Time To Get Ready For Deer Season!

We’re rolling into the end of July and the GrowingDeer Team is neck deep in preseason projects to help us prepare for the upcoming hunting season! I thought I would take some time this week to discuss those projects so you could get a better understanding of what our preparations are and what you can do to prepare for hunting season.

Most deer hunters across the US are starting to brave the heat and take to the woods to check/move and trim deer stands. Checking stands is very important! We do it this time of year because stand maintenance is crucial; plus you certainly don’t want to be trimming lanes during hunting season – ultimately alerting deer and turning them completely nocturnal. One important piece of advice on preseason stand preparations is checking your stand straps as with each year it becomes more and more important as the straps get older and spend more time in the elements. Squirrels, mice, etc. will also chew on these straps making them weaker, so always be sure to use two straps on each stand and always check them before climbing in your stand.

If you caught Grant’s blog last week you know that we’re also getting ready for our trail camera survey! This involves everything from making sure all settings on our trail cameras are correct and the Redneck feeders are all up and ready for August 1st when the survey begins! This activity also means that I’m watching as much TV and movies as possible… now you’re wondering what the connection is? When you’re trying to come up with a unique/creative name for each buck caught on camera on a 2,200 acre ranch, you need to load your brain up with as many different names as possible…

Even with these two main projects going on, we’re still finding time to practice our growing season fires (Watch GDTV 189)! Unlike our first two projects where we are focusing on this calendar year’s hunting season, it’s equally important to prepare for future years of hunting! One way we do this is by insuring quality habitat for all types of wildlife by practicing growing season fires. Be sure to catch upcoming episodes of GrowingDeer.tv to learn more about growing season fires.

The last two preseason projects we are doing are my favorite by far! Organizing your gear and getting it ready for opening day is very important to success! We’ll be completely washing all our camo in Dead Down Wind products, air drying them on the clothes line and storing them in our ScentMaster Locker. Although I’m not a huge fan of laundry in my everyday life, when it is camo I can feel the excitement growing! Who knew laundry could be so exciting!? We also spray down other gear, binoculars, camera arms, safety harnesses and store them. As most of the loyal fans know scent reduction is huge for us, we live, breath, and eat scent reduction! Especially at The Proving Grounds when we’re fighting thermal shifts constantly!

Lastly, and definitely my favorite step in preseason preparations: Shooting! Most serious bow hunters shoot their bows year round. As the calendar pages turn and the velvet begins to grow and antlers start forming, shooting becomes more serious. Most hunters begin feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve! This time of year I’m starting to shoot more and more, extending out to find my comfortable range. I’m doing everything I can to make sure when that time comes this fall, I’m ready to squeeze the trigger with the confidence that I’ve done all the preparation to make the shot!

It’s an exciting time of year, so get out there and have some fun getting ready for the upcoming season! As always, be safe!