Who says you can't be in two places at once? The right cellular camera system will let you keep tabs on your deer woods even when you're nowhere near.

Until we finally crack the code of Star Trek teleportation, we hunters will have to be content with plodding along between places at standard human speeds. Which is no big deal, normally...but it can be when you’re not in the deer woods but are desperate for information on what’s happening there. Then the need for TV’s 23rd century technology to become reality early in the 21st is a tad frustrating.

Ah, but what if we could be in two widely separated places at once? Or close enough to “at once” that a slight lag was no worry at all? That presumably would make a lot of things in life simpler. And yes, whitetail hunting and management would be among those things.

Well, thanks to the ongoing development of cellular scouting cameras, we now are close to bridging this gap. We can in effect be in the deer woods even when we aren’t.

We’ve had stand-alone scouting cameras for over two decades now, and they’re popular. But today’s growing interest in the use of cellular-enabled cameras has sprung from four realities: (1) It takes time and often a fair bit of fuel and effort to physically check any camera; (2) every time you visit a camera site, you risk spooking deer — thus offsetting some of the practical advantage offered by acquiring photos of them in the first place; (3) by the time a camera has physically been checked, even the most recent capture image is likely to be somewhat dated; and (4) if you have trespasser/thief issues, a cellular camera offers better odds of identifying the perpetrator. Add up these facts and it’s easy to see the advantage of being able to monitor a spot in real time, even when you’re not around.

The newest approach to doing so comes from the folks at Moultrie. Their app-based cellular camera system - Moultrie Mobile - allows for quick, easy, affordable and disturbance-free camera monitoring, as well as handy storage/retrieval of captured images.

 

Over the past few weeks I’ve been putting this system through its paces, and it’s performed as advertised. The unit I’ve been using is the XA7000i, which is built around a 20MP camera.

 

The camouflaged camera and its neutral-tone strap are really hard to see on most trees, which is great. Not only is the camera well hidden from human eyes, I’ve captured no images of deer looking at it during the day or at night. The invisible flash (80-foot range) thus seems to be undetectable by deer. All these attributes are key advantages, in my book.

Of course, stealth doesn’t much matter if the camera won’t reliably capture images. But this one has done so for me. Using the 7000i in a spot that has a fair bit of daytime and nighttime deer activity, I’ve found it captures clear images and lets you see them within only a few minutes of the event.

Easily controlled via a free app on a smartphone - and with extremely affordable service and storage plans - this system seems a solid option for anyone wanting to enter the cellular camera game without first getting an engineering degree. And that’s helpful. Hunting, management and/or security concerns have many folks wanting a better connection to the deer woods. If you find yourself in that situation, give the Moultrie Mobile XA7000i a look. It could open your eyes to more of what’s out there when you’re not — and let you know about it in close to real time.

If you dig into the rules and regulations of your state, you’ll probably see no clear wording on the usage of cellular-enabled cameras. It’s a gray-area technology in most places right now but could be considered illegal if one of your cameras sent you a picture of a buck and you happened to shoot it a few hours later.

In-season usage in many states is up in the air, so be aware. As far as pre-season usage of cellular cameras, you’ve pretty much got the green light in most regions where whitetails reign supreme.

The question is - are they worth the money? Do they really provide an advantage over traditional cameras? The answer is a resounding - maybe.

Benefits of Cellular Cams

The obvious benefit to using a cellular-enabled camera is that once you’ve set it up, you can leave the woods alone. It allows you to sit back in the comfort of your home without wondering if your batteries are still juiced up, if someone has stolen it, or if it inexplicably went the way of the dodo - all while gathering intel in an undisturbed woods.

Throughout the summer you can gather info on the comings and goings of the local ungulates, and with most cameras, adjust your settings and check battery levels remotely. This means you’re aware and in control, without doing much more than messing with your smartphone.

Cons Of Cellular Cams

As mentioned above, the biggest downfall of these cameras might be their legality in your given area. If using one means you’re on the wrong side of the law, then it’s obviously no good.

But there is also the ethical conundrum associated with this level of technology. I can remember when they first hit the scene years ago, and a fellow from one of the camera companies told me how he used it during turkey season to check in on what fields had strutting birds in them.

If they hit the 9am lull, they’d go to where the cameras showed longbeards were at right then. He thought it was amazing, I felt differently.

And I still do. I’ve used celullar cameras for deer and bear on properties that were at least a couple hours from my house. My reasoning was that I couldn’t use real-time intel to try to gain an advantage because, at best, I’d be at least 24 hours behind the most current images if I decided to go hunting.

Eventually, they became something of a novelty for me. I put one or two out each summer and then pull them before the season or switch off the cellular function. I still really enjoy getting images from them during the summer and probably always will.

The Trail-Cam Trap Continues

Now that I’ve laid out my confusing personal strategy for using cellular trail cams, I’ll say this - if you do choose to use them during the season, they might only prove to be marginally more beneficial than non-cellular options.

This is because trail cameras are only a tool, and while it’s nice to know where a deer walked today when we weren’t there, that is far from a sure thing that a deer will walk there tomorrow when we are.

SEE PHOTO GALLERY

What’s worse is that we often use trail camera intel to not hunt, reasoning that if our cameras are not catching daylight images of bucks, it’s better to wait until they are. That’s dangerous ground. The reality with all trail cameras is they give you a little snapshot into one small place in the woods.

That, theoretically, might be the best place in the woods by your opinion, but even so, the deer simply might not be walking there. If you are off by 20 yards, your intel is bunk. When you’re getting real-time images of squirrels and nothing else, it’s very easy to believe you should wait until the hunting will be better, and trust me when I say this, that’s probably not the best decision.

All that means is that the deer aren’t doing what you expected in one tiny area, nothing else. So be aware that while they are extremely fun to use, cellular trail cameras probably won’t be the ticket to tagging Booners year in and year out, at least not any more than traditional trail cameras were for you.

Conclusion

They are fun, they are addictive, and in the right situations they probably do offer a clear advantage over traditional cams. Cellular cameras promise a lot to the whitetail hunter when used properly, but don’t expect them to be the shortest path from no taxidermy bills to taking out a personal loan for all of your new mounts. At the very least, they are a very enjoyable tool and that’s a good enough reason to deploy one while the bucks are in velvet and you’ve got some time before opening day kicks off.

 

 

Find a slow-moving stream and paddle to your own duck and goose paradise.

Like Huckleberry Finn, I’m a child of the river. Nothing gets me out of my chair and up and going like a trip on a stream. Being a Senior Sportsman can make me think twice about certain activities in the outdoors. I can’t slog through a muddy plowed field like I used to, but I’ll still go if the geese are flying.

But the river has a pull on this old Huckleberry. There’s nothing like riding the current, especially in the fall. Especially when the wood ducks are migrating. Nothing like it.
Imagine those beautiful leaves falling and you drifting quietly downstream. Think of rounding a bend in the river and having a flock of Canadas blast off from the shoreline right in front of you. Can you see it? Would you be able to make the shot in your excitement ? Or would you swamp the boat and have to clamber out in the cold and get a fire going real quick?

Either way, the river is always an adventure. Either way, you will leave the river at the end of your run already planning your next float trip.

These days folks are really starting to get into kayaks. Kayaks are becoming popular in the fishing community. Here on the river, we think kayaks are a big deal too. Back in the day, we float hunted on the river using canoes. Not anymore. Kayaks put you down lower on the water and that lowers your center of gravity. You are much more stable shooting out of a kayak. I used to be afraid of rolling my canoe with a shot to the side. Not with my kayak.

 How does a float hunt on the river work? Well the first thing about it that may surprise you is that this hunt begins at 10 o’clock in the morning. Nope, no sunrise vigil like on the slough. If you do go early you won’t find many geese. They fly out at dawn to feed just as they do on the slough. Then at around eight or nine they return to the river to hide and loaf. That’s why we start our float at 10. Bankers’ hours. So let’s try a simulated float hunt and see if you’d like it.

What’s a river float for waterfowl like? I’ve been asked that question a lot. Well, maybe I can explain it this way: You drift quietly down the river with every sense alert. You round a bend and there’s a flock of birds loafing on a sandbar ahead of you. They’re too far away so you hold really still and the current takes you slowly, slowly toward them.

Now actually, that’s the way I like to explain it. That’s the best time of the hunt, the tension and anticipation. The possibility of a big shoot ahead. You’re close enough to make your move now and you pull up on an exploding flock. But the kayak has drifted to the left and you’re a right-handed shooter. So you track a bird and realize you’ll be lucky to get one bird when you expected to get off three shots.

 

NO CAKEWALK

But honestly, you won’t be surprised. A float hunt on the river is never easy. Too many things can/do go wrong. Wind, for instance. It’s your friend when it gets the trees to rattle their leaves. You don’t make noise with the wind blowing. But then, you run into a flock of birds and you have to freeze or the birds will beat you. So the wind is blowing you at them and manages to turn the kayak completely around before you’re in range. Who’s your friend now? It happens.

Much of a float hunt ain’t good. Imagine sitting on a moving platform, shooting at a moving target. That’s what we laughingly call a humbling experience. Yes, you’re thinking that you’re a reasonably capable shooter. Then you ride the river with us. We put you in the front seat of a twin-seater kayak. Nothing to do but shoot. Plus, if we come upon that flock on the sandbar, I’ll paddle you right up there.

NATURE WONDER-CRUISE

The best part of a float is that most animals and birds that we encounter are sleeping or very relaxed so we get a good up close look at them. My son Will’s Nikon is cranking when we run by a big turtle. He loves mossy- backs with the big claws. He caught beavers asleep on their lodge last year. Fun-fun-fun!

SEE PHOTO GALLERY

We live in Minnesota. Out on the western prairies we have reminders of the French traders that named our rivers and the big lake Lac qui Parle. Out here we pick our float hunt rivers with care. That’s the best advice I could give to a waterfowler who wants to try a float hunt. Will and I had to learn that lesson the hard way. We thought the faster the river the better. We’d get up on them quicker. We not only got up on the birds quicker, we also got swept into snags that were under water and limbs low on the water to roll us.

Will lost a nice Nikon and lens that way and he shot downstream backwards, fending off rocks with his feet. Then we still had to pull the kayak out and continue to our take-out spot. All in all, a lesson learned. As the old song goes, “up a lazy river we go,” and since then, we have had far less trouble targeting slower waters. And yes, we take every precaution. We wear flotation vests, but those without big pads over the shoulder. That way I can shoot better and swim better too, should the need arise.

If you’ve noticed, kayaks are a big deal with anglers lately, and it made a big change for us, more stable giving you a lower profile for birds watching out for hunters. They also have nice covered areas fore and aft to keep duffle dry. Two of the best makers of hunting kayaks are Old Town and Poke Boat. Will has a camo pattern that he paints on both boat and paddles.

That’s all part of the attention to detail that we put into these festivities. Camo clothes with a change along in case of dunking. Camo gloves on the hands and a face mask for camo and sunblock. We’ve even been known to attach branches to the front if the birds are super wary. Now I’ve even purchased a camo 10-gauge from Browning. My old Ithaca Mag 10 jammed one time too many.

Why the big gun? Because it knocks down geese at a distance and ducks too. Wise ducks sit at the bend of the river. When you come around a corner upriver, they jump and just have a foot or two to fly before they are gone around the next corner. With a 10, I can sometimes reach out at long distances before they’re gone. Also, even if they jump close I have more time to shoot when I can reach out further.

GO WITH THE FLOW

These are true Huck Finn experience hunts for us if we get the time. Lazing down the river, shooting a few ducks along the way. Pulling up on a sandbar and dressing out a couple. Spitting them over a bed of coals with a tin can of coffee in hand to savor while waiting for the meat to get done. If possible, and when would it be not, a bottle of merlot to enjoy with our duck. I like a good cigar about this time to celebrate the hunt. Then the gun is put away while we put our dishes away and paddle for the takeout.

Each fall we go on the river and follow the migration. It begins early with the “summer ducks.” Woodies and teal that sit in trees and blast off branches that are over your head and weave through trees. That’s the wood duck, but teal will rocket away so fast you won’t believe it. As the migration moves along the flocks will build until a hard frost drives them south. But you won’t mind.

Because next come the fat mallards from Canada. These beauties can’t rival a woody for color, but they are much easier to hit.

They jump straight up off the water and don’t swerve as much in flight. Woodies not only fly in and out of trees, but they often fly low on the water making them hard to see when the sun sparkles the waves on the river.

Wood ducks have a nutty taste and teal are so succulent, but mallards are hard to beat for flavor too, and they stick around on the river until the water freezes over.

Other ducks like ringbills and goldeneyes are there on the cold days and we are too. Chopper mitts on hands and electric boot heaters help a lot, but a little suffering is necessary at that time. It will be worth it and all the sweeter when you know it will soon be over for the year.

By far, my favorite quarry on the river is the big Canada goose.

The geese come to the river to escape detection. Once they are down on the river they aren’t going to be found too easily. They only have one problem. They need openings in the trees along the river in order to land. With that in mind, you’ll kind of get an idea of where to expect them. That and the fact that they love to make those honks and nuk-nukks that warn you that they are around the next bend. Talk about excitement. A dozen geese sitting on a sandy beach means you’ve punched your ticket for some real waterfowl hunting fun. Another reason for my beloved 10-gauge.

A goose has to jump and fly into the wind to get airborne. They aren’t hard to hit when they do that, but you need to hit them with a heavy load to bring them down. Again, the 10-gauge. And as with any bird you bring down on the river, you have to finish it on the water unless it’s dead. A crippled duck or goose will do remarkable things to hide or escape. They will swim into snags that you can’t get them out of. They will swim to the shore and scurry into the brush where you can’t get them without a dog.

POCKET RETRIEVER

And speaking of dogs. My family came to the prairies of Minnesota from Wisconsin, and brought their dogs with them. The little American water spaniel has fallen out of favor in these days of the ubiquitous Lab, but our family never forgot. A river float is what these little retrievers were bred for. At forty pounds I can pick her up and plop her in the back with ease. Drop a duck in heavy cover along the shore? My baby will find it. In heavy current she can use her tail as a rudder. Very fun to watch.

And before you think rivers are the only game in town, consider a paddle through a slough or along the lakeshore. The advantage of a quiet approach is still yours on a slough or lake. Besides our diminutive retriever, we’ve found lightweight blow up decoys by Cherokee Sports Decoys. They take up very little room and weigh next to nothing. Find a spot, and wait for the action.

I know from experience that you will find it daunting to learn to shoot from a sitting position, but with practice you will improve. I put the kayak on the ground and sit in it while a friend launches clays with a hand trap. It is a learning curve but if you want to ride the river or creep through a slough or some brushy lakeside, you’ll have to learn.

I don’t like to get up early in the morning. I don’t like to wait around by the decoys if I don’t have to. A river float is more like a pheasant hunt. You’re moving along seeing lots of new country. Jump shooting woodies is much like shooting flushed pheasants and to me, that’s great fun. You won’t see a lot of people and now that I’ve explained how frustrating the shooting can be you know why more people don’t do it.

But even though it’s tough shooting, Will and I will be there, for we know a secret: Disneyland for duck men is a lazy river.

Access to private land was getting tougher, leases getting more expensive and public hunting areas were getting crazier, so Brett Kik did what a growing number of hunters are doing these days: He plunked down a big chunk of money on a 160-acre tract of western Kentucky hunting land for sale. It wasn't much of a duck hunting property, at least not at first, but after making some improvements, it ended up being a pretty decent spot.

He's not alone. It seems everywhere you go, our public lands are more crowded than ever, and knocking on doors for permission gets tougher with each passing year. Buying a piece of hunting land is turning out to be the best option if you can swing it.

The advantages are obvious, says Kik, a 46-year-old highway contractor from Madisonville, Kentucky. It's yours. No one will outbid you for the lease. The landowner's family won't decide they want to hunt your blind, and you are free to do whatever you want.

You can build on it, cut trees, plant trees, develop a seasonal wetland and plant food plots. You can even sell it if you want, something Kik has done on several occasions since he bought that first tract in 1994. In fact, he's actually made a tidy profit on several properties he improved. Flipping isn't just for houses.

"We've built levees and installed a pump system to create a green timber spot, we've created wetlands where there were none and planted crops and native vegetation to attract birds. We bought one property and improved it and now we lease it to a group of six guys," he says.

"We bought another property, improved it and turned around and sold it for a real nice profit."

Setting Limits

Of course, hunting land for sale, even swampland, isn't cheap these days. The demand for recreational property is driving up prices in areas where few people would have considered buying duck hunting land a decade ago.

Kik bought his first property only after he cashed out his savings account and stocks, a risky move but something he doesn't regret. Since then, he's bought a half-dozen properties. Some have had fantastic duck hunting; others only marginal.

"You need to be realistic. Don't expect limits every time you hunt. You might get that at a $5 million duck club, but a 50-acre swamp might be hit-or-miss, depending on the time of year, the weather and other factors," says Kik.

Hunting land is somewhat cheaper where he likes to buy property. It can be considerably more expensive in the better-known and more popular duck hunting destinations. Prime green timber around Stuttgart, Arkansas, for example, is selling for upwards of $6,000 an acre, says Mossy Oak Properties broker Jeramy Stephens. Rice fields cost about $4,000 an acre and even untillable swampland is going for $2,000 an acre.

But, you don't have to buy a multi-million dollar duck club to have a great spot to hunt. Nor do you have to buy in the middle of world-famous duck country. There are lots of other places that have equally good duck hunting  land, if you can afford them.

Waterfowl Properties, a spin-off of Whitetail Properties, has a 339-acre parcel with over two miles of Mississippi River frontage in west-central Illinois for $425,000. They haves maller parcels with wetlands listed for as little as $100,000. Something as small as five acres with a beaver pond on it in a state with marginal duck hunting can still attract good numbers of birds if managed properly.

But Are There Ducks?

The mere presence of water does not mean mallards will be pitching into the decoyscome fall. This is where thorough vetting comes into the equation. It helps to hire a real estate agent who not only knows the recreational market, but who also knows ducks, duck hunting and the local waterfowl scene, because even land in great areas can offer marginal hunting.

For example, you can buy property that sits between two of the best duck spots on the river, thinking it's a can't-miss purchase. Only to find out, the two clubs have more resources and better habitat, so you're shooting maybe a third of the birds they do.

Remember, the presence of blinds and food sources are good signs, but for a real glimpse at the potential look at properties during the season. Scout it as much as you possibly can. Ask local biologists and other hunters to get a general idea of what to expect.

"Some clubs keep detailed records of their harvest, which can be a big help," says Stephens. "Most people who own smaller properties don't keep track of those things, though."

Year-Round Commitment

If you can afford land and it holds a good number of birds during the season, you'll still be making monthly payments all year, even when there isn't a duck for a thousand miles. That's OK with Kik, though. His properties aren't just places to spend a Saturday in November and December. He's doing something, even if it's just relaxing, at one of his properties all year.

"I tell people if they aren't willing to put in the effort necessary to improve and maintain the land, then don't buy property," says Kik. "If all you want it for is to hunt ducks, go on a bunch of guided hunts. You'll actually save money. Buying hunting land isn't cheap and neither is improving it and maintaining it."

That's one mistake Stephens sees with first-time buyers. They acquire a piece of property without realizing that even swampland needs to be maintained. Levees can break or leak, pumps need regular maintenance, roads and trails need to be kept up and some properties need to be planted with crops to attract birds. All these activities are expensive and time-consuming.

Part of the joy of owning property is putting sweat equity into it. Planting food plots, creating impoundments, even building a small cabin is as rewarding to many hunters as shooting a limit of greenheads. It's what they love to do.

It's how they spend every free moment and every spare cent. Fixing up property is truly a labor of love that is rewarded when duck season rolls around.

"I would recommend buying something relatively close to your home so you don't spend hours just driving to the property. You want to be able to spend just a few hours there if that's all you have time for," adds Kik.

Make It Pay

Purchasing hunting land is costly, but there are some things you can do to recoup at least some of the expense. Kik has sold the timber off some of the land he bought and placed others in a conservation easement, including the wetland reserve easement program (WRP), administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Under the new program, landowners can receive technical assistance and cost-share funding to restore wetlands. Stephens has seen payments as high as $2,400 per acre for irrigated cropland and about $740 for forested land. The one-time payment won't likely pay the mortgage, but it will help.

"Putting land into WRP places a number of restrictions on the land, so it may not be the right choice for you," says Stephens.

That's assuming the land even qualifies. Typically, NRCS agents will visit the site and determine if it is eligible. It's a lengthy process and there's no guarantee you'll see any money, even if you do qualify.

A WRP contract typically does not allow crops, but you can recoup some costs if part of the land is farmed. Many new landowners simply lease the farming rights to a local farmer, often the previous owner. Lease rates vary dramatically, but if nothing else, the money will help offset monthly payments and the routine expenses that come with owning property.

In terms of coloration, which whitetails are the rarest of all? Most hunters would claim that distinction belongs to albinos, which lack any pigment in their skin or hair. But as unusual as it is to see a whitetail that's far too light in color, it's even less common to see one that's far too dark.

On the continent as a whole, "melanistic" or "melanic" deer - so named because their bodies produce far too much of the hair, skin and retina pigment known as melanin - are definitely the rarest of the rare. While millions of whitetails have been harvested across the continent in modern times, only a token number of cases of melanism have been documented. In fact, it's safe to say that most whitetail hunters have never even heard of melanistic deer, much less seen one. For that matter, only a few research biologists ever have observed one in the flesh.

Among those who have are Dr. John T. Baccus and John C. Posey of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. Their school's location between San Antonio and Austin gives them handy access to melanistic whitetails for research, for as it turns out, most of the world's supply of these animals lives within an hour's drive of the campus.

The eastern edge of Texas' Edwards Plateau region and adjacent areas of the Blackland Prairie region are the epicenter of the world's population of melanistic whitetails, for reasons not well understood even by the two researchers. In going over the scientific literature, Baccus and Posey have been unable to find any record of melanistic deer being documented anywhere prior to 1929.

The odd "black" deer has shown up here and there, from the East Coast to the Great Lakes to the northern Rockies. In fact, below you'll find a photo of a striking melanistic 8-pointer shot in southeastern Pennsylvania in 2002. But it's safe to say that at any given time, there are now more melanistic whitetails alive in Central Texas than in every other part of the planet combined. Melanism is actually fairly common in all or parts of eight counties: Hays, Travis, Comal, Williamson, Blanco, Guadalupe, Burnet and Caldwell.

researchers admit that they aren't sure, but they say the mutation likely has been perpetuated because it offers a survival advantage. Melanistic deer are concentrated along the region's drainages, where cover is thick and a dark-colored prey animal would have an edge in avoiding detection. This trait also would serve them well in the upland juniper thickets found in the same part of Texas.

The biologists say that they don't know if the circumstances that produced this genetic trait are even still in existence. Nor, for that matter, does anyone know if a single gene is responsible. Regardless, the trait seems to be in no eminent danger of disappearing.

By no means are all deer with melanistic traits totally black. Indeed, there's a wide range of shades, with some being quite black and others being more of a dirty brown or dark gray. This has led some biologists to wonder if a single gene controls hair color or if instead multiple genes combine in a variety of ways to display a wide range of forms.

There's no middle ground with albinism; a deer either does turn out to be an albino or doesn't. But the same can't be said of melanism. According to the SWTSU researchers, some deer are semi-melanistic, meaning they display coloration and markings somewhere between those of normal and melanistic specimens. Semi-melanistic deer have the dark overall coloration of melanistic deer but retain the white areas of normally colored deer.

Melanism is easily seen even in fawns, as those with too much pigment are sepia, seal brown or dark gray. Only rarely do they have spots of the sort seen on normally colored fawns; most have only traces of spots or none at all.

Albinism is a recessive trait, and current thinking is that melanism is recessive as well. What leads researchers to draw this conclusion is that dark fawns often are born to does of normal coloration, and vice versa. Indeed, as with albino and piebald fawns, does sometimes bear one fawn normal in coloration and one abnormal in coloration.

Bobbie Fain took this "black" buck in Dimmit County, Texas. Most melanistic deer live in Texas, with the highest number being around 150 miles northeast of this ranch. Photo by Gordon Whittington.

None of the research done to date suggests that melanistic bucks have inferior antlers. The velvet on their racks tends to be brownish, but the SWTSU researchers note that they have seen one melanistic buck with gray velvet.

Given the rarity of melanism in whitetails on a continental basis, you might be wondering if it's possible to gain hunting access to these strange deer on any of the Texas lands where they thrive. Unfortunately, there are at present no public hunting opportunities for melanistic deer, as most of the animals live on large, leased ranches with tightly controlled access.

Nor are any outfitters currently advertising hunts for these unique animals. (Bobbie Fain did shoot a big semi-melanistic whitetail on a guided hunt at Rancho Encantado in Dimmit County in 1997. However, this ranch lies far outside the normal area for melanism, and Bobbie's trophy appears to have been an isolated case. Ranch owner Jack Brittingham says he's seen no other "dark" deer on the property since he began managing the land in the early 1990s, though he recalls having observed some deer of "toffee" color.)

Melanistic whitetails make beautiful mounts, and they definitely rank among the rarest of all deer trophies. But unless the animals become far more widespread than is currently the case, anyone wanting to admire a black whitetail probably will have no choice but to do so through photos.

Whitetail hunters today face new challenges. As more and more states and provinces adopt extra-early openers, the October tactics we’re accustomed to employing just don’t seem to cut it for hunting late-summer bachelor groups.The whitetail is one of the few animals with the ability to adapt and overcome any habitat obstacle it’s faced with. Meanwhile, we humans, as smart as we are, sometimes have a hard time adjusting tactics. We tend to overthink things sometimes, and more importantly, underthink the most obvious.To be successful during these early days of deer season in places such as Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and the whitetail areas of Wyoming, our game plan needs to change. Hunting a deep hardwood ridge in Tennessee the way you would during October might leave you scratching your head, wondering where the deer are.GET THE EDGEThese late-summer bachelor groups are usually found on natural edges and are keyed in on the best food they can find. It could be a soybean field, an overgrown place with a lot of natural browse or a favorite clover food plot.Most of us have a basic idea of whitetail behavior. We know they live in the woods and move at dawn and dusk, but that’s not enough. We must dig deeper to connect on these early-season bucks. Usually at this time of year they aren’t bedding far from food. High temperatures and an abundance of food and cover make this possible. They’ve been unpressured all summer and feel comfortable hitting these food sources with predictability.Using trail cameras and good optics at this time of year can really help us key in on where we need to be for opening day. As with anything else, the more time spent in preparation, the better the odds of reward. And if we use our brains to think outside the box instead of giving animals human qualities, we can magnify our chances even more.This time of year, a basic understanding of deer behavior certainly will help. However, if we use what our trail cameras and our own observations, tell us, we can start to get a more in-depth look at individual deer behavior. Generically classifying deer will only get us so far. Whitetails might not have personalities in a human sense, but they’re individuals. Only after realizing each buck is unique can we fully use his quirks to our advantage.WHICH KIND OF BUCK IS HE?There are three types of bucks we might encounter at this time of year. While every hunter’s situation will vary somewhat, our examples will involve a mineral site. Your situation might be a soybean field or clearcut, but the points will apply just as well with one as another. Just by using the info of our cameras, it’s easily apparent which type of deer we are dealing with. It just takes an understanding of which pattern to look for with each personality type.THE SOCIAL BUTTERFLYThis type of mature buck hangs all summer with two or more others. These companions often will vary from bucks his own age all the way down the chart to those that have just passed their first birthdays.SEE PHOTO GALLERYTrail  camera Although this mature buck presents certain challenges, he’s the easiest type to kill in early season. The first reason is that you have his buddies’ inexperience on your side. Instead of holding tight to his bed the way Mother Nature has programmed him to, every afternoon he’s largely at the mercy of his younger, less wary companions.As the sun gets low, these younger deer become impatient and start to stand and stretch. Before you know it, the youngsters start easing out of the bedding area, headed toward the mineral site. Behind them is an older buck that knows better but follows the pack anyway. Usually he’s bringing up the rear moments behind these young guys, leaning on them putting themselves in harm’s way if there’s any danger in the area.The cons presented by this type of trophy deer are worth noting, though. First off, your scent-free game must be totally on point. You’ll more often than not have several other deer close to you before the oldest one steps out. With that many eyes and especially noses moving about, there’s no room for a scent or other mistake.BEST BUDDIESThe next type of buck we see in late summer is one adhering to the “buddy” system, traveling with one other buck. Such deer have always intrigued me, as they often display interesting personality traits.Buddy bucks are usually of the same age or only a year apart. They tend to do everything together — even rut. I’ve witnessed this on several occasions, even in November still finding them somewhat together. The bond between them must be treated with respect, because once it’s been unraveled, the result can be a mess from a hunting perspective.Let’s say you have two buck tags and consider both of these bucks to be “shooters.” If you mainly want the larger of them, don’t take the lesser one first. Patience is key here; you must hold out for the one you really want.If you remove one of these bucks, the other is immediately left in a vulnerable situation. He’ll immediately search out another buck with a similar personality, no matter how far away that might take him. Usually it will happen some distance away. Of all the big bucks I’ve seen use this system, I’ve never had one stay around after the loss of his buddy.THE LONERThe hardest mature buck to hunt in late summer is the loner. Some deer just prefer to do their own thing on their own schedule, and that describes him perfectly.Many factors come into play here. If you have a ton of does and fawns using your place all summer, it becomes a nursery. Old loner bucks don’t usually like to hang around that much other deer activity.SEE PHOTO GALLERY “These old does are hard on the bucks this time of year. An aggressive doe will stand up on her rear legs, then use her front hooves to smack bucks away from mineral sites. These same nurseries become hotspots in November, but for early-season hunts so much overall deer activity can be bad. Our old loner buck always shows up by himself, and we often see him leave immediately whenever other deer approach.What makes him so hard to kill is his genetic programming. We like to give deer human qualities and overthink the obvious. In doing so, we tell ourselves these bucks are super smart and only live in the wooliest of places. But this isn’t necessarily true — we’re just misidentifying what really is going on.We see does with their fawns every day and at all times, so we assume they’re dumb to our game. This isn’t true at all; in reality, these old does are the smartest deer in the woods. We see the adult doe more because she must feed more regularly to produce adequate milk, as well as teach the two “parasites” that are sucking her dry where to find their own food.The second deer we see in daylight with great regularity is the yearling buck. We see him often because it’s the first year he’s out on his own, and he’s still operating on his mom’s schedule. The 2 1/2-year-olds we see less often, and the 3 1/2s even less.By the time a buck reaches 4 1/2, he’s physically mature. And if he has a loner personality, he’s decided he has no deer to take care of but himself. His urge to stay tight to cover until nightfall is strong. Not by using a human brain, but a small brain that’s programmed with only three basic instincts: eat, sleep and breed. And during late summer, the breeding part isn’t on his mind at all. He’s simply focused on survival.For that reason, the loner is usually the hardest buck to kill in early season. Without the presence of any companions coaxing him onto his feet a little before dark, he generally won’t be in any hurry to head out of the bedding area. That means you’ll probably be left with only nighttime photos of a phantom.These deer are killable. However, this is where a basic understanding of weather and moon phases comes into play. To kill this buck might take every trick you can think of.Try to find a pattern. High-pressure, low-humidity days seem to put these deer on their feet earlier in the afternoon. So do cool, rainy days. But the pattern varies from deer to deer, so you’ll have to figure this out on your own. Every one of these loners is different, as their personalities would suggest. Cameras and careful observation often will reveal huntable patterns you can tap into.IN CONCLUSIONNot every whitetailer bowhunts where the season opens during the velvet period. But if you do, remember these examples of what you might encounter in your summer scouting and early-season hunting.As G.I. Joe always said, “Knowing is half the battle.” And that could never be truer than when dealing with specific bucks. For many bowhunters, the days of just “deer” hunting have changed to a focus on specific deer that are relatively mature. Learning your target animal’s personality type will greatly enhance your odds of taking him when the season starts.

The most prominent trail camera strategy in today’s deer-o-sphere is using them to confirm what a hunter already suspects about local whitetails. This is why so many of us mount cameras over standing soybean fields or the edges of food plots in July. We know bucks feed regularly in those spots, and we want to get pictures of them. It’s pretty simple, really, but often not all that productive. If you’ve got a property locked up and know that no one will come in and mess with the summer patterns, then yes, you can plan a strategy around those images. But be honest, you were going to hunt those spots anyway, because they’re no-brainer locations for early-season bowhunting setups. The problem with scouting that way is that it works with a good summer destination food source — but then, those patterns crumble just before or right after you get your first chance to slip in with a bow and try to intercept a target buck. This is where trail cameras can hurt us if we’re not careful. It’s easy to hunt on memory, but a buck that has bailed on his summer food pattern isn’t likely to return to it in a way that will allow you to encounter him during shooting hours. This is especially true if you’re hunting pressured ground, whether public or private. A better bet with scouting cameras is to use them to figure out what is going on in the places where you’re really not sure what the activity level is, or to sort out the routes target bucks are taking as they travel to/from food sources. Practically speaking, this is what scouting is all about, and it’s possible with the right camera strategy. The idea obviously is to identify good bucks that might be moving during legal shooting hours, then pin down locations you can sneak into, and actually hunt, correctly. Doing so isn’t nearly as easy as we’d like to believe, though. If it were, success rates would be much, much higher. Each year I hunt whitetails on public land in four or five states, and if there’s one thing I find consistently, it’s that the easy spots are nearly always worthless to hunt outside the hottest part of the rut. The better bucks I see, and occasionally arrow, almost always have made the mistake of moving during daylight either on a travel route or in a staging area, both of which will be in security cover. While some big bucks seem to be terribly ensconced in a nocturnal lifestyle, most aren’t. They just don’t move a whole lot during daylight in any place but their favorite sanctuaries. This information matters, because those might be the only spots in which you’ll ever encounter them with enough daylight to get a legal shot. These spots will almost always relate to a destination food source. That’s true even in the Northwoods, where there isn’t an agricultural field or food plot within miles. The deer usually have a feeding place in mind, but they’ll take their sweet time getting there — and most often, you’ll run out the clock before they poke their nose into any open areas. So while the soybean field on your farm or parcel of public land is where the bucks will probably end up each night, how they get there and how they leave are what matter most to us hunters. The same goes for the oak ridge in the big woods or an irrigated alfalfa field out west. four bucks in velvet in nighttime trail cam photo My typical strategy is to start at the most obvious destination food sources and place cameras in the first patch of good cover off them, hanging in what appear to be high-traffic spots. This might be a ditch or ravine crossing or simply a trail carved down the face of a bluff. Regardless, the idea is to get an idea of which deer are moving through the cover near the most obvious food. It’s important to remember here that the July woods can look a lot different from the September woods, and another thing entirely when you consider November. The first, most likely staging area off the food will last until the leaves drop or hunting pressure on the field edges pushes the deer deeper, or maybe persuades them to stay even farther back. NO DICE…NOW WHAT? The reason many of us don’t want to engage in this strategy is we won’t run in danger of having our SD cards maxed out with images. In fact, you might not capture anything that gets you excited. That’s a bummer, but it’s important. Eliminating dead ends isn’t as exciting as checking your camera and realizing that a herd of Booners has been traipsing through every day, but it’s also not nothing. Knowing where not to hunt matters, because it allows you to focus your efforts elsewhere. This is why I try to run at least a couple trail cameras in question-mark locations. The idea is to figure out travel patterns in the cover, but you also must weigh the value of that information against how often you’ll slip in to check cameras and thus disturb the area. (That assumes you aren’t using a cellular camera, which eliminates the need to visit the spot regularly.) If possible, I try to time my camera checks around rainstorms, but that’s far from a reliable strategy for minimizing disturbance. Instead, I force myself to give a camera at least a month in any given spot during the summer scouting period. Leaving a trail cam to “soak” in a spot for a minimum of four weeks means the deer will have plenty of time to get used to it, and all kinds of weather and the accompanying fronts will pass in that time. This allows me to compare deer movement to conditions and decide if there’s anything worth really paying attention to there. If I do capture a good buck doing his thing a few times, it also gives me enough time to try to hang some more cameras and attempt to further pin down his daily habits. This is where different trains of thought merge onto the same track. Most of us think nailing down an exact buck’s routes is the goal, and it’s easy to slip into the mindset that deer do pretty much the same thing every day. But while they’re habitual critters, they don’t walk the same trails and utilize the same beds day after day unless they’re very comfortable in one given spot. For most of us, those spots are behind plenty of “No Trespassing” signs and come with a serious price tag. The reality is, whitetails travel through their world in relation to the conditions and how they’ll be able to use their senses to stay safe. This means the buck that walks down a specific trail once a week is going somewhere else the other six days. Where are they? Ask yourself questions and try to answer them with long-range observation and more camera work. For example, even though the travel pattern of a good buck on a specific ditch crossing might seem random, it probably isn’t. Think about where he’s coming from and where he’s going. Maybe there’s a pond tucked into the timber 200 yards away. Is he visiting it to get a drink? A well-placed camera can tell you. Maybe the buck surprises you one evening as you’re swatting mosquitoes and looking through the spotting scope at a green bean field on your farm. Instead of emerging from the woods the way most of the other deer do, he pops up in a grassy swale on your neighbor’s property and hops a fence to reach the groceries where you can hunt.

Get in the Game

Make the Kill

 

 

Simple & Savvy

 

 

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When you’re just getting started hunting, there’s a good chance that seeing wildlife is a big part of the draw for you. And when you get to see their hidden habits, it’s even more addicting. That’s where trail cameras really come in handy.

Depending on where you hunt, you may or may not be familiar with trail cameras. For example, if you hunt heavily pressured public land, you might be afraid to use one for fear of theft. And if you’re a new hunter, you probably haven’t even thought about them before. But if you do use one, this trail camera review will introduce you to the features and pros/cons of this particular model so you can decide if you’d like to try one yourself.

Trail Camera Background

I received a message from Olymbros® a while back, asking if I would conduct a trail camera review on their model. I was eager to do so, as I love trying new cameras in the woods and since I’m a biologist, I could never get enough wildlife pictures! Specifically, I received the T3 16MP trail camera.

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The T3 is capable of taking pictures at different resolutions (up to 16 megapixels) or videos in 1080P full HD. The menu choices were pretty impressive. I was able to change the trigger interval (how long the camera waits between pictures), the number of pictures taken, the sensitivity level (what size disturbance triggers the camera), etc.

The camera also uses a no-glow, infrared LED light, which doesn’t spook wild animals like some flashing versions. Finally, if you’re concerned about someone stealing your camera, you can lock it with a 4-digit password – granted, that doesn’t stop someone from stealing it necessarily, but they’re not going to be able to use it either.

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Field Test and Results

I received the camera and didn’t have much opportunity to deploy it on some private property until later in the summer. But after only a few days of sitting over an old mineral lick, I got some cool pictures. The camera really blends in well against a variety of tree barks, but it disappeared very well against a paper birch!

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Overall, the settings seemed to work as I thought they might. Given the short time frame I had to check the camera, I set it to a high sensitivity level and low interval to make sure I captured pictures. Some were inevitably empty due to branches triggering the camera or animals being just out of frame. But it was able to capture a nice sequence of a doe and fawn digging around in the soil.

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I also captured a few (alright, MANY) pictures of black bears. Most of them wandered by, but some curious ones couldn’t resist a closer inspection of the camera, causing the subsequent pictures to be rotated a bit. For example, this picture was already tilted from another bear. This one then decided to check it out too, causing all the remaining ones to tilt the other way. So far, none of them have destroyed the trail camera, but since I’ve lost cameras to bears before, I need to invest in a steel box sooner than later!

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Thus far, I haven’t had many good night-time pictures. Most of the pictures with deer in them have been pretty washed out or over-exposed. The picture below of a raccoon was one of the clearest night shots I’ve captured.

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I also explored some of the other camera functions by choosing the video and photo mode, which takes both when triggered. I captured a cool sequence of at least three gray wolves, including pictures and the video below.

Potential Improvements

There are only two slight cons I noticed. First, compared to other trail cameras I’ve used, the field of view seems a little more constricted or zoomed in. It’s not a big deal for the average hunter, but it’s just something I noticed after placing the camera in the same tree as others before it.

Second, when I was setting the camera up in my living room where the light was uneven, I noticed the camera makes an audible click much like a car blinker. Presumably, this is the camera switching from daylight to nighttime mode. It was fairly loud and might spook the occasional deer or turkey if light levels are varying drastically in the field, but it’s definitely not a deal-breaker for me.

Trail Camera Review Summary

Overall, I enjoy this camera. It takes nice pictures and performs well in different conditions. I really like that it has a small LCD screen for viewing pictures in the field. Instead of just swapping out the SD cards, I can quickly scan through and see what’s been happening while I’ve been gone. The bottom line is that this trail camera takes good pictures and would be a good addition to your hunting equipment if you’re into this kind of obsession.

If you’re interested in this camera, check it out!

There is nothing better than a good guided hunting trip and few things more frustrating than a bad one. Do some research prior to handing money over to an outfitter by speaking to individuals who have hunted with them about their experiences.

You will know if something sounds fishy, and it's a red flag if an outfitter won't produce contacts. For these trips, check out Getducks.com and Ramsey Russell.

Manitoba Sandhill Cranes

Manitoba is a waterfowler's dream. Everybody knows about the great duck and goose hunting this province offers, but what many hunters from the States don't know is how great the hunting for Sandhill cranes is here. The province offers some amazing opportunities to hunt what is arguably, one of the tastiest birds out there so good, in fact, that many have nicknamed these birds the "ribeye in the sky."

Sandhills decoy well and there are a number of outfitters in the province offering hunts. So, whether you want to extend your duck- or goose-hunting adventure to Manitoba or want to go there just try your hand at these birds alone, check out the amazing opportunities for Sandhills just over the border in Canada.

North Carolina: Swans & Ducks

You may not feel like a complete waterfowler if you haven't at least dreamed of going after a tundra swan, and the go-to place to do it is North Carolina, where some outfits run success rates close to 100 percent. The Mattamuskeet Refuge area is the hub of hunting North America's largest legal waterfowl.

It's a simple outing and affordable for this ultimate trophy. An average duck hunt run's $550 to $600 with lodging per day for up to three guys, so you and a few buddies can have a three-day package and that's about all each of you will pay in the end.

 

"My kid out there mowing grass this summer could afford this hunt. Go for two or three days, so you can pick a nice mature bird and enjoy it," Ramsey Russell of Getducks.com says.

"Instead of seeing a few you will see hundreds if not thousands, and when you get your swans you can chase pintails, scooters, long-tails and all kinds of fun stuff." Experience boat blinds for decoying ducks in the shallow flats, true traditional East Coast tidal hunting.

It's the place to go to get your hand on a beautiful plumed out swan for taxidermy in January.

Delaware Sea Duck Combo 

Historic Chesapeake gets all the hype, and Delaware Bay is not on the radar of many waterfowl hunts, but it should be. One of the biggest bodies of water on the East Coast is home to massive ledges where deeper waters come right up to oyster shoals and the hunting is terrific for white-winged, surf and common scoters.

Experience classic layout boat hunts, with plenty of cool options if the weather gets too rough for sea ducks. Chase mallards, geese, black ducks or brant, or score that trophy long-tail in a place that also has plenty of Eastern Shore-style Canada goose hunting.

"We quit booking Maine because weather can screw you up so quick and there's not much you can do when you can't chase sea ducks," says Russell.

It's a good trip to bring spouses along, because it is surrounded by civilization, yet it has fantastic hunting and is off the beaten path, without the pressure of the famed bay to the south. An affordable hunt at $250 to $300 per day, and it's not too expensive to get to, because any major airline flies to Baltimore or Washington D.C.

Pacific Northwest Greenheads

When guys say "greenheads" the Northwest is not the first place that comes to mind yet. Editor Skip Knowles cut his teeth on mallards in the Columbia Basin, with absolutely no idea how good he had it. With a seven greenhead limit and tornadoes of pintail, wigeon and Canada geese flocking through eastern Washington, this is one of the most consistent bets in the country.

Russell's waterfowl hunts run $350 a day and for $1,500 you can get lodging meals and everything for a three-day duck hunt. There are many reputable outfitters at all levels hunting Washington on both public and private lands.

Thousands of acres of impoundments and standing flooded corn are routine on private lands, and you can bring your boat and hit the Columbia, McNary and other spots scattered around the big river's many refuges. Southern Idaho is often a short stopper of greenhead flocks and can be excellent, too.

Mississippi Dela Ducks

Public opportunities in the Deep South are getting tougher, but private land waterfowl hunts with outfitters are becoming more affordable, and this is a place you just have to experience.

Duck country down here is so different from the rest of the U.S., with some of the best dirt in the nation in regions with the lowest, wettest spots imaginable, places where rivers come together and the flooding creates some of the best habitat in the world. Cypress breaks, ag fields and flooded impoundments host mallards, gaddies, teal, wigeon and just about everything else.

For $350 a day in Tallahatchie County you can stay in an antebellum plantation home and enjoy top-notch meals and drinks on the delta, where in spots so many mallards trade back-and-forth at eyeball level around the refuge you won't believe it. Mississippi is simply full of great guided duck hunts at all levels.

North Dakota Ducks & Geese

Come pay homage to the duck motherland, a place that produces birds, stages birds, and funnels millions of spring snows when they come back through. If the snows get stalled due to weather, you're in for the waterfowl hunt of a lifetime.

Russell doesn't book North Dakota trips but does make referrals and that Devil's Lake region is something special, he says. Where else but NoDak can you legally hammer 15 Canada geese in the month of August?  For $350 a day, you can have British Columbia-style bag limits.

Nobody is shooting 15 Canadas per man per day (the birds are just too tough to dial that efficiently) but some of the guys have killed 10 or so apiece.

"Six of us shot 65 big resident birds one day, so it happens," Russell says. Great mallard hunting is a given in central ND, and the state's laws are set up so outfitters have to play by many of the same rules as regular hunters.

"It's a mighty damned big state," Russell says. "I know guys going out there for 15 years who still get off the beaten path far enough to avoid competition."

Texas Panhandle Cranes

One of the best kept secrets for years, a sandhill crane hunt on the Texas Panhandle is at the top of our list. Thousands of tiny glacial lakes left after the Ice Age are scattered across terrain now surrounded by countless acres of beef country full of wheat corn, milo and soybeans.

The result: a vast and beautiful habitat. Some lakes have ducks, others geese, still others cranes. Most lakes offer a mixed bag of teal, wigeon and mallards right at daybreak and then geese are the late arrivals doing their thing along with the cranes.

"A guy can go out and shoot ducks, geese and score a bonus crane on any day," Russell says.  "Texas has always been the place to go to shoot cranes and it hasn't slowed a bit." Affordable, from $250 a day and up.

Kansas Ducks & Geese

For duck and goose hunters, this is a paradise, and it's no longer a secret. Kansas duck hunts have been getting lots of attention because the central area is simply unbelievable, and guided hunts are reasonable at $300 to $350 a day with lodging for skies with mallards, teal and wigeon.

Goose hunts can get legendary in a hurry when flocks group up en masse, and the limits are relaxed by U.S. standards. There is good public hunting at Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira (among others) for those willing to do their homework, and some of the country's best gunning for wild upland birds if you like to chase prairie chickens, pheasants and quail for afternoon fun.

The state has a wonderful cooperative private land farming (WIHA is a program fro public-private hunting) that can turn up some gems, too. Kansas is now definitely on the list of places you need to visit for your next duck hunt.

Arkansas Mallard Mecca

Stuttgart? Sure, you gotta do it. But there is so much more to Arkansas. Example: One of Russell's favorite duck hunts is just over the border heading north out of Monroe, Louisiana, where a wide spot in the road called Wilmont, Arkansas, just may be near heaven for the duck man.

It hardly has a place to eat, but one of his outfitters has 300 acres located in the middle of a 6,000-acre federal sanctuary, a few hundred yards from where 100,000 mallards sit all day long. With a 10-man blind, they limit nearly every day.

"I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to waterfowl hunt with nine other guys, but I looked out and my whole peripheral vision was full of moving flocks of mallards," Russell said.

"There are little X's in this world and this boy has it. Ten people with limits by 10 a.m.," he says, "and they did that all but one day of the entire season." Pony up $600 for this dream hunt, with lodging and meals.

Not every morning in the blind needs to result in a limit.

Perhaps my attitude toward duck limits comes from my pedigree as a bowhunter, where success during any given day afield is far more the exception than the rule. I'm just not hung up on posting big numbers in the duck blind. Don't get me wrong – I love limiting out, but it's not a necessity for me and is not how I judge the success of my hunts.

I don't care that much; I just love to hunt. And so does my Lab, and while she would definitely choose more retrieves than fewer, she takes whatever she can get. This is why I'm really into scouting different kinds of duck water.

Naturally, we all want that big-water point of reeds we can tuck into and intercept a myriad of duck species throughout the entire season, but that is just the kind of spot that takes a lot of work to find – and hunt – and isn't conducive to an hour-long sit at first light.

Knowing this, I keep an open mind and my eyes peeled for easy-to-hunt small-water spots that are perfect for short hunts, which don't require a trailer-load of decoys and gear.

Teal & Woody Hideaways

The smallest water that ducks will hit is pretty small, but it's also going to limit the types of ducks that circle overhead. The early-season, where one-duck hunts shine, is all about the teal and wood ducks. Sure, you might get lucky and have a few resident mallards pitch down, but you're not going to have crazy flights and eye-popping action. It's just not in the cards.

 

The hunting can still be a blast, though, and is a great way to test out the steadiness of your retriever in the process. Before all that, you've got to identify the right situations in which to hunt.

 

Drawing up the ideal spot would only involve conjuring memories of a pond on some public land north of my house in the outer suburbs in the Twin Cities. The quarter-acre pond is tucked into a tract of land that is bordered on two sides by running water. A small creek and a decent-sized interior river frame the ground, which is maybe 20 minutes from the Mighty Mississippi, and all of that water acts as an aerial funnel to usher ducks into the airspace above that little pond.

While it's not much to look at – on paper or in person – it sure is fun to sit on at sunrise because during pretty much every sit you're going to get a chance at a few woodies, and occasionally, mallards. The setup is a two-decoy operation, where my dog and I can get a little fix in the morning and still be home with a duck or two before the day is really going. For the times when it's mid-week and I'm not into the work of bigger water and spreads, that little pond is perfect.

 

Easy, But Not Too Easy

The thing about a hunt like this is it's got to produce ducks, but not be so easy that everyone with a semi-auto and a Lab will know about it. I find most of these types of spots through aerial photography and then confirm them by slipping in to scout on foot. It doesn't take long to look at a waterway or slough and decide if there are a few good locations to sit.

Some of the best one-duck-hunt spots I find are beaver ponds, or just open-water corners of vegetated wetlands on public ground. It doesn't take much, and most of the best spots will be visible on aerial photography. The key, of course, is to get in and make sure you can hunt there because it sets up right.

 

I've got one new spot in northern Wisconsin that looks like it should be a wood-duck magnet that I can't wait to sit. It's an L-shaped pond tucked into the timber near a good-sized flowage, so I know it should draw some birds. It's also got high banks and quite a few trees that my Lab and I can tuck into for cover. It won't be the kind of hunt where I'll need three boxes of shells, but it should be a productive place to spend an hour or two when I'm crunched for time and still really want to hunt.

Conclusion

This season, if you're itching for as much duck hunting as possible, don't write off a quick, simple hunt during a morning when you don't have half of the day to spend staring skyward. Oftentimes, you can get away with hip knee-high boots or hip waders, a couple decoys, and a call or two if you scout the right one-duck spot. While it's not going to produce outdoor television results, it will help you (and your dog) get a duck fix when a bigger-production hunt is out of the question.

WE'VE LOST 2.2 MILLION HUNTERS SINCE 2011. HERE'S HOW TO HELP SAVE HUNTING.

Doug Hinkle has a trophy room full of shoulder mounts, a lifetime Missouri hunting license, and the Savage 99 lever-action rifle that belonged to his grandfather.

Doug's father gave him the rifle, chambered in .300 Savage, when the pair shared their first deer hunt, back in 1969, just as whitetails were returning to their county in northern Missouri after a century of depletion. Doug has hunted with the rifle a couple of times since, but the Savage has migrated farther back in his gun safe as Doug has added synthetic-stocked bolt guns and semiautomatic rifles to his firearms collection.

 

These days, there's no shortage of whitetails around Doug's place. In fact, when we hunted together two Novembers ago, we each could have hung our tags on mature bucks within the first hour of the season. What's lacking in Doug's life isn't deer or guns; it's somebody to pass that Savage 99 down to.

 

Doug's kids don't hunt. His neighbors have leased their farms to out-of-area hunters who don't bring kids when they come twice a year, once for bow season and again for the rifle season in November. The closest Doug, who just turned 60, can get to a gun-worthy heir is his sister's husband, but he's nearly Doug's age and lives a couple states away.

"I've thought about just giving Granddad's rifle to one of my kids in the hopes that maybe they'll have kids who hunt or shoot, but that seems really unlikely," Doug told me. "My kids were raised as hunters and shooters, but I don't think my grandkids will be."

 

The License Cliff

You may think you encounter too many camo-clad competitors in the places you hunt, whether it's a public duck marsh or a limited-draw elk unit. But the reality is that the number of licensed hunters is down across the country. Hunter numbers peaked in 1982, when around 17 million of us bought licenses. I was a high school sophomore in rural north Missouri that year, and it seemed like every one of my friends — including Doug's cousins — hunted every chance they got. Full disclosure: I killed my second whitetail with Doug's grandfather's Savage, so its fate is personal to me.

Since 1982, hunting participation in America has declined steadily. In 2016, the last year for which the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has data, only 11.5 million hunters were counted, a drop of 2.2 million from the USFWS's 2011 survey.

Sure, that's still a lot of hunters, and on opening day of deer season, it can seem like most of them are in your county. We're accustomed to demonizing these anonymous competitors for stealing "our" opportunity, but take a closer look at them. Chances are they look a lot like you: middle-aged white guys craving a chance to do what they love to do.

This is the second problem with America's population of hunters. Not only are we getting fewer, but also we're getting older. According to the USFWS, back in 1991 52 percent of U.S. hunters were between the ages of 25 and 44. Demographers consider this the most productive segment of society, comprising members who are disproportionately physically healthy and actively contributing labor and economic benefit to their communities. By 2011, the percentage of hunters in this age bracket had dropped to 33 percent of the whole. The percentage of hunters aged 45 — 64 had climbed to 44 percent. More troubling is the percentage of hunters over age 65 — 11 percent in 2011 (up from 6 percent in 1991). State wildlife agencies figure that most hunters stop buying licenses when they hit about age 70.

If you are silently cheering this trend because you think it will create more opportunities for the rest of us, consider that as both the absolute number and percentage of hunters decline, so do license sales that support wildlife management in America. So do the markets for guns and bows and the habitat-enhancing excise taxes their sale generates. And so do political and cultural support for hunting.

Statisticians call this decline the "license cliff," and the current trajectory shows the slide accelerating and steepening. Factor in another demographic trend — the urbanization and cultural diversification of America — and it's easy to imagine a future in which hunting is considered a quaint curiosity of a bygone era and not a dynamic part of the modern American culture, economy, and landscape.

Recruitment Redux

Demographic trends are a little like battleships. They take a long time to gain momentum, but once they establish direction, it's hard to influence their trajectory. Will we ever again be a country of 16.7 million hunters, as we were in 1982? Probably not. But Eric Dinger is convinced that we can stabilize the slide toward oblivion and even add hunter numbers, if we do one simple thing.

"We have to replace ourselves," said Dinger, the cofounder and CEO of Powderhook, a digital app that aims to connect hunters and anglers with people who don't currently participate regularly in either activity. Powderhook intends to help create three million new hunters in the next five years, mainly by making it easier for us to talk to each other, help each other, and feel more like companions than competitors.

The idea is that as each of us ages out of hunting we will have recruited someone to take our place, someone who in turn feels both obligated and eager to replace themselves, creating a chain reaction with our hunting heritage as its fuel rod.

"If every one of us took just one person hunting next year that number looks completely different," said Dinger.

In recent years, conservation organizations — most notably the National Wild Turkey Federation, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Sportsmen's Alliance, and the NRA working through the Families Afield initiative — have worked to lower barriers to hunting participation. But many of these efforts have focused on youth and haven't adequately followed up to ensure that activated kids continue to buy licenses and hunt when they become adults.

"That's a key point," said John Frampton, president and CEO of the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports and one of the national leaders of the

accelerating R3 movement. R3 stands for Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation.

"We have to reach out to the population of adults who may have been introduced to hunting earlier in life and have fallen away from it [reactivation] or who have never been introduced to it in the first place [recruitment]. These are people with disposable time and income and who can understand and appreciate that hunting is an activity that can improve their quality of life, provide them with high-quality food, and give them a connection to the natural world."

After years of stop-and-start work aimed at slowing the decline of hunters, this appears to be the year of intentional R3-ing. Commissions are studying the problem. Symposia will discuss solutions. But Dinger says one demonstrated way to fix the slide is to do what hunters do best: talking passionately about hunting.

Digital Mentoring

Don't underestimate the power of connection, even in the relatively anonymous ether of cyberspace. Once hunters start talking to would-be hunters, Dinger says, it's a relatively easy next step to bring the relationship into the real world, one that can blossom on a clays course or in the turkey woods.

Prospective hunters need real-time local answers. They don't want to scour the Internet to piece together the answer to a question. And often they want to communicate anonymously. The Powderhook app enables all those dynamics by incentivizing the exchange of information. By participating in this exchange, digital mentors can earn status points that they can trade in on products or reduced prices at retailers.

But Powderhook's main role is as a virtual campfire, a place to foster dialog between those who have information and those who hunger for it. In simpler days, that relationship was called mentoring and apprenticing.

The idea of Powderhook's app is to give prospective hunters a "mentor in the pocket," a connection not only to knowledgeable individuals in real time, but also to organizations with deep resources. So far, Ducks Unlimited, the NWTF, National Deer Alliance, Quality Deer Management Association, and Union Sportsmen's Alliance are partners of the app, along with brands such as Cabela's, Yamaha, and Federal Premium ammunition.

"Those partners are critical to our work and amplifying the message," said Dinger. "One day, when someone says, 'I'd like to learn to hunt,' I'd like the reflexive response to be, 'You gotta get Powderhook.' Not because we're going to do all the work, but because we can empower everyone to do some of the work."

Will my buddy Doug Hinkle download the Powderhook app? When I asked, he was both candid and dubious — two qualities that define most of the hunters I know, especially those from the Show-Me State.

"Do I wish there were more hunters in my world? Yeah, I do. I'm starting to feel like the only guy around who hunts," said Doug. "Am I gonna give my Savage to a guy I meet online? Not likely. But I've got a lot of deer, and I wouldn't mind helping somebody get their first buck. It honestly doesn't sound like that hard a thing to do."

Most hunters think of the rut as the best time to kill a big buck, but there are valid reasons why early season can also be good -and sometimes the earlier the better.

It didn't feel much like deer hunting weather — temps in the 70s, muggy and buggy — yet there I was, perched in a ladder stand 80 yards from a persimmon patch roughly the size of a house. It being so warm, I didn't expect much action until the waning moments of daylight. So it was somewhat unexpected when a doe and fawn showed up with two full hours of daylight remaining. That turned out to be the tip of the iceberg.

It wasn't long before a young buck showed up, followed by another, and another. As the afternoon wore on, the number and age of bucks arriving to feed on newly dropped nectar of the gods grew. I stopped counting individual rack bucks at 10, though I know there were more. None quite made my personal minimum, but the experience of seeing that many adult bucks in one place at one time was reward enough.

The assembly was somewhat unexpected, though it should have been. It was early muzzleloader season in Kansas, a state that has a lot of bucks, at a time when those bucks tend to be at their most visible and potentially vulnerable period. While most deer hunters favor cooler temps and the hot action of the rut, early season offers some alternatives that rival and may even exceed the rut if your goal is to bag a big buck.

What Happens in Vegas...

One advantage of early season hunting involves social interaction. In late summer, whitetail bucks begin forming loose associations called bachelor groups or bachelor herds that will remain together to some extent into the early fall. They may include as few as two or three deer, or more than a dozen depending on deer densities and food availability.

Hunting camera 

I use the term "loose" because the groups can vary in size and individual deer from day to day. The bottom line is that if you see one buck at this time of year, chances are good you'll see another, and another, and another — and they tend to get larger as the evening wears on so be patient.

The Other Rut

When talking about deer, the term "rut" is typically applied to that magical time when even the wiliest whitetails drop their guard and wander around during daylight hours. When referring to ourselves, we humans ascribe the term rut to a monotonous routine we're stuck in.

While we don't call it that, whitetails also sometimes get into a fairly repetitious routine, but only early in the season. While the rut is exciting, it's also very random. To the contrary, whitetails are at their most routine, and most "patternable" very early in the hunting season.

Low Pressure

While deer — particularly bucks — tend to be fairly routine, it doesn't take much to throw them out of their early-season patterns. Studies have shown deer move increasingly less during daylight, and more in thicker cover as hunting pressure increases. Like the savvy fisherman who wants first water — to be the first to cast a fly into a particular pool — you want to be the first in a particular patch of woods. And if you did your scouting properly, your fist sit should be your best as deer will quickly begin patterning and avoiding you.

Time Management

As already mentioned, deer tend to be rather routine in the early season, and one of the more common patterns is that daylight activity tends to be compressed into the first and last few minutes of the day. Deer don't like moving around when it's warm, and more importantly, in full daylight. Their eyes function best in fading light. Knowing this, you can maximize your effective hunting hours by concentrating on the first and last hours of the day. There's no need to sit those long, all-day vigils like you will when the rut kicks in. And because the days are much longer in the early season, you may be able to hunt peak hours and still put in a full day's work.

Relax

For several reasons, early-season hunting tends to be more relaxed. Some of it has to do with weather. You don't have too, nor do you want to move too quickly when it's warm. Deer season is a marathon, not a sprint, so you want to pace yourself and work up to speed slowly. Early success also brings certain benefits. With a deer or two in the freezer, and potentially at the taxidermist, the pressure is off so you can relax and get more enjoyment out of the weeks and months of deer hunting still to come.

The start of another bow season is just around the corner. Every hunter that heads afield with a stick and string does so with big hopes and dreams.

However, despite our best efforts many of those dreams will not come to fruition. And while there's no denying that the early season is a difficult time to fill a whitetail tag, it can become nearly impossible if you fall into the trap of committing a handful of these early season bowhunting mistakes.

You Woke Up Too Early

When you've been waiting since last season for the first day of the new one to begin, the last thing you want to do is stay in bed. However, if your sights are set on arrowing a mature whitetail buck maybe you should sleep in. Here's why?

 

During the early season most mature bucks aren't experiencing the rush of testosterone as they will in a few short months. This means they are less likely to be on their feet during daylight hours and if they are, it will probably be during the last few minutes of light.

Applying unnecessary hunting pressure during early season only increases the chances of spooking the buck you are hunting and ruining your hunting area before the rut even begins.

The safer tactic would be to pattern your target buck on an evening food source to predict where and when he will be feeding. Focusing on evening hunts will keep pressure at a minimum and let you catch a few more hours of sleep. Of course, you also have to get in and out of the hunting area undetected.

You Forgot About the Bugs

Can bugs really disrupt your chances of whitetail success? Sure they can. If your time in the treestand is spent swatting at pesky gnats and flies then you're just asking to be spotted by the keen eyes of a whitetail.

This is especially true when you are dealing with large, adult does. The wise, old ones that usually pass by your location before the older-class bucks show up.

Old does are notorious for busting even the most docile hunters and they do it with ease. So, it only makes sense that you can't spend your day flailing your arms in an effort to survive an onslaught of pesky insects.

The good news is that technology offers a simple solution to this dilemma. It's called ThermaCell and it is the most effective way to rid your personal space of unwanted bugs. Even better, the ThermaCell unit is completely odorless so you don't have to worry about counteracting your other scent-control measures.

You can sit motionless until the time is right to send an arrow downrange into the chest of a trophy buck.

You Dismissed Scent Control

The early season is typically accompanied with high temperatures and that means you are going to work up a sweat no matter what you do.

This is even more evident while walking to your stand. More sweat will translate into more game spooking bacteria and odor. Therefore, it is imperative that your scent reduction efforts be on point during this time. That means keeping not only your hunting gear washed and clean but also your body and breath.

When it comes to personal scent control I typically use chlorophyll tablets to combat internal odors. I have taken them for several years during hunting season and have found chlorophyll to be completely safe and effective. When combined with my daily use of scent-free soap (not just before the hunt), I can really knock my odor levels to a minimum even on those hot days of the season.

You Didn't Do Enough Situational Practice

When it comes time to dust off the bow and start shooting in preparation of the upcoming season a lot of folks head to the back yard. And that's fine. The back lawn is the perfect place to get reacquainted with your gear and make sure everything is in working order.

However, once sight pins have been set and shooting strength is regained, the back-yard target sessions should end. In their place should be something that will better match the conditions you will face while hunting.

For most bowhunters this means elevated shooting. After all, what good does it do to practice flat-footed in the yard when your next shot at a whitetail buck will likely come from 20 feet above the ground? The answer is it does you no good.

Every bowhunter should immerse themselves in what I call "situational" practice.

In other words, if you're a treestand hunter then do a good deal of practice shooting from an elevated position. If you're a spot and stalk hunter then you should be shooting over uneven terrain at unknown distances. Likewise, ground blind hunters would greatly benefit from practicing from a seated position and shooting out of the actual blind they plan to hunt from.

You Didn't Range Your Shot

Like most deer hunters across the country your early season shot will likely take place across an open food plot or agricultural field. Open space has a unique way of tricking the eyes into believing the shot is closer/farther away than it really is.

During your practice sessions, take a quick second to range the shot before drawing back your bow. Or, at the very least, have a number of pre-ranged landmarks you can reference when trying to determine shooting distance. This small but valuable discipline will pay off during season.

You Neglected Pre-Season Scouting

It's easy to get caught up in the type of pre-season planning that has nothing to do with whitetail deer behavior. Gear, conditioning and shooting can take up a lot of time and in the process scouting gets pushed to the back burner. That's a mistake; especially in the early season.

The reason scouting is so important during late summer is because you will be relying on the whitetails urge to feed to fill your tag. You will also be working with a limited amount of daylight in which to encounter a shooter buck.

If you haven't done your homework and scouted before opening day then you are likely going to be playing catch up when the season starts. With no knowledge of travel routes and food sources the odds are high you will bump the very deer you are trying to find. Snooping around the woods for a decent stand location during the early season is a great way to ruin your season.

Effective scouting can be done in many ways depending on the type of area you are hunting. There is a vast difference between scouting and hunting agricultural food plots and trying to locate a shooter buck in heavily timbered areas.

The bottom line is, understand what type of scouting you need to do and how to determine the early season behavior of the whitetail in your area. Only then will you be ready to tackle the task of filling an early season whitetail tag.

You Have No Idea What the Favored Food Source Is

Unlike the rut, when bucks are prone to be anywhere at any time, the early season is ruled by one factor — food. Outside of the rut a mature buck will never be as vulnerable (or visible) as he will be during early season.

No hunting pressure and a need to feed has left the deer in a lackadaisical state of mind.

The best way to capitalize on this fleeting condition is to know what the deer are feeding on and when. However, special care must be given not to disrupt their daily routine with your scouting efforts. Otherwise it's game over.

This can be accomplished in agricultural settings by glassing bucks from afar during the last hours of daylight. However, if you're hunting in a mountainous backdrop then the odds are stacked against you. The use of game cameras becomes even more important as well as how and when you check them.

The bottom line is no matter where you're hunting, if you're hunting during the early season then you must find the food. Do that and the bucks will find you.

You Hunted On Top of the Food Source

So, you located the groceries and you hung your treestand right over them. That's fine if all you want is some meat for the freezer because that is likely what you are going to end up with.

Mature bucks will be the last deer to enter the field or visit an acorn-spewing oak tree in the early-season. Most mature buck movement occurs under the cover of darkness.

The best strategy is to move back from the food source (50-75 yards) and locate the travel routes that deer are using to access it. This will increase your chances of seeing that shooter buck when there's enough light left to make the shot.

The key to making this strategy work will be your ability to remain undetected as a number of younger bucks, does and yearlings make their way past your stand site. Do that and you just might encounter that early season, nocturnal buck.

You Have No Entry or Exit Routes

The best stand location in the world won't do you any good if you can't get to it without disturbing the deer you are hunting. This is true no matter what phase of the season it is.

However, during the early season it is important to know how to exit your stand site without spooking deer.

The reason an exit strategy is so important is because every time you hunt an area you educate the deer. If you're hunting over an early season food plot or agricultural field and every deer but the one you want walks by you've got to get out of the area undetected.

Otherwise, you will tip your hand to the ones that did show up and the next time they decide to visit that feeding location they will be even more cautious. And their actions will undoubtedly alert any mature bucks in the area that something simply isn't right.

If you can't find a low-key exit route then perhaps you should consider having someone drive in and pick you up after dark.

Sure, this will send the deer running but the damage will be minimal compared to them watching you slither down a tree like the boogie man and enter the field they are feeding in.

Another option is the use of a predator call to clear the field of feeding deer. Yes, it's going to spook some deer but they won't equate it with a human threat and that can buy you a little more time to fill your tag.

You Checked Your Trail Cameras Too Often

There is nothing quite like retrieving the SD card from your game cameras and finding a photo of that buck you've dreamed about all year. And, once that happens, it's almost impossible to fight the urge to go back to your trail camera every chance you get.

That's a mistake.

You've got to resist frequently checking your camera no matter how bad you want to. The deer haven't experienced much contact with humans during the off-season and they will easily notice any change in their environment.

Limit trail camera checks to several weeks apart or during a rain when the odds are low of leaving scent and bumping deer going or coming to your camera. If you can't do that then maybe a cellular unit is better suited for you. This will allow you to monitor your camera without ever stepping foot near it. Overall, cellular is the best low-impact option but might not be available to everyone. If that's the case then self-control is the next best thing.

You Hunted With Your Old Arrow Nocks

Slapping arrows all summer is a great thing and will build shooting confidence like nothing else. However, if you want that accuracy to carry over into the hunting season then you need to swap out those old nocks with a set of fresh, new ones before heading to the treestand.

Arrow nocks take a lot of abuse over the course of a summer and even though you might not be able to see it with the naked eye, there is always the chance that a nock or two is bent or damaged enough to throw your shot off. This is especially true when shooting at further distances under the stress of a live-animal shot.

Also, consider that you might not even notice a difference in accuracy when shooting field-points. However, broadheads can have a mind of their own and when you throw in a nock that doesn't sit just right you're asking for something bad to happen. Murphy's Law is always waiting to strike. Even if that means using something as insignificant as an arrow nock.

You Didn't Test-Shoot Your Broadheads

Speaking of broadheads, it should be common practice to never enter the woods without having first shot the head you plan to hunt with. It's just the ethical thing to do.

Furthermore, if you've never experimented with different broadheads, you might be amazed at the differences in flight that various broadheads will deliver.

Sometimes the bow is the problem and sometimes it is the broadhead. The only way to know is to test the broadhead you plan to hunt with using a well-tuned bow. And don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you are shooting a mechanical broadhead that you don't need to test it.

I have shot plenty of mechanical heads that did not fly "just like my field points." Sure, the adjustments for accuracy were smaller when compared to a good number of fixed-blade broadheads but the fact still remains that they were not "field-point" accurate.

Conclusion

It's the start of a new season. New hopes and dreams weigh in the balance and every decision you make will either bring you one step closer to them or one step further away.

Possibly the only thing that hurts worse than losing a trail camera to a thief is losing the information it contained. Here are three ways to minimize your losses.

The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach soon turned to anger as I stood there looking at the tree my scouting camera had been attached to the previous day. I hate losing a trail camera to a thief, but trail cameras can be replaced. What really made me angry was losing the information contained on the SD card. I was hundreds of miles from home on a DIY deer hunting trip.

The cameras I put out were a huge part of my decision-making process regarding where I would hang my stands and hunt. I had just lost an entire 24 hours of information about the deer in this area. That really hurts. But I won't let my anger derail my hunt, so I get over it quickly. I look at scouting cameras as if they are overhead expenses in my hunting. You have to use them, and using them is a risk. You will lose a few, and you'll have to go buy more. But what do you do when your truck gets low on gas? You go get more gas. Same with scouting cameras.

The information gathered by these cams can be extremely valuable, and I refuse to use cheap cameras that don't have the features I need just because of the risk of losing them to some sticky-fingered low life.

I run a lot of good quality scouting cameras; it's almost like a sport in itself for me. I use them not only for deer hunting, but for bear hunting, property surveillance, wildlife viewing, even predator monitoring and control. I put some in areas where I don't expect anyone to ever find them, and at times I put some in areas where I figure others will see them and I hope they leave them alone. The number of cameras I have had stolen over the years could be counted on my fingers. It's not a huge problem, but it really can throw a wrench in the gears of your hunting plans. I have begun to take some precautions to avoid losing them to thieves. Here are three ways to minimize your losses.

Go Covert

One of the easiest ways to cut losses is to simply use cameras that are harder to see and hide them better. There are three primary kinds of flashes for night photos: white flash, infrared, and black flash. Black flash cameras do not have a flash that is visible to the eye. Both white flash and IR cameras have lights that can be seen by anyone who happens to be looking the right direction when they take a photo. I use mostly cameras with black flash because they are less likely to be discovered. There are a lot more than deer hunters using public lands, coon hunters come through in the night, squirrel hunters, ginseng hunters, and even metal detector enthusiasts can come across your cameras on public lands. I have the photos to prove it all.

One of the things that draws your eye to a camera strapped to a tree is the webbing. That dark vertical line stands out amongst the rest of the environment. Use a camouflage strap and put the camera in a place where the strap is hidden by brush whenever possible.

Larger cameras are easier to spot than smaller ones. Many companies are making very small camera bodies that are not much bigger than your hand. Small black flash cameras are difficult to detect, but I go one step farther. I often glue small plastic leaves and moss to the face of the camera to break up its outline. You can get this material at any craft supply store. Of course, do not cover the lens, the sensor, or the flash with anything.

The likely location of the animal you are trying to photograph will largely determine where you mount the camera, but if you can choose a spot with lots going on around the camera, it makes the unit much harder to see at a glance. Both foreground and background cover helps. Use care when choosing a spot with foreground cover as waving branches and leaves can fill up your SD card with unneeded photos.

Put Them Out of Reach

One of the most effective ways to thwart thieves is to put the camera up where the bad guys cannot reach it. I like to hang the camera at least 10 feet off the ground and point it downward to monitor the area. Some people might be able to shinny 10 feet up into a tree to get the camera, but most won't. If a thief is actively looking for cameras to steal or a person is an opportunistic camera thief, neither of them are as likely to see a camera that's 10-12 feet off the ground as they are one at belt level to eye level.

There are several companies that make mounts for cameras that work in this way. The two I have used are the Covert Tree-60 and the Stic-N-Pic.

Here's how I go about it. I carry a climbing stick to the location I want to put the camera. Just one stick. I can strap the climbing stick to the tree, climb up it, and reach at least ten feet off the ground to mount my camera. When I am done, I just take the stick out with me. It's not a totally fool proof way to get the camera out of reach, but it works. Remember to carry the climbing stick with you when you check the cameras. This is one of the most effective ways to protect your cameras in theft-prone areas. Plus the photos you get are often unique and pretty cool with the downward angle.

Putting cameras up high comes with another advantage: deer do not seem to notice the flash at all. I have seen some deer become alarmed by a white flash at eye level, but I have never seen a case where a deer reacted in a negative way to a flash 10 feet up.

Lock Them Up

Most camera companies are now making lock boxes for their cameras. This was at first a response to the fact that bears like to chew on scouting cameras, but it works equally well to discourage the camera thief. These steel boxes can be bolted to a tree and then the camera is locked securely inside the box.

The disadvantages of this strategy include the extra weight of carrying the steel boxes with you and the extra tools needed to fasten it to the tree. But the disadvantages are far outweighed by the fact that it's really difficult for even the most determined opportunistic thief to steal your camera. And I have never seen anyone walking around the woods with a bolt cutter, although serious camera thieves might be dumb enough to risk that.

I have a separate backpack that I use which contains these boxes, lag bolts, padlocks and a cordless screwdriver with a socket. (Putting a screw in a tree on public land is not legal in some states; it is your responsibility to know the laws.)

I use the cordless screwdriver to fasten the box to the tree with lag screws, insert the camera, and then lock it up. It's really not that much extra work and makes it very difficult for any would-be

With a little extra effort, you can protect your cameras from thieves and get the photos you desire to help you learn more about the deer in the area. Each of these three methods has its time and place.

Hunting camera

Who says you can't be in two places at once? The right cellular camera system will let you keep tabs on your deer woods even when you're nowhere near.

Until we finally crack the code of Star Trek teleportation, we hunters will have to be content with plodding along between places at standard human speeds. Which is no big deal, normally...but it can be when you’re not in the deer woods but are desperate for information on what’s happening there. Then the need for TV’s 23rd century technology to become reality early in the 21st is a tad frustrating.

Ah, but what if we could be in two widely separated places at once? Or close enough to “at once” that a slight lag was no worry at all? That presumably would make a lot of things in life simpler. And yes, whitetail hunting and management would be among those things.

Well, thanks to the ongoing development of cellular scouting cameras, we now are close to bridging this gap. We can in effect be in the deer woods even when we aren’t.

We’ve had stand-alone scouting cameras for over two decades now, and they’re popular. But today’s growing interest in the use of cellular-enabled cameras has sprung from four realities: (1) It takes time and often a fair bit of fuel and effort to physically check any camera; (2) every time you visit a camera site, you risk spooking deer — thus offsetting some of the practical advantage offered by acquiring photos of them in the first place; (3) by the time a camera has physically been checked, even the most recent capture image is likely to be somewhat dated; and (4) if you have trespasser/thief issues, a cellular camera offers better odds of identifying the perpetrator. Add up these facts and it’s easy to see the advantage of being able to monitor a spot in real time, even when you’re not around.

The newest approach to doing so comes from the folks at Moultrie. Their app-based cellular camera system - Moultrie Mobile - allows for quick, easy, affordable and disturbance-free camera monitoring, as well as handy storage/retrieval of captured images.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been putting this system through its paces, and it’s performed as advertised. The unit I’ve been using is the XA7000i, which is built around a 20MP camera.

The camouflaged camera and its neutral-tone strap are really hard to see on most trees, which is great. Not only is the camera well hidden from human eyes, I’ve captured no images of deer looking at it during the day or at night. The invisible flash (80-foot range) thus seems to be undetectable by deer. All these attributes are key advantages, in my book.

Of course, stealth doesn’t much matter if the camera won’t reliably capture images. But this one has done so for me. Using the 7000i in a spot that has a fair bit of daytime and nighttime deer activity, I’ve found it captures clear images and lets you see them within only a few minutes of the event.

Easily controlled via a free app on a smartphone - and with extremely affordable service and storage plans - this system seems a solid option for anyone wanting to enter the cellular camera game without first getting an engineering degree. And that’s helpful. Hunting, management and/or security concerns have many folks wanting a better connection to the deer woods. If you find yourself in that situation, give the Moultrie Mobile XA7000i a look. It could open your eyes to more of what’s out there when you’re not — and let you know about it in close to real time.

How to take advantage of the mid-week lull

Most of my duck spots are public, just like most of my bowhunting spots are public. What this means is that a significant portion of my fall is spent on ground open to anyone. And because of that, I've gotten awful good at ferreting out the spots others won't work to get to, or simply don't know about.

Now, that comes with a caveat considering I live in the Twin Cities – there are just some areas where there aren't any secrets left. And if there are enough willing hunters around, a certain percentage of them will work just as hard – or harder – than you to get to the good hunting.

With the playing field leveled in such a way, it becomes a lot more difficult to work around the competition, but not all hope is lost. There are still some ways to hedge your bets while hunting ducks on common ground, but you'll need to plan ahead.

Wednesdays Are Best

The reality is that most of the hunters will be out on Saturday and Sunday. Hunting pressure for ducks – and pretty much all game – flows into full volume on the weekend and ebbs mid-week. What does this mean for you?

 

Well, you'd better go to your boss and your spouse with your cap in hand and eyes cast downward and plead your case for some time to yourself during the middle of the week. This will do a couple of things for you.

First and most obvious, you'll have fewer sky-blasters out in your spots. The fewer the hunters in your immediate area, the better your hunting will be. Now, there is an argument that more hunters out in general puts more birds in the air, and that is true in certain situations, but it doesn't mean they are going to fly over the public ground you're on. They will, more often than not, suss out as only pressured ducks can, the water where no one is hunting.

 

This effect, which brings to mind no-hunting refuges with rafts of greenheads flipping off distant hunters, can also push birds into places that can be hunted but just aren't being disturbed currently like public land in the middle of the week. This is the beauty of migrators, because they don't get to know the local hunting pressure the same way resident ducks do. The places these ducks settle are best hunted on a Wednesday or Thursday morning when those lulled-into-a-false-sense-of-security birds are yours for the taking if you can find a few free mornings while the rest of the working stiffs are suiting up and heading to their cubicles and job sites.

Operate Correctly

A few years ago, a buddy and I tucked into a wooded berm near some flooded backwaters hoping to catch the last of the wood ducks or a random greenhead passing overhead. We knew the best in our setup was to pass-shoot them as they cleared the treeline and most likely, spotted us. The hope was that it would be too late by the time they figured out their waterhole was being guarded by a couple of dudes holding 12 gauges and an eager black Lab.

We did manage a drake and a hen wood duck in the spot, and we also got to witness what not to do duck-wise. Two hunters had slipped into a pond 400 yards from our setup. Instead of tucking into the brush at the edge and trying to hide, they stood at the top of a hill and sent three shots apiece at any duck within a football field's distance of where they stood.

Even if you get out mid-week, you've still got to figure out the best way to hunt your spots on public. The ducks that cruise through the airspace overhead will undoubtedly be a bit cautious, because that's just how they operate. How you should operate is to figure out each spot and where you should be set up. Maybe you can build a sweet blind in the brush, or maybe you've just got to count on getting the jump on them when they finally clear the closest trees and give you those few precious seconds as they try to flare out of the way of your pattern.

Really Camo Up

This is a simple one, but so many of the duck hunters I run into on public land seem to take a half-hearted approach camo-wise. It's as if they either don't know what they are doing, or have given up most of their hope for a decent hunt long before they actually go. Honestly, there is probably a lot of both going on.

Either way, camo up. Use a facemask or face paint and make an attempt to keep hidden if at all possible. Don't give those common-ground ducks the extra advantage of a poorly-hidden or poorly covered hunter unless the spot just doesn't allow for much else. You're working hard to earn the birds in this situation, at least make them work somewhat hard to survive any encounter with you.

Conclusion

Public-land ducks can be tough, but there are plenty of ways to hedge your bets and ensure that you'll have better hunts than most of your competition. You might not limit out on greenheads every time you step out of the truck in the dark, but you'll have a good chance of having a better-than-average hunt and just might end up with some of the most satisfying ducks any hunter can take in any given year, and that's not nothing.

If you dig into the rules and regulations of your state, you’ll probably see no clear wording on the usage of cellular-enabled cameras. It’s a gray-area technology in most places right now but could be considered illegal if one of your cameras sent you a picture of a buck and you happened to shoot it a few hours later.

In-season usage in many states is up in the air, so be aware. As far as pre-season usage of cellular cameras, you’ve pretty much got the green light in most regions where whitetails reign supreme.

The question is - are they worth the money? Do they really provide an advantage over traditional cameras? The answer is a resounding - maybe.

Benefits of Cellular Cams

The obvious benefit to using a cellular-enabled camera is that once you’ve set it up, you can leave the woods alone. It allows you to sit back in the comfort of your home without wondering if your batteries are still juiced up, if someone has stolen it, or if it inexplicably went the way of the dodo - all while gathering intel in an undisturbed woods.

 

Throughout the summer you can gather info on the comings and goings of the local ungulates, and with most cameras, adjust your settings and check battery levels remotely. This means you’re aware and in control, without doing much more than messing with your smartphone.

It’s incredible, really. And this wave of cameras is crashing hard on the industry right now - to the point where pretty much every manufacturer is in the game. That tells you something about demand, which if you’ve ever used one, you probably understand.

These cameras are addictive, and it’s exciting to see new-image notifications showing up on your phone. I honestly believe that if any hunter wants to see his day-to-day productivity at work or home go right off of a cliff, cellular-enabled cameras are the way to do it. They are fun - no doubt about that.

 

Cons Of Cellular Cams

As mentioned above, the biggest downfall of these cameras might be their legality in your given area. If using one means you’re on the wrong side of the law, then it’s obviously no good.

But there is also the ethical conundrum associated with this level of technology. I can remember when they first hit the scene years ago, and a fellow from one of the camera companies told me how he used it during turkey season to check in on what fields had strutting birds in them.

If they hit the 9am lull, they’d go to where the cameras showed longbeards were at right then. He thought it was amazing, I felt differently.

And I still do. I’ve used celullar cameras for deer and bear on properties that were at least a couple hours from my house. My reasoning was that I couldn’t use real-time intel to try to gain an advantage because, at best, I’d be at least 24 hours behind the most current images if I decided to go hunting.

Eventually, they became something of a novelty for me. I put one or two out each summer and then pull them before the season or switch off the cellular function. I still really enjoy getting images from them during the summer and probably always will.

The Trail-Cam Trap Continues

Now that I’ve laid out my confusing personal strategy for using cellular trail cams, I’ll say this - if you do choose to use them during the season, they might only prove to be marginally more beneficial than non-cellular options.

This is because trail cameras are only a tool, and while it’s nice to know where a deer walked today when we weren’t there, that is far from a sure thing that a deer will walk there tomorrow when we are.

What’s worse is that we often use trail camera intel to not hunt, reasoning that if our cameras are not catching daylight images of bucks, it’s better to wait until they are. That’s dangerous ground. The reality with all trail cameras is they give you a little snapshot into one small place in the woods.

That, theoretically, might be the best place in the woods by your opinion, but even so, the deer simply might not be walking there. If you are off by 20 yards, your intel is bunk. When you’re getting real-time images of squirrels and nothing else, it’s very easy to believe you should wait until the hunting will be better, and trust me when I say this, that’s probably not the best decision.

All that means is that the deer aren’t doing what you expected in one tiny area, nothing else. So be aware that while they are extremely fun to use, cellular trail cameras probably won’t be the ticket to tagging Booners year in and year out, at least not any more than traditional trail cameras were for you.

Conclusion

They are fun, they are addictive, and in the right situations they probably do offer a clear advantage over traditional cams. Cellular cameras promise a lot to the whitetail hunter when used properly, but don’t expect them to be the shortest path from no taxidermy bills to taking out a personal loan for all of your new mounts. At the very least, they are a very enjoyable tool and that’s a good enough reason to deploy one while the bucks are in velvet and you’ve got some time before opening day kicks off.

The good news is that for most of us, the bow season is finally here or at least it's so close we can start checking the 10-day weather forecast and planning our sits. The bad news is that it's really easy to screw up during the first week of the season. This is partially due to being a little rusty from nine months of no hunting, and partially due to unchecked enthusiasm that it's finally here.

This brings to mind something I find myself preaching to my twin six-year old daughters that also applies to most of us during the first seven days of bow season - make better decisions. When they (my daughters, not bowhunters) throw a fit over something trivial, I tell them to make better decisions. When they throw haymakers at one-another over which cartoon to watch like absolute savages, I tell them to make better decisions.

When it comes to this article, I'm going to say it five times in different ways.

The Best Stand Trap

If you've done your pre-season work, you've got one stand that checks more boxes than any other one. There are probably multiple reasons for this, but the main one will be how it's set up, what trail camera images tell you about its location, and pure instinct that it is the spot of all spots. This is a good thing, until it isn't. Don't push it with this stand in unfavorable conditions. If it's as good of an ambush site as you believe, then let it happen when your chances are the best. Don't rush it until everything is as in your favor as it's going to get.

Set That Alarm

Nearly everyone says that you shouldn't hunt mornings in the early season, let-alone during the first week of the season. This, oftentimes, is a mistake. Hunting mornings during September takes extra work most of the time. You've got to scout out travel corridors that you can get to without spooking deer. Some hunting areas have several of these spots, other areas not so much. You won't ever know unless you do the scouting necessary to make a good decision on whether that's true for you. Last fall I killed two great bucks in September in the morning, one of which was nearly 150 inches – on public land. It's possible; you just have to do it right. Don't sleep in solely because other hunters say you have to.

Locked On The Edge

We all love a stand hung over a soybean field or maybe a one-acre patch of clover. There's nothing better than getting into an edge stand in the early-season and waiting for the deer to start showing up. Those spots can undoubtedly be great, but don't forget there are other options. Staging areas off of destination food sources, river crossings, and random travel routes can all play into an opening-week strategy. By all means, sit your field-edge stands, but don't forget there are plenty of other options out there.

 

Early Out, Late In

The tendency to believe that most of the deer movement will happen at first and last light during the early-season can be dangerous to your strategy. Sure, most of the deer will move then, but not all of them. Try to sit an hour longer than you would in the morning and get in at least an hour earlier than you think necessary in the evening. A few years ago, I watched a stud of a buck browse through just out of range in mid-September at 10:30 in the morning. By all accounts, he should have been snoozing away, but he was in some security cover and decided to grab brunch. That decision almost got him killed by yours truly.

Waning Focus & Boredom

The woods are thick, the leaves are still out, and it's easier for deer to move more quietly now than any other point in the season – at least until the snow flies. A buck can be on you before you know it, and that's bad news if you're checking Twitter or are just generally distracted by your smartphone. I don't know how many buck encounters go the deer's way because hunters aren't paying attention due to their phones, but the answer is more than zero. Don't let that happen to you. Pay attention to your surroundings, and you'll have less chance of having to try to reach for you bow 45 seconds too late.

My heart sank, as the young doe the triple-beamed monster was following tried cutting left, when I so desperately wanted her to cut right. Just that fast, it appeared the doe that was bringing Mr. Big into my life was about to tear him away, when all I needed was a few more steps in my direction.

Luckily, Mr. Big didn't seem to care much for what his estrus doe wanted. He was going to get a drink at the water hole my stand covered, and she was coming with him whether she wanted to or not. Hooking around her, he tined her rather forcefully in the side, redirecting her to the water hole. Moments later, I was shaking like a leaf, trying to compose myself, before daring to climb down and walk over to where an Easton my Mathews had sent through his boiler room had laid him to rest.

Without a doubt, studying the topo map the previous winter was what alerted me to the potential stand site. Located where the three tapering points met, it formed a busy intersection for bucks going from, to and between the higher ridges above. However, it was the early-April foot scouting trip that sealed the deal. With various-sized beds dotting the high grounds, and rubs and scrapes smattering about those tops, it was obvious that this was as busy an intersection as I first suspected. The scrape marking the intersection, approximately the size of the hood of a truck, only cemented in my mind that this was THE spot to be.

As technology increases, foot scouting is seemingly becoming a less and less important part of filling buck tags. Between up to date aerial photography, readily available topo maps and trail cams, we can study our grounds more thoroughly than ever before.

That said, foot scouting is still mission critical. Frankly, it is what I rely on to confirm or disprove the potential stand sites I find on photos and topos, as well as banking on it alerting me to key info one can not find on photos and topos. Here's what to look for when hitting the woods this spring.

Unraveling the Rut

Starting off with a bang, the biggest payoff spring scouting provides is the road map for the local bucks' rutting patterns. Make no mistake about it. For as much as we're told that you can't pattern rutting bucks, that's pure malarkey.

Rutting bucks have a pattern they loosely follow for finding estrus does every bit as much, if not more so, than a typical buck's feeding pattern can be ID'd in early or late season. After all, a deer's "patterns" are nothing more than unearthing one of more things they have the tendency of doing. By definition, tendencies mean that they won't always do it and there will be exceptions. A buck feeding somewhat regularly on a specific food source isn't any more of a pattern than a buck somewhat regularly checking the same doe bedding area for estrus does.

Before spring bloom occurs in earnest, most all of the previous year's most regularly used scrapes — the ones we really care about — and virtually every rub stands out like a sore thumb. No, bucks aren't rubbing and are very rarely pawing the dirt at scrapes in spring. However, before the new growth of grass and weeds swallow the scrapes or leaf out makes seeing last year's rubs harder, spring provides us the opportunity to study the cumulation of the previous rut's most serious rut sign postings, such as scrapes and rubs.

Being able to study the sum total of all rubbing and serious scraping at once, while not having to worry about out scouting efforts harming our hunting, is dang near invaluable. So much so that it is the foundation of my coming season's scrape hunting activities. It's impossible to tell how seriously a scrape will or won't be hit, when first opened. However, the bowled shaped appearance and/or size of the pawed earth beneath the licking branch of the previous fall's scrapes do wonders for alerting us to which scrapes were worked the hardest the previous year.

Keep in mind that the most heavily hit scrapes exist because that specific location is effective in advertising these scrapes to a large number of deer. So long as massive changes in overall deer patterns don't shift deer away from this location, it's a pretty darn safe bet that the scrape location will be prime again this coming fall. The most common deal breaker is when the lick branch for the scrape gets broken off or otherwise destroyed. Even that can be fixed by merely attaching a licking branch to the tree.

With the area's most seriously worked scrapes located, I merely zero in on the ones that are back in deer cover — where I believe Mr. Big would feel safe visiting during legal hours — that I can also get to, hunt and get out of undetected. I also pay particular attention to the serious scrapes surrounding doe bedding areas, as setting up on them can work great on through the peak breeding phase and even later, as mature bucks continue looking for any doe fawns that eventually achieve estrus. Those are the scrapes I will be hunting during the upcoming fall's peak scrape phase. I find most all of them the previous spring, as that time of year allows me to gauge their use or comparative lack thereof.

I'll be brutally honest with you all. I generally feel that rub lines get more exposure than they deserve. I can count on my fingers how many I've been able to put together over the years, and most of those were in big woods settings, where buck numbers are low and it's easier to feel confident that the same buck is tearing up those bugger trees, as mature buck numbers tend to be low.

That said, I have seen a couple obvious rub lines in farm country, as well as the larger handful in the big woods, and each has been well worth setting up on. In both cases, that rub line almost always marks the trail Mr. Big follows between bedding and feeding. As already alluded to, that's a lot easier to do if all the rubs from the previous fall are already made and leaf off allows one to see better.

What I do find more consistently are loose clusters of rubs. That's also important, as it is a strong indicator that a or multiple bucks spend a decent amount of time in this location. This explains the clusters of rubs one often finds along the edges of prime food sources. It simply tells us that bucks are feeding there.

Now look at that cluster of rubs and or scrapes found back in the woods a bit, say 50 or 100 yards off that food source, maybe around a small opening within the deer cover. That most often indicates that bucks stage in that location, before and/or after venturing into the food source. These are often the very best places to hunt bucks' feeding patterns, as we can often better slip in, hunt and slip out undetected, as opposed to setting right up on the food. Best yet, more legal light movement tends to occur in the staging areas than the food source provides, buying us those precious minutes of daylight movement that we so often need.

Putting It All Together

The other invaluable opportunity spring scouting provides is the best timing for tying everything together and seeing the big picture of how deer use and flow through our hunting grounds. Though mentioned a couple times already, I cannot overstress the importance of being able to study all of the previous year's rutting sign at once. Now add in buck beds, doe bedding, trails, pinch points, food sources and everything else we can learn spring scouting.

As you can see, up until spring green up is the best time there is for putting everything deer did the previous fall and early winter together. When we can understand what the deer have historically been doing on that ground we can use our most powerful weapon, our brain, to determine the odds of those behaviors being repeated and how best to setup on them.

Never underestimate our analytical powers and use that weapon to its fullest extent. However, the key to pulling that off most effectively is having thorough and accurate data to work from. Yes, the deer that left the sign found in spring may already be dead, but there was a reason Mr. Big chose that spot to bed, that spot to feed, that spot to stage and loosely followed the rutting patterns your spring scouting efforts unearthed. Because he was Mr. Big, he could do what he wanted, where he wanted to and when he wanted, within the confines of the deer world. You can rest assured, there was a solid reason for it. Even if he is dead, odds are very high that the next in line will assume his patterns, as he had claimed the best of the best for himself.

Conclusion

Spring scouting provides us an invaluable opportunity to see how most of the more important aspects of last season's deer patterns played out. With solid and thorough data to work with, we can then use our most powerful weapon to its fullest capabilities. We can use our brains to analyze and determine the best hunting strategies for the upcoming season.

The most prominent trail camera strategy in today’s deer-o-sphere is using them to confirm what a hunter already suspects about local whitetails. This is why so many of us mount cameras over standing soybean fields or the edges of food plots in July. We know bucks feed regularly in those spots, and we want to get pictures of them.

It’s pretty simple, really, but often not all that productive. If you’ve got a property locked up and know that no one will come in and mess with the summer patterns, then yes, you can plan a strategy around those images. But be honest, you were going to hunt those spots anyway, because they’re no-brainer locations for early-season bowhunting setups.

The problem with scouting that way is that it works with a good summer destination food source — but then, those patterns crumble just before or right after you get your first chance to slip in with a bow and try to intercept a target buck. This is where trail cameras can hurt us if we’re not careful.

It’s easy to hunt on memory, but a buck that has bailed on his summer food pattern isn’t likely to return to it in a way that will allow you to encounter him during shooting hours. This is especially true if you’re hunting pressured ground, whether public or private.

A better bet with scouting cameras is to use them to figure out what is going on in the places where you’re really not sure what the activity level is, or to sort out the routes target bucks are taking as they travel to/from food sources. Practically speaking, this is what scouting is all about, and it’s possible with the right camera strategy.

If you want to be consistently successful on western big game there are two ways to get there. The first is to buy your way in to opportunities. With a big enough bank account, all of your 400-inch bull elk dreams can come true. For those of us with more modest means, the answer comes from work. Old-fashioned, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other work.

This goes for elk, of course. But also applies equally to antelope, mule deer, western whitetails, and the limited-tag high-country dwellers that we might pursue once or twice in our entire lives. Getting to where they live, whatever they are, is the most important step in the process.

This might be aided by horses at some point, but eventually you'll have to slide from the saddle and shoulder the weight of your pack all on your own. For this to be as misery-free as possible, you'll need to consider a few things.

Outfit Yourself

Trekking poles are all of the rage in the mountain hunting world these days. They can turn you from an awkward bi-ped to a somewhat less awkward bionic four-legger. You'll want the right base layers and outer layers to keep you comfortable throughout an all-day hunt that could go from sedentary to full-on exertion and back several times.

Quality boots matter — a lot. Anyone who has hiked a few miles in poorly designed boots knows this all too well. Quite a few years ago I had a mule deer hunt go south in a hurry because the boots I was wearing wore holes into my heels. I had to cover open wounds with duct tape and carry on, but believe me when I say that it wasn't much fun.

Great boots for western hunting camera have to be designed to handle all types of terrain, which was the impetus behind the Alsea from Danner. These boots are designed with full-grain leather and a rugged, GORE-TEX®-lined upper to keep your feet dry and comfortable. They are 100-percent waterproof, yet breathable and are built to keep you upright no matter how rugged the conditions are in which you choose to traverse.

This is made possible through an outsole that is outfitted with large perimeter lugs, which essentially promote extra surface contact which translates directly to better traction in all environments. The eight-inch Alsea are offered in several versions, including non-insulated and insulated options. The non-insulated boots tip the scales at 51 ounces per pair, which means they are ideal for mountain hunts where every ounce matters.

Plan Your Routes & Don't Waste Calories

A newbie mistake in the big vistas of the west is to spot an animal or a tasty looking mountain basin and decide to go from point A to B. This works on the plains for antelope (sometimes), but is usually a fool's bet in the mountains. A savvy western hunter will find an animal or a likely looking draw, and then dissect the mountainside to pick a route that allows for a couple of things.

Head him off if at all possible, which might mean that your lazy day of crawling has now turned into the kind of endeavor where you need to dip behind the nearest ridge to jog your way a mile closer before slowing down.

In a different scenario, you might spot your antlered prize bedded down with no intention of going anywhere. He's secure in the topmost edge of a mountain basin watching the whole world below him. You'll want to make a move, obviously, but in this case you'll want to avoid getting in front of him. In fact, you'll want to get around and above, which means it's time to climb. High-country critters don't often face predators that approach from above, so that's where you need to be. This means that after three hours of glassing and sitting on your haunches, you'll suddenly have to go into full-on rock climber mode.

With either scenario, and countless more, you have to be prepared to go up, down, fast or slow as the situation dictates.

If you're planning to cover some serious ground in search of western hunting adventure, go at it the right away. Plan to work hard, hunt smart, and outfit yourself with the gear that will get you there comfortably.