Heavy snow hits the gobbler woods

Gobblers often head for bird feeders following a spring snowstorm.

I knew last night that my chances of seeing any turkeys to photograph today would probably be a gigantic waste of time. The forecast called for heavy snow, and at midnight last evening it was a near-blizzard.

The idea of going out today in the heavy wind, and sitting in eight inches of very wet snow didn’t happen. I got up this morning, shuffled through the snow to pick up my wet newspaper, and kept my head down against the snow that was still falling and wind that was still blowing.

Mind you, I’ve spent lots of days hunting deer in snow and wind, but I’ve never found the turkey hunting or photographing wild turkeys in such weather to be much fun. Often, the day is wasted while waiting for the birds to make their appointed round. Often, they stay roosted longer than normal, fly down late, peck around for a bit, and stay fairly close to their roost trees.

There are exceptions to all rules, but rarely will turkeys move well in heavy snow.

I heard no gobbles or yelps, saw no birds, and never saw a single sign of a turkey-bird, regardless of sex. Periodic snow fell today from leaden skies, and although the temperature warmed a bit, it didn’t melt much snow. Tomorrow doesn’t look like it’s going to offer very good hunting conditions, and this first season really points out the hazard of hunters choosing the first hunting season. All too often, the weather falls apart like it did today.

There was a pretty good lightning storm last night as it snowed, and thunder rolled through the North Country as the front moved through. Flashes of lightning could be seen last evening as the snow piled up on my deck.

So, does that mean hunters should apply for the short second season in Area K or go for the lengthy last season? I usually apply for the second season because I usually draw a tag. The third season can provide some of the most suitable turkey hunting conditions of all, but there are some problems with this late hunt.

Hunters have most of May to hunt, but that means mosquitoes as the weather warms. It also means morel mushroom hunters to share the turkey season with, which can lead to some unusual encounters with people who have no clue that turkey hunting season is open.

All they know is somebody in camo clothing is roaming the woods wearing a face mask and carrying a shotgun. Some people seem distressed by such a sight. However, for those who are willing to share the woods with people looking for morel mushrooms, it can provide some very good turkey hunting.

For me, I’m not sure how my second season will pan out but I’m hoping that we are far enough along in our spring weather that we won’t be fighting heavy snow storms. But then again, who can be sure with the crazy weather we’ve had so far this spring.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Two deer stands for each hunting spot?

East-wind stands must be properly placed for them to work.

It's certainly not an original idea. Many hunters, myself included, have long toyed with the notion of having two stands for each hunting spot. One for the prevailing wind direction and another that would work well for most other winds.

I've thought about it at great length, and have pretty much decided that the most problematic wind is from the northeast, east and southeast. Such winds can stall deer travel.

Would a stand for a prevailing westerly-northwesterly wind, and one for an easterly wind work? What are the pros and cons?

Is the two-stand idea adaptable for most deer hunting?

It probably would work if  the cover (meaning trees for tree stands) were available for those winds. The reason most of us never have put up stands for an east wind is that we never used to get as much of them as we have over the last 10 years.

I have a few places where I can go when an east wind blows. One is a pitblind at the base of a small hill, and an east wind blows right into the opening where bow shots are taken. Deer, as a general rule, do not approach from behind the pit blind, and it's very difficult for a deer to wind the hunter.

A couple of elevated coops are situated so an east wind isn't too bothersome, but many of my stands are placed strategically for the prevailing westerly wind direction.

However, going back to the plausibility of two stands for each hunting area. It could work, if the terrain features and available trees are present, but there is the additional cost of doing so.

Say we're hunting a big buck and we want to set up on him when the wind is out of the east, it can be done but it's not something one jumps into when we already have some stands out. If we could, that would mean building or buying many more stands.

 

The cost of buying or building more stands can become cost-prohibitive.

Most of our stands are permanent fixtures, especially elevated coops built into trees. If we were to do it at all locations, the woods would lose its good looks and begin looking like a scattering of urban tenements in the trees. That would spoil the aethetics of the hunting area.

What probably makes more sense than anything is to build four or five stands for use strictly on an east wind. That might mean two or three new stands along the western edge of our property where the likelihood of a deer catching the hunters scent would be minimal.

If two or three stands were positioned with the west fence line just a short distance away, the chance of a deer circling next to the fence and picking up human odor would be minimized.

The other alternative would be to build an air-tight coop with one shooting window strategically placed. If it was just large enough to shoot through, and could be opened without a sound, it would probably work.

Too many windows in a coop allow the hunter to be silhouetted against the light entering another window. And, the more windows there are, the more likely someone will try a shot at a circling buck or open the windows to look around. All this would do is distribute more human odor.

 

Fighting an east wind is becoming more prevalent. This could solve the problem.

Fighting the east wind is something bow hunters must put up with, and in some cases, we can do something about it. In other cases, the wind may beat us.We're putting our collective heads together this winter, and are trying to figure out how to beat the October east-wind problem. Will it be two blinds in one hunting spot or air-tight blinds with only one small shooting window?

Will it be one or two more pit blinds that back up to a hill? Will it be stands close to our line fence to keep deer from circling behind the hunters?

It may well be a combination of all of these things although having two blinds covering one hunting spot is not one of my favorite ideas. If one was an elevated coop and the other was a pitblind, it could work without cluttering up the skyline.

One thing is certain: whatever we do must be accomplished during the spring, or at the very latest, by June or early July. I like all changes to be made long in advance of the bow season.

Winter has returned

One hopes this and other gobblers make it through the winter.

A few days ago it was 40 degrees. The storm we are now experiencing began last night with strong winds and snow amounts up to 12 inches.

Earlier today the strong wind started filling up with even more snow, and the westerly blow is a tough wind in our neighborhood. It whips across open fields, and buries our driveway.

One look at it at breakfast made me realize that tomorrow morning means another two hours or more on the snow-blower. Lots of time. Lots of snow. Cold temperatures.

It’s part of living up north where lake-effect snow is measured by the feet.

Do I dislike it? No, as a matter of fact, I enjoy snow-blowing. However, the Weather Channel says there is more snow and wind snaking through Minnesota and Wisconsin and down from Canada, and the storm is supposed to continue through tomorrow.

What I dislike most is having to snow-blow during a storm. However, if I don't do it in the morning, and wait as more drifting snow blows through the Traverse City region, the drifted snow will turn into something as hard as concrete.

The other problem also means sticking the nose of the snow-blower out into the road where someone with a car or truck or speeding snowmobile could run into me. I wear some blaze orange clothing, but if the wind continues to blow hard, the visibility may make seeing anything very difficult or impossible.

It is storms like this that can wreak havoc on deer and turkey numbers.

A big, fat, apparently pregnant fox squirrel came to visit the bird feeder today. Squirrel season is still open, and I could have easily shot the bushytail, but that would be like shooting ducks on the water. I let her feed, which may be a mistake when she comes visiting next summer with her brood in tow, and I may then be sorry. However, I figured she had enough problems to cope with being out and on the prowl for food in this kind of weather. Why add to her problems?

My neighbor called and asked me to guess what he was looking  behind his house.

"Turkeys," I said.

"Nope," he said, "ducks. What are they doing in what's left of my cornfield on a day like today? Shouldn't they be somewhere near water?"

I suggested that very little open water is available now except in certain streams. And, I offered, the birds probably were out looking for food, spotted his cornfield and dropped in to see if there were any corn kernels left.

"Six ducks," he muttered, "six mallards. I can't hardly believe it."

I told him about the she-squirrel grubbing for something to eat under my bird feeder, and he agreed that the storm must be making all kinds of critters a little goofy.

The squirrel surely came from my woods or the woods across the street. The ducks probably have some little pocket of open water somewhere on Grand Traverse Bay or on one of the nearby lakes or streams.

The turkeys seem to be conspicuous by their absence this winter. I've seen just one small flock of birds, and that was several days ago but thei seen to have disappeared. They are probably keeping their heads down until the storm blows through. A few deer are moving through the snow but they aren't traveling very far.

If the storm continues tonight, stay off the roads and stay safe.

Tomorrow is another day, and with any kind of luck, we won't get buried in snow overnight. Blowing snow isn't too bad with a foot of the white stuff, but if it gets any deeper than that, even my tractor and snow-blower has to work too hard. Heavy, compacted snow is hard on a blower.

And that goes for the guy driving the thing. Stay warm and dry tomorrow, and ride out the storm. Stay home, and off the roads, and remain safe while saving gasoline.

Hopefully, if the storm continues, snowmobilers will stay off the roads and trails. It's during these near white-out conditions that snowmobile accidents can happen.

Cars, trees and parked vehicles often seem to jump out in front of a snowmobiler during a bad storm, and survival in such cases is questionable at any kind of speed. And if you must travel through the storm, carry heavy clothing, snowshoes, shovel, boots, a strong flashlight plus food and water. Two or three blankets or sleeping bags can keep you toasty warm. Get some blaze orange surveyer's tape, and tie it to your car in hopes of it being seen before it run over by one of the over-zealous County road plows that travel nonstop at 60 miles per hour. I don't how they can see anything at the speeds they drive when plowing.

Fighting a nasty winter storm with high winds is never a good idea. If you go into a ditch, stay with the vehicle. Don't be a hero and try to walk out for help. That is how people die in severe winter storms.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tricks of the wind

There are two types of wind conditions I don't like when deer hunting. One is when there is no wind, and the other is when the wind swirls.

Everything is dead silent when there is no wind, and deer in such atmospheric conditions are very tough to hunt. They don't move much and are spooky. I much prefer a bit of a breeze, preferably from any direction other than the east.

The second type of wind condition is the one that swirls, first one way and then the other, and these quirky wind shifts make it difficult to determine where to sit for an evening hunt. Invariably, the wind will shift to a different direction about the time you sit down.

There are times when it's impossible to hunt properly.

Tonight's wind was of the latter variety. It began out of the east, and then it swirled to the west, tracked back to the south, and then it returned to an easterly breeze with a stiff cold wind and a 25-degree temperature.

I decided on a ground blind simply because I could get inside, close the windows, and none of my scent would be carried to the deer. If a deer came that I chose to shoot, i'd crank open the window just enough for a clean and accurate shot.

Now, my stand choice tonight was where I shot a nice buck a few years ago but tonight the deer were very hard to find. A few were seen moving through some tag alders, but only two or three antlerless deer showed themselves.

I kept watching the soft breeze, and it would then gust from my ground set to where the deer were, and then the wind would switch the other way. This back-and-forth wind movements kept the deer edgy, and as a result very few animals moved.

A friend sat in an elevated coop in a huge pine, and saw several deer but the breezes at ground level where shifting from one quarter to another. The deer were spooky everywhere.

He saw a decent buck and several does, but nothing was within bow range and none were shooters. It was as if the fickle wind was playing tricks, and he kept his shooting windows shut and sat back to watch the few deer that did move.

Another friend sat in a pit blind, and although the deer tore up the area the day before, there was very little action tonight. The hunter never saw a deer of either sex, and the only living creature spotted was a ruffed grouse pecking around in the nearby foodplot.

Such nights of swirling winds do occur periodically, and there is precious little a hunter can do about it. Hunting is something that involves an investment of time, and hunters who aren't willing to put forth the time and effort, will have poor hunting.

I don't dislike such nights of swirling winds. They are a part of our lives, both the deer and mine. They must cope with it 24 hours a day, while I deal with it for three or four hours once or twice a day.

The winds may swirl, and they may bluster, and the deer may or may not move. The best advice is to put in your time, accept the variable winds and gusty breezes, and work hard to puzzle out hunting locations that will work for most of the various wind directions.

Take a stab at hunting the various winds. Know that sometimes you will get winded, and other times the deer will pass by without catching your scent. The more a person hunts during such swirling wind conditions, the more we learn about trying to determine the best places to hunt and how to outwit a buck.

I made a wrong guess tonight, and when the wind swirls, it's easy to guess wrong. I didn't see any big whitetails, and only a small doe, but each day afield offers hunters new insights into what makes deer tick.

Once you get it figured out, and are 100 percent accurate each time you hunt, call me up and let me in on your secret. So far, guessing the swirling wind directions and how they affect deer travel has been a tough puzzle to solve

You guess right sometimes, guess wrong often, and none of it makes much sense. The one thing we know is that deer are never shot from inside a house, and we must spend time afield to stand any chance of achieving any degree of hunting success.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors