Using Ground Blinds for Whitetails

By Steve Bartylla

How do you find the best location for a ground blind? Begin by considering the three things that spook whitetails the worst: foreign scents, sights and being surprised.

Always place a ground blind down wind of a travel corridor. Plan your path to and from the blind so as to avoid contaminating the area with your scent. And keep the blind closed up as much as possible.

Always make your blind blend in with the surroundings. I like to find hanging branches under which I can slip my ground blind. The ability to drape the top of the blind with a matt of overhanging branches goes a long way towards blurring the outline. If a suitable tree doesn’t exist, snug it into the best available cover and either cut branches for the top or use a concealment product, such as the synthetic branches made by PMI and others. Breaking the roofline is critical to blending in.

I also routinely place a smattering of natural limbs and brush around the outside of my blinds, paying particular attention to the corners of the blind to further advance the blending process. Lastly, remove all the debris from the inside of the blind and use it to seal the bottom around the outside.

Whitetails hate to be surprised. Position your ground blind so that you won’t be smelled and certainly camouflage it so it won’t be seen. But there’s another element to consider. Deer are most wary and flighty when approaching an open food source, like a field. Yet most bowhunters insist on placing their ground blinds on the edge of such fields. That is often a mistake. The same buck that was calmly walking a trail two hundred yards back in the woods slows to high-danger mode as it nears the field, stopping frequently to investigate every inch of the landscape. If anything is even remotely out of place, the buck will likely vacate the premises in a hurry.

Rather than trying to plug your ground blind into the dangerous edge of a field, situate it back into the safe woods. While traveling in the transition zone between feeding and bedding area, deer are far more relaxed. Find those transition zones. Keeping a ground blind hidden is much easier in those areas.

An alterative method for diminishing the element of surprise is to place the blind in a relatively open area. This is a bit offbeat, but when deer can see the blind from fifty or more yards away, they have the opportunity to survey it for potential danger and hopefully dismiss it. The first time a big buck sees a round bale out in the wide open of a cut hay field, he’ll study that bale for a period of time and then likely dismiss it as harmless. When nothing else works, a wide open location can be worth a try.

Posted on 10/07/2010

Dream Bowhunts Canadian Moose

By Neil Summers

Moose are considered a low-density species. Good moose habitat supports anywhere from .5 to two animals per square mile. Newfoundland, however, with the highest moose density in Canada, has nearly three moose per square mile. It is interesting to note that moose are not native to Newfoundland. They were transplanted there in the early 1900s.  In excellent moose habitat, the population may be as high as six moose per square mile. Still, no matter where you bowhunt for moose, the population density will be considerably lower than many other big-game species. 

 The moose is the largest of all the deer species found in North America. Its eyesight is poor, but its sense of smell more than compensates. Moose can sometimes be tough to hunt because they live in difficult terrain. These animals possess incredible physical power, which allows them to travel widely in the most difficult territory. Moose often will penetrate deep into the interior of swamplands and muskeg assisted by their long legs and large hooves. They also can negotiate very deep snow for the same reasons.

 An average mature bull moose will weigh around 1,200 pounds, or about 40 percent larger than an average mature bull elk. Most bowhunters who have shot deer, elk and bears will need to rethink their equipment choices when they go after moose. Aside from accurate shot placement, a significant key to success is a bow that can deliver 70-plus foot-pounds of kinetic energy. That’s best achieved with a reasonably heavy bow and fairly heavy arrows.

Posted on 07/12/2010

How to Decoy Pronghorn

By Tim Herald

Bowhunting pronghorn with a decoy is best done as a two-person project. One hunter should be in charge of the decoy and ranging, while the other is the shooter. Things happen fast on these hunts, and coordination and teamwork are a must.

The most important element in decoying antelope is the initial approach. Simply crawling 400 yards across flat, open ground while the buck watches you and then popping up a decoy won’t work very often. I can assure you of that. You need to choose your approach well before ever starting. You should find a place where you can come over the top of a hill, out of a ditch or a wash or use other topographic features to your advantage. What I mean by this is that you should try to find a spot where you can get within 150 yards undetected before ever popping up the decoy.

Posted on 06/03/2010

Page 3 of 3 pages  <  1 2 3