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Pre-Season Mule Deer Scouting

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Preseason Scouting

Scouting is hunting; it’s not optional. As rule of thumb, you should spend at least twice as much time scouting as you do hunting. With fewer trophy opportunities these days, it’s best to locate big deer and big deer habitat well ahead of hunting season. Simply put, the more days you spend scouting in the preseason, the less time you’ll waste during your hunt.

Scouting doesn’t mean just locating deer, but locating feed and water, bedding areas, escapes routes, game trails, and sign. You don’t have to actually see a big buck to know he’s there; just look for tracks and read the signs.

Multiple Opportunities

Once you’ve located or even patterned a buck, you need to devise multiple game plans. Bowhunting is a low-odds game which means you always need a backup plan, or maybe several. What do you do if you bust the buck on opening morning? Where do you go next? What if that doesn’t work? What if someone else shoots your target buck out from under you?

Effective scouting means always having a backup plan or even a backup buck. Whether I’ve found a great buck, or if I’m just hunting promising new areas, I always have plan A, B, C, D, and so on that will at least cover the first few days of the season.

Part of planning is to anticipate variables, like changing wind direction, and then figuring out the best time of day for a stalk. One method that works for me is to make a list of likely big buck areas and then assign the best time frame to stalk based on thermals, bedding areas, and other factors. For each area I’ll mark morning, evening, or both.

E-Scouting

With modern technology, such as super-optics, trail cameras, GPS with topo maps, and 3D internet mapping, you can now scout anywhere in the country, 365 days a year, even late at night in your underpants.

E-scouting is great for locating promising new country, but nothing beats boots on the ground. Physical scouting accomplishes two important things: first, you’ll become intimately familiar with the terrain you’ll be hunting, and second, you’ll get plenty of pre-hunt exercise while enjoying God’s natural splendors.

Trail Cameras

Trail cameras are a valuable piece of scouting equipment. Not only do cameras tell me when and where the bucks are, but they also tell me where they are not. Any hunter with a limited amount of scouting time will benefit from setting up an array of cameras in likely buck areas.

The best locations to hang cameras are in prime feed locations, secluded water seeps, game trails, bedding routes, and water routes. Even better locations include pinch points, saddles, funnels, and trail intersections. A month or two before the hunt opener I’ll set up four or five cameras covering an area of about five miles. By the hunt opener I have a pretty good idea of the quality and quantity of bucks in my area.

Avoid bumping deer while scouting, especially in the weeks leading up to your hunt. Check your trail cameras during the day when bucks are bedded and less likely to notice you.

Quality Optics

I can’t over-emphasize the importance of quality optics. Binoculars and spotting scopes open up the vastness of the mountain, and quality optics even open up the shadows during the critical morning and evening hours when big bucks are likely to be moving.

The strength of your spotting scope depends on the type of terrain you’ll be hunting. In thick timber country with limited sight distance you’d probably be fine with a 48x, or maybe just 40x binoculars. In this case it’s more important to identify big buck tracks and droppings than to actually see a deer. If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll find the deer.

In open or vast country I would recommend a high-quality, 60-power minimum spotter with a large objective lens that gathers plenty of light early and late in the day. Just beware that spotting scopes in this range can get very pricey and very heavy to pack around.

Where to Look for Big Bucks

When scouting a new mountain, the first step is to locate prime feeding areas. Begin by searching south- and east-facing slopes, especially in areas adjacent to thick timber or steep bedding cover.

East-facing slopes tend to grow better feed than north and western slopes because they get more sun early, and then fall into shade later when the sun is hottest and thus hold more ground water.

Next, look for secluded stands of aspen trees. Aspens only grow where there is an abundance of ground moisture. Not only do deer love to eat aspen leaves, but the myriad of succulent forbs that grow in these areas as well. In the early season, aspen groves provide an ideal bedding area because the ground is cooler.  In late fall as bucks get ready to shed their velvet, they spend more time near scrub aspens which they rub their antlers on.

While investigating likely feeding areas, scan the ground continually for large tracks and droppings. Also watch for areas with plenty of chewed-down vegetation. Once you’ve identified prime feed, follow any trails or large deer tracks leading in and out of the area. At the very least, these trails will point to likely bedding areas. Even if you lose the trail, you’ll still get an idea of which direction the deer are coming from or going. Big bucks have relatively small home ranges, so you should have little trouble locating likely bedding areas.

Final Note

It’s always possible that your traditional hunting area will go downhill or be lost to the crowds. So you need to be adaptive and mobile, always searching for promising new areas. If you didn’t draw a tag this year, or you just have extra time on your hands, it’s always a good idea to investigate other units or new areas just to see the potential. You don’t need a tag to scout, so get out there and do some camping and hiking. You never know what you’ll turn up.

Conclusion

Scouting is hunting and should be taken seriously. Just drawing a decent tag is quickly becoming the hardest part of hunting. So when it’s your time and your tag, don’t waste valuable hunting days looking for deer that you could have found during the long preseason months.

Zen Hunting

Utah Archery Turkey Video

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My 2023 Turkey Bow Hunt on YouTube

After nine years of chasing turkeys with my bow, I finally got this fine tom on public land in Utah during the general season.

Even better than an early Thanksgiving bird was all the wild places I’d visited and the memories I made over the years.

Watch through to the end for an epic slideshow chronicling my turkey adventures.  Enjoy!

 

Uncategorized, Zen Hunting

Turkey versus Elk Hunting: Similarities and Differences

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Turkey vs. Elk

When I first started hunting turkeys, someone said they were very similar to elk. This sounded absurd considering the two animals are practically complete opposites. However, nine years later I have to admit that turkey behavior during the spring rut is very similar to elk behavior in the fall.

What this means is that any hunter transitioning from turkey to elk, or elk to turkey, will already have many of the necessary skills and knowledge to hunt the other creature.

In this article we’ll explore both the similarities and differences between the two animals.

Turkey and Elk Similarities

  1. Both animals have very loud calls (gobbles or bugles) that are used frequently to locate and communicate with other members of the herd. These calls are very useful for hunters trying to locate and call in animals. Also, both animals call more frequently in the morning and evening.
  2. In both cases, the flock or herd is led by a senior female, also known as a lead cow or hen. The bull or tom almost always pulls up the rear of the herd. This protects the tom or bull from threats and makes them more difficult to hunt.
  3. Both animals leave lots of sign and make lots of noise. Wherever turkeys or elk are living, they leave lots of tracks and droppings. This is key to locating the animals. Also, the both sexes of both animals make lots of noise or “flock talk:” Cows mew and chirp; hens yelp and cluck.
  4. Both elk and turkeys are difficult to drop with an arrow. In other words, your arrow must be perfectly placed in the vitals. Although turkeys are much smaller, they can really take a beating. Even a pass through shot can result in a lost bird if not placed in the 4-inch vital zone or head. As for elk, they are extremely tough. Even a single-lung hit can result in a lost animal.
  5. Both bulls and toms easily become call shy after just a couple bad experiences with hunters. Both animals are hunted hard out West and they learn fast. A call-shy or over-pressured animal might respond from afar, but they mostly hang up well out of bow range. If the hen or cow that you are trying to imitate isn’t willing to come to them, then the bull or tom will eventually lose interest and leave.
  6. Both animals use alarm barks or clucks when danger is detected. Turkeys immediately erupt into high-pitched alarm clucks when they see danger. Elk make sharp alarm barks. At this point the herd goes silent and moves off rapidly. In other words, it’s game over!
  7. Both elk and turkeys go silent during mid-day. Both animals feed heavily in the morning and go through their courting rituals before bedding down. Turkeys remain more day-active than elk—feeding and traveling around—but they are mostly silent. Elk just bed down and mostly sleep during the day. Then, in the last hour or two of light, both animals become loud and animated again.
  8. Both elk and turkeys are very exciting to hunt. A big bull elk is arguably more exciting, however, when you have a big tom strutting and gobbling into your decoy, it’s sure to get you riled up! Some elk hunters scoff at the idea that turkeys are exciting, but for the dedicated turkey hunter, it’s just as fun as elk hunting.

Now that we’ve examined the various similarities between elk and turkeys, let’s take a look at the major differences.

Turkey and Elk Differences

  1. Turkeys have excellent eyesight compared to elk. Elk can’t see colors in the red spectrum, nor can they see fine detail. Instead, they are forced to rely on scent or movement to detect danger. Turkeys on the other hand, being a bird, have extremely good eyesight. They see both color and fine detail. It’s also apparent that turkeys have a much faster frame-rate than mammals, which means they process visual information faster, and therefore see in slow motion. A hunter wearing camouflage and sitting still can easily be picked off at 30 yards by a turkey, where an elk won’t detect the hunter until he’s practically eyeball-to-eyeball.
  2. As mentioned before, elk rely on scent whereas turkeys don’t seem to use scent detection at all. This means a tom turkey can approach from any direction, but an elk must always be hunted with a favorable wind direction.
  3. Elk have a much larger kill zone than a turkey. The vital kill zone of an elk is almost the same size as an entire turkey (about 12 inches), whereas a turkey has a kill zone the size of a softball. Turkeys also move around a lot, which means they are much harder to hit with an arrow. Basically an archer needs to take his effective range (the distance where he can hit an 8-inch paper plate with every arrow) and divide it by two in order to be effective on turkeys.
  4. Elk leave much heavier blood trails and tracks than a turkey. A well-hit turkey can travel very long distances while leaving little to no sign to follow. Turkeys bleed very little and are nearly impossible to track without snow or mud. A poorly hit elk, on the other hand, will usually leave lots of blood and deep hoof tracks. Sure, elk are tough, but you can generally track them for much longer distances.
  5. There are far fewer turkeys than elk available to hunt. In Utah there are about 85,000 elk, but only 30,000 turkeys. That’s almost a 3-to-1 ratio. Although there is less demand for turkeys, you still might have a harder time locating turkeys.
  6. Aside from the major differences listed above, here are a few other differences:  a) Turkeys sleep during the night; elk sleep during the day, b) Turkeys have a much smaller home range compared to elk, and c) elk rut in the fall while turkeys rut in spring, mostly.

Conclusion

On the surface, turkeys and elk might seem like completely opposite animals. But hunting them can be very similar. Hopefully the above comparisons will help you transition between the two animals. The majestic bull elk are considered by most hunters to be the most exciting animal to pursue out West, but any dedicated turkey hunter will argue that the lowly thanksgiving bird ranks right up there with him.

Zen Hunting

Ultimate Health Guide 2023

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General Health Overview

The purpose of this article is to share the basics of optimal health based on many years of personal study. This applies to hunting for one major reason:  A hunter is an athlete. Hunting big bucks in the modern era means having the physical ability to go wherever they go. In addition to physical conditioning, a huntermust optimize general health as well.

We’re currently living in toxic times. The air, water, and especially modern food are becoming a toxic waste dump compared to just a few decades ago. Diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are more rampant than ever before in human history. Simultaneously, life expectancy has begun to decline in just the last decade despite great leaps and bounds in medical advancements. How can this be?

It’s primarily due to our poor diets and sedentary lifestyles. Eating lots of processed foods, and most other store-bought foods that are laced with GMOs and toxins, will inevitably degrade ones health, leaving you trapped in a decrepit skin-prison.

Optimizing health becomes a higher priority as we age. Therefore, fostering a healthy diet and active lifestyle should be a daily priority. We all get old, but we don’t have to become aged. We just need to eat healthy, eat less, stress less, sleep more, and exercise more.

A Personal Quest for Health

Several years ago I was suffering from violent blood sugar swings, mostly due to poor diet and a genetic sugar sensitivity. As far as I knew I was eating a normal American diet. But like all illnesses, my condition worsened with age, finally reaching the tipping point in 2010. This is often referred to as toxic overload. Basically your body has the amazing ability to deal great amounts of environmental stressors…until it can’t! And that’s where disease takes over.

Long story short, I spent the next ten years studying nutrition and radically altering my diet. Health and nutrition is no longer a hobby for me, but a way of life. Now I feel better than ever.

Throughout my quest for better health I compiled a prioritized guide to health. I call it the “Ten Pillars of Ultimate Health”.

 Ten Pillars of Ultimate Health (Prioritized)

  1. Diet: Avoid sugar and processed foods; you don’t need them. Instead, eat natural/organic vegetables, fruits, and organic, grass-fed meats. Eat more fiber and more fish. Wild-caught salmon is full of omega-3 fats and is probably the most nutritious food in the world. The next best meat is liver. We also need to reduce salt, soda, acidic foods, fast foods, and starchy foods with a high-glycemic index. These include potatoes, breads, rice, and white flour. Above all, avoid unsaturated fats (omega-6 fat) found in seed and vegetable oils. These oils contain high amounts of linoleic acid, a substance recently found to contribute to a wide variety of diseases including heart disease and cancer.
  2. Sleep: Every body is different, but generally speaking adults need a minimum of eight hours of sleep each night. The body and brain repairs and detoxifies during sleep. The majority of repair  only happens during deep sleep, so getting adequate sleep is necessary to reduce disease and premature aging.
  3. Stress: Act, don’t react. Never panic. Take on fewer responsibilities, work less, rest more, and always have an attitude of gratitude. Love more, hate less. Forgive, don’t hold grudges, avoid drama and spend more time in nature. Meditate, go with the flow, and be more positive. Above all, do what you love in life.
  4. Exercise: Nothing too extreme here; just avoid a sedentary lifestyle at all costs. Walk, hike, bike, or whatever keeps your body moving. Humans are designed to move, not sit at a desk. At least twice a week you  need to get your heart-rate up and keep it there for an hour minimum. This will increase circulation, the mechanism which maximizes the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to every cell in your body.
  5. Caloric Restriction (aka Fasting): Eat smaller meals and fast often. This is the #1 way to improve your health right now. Too much food taxes your entire body and its organs. Over-digestion siphons off energy from your immune system and other important bodily functions. As a rule eat smaller meals and avoid eating to until you feel full. The average person needs much less food than one might think. Skipping meals isn’t crazy; it was actually a normal part of life for thousands of years. At very least, get in the habit of eating dinner earlier and breakfast later. Recent studies show that an average person can go two to four weeks without eating anything but water! (Consult a doctor before trying this at home).
  6. Detoxification: There is way too many enviro-toxins in our air, water, and food. Nutritionists now believe that detoxification is a higher priority than nutrition alone. Sweating is the best way to eliminate toxins. Toxins like lead, arsenic, mercury, pesticides, etc. can be removed from your body by using saunas or epsom salt baths. Drinking more water helps flush toxins from the body. Taking an activated charcoal supplement regularly can also help eliminate toxins. Eat organic foods whenever possible. Consider growing your own food. Hunting is the best way to provide grass-fed, organic, non-GMO protein for your family.
  7. Natural Sunlight: We need a lot of natural sunlight for a myriad of crucial physiological functions, the most important being vitamin D. You don’t need to burn yourself to a crisp, just get out and show some skin two or three times a week; even more during winter. By sunning yourself, your body will make all the vitamin D necessary in about half the time it takes to burn the skin.
  8. Meditation: Nothing formal here, just use quiet time to clear the mind, slow your breathing, and reduce stress. Meditation brings you into the present moment. It also reduces stress and slows down the mind. Time spent alone in nature is mediation, and hunting for extended periods of time is a great way to meditate.
  9. Supplementation: Most modern food is lacking in nutrients and vitamins, so supplementation is a must. Some of the best supplements include magnesium, astaxanthin, vitamin C, high quality fish oil (omega-3 fats), turmeric, B-Vitamins, ashwaghanda, glutathione, and ubiquinol. Of course everyone’s body and dietary needs are unique, so consult your doctor before going on any supplemental regimen. At very least, do some personal study to figure out which vitamins you might be deficient in.
  10. Reduce Inflammation– Inflammation is the underlying cause of most bodily pain and disease. Reduce inflammation by living a healthier lifestyle and based on the aforementioned points. Avoid inflammatory foods like processed foods and sugar. Turmeric (active ingredient curcumin) is a good anti-inflammatory supplement.

Priority 3

If you do nothing else, pay close attention to the first three items in the above list. Diet, sleep, and stress reduction make up the foundation of good health.

Diet is #1 for good reason. Any disease this life can throw at you can be remedied through natural medicine and right foods. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, stated the following: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Self-sufficiency is a top priority for me, so harvesting organic, wild meat and growing my own vegetables is a must. It also forces me to maintain an active lifestyle.

Conclusion

Optimal wellness requires a basic understanding of human physiology, from you organs down to the cellular level. With modern research in nutrition and biology we know more about the body than ever before. There is a worldwide health revolution going on right now. Thanks to the internet, this information is widely available to the public.

Every cell in your body wants to live and thrive. So don’t get in their way. At the bare minimum just eat better, sleep more, reduce stress, and exercise. It’s really that simple.

Zen Hunting

How to Blood Trail Wounded Animals

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Blood-Trailing Wounded Animals

Sooner or later every bowhunter will have to deal with a poorly hit animal. An ethical hunter must do whatever it takes to follow-up and recover wounded game. Arrow-hit deer rarely go down immediately, so every hunter needs to understand the basics of  blood-trailing. In this article we’ll look at some tips and tactics for tracking wounded deer.

An arrow kills a deer differently than a bullet. Bullets rely more on shock and devastating tissue damage, whereas an arrow kills either by massive blood loss due to arterial damage, or through asphyxiation by deflating the lungs.

A third and much less effective method is septic shock. Septic shock, or blood poisoning, is the result of gut-shot animals slowly dying as their stomach contents and bacteria gradually overwhelm the blood stream. Basically the deer dies from a full-body infection over the course of several hours or even days. Oftentimes the animal is lost because it bleeds very little and covers lots of ground.

Give it some Time

Unless the animal goes down within sight, you need to give it some time to die. Even if you’re confident in a heart or lung shot, you should still wait a half hour minimum before tracking.

If you suspect a gut shot, wait at least two or three hours before tracking, and then proceed very cautiously while glassing ahead. If it’s very cold out, it would be probably be fine to leave it over night.

Whatever you do, don’t go barreling in on the deer. Arrow-shot deer sometimes don’t realize they’ve been hit and will only run a short distance before bedding down. You do not want to bump the animal, but if you are able to stalk close enough, try to get a second arrow in the animal to put it out of its misery.

Weather Factors

You do not want to leave a mortally hit animal sitting for several hours in hot weather. Even a marginally hit animal will slow down and stiffen up within a few hours, so possibly bumping him is still better than letting the whole animal spoil overnight. Just use your best judgment based on the conditions you’re dealing with.

In rainy or snowy weather you should hasten your tracking job. Water will quickly wash away any blood, and snow can cover it up.

Where to Start

Immediately following your shot, mark the spot you shot from with orange tape, and then mark the place where the deer was standing. Next, see if you can find your arrow and inspect it carefully. Bright red, bubbly blood is usually lungs. Any green smears or foul smells indicates stomach, and very dark blood can anything from muscle to heart or liver. Heart shots are obvious as they tend to bleed profusely.

Once you’ve determined the quality of your hit, try to pick up the blood trail. The secret to successful animal recovery is moving slowly, as if you are still-hunting. Make very little noise and glass ahead frequently. If at all possible, move with a favorable wind.

While blood-tracking, plan on following both blood and tracks. Sometimes a deer will bleed completely internally, in which case you will rely more on tracking than blood-trailing. Fortunately running deer tend to leave very deep and obvious tracks accompanied by torn-up ground.

Inevitably you’ll get stuck with a very sparse or problematic blood-trailing job. If the blood trail is very light, you should follow these guidelines:

Tips for Following Sparse Blood Trails

  1. Don’t step on or disturb any blood specks or tracks. You may have to return back to these clues later on.
  2. Continually mark the blood trail as you go, either with a GPS, orange tape, or toilet paper. By keeping track of the trail you may be able to determine the general direction the buck is headed.
  3. In places where you are unable to see tracks, you can still determine the direction of travel by reading blood splashes: they always splash forward. If the blood trail is sparse, you can tell the direction of travel by which side of the grass the blood is on.
  4. In the evening you might have to track faster. It’s much harder to trail a buck in the dark, but if you must just be sure to have a very bright flashlight. This will not only help you locate more sign, but will light up the deer’s glowing eyes far ahead so you don’t bump him further.
  5. If the trail runs cold, consider enlisting the help of a blood-trailing dog. Dogs trained to follow blood trails are becoming a popular method for recovering wounded game. Once the deer goes down, it won’t last long sitting in the field, so consider getting the dog handlers contact information before the hunt.
  6. If you lose the trail completely, you will have to employ a “grid-search” beginning where the last sign disappeared. At this point you should be able to “guestimate” the deer’s general direction of travel. Use your GPS to keep track of everywhere you’ve been and where you haven’t. Because you are now on a timer, grid-searching should be done with as many helpers as possible.

Final Thoughts

Contrary to popular belief, wounded animals don’t go directly to water, nor do they run directly downhill. Rather their first inclination is to put as much distance between you and them as possible. Given enough time the animal will eventually seek out water, but don’t count on it.

As for direction of travel, I’ve seen mortally wounded animals run uphill or downhill. But more often they side-hill or slant downhill over very long distances. Once again, every shot situation is different, so use your best judgment.

On rare occasion a deer that seems mortally hit will escape and make a full recovery. This happens a lot with high hits in “no-man’s-land,” as it’s sometimes called. Other times the arrow may have only contacted muscle tissue. Either way, you’ll likely never catch up to the animal. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try; it just means there are times when you must throw in the towel. Only experience can tell you how to proceed.

Archery Basics, Zen Hunting

How to Conquer Buck Fever

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What is Buck Fever?

Buck fever is a state of panic brought on by an intense hunting situation, followed by a huge adrenaline surge. It’s basically your body’s fight-or-flight reaction. If you’ve never experienced buck fever, then you either haven’t seen a 200-inch buck up close or you’re just one cool customer.

For the rest of us, buck fever is a very real and formidable foe. It still haunts me today! When that long-awaited moment of truth comes, when that giant buck finally steps into the open, I feel like a little kid trembling in my boots. This intense excitement is why I love bowhunting so much. Unfortunately it’s also the reason I still miss shots on big bucks.

On my second archery hunt back in the nineties, I had a true monsterbuck step out broadside at 35 yards. Sure enough I came completely unglued and proceeded to send my arrow into the dirt at his feet.

Today’s bows are consistent tack drivers. Unfortunately we let ourselves get in it the way of their performance. The ultimate goal in archery is to eliminate yourself as a variable, and the best way to do that is through diligent practice.

How to Practice for Buck Fever

  • The most effective way I’ve found to practice for buck fever is by getting your heart rate up during practice sessions. You can do this by sprinting to and from your target. Start by shooting one arrow and then sprint to the target, pull the arrow, and sprint back. Shoot again and repeat. This will quickly get you’re your heart rate and breathing up. Do this exercise repeatedly until you are a huffing, puffing wreck. I’ll admit, this kind of practice isn’t very fun, but it’s the best way to prepare for buck fever.
  • Shooting competitively is another way to practice for buck fever. Every major city in the country has archery clubs and regular competitions. Shooting competitively and publicly puts the pressure on and ups the excitement level, especially when competing for money and prizes. Just like other adverse conditions practice, learning to shoot well under pressure is a valuable skill.
  • While hunting there are a few ways to cope with buck fever. First, try to slow your breathing. If you have time before the shot, take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly. Second, avoid getting tunnel vision. Tunnel vision is basically where you lose situational awareness because you’re hyper-focused on one thing, like the deer’s incredible rack. Instead, take a second to expand your view. Look around for any other deer that you might have missed. Whatever you do, don’t rush the shot. Most bowhunting scenarios play out slowly, and rushing things just causes mistakes.
  • When the shot finally comes together, put all your focus into following through. Hunters under pressure usually miss low because they “drop the bow” on the shot. Instead, focus on keeping your sight pin on target until the arrow hits. Keeping equal palm pressure across the bow’s grip also helps with follow through.
  • One more tip:  When a buck suddenly appears at close range, it’s common to misjudge the buck’s size amidst all the excitement. This can lead to shooting a buck you aren’t happy with. For this reason I refuse to pull an arrow until I’ve judged the buck and I’m sure he’s a shooter. Pulling an arrow creates momentum, and when you combine momentum with excitement it leads to smaller bucks, or worse, missing the big one.

Conclusion

These are the best methods I’ve found to practice and prepare for buck fever situations. Buck fever might be an incurable affliction, but it also means you’re passionate about hunting, and that’s a good thing.

Good luck out there!

Zen Hunting

Confidence is Key to Hunting Success

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Confidence in Hunting

A trophy hunter believes he can do it, and not in some cliché way. He actually believes he possesses all the right skills to find and arrow a giant deer. He trusts his decisions afield. He hunts in a relaxed manner while drawing from years of experience and a deep understanding of his prey. On any given day he expects to locate the biggest buck in the area. Having a couple big mounts on the wall back home certainly helps to boost his confidence.

One tenet in business is that success breeds success. Successful entrepreneurs often share a familiar story:  It takes years of work and many failures to earn their first million dollars, but only a short time to earn their second million. Success in any arena requires confidence.

Newbie bowhunters often struggle with confidence simply because they haven’t arrowed anything big yet. People transitioning to the bow from the gun sometimes lose confidence when they realize just how difficult it is to close the distance on a cagey old buck rather than sniping it from 600 yards across a canyon.

During my first bowhunt, after spooking several bucks out of bow range, I remember looking down at my 80s-model hand-me-down bow and feeling completely helpless. What I didn’t realize was that I was learning a lot about deer behavior with every encounter. The next season I arrowed a little 4×4 buck that had me brimming with confidence.

Hunting Mentors

Without confidence, you’ll continually second guess yourself. Which direction should I travel? Where should I sit in ambush? At this stage it’s helpful to have a mentor. If you don’t have a mentor, don’t despair; there are innumerable books, magazines, and online resources available that teach various hunting skills including locating, stalking, and field judging bucks.

Confidence increases as you learn about your prey and its behavior. Even before the season starts you need to get out there and put in some time scouting, tracking, and observing deer in their natural environment. The woods itself really is the best teacher. Learning how to identify big buck sign and habitat is key. No longer will you waste time in small deer habitat or nursery areas.

Before I ever bagged a real trophy buck I thought I was a decent bowhunter. It wasn’t until I went up against a true 200-incher that I realized how little I knew. Trophy bucks act completely different than smaller bucks; they really are entirely different animals. For two years I played catch up, reading everything I could find on mule deer while simultaneously spending more days afield. It finally paid off and I got my trophy. Now, when I enter the woods I truly believe I can find and harvest a trophy buck with some level of consistency.

Confidence in Archery

Confidence plays an important role in shooting skills too. You’ll be lucky to get one shot in a season, so you need to be intimately familiar with your bow. I recommend shooting your bow year-round in order to maintain your shooting muscles and maintain your effective range. Everything, from loading an arrow to drawing your bow undetected should become automatic.

Finally, confident hunters know when to pull out. What if your honey hole dries up or is overrun with other hunters? This happens all the time, so you need to have the confidence to abandon your traditional hunting area and find a brand new one.

Conclusion

When I set my annual goal to harvest a trophy, I envision a real monster buck with huge mass and wide-sweeping antlers. I am confident that at least one giant, stud-buck lives in every unit of my state. I just have to find it. I can set such lofty goals because I know I will consciously and subconsciously do things every day to reach my goal.

The difficulty inherent in bowhunting may lead you to believe that trophy deer are impossible to hunt. Sometimes we elevate these animals to mystical levels, viewing them as unhuntable specters of the woods. Big bucks might be masters of survival, but they’re still just big, stinky animals. When they bust out and fly away from us with incredible speed and majesty, they still have to go somewhere. As quickly as they disappear, they reappear somewhere else. Go out and find them. You are a good hunter; you can do it!

Zen Hunting

How to Hunt without Fear

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How to Be Fearless Outdoors

Hunters of all ages—but especially young and inexperienced hunters—can suffer from fear of being alone in the outdoors. And it only gets worse after dark. Most hunting success comes very early or very late in the day, and this means venturing out in the dark.

Whether your fears are rational or irrational, conquering your fears is vital for success in any walk of life, but especially in hunting. A successful hunter must learn to be comfortable in nature.

There’s no shame being afraid; after all nature can be a dangerous place. People die all the time from predator attacks, lightning strikes, hypothermia, heat stroke, dehydration, getting lost, etc. These are very real concerns. Fortunately most fears can be eliminated with a little woods experience and some common sense preparedness. But first, what is fear?

What is Fear?

Is fear even real? Where is fear? Can you point to it?

Fear is just an abstraction. It’s a negative state of mind conjured up out of one’s imagination. In most cases you are simply reacting to an uncertain future . Other times you are reacting to bad associations from past experiences. Only rarely is fear justified, as with an immediate emergency. In these cases, fear can be deadly.

Reaction to danger causes panic, and panic only makes a bad situation worse. I’m not saying that danger isn’t real. Life is full of danger. But when danger arises, a fearless man acts, not reacts.

With a little practice you can learn to control your reactions and thus lose your fears. Let’s explore some methods.

Prepare for the Worst

Successful hunting in modern times usually means venturing into some pretty nasty country. If you aren’t prepared for wilderness conditions, then maybe you should be afraid. Being prepared for dangerous situations gives you confidence and alleviates fear.

The following are some basic preparedness techniques that will  help you gain confidence afield:

  • Always bring enough food, water and enough extra layers to survive a night in the wilderness. Have a way to stay warm and dry: carry a rain poncho, space blanket, and a fire starter kit. Pack a reliable flashlight and a water filter. You should also carry a signaling device such as a satellite phone, a mirror or a whistle. If you are hunting in an area with dangerous predators, maybe carry a sidearm.
  • Having a basic first aid kit is another good idea. The most important item in my first aid kit is duct tape. Quartering an animal in the backcountry can be a dangerous task. Duct tape and super glue can go a long way to close up deep cuts and lacerations.
  • A space blanket is the first thing I pack for any backcountry hunt. Space blankets are made from a very thin, lightweight Mylar material that reflects heat. On a recent winter hunt trip I had stove malfunction the very first night out. In the two hours I spent trying to fix the stove, I could feel my body temperature dropping steadily. When I realized a warm meal off the menu I immediately busted out my space blanket and wrapped it around my sleeping bag. It was a real lifesaver. Knowing you have a reliable way to survive the elements goes a long way in dispelling fears of being alone in the wild.

Facing Irrational Fears

Fears can be also be eliminated by simply changing your perspective on life. More than anything people fear the unknown; with death being the greatest of the unknowns. But is death really that unknown? All creatures die, so how is life any more mysterious than death? Going through life fearing the inevitable is nonsensical. Why worry about things outside of your control? Why be distracted from living because of concerns for the future?

There’s a lot of philosophy here, but what it boils down to is this: The only thing worse than dying is not really living. Focus on living while you’re alive; dying will take care of itself. Conquering fear of the unknown begins with losing your fear of death and embracing the unknown.

Fear of Failure

Lastly, we should address the fear of failure. Fear of failure is very real and should be avoided. This is my biggest fear. Bowhunting gives my life purpose. I put so much time and energy into bowhunting that when I fail I feel useless. But nothing good can come from fearing failure. It makes a person desperate, and desperation causes a person to make bad decisions. It also compromises your ethics. Worst of all, desperation takes the fun out of life and hunting. Hunting is recreation and should be always be fun!

Conclusion

Bowhunting is a privilege; the act of bowhunting is reward enough in itself without having to kill something. Bowhunting isn’t business; it’s not a game of numbers. Hunting success is a measurement of one’s skills, for sure, but it’s not the full measure of a man. You can still fail with dignity, knowing you did your best.

You are in the woods for a higher purpose. You have something to prove to yourself. Fear is never a reason to give up. Back home there is only failure, but in the woods there is glory.

Uncategorized, Zen Hunting

Field Care: Quartering and Packing

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Packing out a heavy mule deer.

Quartering and Packing

In the old days hunters often avoided hunting too far from roads simply because it would be too difficult to drag the animal out if they got one. A lot has changed since then. Today, backcountry hunters quarter or bone out their meat and then pack it out in a trip or two.

Quartering means removing the skin, all four quarters, the back-straps, and whatever other parts you wish to keep, including the ribs, neck meat, liver, heart, etc.

Boning means removing meat from the bones. Boning reduces pack weight by several pounds, but this method has its drawbacks. First, boning takes time to do it correctly. Secondly, it exposes even more meat to contamination from dirt, bugs, and hair. For this reason I advise against boning meat unless absolutely necessary.

Quartering and hanging an animal is much more sensible than gutting and dragging the animal out whole. A boned-out mule deer weighs about 90 pounds and can be packed out in a single trip if necessary.

An elk is about 3.5X larger than a deer. Boned or not, an elk will take two people several trips to pack it out. Whatever the case, just be sure you have an exit plan before launching an arrow.

The basics of quartering big game can be learned from numerous video tutorials found online. Then it’s just a matter of practice.

Quartering can be a daunting or even dangerous task when performed alone, especially on slippery or uneven terrain. Until you’ve gained some experience, try to enlist some help from fellow hunters for tasks like holding legs and hanging quarters. With a little practice, it can be accomplished alone.

Temperature and Spoilage

Heat is the number one concern with meat care. Bacteria grow  exponentially on a carcass if allowed to stay warm too long. Meat begins to spoil in temperatures above 40 degrees (fridge temperature). In 90-degree weather—which coincides with many archery seasons—meat can spoil in single a day.

The higher the ambient air temperature, the greater chance of spoilage. Ambient air temperature determines how much time you have to get quarters packed out and loaded into coolers.

When daytime temperatures are above 70 degrees, the animal should be packed out within 24 hours. If daytime temperatures are  below 50 degrees, you can take your time, even several days if needed.

Other than rapidly cooling your meat, there are a couple additional ways to extend meat freshness. First, there’s a company out there that makes anti-microbial game bags. These bags can help slow bacteria spread on the surface of the meat where most  contamintatin takes place. Second, when flies are an issue, simply rub black pepper all over the surface of the meat.

Quartering Tools

Be sure to carry the right tools for quartering your animal. This includes a very sharp hunting knife with a built-in gut hook, a lightweight folding bone saw, a knife sharpener, and a 4-pack of lightweight game bags.

My favorite knife for skinning is the Outdoor Edge Swingblade. The locking blade converts to a dedicated gutting knife. Besides gutting, this extra blade easily unzips the hide and cape without cutting too much hair.

Outdoor Edge Swingblade skinning knife and gutting blade.

Some hunters prefer razor knives with replaceable blades like the Havalon models. Havalons are extremely sharp and capable of breaking down even the largest animals. But they aren’t ideal for skinning as they can easily cut through the hide.

I personally carry a small surgeon’s scalpel with cheap replaceable blades and use it in conjunction with my skinning/gutting knife. The scalpel is especially useful for caping and removing the hide from delicate facial areas.

Lightweight surgeon’s scalpel w/ replaceable blades.

Cooling Your Meat

The first step in cooling meat is to open the chest cavity and use a stick to spread the rib cage apart. Next, skin the carcass as soon as possible. The hair and hide is very good at insulating and will hold heat for a long time. An elk carcass left with the hide on can spoil even when left lying on snow.

Skinning is best accomplished systematically as you remove quarters if you’re using the “gutless method.” (See YouTube for videos on the gutless method). In this fashion, the hide is left intact and spread out on the ground as a barrier between dirt and the meat.

Once quartered and bagged, hang the meat in the shade to cool. Either hang the quarters in a tree or prop them up on rocks, logs or bushes to increase air circulation. Even in hot weather, meat will cool rapidly in the shade and will extend pack-out time.

Whenever possible hang the meat in the bottom of a valley and/or near a stream to cool overnight.

You can further cool meat by placing pre-cooled quarters in plastic garbage bags and securing the bags in a stream or river. Just make sure the sun isn’t hitting the bags as they can heat up even when submerged.

Finally, consider packing the meat out at night as this can keep both you and your meat from overheating.

Once the meat is hung you will need to figure out how many pack-out trips it’s going to take. This depends on your physical conditioning, distance, and terrain. Try to figure out how much weight you can safely carry long distances before going afield.

When dealing with trophy animals, the head, antlers and hide will add significantly more weight. You can always remove the antlers and cape from the head in the field, but take extreme care. Without adequate caping experience you could easily damage or ruin your trophy cape.

Using Pack Animals

Whenever possible try to enlist a number of friends and/or pack animals for the job. With today’s lightweight frame packs there’s practically nothing you and a couple buddies can’t pack out given enough time. The problem with backcountry hunts is that you may not have enough time to get the animal out before it spoils. This is where pack animals come in handy.

For backcountry wilderness hunts, consider hiring a horse packer. My brother once harvested a 2000 pound bison at the bottom of a snowy chasm. Retrieving his once-in-a-lifetime animal was only made possible by hiring a horse packer. It costed several hundred dollars, but was well worth the expense.

Horse packers with bison.

Another option is renting llamas or pack goats. My brother has a string of pack goats that have proven invaluable for packing elk out of the backcountry.

Having a couple horses will open up the vast wilderness to more hunting opportunities. Legendary trophy hunters like Kirt Darner and Robby Denning frequently relied on horses, not only for access, but for getting their trophies out of the backcountry.

The biggest drawback to owning pack animals is the year-round expense and maintenance involved, not to mention the burden of caring for them afield. But in my opinion, these trade-offs are tolerable if it means consistent success on trophy bucks.

Conclusion

It’s much easier to spend a couple extra days packing a critter out of some hell hole than hunting easy-access country for weeks on end without success. You just need to have an exit plan. This means being in good enough shape for an arduous pack-out, or using pack animals for the task.

Zen Hunting

How to Bowhunt Javelina: Tips and Tricks

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Javelina, aka collard peccary.

Bowhunting Javelina

A long, cold winter can be a dreary time for a committed bowhunter. But it needs not be. Lurking around the cactus and brush of the American Southwest desert is a fascinating creature that many people have never seen before. This coarse-haired, pig-like creature is the collared peccary, more commonly known as a javelina.

He stands about two feet tall and three feet long, and weighs between 30 and 60 pounds. He’s a clever, secretive creature that offers a fun and exciting challenge to any bowhunter.

The javelina is common enough in places like Arizona to procure a tag at least every other year. Best of all, most javelina hunts occur in the dead of winter, making it an ideal wintertime activity.

When and Where

Javelina are found sparsely over desert landscapes varying from 2000 to 5000 feet in elevation. It can take a while to locate them these small animals in the vast desert, so be sure you allow enough time to get the job done. I wouldn’t consider a hunt less than five days long.

Typical javelina country at 2500′.

For the novice javelina hunter, the near-sighted, unassuming javelina can be deceptively difficult to hunt. Like other “big” game animals, javelina are highly skilled at evading predators. Bowhunting success hovers around 25%, so it’s crucial to learn all you can before heading to the desert.

General Info

Javelina rely on their noses, ears and eyes to detect danger. Although javelina have relatively poor eyesight, they are still adept at picking up movement, especially within bow range. Their sense of hearing is very good, but their sense of smell is excellent, so always approach from downwind.

Javelina are territorial animals with home ranges averaging one square mile, but this can vary widely from place to place. Javelina travel in herds commonly between 8 and 10, but sometimes more.

Adult Javelina.
Photo Credit: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos

Rarely will you find a lone pig. If you do, be on the lookout for others that could ruin your stalk. Occasionally you’ll find small bachelor groups of two or three animals traveling apart from the main group.

Habitat

Like many other prey species, javelina are most active in the morning and evening. In winter when days are cold and short, javelina spend more time up and feeding. It’s not uncommon to find javelina feeding or traveling as late as 11 a.m. In the evening they tend to unbed an hour or two before dark, so morning is your best bet.

Dug out bed and scattered droppings.

Javelina bed down together in large, dug-out beds beneath mesquite trees or rock outcroppings. Beds usually have piles of scat scattered around the outside. The freshness of the scat will tell you whether you’ve found an active bed or not.

Javelina droppings are easy to identify, like that of a large dog. Interestingly, javelina have the runs much of the time, so keep an eye out for that too.

Food and Water

Although javelina are classified as omnivores, they’re mostly herbivores, and their favorite food is cactus. Although they eat a variety of cactus species, their favorite is the prickly pear cactus.

Begin by locating areas with high concentrations of prickly pear. Look for cactus that has been torn apart, scattered around, and chewed up. From there, continue your search into brushy draws, washes, and river bottoms.

Prickly pear cactus torn up and eaten by javelina.

Despite the arid environment in which they live, javelina don’t visit water regularly. Instead, they get most of their moisture from cactus and other plants they eat.

Scouting & E-Scouting

Before heading to the desert for the first time, make sure you do a little research. Start by contacting the biologist over the unit to get some good starting points.

Next, check the state’s fish and game website for more information. Arizona’s hunting website has a “Where to Hunt” page with a helpful overview of each unit, including access points and biologist notes (www.azgfd.com/hunting/units/). When hunting a new location, try to arrive a day or two early for scouting and glassing.

Spot & Stalk Tactics

Glassing south and southeast facing slopes early in the morning is the best strategy for locating javelina. Because they don’t have under-fur, javelina use the sun to warm up after a cold night. As the day begins to warm, glassing becomes less effective as the pigs head for cover and shade.

Esther glasses the brushy bottoms with binoculars.

Javelina are small animals that blend well with their habitat. A high-powered spotting scope on a tripod is far better than handheld binoculars. Always start your glassing from the highest vantage possible. Begin by glassing areas with plenty of cactus, and look for open hillsides above brushy draws or river bottoms. Javelina are mostly lowlanders and don’t spend a lot of time in steep country.

Once you’ve located a herd, plan your stalk based on two things: wind direction and the general direction the herd is headed. If it’s still early, the javelina will likely stay put, so you can take it slow and quiet. Later in the morning the herd is more likely to move during your stalk, so pick up the pace.

Sign and Tracking

The next step is to locate tracks, trails, beds and droppings. Javelina are creatures of habit and use traditional routes throughout their range. Locating trails is key to finding them. Trails rarely lead through the wide open, so begin your search in the brushy bottoms. On one occasion I unknowingly set my camp right next to a trail. Twice my wife watched javelina walk right through camp while I was out looking for them.

Javelina group tracks through desert.

Tracking is a great way to learn about javelina, like what they eat and where they sleep. Boars have larger, rounder tracks while juveniles and females have smaller, pointier tracks. If all the tracks you find are medium-sized with tiny tracks mixed in, then it’s likely a female and baby group.

Tracking is difficult in sandy or gravelly soil because it doesn’t hold detail well. But you can still determine the direction of travel by following the deeper, toe-end of the track which points forward.

When the track eventually runs into mud or hard dirt, you can make more determinations about the animals you’re following. Fortunately javelina travel in groups which makes tracking easier.

If you bust a group of javelina out of an area, there’s a good chance they’ll return after a day or two. In the meantime, keep moving. Javelina leave sign wherever they go. Watch for torn up cactus, beds and fresh scat piles. If the torn-up cactus is still bright green and wet, the javelina should be nearby. They also do a lot of rooting and digging, so keep an eye out for torn up ground.

Still-Hunting Tactics

During the day javelina can be found by still-hunting near bedding areas, especially around larger mesquite trees. Javelina have scent glands on their rumps which they rub on trees and rocks to mark their territory. When still-hunting it’s not uncommon to pick up their musky odor long before you see them. Just another reason to hunt with the wind in your face.

In areas with moderate to high hunting pressure, glassing can become futile. Once the animals are driven into heavy cover, you may never see them again. In the unit where I hunt, I’ve actually never seen a javelina while glassing. The animals always stay in thick cover and brushy bottoms, which makes still-hunting the best method for finding them. You just have to cover a lot of ground and follow tracks.

Ambush Tactics

Esther took this fine javelina as it traveled towards bedding area.

Ambushing heavily used trails, pinch-points, and active bedding sites is viable option. I’ve had best luck ambushing routes between 10 and 11 a.m. when javelina are moving to bed. The javelina’s poor eyesight allows you to set up closer than you might for deer or elk.

Sitting in a ground blind near a water hole can also be effective, but only on dry years. Although they get most of their water from plants, javelina will still visit water, especially if it’s unseasonably hot and dry.

Vocalization and Calling

Although there are some javelina calls on the market, I’ve found them to be marginally effective. I read once that javelina will come to a dying rabbit call, but in practice the javelina just got nervous and moved off.

It really depends on how much hunting pressure they’ve had. Javelina are curious by nature, but when pressured they tend to shy away from foreign sounds.

Otherwise, javelina are quite vocal. When traveling or feeding in heavy brush, javelina make continuous “woof” sound to keep tabs on each other. In the thick stuff you’re more likely to hear them before you see them.

If you spook a javelina but he doesn’t run, “woofing” may calm him down long enough for a shot. In some cases you can even use woofing to get them to step out from behind cover.

Once bedded, javelina are mostly silent. Occasionally herd members  will get into fights and make loud snarls and clacking sounds with their teeth, so keep your ears open.

Shot Execution

The bow and arrow set up you use for deer should work fine for javelina, just be sure to know your effective range beforehand. Javelina have a small kill zone of about 6 inches diameter.

Shooting distances will vary widely depending on terrain. Javelina can disappear quickly behind brush, even at close range. I’ve found most shots to be between 20 and 40 yards.

My first javelina with a bow.

Javelina are tough animals. A poorly hit javelina can run away at breakneck speed and be hard to track down, especially in thick or rocky terrain.

That being said, I’ve seen gut shot javelina go down pretty quickly, usually within 100 yards. The tall hair on their backs can trick you into holding too high, so always aim tight behind the shoulder and just below the centerline of the animal.

Javelina tend to stop abruptly when alerted. Unless you frighten him at close range, he’s likely to freeze up for a few seconds and give you time to settle your pin. If he busts out, however, he’ll likely sprint away without giving you a second chance.

Find Fresh Pigs

Over-pressured javelina learn fast how to avoid people. Once you bust a group several times—and maybe even shot at them—they can disappear completely for several days. At that point it’s best to find fresh critters. Continually chasing the same group will result in diminishing returns.

To avoid the curse of disappearing animals, I recommend hunting the opener when the pigs are still in their relaxed routine. If possible avoid hunting on weekends or near busy roads. Head to the backcountry whenever possible, and always have a couple backup areas in case your first area goes bust.

Harvest and Field Care

Despite what you may have heard, javelina provide excellent table fare. The meat is similar to pork, albeit a bit wilder, and lends itself well to southwestern cuisine like tacos and enchiladas.

Javelina skinned and hung to cool.

To avoid funky meat you need to use caution when skinning your animal. Their pungeant scent gland is easily identified on their lower back. Avoid touching it with your hands or knife. Once skinned, wash the carcass with cold water and hang it in the shade to cool

Conclusion

Bowhunting javelina is a fun and exciting way to hone one’s skills during the dark and cold months of winter. They are fascinating creatures that offer a unique challenge in a unique environment. I can’t recommend it enough.