Congratulation Tommy Brandenburg on tagging out with 2 mature bucks in two days. This just shows you how persistent and determined Tommy is and therefore he consistently harvest mature deer year after year. Read more about his hunts in the posts below.
Tagged out in 2 days
Tommy does it again with a 13 pointer, tagging out with two great bucks in two day.
Here's what Tommy had to say about his second buck.
"Little story about the second buck. Last week was the first I’ve ever seen this deer. Some pics I got made me want to check him out. Seeing him in person and a 5 yard shot was to much to pass up with those main beams! Double club shovels. Such a unique buck! I could not resist the opportunity. I’m happy with my choice! I think his name will be spades".
13 Pointer
Tommy Brandenburg crushed a monster buck. The ultimate chess match is finally over. Tommy never put in so much time and dedication to harvest one buck ever. He's been on him all season but he always seemed to get lucky! Tommy missed him back in November when he was locked on a doe. Dozens of encounters drove Tommy crazy!! Lucky enough to take 2 months off work to focus on him 2 splits finally made a mistake yesterday. What a incredible animal! The body size of this old busier is insane! Tommy said Stay persistent, hunt smart and never give up on your goal!
Congratulations Tommy Brandenburg
Split 2 Buck
Happy New Years! With 2020 behind us we can start thinking about our plans for 2021. One thing I’m doing this year is rotating our corn and soybean plots. We do this every two year, so we don’t deplete the soil of nurturance. Soybeans produce nitrogen and corn needs it to grow so those are easy ones to rotate. Clover and alfalfa produce nitrogen, so both are also great crops to rotate with corn or even turnip. When planning food plots were always think about two or more years down the road. Walking the land you hunt during winter is also great preparation for next season, you can see if your fall and winter food plots are providing food for your deer herd. Winter is also a great time to mark areas you plan on improving over the summer. Over the next couple of months, I’ll share with you what we’ll be planning for this coming spring and summer.
Making a plan for 2021
The hunt isn't over until the venison is processed. Over the last two week we have processed 4 deer. The best part is that we have 100% control on how are deer are processed and we know exactly what is being mixed into our ground if we choose to add any fat. We have no connection with Lem products but after using other less quality equipment we found that you can't beat Lem's over all performance. We are using the Lem #8 Big Bite grinder and 654 stainless steel mixer with 20lbs capacity. For more information and pictures of the process click on this link.
Deer Processing
SLH would like to thank Chris Pazul of Graphic Edge Studio for creating this awesome picture for us. Check out this great idea to memorialize your deer with digital art created by Chris Pazul. All you do is send Chris good pictures of deer you want in the picture and he will create beautiful digital image. For more information and prices check out his website website.
"My best bucks"
The week started off with most bucks in lockdown mode. Younger bucks were still running any doe they came across. We are in the last week of the early archery season and gun season opening on the 21st. Team member Greg Syvrud punched his Wisconsin archery tag on Friday the 13thwith an awesome buck. After having an early season encounter and miss with his number one hit list buck Greg put in the hour and it all paid off.
Both Greg and myself are now gearing up for this weekends gun deer season. Our goal is to harvest a few doe to help out our management plan. This is also a great time to put some venison in the freezer. With the increase in deer processing we made the decision to purchase a grinder and mixer along with some other equipment and go back to processing our on deer. We looking forward to making snack sticks, sausage, jerky, bacon, Italian sausage and ground burger. We'll post some of the processing and making of different products that we do. Its fun to experiment with different spices and mixes.
I hope everyone is having a great hunting season and remember to be safe.
"Friday the Thirteenth"
November 7th Update - Things are starting to heat up in Southwestern Wisconsin.
Greg and I (Brad) spent the last 5 days in stand hunting Greg's 98 acre property. Greg was the shooter with me behind the camera. Our first few days we had good deer moved. Most of the deer were feeding in food plots early in the afternoons. We saw some younger deer but our number 1 buck never showed up. We didn't see any chasing going on and that surprised me (last weekend I had seen 2 mature buck chasing doe). Saturday and Sunday was windy and deer movement was down to nothing. This week temperatures are going to be in the high 60's, that's not ideal conditions but with the rut going coming into full swing we will be in the stand. We hope everyone is having a great season and post some picture of your harvest on our Facebook page.
"The Wide 8"
I walked some food plots over the weekend to see how they matured. I do this at the end of every growing season to see how each crop grow. For me we ended the season with all crop turning out excellent. Believe me this doesn’t happen every year and don’t get discouraged if you have some failure. Most of our plots are planted in strips with multiple crops. By planting this way, you can offer deer a good food source from spring to late winter.
The plot pictured is planted with clover(HB seed called Luck O’ Buck) on the left field edge, then corn followed by brassicas and bulbs (HB seed called Sweet Frost and Tank-A-Licious) then forage soybeans on the right field edge. This make for a food plot deer can feed in from spring to late winter.
Food Plot Design
I punched my Wisconsin Archery tag on October 2 with a 5-year-old buck. It’s bittersweet to fill my tag this early in the season but on the other hand it means all the hard work paid off. I hunted this buck on a food plot that was planted with HB Seed Companies seed blend called Tagged Out and it lived up to its name. October 2nd was our first morning seeing temperatures in the low 30’s. The cooler temps had mature bucks up and moving early in the afternoon. I got in the stand at 3:00pm and around 4:00pm my number 1 buck come in and feed in the plot but was just out of range, so I didn’t get a shot. 30 minutes later my number 2 buck walked into the plot, I ranged him with my Vortex Optics Ranger rangefinder at 20 yards and let the arrow fly. The Crown Broadhead by Thorn Broadheads did its job and the buck piled up 30 yards away. I can’t saw enough about the products we use and the great companies behind every product that make hunting so enjoyable. I’m looking forward to getting back out to do some doe management. I hope everyone is having a fun, safe and successful season.
Brad's Wisconsin Archery Buck
Planted fall plots the first week of August with 4/10’s inch of rain over the next 20 days. We then had over 4 inches of rain in 5 days. With that much rain we decided to re-fertilize each plot with 46-0-0 fertilizer at the rate of 150# per acre and the HB Seed plots exploded. Temperatures are expected in the mid 70’s over the next 7 day’s. This will help the plots reach maturity.
Horny Buck Seed Company website
Our trail cameras showed day time movement of mature bucks last week with cooler temperatures. I also noticed some scrapes along wood edges. This is a great time to hang scent ropes and put out Hodag Licking Sticks. If you haven't used Hogad Licking Sticks give them a try this season. We have them out all season long and deer love to use them. The best part is you can move them to any area you want.
Purple Top Turnip
Trail cameras pictures from last week are showing bucks turning hard antler. It won’t be long before we can get back in a stand. We had some rain over the weekend that really help our food plots 100%. With cooler temperatures it feeling more like hunting season.
Forage Soybeans
It’s almost September and that means hunting season is fast approaching. Stands have been set and checked, fall food plots are planted (now it’s up to mother nature to supply us with sunshine and moister). We've inventoried bucks all summer using Vortex optics and by trail camera, now its time to decide what buck to target.
Some of the group have out of state hunts so we wish them the best of luck.
Check back throughout 2020 season for updates on what we are doing. Have a great season and remember to be safe.