Antleritis Pro Staffers Harvest 850 Inches of Pope and Young Whitetail Antler

Don VanderMey

Hard work and dedication brought six archers a collective 850 inches of harvested Whitetail antler from mature 4 ½ to 5 ½ year old bucks.
The 2012 Minnesota Archery Season was a huge success for Antleritis Pro Staffers.

Tree stands were positioned, based on placing multiple trail cameras in logical locations, based on year round scouting.  Many of us committed ourselves to countless weekends in order to hang stands.  There were also shooting lanes cut well in advance of opening day to allow the deer to grow comfortable with any changes in their habitat.  These lanes allow for a good range of motion for taking an animal from multiple angles from each stand, while leaving plenty of cover to hide in.

Ward and Jay Pierson

In addition, much time was also spent in-season scouting and re-hanging stands in strategic locations based on trail camera information, as well as identifying scrapes, rubs and the signs of mature buck. 

All six of deer were harvested within a nine day span of time from October 29^th through November 6^th.  Most of them were harvested within 20 yards of a Cuddeback camera.  All bucks harvested were the direct result of hard work, attention to detail and the willingness of the hunters to adapt to the daily location changes of the rutting Whitetails.

Enjoy our woodland treasures, and take care of our natural resources.

Jim

October 2012 Ore, MN Pheasant Hunt

We set out early this morning for Udevich's Guide Service just south of Ore, MN to hunt. 

It turned out to be a great day for a hunt.  The day started out with frost on the ground and as the sun warmed up, it was the perfect conditions for Coco, Scott's hunting dog.  She worked wonderfully quartering into the wind.  Our shooting was superb.  We shot 16 out of the 10 birds released. 

Scott and I had a great day at Udevich's. Here are some photos from this hunt:

From The Nature of Things...

From The Nature of Things...

From The Nature of Things...

From The Nature of Things...

September 2012 Sharptails in Minnesota

I hope you are enjoying the hunting season.  I haven't had much opportunity to bow hunt quite yet, but Scott and I went on the best Sharptail hunt of my life this fall. 

Lake Bronson, MN was a good place to be early September.  Two of us shot 9 birds on our 3 day trip.  The CRP was being rotated, pushing the birds into a tighter habitat.  We recognized this and capitalized, harvesting 9 out of the 10 birds Coco, Scott's German Shorthair Pointer, flushed.  We came across several family groups and left plenty of family stock behind.

Here a couple of photos from the hunt.

From The Nature of Things...

From The Nature of Things...

Spring Symphony

The weather here in Central Minnesota has been unseasonably warm this spring. It has been so nice my   wife and I slept with the window open last night. I awoke this morning not to my alarm clock but to a grand symphony of spring. I just lay in bed and listened for almost a half hour to nature’s version of a full orchestration. There is no conductor or tuxedoes. The dramatic lighting is not from a stagehand in the theater but the warm, rich natural light of the sun rising. The instruments are finely tuned and played to perfection.

This beautiful music does not come from a string or a woodwind; it comes from our local and migrating birds and the reemerging frogs. This is the time of year for singing. I am not sure what they are singing about however I do know that the melodies and tones are unmatched for beauty and harmony.  Mates must be found, territories must be established and nests have to be built or reclaimed. 

I am fortunate to live near a cattail marsh. The Spring Peepers are already out and peeping constantly. Canadian Geese have come back to the same ponds with their same partners to lay claim to a nesting location. They honk, call and fuss almost all day and night. They are the baritones of this symphony. My pond is also filling up with both local and migratory waterfall. We have Mallards, Teal, a few Redheads and even several Buffleheads. I noticed a single Kingfisher last week. Blackbirds have also moved into the shoreline edges and with their soprano voices are noisily establishing their territories.

In the distance I hear my first Sandhill Cranes of the year. They have a prehistoric call unmistaken in the birding community. I can’t wait to watch their mating ritual of jumping, hopping, displaying and dancing for one another.  This is nature’s ballet on the grandest stage. Once you witness this performance, you will always love these big graceful birds. I have also seen my first Trumpeter Swans and Great Blue Herons of the year. The marsh is filling up.

Many birds make up the constant chirping, whistling and singing I listened to this morning that make up the rhythm and body of my symphony. Now I cannot identify many birds by their calls but I do know which birds I have seen in the last week. Among them are the Northern Flicker, Meadowlarks, Eastern Bluebirds, Robins, Chickadees, a Killdeer, and even my first Hummingbird of the season. There are a few more I am not able to identify without a birding guide. I do not claim to be a birding expert, but I am a music lover.

You do not have to be able to identify these birds to enjoy them. Get up early one morning, grab a cup of coffee, open your window and just listen. It just could be the best symphony you hear all year.

Enjoy our woodland treasures, and take care of our natural resources.

Jim

Sandhill Crane photo courtesy of Jim Krueger 

A Success Story

Standing in an oak savanna on a cool sunny afternoon this week I was watching one of my favorite birds hopping around on a dead oak snag. You can’t miss him as the sun reflects off of his bright white breast and vibrant red head. His head is a striking contrast to his black back with a white band across his wings.


This medium sized bird is a rare site across much of Minnesota and the overall population has been on a slow decline since 1966. We have a small population near Camp Ripley and a few scattered birds in the counties west of Minneapolis.


He sets out in flight to the next dead oak in a flight pattern that can be described as loping. A couple of quick wing beats followed by an arching glide and then, ending with several quick wing beats. He reaches into his cache in the fork of a tree and removes an acorn from behind some pieces of bark he placed to hide his stored food.  He hops on over to a limb and then spends the next twenty minutes breaking it apart and eating his meal.


I am watching a red-headed woodpecker winter in his chosen home range. Owned by the University of Minnesota, this oak savanna is in Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve located in central Minnesota. The open habitat of standing live and dead oaks is created and maintained through a prescribed burn program.  So often we tend to cut down dead trees for fire wood or remove them as unsightly. Not in Cedar Creek. The red-headed woodpeckers need both live and dead standing trees. This savanna is full of acorns from the oaks, grasshoppers, beetles and other grassland insects on the ground, and plenty of dragonflies from nearby Fish Lake. This diverse habitat also includes many plants, seeds and berries.  Cedar Creek’s savanna areas provide the red-headed woodpeckers with food, cover and roosting areas.


When you give a species the habitat that it requires, you can witness amazing results. Three years ago the wintering population was only 3 birds. Last winter we had 33 birds stay over. This year the wintering population is approximately 56 red-headed woodpeckers. According to a dedicated scientist, this represents 75% of all the wintering population in Minnesota. Most of these birds stay on approximately 220 acres. It’s unbelievable when you realize ¾ of the state’s population of these birds winter on only 220 acres.  With a very small territory which they defend from many species, he is quite happy and thriving.


These fascinating birds are currently being observed and studied by researchers and scientists from the University of Minnesota and other dedicated birding organizations. This is a rare opportunity to both learn about and educate others about a modern day success story.


Enjoy our woodland treasures, and take care of our natural resources.


Jim

The Whitetail Rut

“The Rut“. That special time in the deer woods that deer hunters all over North America live for. We dream about it. It consumes hours of our daily thoughts. We save our precious hard earned money and vacation time just to participate in it. We even talk about the rut endlessly often over analyzing it until we have talked ourselves into believing what we want it to be.

This annual autumn spectacular phenomena of nature cannot be described to the average wing shooter or berry collector. It must be experienced and lived. Often this takes years to understand and appreciate. Nothing in the hunting community is more magical or frustrating.

Yet we as deer hunters often live and hunt a rut of our own. This describes my 2011 whitetail deer season in Minnesota. I have spent years scouting year round, setting trail cameras, and carefully hanging stands in all the right places. I practice scent control and play the wind every time I sit in a stand. Even when I enter and exit my stand sites I try to be silent and careful with the least amount of disturbance. Despite all of this I just did not see the deer I expected to encounter from my stands. These stands are located in areas that have always been so productive for me. The buck sign I was used to seeing just was not present. I told myself the deer numbers were down.

I didn’t realize until the last few weeks while out shed hunting that I was the one in a rut. I started walking all the areas I usually expect to see deer travel and just like this past deer season, there was no sign. Then one day while taking a short cut back to the truck I stumbled onto a rub line with some of the biggest scrapes I have ever seen. They were within 75 yards and paralleling the very logging road I used to walk to my stands. Were these bucks watching me when I walked in and out of the woods? It sure seems like it. In the next few days I proceeded to check tiny spots of cover, unusual corners near roads and every woodland crawl space and unconventional deer habitat I could find. It was a real eye opener for me. The buck sign I could not find all season was there all the time. The deer had patterned me and adjusted to do what they do best, survive.

Never underestimate the whitetail deer. There are the smartest survival machines in all of North America. You must be on the top of your game every season when you enter their world. We always have to be learning and adjusting our tactics and skills. If you have ever closely watched a deer walking through the woods you know how alert they are to their surroundings. A whitetail will make changes every day if needed. As hunters we need to learn from these masters of the woodlot.

Next year the rut I hunt will not be my own.    

Enjoy our woodland treasures, and take care of natural resources

Jim

The Winter of 2011 – 2012 Part Two

For me this has been a very enjoyable winter. I have not missed the generous amount cold and snow we usually get here in Central Minnesota. Currently our high temperature today was in the forty’s again and the only snow we have on the ground is a trace in the shadiest corners of our woodlots. Welcome to February in Minnesota 2012.

As much as I have been enjoying our lack of snow this does alter more than a few natural dynamics of winter. This goes beyond the obvious lack of precipitation needed to recharge our streams, lakes and ground water supply. Waterfowl and other shoreline birds are then impacted with fewer locations to nest and safely raise their young. This results in a lower populations.

The lack of snow also affects many woodland creatures. Snowshoe hair that turn white in the winter lose their natural camouflage, making them susceptible to predation from many predators. Without snow ruffed grouse, mice, voles and shrews are just a few critters that lose valuable cover needed to hide them from hawks, owls or coyotes. Snow also acts as an insulation to help keep these animals and birds warm.

I have noticed that this warm weather has a few trees fooled into budding already. Our trees and fruiting plants are exposed to an increase of the possibility of frost injury. Actively growing trees or grape vines fooled into an early growth can suffer death of flowering buds if a hard frost occurs. Open blossoms may die if the temperature drops below 27 degrees F. This means fewer apples, grapes and plums.  Damage to shoots, fruits and broad leaf plants are also common anytime cold temperatures occur after a warm winter.

The effects of the winter of 2012 can even change our recreational habits and experiences. This mild winter means a longer tick season. In fact any time the temperatures are above 35 degrees woodland ticks are active and in search of a blood meal. This could be a banner year for these little forest draculas. One of my favorite treats, the morel mushroom, could also suffer from the lack of moisture. I sure hope we get a lot of rain this spring.

There is good news mixed in with this. All of the species will recover and grow again. After all, they have been doing this for a very long time.

Enjoy our woodland treasures, and take care of our natural resources.

Jim

Coyote out mouse hunting...

The Winter of 2011 - 2012

As I stand motionless in my favorite woodlot I am watching a fat first year deer jumping, running and playing with her sibling. Mama doe keeps an eye on all things around them while occasionally pawing up another acorn to munch on. The sun is out and the temperature is in the mid thirty’s this afternoon.

This sounds like a great fall day to be out in the forest. However this is the last week in January. There is only about four inches of fresh snow on the ground and that too is melting.

Welcome to central Minnesota in the middle of winter. You should be expecting four feet of snow and a week straight of ten below zero….cold enough some years to make you wish you lived south of the frost line. However, we choose to live here and have even thrived in this frozen tundra. We ski, snowmobile, fish and even build great castles out of ice. I guess it’s easy to go out for a few hours every day when you know you can come inside to warm up and have a nice hot meal.

Our whitetail deer do not share in our comforts. They must make a living the hard way. Out in the elements all day and night never guaranteed of a meal. Most winters can be cruel and hard on them with mortality from starvation, predation or exposure a real threat to them and their young.

Not this winter. This year our whitetail are enjoying one of the mildest winters on record.  A check of my weather records show at this time last year we had a 55 inch snow fall with several below zero nights and days. This makes it very tough for our deer herd to travel and find a meal. They have a hard time finding enough calories to just make it to spring. This year we have had a total of 14.5 inches of snow and most of it has melted shortly after falling. I can’t seem to recall more than one day below zero and remember several days of temperatures that broke record highs. Both the deer and I are enjoying this winter. I don’t ski or snowmobile, all I do is shovel snow.

The deer I was watching are in great shape. They should have been hunkered down conserving energy and slowly burning up whatever fat reserves they had put on in the summer and fall. Instead they were eating high protein acorns, and burning excess calories without a concern for their next meal. This has been an almost non-winter for our deer herd in central Minnesota so far. We should see them come out of this winter in great shape. Low snow and warmer temperatures means a greater diversity of food available and higher calorie food sources with less mortality from predators. After last year’s winter our wonderful whitetails are doing just fine.

This also means that shed antlers can drop anywhere. Usually deep snow funnels them to trails or south facing slopes, but not this winter.  Classic winter bedding areas may not hold as many bucks as they would have last year.  So when you are out shed hunting this spring, be sure to look in all four corners of your deer woods.

Enjoy our woodland treasures, and take care of our natural resources.

Jim