Most of you guys who are always looking for buck hunting tips are good hunters. You practice shooting your bows and make sure you have everything in tune before the season. However, when shooting your bow well before the season starts, you’re building up all this adrenalin and when opening day of bow season comes, you want to hunt hard like my neighbors.

You’re going out every morning, every evening, taking your showers and doing your scent control, getting up early and going to your best stands. buck hunting tips you happen to see a mature buck on opening day, you get pumped! You don’t even want to go to sleep that night. buck hunting tips All you can think about is getting out there and having that buck walk within shooting range. You want to get to him before someone else gets a crack at him because after all, you want to be the first guy among your buddies this year to get a nice buck.

Hunting Season Buck Hunting Tips

Buck Hunting Tips #1

When you hunt day after day after day in October, and you’re not seeing your buck, you start second guessing your stand location, you start guessing your theories, and your set-ups. Even though they were okay, you were just making your move too early on a big buck. It’s still hot out and mature bucks do not move when it’s hot, buck hunting tips especially when it’s hunting season. buck hunting tips You can’t force the issue.  buck hunting tips Pace yourself.

Buck Hunting Tip #2

You only have 1 or 2 days at the beginning of bow season to shoot a mature buck while he is still in his summer pattern. After that, they go very nocturnal. This is called the October lull. There’s nothing you can do about it. If you really buck hunting tips need to enjoy the outdoors this time of year, you’re better off going fishing.

Buck Hunting Tip #3

Here’s what I do during the October lull. buck hunting tips  spend as much time at home with the family as I can.

The only bowhunting I do is with my daughter in one of our doe harvest food plots on the weekend. Then when Halloween comes, buck hunting tips I can be in my treesaddle almost everyday during the first 2 weeks of November which is the best time of the season to shoot buck hunting tips a mature buck.

Don’t be the guy who over-hunts through the month of October. You’ll burn out your stands, burn out your wife and family, and just when the hunting gets good with the pre-rut, around halloween, your wife turns to you and says, “You’ve been out hunting everyday for the last 30 days. It’s about time you stayed home and spend some time with the family.” This can lead to you having to go shopping or finishing the honey-do list while your buddies are out seeing and shooting big bucks during the pre-rut.

The best buck hunting tips for shooting big bucks every year is all about off-season preparation, and knowing when and where to pick your spots during the season. buck hunting tips.  Other than luck, it takes understanding whitetail behavior, developing a plan, and hunting with confidence.

For more buck hunting tips, visit my video training series on shooting mature bucks.

White Oaks White Acorns and Red Acorns

• White acorns taste better because of the fewer tannins which give red acorns more of bitter taste.
• The leaves of a white oak have rounded lobes  around the whole leaf.
• The crown or cap only covers about 1/4 of a white acorn.
• Acorns tend to be long and narrower rather than fat and round.
• They also grow at the ends of their branches of the current year new growth White Acorns and Red Acorns.
• The bark has shallower gaps between the ridges and can be flaked off with your fingers.

White Acorns and Red Acorns Red Oaks

• The leaves of a red oak are larger and have sharp pointed lobes.
• The crown or cap is nearly flat on top.
• The acorn is shorted and fatter and is almost round.
• They grow in clusters on last year’s growth of branches.
• The bark is tougher with wider deeper gaps between its ridges.

I don’t want you to think that deer won’t eat acorns from red oaks. They certainly will. After all, red oaks produce more acorns than white oaks do. But if you have both types where you hunt, you’ll find that the white acorns will go first White Acorns and Red Acorns.

What’s even better is if you can find a white oak inside of a standing corn field or at least on the edge of corn. The stalks in that spot will probably be knocked down pretty good. If you can sit in a spot like that on opening evening of bow season without ruining the spot before hand by hanging a stand, your chances at an early season buck are much greater than even a week later White Acorns and Red Acorns.

Feel free to leave your comments or questions below.

A lot of guys are looking for that magic bullet, the edge that will be their short cut to seeing more deer and getting a crack at a trophy whitetail this Fall.  A lot of products are hyped and sold on those claims.

Trophy Radishes Deer Food Plot Seed

Nothing beats post-season scouting and preparation for getting a leg  up on all the other hunters. But there is one product I am very encouraged about. One that claims to out-perform many in its class.  It happens to be the trophy radish or Diakon radish. I planted some of these seeds on August 5 and by the 10th they were the first plants to shoot out of the ground…and I planted a big variety. On day 7 they were about 2 inches tall already! This is my first go round with Trophy Radishes and I love what I see so far.

Do you have any food plots started yet this year? Please share your comments below on your progress so far and if you have had any experience with trophy radishes.

Trophy Radishes Great Video.

Most of us bowhunters are trying to get every edge we can. We even want to provide good forage for the deer in our area during the summer so they get used to coming into our food plot.  After all, we want to make sure they know the food plot is there well before the season starts. This is supposed to give us a leg up on opening day of bow season, however many hunters have questions about food plots, like When To Plant Food Plots ?

There’s 2 Flaws in When To Plant Food Plots.

First, forget about deer not finding your food plot in time for the opener. Deer roam around most of the night. They’ll even smell your new lush plants before they get there. The deer will be in your plot at night as the new plants sprout out of the ground. If your biggest concern about When To Plant Food Plots is that you are not sure the deer will find it on time, don’t worry about it. Trust me!

Second, don’t worry about the deer not having any food in your plot during the summer. There is so much natural food around everywhere anyway, that your food plot for deer would be a drop in the bucket in comparison. But, maybe your biggest concern about when to plant food plots is to provide good quality forage for antler growth. Actually the biggest impact you can make on antler growth is from January to March, which is not the time for when to plant food plots  ,when the available natural browse is dead and gone.  This puts deer into a nutritional deficit in which they need to climb out of in the spring. That causes them to play catch-up instead.

So if you want to create deer food plots to encourage good antler growth, don’t focus on feeding them in the summer. Because there is not a plant anywhere that can feed all summer and all winter.  Part of your decision about when to plant food plots involves choosing when you want to feed your deer the best forage.

For producing good antler growth the answer to When To Plant Food Plots should be to “feed in the winter” to keep bucks from losing even more body weight like they did chasing and not eating during the rut. The quicker you replenish their nutrition levels, the bigger head start they have in the spring to growing a nice set of head gear.

So the answer to When To Plant Food Plots for deer is late summer, as in August.

What do you plant? Go with Forage rape, turnips, sugar beets (which can be tricky to grow), or my favorite choice, Trophy Radishes.

Good Plotting,

Feel free to leave your comment below and let me know if this answered all your questions about when to plant food plots.

Latest Bowhunting Technology Tips

• Bowtech has created the OverDrive Binary™ synchronized dual cam system. This cam system is setup to provide stability while still maintaining exceptional cay synchronization.
• Their latest bowhunting technology for limbs are the HardCore Limbs™ which store energy throughout the limbs and not just on the surface. This reduces stress on the bow and causes less vibration after shooting.
• Bowtech changed the cable containment with the FLX-Guard™ system. This absorbs cable guard torque by flexing when the bow is pulled back.

To see more features on Bowtech’s latest bowhunting technology and watch them in action click the link below.

Latest Bowhunting Technology from Bowtech for 2010

Another hunting season is fast approaching and if you have changed something on your bow it would be a good idea to have it paper tuned. Something as small as getting a new nock point or string is a reason to paper tune a compound bow.  Most archery shops will help you paper tune your compound bow, but it is something you can do yourself. The only equipment you will need to do it yourself is paper and something to hold the paper up so that you can shoot through it and a target set up a few feet behind the paper.

There are a few things you should know before you paper tune your compound bow. For example, you should know what kind of hole your arrow should make in the paper and how to fix your bow if it is not correct. For more details about How To Paper Tune a Compound Bow click the link below.

Paper Tune a Compound Bow | Paper Tuning 101 | Base Camp Legends

To properly paper tune a bow, you will need basic materials that most pro shops should have set up for you. However, if you so choose to do it at home, you can stretch newspaper between two 2×4′s or whatever you have available to hold …

Publish Date: 07/07/2009 9:33

http://www.basecamplegends.com/2009/07/paper-tuning-101/

To see exactly how to paper tune your compound bow watch the demonstration video below.

Paper Tune a Compound Bow- Episode #28 – Paper Tuning

Paper Tune a Compound Bow In this episode of BowCast Aneal is joined by Matt Hogue – Archery Lead at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Littleton, CO. Matt and Aneal go through the Paper Tune a Compound Bow process of paper tuning and correction to get your arrow flying straight out of your bo Paper Tune a Compound Bow…

Improve Whitetail Deer Habitat For Bucks AND Does.

Most guys who want to improve whitetail deer habitat on their property focus too much on food plots and nutrition for the deer. Food plots are great but they can also be planted with crops that do not attract deer for the most critical time of year for nutritional needs, but for the safety from other hunters. There are a few things you can do to improve whitetail deer habitat on your property.

One thing that is critical to improve whitetail deer habitat that is often overlooked is what I like to refer to as “Segregation of the Sexes”. We all know that 4 one acre plots is better than 1 four acre plot…same with bedding areas, beds, etc. However, I think it’s more extreme to the point that 4 well placed 1 acre plots is better than 1 ten acre plot. The more feeding areas you have, the more bedding areas you have, the more room you make on your property for segregation of the sexes. You not only allow room for both sexes, but age of sexes as well to Improve Whitetail Deer Habitat.

That’s why I personally don’t advocate large, single plantings of any species. For example, if you planted a two acre brassica field and the deer didn’t touch the brassicas until mid-Nov., that would eliminate the deer usage in the early season. However, I don’t like to see 8 plots with different plantings on each plot, this will not improve whitetail deer habitat. Instead, I like to see combinations of plantings within the same plot. You can do this with designated perennial portions that you maintain indefinitely by alternating combination plantings that include cool season plantings, and you can also include designated annual planting areas that are rotated between cool and warm season plantings in the same year. To make sure your food plot will improve whitetail deer habitat, plant a variety of perennial and annuals in each of your small food plots.

In the end though, you keep each plot’s efficiency high for the entire year, you scatter the deer herd, and you make room for more deer including both sexes. This will all add up to improve whitetail deer habitat Unless you do NOT want deer use a plot for some reason during certain times of the year because you have to walk through them to access stands, etc….then by all means plant single plantings on a plot.  That plot will experience time line holes in nutrition and attraction that lead to less deer that can use your property. In particular, when they have the largest chance of being shot.

If I had to choose 1 crop to improve whitetail deer habitat, I would go with cool-season crops so I’m getting the highest amount of efficiency when the local deer herd is the most susceptible to getting shot, basically the month of November.

Also, on your property with all the switchgrass, your plots will actually help to separate your bedding areas, at least by defining them more for various family groups or bucks to use as opposed to one large wandering, undefined bedding area.  Improve whitetail deer habitat  with multiple efficient plots that will also help to encourage more use of the defined bedding areas throughout the hunting season as long as those plots offer great attraction during Nov. and later. I’ve never cared if the deer were eating on my neighbors great crops and nutrition during the summer…as long as they lived in and around my property to improve whitetail deer habitat during Nov. and Dec.

Improve Whitetail Deer Habitat Conclusion:

There is no reason that with that much cover you shouldn’t actually be collecting deer as the season progresses as food supplies are dwindling and hunting pressure is most intense, but you have to have enough quality small food sources and diversity in bedding areas to Improve Whitetail Deer Habitat.

They are a little known member of the Brassica family, which also includes rape, kale, turnips, mustard, canola and cabbage. It may be a little early to tell, but forage or trophy radishes may be the best overall Brassica option for a deer planting. It supplies the combination of high nutrition in the top and root, attraction, huge production, fast germination and growth and a large deeply penetrating taproot that breaks soil compaction in heavy soils.

Research data from Dr. Ray Weil at the University of Maryland shows dry-matter production of 5,000 lbs./acre for top growth (shoots and leaves) plus 2,000 lbs./acre of root dry matter.

According to Dr. Weil, “A good forage-radish cover crop adds significant quantities of easily decomposed organic matter to the soil.”

Radishes grow so fast they can be used to smother and suppress weeds while enhancing the seedbed. They die-off in winter, resulting in rapidly decomposing residues that enrich the soil. They add organic matter high in nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, boron) to the soil for a companion or follow-up crop to utilize. They are much easier to grow than finicky sugar beets and are well adapted throughout the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest.

Forage Daikon Radishes

Forage radish does not look like a radish at all, but more like a huge, long, green-and-white carrot, which can reach lengths of 18 to 24 inches. These long radishes add organic matter and aerate and loosen the soil, even in heavy clay. Better yet, unlike other Brassicas, which are often ignored by deer in the first year, deer seem to learn quickly to eat the green top growth as well as the radish itself.

Indications are, from actual visual observations of feeding deer, that unlike many Brassicas where a freeze makes the greens sweeter and provides better palatability, deer eat radishes before the first freeze ever takes place. In test plots in the Southeast, deer began feeding actively on the greens shortly after emergence in September, even in a very good acorn year. Unlike other Brassicas, they are resilient after grazing pressure, quickly sprouting more new leafy growth. In the mature plant, a December sample and lab test from radishes in New York revealed protein levels higher than 20 percent for both the top and root, even after the forage quality had begun to decline from cold weather. This was equal to or greater than a highly marketed, well-known commercial Brassica blend.

Radishes can be planted alone or as part of a food-plot mix, which might include clovers and small grains with radishes used as a nurse crop. We prefer a mix as radishes need at least 60 pounds an acre of actual nitrogen for best growth, and some of this, especially during root development, can be supplied by clover. In addition, after radishes fade in winter, you are still left with a vigorous stand of clover and small grains growing on a much improved, loosened and enriched seedbed. Like all other members of the Brassica family, radishes should not be grown on the same ground for more than two successive years v because of a possible build up of diseases in the soil. Normally, a two-year rest period is enough before planting radishes again Daikon Radishes.

A new forage variety known as Trophy Radishes performed well and lived up to high expectations in New York and Georgia test plots in 2008, despite less-than-ideal conditions, including drought, cold and snow. Daikon Radishes  The 96 New York deer that were digging through a foot of snow were in a 2-acre Trophy Radish plot in late February Daikon Radishes.

Fertilize your plot with 300 lbs./acre of 19-19-19 or 2 to 3 tons per acre of chicken litter. Disk the plot to incorporate fertilizer/litter and prepare a smooth, weed-free seed bed. Broadcast seed and drag or cultipack.  Daikon Radishes Do not cover seed more than 1/2 inch deep.  Daikon Radishes Trophy Radishes can also be planted in pure stands at 10 lbs./acre for forage production or 15 lbs./acre to suppress weeds into early April.  Daikon Radishes Better yet, broadcast at 5 lbs./acre, they make an ideal addition to clover/small grain plots, Brassica mixes or any food-plot crop for deer. Daikon Radishes  Do not exceed these rates or fast-germinating radishes, out of the ground in two to four days after rain, will smother desirable companion crops Daikon Radishes.

Daikon Radishes on the market

Radishes should be planted by late August in the North and early to mid-September in the South. Do not attempt to grow them in Daikon Radishes the spring as they will rush to bloom and go to seed and results will be disappointing Daikon Radishes.

Daikon Radishes Incidentally, they are also good in stir fry or raw with a crispy, crunchy texture and mild sweet flavor. They are great in salads and very nutritious, especially high in calcium,  Daikon Radishes phosphorus and iron. But best of all, deer love ’em Daikon Radishes.

Currently, Trophy Radishes are the only forage radishes on the market available to deer managers at a reasonable price. Daikon Radishes They will be available at Coopers Seed in Auburn. Call them at (877) 463-6697, or check them out online at <www.cooperseeds.com>.

I ran across a bowhunter who had a 40 Acre Isolated Woodlot surrounded by ag fields with corn, soybeans, hay and alfalfa. He wanted to know how to compete with all the agricultural fields to attract deer onto his property. His isolated woodlot was the only woods around for at least a mile in all directions. He had several tree stands in the woods but could not seem to connect on a mature buck in the isolated woodlot.

Do you have access to hunt property like this, or a large  isolated woodlot surrounded by buildings and houses? If so, are you using the property in a way to give you the best hunting opportunities?

In a situation like this, the number one thing to do would be to turn that isolated woodlot into a place where every deer in the square mile will rush to hide when the hunting season starts and the corn is harvested. That woods being surrounded by acres of fields is your best source of sanctuary and cover to hold deer on your property, after all it is an Isolated Woodlot. You don’t want to penetrate it to access your stands, or deer will not be comfortable using it for a home base when hunting pressure is on. It would be better to reverse the thinking. Rather than hunting the center of the cover, give it to the deer, and hunt the edges. You want them living in the center of the isolated woodlot.

How to Prepare Bowhunting an Isolated Woodlot

Pull every stand out of that isolated woodlot and turn most of it into a sanctuary. You will be better off having the deer bedding in the center of that wooded area than having them at the edges as they are now. If you or anybody else alerts deer while accessing a stand, they will hunker down tighter on your property rather than departing it. This is because it is an isolated woodlot, which means the deer have no other place to go for a miles.

Make it so thick in there that you can’t see 30 yards anywhere. Make it difficult for deer to move directly into the fields from these woods. You want them to travel from their bedding areas in the thick woods, and into your food plots on the edges of the bedding areas on their way to the fields in the evening, and have your food plots be the last place they visit as they come home to bed down in the morning in the thickest part of the isolated woodlot.

You will actually find deer sneaking out in broad daylight to have a bite to eat if the cover is sufficient around the food plots.

Where to Put Your Stands in an Isolated Woodlot

Now your new stand locations will be to intercept deer moving along those fence rows and at travel routes to and from your food plots to their sanctuary, or to and from from your food plots to preferred areas of the ag fields. Check out the fields very closely. The deer will not use the whole field for the most part. They will have preferred areas where they hit the corn or beans hard. These areas are easy to pick out if you examine and few plants and see that the tips are nipped off, and they will probably be on the outer edge of the isolated woodlot.

Those are now mini food plots within the larger field, and you will be able to intercept them on their way to and from these spots and your food plots. You want both perennials like a clover-chicory mix and annuals but most importantly late season varieties that become desirable after the harvest. If it’s possible to enhance the cover to give them a more comfortable route to your food plots, great! Say autumn olives for example, or switch grass in the isolated woodlot.

Much of the successful deer and habitat strategies come from thinking outside the box. Most guys are thinking about competing with other food sources when the real advantage comes in the form of having quality bedding areas and more of it in an isolated woodlot.

The property where deer spend the most time bedded down during daylight hours wins.

Finding deer bedding areas are like finding gold mines, however, if the area is not hunted properly then your efforts of discovering one will be lost. Just follow a few key rules and you will be able to harvest the buck that has been constantly slipping through your fingers season after season.

3 Tips to Hunt Deer Bedding Areas

1. Set up your stand according to the prevailing wind direction and only hunt that stand in the most ideal conditions for you. One whiff of you and a mature buck might never return to your property again.

2. You must beat the deer to your spot. Unfortunately this could mean sitting by 3:30 AM to hunt deer bedding areas. If you think that you will be too late, then don’t bother sitting there. That is the time to sit farther away from the deer bedding areas on a trail to their food supply.

3. Do not over hunt the stand or go there more often that necessary. Stay clear of the area well before hunting season starts, so make sure you have everything set up. Deer Bedding Areas The best times to hunt is the rut so stay clear until that time, there is no need to let the deer know you are near the deer bedding areas before that time.

For more guidelines to follow and tips to locate deer bedding areas near you visit:

Hunting The Deer Bedding Areas of Whitetail Deer.