List price: $33.31
Add a Universal Tree Stand Blind to your arsenal for LESS! Feature packed, but value priced! Don’t let the entry-level price fool you… here’s one Blind that really delivers. It’s loaded with the sort of features you’d expect to pay much more for. It deploys fast, packs light and gives you the edge you need to bag the big trophies! Blind faith: 36″ bi-directional centered zipper door opening; Easily attaches to any tree stand or tripod shooting rail with included zip ties and reinforced grommets; Grip-strip tab door allows for easy access; Scent-containing fabric with weather-resistant exterior coating; Black interior controls shadows, masks movement; Dense camo pattern for excellent concealment.; 45 x 160″. Weighs just 16 ozs. Order now and hide inside! Guide Gear Universal Tree Stand Blind
List price: $50.00
When you’re transporting deer from your hunting area to camp or home, or maybe the processor, one major concern is keeping the meat fresh and avoiding spoilage.
By Alan Clemons, Managing Editor
If you’re going from the back 40 or just a few miles, it may not be a big worry. If you have a monster cooler and plenty of ice, processing the deer at camp and packing it away might be an option. That’s what many hunters do.
But for longer distances or if you don’t have processing capabilities at camp or home, you’re often stuck with transporting a whole deer. Do you toss it in the back of a pickup or SUV and ride for hours? Few hunters strap it to the front of the car or roof, like in the olden days, and toodle down the highway. Those days are over, for the most part.
One of the coolest things I’ve seen this year is the Trophy Bag Kooler. It’s a complete system for keeping your deer (or hog, turkey or antelope) chilled, stored and fresh for transport to camp, home, processor or taxidermist.
The system includes a zip-up bag large enough to hold a whitetail or smaller animal. It has leg holes for your animal’s legs to stick out, but they have elastic around the holes to minimize any loss of cooler internal temperatures. The large Trophy Bag Kooler bag holds up to 300 pounds, and a smaller Quarter Bag is designed for hindquarters or shoulders from bigger game, such as elk.
It’s pretty simple to use. Packs of Kooler Gel are mixed with water in, preferably, a 2-liter bottle (like a soda bottle) and frozen. These can be refrozen and reused. After gutting your deer, simply put the frozen bottles into the body cavity and then put the deer or animal into the Trophy Bag Kooler, fit the legs through the holes, zip it up and you’re ready to load for the ride.
Worried about bacteria growth? Well, that is a concern, too. But the system comes with an antimicrobial Game Fresh Spray that can be applied to help avoid growth of bacteria or other goblins.
They’re available in camo, blaze orange and buckskin. It’s a complete system that makes care and transport of game much easier, especially if you’re going to be traveling long distances or are hunting in hot weather.
Check out the Trophy Bag Kooler here!
The Rothco 3235 Adventurer Survival Kit knife comes with fish line, hook, sinkers, band-aids, pencil, harpoon, signal mirror, Morse code, finger tip saw and more (matches not included). All of these items fit in the hollow handle of the knife. A threaded top with a built in compass screws into the knife handle to keep everything dry.
List price: $28.99
Are you a survivalist who only takes one item? You need this 12″ Elite Forces Bowie. The 7 1/2″ black anodized stainless steel blade will cut through anything. Strap it to your leg with the included ABS sheath and you’re ready for action. Includes lanyard cord. 12″ overall. 7 1/2″ blade.
List price: $35.00
Overall activity status: As a whole, deer movement has been outstanding this past week, thanks to an abundance of food and cool weather early in the week. Afternoon temps climbed into the 70s and 80s by mid-week, which subdued deer movement.
Fighting: One of my Minnesota friends witnessed a knock-down fight between two mature bucks this week. The two bucks met near a food source and immediately started posturing; they laid their ears back and sidestepped toward each other with back hairs erect. When they were within a foot of each other, they crashed antlers and began fighting. The struggle lasted well over a minute. This is the first hard-core fight I have heard of from the region this fall, and I can imagine two scenarios: either these are two bucks that know each other but are still working out dominance, or one of the bucks dispersed into the other’s territory and they are meeting each other for the first time. I’d lean toward the first scenario.
Rub making: Though still not frequent and intense, older bucks are rubbing trees, typically near their favorite food source or bedding area.
Scrape making: Like last week, scrape making is localized near food sources. Some veteran hunters are starting up mock scrapes in staging areas near food sources. One hunter reported starting a mock scrape, which bucks soon started hitting. Then, the bucks opened up two different scrapes in the same area!
Chasing: None to report. Bucks are largely uninterested in does right now. They’re focused on eating and working out dominance issues with other bucks. This saves a lot of time and energy when it comes to the peak breeding season.
Daytime movement: Good to excellent daytime movement near the best food sources. I’ve received many reports of mature bucks up on their feet an hour before dusk, especially on cooler days or near secluded food sources.
Estrous signs: none to report.
X-factor: Leaf fall is ahead of schedule this year, thanks to the prolonged drought. As the forest canopy opens up, expect bucks to avoid some stretches of open hardwoods, or to travel through them slightly later. Also, recently fallen maple leaves are often an attractive food source for deer. Though whitetails usually don’t make them the main course, the high sugar content in some maple leaves constitutes a snack that can delay a buck on his way to acorns or soft mast.
Rut Reporter Scott Bestul is a Field & Stream’s Whitetails columnist and writes for the website’s Whitetail365 blog. The Minnesotan has taken 13 Pope & Young-class whitetails and has hunted, guided for, and studied deer in the north-central region all his life. States covered: IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, WI.
Have you ever been walking to your stand and seen a deer feeding between you and where you were headed? What do you do?
This has happened to me on many occasions and left me wondering the best course of action. Should I just go on to my stand anyway, or choose a different stand site? Maybe wait till the deer has moved off before advancing, or make some type of deer call to try to “fool” the deer into thinking that all this noise was just another deer?
Such a situation occurred this week when I drove up to one of my hunting spot and immediately spotted two deer in the kudzu. It was about thirty minutes before daylight, but I could still see them 50 yards from my truck watching me in the open. They’re right where I was planning to go, I thought to myself. If I go in that way, I’ll just blow them out and ruin my chances. It was a small tract of land, and they were likely the only deer in that patch this morning. I eventually came up with a plan to go around to the other side of the property and sneak in from that direction. It required some careful stepping over a beaver dam, but was worth it to try to avoid busting the deer.
About twenty minutes later I was settled in my climbing stand after moving in as quietly as I could. Moments later I heard walking and spotted deer above me on the hillside. It was still too dark to see my sight pins, but I knew they were deer and in range. Fifteen minutes later, the mature doe walked down toward me so I drew back only to have her hang up behind a tree. I could see the doe’s head meaning it could see me if I tried to let down.
I experienced the agony of holding a draw trying to wait out a deer. My arm started to burn but I knew I couldn’t move or it would all be over. Finally she looked away and I let down. Her next move to my right gave me a 22 yard broadside. This time I drew and put the pin on her shoulder and touched the release. She only went 50 yards.
First deer of the year for me, only a doe, but it felt good. There was the tense excitement of waiting out the shot. But was particularly satisfying was that my plan seemed to work. I altered my entry because I saw the deer in my original path. The change of plan avoided spooking the deer, and I was later in the position to get the shot.
Be flexible with your plans, if a deer is already in your path or near your stand, you may want to come up with another idea. I don’t know what the best strategy is every time and every situation is different, but keep flexibility and the ability to change in your toolbox this fall, and it may result in a shot opportunity that would not have been there otherwise.
Rut Reporter Eric Bruce has been writing about hunting and fishing for newspapers and magazines for 25 years and hunts deer all over the South, including near his Georgia home. States covered: AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, FL.
Source: http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/south-rut-report/2012/09/first-deer-year
Features a Kodi-Skinner/Caper combo Axe-It Griz-Saw Steel Stick boning knife cerama-steel sharpener pen tape measure flagging tape zip-ties game cleaning gloves and a compact cordura roll-pack organizer.FEATURES Kit includes:: 1 Kodi-Skinner/Caper: 2 Axe-It: 3 Griz-Saw: 4 Steel Stick: 5 Boning/fillet knife: 6 Cerama-Steel sharpener: 7 Pen: 8 Tape measure: 9 Flagging tape: 10 Zip-ties: 11 Game cleaning gloves: 12 Nylon roll-pak organizer: 13
List price: $184.95
