How to Hunt for Deer Antlers

Posted on March 8, 2013 by HavalonKnives

Part 2: Where to find antlers
and why look for them?

by Steve Sorensen

Tips for Finding Shed Antlers.   

Ask any deer hunter, “Are antlers fascinating?” On second thought, don’t ask. You don’t need to. It’s a given. Show me an antler and I’m likely to think it’s the most fascinating antler I’ve ever seen. There’s just something about them – and each one is unique.

Where to Look for Them Bones

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When antler hunting, be on the lookout for the distinctive curve of an antler. (Steve Sorensen photo)

If you are to find them before another hunter or some four-legged critter does, a few suggestions are in order. It pays to know that deer do certain things that make dropping their bones more likely at certain times and places.

In searching for sheds, consider bedding areas and other areas where deer congregate. While the deer is at rest, the antler is less likely to shed. But when the deer lurches forward to get his feet under him, he’ll move his head suddenly, possibly causing the weight of the antler to reach its tipping point. Also, any time a deer makes a quick jump, such as when climbing a bank or vaulting a fence, he may lose an antler that is ready to fall. Give those kinds of places an extra look.

Scour feeding areas, bedding areas, and the trails between. If a buck worms his way between the strands of a wire fence or ducks under low-hanging limbs, he may bump his antlers. When a deer is in a feeding posture, his antlers are precariously tipped forward. If antlers are ready to drop, the jerking movements made while feeding – scissoring off and pulling grasses and browse – can cause them to fall.  And interactions with other deer — playing, sparring, and maintaining social courtesy spacing between animals – can provoke sudden movements that prompt antler dropping.

Why Look for Antlers?

Some hunters simply love them for their uniqueness, and they want to display them. Other hunters use them for handles on deer drags, or for knife handles. Some hunters cut them an inch above the burr and use them for drawer pulls. I’ve seen them cut cross-sectioned, polished up, and used for buttons.  Antlers are always interesting. I use the ones I collect to decorate my office – I hang them around the perimeter of the room.

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Check out anything you see that is white. I noticed this skull from a 10-point buck from about 40 yards away, and almost decided not to check it out. I saw just the tip of the nose sticking up behind a log. The antlers were buried in the leaves.
(Steve Sorensen photo)

Another reason to look for antlers is that winter has cooped you up inside for long enough. As soon as the snow has melted, it’s time to get out and explore. Hunting for shed antlers is good exercise.

Some hunters use a pair of shed antlers to create mock fights while hunting. Clashing antlers together and rattling them is a great way to call deer under the right conditions.

The biggest reason to look for antlers is that they will tip you off about bucks that made it through hunting season and escaped the ravages of winter. The place where you find an antler isn’t necessarily where he’ll be, come hunting season, but it might give you an idea where to start your trail camera work in the summer.

Give antler hunting a try – it doesn’t cost anything, and it just might put you on your next big buck. But be patient – you probably won’t find one on every outing, but when you find one you have a real trophy. The buck that grew it is still out there, alive – and he might cross your path come hunting season.

Missed part 1? Click here to read:
What are Antlers and When Do You Look for Them?

***

About Steve Sorensen

steve-sorensen-head-shotOutdoor writer and speaker Steve Sorensen writes an award-winning newspaper column called “The Everyday Hunter®,” and he is the editor of the Havalon Sportsman’s Post. He has also published articles in Deer & Deer Hunting, North American Whitetail, 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.

For more articles by Steve Sorensen, click here.

Click here for the best deer skinning knife – and read what other hunters are saying about their Havalon Knives….

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How to Hunt for Deer Antlers

Posted on March 7, 2013 by HavalonKnives

Part 1: What are Antlers and
When Do You Look for Them?

by Steve Sorensen

Will shed antlers lead you to your next buck?
They might – here’s the what, when, where, and why of finding shed antlers!   

Bones. That’s all that antlers are. A buck proudly wears those ornaments on his head. He fights with them, and (if he avoids hunters, cars and coyotes) sheds them annually so that he can grow a larger, finer pair of bones. But they’re not just bones. They’re special.

What Are Antlers?

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This is a Sitka Blacktail skull found in Alaska. Notice the thin dark line between the antler and the skull – a layer of bone cells is deteriorating there, which causes the antler to separate from the bony protrusion called the pedicel (pronounced ped’-ē-kul). This buck died a day or two before shedding his antlers. (Steve Sorensen photo)

They are the only bones worn on the outside of an animal’s body, and the only bones that regenerate each year. Their function is unlike that of all other bones. They’re not part of the deer’s skeletal system, so they don’t provide structural support for the body’s organs and systems. These bones are weapons, status symbols, and they play a role in regulating the social order. It’s no wonder antlers are fascinating, and it’s no wonder hunters have an enigmatic attraction to them.

Many non-hunters don’t realize that deer antlers are deciduous. Like leaves on an oak tree, they are a buck’s annual project that ends up on the forest floor. Oaks lose their leaves in the fall, and deer lose their antlers in the winter or early spring. Whitetails, mule deer, caribou, elk and moose all go through that annual cycle of growing, hardening and shedding antlers. By contrast, the headgear on goats, sheep, and antelope are horns – permanent, continuous growths they add to every year. Horns not bone. They’re keratin, the same substance in your hair and fingernails.

When to Find Shed Antlers?

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Shed antler hunters may not be interested in this world record, but this might be the smallest shed antler ever found. It was found lying on an anthill in Warren County, Pennsylvania, by Wildlife Conservation Officer David Titus prior to his retirement
in 1972. (Steve Sorensen photo)

As testosterone levels in the buck’s body diminish, the bond between antler and pedicel (the bony knobs on the skull from which antlers grow) decays until the bond is unable to support the weight of the antler, and it falls off. Some hunters are so charmed by antlers that they spend hour after hour looking for the antlers bucks have shed.

For antler addicts, early spring is the time to find dropped antlers, but they’re not always easy to find. The shed antler is competing with other shed hunters, but more than that – he’s competing with four-legged critters because porcupines and other rodents eat them, gnawing them until there is virtually nothing left. They consume them for the calcium and minerals locked up in them. Coyotes and foxes have been known to take them back to den sites for their young to use as playtoys.

Another reason they’re hard to find is that the prime time for finding them is the small window of opportunity between snow-melt and green-up. Antlers get much harder to find after underbrush has sprouted leaves. By early May, the explosion of forest foliage hides antlers from human eyes while nature quietly recycles them. Nothing in nature goes to waste.

Across most of the whitetails range, March is the time to start antler hunting.

Next time I’ll talk about the where and the why.

***

About Steve Sorensen

steve-sorensen-head-shotOutdoor writer and speaker Steve Sorensen writes an award-winning newspaper column called “The Everyday Hunter®,” and he is the editor of the Havalon Sportsman’s Post. He has also published articles in Deer & Deer Hunting, North American Whitetail, 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.

For more articles by Steve Sorensen, click here.

Click here for the best deer skinning knife – and read what other hunters are saying about their Havalon Knives….

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Life at Table Mountain: An Interview with Angie Denny

Posted on February 28, 2013 by HavalonKnives

By Tracy Breen

We film our customers and tell the story of their hunt….
In some cases, the hunt ends up on TV.

Would being an outfitter be a great job? Most hunters and outdoorsmen think so. Add a TV Show, and many believe they would be living in a dream world. Yes, making a living in the outdoor industry has its perks, but it is a lot of work. Ask Angie Denny, the better half of Scott Denny and co-host of The Life at Table Mountain on the Sportsman Channel.

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Scott Denny helped this young hunter to a great mountain lion.

The Life at Table Mountain is sponsored by Havalon Knives, Mathews Archery and several other well-known companies. “We are full-time outfitters in our home state of Wyoming. We also guide in Idaho, North Dakota and Nebraska. It’s safe to say that between outfitting and doing the TV show, we are super busy. It’s a fun job, but it is tons of work.”

Most hunting TV shows focus on the host of the show. As a result, many TV show hosts have become superstars in the outdoor industry. For the Denny family, the show isn’t about them and what great hunters they are; it’s about the outfitting business and the clients they serve. “For the most part, we film our customers and tell the story of their hunt which is neat. When someone books a hunt with us, they get to have a great hunt. In some cases, the hunt ends up on TV which is an added bonus for the customer,” Denny said.

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Scott and Angie with another happy client.

Table Mountain Outfitters is a family run business, so this husband and wife team treats its clients like family. As a result, many of their clients return year after year to chase big game. “We are a family friendly operation. As a result, we get many return customers. We have husbands and wives who hunt together with us. We try to create a family environment where everyone feels welcome,” Angie explained.

Table Mountain has many return clients because they hunt a wide variety of species. “We offer deer hunts, elk hunts, bear hunts, buffalo hunts and antelope hunts. People can come and hunt with us several years in a row and hunt different species each time. That’s unique,” she noted. “Sixty percent (or more) of our customers return to Table Mountain.”

If you’re interested in a guided hunt, choosing the right outfitter for the species you want to chase can be a daunting task, but the Dennys have a suggestion. “Regardless of what species someone wants to go after, they should find out if the outfitter they are considering hunting with specializes in the species they want to hunt. It may seem like a silly question, but many outfitters don’t guide in an area that offers great elk hunting or bear hunting but they offer the hunts because there are some of those species in the area. People should do plenty of research on the outfitter they are looking to book a hunt with and make sure they offer quality hunts.”

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Hunting is a family affair at Table Mountain. The entire family participates, and turkey hunting is always a blast.

She also advises hunters to be in shape and be prepared to do physical things they don’t normally do. “We hunt in the mountains, which is physically demanding. Many hunters aren’t physically prepared to hunt in the mountains day after day. The better shape a person is in, the better chance they have of being successful. Hunters also need to be mentally tough. When things don’t go according to plan, many hunters give up. If a person thinks they can get something done and keep a positive attitude, they will often be successful,” Denny said.

Outfitters and guides are very particular about the gear they use when hunting. Outfitters need top notch gear that can get the job done. Inferior gear can turn a ten-minute job into an hour-long job. In some cases, using cheap equipment can be dangerous to the outfitter or his clients. When it comes to skinning out someone’s trophy, the Table Mountain crew depends on Havalon knives. “We love Havalon knives. Changing out the blades is easy so we don’t have to stop and sharpen knives all the time. They are lightweight, razor-sharp, and easy to pack. The Havalon knife is everything we need in a knife,” Denny noted.

Scott and Angie Denny may live an adventuresome life, but to be an outfitter, you must be a workaholic. “Our season starts on August 15 and ends on June 30 the following year,” Denny said, laughing. Obviously, the outfitting and TV business isn’t for the weak or lazy. As the saying goes, when you love what you’re doing for a living, you never work a day in your life. That is definitely the case with the Denny family!

***

tracy-breen-outdoor-writerAbout Tracy Breen

Tracy is a full-time outdoor writer and consultant in the outdoor industry. He works with a variety of outdoor brands and television shows including Havalon Knives and the MeatEater. Learn more at www.tracybreen.com.

S&A3_edited 158x201About Table Mountain Outfitters

Scott and Angie Denny of Table Mountain Outfitters offer some of the finest big game hunting in the world, specializing in fully guided hunts for trophy antelope, black bear, buffalo, elk, cougar, mule deer, whitetails, and turkey. Watch them on the Sportsman Channel, Thursday at 7 PM Eastern Time. (Check listings for other broadcast times.)

 For more articles by Tracy Breen, click here.

Click here for the best skinning knife – and read what Scott and Angie say about Havalon Knives…

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How To Trap Raccoon: Snaring Made Easy

Posted on February 18, 2013 by HavalonKnives

By Bernie Barringer

A quick course in snaring raccoons from
a high-volume trapping expert.

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The author’s son Sterling with some coon, proves anyone can successfully snare coon.

The late 1970s through the 1980s has become known to fur harvesters as “the Fur Boom”. Back then raccoon fur was valuable and trappers targeted them at every creek and bridge. A guy who was willing to work his tail off could make a pretty good living trapping furbearers.

I made the majority of my family’s income trapping those raccoons, and to a lesser extent, fox, muskrat and mink. Of course, with good fur prices came aggressive competition, and I needed an edge to stay a step ahead of the hordes of part-timers, long-liners and coon hunters. So I developed a system for snaring coon before they ever got to the creeks where all my competitors set their traps.

A Simple Snaring System

Here’s how I succeeded when competition was fierce. My system employed a simple snare that was fast and efficient. It took about three years before other trappers caught on and my edge vanished. Until then, I piled up some impressive catches including as many as 60 coons in a single day and 200 in a six-day line.

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Use gloves when handling snares and avoid leaving too much human scent in the area. Coon trails in the grass are
great places to catch them.

By 1990, I started writing books about my methods and selling trapline instructions. To this day my 1993 book titled “Snaring in the Space Age” is still a best-selling trapping book and is available through several trapping supply dealers (though I no longer benefit from the sales, having sold all rights to it about a decade ago).

One positive aspect to snaring raccoon is the fact that anyone can do it. Any school kid with a handful of snares and the knowledge of how and where to set them can catch raccoons. So here’s my basic course in how to do it.

Four Tips About the Snare

  1. The best coon snare is made of 3/32-inch 7×7-strand galvanized aircraft cable. You can buy cable at any trapping supply dealer and make your own snares, or you can buy ready-made snares. It needs a swivel and it needs to be staked down solid.
  2. Do not depend on a strand or two of wire to hold your coon. You need several strands, or better yet, run your cable all the way to the stake. Caught raccoon will roll around and twist, and can occasionally twist wire right off.
  3. Set your snare in the trail with a loop about seven inches in diameter and about three inches off the ground. Any higher and coons will go right under the snare. If you ever have an opportunity to watch a coon walking or running, look closely at the position of his head and you will be surprised how close his chin is to the ground.

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    Make sure the snare lock is off to the side of the loop so the snare doesn’t blow down in the wind or get knocked down
    by a non-target animal.

  4. Here is an important tip that I learned the hard way. Your snare will naturally form a teardrop shape, but you need to be careful not to allow the snare lock at the point of the teardrop to be at the top of the loop. Your snare should close quickly and smoothly, and if the lock is at the top, it will be knocked down by the wind or a deer stepping over it and brushing against it. To avoid this, set the lock at the 11:00 or 1:00 position. A raccoon or fox going through the snare will still pull it around themselves but it will not be knocked down by wind or non-target animals.

Location, Location, Location – Three Essentials to Raccoon Trapping with Snares

How do you find coon trails? Racoons make predictable movements from dens to feeding areas most every night, so it’s easy to find the trails that form between them.

  1. Water. Most feeding areas involve water, such as creeks, rivers, marshes and ponds. Search the perimeter of these areas and you will find signs of raccoons.
  2. Den sites. The best trees for coon dens are those that readily become hollow as they age such as silver maples, cottonwoods, oaks and sycamores. Besides tree cavities, coons often den in old barns, brushpiles, even old farm machinery in the woods. I have trapped literally thousands of coon that were living in abandoned farm groves and the old buildings they contain. But these old farms are being plowed under at an alarming rate and the wildlife that depend on them are becoming a thing of the past. If you find one, it can be a gold mine.

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    Look closely. Sometimes trails are indistinct and it takes a trained eye to see them, but the snare waits patiently through all kinds of weather.

  3. Trails. It’s a simple matter to find the trails that connect the den sites with the feeding areas. Raccoon travel in loose groups, often family groups and if you only set one snare you are missing out. I use what I call gang-setting. If the trail is good enough for one snare it is good enough for three and maybe as many as five. Admittedly, that comes from the days of competition trapping when I felt I needed to get as many as possible as fast as possible before some other trapper, hound hunter or even a car tire got them.

 Now, A Few Cautions For Raccoon Trapping By Snaring

Those are some basic ideas, but another important basic is that state snaring laws can vary widely, so do your diligence and make sure you trap in accordance with your state’s snaring laws.

  • Some states require deer stops on snares which allow a deer to shake the snare off its leg.
  • Some do not allow snares to be set in fences where the caught coon will hang in plain sight, creating a public-relations negative for trappers.
  • Never set a snare in an area where the likelihood of catching a pet is high. Check your laws and be careful with any type of trap, snares included.

If you are snaring responsibly, you are using an effective and efficient way to catch raccoon. And it is a lot of fun too!

***

About Bernie Barringer

bernie barringer 204x173Bernie Barringer has been trapping since he was a kid, and 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. He is the managing editor of Bear Hunting Magazine, and blogs his hunts on his website www.bowhuntingroad.com. 

For more articles by Bernie Barringer, click here.

Click here, for the best ‘coon skinning knife – and read what trappers and hunters say about Havalon Knives….

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How To Track Deer: A Master Reveals His Secrets, Part 2

Posted on February 15, 2013 by HavalonKnives

by Bill Vaznis

When a buck fools you, are you finished?

Learning How To Track Deer: If You Lose the Track

Sooner or later it happens to every deer tracker. You lose a big buck’s trail in a maze of other deer tracks, especially around feeding or known bedding areas where lots of deer congregate. However his wide stance and long gait coupled with any track abnormalities such as a worn outside edge of his front toes may help you differentiate his trail from all the others. Start by making a wide circle in the hopes of picking up his trail when he exits the area.

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Be sure to look all around as you still-hunt along a scrape line… a buck could be bedded nearby!

What most hunters don’t realize is that the buck will go to the other tracks in the maze, one-by-one, until he is certain none of them are the product of a hot doe. Unlucky at love, he will then continue on in the same general direction he had been traveling. Usually this route is the shortest pathway to the next concentration of does, so if you are familiar with the territory and where the nearest doe bedding or feeding area lies, you will soon pick up his trail.

This tactic has usually worked for me, but one year a buck fooled me. I knew he had entered an abandoned orchard, but when I circled the area I could not find his exit point (it helps if you have not walked on his tracks obliterating them from further study). When I entered the orchard I heard him crash off, but I could still not find his exit trail. On a hunch, I revisited his entry trail, and sure enough learned how he had secretly left the orchard. He purposely walked out on the same trail he came in on, and I confirmed when I stuck my fingers in his tracks. Now, at the place where he entered the orchard, his toes were pointing away from the orchard!

Another trick to keep in mind when learning to track deer is that a buck will sniff-test every deer track he comes across, and if the snow is deep he often leaves his antler imprints in the snow. Look carefully and you may be able to discern the width of his rack, the mass of his main beams and sometimes even the length and number of tines he is sporting. Finding where he sniffed another track will confirm you are on the right trail.

If You Spook the Deer Herd

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Keep an eye on any does you come across… a buck could
be lurking nearby.

One deer season I picked up the snow trail of a doe with twin fawns traversing a mountainside. A larger set of tracks zigzagged behind the trio. I surmised it was a mature buck using his eyes, ears and nose to keep tabs on the doe. I got a little too close, and the buck hi-tailed it over a nearby ridge while the family group sped on along the mountainside in a different direction.

It might seem logical to pick up the buck’s track and dog him, hoping for a shot. That could work if the buck was not terribly spooked and I had all day to hunt, but I figured my odds would be better if I let things calm down and after twenty minutes or so slowly trailed the does. A half-hour later I heard the buck grunting like a pig as he searched the hillside for the does. I slugged him at 75 yards, dropping him in his tracks.

Since then I have used this technique several times, in the archery season during the early rut as well as the late season when bucks are looking for one last doe to breed. When you spook a rutting buck away from a hot doe, you want to wait a bit for things to calm down… and then hunt that doe. That’s what the spooked buck will be doing, and you can find him when he finds her!

Have you read Part 1 of this article?
A Master Tracker Reveals His Secrets, Part 1

***

About Bill Vaznis

bill-vaznis-head-shot-120x160A lifetime of hunting and outdoor writing has put Bill’s byline in every major outdoor magazine in North America. He has published over 1,000 articles and columns plus thousands of photographs on bowhunting, big-game hunting and freshwater fishing. Today he owns and edits a rapidly growing digital magazine for bear hunters named Bear Hunters Online. He has also published three how-to hunting books: Successful Black Bear Hunting, 500 Deer Hunting Tips and Still-Hunting Trophy Whitetails. He lives on a farm in upstate New York with Grizz, a 30-pound woodchuck with a voracious appetite for the neighbors’ gardens.

For more articles by Bill Vaznis, click here.

For the best deer skinning knife, click here.

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