Hunt Rub Lines

I prefer hunting over rub lines as opposed to scrape lines. First off, bucks make rubs, does don’t. Secondly, bucks rub trees for three months each fall, while ground scrapes are limited to a few of weeks during the rut. Thirdly, scrape lines almost always follow rub lines. You can take it to the bank. Most important, it is far easier to tell the potential size of a buck from a rub than from a scrape.


I’m looking for a tree with a rub length of 24 " or more.

Hunting rubs is more effective earlier in the fall before the urgency of the rut sets in.

Jim

Hunting the Transition Period

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

Throughout July and August the bucks have been coming out into the crop fields like clockwork. Sometime around the first week of September we’ll notice the first shreds of velvet coming off the larger buck’s antlers. Within a day or two, buck we’ve been watching all summer seems to vanish into thin air.
The fact is, the bucks are still there, but will now become very secretive until the rut is in full swing. A lot of hunters call this the "Transition Period". It is the time of the year when testosterone levels in the buck begin to rise and they try to establish a pecking order. Adolescent bucks begin to challenge the older deer, much in the same way that adolescent human males challenge old men. Big bucks are wary and timid by nature and generally give the younger bucks some space, preferring to save their energy for the rutting season. The bucks are becoming more nocturnal, more solitary, and sometimes move off to different food sources altogether. The comradery and friendship of the bachelor group has vanished, not the deer.

For those of you who have been patterning a big buck with the hopes of arrowing him in the coming archery season, the race is on. If you don’t stick him before the velvet comes off you will more than likely have to re-patterned him. Sitting on the edge of a crop field after the velvet comes off is hit and miss at best. Remember you’re only going to get one, maybe two shots at it before shift happens.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,

Jim
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Stand Placement

Apple Creek Whitetails Picture

 

Morning stands are generally more productive than evening stands. With the exception of early-season hunting in mountainous terrain. In those instances an evening stand at the base of the mountain is for more productive since it utilizes the evening air thermal direction.

For the rest of the season morning stands rule. I try to keep my stand on the highest ground possible. There is more deer activity in the bottom lands during daylight hours, but the danger of the daytime air thermals lifting your scent and spreading it for several hundred yards in all directions is just too great. Always opt for a stand high on the ridge.

Throughout most of the United States the prevailing wind direction comes out of the southwest. Approaching from the east keeps us from stinking the whole place up before we even start to hunt. I like to keep my stand, whether it’s a tree stand or a ground blind, on the eastern side of the funnel for the same reasons.

It’s hard to find a perfect set up, but the basic principles of wind direction, undetected approach and concealment hold true no matter where you hunt. Having the prevailing wind in your face and an undetected approach to the stand are crucial for consistent success.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

　

Early Season Stand Placement

Apple Creek Whitetails Photo

 

 

There’s an old saying, "When the velvet comes off, the brains go in." By now the majority of bucks have shed their velvet and are entering the transition period between summer hangouts and the rut.

Bucks who were as predictable as clock work have seemed to vanish. Bachelor groups are now breaking up and the bucks are establishing a pecking order.

Early season hunting is not as productive as it will be when the weather cools and the rut kicks in. Early in the fall, stand placement is critical for success.

This time of year I do most of my hunting in the afternoon. It’s just too easy to spook deer while trying to get to your stand in the early morning. I focus on feed and place my stand between bedding areas and the primary food source.

Big deer like to enter a field on a inside corner and this is an excellent place to place a stand. Mature bucks are always the last to come into a food source. Often the bigger deer don’t show until it is too late to shoot, for that reason, I prefer to place my stand a 100 to 200 back form the inside corner of a food plot.

I like my stands high and 20 feet above the ground works real good at keeping your scent above the deer. Be sure to hunt only when wind direction is favorable. You don’t want your scent blowing towards the trail where the buck will becoming or blowing directly towards deer feeding. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been busted by my scent drifting down on feeding does.

Jim

http://www.amazon.com/Buck-Naked-Straight-Trophy-Whitetails/dp/1466498234