It's that time of year again where we pack up and head west! This year our group's size has grown a little bit. There are 6 of us heading out west elk hunting versus 4. Idaho offers great opportunities for elk hunting. We go with no guide, simply buy our tags online and head out to hunt on public land. We leave in 2 weeks and the excitement is driving all of us crazy.

My father-in-law and their group of 6 are heading out a week after us for Colorado elk hunting. They do the same thing as we do. No guide, just hunt public land in Colorado.

Check back to see if we have any success on our hunt. If yes, I'll post photos of course!

As a parent, you can't wait until the day arrives that you can take your son or daughter hunting with you, but there is that question of "When is the right time for them to come with?" Unfortunately, there isn't one good answer.

Many factors must be considered when answering this question. Your child's interest, personality, behavior, and the list continues. In general I would say you can begin exposing your children to hunting as early as 3 and sooner. My daughter just turned 2, yet we read hunting magazines all the time. This is a great start to exposing your children to the outdoors. We go through our Petersen's Bowhunting or The Trapper & Predator Caller magazines. She points out the bucky's, bunny's, elk, bear etc. We've also taken our daughter to the petting zoos. She loved feeding the big bucks and petting them. Any type of exposure to nature will help build their interest into the sport.

The main point to keep in mind when beginning to take your child with you hunting is patience. You are going to have many times where they are cold after 15 minutes, they're hungry, have to go to the bathroom or yell when the big buck comes out. Part of bringing them into the sport of hunting is that you have to sacrifice your success for them. Over time they will learn from you the importance of keeping quiet and being patient. Sacrificing your success for them will give you much more greater satisfaction than any trophy could.

Another area to remember is that the more you take them, the better. Take them with you every time. They will begin to truly understand the sport the more they do it as with anything. If you only take them once in a while, they are over excited and will forget the special little tips you can give them. Give them something to do. Have them carry the binoculars or map. The more they can actively participate with you, the more they will be interested. It also gives them a sense of responsibility. A lesson more valuable than many others.

Overall, have fun and enjoy this time with your children. If your child shows a love for the outdoors, feed that interest and keep feeding it. Actively make them a part in your hunts and they will provide enjoyment and satisfaction to you beyond your imagination.

Well, this just isn't my year. Not only did I strike out black bear hunting, I have also struck out in the whitetail deer gun season. This year I hunted further north than last, almost to upper Michigan. I only seen one deer all week and that one I didn't have a shot at.

A couple of the deer reports I've heard on the radio are saying that the deer kill count is up, however much of my family and friends who hunted throughout central Wisconsin also came up empty handed. So for those who did have a successful hunt, congratulations and please share your stories below.

Well, this weekend is the big weekend. The Wisconsin Whitetail Deer Gun Season begins tomorrow. This year I am heading even farther north than last year. Last year I yielded a nice buck (2006 Wisconsin Whitetail Deer Season). This year I am pretty close to Iron Mountain so almost Michigan.

So with that in mind, here's my list of top things to get ready for the Gun Deer Season.

1) Have your deer stands ready. Go scouting before hand and find good places on deer runs, to place your stands.

2) Sight your gun in. It may have been right on last year and you didn't bump it that you know of, but still always sight it in. You'd hate to miss the 30pt buck because you didn't double check your sights.

3) Don't forget your tags. This is more common than you think.

4) Have all of your blaze orange clothing ready to go as well as all of your other hunting clothing.

5) Don't forget bullets!!!

6) Most importantly, remember your Da Yoopers and Bananas at Large CD's. You can't go deer hunting without "The Second Week of Deer Camp" and the "Turdy Point Buck".

Good Luck Hunting!!!

New warning trampoline manufacturers will have to place on the products. "Warning! Do not jump on trampoline while whitetail deer are underneath. May get poked!"

I routinely visit the Primos website at www.primos.com Last year I believe they re-designed their website and added a lot of great features. So since I love this website and haven't taken advantage of it yet, I figured many others haven’t either.

Here are some of the interactive tools the Primos website offers:

1) Wallpapers - Download hunting / outdoor wallpapers for your computer. Whitetails, duck, elk and dog backgrounds are available.

2) Chat / Forums - Primos refers to it as "Cabin Chat". Discuss anything related to hunting they have categories for just about everything. Plus, the forums are really active so you can actually interact with other hunters versus posting a question and waiting weeks for answers.

3) Hot Shots - Upload photos of your trophies so everyone can see what a great hunter you are. Plus you can go see what everyone else has gotten as well as which products they used.

4) Your Video - This is stating coming soon, but I would assume it would be so your could upload your own hunting videos. YES!!!!

5) Find links to State DNR websites, outfitters and dealers.

So go and check it out and start showcasing your hunts to everyone.

Well I ended up eating bear tag soup. I did not get my bear this year. I only seen 2 bears and neither of them were legal in size. My baits were getting hit consistently however when the season began the weather went haywire, going from 90 degrees to 50 degrees and back and forth. Maybe that played a part in it.

Oh well! Now I can start bowhunting. The whitetail deer season has begun and I need to fill the freezer with venison. We are almost out.

Please share your experiences in bear hunting.

Well, I am down to my last weekend for my bear tag. So far no luck. The bears have been different this year, almost as if they're shutting down early. The baits that a month ago we getting hit like clockwork are now touch and go. The only reassuring aspect is that other bear hunters in the area are all having the same problem as I. The bears just aren't coming in consistently or at all.

We'll see how things go this weekend. I hope I can get one, or at least see one. So far I've seen 1 bear and he was lucky to go 100 pounds. I really don't want to have tag soup and start the fall hunting season empty handed. At least I can always look forward to start bowhunting!

So far I haven't had any luck with my bear hunt. Thursday it was over 90 all day and Friday was in the high 80's so not much of anything was moving, much less eating. The bear baits weren't hit either.

Last night there was a glimmer of hope when a small 100 - 125 pound bear came into the bait. I passed it up since it was just a little one. But that was the first bear I'd seen.

Hopefully with the cooler weather now (today's high is high 60's) the bear will get moving again. I'll keep you posted.

Well today is the day! My black bear season begins. As soon as I am done with work today, I am on my way up north (Northern Wisconsin) to hunt for one of those bears pictured in my earlier posts.

The last two days it has been close to 90 degrees out and today it is 90 so the bear have not been hitting the baits regularly. Hopefully he comes out this afternoon / evening.

I will keep you posted on my black bear hunt and post pictures when I finally do get my bear.

Wish me luck!
Rob

I thought I'd share some pictures of a few of the bears coming into the baits. We'll see which one I get!!

Bear baiting is not as simple as throwing out some food every once in awhile. For an avid bear hunter, baiting is a very precise activity and is crucial to the success of the actual hunt. Listed below is a breakdown of some basic bear baiting tips.

* Baiting schedule. You should start setting your baits in late June, early July. When you begin baiting you only need to bait once a week. During these first couple of weeks, you are simply trying to see whether bear will come in to your bait as well as what sizes. Once you have located which baits you are going to continue with, you can begin baiting more often such as twice a week. Approximately a month before your actual hunt is to begin, you may now start baiting your baits every day. To try and get the bear into the same schedule planned for your hunt.

* Bait at the same time, every time. Be sure to always bait your bear at the same time. This will help to get the bear, as mentioned above, on the same schedule as you are. This helps to make sure your bear comes in during the daylight hours. If your bear is coming in at night, you need to make adjustments to your baiting schedule. Try not feeding them the next day or begin feeding less each time so they come earlier to get the food before other animals do.

* Setting up a game camera. This to me is a necessity in bear baiting. Not only does the game camera tell you what is coming in to your bait, it also provides you with the exact times as well. Be sure to purchase or make a metal cage for your game camera. Otherwise the bears will attack it because of the food scent you transfer to it.

* Don't go overboard with sweets. Yes, bears love sweets, however just like us if you eat too many sweets, you get sick. Bears are the same way. Be sure to include sweets in your baiting, however not the entire meal.

* Be consistent with your baiting habits. When baiting your bear try and make the same sounds each time. For example, banging on the bait bucket when you leave. Once your bait has been consistently hit, chances are the bear is probably waiting within a couple hundred yards for you. By making the same sounds, you again stay predictable and non-disruptive of the routine. We have had bears hit the baits less than 15 minutes after we baited.

Wisconsin black bear hunting offers all types of excitement. One of the most exciting parts of the hunt is actually baiting your bear. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it's great to go into your bait and see whether it was hit or not. Then add a Game Camera and you really get in on the excitement seeing all the wildlife that has come into your bait. Below is a list of items to use in baiting bear. Please be sure to check with the local DNR what is legal in your area before beginning to bait. For example, in Wisconsin you cannot use meat products.

Gummy Bears
Breads, Bagels, Buns,
Donuts and Bakery Goods
Candy Cigarettes
Licorice
Granola Bars
Pie Filling
Jellies
Maple Syrup
Meats
Fish
Liquid Smoke
Honey
Bacon or Cooking Grease

Many of these items can be purchased exclusively for bear baiting in large 30 / 50 gallon drums. For bread products, be sure to check with local bakeries and distribution centers. Many times you can get large quantities for little to nothing. I just filled up a huge van, 4 feet high and about 10 feet in length of bread, bagels, donuts and buns from a local bread distributor and I didn't have to pay a dime.

Most importantly do find out what is legal in your area. In Wisconsin you can't use any meats or animal byproducts, however in Canada you can. It's better to check first. You don't want to ruin a great hunt with a visit from the DNR or worse yet, a fine.

Listed below are the main items to be sure you have when going turkey hunting.

Shotgun
Turkey loads
Choke tube
Bow
Arrows
Camo blind (Legal in Wisconsin)
Turkey decoys
Camera
Knife
binoculars
Camo gloves, facenet, shirt & pants
Camo turkey vest (I like the Primos turkey hunting vest)
Box Call
Diaphragm calls
Slate or glass calls
Gobble call
Push-pin call
Owl hooter call
Locator calls (Pileated Woodpecker, Coyote or Peacock)
License and turkey tags

Spring turkey hunting in Wisconsin offers not only a challenge but also a great hunting experience. Below is a list of tips to help you during your next turkey hunting season.

• Don't get too close to the roost when setting up before daylight. Try and stay approximately 50 to 100 yards away.


• When you are stumped, because a nice Tom won't come in close enough to get a shot and you need him to come another 15 to 20 yards, try lightly scratching the leaves to imitate a turkey scratching. You can also stop calling altogether and simply wait. Remember you could be waiting an hour before he decides to come in, but it's worth it.


• When using turkey decoys, be sure to place them on a higher viewpoint, so that the Toms can easily see them. Using decoys can sometimes help bring the Toms closer to you faster.


• If the turkey is up on a hill or ridge, try and get up there to. Turkeys usually will not come down the hill to a call so you need to go to them.


• A dominant tom will usually gobble more than non-dominant toms. Along with that, Jakes will gobble and strut too, but in a much more timid matter since they are afraid of the toms. The dominant toms have already beat these timid Jakes up a couple of times by now.


• The hens will usually stay close to the toms until mid-morning. After the hens leave, you then can usually spot the old tom all by himself.


• You can still go turkey hunting in the rain, it's just a little harder. When turkey hunting in the rain, be sure to check which of your calls you can use in the rain. A diaphragm mouth call works best.


• Gobbling is used to bring the hens in. When your turkey hunting you're trying to do the exact opposite. You want to bring the Tom to you, so be sure to practice calling to get them all fired up!


• Most importantly, Patience.

While growing up, I dreamt of hunting a variety of animals. Living in Wisconsin I had the opportunity to hunt whitetail deer, black bear, turkeys plus trap beavers and muskrats. I have also been fortunate to hunt out west the last 5 years for elk. However, like any person, you always have a wish list. Here are my top 5 animals I would like to hunt in my lifetime.

1. Bighorn Sheep in the Western Rockies

2. White Billygoat in the Western Rockies

3. Moose in Alaska or Canada

4. Grizzly Bear in Alaska or Canada

5. Alaskan Brown Bear

As you'll notice, there are no animals from Africa in my top 5. It's not that I would not love to hunt for Kudu, Impala or Cape Buffalo, it's just my personal preference on my top 5. If I had this as a top 10 list, you’d see African animals included.

Please share your top 5 wish list!

Product Name: Triple Shock Turkey Locator Call
Manufacturer: Primos
Retail Price: $16.99
Overall Rating: 7 out of 10

The Primos Triple Shock turkey call is one of the Locator calls meaning it will not call the bird into you, but will give you the location of the turkeys. Once you have located the turkeys with a Locator call, you can then reel them in with your favorite hen call whether it be a box, diaphragm or slate model.

The Primos Tripe Shock turkey call can imitate a Peacock, Pileated Woodpecker and Coyote. This locator call is a high frequency turkey call; therefore its purpose is to get the turkeys to call back based on dominance. Overall, this call has been a nice addition to my turkey call collection.

Some hunters have had problems with the Triple Shock in getting the turkeys to respond to it. I have been successful with the Peacock and Coyote imitation. The birds have never really responded well to the Pileated Woodpecker imitation though. Please keep in mind, a lot of the time; the success of a call depends on how close you are to the turkeys.

This call works best in the afternoon, when you need to spark the birds into gobbling back. Usually the birds are active in the morning hours; therefore you usually don't need to use a locator call to find them.

Making our own venison sausage has been a family tradition for many years. It requires a lot of work, but the time spent together during the process is well worth it. The process of making our own venison sausage is a tradition that has been passed down through the generations. This weekend a friend and myself made 200 pounds of venison sausage. It was fun to see his 5 year old getting his hands dirty and helping. We do all the preparation steps ourselves and then take the cased sausage to a local smoker. Others smoke their own sausage. We are actually in the process ourselves of building our own smoke house.

The recipe we use calls for 1/3 pork and 2/3 venison. Pork meat is added to the venison for moisture. Venison is very lean, so it becomes extremely dry after smoking. We purchase the seasonings required for the amount of meat being made from a local meat processor. Our family's farm has the meat grinder and casing stuffer that we use. We make our own summer sausage and boil up rings, however you can make your own hot dogs, brats, etc with the right seasoning combinations and tools.

Below are the basic steps in making your own venison sausage.

Preparing your own sausage or completed the whole process yourself can save you a decent amount of money. The sausage we made this weekend came out to costing us $1.80/pound. The summer sausage works great for lunchmeat and boil up rings make great dinners. So for $1.80/pound we feel we did pretty good. Overall, like mentioned above, making your own venison sausage is not just a money saver, the tradition of making it together with friends and family is where the true treasure lies.

I finally saved up enough preference points to get myself a Wisconsin Black bear license this year, so now the planning has begun. The tag that I drew is for south of Hwy 64; therefore the use of dogs is prohibited. Black bear hunting in Wisconsin involves a great deal of planning and preparation. So lets go through the main steps involved.

The first thing you have to decide is where you are going to bait. I try to find three places to bait and then if one isn't getting hit often, I'll only bait the other two. My family's land is well populated with bear; therefore choosing spots hasn't necessarily been a hard task. But if you have not bear hunted before, one good spot would be land near a large swamp. This year I had more difficulty finding spots to bait bear because there were quite a few hunters in the area who also drew tags. The three spots I plan on baiting this year are all within a 20-mile radius.

The next thing you have to start getting prepared for with a black bear hunt is finding bait. One place to get bear bait is through a local bread distributor or bakery. Be sure to also look through your local newspaper. Some people sell gummy worms or candy hearts by the barrel, which can also be used for bait. The other greatest resource for finding bait is talking to other bear hunters. However please use extreme caution: In Wisconsin, the use of any animal byproducts within your bait is illegal. So you cannot use dog food, honey, fish grease or most importantly raw meat in Wisconsin as bear bait. Be sure you know what type of bear bait you are purchasing. It costs a lot less to be careful in the first steps then getting a fine and loosing your license.

In the spring, once the bears are out of hibernation, the baiting begins. Baits should be checked once a week in the first couple months. Then when it is gets closer to your actual season (so two to three weeks before your season), baiting should be done daily or every other day to learn the pattern and time of the day that the bear is hitting your bait. I usually set up a game camera so I can see exactly what time of day the bear is hitting and the size of the animal. I have two bears already that were 150 pounds, so this year if possible I want to try and get a bear over 250 pounds. We'll see how that goes this fall.

So as you can see, Black bear hunting in Wisconsin takes a lot of sweat and dedication before you actually are ready to hunt. But in the end, all the work is worth it when you celebrate the harvest.

I just got my elk mount back last weekend, so I wanted to share pictures with my readers. This is the same elk in the picture on every page of the blog in the left corner. I shot this elk in Idaho in the fall of 2005. You forget just how big these animals are until you try to get just the head in your home. When we built our house, that peak was designated for an elk with solid wood behind it. Luckily, I was successful in getting a nice elk within a year of building the home so the wall wasn't bare for long.

Product Name: The Truth 10 - Big Bulls
Manufacturer: Primos
Retail Price: $14.99
Overall Rating: 8 out of 10

The Primos Truth 10 - Big Bulls is a great elk hunting video, just like all of the other Primos Truth Big Bulls videos. I personally own the entire series. This video series just seems to keep building on each other. You learn more and more with each one.

In the Truth 10, the Primos teams hunts in New Mexico, Arizona, Montana and Colorado. I did notice that in this video, more so than any of the others in the Truth series, the team hunted more private versus public land. They hunted elk with the rifle, bow and muzzleloader. The video also demonstrated how the elk are returning to a plains animal once again.

The Primos Truth Series as a whole really shows a hunter how to properly perform the calls. They teach you how to not only use the calls, but how to get different sounds out of them. Plus the videos always give you a heads up on the new upcoming products Primos will be offering. In the Truth 10, the Primos team is using their new Bugle system, which hasn't even been named yet.

I especially enjoy how the hunting team at Primos appears to have the same love of the outdoors and the animals as I do. They show how it is not always about getting the kill, but enjoying the beauty of the land and the magnificence of the animals. In all 10 of the videos, this is the first one that Will Primos has not taken a bull as far as I can remember. He had a couple close encounters, but did not take a shot.

I personally feel these videos have assisted me greatly in my success elk hunting, especially being from Wisconsin and only have 2 weeks a year out west. I highly recommend the Primos Truth 10 - Big Bulls and the entire series to anyone considering an elk hunt!

Product Name: Terminator Bugle System
Manufacturer: Primos
Retail Price: $48.99
Overall Rating: 10 out of 10

The Primos Terminator Bugle system is one of the best elk calls you can find. The design of this bugle system allows you to easily duplicate elk sounds, especially when used with diaphragm and plate calls. The system originally comes with 2 blue silicone reeds, which work fine with making real-like elk bugles. To make chuckling sounds, you can use the bugle with mouth plates.

The Bugle comes in Mossy Oak camouflage along with an instructional audio cassette that walks you through using the call in a variety of situations. With a decent amount of practice you can rule the elk by making bugle and chuckles with the use of diaphragms along with your Terminator Bugle System.

One reason I love this bugle system is because the Terminator allows you to make a large assortment of sounds. Try to give yourself a unique sound. Every bull has a different bugle, so if you sound the same as everyone else, the bull is going to realize something is up. If you are calling and not receiving any response, simply change up your bugle slightly and you may get results.

The elk that I shot that is pictured on every page of this blog, was called in using the Terminator Bugle with the blue silicone reeds in combination with the Hyper LIP Single cow call thus explaining my great satisfaction with this call.

So before your next elk hunting trip, be sure to go get yourself a Primos Terminator Bugle System!!!

Trapping provides many more benefits than simply the thrill of the catch. Sure, it is great to go and check your traps and find a beaver, muskrat or whatever type of animal you are trying to trap, however there are other advantages to keep in mind when your traps are coming up empty.

First off is simply enjoying the outdoor atmosphere. Getting out in the woods itself provides not only a time to relax and unwind but also a time to enjoy the surroundings. While walking to your traps, take notice of other wildlife like turkeys, partridges and other birds. For example, I trap in northern Wisconsin and until this season did not realize how far north the turkey population has traveled. I also never realized how many partridges there really are in that area.

Secondly, if you trap where you also deer hunt you can also do a great deal of scouting while running your trap lines. When hiking to your traps, watch for signs of deer and wildlife. With snow you can easily see major runways for deer, that way come fall when deer season begins you already have a head start on locating an ideal place to put your stand. Along these runaways be sure to also keep an eye out for antler sheds to provide insight on what to expect with next years bucks.

If you are also a fisherman, you may find streams or lakes that you may not have been aware of. By trapping these bodies of water you become more familiar with the lake / stream thus giving you a new opportunity for the upcoming fishing season.

Lastly, the obvious yet most overlooked benefit to running your own trap lines lies in your health. Many times trapping requires you to hike longer distances thus helping your heart and body stay in shape. Plus, as my mother always told me, fresh air does a body good.

So, the next time you are out checking your traps and they are coming up empty, keep in mind it's not such a bad day after all.

This year in Wisconsin has proved a point in the importance to watch you surroundings. Wisconsin has not gotten real cold this winter; therefore many ponds still have open water or thin ice. My friend and myself trap for beaver in northern Wisconsin. There were many beaver huts, however we do not have a canoe so when trapping in the winter we count on ice. Many of the beaver huts were in ponds that had not yet froze over or had too thin of ice.

Trappers need to be careful when trapping on ponds iced over. Be sure to check how thick the ice actually is. We always check and set traps together therefore if something would happen, the other can help rescue. If trapping alone, please be cautious and prepared for the worse. Last weekend, we carried a life preserver on a rope along with us, that way if there was a spring or for some reason one of us fell through the ice, the other could throw the preserver out and pull the other to safety.

When trapping with a partner, which is a very good idea when working on the ice, be sure to keep your distance from one another. Walking and staying 10 to 20 feet away from each distributes the weight over the ice. If both of you fall in together, the concept of the other being there to save you does not work!!

When trapping beaver, you must be very careful close to the hut and feed pile. These areas are extremely dangerous due to a large amount of activity going on underneath the ice. Beavers are continuously moving in and out of the huts to the feed piles, thus always creating movement in the water preventing solid ice from forming with mild temperatures. This year so far, we found that a majority of the time, the area around huts and feed piles were open water.

Below are a few ice safety tips:
* Don't go out on the ice alone or without letting someone know where you are going
* Wear or keep within reach a flotation device
* Have spare clothing in your vehicle
* Carry a chisel or spike to assist pulling yourself out of the water in case of a fall in
* Know the ponds, lakes you are on – Currents, inlets and outlets

If you are unsure of the ice, don't risk it. Go to another location or wait a few weeks for more ice to form. Falling through the ice for an animal is not worth it.