Doc

I watch these programs about people who live off the grid up in the far north, and all I ever see is snow, and temperatures that are -40, or -50 and such. ("Life Below Zero" comes to mind). Month after month of that crap weather, and then even times of perpetual darkness. We have a very mild winter comparatively, and it has barely begun and already I am going berserk with cabin fever. There are a lot of things that I envy about that lifestyle, but I am in awe that they don't start mumbling to themselves and just go nuts. Could you all endure that kind of life?

Yeah it got pretty long winded. I should have broke it up into 5 separate posts. It's just that each question is interrelated to each other. Scent is such a big part of deer hunting, and the more we understand it, the better hunters we will be. But the explanations of it all seems to be lost in all the hunting info. Nobody even tries to explain any of it. At least not in any of the things that I have read.

I know there are those squeeze-bottle talcum-style wind direction indicators that you can buy. But I was just wondering how many of you use milkweed seeds for that purpose. I have used both, but find that the commercial powder units don't really tell the whole story. They don't go out far enough, I keep a plastic baggie in my pocket that is full of milk weed seeds. I let one of those things go, and can see it go way out from my stand showing me every little nuance of the wind as it goes away from me. I have watched them get out 20 or 30 yards and then change direction completely, due to something that has interrupted the wind direction and actually went in a surprising direction that I could never have predicted with the talc-style indicators. If you run across one of those milkweed seed pods in your travels, it might be a good idea to grab it and put it in a bag and keep it for this kind of use.

I have to apologize in advance for the length of this post. However, as important as the topic is to deer hunting, there are a few questions that would be good for any hunter to seek answers to. As hunters, we all understand the importance of scent in our success or failure in deer hunting. I dare say it might be the most important aspect of our hunt. And yet, almost everything of importance about scent is still unknown and/or unreported. We all consider ourselves to have some sort of expertise in deer hunting and yet when it comes to one of the most important aspects of deer hunting, I dare say that we are all quite ignorant of the fundamentals of scent. Why is that??? There are a series of scent related questions that I frequently post on many different forums, and without exception, they always go unanswered. And now it is time to ask them again in hopes that someone has found a study or article that has the answers. First, when we are sitting in our stand and that one errant breeze blows our scent right toward the trail we are watching (even if only for a few seconds), has the brush, twigs, goldenrod and other items along that trail been contaminated for some period of time by the scent molecules adhering to them? We know our foot prints can leave a scent trail that lasts for a long time. We know that when we brush against limbs and such, we leave scent behind that animals can smell some time later. So when you get that occasional back-breeze, is it contaminating the hunting site? And if so - for how long? Second, how far in a dense thicket will scent travel? I guess we know that scent molecules stick to things as it travels along. What is the effect of dense brush on the distance that scent will travel vs. the same scent broadcast over an open field? Third, what is the actual composition and chemical make-up of scent? How does it travel? Does it eventually thin out to a point where it disappears? If so, how quickly? Is it lighter or heavier than air? What makes it stick to things? How long does it stay stuck to things? Is it a solid or a gas? What the heck is it? We all spend a whole lot of time and money combatting scent and most of us don't even know what the heck it really is. Fourth, what are all the effects of atmospheric conditions and weather variations on the movement and duration of scent. High winds, damp conditions, dead calm conditions, atmospheric pressure, rain, snow, how does all that effect the movement and concentration of scent? Has anyone ever seen a detailed documentation on the subject? Fifth, has there ever been studies that try to answer some of these questions and actually reach a scientific understanding of the true nature of scent? If so, how come nobody publishes the results. Why do we have manufacturers of supposedly scent blocking clothing and yet no publicly available documentation of the physics and chemistry of scent? We have scent distributers who you would think should have some kind of intensive background in what scent is and how it all functions, and yet no real articles on the nature of their product as far as how it works. We have people that will tell us about how a buck can scent trail a doe hours after she has come and gone, and yet no one explains the mechanics of how that is possible. So many people making their living from scent products or scent suppression and yet they keep whatever information they have about scent a carefully guarded secret. I have sat in a tree-stand watching my breath on a cold morning all of a sudden take a bad turn toward the trail and wonder how much of that is sticking to the grasses and brush along the trail. How come I have never read anything anywhere that either says, don't worry about it, or hang it up, you might as well leave? How come I know that scent can be a hunt-killer, but I don't know the first thing about the nature of the scent itself. So many question and so few answers. I just thought I would post a few mind-bending questions to think about on a very important hunting subject. By the way every one of these questions also apply to predator hunting as well.

Yes I have seen wise old bucks, and also some very stupid big bucks. I suspect that most of us have seen nice bucks moving along on the trail of a doe with his nose to the ground in broad daylight without a single care about being sneaky or hidden. Think about it. A buck shows every hunter its presence and even its movements with scrapes and rubs. How smart is that? On the other hand, I have seen does that leave nothing but their tracks. They hang around in bunches with all those many sets of eyes and ears. It's not so easy to draw a bow with several sets of eyes and ears checking things out in every direction. There are times when I think the better trophy is a doe. I am convinced that if there were as many big bucks available in the woods as there are does, it would be the bucks that would be the easier prey. Sometimes I wonder why we prize so much all that bone on a buck's head. a lot of them really are not necessarily the wisest, and most intelligent animals in the woods. Many are not the sneakiest. They just are the most scarce because everyone wants that bone stuck to their head. Yes some can be as smart as any doe, but they do have a mental weak spot when it comes to their need to breed.

I heard some house noise this morning when the temperature went below zero/ I think it was the vinal siding. It was a loud bang. It did it a few times. Likely it is one material slipping against a different material when the temperatures get high enough or low enough. Different thermal expansions and contractions. There may be a similar thing going on in your deck. Or maybe it isn't your deck at all that is making that noise.

Great day for America, but I must say that comedy on TV will be missing something without crazy Joe to make fun of.

Remember that deal that someone tried to get going that was a hunting by computer fiasco? Now that was definitely something that I not only would never do, and would happily become an activist against. And then there are the game farm hunts where penned animals are "hunted". I have a hard time calling some of those hunting. Yeah, those things step over the line and violate some of the limits that I place on my hunting.

How did that work out for you?

Old Biden and his crime family and pinko cohorts have dominated the discussion and comedy for the last 4 years. But there are still a whole gang of Democrats to replace him for a lot of good laughs. One thing that we have Joe and Kamala to thank for is the fact that they screwed things up so bad that Trump had no problem winning the election in a huge way. They showed the whole country (and a few other countries as well) just what can happen when the lefties have control. They pointed out everything the the right and middle have been saying for years, and they did it in such a way that those who just automatically vote democrat all the time, could not stand to do it again. All that is left now is the socialists and commies, and they have been nationally exposed as losers.

Great deer. He is something to look forward to next season.

That's a good idea. I like the thought of screwing over that old Hochul and her merry band of anti-gun creeps. I might do some of that myself. I have a lifetime supply of components, so I might as well start building bullets and converting all that stuff into ammo.

Well now that deer hunting is finished (for most of us) what are you all going to do to fill your days? Predator hunting?, Small game hunting?, ice fishing?, (if you can find good ice), snowmobiling?, skiing?, TV?, Family and home stuff?, trapping?, shovel snow?, Winter camping?, or something else?

That is not a joke. That is a mandate for NYS survival!

By the way, I remember that the drives were a lot of fun, but the challenge boiled down to simple target practice. The only ones who engaged in any challenge were the one's wo set up the drives. They had to know where the deer were likely to be and where their escape routes were and how to set up the standers so that they would be likely to get the shots without shooting each other. But we had fun doing it all.

I have participated in deer drives years ago, but have not been involved in drive in several decades. There were some episodes that kind of stretch the safety of the hunt. Also, since then, I started to feel that drives violated my limits regarding forcing deer to react contrary to their natural habits and inclinations. Of course in 90% of the gun hunting situations, deer sighting are a result of some other hunter pushing deer to my stand. That is something that can't be avoided. That is why I get so much more satisfaction out of my archery season than my gun season. With the bow it is more me against the deer without outside help or interference. Of course my archery experience started way back when seeing or even knowing another bowhunter was a rare event (even on state land. But that is a great question.

I have always wondered just how smart bucks are. Are they hard to get because they are so smart, or are they simply a lot rarer because they are the prime target of hunters and there simply are fewer. I have to admit that I have seen some rather big bucks do some absolutely dumb things. Usually that is related to the rut when they are controlled by their sexual needs. Yes, I have seen some things over the decades that show that some bigger bucks do that appear to be intelligent, but I have seen old does do smart things too. So the question is, just because a deer has made it through several seasons and has a lot of bone on its head, does that mean that these big old goats are super smart? From an elevated spot, I have watched a big buck lay on it's belly with it's head pressed against the ground in a swamp when a hunter walked within a few feet of him. That shows some real smarts. He didn't jump up and risk the flying lead. But I also saw a doe holding tight in a tangle of grape vines next to our driveway just a few feet away from me waiting for me to keep on walking. I'm sure that she had done that many times in her lifetime rather than jumping up and running and risking getting shot at. So she was pretty smart too. probably as smart as that buck in the swamp. What have you all seen that impressed you with the intelligence of bucks or does.

Like I said, my comments are not meant as a criticism of anybody's methods. They are just personal limits that I have put on my own hunting. I just hit 81 a few days back, so I understand what you are saying. But I have not revised those limits, although maybe I should have......lol.

Great video! I did notice that most of the deer appeared to be well aware of the camera. And a lot of them didn't seem all that comfortable about the camera presence.

Tradition! That is the word. Add to that the words American heritage. That is what sparked my interest in hunting, fishing, camping, trapping and all the outdoor activities that have dominated my my life. I remember when I was a little kid there were books that I read about the mountain men and pioneers that lived by plying all of these skills that have found their way deep into my life as the outdoor activities that I became deeply involved in. I was actually the one that got my father involved in hunting, especially bow hunting. We began to build our own family traditions and heritage. I was the one who learned trapping as a youngster. Dad was the fisherman, and I got involved in that too. Camping was another thing that I wove into my life, with a lot of emphasis on being primitive. All these things had some relationship to those books that I read. Interesting how those books wound up dominating my whole 81 years of life.

I like to keep my hunting as natural as possible. What I mean by that is that I do not get involved in things that tend to program or condition deer to change their natural habits and movements in order to assist my ability to hunt them. I am referring to baiting, feeding, and constructing food plots. Yes I admit that in farm country deer movements are influenced by farmers, but that is a natural influence that I have not participated in creating. To me crop land is no different than a nice acorn bearing oak tree or a wild apple tree. It all is food sources that I had no part in placing there. Part of hunting is scouting and finding the existing food sources that the deer are using, but not creating them. I am not into conditioning deer to train them to come to me. They have natural acts of feeding and bedding that I feel I should be able to observe and use as part of my hunting skills. If I can't do that and have to resort to influencing their movements then I feel that I am doing things that really have no business being a part of my hunting methods. I am into hunting deer, not training deer. I know I am in the minority on these subjects, but they are just the limits that I personally put on my hunting to kind of even up the score a bit. This is not a criticism of those that have other opinions. It is just personal limits that I choose to put on my hunting.

A couple of years ago, I had the property logged. For years I was told that thinning the woods would open up the overstory and result in better browsing conditions and basically improve the habitat for the deer herds and other birds and animals. I still believe that, in the long term. BUT The primary target of loggers is the oaks..... All the acorn bearing trees. What I found was that the deer and turkeys now spend less time on my property and instead primarily do their feeding on the land next door. To the point where the critters seem to have abandoned my property almost entirely during hunting season. I know that eventually when the browse begins to get established with the increased light reaching the ground, the deer will return and flourish. But history has shown me that when fall comes around, the browse becomes less of an attractant and the acorns become the food target for these critters. Yeah.....Fall.....Hunting season. The mature oak trees are now gone and of course so are the acorns and the deer and the turkeys. They are lured off to the unlogged areas next door. It is quite significant. I am wondering if any of you have seen the same thing happen on logged property that you hunt. Just curious.

Do you all have certain personal limits where you say, "This is no longer hunting". I am referring to hunting or technological assists that feel like they go beyond "fair chase". So many things come into my mind. Where do you draw lines when deer hunting?

We call those deer "hillside veal". You cannot beat the flavor and the texture. It is a true delicacy. And yes, there is no better liver than from hillside veal.

Ha-ha-ha.......Yes, a deer at any cost. This is the kind of mentality that seems to dominate today's hunting. No limits. Anything goes. Fair chase be damned. I blame the TV "hero" programs for this attitude of "All is fair in deer hunting". We do find ourselves letting technology do more of the hunting for us, don't we? And then we can brag about what mighty hunters we have become. It's been an interesting evolution, this thing called hunting. I see no end to it. It is starting to remind me of that deal where somebody had a rifle and camera combo set up so you could do your hunting of live animals on your computer. Yeah, we got rid of that notion, but probably only temporarily.