes before moving to the next location. As you stalk the doe hotspots one after another, you’ll move along the same trails the bucks will use in pursuit of their ladies.

Stalk or Stand What Will You Do When Hunting Deer?

A 2- Or a 3-Year-Old Clear Cut
a). Stalk – When you find trails running into a 2 – or a 3-year-old clear cut that has a creek or a drainage ditch running through it, hunt on foot. Wade through the creek into the clear cut, and enter the area from its downwind side. Although the creek’s water will cover the sound of your movements, you still may spook a buck. Always carry a grunt call. Then, if you jump a buck, you can blow the call, and often a buck will return. If the deer doesn’t see you but hears your movement through the water, the grunt may fool him into believing another buck has entered his territory. He may return to investigate 10 to 15 minutes after hearing your grunt call, allowing you the chance to get off a shot. Visit http://www.protoolindustries.net/products/collection-of-all-four-titles to learn more about my book, “How to Hunt Clear Cuts Successfully.”

Flooded Timber
a). Stalk or c). Tree Stand – As winter rains fall, many creeks and rivers overflow their banks, sending deer to ridges and high spots out in the flooded timber. Then tree stands or stalking both will pay buck dividends. When stalking, wear hip-high or chest-high waders, a headnet and gloves. Move slowly in the water. Staying in the water means you’ll move quieter than you will on land and reduces your threat to the deer, since they don’t expect danger to come from the water. The water also helps to eliminate your odor to keep you from spooking a deer. To hunt from a tree stand, find a trail used by deer to cross the water, perhaps an underwater ridge or a beaver dam. Wade into the water downwind from the trail. With a climbing tree stand, position yourself as high as you feel comfortable climbing. During the winter when the leaves have fallen, your best view will come if you climb high. Scan the water’s edge for deer on the move, confident that deer won’t look out over the water for you.

Deer in the Snow
c). Tree Stand – When you discover a buck track in snow country that leads into thick cover, climb into a tree stand, and set-up as far away from that thick cover as you feel comfortable that you can make an accurate shot for the best hunting action. You may pinpoint a thick-cover region, perhaps not more than 40 yards in circumference, and often located in the middle of the field. The buck hiding inside this safety zone can see and hear from all directions. When you attempt to stalk that region, the buck often will spot you and flee. If you can’t target the thick cover from above, approach the area from downwind well before daylight. Reach the thicket before the buck returns from his nightly feeding, and then you may take him.

The Rut during Dry Weather
c). Tree Stand – In extremely-dry weather, you can hear the leaves crack as bucks chase does through the woods. Climb high above the forest floor to see long distances and to hear well.

No strategy always works every time. Always consider the wind, and carry a grunt tube with you to call out-of-range bucks to you. Match your hunting methods to terrain, weather conditions and the deer’s breeding seasons. Don’t only stand or only stalk for the most success.

To learn more about J. Wayne Fears’ new book, “The Ultimate Deer Hunter’s and Land Manager’s Pocket Reference,” visit www.protoolindustries.net/products/j-wayne-fears-ultimate-deer-hunters-pocket-reference. Also, to see more scenarios and learn more about whether to stalk or stand in various hunting situations, go to www.protoolindustries.net.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- Many states have ended their deer seasons, but others are still going strong.

Here are some strategies that will pay-off for you at the end of deer season.

Public Land Tactics
An older sportsman once shared with me the secrets to taking elusive late-season bucks.

“To take a nice buck in January on public lands, get into your tree stand long before daylight. Stay there until you take a buck or dark arrives.” Then this veteran woodsman smiled each time he gave-up a secret on how to hunt late-season bucks on public lands.

“Generally, only three types of hunters hunt the late season – the outdoorsman who hasn’t bagged a buck, someone who has one more deer tag to fill and the trophy hunter who has about run out of time to take a monster-sized buck. Although these hunters have tremendous pressure on them to find and take bucks, they generally will spook more deer than they ever see. The first secret is when everyone else in the woods moves, climb into your tree stand and sit there all day. You’ll be the only person not moving in the woods.”

End-of-Season Deer Tactics with J. Wayne Fears

This hunter related his belief that his remaining on his stand while all the other hunters walked around or went up and down trees changing stand sites drove deer to him. The old hunter then suggested that an end-of-the-season hunter should take a stand in the thickest cover he could find – perhaps only where he could see for 20 or 30 yards.

“You can expect to see bucks in the thickets just at first light when most of the other hunters are coming into the woods. Another time you’ll spot bucks is in the middle of the day, when the hunters leave the woods to eat lunch, and the bucks move out of the thick cover to feed and breed and then return to the thick cover. Just at dark when hunters start to leave the woods, again the bucks will come from the heavy cover into more-open areas.”

Private Land Strategies:
Hunting over green fields pays buck dividends during the first weeks of deer season, but then most of the bucks feed on green fields and meet does in these regions in the middle of the day and after dark, the safest times for them to frequent these fields.

Bucks in Weird Places:
In the South, hunters often discover end-of-the-season bucks in cotton fields – ideal deer hideouts – where no one thinks to look for deer during daylight hours. Deer everywhere also like small drainage ditches with brush on their edges in agricultural fields with no crops. A buck in a ditch often can see for 100 to 200 yards in all directions. Too, you may locate bucks in the last part of hunting season along roads leading to the hunting camp - perhaps even within 150 yards of the camp - and areas where trucks move through the woods or along the edges of woodlots.

Bucks soon learn vehicles pose no threat to their survival, and hunters seldom consider finding a trophy buck right behind a camphouse.

One friend told me, “Our club had a dog pen with a briar thicket on its backside, 50-yards behind our clubhouse, where we kept the bird dogs and beagles we hunted with after deer season. One morning I got up before daylight and spotted an antler moving in that thicket, while I was sipping my coffee. I took my shotgun and walked behind the dog pen. Then the biggest buck I’d ever seen stood-up, looked at me and turned to run. The slug from my 3-inch Magnum found the target behind this buck’s shoulder that we’d never seen on the property before.”

Love on the Move:
If you hunt in a state where the rut occurs during the late season, you’ll find scrape hunting deadly effective on bucks looking for love, if you understand when to hunt what scrapes. Some bucks work their open scrapes like those along the edges of logging roads or fields only after dark and come looking for love in their thick-cover scrapes during daylight hours.

J. Wayne Fears' Ultimate Deer Hunter's Pocket Reference

Donald Spence of Mississippi, a very-successful veteran deer hunter, explains, “Most hunters spook the bucks they’re trying to take when they hunt scrapes, because late-season deer go to their scrapes just at daylight.

You must be on your stand watching the scrape before the sun comes up to bag these bucks. Also look behind your stand frequently, since a buck may come near a scrape and then circle downwind to try to pick up the smell of a doe close to the scrape.”

You can learn more about how and where to hunt late-season bucks and other proven deer-hunting tactics that will take the biggest bucks in my “Ultimate Deer Hunter’s and Land Manager’s Pocket Reference,” available at www.protoolindustries.net/products/j-wayne-fears-ultimate-deer-hunters-pocket-reference .

To bag these older-age-class, end-of-the-season bucks that have dodged hunters the entire season, break with traditional hunting methods.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- My brother Terry and I decided that if we wanted to take big bucks every year, we had to find new and better places to hunt each year, or we had to make the site that we hunted more productive, Mark Drury, a friend of mine, told me not long ago.

Mark and Terry Drury of Drury Outdoors and the hosts of “Wildlife Obsession,” “Dream Season” and “Bow Madness” on the Outdoor Channel, and each and every year, they harvest big whitetails.

Their secrets to buck-hunting success include, according to Mark Drury, that they;

• “define the feeding area and the bedding region;
• “set-up our green fields, so that we know where the deer will be feeding in relationship to where they’ll be bedding;
• “create stand sites on the trails the deer take from their feeding site to their bedding area;
• “put-out trail cameras along the trails the deer travel from the feeding area to the bedding region; and
• “create small green patches on the sides of the trails where the deer travel to give the deer a place to stop-off and eat a little bite of a different type of food before they reach their primary feeding area. Those small green patches are where we set-up our tree stands to take deer with our bows.”

Hunters put in long hours for bigger bucks.

Perhaps now you think this game plan is one for the pre-season that should occur in July, August or September. However, you can make the land you hunt better for big deer right now in the dead of winter.

Here’s why – most of the foliage has disappeared, and the sap’s down in all the bushes and non-commercial trees. You can take your Woodman’s Pal and create a place to plant those small green fields next fall. You also can pick-out the trees where you want to hang your tree stands and clear-away most of the limbs and brush that may interfere with your shots next year during hunting season.

Also, clear a path to a tree to put your trail camera to get photos of the bucks left on the property after hunting season.

To increase your property’s ability to pull and hold deer, put-out a feeder where you intend to plant your little green patches. Because food is scarce during the winter months, that feeder will start drawing deer to your land. With your trail camera, you can see the buck potential that property will have the next year. To increase the drawing power of that feeder, add a little C’Mere Deer powder to the product you’re feeding.

As Mark Drury says, “You either can find better land to hunt every year or improve the land where you hunt.”

Using the Woodman’s Pal, you can prepare your land and your hunting sites for deer-hunting success next season. For more tips and tactics on how to better manage your land for wildlife and to learn more about the Woodman’s Pal and its many-different uses, go to www.protoolindustries.net.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- Driving deer is a popular method of hunting, especially in the late season. That’s why I’ve included how to put on successful man-drives in my “How to Hunt Clear Cuts Successfully” and my “Deer Reference Guide” books, available at www.protoolindustries.net .

Although the early Europeans drove deer, I’ve often been asked how deer drives started in America. Much of what we use today in our tactical strategies to drive deer we have learned from the first Americans.

Native Americans designed their mass deer drives and tribal hunts around the terrain they were hunting. Most deer drives involved some kind of huge corral that enabled hunters to force the deer unsuspectingly down a gradually-narrowing passageway where other hunters awaited them.

For instance, the Menomini tribe prepared for a deer drive by felling numerous trees to form a giant V, which ran for several miles through the woods. The men dropped the trees, so the trunks remained attached to the stumps but lay close to the ground, all extending in the same direction. When the drive began, a band of hunters concealed themselves at the apex of the V. Other hunters and sometimes the women and children gathered at the wide end of the V. Walking slowly and noisily forward, the hunters moved toward the bottleneck. The deer fled before them, but the drive had to be well-paced. If the hunters moved too fast, the deer became panicky and leapt over the fallen logs and out of the V. But when the hunters proceeded cautiously, the deer followed the line of least resistance inside the barricade and finally found themselves trapped.

An Eight Point Buck hears the approach of deer hunters.

The Iroquois tribe usually made their barricades with a brush fence 2- to 3-miles long. They started the drive by setting fire to the woods at the wide end of the corral. Parties of braves patrolled the sides of the V to prevent most of the deer from leaping over it. The deer were eventually driven to the apex, where other hunters took them.

Some western tribes did not use the long-corral system, however, but took advantage of the deer’s fear of the smell of scorched buffalo hides. The day before such a drive, each member of the hunting party brought to the chief a piece of buffalo hide and a sharp stick on which to carry it. The chief scorched the skins. The next morning, he took the skins to a suitable spot about 5-miles windward (upwind) of the hunters’ starting point. There he stuck each stick with its hide into the earth, in a line parallel to approaching braves before whom the deer were retreating. The chief, well-hidden from the deer, watched the deer come toward him. As the deer scented the scorched skins and turned to run away from them, the chief gave a signal and advanced. The hunters lay down, while the chief moved ahead, yelling and waving his arms. The frightened deer fled even more swiftly from this new danger, straight toward the hidden hunters, who raised to their knees and shot the deer with their bows and arrows as the deer came within range.

In some deer drives, the Native American hunters were fortunate enough to have a natural corral in their territory, such as a narrow gorge, into which they could drive the deer. If an area had a cliff with a projecting ledge a few feet below the brink of the cliff, a few braves wearing deerskins would stand on the end of the cliff, as other hunters drove the deer toward them. The fleeing deer, seeing what they thought were others of their kind in a safe place, raced for the cliff. The disguised hunters leapt to the ledge below, and the main body of deer charged toward the hunters dressed in deer skins, causing many of them to plunge over the cliff to their deaths.

Today we can’t chop down large numbers of trees to create funnels and can’t drive deer off cliffs or even want to do that. But I think our knowing how this hunting technique of man-drives has evolved is important. It’s another part of the rich history of the sport of deer hunting.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- If you take a deer this season, don’t miss out on some of the most-delicious meat ever.

Researchers have proved that venison, a heart-friendly meat, contains fewer calories than the same size serving of chicken or turkey and one-half the calories of ham or ground chuck.

Venison also has more protein than freshwater or saltwater fish and one-tenth as many fat grams as ground chuck.

A rich source of trace minerals, including calcium, magnesium, zinc, potassium, phosphorus and iron, venison has a cholesterol content comparable to chicken and turkey.

Pro Tool Hunt Utility Knife

To process your venison yourself:

• Have your equipment ready. Always carry: a deer drag; a sharp knife like the Pro Tool Hunt Utility Knife, made of 3/16-inch-thick carbon steel and featuring a finger grip below and scalloped thumb grooves above, that gives me a secure grip and ultimate maneuverability for field dressing; gloves; and Hunter’s Specialties’ Wild Gamekeeper Spray, which helps prevent the growth of bacteria by lowering the pH on the surface of the animal, creating an acid base where bacteria can’t grow in your daypack.
• Look for a hill or a log that you can drag your deer to as soon as you recover it. Put the deer’s head up and the body down to make field dressing easier. Gravity will help the entrails to come out easier.
• Use a Hunter’s Specialties’ Butt Out Tool, a product that disconnects the deer’s anal alimentary canal easily.
• Wear field dressing gloves to open the deer’s cavity and remove the entrails.
• Don’t wash the open cavity with water, even after removing the entrails. Use Wild Gamekeeper Spray, and coat the cavity with it.
• Hang the deer in a cooler or the outdoors, if the area has below-40-degree temperatures for 2-3 days. Then the animal can cool-down and age, which will mean better-tasting meat.
• Remove the hide, and cut-up the meat.
• Use a very-sharp, clean knife like the compact, perfectly-balanced Pro Tool Hunt Utility Knife and a saw to separate the meat.
• Cut away all fat, connective tissue and gristle before packaging the meat for the freezer to ensure the very-best-tasting venison when you prepare it later.
• Allow cuts of venison to unthaw in the refrigerator in heavily-salted water after removing the meat from the freezer for 24 – 48 hours. Be sure to wash all the salt off before preparing venison to eat.

In my new “Deer Hunter’s & Land Manager’s Pocket Reference” book that will be available in a few weeks at www.protoolindustries.net, there’s a full chapter on how to clean and quarter your deer besides an abundance of vital information about deer. At the Pro Tool Industries website, you’ll also find my book, “How to Make Jerky and Pemmican” and free venison recipes.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- A successful deer hunter must know how deer behave in the wild, have been close enough to deer to bag them and have amassed a wealth of knowledge about how to find and take deer from in-the-field experience. Let’s look at some tips for bagging a big buck.

Know You Have a Big Buck to Hunt:
Even if you’re the best hunter in the nation, you won’t be able to take a big buck, if you don’t know there’s a trophy buck on the property where you hunt. To determine if a trophy buck is on that land, go into the woods after the deer have shed their antlers, and look for trophy racks. If you find a big set of antlers that have been shed, you can assume that a trophy buck is on that property. Also, enter your hunting area before deer season, and start to scout then. Try to see a big buck before hunting pressure drives him to cover.

Hunters need to go into the woods throughout the year to search for and study deer. Then you can collect information before the season begins and after it ends about what deer are on the property for you to hunt, as well as what routes the deer travel, and the food sources they use. Another way to find out if you have a trophy buck on your hunting lands is to talk to the people who drive up and down the roads through the woodlot where you plan to hunt. Loggers, mailmen, school bus drivers and people normally traveling through your hunting region, while driving back and forth to work and school, often will see and know the whereabouts of a big buck.

If shining deer at night is legal in your state, go into the woods and fields at night with a light before and after the season to see deer. But make sure you’re not violating the law in the state where you hunt. An important safety practice is to notify the local conservation officer as to where you’ll be on the night you plan to look for deer, and let him know what you’re doing. To take a trophy deer, you must have a big deer to hunt.

Tips for Bagging Big Bucks on the Property You Hunt

Have a Thorough Knowledge of the Property You Hunt:
You must understand the lay of the land you hunt, including the land’s contours, where the creeks and the streams run, and where the roads go through the property. You also need to know the traditional movement patterns of the deer on that property, because deer on any woodlot will establish routes of travel. Once you understand what those historical routes are, you can go to that same land year after year and find deer. If you spend your time learning one piece of property thoroughly, you’ll bag more big deer more consistently than those who hunt three- or four-different locations during a season.

The only exception to this rule is the trophy deer hunter who can travel to Texas, Mexico, Alberta or some of the other areas where trophy bucks are much-more abundant than they are in most regions of the United States. Most of us are looking for better places to hunt, rather than learning the best spots to hunt on the properties we have to hunt.

Understand How to Hunt the Rut:
To take a trophy buck, you need to have as much time as possible to hunt that buck during the peak of the rut, which is when the trophy buck is the most vulnerable and is most likely to be bagged. However, the time of the peak of the rut is different in each state and may vary even inside the state. Therefore, the best way to know when the peak of the rut occurs in the state and the particular place you plan to hunt is to contact the state wildlife biologist in your area. Ask for copies of studies or information that may have been compiled by wildlife scientists that will show you when the peak of the rut is in the region you want to hunt. Too, remember that once an animal becomes a trophy buck, he’ll primarily move at night, because he’s learned that there’s less danger then and that he can move more freely and safely at night than in the daytime. When hunting season begins, this trophy buck becomes more sensitized to human activity and more secretive and harder to locate. But when the rut occurs, the urge to reproduce supersedes his natural caution for a short time. He’ll either be searching for or pursuing an estrous doe during daylight hours, which make this buck easier for the hunter to take.

To learn more about hunting deer, get my book, “Deer Hunter’s Pocket Reference,” and for more strategies for bagging bucks, go to www.protoolindustries.net.

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- Oftentimes your hunt really begins once you’ve shot or arrowed a deer.

Only after you’ve recovered the animal can you call your hunt a success. Let’s look at 10 steps to help you locate your downed whitetail.

You can learn more about hunting deer in my book, “Deer Hunter’s Pocket Reference” at the previous link .

1) Look. As soon as you squeeze the trigger on your bow or rifle, watch the reaction of the deer, especially the deer’s tail. A raised tail means you may have missed the deer. If the deer’s tail points out, you more than likely have hit the deer. A deer with a tucked tail generally means you have a good hit. After watching the deer for as far as you can see him travel, pick-out a landmark that you can find at ground level where you’ve last spotted the deer.

2) Listen. If you don’t see the deer go-down, listen to see if you can hear the deer stumble and fall. Often you can hear a deer fall, when you can’t see it. Try to determine exactly from where you think the sound has originated. Listen for any-other sounds that may indicate the movement of the deer.

3) Wait. If the deer has fallen, it won’t go anywhere. If you’ve only wounded the deer, by waiting, you’ll give the deer a chance to succumb. If you don’t wait, you may startle the wounded deer, causing him to jump-up and run-off. Oftentimes the longer you delay your search for the deer, the more your odds will increase for recovering that animal.

4) Get a bearing. Before you leave your tree stand or ground blind, use your compass or global positioning system (GPS) receiver to mark the direction of flight the deer takes away from your tree stand to the last point where you’ve spotted the deer. Take another bearing to mark the place where you think you’ve heard the deer fall, because the terrain may look differently once you’re at ground level. Taking these bearings will help you stay on-course as you travel from your stand to where you expect to recover your deer.

5) Identify the point of impact. When you leave your stand, go directly to the spot where you think the shot has hit the deer. Search for hair, blood, bone and stomach content. The hair you discover often will tell you where the shot has hit the deer. The deer’s shortest and darkest hair covers the top of his back; his stomach will have the lightest-colored and longest hair; and he will have short white hairs under his chin, inside his ears and on his tail. Too, if you locate blood with air bubbles in it, you’ve more than likely made a lung shot. If you find stomach content, you’ve probably hit the deer low and may need to wait several hours before you begin tracking the animal. Try to obtain all the information you can from the place where you’ve hit the deer.

J Wayne Fears Tracking his next record Deer

6) Follow blood and tracks. If there’s no blood trail, you may have to rely on tracks and what you’ve already seen and heard to find your buck. Study the tracks of the animal, noting the size and shape. Identify any characteristics that will help you distinguish this deer’s track from another’s.

7) Leave a Trail. Leave a flagging-tape trail, which will enable you to see the deer’s direction of travel. You also can find your way back to your tree stand and the last place where you’ve located the deer’s blood with flagging tape.

Go slow. Many hunters fail to find the deer they’ve shot because they hurry too much and lose the trails. Go as slowly as required to stay on the trail, even if you have to get on your hands and knees to search for pinhead-sized drops of blood or study tracks.

9) Look up. Oftentimes you may find no blood on the ground. But if you’ll look up, you may pinpoint blood waist-high on trees, bushes and leaves, due to the surrounding foliage smearing-off the running deer’s blood before it can fall to the ground, especially if you’ve made a lung shot.

10) Repeat. Know what to do when the blood runs-out or the trail stops. When the blood trail ends, and I no can longer find a trail, I hang flagging tape as high in the tree as possible to allow me to see it from a long distance. Then I begin to walk in a circle, expanding the radius of the circle with each revolution. If you have a GPS receiver that will mark a trail as you walk in a circle, you can see on the receiver’s screen where you’ve walked. Many times when the deer’s trail runs-out, you’ll discover the deer within 100 yards of the trail’s end. Knowing that a wounded deer often tries to bury-up in thick cover, thoroughly check-out downed trees, brush piles and any other thick-cover areas within that 100-yard circle. Also, continue scanning for tracks and blood while you walk the circle.

I may follow a deer for 4 hours or longer using these steps before recovering the animal. These tactics will work for you too.

To Learn more about J Wayne Fears to www.jwaynefearsbrand.com.

ProToolIndustries.net

Pottstown, Pennsylvania --(Ammoland.com)- Hunters took millions of deer from ground blinds before the invention of the modern-day tree stand. Ground-blind hunting always has produced bucks and often big bucks.

But if you read popular outdoor literature, you may think you only can bag a buck from a shooting house over a green field or by hunting from a tree stand.

However, I’ve learned that ground-blind hunting works even more effectively today than in the past, especially in areas with high hunter pressure. In many regions, after the first 2 weeks of deer season, you’ll notice that bucks will stand and look-up into the trees before they walk through the woods.

They’ve become so accustomed to seeing hunters in trees that they constantly look toward the sky for danger. Deer don’t always walk where you can put a tree stand, but you can hunt from a ground blind, regardless of where you want to try to take a deer. A ground blind also works well in thickets without trees big enough to support tree stands.

When hunting a thicket, plan to hunt at a time when you know you won’t encounter any other hunters. Belly-crawl into the thicket about 10 yards before you start cutting a trail using your Pro Tool Utility Lopping Shears and Pro Tool Utility Hand Saw to keep any other hunter from spotting where you’ve entered the thicket. Then cut a trail all the way across the thicket, while also looking for any sign of big deer. But rather than getting distracted by the buck sign, continue your crawl. When you almost reach the center of the thicket, pay close attention to the brush in that area. When you’ve made it just past the middle of the thicket, look for a clear spot where you can see well for 20 to 30 yards. As you walk the edge of the clearing, then search for deer trails.

Hunters Build a Ground Blind & Bag a Buck

If you see deer trails coming from almost every direction and trails crisscrossing this small opening in the middle of the thicket, which appears to act like a hub for the deer trails, you’ll be able to take a nice-sized buck from this spot, if you can reach it without spooking deer.

Take a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to pinpoint the direction from which the prevailing wind blows in that region. Then walk around the thicket in the opposite direction of the prevailing wind to find a small opening where you can pile-up brush and cut-down bushes to make a blind. After building your blind, use your hand-held GPS, and cut a small trail in the opposite direction of the blowing wind from your blind. You only want to make a trail that you either can follow by crawling or walking stoop-shouldered.

When you reach within 10 yards of the edge of the thicket, discontinue your trail, tie flagging tape at the base of a brush, and cover the flagging tape with leaves, so no one can find it. Once you reach the edge of the thicket, find a small bush and tie one piece of flagging tape at the base of this small bush and put a big rock over the flagging tape.

The following week, use your hand-held GPS receiver to return to the thicket, and check the wind. If you have a favorable wind, crawl into the thicket, and get into your ground blind, where you’ll remain totally concealed. When you spot a nice-sized buck, you’ll be able to take a shot and bag the buck from your ground blind without the buck’s ever seeing you.

When you bag your trophy buck, conceal your hidden trail by spreading fresh leaves over the places where you drug your buck to camp or to your pick-up truck. This way, no one ever will know you’ve hunted inside a thicket or be able to find your ground blind.

To learn more about how to build a blind and bag a buck, go to www.protoolindustries.net .

J. Wayne Fears

Pottstown PA --(Ammoland.com)- Learning more about how and why a deer reacts to hunting pressure will help hunters bag bucks more effectively.

To understand how deer learn to fear man and how much human contact a buck can stand before he reduces his daytime movement patters, I’ve talked with master deer hunters and scientists.

As Dr. Keith Causey, retired professor of wildlife science at Auburn University, explains, “Deer learn to fear man just like any other animal learns to fear man. Man’s been a predator, and deer have been a prey species for thousands of years. The deer that don’t fear man have been weeded-out of the population. Fear by prey of a predator comes from experience and from being taught by the more mature members of the population.”

Dr. Robert Sheppard, a master bowhunter who teaches in bowhunting and blackpowder schools, also is a cardiologist who must pay close attention to even the smallest detail when practicing medicine. This trait of his also applies to his deer hunting.

“Most hunters believe deer learn to flee from hunters when the animals see men, and that deer associate sighting a man with the knowledge that man is a predator,” Dr. Sheppard reports. “However, I tend to believe deer learn to fear first the odor man gives off. Then at some time during the deer’s development, the animal associates that odor with a visual sighting of man. As you walk through the woods, your body produces odor that smells much stronger to the deer than to you. I’m convinced deer recognize that human odor as a dangerous smell and do all they can to avoid it.”

Brad Harris, videographer and well-known deer authority, explains that, “In the woods, deer are aware of all the sights, the smells and the sounds of the forest. When man comes into the forest, man presents an unfamiliar sight, sound and smell. Because the deer’s natural instincts teach him to avoid anything not native to his environment, this may explain how deer learn to dodge hunters.”

How Much Hunting Pressure Can a Buck Deer Withstand

Also, we know from biologists spending thousands of hours watching deer in the wild that a tremendous amount of information is transferred from the doe to the fawn during that first year of life. If you’ve watched young fawns with a doe, she’ll communicate danger, caution, fear and calmness to her offspring.

Bob Foulkrod, a professional hunter and guide, suggests that, “Deer learn to run from man almost immediately after they’re born, because their mothers teach them to flee from that potential danger.” According to Dr. Causey, “Scientists have observed that fawns initially use a strategy of freezing to hide from danger until they reach 5- to 7-days old. After that time, they flee from man or any other predator or animal that approaches them.”

Dr. Sheppard feels that fawns fear man, particularly in the South, because, “Bow season starts early in the fall, often from mid-August to mid-October. In most of the areas where hunting pressure is heavy, by the time gun season arrives in November, many of the fawns, even those still with spots, have had enough encounters with human odor in the company of their mothers to recognize the smell as a danger signal. They’ve learned from their mothers while walking through the woods and seeing their mothers’ reactions when they encounter human smell. The doe will jerk her head up, snort and run off when she and the fawn smell humans. The next time the fawns encounter the smell, they know it means danger.”

Many hunters believe the more a deer sees or smells humans, the less likely that animal is to appear in the woods during daylight hours. However, Foulkrod believes the intent of the human determines the fear factor of the buck.

“If a buck’s in a non-pressure situation where he sees hikers, blueberry pickers or photographers during the summer months, he may run on first sighting the human before turning to see if he’s being pursued,” Foulkrod mentions. “When he realizes he isn’t being chased or shot at, he can take a lot of human pressure. But after hunting season opens, and the bucks realize that every time they come in contact with humans, they’ll be pursued, then only a little pressure will put a buck into his nocturnal state. He’ll cease his daytime activities, especially if he’s a 2-1/2- or a 3-1/2-year-old deer.”

Causey agrees with Foulkrod as he states that, “Since deer are individuals, determining how much hunting pressure one deer can withstand and using that information to draw a conclusion about all deer is impossible. However, from the harvest data I’ve seen and the datasets I’ve reviewed, I know that when a buck is 3-years old or older and experiences intense hunting pressure, then he becomes reclusive in his behavior and almost impossible to harvest legally because of his nocturnal activity.”

To learn more about how much hunting pressure a buck can stand, including how deer become nocturnal and how to reduce hunting and hunter pressure and to determine the best area and time to hunt pressured bucks, go to www.protoolindustries.net/blog/.

To Learn more about J Wayne Fears to www.jwaynefearsbrand.com,