Off Season Hunting Articles
Setting Goals for Hunters
It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. 2011 is long gone ...we're well into 2012. And with a new year comes hopes of better days ahead. It is a time when the slate is wiped clean, and we have the opportunity to make the new year better than the last. Many of us began 2012 with resolutions. For some, those included plans to eat healthier, exercise more, and hopefully to weigh less. For others, it may have included a promotion, a career change, or maybe the beginning of a new business venture. Very rarely, though, do you hear any of us diehard hunters talking about our hunting resolutions for the new year.
Winter Scouting
For the deer hunter, winter is a long period of nothing but waiting. The fall hunt is over and there is little activity related to hunting deer, plus it seems like the new season is such a long way off. Around here, winters are tough, so even the fun stuff like getting out and shooting the bow or going to the rifle range is out of reach. There is one thing winter is great for, and it is a way to stay connected to your favorite hobby. Winter is the best time to get out and scout to see what the deer have been doing at your hunting spots.
Are Coyotes Negatively Impacting Our Deer Herds?
Let's face it, coyotes don't exactly have a great reputation amongst hunters. They've been blamed for everything from the decline of quail and rabbit populations, to lost livestock, and even the occasional missing neighborhood cat or dog. Of course, some of this reputation is deserved, and some of it is probably more lore than fact. Several recent studies, however, have shown that the boom in coyote populations over the last 30 years may be impacting more than just small game, livestock and pet numbers.
Beginners Guide to Videoing Your Hunts: Part 2
Having the best video equipment that money can buy won't result in great hunting footage, if you don't know how to properly use it. On the flip side, even low budget equipment can produce great footage in the hands of a knowledgeable videographer. In the last article, we covered the basic equipment needed to successfully video hunts, and how to best choose that video equipment based on your available budget. In this article, we will discuss some tips and techniques to get the most out of whatever equipment you have - regardless of whether it is a $6,000 professional HD camera, or one you picked up for $100 at the local flea market.
Beginners Guide to Videoing Your Hunts: Part 1
There was a time - and I'm talking not too long ago - when watching a hunting show on television required waking up early on a Saturday morning and tuning to a single cable channel. Today, you can just about find one on 24 hours a day! And if you can't find one on TV, you've probably got a few recorded on your DVR that you've only watched three or four times. Heck, there are now entire cable networks dedicated solely to hunting, fishing and the outdoor pursuits. All of this exposure has lead to an exploding interest in people videoing their own hunts.
Campfire Chef
Like many kids, I spent most of my warm weather weekends as a youth at a campground with my family. It wasn't exactly "roughing it" but it always seemed like an adventure, except for the food. Apparently there is some secret camper's code that says the only forms of sustenance allowed at a campground are hot dogs, potato chips and fire-blackened marshmallows, because that is what we had just about every time that we went. When I was a kid, I never gave it a second thought.
Find Next Season's Buck Now!
Nothing is more depressing to a die-hard deer hunter than watching the sun set on the last day of deer season. Regardless of how good or bad of a season it was, you always wish for one more opportunity to sit in the stand. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and once you've accepted the reality of the season's close, it can be real easy to settle into "rest mode" and wait for turkey season. The truth is, though, there is no better time than now to start preparing for the next deer season.
5 Must-Have Tools for Today's Coyote Hunter
Predator hunting is all the rage these days. When most big game seasons cool down, coyote season heats up. Even though these wild dogs are open for the taking year round in many jurisdictions, hardcore predator hunters acknowledge January and February as prime time. Even still, only the most skilled, savvy, and well-equipped hunters learn to score consistently on these small and cagey fur-bearing targets. With today's advancements, predator fanatics learn to equip themselves with five must-have tools: decoys, calls, camouflage, firearms, and good optics.
Dropping the Hammer
If you're a serious gun nut and you haven't noticed the increased interest in shooting, reloading and hunting with old style guns in the last decade you've probably been in a coma. Rifles and shotguns that haven't come out of the closet in eighty years are being brought into the daylight, getting cleaned off and carried out to ranges and hunting fields. This particularly includes classic old lever action and single shot rifles. I haven't been immune from this old-gun bug myself, as an 1894 lever action in .38-55 is one of my current project guns.
Getting and Keeping Your Kids Involved in Hunting
I have accumulated a lot of special memories over the course of my twenty years of hunting. I can still vividly remember the details of my first successful deer hunt, my first turkey, and my first good buck with a bow. But all of these events pale in comparison to watching my eight year-old son squeeze the trigger on his very first deer - a big, mature doe; or watching him harvest his first gobbler this past spring.
Scouting Camera Basics
The advent of the digital trail camera has probably done more to change the way people scout than any other product. Nothing solves the mystery of what went down a trail better than an image of that exact animal and incorporating the trail camera technology into your scouting arsenal can greatly improve your success.
Capture Your Memories: Tips for Photographing Your Hunts
Every now and then I find a quiet place, plunk myself down, and leaf through my photo albums. Each holds a library of cherished memories. These sacred books are treasured diaries of my most personal hunting experiences and accomplishments. With today's digital technology, it's easier now than ever before, to capture and file those memories in perpetuity.
End of Summer Food Plot?
When most people think of planting food plots, they envision planting them during the months of May or June, and then watching their crops grow throughout the spring and summer months. Many don't view the dog days of summer as a time to be planting food plots. Most deer hunters plant the usual varieties of plants to give their local deer the extra nutrients to encourage healthy body weights and antler growth. Unfortunately, most of the hunters really aren't providing their local deer the well rounded, yearly feed that they should be providing.
Surviving Mother Nature: Remember the FSFS Rule
Have you ever been in a survival situation? Most of us have not. Would you know how to survive in the wilderness in a crisis? Believe it or not, most of us would not. With the advent of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) we've been lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that we can escape any predicament by following our handy little electronic devices to safety. While basic wilderness survival skills were commonly learned by generations before us, recent generations are much less savvy in this regard. As hunters, our activities often take us into remote areas. It behooves us to learn the essential skills required to survive if we ever find ourselves stranded in the wild.
Mounting Your Own Turkey Tail and Beard
As I pulled the trigger on a 25-pound gobbler strutting down the end of my gun barrel, I had visions of his stunning tail and ground-dragging beard adorning the wall of my den. I could already feel the memories of the hunt rushing through my mind each time I passed by the handsome display. I approached the downed bird and took care to preserve every feather as I carried him to the truck. When I arrived at the taxidermist, my thoughts of which wall I was going to hang the fan mount on were interrupted by the shocking $150 price tag. I never envisioned paying so much for something that looked so simple. Fact is, mounting a turkey tail and beard is simple.
Why I Hunt
We all have our reasons to hunt. Perhaps the first reason, historically anyway, is for food. But there are other reasons, or more reasons to hunt, as well, especially since most of us can deal with the 'food' part at the local grocery store. So here are my reasons to hunt. Some may overlap with yours, some may not, and you may have other reasons. And my reasons might change. Feel free to comment, you may have a different order of reasons.
European Skull Mounts: The Easy Way
After having seen hundreds of inquiries from members of various hunting web sites asking how to do European Skull Mounts, the idea and appearance of the finished product began to pique my interest. Not wanting though, to go through the mess of boiling the natural skull or use flesh-eating beetles to clean it, either of which would have resulted in my wife JC ejecting me from the house instantaneously, I embarked on a search for a cleaner, more practical way of accomplishing the task.
Camp Food: Eating Right in the Backcountry
There are two schools of thought regarding the menu for a hunting, fishing or camping trip in a remote location - roughing it or eating well. On my recent Alaskan caribou hunt, we ate well - including tundra filet mignon cooked on an innovative grill which folds up to the size of a ruler!
Satellite Bucks: Making the Most of Your GPS
Not that long ago, it would take the average hunter a few seasons to truly learn the ins and outs of a new area. Typically, he would gain knowledge of the local topography bit-by-bit, mostly by hunting near obvious landmarks such as watercourses, trails, ridgelines, meadows, and clear cuts. And, for a while, this would work just fine.
Hunter Etiquette & Responsibility
Respectable hunters live by both a written and an unwritten code. Most of us acknowledge our responsibility to follow the formal and informal rules of etiquette. Webster's dictionary defines etiquette as, "rules governing socially acceptable behavior." Unfortunately there are those among us who choose to ignore etiquette, conducting their hunting activities with only self-serving interests in mind. At a time when our heritage activities are under constant scrutiny it behooves us to heed the importance of etiquette and ethics. As I contemplate this issue I can't help but conclude that it's really all about respect - respecting the law, landowners, the land, as well as non-hunters and hunters alike.