{"id":1166,"date":"2022-06-06T16:14:47","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T16:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/?p=1166"},"modified":"2024-06-03T22:03:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T22:03:01","slug":"straight-talk-from-the-deer-guides-a-kansas-pro-dishes-on-blood-trailing-buck-shaming-and-bad-excuses-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/06\/straight-talk-from-the-deer-guides-a-kansas-pro-dishes-on-blood-trailing-buck-shaming-and-bad-excuses-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Straight Talk From the Deer Guides: A Kansas Pro Dishes on Blood-Trailing, Buck-Shaming, and Bad Excuses"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The right deer guide can help you get your buck, and drag it out, too. John Hafner Photography<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more \u203a<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We know you’re already thinking about deer season. So are we, which is why we are talking to some of the country’s top deer guides in the offseason to pick their brains and hear their stories. Having interviewed loads of them over the years, I can tell you that most whitetail guides have strong opinions, all of them have some wild stories, and some of them are more than happy to talk about both. If you’re a fellow deer nut, it makes for fascinating conversation. But more than that: If you listen closely, you’ll also come away with some nuggets of deer-hunting wisdom<\/a> that can only come from folks who chase whitetails for a living. <\/p>\n

This week’s pro is Tim Clark, owner of Red Dog Outfitters<\/a> in Morland, Kansas. In addition to being one of the country\u2019s most successful deer guides, Clark is also one the most candid, not just about his own operation but also the state of deer hunting as he sees it. Here’s what he had to say on a variety of topics.<\/p>\n

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Tim Clark, owner of Red Dog Outfitters, totes a spotting scope while scouting for deer. Tim Clark<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Best Advice for a Guided Whitetail Hunt<\/h2>\n

Trust your guide and ride it out.<\/strong> I jokingly tell my hunters,\u00a0“Try to trust me for more than one day.”\u00a0 But seriously, if you\u2019ve had success at home, that\u2019s fantastic, but believe me, it\u2019s a different world out here. The terrain and habitat is different than most whitetail places, and that\u2019s a huge influencer on how whitetails behave and when they move. Still, it happens every year: I put a guy in a stand at dawn and by the second day, he knows the place better than I do and is out of his stand at 9 a.m., scouting. I know this because I get him on trail camera<\/a>. And about 10 minutes after he walks past that camera, as he searches for a better spot, a nice buck walks past the camera, too.<\/p>\n

Try to view your guide as a coach, supporting you, and helping you have the kind of experience you came for. You’ve got all year after your hunt to second guess me if it doesn’t come together. I want you to tag out as badly as you do, I promise you that. I haven’t put 600 deer in the dirt by not caring, not scouting, and not making a solid plan to help you<\/em> succeed. Do your research to get a good guide, whether that’s me or someone else, and then trust that person.<\/p>\n

On Bowhunters and Accuracy<\/h2>\n

I make every bowhunter pass a shooting proficiency test before they can hunt. They do this in front of me, at the lodge, shooting broadheads, not field points. The broadhead thing is a huge deal for me, and I\u2019m amazed at the number of hunters who\u2019ve only practiced with field points. I blame this on a couple of things, starting with broadhead ads that make that “flies-just-like-a-field-point” promise. Sometimes they do, but why would you take a chance on a live animal, especially a big mature buck like we have here? I also think pro shops need to do a better job of educating customers on the need to tune their setups to shoot their broadheads. It\u2019s kind of amazing and unique to bowhunting. When you\u2019re prepping for a gun hunt, you don\u2019t shoot the bullet that flies like<\/em> the bullet you\u2019re hunting with\u2014you shoot the bullet you\u2019re hunting with!<\/p>\n

Some guys balk at the proficiency test and say my presence would make them too nervous to shoot well. Well, I\u2019m a nice guy who wants you to shoot well, and I promise you any adrenaline or pressure you feel with me standing there is nothing compared to what you\u2019ll experience with a mature buck\u2014maybe the biggest deer you\u2019ve ever seen\u2014is standing 15 yards away, looking at you and maybe stomping his foot. <\/p>\n

On Blood-Trailing Deer<\/h2>\n

Lots of bowhunters start blood-trailing too soon\u2014and end up losing deer they don’t have to. I\u2019m convinced that the majority of bucks hit by an arrow have no idea what happened to them. They feel something, run off a bit to get away from it, and if they\u2019re hit really well, they just lie down and never get up again. On the best shots, it can be over almost immediately.<\/p>\n

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Clark helps a client drag a buck out after a successful blood-trailing job. Tim Clark<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it doesn\u2019t always work out perfectly, and if the hunter doesn\u2019t handle it right, things can go south in a hurry. And because hunters are excited and want it to happen so badly, they almost always start tracking too quickly. That\u2019s a huge mistake, especially on the large-bodied, mature bucks we have out here. Once these deer recognize that someone is on their trail, they get a huge adrenaline dump and turn almost bionic, running hard even when they might be mortally wounded. Well, a running deer never leaves as much blood as a walking one, and out here there\u2019s tons of grass, CRP, and crop fields\u2014all spots where finding blood is just a bunch harder. So now you\u2019ve taken a buck that we would have probably found easily, and turned it into a deer that will be difficult and maybe impossible to find.<\/p>\n

The trick is to just try and settle down as much as possible immediately after the shot, while you\u2019re still in the stand. Sit down. Grab your rangefinder and laser the spot where the deer was standing. Write that distance down or text it to yourself. Note a nearby landmark if possible. Do the same thing where you last saw the deer. Then sit there, in your stand, for no less than 30 minutes, preferably longer. If you think you had a pass-through, go to the spot you lasered (because once you get down on the ground everything looks different), and make a brief search for the arrow. If you can find it right away, great; it\u2019ll give you clues about the hit. But if not, just back out and give the deer time. The buck won\u2019t be any less dead in an hour or three when you come back. If you\u2019re hunting with me, call me, and we\u2019ll come up with a plan. If you\u2019re not and can get a buddy, preferably someone with experience, get that person to meet you. You\u2019re still going to be anxious and excited, and your buddy won\u2019t be. Sometimes, the worst guy to have tracking a deer is the guy who shot him.<\/p>\n

Biggest Pet Peeve<\/h2>\n

I hate the idea of outfitters imposing minimum scores and especially the practice of fining hunters who shoot a buck under the minimum. The idea was invented by an a-hole and has been since adopted by other a-holes\u2014and it needs to go away immediately. Things like this have never been part of the hunting process and can wreck it for anybody. I\u2019ve been doing this a long time, and I can tell you this with certainty: Guys come to Kansas wanting to shoot a giant buck, and 90 out of 100 will shoot the first 2\u00bd-year-old whitetail that comes through, and some intentionally. If that guy is happy with his buck, who am I to bring him down? If you\u2019re proud of your buck there\u2019s not a guy happier for you than me.<\/p>\n

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Will he score 120, or 130, or better? Clark hates minimum-score rules because you might have only a few second to judge a buck in the field. Tim Clark<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People think it\u2019s going to be like on TV, where a buck appears 500 yards away, then proceeds to walk The Green Mile as he approaches your stand, giving you multiple views of his rack from every angle. Here\u2019s what actually happens: You\u2019re sitting in your stand, not paying attention, and suddenly a buck appears at 15 or 20 yards. You have literally seconds to decide whether he\u2019s a \u2018shooter\u2019 or not. No hunter should be expected to rough-score a rack correctly under those condition. Unless you\u2019ve got a dozen 140-inch bucks on your wall, you\u2019re going to misjudge him almost every time. But you know what? Even if it\u2019s a 125-inch buck, it\u2019s probably also the biggest buck you\u2019ve ever shot\u2014and we should celebrate that.\u201d  <\/p>\n

Seven More Pet Peeves<\/h2>\n

1. Slamming truck doors at the stand right after I say, “Press the door shut, or just leave it open and I’ll get it.” WHAM! What I want to know is, if a hunter is this noisy at the gate, what’s he doing in the stand? <\/p>\n

2. Pouting when someone else shoots a deer in camp. Seriously? Can we not be happy for, and support, the same people who love this as much as we do?<\/p>\n

3. Asking what time and what direction the deer will come from. If I were that good, it would be a one-day hunt and cost three times as much. <\/p>\n

4. Being ashamed when your buck isn’t what you thought it was. You killed it, be proud of it. <\/p>\n

5. Even worse is when a guide or fellow hunter makes someone feel ashamed of their buck.<\/p>\n

6. Calling me from the strand at 8 a.m (even if you shot, unless the buck is dead in sight). Text! Shhhhh. Slow down. Let’s make a plan.<\/p>\n

7. The \u201cB-roll\u201d footage shot for TV hunting shows. These re-created sequences give hunters the impression that you can whisper and do interviews while you’re in the  stand and then watch “Mufasa” leisurely approach your stand while your camera crew takes shots of you drawing. No, that’s mostly theater. Don’t talk in the stands out here.<\/p>\n

Worst Excuse from Hunters<\/h2>\n

Every season, I have clients who tell me they had to take a quartering-to shot because the deer saw them in the stand.  First, never take a quartering-to shot with a bow. Second, if he spotted you while he was quartering-to, you weren’t ready. Either wait for him calm down and be distracted or pass the shot completely. And please don’t come back to camp with an excuse for why you “had” to take a bad shot.<\/p>\n

The Biggest Mistakes Deer Hunters Make<\/h2>\n

The biggest mistake deer hunters make is simple, but I see it all the time, over and over. I don’t care if it’s a stand location I scouted for you or one you scouted for yourself at home, when you hunt it, you need to stay put<\/em> and sit still<\/em>. And you need to be quiet getting in and getting out. <\/p>\n

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Clark with a heavy-antlered Kansas buck. Tim Clark<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We once had this 190-class buck we name “Waldo,” and he would always skirt the herd in trail-cam pictures. I showed the hunter those pics and told him “If you see the does, start watching the cedars, because he’s right there and watching from cover.” Well, the hunter came in and told me the does appeared but the buck wasn’t with them. He said he was \u2018pinned down\u2019 at the end of legal light, so he banged on the stand to scare the does away. When they didn’t leave, he dropped his backpack to scare them away. The next morning, Waldo was shot in the neighbor’s pasture. I wonder what scared him that far away into the great wide open? The hunter left early, wanted to hunt the next year at a discount, and never returned.<\/p>\n

Another huge mistake is passing on a 150 waiting on a “giant.” A 150-inch whitetail is a great buck. Just because TV shows throw “150” around like a cheap bottle at a college party doesn’t change the fact that most hunters will never harvest one, let alone see one in their home state. <\/p>\n

On the Worst Misses<\/h2>\n

The worst “misses” are bad hits. I hate to see it, but it happens when hunters get rattled and take shots they shouldn’t. We once had a solid 200-inch 10-point that was shot quartering-to by a hunter who bragged that he’d killed hundreds of deer with a bow. We never found the buck. That hunter even called the warden on me and said I’d stolen his deer because we’d been hunting the buck three years. I’m not in the business of taking deer from people. I haven’t shot a Kansas deer since 2015, and I sure don’t want yours. <\/p>\n

Probably the greatest pure miss story was a hunter who whiffed by three or four feet because he got his elbow caught up on the safety line on the stand. I have trail-cam pics of the deer standing there and the arrow sitting below his front leg. I also have a picture of the hunter posing with that 180-inch buck. The deer came right back and let the hunter have a second shot. He didn\u2019t miss the second time! <\/p>\n

Final Thoughts on the Outfitter-Client Relationship<\/h2>\n
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Clark with a great buck and a happy client. Tim Clark<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m going to get some guys mad at me for saying this, but there are some crooks out there posing as serious outfitters. They may have an impressive website crammed with trail-cam and hero pics, but most are not theirs. These outfits are way more serious about taking your money than they are getting you on a buck. I\u2019m not saying this so you\u2019ll hunt with me. I\u2019ve got enough business. I\u2019m saying this so serious hunters with not a ton of money to spend don\u2019t waste it. Research your outfitter. Talk to him, and ask him hard questions. If he\u2019s honest, he won\u2019t be offended; he\u2019ll be happy. And ask for references, including those of clients who didn\u2019t kill. It\u2019s amazing to me how few people will do this background work\u2014which isn\u2019t that difficult\u2014and plop down five grand.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, if you do book with me\u2013or anyone\u2013be honest about your skill and your goals. I don\u2019t care what your level of experience is, I just need to know it so I can create the best experience for you. If you\u2019ve never been in a tree stand or are afraid of heights, tell me. If you\u2019ve hunted one weekend a year for the last decade, you don\u2019t have 10 years of experience, you have 20 days. If you say you\u2019re looking for a big, mature deer, but you\u2019ve never killed a 125-inch whitetail, let me know that too, because people can have very different definitions of “big.” Once again, I view myself as a coach for my hunters. And I can do a whole lot better job if you tell me upfront about your experience and goals. Then we can make a plan together.<\/p>\n

The post Straight Talk From the Deer Guides: A Kansas Pro Dishes on Blood-Trailing, Buck-Shaming, and Bad Excuses<\/a> appeared first on Field & Stream<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The right deer guide can help you get your buck, and drag it out, too. John Hafner Photography We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more \u203a We know you’re already thinking about deer season. So are we, which is why we are talking to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1166"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169,"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions\/1169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insurancesalescoach.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}