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deer hunting

Deer Hunting: Deer Hunting Blinds

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Initially, blinds were just used as a cover device for the hunters to protect them from getting detected by the animals. Deer hunting blinds helped in locating deer hidden in the cliff area.

Deer hunting blinds is a commercial product easily available in the market place. These are also placed in deer hunting grounds and at different farms so that hunters can use them along with the other facilities of staying and lodging built over there in the form of a cabin.

Hunting deer in neighborhood-Prefabricated sets:
Deer can be hunted in the backyard of your house as well. However, the problem is only related with the inability to hide properly in the woods. Also, we tend to leave our scent behind in the hunting ground. These situations can be avoided by using proper hunting blinds. Pre fabricated hunting blinds are easily available in the market. Construction sets available in the market also help to build your own blind by setting the angle and height.

These sets can be easily disassembled and again be assembled to make it ready as a blind. You should look for steel brackets so as to assure that they are strong enough and can provide you enough safety.

Check:
While using a hunting blind just ensure that these hunting blinds are properly assembled. Disassembly instructions should also be carefully followed by you so as to leave you with no further questions on the safety aspect. While buying any such device, safety should be the top most priority. Cost concerns should be ignored as inexpensive units might ultimately lead you to loss.

Deer hunting blinds should be able to meet all the basic requirements of the hunter without causing any troubles. This does not mean that they are to be luxurious or should have excellent aesthetic features. The color should be simple to mix with the color of woods and trees and that is all that is required.

Important Elements of Blind:
One should be able to set up blinds in very little time, so that movement from one spot to other is easily possible. The most important thing that is required while sitting in a blind is the visibility. It is your ability to see a deer from different sides of the blind that is important. Moreover, the deer should not be able to see you. Many prefabricated blinds are available which can provide you these features without having letting to pay you any extra money for this.

Deer blinds might not be allowed legally at all the places. Therefore a hunter should check the laws before using any such device. Simply sitting at a standstill at a tree base is anyway permitted in all the regions where hunting is legal.

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How to use a tree stand while hunting

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Most deer hunters are now hunting from tree stands. If you are new to deer hunting, or if you have been hunting for a while but have yet to use this method, you should consider using a tree stand. The benefits of using a tree stand are that you will stay out of the deer’s range of view, you will keep your scent hidden from the deer, and you will increase the range of your view. You do need to take certain precautions, however, to make sure that you protect yourself.  
 
There are many types of stands and most are safe to use. Some of these include ladder-type stands, climbing stands, and lock-on stands. You can also nail boards to a tree. No matter what type of stand you are using, know that accidents can happen. If a stand seems unsafe to you, do not use it. If you are thinking about using a new tree stand and you are far from your home or from people in general, wait. You would be unable to notify anyone in the event that you were injured. Do not take using a tree stand lightly.
 
You will benefit by becoming familiar with some of the ways by which hunters injure themselves on or around tree stands. Accidents happen when hunters fall asleep. It happens more often that you would imagine. Hunters also get injured when they slip while climbing in or out of a tree stand. You cannot avoid things like excess moisture on your boot, or an exceptionally damp step. The third way by which hunters suffer injury using tree stands is having a piece of equipment break. Nothing is 100% dependable. The best way to avoid severe injury from these unfortunate events is to wear a safety harness.
 
Many hunters know the risk of not using a safety harness, but they still use tree stands without one. Your safety harness will only help you if you wear it. It is not good enough to put on the harness after you have settled into your stand. Climbing into or out of your stand is when you are most likely to be hurt, so you need to be wearing it before you begin ascending your tree stand. It only takes a minute to secure and is well worth the hassle. The damage done by a fall with a safety harness is minimal compared to one without. The safety harness will mean the difference between a few bruises and a premature death.
 
There are a few additional steps you need to consider while preparing to use a tree stand for the first time. Tree steps and tie-on ladders are two favorite methods used by hunters. Some also use large nails as steps. If you are looking to cut costs, go with the nails. They are cheaper than the ladders. Test the nail to make sure that it is strong, steady, and secure. Use nails that will fully support your weight. When nails bend, hunters slip and injure themselves. Use a drill to make pilot holes for the nails. Some hunters prefer to use climbing stands instead of nails, but they are more expensive and limit you to certain trees.
 
Consider using a tree stand as you hunt. It is an effective way to catch your prey off-guard. Both your body and your scent are above the deer’s vicinity. It also allows for a broader view as you study the landscape. Tree stands do cause accidents, though. Take all of the necessary steps to prevent any major injuries. Use a safety harness to shorten the distance of your fall. Make sure that the nails you use to climb the tree are secure. Following these steps for using a tree stand ensures a safe and pleasurable hunting experience.  

deer hunting

Deer Hunting: Hunting Mule Deer

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Mule Deer are normally found in the Western US Region in bachelor groups. They are also found in southern western of Saskatchewan and are at time also spotted in Minnesota and Missouri. Mule Deer are very adaptable to most kinds of terrain. Regions providing low water and nutrition content are normally devoid of mule deer.

Description:
Mule deer have very large mule like ears. Their color is reddish-brown in the summer while in winter it turns to grayish-brown. They also have white patches in the body in belly, throat, and nose eye and ear areas. Black spots as well can be found on the chin. They have a white tail which ending in black.

Special Features:
• Mule like ears give them an ability to listen sharply
• Binocular vision. however cannot detect motionless objects
• Good runner and swimmers

Living habits:
Eating: They are normally gazers and eat green plants, nuts and corn, and herbs.
Lifestyle: They foray into deep valleys and bushy fields. However, after feeding and watering themselves, they move to the areas where their beds are. Their beds are normally in the areas located on ridge slopes, rocky areas, bushy areas or areas with timber work. The selection of their sleeping area or bed areas thus looks to be dependent upon having enough support for their back. They also want to be in little higher regions so as to keep a watch on the approaching predators. This makes it difficult for us to locate them.

Tracks: The track of mule deer varies depending upon the landscape. In softer and woodland areas, their foot print is a little pointed whereas on harder ground the print has a blunt tip.

Main Predators for Mule Deer:
• Mountain Lion and Coyotes in the Nevada region
• Other predators include black bear, grizzly Bear, wolves and any human animal

Hunting Mule Deer:
For a bow hunter: you should try spot and stalk style of hunting. although it is difficult, but not impossible. All that you would require is a collection of proper optical glasses, binoculars and a spotting scope. You should scan the areas like high ridges, pockets in mountains and brushes where mule deer are most likely to be found. Scan the high ridges, brush pockets and rock outcroppings.

After locating a buck of your interest, you should start working on your plan. Since these mule deer are in higher terrains, you will have to use breaks in order to install your stalk. The best way is to surprise the animal from upper area. Successful stalk gives good opportunity for hunt. For a running buck wait for it to stop and then try the stalk.

To summarize, one should always be patient while hunting.

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Deer Hunting: Finding the Perfect Location

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Deer hunting is an art. You need to have a perfect place to hunt a deer, probably a perfect tree stand. Some tips which help you to hunt a deer can really be helpful to find a perfect spot for getting a deer down.

Basic Preparation:
For hunting a deer, you need to know that where the deer actually reside. The preparation for finding a deer location should begin at least three to four weeks in advance. Catching a deer location before that might not really help as they might have changed their routes.

However, you can keep a few areas where deer can be found in your mind and may be re-consider and re-evaluate those areas while actually going for hunting.

Care should be exercised in making minimal changes to the surroundings and leaving little, or if possible, no signs of you being there. After finding the perfect spot, place your tree stand over there. This is done to get the deer used to seeing that stand at that location.

Choosing multiple sites can be helpful as this might leave little scent behind.

Checking for the food source:
Awareness in terms of the food that deer eat during the season for hunting can be helpful. Trees that are producing nuts start dropping the nuts while the hunting season starts. Therefore once can track the deer foot-prints by finding out areas where hickory or nuts or acorns are dropped around. Other food items such as mushrooms, farm crops, herbs, apples, grass etc are also consumed by deer. Trailing these foods can help you find a deer location.

Rest Domains:
One should also check for the rejuvenating and sleeping areas of deer. Generally they sleep in areas where there are thick bushes. Also find the trails where the deer move for feeding their child. These areas might be at a distance and off the track. Larger bucks normally go beyond the normal areas into further deeper brushes.

Their sign might not be seen into some most common trails. These large bucks follow the common trail only while they go up for feed.

Problems Faced:
• Boring as you have to wait for the deer to appear
• High chances of you dosing off to sleep while waiting for the deer
• Making unnecessary sounds and noises or movement due to uneasiness

Solutions:
• Make yourself comfortable by coming out of the tree stand whenever you feel uneasy
• Set up heat and motion detectors at the deer trails, using a deer trail monitoring system. These can alert you whenever the deer is approaching you

Thus, these tips can help you select a perfect location and have a nice hunting season with deer.

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Deer Hunting: Alabama Deer Hunting

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If you are dreaming about hunting a white tail deer, then Alabama is the best place to be looked into. It does not matter, if you are an aspiring hunter or a well-experienced hunting champ. Alabama offers the best ambience for catching your prey. Here, you can easily hunt in well-managed properties specially designed for hunting purposes. It offers you to choose between bow and a gun for your hunting adventure.

No matter you are amateur or well experienced; you’ll surely have great time hunting in Alabama farms. This place provides you a wonderful opportunity of hunting white tail deer, which is the most familiar species of deer, found in south. Alabama offers you an area of more than 5000 acres of land for hunting purpose, where you can easily found a good number of deer population.

Recent developments:
It is quite rewarding to know that the amount of money generated and quantity of hunting activity, both have tremendously increased in Alabama. Alabama has increasing prospects of deer hunting today. Also some of well-established farms provide deer hunting classes in winters in wooded areas. This sounds amazing and fascinating, right?

In Alabama, you can choose amongst the wide variety of pastures or hunting lands according to your suitability and desirability. You also have an option of choosing from guided hunts or from your self- assessed hunting understanding.

Time factor:
This may sound as a shortcoming as deer hunting in Alabama is seasonal in nature. You just can’t walk into woods seeking for your trophy deer at any moment of time. It is very important to take the timing factor in notice, before packing bags for hunting adventure in Alabama. You also need to check with relevant authorities regarding the same.

Favorable months:
Mid October is the best time for bow hunting in Alabama. For gun hunting, you need to wait until November ends. Even the dates are not fixed; you need to contact the concerned authorities and should go through schedules of hunting season from Alabama wildlife department.

Alabama deer hunting is getting quite popular. Many enthusiastic and passionate white tail deer hunters have started residing in nearby places in Alabama. Deer hunting in proper season gives one rewarding results as they can have an eye on number of prey target.
As Alabama provides number of hunting opportunities with minimal restrictions, it proves to be a very profitable business option for state.

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How to Skin a Deer

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While it may not be the most exciting job in the world, skinning a deer is important when returning from a hunt or when still actually on the hunt. If you have taken down the deer, elk, antelope or goat of your dreams in a glorious hunting adventure, you will need to know how to skin the deer and how to get the most out of your kill. If you are just learning about hunting, this information will also be incredible handy for that remarkable day on which you will finally be able to skin a deer.

Essentially, the act of skinning a deer is thought of to be quite simple. The basic fundamental guideline behind it is to follow the built-in guidelines of the body of the deer and work from that standpoint. The skin and muscle tissues of the deer are naturally separate from one another because of the protective membranes, making the process of skinning a lot more like following a built-in blueprint than like trying to lift a rug in the dark. The skin should easily peel from the meat because of these membranes, creating little risk of tearing the skin or tearing the meat.

The most important aspect in skinning a deer is the use of your hands and the pull of your own body weight. With these two integral tools, the aspect of skinning a deer becomes incredibly simple. In fact, skinning a deer can typically be completed in about ten to fifteen minutes without any serious complications.

You should first hang the deer. This makes it easier for you to use your body weight in the skinning process and creates a greater leverage point for skinning the deer. This also ensures that the meat will stay clean. Whether you hang the deer from the neck or from the legs, there is no particular difference. It is important to try to skin the deer within an hour or two of the deer’s death, making the skinning process a whole lot easier.

Your knife should be especially sharp. Supposing the deer is hung by the legs, find the large tendon connecting the lower leg segment to the rest of the deer’s leg. You should poke a whole with your knife in between the tendon and the bone there, then use your fingers to feel the lump that is created by the deer’s double-jointed bone. Once you have found that lump, sever the lower leg at the lower end of the two parts of the double joint. Cut the skin and the tendons here and then snap the deer’s leg over your own leg, using your body’s leverage to break it.

After you have broken the deer’s legs in this fashion, make several incisions around and near the tendon areas. There should be a whole between the tendon and the bone of the lower leg, as well as several incisions near the front legs. You will then sever and snap the front legs as well, making the skinning process easier. After you have made the initial incisions, you will begin the process of undressing the deer of its skin. Use your finger tips and thumbs to get inside the skin near the lower leg incisions and begin to pull the skin off.

Essentially, the pulling of the deer’s skin should work a lot like pulling a tight jacket or pair of blue jeans off. It may be a little bit awkward, but the layer of meat revealed below the skin should be a more than ample reward. After the skin is pulled off, you will notice the meat is ready to go and the separation of the meat thanks to the deer’s membrane has made the whole process a lot simpler than you ever thought possible.

Skinning a deer, while not particularly romantic, is a process that should take around ten to fifteen minutes and relies almost entirely on your own body weight and strength to pull the skin off of the deer’s body. It really is that simple.

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A Dummy Deer for Dummies

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Body:
Decoying can be considered as a double-edge tactic and facing of an aggressive buck may very well be the last. But for experienced hunters, there are times that the realism factor can determine a successful hunt or a waste of time.

In most cases, creating decoys can be categorized into three different aspects.

Food plots can be used in order to lure at least a handful of deer to a specified area. It’s nothing like rat poisoning, although the main concept is to allow a buck to remain while looking for food. It’s best if food plots are in wooded areas with a nearby water source in order to feel secure.

The rut phase can be an advantage when it comes to decoying. Synthetic doe or buck urine can be purchased, although it’s not always successful. But in order to steer a buck to a breeding or territorial frenzy, which is to mark their territory by rubbing their antlers on trees, it’s also good to know a few doe grunts to lure the unsuspecting buck, then tag them.

Then there’s the actual decoy, usually hand made with various art materials like Styrofoam or paper and designed to look exactly like the real thing. In this case, a combination of using deer urine and grunts will attract the deer or challenge the decoy into fighting. It can be frightening at first since bucks on a rut can get careless and fearless which may result to charging at the hunter. But it’s pretty entertaining to watch a buck savagely charging at a decoy until it’s positioned to a perfect kill area.

Decoys aren’t considered as cheats, instead as mere implements and tools that will make hunting a more enjoyable sport. It’s not like during the old days when hunting was a necessity in order to survive, but considering today’s laws that varies in each State, it would be good for the hunter to use all the available tools necessary to tag that next trophy.

There might be manufacturers or home made decoys for sale on the internet, and it takes a bit of patience and vigilance to actually get one. But for now, it’s all about settling with the tools available. With a little creativity and experience, it won’t be long before the hunter has managed to grab his prize.

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Deer Hunting: About Axis Deer

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If you are wondering about hunting the breed of axis deer, you can take a look over numerous ranches placed throughout the state of Texas. Axis deer, known for their large horns, fall under the most favorable hunting category for hunters. Axis deer form the top class breed amongst the other type of deer breeds, thus providing the best meat among all wild breed deer.

About axis deer:
Hunters find the bodies of these axis deer quite appealing and striking. The body spots of these axis deer find a resemblance and blends finely with its natural environments featured by thickly layered forest and scrub brushes. Hunting an axis deer is a challenging and thrilling task, which tempts the hunters to pursue it at any moment of the year. On an average, the length of antlers on these deer ranges from two to two and a half feet, if measured lengthwise. Hunters find it very eye-catching and feel like having one of such breed in their hunting adventure. Sometimes, a hunter who strikes on such trophy quality deer appears delightful and pleasantry surprised on finding the antlers size of three feet.

Axis deer are known as natural fighters and have left behind the category of Bengal tigers in their native land of Sri Lanka only. This quality of axis deer excites the people to carry outhunting of these special kinds of deer on regular basis. Axis deer shed their antlers on regular intervals, thus their left out antlers pave the way for their hunters quest by prompting and inciting them. There are no proper schedules or fixed measures with which hunters can determine the deer’s antler transformation.

Don’t get demoralized:
You will notice that axis deer always stay in herds and very rarely move in single. It may be quite frightening for some and demoralizing for some. Guys, if you really wish to catch your prey make sure you are skillful in various techniques of hunting but at the same time; work in a very human way. Axis deer is a very smart social animal that knows very well about the way of building the best alarm systems around themselves, so that it can help him in times of danger. They bellow and bawl in order to warn its fellow deer about danger.

Hunters need to take proper steps in order to have an axis deer in their side; otherwise all the efforts for hunting this sturdy and brawny minded deer will be in vain. The absolute and sheer size of axis deer makes them quite appealing among hunters hunting list. Thus, to conclude, we can say that if these simple minor things are kept in mind then efforts made in respect of hunting an axis deer will surely get you fruitful results.

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Deer Hunting Tips

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Deer hunting is an interesting thing that reminds you of those golden old ages of 19th centuries, where a handsome hunk well equipped with all hunting material rides on horse searching for his target animal either for the purpose of displaying his masculine powers or for enticing and wooing his lady love. Sounds interesting and fascinating? Yes it is! But unfortunately, gone are those days. However, even when deer hunting is carried out these days; it happens to be a amusing and entertaining experience.

Successful deer hunting doesn’t require much of a deliberated effort on the part of the hunter. Rather, if few simple tips and things are kept in mind, it would certainly make it a triumphant adventure. So, now pack up your bags and get ready to play the exciting game of hunting deer without any extra ado.

Timing:
Time is one of the chief factors to be kept in mind before leaving for deer hunting. The best time to bag a deer are sunsets and sunrise. This is because the lightning at these times confuses the sight of deer and you can see herd of this poor animal looking for its food for the purpose of filling its empty stomach. These timings also ensure the safety of your teammates. You can also start as early as possible before sunrise by hiding yourself in safe places. This way you can easily pounce upon your required variety as sun rises, without getting noticed by them.

Things to avoid:
If you think your most expensive perfume will aid you in catching your prey, then think again. It would be better, if you avoid any kind of perfumes, after shaves, colognes or any kind of sturdy scented fragrance. Try to keep the artificial smells to minimum. Before leaving for deer hunting, try to blend the smell of your body with countryside, otherwise the smell of human body may deteriorate your purpose of deer hunting. You can always try out these expensive and powerful smelling deodorants after you are finished up with your deer hunting.

Silence: the best guiding factor
Keeping mum considerably increase your chances of deer finding. Though deer hunting may be a fun-packed and amusing experience for you and your friends, you need to take care of the noise factor. Deer remain quite cautious about sound. This is the most important tip to be kept in mind while driving for deer hunting; otherwise you will end up losing that prized buck.

These few simple basic tips, if kept in mind, will result in a better deer hunting experience; a memorable amusing and enjoyable adventure not only for you, but for your team mates too. So what are you waiting for? Get, set and go on your hunting spree.

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Whitetail Deer Management

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by: John Cook

The deer management techniques that we use on our property have changed a lot over the past thirty years in relation with the changing deer herd. Whitetail deer numbers in the entire state of West Virginia have grown considerably and our land has been no exception.

We started shooting does in 1997 after the pictures from our scouting camera revealed that we were overloaded with does. Since then we have shot 22 does and only 7 bucks. Three of these bucks, two 8-points and one 10-point are the three largest antlered bucks that we have taken in the last thirty years. We had noticed that there were larger antlered bucks when the deer population had just started to climb in the eighties and then antler sizes began to decrease as the deer numbers grew too high and we were shooting the young bucks each year.

All of this made us realize that we needed to lower the deer population by shooting does and letting the young bucks grow up.

We are currently doing several different things in an attempt to have a well-balanced, healthier deer herd on our farm. These include:

Harvesting does.

Letting young bucks grow up.

Planting food plots to help boost the nutrition.

Mineral licks.

Keep records on the deer harvested and a log of the bucks seen during hunting season.

Leave an area of sanctuary during the hunting season so that the deer are not pressured.

Provide a limited amount of shelled corn with automated wildlife feeders.

On some occasions we also cut down trees to provide browse in the winter and fertilize plants growing along the edges, especially the honeysuckle.

The Results

Since changing our hunting strategies we have noticed some changes for the better. We have seen bucks fighting, which we had seldom seen in past years and bucks have started reacting to calling, particularly grunting. We are finding shed antlers now; sheds are hard to find when they’re just spikes. Also the numbers of bucks as compared to does caught on our scouting camera pictures has increased dramatically. This tells us that our buck to doe ratio is improving.

On the other hand, we still feel that our total deer numbers are too high. The body weights of the deer we are shooting are still low. The body weights of the three does that we shot in 1997 ranged from 65 to 85 pounds while the weights of the four does in 2003 varied from 55 to 82 pounds. Although we are not deer aging experts we do look at tooth wear to determine the approximate age of the deer. We usually look at the lower front teeth. A couple of the does that we’ve shot have had these lower front teeth worn all the way to the gumline.

Record Keeping

I believe that the records that we keep have given us a lot of valuable information. We record every buck that we see during hunting season. We include the date, time, number of points, location, person who saw buck, time, and rack width and characteristics. During the season of 2003 we recorded 87 buck sightings, of course many of these bucks showed up several times. It is neat to look back and see the bucks grow up that we have recorded. The rack characteristics are similar from year to year and allow us to identify many of the deer that we see. Most years I am able to look at this list and figure out an approximate number of different bucks that we have seen.

We have also kept deer harvest data since 1997 and I wish that I had started doing this earlier. This data includes the time, date, number of points, location, hunter, dressed weight, inside antler spread and approximate age. I think that we can tell a lot from the weight data and wish that we had kept track of the weights from the bucks that we had shot several years ago when we first got our scales. The weights of the bucks that we have shot since 1997 have ranged from 72 to 130 pounds. The 72 pound deer was a spike that my 9 year old son shot in 2002. The 130 pound buck was an 8-point that I killed in 2000. I knew that this buck was at least three and one-half years old and most likely a year or two older. I had watched this buck for the two previous years when he was a nice wide 6-point and had found one of his shed antlers in 1998. We also had a few pictures of him from our scouting cameras.

One suggestion that I would have for every deer camp would be to buy a set of scales. They provide a lot of information for the relatively cheap cost.

Whitetail deer management is not difficult, is good for the overall health of your deer herd and a lot of fun.

You can read more about our deer management at my website www.whitetaildeer-management-and-hunting.com.

About The Author

I have been deer hunting in West Virginia for close to 30 years. Now I am teaching my children to hunt and enjoy it more each year.