Deer Season Preparations ( Part 2 ).

Perhaps the best time of year to begin scouting your hunting property is 2 weeks after the close of the last hunting season. Though you have your existing hunting areas where you know you can see deer, it's always a good bet to take alittle time to check the woods and fields for just one more place to try to take a real trophy. Maybe the hunting area your using is producing some nice deer but there's always some place that holds that trophy of a lifetime and even though that trophy may not be on property you have permission to hunt, there are ways to persuade that trophy to your property. There's alot of ways to scout your hunting properties but for me it's good ole fashion leg work. Getting out walking through the woods and fields looking for shed antlers, old rubs, old scrapes and big tracks and just being able to enjoy the great outdoors in itself is all worth the leg work whether I find a good trophy to hunt or not. Alot of people are using field cameras (game cameras ) to do their scouting which works really well and prevents human odors from spooking the game out of the area. Game cameras give you lots of photographs so you know exactly what your hunting and can even give you a time schedule as to when to hunt that particular area but for me this would take all the fun and excitement out of wondering what will come by my stand. For many hunters, they see deer or are told of deer someone else has seen and that's where they hunt, These people almost always have a long hard season trying to take just one deer and could do so much better just by doing alittle scouting for themselves. Scouting is a key asset to being successful year after year and finding that trophy of a lifetime that could just be in your neck of the woods.

Deer Season preparations ( part 1 ).

Deer hunting season is approaching us faster then we really expect and with it comes all the task of getting prepared. Even though many of us haven't given much thought to all the task involved for the up-coming season now is the time to prepare everything so that when it gets here your ready and able to go. First - let's start out with your stands, many of you may be using the older model stands that have the wooden platform or seat. These are usually made of plywood which begins to roit,shrink and become brittle shortly after the stand is put into use in the field. Check you stands and make sure the wood portion of your stand is still sound and sturdy. I for one as a rule of thumb prefer to replace the wooden portion of my stand every two years whether it needs it or not for safety reasons. Second - check all the bolts and screws and replace any old rusty ones with new ones ( these can lead to squeaks and noise), tighten all of them up. Third - check the cutter on your stands and climbing bar, these should be relatively sharp( but not sharp enough to cut your hand or fingers ),too sharp will do serious damage to the trees as well as making it difficult to climb with due to sticking into the bark as you try to climb and not releasing from the bark. These cutters should have smooth edges as well and any rough edges can be easily fixed with a fine file. Fourth - check any sound reducing foam pads and the cushions on the seats as these to will roit away with time and may be in need of replacement or maybe you just gained alittle extra weight and need more cushion for your back side. And last thing is the camouflage paint or tape, these I like to repaint every two years also using a good outdoor paint. To camouflage the paint job paint your stand with a solid color ( I prefer brown or yellow ) then after it dries lay tree branches ( with leaves ) or fern blades across your stand and spray over them with a green color paint for a leafy effect. Have a safe and prosperous year this year everyone.

Just an Update

It's been some time now since my last post so this is just a little update. I 've been busy trying to help my parents with their place,working on my place, work, done alittle fishing, planted some food plots and going to the doctors for my health. There's just not enough time in a day to do everything you want to get done. I've tried scheduling things but something or someone always comes up needing me to help them or do something for them. Just the other day I got up at daylight went fishing a couple hours came in ready to work on my lawnmower and the wife tells me we have a water leak in the house, which come to find out was my water heater, which took me half a day to change out by the time I went to town and bought one, removed the old one, then put the new one in. Maybe I should move to Alaska where the days are long and the nights are cold. Anyway time stands still for no one and live goes on. If I'd have known getting old meant doing less with more to do I would have done more when I was younger. Went to my heart doctor June 25 and had to do this big stress test then was scheduled to go to my family doctor yesterday for follow-up and now he is scheduling me to go to a surgical doctor for some kind of endoscopy (??? ) and possibly surgery. Right now I just want things to get back to a normal routine and enjoy live again. It's been hard for me not being able to read everyone's post and leave them comments but somehow I'm going to get back to my writing as I've so enjoyed all my blogging experience with everyone. I will be visiting everyone's sites soon so look for me there.