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When people ask me about how my hunting season went this year, I simple reply with a shake of the head and tell them ”I‘ve had better seasons”. From wild horses and roaming cattle to dudes on 4-wheelers and bad luck, my season was for the most part a big fat bust. Now that’s not saying it was 100% crap. I did have a couple exciting encounters with some of the bucks on my hit list, but either they didn’t offer a shot or I decided to pass.
Not A Good Start
I ran my trail cameras for most of the summer and by the time October 1st rolled around I had put together a pretty good hit list of mature shooters. I started off the season like I always do, trying to lay down a doe and put a little meet in the freezer. Easy, right? The evening hunt of October 1st a group of does came down the edge of a fence-line like they read a script. Filming myself, I turned on the camera, picked out the doe I wanted, and smoked her at 18 yards. Perfect shot. She ran in to chest-high CRP… for those of you who have ever tried to follow a blood trail in tall CRP, not fun. I looked for about 2 hours in the dark and then decided to come back in the morning and start fresh with an extra set of eyes. One word, “Coyotes”. If you ever have one of these “pests” within range, kill them dead! No meat for me, I tried for a doe the next 2 weekends with no luck. I had no idea this is how the rest of the season was going to go.
Shipwreck Falls
Shipwreck in 2010, the year I shot, but didn’t kill him.
I got my first set of trail camera pictures of Shipwreck (a buck I have been hunting for 5 years) on June 28th, knowing he was still alive gave me the motivation I needed going into the season. My plan was to stay out of his area until the right conditions were presented.
Picture of Shipwreck from June of 2011 .
But that opportunity never came, as I got a call one day while at work, telling me that a good friend Sam Collora (who hunts a neighboring property) killed Shipwreck the night before; he scored just over 200”. I was sad, happy, and pissed all at the same time. Knowing that he was no longer in the picture I could focus on other properties. I also could now truthfully tell my Fiancé she is the most important thing in my life! Look for another article about the Deer God Shipwreck in the near future.
This is where it starts getting good, and when I say “good” I really mean “bad”.
Megatron is a giant 6 ½ year old 8 I have seen for the past 3 years, hope he makes it.
Aside from a lucky encounter with a buck I named Megatron (6 ½ 160” class 8 – thank God for Ozonics), on a random south wind run-and-gun set up, and another encounter with Johnny Utah (3 ½ 145” 10), that was about it. I can’t say I even saw a lot of Larry’s (small bucks), or even does for that matter. I honestly think the numbers in my particular area were down from previous years. In connection with not seeing a lot of deer, I also had to share this property with another hunter and had a perfect set ruined by some kids driving 4-wheelers. On top of that, due to down fences and gates that were left open by coon hunters, both horses and cattle had free range of the property keeping the deer out of the fields and pushing them to god knows where. This also made me mad, but not much I could do about it.
Had a couple of encounters with Johnny Utah this year and passed him twice.
One Last Chance
The very last day of my vacation I did have a hot doe come through at 2:30pm that was being chased by 4 different mature bucks, one was a 150 class 10 who did not present an opportunity, and the other was a 145 class 8 I named Edward Scissor Hands who I ended up passing in hopes that the other buck would come back through. He did not, and after reviewing the footage I regret not shooting the 8. Oh well. Right at last light a huge 160 class 10 came through and there was some miscommunication between me and the cameraman on what direction the deer was going, yet another missed opportunity. Story of my season.
This is Triple Sec doggin’ a doe.
I passed Edward Scissor Hands… that was dumb!
The big 10 that I screwed up on. I almost jumped out of my stand.
I did get a couple more chances in December to get in the stand, but with the deer still in shock from shotgun season, I had no luck. Overall, I did what I could. I hunted hard and put myself in a position to kill every time I went out. I observed and learned more about the properties I hunt in hopes that next year I will get another opportunity at a mature buck. So now that the bow season is over I switch my focus to shed hunting. I have setup some trail cameras in hopes of seeing what bucks made it through the season and when I need to start my miles for piles.
There’s Always Next Year
Overall, I may not have gotten the results I wanted, but I did learn a lot and I will adapt for next season. And most importantly, I had a hell of a lot of fun and was able to spend time with some of my good friends. I love this sport and when October comes back around you know where I’ll be.
P.S. I hate coyotes.
Friday Morning Mashup 1/26/12
27 Jan2012
The weekend is finally here, so without further delay, here is your Friday Morning Mashup! We’ve got some giant bucks and a few neat shed hunting articles too. And while it’s true that the “off season” is here, there’s still plenty to keep whitetail hunters busy. So read up on this great whitetail literature and then go enjoy the great outdoors!
Giant Whitetails – A Trailcam Surprise – DreamDirt: Our pal Jason Smith of DreamDirt got some trailcam pics/video of some GIANT Iowa bucks recently. Gotta love these kind of surprises!
Shed Antler Hunting Tips and Strategy – DreamDirt: Speaking of Jason, he also put together a great shed hunting article, which ought to be useful for a lot of people with shed hunting just over the horizon!
Search for Antlers – HuntingNet.com: Brandon Wikman gives us his two cents on why you should hit the woods in search of fallen antlers! I’d recommend it as well.
We Found Them! G4′s Sheds – Midwest Whitetail Blog: If Brandon’s blog still didn’t get you excited to shed hunt, this one definitely will. Check out the MEGA-GIANT sheds that Bill Winke and his crew recently found off the buck they call the Double G4 buck.
Top 10 Recommendations for Managing Land to Yield Mature, Huntable Deer – Growing Deer TV Blog: Dr. Grant Woods discusses the first of his top 10 recommendations for managing land to grow more mature bucks. Specifically he discusses the fact that “dead deer don’t grow”! …Write that down.
Tall-Tined Indiana Giant Buck – 169! – Mike Hanback’s Big Deer: A great story of an Indiana giant. These big buck stories are just what ya need to stay motivated through these cold winter months to keep working towards the 2012 season.
- In: News
- Tags: deer hunting news, Wired To Hunt
It may be the “off season”, but is there really ever such a thing? Even though most of us aren’t able to shoot deer right now, the work being done at this very moment could help you close the deal next fall. So with that being said, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get to work and here are four projects you can focus on right now that should help you close the deal in 2012!
1. Look For New Hunting Ground: As we all know, hunting ground can come and go more often than we like. So it’s always a good idea to have more than you need. Now is the perfect time to start your search for new property, and I like to do this in several ways. First off, if you’re looking to determine what properties are worth leasing or asking permission on, over the next few days you can still spot a lot of deer in fields with headgear, and a few drives around town can help you identify general areas with good bucks. Then in February and March go ahead and try getting permission to shed hunt on some of these properties. From here, take this opportuntiy shed hunting to also do some good scouting and determine whether any of these properties are worth pursuing further.
If you’re looking to lease or buy ground, take advantage of online hunting property sites like Whitetail Properties, Hunting Lease Network or Base Camp Leasing to help you find available properties. The internet is an incredible resource when it comes to finding and researching new properties, and online maps like Google Maps can be hugely helpful as well. That all being said, don’t forget about the power of good old fashion people too. Sometimes just asking around can be the ticket for finding a gem of a hunting location. And remember, when it comes to asking for permission, the worst they can say is no!
2. Practice With Your Bow Or Gun: This is a task that should, if possible, be year round. I know this is certainly not revolutionary advice, but it’s so important I just have to bring it up again. All the work in the world is wasted if you can’t make the shot count in the end.
Practicing with your weapons of choice in the off season is obviously helpful to stay in shooting shape for next fall, but it’s also a fun way to shake off that cabin fever. And if you’re really looking to take your target practice to another level, hit the woods and do some coyote hunting! Kills two birds with one stone.
3. Review Your Past Season: Here’s something that I’ve been trying to do a better job of the past few years, and it is reviewing my past season. If you keep a hunting journal, it can come in really handy for this. If not, no worries, just try to take some time over the coming weeks to look back on your hunts in 2011 and analyze what went right and what went wrong. If you can pick out at least one mistake, and brainstorm how you could have done things better, it should help you down the road.
You can also study any notes, videos or pictures from the past season you collected, and sometimes these records can help you identify trends or patterns. I’m trying to get better at collecting as much data from each hunt as I can, for example wind/weather/stand location/etc, and then recording it. This gives me some great information to look back on and consider for future reference.
4. Keep Learning: If you want to be a great whitetail hunter, I’m convinced you need to be a life-time learner. There’s always more to learn when it comes to whitetails, and these cold winter months are the perfect time to catch up on some whitetail studies.
Looking for some ideas? Here are a few pieces of recommended reading that I’ve enjoyed recently – Mapping Trophy Bucks, Bowhunting The Eberhart Way, Deer & Deer Hunting’s Guide To Better Bowhunting and Hunting Mature Whitetails the Lakosky Way. It also couldn’t hurt to keep up on Wired To Hunt too!
So if you’re starting to get the post-whitetail season blues, don’t fret. A new season has begun and it’s time to get busy!
It’s the beginning of a new season and hopefully, for all of us, 2012 will be a good one. As most of us are just coming off of a long 2011, I thought the video below might just be the perfect way to get you back in the game and pumped up for the new year. If this highlight reel from Whitetail Properties doesn’t get you excited for the upcoming year of whitetail preparation and hunting, I’m not sure what will. Gorgeous footage of monster bucks, it doesn’t get much better than that. So sit back and enjoy. Our season has just ended, and now we begin again. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?
The 2012 SHOT Show – First Impressions
24 Jan2012
As many of you know, last week I attended the 2012 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, which is the largest shooting/hunting/outdoors convention in the country. Needless to say, it was a wild and overwhelming experience. The week prior I attended the largest archery only convention, ATA, and I thought that was big! But SHOT truly dwarfs it. That all being said, regardless of the size, the SHOT show truly was an incredible experience. With the latest and greatest hunting products from across the hunting world represented, there truly was too much to see. I only had one day, so my time at SHOT consisted of me running back and forth across the mammoth convention center for 10 hours striaght, seeing everything I possibly could.
Along the way I saw some incredible new products, a lot of interesting folks and a good number of my friends in the hunting world as well! A few of the more interesting new products that I saw came from companies like Thompson/Center, Sitka Gear, Under Armour, Bushnell, StealthCam and ScentLok. But there’s truly too much to mention in a single post. So that being said, keep any eye out for new product videos from both the ATA and SHOT shows coming soon! Until then, here are a few images from my time down in Vegas!
A week or two ago I posted an article called “Small Property, Big Dreams” in which I excitedly detailed my plans for turning my home property into a big buck haven. Well that dream has now, quite quickly, disappeared as a possibility. The property I live on is in fact rented, but I had high hopes that after renting for another year or so, I’d be able to work out a deal to buy it. So much for that…
I just recently found out that an Amish family in the community put in an offer on my home/property that was too good for my landlord to ignore, and even though we had the chance to match it, we just didn’t have the funds. So here I am, looking at a fourth move in just as many years. Needless to say I’m disappointed, frustrated and just plain bummed. I was really pumped about this property’s potential, and I was so happy to finally be able to hunt in one place for multiple years in a row, learn it and start managing. That’s all ancient history now though, so I suppose there’s no use dwelling on it. On to Plan B.
From here I only have one option, and that’s to go find new hunting ground (and a home for that matter)! So I’m keeping all my options open, with the number one priority being that I find a great piece(s) of ground that I can hunt for multiple years. I’m open to leasing, finding ground by permission or even buying.
So now I’m on the hunt again and not the kind I expected for this time of year. I figured my 2012 season would start with sheds, but now it looks like I’m on a much different journey and most likely one thats more expensive to boot!
That being said, I’ve got my fingers crossed that I can somehow land a property before the end of March so that I can get in some good shed hunting and scouting, and hopefully still have most the year to prepare. So while my hopes for my current property won’t be fulfilled, there’s no telling what new exciting times might be ahead of me on whatever new land I find. I’m not going to let this bring me down, and hopefully I can take the same philosophies I planned here and bring them to fruition on whatever ground I can get on in the future.
2012 is going to be a good season, it just has to be. While this certainly throws a wrench in my plans, I’m not going to let this stand in the way of my goal. The buck of my life is hitting the ground this fall, and no matter what property I’m on, that big dream can still become a reality.
- In: Stories from the Field
- Tags: mark kenyon, Wired To Hunt
I’ve always figured that success while whitetail hunting occured by virtue of three things. Skill, determination and luck. And today’s story from Greg Haak highlights possibly the most important. That being luck! I learn as much as possible, and hunt crazy hard, but I’ll take lucky any day. And that’s just what Greg did with this dandy Wisconsin buck. Congrats Greg! – MK
“With early bow season behind us, the annual gun season is underway in Wisconsin. Even though I gun hunt every year I don’t get very excited for it because I usually don’t see too much. Opening was uneventful like usual for my property. All I saw were two deer all weekend; a nubber and a little 6 point. Luckily deer activity always seems to pick up after opening weekend and I had off the whole week from work because business was slow. When Monday morning rolled around my alarm went off at 5:45 to get out to my stand; but since I was already irritated with the gun season I decided to go back to sleep. I finally got up around 8 am, ate breakfast and watched Sports Center, debating where I was going to hunt in the evening.
Around 9 am I decided to walk through a little strip of trees behind my parents figuring I wouldn’t see anything. As I expected nothing was up but as I got to the field trail and was walking down the hill I looked up and saw something that didn’t look familiar about 250 yards away. I quick glassed it confirming it was a buck with a doe. I wasn’t sure if he was big enough to shoot but he looked like a decent 8 point. I knew I had to sneak about 10 yards down farther to get a shot. A few minutes later I was in position but wasn’t sure were the buck went! I sat there for a little while and finally I saw the doe getting chased by the buck 150 yards away. I got my gun up and the buck turned and I could tell he was a 10 and could see one broken point, definitely a shooter.
I clicked the safety off and just as I was about to pull the trigger he took off after the doe again. I lost him. I was reluctantly scanning the bottom just as a buck would that comes in to rattling looking for a fight. Then I saw him 100 yards away in the bottom of the corn field. I got my gun on him clicked the safety off, settled the cross hairs and pulled the trigger. The buck didn’t move. He stood there as healthy as could be. I slowly loaded another shell and looked through the scope. I saw the culprit; a broken sapling laid 5 feet in front of me!! I quickly moved up a little, settled the cross hairs for the second time and again shot, same result as the first shot, a clean miss. I couldn’t believe it; I looked in front of me and noticed a second broken sapling. Ironically the buck ran ten yards towards me, stopped, picked up a whole ear of corn and started eating. I stood up this time ensuring no brush was between me and the buck, laid my cross hairs on him for the third time and pulled the trigger. This time I drilled him and he ran 40 yards and pilled up.
When I walked up to my buck I was pleasantly surprised. He was a typical 12 with a broken g3 and g4 on opposite sides. As soon as I got him home I got the tape out and grossed him at 151 3/8 with the broken point; if he was complete he would be around 165”. What an awesome day. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky then good.” – Greg Haak
For more from Greg Haak and the rest of the BMG Outdoors team, visit the BMG Outdoors website here.
First Shed Buck Of The Year
23 Jan2012
Well. He’s certainly not anything to get too excited about, but this little fella is the first buck I’ve seen so far this year that’s shed an antler. And THAT is exciting. The first phase of the 2012 season will be kicking off soon with shed hunting and I can not wait. My plan for the next few weeks is to keep a steady supply of Big & J’s BB2 and a few other attractants well supplied in front of my trail cameras. And when I see the majority of the bucks without antlers, I’ll start searching. Also by having an attractant/supplement like BB2 or something similar available, it can help draw bucks into a smaller area and hopefully will result in a few of them shedding their antlers nearby!
Anyone else seeing shed bucks already?
Interested in getting ready for shed season a little early? Here is a link to our compilation of the best tips and tricks for shed hunting from some of the best in the hunting industry…
The Ultimate Shed Hunting Resource – Expert Shed Hunting Tips, Strategies and Suggestions
- In: Stories from the Field
- Tags: 2012 shed hunting, bb2, big & J, shed antlers, shed hunting
Sportsman Channel and Outdoor Channel Awards Announced – Big Wins for the Wired To Hunt Nation
20 Jan2012
The last two days at the SHOT show have brought the announcements of the winners for both the Sportsman Channel and Outdoor Channel’s 2011 awards. Of course this is always an exciting set of annoucements, but this year it’s even more so, as a bunch of folks who follow Wired To Hunt took home hard-wear!
Specifically on the Sportsman Channel side, all four major hunting related award winners were shows put together by people that are part of the Wired To Hunt Nation! Huge congrats to all of our friends and keep up the great work!
So without further adieu, here are the winners of the most relevant awards from the two ceremonies!
Sportsman Channel – Sportsman Choice Awards
Best Hunt Show – Midwest Whitetail with Bill Winke: Big win here for our friends at Midwest Whitetail, who actually won by write-in!
Best Bowhunting Show – Heartland Bowhunter: Definitely a deserving award for our pals over at HB!
Best Animal – Whitetail Deer from Whitetail Properties: While I thought WP was also deserving of the best hunt show, I’m glad they at least got some recognition on award night with this award.
Best New Show – Hallowed Ground Outdoors: Great news here for our friends at Hallowed Ground Outdoors who had a great first season!
Outdoor Channel – Golden Moose Awards
Fan Favorite Hunting Show – Bone Collector: Finally got to meet Michael, Nick and T-Bone at the ATA and SHOT shows, all great guys and look for them to appear more on Wired To Hunt in the future!
Best Big Game Hunting Show – Driven TV with Pat & Nicole
Best Deer Hunting Show – Craig Morgan All Access Outdoors:
Fan Favorite Overall Show – Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild: Big win here for my fellow South Central Michigan hunter!
The view from my hotel room this morning in Las Vegas.
Gotta love show season! While seemingly just returning from the ATA show in Ohio, I’m now already waking up this morning across the country in Las Vegas, Nevada, here for the only hunting related show bigger and more exciting than the one I was at last week! The SHOT show is the nation’s number one hunting, shooting and outdoor related convention and I’ll be attending for the first time this year. I’ve actually heard rumors that if you were to walk down every aisle of this convention once, you would walk something like 30 miles!
That being said, I’m not planning on seeing everything! haha. But, I am planning on seeing as much as I can that pertains to whitetail hunters. New rifles, muzzle loaders, trail cameras, camo and accessories, I’m sure there will be tons to see. So as we did last week, I’m planning on sharing as many pictures and updates as I can throughout the day on the Wired To Hunt Facebook page.
Be sure to “Like” our page, and then check back frequently as I’ll be posting all the highlights throughout the day. And hopefully late this week I’ll be able to get videos from ATA and SHOT online too!
