Week Eight

Gage (6 years old) with his first deer. A 5 pt he said.


Week eight for me was slow. I had to work and then rain moved in so afternoon hunts were out. Saturday rolled around and I had a class to teach, I thought it was at 9 a.m. so didn’t go to the woods, it turned out it was at 12:30 instead. Sunday morning it was 60 degrees, cloudy with no wind so I headed over to a spot that has only been hunted 4 times all season. I sat in the stand till 10 when rain moved in and forced me out without seeing anything other than an amazingly fat fox squirrel and his buddies eating bowdock seeds. Nothing to add to the list for me but others had a great week which is a good thing since my part is short so here we go.

@Team_QT got a spike. @KimmieDG got a doe. @GoosedownGC got a meat deer. @ KillinitOutdoor scored a good deer. @Deaddogwalkin took a yote. @AnterlerAddiction took a whooper. @BigBuckPW got it done last day on an out of state hunt. @bulletnbiscuit got a buck. @epcave71 sent a pic of Ashlyn with a her buck. @feistylilfckr got her first deer a blacktail buck. @firstlightgear took a stud. @huntscience sent pics of his cousin and Dad with bucks. @ILCornfed took a great buck. @mepoohe husband got a buck Saturday but no pic. @Jeremy_Juhasz Dad too a buck. @Lukekujacznski with got a good buck. Madison @ILCornfed daughter got her first buck. @rhbowhunter scored again, I thin I hate him now J. @turkeytalkr69 got himself a buck. @turkeythompson got a black yote, I want one. And finally @UHG_Hunter took a nice buck.

Antleraddiction

BigBuckPW

bulletsnbiscuits

 Ashlyn

 feistylilfckr her first deer and it is a blacktail buck.

firstlightgear

 huntscience cousin

huntscience Dad

ilcornfed

Jeremy_Juhasz Dad

Lukekujacznski

Madison with her first buck.

rhbowhunter

 

 turkeytalkr69

turkeythompson

UHG_Hunter


Thank goodness other folks had a good week cause it sure wasn’t my turn. Enjoy the pics everyone and be sure to give these folks a follow if you are on Twitter, you won’t be sorry. Be safe, wear your harness and good luck this week. Be sure to post or send a pic so I can get it in next week.

Week Seven

@EmilySFLG

@bowhunter388 sent this of a friend's daughter with her first deer.


Here we are at week 7 and things seemed to have been a bit on the slow side. Folks from all over are talking about the slow down in sightings, deer activity during hunting hours is not what it was. The full moon along with weather changes would seem to be the blame in most cases. During 4 afternoon hunts I only saw 2 deer but the weather took a turn for the better here at least for one day so I made plans to head to the mountain to try and fill a doe tag or two.

With the time change my hour and a quarter drive started too early for my tastes. Give me a break, I’m old. I got on the road at 4:10 to get there in time to take a short walk to my stand. It was 39 degrees and almost no wind Saturday morning which is about as good as it gets for deer moving here in Tennessee. I got in the stand ready to put my Knight .45 to work, by 6:00 I heard the first shot of the morning, by 6:30 I had heard several and had deer in the field less than 100 yards away. Two mature does fed in the corner along with a yearling, one doe went uphill to bed down and the other two slipped along the treeline out of sight. Later I saw the rear of one of our local bucks as he cruised the field edge. That was it for the morning so I headed to the house for some food and to visit with friends.

I hung out until 2 then headed back in for the evening hunt. I knew I had to change where I was set up because the trees were just thick enough I couldn’t shoot from my stand. I found a spot to sit on the ground where I could see up the treeline they were using and had a convenient log to use as a rest. I was almost completely hidden from their view and couldn’t have had a steadier rest to shoot from if one came out. I got settled in and started hearing shots at 2:48, the deer were definitely moving. I sat and watched, tweeting to friends that I was down to an hour and 40 minutes to fill one of my tags in that unit but was beginning to wonder if I would. Around 3:45 I saw a doe right in front of my scope. I watched as she fed downhill getting closer to the spot I had picked to take my shot. As she got to about 100 yards she made a left turn and followed a trail into a field and out of sight. I was not happy, I had her in the scope perfectly broadside when she walked away but thought she was coming closer.

Not a minute later I saw another one coming downhill toward me. She followed the same path as the first one and sure enough got to the same trail and turned to take it. I had the scope on her the whole time so when she turned broadside I flipped the safety off and settled the crosshairs on her heart. I knew it would hit a bit high but still get a good double lung (my usual shot) and was surprised when the shot went off. The wind was blowing enough to clear the smoke instantly so I could see her head down the trail tail down, a couple of seconds and I heard her fall. By now it was 4:00 so I headed uphill to see if I could find a blood trail. I had no idea exactly where she was standing or which trail she took, there was no blood to follow so I took a trail headed in her direction and found her 40 yards away.

She was what you can see 20 of on a decent day on the mountain, a nice healthy doe that will be great on the table. The shot was a perfect double lung and I found the bullet just under the skin on the far side. My first muzzle loader deer in two years.

As for everyone else, even with what many considered a slow week there was a lot of critters taken. Here is what I have and it has some nice ones and some special ones.

@xtreme95Cummins got a doe. @Ryan5Bass took a buck, still waiting on a pic. @turkeythompson got a yote and a hog. @EmilySFLG got a nice buck @myarr sent a pic of a big Florida buck a cousin got. @Jake_Manning took a great buck. @huntingNY took a piebald buck. @huntscience sent in pics of his Dad and Father in law with their bucks. @LockeStokNBarel took a nice buck @whiskeybent took a nice buck. @thewild001 sentt a pic with 3 does. My friend Kari Murray has taken two with her bow but I will talk about that in another post. My friend Lee's brother in law took a nice 7 pt in Warren County TN last weekend. The duck and goose hunters are doing good right now but the warm weather might slow them down the next few days.

@HuntingNY

@Jake_Manning

@LockeStokNbarel

Yes this is a Florida deer.Wow.

@whiskeybent

@turkeythompson

@thewild001

This is her first deer. Congrats. Sorry I don't have her name.

@huntscience Dad

@huntscience Father in Law

I know I missed a few and if it was you send me a note so I can get you added. Good luck this week everyone and send a pic or note so I can tell folks about it. Be safe, wear your harness and shoot straight.

Week Five

Kimmie and her hog.

Here we are at week five but I didn’t get to add to the list this week the new job kept me busy during the week and it was juvenile weekend here in Tennessee. I did get out to sight in a few muzzle loaders to get ready for opening day on the 5th and spent time getting ready for Rudy @Huntography to get here Wednesday night. We will be filming on Thursday and Friday for the #Deertour and maybe I will get a chance to take one on camera. I did get to look over a new farm that is over 600 acres where a big 10 was seen a couple of days ago, I got invited to hunt it opening morning of muzzle loader. Not only is the big 10 there but it is supposed to be covered in does. The bad part it is covered in trespassers, too. But the game warden is supposed to be out there checking opening weekend so they better be fast.

As I am writing this Sunday night @writinghuntress is recovering her 6 pt she took on camera during her first day on the #Deertour, still waiting on pics. @BigBuckPw took a couple of more does this week, one on his part of the #Deertour. @A_Reel_Lady took a big 8 this week with her muzzle loader. @Ryan5Bass took another doe. @BigBrother10 took a doe. @skullboundtv oldest son Walker took a bull elk on public land with a 501 yard shot. One of the guys hunting with @Cajun_Seasoning took a nice 8 in Louisiana. I tried to find out who’s wife killed her first deer this week a BIG 8 but couldn’t before time to post but congrats to her anyway. @Cajun_Seasoning passed on a cow horn spike but got a coyote to go with his bobcat from last week. @msargentphoto son doubled down this week on deer. @turkeythompson took two big pigs. @kimmieDG got a nice pig and had it on the grill in less than an hour. @ForemostOutdoor got his first bow kill this weekend. @centexhunter went north and got a mule deer. These are some good folks to follow on Twitter if you are there.

Chris with his first bow kill


I can’t wait for Wednesday and my first chance to meet Rudy in person, not as thrilled about being on camera. Probably one of the few people out there that hunts as hard as I do that doesn’t want his own TV show but to be part of a documentary that shows real hunters doing it the way most folks do I wouldn’t pass up for anything. Even negotiated it into my job before I was hired, work 2 ½ weeks and take a 4 day weekend to hunt J. I hope we can get some good footage even if I don’t get a shot two days goes by fast.

Saturday starts our muzzle loader season and I plan on doing as much damage as possible. I have 4 doe tags in Unit A and 42 in Unit L before gun season opens when I will still have something like 126 doe tags left for Unit L but only 1 buck tag left for the year so I will be doing some passing on bucks. Does on the other hand should beware because I have several families that need food and they are it. My goal is to get 8 before the end of the season so wish me luck.

Good luck everyone, be safe and be sure to wear your harness.

Week Four

Well here we go. Week four of the season by my counting and the results are coming in. I wasted my time trying to kill a stupid turkey only to have one thing after the other go wrong. Should have stuck to the deer. I did make a trip to Monteagle to try for one Sunday in a spot that hasn't been hunted in a month. I saw deer out on the roadside just before light which is never a good sign there and sure enough I didn't see a deer until 9:15 when I saw one slip into the woodlot I was in. I never saw where that one went then at 9:30 I saw two big does and a set of twins coming down the treeline toward me, as I got set up the lead doe smelled where I walked in and spooked. As she ran past the others the other big doe took off and almost knocked herself out when she ran head first into a tree, she hit so hard she had to stand with her feet spread out to keep from falling. As she got to the creek I had a good quartering away shot but missed low when I misjudged the yardage. Clean miss, no harm no foul. I hunted the rest of the day but didn't get another chance. The reason I got busted was because I did something I never do which is wear my hunting boots from the house to the woods. This time I was running late and did then didn’t get them sprayed down enough with scent killer, won’t happen again.

I saw a total of 25 deer Sunday but only one young buck and most weren’t on property I can hunt. Still I count them and it is always a treat to see them out feeding. I saw 3 sets of twins along with several other fawns so next year is looking like plenty more to watch grow.

Folks from all over have been doing great this week and here is this week's list. @Ryan5Bass got another doe and was actually in Week Three but I found out late. @SkinnyDMan got a doe. @backwoodlife took a buck and his Dad got a hog. @Krand67 got an 8 pt. @Gobblerchaser got one but I can’t remember what it was. @Turkeytlakr69 took an 8 pt. @BigBuckPW got a muzzleloader doe. @goosecaller44 and friends got limits of geese and mallards. @LindaQueentivo got her first muzzleloader doe at 70 yards. @Firstlightgear got a doe from a natural ground blind while filming for the #deertour with @Huntography. @BuckmasterJosh got his first with a bow a nice 5 pt. @muskalungee took a double on does with his bow a personal best. @cajun_seasoning missed a deer but got a bobcat.

Photo credit: @LindaQueentivo. This is her first M/L deer a 129 lb doe. Congrats!!


There were some misses and a couple lost which I always feel bad about for the hunter and the deer. I know there were a couple of foxes taken with bows but I can’t remember who got them. I do know one was a red and the other a grey.

The biggest news of the week for me was finally getting a new job after 3 years of looking. I won’t be in the woods as often but at least I can pay my bills now. Big relief just in case you wondered.

So that about wraps this one up. A bit short for me but I have some good posts coming up just need to get them written up. Thanks again to everyone and be safe out there this week. Add a comment to the 1 Year of Following Ghost for a chance at whatever I decide to give away.

Trail Cam Video

This is a 3 month time line taken from 2 cameras. One in Cheatham county and the other in Robertson county Tennessee.

Seemz Technology Review

This weekend I had time to get out to test more of the Seemz Technology scent control system. I had washed all of my camo with their detergent, before heading out I used the body wash got ready and headed out for opening day.

We were down to upper 40s for temps so heat wasn’t much of a problem, still after a morning in the stand when the old system I was using would begin to fail Seemz was still working. I walked out for lunch then headed back to the stand for the afternoon hunt after spraying down with the scent elimination spray. By now the day had warmed up to the mid 70s with no wind to cool me off. I walked in and spent the afternoon watching does get as close as twenty yards downwind of me. That one busted me but it was because I moved. Until I did she had no clue I was there even with a light breeze blowing to her she was coming right in.

The next morning the temps were up to 58 so I sprayed down again before the morning set. About 7:30 I had a shot which resulted in a long tracking job in rising temps. After three hours of sweaty walking you still couldn’t find much to say I had been walking all morning. My clothes, while not perfectly scent free, were still close. There was no way to tell that those had been worn through those conditions. No smell of sweat at all. Again not completely scent free but I am talking hours of walking and sweating that would have left my old system completely gone. When I went in for the afternoon hunt I wore the same clothes. Simply spraying down again. As soon as I did there was no smell at all.

Seemz says that their products hold up over time better than others and I found that it does. Even after 2 days on stand along with hours of sitting and walking I still couldn’t find much odor on the clothes. As a final test I bagged everything for the trip home to keep it away from anything that might add odor. When I took them out I could tell everything was due a wash but normally my clothes done this way would have smelled BAD but not this time. They did need washing but we are talking after 2 days of hard hunting and being packed away overnight they still weren’t bad at all. I honestly think if I had needed to hunt another day before packing them up I could have after spraying them again. I can see now that Seemz has become what I will be using for my scent control.

While Seemz was good enough to send me their products to test don’t think for a second a good review came from that. If it sucks and you send it to me I promise I will tell people exactly that. If it works then that is what you will hear. In this case it does what is advertised. I will be doing more tests as the season goes along and will let you know what I find but after this weekend I can’t think there will be anything bad to report on a system that does what the maker says. Good work Seemz.

Preview Seemz Technology

Here is a review preview. I just got a great care package in from Seemz Technology and wanted to show you what was coming up as soon as I can do more testing.

Our friend Josh has been more than great in his sponsorship of the Huntography Deer Tour this year. He is providing scent elimination products to the hunters and to try and give back a little I am going to do some testing and post what I find.

The box I opened contains a body wash, detergent for clothes, scent elimination spray for the field in two different sized spray bottle, along with a big bottle to refill the sprays and a spiffy sponge thingy for the shower. All come in nicely labeled packaging titled T.H.E.E. KRUSH powered by their Odor Fusion technology. I will get into more of the specifics in my next post to explain how their system works but I did a couple of quick tests to see how some of it did. Here is what I found.

After talking to Josh I knew the detergent was much different than what I had been using. It pours like water, is colorless and scent free. I put in a load of camo to give it a go. When I took it out I gave it the old sniff test which turned up nothing and what was different was the way the clothes felt. What I was using you could feel on the clothes after washing but with Seemz that is gone. I will be wearing shirts and pants washed in Seemz on opening day to see how it holds up.

For the spray I decided to go over to the farm to try for a yote. Instead  of changing into clean camo I wore what I had on which was jeans and a t shirt that I had worked in all day. Add to this my everyday hat and you have a less than odor free hunting ensemble. I sprayed down with the cool invertible spray bottle and sure enough it worked. I sprayed a spot, gave it a bit to work and tried to smell anything. It worked. Wherever the spray hit the scent was gone. Not too shabby for a tough first test let me tell you. Since I didn't take the time to completely cover myself it wasn’t a fair test but proved that it did what it says. This weekend it will get the "time in tree after walking through the woods" test to see how it holds up.

There it is a quick preview of Seemz Technology scent elimination system. Tomorrow morning I will be testing the body wash, donning camo washed in their detergent then spraying down when I get to the field. I will post a better review next week after a long weekend of testing.

Good luck to everyone this weekend. Many of the states are opening. Be safe and wear your harness. If you need me I will be on top of Monteagle mountain .

Big Deer Hunters Lures

Time to introduce a new sponsor of the Huntography Deer Tour. Since the tour was announced we have been lucky to have several companies come on board with products for the hunters. From cooking to scent elimination and now lures we have goodies to help us out this fall.

Our latest sponsor is Big Deer Hunters, that makes solid stick deer urine lures. These are all made and packaged by the owner without human hands ever touching the lure. You can order either buck or doe in an easy to use stick made from 100% premium urine which can be used in a variety of ways. Introduced at the Atlanta Buck A Rama last year this is my first chance to try it out.

Reading the instructions the lure has a slower evaporation rate, stays airborne longer than aerosols and maintains its strength even in rain. All with no mess or spills. It can be used in a variety of ways which makes it easier to use to me than other products. Here are the suggestions for ways to use your new lure.

• Simply take off the top, turn the dial on the bottom, apply to your boots and walk to your stand.
• Rub on trees, bushes or rocks around your stand 
• Place the container on the ground with a small bit of lure exposed to let the wind carry the scent.
• Cut a small sliver and place in a scrape or mock scrape
• Cut a sliver and wrap around a string or small twig to make a hanging lure
• Use the hook hole in the container to hang the lure from a tree or your stand
• Use the hook hole in the container and string to make a drag lure to your stand.

To go along with his lures Charles also has his Dirt Soap. A way to get clean, eliminate human odor while only leaving the smell of earth behind. A cleaner and cover scent in one.

I will be using the lure during my hunt on the Deer Tour in November which is just about the time our bucks are out looking for love. Can’t wait to see what comes in to check it out.

Check out Big Deer Hunters online or contact Charles at
678-469-6467

Sandbagged

Here is one I ran across years ago in a hunting magazine and I know everyone can not only use but do themselves.

I was chucking things out when I found some old jeans so torn up they had to go. When I was about to throw them out I remembered reading an article about making sandbags for the range from the legs. I had a few minutes, some old jeans and some sand outside so I decided to make a couple. This is all it takes.

Cut the legs off of your jeans a little below the knee. You can make them a bit longer if you want but any shorter makes them hard to sew. Next turn them inside out and sew one end closed. I didn’t have a sewing machine so I just ran two rows of stitches across by hand, be sure to use at least 2-3 rows. Next step, sew the other end about ¾ of the way closed, leaving a section to add your sand. Turn the pouch you made right side out and you are ready to add sand.

It is best to use play sand rather than contractor’s sand since it has all the small stones removed or you can run the contractor sand through a screen to get most of them out.
Add sand until it is close to full but leave yourself enough material to finish sewing it closed. Stitch the opening closed with at least two rows of stitches and there you have it a sandbag for almost nothing. If you have a sewing machine these take just a couple of minutes to do but even by hand they don’t take long. The technique is exactly like making a pillow for those of you that know how to sew, well except for the sand which would make a rough pillow.

There you go, another on the cheap useful item to add to your goodies. These work great on the range, out chasing yotes or ground pigs.

P.S. Just for fun I made one full of bubble wrap to see how it worked. Hoping it does since it is super light weight and easy to carry in my pack.

Murphy's Law vs. The Blind Hog

Over the last few years I have lost almost all of my private land I had to hunt. I was down to 2 spots, one 18 acre spot over an hour away and a 30 acre spot about 10 minutes from my house. I still take deer regularly but it is hard to think about almost 2000 acres I have lost in different locations. Through a variety of reasons years of work were gone almost overnight. Last year I spent my time on these two small spots and had decided this year would be the same. Murphy’s Law it seems was in full affect.

Then the blind hog stepped in.

A huge oak I found walking the Beasley farm. Full of acorns and squirrels.


I had a truck in the drive and someone stopped by to see if it was for sale. As we talked I found out one guy lived just down the street but we had never talked. I found out he not only hunted but deer hunted on a farm 30 minutes away that had 320 acres on it. He hunts alone and talked about how he couldn’t find any more land to hunt near us. Permission is just hard to come by. We talked about deer for a bit, the truck some and before they left I had gotten invited to hunt a couple of times this year on his spot. I was thrilled and told him I would take him to one of my spots to trade hunts. He loved it because no one else would take him. Now I had almost 400 acres to hunt this year just from a random conversation.

Then came blind hog acorn number 2.

 September 1st is the opening of dove season. I don’t go on opening day anymore since I can shoot them in the backyard living as I do in the dove capitol of Tennessee. While I was talking to some folks on Twitter I was asked to check on some shoots near me. I said sure since the fields are just a few minutes. Easy way to help a friend, saves them some gas and time on opening day.

I headed over about 5 since there is usually someone around the barn about then. Sure enough they pulled in just ahead of me. I walked up and introduced myself again since it had been a long time since I had dropped in. Don Beasley and Josh were happy to talk dove hunts and what days they were planning to shoot. In a few minutes Josh’s boss (wife) pulled up and he headed home. Don and I hung out and talked for a bit more.

As I was getting ready to leave Don mentioned deer hunting, I perked up then. He said he had some people hunting but never saw them much last year and wished someone would come and shoot some does. I said I love to hunt does, only take bucks if I see a good one.  He thought for a second and then said that would be fine come on over and hunt this year. I about fell over. This is a 600 acre farm 4 minutes from my house. While not all of it is worth hunting there are plenty of spots that are.

I thanked him and thanked him some more then headed home still afraid to believe I had scored this spot. I honestly was waiting to go back and be told that they had changed their minds. Instead I went back and got invited to Don’s parents’ house where I now have a standing invitation to drop in anytime.

This will be a painting one day.


Without trying I managed to go from 48 acres to almost 1000. I didn't go out looking for a new spot but had them fall in my lap. It’s true a blind hog can find an acorn. I haven’t gotten to go check the 320 acres yet but got taken to a 150 acre section of the Beasley farm where we immediately saw a huge tom and then a flock of about 30 turkeys. It has woods, a creek, along with silage fields that are just cut or about to be. It has squirrels and doves all over to go along with the big critters. I can’t wait to get started there since I can hunt it during the week when no one else is around.

Hard to see but the turkeys are on the treeline.


For those of you that are like me (broke) and can’t afford a lease or only have public land to hunt, don’t give up. There are some nice folks out there that if you do it right will let you hunt their property. Try to find small places other people over look. I have had spots as small as 2 acres and as large as 750 all of them had deer. Hang in there and keep looking that blind hog is still rootin’.

Good luck to everyone this season and be safe.

The Last Stand

The switch is thrown. For me September 1st is when the idea of hunting season starts to sink in. Weather is funny here, most years as soon as September hits temps drop by 10-20 degrees after our hot summers. This year we went from a record high on Thursday of over 100 to Sunday with a high of 57, a drop of 45 degrees. Not that we don’t have more hot patches but you know it is on the way out. Our bow season starts on the fourth Saturday of September so I am out getting the last things done in the woods, shooting more in the yard and of course checking equipment that doesn’t need checking.

Last weekend I made the trek to the mountain to put up my ladder stand that normally stays up all year. Last year I had one stolen nearby so the landowners went out and pulled this one for me and stored it all summer. This is a two man version that is the 15 foot size I think. Why don’t I know for sure how tall my stand is? Well, let me tell you.

Heading up Monteagle.


I see the “How high do I need to get in a tree to hunt?” debate all the time. I love seeing the folks that work in absolutes, “you HAVE TO hunt 20, 30, 50 feet off the ground or dire things will happen and you will never see a deer. You will be plagued by locusts and frogs, your children will be born naked, oh and you will NEVER see a deer. Ground hunters are wasting their time and shouldn’t be let out without adult supervision.”

Of course being me I love to poke a finger in the eye of the knowledgeable every chance I get and do with my stands, whether ladder or climbing, I rarely go over 10 feet up. Right now I have 2 ladder stands up in two different locations. The first is on my lease just down the road. It is a one man I picked up for around $60. I put it together like I do all of them then promptly took one section of the ladder and put it in the corner with the rest of the unused parts. Partly because of the area being so thick, partly because I didn’t want to be that high. Same thing with the 2 man stand, the top section of the ladder is sitting in the shop. Both of these stands I can almost reach the platforms standing on the ground and can standing on the first steps. 

Just about now I can hear the “got to get way up there” folks turning colors, which tickles me a bit. I have heard all the reasoning behind stand height but I kill just as many off the ground as I do from a tree, maybe more, so most of the argument is lost on me. But if their sets work for them that is great and I hope everyone thumps a bunch this year but me I will be low to the earth as usual.

Here are a few pics of my last one going up. I thought it was going to be more trouble than it was because I had no help but it went right up with only a couple of minor things getting in the way. After hauling it back to my tree I reattached the ladder, checked all of the straps, grabbed a handful of platform and walked it up to the tree. After a few adjustments getting the platform to the angle I wanted it was just a matter of tightening all the straps before climbing in to check everything.

I took the time to remove a couple of limbs but I have cleared this spot for several years so the lanes were in good shape. I did take a few minutes to pick a couple of trees for the camera to go in this season for the deer tour. Since I have never been on camera this was new to me. Luckily there are plenty of good trees in this area since it is mature hardwoods so if we need to move Rudy around it won’t take much.

One choice for Rudy is the tree just behind my truck to the right of the ladder.

The other choice for Rudy is the tree just to the left of the ladder.


So, there it is, the last stand. I still have my two Summit climbers for mobility if I want to move around but this set has given up 9 deer so far and I expect to take several more from it this year as long as I can get there to hunt. I have taken several from my other ladder stand and deer are using that spot heavily already. Normally it is a late season spot but this year they are there before season starts.

I hope everyone has a great season and stays safe. Whether you are on the ground or in a tree high enough for a nose bleed, have fun, be careful and be sure to let us know how you are doing during the season.

The Mental Game

I just read a good post from my friend Mark on his site Sole Adventure about what is one of the most important parts of hunting. What he wrote was spot on and got me thinking about the fact that it applies to most of where we succeed or fail. Somehow his post got sidetracked a bit in the comments left to include martial arts which I happen to know a little something about. His thoughts were most people fail in hunting due to being less prepared in the mental part of the game not in the practice or prep area. Let’s face it anyone can go buy good equipment if they have the money and then go practice to the point of stacking groups this means exactly zero if you won’t stay in the stand or set up in the wrong spot.

As I read this I thought back on how many times I have seen hunters leave the woods so close to the same time I could almost set my watch by them. 9:00 o’clock would come and you could hear and see hunters headed to their trucks. Most were gone for the day but the few that came back would show up about 2 hours before dark, maybe, to trudge in and wait for the magic hour in hopes of catching a critter coming through. Over the years most of us learned to stay put waiting for this and letting them push deer to us. Worked far more than those early birds knew.

In martial arts it is the same, people that are quite capable of doing a technique will just quit when faced with it, not from lack of ability but what they lack mentally. They convince themselves that it is too hard, they aren’t ready, they will look goofy, whatever. Hunters convince themselves deer will only move earlier, breakfast sounds good, they didn’t sleep enough, on and on. I am convinced that deer pattern us like we do them and these hunters are a main cause.

Being old and having hunted with some true diehard hunters that knew their stuff we often had this conversation. It boiled down to how many times we sat in stands while others left after a morning of seeing nothing, then after the woods quieted down a bit here the deer came. It might be 10:00 or it might be 1:00 but deer were moving when most of the hunters were gone. The biggest bucks I have had a chance at were at midday, both right after lunch. The first one I had gone to the truck to eat and decided to walk back in as my buddy went to nap. I wasn’t there 10 minutes until a big 8 walked by checking a scrap line. A week later I made sure to be easing along a logging road on the same ridge when another big 8 stepped out at lunch time. Everyone else was at the truck eating or sleeping.

When I hunt public land this comes into play even more. The mental toughness to keep walking when I want to stop and hunt, the ability to stay on stand past when I would rather go home, the will power to stay there after some numb nuts walks in on you then goes stomping off. I tell people that hunt public land this one tip, if you are walking in to hunt and want to stop, keep walking another 100-200 yards. Why? If you wanted to stop there so does everyone else. We aren’t that different and we will all go to about the same lengths. So it is up to you to be mentally tough enough to go that extra distance, up the next hill, over the next creek, past where everyone else will stop. This, to me, is where success lies, up that next hill, over the next creek where the other guy didn’t have it in him to go.

Unlike shooting I have never found a way to really teach someone how to be mentally tough. It is one of the things you have to find in yourself and is a major achievement when you do. On Mark’s site I posted a comment about how it takes 1000 repetitions to learn a technique and 10,000 to master it. This doesn’t mean just muscle memory but the fact that you have to commit time, energy and even your mind to the process. To push past where most would say good enough or simply give up, there is where things will change.

This fall when you go to the woods try putting your watch where it isn’t easy to get to. Stop looking at it every couple of minutes which just makes things worse. Stay an extra hour or two past when you would normally leave, go back in an hour earlier, see what is going on in what is normally your down time. If you hunt public land take the time to get a bit farther from the truck, past where other quit and let them push deer to you. Plan ahead with some food, something to drink, maybe a book to pass the time, anything to help you push past the spot where most head home. Who knows maybe Mr. Big will come strolling though when everyone else is sitting at home watching some ball game. Which would you rather have to talk about on Monday, what you did and the big buck you dropped or what a bunch of guys playing a game that could care less if you are alive did? Me, I’m going to the woods.

Panel Ground Blind

I finally got to go cut some trails, check my stand and build a new blind on my 30 acre spot. I was happy to find that everything I left last year was still there, my ladder stand, blind and seats. I was really happy to see the work trimming trees and bushes over the last few years has cut down on how much I need to do each fall. It only took a couple of hours to have 90% of the trails cut plus a new blind built after finding some new trails. I want to go back to remove some bigger stuff, mainly privet which has invaded. While I was building my blind I thought some of you might like to see how I do this type. It takes a little work at home but is fast to set up, inexpensive to build, last for years, we even used a version of this type for duck hunting way back when.

As kids we came up with this idea for portable, light weight duck blinds. We didn’t have much money but bought some 8 foot 2x2 lumber, built a tapered frame about 6 feet long by 4 feet high maybe 4 feet wide at the bottom and 3 at the top, which we covered in chicken wire. We could put a couple of these on our boat, take them to where we wanted to hunt and quickly brush them in and have room for two hunters in each. After a hunt we stored them in the woods till we hunted that spot again. They were light enough for one person to carry by simply getting inside, picking it up and walking off. This is the idea behind this quickie deer blind build, not portable but cheap and easy to use.

If you look around you may find a construction site that has a junk lumber pile, most will let you take scraps good enough for this project. Grab any 2x4 or larger lumber they will let you have. For wire I used fence wire with 2”x4” openings rather than chicken wire because they were built for something else and chicken wire wasn‘t strong enough. I decided to use the ones already built rather than build new ones for my new blind since these are so simple to do I can replace them if I need more. Here is how to make your own.

If you buy the wood just get 2”x2” in 6 foot lengths, you need 3 for each panel along with 3” and 2” screws, chicken wire or fence wire 3’ high. If you use scrap lumber you will want to rip it to width to get your 2x2s. Cut the 2”x2” pieces so you have two pieces 33 inches long and two 6 feet long. They don’t need to be perfect a ¼” won’t make a difference. Use a drill bit smaller than the diameter of your screws to predrill holes in the sides of the long pieces near the ends and into the ends of the short pieces. This will keep it from splitting. I made some gussets for the corners out of ½ inch plywood to strengthen the corners. Predrill these and the 2x2s. Now just screw the parts together. After I have the panel made I use a staple gun to attach the wire to the frame. You can use scrap wire, zip ties, twine or whatever you can think of to attach it.  This should give you a panel 6 feet long by 3 feet high, it will take 3 or 4 to build your blind in most spots. You could make them half as long to build a blind with more angles which would work just fine.

Once I get them to the woods I look around for trees close to a trail where I can attach them. The panels in the pics are formed into a triangle using three trees, two panels and a couple of pieces from an old blind. After I tied them to the trees I started to cut my shooting lanes I used whatever I cut to brush in the panels. You can weave pieces into the wire or use string or zip ties to hold them in place. The more brush you add the more places you have to easily weave more in. It took less than 30 minutes of leisurely trimming lanes, brushing in while checking trails to have it finished.

One good thing about these panels is you can adjust the height by attaching them higher or lower to the tree. If you wanted to make a narrower panel you could add these above the lower one to create a shooting window and give yourself more cover. There are several ways to add a roof if you want one. In other words it can be as simple or elaborate as you want it and still be able to tear it down to move it in very little time. From using trees in the area to driving some metal posts as corners this blind has tons of possibilities.