Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Whitetail Deer Hunts

Some people think it is almost getting to the point here in Michigan that if you want to kill a trophy-class deer with your bow, you need to be a landowner. To have your own piece of property, you need to have a fair amount of money to purchase it. So many bowhunters settle for small bucks year in and year out.

Hillsdale County a heavily populated southern Michigan most hunters don't have a lot of money to spend on a parcel of hunting land. He is a hardworking blue-collar American like many of us in Michigan. However, every year he finds himself smiling after arrowing another trophy-class buck. Sommers has over a half-dozen wallhanger whitetails he has taken in the last 10 years — all from small parcels of private land.

What is his secret to success? You are about to find out.

“Most of my bucks come from pieces of property that are smaller than 100 acres,” Sommers said. “It’s all private property. I take my family in the off-season and drive around to look at different sections of woods and farms. I look for what I think might be good hunting property. I look for natural funnels or swamps. If I find a good piece of property, I simply ask the property owner for permission to hunt.”

Getting permission to hunt on someone’s land isn’t as easy as it used to be. People are naturally leery of anyone asking for permission to hunt. Often, prime hunting land is leased out to the highest bidder. To get permission to hunt, Sommers tries to create relationships with any property owner willing to listen when he asks for permission.

“From the moment I ask for permission, I try to create a friendship with the landowner,” Sommers said. “I let them know I will be the only one hunting on their land and I will follow any rules they may have. If they ask me to park by the barn, I will. I won’t press my luck and park somewhere else. I just try to gain people’s trust. I think bringing my family along when I ask for permission helps because people realize I am a family man, not some hoodlum.”

Gaining permission often requires persistence.

“I’ve been turned down in the past and I keep coming back,” he said. “Sometimes it starts out with getting permission to hunt for a few days or a week, or just for small game. Once people realize I am going to respect them and their property, they allow me to bowhunt all season.”

Many of the parcels hunts are only small tracts of land, about 80 acres or so. When looking for areas to hunt, he always looks for swamps and thick cover that bucks can survive in, even if they are small parcels. Spends most of your time hunting in places like this.

“You don’t think a guy needs large tracts of land to kill nice bucks. He just needs the right tract of land. I am always looking for bedding areas, swamps and funnels where bucks will be traveling from one small parcel to the next.”

Next,  gets your hands on aerial photographs of the places you plan on hunting and do some research. You can usually look at a piece of property and determine if it has what he is looking for. Finds the photos on www.teraserver.com or Google earth. After looking at photos and finding potentially good areas,  head to the woods to locate places he found in the images.

“It is not uncommon to go to a place I found on a photo and find scrapes and rubs,” . “Using photos has been a great help in locating big bucks.”

Once he has narrowed down his search, he looks for a good spot to hang a tree stand. Tree stand placement is key to putting himself in position to kill a buck.

“Read everything you can about whitetails,”  “Remember stories by Bill Winke about stand placement and how important it can be. Reading magazines have taught many a lot about stand placement. I like putting a stand as close to a bedding area as I can.”

Uses a hang-on tree stand with screw-in steps. Keep steps in a backpack. Each one is wrapped in hockey tape. This keeps the steps quiet as he sets up his stand.

“ Obsess with being quiet,”. “Usually pack in as well. You drive a short distance to many stands, but it best to walk a long way with everything strapped on your back. Get close to a bedding area, a swamp or a scrape. The success can come from hunting a new place by sneaking into a buck’s bedroom and waiting for him to come out. The fact that you sneaked in silently is the reason you will beable to bag that buck. Always pay attention to all of the little details that a lot of guys overlook, like making noise.”

Also makes sure he is always scent-free.

“Use a Scent-Lok Suit,  “Use scent-eliminating sprays and cover scents. Stop wearing cologne a month before the season starts and  always take a shower before heading into the woods. I make sure my hunting clothes are scent-free and I spray down regularly with Scent-Away to make sure I stay scent-free. I have deer walk downwind of me all the time and they don’t get alarmed. Getting a shot at a trophy buck is a rare thing. I don’t want to mess those opportunities up by being winded. I try to play the wind, but you never know where a buck is going to come from. To be safe, I am always scent-free. Being scent-free isn’t an easy task. It requires a lot of extra work, but I think that is a big part of my overall success. Once a hunter gets used to taking the steps to be scent-free every time he goes hunting, it isn’t that big of a deal. Getting into that routine is the tough part.”

Once set up and close to a bedding area or scrape, and begin to rattle.

“Rattling doesn’t work every time you do it,” S “In fact, it rarely works. It is definitely a low-percentage game. But if you keep doing it, it is bound to work sooner or later. In time you will have killed a lot of my big bucks by rattling them in.”

One of the main reasons rattling will work well for you over time because you place yourself close to a bedding area or close to a scrape.

“When everything goes right and you are able to sneak in close to a buck’s bedroom without his knowing and I start rattling, he is going to come and investigate because he thinks a couple of bucks are fighting in his domain. The same holds true with hunting over a scrape. If a buck hears a fight over one of his scrapes, he is going to want to check it out.

“I don’t just rattle,” Try to imagine you are in the middle of the fight. Smash into branches and trees and smash the antlers together to make it sound like a real fight. Creating a real loud-sounding fight is a must. Acting like you are part of that fight is how you will be able to bring bucks within shooting distance.”

When You plan on rattling, try placing your stand in a place with a lot of thick cover. This way, as you are thrashing around in the tree, incoming deer won’t see you moving. Another advantage of being in thick cover is that a buck needs to come and investigate if he wants to see what is going on.

“If you were to rattle on the edge of an open field, bucks could easily come by and see there wasn’t a fight going on.”  “By being in thick cover, they have to get up close and personal to see the fight.”

Only rattles for a minute or so before he stops and looks around.

When when  rattling,  only do it for less than a minute and then stop. If a big buck is within hearing distance, it doesn’t take much time before he will come in.”

It will work. Being in thick cover and close to a buck’s bedroom is obviously one way to succeed on a regular basis.

Grunting and bleating are other tricks used.

“Always have a variety of calls with you.”  “If you see a buck way off,  grunt at him and try to get his attention. By hunting close to a bedding area, if you see a buck and grunt at him, often he will turn on a dime, looking for a fight. Used a lot of doe urine in and around the tree, and bleat the bucks into range. Between rattling, grunting and bleating,  always trying one call or another. Never just sit around and wait for bucks to pass within range.”

Save your best stands for November.Too many times  guys go into prime hunting locations early on in the season and get winded or jump a buck from his bedding area and ruin that site for the rest of the season. When you find a good setup and I think a buck is bedding and working in the area, patiently wait for November to come before I start hunting hard. That is when the bucks can be called in using grunt tubes. That is when rattling works best.”

Keeping records of your hunting success helps keep scoring. Writes down the date of each kill, the weather conditions, how you called in the buck and whether it was rattled in or if it came to a bleat or a grunt call. All of these things are tracked so you know what to do more of and what not to do. By keeping records, patterns start to evolve, like the fact that most of your bucks have been killed during the rut. Most of his bucks have been killed at close range, proving that setting up on the edges of thick cover provides him with enough concealment to rattle without being seen.

Always trying to find the next small piece of ground that has been overlooked by everyone else.  Always search for shed antlers to find clues about the monster that made it through the season. Read magazines to learn better methods of outsmarting bucks. If you think something new is out there that will works,  give it a try.