Want More Grouse? Watch the Thermometer Drop!

12 Nov

Cold, blustery days in early winter are not the best days to go grouse hunting. Neither are, humid, September days. Essentially, the best time to go grouse hunting is when you can. And if that means dealing with the weather de jour- so be it. That doesn’t mean you can’t find some grouse, and even pocket a few, regardless of the weather.

Grouse like to stay cool in early fall when Indian summer days send the thermometer to summer-like temperatures. During those glorious fall days grouse will sleep in on their cozy roost and then venture out into a sunlit patch to soak up the warming October rays. November and December is a transitional period when cover becomes as much a priority as food. Staying warm and out of the wrath of heat-sapping winds and cold makes the places that grouse frequent during the late fall and early winter months predictable. Most times the mercury can give you a heads-up on which way to go.

Ruffed grouse seasons open in September in Ontario. Going hunting then is more a testament to tradition than it is to wanting to kill grouse. Foliage is thick, dense and green. But, if you insist on subjecting yourself to this kind of brutality you might as well give yourself the best chance at finding birds.

Look at the thermometer and you’ll realize that one of the best places to look for early season grouse is near rivers and streams. Waterways provide cool summer oases for grouse and you usually won’t find them far from the same habitat come early fall. During especially dry years, the moist soils found along rivers and streams may be one of the few places that you’re going to find the types of vegetation that produce the fruits and berries that grouse love so much.

Another reason early season grouse can be found along waterways is that the thick vegetation protects grouse broods from predators. Moist soils produce lush habitat that is ideal for protecting young grouse broods and the temperate environment produces a lot of high-protein invertebrates that are critical to young grouse growth and survival. Working along river bottoms and creek beds can be a good tactic because grouse broods can often be found in or close to their brood habitat.

Grouse are often still in broods or tight-knit family groups in September and October and can be concentrated and difficult to find. Perseverance can pay off. You might hunt several prime coverts without success and then bust several coveys in a short period of time. The trick is to keep at it. When you do run into some birds, you’ll usually find a bunch and chasing down singles after the flock is broken up can produce some quick shooting.

And quick shooting is what you can expect this time of year. Shooting grouse is never easy, but the task is made increasingly difficult when foliage is thick and catching even a glimpse of a bird is tricky. In the early season, you need to post, plan and resist the temptation to go in after them. It’s fruitless. If you have a dog, let them do the dirty work. Instead, look for openings, deer trails, clearings and post where you can get a shot if a bird flushes in your direction. Put a bell on your dog so your can keep track of his location at all times. Let one hunter bust the brush while the other walks a logging road where a flushing bird just might offer a shot. Don’t wait for an open shot. You’ll never get one! Instead, instinctively point and shoot even if you only catch a fleeting glimpse of the bird. Many times I never even knew I’d hit the bird until the dog came back with the grouse in its mouth. Be sure to keep in constant contact with your hunting party and know their location for safety sake and wear plenty of hunter’s orange.

Think wide open chokes and small shot during the early season. Grouse are not difficult birds to bring down, so put a lot of shot in the air and maybe just a pellet or two will get through the trees and hit its mark.

Weather and temperatures can be quite diverse in October. You might be rewarded with one of those cool, sunny, perfect fall days that grouse hunters live for. But don’t be surprised if you’re forced to pull out the woolies and gloves either. And you might even wake up to some fresh tracking snow. That’s just how October is- transitional- and it’s a transitional period for grouse too.

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Grouse have a smorgasbord of items to choose from in October and finding their preferred food source is often critical to finding numbers of grouse. Ripening fall fruits can draw grouse from far and wide. Grouse favor edge cover, and it’s no coincidence that some of their favorite culinary delights do best on edges where sunlight can penetrate the forest canopy. Depending on which state you live in, grouse can usually be found keying in on edge cover fruits like wild grapes, chokecherry, and a host of other fruity edibles. These open areas also produce some of old ruff’s favorite greens like wild strawberry and clover and are also places where they can find high-protein items like grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects.

When grouse numbers are high, they can be found in variety of cover types at this time of year. Even marginal grouse habitat will hold a few birds as grouse begin dispersing into new territories during the fall shuffle.

Cover becomes an increasingly important priority as the month wears on. October begins with it plenty of foliage and grouse can move about uninhibited. By the end of the month, the trees are bare, the wind has a foreshadowing bite to it and grouse must rely on their camouflage and staying hidden as much as possible. Still, you’ll find grouse wandering about in search of brunch or a late afternoon snack and those are two of the best times to hunt grouse at this time of year.

Obviously a peak time in October is the first week or two after the leaves have fallen. When this happens might vary by a few weeks from region to region, but it is prime time to be in the woods. Grouse seem to forget for a little while that they are not as invisible as they were just a few days earlier and their numbers are at a seasonal peak. You can actually see some of the grouse that you flush too.

At this time of year you can find grouse in some pretty unusual places far from what you’d consider ideal grouse cover. I’ve found grouse under a solitary crab apple tree in the middle of a field far from what you’d consider grouse cover. I’ve shot grouse out of fields of goldenrod that you’d think were more likely to hold pheasants. No patch of cover is too small or too thin to hold a grouse then.

Once snow blankets the ground the whole ballgame changes. Grouse that have survived the onslaught of hunters, wolves, owls and know that when their environment becomes covered in white they are vulnerable. Snow also covers up many of the grouse’s food sources and feeding becomes a little more risky and perilous. Grouse don’t go on those aimless strolls in search of food. Their search is more deliberate and of shorter duration when the thermometer starts to dip and the weather turns cold. Cover becomes more of a priority.

It’s important to ferret out productive versus non-productive cover as quickly as possible. I don’t know about you, but I’m not as young as I use to be. Those all-day jaunts of pounding the woods are over. I’m usually only good for about a half a day of hard hunting and I want to make the most of it. To do so requires that you develop a since for identifying the absolute best cover and hunt it hard. Learn to not waste time where you THINK there might be birds.

Remember those light loads and wide-open chokes you used in September? Put them away if you’re serious about killing grouse once the snow flies. Shots will be longer and birds will be tougher. Replace your 8’s and 9’s with high-brass 71/2’s or even 6’s. Take the skeet tubes out and go to improved or even a modified tube in one barrel. With your shooting eye in late season form you’ll still get the easy shots and with the heavier shot and tighter chokes you’ll be able to add a few birds you wouldn’t normally pocket.

Grouse are tough customers. That’s why most of us hunt them. But watching the thermometer you can get a better idea of where to begin your search and make your days in the woods a little more productive.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 12, 2015 in grouse, hunting, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, Guides and Outfitters, ontario, outfitter, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

An Illustrated Guide to the Best Game Meat Cuts

11 Nov

There are plenty of hunters out in the field bringing home dinner and we figured we would share some great guides on the best cuts and how to get them from your harvest! Click on each picture to enlarge for greater detail 🙂

This diagram is the basic overview of the quarters and can be applied to deer, moose, elk and caribou.

This second diagram is a more in depth cut selection and is coded for the sections as well. Again, this can be applied to deer, moose, elk and caribou.

Ensure before you properly care for your game in all stages of meat preparation to give not only longevity to the meat, but reduce the risk of cross contamination of any bacteria that could not only spoil the meat but could also make you very sick.

Happy hunting!

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 11, 2015 in game, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: big game, burger, butcher, cuts, deer, diagram, diy, elk, Meat, Moose, steak, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B, Woodland Caribou

Quartering Your Moose For Transport (with video)

09 Nov

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Here is a fantastic how to video for quartering a moose for transport. It isn’t unusual to have a moose down where removing it with this method is mandatory. Great care must be taken of any wild game to ensure there is no spoilage and that no waste is had.

Enjoy!

If you are an Ontario resident and would like more information regarding our accommodations in WMU 15A & 15B
for the 2016 season please feel free to contact us 🙂

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 9, 2015 in moose, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: diy, Moose, moose hunting, moose hunts, quartering, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Bear Facts to Success

08 Nov

Simple Fact: The more effort you put into masking your scent, the bigger the Black Bears coming into your target zone will be.

All experienced Black Bear Outfitters have their little tricks to make their bear hunters hunt more enjoyable and also help with their success. If you are new to bear hunting you should know what you are up against. Every hunter wants a big trophy bear and this article should bring you a little closer to that goal, but remember, to thoroughly follow the advice of your outfitter, if you’ve chosen one, and, above all else: DO NOT DEVIATE from the routine they have already established.

Black Bear hunting to the outfitter is about luring bears to a target zone for their hunting guests by baiting with food the bears like such as high-carbohydrate foods. Bread, pasta and other high starch content foods are rare in nature but it’s what the bears want most so they can quickly store fat for the winter. It’s also about setting up stands at strategic spots where big bears have been scouted. Black Bear hunting for the hunter is all about stealth, with the two biggest factors being sound and most of all, smell.

Black Bear’s Sense of Smell: Olfactory Receptors

The Black Bear has the best sense on smell of any land walking mammal on Earth. It’s really hard for a human to comprehend how well a bear can smell as we basically have to stick our nose in the pot to smell the sauce. Comparing the amount of Olfactory Receptors between a human and a Black Bear is mind boggling.

Olfactory Receptors are microscopic bulbs on the end of nerves in a mammal’s nose. The more you have the better your sense of smell is.

Humans:
6,000,000 Olfactory Receptors (6 million)
Blood Hounds:
1,800,000,000 Olfactory Receptors (1.8 billion)
Black Bear:
12,600,000,000,000 Olfactory Receptors (12.6 Trillion)

A Black Bear can smell 2100 times better than a human. In addition the Jacobson’s organ in their mouth can taste the air, adding to their brains perception. A mature Black Bear can smell your breakfast from 20 miles away if the wind is right. Big mature bears can smell better than smaller younger bears as their noses are larger and more developed. Bears also know what unnatural smells are and associate them with a human presence. This can explain why Black Bear hunters that are not fanatical about the way they smell rarely see big trophy bears. There are procedures you can do to minimize unnatural smells to keep the bears concentrating on the bait that the outfitter has put out for them. It is wise to check with your outfitter before applying anything new to the bait station that they normally don’t use.

1) Before your bear hunting trip; pick a couple of sets of clothes that you will only wear at the tree stand while hunting. Wash your clothes with scent-free detergent and when done, run them though the wash twice again with no detergent so they are well rinsed. This will ensure your clothes are scent free. If you live in the city and have chlorinated city water then go to a pet store and buy a small bottle of Aquarium Water Conditioner and add ½ oz. to the last rinse cycle you do with your clothes. The water conditioner will neutralize the chlorine in the water and keep the chlorine smell out of your clothes. Remember, they can smell 2100 times better than you so don’t feel silly getting fanatical. Then pack the clothes in a plastic bag to keep them scent free. If you consistently use fabric softener in your clothes dryer it’s best to hang your clothes up to dry because residual clothes softener might go on your clothes. If you are a smoker, do not smoke while wearing your hunting clothes.

Before we go to the next points you should be aware that Black Bears love the smell of mint. If you go on a camping trip in any of Ontario’s provincial parks the wardens will tell you not to keep mint toothpaste or mint gum in your tent because the bears will smell it and go after it. The bears craving for mint can be used to your advantage.

2) Think Mint: Go to one of those hippy tree-hugger heath stores and buy mint soap. The morning before the hunt take a shower using the mint soap. Brush your teeth with mint toothpaste. Chew mint gum while in the tree stand and if you really want to go all the way, have a glass of mint tea before the hunt and even keep a few bags of mint tea in your pockets. This will help cover up any scent.

3) Smoking: If you are a smoker and you smoke in the tree stand you are basically wasting your time if you expect a big trophy bear to come within sight. Wind direction can give you a little luck but it’s not something you should count on. It’s best to wear a nicotine patch while in the tree stand and if you need to; chew mint gum to keep your mind off smoking. Remember to brush your teeth and wash your hands and stop smoking before you put your scent free hunting clothes on. This would also apply to cigars and chewing tobacco as well.

Black Bear Hearing:

The shape of Black Bear’s ears is mainly responsible for their great hearing. When detecting sound based on volume a bear’s hearing is about four times that of a human. However, a bear can hear a much broader frequency range; both higher and lower frequencies. Rubbing of cloth or twisting of your tree stand can produce sounds that the bear can hear and the hunter cannot. Big old male bears develop a crowned head and their ears move out to the sides giving them stereoscopic hearing, which allows them to pinpoint the origin of the sounds they hear. This is another reason why big old bears are harder to get.

With this in mind try to stay absolutely still. If you have to move; move very slowly. Take some nose drops before the hunt and if you have a cold or allergies. If your throat is dry and itchy bring some mint flavored lozenges with you. You can also oil the joints of your tree stand to make them a little quieter.

Black Bear Sight:

During the day a Black Bear basically has the same site as a human but older bears tend to be near sighted. As a result they cannot focus on things from a long distance. When one of an animal’s senses becomes diminished their brain rewires itself to compensate by making other senses more acute. This is known as neural placidity. As a bear gets older they become near sighted so the brain compensates by being more sensitive to color differentiation. If the bear sees colors it thinks are unnatural and he sees those colors move the game is up. Bears cannot see the same range of colors as a human. Hunter orange looks gray to them. But they can see dull reds and yellows as well into the blue/green cool color spectrum. This is why there are many different forms of camouflage clothing.

Picking the right Camouflage:

You need to talk to the outfitter when you book your hunt and ask what kind of plants will be at the tree stands. If the hunt is taking place in the southern range of Ontario’s bear hunting country during the fall you may have a mix of coniferous and deciduous trees, thus you will need a camouflage that represents pine needles, pine bark and colored fall foliage. If you are father north in an area with only pine trees you will need a camouflage that represents pine bark and pine needles, which means dark brown and green. You need to blend into the scenery so their bear cannot see any unnatural color pattern.

Black Bears are nocturnal. They have a reflective layer in the back of the eye called the tarpetum lucidum. Just because you can’t see them does not mean they cannot see you. Since dusk is the hottest bear hunting time it’s also when you should concentrate the most on being quiet and motionless.

Bear Size:

In most cases, big ears mean a smaller bear. A small ear is usually a bigger bear. Once a bear reaches three years old (approx. 100 lbs.), the bear starts to grow into its ears. The ears and eyes don’t grow as much as they do in the first three years. Sometimes if a bear has a hard year with food, the ears will look bigger because the bear is thinner. Read our article: How to Size a Black Bear

Cubs:

When a sow is with cubs, 90% of the time the cubs are in the lead. The cubs will make more noise than a single bear. Most of the time, adult bears make little or no noise.

Sow:

You can’t shoot a sow with cubs in the Ontario spring hunt, and in the fall we continue this policy on our BMA – DO NOT SHOOT SOWS with cubs.. So make 100% sure you know what you are shooting at. Take a really good look around to make sure there are no cubs. A sow’s ears are usually closer together, as a male bear’s cranium grows wider on top and the ears look farther apart. They also look smaller, which is really an illusion.

These tips and techniques are just a guide line for some things to consider and think about. Ultimately the outfitter is the person you need to discuss the different factors with. Bear hunting can be quite different in different regions.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 8, 2015 in Bear, black bear, Black Bear Hunts, hunting, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: archery, bear, black bear, black bear bow hunting, black bear hunting, Bow Hunting, Ontairo black bear guide, Ontairo black bear outfitter, outfitter, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

GREAT Hand Warmer Uses

07 Nov

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 7, 2015 in hunting, hunting equipment, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: boots, clothing, hand warmers, hunting clothes, wawang, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

Ontario’s Ruffed Grouse

06 Nov

Although sometimes regarded as “wilderness” birds, Ruffed Grouse have no aversion to living in close proximity to humans if the cover gives them adequate security. In some areas of Ontario, Canada – Ruffed Grouse are more abundant in remote wilderness forests. They thrive best where forests are kept young and vigorous by occasional clear-cut logging, or fire, and gradually diminish in numbers as forests mature and their critical food and cover resources deteriorate in the shade of a climax forest.

Ruffed Grouse response to man varies greatly across their range, depending upon their experiences. In southern Ontario generally they are usually quite elusive and difficult to approach. Yet they can still be killed with a canoe paddle or thrown stones in NW Ontario wilderness forests.

When the ground is bare of snow, Ruffed Grouse feed on a wide variety of green leaves and fruits, and some insects. They have also been known to eat snakes, frogs as well. But when snow covers the ground as it does for most of the winter across the major portion of their natural range, Ruffed Grouse are almost exclusively “flower-eaters,” living on the dormant flower buds or catkins of trees such as birches and pin cherry bush’s.

Known as solitary in their social behavior they do not develop a pair-bond between males and females, although there is usually at least one hen in the woods for every male. Young birds, especially, collect in temporary, loose flocks in the fall and winter, but this is not equivalent to the covey organization of the quails and partridges.

Male Ruffed Grouse are aggressively territorial throughout their adult lives, defending for their almost exclusive use a piece of woodland that is 6-10 acres in extent. Usually this is shared with one or two hens. The male grouse proclaims his property rights by engaging in a “drumming” display. This sound is made by beating his wings against the air to create a vacuum, as lightning does when it makes thunder. The drummer usually stands on a log, stone or mound of dirt when drumming, and this object is called a “drumming log.” He does not strike the log to make the noise, he only uses the “drumming log” as a stage for his display.

The drumming stage selected by a male is most likely to be about 10-12 inches above the ground, in moderately dense brush, (usually 70 to 160 stems within a 10 ft. radius) where he can maintain unrestricted surveillance over the terrain for a radius of about 60 ft. Across much of the Ruffed Grouse range there are usually mature male within sight in the forest canopy overhead.

Drumming occurs throughout the year, so long as his “log” is not too deeply buried under snow. In the spring, drumming becomes more frequent and prolonged as the cock grouse advertises his location to hens seeking a mate. Listen to an example at the top of this page.

Courtship is brief, lasting but a few minutes, then the hen wanders away in search of a nest site, and there is no further association between the male grouse and his mate – or the brood of chicks she produces. A hen may make her nest more than 1/2 mile from the log of her mate.

Nests are hollowed-out depressions in the leaf litter, usually at the base of a tree, stump or in a clump of brush. The nest is usually in a position which allows the hen to maintain a watch for approaching predators. Sometimes hens will nest under logs or in brush piles, but this is less common, and a dangerous location.

A clutch usually contains 8 to 14 buff colored eggs when complete. Eggs are laid at a rate of about one each day and a half, so it may take 2 weeks for a clutch to be completed. Then incubation, which usually commences when the last egg is laid, takes another 24 to 26 days before the eggs hatch. A nest has to be placed so that it will not be discovered by a predator during a period of at least 5 weeks.

The chicks are prosocial, which means that as soon as they have dried following hatching they are ready to leave the nest and start feeding themselves. Grouse chicks are not much larger than a man’s thumb when they leave the nest. They are surprisingly mobile and may be moving farther than 1/4 mile a day by the time they are 3 or 4 days old. They begin flying when about 5 days old, and resemble giant bumble bees in flight. The hen may lead her brood as far as 4 miles from the nest to a summer brood range during its first 10 days of life.

Although grouse broods occasionally appear on roadsides, field edges or in forest openings, these are hazardous places for young grouse to be, and broods survive best if they can remain secure in fairly uniform, moderately dense brush or sapling cover.

The growing chicks need a great deal of animal protein for muscle and feather development early in life. They feed heavily on insects and other small animals for the first few weeks, gradually shifting to a diet of green plant materials and fruits as they become larger. Chicks grow rapidly, increasing from about 1/2 ounce midgets when hatched to 17-20 oz. fully grown young birds 16 weeks later. That is a 38 to 46 fold increase in weight. At 17 weeks of age, a Ruffed Grouse is almost as large and heavy as it will ever be.

Biologists and others who want to age Ruffed Grouse rely upon certain peculiarities of the molt of the primary flight feathers. The booklet A Grouse in the Hand explains this aging procedure. And following the first complete molt by a 14 to 15 month old adult grouse, there are no known physical characteristics which reliably identify the age.

When about 16 to 18 weeks old, the young grouse passes out of its period of adolescence and breaks away to find a home range of its own. This is the second and last time that Ruffed Grouse are highly mobile. The young males are the first to depart, when they range out seeking a vacant drumming territory, or activity center, where they can claim a drumming log. Most young males find a suitable site within 1.8 mi. of the brood range where they grew up, although some may go as far as 4.5 mi. seeking a vacant territory. Many young cocks claim a drumming log by the time they are 20 weeks old; and once they have done so, most will spend the remainder of their lives within a 200 to 300 yard radius of that log.

Young females begin leaving the brood one or two weeks later than their brothers, and they normally disperse about three times as far. Some young hens move at least 15 miles looking for the place where they’ll spend the rest of their lives.

Occasionally a hen and her brood will remain together as late as mid-January, but this is unusual, and most groups of grouse encountered in the fall and winter are composed of unrelated individuals who gather together temporarily to share a choice food resource or piece of secure cover.

In fall and winter some inexperienced young grouse frightened by a predator or something else, crash into buildings, trees or through windows in a so-called “crazy-flight.” Sometimes they are evidently simply trying to take a short-cut when they can see through two large windows on the corner of a house. After all, young grouse in their first fall have never been confronted by something that can be seen through but not flown through, such as glass!

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 6, 2015 in grouse, northern ontario, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, Guides and Outfitters, ontario, outfitter, Ruffed Grouse, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

Wild Mushrooms

05 Nov

The main edible find in our region is lobster mushrooms, Hypomyces lactifluorum, in some pretty good quantities. On any hunt, it’s good to bring home dinner, but one doesn’t typically expect to bring home a bundle of lobsters too late into the fall.

Typically, by the end of August and into September the brush is filled with mushrooms, edible and not. Unlike spring hunting, fall hunting in and around our area is more mushroom identifying than actually trying to find mushrooms growing. But some year the lobsters can account for a major harvest.

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So on your next trip out into our region whether you’re fishing or grouse hunting be sure to hike the old logging roads in search of these very delicious mushrooms. Stay tuned for a great recipe that easy to prepare.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 5, 2015 in northern ontario, ontario, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: canada, lobster mushrooms, mushroom hunting, mushrooms, ontario, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

Polar Bear Chases Man Around Truck

04 Nov

These are pictures from Barrow, Alaska. A photographer got careless and let the bear get too close and he did not have time to get into his truck before the Polar Bear started chasing him around the truck.

This is just a small bear. It’s probably only 2 years old and on it’s first year without its mother. A full grown male Polar Bear can get up to be three times this size. Hiding in a truck or car would not save you as any polar bear could smash though the car glass in seconds with very little difficulty.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 4, 2015 in Bear, hunting, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: bear, bear hunting, bear hunts, hunting, hunting at wawang lake, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Winter Camping For Beginners

03 Nov

Winter camping can mean different things to different people. For some, it means renting a cabin heated by a wood stove. For others, it means packing snowmobile trailers to the brim. For the more adventurous, it means grabbing a pack and hauling in all the necessities to a remote location. No matter how you winter camp, the following tricks are useful.

WEAR A FIREPROOF SHELL
If you are going to build campfires, either for the sake of cooking, warmth, or morale, make sure that your outer layer of clothing is less likely to end up ruined if struck by an errant ember. Wool is one of the best, most fire-resistant natural materials and is great for this. Down jackets are downright (no pun intended) awful, and you can lose tons of feathers this way.

PACK THE SNOW
Before setting up your tent, pack down your campsite. If you have skis or snowshoes, that means tramping around hard until all the snow is packed. If you’re shod only in boots this will take some time, but if you don’t do this, you run the risk of stepping into a soft bit of snow in your tent and tearing the floor.

PACK AN EXTRA HAT AND GLOVES
Always carry a spare hat and a set of mittens. No matter how diligent you are, no matter how religious you are about using idiot strings and keeper cords, you will lose a hat, and you will lose a glove. Keep a cheap spare, or be prepared for frostbite or a foreshortened trip.

EMBRACE THE PEE BOTTLE.
Being cold can cause you to want to urinate more frequently, and we all know how inconvenient it is to disrobe and undo your sleeping bag at 0 degrees F. For women, I highly recommend looking into the various accessories that allow you to pee whilst standing, and for both genders a WELL-MARKED pee bottle will keep you warm and simplify your nightly continence. For the love of god, don’t confuse your water bottle—color is not enough, make sure your bottle is well-marked and maybe wrapped in some duct tape.

USE THOSE STAKES
If there is snow, you can stake out your tent. You can always make deadmen out of sticks or fallen trees, stuff sacks full of snow, buried skis, snowshoes, poles, ice axes, or what have you. There is no excuse for a poorly staked-out tent. If you expect no snow and frozen conditions, plenty of companies make hard tent stakes meant to push through frozen ground, either out of titanium, steel, or 7075-t6 aluminum.

BRING THE RIGHT SLEEPING PAD
As Bear Grylls says, two layers on the bottom are worth one on the top. That is, you lose more heat through conductive heat loss when sleeping than anything else, so winter is no time to skimp on your sleeping pad. Make sure you have a pad with an r value of four or more, and if you have one, throw a closed-cell foam pad underneath. If you feel like your pad isn’t cutting it, stuff extra clothing underneath you, and toss your down jacket on top of your sleeping bag.

BOIL THE SNOW
Leave your water filter at home. Chemical filters take longer to work in the cold, and mechanical filters can crack and fail. Your best bet for water filtration is boiling your water, as you probably have to melt snow anyway. Don’t be suckered into thinking glacial melt or fresh snow is sterile–it isn’t. Snowflakes often form around small bits of dust (nucleation sites) which can be bacteria or viruses floating in the upper atmosphere.

SLEEP WITH YOUR BOOTS
Use boots with removable liners, so you can put those liners at the bottom of your sleeping bag to keep them warm. If you only have single-layer boots, put them in a waterproof stuff sack at the bottom of your sleeping bag. Nothing means morning hypothermia more than frozen boots!

CAMP BY CANDLELIGHT
A candle lantern safely hung on the inside of your tent (far enough away from you and the ceiling so as not to be a fire hazard) does wonders to both warm your tent and reduce condensation. Despite this, a towel for scraping off condensation is always welcome.

EMBRACE LITHIUM
Use lithium batteries in all your winter electronics. Not only does lithium perform consistently down to much colder temperatures than alkaline or NiMh batteries, but they are lighter, last three times as long, and have a flat decay curve.

WIPE WITH CARE
In the summer, comfy leaves or soft river stones abound, but in the winter they’re few and far-between. While many have picked up pinecones in desperation, the best readily found alternative is just plain old snow. It’s effective, ubiquitous, and leaves behind little residue. If you do bring TP, please either pack it out or burn it. The ground is too hard for catholes and for those who have hiked along the Appalachian Trail during the first spring thaw, a mound of TP generally signifies a poorly hidden scat stash.

FIGHT CONDENSATION WITH A VBL
If you’re out more than a week, use a VBL, or vapor-barrier-liner for your sleeping bag. Condensation from your own body can freeze within the upper layer of your sleeping bag where the warm air meets the freezing air, and over time your sleeping bag can become frozen solid. While they are not as comfortable to sleep in, it beats hitting your sleeping bag with a hammer every night like some polar explorers have had to do.

FLIP YOUR BAG
If it’s not snowing, turn your sleeping bag inside out on top of your tent to dry during the day. This is a great reason to choose winter sleeping bags with a black interior–it absorbs more solar energy and dries out faster.

FLIP YOUR WATER
If you have a large water storage container, turn it upside-down when storing it overnight. Ice forms from the top down, so keeping the spout/opening of your container facing down keeps it from getting frozen up. This can be combined with insulating the container, of course.

VASELINE
Cover exposed skin in Vaseline or animal fats. Inuit have been doing this for years–simply slather any exposed or potentially exposed skin on your face, ears, neck, wrists, or hands in a thick oil and they’ll be less prone to windburn and frostbite.

Stay warm!

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Posted by Wawang Lake on November 3, 2015 in do it yourself, hunting, hunting equipment, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: camping, diy, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, winter camping

Sharpen Your Bow Skill During the Off Season!

02 Nov

We practice with our bows all summer long, but after opening day its easy to get wrapped up in the hunting and forget about practicing. But even if you’re spending your time in the field and can’t hit the archery range every day, you can still keep your edge. Shooting in hunting situations is obviously different from target shooting. In the real world, weather conditions, shot angles, brush and other obstacles can impact your shot. Also, when the time comes to take a shot during a hunting situation you’re usually either stiff and cold from sitting in a treestand or sucking wind from running up a hill. All this combined with the fact that you must make a clean shot with the first arrow makes it all the more important to keep your shooting skills sharp. Here are a couple tips.

Practice Drawing
One of the biggest challenges to making a “cold shot” is that often the muscles I use for properly drawing my bow are stiff. The simplest way to cure this is to periodically pick a target, draw your bow, aim, hold, and let down your draw. This keeps you loosened up, plus drawing and aiming without actually shooting helps you focus on the target.

Practice Shooting
Although just drawing and aiming will help a lot, the single biggest help is to actually shoot while out hunting. A common practice among traditional shooters is to carry one or two blunt pointed arrows in your quiver so that you can stump shoot in your down time. Stump shooting is fantastic for keeping you warmed up, but unlike just drawing, actually completing your shots will bring your release into play, as well as give you all sorts of angles and situations to practice.

Small game is even better than stumps (grouse and rabbits taste a lot better too). Grouse can be deceivingly tough to hit. You want to aim for the base of the neck or the head. Sometimes they flush at the shot, but grouse will go in the direction that their head is pointing, so if you use a snaro point, you can either take their head off or hit them in the body as they flush. The best thing about grouse is they often give you extremely challenging shots, and if you can become consistent at taking them, you will be ready for the big game (make sure to check your local regulations before taking any small game with a bow).