Ducks Unlimited published a great web article that shares 30 ways you can improve your duck hunting odds for next season.

1 of DU's Free Wallpapers

The article written by, Keith Sutton, is worth checking out. His recommendations are simple and straight forward. For example, his first tip is:

“Duck caller reeds sometimes freeze or stick in frigid weather. Prevent gum-ups by using a product such as Rain-X or Aquapel that’s made to deter rain, snow and ice buildup on windshields. A few drops rubbed on the reed with a cloth make the reed less likely to stick in the heat of a cold-weather hunt.” Entire Ducks Unlimited Duck Hunting Article Here

I wonder if that tip would work on fly fishing rod line guides? It might mean I could start the season earlier…

Ducks Unlimited also has a Canadian Site Here

*Thanks to KevinBOneill on Twitter for finding this article.

Two days after Kyle missed the ‘Brow Tine’ Buck, the huge buck returned to the same location and left a glamour shot on Kyle’s trail cam.

You can see from the photo how close Kyle came to bagging the large buck that was at the bottom of a steep ridge when Kyle shot. If the wound wasn’t from a ‘rut fight’ – Kyle’s near miss is heart breaking.

Here is what Kyle had to say,

… I  have been trying to decide if I was going to show anyone else this picture since I got it yesterday afternoon - it’s a whitetail hunter’s worsed case scenario.  This picture was taken 26 hours after I missed it on Tuesday night… It’s back out and there and there is at least 6 other bucks in the area.  It’s part of hunting – so thats why i decided to send it on.  Maybe,  some of your Bloggers can get something out of it. The only thing I can suggest is to always aim lower on a steep ridge. My only comment is “What a tough old buck”.

Thanks for the photos Kyle. I’ll keep my eyes open for this buck this weekend. Where is Heartbreak Ridge again…?

Whether hunting public or private land, the fundamentals of calling elk remain the same.

We heard the bull bugle at first light and snuck into his core area. When I hit a lick on my bugle, the bull sim­ply came unglued and stormed our position like a tank, crashing through brush and small lodgepole pines like they were match­sticks. Before we could react he was in our lap and we were pinned down, myself hiding behind a camera, too afraid to even touch the tripod for fear of my shaking hands would run the footage. All I could see of my partner wedged against a stunted pine was the tip of his undrawn arrow shaking uncontrollably on the rest. Before a shot presented itself, the bull smelled a rat and disappeared as quickly as he arrived. While this experience didn’t result in a dead elk, it did hopelessly addict me to calling them.

It seems that in all walks of life, be it the animal kingdom or humans, communication is a key ingredient for all social interac­tion. However not all living things communicate to the same degree. If you ask my wife, I am sure she will tell you I lack in the communication department, in fact I am sure she believes I don’t listen to her at all, but when it comes to communicating with animals I can barely shut up. Of all the animals I love to communicate with elk rate right at the top.

By nature elk are very vocal. The uninitiated often simply think of bulls bugling, but cows, calves and bulls make all sorts of noises year around. If you encounter a larger herd of elk while you might not hear a thing from a distance, if you get close you will hear lots of subtle vocalization. Most of the time these are sounds of contentment, but depending on what’s happening the vocalization reflects it. Elk can convey contentment, danger, curiosity, or a cow in heat. Bulls for instance only bugle primar­ily in the rut, but they also communicate to establish a pecking order. After spending a considerable amount of time chasing the mighty wapiti, I’m convinced every elk in the herd knows each other by sound alone. This happens with the cows as well as the bulls and based on my evaluation somewhere in this mix is the deadly secret to calling elk archery-close.

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

It seems that the more vocal a herd the better the odds are for success at calling them. Some cows call subtle, while others are loud-mouth ladies actively looking for a date. By listening it gives you a better opportunity to imitate the particular tones and intensity of the herd.

By calling we are automatically intruding into the social club without an invitation. The closer we can sound to a known elk, and match that intensity the better the odds are of filling a tag. Even though we may sound like an outsider to the herd, luckily for us, love crazed bulls are not looking to be intimate with just one or two cows they are looking for all the love of every cow in the world, so taking advantage of their sexual frustrations and promiscuity is what we aim to do.

It doesn’t take a world champion elk caller to trick bulls within range. By simply paying attention to the herd and under­standing simple elk rhythm, tone and more important volume when calling, a hunter can depend on an elk call to be a valuable asset to dulling broadheads.

Public Versus Private Land

Since I started hunting elk 16 years ago, on private as well as public ground, I have realize that comparing these two  different types of ground are like comparing night and day and it is all about the amount of pressure each receives. Generally speaking private ground bulls are way easier to call than public ground animals, but this is not always the case. Some private land does get a lot of pressure, which can make for some pretty tough calling duels with elk that can serve you up a humble pie every time you bust out a call. While conversely some public land either through sheer remoteness or hard-to-get tags is like calling the best private land in the nation.

Hunting un-touched land and cow calling to bulls that have never heard a Hoochie Mamma would obviously be nice and it wouldn’t take long work­ing over these uneducated elk to start feeling like an elk calling pro only to be deflated the first time we went to the national forest and mixed it up with bulls so well-known by local hunters that they have knick names. However, regardless of where you hunt the basics of calling remain the same.

Start with mastering the cow call and all its various inflections. Your basic reed type calls are the easiest to learn as well as get proficient with. You will find two kinds; both are bite down reed-type of calls, one being enclosed and the other having an open reed or reeds. These calls make a very realistic sound and before your wife can run you out of the house you will master the basics.

I rely heavily on the cow call and think most of the time hunters are better off sticking with it over a bugle no matter where he is hunting. But learning how to make a basic bugle is important, especially for locating bulls at a distance before getting close and working him with your cow call. In addition, sometimes it is the bugle that finally provokes a dominant bull to commit, especially during the early season when bulls are still sorting out their peckin’ order.

Earning Your Public Ground PhD

Lets face it, unless you have deep pockets much of the private ground in the West is pretty much off limits, so you have to learn to hunt public land. This is not a bad thing as public ground comprises millions upon millions of acres across the West and happens to have some of the biggest bulls found anywhere. While it can be tougher than private, once you learn how to hunt it you won’t be disappointed. Over the years, one of my favorite places to hunt is the Gila National Forest, in New Mexico, and even though this is a trophy area tags are fairly obtainable through application.

In the Gila, the trophy potential is off the chart, sporting some of the biggest bulls in the country, but just because the big ones live there doesn’t mean that you automatically make one call and they come running to get in the back of your truck. These mature jokers have a PhD in avoiding hunters.

Over the last six years I have hunted this area religiously and have had the op­portunity to shoot some nice bulls all by using elk calls as an aid to close the coffin.

Notice I said, “as an aid”, meaning the call was just one thing in a bag of tricks to help smoke these monarchs. My biggest bull that came out of the Gila was a 378 P&Y bull that had earned the name Professor because he always seemed to take you to school when you applied too much pressure. However, this bull was vocal and would bugle his butt off. He also seemed to be fairly easy to find, not only by his gnarly, raspy bugle that set him apart, but frequently he could be found early in the morning in a large meadow just south of a particular water hole that always attracted a large herd.

The Professor was not the only bull in the area that had large headgear, but it was The Professor that seemed to call the shots. I had caught this bull in the open several times, but calling seemed to really make him uneasy when you were in close. The Professor however would bugle hard to distant cow calls and seem to be whole heartedly interested, but had a sixth sense when you moved in for the attack.

Finally we decided to have a caller stay behind as we worked him coming off the meadow at daybreak. By doing this we could keep him interested and bugling as we stalked in closer. The caller always was no closer than 80 yards behind me. While the caller kept him occupied, I slid within 50 yards and gave him a G5 Tekan right behind the shoulder. This hunt was really a stalk, but the call and caller had a big part to do with his demise. Once we started quartering the bull up, we found a piece of an old arrow lodged just below the backstraps, so obviously someone had him in close before and gave the Prof and education, which explained why he was so wary.

The Double Team

As this old bull showed, hunting with a partner can work extremely well. It not only puts the hunter out in front of the call, but it gives the hunter a chance to move and adjust the angle based on where the bull might be ap­proaching. Likewise, the caller has the flexibility to move as well and apply a lot of different calling techniques.

The double team plan worked again on another hunt. It had been hot and the bulls were only bugling early and late. As soon as the sun would rise the elk woods would turn in to a ghost town.

Just after daybreak on the fourth day of our hunt we heard this bull bugle. He hit it only two times, both very weak and he sounded like the littlest rag horn in the land but with no other game in town we went after him. Getting as close as pos­sible to where we thought the bugle came from I eased up and sat down by a pine stump while my buddy moved back and to my right about 40 yards. Neither of us were very optimistic about our chances. My buddy made one or maybe two very soft cow calls on a two reed diaphragm then he started raking a tree and rolled a few rocks. We sat there for possibly 10 minutes in silence, then out of nowhere appeared a wide 340 inch 6 x 6 coming directly to us, at 25 yards the bull let out a soft chuckle, looked over his surround­ing and kept walking in the direction of where the last rock had been rolled, which led him 16 steps from my pine stump. By now I was at full draw waiting for a broadside shot. When the arrow left my bow, I knew we had killed a call shy monster by keeping it low key and stay­ing patient. Needless to say, I was never convinced by the two times he had bugled earlier that he was a shooter. This was a lesson in itself. Never judge a bugle until you can see what is making the sound.

The most exciting way to bag a bull elk is to get him in close, and the best way to do that is with a call. Confidence in your call is critical, because if you’re insecure about using your call there is a good chance you will spook elk. Have confi­dence in your calling ability and become just another elk in the herd where you are hunting. Find a call that works for you and not what works for some else. Think like an elk and do as elk do. Real­ism, rhythm, and volume control can make the difference between bringin’ them in or running them over the next ridge. And remember its not always about calling, it can be just patiently listening to the sounds around you and applying minimal calls, while practicing good woodsmenship, and stalking skills that could help you put that monster on the back of the truck.

*This blog post was used with permission from Michael Waddell and Skinny Moose Media. Muskoka Outdoors is a proud member of Skinny Moose Media Blogs

Wildlife Biologist Bill Brown shared this picture of his bow hunting success on Michigan’s deer opener.

He also mentioned, on Twitter, that this was not the biggest buck he has ever shot. Make no mistake about it – this is a nice deer! Bill, is a food plot specialist and he would be love to evaluate your set-up and food plots for anything that could help your deer hunting success. Consider visiting his website for more information www.whitetailchef.com.

Nice Buck Bill.

I would be happy to post other deer photos (big or small) that any of our visitors have taken in 2009. Email me using the the link below.

Hunter orange. It is not exactly good camouflage. I mean, if it was, I would think you would see Mossy Oak and Realtree (and many others) producing rack fulls of the latest in Hunter Orange ’stealth-ware’. You know its rifle season when you start to see orange vests, orange hats, and orange jackets light up our forests like citrus-colored beacons in a wild ocean of grey, brown, and green. It can be a bit of an identity crisis for many hunters. It’s tough heading out into the wilds as the man trying to be stealthy – yet still seen by all.

This conflict would begin every time I would ’suit-up’ and make the trek to my favorite deer stand. I would laugh inside over the irony of my hunting wardrobe when I would try to find a group of evergreens to mask my ‘presence’. Once there, the observant hunter would notice that green does not hide bright orange. Try it for yourself!  Attempt to hide an orange on an evergreen branch.

Sure, I have read the ’science’ about the physiological make-up of a deer’s eyes. Researchers claim, that orange is not seen by deer. I am not buying it. If that is the case, somebody better tell the camouflage companies.

To resolve the conflict that exists in so many hunters, I have developed a hunting system that can be easily followed and adapted to any hunting camp scenario. I call it, The Art of Non-Camouflage.

Don’t be something you are not.

It begins with the principle that any hunter will be visible to man or beast when wearing hunter orange.

All components to my system flow from that one simple principle:

• It does not matter where you store your orange hunting gear during your hunt. Wear or hang it by the fire during breakfast. You might as well head out to your watch with a warm jacket smelling like bacon because the deer are going to see you anyway.
• Scents and other lesser animal urine sprays won’t hide your orange garments. Save your money.
• Become more visible at camp. Wear your coat whenever you venture outside. It will let your camp buddies know where you are during target practice and an orange coat hanging on the outside of an outhouse door can be scene from miles away. Everyone will appreciate knowing that the ‘Biffy’ is occupied before they make the long trek out there themselves.
• Tree stands are now optional. Orange is as glaringly obvious up high as it is down low. Again, save your money folks.
• Blue jeans are allowed. The staple of many deer hunting clothes, blue jeans are thought to attract a deers attention more quickly. I say, if they are going to see the orange anyway, what does it matter if your pants are blue? We have all seen Blue Jays. Blue is a ‘natural color’. The denim stays!
• Meet the safety requirement and enjoy the moment. In Ontario, you need 400 square inches of hunter orange on your upper body. Brand name, or generic name, or new, or old it does not matter how much the orange costs. Buy it or borrow it – the obvious nature of hunter orange is still the same with a $2 price tag as with a $200 price tag. Just get out there and enjoy the view – and bring a kid with you.

In case you were not able to determine if I was serious or not. I am totally kidding. That being said, my initial post today triggered some other train of thought that I hope we all can take ‘to heart’.

I think that in our everyday relationships with the people we come in contact with, we frequently wear camouflage. We are afraid to be honest with people who ask our opinions, thoughts, and ideas. How many times have you responded with a, “Everything is fine in my life.” when a concerned person asks?

It’s just like camouflage. It hides what really is there. Unfortunately, hunter orange is not a requirement in everyday relationships with people. How many times today have you camouflaged your answers? I wonder if we would be better friends, workers and employers if we more honest in the relationships we nurture every day?

I would propose to you that one step on the journey to being a better person will taken by those who understand the Art of Non-Camouflage.

Not very far from the lair of the Swamp King on Grandpa’s property, there is a dense cluster of nebula evergreens. I came across the elevated tree grouping on a deer drive this past rifle season. It is now flagged on my navigational charts. I marked it not because of it’s unique location nestled amongst a large section of hardwoods, but because of my ‘first contact’ experience with a Romulan Buck.

He’s the new buck in town.

Unfortunately for me, my long range scanners needed some re-calibrating as I noisily made my way down the large hardwood hill towards the nebula. Bella, our hound of debatable ability, was ranging somewhere to the right of the unfamiliar anomaly and appeared to have no interest in its existence. To cover more ground, I thought it might be advantageous for me to explore and enter the heart of the evergreens. So, I changed my course and started moving towards the trees at approximately half impulse.

Long range sensors picked up nothing. Neither did, Bella.

Within seconds of entering the initial picket of thick tamarack branches, I heard the snap of twigs about 30 yards ahead of me. I could have reacted faster, but my hat and rifle were in the clutches of the various evergreen branches that surrounded me. In frustration, I managed to scan ahead of me (with my hat stuck in the tree behind me) and watched a thick main beam and a brown deer flank cloak into the depths of the organic nebula.

There was no time for a shot or even a look into my scope. Of course, it would have been pointless anyway. Cloaking devices always helped those pesky Romulans on TV.

The deer’s technology was so effective, that Bella barely whimpered when she scurried past his last known location. I don’t think she’s calibrated to pick-up tachyon emissions.

The thing that stands out to me is that this buck was quite content to stay bedded down in the middle of these out-of-place evergreens. He would not have moved if I had skirted around the dense ’swath’ of land. When you do your own deer drives, make sure you find a way to enter the thick cover-even if it seems to small to be of any value.

Bring your tricorder or Starfleet Engineer.