Our motto is "Where Your Hunt Never Ends." The reason behind that is because hunting season to us is a year-round sport. In the off season we are shed hunting, planting food plots, shooting our bows, studying aerial maps, and reflecting on last season to find ways to make our properties better. If you just get your bow out two weeks before season and start practicing, you probably won't be in proper form for the season. If you just sit in the same stands year after year, you probably aren't going to see the number of deer that you want to see.
As soon as the snow melts we are out walking our properties trying to find proof that some big deer made it through the rough Midwest winter. The above photo is of two small sheds I found in the same week back in January. I found them in my bean plot. I had planted a small patch of turnips in between some of the rows of my beans. I was walking out to check my trail camera and decided to walk and see if they had been in the turnips. That is when I found the 4-point side. Later in the week I was back out there and found the real small 3-point side. I had never found any before, and now I have already found two in the same week. We have been out a few other times but we have had so much snow that we haven't had much luck.
The added benefit of a late season food plot is that with that many deer hitting your plot, you have a great chance of finding sheds. We have had so much snow that the deer keep hitting the standing beans. It is great walking around because you also get a feel for where deer bed in the late season. With a light snow on the ground it is also easier to find trails that you may not have recognized before. You can also keep an eye out for scrapes and rub lines to determine where the big deer are cruising during the rut. I personally like looking at aerial maps, seeing if there is information I picked up during the season that I could use to find a better stand location. I don't just want to sit in the same spot. I want great stands set up all over to where no matter what the wind conditions are, I have a great chance of seeing deer.
This past year I tried to journal as much as I could as well. While I was in the stand I would just journal the temperature, wind conditions, the date, which stand I was in, and what I saw. I find it very helpful because you can see where the deer were moving and what time of year. You can look back on days during the rut and see historically which ones were the most productive. Were the big deer out chasing, or were they already with does? Did you see a lot of younger bucks, and just not many shooters. I then transfer my information from my phone to a little notepad so I can review what I saw.
I will give you an example. On November 16th I sat at the south end of a big pasture. I have woods behind me, and to the east and west. I sat all day. I set a doe decoy up about 20 yards away from in the field. I saw two does, and a nice buck pushing a small doe. I saw two more does off to the east. I then saw about a 125" 8-pointer. I had a hot doe come in to inspect my doe decoy. A 130" 10-pointer came in to check things out. I noticed she had been acting a little goofy so I figured she in heat. Sure enough that 10-pointer came in and topped her about 40 yards away. She then walked off and he didn't want to leave that decoy, but eventually he followed the doe. I then had a 125" 7-pointer skirt the edge of the woods and come into the decoy. Later, I saw a spike chasing 3 more does. I ended up seeing 9 more does and a spike. It was a great day. I saw 4 bucks over 120" but none of them were mature. Give them another year or two and they will be pretty nice.
I try and keep track of when I saw them and where I saw them. I was seeing so many that day that it was difficult. I had never hunted over a decoy until this past year, and I will never go back. I had so many deer come into that thing. I had quite a few mature does that came into it as well. I shot 3 deer over a decoy last year. It is so exciting to me becuase deer don't know what to think of it. Some deer just spooked, but for the most part it brought deer in. I never had a big one come into it, but learned a lot about decoying that I never knew. I will talk some more about those experiences in the coming months.
I hope you have a taste of what we are trying to accomplish. We want to analyze our properties and find ways to become better hunters. Now that we are a Biologic dealer, we really want to focus on providing lots of forage for the deer all throughout the season. We want to plant certain things so they will be ready for certain times of the hunting season. We want something that will be around late season that will pull deer in from other properties. Stick with us as we continue to bring you what we are working on and what we are learning. Come along side of us, and join the journey "Where the Hunt Never Ends."
