THE OWL AND THE BUCK

Author's note: We are still in the midst of a snowstorm. About 14 to 16 inches blankets the ground outside. The deer should be moving well when it lets up. Just before this bad weather hit, one of our group (Duane's brother Larry) got a nine-point buck. I've been busy with snow removal and related chores. The cold weather got me thinking about past hunts I've made trying conditions. Here is a story that took place on a December hunt.

THE OWL AND THE BUCK
By: Ray Hansen

Over the years I’ve had occasion to sit out in the cold many, many times: for the sake of chasing fish through the ice; in the hopes of catching a buck unawares; simply to enjoy the transition from darkness to daylight; and for innumerable other reasons.

A frosty December morning in a cedar swamp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula comes to mind. The primitive firearms (muzzleloader) season just started, and would run the first ten days of December.

Swaddled in layers of insulated coveralls, vests, sweatshirts, and longjohns with a knit cap under a full face mask, I must have resembled an overstuffed sausage. Moving around was not an option. No wind howled to conceal the sounds I would make. The surrounding cover was too thick, and my best alternative was to sit while watching a small clearing within the dense swamp.

When creeping into place earlier that morning, I hung felt pads saturated with rut scent, hoping to convince a buck that had survived the gun season that an un-bred doe was hiding nearby. And it worked! I heard occasional movements through the green wall of cedar branches, and even saw the silhouette of the buck passing through some alders forty yards distant. Getting him to step into the far end of the clearing where the pad hung was proving difficult. Having been hunted non-stop for the previous two-weeks, he was wary.

Drinking water carried in a pack was now frozen in the bottle. I slid it into the pocket of my coveralls, but after an hour, only a small trickle of liquid could be coaxed from the cold plastic container. Breathing in the frigid air dries your throat, causing thirst nearly as intense as that experienced while working outside in the summer.

The buck kept moving slowly around, trying to catch a scent trail that would let him pinpoint the source of the smell, but the swamp was dead calm. No breezes helped out. It would be a waiting game. After an hour elapsed I could not track the deer by sound, and I thought he had moved on. An owl began to hoot however, and the sounds very slowly circled the clearing.

I began to realize the owl was following the deer. Why? The answer came to me when I visualized what the bird of prey would accomplish in this way.

The only thing moving in the swamp was the love-struck buck. The owl wanted a tasty breakfast of squirrel, partridge, rabbit, or some rodent, but they were not moving. The only chance was to follow the deer. It might kick up something while slipping through the cedars. So that’s what the bird did. He was hunting just as I was.

Whether it worked or not, I don’t know. After four hours, the arctic conditions got the best of me. Leaving the swamp, I followed an old logging road ran toward a warm camp where fresh, black coffee brewed. I walked slowly along, reviewing the few glimpses I had of the swamp buck. Had I learned anything? After writing notes about the day’s experiences, one nugget of truth emerged: I’d pay more attention to owl hooting on the next hunt.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

BONES IN THE RIVERBED

Author's note: We had our first good snowstorm on Monday and whether that knocked out my internet access, I don't know. I was not able to log on for a couple days. I'll have a report about the deer hunting season as soon as I can write one up. In the mean time, here is a true tale about the river that runs past my house.

BONES IN THE RIVERBED
By: Ray Hansen

The inspiration for this blog came from something I observed this summer while wading in the river behind my house and casting for smallmouth bass: deer bones lay scattered in certain sections of the riverbed. Moving slowly along, I’d spot part of a ribcage here, and a hip bone there. Longer leg bones often lay oriented with the flow of the current, and smaller bones sat wherever the high and roiled water flow during the spring would fling them.

Later in the fall I went to a place more than twenty miles upstream and found even more evidence – old and new – on the dry bed of a reservoir that had been drained. I had some hunches about how they got there, but I haven’t lived here very long so I decided to consult the Mystic Oracle, otherwise known as the Past President of the Old Partridge Hunter’s Society. He lives a grouse flush down the road from me and has spent many years on the river. I found him out in his workshop, tinkering with reloading press.

“Ah yes” he said, mulling the question over on a warm October night. “Bones in the riverbed. Well… a few come from coyote kills during the winter, and maybe a few more from deer that make it to the river after getting hit by trucks on the road. Most though, are put there intentionally.”

“Put there intentionally” I repeated, somewhat surprised.

“Yup” he replied, picking up a twelve gauge hull from his reloading bench and examining it under the light of a sputtering lantern. “Do you feed birds in the winter” he asked?

“Sure” I answered.

“And what do you feed them?”

“Seed mix, suet, dried corn, peanut butter”, I said while thinking about supplies I’d buy for the upcoming cold months.

“Great for jays and juncos” the President postulated, “but what if you wanted to feed eagles?”

“Aha” I exclaimed, grasping the significance of his calculated question.

“People here watch for roadkilled deer once the river freezes over. Pick up a small deer if you’re alone, or a bigger one if you have help. Toss it in the back of the truck. Skid it across the snow and slide it over the riverbank”, he explained, staring out past the lantern light.

“Eagles, sometimes four of them, strip the carcass fairly clean and ravens get the rest. Once in a while a pack of coyotes scare the birds off but there is usually not much left for them. Mice and small nesting birds carry off the hair, and the river claims the bones.”

So the river flows along unceasing. New water constantly keeps the current moving. Each time I look at the surface, it really is a new river. The bones I see are the only sign that some particular deer ever existed, but they don’t last forever. Maybe the words on this page are the only thing that can ever lend them any kind of permanence…
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

THE DAY BEFORE THE OPENER - 11/14-08

THE DAY BEFORE THE OPENER- 11/14/08

Today is the state-wide “Day of Anticipation” here in Michigan. The firearms portion of the state-wide whitetail deer season opens tomorrow, November 15, as it does every year. Personally, I get a bigger challenge from hunting deer with a bow and arrow than I do with a gun, but I’ll still be out there in the swamps before sunrise on the “opener” as everyone calls it.

I’ve been on the phone to my hunting partner Duane several times today, making last-minute changes to our strategy for tomorrow morning. We have been hunting together for many years, and the sense of anticipation just gets more intense each year.

We do not hunt from permanent hunting blinds like so many others in this area. Instead, we carry backpacks and sit out in the open alongside natural cover like fallen logs, uprooted tree stumps, brushpiles, or simply sitting beneath the branches of live spruce trees. In 2006 I shot a fine eight-point buck while hunting in this way.


I remember one year when I got settled in far out in the cedar swamps on the Stonington Peninsula, east of here and shot a buck within a minute or so of the legal shooting time (thirty minutes before sunrise). My season ended so fast I hardly had time to enjoy it!

This year is a little different. Most years have something that sets them apart from the rest. We will be hunting far back in the marshes and swamps well past the end of an old logging road – out in the open as usual. We will use deer calls, scent that is supposed to attract deer, and we’ll rattle antlers as we do when bowhunting. These actions are all geared toward getting a buck to pass near enough for a shot. But… if you think this is a couple hunters just trying to fool a dumb animal into making a mistake, think again. This is a hard way to hunt, and the deer are a lot better at surviving than a hunter is at killing them.

The final part of the hunt is the chance to see other hunters – Duane has five brothers – and swap hunting and fishing stories that have transpired since the last season. Glenn will bring big jars of pickled eggs up from Manitowoc, Wisconsin. We’ll sit around the woodstove out in brother Tom’s garage, Bruce, Larry, and Jim will show up on the evening of the 15th, and we will laugh, swap tales, and strategize about what we’ll do on the 16th.

I wouldn’t miss this for anything! I’ll post something on Monday the 17th. See you then.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

Rattling Bucks - First Hand Account

Author’s note: Today I am posting the text of an e-mail I received from Larry Boehm, the CEO of Brushwolf Gear, makers of the Treestand Rattl’r rattle bag. I wrote about my experiences using this product here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a blog a couple days ago. This note details some deer hunting experiences Larry and his brother had while hunting on public land in Minnesota. These rattle bags can attract deer. I’ve proven that to myself. The bucks mentioned here were taken within the past few days. See what you think after reading this account.

(Start of Larry’s note)

Ray:

Tomorrow I will e-mail you a picture of the bucks my brother and I took in northern MN this weekend. I'm heading to Montana for a hunt later tomorrow, but will try to get a photo and short write-up put together that I can send to my contacts. I'll give you a personal account.

We were hunting 1 1/2 miles back in public forest land that doesn't allow any motorized access, so needless to say we have NO other hunters bothering us. Temperatures on Saturday morning were mid 20's with 25-40mph NW winds, less than ideal for rattling, but the absolute perfect week to be rattling in our area.

I had a couple close encounters earlier in the week with my bow, but no luck, and this was the firearms opener, so I didn't need to bring one in quite as close. At 11:30 my brother rattled in and shot a really nice 2 1/2 year old 160 pound - 6pt (no brow tines).

I met up with him for lunch and after lunch he decided to take a bit of a stroll to warm up. I decided to climb into his stand, about 20 minutes later I saw a buck chasing a doe on the oak ridge across the drainage I was watching. I didn't figure I'd have much chance of luring him away, but had nothing to lose so I smashed my bag against the trunk of the tree as hard as I could to get his attention.

He stopped and looked my way so I started to work the bag on the ground. What happened next was unreal. He spotted my brother’s dead buck which was lying right between us and came on a dead run stopping 5 yards from it. I shot him in the heart at 30 yards. He's a massive 10 pt., 180 pound, 4 1/2 yrs old, 21 inch spread. I'll get you photos tomorrow. I guess I found a new method of decoying.

(End of Larry’s note.)

Remember that I said in my original blog, that this rattle bag comes equipped with a cord so that it can be worked at ground level even when you are in a treestand. Use it at the right time of year (usually mid-October through the end of November) and you might pull pre-rut and main rut phase bucks in close. You want that buck to focus on the source of the sounds – at ground level – and not up in the tree. This bag can offer you this solid advantage.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

SETTING UP ICE LURES

Author’s note: Ice fishing season is at hand, and I know many winter anglers wait until the last minute to check their gear over. The following blog details how I set up lures I will use. These tips can easily double your catch so they are worth thinking about. You still have time, so give it a shot!

SETTING UP ICE LURES
Tricks that Easily Improve Your Catch
By: Ray Hansen

Did you know that most “panfish sized” ice fishing lures are not set up correctly to catch fish right out of the package? With a few simple modifications you can easily double the number of fish you land. In this article I’ll tell you how to set the gap, and adjust the offset of the hook so you can get solid hook-ups on many biters you would otherwise miss. These steps take only seconds.

The lures that most often need modification are the single-hook styles in sizes 6, 8, 10, and 12. Most size 4 and larger hooks have a large enough gap to hook fish well without any change. Those lures that hang vertically benefit the most from these changes, but they work with lures that hang horizontally as well.

I carry a set of inexpensive needle-nose pliers that can be found in home-improvement stores to make the changes I will detail. The pliers I like best are the “multi-tool” style hat fold open. Mine are only 2 ½” long when closed. They are always in the pocket of the insulated coveralls I wear when ice fishing.

Set the hook gap by holding the lure so the hook looks like the letter “J”. The gap is that part of the “U” shaped bend between the hook point and the longer shank. All you need do is to bend the short arm of the “J” out very slightly to enlarge or open the gap between the shank and the point.

Next is the offset. To visualize this setting, hold the lure in the upright position as it would hang in the water. Turn the lure so the point and the shank are lined up. Instead of seeing a “J” shape, you would now see a straight line or “I” shape. Next, bend the hook point slightly off to one side (either left or right of the vertical line).

By adjusting the gap and offset, the hook enters the fishes’ mouth farther, and there is less chance that the shank will hit the outside of the mouth to prevent a good hookset.

The final step is to touch up the point with a sharpener. One of the best styles is a simple “diamond blade” fingernail file. They are inexpensive, work great, and are easily available at many stores.

When you have been ice fishing as long as I have, you will find that simple steps like this are often the easiest way to improve your catch.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008

AVOID BOAT WINTERIZING MISTAKES

Note: Here on the upper Great lakes, many anglers are still out chasing big walleyes, and the good fishing will continue as long as open water is available. Sooner or later though, these boats will be pulled out for the season. Here are some winterizing tips:

HOW TO AVOID THE SIX MOST COMMON BOAT WINTERIZING MISTAKES

Free BoatU.S. Winterizing Guide Available ALEXANDRIA, VA

With winter approaching, BoatU.S. Marine Insurance has reviewed its claim files and reports the following six most common mistakes made when winterizing a boat:

1. Failure to winterize the engine: Freezing temperatures occur in all 50 states and while they are taken seriously up north, it's the balmy states of California, Florida, Texas, Alabama and Georgia where boaters are most likely to have freeze-related damage to engine blocks. It routinely occurs to boats stored ashore here. Boats left in a slip are less susceptible to sudden freezing as the surrounding water retains heat longer than air.

2. Failure to drain water from sea strainer: If your winterizing plan calls for draining the engine, the seawater strainer must be winterized or residual water could freeze and rupture the watertight seal. Sometimes you won't know it's damaged until spring launching and water begins to trickle in.

3. Failure to close seacocks: For boats left in the water, leaving seacocks open over the winter is like going on extended vacation without locking the house. If a thru-hull cannot be closed, the vessel must be stored ashore - the sole exception is cockpit drains. Heavy snow loads can also force your boat under, allowing water to enter thru-hulls that are normally well above the water line.

4. Clogged petcocks: Engine cooling system petcocks clogged by rust or other debris can prevent water from fully draining. If one is plugged, try using a coat hanger to clear the blockage or use the engine's intake hose to flush anti-freeze through the system.

5. Leaving open boats in the water over winter: Boats with large open cockpits or low freeboard can easily be pushed underwater by the weight of accumulated ice and snow. Always store them ashore.

6. Using biminis or dodgers as winter storage covers: A cover that protects the crew from the sun does a lousy job protecting the boat from freezing rain and snow. Unlike a bonafide winter cover, biminis and dodgers tend to rip apart and age prematurely by the effects of winter weather.To get a free copy of the BoatU.S. Winterizing Guide full of tips to help you prepare your vessel for the winter, go to http://www.BoatUS.com/seaworthy/winter, or call 800-283-2883.

Author’s note: I have been experimenting with calling techniques this bowhunting season as usual. In this blog I’ll describe an experience I had on Saturday, October 25, 2008 while using a device called the “Treestand Rattl’r” made by Brushwolf Gear in St. Cloud Minnesota.

YOU CAN RATTLE BUCKS!
By: Ray Hansen

The big eight-point buck slipped around the edges of the small clearing, trying to catch some scent. Hunting partner Duane Deno and I had this deer convinced that two other bucks had entered his territory. We figured he would show himself in order to drive these intruders away. Weather and atmospheric conditions however, were making it tough. Wind had gone as flat as yesterday’s soufflé and without anything to blow it away, fog built up and around our stands making it tough to see very far. Well… this was the day we had chosen to work this spot so we just had to make the best of it.

So how did we set up this strategy and the buck encounter? Actually, it was a combination of strategies – especially the careful use of sound – that culminated in the buck’s arrival.

Part of the equation was the lay of the land. We set up on a “hogback” ridge of higher ground that bisected a tag alder jungle. The ridge had maple, oak, ash, spruce, and a scattering of old apple trees that still produced fruit. Bucks generally stayed back in the alders, but would sometimes come out during the day if they thought some does were on the ridge. No trees large enough to hold treestands could be found in the jungle, so we had to set up on the ridge. Besides, that was the only place you could see far enough to tell when a deer was approaching.

We set out rut scent as part of the plan. When a light, steady breeze is present, the enticing smell swirls and streams downwind like the waters of a small brook. Under optimum conditions, deer many hundreds of yards away can detect it. We wanted them to think a “ready doe” was up on the ridge.

To make the bucks focus on a specific target in a specific spot – one that would provide a good shooting opportunity for us – we set up decoys twenty yards from our stands. The easiest I have found to use and transport are Renzo’s folding style decoys. These are photo-realistic units that fold flat about the size of a newspaper and set up in seconds. I have had bucks walk in circles around them, so I know they work. We used the “Feeder Doe” models.

The final factor was sound. To simulate two bucks sparring, I used a rattling bag called the “Treestand Rattl’r” made by Brushwolf Gear in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This is a tough, weatherproof bag that can be rolled between your hands or pounded with one hand to simulate the sounds made by bucks clashing their antlers together. The idea is to sound like two younger bucks fighting over a doe so that a larger, dominant buck might barge in to chase them away from the prize he wants to claim. The Treestand Rattl’r takes this strategy one step farther however. It is sold with a long, strong cord so that the hunter can lower it beneath his treestand and make the sound come from ground level. In that way, the arriving buck should be focusing on the lower source of the sound, not the treestand the hunter is in. This is a solid advantage the hunter needs when trying to fool an animal who spends his life out there, outwitting hunters.

So how did this hunt turn out? Well, the eight pointer I mentioned showed himself but the calm, foggy conditions made it hard to gauge his reactions since Duane could not see him too well. At the time the buck was approaching Duane’s stand, I had a doe slip out of the tag alders on my side. She cautiously circled my set-up, and when a shot became available, I took it.

The 2 ½ year-old deer was in prime condition, and I processed the venison myself. When she made a death run back into the jungle, the buck slipped away. Nevertheless, I considered the hunt a success. The buck definitely responded to our tactics and I took a very good antlerless deer. The season runs until the end of December here in Michigan and I’ll be out lots more.

Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008