J.D. Hart

Scatterguns and Strutting Toms

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:55:02 GMT

Is there a harder game animal to harvest than a wild turkey? None that I know of. I've heard it said time and again that if a turkey could smell you, you'd never be able to kill one.

I marvel at the stories of the people who harvest turkeys on their first hunts. I read a story on the Buckmasters website the other day about two young ladies who each harvested mature toms at the same time, out of the same blind, on their first trip to the woods. This story made me shake my head almost in disbelief.

To illustrate my thoughts you need to travel back to the 1980s when the movie "The Karate Kid" was released.

In the movie, Daniel-san, played by Ralph Macchio, walks into the home of Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita. Mr. Miyagi is sitting there on the floor by a table. In Miyagi's hand is a pair of chopsticks, and Daniel-san watches him try to catch a house fly with the eating utensil.

Viewers learn that Miyagi has been trying to catch a fly with his chopsticks his entire life. The martial arts master reveals to Daniel that if a man catches a fly with chopsticks then he can accomplish anything.

At this point, one should realize that we are watching a movie, and we have been set up to see Daniel-san catch a fly, thereby signaling that he can accomplish anything and that he will indeed be the hero in the end.

Sure enough, in his fifth or sixth attempt EVER, Daniel-san catches the fly. Mr. Miyagi stands, gives Daniel-san an indignant look and spouts out a smug compliment, "Beginner's luck."

If the scene were real, Daniel-san would have had a chopstick lodged into his forehead. Alas, it was a movie, and a chopstick lodged into the star's cranium has the potential of squelching sequels and putting lucrative merchandizing agreements on ice.

Of course, I do not really want to do any harm to these two lucky young ladies, quite the contrary. I'd like to congratulate them and tell them to savor that experience, and hold it near and dear! Because of their incredibly good fortune, it might seem to them that taking a big ol' tom is easy. In reality, the opportunity to get a shot off at a nice tom can be few and far between.

Additionally, these ladies need to buy a lottery ticket, because they are definitely living under a lucky star!

-- J.D.

Woosh!!!

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:19:38 GMT

Another deer season and football season have come and gone. At the risk of sounding clich‚, it seems like yesterday I headed to Wisconsin for a bow hunt and connected the HD box to my television for football viewing nirvana.

"Man, where did the time get off to?" I've heard myself say that over and over the past month. Albert Einstein proved that time can be a flexible thing if you travel fast enough. I beg to differ. I don't zip around at the speed of light, but every year, time just seems to pick up steam, and speed by faster than the year before.

How does one slow down Father Time? I am open to suggestions.

I plan on hunting only public land next deer season. My goal is to prove that with a little luck and a good deal of planning, anyone can tip the odds for success in his or her favor when hunting on public land.

By my count, there are 200 million acres of public hunting land in this country (Here is the Report). That doesn't include a lot of federal hunting land, as the report I used included it in some states totals, then said that it didn't include it for others.

For the sake of argument, we'll use 200 million acres. There are 18.5 million hunters in the U.S. So, that means that for every hunter, there are nearly 11 acres of hunting land, and that is if every hunter visited public land.

I'd venture to say that 50 to 60 percent of hunters utilize their own land, a buddy's land, or a lease. It's probably closer to 60 percent, but here we will use 50 percent. Given that, you should have at least 22 acres all to yourself.

So, for the cost of a state hunting license, and a WMA license if needed, you can have a big plot of land to hunt on almost exclusively. You may have to fork over for a few tanks of gas to get there and back, but if you can split that with a couple of buddies, I can almost guarantee that you can find a place with little to no pressure on the deer, which can become your dream spot.

Year of the Snake (Bite)

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:53:36 GMT

-- It seems some folks here at the Buckmasters offices are snake-bitten. Of all the hunts that myself or the editors have taken, no one I know of has harvested a buck, or a doe for that matter. Every year I have been here, someone has gotten a really nice buck, and most have at least put a couple of does in the freezer, but this year is different. It is palpable.

Even the television guys are having a hard go of it this year.

I'm the type of person who needs to have things make sense. This whole season doesn't make sense. Maybe it's global warming. That is a joke, by the way. Don't get me started on that scam. Whatever it is, the reason eludes me, but like I said, you can just feel that something is different.

I cannot speak for the others, but maybe I have become complacent. I've just seen these guys (who are the best hunters I have ever been around) score on such a consistent basis that I equate their success to my own situations.

I think that the saying, "If you got a deer every time it would be called findin' not huntin'," seems appropriate here.

Pearls in Plain Sight
That brings me to a gripe which I have with a lot of hunters today. If I have heard or read the following statements once, I've heard or read them a thousand times: I cannot afford to buy or lease land so I have no where to hunt. It is turning into a rich man's sport.

If you are waiting on someone to hand you a prime hunting spot, or for one to fall right into your lap, you probably agree with the second statement.

Also, if you also believe that you have no good land to hunt, and you hunt public land, I'll bet the following scenario pretty much describes how you hunt: You drive your vehicle in as far as you can safely and legally get it in, and then walk 50 to 100 yards to the first good deer sign you find and hunt right there. I have talked to enough public land managers to know that this is how the majority of public land hunters operate.

I'll admit here and now that I have heard the Rich Man's excuse often enough that I almost started to believe it. Then I decided to get off of my rear end and find an area I can call my huntin' spot.

I started by looking in my home county and the counties bordering it, and I found a 10,000-acre Wildlife Management Area a mere 45 minute drive from my house. I then went to the Buckmasters website and clicked on the page that lists all of the state outdoor agency websites and visited the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website. I found a ton of information on the very WMA I was interested in hunting. I was able to print out a map of the property, my WMA permit, and the locations of the sign-in booths.

Armed with that information, I headed over there to talk to the local manager who helps manage this WMA. If they were not there, which is true 90 percent of the time, I would have left a note requesting that they call me at their earliest convenience. By sheer luck, the manager was at the sign-in booth.

We talked for a good hour about how the season was going, and let me tell you, this gentleman was a fountain of knowledge about the property. Every WMA manager I have spoken with has been more than willing to share his or her knowledge of the land they manage. If you hunt public land, you have no better friends than these folks.

I left with the following knowledge that helped me select some locations to scout:

1. The location of 45 greenfields, most never hunted because of their remoteness. Most of the greenfields are one to two miles from the nearest road.

2. That fact that the greenfields were not being grazed upon because of all of the acorns that have dropped this year. That will change now that we have had 6 straight days of wet weather that will ruin the acorns on the ground. The greenfields should now become active.

3. The rut is on.

We talked about a lot more than this, and it all was great information that I will use, but these three facts stood out to me. Scouting this weekend will determine if this is true.

Another potential pearl is a decent sized wooded parcel which borders my subdivision. I live outside the city limits, but close proximity to houses makes this a bow hunting area. I do not know who owns the land, but a quick trip to the probate office should clear that up.

There are always pearls in plain sight for someone willing to look. Whether it be public land, a land owner needing help maintaining their land, or any of a million other things that can lead to you finding your pearl. You just have to be willing to look and apply a little elbow grease.

Wisconsin Hunt

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:08:11 GMT

I am back from the Wisconsin hunt, and pretty much the only thing I have to show for my efforts is a few more pounds lost, an increased knowledge of scouting techniques and I'm a walking map of the Tiffany Wildlife area in western Wisconsin.

We arrived there about lunch time last Monday, and were greeted by gale force winds and an advancing cold front. While the cold was a good thing for the hunt, the wind doesn't do archery hunters many favors. (Or firearms hunters for that matter.) So we decided to use the remaining sunlight to scout and pick out a few stand locations for later in the week.

We found heavily used trails, droppings, big and small rubs and scrapes galore. The latter two were made by some heavy bodied, tall tined bucks. The depth and size of the hoof prints, and the sizes of some of the trees that were shredded were the telltale signs.

After 18 hours of riding in the car, this was like a mega-dose of caffeine I can tell you. We all perked up at the thoughts of seeing a monster buck. This is what Wisconsin hunting is all about I remember thinking.

We walked the surrounding 5 miles, and found more likely stand locations than one could hunt in a month of Sundays. The area is so vast that narrowing down the best possible hunting locations was a chore.

The best friend we had at this point was the satellite / topographical map my buddies over at mytopo.com had sent to me. It helped us find the natural elevation funnels, while our scouting pinpointed other man made and natural contours. (felled trees and decades old logging roads) At the end of the day, my handy pedometer registered 47,384 steps taken, and the odometer read 1246 miles driven. Needless to say, the old eye lids were getting droopy.

We each settled on a main and secondary stand location for the forecast wind direction on Tuesday, and hit the rack.

As a side note here, the accommodations that the Dioceses of Lacrosse provided at their Round Hill camp are first class all the way. The cabin is a deer hunter's dream lodge. The church land is nestled in the heart of tens of thousands of public hunting acres, and is bordered just about everywhere by corn fields. If there is a more ideal location for deer in this area, I've never seen it. The old growth forest is dominated by trees that would provide a bounty of food for the deer population all by itself, but add in the corn, and you have deer nirvana.

But it was that nirvana that proved to be our downfall.

You see, parts of Wisconsin are labeled as "Earn a Buck" areas. You have to harvest an antlerless deer before you can harvest a buck. On the surface, this seemed like no big deal, but in practice, it proved to be a hurdle that none of my hunting party was able to overcome.

Reflecting back on it now, I can see the error of our ways, but I think it is a mistake that most any hunter I know would make. Here in the Heart of Dixie, for a good part of my hunting life, we let the does walk. Today, we have learned the folly of those old ways, and now encourage the harvesting of does. But here, you do not have to "hunt" for does. The harvesting of a doe is 99.9 out of one hundred times the consequence of hunting for a buck. They are just there and active.

But in Wisconsin, does are different. With hunters and bucks actively seeking them, for different reasons, the does were laying low in daylight hours. They were hiding from the bucks mostly I think, but that also meant that they were hiding from us.

Over the week we patterned the does to be eating in the uncut corn fields at night, and then bedding down before dawn, and lying all day until the next night. Most experts agree that deer need to feed every 6 hours, and they will, unless pressure forces them to go longer. Under normal circumstances, that means you can sit in the stand all day and wait them out, but not here. High fructose be damned!!!

So our mistake was to sit in stand and wait for the does. By the time we had figured out that the does were sitting still throughout the day, we only had 1 morning and 2 afternoon hunts left. Even still, had we figured out all of the dynamics of this area a little earlier, we just did not have enough man power to foster a proper deer drive. The area is just too vast.

We did see some bodacious bucks though. We walked into some VERY desolate areas that even the locals don't tread into, and the monsters were there. One very mature main frame eight with three points coming off the back, and one younger perfect 10 point come to mind. Both of these were less than 20 yards from my stand and oblivious to my presence. Either could have easily been harvested had I been able to do my part.

Just think what could have happened. But that is what keeps us going back to the deer woods, right?

One last point. A HUGE thanks needs to be extended to Dr. Michele Olsen and Ph.D. candidate Mike Esco at AUM. Without their help I could never have gotten into the kind of shape needed for this hunt. They have helped me make some beneficial life decisions, and I am indebted to both of them. You will hear more from me and them here in the future.

The Final Countdown

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:43:00 GMT

Final preparations are being made, the details are coming together and I am ready to go. The hunting crew leaves tomorrow for Wisconsin.

The weather report keeps getting colder by the day. Last week the extended forecast called for highs in the 40s, and lows in the 30s. Today you can knock off 10 degrees for both the high and the low temperatures. This should make for great hunting and hopefully the big boys will start looking for those does. The prediction of snow changes every day. Yes one day, no the next. We'll see.

The light cardio workouts continue. I'll be back in the gym as soon as my trip is in the books.

I recently tested my hunting clothes to ensure that they are not reflecting UV light. I had never thought about that until Ken Piper mentioned it to me the other day. He gave me a black light to use. The test revealed that my clothes are not reflecting UV light. I still plan to use a wash that will kill all UV reflection.

I want to leave nothing to chance on this hunt. I'd really hate to see a buck turn tail and take off. With these precautions, that should not happen.

I intend on posting blog entries to my personal MySpace page if I have access to the Internet. Look for photos and maybe some video when I make it back to work Nov. 12.

Stay safe and keep moving!!!

J.D.

It's Crunch Time Folks

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:48:49 GMT

It's crunch time folks. I have 18 days left until I make my way to Wisconsin.

Archery practice hit a new plateau. My confidence level is growing daily and I'm shooting out to 45 yards. I have practiced from a sitting position. The only thing I have left to do is to practice while wearing my hunting clothes.

Speaking of clothes, I am more than a little concerned about what I'll need to wear. Hunting in Wisconsin during November can offer a WIDE range of temperatures. The advice given to me from my fellow co-workers is to dress in layers. This will give me the option to add or take off layers as needed. It is the unpredictable Wisconsin weather that has me frazzled.

I have also been stocking up on hunting gear and noticed that my old grunt call was looking a little tattered. A quick call to a good buddy, Mike Dukart, fixed that little problem. Mike owns a company called Illusion Systems.

The call has a button on it that changes the pitch from a fawn to a doe and to a buck with the touch of a finger. It's one of those ideas that makes you wonder why you didn't think of it. Plus, I the call comes with an instructional DVD that has boosted my calling abilities. With some additional practice I think I can call in a bruiser buck.

On another note, if you're going on a hunt in another state you need to read the DNR rules and regulations. You might just find a law that catches your attention.

For example, I knew that my bow must be fully enclosed in a case when traveling in a car. After reading more into Wisconsin's regulations, I found out that this rule also applies when traveling in a boat.

As for the fitness program, I am still getting in cardio exercises three times a week. The weight is tricking off, and I am looking forward to lifting weights when I return home from the hunt.

Until next time,
J.D.

Update

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 17:58:22 GMT

I'd like to apologize for not posting an update in a couple of weeks. As you may expect, this is the crazy time of year here at Buckmasters, and extra time to write is at a premium.

Add to that the fact that my family has been battling one sickness after another. Plus, every extra minute I have has been devoted to getting ready to for archery season, and that is a recipe for lackadaisical posting and exercising.

I feel good about the progress I have made. I have lost 20 pounds since this project started, and I do not get winded nearly as easy as I did before. I feel confident that I can walk in to any hunting environment, and not have to wheeze my way to the stand.

On this hunt, we will be boating into some pretty remote locales, and the thought of that used to fill me with trepidation. Not any more. I can walk at a pretty good clip for 45 minutes uphill now, and still not be so winded that it affects the way I feel. The folks over at Auburn Montgomery really know their stuff!!

I finally had my bow paper tuned. The bow gurus here at Buckmasters knocked it out in less than five minutes. The Bowtech Guardian is the BOMB I am here to tell you. If there has ever been a better shooting bow, I am not aware of it.

When I last posted, I was having trouble adjusting the sights. The paper tuning cured that and then some. It now shoots more accurate than I can shoot it. I now shoot at different points on the target with each shot because I was tearing up fletchings on my arrows because they were grouping so tightly. This is a good thing, but it will cost you a good pile of coin after a while.

As I also stated in my last post, my weight loss has slowed considerably. To combat this, the good folks over at AUM have agreed to see me once a week for the next few months. This should help me break through the plateau that I have reached at this point, and get me back on track towards my long term goal of weighing 195 to 200 pounds.

Lastly, I promised some video of my shooting practice and my exercise routine. Those will be posted later today. You will need to have flash player installed on your computer to be able to see the videos at http://myspace.com/jdhart2007. You can get the flash player HERE

Bow season has started in many states. I want to see some pictures and video from you. Send them to dhart@buckmasters.com. I'll share them with the people here in the office.

Again, thanks for reading, and happy hunting!!!

Slow Going

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:30:08 GMT

I hit a wall on losing weight. I have been eating right, and exercising, but I seem to have stopped shedding the pounds. My weight has not budged the last two weeks. I still weight 254 ½ pounds.

I am going to get out of bed earlier and knock out half of my daily workout routine in the morning, and finish it up in the evening. Hopefully this tactic will spark my continued weight loss. I am also going to meet up with Mike Esco, my trainer from Auburn Montgomery, later this week and modify my weight training.

I suspect that these two modifications will help jump start my health kick. I hope so, because it’s tough working hard at something without seeing any improvements. I realize my body is healthier on the inside, but that doesn’t keep the momentum going like visible results.

On another note, I am going to post video of my archery exercises and practice. These clips will hit our website in the next few days.

I am waiting on a new sight to come in for my bow. The one I have now doesn’t have enough adjustment for the way need to shoot. I hope that this impromptu equipment change doesn’t yield numerous problems in my preparations. I’ll keep you posted.

Slow Going

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:29:12 GMT

The Results Are In

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:04:37 GMT

After having a restless night, and with a little trepidation, I went to my first checkup with the folks over at Auburn Montgomery’s (AUM) Human Performance Lab. They were cordial, inviting, and quickly put me at ease. It is a true testament to their professionalism.

After running me through the paces, and measuring this and that, they handed my report card to me. Here are the results:

Stat This time Last time Comment
Height 67 Inches 67 Inches No growth - GRRRR!

Weight 247 lbs. 252 lbs. 5 lbs.lost-WOOHOO!

BMI-Body Mass 38.7 39.5 1 point drop - YEAH!

Body Fat % 25.76% 27.5% 1¾ % Drop - NICE!

Well, there you have it. I’m not yet ripped…yet. But I am getting there. Everyone noticed that my face and upper body had slimmed considerably, and my legs had trimmed up as well.

As most of you guys know, the bane of us males loosing weight is our mid-sections. I lost a 1/2 inch and my clothes aren’t fitting as snug as they were last month. I have a long way to go on my mid-section, but the worst part is behind me. That was the initial soreness and the light headed feeling you get when you start exercising. I actually look forward to being a little sore after lifting weights. It feels like I accomplished something.

If I can keep it up, my next meeting with Dr. O and her staff should yield encouraging results. As the fat on my extremities dwindles, the stubborn fat on my mid-section will start to burn faster. So when I look like a toothpick with a marshmallow in the middle, go ahead and laugh, but it will mean that the gut no longer has any other fat protecting it, and it will know its butt whoopin’ is coming soon!!

On the archery front, I lightened the trigger weight on my release last week. I did this because the Bowtech Guardian is so smooth and forgiving, that it lets me see and feel the mistakes I make as they happen. If you have never shot a bow before, this may sound a little weird to you, but trust me, it is so. Anyway, I noticed that when I was pulling my trigger to release an arrow, I was puling off a little and having to adjust. I asked a couple of guys around here that are experts, and they told me to lighten up the trigger.

I have to tell you that pulling a lighter trigger is more of an adjustment that switching from right hand to left hand shooting. My groups opened way up, and missing the target altogether was a 1 in 10 occurrence. I may have to tighten the trigger back down and deal with it because it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I am not unsafe with it, I am just not comfortable. Maybe a little more practice and it will come on in. Maybe not. I’ll keep you posted.

Lastly, reports from the outfitter in Wisconsin are trickling in, and they report that there are some monster bucks moving around. They had flooding rains a couple of weeks ago, but it does not seen to have affected anything. I have been studying aerial and topo maps, and I am going to forward my observations for stand locations later in the week.

Once again, thanks to all who sent in kind and encouraging words. They are appreciated!!

As always, thanks for reading.

J.D.