The leadership at Lancaster Archery Supply introduces the Lancaster Archery Foundation – a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “provide resources to grow, educate, and develop athletes in competitive archery.” PJ Reilly sat down with Foundation President Rob Kaufhold to talk about the foundation, and how it will help grow the sport of archery… According […]
The post Lancaster Archery Launches New Foundation appeared first on Bowhunting.com.
Deciding where to hang tree stand early in the bow season can be difficult. Deer seem to be everywhere eating as much as they can from the grain fields and food plots. But, sometimes all this food can cause a hunter to second-guess the best location for a tree stand. Add to this the fact that fall home ranges and acorns can cause even more problems by the time season rolls around. There are several things to take into consideration as the season approaches, but generally knowing where and what the deer are eating, and where the available water sources are located should be your biggest concern. These can be found through summer scouting and trail camera tactics. Once you have these two things considered out, it is then time to start hanging your stands.
Early in the season when the trees are still full of leaves, hunters can get away with not climbing high just to find cover. Concealment ranks high on the priority list of most hunters when choosing a tree to hang a stand in. Hunters don’t want to pick a tree that is bare, but also don’t want a tree that will prove difficult to climb. Most trees in the whitetail’s range offer 12 – 20 ft high hanging opportunities, but most hunters want to be less than 23-25 ft. high. A hunter might get lucky from time to time if they hang on the low end of the spectrum (12-15ft), but more times than not they will get busted before a deer ever presents a shot opportunity.
Another way to stay concealed is to pick a tree with multiple trunks. Not only will this provide that all-important cover, but it will also give you the hunter plenty of places to hang your gear.
If you cannot find a tree with cover, or multiple trunks, and you would rather not climb to 22ft + all is not lost. Consider hanging your stand on the backside of the tree that is along the trail you want to hunt. Stand in your tree stand facing the tree keeping an eye on the trails in front of you. This will allow you to hide behind the tree above the deer while still giving you shot opportunities.
Hunters need to take into consideration the angle in which the stand is going to be placed. For right-handed shooters, place the stand so the prevailing wind hits the left side of your body, and vice-versa for left-handed shooters. This will make it easier to draw your bow on any animal upwind of your stand.
If the ground you are hunting has a water supply do not ignore it. While the weather is warm whitetails will get thirsty throughout the day. They will not only visit it at midday to quench their thirst, but also in the mornings as they return to their beds and again in the afternoon before they start to feed. Place your stand downwind of the trail leading to the water supply. It doesn’t take a lot of water to pull a deer in. If there is a small stream running through your property, find where the deer are crossing it. The white-tailed deer is an animal that likes to do things the easy way. Rather than cross where it is steep they will walk out of their way to find an easy crossing. Often, before they cross the creek they will usually pause for a few seconds giving you time to get a shot off.
You might notice that the deer are not going to the fields and food plots as early as they once were. You can probably blame acorns on that. The deer are still visiting the fields, but only after an appetizer of acorns. Deer prefer the sweet tasting white oak acorns over the bitter red oak acorns. But, if the reds are dropping fruit and the whites are not, the deer will go to the red oaks. When both the white and red oaks are dropping fruit, the deer will devour the nuts from the white oaks before moving to the red oaks.
The best advice a hunter can get is to set up close to a hot oak that puts you within shooting range. Deer will mill around as they feed on the nuts. Always make sure the wind takes your scent away from the oaks. And as soon as oaks start dropping in good numbers, be ready. It might only last a couple of days, or it could last for weeks.
Don’t forget about the soft mass either. Apple and persimmon trees produce fruit that is well-liked by deer. If you have either tree on your property, hang a stand downwind. Once the trees start dropping their fruit, deer will walk long distances for the sweet treat.
Morning and Evening Considerations For morning hunts, hang a stand on a trail between the food source and a known bedding area like a swamp or thick ravine. It is a good idea to stay within 50 yards from a food source. Any further and you run the risk of bumping the deer from the beds. This is a great tactic to sneak in without spooking deer off the food if any happen to be feeding.
On an afternoon hunt you can often get away with hunting on the edge of a food plot. Try to position your stand about 15 yards downwind from the entry trail or funnel into the food source. Unpressured whitetails will feel safe enough to enter to enter a food source with plenty of shooting light left. Pressured deer may feel the need to stage in thick cover or feathered edges if entering large open Ag fields or food plots.
Early season bow hunting means targeting food and water, yet also playing it safe to ensure you keep the deer herd unpressured. Watch your wind, concealment, entry and exit routes, and shot opportunities. Tree stand placement in the early season is critical for success for those particular hunts and even keeping the deer unpressured for later hunts in October and November.
The post Tree Stand Placement for Early Season Bow Hunting appeared first on Raised Hunting.
In 2007, Ozonics Hunting® introduced the Ozonics HR100 in-the-field ozone generator. Since its launch, the technology has continued to evolve, including a focus on Ozonics products built to deodorize your gear in or out of the field. Ozonics recently expanded on this trend with the release of the new Micro3. The new MICRO3 allows you to […]
The post Ozonics Releases New MICRO3 appeared first on Bowhunting.com.
Proven Tactics to Get Great Summer Pics
Big velvet summer bucks is arguably one of the most exciting times of the year! Seeing deer with massive potential is always exhilarating. Watching a buck develop and grow into the deer of your dreams is hard to beat. Spending countless hours learning his habits, hoping to give yourself the best opportunity come fall. The only thing better than an awesome summer picture of a giant buck, is a picture of a giant buck with you in it! So, here are some tried and true tactics to help you get the best summer pics. Part of getting great pictures is having a great camera. Before you buy any cameras, check out Raised Outdoors! You can save 50% on Stealth Cams through the site and app!
Water
Water can be a great source for awesome pictures. If you have a dry year, or a convenient water source where animals frequent, you may have the perfect spot to catch great summer pics! On dry years, it will obviously be much easier to choose a water source, as the amount of available sources will be far fewer. On wet years, you must be far more selective. Make sure not to rule out water sources on a wet year due to the thought process of ,”There’s water everywhere, why would they drink here”. Water sources in the right location can still be proven productive. Try not to overlook these areas due to a little more rain than usual. If you don’t have a good water source where your deer are spending the majority of their time, it may be wise to provide one. We have also used small, pre-made ponds that work great. In the photo you see below, this deer had just finished getting a drink from our man made pond just below him.
Food Sources
In the midwest, deer will spend large amounts of time in beans and cornfields. Alfalfa fields are great nationwide. I would go so far as to say Alfalfa is my #1 favorite food source in the summer time. Alfalfa is phenomenal for seeing deer and getting great pics. Beans are my second favorite and corn being third. Make sure to scout your food source before setting up your camera to make sure you know where the bucks are coming out. If you do not have the ability to scout first, focus on field corners and main trails. Try and give your camera a large field of view. This will help you get pics that distinguish exactly where your camera needs to be.
A big bachelor group taking advantage of a lush alfalfa field.
Mineral/Feed
Mineral blocks and supplemental feed can be one of the most powerful tools for getting great summer photos. When choosing a location to place a mineral block or feed, we are very selective. We want to be in an area where the bucks are hanging out, but not be invasive. Often times this will be near the edge of a field, or timber. If you are going to use a mineral block, make sure that you have checked the local laws. In Iowa you are not allowed to hunt within 300 yards of a mineral location. If you do hunt within 300 yards of a mineral location, you must bury it. We have had great luck with the Big Tine block and 30-06 cherry rush!
Digital Camera
Send Us Your Pics!
There are lots of ways to get amazing summer photos. These are a few ways that have worked for us year after year. Let us know what tactics you use and more importantly, send us pictures of your big velvet bucks! The time for drooling over velvet bucks is among us my friends, savor every moment!
The post How to Get the Most Out of Summer Pics! appeared first on Raised Hunting.
Have a listen as the Holder’s have been busy spreading the good word about hunting, conservation, and their faith in Christ.
David and Karin join Carol of Dr. Carol Ministries to discuss how a love for the outdoors was the catalyst for building and growing their faith, strengthening their marriage and transforming their family all for God’s glory.
David recently sat down with Richard the host of Conspiracy Unlimited.
EPISODE #252
Richard speaks with the star of a reality tv show about a family that uses hunting as a platform to impart values and ethics.
GUEST: Dave Holder is founder and CEO of Raised Hunting TV, Raised At Full Draw, and Raised Outdoors. Raised Hunting is the parent company and tv series that currently airs on Discovery Channel.
David, being an avid bowhunter and outdoorsman from the early age of ten, loves spending every moment hunting or thinking about hunting. While serving the city of Great Falls, MT as a firefighter captain, David started his public speaking career by conducting seminars across the nation teaching Elk, Whitetail and Turkey calling as well as hunting techniques. After accumulating hundreds of archery kills on video, David retired from Firefighting in 2009 and turned his focus full time to producing high quality, heartfelt stories that inspire, motivate and teach the viewer a hunting message, life message or both.
The post Raised Hunting Podcast Appearances appeared first on Raised Hunting.
Story Told By: Darron Mcdougal
When a bowhunter moves to Iowa, it’s usually because of the state’s giant whitetails. But Realtree pro staffer David Holder moved from Great Falls, Montana, to Winterset, Iowa, for another reason. “My wife, Karin, is a financial advisor with Edward Jones, and her work instigated the move,” Holder says. “We lived in Montana for almost 20 years, but felt that being centrally located in the United States would be ideal.” David and Karin are also co-owners and hosts of the show “Raised Hunting”.
Following his move to Iowa, Holder began assembling a catalog of properties where he could chase big deer. “We own a few properties and have also gained access to some other small properties,” he says. “The largest piece we own is 80 acres. We live on a 50-acre property, and we own another separate 40 acres. We lease a couple others, but nothing large. We also knocked on doors and gained permission on properties where other people are hunting, coordinating with them so that we aren’t competing with one another.”
Holder’s home property served as the hunting grounds for a buck nicknamed “Juice.” The deer earned his name after a tremendous jump in antler growth between 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 years old.
“We’d known about Juice since he was 3 1/2,” Holder says. “But I wasn’t seeing him as regularly in 2019 as I had in the past. Still, I knew of him and sort of understood his pattern. So, I put a couple of new stands up. I felt that when the conditions were right, those stands were right where I needed to be.”
Interestingly, the deer lost his eye in 2018 – a year prior to shooting him. “Last season, I filmed him one morning and both eyes were fine,” Holder said. “The following afternoon, his eye was swollen shut. That was approximately one year prior to me shooting him.”
Fast forward nearly 12 months, and Holder got his first chance at Juice on November 7. The buck chased a doe right underneath his stand. Holder couldn?t get a shot, but told his cameraman that Juice would be back.
“Sure enough, the doe returned 10 minutes later,” Holder says. “He was right behind her. He offered a tiny little window. At the same moment I released, he started walking, which we verified by reviewing the footage. On top of that, I rushed the shot. I’ve been bowhunting a long time, but that buck gave me buck fever for sure. Even though we were filming the hunt, we couldn’t determine if the arrow entered the ribs or merely grazed his belly.”
Holder waited until the next day to start searching. The blood trail was faint and lasted for 150 yards before disappearing. After lots of effort without finding any more clues to the buck’s whereabouts, he concluded that the buck was OK and would likely reappear on trail camera within a week. If it didn’t, he’d take his already-extensive search to the next level.
“Low and behold, I got a picture of the buck two nights later,” Holder says. “I knew I was back in business, because he was chasing a doe in the photo. He wasn’t hurt at all.”
On November 13, Holder climbed back in the stand with Juice on his mind.
“My son, Warren, was my cameraman,” Holder says. “I whispered to him that it didn’t feel like a “deer day.” It was overcast and quite windy. I was wrong. We saw our first deer before daylight. And the deer sightings continued. Juice was the 11th buck we encountered. Interestingly, all of the deer except him traveled downwind. Juice always comes from west of our setup, and he did exactly that.
Around 8:50 a.m., the giant deer chased a doe right toward the father-son duo.
“We honestly got only 26 seconds of pre-roll footage,” he says. “The doe came right in to 23 yards, and when Juice entered my lane, it took three mouth grunts to stop him. I was virtually yelling at him.”
Once again, the buck offered a small window of opportunity.
“He was close enough that I felt confident I could put my arrow right where I wanted to,” Holder says. “After making a non-lethal hit six days prior, I told myself not to do that again.”
But he still hit the deer a little farther back than he wanted. Playing it safe, they backed out for a few hours.
When they returned to search for the deer, they found the buck had expired about 200 yards from the point of impact.
“When my son spotted Juice at the end of the blood trail, he hollered,” Holder says. They weren’t far from the neighboring property, owned by another hunter with whom Holder is on good terms. “My neighbor texted me saying, “I guess I can get down. It sounds like somebody killed the deer I was hunting based on the holler I just heard.” I didn’t know it, but he was hunting only about 300 yards away. It was kind of funny.”
Holder’s buck gross scores 169 6/8 inches as a mainframe 8-pointer. If you add the 10 inches of abnormal points, it stretches the tape to 179 6/8. That should keep a smile on Holder’s face until his focus shifts to a new buck next season.
By: Darren Mcdougal
The post The Story of “Juice” David’s Largest Whitetail Ever! appeared first on Raised Hunting.
MITCHELL, S.D. – Started in 1981 as a one-man operation, Boyds Gunstocks has grown into the largest aftermarket gunstock manufacturer in the world employing over 100 talented craftsmen and women. Dustin Knutson and Rob Carstensen, long-time employees at Boyds Gunstocks have become the two new owners. “40 years says a lot about how we do business and how satisfied our customers are; they continue to support us year after year,” says Dustin Knutson.
Boyds offers aftermarket gunstocks in over 155 different gun brands and over 1,200 models within those brands. “Nobody can offer the huge selection and variety of stocks that we offer,” says Dustin.
With 40 years of innovation under their belt, Boyds continues to come out with new stock shapes to give the public what they are asking for: quality, comfortable, stable, accurate-shooting stocks for a very affordable price. Boyds’ most recent line of innovation focused on adjustability. The At-One series offered customers an adjustable length of pull, an adjustable comb, modular grips, modular fore-ends, and modular buttstock toe. “With the At-One you get perfect fit, no matter what shooting situation you find yourself in. The stock adjusts in seconds to fit your body perfectly, giving you the comfort and accuracy you deserve,” says Dustin.
Boyds offers over 24 stock shapes in over 15 different colors and several grades of solid Walnut. Personalizing your own Boyds Gunstock is as easy as going to Boyds’ website and plugging in your gun’s Make, Model, and Action; doing so brings up a myriad of customizing options that allows a customer to make truly a one-of-a-kind, personalized gunstock that has its own unique style and fits them perfectly. Option choices include such things as choice of butt pad, laser engraving, grip caps, fore-end tips, white line spacing, aluminum pillar bedding, and more. “We give the customer what they want, the way they want it,” says Dustin Knutson, “that’s the secret to our success.”
“Function is first,” says Dustin. “The stock has to fit the gun perfectly, and it has to fit the human body even more so. Without a good-fitting stock, you will struggle to make consistently accurate shots.”
Boyds continues to innovate. After the At-One line of stocks, Boyds launched the Spike Camp, a very low-cost stock with the same Boyds high quality, just with fewer available options. In 2021 Boyds will once again launch several new stock shapes, which are sure to capture the public’s attention. “Boyds has been dedicated these past 40 years to providing our customers with the innovation and technology they demand and deserve,” says Dustin, “and we are continuing that dedication by coming out with something really cool later this year! I think our customers will love it.”
To order a Boyds Gunstock, go to www.boydsgunstocks.com or call 605-996-5011. For more information contact Brandy Fiala, Marketing Manager, brandyf@boydsgunstocks.com, 605-996-5011, ext. 214.
The post Boyds Gunstocks Celebrates 40 Years of Gunstock Innovation! appeared first on Hunting and Hunting Gear Reviews.
Quote Michael Scott: It takes a big man to admit his mistakes, and I am that big man. In an article published in the Lakeland Ledger last Friday in which I dispense advice on applying for Statewide Alligator Harvest Permits, I erroneously stated that county-wide permits were only valid for waterbodies outside of city limits. (Also to be clear, because it does read funny, county-wide permits are NOT valid for waterways that have their own sets of permits.) Turns out… Read More »
Good Hunt
Serving Size 3 1/2 oz
Cut turkey breast into thin strips and put them in a gallon ziploc bag
Add the following sauces or your own creation:
Shake bag so that all turkey is covered, let it marinade for 24-48 hours in the fridge.
Pull pieces out and place on grill rotating every 2-3 minutes in order to keep them from burning.
The post Wild Turkey Recipe appeared first on Raised Hunting.
Continues to Expand Leadership Role in Support of National Concealed Carry Reciprocity
West Bend, WI – As part of its continued leadership to grow support for national concealed carry reciprocity and responsibly armed Americans broadly, the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) announced today it is launching a new Super PAC. The U.S. Concealed Carry Association For Saving Lives political action committee will help educate more Americans on their right to self-defense, support Members of Congress who are working to ensure law-abiding Americans can exercise their natural-born right to protect themselves and their families, and help serve as a counter-balance to the extreme anti-gun interest groups that are working to erode that right.
“On behalf of our almost 600,000 members nationwide, the USCCA is excited to broaden its efforts to help ensure all Americans can protect themselves and their families, anytime, anywhere. With over 100 million gun owners across the nation and climbing, there is an incredible demand among law-abiding Americans for Congress to finally pass the National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, so they can protect themselves and their families at all times,” said Tim Schmidt, President and Founder of the U.S. Concealed Carry Association. “It is our hope that by expanding our support of those leading the fight for national reciprocity for concealed carry permit holders, we can better protect law-abiding Americans from being criminalized.”
The USCCA has seen record demand for firearm safety and training courses as millions of new gun owners across the country are taking the responsibility of their safety into their own hands. In the last year alone, over 2,000 new USCCA instructors have joined the ranks of over 7,000 instructors across the country.
As longtime supporters of national concealed carry reciprocity, the USCCA recently launched an online petition that garnered over 250,000 signatures in favor of H.R.38, the National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. Schmidt also penned two op-eds in The Hill newspaper as well as Townhall.com recently in which he outlined the importance of Congress finally addressing concealed carry reciprocity instead of more failed anti-gun laws. In addition, Schmidt penned a letter to President Biden on behalf of more than 570,000 USCCA members expressing the importance of national concealed carry reciprocity and protecting gun rights for all Americans.
For more information on how to help support this effort and to become a Founding Member of the U.S. Concealed Carry Association for Saving Lives, visit our website here.
To schedule an interview with USCCA President Tim Schmidt please contact Keeley Christensen at kchristensen@pluspr.com
About the USCCA. The US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) is an association of responsible armed Americans whose members get exceptional self-defense education, lifesaving training, and self-defense liability insurance, preparing them for them for the before, during and after of a lawful act of self-defense. Headquartered in West Bend, WI, the USCCA is the largest, fastest-growing self-defense association dedicated to responsible gun owners.”
The post The U.S. Concealed Carry Association Forms New Super PAC to Help Protect Families and Save Lives appeared first on Hunting and Hunting Gear Reviews.