TURKEY HUNTING, THAT IS.

By Don ‘Dr. Honk’ Mattice

Deer season is over and the duck and goose seasons are winding down.  The ice forming on most lakes in the Hudson Valley draw our attention to ice fishing and turkey hunting.

Turkey hunting?  Yes, turkey hunting.  It is not too early to start preparing for that spring hunt of a lifetime.

Getting in shape -  Now is the time to start walking

Many older hunters and some youngsters stop exercising after deer season.  We get complacent and are content to sit in front of the television and do nothing that even resembles a workout.  In addition, we all tend to pack on a few extra pounds during the holidays.  If you are going to chase Mr. Long Beard in the spring, it is important to keep your legs, lungs and heart in shape.  For me, I start walking my Labrador retriever 1 1/2 – 2 miles a day, 3 – 4 times a week (He actually walks me, I don’t have much of a say in the matter).  I extend that distance from mid-February through mid-March to 3 to 4 miles and maintain the same frequency.  I need to be in shape for my first hunt, which normally begins the last week in March.  You see, for the last ten years, I have had the privilege to hunt on a good friend’s farm just outside of Sparta, Georgia.  The terrain ranges from flat to rolling hills but we do a lot of walking during that six-day hunt.  When you have access to over 800 acres of prime turkey country, you should hunt at least 800 acres.

Practice calling

If you are new to the game or a seasoned veteran, winter is a great time to practice sounding like a seductive hen.  Get outside and break in a new mouth call or learn to work a slate or box call.  Practice getting the right cadence (rhythm) and you will probably get a gobbler to answer this spring. I practice calling while ice fishing during the slack time between flags.

Many years ago, when I first began turkey hunting I learned to call with a diaphragm call.  I heard from other hunters that this was the most difficult call to master and they were right.  However, the advantage of being able to call without moving your hands is priceless, especially when that gobbler is in full strut and heading towards your setup.  I highly recommend that you  try this type of call.  The first challenge to mastering a mouth call is getting used to having a foreign object made of aluminum, latex and adhesive tape between your tongue and the roof of your mouth.  Once you position the call, you will immediately start gagging.  This is usually followed buy a lot of spitting and more gagging, but eventually you will start making sounds that somewhat resemble turkey talk.  Keep practicing; you will get the hang of it.

Another thing I have discovered, after many years in the field, is that you should not be a one-dimensional caller.  Learn to call with a diaphragm, box call, slate, or wing bone yelper.  There will be occasions when you will not get a response using your favorite call and begin to think there are no birds in the area.  Before you decide to move, run one of your other calls. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Scouting

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of scouting.  If you are serious about killing a gobbler this spring, you will need to put in the hours and the miles prior to opening day.

Be Mobile –

In my opinion, depth is the most important component when ice fishing.  I am not talking about fishing for crappie and perch in 110 feet of water.  I mean finding fish in 14.5 feet of water rather then 16 feet of water.  It may sound absurd that 18 inches of water will make a difference in catching fish,  but believe me, it does!  Two weeks ago, I was at my favorite fishing hole and we decided to try a part of the lake that we had never explored.  We drilled well over 150 holes, worked over 2 miles of shoreline, and every single hole we drilled looked amazing!  The bottom was mucky with a little bit of weeds in 20-22 feet of water.  Perch heaven!  However, we never marked more than 2 or 3 fish in an area the size of an acre.  We worked for 7 hours and finally, just before we called it a day, we found the perch stacked up in 14-15 feet of water and it all made sense.  They ONLY wanted a mucky bottom with NO weeds!  There were no rocks or gravel around, just mud and they were eating the insects that burrow in the mud.  For 2 hours, we played catch and release with nice jack perch and rainbow trout.  It was just like shooting fish in a barrel.

If we were not mobile, we never would have found those fish and would have missed out on one of our best days on the ice.  I’ve seen too many guys sitting on a bucket for 8 hours straight, unwilling to move and try to find fish even though the perch are stacked up 20 yards away from them.  When you do find fish, quickly make the area “Swiss cheese”.  That means drill 8-12 holes in a small 30 ft. by 30 ft. area.  This allows you to hole-hop when your hole goes cold and still be on top of the school.  For bluegills this time of year, find 6-14 F.O.W.(feet of water) with weeds and a nearby drop-off and you will catch fish.  The “gills” are usually eating insects and small frie this time of the year.  Never overlook a small jigging rapala for large bluegills.  Do yourself a favor and get a topographical map of the lake and study it.  Using a topo will help put you on fish right away.  Otherwise ,you might end up walking around all day trying to find fish like when we forgot the topo last week!

Rods -
Here is a picture of seven of my personal ice fishing set -ups.  They range from 1lb. test to 6 lb. test.  There are several factors that influence which set-up I use: water clarity, how much the fish are feeding, and depth of water I am fishing.

My personal favorite is 3 lb. test.  It will hold up against a 20-inch spinning rainbow and large jack perch, but is also small enough in diameter that it will not spook the fish.  The shallower the water I fish, the lighter the line.
0-10 F.O.W. 1 or 2lb. test
10-20 F.O.W. 3 to 5 lb. test
20+ 5 and 6 lb. test.

I am a big fan of medium action jig sticks with light tips and a spring bobber on the end with a 5 ball bearing spinning reel.  The reels I use have a very smooth drag system so when you hook into a larger fish, you will have the backbone on the rod to set the hook and make it stick.  The best reel I have found thus far is a Gander Mountain GSA 05.  I run six of those right now and love every one of them.  The best rod I have found is the St Croix Premier Ice.  The St. Croix rods are a little pricey, but they are worth their weight in gold when it comes to sensitivity and backbone.

Jigs and Lures –

There is no such thing as too many jigs and lures.  Here is a picture of my pan fish jigs.

 
Do I always use all of these?  No.  Do I use a lot of them?  Yes.  I always have one DIFFERENT jig or lure tied on to all of my rods before I get to the lake.  When I figure out what the fish want, I dial in the correct color, size, weight, how many spikes they want, or wax worms.

When fish get finicky, there are several jigs I use as my “go to” jigs.

The 4 on the left are called “Jammin Jigs” and the one on the right is the popular fairy jig.  When these jigs are tipped with one spike or mousse, they can be absolutely deadly.  I  never fish a jig unless it is a glowing jig.  There is no doubt in my mind that the glow works!  Picture what a regular jig looks like to a fish in 15-20 FOW when there is snow cover.  It stops a lot of light penetration, especially during the low light hours or overcast days.  Now picture that same jig glowing.  To state that it can be seen more easily is an understatement!  If you are fishing for suspended crappie at night, glow lures are a must!

During morning and evening bites or just before a low pressure system, when fish are in a feeding frenzy and very active, these are the jigs I use.

Jigging Spoons, Buckshot Spoons (Rattles), Genz Spoons, and Jigging Rapalas are huge.  I prefer to put a spike on each hook, especially on the jigging rapala.  There is only one reason that I use the larger spoons when the bite it hot.  It is heavier and gets down the hole faster!  The active fish will still hit the smaller jigs, but they take forever to get down the hole.  The larger jigs will get down faster and typically target the bigger fish in the school.

This was a quick blast through jigging for perch and bluegills.  If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact me via PM or leave your comments on the blog and I will help you out as much as I can.

Hudson Valley Pro-Staff Member
Jay Rowe
Hard Water Nut.

One photo courtesy of Ice fishing central.

Hopefully you caught my last article about targeting big bucks. Big bucks are special animals and there are no guarantees when hunting them. Many hunters go a lifetime without taking what we consider a big buck.  That’s part of the game. For me, it’s also what keeps me coming back year after year, the challenge to try to take one of the big bucks we’re all after. Here in part 2 of Hunting for Big Bucks, I’m going to discuss additonal strategies that I use to be successful in the pursuit of whitetails.

Big Buck Hot Spots

When it comes to finding a spot that’s going to produce big bucks, I look for two things. First, find the thick stuff. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t hunt the places they do on TV.  My big bucks don’t tend to walk out in the middle of a green field on a daily basis waiting for me to shoot them.  My favorite big buck spot is a nasty, over-grown field that’s so thick a deer can disappear as fast as he appeared. These places can be difficult to hunt because deer remain so well hidden.  The focused hunter who stays alert will find that deer love the security thick cover offers.  Deer thrive in it and most of all, it produces big bucks. One of my favorite stands is in just such a spot.  Many of my best bucks have come from that location and I’ve spotted many other big ones that I didn’t harvest.  Big bucks, and all deer for that matter, love the thick stuff because they can hide.  If you don’t have a big, over-grown field on your land, look for any thick stuff. Whether its thick brush fields, swamps, briar patches, cattails, laurels, or cedars. Any thick stuff is good and the thicker, the better.  If you can barley crawl through it or have to get wet to get through it, you’re on the right track. The deer cruise through this stuff, they bed in it and they feed in it. Simply, they find comfort there. I love to hunt the edges of it.  Big bucks will cruise the edge, weaving in and out of it, looking for does. Out of all the scenarios I’ve tried, thick, nasty cover consistently produces big buck sightings for me so be sure to hit the thick stuff on your turf. 

Doe’s. Doe’s. Doe’s. The second thing I look for when hunting big bucks is does.  Nothing brings in a big boy like a doe. I love does, and as long as they’re not busting me, I like to have them all around me. Some guys like to shoot does early in the season but I take a different approach.  If I decide to shoot a doe, I wait until mid gun season when there’s less probability of a good buck following her.  I’m not saying everyone should do this.  If meat is a big concern for you, then by all means fill your freezer early.  Just try not to shoot does early in your big buck areas. Most times, I like to leave the does happy and undisturbed all season. If you don’t tag your buck in the first few days of the season, then you can set your sights on the most magical time of year in the deer woods: The rut. This is when I want as many does as possible surrounding me.  I pay attention to where the does are spending the majority of their time leading up to the rut. When the rut arrives, I hunt these spots and the does are unpressured and moving freely. During the rut, if you have does, you have bucks. This is when the big boys come out to play and when they’re most likely to make mistakes. They cruise every chance they get looking for does coming into heat. Hunt hard and put your time in.  Hunt all day as many hours as you can. It’s crucial this time of year because if the does are moving, the bucks won’t be far behind. Hunt areas that were packed with does in the early season and if you’ve been able to locate doe bedding areas, I almost guarantee you’ll find bucks.  Combine this strategy with hunting the thick stuff and you’ve got a recipe for success. Just about every one of my nice bucks met their end because of a doe. If you haven’t over-pressured your stands and have done your homework, now is your best chance to kill a big buck and the does will help bring him to you.

Scents and Calls

Deer scents have always been a touchy area with me. I can honestly say that I haven’t had many bucks, especially not mature ones, come in smelling my scent wicks. Sometimes I think they may actually put deer on alert. I know they have their place in the woods but they have to be used correctly. I have probably used every scent available but the only ones I use regularly are estrous doe urine and young buck urine. When used in combination and at the right time, they can bring in a good buck. I like to use them starting around Halloween when bucks begin searching for the first does in heat. I also feel they become fairly effective again near the end of the rut when bucks are searching for any does that may still be in heat.

Deer calls are something I never hit the woods without. I have been using them since I began hunting.  It took me a while to understand how to use them properly and I scared away quite a few deer in the process.  Even though we seldom hear them, deer are pretty vocal animals. Whenever I’m in the woods, I have my grunt call around my neck and my can call in my pocket. I use blind calling during my hunts but have had limited success, with only the occasional deer coming in for a closer look.  However, when I can see my target, it’s a different story.  I have consistently used calls to stop a distant buck, turn him around and bring him right in to me. The key is to observe the response and avoid calling too much. If you call to a buck and he appears to look directly at you, stop calling. He knows exactly where you are and if he’s interested, he’ll be coming in. The only time I call again is if he appears to head away. Never call while he’s looking in your direction. I like to use my can call by making a series of bleats, maybe three or four. If it’s the right time of year, I like to throw in some short grunts in sequence with the bleats, making it sound like a chase. I often use my grunt alone too. At the right time of year, I have pulled bucks away from does with a grunt when they are looking for a challenge. I once killed a solid 8pt by grunting at him with several short, fast grunts while he was with a doe.  I had just seen him fight with another buck, so I knew he would be willing to take on the challenge. He came to me on a string and then came along for a ride in the truck. Grunts and bleats are also pretty effective during the rut when you see a buck cruising alone.  If he’s a good buck looking for a doe, it’s doubtful he’s going to let some other guy intrude on his date. Lastly, I like to use a snort-wheeze call. This can be very effective, but only on mature deer. I have witnessed deer that were definite 3 1/2 year olds run for the hills with this call but have seen some older, absolute slammers come in looking for a brawl. I once saw a buck make this sound and watched as another big buck came straight to him, looking to fight. The snort wheeze can work great but make sure you only pull it out on mature deer. Deer calls and scents can be very effective.  Use them the right way and they may be the ticket to your next buck.

 Patience

 I think the thing that stops a lot of good hunters from shooting big bucks is patience. You’ll never shoot a big one if you shoot the first decent one that walks by. I’m not telling you this is wrong.   The definition of a big buck varies from area to area and person to person.  If that decent buck is big for your area and gets you excited, then take him and be pleased with him. Once you’ve got your own personal definitions figured out, know that you can only expect to shoot really big bucks by passing up the decent ones. In a state like New York, where we only get a bow buck tag and a gun buck tag, we don’t have chances to waste. If you shoot a buck with only a decent rack, he’s never going to get the chance to grow a big rack. Some people claim that our state just doesn’t grow big bucks.  While it’s true that some areas may be better than others, I will argue that statement all day long. New York has the potential to grow huge bucks like any other state; the deer just need time to grow. Some of the big bucks that have been taken the past few seasons alone in NY are enough proof for me. If you’re a meat hunter, that’s perfectly fine. Shoot the does since there are plenty of them and it will actually make for a better hunt in future seasons. Again, it all requires patience.  You may not always shoot a buck if you’re waiting for a big one, but that’s something a lot of big buck hunters deal with.  The reward will be that much greater when success finally arrives.                                                                                                                               

Seal the Deal

 You’ve done all your homework, you played your cards right and that big ol’ buck is about to walk by your stand at 20 yards. Now is when you have to buckle down and get the job done. Hopefully, you read my previous article about preseason practice tips and your shooting is on target. Gun or bow, practice, practice, practice.  There are a limited number of chances to get that big buck and with plenty of things to go wrong on their own, you may as well put your best effort into honing your shooting ability. Nothing is worse than working your tail off all season only to blow what may be your only chance at that monster buck. Whether it’s with a gun or bow, take your time, and take an extra breath. I know sometimes things happen fast but take that extra second to settle that sight on the spot before you let the shot ride. Lots of people see big bucks every year and a lot of them blow their chance.  Practice and preparedness is what separates the men from the boys. When you get your chance at that big buck, make it count!

There are those who are just plain lucky and walk in the woods once a year when deer season comes, with little or no practice shooting under their belt and kill a big buck.  This can be frustrating to those of us who invested weeks or months in careful planning and preparation but came up empty-handed. Everyone needs luck on their side but you will benefit from the confidence that comes from knowing that you did everything possible to increase your chances at a big buck when the opportunity arrives. I know there are guys out there that are more successful at consistently taking big bucks.  I’m sure there are guys out there who do this and nobody even knows who they are.  Whatever your status as a big buck hunter, I hope all of you found something in my article informative and learned something from the tips I mentioned. Keep at it guys.  No matter who you are, you never know when that buck of a lifetime is going to come by your stand. Good Luck!

Shoot Straight.

Mike of Adrenaline Archery

Next year’s giant buck!!!

Locating Areas to Hunt :

The first thing I do is recall mental notes from deer hunting  where I have seen signs of coyotes such as  tracks in the mud or snow, scat on trails, or an unrecovered, coyote ravaged deer carcass.  These areas should be the first spots that you try calling in. Swamps in the mountains are also excellent places to find predators.  Be sure to explore spaces where thick cover in the mountains breaks into open woods.  Coyotes will travel these edges looking for prey because they can duck into the cover if they encounter any danger.  After hunting coyote for a while, you will notice areas that are totally void of coyote sign.  Use these as your travel routes to sneak in and set up near areas with more sign.  Just make sure the travel route is not upwind from the areas with coyote sign.  If they do not travel where you walk, they won’t suspect you’ve been in the area and this allows you to pass back through multiple times in a week, undetected.

The second method is to go out at night and howl with an electronic or hand held howler. Take note where you get responses and either hunt that spot at night or come back during daylight hours.  Keep an eye out for road kill that look as though coyotes have been feeding on them and try to get permission to hunt in the vicinity.  After a couple of years under your belt (and hopefully some kills), you should have some locations where you have good odds of calling in coyotes.  You’ll find that certain areas always produce coyotes just like certain trees always produce deer during bow season. I always keep notes on where I’ve killed a coyote and record the time of day, weather conditions, moon phase, call used, cloud cover, time it took to respond to call, and if there were any major changes in the weather (before or after a storm and after extremely windy days).

Key times that you should be in the woods hunting coyotes are two days before and after a day long (or longer) storm.  The day after a windy day (20mph +) is another great time to be in the woods. The absolute worst time that you could even try to hunt coyotes are days with high winds since this takes away their two biggest defenses, hearing and smell.  They will stay in their dens until the winds diminish or stop, even if it takes a couple of days.  Your time would be much better spent washing hunting clothes and cleaning equipment for when the winds die down.

Don’t just go into an area, call one set, and leave.  Move a couple of hundred yards and try another set or two before exiting an area.  Make sure you stay on a set for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remember, this isn’t the West where coyotes can run across 1 ½ miles of open prairie and respond to a call in 15 minutes.  It takes them time to run up and down the ridges or around cliffs so you need to be patient and wait.  The patient hunters are the ones who will prevail in the end. If there is snow on the ground and after your second set, you do not see coyote tracks; I would consider leaving since you can’t call in what isn’t there.  Keep in mind that coyotes can and will travel 5-15 miles a day in search of food. There could be no sign in an area that you hunted on Saturday but by Wednesday, the same spot might be loaded with sign.  Sometimes it pays to hit the same spot a couple of times a week.  If you see sign but are not getting any responses, leave the area alone for 4-9 days, then go back and call from a completely different location inside the area.  This might make them think that it’s something worth checking out because the sound isn’t coming from the area where they may have seen or smelled you.

How To Set Up in Your Hunting Area:

Mountains: Once you find an area with coyotes, you need to figure out where to set up and call. The lay of the land will dictate how you should begin.  Always remember to sit against a large tree, rock, etc. to break up the outline of your body from approaching coyotes.  If you’re hunting mountainous areas, look for flats or “levels” as I call them. Coyotes will use this break in the terrain as an easy travel route.

Sit against a tree on the edge of the flat so you can look up and down the mountain while calling.  Coyotes often walk along the flat to look for food.  I have always seen them either come in along the flat or down from the hill onto the flat. For some reason, I have never seen them come up the mountain to the flat, but you never know when one might.  If you’re using an electronic caller, put it about 30 yards out in front of you opposite the direction that you came in to ensure that incoming coyotes won’t cross your track.  In the mornings, the wind usually blows up the mountain and keeping the caller in front of you will help keep your scent away from their noses.

Another good setup for hunting in the mountains is any spot where you can shoot from one ridge to another. These are ridges that are less than 120 yards apart from peak to peak.

Just sit just down on the top of one of the ridges and look across to the top of the other.  If you’re hunting with a buddy there are two strategies that work well.  One is to simply sit with your backs to each other looking down into the opposite valleys to cover any coyotes coming in from behind the caller.  The second strategy is to sit one hunter on each end of the same ridge facing the opposite ridge top.  Coyotes will stop as they crest the top of the ridge to look for the source of the distress sound.  If you’re using an electronic caller, place it in the valley between the ridges.  If a coyote does not stop to look for the distress sound, a quick bark made with just your voice will always stop them in their tracks. Be sure to have your gun up because they will pinpoint the exact location of the sound and will bust you as you bring your gun up to shoot.  I learned this the hard way.  The feeling is like blowing the shot on a ten-point buck after putting in all the hard work just to get the shot.  Believe me, a coyote can get “out of Dodge” in less time than it took you to say it.

Fields: Hunting fields this time of year will be difficult because coyote are still gun-shy from deer season.  You will rarely see them out in a field during day light.  Towards the end of February, they seem to relax a bit and spend more time out in the open during daylight hours.  The fact that mating season is about to go into full swing makes them drop their guard just like a rutting buck.  If you want to try to call one out into a field, try to find one that has a lot of thick cover on the downwind side.  They will cruise through the thick cover and peer out into the field to find what’s in distress and this is where a decoy will come in handy.  I place it no closer than 50 yards from the edge of the cover.  Any closer and the coyote will just bolt out into the field after it and you will have to try to hit it running.  Ideally, you want to make the coyote step out of the cover and stop to investigate, giving you a still target to shoot.  Try to sit 30 or more yards from the decoy in order to hide your movement from the coyote that is looking at the decoy.  You can also have a friend sit in a tree stand about 50 yards into the woods downwind of the person calling.

Level Wooded Areas :

In this type of terrain, seek out some sort of brush thicket and set up about 50 yards off the downwind side of it out in the open woods. Coyotes travel along the downwind sides of the brush checking the wind for anything that might be hiding in the brush.  The aid of a tree stand will not only increase your sight distance, but it will also help get your scent up and away from any coyotes that might circle downwind of you.  If you were on the ground, these coyotes might have been out of sight.  If the use of tree stands is not an option, try to find the slightest rise in the ground in order to gain sight advantage.  If hunting with a partner, have him on the opposite side of the tree looking the opposite way from you so you can cover twice the area.  If the brush line is long enough, they can sit 50 yards or so to your left or right but you must make absolutely sure of where you both are so you don’t shoot at each other.

Calling :

I usually begin my early morning and evening stands with a lone howl or two.  This lets the coyotes know that there is another coyote around.  Every coyote in a pack can distinguish their pack members’ howls and they will instantly know that you are not part of the pack.  You should practice and master your howling before you attempt to howl at coyote.  They will know the difference.  If the pack or one of its members is territorial, it will approach the sound to search for the intruder.  This usually happens during mating season.  Sometimes they will howl back at you to let you know where they are.   The vocalization reveals the coyote’s intention. It tells you whether it is aggressive ( challenge howls ) or not.  To hear a complete list of coyotes’ vocalizations, check out this link: (http://www.gofoxpro.com/fpsounds/index.php ).  If you get one to howl back at you, try to repeat the coyote’s howl.  This will aggravate the coyote.  It will think that another coyote is mocking it and will come looking for a fight.  If the coyote stops howling, just wait quietly.  It is probably coming in and doesn’t want to give up its position.  If you get no response, wait about 5-10 minutes and start some type of distress sound.  When making distress sounds, remember that you just need to sound like something that is dying.  I typically use deer or rabbits, but if I know that there are many turkeys in the area, I will use turkey sounds.  Continue the sound for about 5 minutes, wait another ten minutes, and then repeat 3-4 more times.  Take a 15-20 minute break and then continue the distress sounds.  This notifies the coyotes in the area that the intruder-coyote has caught prey in their territory.  They will come to see what was caught in order to join in on the meal or to take it away and run the intruder out.  When you’re not calling, you should scan the woods looking for movement.  Every now and then, you will find a really aggressive coyote that comes running in at full tilt so you’ll have to have your gun up on your knee ready for action.  Most of the time however, they will come in at a slow gait.  It is always best to stop them before shooting and a simple bark made with your voice will do the trick.  If a coyote sees you and takes off keep barking at it and it will most likely stop to look back.  After about 9:30 or 10 am, I will make distress sounds since you don’t hear many coyotes howling this time of the day.  If you’re not getting any coyotes coming in to your calls, don’t give up, keep at it!  Sometimes I will go 2-3 weeks, hunting 3-4 days a week, all day long before I can locate coyotes or get one to respond to my calls. So keep at it and you’ll find that hunting coyotes is like hunting turkeys with a great sense of smell.

Look for Part 3 of this article– “Hunting Coyote During the Late Winter and Their Mating Season.”

Property

One of the main things I think about when looking for a big buck is, “Do big bucks even live here?”  In the past, I’ve experienced situations where I studied property from front to back, investigating it over and over only to find there was no sign suggesting a big buck called it home.   I should explain that I don’t just “sign hunt” (which I will discuss later on).  There are areas that seem good on the surface but after you hunt these areas for a while, you still never see any big bucks.  There’s a good chance that the buck you’re looking for doesn’t live there.  If this sounds familiar, then you might be holding out for a buck that’ doesn’t exist.  I realize that many of us may only have a couple of spots to hunt and those lands may be threatened by new houses and buildings going up next to “our” hunting spots.  These constant changes make our job of finding a big buck haven even more challenging.  However, I like to use these conditions to my advantage.  I’ve seen some giant bucks that love to hang out near houses because they feel secure.  As long as you can maintain a safe and legal distance from houses, don’t overlook these areas as potential big buck hot spots.  Make the most of the properties you have available by adapting and come to know what is considered a big buck for your area.  Then you can decide if that type of buck will make you happy or if you need to search for another area.

Scouting

I do quite a bit of scouting, but I do it in a less conventional way.  I spend a lot of time in the woods, but it’s not when the season opener is right around the corner.  I like scouting while I’m small game hunting, in the weeks following deer season.  Rubs can still be easily seen from the past season and nothing shows deer trails like a blanket of snow.  Also, at this time of year, it’s not a big deal if you bump deer as it’s unlikely that you’ll scare them out of the county. While scouting, not only do I look for sign, I also focus on land characteristics that may force deer into a certain area or cause them to use certain travel corridors.  Look for things like funnels and pinch points to and from bedding areas.  Some of my best spots lack rubs or scrapes in their immediate vicinity but I learned big bucks use them because I did my homework to understand the big picture.  By the same token, I’ve hunted on promising rub and scrape lines that didn’t produce.  Again, it’s important to know the big picture and scouting this time of year affords you that opportunity. 

I continue to scout through the spring and summer but once mid to late august arrives, I’m out of the woods.  It’s getting too close to the season for me to be walking around and taking a chance of spooking deer.  At this point in the year, the scouting I do is from a distance and usually consists of glassing fields in the mornings and evenings.  I’ve observed that deer, left alone during this timeframe, are often following similar patterns at the beginning of the season.  

Once the season begins, I do most of my hunting from my climber, especially if I’m on new property.  If I have a spot I know is going to be one of my main stand locations, I will put a hang-on there but I insure that all preparations, including trimming and shooting lanes, are complete by August so deer have plenty of time to adjust to it.  There have been occasions where I have hung stands during the season, but I will only do this if I can find the perfect tree that hides the stand well enough and doesn’t require any trimming.  I avoid trimming branches during the season, especially big ones.  Deer have an uncanny sense for noticing minute changes in their environment. 

Another scouting tool, growing in popularity, is a trail camera. I have mixed opinions on them.  I don’t use them much personally but I do think they can be a good asset.  When scouting a new property that you haven’t hunted, trail cameras can help identify if big bucks are present.  In my proven spots where you already know big bucks are present, trail cameras provide the details on what specific bucks are there this season.  The main reason I don’t like to use them much is this; unless you buy an expensive model that sends the pictures via cellular signal to a website, you have to continually go back into the woods to retrieve the photos from your SD card.  Each time you go in, no matter how careful you are, you are disturbing the area with human scent.  So that big buck you’re getting pictures of is starting to feel pressure, sensing your presence weeks before you even get a chance to hunt him.  When using your cameras, be conscious about how often you disturb your hunting areas. Scout hard and scout smart, but get it done early.

Pressure

I think the biggest factor and most important point when pursuing big deer is not over hunting an area or specific stand. Just like I stated earlier about the trail cams and pressure, you have to remember that big bucks are intelligent.  They have got at least a few years and a few hunting seasons under their belt.  In a state like ours with such high hunting pressure, big bucks have seen every trick and every mistake in the book.  Over pressuring a big buck is a quick way to send him to the night shift if he’s not already on it.  In my opinion, most of the big, mature bucks fall either in the first few days of the season before they realize they are being hunted or during the rut.  For me, I leave my best stands for the best times of the year when my chances at a good one are that much higher and avoid putting undue pressure on them.  If I know a good buck is using an area near my stand, I may hunt it early, but if I don’t get him in the first few days, I back out and stay out until the rut when he is more likely to be a bit careless and make mistakes.  I also never over hunt an area.  I try to avoid hunting the same stand more than two days in a row, whether it’s a prime stand or not.  Recognize that even if you don’t see the deer you’re after during legal shooting hours, if he comes by after dark and smells where you walked over and over each day, he’s going to figure out something is not right.  He’s going to start avoiding the area. So hunt carefully and spread yourself out amongst stands to keep the pressure off.

Scent Prevention

A deer’s biggest defense is their nose. They survive by it.  I’ve had deer walk within feet of me and not spook, as long as they couldn’t smell me.  They try so hard to figure out what you are but more times than not, if they can’t smell you, you’re good to go.  It may only take one whiff of you for that big boy to evacuate and evade the area.  There is critical preparation I take prior to heading into the woods.  I start with my clothing.  Although I do wear carbon clothing, I don’t rely on it entirely.  I believe that washing my clothing in scent preventing/killing detergent and keeping my clothes scent free is more important. My clothing gets washed every few hunts and never comes into the house, except for washing.  When I get home from hunting, I take my hunting clothes off outside and keep them in scent-free containers.  I never wear them into the store or gas station on the way to the woods.  I know some hunters who even take the extra step of not getting into their hunting clothes until they get to the woods and out of their truck in order to stay as scent-free as possible. I used to do this and admit it helped.  However, I now skip this step and focus on my other preparation as it makes for a cold morning getting changed outside the truck.  I also bathe in scent free soaps and shampoos from a week or two before the season all the way until the end of the season, whether I’m going hunting that day or not.  Although you may not smell it after a scent free shower, I’m going to venture to say a deer’s nose can tell if you showered with old spice all the days leading up to your hunt.  Once I head to the woods, I thoroughly spray down with scent killing spray, especially on my legs and boots, and then re-spray after I get into the stand.  Speaking of stands, I always focus on the wind.  It doesn’t matter to me if I’ve seen a big buck from a stand day after day, when the next day arrives, if the wind is wrong for that stand, I’m not going to hunt it.  It’s simple, if the wind is blowing towards the direction the deer usually come from, they’re not going to come, regardless of how scent free you are.  Not only do I watch the wind for my stand, I try to keep the wind in my favor for walking to my stand.  If you have to walk past where the deer come from and the wind is blowing your scent all over that area, it’s not going to matter much if it’s good when you actually get to the stand.  You already let them know you are there.  If you don’t hunt the wind, think about all the deer that wind you and go snorting away.  Now think about all the ones that smelled you before you even saw them.  Play the deer’s nose.  It can make or break your hunt.

In part one, I’ve touched on a few important parts of hunting for big deer. Big bucks are smart animals, and in my opinion, a totally different animal than other deer.  Once they have a few seasons under their belt, it’s as if they totally change.  They seem to have that sixth sense. Many times big bucks don’t even move in the day light at all.  Hopefully, you can use some of these tips to help you bag your next big buck. Look for part two of Hunting for Big Bucks, coming soon.

Shoot Straight

Mike of Adrenaline Archery

Many ice fishermen refer to electronics as “Flashers”.  Over the past decade, ice fishing electronics have grown by leaps and bounds.  The days of sitting on hard water, guessing the depth and wondering if there are fish underneath you are over. Now it’s as simple as putting a transducer on clear ice, turning it on, checking the depth, and locating the fish by flash.

For the past 5 years, I have used the Vexilar FL8 Genz pack.

This device has helped me bring more fish to the top of the ice.  Even if you are unfamiliar with flasher systems, it will only take a short time to master them. Once you learn how to read the unit, you will never want to go ice fishing without it!  The Vexilar FL8 will read depth up to 120 feet of water, perfect for pan fish, salmon, lake trout and bass where legal.  However, if you are fishing larger lakes, like Lake George or Otsego you may want to use the FL18 or FL20 pack, which can read much deeper and have zoom features.  Flashers range in price from $300-$600.  On the better units, the zoom feature is in a class of its own.  On the left hand side of the screen, you will have a 6-foot zoom of the bottom.

You might ask, “What does that do for me?”  Well, if you have the regular FL8, a large red blob on the screen might appear to suspend itself from the bottom and lead you to believe that it is one large fish.  With the zoom effect (bottom 6 feet), you will be able to distinguish that it is actually 3 or 4 small fish.  The Vexilar and flasher sonar system gives you “real time information”.   You see the fish as they swim, not where they were swimming before.  As you move your jig up, you see the jig move up, as the fish moves up, you see the fish move as well.  At first, all the little flashes and different colors may be a little intimidating if you are used to a regular fish finder, but I promise you the flasher is a very simple instrument to use.

Try it out on your favorite body of water.  This way, you already know the layout of the lake, weed lines, rock shoals, drop-offs, etc.  When you turn on your flasher and you are in weeds, it will look like the whole right side of the screen is green (which can often be adjusted to disappear with the correct gain, or sensitivity setting).  A green section on the unit means that the sonar is penetrating through the actual object with little resistance or that it is off to the side of the cone.  You will often see a bright red spot in between all the green.  This is a fish suspended in the weeds.  The bottom will usually appear yellowish on top of red due to weeds growing in the mud.  Look at the diagram above.  You will see two different sets of numbers.  S 1, 2, 4 and D 1, 2, 4.  The outside set of numbers is for shallow water fishing (S) and the inside set is for deep water fishing (D).  When you set up your flasher, and you arre on a setting of S-1, it will show you 0-20 feet as portrayed on the outside numbers.  This is perfect for shallow water pan fish.  If you set it on S-2, it will show you the depth using the outside set of numbers but you must multiply the number by 2.  If you set it on S-4, you must multiply the outside set of numbers by 4.  The same goes for Deep.  D-1 will show you the inside set of numbers, D-2 still using the same inside numbers, just multiplythem by 2 and so on with D-4.  This is a perfect example of what you will see on your flasher.

If you follow the numbers that go clockwise from the zero on the top, it will all make sense.  This person is fishing in 11 feet of water, using a small jig and his next meal is appraoching it.  You can see that the jig is at 7 feet and the fish is at 8.5 feet.  You can USUALLY get rid of the top clutter if you adjust the gain lower.  But remember, you must always be able to see your jig or lure.  The lure could show up as a small green line like the example above.  This way, the clutter will clean up and the fish will show up clearly.  Many times when ice fishing, schools of fish such as perch, bluegills and crappie will come through your screen.  When a fish is right under the transducer, it is Bright Red.  If a fish is off to the side, it usually shows up as yellowish or orange and just out of the cone as green.

Here is another example of how to read the colors a little better.

Even if you are unfamiliar with flasher systems, it will only take a short time to master them. In my opinion, if you are an ice fisherman, a flasher is a must.  It will tell you how the fish want you to present their meal.  YES, IT WILL TELL YOU!!!  For example, if you are fishing for perch in 20 F.O.W., you should drop down a jamming jig teardrop with 4 spikes on it.   When a fish appears on the sonar,  you stop jigging; the fish comes up to your bait and turns the lure completely red but no bite, then the fish sinks down to the bottom.  Five minutes later, another fish appears, you start jigging hard.  A fish comes up to the bait while you are still jigging and without hesitation inhales your lure.  You have just formed a pattern.  You can get the presentation down, lure size, lure color, and everything just from these units.  You can see if fish are shying away from green but hammering pink, or inhaling large baits instead of small ones.  They are worth their weight in gold when you are on the hard water and I will never leave home without mine.

 In the next article, I will discuss the different lures and jigging setups that I use, ranging from 1 lb – 8 lb test on ice rods as well as the best tip-ups or traps I have ever used.

Jay Rowe
Hudson Valley Pro-Staff
Hard Water Addict
Pictures by Vexilar and chicagolandfishing.com.

I for one, get out and start shed hunting right after the deer season ends. I don’t start walking, but I start noticing. Start noticing everything……the bucks are done rutting and starting to yard up together with the does, I notice where they yard up, I take note of what they are eating, I look for sunny hill sides. These are all things that I start to look for at season’s end. Where I hunt, I have noticed that some bucks even start dropping their antlers before the end of December and go to as late as March/April, in fact last year I ended up shooting a buck the second to last day of the late Bow season that drop his antler in my hand when skinning him. This year, I already know of two deer that were shot during the muzz/bow season that had already dropped their antlers…….

I start looking for sheds in January provided we don’t have a lot of snow. The first place I start is the food plots, after that it’s were I noticed the deer yarding up in December. These two places never fail to produce drops for me. The food plots are great places to find sheds and easy to get in and out of. Even my 4 year old Step-daughter found a shed walking the food plot this past year…..…..(see photo) . I will check these food plots once a week as long as we have no snow. I try and stay out of the woods until the spring weather melts the snow. Getting back to noticing the sunny hill sides, these are places that deer are naturally going to go to yard up.  The snow on these south facing slopes melts first and give the deer a place to feed. The deer will yard up in these places and stay around for as long as they are not pushed.  These are also great places to set up trail cameras and antler traps, which I will talk about later on in the article. 

Once the snow has melted it’s off into the woods to walk and look. I have found that the more time I put into the woods, the more sheds you will find. It’s much more difficult to find sheds in the woods,  so you must stay focused. I try to really focus on the trails and small clearing along these trails. Hardwoods are very difficult places to find sheds in, if I find any there it’s really by mistake,   So I don’t waste to much time there.  I will walk the hardwoods and deer trails to get to bedding areas and when I come across an areas that has some bushes for deer to browse on I slow down and scower the area for drops.  Go around every bush, don’t miss a bush and make sure you check in the bushes as well. I have found several sheds in the bush itself. When the deer start browsing on theses bushes the branches will cause the sheds to fall off and land around or in these bushes.  One thing I must caution you on is don’t expect to find sheds together, deer will loose their antlers at different times and on occasion the both of them will fall off together. In the six years since I started shed hunting I have found about a hundred sheds or so and only 10 sets of sheds.  The photo below is a picture of the antlers I’ve collected in the last 6 years.

Trail cameras and antler traps are great tools to help you increase your odds of finding shed antlers. Back in the beginning of the article I told you to look for yarded up deer and sunny hill sides, these are places I set up my trail cameras. Knowing when the deers antlers are gone helps me determine when most of the antlers have dropped.  You can also put out a licking block with the camera set up on it and get some great photos as well.

Antler traps are another way some people like to collect drops, I have tried them and it didn’t really work for me. The object is to make some sort of trap to knock the antlers off when the deer go and feed. This can be done by either using a couple of hay bales or some chicken wire.  Using hay bales lay them on the ground about a foot apart, now pile some sort of feed between them, when the bucks go in to eat the feed, the hay bales loosens the antlers and they drop there or near by. The chicken wire trap, which works the same way, needs to be about 2 feet high and put into a circle about 18 inches round, stake it to the ground with a few rods or tent spikes and fill with feed, when the bucks reach into the chicken wire to feed the chicken wire loosens or sheds the bucks antlers.  Like I said, tried and didn’t have a lot of success.

Whatever method you use to shed hunt, just get out and do it. Shed hunting allows us to get out of the house and back into the woods. It can be done alone or in groups, you can even bring your family and shed hunt together. When you start finding sheds you will be hooked, it will becomes a challage, and it will help make the end of deer season a little easier….

    The fall season is almost upon us and most hunters await the upcoming bow season, but a few (including me) are awaiting the opening day of New York’s coyote season beginning October 1st.  It’s the early season as most coyote hunters call it. This is the time that coyotes are the easiest to call in. The older coyotes that made it through last years hunting season or maybe a bad winter have become less weary from hunters chasing them all winter and  the grown pups of this year are out hunting for them selves. The pups for the most part have not encountered humans yet and they just don’t know whats about to commence on them starting October 1ST.

During this early season most coyotes will be more active during the daylight hours due to the lack of hunting pressure and have set hunting areas just like whitetail deer have their summer feeding patterns. Try to remember were you heard them howling all summer as they will still be near these areas in the early fall. The pups or young yotes will still be hunting near the dens as they feel safe in these areas and will still be hunting together. If and when you do call one in you can be sure that others aren’t far behind. During this early season coyotes may be  less weary from last years season and the pups not yet educated about us hunters, but that doesnt mean their stupid either.  Pay close attention to the wind direction. You may get away with making a few mistakes on the younger yotes, but the older ones will remember the smell of human Oder from previous seasons and will become  more alert with all the elevated human presence in the woods.

Setup and Calls

   Set up and stick to open fields during this early season, with all  the under growth in the woods and  the leaves  still on the trees makes visibility next to nothing when hunting on the ground. This time of the year your most productive calls will be pup distress, fawn bawls, high pitch rodent and rabbit sounds. I usually start every set out with a high pitch howl to make it sound like a younger coyote looking to see if any other coyotes from the pack are around.  I then start in with distress sounds which make it sound like the coyote that was howling earlier just caught a meal which will bring other coyotes in to investigate the situation. I find that most coyotes will enter the field from the side that has the thickest brush or wooded area, I believe they feel they have a safe exit route if they have to leave in a hurry. 9 times out of 10 when spooked they will turn and run back exactly the same way they came into your call, also they can look out into the field from this dense cover without exposing them selves in the wide open. Many many times I’ve had a coyote howl back at me from just in off the edge of a field from this dense cover and just sit  and howl their fool heads off knowing that they are hidden and safe. When this does happen its enough to make a grown man go insane or at the least get you hooked on coyote hunting (sorta like seeing a big buck just out of bow range).

Patience, Stealth.” Success”

 If  and when you do call a coyote out into the open field and you notice he’s looking  all around for the sound it just heard be patient and get your gun ready and into shooting position. Only call again if  he’s not looking directly towards you. Give a few short distress calls and he should turn and run to your direction, especially if it’s a young coyote. Once you get him coming towards you let him get as close as possible before shooting as other coyotes may come out of the cover to get in on the action. Once close enough for your liking you can just give a simple dog  like bark with your voice  this should stop the coyote in it’s tracks .( This will also work to stop a spooked coyote or one that has been shot at), although it may take a couple of barks it does work . If he doesn’t turn and start in your direction be patient and don’t over call or he will definitely know somethings up. Every coyote acts totally different. Many of times I’ve had coyotes come out into the field and want nothing to do with any call i use. For some unexplained reason they just don’t seem interested and seem to just act lazy. I do know for sure, but I do know its not because they couldn’t hear the call as I’ve seen them respond to a lip squeak from well over 300 yards away. Their sense of hearing is unbelievable. If you think that slamming a car door from 300-400 yards away won’t alert them you might as well stay home as you will be wasting your time. Like I said earlier though not all coyotes act the same and some noises like that won’t effect coyotes near rural areas as much, but back in the mountainous areas it will send them packing no ifs ands or butts about it. I’ve experienced this many of times while walking into the woods,  Ive come across coyote tracks in the snow  facing the direction were I parked my truck and then the tracks just come to a sudden stop then turned and bolted.  I make every attempt to be as quite as possible. Sometimes just the sound of a vehicle coming to a stop is all it takes.  Usually I try to approach the area I intend to hunt from at least 1/4 mile away. It may seem like alot but if you want to have a high success rate hunting coyotes you have to pull out all the tricks to put fur on the ground. Stay tuned for Phase 2 “hunting the start of winter”

Good Luck.

David Poppo is an avid predator hunter from Ellenville NY.

BROADHEADS

For body shots keep in mind that the birds feathers are thick, tough and do protect the bird to a certain point.Fixed blade broadheads work good but i think that large diameter cut mechanical heads are the way to go.When you see the anatomy diagrams of a turkey you will know what i mean.Give yourself the best chance at putting the bird down and if you are sceptical of mechanical heads for deer you can be confident  that these heads are almost perfectly matched to take on a big ole tom.Trophy Ridge,NAP and Grim Reaper are good examples of  great large diameter cut broadheads. 

Head shots are becoming popular with the introduction of great broadheads that are made just for this purpose.A couple of good points that are making these shots common are when aiming at the head you know exactly where the kill zone is compared to body shots that take some time studying anatomy diagrams to know right where to aim.Magnus and Arrowdynamic Solutions  make broadheads specifically for head shots.

SHOT PLACEMENT

Anyone that has killed turkeys with a shotgun will tell you how hard it can be to put these birds down so you can imagine what it takes to bag them with your bow.The best advise i can give other than practicing shooting before the season at close range is to study turkey anatomy diagrams which i have provided in a link to a great diagram chart.

http://forums.mathewsinc.com/archery-4/bow-hunting-9/turkey-anatomy-shot-placement-diagrams-85425/

We are going to focus on trolling for striped bass on the Hudson River during the spring time run. If you have a boat, whether  a kayak or a 60” Ritchie Howell, you can catch striped bass.

Smaller boats –

On smaller boats 10ft – 14 ft, without downriggers, I would suggest flat lining OR lead core. Flat lining is a simple technique which involves you letting out a certain amount of line for the specific lure you are using. I.E. Rapala TD12 – 120 Feet of line will make the lure dive at 23 Feet of water. Lead core is a type of line that is much heavier then regular line, this making it sink further. Lead core has different colors on the spool and releasing the line to a certain color, will tell you how deep the lure is going. To learn more about fishing with lead core line use this link

http://blog.hudsonvalleysportsman.com/fishing/trolling-nyc-reservoirs-part-1/

Larger Boats –

I would highly suggest if you are looking to do any type of trolling for striped bass in the river to invest in downriggers. On my boat, I run 4 electric downriggers, but I used manual for years. The largest fish we caught in the river was caught on a downrigger (Manual) 18 feet down, and 33 feet back from the ball (47.3 lbs).  In my opinion, it’s the easiest way to put fish in the boat and keep your rods bent.  Traditionally,  you will not catch the big cows trolling,  but a lot of the smaller fish with a few big ones mixed in.  We use a 12 lb pancake type of ball for several reasons. The heavier ball allows us to troll against the current without any worry of the ball drifting up and not being at your target depth. The pancakes style balls come with a fin in the rear. The great thing about this fin, is that you can bend it to make it plane away from your vessel and stays away from the other down rigger lines. Standard Cannon SPRING releases we prefer. We found that if you use the big john releases or others that involve rubber bands, its more hassle then helpful. Remember, keep it simple.Just remember one thing……think walleyes. Go into your local sporting good dealer and you will see aisles and aisles of stick baits for bass, pike, walleyes and striped bass. Instead of going straight to the striped bass aisle, walk to the walleye aisle. Look at the “Larger” walleye stick baits. I.E. Reef Runners, Rapala’s, Cotton Cordel’s. Pick out 6 of them, all different colors, and use them. Next article I will be discussing more in depth with lures and boat speeds.