By Joe Wilson

Disclaimer: I am not, nor claim to be, any of the following: a motivation speaker, “hardest worker in the room”, or any other influential-type person you can think of. What I am is someone who tries to become better today than I was yesterday.

Let’s be honest, most of us struggle to find motivation in the hunting offseason. The time between now and opening day seems like an eternity. Plus if you go outside after 10 am your sweat could be measured in gallons and you always run the risk of being carried off by those demons known as mosquitos. But we also all know that now is the time to put in the work that pays dividends in the fall. So stand up, take a quick stretch, and repeat the same words that Gary Gilmore said right before being executed; “Let’s do it.” (Fun fact; this was the motivation behind Nike’s famous “Just Do It’ ad campaign. Remember that the next time you put on a piece of clothing with a swoosh on it). So what’s next? Set some goals, right? The problem is that goals often seem insurmountable, especially at the start.

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time. This is one of my favorite maxims, which comes from an African proverb. It reminds me to avoid looking at an obstacle as a whole. Let’s pretend you’ve never been out west or hunted elk. If you look at a potential trip, it is easy to be overwhelmed. Where do I go? What tactics do I use? What about my equipment, will it be enough for elk? What happens if I actually shoot an elk? Thinking about all of this at once is enough to become so discouraged that you may never even start. 

The best way to prepare will be to give yourself plenty of time to avoid feeling rushed and break it up into small parts. You could start with putting together a workout regimen to get yourself into shape. Next, create a gear list and reach out to those who have done this type of trip and run it by them. Then set a goal of researching which state you would like to go. A good starting place is the Transition Wild beginner Guide To Elk Hunting (you’re welcome for the plug). Then focus on your calling. I think you get the idea. In essence, never focus on a problem as a whole. Break it down into smaller problems and by attaining smaller goals you will feel a sense of accomplishment each time you reach a goal, which will keep you motivated to get to your ultimate goal. 

10 minutes a day / 1% better every day

These are two phrases I have written down to remind me to do something every single day to work towards my goal. It is fashionable to talk about how many arrows someone shoots a day or how many miles they run but most of us hardly have any time to spare. I have found that even 10 minutes a day can go a long way. Think about it; that is over an hour a week, 5 hours a month, and 60 hours a year total by taking the time you usually use thinking about how much you don’t want to get out of bed (guilty) and using it towards something productive. How much better of an archer would you be at the end of the year with 60 extra hours of practice? For my example, I had a goal to get in better shape so every day I started committing myself to do one of the following; 100 pushups, 50 pull-ups, or a 1-mile run. All of these take around 10 minutes.  

I also like to imagine getting 1% better at something every day. I like this mindset because 1% seems like such an attainable thing at its core because you’re basically telling yourself, “listen self, we both know we aren’t very good at this but let’s just try to suck a little less today.” A month of this and you will be over 33% (assuming compound interest here. Yes, I am a nerd) better. A 33% return in just a month, sign me up for that investment. 

Track Progress

Momentum is a huge factor when it comes to progress. Every time I completed a 10-minute workout, I would put a tally up on a dry erase board. (Funny story; my wife thought I was keeping score against her on something she couldn’t figure out. I should have kept that up and watched her anger grow as the tallies kept going. Ahh married life.) This was a constant reminder to me to do my workout and positive reinforcement for my progress. I made it all the way past 40 days in a row at one point before having to start over. By having a constant reminder for how far I had come, I was motivated to get my goal done for the day because I didn’t want to break the streak. 

Now you may be asking yourself, “what can I do for 10 minutes a day that will make me a better hunter?” Here are some suggestions:

• 10 minutes of shooting your bow or using a training aid. 
• 10 minutes a day of dry firing your gun
• 10 minutes of digital scouting aerial/topo maps
• 10 minutes of reading hunting books
• 10 minutes practicing calling while driving
• 10 minutes studying natural foods and where they grow
• 10 minutes spent researching out of state trips
• 10 minutes practicing ascending/descending with your mobile stand

Hunting is complex and has many different facets that go into being a great hunter. You can work for decades and still have areas to improve. 

Discipline Equals Freedom

It can be helpful to gain insights from others to have made a habit of completing tasks regularly. Many think that successful people wake up every day ready to seize their goals. It is a myth. Most days you will come up with every excuse not to but those that get things done just ignore these thoughts and press on. One of my favorite guys to follow on social media is Jocko Willink, who is a retired Navy seal and one of the most mentally strong people you will ever see. He has the simple saying, “Discipline equals freedom”. What he means is that If you are disciplined and make working on goals as much of your daily routine as showering, you will have more free time to do what you want by not wasting time procrastinating and thinking about what you should be doing. To prove he lives this motto, he literally takes a picture of his watch every morning at 4:30 am when he gets up. If following people like this “up” your motivation factor, try Cameron Hanes, Courtney Dauwalter, John Dudley, Joe Rogan, Andy Stumpf, and David Goggins. 

Keep it fun

It would seem obvious but I feel most people don’t realize if you find a way to make something fun, no matter how unpleasant it first appears, you are more likely to do it. Give yourself a small reward for completing a task. Just as your dog will sit for a treat, you can train yourself to go for a run if you promise yourself a nice smoothie afterward. Life is too short to be serious all the time but it is also too short to fail to live up to your potential. The best time to have started working towards a goal was yesterday but today comes in a close second. 

Which state is at the top of your mind when it comes to world class whitetail deer hunting? For me it’s Iowa. I’ve dreamed about hunting this great state for years and hopefully with a little luck, I will draw a tag and will be chasing mature bucks later this Fall. While there are many other states that offer great deer hunting opportunities, every hardcore deer hunter dreams about the day they will finally step foot into the land of giants.

Over the past weekend, my buddy Joe Wilson and I set sail to Iowa to scout public land areas in the units we are targeting for the 2017 deer season. Currently, both of us have 3 preference points so there is a good chance we will draw tags but even if we don’t successfully draw non-resident archery tags, 2018 will be right around the corner. Some people think we’re crazy (we probably are) for spending time and money prior to an already costly out of state hunt but when you wait 3-4 years to draw a tag, it’s worth the extra scouting trip, especially when hunting public land.

I am lucky enough to know a few guys locally in Iowa who were able to give us some pointers and spots to check out. I’d like to thank my buddies, Dan and Erik, for their help during our short trip – it helped us tremendously.

Day 1

After arriving to our hotel late in the evening on Thursday, we woke early on Friday morning and left the hotel by 8am to get an head start on the day. With a major rain storm on the horizon for mid-afternoon, we knew our time was even more limited so we started walking parcels close to our hotel. Within minutes of leaving the vehicle at the first location, we quickly found rut sign from the previous season, consisting of rubs and scrapes.

Finding concentrated rubs on public land is always a good sign.

The general area consisted of low grassy bedding areas with steep hardwood ridges mixed in between; a recipe for holding deer in good numbers. Our strategy for this piece, (along with every other parcel) was to walk as much ground as possible and mark good areas on my onXmaps GPS app. Within an hour we located a good rub line, doe bedding area, and a few scrapes in the general area. Shortly after that, Joey picked up a small matched set of antlers on ridge between a field edge and a swamp. Aha – shed success!

Joey picked up this small matched set on the first morning of our scouting trip and his shit-eating grin is a sure sign he is happy!

Later in the morning, we moved to a different public hunting area about five miles away. This chunk of land was unique because much of the area backed up to a small lake and made it tough to access, which is important for leaving the crowds behind. Much like the first area, it was filled with big oak ridges and plenty of bedding cover. Within an hour of walking fingers of the lake, I determined I will be utilizing a kayak as a way to creatively access the surrounding tracts of public land. As we walked back to our parking spot at 2pm, the rain starting pouring down so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

Day 2

With the major rain system lingering until noon, we spent the better part of the morning hours digital scouting from out hotel room in search of areas to check out on our final day. When the weather finally broke, we set out for three other spots within an hour of our hotel. The first area was a small parcel that looked like it had potential but we basically just drove the edges and didn’t walk around due to the roads being too muddy for our little car to get down.

We then moved to a much larger tract of land that had a mix of CRP, hardwoods, and thick tangled messes of bedding cover. Although we jumped a few bedded does, we weren’t able to locate much rutting sign from the previous season. We also discovered stand locations from other hunters, so combining hunter sign with relatively easy to access terrain, this area screamed DO NOT HUNT! Needless to say we moved on.

Within 10 minutes, we were at another location but quickly discovered the same song and dance as the previous parcel; easy access, tree stands, and minuscule rut sign. It was time to pull the plug on this area altogether and put some miles on the vehicle to a completely different geographical region.

Iowa offers great public land hunting opportunities but you will have to get creative and put in the work to evade other hunters.

With the clock ticking on the final hours of the scouting trip, we arrived to a different public hunting area with the hopes of leaving the crowds behind. Much like some of the areas we scouted the previous day, this area was tougher to access because of a large river that ran close to the roads and outside perimeter. The river was running high and fast, preventing us from crossing so we marked this location on the map and will hunt this area as a secondary spot if our first targets aren’t producing.

Lessons Learned

Although our strategy was to walk as much as possible, we also kept efficiency in mind by not getting hung up on mediocre properties. Just because a parcel looked great from an aerial map, didn’t necessarily mean that it was killer once we had boots on the ground. In fact, the parcels that looked good on paper were the exact opposite we were hoping for. Turns out, many other hunters had the same idea, which meant deer activity was sparse, so we moved on. It’s important to not waste time hunting or scouting areas that “look good” because your days are extremely limited and time is precious. It’s really that simple. We needed to actually see deer or find good rut sign and trails for us to really slow down and scout the area but until we did, we kept moving.

We laid our eyes on this shed buck during the final hours of the scouting trip. I hope to cross paths with him in November.

During the last hour, we were finally able to locate a secondary public area with good deer sign. Although we weren’t able to walk this piece, we believe this area holds good bucks based on deer sightings and terrain that is tough to access due to a large river that no one wants to cross. Many public land hunting experts say they won’t hunt areas that they can easily access on foot. In order for them to actually hunt public spots, they have to take a boat, ford a river in waders, or climb steep/nasty terrain before they spend time there. If these terrain features aren’t in the equation and it’s a cake walk to get to an area, they simply won’t waste their time knowing that the quality of hunting will be poor.

Although the rain and thunderstorms took a solid 10 hours away from our scouting trip, all in all we were still able to cover a bunch of ground. If anything, we were able to put boots on many properties that we would have wasted time on in November, which will pay off big during a DIY week-long hunt. I look forward to hunting the great state of Iowa in the near future but until then, I’ll be saying “Is it November yet?”

View the full photo album from our Iowa scouting trip.

Shed hunting efficiency comes in two parts:

1. Knowing where to look and spending the majority of time in those spots.
2. Navigating the high probability areas as quickly and effectively as possible with the right plan and equipment.

Finding deer antlers is hard enough on its own, but because my hunting property is located in Western Kansas, there are an added set of obstacles that I must maneuver in order to be successful. Have you ever heard of the saying “showing up is half the battle”? This directly applies to my scenario as I have a six-hour drive from where I live in Colorado.

I approach each weekend shed hunting endeavor as a mission-based approach with a set of guidelines; I have limited time, I’m new to the area, I live six hours away, and have a lot of ground to cover. Efficiency matters!

Portability

In addition to having an off-road suspension and a powerful electric motor, QuietKat is a great vehicle for covering multiple properties because of how portable it is. I have a few different farms that I hunt which are broken up into different sections of ground so I jump from property to property. Some of the sections are miles apart, others are closer together but traveling between them is super quick and easy to do because how quickly I can load and unload the QuietKat without the use of a trailer.

The QuietKat is extremely light weight and compact so I can easily load it into the back of my truck and quickly drive to the next farm where I can be off and running in no time at all. This is extremely helpful, especially when I have so much ground to cover in a short amount of time.

Covering Ground

I would consider myself to be in pretty good physical shape and have absolutely no problem walking the entire day on rolling farm ground. Living in Colorado, I have become acclimated to the mountains where the air is thin and the terrain is rough, making Kansas much more forgiving. But remember, to my point of efficiency, I have limited time and I don’t have the luxury of walking out my back door to my whitetail hunting property. QuietKat is my go-to vehicle to effectively cover the most ground in the least amount of time.

When it comes to shed hunting large crop fields in Western Kansas, walking is simply not the best option for two main reasons:

1. Flat Terrain: Most of the landscape is flat so there is no vantage point from where you can glass an entire field and then set out on foot to retrieve the shed. I’ve found the best strategy is keep moving and glass periodically, which makes the QuietKat the perfect tool for my particular application.
2. Large Acreage: Crop fields are usually large tracts of land which range in size from 20 – 100 acres. If I were to walk a 100-acre flat field, it would literally take a few hours of grid searching to make sure I effectively covered the area. QuietKat drastically minimizes the amount of time it takes to canvas a field and increases my efficiency, which ultimately helps me find more antlers!

I like to stop and glass when something catches the eye!

When it comes to shed hunting, it really comes down to a numbers game. QuietKat allows me to shed hunt efficiently and effectively with my limited time and resources. So get out there and do some shed hunting of your own and let me know what you find! Tis the season for shed hunting!

For more information about QuietKat, please visit:

www.quietkat.com.

-Adam Parr

A puzzle, much like deer hunting, takes time and keen attention to detail in order to put the pieces together and for everything to align. Have you ever tried to put together a puzzle in a day and succeeded? No, I’m not talking about one of those 50 piece specials that you pick up at the dollar mart. I talking about the 2,000 piece popcorn kernel marathon that takes an hour just to get two pieces to match up! Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a successful whitetail pursuit for the do-it-yourself guys.

Make sure read Part 1 of this series, Taking Post Season Inventory With Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend: Part 1 as it will help paint a better picture as to what I’m doing at this time of year.

Putting The Pieces Together

When it comes to hunting mature deer, I’ll take any legal advantage I can get in an effort to put the pieces together towards killing a trophy buck. Big Tine is another tool in the arsenal and plays a valuable role in my post season scouting. In conjunction with trail cameras, Big Tine allows me to determine which deer made it through (or didn’t make it through) the season.

A small whitetail buck posing for a picture.

I’m not going to lie – I was hoping to showcase this article with all of the monster bucks I have on camera running around my hunting property but the truth is, my trail camera pictures are less than ideal. I put the cameras out for over three weeks and have a bunch of does, small bucks, and mule deer to show for it but no big boys showed themselves.

Does this mean that my hunting property is terrible? No. Does this mean that Big Tine doesn’t work? No. What I’m learning is that the properties I hunt do not hold the same amount of deer during the Winter months as they do during the Fall. I’m slowly putting the pieces together!

The pictures are telling me that there are indeed deer in the area but I’m certainly not getting mature buck pictures. My guess is that the majority of deer are wintering elsewhere due to the fact that the bedding areas and fields on the properties are now cow pastures. It is common practice for farmers to switch pastures for cows on a seasonal basis so that they can sustain them throughout the Winter months. Long story short; if cattle are present in both major bedding and feeding areas, deer numbers on the property will decline.

It’s Better To Know Than To Wonder

My trail camera pictures were not as I had hoped but at least now I know more about Winter movement and the reasons that may be affecting the lack of deer in the area. If it weren’t for putting out Big Tine and checking the cameras, I would have never known in the first place. Its better to know – knowledge is power.

One of the highlights of my weekend endeavor, in addition to checking trail cameras, was finding a matched set of antlers in close proximity to one of Big Tine sites. This little guy is an up-and-comer with great genetics for a 1 1/2 year buck! I believe I have pictures of this guy from last Fall so it will be cool to see what he turns into as a 2-year-old.

QuietKat is a great tool for shed hunting. I found this matched set within 100 yards of the Big Tine!

Learn more about how I use my QuietKat as an efficient shed hunting vehicle, HERE. I also found another nice 4 point side that had been laying a while (not fresh) and I also witnessed something that I have been wanting to see for a long time. I watched the bigger mule deer buck I have on camera shed one of his antlers as he was running away! After three hours of grid searching the spot where I saw him drop in knee-high grass, I was not able to locate his shed but it was still cool to see none the less.

Mule deer enjoy Big Tine too!

Never Stop Learning

I encourage you all to go out and run cameras over the top of Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend. It will not only help you discover what deer are using the properties you hunt but it will also add to your overall knowledge of deer movement and patterns. Whatever the outcome may be, it will make you a better deer hunter and will help you find the real reasons behind your results. It forces you to analyze and ask questions as to why deer are or aren’t there. And above all, it gets you outside doing what you love the most.

For more information about Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend and Attractants, please visit:

www.bigtine.com

– Adam Parr

Kansas is one of my favorite states to hunt whitetail deer for a number of reasons:

1. It is a draw tag that is relatively easy to acquire for non-residents.
2. The hunting pressure is significantly less than Michigan and other parts of the midwest.
3. Kansas grows lots of big bucks.
4. There is an abundance of public land that holds quality deer.
5. Other wildlife such as grouse, bobcat, badger, pheasant, and hawks are abundant.
6. My hunting property is only a five-hour drive from where I live.

For all of these reasons combined is why I LOVE to hunt in Kansas!

Putting On The Miles

I woke up last Saturday morning feeling a bit tired and groggy after a two-day event in Denver but knowing that good hunting land opportunities were on the horizon, I crawled out of bed and pushed on. I had done a bit of homework prior to this trip and located a general area (three counties) where I wanted to hunt so I headed out to the open prairie.

Since I already had a tri-county already in mind, I resorted to using the Arc GIS app for iPhone, developed by ESRI. This shows you on a real GPS map where Walk-In Hunter Access (WIHA) properties are in proximity to your location. The cool feature is that it is an interactive map so you can click on various properties and it shows you how much acreage the property is, what species can be hunted and what dates they can be accessed. Click HERE to find out more information about WIHA maps and related software programs.

Zoning In

After I had a general area picked out, I started to key in on areas with concentrated WIHA property. My next step was to then start zoning in on river bottoms with trees in close proximity (within a mile) to crop fields for optimal travel routes and food. Once I had located a property with these characteristics, I drove to the area and put the binoculars to work!

After spending some time glassing fields, river bottoms, and ravines, I decided that this particular section was worthy of trying to get additional private land access so I set out to start knocking on doors. It never hurts to have more options! “I have way too much hunting property” said NO ONE EVER!

The First House

First off let me start by saying that the people in Western Kansas are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. By the time I pulled up to the first driveway it was already 95 degrees outside with about 90% humidity and it takes by breath away when I leave the comforts of an air-conditioned truck. After knocking on the door I was greeted by a young guy about my age named John. I explain why I am there and he invites me out of the blazing sun into their cool air-conditioned house. I thought to myself “Wow, you don’t find people too often these days who just let you in to their house after 10 seconds of conversation”

I get to talking with him and his family and next thing I know he gives me permission to hunt the family farm. He starts explaining all of the property in the area and he offers to ride along in my truck to show me exactly where each parcel is, where to park and the best access locations. His family doesn’t really hunt and John is moving to Illinois to move in with his fiancé. I seriously can’t thank him enough for him letting me access 5,000 acres of good hunting property. John, I owe you big time!

My Secret Scouting Weapon

Below is a quick 30 second video of me using my QuietKat to quickly scout potential ground. It came in useful after gaining access to some new property!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LflqzunmRo

The Next Attempts

After leaving John’s house I headed up the road to talk to the neighbors to the East because the property had good characteristics and was hoping for more success. Upon talking with the owner, he stated that his son-in-law hunts the farm, meaning no hunting privileges for me. It was still really good to talk with him because he said there are some big ones in the area and he had a pile of shed antlers in the yard to prove it! I thanked him for his time and headed on my way.

My next move was to head to the neighbors to the West. After speaking with him I was also denied access due to other people already hunting the property. Once again, I received great info from talking with him and he too had a bunch of fresh sheds lying around the yard. He said he doesn’t actively look for them but instead picks them up out of the pastures when he lays an eye on one.

After leaving the last farm I chose to head further East. After a few miles of driving I spotted a few good farms mixed with river bottoms and crop fields so I had to stop. I too was denied access to these properties because they already had hunters. Both guys mentioned that there were a lot deer in the area and how they wished there weren’t so many!

Picture Time

Below are a few pictures from the open prairie of Kansas. The photo of the building is actually an old school-house. One of the neighbors I talked to said he actually attend school there as a young boy.

My Luck Strikes Again

After many failed attempts I connected on another farm about 5 miles from the first property. This parcel is much smaller at 500 acres, but when you are coming from Michigan, 500 acres is still a lot of hunting ground! Although smaller in size by Kansas standards, I really like the way this property is laid out.

This piece of property is located where a river bottom and a ravine intersect in to each other; both natural funnels. The other reason I really like this piece is because it has a water tank on the property, making it very attractive to thirsty whitetail deer! The river bottoms in the area are dry which could mean great success if I can set up a stand or ground blind along the travel route to and from the water tank.

Scouting Trip Recap

All in all I was very pleased with my results for the trip. I scouted thousands of acres of public land and picked up approximately 5,500 acres of solid private land to hunt on this fall. To say I’m excited for the season to begin is an understatement!

Already, I have learned a lot about the area by seeing it in person and talking with local land owners. In the coming weeks I will write a blog post showing how I will hunt these properties and how my tactics will change as the season progresses. Hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to get back out there with some trail cameras and really begin scouting.

In closing, if you are actively looking for private hunting land this Fall don’t be afraid to knock on doors. Sometimes it can be intimidating but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. It’s a numbers game; meaning the more houses you approach, the more likely you will be able to gain access. Keep going and never give up.

-Adam

The Effects of Humidity

Summers in the midwest can be absolutely brutal due to high humidity levels. Some days it feels like you can’t even breathe or stop sweating even with the AC cranked as high as it will go! I knew Colorado was an arid climate but I didn’t realize how dry it really was in comparison to Michigan.

To the right is a screen shot of a table showing average humidity levels in various states; Colorado and Michigan are highlighted in yellow. Michigan has an average Summer humidity level of 88% in the morning and 54% at night while Colorado maintains 47% and 21% respectively.

So what’s the major change?

I expected dry skin, itchy eyes and a sore throat but the biggest and most noticeable difference has been my hydration, or lack there of. I am constantly chugging down water in order to keep myself properly hydrated. It seems as though I can’t get enough H2O throughout the day.

What makes it even worse is that you don’t realize its happening because you simply don’t sweat, leaving you with the illusion that you don’t have to consume as much water. (As I am writing this at 10:30PM, I realize that I am severely dehydrated and head to the kitchen for a glass of H2O).

How does this affect my future hunting plans?

If you are a midwesterner who is setting out on your first big game hunt in the mountains this Fall, unfortunately no amount of preparation can help your body become acclimated to the effects of accelerated dehydration in a low humidity environment. But what you can do is be prepared in other ways to help combat liquid losses once you are there.

1. Quantity – Bring more water than you think you will need. Whatever you think you will need, double or triple that amount. You can never have too much water.
2. Carrying Water – I plan on upgrading my pack with camelback bladder for better packability and ease of use while hiking. I plan on getting one that is between the 1-2 gallon mark.
3. Water Purification – Have alternate ways to purify additional water for hikes when you can’t carry enough from camp. I have heard good things about Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets. You can get a 20-pack at REI for $9.95
4. Know the Landscape – Knowing where to find water is key, especially on all day hunts or in a survival situation. Make sure to study the area as much as possible so you know of various water sources if needed.

While hunting smaller tracts of land in the midwest, I never had to worry about bringing gallons of water or purification tablets for everyday hunting. You simply head back to the house to grab water or pack a smaller water bottle for the day and you’re good! Your really have to think differently when entering such vast and treacherous terrain.

I hope this highlighted a few things about my experience with hydration levels in a dry climate and how you can better prepare yourself for an extended hiking or hunting trip in the mountains!

-Adam