December 2012 – The Outdoors Guy

December 27, 2012

Canadian Hunting Shows Christmas to remember

(Beasley bros with good reason to smile)

It will be a Christmas to remember this year for at least three Canadian Hunting Shows!

The Canadian Tradition, Canada in the Rough and Angler & Hunter Television have all found new homes for the 2013 broadcast season.

Thanks to Bob Valcov of Safari Club International (SCI) and Mike Pollington of Pollington Productions (producer of The Canadian Tradition) for sharing with me the best Christmas news imaginable.

It seems even the Grinch himself (AKA Global Television) couldn’t stop Christmas from coming this year. Rogers -owned Outdoor Life Network (OLN) and SUN TV are among the Networks stepping- up to the plate this coming year, and God Bless them I say!

“When Global announced their unfortunate decision we recognized that this was going to change the game in Canada.” said Kevin Beasley, Co-Host of Canada in the Rough.

Some excellent coverage coming-up for Canada in the Rough specifically as it will now be found on The Sportsman Channel in the United States and on the following networks in Canada: OLN (Outdoor Life Network), Sun News, WildTV, CHEX, Ch12 Durham, CKWS, and for the first time ever, Canada in the Rough will be translated into French and aired on RDS (owned by Bell Media) for the francophone viewers.

Let me be the first to congratulate all those Network execs who made the personal decision to air these shows for 2013. I call this a major win for the good guys and a real step in the right direction!

No word yet on the remaining 2 hunting shows affected by the cancellation, but I have my fingers crossed!

Outdoorsguy

December 12, 2012

White-tailed Deer shoulder check

Top level predators like coyotes and wolves are considered some of the greatest hunters in the world. Cunning, stealth and the ability to stalk prey are all characteristics shared by the Canis genus.

In our region, the ever ubiquitous eastern coyote or ‘brush wolf’ as some call them, have adapted nicely to living off the fat of the land. Small mammals, scavenging and white-tail deer compose much of their diet. Whether hunting solitary or in packs, where there are deer, the eastern coyote will not be far behind.

Sometimes even closer than you (& the deer) realize!

In the above photo, you can see a doe walking in the tall grass behind my deer feeder. I have two does hanging around the back these days – one a yearling the other one an older female.

Here in this pic you can see the other doe approaching the feeder (from the right) while the first deer strolls across in the background.

A minute later, the two does can be seen facing each other in a stance which appears to do with proper eating etiquette. When deer feed together, hierarchy usually takes over and the older more dominant animal will usually eat first. It looks to me as though the older doe is explaining that fact to the younger one. (Ears held back are a give-away)

Anyhow, I hadn’t even noticed at first that while the deer were distracted, something was watching them from behind. I tried zooming-in and back tracking through the images I had gathered from that evening to figure out what it was.

Something was behind them and it wasn’t another deer! You can see a pair of eyes at the top-middle of the image.

In this photo taken a couple of seconds later, you can see one doe glance over her shoulder to another set of eye peering at them from out in the field.

In this next image the deer have disappeared and the strange visitor suddenly makes an appearance from the left.

A coyote had been stalking the two deer and got to within 50 feet, by my calculation, before the deer had even realized. The coyote hangs out at the feeder for a moment before taking off himself.

It just goes to prove that whitetails literally need eyes in the back of their head to stay one step ahead of theses pesky coyotes. In this case, the two deer were evidently distracted allowing a predator to close-in to within 50 feet of them before they saw it.

Footnote: The two deer showed-up a couple of days later alive and well, after an up-close-and-personal visit from their woodland nemesis!

Interesting what you’ll find on your trail cam images sometimes….

Outdoorsguy

Here are some neat photos Rick took of a deer standing its ground with a coyote:

Here are a few stills grabbed off the video of the coyote stalking the deer and the deer then stalking the coyote. The video is 13 minutes long.

The first shot shows the coyote walking bye a forkhorn. The second shows the coyote stalking the bedded buck with a second shot showing the coyote under the red arrow. The third shows the coyote closer to the bedded buck Notice the buck is aware of the coyote. The last shot shows two bucks stalking the bedded coyote.

Rick

December 5, 2012

Hunting deer with trail cameras

Well, hunting season has come and gone – for me at least. I realize there are still some hunting opportunities left but, sadly, I haven’t any time for them. How far off is retirement again?

Thank goodness for my trail cam hunting; the closest thing to real hunting I’ve found yet. Planning out a good trailcam strategy and location, I’ve discovered to be very much like hunting itself.

You need to understand whitetail patterns and travel habits, and setting up camera position & location can be compared to choosing the proper stand location. The actual photos and vids you acquire would be to hunting, akin to lining-up the shot and making the decision when to pull the trigger.

You see where I’m going with this?

Also, trail-camming is similar to hunting in that there is, certainly, some luck involved but as you become more skilled, the better the images you will get. Sure, there is such thing as beginner’s luck with hunting, but it is also common knowledge that the more experienced hunter will have, on average, more opportunities to harvest game than those with little experience.

Throughout the year I run just 2 trailcams around my place , however, once December arrives I’ll put out 2 or 3 more to cover different areas as deer travel patterns change.

The more the merrier I always say and, as luck would have it, Bushnell has just sent me two new models to test- out. The Trophy Cam HD and the X8.

Here are some of the more interesting images I’ve taken this fall. Although I pride myself on knowing the look and names of practically every deer I photograph around my place, I was surprised to discover a big buck I had never seen before. Mrs Outdoors Guy named him ‘Silver’ and he’s a real beauty as you’ll see….

Happy trail-camming and enjoy!

(This young bull was photographed on the trail beside our hunt camp, while the moose hunters were in the camp having breakfast. They never saw this bull during the season)

(In Sep this black bear stopped by my deer camp feeder for a nibble and a close-up look at my trail cam)

(This is the same bear 1 minute later trying to bite said trail cam! Thank goodness for my Bushnell Bear Safe and cable lock, the camera wasn’t damaged or moved. And since this cam stays up for 2 months without being checked, it remained in position until deer season!)

(This coyote had a good snack at my camp feeder. Notice the Acorn Rage attached to tree in lower left)

(Coyote then notices the Acorn Rage attached to the tree..now what’s he going to do?)

(This photo shows same coyote after he tore the Acorn Rage block off the tree. Keep in mind this things are attached with a heavy screw!)

(Now on to the cameras around my place. Here’s a nice pic of my old pal Garfield – now an impressive 5 year old buck! Garfield was born in my back field and can be recognized by tell-tale white markings on his hind legs)

(Another picture of Garfield at same camera location)

(Here’s the new buck we’re calling ‘Silver’. Not sure if he and Garfield have met personally, but I’m sure they will soon as I suspect there is a hot doe around!)

(A little while after Silver went through, this guy was on his tail..bugger!)