I encourage anyone that is in the market for a trail camera to search for sample pictures and videos before they buy so they can see what the game camera is capable of. Wildgame Innovations has been turning out new trail cameras on a very frequent basis. They seem to really be pushing their technology innovations forward, and I suspect they are grabbing a sizable slice of the trail camera market with their low price points.

When I visited the other feed store the following day, I was in for another shocker.  A 50 pound bag of shell corn was $9.70 plus tax.  It seemed that a few months ago, I had picked up corn at the same place for around $7.40 per 50 pound bag.  So it is up approximately $2.30.  Now I don't know about you, but I go through a lot of corn on an annual basis.  It is legal in my state to bait deer with corn, and this is something I practice on a few pieces of private land that I hunt.  Anything that holds more does in the area will increase the chances of bringing those chasing bucks in, and that is my main goal.  I will also use corn around my game cameras to help draw more deer within my cam's field of view.  This can be a big help when surveying the deer population and quality.

So I asked the guy at the feed store why the corn prices were up so much.  He stated that two consecutive and very wet springs had hampered the farmer's ability to get corn in the ground.  This has affected the harvest and available supply.  He also stated that the government had not been very forth coming, and actually a bit misleading, about the amount of corn reserves on hand.  So it all comes down to supply and demand affecting price.

I'll still make use of corn this year, because a couple of bucks isn't going to break the bank, but I probably won't use it as liberally as I normally would.  So this got me thinking about alternatives and options that may be more cost effective.

1. Moultrie Deer Feeders
   
   For around $100.00, you can pick up a tripod Moultrie deer feeder.  There are hanging feeders that you can pick up for less, but the Moultrie Easy-Fill is one of my favorites.  It is well built, and not difficult to transport, as it stands only 6 feet high.  It only takes one person to set this feeder up.  The 30 gallon capacity holds an amount of corn that is just right, and the metal varmint guard will eliminate the worries of squirrels and raccoons chewing away at the feeder's spinner.  It is easy to program, runs on a 6 cell battery, and you can program up to 6 feedings per day.  Each activation can dispense corn for anywhere between 1 to 20 seconds, so you have good control over how much feed is dispensed.
2. Salt Licks for Deer
   I have always had good luck with mineral and salt licks for deer.  Even at the retail feed stores, you can pick up a 50 pound white Morton salt block for under $8.00.  The livestock feed stores carry them for less.  White salt doesn't benefit antler growth as much as some of the other mineral blocks do, but the deer flat out love it.  I had a white salt block sitting on a stump behind my house, and the deer would visit it daily.  It has since completely dissolved, but the deer still frequent that stump and have chewed every bit of bark off that stump to get the residual salt.  They are even pawing away at and eating the dirt around the stump to get to it.  The Evolved Habits company offers a wide range of other mineral blocks that are scented or offer additional supplements such as calcium and phosphorus.  Using licks like these are great because the deer love them and they last a long time.  Even after they are gone, the deer will continue to return to the area to get the residual mineral from the dirt.   

3. Food Plots for Deer
   Food plots take some work and some planning.  So while they aren't a short term fix for the high price of corn, they are something that you can plan for the future.  I like the Evolved Habits Throw and Grow, and some of the other no-till food plot seeds.  You can get results from these without the need for heavy equipment to disc the soil.  I have a little hand held manual garden tiller that is great for roughing up the ground a bit with minimal effort.  This isn't required, but offers you much better results.  Biologic Food Plots also offer great results, and yield a lot of protein.

There are many options and alternatives to corn.  I have one buddy who collects fallen apples from a near by orchard and uses them in an area that he hunts.  I have another buddy that uses horse feed, which he states costs much less than corn per bag.  I also have other hunting buddies that totally disagree with using any type of bait or lures and doesn't think that anyone should be using them, legal or not.

So will the increased cost of corn have you using less of it this year?  If so, what alternatives do you plan to use?  We would love to hear your comments below.

So I recently picked up a Leupold Vendetta, and have been very impressed with how easy it is to use once you get used to it.  Setting the Vendetta up on my Matthew Switchback was very easy.  Using a couple of included brackets and screws, I had it mounted in a matter of minutes.  This might not have been so easy, had it not been for the YouTube videos that Leupold posted, walking you through the installation process.  I was happy to find out that this didn't interfere with the mounting bracket for my bow quiver either.  I was able to mount that back onto the Vendetta's bracket.

After installing the Vendetta, there is a calibration process that you need to go through.  They provide you an alignment sheet to use for this process.  Again, there was a YouTube video showing you how to do this, and it was really helpful to see someone else walk through this process before attempting it myself.  You essentially hang up this alignment sheet, and step back approximately 20 yards.  Just for the setup process, there is a visible laser.  You draw your bow, look through your peep and lay your 20 yard pin on the alignment sheet.  Then you see where the laser is falling on the paper.  You adjust the Vendetta (up /down and right / left) and repeat the process until the laser light falls in the center of the alignment sheet (i.e. in line with your 20 yard pin).

Then using the Vendetta is a breeze.  At any distance, you can:

• Draw your bow.
• Look through the peep and lay your 20 yard pin on your target.
• Depress the activation pressure pad for the Vendetta with your finger (which will be on your bow grip)
• Then read the exact range to your target.
• Then switch to the proper distance sight pin, and let your arrow fly with confidence.

One thing I was definitely concerned about was adding unnecessary weight to my bow.  At just 10 ounces though, it is a trade off that I was willing to make, and surprisingly the additional weight did not bother me.

You do need to be aware that the Leupold Vendetta is not legal in all states for hunting.  It is legal for recreational shooting in all states.  For a complete list of states that it is legal for hunting in, see the following: Leupold Vendetta Legal States.  Some states do not allow electronic devices on bows for hunting purposes. Most of the eastern half of the country allows the Vendetta, and most of the western half of the country does not.

You should also be aware that the Pope and Young Rules of Fair Chase do not allow a buck harvested with an electronic device on a bow to be entered into the Pope and Young record books.  So if you are after a record book buck, the Vendetta may not be for you.  If this is the case, then you may want to take a look at the Dead On Rangefinder.  This is a non-electronic device that attaches to your bow sight, and is simple to use.  It is based on the typical body size of your game, and is adjustable for turkeys, whitetails, mule deer, elk, etc.  You lay a fiber optic pin on the bottom of your target's body at the chest, and then see which of the top pins fall on top of your target's back.  Each of the top pins indicates a specific yardage amount, and can be color coded to your actual bow sight pins.  It is a pretty neat concept, but I have personally not tried it.

So armed with my Leupold Vendetta, I am ready to head to the woods this fall.  I am thankful that I live in a state where this device is legal.  I can't wait until September when the bow season returns.  Until then, I'll keep burning up that Delta River Bottom Buck target in my back yard.

Have you tried the Leupold Vendetta or the Dead On Rangefinder?  What do you think of them?

Well, it may not be your bow.  It may be YOU!!!  Did you know that if your anchor point shifts 1/4" high that your shot can be off by 5" at 20 yard and over 10" at 40 yards.  The distance will amplify the error.  And are you also aware that bow torque can throw your shot off?  If your bow is torqued 1/4", you can find your arrows landing the same 5" off at 20 yards and 10" off at 40 yards.

These are the two most common factors caused by the shooter that can impact shot placement and leave a hunter frustrated.  Being off 5 inches on a 20 yard shot can make the difference between venison in the freezer, a clear miss, or spending hours in the woods tracking an injured deer due to a poor shot.

Well there is hope, and an excellent solution to solve issues with torque and anchoring.  That solution is the Retina Lock bow sight by IQ Bow Sight.

This sight has some revolutionary new features that will assist you in confirming that you are consistently in proper form.  The top of the bow sight has an illuminated green circle, with a black dot in the center of it.  If that black dot is in the center of the green circle, then you are in perfect form and ready for that kill shot.  If the black dot is to the right of the green circle, then you can count on missing to the left.  If the black dot is near the bottom of the green circle, then you can count on your shot being high.  It takes a little getting used to in practice, but you will quickly get used to falling into perfect form as you watch your shot groups consistently start to tighten up.

This 4 pin sight does not require batteries.  It uses a light storing technology that will store light and then release it through the pins and to the retina lock.  As it turns dark, you are guaranteed of having bright pins for that shot of a lifetime at dusk.  And the Retina Lock is still Pope & Young legal, so get ready to hit the record books!

If you are shooting a really fast bow, then you are in luck.  Because the pin design allows you to set your fiber-optic pins very close together.  So you can be guaranteed of having your pins sighted in at exact yardage amounts.  This is easy to mount and easy to sight in with the 4-axis adjustments.

I fell in love with the IQ Bow Sight from the moment I saw it.  Don't take a chance on missing that shooter buck.

Well, after looking up the Telecheck totals for the 2010 Kentucky deer season, I was surprised to see that only 110,376 deer were taken.  This is the lowest annual harvest since 2001, when 103,398 whitetails were harvested.  Five times more deer were taken by modern gun that by archers.  There were approximately 3,500 fewer deer taken by muzzleloader than there were taken by bow.  Kentucky definitely  loves its gun season, but you have got to love that 4 1/2 month bow season.

So why are Kentucky's numbers down?  That is a good question.  I've seen more deer this year that I can recall in recent years.  The herd looks healthy.  Owen County came in on top for the number of bow kills with 507.  They also came in on top for the number of total white tails with 3,414.

I am definitely ready for the 2011 season to get back in.  I'm looking forward to the opportunity to add to the 2011 totals.  I'm still suffering from the post-season blues.  At least we are seeing some unseasonably warm weather, and we topped out at 65 degrees today.  It is time to start thinking about planting those food plots...