How to Use Hunting Decoys

hungrydeerLearning how to make use of hunting decoys can be a very important part of your hunting experience. Regardless if you are new to hunting, or if you are a seasoned veteran of the fields and forests, learning how to use decoys as part of your hunting can advance things to a whole new level, and give you that extra advantage that improves your results. Using decoys is moderately easy. Along with your usual tools for hunting, you will need: decoys, scent-eliminating spray and soap, a Buck archery target, and a windsock.

For deer hunting:

  1. You will need to keep your decoy as scent free as you possibly can. Wash it in the scent and odor eliminating soap, followed by a liberal spraying down with scent removing spray before the hunt. Deer are incredibly sensitive to smells, and so your hunting efforts will be for naught if you cannot get a dear anywhere near you due to scent alerting them to your presence.
  2. Scout out the place you wish to deploy your decoy to that is 15 to 25 yards away from the blind or stand if bow hunting. If you are using a rifle, you can place the decoy even further away. An ideal place is going to be somewhere close to an edge of a field where the forest begins and the trees and the shrubs begin to thicken.
  3. Make sure your decoy is placed where other deer are known to congregate, and so will expect to see another deer there. A deer in a strange place will seem odd, and may only serve to scare potential targets away.
  4. Make sure to pose your decoy in a feeding position. This is the most likely, most reliable, and most effective stance you could pose your decoy in.
  5. During the rutting season, use a doe decoy if you want the best results. Take a small colored rag in a neutral shade and spray it with what is known as “doe in estrus”, which is a scent that resembles the scent of a doe in heat. Attach it to the decoys tail.
  6. You can also use a Buck archery target as a decoy. Try to make sounds like a challenging buck might in order to attract other challenging bucks and does looking for a potential mate alike.

For waterfowl hunting:

  1. It needs to be remembered that waterfowl both take off and land facing into the wind. Now keep this information in mind while setting up your decoys, and be sure to set them in front of you while you have your back to the wind.
  2. Be sure to leave lots of room for potential targets among your decoys. Too many decoys in the water will actually harm more than it helps.
  3. Use feeding or sleeping duck decoys, herons, or even swans in order to create confidence in the target.
  4. Be sure to use a unique spread of decoys when setting up. Give the target something different that will attract them.

Photo credits: *Micky

Originally posted 2009-10-15 03:29:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Choosing a Rifle Scope Magnification Range

riflescopeOne of the considerations that you are going to want to make when choosing a scope for your rifle is the magnification range of the scope. A scope that is in the 3 to 9 magnification range for a gun intended for whitetail deer is definitely pretty standard. In the western states when it comes to antelope or mule deer, you may want to go for a 4 to 12 range or a 4.5 to 14 range, and these are not too much. This is especially true when your average spot as so many times as long as it would generally be when hunting in the eastern woods for whitetail.

On the plains or when you are hunting in the open country, you can go with a scope that offers higher power. You will often be able to see all the way around you, with very little chance of something sneaking up an surprising you. Some animals do have occasion to sneak up anyway, however. You may have to shoot from one hilltop to another or from one mountain to another in some cases as well.

When you are shooting prairie dogs or shooting over a long distance for target shooting, you may find that you do not get much power out of a 6 to 20X or an 8 to 25X variable scope. You should be keeping in mind that on hotter days, heat waves and mirage can render a high power scope nearly impossible to use.

Some people do prefer to use fixed power scopes, primarily because of their simplicity and the fact that they have fewer necessary moving parts. On certain rifles, people are happy using nothing more than simply a fixed 4X scope. Squirrel rifles as well as many 22 files tend to be well equipped using this level of magnification. There are also some target shooters that utilize fixed power scopes with a high level of magnification such as 24 power, 36 power or 40 power.

The most common magnified scope for a handgun is a 2X scope. The higher the level of magnification that you have, the harder it is going to be for you to find your target and sight picture, and the closer and more critical your eye relief is going to become. When you shoot a handgun using a scope, you will find that the process requires a great deal of practice, especially when you are dealing with anything that is above 2X. Stronger or more powerful variable scopes are typically only best for experienced shooters and they are used near exclusively from a resting position.

Muzzle loaders and shotgun scopes often have lower powered scopes to handle hunting of deer on the short range with slugs as well as for hunting for turkey. A 2X fixed scope is typically standard here, but there is also a trend for variable power scopes in the 2 to 7 range and the 3 to 9 range as well.

Photo Credits: AMagill

Originally posted 2009-10-12 03:25:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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