No time like the present

I know that for many hunters the current days can be fairly blah. If you are not an ice-fisherman, and don't have access to good yote' hunting property, and have no time to look for sheds, what are you supposed to do? I'd like to offer up a few suggestions in today's post.

1) Learn from this past year's mistakes. So you didn't fill all your tags, why not? Hopefully you are in the habit of taking notes on every day you spend in the stand as it relates to deer movement and weather. Look back over those notes, then get on Google maps and take a look at your hunting property again. Do you need to move stand locations? Do you need to put in/move food plot locations? Do you need to hunt more during the week to avoid your neighbors? What are your trail cam pictures telling you? It might also be time to take a drive after looking at some properties on line to see if you can get permission to hunt on some additional ground. The worst they can say is no, and they might know of someone in the area who would be open to having you hunt on their property.


2) Never stop learnin' yurself more nalledge. Today's high here in south central Iowa is -9....I doubt I will be walking around the property much looking for sheds this evening. Instead, I plan on doing some extra reading. I enjoy Bill Winke's books on hunting strategies and deer behavior. You can check out his books here: http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/catalog/2/books.html. There are several other magazines, blogs, and resources available. One thing I am always looking for are better ways to control my scent. While I will be doing a complete product review here in the near future, let me let one cat out of the bag now. http://conquestscents.com/shop/evercalm/ever-calm-deer-herd-scent-stick-2-5-oz-2/ Ever-calm is the BY FAR the most reliable, effective deer scent I have ever used. It's not necessarily designed to mask your scent, as much as duplicate the calming scent of a deer heard. It's available in Elk scent as well. Do yourself a favor and buy this early, as in NOW, because you will not be able to find it once October hits. More on this later.


3) Include your family in your "off-season" preparations.  As you can see, I really don't think there is an off-season, we are now all preparing to make next year's deer, elk, and turkey hunt more successful. While today I'm concentrating on whitetail hunting, the same types of principles apply to all our our outdoor pursuits. Just don't forget that being a husband/wife/mom/dad is your first priority, period. Don't make the mistake of putting your hobbies above your duties. Instead, use it as a bonding time. Take them out to look for sheds, watch videos with them, read/share old hunting stories with them. Teach them gun safety in the basement now so they are ready to go in the spring. And don't forget to keep these "lessons" short, too the point, and fun. They just aren't as passionate about it yet as you are! But God-willing, if you do it right, in 20 years they will be calling you to hunt with them and their kids for years to come!

I want to conclude with a new section that will be in every post moving forward. This is today's "Strength for the moment" and it comes from my Bible time in Psalm 34:8 "O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" Friend, I'm not sure what your going through today, but taste (experience) God's goodness though the free gift of eternal life that He offers only through His Son Jesus. And then when those difficult times come, (and they will) take refuge in Him!

Back in the Saddle

A look back:

This fall's hunting season was well, underwhelming. I was thankful to put some meat in the freezer when harvesting a doe during Iowa's early muzzy season. My archery season did not go nearly as well, even though I saw way more deer than the last several years combined. "Mr. Right" just didn't come my way after passing on a nice mature 8 pointer on November 7, I never drew my bow back the rest of the year. I had a couple decent bucks on the camera, but that is a lot different than having them in the back of my truck! 

A look ahead:

Finally! After 2 years of planning and surveying our on-line classifieds site for outdoorsmen is almost done! Starting March 15, we will be "opening up the floodgates" and inviting men/women/children (who are over 18) to take it for a test drive. It is free to use, easy to use, and we are hoping that in the near future it will be your "go-to" site for listing and finding outdoor gear. 

A look waaaay ahead:

In the coming days I will hit the woods for some shed hunting and I will be sharing with you some tips and hopefully some pictures of successful "hunts." I'm also looking forward to putting in a small food plot with my dad and finishing up & enclosing a nice elevated blind. I can't wait!

That's all for now, it's good to be back and I hope your deer season was much more successful than

 mine! Until next time, JUST GET OUT THERE! 

Finally!!

Hunting seasons are also often like a box of chocolates, you just never know quite what you are going to get! After missing a really nice mature Iowa whitetail on November 11th my desire to get up at 4AM and head to the woods soared to new lows, but by the end of the week, I was ready to hit the woods again.

I headed to Southern Iowa on the 14th in time to sit that evening. It was a beautiful night as the winds died down towards the evening and I was able to watch a couple 2 1/2 year old's chase does, listen to some turkeys, and enjoy the sunset. I was only able to hunt the morning of the 15th so I was feeling a little of the "pressure" that comes from knowing the rut is winding down, I'd spent a lot of time in the woods, and I had nothing to show for it. 

The morning of the 15th I actually arrived to my stand a little later than usual, but even so, it did not take long for the deer to start moving. I was facing northeast and the deer soon started to pile out of the next field over and trickle down in front of me. After watching several deer (spikes and does) walk in front of me on a trail about twenty yards out a buck walking a trail that would end up being about 40 yards out caught my eye. I didn't have a ton of time to think about it, so I pulled up my bow, pulled back, looked the site, and let er' fly. Just under 40 yards away a less than perfect shot found it's mark and I couldn't be happier!

One of the many reasons I love bow hunting is because of the quiet after the storm. There were several deer in the area that had no idea about what had just happened. Deer kept streaming by the fence line this buck had piled up in. OF COURSE, as you would expect....I saw two really nice bucks during this deer parade, (one being a world class 10-12 point typical that came well within shooting range :) Never the less, I am so thankful for the opportunity to have harvested this deer, and for the friend who made it possible!

As you can see, this isn't a "world class" trophy buck. But it's about the experience. (and I would argue any buck taken with a bow is a trophy :) Don't get caught up this fall with having to hang a 180" deer on your wall. It's about the preparation, being able to spend extra time in God's creation, the sites and sounds that you only see during the rut. Not to mention sharing your moment and story with friends and family, that's what makes hunting so great and worth passing on to the next generation. 

Don't forget to include your family as much as you can! My kids were so excited to see me pull in and hear how it all happened. (Of course my wife was REALLY excited because that meant my tag was filled) Take them out with you! Have them "help" you put out your cameras, look at maps, set your stands, clear your food plots, pick out gear, and then of course be in the woods with you as soon as possible! Good luck to the many of you who are still out in the woods on a regular basis, until next time, JUST GET OUT THERE!

Bonus: Don't forget that each and every breath is a gift from God! James tells us that "life is a vapor," AKA it goes quick! So take advantage and be thankful for all the opportunities God has and will give you to spend time with your family, friends, and oh yeah...in the woods!

Great Expectations

This past week I headed to Southern Iowa with my dad in search of what every white tail hunter dreams of; a Pope & Young Southern Iowa Whitetail buck.

We set out from the Des Moines area just after lunch last Monday, November 4th, and by 4:00PM we were at our spot watching does feeding in a picked corn field. I was able to spot & stalk a doe down to what I thought was 40 yards....it ended up being 50 and I shot just under her.

Tuesday called for rain starting mid-morning so we were disappointed at the lack of movement right up until the rains started at around 10AM. It rained hard the rest of the day so we decided to drive around and do some glassing to see what was moving...there just was not much happening.

Wednesday morning came and as we arrived at our spot we could here the sound of deer on the move. While we were disappointed to have bumped so many deer, we were hopeful that this movement would continue on to shooting light.

As we settled in for the days hunt and the skies just started to lighten up, I noticed out of the corner of my eye movement along the edge of the field. Maybe 15 yards to my West a large bodied buck had gone right to the Tink's 69 Estrus I had hung out, my heart started to race. But it wasn't until he stepped out from my lure to put his nose on the ground to follow the trail I had laid in the field in front of me that I was able to see just what type of buck I was looking at. It was by far the biggest deer I had ever seen in the woods. I estimated in at 180", while another hunter who had seen it put it in the 170's. Either way, he was walking right in front of me just as legal shooting light was approaching. But while it was legal shooting light, it was still too dark for me to pick him out in my sight and had to watch with a heavy heart as went back into the woods. Another 140" deer came out from the same spot but didn't provide a shot. And that would be the last deer we would see all morning.

We decided to sit in a different spot that night and I'm so glad we did. We had deer moving within 5 yards of us (if you have never hunted on the ground (with the wind in your advantage of course, I HIGHLY recommend it!) as we were buried in some cedar trees in a fence line. I was watching two does coming m any way when I caught out of the corner of my eye a decent sized 8 pointer that had been staring at me from less than 10 yards away trying to figure out what I was. He took 3-4 steps closer to me and I couldn't believe I was this close to a mature deer on the ground. He looked the other way so I quickly pulled back my bow and went to pull up he saw me (he would have needed to be blind not to) and bounded off. That would be the last deer I would see on our trip.

HOWEVER, while this was happening, my 67 year old dad was in the middle of harvesting his first deer with a bow from 10 yards away on the ground and couldn't have been more excited. Certainly a trophy for him.
All in all it was a great trip even though I didn't harvest that 200" deer we all dream about this time of year, I was able to spend some extra time with my dad, see a lot of deer, and be there as my dad harvested his first archery buck.

I will posting on a regular basis again (with pictures) starting this week. Thanks for tuning in. I have 2-3 more days I can spend in the woods this week and the temperatures are going to be dropping big time! Until then, just get out there!

Fishing' Time!

For the first time this season I was able to catch up with one of my good friends and hit the water. Everyone has a "honey hole" that is their go to spot and we are no different! So finally on the 20th of June we made it out!

My first decent catch was a 12" Crappie. I was fishing for bluegill to take home and put on the wall and this guy came out of the water instead, not a bad way to start!

The winds finally settled down and I was able to land a couple decent bass, this one being of the 16" variety. It was nice to hear my reel work for the first time in a long time! I was fishing a 6" Pumpkin Seed Power Worm very slowly off the bottom and that proved to be the most effective way to entice bass in the later hours.

All good things must come to an end! As you know, 3 hours in the water often feels like 15 minutes and last night was no different. Zach and I were able to land several Bass, Bluegills, and one nice Crappie. Thankful for the time on the water and looking forward to doing it again soon!

Next week I will be sharing the first pictures off of my game cam. The deer are finally starting to show up! Even while I was in the boat enjoying the fishing my thoughts kept turning to the fall and deer hunting...it will be here soon enough!

Deer Feeder Part 2

Well, we finally moved our deer feeder into place this last weekend and set camera #1 out as well. This weekend we will be setting out a second camera out by our Trophy Rock. FYI, I will NEVER buy anything other than a Trophy Rock moving forward, the Bucks have already started to hammer it!

First things first....the bugs were out in full force so we sprayed down a couple home-made nets and put them on my kids before heading out into the woods and they worked great. No bites!

We picked out a flat spot down in one of the heavier traveled spots on our property by a creek with plenty of cover and water and set it up.

To level it off we set the legs into the holes of 3 bricks and tied them to a tent spike for extra stability.

 The whole process only took about 30 minutes and before we knew it we were testing the sprayer and it worked great. I was a little surprised by how far the corn flew so I cleared a pretty big area, put up the camera, and we were  good to go.

I am looking forward to seeing how the deer respond to the different attractants (shelled corn vs. the trophy rock) and to analyze what deer are moving where. We have already seen 3-4 bucks almost on a nightly basis on the trophy rock, so we will see if they venture down to take advantage of the shelled corn.

I always love seeing what is moving out in the woods and we will keep you posted in the coming weeks. As always, we appreciate your support and would love to have you list your outdoors items no longer being utilized at ourdoorsmanswap.com and tell those in your circles about the site as well!

Until next time, just get out there!

Nebraska Turkey Hunting at it's Finest!!

I had the most enjoyable hunt of my life this past weekend! Don't get me wrong, I've had some wonderful hunting trips: Deer hunting in Southern Iowa, Pheasant Hunting in South Dakota, and a previous Turkey hunting trip to Nebraska, but this one was special! Remember; it's not what your hunting, it's who you are hunting with! Both my sons (Hayden 6 & Hudson 4) were both with me and were able to watch several different birds up close from our blind with me and their grandpa.

We arrived at our cabin on Saturday evening and immediately headed out to the blind with my sons.

Our great host had turned several old water tanks into blinds, a  cheap way to make a very roomy blind. Within 15 minutes we had three Toms' headed our way. I took a long shot because we had two tags and missed, but things would take a turn for the better in the morning.

Towards the right of the picture you can see the "tank" I would be sitting in. There were several birds roosted 50 yards away in some old Cottonwood trees. Right at first light there were gobbles all around and for the first time in my life I was able to watch several birds fly down from the roost.

Around 15 minutes after sun up 6-8 hens went streaming by my blind (around 5 yards away) and I was starting to think this was a girls' only party. But finally a Tom came struttin' by around 10 yards away and as soon as he poked his head from behind the tree it was game over!

My sons (and dad) were pumped! This was their first opportunity to come along for a Turkey hunt and they loved it! It's not just the hunting of-course that makes trips like this memorable.

Playing Monopoly, eating Oreo's for breakfast, tromping' around the woods with their dad and grandpa and seeing a different part of God's creation are all things that make this my favorite hunt of all time and I'm sure theirs as well. Just a little reminder: Don't lose your patience with your young hunters! You want this to be an enjoyable time for them so they will want to go out again! Plain for shorter times in the blind, bring snacks and things for them to do and don't forget to tell them how thankful you are they came with you.

I've already booked our trip for next year and will be counting down the days, starting today. After this trip.....I can honestly say I would rather call in a big Tom that shoot a nice buck with my bow......don't knock it until you try it!

Until next time, get out there and experience first hand that creation really is "declaring the Glory of God" and enjoy it with someone you love!