Everyone has a worst hunt story, but I hope mine can keep you from ever going through something this bad. Learn from this bad deer hunting scenario and keep from making the same mistakes I did. Also, get your free 14-day trial of Aura, the sponsor of this episode:www.Aura.com/NHG
Deer hunting, especially in archery season is never a sure thing. Human error plays a part of everything we do and is magnified when the tolerances are tight, and the margins are slimmer. However, there are many mistakes we can avoid by just knowing better.
This terrible hunting story is not one that resulted from imperfect execution or one bad decision, it was a series bad choices that were all completely avoidable. And hopefully you will avoid them all because of this episode!
Donating a deer is important and can make a big difference in the lives of many people. But on this episode I am going to share some stories and guidelines for how to NOT donate a deer to a feeding program like Farmers and Hunters Feeding The Hungry or Hunters Sharing The Harvest.
Donating venison is an honorable thing. Foodbanks often supply people in need with canned goods, non-perishables, and carb rich foods but meat of any kind may be rarely available due to the cost. Venison is able to provide people who are food insecure with high quality lean protein. People will often wait in line or check back constantly with hopes of venison becoming available. If the meat portions they receive are lousy because the hunter was careless, we’ve hurt a person we could have helped.
Proper field care is a huge part of bringing back quality venison to donate. But simply being considerate as a human being is needed first. You must not leave a deer over night or for several days in the woods and bring it to donate. These carcasses are unfit and unsafe for human consumption and a good butcher will throw the entire thing away. You cannot bring animals that have been half eaten by coyotes. The bacteria and disease present in these situations makes the meat unsafe almost instantly.
Just because you’ve eaten questionable meat and been ok does not mean its ok. Children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems can become seriously ill by eating something that your body seems to process ok. And people who are food insecure and nutrient deprived may be at elevated risk levels. You are providing meat to people who due to their poverty may have compromised health.
The deer that we donate should be the best deer we can take out of the woods, not some scheme to get a butcher to cut off the antlers for us for free. In fact the deer we donate should be better than the venison we put on our own tables. Keep in mind someone is paying to have that deer butchered and given to food banks, soup kitchens etc. These are often individual donors, local churches, small businesses and others who pay the financial cost of deer processing, so the hunters do not need to pay money when they donate their animal.
We need to strive to provide the best possible meat for families in need. If you are going to donate a deer, donate your best, not your worst.
Listen to the whole podcast episode for so much more.
If you want to hunt ducks, you need to be able to hide. But how can you do that cheap? Are there cost effective approaches to waterfowl hunting blinds, or do you need to spend big money? On this episode I cover four strategies for hiding on the cheap.
Hiding is synonymous with waterfowl hunting. You must have cover if you want birds to voluntarily come into shooting range. And you need to have cover even more if you are trying to sneak up on the ducks.
The hunting industry has answered this fundamental need with a great many expensive contraptions such as A-Fram blinds, lay out blinds, dog blinds, and many more. Generally speaking, these options all work in the right situations. But are there cheaper ways?
Not long ago, none of these hiding options existed. They were nowhere to be found. All hunters built or improvised their own blinds, most often temporary ones, used for just one hunt. Occasionally they had the luxury of using one a couple of times. Setting up a blind was as much of part of the morning routine as putting on your waders or setting out the decoys. But today, much of this has been lost, replaced with expensive alternatives.
In this podcast episode I harken back to the days of waterfowl ingenuity, empowering hunters to hide for little or no budget at all. Some of these options are clear cut, while others are unorthodox, but each one works in the right situation. If you want cheap options for concealment while hunting waterfowl, you need to listen to this short episode.
Spoiler alert, a lot of expensive blinds you can buy save little to no time, are not less work, and do not hide you better than many of the strategies in this episode. There are times when purchased blinds are very helpful, but more often than not, they provide comparable effectiveness with increased complexity. You do not need that to get started. You can go into the woods tomorrow, and setup a good hide for cheap or free and hunt ducks.
You can save your money for other waterfowl hunting necessities like waders, call, decoys, ammo, shotguns, camo, boots, gloves, sleds, etc. Buying a blind is always something you can do later. But you do not need to do it to get started. In fact, many expert waterfowl hunters never do it all. They hunt every day of their season, year after year, following the simple strategies I detail in this podcast episode.
If you want to buy blinds, great, go for it. But you should also know these simple strategies to help you in uncommon hunting scenarios when purchased hunting blinds are not as effective or you just cannot get them to the spot you are hunting.
Archery deer hunting is growing but there are a lot of people in the woods with bows who should not be there, YET. They are missing fundamental knowledge or skills to hunt deer effectively and reliably with a vertical bow. On this episode I talk about five crucial areas that every archery hunter needs to know about and develop proficiency in before they begin taking shots at whitetails.
Archey is a very fun, challenging, and rewarding pursuit. Hunting with a vertical bow is appealing for a wide variety of different reasons. And most people can learn to do this effectively. However, too few hunters understand the challenges unique to this style of hunting and go unprepared into the woods only to have problems, failures, and worse. Often, they should hunt with a rifle or a crossbow until they develop the needed proficiencies for a vertical bow.
Understanding these five things will save you from a lot of difficulties and disappointments. There is no shame in going into the woods with a different tool if you are not ready or able to do what it takes to hunt properly with a bow. We are talking about an investment in preparation, it has nothing to do with the character or ability of the person. Anyone could prepare if they have the time, energy, and health to do so. And maybe they can and will in the future, but for now they should hunt with the tools they are able to use with greater proficiency.
The first and most obvious of the five reasons you should not hunt with a bow is you do not practice enough. This is about skills and conditioning. Proficiency in archery is a perishable skill. It decays quickly with time. A few weeks can cause you to lose a lot of ground. There is head knowledge and skill you will retain for your lifetime, but conditioning means everything when it comes to being able to reliably hit a target under field conditions.
Ideally you want to learn to shoot, from an instructor or expert of some type. Then you need to practice, a lot, and for a long time. You should start practicing around two months before the season starts. Start practicing 3 days a week and then bump it up to 4 or 5 once you get your initial conditioning. These do not need to be long sessions; 20 minutes can be plenty. But you need to shoot often and throughout the hunting season to stay sharp.
This is not just about being able to hit a target but being able to draw even when stiff and cold, under field conditions, with cold weather gear, in a tree, holding a draw for a long time, fighting off nerves, and finally taking an ethical shot. This is taxing on your body. You must practice a lot to able to do it when it counts. If you are not able to practice enough, you should probably use a crossbow for that season. Crossbows require a much lower level of conditioning.
The most responsible and wise hunters know their limits and deficiencies and takes the appropriate action to make up for them. Newer hunters especially do not have enough experience to know what they do not know. They have blind spots. We all have blind spots at times, but when we are just getting started, they can be very large blind spots. I can tell you from experience, the best and fastest ways to learn is to practice, study, and learn from the mistakes of others. If you want to hunt with a bow, get one today and start practicing. But wait, even till next season if needed, until you are prepared and can check off all five things mentioned in this episode.
Listen to the entire podcast episode to hear all 5 reasons why you should not hunt with a bow.
Like any tool, there are benefits to upgrading a deer hunting crossbow, but when should you do it and what should you look for? On this episode I give some guidance for when to upgrade a crossbow, what to look for in a new bow, how to make wise budget decisions, and what you realistically will not gain from a new crossbow.
The right time to upgrade your crossbow often intersects with something going wrong with your current bow or hunting experience. Either you have equipment wear out, failure, or maybe you have a hunting failure that causes you to cast doubt on your bow. Sometimes we get distracted by better bows but usually it is something going wrong that pushes us to make a purchase right away. Be careful in these moments not to jump to conclusions.
Sometimes you can repair a broken bow, sometimes nothing is wrong except your confidence takes a hit and practice may fix that much cheaper than buying a new bow. Be calm, patient, thoughtful, and think about the investment needed to get a bow that is better. Ideally you want a better bow, something with better features that will help you improve your hunting experience. Just replacing a bow may do the job, but you are probably better off with a short-term fix while you look for the right better bow.
A crossbow is a very sophisticated tool that is full of nuances. There are so many things to gain with a better crossbow in terms of comfort, feel, balance, features, ease of use, increased range, and less weight. However, if you have a working crossbow, chances are low that a better one would do much to enable you to take home more deer. A better crossbow makes the hunting experience easier and/or more enjoyable. But it often does not make it more effective.
This puts crossbows into a special category of gear where features have value but in the end they will do little to bring home more deer. That does not mean you shouldn’t upgrade your crossbow. On the contrary, you should simply upgrade with realistic expectations and timing.
I have found the best time to upgrade crossbows is around the end of season sales. You can often get a new crossbow that is very discounted. The trouble is you often cannot find the bow you have your heart set on in this way. It is better to simply follow the sales, look for the biggest discounts on credible brands trying to move last year’s model or clear inventory space and you can sometimes get a bow for as much as 50% off. By doing this you can upgrade a few levels higher in bow quality and function for alot less money.
However, if you have your eyes on one particular bow and you have to have that brand and model, your best bet is to save up your money and wait for even the most modest sale to come along.
Listen to the full podcast episode to hear alot more about when to upgrade and how to pick a new crossbow.
Every duck hunter makes mistakes, it is unavoidable. But there are some big terrible blunders that are easily avoidable with just a little bit of knowledge. On this episode I discuss three huge blunders and give you the simple insights needed to never make them yourself.
The definition of a blunder is a stupid or careless mistake. You will not be able to avoid all mistakes, but you can avoid blunders. One of the best ways to learn is from the mistakes and blunders of others. Which is why I share some of the big blunders I’ve watched other duck hunters make. Some of them are a bit funny they are so bad. But each teaches us valuable lessons to become better duck hunters.
Listen to this full podcast episode to hear about the blunders and the lessons learned.
No matter how well we shoot and how good our ammo, there will still be wounded and crippled ducks that need humanely and quickly put down. This is not a fun subject, but it is something all duck hunters need to be aware of. On this episode I talk about various scenarios of wounded ducks and give three different techniques to quickly dispatch them with minimal suffering.
Shotgun patterns are imperfect and are not capable of instantly killing a duck every time, even at reasonable ranges. Compound this with the fact that hunters are not perfect shots, and you will unfortunately have to deal with wounded ducks on a semi regular basis. This can be minimized with practice, more experience judging distance, and high-quality ammunition. But it will still happen from time to time. So, you must be equipped and prepared to deal with it under field conditions.
Wounded ducks may have varying degrees of mobility. They may be able to swim at full speed, above or below water, they may be able to walk or even run on land. They may be able to partially fly, they may even be stunned and able to full fly once they shake it off. To dispatch a wounded duck, you may very well have to catch it first. This is easiest if you have a hunting dog. If not, you will want to be very mobile and able to give chase readily.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned when hunting without a dog is to never take my eyes off a downed bird until I have it in hand. Always recover and deal with downed birds immediately. Never wait. You do not know if a bird is dead or not until you recover it. I have had birds belly up on the water that looked as dead as dead can be and 5 minutes later wake up and try to escape. Get your birds and confirm they are dead.
Do not hesitate to take a follow-up shot if a bird falls to the water but is still mobile. Every second will put the duck further away from you and further from ideal range. The longer you wait, the lower the chances will be of you recovering the bird. This often leads to the bird suffering worse and much longer. We need to avoid this as much as possible.
One you have a crippled bird in hand, there are numerous methods for dispatching the duck. In summary they include:
Swatting Loads
Cervical Dislocation.
A Pithing Tool
Listen to this podcast episode to hear the specifics about those techniques and methods to find the one that works best for you.
Here is thevisual guide for how to humanely dispatch a downed duckthat I mentioned in the episode as well. These are some of the most important skills a waterfowl hunter can take into the field, because treating game with respect and preventing suffering is of the upmost importance.
Always work to judge distance well, to take ethical shots, to pattern test your shotgun, ammo, and choke tube combo, and do not push your limits. The fewer ducks that are crippled the better. but when a bird is wounded you must deal with it quickly. I wish I would have been able to listen to this podcast episode before I started waterfowl hunting. I ran into this issue firsthand and did not know the ideal ways to deal with it, that was not fun. Hopefully you will be better prepared than I was.
I have long been a fan of BOSS Copper Plated Bismuth shotgun shells for hunting waterfowl. I did maybe the most thoroughresearch and review of the shellson the internet. So when BOSS announced that they were releasing a new game changing buffered load I was very excited. I was also a little bit skeptical.
You see, I am a regular hunter who just so happens to have a PhD and a low tolerance for marketing hype trying to help people find out what really works and what doesn’t.
The waterfowl hunting ammunition industry is very competitive, and my testing has shown that often the marketing speaks louder than the results. For anything to be “game changing” it really has to provide significant improvement and innovation. BOSS claimed very directly that their new shells would do that without being significantly more expensive than their original legacy bismuth loads. So, I was ready to put these shells through their paces the moment they became available.
I embarked on a series of pattern tests, ballistics gel tests, choke tests, long range tests, and shell analysis to get the real story. To summarize everything, BOSS delivered on their promise with the new BOSS Warchief shotshells.
Disclaimer: I have bought a lot of BOSS shotshells over the years, but they have also sent me shells for testing and review. Also, Carlson’s and Muller have provided me with choke tubes. But none of these companies have ever paid me anything. Many thanks to all of them for their support.
What Makes The BOSS Warchief Different?
BOSS saw an opportunity in the market to develop a bismuth shotshell to extend the maximum range of waterfowl hunters well beyond 40 yards. The biggest change put into place with these loads is the use of biodegradable buffering material. The buffering is like a course powder mixed in with the bismuth pellets in the shot cup.
This cushions the pellets when they are fired which keeps the pellets from bouncing around against each other as they leave the barrel, and it is provides support which keeps the pellets on the bottom of the shot column from deforming as they accelerate from 0 to 1,350 feet per second. This results in a much tighter pattern with fewer flyers and fewer broken pellets.
This makes sense to me. The next claim BOSS made did not though. They said the buffering also results in an additional 8% of ballistics gel penetration. The reason is that some of the pellet’s energy is lost in deformation when you pull the trigger and deformed pellets also fly slower due to being less aerodynamic. So, if you buffer the shot, the pellets do not deform, and you gain more ballistics energy.
Now to put this in context, most of BOSS’s competitors use higher velocities, 1450 fps vs BOSS’s 1350 fps. I did adetailed video comparison on the top bismuth shellson the market, and several other videos beyond this one and found that the faster loads had between 2% and 8% more penetration than the BOSS but with much more recoil. So, this innovation would put BOSS ahead of their competitions in terms of ballistics energy at the target, and with less recoil.
BOSS also designed a special wad to use with the Warchief and obtained the equipment to create the wads in house. So, they have engineered the wad to further improve patterns and they are able to add a chemical to the plastic that enables the shot cups to biodegrade in the field after five years. This does not help performance, but it is a huge step in the right direction and will result in less habitat damage. It also gives some piece of mind because most shot cups are left in the field. If you are newer to the waterfowl ammo landscape, here is a podcast episode I did titled: All About Shotguns & Shells For New Duck Hunters.
Warchief Pellets Per Shell
As soon as the new buffered load was announced people began to speculate if the buffer material would count towards the weight of the shot, thus resulting in fewer pellets per shell to make room for the buffer material. BOSS assured people that this would not be the case and they would not sacrifice pellet count. I’ve heard that before, so one of the first things I did was open up a few shells and count the pellets.
I counted the pellets in the #5, #4, and #3/5 legacy shells and then the new Warchief shells, all for the 2.75″ 1.25 oz loadings. In every pellet size, the Warchief shells had more pellets than advertised, and were equal to the non-buffered legacy loads. BOSS not only stuck to their word, but they over delivered by at least a few pellets in every shell. Being one the few companies out there that give you more than you pay for, in an industry plagued with corner cutting.
BOSS Legacy vs. Warchief Testing
The next step was to take the new shells to range and test them against their equivalent legacy shells to see if we can find any significant improvement in performance. So for the first round of testing, I patterned the legacy shells #5, #4, and #3/5 against the same size Warchief shells. That was a really awesome test and you can watch the entire thing right here:
In short, the Warchief shells did better across the board, resulting in an average 22% increase in pattern density. That is massive. With the Carlson’s Bismuth Bone Buster extended range choke tube that I tested, I got an average pattern efficiency of 89% across all three shot sizes with the Warchief, vs. 74% with the original legacy shells. The impact of this is big, and I’ll talk more about it when I get to the long-range testing.
When it came to ballistics gel penetration, I tested the legacy #4 against the Warchief #4 and the new shells came out ahead with an extra 7.8% more ballistics gel penetration, almost exactly what BOSS promised. I was more than a little impressed when I ran the math. The Warchief performed very well in every test I did. But the shells did even more impressively when I began the second round of testing.
Warchief Choke & Pattern Testing
The next thing to do was test the Warchief through a variety of chokes and choke constrictions to find what works best with it. So I ran it through 9 different choke tubes, and counted over 1,500 pellets to try and find the best combination. To make a long story and awesome video short, the tighter the constriction, the better it performed. You can check out that video right here:
I do not want to spoil the entire video, but I was able to find a choke tube that gave me 101% pattern efficiency. Now that shouldn’t be possible, but like I said earlier, BOSS packs a few bonus pellets into these shells so I was able to get more pellets in a 30″ circle at 40 yards than are advertised as being in the shells. Those are some tight patterns!
Then came the long-range testing. And suffice to say, with 101% pattern efficiency at 40 yards, I was still able to get enough pellets on paper to kill a duck at 60 yards. The ballistics gel penetration at that range was also sufficient! That video and the exact details are coming some. Be sure tofollow me on YouTube to know when it launches.
2.75″ vs. 3″ Shells
As of this writing, the Warchief only comes in two options for 12-gauge shotguns, the 1.25 oz in 2.75″ in shells and the 1.5 oz in 3″ shells. Stepping up to the larger 3″ shells gives you 20% more pellets but it comes at the cost of 5% more cash and about 30% more recoil. And that recoil increase is very significant. I was able to shoot the 2.75″ shells effortlessly, but the 3″ packed a much more noticeable wallop on the shoulder.
Which of the two loadings is best will depend on you, your hunting style, and how much you plan to shoot. For most average hunters going afield in normal conditions with the expectation of shooting decoying birds, the 2.75″ shells are all you could ever want. There is no reason to use the 3″ shells, you cannot kill the birds any deader than what the shorter shells can do.
For hunting late season geese with #2s, jumping hunting birds from afar, or long-range pass shooting, you will be able to make use of the extra shot the 3″ shells give you, and you will likely be shooting less which makes it a bit easier on the shoulder. But honestly, the patterns are so efficient that the 2.75″ shells are putting more pellets in the 30″ circle than many other 3″ shells. They are very potent. Very few wasted pellets.
Competitors & Pricing
I hate listing prices because they can change so fast as the season comes and goes but when I wrote this, here are real market prices from mainstream retailers on the top bismuth loads on the market, these are for 3″, as close to 1.5oz as possible.
HEVI Bismuth = $2.12
Winchester Bismuth = $2.40
Kent Bismuth = $2.60
BOSS Warchief = $2.14 (Program members pay $1.68)
The retail price for BOSS Warchief puts it on the lower end of the bismuth price spectrum. And its patterning and ballistics performance is equal to or better than all the competitors, and it boasts nontoxic buffer material with the biodegrading wad at no extra cost, along with copper plated shot. However, for BOSS Program members, the cost for the Warchief is drastically lower and puts it at the lowest on the market by a wide margin.
The BOSS VIP Program is their customer loyalty initiative. Program members pay an annual fee to join and get discounts on shells ordered, free shells of their choice, new products in development for testing, swag, exclusive access to sales and restocked items, and numerous other benefits. There is a significant sunk cost but program members who buy a lot of shells report the program typically pays for itself very fast while providing all the other benefits. I am a paying program member myself.
Conclusions & Recommendations
The BOSS Warchief is a game changer for long range waterfowl hunting. For the price, they are the most effective shell on the market and provide outstanding performance while leaving biodegrading buffer material and shot cups in the woods that will utterly vanish. Being able to get 100% patterns at will is unbelievable, and having more penetration with less recoil than the competition is a huge bonus as well. Check out the newBOSS Warcheif shotshellsfor yourself. As a note, BOSS sent me these shells at my request to do this review, and Carlson’s sent me the choke tube, thanks to them for their support.
Till next time. God bless you, and go get em in the woods!
George Konetes Ph.D. – Founder and Host of the New Hunters Guide.
The New Hunters Guide is simply what George wishes he would have had when learning how to hunt; a single place to get practical hands on knowledge about different kinds of hunting, gear, strategy, and tips that can improve your comfort and fun factor in the woods.
Duck decoys range from $40 to $400 a dozen, and beyond. Are the fancy duck decoys better? If so, by how much? On this episode I talk about the differences between cheap and expensive duck hunting decoys to help you understand how to weigh the pros and cons of each to make informed decisions.
Keep in mind, for generations hunters carved crude decoys from wood, used painted milk jugs, and improvised their own decoys out of whatever rudimentary materials that could find or create that would float for awhile. And these decoys worked reasonably well. Even the cheapest decoys on the market today are drastically better than what most hunters used throughout waterfowl hunting history. We are a little bit spoiled today with the caliber of simple and low-cost options available. So, are expensive decoys really that much better?
There are three main areas that expensive decoys give you advantages over cheaper decoys. They are detail, durability, and technology.
Detail refers to both the paint job and the life like diversity of different duck positions. Cheaper decoys often all look identical while more expensive ones have a variety of posses that make them appear more lifelike.
Durability is a factor of two different areas. One is making the decoys sink resistant and the other is the durability of the paint and finish. Only one of these is a legitimate point to consider when it comes to cheap vs. expensive decoys.
Technology is a bit more complex. Because ducks can see certain colors and spectrums that people cannot, some decoys are designed to be more visible to ducks in low light but people cannot see those differences with our eyes. Expensive decoys sometimes come setup with this technology.
The big question is how much difference can expensive decoys make in these areas to be worth their price tag? Are $400 decoys really 10x better than $40 decoys? The simple answer is no, of course not. The more you pay, the less you get. It is a system of diminishing returns. However, if you pay more, you do get more. You just do not get a lot more. So the hunter able to pay large sums of money for the best decoys does get better decoys but they are only a little bit better.
So, is it worth it? Only you can decide that. You need to listen to this entire podcast episode to get all of the information you need to judge the pros and cons of expensive decoys and decide which decoys are best for you to use.
The best weather conditions for buck movement vary as the hunting season goes on. Weather, time of day, and time of season all work together to create ideal situations for whitetails to move. On this episode I focus on the weather and seasonal conditions that promote deer movement.
Too often deer hunters go into the woods and see nothing. Any good hunt starts with good scouting, and indeed that has been the subject of many of my previous deer hunting episodes. But if you have a good spot and still see nothing, that may very well be a factor of being there on poor weather days that inhibit deer movement. Understanding this little piece of information can completely change the way you hunt and how effective you are in the woods.
There are three main factors that work together to determine ideal times for buck movement. Time of season, weather conditions, and relative temperature. Think about it, deer live outside, and they like to move and feed under certain conditions. If you can learn the basics of each factor, you can put them together to predict the best hunting days with fairly good accuracy.
Time of Season – Deer movement patterns change as the season goes on. This is affected by how deer relate to the mating season, the change in weather, and change in habitat as soft cover dies with frost and things change as winter approaches.
Weather Conditions – Deer are greatly affected by changing weather conditions. They are no less sensitive to the weather than we are. Understanding how weather effects deer behavior will enable you to predict which weather days are the best for deer hunting.
Relative Temperature – As fall comes and deer begin to grow in thicker fur, they are much more sensitive to high temperatures. When it is hot, they are much less likely to move until the colder times of day. But when colder days comes, the crisp temperatures can be liberating to big bucks, freeing them from overheating to move around more during daylight.
The big key to picking the best days to hunt deer are putting these three factors together. Understanding the right time of day based on the part of the season you are in, picking days with the ideal changes in relative temperature, and looking for specific micro weather conditions that best contribute to deer movement.
You can take deer on any day of the hunting season, at any time of day, and during any weather conditions. But your chances increase dramatically if you pick the best days and conditions. And if your time to hunt is limited, this information can help you pick the best possible days for deer movement.
Listen to the full podcast episode to get all of the information!
