Many people ask, "How do I select the proper fish finder for my needs?" There are 5 aspects of a fish finder to keep in mind when making a purchase.

  1) The Transducer - There are 2 types of transducers: single frequency and dual frequency. Single frequency is generally best for lakes and shallow coastal fishing. Dual frequency transducers are generally better for deep sea fishing. Dual beam transducers limit the beam size for the high frequency beam so these fish finders are truly best for deep water.

  2) Power - In general, the higher the power of your fish finder the better. Higher powered fish finders generally cost more so you will have to weigh power with cost. Remember that even in shallow water such as lakes, higher power will still help with better imaging. Most expert fishermen recommend giving the most weight to the power rating of your unit.

  3) Depth - A fish finder being able to reach greater depths is directly related to the power and the quality of the transducer. In general, the more expensive models penetrate the water better. Keep in mind while shopping that the depths shown in the product specifications are for clear water. Salt water and murky water will limit the depths the sonar can penetrate. As a general rule of thumb, purchase a fish finder with a depth range about 10% greater than what you intend to fish. Having a slightly greater depth range should help adjust for less than clear water.

  4) Display Size - Fish finder displays vary from four inches to seven inches (and some larger). Obviously the larger the screen, the higher the cost. The advantage to a larger screen can be ease in seeing the results in bright sunlight.

  5) Display Resolution - The display resolution pertains to how clear the image is on the fish finder screen. The higher the resolution the better the image will be. Color screens are often better for direct sunlight as they are easier to see. Again, the higher the resolution, the higher the cost, in general.

  Now that we've covered the basics of how a fish finder works and what the key pieces of fish finders are, let's offer some suggestions on how to choose the perfect fish finder for you.

  Most fishermen recommend doubling whatever you were planning to spend on your fish finder. We leave the amount you wish to spend completely up to you.

  Next decide where are you planning to fish the most often- on a lake, along coastal areas or are you mostly a deep sea fisherman? Are you planning to use your fish finder on only one boat or do you want to be able to use it on a friend's boat? Answering these two questions will let you know if you want a fish finder that works best in shallow or deep water and whether or not you want a fixed mount fish finder or a portable fish finder.

  If you want a fixed mount fish finder then you will next need to decide if you want a transom mount transducer or a hull transducer. Transom mount transducer are easier to install and usually less expensive. You can purchase a transom mount transducer in single or dual frequency models. They work best in water that is somewhat calmer and are not terribly effective at much more than 10 knots.

  Through hull transducers are the best for clarity and performance, but are harder to install and cost more. You really need to have a need for high speed bottom reading to make them worth the extra cost.

  In general if you are going offshore or into deep fresh water, the hull transducer with dual frequency is probably the best bet for accurate fish readings.

  If you are using a smaller boat and are not planning to do high speed fish finding then a transom mount or portable fish finder will save you some money and should meet your needs just fine.

  Article courtesy of Karen Janos of FishFindersDirect.com. Visit their site at www.fishfindersdirect.com for a great selection of fish finders at competitive prices.

  After last year’s torrent of rain, which lasted for days and subsequent mud that nearly swallowed everything in sight, I better prepared myself by buying a used travel trailer to use as my base of operations during the 2010 Oklahoma muzzleloader hunt last October. So with the truck and trailer loaded I headed to the southeastern section of the Sooner State to try and bag a deer or two, again.

  After arriving I found out my friend and host David Falconer had plans for us that evening. David is on the pro staff of Wild Hog Hunters, www.wildhoghunters.com, along with owners Mike Van Sant and Dave Dell who would be arriving the next day to deer hunt too. David had brought a battery operated light that attaches to the bottom of your automatic feeder that illuminated the area without spooking the game. We were going to put it on a feeder they had set up a few weeks before to lure in some of the wild hogs that were running the area and hunt over it that night.

  My job was to take the shot if any presented themselves and narrate while David videoed the whole thing. The idea behind this was to do a product review of the light so they could post it on their site.

  We went out that afternoon and set up the light. It took a bit of ingenuity but we managed to hang it to the bottom of the feeder. We returned to camp to wait until dusk to make our way out to a box blind about eighty yards from the feeder.

  To make a long story short, we sat in the blind until ten o’clock before calling it a night. We were both very tired from the journey that day none more than me after my seven hour drive that morning. No hogs showed up but I’m sure if we had stayed out longer we surely would have gotten a shot because the light worked great. I’m not sure how the review went but if you check their site you might find out.

  It rained on opening day of deer season so I hunted a ground blind I had set up. The spot looked great as it was at the intersection of three trails. There were fresh tracks and droppings everywhere and I felt confident in my choice of spots. I figured I’d get a shot if not at least see some deer passing through. It was not to be. I didn’t see one deer all of the times I hunted from the blind.

  In fact I didn’t even see a deer until Tuesday morning, the fourth day of the hunt. I think the full moon might have had something to do with it but I think the main reason was the weather, sunny skies and temperatures topping out near ninety degrees. It was great not being wet and cold but this was not exactly deer hunting weather. But I was not discouraged.

  I hunted several stands in various locations that belonged to our friend Robert with no success and only a couple of deer seen. Everyone else had seen deer and everyone but Dave and I had scored. Time was running out and the weather wasn’t helping much. I was keeping a positive attitude even though the feeling of “here we go again” was trying to claw its way out from the back of my mind.

  Wednesday morning found me setting along a pipeline easement on the other side of the ranch. It was nice to expand my knowledge of the ranch as I always tired to learn something new about David’s spread. At 1100 acres it’s hard to see it all in the short time that was available to me during hunting season.

  Anyway, Robert had scouted this area the day before and had seen several deer crossing the pipeline. The problem was they were crossing it pretty quick leaving little chance of getting a shot so we came up with a plan.

  The next morning I was sitting about thirty yards up from the crossing on a small rise with my back against some brush and cedar trees. I could see down both sides giving me a good view. As long as I stayed still I was well camouflaged. I had brought along some scented attractant and poured it in the middle of the crossing. I needed something to grab their attention while crossing to make them stop or at least slow down so I could possibly get a shot.

  Just after sun-up I heard some noise across from me in the woods. It sounded like two squirrels running around on the ground barking and squealing at one another. The commotion lasted for a minute or so and then everything quitted down. I figured they had settled their differences and went about their business.

  A short time after that I was looking down to my left and as I turned to the right something caught my eye. More like startled me. There in the middle of the pipeline was a bobcat staring at me! He had frozen in place when I spotted him. It wasn’t a real big one but I was impressed nonetheless. This was the first time I had ever seen a bobcat while out hunting. Everyone else had always seen one but not me.

  We eyed each other for a minute or two in the semi-darkness until he had enough and turned around to head back the direction from whence he had came. It was at that point when he turned his head that I saw it had something in its mouth. It was a small rabbit! The little bunny swayed as it dangled from the bobcat’s mouth as it turned back to give me one more look before silently walking back into the brush.

  Wow! That was the coolest thing I believe I had ever seen while hunting. It topped the time I saw a mountain lion while hunting from a tree stand several years before while hunting on the other side of David’s ranch.

  After thinking about it for a few minutes, I figured out the noise I had heard earlier wasn’t squirrels at all. It was the bobcat catching its breakfast! With the image of the bobcat etched in my mind I went back to deer hunting.

  About a quarter past eight my luck finally changed for the better or so I thought.

  From down the hill to my left there were two deer walking up the pipeline instead of crossing it. It was a big momma doe and her fawn. They came straight up the hill toward me and when they turned to check their back trail I brought my gun up to my shoulder. The big doe came straight up the hill with her nose out. She could smell the attractant and was heading straight to it.

  I watched as both of the deer came closer and I eased my head down to look through the scope. I had the crosshairs on the doe before she reached the smelling spot. She was facing straight at me not giving me a good shot. I kept the scope on her as she stopped at the spot waiting for her to give me a shot. I thought several times of shooting her in the neck but since they hadn’t seen me and had no idea I was there, there was no reason to rush the shoot.

  The gun was getting heavy but I refused to let down. I kept shifting over to the smaller deer and then back to the bigger one. This went on for what seemed like forever when suddenly straight across from me a deer blew! I knew that the other deer had busted me. I never turned my head or took the scope off of the doe. There was no need to watch a deer run off while I still had these two thirty yards from me.

  When the deer blew and busted off their heads snapped to attention. They didn’t move but stood there on alert getting antsy. They were going to bust at any moment so I made a choice. I pulled to the middle of the large deer’s neck and pulled the trigger.

  My heart jumped as I heard a slight delay-fire from the .50 caliber in-line but thought I had to have hit her at that close range. I watched as they ran into the woods keeping my eye on the doe, tracking which direction she went.

  After reloading and waiting a couple of minutes I went out to where she had been standing and looked for any sign of a hit. There wasn’t blood there so I followed her path to where she had jumped into the brush looking for any blood trail there. There wasn’t any so I returned to my chair to wait a while before going to look for her. No need in pushing her and besides I was pretty sure I’d find her balled up inside of fifty yards.

  Forty five minutes later I set off to look for the doe. I had marked some trees as landmarks so I knew the path she taken. An hour later I hadn’t found the deer nor a single hair or drop of blood. It had been a clean miss. After replaying the episode in my mind many times I recalled how the deer reacted to my shot. She had flinched just enough at my delay fire to avoid being hit. Even though it was only a fraction of a second it was long enough to avoid the bullet. It was déjà vue all over again.

  That evening was my last chance to hunt as I had to head home the next day. I didn’t see any deer but did manage to get a couple of pictures of a beautiful sunset. Little consolation for all of the time and effort I had put into this hunt.

  On the long ride home (always seems longer when you are going home empty handed) I had to remind myself that I was truly blessed to be able to take trips like this and that it’s not always about making the kill but the time spent in the great outdoors and the time spent with good friends. The good Lord willing I’ll be back next season. I have an empty spot on the wall just waiting for an Oklahoma buck. Until next time, Jim Bob.

  Last month we ran an article (see www.backwoodsbound.com/zznewv12i01.html) about the deer harvest numbers around the Midwest region of the country. One section of the article had to do with Wisconsin and how up to that time their deer harvest was up slightly from the previous year. A couple of days after the January issue went out we received a note from subscriber James Harter with his thoughts on the state of deer hunting in Wisconsin and thought we’d share it with the rest of you to get your thoughts.

  About your January Wisconsin Deer Season Article from the DNR.

  I am 59 years old and on disability so I can hunt from a vehicle if I choose to and other things such as a crossbow, etc. I gun hunt and before the crossbow I hunted with a bow for years and was successful at it even after getting the crossbow my success still was good. I filled a tag every year with archery equip or with a rifle during rifle season. The last two seasons I have not filled an archery tag not for the lack of trying but the lack of deer in the area I hunt which is all public land in Douglas Count, Wisconsin which is in the extreme NW part of the state. Last year was bad enough that even State WI politicians got into the act criticizing the DNR. This year they still gave out countless doe tags and made some areas a herd control area which had little deer to start with. Then they continue to do what they want to do without listening to the public. Eleven percent (increase) over last years crummy season is nothing to brag about and I am starting to distrust the DNR. I think they would manipulate their numbers and who would be the wiser?

  This is not sour grapes as I shot a doe this fall during the early gun hunt on an invite to hunt private property but if I had relied on public land I would have again not harvested a deer this fall. Because I have the disabled permit I drive around looking for deer and when you see just the number of deer that you can count on one hand all fall something needs to be done. The DNR is blaming wolves and bears as part of the problem. Too bad they do not admit their careless management of the WI deer herd and their selling in some areas as many doe tags as you want for many years. When they first started doing this there was a healthy deer herd and you had opportunities to see deer and a good chance to harvest one. Now it is a different story and I have heard this from able bodied hunters in my area too not seeing any or darn few deer.

  In the magazines and news articles we only hear the DNR's propaganda not the public's side of the issue. – James Harter

  Here’s the reply we sent.

  Hello James,

  Thank you for your letter. Here in my home state of Illinois the same decision is going on, a shrinking deer herd. Although this past season the harvest was pretty close to the same as in 09. Of course the trend in recent years has been a declining harvest. Where I hunt, the extreme southwest corner, we started noticing the lack of herds of does 3 - 4 years ago. We use to see groups of does and their fawns with 6, 7, 10 in the group. We haven't seen a group like that in awhile. Although people do see a few groups around in fields at dark. The reason for the lack of deer, I have no idea. I can't really blame the taking of too many does as we've taken just as many bucks as does and the county wide harvest averages around 300 - 310 during the gun seasons.

  One theory my brother-in-law came up with was maybe the mature does are having more little bucks than does. No way of proving that theory but our hunting group has seen an increase of young bucks over the past 3 - 4 years. It's nothing to see a lot of buttons, spikes, fork horns and small 6 & 8 pointers while hunting. It all could just be a natural cycle too. Or maybe the deer are evolving and becoming smarter about avoiding hunters. (that's a stretch)

  Some blame too many out of state hunters. I can't really agree with that as there aren't that many in the county I hunt. Maybe there are just too many deer hunters now. The sport has grown a lot in recent years while squirrel, rabbit and other upland game hunting is down.

  Regardless of the cause I'll be back out there come October!

  Best Regards,
  James Burns
  Backwoods Bound
  editor@backwoodsbound.com

  James responded back with this.

  Thanks for the reply. Of course every place is different. In Northern WI there are few places of big woods as every place is divided by roads for easy access. Of course since deer are fringe animals that’s not a problem they like such areas but it does make for most hunting areas easy access.

  I think most hunters up here feel that you cannot give out unlimited doe tags for over a decade and not have it affect the deer herd. Of course most say also they will buy or take a free doe tag as if they do not harvest the deer some one else will so they are not gaining anything by protesting the doe kill by not shooting one. Does not matter up here if they are having little bucks and lots of button bucks get killed by folks thinking they are small does. When the tag is free or two dollar a pop folks figure a small deer is worth it. Where if the tag would have cost them more money they maybe would have held out for a larger doe. – James Harter

  If anyone else wants to weigh in on this topic we’d like to hear your thoughts and opinions. We’ll share any responses we get in next month’s issue. – James Burns, mail@backwoodsbound.com