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Kevin Miller owner of Allegheny Wingshooting talks Whitetail-Deer
whitetail deer Welcome to another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. This is your host, Bruce Hutcheon. On the show this morning, I have Kevin Miller of Altoona, Pennsylvania. He’s owner and operator of Allegheny Wingshooting. He’s also an ardent trout fisherman, whitetail deer archer, and he’s just been a lot of places in the country hunting. Kevin, welcome to the show.
Kevin: Thank you, Bruce. Glad to be here.
Bruce: Well, let’s just jump right into it and talk about your hunting experiences throughout North America, and then we’ll come back to Pennsylvania and talk about whitetails in Pennsylvania and how it crosses over with your waterfowl endeavors there. So, Kevin, let’s talk about how you started hunting in various states throughout the country.
talk about your hunting experiences throughout North America
Kevin: Well, my hunting career started when I was old enough to walk really. Dad would take me into the woods just teaching me the ways of the woods to learn my woodsman-ship, fishing, hunting, and it just carried over from there. And I would go on hunting trips with him even before I was able to carry a gun, and from that point on, I just fell in love with it.
Bruce: Now what type of game have you hunted throughout North America?
Kevin: I hunted upland birds from quail, to pheasant, to sage grouse, to chukars, waterfowl, ducks and geese, [turkey], and [woodpit], and mule deer.
Bruce: What about the trout fishing? I hear there’s some really good trout fishing in Pennsylvania.
Kevin: Yes, actually I’m right here, what is considered the south-central area of Pennsylvania, and we have some of the best limestone streams here in the country. Just to name a few of them, Spring Creek, Penn’s Creek, the Bald Eagle, Mormon’s Creek, Kettle Creek, they’re all right here within the area. They’re absolutely wonderful. And probably the most notable one is the Little Juniata River, it’s really well known for its trout fishery.
Bruce: Let’s talk about how does trout fishing compared to Whitetail hunting.
Kevin: If I’m on the stream trout fishing, I’m always looking at signs, constantly seeing where the deer crossing over the stream, or maybe where there was old rubs or scrapes, and it also translates into waterfowl, too. Excuse me. Waterfowl is up and down the stream, lots of native birds are flushing from where they’re holding, just about everything in the outdoors, I try to make it relate. I’m constantly…my eyes are open. And it’s not so much about the trout fishing, I’m really concentrating on all the sign that I’m seeing from my quarry.
Bruce: Let’s go back to fly-fishing, and waterfowl, and Whitetail hunting and how they crossover, and some of the skills and techniques that you use in those other endeavors help you be a better bow hunter for whitetails.
Let’s go back to fly-fishing, and waterfowl, and Whitetail hunting and how they crossover,
Kevin: Yeah. When I’m on the stream, I’m fishing, and we all know when you’re fishing sometimes they’re biting good, sometimes they’re not. And I’m always looking around, checking out sign, looking for old scrapes, looking for old rubs, looking where the trails are crossing over the stream maybe from a ridge side to a feeding area, maybe even a bedding area. As far as waterfowl goes, I’m always watching where I’m seeing birds sit. You’ll walk down the stream and you’ll be checking out small groups of birds, and then I’ll look up and see what type of tree. I always take into consideration…well say it’s a woodcock, I’ll look up to see what type of tree it is and try to figure out why those birds were sitting there. And probably 95% of the time, it’s because it was an oak tree in the [inaudible 00:05:02].
I constantly am looking around for signs, no matter whether it be for waterfowl, or Whitetail, or turkey, or whatever it is, I’m always looking for old scrapes, old rubs, places where they’re crossing over the river from maybe a bedding area, or into a feeding area. With waterfowl, I’m constantly looking to see if the birds are underneath an oak tree, possibly in their getting acorns, and I’m always really observant with my surroundings and with the signs that I’m seeing. And I think that really helps me make a decision on what I’m seeing and where I might possibly hunt.
Bruce: So, listeners, Kevin’s sharing some of the other things he does in the outdoors, but no matter what, whenever he’s in the outdoors, he’s hunting whitetails, and that’s what I want to bring out on today’s show. Even though you do other things a lot of time, it should always come back to either your bow hunting, muzzleloader hunting, rifle hunting, and be observant when you’re out in the field because, like Kevin said, on some of the trout streams, he’s looking for old rubs, he’s looking for trails. So, Kevin, let’s jump into why you hunt whitetails.
“The animal’s really instinctive,” especially as they get older
Kevin: Why I hope Whitetail? For lack of a better term, you’ll hear me saying that the animal’s extremely intelligent, and rightfully so. The Whitetail is a very intelligent animal, but I prefer to use, “The animal’s really instinctive,” especially as they get older, they become really aware of their surroundings, the sense of smell that they have, their hearing. Everything about the Whitetail, he’s a very, very challenging creature to hunt. And that’s what I love the most about the Whitetail, he’s a very challenging animal.
Bruce: How do you defeat their innate senses or ability to just sense danger?
Kevin: Absolutely. I go to great lengths to cover my scents, make sure all my clothes are washed, and the proper deer equipment, and what it’s stored in, everything. That’s what’s so fascinating about the animal is just because every time you…when I’m in my tree stand, it’s like they have a 10th sense, so to speak, and just that innate ability just always impresses me.
Bruce: But what type of terrain do you hunt for whitetails?
Kevin: Yeah, there’s a lot of mountainous terrain, a lot of ridges and valleys, and I really hunt…I have several different stands in different areas, some are pure mountain stands where it’s really steep ridges in between mountain laurel bedding areas on their way to the feeding areas. Sometimes I’ll hunt agricultural areas off the side of a ridge where they’re leading out into a cornfield or a soybean field, possibly a clover field. But yeah, the terrain around here is mainly mountainous with big valleys, agricultural valleys.