FALL HUNTING PREP TIPS

Summer is wrapping up and UC MLP realtors are in fall hunting prep mode. The drought seems to have shortened the season, so we think fall will be early as well. An early fall means hunting prep mode is in full gear. Today, we’ll be sharing with you some of our best fall hunting prep tips.

We’d like to stress that fall hunting prep is an excellent opportunity to involve your wife and children. The time you spend sharing your love of the outdoors and nature will create a wonderful bond as well as a lifetime of family memories.

TRAIL CAMERA TIPS

Our first, and most important tip: trail cameras. Depending on your situation, you may have several properties you need to cover or just one, but whatever the case working efficiently is the best.

Hopefully, you’ve had your trail cameras set and have been collecting some good buck inventory. An excellent program for organizing all your deer data would be DEER LAB. This is where you can “get your nerd on”. DeerLab, through its various monthly or annual subscriptions, assists you in organizing all your photos by the property, along with time and date.

According to DeerLab’s website, “DeerLab makes it drop-dead simple to track specific animals or groups of animals using your trail camera photos. Profiles allow you to understand patterns by date ranges, times, and camera locations.” Your “deer nerd” will make its way out in some awesome reports like:

• Camera sightings- a log of what visited (it has photo recognition) deer, turkey, humans… whatever gets in front of the camera is logged.
• Photolog- quickly reference a specific animal complete with dated timeline, photos, and sightings.
• Wind Direction and Speed- filtered by date, time, range, wind speed/direction and camera.
• Moon Phases- does the moon impact your target animal?
• Time of Day Sightings- understand the tendencies of your target during daylight hours.
• Temperature Ranges- witness how temperature changes affect your animal or group.

Joining this tool with your trail camera will have you hunting smarter not harder. Don’t worry about what trail camera brand you have. DeerLab works with them all and old photos are added with a simple drop and drag.

OPTICS TIPS

For some folks, driving down the road and pulling over to “glass” some deer in the field is all they need to do. But for the rest of us, we have to get out of the truck and go quietly into a field. It’s important to remember that you don’t need to be advertising to your potential quarry that you’re there stomping around. Be quiet and careful.

Here are a few simple tips to remember:

1. Don’t be lazy- dress for success, camo up.
2. Watch your wind direction- just like hunting, stay out of the wind, because if they smell you- you’re busted!
3. Spy on usual and unusual areas- alfalfa fields are nice, but maybe the watering hole will hold some surprising results?
4. Time of day- daybreak buck movement may provide you more information than you think it can.

CHECK, CLEAR, SET

Each spring and summer brings a new round of growth to trees and undergrowth. For most of us in the Upper-Midwest, August is a great time to begin checking on what growth happened on your tree stand tree as well as growth within the shooting lanes.

You’ll want to make sure your shooting lanes are wide enough to allow you room for shooting, but not too wide that they blow your cover. Double-check the tree that you have your tree stand on. Have enough branches removed to allow you movement.

The next step would be to check on all your tree stands. Safety comes first in making sure all your stands are functional and in proper working order. Nobody wants to become a statistic. Your gear, such as the harnesses you may use for tree climbing, as well as harnesses for support and suspension in a tree, should be checked and tested out before serious use within the season.

Setting new stands should take place in August as well. This will give you time to make sure you’ve got the stand is in a good position for shooting and scouting, along with giving the wildlife in the area a chance to re-set with a new object in their territory.

GUN HOUSEKEEPING TIPS

If you are like me, you’ve probably had a gun for every occasion. Keeping your gun clean and working order makes us all better hunters and keeps us safe. Here are a few tips for good gun housekeeping:

• Disassemble and check for gun use safety.
• Note any worn parts. If you are confident with your gunsmithing skills, go ahead and replace worn-out parts. If you lack gunsmithing skills, it’s best to bring it to a gunsmith for a safe and correct repair.
• Special note: check action spring, make sure it isn’t rusted.
• Check the screws that hold your scope onto your gun. Tighten as necessary.
• Give your gun a good cleaning. Some folks don’t believe in a good cleaning. Cleaning your gun keeps it functioning properly and will give your gun better longevity and keeps your hunting successful.

After your gun has had a good cleaning and safety check, it’s time to sight in your gun. You don’t want to do this too early before the season, but lots of folks get caught off guard, and pretty soon it’s 5 pm the night before the deer hunt begins, the sun is setting and you didn’t sight in your gun.

Sighting in your gun assures you of your gun’s accuracy. Adjustments can be made to fix any problems that may arise.

BOW HOUSEKEEPING TIPS

I’ve always felt bows were more temperamental than guns. That said, it means you’ll need to put more effort into maintaining your bow. Here are a few tips for good bow housekeeping:

• Check your bowstrings- Look for fraying and give it a simple waxing. If you’ve had this string on for more than the average time, it would be wise to take it into your local pro-shop and let them have a look at it. Maybe it’s time to have the strings replaced? Two years of good string use before replacing it is a great rule of thumb.
• D-Loop, or String Loop- Like your bowstring, look for fraying, fading, and wearing. Your release is on there, it wears in the same spot.
• If you don’t have one, pick up an archers allen wrenches, star drive wrenches and thread repair- don’t leave home without them!
• Check your sights- make adjustments as needed, replace
• Check your rests- replace if worn.
• Tighten loose bolts.
• Give your bow a good cleaning to remove dust.
• Store your bow properly in a good case.

Just like your gun, don’t forget to sight in your bow. Practice shooting should occur throughout the summer, but especially after maintenance has occurred. Accuracy equals success.

WASHING YOUR HUNTING CLOTHES

The frequency of washing your hunting clothes can be a bit debatable. In the technology age of anti-microbial, anti-scent wear, having to wash frequently may not be necessary. If you can swing it, having more than one pair of scent-technology items will help with the longevity of the product.

A rule of thumb is to wash your clothing after you can smell they need washing or the 10th wear. Wash your clothing per the manufacturer’s directions. A great laundry detergent to use would be any hypo-allergenic brand with NO fragrance and NO color brightener. Washing them by hand works as well as the washing machine. Drying outdoors is preferred but you can use a dryer with NO fabric softener.

If you are in a pinch, baking soda will clean your clothes as well. Baking soda has no scent. Simply wash with baking soda, rinse it out in cold water and let it hang dry.

DON’T FORGET TO BUY YOUR LICENSE!

After all these tips and preparations, it’s easy to get distracted and forget to buy your hunting license. Some deer hunting licenses require you to apply much earlier than a regular hunt. Set a reminder on your phone, a sticky note in your truck, and a note on your bathroom mirror. You’ll look pretty foolish to your friends if you forget!

Lastly, enjoy these preparations as a fun part of the hunt. The time you spend making sure your guns and gear are in safe and working condition makes your hunt a successful one. We at UC MLP wish you all a safe and happy hunt.