Posts

Food Plots in the Woods? Are They Worth it?

Poor Man Plots and Food Plots in the Woods

 

Food plots are such a widely discussed topic some people become overwhelmed by the ideas and the requirements.  Yes, much can be done to create the best food available for your deer. However, you should not be disappointed when access to wide open fields with the perfect pH is hard to come by. To achieve your whitetail goals you must think outside the box and work with what you have! Food plots in the woods and poor man plots can have equal if not more impact on the success of your season if you play your cards correctly.  Planting food in the woods takes a fair amount of sweat equity but the results can be dynamic! Making an effort to plant food in small secluded hideaways can give you control over tree stand locations never before possible.  However, to create the perfect trap for your target deer it is important to understand what you are getting into.

 

 

 

 

Creating the Trap | Food Plots in the Woods

 

Poor man food plots can be understood by the obvious name…equipment is either hard to come by or access is not possible into the plot. This creates the initial work. Clearing trees and brush with a chainsaw, using fire or sweat equity to expose the soil, and then finally planting. It is hard work. Take the time to consider this and the factors below. Just know that by the end of all this hard work, poor man food plots and food plots in the woods, in the right locations, are most definitely worth it!

 

 

  1. Timing: To successfully create a kill plot for deer in the woods looking at the calendar is everything. The idea behind a poor man plot is to create a killing plot…not a feeding plot. This is often the hardest thing to understand when it comes to poor man plots and food plots in the woods. You will be putting a significant amount of work in. The earlier you get started on this the better as you want the deer to be relatively comfortable with the area by deer season. There is also the timing issue in the planting sense. Depending on the species you go with, you will need to plant your food plot months ahead of time to ensure a lush green and attractive plot by September and October. Timing is crucial, but the species is also crucial.

 

  1. Species: food plots in the woods and poor man plots will not often go over an acre in size. This limits what species can be planted. The other issue here is the shade. Food plots in the woods will often get very limited sunlight. These two factors in combination leave you with not a lot of options. The clear choice for many is white clover. With the ability to sprawl, grow great in shade, and take a beating from browsing deer, clover makes the ideal species for food plots in the woods. Of course, cereal grains like winter wheat and rye can take the attraction beyond the limited timeframe of clover but be cautious as this will limit your herbicide use. Weed management and control will be crucial for you poor man plot as weeds, shrubs, and saplings will come sprawling out of the dirt once the sun hits the forest floor.

 

  1. Poor Soils: Many hunters regulated to hunting poor soils can use food plots in the woods to concentrate what is often a meager deer herd on their property.  If you have to hunt in an area with poor soil conditions and high elevations don’t get too disappointed.  This is where research is handy. First, it is imperative to do soil samples in the exact places you want to put food down.  Comparing soil samples to recommended pH levels on the bags of seed you wish to plant is a great way to start. After receiving the results of the soil tests back consider the amount of lime needed to bring about a balance to the particular area.  Lime is a base which helps bring balance to unbalanced soils.  If your chosen area has had the nutrients washed away on a steep grade or is higher in elevation, then you will want to find the right amount of lime per acre needed to balance the pH to help optimize seed growth. Second, choosing the right seed for the pH is critical.  Typically seed manufacturers will have the information on each seed and what pH the plant will grow in best. Taking into consideration what your goals are for a given location you will want to plant accordingly.  Some plants are more resilient in bad soils and can thrive. Clover, for example, can grow in most soils and is a nitrogen fixing legume which can help level out the pH and build organic matter for future plots.

 

  1. Picking Your Mouse Trap: Since this is all about boosting your shot percentage look for smaller open areas with good cover surrounding to make the deer feel more comfortable. Hinge cut areas feeding into your food plot to create a natural safe funnel for cover. Edge feathering is also a good option as long as you are not taking a significant amount of space away from your plot. This will provide opportunities to hang new tree stands.  Since this is a new source of food, deer may be slightly wary when feeding but more relaxed with good cover to slip in and out of constantly. Look for spots an eighth or a quarter of an acre while taking the prevailing winds into account especially when hunting mountainous terrain and the changing thermals dictate when stands can and cannot be hunted.

 

 

 

 

Making It Happen

 

When you locate the spot you’re going to plant food make sure to spray the area to kill weeds. Weeds in the woods must be killed quickly in order to give the food plot seed the proper place to grow. If you can mow or take a weed cutter with you and cut down the forage as close as you can to the ground. Within a week you should be back spraying the entire mowed area. Weed and brush killer is available at most home and garden stores. Spray everything in your planting area as it is worth the effort and will make your plot far more productive in the long run. Using a backpack type sprayer is more than sufficient as your areas ought to be fairly small. Within a couple weeks of spraying your chosen are will look different and you’ll be ready to take the next steps in cultivating the ground.  Pack a good rake or leaf blower to rid the covered area of leaves if your spots are heavily wooded. Do not turn the soils over until you are ready to plant.  This is in order to keep weeds from taking a hold of your inner woods spot too early even if you have sprayed.   Break up the soils either with a tiller or a hand rake like you would in the family garden and use the appropriate amount of seed for the size of the area you are cultivating.

 

 

Planting food plots in the woods provides a new opportunity for your deer season and new locations to hang your tree stands.  In a matter of a few months, you can transform your property from being a barren wasteland to a honey-hole. Proper planning and execution, advice from others, and genuine care for your food plots will be the difference maker come fall. Planting food plots in the woods is all about making your own luck. By taking matters into your own hands you become more invested in the pursuit and those venison steaks taste a bit better during the holidays.

Tree Stand

Clover Food Plot and Tree Stand Placement Tips

Hunting Clover Plots | Tree Stand Strategies

Spring is in the air and chasing white-tailed deer is likely the last thing on your mind, however, the spring months offer those who have a passion for deer hunting an opportunity to fine-tune the placement and positions of their deer stands.  Deer hunting is a sport that requires a “trial and error” approach in order to be successful.  Just about the time you think you have checked all the boxes, and you have your tree stand placed perfectly, and you have done your due diligence to address all of the variables, something unforeseen arises and it is back to the drawing board.  Though it may seem frustrating, the constant grind that comes with punching a tag only helps to make success even sweeter and often teaches us a thing or two that we can apply to future hunts.

13188900

Tree stand placement is often a product of two things, the type of area you are hunting (funnel, bedding area, food source, etc.) and the available cover that you have to place a tree stand.  These are certainly the “big bucket” concepts that most white-tailed deer hunters tend to adhere to, however, not taking the time to truly analyze the circumstances can often lead to mistakes being made.  Often, tree stand placement along with other aspects of your overall hunting strategy can be fine-tuned if you are willing to take the time to dive a little deeper into the “when” and “where”.

Tree Stand Placement Tips

Spring is food plot season, and as such, clover food plots are usually the first thing on hunter’s minds. For good reason! Clover plots, if placed and hunted correctly can serve as perfected kill plots. Take this tree stand placement and clover plot tips into consideration.

Not Every Set Is Created Equal

tree-stand-placement-clover-food-plot-tips_pic1

Would ever you wear football pads to a baseball game?  Hopefully, the answer is no!  The point is that both football and baseball are competitive sports that are very similar.  They both involve a team, they both occur on a field, and they both utilize a ball.  Though they are similar, they couldn’t be any more different.  The same can be said for each of your tree stand sets.  Though you are hunting white-tailed deer from each location and set, each location and set are different in its own way.  If you make the mistake of treating each of your tree stands as if they are exactly like the other, then chances are you are missing opportunities to fine tune your tree stand placement and add to add a few more tally marks to your harvest totals at the end of the year.

The Devil is in the Details

Sometimes, identifying the differences between tree stand sets can be tough.  For example, if you have tree stands placed in a wooded draw on one side of the property, and a tree stand placed in a wooded draw on the other side of the property, you might argue that there is nothing that separates the two from each other, and in some cases you would likely be correct.  That said, the devil is often in the details so before you make your assumptions that all tree stands sets placed in similar cover types are the same, here are a few thoughts to keep in mind.

Timing

The old saying “timing is everything” is certainly true when it comes to how you place and when you hunt your tree stand.  Certain sets may see very little activity during the early part of the season, but turn on during the rut or late season.  Likewise, you may have certain areas of your property that deer do not specifically use all the time, however, will pass through during certain periods of the year.  It is scenarios such as these that separate the wooded draw on the east side of the farm from the wooded draw on the west.

Cover

Placing a tree stand is one thing, and hunting from it is certainly another.  Understanding the timing in regards to when certain tree stands sets will likely have the most activity and when food plots are attractive can help you understand what your needs will be in terms of concealment.  For example, if you are hunting a travel lane food plot such as a funnel or wooded draw staging area, that is exposed between crop or CRP, then the overhead cover is likely at a premium.  Additionally, of you have an area like this that you tend to spend more time in after leaf drop, then you may want to keep the saw in the pack and resist the urge to cut too many branches out of the way.  It is important to have a shooting lane, however, concealment is equally so.

tree-stand-placement-clover-food-plot_pic3On the other hand, if you find yourself hunting an early season set when the trees are still in full canopy, then you can likely get away with far more trimming and even a little more movement while in the stand than you could later in the year.  Though many white-tailed deer hunters will say that they consider these points while placing their tree stands, it is important to spend some time to really consider them.  If you slow down and spend some time truly evaluate your surroundings and understand the “big picture”, you just be surprised at how your original location will slide to the back seat and something new will jump out in front.

Placement over Clover Plots

Deer hunting over a green browse plot such as a clover plot is truly a special thing.  There is just something about seeing a white-tailed deer cast against the lush, green vegetation of a clover plot that can get the blood pumping in the chest of any deer hunter.  Clover plots provide an excellent opportunity to not only see a lot of deer during the early part of the deer season but to also catch a big mature buck prior to the rut.  Green browse such as clovers provide white-tailed deer with an unbelievable source of nutrition, and with little effort on the part of the hunter, can produce an immense amount of biomass, most clovers reaching from 2,000- 3,000 lbs per acre, to help feed a large number of deer on any given farm.

Hunting over a food source such as a clover plot may seem fairly straightforward, however, when it comes to tree stand placement over these areas it can be a little trickier than you might it might appear.

Is it Early Season Hunting?

Hunting over a clover plot is typically early to mid-season activity.  These areas can still produce white-tailed deer activity at all times of the year, however, once the season turns colder deer will begin to seek out forages that are more suitable for the conditions.  It is important to keep in mind the conditions that you will be faced with when hunting during the early season as you begin to identify potential tree stand locations.  As was mentioned previously, the foliage during the early to middle part of the season tends to be fuller.  This is both a positive and a negative.  It is a positive in that you should have plenty of covers to help you stay hidden and concealed, however, keep your shooting lanes clear and open can sometimes be very problematic and require attention many times throughout the offseason.  The spring months are an excellent time to get out and begin considering tree stand locations and evaluating your shooting lanes.

tree-stand-placement-clover-food-plot-tips_pic2

Entry and Exit

One of the positive aspects of hunting a food plot that consists of forages like clover is that while mornings and evenings are likely the most active feeding times, white-tailed deer can and will literally utilize these areas at almost any point during the day.  This unpredictability can also be a negative, as it can put extra emphasis on your entry and exit strategy.  It is always important to have a way in and a way out of your stand that will keep you quiet and concealed.  With a food plot such as a clover plot, this certainly the case, and then some.  White-tailed deer will not only utilize these areas at any given point during the day but often will bed close by if suitable cover exists.  It can be very challenging to make your way into these areas without bumping deer if you have neglected to do your legwork up front.  Additionally, if and when you find yourself enjoying an evening hunt over a clover plot, be prepared to stay until last light.  White-tailed deer, especially if they are unpressured, will tend to spend the majority of the evening in these plots, which can make it exceptionally difficult to exit without being seen.  This helps to further emphasize the importance of an entry and exit strategy when hunting over your clover plot.

Scent Control

When placing a tree stand, a good rule of thumb is to not be any higher than you absolutely need to be.  The height of tree stand is often a result of the location, the time of year it will be hunting and the concealment that is available.  During the early season months, temperatures will often still be on the warm side.  These humid conditions can greatly increase even the slightest odor, and can quickly cause you to be pinpointed.  Early season food plots such as clover plots are areas where you may consider increasing the height of your set if that is an option.  Increasing the height of your tree stand will help you with your scent control efforts, in addition to increasing your visibility.  Just remember that there is no second chance for safety first, so always use a harness no matter if you are hunting from 10’ or 25’, a fall from a tree stand is serious so treat it as such.

Edge Effect

When it comes to deer hunting over clover plots, there is no question about where the deer prefer to be, and that is often the center of the plot.  This is often the result of a couple of factors, the first being what is known as the “edge effect”.  The edge effect is a term that applies the edges of a food plot or crop field being less productive than they middle or center of the plot.  This is typically caused by either a fertility issue or as a result of the nearby trees either shading out the clover or simply outcompeting the clover for nutrients.  The key factor here is that this, ensuring that you have your tree stand set within shooting distance of the major entry and/or exit point of the plot is important.  Often, white-tailed deer will head straight for the most productive area of the clover plot, and if you are not ready to strike quickly, you may have to result to simply watching deer rather than shooting one.

If you take a few these tips into consideration it will likely help you to not only recognize factors variables related to tree stand placement that perhaps you had not in the past, but they will certainly help you to be more successful in the white-tailed deer woods this fall.

post season scouting

Making the Most of a Post Season Scouting Trip

Post Season Scouting for Whitetails

All the snow lately has probably got you thinking about one thing: how much you miss fall. Not just the amazing weather and sights of fall itself, but deer hunting too. Fortunately, hunting doesn’t have to end when deer hunting season ends (we’re not talking about poaching either). You can continue your pursuit to become a better hunter throughout the year, and there’s no better time than now for a post season scouting trip. If you’ve ever wondered when to start scouting for deer, you can start immediately after the season closes! Most people don’t think about scouting for deer in December or January, because it’s either too cold or they don’t see the benefit of it. But it’s really an ideal time to wander the woods and learn more about the animal you obsess about during the fall. Plus, it’s some good exercise to keep the holiday treats from sticking to your gut too much.

 

Why Post Season Scouting?

Scouting is one of those deer hunting 101 skills, and every hunter should be doing it to maximize their success rate. Similar to pre-season scouting, you can learn a great deal about the woods and whitetails to help you during your next hunt even if you’re scouting after the season ends. When used in combination with scouting before deer season, however, you can double your knowledge. Pre-season deer will have different movement patterns and behaviors than post season deer. So you should ideally combine these experiences to find the average behavior for your hunting area, and know where to target them as they transition throughout the season.

 

Another nice thing about post season scouting is that you really can’t do any harm from spooking deer. During the pre-season, it’s usually good to sneak around without disturbing bedding areas or alerting deer that you’re there. If you run into a bedded buck, you might hurt your chances at hunting him that season. But you don’t need to worry about that for post season deer. If you jump them from their beds, they’ll run away and have 8 to 9 months to recover from it before you would possibly be able to hunt them again. So feel free to tromp wherever you want.

 

making-the-most-of-a-post-season-scouting-trip-pic-1

 

Finally, the post season is a good time to scout because you can find out where the deer have been gathering in the last couple weeks of the season. Especially if there’s snow on the ground, you can easily see where they’ve been feeding, traveling, and bedding in your area. The frozen ground even allows you to inspect some swampy areas where reclusive bucks might hide out during the season. This allows you to set up predictive tree stands next year in the right spots without having to do much more than a quick reconnaissance scouting trip in the fall. The Big Game Tree Stands® Boss Lite fixed position stand is perfect for quickly hanging on one of those trips next fall. This time of year is a good one for clearing new trails or shooting lanes too, since there aren’t any bugs and the temperatures are cool.

 

Planning a Post Season Scouting Trip

You have a few options to plan out your scouting trip. You can either use your time to inspect your usual hunting spots and further pinpoint where the deer activity is. Or you could also try a new hunting area you haven’t been to before, to get a feel for the land and check for deer sign there. If you’ve got lots of time, you could easily check out several areas. Plan on a weekend for thoroughly walking a few hundred acres during one of these trips. You can obviously get by with less than a weekend. But if you find yourself crunched for time, you’re not likely to inspect every deer trail you come across that could lead you to a hidden oasis.

 

Many hunters wonder how to find a good hunting spot on public land, and assume it will takes miles of walking to figure this out. While you do need to walk a bit to confirm things, you should always start your post season scouting with some desktop research before you leave for the woods. You can use any kind of aerial maps for deer hunting purposes as long as you can see satellite imagery and zoom in fairly close. Use them to glance through your hunting area, looking specifically for areas you’d like to target. Identify the food sources and bedding areas you know about, and then locate likely travel routes between them, knowing that mature bucks will often take a very meandering route to stay out of sight. If it’s a completely new area you’re looking at, make your best guess at these spots. Some promising areas to look for include recent clearcuts, agricultural fields, small woodland openings, dense brushy riversides, or thick conifer stands.

 

As far as logistics for one of these post season scouting trips, you should pack light and wear lighter clothing than you think you might need for cold weather. You’ll be very active beating the brush throughout the day, so wearing layers of performance clothing can make a big difference in staying comfortable. You don’t want to sweat, so peel off layers or slow down if you find yourself perspiring too much. You may want to pack along an extra insulation layer or wind-breaking shell jacket in case you get stuck somewhere you don’t intend. If there’s a lot of snow, plan on using gaiters or snowshoes to make the experience more pleasant and keep your feet dry.

 

Otherwise, pack some water and a lunch to keep your energy and hydration up throughout the day. If you haven’t pulled your tree stands down for the season, now is a good time to do it before winter really sets in. If you have lock on stands, make sure you can carry them out with your extra gear. If you mostly have ladder stands, however, you’re going to need to recruit some help to haul them out. Toss a notebook, map, and compass in your bag too so you can record your thoughts and not get lost. It’s also always good to carry along some basic tools, especially if you plan on doing any habitat work. You can easily pack a serrated hand saw or some ratchet shears should you need them.

 

The only caution with post season scouting is to not wait too long. As winter really grabs hold, the temperatures plummet and the snow piles up. Whitetails in many areas tend to migrate to better wintering areas, called deer yards, where there is food nearby and thick cover to protect them from winter winds. Whether they migrate near or far, their patterns will be different. Step into a cedar forest in mid-winter, and it will look like there are hundreds of deer per acre. But the same hot spot will likely be pretty barren during early season deer hunting. The point behind post season scouting is to catch deer patterns while they’re still applicable to hunting season.

 

Where and What to Look For

 

If you’re still wondering exactly how to scout for deer in the winter, you should start with some high percentage spots to make the rest of the trip successful. As we mentioned above, food sources and bedding areas are great places to start your deer scouting. A whitetail’s world this time of year revolves around these two things. If you’re not sure about where these spots might be or don’t know how to find deer in the woods, start wandering some ATV/snowmobile trails until you cut a track. Either way, you should start looking for deer trails entering and leaving the areas above or crossing the trail. After finding some with buck tracks in them, start the tracking process. If you don’t know how to track a deer for a few hundred yards, you really need to try it. You can discover all kinds of interesting things about deer behavior by learning where they go, what they stop to look at, what trees they browse on, etc. Very often, they will take strange routes that lead you to a new area you wouldn’t expect them to bed, which is great information for next year. Patterning big woods bucks can be challenging, given the vast acreage involved and seeming lack of food. But that’s when following a buck’s trail really pays off. Use your journal and map to record notes on what you find and where you find it.

 

The really critical thing you should look for on one of these post season scouting missions is a good-sized travel corridor you could set a tree stand in. The best tree stand placement for most of the deer season will be concealed along a deer trail. If you’ve been puzzled with how to find a good deer hunting spot before, simply keep an eye out for other deer sign and pinch points as you track your deer from food to bed or vice versa. Finding deep woods bucks is easier when you can see their large tracks in the snow. If you see a history of rubs on the trees along a buck trail, it’s likely that this buck or others have used the same route before. If at any point the trail gets narrow against an opening, a fence line, or a brushy point, you might have found a good place for a tree stand. Particularly if there are mature trees with good cover (e.g., big conifers, oaks, maples, etc.), you should record the spot as a place to re-visit next fall with a trail camera. That way, you can analyze what kind of deer movement is still there next year before you hunt it.

 

Miscellaneous Work

While you’re out post season scouting, you should also keep an eye out for other work you could get finished. For example, if you feel confident you have found one of your new deer hunting spots and will put up a tree stand in a the area next fall, grab those ratchet shears and saw and start pruning out an access trail and shooting lanes to save on the work you’ll have to do next year. It will grow in quite a bit throughout the summer, but there shouldn’t be anything heavy in your way to slow you down. That’s good since you want to remain discreet in the fall and make as little a disturbance as possible. Depending on where you hunt, deer can get spooked by fresh cut trees in the fall.

 

making-the-most-of-a-post-season-scouting-trip-pic-3

 

If you’re on private land where you are allowed to cut even more, you may want to consider doing some quick and dirty timber stand improvement to see more deer while hunting. If the property you’re on is lacking in quality winter cover (i.e., consists of mostly mature trees), you may want to consider doing a few quick hinge cuts. Hinge cutting is best done on trees that are 6 to 7 inches in diameter at breast height (dbh). If they are larger than that, you’ll reduce the chance of it hinging properly and make it unsafe to do too. Use your serrated saw to cut halfway through the tree trunk on the opposite side of whichever direction you want it to fall. Gently guide it down as best you can so that it doesn’t break off from the base of the tree. This remaining connection will provide some water and nutrients to the tree top for another year or two, which will keep it alive and producing buds and leaves. Treetops make excellent deer browse in the winter, because the buds and smaller twigs are much softer and more nutritious than coarse, woody growth below. Cutting a tree along a trail produces more food for them as they walk between food and cover, which may even stall them long enough for a shot next fall. But it also helps them this winter by providing some easy-to-reach food and cover. Some good trees to try hinge cutting include maples, basswood, aspens, and beech.

 

Don’t Miss Post Season Scouting

This year, don’t miss out on the opportunity to make next deer season more successful. Post season scouting is a good way to spend a winter day, even if you don’t find the perfect spot to hang a tree stand. Use these deer scouting tips to check out some new areas or learn more about your property. Getting back out in nature for a while to explore the woods is never a waste of time.

game processing

DIY Game Processing Tools to Save Money

This is How to Do Your Own Game Processing

 

We get it. It’s so much easier to just drop a deer off at a butcher to take care of your game processing for you. We’re all strapped for time, especially during deer hunting season. But do you really know you’re getting your own venison back? This is not to discredit the butcher business because there are some great and reputable local deer butchers near everyone. But there are also some individuals who might just toss all the meat processing together with the next guy who gut shot his deer and let it sit for days before bringing it in. If you really care about the meat you actually harvested from the deer, it’s so much better and fulfilling to do your own game processing at home.

 

Plus, it ultimately makes far more sense financially to do it yourself instead of bringing it to someone else. The average price of processing a deer fully (including skinning, butchering, and packaging) is about $75 to $100 per deer. If you save the money you would spend on processing two deer, that’s enough to buy all these game processing tools easily. And if you really think about it, every two deer after that is like a free tree stand. If that doesn’t convince you, what will?

 

Good Game Processing Starts in the Field

 

As with anything, the more care you invest in the front-end of butchering a deer, the better the meat will turn out. A poorly cared for deer will yield some off-tasting venison, and it all starts in the tree stand. Whether you recently tagged a doe for the freezer or you’re chasing a post-rut buck right now, making a good shot is critical to not spoil the meat. A gut-shot deer will often take hours to expire, and some unpleasant things can happen during that time. Stomach content can spread throughout the body cavity, which can then spread further once you field dress them and taint the meat. It’s obvious, but you need to make the best shot you can by practicing and being proficient with whatever weapon you’re using, and being very careful about field dressing a deer. Dragging your deer across the ground can also impact the meat slightly. If possible, place them into a sled or carry the carcass as much as possible.

 

diy-game-processing-tools-to-save-money-pic-1

 

Another huge consideration is the temperature. If you’re hunting the late season where the temperatures are below freezing, you don’t need to worry. But if it’s an early season hunt or you’re down south, you need to move quickly after shooting. Field dress the animal as quickly as you can and spread the rib cage apart to start cooling the chest cavity. If it’s above 60 degrees, you should skin the deer as soon as possible. The hide really insulates the meat well and can cause some spoilage if not taken care of quickly. Before you do that, you might want to hang the deer on a dial scale to see its field dressed weight.

 

Once you get your deer back home or to your camp, you should skin the deer if you haven’t already. This is made easier with the Magnum Lift System, which allows you to easily hoist even the heaviest deer up to eye level instead of straining your back to bend over. Insert the heavy-duty gambrel into the deer’s hind legs and start lifting it up. Starting at the 3whind legs, slowly remove the hide by peeling and making select cuts where it gets stuck. Skinning a deer that has been recently killed is easy, but one that has aged a few days or been frozen will require a little more effort. The skinning tool makes it a non-issue with powerful teeth that grip the hide.

 

diy-game-processing-tools-to-save-money-pic-2

 

How to Quarter a Deer

 

Once the carcass is bare, it’s time to start quartering it up into basic pieces. You don’t need a lot of fancy game processing equipment or accessories either; simply gather some knives, a sharpener, a cutting board, and some butcher paper.

 

If the deer is still up on the lift system, start by removing the backstraps and tenderloins. These are the choicest cuts on a deer, by most hunters’ estimates. The tenderloins are located on the inside of the cavity beneath the spine towards the hips. They are 8 to 12 inches long and should pull out with some minor cutting on each edge. The back straps are located along each edge of the spine sitting on top of the ribs. Start your cut down each side of the spine from neck to rump. Then make a cut perpendicular to the spine near the neck to start it. Slowly work your way down the spine, cutting in small increments. Eventually, the muscle will start to pull away on its own with some minor cutting. Continue all the way down to the rump area. These two back straps are very versatile (and delicious) later on.

 

Next, move onto the front legs. Use a sharp set of meat processing knives and cut under the armpit area towards the spine, following the rib cage. They are only connected via muscle tissue, so they will come off easily. Use a hack saw to remove the lower leg. Place each front leg on a table lined with some butcher paper. Then work on the neck meat by basically unwrapping it from the spine.

 

Now it’s time to remove the rear legs. Basically fold them backward and start cutting the meat until you expose the ball and socket hip joint. Pop it out of place and continue cutting the meat until it separates from the pelvis. Again, saw the lower leg off. At this point, you could also remove the ribs from a fresh deer and pick away here and there. But it’s mostly ready for final processing.

 

The Nitty Gritty of Game Processing

 

Now you should be able to take the quartered pieces and start turning it into real cuts of meat for eating. The easiest way to do this is to refer to a good deer processing chart, which will show you where to get each cut of meat from the deer. For each cut, take the time you need to really trim the silver skin membrane and sinew from every piece, which will really enhance the quality of the meat. Basically, you will get a few roasts from the hind legs and potentially the front shoulder or neck. You can leave the back straps whole to roast or smoke, or cut them into thick steaks for grilling. You’ll get a lot of steaks from the hind quarters too. Most of the remaining meat can be ground for hamburger, sausage, or jerky. This might seem a little picky, but you really can’t mess anything up. If you accidentally cut up a roast, you’ll have more steaks and will learn for next time. If you really like sausage, you could grind every scrap on the carcass using simple home meat processing equipment. As long as you’ll eat it, it’s a good deer processing option.

 

There’s really no wrong way to do your own game processing as long as you keep quality meat at the front of your mind and spend a little extra time on it. The satisfaction of eating a meal you killed and processed yourself is well worth the effort involved.

fall turkey hunting from a tree stand | Big Game Treestands

Fall Turkey Hunting from a Tree Stand?

Take Fall Turkey Hunting to New Heights

November is flying by at a record pace. Before you know it and if we’re lucky, we’ll be gathered around a table giving thanks with family or friends. Now imagine going out yet this fall and putting a big tom turkey on the ground, just in time for some Thanksgiving table fare. How proud would you be serving your family and friends some fresh, deep-fried wild turkey instead of the store-bought version? If that seems like it would be a fun twist for your tradition, you should consider going fall turkey hunting this year.

While spring turkey hunting typically gets most of the hype and attention, there’s a lot of exciting action to be had in the fall too. Some states have more relaxed regulations for fall turkey hunting, which can increase your chance at harvesting a bird. In Minnesota, for example, the fall turkey hunting seasons are liberal and you can possess an either-sex fall tag. That means you could legally kill any turkey that strolls within range. That alone drastically changes the game if you’re hoping to guarantee a Thanksgiving bird. To make things even easier, this article is going to discuss how to successfully hunt turkeys from a tree stand. If you’ve already got turkeys in your hunting areas and have some deer stands up, you’re all set!

How Are Fall Turkeys Different?

fall turkey hunting from a tree stand | Big Game TreestandsBefore you hunt, it’s important to know the different turkey habits in the fall; they are very different critters than they are in the spring. Springtime is all about mating season and courtship displays, while fall is all about food and survival. Toms will spend a great deal of energy chasing hens in the spring, but they pretty much stick to bachelor groups in the autumn looking for food sources. Because of these tendencies, you would typically use hen decoys and hen calls to convince a tom to come investigate in the spring, but you need to use tom or jake decoys and similar male calls to get a gobbler to come by in the fall. As you can see, there are a lot of big differences between hunting a spring turkey versus a fall turkey.

Why Tree Stands for Fall Turkey Hunting?

Most people associate hunting turkeys with ground blinds, and that is definitely the most common approach. In the fall, many people also choose a run and scatter tactic, which can use the bird’s confusion to bring them right back in for a shot. But in most cases and places, people already have tree stands in place for deer hunting throughout the fall, which means turkeys are used to seeing them. Why not use them? Generally, they are also already very concealed and located on food plots or good travel routes, which are good spots for turkeys as we’ll discuss below. Depending on where you hunt, many turkeys are not used to aerial predator attacks. Since most hunters don’t approach them that way either, you can sometimes get away with a little more movement, especially if you’re wearing a good camouflaged set of turkey hunting clothing,. Finally, it requires the least amount of work to do, assuming you already have some tree stands up. If you don’t have some existing ladder stands or pre-hung lock on stands, your best bet is to choose mobile stands (i.e., lock on stands). That way, you can adjust your location easily depending on where the turkeys are or are not. You may want to hang a universal shooting rail with the fixed position tree stand, so that you can drape a camo blind kit around it for additional concealment; just don’t hang it so high that you can’t see the decoy below you to make a shot.

Speaking of the best locations to find fall turkeys, food sources and travel corridors are the best. Clover and hay fields offer greens for turkeys to eat with room to run, while brassica fields offer food and cover. Wooded cover between roost trees and feeding areas are also good ambush sites, particularly if there are any hawthorn, crabapple, or similar fruit trees. Many fall turkey crops have been full of small apples or fruits after shooting them. If you have deer stands in any of these areas, consider hunting them with a new goal: a fine turkey dinner.

Fall Turkey Tactics

Now that you see why tree stands can work so well for fall turkey hunting, let’s look at some specific turkey hunting tips you can use. First, you may want to monitor your hunting property for a few days with trail cameras, just to survey the area and see what’s happening. You can get a lot of information out of a trail camera, including how many turkeys are on your property, the number of toms/hens/jakes/jennies, the time of day the turkeys are using an area, and which direction they are coming from/going to. Review the pictures to form a plan about where and when to hunt.

fall turkey hunting from a tree stand | Big Game Treestands

If you’d like a large tom for the table, set up a male turkey decoy (probably a jake) in the food plot, field, or travel corridor. Whether other toms feel threatened or just want to come check out the new bird in town, decoys are very useful for fall turkey hunting to provide a distraction point and draw them in quickly. The more realistic the decoys, the better. Set the decoy up about 20 yards from your tree stand, so that you can still take an ethical shot if a gobbler hangs up beyond it. Again, make sure you can see the decoy and position your shotgun from your tree stand; you don’t want to have to stand up and move around to get ready.

Now as far as how to call fall turkeys, we already mentioned it briefly above. Males respond to male calls and females to female/poult calls. One of the best fall turkey calling tips if you’re looking for a gobbler is to give a few tom yelps every twenty minutes or so, which are lower and raspier than a hen. It should follow a slow three-note cadence, followed by a pause and another three-note yelp. After calling, listen intently as toms may call back and give you a warning as to where they may approach from. If the decoy is on a main feeding field, is visible from a distance, and turkeys are in the area, they will likely make their way to the field anyway. As soon as they hear audible proof that a jake is standing there, they will often come running in on a string.

Time for a Thanksgiving Bird

This year, consider going fall turkey hunting to have a Thanksgiving you won’t forget. And if you’re looking to try an even more unusual tactic, try sitting in the deer stand to do it. It makes for a great story around the table!

private land hunting guide how to maximize your opportunity Big Game Tree Stands

Private Land Hunting Guide | How to Maximize Your Opportunity

Steps You Can Take to Make Private Land Hunting More Productive

If you’re fortunate enough to own some private land hunting ground, you should be very thankful. Whether it’s a small hunting shack situated on 40 acres “up north” in the woods or simply the family farm you grew up on, private land is a real blessing. You have so many possibilities before you. These endless possibilities include shaping the land the way you would like it to look. Not only do you have the ability to keep a property in your family’s heritage, but you can help mold it into whatever you want. Some landowners scoff at this, realizing they may not personally ever see the fruits of their labor. But this is sadly short-sighted, particularly if they have family members who will one day inherit it. Owning private hunting land allows you to create a real and lasting legacy on your property for generations after you. Even if you only intend on selling it instead of keeping it in the family, managing your property for timber, wildlife, or other purposes often adds value to it, which you can recoup upon sale. In short, a little work now is worth the end result.

For those who can only hunt on public land or private hunting land for lease, it’s inconceivable that anyone would even question this. Public land hunters have many possibilities open to them, but very few of the ones this article will discuss. They can’t alter the land they hunt or improve it in any real way, and they have to share it with everyone else who decides they would like to try hunting there. Private land hunting doesn’t have these issues. Aldo Leopold once famously said in A Sand County Almanac, “A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke [of the axe] he is writing his signature on the face of the land.” It doesn’t matter if you like whitetail archery hunting, or prefer a firearm either. These techniques will work in either situation. Without further ado, let’s discuss the tactics you can use to make your property more attractive to wildlife, which effectively makes it more attractive to you as well.

Habitat Management  

Have no fear if you often wonder, “What do whitetail deer eat on my property?” Deer are well-equipped from getting everything they need from nature. So instead of fighting this or trying to outdo nature, sometimes the best course of action is to manage the natural habitat first. Smart management practices help improve the diversity of age classes, structure, and species in a forest or prairie. Management activities could include timber harvest, hinge-cutting trees, burning, or planting, to name a few. Let’s look at each one of these.

If your property consists of a lot of mature forest, you may want to consider a timber harvest. While mature forest is nice for bow hunting deer, it doesn’t offer deer very much in the way of food or cover. Consult a state or private forester to come tour your property so they can advise you on the best harvest practice. This is a long-lasting decision that could affect resale value if you’re going to take that route, so please consult with a professional before having a contractor cut anything. With some species and stands, a clear-cut is the best option (e.g., aspen trees), while for others it might be better to do a shelter wood cut (e.g. oak trees). The aftermath might look devastating, but it’s actually a fresh start for nature. The disturbance resembles a natural blow-down or fire event, and the sudden amount of sunlight to hit the forest floor will sprout up all kinds of herbaceous and woody plants, called early successional species. This young forest opening is perfect feeding and bedding habitat for deer, turkeys, grouse, and all kinds of other animals, which makes public land hunting even better. These areas are often the best for box stands for deer hunting, since you can hunt them stealthily all day while deer wander through a combined bedding/feeding area.

If you’re not quite ready to conduct a full clear-cut, but still want to improve your habitat and even add some variety to it, a hinge-cut could be a good idea. This practice involves only cutting non-desirable trees (from a timber or mast perspective) to release desirable ones, opening up the canopy, and adding horizontal structure at ground level. It can be done on a large or micro scale, and can easily be done yourself if you’re comfortable with a chainsaw. These DIY management activities are what make private land hunting so great. For larger canopy trees, many people fully cut them down and use the trunk as firewood instead of letting it rot. The hinge-cutting is best done on smaller trees, roughly less than 6 inches in diameter at breast height (dbh), for safety reasons anyway. To do one properly, slowly cut halfway through the tree on the opposite side you would like it to fall. Once halfway through, start slowly pushing the top until it leans over and falls. Cut a little more if you need to until it slowly falls over. You need to leave enough tree material connected so the roots can still keep the top section alive. This will extend the useful life of your hinge-cutting and allows the tops to produce tender growth at deer level, which they will browse heavily. This practice will also look very messy when you’re done, especially compared to surrounding mature forests with wide-open views. But that structure provides great bedding for deer, which can be great for bow hunting deer stands.

private land hunting guide how to maximize your opportunity Big Game Tree StandsIf your private property has a lot of old fields or native prairie remnants, burning is a very good practice. Many prairie communities evolved with natural fires, so they actually require an occasional fire to recycle nutrients, reduce the mass of organic material, remove woody species from taking over, and encourage tender new growth to sprout. Again, this is another practice you should do only with professional help unless you’re experienced in doing it, as it can quickly get out of hand and do a lot of damage. Prescribed burns, no matter how small, can do a lot of good at regenerating native species and providing lush new food for animals.

Finally, you could also plant native or beneficial tree, shrub, or herbaceous species on your private hunting land. Any wildlife planting you do should either provide hard or soft mast, or provide a good source of cover. For example, oaks and apple trees provide consistent food either now or in a few decades, depending on what you plant. Cedars provide a dense thermal cover for deer to escape from harsh conditions. A hedgerow of wild plum or crabapple through a field provides both food and cover. If you’re going to plant something, do it right by protecting your investment with necessary cages or tubes, and maintain it so that other species don’t immediately overwhelm it. In a few years, you should have a fairly self-sustaining landscape that provides much more than it once did.

Food Plots for Private Land Hunting 

Earlier we said that most deer populations don’t strictly need food plots to survive, but almost any population could benefit from them. A well-managed food plot can produce a tremendous amount of highly digestible and nutritious food that helps deer to reach their full genetic potential. And they are certainly nice when you plan on bow hunting deer. Food plots are probably the number one reason people would like to own their own hunting land. It’s no wonder, as planting food plots can be an extremely addicting hobby.

private land hunting guide how to maximize your opportunity Big Game Tree StandsWhile you can divide up food plot types in several ways, we’ll classify them as either feeding or hunting food plots in this article because they have very different outcomes. A strictly feeding food plot is meant to provide calories to the deer herd in an unpressured environment. Corn/bean fields and hay fields act as feeding plots from spring through summer. Private landowners often plant clover as a perennial food plot, which help nursing does and antler-growing bucks during the summer. Some people even plant fall food plots strictly to help deer through the winter and never hunt them. These plots are useful for building the resident deer herd on your property, and are amazing when used in or near a deer sanctuary area.

Hunting plots, on the other hand, are the secret weapon of private land hunting. They are generally much smaller than larger, destination feeding areas. Because of their size, they physically cannot support very many deer in them at any one time and are easier to hunt without educating the deer herd to your intentions. Bow hunting for whitetail deer is especially useful in these plots, since a hunter can shoot almost all the way across them in any direction. Additionally, deer are far more likely to use these hunting plots during daylight hours since they are so secluded and surrounded by cover. Hunting plots are usually planted with a highly attractive fall annual species, such as brassicas, cereal grains, or winter peas. When these species really start growing, you should have your best bow hunting stands hung nearby. By planting these plots on your hunting properties, you can strategically pull deer onto your land in the fall. Luckily, this is exactly the time you want them to hang out on your turf, so neighboring landowners can’t shoot them.

Private Land Hunting Strategies 

This is the fun part, when you can pull all the pieces of the puzzle together. It’s the time that makes private land hunting so much more effective than public lands in many cases. One of the curses of public land hunting is that you could let a deer pass by, and they might get shot within a few hundred yards by another hunter, giving you no incentive to let bucks mature into older age classes. You can’t completely remove this problem on private land, since deer can easily wander to a neighboring property, particularly if you own a few hundred acres or less. But you can mitigate it a little using the hunting strategies below.

It’s risky to leave ladder stands or lock on stands on public lands, and impractical/illegal to set up a box blind. But there are no such restrictions on your own property. While not completely devoid of theft risks, private land hunting offers a much better place to leave your tree stands in the woods or set up box blinds in a perfect location. With more permanent stand locations, you can also manage the habitat or plant additional screening cover to hide your entry and exit route. That way, you should be able to sneak in and out of a hunting situation without alerting deer to your presence. Box blinds offer high concealment value and are useful near food sources or bedding areas alike. They are particularly nice when the weather takes a down turn or you want to bring younger kids hunting with you. Big Game Tree Stands has a Trophy Box kit with wide window openings and a flip-up trap door opening.

private land hunting guide how to maximize your opportunity Big Game Tree StandsSpeaking of tree stands, they’ll only be useful if you hang them in the right locations. Expert deer hunting stand locations are critical as you chase older and more experienced deer. As we said, hunting on large destination fields is a risky move. It might pay off, but you could also alert a dozen deer to your tree stand location in the process, making them very wary of it or anything like it again. You’re better off sitting over a hunting food plot. If you plant feeding food plots near the center of your property with quality bedding cover on the perimeter of your land (which you can establish with the habitat work from above), deer have fewer reason to leave the area. Then you can strategically plant a few small hunting plots between the bedding and feeding areas, which will intercept deer in the mornings and evenings. By having a few well-spaced hunting plots that are different shapes, you can hang several deer stands to hunt different wind directions. Simply having multiple options for different conditions can be enough to fill your buck tag.

On this topic, you can find and kill a deer in most places without too much work. But if you’re after a specific mature whitetail deer, you need to always pay attention to the hunting conditions. The smaller your property, the stricter you need to be. Bow hunting whitetail deer in a tree stand with the wind blowing right into a food plot or bedding area isn’t going to do you any favors. To get a truly old monarch buck, you should wait for the perfect conditions before hunting a stand, which can be really hard to do if you’re getting daytime pictures of one. But hunting in anything less could jeopardize future encounters with him.

Whether you plan on bow hunting deer in the early season or firearm hunting in the cold fall, improving your property is a great way to invest your time and resources. With more homesteads and farms being sold to developers every year, private land hunting is disappearing in some places. But if you develop a lasting legacy on your property, it will be enjoyed for years to come.

hanging tree stands trim sooting lanes | Big Game Tree Stands

Hanging Tree Stands | How to Trim and Hunt Shooting Lanes

Cutting Shooting Lanes While Hanging Tree Stands

If you’re used to hanging tree stands in thick woods, you know the value of shooting lanes. Without them, you might be able to see a mature whitetail buck moving below you, but you could not ethically take a shot at it; this is especially true if you’re bow hunting. While natural openings work well enough in some forested settings, some are not well-suited for this. Some examples could include young aspen or conifer forests, which grow too densely together or have too many lower branches to effectively take a shot through them.

Conventional wisdom is to wait until the week before deer season opens before hanging tree stands and clearing new shooting lanes or cleaning up existing ones. This can be a problematic situation. Deer are far more familiar with their environment than many realize. Imagine if someone knocked down one of the walls in your house or cut down one of the trees in your yard. You’d realize it pretty quickly, right? Deer know their surroundings very well and can notice when something looks different. They can also smell the freshly-cut trees lying around with whatever other scent you leave behind. Depending on where you live, this might not bother them all that much or it might put them on high alert. For example, suburban deer might not hesitate to move through a disturbed area like this, but big woods bucks would certainly be suspicious of the area for several days, if not longer.

A better strategy is to go out in the mid-summer months to cut new shooting lanes and clean up old ones. If you hunt on private land, this is also a good time for hanging tree stands. Then, a week or two before the season opens, you can simply go check everything to make sure the lanes are still open and in good condition. Unless a tree falls within them, they should only require minimum work (and thus disturbance) to finish them. But first, let’s take a step back.

Planning Your Shooting Lanes

Before the chainsaw or pole saw comes out into the woods with you, you need to do some quick thinking. For help visualizing how the shooting lanes will fit into the surrounding area, use some desktop scouting software to map it out before you cut anything. Ideally, you should also climb into your tree stand and picture the best direction for a shooting lane to go. Which way would be the most advantageous for a quick shot? Also, how many do you plan to cut? You want to walk the fine line between not seeing enough ground and having too many lanes. Though each tree stand location will vary in its shooting lane requirements, a good rule of thumb to start with would be at least 2 to 3 lanes per stand. This way, you can cover three different directions to accommodate different deer travel patterns.  Be sure to remember this every time you are hanging tree stands.

The ultimate design or layout isn’t really important – it just depends on what you’re willing to do and how much the deer would be disturbed. If you’re going to cut a series of larger or longer shooting lanes, it’s best to do it now so whitetails have time to settle down and get used to the new openings. The simplest option is a basic V-shape extending out from your tree stands, so you can see in two different directions. Theoretically, if a deer walks in front of your stand, you should get one opportunity to spot the deer and one to shoot it with a quartering away shot. However, another popular option is the hub and spoke design, where there are several shooting lanes radiating out in every direction from the tree stand. This allows a hunter to intercept deer along any of these paths.

hanging tree stands trim sooting lanes | Big Game Tree stands

The ultimate length of each shooting lane will depend on your goals for that location too. For example, if you plan to only bow hunt from a given area, you really only need lanes that are at your maximum ethical shot distance. For most, that would be 40 to 50 yards in length. This helps you gauge distance without a range finger, and eliminates any temptation to take a longer shot. But if you plan on hunting with a rifle, you could easily have 200 yard lanes in front of you.

Trimming While Hanging Tree Stands

hanging tree stands trim sooting lanes | Big Game Tree StandsAs we mentioned, the best time to cut these lanes with the least impact is when you’re hanging tree stands. It doesn’t really matter which type of hunting tree stands you’re setting up. But if you’re going to go through the effort of cutting shooting lanes, it goes without saying that you should probably hunt it more than just once or twice out of climbing deer stands. The best tree stands for these lanes would be something more permanent, such as ladder stands. The Venture ladder stand has a wide, curved platform with a matching seat so you can watch several shooting lanes around you.

First, climb into your deer stand and locate the direction you chose earlier. Now pick a landmark tree off in the distance along your intended path. Stay between your tree stand and that landmark as you cut, which should produce a straight shooting lane. You can use a chainsaw for larger trees, but a simple hand saw and pair of pruning shears/loppers is usually all that’s needed for saplings and brush. Inevitably, there will be branches from larger trees extending into your shooting lanes that would interfere with a shot from up in your lock on stands. An extendable pole saw is invaluable for these situations.

How to Enhance Your Shooting Lanes While Hanging Tree Stands

Instead of simply piling the cut branches and brush off to the sides of each lane, consider using them to enhance your tree stand concealment. Wary whitetails often look down each side of a shooting lane before entering it. Your tree stands will really stick out if you don’t use some natural camouflage. Use zip ties or twine to attach some of the branches to your tree stands, which will break up your outline in the tree. Bring along a portable tree saw when you hunt, just in case something shifts in your stand. You can also prop cut trees up against your tree and attach them to the base so your single tree looks like a clump.

hanging tree stands trim sooting lanes | Big Game Tree StandsAdditionally, deer will sometimes use shooting lanes as short-distance travel routes since they offer the path of least resistance. But sometimes they will bolt right across them since they have no real reason to stay in the open. There are a few hunting methods to counter this tendency. The first would be hanging a scent wick where you want them to stop within the lane, and applying your favorite deer odor to it. Another, where legal, is to use a mineral block near the end of the lane to catch early season bucks.

Planting small food plot strips along your lanes is also great to hold them still long enough for a shot, this is something you should keep in mind when hanging tree stands and trimming shooting lanes. Provided your lanes get enough sunlight, simply use some herbicide on the existing vegetation, being sure to use one that will kill cut tree stumps (e.g., triclopyr) as well as the herbaceous growth (e.g., glyphosate). After letting the herbicide work for a few weeks, go back in and expose the soil using a hard-tined rake, roughing up the surface a little in the process. Broadcast seed that can handle your local soil, sunlight, and water conditions. Perennial clover varieties should work great on shaded trails with less-than-perfect soils. Remember, you’re not trying to make these shooting lane food plots into lush, ultra-attractive plots. Instead, you simply want deer to pause for an opportunistic snack while they’re walking through. Therefore, you don’t need to spend a lot of time and money making them look like one on TV.

You probably didn’t think much about shooting lanes when hanging tree stands before, except that they might give you a better shot at a deer, if you were lucky. But if you use the tips above, you should be able to increase their effectiveness many times over to put luck on your side.

early season bow hunting tree stand locations | Big Game Treestands

Early Season Bow Hunting Tree Stand Locations

Hunting Spots for Bow Hunters | Early Season Bow Hunting Tree Stand Locations

Early season bow hunting is when our life starts, at least that is what it feels like after a long off season and summer. Bow season is when our anticipation is at its highest point during deer season. It’s a new and fresh start to a 4 month long quest to find success. While we are still in summer, now is the time to plan and prepare for the start of this quest in deer season. The first month or two of the season, from September – October is considered the early season. Really a deer hunter defines the early season as bow hunting before the rut and firearms season begins. In order to find success your time starts now to identify and prepare your early season bow hunting tree stand locations.

When it comes to early season bow hunting tree stand locations, it helps to break down the season into four phases. Understanding these phases ultimately can help you determine exactly where your early season bow hunting tree stand locations should be.

Phase 1: September 15- 24th

Drury Outdoors THIRTEEN | Phase 1 A New Beginning
(Video) – The first phase of deer season is one of the toughest. It’s one of the hardest times for a bow hunter. Your anticipation is high, but daylight movement is low. You have to key in on you early season bow hunting tree stand locations, being cautious to put them between green food sources and bedding areas, but without bumping deer!

The first phase of deer season characterizes a great chance for bow hunters. This is the new beginnings phase, it is the start of deer season. If you are lucky enough to hunt in a state such as Kentucky, with a first weekend of September opener, you can score big, but it takes work!

The key for success in the first weeks of deer season is proper planning and preparation. The main thing this comes down to is velvet buck scouting and where you put your tree stands to intercept them. Early season bow hunting tree stand locations depend heavily on summer buck patterns and bachelor group movement. Bucks hit two areas, the bedding area and the food source. This usually means a secluded patch of hardwoods for the bedding area adjacent to the food source, which is usually alfalfa and clover fields, or soybeans.

Glassing and trail camera scouting during the final summer months leading up to deer season can reveal the movements of bucks. Careful planning around the pattern can help you select the perfect tree for interception. This will usually be a staging area before the food source between the bedding area and the food source or a tree on the edge of the food source within bow range of where the bucks will enter the field. One thing to remember during this time frame is access routes. You need to have an absolute bust proof tree stand access route in order to kill a bachelor group buck on a summer pattern.

When you pick the right early season bow hunting tree stand locations, success can happen within the first days of the season. Check out the hunt below to what success looks like in the first phase of deer season.

Velvet Buck Double in September!
(Video) – 2 Kentucky bluegrass velvet bucks are taken with bows, from the same stand, literally 5 minutes apart from each other! When it comes to getting early season bow hunting tree stand locations right, these guys were spot on!

 

Phase 2: September 25th– October 12th

Drury Outdoors THIRTEEN | Phase 2 Greener Pastures
(Video)- The second phase is all about 2 things, changing food sources and weather conditions. Soybeans are turning yellow, but food plots are just hitting the peak. A change in weather or a cold front could mean success when bow hunting.

The second phase of the early bow season is a time when a lot of hunters can find success. Soybeans and large crop fields especially in the Midwest are turning, and deer are moving to different food sources. The turning beans, harvesting of Ag crops, and date and temperature changes mean more daylight movement.

This phase can really be taken advantage of if you have a key resource, a green food plot! Once the Ag crops are vacated from the landscape, whitetails will start pouring into green food sources. But this is often times short lived opportunity, as the next phase can swoop in fast and disintegrate any chances of success.

Booner Buck In Early Bow Season!
(Video) – Brandon Jennings punches his Missouri archery tag on opening day with a giant buck! This early season bow hunting tree stand location turned out to be exactly where Brandon needed to be!

 

Phase 3: October 13-24th

Drury Outdoors THIRTEEN | Phase 3 The October Lull
(Video) – Once deer finally start moving more during the greener pastures period, it suddenly shuts down. Summer home ranges have switched to fall home ranges and bucks are very active on scrapes and rubs but during the night. Food sources such as acorns are everywhere, meaning deer do not have to move very far! To find success you have to have a great early season bow hunting tree stand locations, and a cold front to get deer on their feet.

When the October lull rolls around deer movement and sightings seem to stop! This can be one of the most frustrating times for a bow hunter. While your early season bow hunting tree stand locations were proving to be in the right spots for the first weeks of the season, movement has now stopped. During this part of the early season, whitetails bed more, move less, and feed on a plentiful acorn crop.

During this part of the season it’s important to take advantage of anything you can. During the October lull this means cold fronts and scrapes! While the majority of scrape action has been shown to happen at night, when you have a major cold front move through, deer will be on their feet!

The best early season bow hunting tree stand locations for this period is in large white oak flats, and transition areas around bedding areas and food sources where bucks will be visible in daylight hours.

 

Phase 4: October 25th – November 1st

Drury Outdoors THIRTEEN | Phase 4 Pre-Lock
(Video) This is the phase before firearms season opens, and bow hunters live for. Early season bow hunting tree stand locations should focus around doe hotspots. These include the food plots, bedding areas, and transition areas. Big deer are on their feet and it’s a bow hunter’s paradise.

The last phase of early archery season is the pre-lock or pre-rut period. This is what bow hunters live for. It is the period before the full out rut and chase phase kicks in, but still contains a lot of deer movement before firearms season comes into play.

Does are not in yet, but are close, unfortunately for bucks they have one thing on their mind making them vulnerable to a well-placed hunter in a tree stand and a well-placed arrow. The social hotspots, like food sources will be hotspots for doe and buck activity. Home ranges expand, posturing and sparring ensue, and your time in the stand will pan out to many encounters!

Early season bow hunting tree stand locations during this phase should focus on funnels, doe trails, outskirts of bedding areas and key food sources. Fortunately these will all be great tree stand locations for the upcoming phases of the mid-season and rut.

early season bow hunting tree stand locations | Big Game Treestands

The early season and first months of deer season is when bow hunters should capitalize. Before firearms season and the rut ramps up, take advantage of these 4 phases by placing your early season bow hunting tree stand locations in the suggested spots. A well placed tree stand, and well placed arrow is all it takes to find success during the early season!

make plans to stay comfortable in your tree stand | Big Game Treestands

How Staying Warm in a Tree Stand Equals Big Buck Success

Make Plans to Stay Comfortable in Your Tree Stand

You’ve been sitting in the tree stand watching your shooting lanes for what seems like hours. Your back aches, your legs need a stretch, and you can’t feel your rear end except for the millions of pin pricks starting to work their way up your body. You stand up for a while to get some blood flowing again in the cold Midwestern firearm season weather. But after you sit down again, the shivering starts. Your body starts uncontrollably shaking, but unfortunately not because of buck fever. You can feel the warmth and life in your body draining out through the cold metal seat beneath you. It must be lunchtime (aka, an excuse to get down from the tree stand) by now, right? Thinking you can’t last much longer with your numb hands and vibrating body, you check your watch and flinch in disbelief. It’s only 9:30 in the morning!

If you’ve been deer hunting long enough, you’ve probably been in this situation at least a couple times. The sheer mental boredom and physical strain of sitting absolutely still for hours takes its toll, especially when you’re uncomfortable. If you’re warm and have a comfy seat on top of one of your best tree stands, though, the time can fly by faster than you realize. And when you’re trying to put a mature buck in the back of your truck, you sometimes need to spend a lot of time in tree stands.

Why You Should Stay Put in Your Tree Stand

Think about it this way: the more you enter and leave your tree stands, the more you expose yourself to a deer’s senses. You make more noise by walking over the crunchy leaves and breaking branches, you leave a scent trail that’s difficult to fully hide, and your moving silhouette is a surefire warning to any animal watching. But when you’re in a tree, you’re quiet, scent-free, and camouflaged by your tree stand blind – fully hidden from sound, smell, and sight. This is reason enough to not leave for a midday warm-up.

make plans to stay comfortable in your tree stand | Big Game TreestandsBut if you want more proof, here are a few to chew on. Deer don’t spend their entire day lying down in one place. They rest for a while, get up and stretch, browse on nearby vegetation, eat mineral soil, drink water, and wander within or between bedding areas. Many believe they move a lot during what’s called the noontime stroll. If you can place your tree stands near one of these areas, you could watch a lot of deer activity throughout the day. During the rut, all bets on buck movement are off and you could theoretically see a deer at any moment.

All-Day Locations for Tree Stands

There are just some hunting situations and locations where you need to spend all day in a ladder stand or climbing stand. There’s no getting down for lunch to go warm up at the shack or the truck in these situations. It’s just you and the cold all day, so you need to be prepared. Here are a few locations or circumstances where your hunting stands and blinds might need to adopt the waiting game.

While hunting bedding areas is tricky business and has a high risk of educating deer, it’s also a great way to get close to a mature buck. For that reason, many hunters roll the dice occasionally for the opportunity to bag a buck in his bedroom. But since deer return to bedding areas in the early morning hours and will generally stay until almost nightfall, you have to be very dedicated to make this kind of tree stand location work. You’ll need to be settled into your stand at least 45 minutes before sunrise in most cases, more if you’re located close to a feeding area. You need to be quiet and fairly still from then until the sun goes down again. You could very likely see deer return in the morning hours, and they may even bed in front of you. In that case especially, being uncomfortable could kill your chances at staying still long enough to see a mature buck.

Similarly, maybe you’ll be hunting a popular public land area or you hunt a small private property surrounded by neighbors with an aggressive hunting approach. In these highly pressured systems, deer are going to be very skittish and extremely discerning about every little noise, movement, or scent they encounter. When a pressured deer catches you shifting around in or getting out of your tree stands, they will quickly drop a mental waypoint and avoid that area for a while. It may not be long-term, but it could be long enough to foul up your chance of seeing them again while you’re hunting.

Additionally, when you’re surrounded by other hunters, you can use that fact to your advantage. If you’re uncomfortable and cold, it’s likely that they are too. So if you can tough it out, they’ll likely get down from their stands and unknowingly chase deer right into your lap. One thing is for certain: you can’t kill a buck if you’re not there when he walks by your stand.

On the practical side, some stand locations may just be too remote to feasibly leave and warm up anyway. For example, let’s say you found a promising funnel location tucked way back in the forest using aerial scouting methods. If you have to hike back into the woods over a mile, you probably won’t want to get down in the middle of the day to return to the vehicle. In these cases, it’s better to pack a lunch and stay put all day. We’ll discuss more on the food side down below, since that is a critical piece of staying comfortable.

Staying Comfortable in a Tree Stand

As the popular saying goes, there is no bad weather, just bad clothes and preparation. You should be able to plan for almost any conditions while in the field so that you can stay comfortable all day long. It all starts with your deer hunting tree stands. The best deer hunting tree stands should offer enough room so that you don’t feel cramped. If you feel crunched for space with no room for your hunting backpack, you’re going to feel claustrophobic within a few hours, and your legs are far more likely to fall asleep. When you don’t feel like a stand is big enough, consider buying tree stands for big men, such as two person tree stand. Obviously the most comfortable options are fully concealed box hunting blinds, where you can seal out the weather conditions and hide your presence much better. Simply lounge back on your stadium chair, and you’ll be set for a day of hunting. This amazing tree stand accessory has multiple adjustments and folds down into an easily carried bundle.

make plans to stay comfortable in your tree stand | Big Game Treestands

Ideally, you should also have a few other critical tree stand accessories. No matter what kind of tree stands you’re in, you need to have a comfortable hunting seat to insulate your body from the cold and feel good to sit on. A portable hot seat is a great option to take with on any hunt since it is lightweight and does a great job at keeping your rear end cushioned throughout the long day. Another common issue with sitting in the woods all day is not having enough lower back support, which can quickly convince you to abandon your hunt before it’s time. The Big Game Tree Stands spring-back lumbar support provides just the right cushion where you need it, so you can stay upright and pain-free.

Clothing is one of the most important tree stand accessories around. If you don’t have the right clothing, you will be miserable and won’t last long, guaranteed. It doesn’t matter if you expect hot or cold conditions; wear a base layer of merino wool or synthetic moisture-wicking material, which will keep your skin as dry as possible. Wet cotton clothing next to the skin is a recipe for hypothermia in the cold. Also, wear several insulating layers so you can adjust it throughout the day. On the morning walk into your stand, wear only your base layers so you don’t get hot and sweaty. As your body cools, add more layers gradually. If the sun comes out and the weather improves, you can always remove a layer again. The key is to stay dry by not letting your body overheat.

Cold feet and hands are two of the most common reasons we might want to give up on a particularly chilly day. Avoid them by bringing high quality, insulated boots and gloves. For those situations where you need to have your hands available quickly, you can slip a hand/foot warmer into a hand muff and keep your fingers toasty without your gloves.

make plans to stay comfortable in your tree stand | Big Game Treestands

Finally, you need to have good nutrition if you’re going to sit in the woods all day. Pack a bigger lunch and more snacks than you think you might need, focusing on high protein and high fat foods. Protein and fat fire up our metabolisms and provide a steady energy dose. Carbohydrates like candy or donuts give us a quick sugar rush, but the resulting sugar slump is not worth the short term gain. Instead, bring a whole grain sandwich of your choice, nuts, cheese, jerky, sausage, and a few pieces of fruit. Whenever you start to feel tired, cold, or even mentally bored, eat a small snack. Also, make sure to drink your usual amount of water and bring along a hot beverage in a thermos to lift your spirits when you’re getting too cold.

Being comfortable in the woods isn’t like lounging on a couch. You don’t want to get so comfortable that you fall asleep and have to test out the strength of your tree stand harness. But comfort does mean being able to sit still long enough to see a buck you could shoot. Maybe that takes an hour, or maybe it doesn’t happen after a season of all-day sits. The point is that you can’t put venison in the freezer unless you put in the time to hunt. Setting your tree stands up for success means you have a far better chance than those that don’t take these steps.

spring food plots and tree stand and hunting blind placement | Big Game Treestands

Plan Before You Plant! | Spring Food Plots and Tree Stand Hunting Strategy

Spring Food Plots and Tree Stand Hunting | Planning Food Plots According To Your Hunting Blind and Tree Stand Placement

It Is March and once again the silence of winter slumber is broken by the sound of the tractor firing up. The feel, smell, and sight of dirty hands, diesel, and fresh dirt can be addicting to us, just as much if not more than turkey or deer hunting. It gets us excited and brings us satisfaction. There is nothing a hunter and manager would rather do more than climb up on the tractor, wipe the dust off the seat, and break open fresh ground, but is that really your smartest move? While it might feel like you are doing something positive you might want to think again, give it more time, more planning, and as a result, better execution. Don’t make the common mistake of creating a hunting strategy according to your food plots, when you should be planting spring food plots according to your hunting strategy!  Implementing the latter of the two will create more opportunity, better hunting, and more success.

The first question to ask yourself is why are you planting the food plots? For nutritional purposes or for hunting in the situation of the “kill plot”? You can bet on the majority of hunters that plant food plots, are doing so to create hunting opportunities. So which of the following situations would make the most sense?

Option 1: Going to a chuck of timber or an old field and clearing it, breaking the ground, and planting beans or clover just to find out there isn’t a single place to put a box blind, tripod, or ground blind that a deer wouldn’t bust your wind or your entry in.

Option 2: Strategically mapping known deer movement, tree stand or blind sites, and previous observations,  then taking that information to determine where, what type, and when a food plot would make sense in that area.

The choice is obvious, we understand that…and we know that if your planting a food plot you are already putting up stands or blinds in your mind. The problem lies in the fact that this thinking (not even enough to call it planning) happens when you are sitting on the tractor, or waiting for rain after planting. True, successful, well thought out plans for a food plot will only come from enough time being devoted to a map, scouting, past hunting observations, and more often than not, research on the subject. Here is some information that will help you out with your spring food plots, ensuring you are maximizing your efforts, time, and hard earned money.

Maps, Scouting, and Observations

Hopefully you took some time to shed hunt this winter, and took some notes down when you were out and about. Shed season was the perfect time to scout, you were not negatively impacting your deer season next year with the pressure, and deer sign was still fresh from November and December. Marking scrapes, rubs, funnels, highways, and bedding areas down on a map and coordinating that with hunting season observations give you a great idea of the daily movement that takes place on your property. When it comes to installing and planting food plots this spring, human pressure, staging areas and bedding areas are your biggest concern. Where are the deer, more importantly bucks bedding. Once a known bedding area is marked, next figure out when, where, and which type of food plot would make sense in the area. This is by far the most tedious part of effectively planning food plot strategy with your hunting strategy.

“Which type of food plot seed” depends on your “when”

The best advice in the situation, before diving into researching the when, where, and which type of food plot to plant, is to think about when you hunt, and what food sources are available during that time around the property. Are you a turkey hunter, a land manager, or a just a deer hunter? When you deer hunt do you hunt with a bow in the early season, or are you a gun hunter waiting on November and December? Each situation has its own, where, when, and which type of food plot you need.

  • Turkey Season

If you’re the turkey hunter, the ideal food plot set up is creating a food source and strutting zone that you can effectively hunt with a ground blind. In these situation size isn’t as much an issue as what type of food there is. In the situation of turkey hunting in the spring, the best candidate for turkey hunting food plots in the spring is clover and alfalfa. Clover and alfalfa explode in spring, making not only valuable spring forage for deer, but dynamite feeding and strutting sites for turkeys.

spring food plots and tree stand and hunting blind placement | Big Game Treestands

  • Nutrition and Observation

Late spring and summer are months of nutrition and observation. Does drop fawns, and bucks are just starting to develop some substantial velvet growth. During the lactation and antler growth stages of the year for deer, protein is valuable. Both pastures, hay fields, and food plots with substantial alfalfa and clover and large bean fields provide the protein and attraction deer need and want. These food sources also give you a great opportunity to sit up in an elevated box blind, a ground blind, or tree stand some distance away from the food, to observe and scout the bachelor groups.

  • Early Bow Season Attractant

Planting food plots in spring, in order to hunt over them in September-October will either take place in the form of the two best attractants of the season, beans and clover. Sure their might be some room for opinions, but staging areas in the form of small clover ( white clover) plots, adjacent or on the way to a larger food source like standing beans are dynamite locations for an early season sit. Deer will still be or just coming out of their early season patterns during early bow season, meaning they are unpressured in those small clover “kill plots”, and on the edges of large bean ag fields, or food plots Planting clover by frost seeding or drilling, disking, or tilling, in early spring during decent rain, will work for small food plots. If you want beans for the early season you will need either at least 5 acres, or install a food plot electric fence to avoid deer over-browsing the plot.

  • The Opening Day and Late Gun Season Attractant

Opening day of gun season is a holiday (at least it should be). Nothing is better than lifting a buck onto the tailgate during that weekend, so which food plot will give you that, or any weekend after until the close of the season? Beans, corn, and brassicas are the favorited in the November-January time period. Brassicas are planted in the late summer/early fall period before the season opens, so you can delay planning and planting that food plot until later in the year. Planting beans and corn however takes more time and precision. Cut corn fields make for some of the best rut hunting in November in the Midwest, but standing corn and beans in late November-January can’t be beat for attraction.

Design and shape

Size is important when it comes to which type of food plot seed you select, depending on the browse resistance of the species, but the design and shape of the plot can really start honing in hunting strategy, and working together with your hunting blind and tree stand placement.

spring food plots and tree stand and hunting blind placement | Big Game Treestands

  • Long rectangle

This is the most popular standard food plot shape and design, whether you are a firearms hunter or a bow hunter the rectangle is your friend. The length gives you the acreage and the long shot potential when hunting with a rifle or muzzleloader, but the width creates less pressure, stress, and creates more security for deer. It also happens to create a great location for a fixed position tree stand for close encounters for bow hunting.

  • L shape

The L shape puts a right angle in the rectangle this does three things better than the rectangle. It creates an elbow, a staging area, and creates more security. Creating essentially two different sections of the plot, while keeping the width relatively small creates the same acreage, but separates the field of view creating less stress for feeding deer, and more movement to see what’s on the other side. The bottom or smaller end of the plot basically serves as a staging area in this scenario. The smaller (potentially different food source) creates a smaller area for deer to stage in before entering the large feeding area. Both of these advantages gives rise to the third advantage, an elbow. The elbow is creates an ideal box blind, tripod, ground blind, or tree stand location, creating a funnel and views of both areas of the food plot.

  • Crows foot

Taking the idea of the Elbow to the next level is the crow’s foot. This obviously serves as an extreme advantage for firearms season. Strips of beans, cut corn, or strips of clover all sprawling out from a central location gives you three shooting lanes, and potentially different buffets for your deer herd.

 

Hunting Strategy

Now knowing your “when” and “what”, you will know exactly where to put it. Obviously a larger bean, corn, or brassica field will go wherever the acreage is available, but the smaller clover/alfalfa plots can be strategically placed. Creating these small opening, “kill plots”  n heavy timber, adjacent to thick cover and bedding areas, or as staging areas before a larger food source are successful food plot tactics.

The one thing above all else when creating a food plot is knowing how you will hunt it, and if it will work. A food plot that is not hunt able is not ideal, although it does have its place on some properties. A food plot that creates hunting opportunity is a key goal. Planning a food plot effectively means, safe non disturbance entry and exits, multiple tree stand, box blind, tripod, or ground blind locations for different winds, and a food source/hunting opportunity that is completely free of human pressure.

As you can see food plots aren’t a walk in the park, but neither is deer or turkey hunting. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be near as enjoyable. Studying, researching, learning, planning, and executing are all a part of the process…the resulting failure or success are both enjoyable, but success feels much better! Take these spring food plot and hunting strategy tips seriously over the next months, and hopefully you will reap the benefits of your hard work.