Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Use These Tips For An Excellent Deer Season
September 3, 2010
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Picking the right entry and exit route to your treestand or ground blind might be more important to success in deer hunting than where you actually hunt.
“I’d much rather hunt a marginal stand location, where bucks don’t know they’re being hunted,” said Bill Winke, who gave a deer hunting seminar at the recent Quality Deer Management Association national convention in Louisville. “I’m scouting for hidden access routes. Good deer sign is easy to find.”
Winke believes traveling undetected when entering and exiting a hunting area is the real secret to whitetail success. He’s deer hunted an average of 60 days a season for the past 20 years and manages 1,200 acres in south-central Iowa.
He also goes to extreme measures to stay hidden from the keen eyes, ears and noses of deer. “If a big buck knows he’s being hunted, you can forget it,” Winke said. “Chances are you’ll never see him again during the season from that stand.”
The strategies he outlined will work anywhere during both archery and firearms deer seasons.
“I like to get in fast and quiet,” said Winke, a columnist for Petersen’s Bowhunting magazine and publisher of MidwestWhitetail.Com. “If deer don’t know you’re there, you’ve got a good chance at getting a shot.”
Wilke strives to emulate the old saying, “the first time you hunt a treestand is the best” every time he hunts. This is true regardless of the number of times he’s used a particular treestand.
He uses gullies, creeks, standing corn and fencerows to shield his movement.
“I don’t like to go in (to a stand) in the dark,” said Winke. “I want it to be just light enough to see my feet so I won’t step on sticks and make too much noise.”
If downed timber or brush clutters a route, he often goes in before the season and clears the way with a chainsaw. However, Winke cautions that mowing paths to treestands with a tractor can cause problems.
“Deer will sometimes adopt a mowed path as a trail,” he said, “and catch your scent on the ground where you’ve been walking.”
Stands should be approached from down wind, or cross wind, as long as the hunter’s scent is not being blown in the direction deer are expected to approach.
“I like to hunt on windy days, especially when I’m going through standing corn to get to my tree,” said Winke. “Standing corn screens your movement and the rustling covers the sounds of walking.”
He stays away from his best stands on calm days. “Deer can hear you approach from a long way off when it’s quiet in the woods.”
Winke resists the temptation to sneak around his hunting area before the season.
“You need to match normal human activity whenever possible, and park where deer expect vehicles to be parked,” said Winke. “Don’t park too close to where you are going to hunt. Park at a house or beside a barn and take the long way in to your treestand.”
He checks the trail cameras he positions on the edges of fields from a pickup truck. “I mount my trail cameras on metal fence posts,” Winke said. “That way I can drive right up to the camera, replace the memory card with a blank one, and drive off.”
Driving tractors and trucks around a hunting area mimics normal farm traffic, and doesn’t alert deer to danger, like a human on foot does.
He encourages hunters to set their stands and trim the trees well in advance of the season opening day.
An avid bow and muzzleloader hunter, Winke concentrates on does (antlerless deer) in October and bucks in November.
His favorite time to hunt is when the bucks are cruising, just prior to the onset of breeding. “That usually falls between Nov. 5 and Nov. 10, with Nov. 7 being my favorite day to be in my best treestand,” Winke said.
Kentucky’s 135-day archery season begins Saturday, Sept. 4. At the beginning of archery season, Kentucky deer are focused on food. Fields of clover, alfalfa, or sprouting wheat, planted as a cover crop, are good places to hunt.
Pick a tree that provides good cover in a fenceline for your treestand, or a brushy area in the corner of the field for a ground blind. Early in the season the wind predominately blows from the west or southwest, but frequently shifts to the northwest with the advance of cool fronts.
Facing your stand northwest is the ideal positioning for hunting cool front. That way you’ll have the sun set over your left shoulder, and the wind in your face. Deer approaching from upwind won’t be able to smell you, and you’ll be hidden in the shadows as the sun moves to the western horizon.
Early in the season, concentrate on hunting in the late afternoons, especially during the first and last quarter moon periods. This is when the moon is a thin crescent and positioned at 12 o’clock in the sky at dusk. Deer are most likely to converge on feeding areas before dark during this time.
Modern gun deer season opens Nov. 13 statewide. The season runs until Nov. 28 for Zone 1 and Zone 2 counties and until Nov. 22 for Zone 3 and Zone 4 counties.
For other information on Kentucky’s 2010-2011 deer season, visit our website at: fw.ky.gov.
Ted Nugent pleads no contest to Yuba County deer hunting charges | News10.net | Sacramento, California
August 18, 2010
MARYSVILLE, CA – Rock star and hunting enthusiast Ted Nugent pleaded no contest last week to charges stemming from a television appearance earlier this year that showed the rocker using forbidden methods to kill a young deer.An attorney for Nugent, 61, entered the plea in Yuba County Superior Court Friday to misdemeanor counts of baiting a deer and not acquiring an authorized signature after killing a deer, according to California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Foy.Foy said the case started when two California game wardens saw Nugent kill a young deer with a bow and arrow in Yuba County on Nugent’s Outdoor Channel series “Spirit of the Wild” last February.”They watched him appear to shoot a spiked buck, which is an illegal buck to take, because it’s too small. And he had it right there on television, and it wasn’t live, it was taped,” Foy said. Click Link Below For Full Story!
Groups target lead in ammo, tackle – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
August 16, 2010
By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Lead is a common ingredient in ammunition and fishing tackle such as sinkers, but should it be?
Some say no.
A coalition of groups — the American Bird Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, Association of Avian Veterinarians, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and hunters’ group Project Gutpile — filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency asking for a ban on the use of lead in ammunition and fishing tackle.
It is being sought under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which regulates dangerous chemicals. The petition references almost 500 scientific studies, “most of which have been peer-reviewed, that starkly illustrate the widespread dangers from lead ammunition and fishing tackle,” according to a press release from the American Bird Conservancy.
The groups claim that 3,000 tons of lead are shot into the environment in the United States through hunting every year, that another 80,000 are released at shooting ranges and that 4,000 are lost in ponds and streams as fishing lures and sinkers. That poses a threat to birds such as bald eagles — the release called lead “a widespread killer in the wild” — and to people, who eat meat from game taken by lead bullets. Click Link Below for Full Story!
via Groups target lead in ammo, tackle – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Record brown trout in Wisconsin | StarTribune.com
August 16, 2010
That’s one monster brown trout.
Wisconsin officials have verified that a 41-pound, 8-ounce brown trout caught by Roger Hellen of Franksville, Wis., caught in Lake Michigan on July 16 is now a Wisconsin state record fish. And it may be a world record, too.
It smashed the old record by almost 5 pounds. The previous record was 36 pounds 8.9 ounces and 40.5 inches for a fish caught August 23, 2004, in Lake Michigan near Kewaunee.
Hellen’s is the ninth state record set this year, and the first for a fish caught by hook and line.
He caught the fish north of Racine while competing in a fishing tournament. The fish measured 40.6 inches long.
The fish is an ounce heavier than the 41-pound 7-ounce world record brown trout caught last year in the Big Manistee River in Michigan.
“It was very exciting – it was certainly the biggest trout or salmon I’ve ever seen,” says Cheryl Peterson, DNR fisheries technician who weighted, measured and processed the fish at the tournament. “We knew as soon as it was on the scale it was going to be a new state record.” Click Link Below For Full Story!
via Record brown trout in Wisconsin | StarTribune.com.
Squirrels Beware
August 16, 2010
By: Michael Collins
The sky’s warm spotlight peaks over the ridge and reveals the canopy of that ‘ole’ hickory nut tree. The limbs are slightly bent toward the ground due to the bounty of nuts that are waiting to be harvested. Off in the distance, a train’s horn echoes around the countryside and a crow caws from above. Movement catches your eye; you turn your head to see a doe leading her fawn into the clover plot for an early meal. Your heart jumps in your throat as something begins to thrash around in the hickory above. A chiseling sound fills the area and little pieces of nut shell tap the leaves like rain on the way down to the forest floor. This can only mean one thing.
The Kentucky fall squirrel season begins on Aug. 21. This is the absolute best time for hunters to get after nut-crazed bushy tails. Hunters will find success if they find the nut trees.
Locate Nut Trees
On the opening weekend of the fall 2009 season, I found that the squirrels were cutting on walnuts. On the second weekend, the squirrels were getting into the hickory nuts. Finding either of these nut trees should be a first priority if you wish to fill your daily bag limit. It doesn’t take long to find where the squirrels are feasting. On a day that isn’t too windy, listen and watch for rustling in the trees, and listen for squirrels cutting on nuts. If you find a tree that squirrels are hitting hard, you’ll likely find more than one bucktoothed tree leaper, so make sure you’re ready for some quick shooting.
Last season I sat up against a tree in front of a large hickory that the squirrels were hitting. Three squirrels showed up just after day light and I was able to come out with two of them. When multiple squirrels show up to one tree, you know it’s a place you need to set up shop. Finding a spot like that his helpful because it’s a way hunters can beat the heat. Sitting and waiting will keep you cooler than if you’re moving around looking for squirrels.
Nut Report
In the Northern Kentucky area I have found that hickory nut trees have produced a solid crop this year. The walnut crop seems to be down a little from last year, but there are still plenty out there. In areas such as Owen County and Grant County, the walnut and hickory crops are very good. In June, I checked out some hickory nut trees on a farm in Owen Co. and I found that the nuts were abnormally huge for that time of year. Check out the property you hunt to find out where the squirrels will be on opening day.
Tips and Tricks
If you are around an area where squirrels like to hang out, but you don’t see any, there are a few things you can try to enhance your chances of getting on some. I have used a young squirrel distress whistle for many years and I have had pretty good success with it. Squirrel calls are designed to make squirrels move or bark, but I have called squirrels in to me on several occasions with this call.
Another effective way to call in squirrels is to use two quarters. Quarters have rigid edges on them. Scrape the edges of the quarters together and it will make the sound of a squirrel cutting on a nut. I have seen this technique work. It is a simple way to improve your chances as long as you have two quarters in your pocket.
One of the reasons that fall squirrel hunting can be fun is because hunters can use the thick foliage to slip up on unsuspecting squeakers. This does not mean that it’s easy to do so however. Move when the squirrel moves or when the squirrel is concentrating on cutting into a nut. If the woods are still and you are moving, you take the risk of spooking the squirrel.
Beating the Bugzzzz
By talking with other hunters, I found that bugs are one of the biggest reasons that keep them from going to the woods to hunt fall squirrels. The bugs are horrendous at this time of year and I do admit that they discourage me from hitting the woods from time to time. One way hunters can beat the bugs is to use a ThermaCell Mosquito Repellent. The device contains a butane cartridge inside that releases an odorless repellant. In no way am I advertising for ThermaCell, but I have used the ThermaCell and it has worked for me. This gadget is my best friend when I’m hunting in hot weather.
Go Get Em
Fall squirrel hunting is a great pastime in which hunters can spend time with friends and family. It is also a great opportunity to educate young hunters about hunting and conservation. Squirrel hunting is an excellent time for young hunters to learn how to hunt, how to shoot, how to stalk, and most importantly, how to respect the land that we live on. Get out there and get after them. It’s squirrel bustin’ time!
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