My buddy, Shuan Klingsmith, and I team up for a mid-October whitetail hunt in Missouri. The early rut is just kicking off and food plots pay off big with a shot at an old 10-pointer. The success of this hunt weighs on Shuan’s decisions after making a marginal hit on the big buck.
When hunting early-season food plots (clover, turnips and oats), it’s very important to hunt the wind. I sometimes will wait a week before I go to a stand due to bad wind. A big buck will only take so much human scent before he changes his patterns and times of entering the food plots. Sometimes it can be changed with just one bad wind encounter. That’s why I always check my ScentCone in the HuntStand Hunting app as I’m considering possible stands. [The 15-Yard Files]
Watch as we follow our friend, Dan Burzon, during his 2-year quest to harvest a Colorado archery elk. Dan has multiple heart-pounding encounters before he’s ultimately blessed with a monarch bull of a lifetime. Along the way, you’ll learn how to get in close to rutting bulls, and discover how bull elk react to cow calling and scent. This hunt takes place on the free-range Vermejo Park Ranch, a premier elk hunting outfitter.
When hunting in southern Colorado in mid-September, the weather is unpredictable. It can be 35 or it can be 80 degrees. You can be at 7,000 feet or at 10,000 feet. The HuntStand Hunting app helps me choose the right clothing to wear, and decide how heavy my daypack will be with extra clothing. Heavy packs are the killer of a fat boy in the mountains! [The 15-Yard Files]
In this nerve-racking bowhunt, my wife, Annetta, and I head to western Nebraska for an early-season turkey hunt. We’ve been hunting together since we were 18, killing gobblers across the country on public-ground hunts and outfitted hunts. Annetta admits she likes to hear the roar of a shotgun, but there’s nothing like the accomplishment of killing a turkey with her bow. She shares that today’s accessibility to women’s bows, camo clothing, turkey hunting vests and other equipment has made being a female hunter even more fun.
When hunting early-season gobblers in Nebraska, the weather is very unpredictable. During this time, it can be 30 degrees and snowy or sunny and 70—but the big problem in Nebraska is the wind. I use my HuntStand Hunting app hourly to help keep track of the wind and weather, which helps me to concentrate my efforts and determine the best game plan. I might be in open creek-bottoms or in thick, low-lying cedar thickets. [15-Yard Files]