Always Assume a Buck is Nearby

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

When calling deer, always assume a buck is nearby. Hunters are always looking for that buck to come charging in, but this doesn’t happen very often.  Normally the largest bucks sneak in silently downwind of your location. Always make sure you have a good shooting lane downwind from your stand.

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Get the book here

Give “BUCK NAKED” for X-mas

Looking for that special gift for the outdoorsman in your life? Give them the gift that truly keeps on giving, a copy of the book Buck Naked; The Straight Dope on Trophy Whitetails.

Here’s a gift that will be appreciated this Christmas season and for years to come. Buck Naked is jammed packed with tips, tactics, and strategies that will benefit both the novice and seasoned hunter.

Have a great Holiday Season,
Jim

Grab a copy for your special hunter here

Making Changes

Apple Creek Whitetails Photo

Time and again I run into hunters who are looking for success or are just plain waiting for success to find them. They dream of harvesting a trophy buck, but they just don’t know how to get started. It’s like the "big buck" is barely out of their reach. They are waiting for a break-through or a new and unique product that will revolutionize their hunting world. They have the misconception that if they can just hang in there long enough success will find them. Sadly, it rarely works this way. The truth is, waiting for success to find you is like waiting to be struck by lightning. The odds are it won’t happen.

We must be willing to change ourselves and the way we hunt if we expect to change our results. I hope that you will join me as I uncover the truth about trophy hunting, what it takes to achieve consistent success.
Jim

Read More Here

The General Season is Here

Apple Creek Photo

 

Imagine yourself taking the biggest buck of you life this fall. Can you feel the excitement, the thrill?

 

With the general deer season just around the corner, you'll want all the information you can get to ensure success this fall.

 

That's why I wrote "BUCK NAKED, The Straight Dope on Trophy Whitetails". I want to help you to become a more successful hunter.

 

You can purchase a copy of my book from Amazon.

 

Grab your copy here

 

 

Thanks,

Jim

The 7 Deadly Sins of Whitetail Hunting

The 7 Deadly Sins of Whitetail Hunting

1) Lack of Scouting

The number one cause for failure in whitetail hunting is the lack of scouting. The second greatest cause for failure in whitetail hunting is not knowing what to look for while scouting. Proper scouting is for more than just seeing big deer. We must learn to differentiate between deer sign left by does and deer sign left by bucks. Furthermore, we must be able to differentiate average buck sign from exceptional buck sign.

2) Lack of Scent Control

Too often hunters enter the field with little regard to their scent. Scent control requires more than simply wearing clean unscented clothing. We must be aware of wind direction at all times and how the morning and evening thermals drift our scent through the forest. Cover scents are nice, but seldom do they put venison in the freezer.

3) Lack of Awareness

We must stay focused on the task at hand. If we allow our thoughts to drift elsewhere, when the buck shows we won’t be ready. Hunting trophy deer often involves many hours of boredom. Keeping our minds in the now is crucially important. One way to help accomplish this is to focus on our breathing whenever we find our thoughts wandering away from the hunt.

4) Lack of Shooting Proficiency

Practice, practice, practice. We should be so familiar with our bow or rifle that shooting it and shooting it accurately is second nature to us. A hunter fiddling around with a weapon he is unfamiliar with has saved the lives of more big bucks than just about anything else.. Our focus needs to be on seeing dear. The shooting should be automatic.

5) Lack of Whitetail Knowledge

Deer are not people. We tend to attribute human characteristics to the deer. Unfortunately, deer view the world completely different than humans do. An understanding of how deer react to different stimulus is critical. We need to understand both a deer’s physical needs and which type of habitats deer prefer.

6) The Inability to Adapt to Changes in Deer Behavior

Nothing in nature is static. Everything is in constant flux. Weather and wind direction can change rapidly. A food source that was available weeks ago has now dried up. We must constantly evaluate changes in the environment which affect deer behavior and adjust our strategies and tactics to adapt to the current situation.

7) Lack of True Intent

Odds are you will only harvest a buck as big as what you are willing to settle for. Hunters with a good visual image of the buck they want generally harvest bigger bucks. Simply stated, everyone wants a big buck, but if you’re willing to settle for less that’s what you’ll get.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,

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

The Three Most Important Qualities

The Three Most Important Qualities a Hunter Can Possess

I believe the three most important qualities and abilities a hunter can possess are:

1. An understanding of one's self (self-mastery)

2. An understanding of the nature of deer

3. An understanding of how to carry out a real investigation

We will manage the hunt by first mastering ourselves. There’s a world of difference between mastery and control. The average hunter will attempt to establish his self-importance by controlling his environment. The more experienced hunter may actually have more difficulty practicing proper scouting techniques than a relative novice. He may think he’s seen it all and thus will miss subtle but essential changes in a deer’s behavior. Thinking we "know it all" is the kiss of death in hunting. We must lose our ego and look at everything with fresh eyes. That’s where the novice has it over the seasoned veteran.
Jim
http://jimcollyer.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Buck-Naked-Straight-Trophy-Whitetails/dp/1466498234/ref=sr_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337214685&sr=1-18

Make the buck hear more than one deer

Apple Creek Whitetail Photograph

 

 

 

During the rut it’s natural for a buck to hear the sounds of more than one deer. After all it takes two to tango. I like to carry one grunt call and two different bleat calls with me while hunting. This gives the illusion of there being more than one receptive doe in the area. Giving least three bleats to every grunt has worked best for me. Remember does don’t estrous bleat to sound their receptiveness, they bleat when they are trying to flee an overly aggressive buck.

In the end the tool that takes most deer is patience.

Jim

More on calling deer

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Aggressive Calling Rarely Works

Apple Creek Whitetails Photo

 

Overly aggressive calling has saved more bucks lives than just about anything else. Aggressive calling is only used when bucks are a long ways off. The buck has to hear your call in order to respond.

If a good buck is responding to your call, shut-up. If he stops or hesitates, try a few subtle calls. A few doe bleats will often get a buck that is hung-up to begin to move in your direction again. Don’t get forceful with your calling until all else has failed.

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Learn more about calling here

Don’t Call in Open Areas

Apple Creek Whitetails Photo

 

 

If you don’t have a decoy, calling where the buck can see everything is useless. You have to give the buck a reason why he can’t see the deer that’s calling, or he won’t be comfortable coming in. always take full advantage of the cover and vegetation in your area.

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/ 

Get the Naked Truth on Whitetails here

Keep Your Head Down

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

Avoid lifting your head to get a better look at the deer. The sudden appearance of your face usually gets instant attention. Wait until the deer comes into your view if possible. If you just have to see, it’s best to look around objects and not over them.

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

The book available here

Take Careful Shots

Apple Creek Whitetails Photo

Too often a buck will come in from behind you. Be patient and don’t take shots at an extreme angle. A missed shot and your chances of seeing that deer again will go to slim to none instantly.

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Get your book here

Don’t Bet the Farm

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

 

 

If you’ve located a big buck close to a road with plenty of access, don’t bet the farm on him being there when the season opens. You can be sure other hunters have seen him too. While you shouldn’t over look these convenient places, your pre-season scouting should be focused on giving as many options as possible.

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

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Find the Bedroom

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

 

 

When I speak of a deer’s bedroom, I don’t necessarily mean where a deer sleeps. What I’m talking about here is areas where breeding occurs. I’m looking for areas with thick brush or with young trees close together. The doe, with her smaller frame and lack of antlers can easily out maneuver an amorous buck in such places. She picks where and when the breeding occurs.

Remember a buck doesn’t like to force his antlers through branches bigger than your thumb. Being able to get a good shot in the thick stuff can be hard to impossible. Don’t set up and hide where you can only see a few yards out. You’re going to be better off setting up on the downwind edge of these bedrooms where visibility is better..

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Get the book on Amazon here

Get Comfortable

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

Make sure your stand is a comfortable one. Be ready to sit for long periods of time-two hours or more- without any noticeable movement. A deer’s eyes are geared to pick up movement. If you can’t sit still your chances greatly are greatly diminished.

Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

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Trial and Error

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

 

Most of what I know about hunting its been learned through trial and error. Errors will occur whether you want them to or not. Mistakes are difficult to avoid, especially in hunting.

Hunters mistakenly believe the way to avoid making mistakes is to avoid trying new tactics. I think we should try new tactics.

The truth is that what you been doing is going to get you what you been getting. If you want changes in your success rate, you must first change yourself.

-Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Do you have the heart of a hunter? (gift inside)

Have you read my book "Buck Naked" yet? Since it's release, I've received incredible feedback from readers raving about how this book has changed their hunting and enabled them to harvest bigger bucks more consistently.

If you haven't heard of my book, or haven't had a chance to check it out yet, I want to give you a chapter free. It's titled "Inside a Deer’s Mind."

Get it here

I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

If you're reading this email, then it's already clear that you're a hunting leader. Leaders stick out from the crowd, and for good reason.

Keep checking your email over the next few days because I'll be sending you more free gifts.

In the meantime, don't forget to read this chapter of my book for free.

Jim
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The Hardest Part

A friend of mine asked me, “How did you get so knowledgeable on whitetails?”

I answered, “I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods and more importantly I did the reading.”

I’ve read everything I could get my hands on about hunting.

No one said preparation was the fun part, but it’s important. I wonder why we believe we can skip it and still be successful.

-Jim

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

Treestand Height

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

 

The optimum height for a treestand is 20 feet. This keeps our feet about 18 feet above ground-level, which is the distance necessary to prevent the thermals from drifting are scent down to the deer.

Unfortunately, not all terrain allows for stands of this height, but whenever possible 20 feet of elevation should be our goal.

-Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/

Buck Naked

By Shannon Wood on February 25, 2013

Now my book collection on outdoor books are not as big as a professors at some big name college or university in some random English class. I have a cousin that lives with me at the time of me writing this review that graduated from Auburn University with a degree in English. These type of books just do not feed his fancy as I should say. His type of reading is certainly not like the readings that I read or have read in the past. Now I do give him credit for leading me to one great author known as Mitch Albom, whose books I have read have turned out to be amazing.
Buck Naked in my terms is a book that every outdoor man or woman should have in their collection. Jim Collyer the author, was raised in a rural community nestled in the rugged mountains of Idaho. In his acknowledgments of the book he says: Its been said that it takes a community to raise a child, and he is very fortunate to have been raised in this rural community of Idaho. Jim is an expert hunter, writer and speaker and contains over forty-five years of chasing whitetail deer in his life. I certain amount of each proceed of purchasing this book will also go to the Buckmasters American Deer Foundation.
If you are a skeptical type of hunter then one sitting and read of this book will change the way you look at hunting whitetail deer forever. I dont believe there is one hunter out there that isn’t skeptical in some sort of way at least just a little. Even I am skeptical in some degree and may not even know it myself. A common hunter can take this book and just read a few chapters in it and can stand a better chance at harvesting a trophy buck better than he could before he read it. If you are reading this review then you can take a little time read this book. If you cant read and you have someone else reading this review to you then they can read this book to you as well as they are reading this article to you.
I took my time and read this book through the 2012-2013 deer season here in Alabama. I have caught myself on more than one occasion not looking up out of the shooting house window to even see if there were deer standing in my food plots. In this case there probably were a lot of bucks and does that walked this year and will be that much bigger next year for me to harvest. To give you a little spoiler on this book it starts of at the beginning talking about be an investigative hunter and end up talking about good days and bad days of hunting. It will show in to some sense the mistakes you make already and tell you how to fix them to make them better for you as a hunter.
We all want to be better hunters and managers to a degree. And I will leave you with this on the final thoughts of just from me reading this book. I am not the type of person to read a book and a book and then give away my secrets that I have learned but if you will just pick you up a copy and read it for yourself, you will thank me later for telling you to do so. So pick your copy up today and you wont regret that you did. Buy here:Buck Naked

Downwind of the Big Domino

Photo courtesy of Apple Creek Whitetails

 

 

I’ve never been a big fan of driving deer, probably because I always end up being a driver and never a stander.

The idea is not just to move deer, but to move deer to a particular location.

It’s a lot like playing dominoes. If you have everything lined up just right, you just have to push the first one over and the rest come crashing down.

When pushing deer, I keep my drivers 50 yards apart. The drivers are staggered to keep the deer moving in the direction we want. The driver furthest away from the stand starts first. Once the first driver is 50 yards into the timber or cornfield the second driver starts. Once a second driver is 50 yards in, the third driver starts and so on and so on.

This staggered movement is critical in pushing the deer towards a desired location.

After that, all you have to do is make sure your stander is well concealed and downwind of the big domino.

-Jim

http://jimcollyer.com/