By Nathan Russell
In the fall of 2016, I was sitting in a stand on our family lease in Mississippi. My dad and I had been hunting this lease for several years we had seen decent bucks on the property but for the most part had only killed does and small bucks. On this morning, I was hunting a stand we had recently placed in an oak flat, bordered on either side by two pine ridges. Behind the stand was an old logging road that had grown over with briars, wild azaleas, honey suckle, and other thick bushes. In just the few times, we had hunted this stand, the deer tended to move the along the edge of where the pines and oaks meet or coming directly out of the pines into the oaks to feed on acorns. On this particular morning, I had been sitting in the stand for several hours and had only seen squirrels. It was a beautiful morning and enjoyable sit. Slowly dozing off, I start hearing the sound of a Carolina Wren making a ton of noise.
I had only become familiar with the sound of a Carolina Wren, when I had one build a nest in my carport. I would walk into my carport and this Carolina Wren would start making a ton of noise and would continue the racket until I left the carport. She did this until she raised her young and moved off. So hearing this Carolina Wren carrying on behind me, peaked my curiosity. I turned around to see if I could find the bird and to my surprise I see antlers just above the bushes meandering down the logging the road. Slowly turning around, I was able to get set up and make a 25 yard shot on him. Harvesting a mature 8 point and the first mature buck on our lease.
After this hunt, I began thinking how it wouldn’t have happened if not for the Carolina Wrens. I began learning more about them and other birds that can help make me a better hunter. If you’re not familiar with Carolina Wrens, it is small brown bird that spends most if its time in parts of the woods where there is a high stem count and brushy type vegetation. Spring time seems to be when humans deal with them the most, due to them building nests in carports, garages, or patios. Most of the time you won’t notice these birds in the woods, unless you flush them out of a bush. But when they are disturbed, they make a loud raspy repeating chatter, sounding like a chee-chee-chee sound. I learned these birds can easily be disturbed by large animals like deer, as the animal is moving through an area feeding. They will continue to make the alarm sound for a while, until the animal has moved off. Also, they will make this sound all year long not just when they have a nest. I’ve found they are the only bird that makes this sound and is easily recognizable. Whenever you hear this sound, watch that area because most likely a large animal is moving through the brush and has disturbed the Carolina Wren.
This also makes me think of another bird that I listen and pay attention to a lot, the Blue Jay. This bird which a lot of people are aware of, is a loud vocal bird who is very territorial. Often you can hear them yelling from the canopy from a good distance in the woods. The great thing about the Blue Jay is that they can tell you so much about what’s going on in the woods and key you in on several things. The first is an active food source. Blue Jays will squawk and fight with each other over oak trees that are about to drop or currently dropping. Listen for them at any point of the day and if you hear a lot of them in one spot, you have a great chance of finding an oak tree dropping and deer sign under it. The other thing I like to use Blue Jays for is homing in on the movement patterns of deer. Often, if you hear Blue Jays squawking on the edge of what you determined is deer bedding, then most likely they are fussing at deer moving around. This is great way to determine when the deer are leaving their bedding and headed to food or returning to their bedding area.
I’ve found more success in the early season listening for Blue Jays than any other time of the year. Whether I’m bow hunting or just scouting, when I’m trying to find feed trees and determining deer movement, Blue Jays help me narrow down my focus area. Once I have found a potential area, either by e-scouting or boots on the ground. I will then set up on the edge of feeding area with a wind blowing away from the bedding and feeding areas and listen. If I hear Blue Jays in the distance on the edge of the bedding then I’m pretty confident that it is a deer moving in or out of the bedding area but if I hear them in the feeding area then I might have a potential feed tree, either way I’m making a note of both locations. I will then either scout those spots if I can get in there without leaving a lot of scent or I’m going to hunt within range of those locations dependent on other variables: wind, access, etc. This tactic has been very successful for me when hunting heavily pressured public land or large monotonous timber tracts. For heavily pressured public land, deer movement changes quickly due to hunting pressure and by listening to the Blue jays you can limit your scent in the area, determine if their pattern has changed, and plan your access. In large Timber tracts where you may have a lot of oaks dropping acorns, there may be a preferred tree or area, the Blue Jays can be heard from a long way off and que you into where the deer might be.
Since that hunt I’ve paid more attention to the other animals in the woods and have had success many more times with the help of Blue Jays and Carolina Wrens. I encourage every hunter to research the birds in the area they’re hunting and familiarize their habits. You just might be surprised how much success you’ll find not just listening for the crunch of leaves but also the calls of our feathered friends. Good luck this season and remember to pay attention to the bi