By Albie Berk
"I once found a fruit-heavy muscadine grape vine loaded with deer sign growing beside a rural South Carolina school house. Closest woods were behind the building, some 200 yards away. I walked the woods edge, located two deer trails emerging from the timber and heading to the grapes. I hung a stand between the two trails, 50 yards back in the woods, and arrowed a fat doe the first afternoon. That deer showed up early, simply milling around in the timber, apparently waiting for sundown before heading across the open to the school house for a grape dinner."
Fruit trees in open areas are notorious for attracting does, and some bowhunters shun them for that reason. But such spots draw bucks, too, because as the rut approaches, ladies attract gentlemen. Be sure to "back trail" doe tracks leading to open, obvious fruit trees in fields or around old farms. Often, as you get closer to heavier cover, you'll discover buck sign. It may be several hundred yards from where fruit trees are growing, but bucks, does and yearlings are holding in the area because of the food.
Don't overlook fruit trees in suburban areas, advises Tom, because plenty of buster bucks come to backyard apple, plum and peach trees. And in the West, juicy apples are high on the menu of mule deer and whitetails.
One of the easiest and quickest ways to locate fruit trees for hunting is to look for them in spring, when the trees flower. This often coincides with spring gobbler season, so if you're chasing toms, keep a sharp eye out for wild fruit trees in bloom. Apple, pear and plum trees tend to be especially loaded with blooms, and when trees bud out in all that colorful glory, you can bank on them bearing fruit—remember, each little flower is an apple or pear, plum or peach.
"Make sure you have a quality topographical map with you when locating fruit trees in spring," Tom says. "After trees lose their blossoms and return to their green-leaf state, they blend right in with habitat and can be a challenge to find unless you've recorded their location on a map, or used a portable GPS navigation unit to pinpoint them. Sometimes a number of trees will be in a wide area, so don't be completely satisfied and set your stand if you discover just one tree dropping fruit. Often, another tree or two just 50 or 100 yards away will have even more deer sign.
"Deer often have decided preferences for one grape vine or a particular apple tree—just like they do for acorns from a special oak tree. Only reason I can think this occurs is because fruit from a preferred tree simply tastes better to game. You can 'sweeten' such trees and grapevines easily by adding fertilizer to plants. A bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer, Scotts 'Tree Tablets' or 'Native Plant' fertilizer will not only strengthen chosen fruit trees, but they'll bear more fruit, and game will go nuts over them."
Albie Berk enjoys hunting and sharing what he has learned and any successful tips he can with others. He enjoys South Carolina Deer hunting and usually stays at Carolina Buck and Boar
Source:www.isnare.com |
