MikeHanback.com

Does Trail-Camera Flash Spook Bucks?

Hey Mike: What are your thoughts on trail cameras with a regular flash versus IR flash? I use cams with IR flash and deer don't seem to be bothered by it. I've heard white flash will spook some deer, but I’ve seen lots of night pix where they haven't spooked. I can’t seem to get it out of my head that a monster buck may come by at night, take a white flash in the face and not want to come back to that spot. Thanks for your help, Scott

Scott, white flash definitely bothers some deer. Other animals, not so much, so it’s an inexact science. I ran your question by famed biologist and my friend Dr. Grant Woods, who has taken and analyzed as many cam pictures of whitetails as anyone in the world. Grant says:

“Most deer react more to white flash than the red flash of most infrared cameras. However, a high percentage of deer also react (at least notice) a red flash. In fact, I should note that the red flash from some units is much stronger than others; it gives a longer flash range, but it can also cause more disturbance to deer. (Remember that when buying a cam--MH)

“Some people will argue that deer don’t react to flash. I find this is true in areas where deer frequently eat at feeders and become conditioned to the flash – like Pavlov’s dogs. 

“The astute observer will notice that deer react more to flash and camera noise (older film units made lots more noise that most digital cams) when the units are set on trails or near feeding—both places where deer tend to be on high-alert. (Remember that when placing your units--MH)

“For research these days, I’m using the newer cameras that don’t have any visible flash (white or red). I am getting gads of photos of deer that appear totally undisturbed. I also get more pictures of mature bucks trailing does or immature bucks. To me, these new camera units are worth the extra cost to capture data of old bucks for hunting or research.”

Wow, good stuff. Now please pitch in with your thoughts on cams and flash and stuff.

The Earn-a-Buck Truck

Earlier I asked if some people were trying to beat the WI earn-a-buck system... I don't know if this is proof that they were, or maybe it's just for fun. Anyhow, pretty clever in blaze orange and 900 number and all :) Thanks to Ian for sending it along, he actually saw the van while he was out hunting one day last fall.

Wisconsin Earn-a-Buck (what do you think of it?)

From the AP and startribune.com:

Hunters in much of the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin will have to kill an antlerless deer this fall before they can take a buck under new regulations… The annual revisions to the state's fall hunting rules set up 35 earn-a-buck zones. They generally fall along the state's Minnesota border…

The earn-a-buck program requires hunters to shoot an antlerless deer before taking a buck. Hunters generally dislike the program because it forces them to pass up trophy bucks if they haven't killed an antlerless deer, but state wildlife officials say the requirement is a crucial tool in controlling a burgeoning deer herd.

Is that true, “hunters dislike the program”? I give the WI deer managers props for trying something innovative and different.

Also, I hear that people have learned to cheat the system by registering road-killed does or re-checking a doe (whose ear was not cut at the check station) that a buddy had killed. Rumor has it these cheaters are bragging online and offering “tips” for beating earn-a-buck. I hope this is not true in any significant number, but it would not shock me if it were, there are always a------- that ruin it for the rest of us.   

4-Beamed Freak Buck

One of my goals is to post rack types that you and I have never seen before. This nasty one qualifies. Thanks to Trent for sending:

Mike: Last week you posted about the three-beamed deer from Illinois. Stumbling around a photo gallery in an online forum I found this picture...look, a 4-beamed FREAK! 

6-Year Hunt for a Ghost Buck (Giant 8)

Great story behind these giant sheds, which are darn near as big as Chaeli is. Thanks to dad, Cliff, for the guest blog, I've posted it pretty much verbatim. I admire the way Cliff and his brother think and hunt:

This buck was hunted by Cliff and Mike, brothers.
No one else knew of this deer and we weren't talking.
We hunted the big 8 for 6 1/2 years with bow, rifle and muzzleloader.
Scouting was non-stop.
He had 2 core areas, depending on crop rotation.
He was seen maybe a dozen times in 6 1/2 years, always alone.
He never did the same thing twice.
He was never seen rutting.
He had one thing on his mind and he was good at it--SURVIVAL!!
If deer are smart, he was a genius.
He was last seen in December 2005.
Score estimated to be mid to upper 180s.
He had great mass and 18” G2 and G3s at times.
He was never harvested and no other sheds were found.
The last set of sheds we found, he was 4 1/2 years old in 2003. These are the sheds Chaeli is holding. The G2s and G3s on those sheds are 15”.
He was truly a world-class 4 X 4; Mike and I feel very fortunate to have hunted him.
The memories of this deer are long and plentiful, but the dream was short.
To us he will always live in the sheds he was kind enough to let us find.
Thanks, Chaeli's dad, Cliff. 

Porcupine 1, Pit Bull 0

This popped up in my inbox. Although it has nothing to do with hunting, I thought it a good way to end the week:

A pit bull decided he would battle a porcupine in back of his house in Southern California. Being both brave and stupid, he learned the hard way that he can't always win. A vet sedated the dog, and then removed a total of 1,347 quills.

BTW, I have no use for a pit bull—why have a dog that might attack a person or kill a kid?--but even I feel for that mutt.

Motto: Porcupines are bad ass, you and your dogs be careful around them.
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Illinois Three-Beamed Bow Buck!

Hey Mike: I've been following your blog for some time now. You have a lot of cool stuff on here. I know about your fetish for drop tines, and I want one too. But I have a buck that might be even rarer than the elusive drop tine. A buck with two main beams on one side! They both grow out of the same base. The shorter beam is still over 20"! I wonder how many of your readers out there might have this type of rack? What is rarer, a double beam, or a drop tine? BTW, this one was from the great state of Illinois. He had 13 scorable points and weighed 285 lbs. Thanks, Eric

Eric, awesome buck! Check out the little fork on top the tine on the 3rd beam, even more character man. As luck would have it, I have shot one double-beam in my life, and they are even rarer than the elusive drop-tine I believe. By the way, heck of a bowshot, I circled it in red for all to see. That is how you do it. I know he didn’t run far.

Monster Cougar: Iowa, VA, Wherever!

Got this big cat in your inbox recently? It's popping up all over the Internet, and most reports have it coming from Iowa. I got an email the other day from a guy who said it was killed down in the coal country of southwest VA, near where my wife comes from. Trouble is, the last time anybody saw a cougar in Wise Co. VA was, well, never! The latest is that the monster tom is from AZ, which makes more sense. Sadly, it was apparently hit and killed by a car.

South Carolina Lowcountry Bucks

Hey Mike: I love looking at all the monsters that hunters are killing across our great country on your new site. I know our deer do not get quite as big as some of the Northern bucks you show, but we have been working hard to grow the biggest deer the Lowcountry of South Carolina can produce. We sit in the middle of a 50,000-acre block of quality-deer managed properties; the attached pictures prove what our area is capable of.

Two of the bucks were killed on Cubbedge Hill Plantation, and the third (and biggest) was killed just across the line on the neighboring Webb WMA. Cody Whittle shot the giant 9 point on Oct. 30th.; the 5.5 year old weighed 165 pounds, gross-scored 146 (would have topped 150 if he had not snapped a tine) and netted 135. We have trail cam pictures of the deer, and those are his sheds sitting by the buck in the kill shot.

I shot the huge 120” 6 point with a crab claw on Nov. 9; he weighed 185 pounds, had 13” and 6” inch G2s,  22.5” beams and 5” bases. I took his cam picture 2 weeks before I got him. Also, a guy named Daniel Wilkinson killed a 130” 10 point on Dec. 5 that had 22” beams and 4” bases. We had trail cam photos of him too.

These are just a few monsters that have been killed around here, and last fall was a slow season! I can't wait to see what we have for next year! To see more, check out my site lowcountryhunting.com. Thanks, Jeff Hunt

Awesome Jeff. Some of my observations:

• With good, smart management, you can grow big deer anywhere.
• Cody's buck is a whopper for SC, look at that mass.
• No matter where you hunt, search for some land that is bordered by one or two large tracts that are managed for deer and you have great opportunity. Some big old bucks will “bump off” the managed land and you might kill one of them, like the guy did on that WMA.
• More proof that trail cameras work great; Jeff and the boys took pictures of all those bucks, got a grip on their areas/patterns, moved in and got them.

"I remember how you like snakes..."

Hey Mike: I remember how you like big-ass snakes, lol, so I thought about you when I saw this one. I think it's a pet python that somebody let loose in the Everglades. We have a big problem with that down here. Anyhow, what would you do if you were shed-hunting and bumped into that sucker...or maybe found him occupying your ground blind one early-fall day? Have a good one :) Digger

Digg, thanks for freaking me out my friend! Simple answer, if I saw that serpent in the woods I'd be done--no more Hanback, no more blog! Somebody, a herpetologist I believe, asked me one time on the blog if I kill snakes. Well, I would, but I'm too busy getting the hell out of Dodge. BTW, look at the grin on that CO's face, is he crazy or what?