Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2021 i Deer & Deer Hunting

It’s something I’ve said for years: When it comes to white-tailed deer, big or small, I love’em all. This holds true to this day, especially with the bucks I’ve taken during my 38 seasons as a deer hunter. In fact, I have every set of antlers from every buck I’ve ever taken, and — although I’m not known for being a man with a great memory, I do recall the circumstances to each and every one of those 80-some-odd whitetails. To me, it’s always been about the memories. Sure, there are some gorgeous shoulder mounts on my walls to showcase some of the deer with more impressive headgear, but the memories of those hunts are no less than the spikes and forkhorns that I have nailed up in my barn…

My wife is an excellent cook. She cooks vegetables lightly so they retain shape and flavor, fish is moist and firm, and red meat is medium-rare to medium, the way it should be. Freshness and care are keys. So I watch with great gustatory anticipation when I view a venison tenderloin, loin or steaks sizzling on a platter as it is set on the dinner table. I reverently transfer one to my plate, cut a bite-size piece, impale it on my fork and do a good imitation of Pavlov’s dog as I admire it. Actually, I don’t drool, but I do enjoy the appearance of a piece of red meat that is pink to red in the middle, is moist, and exudes an aroma we omnivores love. Visual and aromatic…

Choosing a broadhead is a very personal thing. People often ask me which are best, and my answer is always the same: “What do you like best, blondes, brunettes, or redheads?” The answer, of course, is “Yes!” If you keep in mind that a broadhead has one function, and one function only --to cut a hole through hair, hide, muscle, and internal organs --and that to do so it must have blades sharp as a scalpel, be strong enough to withstand some serious abuse, and be designed and manufactured so precisely that it flies like a laser beam, you can now eliminate the cheap stuff and choose from one of dozens of broadheads on today’s market with confidence that fits both your equipment and your personality. HOW IT ALL STARTED…

In Part 1 of this series, I explained why I believe minerals can help bucks grow bigger racks. I did not provide critical details to actually help whitetail land managers get the best results from a whitetail nutrition program that includes mineral supplementation. I strongly believe most folks who put out minerals for deer see minimal — if any — impact on antler growth. First, nutritional supplementation in a wild deer herd will rarely show a fast return on the investment of time and finances. When I design a custom whitetail management plan for clients, I tell them to think of my suggestions as part of a five-year plan. And we need to give the plan a full five years to start seeing the real impact it will have on…

I carefully balanced my mug of coffee on the hood of my Jeep and tucked my recurve into the front passenger seat. Tightening the buckle on my daughter’s seat belt, I stood and looked at the horizon, where the sun was fully above the trees. It was an unseasonably warm November day for southern Ohio — a balmy 65, which did nothing to motivate me to hit the woods. That time of year is supposed to be cold and frosty, with the rut in full swing; the kind of mornings that make you jump out of bed in anticipation of a hunt. Yet this year had been different. My 1-year-old daughter was in tow, which meant I had made some adjustments to the way I hunted. One of the biggest…

That headline “The Sinful 7” may be a little overboard … but then again, maybe not, considering the yearlong effort we as whitetail fanatics put into the hunt. And when we are successful in terms of a deer on the ground — from a gnarly old recluse buck to a king-of-the-back-40 monarch to a sleek yearling six-pointer or forkhorn to a fat doe to, yes, a plump “deer-of-year” (also known as a fawn) — one of the greatest rewards of all is at hand: prime whitetail venison. Every deer can provide prime venison. No deer is inherently tough or bad-flavored or “gamey.” Yes, some whitetails may inherently taste better than others, and cooking itself certainly plays a part in the equation. But I have to be honest: Among all the…

I didn’t expect to end the season this way. I assumed I would take up a familiar stand on a familiar property at a familiar area. Instead, I was in a shooting house in an area I’d never hunted, looking over a thicket and field with which I wasn’t familiar and waiting for darkness. An hour earlier, my nephew Porter had assured me this was a surefire place to see deer and, hopefully, fill one of my remaining antlerless deer tags. With venison already in the freezer and the pressure of the season winding down, the idea sounded acceptable to me. Porter and I hadn’t hunted deer as much together this year as during the previous few, so it was also a chance to touch base with him. He drove…

AFTER READING THE story “Whose Buck is This?” in the June issue of D&DH, I would bet heavily that Joyce killed that deer. First, Frank was sighting on the chest and later discovered a limb that appears to have deflected the bullet. Joyce aimed at the neck. My brothers and I were taught to shoot deer in the neck whenever the opportunity presented itself because it drops them right where they’re standing. Since the deer dropped where it was standing when Joyce shot my money is on Joyce. In any case, it is a great story. My wife and I hunt together and I would love to experience something similar. — Mike Sovay, via email IN THE SUMMER issue of D&DH, Glenn Helgeland wrote about making a cutting board out…

I don’t know the size of the deer that made this bed. It must have been a big’un, bigger than any rifle I carried could take down. It would take a bazooka or artillery to bring it down. I call it the World’s Largest Deer Bed, for an obvious reason. To judge its size, compare it to the sizes of tree trunks around the bed. Those aren’t saplings. They are spaced far enough apart, however, that a true buster buck still could walk between them. I stumbled across this bed in northern Wisconsin’s Douglas County four or five years ago during Wisconsin’s firearms deer season. I was walking slowly, pussy-footing along, hoping to see a deer on the move. Instead, I saw this. I stood in awe, and my mind…

Many hunters continue to hunt certain areas religiously — year after year — even after buck sign dwindles and their success rate drops to zero. As long as a favorite spot continues to produce good bucks, there is little reason to shift hunting areas. However, just because an area produced some respectable bucks in the past, doesn’t mean it will continue to do so year after year. Hunters often ask me, “Why don’t I see much buck sign anymore?” The answer is obvious. If you don’t find rubs and scrapes, you probably have few, if any, mature bucks in the area. Likewise, if such sign does not appear until late in the season, the answer is probably the same: No big bucks. If you’re looking for a better-than-average buck, and…

One of the things I’ve promised is to share the good, bad and ugly of the experiences you have empowered me to have. Frankly, if it wasn’t for your support, I’d not had 90% of the learning experiences I’ve had. Completely sharing what I’ve gotten from them is a steal of a trade for me. One of the things I hope doing so provides are the opportunities to learn from my mistakes and avoid them. That’s exactly what I’m going to cover today. Arrogance is the mortal enemy of achievements and advanced learning. Humility is their best friends. THE PATTERN Bucks aren’t the only ones that have repeating patterns. We do, too. You can see it in the evolution that most hunters experience. During their first years, it’s all about…

For many years while living south of Chicago it was a Christmas-Eve tradition for our family to visit Carlo Lorenzetti’s. Each year we dressed up in red and took our seats in their festively decorated rooms, many of which lined with books as if you were eating in a study. Few restaurants now come close to replicating that experience, and far fewer (if any) come close to replicating their lasagna recipe, which I ordered every Christmas Eve. As a senior in high school I worked part-time at another Italian restaurant: Ciao’s in Matteson. Their lasagna was a distant second to Carlo’s, but there was one interesting aspect of it: the meat was part of the sauce. Ground venison can taste like wet shredded newspaper if not prepared properly. The technique…

Today’s modern in-line muzzleloader rifles and loading components are capable of amazing performance, and consistency is the key to tapping maximum accuracy. Modern blackpowder substitutes, such as Blackhorn 209 and Hodgdon Triple Seven — and now the Federal FireStick — are now more uniform in granule size than any muzzleloader powders of the past. This makes it easier to volume measure more consistent powder charges. Likewise, powder makers are now doing a much better job of keeping these powders very much the same from batch to batch. Now that muzzleloading has gone high-performance, sabot and bullet makers continue to improve their products as well. Just 20 years ago, a charge that would get a 250- to 300-grain saboted bullet out of the muzzle at 1,700 fps was considered to be…

Before dawn during Illinois’ gun opener, I’d intended to head for a stand just off a main food source. In the previous week, Reconyx images from that spot had revealed all the bucks I was after. They were at that main food source during daylight, so it seemed like a no-brainer to hunt there. So why was I arguing with myself about where to sit as I prepped and left the truck? The argument was so intense that halfway to the stand, I took a left and headed to a spot hundreds of yards from the nearest camera. I had no hard intelligence about the activities near that stand, yet I was supremely confident I’d be tagged out within an hour of shooting light. Sure enough, just as the sun…

Jared Kelly has been hunting for the past 25 years. His father didn’t hunt, but his uncle did, and he took the young Kelly afield with him. Several friends also immersed him in the lifestyle. Eventually, decades of hunting in-state led him to bigger aspirations. And so, he decided to apply for a Kansas tag. In 2020, he drew that tag. “This was the first time I had ever hunted the area, or even the state of Kansas,” Kelly said. “I have a group of friends who had been hunting with a guy for four years, and they invited me to go with them.” Not knowing much about the area, he was directed to one particular area of a property. The landowner didn’t mention anything about a record-class deer, but…

Within a deer population, males and females occupy different areas of the range. Bucks and does seldom interact with each other during the non-rutting months, except for chance meetings at common food sources. Bucks do interact with other bucks, though. And how they socialize with other bucks is predicated on their personality, age and social position within the herd. TWO SEASONS Whitetail buck socialization is influenced by two distinct periods — the rut and the non-rut. By the time the rut is winding down, the flow of testosterone within a buck’s body drops to pre-rut levels. This drop in hormones contributes greatly toward a buck’s ability and desire to tolerate other males. With the rut over and hormone levels at low ebb, bucks form bachelor groups, generally by January in…

Consistent bow accuracy is a puzzle that requires fitting a lot of odd-shaped pieces together. Bow fit and comfort are like the corner pieces that create the frame for filling in the rest. These two factors, not coincidentally, are where a lot of bowhunters go wrong. A bow that doesn’t fit correctly, whether a new $1,500 rig or a cheap garage sale find, is going to promote poor form and reduce not only overall accuracy, but enjoyment of the shooting process as well. When it comes to buying a new bow, especially from a pro shop, this should never be an issue because it should be set up to your specs. A used bow can be a vastly different story, particularly if you don’t buy it from a reputable source.…