Now is a great time to start doing some scouting and preparation for the fall.  I did some scouting and exploring through the winter, and started clearing a new stand location. 

I went back there yesterday now that the snow is almost all gone, to check things out and do a bit of work.  I had flagged a potential spot on one of my trails with some intersecting deer trails crossing it, but now that the snow's gone, I found a number of scrapes from the fall, along the connecting deer trails.  The trails lead from an old field into the mature timber where I'll set my stand, in an area the deer travel through all fall, but sees an increase in buck activity during the rut.  I'll setup my stand overlooking the intersecting deer trails, one scrape and the newly setup mineral site.

I picked out a great spot for a stand, hopefully somewhere I'll be able to sneak into with minimal disturbance.  I plan on building a permanent elevated stand in this location, so starting work on it early!

I did a bit of clearing there today, and also setup a new mineral site.  I used RackStacker Glory Mineral, a great mineral for deer health and antler growth. I set it up in two locations, with about 10 pounds at each. One is on an old stump that's starting to rot, and another in a depression in the ground.  I'll setup a Ridgetec Trail Cam on the stump mineral site in front of the stand this coming week, and monitor it all season.  These mineral sites are great attractions to draw and keep whitetails on your property, a necessity for deer health and great for antler growth.  Deer will be drawn to this, and return to these mineral sites, helping keep them around your hunting property.

http://www.rackstacker.ca/glory-mineral/

https://www.ridgetecoutdoors.com/products/outdoor-products/cameras

Spent a few days filming for Pautzke Outdoors late March. We fished pike, burbot, splake and more burbot! Had a blast and caught a mess of fish!
​fished with Pautzke fire brined dead bait or live fire dyed minnows.