Trailcams:

- Set Your Cameras Up Over Minerals or Bait: Where legal, this is one of the best ways to concentrate deer activity around your cameras. Throw down some corn, a salt lick or an attractant like BB^2. You’ll get a lot more pics and a lot higher quality, as deer will be standing right in front of your camera, rather than walking by it. Using this method, you can take a pretty thorough census of your deer population. For more info about using your trailcams to survey your population, check out this article from Lindsey Thomas of Quality Whitetails.

- Set Up Over Travel Corridors: If it is not legal to use bait, minerals, etc in your state you will have to try the next best strategy. As far as I know, the best option is setting your cameras over travel corridors. Find those natural funnels, like fence rows, stream crossings, etc and strap on a camera that will capture that movement through these areas. When covering a travel corridor, try to angle the camera down the trail, rather than having it perpendicular. This will allow you to capture images of walking deer a little sooner, which will cut down on the number of deer that have walked out of the frame. If you’re in this kind of situation I would also recommend trying to buy cameras with very quick trigger speeds, you’ll get a lot better and more pics this way as deer walk past.

Observing Your Fields:

- Observe Soybean, Alfalfa and Clover Fields: These types of low height, lush and nutritious crops are prime observation areas for summer time bucks. Look for bachelor groups of bucks hitting these fields hard as they pack on the protein before fall.

- Be Scent Conscious: Even though hunting season is a long ways off, you still need to keep scent in mind. Make sure the wind is right when you sit over fields because you obviously don’t want deer on the field hitting your scent and spooking off.

- Make As Little Disturbance As Possible: Whether it’s with scent, sound or just sight, try and make as little impact on the deer as possible. Keeping them unaware of your presence will keep deer coming to the fields in the future and will preserve this area as a good observation post and eventually as a hunting location. Maintain a good distance from the deer your scouting and try to enter and exit the fields without alarming deer.

Bonus Tip: Don’t forget bug spray or your thermacell! This can make or break a trip! I’ve made that mistake a time or two haha.

Glassing Neighboring Properties From The Road:

- Scout The Surrounding Areas: A buck has a home range that usually includes many sqaure miles of property, most often this is on a number of different people’s land. That being said, don’t limit your scouting to just your piece of ground. Drive around the neighboring areas and glass their fields as well. These deer could be showing up on your property too, especially during the rut.

- Invest In Optics: Whether you are glassing a field from a truck or from your own land, you really need good optics. Whether you go with a spotting scope or binoculars, nothing can be more frustrating than a blurry, small image when you’re trying to get a good look at a rack. Getting a quality optic will make your glassing that much more enjoyable and fruitful.

So there you have it. Three simple steps to better knowing the bucks on your property as we head into the home stretch til hunting season. Although these aren’t revolutionary ideas, they are still important to keep in mind and taking the time to do this summer time scouting can some times mean the difference between a tag sandwich and a buck on the wall.

But maybe more importantly, this stuff is just plain fun.

A couple weeks back I was chatting whitetails with a buddy and we some-how got on the topic of scent control and the obsessions we both had. We both followed the usual routine of washing our gear and showering with scent-free soap, keeping all of our hunting equipment in scent-tight containers and then spraying ourselves down with odor eliminator before heading into the woods. I’m pretty sure that at this point both of our girlfriends rolled their eyes and began discussing how the two of us shared another thing in common. Insanity.

That point aside, I then asked him if he ever bothered eliminating his breath odor with something like the “scent free gum” that came out a few years back. He hadn’t and neither have I, but he did have another interesting solution to battle bad breath in the deer woods. Every time he went out to hunt, he ate an apple on the way to his stand, rubbed the core on the bottom of his boots and continued on his way. Simple, but intriguing, so I stored this little nugget in my mind for future consideration.

Fast forward to this weekend, as I was reading the newest issue of Deer & Deer Hunting. In an article titled “10 Tips for Better Bowhunting”,  Charles Alsheimer states “carry an apple with you and suck on a chuck of it as you sit in your stand. Apples are nature’s toothbrush and will take away unwanted breath odors.”

After again hearing about this unconventional idea, I had to do a little digging. Turns out it’s scientifically proven that apples can help fight bad breath because of their pectin content and the fact that they cause you to salivate heavily. Pectin is a type of fiber that naturally neutralizes odors that are common in your mouth and the increase of saliva production helps reduce plaque build up, which is another major source of odor.

So there it is, both Charles Alsheimer and my buddy, who dropped a P&Y monster last year after munching on this tasty fruit, have confirmed that apples might be the simplest and most effective way to control your mouth odor while hunting.

So although I can’t prove that they’ll keep the doctor away, I think it’s safe to say that an apple a day might just keep a deer’s nose at bay.

Ever tried this before? How’d it work? Have any other unconventional tips for controlling odor? Share them in the comments!

Although we are technically in the off-season of deer hunting, for many of us hunting is a year round pursuit. To make sure we’re all staying up on our off-season tasks, I thought I would highlight a variety of important work that needs to be attended to in the months leading up to the fall and the crisp mornings of hunting season!

Today I thought we would cover the simple, yet important task of trimming shooting lanes and clearing out trees for your tree stands. Now is the perfect time to visit your old stands and do clean up work or put in totally new stand locations. What else could be more fun on a 90 degree day with swarms of mosquitos attacking your every inch of skin? Haha.

Trimming Up Existing Stand Locations

If you are attending to already hung tree stands, don’t forget to consider the new growth that can come up since last fall. The last thing you want to do is head to an old stand on opening day and find a freshly grown branch of oak leaves in your face. Check all of your existing stand locations and trim out new growth, keeping in mind the balance between good shooting lanes and maintaining adequate cover. Obviously you want clear lanes to move your bow/gun and eventually see and shoot a deer through. But at the same time you need to keep enough branches, leaves, etc surrounding you in the stand to break up your outline and keep you hidden. Having a great view of a deer won’t help at all if he is looking right back at you!

Try cutting the minimum amount to give yourself a good shooting lane or two in each direction, keeping as much cover as possible without severely hindering your movement and shooting options. Even when cutting lanes in the summer, you may still want to arrive to your stand in the fall prepared to trim a few bits of new growth. Bring a pair of pruners or a hand saw just in case.

Shooting Lane Considerations for New Stand Locations

Cutting shooting lanes is just important when putting in a new stand, but new variables must be considered.

When choosing a new stand location, keep shooting lanes in mind even before selecting a tree for your set-up. The ideal tree is one that provides ease of movement and many shooting lanes naturally, while also having enough cover and a good backdrop. Keep your eyes out for these types of trees and it will make your work cutting lanes much quicker. Once you have an ideal tree selected, sit in your stand and consider the expected travel patterns of deer in this area. Try and clear at least one lane in each direction that you expect to see deer coming from. Keep in mind the same need for balance between creating good lanes and maintaining adequate cover. A good practice is to cut lanes with a buddy. One of you should sit in the treestand, while pointing out limbs and trees that need to be cut to your buddy on the ground.

Disguise Sign of Your Work

Another thought to keep in mind when trimming shooting lanes, especially if you are cutting trees/limbs on the ground is the process of disguising your lanes. For many people who hunt public land, you don’t really want other people to know where your hunting locations are. Freshly cut limbs and trunks are tell-tale signs of another hunter, so try to keep this type of sign to as minimal a level as possible. Keep this in mind as well for any last minute trimming you might be doing close to or during the season. Big mature bucks are likely to notice obvious human sign such as this, so don’t make it any more noticeable than necessary.

Ideally, cut your lanes and adjust stand set-ups as far in advance of the season as possible. The more time you can give deer to adjust to your presence and work, the better. Your trimming and cutting can be much more substantial the earlier in the season you begin as well. When making last minute adjustments, make as few changes as you can while still opening up decent lanes.

If you’re looking for an excuse to get out of the house and put in some work towards knocking down a monster buck, getting out to cut shooting lanes is a great option. Whether trimming out an old stand or putting in a new set-up, having adequate shooting lanes will be of utmost importance. Getting a great deer into range is a huge accomplishment, so don’t be caught unprepared when the moment arrives. Hunting mature whitetails is all in the details and shooting lanes are a detail you can not afford to forget.

Now these are all pretty high level ideas about trimming our shooting lanes. That being said, I’m sure some of you have some interesting tricks or ideas that you’ve picked up on when cutting your own lanes. If you have any good suggestions, please share them with the rest of us!

Tips for Choosing the Perfect Land for your Hunting Property

I’ve learned a lot from Ed Spinazzola over the last couple weeks as I’ve read his book “Ultimate Deer Food Plots” and hopefully you’ve learned a few tips along the way. We’ve covered everything from soil tests to food plot equipment, to specific planting strategies. But what if you don’t have a piece of land for these food plots? Well that’s where we’ll conclude our series on Ed’s book. For many of us, owning deer hunting land is a goal and a dream for the future. So when the time comes to choose our own hunting paradise, what should we be looking for that would indicate management success?

One of the first characteristics you want to look for are drainages. Deer love water and the surrounding areas. It’s no coincidence that some of the best deer hunting in the Midwest is along rivers such as the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Missouri. Water drainages obviously provide consistent water sources for deer, but they also produce lush forage and fertile soil.

That being said, soil quality is one of the next most important factors to consider when examining a new piece of land. The better your soil, the better chances your food plots will have. You may not have the luxury of taking soil tests before you make a purchase, but there are several visual indicators of soil quality that you can look for. One tell-tale sign of sandy, acidic soil (bad) is blueberries and sweet ferns. If all you have is a lot of bracken fern, take note of the height. Bracken fern will grow in most places, but if you have ferns above your waist that is a good sign. Another good indicator of high quality soil is goldenrod. The taller the goldenrod is, the better.

Topography is another highly desired element to any hunting property. Rolling hills, valleys, ridgelines, gullies and draws will all funnel deer movement and provide ideal cover and structure for deer to utilize. Not only will these land features help you pattern deer, but they will also increase the attractiveness of your land for deer and increase the level of comfort and safety the deer will experience.

Lastly, just as with food plots, deer need variety in their habitat. Look for a property that has a large variety of natural forage, tree growth, structure, open lands and timber. Provide many different food and cover options, with plenty of edges in between. Having this diversity will provide the best possible nutrition and living conditions for your deer, while also providing you with the best hunting opportunities.

So whenever that day comes that you get to pick out your own piece of hunting treasure, keep these pointers in mind. You can do all the work in the world to create great food plots, but if the rest of the ingredients aren’t there, your land management and deer hunting goals will be much more difficult to achieve. Ed Spinazzola went so far in his book as to say “I would recommend a 40-acre property with prime soil, hills, multiple plant types with serious drainage, over 160-acre monoculture flat, sandy, and waterless piece of land, even if it was the same price..” That’s a bold statement, but given Ed’s extensive experience, I’m certainly planning on following his advice.

To catch up on my previous 4 lessons learned from Ed check these links out: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4

In addition I also showed a little bit of our trip out to Iowa and our time spent with friends out there. Keep your eyes out for the 158″ Iowa monster at the end of the video!

Tuesday night I stopped by Cabelas to pick up a new block target, but ended up getting a little trigger happy and bought a bunch of hunting DVD’s. As I was walking out the door, I stopped to consider how many different shows and videos I’ve watched over the years. It’s a lot. Why in the world do I keep watching them? Shouldn’t they get old?

Unfortunately for my girlfriend and my wallet, for me they never do and I think that it’s for two reasons. First and foremost, I’m just fascinated with deer and hunting them. I just can’t get enough. It might be an unhealthy obsession. But I also keep watching them because I really do think you can learn a lot from these shows. That being said,  here are a few of the things that I like to watch for in my hunting shows and DVDs that have helped me become a better hunter.

1. Certain shows will tell you the age or antler inches a deer has after it’s been harvested. These shows can be a lot of fun to watch if you try and guess what the age and size is before they tell you. In the long run this will help you make more accurate on the hoof judgement calls. It also makes a great drinking game!
2. Watch how hunters make their shot selections. By watching many different kill shots, you can learn to identify what angles and positions are best for taking an accurate shot. In addition you can learn ways of achieving better shots. For example, when I was watching some deer hunting shows a number of years back and I picked up on hunters using a soft mouth bleat or grunt to get deer to stop in a shooting lane. That same year I used that technique to kill my first buck with a bow.
3. If you like to film your hunts, watching other shows is a great way to get creative ideas. Seeing the great angles or artistic shots that others have captured can be a great way to get your creative juices flowing.
4. Watching deer is definitely one of the best ways to learn about deer behavior and this is true whether it be in person or on the TV. Albeit being in person is better, but you can still learn a thing or two second hand through a DVD. Pay attention to how deer react to certain situations or variables. Someday you might find yourself in the same situation and after watching it on tv, you might have just a little bit better idea of how to handle it yourself.

So the next time your girlfriend or wife questions you about why you could possibly need another hunting dvd, hopefully you’ll be able to honestly say that its for educational purposes (at least partially haha) and you’ll have some points to back it up!

And if anyone wants to join me in Michigan to play the Monster Bucks drinking game, let me know!

Creating the best habitat on your property for deer is a careful balance of food and land management, but as most of us have probably noticed, food seems to get the most hype. That being said, you can’t afford to ignore the importance of providing great cover for deer on your land. In addition to providing great cover, you also should be providing safety and relief from hunting pressure. If deer feel safe and unpressured on your land, you’re going to see a lot more deer and they will spend a lot more time in your area. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to designate a piece of cover or bedding area on your land as a sanctuary. Now, although creating a sanctuary is nothing new, its important enough that some of these ideas should be repeated and kept top of mind. So lets examine four simple tips towards creating a great sanctuary for deer on your property.

1. Keep It Centered: If you have the option to create your own sanctuary wherever you like, putting it near the center of your property is best. The deer will be less likely to be disturbed by pressure on the surrounding properties and will have to travel around your land more often and for greater distances to go anywhere else.
2. Make It Nasty: Create thick cover utilizing brush piles, hinge cuts, clear cuts and select plantings. One great idea, if your sanctuary is small/moderate size,  is to use hinge cuts to almost fence in the outer boundaries of your sanctuary with thick cover. Leave a few select openings that later can be used as funnels to hunt over. But don’t hunt too close to the sanctuary.
3. Stay Committed: A sanctuary is only a sanctuary if you don’t go in. Stick to your guns and avoid the temptation to explore your sanctuary or hunt in it. To keep your herd feeling as safe and unpressured as possible, never venture into this area unless you are recovering a wounded deer or improving cover in the early spring or summer.
4. Provide Variety: Just like deer prefer variety in their diets, they also need variety in their bedding and cover areas. Provide different types of cover, if possible, such as a mix of pines, native grasses, blowdowns and hardwoods. Having clear cuts or fruit trees interspersed can also provide some fresh browse, which will make your sanctuary more attractive and more likely to hold deer.

Take these four tips into account when you are designing your sanctuary and you will hold more deer on your land and, most likely, more deer that have fat bellies and big horns.

I want to improve my land to hold more deer and encourage them to spend more daytime hours on my property…

I’m looking for a way to work on my farm to strategically manage where the deer spend time…

I’m going to be spending time this spring getting my hands dirty in an effort to help my hunting this fall…

Does it sound like I’m talking about food plots?

Well as important as food plots are to achieving these aforementioned goals, it’s equally important to develop and improve the cover available to my deer. Deer spend their time equally in or traveling between food sources and cover, so its important not to neglect either one when trying to improve your deer habitat. One of the most interesting ways I’ve heard of recently to improve your cover is called hinge cutting and it is a method that I want to try soon myself.

Hinge cutting is the act of cutting a small tree part way, so that you can bend it over to the ground while still keeping the tree alive. The process of hinge cutting allows you to improve the quality and quantity of thick cover in your timber areas. You can hinge cut to provide great areas for bedding, develop cover to encourage daylight movement or use cuts to funnel deer through specific areas. So lets take a look at how hinge cutting can help improve these various deer holding properties of your land.

Why Hinge Cut?

Deer are naturally going to look for the thickest, nastiest cover to bed in. So if  you can provide them ideal bedding locations, deer will gladly start using them! Find natural bedding areas, such as ridges, and sweeten the deal by hinge cutting trees to offer additional cover for deer to lie next to. The better your cover is, the more deer will be likely to bed there and the more likely mature bucks will feel safe there. When it comes to creating bedding areas, the bigger the area the better.

Hinge cutting can also provide additional browse for deer to feed on. This browse can come from the tree tops that you tip over and the new growth that can result from the tree being cut. Look for new growth sprouting from the cut tree trunk or starting up on the ground due to the additional sunlight that will come through.

Another great use of hinge cutting is to funnel deer through hand selected areas. If there are several paths leading into a food plot, you can utilize hinge cuts to block off paths and leave open only the option that brings the deer right by your stand. Deer are relatively lazy when it comes to obstructions in their path,  so they’re always going to look for the path of least resistance. By planning out your hinge cuts to push deer in the direction you want them, you will also be providing them with cover that will make them feel safer as they travel this new corridor.

If planned strategically and implemented correctly, hinge cuts can improve the quality of the cover and browse for your deer, while also encouraging them to spend more time in the areas that you want them.

How Do You Hinge Cut?

So hinge cuts sound pretty great, but how do you actually implement this strategy? Well the traditional hinge cutting method is pretty simple and it starts by selecting the right trees to try a hinge cut on. Generally you want to select trees that are around 4-6″ in diameter and are of little nutritional value to deer. You obviously don’t want to be cutting down your oak trees! Now that you’ve selected a tree, use a hand or chain saw to cut half to three quarters of the way through the trunk of the tree. Supposedly you can try cutting straight through or at a downward angle. Now reach as high as you can on the tree and try to slowly pull the tree over until the tree comes down, while still keeping the trunk in tact. Be careful while pulling the tree over, because  some trees can “blow out” rather than nicely folding down.

So although food plots are an awesome way to improve your deer’s habitat, you also can’t forget the importance of providing great cover. Hinge cutting is a quick, affordable and effective means of improving the cover available for your deer herd. If done correctly, it can greatly improve your hunting area’s ability to hold deer and hopefully will improve your chances of hunting them as well. I personally have never tried hinge cutting before, so watch for a video coming soon of me trying out this great technique on my own land!

And since I’m no expert on hinge cutting and I’m just learning the basics myself, I would love to hear some of your tips and tricks! If any of you have experience with hinge cutting, please share your best practices or thoughts on this strategy in the comments.

Special thanks to Bob Schuknecht for the included photo.

Deer Need Variety

If there is one thing that Ed emphasized in his book, it’s that deer need and crave variety in their diets. In almost all instances where Ed details food plot designs or plans, he includes blends of different seeds or multiple plots with unique forage. Providing variety in your food plots will benefit both the health of your deer and the attractiveness of your forage.

Deer are browsers, which means they feed on many different types of plants and need the unique nutritional value from the wide variety of forages available. No single plant can provide all the nutrients that deer need. Although deer do have four stomachs, unlike cows, if deer fed on grass alone they would starve to death. Providing deer with a wide variety of attractive food sources will both increase the nutritional value and digestibility of the deers diet.

Also keep in mind that different forage types are more attractive or more nutritional at different times of the year. Try and plan for this by providing a variety of food sources that will provide nutritional value throughout all seasons. For example, plants like clover can provide great nutrition during the summer, brassicas like turnips or rape will be very attractive in the fall and something like corn can be a great late winter food source to get the deer through the harsh weather.

Provide your deer herd with a delectable buffet of attractive and nutritious food sources and the benefits will be undeniable. With a healthy and thriving population of deer, you very well might be setting the table for an all you can eat venison buffet!

To catch up on my previous 3 lessons learned from Ed check these links out: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Many of us in the Wired To Hunt Nation are on the younger side of the scale when it comes to the overall hunting population. That being said, most likely, many of us have no land of our own or own small pieces of land if any. So can the “next generation of hunters” succesfully practice quality deer management on small parcels of land? I believe the answer is a definitive yes. Whether you have 20 acres to hunt or 200, you can still takes steps to increase the quality of your hunting and your herd. The steps you take may be different and the results might be less impressive than those on a 2,000 acre ranch, but success can still be had on small pieces of land. Read on for six thoughts to keep in mind when trying to practice quality deer management on your own little piece of dirt.

1. Improve Your Land’s Cover & Food: If you have a small piece of land, you can still make it the most attractive spot in the area for the deer herd. You can do this by providing the very best of two things. Food and cover. Provide great forage options and very thick cover nearby and you have the perfect set up to keep deer on your property. If designed properly, you can ensure that the optimal amount of daytime activity takes place on your property, before deer move on to other hunter’s land. Create sanctuaries and lots of thick cover to keep your deer bedding on your land,  then leave it alone.
2. Don’t Give Up On Letting Young Bucks Grow: Don’t shoot young or small bucks just because you assume your neighbors will. It’s common for many to have this frame of mind, but it can only make your situation worse. Now, yes, your neighbors may shoot some of the deer that you want to see grow older, but on the other hand maybe they won’t. They’ll only have that chance to mature if you pass on them. That’s all you can really control, so do your part and eventually you’ll see results.
3. Set Reasonable Expectations: If you’re on a small piece of land, you need to set reasonable expectations. You obviously can’t control what deer are harvested on your neighbors properties and it’s likely that too young of deer will be taken. Do everything you possibly can on your piece of ground, but realize that results will be tempered and slow to come if your neighbors don’t buy in with you.
4. Join or Create a Co-Op: Speaking of your neighbors buying in, one of the best ways to improve the quality deer management on your land is to get the surrounding hunters to practice QDM as well. A co-op is essentially a group of hunters who agree to a common set of guidelines for managing their deer herd. The larger the area and the more people you can get to practice QDM around you, the better the results can be. Reach out to the surrounding land owners and pitch them on practicing QDM along with you.
5. Hunt Smart: You can do everything in the world to make your land great for deer, let deer grow big and old and get more people around you to practice QDM. But if you don’t hunt your small piece of land effectively, you will never reap the benefits of your quality deer management philosophies. For example, always make sure to set up stands with wind direction in mind. Nothing will send a deer to your neighbors land faster than a nose full of your sweaty arm pits. Every action you take during the hunting season has to be planned strategically when you are hunting a small area. Small land means less room for error.
6. Limit Pressure and Activity: Tying into hunting your land smarter, you also need to reduce the activity and pressure on your land as much as possible. During the hunting season deer are obviously very effected by human activity, usually resulting in an increase in nocturnal behavior. Keep the pressure as low as possible on your land, so as to see the maximum amount of day time activity.

Quality deer management occurs on many levels and in many locations. No matter what your land size, shape or style is, you can improve the quality of deer and  deer hunting in your area. Keep these thoughts in mind and work hard, and you can enjoy the wonderful and far reaching benefits of quality deer management in your own neck of the woods. Have any other tips to improve the chances of success for a quality deer management program on small acreage? Please share them with the rest of the Wired To Hunt Nation!

For more on QDM from Wired To Hunt, check out these posts:

What Is Quality Deer Management?

Has The QDM Bubble Burst?  D & DH