Sorry for the trouble
The page you are looking for is www.frazierdeercamp.weebly.com or you can just click FrazierDeerCamp here. The site is about hunting public land and has tons of information on whitetail deer hunting. Frazier deer camp will eventually be imported to hillbilly huntin but until then please keep visiting Frazier Deer Camp. Everything on here is set up threw the other site so the links in the page will not take you to your desired spot everything on the other site still works so if you want smooth reading and navigation please go to the Frazier site thank you
I have started this so that my friends, family, and other hunters have a place they can come to and talk about what they have seen in the woods or what they are looking forward to. With everyone’s busy schedule it’s hard to get together and talk about our plans this year. I hope this gets some use and we will be able to keep it going. Best of luck this year and god bless.
Our camp is in southern Missouri and on public land some years we have had great successes other years we haven’t. We have had great weather and we have had bad weather. Our deer camp has seen everything from wildfires to tornados every year is a new adventure and another story. I can't wait to see what this year has in store and the new stories we will have. |
First off this is my first site to try and make so I’m going to try and do the best I can. So on that note I am going to try and add a blog for everyone to write on and a place to upload pictures. I am not going to put a map of where we hunt. Any other suggestions I would love to hear them.
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Prayer: Dear Lord Please Bless , Guide & Protect Our Troops For The Selfless Acts They Perform For Our Great Country !!! AMEN. If you can't stand behind them!!! Then feel free to stand in Front of Them!!! |
Hunting public land
Hunting public land here in Missouri is a bit of a trick. sure you can drive the roads find the saddle park the truck and sit close enough to the road you can see the deer cross and bam you might get one. I’m here to tell you a few tricks I have learned hunting public land since I was thirteen years old.
First off get a Topo map of the land and study it look for the saddles that are off the road or the long ridges that drop down to big bottoms. With your Topo map highlight the property line then go back and highlight the high pressure areas. On opening day the pressure is going to get those deer moving. Think like a deer where are you going to go? You’re going to head somewhere you feel is safe. Those areas that are so think that you think a deer couldn’t get into. Where there is food and water close.
Second go out early enjoy the sun coming up and drive the roads slow watch for deer crossing the road and highlight those areas on the Topo map. After about 9am the footwork starts walk out those long ridges and look for bedding areas, trails, droppings, and maybe some early rubs don’t worry about the size of the rubs and find the does. I was told something by my dad when I first started hunting he said “now Doug you have to think like a high school boy when you’re trying to get a buck. What do you think of most?” I thought about it and didn’t know what to say. He said “all you’re thinking about is girls and food and showing every other boy you’re bigger and stronger then he is.” It got me thinking the bucks have a pattern until the rut kicks in then they are unpredictable. So how do you get a buck when the pattern disappears? You have to hunt the does and the areas that you know they pass through. The further off the road you get the less likely it is your hunt will be disturbed by other hunters. I have found out that fellow hunters are a lot of help to talk to. Talks to them see what they have to say. Keep a journal each season with the weather when and where you’re seeing deer cross all that.
Take a bottle of water and a snack to eat and stay in you spot make it an all-day hunt. When other hunters are getting out of there stands and heading back to camp they can get those deer moving again and could push them your way. I normally pick a morning and afternoon spot to hunt. I will sit in one spot I know the deer move threw in the morning and between 830 and 9 am I get up if I haven’t seen what I wanted to and I will slip through the woods moving slowly listening and watching everything. I try and follow a rub line or good trial deeper into the woods and down the ridge. I try and find a spot that has multiple shooting lanes and openings so that I can see the deer further away. When the other hunters start moving back into the bottoms the deer will start moving again and be pushed out and hopefully towards you.
If you have to use the bathroom I know you have all heard don’t go where you hunt! I have my own opinion on that and that is this yes don’t go right where your hunting slowly move away from your ground blind or tree stand to an area that you can see from your spot. When you’re done doing your business slowly move back to your hunting spot and sit there again. Deer are naturally curies and will check it out to see what it is. I have seen big mature bucks standing fifty yards from the road over a trash pile that smelled so bad I could smell it from the road. I keep a chew in when I am hunting maybe it scares them off maybe it has no effect and maybe it brings them in I really don’t know. I have heard old timers say they put out fruity flavored gum that they had been chewing on a tree limb and had deer walk up and put their nose right to it. Same goes for chewing tobacco.
I do use scents I normally put out doe in heat and make a circle around me all within eye sight of where I am hunting. There are many scents out there and the scent sticks get pretty pricy you can take small cans that won’t leak like film canisters or energy shots containers with a screw on lid. You need to super glue a piece of cloth to the lid. Then take a paper clip and bend it so it makes a Lupe and one leg bend it flat and glue it to the top of the lid make an upside down J out of the other leg so you can hang it on a limb. Make sure to attach a string to the bottle and the lid so they don’t separate when you hang it. Fill the bottle with the scent of your choice shake it up and there you go. You don’t have to fill the bottle completely full just about a quarter of an inch will do.
When you start calling do it about every five to ten minutes alternate between different grunts and the rattle throw in a doe bleat as well. If there is a deer out of hearing range and you can’t see him chances are you’re going to miss your chance if you’re not calling enough. Don’t call constantly take a break so if one did hear you you give him a chance to come investigate. During the rut those bucks will come in hot if there hear those grunts, rattles and doe bleats so be prepared. They might come in suspicious and trying to see the deer making the noise. Make your movement’s slow and methodical move as little as you can. If you hear something slowly turn your head to the point you think you should be able to pin point the noise and just look. I had a nice buck walking up on me from the left one year and there had been squirrels there all morning I turned quick to look and that buck was ten yards away looking right at me and when I turned quick he took off and I didn’t get a shot . So be slow with your movements.
Sometimes you can tell a big bucks trail apart from the other trails if there are lots of heavy trails and you know there is a big buck in the area that walks the trails find the one that you can walk standing tall and limbs aren’t hitting you in the face and chest. In general deer are lazy and will walk the path of least resistance. A big buck will walk the trail that has the fewest number of limbs knocking his antlers. I have sat in a ground blind and heard a buck walking through the woods I heard his antlers knocking tree limbs so they will walk that path but from what I have seen they try not to.
Now when it comes to rubs I have seen them too big to wrap my hands around and I have seen them as small around as a pencil. I have been on ridges where it’s covered with rubs and you can’t find the distinct rub line. I have been on ridges that the rubs are one hundred yards apart and you can see them in a distinct line. I have stood and stared at bushes or small trees grouped together that have been completely destroyed. Up until a few years ago my thought was small buck’s rub small trees big bucks rub big trees and young bucks rub everything. A few years ago my dad had already shot his buck and was trying to fill a doe tag. He was in an area that we thought there were a young buck and a lot of does. We were wrong on the young buck part. He had a buck walk past him that his antlers were about a foot tall chocolate brown and almost touching at the top. The buck couldn’t rub big trees all the little rubs we had been seeing were from him the monster that had been ignored. I have walked rub lines that every tree rubbed was the size of a half dollar and when I followed it down the ridge they turned into rubs five inches in diameter. Then I shot the buck that was walking the rub line a very nice buck he was. If you know you have more than one buck in the area he will try and rub a certain type of tree normally bucks have different preferences on the trees they rub. So look for multiple rub and decide if it’s the same buck or multiple bucks. Same goes for if you’re walking a rub line and find that there is another rub line intersecting the one you’re walking compare the trees to see if it’s the same buck or another one and this is where there paths cross. It could be the same buck so check the area for scrapes beds and droppings. You want to find out if he is staying around that area or just a normal pass through.
Fields on public land are great for beginning hunters there will probably be rubs and scrapes along the edge and the deer will feed or pass through the field. There will be a problem with the pressure on the field there easy to hunt so lots of hunters will try and hunt there they are pretty popular. If you want to stay close to the field but want to move away from the pressure find a ridge heavy trails leading to the field and walk out it looking for all the signs that the deer are moving threw that area. If you feel like walking but don’t trust yourself and are worried you might get loosed or turned around slowly walk the field edge stop at the trees that you can stand at and not be slowwitted. Stay there fifteen or twenty minutes and move on very slowly watching the edge line in front of you and the woods along with the field. If you’re not much into sitting in one spot for hours and you like to walk and stalk find a rub line or heavy trail to walk. When you’re walking move slow and make as little noise as you can stop frequently and let the woods calm down and come back to normal. Before you move look around listen and look around again before you move. Make sure to practice shooting a moving target if you’re not confident in your shooting at a moving target don’t take the shot a heart and lung shot deer can still run for hundreds of yards. So if you make a bad shot you may never find your deer and if you do you might have to track and drag it for hours. It’s best to not take the shot and enjoy the gift of nature. Then to wound the deer and make it suffer. You always want a good clean shot is what it comes down to. Every season make sure to take a few shots at the target to make sure your rifle is still sighted in.
Time and time again I have been sitting in camp with one deer hanging or because of weather whatever the reason and had a deer walk through camp and had a shot at and have shot deer from my camp. I have also been standing going to the bathroom and seen deer. What I’m saying is always keep your weapon close enough and ready to go so when you see a deer you have a choice to shoot or not. So then you’re not telling people I saw a deer but my rifle was in the truck. Keep your weapon with you at all times during legal shooting hours.
If you find the place you want to hunt deep in the woods mark your path in to your stand. Your way in needs to be marked with something only you and your hunting party know is the marker. When you get in and away from the road you can use your trail markers and flag tape. You don’t want to put in all the footwork and scouting and someone else follows your makers off the road and takes your spot. Let your hunting party know your plan if it’s to stay out all day or the time you think you will be back so they know when to expect you in camp. If you shoot a deer and have to come back to camp for rope or a deer sled something like that leave a note and make sure you know where you deer is mark it well and the way to get to it. In my camp if someone shoots a deer we leave the bullet casing on something of ours on the table the rest of the party knows someone has shot a deer and who. We all know where each other hunt and can come help if they are free.
I have been camping during deer season during tornados, wild fires, nonstop rain, super high winds, thunder storms, freezing temperatures, with sleet, and when the temperature was incredibly high. Every season has their challenge that’s why you need your journal you can look back to it and say this worked last time it was like this. You will see patterns that other hunters don’t see on your Topo map where you were hunting where you shot the deer and the direction it came from. This will help you in seasons to come. Hunting public land is a challenge in its self-it’s not just your hunting party out there so make sure you have your orange and it’s on so other hunters can see you. Make sure to do your homework with the Tope maps and scouting make sure to try and make it out three or four times to scout before season. If you don’t know the areas don’t get too far off the road without a map and GPS.
Try and bring a new person into hunting show them what you’re looking for and explain to them why. Teach them to shoot let them experience the outdoors and why we love it. I’m no expert I don’t have my own TV show and I don’t get to hunt every day of deer season. I hunt on public land and I don’t get a deer every year. For me hunting is a tradition and a bonding time to enjoy the gifts of nature that god has given us. It gives me Time to spend with friends and family, pass on what I have learned, and tell stories around the fire. We hunt the same public land my grandpa hunted and passed away on the day before opening day many years ago from carbon monoxide poisoning in a camper. It’s bonding and carrying on the tradition it a way to remember my grandpa and what he loved. My daughter is one year old when she gets older I will bring her with me on my trips to the wood. I see deer almost every year sometimes I don’t shoot but at least I had the choice and the chance. Even when I don’t see a deer its still time I’m enjoying away from work, the city, with my dad and friends. Take what you will from the tips I have given you. Public land is out there you just have to put your work in to find it. Enjoy the time you have in the outdoors you never know when your last chance will be. Think like a deer act like a deer and good luck.
First off get a Topo map of the land and study it look for the saddles that are off the road or the long ridges that drop down to big bottoms. With your Topo map highlight the property line then go back and highlight the high pressure areas. On opening day the pressure is going to get those deer moving. Think like a deer where are you going to go? You’re going to head somewhere you feel is safe. Those areas that are so think that you think a deer couldn’t get into. Where there is food and water close.
Second go out early enjoy the sun coming up and drive the roads slow watch for deer crossing the road and highlight those areas on the Topo map. After about 9am the footwork starts walk out those long ridges and look for bedding areas, trails, droppings, and maybe some early rubs don’t worry about the size of the rubs and find the does. I was told something by my dad when I first started hunting he said “now Doug you have to think like a high school boy when you’re trying to get a buck. What do you think of most?” I thought about it and didn’t know what to say. He said “all you’re thinking about is girls and food and showing every other boy you’re bigger and stronger then he is.” It got me thinking the bucks have a pattern until the rut kicks in then they are unpredictable. So how do you get a buck when the pattern disappears? You have to hunt the does and the areas that you know they pass through. The further off the road you get the less likely it is your hunt will be disturbed by other hunters. I have found out that fellow hunters are a lot of help to talk to. Talks to them see what they have to say. Keep a journal each season with the weather when and where you’re seeing deer cross all that.
Take a bottle of water and a snack to eat and stay in you spot make it an all-day hunt. When other hunters are getting out of there stands and heading back to camp they can get those deer moving again and could push them your way. I normally pick a morning and afternoon spot to hunt. I will sit in one spot I know the deer move threw in the morning and between 830 and 9 am I get up if I haven’t seen what I wanted to and I will slip through the woods moving slowly listening and watching everything. I try and follow a rub line or good trial deeper into the woods and down the ridge. I try and find a spot that has multiple shooting lanes and openings so that I can see the deer further away. When the other hunters start moving back into the bottoms the deer will start moving again and be pushed out and hopefully towards you.
If you have to use the bathroom I know you have all heard don’t go where you hunt! I have my own opinion on that and that is this yes don’t go right where your hunting slowly move away from your ground blind or tree stand to an area that you can see from your spot. When you’re done doing your business slowly move back to your hunting spot and sit there again. Deer are naturally curies and will check it out to see what it is. I have seen big mature bucks standing fifty yards from the road over a trash pile that smelled so bad I could smell it from the road. I keep a chew in when I am hunting maybe it scares them off maybe it has no effect and maybe it brings them in I really don’t know. I have heard old timers say they put out fruity flavored gum that they had been chewing on a tree limb and had deer walk up and put their nose right to it. Same goes for chewing tobacco.
I do use scents I normally put out doe in heat and make a circle around me all within eye sight of where I am hunting. There are many scents out there and the scent sticks get pretty pricy you can take small cans that won’t leak like film canisters or energy shots containers with a screw on lid. You need to super glue a piece of cloth to the lid. Then take a paper clip and bend it so it makes a Lupe and one leg bend it flat and glue it to the top of the lid make an upside down J out of the other leg so you can hang it on a limb. Make sure to attach a string to the bottle and the lid so they don’t separate when you hang it. Fill the bottle with the scent of your choice shake it up and there you go. You don’t have to fill the bottle completely full just about a quarter of an inch will do.
When you start calling do it about every five to ten minutes alternate between different grunts and the rattle throw in a doe bleat as well. If there is a deer out of hearing range and you can’t see him chances are you’re going to miss your chance if you’re not calling enough. Don’t call constantly take a break so if one did hear you you give him a chance to come investigate. During the rut those bucks will come in hot if there hear those grunts, rattles and doe bleats so be prepared. They might come in suspicious and trying to see the deer making the noise. Make your movement’s slow and methodical move as little as you can. If you hear something slowly turn your head to the point you think you should be able to pin point the noise and just look. I had a nice buck walking up on me from the left one year and there had been squirrels there all morning I turned quick to look and that buck was ten yards away looking right at me and when I turned quick he took off and I didn’t get a shot . So be slow with your movements.
Sometimes you can tell a big bucks trail apart from the other trails if there are lots of heavy trails and you know there is a big buck in the area that walks the trails find the one that you can walk standing tall and limbs aren’t hitting you in the face and chest. In general deer are lazy and will walk the path of least resistance. A big buck will walk the trail that has the fewest number of limbs knocking his antlers. I have sat in a ground blind and heard a buck walking through the woods I heard his antlers knocking tree limbs so they will walk that path but from what I have seen they try not to.
Now when it comes to rubs I have seen them too big to wrap my hands around and I have seen them as small around as a pencil. I have been on ridges where it’s covered with rubs and you can’t find the distinct rub line. I have been on ridges that the rubs are one hundred yards apart and you can see them in a distinct line. I have stood and stared at bushes or small trees grouped together that have been completely destroyed. Up until a few years ago my thought was small buck’s rub small trees big bucks rub big trees and young bucks rub everything. A few years ago my dad had already shot his buck and was trying to fill a doe tag. He was in an area that we thought there were a young buck and a lot of does. We were wrong on the young buck part. He had a buck walk past him that his antlers were about a foot tall chocolate brown and almost touching at the top. The buck couldn’t rub big trees all the little rubs we had been seeing were from him the monster that had been ignored. I have walked rub lines that every tree rubbed was the size of a half dollar and when I followed it down the ridge they turned into rubs five inches in diameter. Then I shot the buck that was walking the rub line a very nice buck he was. If you know you have more than one buck in the area he will try and rub a certain type of tree normally bucks have different preferences on the trees they rub. So look for multiple rub and decide if it’s the same buck or multiple bucks. Same goes for if you’re walking a rub line and find that there is another rub line intersecting the one you’re walking compare the trees to see if it’s the same buck or another one and this is where there paths cross. It could be the same buck so check the area for scrapes beds and droppings. You want to find out if he is staying around that area or just a normal pass through.
Fields on public land are great for beginning hunters there will probably be rubs and scrapes along the edge and the deer will feed or pass through the field. There will be a problem with the pressure on the field there easy to hunt so lots of hunters will try and hunt there they are pretty popular. If you want to stay close to the field but want to move away from the pressure find a ridge heavy trails leading to the field and walk out it looking for all the signs that the deer are moving threw that area. If you feel like walking but don’t trust yourself and are worried you might get loosed or turned around slowly walk the field edge stop at the trees that you can stand at and not be slowwitted. Stay there fifteen or twenty minutes and move on very slowly watching the edge line in front of you and the woods along with the field. If you’re not much into sitting in one spot for hours and you like to walk and stalk find a rub line or heavy trail to walk. When you’re walking move slow and make as little noise as you can stop frequently and let the woods calm down and come back to normal. Before you move look around listen and look around again before you move. Make sure to practice shooting a moving target if you’re not confident in your shooting at a moving target don’t take the shot a heart and lung shot deer can still run for hundreds of yards. So if you make a bad shot you may never find your deer and if you do you might have to track and drag it for hours. It’s best to not take the shot and enjoy the gift of nature. Then to wound the deer and make it suffer. You always want a good clean shot is what it comes down to. Every season make sure to take a few shots at the target to make sure your rifle is still sighted in.
Time and time again I have been sitting in camp with one deer hanging or because of weather whatever the reason and had a deer walk through camp and had a shot at and have shot deer from my camp. I have also been standing going to the bathroom and seen deer. What I’m saying is always keep your weapon close enough and ready to go so when you see a deer you have a choice to shoot or not. So then you’re not telling people I saw a deer but my rifle was in the truck. Keep your weapon with you at all times during legal shooting hours.
If you find the place you want to hunt deep in the woods mark your path in to your stand. Your way in needs to be marked with something only you and your hunting party know is the marker. When you get in and away from the road you can use your trail markers and flag tape. You don’t want to put in all the footwork and scouting and someone else follows your makers off the road and takes your spot. Let your hunting party know your plan if it’s to stay out all day or the time you think you will be back so they know when to expect you in camp. If you shoot a deer and have to come back to camp for rope or a deer sled something like that leave a note and make sure you know where you deer is mark it well and the way to get to it. In my camp if someone shoots a deer we leave the bullet casing on something of ours on the table the rest of the party knows someone has shot a deer and who. We all know where each other hunt and can come help if they are free.
I have been camping during deer season during tornados, wild fires, nonstop rain, super high winds, thunder storms, freezing temperatures, with sleet, and when the temperature was incredibly high. Every season has their challenge that’s why you need your journal you can look back to it and say this worked last time it was like this. You will see patterns that other hunters don’t see on your Topo map where you were hunting where you shot the deer and the direction it came from. This will help you in seasons to come. Hunting public land is a challenge in its self-it’s not just your hunting party out there so make sure you have your orange and it’s on so other hunters can see you. Make sure to do your homework with the Tope maps and scouting make sure to try and make it out three or four times to scout before season. If you don’t know the areas don’t get too far off the road without a map and GPS.
Try and bring a new person into hunting show them what you’re looking for and explain to them why. Teach them to shoot let them experience the outdoors and why we love it. I’m no expert I don’t have my own TV show and I don’t get to hunt every day of deer season. I hunt on public land and I don’t get a deer every year. For me hunting is a tradition and a bonding time to enjoy the gifts of nature that god has given us. It gives me Time to spend with friends and family, pass on what I have learned, and tell stories around the fire. We hunt the same public land my grandpa hunted and passed away on the day before opening day many years ago from carbon monoxide poisoning in a camper. It’s bonding and carrying on the tradition it a way to remember my grandpa and what he loved. My daughter is one year old when she gets older I will bring her with me on my trips to the wood. I see deer almost every year sometimes I don’t shoot but at least I had the choice and the chance. Even when I don’t see a deer its still time I’m enjoying away from work, the city, with my dad and friends. Take what you will from the tips I have given you. Public land is out there you just have to put your work in to find it. Enjoy the time you have in the outdoors you never know when your last chance will be. Think like a deer act like a deer and good luck.