Twas the night before opening day and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a squirrel. The big buck knife was hung above the TV for all to see and dream. The rifles and shotguns are sighted in with care. I'm hoping to hear the foot steps of little deer from the tree stand. Good luck to all and have a good night.

To bait? or not to bait? this is the great debate.

So many states including Ohio where I live allow hunters to bait. There are a lot of theories on the ethical practice of baiting. In my mind this is no different then the use of scents or decoys. It most of the time is giving the hunter an advantage of getting a good shot on an animal. This means less wounded animals do to poorly placed shoots on deer. So, some of the things that I have used and will continue to use for baiting deer. First is mineral blocks at all my stand locations and I get these out before the snow hits and they stay around till spring when I replenish them. I like this bait because its cheap and easy to maintain. I go to tractor supply buy the 50 lbs cattle and horse mineral licks and use them. There are lots of products out there by diff companies they work but are less quantity for a higher price. Second, favorite is apple scented corn not sure why but much more addictive for the deer then regular whole feed corn which works too and is slightly cheaper. Apple corn though they find quick and hit it hard so be prepared to replenish frequently. We have found that 160lbs seems to last about a week on the farms we hunt. Our tactic for it is to dump on the ground in a straight line at 20 yards from our stands. For some reason the deer will come in and feed perfectly broad side giving you a great shot. Where legal hope these tactics can help you in your hunt.

get the youth out to hunt!!!!!! pass on the tradition!!!!!!!!!!!!

So shocker the next generation is missing some of the key skills needed for servival in the woods. This week on 11/22-11/23 is the youth beer gun hunt I'm gonna try to do my part and see if there are any youth on my neck of the woods that need an adult to guide them in these skills to pay it back. See what you can do to help the next generation of outdoors men and woman. 

2014 deer season got even better thanks to the rut turning on!

Well guys the rut is in full swing in Ohio. I' m blessed to be hunting a property this year that I know holds lots of bucks and some good mature ones at that. So I got a thought that I could try a tactic I have tried in the past with little success rattling in the big boys! Seen it on TV right tried it with little success though. This isn't TX but I know I'm holding lots of buck. 730 am sun is just peaking over the trees 14 degrees sw wind blowing 2-3 mph  barometric pressure 30.43 squirrel s everywhere. 800 am bored in my mind so why not rattle and grunt a little. 30 sec of little anlter rattling a little snort wheeze and grunting. The largest buck I have laid eyes on is walking straight down the path to me and stops. Stands there what felt like hours was only minutes then walked off. Had I had a decoy in the middle of that path he was looking for a fight and would have closed the gap. I thought well that was prob the last deer I'll see so I continued to call with nothing to lose. With that attitude I called in 5 other bucks till I could finally get a shot at this guy. OK that's not the whole truth I missed a 4 pointer shot right under happy now that  it happened not at the time. Some guys hunt for antlers to this guy that is only secondary to the meat that goes in the freezer for my family. Not that antlers don't excite me too but priority is not in the size of rack for me. Moral of the story if you know you got lots of bucks on your property and the rut is on give calling a try.

doe feom this weekend and the button buck I got during muzzle loader.

Well its been to long since I wrote on this blog. The 2014 season is off to a fast pace this year. I have taken three deer already two doe with my bow and a little button buck with my muzzle loader during the early antlerless only muzzle loader hunt. Haven't heard much from the other boys. I know they headed back to Idaho this year without success again for them on harvesting a big bull. Hope to find a buck this Saturday and then get back to some small game hunting and bird hunting.