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How to Explore Terrain Features for Whitetails

Pinch points, bottlenecks and funnels are all the rage among pothole chasers.

Simply locate a terrain feature that forces deer movement, spend plenty of time standing in November, and get ready for your grab-and-grin photos. Of course, if it were that easy, bowhunters in most states would have a much higher success rate.

They don’t because it’s not easy. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea to train yourself to effectively explore the right terrain features. This. Learning to find the places deer like to walk and then figuring out how to hunt those places is an age-old strategy that just works.

This strategy is best achieved through a specific long game approach. It is often made up of three parts, the first of which involves electronic scanning to establish a “maybe” stack of potentially beneficial terrain features.

From Digital Scouting to the Real World
One reason some whitetail hunters seem to dominate public ground deer no matter where they travel is because they deeply understand e-scouting. They can look at satellite images overlaid with topographic lines in onX and make an educated guess about how the terrain exists in that exact spot. This comes from a lot of experience exploring and hunting in different types of habitat.

These people recognize the importance of looking at the woods and fields from a bird’s eye view, and then going inside to see what their finds look like first-hand. This allows them to hone their e-scouting eye because following up in person shows them what they did right and what they did wrong.

If you do this long enough, you’ll start to see patterns emerging in the areas you normally hunt. This applies to everything from steep slope washouts to slightly higher soil spikes that divide swamps from lowlands. But that’s just the beginning. If you don’t explore to understand how to hunt in a certain location, you’re missing out.

Conditional Stand Sites
Let’s say you make your decision, walk, and then see that the trails are bumpy and the dollar sign is thick. It is obvious that you succeeded, but what do you do then?

You find out how to hunt it.

An amazing funnel is of no use to you if you don’t consider conditions like wind direction and seasonal weather to determine when and where it should be set. Is there a perfect standing tree located 20 yards from the main trail? Can you only hunt with a north wind? Are all trees too small? Could you build a natural blind spot or bring in a popup to counteract these issues?

What does your focus look like? If access is in doubt, is there a better way to get in? Ask yourself what could possibly go wrong with the way you’re planning to search for your new access point. Will it be accessible when the corn is standing but leave it wide open after harvest? What is the probability that the wind will swirl into their valley floor crossing, or perhaps be seen when deer approach from above, when their line of sight is right on your setup?

The more questions you ask yourself about a place while you’re standing there, the more likely you are to anticipate potential issues with the setup. This is a crucial step because it takes you from thinking like a deer scout to thinking like a deer hunter, which brings us to the final stage of understanding the features of the terrain.

What the deer show you
While preparing for our One Week in November shoot last year, I found a series of pinch points along a ravine in southwestern Wisconsin that convinced me my work was done. Except when I hunted there in the heart of the grind, I only saw a few scrappers use the crossovers. It didn’t make sense until I came back in January and hiked the entire ravine.

Then I found a much better junction, one that I had completely missed in my initial scouting efforts. That trail is more subtle, but it also makes a direct route for the males to get from one side to the other. It’s more challenging to access, but that’s probably also why deer use it. I will have bleachers on both sides by next September. Even then, I could still be wrong.

If so, I’ll keep adjusting the settings. Eventually, through enough electronic scouting and actual hunting, things will fall into place, just as they will for anyone taking the long-game approach to learning how to scout and hunt the terrain features that force deer movement.

Featured image via Matt Hansen.

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Here’s our guide to the 2021 PA hunting season

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Squirrel and Rabbit Open Seasons

Saturday September 25th marks the start of the gray squirrel and cottontail seasons, two of our favorite small game/highland quarries.

Hare and hare seasons fall under the rabbit banner, but good luck finding one of these. The “swampers”, those huge rabbits (compared to the standard cottontail) that inhabit the swampy and swampy areas, are still technically cottontails, although the sizes are more akin to jackrabbits with snow rackets.

The bunnies are for a later blog, as we prefer to chase them when the brush foliage has thinned, and the fields and edges of grass and brush have started to flatten out, usually around the third week of October.

Sure, early deer archery season is still underway, as is September’s Canada goose season and railway bird season, but nothing gets our hunting juices flowing more than a stalk and/or a seat for the squirrels, especially when the leaves begin to fall. tint and the weather of the Indian summer is refreshingly cool and sunny.

Tom P’s Squirrel Catcher

It is legal to hunt with a shotgun, bow, airgun, and, in certain parts of the Garden State (see map on page 60 of Hunting & Trapping Digest) with a muzzle-loading rifle (no larger than .36 caliber), this frenzied small game species offers challenging opportunities and lends itself to numerous delicious recipes. Fried, grilled, baked, stewed, and in a cacciatore (see photo), the sweet white meat, to the taste buds at least, is a pleasing mix of pork and chicken, both in texture and flavor. Yes, a skin ache, but well worth it!

Squirrels with a shotgun? Absolutely! They are incredibly fast, running along the ground and jumping from branch to branch through the treetops. A reddened pheasant is no match for the evasive tactics of a squirrel on the move. A 12 or 20 gauge mod, full or full mod, loaded with #5 or 6 shot, depending on the area you’re hunting, will put them in the game bag.

White oak acorns are prized for their bushy tails, and will also eat red oak acorns, beechnuts, and hickory nuts and are especially fond of corn. Who has not fed the deer with corn and the squirrels invaded the heap or spread out? Where cornfields are available, we will switch from loitering and sitting in wooded terrain to positioning ourselves along the edge of the forest/cornfield. This happens at the end of October and until November, when the fields are cut. A Gray will go to great lengths to get an ear of corn hidden in a nest or a notch in a tree and such areas are better bets as the season progresses.

The daily limit is five, and the hunt is from sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

WATCH: Stunning old photos capture the beauty of America’s national parks

Today these parks are located across the country in 25 states and the US Virgin Islands. The land around them was purchased or donated, although much of it had been inhabited by natives for thousands of years before the founding of the United States. These areas are protected and revered as educational resources about the natural world and as spaces for exploration.

Keep scrolling for 50 vintage photos showcasing the beauty of America’s national parks.

LOOK: Stunning photos of animals from around the world

From grazing Tibetan antelope to migrating monarch butterflies, these 50 photographs of wildlife from around the world capture the amazing grace of the animal kingdom. The next gallery spans sequentially from air to land to water, focusing on birds, land mammals, aquatic life, and insects as they work in pairs or groups, or sometimes alone.

CLASSIFIED: These are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Read on to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in order. reverse. from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individual parks before your visit for ongoing safety precautions related to the pandemic at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

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Alone Season 9, Episode 3 Recap and Review

History Channel Episode 3 Onlyseason 9, takes place during days 12 to 16. There are nine contestants left at the beginning of the episode.

This is a recap and review of episode 3. At the end, I will provide some guesses as to who will last until the end and who could successfully hunt a bear.

Spoilers to follow!

Adam – “Treefort Dude”

Of all the contestants in this episode, we follow Adam the most. He has a productive few days at first, building a fireplace in his house out of moss with clay and cob of grass on willow branches. I learned that weaving a fence and plastering it is called “mud and mud”. He added a weather cap on the chimney to keep out the rain, which was a great idea.

He spends a few days fishing but catches nothing, which probably comes as no surprise to anyone who spends time outdoors (and to those of us who have seen most seasons of Only). After his failure, he performs a jig he calls “Do the Hungry Dance,” which was… fun.

A few days later, he explores the nearby lands and comes across a large bolete mushroom. Despite hunting (“glass”) for bears, he manages to catch a grouse, which he cooks with mushrooms, cranberries, and Labrador tea.

Igor

After starting the episode by showing us his fucus seaweed stew, Igor doesn’t do much. He starts making a hut with a floor (because of the muskeg he’s stuck in), but doesn’t get very far. I admit he was singing it at home until he walked off camera with his saw…and he came back with that grouse! Respect earned by Igor the Grouse Chopper!

benji

Benji begins his segment by showing off the beautiful morning clouds. He then explains that he hasn’t created a permanent shelter yet, since he likes to sleep on the ground. He just waits until the snow falls, Benny!

However, Benji has a good attitude, as he never lets setbacks get him down. He appears invigorated by the land and catches fish and a squirrel. The significant action of the episode is when he stalks a pack of beavers. He manages to hit one, but it gets away. As a Canadian, he admitted that he wasn’t too sad about their loss, as they are our national animal.

Juan Pablo

When we see Juan Pablo, he hasn’t eaten meat for more than ten days, so he decides to go out and explore. He finds bear tracks and makes a plan to lure the bears to a specific location so he can hunt one. He sets a trap and a bell using the cans he found and baits them with bits of grouse. I’m skeptical, but what do I know?

karie lee

We see Karie Lee for only a few brief moments. She washes her hair and shows the process of building her shelter, which involves digging in the dirt to reveal clay, which has a higher R-value than moss or other materials. I thought R-value only applied to insulation or windows, so that’s a fact I can mention at parties!

jessi

Jessie spent most of the episode building her permanent shelter. The woman is a beast! She is building a shelter that looks bigger than most people’s garages. She knocks over huge logs, carrying three at a time even though each one weighs 35 pounds.

Your cabin combines elements of other shelters (berm, shed, etc.), and frankly, it looks amazing, despite all the calories you’re burning building it.

He also finds a lot of berries and creates traps to catch squirrels. He catches two, and the second almost broke my heart when the mother squirrel came crying. I will not lie; I probably would have left at that point if it was me.

But, she uses this moment to make a point about our impact on the environment, how, despite seeing the deaths we cause firsthand when we live off the land, that’s causing less harm than our lifestyle in the age modern.

my review

As such, I’m moving Jessie into my top three, along with Adam and Tiemojin. If she can witness the grieving of a mother squirrel without breaking down, I think she has a good chance of overcoming the emotional challenges of Only!

When it comes to hunting a bear, Juan Pablo is the only one who has really made an effort. But then again, there’s Igor the Grouse Chopper…

The next episode aired last night, June 16, on the History Channel.

I apologize for the delay in this review – StackTV posted the episode a few days later in Canada on Amazon Prime. Hopefully it was a one time mistake and I’ll have the next review for you in time!

TS Beier is obsessed with science fiction, the ruins of the industry and Fallout. She is the author of What Branches Grow, a post-apocalyptic novel (which was a Top 5 finalist at the 2020 Kindle Book Awards and a semi-finalist in Hugh Howey’s 2021 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition), and the Burnt Ship Trilogy (space opera). She is a book reviewer, editor, freelance writer, and co-owner of Rising Action Publishing Co. She currently lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband, two wild children, and a shepherd-mastiff.

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Why Fawn Rescues Fail | Wired MeatEater to hunt

Everyone knows not to disturb a bird’s nest. In fact, many people enforce the myth that birds abandon all eggs or chicks touched by humans.

Why, then, should wildlife agencies remind the masses every May and June to keep their gloves off “abandoned” fawns huddled under bushes, backyard decks, and even parked cars? And why do politicians scold wildlife agencies while “paroling” bottle-fed “rescue fawns” that the agency intends to euthanize, based on science-based policy?

Well, maybe people feel more affectionate and more capable of raising fawns than feathered chicks. Their empathy is so strong that they cannot believe that they will doom a fawn to an early death or lifelong captivity by taking it to the nearest wildlife rehabilitator.

“People don’t understand why an animal the size of a human would leave its baby alone in the forest and only come back once or twice a day to feed it,” said Professor Duane Diefenbach, a wildlife researcher in the school of sciences. Penn State farms. “Our offspring depend heavily on us for years, and we spend a lot of time and effort caring for and raising them. Humans assume something is wrong if they don’t see a mother deer near each fawn. It’s hard to convince them that the doe is within earshot, and that they should just walk away and leave the fawn alone.”

Few ‘Rescued Fawns’ Survive
Humans, of course, are ill-equipped to herd fawns during their first few weeks of life. Even if they are successful, the fawn will likely not survive the first three months and return to the wild. Connecticut researchers Scott Williams and Michael Gregonis monitored 29 injured or apparently orphaned fawns raised by licensed wildlife rehabilitators and released at three months of age in 2010 and 2011. Of those 29 fawns, 25 died within three months. to his release. The 100-day survival rate for all fawns was 13.8%.

Those results, published in 2015 in The Wildlife Society Bulletin, were slightly worse than those reported in a 2004 study led by Jeff Beringer at the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Beringer reported that the 100-day survival rate of 42 fawns collected by the public and raised by wildlife rehabilitators in 2000 and 2001 was 23.2%. He also noted that his research team was unable to account for another 11 radio-collared fawns after losing their signals. In the first month after the fawns’ rehabilitation and release alone, 22 of them (52%) were dead. The Missouri researchers also reported that fawns that lived longer than 100 days generally stayed close to human habitations, often becoming a nuisance or causing safety problems.

Connecticut researchers reported similar concerns. His 2015 project looked at two methods of releasing fawns at three months of age. The 13 fawns that were “gently released” had unlimited access to human-provided food and water inside their release pen, which was kept open and well-stocked so the fawns could come and go freely. The other 16 fawns were “released” into an 8.7-square-mile state forest without further assistance. All fawns wore expandable radio collars, were monitored daily for 30 days, and then two to three times per week after the first month.

All 16 fawns released with difficulty died within five weeks of release. And while four of the 13 gently released fawns lived to be more than 100 days old, they remained close to their release pen and “lacked the behavioral attributes that truly wild white-tailed deer need to survive to adulthood.”

Easy prey
The Connecticut study reported the same causes of death for both delivery methods. Necropsies cited coyotes for 56% of deaths; unknown causes for 16%; shootings (one legal, one illegal), 8%; vehicle collisions, 8%; pneumonia, 8%; and bobcat, 4%.

The Missouri study reported similar causes of death, citing canids (dogs or coyotes) for killing 15 fawns, 50%; unknown for six fawns, 20%; drowning and other accidents of three fawns, 10%; lynx for three, 10%; poachers for two, 6%; and legal hunting for one, 3%.

The studies also noted that the mortality rates of “rehabilitated” fawns exceeded those of fawns raised in the wild by their biological mothers. Earlier studies from Missouri found that fawn mortality in the wild can exceed 50%, but most fawns make it by the time they reach 10 weeks of age. In one study, only 16% of fawns died between 10 weeks of age and 6 months. Similarly, the Connecticut researchers said their rehabilitated fawns were dying at nearly twice the rate of deer raised in the wild in similar climates.

Both studies raised another concern about rehabilitating fawns in captivity and releasing them into the wild: In addition to making fawns dependent on humans, penning them with other fawns in a region could expose them to chronic disease and, more recently, COVID-19. 19. Therefore, several states require rehabilitators to accept and release pups only from their county of residence and to euthanize “rescued” pups from CWD-infected counties. If fawns spread the disease to other deer in the facility, and those deer escape or are released elsewhere, they could spread the disease further.

Unfortunately, politicians often complicate these situations by not explaining their state’s science-based policy. Instead, some agencies require exceptions. That’s especially common once people name a fawn and notify the media when a wildlife agency intends to euthanize it.

In 2011, for example, former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker stepped in to save “Charlotte,” a 15-month-old doe that a Lake Geneva man nursed back to health after she was hit by a car and also killed. his mother. The man contacted a Chicago newspaper after refusing to turn over the deer to the Department of Natural Resources. “Charlotte” eventually ended up in captivity for life.

The Wisconsin DNR received death threats about two years after euthanizing a fawn named “Giggles.” A family took the fawn to a Kenosha County animal shelter in August 2013 after “finding” it nearby. Upon learning of the fawn’s situation, the DNR visited the shelter, removed the fawn, and euthanized it. Governor Walker said the DNR’s policy should be reexamined, adding, “I don’t want to see anything like that again.”

However, the agency’s policy-setting board refused to change the rule.

Science Justifies a Hard Line
As Beringer pointed out in the 2004 Missouri study, wildlife agencies believe the science-based approach is justified.

“The money and effort expended to raise orphaned and ‘harvested’ white-tailed deer fawns does not result in the long-term survival of the animals and does not appear to be a humane alternative,” Beringer wrote. “It appears that human-inhabited fawns probably won’t go back to being wild deer. Although some released deer may survive, they show little fear of humans and can become a nuisance or present public safety concerns.”

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ohio hunting lottery

by: Talia Naquin

Aware:

Updated:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife offers a special lottery for controlled hunts.

Hunters can apply for the opportunity to chase deer, waterfowl, doves, pheasants, squirrels and quail on public lands for special hunts during the 2022-2023 season. The program is open to adults, youth, people with reduced mobility, and mentors with apprentices with firearms and archery options. All applicants must have a valid Ohio hunting license.

The hunters will be randomly chosen from the applications. Applicants will be notified by Monday, August 8.

Each controlled hunt will have its own unique location and specific rules and requirements.

Hunters can apply beginning July 1 at the Ohio Wildlife Licensing System or by calling 1-800-703-1928. There is a $5.50 service fee for the phone option. Each hunt requires a $3 application fee. Hunters can apply to each hunt once a year. Participants may use a deer driving permit during controlled deer hunts. Deer management permits are $15 and can be used to hunt antherless deer only.

More on the hunts here.

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Capturing squirrels behind a camera lens | Webster Kirkwood Times



squirrels1.jpg

Toby and Knovac take a break from hunting acorns for some good time and some brotherly love in the crotch of a Kirkwood tree. | photo courtesy of Dave Slane


If you’ve been paying attention to wildlife near your home, you may have noticed that the squirrels are going a little crazy. They are in their pre-winter ritual of hoarding and burying acorns.

One animal expert who finds the squirrels’ antics fascinating is Charlie Hoessle, former director of the Saint Louis Zoo. Hoessle has been in close contact with large wild animals at the world-renowned zoo, but he has a soft spot for squirrels.

“We have two white squirrels, which are quite rare, living in the trees near my house,” said Hoessle, who lives in Sunset Hills but enjoys meeting friends for morning coffee in Webster Groves several times a week. week. “I don’t know how they got here, but they show up from time to time and don’t seem bothered by all the gray squirrels.”

Hoessle has a bunch of photos of the white squirrels in his neighborhood that he took with his cell phone. This is quite an achievement because white squirrels can be shy as they are highly visible outdoors and vulnerable to predators.

White squirrels’ vulnerability has made them rare, but they are abundant in an Illinois town. Olney is the capital of America’s white squirrels, and city police impose heavy fines on anyone who harasses them or hits them, even accidentally, with a vehicle.

Hoessle Zoo’s specialty was snakes, and a bronze statue of him stands in front of the herpetarium, which is named after him. Hoessle is always ready to talk about snakes, but these days he’s also eager to talk about his squirrel friends: white, black, red or gray.

“I lure white squirrels into my yard by sprinkling some cracked corn,” he said. “I can never tell when they will show up, but the corn seems to attract them.”

Hoessle said the Saint Louis Zoo had some squirrels in the children’s zoo before it closed.

“People were always donating squirrels to the St. Louis Zoo because we had a place for them there for a period of time,” he said.



squirrels2.jpg

Kirkwood dentist Dave Slane and his patient Maddie Black are barking up the right tree for the squirrels’ company. Maddie now enjoys chipmunks in Arkansas, where she attends college. | photo courtesy of Dave Slane


photojournalist squirrel

Hoessle admitted that he is a bit of a hobbyist when it comes to photographing squirrels. Professional photographer Ursula Ruhl of the Webster-Kirkwood Times has been photographing squirrels in her Webster Groves backyard for years.

She can offer advice on how to photograph squirrels. For example, good photos of squirrels should be up close to show their character, according to Ruhl. She said action photos are the best.

“Squirrels make good subjects because they’re just cute,” Ruhl said. “They are very cunning and will work very hard to get to a food source, namely your bird feeder.

“Sometimes it can be difficult to photograph them because they are constantly on the move and you have to anticipate what they are going to do next,” he added. “This is what makes photographing them so much fun.”

Dave Slane of Kirkwood has taken some of the best squirrel photos in the Midwest. That’s because he’s a professional tree climber first and hangs out with the furry companions. Second, he trained two chipmunks, Toby and Knovac, to hang out in his office.

The Slane office is of the dental variety. She has taken many close-up photos of Toby with some of his patients, although not all visitors to her dental office have been willing to pose with “Tobes.”

Over the years, Slane has gone from squirrel hunter to squirrel lover.

“I would hunt them down, bring them home and eat them: squirrel meatballs or fried. Then I rescued Toby and Knovac as babies from a tree.

“I bottle fed them and loved them,” she continued. “They are very sweet when you ‘imprint’ them as a father. I even kept Toby in the dental office and had one of my patients who had just had a tooth pulled out on the patio to play with Toby.”

However, Slane warned that squirrels are wild animals and do not make good pets. Also, rescued squirrels eventually grow up and have to be released into the wild where they may not last long – Mother Nature can be cruel.



squirrels3.jpg

The rare white squirrels of Olney, Illinois, are true albinos, sporting white fur and pink eyes with crystal blue irises, according to the city of Olney’s website.


Rescue at Webster

Kathy Plurad, who lives near Blackburn Park in Webster Groves, remembers a young creature her family named “Wallace the Squirrel” after a rescue and a few grueling days of nursing the baby back to health.

“My son Michael found the injured baby squirrel in a driveway while he was running down Sylvester Avenue,” Plurad said. “My husband was friends with Charlie Hoessle from the zoo from swimming at the Webster YMCA, so we contacted him.

“Charlie put us in touch with the right people at the Saint Louis Zoo for feeding and care instructions for the squirrels,” he added. “We kept him in a comfortable box and fed him rice cereal. We took him to the children’s zoo and they accepted Wallace the squirrel.”

Plurad said he is sad about the closure of the Children’s Zoo, as it was a good place to introduce children to smaller animals. And it was a haven for refugee squirrels like Wallace. Everyone needs to know more about the wildlife in their backyard, Plurad said.

“We don’t have many small mammals in the zoo. A lot of people think, ‘Why do I need to go to the Saint Louis Zoo when I have a bunch in my backyard?’” Hoessle said. “But I do think we could all benefit from knowing more about the animals we live with in our own neighborhoods. It’s amazing how much we don’t know about them.”

Squirrel Photo Contest: Winners were honored at the Magnificent Missouri event on October 17

Squirrels make great photographic subjects this time of year. They are running amok and burying acorns, it is their thing before winter.

A squirrel photo contest is already underway. Submit pictures of squirrels to Missouri’s nature blog, Environmentalecho.com. Limit of three photos per photographer. The deadline is October 15.

Winners will receive squirrel baskets filled with lots of squirrel goodies. Three winners will be announced at the Squirrel Day Table at the Magnificent Missouri Elevator Days on Sunday, October 17 in Treloar at the Katy Trial. A shuttle will be available to take visitors to the Peers Store, just east of Treloar.

Don Corrigan, editor emeritus of the Webster-Kirkwood Times, will give a Powerpoint presentation on his book, “Nuts About Squirrels,” at the Peers Store at 1 p.m. The lecture and his book detail the importance of squirrel characters in popular culture American.

For more information or to enter the photo contest, visit Ambientalecho.com.