Archive for April, 2015

DIY Public Hunting: Early Season

Thursday, April 9th, 2015

 

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Sometimes you have no control when you take a vacation. You might work in a job where the plant shuts down and everyone has to take vacation at the same time. You might be the low man on the totem pole, which prohibits you from getting a week off during the rut. You might be a union worker who has to make the most of the limited time you get off during a big job. No matter what the circumstances might be you need to formulate plans for different parts of the season.

One of my favorite times to hunt is the early season. The leaves are just beginning to change colors. The mornings are getting cooler and random rubs are showing up in the woods. This is one of the best times of the year to kill a good buck. Not many people have been in the woods yet and most large tracts of public land are void of people. You might see a local guy wandering around, but rarely will you see a non-resident hunter.

Deer are busy feeding during the early season. The mast crops can be plentiful and thick leaf cover offers the deer more protection than normal. If there hasn’t been much human interference the deer will still be comfortable around their feeding areas.

If you find a place with a lot of turned over leaves it’s a good place to set your stand. Deer will return to fill their bellies on the acorns and beechnuts. If there’s a grove of oak trees find the tree they’re feeding under. There will always be one tree the deer like more than all the others. Find that tree! It might take a couple of years to figure it out, but if you keep good notes and pay attention the information you’re looking for will end up in your lap.

While you search for the primary feeding areas pay attention to the small saplings scattered throughout the woods. If you find a lot of rubs within sight of each other you can bet the buck who made them isn’t too far away. Bucks tend to stay close to home during the early part of the season. They take a nap and stroll over to the fast food joint to get a bite to eat. If they’re rubbing right before they get into the parking lot you need to set up where the driveway connects to the main road. In your mind picture what I just explained and transfer it into the place you’re hunting. The acorn flat is the fast food joint. It’s your job to figure out the rest. If you think of this in terms of what you do as a person it will eliminate a lot of second guessing. Second guessing can make a person with great hunting skills become an average hunter instead of a phenomenal one. KEEP IT SIMPLE!

If you cover enough ground in the early season you’ll definitely locate the deer. They might be hanging out next to the road or they might be three miles back in the woods. You need to go where the sign is and hang out there for a few days at a time. They’ll be feeding in a lot of places, so try a different stand couple of days.

The picture at the beginning is a buck I killed on the first day of the Northern Zone in New York. He weighed 187 lbs. If you have any pictures of your early season success I’d love to see them. Send them in.

Hunt hard and hunt safe ——————————–> Todd A. Mead

#DIY Public Hunting #Whitetail Hunting#Bowhunting Early Season

 

 

DIY Costs: Dream Hunts are Affordable

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

The almighty dollar keeps a lot of people from doing the things they dream about. I was lying in bed in my dorm room 25 years ago while I was trying to attain a degree in journalism/communications. After finishing schoolwork I’d flip through magazines and imagine what life would be like in the big mountains.

When I read about elk hunting in the Rocky Mountains I figured the dreams had no chance of becoming a reality. Anything I could find pertaining to elk hunting spelled out B-I-G…….M-O-N-E-Y. The outfitters ranged from $2,500 to $4,500 all depending on where you wanted to go. There was no possible way I could afford that.

Upon graduating from college in 1991 my father took me on my first elk hunt in Colorado. We went out for the second rifle season and my father booked with an outfitter to put us in a drop camp. We would be packed in by horses and left in a tent to spend the week and fend for ourselves. Since we had no idea what to do it sounded like a good plan. Unfortunately, when we got to Colorado record amounts of snow had fallen over the past few days. Search and rescue teams were combing the mountains in order to find stranded hunters from the first rifle season.

With all of that chaos going on we decided to leave the outfitter’s place, swallow our deposit and hunt on our own. That morning we headed toward the nearest mountain range with public land. Not knowing where we were going we kept driving along dirt roads until we found a few National Forest signs with numbered roads. When we started up one of the rounds we spotted a truck buried to its axles. My dad got out and offered the two men a hand. They gladly accepted and latched a tow strap onto the bumper. As soon as their vehicle popped loose from the snow it ripped the bumper off my dad’s truck.

After a quick assessment we exchanged pleasantries and asked if they could direct us to a place where we could hunt elk. They pointed toward a mountain in the distance and told us what roads to follow to get there. A few hours later we were “in amongst them” as the natives like to say. There were elk in the timber right with us. We’ve hunted this same area since 1991.

So why did I tell you about that incident? It’s because we had planned on spending a significant amount of money for something we never needed. Since we had never hunted in the west we didn’t realize how much public land is available for hunting. There are millions of acres open to the public. Many of these pieces allow motorized vehicles and many do not. This allows you to pick a place that’s right for you. If you like to tool around on 4-wheelers and off-road motorcycles there are plenty of places to fill your fancy.

Finding a place to camp was fairly simple. We have always camped in the same general area. Camping doesn’t cost us a red cent. We bring our own 12×14 wall tent and haul an enclosed trailer. Our gear is neatly stacked in the trailer, so we have access to more than we probably need.

After pitching the tent every year we head to town to get our food. The amount of food we get depends on a lot of different things. I’ll get into that at a later date. Since there are usually four of us we split the cost four ways. We do the same for all of the gas purchased during the trip.

In order to make sure this is done fairly we keep a running tab in a notebook. If my dad gets the gas the first time he records it in the notebook. If Dave gets it the next time it gets recorded. If a toll is paid the same thing happens. In the end the notebook looks something like this for totals: Charlie $260 for gas; Dave $210 for gas; Todd $160 for gas and tolls; Brian $180 for gas; Dave $370 for food. So in the end all of the numbers get added up and divided by four. Everyone ends up paying the exact same amount. Any food, snacks, drinks or souvenirs are the responsibility of the person who wants them. This seems to work much better than trying to split things up evenly without actually recording the numbers.

By the time the week is done you will have to buy your license, food, and gas. Back in the old days tags only cost $250 which made the overall expense much less, however the entire trip can still be done for less than $1, 000 dollars if you limit your spending. The most expensive part of the week will be your license. If you hunt in Colorado you can buy your tag over the counter in many units and you can choose between an either sex tag or a cow tag. Cow tags will be cheaper, but it’s not much fun when a big bull lets a bugle rip when he’s standing 20 yards away in an aspen grove and you can’t shoot him. I’d suggest spending the extra money to get an either sex tag.

So, where am I going with this? I just want to make sure everyone knows they can do this hunt of a lifetime without spending piles of money. As long as you can take care of yourself and you like to hunt on your own you will be fine. This way you can explore different areas and not be tied to the one place an outfitter brings you. Most people also don’t know that a lot of outfitters guide on public hunting land that is open to you to hunt on without them. I’ve met more than one hunter in the woods who was hunting with a guide and outfitter and they were amazed to learn I was on my own.

Take the time to do your research, find places that look good, and Just Do It! You will not be disappointed. With every trip you’ll gain more knowledge and become more proficient with the tasks that need to be accomplished while you’re living the dream.