Watch this episode to see how it all comes down to the last afternoon for Pro Staffer Aaron Morgan. He’s hunted all season in Kansas, but so far, no chance at a mature buck. Now it’s the last afternoon before Aaron has to return to work and he has a plan.
Do you want more deer and turkeys on your property?
Get a couple easy-to-use Duke traps and start removing predators from your hunting grounds. Warning: You might need more food plots.
The late season can be one of the best times to see mature bucks during daylight! During the late season, especially if the temperatures are colder than normal, bucks will be seeking sources of quality food. Since nothing has grown during the past few months in most areas of the whitetail’s range, it’s likely there is less food available each day of the season. Read more at Winchester.com
Grant attaches the HotHands body warmer in the center of his chest to keep warm on those later winter hunts.
Perched in a deer stand during the late winter months can be brutal, especially if your gear is less than equipped for the elements. Adding one small detail to your apparel can increase your comfort and your success.
During these cold winter months, it is very important to remain warm throughout your hunt. Sometimes, it seems almost impossible to stay warm and comfortable in the deer stand, but through years of perfecting our technique we’ve learned to never forget one piece of equipment. HotHands are a must for the GrowingDeer.tv team. These small, inexpensive packs are worth their weight in gold!
We use HotHands for several reasons – their heated insoles keep our feet warm, the hand warmers keep our hands warm, but most importantly we use their body warmers. The body warmers are definitely our favorite! Once we’ve put on our base layers, we attach the body warmer in the center of our chest just below our heart. Next we’ll place another body warmer in the center of our lower back. With the HotHands firmly attached to our base layer, we finish dressing and head to the stand. Staying warm throughout the hunt means you can sit longer, greatly improving your rate of success.
This small detail not only helps keep us warm but more importantly allows us to wear less clothes. In years past it was difficult trying to find the happy medium between wearing enough clothes to stay warm but not too many for fear of not being able to draw your bow back effectively. HotHands has certainly solved that problem!
If you’ve always struggled to stay warm while hunting, be sure to try this technique out!
Seth and Chase Go Hunting
Our boys take a road trip to the mountains of Oklahoma. They run into wild horses and wild hogs. One of those gets carried out with them.
The Hot Zone is Open
We protected a plot of Eagle Seed beans all season. Grant and crew finally open the Hot Zone fence. This favorite food is now available for the deer. As prime rut comes to a close, we’ve got late season quality food near a Redneck blind.
It’s The Season
Predator trapping season is here. We love turkey hunting, but for now, we’re gonna be a turkey’s best friend. Act now if you want to save nest sites and poults from ravaging predators. Watch this episode to get you primed and ready for trapping.
Tip of the Week:
It’s getting late. There’s pressure to fill your tag.
Check that your stand site still has concealing cover.
If not, attach more cover, then fill that tag.
Many adult does throughout most of the whitetail’s range have already been bred. It seems many managers tend to ignore does this time of year unless they are still trying to reach a doe harvest objective to balance the number of deer with the amount of quality food in an area. Read more at Winchester.com
This tree stand has a great backdrop. Notice how little sunlight is directly behind the stand.
It is crunch time at The Proving Grounds. Missouri’s 10 day alternative methods season begins this weekend and there is less than a month left of archery season. Are you feeling the pressure to fill your remaining tags? This time of the year can be an exciting time to hunt but can also be a dangerous time to assume that the stands you hunted earlier in the season are still their best.
A couple of days ago, Adam and I hung two new stands. At both locations the same question came up, “What will our backdrop look like in this tree?” Because most of the leaves have fallen, it was very difficult to find a tree that we felt had enough cover to conceal us where we would not be skylined by deer.
Are you hunting a stand that you have hunted all season? Now that the leaves have fallen, you could be exposed and easy for a deer to spot. This can be devastating to a hunt. If there is nothing behind you, between you and the sky, it can be very easy for deer to pick up on your shape or the slightest movement.
Take the time to reevaluate your stands. You may need to attach branches behind your stand to help break up your figure or even move the stand. The little details can be the determining factor when you try to fill those remaining tags this season.
For Heath Martin, the road to harvesting a mature Kansas buck has not been easy. This all changed recently when a group of does worked toward his tree stand and a big, mature 8 pointer was following! Watch this episode to get caught up with the Martins and their 4 state deer season. Plus, what’s next is hard to watch: Imagine conditions are perfect to hunt one of your core hit list bucks. Driving to the stand you see something in the food plot…something no hunter wants to see.
Tip Of The Week:
Heath’s Tip For Hunting Now
Set up on travel routes between bedding/cover areas
Bucks will still be cruising for does
Do you still have a buck tag? That’s good news as bucks are often easier to pattern during the late season. After most does have been bred, mature bucks tend to stay within their home range and even in a smaller core area. They are focused on survival and recovering from the rut. Read more at Winchester.com
Every whitetail hunter has experienced being unsuccessful and spent the off season wishing he could have changed his tactics and been more successful. However there is a silver lining, if the buck isn’t killed by natural causes or by a neighboring hunter, you will be able to watch his growth change from year to year.
During the 2010 season there was a buck at The Proving Grounds, “Last Lick Big 10.” He was a giant buck for this part of the world. He showed all the signs of being mature, but he lived on a part of the farm where cameras had just started being used so his exact age was unknown. In 2011 “Last Lick Big 10” was back, but slightly smaller than he was the year before.
Over the last five years Two Face has lost several inches in antler but gained lots of character!
In 2012 “Last Lick Big 10” disappeared. During the middle of November we had a new buck show up that had a strange looking set of antlers. One side had five points with tines no longer than seven inches, while the other side had four points with tines nearly ten inches long. We joked that if you found his sheds you would believe it to be from different bucks, so we named him “Two Face.”
During the following year of 2013, Two Face showed up on camera as a massive ten point with kickers at the bases of both antlers. He was a cool looking buck, but what made him show more character was his light colored face. His forehead was almost white and his back had scars all over it, most likely from fighting.
During the off season this year I was looking through Reconyx cards and watched Two Face visit a Trophy Rock. He didn’t have antlers but our history is so strong I recognized him even without antlers. After years of running these hills and surviving predators and hunters, Two Face looks as old as the trees we hunt him out of. It was during this time I realized who he was. Two Face had decreased so much in antler size that at first I didn’t realize he is most likely “Last Lick Big 10.” They live in the same area; both have an ear notch in their left ear; and both have very similar antler dimensions. After studying all the photos we’re very confident they’re the same buck. That would make Two Face nine or ten years old!
Watching Two Face over the years has been bittersweet. We’ve lost many battles with him in the game of hunting, but we’ve won by getting to watch such a magnificent buck live his life at The Proving Grounds. Two Face has been a great reminder to me that it’s not always about harvesting a deer but also the pursuit and the memories made along the way.
“It’s Rambler!” Watch Seth Harker’s amazement as he sees a 150” buck called Rambler coming toward him! Seth’s chased Rambler a long time, but Rambler’s been almost impossible to pattern. A few tweaks this season put the odds in Seth’s favor when a group of does use the nearby food plot and acorn patch. Plus – the hunter becomes hunted: Watch Grant get a jump on predator season when he takes a big ol’ coyote, using a 150-grain .308 Deer Season XP. Devastation!
Tip of the Week:
Do you have a big buck that’s hard to pattern? Try adding a small food plot in his range to make him more patternable.
Tip of the Week: