Five Secrets to Hunting Whitetail In the Fog

Posted on October 17, 2013 by HavalonKnives

By Bernie Barringer

Heavy fog? No problem!
Here’s how to use foggy conditions to your advantage. 

Early one foggy November morning, my buddy Jerry Reynolds was driving to work at his fertilizer plant. His headlights pierced the thick fog despite the fact that it had been daylight for half an hour. He was cruising down a gravel road when, much to his shock, he looked out his window and saw two large bucks bedded in the road ditch only a few feet away. His first instinct was to slam on the brakes, but he held off until he topped a small rise 200 yards away. Grabbing his bow, he trotted down the opposite ditch until he was across the road from where he had seen the bucks.

He was only 15 yards from two big bucks with a road in between. As his heart pounded he thought, Could this really be happening? He simply stepped up onto the gravel and drew his bow. The larger of the two quickly bolted into the fog when it saw him, but the other stood up, pausing just long enough for Jerry’s arrow to slice through both lungs.

 

Deer Hunting in the Fog

Many hunters do not like fog because it severely limits their visibility. But savvy hunters who know how to use the fog to their advantage can up their odds of bagging a mature buck.

1.  Rutting bucks might not know their territory

Whitetails rely heavily on their eyesight and memory of an area to orient themselves night or day. Most of the year, bucks are intimately familiar with the surroundings they live in. They know every nook and cranny of their home areas. But during the rut, they range widely, and spend large amounts of time in areas where they have minimal knowledge of their surroundings.

When fog rolls in, they often have no idea where they are, and they commonly bed down in remarkably vulnerable areas. Daylight comes, exposing them to significant risks, and if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you can capitalize, as Jerry did.

Bucks love to isolate does when they are in heat, and often push them out into open areas where they can keep them in sight. Additionally, the does they keep in the open are easier to defend from other bucks.

 

2.  Big bucks, unusual places

Some mornings, when the fog lifts, you will see big bucks in the most unusual places. Places you would never find them otherwise. The wind might be perfect for a stalk for an hour or two until the buck can’t stand it any longer and he will move to a more secure location, typically one where he can see downwind while having the wind at his back so his nose can protect him from danger he cannot see.

You just take advantage of these short windows of opportunity. If the buck is in a vulnerable spot, get out there and make it happen quickly.

 

Using Optics in the Fog

Immediately as the fog lifts you have a window of opportunity to glass known rutting areas and find bucks in vulnerable positions. When you find one put a stalk on him as quickly as you can, before he get ups and moves to a more secure location.

3.  Time to break out the optics

During the rut I will usually head for a treestand, but if I walk out in the morning and find dense fog, I will almost always change plans and go to spotting. I probably look real silly to people who don’t know what I am up to, but as the fog starts to lift, I drive down the roads checking known rutting areas, looking for deer in the fields. When fog is thick, don’t drive down the road at 55 mph – you won’t see deer unless you go slow, stop at key spots, and glass.

I use binoculars to cover the likely spots such as patches of brush around rock piles, grassy terraces, woolly fence rows, and other terrain structures. If I see something intriguing, I have a window mount on my spotting scope and I quickly put it up for a close inspection.

When I see a buck in a stalkable spot, I quickly take note the details of where the buck is located. I count fence posts and note the position of weeds or any other landmark I can use to pinpoint the buck. Then I grab my bow and head out using the wind and the terrain to close in for a shot. The key is to move as fast as the stalking conditions allow, because once the fog lifts a mature buck won’t dilly-dally in a spot for long if he senses that his defenses are weak.

 

4.  Bedding area benefits

Deer hunting in the fog

A foggy morning is a great time to rattle because the deer have to come over to the sound to see what is causing it. They can’t see the area from a distance.

Fog offers advantages to the treestand hunter as well. Normally deer filter from feeding to bedding areas during the early morning hours, sometimes before daylight, especially if they are edgy due to hunting pressure. But when fog is dense they often stay put well into the morning.

This offers a real benefit to the hunter who has a stand between the feeding and bedding area. As the morning wears on and the fog slowly lifts, the deer movement keeps getting better rather than diminishing as it usually would. I have found that deer do not spook easily when confronted by thick fog. My gut tells me that they tend to hold tight in the fog because they aren’t willing to run off when they can’t see well and may actually run into even more danger. In short, they are simply reluctant to move, much less run, when the fog is thick.

 

5.  Heavy fog means little wind

You may have a stand near a bedding area but you find that it’s almost impossible to get in and out without being detected. A foggy morning is the time to hunt that stand. Look at it this way – bucks like to cruise the known bedding areas from 30-50 yards downwind, scent checking for hot does. Days with thick fog have virtually no wind. The bucks must actually enter the bedding areas to check them. Be waiting there when they arrive.

 

Lots of hunters roll over and go back to sleep on foggy morning, mistakenly thinking it’s a bad time to be in the woods. But when I get up before daylight and see the yard light shrouded in a thick veil of water vapor, my heart beats a little faster because I know my odds of killing a nice buck just went up.

***

Read more expert advice from Bernie Barringer here.

 

About Bernie Barringer…

Bernie Baringer

Bernie Barringer hunts a variety of species in several states and Canadian provinces. He has published more than 400 articles in two dozen outdoor magazines and authored ten books on hunting, fishing and trapping. The latest is Bear Baiter’s Manual. He is the managing editor of Bear Hunting Magazine, and blogs his hunts on his website www.bowhuntingroad.com.

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Hot Topic – CWD, Seven Things Hunters Need to Know, Part 2

Posted on October 7, 2013 by HavalonKnives

By Steve Sorensen

Here’s the Lowdown on Deer Diseases

cervids are susceptile to CWD 448x336

Cervids are susceptible to CWD, and include all ruminants that have antlers. Ruminants are animals that chew their cud, and include elk, moose, and all kinds of deer.
(Photo by Steve Sorensen)

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is much different from EHD. CWD can be much more devastating and when it hits, its effects can last much, much longer. Those two statements rest on the fact that the prion that causes the disease lasts almost indefinitely.

CWD belongs to a class of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE). In that family of diseases is mad cow disease (big news among cattle herds in England a few years ago), and scrapie in sheep. Like mad cow and scrapie, CWD is a disease of the nervous system, and is caused by something you may not have heard of – prions.

  1. Steps to protect agains CWD text boxWhat’s a prion? The word “prion” is a combination of the words “protein” and “infection.” In laymen’s terms a prion is an infectious, mutated protein. The problem is that a prion can’t be killed. That’s because it’s not alive. It’s simply a protein, and when it infects an animal the animal develops sponge-like holes in its nerve tissue.
  2. How are prions transmitted? Current data suggests that CWD may be communicable both directly through animal to animal contact (for example, through saliva while deer are grooming one another) and indirectly from an environment contaminated with the CWD prion (for example, through feces and urine of infected deer). It’s unaffected by cold weather, and deer can’t be stopped from doing the things that transmit the disease.
  3. What animals get CWD? CWD affects cervids (antlered animals that chew their cud), which includes whitetails, mule deer, elk and moose, by creating a network of lesions in neural tissue (brain, spinal column, etc.) Ultimately the brain develops holes and acquires a sponge-like texture. It may take months or years for CWD to develop, and it can’t be diagnosed in a living animal. CWD is untreatable and universally fatal.
  4. How long has CWD been around? Way back in 1967, CWD was first identified in captive mule deer in Fort Collins, Colorado at the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Foothills Wildlife Research Facility. It wasn’t until 1981 that CWD was found in a wild animal, an elk also in Colorado, marking the first documented case of CWD in a wild cervid. The first documented case in whitetails occurred in 2001 when South Dakota discovered CWD in wild whitetail deer. Since then it has spread to other states and Canadian provinces.
  5. Steps to protect agains CWD text box 2Will CWD reach epidemic proportions? No one knows, but since biologists first learned about it in 1967, every state with deer, elk or moose has taken every step possible to address it. And it’s serious enough that every hunter should know how to deal with it, and every hunter should seek information about how the state or province he’s hunting in is trying to keep it from spreading.
  6. Do hunters need to worry about CWD in the deer or elk they kill? Although humans have their own form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, biologists have found no evidence that CWD is transmissible to humans. That’s the good news. But deer hunters may have to deal with it in the animals they harvest.
  7. Where can a hunter get reliable information? Fortunately, we live in a day when information is readily available through the Internet, and most hunters can easily research the rules for the areas they hunt. Virtually every state’s game agency has everything you need to know on its website. Two other websites with up-to-date information are www.knowcwd.com, and www.cwd-info.org.

If you haven’t read part 1 of Steve’s article, click here.

***

About Steve Sorensen

steve-sorensen-head-shotOutdoor writer and speaker Steve Sorensen writes an award-winning newspaper column called The Everyday Hunter®, and he has something to do with most of the content on the Havalon Sportsman’s Post. He has also published articles in Deer & Deer Hunting, Outdoor Life, and many other top magazines across the USA. Invite Steve to speak at your next sportsman’s event, and follow him at www.EverydayHunter.com.[hs_action id=”7771″]

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Hot Topic – EHD, Six Things Hunters Need to Know, Part 1

Posted on October 4, 2013 by HavalonKnives

By Steve Sorensen

Here’s the Lowdown on Deer Diseases

HIV. COPD. EHD. CWD. Every day we’re bombarded by a blizzard of acronyms. We use many of them for medical terms and government agencies. We can’t possibly remember them all, so we assign them an alphabet soup of letters. Acronyms don’t help – the letters just make them scary. (Take the letters IRS, for example.)

standing water a nursery for insects 448x336

Standing water is a nursery for insects. The margins where water is especially murky and stale are prime incubation areas for the larvae that carry EHD. Any swamp where the water level seldom changes, such as this one, has virtually unlimited edges where water stagnates. (Photo by Steve Sorensen)

Of the four that are listed, the first two kill people. The last two kill deer – and hunters should know something about them.

What is EHD?
EHD is an acronym that stands for the tongue-twister Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease. Some people call it Blue Tongue Virus, though that’s a similar but slightly different affliction. Both are caused by flying insects that bite – gnats, midges, or no-see-ums. Once bitten, a deer develops symptoms in only a week, which include internal hemorrhage, weakness, high fever, bruising, and shortness of breath. Within 8 to 36 hours of showing symptoms, the animal dies. EHD affects ruminants (animals that chew their cud) – mainly sheep, cattle, goats, buffalo, deer, and antelope.

fresh water not likely to produce EDH 232x448

Areas like this are not likely to produce EDH. As evidenced from the debris at the top of the photo, this area is subject to flooding, and fresh water regularly replaces the standing water.
(Photo by Steve Sorensen)

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is also a deer disease, but we’ll save that one for next time. In some respects, EHD is the less serious of the two. For today, here’s what you need to know about EHD.

  1. What is EHD? EHD (and its cousin, BTV) are caused by viruses, and where they have occurred they have killed many deer. In fact, in a localized area it can devastate a deer population.
  2. How serious is EHD? The good news is that a deer herd always rebounds from EHD. Brian Eyeler, Deer Project Leader of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, says, “We have had EHD in Maryland for many years. This past year was a heavier outbreak than normal, but nothing that would cause us serious alarm.”
  3. How does EHD get spread? EHD isn’t spread from one deer to another. It’s transmitted by biting insects, so you’ll find it around standing water that provides a nursery for the insect larvae. But the culprit isn’t lots of water – it’s the murky, warm, low-quality water found along the edges of ponds, swamps, and other standing water. The insects infected with the virus lay their eggs there, where the larvae gets nutrients from the low quality water.
  4. If insects cause EHD, does wet weather make it worse? Ironically, EHD is less prevalent when summers are wetter than normal. That’s because more rainfall refreshes stagnant water, keeping the water quality higher and less hospitable to larvae. It’s during droughts that the disease gets a boost because ponds and swamps have marginal edges where shallow waters stagnate until rains replenish them.

    sorensen with healthy green county doe 336x448

    A few years ago a buddy and I went to Greene County, PA where excess antlerless tags were available. A few years earlier the area had been hit hard by EHD, but the herd rebounded and I brought home this healthy doe. (Photo by Steve Sorensen)

  5. When are deer most at risk? When the larvae become winged adults, the females seek meals of blood. They’re especially attracted to deer because like deer, they’re crepuscular – that means the deer and the insects are most active during dawn and dusk. The insects need blood protein for egg production, and when they feed they inject the deer with the virus that causes EHD.  Then they fly off to lay eggs and begin the cycle again.
  6. Can EHD wipe out the deer? This life cycle of the flying, biting insects holds the key to the reason why EHD is a localized disease, why it’s less of a problem at higher elevations, and why it’s less persistent in cold climates. It usually breaks out late in summer, individual deer die, a cold snap kills the insects, and deer populations recover.

Next time we’ll take a look at Chronic Wasting Disease, where it came from, how it’s transmitted, and why it’s a threat.

Click here to read more great articles on deer hunting, by Havalon’s pros.

***

About Steve Sorensen

steve-sorensen-head-shotOutdoor writer and speaker Steve Sorensen writes an award-winning newspaper column called The Everyday Hunter®, and he has something to do with most of the content on the Havalon Sportsman’s Post. He has also published articles in Deer & Deer Hunting, Outdoor Life, and many other top magazines across the USA. Invite Steve to speak at your next sportsman’s event, and follow him at www.EverydayHunter.com.[hs_action id=”7771″]

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Carp Fishing How-To’s

Posted on September 25, 2013 by HavalonKnives

By Darl Black

The Sweet Success of Carp Fishing –
All you need to know to have a blast fishing for carp!

late summer carp fishing 448x299

What are you going to do during the Dog Days of late summer?
Go carp fishing!

Given the widespread distribution of carp across the United States, you may be surprised to learn that carp are not native but were purposely introduced in the mid-1800s – believe it or not – as a food fish. They found North American waters to their liking, and spread rapidly to lakes and rivers throughout the States.

Carp Are Not
What You Think
While many US fishermen will tell you carp are an unworthy trash fish, don’t believe them. And you may not be impressed by the fact that in Europe, carp rank third among all sport fishes – surpassed only by Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout. However, regardless which side of the Atlantic carp are found, these muscular heavyweights are exceptional fighters when hooked, making powerful long runs. And, you can eat ’em!

carp feed by vacuuming along bottom of river or lake 448x299

Carp feed by vacuuming suspected food items from the lake or river bottom, and then rejecting what does not taste good to them.

How Carp Feed
Adult carp are omnivorous, consuming varying amounts of plant roots, algae, crustaceans and insect life. They generally feed on the bottom by sucking up quantities of silt, then spitting it back out after selecting the food items. Studies have shown carp can discriminate between salty, bitter and sweet substances. In-the-know anglers fool their quarry by creating bait concoctions that focus on carp’s well-developed senses of smell and taste. As carp approach a possible meal, their highly developed taste buds in the skin of the snout, mouth, lips and throat make the call whether to inhale the bait or refuse it.

Three Ways to Use Carp Bait
Since mature carp are extremely wary, anglers create innovative bait presentations to capture the largest specimens among the population. Rigs and baits employed by serious European carp anglers who target big fish in small lakes are complex – more sophisticated than the simple baits generally needed by American anglers where angling pressure on carp is considerably less.

1. Consider the bait concoction of Jeremy Fardoe, a transplanted Brit I met on a lake near my home a couple summers ago. “Garlic and kippers with a touch of honey,” Fardoe told me after landing his second big carp of the morning. “Carp are real gourmets. You’ve got to be creative, catering to their sense of smell and taste in order to catch the big ones. I am constantly tweaking my boilie recipes to entice carp.”

2. On the other hand all-American angler Dale Black, a 10-year veteran of carp fishing, has a slightly different opinion. “There are few fishing venues in the United States where carp are as heavily pressured by anglers as they have been in Europe for all these years. Sure, complex bait concoctions will catch American carp, but you really don’t need to go that route unless you are fishing in a competition and need that special edge.

“Like many Americans citizens, carp prefer sweet things,” says Black. “Dough baits made with vanilla or fruit flavors – especially strawberry – are still extremely effective. All the ingredients you need for making dough bait can be obtained at your local grocery store. Carp also love sweet corn. I use canned corn 80% of the time because it is convenient, inexpensive and available at any grocery store. I also use canned corn to chum the area I plan to fish.”

3. Chumming is a critical aspect of successful carp fishing, helping to draw numbers of carp to the location of your hook bait. Anglers often pre-bait the site they plan to fish at least 24 hours ahead of time using boiled fermented field corn mixed with fruit flavors. Or on the day you fish, you can lay down a small chum field with a spod, a device attached to the line to dump groundbait at the exact location of your hook bait. (Groundbait is the European term for chum.)

jerry fardoe with 18 pound carp 363x336

Jerry Fardoe with respectable 18-pound carp; however carp in excess of 40 pounds are swimming in many U.S. waters.

Tackle for Carp
Hardcore American carpers are quick to point out particular European tackle innovations which have had a very positive impact on the North American scene. These include specially designed 10- to 12-foot rods with power for long distance casting of heavy sinkers; rod pods which support multiple rods in the fishing position on any bank surface from mud to asphalt; electronic bite indicators which alert the angler to the slightest line movement; and of course the hair rig.

A hair is a small loop of braided line wrapped to the shank of a #6 or #4 x-strong carp hook.  Instead of impaling the bait (especially semi-hard boilies) on the hook, the bait is attached to the hair by means of a baiting needle; the hook remains completely exposed. Since carp vacuum the bottom when feeding, the bait on the hair and the hook are sucked up together.  As the carp’s movement triggers the bite alarm, the ‘clean hook’ increases the likelihood of achieving a positive hook-up.

Now just kick back and wait for a bite.

To see great ways to rig your carp bait, click here.

And click here for the best carp bait recipes.

***

Darl Black iconAbout Darl Black

A lifelong freshwater angler and veteran writer and photographer, Darl tackles a wide variety of fishing related stories for print publications and websites. Of all fishing, angling for smallmouth bass is his favorite pastime. He may be reached for assignment at darlblack@windstream.net.[hs_action id=”7720″]

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Taxidermy 101: Skull Cleaning with Dermestid Beetles

Posted on September 19, 2013 by HavalonKnives

by Bob Robb

A less Expensive, Alternative Taxidermy Method

grizzly skulls cleaned by dermested beetles 448x299

The author had these grizzly skulls cleaned up by dermested beetles more than a decade ago, and they remain white and pristine to this day.

For many “newbies” to the world of hunting large predators, the idea of a trophy at the end of a successful hunt for bear, coyote, wolf, cougar or bobcat is either a mounted head, a full-body mount. or a beautiful tanned pelt to hang on the wall. But that’s only half the fun, and it’s far less expensive than the mount!

What About the Skull?
A properly-prepared skull makes an impressive addition to any trophy room. The question is, how do you turn a raw skull into a beautiful trophy? There are several options. You could boil, soak, bury or scrape it, or even, in desperation, put it on an ant hill and wait patiently for weeks. Or, you could send the skull to a “beetle man” who uses dermestid beetles.

These voracious little cleaning machines will consume all organic material, including the hair and hide of animals, leaving only bone. In truth, this is the preferred method museums and universities use to prepare skulls and bones for display. When the beetles are finished, even the delicate ear bones and nasal cartilage remain intact. They will not damage bone material, and the skull will not expand or shrink as happens with other cleaning methods like boiling, nor will there be any mess or nasty odor. And talk about fast – most predator skulls are picked clean within a few days.

Check With Your Taxidermist
The best way to get beetles to do all this work for you is through your taxidermist. If he doesn’t have his own beetle colony, he should have contacts with “beetle men.” You can request a taxidermist send your skulls to a beetle man, something I wholeheartedly recommend.

toby shaw with black bear trophy in michigan 448x336

Toby Shaw arrowed this dandy black bear in Michigan. He had the bear done into a life-size mount, but the skull was done by dermested beetles.

You can also find folks who routinely use beetles for cleaning through various online forums like www.taxidermy.net or www.thenpha.com. These websites and others can show you taxidermists who have experience with beetle cleaning, but may be outside your local area. You can ship you skull to them for processing.

Do the Prep Work
To prep a skull for beetle cleaning, you first need to remove the hide, hair, tongue and eyes, and most taxidermists will ask you to remove any large pieces of muscle tissue and the brain. Beetles will eat all of that, but removing it speeds up the process and makes shipping easier. You may be able to do most of this while still in the field. If you do not do this the taxidermist will do it for you, and probably charge you for it.

Your Own Beetle Colony
Some hunters maintain their own beetle colonies. If you’re a do-it-yourself guy, check out www.dermestidbeetlecolonies.com. Keep in mind – this is something you need to think about before jumping in. Beetles need lots of attention, and you never want them to get out.

bob robb with cape buffalo trophy 448x299

Anything with horns or antlers and has a handsome skull, once cleaned will be impressive – especially something as impressive as this cape buffalo. Horns and antlers make a beautiful contrast to the white skull.

I have had a ton of bear skulls done over the years, plus a few from cats and canines, in every way imaginable. I’ve boiled and bleached them, set them on an ant hill, and even lowered them in shrimp and crab pots in the cold ocean waters off Alaska. Take it from me – nothing works as well as using beetles. The result is a skull that will last for generations and not end up brittle or chalky, as it often the result when boiling or bleaching.

And if your friends think the skull you’re displaying is somehow weird – tell them it’s an expensive museum piece. You’re just one of many people who collect museum artifacts.

To read another great article on taxidermy, click here.

And click here for more articles by Bob Robb.

***

About Bob Robb

bob-robb-head-shotFor over two decades, Bob’s articles and photographs have appeared in most major outdoor magazines. Currently he is editor of Whitetail Journal and Predator Xtreme magazines. Bob was founding editor of Petersen’s Bowhunting magazines, and the author of many books, including The Field & Stream Bowhunting Handbook, and The Ultimate Guide to Elk Hunting.  Bob sees the value of super-sharp, lightweight Havalon knives.[hs_action id=”7523″]

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