Tactics to Beat The Heat this October

Here I am, sitting here on October 4th and looking at the 10 day forecast in Southwest Michigan with no cold front in sight. Ten freakin straight days with highs in the low 70s, and lows in the high 50s; it seems as though September has carried into the first half of October and just like all of you other avid whitetail hunters, I’m not happy about it. It seems as though in the past decade, we’ve had a few warm days like this in the early part of October, but this is the first time in recent memory that we don’t have at least a few days in the first half of October with highs in the mid 50s and lows in the high 30s or low 40s. Those are the early season days we live for as archery hunters; the bucks are on a bed to feed pattern, and the low temps get them on their feet well before dark. Unfortunately, barring some drastic change to the forecast, it looks as though we aren’t going to get one of those perfect early October days. Therefore, I would just hang up the bow for a few weeks and just twiddle your thumbs until we get some colder temps…..JUST KIDDING. I’m not a big fan of folding in poker, so you bet your ass I’m not folding these next couple weeks; let’s talk some strategies to help us notch an early October tag this year even if we have to do it looking through the sweat dripping off our forehead.

A buddy of mine Trevor killed this mature buck less than 100 yards from his bed last October in Michigan. If you’re over 100 yards from their bed, the only luck you’ll have is getting a picture of that buck on your trail camera after dark.

DITCH THE AG FIELDS

Now I say this with a grain of salt, because everybody has different goals and objectives when they venture into the whitetail woods. If you are just meat hunting and are looking to notch your doe tag or fill one of your buck tags on a young buck, then you can absolutely still make that happen on a standing bean field in these warmer temps. If you’re hunting mature whitetails though, unless you’re hunting a private farm in Iowa, I don’t think you’ll have much success sitting at the edge of a dry bean field on a 70 degree evening. This warmer weather is more than likely going to have the deer on their feet a little bit later in the evening, which means they’re going to hang around in their cooler bedding area or staging area later in the evening as well, so the chances of them making it to their primary food source during legal shooting hours is minimal. The deer are still on a bed to feed travel pattern, but while looking at that pattern on a map, look closer to position A of that pattern (bucks bed), and farther away from position B (destination food source). Which leads me into topic number 2…

PRESS BEDDING AREA

Usually this time of year, bucks are bedding in cooler areas that they can be shaded throughout the day and provide cover for when they get up on their feet in the evening. Hopefully you’ve done enough scouting leading up to the season that you know where those areas are once October rolls around. If you haven’t, hope isn’t lost-you can still do your scouting in season, but if you do bump a buck while scouting it can potentially have a more dramatic effect than if you were to bump him a couple months ago. (Especially in a state as pressure packed as Michigan) Back to my point though, in these warmer temps, bucks are probably getting up out of their bed in the evening a little bit later than they would on a brisk 50 degree October night. Now I’m not saying they are waiting until dark to get on their feet, but they might be waiting until dark to head out to the corn field a few hundred yards away from their bed. Which means the bucks are more than likely hanging out very close to their bed for the last 30-45 minutes of daylight. Mature bucks are bedded in certain areas for certain reasons, and usually you’ll find that he has something to browse on close to his bedroom; maybe he’s bedded close to an oak that has dropped some acorns he can snack on under good cover, or it could be close to a little water than he can sip on before making his way out for his late night dinner. Staging areas with food sources such as acorns, fruit trees, maple leaves, and other natural browse that are tucked right up close to bedding are my absolute favorite spots to hunt in October no matter what the conditions. I watched a buck get out of his bed just last night, and just hang out and browse on surrounding cover for 30 minutes before he made his way out toward a bean field once it was dark. In those 30 minutes, he never strayed more than 30 yards from his bed. That just paints a picture of how much you have to press those bedding areas if you want to get a shot at one of those big boys in legal shooting hours. If you’re more than 100 yards away from his bed, especially in warmer temps when he is in no rush to go eat, more often than not you’re not getting a shot at him before darkness falls. Simply put, you’re not notching your tag on a mature buck on a 70 degree evening unless you’re knocking on his bedroom door.

Use these warm temperatures to your advantage and spend an evening over a water. Deer need a drink on hot days just like we do.

WHAT’S BETTER THAN WATER ON A HOT DAY?

Let me ask you this: Do you crave a drink of water more on a cold day or a hot day? I’m guessing like any other human, you’re answer was on a hot day. Well whitetails are no different. The hotter the weather, the better an evening sit over a watering hole will be. If you have the ability at one of your hunting locations, public or private, to hunt over water that has a lot of cover around it, you could be in for a helluva evening hunt. Every watering hole is different, and whether it’s moving water or standing water, the more cover that surrounds it the better. Evening sits over water than is surrounded by cover on a warm October day can be money, because those few sips of water are just as important as any food that deer is going to consume that night. Would you want to go eat a bunch of dry food on a hot day without a drink of water? The answer is no. The same answer goes for deer- if you have a solitaire water hole to sit over on a 70 degree day, you’re going to see deer come in for a drink before they head out for dinner. Hunting over water in cover is the same as hunting over a pile of acorns in a thick staging area; deer are going to feel more comfortable in cover and they’re going to come in before dark. I keep thinking back to an early October hunt I had a few years ago up in north Michigan at my hunting camp. It was 74 degrees (very warm for Northern Michigan in October), and the only reason I was hunting is because we were at deer camp 4 hours from home, and I didn’t drive all that way to sit on the couch at camp. I was sitting close to a food plot about 75 yards away from a pond thinking to myself that I wasn’t going to see a deer that evening. Long story short, I was so wrong. I watched at least a dozen deer that evening make their way from a bedding area toward the pond and a couple of them were bucks. Not one deer stepped into the food plot until my feet hit the ground after climbing down the stand. If I had been hunting the pond that night, I probably would’ve killed a buck, but instead I didn’t have a deer in bow range all night. Use these warm temps to your advantage and find yourself a water hole to sit close to-just make sure to get your buck processed that night so the warm temps don’t cause the meat to spoil!!

Like I said at the beginning of this article, don’t let the warm temperatures in the coming weeks cause you to fold your cards and wait until the rut. Hunting season is too short and goes by too fast to sit on your couch because it’s “too warm.” If you’re not afraid to sweat, get your butt in the woods and make it happen. Mother Nature isn’t promising perfect conditions in November, so you’re better off playing with the hand you’re dealt the next few weeks. Make some adjustments-stop waiting on the edge of an ag field, press the bedding area, find some water to hunt over, and you just might make this warm spell an October to remember. Stay safe, hunt hard.

-Steve Crawford

The Fat Lady hasn't sung yet. Embrace the December cold and fill your buck tag.

Growing up, once the calendar hit December, I would always focus my full attention to doe hunting for the entire month because killing a buck in December, especially in Michigan, seemed like an impossible task. Let me remind you though, these were the days that I would be in the stand every evening I possibly could and it didn’t matter if it was cold or warm, windy or calm, and what direction the wind was blowing. I wanted to kill as many does as I could in that month, and my thought was the more time I spent in the stand, the better the chance I had.

“You can’t kill them sitting on the couch.” How naïve I was in those days trying to fill doe tags and never seeing bucks in the last month of the season. I remember one specific December I hunted 19 different days while I was on my college winter break; I was able fill a couple doe tags, but I didn’t see one buck the entire month. NOT ONE BUCK IN NINETEEN SITS. What I didn’t know at the time was how much harm I was doing to the properties I hunted by pressuring them so heavily after shotgun season had concluded. If there’s ever a time to give your property a break, its after the 15 day onslaught that naturally comes in the state of Michigan every year between November 15th and November 30th. Am I telling you not hunt in December? No, look at the title of the article; I want you to fill a tag in December, but if there’s ever a month to hunt smart and not hunt hard, this is the month to do it.

This buck was harvested by a good buddy of mine, Blake Ledger, on December 8th on public land in Michigan. Find a sanctuary and you’ll find the bucks.

I believe a common phrase should be, “Can you kill them on the couch? No. However, you can increase your odds of killing a mature buck by staying home now and then.”

Over the years, I started educating myself by reading books and articles, listening to podcasts, and approaching each hunt as an opportunity to learn something new about deer, their patterns, and the habitat in which they surround themselves. I learned the importance of sanctuaries and food sources, and how absolutely crucial they are to whitetails, especially during firearm season and throughout the winter. It really hit me a few years ago when I was sitting close to a primary bedding area that we now leave as a sanctuary year around for the deer; it was a very cold December evening during Muzzleloader season, and I had given the property a long break after normal firearm season in November. I was doe hunting per the usual, but two hours before dark I saw a six point buck come and feed in the cut corn field that butted-up to the bedding area. I couldn’t believe my eyes; a buck in mid-December showing himself on a food source at 3:30 pm. He ended up just being the first of SIX bucks I ended up seeing that night, and two of them were nice 2.5 year old bucks. I hadn’t even seen that many bucks in one sit on my best rut hunt of the year. The perfect combination of a food source next to a sanctuary on a very cold December night ended up putting multiple bucks on their feet before dark.

That leads me to my main point, you have to hunt December kind of like you hunted evenings in October. Be patient, and hunt smart, not hard; Wait for the cold fronts to go hunt over your food source that is closest to a primary bedding area. The only difference is the cold fronts this time of year have a lot more bite in them than they did in October, but that’s when you’re going to find that big guy on his feet in daylight. If temperatures have been hovering in the mid-30s most of the month, wait until you have that day where temps drop into the low 20s or lower before you go hunt over that food source. When the temperature drops to bitterly cold temps, it forces the deer to intake more calories, which will lead them to getting on their feet earlier in the day to go chow down.

All that scouting you did last February to find where the deer were bedding, where they were feeding all winter long, and the trails they used to get from bed to feed; this is when you use that knowledge to your advantage. Find those sanctuaries, because there are plenty of them out there on both public and private land. That swamp nobody dove into all gun season because it was too wet or thick, well that’s where the deer are. Anywhere there hasn’t been hunter activity is where you’ll find the deer this time of year. Locate those spots, find the closest food source, and wait for the coldest few days of the month to go hunt over that food source, or in a transition area leading to the food source.

If you’re patient, toughen up and embrace the cold weather this month, you might not have to eat that buck tag after all. I don’t want to take anything away from doe hunting either, I’ll still do plenty of it this month to fill my freezer. If filling a buck tag is the goal though, stay away from those sanctuaries until the time is right, and when those temperatures drop to uncomfortable levels of cold, remember it’s uncomfortable for the deer as well and they’ll feel the need to feed, so that’s when you take advantage of the opportunity to fill that tag. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet, time is ticking down, but there’s still plenty of time left to celebrate with your friends around a buck hanging from the rafters of your garage.

Stay warm, stay safe, and happy hunting.

Establish REALISTIC Goals that make YOU happy, not your neighbor.

The calendar has officially flipped to August, which means anybody that hunts whitetails with stick and string is starting to get fired up with anticipation for the upcoming fall, as we are only a few weeks away from chasing the next buck that will fill your freezer and may end up above your mantle in the living room. Depending on how you’ve spent time during this COVID-19 summer to be forgotten, you might be completely prepared for the upcoming fall with spots picked out, stands hung, a list of target bucks, and food plots planted. On the other hand, you might’ve been busier than ever due to COVID-19 and you still haven’t started prepping for the 2020 hunting season. No matter what boat you are in, this is the time of year to establish some REALISTIC and ACHIEVABLE goals for the upcoming hunting season. I should add, if your goals this year are predicated around making other hunters happy or jealous, this isn’t the article for you.

Every year a couple months before the season, I like to look at all of the variables and challenges I’m facing heading into the hunting season, and make a few goals for the upcoming fall that are realistic and achievable with the cards I’m dealt. With all of the media and information that is now at our fingertips, I think it’s too easy these days to fall into the trap of setting unrealistic goals for the upcoming season. I’d also like to add that goals don’t always have to include killing deer. Yes, it’s a good goal to try to fill your freezer on an annual basis, but not everybody is in the same boat you are. For instance, if you have just gained access to or bought a new piece of property, maybe your goal that year is to not kill a buck, but to educate yourself on the new property. Where’s the primary bedding? What’s the deer movement like in early season compared to the rut? Do I need to establish new habitat to hold deer on the property because they seem to be bedding and moving more on the neighbors? Where are my access points so I'm not bumping deer getting to my stand? Spending a fall answering questions like that can make you much more prepared to establish more specific goals the following season.

A good friend of mine, Robby Enslen, gained access to a small piece of property in Northern Michigan last year. He set the REALISTIC goal of educating himself on the deer movement on the property and killing a buck of any size on the property last year. Short story is that he was successful.

Too many of us watch all of these videos on YouTube and other media outlets and set extremely lofty goals to match what you are seeing happening on farms in Iowa and Kansas, or match our goals to guys that spend 6-7 days a week of hunting season in the field chasing mature bucks all over the country. In reality, most of us have higher priorities such as jobs, families, and other daily responsibilities. Hunting 5-7 times a week just isn’t possible. Outside of other priorities, the majority of whitetail hunters out there are either hunting public land, have access to a small piece of private property, or share permission on a farm with multiple other people. We all face our own variety of challenges, and I think a big step in facing those challenges is setting realistic goals for the coming season. You can watch “The Hunting Public” for hours on end, but if this coming season is your first season hunting public property, it’s too lofty to set a goal of killing a mature buck your first year on public land. Not saying that it won’t happen, but a more realistic goal like maybe putting your eyes on a mature buck, or shooting a 2 year old buck, will probably add some happiness and success to your upcoming season. Let’s say you’re a Michigan hunter that has hunted over bait your entire life, but last year you struggled to see deer because baiting is now illegal. Well maybe a good goal for you this year is to find a public land spot that has a lot of good deer sign and try to become a better public land hunter and sharpen your skills as a woodsman.

I could go on and on with examples of realistic goals you could set for the upcoming deer season, but like I said before, everybody has their own unique challenges they have to deal with every hunting season, and it’s only fair to yourself to look at those challenges and set goals that you would be happy to achieve while trying to overcome the challenges you face. I’ve made the mistake myself of setting unrealistic goals, and all it usually leads to is unhappiness and frustration as deer season comes and goes so quickly as it always does. One of the best parts of hunting is the comradery and the story telling, and the best stories are usually the stories of success. Well if you’re trying to kill a 4.5 year old buck on a 10 acre piece of property in an area that might not even hold a 4.5 year old buck, chances are you won’t be sharing any success stories this upcoming fall. For my guys in Michigan, having a goal to kill a 5 year old+ buck on a new piece of property is like a first year sales associate setting a goal to become CEO by end of his/her first year on the job, it’s just not going to happen.

With less than two months remaining until we are climbing treestands, this is the perfect time to sit down and look at the cards you’ve been dealt for this upcoming season and establish realistic goals that will make this season a success. Every year we are dealt a different hand, so establishing the same goals year after year doesn’t make sense either. Remember, establish goals that will make YOU happy, not the guy next door who has a 400 acre lease somewhere with multiple monster bucks running around. Too often do I see one hunter trashing another hunter’s success; we all have unique challenges we need to overcome in order to be successful, the quicker we realize that, the more success stories and high-fives we can share with each other. I don’t about you, but with all of the negativity in the world right now, we could all use a few success stories from the whitetail woods.

Sleep in and Kill a bird: Sounds like a Win-Win

I love turkey hunting, and I especially love turkey hunting in the morning. There’s something beautiful and peaceful about being in nature and listening to the woods wake up around you. At least it’s peaceful momentarily, until you hear the sound off in the distance you woke up so early to hear. Then the peace turns into adrenaline and excitement; as you listen intently to try to figure out what tree that sound came from, and how far away the sound came from.

There’s something about a turkey gobble that makes both the first time turkey hunter’s neck hair stand straight up, and the experienced turkey hunters heart rate increase dramatically, even though they’ve heard over a thousand gobbles in their life. Maybe because the sound is so distinct and different than any other bird, or maybe it’s the fact that knowing a gobbler is in the area just amps up the hunt so much more. Who knows, but what I do know is if I take someone turkey hunting for the first time, and they don’t get excited about hearing a roosted tom gobble his face off, then I’m going to think something is wrong with that person.

There is a lot of excitement in playing cat and mouse with a roosted gobbler, and trying to get him to fly down in your direction so you can get an opportunity to drop the hammer on him before he finds a hen to follow around for a few hours and completely ignore your calls. Once that tom starts heading in a direction away from you with his hens, then it’s usually a couple hour waiting game until he breaks off from the hens and you could have another opportunity in the late morning or middle of the day.

OR, you could take that waiting game out of the equation. For all the reasons I mentioned above, I love hunting turkeys early in the morning off the roost, BUT I also love sleeping in after waking up at 4am day after day in hopes that one time that gobbler flies down from his roost in my direction. When it comes down to mathematics, there’s only a small percentage chance that he will fly down right at you. Even if he hears your calling and is interested, if he catches a hen fly down before him, he will most likely follow her. If he’s been educated by you or other hunters before, he might fly away from your calls. Or he might fly down in the same direction every single morning no matter what the chatter is like around him. Lastly, if you don’t know exactly where he is roosted, you might get too close to his roosting tree and spook him trying to sneak in early in the morning (I’ve been guilty of that one numerous times.) At the end of the day, there are so many variables when it comes to trying to kill a turkey first thing in the morning, sometimes it’s best to skip the first couple hours of the morning altogether to increase your odds.

I notched my Michigan turkey tag on this beautiful gobbler last spring. Time of kill: 12:42 pm. He came sprinting into my decoys after I hit my slate call one time.

My advice to all the turkey hunters out there that are having a hard time killing birds in the early morning is simple: SLEEP IN. Sleep in, have a coffee and some breakfast, and hit the woods around 10 am and see if you can trick a tom in the middle of the day. The truth is, most gobblers are a lot more susceptible to calls in the late morning and middle of the day. Usually a tom will get with a hen or a few hens first thing in the morning, and spend a few hours following them around and showing himself off in full strut. Two things will happen, either he’ll end up breeding a hen, or they’ll make it clear they want nothing to do with him. Either of those outcomes will leave the tom by himself after he breeds a hen or she kicks him to the curb, and a lonely tom is just like a lonely single dude at a bar; desperate for love and highly likely to make stupid decisions to find it.

When a tom is on the prowl and looking for another hen, that is your best chance to entice him with your hen call and decoys, and usually by the late morning hours he’s all alone looking for another mate. A tom with hens might note your presence and check on you later, or he might avoid you altogether if he’s already with his ladies. A tom by himself though will be very interested in checking out the hen you’re pretending to be, and sometimes approach very aggressively if he’s already been shut down earlier that morning because he has one thing and one thing only on his mind; breeding any hen that will let him. I like a jake-hen decoy setup, it has worked well for me in the past because the last thing a tom wants to see is an adolescent male stealing away a hen that is ready to breed. However, sometimes these midday toms are so fired up and ready to breed that you don’t even need decoys to get the job done. Any sound of a hen will get them running in your direction without a thought and they’ll be in your lap before you know it.

Talk to any experienced turkey hunter, and more often than not they will tell you that they’ve killed most of their birds in the later hours of the morning, not right off the roost. Yes, listening to the woods wake up as the gobbles echo throughout the timber is one of the best parts of turkey hunting, but the BEST part about turkey hunting is notching your turkey tag on a big old gobbler that you fooled and called right into your lap. Not saying it won’t be challenging to kill a tom midday, but the chances of him making a mistake are much higher when he’s alone and looking for love.

I think we can all agree that those 4am alarm clocks sometimes go off a little too early, and 8 hours of sleep feels a hell of a lot better than 5 hours of sleep. Do yourself a favor this weekend, or the next day you hit the turkey woods; sleep in, have a coffee and some breakfast, take your time getting out into the woods, and drop the hammer on that tom you’ve been trying to kill off the roost the past couple weeks.

-Steve Crawford

With November looming, it's goodbye social life. Hello whitetail woods.

I don’t want to downplay how beautiful the state of Michigan is during the month of October. Our fall colors are hard to beat, and for most of society it’s depressing to watch the leaves slowly fall from the trees to signal another gloomy and cold Michigan winter looms. Not us. Not whitetail hunters. The colors are beautiful, but with every red or yellow leaf that hits the ground it signals another leafless rut is upon us. As the calendar turns toward November, the only purpose an existing leaf serves is that it annoyingly blocks the view of a buck I’m trying to watch cut across a cut cornfield.

October hunting is fun, and I would never wish it away; any time in a treestand is good for the mind and the soul. Trying to pattern whitetails early season, hunting bachelor groups of bucks, doing some slick-head slaying to fill the freezer, and trying to pinpoint primary bedding areas to sneak into are all fun October activities. However, the ticker ticks a little bit more aggressively when those bachelor groups stop enjoying each others company and start pinning their ears back at each other. First, it’s the little bucks that start bumping does around a couple weeks into October. Then a couple days later you spot a mature buck just before daylight for the first time since September. At the same time you start seeing scrapes significantly multiply throughout the timber and field edges. Finally it happens; November is visible on the 10 day forecast and we get a cold front accompanied by a high pressure system and the woods come alive. Bucks you have 15 night time pictures of finally start broadcasting their presence during daylight hours and the activity only increases as November quickly approaches.

In my home state of Michigan, the last week of October is actually my favorite time to be in a treestand as it can sometimes be even more exciting and action-packed than November. Even though in the lower peninsula deer numbers are at an all-time high, one of the main issues Michigan has is its buck-to-doe ratio. In some areas of the state it is above 10 does to every buck, and the fact that fawns are born at a 1 to 1 buck to doe ration shows how big of a problem we really have. What I am getting at is that since the doe numbers are so high, once they start to go into estrus, in many areas the bucks don’t have to move far to find them and breed them. The reason why late October can be so exciting is that a bucks testosterone is sky-rocketing and he’s ready to breed, but the majority of does aren’t quite in estrus yet. That leads to bucks running all over hell trying to find a doe in estrus to breed, and being very aggressive in doing so, which leads them to be much easier to call in with a grunt, bleat, or rattling bag. Depending on the buck to doe ratio in your specific area, you might see things slow down in November as more and more does go into estrus; in extreme cases, if there’s a lot of does in your area, that big buck you’ve been waiting to hunt during the rut all year long might not have to leave his bedding area to find does to breed. That can lead to a very unproductive and disappointing rut.

Not at all my biggest buck I’ve killed during the rut, but I killed him at 10:45 am. Bucks move frequently during midday hours in the first week of November. Hunt hard and you’ll be rewarded.

On the plus side to that, if you do a good job of managing your area and keep the doe numbers from exploding, you’re in for a treat the next few weeks. I’m not here to give you any strategies or tips on how to notch a tag in the next couple of weeks before the orange army is out in full force. What I am here to tell you is if you really want to be successful this season, you might have to say “no” to a few social events and turn your out of office email on for a few days. HUNT HARD; all day sits are going to be the most productive. Go to any big buck state like in the Midwest and ask locals when the majority of big bucks are killed. The numbers are staggering on how many bucks are killed between the hours of 10am and 3pm during the first couple weeks of November. Rain, shine, snow, or wind you need to be a treestand. You don’t have to watch your football team the next couple weekends, football will be there after the rut. You can’t shoot them being on the couch, so chase tail like you’ve never chased tail before.

As for where the weather forecast sits right now, it’s looking like the last week of October and first week of November are going to be DYNAMITE. The pressure is steadily climbing and is going to reach 30.4 on Halloween, with a small drop after that, but it is going to stay above 30 for the foreseeable future. On top of that, it is going to be COLD. Like snow could fall cold. Highs in the low 40s and lows in the high 20s are going to lead to extremely high deer activity in daylight hours, and the fact that there’s a new moon is just icing on the cake. A few rain drops might fall mid week, but who cares, a few rain drops aren’t going to keep the bucks from being on their feet.

It’s time folks. Put down the remote control. Use the vacation you’ve been saving up. Tell your family you’ll see them on Thanksgiving. Hunt hard, put food on the table and racks on the wall. It’s the best time of year for a whitetail hunter, but in order to hunt whitetails you have to be in the woods. Goodbye social life, hello whitetail woods. Stay safe, shoot straight, and happy hunting!

Are you a sitter or are you a hunter?

I look at my phone to check the time, it’s 7:22 pm and camera light and shooting light are aggressively fading as I watch a couple does and a really nice 9 point feed 250 yards away in the bean field I’m observing for the evening sit. It’s October 15th, smack dab in the middle of the “October lull.” I will always be a believer that the October lull is a load of horse manure; day time deer movement is related to weather patterns and hunting/human pressure that specific area endures. I say that with a grain of salt though, I admit I have only shot one buck between the dates of October 9th and October 20th. As I watch the clock hit 7:23 pm and realize the deer I’m watching aren’t going to come my way before darkness falls, a quote I heard Dan Infalt of the hunting beast say while watching “The Hunting Public” on YouTube hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Too many people are sitters, there’s not a ton of hunters out there.”

Now for the harsh reality: more often than not, I'm a sitter. I know how to pinpoint pieces of property to see quality bucks, but when it comes down to it, I find myself sitting in “observation stands” and watching good bucks at 100+ yards. I finally bought myself a run and gun stand this year in order to be more mobile and get myself closer to bigger deer, but in the years leading up to this year I can’t count how many times I’ve watched big bucks walk just outside of bow range. Now I want to clarify, there’s nothing wrong with being a sitter, especially with a rifle or shotgun in your hands, and sometimes you can be in the right spot at the right time with a bow in your hands. There’s many people that like to just sit in a treestand to escape the stresses of life and enjoy Gods creation, and if a buck or doe happen to walk by it’s just an added bonus. However, I’ve come to the realization, especially in my home state of Michigan, that if you want to be successful in killing a quality buck on an annual basis, you have to be an aggressive hunter, not a conservative sitter. Does a wolf sit in the same spot for hours on end waiting for his prey to casually walk by? No, he goes to wear his prey resides and aggressively hunts them until he’s successful. I’m not saying to go tearing through a bedding area like a wolf would, but if you know a quality buck is bedded in a certain area, why not move in on him? There’s too many variables, and hunters, in Michigan to hope and lean on the fact that the buck survives until he walks out into your bean field when you have a gun in your hand.

Blake Ledger, a hunting buddy of mine from here in Michigan, is an extremely aggressive hunter. He killed this Michigan public land giant AFTER the rut in December by getting as close as he could to the bucks bedroom.

If one of your goals this hunting season is to notch your tag on a quality buck, I challenge you to become more of a hunter than a sitter this fall. I’m challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone and move in on those bedding areas when the wind allows me, and do something different like figure out a way to quietly get 10 feet up in a tree close to his bed, or maybe sit on the ground if it means getting within bow range of him. I challenge you to do the same thing. If you have a “honey hole” that produces every year in the rut, or you don’t care what kind of buck you notch your tag on, that is completely fine. Hunt your hunt. Otherwise, if you want to kill a quality buck with stick and string, look yourself in the mirror and ask if you are doing everything you can to kill that deer. Chances are you’re not, and chances are you are sick of watching that buck walk by at 100 yards. Throw away the articles from Iowa private land that show how to setup between bedding and feed because this isn’t Iowa, or Illinois, or Kansas. This is Michigan and you have to work harder and think outside the box to grip and grin with a quality buck in your hands. Be aggressive. Be mobile. Be a wolf. Walk past the same stand you’ve been hunting the past five years, be different with your tactics, and use the knowledge you have of the property to get close and don’t be afraid of bumping deer on your way in.

Until that first doe goes in heat, that buck you’re after is staying close to his bedroom in an area he feels safe until dark. Be a hunter and get close to his bedroom, and kill him in bright daylight in the area he has felt safe for the past couple years. If it doesn’t work, oh well, you were no less successful than you would’ve been sitting in your observation stand and hoping he walks by once the rut kicks in.

With that being said, the craziness of rut is going to kickoff within the next 10 days, but with the craziness comes an increased chance that your buck gets kicked on the neighboring property. Don’t let that happen and kill him before the rut begins. Good luck and stay safe!

ALMOST perfect week one. Mid-October Preview

Even though all of my tags are still in my pocket, that was probably the best week one of deer season we could’ve asked for here in Michigan. Opening day and day two weren’t ideal as expected, but that set us up for a great end of the week as the temperature dipped into the 40s and the pressure skyrocketed into the 30s. The result was social media being flooded with great bucks taken all over the state in both the mornings and the evenings, which is rare this time of year. There is always a good amount of good bucks taken in the evenings week one, but the fact people were killing bucks in the morning shows that daylight activity was significantly increased due the cold front and high pressure system that hit the whole state with vengeance. Sometimes all it takes is a little cold snap to keep those bucks feeding overnight for a touch longer than usual. With that being said, the pressure is suppose to dive back down into the high 20s over the next couple weeks which isn’t fun to look forward to, but we’ll get into that in a second.

As for a week one recap for myself, I started the week in lower Michigan the first few days of the season. On opening day I stayed out of the my spots due to the warm weather, but I did film my buddy Tommy in a spot he has in a great staging area surrounded by oak trees. We saw quite a few does, but no horns that night as expected with the warm weather. On day two I just sat and observed a bean field and again on snubbed on buck movement, again as expected with the high winds, warm temperatures, and consistent rain. Day three (October 3rd), I headed north to hunt with my good buddy Rob Enslen in the Cheboygan area. The third day of the season was just as expected; just an insane amount of deer movement. Between Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the temperature dropped 20 degrees and the pressure went up into the 30.2 range. Remember, the sweet spot for a pressure system when accompanied by a cold front is between 30.1 and 30.3. Due to the weather change, we saw a couple good northern Michigan bucks and a whole mess of does on Thursday evening. Nothing close enough to shoot, but it was our first time hunting the property so we sat in a spot we could observe a big meadow that had natural clover in it that the deer were chowing on all night. We put a plan in place to get within bow range of the bucks the following evening.

My cousin, Justin Crawford harvested this quality buck on the morning of Thursday, October 3rd in Van Buren County. He stayed at home the first two days of the season, and waited for the cold front to come through. Patience paid off!

Before the following evening though we decided to try a different spot Friday morning; a spot that Rob was confident we’d get in bow range of a big slick head, but he not had any trail cam pictures of good bucks at the property all summer. To prove how much a high-pressure system can get the bucks on their feet: The first three deer we saw Friday morning were bucks. One of the bucks was a good 3 year old that we almost closed the deal on, but we were unable to get a shot at him. To make a long story short, we setup a ground blind early Friday morning and we didn’t get it in the correct spot and it pretty much botched our hunt. We did end up seeing around 10 deer though, just nothing besides a small 6 point came in close. The highlight of Friday morning was getting a call from a good friend of mine Nick Kissane, who shot his first buck with a bow on Friday morning! Nick just started bowhunting last year, so I was ecstatic to learn he was able to fill a tag on a nice 8 point. Friday evening we set out to the property we saw the good buck on Thursday evening, unfortunately the deer were on a different pattern and we didn’t see any of the shooter bucks we saw the evening before.

From there I went to our new deer camp property outside of Onaway, MI in Northeast Michigan for the rest of the weekend. Long story short, we didn’t see the number of deer we expected to see; no shooter bucks were sighted and overall deer sightings were very low. Overall as expected though, deer activity throughout the state was extremely high toward the end of the week.

A good buddy of mine, Nick Kissane, with a well deserved grip and grin! His first buck with a bow. Nick just got into bow hunting last year, so to be able to notch a tag this early into the season is impressive!

Mid-October Preview

I’m not a huge believer in the October lull, but we truly might have one this coming week looking at the weather heading our way. If there is one positive, it looks like a cold front will be moving in this upcoming weekend, but it is not accompanied by a high-pressure system. Actually while the temperature steadily drops this weekend, so will the pressure system. I think you’ll see a lot of young bucks and does on their feet with the cold front moving in, but I’m not confident that quality bucks will be on their feet in daylight hours. On top of all of that, Sunday is calling for a full moon which will decrease the daylight activity as well. On the plus side, looking at the forecast it looks like once this cold weather gets here this weekend, it’s here to stay for the foreseeable future. If the cold temps hang around, and the pressure eventually increases, then you have a great recipe for putting good bucks on the ground.

As you can see from this picture, pressure is taking a nose-dive this weekend and staying low continuously into next week. Cold temps aside, low pressure and full moon equals decreased daylight activity for quality bucks. Great week to shoot a doe and fill your freezer!

If you itching to get in the woods though, there’s still a couple strategies you can use to be successful during the next two weeks or so before the pre-rut starts to kick in. Your best bet to see a good buck in daylight hours over the next week is to find the acorns if you haven’t already. If you can position yourself between a primary bedding area and a major food source where there happens to be some oak trees then you’re golden. The closer you are to the bedding area the better, so don’t be afraid to be aggressive and get as close to the bedding areas as you can with the wind in your favor. More than likely a mature buck is going to take his time getting to the food source in the evening, so if you can get tight to his bedding area and find a few acorns to sit over top of you might find him snacking on those at last light before he heads to a larger food source. Another good option this time of year is hunting a scrape or rub line that is at the edge of a standing corn field. Assuming that most bucks know by know they are being hunted, I don’t see a mature buck presenting himself in a open bean field in daylight, but he might sneak along the edge of standing corn field where he feels he could move down his scrape line undetected.

Now those are ideas for guys that are chasing good Michigan bucks, but as I always say HUNT YOUR HUNT. This cold front coming this weekend will definitely have the young bucks and does on their feet, so if you’re just trying to notch a few tags and fill your freezer no matter what kind of headgear the deer supporting this next week could be a great week for you! Any kind of food source sit in the evenings will surely be accompanied with some deer activity before nightfall, so if you’re doe hunting be on your A game because they’ll be on their feet!

Good luck to everyone this upcoming week! I’ll be back for a pre-rut forecast!

IT'S HERE. Week 1 Forecast-Be Patient and Hunt Smart, Not Hard.

No, it’s not Christmas Eve. This day is head and shoulders above Christmas Eve. Today is September 30th, and if you’re an outdoorsman from Michigan that means one thing: DEER HUNTING SEASON. Technically, deer season starts on October 1, but it might as well start today because absolutely nobody that hunts with stick and string is focused on work or anything else today. However, with all the anticipation, sometimes the first week can be a major letdown due to warm temperatures, low pressure, and other weather related factors. In past years, myself and I’m sure plenty of others have been guilty of giving into the anticipation of bow season and heading to the woods on days we should absolutely not be out there. Whether its the temps are too high, the pressure is too low, or the wind is blowing in the wrong direction; the anticipation overwhelms us and we go sit in a treestand, and more than likely do more harm than good. Then we sit around the next few weeks and either wonder why we aren’t seeing any deer, or blaming it on the “October lull.”

This year I’m not asking you to sit at home the first week of October; that’s absolutely asinine. Outside of the rut, if you hunt smart, the first week of October is your best chance to close the deal on a good buck in the mitten state. The point I want to get across today is to be patient, and unless you have an absolutely perfect setup for October 1, overcome the anticipation and stay home. The weather is calling for high temps (as high as 82 in some areas), low pressure, and possible thunderstorms. You might see a few does just before dark, but the chances of seeing a mature buck in daylight are slim to none with those kind of weather conditions. The only type of setup I see having a potential of working is a heavy shaded staging area tucked up close to a bedding area; in an area like that you might be able to see a buck on his feet moments before darkness falls.

For those of you who don’t have a perfect setup though, sitting out October 1st will more than likely work out in your favor. Even though rain is in the forecast the following couple days, the temperature will steadily decline. The pressure won’t be very high on 2nd, but I think the drastically lower temps will have the deer feeding before dark. Thursday the 3rd through Saturday the 5th is where this week really gets interesting. Thursday is going to be windy, but cold temps will accompany that wind, and the pressure is steadily rising all day long until it hits its peak of 30.34 on Friday. If high winds don’t bother you, Thursday evening will definitely have increased deer activity with the cooler temps and rising pressure. This Friday and Saturday will offer the best early season hunting this year; high pressure at the back end of a cold front almost always guarantees increased deer activity. Last year we had a similar weather pattern October 4th-October 6th and big bucks were dropping like flies all over the state. Cold Temps, high pressure between 30.1 and 30.3, and lower winds will have the deer on their feet, and more importantly the bucks on their feet well before dark.

Joe Kemper, a good hunting buddy of mine, arrowed this solid Michigan Buck on October 4th last year at the tail end of a cold front. We have a similar weather pattern awaiting us at the back half of this week as well.

As long as you’re taking wind into serious consideration while approaching your stand and hunting your stand, you should definitely see increased buck activity the back half of the week. This week one forecast is not a lecture to stay at home October 1st, if you want to be in the stand tomorrow by all means get after them whitetails. The point I’m trying to get across is if you sit out day 1 and maybe day 2, you’ll more than likely reap the benefits and see quite a few deer on their feet before nightfall on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Before I sign off, I want to remind everyone to hunt your hunt. Don’t let other peoples thoughts and comparisons ruin your excitement this fall. If your trophy is doe or a small forky, then be proud of it! Meat in the freezer, the comradery of hunting camp, being in a treestand to enjoy Gods creation, and to experience the intensity that God intended us to have when we shoot a deer is what hunting is all about. Stay safe and shoot straight.

-Steven Crawford

2019, The Year of the Unknown

If each day was a page in a book that is laying open in the middle of a field, it seems every year that the wind picks up and the pages turn faster in June, July, and August. The summer months arrive and every deer hunter starts to get a little excited for the coming fall, and starts to make plans to prepare for the season ahead. However, just like everyone else, June and July go by and you go to the beach, to a stupid amount of weddings, to the lake, to family parties, and to the golf course, and before you know it August has arrived and you haven’t done a single thing to prepare for the upcoming season except put a few trail cameras out. Ok, that might not be all of you, but that was me this past summer.

I’m very similar to the vast majority of whitetail hunters; checking trail cameras and finding a mature buck is like opening a spectacular present on Christmas morning. I LOVE IT. In past summers, I’ve been all about trail cameras and summer scouting to know the inventory of the deer in my area, and coming up with a plan of attack to put an arrow in a big Michigan buck. Dating back to my teens and early twenties, I would put multiple trail cameras at multiple properties and check them every two weeks. I did this for years until it finally hit me that I was doing more harm than good recklessly walking around my best properties with no regard to the scent I was throwing around all summer long. The past few years I had taken a different approach of setting up my cameras in early June close to primary bedding areas, on food sources, and heavily used trails and not checking them until Labor Day weekend. Even though I didn’t necessary put more bucks on the wall using this approach, I definitely saw an increase in deer and more specifically buck movement during daytime hours once the season began. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about right? Being out in the woods enjoying nature and seeing deer.

WRONG. Well, not entirely wrong, because I do love truly love being out in Gods creation and enjoying wildlife, but at the end of the day I also yearn for the intensity of shooting a deer and putting meat in my freezer. Last year was an eye opening year for me; in all honesty it was a tough pill to swallow. I became a published outsoor writer, and launched this Chasing Legends page. Naturally, because of the recognition I put a lot of pressure on myself to kill a big buck on film to prove to people I knew what I was doing in the deer woods. That led me to nothing except a big nasty tag sandwich and the pathetic hum of an empty freezer.

Last year I had more pictures and was more prepared than I ever have been to finally close the deal on a mature Michigan buck. The result was a big tag sandwich.

This year was different. When August arrived, I didn't feel the sense of panic I have in years past to check my trail cameras, scout my properties, and spend time at the properties preparing for the upcoming season. I put one trail camera out in June, when I checked it two months later I found out that it hadn’t taken a picture all summer because the battery drained hours after I put it out. In years past I would’ve been livid, but this year I felt a sense of relief. No pictures meant no expectations; no expectations to kill a buck that I had 40 pictures of throughout the summer months. No pictures also meant not being let down this fall when I don’t even see a buck that I have multiple pictures of throughout the property. In a way, having numerous pictures of mature bucks in the past made me lazy in my preseason prep. I would think to myself, “well with this many good bucks in the area, I don’t need to make many stand adjustments, one of them is bound to walk by me in the rut.” I know that’s a horrible way of thinking about it, but I know that thought crossed my mind on more than one occasion.

Other than two full days of making adjustments and necessary preparations at a couple properties in southwest Michigan, and one weekend at our property in northern Michigan, we pretty much kept our boots off the ground. Instead of making decisions based on summer pictures, we made adjustments according to new fall patterns we have noticed the deer were following in the past few years while hunting our properties. We moved a few stands that hadn’t been moved in 10+ years, we restored a stand that hasn’t been used in 5 years, and found new ways to approach the stands now that we have a good idea of where the primary bedding locations are located. Things we were reluctant to do in the past because we were in the know, we knew there was good bucks around, and figured if we are in the general area we would close the deal at some point during the season.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been tremendously successful in years past, but if you hunt an area long enough you notice that deer tendencies and patterns change as they adapt to pressure. We were noticing the changes, but just not doing anything about it to improve our chances. This isn’t an article to bash on trail cam pictures, I still love them, but it’s refreshing to not be in the know. This year we are embracing the unknown at the properties we hunt in both southern and northern Michigan, and I’m thrilled to see what kind of deer we have on the property in person instead of on a computer screen. If there’s a big buck out there, and I don’t see him, it won’t have the same negative effect it had on me in years past because there’s that old saying, “what you don’t know will never hurt you.”

I’m not alone being in the unknown this year either. Thousands of hunters around the state are clueless on what this season will bring because of the fact we can no longer bait here in Michigan. Don’t look at it as a negative though, embrace the new challenge, and embrace the unknown. With that being said, good luck to everyone this deer season, stay safe, shoot straight, and cheers to the unknown. See you in a few weeks, I’m off to the Rockies to chase elk.

Stop comparing, you're robbing yourself of joy.

Even though this article pertains to hunting, you could take the title and implement it into any part of your life whether it be work, family, relationships, or sports. For now though, I’m going to be selfish and say we are going to stick to the hunting side of life because hunting is more enjoyable to write about, at least for myself. As much as I like to discuss hunting tactics as the calendar has officially shifted to summer and the anticipation of hunting season is around the corner, this isn’t going to be about tactics leading up to the year, but more of a mindset as the fall approaches.

It’s amazing how things have changed in the past couple decades when it comes to hunting and the outdoors in general. Just fifteen years ago, the only grip and grins you would see were in an outdoor magazine, or pictures stuffed in a binder that your old man had in a closet that were taken with one of those disposable kodak cameras. Fast forward to now, we are all only one or two touches on our phone screen away from scrolling through pages and pages of giant bucks, bulls, and bears taken all over the country by outdoorsman with big time money on big time hunting property. I’ll be the first one to say, it’s not fair to the 98% of us that will never see big game animals of that caliber, and if we do, it’s more than likely on a once in a lifetime hunt that we saved up for years to embark upon. Even though it is okay to dream about one day having an encounter with the buck or bull of our dreams, I believe scrolling through pages and pages of trophy animals does more harm than good. Simply put, slowly and surely it has taken the joy out of success for many of us because COMPARISONS ROB YOU OF JOY.

Now I’m not saying there weren’t any comparisons being made thirty years ago, but the sample size to compare your trophy to was much smaller than it is today. Social media has made it impossible for a hunter to be genuinely happy with their trophy, because there is always someone to bash it, post a picture of a bigger trophy, or ask them the same questions everyone hears about age, score, mass, etc. My grandpa hunted from the time he got back from World War II until the day he physically couldn’t anymore around the late 90s, and in 50 years of hunting I highly doubt he every had anybody ask him, “how old do you think that buck is?” If you truly want to immerse yourself in the outdoor experience, and enjoy it for what it is, ignore those kind of questions and STOP comparing yourself and the animals you kill to what you see on television and social media.

A good friend of mine, Tommy Enslen, shot this nice Michigan buck a couple years ago on opening day of Michigan’s bow season. Hunting a 10 acre piece of private property surrounded by pressure, this is a trophy in his book. Tommy is the perfect representation of a outdoorsman that never compares his successes to others and just enjoys the hunt!

Hunt your hunt. If shooting a doe or small buck with your bow or firearm gets your adrenaline pumping, makes you proud, and puts food on your table, then there is absolutely zero reason why you should be ashamed of telling anyone or showing it off to your buddies. The vast majority of us don’t get the opportunity to hunt mature whitetails due to the kinds of properties we hunt; whether it’s a small piece of private surrounded by other pressured private lands, or extremely pressured public land, there just isn’t mature bucks running around everywhere you look in most parts of the country. Most of us have to work our tails off just to shoot a two and half year old buck, and because of the fact the “comparison factor” is at an all time high, we are hesitant to share our story with our peers. In fact, it has become such an epidemic in the hunting industry, many of us are making some sort of “ground shrinkage” comment if we do post a picture of it on our social media just to keep people from giving us a hard time about the size of the rack. If you work your tail off for something, nobody should rob you of the joy of success. If there are people in your life that are trying to rob you of joy, then get rid of them. It is very easy to delete so-called friends on social media, so if somebody gives you a hard time for shooting a smaller deer, a deer that put food on your table, then simply unfriend that person. Nobody needs that negativity in their life.

It’s not just other people’s faults for the “comparison factor” being at an all time high in the outdoor world though; you also have to look at the man/woman looking back at you in the mirror. Are your goals realistic for the area you hunt? Why do you care how others think? Do you find yourself changing the story of your hunt to make the listener happy? Why are you really hunting, for the simple joy of the outdoors or to impress your peers? We need to get back to the basics of life and joy; if your accomplishment makes you joyful, then you shouldn’t compare your accomplishment to others. If you reached your goal and are proud of it, then it shouldn’t negatively effect your mindset if your neighbor reached a higher goal. All of us live under different circumstances; you might have worked harder for that small buck on public land than your neighbor did for his monster buck he shot on a 500 acre managed farm. The fact that a guy in Michigan who hunts on public land is comparing his buck to the guy who hunts in Iowa on a managed farm is ludicrous. Furthermore, the fact that the guy in Iowa is putting down the buck the guy shot in Michigan is even more ludicrous. Unfortunately that’s where the hunting world is right now. Everyone is so quick to judge and comment on the next guys success without any knowledge of the story or background of the hunt. It’s comparable to a CEO of a fortune 500 company trashing a minimum wage worker for being proud that he/she just purchased their first car or home.

Ask yourself, “why do I hunt?” If one of your answers is to impress others around you, I’d say you’re in the treestand for the wrong reasons. Hunting is truly one of the last activities left on this world where you can escape from the pressure and noise of everyday life and be alone with yourself and your thoughts. Where else can you go without any distractions from work, social media, and other daily distractions that make your head spin? Hunting can finally allow your mind to relax, cleanse your soul, and give you the natural adrenaline rush that is completely different than, and superior to, the artificial adrenaline rush we may get watching sports or gambling.

The second hunt on this video is a buck I shot in northern michigan in 2017. Not huge by any means, but to be with my dad and shoot a good northern michigan buck at our hunting camp made this buck a trophy.

The moment we stop comparing our own successes to the successes we see on our phones and television everyday, the more joy we will get out of hunting and truly appreciate it for what it is, and how beneficial it can be for your mental health. If somebody shoots a bigger buck than you, be happy for them, or if they shoot a smaller buck than you, be happy for them. Work hard and enjoy shooting the buck that walks under your stand this fall no matter the size of the rack. When it’s picture time, grip that rack and give that picture a grin it deserves with the work that you put into putting meat in the freezer for your family. Spread the love, stop comparing, and experience the feeling of the true joy you should feel when you are successful in the field. It starts with you.

Stop comparing yourself to others, and hunt your hunt. The pure joy of success in the great outdoors is something special, and deserves a real grip and grin.

No Bait, No Problem

I will start this by saying I have absolutely zero problem with people who hunt deer over a bait pile. I have done it many times since I started carrying around a rifle or bow, especially opening day of rifle season up north and late season doe hunting in the lower half of the mitten. There have been many hours spent watching squirrels tear away at the corn laying on the ground in front of me or watching a button buck chomp on sugar beets for hours on end. I also understand that many men and women that hunt small parcels of private or public land that have no food or bedding in the immediate area have to rely on bait in order to lure deer within range.

Without a doubt, baiting has done some wonderous things for hunters; many of us most likely shot our first deer over a bait pile and baiting has given many of us opportunities to shoot deer that we probably wouldn't have got an opportunity to shoot if it wasn’t for the corn, carrot, or apple pile in front of us. I shot my first buck with a bow when I was 13 years old about 150 yards behind my house on a 3 acre strip of timber, and there’s absolutely no way that seven point would’ve been under my tree if it wasn’t for the corn laying underneath me. Furthermore, there’s a popular notion out there that you cannot shoot mature bucks over bait, and that is absolutely not true. They might not be hitting the bait at all times of the day like does and young bucks, but a mature buck will absolutely come into a bait pile if the weather is cold and he’s hungry enough or he’s following a few of his lady friends that are coming in to chow. Mature bucks are shot over bait piles all over the country on an annual basis, so I ask my fellow hunters to stop with that notion.

Don’t tell me you cannot shoot a mature buck over a bait pile. My buddy Robby Enslen has shot multiple mature bucks coming into bait piles during both archery and firearm season. Check out this 12 point stud he tagged in Northern Michigan this past fall. The buck was following does to a bait pile.

With that being said, those days are over for the foreseeable future if you live and hunt in the great state of Michigan due to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources attempt to combat Chronic Wasting Disease, popularly known as CWD. I know many people that are already dreading next hunting season without being able to bait because that’s simply how they hunt, and now they are confident they won’t be seeing deer at their usual spots and are looking to spend more money on out of state hunts in order to increase their chances of filling their freezer come next fall. Now I’m not sitting here telling you to cancel your out of state plans, I myself will be doing quite a bit of traveling next fall trying to fill tags in a couple different states, but what I am telling you is to stop looking at the no baiting law as a negative and try to look at the glass half full and notch a deer tag by putting in a little more time prior to the season or by using a different method of hunting next year.

ENHANCE YOUR SKILLS AS A WOODSMAN

Like I mentioned above, baiting has done wonderous things for many hunters across the state, but it has also had a major repercussion for many of us that grew up hunting over bait piles without many of us even realizing it. That repercussion is the simple fact that it has greatly decreased the average bait-hunters woodsmanship. By throwing down a pile of artificial bait, you are making the animal you are hunting do an artificial act. The majority of the time you are hunting over bait, the deer that are coming to your bait would not be standing in front of you if it weren’t for the artificial bait that you put down, which means you are witnessing the animal performing an unnatural activity outside of its natural pattern. Now before I get hate mail, I’m not saying that all hunters that hunt over bait don’t have any woodsman skills, there’s plenty of people that hunt over bait that are a heck of a lot more educated about deer hunting than I am. I’m sure there’s also a ton of John and Jane Does out there that don’t care that when they shoot a deer over bait that the deer is outside of its natural pattern, and they’re just happy to notch their tag and fill the freezer and I’m completely supportive of that. For myself though, as I’ve become a more experienced hunter, I find the process and the hunting much more exciting when I’m trying to solve the riddle of the deer’s natural pattern, rather than interrupting those patterns by throwing bait down in front of me. Trying to learn an understanding of how a deer thinks, how it reacts to certain situations, and trying to pattern their daily movement has added a very exciting element to the process for myself. Also looking at different maps and coming up with a well thought-out plan of how to hunt a certain area and trying to predict how the deer travel from looking at those maps adds an exciting element to the hunt as well. Trying new things like that will undoubtedly enhance your skills as a woodsman, and add to the gratification when you are able to fill your tag.

I know in order to do things like this, many of you will have to make major adjustments to not just how you hunt, but to where you hunt as well. Enhancing your skills as a woodsman takes time, and you will have to spend more time in the field this summer scouting and learning how to hunt a new area. For those people out there that hunt over bait at a small piece of private property, take a look at some maps and find a large chunk of public property relatively close to home and do some scouting. Look for bedding areas, pinch points, travel corridors, staging areas, and food sources on the property. Once you pin point a couple areas that look promising, throw a stand up and see what happens. I’m well aware of the annual orange army that makes their appearance on public lands across the state every 15th of November, but most public land pressure is very minimal during archery season and I know plenty of people that are successful every year on public land. The new law that has completely banned baiting for 2019 is going to change the way you hunt no matter what, so in my opinion there isn’t a better year to take on a new challenge such as hunting public property or working harder to find yourself access to a larger piece of private property that contains all the essential habitat necessities a deer needs.

Overall, having a better understanding of the deer you are hunting will undoubtedly add to the excitement of the hunt. As a hunter, we LIVE to hear others tell their hunting stories. I don’t know about you, but hearing a hunting story about a guy or girl putting in the work in the summer to scout and find a pinch point between a bedding area and food source to hang a stand, and later tag a deer out of that stand because of their hard work is just the best story to listen to back at camp or around a fall evening bonfire. Much more exciting that a buck coming into the corn pile at first light; those stories are still great, but they don’t contain the same amount of excitement and sense of gratification as the others.

FOOD PLOTS

Another option that is still perfectly legal for those who have the resources and property to do it is planting a food plot. Food plots are not considered to be bait or feed by the Michigan DNR, and hunting over a food plot can still enhance your skills as a woodsman. Knowing what kind of plants deer like to feed on different times of the year, and monitoring what times and how deer are traveling to and from food plots can definitely enhance your knowledge as a deer hunter. Hunting over natural food sources such as food plots or standing agricultural crops can be a very successful way to hunt whitetails, the challenging part is learning to get to and from your stand without spooking the deer out of the food source or bumping them out of their bedding area. I always recommend hunting over food sources in the evening when you can beat them to the food source; I’ve bumped too many deer off food sources in the morning walking to my stand to inspire hunters to hunt over them for their morning sit.

My old man was able fill his tag on this beautiful Michigan buck hunting a travel corridor from bedding to a food plot. My dad gave up hunting over bait piles about a decade ago and he’s killed more nice bucks in that timeframe than he had in his previous 25 years of hunting.

MAPPING

This year I recommend taking that $100 you spent on bait last year, and using it toward purchasing onX Hunt Maps on your phone or PC. OnX Hunt is essentially a plat book for the entire country with public and public land boundaries, landowner names, and topographical and satellite maps with roads and trails to look at wherever you want to hunt or scout. While scouting a property and using the app, you can mark waypoints at certain spots that look like bedding areas, trails, pinch points, prospective blind/treestand locations, and areas where you find past rutting sign such as scrapes and rubs. It is a very effective tool that will sharpen your skills while out in the field all while making your scouting more effective. If you don't want to give public land a try, OnX shows all of the landowner names of the pieces of property you have been driving by on your way home from work for the past decade. Now that you know the landowners name and some information about the property, it might give you the confidence to go knock on his or her door to ask for permission to hunt the property. All in all, mapping is an effective tool that you can use both out in the field, or while at home on your computer so you can essentially use it year around to make you a more successful hunter.

PRESSING BEDDING AREAS

While doing your preseason scouting this spring and summer, try to locate some primary bedding areas on the piece of property you're scouting. You can do this somewhat effectively by looking at a map to get an idea of where the thicker areas on the property are, but until you put foot on the ground on that property you won't fully know until you see for yourself; don’t worry about kicking deer up while walking around this summer, if it’s truly a primary bedding area those deer will come back. Once you locate a primary bedding location, throw a trail camera up in the middle of it and let it sit for six to eight weeks, and once you take a look at the pictures and you like what you see, then its time to make a move that might be a tad out of your comfort zone if you’ve been baiting the past few years. This upcoming fall, instead of locating a bedding area and throwing a bait pile down a 100 yards away from it, press that bedding area and try to sit as close as you possibly can to it. Before heading straight to the nearest food source, a buck, especially a mature buck, will usually get up and hangout in the bedding area for the lengthy period of time before making his way toward the food source at last light. If you can get close to their bedroom, this will increase your chances of seeing a mature buck before dark and maybe fill your tag on your biggest Michigan buck yet by getting away from baiting and thinking outside the box a little bit.

Again, this in no way was intended to bash anybody who has hunted over bait on a regular basis every fall. Like I mentioned, it can be a very successful way to lure deer into range and make an ethical shot in order to fill the freezer. This was intended to give you a few ideas on how to approach this fall if this law holds up and baiting is banned for the foreseeable future. Since I’ve moved away from baiting, I’ve learned to enjoy the process on a much deeper level that has made sitting in a treestand and having encounters with whitetails that much more exciting and appreciated. Solving the riddle of the natural pattern of these stealthy animals is a huge challenge to take on, but I believe if it’s a challenge you’re willing to take on you will learn to appreciate hunting on a whole new level. If for some reason you don't, and the baiting ban is lifted, then by all means go back to baiting and enjoying that style of hunting because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!

If you plan on having a successful 2019 deer season, it’s already late March, so get out there with your Daniel Boone thinking cap and start enhancing your skills as a woodsman like the generations before us had to do it. There are many states in this country where baiting is banned, and there are plenty of successful hunters in those respective states; lets make Michigan one of those states while this baiting ban is in effect. Don’t give up hunting just because things are changing, still go to deer camp and enjoy the comradery, enjoy becoming a more skilled woodsman, enjoy the process, and enjoy the new hunting stories that begin with “No Bait, No Problem.”

NOVEMBER

TIME TO TURN THOSE NOVEMBER DREAMS INTO A REALITY

November. The one word that makes every avid bowhunters hair on the back of their neck stand up, followed by loss of sleep and high anxiety waiting patiently for that time of year to come to chase legendary whitetails across the fields, swamps, and timber that cover the Midwest. Luckily, the waiting game is over and the clock has struck November, and now it’s time to go to work, and by work I don't mean your actual 8-5 job, I mean take vacation from that work and go to work in the field. This isn’t the time of year to hunt from 7 am to 10 am, and then back out at 4pm until dark either; if you really want to harvest a mature deer you’re going to have to get comfortable and sit as long as you possibly can. All day sits are never a bad idea the first two weeks of November, and looking at the pressure systems and forecast the next two weeks, the best hours to be in stand could be from 10 am to 2 pm. Read any article, forum, or blog written by the best hunters in the industry, and you will be hard-pressed to come across any of them saying that hunting midday during the rut is a bad idea. I ran into a guy in while hunting in Ohio last year that has harvested public land giants on a yearly basis for the past decade, and he doesn't even get to his stand until 9:30am in the morning. Now I’m not saying take that advice and run with it, because I saw a stud buck this morning at 8:30 am dogging a doe all over a big CRP field, but there is something to be said about hunting midday. If you have the opportunity to do so, it is not a bad idea over these next couple weeks.

He disappeared for two months. Then the calendar turned to November, and he showed himself. Twice. 4.5 year old Michigan Magnum I’ll be dreaming about and chasing the next two weeks.

It’s not as simple as just being in the woods though; have a strategic approach and game plan in place and stick to it. Know where your primary bedding areas, funnels, and food sources are because essentially you want to be hunting the does on your property. The bucks will be where the does are, and the does will be where the food and shelter are. Don't get discouraged either if you are on the does and aren't seeing bucks right away; if there are does in the area the bucks will eventually show up as long as you continue to play the wind correctly and don't bust the does out of the area. Find well-covered funnels and bedding areas and get in tight to them because those are where your big boys will be traveling; even though they might be stupid enough to show themselves in daylight over the next couple weeks, they are old for a reason and not THAT stupid and won’t be running around like a chicken with their head cut off chasing tail.

THINK BEFORE YOU CALL

Don’t get too crazy with your calling. Grunting and bleating every 10 minutes will alarm a mature deer more than attract his attention. Keep blind calling to a minimum because the majority of the time a mature buck will circle downwind of a call to get a whiff before he approaches, and unless you’re running an ozonics, you might be doing more harm than good blind calling. Don’t completely abandon blind calling, especially if you’ve been sitting for 6+ hours and nothing seems to be happening, just make sure to do it very sparingly and keep your attention shifted toward the downwind side of your stand. If you do see a buck, and want to turn his attention your way with a call, try bleating before grunting, especially in the early part of November. The number of does in heat this early is minimal, and the majority of bucks testosterone is way up, so take advantage of that and try bleating before grunting when you are trying to get his attention; he will more than likely be more attracted to the potential of a doe in heat than a rutted up buck. A grunting buck will become more enticing to another buck as we move further into November as the number of does in heat increases, and the sound of a bleat won’t be as enticing as it was when the number of does in heat was minimal in the early part of November.

RUT FORECAST

I’ll start by saying there is some rain in the forecast, but the moon is dwindling and the next full moon in the forecast isn’t until November 23rd, so daylight activity should be increasing over the next couple weeks. With the new moon approaching, temperatures staying in the 30’s and 40s, and a consistently high pressure above 30 over the next 10 days or so, I’m predicting one of the better ruts we’ve had in quite some time. I’m going to be in the stand rain or shine, because with everything else working in our favor, I don't think the an occasional rainfall is going to keep the bucks off their feet.

The first great window we have is November 2nd, 3rd and into the morning of the 4th. That's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday so even if you work during the week you’ll be able to get in the stand during this awesome window of opportunity. Highs are in the mid 40s, lows in the mid 30s and the pressure will be on a continuous rise from Friday at noon until Sunday at noon with a gradual decline Sunday evening. The majority of the weekend though the pressure will be above 30, and actually get as high as 30.3 on Saturday evening, so BE IN THE STAND if possible. The second great window of opportunity will be Thursday, November 8th through Sunday November 11th. Would you look at that, both windows fall on the weekends; another reason why I think a lot of bucks are going to be taking dirt naps over the next two weeks. The pressure will be between 30.08 and 30.3 for that whole window, with no rain, virtually no moon, and temperatures in the 30s. BE IN THE STAND.

With that being said, time for bed; need to be up early to get back in the woods to chase legendary whitetails in the morning. Good luck during this magical time of year, and don’t hesitate to click the link below and visit our social media pages to ask questions and send us success stories and images! We live for that!

HAPPY HUNTING!

~Steven Crawford

Close, but no cigar/Chasing is around the corner

WEEK 2 RECAP

Last week, I was patient and I hope you were too. Early on the week, when you stepped outside it felt like stepping out into a July day. Temperatures crept into the 80s accompanied by high winds; if you were in a treestand you were either out of your mind, or just had to get out of the house to enjoy some quiet time as you felt the sweat drip down your face while not seeing any deer. If you were patient, and waited for the last few days of the week though, you were most likely rewarded with a lot of deer movement, and maybe you were lucky enough to tighten that string as the buck you’ve been watching all summer finally showed himself in daylight as the cold front moved in.

The theme of last week for not only myself, but several others I talked to was “close, but no cigar.” A lot of people I had conversations with saw a lot of good bucks last week, but they were unable to close the deal. For myself, I was able to hunt Friday morning, Friday night, Saturday Night, and Sunday Morning. Friday was uneventful; the winds were still very high, rain was on and off all day, and the pressure system never got over 29.5; consequently, that led to zero deer movement where I was at. However, there was one highlight to my Friday evening hunt; my girlfriend was able to join me in the blind for her first hunting experience. It was a bummer we didn't see any deer, but she still enjoyed it enough to want to come out again with me in the near future. Success.

My girlfriend Kaely and I on her first hunting experience. She looks like a natural!

Saturday night was a totally different story; Saturday nights hunt was the first hunt of the year that my adrenaline skyrocketed to levels it only gets to when I see a buck that I want to put an arrow in. Overall, I saw four different bucks on Saturday night; only one mature buck, but it was a fun night in the stand as I was able to observe a lot of cool buck behavior. I watched two young bucks hit the same scrape, then proceeded to lock antlers a few minutes later. Then around 6:45pm, as the temperature dove into the low 40s and the pressure system rose above 30, one of the bucks I have multiple pictures of over the summer showed himself in the standing bean field I was watching that night. He ended up taking a path about 55 yards away from my stand, which was too far for me to even think about letting a carbon express fly, but it was reassuring to see him and to know he is bedding on my property. The following morning was a perfect morning to be in the stand as well. The temperature was close to freezing, which is a bowhunters dream in mid-October. To go along with that, the barometric pressure was above 30, winds were low, and there was barely a crescent moon; the perfect recipe for a good morning in the stand, and a good morning it was. My cousin Joe tagged along to film me, and from first light until about 9 am we had steady deer movement around us. The first deer was a young 8 point buck that walked right underneath us a couple different times before camera light, and that was the only buck we saw that morning. The rest of the morning we had multiple does running around the timber making their way back to the bedding area from the bean fields that surround the property we were hunting. Overall, a very successful weekend in the Michigan woods even though no meat made it to the freezer. I plan on that changing very soon.

WEEK 3 FORECAST

Last week I thought I was excited about the upcoming week, but this week is a whole new story. I’m personally not a huge believer in the “October lull,” I believe it is very weather dependent and hunting pressure dependent on whether or not the deer are moving in the daylight hours during the middle weeks of October before the chasing period begins. Looking at weather this week though, I’ll be surprised if we see a decline in deer movement. As of right now, Friday seems like the only day I would be wary of being in a stand because of the high winds out of the east, and the barometric pressure drops off quite a bit from Thursday. Speaking of Thursday, be in the stand that evening if you can. The wind looks primarily out of the Northwest, and the pressure is measuring around 30.5, which is going to be the highest it has been all season. If there’s one day you hunt this week, make it Thursday. This weekend isn't looking too bad either, the pressure is measuring steadily above 30 and temps will be in the 40s all weekend. The wind speed does look like it could be a little high, and also could be swirling, so be wary of that when trying to choose where to hunt this weekend. If it’s swirling, I stay out of the stand, but if its a strong wind that is constant out of one direction that might give you an opportunity to squeeze in tight to a bedding area and shoot that big guy as he hangs out in a staging area before making his way to a food source. Lastly, ACORNS. If you have a stand near some white oaks make sure you are sitting in it this week. The deer will be on the feed with these cooler temps, and acorns are their favorite food source this time of year.

GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK! AS ALWAYS, SEND US SUCCESS PHOTOS!

A Week of Ups and Downs/Summer Temps followed by Cold Front!

WEEK 1 RECAP

Week 1 of the Michigan Season is in the books! I always hear and find myself saying to treat hunting season like a marathon, not a sprint, but I’ll admit sometimes it is hard to treat it in such a way when weeks go by so fast! The weather was less than ideal this past week, but I can’t remember the last time we had great weather the first week of bow season. If it was cold, it was raining; if it wasn’t raining, it was too hot. To go on top of that a lot of east winds too, which more often than not leads to minimal deer activity. I like to see the barometric pressure between 30.15 and 30.35, and it only got above 30.15 one time this past week, which was Sunday evening, and even with that high pressure system there was still a strong east wind that kept deer activity low. The one positive thing we had going is there was virtually no moon this past week, and that will carry over into this coming week, which I will get into later.

For me personally it was a very uneventful week. Opening night was definitely the most exciting night of the week, and the only thing I was armed with was my camera. My good friend Tommy Enslen has had a lot of success on the bow opener the past few years from the same stand, so I decided to join him and get behind the camera for an evening. His opening day hot spot didn't disappoint, the only thing that disappointed us was the swirling wind. We had a good buck walking our way within the first 30 minutes of the hunt, only to wind us and whirl back to where he came from. A couple hours later we had a good buck coming from the opposite direction, but the wind swirled once again and he caught a whiff and was gone. Once we saw him walk out of sight behind us, we turned around to find a good buck walking straight at us and closing fast. He took a different trail than expected though, and stopped broadside at just over 30 yards. Camera was recording, buck was at a dead stop, Tommy got to full draw….swing and a miss. Tommy’s arrow barely missed underneath; he quickly admitted that he had rushed the shot and misjudged the distance by a few yards. However, a clean miss is better than a wounded animal. The night ended and we walked back to the truck carrying the same things we walked into the stand with, and no blood trail to look forward to. With that being said, it was an extremely fun night in the stand.

I also managed to hunt last Wednesday night up in Mancelona, Michigan at a family friends property. It was warm and windy with the wind out of the Southeast; no deer. My other two sits came Friday night and Sunday night; saw a few does and fawns, but zero bone. Both of my sits were relatively warm with East winds; the high pressure on Sunday night got me a little excited, but the wind wouldn't calm down and with it dead out of the east, it just wasn’t meant to be.

WEEK 1 SUCCESS

Even with the less than ideal weather, we did have some successes this week past week! Full stories will be coming from the hunters themselves on podcasts that will be available very shortly! In the meantime, here are a few of the highlights from this week.

-Prostaffer Jordan Cooper shot his first Michigan buck on opening evening! A beautiful 7 point in Barry County. Better yet, he was able to self film the whole experience

A good friend and hunting buddy of mine that I go up north to hunting camp with was able to harvest his biggest Michigan buck to date on Saturday night. A beautiful 8 point in Allegan county!

Last but not least, my good friend Robby Enslen was able to film his girlfriend Taylor shoot her first deer ever on Saturday night; a big northern Michigan doe! Congrats Taylor!

LOOKING FORWARD TO WEEK 2!

Onto this coming week! The first few days of this week are not going to be ideal. The highs are going to be in the 80s, with lows in the high 60s; use these next few days to get things done around the house or take your significant other out for dinner. I’m saying that because you might need some brownie points come this weekend because we have our first cold front slapping us in the side of the face come Thursday night and it should last through the weekend! Which means one thing, goodbye social life and hello treestand! The barometric pressure doesn't look like it’s going to top 30, which is a little disheartening, but the wind will be switching from primarily out of the south, to mostly a west or northwest wind. The temperatures will be diving from the low 80s in the early part of the week to the low 50s and high 40s come the end of the week. To go along with that, the moon will still be in the first quarter which should lead increased daylight activity. Even though the barometric pressure is not suppose to get above 30, I’m predicting the combination of the wind direction switch, significant temperature drop, and moon phase will have a lot of deer on their feet in daylight hours this coming weekend. If I were you, take a few days off of hunting during these summer temperatures and wait for this weekend to get 20 feet up. If you have only one day to hunt this week, I’ll recommend either Friday or Saturday night. Friday night will be the first cool night with the big temperature drop, so that should have deer on their feet and on the feed early in evening. However, if you rely more on pressure systems, Saturday night looks like the only night the pressure could creep above 30 which should also increase deer activity, especially around staging areas and food sources.

Good luck to all and don't hesitate to message us on Facebook or Instagram if you have any questions!