Get out of your stand and test your mettle against wary whitetails the old-fashioned way. by Jim Casada     Careful, deliberate movements are key when still-hunting. Stay low whenever possible.   In today’s world, the vast majority of deer hunting is done from elevated stands, which in reality might more accurately be described as “sits.” For the most part, stand hunting is a waiting game, although rattling, grunt calls and the use of various scent attractants do involve some active approaches on the part of the hunter. This kind of hunting was not always so ubiquitous; what were once common methods, namely still-hunting and stalking, have for the most part been abandoned. Yet in certain situations and geographical settings, these approaches might be the best ways to get within range of whitetails. The Skill Of Woodsmanship In one fashion or another, all traditional methods of deer hunting involve taking the action to deer as opposed to waiting for them to come to the hunter. Up until the last 40 years or so, it was how American hunters put venison on the table. Still- and stalk-hunting placed a premium on superior woodsmanship. I’ll flat-out guarantee that anyone who takes to the whitetail trail using still-hunting and stalking techniques will improve his woodscraft skills to a significant degree. The finest deer hunter I’ve ever known always hunted afoot. Joe Scarborough moved through the woods like a ghost. He was so quiet, so attuned to his surroundings, that his customary method involved shooting undisturbed deer in their beds. On top of that, he invariably shot them in the eye. Of course Joe had been a sniper who spent three tours of duty in Vietnam, and his woodsmanship was so outstanding that when walking through the woods in front of him, I constantly caught myself looking back to check whether he was still there. The man exemplified the concept that “silence is golden,” at least in a woodland setting. Most of us will never achieve similar levels of unobtrusive oneness with the world about us when hunting whitetails, but at least we can strive to do so. Ways To Stay Unseen In the course of a typical day Joe would cover a lot of ground in a measured, unhurried fashion. His was constant watchfulness, ever alert for an ear flick, a glimpse of a tail or the glint of sunlight off a tine. Similarly, there was always a lot more watching than there was walking, but even so, he could cover a lot of ground in the course of a full day. For Scarborough, as for any skilled hunter afoot, the quest takes on new, challenging dimensions once a deer is spotted. If the animal is within range and a clear shot is available when it is spotted, obviously all that is required is easing the gun into position and making an accurate shot. Otherwise, it’s time to stalk to within range. This might necessitate a belly crawl, a strategic retreat to take a roundabout route to a suitable site, or some other tactic. Whatever the choice, it’s an extended equivalent of a bowhunter picking a moment when he can make his draw unseen. Whether stalking, still-hunting or employing a combination of the two, one distinct advantage is the ability to hunt into prevailing winds. A fixed ladder stand or tripod offers no such opportunity to adjust to the vagaries of shifting or changing winds. When a front approaches, bringing winds from a different direction, stand hunters sometimes find themselves at the mercy of the deer’s first line of defense, its sense of smell.     You’ll need vegetation to cover your movements when you’re on a stalk. Keep your eyes on constant watch for the slightest hint of movement ahead.   How To Stalk Successfully Even if hunt from a fixed location, you can still incorporate some still-hunting techniques. Rather than walking hurriedly and heedlessly from a stand after a morning session, or while en route to a stand in the afternoon, take your time — lots of it — to cover the ground between your vehicle and your hunting station. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how productive this might prove to be, and it has additional advantages, including avoidance of getting “sweated up” and reducing the likelihood of spooking deer. While on the ground, be constantly alert for movement. Ease to the top of every hill and each turn in a trail or road with great caution. Use vegetation to cover your progress as much as possible, and in general allot some extra time get to and from stands. Never overlook taking a water route to deer. As is the case in many regions of the country, pressured deer near my southern home regularly seek refuge on islands in larger rivers, on elevated hideaways in flooded river basins or swamps, or in thickets bordering small streams flowing through remote regions. Often the only feasible way to reach deer in such habitat is to paddle to them using a canoe or johnboat. Hunters with sufficient gumption and a willingness to go the extra mile (or maybe several miles) can ease into an area without making much noise, leave their watercraft, and hunt afoot from that point. Then, too, a canoe or johnboat offers a much easier way to get a deer back to civilization than a long drag over rugged ground. Obviously there are times when turning to the traditional approaches to deer-hunting will be impossible. Yet in many situations the varied options offered by still-hunting or stalking can serve the hunter well. Thoughts On Safety Potential downsides to traditional approaches include safety considerations and the possibility of interfering with other hunters. Generally speaking, the techniques described here should be employed on private land, where you know you won’t encounter another hunter. However, for the really venturesome sportsman of the sort who gets back of beyond on a regular basis, doing this on really remote stretches of public land might be considered. In any case, wear plenty of hunter-orange attire and take care not to intrude where someone else might be hunting.

The best bet of tagging bucks during the second rut lies in shifting our placement strategies to revolve around the hottest food source that the area holds. by Steve Bartylla Continued from Part 1 Hunting Strategies In the Deep South, the stand placement strategies really don’t change much after the first does come into estrus. Although the comparative lack of breeding intensity may result in funnels receiving a lessened amount of buck travel for a typical day of the rut, they’re often still good choices on the last day of season. The same holds true for catching bucks prowling family group bedding areas and scent checking food sources. All three locations are still good choices for stand sites. However, that’s not the case in the Upper Midwest or northern regions. In fact, for those of you that hunt areas where deer commonly yard up during winter, the best options for tagging a buck after the first rut will be found in the next chapter. Frankly, even those that hunt the lower areas of the northern regions and the Upper Midwest would be best served to spend the remaining days of season alternating between the tactics about to be described here and those in the post rut chapter. As you will find is the case with the post rut, the best bet of tagging bucks during the second rut lies in shifting our placement strategies to revolve around the hottest food source that the area holds, keying on the areas within the food source that yield the most concentrated feeding activity. Certainly, there are times when the bruiser will still check the family group bedding area, but, unless continued hunting pressure has soured him on daylight visits to the food source, that placement option no longer wins the risk and reward comparison. Simply put, in most settings, the odds of catching him at the food source are better and offer less of a risk of altering the deer’s patterns. That’s not to say that there isn’t a risk in hunting food sources. Even more so than earlier in the season, routes to and from the stand, being properly concealed and not getting winded are challenges. To make it worse, frozen ground and reduced living plant life each reduces the natural odors that help mask our own. Throw in the fact that the surviving deer have already made it through the brunt of the war and our prey is now not anywhere near as tolerant of our intrusions. Sure, in areas of limited options, it may take a lot to drive deer completely away from using a prime food source. However, the slightest trace of danger sends them dashing for cover faster than any phase before this. Where before the old doe may have eventually disregarded a flicker of movement or slight trace of odor after a brief investigation, now she will stare, test the wind, stomp, stare and repeat the process until, more often than not, she blows and flees for cover, only to spend the next 10 minutes snorting in the woods. It doesn’t take many of these world-alerting encounters to convince the local deer that coming out after dark isn’t a bad idea. All of this makes selecting stand sites that provide good routes, cover and placement for the wind of critical importance. After the first rut, far more than during any other phase of season, I will sacrifice a stand that offers superior placement for intercepting deer for one that provides higher odds of going undetected. Far too many late afternoons filled with snorting deer have taught me that lesson well. The saving grace to selecting stands that are slightly off from where we really would like to be is that deer seldom enter a food source and camp in one location. They tend to spread out, milling around as they feed. At the same time, the more mature bucks often feel compelled to pay a visit to each new doe that enters the food source. In doing so, they often cover much of the area, presenting shot opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Luckily, there are tactics that we can use to draw bucks to our stand. The combination of still being interested in breeding and far fewer receptive females makes bucks susceptible to estrus scents. Placing several doctored scent wicks around our stand, as well as laying a scent trail leading to it, can bring bucks into shooting range that otherwise may have remained feeding out of range. Decoys are yet another way of drawing them in. However, if surrounded by does, traditional decoys can do more harm than good. Given that does already have a hair trigger at this time, an up close look at a motionless decoy often sends them running. Using the decoy as a buck can help to avoid this. Because most does don’t want to be harassed, they commonly steer clear of bucks. On the other hand, the mature bucks typically like to introduce themselves to the new guy. It’s there own special way of letting them know that he’s the man and you best mind your place. When paired with both dominate buck and estrus urines, a buck decoy can bring results. However, because of the still burning urge to breed, a doe decoy and estrus urine combination works best. One way to avoid getting it busted by does is to set it in a less popular region of the food source. Hopefully, the buck’s urge to check every doe will bring him into shooting range. A better alternative is using the RoboCoy. Produced by Custom Robotic Wildlife in Mosinee, Wisconsin, it’s essentially a full body mount of a deer. Made with real deer hide covering a foam frame, it has built in robotics that allow for remote controlled movement of the head and tail. It’s the only decoy I’ve ever used that can consistently withstand close inspections from family groups and put them at ease, along with being a deadly draw for bucks. Conclusion By switching between using scents, decoys and relying on nothing but the placement of the stand, keying on food sources during the second rut can produce. The added advantage that this placement strategy yields is that it also has the ability to capitalize on bucks that don’t have any interest in does. Because the bucks still must recuperate from the rigors of the rut, they rely heavily on prime food sources. Hunting stand sites bordering food capitalizes on both of those possibilities.  

The whitetail’s “second rut” and how to bowhunt it successfully. by Steve Bartylla   The second rut spurs another round of buck activity. Put the second rut to work for you.            In my younger days, I used to feel tremendous envy while reading stories about the second rut. Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, I believed this was a magical time saved only for those in the states that fell below my own. Truth be told, I was wrong. Unlike the southernmost states, where once the first does are bred some form rutting activity can be seen for months after, breeding is much more condensed in the north. Here, the timing of spring birth demands that the vast majority of does are impregnated in a fairly tight window of time. If she is bred to early her fawns may be born during the tail end of harsh weather conditions. If born while snow still covers the ground or in single digit temps, the odds of a fawn’s survival are drastically reduced. The same is true if the fawn is born late. In that case, it doesn’t have the time to grow as much before the hormones kick in that halt growth and inspire fat production. If the snow depths are significant that winter, not only is being small a handicap for travel, it results the fawn’s inability to reach as high to eat the buds on trees. The result is an animal that must expend more energy to travel, yet isn’t able to compete as well for nutrition. Obviously, that is a bad combination when straddling the line between life and death. Now, all of this must be combined with the fact that, over the course of a year, northern deer can’t intake the same potential amount of nutrition as the deer that live in areas that don’t have long-term snow cover. For example, a fawn born even in Illinois has a fighting chance of being able to feed on greens, acorns and the waste in farm fields until some point in January. In much of the northern herd’s range, not only are there vast areas void of any farming, but the much earlier average snow fall often buries any morsel of food on ground level, leaving less nutritious woody browse as their best choice. With the healthiest fawns making up most of the second rut in the Upper Midwest and point further north, the increased nutrition that occurs as we travel to the mid regions of the US allows a higher percentage of fawns the ability to come into estrus. Of course, in the parts of the deer’s southern range where droughts and poor soil conditions hamper the available level of nutrition a reduction in the percentage of fawns that come into estrus occurs, as well. Rather amazingly, even with all the hurdles facing the northern deer, some fawns typically do come into estrus each year. Even in the UP of Michigan, where excessive snowfall and frigid temps are the norm, an average of 5% of fawns come into estrus early in their first winter. The point is that, despite my youthful belief that the second rut didn’t exist in the northern regions, it does. It’s just far less noticeable than in areas that experience milder winters. Another factor that helps mask the North’s second rut is the drastic reduction in rutting buck activity. Much like fawns that try to survive their first winter, the bucks are also handicapped. Having burnt 25-30% body weight during the rigors of the rut, mature bucks must now contend with trying to survive winter. Because their fat reserves are depleted, they simply can no longer afford to invest their energies covering miles and miles of ground each day. If they did, chances are that it would cost them their lives. Instead, they’re primarily focused on conserving energy. Commonly, this involves in setting up reduced home ranges that are hinged upon the best remaining food source. Luckily for their chances of catching second rut breeding opportunities, the family groups are now concentrated around them, as well. Because of that, they can spend most of their day resting and still check a good number of fawns at the late afternoon food source. When one of the local girls enters womanhood, you can bet that the area’s bucks will be competing to win her favors. Of course, with freezing temps and snow cover remaining for even a week being rare in the southern regions, the deer residing there don’t face the same obstacles. In the South, adult does have the luxury of being able to successfully produce fawns born very early or late. Because of that range in birth dates, along with a host of other contributing factors, does are bred for a much longer window of time, blurring the lines between a first and second rut essentially into one elongated rut. To be continued—Put this knowledge to use in Part 2: Hunting Strategies   Courtesy Steve Bartylla.  

ROCKLEDGE -- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers were called to a home in Rockledge on Wednesday after they were told a 10-year-old boy dragged a 6-foot alligator home from a nearby canal. Michael Dasher said he was fishing with his friends from the side of the canal, near Green Road and Fiske Boulevard, when something caught the hook. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Michael Dasher said he was fishing with his friends from the side of the canal,  near Green Road and Fiske Boulevard, when something caught the hook --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The line snapped," Michael said.  His friend, Kentral Welch, said he thought Michael caught a big one.  "I thought it was a really big fish until I saw his face," Kentral said.  The boys said Michael hooked a 6-foot alligator. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The boy was somehow able to capture the animal, which wildlife officials measured at 5 feet 9 inches long,  and drag it home without getting seriously injured. He did have a few minor scratches on his hands and arms. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael said the alligator ran at him, so he started hitting it with sticks. He said at one point he jumped on the back of the beast.  Michael was somehow able to capture the animal, which wildlife officials measured at 5 feet 9 inches long, and drag it home without getting seriously injured. He did have a few minor scratches on his hands and arms. His grandfather, Benjie Cox, said when he saw the alligator in the front yard he called the Brevard County Sheriff's Office and wildlife officials.  Cox said after he gave Michael a stern talk about what he had done, the officers gave him one, too. He said they told him that if he was older, he would have been arrested and charged with a felony. Cox said the alligator seemed like it was in bad shape, but wildlife officers said they were planning to release it back into the St. John's River.  Michael said he learned his lesson and will run if he ever sees another alligator.  

Choose the right kind of scent and technique to attract and stop a buck in his tracks. by Jack Young Most hunting-related scent products are designed to eliminate human odors. Four scent categories include: masking, odor-adsorbing, odor-eliminating, and oxidizing. Each has advantages, disadvantages, and preferred applications. Masking Scents Masking scents are most misunderstood. Covering one scent with another is a poor approach to odor management. Game possess olfactory senses many thousands times better than humans. Dousing oneself with masking scents means game animals simply smell you and the cover scent. Adsorbing Scents Odor-adsorbing products are better solution, but after active ingredients (baking soda, activated carbon, Abscents crystals/powder) reach carrying capacity they will adsorb no more. They’re certainly effective but require frequent recharging. Odor-Elimination/Oxidization Odor-eliminating or oxidizing products prove most effective on a wider variety of odor sources and have become the industry standard. Active ingredients chemically neutralize or oxidize odors. In the first case key chemicals react with odor molecules to turn them into inert, odorless compounds. Oxidizers quickly accelerate the break-down of odor compounds to make them disappear. Scent Lures And Tools Unlike masking or odor-eliminating scent-control products designed to camouflage game-spooking odors, bowhunting lures are meant to attract attention. These contain urine, glands, or hormones to arouse sexual interest from game. Some also contain “curiosity” agents that many deer feel inclined to investigate. The latter are used for early seasons preceding the rut. In general, game lures, like “doe-in-heat concoctions, are most effective during rut periods when males seek female companionship. Many over-zealous bowhunters dump entire bottles of lure around stand sites hoping to attract full-out charges from love-crazed bucks. It could happen, but it is highly unlikely. Effective approaches to sex-lure attractants include creating drag-lines to bring trailing bucks within range and placing scent pods to stop animals in desired shooting lanes. Regarding drag-lines, take care to assure that your human scent doesn’t mix with the scent line. Tie a clean length of cord to a long switch, a wick, or clean cloth saturated with lure attached to the end. Hold the branch at arm’s length. This distance, plus the added reach of the switch, will help leave your drag-lines free of human scent. If you know that your boots are completely scent-free, you can apply lure scent to your boot soles and trail in. Create a multitude of drag-lines around stand sites. Each line vectoring toward your stand can help bring a rutting whitetail buck in for a closer shot. Too, by paying attention to wind direction, you might actually be able direct animals away from your downwind quarter and avoid being winded. Scents Can Stop And Distract Using scents or lures to stop or distract animals is also effective. Place scent-charged wicks or scent pods upwind of your position to create standing shots at preoccupied animals. Placing scent pods behind stumps, tree trunks, or rocks might also stop deer while also blocking their vision, allowing you a chance to draw your bow undetected. Scents of all kinds can prove to be highly effective tools to regular bowhunting success. Use today’s array of scents to disguise your own scent, to better position animals for the shot, but do so wisely. Avoid desperate measures and always, always watch that wind to prevent educating animals in your hunting area—or sending them into retreat at the moment of truth.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation wants to open new areas east of the Hudson River to bear hunting and establish uniform bear hunting season dates across the Southern Zone starting this year.   ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The state Department of Environmental Conservation wants to open new areas east of the Hudson River to bear hunting and establish uniform bear hunting season dates across the Southern Zone starting this year. DEC Commissioner Joe Martens says black bears are thriving in New York and have expanded their range considerably in recent years. He said expanding bear hunting will help ease homeowner and farm conflicts with bears. The proposed changes would open bear hunting in all of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia, Rensselaer, and Washington counties, and the portion of Rockland that was not already open for black bear hunting. Public comments on the changes will be accepted by DEC through July 5. ___ Online: www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/propregulations.html

By BDN staff reports  SANFORD, Maine — A 44-year-old Sanford man was shot while hunting Monday near Hollis, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has reported. According to MDIF&W, Mark Lemieux, 44, of Sanford suffered injuries to his legs, chest, head and face. The gunshot was fired by his uncle, Gerard Lemieux, 69, of Gorham, according to Maine Warden Service Lt. Adam Gormely. Mark Lemieux was treated and then released from Goodall Hospital in Sanford. The incident is under investigation by the Maine Warden Service. Monday is the first day of spring wild turkey hunting season for residents and nonresidents with a license and a permit. The season runs through June 4 in Wildlife Management Districts 7, 10 through 26, and 28, a large portion of the state excluding northern Aroostook County.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is planning a new event in November to open the state's pheasant season and promote hunting.   TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is planning a new event in November to open the state's pheasant season and promote hunting. The Ringneck Classic will bring business and community leaders from across the state to the northwestern town of Oakley for a dinner and a weekend of hunting. It's scheduled for Nov. 18-20. Brownback says he wants to market Kansas as the Midwest's premier destination for pheasant hunting. Wildlife and Parks Secretary Robin Jennison says the Ringneck Classic — named for a type of pheasant — will give the state a chance to show off tourism opportunities in northwest Kansas

Simply throwing some seed down does not make a food plot. If you want action, you must take action and do it right. by Steve Bartylla It was amazing. I could glass the property line squatter’s stand. He was a mere 105 yards away from mine. Sitting along the edge on the hayfield, he was trying to intercept the deer coming off of my small lease. What I found amazing wasn’t that he’d put his stand in a tree that the property fence ran through or that it was situated to shoot into my lease. Unfortunately, such acts happen far too frequently. What was amazing was how effective my food plot strategy had been in foiling his attempts. During each sit on my half-acre food plot, I saw many deer, with the majority offering shot opportunities. Heck, from that stand I eventually arrowed the biggest buck in the area. However, a mere 105 yards away, the squatter saw next to nothing. That’s precisely how powerful food plots can be. Unfortunately, the majority aren’t effective. They are often slapped into the easiest locations, with little thought invested into how they can maximize hunting opportunities. To get killer results from food plots, one must do more than the minimum. Feed Plots, Kill Plots, And Size That starts with planning. Of course, sunlight, soil types, soils conditions, accessibility, and a host of factors need to be considered. For now, let’s focus on size, shape, and location assuming that the conditions are also suitable for planting. Before we can begin, we must first differentiate between feed or kill plots. As the names imply, they serve distinctly different purposes. Feed plots are designed to both help keep deer on the property and address their nutritional needs. Kill plots are for hunting.       Because they are designed to be a primary food source, feed plots must be larger in size to sustain prolonged feeding. Furthermore, one must account for the competition factor. Most prime 40-acre-plus properties have more than one doe family group spending some time on the land. Each family group can consist of multiple generations of does and young that can be traced back to the matriarch doe. These family groups struggle for dominance much like bucks do during the rut. If the feed plot is too small, family groups and individual bucks are often driven off by the dominant family group and buck in the area. To feed and hold the maximum number of resident deer on the property, one can approach feed plots in two ways. The least cost-effective method is to make feed plots large enough for the deer to share nicely. That size varies based on other available food choices and deer density, but requires comparatively more acreage. The other option is breaking the feed plot into several plots, with each containing the same plantings. For example, three completely separate feed plots, each containing 1 acre of alfalfa and 4 acres of double-planted grain can support a minimum of three mature bucks and up to six family groups. One 15-acre plot will most likely lose one or more family groups and, once the bachelor groups break up, risks trimming the mature bucks to 1. The younger, subordinate bucks will also compete and disperse less with the illusion of reduced competition that the multiple-plot option provides. Conversely, kill plots should be small. After all, as the name implies, their purpose is for killing deer. Since bow range is limited, smaller, horseshoe, and “L” plots maximize shot opportunities. Along with that, within reason, the smaller the food plot, the safer the deer feel. All else being equal, a narrow half-acre food plot, completely surrounded by cover, will receive more daylight feeding activity than a square 5-acre plot. Furthermore, orienting the plot so the outside apex of the horseshoe or L works with the prevailing fall wind direction is important in providing the maximum opportunities. With that, one can place stands on the outside and inside edge of the apex.     Because of the shape, size, and placement of the kill plot, the author realized great daylight buck activity, whereas just 105 yards away the line squatter saw nearly nothing.   Additionally, the shape naturally funnels deer to your stand. From the apex, deer can see the entire food plot. Because of that, they gravitate to that area. Finally, the kill plot should be no more than 30 yards wide. That further increases the odds of any deer entering the plot being within bow range. Though the shape and orientation isn’t important for feed plots, you can see why addressing both is extremely beneficial on kill plots. Minimizing near misses should be a priority, and these two factors do just that. Food Plot Location At first thought, the location of the feed plots may not seem overly important. After all, since hunting them isn’t a primary concern, who cares if the feeding occurs after dark? In fact, it works to our advantage if we can keep deer in the woods until after dark. Still, location means everything for both the feed and kill plot. Ideally, they work in concert with each other. We want the bucks to stage in our small kill plots before venturing out to the feed plots after dark. Maximizing location begins by determining where the bedding activity occurs. Next, one can plot the feed plot locations. Inside corners of existing fields and remote areas of open grass lands are both great choices. Deer tend to feel safe in these locations, but the relative openness still promotes twilight and nighttime activity. With the bedding and feed plot locations identified, determine the most likely path deer will take between the two. Backing off around 100 to 200 yards from the feed plot is where our kill plot should be located. Determining the precise location is a balance between conditions suitable to grow the planting and the ability to keep disturbances to a minimum when hunting, accessing, and departing the plot. Luckily, two of best planting choices for the kill plots are clovers and brassicas. Both are relatively easy to grow and don’t require ideal conditions.   Pairing grains and greens helps feed plots provide nutrition throughout the entire year.   Of course, this type of placement will require some clearing work. A decent dozer operator can typically knock out three to five of these kill plots in a day, as well as complement each with a small waterhole. They can even pile the debris to form a barrier in front of the stand sites so the deer enter where you want them to. The costs generally fall under $500 for a day’s work. For those on a tighter budget, all one really needs is a chainsaw and an ATV equipped with a sturdy disc. Remember, we’re not cash cropping here. So, if the plots contain some stumps, it’s not an issue. Either way, carefully planning the location of the feed and kill plots can make the difference between arrowing the buck of your dreams and seeing virtually nothing. By then shaping and orienting the kill plot correctly, one stacks the odds for producing killer results. Devil In The Details The details often separate a thriving food plot from crop failure. Here are a few items that many overlook, but can prove to be real difference-makers. Match the planting to soil types and conditions: For example, because of a relatively shallow fibrous root system, clovers will do very well in comparatively moist areas and heavy soil types. However, they do poorly in sandy, comparatively dry areas. Because of a deeper tap root system, alfalfas are better suited for lighter soils and can tolerate significantly lower moisture content. Match the planting to amount of sunlight: Chicory, clovers, and even many brassicas can do well in as little as three hours of direct sunlight a day. Most grain crops, such as corn and soybeans, do much better with six or more hours. For the best possible food plot, matching the planting to the specifics of the location is critical. Test soil pH and nutrient levels: Soils tests are cheap and easy. Simply collect tablespoon-size scoops of topsoil from evenly dispersed areas of your food plot until you have filled about half a sandwich baggie. Most seed dealers or the county agricultural office can send it away for testing. A few weeks later, you will get a report that details the exact fertilizer and lime requirements for your particular planting.   Firm seedbeds are critical for broadcast seeds to realize high germination rates.   Use lime wisely: Speaking of lime, not all limes are created equal. Limes range from fine to coarse grain. Pelletized lime is an extremely fine lime that has been bonded to form pellets. It breaks down in the soils very fast. The effects can begin within weeks. Barn lime is the opposite extreme. It’s so course that as much as 50 percent may never break down into usable form and can take many months to make a significant difference. Frankly, it shouldn’t be used for food plots. The field lime that is sold most often to farmers strikes a balance between the two extremes. In either case, one should realize that lime is not a permanent fix. The finer the grain, the quicker the impact, but also the faster it leeches from the soil. With pelletized lime, one often must reapply every year. Most field limes are commonly good for two or more years. Prepare a proper seed bed: This is well worth the effort. Even the “no tills” that are available will do significantly better in properly prepared soils. After disking, the soil should be cultipacked to create an even and firm bed. This is mission critical for small seeds not meant to be drilled. If the bed isn’t firm, a high percentage of seed is often covered too deep to ever break the surface. For seeds that are drilled, all that is left is praying for rain, but broadcasted seeds should be cultipacked one last time. Doing so sinks the seeds into the soil and promotes a higher germination rate. Maintain your planting: Weed competition is often the greatest challenge. Most all seed blends these days can be sprayed with herbicides. The trick is selecting the right one for the specific planting. The seed dealers can point you in the right direction. Also, many greens can be mowed to knock back the weeds. Some plantings, such as clovers and alfalfas, need to be mowed to keep them in a highly digestible and nutritious state. When they reach 6 to 12 inches in height, knocking them down to approximately 4 inches does the trick. One can never control rainfall. However, following the steps above will help give your food plot its best chance to thrive

by Bob McNally If you want to shoot a big buck, you’ve got to play it cool and keep from alerting him that you’re hanging around. These six tips will help you fly under his radar.   1. Scout from long range, using high-quality binoculars and spotting scopes. This helps avoid contaminating prime buck areas with human scent. 2. Use long-range rifles with top-quality scopes, and set stands to allow for shots of 200 yards and longer. The farther from bucks and their home areas you can get, the more likely it is that you can capitalize on a mistake they might make. 3. Only hunt your best spots during optimum hunting conditions — perfect wind, cold weather, when the rut is rocking, etc. 4. Get on the trail-camera bandwagon. They allow hunters to "watch" numerous locations without setting foot on the property. 5. Move stands frequently to keep human contamination low in prime buck locations. 6. Hunt the periphery first. Especially in new hunting areas, learn from long range where to move in on a buck or choice location.