A Very Special Deer Hunt: The Story of Two Kids Hunting For A Cure Events

Author’s note: October 2011. In Illinois 32 kids and in Tennessee 172 kids hunted with guides and were set up for the most part on private land that had been donated for Kids Hunting for a Cure to use. In addition, many individuals and organizations donated videographers to capture these priceless moments. Before this I had given to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, but had never considered it one of my top charities. I looked at it as a huge conglomerate, but have since discovered how much St. Jude’s does for kids and their families. Although just one family is mentioned here, we met many other children who have been through treatments or are currently in treatment for cancer. Their spirits were amazing and touching.

In early October we went to Allendale, Illinois to participate in the Kids Hunting For A Cure (KHFAC) event. KHFAC is a non-profit organization which provides financial support to research hospitals and foundations like St. Jude’s, which are dedicated to developing cures for cancer and catastrophic childhood diseases. Funds are raised by children and adults through community-sponsored outdoor events designed for youth. Often, these hunts provide the only opportunity that many of these kids will ever have to fulfill their dream of harvesting a deer.

Prior to the event a friend had introduced me to Dave Norval, founder of KHFAC. Super Dave shared his goals in creating KHFAC: to expose kids to God’s great outdoors, help kids see that their disabilities don’t need to confine them and in the process raise money and awareness about childhood cancer and other life threatening diseases.

We knew prior to going to the Allendale hunt that we would be paired with St. Jude’s poster child, 10-year-old Benjamin Sherman. In 2008, Ben, from Jonesboro, Arkansas was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia, which is not the most common form of leukemia. Ben spent five months living in Memphis at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and then spent the next two years traveling back and forth from his home to the hospital for weekly IV chemotherapy, bone marrow tests, spinal taps and other necessary treatments. Even before meeting Ben I felt privileged to be asked to participate in such a worthwhile cause…meeting so many children, many with life threatening diseases, but their joy and enthusiasm at the opportunity to hunt was contagious. Ben, who is a triplet, came to the hunt with his brother Brooks and mother Jackie.

On Saturday morning, sitting in a pop-up blind on the edge of a soybean field, we waited and waited, but did not see one deer. During that time, I used the opportunity to film Ben talking about his experience and St. Jude’s. He is a very smart young man who remembers everything to the date. Never once did Ben have anything negative to say. Even after all he had been through you could not make him say one bad thing about St. Jude’s or anyone at St. Jude’s. Until he became sick, Ben was an active child who loved anything outdoors. Ben’s love of hunting was further developed while at St. Jude’s. His mother explained that being confined to a hospital bed and taking so many drugs made Ben sick and weak. Since he couldn’t get outdoors, Ben would spend hours watching the hunting shows on TV and say I’d like to do that someday.

Ben and I went back out Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Before daylight on Sunday we did spot a deer, but never really got to see it. I knew that Ben was disappointed; he had been looking forward to this hunt. His brother Brooks did kill a coyote on Sunday morning. I had hoped that both Ben and Brooks would get the opportunity to kill a deer. Prior to KHFAC, Ben’s neighbor had taken him hunting and he had killed a spike horn. From that experience, fueled by all the hunting shows, Ben was hooked. But Brooks had never gotten to shoot a deer before. Neither of their parents hunt, but are committed to finding opportunities for the boys to follow their passion of hunting.

A few weeks after the Illinois KHFAC event, another hunt was going to be held in Fayetteville, Tennessee. I talked to Ben’s mother about a week before the event and she said Ben was very discouraged because he had not seen a deer in Illinois. A few days later one of the local guides for the Tennessee hunt called to tell me he had been out to the property where Ben and I would be set up. He had seen 6 bucks that afternoon. I couldn’t wait to call Ben and relay the information to him. Everyone felt that there was a 99.99% chance that Ben would get his deer. I asked Ben if he was ready to go and he said, “definitely.”

En route to the Tennessee hunt, the landowner, Hue, called and said he wanted to take us out to the property as soon as we dropped our stuff at the lodge (which was exceptional). Hue is a gracious gentleman who only lets the St. Jude’s kids hunt on his property. When we pulled into the property with him we immediately saw three does on our left and two really nice bucks eating acorns to the right. I recorded video of the bucks to show Ben and Brooks, to encourage them when we met up later.

Later that afternoon I took both Ben and Brooks out to the property for a sneak peek. On and near the property we saw about 21 deer total, many of them nice bucks. Needless to say, the boys were now pumped for this hunt.

Early Saturday morning Ben, Brooks, another guide (country musician CJ Garton) and I loaded up and headed out. Our “blind” was a small equipment lean-to that had been set up with a camo tarp for us. We had talked to the boys about waiting for “the” buck, but the first deer to come out was a doe. We had told them that the decision to shoot or wait would be theirs. I asked Ben what he wanted to do and he “definitely” wanted this doe. We eased Ben into position and when he pulled the trigger the deer hunched and back kicked and ran out of sight. I looked at the footage and it looked to be a good hit, so now it was Brooks’ turn. It didn’t take but about 30 minutes when 4 does came down the hill to the left. They were about 50 yards away. We got Brooks settled in for the shot. He made a couple of shots and downed his doe. One doe for each boy – they were elated. After finding the does and taking pictures we went back to the hunt headquarters. We were one of the first groups to check in with the game warden, but soon there was a line of trucks stretching through the fairgrounds out toward the gate waiting to check in. There were some nice 10 pt, 8 pts, 6 pts, etc., along with a lot of does killed that morning. It was a site you really had to see. The smiling faces of the kids said it all that morning.

Because Ben was discouraged from the Illinois hunt, he had originally wanted to come, hunt in the morning, then leave. However, the morning experience had definitely changed his mind. Ben and Brooks couldn’t wait to get back out that afternoon – they had bucks in their sights. That afternoon we were joined by a local businessman, Steve, who knew the property and just wanted to be there to watch the hunt unfold. He was under a piece of brown burlap to our left side, the four of us still under our camo “blind.” Steve could see further to the right than we could and we hadn’t been in the blind long when Steve said there was a respectable 8 pt coming in. We asked Ben if he wanted to shoot it or wait, being the young man he is he definitely wanted to kill it. At 80 yards the buck was standing broadside, when Ben pulled the trigger. At the sound of the gun the buck hit the ground, jumped up, he was still able to stand, but I was sure Ben had made a fatal shot. Ben got nervous, so his next two shots were high, we told him to breathe, settle down, shoot lower, and pull the trigger. One shot later equaled one downed 8 pt and one very happy boy.

We knew the buck was down, so we set up for Brook’s shot. Soon a spike, a small 6 pt and couple of 8 pts came through the trees, but we didn’t want to chance a shot. Soon an 8 pt came down. Although there was a spike standing to the right, slightly in front of him, he was broadside at 80 yards so we got Brooks set. Steve said there was a much larger buck coming out of the woods, so we asked Brooks what he wanted to do. Brooks immediately answered take the shot, “I want that one.” At the sound of the .243, the buck hit the ground. He was broke down but still trying to get up. We hurriedly took Brooks to about 10 yards to finish off his 8 pt.

A doe each in the morning, an 8 pt buck each in the evening was more than I had imagined or hoped for Ben and Brooks. One thing I know for sure was that God was there with us every minute. I captured the successful hunts of two very happy boys on video that day.

I can’t encourage hunters enough to take your kids or someone else’s kids hunting, or volunteer your time for a youth hunt. You will receive more blessings than you can ever imagine.

It’s true that kids say and do the funniest things and that last afternoon in Tennessee was no exception. Ben and Brooks never argued over who had the biggest doe or buck. However, they did argue that day about which buck had the biggest set.

Getting kids in the great outdoors is such a worthwhile endeavor. If you loved hunting before, the joy and enthusiasm these kids show will definitely be reward enough in its self. I received such a blessing from their resilient spirits. I can’t thank KHFAC enough for letting us be involved and giving us the opportunity to spend time with the Shermans. Their story is a tribute to the good work that St. Jude’s is doing to prevent, cure, and treat childhood cancer and catastrophic diseases.

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$10,000 Reward Offered for Grizzly Bear Shootings in Northern Idaho

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) law enforcement agents and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) are investigating the fatal shooting of a federally protected grizzly bear and her nursing cub in northern Idaho. A reward of $10,000 is being offered for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.

The dead adult grizzly was discovered on the morning of May 18 by a hiker from Bonners Ferry, Idaho. It was located in a clear-cut in Boundary County on Hall Mountain. Hall Mountain is located east of the Kootenai River valley and northwest of US Highway 95.

The adult bear was a large female that was lactating, an indication she was nursing a cub (or cubs) produced during her recent winter hibernation.

A subsequent search of the surrounding area by an Idaho Fish and Game Biologist turned up a dead cub that had also been shot. Both bears appeared to have been dead a few days when found on May 18.

Both carcasses are being flown to the US Fish and Wildlife Service lab in Ashland Oregon for necropsy and further retrieval of evidence.

A black bear season is currently open in Idaho; however, hunters may not shoot grizzly bears and may not shoot black bears with cubs. A bear identification program to train hunters to differentiate the species was posted last year and is available on the IDFG web page.

Grizzly bears are classified as a threatened species in the lower 48 states and are protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. Killing a threatened species protected by the ESA carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent in Spokane, Washington, at 509-928-6050; the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at 208-769-1414; or the Idaho Citizens Against Poaching Program at 1-800-632-5999. Callers can remain anonymous.

No additional information is being released at this time pending further investigation.

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Hunting Food Plots 101: Initial Strategy, Site Selection and Soil Tests

In the “Hunting Food Plots 101″ series, I will attempt to put a fairly complex subject —food plots— into layman’s terms so that anyone can successfully plant food plots the first time around. I will cover everything from beginning to end, sharing my past experiences and let you “ride along” throughout the food plot life cycles. This is by no means an exhaustive list of things to do and to think about when considering food plots. This series will stick mostly to the basics of food plots. This is the first installment of the series.

When creating food plots to enhance the wildlife habitat of a property, the first few things you need to do is come up with an initial strategy, select your sites based on this strategy, and perform soil tests on those sites.

Food Plot Initial Strategy

Why create food plots?

There are two main types of food plots, nutritional and hunting. Nutritional food plots are usually larger (1+ acre), and hunting food plots (“kill plots”) are smaller (<1 acre).

Here are some more detailed reasons to create a food plot.

• To provide nutrition year around, especially during the stress periods of summer and winter
• Increase the carrying capacity (the amount of deer the habitat can properly provide for)
• Reduce browsing pressure on native vegetation and enhance forest regeneration
• To attract deer during hunting season for harvest (kill plots)
• Create “kill plots” near stands to increase your success during hunting season

Some food plots are created to accomplish all of these, while others may only target one or a couple. It is up to you as the steward to determine what your property needs.

In example, the land that I live on and hunt most every day during hunting season has large farms adjacent to it, providing abundant soy beans and corn for the deer.

The last couple of seasons the farmers have cut their crops so late that the deer had access to that nutrition well into winter. This removes the need for me to create acres of food plots, because I certainly can’t compete with hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans, and thus would be wasting my money.

That said, I do have several smaller “kill plots” that provide nutrition almost year around.

Food Plot Site Selection

When selecting a site to create a food plot, there are many variables to consider. Here are a few questions that I ask myself when selecting a site.

Why am I creating the food plot?

If it is for a “kill plot”, it can be fairly small, and close to your hunting stand. “Kill plots” can be large, especially for rifle hunters, but tend to be created to attract the deer in close for a safe kill. Find a relatively flat area near your stand that gets at least 4-6 hours of sunlight (Your food plot seed choices greatly diminish with less sunlight).

If you are creating the food plot to increase the carrying capacity of your habitat, you will want to plant a larger area. Most wildlife consultants will recommend two to five percent of your property be encompassed in food plots, but you can actually see an impact with as little as one percent (This of course depends on where you live and the available nutrition in your area). Select a relatively flat area that is fairly large. Most larger food plots are done in open fields and therefore receive many hours of sunlight.

Is the soil and moisture adequate for proper forage growth?

Make sure you select a site that can provide for plant growth. Soils subject to drought, flooding and erosion are poor choices. There are many food plot seed choices for clay or sandier soils, but adequate moisture is always a necessity.

Am I having problems keeping the deer on the property?

On my property, the deer come in during the early morning and late evenings, retreating to the forests (most of which I do not own) during the day. This greatly minimizes the time they are on my property during daylight hours.

If this sounds like you, I recommend planting the larger nutritional food plots closer to the middle of your property. This will pull the deer in further, forcing them to expose themselves for longer periods of times.

In general, food plots should be spread out evenly on your property, so I am not suggesting clump 5 food plots all together in the middle of your property. Again, you need to make the decisions based on your goals and circumstances.

Food Plot Soil Test

The soil test is probably the one thing that you have control over, that will save you the most time and money, as well as relief of stress from a poorly performing food plot.

A soil test is simply sending off the dirt from each plot to a lab to determine the pH and fertility of the soil. They are inexpensive and can be mailed via your local co-op or to any of the major food plot seed companies.

You can buy a core sampler tool, but I just use a shovel. I pick two or three spots on a given food plot, dig down 6-8 inches and then take my sample, putting it into a plastic bag. Each bag should be marked so you know which food plot belongs to which bag. You don’t need a lot of dirt and can usually have the results back within a week.

The soil tests will tell you how much lime and fertilizer (as well as the makeup of the fertilizer) you need. This keeps you from overspending while optimizing your soil for plant growth.

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Ride, Fish, Scout and Hunt

The month of May offers plenty in the outdoors. You can ride your Yamaha ATV or Side-by-Side. When enjoying your four wheels, fishing and even some late-spring and summer hunting are also options. “Life isn’t a dress rehearsal,” the saying goes. Get out there and enjoy yourself.

FISH: It’s safe to say, residents of all 50 states are enjoying fishing right now.

If you’ve got kids, it’s a great time to start them angling. Choose a bobber and bait for easy introduction. Graduate to fly fishing later if the interest continues. Panfish and stocked trout provide steady opportunity as do youth fishing events.

As backcountry rides and angling go, there’s no better time to get out there. Check rules and regulations as always for trail use, plus overnight camping and fishing laws. Be safe.

SCOUT: If you’re a hardcore hunter, scouting is a year-round deal.

It might include seeking new permission from landowners. Have your longtime hunting spots been developed? Maybe you want to plot where to hang tree stands.

Waterfowl hunters might gauge how to use their spots more wisely. Blinds will be built. Plans hatched.

As pure game watching goes, you can see how the turkey hatch has been, note duck and goose broods, and even watch deer with fawns later on, and summer bucks in velvet.

For information on what hunting offers for the month of May, please visit – http://www.yamaha-motor.com/outdoor/events/dynamicevent/2/1638/yamaha_outdoors_tips_-_ride_fish_scout_and_hunt_.aspx.

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Is Your Bragging Board Brag-Worthy?

What has worked for you?  Do you need ideas on how to get this started?  Shoot me an email at jason@salesproxie.com.  I would love to hear from you.  For more ideas on social media marketing for the outdoor industry, visit my blog www.mudontheboots.com.

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A Camera’s Killer Sense: Trail Camera Pictures from the Field

Trail camera pictures clutter my computer’s desktop and congest my electronic photo library; thousands of whitetail pictures filed into hundreds of archived folders, which are then saved to several sub-folders. I’ve managed to sort through the good, bad and the ugly to find some of my very favorite images of 2011.

Below you will find some neat snapshots taken from a slew of Moultrie cameras at a good friend of mine’s whitetail outfitting operation. Mark Schuh, owner Schuhter’s Outpost in Buffalo County, Wisconsin – where big buck photos are of plenty has made trail cameras his virtue and prized possession to putting his clients on mature whitetail.

Early seasons bucks are simply incredible. Their sleek muscular body combined with the light summer coat and fuzzy antlers makes for a stellar shot, especially if he has headgear like this buck shown above. This near 200” buck was photographed throughout the entire summer and into hunting season before making a presence on some lucky hunter’s wall last year. This particular photo of him was captured during a morning as he browsed through one of Mark’s hunting plots consisting of Evolved Harvest’s ProVide, a mixture of forage clover and chicory.

The next photo is of a deer I was lucky enough to kill during the Wisconsin archery opener. He was nicknamed “High Tower” and for a good reason. This 4-½ year old production of Buffalo County’s very finest had skyscraping tines that blossomed out of his gnarly main beams. His knack for deception and clever skill set deemed him one of the most sought after trophies on Mark’s deer infested farms.

We were able to capture him on trail camera several times before sneaking into his living room with perfect wind conditions and successfully put an arrow into him at 20 yards. I’m now able to look at the handsome shoulder mount on my wall and share fond memories with friends thanks to analyzing photographic evidence of High Tower’s uncanny travel patterns chronicled from a stealthy trail cam.

My last photo of choice is Mark’s late season muzzleloader kill. This 11-point Boone & Crockett animal loved the camera, but duped every hunter that tried slapping their tag on him. During a fresh snowfall and severe drop in temperature, I was able to film Mark killing this world-class whitetail after pinpointing where he was the night before by checking cameras.

Trail cameras provide an immense amount of data about whitetail’s daily characteristics and lifestyle trends. It’s almost like breaking into the mystical culture of North America’s most popular big game species. I find it even more alluring that photos script into unforgotten memories, which tell stories. I will always find a photograph to be truly spectacular in so many ways. I urge everyone to use these tactical devices to help improve your own hunting insight and increase the storage on your very own memory bank!

Got any good trail cam pics to share? Post them in the comments below!

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Lessons Learned from Hunter Education: Keep Learning!

This article comes courtesy of John M. Buol, Jr. of FirearmUserNetwork.com. Check out his site for more articles like this.

When I was volunteering as a certified hunter education instructor for the Wisconsin DNR, they published a compiled list of statistics for each season’s hunt. Being one of the top ten states for deer hunter participation, this makes an interesting and accurate case study. Let’s go over the lessons learned from the compiled numbers and see what we can discover about trends in field shooting and safety skills of hunters.

First, the good news. Organized events, even those as rudimentary as basic hunter education, are marvelously effective at improving safety skills. In 1907, decades before hunter education was established, there were 97 reported firearm mishaps statewide of which 41 resulted in death. The total deer harvested count was about 6,000.

In 2002, over five decades after the first hunter education program was established, the number of incidents was less than half that (47 total) despite a much larger hunting population taking the field: 618,945 licenses sold with 277,959 deer harvested.

According to the National Safety Council there is currently an average of seven firearm-related incidents for every 100,000 hunters in the United States. Wisconsin’s 2002 rate works out to 7  incidents for every 92,184 licensed hunters; close to the established national average.

This is yet more proof how safe shooting and hunting can be IF participants bother attending even the simplest, organized, skill-building event. Wisconsin’s hunter education course is a scant 10 hours with a large number of topics in the curriculum and there is no shooting proficiency test or standard. Twelve-year olds find the coursework simple. Worst of all, no follow-on events are offered or even suggested. Yet, the difference between the most vestigial training and none is astonishing.

Hunter education instructors and administrators deserve a pat on the back. Not too hard, though, as there are still a number of embarrassing problems to iron out.

In other articles and reports I’ve pointed out that about a third of all hunting “accidents” are self-inflicted and half are perpetrated by a hunting party member (someone the offending hunter knew was there.) That means there is no acceptable excuse for at least 80 percent of the mishaps.

The 2002 statistics prove this yet again. 14 of the 47 incidents (29.78%) were self inflicted and 24 of the incidents (51.06%) involved a hunter shooting a member of his or her own party. These incidents can be traced to abject incompetence due to unfamiliarity.

Actual hunting experience, without continuing range experience and training, is of little help. Tim Lawhern, Wisconsin’s Hunter Education Administrator, has noted in print that hunters with a number of years of hunting experience are often some of the worst offenders, not the new, inexperienced kids.

The numbers bear this observation out. Nearly half of the perpetrators (22 out of 47, 46.8%) were over the age of 35 and had hunted without mishaps for years. How can this be?

A new hunter takes basic hunter education and learns rudimentary skills. The tentative newbie is cautious with the lessons fresh in his mind. Unfortunately, after this one required event most hunters do nothing to further their field shooting and handling skills beyond this kindergarten level. As the years pass with incident-free hunts, and with nothing done to relearn and reinforce lessons learned, complacency sets in.

We see this with alarming frequency when adult hunters attend a field day with their kids – at least when we can get them to actually toe the line and shoot in front of the class. I’ve learned that the “experienced” hunter often has to be watched even closer than the kids at first. The new student’s safety procedures are just beginning to approach the Consciously Competent level. He may have to think about it first, but he knows what to do. The hunter who has neglected to reinforce these lessons too often reverts back to the Unconsciously Incompetent level, and doesn’t realize how much of the little skill obtained years back at the mandatory hunter education class has been forgotten. The most basic safety protocol violations, improper muzzle control and failing to keep fingers clear of the trigger, have to be watched for and corrected for a few rounds before the hunter begins to remember them again. Without a semi-regular refresher, such as a class, match, or other event, too many hunters learn the hard, painful way and end up as statistics in reports like this.

I’m continually amazed and disappointed at the number of really dumb and preventable gun mishaps. Some typical examples:

• “Victim reholstered pistol after a shot with finger on trigger, shot self in thigh.”
• “Victim had safety off and finger on trigger, shot self in foot.”
• “Victim sat down against tree and gun discharged.”

The numbers confirm the need for skill-refreshing events. Nearly two-thirds of the self-inflicted incidents (9 out of 14, 64.2 percent) involved hunter education graduates shooting themselves, and exactly three-quarters of the perpetrators who shot their hunting partner (18 out of 24, 75 percent) were graduates as well.

This is NOT a condemnation of the hunter education curriculum or instructors, rather, it is further evidence of the need to provide and promote adequate follow-on activities and sufficient participation by the majority of hunters and gun owners. As noted above, the most basic training experience makes a huge difference. It’s the follow-up, getting rank-and-file gun owners and hunters to bother to show up to shoots once in a while, where we drop the ball.

In summary:

• Organized, skill building events work! The huge drop in negligence due to hunter education proves it.
• Follow on experience is essential or the lessons will be lost. A mandatory, one time event is not enough.
• Raw number of years spent hunting is a poor indicator of skill. Hunters sometimes wait a year (or more!) between hunts. Refreshing skills in between through organized shooting events is vital.

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Shooting Skills for Hunters: The .30-30 Drill

This article comes courtesy of John M. Buol, Jr. of FirearmUserNetwork.com. Check out his site for more articles like this.

The effective range of the .30-30 is about 150-170 yards. Some of the wizzy new Magnums can outperform this by roughly 300 percent, at least on paper. But can the hunter outperform the .30-30? Can you?

The .30-30 WCF (Winchester Center Fire) was a hot little number when first debuted in 1895 but today’s hunters complain about this “obsolete” antique. Standard wisdom states this cartridge is best contained within a range of 100-175 yards. A .30-30 will push a 150-170 grain bullet out at approximately 2200 fps or so. With a 150 yard zero, the bullet will be about two inches above line of sight at 100 yards and around five inches low at 200.

Few hunters possess enough shooting skill that warrants better performance than this. Are you one of them? Find out with the .30-30 Drill.

Begin by getting a good 150 yard zero for that anemic .30-30 (or whatever your favorite hunting rifle is chambered in). Set up a Y-ring steel target at 150 yards. If you don’t have a quality, self-resetting steel target that is about 8-10 inches in diameter, a paper dinner plate at 150 yards makes an ersatz substitute. Get a shooting timer, or a buddy with a whistle and stop watch, to record the time.

Start from standing up. On the start signal adopt a sitting position and fire one aimed shot at the plate. Stand back up and repeat the drill for a total of three shots. After completing this three string/three round sequence from the sitting position, do it again adopting and shooting from prone.

We are shooting at the distance we zeroed giving point-of-impact at point-of-aim on a nice, level playing field with no intervening brush, trees, etc. All the shooting is done from the two most stable positions available in the field. Furthermore, the target is presented whole, as opposed to a large animal with the vital zone hidden somewhere inside, thus eliminating the need to estimate target angle. Just hold center and let ‘er rip!

Regardless of elapsed time, a hunter claiming to need something better than a .30-30 should get at least 5 hits out of 6 shots (83% hits) or better on this six MOA target every time. If so, our hero can actually make use of the ballistic capability provided by a .30-30 or equivalent for field shooting. If not, their maximum effective range in field shooting is shorter than 150 yards and the capability of a .30-30 rifle exceeds their present level of skill.

A more competent hunter-shooter who can get those same hits in ten seconds per shot or less just might benefit from a “better” rifle. They possess sufficient skill to warrant extended range.

Variations:

We can repeat this drill out even further. Use the same target and set at 200, 225, 250, 300, or out as far as you dare. Give the shooter an extra three seconds or so for every 50 yards beyond 150. Sight in appropriately and shoot. For example, .308/.30-06 and cartridges of similar ballistics can set their zero to 200-250 yards.

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Now’s the Time to Find a Big Deer to Take in the Fall

Author’s Note: Even if you’re not a professional deer hunter, if you do the work that professional deer hunters do, you can take bucks like a pro. Most professional hunters hunt year-round. Here’s the tactic that some of the most consistent deer hunters in the nation use to help them find and take the biggest bucks on the property they have to hunt throughout deer season.

“To take the biggest deer on the properties I hunt, I start putting out a deer attractant like C’Mere Deer in mid-May,” Jason Harvison who lives north of Nashville, Tennessee, explains. “Throughout the late spring and early summer, I put trail cameras in the places I hunt much of the year, to make sure I have quality bucks to hunt during deer hunting season. Other hunters set out feeders to determine the number of bucks they’ll have to hunt each year, before the season arrives. You can also watch the antler growth as the bucks come into velvet in the spring and summer and learn which areas of the property should have the biggest deer.”

The next step, once you know which areas are holding the biggest deer, is to determine what natural food sources the deer are feeding on during daylight hours at different times of the year. Your state wildlife biologist can provide that type of information for you. Try to find those natural food sources as close as possible to the area where you’ve been feeding or attracting deer. This is especially true if you’re hunting in a state that doesn’t permit baiting of deer; fertilize these regions of naturally-occurring deer foods. Then when you can no longer bait or feed the deer, the deer will come to the spots where you have been feeding deer and eat the natural browse during hunting season. Because you’ve put in the work before the season to train the deer to be where you want them to be, your chances of taking bucks at those sites will be greatly increased. Even though this tactic isn’t guaranteed, using this strategy, you often can find the biggest buck on the property, determine the number of bucks you’ll to have to hunt and attract those bucks to certain spots in the woods where you want to try and take them.

This is just a sample of what you’ll learn in the new Kindle eBook, “Deer and Fixings.” by John E. Phillips. Go to Amazon.com to order the book and download it to your Kindle, and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, smart phone or computer to read the book with.

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Now’s the Time to Find a Big Deer to Take in the Fall

Author’s Note: Even if you’re not a professional deer hunter, if you do the work that professional deer hunters do, you can take bucks like a pro. Most professional hunters hunt year-round. Here’s the tactic that some of the most consistent deer hunters in the nation use to help them find and take the biggest bucks on the property they have to hunt throughout deer season.

“To take the biggest deer on the properties I hunt, I start putting out a deer attractant like C’Mere Deer in mid-May,” Jason Harvison who lives north of Nashville, Tennessee, explains. “Throughout the late spring and early summer, I put trail cameras in the places I hunt much of the year, to make sure I have quality bucks to hunt during deer hunting season. Other hunters set out feeders to determine the number of bucks they’ll have to hunt each year, before the season arrives. You can also watch the antler growth as the bucks come into velvet in the spring and summer and learn which areas of the property should have the biggest deer.”

The next step, once you know which areas are holding the biggest deer, is to determine what natural food sources the deer are feeding on during daylight hours at different times of the year. Your state wildlife biologist can provide that type of information for you. Try to find those natural food sources as close as possible to the area where you’ve been feeding or attracting deer. This is especially true if you’re hunting in a state that doesn’t permit baiting of deer; fertilize these regions of naturally-occurring deer foods. Then when you can no longer bait or feed the deer, the deer will come to the spots where you have been feeding deer and eat the natural browse during hunting season. Because you’ve put in the work before the season to train the deer to be where you want them to be, your chances of taking bucks at those sites will be greatly increased. Even though this tactic isn’t guaranteed, using this strategy, you often can find the biggest buck on the property, determine the number of bucks you’ll to have to hunt and attract those bucks to certain spots in the woods where you want to try and take them.

This is just a sample of what you’ll learn in the new Kindle eBook, “Deer and Fixings.” by John E. Phillips. Go to Amazon.com to order the book and download it to your Kindle, and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, smart phone or computer to read the book with.

Outdoor Hub, The Outdoor Information Engine - Now’s the Time to Find a Big Deer to Take in the Fall

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