Planning Ahead

This is the perfect time of the year to get back into the woods and start thinking tree stands! It is never to soon to be getting your stand sites prepped and ready. Was there ever a time on stand that you thought, "If only I was over there 50 yards". Maybe you had some other areas you wanted to explore. This lull time is perfect for making some changes.

The main reason to be in the woods now is that right now the woods still looks like it did in the fall. You have the ability to see it as it will actually be when you hunt. In the past I have prepped stands in mid to late summer thinking I was really going to be hidden well, but after the leaves fell I was sticking out like a sore thumb. I have learned that earlier is better. Like I mentioned, this is as close as you can get for matching the woods conditions. You will be able to see what your stand location will look like from every possible angle. You can see if the natural cover is enough or if you have to add or find a different tree. Plus you can do this without the fear of spooking game or be worried about leaving a ton of scent in the area.

Deer are very keen when it comes to noticing any changes in the woods. If you get out and cut your shooting lanes now the deer will have all summer to get use to any changes. Later in the summer you may have to trim some new growth out of the way, but it will be easier than starting from scratch. Another bonus to this time of year is that it's not to hot yet, and the bugs haven't exploded on the scene, and it's just nice to get into the woods after a long winter. This is something you can bring the whole family to help with.

Everything you do now will put you one step close to the deer of a lifetime!

Shed Hunting

Now is the perfect time to get out of the house and get some fresh air. If some of you die hard bow hunters are like me you are already thinking of the next season. Shed hunting helps to pass the time. You get some exercise, some insight to bedding areas, food sources, trails, and if your lucky you can find a few shed antlers. You can also include the whole family in this activity!

This time of year when there is snow on the ground is a perfect time to explore your hunting area. All the trails are marked for you! By this I mean unless the deer have been chased around by predators they will stick to there trails so they don't burn extra energy. When you head out take a map of your area, take along a couple pencils and your GPS, and make a map of where you are finding trails. Take some notes, the woods looks a lot different this time of year, plus you may forget what you wanted to remember. You will also be able to see where the deer feed in the winter months. These areas will have more wandering tracks while they are browsing. Any time you can get into the woods will help future hunts, you may just stumble across a rub line you didn't know existed. They will still appear fresh as the rub hasn't had a chance to dull. Mark all of it on your map. It will give you a better idea of deer movement in your area, and help in the seasons to come.

As a bonus to all this walking you may come across a few sheds. Any shed you find is a trophy in my mind. These usually will be found around bedding areas and also around food sources. I have heard reports that some people are starting to find sheds and others are still seeing deer with their headgear still attached. If you live in a area where shed hunting is popular, you will want to start getting out to look every chance you get. Even if you are covering the same ground, you never know when they will drop them. If you have your own land or a area where it isn't as popular to hunt for sheds, you could wait a bit before you get out!

Good Luck and have fun searching!

Another Season Done

The 2007 Mn bow season has come to a close. The season end found myself with a bad head cold that had me plugged up and on the couch. Not the way I wanted to finish the season! Although this wasn't my best season for deer on the ground it was a season filled with chances.

Part of my deer obsession is that I am always looking for bigger deer. Sometimes that does mean tags go unfilled. It was around Oct. 30th this year, I was set off of a field about 100 yards in a staging area. The sun was just starting to think about rising over the tree tops. I heard that unmistakable crunch, crunch, crunch, behind me. As I looked to my left I could make out the silhouette of a deer moving closer. When it was about 30 yards behind me I could make out that it was indeed a buck. I could make out there were at least 8 points, but he had his head down most of the time and his antlers blended in the the fallen leaves. Between my set up and the field were a set of train track. I heard the train approaching as the deer browsing behind me. I wondered what effect the train would have on this buck. The answer was no effect at all. He must have been use to the trains, as he continued to browse around my stand, and actually went closer to the train. At one point he stood broadside, 20 yrds, in front of my tree stand staring away from me watching the train go by! I chose to let him grow another year!

On another hunt later in Nov. I was set up in a funnel between a bedding area and a feeding area. I had just got set up for the afternoon hunt. The time was around 1:30. I heard something coming. Out in front of my stand to the left was a small 10 point headed directly in front of my position. He stopped at 15 yrds for a quick second to check a scrape, and then moved off to my right. He just wasn't the deer I was looking for either.

There were other close calls and almosts, and I am sure there are a lot of hunters who at the end of the season look back and wish they may have taken a deer or two that they saw during the season, but I feel pretty good knowing that these deer will have a chance to grow even bigger this next season. When I pulled my stands from the funnel, I saw that 10 pointer, so I know he made it threw the rifle season!

Now it's time to re-coup and re-group, but my thoughts are already thinking ahead to the 2008 season! I hope everyone has a Safe and Happy New Year!

A Quite Night

This afternoon I head back to my logging spot from last week to see what was happening. About 1:30 I put my Natural Gear Snow Camo on and headed in for a look see. This time I walked through the deeper snow so I wouldn't crunch. I didn't see any deer when I got to the spot I thought they would be. Looking around I found a few fresh sets of tracks and a few beds in the fresh snow. So I figured they would probably come back for the evening feed. I set up a make shift ground blind in a little 5 foot wide dip. Much to my dismay, I didn't see a thing.

The pic is of the area that I was hunting. There is actually a lot more downed trees than is in the picture. There is a small hill that you can see in the back of the photo, a lot of the trees were on the backside!

Tomorrow I will look around for something new! Only 4 more days to go!

Another Close Call!

It was a nice day with temps in the upper 20's, so I decided to head out to the woods in hope of filling a tag or two. In certain areas of Minnesota you can buy additional management tags for antlerless only deer. I still have one!

As I was driving out to the area I wanted to hunt, I remember thinking how nice it would be to locate a food source that the deer were hitting. In the "Big Woods" of northern Mn we don't have many fields to hunt, so in my opinion this makes the hunt a lot tougher. As I approached my hunting area I noticed a few new logging roads on a few approaches heading into the wood. When I got to the area I wanted to check out I noticed a skidder parked just inside the tree line. Then I remembered what I had totally forgotten about. When loggers go in and cut down trees, they cut the very top of the tree off since they can't use them. Here was my food source that I had been hoping for. Deer love to browse on these tree tops!

I put on my snow camo, and grabbed my bow and was off! I started to follow the skidder tail through the woods. The snow on the trail was packed from the tires and was somewhat crunchy. I could see that hadn't gotten very much logged off yet as I could make out some logs laying around the next corner. So I slowed my pace down just in case.

I made it about 60 yards away from the brush pile when out from behind a tree stood a doe staring directly at me. I instantly froze. Then I noticed there were 2 other does with her. I had the wind in my favor, and I was head to toe white, so this doe really had no idea what I was. Our little staring match lasted a good 5 minutes. Meantime the other 2 does had drifted over the hill to the other side of the brush pile. The whole time I was frozen I would move my release closer to the string whenever I thought she wasn't looking. I was really hoping she would move off so I could try to sneak closer and surprise them over the hill.

Finally she saw me as no threat and moved off. I thought here is my chance to move in! Wrong! There was a 4th doe that was hiding in a low spot. They must have been trading off so the other could eat. This doe was much better at the staring game. She had me pinned for 10 minutes easy. She just stood there chewing her cud while watching me. I had my feet in a awkward position, so by this time they were falling asleep!

When she got bored with watching me, she actually started to browse in my direction. After standing still for 15 minutes I had plenty of time to look over shooting lanes and judge distances. She was going to be in a shooting lane at what I guessed to be about 43yrds. Just when her chest was about to hit the opening she just had to look at me one more time! I couldn't draw back just yet. At the first sign of her dropping her head I drew back, but in that short time she took one step and gave me a terrible quartering away shot, so I had to pass. When her head went behind a tree I tried to take a step forward. She heard that crunch of snow, and it was all over! She took the other 3 deer with her.

There were several intense moments in that 15-20 minutes. That's why I continue to bow hunt! I really wish I could go back tomorrow as I feel they would be back taking advantage of the new food source, but my family and I are heading to my parents for Christmas. I am hoping they will still be using that area when I get back. I would love to get some more meat to grind up for sticks and sausage. I am going to do my own this year, but that topic is for another time.

I hope all of you have a Safe and Merry Christmas!

Adam

A Little about Myself...

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adam Forsythe. I live in northern Mn in a town called Backus. I have a wife and a 2 year old daughter. I have been deer hunting for roughly 22 years. For the past 7 years now I have exclusively been a bow hunter. Bow hunting is my passion. The day the season closes I am already looking forward to the next season, as many of you are!

There are always tips and tricks that help us in the deer woods. I will be sharing some of mine for time to time, and I encourage you to share any you may have. Although the archery season is starting to wind down in Minnesota, I am still in the woods when my family schedule allows. I have passed some decent bucks up so far this season, looking for something bigger. I think the biggest I have passed up was in the 120 range, but it was only my 2nd time in a stand this season, so I passed. I will keep at it until the season is closed if necessary!

Until next time, good luck and shoot straight!

Adam

A Big Thank You!

I wanted to take a second and thank Scott Gingerich for giving me this opportunity to work with him and the entire staff at Yeoldearcheryshoppe.com. I think we are going to have a lot of fun and we are going to talk a lot about bow hunting!