The Ladies Adventure Camp Experience | Introducing Future Hunters
NSSF selected the Ladies Adventure Camp Experience (L.A.C.E.) as one of its recipients for the 2020 Hunting Heritage Trust® Grant to expand the L.A.C.E. mentoring program for women interested in hunting and using firearms within a safe and nurturing environment while developing their outdoor skills.
L.A.C.E. recently used some of these funds to offer +ONE scholarship hunts to new hunters. Women were nominated by friends or family members and those who won we able to attend a L.A.C.E. +ONE event and hunt for free with world-class instruction. One of the scholarship winners shared how this experience, L.A.C.E. and the +ONE movement have positively impacted her life.
The Start of Something New…My first hunting experience!
By: Heather Marie Johnson
In July 2020, my two aunts, plus a friend and I, went on a road trip. During that time, we talked about past and future trips we have been on. We starting discussing hunting trips, because my Aunt Clara has been on a guided hunt in the past and my husband frequently travels with his friends on hunting trips. We talked about other family members who hunt and discussed the fact that we have never been invited to join them. I mentioned that I would love to try hunting some time, thinking we could plan a trip together in the future. The future was going to be much sooner than we thought! Shortly after getting back home from our trip, my Aunt Clara called me and said that she’d seen a scholarship opportunity through the Ladies Adventure Camp Experience (L.A.C.E.) to be nominated for a guided hunt on wild hogs and whitetail does in Texas—and it was to be a trip for the first-time women hunters. I was thrilled Aunt Clara nominated me!
After waiting patiently for a few months, she called me with the exciting news that I’d been selected for the scholarship hunt trip to Texas. I was so excited! I shared the good news with my closest friends and family, and everyone was excited for my new opportunity!
We flew from Chicago into Texas and met a group of women at a Dairy Queen in Rotan, Texas, to caravan to Hawks Double Mountain Ranch. From the start, everyone was so nice and excited for the weekend ahead. I felt comfortable with this group of ladies, especially Deb Ferns and Kay Miculek who run the Babes with Bullets camps that was the kick-off for the L.A.C.E. program.
Photo Courtesy of Blue 42
When we got to Hawks Double Mountain Ranch and I walked into the big lodge, I was even more impressed. We were immediately made to feel like family. Deb gave us a brief introduction and we talked about the NSSF +One program about inviting someone every time you go hunting or out to the shooting range. Deb noted that women don’t typically invite themselves to do things like hunt, so statistically there are fewer women hunters, though that number is growing. Men are more likely to hunt because, as a child, they will ask on their own to go with family or friends. That clicked with me as my husband has been great to invite our daughter to hunt with him, but I did not have the same experience of being invited to go hunting with my brothers, uncle or cousins.
We unpacked at the lodge in big, very comfortable bunkrooms, and then Kay taught us how to shoot bolt-action rifles since most of the gals on the trip had never operated one before. We talked about our plans for the morning hunt, enjoying a wild-game dinner after and the camp camaraderie.
Early on Friday morning, we woke up to get into our blinds before sunrise with our mentor guide (my first morning was with Kay and cameraman Eydin.) I remember it was shortly after sunrise when a group of 15 hogs came out in the open. They were quick and moved around a lot. I had my gun ready, I was comfortable looking through the scope and when I finally had a good shot, Kay reminded me to breathe, and I took the opportunity.
I fired one shot and got my first wild boar on my first hunt ever! Kay and Eydin were pumped and they got me even more excited. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone back at camp and get back so I could call my husband! I felt so empowered, like there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do.
I cannot thank my aunt enough for not only nominating me but for inviting me to go hunting. I think that if I had invited myself to go along on a hunt, there could have been opportunities for me to do that at home, but maybe I was waiting for someone to invite me? I am so happy I learned about the NSSF +ONE program.
I returned home to Wisconsin with my stories and a desire to try new things. I knew that since whitetail deer season was coming up, I wanted to try my chance at shooting a deer. I told my husband and my dad that I wanted to go on a Thanksgiving morning hunt but didn’t want to go alone, so my stepmom (who had never hunted) offered to go with me. I went out the same day and purchased my first hunting license. My husband made some suggestions on what to bring with me, gave me a short tutorial on the gun and how to load it. On the upside, I knew how to be safe and load the gun based on what I had learned on my recent hunt.
I picked up my stepmom at 5:30a.m. to go out to our family’s 10 acres. We didn’t see anything that morning, but it was nice to be outside together in nature. My husband wanted me to have an opportunity to hunt a larger area to potentially see some deer, so on Thanksgiving night we traveled to central Wisconsin and stayed at his friend’s cabin to hunt their 250 acres. We prepared and went out early Friday morning but didn’t see much. I went back to the cabin and took a nap, then we headed back out after lunch. Just as the sun was going down, a doe peeked appeared among the corn stalks and I was able to take a shot at her. She tipped right over. My husband had a huge smile on his face, and his excitement and pride made me more excited! Now, I keep thinking about all the people I want to invite to go hunting with me, even if we don’t see anything, as it’s therapeutic and calming to spend time in nature.
I am so thankful for the scholarship opportunity and being able to hunt with some amazing women from the L.A.C.E. program. I know that shooting sports and hunting are activities that I will continue in the future!
Very rarely do deer "drop in their tracks" at the shot. Once you make your shot, stay focused on the deer noting where it was when you fired and the direction it took off in.[/caption]
Despite what we may see on television, deer usually do not drop in their tracks at the shot. Sometimes, too, “stuff” happens and the shot is less than perfect. That’s when you have to unleash your tracking skills and go find them. Here are 10 tried-and-true tracking tips that have served me well over the years in finding deer after the shot.
Before you leave your stand, use your phone to take a photo of where the deer was standing when you shot and the landmark where you last saw the deer before it disappeared.[/caption]
Go to where you last saw the deer and look for blood and tracks. Remember to look on the bushes as well as on the ground for blood. If you fail to find any, go to spot where you shot the deer and search for blood and/or hair. If you still don’t find a blood trail of any kind, go back to your stand and double check to make sure you were looking in the right places.
Next, start where you last saw the deer and walk to the location where you last heard the deer. Watch for blood and other sign along the way. Sometimes it takes a while for the blood trail to start.
When looking for a blood trail, heavy signs higher up on bushes or spurts off the trail may indicate arterial bleeding, which means you should find your deer shortly.[/caption]
Did you find pieces of bone? Trust me, it’s not ribs as so many people think; 95% of the time it is pieces of leg bone. You may get that deer, but it’s not going to be easy.
A lot of blood at the start that turns into a few drips and then stops in a ¼ mile or so, is usually a low hit in the brisket. You are in for a long day with that deer.
With a leg or brisket hit, the deer is very mobile and will keep moving if pushed. If you can get some help, it’s best to place hunters along the escape routes and hope the deer comes by as you track the blood.
If you simply cannot find a blood trail of any kind, divide the land where you last saw the deer into a grid and walk each grid point until you find the deer or a sign of its trail.[/caption]
In that case, expand the grid and repeat. Look under every bush and in every brush pile. A mortally wounded deer will often crawl under cover and will die there.
Photograph Courtesy of Leupold® & Stevens, Inc.[/caption]
I have been using a 
Public land from coast to coast has one common denominator: It’s marginal. These lands entered the public domain because they weren’t valuable for agricultural, residential or other private commercial use. Consequently, the best public deer ground is often steep, rocky, weedy, and raw—all factors that can improve the hunting if you know how to read the terrain.
On public land, the variables are too numerous to mention, but they tend to fall into three themes: accessibility, landscape type, and hunting style.
We’ll pick apart three different-but-common landscapes, and then apply the other two variables—accessibility and hunting style—to each. I hope you recognize your local public parcel in these descriptions.
Dense timber can be hard to hunt, because there aren't many defined edges. In these places, look for tracks, scrapes, and rubs, and set up downwind of those signs.[/caption]
These public properties tend to be grown over and fairly sterile in terms of wildlife value. But they serve as productive transition zones for whitetails, providing bedding areas, mast production in good acorn years, and terrain that rewards hunters who get away from the easy access spots and work the interiors.
Accessibility: You’re likely to see lots of vehicles at the access points and trailheads, but don’t let that deter you. Prepare to hike, maybe only a few hundred yards or perhaps as far as two miles, to get into the best hunting terrain. If possible, you’re going to want to hike a ridge, maintaining your elevation as you work into the interior.
Keep your eyes peeled for deer sign—maybe a rub or a scrape, or a well-used trail. If you’re packing a treestand, the very best spot to erect it is on the nose of a distinct ridge that overlooks a saddle. Bonus points if you can find a good tree that commands the spot where two major ridges meet.
Some access points will be at the lower margins of the property, in which case you have some climbing to do. Find the dominant ridge of the parcel and hike up it, keeping your eyes peeled for sign.
In areas where water is abundant, look for mast-producing trees. In areas where water is limited, look for little seeps and springs—places that might concentrate deer.
Hunting Style: Your hunting style in these woodland habitats will likely be from a treestand. Many public properties don’t allow permanent stands, so think about bringing a climber and setting up over a defined trail. Alternatively, try making a mock scrape, and see if it’s being tended. If it is, that’s the spot for your stand, just downwind of the scrape. This is the perfect terrain for stump-sitters, folks who simply plop down and watch. It’s an old and very effective method for woodland hunting.
If you intend to hunt from the ground, plan on using deadfall and slash vegetation to build a ground blind. No need to bring in a commercial blind, especially if it limits your mobility.
A killer spot to set up for ag-land deer is just inside a timbered edge overlooking a field.[/caption]
These landscapes range from the monoscapes of the Great Plains wheat belt to the corn and soybean country of the Midwest to the smaller pastures of the Southeast. What they all have in common, however, is very productive edge habitat, the line between cropland and nearby woods, or pasture and brushy cover. You should be hunting that edge.
Hunting Style: Prevailing wind direction can make or break your hunt. Walk that edge, looking for places where deer routinely jump a fence, rub a cedar fencepost or where they scoot between hiding cover and feeding areas. Because deer tend to be equal-opportunity foragers, it can be hard to tell precisely where they feed, but you should be able to identify these movement corridors.
If you can’t predict wind, identify stand locations on either side of a corridor. But if there’s a prevailing wind, set up downwind of the crossing and plan to be in place in the evenings. These are typically not morning spots, but they are good places to intercept deer moving from cover to feed in the evenings.
In mountainous country, set up on edges, including those spots where timbered slopes meet creek drainages, and watch for migrating deer.[/caption]
Accessibility: When thinking about seasonal migration corridors, target your scouting and hunting activity on food sources. Think about the lower-elevation attractants for deer. Maybe that’s an irrigated alfalfa field where they’ll find succulent forage once frost nips the higher-elevation plants. Or perhaps it’s a cut corn field adjacent to weedy bedding cover.
Hunting Style: Regardless, you want to find those riparian corridors that offer easy access from the high country to the foothills. Finding fresh sign can be tough here, since the transitional landscapes are often dry and rocky. So instead, hunt the weather. Wait for a snowstorm to hit the high country, and then set up on a promising canyon a day or two later. If you’re in the right place, you should start to see does and yearlings moving downhill. The mature bucks will wait a couple of days and then start to move.
Good hunting strategies for this landscape include using a spotting scope set up on a vista that allows you to look into a number of drainages, a pack that is stout enough to pack out a portion of a deer but light enough so it won’t slow you down as you intercept promising bucks, and a GPS with a landowner chip that will alert you when you reach that public/private land interface.
About the Author
Andrew McKean is a longtime outdoor writer and the former editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life. He lives in northeast Montana with his family and yellow Lab. You can follow his adventures on Instagram 
Rattling can be a deadly tactic to try during the “chase phase” of the rut, which occurs in the first and second weeks of November.[/caption]
During the "lock-down phase" the advantage to hunters is that bucks are so intent on breeding that they often overlook small movements that would otherwise blow a setup earlier in the season.[/caption]
During the "post-rut phase," look for bucks to feed in remote areas where high-energy forage, such as brassicas, winter rye, uncut soybeans and apples in abandoned orchards, are readily available.[/caption]
How To Hunt: If you’re a food-plotter, this is the time to concentrate on high-energy forage, such as brassicas and winter rye. In agricultural country, find uncut soybeans and corn. Bigger bucks will spend more time in solitary bedding areas, so set up on trails between those overgrown, brushy areas and prime food sources. Here again, try to hunt the weather. If you can be out before a big winter storm blows in, you’ll see enhanced deer activity. And hunt fields the day after a snowfall or winter storm when deer become more active again.
Pro Tip: Find native fruit sources—wild plums, persimmons, and even neglected apple orchards. Those fruits have sweetened with cold weather, and calorie-desperate bucks will focus on these high-sugar food sources.