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| A Method To Deer Hunting |
| By Jon Mitzel | 04/30/07 |
| Going it on your own or with a small party will enable you to fully experience the sights and sounds of the deer's world. |
Ever wonder why some guys consistently shoot big bucks year after year, bow or rifle season? The secret lies deep in the pages of an aged deer hunter. Sure, you can spend big dollars for some guide to walk you to a treestand where your chances of shooting a quality deer are as good as the money in your wallet. But it’s just more meaningful when the task becomes your own.
Everything learned while you’re in the do-it-yourself mode will provide skills that will continue with you every fall. With those skills come memories and everything that takes place from the time you take to the woods or field to cooking a tasty venison dinner. All this creates a unique sense of character that some folks who’d rather have everything done for them lack.
Following are 10 tips to use during deer season.
1. Hunt A Source of Food
Deer congregate around strong sources of food narrowing the places for you to start looking. Corn and alfalfa are very good deer attractants and locating them shouldn’t be too difficult. Find food and you’ll find deer.
There are things to take into consideration, though. Human pressure will drive deer from their common areas or make deer move more at night, after shooting hours. I once watched a bedded buck from my treestand in some thick cattails surrounded by CRP. Exactly a half hour after sunset he emerged from his bed. Pressure.
The rut also affects deer behavior, but unpressured deer will continue to use a food source until they feel pressured. Tactic-wise, it’s best to hunt from a stand or a location where you can see a large area. Eventually you’ll learn what specific areas the deer are using and be able to close the gap. Be careful not to drive deer out of their range.
2. Mornings, Evenings and Midday Hunts
We hunt all three times separately. Mornings are good times to focus on thick cover areas where deer will likely bed down for the day. Woods, cattail sloughs and large, thick CRP fields should be targeted.
The last few hours of the day are best spent near a food source. It’s a good idea to locate a trail that’s being used and place yourself at least 50 yards off the trail and downwind. Big bucks are typically the last deer to expose themselves. Young deer and does commonly go to feed before mature deer.
3. Look for Rubs
Rubs are good indicators that a buck is in the area. Looking at the size, height and base of the tree the rub is located can provide a clue of the buck’s maturity. Larger trees and rubs might indicate an older, more mature and larger-antlered deer. Small tree bases and saplings will indicate a less mature deer.
4. The Rut
The rut shifts the odds greatly to the hunter’s advantage of tagging a deer, especially a buck. Bucks simply have mating on their minds and will venture to new areas and cover new ground. The most important thing to consider when the rut takes place (typically the 10th to the end of November) is to locate does. Find a good concentration of does and a buck is likely not far away.
5. Deer Habitat
In the Dakotas, deer live in areas of woods, CRP fields, draws, creek bottoms, cattail sloughs and anything that can provide cover. Typically, the high percentage spots have cover very close to a strong source of food with no human disturbance. Spend time trying to visualize these areas and locate them on a map.
Areas where roads are sparse are good places to start, but not entirely important. The rut, along with hunter pressure when the gun season opens will drive deer to places typically overlooked by most hunters. Rock piles surrounded by a large open area, and thick clumps of trees a ways off the road are good places to walk into once deer have been pushed from their traditional areas. Food sources are important as always but survival becomes priority number one.
6. Pay Attention to Sign
There’re several things that contribute to locating deer. Tracks, hair on a barbed-wire fence, rubs and scrapes, beds, scat, etc. Find several of these in one particular area and you’re likely on the path to success.
7. Stand Hunting
There’s a time and place for hunting whitetails from a stand. Ideally, during opening day, most deer hunters with large groups put on deer drives. Drives are accountable for most deer during a season. However, if you’re hunting alone you may want to prop yourself in a tree and wait for a pushed animal to walk within range. Chances are good you’ll have a better shot while in a treestand than walking and taking a shot at a deer running away from you, resulting in a hit in any one of the four quarters and ruining meat.
8. Flat Land Whitetails vs. River Bottom Deer
Whitetails heavily occupy both areas and they too, should be hunted differently. Successful hunting of river bottoms or woods typically involves deer drives or hunting from a stand. Both are good methods for taking deer. Any thick woods or cover in creek or river bottoms are good places to start looking for deer. However, it’s the prairie or flatland that one needs to devote more attention to.
Flatland deer commonly use any cover that’s available, but the heaviest and larger areas will attract more deer. One problem involved with flatland hunting is that deer can see you coming way before you get to their area. Using low cuts in terrain to get close to possible deer-holding areas will help. Always pay attention to the horizon and background, making note never to skyline yourself, a dead give away for any deer that will likely bust out well out of range.
Watch for areas where you can get close to deer undetected, and ambush the spot. Small patches of habitat in a low spot are ideal. Get within good shooting range and stand still. Often times deer will hold tight to cover for long periods of time unless virtually stepped on or made nervous. Walking slowly and stomping through the area might trigger a deer to bust from its bed.
9. Hunt Alone
Later in the season I like to slow my hunt and spend time following trails looking for sign. I prefer the cold, overcast, windy days for this. Chances of getting close to a deer before busting them out of their home is greatly increased. This is, by far, my favorite method to pursue whitetails.
Last November on a perfect hunting day with lots of wind, dropping temperatures and overcast skies, I walked on the edge of an old thick, wooded stock dam where a buck lay bedded with his head down, watching me as I walked past no more than 10 yards away. I tactfully snuck my way into the area alone which I believed held the buck until I was right next to him. If there would have been more hunters, the deer probably would have broke from cover long before we reached the area.
10. Hunt Thick Cover
Ask most seasoned deer hunters about the most productive areas for deer and they’ll likely tell you, thick cover. Hands down, it’s where deer like to be any time of the year. It could be a heavily-wooded creek or river bottom, slough or marsh with cattails taller than you, clumps of bullberry bushes you’d never think of entering or a land so rugged you’ll cringe. It’s all good stuff.
But also remember that once deer have been pushed off their normal territories, “thick cover” might be a rock pile with heavy grass in the middle of nowhere, so don’t rule anything out. Many deer out there this fall are over five years old and have grown wise to hunters, learning ways to elude death.
Time spent in the woods is never wasted, either during the season or year-round. • |
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