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Steve Cornett Pro Staff for Rak’s Big Game Supplements
What does it do to bounce the herd, to help the herd, as well as helping bucks grow big racks? Well, I try to run trail cameras on most of my sites all year round, and I know fawns will hit is as soon as they can. Does are always there, which is great to see. It helps the fawns and does to stay healthy. And when the bucks hit it, I mean I always have bucks coming to it, but you can definitely see an increase in their antler size and body growth. Steve Cornett Pro Staff for Rak’s Big Game Supplements
See, I’ve been using it for six years now, and the past four years, both my dad and I have taken Pope & Young bucks, which is 125 inches or bigger, which to us makes us happy just because before, it could be every three or four years that you’d see a decent buck. Now, it’s every year we’re seeing bucks that are getting bigger and bigger. And it’s just nice to be able to let them go, watch them in your stand, and then a couple of years later, just see what they grow into. It’s pretty amazing.
Bruce: Let’s talk about what you put on the ground in the first quarter of the year, January, February, March, and then all through the year. So let’s break the year into four quarters, and tell us what you start the year with, and then what you end the year with, as far as mineral supplements.
I’ll start the year off with feeds and minerals and our protein blocks
Steve: Well, I’ll start the year off with feeds and minerals and our protein blocks just because it’s hard to break up the ground when it’s frozen, obviously. So Steve Cornett Pro Staff for Rak’s Big Game Supplements, which I have great lots of [inaudible 00:03:34]. And even the feed, I’ll mix mineral around with, just so they’re still getting more minerals. And then come spring when it starts to thaw, then I start putting out the mineral and really getting deer hammered on the mineral. And I use that until it freezes. Steve Cornett Pro Staff for Rak’s Big Game Supplements
Like even during deer season, you can’t have within 200 yards of your deer span, so I mean you’ve got to watch the regulations for whatever state you’re in.
Bruce: Yeah. I want to give a caveat here. So whatever state you’re in, listener, in North America, remember to please check with your DOW, whoever is in charge of your critters in your state, and make sure you’re doing this the right way and so you’re not going to get in trouble. Because some people I’ve known, they’ve shown me trail cameras of the warden standing in their food plot and mineral and writing them up a ticket, and they caught it on their trail camera. So please be smart about that and don’t cut corners and just play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.
Every state is different
Steve: Yeah, that’s exactly right. Every state is different. And I guess just whatever state you’re in, you’ve just got to watch the regulations and all that.
Bruce: So let’s talk about your hit list and how you said your dad and yourself had seen bucks go from less than 125 inside the years, to now they’re getting outside the years and starting to build some mass and some tine length. So tell us about your hit list for last year, and then what you’re thinking about your hit list is going to be for this year.
I mean our herd’s coming back great
Steve: Well, this year, that was tough. I unfortunately missed what would have been my biggest yet to date. And we got hit hard at the HD, so I didn’t even shoot a doe this year. So I haven’t shot a doe since the HD hit. But I mean our herd’s coming back great. You can see they’re still just as strong and the bones just as big. Steve Cornett Pro Staff for Rak’s Big Game Supplements
But this year, we had two bucks, for sure, that we wanted to get and one of them I missed. But I passed on a wide…in my opinion, I thought it was a two and a half year old, and he already had dropped tine, so I’m really looking forward to seeing him this year, seeing how long that dropped tine gets, seeing if he grows another one, just stuff like that. So I’m really looking forward to seeing him.
We had a real wide eight point. He was wide and heavy, and I’m really anxious to see him also. He was one of them that was on our hit list. And then the one that I missed, I wouldn’t say once-in-a-lifetime buck because that could be anybody’s opinion, but I would guess probably 150, 160s class, which I could be wrong. But he had two kickers and he was forked at the end. He was just a gnarly-looking buck, I thought. So them bucks, I’m really excited to watch them grow and see what they turn into, I guess.
Bruce: Tell me about the terrain and the cover that you’re hunting in.
We’re right along the Elkhorn River, and so we have a lot of swamp areas, we have a couple of creeks that run through
Steve: We’re pretty flat. We’re right along the Elkhorn River, and so we have a lot of swamp areas, we have a couple of creeks that run through. But it’s heavy timber, a lot of parks are thick, which is great. I love hunting along the thick edges. And we hunt along probably close 200, 300 acres of all-year graded crop, which is every year of corn, so really beneficial to us just having all that healthy corn down there. And plus using our RAKS out there really helps keep the deer there.
But yeah, we’re right along the river. It’s tough to walk through. But you get away from the river a little bit, you run into a lot of meadows, and then it will get back into the thick trees.
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