As I drove home one evening after spending the afternoon in one of my favorite stands, I got a call from a friend who had just arrowed a good buck. However, his voice wavered between excitement and disappointment. He proceeded to tell me that bucks were tearing up the woods where he lived as they honed in on hot does. This wasn’t a surprise, as it was the second week of November in north central Missouri. He’d been seeing some great bucks at a distance for several days. The rifle season was set to open the next morning, and he was anxious to release an arrow before the guns started booming. Read more at Bow HuntingMagazine.com….

It’s the time of year when my scouting for the upcoming season reaches a frenzied state. Scouting is simply an effort by the hunter to significantly increase his/her odds of observing and or harvesting the gender and age class deer of their choice. My mission is to harvest mature (4 year old or older) bucks. These bucks typically have a smaller core area and are extremely difficult to hunt without alerting them to your presence.

I’m constantly looking at Reconyx images, thinking about buck patterns I’ve learned about while managing the property during past years, etc. It’s critical to understand how bucks use the food, cover, and water resources available within their core area. Certainly some mature bucks will make trips outside their core area, but these trips can’t be predicted, and therefore can’t be counted on for the hunter to be successful.

Observations and data from past years are important in understanding how deer generally use a property.  However, to place a stand so that mature bucks will walk within 40 yards requires M.R.I. – Most Recent Information.

The horrific drought that is currently ongoing in many states provides the perfect illustration for the value of M.R.I. Obviously sources of water that have been available in the past may not exist this fall. In some areas there may have been so many sources of water that bucks weren’t using any source of water regularly enough to establish a detectable pattern. That may not be the case this year and sources of water may provide the best option to pattern mature bucks.

Food is another factor that may have very limited distribution in areas impacted by the drought. The images above are from the same food plot, taken during the same time of year. The local deer density didn’t increase that much from one year to the next. However, the growing conditions changed significantly! Growing conditions were average to slightly better than average during 2010. It was the 4^th driest and the hottest July on record at the same location during 2011. Certainly deer feeding patterns will change from 2010 and 2011. Stand locations that were productive during 2010 may be a biological desert during 2011.

However, using M.R.I. to scout, 2011 may be a better hunting year. Finding the limited food and water resources may make for some fantastic stand locations!

By definition, M.R.I. changes rapidly. Don’t count on data from last year to place your stands this year.  If you do, you might be watching a biological desert.

Growing (and hunting) Deer together,

Grant

Every year about the time bucks shed velvet they begin actively seeking a source of carbohydrates to consume. This drive to consume carbohydrates is a given annually. The Creator timed this perfectly as this is the time many sources of carbohydrates are becoming available such as acorns, corn, etc. Hunters in agricultural areas may not notice this dietary shift as deer often shift from the soybean to the adjoining corn field and still use the same bedding areas. Often times the bedding areas are the corn fields. I call production corn the annual forest as it grows tall enough to provide cover and is “clearcut” on an annual basis.

However, in areas that are primarily forested such as my neighborhood, deer may not find sources of carbohydrates as readily as deer living in the corn/soybean belt. Deer living in areas where forests are the primary cover type often readily seek acorns as a source of carbohydrates. Deer seeking acorns can be difficult to pattern.

Given this and the knowledge that deer annually seek carbohydrates this time of year, a grain crop in food plots can be a huge attractant during the hunting season. This is true in areas with agricultural and forest cover types. Most commercial agricultural fields are harvested by early to mid hunting season. However, having a grain crop, such as soybeans, corn, or milo to benefit and attract deer during hunting season can be a huge advantage!

This requires the food plot farmer to plan ahead. Grain production occurs during the summer growing season. If food plots are not planted until late summer, the only option is to produce forage during the hunting season. The traditional “green fields” will attract and benefit deer. However, grain tends to be a better attractant during the fall and carbohydrates are usually in a more limited supply than protein.

For great hunting during the fall, try planting a grain producing crop like soybeans, corn, or milo. Standing grain provides a great source of energy for deer and can be a great stand location.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

Every year at this time I receive several questions related to how much more antler growth will occur. Folks want to know if a mature buck can add another 20” before velvet shed or what percent of antler development will occur still yet this year.

There is no certain answer for these questions. There are simply too many variables. Two of them are easy to describe. I was one of the tallest kids in my first grade class, if not the tallest. Everyone wanted me on their basketball team during recess. However, by the time I was a freshman in high school, I was only slightly above average height (I’m a tad over 6’ now). No one was screaming for me to be on their basketball team then. Some kids that I was much taller than in first grade were inches taller than me in high school.

I share this information not because I wish to play basketball, but as an illustration about antler development. Some bucks tend to grow more during the early portion of the antler growth season and some add a significant amount of inches during the last few weeks before velvet shed. On average, most bucks are finished adding a significant amount of antler by mid August. However, each buck is a unique individual just like humans are each unique. The best we can do is to manage based on the averages.

Another factor is the growing conditions. The severe drought that is impacting many states throughout the whitetails’ range could certainly limit antler development. Bucks that are feeding on irrigated crops may not show as much reduction in antler development as bucks that live where crop production is extremely limited by lack of water and heat stress.

The other extreme is also true. Bucks that live in areas with a closed canopy forest or other areas where growing season forage is extremely limited may not have significantly less antler development this year compared to normal growing conditions as there simply isn’t much quality forage to limit no matter what the conditions.

At The Proving Grounds, based on trail camera images, it does seem some of the mature bucks didn’t produce much more antler from last week to this week. I feel comfortable this is because of the extremely harsh drought conditions. The two images are of a buck I named Heavy 10. The images are about 1 week apart, but I can’t tell any increase in antler development. I’ll keep monitoring Heavy 10 and the other bucks for antler growth patterns. How are the bucks developing on your property?

Growing Deer together,

Grant

Iowa State probably does more research about growing corn than any other university.  I have learned much about growing corn from their publications and staff.  Iowa State’s Extension department publishes a great E newsletter titled Crop Management News.

The issue today does a great job of explaining how temperature and soil moisture availability impact the productivity of corn.  As I’ve referenced frequently on recent episodes of GrowingDeer.tv, when growing conditions cause stress on forage or grain crops the critters are stressed also.

It is easier to monitor the impact of stress caused by drought on a corn crop.  Researchers can simply sample many aspects of the crop on a daily basis.  In fact, some of these factors (amount the leaves are twisted, tassel development, etc.) can be estimated from the comfort of a pickup.

It’s much more difficult to monitor deer.  They are mobile and tend to be nocturnal.  They don’t like to be held or measured.  Capturing deer is not necessary to know that they are stressed when crops are not expressing their full potential.  I’m not aware of an exact index that compares bushels of corn produced per acre that equates to inches of antler development per age class of bucks.

However when corn, soybean, alfalfa, etc., production is limited by harsh growing conditions, it is certain that deer won’t express their full potential.  For example, today there was an Associated Press article posted on Fox News that quoted the Texas AgriLife Extension Service as reporting that pregnant does are having difficulty carrying fawns to term and other fawns are being born prematurely due to heat stress.  Likewise the agricultural crops are very unproductive or a total failure in many parts of Texas.  Tough growing conditions impact all living things!

That’s one reason I enjoy reading Crop Management News.  It provides great information for growing quality food plots, and also provides a real-time index of the growing conditions for crops and deer in Iowa.  In addition, the information is useful no matter where I wish to grow crops or deer!

Information is the most valuable tool for any profession.  I hope this source of information helps you become a better deer manager.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

It’s been another very hot day at The Proving Grounds!  The thermometer on my truck showed 103 degrees.  The native vegetation and food plot crops are showing signs of drought and heat stress.  Unless the weather pattern at The Proving Grounds changes before fall, quality food sources will be limited and therefore the few good sources of food will be prime whitetail hunting locations!  Acorns are not quality food for deer because they are extremely fibrous and tough to digest.  However, deer find them very palatable (tasty) and readily consume acorns from most species of oaks.

Scouting for acorns is a good technique whether you hunt 40 or 4,000 acres.  Ideal deer hunting can occur when oak trees are few and far between.  This usually occurs when agriculture or other land use practices limit the amount of habitat that is forested.  Another situation that produces great hunting is when only a few oaks in an area produce acorns.  When these conditions exist, patterning deer may be as simple as locating the trees that produced acorns and hunting near them without spooking deer.

However, if oaks are common where you hunt, it can be extremely difficult to see deer during years when all the oak trees produce acorns.  This is because deer can eat and bed within an extremely small area.  Hunters simply can’t approach these areas without alerting deer!  It’s tough to get between the feeding and bedding area when they are literally just a few yards apart.

One nice characteristic of acorns is that they take months to develop. Therefore hunters can scout and place stands during July and August, well before deer season, with confidence that acorns will be present at the same location during hunting season. Knowing which types of acorns deer prefer during the early (from the white oak family) versus late (from the red oak family) season can be a key to hanging stands in locations that fit your hunting schedule.  I hope you get some time to scout for acorns soon.  Limit disturbance during deer season by scouting and hanging stands now!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

It has been and continues to be very harsh growing conditions at The Proving Grounds.  This spring the conditions literally changed from colder and wetter than normal to hotter and drier than normal.  That pattern hasn’t changed.  Plants don’t grow as much and are less nutritious when they are stressed due to not having enough water.  At the Proving Grounds we are experiencing a double whammy with the  above normal temperatures.  This causes stress in the critters that consume the plants.

The results of this stress are shown by less than average antler development, less and lower quality milk production, and therefore smaller and slower developing fawns.  The amount of reduction in antler development is related to the severity of stress the plants are experiencing.

There are some practices deer managers can do to reduce the stress caused by lack of rainfall. The most practical is to use soil moisture conservation practices when establishing food plots such as reduced tillage or no-till.  The soil at my place is extremely gravely and conserving soil moisture is critical to producing healthy plants and deer.  Disking plots is rarely the best practice – and never the best practice at my place because it allows moisture in the soil to rapidly evaporate.

Establishing food plot crops as soon as the conditions (soil temperature and moisture) will allow during the spring is another practice that can offset stress caused by drought.  Soil moisture evaporates much faster when the daytime temperature is higher.  If the crops have matured enough to shade the ground, there will be much less moisture evaporated when daytime temperatures increase.  This is another reason to plant warm season food plot crops as soon as conditions permit during the spring.

Healthy food plots are a great tool to maintain a healthy deer herd.  To allow the deer at your Proving Grounds to express most of their potential, start by allowing the forage crops to express their potential.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

It remains very dry at The Proving Grounds.  In fact, it’s so dry the native vegetation seems to be going in water conservation mode and as such is not palatable to deer and several other species.  This means that food plot crops that are heavily fertilized are probably the most palatable forage available.  This usually occurs during late summer after the crops have produced tons of forage.  During that time excessive browse is rarely noticed if the number of deer and the quality of the habitat is appropriately balanced.

However, when drought conditions occur during the spring and early summer, crops can’t produce normal amounts of forage.  Likewise, the native vegetation that usually serves as a buffer while forage crops are becoming established is also unproductive and potentially unpalatable.  These conditions can result in food plot crops being damaged by over-browsing.  In turn, this results in bucks that don’t express their full antler growth potential and fawns that don’t reach their potential because the quantity and quality of does’ milk production is decreased.

In these circumstances competition for the available quality forage is a concern to hunters and habitat managers.  That’s why we have removed several groundhogs near our food plots this summer.  They are literally making crop circles in several of my food plots.  Groundhogs are good to eat and require skill to harvest.  They have a great sense of smell and good vision.  In short, they require many of the same skills  necessary to harvest a deer.  I often hunt them from my deer stands up until August or so.  Then I like to reduce disturbance by the food plots and stands as much as possible.

Get your rifle sighted in and grab your safety harness and go groundhog hunting!  It’s great practice for deer season while protecting forage in your food plots.  Or help a farmer by removing groundhogs from his fields.  By providing this service, you may gain access to some great hunting grounds!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

While in college, I was taught about the circle principle.  Simply stated, the principle is that our knowledge base is like a circle.  As the circumference of a circle increases, the border of the circle gets bigger.  Likewise, the more we know, the more we realize we don’t know.  I’ve been a practicing wildlife biologist for 20+ years.  My firm, Woods and Associates, Inc. was incorporated during 1990.  Throughout this time, I’ve worked primarily with white-tailed deer and turkey throughout their ranges.  Even with this level of experience and opportunities to learn, I have more questions now than when I started and my desire to learn is probably at an all time high.

Because I’m now a husband, dad, etc., I have less time I can dedicate to learning, research, etc.  That’s why I really enjoy learning from others that share my passion for hunting, wildlife, and habitat management.  One of the best ways to meet such folks is at events such as the Land and Wildlife Expo to be held in Nashville, TN during August 12^th – 14^th.  There will be speakers talking about the many aspects of deer management and current topics such as predation.  There will also be field demonstrations and the  ability to visit directly with manufacturers.  This is a great chance to ask wildlife managers and folks from the hunting industry direct questions face to face.

I look forward to learning and hopefully sharing information with fellow hunters and wildlife managers.  If you plan to attend, let me know.  Several of the GrowingDeer.tv gang are talking about planning a time we can visit about our personal hunting and management plans for this fall.  I plan on learning and preparing to be a better hunter this fall.  I hope we can visit there.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

I’ve shot a bow since early childhood. Even with that level of experience (I’m now 50), I still go through seasons of struggling with shooting accurately.  Archery is a very mental sport and no one stays on top of their game every day (or season).  In my last blog, bow practice, I discussed the “perfect practice makes perfect” principle as applied to shooting a bow.  This week, I’d like to share an archery practice technique called blind bale.  It is really a different form of “perfect practice makes perfect.”  It is simply practicing with your bow at a target that is only three feet or so down range.  In addition, the shooter has his eyes closed throughout the shot. This is done so the shooter can totally concentrate on form and not aiming at a spot.

I started this technique while suffering through a bad case of target panic.  When my sight pen would come close to the spot I was aiming, I wouldn’t be able to trigger a release with my eyes open. If you’ve never experienced target panic, you can’t understand, and if you have, you share my grief!  A friend of mine, CJ Davis, shared the blind bale technique with me.  I thought it sounded silly and continued flinging arrows and flinching.  Most shots failed to hit close to where I was aiming.

Out of desperation, I tried the blind bale technique.  I shot at a target placed a few feet in front of me for a week.  I shot for a week without looking at a spot.  I simply shut my eyes and totally focused on my shooting form.  During week two, I took 10 shots blind bale and then shot at a pie plate at 10 yards with no markings on it – just a white 9” target.  I was amazed at the end of two weeks how well I shot.  I was able to group as good as any time during my archery career.

Since them, I usually begin each archery practice session by shooting 10 or so shots using the bind bale technique.  At times, I’ve forgotten the lessons I’ve learned and simply began flinging arrows.  The size of my groups increase and I remember the huge advantages of reinforcing correct form and starting each practice session with the blind bale technique.

This technique will not benefit everyone as they may have a different problem such as shooting a bow that’s draw weight or length is not appropriate for them.  However, if your shooting problems are not the result of equipment that is not tuned or equipment that is mismatched to you, then incorporating the blind bale technique into your practice will probably result in tighter groups at all distances.

Growing Deer together,

Grant