Once you have found these dove fields the contain wheat, millet, corn, and even sorghum in some places. These fields will have ten to twenty hunters surrounding them sitting on a five gallon bucket waiting for the first bird to fly over to take a shot at. These birds are different than most other birds but are great to eat right off the grill. In fact I would like to share a recipe with you that I enjoy so much when it comes to dove.

Dove Recipe:

Mix beer, Italian dressing, melted butter, and salt together to make your marinade seasoning. Take bacon and wrap around the dove breast and use a tooth pick to hold bacon and breast together. Then you take the wrapped breast and soak them in the marinade seasoning for 1 hour. Heat up grill until it reaches about 375 degrees. Place all of marinated breast on the grill and cook until the bacon is done. Once your bacon is done pull from grill and serve.

Other small game hunting is fun for the family as well. Squirrel hunting can be fun with dogs or without. A simple 22 caliber rifle or 20 gauge shotgun should do the trick for harvesting these small creatures. Sitting once again on a 5 gallon bucket near a bunch of oak trees at the crack of day light is a sure chance of taking home some good squirrel meat. You start to see them as soon as it gets good and light and shoot until you don’t see anymore. Shaking vines that lead to nest in large trees is another way of pulling them out into movement. On the dogs behalf he may want to track them down and bark at a tree as the morning turns to noon. Even though squirrel hunting is done a bit different than rabbit it can still be fun.

Rabbit hunting on the other hand is usually done in a group of hunters of at least 5 or more. It also can bring fun to the whole family when the hunt is set up rite. Standing men and women along the edge of old abandon fields and road ways with the dogs on a good chase will bring some great excitement. Just make sure to shoot the rabbit and not the dog that is bound to be following him. So the next time you want some family fun during the off season of deer or turkey try these small game hunts and have fun and also remember to be safe.

Locating the bird that you choose to chase is where you will need to start. You may have two or three birds gobbling good at daybreak and eventually you will have to choose which one to try to work on that mornings hunt. One is located about 200 yards away in a pine plantation on the edge of a clearing.  Another is only 100 yards away in a water oak across a small branch with running water. The question you have to ask yourself is which one you think is going to commit to a good mornings conversation when you start to talk to him.

Let us start by thinking with the one closest to you. Even though he is across a branch it might be easy for you to cross and set up as close to him without spooking him. There are a few catches to this bird and one major problem is that there are eight hens roosted that are located between him and you. What do you do from this point? Do you sit up and get ready to make your calls to him before the hens fly down? You make this call?

Downside:

: You have to cross the branch.

: There are hens between you and him.

These are just two things that you have to look at that could affect the movement of the bird and you as the hunter. There could even be a log or a fallen tree the he may fly down by and you may never see him.

Upside:

: The bird is only 100 yards or so away. This means he is closer than bird number two.

: He can be playing right into your favor when he makes his way to the ground.

: The hens can be of use if you play your cards right and sit and wait him and them out.

Most times if he has roosted in that tree for a couple of days he is aware that the hens are there and more than likely he is headed straight for them as soon as he hits the ground. This bird can be easily harvested with a little patience ad time on your behalf.

Now let us get to the ups and downs of bird number two. He is located on the edge of a clearing in a pine plantation. He has no hens within 250 yards of him meaning that if he is after a certain set of hens he is going to have to battle the gobbler across the branch closes to you in the beginning.

  Downside:

   : He is further away and if you make the wrong move then you stand a chance of knocking him off the     roost to soon.

   : He has probably already been whipped by the first bird. So even if you have the jake decoy out when you get close to him me may just change his mind about the sweet hen sounds you try to deliver to him in the beginning.

    Upside:

    : He is alone and has no other birds around him.

    : If you can get close enough to the clearing then a hen decoy just may play in you favor to bring him in.

When you have a bird like this the odds can defiantly be in either yours or his favor. The odds of a loaner bird like him means he could also only be a two-year old or even a jake that has gotten lost from the group from the evening before. Set up as close as possible and watch for him to hit the ground in the clearing before making any sudden moves or calls to him. You also are the one to make the right call for bird number two.

Will a bird cross a creek to come to a flock of willing hens? That is up to him in other words. It is mother nature that take the effect on wild turkeys, especially an old gobbler. It is in the favor of the gobbler to fly down and stay put and just strut his stuff and have the hen come to him instead of him going to the hen. It is your job as the hunter to hunt for these birds and not just call to these birds. As I have said on many other occasions you are turkey hunting and not turkey calling when you play this game.

Turkey hunting in the south is totally different from in the west or in the north. Birds get call shy faster it seems and they know when to come and know when to stay and we as the hunter have to learn to play the game that they are ranked number one at before you ever start. So many have tried and so many have fallen at the game we call spring time turkey hunting. You never have the upper hand until the trophy is harvested and hanging from your shoulder as you head back to the camp. We win some and we lose some. In the game we cherish so much we tend to walk home empty-handed more times than with one hanging over our shoulders.

It is a hunt for the hunter to enjoy but it turns into the turkey being the one that comes out on top most of the time. We sometimes have to sit and wait for hours under a tree and act as if we are the hunted. So I leave you with this and you make your own call. Are you the hunter that is going to bag that old hung up gobbler that lays the whipping on you each year. Or are you going to be the hunter that brings him in for all to see ate the end of the hunt.

Even though the turkey hunting here can be stressful on most visitors. It can hold great rewards for those who take the time to do their homework and actually hunt for the game bird we love so much. There are many Wildlife Management Areas in the state the hold great numbers for turkey. A favorite slate call, mouth yelper, and box call just may do the trick on one of these WMA’s. Hunting in Alabama can be tough due to the types weather we have when spring finally arrives. It may be cold one morning with birds gobbling lite to a warm morning for the next day and birds calling all mother nature around them for miles.

Bugs, snakes, and even in some areas even a hog trying to ruin a good morning’s hunt can cost you a bird from the start. Know your area when you come to Alabama for it is so easy to get lost in the deep swampy areas where a great deal of birds like to hang out in a tree at sun rise. I have hunted turkey here in Alabama ever since I killed my first bird at the age of 15. Even for the 40 year turkey veteran that has been doing it his whole life a bird here will make him want to just hang up everything and head to a fishing hole.

If hunting on public hunting grounds aren’t your thing you may want to try one of the many hunting lodges. One that comes to mind for a fantastic southern dream turkey hunt you may want to check out Westervelt Lodge. With 10,000 acres to hunt on you and a guide are bound to call up one to shoot at. Westervelt is located near Tuscaloosa, AL and treats you to a fine southern living style comfort and great southern hospitality. The turkey hunting here is some of the finest. Let’s take a look and on your next hunting trip for adventure try our great state of Alabama. But come prepared and ready to sometimes going home with empty hands.

I love duck hunting, and Teal season is a breath of fresh air for me. Finally here, pumped up like a kid on the night before Christmas. Hell, I can’t even sleep, laying there think of what the next morning will bring. Listen for the whistle of the wings of the first flock to buzz my decoy spreed. Now to me that’s what dreams are made of. I have 25 years of Southeast Louisiana roughest duck hunting under my belt. So listen up,

CUZ DIS CAJUN BOUT TO TELL U HOW WE GONE TO DO DIS LIKE DAT.

• DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Go out and scout, see where the ducks are, where they or flying from and also where they might be headed. One thing you want to keep in mind is Teal don’t like to be in the same place to long. Face it they are on there we to Mexico, so try to stay mobile. Ducks fly in this invisible highway, called flyways. Kinda like Cow trails, they get up and fly this patten everyday. So know where you flyways are.

• FEED

Find a pond that has natural feed. This will allow you the best place to hunt, simply because the ducks have probably already found this spot. But if you don’t have the natural feed, then feed them but make sure to follow all local game laws in your area or state. Some states may not allow feeding of wildlife. You can use rice, corn, milo, etc. Remember all the feed that is not natural has to be gone before you can hunt that hole.

• BLIND & BLIND LOCATION

This one is my favorite, simply because I have always been able to pick the perfect spot as to say. Thanks to my grandpa & father teaching me. Your blind location must be with the sun facing your back and the north wind coming from your back also. The reason for this is because ducks tend to land against the wind. So this keeps all the action in front of your face. Having the sun at your back is so that you can see them, you ever try to shoot a duck with the sun in your eyes! That makes for a very crappy morning. Now that you have your spot, there are many different types of blinds that you can build or even buy.

• PIROUGUE BLIND

A pirouette is a flat bottom canoe that us Cajuns get around the marsh in. Well the blind is quite simple. Place your boat or pirouette were you want it and put brush around it. Remember when brushing your blind only use natural brush. Look at what’s around you and use that. If your in a salt water marsh don’t use a willow tree. Ducks ain’t stupid, you might get luck once but your not going to be successful time and time again.

• STAND BLIND

This is a platform style blind with a bench or seats. Usually built with a couple of 2×4 boards and some ply wood. This is done so that you can be on a sturdy area while you hunt. Make the blind so that you can fit 2, 3, even 4 people, that is pretty much up to you. Keep in mind the bigger the blind the harder to make it blend in. Once you have your base or platform built and don’t forget to brush it up a bit.

• HOUSE BLIND

This is just what it sounds like a house all brushed up. These have seating for alot of hunters and have stoves for cooking and heaters. This type of blind I used for all day hunts.

• BOAT BLIND

This one is my favorite. Why, because it keeps you mobile, and you can move according to wind and also move as the sun changes throughout the day. Usually this is when you buy or make a pop up blind that is attached to you boat. Cabelas has them for about few hundred buck. Just put it on your boat brush it with grass matts you can buy at Cabelas, Academy Sports, or Wal-mart, then add a little of the native grass just to break it the outline. This well help your blind blend better and also hold together better.

• CALLING

Easy way to learn is to buy a CD. By many means a teal has a nasally quack (this is done by the female) and the male is a whistler. Usually the female is the big mouth and she is usually the one who is going to do all the yelling just like at home. Her quacks normally are going to be 4 quick notes starting off high and going down. Then the male is
peep, peep peep, peep peep, just quick little peeps on a teal whistle. See Haydels game calls for your teal whistle and female teal call.

• DECOYS AND DECOY PATTERNS

Face it you can’t get them in close without decoys. Buy some decoys, make sure that they are not to bright and don’t shine when the sun hits them. This will cause ducks to flare up and leave. Green head gear make the best but there are one of they also can be the more pricey of the decoys out there. There is kind of an art to decoy spreads. When piling decoys you may use the V Style set up or you can use the little piles set ups or even the scattered pile style. Each of these will work. You have to make the rite set up work for you. In all the style spreads I listed here don’t forget to leave your shooting lanes!!! Motion decoys also can play a big role in killing the hell out of sum ducks! Good idea of motion decoys come from MOJO Decoys. A great line of all kinds of duck decoys!

If you fallow these simple steps your should to have a great teal season. Thanks for reading and happy hunting! Andre’ Matherne Owner of Nonk Dre’s Custom Calls

For more information on Nonk Dre’s Custom Calls contact Andre by clicking here and follow him and his great duck calls on Facebook. Nonk Dre’s Custom Calls

I have used feeders for some time now on my hunting property in Alabama. The only down fall to supplemental feeding here in Alabama is that you have to have all feeder’s and feed up ten day’s before you head out to hunt. So this only allows me to feed from February 1st through March 1st then the feed has to come up and be gone for ten day’s before March 15th for opening day of Spring time turkey hunting. Then the feeder’s get placed back out on May 1st and will stay up until ten days before opening day of  bow season which starts here in Alabama in October of every year.

This is still not enough feeding time for my deer to feed like they should. They should be able to feed 365 day’s a year so they get the maximum fed protein that they need to grow big antler’s. This is where when I am not feeding I always try to make an attempt to have some kind of high protein food source out there for them. This is also where the food plots come into play and other type’s of crop food source that may be still left standing through turkey season. In most places there isn’t one strip of crop food left after January of each year.

I have found out by having a gravity fed feeder around during the months that there is no hunting will allow you to feed and feed correctly. Yes! trough style feeder’s work in this case also. By allowing a deer to feed when he get’s ready to feed will be a plus for your hunting property more than you realize. You do take the chance of having more deer feed at night but if you get in there and add the feed at scheduled times and stay out of the area as much as possible the deer will get use to feeding more in the day light hours.

This is where staying out of a place and leaving it as scent free as possible will pay off for you on opening day. I always wear gloves and scent free boots when taking time to go and place more feed into my feeder’s. This just helps me when the season starts. Even though bucks are into their summer time patterns and running together this will allow you to scout from a distance or check game camera’s only when necessarily. I check my game camera’s only when I go to add feed. This is like killing two birds with one stone.

My new choice of gravity fed feeder’s is the Buck Eye Feeder. Designer Steve Brown has brought a whole new meaning to feeding your wildlife. He has designed a feeder to allow wildlife to feed on a regular bases instead of allowing them to only feed at certain times. The Buck feeds, grows faster, and antlers get larger in twice the time.

Example:

If a deer eats 12 lbs of protein in one hour at a gravity feeder then it allows him to get his belly full. If he eats under a spin cast feeder he is not getting the whole 12 lbs that he would normally eat due to other deer eating at the site with him. Less food means less protein in this matter! Dose this make sense? So by allowing a deer to feed at their own pace may mean better overall health and larger antler development on them bucks that you seek. Remember that a buck need to have at least a 16% to 20% protein diet for 365 days a year and not just 4 to7 months of that diet to grow its fully developed set of antlers.

The Boone and Crockett club has placed high standards on being able to record a whitetail deer into their books. Even though there are record book bucks taken somewhere either in the U.S. or Canada each year. Pope & Young has also done the same. Safari Club International known as (SCI) has their on way of measuring trophy deer.  But do you really know what makes big antlers on deer. Is it the protein? How about the genetics of the deer? Can it be you have big deer on your property or you don’t have them? A lot of these same questions are asked each year and the same responses come out for the answers.

I have been a member in the past of several different types of hunting clubs. Some having more restrictions than the others. One club says only eight point or better. Another says six point outside the ears or better. But not one single club that I have ever been in said the deer has to be four or five years old before you can shoot it. Even though a daily protein level of 16% to 18% for a whitetail buck is needed 365 days a year it still is not enough. The genes of a buck also comes to mind when playing the antler growing game. But it too is still not enough.

A whitetail buck dose need all these or some of these things to grow but the one thing we all seem to leave out is their age. Now here is where the fun part comes into play. Say you are in this club that says you can only shoot an 8 point or better. You are hunting by yourself on a cool winter evening and a small 4.5 year old basket racked 9 point that want even score a thing walks out into the green field one hour before dark. You then study this 9 point a bit before you start to pull the trigger. Ten minutes later a 7 point walks out but is a 2.5 year old deer, that’s antlers would score in the 130′s. Which one would you shoot? Tempting isn’t it!

We should really think before we pull the trigger now days. That is if you want to grow big antlers. If the big antler thing isn’t your style then a older doe would be just fine for a little meat in the freezer. The doe harvesting should and can be a factor playing role in growing mature bucks. Too many does means less high quality food for the younger bucks. This also means that it might as well take five times longer to grow him compared to a buck that get’s high quality food year round somewhere else. Even though you do not have thousands of acres of land you can still manage and grow large antler deer on your property.

I have the chance each year to pay $16 and hunt 12,000 acres close too and around the Alabama River that holds plenty of big antler bucks. This land is in fact all public hunting ground and the hunting possibilities  here are as simple as buying your Alabama state licenses and a (WMA) wildlife management licenses. Even though that I also have 100 acres here and there that I also hunt the public land is still there for me to hunt when I may feel that I have put too much pressure on my own land. There are restrictions on the public land such as bow hunting only areas and only limited to certain two day hunts here and there for gun use.

But we all can take the rite measures if we make a plan and stick to it. To most of us sticking to the plan can sometimes be the hard part if we get to that point of thinking that is may be impossible to do where we hunt. Neighbors can also help with your program by trying it themselves. In fact they may already have a plan but may not be exactly what you may be searching for. So the best thing for you to do in this case is to stick to your plan and allow your neighbors to see with time at the large rack bucks that you harvest. Let them walk and watch them grow. Another good idea to comparing your property to your neighbors is to try and make your property the best place that a deer may want to spend his time during day and night time hours. So the next time you wish to grow a large rack deer remember just one thing. You are the one the make the deciding factor of pulling the trigger!

Good Luck!

I doubt you can find any type of hunter who has not dreamed of going on a guided hunt. Over the last decade, that dream has become a reality for many hunters partly because of the immense growth in the number of outfitters in the United States and other parts of the world. For many of these outfitters, it is a way for them to make additional income besides their primary profession or help local farmers advertise their crop land that they ordinarily would not allow the public to hunt. For these reasons, it is fairly easy for a hunter to shop around and find their hunt of a lifetime at a price he/she can afford.

My husband, Travis Lee, and a few of his close friends have had the opportunity, for the last several years, to travel to Sullivan County Missouri and hunt with Adam Moore with Moore Hunting Properties. The trip takes 16 hours to drive from our house, so Travis always allows two days for travel time. He prefers the do it yourself hunts that Adam offers where the hunter scouts the property and hangs his own stands during the 5 day hunt.

The first day at camp was a short day due to travel and the guys spent their time purchasing their license, scouting, and hanging stands. Right off, Travis located a 40 acre clover field with huge scrapes on the back corner and a creek bottom that the deer were using to travel from their bedding area to the clover field.

While hanging his Old Man lock-on tree stand in smaller oak tree in the creek bottom, Travis heard a limb break about 50 yards across the creek and spotted a buck he guessed to measure in the 140′s headed to the clover field looking for does. Travis couldn’t believe that the buck was oblivious to the noise he was making in the tree, as he continued out into the open field. The other guys also found great buck sign and hung their stands where they felt confident they would take a big buck. The guys had certainly had buck fever as they shared their findings over dinner that evening.

Knowing that his stand was more of an afternoon stand, Travis chose to sit there the first morning of the hunt and while he saw several mature does, no shooter bucks appeared. One of his traveling partners, Johnny, did however see numerous rack bucks and took a mature 130 inch 8 point buck at about 15 yards with his Hoyt Katera compound bow and 125 grain Thunderhead Broadhead.

The afternoon hunt did, however, prove to be an eventful evening of hunting for Travis. After getting in his stand at 3 P.M., he watched 4 smaller bucks and numerous turkey gobblers feed in the cow pasture that adjoined the creek bottom and clover field. About 30 minutes before dark, Travis heard footsteps coming up the creek bottom and a mature doe passed by him at about 20 steps and entered the clover field.

Not long after, Travis heard heavy foot steps in the creek bottom again and could tell it was a larger deer approaching his stand. Through the brush, he could tell it was a monster buck and his heart began to race as the buck worked his way through the creek bottom and closer to Travis’s stand. The buck froze at 35 steps behind some limbs and began to act nervous as he licked at some branches where the doe had passed earlier.

Finally, he began to inch closer and Travis drew his Bowtech 82nd Airborne compound bow equipped with Rage 100 grain 2 blade expandable broadhead and prepared for a shot at the giant buck. Upon penetration of the arrow, the buck took about 8 steps toward the clover field and fell dead. He had bagged a 160 and 3/8 inch typical 10 point that sported 11 inch brow tines (as scored by a MO Game and Fish Officer). The buck weighed in at 275 pounds.

Travis and friends have since traveled to Missouri to hunt a few other times, but have passed up other bucks that were close, but not quite as big as the giant Missouri white tail buck that now resides on our wall courtesy of Tunnage Taxidermy. If you are looking for an exciting and affordably priced hunt, give Moore Hunting Properties a shout. I am certain Adam will be more than happy to try to fit your needs. Travis is certainly pleased with his trophy buck.

In 2009 a couple of hunting buddies, Joey McGaha (St. Amant, LA) and Ross Tuttle (West Lake, LA) and I decided we would go on a 10-day deer hunt to Wyoming.  In addition to the experience of the hunt, our purpose for going was to get video footage using the Vapor Maker, a scent dispersal product I had just debuted at the 2009 Buckmasters Expo.

To get video footage of a hunt you need a video camera and an operator. Joey and Ross had never been filmed hunting and I had never operated a video camera, but that didn’t deter us one bit. After all I had used a Canon digital camera with success; I just needed to get a Canon video camera to take on the hunt. I searched Ebay and purchased a used camera I felt would be just what I needed. The purchase came in less than 24 hours before we were to leave for Wyoming, so I had no time to even test out the camera. I had purchased the tapes and downloaded the manual, how difficult could this be?

We had planned to leave in mid-September, barring no work or personal problems arising. The day came; actually the night finally came because we left at 9 pm and drove the 1800 miles -26 hours – straight through to the house we had rented in Wyoming.  We unloaded and got everything ready to go hunting.  We unpacked the video camera and started to load the tapes, realizing none of us had ever seen a professional video camera before, much less turn one on or load a tape in it. Does this sound like three country boys on a deer hunt?

We got the camera on and loaded the tape in…no luck.  Just an error message that said “no tape.”  So we tried again and again….still the “no tape” message.  What’s a country boy to do, but call the customer service line?  We did and they led us through every step imaginable, still “no tape.”  I even called the pawn shop owner in Chicago, IL that I had purchased the camera from.  He could only offer to let me send it back. Talk about frustrating, here we had come 1,800 miles to video our deer hunt and the camera wouldn’t work. Trying to do too much too fast, I thought.  

 I was feeling pretty bad about the whole experience when it occurred to me there was writing inside the camera where we had been trying to load the tape.  Sure enough, it said, “push close this first.”  Presto, it worked, the tape was loaded and we were ready to film and hunt. I didn’t think much of that customer service representative, and I could only imagine that she was relating to her co-workers the story of the three hunters who travelled across country to film a hunt and didn’t know how to turn the camera on or load the tape. Now we were ready to head out. 

With the afternoon approaching we were feeling confident that we could find a good vantage point to sit and film deer. This afternoon would be all about getting footage of how many big bucks were out there and how they were moving. We were excited and felt blessed because we saw 7 bucks that afternoon, one of which was about 170 inches.  We felt fortunate that we got to film him sparring with a small 6-point. About 40 yards from us we saw a doe come across the creek and pick up a 17 inch 10-pt and take him back across the creek. 

It was a great sight which I did capture on video, but Joey was so amazed he forgot to even pick up his bow. It just so happened the wind was blowing from us to the deer, but whenever the deer would get fidgety I would use the Vapor Maker® to spray scent and they would calm down almost immediately.

It turned out to be a great afternoon and I was confident I had all kinds of footage. We couldn’t wait to get back to camp to view the footage. Turns out Murphy’s Law had come with us to Wyoming. The TV at our camp was so old the antenna wires were screwed to the TV, and of course, it had no cable connection to view the video. God smiled on us again that day because the local hardware store had a box converter to hook the camera up to the TV. That problem solved, we were now more than ready to view the footage we had taken.

We plugged everything in and sat back to relive a great afternoon. You can’t imagine our shock and disappointment when all we saw was the camera jumping all over the place. I was zooming in and out and moving left to right at lightning speed. We decided day one was a learning experience and went to bed looking forward to the next day.

We slept in that morning to give the deer time to bed down so we could slip in and hang stands. That afternoon the wind was blowing in every direction, but we managed to slip back in to our stands. We saw several bucks and does, but only one buck came close enough for a good bow shot.  It was a small mule deer buck which walked right under the stand without picking up our scent. The Vapor Maker® was doing a great job of attracting deer and covering our scent.

The next morning we returned to our stands even though we felt they weren’t in the best place to hunt and film. The deer were just starting to move when the bottom dropped out and it came a flooding rain. We had no choice but to go back to the truck and wait out the flood to protect the camera. Even though I had brought along a heavy duty garbage bag to cover the camera, I didn’t want to take any chances of ruining it before I even figured out how to use it. After the rain, the sun came out to a scorching 94 degrees. We took our climbers and headed down to the river bottom. He heat was intense and we were soaked with sweat.

We were sure this afternoon would be great for hunting and filming. I was going to be the cameraman and Joey the hunter. We found a tree and Joey climbed first – another learning experience. Never let the hunter be the first up the tree when you are filming. But we were settled in and I had used the Vapor Maker to spray us and our stands down with 33 Point Buck lure and attractant.  I also sprayed the ground around the tree.

We didn’t have to wait long before we spotted three does and an 8-point about 14 inches coming down the trail. Because our scent was blocked so effectively, one of the does began feeding about a foot from the tree. The wind was swirling, but none of the deer had picked up our scent. Soon we saw him – a 135 inch Whitetail following the 8-point right to us. They were about 20 yards in front of us. 

This was perfect; I had the camera right on them just waiting for Joey to take the shot that never came.  The big buck was moving in and out around to our left.  I thought he was going to go around us when he turned and angled back toward us. But by then I had turned around so far in the tree I was about to fall out. I kept filming (I hoped) and Joey finally released the shot at about 23 yards.

We found a little blood but weren’t sure about the shot.  We didn’t know how to replay the footage (or see if I had actually gotten footage) to check the shot. Joey said there were about 7 deer within 20 yards when he got the shot off.  He said at 20 yards the buck was broadside but there were too many eyes too close to get drawn back.  We decided not to search for the deer that evening, but to head back and see if we had captured the shot on tape.

Returning to search the next morning, I literally had to crawl around on my hands and knees just to spot the tiniest specs of blood or see a footprint. When we discovered the buck, Joey had hit it a little too far back. Because of Wyoming gaming laws we had to carry the kill to a taxidermist to remove the brain stem and some other organs because of CWD, Chronic Wasting Disease.

I learned many valuable lessons during those 10 days. One, videoing a hunt requires a lot of work and planning. Using a video camera requires practice, more practice and patience, although in the end I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the footage I was actually able to use. You can check it out at my website: Vapor Trail Scents and see for yourself the beauty of Wyoming and the great deer we saw there. Secondly, I was extremely pleased with the effectiveness of The Vapor Maker and scents we had developed. This was really the purpose of the trip and I felt good about what I had filmed and discovered. All in all it was a great trip with great friends, even with Murphy.

Yes that is rite you no longer have to book trips to Louisiana or Florida to hunt down a large gator anymore. If you are a resident of Alabama like I am then there is a chance that you can get a tag at home to hunt the elusive American Alligator. I have yet to apply for a tag here but hopefully soon over the next year I will be doing so. Louisiana is at the heart of alligator country! And Louisiana’s alligator population is estimated to be approximately 1.5 million gators! In addition to their wild population, it is esimated that another 500,000 alligators are found on commerical alligator farms within the state.

Alabama’s population has grown over the years and now is home to some of the best gator hunting around. Remember that you do have to apply for tags online and the chances are slim. A state that has placed a hold on the alligators for years now has a season of their own. A chance at a tag is simple. Just go to Outdoor Alabama home of the (ADCNR) and just apply. Each application will cost you $6.

One hundred twenty-five people will be randomly drawn by computer to be eligible for Mobile and Baldwin county hunts. One hundred twenty people will be randomly drawn by computer to be eligible for the Southeast hunts and fifty people will be drawn for the hunts in West Central Alabama. This will give you a total of 295 tags to be drawn. You can apply for all areas but your odds or very slim.

The season for gator hunting in Alabama is in August and the drawings will be held at 12:00 PM (CST) on July 11,2011. If yo never have never got a tag in the past here in Alabama then you will have to go to one of the three locations for safety class before you can go on the hunt and receive your tag. Only one tag per a hunter will be issued even though you can apply for all areas you will only be able to hunt one of the three. Each person receiving an Alligator Possession Tag will be allowed to harvest one alligator six feet in length or longer.

Alligators must be captured and brought up to the boat, bank or dock prior to shooting the animal. It is unlawful to shoot at or kill an unrestrained alligator. Restrained is defined as an alligator that has a noose or snare secured around the neck or leg in a way that the alligator is controlled by the hunter. Capture methods are restricted to hand-held snares, snatch hooks hand-held or rod/reel, harpoons with attached line, and bowfishing equipment with line attached from arrow to bow.

” No use of bait is allowed. “

It is unlawful in the state of Alabama to bait and harvest any kind of game animal of any nature. The laws here are simple to follow and can be read online at Outdoor Alabama. We as hunter’s in Alabama take great pride in fair chase and true sportsmanship of harvesting wildlife in our great state. This is a Liberal laws state and if residents of Alabama can obey them so can the non- residents of other states.

Hunting Season’s:

MOBILE/BALDWIN COUNTIES

– August 12-15, 2011 and August 19-22, 2011

SOUTHEAST ALABAMA

– August 12-28, 2011

WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

– August 12-15, 2011 and August 19-22, 2011

If you do apply for an alligator tag in Alabama I wish you good luck on the drawing. It may seem hard to get a tag the first year but realize that there are some huge gators in the swamps and water ways of Alabama and keep trying year after year.  If you do get a tag I want to wish you good luck! And be safe at all times while on your hunt. An alligator hunt in Alabama could be just what the doctor could have ordered for you to get out and start a new hunting season here.

Did you know that the rut has happened as early as October in Illinois? There is one factor that will start the rut a month or month and a half early. Do you know what it is?

Temperature!

The reason the cold temperature will trigger the rut early is because that is how nature helps put the scent of does in heat all over the woods.
This is how nature helps the buck  find the doe. When a deer smells you 99% of the time what does he smell? He smells your perspiration. He also smells it in a liquid state. In fact, all animals smell in a liquid form. Even a snake runs his tongue out to pick up the moisture from the air to help him determine what is around him. When you are really hot and it is very cold outside, you give off a lot more perspiration. The same is true with does in heat. This is why it is called “in heat.”

I believe a doe’s temperature rises to about 112 degrees when she is in heat. An example of this theory can be seen if you have ever peed outside when it was very cold. Steam from the warm liquid goes straight up and then down and all around. A deer has a normal body temperature of 104 degrees. When she is in heat, the scent steam is coming off of her private parts and everywhere she goes it floats all through the woods sticking to every bush, blade of grass and tree it comes in contact with.

If you have ever owned a female dog that has come in heat, you will notice every male dog around – most of whom you’ve never laid eyes on before is at your house trying to find your female dog. How did they know where to come? Scent. Specifically, the scent of the dog in heat which has been carried throughout the neighborhood and deposited on every bush and blade of grass around. That is why male dogs go around smelling every bush they come by.

This is identical to the steam or perspiration coming off of the doe in heat and being carried down through the woods by prevailing winds and sticking to every bush it comes in contact with. When a buck smells this scent, especially a 5 or 6-year-old, he smells the liquid form of the scent and knows it is the real thing. He won’t question scent in a liquid form that is disseminated through the air. He will come straight to the source – or doe – to mate every time.

This is where The Vapor Maker® comes into play. The Vapor Maker® is the only scent dispersal system on the market that you have total control of. It requires no batteries because it is a pump up bottle that holds 16 oz. of liquid. It has a special atomizing tip that will take any kind of scent and put it in the air exactly like nature does. It also has a 3 foot hose with a clip to hook to a limb down wind or out to your side in a tree stand.

Because the bottle is made of a durable plastic you cannot hurt it or break it if you drop it from the tree stand. You can turn the bottle on by turning the ball valve, and with a 3 mph wind it will carry the scent 1/8 of a mile through the woods. The more wind, the further the scent will go. As you walk through the woods you can spray the bushes and low hanging tree limbs to lay a scent trail straight to your stand. Because scent in the air in a liquid form is the natural way deer smell, it needs to be watered down. A deer can smell 1000 times better than you and I. If it is strong to you it will overpower the sensitive olfactory system of a deer. You have to make the smell the same as nature does in order to fool the deer.

Deer are naturally inquisitive and may do anything at any time, but we want them to do it all the time because it is a natural instinct. So a 1 oz. bottle of a strong scent would need about 8 oz. of water to make it smell natural. At Vapor Trail Scents, L.L.C. our scents are 100% natural – made from a food source deer and other animals love. We gather the food source and make the scent ourselves. All of our scents, attractants and cover ups come in 4 oz. bottles and sell for just $7.00. We have found that 8 oz. of water to 4 oz. of our scent, My Shelia Doe in Heat, is perfect to fool all the bucks in your neck of the woods.

We also make the only cover scent and attractant – 33 Point Buck – that will eliminate the smell of gasoline. We have tested it against all the top scent killers on the market and the 33 Point Buck consistently beat out the competition in eliminating all types of scents.

We are confident the 33 Point Buck will totally cover up your scent. Used with the Doe in Heat, these two make an unbeatable pair to optimize your hunting experience. We recommend 4 oz. of 33 Point to 4 oz. of water. You can also spray it directly on your clothing using The Vapor Maker®.

Our company also makes Dominant Buck and Wapiti Scents. Read about us and our products at vaportrailscents.com