Good Friday morning
Halloween’s next week, and if you hunt, you know what that means. The best stretch of the whole year is right on top of us.
This week I’ve got where the big ones are moving, two tricks from a man who’s chased musky for 25 years, and a carry reminder worth hearing.
Let’s go.
— Dwayne
THE RUT REPORT
Get off the corn pile
Where the big bucks are right now, and how to hunt them
Two things this week, and the first one’s the most important thing I’ll tell you all season.
Get off the corn piles and get on the scrape lines.
We’re coming up on Halloween, there’s a full moon coming, and the big boys — the mature bucks a trophy hunter waits all year for — are starting to move. The scrapes are going hot. I’ll be straight with you: I put corn out too, just to see what’s in the area, and I could’ve killed a couple real nice eight-points already. But that’s not what I’m after. I’m after that five-, six-year-old monster. And that deer isn’t standing on a corn pile in daylight.
He’s working scrapes.
So here’s exactly what I’d do. Go find a big active scrape. Find your tree near it. Get up in there — and this is the part people won’t do — don’t hang a camera on it, don’t put anything out, don’t tip him off that a human’s been there. Just slip in by surprise and hunt it. On a mature buck, surprise is the whole game.
Second thing: scent. I know, I harp on it. But if you hunt mountains like we do in West Virginia, the wind swirls constantly and you cannot beat a deer’s nose with a bottle. So here’s my routine this year, and I’ve had deer directly under my stand with no clue I was there. Wash your hunting clothes in baking soda, then store them in a tub of dirt and leaves, shaken up, and leave them there. Then for myself — I wash with a scent-free soap. Not the hunting-store stuff. It’s some organic hippie soap my wife buys, hemp soap I think, no scent at all. I bathe in it, skip the deodorant, and I’m telling you, they can’t smell me. I’ve been closer to deer this year than ever in my life. I don’t smell great walking back in the house, but that’s what a regular shower’s for.
And the most important thing of all. Wait on the good shot.
Don’t take the wild one. My buddy runs a deer-tracking service and he stays busy all season, and it’s almost always a rushed, bad shot that put him to work. Wait for the one you know is right. Because you will feel like the lowest kind of person if you take a bad shot and wound a great animal. Be patient, and do it clean.
I’ve got a house full of big bucks on the wall. I kind of know what I’m talking about on this one.
ON THE WATER
A clinic from a 25-year musky man
Two tricks from a guy who does nothing but musky
I’ll be honest with you — I’m no musky expert. I’ve caught two. So instead of pretending, I did the smart thing. I went fishing with a man who is one.
Mike Wolfful runs a Facebook page called West Virginia Musky, and he’s done nothing but chase musky for 25 years. Calls himself a one-trick pony, and he’s proud of it, because he’s flat-out mastered the one trick. Makes his own baits, hunts these fish all over West Virginia, Virginia, and who knows where else. I went out with him the other day and he put on a clinic.
Here’s what that means if you don’t know musky. On a good day, you’re lucky to even see one follow your bait in. The day I was with Mike, he caught two, lost two, and had another follow. That’s a phenomenal day on musky water.
Two things he taught me that’ll help you.
First, keep your hooks wicked sharp. He carries a file right in the boat and I watched him run three little strokes down each point to keep a chisel edge on it. Reason is, a musky’s mouth is all bone and cartilage — there’s almost nothing soft in there for a hook to bite. A dull hook just bounces off. Sharp hooks put fish in the net.
Second, the figure eight. When you work that bait up to the boat, don’t just lift it out. Keep it in the water and move it in a big figure eight, a wide circle, right at the side of the boat. If a musky followed it in, that’s often what triggers the strike. A ton of musky get caught right at the boat on the figure eight. I watched it happen with my own eyes, and he made me a believer.
So keep ’em sharp and finish with the eight. Take it from a man who’s earned the right to say it.
CARRY REPORT
Carry always, and be ready
The simple truth about being prepared
Let me keep this week’s carry simple, because the simple stuff is what keeps you alive.
You don’t need a safe full of guns to protect your family. You need a few good ones and the skill to run them. A pistol you shoot well. A shotgun for the house. And enough ammunition that you’re never caught short. That’s it. More important than how many guns you own is whether you’re actually proficient with the ones you’ve got, so practice with them.
And here’s the one I’ll leave you with, because people get this wrong all the time. If you only carry sometimes, you might as well not carry at all. The day something happens is never the day you planned for. Carry always, or don’t bother.
I pray none of us ever needs any of it. But I’d rather be ready and never need it than need it and not be ready. If you’re on this newsletter, I suspect you feel the same.
Be safe out there, and go vote.
BOOTS ON THE GROUND
This week we honor U.S. Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Adam Lee Brown, 36, of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Chief Brown was killed on March 17, 2010, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, in a battle against heavily armed fighters. His story is one of the great ones — a man who fought his way back from more than most people could survive, became one of the finest operators this country ever produced, and gave his life leading from the front so the men beside him could live.
He left behind his wife, Kelley, their two children, Nathan and Savannah, and his parents.
If you don’t know his story, look him up. Then hug your kids a little tighter tonight.
Chief Brown — we see you. We will never forget you.
THE LAST LAUGH
My wife asked why I spend so much on hunting gear every fall.
I told her it’s cheaper than therapy.
She said, “You sit alone in a tree in the freezing cold for twelve hours talking to yourself.”
I said, “And it’s working.”
Wear the brand
Full Rut hats and shirts — $25 at fullrutnation.com
NEXT WEEK
The rut’s about to pop. I’ll tell you what I’m seeing as it breaks loose.
Hunting the scrapes this week? Hit reply and tell me what you’re seeing. I read every one.
See you Friday.
— Dwayne