Time’s running out and you still haven’t filled your tag? Not to worry. Follow these tips to make the most of the best deer hunting of the season

20 HUNT BEFORE A STORM The rut is over, and so is the main crush of hunters in the woods, Though many big boys have gone nocturnal, they still have to eat and drink, As the weather grows colder and the number of hunters in the woods decreases, look for bucks to return to the familiarity–and safety–of their pre-rut home ranges. Was there a buck you scouted out before the season that seemed to go AWOL once the rut kicked in? Well, with a little luck, he survived the barrage of opening-week gunfire and will return to his old haunt. Look for deer to move on the front edge of storms as they detect the drop in barometric pressure and begin to feed heavily. The first two days behind a front can also be productive.

В 

19 FIND SOME FOOD As December rolls around, look for rut-weary bucks, thin and tired after several weeks of relentlessly chasing does, to suddenly focus their attention on eating, It’s crucial for whitetails to begin nourishing their posies for the hard winter ahead. Follow the deer’s lead and home in on food sources that provide sufficient cover nearby. Mature oaks bordering grown-up clear-cuts, overgrown apple orchards, tangles of honeysuckle and food plots with late-season plantings are good places to look. Leave your gun or bow behind for several days and scout out these spots to learn which are being used. Not only will you discover where the deer are, but with the boys beginning to re-form their old bachelor groups now that they’re no longer in competition, you might get your pick of the biggest buck still around.

18 FOCUS ON NUT TREES Hard mast, such as acorns and hickories, provides the best source of protein for deer trying to survive the cold, Check areas where trees were dropping nuts earlier in the season. If the ground is covered with snow, look for places where deer have pawed the earth in search of nuts. If your property has white oaks that produced early in the season, set up downwind from these trees first; they’re a whitetail’s favorite,

17 STALK IN NEW SNOW The best time to hit the woods is just after a new-fallen snow. But don’t waste time in a stand; cover some ground, The fresh snow will muffle the sound of your footfalls, allowing you to ease silently along. Because the snow is fresh, there will be no question that the tracks you cut are recent. And best of all, deer will stand out like a sore thumb.

16 KEY ON CROPS Crop fields are also a top spot to target late-season bucks. Because deer are reluctant to travel far for food, small fields where patches of standing corn or milo alternate with wide swaths of cut rows are the best, Deer will hide among the standing plants, where they can feed without being seen. They may also venture along the edges of the cut rows in search of remnant corn, beans or seeds that are softened by rain end easier to chew.

15 CHECK HIDEAWAYS When heavy snows descend, bucks head for the cover of large stands of evergreen or coniferous trees. The green, needle-covered limbs prevent much of the snowfall from reaching the ground, which makes it easier for deer to move about and find forbs or shoots to munch on. The trees also help deer to keep warm by blocking the wind.

14 WATCH FOR DROPOUTS During one post-Christmas deer drive, I was waiting along a power line that bisected a cedar stand when what I thought was a large doe came bounding straight for me. I took the deer from a mere 25 yards away, only to discover that it was a buck that had dropped its antlers early. From the look of the still-bloody bases, it had been a decent one to boot. The guy at the check station said it was the fourth one he had seen that week. If you or your hunt club practices quality management, don’t undercut your efforts by mistaking a buck that has prematurely dropped its headgear for a doe. Use binoculars to glass each deer before you shoot, particularly if you spot a doe that looks larger than usual.

13 DRAW DOWN Bowhunting Editor Todd Kuhn offers these tips to help keep your edge on stand:

• Muscles cramp easily in the cold, making it hard to draw a bow. Consider reducing your draw weight by a few pounds.

• Thick gloves are out when shooting a bow. Stow your hands in a muff with warmers inside to keep them toasty.

• Stand and draw your bow every half hour to stay warm.

12 FOOL THEIR EYES A buck’s eyes are always looking to detect movement. With trees barren of leaves, a ground blind may provide better cover. Set up off a trail where you can take aim as a deer passes your blind. Aim when it is looking away from you.

11 LAYER UP To keep warm, Gander Mountain’s Casey Weisser suggests layering clothes. Start with a sweat-wicking polyester base layer, followed by a bonded fleece garment to trap heat and a waterproof, insulated outer shell.

10 USE A DRAGLINE With most does no longer in estrus, this time of the year maybe the best to use a dragline doused with doe pee as you walk to your stand. A buck looking for one more dalliance might cut the trail and come your way.

9 TRY, TRY AGAIN While there are plenty of arguments over whether the second rut is of any strategic value to hunters, keep it in mind as you look to hit the woods in December. I agree with OL Whitetail Editor Michael Hanback that the second rut is overhyped [see Whitetails, page 50]. Don’t expect to catch big bucks charging recklessly about the woods. However, it is a biological fact that a doe that was not bred during the rut will come back into estrus 28 days later, usually between December 5 and 15 (though the start can vary by as much as a week on either side, depending on the region). This is a good time to hunt stand locations that you used when the rut began. Be sure to call, mixing doe bleats with tending grunts to mimic the sound of a buck harassing a doe. It just may trigger a big boy’s final jealous fit of the season.

8 BUST SOME ICE As creeks and ponds freeze, focus your attention on areas where drinking water is still available. Flowing creeks and deeper water that hasn’t iced up are natural choices, though don’t be afraid to bust thin ice with your boots or a heavy branch, just as a waterfowler would to clear a landing hole for ducks. Keep the hole cleared for several days, if possible, to give deer a chance to locate it. In ice-laced swamps, you can funnel deer past your stand by busting an open path through the frozen water between pinch points of land. Deer would rather cross in water than crack through thin ice.

7 WALK THIS WAY Sure, deer stand out great in the snow, but binoculars should be considered an essential piece of gear on late-winter hunts, particularly when you’re still-hunting. Guns have been going off for weeks by this point, and deer are edgy and ultra-paranoid. Big bucks are particularly reluctant to move, even as a wandering hunter comes close; most will sit tight, waiting for the danger to pass. When stalking, walk a few yards, stop next to a tree and carefully glass for several minutes before moving on and repeating. Watch for the horizontal lines of a deer’s brown back at odds with the dark vertical lines of standing trees. Keep your eyes peeled to catch any flicker of a tail or an ear.

6 HUNT DRIFTS Heavy snow kick-starts deer into moving for thicker cover; add high winds, and it can actually determine which way they’ll go to get there. To avoid deep snow that accumulates along the lee side of hills or against the downwind side of fields, deer will use the funnels that these drifts form.

5 SET UP ON TRAILS Snow-covered ground provides the perfect blueprint for a late-season hunt strategy. Identify the most heavily traveled trails and use the predominant direction of the tracks to determine whether deer are headed toward feeding or bedding areas. Trails that lead to feeding areas are good evening Spots, while bedding-bound paths should be hunted in the morning. To discover if a buck has been frequenting a trail, check for prints that press deeper into the snow than the others and that exceed 4 inches in length or particularly 3 1/2 inches in width.

4 BE PREPARED Snow-covered terrain under cloudy skies makes navigating even familiar areas a challenge. Combine that with numbing temperatures and you have a real recipe for potential disaster Should you become lost. For that reason, carry along a few extra items such as waterproof matches, liquid hand sanitizer (its alcohol content makes it a great starter fuel), an emergency space blanket, a lithium-powered tactical light (it’s brighter) and snacks and water to make a day (or night) of it if you need to. If you enter the woods without fear of being stranded, you’ll hunt with the confidence you need to fill your tag.

3 WINTERIZE YOUR GUN Winter temps can wreak havoc on a rifle’s performance. Mike Schoby, author of the soon-to-be-released Hunter’s Guide to Whitetail Rifles, offers these tips:

• Clean and degrease the action of your firearm. Use a solvent to remove the oil, which can congeal in extreme cold and actually hinder your gun’s performance. Coat parts with a graphite lubricant, which isn’t affected by cold.

• Wipe down the outside of the gun after each day afield, but not the inside. Stripping the muzzle of fouling can cause your first shots to be inaccurate.

2 SEEK THE SUN Bucks don’t always bed up in thick cover. Sometimes they’ll perch along slopes or in open woods, so they can see danger coming from afar. Look for south-facing slopes or small openings where there is more sunlight to keep deer warm.

1 MAKE A MINI-DRIVE The surest way to get bucks moving when they are reluctant to do so is to team up with a buddy and put on a drive. I like small tracts where you can focus on even smaller patches of cover. My friend Rob Copeland and I used to hunt a 70-acre property where we perfected the technique during the slow, final weeks of deer season. We divided the thickest coverts into four to five grids, most no larger than 100 yards by 50 yards, and worked each one individually. The stander would post downwind, while the driver zigzagged from the upwind side, making no more noise than an occasional whistle. Each drive seldom lasted more than five minutes, but the deer that exploded from the tight cover were frequently heavy-racked dudes that we hadn’t even realized were there.

Outdoor Life, Dec2006/Jan2007

In my 20 or so years of chasing webbed feet, I’ve shot many a duck and have often enjoyed the company of duck callers far better than I. Here are seven things you should and shouldn’t do with a duck call.

DO: TAKE A LISTENING WALK Go to a local duck spot with some calls hanging around your neck. Don’t bring a gun; simply spend time listening to the birds. My favorite time for a listening walk is during the spring migration, when birds make a lot of noise and their jabber won’t be interrupted by hordes ‘of hunters. Head out in early morning when ducks are most vocal. Pay close attention to the birds’ distinctive enunciations and practice mimicking them. Intentionally spook birds to learn what their alarm calls sound like–that way you can avoid using such calls when hunting.

В 

DON’T: SPEAK ONE LANGUAGE A friend of mine who teaches high school French loves this joke: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. Two languages? Bilingual. How about someone who speaks only one? An American. This joke also applies to most duck hunters. Just about everybody on the marsh sounds like a hen mallard. Learn to mix in some drake sounds, a few high-pitched teal quacks, wigeon and pintail whistles, wood duck squeals, or other sounds to match the ducks in your area. Remember, not all ducks are quackers. Become multilingual and you’ll score better on a variety of species.

DO: GET THEIR ATTENTION Many top duck hunters feel strongly that decoys are a more critical part of the duck-hunting equation than calling. In fact, the most important task of a duck call is to turn the heads of distant birds so they will see your decoys. For that you need to carry at least one loud mallard call. Learn to produce a good, strong hail (or “highball”) with it. The hail is simply a series of five to seven loud, bossy quacks, descending in volume. If you learn only one call, learn this one. When you hunt flooded timber, splashing with your feet can add both sound and movement to your spread to attract circling birds.

DON’T: TALK THEIR EARS OFF Let’s say you’ve belted out a good highball, and the birds have turned your way for a look. From this point on, don’t become too enthralled with your own calling. If you’ve set out two dozen decoys, don’t make enough noise for a hundred. Keep your calling low-key, mixing quiet quacks and chatter with occasional whistles. Moderate calling is especially important as the day wears on. If you observe real ducks, you’ll recognize that they’re at their most vociferous in early morning. At midday, they usually rest quietly.

DO: SCOUT Do the legwork necessary to find places habitually used by ducks. Even a champion caller will see scant results in a spot where birds simply don’t want to be. Calling is not a shortcut to success. The guys in hunting videos may seem to be successful because of their calling, but remember that they’re often selling duck calls for a living. Good calling will increase your bag, but at the end of the day the guys peddling tapes succeed because they are excellent hunters who do their legwork by scouting thoroughly.

DON’T: BLOW “Blowing” a duck call is a misnomer. To produce realistic sounds on a call, don’t blow air from your lungs as if you’re blowing out a candle. Rather, try to grunt air up from your diaphragm. To quack like the real thing, bring the air up in short bursts, cutting each burst off abruptly with the back of your throat. This will produce greater rasp and complexity of tone and prevent the tinny, artificial sound of a lung-blown call.

DON’T: CALL FOR THE JUDGES I’m always impressed by the ringing, dozen-note highballs and machine-gun feeding chuckles of great competition callers. The real professionals can create the illusion of an army of ravenous, noisy ducks in the marsh. But I’m equally impressed by the utter absence of these sounds on my listening walks. A real hen mallard would surely stand no chance of becoming a world champion caller; she’s much too quiet. Contest callers themselves often admit, in fact, that their calls in a blind are different from their calls on the contest stage. Real duck banter is less polished and more relaxed than on the stage at a competition.

By: Mason, Chad, Outdoor Life, Oct2006

В 

• Be conscious of the telltale shadows thrown by laydown blinds in fields on sunny days. Try to position your blind in a dip or behind a knoll to hide the shadow. Alternatively, position several of them very close together; for some reason, all their shadows combined into one seems to be less alarming to waterfowl. You can also break up the rectangular outline of these shaded areas by adding a few decoys around the edges.
• Use a super-magnum goose shell as an impromptu laydown blind. Just lie on your back in the field and cover yourself up to the chest with the decoy. To shoot, flip the lightweight shell out of the way. You can also train your retrievers to lie under a shell and watch from beneath the tail.
• Cut branches for disguising permanent blinds before the first frost so the leaves stay on them. And while you’re at it, cut plenty of extra brush. No matter how many times you’ve done this chore, it always seems to take twice as much material as you think it will to cover the blind. Besides, you will probably need additional brush later for touch-ups or repairs as the season goes on.
• Keep a low profile in a duck marsh by sitting in a folding lawn chair. These lightweight and inexpensive seats are easy to carry into your hunting area. Once there, sink the legs into the mud where there’s sufficient cover to hide your upper body. Then sit and shoot.
• Be creative. A blind doesn’t have to look like one if the birds are accustomed to its presence and it conceals movement. A dilapidated row-boat, an old ramshackle blind, even a discarded appliance will shield you. One group of Southerners I know of hunted ducks successfully for an entire season from an abandoned school bus that had run off the levee of the ricefield they leased.
• Use branches and even logs to make your hideout look like a bulldozed brushpile when you’re making a big, permanent blind in a cropfield. Build it as big and as comfortable as you want, because ducks and geese accept such piles as part of the agricultural landscape.
• Tuck yourself into the native vegetation on walk-in hunts. Very often, nature provides the best waterfowl blind, especially if you can position yourself under some overhead cover where shadows will help hide you. Use a fanny pack to carry in ratchet clippers, a small saw, and long plastic cable ties. This way, you’ll have the right tools handy if you need to rearrange or bundle the foliage around you.

By: Bourjaily, Philip, Field & Stream, Oct2006

A hunter sitting in a tree hoping a mule deer buck will walk by might have to change his permanent address to Squirrel Branch, USA. Waiting for a mule deer to pass is highly impractical, since they live in such big country. To find mule deer, follow tracks on the ground. You’ll learn the animals’ routine and could end up with a buck in your sights.

However, don’t simply follow along on a buck’s track; pay attention to detail. The tracks indicate many things the deer might do, and should also suggest your next move. Reading tracks, you might decide to climb above the track, loop downwind of it, or slow your pace, keeping your rifle ready.

В 

FOLLOWING THE FLOW
Early in the season in the mountains where I hunt, the deer eat moist forbs growing on the forest floor beneath the firs and lodgepole pines. But when the weather turns cold and snow falls, the deer move to lower elevations and more open country, favoring sparse stands of Douglas firs and browse such as bitterbrush and Oregon grape. The shift might be one to five miles. In other places in the West, deer can move 40 miles or more.

To pinpoint deer, walk the country, sticking to the heads of drainages and coulees. It makes the hiking a bit easier, and deer pass these corridors when funneling down from above.

The tracks deer leave reveal many of their activities. Tracks headed in a straight line indicate deer are traveling. Tracks that go back and forth show the deer are simply going between feeding and bedding areas. Near agricultural areas, mule deer commonly traipse down at sunset to feed all night, then return to bed in the hills at daybreak.

However, back-and-forth tracks of any distance are rather rare in the mountains and foothills open to public hunting. Studies of mule deer across the West have found that the deer often avoid the best browse in favor of security. That’s especially true during hunting season. For the deer, the less they have to move, the better. So in the mountains, wandering tracks near snow pawed back from shrubs and grasses indicate feeding deer. Find some nearby beds and you’ll be at their doorstep.

Hiking is especially important if you’re new to an area. It familiarizes you with the lay of the land, which comes in handy when you cut tracks and need to figure out where the deer are headed and why.

Last season my son drew one of a limited number of mule deer buck tags for an area of open south-facing hills and timbered north slopes. He had hunted grouse there previously, so he was familiar with the ground.

A couple of inches of snow had fallen the night before his deer hunt and all tracks were new. The rut was starting, too, so we had the makings of a good hunt. An hour’s hard climb brought Thomas to a hillside of grass soon after sunup. A scattering of does still browsed along the hillside. They strolled along, following other tracks that disappeared over the hill.

Tracks showed about 20 deer had fed and lay down to rest during the night and early morning. There were several lines of big blunt prints dragged across the snow; they showed the animals had a swagger to their gait.

Thomas followed one set of big tracks into a thicket of short lodgepole pines on the north slope. He had only gone a short way when a deer crashed out ahead. Trailing the deer into the thicket wasn’t the best idea at that time, so Thomas backed out.

He returned to the open hillside in late afternoon. Tracks showed that almost a dozen deer had just come in from the head of the park. The deer were in a hurry to get to supper, too, judging by the length of their strides and kicked-up snow and dirt.

The deer could be anywhere on the hillside, especially with bucks harrying the does. Thomas climbed far above the tracks for a wide view and to allow the thermal to take away his scent from the tracks.

The deer were around the hill, just a short distance away. A handful of does and a two-point buck fed along. Twenty minutes later three does pushed by, and a four-point buck ran in from under the lip of the hill. Another doe ran in ahead of a large 5 by 6 buck. Thomas’s first shot knocked the buck sideways. A second brought it down.

THE RIGHT TRACK
Following tracks all the way to a successful end is much more involved than just noting the direction in which the tracks head. First, gauging the age of the tracks is essential. In shallow snow a fresh print has sharp edges and a slick look. In deep snow, some snow falls back into the track. The same goes for a track partially covered with new snow. I step on tracks like this; if they aren’t frozen, I figure they’re fairly new. Comparing the look of your own fresh prints to a deer’s will help you age a track. Another clue to a track’s age is placement. Tracks wandering at the forest’s edge or under the sparse timber were most likely made by deer feeding in the evening or morning.

Tracks not only indicate what the deer has done, but also where it’s likely to go next and what it’s going to do.

One dark November morning, my wife and I cut the large prints of two deer hurrying down a ridge top. The deer were beelining toward a logged-over hillside grown up with shrubs. Gaff and I hurried along the tracks because the deer would stay out feed-hug for another hour at most. However, when the tracks showed the deer had slowed and started browsing, we eased our pace, too. The breeze had switched and was blowing uphill, so we were okay there. I watched the track and Gaff peered ahead as we took one slow step at a time. At the lip of a shallow draw, Gail raised her rifle. The buck lifted its head and the last thing it heard was the rifle’s safety clicking off.

KNOW THE PATTERNS
By mid-morning a buck has headed to its bed for the day. It has a firm idea where it’s going and lines out. I try to keep above and downwind of this type of trail. You never can tell where a buck might loiter or plop right down and bed on an open hillside.

The tracking starts in earnest when the buck starts searching for an exact spot for a bed. The deer stops, backtracks, peers in one place and then another. It’s looking for a place to protect its back-like a hillside of big rocks. It might also bed on a slight rise with a 360-degree view, or even in a thicket. Wherever it beds, thermals will bring the scent of danger from below. Knowing the country helps you guess where.

How a buck gets to its bed is the mystery. It might walk straight in and lie down. More likely it will walk uphill and back in a fishhook to lie where it can watch down on its trail.

Slipping into range of a buck bedded like that means you must climb above its tracks. You might even have to climb out of sight of the tracks that look like a line of disturbed snow. The buck is just ahead, and you have to move quietly and with a sharp eye.

A few seasons ago a new snow muffled the woods so much a squirrel’s chatter carried only a short way. I picked up a buck’s track coming Out of a sagebrush bottom and followed it around a grove of bare quaking aspen. I climbed above the track where the deer went into a stand of old Douglas firs. At every new view I went to one knee to look ahead through the opening between the ground and the branches. There was the black curve of a hip on one side of the tree and antler points sticking out the other.

A step to the right revealed the rest of the buck’s head and its shoulder. At the shot the buck vanished. But the bed and its trail were there. A spray of blood on both sides of the prints showed it would be a short trail.

Quiet Clothes
A hunter must stay quiet and warm to successfully follow a mule deer’s tracks to the end,

Boots: Boots with air-bob soles grab the ground tightly and are soft enough to adhere fairly well to wet rocks and logs to keep you on your feet. Treads with bars along the edges grip on side hills and reduce tread wear.

“Depending on how active you are, go with a boot with six hundred to twelve hundred grams of Thinsulate,” says Phil Francone, Cabela’s boot specialist. “Add a Gore-Tex lining and you’re set.” Francone’s pick is Cabela’s Whitetail Extreme, above.

Clothing: Dale Douglas, Cabela’s hunting clothes expert, says layers are the key to staying warm. “The more layers you wear, the more trapped air space you have and the warmer you stay,” he says. “Plus you can subtract layers as you hike along and warm up, then put them back on when you slow or stop.”

Pictured are Cabelas Outfitter Fleece Windshear jacket, Ultimate Fleece Turtleneck and MTP Hunt Series silk-weight shirt.

By: Haviland, John, Outdoor Life, Oct2006

HUNTING STRATEGIES

1 GO EXTRA SLOW When still-hunting, most of us don’t move slowly enough, or stay put long enough. Try using your watch as a guide. Decide on a period of time to stand still, such as five minutes. This way you’ll be forced to remain quiet and silent lot a minimum amount of time, longer if necessary.

2 STOP AT THE NOISE Here’s a saying I came up with to remind me of an animal’s terrific senses. “The sound of a snapped twig is quickly forgotten by the hunter, but long remembered by the quarry.” If you make an unusually loud noise, stop and stand there as long as you can if you suspect animals are close by. A deer might stand a long time and stare in yore direction, if it doesn’t see or smell you, it might go back to feeding or whatever else it was doing before it was disturbed.

3 QUICK-STEPPING FOR DEER A deer is easily alerted to human cadence as we walk through noisy leaves. This might sound like a dumb idea, but try taking quick steps in a short sprint for 10 to 20 yards or so. Stop, and do it again. Keep your footfalls as light as possible; you’ll be surprised at how much you sound like a squirrel scrambling through the leaves.

4 DESIGN A BETTER DRIVE When putting a drive together, we tend to place standers in front of and alongside the area being driven. If you have enough people in your party, position a stander in the rear where the drive originated. Deer will often wait for hunters to pass and then sneak back and run off in the opposite direction.

5 DRIVE SOLO Try a one-man drive if you’re hunting alone. Purposely walk into an area with the wind at your back. The idea is to stir deer up and get them moving. Once you’ve passed through, make a circle and do it again. You might see confused deer creeping about, unsure of your location. If this doesn’t work, take a position on the flank of the area you walked through and wait an hour or two. You might see deer sneaking back in, believing the danger has passed. This works in dense thickets that deer use for security cover.

В 

6 PICK YOUR LANDMARKS When you plan to stalk an animal by making a big circle and coming up behind it, it’s easy to become confused as you change your location. Pick a distinctive object on the skyline that you can recognize from the back, such as a large tree, a fence line or a rock, to help guide you to the correct spot.

7 JUDGE THE QUARRY’S PACE Also try to anticipate where the animal will be once you complete your stalk. Before starting, watch the quarry long enough to determine its direction and rate of travel if it’s actively feeding or walking. Pick your destination accordingly.

8 FOLLOW WITH CARE If you’re tracking an animal, remember that the quarry will be alert to its back trail. A really fresh track requires you practically to still-hunt rather than merely follow, especially if the animal isn’t “lined out” but is taking bites of browse as it goes.

9 CLEAR SHOOTING LANES When you first get into your tree stand, practice taking up shooting positions for all the directions from which an animal might appear. After doing that, try to remove branches in the line of fire if you can reach them, and take up the position that requires the least amount of movement for you to turn in any direction. Be sure your safety strap is secure and allows free movement.

10 SWEEP AWAY BLIND CLUTTER If you’re sitting in a ground blind or standing next to a tree, sweep away leaves and brush with your boot so the area you’re in is clean of forest debris. This will eliminate unnecessary noise if you must make a move when an animal approaches.

11 GLASS AND RE-GLASS When glassing with a binocular early in the morning, move to your vantage point in the dark. Glass likely spots, but don’t take just a single cursory look. From time to time, refocus your attention on places you’ve already checked out. The changing light might reveal animals you hadn’t seen before or animals that have moved out of deep brush or timber.
TRACKING

12 HOW TO FOLLOW A BLOOD TRAIL Move quietly as you track. Be alert for the quarry, which might be bedded just ahead. If other hunters are with you, communicate with hand signals. Mark every spot of blood with a piece of toilet tissue or flagging, which should be removed later.

13 DON’T GIVE UP Many times a good blood trail that you’ve followed a long way will peter out to nothing. That’s not a good sign, because the animal is still going strong, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t fatally wounded. Don’t give up. Start looking for tiny spots of blood. Get on your hands and knees, if necessary, to help keep you on the spoor.

14 A CALL THE SPOT If you’re hunting in a brushy area and you drop an animal at a distance, make a mental note of where it stood at the shot, especially if you must take your eyes off it to get there. It’s vitally important to find the precise area so you can pick up the blood trail.

15 BEWARE OF THE ‘INSTANT DROP’ An animal that drops at the shot is more likely to run off than one that doesn’t go down but runs some distance and then falls. The animal that falls immediately might do so from shock, then recover and run. when an animal drops instantly, stay put and be prepared for a quick follow-up shot.

16 NO EYE POKES Television hunting-show hosts like to walk up to a fallen animal and prod it with the firearm muzzle to make sure it’s dead. That’s dumb. The last thing you want is for an animal to leap up when you’re so close that you can’t take action. Instead, toss a stone or branch at it and look for a reaction. If an animal’s eyes are closed, it’s probably still alive. If there is any sign of life, shoot it in the throat under the chin to administer a humane coup de grace and not waste meat.

17 LOOK UP FOR BLOOD When tracking a wounded animal, don’t stay focused only on the ground. Look for blood higher up on the sides of trees, on grass heads, and on stems of brush. Sometimes we’re so intent at looking for traces on the forest floor that we completely miss clues off the ground.

THE COMPETITION

18 GETTING IN FIRST Many roads are blocked these days to restrict vehicle access, allowing only foot or horse traffic. Hunters commonly park at gates early in the morning and hike up roads. Beat everyone else by parking there at midnight. Carry a light sleeping bag and walk to the end of the road, where you’re apt to find a logged area. Since these spots are virtual smorgasbords for wildlife, position yourself at the back of the area in an elevated spot away from the road, using your flashlight sparingly. Once settled, take a nap and wait for other hunters to push deer to you as shooting hours approach, or look for unpressured deer feeding naturally.

19 BIG-GAME HONEY HOLES If you’re in big country and want to focus on the place where the odds are best of finding game, look no further than a deep, heavily timbered canyon with no roads or major trails to the bottom. Most hunters don’t descend into nasty spots because they know they’ll have to climb back out. The idea of hauling a deer or elk out of the bottom is a double nightmare that makes them even more prone to avoid these potentially game-rich spots.

20 DRIVE DOUBLE-DIPPING If you know of a drive being put on by another party of hunters, try taking a stand well away from the group in heavy cover where spooked deer might run. This is ethically acceptable if you keep a reasonable distance from the party and don’t interfere with the drive.

21 DON’T FOLLOW THE LEADER If you’re tracking a deer in snow and suddenly discover that another hunter has come upon the tracks and is in front of you, there’s obviously no sense in following. Instead, quickly make a big circle and try to ambush the deer. Chances are the other hunter will only keep pushing it ahead–maybe to you. Ethics require that you do this a considerable distance from where you think the hunter might be. I’d suggest at least a half mile or more.

STAYING WARM

22 SLEEP IN COMFORT A cot in an unheated tent or cabin will keep you cold all night if you don’t have a pad underneath your sleeping bag. If you have no pad, spread out clothing to insulate you from the cold air under the cot. The loft in your bag is compressed from the weight of your body, and offers little insulation when in contact with the thin fabric of a cot.

23 BRING YOUR BEST BAG Be sure you have your best sleeping bag along during a cold-weather hunt, even if you’re in a tent or cabin with a wood stove. The fire will go out during the night, and the temperature inside wit almost equal the temperature outside. A lightweight summer bag is just for that–summer.

24 COLD-WEATHER HORSEMANSHIP Riding a horse in cold weather will chill you rapidly if you end up sitting for long periods of time. Warm up by walking the horse downhill. Not only will this get your blood moving, but it’s also good horsemanship to give the animal a break.
UPLAND GAME/WATERFOWL

25 DON’T SPOOK THE RINGNECKS Wild pheasants spook easily at the sounds of vehicles, dogs and voices. Most birds will start running or flying at the first sign of humans. Park as far as possible from where you expect to hunt and approach the area quietly.

26 DON’T SWEAT IT Perspiration is your greatest enemy on a cold day. Take every precaution to keep dry, even if it means stripping off layers of clothes as you walk in frigid temperatures to avoid sweating. If you sit for any length of time, working up a sweat beforehand will guarantee that you get chilled.
27 GLASSING FOR DUCKS When jump-shooting ducks along streams or potholes, use a good binocular to scan the area for distant ducks. Make your observation looking through brush, if possible. Ducks have keen eyesight and will fly off if they spot you.

28 TAKING DOWN GROUSE Ruffed grouse are masters at flying through thickets. Many hunters pass up shots if the birds aren’t in the clear. That’s a mistake. Never pass up a shot if you can see the blur of a grouse as it erupts through brush, but always be sure you know exactly where the other members of your hunting party are. If you continually pass up birds you might never get a shot.

SMALL-GAME CARE

29 BRING SOME SHEARS Carry game shears to cut off wings and legs of birds in the field. Be sure to leave evidence of sex or species of the bird if required by law. Dress the birds when you take a break and wrap them in cheesecloth to keep them clean, allowing air to circulate and cool the meat. Never put a warm bird in a plastic bag.

30 SKIN ‘EM ASAP Skin rabbits and squirrels as soon as possible. V The skin peels easily when it’s warm. Some small game animals harbor fleas, which can carry diseases. If you get rid of the skin quickly, the fleas won’t have time to migrate off the carcass and onto you!

31 DON’T BREAST OUT TURKEY Turkey hunters often “breast” their birds, taking the breast meat and discarding the legs, thighs and wings. This is a mistake. The latter three parts make wonderful stew and soup. Simply cook them in a crock pot until the meat falls off the bones, and put the boned, diced meat in a pot with soup or stew ingredients. You’ll never throw away a wild turkey leg again.

32 MOO-VING IN FOR THE KILL If it’s a quiet day and you’re trying to approach ducks by crawling through thick reeds, the noise you make will invariably spook birds before you’re in range. If cattle are around, try this: Say “moo” loudly as you sneak, being as cowlike as possible. Don’t laugh–it works like a charm. Ducks will tolerate cows, but not you.

PACKING SMART

33 BAGGING YOUR GEAR On wet days, moisture will invariably find its way inside your day pack. Protect your gear by storing items in zip-top bags. Store similar items together, such as flashlights and batteries in one bag, fire starters and matches in another, etc.

34 BUILD A BETTER FIRE Fire starters are vital to getting a fire going. I use several kinds. One of the best is easy to make at home. Impregnate cotton balls thoroughly with petroleum jelly. About seven of them will fit in a 35mm film canister. Each will burn for about three minutes.

TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

35 GET THOSE SHOULDERS UP It’s far easier to drag a deer with its Shoulders high off the ground. Pull it with a harness that fits snugly over your torso, moving the carcass short distances at a time. Don’t try an extended drag, since you might tire before getting the chore accomplished.

36 LOSE THE WEIGHT Bone out a moose or elk quarter before you move it. This will eliminate much of the weight. Wrap the meat in cheesecloth to keep it temporarily clean and to let air circulate. For longer periods of storage, toss the cheesecloth and put the meat in heavy-duty bags that can be laundered.

37 HANG ‘EM HIGH Never hang a carcass or part of a carcass any lower than 3 feet from the ground in a yard or shed. Animals can quickly consume your hard-earned venison. I’ve had it happen to me more than once.

38 GRIZZLY SMARTS If you’re in grizzly country and shoot an elk late in the afternoon and don’t have time to get it out that evening, place the quarters in an area that’s visible from a distance. In the morning when you return, you can check the meat with binoculars to make sure it wasn’t disturbed or covered with brush. A nearby grizzly will be possessive of the meat and you could be in big trouble if you unwittingly approach. Most grizzly confrontations with hunters occur around meat that has been left in the field overnight.

39 POLE POSITION Although few hunters do this, one easy way to transport a deer or a couple of quarters of elk or moose is to lash them to a stout pole and then carry the pole across your shoulders. Put some padding on your shoulders and wrap plenty of orange flagging around the animal for safety reasons.

40 WHEELIN’ IT OUT The best way to move an animal, other than with a horse or having it fall next to a road, is to wheel it on a cart. Don’t use a two-wheeled cart. They’re cumbersome in the woods and require a wide trail. A one-wheeled cart will go practically everywhere.

PREDATORS

41 HIKE BEFORE YOU HUNT Park as far as you can from your calling location. Coyotes can hear your vehicle a long way away if you’re in a remote area. You can get away with parking close if you’re in a place where there’s plenty of traffic.

42 TAKE A SHOTGUN TOO Bobcats are often so mesmerized by a predator call that they run right into the lap of the caller. Many times coyotes will approach within just a few yards as well. A shotgun is a good choice for a second firearm.

43 SWITCH YOUR CALL Try a radically different call if the area you’re in has heavy hunting pressure. Coyotes can become accustomed to basic calls, such as the rabbit distress, which is used universally. Try a fawn bleat, a flicker call or another offbeat sound.

44 HUNTING FOR THE BIRDS Incoming foxes and coyotes are often accompanied by magpies or other birds. Stay alert if you see a squawking bird approaching your calling position or motion decoy. Chances are good an unseen predator is nearby and closing in.

WILD GAME COOKING

45 TAME THE TASTE Some say strong, gamey venison is always the result of improper field care. That’s not true. No matter how well you care for it, an animal can taste gamey because of its age, the rut, its diet or other factors. Here are ingredients that will tame strong meats: fresh ginger root, soy sauce, onion and garlic. Stir-fries are the best at masking a too-strong taste because the ingredients are in close contact with the surface of the meat.

46 GRIND YOUR OWN Want to try something wild? Get a small electric meat grinder for less than $100 and make your own burger and sausage. Try boning rabbits, squirrels and other game meats, and grinding the meat to make meatballs and burgers. Dazzle your pals with rabbit, squirrel and goose meatballs.

47 DISHWASHER FISH Here’s a crazy technique I learned in the Arctic. Wrap a fish fillet along with butter, onions and seasonings in foil, then wrap it again. Put the whole works in the dishwasher (minus soap) and turn it on. Presto–when the cycles are completed your fish will be beautifully steamed.

48 SAUTE A SNAKE You’ve no doubt heard about rattlesnake meat being a delicacy, and that it tastes like chicken. It doesn’t really taste like chicken, but it’s tasty. To process, carefully remove the head and peel off the hide. Then, fillet the meat, which comes away in thin strips. SautГ© in butter and garlic. It’s really good stuff.

49 HOW TO EAT ANYTHING Offbeat critters such as porcupines, woodchucks, muskrats, raccoons and beavers can be outstanding table fare. Be sure to remove any fat and musk glands and cut the meat into chunks. Soak it in a mild salt solution for 12 hours (ВЅ cup salt to one gallon of water) and cook it in a slow cooker with plenty of spices and vegetables–the more tomatoes, the better. Let it cook until the meat falls off the bones. You might be surprised.

50 STEW MADE EASY My favorite stew is called whatchagot, meaning whatever you’ve got in the back of your freezer. As I cook, I routinely freeze all the leftovers. When I have a dozen or so packages, I thaw everything and dump it in a huge pot. I let it simmer, add salt and pepper to taste and toss in some extras, such as rice and beans. It’s always a hit, but please don’t ask for a recipe. I don’t have a clue. It’s whatchagot.

Outdoor Life, May2006