Vector

I was just meaning that ozone replacement for scent control on your clothes and equipment is very effective, and a 110V unit for that use is pretty cheap. It seems some think ozone period is a gimmick. Its been used for a long time in the medical/hospital industry. Vector

I would suggest buying a cheaper ozone unit that runs off of 110V to try in your hunting closet/clothing tub. Try it out and see what kinds of results you get. $50-$60 instead of $400. I keep waiting for another company to come out with a portable one for cheaper. Vector

An Under Armour cold gear base layer makes a ton of difference for me. Warm and moisture wicking. Wool socks are a must too. The UA hoods are SUPER nice (tactical hood in green for light weight, the camo hunting one for heavier weight) under a fleece stocking cap. Vector

A little early for much serious calling then. I would agree to do a little doe calling if you have a slickhead that's hung up a little out of range. Missouri's peak day of breeding has been studied several times, and on average, it is November 10. Because of this date, I suggest random grunt calling from about October 25 on, rattling and gruntig from about October 30 on, and starting to REALLY get with it about November 5. Our rifle deer season opener usually falls about November 12-15. Vector

Looks like a coon hound to me too. Vector

What dates are youth season and what date is the height of deer breeding? Vector

You mean tick tick tick like this is a sensitive subject? I did not know. There is no paid license required here in MO, but you do have to jump through a few hoops to be legal. I would gladly pay for a license and send my dogs through a test to use them. They are a great tool, and the tracking makes for some awesome chess matches to try to figure out. Vector

John Jeanneney's blood trailing dog book is the best info out there by far. Anyone coming out with anything on the subject the last couple years is just mimicking his information. My dogs both started working on shed hunting work/food reward work as soon as they came home to me at 8 weeks. They are both deer scent addicts now. Vector

I explained that in the post. Stevie was apparently not available for the track. Vector

Here's a couple more pics. The one with Goose as a baby is her largest shed set found to date. I had walked right past both of the antlers. Goose stopped and stood between both of them and wimpered over and over until I came back to her. I thought she was hurt. No, very different! She knew what she wanted, she just did not know how to carry them! The picture of her with the doe was a broadhead mishap where I had my arrow slide up the outside of the shoulder and into the neck of this doe. This was Goose's first track day. You can obviously see how proud she is! Vector

Here's my little buddy, Fawn. It amazes me how smart she is and how awesome her nose is, having that tiny little noggin!

I have had my silver lab, Goose for I think almost four years. She is my utility hunting buddy. She is best at deer blood tracking above all her other duties. She has found some great bucks, and she is a pretty good shed hunter too. She's a very good dog. I have a mini weiner dog too, her name is Fawn. She kicks Goose's butt on our trial drags, but I don't feel like Fawn will have the gumption to keep grinding out a cold trail like Goose will. Fawn is reserved as my 'pocket backup'. The attached photo is Goose and the hunter with her biggest buck found to date. The shot looks good, but that is a one lunger from high above that exited gut. Vector

I think getting ALL the sound to travel down the tube is a joke. 30' of plastic scent in the air at ground level sounds like a winner too.

Some states are piloting an online sale. You get a 45 day temp permit and then the stamp comes in the mail. It is $17 instead of $15. We bought ours from AR last year. This hear MO went to it, so we bought it from them. Being a federal stamp, you can buy a stamp like this from any state offering to do the leg work. Vector

The thing about scrapes is they are most often visited at night time. Mock scrapes work awesome for getting cam pics. I usually tear up the ground under a limb, strip and break the limb, then urinate in the fresh earth. Deer are usually on the scrape within hours. Once one deer validates the scrape, it is on from there. One tip in making a mock scrape is to place it near a food source, so it can become a community scrape that does visit too.

Bacteria grows rapidly at any temp above....40, 45 degrees? I think is what we teach in hunter ed? Gotta grab 'em when they are fresh. And be sure to thoroughly cook them after that. My old zoology instructor, a profsssional in the 'tape worm world', used to constantly tell me there were more 'foreign objects' growing in a deer liver than any other animal organ he had ever examined.

I should also add, I just make calls for fun in my spare time. I have no desire to be 'the next big thing'. I started making calls 12 1/2 years ago. I did it to hear the stories of being a little part of hunts all over. Not to try to be famous or quit my day job. The lathe is a place to go for relaxation now, just like my treestand or blind. My turn around time on any wood working is not fast, because I am only in my shoo when I am having fun. If I am not having fun, I go do something else.

I go on a lot of blood tracks with my dogs each fall. I really like carrying two Jet Beam BA 20's. They have hat clips on them and run on 2AA's. I take a pocket full of rechargables with me, and I am good to go for the evening. It is a really good ligh color with even lighting. It has a normal setting and a bright setting. The bright setting really helps to glow the blood. My oldest boy is colorblind. I will look into the Primos ligh for him so he can have some possible luck running tracks by himself. I run AA's in my flashlights, phtography camera, and trail cameras. Rechargable Sanyo Eneloops are the only way to go. You can get them on Amazon for about $12 per four. I have been running all mine for about 4 years now, and they are still all going strong. I am telling you, this is an awesome light that is very versitile.

Soft volume tends to work best because of this issue of 'yelling'. I like to either just throw a random soft grunt out there and shut up, or I tell a big story. The story I like to tell is this: Expander tube in....buck 1. Expander thbe out....buck 2. Buck 1 comes into the scene and throws a few grunts around. pause for 30 seconds. Buck 2 comes on the scene and throws some more agressive grunts. Scrape your antlers on a near tree limb. A little time passes. A fight ensues (rattling, scraping against the ground for foot stomps with some pauses as you go for 2ish minutes.). The larger buck lets out an aggressive grunt as the winner, and then a snort wheeze. I do this calling sequence 2 times a sit between November 1 and the start of gun season here, which is usually around November 15. I tend to not gun hunt.

I agree, doe calls can be very effective on other does/fawns. There is a large portion of the year where slickheads want to be a part of a group. If thy can find other deer, they want to socialize with them. I like a soft doe call during early bow season to catch the interest of a single slickhead in the area. It tends to suck them right in.

Howdy gentlemen. Made it to the site, put my intro up in the newbie section. I would be more than hapoy to help answer any questions anyone has about using deer calls or custom calls in general. I am just a regular member right now, and not a paid sponsor, so any questions about my personal calls such as ordering and the likes, please contact me privately. I do not want to be seen as a spammer of the site. With that said, I will go back through this thread and try to answer some questions from my personal perspective. Thanks to everyone who has invited me here and admin for having me along for the ride.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! I sure appreciate it! I do teach classes in MO specifically on deer and turkey management, and hunting safety and ethics, so I hope to add some thoughtful discussion to the site.

I have yet to catch a salmon! I would enjoy that for sure! I need to get places to hunt and fish rather than the midwest. My furthest hunt away from home is pheasant in MN and prairie dogs in SD. Vector

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am going to respectfully wait to start talking about calls when I hear back from the owner of HuntingNY. I do not want to offend any owners or admin, or any other advertisers. I am looking forward to diving into the site these next two evenings. Vector

Awesome clip. The guy's excitement at the end sure looks genuine.