What do you think, do hunters rley too much on gadgets, gimmicks and game predictors too much, or do they do enough scouting to keep it real?
During my seminars at Game Fair I will be talking about how to read and understand deer and elk sign, in order to locate the best times and the best places to hunt deer or elk. I'll talk about how the weather can affect daily and hourly game activity. My seminars will be on Hunting Trophy Elk Hunting Techniques, everyday at 1 PM; and Trophy Deer Hunting Techniques, everyday at 4 PM. During the rest of Game Fair I can be found in the Trinity Mountain Outdoors booth. Hunter's should be sure to stop by the booth for prices, on this and next year's hunts, and free information on hunting game animals. We will be offering reduced prices on hunts for women, fathers and children, and group hunts.
I always have to come up with something new for hunters, which is hard to do after 21 years as a speaker. But, I think I have a great subject this year. Over the years I've begun to realize that many hunters are using (if not relying on) gadgets, gimmicks and game predictor tables to get their animals. I understand that hunters are pressed for time, and they would like to improve their odds of getting their animals, so they resort to quick fixes to attract the animals, to get the animals to come to them. But, what they should be doing if they really want to improve their chances is to figure out where the animals move on a regular basis and at what time. They should be looking for the animal's nighttime resting area, their morning and evening feeding areas and the routes and trails they use between those two areas.
No matter how you slice it, hunting is all about being in the right place, at the right time. We've all heard the old adage "Location, location, location". Picking the right location is great, but we also need to be there at the right time, because, to be successful as hunters we need to be in the right location, at the right time. After ten years of game animal research I've learned a few things about daily animal behavior. Because many animals spend several months in the same general areas, often year after year, they are intimately familiar with that area (referred to as the animals "home range", and they often develop preferred, regularly used travel routes as they go to and from their resting areas and food sources. If you, as a hunter, know that, then you can relate to my axiom, which states that "the best place to see animals is in areas where they feel safe and comfortable (for security and thermal regulation reasons), have been before (out of semi-regular habit) and they are going to anyhow (why try to get the animal to come to you, if you can usually set up close enough to their travel route to hunt them?).
There are three very good ways to figure out where the animals resting, feeding and travel areas are. The first one I believe you cannot do without out, is field scouting. Field scouting is actually getting out into the hunting area and actually looking for physical signs that the animals are frequenting particular areas. You should be looking for frequently and infrequently used trails (usually leading to and from resting and food sources), tracks, droppings, rubs and scrapes (that show you how many animals are using the trails and what direction they are traveling, and possibly the size of the animal or its rack) and tracks, droppings and feathers (to show you where resting areas are). The area these signs are in can tell you what time of day the animals are using those areas (if you understand how to read sign); and takes care of "what time to hunt" in different locations.
Instead of (or along with) field scouting you can also use game timers and game cameras to help you determine how many animals, and which ones, are using particular areas. These products can help you cut down on the amount of time you need to spend field scouting.
In addition to field scouting you can use a good pair of binoculars or a spotting scope to glass likely travel areas and food sources as you drive around in the morning or evening. In fact glassing is n extension of field scouting, and it is a great way to locate open food sources for big game animals and turkeys in the morning and evening. When you see animals feeding, note which way the animals enter or leave the feeding areas, and then get in there on foot to find the trails they use. If they leave forage areas in the morning, they are often headed back towards their daytime resting areas. Follow the trail in the direction the animal was going, to get closer to its daytime resting area, and catch it before it gets there. If the animals come into forage areas in the evening, they probably came from their daytime resting area. Follow the trail toward the direction the animal came from, to get closer to its daytime resting area, and catch it as it comes out in late afternoon or early evening.
Because turkeys often have a circuit they travel they may not go the same area to feed and strut n the morning, as they did in the evening. They may go to another forage source. If you locate the their roost tree and setup near it in the morning, especially if you are between the tom and the hens or between the birds and the morning forage and strutting area, you have a good chance of seeing and hunting them as they walk by in the morning.
If you understand how to interpret animal sign, you not only know where the animals are most likely to move, but at what time they are most likely to be in particular areas. Most big game animals are crepuscular during the fall hunting season, which means they stay in or near secure areas during the day (often wooded, brushy or inaccessible areas for big game and turkey; water for waterfowl). They leave daytime resting areas to go to food sources in the late afternoon or evening hours, often spend the night in or near food sources most of the night, and they head back toward their daytime resting core areas within a few hours of sunrise.
So, field scouting shows us not only where to hunt (location), but at what time to hunt in particular areas.
During my twelve years of deer, elk, turkey and bear research, I've learned that because these animals are either crepuscular (they are most active at dusk and dawn) or nocturnal (they move primarily at night), their track soften lead from wooded, brushy, swampy, remote or otherwise secure areas (where they spend the day) to more open food sources at night. So, when I see tracks leading away from secure areas and/or to a food source, I can make an educated guess that the time of day that trail is used by the animals is in the evening. If I see tracks leading away from food sources and /or toward secure areas, I can guess that the time of day the animals use that trail, is in the morning. If I see animal beds in open areas, I'm pretty sure that the animal are there at night. If I see animal beds in secure areas, I'm fairly sure they are there at night.
With turkeys, feathers and droppings under large trees are a good indicator of nighttime roosting sites. With waterfowl, especially geese, the thing to do is look for water that they use as nighttime and midday roosting sites, and then drive around scouting and glassing to watch the birds as they head for feeding fields in either the morning or the evening.
Scouting, and knowing how to interpret sign, can tell you not only where the animals are semi-regularly active (because weather, food source, hunting pressure, predatory behavior and human behavior influence where and when animals move each day), but the time of day that they use particular areas of their home ranges. Incidentally this is referred to as patterning " the animals; it is one of the most productive techniques available to help hunters get their game, even the particular animal they want.
During my seminars at Game Fair I will be talking about how to read and understand deer and elk sign, in order to locate the best times and the best places to hunt deer or elk. I'll talk about how the weather can affect daily and hourly game activity. Hunters can also pick up copies of my Whitetail, Duck & Goose, Turkey and Elk Addict's Manuals, to help them understand game biology and behavior better, and choose the best times, places and techniques to hunt. My seminars will be on Trophy Elk Hunting Techniques, everyday at 1 PM; and Trophy Deer Hunting Techniques, everyday at 4 PM. During the rest of Game Fair I can be found in the Trinity Mountain Outdoors booth. Hunter's should be sure to stop by the booth for prices, on this and next year's hunts, and free information on hunting game animals. We will be offering reduced prices on hunts for women, fathers and children, and group hunts.
Game Fair is located at 8404 161st Avenue Northwest, Anoka, Minnesota, just north of St. Paul off Highway 10. August 6, 7, 8 & 13, 14, 15.
www.GameFair.com, (763) 427-0944.
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Topic: Gadgets, Gimmicks & Game Predictors or Scouting? (Read 1396 times)
