Vertigo

I’ve been taking notice of some of the camouflage available on the market.  Realtree and Mossy Oak are the biggest competitors in the field right now but up until recently, they didn’t have the best camouflage available.  If you look at some of your older camouflage you may notice how dark all the colors are.  The color patterns for the background, the tree bark, and even the leaves are all fairly darker than what’s natural.  In the Midwest, most of what you see in the woods is hardwood trees and not a lot of evergreens.  It seems that these two big manufactures were really only making camouflage that fit well in the southern state where trees keep their leaves longer and the forests can sometimes be blanketed in evergreens.   The camouflage works in the Midwest too but just didn’t seem as effective to me.

I’m happy to announce that Scent-Loc has come up with a pattern of camouflage that I believe will be successful for hunters in the Midwest.  The Vertigo series of camouflage does a better job a mimicking the natural state of hardwood forests.  The colors are lighters and the branches are more sparsely spaced on the pattern.  This helps to keep us hunters from looking like big green refrigerators in the tree.  The appearance is much more natural and the camouflage will help to break up a hunters shape much better than previous renditions.  I believe that using this camouflage will help make hunters more successful in the Midwest.

http://www.vertigocamo.com/home.html

The Hunt of October 14, 2010

The past few days have been very hot for mid-October.  Highs in the middle eighties have made hunting tough to bear.  It’s always a tough decision to not hunt but this early in the year it’s better to let the heat pass and not make mistakes while hunting a spot.  Today the weather began to cooperate and the temperature this even was around fifty five degrees with a southwest wind at ten to fifteen miles an hour.  The skies were mostly sunny and the cooler temperatures made for a nice evening to hunt.  

The getting ready for the hunt process has become a ritual habit.  I drive a little over an hour to get to the farm house and from there I go through the cycle.  The first thing I do is at a shower which is located in the hunting garage where everything is kept as scent protected as possible.  I use no-scent shampoo and no-scent soup and dry off with a towel that has been washed in no-scent laundry detergent.  I then brush my teeth with no-scent toothpaste in an attempt to neutralize all the odors that come out of breathing.  I then put on a set of clothes that are washed with no-scent and another hunter and I then drive out to the hunting ground. 

Once we’re at the hunting ground, we both put on a layer of camouflage and boots.  We then use no-scent spray on our boots and all of our clothing.  We also spray off our packs and especially the gloves we wear into the woods.  We also tend to spray off our boots one extra time just to be safe and then walk towards the stands.

Since it’s still early in the season and not much activity takes place until late in the evening, we went out to the stand at around four o’clock.  Legal hunting time ended the day at 6:49 so we had plenty of time to get ready.  The tree we decided on with the southwest wind was one that had never been hunted in since the property was bought over fifteen years ago.  Whenever we get the chance to hunt a tree that never been hunted before we get really excited.  We like the idea that no deer has ever been disturbed by hunters in that area.  The tree is a tall red oak located near the southwest corner of the property near the stream.  The tree stands were set up just above the twenty-four foot climbing sticks so we would sit at around twenty five and twenty eight feet in the air. 

As we walked to the tree stand, I could see a doe standing inside the timber just a few yards in.  She promptly ran the direction we were headed but at a much quicker pace.  More than likely she was headed for the stream to cross into the far end of the property.  We didn’t like to see her running the direction that we were expecting the deer to come from tonight but it really isn’t that big of a problem.  

She was running but she didn’t blow at us, which is a good thing.  Even though she was running, deer don’t pay much attention to that.  Deer may see another deer running and be more on the alert but deer run all the time for whatever reason.  The other deer may look around and try to seek out danger but once they feel nothing is wrong, they’ll more than likely just go on doing whatever they feel like doing.  

Even when a deer blows at you when you are walking into the woods, it’s not the end of your hunt.  It may seem like a terrible thing to have happen, and it definitely isn’t a good thing, but not every deer in the woods is going to run off because of it.  If another deer hears another deer blowing, the other deer still has no idea what deer is blowing at.  It could be a coyote or another animal that startles it.  I’ve heard deer blow before for no apparent reason.  I always immediately jump to the possibility that they smelled me out but if they are a few hundred yards upwind, they didn’t smell me.  It must be another factor that is out of any hunter’s control.  Even if all the deer around the hunting area left, there is always the possibility of deer coming from other areas that could pass by the stand.

We were a little discouraged by the event of the doe but we realized its insignificance and didn’t think anything else about it.  After a little further walk, we arrived at the entrance into the woods which would take us to the stand.   It was a short walk through the woods on a path that took us along the creek and then about twenty yards back into the tree.  We took turns climbing up the sticks and winching our bows into the tree.  After securing our safety ropes and bows, we sat and waited.

At about five thirty, the other hunter I was with told me he could see a deer crossing the creek about a hundred yards up the creek.  He said it was moving slow and could be a buck.  I was unable to see the deer from my vantage point but through a pair of binoculars, the other hunter told me that it could be the buck I had been after for the past two years.  This buck he referred to is now a six point buck which has been estimated to be at least eight and a half year old buck.  He has been showing up on trail cameras for the past several years and there is no mistaking him.  His antlers have always had a backwards curl on the main beams and the other main g-points.  I never got a glimpse at him and not long after he moved out of sight.

At around six forty, the sun was starting to fade fast behind the increasing cloud cover and we knew our time was just about up.  Just as we thought it was over, the other hunter said he spotted a deer on the trail we walked in on.  After another minute or two, I could see the deer.  It was a buck, and not just any buck, it was the six-pointer.  He looked like he was the size of a small cow with a meaty neck.  He had a monster of a body for a deer from what I could see from the stand.  The light was getting low and I knew if I was going to get a show it was now or never. 

The buck moved slowly down the trail with his nose to the ground.  It seemed that he could smell our foot trail and was investigating what the smell was.  The smell of our boots must have just been there enough to draw his attention.  It became clear that I wasn’t going to get a shot at the deer before legal hunting time so we both just stood and watched as the deer moved slowly down the trail.  He walked along the creek following our trail all the way to the tree.  He stood about five to seven yards away from the tree, so close that I had to look straight down to see him.  You could still make out the unique character of his antler in the faded light and the massive size of his body.  

After about ten minutes of him standing under the tree in the near dark, it was looking like he wasn’t going to be leaving us any time soon.  We don’t like to make it a practice of letting deer see us climb out of a tree so my hunting partner had an idea.  As I stood watching the deer, out of the corner of my eye I saw something falling from the tree and landing on the rear of the deer.  The deer jumped and ran about thirty yards away to the north.  I immediately started to laugh at what had just happened and I had to try with all my might to hold it in and cover my mouth.  The buck became very agitated by the surprise which he wasn’t expecting.  I could hear him thrashing a tree with his antlers and a limb breaking off.  He must have thought it was another buck that did it too him.  He then trotted off and we were able to climb down.

As far as hunts go, we were both happy we how it turned out.  We were able to hunt a tree that had never been hunted before and we went undetected in the tree.  The obvious problem with the boot smell was a topic for discussion for the ride back to the house but a solution can be found.  When you can have hunt where you see a big buck like this one so close, that hunt is a success without a doubt.

Keeping Sheds Secrets

I was reading another blog on prairiestateoutdoors.com about antler sheds.  I know it’s really not the right time of the year to talk about antler sheds but something else came up in the conversation that struck my attention.  Several people were posting up their techniques and one technique which involved a lot walking I really liked.  Walking with the sun to your back and thoroughly checking CRP fields were both tactics that I use to look for antler which has produced pretty good results over the years.  But not too far down the list, a post was put up that said, “The best kept secret to finding sheds is to keep your mouth shut about what, when, and how you find them!”  I thought this post over for a while and started thinking about keeping secrets.

The post in this case wasn’t necessarily trying to keep secrets but was trying to tell other people to not reveal their secrets.  In the case of shed antlers though, secrets are not that important because most hunters aren’t willing to go the distance anyway.  Let’s face it, the difference between finding one or two antlers sheds and finding forty a year is huge.  And yes, I know of one individual who does sets a goal to find that many every year and usually surpasses it.  The problem is that even if we all knew the secrets to finding sheds, most of us don’t have the time to really put in to finding more than a few.  It takes a lot of walking, a lot of persistence, and even more dedication to find a lot of antler sheds.  So in reality, letting the secret out isn’t going to hurt you. 

Winds on the Hillside

When I’m walking through the woods early in the season, I see a lot of areas I’d really like to hunt.  It’s difficult to judge which places will produce the best results in some cases but I’m usually not concerned with that right away.  The first thing I think about is the wind.  The wind is the make or break for a spot though I know many hunters pay little to no attention to this.  The deer rely on their sense of smell to avoid danger and if they smell trouble, guess what, they aren’t coming.

One of my biggest concerns with hunting a spot is hunting on or near a hillside.  I’m no meteorologist, but I do know that wind can swirl and hills are where they like to do this.  When air is blowing over the top of a hill, you can get rolling wind along the side of the hill as it passes over.  This wind pattern can shift a consistent wind up and down the hill.  This can cause a lot of problems for anyone hunting on the base of a hill.  I have seen deer that were coming towards the tree against the prevailing wind and stop short smelling my scent.  The lead doe put her nose up and I knew what had happened.  The wind swirled around the side of the hill I was hunting on and rolled my scent right to her.  Hunting without regard to the wind can cost you and getting an idea of how the winds act can save you a lot of trouble.

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

In the central and northern states, a hot day can be the death of a hunt.  I’m hunting in central Illinois and the past couple of days have been torture for us here.  We’ve been reaching into the middle eighties as high temperatures and for hunting deer, that’s like roasting in the oven.  Last Saturday was the first time I’ve ever even considered not going hunting when I had the chance.  It was a tough call but there is only so much you can compromise when you go hunting.  I had to say no and leave the opportunity to go. 

When you go hunting in the heat, you have to look at one major factor.  The one factor that is essential is sweat.  I’ve said it before; if you start to sweat you’re done.  Sweating is a killer of scent control.  If you think the deer aren’t going to smell your sweat downwind through your scent-proof clothing you’ve got another thing coming.  You have to think about how much you sweat and where you sweat. 

Think about when your hands sweat in the heat.  When you’re walking through the woods, you have to consider all things you put your hands on.  The twigs, the brush, and the trees you touch will all have your sweat on them.  I have seen how deer react to human scent on objects in the woods and they don’t take kindly to it.  When it comes to a hot day, unless it’s the only day of the season you can hunt, my advice would be to let it go.  There will be other days in the season that will be more favorable to hunt than in eighty degree heat.

"Don't Drink the Water"

“Don’t Drink the Water,” a song by the Dave Matthews Band always reminds me of survival techniques.  The song doesn’t have anything to do with wilderness survival, but when you’re a hunter, terms like this are something to think about.  Most of us don’t hunt in areas that are extremely secluded but understanding survival techniques could save your life someday. 

Drinking water from a pond or a steam, even when it looks safe, can contain bacteria that will kill.  It is never advisable drink untreated water without boiling it first.  According to a Human Development Report by the United Nations in 2006, more people are killed by unsanitary water than by guns in war.  Botulism, Dysentery, and Cholera are just some of the bacteria that can come from drinking unsanitary water.  If you have no choice but to drink water in the wild, find a way to boil it first for your own safety.

I learned to not “drink the water” at fifteen years old on my first hunting trip with my brother and dad.  It was the first shotgun season and we were hunting a 1200 acre farm in Pope County, Illinois.  We had all settled in the main bottoms where the tributaries came together to form a wide bottoms area.  I was situated on the downstream side of the bottoms where all of the creeks came together.  As the afternoon dragged on, I started getting extremely thirsty.  I radioed my dad and asked him if it’d be okay to walk down to the stream and get some water.  He replied, “No don’t do it.  You’ll have to tough it out.  You have no idea what’s in that water.”  Being fifteen years old, I was pretty upset by this answer, but I knew that he knew better than I did.  So I toughed it out and made it through the evening without going against my father’s word.

The following day, I was walking with one of the other hunters near where I had sat the night before.  We were walking a stream that fed into the larger creek that I wanted to drink from and came across something unusual.  Not long into the walk, we smelled a foul stench that seemed to get worse as we walked further upstream.  We soon discovered the cause; two mature bucks were lying dead in the creek.  A ten point buck and an eleven buck were joined together by the tines.  It appeared that they became tangled and were unable to free themselves. Under only speculative circumstances for cause of death, they both had become little more than rotting flesh in the silent creek. 

The sight of them was appalling though I couldn’t help but be drawn in by the situation.  A rare chance to see two deer locked in the battle for continuing life, only to die in the bed of a creek.  While I watched the other hunter cutting away the heads to two deer to claim as a trophy, I remembered being thirsty the day before.  I looked down the creek in the direction of the flowing water.  It was then I could picture in my mind where this stream led into the creek I nearly drank from.  I felt a knot growing in my stomach.

Who's Your Daddy?

Earlier today, I saw an episode of Deer and Deer Hunter regarding twin white-tailed deer conceived from two different fathers.  This struck my curiosity greatly as they described the scenario that was played out.  In a penned enclosure during rut, cameras followed a doe in estrus as she was being followed by a five and a half year old buck.  This buck was described as the dominate buck in that area and in a brief time mated with the doe.  Not long after, a younger buck came into the picture where the dominate buck and the doe were.  This younger buck fought the older buck and came out victorious.  The younger buck then mated with the same doe.

Around two hundred days later, the doe have birth to twin buck fawns.  The researchers followed the two bucks around as they followed their mother hoping to see a distinguishing difference between the two.  The researchers were hoping to see if some of the characteristics from the two bucks that mated with the doe were passed on in the two bucks.  They were hoping to see that the two bucks came from different fathers.

By the second year, the researchers had come up with their answer.  They believed confidently that the personalities and the antler rack formations of the two deer showed that they shared different fathers. 

I know that the researchers for this show have studied a lot of deer through the years but I find it hard to believe that they can definitively say that these bucks were fathered by different bucks.  I do believe that the situation can happen, but basing it off of personality and antler formation alone, especially only after only two years, isn’t enough.  If they want me to believe that this happened here, I want to see a genetic test first then make conclusions after that.

Illinois Season Opener

For the state of Illinois, it was opening day of white-tailed deer archery season today.  The first day of the season is always one of my favorite times to get out and make a day of hunting.  For us in the central part of the state, it was an unusual day for this early in the season.  It reached a high temperature of around 70 degrees with winds plowing Northwest at around 5 to 10 miles an hour.  Having perfectly clear skies with low humidity was a nice way to start the season.  Though I would prefer to have overcast while hunting I’ll take this while it’s here.

I was only able to make the evening hunt today.  For this time of the year though it wasn’t a big loss to miss the morning attempt.  With our winds dominantly out of the Southwest, I hadn’t expected to be choosing a tree that fit best for a Northwest wind.  I went to a tree that I hadn’t hunted much in the past but I knew that with the wind it would give me a really good chance of seeing quite a few deer without getting winded. 

I was set up by around three thirty; ready to wait it out until around six when I expected to see the most activity.  To my surprise, two does and a fawn had already made their way through to the field next to me by five thirty.  Not long after that, the deer started to steadily make their way through the woods towards me.  A doe and two fawns appeared first about twenty five yards away from the stand but I let her pass.  Soon to follow would be another five deer.  They came by staggered throughout the rest of the evening.  One two and a half year old four by three buck, with his nose straight to the ground, came rambling through the woods following the trail of a doe that had just previously passed by. 

By the end of the evening I had seen eleven deer with most of them passing by within fifty yards.  It’s tough to beat a season opener where you can shoot one right of the bat, but just seeing them after a long off-season makes for a good day too.