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John's Journal... Entry 128, Day 2

SECRETS OF DEER-HUNTING GUIDES

More Strategies For Finding And Taking Bucks

EDITOR'S NOTE: For some, deer hunting isn't just an annual event, it's their livelihood. When they talk, you'd do well to pay attention. A professional deer-hunting guide earns his living by finding bucks for his clients every season. These avid woodsmen have spent their lifetimes studying the habits and haunts of deer. They experience consistent success because they know more and hunt more than the average outdoorsman. True masters of the sport of deer hunting, deer-hunting guides have developed common-sense tactics that will produce bucks for you anywhere you live.

LARRY NORTON: From Pennington, Alabama, Norton lives in the heart of the Black Belt, so named for its very fertile soils. Norton lives in a region that never has had a year without a deer season.

Norton has guided at several lodges near his home and has developed tactics to find and take bucks.

STRATEGY TWO - "After the season, I put my feeders out again to see which bucks are left after the hunting season," Larry Norton reports. "I'm also trying to help the bucks make it through another stressful time - the end of winter. During the rut, the bucks travel almost constantly as they hunt for does. They eat very little and fight a lot. Not much food is available, and many of the dominant bucks will die of natural mortality. I believe that by feeding them, I help save some of the older age-class bucks that have managed to survive hunting season. Then, too, I know where the trophy bucks that survive live. I try and keep up with older-age-class bucks all year long. Then I can learn enough about them to try and take them when hunting season comes in the next year."

STRATEGY THREE - "Keeping up with historical scrape lines is important to my success as a guide," Norton says. "Bucks in an area usually will work the same scrape lines year after year. When a dominant buck is killed, the next buck in the dominance order usually will work the same scrape line as his predecessor. Check these scrape lines every day of hunting season. As soon as you see the first activity on a scrape line where the buck is freshening or beginning to make the scrape, that time is the most productive to hunt. Because the buck is trying to reestablish his scrape line, he usually will work his scrapes more frequently when he first begins scraping."

STRATEGY FOUR - "Go to a scrape line during a rain, and stay on your stand near that scrape until the rain stops," Norton advises. "More than likely, you will take your buck within an hour after the rain quits. Rain washes away the buck's scent from the overhanging branch at the scrape, from the rubs near the scrape and from the pawed-up earth near the center of the scrape. For that scrape to continue to attract other deer, it must have the scent of the dominant buck. Therefore, after a rain, the buck feels an urgency to reactivate all his scrapes.

"I've seen a buck come in and work his scrape line within 20 minutes after the rain stops. You must be on your stand before the rain quits falling. If you wait until after the rain stops to go to your stand, more than likely the buck already will have freshened his scrape and left the area."

To learn more tips for taking deer, go to Night Hawk Publications' home page and click on books.

TOMORROW: WALKER'S TIPS FOR TAKING MONSTER BUCKS


 





 

 

Check back each day this week for more about Canadian Black Bears ...

Day 1 - Locating Big Bucks
Day 2 - More Strategies for Finding and Taking Bucks
Day 3 - Walker's Tips For Taking Monster Bucks
Day 4 - Bad-Weather Deer-Hunting Tactics
Day 5 - Pitman Consistently Takes Bucks


John's Journal