ReVO 26 Pro Ears youth hearing protection by Mia Anstine "Wear eye and ear protection as appropriate. Guns are loud and the noise can cause hearing damage. They can also emit debris and hot gas that could cause eye injury. For these reasons, shooting glasses and hearing protectors should be worn by shooters and spectator" From the fundamental rules of safe gun handling by NRA When [...] Read more of this post

Late Season Deer Hunting Tips Locate Deer Using Terrain Features Ken McBroom, Yahoo! Contributor Network Most deer hunters know how important rub lines are to locating bucks in a particular hunting area. Rubs have paid off for me over the years but over the past few seasons, after reading Mapping Trophy Bucks by Brad  Herndon, an excellent tool for your deer-hunting arsenal; I have come up with a new approach. Terrain features are easy enough to find, features such as funnels, saddles, points and hubs. You can find success hunting these features even if there is little or no deer sign within them, especially on public land with lots of pressure which tends to stir up the herd and forces them to utilize these features to escape potential danger. Hunting terrain features this way works well and should be utilized but this article will focus on the combination of terrain features and rub lines.I have had success with hunting terrain features alone but the lack of confidence in the area always made it difficult to stay on stand the entire day, which becomes a necessity when hunting any part of the rut. To gain the confidence I needed to keep my butt in a tree I needed the definite knowledge that there was a good buck in the area. This is when I began combining terrain features with rub lines and big rubs.The area I hunt is a good mixture of hardwoods, swamps and cutovers with lots of ridges as well as croplands. Over the past several seasons I have located great terrain features that tend to funnel deer through the area providing for some great hunting. In the past couple seasons I have began to scout these terrain features for rubs.You should begin your scouting early in an attempt to locate the first rubs of the season. Mature bucks almost always make these rubs. I don't mean those barely visible rubs in August and early September. These rubs are often just where a buck (of any size) was just cleaning the velvet off his rack. The rubs you should look for is good rubs like you find in November. When you locate good rubs in Mid September to Mid October mark the spot and/or hang a stand because you are in the living room of a mature buck. These rubs are not easy to locate, as they are few and far between not to mention the foliage is still thick and visibility is limited in the woods.These scouting trips are for the serious hunter who wants to harvest a good mature Whitetail buck. The heat can be unbearable this time of year in the south and while the chiggers and ticks keep most hunters out of the woods the snakes tend to keep out the rest. A friend of mine had to go to the emergency room shortly after one such scouting trip as the seed ticks had covered many delicate parts of his body. He still scouts year round although he is very cautious and sometimes feels imaginary ticks crawling all over him.The trick, after locating these rubs, is to align them within areas of the terrain features already noted. The rubs and rub line do not necessarily have to be in the middle of the terrain feature you are hunting just nearby. In fact I prefer the sign to be away from the terrain feature that links the area where the rubs are and the area where the buck that made them is likely to bed during the day.Rubs, I have found, can be a double edge sword for the deer hunter. Your initial reaction to a shredded six-inch cedar is to get up a tree and hunt within sight of that rub. Sometimes this works but most times the hunter should try to locate the area that the buck is likely spending his day. If the rub is in the wide open next to a field or in a stand of mature hardwoods, where you can see a mile, then that buck is likely to be visiting those rubs at night and a sighting during good shooting light is not likely. Now, having said all that, I have found, through hours of sitting by a rub line in the open not expecting to see anything only to have several bucks come by and more times than not the biggest buck moves later in the morning like ten to noon. Hence the double edge sword. Do you hunt at the rub or move back and locate a terrain feature that funnels the buck by your stand area as he moves either to the rubs or from the rubs.Paying close attention to terrain features can help you see more deer but the great thing I have noticed since using this technique is that I look more at the big picture and focus more on the deer's habitat than just on where I find the sign. Many years ago I felt like I was hunting areas that even though covered up with buck sign was just not the right spot but I continued hunting these areas because I was seeing deer. These deer were does and young bucks but it kept my confidence level up enough to hunt all day and hopefully get a shot at a good buck.Finally the decision was made to just tough it out and hunt where I thought the bigger bucks were hiding. I located the most remote areas of the public land that I hunted and began hunting terrain features that had some low browse and acorns but no deer sign at all or at least not any that I could detect. Ironically the very first time I tried this I had a decent six point meander by my tree well before dark which was very unusual at my old stands even for a small buck. Needless to say after many hours on stand and fine tuning this technique, to include rubs, my buck sightings has more than doubled and just as I suspected but was too caught up in all those tracks and rubs and scrapes down by the fields, I see very few does now and even though I like seeing deer activity I would much rather see the horns.I will describe a scenario of one of my hunts this season that might help you see the possible advantages to this approach.A lake surrounds my hunting area on three sides. I like to find two or three coves fairly close together. These coves form peninsulas where deer bed and feed depending on what is located on these peninsulas. Ideally I prefer at least one peninsula that contains some thickets for potential beds and remember it need only be big enough for one deer if you are hunting big bucks. A lone brush pile left by a storm can be enough of a bed for these loners.I had located some big rubs all the way out one of the peninsulas where there was no food at all and it was fairly open so I figured the buck must be making his rounds there under the cover of darkness but he has to get there. Now comes the decision on where to set up for your ambush. The peninsula with the cover is where I felt the buck was spending his days so you don't want to get too close to that area but close enough to get a shot during the day as the buck leaves his bed to patrol his area which may or may not include the third peninsula, between these two, which consisted of very open hardwoods and lots of acorns so it very well could be where he feeds but again probably at night so you want to be setting at the entrance to this peninsula. So I set my stand between the bed and the rubs and at the end of the peninsula with the acorns with the lake in sight of my stand. Now if the buck decides to leave his bed and check out his territory I have it covered because the rubs tell me that he prefers that area and gives me a direction I can have confidence the buck is traveling. If I am wrong I have enough visual coverage of the area to determine if the buck is coming from another direction. It really helps when you have a rub line connecting all the peninsulas, which is what I had in this location.This particular stand site provided many buck sightings. Most were not shooters but one was. It took three days at this stand before he showed himself at 9:45 am on a hot windy morning. I nearly departed my perch several times that morning as the thoughts that deer won't move in this hot (in the 60's) and windy weather. The deer sightings were spaced apart enough to keep me on stand and it's a good thing as the buck was the biggest I had ever seen in 15 years while hunting this area. He did give me a glimmer of a shot but he was about 48 yards and I felt like he might come a little closer but he continued, to my surprise, right down the shoreline in the wide open. I just was not comfortable with a 48-yard shot with my bow and I let him walk. Goes to show, you never know. These rubs are marked in memory as well as GPS for future reference so I can set-up here year after year with confidence especially if that big eight pointer makes it through this season. You can bet he will be there and so will I.The rubs helped with the decision on this set-up but many times the rubs don't show until late in the season. I saw several bucks at this stand sight and many would be a shooter for most. These bucks came from every direction, as they seemed to use the terrain feature as a guide for their travel as they investigate their area for food cover or most importantly hot does. These bucks will travel out these peninsulas to search for does and as they leave that peninsula the natural path to the next is around the back of the cove that created these peninsulas. The backs of these coves usually contain a creek or drainage that usually provides great bedding areas for does which is another reason for the bucks to cruise through here on his way to the next big peninsula in his quest for love. So get out there and do some early season scouting. Look for early rubs and make a note then look at the big picture and try to imagine where these deer are traveling and put together a plan. Locate the terrain features that tend to funnel deer movement into a confined area and you just might fill your tag early. Later in the season cautiously scout these locations and some new ones for active and aggressive rubs. Put it all together and you just might find that this tactic really works and don't be surprised if buck sightings increase. This approach to hunting may not be for everyone. It took me several seasons to stay away from all the sign and focus more on where bucks like to hang during the day, which is not with the does that tend to make the more visible sign we see around fields and logging roads.Some hunters, even if you proved this method to them would still prefer to hunt where they can see a lot of territory and a lot of deer even if they are does and yearling bucks and even with a bow. I do understand and to each his own but if you want to get serious about bagging a good buck, especially with a bow, then try this approach. Give it time as this method takes some time to learn and begin to see the whole picture in your woods and put together a successful plan to harvest a mature whitetail buck.

From a mountain top I am connected to all things by Mia Anstine Time to catch up. I've been up on top of the world for quite a few days. It's a place I love. If you've been "On top of the world" you know what it feels like to be so close to the Heaven's. Alwyn Torquil Francis Ladell There is something very spiritual about the mountain [...] Read more of this post

Recoil – Reducing shooting flinch by Mia Anstine In sighting in my Little Gal's rifle for her elk hunt I noticed she had developed a flinch. She was anticipating the recoil when shooting her rifle. It was significantly decreasing her shooting accuracy. Her shots were all over the target, and some were even missing it entirely. I have tried a couple of teaching techniques to help reduce her [...] Read more of this post

Photo Basics for Your Trophy by Mia Anstine Hunting season is long past and now we are all sharing stories of our harvests. This includes pictures. Many on our mobile devices, social networks and, if we're lucky, in magazines and other publications. As I look at some of the pictures, I am reminded to take note of how to get great photos of [...] Read more of this post

In part 1 I discussed preparation and general archery practice techniques. Now we get into making practice real and succeeding in the moment of truth. by Mike Strandlund, Editor, Bowhunting World Match your practice sessions to actual hunting situations. A big game hunter doesn’t need to shoot quarter-size groups. What he needs to do is shoot groups the size of a vital zone under adverse shooting conditions. During practice sessions, vary your angles, distances, and shooting positions. Too many hunters shoot again and again from the same place in the same way. This gives them an exaggerated impression of their hunting accuracy. A whitetail’s not going to give you a couple of warm-up shots. You must be able to put that first arrow in there from odd angles and unknown distances. The best practice is to set up a course of targets at varying distances and uphill/downhill angles. If you plan to hunt exclusively from treestands, it makes no sense to practice on the same level as your target. Shoot down a steep bank, from the roof of your garage, or, better yet, from an actual treestand. Practice in the clothes you’ll wear hunting. Practice both quick shooting and holding full draw as long as you can. Again, practice as if your first arrow is your only arrow. As well as a realistic setting, you should use realistic targets. Most bowhunters benefit greatly from using lifelike targets of game animals. They help you pick and hit vital zones and practice visualization. An archery club range with a whole zoo of Styrofoam game animals is an ideal place for a bowhunter to practice. You might even set up your own course with treestands, ground blinds, and different types of animals. The next best thing to lifelike targets is a target without a bullseye. This might be a couple of hay bales, a plain straw butt, or my favorite – sand dunes. (I seldom miss.) The worst thing to use is a target with a bullseye. Turn your target around, or paint the front a solid color. Then pick your own imaginary bullseye, as you’ll have to do when shooting at game. While you practice, learn your effective range. Many bowhunters have a rude awakening when they shoot at life-size targets. Try it, to find your realistic shooting range, or else use this rule: If you can keep five of six arrows in a 9-inch circle (6-inch circle from a treestand), you’re within effective deer-shooting range. If not, wait for a closer shot. If you use a compound bow, make yardage calculation a science. For the archer with a bow sight, shooting accuracy is proportional to accuracy in judging range. You can practice range estimation constantly while walking through the woods. Pick out a tree in your path, guess the yardage, and step it off. When you get there, pick out another tree and do it again. Training really can enhance your ability to judge distance. Note that changes in vegetation thickness and elevation will change your depth perception. This method is even better, of course, if you bring your bow along and do some stump-shooting. Some bowhunters believe in electronic rangefinders. It is very difficult to take a reading on an animal that has entered bow range, but you can get the range of an object in the animal’s path and be ready to shoot when it gets there. One technique few bowhunters practice is shooting at targets behind and just to one side of a tree. The obstruction can create a psychological block (which I don’t completely understand) that causes some archers to shoot toward the tree, others away from it. Test it to see how it affects your shooting – before the target behind that tree is your buck. The Moment Of Truth When taking your long-awaited shot, you must not only be in control; you must act correctly – do the right thing at the right time. Some hunters have a knack for making wise decisions in a split second. Most make mistakes when not given time for deliberation. We can all benefit from planning. Start by placing your stand precisely. Position it so you are concealed as you draw, so you’re not trying to shoot an animal that has spotted you. When using a treestand, try to select a place where you are concealed by a thick mast background, where there are big tree trunks or thick bushes that will conceal your draw. Place an animal or food scent behind the obstruction to pique the animal’s curiosity, so it may pause with its head hidden and vitals exposed. Position the stand for the most comfortable shooting position based on where the deer will likely be when you shoot. Usually, your platform should be on the opposite side of the tree from where the animal will likely approach. When hunting from a treestand or blind, step off distances in each direction and place subtle markers at yardages that coincide with your sight pins. Test the system by shooting practice arrows at the markers. When a deer gets near your stand, you can correlate his position with a marker and know the exact range. When in your blind or treestand, use your time waiting to plan your shot. Imagine all the possibilities of an animal coming by. Would you shoot if it paused between those big trees, or wait on the hope it would take a few more steps and offer a closer shot? If the animal was trotting, or offered only a rear shot, would you take it? Decide now. Being aware of what you can expect, and having a plan for each situation, gives you confidence. Confidence at this moment is what makes the difference between a hit and a miss. Practice drawing, aiming, even shooting in all directions from your stand. I always bring a couple practice arrows when I hunt. As soon as I get on my stand, I take a couple shots at the most likely places a deer will be. Since I’ve just made considerable commotion getting into my stand, the noise of shooting doesn’t have much chance of spooking deer. I’ve found out several times that the calculation on my first shot was wrong – once it was 10 minutes before a deer was standing there. If an animal you don’t care to shoot nears, wait till it’s at a good spot for a shot, and see if you can draw undetected. Aim at a spot near the animal (not directly at the animal, should the string slip) and analyze your performance. This will also tell you if you make too much movement or noise as you draw. When it comes time to actually take the shot, there are several things to consider. Is there brush in the way? Remember the trajectory of the arrow. The shot may appear to be clear, when in reality the arrow would strike a branch above your line of sight halfway to the target. Conversely, a bush just high enough to obscure the target may not actually be in the way – the arrow could rise above it in its arc and drop into the mark. Once you’ve checked for obstructions and decided to shoot, you must ignore them. If you’re worrying about hitting a twig, you probably will, because arrows tend to go where your attention is focused. Read the animal’s body language. Is it extremely nervous or fairly relaxed? A very nervous whitetail will almost surely jump the string, especially if the woods are still and the shot is long. In such cases, aim at the bottom of the vital zone. If the deer doesn’t jump, you’ll hit where you aim; if the deer does react in the typical crouch/leap manner, the arrow will probably strike higher in the zone as the deer coils – still a lethal shot. In essence, mind the details. Minor things, like a heavy coat or a stiff-brimmed hat, that interfere with your bowstring, or a stand that creaks as you prepare for the shot, can be a major blow to your odds of success. Finally, pick a spot. Bowhunters hear this phrase to the point of annoyance, but it’s still amazing how many violate this basic principle of bowhunting. Even experienced shooters can miss, only later to realize it was because they were aiming at the whole animal instead of that certain hair just behind the shoulder. This point is most critical for instinctive shooters, but applies also to sight shooters. The more precisely you aim, the more precisely you’ll shoot. There are other ways of improving bowhunting accuracy. Each archer has his own weak points that he must improve. Find yours and practice hard in a way that corrects them. The confidence you gain will make bowhunting more fun, and the skills you obtain will collect you more venison.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted to allow hunters to kill up to 52 wolves in the state this fall.   CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted Wednesday to allow hunters to kill up to 52 wolves in the state this fall even as Gov. Matt Mead said he remains hopeful that Congress will act to exempt the state's wolf management plan from legal challenges he expects from environmental groups.   Game commission approval is the latest in a predictable series of state actions since Mead reached a deal last summer with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to end federal protections for wolves in the state. Mead said he hopes final federal approval of wolf delisting in the state by early fall.   The agreement would require Wyoming to maintain at least 10 breeding pairs of wolves and at least 100 individual animals outside of Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Indian Reservation. Wildlife managers say there are currently about 270 wolves in Wyoming outside of Yellowstone.   Under Wyoming's plan, the state would allow trophy hunting for wolves in a flexible zone around Yellowstone National Park, beginning in October. The hunting would last until 52 were killed or until the end of the year. Wolves in the rest of the state would be classified as predators that could be shot on sight year-round.   Mead said 90 percent of Wyoming's wolves live in the trophy hunting area. Although he said he's heard criticism that the limit of 52 wolves this year is too low, he said he believes it's appropriate.   “This was a complex deal that we reached and we don't want to break the deal,'' Mead said. “And we don't want to get down to that bare minimum, where disease, or an accident out on the freeway where five wolves are wiped out, and we go below those minimums.'' Mead said he's hopeful Congress will act to exempt the state's wolf management plan from any legal challenges from environmental groups. Congress earlier extended such protection to earlier wolf delisting actions in Idaho and Montana.   Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, had pushed to exempt Wyoming's wolf plan from legal challenges last year but the provision was removed from an Interior Department spending bill. Christine S. D'Amico, spokeswoman for Lummis in Washington, said Wednesday that Lummis continues to explore all options for how to protect the state's wolf plan. Many ranchers and hunters in Wyoming believe the state's wolf population has grown unacceptably high since wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone in the mid-1990s. The state has fought for years to try to get state control of the animals, repeatedly and unsuccessfully suing the federal government. The federal government accepted a similar delisting agreement from Wyoming in 2007 only to repudiate it as soon as a federal judge criticized it in response to a legal challenge from environmental groups.   Mead said he's heard environmental groups are intent on suing to try to block Wyoming's new wolf plan.—“Anything we have done on wolves, or that other states have done on wolves, is just a hot-button for litigation,'' Mead said. “But I would ask all those groups, number one, recognize that we're approaching this very conservatively, that we worked hard over a year on this plan, that I think it is scientifically sound. “It has been signed off on by the Secretary of Interior,'' Mead said of the plan. “It has been repeatedly signed off on by the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. So it's not just something that we came up with as just good for Wyoming. It's an agreement by a lot of parties that worked on this.''   Jenny Harbine is a lawyer with Earthjustice in Bozeman, Mont. The group has mounted legal challenges to wolf delisting efforts before. Harbine said Wednesday it's too early to say whether her group or its clients will challenge Wyoming's wolf plan until the plan receives final federal approval this fall. “I'll just say that the (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service should only delist wolves in Wyoming if the agency feels like doing so would comply with the Endangered Species Act and has a sound scientific basis at this time,'' Harbine said. “If delisting rule in Wyoming is legal, then there's no reason to seek indemnification from Congress for such a rule.''

  Gunny Joins the World Wild Adventure Team                    Drop & Give Me 20!     Judge Julie Mogenis determined to maintain   the hot show branding momentum has begun to launch some big surprises and will continue thispace into the fall hunting schedule. With that said, the Judge strikes yet another milestone for World Wild Adventures TV by recruiting a high profile actor, hunter and outdoorsman to the World Wild Adventure Team.  Best known as “The Gunny”,Hollywood & TV star R Lee Ermey has agreed to a long term position as the official “Celebrity Hunting and Outdoors Consultant” for the show.    Gunny considers the Judge a “good ole Hunting Buddy” and previously hasbeen a star hunter in several episodes of Huntin With the Judge-- traveling with the Judge to Canada for elk and whitetail, to New Zealand for monster stag and chamois action in the Southern Alps. Needless to say, we are very excited about him now co-hosting World Wild Adventures TV, and additionally sharing his humor, knowledge and expertise both on and off the “set”.   Briefly, R. Lee Ermey is primarily known as the Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”. However he has also done over 60 feature films and hosted one of the History Channels longest running series, “Mail Call”, and more recently, “Lock N Load”. He is quite passionate about the outdoors, the Marine Corps, and our veterans. Ermey makes numerous appearances on behalf of law enforcment and plays a prominent role in various NRA causes.   Last summer Ermey was in Africa working on a quest he began with the Judge a few years back. This fall on World Wild Adventures TV we’ll relive some highlights of the  African Big Game Series and Gunny’ quest to complete his Big Five. You can watch the Judge and crew tackle the Serengetti and especially Gunny’s nail biting episodes of his Cape Buffalo and Lion Hunts.   Judge Julie Mogenis will continue to aggressively align the World Wild Adventure Team with high profile hunters, conservation responsible outdoorsman and adventurers to ensure exciting, non-stop action -- tempered with a bit of “education” ...but all presented in a format that will keep you sitting at the edge of your seat and leaving you wanting more!   Stand by for more upcoming announcements in the Very Near Future! Until then... Gunny wants you to “Drop and give me 20”   Follow us at:   https://www.facebook.com/WorldWildAdventures   Twitter: @WorldWildAdv   www.WorldWildAdventureTV.com 

                                                                                                  SpyPoint does it again      It looks like GG Telcom/SpyPoint has done it again. As usual, their tradition of high quality product is unsurpassed. Last years most popular models for Spypoint were the IR-5 and the IR-7. They are both high quality trail cameras. The price points at $129.99 and $159.99 respectively are very affordable. Both of these high quality trail cameras are equipped with Automatic infrared level adjustment which accounts for the high picture quality. They both take color pictures and video by day and black and white pictures by night. In multi-shot mode, they will take up to 4 pictures per detection. They will even give you sound recording! Always paying attention to detail, Spypoint camera’s will give you the time and date stamp as most trail camera’s do, however, they do take their technology one step further by giving you all of the important information so you can fill in the rest of the picture, so to speak. They give you the moon phase and the temperature at the time the pictures were taken so your records of your deer movement are more accurate.   That brings us to the all new 2012 début. If you love your gadgets for the outdoors, SpyPoint has a multitude of new product that is a “Must- Have” for every sportsman.   The BF-7 (Black Flash) Surveillance Camera is equipped with 46 black flash infrared LEDs providing an unnoticeable illumination at night. It is Ideal for security purposes. The BF-7 ensures a superior discretion, even if the subject is close to the camera. With 7 megapixel picture quality, photos and videos captured by the BF-7 are in color by day and black and white by night. It is equipped with an ultra-sensitive microphone at its base, it also captures ambient sound automatically when recording movie clips! Again, This Flash is virtually undetectable to the naked eye. The black flash LED lighting type is exceptional for monitoring the game traffic around your stand or blind. The Black Flash will go completely unnoticed by any game animal which will assure that they will not get spooked or change their nocturnal habits because of the flash. The BF-7 is priced at $199.99 retail. SpyPoint makes a High Definition version, the HD-12. The HD-12 Features a 12 megapixel picture quality and has a built in 3” viewing screen and speaker for audio play back. The HD-12 has an adjustable distance detector sensor from 5 to 50 feet. This unit includes the Spypoint WRL-B detector for wireless triggering of the camera up to 500 feet.   The Tiny-W2 (wireless infrared surveillance camera) should be at the Top of the “Wish List”. This high quality 8 megapixel trail camera is a dream come true. Not only is the Tiny-W2 a trail camera, it comes with the proverbial Black Box. You can hide this Black Box Receiver up to 100 yards away from your trail camera. The images that your trail camera takes are automatically transmitted to the Black Box Receiver. Once you set up your treestand, blind and trail camera, you will not have to disturb your hunting area by constantly checking your trail camera. You can download the images right from the Black Box receiver. It holds up to a 32GB SD card. You will be able to hold all of the data gathered from spring, right through the winter without touching the trail camera itself. If you do choose to check the pictures from the Tiny-W2 and not the black box, there is a built in 2.4” viewing screen so you can check the images unencumbered. If by chance your trail camera goes missing, you will be able to find out if it was taken by a bear or a trespasser giving you a greater chance of recovering your camera. The Tiny –W2 is priced at $299.99 Retail.   If you love your gadgets like I do, you will love the Live-3G. This is the 3G Cellular Camera. This 8 megapixel camera sends 3G cellular photo transmission through mySpypoint website and the camera is fully configurable remotely right from the same website. It comes fully equipped with “Theft Alert”, a built in 3.5 inch viewing screen, time laps mode and so much more. SpyPoint really has too many high tech toys to list in this blog but you can see all of them at www.spypoint.com.