The author took this buck in October from a stand located along the bank of a creek. In addition to funneling deer travel, the creek provided the perfect low-impact access for the stand.

It was late October and a cool west wind blew gently in my face as I approached the creek early the next morning, slipped on my waders and carefully retraced my tracks to the base of the tree. I traded the waders for a pair of insulated boots and climbed into the stand. Because of the remoteness of the wheat field, deer fed late into the morning before drifting back into the timber to bed. I sat for at least two hours, questioning my choices, before a big, old doe led the parade.

Once they started coming it seemed like a river of deer. During the next half-hour, seven bucks and at least as many does crossed the old pasture in front of me, but only one was close enough for a shot. But, one’s enough when he’s the biggest! The arrow hit him a little far back as he walked slowly past, so I stayed on stand for a couple of hours before climbing down to head back to my vehicle and then to town for help in tracking. I was so focused on each careful step as I side-hilled back to the creek’s only wadable crossing that I nearly stepped on the buck before I saw him. He lay stone dead right at the edge of my crossing.

I’m sure that stand will produce big buck sightings every year. The creek eliminates all ground scent while keeping me out of sight at the same time. And when the wind is from the west, southwest or northwest it takes my scent out over the creek and away from all the deer using the cover on the inside bend. It’s a great stand, but not because it covers a well used trail – a lot of stands do that. It’s a great stand because you can hunt it day after day without the fear of spooking a single deer.

Most hunters never realize how many deer see them, smell them or hear them as they go to and from their stands. And then there’s the ground scent that continues to alert deer long after the hunter leaves the woods. When deer find evidence of human activity they start looking for other places to live, or at the least, they’ll change their patterns in the area. Either way, the easy pickings are over: you’re looking at some tough hunting. Think about it. You’d take it seriously too if you found a stranger walking through your living room.

This season, remember that regardless of how much sign it overlooks, a stand is not a great stand (or even a good stand) if you can’t get to and from it without being detected.

It doesn't matter how much sign your stand overlooks, or how deeply the trails have been pounded into the ground, if you can't get to and from the area without spooking deer it is not a great stand location.

Where deer find our scent is also a significant factor in how much impact we have on their behavior. In the fringes of their core areas they have come to accept human scent, and don’t react as negatively to it. If your scent shows up in these places it will be noted, but the deer aren’t nearly as prone to change their patterns as a result. On the other hand, sign of human activity found right in their “living room” is another story. When deer smell our scent close to the center of their core areas, they don’t tolerate it. In short order they’ll move on, or become extremely cautious – both of which will make them much harder to tag.

In my experience, the real chess match in hunting trophy whitetails is not what scrape or what funnel you’ll watch. Unless you have a particular buck patterned, one travel funnel is basically as good as the next. The real chess match is planning how you’ll get to and from your stands without ruining them.

Beat the deer at their own game. We’ve all seen big bucks traveling. They take advantage of terrain and cover to keep out of sight as much as possible. Do the same thing as you enter and leave your stands. Take advantage of anything possible to keep you from being sky-lined. Even in the dark, deer can see a sky-lined hunter.

Look for ravines, deep ditches, folds in the terrain, draws and fence lines to keep you out of sight. If you plan to hunt the stand again, the exit route is just as important as the entry route so don’t overlook this important element of the hunt. And, when considering deer movement, the exit route will often be completely different from the entry route.

I’ve started relying heavily on creeks to gain access to my hunting areas. In fact, last season I took three nice whitetails and creeks factored heavily into each successful hunt. I’ll go out of my way to find stands near wadable creeks not only because they tend to be good travel routes, but also because they cover my scent and noise and keep me out of sight while enroute.

The elite 10% of the hunters that take 90% of the trophies have learned one lesson very well: the route you take to and from your stand is more important than the stand location itself. If there is a secret in whitetail hunting, this is it.

Winke set up stand just off a wheat field which the deer traveled through. By keeping his scent down, Winke kept the deer confident and was thus able to arrow a beautiful buck.

Remember that regardless of how much sign it overlooks, a stand is not a great stand (or even a good stand) if you can’t get to and from it without being detected.

It’s become obvious to me why so many bowhunters will continue to fail in their efforts. You see, achieving an enviable level of big buck success means paying some hefty dues. Personally, I’ve taken great pains throughout the 30-plus years I’ve been bowhunting to learn as much as I possibly can about my quarry. You’d think most “dedicated” hunters would take this same approach to the sport. But that’s just not the case.

Keep A Low Profile

Many bowhunters fail in their efforts to kill big deer simply because they’re unable to hit what they’re shooting at - which leads to the most important part of hunting - PRACTICE.

Every one of the many successful trophy whitetail bowhunters I know agree on one point. Keeping a low profile is key to achieving a consistent success rate on mature bucks. Trust me, the best in the business go to extremes to keep the deer in their hunting areas from catching on that a bowhunter is routinely invading their domain.once the bucks catch on to your game plan.

A Case Study

My good friend, Doug Below, has taken nearly a dozen Pope & Young class bucks over the years. Doug told me that the key to his success is the fact that he avoids deer on his walks into and out of his hunting areas. “Years ago I’d take the shortest and quickest routes into my stand sites,” he stated. “Almost without fail I’d jump some deer. Those deer would then blow loudly, sometimes for several minutes. Of course, every big buck within hearing range knew something was up. It soon became obvious that I had to try something different.”

In attempt to overcome his problem, Doug logged a bunch of hours during the off-season figuring out “deerless” walking routes to his stand sites. The end results have been nothing short of amazing. Even though he bowhunts in areas that receive intense amounts of pressure, Doug routinely arrows large-racked bucks. No doubt it’s his cautious approach to the sport that’s the difference.

Another Common Mistake
Just about all bowhunters, from novices to the most experienced, are aware of the negatives associated with having big bucks smell you. Amazingly though, a lot of these same hunters don’t understand the potential harm that can be done by having big bucks see you. I personally believe that this lack of understanding can be attributed to a common misconception regarding the whitetails sense of sight. Put simply, a lot of bowhunters are under the impression that deer don’t see all that well. But let me assure you, whitetails see very well!

I think everyone reading this will agree that humans are the number-one predator of whitetails. Lest you think otherwise, the deer are aware of this fact as well. With the way they’ve been pressured in recent years, mature bucks have become especially adept at visually recognizing the human form. Contrary to what some hunters believe, they don’t need to substantiate these sightings with one of their other senses either. Remember that humans are the only one of the whitetail’s predators that walks upright on two legs. Really, how difficult can it be to recognize this posture?

No Such Thing As “Instant Hunters”

I’m always amazed at the number of people who suddenly become “bowhunters” on a certain day of the year. They spend absolutely no time during the rest of the year preparing for the upcoming season. Yet when opening day rolls around, these are some of the first people to hit the woods.

Although there are many negatives associated with the “instant bowhunter” syndrome, one is especially disturbing. Simply put, these “bowhunters” lack an acceptable level of proficiency with their weapons. Each year I talk with numerous people who have blown golden opportunities at big bucks. Tragically, the vast majority of these people lost out simply because they weren’t able to hit what they were aiming at. I personally find it hard to feel sorry for people who don’t practice.

Long-time bowhunter, Wendell Johnson, agrees with me on the importance of attaining good marksmanship. This 67 year-old native of Centuria, Wisconsin has four bucks in the Pope & Young record book and another that misses the minimum entry score by less than an inch. Interestingly, Wendell’s most recent record book buck was taken during the late archery season.

“I was using a recurve with no sights,” Wendell recalls. “A doe walked by me first. The buck came following along about 100 feet behind her. I would have had a chip shot at him had he continued on, but when he was 35 yards from me, the doe caught my wind. Well, she snorted and took off at a dead run. The buck was just turning to go when I raised my bow, drew and shot. Although I didn’t see the arrow hit, the shot felt good.” Wendell found the big nine pointer laying dead just 150 yards away.

“There’s no doubt that poor marksmanship is the number-one reason most hunters fail to bring home a buck,” Wendell stated. “And that goes for gun hunters as well as bowhunters. It’s hard to believe, but people will neglect to fire their weapons until the day before season. If it hits somewhere close to where they’re pointing, they figure that’s good enough.”

The “Feeling”
There’s another negative associated with being an instant hunter. Simply put, you’re not going to have that unexplainable “feel” that’s so important in this sport. As I’ve learned after many years of first-hand dealings with it, this “feel” often is all you have to go on when doing things like selecting stand sites or rating the potential of a given area. Many times, I’ve placed a stand in a certain spot or had confidence in an area simply because it “felt”right. By the way, you can’t pass this “feel”on to others. You acquire it purely from spending time in the outdoors.

Personally, I spend an enormous amount of time in the woods throughout the entire year. Even at that, though, I still spend the first couple weeks of the season trying to get into the flow of things. I can’t imagine how someone who spends virtually no time in the woods must feel.

Make The Most Of Your Time

Most bowhunters are afforded only a limited amount of time to hunt each year. Just about all of the bowhunters from my neck of the woods fall into this category.

Amazingly, as precious as this time has got to be, darn few bowhunters I know use it the way they should. These individuals spend a few hours hunting in the morning and a couple of hours hunting in the evening. That’s it! What’s even more unbelievable is that they don’t spend the hours in between doing anything to increas their chances for some big buck success. They don’t study topo maps, they don’t scout and they don’t talk to other bowhunters.

If your hunting time is limited, doesn’t it make sense that you should spend as much of that time as possible in the woods? I realize that your chances of arrowing a buck during the mid-day hours aren’t as good as they are early in the morning or late in the afternoon. But that doesn’t mean you should never hunt at this time of day.

Also, if you’re spending the middle part of the day sitting in front of the T.V. or taking a nap, then you’re doing nothing to improve your chances on future hunts. As I stated earlier in this article, achieving an enviable level of big buck success means paying some hefty dues. None of the highly successful bowhunters I know got where they are by watching T.V. or taking naps. Like me, these individuals are constantly scouting and striving to learn more about their quarry.

Develop The Proper Attitude

Finally, one of the biggest reasons that a lot of bowhunters fail in their efforts is because they go into the woods with the wrong attitude. Killing a big buck has somehow become more important to them than the quality of the hunt. Granted, we’re all out there for the same reason, However, some bowhunters want so desperately to kill a big buck so badly that when the opportunity finally presents itself, they blow it.

The key to lifting this burden from your shoulders is to remember that it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t connect. Even the best deer hunters suffer through seasons when they don’t tag an animal.

I figured this was a once of, or at most very rare occasion, but after searching a bit on the Internet we found a bunch of cases of bird-eating deer.

Deer have also been known to eat mice and there have been more than a few sightings of deer eating off carcasses.

It’s not breaking news, but we found the following video pretty interesting and hope you do too.

Craig Belknap, 24 year old graduate student in the agricultural field at Iowa State University hadn’t ever taken a buck with his bow until this past season. However he got it right the first time when he shot a 20 point non-typical.

Native to Des Moines County, he hunts near the family farm where small wood lots, draws and big timber are most common. Craig’s stand was placed strategically in a big elm tree along a fenceline bordering a 100 acres of timber. Deer droppings, tracks, small rubs and scrapes revealed a fenceline crossing they used to a corn and bean field to feed.

On October 16th, he made his second trip back home for a weekend of hunting. Craig recalls, “The skies were cloudy that morning and it rained most of the night. Nevertheless, I cut across the muddy bean field to my stand. The battleship gray colored sky didn’t give way to first light until around 7:15 and I was beginning to wonder why I’d ever left the comfort of my bed. Only minutes later all my thoughts changed when I glanced down the fenceline and spotted a large drop tine buck a mere 50 yards away.”

“As he relaxed and started walking my way, I rose slowly and readied an arrow. Approaching my 20-yard shooting lane, I drew and steadied the pin and triggered the release. The 125-grain Pro-Series Thunderhead penetrated both lungs, causing the buck to dash 150 yards before stopping. Disoriented, the buck stumbled back my way. Ready with a second arrow if needed, he fell only 50 yards away. I was relieved and ecstatic to see the buck go down and not require a second shot.”

Greg Andrews

Greg Andrews of Corning, Iowa shot this massive 20 point non-typical buck on November 28, 1998 in Adams County. The typical 5x5 frame nets 176 1/8\

He knew of one small 60-acre plot that harbored good bucks in the past, but still hadn’t hunted it. The narrow gnarly ridge consisting primarily of thorny honey locust trees had a sparse scattering of hardwoods and cedar. In addition, the ridge runs parallel to a creek bottom with a mix of small saplings, hedge and dense buck brush. The landowner had spotted a big buck on more than one occasion entering a standing cornfield nearby. The corn came out only a week prior and Greg figured the bucks had been holding up in the cornfield, which explains why the deer sightings picked up shortly thereafter.

Greg explains, ” I have three stands setup based on the main travel paths to and from the primary food source. One on both the north and south ends of the ridge and one about dead center along the edge of the timber near the creek. I made plans to hunt the center stand first because there’s always an active scrape line along the timber.”

“When you consider the tricky winds in the bottom, it isn’t always possible to hunt the stand. On the Friday morning after Thanksgiving, the winds prevailed out of the west, which was ideal for the north treestand. I hadn’t seen any deer that morning, but minutes before climbing down I could hear what sounded like a sparring match between two big bucks in the bottom.”

“Before first light the following morning, I made my way toward the middle stand toting a set of rattling antlers and a grunt call, using a thick blanket of fog to camouflage my approach. Shortly after sunrise I rattled for about 30 seconds, but didn’t get a response,” said Greg.

“However, almost immediately after the second sequence, I spotted a big buck running across the bottom from the south. Things were happening so fast, I barely had time to hang up the antlers and grab my bow. The buck came to a halt on the opposite side of the creek, white puffs of steam shot from his flared nostrils as he scanned the area for the intruder. It wasn’t until that moment did I realize just how big the buck truly was. As the non-typical stepped into the 10 yard shooting lane, I released the string. Upon impact the big buck barrel raced through the timber for only 50 yards before the woods fell silent.”

Merle Allen

Merle Allen, a 44-year old Project Manager for a local general contractor in Norwalk, Iowa spotted a large non-typical for the first time in early November while hunting in Madison, County. Merle and his brother, Bud hunt several tracts of land consisting of primarily agricultural crops and a few scattered wood lots, hedgerows, and brushy draws leading to surrounding big timber. Merle relates that he concentrates most his efforts on hunting the outer fringes of small wood lots, funnels and draws during the season and seldom hunts big timber.

Bud was actually the first to spot the buck on his way to work the week before. He studied the big buck through a spotting scope standing in a bean field with a doe he suspected was in estrous. Bud called Merle at work that morning excited, suggesting that he better get out and hunt while the buck was still in the area trolling for hot does.

Merle recalls, “The following morning I hunted a stand near the river bottom on a sidehill where the does were known to bed during mid-day. Even though the hillside is nearly a mile away from where Bud glassed the buck, I was gambling it would be the most likely travel route the buck would take to the doe bedding area.”

“Shortly after daybreak a group of does cut across the hillside, but a lone doe with a nice buck hung back in the thick brush. It wasn’t until they meandered within 40 yards did I realize it was the same buck seen by my brother. Unfortunately, they continued to linger in the thick stuff before heading back the same way they came,” explained Merle.

“The following morning I hunted the same stand, but hadn’t seen or heard anything until around 10:30, when the sound of a dog barking in the distance caught my attention. Not long after the big buck busted out of the bottom, crossing in the same place as the previous morning. I’d now watched the buck cross in the same place two days in a row and felt fairly confident I stood a good chance of getting a crack at the buck if I only setup near his escape route. I hung a new stand there but the wind was never favorable.”

“Therefore, I decided to hunt a small 25-acre woods on the opposite side of the road that’s proved productive in the past. I like to refer to this place as a “loafing area” where the deer congregated in the mornings before heading to a bedding area nearby. I moved in quietly and setup a stand for the following morning.”

On Sunday, the 15th of November I found my way to the stand at first light. A few does meandered through early, and then I caught a glimpse of big antlers further back in the brush. Although I couldn’t see the buck entirely, as he turned his head sideways, I was able to confirm he was definitely a thumper. Pulling out a grunt call, I grunted softly, hoping to draw the big buck into the open. The does had now moved directly in front of the stand, milling around in a small clear-cut. Nothing happened right away, so I grunted again. Only a short time later the buck started working through a wooly thicket heading in my direction. As he continued to close the gap, I stood with an arrow ready. Not wanting to get hung up staring at the antlers, I only concentrated on making the shot.”

Shane Helmich of Dickens, Iowa arrowed this dandy 14 point buck on the 27th of November in Clay County. The 12 normal points and a 17\

Shane Helmich
Shane Helmich, a 28 year old Electrical Field Technician from Dickens, Iowa has only been bowhunting 4 years. Nevertheless, he managed to shoot one of the bigger non- typical bucks of the 1998 season. The first time he spotted the 14 point was November 20th. Hunting mostly river bottom ground, Helmich sticks mainly to a public hunting area near the Little Sioux River in Clay County. The small tract of timber is only 50 to 100 yards wide at most points, but stretches over a mile in length. It’s only a small part of the 600 acres of grass fields, narrow bands of timber, small wood lots and coulees.

Shane’s wife, Patricia is not only his devoted hunting partner, but also became his eyes and ears this past season after shooting her buck in early November. On one occasion she spotted two big 10 pointers that led Shane to the woods where he had his first encounter with the large 14 point.

Shane recalled, “I slipped into the small 50 acre wood lot with a decoy late one afternoon. A half-hour after wedging a crotch board in a tree, a big non-typical sporting a drop tine appeared 70 yards away. I grunted softly bringing the buck within twenty yards, but when the bruiser spotted the decoy he spooked and left without offering a shot. Hoping for a second chance, I hunted the same area two more days, but my efforts were fruitless.”

“Later that week, Patricia called me at work and reported spotting two more big bucks in a bean field about a half mile away chasing does. I didn’t waste time getting to the area and approached carefully from the downwind side toward an inside corner of the bean field.”

“Reaching the corner I climbed into a ancient oak tree and stood on a branch 8 feet off the ground. Shortly thereafter, the big 14 point started working down the fenceline pursuing an obvious hot doe. About 4:15 the buck made a beeline toward my perch 150 yards away chasing the doe, closing the gap rather quickly. With an arrow knocked and ready, the buck stopped momentarily at 35 yards. Steadying the pin, a speeding arrow from my Martin Scepter hit the buck squarely behind the shoulder. After a short sprint for dear life, the buck dropped within eyesight.”

However, entering a buck or a doe’s bedding area can still get you a crack at a racked buck if you play your cards right. You just have to think about it a bit, and then time your entry. You see, it is not IF you should sneak into a deer’s bedroom–but WHEN. Let me explain.

By late summer a buck often has several bedding options open to him. His choice to bed in the planted pine plantation on the side hill on any given day may depend for example on wind direction, food supply or the absence of the neighbor’s barking dog. He may bed there two or three days in a row, and then bed down by the creek to get out of the wind for a couple of days before taking refuge in the uncut corn lot. You put a full court press on him early in the season, and he will definitely abandon any one of these bedding areas until he is sure it is safe for him to return.

However once the rut kicks in, he will abandon each of these sites for progressively longer periods of time, whether he feels safe there or not, to search for estrous does. And when he hooks up with a hot doe he will stay with her for a day or two, feeding where she feeds and bedding where she beds until she is ready to be bred. Then he will strike out in search of another willing female.

You have a window then of seven to 10 days before breeding actually takes place to sneak in and around a buck’s bedding area with relative impunity. And if you have not yet had a shot at him, or can pin-point his pre- rut travel entrance/exit routes through scrape lines and rub lines, then maybe this is the time you put conventional wisdom aside.

I was thrilled the first time I caught a trophy buck bedded down. He was indeed safe, but alert and ready to spring at the first hint of danger. I watched in awe until the buck casually looked over in my direction, did a double take (I was kneeling getting ready to shoot less than 30 yards away), and then disappeared over a nearby knoll snorting loud enough to wake the spirits!

Bucks like to bed down in heavy cover - often you'll find them sleeping right on the border of heavy cover and an escape route. Photo By Bill Vaznis

Pick a day when the weather is in your favor. A blustery morning for example will quickly disperse your airborne scent to the four winds, and help mask any unwanted noise. During or soon after a soaking rain however is my favorite because it reduces to near zero the likelihood I’ll snap any dry twigs.
Know how a buck beds. A single buck for example generally prefers to bed on the highest ridges facing downhill with the wind to his back. Nearby escape cover in the form of uneven terrain or thick brush is almost always present. This scenario allows him to see danger from below, smell danger from behind, and hear any approach through the thick stuff. All it takes is one leap, and he is gone.
Thus, you do not want to approach a suspected bedding area from below or anywhere where visibility is good. As for the wind, sneaking CROSSWIND along the edges of ravines, hollows and thick cover will offer you your best chances of blind-siding a resting buck.

The buck I mentioned above for example was bedded on the edge of a mountain laurel thicket where a quiet approach from behind was nearly impossible. The wind was to his back, and he could see downhill quite a ways. I caught him resting by keeping the wind to one side of my face.

Learn to look for a bedded buck, not one standing behind a blow down! They are much more difficult to see in this position, but one feature always stands out—the rack! A buck will turn his head at the slightest noise, and it is his set of antlers that you will initially see moving around especially if it is white or contrasts sharply with nearby cover.
Although a mature buck usually beds alone, he may have company. If you spot a bedded buck, this other set of eyes my foil any further approach.

Finally, once you see bucks up and about during the middle of the day, invading a doe’s preferred bedding site is a good strategy to consider. However, if you want to catch a love-sick buck in his bed, one that is throwing caution to the wind, try still-hunting those high places down wind of the doe’s bedding area. This is where a resting buck can use his nose AND his eyes in his search for a doe in heat! I once caught seven or eight bucks in such an area already with a hot doe, and arrowed a 180-pound eight pointer right where he lay!

Check out this cool video of a big buck bedded down.

A M.A.D. Planner

Tools of the deer-hunting trade; a topographical map, compass, grunt tube, arrows with razor-sharp heads...and a bow, too!

“Mark,” I said, “Mark Drury. What are you doing here?”

“Tad and I are up here bow hunting for a week. What about you?” he replied. “Carol and I are doing the same thing,” I remarked. “We’ll talk to you sometime this week.”

As most of you know, Mark Drury founded M.A.D. calls and has produced outstanding hunting videos for several years. His deer videos have captured on film his crew taking many outstanding bucks, all in the wild. Everything I had seen regarding Mark up to this point had been positive, but I’m always wondering exactly what kind of a hunter a guy really is. Does he take big deer because his hunting locations are so great he has to shoo bucks out of the way as he goes to stand, or does he succeed through sound hunting methods and persistence.

An excellent hunter. I found that out real quick when we visited with he and Tad that night. Mark had been hunting this area for a few years, and had his stands set well ahead of time. Each stand site was numbered, the location was duly noted, and what wind direction would be required to hunt each stand was also recorded. Every detail of their hunts was planned out well in advance–and more importantly, adhered to. It didn’t surprise me to see them fill their tags with nice bucks fairly quickly.

Carol and I, meanwhile, had our opportunities. She missed a great non- typical which would have scored in the 180s. I passed good bucks, but never had a crack at anything top end. We did this despite the fact we had never been to the region before. We had to obtain permission to hunt, then quick decisions as to stand placement had to be made. Still, we did have a plan we followed, and so should you every year.

Locate an inside corner in your land's terrain and you can bet the family farm that deer will use that point for heavy travel.

Seven-Phase Attack Plan
1. First of all, you must recognize your strengths, especially in the time of year to hunt. If you have been bow hunting very long, this should be fairly easy. My strength lies in rut hunting more so than in early season or late season deer hunting. Because of this, I plan my time off to fall near or in the rut. If you’re better at late season hunting, be sure to plan your vacations then. And always remember almost all of us, regardless of our vocation, have limited time we can take off. It may be a few days, a week, or two weeks, but rarely longer than this.

Because of the limited amount of days most of us have off, it is critical to take them at the right time. I know tremendous numbers of hunters here in Indiana who take a couple of their vacation days on October 1st when our bow season comes in. “I just couldn’t wait. I had to get out there!” is their common statement. Most don’t even see deer because of the heavy foliage. They would have been far better off to wait until the rut to hunt, when deer are moving better and visibility is great. Of course this takes patience, a trait you can definitely develop.

2. Determine where you are going to hunt. If you want a high scoring whitetail, this may mean going out of state. That’s why we and Mark Drury and Tad were in Iowa–big deer. If you hunt locally, it’s still important to list–on paper or in your computer– every place you might possibly hunt.

3. Obtain plat, topographical and aerial maps of every place you have listed where you might hunt. This is what Carol and I did before we went to Iowa. This enabled us to find landowners so we could obtain permission to hunt, and to then key in on hot terrain features quickly with the topo maps.

When the wind is right, set up at the base of a hilltop funnel. Bucks will chase does and travel in these areas regularly.

5. List the wind direction(s) you need to effectively hunt each stand site. You can do this by standing at the stand site with a compass in your hand, or you can even do it by placing a compass on your aerial or topographical map and determining the wind directions most desirable. And since all of you are reading this on a computer, I’ll share a neat little trick I discovered.

If you buy a topographical map on a CD, such as from Maptech, there is a route marker setting on the map. By clicking on the topographical map at the place where you want to place your stand, you then can move the route setting arrow around and you can determine the best wind directions using this method. It sounds harder to do than it really is.

6. Determine the best entry and exist routes to your stand. This is tremendously important. You want to disturb the whitetails in the region as little as possible. For example, Carol and I almost always go to our stands just before daylight, at daylight, or even a little later. This surprises many hunters. “You have to be there early,” they say. Not really. Our best entry to many of our stands is through fields where deer feed. It’s foolish to walk through deer to get to stand. It’s much better to wait until the whitetails clear the fields, then ease into the stand site.

There are exceptions to this, of course, such as getting to a deep saddle in the hills before the deer arrive there. Even then, however, arriving late doesn’t hurt you on a morning hunt. Over 70% of the trophy deer we kill are taken between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. This brings me to the next point.

7. Determine how long you are going to stay on stand. If you only have two hours to hunt in the morning or evening, there’s no major decision here. If, on the other hand, you have all day to hunt, then you need to determine how long to stay. This decision most often will be determined by the time of year. During the late pre-rut, rut and post-rut, boomer bucks can be moving at any hour. We do make some draining all day hunts, although most often we hunt from daylight until 1:00 p.m. then from 3:00 p.m. until dark. This gives us a little break. The best three hours of the day for us, as previously mentioned, is 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Again, this is where making a game plan and sticking to it will really increase your success rates. By saying you are going to hunt until 1:00 p.m. no matter what, you have made a commitment to stay there. Even if you don’t have confidence deer will move at noon, by trying this time a few days, you will see it happen, maybe even take out a bruiser. This builds both confidence and patience, important ingredients in the successful trophy hunting recipe.

Putting It All Together
Once all this information is recorded, make sure you hunt the stand locations offering the highest odds of success. Don’t hunt with the wrong wind, thinking you will “get lucky”. You will ruin all your days of preparation if you do. Yes, this may mean you will spend time setting in secondary stands feeling sorry for yourself some days. Despite this, doing so is a breakthrough. You are on the road to being an outstanding deer hunter, and you will be rewarded.

To show how a plan can work, I’ll share a typical hunt I made. The day was November 7, 1998. The late pre-rut. Getting out of bed at 5:15 a.m. I checked the wind direction with my weather radio–southeast. Going to my list of stands I could hunt with a southeast wind, I found three. I knew a good buck was using the Bench Funnel Stand area, so decided to hunt there. I planned to stay until 1:00 p.m.

After driving for forty five minutes, I arrived at my hunting spot. Once again I checked my weather radio. The weather direction was holding. If the wind direction predictions had changed, I would have gone elsewhere. I waited until it was breaking light before I walked about three fourths of a mile through the middle of a picked soybean field. Finally reaching the stand location (the tree stand was already in place), I crossed a small pasture and eased into my stand. I had to cross a major deer trail to do this, something I detest. There was no other way

By 9:30 a.m. the sunny day had warmed the temperature into the low 50s. I had not seen a deer. Then the woods came alive. A yearling buck was chasing a doe; a 2 1/2 year old buck was chasing a doe; then silence. Time passed. Was it over?

Not even close. At 11:45 a.m. I took out a 150 gross 12-point who was out taking a midday stroll. Incidentally, the wind was perfect, still being from the southeast, the only wind direction I could hunt this stand with that day. It’s a good thing, the buck stood only 10 yards away when I released the arrow.

Yes, if you’re the man (or gal) with the plan, you are going to find yourself tagging deer much more frequently. Learn all you can about tactical hunting in this magazine (use the archives), then map out your game plan as described. Then remain true to your plan. Be patient; be smart; be persistent; be confident; be successful!!!

Someone may have led you to believe that the key to shooting a decent buck in the early season is just a matter of trekking across as much prime real-estate as possible. Sure, on occasion a hunter gets lucky and tags a good deer the first week of the season, but for the majority of others this tactical approach results in something closer to a crap shoot. To consistently pattern an old timber warrior before the season opener, there’s much more planning, scouting and research required beforehand. Let’s take a look at a few early season tactics that have worked not only for myself, but many others as well in the past.

Gain Access Early

In the early years, gaining access to bowhunting real estate was certainly much easier than it is now. It wasn’t uncommon to have several pieces of ground sowed up within a couple of days going from door to door. Unfortunately, as people with big money enter the picture, the days of finding a place to hunt through a friend-of-a friend are slowly approaching an end.

You can bet if you’ve been watching a buck that’s highly visible, some other hunter is working on it too! Personally, I never stop working on keeping the areas I have and looking for new ground. This might entail stopping by on occasion to shoot the bull with the landowner, or possibly offering a portion of the game you’ve taken. Believe me when I say, it’s a small price to pay.

Zero In On Key Food Sources

High in protein, the soy bean is one of the whitetail’s favorite early season foods.

Of all the cash crops, soybeans have been at the top of my list for years. I’ve known a whitetail enthusiast from Illinois for a few years now that normally needs to re- plant a particular food plot twice each year. Hunters would be well advised to take advantage of beans from the get go.

It’s best to look for deer goodies in small concentrations, which makes it much easier to narrow down a buck’s feeding pattern. Deer are opportunists and if you’re banking on a food with a short shelf life and haven’t taken the buck before it’s exhausted, chances are the opportunity will never be presented!

A good example of concentrated foods might be small stands of acorn bearing hardwoods. It’s been my experience that white and red oaks are especially great choices, however, this doesn’t mean that deer won’t feed on pin oak, burr oak, swamp oak, shingle oak or shin oak. It’s simply implies that red and white oak nuts are most commonly found in the areas where I hunt in the Mid-west.

A few years ago while scouting in Illinois, I discovered a small grove of persimmons consisting of about a dozen trees, of which only half were bearing fruit. Setting up in the grove the first evening of my hunt in November, I arrowed a nice buck just two hours later. Although I’ve never found persimmons anywhere in my home state of Iowa, you can bet when traveling to the southern states where they are more common this fall, I’ll be looking for the sweet treat.

Element of Surprise

Aerial photos and topographical maps can be used year a round for mapping out all the pertinent information such as, bedding, trails, rublines and scrapes in your hunting area.

“One sighting of a buck may not warrant moving in with a stand, but two or more should!”

There are a couple of ways to maintain the element of surprise with little or no impact on the deer herd. As mentioned, glassing from nearby roadways has been the normal practice for many, while others choose to setup with spotting scopes much like the tactic used in western hunts for elk and mule deer. Although I often use these same approaches to scouting, observation stands setup around the outside perimeter of the hunting area has been a personal favorite.

As I sit back and look at my nearly 30 years of bowhunting experience, a good percentage of the big deer I’ve taken were a direct result of spotting the buck from another stand first and then moving in for the kill. This tactic is often referred to as “working from the outside in.” Nevertheless, the whole object of this tactic is to first observe all deer movement to determine where their entrance/exit routes and bedding areas are. In doing so, you’ll be able to determine the best ambush point with the least amount of risk involved and the best odds of tagging the buck. One sighting of a buck may not warrant moving in with a stand, but two or more should!

Hunting Pressure

Although the majority of hunters consider the rut the most productive time to sit on stand, it doesn’t necessarily mean their odds of bagging a buck are the greatest. Because hunting pressure is normally at an all time high, coupled with unpredictable travel patterns, bucks can be here today and gone tomorrow. Obviously, if there are fewer hunters in the woods during the pre-rut, it’s self-explanatory why your odds of bagging a buck on a routine travel route will never be greater. Let me explain why.

First, bucks are most patternable during a time frame that I like to call the early “pre-rut ramp-up,” which runs up to about a week prior to peak rut activity. If left undisturbed, most are quite comfortable in their core area during the first month or so of the season, therefore actively making scrapes and rubs that help us identify their whereabouts. Another advantage of hunting this ramp up period involves bachelor bucks. Because some bucks are still traveling together, chances are the rub lines and scrapes you find were made by a group of deer and not a loner. This alone has proven time and time again the deadliness of hunting rub lines and bed to feed travel routes during the early season. Unfortunately, all too often after the first phase of hunter’s trek across the sacred ground, the bucks are scattered to parts unknown.

Secondly, with each passing day moving closer to the madness of the rut, priorities change from feeding to locating a harem of does. Because of this transition, feeding and travel patterns become the least predictable of any other time of the season. There’s simply no rhyme or reason to there travel patterns and in some cases bucks leave their core area haunts for long periods of time searching for hot does.

Many bucks are pushed into nocturnal seclusion, feeding only during the twilight hours. This probably explains why some hunters complain that they were seeing a lot of deer during the early season and as the rut approaches, they seem to evaporate. If you’re going to be an early season hunter, then you need to focus your efforts on early season strategies that put you in the transition routes early on!

Play The Wind Game
Some hunters never consider the wind when setting up stands and consequently void the element of surprise their first time out. When hunting from stands without considering the wind, you’ll always run the risk of pushing deer out of the area. I’ve come to understand over the many years that knowing how to play the wind game should be an essential part of any hunter’s strategy. During the warmest part of the season winds can be so unpredictable, even the most experienced hunters can mess up a good ambush site. Certainly most have experienced hunting fickle winds such as thermal eddy currents and what I call, “back drafts” created by some barrier or break line in the terrain.

For example, a few years ago my son and I were hunting the smaller ridges of a narrow draw that paralleled two higher ridges on both sides. The problem wasn’t identified until the first day we sat in our stands and It cost one us an opportunity at tagging a big 10 point spotted the week before.

As the southwest winds blew across the north/south ridge, I noticed on occasion a warm thermal back draft coming back up the ridge. At the time I didn’t think much about it until the buck unexpectedly came down the ridge rather than up as we expected. Obviously, the old warrior had used the back draft to his advantage before, because just short of shooting range another blast hit me in the face and the big buck vaporized. In this case, the back draft was created by the wind rolling off the encompassing higher ridge.

Mapping Your Area
Here’s a tip for those of you who want keep track of your stand sites and the type of winds you might expect or experience in various terrain features. Aerial photographs and topographical maps can help you keep track of the four polar coordinates and what the winds might do before leaving your front door. Mark your potential stand site locations on the map during post-scouting and pre-scouting, but pay close attention to the rise and fall in elevations. In doing so, you can sometimes predict what the wind will do under certain conditions. The key to success here will be hunting the stands only when the wind conditions are perfect.

Furthermore, position your stands in such a way that you’re able to cover nearly any wind condition that might crop up. This may entail having as many as 5 or 6 strategically placed on the same piece of ground, but your odds of getting busted are reduced considerably.

Conclusions

Whether you’re hunting the early season or not, maintaining the element of surprise should be the most important detail of your plan of attack. Since deer feeding patterns are by far the easiest to undermine, concentrate your long distance scouting and observation stands near primary food sources. Always remember, don’t get hung-up on a single food source that you may have read about that worked for someone else. Continue scouting throughout the season and keep your eyes open for new sign of a feeding frenzy. Chances are within a few days of observation, you’ll be able to locate that hot stand site that will lend way to tagging a buck. As the pre-rut ramps closer to the final days before the peak rut, change your strategy to hunting doe transition routes from bed to feed. I’m confident that if you follow these simple early season rules, you’ll be tagging a buck too! Good luck and happy hunting!

Gain The First Light Advantage!!
Interestingly, most hunters find it increasingly difficult slipping into stands as the season wears on. By early November deer have become educated and probably know your every move. Although getting to a stand is normally easier in the evening, the morning hunts can be a nightmare.
The main reason why success rates are lower during the first two hours of the morning than the last two hours of the evening is because deer are still feeding when we try to approach our stands. A good tip here is to wait until first gray light when deer move off the fields. In many cases you’ll be able to spot deer feeding and make a plan to slip around them unnoticed. You may have to take the long way around or possibly choose another approach route, but your chances are still better than blundering across open fields or noisy timber in the dark.

If you’re previous observation revealed a buck feeding in the same area in the evenings as morning, it might be best to abandon morning hunts and stick to the evenings. Slipping into stands in the evening has proven much easier, since deer normally haven’t reached the feeding area yet.

On the other hand, times occur when even experienced deer hunters can’t put time in the woods and must make do- for instance, when hunting new areas. Recently, I was faced with just such a situation during a hunt at Bent Creek Lodge in Jaclyn, Alabama, part of the famed Black Belt region. Hunting conditions were at their absolute worst, with sweltering heat and rain. At night, when things cleared up and cooled down, a brilliant full moon allowed deer to feed. the nocturnal feeding coupled with lethargic daytime deer movement made filling even a doe tag a challenge.

Scouting to the Rescue

Outwitting a trophy whitetail takes knowledge of its habits. Extensive scouting is best, but in emergency conditions, even brief scouting can give you the edge.

“A bowhunter with only two days to hunt should spend the first one scouting,” says Mississippi archer Jerry White, a man with more than 40 whitetails to his credit. Jerry and Eddie Salter, the World Champion turkey caller, were videotaping the Bent Creek hunt and shared their lifelong outdoor experiences.

“We hunt deer through their stomach, literally,” said Salter, summarizing the duo’s shared approach. “I walk through the woods and try to find deer droppings. Especially in the South, deer will pick one tree and every deer around will seem to feed under it.”

Hardwood Strategies
In the hardwood forests, acorns are the principal food of deer. Salter added, “An old timer once told me ‘Son, if you are walking through the woods and see a deer run, you need to go there immediately to see what that deer was doing’.

When Salter bumped four deer while scouting, he moved directly to the spot. “We found 20 piles of dropping around one tree, the best thing we found all day,” he said.

The “scout where you see them” technique is a good idea, but a person must closely examine what he finds. White and Salter looked for dropping, and although not exactly dinner conversation, they do wind up with a lot of information from their research.

What to Look For

“The color of the dung is important as well as the size of the pellets. Fresh dropping will have a shiny, slick-green appearance and will tell you whether deer have been feeding in the morning, afternoon, or intermittently. A really good acorn tree will have numerous piles of droppings at varying stages of decay, showing that multiple deer have been feeding over a period of time. Large deer make larger pellets and big ones are a sign of a mature doe or buck,” said Salter.

“Sometimes the dropping will lead you to that one place where the deer are bedding and feeding. If you are not finding droppings, you are wasting your time. I think a deer is a lot like a human going through a buffet line. They may take a little of this and a little of that, but an acorn is like a good meal. Once they find an acorn feast, they stay there and feed heartily. As a result their droppings will be in piles rather than strung out as they walk. Acorns won’t bloat a deer’s stomach like corn. They are really high in protein and a deer’s system has adapted to make the most if it,” White said.

Holding Area Hot Spots

The author poses with a good buck, taken at a food source.

Bowhunter Bob Dixon, Vice president of Mossy Oak and Larry Norton, two time World Champion turkey caller and guide at Bent Creek follows a similar strategy. Dixon is an enthusiastic bowhunter while Norton spends hundred of hours scouting the large tract to help hunters score.

“Bent Creek is so big that there are parts of it I’ve never seen,” said Norton, “but during the bow season, we look for food sources- primarily acorns. We look for white oaks and chestnuts oaks. Generally, the chestnut oak acorns drop later, but once they start to fall, deer will visit trees constantly. Chestnut oaks are often called cow acorns because they are so big. Deer really love them.”

Like White and Salter, Dixon and Norton had one day to scout and walked fast and furiously to find that one good tree. “It will have lots of droppings, both fresh and a day or two old, acorn caps, and crushed hulls (the part the deer don’t eat), and lots of acorns on the ground, “said Norton.

In an oak forest, it may seem fruitless to search out one tree, but Norton explains, “Even though there are lots of oaks, deer will show a preference for one tree. Even if three are several white oaks dropping at the same time, one may have sweeter acorns than the others. There may be only one such tree in a square mile, but once found, it will look like hogs have been in there.”

Narrowing the Search

Rather than hunting an edge of a field, these experts recommend backing into a staging area, probably where acorns are available.

When Dixon and Norton come upon a well-used trail, they split up and each follows the sign in opposite directions to get a better picture of the deer movement patterns. They also recommend backing off 200 yards from a food source to a “holding place” especially if some good acorn producing oak trees are there.

“Another advantage of holding areas is that deer are more relaxed and you may be able to get closer and better shots,” Norton says. “Once they step into an open field, all of their sense are on high.”

Ready for the Rut
Early and mid fall hunters will have great success hunting oak trees, but what about when the rut begins. Shouldn’t we then be looking for scrapes, rubs and buck sign? This certainly seems a logical assumption, yet Norton disagrees.

“The bottom line is you find the girls,” he said with a grin. “When the rut starts, I go back to the places where I saw lots of deer earlier in the year. The does generally stay in the same place. They still have food on their minds even though the bucks don’t and they’ll probably be feeding on late acorns. In fact, throughout the deer season we look for acorns. You will often find a tree that drops late (in the bottoms for example) or had too many acorns to be eaten. When white oaks are down and cleaned up, you will find deer on water oaks and pin oaks.”

With just one day to scout, hunters often focus on places where they can cover a lot of ground. Logging roads, for example, often have soft soil that will show the direction of deer travel and other valuable information. Large and small tracks together often are does and fawns, while a large singular track is likely a good buck. Norton scouts this way in February when all of last year’s sign is evident, especially entrance trails to food plots and fields. “Most people hunt the most worn trails, but I think this is a mistake if the hunter wants a buck. There are doe trails and buck trails. A real heavy trails is tempting, but with a little more research, you may find a secondary trail with lots of buck sign. Once you find the buck trails, you’ll find the buck.”

A topo or aerial photo map will allow you to plan approaches to good areas by learning the prevailing winds. You must pay close attention to the wind. “If I locate a big buck, I never hunt it until the wind is absolutely right,” said Norton. “These animals have grown old by using their nose and they don’t make many mistakes.

Scouting Pays Off

The best recon missions will involve long-range, low-impact scouting.

Scouting is best accomplished throughout the year, however, if you time is limited, make the most of even a single day. Look for trail traffic, funnels, rubs, and scrapes. Remember, food sources will work throughout the year. Find the hot oak tree and you’ll find the “girls”. Once accomplished the big bucks won’t be far behind.

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I have come to the conclusion that I just don’t have the touch or patience to ever become a world class big buck killer. Now don’t misinterpret that to mean I am giving up on trying to figure the beasts out. And I sure as hell aint buying chicken. Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut, arid I have luckily bumbled into a few monsters over the years. However, I have had the privilege to get to know some of the world’s truly master deerhunters, and I’m a different animal. The names Claude Pollington, Myles Keller, Fred Bear, Bob Foulkrod, Wayne Peeples, Bob Fratzke, Bill Winke, Bruce Cull, Ben Lee and Mitch Rompalla are just a few that immediately come to mind. Some I know intimately and have come to call close personal friends. Others I know casually from encounters at sporter events, and some just through their writings and public information. They are, however all considered BloodBrothers of the Great Spirit. But, to the man, I do know this-, they are not MotorCity MadMen, that’s for sure! They are easy going, low key, quiet, thinking men, with a passion and natural touch with the wild. I’m just too dadblamed uppity! But at 50, I’m getting closer to a more pure predator function. They are all dedicated to knowing the mystery that is the whitetail deer and its wild horneground. And just as importantly, they are expert marksmen. They live the life of deermen, through and through. You and I have much we can learn from these gentlemen.

Master Secrets
The pros know it: The most important aspect of bowhunting is eliminating the whitetails main line of defense…their nose.
Use scent-free clothing
Use cover scents
Use attractants.

With the recent taking of what is expected to become the new world record whitetail deer, Mitch Rompolla of the Traverse City, Michigan, area, may very well be the perfect example of master deernut. With full-time to apply to his love of deerhunting, at 50 and retired, this whitetail wizard , back in 1958, took one of the first bowkilled whitetails in his then homestate of Missouri at the tender age of nine, thoroughly confounding the local conservation officers in that early day of bohunting. He has lived in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan for many years now, and manages to defy overwhelming odds, tagging a Midwest giant, record book animal nearly every year afield with bow and arrow. To accomplish that with such consistency is truly uncanny. He lives it.

After speaking with three of the greatest; Bob Fratzke, creator of the respected Winona Wool Camo clothing in Minnesota, Bruce Cull of Dakota Archery and Sports in Yankton, SD, and superman Myles Keller, also of MN, I have come to discover a relatively simple technique that keeps resurfacing over and over again and again in their hunting style. It’s called “scent posting”. Now, putting out commercial deer scents is no secret and surely nothing new BUT, doing it year round is a bit off the beaten path. Using the Manton, Michigan made HAWG synthetic scent product, Mitch Rompolla says he started his artificial scrape In February of 1998 in preparation for his November encounter with the 38-inch, 12-point giant. ThatÕs a full ten months before any rutting activity really gets cracking. And Bob Fratzke, who nails a trophy beast every year in heavily pressured Minnesota, runs his scent line throughout the entire year. These master deermen swear by it and have the heads and stories to corroborate their claims. Meanwhile, I have seen it with my own two eyes on swamp Nuge.

“I play the wind to its fullest, de-scent and cover scent everything, and of course wear my all rubber boots.”

I use Buck Stop products, made right here in Stanton, Michigan, and have had good success with them for manv vears, bringing in good bucks and does for me consistently. Combined with attractant scents, I would never fail to use cover scents as well to help increase the odds my way. We always hear that it is impossible to fool a deer’s nose, but between aggressive personal hygiene, cautious de-scenting of our clothing and equipment, the awesome Scent-Loc outfits, plus the incredible rise in commercial scent products availablewe could very well be on our way to getting close. Time all this with the wildness of the rutting season and we just may have a crack at the kevlar defense shield of his majesty the mature whitetail dominant buck. . .Maybe.

Applying The Strategy
I begin with intense scoutin. I take ultra precautions to avoid alerting the deer of the area to my presence, especially since I am penetrating the nastiest hellhole I can possibly discover in my chosen huntzone. This no-man’s land is where Kahuna Boy will be. I play the wind to its fullest, de-scent and cover scent everything, and of course wear my all rubber boots. I enter the sacred huntgrounds as if I am actually hunting, immediately after the season when fresh sign is at its most obvious. Here in Michigan, the usual snow is a Godsend. Finding the most remote scrape I can find, that includes reasonable ambush potential. I clear the scrape with a childÕs small bamboo rake, doubling the overall size- Be very careful not to touch anything that could leave even the faintest of human scent. I then add a full bottle of Buck Stop Ruck ‘n Buck or their Buc Plus scent directly to my enhanced scrape. With a sturdy stick, I rake a few lines on the open ground within the scrape, thereby duplicating the look of a bucks spread hooves. I have witnessed bucks do this on numerous occasions, and I believe it gives it that final added touch. With this now stinky stick, I rub it thoroughly on the overhanging licking branch. At this point I take the scratching stick out of the woods with me, even though I wear rubber or de-scented gloves when handling everything. You CANNOT be too careful if a truly mature, dominant buck is your target. These old boys are near omniscient.

An important trick I have come to use everytime, is slightly clearing a trail for my approach and departure routes – to and from the stand site. The fewer weeds, limbs or forest debris I come into contact with in his neighborhood, the better. Don’t hack an over obvious walkway, but remove enough interfering vegetation to keep from scratching your clothing for noise and scent purposes. I use this strategy at all my stands well before the open season.

I try to freshen my prime scrape sites every two or three weeks, sometimes more, but never less than monthly. Some of the guys swear that any urine will do. As a trapper, I render body fluids from the animals I trap, and do my best to save urine from each deer I kill, too. Bob Fratzke says he even pees in the scrape himself. He’s my hero. In fact, after shming an enjoyable National Field Archery Association course with him a number of years ago, I found myself in a situation where I put his advice to use, and lo and behold if I didn’t arrow a beautiful 130 P&Y class buck in Nebraska. I had just freshened a small scrape with my own urine, let out a subtle grunt, and in came this handsome buck upwind to my ambush perch. Bingo! Backstrapping is believing.

I hang my treestand about 30 yards away, anticipating the bucks to approach the scrape from downwind. An upgrade to trophy hunter mindset must be made, allowing the very difficult decision to pass up shots at lesser bucks when they are close and broadside. For us opportunist bowhunters, that will be a major hurdle to overcome. A meticulous awareness and application of intense stealth discipline will be more important at this stage of the game than in any other type of hunting we have experienced in the past. The deadliest predator within must reign supreme, more aware, quieter and catlike in our readiness to pounce if the beast arrives. And he will give no warning my friends. Does the term “cocked, locked and ready to rock, doc” ring any bells?

“When a decent 2 1/2year old 8 point gives us a shot, we must bite the bullet and hold off. “

When a decent 2 1/2year old 8 point gives us a shot, we must bite the bullet and hold off. This is a great introduction to selective, quality deer management. And don’t forget, never shoot a button buck IF you can. Take those antlerless she-deer for good herd balance in the majority of deer ranges. A golden rule of the dedicated trophy hunter is that we cannot shoot the smaller bucks if we truly want a crack at the beasts. Say a prayer for the wildthings at this point and ask for strength. Nobody said it’s gonna be easy.

My problem over the years is that my spirit of adventure gets the best of me, and I always head for the maximum action zones. Since I began my bowhunting adventure in the early 1950′s, I have come to crave my deer encounters. They were hard to come by back then. Over this long and thrilling hunt career, I tend to seek out the hunt area that produces the most sightings, rather than the biggest buckzones. I just like to see a lot of deer and shoot some. I am also always driven to try a new hunt location, thereby reducing my shot at the big boy. One prime truism that must be restated here is that any legal game taken cleanly with the bow and arrow is certainly a trophy in anybody’s book. These are the good old days of deer hunting with opportunities at their best ever. The name of the game is to get out there as much as possible and maximize the glowing quality experience that is every moment afield. Each individual must chose his or her own level of adventure. The Spirit of that Wild is always a trophy for the soul, no matter what.

So I just might upgrade my trophy buck dedication in the upcoming season. Those older boys are so much more of a challenge. I have learned from the masters, now it’s just a matter of patience- Maybe the MotorCity MadMan will get a little time off for good behavior, and El Beasto Buck could be mine. Hunt hard. Hunt smart. Hunt safe. Hunt legal. And always hunt with the Great Spirit inyour heart. Then every hunt will be special. Now let’s slow down, back off, elevate our awareness, get serious, and try for the biggest, baddest, most challenging monster of the swamp. It can be done. Goodluck, Godspeed and may giant backstraps be ours!

Instantly, the wide-racked buck was running toward me along the edge of the woods. A deer’s ability to home in on a call is phenomenal. The buck slowed to a walk and dipped into the woods directly under my stand. When he hit my scent trail he froze. Though he was only 5 yards away, the cover was too thick to permit a clear shot. All I could do was wait – my heavy bow at full draw – for him to make the next move. Finally, after what seemed like an hour (but was probably less than two minutes) the chess match ended when the buck backed from the cover and offered a perfect 10-yard shot.

The arrow found its mark, and even as the buck spun to run across the open field I knew he wasn’t going far. Instead of going home empty-handed, I was blessed with a beautiful trophy, the direct result of calling. That was the first buck I ever called in and the first trophy buck I ever shot with a bow. Needless to say, calling has become an important part of my deer hunting strategy ever since.

At its best, deer calling can make all the difference between success and an empty tag. On the other hand, used in the wrong places at the wrong times, calling can actually hurt your chances. There are basically two different strategies with respect to deer calling, each has its strengths and weaknesses. The method you choose on a given day should be based entirely upon the conditions in which you hunt.
Great Expectations

In my experience at least 50% of the bucks I call to that are alone and moseying through the woods aimlessly end up starting my way – most come all the way in. And the testimonials (and trophies) of other hunters agrees with my findings.

The success rate on bucks that are seemingly headed someplace is much lower, however, probably something like one in ten, or worse. And the odds of pulling a buck away from a hot doe are about zero.

Blind Calling
Blind calling simply means calling periodically to deer that you don’t see, but hope are within earshot. The majority of deer hunters practice blind calling because it would seem to attract the maximum number of deer.

In some cases, however, calling blind is not the best approach. For example, let’s assume you’re hunting a good-sized area and have seen a particularly nice buck. You would love to wrap your tag around this one. Every 15 minutes on stand you blow your grunt call and rattle your antlers together. Certainly, he must hear the calling, you reason, and no doubt he does. But, how is he likely to respond?

For every smart old buck that charges right in, stiff-legged with the wind at his back and fire in his eyes, several others will slink into position downwind to first check things out from a safe vantage – unseen. Or they may tiptoe in using cover to conceal them until they see you move on stand. Your odds of calling the big boy straight to your stand are fairly low. Unfortunately, your odds of having him detect your presence before ever revealing himself are a lot better. Once he senses that you are hunting him, he will become virtually impossible to tag in that area.

Blind calling can also work against you when hunting on small tracts of land. If you have permission on only a small area, you must hunt it as carefully as you possibly can. Don’t draw undue attention to yourself, because every deer you educate in that little area will be very difficult to tag, even days or weeks later. Deer know when they’re being hunted. A lot of calling under these conditions can become almost an all-or-nothing tactic, best reserved for late in the season.

There are times and places where blind calling makes a lot of sense, however. If you set up in a location where the wind is blowing your scent out into an open area where deer are not likely to circle, you can make it work. Video and game call maker, Mark Drury, tells of calling in and missing a huge buck – of Boone and Crockett proportions – a few seasons back from just such a setup in an area that hadn’t been hunted all season. Even though his tree stand was located only 25 to 30 yards upwind from the edge of a wide open field, the buck still tried to circle, staying just inside the woods on the downwind side. The encounter serves to illustrate just how cautious these big bucks can be.

Last Resort Calling
The second method of calling is to try to entice only deer that you have already seen and know will otherwise pass out of range. Such was the case with the big 10 pointer described at the opening of this piece. When you see a deer you want, try to do everything in your power to tag it right now. You may never see it again. Your best chance for calling any animal is when you can watch its progress. Visually you can tell when it has heard your call and whether or not it is interested – and you will be able to follow its progress as it tries to slip in on you. If the deer is not interested, you can try another type of call, or change the cadence and rhythm.

Last resort calling is my personal “first resort” deer calling strategy. I don’t like to carry rattling antlers so I rely on grunt calls to get the job done. If a good buck that I would like to shoot appears to be passing out of range I call, otherwise I remain silent and wait and watch. Some bowhunters prefer rattling in this situation because it is louder and carries farther on windy days. Turkey hunters know that sometimes one call will trigger a response when others won’t. If grunting doesn’t work, try rattling. You’ve got nothing to lose.

When employing last resort calling try to determine as quickly as possible whether a deer is going to come your way or not. Once a deer is well past your post it is tough to call him back. However, if all you are asking him to do is to make a slight detour your way, the odds become much better. On the other hand, if the deer is headed your way anyway, remain silent. A deer responding to a call comes in on red alert, intently searching for the source of the sound. Remember, you are the source. You really don’t want a deer to come in looking for you unless absolutely necessary.

How To Make The Calls
Actual calling techniques that will produce action are very broad. For example, you can rattle in just about any sequence you desire and still produce good results. The same goes for grunting. I’m conservative and always start with the classic three grunt series. In fact, that’s about all I ever use. It is my opinion that if a buck isn’t responding to the basic contact grunt he’s not going to come to anything else you throw at him.

You will get more from your deer calling by first taking into account your hunting conditions. When the conditions give the green light, calling can produce excellent results. However, there are also times when silence is golden. Learn to recognize the difference and become a better deer hunter.

Find Deer Calls at eders.com by going to: http://www.eders.com/categories/deer-calls/

Find Deer Calls at BowhuntingOutlet.com by going to: http://www.bowhuntingoutlet.com/calls-deer/

see a video of a buck grunting below:

Find Deer Calls at eders.com by going to: http://www.eders.com/categories/deer-calls/

Find Deer Calls at BowhuntingOutlet.com by going to: http://www.bowhuntingoutlet.com/calls-deer/