Zen Hunting

First Scouting Trip: May 2015

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First Deer Scouting Trip 2015

The Big Game Draw results are in:  unsuccessful for Mountain Goat and limited entry Deer, but successful for general Buck Deer…in my 5th choice unit.

After arrowing the infamous Droptine buck in 2010, I vowed never to hunt the Cache unit (Monte Cristo/Unit #2) again. There are simply too few bucks and hardly any trophies. But with so many hunters in Utah now, I can no longer hunt where I want to, even with a bow. For a guaranteed tag, I always put Cache as my last choice. Since no one in their right mind actually wants to hunt the Cache unit, it’s a guaranteed draw.

Well, I’ll make the most of it. And when it’s all over, I know I will be standing over a huge Pope & Young buck, but man, it’s gonna take some work. In order to succeed, I’ve already begun scouting. I’ll continue scouting this bleak unit every chance I get until opening day in mid-August.

The Cache unit is relatively HUGE. What it lacks in quality deer, it makes up for in quantity area–miles and miles of pristine forest and mountains, mostly devoid of wildlife. It takes a lot of time and effort to thoroughly scout an area this big.

A couple weeks ago, when the higher elevations were still snowed in, Esther and I scouted some obscure lower elevations. I quickly learned that you had to get at least a mile away from the dirt road to find any deer. We finally found a pod of eight deer in a steep feeding swathe between aspens.  It was too early to see antlers, but it looked like a promising new area.

Pre-season scouting doesn’t require actually seeing deer. It’s more important to look for sign:  large tracks, tree rubbings, and especially good feeding areas. Remember the old adage:  Where you find the best feed, you’ll find the best bucks. Grab a topo map and locate potential feeding areas on the east and south-east facing slopes near steep, timbered bedding areas. Bucks love to bed near feed, especially early in the year when there’s little pressure.

Successful scouting means continually seeking out new areas. Hunting pressure quickly pushes bucks out of prime areas, so you’ll need multiple backup areas. Be sure to scout the secondary ridges. These are the lower or middle ridges where bucks feel safe. On Monte Cristo the main roads follow the top and bottom of the mountain. But in the deep, dark interior, bucks feel safe.

Although I wasn’t inspired to pull out my camera and document our first antlerless deer sighting, I considered this trip a good learning experience. The biggest lesson was how much more area I still needed to cover. A second scouting trip was quickly planned and executed (see tomorrows post with pictures!)

Good luck on your own scouting adventures.

Zen Hunting

Backyard Bucks: May 28, 2015

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Backyard Bucks

Have I mentioned that I love deer?  Have I mentioned that I love living out in the country?  Yes I have, and I’m doing it again. Check out these photos I caught just before dark last night:

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With all the recent rain, my garden is even growing bucks! I call this buck Henry. Last year he ate most of our ripe tomatoes. I told my wife, if he keeps eating our garden, I’m going to eat him!

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Here’s Henry laughing at me because he knows the hunt doesn’t start for another three months.

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Here’s a group of bucks in the adjacent lot, only 35 yards away. And yes, they are all bucks, mostly young ones. Their antlers are just starting to grow velvet nubs. Cool!

I hope you enjoyed viewing these pics as much as I enjoyed taking them.  Happy hunting this year!

Hunting Stories

One Giant Antler

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Deer Hunting Story:  One Giant Antler

There is an image, not unlike the one above, that still haunts me today.

It was the muzzleloader hunt of 2001. I was still getting used to my new hunting area near Fairview, Utah. I knew the hunting pressure would keep the big bucks in the thick timber, so that’s where I spent my days. I’d never gotten a real trophy-size buck before, and up until then, I’d only seen a few true trophies in all my years of hunting. But I’d seen enough in this unit to know it was possible. These were the bucks I daydreamed about.

On opening morning our camp dispersed across the land. I dropped into the deep and steep pine forest below camp. The deadfall was so thick I had to hop from log to log, not touching the ground for a hundred yards or so. Eventually it opened up with aspens and narrow feeding swathes. Judging by the sign—and I was no expert back then—there were plenty of deer around, but where they went during the day, no one knew.

I’d grown accustom to blowing stalks on large deer, and as you’ll see, my confidence was way down. I knew there were big deer in this unit, attested to by an occasional flash of antler, a loud snort, and the sound of heavy hooves smashing away through the dense woods. I pressed on, but really, I’d already given up.

Judging by the high sun, it must have been close to noon.  I knew the deer wouldn’t be up on their feet at midday, but I wouldn’t allow myself to return to camp and make excuses for my failure; blaming the lack of deer on the area and then bedding down for the day myself. That would be submission. No, I would continue my quest, beating the pine-needled forest floor to death with my stinky old boots.

I was still-hunting along on a steep and rocky slope. The timber was less dense at the edge of the pines where interspersed aspens and deer brush heedlessly  begged for a more sun. My predator eyes suddenly and haphazardly caught the slightest bit movement a hundred yards below me in some tall brush. My cheap, murky binos came up and locked on. ANTLERS! Little bits of tines bounced and bobbed through the tall brush. What they were attached to I could not tell in the thick brush; no fur nor face nor hide nor hair, just bits of antlers appearing and disappearing. How big was he, I wondered? A two-point? A four-point? No way to tell and no shot; I needed to get closer.

Here’s where my lack of confidence shines brightest. Based on previous buck encounters, I told myself this would never work out. I didn’t really believe I could get close enough for a shot, but I had to try—I desperately had to try!

It’s different these days, here in the future. Today, I would just sit tight. The wind was most likely rising from late-morning thermals. I would sit and wait for the buck to feed into the open, even if it took all day. 100 yards is an easy shot with a gun. Woulda-coulda-shoulda. But this is how we learn…

I dropped to my butt and began my slow-motion descent. The pine needles were dry and loud, and the terrain was terribly steep. I used the wind and forest sounds to cover my approach. For twenty minutes I slid, scooted, and crab-crawled down the hill, drawing closer and closer to the sighting. Minutes felt like hours.

The buck eventually moved out of sight, swallowed up by the forest. Unable to keep tabs on him, I became increasingly skeptical.  Did he bed down? Did he sense me and move off? Gotta get closer! I crept closer and closer until I was within a few yards of where I first saw him. All was quiet. Now what?

He’s gone! I must have busted him out. I knew this would happen. Oh well… I would’ve been a little upset if I ever truly believed I had a chance at this buck.

I stood up, slung the gun on my shoulder, and dug my GPS unit out of my pocket. I stared blankly at the screen as it tracked and tracked and tracked for satellites. There’s nothing more tedious than waiting for the GPS to track in thick timber. My eyes lifted and floated around the forest. What direction did he go, I wondered.

As my gaze drifted to the right, my lethargic eyelids suddenly flashed wide-open; my heart stopped. Fifteen yards away, a massive, tall, sweeping, 4-point antler stuck directly out from behind a large tree trunk. On the other side, the long gray line of a deer’s back extended outward.

No thoughts, just action.

In one motion my left hand opened and the GPS went into free-fall. My hand flashed to the butt of my gun. The GPS was halfway to the ground as my gun twirled like a baton in front of me. My right hand caught the gunstock and lifted it to my shoulder. The GPS bounced inaudibly as the gun’s muzzle swung towards the buck.

Too late. Heavy hooves dug into the ground with a loud thud and every trace of that monster buck instantly vanished into the woods. Frantically I aimed at the crashing and snorting of my invisible foe, but he was gone.

And that was that. Nothing left but a haunting technicolor image of a huge antler sticking straight out of a tree trunk, burned forever in the forefront of my long-term memory. For the duration of the hunt I beat myself up for my failure.

I am tempted to leave the story right there, but habit forces me find the good in the bad. I knew then, as I know now, that my biggest mistake was over-estimating the buck, and under-estimating myself. I failed because I accepted failure from the start. I had him in my hands, if only I’d been patient. If only I had believed this one burning truth: that he was “just a deer” and not an impossible phantom.

The End.

Zen Hunting

Over- and Under-Estimating Big Bucks

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(Photo courtesy of Utah DWR)

Over- and Under-Estimating Big Bucks

Any seasoned hunter will tell you, “NEVER underestimate a big deer!” I agree, but experience also tells me that ‘NEVER’ really means ‘SOMETIMES.’

I have spent up to seven hours stalking big bucks, and other times, I’ve barreled right in on the animal, either because I was losing light or he was distracted by something.

I’ve also watched hunters watched hunters stalk directly at a deer or elk in plain view, thinking he was invisible because he’s wearing camouflage! I’m not joking! You should’ve seen the look on the animal’s face just before it jumped up and ran away.

What it boils down to is that every situation is different. You can’t judge the current situation on the last one, whether it worked out or not. In bowhunting there are just too many variables.

Big bucks are extremely wary…or at least most of the time. On rare occasion you’ll still catch a buck being lazy or carelessly feeding along. But most times you won’t be able to get inside the buck’s 60-yard security bubble without using extreme caution. Within this bubble a buck’s senses are exceptionally acute. This is where critical decisions make or break your hunt.

Below is a list of situations that either cause me to speed up my approach, or sloooow waaaay down:

When to Speed Up a Stalk

  1. It’s getting dark. Assuming you won’t be able to relocate your target buck later on, you’d better roll the dice and make your move. I’ve seen a lot of stalks end in dark failure. If it’s the last evening of your hunt—for example—you will have no choice but to make a move. Even if you have to walk straight at him, it’s still better than doing nothing.
  2. The buck is about to unbed. Finding an unaware, bedded buck is a Godsend. If he it’s early and he just bedded down for the day, you’ll probably have several hours to implement a stalk strategy. But if he’s been bedded all day, you’d better make your move. Can you get close enough for a shot before he stands? I hope so, because when he stands you’ll likely be pinned down.
  3. The wind is about to change. If the wind is blowing steady in your face during a stalk, you’re golden. But wind can change at any moment. If the wind is starting to swirl, you’d better speed up your stalk. Wind direction changes more often in stormy weather or with thermals: in late morning it begins to rise, and in the evening, as the sun begins to set, it cools and goes downhill. Anticipating wind changes is probably the most important factor in speeding up or slowing down during a stalk.
  4. There is cover noise. I’ve used every possible noise for cover including wind, flying grasshoppers, squirrel barks, jets and planes, buck fights, etc. Anything that makes noise–other than you–will help you get closer faster. Wind rustling through the trees or brush is the most common cover noise. It’s also important to pattern wind. For example, at higher elevations winds are mostly non-existent early and then kick up between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. In the evening winds often die down precipitously just before sundown.
  5. The buck is distracted. Distractions range from buck fights to antler rubbing to squirrel chatter; basically anything that distracts the buck away will give you a chance to move in. The best distraction is when he’s raking a tree with his antlers. Bucks are practically blind and deaf when they head is buried in a tree

When to Slow Down a Stalk

  1. When the buck beds down for the day. Once a buck beds you’ll likely have several hours to get close, so take your time and move with the wind or other cover noise. It’s usually best to wait a couple hours for the buck to start sleeping before making a move. Usually the buck will rise up and re-bed at least once before really dozing off. So the longer you can wait the better.
  2. The wind is blowing steadily in your face. If you’re lucky enough to be hunting during a stretch of steady wind, you can keep your stalk slow and methodical. Unless there’s unsettled weather, wind will prevail from a certain direction for several hours of midday.
  3. The ground is noisy. See how quiet you can be while sneaking twenty yards across a forest floor covered in dry pinecones, gravel, or pine needles. Dry conditions can be a nightmare, especially in thick cover. Oftentimes it’s simply impossible to stalk close to a buck. Fortunately, there are a couple things that can help you. First, take your boots off and stalk-in-socks. Second, wait for cover noise like wind or jets. Dry, hot conditions often bring flying grasshoppers to life. Their loud, short-burst flying noise is the ultimate cover noise when you need to get one step closer. Worst case you can always scoop sticks and brush out of the path with your hands.
  4. The buck is facing you. If you’re trying to stalk close to a buck that’s facing you, you probably can’t move at all. If you can see the buck’s eye, it can see you. However, if the buck’s face is partially hidden then a super slow-motion stalk is possible. Deer have a hard time seeing fine detail and slow motion. Technically, if you could move slowly enough, you could literally walk right to a buck without him seeing you.

These are just a few examples of when to speed up or slow down a stalk. What it really boils down to is common sense and experience. It also helps to spend some time observing and studying your prey. What are their strengths and weaknesses? The more you understand your prey, the better you’ll understand its limitations.

Zen Hunting

Taxidermy Turkey Fan Mounts

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Deluxe turkey fan with wings, fan, spurs, beard & skull.

Taxidermy Turkey Fan Mounts

In just the last three decades, previously nonexistent wild turkeys have flourished in Utah. Now anyone can buy an over-the-counter general turkey tag and go out hunting for these big, noisy, and tasty birds every spring.

Strutting display of a Rio Grande tom turkey. (Photo courtesy of Utah DWR)

If you apply for a “limited entry” turkey tag, you can even hunt them in April, a full month before general hunters. This definitely  increases your odds of success.

Once you’ve harvested a great gobbler, it seems a shame to just  waste all those unique, iridescent feathers. The wild turkey is no Thankgiving birdis is no thanksgiving bird;  it is nature’s beauty at it’s finest.

Fortunately, your friendly, neighborhood taxidermist (me) now offers a wonderful way to display your turkey and preserve all those exciting hunting memories for a lifetime. I proudly present the…

Turkey Fan Mount

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Standard fan mount w/ beard and spurs.

This turkey was taken by my brother, Brent.  Congratulations on a fine, adult strutter!

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The spurs shown on the plaque above are used for fighting among breeding males.

Turkey fan mount with beard, spurs, and skull.

If you’re interested in having your turkey fan mounted, prices start at $100. There’s an additional cost if you want to include the skull and/or wings. You can choose an engraved nameplate attached.

For more info, visit natestaxidermy.net.

Note:  I don’t sell the wood plaque mount, I just mount the bird on the plaque. If you’re interested in mounting one yourself, the mounting kits are available on Amazon and some sporting goods stores.

HAPPY HUNTING!

Zen Hunting

Re-Finding Your Zen

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Re-Finding Your Zen

If you’re following this blog, I apologize for my 6-week absence, the longest hiatus away from my writings yet. I guess I just needed to re-find my Zen.

As a general rule I don’t like to complain, but the past few months, as we transitioned into springtime, has been rather difficult for me. Here are just a few examples:

  • I’ve been consistently let down by family, friends, and work associates.
  • Having my taxidermy tanner disappear with my pelts that I need to run my taxidermy business.
  • Ever-increasing pain and difficulties with my right shoulder which has put a serious damper on the one thing I love doing most: shooting archery.
  • My little “adopted” feral cat, Pickles, was viciously killed by the local dominant tom-cat.
  • I had to shoot my old pet goat, Walter, when he became too weak and feeble to even sit up any more.
  • Then my first turkey hunt was a disaster. After fighting through torrential rain, snow and mud, the giant tom I stalked and shot in the last hour of the hunt ran off with my arrow, never to be found. That was the breaking point.
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Blizzard during my recent turkey hunt.

But again, I hate to complain too much because I know EVERYONE is fighting a har battle–that’s just life. Still, when too much happens at once, a person can lose his inspiration, his drive, and even his Zen.

How can I write inspired Zen-prose when the well is dry? Fortunately, the answer is gradually becoming clearer, and is two-fold:

  • First, life is difficult so that we might become stronger. As they say, “the axe is sharpened by friction.” Overcoming adversity is closely associated with the meaning of life: we are here to learn.
  • Second, my life is currently sad and deflating, but later it’s going to be amazing and beautiful beyond comprehension.  There is always balance; yin and yang.  The universe demands it! So I guess it’s just a matter of time and perspective. While stewing in my misery, I can simultaneously glance in the mirror and see a blessed and healthy being staring back with a loving, bowhunting wife his side. I can look outside my window and view deer feeding and pheasants strutting around in my wild and green backyard in the country. Even in despair I can see that I’m living the ife I always imagined.
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Loving, bowhunting wife. Awesome!

In the end, it’s all about perspective and managing adversity. Yes, it’s taken a while to figure out how to mend myself, but I’m well on my way. My next several blog-posts will be dedicated to re-finding my Zen.

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Male pheasant strutting in my backyard.
Archery Basics

Top 3 Tips to Improve Your Archery NOW!

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Top 3 Tips to Improve Your Archery

Now that spring is here, you’ve probably taken your bow out, dusted it off, and sent some arrows downrange. Maybe some were bulls-eyes while some were errant, but it’s early yet and there’s always room for improvement.

In the last ten years I’ve worked tirelessly at becoming a better hunter. But at the same time, I’ve also developed some bad habits. These habits are common to most archers and include punching the release and lack of follow-through. What you do at the end of your release has the greatest effect on accuracy. So in today’s lesson we’re going to relearn how to shoot.

Bad shooting habits develop because we’re too focused on hitting the bullseye. Everyone knows that humans can only focus on one thing at a time. Ironically, if we focus too hard on the bullseye, we’ll actually miss it!

Here’s the fix

  1. RELAX!:  A famous target archer once said, “A relaxed mind cannot exist in a tense body, and a tense mind cannot exist in a relaxed body.” More than anything else, the bow and arrow fights relaxation. First, there’s the mental stress of hitting the bullseye, especially in a hunting or competition. Second, when you draw your bow, your whole body becomes physically tense as it struggles to crank back and hold all that weight. So, now your mind and body are under duress. Your fight and flight response takes over and all that matters in the world is getting rid of that arrow. Now STOP! Tell yourself you will not release until you calm down. Breathe in and out a couple times. Put your sight pin on the bullseye, then take it off, and put it back on again. Who cares if you miss? Refuse to shoot until you are completely calm. Eventually this will become habit and will have the greatest effect on your accuracy.
  2. The Open Grip:  By now you probably know how to grip your bow, but it’s worth another look. First, your bow’s grip should begin at U-shape between your thumb and index finger. Second, your grip should contact your hand along your life line (the line that separates the fleshy part of your thumb and middle of your palm. Third, the grip should end at the center of your palm where your wrist begins. If you do this correctly, the middle knuckles of your bow hand will form a 45-degree angle slanted away from your grip. NOW, this is only the beginning. When you draw your bow, your fingers should be relaxed and open away from the bow’s grip. Your fingers should remain relaxed throughout the entire shot. The best way to do this is to make an “okay” sign with your index finger and thumb lightly touching. Your hand must remain like this throughout the entire shot.
  3. Follow-Through: Seems simple, right?! It’s not. Again, you can only focus on one thing, so if you’re still aiming at this point, then you’re not following through.  Aiming should go as far as letting the pin float tiny circles around the bullseye. At that point, your only focus should be on pushing the bow forward with your bow arm, and steadily pulling the string back with your release hand. The pin floats almost subconsciously while your focus floats freely and relaxedly between back tension, breathing, and oblivion. Oblivion is where you are free of all anticipation, free of all tension, and free of all distraction. All the technicalities of archery have become one simple action (form) and relegated to your subconscious mind. With nothing left to distract you, you are free; you are in the moment, perfectly centered between the future and the past.

The goal of archery is to relax: relax your grip, relax your body, and relax your mind. At this point, the bow is loosed on its own terms. The bow-and-arrow is accurate every time, subject only to the laws of nature which are fixed. The only variable is the shooter. The greatest obstacle YOU and how you influence the shot. When can master yourself, you will experience perfect archery with every shot.

Note:  I’ve included a video in my next blog post that demonstrates the 3 steps to better archery. Here’s the Video Link.

Archery Basics

Archery Effective Range

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range Archery Effective Range

Spring is in the air and that means one thing: archery! It’s time to dust off that old bow and drag your pasty, out-of-shape, winterized carcass outside and do some shooting. Today we’re going to talk about effective range.

What is your “effective range”?

In this post we’ll answer the following questions: At what range are you an effective bowhunter? How do you find out? And why does it matter?

Question #1:  What is effective range?

Effective range–or effective distance–is the distance at which you can get all your arrows within a “kill-zone” size area of a target every time.

Question #2: How Do I Figure it Out?

The kill-zone on an average big game animal–like a deer or elk–is a circle 8-10 inches in diameter. This circle encompasses the heart/lungs area known as the vitals. The easiest way to learn your effective range is to shoot four arrows at a paper plate. A standard size paper plate is nine inches, so it makes a perfect kill-zone target. Starting at close range (say 20 yards), shoot four arrows. If all arrows hit within the paper plate, move back ten yards and repeat. Continue doing this until you miss one arrow. WHEN you finally miss a shot, you will know your effective range: It’s the last place you shot where you didn’t miss! So if you miss at 40 yards, then your effective range is 30 yards. At this point, you should begin working on your form and follow-through until you can consistently get every single arrow in the plate at farther distances. Until then, you should never take shots at game over 30 yards.

Question #3:  Why is it important?

When you don’t know your effective range, you will end up shooting beyond your abilities and either missing or injuring an animal. This will be a horrible experience for you and the animal, I guarantee it!

Shooting at animals is a lot harder than shooting at a paper plate. There are many psychological factors involved–primarily buck fever–which will cause you to miss. For this reason, you should also practice shooting in adverse conditions such as wind and steep elevation, as well as different body positions like kneeling and crouching–anything that will simulate an actual hunting scenario.

Knowing and sticking to your effective range is the most important first step you should take before going bowhunting. Not only is this a fun exercise, but a valuable measure of your skills. Expanding your effective range will force you to set goals and hone your skills.

Happy shooting!

Zen Hunting

Finding God in Nature: Part 3 of 3

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Finding God in Nature: Part 3

In this final section, I’d like to examine one last quote by Emerson:

Undoubtedly we have no questions to ask which are unanswerable. We must trust the perfection of the creation so far, as to believe that whatever curiosity the order of things has awakened in our minds, the order of things can satisfy.

What Emerson seems to suggest is that the answers to our seemingly infinite questions about life and purpose are accessible through the simple examination of nature. Unlike the previous quotes we’ve examined, this one is an affirmation of what I’ve already learned from nature.

Especially in recent years, I’ve observed a definite clarity achieved only through aloneness and meditation in the woods. Early in the hunt the incessant chattering and inner workings of the mind comes to a crescendo while sitting out the long hours of day. Whether out of boredom or lack of entertainment, the mind delves deeper and deeper into the psyche as it searches for meaning and purpose to all things. After a couple days it begins to quiet down. As the fragmented puzzle congeals and the bigger picture begins taking form. It seems infinitely big, blurring at the edges as you pull back further and further to see it. It surprises you because you so rarely see so much at once. Eventually there are no more questions. All of life makes sense.

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All this transpires while staring blankly at stick or a rock or a leaf or stream. But the answer isn’t written under a rock or in the bark of a tree, but rather inside you already. You have the capacity to comprehend the universe because you are part of it. You are a microcosm of the universe, for to comprehend yourself is to comprehend everything. Nature is only the catalyst. The meditation necessary to achieve clarity and enlightenment is facilitated by nature.

Finding God in Nature: Part 1 of 3

Finding God in Nature: Part 2 of 3

Archery, Zen, and Hunting