If you’re anything like us, you spend a lot of time tinkering during the bowhunting “offseason”. During this time of year, we evaluate our entire hunting system - everything from our arrows to the layers we wear. One thing I’ve spent quite a bit of time on over the past few years is my aiming method. I’ve switched between several different styles, working to see which fits me best. Click here to learn how to aim a traditional bow!
Read MoreWe’ve written a bunch about our love of bears. They’re beautiful animals that are absolutely delicious. Plus, they’re covered in fat. Delicious, mouth-watering fat that’s great for cooking. Bear oil has a very neutral taste/smell, lasts for over a year and can be used for most cooking applications. Check out this article on The Best Way to Render Bear Oil!
Read MoreBears are one of the few animals where the entire animal can be utilized. Fur (for rugs and throws), skull (for display and mounting), fat (rendering into usable lard), the meat (for eating of course), and more recently…the baculum (I’ll let you look that one up). If more hunters knew how good bear meat actually is they would think about it differently.
Read MoreIt’s a depressing time of year for hunters all over the country. The 3-4 month-long deer season is over and lots of people have resigned to the fact that they won’t be in the woods until turkey season. But this doesn’t need to be the case! Remember that squirrel that barked at you all fall? Now is your time to exact your revenge and to fill your freezer with something delicious. If you’re looking for a challenge, check out this article on Winter Squirrel Hunting.
Read MoreIt’s been said that venison is too gamey to cook with or that it’s too dry to really make anything with other than tacos and spaghetti. If you’ve ever searched the outskirts of venison recipes, you may find a few options that many people don’t particularly venture to. Venison pastrami is in that baron wasteland that many hunters are either too lazy or too intimidated to try.
Read MoreIt’s December and it’s starting to get cold here in Michigan. Many of us have a few weeks left in our season and we’re not ready to give up on the buck of our dreams. As we shift to hunting more evening food sources, we’ve got to take one major late-season factor into consideration: the cold.
Staying comfortable, especially in the late season, can be the difference between success and eating tag soup. If you’re looking to put a deer down, here are a few of the ways I use to stay warm in the stand.
It’s now late season, you've put in copious hours in the stand, most of the breeding deer have bred, and now it time to switch gears to hunting late-season deer
One thing we like to do when the late-season comes around is actively tracking fresh deer tracks in the snow. Tracking deer in the snow can be one of the most exciting ways to hunt deer and can be pretty addictive.
Read MoreGoose season runs through early September through mid December here in Michigan. Geese are fun to hunt and delicious to eat - especially in the deer blind. Try out this easy recipe and take a healthy & delectable treat out with you next time you do an all-day rut sit. Click here to try to The Perfect Rut Snack.
Read MoreYou’ve setup on a location where all the variables are in your favor. The wind is perfect, the temperatures have dropped off, the rut is kicking in and you are waiting for that big buck to cross your path. But as you sit with anticipation you see a fellow hunter approach your general vicinity from the wrong direction and they walk right through your anticipated deer travel route.
Read MoreIt goes without saying that COVID-19 has significantly influenced our lives this year. From shutdowns to mandatory masks, we’ve all felt the weight brought on by the virus. However, it’s a bit short sighted to say all of its effects have been bad; right now we’re seeing a mass movement back towards the outdoors.
Read MoreImagine this: you're nestled in your hunting spot on opening day, waiting for a big buck to come through the thicket on the edge of a swamp. The more you think about the possibility of a bruiser breaking through that small patch of woods, the more you concentrate on it. Suddenly you hear it - leaves crunching. It sounds like a big boy's headed your way and you feel the blood drain from your legs as your grip your bow.
Read MoreAged meat is something to cherish and there is a good reason to. If you’ve ever been to a fine steakhouse, you’ll know that some of the highest-priced items on the menu are the aged steaks. On average, a 30-day aged beef steak goes for about $50. But why? What makes an aged piece of meat so special?
Read MoreWe’ve hunted for thousands of years and it’s something other animals do on a daily basis. However, it doesn't always go as planned...
I spent the past few weeks camping through the Tetons and Yellowstone with my family. We were able to witness a lot of pretty amazing things but one particular thing sticks out in my mind...
Read MoreWhy do you hunt? Maybe you’ve never taken the time to think through the question. I know I haven’t until relatively recently. In my younger days I would have answered with something like "because it's awesome" (as Kid Rock once said, at that time my thoughts were short and my hair was long).
Read MoreWe’ve covered a lot of information pertaining to scouting during the summer months. From trail cams to entry and exit strategies, we’ve touched on a lot of topics. However, I’m often asked what specific types of tactics I use to help us zero in on a buck and to learn his tendencies in any particular area during the summer. Here are a few things I find to be particularly helpful:
Read MoreWhen the summer heat rolls around, hunters know there aren’t many things better than looking at pictures from your trail camera and seeing a few stud bucks on it. Motion-activated camera technology has been around for a while now and are a great scouting tool for hunters to utilize during the offseason. But what if you have never used one before, where do you start? With so many options to choose from, it's hard to narrow it down to just one camera. Should you have more than one? What should be your strategy? Here are our 7 Commandments of Trail Camera Tactics to stop you from eating your tag at the end of the season.
Read MoreThe first bow that I ever owned was an old PSE Nova. I loved that thing, and to this day, it still is in our family. It’s more of a wall piece now, but the point remains. Shooting that bow was one of my favorite things to do in our backyard. How fast the arrow hit the target was something that mesmerized me. I remember the first time I ever shot 40 yards with it. It looked so far away and I felt like my bow was pointing more at the sky than the target itself.
Read MoreMuch attention is given to perfect tree stand setups, placement, or even height in hunting magazines, blogs and forums. While these are all certainly important, one of the most important aspects of hunting is often overlooked. Determining the best entry and exit route is as important, if not more important, to your success in the deer woods this fall. A truly great stand is made by your ability to get into and out of it without alerting deer. So here are a few tactics we use to get in and out of our hunting locations clean and effective.
Read MoreSo there you are, it’s hunting season and you are heading out to hunt the seasons opener with the first evening hunt of the year. You have a buck patterned down using a certain trail passing by the perfect hunting tree. You’ve hung your stand and cleared shooting lanes previously through the summer and everything is set …..(perfect). But when you walk up, you find your perfect tree blown over from the severe thunderstorm from a few days before leaving you completely SOL. What do you do now? You can't get a stand hung in any of the surrounding trees because of their shape and branches. So you're forced to pull back, and hunt a different day.
Read MoreHunting out of a tree helps stack the odds a little more in your favor. Every year, hunters around the country work to find that perfect tree that will help them put a big old stinky buck on the ground. Though the perfect tree may not actually exist, we’ve found a few things that are common to all good tree stands.
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