Kids Outdoor Outpost – June 2021

Velvet Knobs

Well, let’s turn the page on another turkey season. No birds for Team Schuster this year, but it certainly was not from lack of trying.

I did spend my time in the turkey woods scouting for deer season. It will be here before we know it.

We saw some decent rubs, the remains of some scrapes, scat and even some mashed up leaves and grass from bedding areas.

We also put out some deer cams to get a read on the herd in our area. We picked up a couple of wireless models at the end of last season at a good price. Wow, the technology is really good. These photos are transmitted to my smart phone for an instant view of what is happening on my property.

The camera captures great quality color pictures during the day and at night. The IFR (infrared) means the camera does not flash so I don’t have to worry about it spooking game. We received hundreds of pics during the first few days. Some bucks just had velvet knobs, while others had good, thick bases already showing up.

Traditionally, these first few photos will result in us picking up our bows to begin practicing for the upcoming season. We hunt in an archery-only section of private land that has been very good to us over the years, but this season could be different. Seemingly every day our wildlife habitats are giving way to development. Lush forest lands now sprout hundreds of light green plastic pipes reaching to the skies, a sure sign of small tract homes centering up to intrude on our game lands. For us, those skid steers and earth movers have ripped apart land that we have successfully deer hunted for years.

So, what will this mean for the nearby land that we hunt? Will the deer simply move over or move on? That’s another good reason for continued preseason scouting and the use of the deer cams.

We have found that Georgia’s long deer season and getting in plenty of hang time has been a great combination for us to stack our freezer with several deer and donate to our local Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry venison donation program. This past season, our chapter donated over 500 pounds to the Jericho House in Lumpkin County. So, you may consider planning for the upcoming season now. For some, it’s never too soon!