Four Jobs to Finish Before Opening Weekend

I filmed this one in the rain, the week bow season opened, doing work I should have finished a month before. So take it from somebody who was behind. These jobs go a whole lot better three or four weeks ahead of opening day than they do the week of.

If your season's already open, most of this still pays off for the rest of it. If you're reading it next summer, good. You're early.

1. Clear the senderos, roads and trails

Every year we go through the lease and trim, mow or shred every sendero, road and trail, all the way down to the blinds. Anywhere we're going to drive or walk gets cleaned out so we can get around easy, mostly in the dark.

The deer like it too. They take the path of least resistance, same as we do, and a clean lane is an easy way to travel.

Then there's the shot. Brush along the edge of a lane is brush between you and a deer. Cut it back now so nothing gets in the way of a bullet when it counts.

2. Clean out the box blinds

Three things ride in the truck when I go open up the blinds:

• A broom

• A can of wasp spray

• A can of WD-40, if your chairs squeak (Don't forget window and door hinges)

The broom is for cobwebs. You know the fastest way to turn a white boy into a ninja? Walk him through a spider web. Knock down the wasp nests and the dirt dauber nests while you're in there, then sweep the floor out.

Some of our blinds have plastic chairs, so the WD-40 stays in the truck. Yours might not be so lucky.

Then look at the carpet. It needs to be clean, flat and nailed down. You're climbing in and out of that blind in the dark most of the time, and a wrinkled rug is how somebody goes down. The blind in the video needs new carpet, so I'm talking to myself here too.

Do the spraying three or four weeks early if you can. Whatever chemicals you use need time to air out before season.

3. Get the feeders working

Feeders are where I always find something. Go down the list on every one of them:

• Predator cage still in one piece

• Battery good. Test it with a voltmeter, and if there's a solar panel, test that too

• Timer set right and actually spinning

• No corn stuck down in the funnel

• Lid tied down. Wind will grab a loose lid, and I've found them 20 yards from the feeder

Then fill it up and let it run. Get it going three or four weeks ahead and the deer have time to find it and settle into it before you're sitting there watching. Get it going the week of, like I did this year, and you're out there in the rain hoping.

One more thing on spin feeders: put nothing in them but corn. Cottonseed or protein mixed in clumps up in the humidity and clogs the funnel. If you want to feed that, use a feeder or a trough built for it.

4. Check every trail camera

Whether it's on a tree or a T-post, every camera gets fresh batteries and an empty SD card before the season starts. Then you know what's moving before opening day instead of finding out after.

Before you walk away from it, look at two things.

First, what's in front of it. Tall grass or a limb that moves in the wind will fill your card with pictures of nothing.

Second, and this is the big one, where the sun comes up and goes down. A camera looking into the morning or evening sun takes washed-out pictures at exactly the time of day deer are moving. Turn it so it's not staring into the glare.

Take this to the lease

• Trim, mow or shred senderos, roads and trails to every blind

• Clear brush off the edges of every shooting lane

• Broom, wasp spray, WD-40

• Knock down webs, wasp nests and dirt dauber nests; sweep out

• Carpet clean, flat and nailed down

• Feeders: cage, battery, solar panel, timer, funnel, lid

• Fill feeders and let them run

• Cameras: fresh batteries, empty cards

• Nothing in front of the camera that moves

• No camera facing the sunrise or sunset

Get it done early, and good luck this season.