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Before dark two bucks step from the shadows of a tangled swamp thicket and walk my way. One whitetail is a juvenile fork horn, but the lead deer is a blocky, heavy-antlered 9-pointer with a muley’s Y-fork on his right beam. By luck, they pause broadside in a trimmed shooting lane near my treestand to watch a parade of does file down an old logging road off to my right.

Seated in my treestand 16 short yards away, I ease to full draw and center my top pin on the big buck’s ribs. His full attention is on the does until my arrow zips cleanly through his chest. Lunging ahead, he veers sharply to the left and crashes back through the brush toward the security of the swamp. But he doesn’t make it.

His legs go rubbery and he crashes down in a kicking heap not 40 yards from where I’d watched his death run in stunned amazement. Even after half a century spent prowling deer woods all across North America, I’m still awestruck each time I see the effectiveness of a scalpel-sharp broadhead and a well-placed shot.

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For my money, having witnessed hundreds of arrow impacts on a virtual Noah’s Ark collection of critters, there’s no better shot in bowhunting than arrowing a relaxed, broadside animal and getting a double-lung hit. Send sharpened steel through both lungs of any big game animal on earth and the typical result is massive hemorrhage and short blood trails. Whether it’s a half-ton bull moose or big black bear, an elegant elk or burly one-ton bison, any animal will be literally dead on its feet from the time its tender lung tissue is penetrated by a finely honed hunting head. Count on it!

By: Wade Nolan
bowhunting biologist

Currently, the Pennsylvania Whitetail woods have once again invaded by us bowhunting nuts. The peaceful woods that the deer were enjoying has now been violated by humans that smell like trouble. If you want to score on a Whitetail buck or doe, you must do everything right.

Here are 3 important tips that will add to your Whitetail bowhunting success ratio.

1. Assume that the deer you are hunting are hunting you.

Why is that? Simple, because they are hunting you. Deer are a prey species. Once we begin our afternoon jaunts to our treestands the woods are crisscrossed with human scent trails. Deer quickly detect these trails after we leave our treestands for our trucks.

Just because you leave the woods don’t think your scent does. A deer can smell your human scent trail for up to 24 hours. Deer will avoid high human traffic areas. It may take only one scent encounter to cause a buck to change his pattern.

SusieQ Is The Master Of Making Wild Game Jerky. Today We’re Talking ‘Elk Jerky.’

Elk Jerky Recipe

Elk Jerky Ingredients:

15 to 20 pounds elk strips
1.5 quarts water
2.5 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup red wine or 2 shots of Canadian whiskey
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons coarse black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1/4 cup salt
10 dashes Tabasco Sauce or Dave’s Insanity Sauce
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Elk Jerky Directions:

Cut elk meat into 3/8? to 1/2? thick strips; set aside.
Mix all the ingredients, except the elk strips, into a container and blend well.
Add the elk strips to the marinade in a container and allow to marinate for 12 to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Remove elk strips from marinade (drain, but don’t rinse).
Place on racks and smoke with cherry wood or hickory until meat is done to your liking; being careful not to overcook.

This won’t be too hot. If you want really hot jerky, finely mince 5 habanero peppers and add them to the marinade along with 3 to 5 tablespoons of dried habanero powder.
Its actually pretty darn good!!!!

By Emily Cameron

Colt’s First 2022 Deerhunt

Colt parked his vehicle and by the time he got back from parking he already had a doe in the area. He didn’t want to scare her off getting into the treestand so he pressed onward carefully to victory. After working his way into the treestand he was getting situated with his gear; but before he could sit down another deer walked in view, it saw Colt and spooked off. Colt was not yet seated.

He quickly got ready to hunt and had only been in the stand for approximately 5 minutes when he had two does come in from behind his stand. When the doe passed him Colt drew his bow while her back was to him.

After what seemed an eternity with his bow fully drawn, Colt grunted at the deer to try to get her to turn broadside. The doe did just that and Colt took aim and let his arrow fly. He got a clean pass through and shortly afterward he blood trailed the doe for approximately 200 yards and found her crashed in the brush.

Emily’s First 2022 Deerhunt

Colt dropped me at my stand at the rock ledge feeder went off at 4:30 pm and by about 5:00 the deer began to come in. I had two does and a button and a fawn  and they hung around for about 30 minutes browsing for acorns. Other deer came into the area also. When all but the two does and fawn left and I finally decided to shoot her. she dropped in 15 yards.

Deer hunting is popular the south, and with it comes lean and healthy venison (deer meat). But what’s the best way to cook it? In this episode of the Food Factor, MSU Extension’s Natasha Haynes tells you how you can enjoy delicious lean protein-packed venison in a traditional recipe.

Deer season is upon us. You might be trying to determine how to bring a big buck, that keeps walking just out of range of your blind or stand, into bow range. One thing that land manager and TV personality, Steve Bartylla, does to increase the odds of a bringing a buck within bow range on the properties he manages is Building A Scrape Tree.

“Bucks are like male dogs, they like to mark their territory,” Bartylla said. “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 puts in scrape trees weeks or months before deer season starts. Because deer season has already started now, Steve recommends that you put in the scrape tree by using a real tree. “Treated posts give off a strange odor so they are a no-no. Deerhunters who want 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 seem to quickly grab the attention of bucks. I have had deer hit my new scrape trees the same day I put them in,” Bartylla said.

Steve 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. “A scrape tree will bring a buck within bow range and will also keep him distracted while  the bowhunter draws his bow.”

Over the Decades the National Deer Association has participated in scores of Scientific Tests that studied specific behaviors of Whitetail Deer. The study we are learning about in this video is: Which predators do deer fear most?

Here are the results of a new scientific study that used trail-cameras to test deer reactions to various predator sounds. Watch 17 different, representative trail-camera video clips chosen from the research. — by Robert Hoague

In this video the National Deer Association’s (NDA) Lindsay Thomas Jr. reports on the research results, which was conducted by Dr. Daniel Crawford of the Jones Center at Ichauway and the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

‘It’s A Wild Life’ videos an up close bowhunt for wild hogs and gets within 5 yards to make the shot and recover the hog.

Ryan of ‘The Wild Life’ puts another Grim Reaper Broadheads ‘Whitetail Special’ to work on this videoed bowhunt for a big 11-point Buck.

Bear Archery is a unique bow company. Most notable is that legendary Fred Bear founded Bear Archery back in 1933. Bear Archery offers traditional bows and modern compound bows, as well as crossbows. With the Bear Alaskan compound bow Bear Archery proves they haven’t forgotten bowhunting’s often overlooked joys: simplicity and affordability. Yes, Bear Archery has loaded high-end compounds, but it also offers affordable bows with just enough technology. Enter the Bear Alaskan.

Today’s hunting media overcomplicates bowhunting and has created price barriers to entry for outsiders looking to get started. Many can’t afford the latest super expensive high-end bow. There’s nothing wrong with having technical equipment, but the inability to own it doesn’t solely dictate the success or failure of our bowhunts.

The Hunting Public and its hit YouTube channel proves my point. They hunt with bows from Bear Archery that most folks on budgets can afford. They show the hunting community that bowhunting is affordable, and that value-priced equipment does the job. The message is clear, because they are as successful with budget bows as they were with high-end bows.

FIELD TESTING THE BEAR ALASKAN

Field Testing the new Bear Alaskan was refreshing because it’s not flashy or loaded with features too many to name. Any bowhunter who is a budget bow buyer or just looking to simplify and minimize, will get satisfaction with the Bear Alaskan in a heartbeat and carry it confidently. Here’s why.

Test Bow Specs

First Impressions

I feel that the bow grip can make or break the way a bow performs, especially in fast-paced hunting situations where you need to draw, aim and shoot quickly. Coming from a guy who’s held and shot scores of different bows over the last 20-some years, the Bear Alaskan has an extremely comfortable grip that was easy and comfortable to grip and shoot with.

Abby Casey heads to North Georgia to see what ‘Mounted Archery’ is about. She goes to Cox Arena in Silver Creek, Georgia, with her bow to kick up some dirt and shoot some arrows on horseback with the Chattahoochee Horse Archers.

Abby reports, “Mounted Archery makes any other type of archery seem like cake—try keeping your balance while running wide open on a horse, knocking an arrow and hitting the target at the same time.”

That’s what the Chattahoochee Horse Archers do, and as you will see in the Video below, they do a good job. Enjoy!

If your arrows fletching looks a little rough, don’t worry.

Fletchings are extremely important: They stabilize your arrow flight from your release to the target. Without proper fletching, your arrows will not fly the same way and your arrow groups will be scattered rather than nice and tight.

One problem,  fletchings do not last forever. As you practice and your shooting improves, your arrows will group more tightly. That’s good, of course, but it makes your fletchings bump or hit each other regularly, and that causes wear and tear on the individual feathers or vanes. Also, wear occurs when you miss the target and your arrow passes through brush, grass, limbs and twigs or other obstacles. Eventually, all fletching wears out and requires replacing.

Replacing your fletching varies by how much abuse they endure. Well-maintained hunting arrows can last over a year or more, but if you shoot a lot they will need new fletching more frequently. This is a natural part of shooting archery, and one that’s easily remedied. An archery shop will inspect your arrows and replace your fletchings, if needed. Best of all, replacing fletchings provides an opportunity to personalize your arrows with crests with fun colors and patterns.

Here’s how to tell if your arrows need new fletchings.

LOOSE FLETCHING

The right grunt tube can be the ticket for harvesting an early season buck in October, in fact, a grunt call might be the best tool that a deer hunter has in his arsenal. 

When used properly, the grunt call can lure in bucks, and even a monster buck.  During the buck’s gathering days during the pre-rut, a grunt call is useful when a buck is inquisitive, looking to establish dominance in a certain patch of woods, or is starting to prowl about and seek out does.

As the pre-rut moves toward the rut, bachelor groups break up and disappear.  Even feeding takes a backseat to the important step of establishing buck dominance. Buck rubs and scrapes begin popping up across the landscape.  Bowhunting on major travel routes leading to bedding areas, and periodically making deer calling sequences could, be your ‘Ace in the Hole’ for October!

SHOP WOODHAVEN CUSTOM DEER CALLS

INTIMIDATOR GRUNT / SNORT WHEEZE CALLS

The “Intimidator” is designed to be easy to use and requires very little air to op­erate. With the “Intimidator” you can produce a wide range of grunts, varying from whisper soft to extremely loud. The “Intimidator” grunt call also comes with our Inflexor Tube which allows for easier and more dynamic sound control.  With the integrated snort wheeze you can create the range of buck vocalizations to call them close.

GO TO WOODHAVEN CUSTOM CALLS

The overall tone quality of the Woodhaven “Intimidator” is unsurpassed!  Woodhaven’s dedication to careful hands-on construction, assembly, and precision tuning guarantees each call to have an extremely realistic sound.  The “Intimidator”……Realism UnLeashed!

Pin confusion can happen with a compound sight or crossbow scope.  Even when you know the distance, it’s easy to mix up a dot or reticle in moment-of-truth excitement.  With most fast crossbows, a single setting can give you the point-and-shoot ability for greater accuracy and faster, more lethal shots.

I’ve been experimenting with the Burris Fastfire line for several years and love the simplicity of a single-dot aiming system.  Especially for newer shooters, the ability to put the red dot behind the shoulder greatly simplifies the shot and helps to calm nerves.  A red dot allows the hunter to aim with both eyes open giving full vision to the hunting action.

Setting up a red dot scope is easy.  Set your sights to be slightly high at 20 yards and you will be dead-on out to 30, perhaps 35.  The speed of your bow and the weight of your arrow will show you the aiming curve.  Since most tree stand shots are under 30 yards, you can concentrate on releasing an arrow at the optimal time and not worry about the distance.

For example, I had an 8-point buck run past my stand, chase a smaller buck, and stop in a position that gave me a steep quartering-away shot.  I knew the buck would bolt any second, yet by using the FastFire, I put the dot well behind the shoulder, squeezed, and shot the buck nearly end to end.  The blood trail was one of the most abundant I’ve followed.

Red dot sights can be effective at longer ranges if you practice and know the correct distance.  I paired a Burris FastFire with a Barnett crossbow for a very successful elk hunt.  Although the bull showed up at 50 yards, I knew the trajectory of the arrow and made a perfect double-lung shot that downed the big 6×6 in seconds.

This video will show you how to call in big mature bucks. Phillip Vanderpool shares his tried and true Grunting and Deer Decoying techniques that will give you the edge all season long.

CLICK HERE To Get The Best Deer Grunt Calls Made…

Ohhh yeaaaa! Two longbeards up the hill are following a hen and all 3 are coming in my direction! Talk about last minute. I had one last chance to tag out today in Nebraska. I checked to be sure my arrow was nocked and on the rest correctly. It was, so I steadied my bow between my knees and took some pictures of the gobblers and hen.

I zoomed in on both gobblers with my camera. The gobblers hesitated by some trees and I took a few hurried pictures.

An open gate was only 9 yards in front of me and the hen stopped a few steps from it and looked over my jake decoy. The gobblers stopped and watched her. One strutted up and I zoomed in close and took booth their pictures.

The strutter dropped its fan and walked a few steps closer and they went on the move again.  Now they were about 40 yards away.

They continued on. But the hen changed directions and instead of coming through the gate it went left along the fence. Potentially, that could mess me up. I already had a call in my mouth and gave some soft yelps. One of the longbeards looked my way … and he saw my decoys, a Jake and a mating hen.

Enclosed “box blinds” are weathertight, ideal for cold, inclement weather, reduce human scent, allow ample movement and comfort for the shooter, can be used for deer, turkeys, or scouting, and are available in a wide variety of shapes and options.

Better than a Pop-Up

Just as hunting from a pop-up or hub blind is becoming more popular, box blinds are a step up (no pun intended) because they are more permanent, better withstand weather, and allow deer to become used to the silhouette.  Box blinds become a hay bale, abandoned tractor, deadfall, or other shapes that deer adopt as normal.

Ideal for Newbies

They are perfect for young or inexperienced hunters and usually have room for a shooter and a companion, or two.  Youngsters can move around, take a nap, or play on their phone when game movements are slow and their frequent bobblehead movements won’s spook game.

Seniors Too

Box blinds are also ideal for older hunters.  Most stands are elevated, and most have a stair-step entrance often with a handrail for safety.  This makes getting into and out of an elevated blind much safer, especially in pre-dawn or twilight darkness.

My bowhunting buddy Fred Lutger had airline return reservations late in the afternoon. So this morning was our last opportunity to tag out in Nebraska. I returned to the bottom of a hill near the turkey hunting headquarters and quietly waited for daylight. I couldn’t see them but I heard wild turkey hens and gobblers further downhill in a frequently used roost area.

From where my blind was I could see some of the picked cornfield down hill where Fred had gone to hunt. After daylight a number of wild turkeys went into the picked cornfield and even more went up the hill to where Fred was hunting.

I glassed a handful came up from the roost area and go through a hole in the fence about 70 yards away. But none came by me.

An hour passed without seeing any wild turkeys around my area. And then, Bingo, two jakes walked into view walking in my direction.

They came right up close and I shot them with my camera instead of my bow. I wanted a more mature gobbler.

Rick Philippi Has Hunted With His Bow Since He Was In School,  In This Video He Tells Us How To Judge Yardages Correctly When You Bowhunt.

A Bike Hunting Q & A

Q. I have a mountain bike that I use outside of hunting. Is it really necessary to paint it up and make it camouflage or can I leave the finish alone?

A. It’s OK to leave the finish alone. While some hunters do paint their bikes camouflage and others sand them down to dull the shine; you can always camouflage the bike the old-fashioned way by tucking it under brush, or drape limbs around the frame, or cover the bike with camo fabric.

Q. Should I buy a Fat Bike?

A. You can hunt with any bike that you can pedal in the terrain where you hunt. One major benefit of using a bike is achieving a silent approach to your stand site as well as traveling around the area. A bike definitely increases the area that you can cover and it will get you into the backcountry where ATVs and vehicles may be forbidden. A Fat Bike makes all that easier.

Here’s how Outside magazine puts it: “There are hunters who’ve used bikes for decades, but the rise of the Fat Bike—effectively a human-powered ATV—is making using a bike easier. The broad tire contact patch and low gearing of the bike enable these rigs to crawl over loose, rugged, unconsolidated land.”