Buckstopshere

I've had two small bucks come in so far. A seven-point and a fork-horn. I use my zip-tied licking branches and cotton swabs from a doe I shot during the rut last year (swabbed out her mouth,) zip-tied the cotton balls on the overhanging branch. Small eight pt. at cotton swab:zip tie.tiff Small buck likes the zip-tied cotton ball 10:8:11.tiff

Another small buck at the scrape yesterday. (I checked my cameras this morning... He likes the zip-tied cotton swab too. Little forkhorn at the zip-tied branch:cotton ball 10:8:11.tiff

Here is 30 seconds later giving the cotton swab a kiss...and smelling the zip-tied overhanging branch. Try it. What I like is it doesn't cost much. Small eight pt. at cotton swab:zip tie.tiff

I zip-tie overhanging branches from other scrapes... on old scrapes that I am either hunting over or have cameras set up on. Right now fresh scrapes are few and far between, but they can be found on the edges of fields now. Soon they will be all over...I collect the branches and store them in plastic bags in my freezer. But when you find an unhuntable scrape, snip off the branch over the scrape. Drop it in a plastic bag and take it to your scrape. Zip-tie it to the overhanging branch over your scrape. That's all there is to it. The cotton swabs are swabbed from the mouth of a doe I shot last season at one of the major rutting peaks (last weekend in Oct.) I have a bag of them and take one out and zip-tie it to the overhanging branch where I have the zip-tied overhanging branch. BTW, my experiments with the ground scrape, i.e augmenting it with pee, doe estrus, soil from other active scrapes...never seems to do much. To me, it is all about the overhanging branch. I detail it all in my 2011 Rut Prediction DVD.

Nice buck Dave. Great photo in the avatar is that you with that big female redtail?

A buck made a rub and a small scrape below my camera, Tuesday but Thursday he posed for the camera and worked one of my zip-tied licking branches with a cotton swab. You can see how he likes it. Just a small eight-pt. so far.

That would be a lot easier! But I think the salivary glands in the deer are located around the mouth and not just in the tongue and they are the ones that carry the chemical messages at the licking branch...or overhanging branch over the scrape. Also, once it started to rot...sounds kind of nasty and I doubt effective.

That is great news. Thanks for checking. I have been using tarsals for many years and have killed some nice bucks over them. But what I was worried about was the doe's saliva... Find a road-killed doe during the rut and swab out her mouth with cotton balls. Zip-tie them to the overhanging branch over a scrape. I can't believe how it brings in bucks!

This year is a lot different than last year. Last year we had lots of scrape action but then we had an strong early spike in rutting action during the end of October.

We tend to look at whitetails, both bucks and does as one and the same thing...deer. But really, bucks and does behave so differently that we should consider them as coming from two separate galaxies. What I mean is, their behavior is just opposite each others in many behavioral ways...such as herding for instance. In the fall, bucks split up their bachelor groups and does herd up. Ranger Clay's property in question does not have bucks on it at all, except possibly during the rut when nobody is there. I would try to attract bucks with mock scrapes and rubs.

Thanks Doc. And it always is a good subject for discussion around the camp... But back to this thread, he says that last year was different and that there was not one buck on camera. So it is possible that somebody "on the next hill over" has put out a food plot that is concentrating the deer. I say "food plot." A guy I know has spent thousands of dollars on a series of food plots on two adjacent properties. And his buck sightings over the years since before food plots has increased dramatically even though the deer population is actually a bit lower than it was 10 years or so ago. But it is also possible, as you said that last year was a banner acorn year and that may have held them early...and this year, at least here in the Southern Tier is a bumper apple crop. My long-winded point is that sometimes nature, whether agriculture or woodland mast crops have the same effect as food plots... they all change whitetai patterns in the early going.

Doc: You might enjoy this article I wrote....on the same track as your post... http://www.prairiestateoutdoors.com/index.php?/pso/article_print/16398/

It doesn't sound to me that there is an annual breeding - scrape area on your 22 acres. You probably know every tree and bush in it...so is there a major scrape area that appears every year. If not...you can make one. That will pull the bucks in. Here's how you do it. Find some hot scrapes on other property, adjacent or otherwise. Cut the licking branches off the scrapes. Zip-tie the licking branches to your best annual scrape area. You will be surprised at the action it produces. Whiteails have specific areas where they prefer to create, what I call the Whitetail Breeding Nucleus. Some properties are perennial hotspots...and others are like yours. You just need to change the culture of the deer in your area. If you put enough buck scent in the form or licking branches out there...they will come. And begin adding to it. Secondly, don't shoot the doe early. Some of those old does are the most valuable buck attractors that you have. Their scent at the scrape sites is very important too. Wait until the end of the season to fill the doe tags. If you shoot them now you are shooting your best buck bait.

I pulled one off the center of a road once, trying to be a hero because traffic was stopped. The big doe was still kicking a bit. I grabbed the front legs...and slashed my hands. Glass...or sharp plastic was embedded in the legs. So I have always been slow to eat roadkill, thinking there may be glass or tiny pieces of metal driven into the meat.

Remember, "the rut" is not a one-dimensional thing. All the deer in any given population will not be doing the same thing at the same time. They have different hormone levels... There is not one prescription for success that fits all scenarios that you will encounter. My two scents is before you go...sit with yourself alone for a bit and set yourself a goal. What will you be happy with? Second, just before the hunt starts, give yourself a serious pre-game coaching talk so that you hit the ground running. You are there to kill an animal. When the moment comes, don't lose focus. Sure, there are other great aspects to a hunt too...beauty of nature, new friends, etc. But sometimes when we are "smelling the roses" the rabbit gets away. So don't lose focus. And during the early part of November this year you might be in "a lull." That's what we call a slow-down in the rutting action between two high activity peaks when the bucks and does are not on their feet much during the daytime. If this is the case, you may need to regroup. In that case, scout-hunt (if they will let you) by still-hunting into the wind or thermals. You may have to find out where they are.

When I pull back the bow and a buck or doe is within 20 yards. I know. I know when I release the arrow, or when a buck or doe is within 200 yards with my .06, sometimes when in "the zone" I know it is a dead deer. I know it at the time...of the shot, gun or bow. when you get in that pure concentration zone...it happens. But sometimes, we choose to shoot when we shouldn't...kind of a "hail mary." Hope and a prayer. Blast away. What's an arrow? To me, part of the killing of deer...that part of hunting...is all about making a perfect shot...that is shot selection and knowing our limitations. To me, that is part of what hunting is all about. Now you may think that there is no shot is a sure kill. But I beg to differ. Telling other hunters...categorically that it is OK to shoot at the butt of a deer going away is bad in my mind. I understand that a perfect shot, right down the pooper shute, through the stomach, diaphram, and into the heart and lungs can be done. But it is too iffy for the average Joe Hunter to ever attempt and just bring grief and anxiety at the end of spotty blood trail that can't be followed any more. People have asked me to help find there deer on poor hits...it is an exercise in frustration and certainly not something that we should encourage by saying it is okay to shoot at the butt of a deer. It is not OK.

It is important to say the right thing to young, or new hunter...or those without a lot of experience killing deer. There are shots that are sure kills...but a hunter should always be ready to follow up with a second or third shot.

Well, I've killed deer with just about every shot imaginable with arrows, rifle rounds, shotgun slugs, round balls, and copper sabots, they have hit the deer in the top of the skull, between the eyes, through the boiler works, through both jugular veins, through the backbone, into the hip bone, up the pooper shute, down the throat, into the stomach, the liver, the lungs, the heart, many times through the heart, sometimes through the nexus between the heart and the lungs... But the shots impacted the animal not exactly where I was aiming in many of these, but I was still able to get the animal. Just my two scents, about the THS..The shot is not a sure kill. Period. Why take a shot that is not a sure kill? If the angle is a bit off it will exit the rib cage before the lungs. The THS should never be taken for that reason in my opinion. But if a quartering away deer jumps just right at the release, sometimes a THS happens. Years ago I was up on a Pa. ridge in the oaks. I was up in a tree, on a limb with my long bow. A big doe came in, eating acorns. I shot at here with the long bow. She jumped the string, whirled and the arrow hit her in the hip. Darn!!!! I thought, a wounded deer, as she bounded away with the arrow sticking up in the air out of her hip. I was shocked when, before she got out of sight, she flipped over on her back and crashed and burned! When I checked her out, the back leg was just about cut off, except for a bit of hide. Her femoral artery was cut. That was luck...good luck. But the arrow did not hit where I was aiming.

Wow is right. Nice job, beautiful animals!

I hunt for deer (not necessarily with a gun or bow) for many hours throughout the year, in the winter, spring, summer and of course into the fall when it is actually "deer season." But for me, it never stops. And when it is in season...a few hours almost every day, except when it is raining hard.

Some of you might not know this, but flint heads can be knapped or chipped to a sharper edge than our steel heads. So as far as that implement goes, they were at not disadvantage. Actually, there is a lot of trust out there when we buy our heads that they are sharp. Many do not know how to put a shaving sharp edge on a head and trust that when they open the pack, they are all sharp enough. I have bought many heads over the years that were not sharp enough and I have to put a finishing edge on them. I use basic scent control, that is keeping my hunting clothes in a plastic bag, showering before every hunt bow hunt and washing my clothes in baking soda. Of course, stand selection is primarily determined by the wind and thermals. In my mind, there is no question that by paying attention to scent control, it ups my chances at getting closer to deer. Of course shotgun hunting to a lesser extent and rifle hunting...even less because of the distances involved. Old bird dog trainers often talked about "scenting conditions." Some days, a dog couldn't point a pheasant or a grouse if it was under his nose. And other days a dog could point a bird, while retrieving another one in its mouth! I've seen it happen twice. Point is...scenting conditions are in the deer's favor some days, and in our favor on other days. I think that is why we all have those occasions when a deer walks up "five feet away...or I could almost touch him." Bad scenting conditions. And then on other times, we will be on stand and a deer will start blowing 100 yards away and we think, "That deer couldn't be blowing at me! Must be someone else out there... Good scenting conditions.

My grandmother loved to eat squirrels and always wanted me to bring her some. She really didn't care so much about eating venison, grouse, turkey or waterfowl...she loved squirrel meat. Could be because my grandfather was an avid squirrel hunter. Boy, she could cook squirrel! Makes me hungry just thinking about it. Too close to dinner time.

If you let your deer hang at all, you want the anal cavity to be as cleaned out as much as possible...no skin, fat, or excess blood. That is where it will rot. I let my deer hang for a bit before I cut them up. But as soon as I get them home, and hung, I carefully cut around the base of the tail and make sure the hole is wide open.

If you think a buck index (bucks per square mile) in North Central Pa. - Unit 3A of less than 2.0 in 2009 and 2010, is an "over-populated herd, getting back where it should be," you drank the AR-Doe Reduction Koolaid and there is no hope.

Yeah, he sent me that Moon Myth story last year. It is exactly what I am talking about, more bad science (too small sample size and little correlation between studies.) And the averaging...lumping together of data from various years and dates. Actually, the moon is a better gauge to determining the rut than fetal backdating. Problem is, most moon theories are wrong too. Take Charlie Alsheimer's prediction last year, when he said that we would see the latest rut we would ever see...and yet the rut occurred with two main spikes...one in the last few days of October, and one in the third week of November. This was validated, not only by hunters across the Northeast and the Midwest, but also by this May's fawn drop. Midnight Rambler...is a vegetarian and a rabid anti-hunter, just another nut, but a driven nut. He hasn't posted much lately...at least against me. He must be spending his time plaguing somebody else! Too bad for them.