As hunting season gets closer, we’re preparing, checking cameras, hanging stands, cutting trails, watching food sources, and getting our gear dialed in. We know what we do before the season affects what happens during the season. The same is true of our walk with God. 1. TURN — Psalm 119:37 (NASB 1995) “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways.” Distractions cost us in the woods, and they cost us spiritually. What has my attention that is stealing my hunger for God? 2. CLEAN — Psalm 51:10 (NASB 1995) “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a loyal spirit within me.” We clear trails, shooting lanes, and anything that gets in the way. Sometimes our hearts need the same work. 3. DRAW NEAR — James 4:8 (NASB 1995) “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” We spend a lot of time figuring out how to get closer to that mature buck. But there’s a pursuit that matters far more: getting closer to God. TURN — CLEAN — DRAW NEAR As you prepare for hunting season, don’t spend so much time preparing the land and your gear that you neglect preparing the man who walks into the woods. Prayer: Lord, turn my eyes from distractions, clean my heart, renew my spirit, and revive my hunger for You. Amen.

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Summer can be one of the best times of the year to learn a property without putting much pressure on it. From late spring through summer, whitetails are generally living a different life than they will during October and November. Bucks are growing antlers, bachelor groups are common, food is abundant, and movement is heavily influenced by nutrition, bedding, water, temperature, and security. The mistake is assuming that where you see a buck in August is automatically where you’ll kill him in November. What I’m looking for during summer: 1. FOOD SOURCES Summer deer are nutrition-driven. Soybeans, clover, alfalfa, browse, agricultural crops, soft mast and quality native vegetation can concentrate deer. Don’t just ask where are they feeding? Ask: Where are they entering the food source? That entrance trail may tell you much more than the field itself. 2. BEDDING → STAGING → FOOD Try to identify the entire evening pattern: Bedding — travel corridor — staging area — primary food - Mature bucks often don’t walk directly from their bed into an open field. - They may stage inside cover, browse around and wait until light fades before stepping into the open. - That staging area can become extremely important later. 3. WATER Hot weather makes reliable water worth watching. Ponds, creeks, springs, cattle tanks and secluded water holes can all help reveal travel patterns—especially when water is located between bedding cover and food. 4. TRAIL CAMERA TIMING A picture of a good buck is exciting. But the time, wind and direction of travel may be more valuable than the picture. START ASKING: - What time did he arrive? - Which direction was he traveling? - What was the wind doing? - Did another buck follow the same route? - Does he repeat the pattern every few days? One picture is information. Repeated behavior is a pattern 5. ACCESS MATTERS NOW - Summer scouting should gather information without educating the deer. - Use observation from a distance, glass fields when possible, place cameras where they can be checked with minimal intrusion, and pay attention to your wind and entry route. - There’s no reason to burn a good bedding area in August just to prove a buck is there. - The Big Warning - Summer patterns change. - Velvet comes off. Bachelor groups break apart. Crops mature or get harvested. Acorns begin dropping. Hunting pressure increases. Testosterone rises and eventually the rut changes everything. - So don’t build your entire October strategy around an August trail-camera picture.

Welcome to Black Jack Ridge Brotherhood! It’s August here in South Arkansas, and we’re all looking forward to a break in this heat. Before long it’ll be time to get fall food plots in the ground. I’m curious what everyone is planting this year. Has anyone had good success using buckwheat as a summer cover crop to build organic matter, suppress weeds, and prepare the soil before a late August or early September planting? If you’ve tried it, what worked? What didn’t? Also, where’s everyone checking in from? Introduce yourself and tell us what you’re hunting or working on this season. That last question is important. It gets people talking to each other, not just answering you.