Find Out How to Draw a Game Tag Out West

After reading an awesome story about a spectacular canadian moose hunt on RealTree.com, I came across some useful information for those of you who are considering entering a drawing to hunt in the western states you see below. Click on the map to learn more.

How to draw a tag in western states.

Hunters Make Mistakes During the Rut (3 of 8)

Mistake: Poor Scent Control

Practicing proper scent control techniques will really help you win the battle with a deer’s acute sense of smell. While it’s nearly impossible to eliminate all of your human scent, it is very possible to significantly reduce the emittance of human odor to levels that won’t alarm deer.

How many of you have gone on a hunting trip with some buddies to hunt the day and play poker and party at night? How many of you wear your hunting clothes while driving to and from the hunting site? And, here’s another good one - you decide to cut away from the hunt to go down to the local tavern and get some food, a beverage and watch the game for an hour or so. You laugh, but it happens. For many, that’s all part of tradition. I say that’s fine as long as your hunting tradition includes the part where you go home with an unfilled deer tag.

Think of everything that you take out into the woods as sacred tools of the trade. I’m not just talking about your clothes, either. Starting with the primary source of human odor - you. Before you go out to hunt in the morning, throw yourself through the shower and wash up with special soaps, shampoos and deodorant that will help reduce human odor.

Then don’t put your hunting clothes on until you get out in the field. Store your clothes in an airtight plastic container when you’re not wearing them. Same goes for your footwear. When you get out to the field, start to put on your hunting clothes. Wear only enough so that you don’t sweat during the walk in. Have a bottle of cover scent handy to spray your clothes, shoes and equipment before you head out to your stand location. Once you get all set up in your stand and your ready to hunt, do yourself a favor and spray yourself down one last time.

Taking these extra measures of precaution will give you a significant advantage over fighting human odor. Again, keep a portable spray bottle of cover scent with you whenever your out hunting. A little spray will go a long way.

Martin Firecat Pro-X: fast, lightweight & affordable

I just tested a brand new Martin Firecat Pro-X and was I pleasantly surprised. First, I should mention that I never considered Martin bows before, but a recent article had turned me on to the Firecat and had me wanting to get my hands on one.

The first thing I noticed was how light it was – 3.6 lbs. light. This compared to my Hoyt Vextrix which weighs close to 5 lbs. stripped down. For me, the lighter it is - the easier it is to stalk with, which I like to do a lot of during the winter months of bow season. The other significant thing I noticed was, much like the article I read had noted, the Firecat has a real smooth draw. It has an integrated Sims Ultra Limbsaver system that reduces shock and really quiets the bow upon release. The arrow rest has also been beefed up with a sound dampening shelf made of soft rubber which they call Omega V. I don’t care what they call it. It’s an ingenious way to rid the problem of clanking arrows. The one thing I didn’t care for was the grip, but I was told that there are three different grip options that come with this model.

Once I had the bow at full draw, the let-off was amazing. I felt like I could hold at full draw much longer without any strain. This great when you need that little extra long hold to get the perfect shot. This is great bow and I know you’ll be pleasantly surprised not only by it’s mechanics, but also by it’s price. The suggested retail price of this bad cat is right around $600. Not bad for it’s class. I highly recommend you check this bow out in person to see for yourself why this is the most talked about bow in the market today. If the wife let’s me, or if I should happen to win a little extra cash the next poker night with my buddies, I may have to take a trip to the local pro-shop to pick one up.

First Days of Summer – Preparing for the Hunt

It’s early June and the first days of summer are rapidly approaching. I’ve started checking up on my stand locations to see if anything needs to be cleared away. I want to maintain the area every so often just to keep my shooting lanes open, make sure stand locations aren’t overgrown whether it’s on the ground or up in a tree. 

By now, the forest floor in all parts of the United States are shadowed by a leafy canopy and in some cases thick undergrowth. Last year’s deer sign has pretty much disappeared with the exception of a few old buck rubs. Making the trek in an out of the woods during this time of year can be somewhat of hassle because of thick undergrowth, mosquitos and the heat. For the undergrowth, I use an old corn knife to hack away at overgrown tree branches and weeds both for the stand location and the pathway in. What you see now is close to what it’s going to be like in the early days of the early bow season so it’s wise to stay on top of maintain your stand location. Clearing a pathway is just as important as clearing away your stand area. This will cut down on the chance that you may leave scent behind you as walk to and from your stand. And while I’m on the subject, even though I’m not hunting, I still scent blocking spray so as not to drive deer away.

[Side note: I have an awesome homemade recipe for making your own scent blocker spray. It's included with the sale of my book. This recipe alone is reason enough to buy the book. You'll actually save money for years to come just by using it.]

As for the heat and mosquitos – well, that just goes with the territory. Use unscented bug spray to ward off mosquitos and for the heat, bring bottled water to quench your thirst. Clearing away brush, branches and weeds can be a tough job and there is no sense in dehydrating yourself over it. If anyone else has anything to add to this, feel free to throw in a comment or two.

Hunters Make Mistakes During the Rut (2 of 8)

Mistake: Giving Up After Peak Rut Subsides

In Wisconsin, peak rut occurs well into gun season. With gun season, there are more hunters out in the woods than during the early and late bow seasons. After gun season many hunters hang up there hunting equipment until next season, but there is reasons to keep on hunting even though the rut activity has quieted down. Just hold on, it’s not over yet.

In fact, hunting the post rut period can be just as good of a time to hunt big bucks because this is when bucks go back to focusing on feeding and getting their rest. Exactly 28-30 days after the peak rut period there will be a second coming of the rut. Not as intense as the peak rut, but there is enough significant activity to warrant sticking it out. Use your calls but not as intensely as you did for peak rut. I stick to just using the tending grunt and doe bleat calls during this time of year.

With December moving in, so comes the colder weather. When temperatures drop deer become active to stay warm and feed. It’s important for the whitetails survival to build up there fat storage for the long cold winter ahead. When temperatures get
really cold, like in the single-digits cold, deer will feed more often both during night and day. Watch the weather closely. If there is a storm moving in, be out there just before and right after it comes through, because the deer are sure to
come out to feed.