Hunting Strategy | Deer Hunting & Management

Better Deer Hunting: Whitetail Scrapes or Rubs?

Looking to harvest a good white-tailed buck? Who isn’t? I’m going to first assume that you have a place to hunt and know the terrain of your hunting property. If not, this is critical information you need to know, so get out there. In addition to learning the lay of the land, another one of a hunter’s first objectives should be to determine whether or not the hunting area holds any sizable bucks. And I use the term “sizable” as defined by you. To some, sizable may go hand-in-hand with the term “mature buck” while others may put a number to it, such as 140 Boone and Crockett points.

Big bucks are territorial. You can find these areas by looking for both scrapes and rubs, but scrapes are really what you want to be looking for and I will explain why. Other than how they are made, do you know how scrapes and rubs differ? For one, it’s seldom that one particular buck rub will be worked again later in the year. In fact, a certain tree may be rubbed in consecutive years by a particular buck, but seldom is it ever worked again during that same year. This is not the case with buck scrapes because they will often be revisited and reworked throughout the breeding season. Keep in mind that I am not saying that all whitetail scrapes will be revisited, but the odds are more in your favor than against you. Continue reading “Better Deer Hunting: Whitetail Scrapes or Rubs?”

Game Cameras and Deer Management

For as long as I’ve been fascinated with deer and deer hunting I have wondered about those big nocturnal bucks that no doubt walked across the land where I hunted. That was a long time ago, even before I knew “nocturnal” was a word. Cameras are great for “capturing” the deer on a property, but they also help with white-tailed deer management.

Nowadays, we don’t have to worry as much about the big whitetail bucks that “might” be out there because game cameras help us do a much more thorough job of scouting prior to and during the deer hunting season. I said “as much,” because there always seems to be bucks that elude everything, including cameras (pays to be scent-free when setting out your cameras).

Game Cameras for Scouting Deer

Using Game Cameras for Deer

Using a game camera can be fun and exciting. However, looking back at my first couple of years of using a camera, it was not at all what I had hoped it would be. Sure, I saw some bucks. That’s cool. Some were even better than what I had observed during daylight hours, but nothing like the images that haunted my dreams.

I think deer hunters as a group are very optimistic. How could be get up at the butt-crack of dawn, walk ourselves out into the dark, sit for hours upon hours in adverse weather conditions, and just hope to see a deer if we were not, right? We also want to believe that there is the potential for a “booner” on any given hunt.

Patterning Deer with My Camera

My first season with a game camera was mediocre. The camera proved time and time again that the same spike, 8-point buck, 5 does, and 3 fawns visited the are everyday at about the same time. In addition, an occasional “rogue” buck or two would be spotted overnight, but nothing to write home about. There was no freak nasty.

As it turns out, there really weren’t any big, magical bucks that sneaking through the habitat found on the property I hunted. The bucks I thought lived there, in reality, were not there at all!

Were they hanging out on the neighbors property? What was I doing wrong that swamp donkeys weren’t showing up on camera? Did their patterns include areas of the property where I didn’t have cameras. I moved cameras all over, but no massive bucks appeared.

Managing Deer Hunting Expectations with a Camera

Then I thought about it. If I’m not getting photos of quality bucks at night or at different parts of the property (at any time), then there are not any quality bucks to be found. It’s not that I’m not seeing them, then these whitetail bucks simply do not exists, are not found in the area!

The fact of the matter is if you (like me back then) aren’t seeing any good bucks on your trail camera, then it’s not that you’re having a problem seeing the bucks, it’s just that they do not exists. They aren’t on the property. They likely aren’t on your neighbors property either, or at least in close proximity.

In this case, what I had and what you may have, is a deer management problem. It could even be as simple as a deer hunting problem, where young bucks are being harvested well before maturity. If the only bucks you’re seeing on game camera are yearling and 2 1/2 year old bucks then it’s time to take a hard look at the activities on the property.

There are not many monster 2 1/2 year old whitetail bucks running around. I submit that there are none.

Game camera tips to get your buck!

More Deer Management with Cameras

You can use game camera photos to estimate buck to doe ratios, annual fawning success, and the quality of the bucks on your property, but it also gives you snap-shot after snap-shot of what your overall deer management plan (or lack thereof) is doing for you on a piece of property.

Not even the best trail camera can find something that is not there. Later this week I will talk more about game cameras and even include a few more game camera tips for keeping track of the white-tailed deer on your hunting grounds. Until then, keep your hooks sharp and your ammo dry.

Bag A Big White-tailed Buck Through His Stomach

No, we are not talking about a poorly placed shot here, but rather literally feeding to every buck’s primary need — food. Summer is a serious stress period for white-tailed deer. With that said, quality food is hard to find in many parts of the country right now, unless your area has been blessed with summer and late summer rainfall.

So, what do deer eat and how can you capitalize on hungry deer? Yes, yes, you know the answer is providing food, but you have two choices at this point. Do you wish to bait or actually provide supplemental feed the deer in your area? There is a difference and I’ve talked about baiting versus supplementing before. For those that are ate up with keeping deer in prime condition, most provide supplemental food year round through either food plots or free-choice protein.

Both of these options are fine, most deer managers even use them in combination, and they are ideal ways to promote the highest deer body conditions and support maximum antler growth, but what about some of the lease hunters or individuals that can not afford to provide supplementation throughout the year? Continue reading “Bag A Big White-tailed Buck Through His Stomach”

More Game Camera Tips for Hunters

Now that you have decided on the best locations to monitor with your game camera, you will need to know a few tips to help make sure that you get quality deer photos. With that goal in mind, when at all possible point the camera toward the north. Not on will placing the game camera in this position greatly reduce the chance of the camera getting triggered by the sun, but it will reduce back-lighting on your subject and give you much better deer photos.

Likewise, placing the game camera in areas of heavy tree cover will also help prevent the mid-day sun from accidentally triggering the sensor. So, if you want to take better photos in a relatively open area, face the camera north. If you are trying to pattern deer using a game camera in a heavily wooded area, any direction will work.

Next, it’s important that you accurately measure the distance from the trail camera to where you expect deer to travel. If the camera is set back too far, then the sensor might not trigger and the camera will miss the shot. Of course, having a deer cross too closely is equally bad since the camera will only capture part of the deer as it passes by — or totally miss the deer all together! Continue reading “More Game Camera Tips for Hunters”

Trail Camera Tips for Deer Hunting

The digital game camera really has given hunters one of the best scouting tools available for white-tailed deer and other game, but most users fall short of using their camera to its potential. The game camera can be a great tool for seeing what’s out there, but like any tool, it must be used properly for the user to get the full benefit of using the “hunter that never sleeps.”

First and foremost, a digital game camera will let you see many of the bucks you have available for harvest in the area where you hunt. Most of the bucks you probably would have never seen otherwise. The most common practice employed by game camera users is to set a camera adjacent to their feeder or food plot. Although this usually gets hunters lots of pictures, all it really tells you what deer are present.

You’re probably thinking, “Well, if I know a certain buck is coming to my feeder, then I will just sit there and wait for him.” But, if you really intend for the camera to help you not only get a look at your deer, but also want it to help you bag “your” buck, then you will have to get a bit more creative, so pay attention. Continue reading “Trail Camera Tips for Deer Hunting”