Top End Deer
by Brandt Smith
Top end deer; that's what we're all after isn't it? For
some, top end may be 140, others 170, and for the lucky few, 200. Let's
be honest, anyone can pay $6000 and kill a 160 inch deer. if you're
the 1% of the population that can afford this and all you care about is
showing off a big rack, then hey by all means. For most of us however,
including myself, I don't have that kind of money for a deer hunt,
furthermore; even if I did, I would never go this route. I can't begin
to imagine how many people who work for a living are sick of seeing big
deer killed on television and in magazines for the right amount of
money. Someone who has never hunted before can kill a top end deer if
they have the money. What kind of skill is in sit here, shoot that,
and show me the money? Nothing learned, no knowledge gained. I would
be embarrassed to have a hunting show or write articles based on what
guided hunt my sponsor could afford. They learn nothing, therefore they
teach nothing, other than how not to put your time in and how not to
take anything from the hunt minus the rack.
Everyone can kill top end deer with a little hard work, and here's how. Permission is the first step in killing your dream buck. First, figure what top end deer are in the area you plan on hunting by talking to locals or contacting a local taxidermist. Second, pull up aerial photos, for example Google Earth. Look for three very important things. One, grain fields or primary food sources. Two, thick defined bedding areas connected to larger creek and river bottoms. Three, property that is next to or surrounded by private land where the landowner allows no hunting. you will find these no hunting properties once you begin asking for permission. These three things will allow you to hunt bucks with high nutrition and a higher age class due to no hunting on adjacent properties. Simply put, this type of area during the rut will bring in new traveling bucks and hold a high concentration of doe family groups.
Now that you have identified potential properties it's time to obtain permission. Go to the County Assessor's office online for the county you're going to be hunting and purchase a plat map or landownership map. Cross reference the properties you're interested in with the current landowners. Go to yellowpages.com and under the white pages section type in the landowner''s first name, last name, and city or state in which the landowner lives. This will provided you with the latest landowner contact information; including addresses and telephone numbers. For some landowners this information is available in the plat ownership maps. It's always best to ask for permission in person when feasible; however, in the busy way of life we live, sometimes the only realistic way is by writing letters and making phone calls. you will be pleasantly surprised how many people say yes, particularly for archery hunting. Contact all the landowners you can. once you have your answer, whether yes or no, mark accordingly on your aerial photos. I use red pins for no hunting, green pins where I have permission, and yellow pins for unknown. Don't be discouraged by landowners who say no. these properties play their important role. in fact, the more discern landowners are about hunting, the better. Now it's time to put your boots on soil and pick your top stand sites. Walk every property you have permission to hunt, over looking nothing. Look for trails, secondary buck trails, rubs, scrapes, bedding areas, and available water. For example, if I have permission on fifteen properties, I'll walk each one, evaluate each property, and choose my top five for stands, leaving the other ten properties for backup stand sites. Never get comfortable and stop striving for better stand sites or new properties. It will only benefit you to keep improving year after year because properties change over time. it's important when you find your top properties to keep your eyes open for that one perfect tree. Each property has one that will stand out above all others, however subtle it may be, it can be the one tree that will consistently provide close encounters with top end deer. After you have your tree picked, it's time to look at entry and exit routes for both evening and morning setups. If you can't get into your tree without alarming deer, you are wasting your time. It's also important to look at which winds are preferable for each stand, for both morning and evening hunts. This will take some guessing work, particularly if you have never hunted the property before. Consider where the deer are feeding throughout the night and where they bed in the mornings and set up accordingly.
Come September I will set my stands on these new properties with specific trees already in mind. I prefer to use ladder stands that go up at least fifteen feet and will place the stands where I am not facing the rising or setting sun. Preferably, I place my stands where my left shoulder faces where my anticipated shooting lanes are (due to being a right handed bow shooter). This will minimize my movement on stand when a shot arises. Once the stand is in place, I will take the time to clip any branches or remove any other obstructions that may be a hindrance come the day that big buck is walking my way. I will set up bow hangers, other accessory hangers, and rope to pull my bow up. Everything will be set in place in September, so come November when the wind is right all I have to do is walk in, climb the stand, and hunt. It's as important to take the time clearing entry and exit routes to avoid creating unnecessary noise and leaving unnecessary scent as it is to clear shooting lanes from your stand. Hunt the best days of the season and never let them know you're there. that's the trick to close encounters and ultimately harvesting big deer.
After you kill the greatest buck of your life, it's important not to forget the people who made it happen for you. This is where most hunters drop the ball; they don't follow through. It's important to build a relationship with each landowner which will increase the likelihood of maintaining permission. My top three landowners know how much they mean to me. Every year during the holidays I send them a honey baked ham and a thank you card. Even properties I'm not actively hunting I mail out thank you cards. every time I'm in town I make the effort to see each landowner; talk, catch up, and even help out around the farm; whether fixing fence or moving cows. Maintaining a close relationship with each landowner is vital. If you don't have the time or means to make the trip back out; a phone call from time to time can make all the difference.
Those willing to put in their time before the season begins will be rewarded with trophy class bucks more often than not. Hunt where these bucks live during the best days of the year, go in and come out undetected, and hunt every minute possible and you will see and ultimately harvest top end deer.
Everyone can kill top end deer with a little hard work, and here's how. Permission is the first step in killing your dream buck. First, figure what top end deer are in the area you plan on hunting by talking to locals or contacting a local taxidermist. Second, pull up aerial photos, for example Google Earth. Look for three very important things. One, grain fields or primary food sources. Two, thick defined bedding areas connected to larger creek and river bottoms. Three, property that is next to or surrounded by private land where the landowner allows no hunting. you will find these no hunting properties once you begin asking for permission. These three things will allow you to hunt bucks with high nutrition and a higher age class due to no hunting on adjacent properties. Simply put, this type of area during the rut will bring in new traveling bucks and hold a high concentration of doe family groups.
Now that you have identified potential properties it's time to obtain permission. Go to the County Assessor's office online for the county you're going to be hunting and purchase a plat map or landownership map. Cross reference the properties you're interested in with the current landowners. Go to yellowpages.com and under the white pages section type in the landowner''s first name, last name, and city or state in which the landowner lives. This will provided you with the latest landowner contact information; including addresses and telephone numbers. For some landowners this information is available in the plat ownership maps. It's always best to ask for permission in person when feasible; however, in the busy way of life we live, sometimes the only realistic way is by writing letters and making phone calls. you will be pleasantly surprised how many people say yes, particularly for archery hunting. Contact all the landowners you can. once you have your answer, whether yes or no, mark accordingly on your aerial photos. I use red pins for no hunting, green pins where I have permission, and yellow pins for unknown. Don't be discouraged by landowners who say no. these properties play their important role. in fact, the more discern landowners are about hunting, the better. Now it's time to put your boots on soil and pick your top stand sites. Walk every property you have permission to hunt, over looking nothing. Look for trails, secondary buck trails, rubs, scrapes, bedding areas, and available water. For example, if I have permission on fifteen properties, I'll walk each one, evaluate each property, and choose my top five for stands, leaving the other ten properties for backup stand sites. Never get comfortable and stop striving for better stand sites or new properties. It will only benefit you to keep improving year after year because properties change over time. it's important when you find your top properties to keep your eyes open for that one perfect tree. Each property has one that will stand out above all others, however subtle it may be, it can be the one tree that will consistently provide close encounters with top end deer. After you have your tree picked, it's time to look at entry and exit routes for both evening and morning setups. If you can't get into your tree without alarming deer, you are wasting your time. It's also important to look at which winds are preferable for each stand, for both morning and evening hunts. This will take some guessing work, particularly if you have never hunted the property before. Consider where the deer are feeding throughout the night and where they bed in the mornings and set up accordingly.
Come September I will set my stands on these new properties with specific trees already in mind. I prefer to use ladder stands that go up at least fifteen feet and will place the stands where I am not facing the rising or setting sun. Preferably, I place my stands where my left shoulder faces where my anticipated shooting lanes are (due to being a right handed bow shooter). This will minimize my movement on stand when a shot arises. Once the stand is in place, I will take the time to clip any branches or remove any other obstructions that may be a hindrance come the day that big buck is walking my way. I will set up bow hangers, other accessory hangers, and rope to pull my bow up. Everything will be set in place in September, so come November when the wind is right all I have to do is walk in, climb the stand, and hunt. It's as important to take the time clearing entry and exit routes to avoid creating unnecessary noise and leaving unnecessary scent as it is to clear shooting lanes from your stand. Hunt the best days of the season and never let them know you're there. that's the trick to close encounters and ultimately harvesting big deer.
After you kill the greatest buck of your life, it's important not to forget the people who made it happen for you. This is where most hunters drop the ball; they don't follow through. It's important to build a relationship with each landowner which will increase the likelihood of maintaining permission. My top three landowners know how much they mean to me. Every year during the holidays I send them a honey baked ham and a thank you card. Even properties I'm not actively hunting I mail out thank you cards. every time I'm in town I make the effort to see each landowner; talk, catch up, and even help out around the farm; whether fixing fence or moving cows. Maintaining a close relationship with each landowner is vital. If you don't have the time or means to make the trip back out; a phone call from time to time can make all the difference.
Those willing to put in their time before the season begins will be rewarded with trophy class bucks more often than not. Hunt where these bucks live during the best days of the year, go in and come out undetected, and hunt every minute possible and you will see and ultimately harvest top end deer.
Connectors and Whitetails
by Brandt Smith
When hunters
start talking about favorite places to tag giant bucks, it's all too
often you hear about funnels, creek crossings, benches, corners, and
food plots. All of these are great; at times, but when it comes to the
rut, preferably the two weeks leading up to the peak of the rut, I
have found the biggest bucks come from connectors. Connectors are
undivided pockets of cover that connect to major travel ways including
large creeks and river bottoms. For example, a pocket of thick cedars,
CRP grasses, plum thickets, or a thick wooded draw leading or
connecting to a major travel way. It seems that hunters feel that they
have to hunt the major creeks and river bottoms in order to be
successful. The problem with major creeks is that running water
separates or divides the cover, and also inhibits how much ground you
can effectively hunt. Large creeks and river bottoms work well for
traveling deer, but they are not what hold most deer.
Most mature, trophy class bucks will find themselves following does out of a food source just before first light. As the sun begins to rise, these giants will work themselves into their greatest position of advantage for the only thing on their mind...to find their next girlfriend. Does will bed in these connectors that are in close proximity to grain or other primary food sources. These doe bedding areas are thick connectors with undivided cover that lead to larger creeks. In general, theses connectors are fairly small and may only run a few hundred yards. Bucks will check for hot does in these connectors from bedding area to bedding area and continue to do so well into the morning. After checking a few different bedding areas, bucks will tend to bed down for awhile, normally within eyesight or at the very least scent distance from a doe bedding area or doe family group in the hopes one will come into estrous. come late afternoon, does will get up and feed towards primary food sources. Big bucks will follow, but will do so at a distance. This is normally where bucks will stage, waiting for the cover of darkness before ever entering the field, continually scent checking and maintaining visual on the behavior of does. As the night progresses, little resting or feeding will take place for these rutting giants. Once a buck can identify that none of the does in the general area are in estrous, he will then travel throughout the night using major travel ways including large creeks and river bottoms. When the buck comes along more does; at this time still in the crop fields under the cool November skies, he will once again check for hot does. Mature bucks know when the girls are susceptible to breeding, and have learned through years of unsuccessful attempts and harassing to look for certain behaviors before closing the deal. A big buck will simply check, then move on till he comes across the one he is looking for. They will not exert energy and waste valuable time chasing and harassing a doe that is not in estrous or very close to coming into estrous. As the evening skies begin to turn, and morning is in close pursuit; the does will once again head for the security of their bedding area, with the big buck following... and so the process continues throughout the rut. Due to this behavior, hunting the first few hours in the morning hold your greatest opportunity of seeing and ultimately killing a giant mature buck. Big deer simply don't move as much after late mornings, and only move a short distance before staging just before dark.
If I could hunt at midnight, travel corridors would be my first bet, for bucks are actively using them to travel from doe group to doe group. Killing a giant whitetail really isn't as difficult as it seems if you know what to look for, hunt the right spots, and hunt as long as you possibly can. I promise, you will not be disappointed hunting a connector in-between doe bedding areas. You are going to kill the biggest whitetails of your life...over and over again.
Most mature, trophy class bucks will find themselves following does out of a food source just before first light. As the sun begins to rise, these giants will work themselves into their greatest position of advantage for the only thing on their mind...to find their next girlfriend. Does will bed in these connectors that are in close proximity to grain or other primary food sources. These doe bedding areas are thick connectors with undivided cover that lead to larger creeks. In general, theses connectors are fairly small and may only run a few hundred yards. Bucks will check for hot does in these connectors from bedding area to bedding area and continue to do so well into the morning. After checking a few different bedding areas, bucks will tend to bed down for awhile, normally within eyesight or at the very least scent distance from a doe bedding area or doe family group in the hopes one will come into estrous. come late afternoon, does will get up and feed towards primary food sources. Big bucks will follow, but will do so at a distance. This is normally where bucks will stage, waiting for the cover of darkness before ever entering the field, continually scent checking and maintaining visual on the behavior of does. As the night progresses, little resting or feeding will take place for these rutting giants. Once a buck can identify that none of the does in the general area are in estrous, he will then travel throughout the night using major travel ways including large creeks and river bottoms. When the buck comes along more does; at this time still in the crop fields under the cool November skies, he will once again check for hot does. Mature bucks know when the girls are susceptible to breeding, and have learned through years of unsuccessful attempts and harassing to look for certain behaviors before closing the deal. A big buck will simply check, then move on till he comes across the one he is looking for. They will not exert energy and waste valuable time chasing and harassing a doe that is not in estrous or very close to coming into estrous. As the evening skies begin to turn, and morning is in close pursuit; the does will once again head for the security of their bedding area, with the big buck following... and so the process continues throughout the rut. Due to this behavior, hunting the first few hours in the morning hold your greatest opportunity of seeing and ultimately killing a giant mature buck. Big deer simply don't move as much after late mornings, and only move a short distance before staging just before dark.
If I could hunt at midnight, travel corridors would be my first bet, for bucks are actively using them to travel from doe group to doe group. Killing a giant whitetail really isn't as difficult as it seems if you know what to look for, hunt the right spots, and hunt as long as you possibly can. I promise, you will not be disappointed hunting a connector in-between doe bedding areas. You are going to kill the biggest whitetails of your life...over and over again.
Spot and Stalk Pronghorn
The most difficult animal to harvest with a bow and arrow in North America is hands down the Pronghorn. With their incredible eyesight; it tests any archers patience when it comes to sitting over a water hole in a ground blind baking in the hot sun for hours on end waiting for that goat to come in and quench his thirst. Well doesn’t that seem a little boring for those other hunters who enjoy bringing the hunt to the animal and love to test their skills of allusiveness and to get within the animals comfort ability without letting him know your there? Now that’s hunting.
When spot and stalk hunting for pronghorn you need to make sure you are eliminated of all scent but even more importantly, have the right kind of camouflage. Anything about you that doesn’t fit into the habitat and environment you are hunting will blow the hunt completely in a matter of seconds, no matter what distance you are from the animal. It's important to place yourself below the sky line of ridges but high enough on the hill you have the vantage point to glass the property. Normally I find pronghorn early in the mornings feeding out in the flats of the prairie as they slowly make their way to water. I like to think of this part of the day as a chess match. I sit back, watch them and study the land a few hundred yards in front of the animal at all times until the right time comes that they head for a ridge top or off the bottoms of the hills and that’s the time I feel the confidence into making my move to where they are going. Heading an animal off is a task in of itself, but placing yourself within that 40 yard range and having the security of being able to pull the shot off when the time comes is the true test. Make sure you have enough tall grass, a small indentation in the ground, or any back ground cover so the animal wont be able to pin you so quickly.
As the middle part of the day comes it seems almost text book you will see the goats bedded down in the open prairie to where it is nearly impossible for you to make a successful stalk. You will always see the buck whether in the middle of the herd or near the top which enables him to see further and secure his safety. More often than not, the does will be bedded all around the dominant buck and facing separate ways to increase their chances of seeing any threat or predator coming near. What I like to do during this time of the day is find the area that I believe the animals will head once it begins to cool off; such as a food source or a watering hole, and I will place myself half way in-between the herd and their evening destination. By doing this, I'm not completely committed to that choice of action but still keep the confidence in the knowledge I have gained through my years of experience. Never eliminate yourself from visual contact with the herd and always make sure you can see just exactly what they are doing at all times.
These few but important tactics will increase your chances of harvesting the illusive pronghorn greater than if you keep attempting to go straight for the animal until you blow them off the property. This technique may not be as successful as ground blind hunting over a food source or watering hole; but for the aggressive hunter, it’s a little more satisfying than sitting back and waiting all day in the summer sun. Spot and stalk hunting for pronghorn is a test of wit and persistence and will bring you through trials and tribulations, but in the end, it only takes that one perfect setup...
When spot and stalk hunting for pronghorn you need to make sure you are eliminated of all scent but even more importantly, have the right kind of camouflage. Anything about you that doesn’t fit into the habitat and environment you are hunting will blow the hunt completely in a matter of seconds, no matter what distance you are from the animal. It's important to place yourself below the sky line of ridges but high enough on the hill you have the vantage point to glass the property. Normally I find pronghorn early in the mornings feeding out in the flats of the prairie as they slowly make their way to water. I like to think of this part of the day as a chess match. I sit back, watch them and study the land a few hundred yards in front of the animal at all times until the right time comes that they head for a ridge top or off the bottoms of the hills and that’s the time I feel the confidence into making my move to where they are going. Heading an animal off is a task in of itself, but placing yourself within that 40 yard range and having the security of being able to pull the shot off when the time comes is the true test. Make sure you have enough tall grass, a small indentation in the ground, or any back ground cover so the animal wont be able to pin you so quickly.
As the middle part of the day comes it seems almost text book you will see the goats bedded down in the open prairie to where it is nearly impossible for you to make a successful stalk. You will always see the buck whether in the middle of the herd or near the top which enables him to see further and secure his safety. More often than not, the does will be bedded all around the dominant buck and facing separate ways to increase their chances of seeing any threat or predator coming near. What I like to do during this time of the day is find the area that I believe the animals will head once it begins to cool off; such as a food source or a watering hole, and I will place myself half way in-between the herd and their evening destination. By doing this, I'm not completely committed to that choice of action but still keep the confidence in the knowledge I have gained through my years of experience. Never eliminate yourself from visual contact with the herd and always make sure you can see just exactly what they are doing at all times.
These few but important tactics will increase your chances of harvesting the illusive pronghorn greater than if you keep attempting to go straight for the animal until you blow them off the property. This technique may not be as successful as ground blind hunting over a food source or watering hole; but for the aggressive hunter, it’s a little more satisfying than sitting back and waiting all day in the summer sun. Spot and stalk hunting for pronghorn is a test of wit and persistence and will bring you through trials and tribulations, but in the end, it only takes that one perfect setup...
The Right Time To Archery Elk Hunt
by Steve Ficco
Every year I get
the same phone calls, the same emails, all for the same question...If
you were going archery elk hunting in Colorado, and only had five
days to hunt, when would you go? I reply, what kind of elk hunting
experience do you want to have? I would then get a look of confusion.
I have been hunting elk with my father and mentor Ron Ficco since I was twelve years old. At twelve I was not old enough to carry a gun or bow, but still my training began as I went along and learned the basics of elk hunting. At that young age I learned the importance of how to read thermals and wind direction. I was taught how to find my patience, when to move, when to sit , and when calls work and don't work. Primarily in those earlier years we rifle hunted. We own horses an have done full pack trips while rifle hunting and bow hunting; packed in with back packs, and hunted on foot out of base camps; all of which occurred on public land do it yourself hunts.
When I was eighteen I became interested in archery hunting. This came after watching Larry Jones, Dwight Schuh, and Pete Shepley elk hunting with a bow. I bought my first compound bow and I was hooked. The first years of hunting I would head to the hills on opening day for a three or four day hunt. more often than not I would see more big bulls but have a lot of trouble getting close enough to do anything. I would come back home, take a short break and then return back to the hills. It seemed that as the season rolled on I would see more elk and definitely hear more bulls bugling. If I was not having the success that every hunter hopes for, I would continue going back up in the high country again and again until the season had closed.
In my nineteen years of archery elk hunting I have come to a couple conclusions. First, in my opinion and experience, I have seen more big mature bulls early in the season with fewer cows then later. These big bulls are less likely to come into calls but more often than not they are much easier to stalk into that magical sixty to eighty yard range. These big bulls do not seem to make a lot of noise (bugling) and are often with only one or two other bulls at that time.
On the other hand; as the archery season rolls on, big bulls get their harems together, their testosterone increases, and the bulls become more vocal. The big herds seem to have several other satellite bulls mixed in or around the outskirts of the herd and this is when bulls seem to be more susceptible to come in to investigate your soft sweet cow calls or high pitched bugles.
So back to the original question; when would I go archery elk hunting? Earlier is better for getting a chance for a big mature bull but with that comes a lower success rate due to them being relatively hard to locate and not interested in cows making them less receptive to calls. Later is better for more opportunity with several other bulls around, and they are easier to locate due to the increase in bugling as the rut begins to peak. In the end it comes down to what each particular hunter wants to achieve. Chase a giant herd bull early in the season which many times the action can be slow and the woods may be quiet; or hunt during the peak of the rut, when bulls from every direction seem to be bugling and wanting to partake in the mating ritual. At this time however, the giant herd bull has surrounded himself with a lot more eyes and noses to sense danger, making him a much more difficult target than he was a few weeks earlier. To optimize your success, hunt as often as you can in the season, early and late. Make the best of your time and enjoy it. Any elk with a bow; whether bull or cow; is a success. Good luck and hunt hard!
I have been hunting elk with my father and mentor Ron Ficco since I was twelve years old. At twelve I was not old enough to carry a gun or bow, but still my training began as I went along and learned the basics of elk hunting. At that young age I learned the importance of how to read thermals and wind direction. I was taught how to find my patience, when to move, when to sit , and when calls work and don't work. Primarily in those earlier years we rifle hunted. We own horses an have done full pack trips while rifle hunting and bow hunting; packed in with back packs, and hunted on foot out of base camps; all of which occurred on public land do it yourself hunts.
When I was eighteen I became interested in archery hunting. This came after watching Larry Jones, Dwight Schuh, and Pete Shepley elk hunting with a bow. I bought my first compound bow and I was hooked. The first years of hunting I would head to the hills on opening day for a three or four day hunt. more often than not I would see more big bulls but have a lot of trouble getting close enough to do anything. I would come back home, take a short break and then return back to the hills. It seemed that as the season rolled on I would see more elk and definitely hear more bulls bugling. If I was not having the success that every hunter hopes for, I would continue going back up in the high country again and again until the season had closed.
In my nineteen years of archery elk hunting I have come to a couple conclusions. First, in my opinion and experience, I have seen more big mature bulls early in the season with fewer cows then later. These big bulls are less likely to come into calls but more often than not they are much easier to stalk into that magical sixty to eighty yard range. These big bulls do not seem to make a lot of noise (bugling) and are often with only one or two other bulls at that time.
On the other hand; as the archery season rolls on, big bulls get their harems together, their testosterone increases, and the bulls become more vocal. The big herds seem to have several other satellite bulls mixed in or around the outskirts of the herd and this is when bulls seem to be more susceptible to come in to investigate your soft sweet cow calls or high pitched bugles.
So back to the original question; when would I go archery elk hunting? Earlier is better for getting a chance for a big mature bull but with that comes a lower success rate due to them being relatively hard to locate and not interested in cows making them less receptive to calls. Later is better for more opportunity with several other bulls around, and they are easier to locate due to the increase in bugling as the rut begins to peak. In the end it comes down to what each particular hunter wants to achieve. Chase a giant herd bull early in the season which many times the action can be slow and the woods may be quiet; or hunt during the peak of the rut, when bulls from every direction seem to be bugling and wanting to partake in the mating ritual. At this time however, the giant herd bull has surrounded himself with a lot more eyes and noses to sense danger, making him a much more difficult target than he was a few weeks earlier. To optimize your success, hunt as often as you can in the season, early and late. Make the best of your time and enjoy it. Any elk with a bow; whether bull or cow; is a success. Good luck and hunt hard!