By: Richard P Smith. After more than 50 years of hunting, photographing and studying black bears, I’ve learned a number of reliable methods for judging the size and sex of the animals that rely on the differences in body length and height as well as the proportions and positions of the ears on the head and front foot size. Obvious sex organs are important, too, of course. If you see a penis sheath hanging down in front of the hind legs on a side view or testicles from a rear view of a bruin, you … Read More
Public Land Strategies – that actually work.
By: John Eberhart. Public Land Strategies Something that receives very little print or TV and video footage for the amount of hunters that do it, is hunting on public land. Hunters with private land options rarely gravitate to hunting open to hunting public lands simply because no matter how much hunting pressure private parcels in a given area receive, nearby public lands will typically receive much more and be far more difficult to hunt successfully. In Michigan however and even in our heaviest populated areas, there are public land gems that can provide somewhat consistent … Read More
Freelance Scouting
By: John Eberhart. Grabbing my bow, backpack and freelance pack I set off through the public land timber to a patch of white oaks I’d hunted the previous season. To my disappointment none of the oaks had acorns, the two scrapes from the previous season were inactive, there were no nearby rubs and the heavily used runways from the previous season were barely noticeable. It was late October and the mature bucks were beginning to break their nocturnal habits in search of early estrus does which I term as the pre-rut and because of that … Read More
Mistakes Are Part Of The Learning Curve
By: John Eberhart. 10 Common Mistakes Mistakes are part of the learning curve in every aspect of life, including hunting and it’s our option to either learn from the mistakes we make and become more proficient, or ignore or not realize they’re being made and keep making them. Another option is to gain the trust of someone to the extent that you accept their experiences and learn from the mistakes they made in hopes that you correct or don’t make the same mistakes moving forward. It boils down to a matter of trust when accepting … Read More
Scout Smart For Early Season Opportunities
By: John Eberhart. I don’t get it? There were several deer coming out into the soybean field every evening like clockwork all summer, and one of the bucks was a shooter. Then shortly after the big guy rubbed out he seemingly dissipated into thin air and I never saw him all season. If I had a 5 spot for every time I’ve heard a similar story I’d have enough to buy a tricked out new bow. Nobody can read a deer’s mind and studies done in captive environments or in areas where hunting is nearly … Read More
One fine big game cartridge for Michigan hunting – the .450 Bushmaster
By: Tom Lounsbury. When the Michigan Natural Resources Commission passed the Limited Firearms Deer Season into law five years ago, it opened up a whole new avenue for southern Michigan deer hunters, allowing an array of straight wall cartridges (.35 caliber are larger, with a minimum case length of 1.16 inches and a maximum case length of 1.80 inches) in rifles during the regular firearms deer season (not to mention the Liberty, and early and late antlerless deer seasons as well). The new law is very well written, easy to understand, and it truly uses … Read More
Find Those Primary Rut Spots Now And Give Thanks To A Gobbler
By: John Eberhart. Proper location preparation can make the difference in whether or not you have success stories to tell. While your on-foot scouting only required the use of maps and or a notebook, location preparation requires specific tools and a great amount of physical labor. I finished drywall for 14 years and like any trade job, the more prepared you are concerning tools, more thorough and expedient the job will be done. The ideal scenario is to be able to pack in and carry the necessary tools to totally prepare a location yet be … Read More
Scout Now For Upcoming Fall…& Why!
By: John Eberhart. For each of the three instructional whitetail bowhunting books my son Chris and I wrote, my 4 instructional DVD’s, as well as for hunting articles, from 1998 to date we’ve; researched many whitetail studies, tracked bowhunting license sales for each state, found the absolute land mass for each state in square miles, and researched specific data from Pope & Young statistical summary books to compile factual statistics and there was one very important piece of kill data that remained consistent throughout the years. While Pope & Young entries per licensed hunters vary … Read More
Seasonal And Daily Timing Of Whitetail Deer Hunting
By: John Eberhart. Seasonal and Daily Timing During a couple occasions in most Michigan bowhunter’s lifetimes, being in the right place at the right time of day and right time of season to intercept a trophy buck can likely be attributed to a simple law of averages. During so many hours on stand a collision course with a mature buck is bound to occur. The more consistently successful Michigan bowhunters however, either hunt phenomenal managed properties or for those that hunt heavy consequential hunting pressure (hchp) areas, utilize daily and seasonal timing to their advantage … Read More
Success Despite Heavy Consequential Hunting Pressure
By: John Eberhart. Midday 10 to 3 Shift Before your hunting plan for the upcoming rut phases is put to bed, consider this. How many times during the rut phases have you planned on sitting until noon or later on morning hunts, and if you did, how many were aborted early due to lack of deer sightings and eventual boredom? Well intended plans can change when boredom sets in and if I stated that scenario has never happened to me, it would be a blatant lie. In November 2011, for the first time in over … Read More