If anyone is interested in more hunting information, I have a feature article in the Dec/Jan issue of North American Whitetail and a smaller piece in Field and Stream (by Scott Bestul) both on the newsstands now. There’ s a lot of detailed information
in both articles.
I’ve noticed lately some common remarks from hunters all over the Midwest that they’re not finding the deer where they used to. This trend has been going on for a few years and I’m beginning to feel there is some validity to these comments. With the added outfitting, the elevated interest in larger racks and the Midwestern states being the focal point of monster deer, I believe man has caused beast to make permanent changes in their behavior. Add the fact that some states are aggressively trying to reduce the deer herds, for whatever reasons, this ongoing pressure of deer has an everlasting effect. Constant pressure from man, from any angle, will ultimately create different life styles and habits for the whitetail deer.
Animals, of any type, can and will adjust to humans. That’s a fact. Petting zoos, public “no hunting” areas and heavily industrialized areas are all prime examples (through both ends of the spectrum) of how wild animals react to civilized inhabitants. When forced, man and beast will share the same environment whether we like it or not. With man constantly exposed and wild beast ever being the elusive, what changes do animals have to go through to constantly safeguard their well-being? The answer to that is “Many”! Invasion of privacy and how to remain incognito is an ongoing dilemma our wildlife must deal with on a daily basis. For anyone, especially today’s hunters, not to recognize this fact, will only push a non-successful hunter deeper into confusion. For anyone who doesn’t appreciate what these animals must endure on a daily basis will only be that much farther away from constant success!
The definition of the word “Hunt” means: To pursue (game) for food or sport, to search through (an area) for prey. Some questions you have to ask yourself when hunting are: Are you searching or pursuing when you hunt or are you sitting and waiting? Sitting and waiting may be just fine if you’re hunting in the right areas but getting in that “right” area will most likely always change, especially if your target animal is under constant pressure! Delivering a cognitive approach is a mandatory prerequisite if your quest for an elusive whitetail is your objective. Today’s midwestern whitetails are habitually changing their living patterns for the reason of survival. Deer that are in survival mode are always on guard and are aware of EVERYTHING around them! Keeping safe, being elusive and proper timing when satisfying their survival needs is all planned perfectly, by nature! Not recognizing what a whitetail deer has to endure on a daily basis will only keep you father away from ever being a successful whitetail hunter.
Today’s hunter unfortunately isn’t getting this pertinent information regarding whitetail behavior from very many sources. Tune into TV and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything educational with respect to hunting whitetails. Our youth, or anyone who has just begun to hunt deer, will watch some “Fast food hunting entertainment segments” and believe this type of hunting as gospel. With this mindset, people are chucking thousands of dollars to hunt for a week with an outfitter expecting to bring home a huge racked whitetail in 4 or so days. Is this really what we want to teach to the next generation? Granted, some products are really fantastic and some hunters are really great at what they do but how does one decipher which is good and which isn’t? I think it’s time to bring more attention to whitetail behavior, and real world education to hunters new and old!
So what’s a good blueprint for success? Start at the beginning and take nothing for granted! For those of you, who hunt the same properties and the same stands every year, start from scratch. Chances are your deer have YOU patterned! Years of hunting by rote (by doing the same thing over and over) will only make your face a common entity in the whitetail’s living room. They know you and they know when to avoid you. The element of surprise is about as secret as a Tiger Woods’ life. Pick a small spot and hunt it. Rotate into another spot after a couple of days and make notes. Move around in your property over and over, never allowing the deer to pattern you.
Never let them know where you’re going to be next! Take the time in the off-season and learn what the deer in your area are feeding on. Notice times of landmark actions like feeding and bedding in relation to weather changes. Replace your mind with a big buck’s mind, even if you’re hunting for a mature doe and you will find a completely different world that you never knew existed! Watch for seasonal changes with pressure from farmers, children in the area, etc. and notice how deer to react regarding these changes. I even park my Polaris at a safe distance from my hunting area, just to avoid alerting the wildlife. In the picture below, I demonstrate how I prepare for my hunt AWAY from where I intend to pursue my game. 
EVERYTHING COUNTS! This is real hunting and this is your path to being an accomplished hunter. These are the ideas that need to be taught on our television shows! Failures need to be exposed also! Hunting IS all about failing through trying and we all need to accept that but failing through laziness is not hunting.
If you don’t enjoy taking the added steps investigating what the deer are doing in your hunting property, your sport will be monogamous. Hunting to me is a game of chess. If I fail, (and I have many, many times) I still enjoy the hunt because I’m hunting and not merrily showing up to the same place at the same time. If taking your chances at the outfitter for a week is your bag, then more power to you. If playing chess with an animal that has you pegged is more your style, then get out and learn what makes these whitetails tick! Understand what they endure everyday. Feel what they feel when the weather changes. See what they see when it’s time to hide. Smell what they smell when they know you’re in the timber. Become a whitetail and you’ll then be able to beat them at their game!
When environmental pressures cause a change in whitetail behavior, it’s time to figure out a new strategy. Why not put the “hunt” back in “hunting”!
As a continuation of last month’s deer tracking advice article, I felt it necessary to add the detective science needed to finish the job. The last piece of that puzzle is tracking the blood itself!
Reiterating what I wrote last month, keeping an eye on the arrow and the shot placement will save you a lot of headaches when it comes time to locate your deer. Of course, watching which way the deer travels after the hit is a vital clue not to be forgotten either. As simple as that may sound, it’s not always that easy when the area you hunt is filled with brush and your heart is still pumping at twice its normal rate! Nevertheless, it’s the beginning of what could, or could not be, a long road to recovery of the animal.
As mentioned last month, knowing where you hit the deer should give you an idea on how long to wait until your tracking efforts should be initiated. If every hunt were executed perfectly, a person wouldn’ t need to worry about tracking as the deer would simply lie where it was hit! A perfect shot in the perfect place at the perfect time! Life’s not that simple. Hunting wild animals requires a lot of quick thinking and solid decision making. Sometimes we just do the best we can and hope for the best outcome. In those cases, we track!
After the hit, and after the decision to track has been made, the REAL hunt begins! Picking up on the blood trail is the first clue needed to proceed. Once that blood trail is located, one should stop and analyze the blood itself! Once the arrow is found, the blood is easy to examine. Even if the arrow is lost, the blood on the ground will tell much of the story. Blood with air bubbles in it is a good sign of a lung hit.
Lung hits are good injuries that usually find the deer dead less than 100 yards. Green paste mixed with blood is a sign of a gut-shot deer and waiting 10-12 hours is usually recommended. Blood with tiny specks in it will most likely be a stomach shot. Without recapping the entire article from last month, I think you get the point here. Identify the blood you have to confirm the type of shot!
Now the blood itself tells another story once it hits the ground. A huge pool of blood in one location indicates a stationary deer. As the deer runs from being hit, notice the length between drops. As the drops become closer to each other, it’s evident the deer is slowing down. Confused about which direction the deer ran once the trail is found? Look closely at the drops. A solid drop of blood with specks of blood coming from one direction of the drop reveal the direction of travel! In other words, the deer is traveling in the direction of the splatter. If the blood has equal spray around the drop, it definitely stopped and could be laying down close by OR, you could be pushing it! Examine both possibilities. If the blood trail suddenly becomes weak or lost, several things could be happening. The deer could be laying down dead or the wound could have been a flesh hit which began to close up. If it’s the latter, you may never find it.
In the many decades I have tracked deer, the most trying types of blood trails I have found are the trails that dry up leaving you questioning which way to go. Those are also the most challenging for me. Sometimes I enjoy the tracking process as much as the hunt itself! To me, it’s like a whole new hunt. There definitely is an art to it, that’s for sure. When I do come across that scenario, I’ve learned one very important rule: Go back! I would say about 50% of the times I’ve back-tracked, I have found my (or a friends) deer. When deer run hard after they’ve been injured, they run out of steam and realize they can’t make it to their destination, so they turn to the nearest gully or creek bed. When your blood trail runs out, go backward and look 90 degrees in both directions from the main blood trail. Chances are you’ll a faint blood trail heading to one of these areas or you’ll find the deer itself! Never give up on a blood trail that goes light or you could be missing the opportunity of bringing home the bacon!
One note worthy of mentioning is to mark the trail of blood once you started trailing it. Many times you’ll go back and forth over the trail itself, damaging evidence along the way. If you need to come back and the light is different, those markers will be a welcome sign to you and the people that are with you to help. So when you shoot your deer, don’t drop the ball in relief! Take the necessary time needed before the tracking process and get your Sherlock Holmes hat, gloves and glasses on because the last phase of the hunt is just beginning!
Scott Bestul, from Field and Stream posted this piece after I spoke with him earlier in the year. It sums up what I do in the summer months to pattern a big buck. You may find it useful or interesting at the very least.
It appears the peak of the rut was earlier this week here in Illinois. Even though it’s not over by any means, they’res no doubt the biggest bucks are locked up with the does. Most of the buck sightings are now smaller and younger, being in the 2.5 age group. It may take a few days to see the bigger bucks separating and looking for more doe groups. Traditionally, the days right after gun season here and the Thanksgiving weekend are very good for harvesting big bucks. After that, they’re going to morph into feeding frenzies, especially the bucks.
The trick is to stay with the it! I person ally hate the rut, but I enjoy watching them run all over.
I find it easier to hunt them in the early and late season over food and water. Nevertheless, I’m having fun this year trying to fill my second buck tag during the rut!
To day, which is opening day gun season, the action seems to be very slow. It could be because the Illinois deer herd has been reduced or because of the windy weather we’ve been having today. I guess we’ll just have to wait until Sunday to see the numbers! Good luck to all and be safe!
Movement today here in Illinois was active early and late with little in between. At last light, a 140″ eight pointer and that’s all. Yesterday’s report was almost the same except most of the activity was mid day for me and late for others. This is one reason I hate the rut; you can never figure them out!
The next few days are going to be the best, so get out there and hunt!
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