The Advantages of Planting Food Plots

Why it is advantageous to plant food plots.Photo by Bill Kinney Photography

Why would you want a food plot?

Great question!  We were hoping you'd ask, because a food plot has many, many advantages.  They are also a lot simpler than you'd think, plus they can be a ton of fun!

How to Interpret and use a Deer Grunt, Snort, or Wheeze

Bill Kinney Photography

Have you ever wondered what those different deer noises meant?  You will often hear a deer before you see him if you pick up on his vocalizations.  There are a variety of hunting calls meant to imitate deer sounds and, when used in the correct manner, can be very successful.  These sounds are extremely useful hunting tools and need to be understood in order to have a successful hunt.

Why do deer make such vocalizations?
Like any wild animal, deer use sounds as a form of communication.  Deer are a quiet animal, moving in and out of an area sometimes without a sound so as to avoid unwanted attention.  Because of this many of their sounds are just as suttle and often not recognized by the average hunter.  This is why it is important to train your ears and learn how to correctly use these calls.

Types of Deer Noises
The most commonly known is the grunt.  It is used by hunters during the rut and can be quite successful, but understanding their other sounds is important as well when trying to understand  what is going on in your environment.

The snort
Deer snorting is very common and sounds almost like a sneeze.   However, if you hear a deer snort, proceed with caution.  It may not specifically be you, but a deer snorting is a deer sending out a word of caution.  It is telling the other deer that somethings not right.  If you can see it and it is looking in your direction, do not move.  The deer will flee if it notices any further danger.  Know that once a deer has snorted, even if it dismissed whatever danger it thought was there, it is still on the alert and you must be extremely stealthy.  A skittish deer does not take second chances.  If you ever see someone trying to sell a deer snort as a hunting call, recognize it as a probable scam, it will do nothing more than scare away every deer in the area.

How to Decide Where to Place Your Tree Stand

Bill Kinney Photography

Tree stand placement is crucial to a deer hunt. The wrong placement could result in you missing a shot or not seeing any deer at all. Your stand is where you will be scouting, watching, and shooting from, therefore it is essential to learn how to decide where to place your tree stand.

First you need to decide where it is you plan on hunting. Once you have permission, ask if the owner has an aerial map or view of the property.  If hunting on public land, you can often go online and find detailed information. If you are still having trouble acquiring some imaging, go to a source such as google maps and find the area you plan on hunting. Print this out for reference, you may wish to make multiple copies in the case you decide to draw out paths and such onto your map.

Deer Hunting That Makes Deer Meat Taste Bad

Bill Kinney Photography

Have you ever heard someone tell you they don't eat their deer because they don't like the taste of deer meat? Are you one of those people? Frequently, people say that they tried it once and didn't like it and that it wasn't worth eating. This isn't always a bad thing...sometimes they offer to give you their deer when they don't want it...free deer meat? Yes! But everyone should know how good deer meat is! So we think you should know, bad tasting meat comes from how you hunt.

What makes deer meat so distasteful?

Deer, like other livestock, have nice juicy red meat and can be prepared so well you wouldn't know the difference between your deer steak and your normal one. The problem is that the meat can get tough making for a chewy, not so yummy, venison steak.