I’m sitting at my friend’s place in Kentucky. It’s raining. I really dislike driving seven hours to sit inside and write rather than being outside and hunting. However all is not lost as it’s the pre rut! The pre rut is a time when bucks are pumped full of testosterone but most does are not receptive yet. Therefore bucks tend to move a lot seeking one of the few does that are receptive. In simple terms, bucks are more likely to be active during daylight hours during the pre rut.
Pre rut action is often substantially elevated when a cold front occurs. This is especially true if the cold front occurs during the first part of the pre rut as there are fewer does receptive and the bucks are searching throughout their entire range.
Cold fronts during the Pre Rut often result in increased buck activity.
A cold front often follows rains this time of year. So, while I missed hunting this morning the action may be great this afternoon and tomorrow! Bucks should be moving as the temperatures are forecast to drop throughout the day and tomorrow!
Bucks often will tend scrapes just after a rain during the pre rut. In fact, the pre rut is the best time of year to hunt near scrapes. So, I’ve selected a stand location this afternoon in a strip of hardwoods that connects to larger sections of woods. There are scrapes along this strip of hardwoods and I can approach with the wind in my face. I can approach, hunt, and leave without alerting deer using this travel corridor.
Cold fronts during the Pre Rut often result in increased buck activity. Selecting stands that can be approached without alerting bucks while approaching, hunting, and leaving the stand will increase your chances of tagging a mature buck.
The rain should let up soon and I’m about ready to head to the stand. I hope you have an opportunity to get out and enjoy Creation during the Pre Rut.
I really enjoy antlers. I think this is natural. The number of antlers painted on caves, cliffs, etc., around the world seems to support that man has always enjoyed antlers!
It’s important to remember that the meat and not the antlers is what sustained those folks that drew antlers on the caves and cliffs 1,000’s of years ago. My family consumes 10+ deer a year – mainly does. My entire family helps in the process of obtaining and preparing venison. Both of my daughters, Raleigh and Rae (ages 14 and 11) hunt. Tracy, my wife, helps process the venison.
My family hunts, processes and consumes 10+ deer a year – mainly does.
We skin, debone, trim off all connective tissue, remove lymph nodes, etc., and then use a vacuum sealer to package the meat before placing it in the freezer.
IF you have any doubt about the quality of venison, the Mayo Clinic says…
“In general, wild game is leaner than domesticated animals, because animals in the wild are typically more active. In comparison to lean cuts of beef and pork, game meat has about one-third fewer calories (game birds have about half the calories) and quite a bit less saturated and total fat. Cholesterol for wild and domestic meat ranges from 50 to 75 milligrams for a 3-ounce serving — with wild game tending to be in the lower end of the range.”
I enjoy improving the habitat on my farm and helping others improve their wildlife habitat and hunting by sharing tips and techniques on GrowingDeer.tv. I really enjoy antlers and managing to allow bucks to live to maturity and express most of their antler growth potential.
Even during prime hunting I rarely pass a doe unless there’s plenty of venison in our freezer as the real reason I hunt is to provide for my family while enjoying and partaking in Creation through an activity that’s as old as the drawings on caves and cliffs around the world.
I’ve received tons of requests to estimate the age of bucks on the GrowingDeer.tv Facebook page recently. It seems one of the toughest bucks to accurately estimate the age of is a 3 ½ year old. On most properties a 3 ½ year old buck appears more mature than most bucks. There will always be some natural mortality– so there will usually be fewer 3 year olds than bucks that are 1 ½ or 2 ½. The shoulders of three year old bucks often appear much more developed than younger bucks.
This is a great example of a 3 1/2 year old buck.
Another complicating factor is that typically 3 ½ year old bucks have expressed approximately 75% of their antler growth potential. So they are carrying a nice rack! All the above factors make it easy to overestimate the age of 3 ½ year old bucks.
When evaluating a camera survey or – even more importantly – when making a shoot or don’t shoot decision while hunting (Watch GDTV #103), I try to focus on body characteristics and not the antlers. I look to see if the buck’s back is straight or bowed (like an old saddle horse). A straight back is an indication that the buck is 3 ½ years old or younger. Likewise I look at his belly. A flat, tight belly is another sign the buck is 3 ½ or younger.
Bucks that are 4 years old or older often have a distinct hump over their shoulders. Three year old bucks can look like they have a hump over their shoulder in some postures – but 4 year old and older bucks almost always appear to have a hump over their shoulders in all postures.
Finally, I imagine placing a 2” x 4” tucked tight right behind their front legs and under their chest. Think of this as a balance rod. If the buck obviously tilts toward his rear, he’s most likely 2 years old or younger. If he balances on the 2” x 4” he’s probably 3 ½ years old. If the buck has the shape of a buffalo and would tip toward his head he’s most likely 4 years old or older.
The 2” x 4” technique of aging deer on the hoof has worked very well for me. I hope you have an opportunity to try it from a stand soon!
Bow season is open or opens very soon in most states. Many hunters have been planting food plots, scouting, practicing with their bows, etc. During all this activity and excitement, don’t forget the point (pun intended) that determines if all this activity results in fresh tenderloins or tag soup! I’m referring to broadheads!
Broadheads kill deer by causing rapid blood loss. The more rapid the blood loss, the shorter the trail. Most reviewers of broadheads seem to focus on the amount of cutting surface and how straight it flies. These are certainly important characteristics. Another characteristic that’s very important to obtaining venison is the sharpness of the broadhead! I wrote about that a few weeks ago in a post titled Why Every Hunter Should Want The Sharpest Broadhead.
Sharp broadheads are very important! However, sharp is only good if the broadhead is strong enough to stay together as it passes through the critter. A deer’s vitals are protected by ribs and a shoulder bone. Rarely do deer present a perfect broadside shot so it’s often likely that a broadhead will enter through the ribs and need to exit through the shoulder bone.
Your broadhead needs to be sharp and strong enough to stay together as it passes through the deer.
This requires a very strong broadhead to retain its shape and function as designed. I tend to always hug the shoulder tightly with my aiming point. If the deer is quartering away from me at all such an aiming point will result in an exit through the shoulder bone.
I shot a doe that was quartering away at a steeper angle than I thought yesterday afternoon and the G5 Striker head made a perfect triangle hole in the off shoulder bone. The trail was easy to follow and there was fresh venison laying less than 100 yards from the Redneck Blind where I was hunting.
I hope to make the perfect shot each time. That’s not realistic. That’s why I suggest all hunters use a very sharp broadhead that is strong enough to penetrate bone and result in a good blood trail.
There is an 80% chance of rain for Friday so I did one of my favorite activities this morning! I broadcast some Broadside fall food plot blend into existing soybean plots. In a couple of the smaller food plots here at The Proving Grounds the deer have browsed the soybeans so aggressively that 30-50% of the soil is exposed to the sun. Deer are still using these food plots so there’s probably 2,000+ pounds of quality forage in these plots per acre.
Deer have browsed the soybeans so aggressively that 30-50% of the soil is exposed to the sun.
I don’t want to destroy the existing soybeans. They are attracting and benefiting the deer. In fact, I may hunt over one of these plots soon. However, the soybeans in these plots won’t make enough pods to feed deer during the late winter. Therefore the table in these locations will be cleaned and deer will feel unwelcome and probably go somewhere else to eat (maybe other properties).
Rather than clean the table, I simply start serving the next meal. I walked through the plots and broadcast the Broadside blend with a hand operated spreader. The wheat, brassicas, and radishes will germinate rapidly if it rains as forecast. The special soybeans in the blend are bred to germinate and grow quickly. These beans won’t survive after the first hard frost, but are an incredible tasty appetizer to keep the deer feeding in this plot until the radishes, wheat, and brassicas are large enough.
You can broadcast right into your existing soybean plots.
This plan keeps the deer foraging in the plot without interruption and provides quality nutrition until spring when I’ll plant Eagle Seed forage soybeans again.
There’s another advantage that food plot farmers rarely talk about. Keeping forage growing year round drastically reduces erosion and nutrient losses to leaching (fertilizer leaching too deep in the soil for plants to use). Radishes and turnips are very good at “mining” nutrients. That is to say they capture nutrients in the deep roots and bring them back to the surface. Either deer consume the nutrients (the purpose of the plot) or the big bulbs rot and provide them at the surface for the next crop.
This is the system that kept the great prairies extremely fertile for centuries! It’s an inexpensive and natural way to provide quality forage for deer at your proving grounds.
I enjoy shooting both guns and bows! I was raised by a family that shot competitively. My father, mother, and both sisters and I have won numerous shooting matches in the National Muzzleloader Rifle Association’s competitions. I give all the credit for the wins to my father, Glen Woods.
My dad always had us practice in the same positions, at the same ranges, and at the targets we’d see at the upcoming matches. He’d also mix in some fun, like shooting at novelty targets.
The skills I learned as a child while being “coached” by my father have helped me through the years. However, just the knowledge of how to shoot won’t put many tenderloins in the freezer without continual practice.
I prepare for a successful season by practicing shot placement using 3D targets.
I believe it is just as important for hunters to practice shot placement as it was for me as a competitor to practice with the exact conditions I would see during matches! A great method to do this is to practice using 3D targets! It’s very easy to focus on where the arrow/bullet strikes the target, especially paper targets. To consistently bring home tenderloin, knowing where the arrow/bullet exits is as important as the entrance.
To take this a step further, I like to practice with the broadheads and bullets I use to hunt with. Finally, I like to simulate the conditions of shooting at a critter versus practicing quietly by myself. I often have my buddies shoot with me and encourage them to be talking, teasing, etc., while I’m shooting.
Finally, I continue practicing during season. It’s easy to practice all summer and be shooting great at the first of the season. However, it’s easy to spend all of our free time hunting once season begins. As the temperatures change most hunters will wear different/more clothes. This can radically change the sight picture of shooting a bow and/or gun. In addition, muscle tone developed by frequently practicing with a bow can decrease substantially in a few weeks if the practice frequency or duration decreases.
I’ve been practicing with my hunting gear, and will continue practicing throughout the season. How about you?
I often share about using game cameras to find and pattern mature bucks. This usually results in questions posted on my Facebook page from frustrated hunters that have tried the same technique and failed. They state they know there are mature bucks where they hunt but seldom get pictures of them on their cameras.
There are several likely reasons this occurs. It could be as simple as they are using poorly built game cameras that make too much noise when taking a picture and/or have such a slow shutter speed that mature/alert deer have moved out of the camera’s view before it takes a picture.
I use Trophy Rocks to bring deer in front of my cameras. I use Reconyx cameras as they’ve been shown time and time again to have a faster trigger speed, if not the fastest, of any game camera on the market. They are also extremely quiet when operating. I learned years ago it was better to pay more for a good quality game camera and have one that will work properly for years versus buying a less expensive camera and having to replace it frequently and get low quality pictures and alerting mature bucks.
I treat my boots with Dead Down Wind Field Spray before going to a camera site.
Even if your equipment is working well, there’s still another factor that impacts the success or failure of locating and patterning bucks with trail cameras. Most hunters don’t use any scent control when checking trail cameras. The same hunters wouldn’t think about hunting a stand without checking the wind and/or using some process to reduce their odor.
I prefer to wear clean boots and treat them with Dead Down Field Spray before going to a camera site. It’s easy to grab a trail camera with sweaty hands and pull the card/check the batteries. However, doing so simply leaves a substantial predator odor imprint exactly where I don’t want bucks to be alert. That’s why I use Dead Down Wind Field Wash Cloths to remove odor from my hands and the camera.
These simple steps can play a big role in finding and patterning a good buck, and ultimately lead to tagging him! Ignoring these steps can result in alerting mature bucks during the early season and sending them into nocturnal mode before the hunt begins.
Many hunters, including myself, are “scouting” for stand locations this time of year! However, we don’t and shouldn’t always have to spend days busting through the woods to find stand locations.
If the goal is to find and harvest a mature buck then the least disturbance we can cause while scouting and still obtain useful information is better. Mature deer have some level of memory. That can serve hunters well if deer use their memory to return to the same food source, bedding area, or water source.
However, a deer’s memory can also limit the success of hunters if deer avoid areas due to associating (remembering) that area with fear. So, I prefer scouting using Minimal Disturbance Entry (MDE).
In areas where soybeans and other crops that deer prefer are grown, scouting may be as simple as cruising the roads around the area where you hunt. Often mature bucks can be seen foraging in soybean fields just before dark. Watching bucks this way is fun, but is only the first step in this scouting technique.
I use Nikon binoculars when cruising the roads looking for mature bucks to hunt.
Once bucks are located and you’ve confirmed that they are returning to the same field it’s time to use the best scouting tool – your brain!! Rather than go into that area and risk putting the bucks on high alert, consider where the closest bedding area is. Is there a bottleneck such as a narrow strip of woods, pinch point between cover and a river, fence gap, etc., between where the bucks are feeding and where you believe they are bedding?
If so, then consider if you can approach that area to hunt without alerting the bucks to your presence. If there is then you’ve found a great stand location! Remember that bucks often change patterns and use other parts of their home range during the next few weeks as the soybean forage begins turning yellow and the bucks’ hormones change. Once you’ve located a buck this time of year, careful scouting and stand placement can lead to filling a buck tag within the first few days of the season!
Just before and soon after bucks shed velvet they are usually on a food/cover pattern. Locating the preferred food and cover – and just as importantly, a stand location in between that allows the hunter to approach, hunt, and exit without alerting deer — is a great scouting technique!
