SHOOTING FOR THE STARS By: Travis Travillian (Pro Staff at Kentucky Outdoors Shop) October 3rd 2015 ’m always online looking at these big whitetail deer everyone is getting to show off. But the truth is... I’ve NEVER killed a deer, not even with a truck. It’s not that I’m a bad hunter, but I set a very high goal for myself. It has to be a Buck. I don’t believe in killing doe’s, fawns, or even spikes. My uncle introduced me to the world of hunting. Taking me squirrel hunting and Turkey hunting. He took me deer hunting a couple of times and always said, if you see a buck shoot it, leave everything else alone, let them reproduce and grow. It’s called Wildlife Management, and your uncle bobby would hate to get up this early to unlock the gate for a small deer. I’ve passed up many deer with in shooting range, just to feed my addiction to killing The Biggest Buck in Laurel County Kentucky. If that means that I never get to kill one then fine. But deep inside of me wants to get one, and I think it’s a lot worse holding that down than the big buck. I’m 26 years old and I know I have plenty of time to get one. Especially what happened last year. I always hunted my uncle’s massive farm, and I’ve spent a lot of money in Corn, and other deer feed or attractants in the last 5 years, Just waiting for a big buck to come to me. It’s the saddest story of my life so far. In the morning in fall of 2014 I got called into work... As a Corrections Officer I am committed to go in as expected of me, so I ended up missing the hunt. After work I drove out to my uncle Ricks house
and as I walked into the garage I seen this massive 12 point buck hanging upside down being gutted and skinned. I said WOW that’s a buck! And the reply and laugh I got back was, Yeah Shawn killed it at Bobby’s. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. He killed my deer. After getting some details before I showed my frustration learning he killed it about 85 yards from my tree stand. I then decided to not spend another dime hunting bobby’s farm. Now in the 2015 hunting season I am hunting in my back yard in the woods behind my pond. I wrote in another article that after moving into a new place and not seeing a deer all year long, I bought some Wildgame Innovation’s Deer Corn and a bag of powdered Deer Cane. I put a trail camera out and made a THROW-N-GROW food plot for this fall. I have a Doe and a yearling fawn in my spot every night, and some time’s day. Maybe I am a selfish but I now see the Irony of my ways. I don’t want to kill either one of those deer. I want the buck that is going to be chasing after her when the rut comes in. I have a crossbow that is currently under repair at the archery shop down the road from my house. It should be done in a few days. I also have a .223 if the rut comes in later than planned. I will get a buck. It may not be the biggest in the county but I will get one.
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The Solunar Effect on Whitetail Deer Article from: http://www.deerfeedingchart.com/
Most deer hunters agree that the moon and sun have a tremendous effect on deer activity and feeding. Major feeding times occur when the moon peaks overhead and when the moon is directly beneath a location on the Earth's surface. When major deer feeding times coincide closely with sunrise or sunset, an optimal scenario is created for deer hunters due to increased deer movement during the best hunting hours. Get the most out of your deer hunting time in the woods and enter your zip code above to get free deer feeding charts for your location. The charts will forecast deer activity and show you the best days and times to hunt deer. Days when a major or minor feeding time occurs close to sunrise or sunset will have a higher rating. Days when deer feeding times occur further from sunrise or sunset will have a lower rating.
Many Solunar forecasting services choose the new and full moon periods as the best times to hunt, however, during these periods, major feeding times are always in the middle of the day and deer are often nocturnal. Based on our experience in the field, we designed our Solunar charts to focus on lunar periods with major feeding times near sunrise or sunset. You will notice that these periods occur when the moon is approximately 25% or 75% illuminated. Using Solunar data is only one factor in deer hunting success. Remember to pay attention to buck activity, signs of the whitetail rut, wind direction, and local weather conditions. Good luck and be safe on your deer hunting adventures!
Train Your Dog to Recover Deer By: Jason Houser
Unfortunately, not every deer shot by hunters will be easy to recover. Maybe the hit was too far back or too high. Perhaps there’s not much blood sign to follow. I learned many years ago that there is still a very good opportunity to recover your shot deer by letting your dog follow the sign to your prize. Yes, this might sound weird, but a properly trained dog just might be the extra help you need. Why can’t a dog be trained to follow the scent of deer blood? The answer is that he can. With just a few minutes each day in as little as one month, any dog, no matter the breed or size, can be trained to be a bloodhound. The trick is to train your dog to follow the scent of blood, not the scent of a deer. You do not want your dog chasing every deer it smells. A dog wants nothing more than to make his owner happy. There is no question that a dog that is well cared for and treated with respect 365 days a year is more likely to perform well for his handler the few times you might actually need him. Start the training by teaching the dog basic commands like stop, stay, and slow. It’s good to be able to control the dog while in the woods. After your dog has mastered these commands, it’s time to start training your dog to trail blood. I start working with my dog a couple of months before deer season begins. I use blood from a deer that was killed the previous year that has been kept in the freezer. (Blood can be kept in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for several
weeks or in the freezer up to one year. Shake well before using.) A couple of days before you are ready to start training, take the blood out of the freezer to thaw. By the time hunting season rolls around, your dog will be more than ready to trail the scent of blood. A hunter has two ways to obtain the blood for training. Either from a previous kill, or blood obtained from a butcher shop. Drop the blood for a couple hundred yards or so along a trail in a zigzag fashion. Use more blood when you first start training your dog than what you will use as the dog advances in his training. At first, you might have to use as much as two pints. As your dog gets better as a bloodhound, a few drops every 7 to 8 yards is enough. When starting out, use a short lead that is no more than 10 feet long to control your dog while on the trail. Keep your dog calm by rubbing him and talking to him in a gentle voice. Allow your dog to smell the blood. If you have to put the dog’s nose down to the blood, do it. But be gentle. Repeat the command “search” a few times. Eventually he will be able to associate the word search with the smell of blood. Let your dog follow the blood trail while you control the pace. Do not let him run. A slow walk is best until the dog has trailing understood. Continue to follow the blood trail until the dog has a grasp of what it is supposed to be doing. Just like when you take a young child hunting, you don’t want to let your dog get bored with the experience. If the dog is no
longer having fun, he will not want to go back out and try it again. As soon as the dog shows that he’s tired, stop for the day. The dog has to know when he’s reached the end of the trail during the training. Saturate a rag with deer blood to simulate a dead deer. Place the blood-soaked rag at the end of the blood trail. When your dog finds the rag, reward him. Pleasing you pleases your dog. When he knows how to make you happy, he’ll want to do it again and again. Work with your dog 15 minutes a day for a month. By the end of the month, your dog will be pretty darn good at the art of trailing deer. Two months of this and he will be as close to perfect as you can hope for. After your dog has been out of action between seasons, remind him of what to do by having him run a couple mock blood trails. While on the blood trail, if your dog starts moving erratically, his tail stills, and he stops smelling the ground, chances are that he lost the trail. Take your dog back to where you know there is blood and let him go at it again. When he begins to bark and growl, your deer is close by. Keep in mind
that the deer still might be alive, so be ready for a follow-up shot. While you’re hunting, make sure your dog is well cared for. Supply your dog with a bed and blanket for comfort. Keep this in the floor of your truck while you are hunting. Your beloved dog is sure to be thirsty after spending time on the trail. Have water available for your dog when you return to your vehicle so he can quench his thirst. A dog that is warm and well rested will perform better when the time comes, much more so than one that has been left out in the cold. This is a new approach to find a wounded deer. Other hunters may think you’re a little nuts at first. This will quickly change when they begin to see the results. It won’t take long for your dog to be the most popular amongst your hunting buddies. Don’t be surprised if your friends unexpectedly want to babysit your dog one night shortly after sunset.
Faked N.C. State “Record Buck” By: Travis Travillian (Pro Staff at Kentucky Outdoors Shop)
I’m sure all of you have read or heard about the North Carolina man who claimed to have killed a state record non-typical, white-tailed deer with a bow. The man’s name is Nick Davis and he admitted to faking the news and actually going as far as screwing in a set of antlers from Pennsylvania on the deer killed in North Carolina. Nick Davis, of Elkin, N.C., admitted to N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission officers that the story was 100% a fake, according to The North Carolina Sportsman. A week after that story was broken by the Sportsman magazine; it has reported more developments about the situation that gives legitimate hunters a black eye and a little angry. During its investigation of the case, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officers charged Mr. Davis with four state violations. They claim he used a rifle during archery season to kill the young deer that was used in the ruse with the fake antlers. Nick Davis also killed a deer in the 2014 season but did not report it as per state regulations. He also was charged with unlawful possession of an illegally killed deer. Wildlife officials were flooded with telephone calls and emails from hunters who doubted the story. Once officers began investigating, they uncovered the unreported 2014 buck and obtained confessions about the illegal activities from Davis. This is a bad thing to do. The antlers and the body didn’t even come close to matching up, and I don’t know how N.C Wildlife Officials missed it in the beginning. Nick did accomplish one thing… All the attentions he wanted, He’s getting. I hope nothing like this ever happens again. That’s not hunting Nick… It’s Poaching. And that kid is very illegal.
This is what a fake is. Below is a dead deer with fake antlers.
10 Reasons Why You Aren't Finding More Shed Antlers By: Mark Kenyon February 25, 2015
Want to Make the Most of the Shed Rally? Use These Tips.
While the end goal is to find one of these, they aren't always located in such an easy-to-find location. Shed Envy. It’s a common condition felt this time of year by avid whitetail hunters across the country and it has the potential to reduce productivity at work, spoil appetites and ruin an otherwise good day. The cause? A lack of shed-hunting success, followed by frequent viewings of the monster sheds your friends are finding and posting on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And that trend is about to get a whole lot more active when the Shed Rally kicks off on March 7 -- see below for details. If you find yourself stressing about the possibility of enduring another case of shed envy this year, we’re here to help. With the advice of a few expert shed hunters, we’ve compiled this list of 10 reasons why you’re not finding more sheds. Study up and then hit the woods. And, this year, you just might be the envy of the Rally.
Reason 1: Lack of Focus A surprisingly large number of people fail to find sheds simply because they’re not really looking. Sure, you might be out in the woods "hunting" sheds, but I’d venture to guess you’re spending a lot of time talking to buddies, looking at rubs, watching for deer running in the distance or checking your iPhone. Todd Pringnitz, founder of Wicked Tree Gear and a guy known for finding Iowa sheds, has noticed this mistake often.
“I’ve shed-hunted with a variety of hunters over the years and some of those have been wanderers,” Pringnitz said. “But I’m more methodical, and I can’t tell you how many sheds I’ve found within 20 feet of someone else’s boot prints. You have to be methodical, unless there is just no sign, and then it’s time to move fast until you find sign again.”
Reason 2: Your Timing Is Off Shawn Luchtel, co-host of Heartland Bowhunter, believes many shed hunters don’t find more sheds because they are simply looking too early. “I run my trail cameras year-round to constantly monitor deer patterns and to see how the herd is looking. This also gives me a great idea of when the majority of the bucks have shed,” explained Luchtel. “Looking for sheds too early is a mistake for a simple reason. If sheds aren’t on the ground yet, you won’t be finding them. Also, looking too early can possibly spook the deer to neighboring properties, giving them a chance to shed elsewhere.”
Reason 3: There Aren't Any To Find You can’t find sheds if they’re not there, and, like it or not, that's the simple reality. Some properties lack the habitat quality needed to hold deer during the late winter months when antlers drop. That said, it’s important to be realistic about what kind of deer are living in your area and to adjust your shed-hunting expectations accordingly. If your only shed-hunting spot is on a small, heavily hunted parcel in Michigan, you’re likely never going to find as many sheds as someone hunting on a managed parcel in Iowa. If that’s your situation and you’re serious about finding more sheds, you might need to start traveling to more shed-friendly areas.
Using optics and looking from different perspectives can help you find more sheds.
Reason 4: You’re Looking for Full Antlers You’re not finding more sheds because you’re looking for antlers, full antlers to be specific. This might seem counterintuitive, but think back to when you first started deer hunting. When you first started out in the woods, you were likely searching for a full deer in the middle of the timber, and many times you wouldn’t spot a thing. Eventually though, you trained your eyes to register the flat line of a back, a flicker of a tail, or the black and white pattern of a deer’s face and nose. Once you began looking for pieces of deer, your sightings skyrocketed. The same principle applies to shed hunting. It’s not often that you’ll be able to see a full antler sitting in the open, instead you’re more likely to see just the tip of a tine sticking out of the leaves, or the curve of a main beam in the grass. Train your eyes to look for these parts of an antler and you’ll be much more likely to spot sheds in the real world.
Reason 5: You’re Not Focusing On Food
If the area that you’re shed-hunting isn’t located near a primary winter-time food source, you simply won’t have deer spending time there and that means you won’t be finding sheds. If you want to increase shed-hunting opportunities for future years, keep this in mind when planting food plots on your ground and make sure to provide adequate winter nutrition. Another option could be supplemental feed. “If legal in your state,” explains Dan Perez of Whitetail Properties, “supplemental feeding can help hold deer on your property during shedding season and give deer a much-needed boost during late winter when food is scarce. Just like food plots, areas near supplemental feeding sites are great places to look for sheds.”
Reason 6: You’re Not Using A Dog If you’re not using a shed-hunting dog, you’re missing out. According to Jeremy Moore, shed dog trainer and founder of the DogBone Shed Antler Training System, “a shed dog can literally cover the number miles you walk times ten.” "A dog’s nose is estimated to detect and process scents between 1,000-10,000 times better than a human nose, and when trained properly, a shed dog will locate and retrieve sheds by using both their noses and eyes," he said.
Not every property has what it takes to produce shed antlers. But those that do require a systematic approach to the hunt.
Reason 7: You’re Looking in the Wrong Spots Many first-time shed-hunters hit the woods with the goal of walking every square inch of a property, but then burn out before they can accomplish the goal. Their mistake is trying to look in all of the spots, instead of in the right spots. “Deer typically shed their antlers in the places they spend the most time – those being bedding and feeding areas,” Heartland Bow hunter’s Michael Hunsucker says. “Late season deer tend to group up in these areas, as they concentrate on whatever food and cover remains available.
Concentrating your efforts on these spots, as well as trails in between, can be an effective strategy for finding more sheds.”
Reason 8: You’re Not Changing Your Perspective It’s amazing what you can see when you take a look at things from a new perspective. This is true in everyday life, but also when shed-hunting. If you only ever look for bone at your natural eye level, you’re likely to miss a lot of sheds. Try changing things up and you’ll be surprised at what you might see. Stand on top of a downed tree, and get that higher perspective. Crouch down in the catcher’s stance, do some scanning, and see things from down low. Occasionally, this new perspective, with a little luck, will bring a hidden shed into view.
9. You’re not utilizing Your Optics Shed hunting isn't much different from actual deer hunting in that there are certain pieces of gear that will greatly improve your chances of success. For shed hunting, high quality optics are probably the most important of these items. “Having a quality pair of binoculars can help save you time when you spot a potential antler from afar, eliminating the need to walk all the way there to confirm whether it’s a stick or bone,” said Hunsucker. “Driving and glassing agricultural fields with your binoculars can also be an effective way to cover large amounts of ground in a short time.” Heed this advice and let your binoculars do more of the walking for you, you’ll find more sheds and save energy for the walking that you do need to do.
Reason 10: You’re Not Walking Enough Some people seem to think that if they walk a woodlot for an hour or two, they should find a boatload of sheds, but that’s just not going to happen for most people. Shed hunting isn’t easy and to really stack up the sheds, you need to put in serious time and work. To find piles of sheds, you need to walk lots of miles. When all else fails, just keep walking.