Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles

Hunting hunting season begins February 4th in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at the NRA Great American Outdoor Show.  It’s the largest outdoor show in the USA and the information within its walls can be life-changing.  You will find information about hunting and fishing trips from around the country and world as well as the gear you need to succeed.

Learn from the Experts

Mark Kayser helped me land a bison hunt in South Dakota 20 years ago while working for South Dakota Tourism.  He’s a native of the West and his knowledge of hunting on public land is unmatched.  Mark will give seminars February 4-6 and you will get accurate, easy-to-use information on a host of hunting opportunities from coyotes to deer, to elk.

The Big Picture

With hunting prices rising with inflation, more and more hunters look to public land and DYI hunts.  Bagging a bull elk on public land is a tremendous achievement, but then what?  Kayser knows the ins and outs of Western hunting including tips and shortcuts to getting your game out in top shape.  By hearing his seminars you’ll learn shortcuts and be able to ask questions.

Next Up- Turkey Season

Want to bag a turkey with your bow this spring?  No one knows turkeys like Eddie Salter and he will not only sell you the exact call you need but demonstrate  and autograph it.  I’ve been trying to use a standard box to make gobble sounds for decades.  Salter showed me how to do it in two minutes.    Whether you want to call coyotes, ducks, geese, turkeys, deer, or elk, the GAOS has a call for you.

Ingredients

Recipe Directions

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Almost any archer will tell you that it’s  important to shoot your bow the same way for each shot. Chris Bee takes it further and discusses and shows you how to shoot a bow properly and how you can Fix the 3 Most Common archery mistakes. This video will help you shoot properly as well as significantly improve accurately.

   Chris Bee

Direct from the floor of our industries 2023 ‘ATA Archery Trade Show’ here is the latest interview with Jay Liechty and Matt Bateman of Grim Reaper Broadheads covering the new developments and broadhead design improvements for 2023.

TO: Grim Reaper Broadheads

Deer season is not over in many states and as this picture shows, some decent bucks have survived the firearm seasons and are still “available.”  In bad weather situations, a cellular camera is an ideal way to keep tabs on your stands and animal activity in the area.  Unfortunately, freezing temperatures are battery killers, and getting there to replace them is difficult and expensive when you must replace 8-12 batteries.

Security and Wildlife

Vosker cameras are sold as security devices, yet they caught my eye due to their price and built-in solar panel.  My deer stands are difficult to access and I wanted a camera that would send images instantly and not require frequent visits to replace batteries.  This V200 model works day and night and extends the life of 8 AA batteries to a year in my experience.

Technology and I do not do well.  Fortunately, the camera was very easy to set up and the digital screen and minimal buttons were easy to navigate.  You scan a QR code with your cell phone which loads the app and installs the camera.  Once done you get this screen that will allow you to make sure that the camera is working and you get a preview of what it sees.  Notice the “searching network” tab and the battery charge which are visibly displayed.  You toggle up and down the menu with the buttons and then push “OK” when you want to read them.

Solar Power

Solar panels work best when they face the sun for long periods of time.  Both of my stand sites are on northwest slopes where getting direct sunlight is difficult.  Despite this disadvantage, the camera extended the life of my batteries for about a year.  the camera takes photos, time-lapse photos, video, and photos plus time-lapse images.

Easy Peasy

The battery compartments of some cameras are difficult to load.  Not this one.  Push a button and the back of the camera pops open with a diagram so that you don’t get the polarity of the batteries mixed up.  You will note dirt and debris in this camera, the reason for which will be clear in the next image.  This camera has been in the field for two full years in very harsh conditions.

A few days after I tagged ‘Big-8’, the Buck that Robbie Cramer was after this year, the buck we call ‘Big 10’, popped up in my nightime Moultree celular photos from my Tin Shed stand site. Below is a picture of Champ, ‘Big 8’and myself near my house.

After seeing the Moultrie game camera pictures I texted my buddy Robbie Cramer that ‘Big 10’ was in the immediate area. Robbie came down to our deer lease promptly. That afternoon he hunted a Pop-up ground blind that’s in the same strip of woods I where was hunting. He is in a small opening surrounded by cedar trees, half a mile from my stand.

An hour before sunset I noticed a buck come out of the trees to the North West. He looked over the area. A doe was 30 yards from my Shed’s shooting window, she saw the buck, but ignored him.

But the buck didn’t ignore the doe. He came at a steady pace and I took his picture when he got to the doe out in front of me.  

The doe backed up, giving the buck plenty of room. And, I suppose I should mention, that this buck was the ‘Big 10’ buck.

HOW TO BUILD A SCRAPE TREE

How can you bring a big buck in bow range of your blind or treestand that is currently passing within view, but unfortunately is too far for a shot. One thing that land manager and hunting TV personality Steve Bartylla does to increase the odds of a bringing bucks within bow range is to build scrape trees.

“Bucks are like male dogs, they like to mark their territory,” Bartylla told me. “Years ago, I started putting treated posts in the ground near blinds and stands and I attached a licking branch to the post. Often bucks would start building scrapes within days of putting in the scrape tree.”

Bartylla often creates scrape trees weeks or months before deer season starts. Because deer season has already started, he suggests if you want to put in the scrape tree, you should use an actual tree. “Treated posts give off a strange odor so hunters who want to put in a scrape tree should cut a tree down, dig a hole, and bury the base of the tree.”

Scrape trees located on the edge of a field, in the middle of a food plot, or near an area deer regularly travel quickly grab the attention of bucks. “I have had deer hit my new scrape trees the same day I put them in,” Bartylla said. Bartylla likes to position the tree so when a buck comes in to freshen the scrape and lick the licking branch, the buck offers a broadside or quartering away shot.

The SlockMaster Jr. Sydnie Wells takes us with her as she tags a Texas Whitetal buck, a Rio Grande Wild Turkey gobbler and arrows Wild hogs too.

   Tim Wells Bow Hunter

The Outdoorsmans Butte 25 pack is a versatile hunting pack designed for the serious hunter on the go who wants a lightweight pack for an all day hunt but doesn’t want a heavy pack. The Butte 25 is built with a durable waist belt and shoulder strap system so the pack doesn’t sag or bounce around  when completey loaded with gear.

It has a large main pouch with two accessory pouches on each side and  two lashing points on the top of the lid. With a spacious 1500 cubic inches, it can handle anything from a quick stalk to a full day of glassing. It also has accessory pockets and two water bottle holders.

Best of all the Butte 25 can be used in Conjunction with an Outdoorsmans Pack frame, making the system perfect for the hunter that needs to pack out meat after a hunt.

Hunters looking for a larger backpack designed for long overnight trips should go to https://outdoorsmans.com/pages/packs and consider the Outdoorsmans Palisade 90 pack or the Long Range Pack System. All of the Outdoorsmans packs are built on a one of a kind polypropylene frame that is designed to handle up to 200 pounds.

Best of all the Butte 25 is made in the U.S.A. and built to last.

In this new episode of Whitetail Habitat Mythbusting, you will explore the latest and greatest ways to get water into your deer woods so that it brings bucks to where you are deer hunting.

Today, we take aim at creating waterholes for Whitetail deer and putting effective Tips to work that will help you develop an effective  waterhole strategy where you hunt. To learn more, visit, https://www.whitetailhabitatsolutions…

   Whitetail Habitat Solutions

Eightgh-grader Ian Meredith picked the perfect day to play hooky on Monday, Sept. 26. Meredith had his sights set on a giant whitetail he’d nicknamed “Tackle Box”, and he’d seen the huge buck on a trail camera on his family’s 400-acre property in Kentucky. His mother, Beth, wasn’t so keen about Ian skipping school, but one of Ian’s teachers encouraged her to allow him to hunt that morning.

“He was coming into my stand just about every morning in daylight, and it was the first day that the wind was right,” Ian told Drury Outdoors Deercast. “So I just had to hunt.”

The faculty member who nudged Ian’s mom in the right direction is Adam French, an orchestra teacher at Grayson County Middle School. French had gotten to know Ian through his music class, but his role changed in 2020, when Ian and his brother Will lost their father to pancreatic cancer and French became a mentor for the two boys.

Adam went with the boys to the Whitetail woods that fall and helped them set up trail cameras. Soon they noticed a big mainframe 10-point.

The buck was in the trail camera pictures again in 2021, but now his rack was much larger. His rack was a maize of antlers, including a couple of drop tines. The twisted appearance of the buck’s antlers reminded Ian of a messy fishing tackle box and he named him “Tackle Box.”

Nutrition

Is the Second Rut A Real Thing? Deer Research informs us that there definitely is one. So, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Here is Lindsay Thomas Jr. of the National Deer Assn. with the facts you need to know.

    National Deer Association

You can see more deer … quickly! It doesn’t take long, and it isn’t terribly hard either; but you will need to follow these tips no matter, whether you are hunting public or private land. Here is what it takes to find better deer hunting.

  Whitetail Habitat Solutions

When you’re rattling Texas deer be ready cause you might get run over!! Sydnie Wells and her dad Tim Wells releases mayhem on Texas Whitetail Deer and Wild Feral Hogs. WARNING: This video has Close shots that open em up and it gets bloody in a couple of places! Wild free range deer with plenty of wild hogs to release Grim Reaper Broadheads on.

Follow along on video as Sydnie and her dad Tim Wells bowhunt south Texas and successfully bring in Whitetail bucks and does as well as several Wild Hogs.

     Tim Wells Bow Hunter

Jeff Harrison is a suburban deer specialist.  He’s a painter by trade which brings him into many neighborhoods where homeowners own one-to-three acres of land that makes ideal whitetail habitat.  Sometimes these small tracts adjoin along a creek or stream where a building is prohibited.  Add a nearby state park, commercial site, or sanctuary and you have the perfect formula for older age class and big antlers.

Suburban Scouting

Scouting in suburban and rural areas is easier than you may think.  When Harrison approached homeowners about hunting their small tract, he frequently was met with the response, “Kill them all.”  Whitetail deer, bucks especially, can consume or destroy $1000 of shrubbery in a single night.  Homes with deer problems are easy to spot because they often deploy nets, fences, or wire to keep deer at bay.  Because deer cruise between these small plots, you only need permission to hunt one to succeed.

Shed Hunting is a Great Intro

Knocking on a stranger’s door intimidates many hunters and Harrison has had good success first asking to hunt sheds.  He often carries a small antler with him because many suburbanites don’t know that deer shed antlers.  If you find a good bone, offer to share it with the homeowner which enables you to make contact again.  During the conversation, you can make your pitch to hunt in the fall.  While looking for sheds, you can search for deer trails and last fall’s rubs and scrapes.

Recycle Pumpkins

Pumpkins are a great food for deer that is readily available.  If you cruise around your neighbors, you will often find pumpkins getting soft and rotting because the owners don’t know what to do with them.  It may take deer a few days to investigate these orange invaders, yet once they get a taste for them, they will be quickly consumed.  It is important to break the pumpkins open so that the seeds are exposed.  Best of all pumpkins won’t attract raccoons, wild turkeys, and other critters that eat expensive deer corn.

Plan for Next Fall

Even at midnight, this doe took a hard look at these two strange objects that suddenly appeared in her territory.  I received permission from a landowner to hunt a farmland property barely an acre in size.  It’s located among crop fields with a few scattered houses and I’ve been surveilling the property with the fall of 2023 in mind.  The homeowner suffers deer damage every year and was most happy to have me “help out.”

Every once in a while I run into something that is exceptional, something that actually is new or else significantly improves what’s out there. Check this out…

Full Range Hanging Systems are a better, more flexible way for you to display your shoulder mount trophies or Skull Mounts. Typically the only way to hang your mount is flat to the wall.

A Full Range allows you to pose your trophy in more interesting ways, instead of just always hanging them flat to the wall.

Full Range Systems were made to solve the 4 main issues we’ve all had hanging our trophies on the wall;

Full Range Hanging Systems gives you the freedom to move your mount in different directions. All systems pivot in two different places and will rotate 180 degrees, giving you several options to choose from. Also, this saves space on your wall!

Using the Full Range Hanging Systems allows you to utilize every bit of wall space possible. Put more trophies on the wall and make them look better with Full Range Hanging Systems!

In this Kansas episode of Seek One: The Whitetail Plains is totally different terrain than bowhunting in the Eastern U.S. hardwoods. Follow along as Lee returns to Kansas with a decoy to use on the Plains.

    SEEK ONE

If your state has a deer season in January it’s a good time to deer hunt. In this video Jeff Sturgis breaks the month down and tells us about January’s special opportunities and how to navigate the entire month of January; both Bucks and Does are moving and January is a good time to find deer where you hunt!

   Whitetail Habitat Solutions