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Friday, October 30, 2009

11 Tips To help you lure a deer in to shooting range (Part 3 of 3 Tips on how to get a deer this season)


IMAGE CREDIT Charles & Clint

Now that you have found the perfect place for your deer stand. These are few things you should do to ensure you get a deer this season.


1. A few nights before you go out hunting it’s not a bad idea to hang your hunting clothes outside for a night or two to air out. (weather permitting of course)

2. The night before or even the morning you go deer hunting it is good to spray all of your clothes even down to you under garments with a scent mask or scent eliminator product. I typically will spray my under clothes the night before so they have time to dry out.


3. Make sure to wake up early and are out to/in your stand well before the sun rises. I usually like to be in stand at least an hour if not a bit more before legal shooting time.


4. If you have to drive to your hunting spot in the morning it makes sense to again spray your hat, boots and coat before you go out in the field. Don’t for get to spray again after lunch.


5. Walk very quietly out to your stand especially if your stand is close to a bedding area.


6. A good thing to do is to hang scent wicks with doe in estrus on them around your stand. For gun hunting any where from 30 to 50 yards form your stand. For bow hunting I would stay more in the 30 yard range. I typically use at least two wicks.


7. Ok do you remember those scraps you found on the ground? This is a great opportunity to spray some dominate buck urine on the existing scrapes. Doing this will piss off the buck that made the scrapes in the fist place and he will want to go investigate to see who is in his territory.


8. After you spray the dominate buck urine on the existing scrapes it is a good idea to make one or two of your own scraps close to the existing ones. The best way to do it is to use a pair of rattling antlers and scuff up the ground, but if you don’t have any your boot will work just fine. Don’t forget to spray these with the dominate buck urine as well.


9. A little trick I like to use is to hang a scent wick up in the tree with me to help mask any scent that I might have missed with my spray.


10. After you get in your stand load your gun ASAP take every thing out of your pockets you can and hang them form the tree or your deer stand so you can grab them easily. Doing this will allow you to be more stealth when getting your range finder, binoculars, deer grunt, or what ever else you may need to use during your hunt.


11. Now you sit and await the sun rise and legal shooting hours. You can blow on your deer call every once and a while to see if you can attract any deer. Make sure you don’t over do it because you don’t want to scare the deer off. How to use a Deer call



If you do all of these things you will signigantly increase your chance of shooting a deer this season or any season in the future.



I would love to hear more tips form you leave me a comment and let me know what has worked for you in the past.


~ Ben G.

Related posts
10 tips for Picking the Best Place for your stand and setting it up for success
Ten Steps for a successful Whitetail scouting trip.
10 Tips for Deer hunting on Public land
11 Tips How to get Hunting Gear on a Limited Budget
Monday, October 26, 2009

10 tips for Picking the Best Place for your stand and setting it up for success.(Part 2 of 3 Tips on how to get a deer this season with a busy seclude)


image Credit esagor

Now that you have done some scouting, determined deer are in the area, and frequently using the trails you check out. It’s time to find a good place to put your deer stand. Here are 10 tips on selecting the best spot from what you have discovered in your scout.

1. Find a tree off of the edge of the feeding area not too far from the trail you followed in while scouting. This way when the deer come out to feed in the morning you will be able to see them as they enter the field. Some times you will even have luck in the evening when the deer are coming back to feed again.




2. Look for good funnel areas along the trail and set up a stand near them. Many times there are openings in the woods deer use as trails but they funnel into one small trail. That is where you want to be.



3. Remember the scrapes; Bucks will check back at these spots from time to time to make sure another buck isn’t in his territory. It might be a good idea to set up here and see if you can get that buck in the morning when he is checking out his turf.



4. When you were scouting you may have found a bedding area. If so a good spot to put your stand would be near where you think the deer will be exiting in the morning, but you better be very quite when entering your stand the morning you plan on hunting.



Once you have picked one of these spots or even a few of them here are some other tips to keep in mind when placing your deer stand.



5. Place your stand at the very least 12 feet off of the ground. Remember the higher you go the less chance you have of a deer seeing you. I suggest you only go as high as you feel comfortable. There is noting worse then not feeling comfortable in your tree stand.



6. Also when placing your stand keep in mind where the sun is going to be. You don’t want it in your eyes when you expect to see a deer. One other thing I try to do is put the stand were the sun will warm me up sooner in the morning which will allow me to stay in my stand longer during the day.



7. Make sure you place the tree stand appropriate for being left or right handed. If you are right handed you want to place the stand so you expect the deer to come in from the left. Just the opposite for a left handed shooter. This just makes for an easier shot with less movement in your stand. One thing I have found out though deer are very unpredictable after the gun season starts, and some times you will have to make shots in some awkward positions.



8. Clear a minimal amount of brush and branches so you have some shooting lanes. I have always thought that if you clear too many branches and brush you will loose some cover and make yourself more visible to the deer.



9. Make sure to find a good place to enter and exit your stand. Usually I will clear more brush here than I will for my shooting lanes because being quiet is the key.



10. Lure the deer into your shooting area



Learn how in Part 3 of How to get a deer this season.



If you know of any other tricks please feel free to comment on them.



~ Ben G.



Related links

Good reading
Friday, October 23, 2009

Ten Steps for a successful Whitetail scouting trip. (Part 1 of 3 Tips on how to get a deer this season with a busy Schedule)


image credit Zachary Airtraps

Some of us have very busy schedules and don't have a ton of time to get ready for deer hunting like we would like to or use to so this little guide should help you out in those time crunch situations.


1. First make sure you are out in the woods at least five days before you plan to hunt. At five days you are very close to pushing your luck, but for the most part you should be ok.

2. Start out by identifying a food source then and work your way back into the woods. A corn field, bean field, clover, or even hay fields are all ideal places for deer to feed.

3. Find the major trails to and from the food source and follow them into the woods. Deer will travel a long way to get food. We have shot deer out in the middle of a 30,000 acre WMA and the deer have corn in their digestive system, so be prepared to have to walk a long distance.

4. There will be many trails that intersect the trail you start out on. My suggestion is to find the one that looks like it has first been used most recently and second looks like it has the most traffic.

5. Keep your eye’s open and look for the tell tail signs of deer.

6. Droppings will tell you how often deer frequent the trail by the amount of droppings. They will also tell you if the deer have used the trail recently. Fresh droppings are usually shiny and will squish if you poke them with a stick. Old droppings will look dry and crumble when you poke them.

7. Rubs are sign of a buck being in the area. Typically you will find them on trees that are about two and a half inches in diameter to about four inches in diameter. They will be anywhere from two feet to about three and a half feet off of the ground. You will know that the rubs are fresh if there is still moisture seeping out of the tree or the rub looks greenish in color.

8. Scrapes are another good sign of Bucks being in the area. Most often you find these by a tree that juts out further than any of the other trees in to a field or open area in the woods. This tree will typically also have lower hanging branches on it, but not always. A scrape basically looks like a deer cleared a bunch of grass out of a small area from a foot in diameter and can be up to four feet in diameter.

9. Eventually you will have walked far enough to find out where the deer are bedding. These areas can be quite different form one to another. Here are a few good places to look, really tall grass, thick brush, dry swamp, pine trees with nice sized open areas underneath of them. Basically you have to think like a deer what would keep you out of the wind, keep you some what dry in the rain, and allow you a good place to stay away from predators.

10. Pick the best place for your deer stand.

To find out more on picking the best place for your deer stand check back for part two of Tips on how to get a deer this season.
Let me know any steps you might have added to the list or even expand on some of the steps I posted.

~ Ben G.

Related links
Good read
Monday, October 19, 2009

Ben G. Outdoors is proud to announce our Fall 2009 Reader Appreciation Giveaway.

The Fall 2009 Reader Appreciation Giveaway is brought to you in Part by Hank’s Clothing, Warrior Outdoors, & Magnet Gun Caddy. All we ask you to do is leave a comment on this post telling us something you would like to see here at Ben G. Outdoors. Your comment could be anything from specific interviews, cretin site improvements, types of posts, more guest bloggers, specific guest bloggers or any thing you can think of that would make your reading experience better here at Ben G. Outdoors. Once you leave an improvement comment you will be entered for a chance to win one of the fabulous prizes below.


Giveaway Runs from Monday the 19th of October to Saturday the 31st of October at 5:00pm
(Winners will be posted on the site Monday November 2nd).

1st Prize Muck Boots Arctic Sport Mid in your size from Hank’s Clothing Click for details













2nd Prize is a Hoodie from Warrior Outdoors
(This one is so new I can't even find a description of it on their web site)
I will take a photo and up date it as soon as I can.


3rd Prize is a Magnet Gun Caddy from Spec Tech.















4th Prize through 8th Prize is a copy of Warrior Outdoors Rack Attack

Please only leave one comment b/c you will only be given one chance to win regardless of your amount of comments. If you have any questions regarding the giveaway please feel free to contact me at benjogustafson@gmail.com
Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Trout Fishing Part 5 (final)

Our last morning started out like the day before. A quick breakfast, hop in the truck and go fishing. The only difference this morning was that we had to pack the rest of our stuff in the truck.

We hooked the four wheelers up and headed back to the secret spot. Only this time there was road construction on our way. We didn’t have to wait too long which was good because I think we were all a bit antsy to get back out and fish.

We finely got to the spot where we unload the four wheelers. We got them all off the trailer and took off down the trail. This time we were going to stop at the unnamed lake we saw the day before and check out the campsite. The ride was about 15 minutes to the lake with out a name.








Four wheelers at campsite on unnamed lake



When we arrived at the lake Gary grabbed his fishing pole and started to fish to see if it would be worth all of us fishing from the shore of this lake. George and my self grabbed our cameras and started to take a few pictures of this beautiful little lake and its surroundings. After walking around for about 10 minutes and Gary not getting a single bite we decided it was time to head back to the secret spot.






In the bottom left corner you can see Gary Fishing



The pics above are all pictures of the lake isn't it amazing

When we arrived at the secret spot today we immediately tried casing in the spots we caught trout the day before no luck. This was completely opposite from the day before. Oh well we decide to keep moving up stream to the other spots we caught fish. I think I caught one or two little trout but nothing to brag about.

Gary decided to try his luck down stream while George and I wanted to see what was further up stream. Oh my, what a brave choice George and I made. The woods were incredibly thick and walking was almost impossible. We would find a little spot here and there where we could cast and see if we could catch any fish.

Along the way I head a snap from behind me I didn’t really think much of it, but shortly after I heard the snap George said,” OH NO!” I looked back at George to see him holding his fishing rod which now was in two separate pieces. “I did it again”, he said. I responded with, “You did what again”. “Broke another rod” George exclaimed. I came to find out on just about every fishing trip Gary and George take together George either seems to break a rod or loose one.

We continued up the river for a little while longer. I tried fishing here and there and didn’t really have any luck. Finally George and I decide we should head back to the four wheelers and see what Gary was up too. The way back was just as tough a walk as the way up stream. It probably took us a good twenty five to thirty minutes to get back to the four wheelers.

Upon arriving I decide to cast a couple of times and see if I could catch anything. I didn’t have any luck. Gary was no where to be found, so George and I grabbed our cameras and started walking around. I was a gorges day and we got some good pictures of nature.

About twenty minutes or so went by, and Gary came back to the meeting spot. Everyone was kind of pooped out, but we wanted to do some exploring for next year before we went home. The four wheeler trail we road out on crossed the stream we were fishing so we decided to follow it.
The trail was narrow and had lost of twits and turns. Needless to say it was a slow ride, but still lots of fun. Along the way we came across some fresh Moose, and wolf tracks. It almost looked as though the wolf was following the Moose, but for some reason I doubt it.








Moose track and Georges hand for size reference





Wolf track I don't have a size reference but it was about the size of the palm of my hand
We arrived at our final destination when we came up on a big river (it was big compared to the streams and creeks we had been fishing). We think it was the South Brule? It looks like we found a spot for next year. We might even be able to catch some small mouth bass and pike here.




What we believed to be the South Brule River

It was getting close to lunch time which was time to eat and hit the road. We decide it was a good time to head back to the truck and go home. By this point I wanted to really ride the four wheeler. I took the lead and made the 45 minute ride into a 30 minute ride what a blast.

George crossing the river on the way back

It was a fun trip and I was sad that it had to end.

Things I learned on the tripAlways keep your fishing pole together b/c you may loose half of it

Never forget your ear plugs when staying in a cabin with two other guys (I brought mine and slept like a baby)

George likes to break fishing poles

Gary is a good fisher man who doesn’t like to eat fish (he did have one or two)

Some sort of sandals or water shoes would be nice for walking in the rivers. (If you have any suggestions please let me know)

Trout fishing can be a lot of work but well worth it in the end

Ben G.


atv safety certificate at ATVCourse.com

 
Other related Posts
Sunday, October 11, 2009

Links Page

American Whitetail Deer Hunting Resources - For the very best in whitetail deer products, including one of the most thorough books ever written on whitetail deer hunting. Great Whitetail Deer Hunting Tips and Resources.


Hunting Fishing Direct, Inc - Hunting and Fishing Products and Accessories at Discount Prices

Fins and Fur Outdoors Hunting and Fishing Links

The Outdoor Stores - Offers hunting, fishing, camping, outdoor gear & gifts! Large selection of trek tents, ghillie suits, strikehold gun cleaner, nylon & leather holsters, backpacks, sleeping bags, jack daniels t-shirts, john deere tee's and hats, captain morgan and corona t-shirts.

Hunt Gear

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Trout Fishing Part 4

After a quick stop to eat lunch and grab the 4 wheelers we were off to find our next creek. This time we wanted to find a place to ride the 4 wheelers and fish.

The three of us stopped at Buck’s in Grand Marais. Gary stared talking to one of the guys that worked there and asked him a good spot to go catch trout. At first he suggested this one spot I can’t even remember where it was, but he made the mistake of mentioning his secret spot. Well after all three of us talking him into it he finally spilled the beans. It just happened that this spot was also great to ride the 4 wheelers to. After a few small purchases we were on the road to one of the best brook trout spots.

It was maybe about a half hour drive up to the point where we unloaded the wheelers, and packed all of our fishing gear on them. Maps in hand we took off down the forest road. It was a beautiful ride with perfect weather.

Along the way we saw a short trail leading to a small lake. We went down the trail and found a nice little campground and a great little lake. We didn’t stay for long because we had other things in mind, like finding the secret trout spot.

We came to a fork in the road and with the maps not being the greatest and having to remember our directions we went straight and it happened to be the wrong way. It was actually a nice little two mile ride.

Once we got back on track we kept driving and driving a lot longer than I had anticipated. We came to another fork in the road. After stopping the four wheelers and having a short discussion we all decided to go to the right. It was a great decision and it brought us to the unnamed secret spot.


The closer we got to the creek the smaller the trails got.


I grabbed my gear and started to fish. Cast one trout, cast two trout, cast three trout, you get the picture. I’m not sure how many casts I made and caught fish, but I know it was more than any other place we had fished so far.



Down stream look at the spot



The fishing was the same as most other spots we leapfrogged each other up stream. This spot was quite a bit harder to get to the shore and get good casts with out getting snagged in a tree or falling in the water. As any fisher person will attest if you want to fish it you will find a way.
We saw a bunch of moose tracks along the edges of the stream, and at one point I swear I heard a cow moose blaring off in the distance. We saw a beaver busily working on his dam. What a beautiful place this was. I was having so much fun I didn’t even care that my line kept tangling in trees, and I was loosing lures.



Up stream look at the spot

Gary ended up catching the only two keepers that afternoon. One of them was a very nice 14 inch fish. George and I didn’t care because we caught so many fish that day it felt like we were in trout heaven.

A short 45 minute ride back to the truck and we were done with another fine day of fishing. We went back to the cabin to relax and eat some fish.

One quick note on the drive back to the cabin George said that this was one of the best fishing trips he had ever been on and we weren’t even done with it yet.

Fish tally 8 Keepers Gary 6 Ben 2 George 0


We ate good this night!


Other related links
Trout fishing Part 1
Trout Fishing Part 2
Trout fishing Part 3
Trout Fishing Part 5 (Final)
Friday, October 2, 2009

MyBuckStory.com


One day I received an e-mail from Andy at MyBuckStory.com he asked me to go and check it out. I was a little apprehensive at first. I was also very curious, so I went over to their site and checked it out. My first thought was wow this is a good concept. I decide it would be a good idea to become a member and create a profile. I am glad I did too because MyBuckStory.com has a great community of members.


I was fortunate enough to meet Adam (another one of the founders) a few days ago and he and I had a great conversation. Adam and I thought it would be a good idea to forge a relationship for the benefit of both of our sites. So here I am writing a post about this great site (Believe me if I didn’t like the site and the folks I’ve been in contact with I wouldn’t work with them).


OK, so on to the whole concept behind MyBuckStoy.com. It is a social networking site that combines a place where you can share your hunting and fishing adventures (stories) with the world, Photo sharing, Outdoor News, Outdoor Events and online gaming. It’s kind of like a one stop online source for all your hunting and fishing needs. I don’t want to forget to mention all of the links they have to valuable resource. Like links on the bottom of the page to your local DNR web site and other recommended sites.


The story sharing part of MyBuckStory.com is great for someone who doesn’t want to commit all the time and energy into creating their own blog. The text editor is very easy to use. Posing your story on the site allows you to get feed back from other hunters & fishing men/women about your hunting & fishing outings. Heck some members may even offer up some tips on how you could have done something better out in the field.


The news and Press Release section is updated daily and keeps you up to date with everything going on in the hunting and fishing world. In the gaming section they offer four games for you to play Bust Up, Disco Balls, Mooble, and Big Bomb Blackjack. All four games are great for killing time.


MyBuckStory.com it a great site and I suggest you check it out they already have 450+ members and are growing each and every day. Don’t miss out on this A+ site it is poised to be one of the best on the web for the outdoor community.


On last thing I would like to mention currently they are running a contest at MyBuckStory.com where you could win up to 500 bucks (lol) just for becoming a member and submitting your story. Click here for the details or click here One Down & More to Follow to check out my story then, become a member and vote for it and all the others.


Thanks.

Ben G.
Thursday, October 1, 2009

Trout fishing Part 3

Our second day started off with a quick breakfast, and a little chatting. After we ate we loaded up the truck. We asked the owner of the Thomsonite Beach Inn. & Suites, (the cabin the three of us stayed in) if she knew of any good spots to go trout fishing. Lee pointed us to a spot she had seen others fish quite often.

Our first stop that morning was the ranger station in Grand Maris. We wanted to get some good maps for four wheeler trails and of trout streams. The folks at the ranger station were very helpful and they had more maps than I think I have ever seen in one place.

We decided to leave the four wheelers this morning because we were going to do a quick stop and only fish for a couple of hours. We did stop where Lee had said she saw people fishing. We all felt like it may have been over fished, especially because of how easy it was to find and get too.
We opted to keep driving and look for a different spot.

I had one of our many maps and navigated the way. We found a couple of small creeks and tried to fish at one of them with not much luck at all. Then after driving for a short while after the last creek, Gary decides to drive down a 4x4 trail. What a great decision Gary made driving down that little path.



The small 4x4 path

We drove a ways down the path and decided to hop out of the truck and walk because the trail was getting smaller and smaller. We didn’t have to walk very far to find a sweet fishing spot. The three of us scouted around looking for good places to fish from shore. There were plenty of them all around.
This is what we saw when we walked up to the river

The up stream side to the first pool we saw

We got gear and started to fish. It wasn’t long before we started catching fish they were nothing to brag about, but our luck would start to change. Gary caught a very nice brook trout, and then we decided to keep working our way up the river.

It was a ton of work to keep walking along the shore of the Cascade River, thick trees, tall grass, and big holes you couldn’t see. After a while we gave in, and just started walking in the river in our shoes. That is when we started to catch a lot of trout. We would walk cast a few times then walk further up stream and cast in another promising spot.
walking up stream
after the fog rolled in it was eerily quiet

Shortly after we started fishing this way I caught my first keeper. I was so pumped and ready to catch more. I kept working my way up stream until I finely got to a spot where the cascade and a different creek merged together. Every cast I would catch a fish for about six casts I had one big one on but I lost it just as I pulled it out of the water. Instantly after that the spot was dead.


I headed back to get George or Gary, so we try and catch more fish in that spot. George was close to me and I told him to follow me to this sweet spot. He did and we both started casting in the hole I found. I thought it looked nice on the other side, so I waded through almost waste deep water so we could both fish the same spot from different sides.


Shortly after I got to the other side George had a big fish on his line. He got it just out of the water when it flew back in. This could have been the biggest fish on our trip. The bite seemed to die down a bit after that, but we both kept fishing. Here and there we would catch a fish nothing huge. Then I caught a nice size keeper. Number two for the trip and the river.


After walking up stream a bit more the hunger bug finally got the best of us, and we headed back to the truck. Gary had caught one more keeper while George and I were up stream. We ate lunch and headed back to the cabin to get the four wheelers.


Fish tally so far 6 keepers, we have enough for a meal tonight.

Ben G.

Related posts

Trout fishing trip on the horizon

Trout fishing Part 1

Trout Fishing Part 2

Other adventure posts

Turkey Hunting Addiction (Part 1)

Scouting for Turkeys

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