Barefoot Hunting

I was honored when Heidi Fiscus, writer of Barefoot & Paleo, approached me after seeing a post on the Society for Barefoot Living's Facebook page, asking me to talk about why I hunt barefoot.  

Here is Heidi's write-up as featured on her blog: http://www.barefootandpaleo.com/2014/09/barefoot-hunting-with-skye-goode.html 

The Shortest Hunt of My Life

This story will not be like my previous, longwinded anecdotes that encompass countless hours in the stand and details that boggle the brain.  This is not the story of the Pope & Young monster that I worked my butt off all season to shoot.  This is the story of my 1 hour deer hunt that opened and closed my 2014 bow season in a matter of minutes. 

            Over the weekend, I headed out on the back of the Harley for the last and coldest ride of the season up to Tomahawk, WI to enjoy “Mini Sturgis”, while the rest of the state was taking to a tree stand for the Wisconsin bow opener.  On Sunday, after driving back 4 hours and returning home at 3pm, I thought I would sneak out to the stand for a couple hours, since I would not get to hunt again until the following weekend.  I was full of makeup, hairspray, perfume, and motorcycle exhaust.  I didn’t get a chance to shower, and hadn’t really showered in days.  I grabbed my Mossy Oak camo from my Watson Airlock bag that I washed the year before, and shot 3 field points into my target for my first three shots of the year; my sight hadn’t shifted from the previous season so I was good to go.

            I was dropped off at the woods at 4:02 so I wouldn’t leave a vehicle behind because the deer sometimes come from across the dirt road.  Walking into my stand, I kicked up 3 flags.  I climbed up my treestand and realized that I forgot a bow hanger and my video camera.  The mosquitoes were AWFUL.  I usually hunt barefoot but was forced to put some green socks on because the mosquitoes were eating me alive.  Nearly 15 minutes later, a doe with a buck fawn came into my food plot; I assumed these were some of the flags I jumped just minutes before.  I was eager to harvest a doe, but this one had gotten pregnant as a yearling and given birth to a buck fawn this spring, so I knew she was good breeding stock to keep in the herd, plus I could never live with myself if I killed a doe with her baby as witness.

            As I watched these two graze among the clover, I noticed they both perked up to something behind me.  As they meandered off, I saw a deer coming in quick over my left shoulder.  I saw it was an 8 pointer, young, seemingly a 2 year old. 

I took a few pictures on my phone, thinking, “I’ll post this to Facebook, bragging how I pass up this ‘good buck’”.  But then I quickly realized, What!? This is a nice deer, a great shot opportunity (broadside at 15 yards), and the fact that I drew a fisher tag for this fall season was the most important thing in the world to me right now.  If I pass this buck, I’ll really regret it in November when I’m struggling to find any deer that would qualify as a buck.  To me, an unfilled tag is the ultimate defeat. 

At 5:06, after giving it a split-second thought, I drew back on this deer.  I shoot a 1997 Vector III PSE Nova youth model, AKA: The Noisiest Bow Ever Made.  The buck jumped back from 15 yards broadside to 30 yards straight on.  I’m a confident shooter so I took the shot to the center of the chest.  The arrow hit slightly to the left, entering his chest and exiting under the right shoulder.  The buck took off, ran 30 yards, and I heard him topple over.  I let him sit an hour to be sure since he was out of my eyesight, then got down from the tree.  I started to track him and found blood sprayed all over the leaves and high on the trees, confirming the shot placement.  I only took a few steps when I was able to see him laying over yonder. 

One hour and 4 minutes.  My 2014 archery season consisted of one hour and 4 minutes.  I’m aware that I still have doe tags to be filled, and gun season will be upon me quickly, but it’s still bittersweet that I won’t be in the stand with my bow during the rut, covered in doe pee, making mocking scrapes, and calling my best series on the grunter. 

Most of you reading this post are thinking, “I would have let him grow another year”.  Good for you.  I, however, have a lot of life changes on my plate, limiting the number of days that I have in the stand this year, so I vowed that the first 8 or better I saw this year was getting a shot.  Next year, I definitely won’t be taking a buck in the early season unless it’s a booner or in velvet because I’m already SO incredibly bored.  Luckily, I have a several turkey tags and some doe tags left in my pocket!  On a brighter note, as I mentioned before, I did draw a fisher tag, so come October I’ll be putting all my time, money, and effort into making sure that tag does not go unfilled.

Understanding Scrapes

            When bowhunting the fall, it is important to be observant about deer sign in the woods and what it means.  A scrape, in short, is a buck’s way of establishing his breeding territory. Somewhere around 85% of scrapes are made by mature bucks (3.5+). Every scrape has a few main characteristics: overhanging branch, moist soil, and are made in high-traffic areas (intersection of trails, edge of cornfield, etc.)  Most scrapes are made at night when patterns are mainly nocturnal.  Initially, the buck will urinate on the scrape, but not directly; rather he will mix it with his tarsal glands on the inside of his knees and let it trickle down, creating a strong odor.

Notice the fresh hoof prints in the middle of the scrape, as well as the overhanging lick branch.

When a buck makes a scrape, he is basically making a "checkpoint" for any doe in the area that is ready to be bred to come by and put her scent there. When she does, she'll put her hoof print in the center of the scrape, both marking her track and also releasing scent from glands in between the split of her hoof. The doe will also urinate in the middle of the scrape to leave her estrus for the buck to pick up on.

            If you ever come across a scrape that looks wet, like a doe might have just been there, there’s a good chance that the buck will be bedded close by downwind, so find a spot within the traveled area and get ready, because a buck will be by shortly. Also don’t linger in the area too long or make much noise, because the doe that just freshened the scrape will be bedded close by also, waiting her turn to get bred.  

Once checked, the buck will scrape the area again to make a fresh canvas so he can keep track of active does.  During the peak of the rut, bucks check their scrapes 5-6 times a day hoping to catch that doe as she marks it. This is the time that hunters sometimes take bucks at noon or 3 in the afternoon.  

Very fresh scrape on Sept. 22.

The buck also chews, rubs, and breaks the branch that hangs over the scrape so he can add his saliva to it.  He has scent glands in his cheeks and the corners of his eyes that help mark his territory.  This tells other bucks that come along and check out his scrape that those are HIS does and they need to move on. When a new buck doesn’t move on, that’s when fighting and sparring occurs.  Hunting a scrape line is a great time to use grunt calls and rattling horns for this very reason.

            Though rain is not a bowhunter’s friend for tracking, rain can be a good thing when it comes to hunting over a scrape line.  Bucks know that after a rain, they need to go freshen their scrapes so as to mark their territory again before another buck moves in, or before the does lose interest and leave the area.  It is a good rule of thumb to hunt over a scrape line during a rain and wait it out because a buck will be by within a couple hours afterwards.

            Whether hunting over your own mock scrapes or a natural scrape line created by a buck, one of the keys is keeping the scent constant and heavy.  Using a combination of doe estrus, buck urine, and tarsal gland scent will keep the does frequenting the scrape line as well as cause the bucks to stick around to defend their territory.  

Freshening the scrape line leading up to my bow stand.