One of the biggest arguments put forward whenever the topic of bigfoots (bigfeet?) comes up goes something like this: “If bigfoot is out there, why doesn’t anyone get a trail camera photo of one?” Well that’s a good point and a possible discussion for another day. Along comes this photo. Of course doubters will say it’s something other than a bigfoot, like a bear out taking a walk on his back feet. Of course. How would the doubters explain the white on the fingernails/claws? Bears have a short tail, but they do have a tail, and it is normally visible. There’s no evidence of a tail in this photo.

I’m not going to get in the middle of this, but what do you think? How would you like to be in the treestand in the background? Would you shoot?

The Duck Mountains of western Manitoba is an amazing place with elk, moose, bears and whitetails among other things. I have been hunting bears with Tom Ainsworth at Grandview Outfitters for several years and if you have followed my writings and videos you have seen me shoot some real giants there. Tom owns 1600 acres which includes a lot of bush and pasture, but also some farm ground including a couple hundred acres of alfalfa. When bear hunting there in the fall, I have been impressed by the number of deer, including some nice bucks that I’ve seen feeding in those fields in the evenings.

This buck and one even larger is still out there.

One evening while sitting around dinner after a successful bear hunt, I was admiring some of the big bucks Tom’s clients had bagged during the rifle season. I asked him if he had ever considered offering early season bowhunts. He has great deer, the perfect place to hunt them in the early season, and with an early September opening day, the chance for hunters to shoot one in velvet. The conversation ended with me agreeing to be the guinea pig so to speak, I would come and hunt an early season deer with bow and see if there was the possibility for Tom to put together a quality bowhunt for a few hunters each year.

I arrived in August 2016 and shot a giant bear the first evening of my bear hunt which allowed me to spend the next few days hanging trail cameras and scouting for deer. I found several really nice shooter bucks including one which really turned my crank, a beautiful, symmetrical 10-point. After six days of hunting this buck, I named him Lucky because I saw him every day, but he was always just out of range, and one time he was about to step into range when some does blew my cover. Here’s a story about that and how he got the name Lucky. I ended up shooting a nice 130-class buck on a second trip there.

This is Lucky last year. Notice the brow tines are hooked forward.

So when I arrived on September 8, 2017, I had the buck I named Lucky in the back of my mind. Tom had already been getting some Covert scouting camera photos of some nice bucks and showed me one photo of two bucks in velvet from a few days before. One was a 130 class deer and the other was a big 10, possibly Lucky. He told me, “don’t shoot that one, shoot this one” as he pointed at the bigger of the two. I had just arrived after an 11 hour drive but he wanted me in a stand so I headed out even though it was already 6:15. We spooked deer off the field as we went out there on the 4-wheeler.

Within an hour, there were 20 or more deer scattered around the field, including some does and fawns right in front of me. An hour before dark, two bucks appeared a couple hundred yards away and started working my way. One was an eight, one was a 10-pointer and both were in full velvet. I have always wanted to shoot a buck in velvet and suddenly I forgot all about Lucky. I wanted this buck; and if he would come my way I was going to take a shot.

And come my way he did. He walked within 25 yards and stood broadside. Problem is there were a half-dozen other deer right in front of me as well. When I drew my bow, I was busted by too many eyes and ears, every deer was on high alert and staring right at me. As I settled the pin on the velvet 10-point, I knew I would need to aim a little low because he was wound really tight and he was going to explode at the slightest movement or noise. And he did. He dropped and the arrow went through the fleshy part of his neck right where it meets the shoulders.

The hooked brow tines are a dead giveaway that this is the same deer.

Disappointment washed over me as I watched him trot to the top of the hill 150 yards away and look back at me. Then he slowly walked out of sight. I was crushed because I knew it was a superficial wound. The following morning Tom and I did our diligence looking for him but never found a single drop of blood. He’ll be sore for a few days, but my hope of a velvet buck disappeared with him.

I hung six trail cameras that day and checked Tom’s cams with him. We found photos of another great 10-point buck that would go well over 160 I believe. Now I had some choices to make. This new buck would have to wait a day because I didn’t have a stand at this spot.

So I settled into the stand on the hayfield that evening an hour earlier and started seeing does, fawns and young bucks right away. I’ll bet I had two dozen deer within range during the next few hours. About an hour before dark, I was filming a cluster of deer right in front of me, when I saw two 8-points walk into the area so I put the camera on them. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I realized the big 10 had rolled right up on me. He was at 25 yards but there were a dozen other deer all within 20 yards of me and my bow was still on the hanger. I really had a problem.

Deer were chasing each other and feeding, so with great care I chose moments very carefully to move slowly and got the bow off the hanger. When I drew, several deer locked on me, but amazingly, the big 10 stuck his head down into the alfalfa so I put the sight pin on his ribs and touched off the shot. I had to shoot him quartering to me, but the arrow hit perfectly. He ran 100 yards then stopped and stood wobbly-legged. Soon his head sagged and he dropped into the alfalfa. I could see his head still up but I expected it to go down any second. But he stayed lying there looking around for ten minutes.

Then much to my shock he got up and walked into the bush. I could see the entry and exit wounds and it looked perfect. Totally baffling. Tom arrived and we followed the blood trail for a ways into the bush but we found a couple bloody beds where we had apparently bumped him so we backed out. Tom said, “The big ones die hard” and I had to agree. The following morning we took up the trail and found him dead.

After looking over last year’s photos and video of Lucky, I am convinced this is the same buck. He’s bigger of course and he green scored 161 gross. What a thrill to shoot a buck like that in the early bow season. There are several other big deer on Tom’s property, and he will be offering a small number of early season bowhunts. If you are interested, give him a ring at 204.546.2751. But please save a spot for me!

Do what the other hunters haven’t even thought of to throw bucks off guard.

By Bernie Barringer

Most of us have one thing on our mind during the rut; being in a tree. We work hard at finding the right tree and spending as much time as we can there. This has developed over years of trial and error and being in the right tree at the right time is a proven method of getting your hands on a nice rack.

But there are times when being in a tree is not the best strategy. In fact there are some situations where some off-beat tactics will up your odds, if you know how to recognize these situations and capitalize on them when you see them. Let’s have a look at four situations where just sitting all day in one spot, not matter how good that spot looks, might not be the best strategy.

The Windy Day Walkabout

Mature bucks have learned to depend on all their senses. If one of their senses is diminished, it will affect their movement patterns. The wind is a perfect example of an environmental situation that will curtail movement. When the wind blows, everything is moving, which makes it more difficult for the deer to pick out danger with their eyes. The wind creates noise which decreases the deer’s ability to hear danger. And the wind causes the scent currents to rush and swirl, which makes it difficult for a deer to pick out the source of a smell.

On windy days, many mature bucks just hole up and wait it out. If they aren’t coming to you, you must go to them. It’s the perfect time to stalk slowly into their bedding areas and try to shoot one from the ground. All that wind can be used to your advantage, and allows you to get close enough to see them before they see you. Then you can move in for the shot.

This is a slow, painstaking process which cannot be rushed, but if you have a few known bedding areas, you can be in for some great action if you take your time, glass regularly, and move stealthily through them.

Bump and Hunt

We all know bucks that just don’t seem to show themselves during the daylight even during the rut. These nocturnal bucks become almost unkillable by legal means, but I have a strategy that just might work in the right situation. These bucks tend to bed in fairly predictable sanctuaries and with the use of trail cameras you can pinpoint the areas where they are spending the daylight hours. If you have their primary bedding are in mind, this strategy might just be the one that cracks their defenses.

Grab a lightweight stand and sticks like the HAWK Helium or a climber and approach the bedding area from the downwind. Carefully creep into the area until you move the buck out of his bed. Most often you will not see the buck other than a glimpse of his backside as he escapes, but that’s all you need. Most often you will just hear him sneaking away or even just find a bed he just left.

Now examine the area well and try to figure out which route he will take back into the bedding area based on the current wind direction and the terrain. Bucks are very predictable and cautious in how they approach their daytime sanctuaries. They tend to circle 50-70 yards downwind and then approach on a trail that allows them to enter the area with the wind quartering on the side of their nose.

Set your stand up on your best location guess and be ready. The buck is likely to be back within two hours. This is a long-shot of course and it will probably only work once; the first time you try it, so make sure things are right. I suggest you reserve it for that one deer that seems to be impossible to kill any other way. I have had this work for me one time and I have a friend that successfully pulled it off.

Fighting the Fog

I lived and hunted in northern Iowa for many years. This flat, open farm country lends itself to spot and stalking whitetails, but I learned there was another strategy that was even more important. Anytime I wake up before dawn on a November morning and see thick fog outside, I know I am not going to the treestand that day; I’m going to spend the morning in the seat of my truck.

Mature bucks tend to push hot does out into open areas where they can keep an eye on them and protect them from smaller bucks. When daylight breaks, they just bed down in the nearest cover. This may be a bushy fencerow, a grass waterway, a terrace or a small patch of trees out in a field. Usually these areas are fairly secluded, but not so much on foggy days.

In thick fog, these deer only have a general sense of where they are, and they will bed in much more vulnerable spots than they would otherwise, because the fog prevents them from seeing their surroundings. I’ve seen them bed in remarkably vulnerable places. I have a friend who was driving to work along a gravel road when he saw a big buck lying in the road ditch right outside his window. He drove forward over a small rise, got out and trotted down the opposite road ditch until he was across from the buck. He then stepped up on the roadway with his bow drawn and shot the wide-eyed150-class buck before he had a chance to get up.

As the fog lifts during the morning, I cruise around with a binoculars and spotting scope, checking out where the deer are bedded. Most foggy mornings I will find a buck or sometimes two that are in a spot where a stalk is possible. Often I will just see a doe or smaller buck standing beside a fencerow or small piece of cover, but that usually means I can find a larger buck by using the optics to examine the area. I then plan a stalk and try to get within bow range of the buck. I have shot some bucks this way and I have even more stories of close calls and failures, but I love this kind of hunting because it is so exhilarating and rewarding when it works.

Move in for the Kill

This is another offbeat tactic that only works in some situations and during the breeding phase of the rut. Once again, it’s a bit of a long-shot, but when the situation presents itself, it’s worth a try.We’ve all been in the situation where we had bucks chasing a doe all around us. They are running through the woods, sometimes half a dozen or more smaller bucks, harassing a doe that is nearly ready to breed. Most of this behavior is found among yearling and 2-year-old bucks because the older bucks usually won’t expose themselves in this way. The mature bucks often stay back and let the smaller bucks chase the does, then move in and run the smaller bucks off when the doe is ready to breed.

I can count several times that I have seen this chasing activity move off through the woods, then 20 minutes to a half hour later, along comes a bigger buck, trailing the action at a safe distance. I have learned to take advantage of this situation by moving quickly to get in on the action.

If you are seeing this chasing just out of range, think about all that great scent the doe is leaving in the area as she runs about. More bucks are sure to follow, and the chances that a larger buck is already aware of the situation are pretty good. Get moved over there before he arrives. I mean get your stand down and move quickly; get set up in a hurry to take advantage of the situation.

I even know of some areas of open timber where this chasing activity is very common and seems to take place quite often during the middle of November. I’ve sat in an area where I can glass these areas, watching for this activity. Then I grab a stand and rush down there to set up as quickly as possible.

These four tactics are off-beat and certainly depend on a specific situation, but they can make the difference between going home with a story or going home with a buck at the end of the day. Next time you are faced with one of these specific situations, consider that sitting in a tree might not be the only alternative for that particular time and place.